Thanks for the reviews, they always make me smile. :)

Chapter 13: Food for Thought

Peko was used to getting up at the crack of dawn. Ever since they had been brought to Jabberwock Island, she had found herself to be one of the first people arriving at the hotel for breakfast. Sometimes, she encountered other students who were up just as early as she was. Today, it was Gundham she found sitting at one of the tables already, despite the fact that the morning announcement was still about half an hour away.

She was about to go and make some quick breakfast for herself when she stopped, looking back at the breeder who, instead of eating, was feeding the hamsters nestled in his scarf with small strips of carrot from a saucer. The conversation she had with Hajime the previous day came to her mind and she hesitated in the middle of the room.

Eventually, Gundham looked up at her through narrowed eyes. "What is it you seek?"

Peko realized that she had been staring and quickly averted her eyes. "Nothing," she said, turning around. She took a step towards the kitchen, but the nagging thought in her head made her stop yet again. They were alone and the others probably weren't going to be here for a while. Now would be a great opportunity.

When she turned back around, she noted that he was still looking at her suspiciously. Even the hamsters stared at her warily and seeing their small black button eyes on her made her heart beat faster, both from excitement and nervousness. Making up her mind, she approached him.

"I was wondering… your hamsters, they are very well trained, are they not?"

The caution on Gundham's face turned into an amused expression. "Trained? Ha! You must not be familiar with the lifestyle and the nature of the Dark Devas of Destruction! They are no mere hamsters. This is but the form they chose to take for the duration of their stay on earth! No mortal exists that could make a god do their bidding! They may allow me to act as their servant, as I have gained their respect. However, they would never allow anyone to tame them. Their hearts are free and that will never change." The hamsters squeaked in unison at his declaration.

"I see…" she said, slightly unsure about how to proceed.

Visibly more relaxed now, Gundham sat back in his chair, turning his body to face her directly. "I assume there was a reason for you to make this inquiry."

"There was." This was it. It was now or never. "Due to my profession, animals tend to avoid me. They sense my menacing presence. I cannot approach an animal without scaring it off, even though I would like to be able to…" Peko could feel her face heat up. "Well, Hajime suggested that maybe your ha- your Dark Devas may be brave enough to allow me to pet them."

For a moment, Gundham eyed her in silent contemplation. "You may ask them to accept your touch, but I cannot speak on their behalf. The decision is theirs alone. However, if they look into your heart and see a respectable warrior, they may honor your wish."

She needed a moment to let that sink in. She could try? He allowed it?

Slowly, carefully, as if any sudden movement would scare off both the hamsters and their master, she came closer to the table, where she stood for a few seconds before she pulled out the chair opposite of him and sat down. She held her breath when Gundham gently ushered one of the hamsters out of his scarf and down his arm. It was light brown with a beige belly. All the while, Gundham was muttering encouragements in a calm voice, although it almost seemed unnecessary, as the small creature ventured forward without hesitation.

Once it had clambered down from Gundham's hand onto the table, it sat up on its hind legs and looked up at her curiously, the pink nose twitching. The thought of petting the ball of fur elated Peko so much she couldn't contain the smile that stretched her mouth.

However, as soon as it saw her facial expression change, it squeaked and backed away from her, only stopping when it bumped into its owner's hand. The other hamsters voiced their plight at seeing their friend in distress from their position on Gundham's shoulder.

The smile died on Peko's face. Ah, it happened again. She should have known that even the care of the Ultimate Breeder himself couldn't prepare the animals for any close contact with her. Her heart sank. Should she just excuse herself and leave?

Before she could make a decision, Gundham's other hand came up to rub the small head between the ears. "You need not fear her, Maga-Z. Despite her inability to express her true feelings, she appears to be an avid worshipper of your kind. She will treat you with nothing but respect." His eyes that flashed over to her added a silent "or else" that was only meant for her.

Peko nodded solemnly. "I promise, I mean no harm."

The hamster glanced at its owner's face one last time, before it bravely crossed the table. Every tiny step brought it closer to her and by the time it came to a stop only a few inches from her, Peko thought she might just faint from the proximity to such cuteness. Without blinking, for fear it might just turn out to be a mirage, she kept her eyes locked on the animal and raised her hand. The hamster flinched back again, making her freeze with her hand hovering in mid-air.

"Would you like to try giving him an offering to win his favor?" Gundham suggested, sliding the saucer with the sliced carrots over to her.

With a grateful smile, she carefully picked up one of them and held it out to the critter. It slowly inched closer, stretching its body and, almost viciously, lurched forward suddenly to snatch the snack with its paws. It let out a victory cry and started nibbling the carrot. Peko watched as its cheeks slowly puffed out the more it stuffed into them and thought she was going to melt.

"It seems Crimson Steel Elephant Maga-Z has accepted your challenge!" Gundham laughed. "Seeing as he is a warrior himself, I figured he wouldn't step down!"

Hearing that warmed her heart. "So, you are a fighter as well, hm?" she asked the critter. Maga-Z puffed himself up to his full height, proudly showing off the tear in his left ear. Without a doubt, the scar had been earned in a fierce battle. She smiled again and this time, the hamster was not intimidated by it. It filled her with a sense of kinship for the creature.

"Would you let me pet you?" It was a bit weird, talking to an animal, but to her amazement, she was understood. Maga-Z closed the distance between them and carefully touched her hand with his nose. Feeling like she was in heaven, she raised her trembling left hand and gently touched the hamster's fur with one of her digits.

Saying it was soft would have been an understatement. It was so much fluffier than she had expected. And warm. She could feel the fragile body and its delicate movements beneath her finger, hammering home the fact that this was a living creature she was touching. It felt incredible.

She looked up at Gundham, overwhelmed and helpless with so much emotion overcoming her. He just smiled a knowing smile and nodded at her. Her breath escaped her in a relieved half-laugh as she started petting the hamster, sometimes only barely touching the fur, for fear of hurting him. Maga-Z tried to correct that by pressing his back against her finger whenever he felt she wasn't petting him properly.

The minutes passed in a blissful haze. All she could think of was the fluffiness of the fur under her touch. All she could see were hamsters, as the other three had now taken to exploring the table. One of them fell asleep in the middle of it, while the other two decided to raid the plate of carrots, stuffing their cheek pouches as full as they could get.

Eventually, a voice calling out from behind her brought Peko back to reality.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to let your rats run free? Someone might accidentally step on them."

The smile vanished from Gundham's face in an instant. Peko looked over her shoulder at Hiyoko just in time to see her shrink back under his icy glare.

"If you so much as touch one of the four Dark Devas of Destruction, I shall drag you the darkest pits of the Underworld."

"I-it was a joke! I was only joking!"

At that moment, Peko noticed him. Her young master stood by the doorway, looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Her hand recoiled from the small rodent as if it had burned her. She quickly turned her head back to avert her gaze, staring stoically at the table where the hamster now clambered to the table's edge, tiny paws outstretched towards her in indignation at the lack of petting. How long had he been standing there? Just how long had he watched her indulge in her weakness for fluffy things? It was humiliating. She didn't even want to imagine what he must be thinking of her now.

"Looks like you're enjoying yourselves."

Her young master's words made Peko look back at him. She faintly noticed that he had drawn the attention of the other students as well, but the look on his face drowned all of that out. His lips were curled in a smirk, which to anyone else might have looked like he was mocking them. However, she recognized it for what it was. It was an expression of humor she had seen on his face several times before. Yes, it was teasing in a way, but there was no malice in it. When he looked at her like that, with his eyes sparkling in mirth and familiarity, it was as if they were sharing a private joke.

When she realized that their eyes had been locked for a while, she quickly looked away again. Only now did she notice her heart beating loudly in her chest. She fought to keep her composure, but she could still feel the heat rising to her face. How embarrassing.

A small movement caught her attention and she saw the hamster jumping up and down now to regain her attention. There were voices in the background, meaningless banter her young master allowed himself to get dragged into, but it just washed over her. She smiled at the small creature. She would thank Gundham in a minute for allowing her to pet his hamster and then get something to eat for herself. The rest of the students would arrive soon and they didn't all have to see her like this.

But not quite yet.

With her young master's words in mind, she raised her hand from where it had fallen at her side, hesitantly at first. However, when the hamster stretched his head toward the hand hovering above him, she slowly resumed the careful petting. Her young master had given her permission, after all. It was fine. Just for a few more precious moments, she would relish in the sensation. The fur beneath her fingers was almost as fuzzy as the feeling in her chest.


Byakuya entered Hotel Mirai much later than usual. His sleep must have been very restless, because one strand of his hair had decided to stick up from his head stubbornly. It had taken a lot of time, effort and hair care products to finally get it to lie down properly again. So, when he finally entered the dining area, he was the last one to arrive.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up. And here I thought you'd end up breaking your own rule on the first day," Fuyuhiko drawled. Of course he wouldn't leave his tardiness uncommented.

"Fifteen minutes is still enough time for a meal."

Fuyuhiko snorted and proceeded to ignore him. Byakuya let his gaze sweep over the students and was satisfied to see that everything was harmonious for the moment. With the exception of Fuyuhiko, who had chosen to sit alone, far away from everyone else, they had formed small groups that were scattered over different tables. There were conversations going on at most of them. Byakuya was a bit surprised to see what a weird group had formed among Sonia, Peko, Kazuichi and Gundham.

Sonia gave him a smile when she saw him looking their way, but it seemed a bit strained. He figured it might have had something to do with Kazuichi, who was talking insistently to her while Peko and Gundham threw exasperated glances at him periodically. It reminded Byakuya of being stalked by Toko and he was suddenly very grateful that his captors had been mindful enough not to bring her into this killing game as well.

Hajime didn't indicate that there were any issues either, sitting next to a half-asleep Chiaki and talking to Mikan in a soft voice. Byakuya grabbed a plate to eat for himself and then went over to take a seat at the table with Nekomaru and Akane. Without giving him more than a brief glance, the gymnast acknowledged his presence with a quick wave of her chopsticks in the middle of eating.

"Would you say this arrangement is to your satisfaction?" he asked Nekomaru as soon as he sat down.

"Good morning, Byakuya! Well, I wouldn't have insisted on turning it into an official rule, but it seems to work out swimmingly!" Nekomaru said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Fuyuhiko snorted, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Swimmingly my ass."

Byakuya hesitated before continuing the conversation. He would prefer if it took place just between the two of them for now, but that seemed impossible with Nekomaru's lack of an indoor voice. On the other hand, it wasn't exactly a secret and hearing the students' thoughts on this matter now might save them some time, in case they were all going to protest.

"It appears, however, like it turned out to be not much of a group event after all. We could move the tables to enable everyone to sit together." At Hope's Peak, the tables were at least long enough that they could have all sat together, if they had wanted to.

Nekomaru hummed in thought. "It's true that we split up into multiple groups, but I don't see that as much of a problem. If we want to have more of an event for the entire group, we could still go back to scheduling a training routine."

At the same time as Akane reacted with an enthusiastic grin and a muffled "Aw, yeah!" around her mouth full of food, Kazuichi shouted across the dining area, "Hey! What're you plotting back there? I'm okay with having breakfast with you guys, but training is where I draw the line! Not everyone's into physical fitness!"

Byakuya sighed inwardly. That was exactly what he had anticipated.

"Working out does sound rather exhausting," Chiaki agreed and sat up a little straighter. "How about something else?"

"Like what?" Hiyoko asked, sounding skeptical.

Chiaki played with the strings of her hoodie for a moment before she said, "We could meet in the evening to do something together. There are the arcade machines in the lobby, we could take turns playing. Or we could just sit together and talk about our day or our hobbies or whatever else we can think of."

"Sounds fun!" Ibuki exclaimed.

Hiyoko gave her a dirty look from across the table. "That sounds like a support group meeting. What about that is supposed to be fun?"

"I don't care what you decide to waste your time on but leave me out of it. I'm sick of getting dragged into your bullshit meetings," Fuyuhiko said. He stood up and went for the exit.

"Where are you going?" Byakuya asked.

The yakuza stopped at the door and twisted his upper body around to answer. "It's 8, so I'm out of here."

"Don't you think it would be a good idea to listen to what be decide on?"

Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes. "How often do I need to you that I'm not gonna take part? Just leave me the fuck alone." Then he turned back to leave, saying over his shoulder, "And if you dare to make this a fucking rule again, I'll kill you, got it?"

If he was still close enough to hear Byakuya's sarcastic "Sure you will." he didn't react to it.

"Well," Nekomaru said, clearing his throat a little awkwardly, "I agree that it should be a voluntary meeting. Those who want to participate are welcome to show up and those who don't won't be pressured."

"Good," Hiyoko said loudly. "Cause sitting in a circle talking about our life sounds super lame."

"It won't hurt to at least try it out," Mahiru said, to which Hiyoko looked conflicted.

"We don't have to really settle on one activity. How about we play games one evening and do something else the next day?" Hajime suggested.

Ibuki cheered, leaning backwards with her chair and balancing it on only two legs. "That sounds double fun!"

"What about the training?" Akane asked, looking a bit miffed at the turn of events.

Hajime seemed less enthusiastic about that, but he said, "I guess we could do some training as well. I mean, if we want to include a variety of activities for everyone, it's only fair."

Nekomaru nodded. "That does sound like a good compromise. Is everyone okay with that?"

Sounds of agreement resonated from every table. Kazuichi could be heard muttering, "Well, if we can pass on the stuff we don't like…"

"It looks like there are no objections. Shall we schedule these meetings for 8 p.m. then?" Byakuya said, satisfied that they had been able to come to an acceptable arrangement without his input.

There were nods around the room, confirming their agreement. After that, the students slowly started to disperse and go about their day. Nekomaru's hand hit him with the force of a falling log in what was probably supposed to be an affectionate gesture as he left. Byakuya rubbed his back as best as he could reach it and glared at him. Shaking his head, he finished his own late breakfast before he set off to take care of the two attempted murderers.

He didn't bother speaking with Nagito this time, not quite knowing how to get the Ultimate Lucky Student to give him any helpful answers. There had to be a way to get through to him. Byakuya just needed to figure out what made him tick.

When he returned from the hotel a second time, on his way to Teruteru's cottage, he came across Ibuki near the pool. Byakuya wouldn't have taken note of her, had she not suddenly stopped to look at him. Precisely, at the top of his head. He had an inkling what she was looking at and he hoped against all odds that she wouldn't comment on it.

"Oh, wow! Byakuya with an ahoge! Looking good on you! Are you going for a partner look with Hajime?"

He really should have known better. She was loud enough to cause Kazuichi, who was already well on his way to leave the hotel area, to turn around and look at him.

Byakuya passed her without breaking stride. Apart from a barely noticeable tightening of his jaw, nothing about his appearance betrayed the fact that the girl had just risen to the top of his potential murder victim list he had formulated in his head. (Of course, he wasn't planning on actually murdering anyone. But it was always a good thing to be prepared for all possible scenarios.)

He spontaneously decided that an extensive washing and styling of his hair was in order once Teruteru was provided for.

When he entered the cottage, however, the issue left his mind momentarily. Instead, he was extremely displeased at what he found. The cook was still in bed, staring at the ceiling blankly without even paying him any mind. His plate of food from last night looked like it had only been picked at a little. Teruteru couldn't have eaten more than a few bites.

"Didn't I tell you that you need to eat?" he asked, setting down the breakfast plate next to the other one.

Teruteru didn't move. "I'm not hungry."

Byakuya frowned, folding his arms in front of him. Not hungry? Nonsense. He had barely eaten anything in an entire day. There was no way he wasn't feeling the consequences of that. So, what else could be the reason?

… Well, it was actually quite obvious, now that he thought about it. Teruteru was the Ultimate Cook. He had been complaining about the island food ever since they had arrived here. Byakuya was skilled in a lot of different ways and he quickly picked up on new things, but he was aware that his cooking wasn't nearly on the same level as Teruteru's. After all, he had only really taken up cooking once the first killing game was over. Before he went to Hope's Peak Academy, he hadn't even touched a pan. A few months of practice over makeshift stoves just couldn't match years of experience developing an ultimate talent. It had to be frustrating. But that didn't mean he hadn't brought this upon himself.

"I understand that my cooking can't compare to yours, but I'm afraid that's all I have to offer. You're under house arrest, so you can't exactly expect a five-star meal."

Teruteru blinked a few times, apparently waking up from his stupor. "The food is fine," he said eventually, his voice still as monotone as before.

That was puzzling. "If there's nothing wrong with the food, why aren't you eating?"

It looked like Teruteru was going to say something, but no sound came out when he opened his mouth. He stayed like that for a bit, looking like a dead fish, before he slowly closed it again. "It's nothing," he muttered, almost unintelligibly.

That was obviously a lie, a very bad one at that, but Byakuya hesitated to call him out on it. Something was the matter and even though he didn't know what, he needed to thread carefully if he wanted to avoid stepping on a landmine again. When nothing came to him, he eventually settled on telling him what was going through his mind. It wasn't something he would normally do, but maybe Teruteru himself could help him out when he knew about what was going on.

"Look, I'm just trying to make sure you're okay, but I can't do that if I don't know what's going through your head."

Teruteru sighed, finally sitting up, every movement was sluggish. "I can't stop thinking about home." He was staring at the blanket now. Byakuya wasn't sure whether that was a step up from the ceiling. With a half-shrug, Teruteru added, "Made me lose my appetite."

His home? Ah, yes. His motive. Byakuya uncrossed his arms, nodding to himself. He understood the sentiment. This was probably the moment he was supposed to say something encouraging, but the last time he tried that, it had backfired terribly. Not for the first time, he wished he could pass this task onto someone else. Preferably Makoto. Come to think of it, Makoto could probably get through to Nagito, too.

Too bad that there was no alternative; it was really up to him. Byakuya had contemplated what it had been that had caused Teruteru to become a sobbing mess the last time. While his unstable mental state at the time had to be taken into account, of course, he had come to the conclusion that it had been primarily because Byakuya had essentially told him that the negative events in life couldn't be changed. In retrospect, it probably just served to increase his despair over his destroyed past. Which was truly unfortunate and not at all his intention. He just hadn't thought that this might be what Teruteru took from it.

Recalling what Makoto had told him when he himself had been devastated over the downfall of the Togami Empire, he tried again. This time, he would just have to give him some hope to cling to.

"I get that you would be upset over it, but refusing to eat won't help you. You should focus on the future instead of the past. Even if the diner got destroyed, that's not the end of the world. You are the Ultimate Cook, are you not? You can build a new restaurant. You have the skill to start over from scratch and make it work. If you just believe in yourself, you can carry on and build your own legacy. You won't lose unless you let a small set-back stop you from achieving your goals."

Well, that hadn't been too terrible, had it? He felt a little awkward about his words, but he had to admit to himself that it sounded considerably better than his poor first attempt. He was a little proud of himself.

Teruteru stared at him and Byakuya held his gaze confidently. Until the cook's face contorted in anger.

"Are you actually serious right now?! This isn't about the goddamn diner!"

Byakuya almost took a step back. "It's not?"

Teruteru's hands twisted the blanket in their grip and he looked at Byakuya—almost with disgust. "Of course not! Do I actually need to explain it to you?"

For once, Byakuya was speechless and he felt like he was missing an essential piece to the puzzle. He could tell that Teruteru thought that the core of his problems should be obvious, but… he just couldn't see it. It bothered him. Especially when Teruteru snorted at his silence.

"What, is that really your answer? Are you really that stupid?!" he snarled.

"Watch your—"

"No, you're going to listen now!" Oh dear, there was that dreaded dialect again. "I can't believe I need to spell it out to you, but there's more to me than just my talent! I'm not just some chef, I'm also a human being! Have you ever thought of that or didn't you actually think of other people as humans?"

"What are you even talking about?!" The question was justified in more than one way. Apart from the fact that his words started to become so warped that Byakuya had trouble keeping up with their meaning, the bits he thought he could understand didn't make any sense to him. "What is this about, then?"

Byakuya was getting agitated, but while he tried to hold back on his anger, Teruteru didn't put any restrictions on himself. His next answer was a string of warbled noise, loud and angry. His voice cracking in the middle of whatever he was saying didn't exactly help. It left him panting and Byakuya confused.

"Come again? I didn't quite catch that."

Teruteru was fuming. He yelled something that might have been an "Are you fucking serious?" or something along those lines, but it was cut short by something that sounded like a sob, even though he wasn't crying.

"Your accent is quite difficult to understand!" Byakuya finally snapped back.

Teruteru buried his face in his hands. The only sound filling the room was his ragged breathing. When he finally collected himself enough to continued, Byakuya was thankful that he forced himself to speak slowly, though his voice was dripping with cynicism.

"I thought you were trying to lead us because you didn't want to see us die, but the more I hear from you, the more I doubt that." The first sentence was spoken in relative calm, but from there on, his voice picked up on volume again and a fraction of the former agitation returned. "You don't show compassion; you don't understand anything about other people's emotions… I bet you don't actually care about us, do you? You act all high and mighty, like you're so much better than us, but you probably wouldn't shed a tear if we all died! Tell me, why did you want to be our leader if you don't even have empathy?"

"I became your leader to keep you alive!" Byakuya said, feeling weirdly defensive about it. The question didn't make much sense to him in the first place. What did one thing have to do with the other? Besides, he had plenty of empathy! He had just given Teruteru a motivational speech! Had he completely forgotten about that?

"But for what reason?! Why do you care? Do you even care?"

His mind was racing to catch up with the unexpected turn of the conversation, but he was completely lost. "Because our chances of survival are highest when I am in charge. Or do you think anyone else could stand up to Monokuma?"

Teruteru broke out into laughter so suddenly, it was a bit disturbing. There was no humor in it either, the sound was twisted and almost violent. He was breathing heavily when he said, "So you really don't! It's all just a matter of pride for you!" The grin on his face didn't look quite right.

Naturally, it was. However, Teruteru made it sound judgmental, as if it was a bad thing. As if he could hardly believe it because it was somehow an outlandish concept. Byakuya failed to see how that was the case. "What difference does it make for you what my motives are?"

Teruteru calmed down a bit and the grin was replaced by a bitter little smile. "I don't know. It may not matter for some. But knowing that the person who assured you repeatedly that he wouldn't let you die doesn't give a damn about you does feel rather hollow to me."

Hollow? "Why is that?"

Teruteru stared at him blankly. Eventually, he laid back down with a sigh, his eyes instantly finding the same spot on the ceiling they had been staring at when Byakuya had entered the cottage. His voice was low and toneless, as if he had spent all of his excess energy on his sudden and inexplicable outburst of anger and now he didn't have any strength left to muster another emotion. "You really don't understand anything. Maybe you should look up 'empathy' if we ever get out of here." With that strange remark, he pulled the blanket up to his chin and turned his back to Byakuya. "Could you leave now? I don't want to talk anymore."

As he didn't know what else he could do—he didn't even know what had caused this conversation to get so out of hand!—Byakuya said, "Putting all that aside, my point still stands. Stop starving yourself. That won't help anyone."

Teruteru answered with a snort as Byakuya left him alone again.


"Seeing as you are a nurse, I assume you care a lot about other people."

Mikan jabbed the cotton ball moistened with antiseptic just a little too hard into his wound and Byakuya hissed, withdrawing his arm. Mortified, the girl looked up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

Giving her a disgruntled look and cradling his arm protectively close to himself, he told her, "I'd hope so. And I would appreciate it if you didn't do it again."

"I'm really sorry!" she whimpered, hiding her head under her arms. "Y-your question startled me…"

Maybe talking to her while she was busy treating his arm in his room had been a bad idea after all. The thought had just come to him so suddenly and it had seemed like a good opportunity. Reluctantly, he held out his arm for her to continue, which she did, now with almost too extreme caution.

Her meticulous treatment over the past few days really did show, however. The wound had healed a lot faster than he had at first anticipated and she had told him earlier that she would be able remove the stitches soon. He was still instructed not to put much strain on it for the time being, but Mikan herself had expressed her delight at seeing the exceptionally quick healing process.

Nagito was the same. For as serious as his injury had been, he was healing very fast and Mikan expected him to be able to walk again soon. Byakuya wondered if the island climate had something to do with it.

"Uhmm… I'm sorry, you were t-trying to ask me something…" Mikan reminded him after a few minutes of silence.

"Are you sure it's okay to talk now?"

Her face turned a very dark shade of red. "I-I'm prepared for it now. I just didn't… expect it before."

He watched her for another minute, but when she started to squirm and show signs of discomfort, he felt it might be safer to ask her anyway, to avoid her messing up again due to her growing nervousness. "Yes, I had been wondering about your profession. I assume you would need to have a lot of empathy and care for your patients?"

Mikan shifted restlessly. "Uh. I… I guess."

Not a very reassuring answer, but it would have to do. "I was speaking to Teruteru earlier and it appears there is something on his mind. He hasn't been eating well and he acts rather apathetic, but he wouldn't tell me what was wrong with him." Well, when he wasn't yelling, that was.

Mikan's head snapped up. "Do you want me to take a look at him?" she asked, almost eagerly.

"I don't think that's necessary," he said. "It isn't that serious yet. But I was wondering if you might have an idea what could be on his mind?"

"Well…" She chanced a glance up, but before they could even make eye contact, she quickly looked down again. "I would a-assume that he is still worried about his mother."

"His mother?"

She nodded hesitantly. "He did say that she was ill, didn't he?"

Byakuya thought back to the conversation they had after the attack and remembered him saying something like that. "But what use is worrying if he is stuck on this island? He won't be able to find out what happened to her until we find a way to leave," he said. In a way, it reminded him of Schrödinger's Cat. As long as they couldn't get in touch with the outside world, she could be both alive and dead.

Mikan was silent for a while as she finished swabbing his arm with the cotton ball and started bandaging it with fresh gauze. Eventually, she asked a question Byakuya didn't expect. "P-please forgive me for asking, but y-you're not very close with your family, are you?"

"No," he told her, curious where she was going with this.

Again, the moment of silence stretched until he got a little annoyed at her.

"I've n-never…," she finally said, then she shook her head and started over. "I'm not very close with my parents either. B-but to a lot of people, they are very important. They wouldn't want them to be hurt, much less d-die. It might be hard to understand for us because we don't have that same… uhm… connection to them."

Byakuya was silent, thinking about what she had said as she fixed the gauze, having finished her work.

When Mikan closed the first-aid kit, she kept her hand on the lid, staring down at it. "It's not an… an accurate comparison, but t-try to imagine the most important person to you. What would you do if they were ill and you couldn't even v-visit them? I-Imagine what you would do if they were dying…"

The most important person in his life? Byakuya blinked down at her. He tried to think of someone, but somehow, nobody came to mind.

His family was just that—blood relatives. They were significant in the sense of giving him a biological heritage and making him the heir to the company when it had still existed. However, they weren't exactly important to him on a deeply emotional level.

Apart from them, there were… his friends from Hope's Peak, he figured. They were important to him, as they had been forced to form a team for survival, building a net of support. He didn't know about their circumstances at this moment in time, but knowing about their synergy, he could only assume that they were fine. Even if the outside world was dangerous in its current state, they could survive just fine without him, Byakuya was confident in that. Kyoko might be aggravating more often than not, but she was competent enough to make up for the incompetence of their weakest group members.

But what if they couldn't survive that easily? Just to explore that hypothetical scenario. He imagined what he might feel if the last memory he had of his friends was that they were swarmed by a group of despairful, violent survivors. Byakuya frowned. The thought of them dying was… unpleasant, truly. He wrinkled his brow at the mere idea.

Despite that, he felt like he still couldn't grasp what had made Teruteru so… emotional. Apparently, he placed even more importance than that on his mother. And judging from both Teruteru's reaction and Mikan's explanation, it was something that he should be able to understand. The only problem was: he didn't.

He understood that Teruteru was upset. But upset enough to cry his eyes out and scream at him?

Unbidden, the image of Teruteru, furious and close to tears overlapped with one of a different person. They were so similar in his mind that he didn't even notice the way his thoughts shifted initially. Only when he heard the echo of her voice did he notice that the red and white clothes weren't part of a chef's uniform but a sports jacket over a tank top and that the gravity-defying hairstyle belonged to Asahina.

The expression was nearly the same, though. Her eyes glaring daggers at him while tears were running down her reddened cheeks. Of course. He had seen it before. Teruteru was just as distraught as the swimmer, right after Sakura had died. Before she had known that the death of her friend had been a suicide.

Back then, Asahina had been willing to kill them all as well. No, not just them. She had been ready to give her own life along with everyone else. Just for the sake of another person who couldn't be saved anymore.

Byakuya hadn't understood it back then, either. Still couldn't, really. How they could both be so affected and distraught by the death of a family member or a friend. He couldn't imagine himself in a similar position.

But at the same time, he felt like he was slowly starting to figure it out. He knew that other people had different reactions to things, naturally. He had never made the mistake of judging others by his own standards, or so he had told himself before. He had considered the possibility that other people were motivated by other things than himself. What he had always neglected to take into account… were relationships.

He hadn't seen them as more than a natural occurrence. Humans were social. Connections formed. It was normal for that to happen. But that they could be such a huge influence on people's behavior…

Maybe he had underestimated them.

Byakuya sighed. Humans were truly complex creatures. Naturally, he hadn't just figured that out, but his… well… somewhat lacking knowledge when it came to the finer points of emotions and relationships had never been a hindrance before. He would have to look into this more if he wanted to truly understand them.

"Thank you," he said, and Mikan's head snapped up to look at him with wide eyes. "I feel like I'm starting to see what I couldn't before."


A/N: And with that, what would be "chapter 1" if this followed the typical Danganronpa formula is finally done, with 16 surviving students.