Guys, I gotta admit, I was a bit overwhelmed by the responses on the last chapter. You're the best.
Chapter 16: Changes
Well before Monokuma's morning announcement, Byakuya climbed out of bed and got ready for the day. He wasn't looking forward to the trouble the coming discussion would bring—and there would be trouble, he was sure of that. Knowing this bunch, someone was going to oppose him in some way, just for the principle of it. He could just hope that, somehow, he was wrong and the breakfast meeting would go down without a hitch, despite how unlikely that was.
First things first. Before he could think about getting breakfast over with, he would have to get there. And he would have to take Mahiru with him after he had promised her as much yesterday, so he left his cottage and made his way over to hers. He rang the bell and saw her head appear behind the window a moment later. Good to know she was cautious. He was even more satisfied when he heard the door unlock before she came out.
"Finally! I could barely sleep! I was so nervous the whole night!" she said immediately.
Not wanting to engage in unnecessary small-talk, Byakuya acknowledged her with a court "Come on" and started to walk over to the hotel briskly.
"Hey, wait!" she said, hurrying to follow him. "Don't just leave! Would you mind explaining to me what's going on first?"
The day had barely started and he was already getting pestered. Hadn't he given her all the necessary information yesterday? "Like I said, the game might make you a target. Therefore, you should be as careful as possible."
"Seriously? I know that much already. I want to know who might… be after me."
He slowed down to a pace she could catch up to as his face darkened. "There is no need—"
"Jeez! Talking to you is so aggravating! Just give me a name!" she interrupted him with a frustrated edge to her voice. "How am I supposed to be careful if I don't know who might want to harm me? You owe me that much." When he didn't answer immediately, she added, "If you don't tell me, I'll just play the game myself, no matter what you say. You can't keep me in the dark when I'm directly involved."
Well… she kind of had a point. He didn't want the information to spread, but she had to know who to be wary of.
"It's Fuyuhiko," Byakuya said quietly after he had assured himself that there was nobody nearby who could overhear them. "Don't go around telling anyone else. I don't want him to find out about it and play the game. He's being difficult as it is; that's all the more reason to keep him from finding out he could hold a grudge against someone."
Her face was pale and she nodded slowly. "But why? What does he have against me?"
Thankfully, they had already arrived at the hotel, so Byakuya used this as an excuse to dodge the question. "We shouldn't talk about this when someone could easily overhear us. Rest assured that various security measures will be put in place. For one, you will be assigned a bodyguard. I'll explain it all further once everyone is assembled. Come on now." Ignoring her resigned groan, he went up the stairs leading to the dining room.
"We're not done with this conversation," she hissed as he opened the door.
"I figured."
Predictably, they were among the first to arrive. Akane was already eating heartily at one of the tables, while Mikan was still rummaging around in the kitchen. When Byakuya and Mahiru went in to get their own food, she greeted them and hurriedly went out of their way to sit down at a table in the corner.
Once they had taken a seat themselves, Mahiru joining him at the table he claimed, she kept shooting him annoyed glances while they ate. It was a little irritating, but he did his best to ignore her. Unfortunately, Hiyoko soon showed up as well. She spotted them immediately, marched over to their table and built herself up in front of them with her hands on her hips.
"Why are you sitting next to Mahiru?" she asked.
He rolled his eyes and kept eating.
She didn't yield. "She looks like you're bothering her."
"If she didn't want to sit at the same table as me, she could've chosen another one," he said.
Mahiru tried to placate her. "It's fine, Hiyoko. Why don't you sit with us?"
Oh yes, of course. That was just what he needed. An annoying brat in the morning. Byakuya cursed them both internally.
With pursed lips and narrowed eyes, Hiyoko stared him down for a moment longer, perhaps contemplating whether she should continue making a fuss or not. Then she swiftly turned around with a huff and strode to the kitchen herself.
Byakuya sighed. This was the second person being difficult already. And he hadn't even made his announcement yet.
Why was he trying to protect them again?
Mahiru sat up a little straighter all of a sudden and Byakuya looked up to see that Fuyuhiko had just entered the room. He ignored everyone else and just focused on getting some food, which was a good thing because Mahiru couldn't seem to take her eyes off him. Byakuya gave her a minute, but when she didn't stop staring, he muttered under his breath, "You're being way too obvious. Stop looking."
"Well, excuse me for being a bit nervous," she hissed right back. Still, she forced her eyes back on her plate and took a few deep breaths. "I'm trying."
She still stole some glances at Fuyuhiko, Byakuya noticed, but at least not quite as noticeably now.
"Did something happen?"
Mahiru jumped when Hiyoko suddenly appeared back at their table with a full plate in her hand. A look of concern appeared on her face when she witnessed Mahiru's reaction. In seconds, she switched to glaring at Byakuya instead, as if he was somehow at fault.
"No. No, it's all good. Sorry, I didn't sleep well, I'm just a bit… out of it today," Mahiru tried to reassure her friend quickly with a forced smile.
Hiyoko searched her face for a moment in contemplation. "…Alright," she finally said and sat down slowly, though she kept looking at the photographer with a frown.
They somehow managed to not draw attention from Fuyuhiko or anyone else until everyone else had arrived as well. It was probably due to the fact that Mahiru just continued picking at her food and Hiyoko kept blissfully quiet.
Byakuya stood up once they were all there. "Listen up, everyone," he spoke, demanding their attention. "As we are all present now, I would like to announce something."
"Is this about the video game?" Ibuki asked immediately.
"More or less. The video game is part of it, but it's more than that." He let his gaze sweep across the room, a few curious faces looking back at him. "We played the game last night and Chiaki can confirm that it shouldn't affect you, even if you were to play it. It tells a dumb story Monokuma created to bait a reaction from us. Nothing indicates that there is even a grain of truth to it."
He met Chiaki's eyes and she nodded calmly. "Yes, that's true."
Whispers started to arise at some tables, so Byakuya raised his voice to silence them. "I want you all to treat the game as what it is. A nonsensical attempt by Monokuma to get a rise out of us. And a poor one at that." He paused for dramatic effect. "Still, Chiaki and I met up with a few other students afterwards to discuss something else. A project I want you to participate in."
"Which other students were involved?" Gundham wanted to know.
"Nekomaru, Sonia and Hajime."
Fuyuhiko scoffed. "Figures."
Byakuya continued as if he hadn't heard him, "As you know, Nekomaru is the Ultimate Team Manager, so you can be assured that we made our decisions based on an expert's opinion on this topic."
"Aww, you're making me blush," Nekomaru butted in with a wide grin, rubbing the back of his neck and most definitely not blushing.
"We came up with a system to further a sense of community and incite collaboration among the students first and foremost. Beyond that, it is meant to ensure that we have a security net in place."
"A security net for what?" Hiyoko looked up at him with eyes full of scrutiny. He met them levelly.
"As I said before, I expect you to be smart," he replied. "As long as we are on this island, we should try to work together as well as we possibly can. We all know that Monokuma is not to be trusted and that all of his promises are empty. In the unlikely event that someone does feel like they want to make the same mistake as Nagito or Teruteru, the buddy system we have in mind will act as a preventative measure to dissuade them of the idea."
A noise of ridicule came from the table Fuyuhiko occupied alone. Byakuya glanced at him and the yakuza heir resumed eating. Thankfully, the other students seemed to have a more curious reaction about the explanation than an outright negative one.
"A buddy system? How exactly does that work?" Mahiru said, making him look back at her. Thankfully, she seemed to have calmed down a little. If he hadn't known how nervous she had been minutes ago, he wouldn't have guessed that there was anything wrong.
"I was getting to that. It is quite simple. Every one of you will get a buddy assigned for the duration of our stay. You and your buddy will be one unit and spend most of your time together. No one gets to play the lone wolf here. You will be responsible for each other and you will be expected to work together and help each other."
Byakuya paused. Somehow, the students didn't look convinced. Even those who appeared to be receptive to the idea before were looking a little skeptical.
"He's making it sound a bit stricter than we intended it to be," Nekomaru spoke up again. "The whole responsibility thing may sound a little intimidating at first but it really isn't that big of a deal. We just want you to look after each other. You can do that easily by spending some time together. Wanna go to the beach or visit the farm? Take your buddy with you. That's all it really is."
The students were listening to Nekomaru attentively, so Byakuya let him continue.
"We've all been rather slow in getting to know each other properly, wouldn't you say? We're hoping that some friendships will grow from these interactions. We're all on a school trip to a tropical island, so why don't we enjoy it a little and relax? Let's leave the tension of the last few days behind us and start over." He beamed at them.
Here and there, students were nodding their heads. Ibuki exclaimed loudly, "Yeah, let's!" while rocking back with her chair and throwing her fist in the air.
"Right," Byakuya picked up from there. In spite of himself, he was a little impressed with how easily the coach had handled this. "As for the security net, another set of eyes never hurts. Spending time with a fixed partner will automatically be safer than wandering around alone. You can pay attention that your buddy isn't attacked or does not attack anyone else. Buddies attacking each other wouldn't make sense either, not with everyone knowing which students are paired up. The respective buddy would just be the first person we suspect. Furthermore, should something happen, it is always a good thing to know that as many people as possible are accounted for."
"What's he talking about?" Akane asked with her mouth full. His disgust was only overshadowed by the surprise that she had paid attention at all. She had looked rather busy pigging out on her second helping.
"He probably means that everyone has an alibi," Ibuki said.
Byakuya wanted to reprimand her for still balancing her chair on only two legs but figured that if she fell over it would be entirely on her.
"Yes, that's one aspect. Though I doubt it will come to that. Of course, you don't have to spend every waking minute with your partner," he recited what Nekomaru had discussed with him after the others had left last night. "We want you to stick together as much as possible and that implies that you would generally spend more time with your buddy than with anyone else. However, as long as you stay near the hotel, you may mingle as you like or keep to yourself if you prefer. We just ask you to take your buddy with you if you want to visit a different location. If your buddy is unavailable at the time, you can naturally join a different pair. We just don't want you to walk around the island alone, for the aforementioned reasons. Also, nightly excursions are forbidden. There is no reason for you to roam around at night. You're just begging for something to happen if you do. All of these measures will be implemented for your own safety, so I expect you to heed them."
He looked around to gauge their reactions. When they just stared back at him, he asked, "Is that acceptable?"
"I guess," Kazuichi said. He was resting his head on the hand he had propped up on the table. "I mean, it doesn't sound all that bad."
Mikan fidgeted a little in her seat, her eyes darting around the room to see how everyone else reacted. She looked uncomfortable but was apparently too shy to say anything.
"You said you already determined the pairs beforehand?" Peko asked.
"Yes," Byakuya confirmed.
Before he could continue, Gundham spoke up with narrowed eyes. "You not only demand for us to make a pact with one other but you also judge which bonds shall be forged by yourself? Who gave you that kind of power?"
There it was. The first protest. "We came up with the best possible pairs considering the circumstances. Rest assured we gave proper consideration for every single student. You will just have to accept our choice."
Still clearly unhappy, Gundham leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms defiantly.
"What he said is true," Sonia spoke up in support. "We did our very best and we hope you will be happy with our picks." She then turned to Gundham with a graceful smile. "We decided for instance that I would be best suited to be your partner. Will you accept me?"
As he looked at her, his face relaxed a bit, his expression turning from hostile to contemplative.
Protest came from an unexpected source. Well, maybe not completely unexpected. Kazuichi sat up straight, his gaze wandering between the two. "Now, wait just a minute! Miss Sonia is supposed to be Gundham's buddy?!"
In the meantime, Gundham seemed to have issued a judgement and nodded his head. "I see potential in you. Very well then. I will accept you as my disciple and teach you everything I know about the Dark Arts!"
"I will do my very best to follow your instructions!"
"No, seriously, we can't just let Miss Sonia get tainted like that!" Kazuichi insisted. "She should have a partner more suited for—"
"Silence!" Sonia's forceful demand was accompanied by a cutting motion of her hand.
Kazuichi recoiled in shock and ducked his head immediately. "Gah! I'm sorry for speaking out of line!"
Gundham smiled in satisfaction. "I see now that I was right. Your voice carries unimaginable power. It must have been a blessing bestowed upon you by the Gods! Let us seal this pact in blood."
"Ah!" Mikan apparently found her voice again. "You- you really shouldn't cut yourself on purpose!"
"She is right, something like that is not necessary. You are just supposed to spend time together, not become blood brothers or some such nonsense," Byakuya said, rubbing his forehead. As much as he hated agreeing with Kazuichi of all people, he was starting to think that this particular pair might not have been the best idea after all. He could only hope that Sonia was headstrong enough not to let Gundham influence her too much.
"But…" Kazuichi seemed to recover from the instant rejection to inquire, "Who's gonna be my partner, then?"
Great. He was originally going to speak about this particular pair right at the end, since he was planning on taking Kazuichi aside to discuss the details with him later. "You will be paired with Teruteru. I will tell y—"
"What!" He shook his head so fiercely, it had to have hurt. "No way. Nooo way. I'm not getting all buddy-buddy with a murderer!"
Byakuya scowled at him. "Don't be overly dramatic. First of all, Teruteru is not a murderer. Secondly, we did think this all through. We wouldn't have made this decision if we thought you could be in any actual danger."
"How would you know? Huh? How? You're just saying that to make me agree! But I won't, you hear? There's no—"
"You will!" Byakuya ordered. "And that decision is final. Since Teruteru is a special case, I will speak to you after everyone else knows who their partner is."
It was abundantly clear that Kazuichi still wanted to protest. He struggled with himself for a moment, his mouth working silently and eyes darting around the room. Then he suddenly folded in on himself, slouching his shoulders and resting his forehead on the table while holding his head with both hands. "This is so unfair," he could be heard whimpering. "Why me? Whatever did I do? Where is the justice?"
Byakuya rolled his eyes. What a drama queen.
"Damn, he's pathetic," Hiyoko said with a giggle.
The legs of Ibuki's chair landed on the ground with twin clacks. "So, what about the other pairs?" she asked, completely ignoring Kazuichi's breakdown.
Deciding that it would be best to do the same, Byakuya took a moment to recall the list. "You will be paired with Hiyoko."
He hoped that they would be able to work through the rest of the pairs faster, as he didn't want to waste too much time with it.
Hiyoko put a spoke in that particular wheel. "No, she won't! I wanna be with Mahiru!"
He scowled at her. "Mahiru will be paired with Peko," he said with finality. Honestly, couldn't he announce a single pair without launching a discussion?
"What?!" Hiyoko whirled around to stare at the swordswoman. When she turned back, she gave Byakuya the dirtiest look. "Why her of all people?"
Most of the other students seemed just as surprised as her. Even Fuyuhiko briefly looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Wow, that's random," he muttered and immediately proceeded to ignore them again.
"It is what we decided on. Now, if we can move on—"
"No, we can't!" Hiyoko clearly wasn't done. Byakuya fought the urge to roll his eyes. "If you want us to spend time together then maybe pick pairs that actually fit! I don't want a buddy that's not Mahiru!"
"Why don't you just switch them if she's got a problem with it?" Akane commented indifferently.
"Ibuki doesn't mind either way!"
This was Kazuichi's cue to rouse from his sulking. "Why does she get to switch and I don't!?"
"Nobody gets to switch!" Byakuya said loudly. "The pairs are all final and I don't want to hear any more complaints!"
"Then give me a reason!" Hiyoko demanded, like the spoiled child she was. "Just one reason why I shouldn't be with Mahiru!"
Byakuya wanted to kill himself. Or her. Preferably her.
Unexpectedly, Mahiru herself spoke up. "Hiyoko, it's alright. We can still hang out either way."
"What? How can you be...? How can you just agree with this? Why…" Hiyoko trailed off, frowning. Then she looked between Byakuya and Mahiru, eyes narrowing. "Alright, what did he do?"
"What," he said flatly.
Mahiru seemed equally confused. "What do you mean?"
"He did something, didn't he? You've been weird all morning! You can tell me, you know. You don't have to listen to this idiot."
"You're delusional."
She whirled around with fury in her eyes. "Oh, am I? So, you're saying I just imagined how uncomfortable she was? She never sits with you! Why would she start now? Besides, I saw the way she looked at you. I'm not blind! I don't know why she defends you, but you must have done something to intimidate her."
"Hiyoko, please. It's nothing he did."
Even her friend's interjection didn't stop her from glaring at him. "Then something he said! I know you wouldn't just accept this nonsense if there wasn't a—"
"I might be a target." Mahiru's voice was barely more than a whisper, yet her words carried over to every corner of the room. She might as well have shouted it at the top of her lungs.
Byakuya's head snapped to her. "What are you thinking?" he hissed through gritted teeth. "Why would you just blurt that out?"
Noise erupted from the other tables. Fantastic. This was exactly what he had wanted to avoid.
A suddenly very still Hiyoko now slowly turned her head to stare at her friend who was looking down with an insecure expression on her face. "Mahiru?" she asked, surprisingly quiet. "You're…"
Whatever she was going to say, it got drowned out by the other voices. It was almost as if they encouraged each other to get louder and louder until it was impossible to ignore them.
"Yeah right, the game is not important my ass!"
"Answer me, which other secrets did you keep from us?"
"What if it's not just her and we're all in danger?"
They were all talking over each other. Ticked off, Byakuya closed his eyes and took a deep breath, both to calm himself down and to shout, "Shut up!" over the din.
They gradually quieted down and he stared down every single one of them. "I would like to point out to you that this changes nothing. Everything I told you about the game is the truth. It is pointless. Monokuma used it to tell a story in order to give someone a reason to attack Mahiru. That's it. As I said, this story is most likely a fabrication. You need to ignore this silly game, especially if you're going to react like this and get into a panic over nothing."
"How do we know that's not just another lie? What if more of us could be targeted and you're just keeping quiet about it? You weren't going to tell us about Mahiru either! We could—"
"I didn't tell you about Mahiru because it doesn't concern you," he cut through Kazuichi's ramblings and turned to look at the girl in question. "Let me ask you this. Did I take the time to warn you last night after we played the game?"
"You did," she said.
"Did I then pick you up this morning and accompany you here to make sure nothing will happen to you?"
She nodded.
He raised his gaze to give the protesters a pointed look. "So, is there anyone else I warned about a potential danger?"
They remained silent.
"You'd think that if I bothered to warn one possible target that I would warn everyone else who might be in danger as well, right?"
"Maybe you—" Kazuichi started again, hesitantly this time, but Byakuya didn't even let him continue.
"The reason," he said with emphasis, "why Mahiru is paired with Peko is so that Peko can protect her in an emergency. You can insist on being unreasonable or you can accept the fact that we gave this quite a bit of thought. We discussed this matter thoroughly and this is the solution we found. If everyone follows the rules, nobody should be in any danger."
Sonia added gravely, "Byakuya is right. We did our best to come up with a plan. We all want you to be safe, so please, I ask you to put some trust into our decisions and participate in this project. For all of our sakes."
Kazuichi grimaced but didn't protest anymore. Just when Byakuya started to think that they had managed to finally convince them, Hiyoko proved him wrong.
"I still wanna be paired with Mahiru. And I won't accept anything else."
"Weren't you listening just now?" he snapped at her. "We assigned Peko as her bodyguard because—"
"I heard what you said!" Hiyoko said firmly. She took one look at Mahiru, who looked back curiously, then she turned back to Byakuya, determination in her eyes. "It's exactly because Mahiru might be in danger that I cannot let her be with anyone else."
Byakuya frowned. "That makes no sense. Listen to reason already, will you? Peko is the safest option for Mahiru."
"No, she's not. What if she exploits the situation? You know who might want to attack her, don't you?" When he nodded, she said, "What if Peko kills her instead, knowing that there's someone with a better motive? Why would we suspect the bodyguard?"
With a scowl, he said, "That's exactly why I didn't want this to be public knowledge. If you hadn't thrown a fit, this wouldn't even be an issue."
"Tch, word would've gotten out at some point anyway. You don't really expect everyone to keep their hands off the game, do you? You'd be really naïve to think that. My point is, we can't take the risk and just leave her alone with Peko. Have you seen her? She's an emotionless brick wall! You really think she wouldn't do everything to get off this island if she thought she could get away with it?"
"I don't care if you don't trust me," Peko spoke up, looking completely unfazed and living up to the metaphorical brick wall quite nicely, "but do not insinuate things about me."
"I'll insinuate what I want! In fact, I could say the same about every single one in this room! I can't put Mahiru's life in any random person's hands! I need to know she's safe!"
Byakuya snorted. "With the kind of show you're pulling off here, who says you're not planning the exact same thing you're accusing others of?"
Hiyoko exploded. She jumped up, her chair screeching over the floor, and slammed her hands on the table. "EXCUSE ME?!"
Byakuya winced. His ears were ringing.
She leaned over the table and stared at him with all the fury she possessed. Byakuya wasn't sure if she wasn't about to reach over in an attempt to strangle him. The only thing missing to complete the picture of a rabid animal was her foaming at the mouth.
"You're honestly saying I might hurt Mahiru!?"
Well, it wasn't foam, but Byakuya could feel spittle land on his face and he wiped it off with a glare. Gross. "That's what I said."
She stared him down for a few seconds, red-faced and breathing heavily. "I could never hurt her," she finally said. "Mahiru is the nicest person on this island! She's… she's always helping people and she always wants everyone to be the best they can and…"
She was interrupted by a hiccup and Byakuya raised an eyebrow in surprise when he realized that her eyes were suspiciously wet.
"She's my friend. I'd never hurt her. I can't even stand the thought of her getting hurt. And if you honestly think I'd ever do anything to her, then I… then fuck you!" She quickly raised her sleeve to wipe off the tear that spilled from her eye.
Byakuya wasn't impressed. "Even if you don't have any bad intentions, the fact doesn't change that you can't protect her."
Hiyoko was quiet for a moment. Then she straightened up and her demeanor changed. Her puffy eyes, filled with rage just a second ago, were suddenly void of emotion. A shadow fell over her face. Her cheeks were still speckled red, yet when she took turns to look at each individual student, she looked almost intimidating.
"If anyone tries to touch Mahiru, I'll scratch out their eyes, crack open their head and scoop out their brain with a rusty spoon," she said, her voice cold and dark. It wasn't a threat; it was a promise.
For a second, they all sat in stunned silence.
Kazuichi was the one to break it. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Holding his head, he gaped at her in disbelief. "What the hell? That's seriously messed up!"
"Hiyoko, please calm down," Sonia said with a strained smile. "There is no need to go that far."
"Where would you even find a rusty spoon on this island?" Fuyuhiko said, sounding almost bored and not looking at them.
Kazuichi whirled around. "The spoon is not the issue here!"
Byakuya thought Fuyuhiko should honestly make up his mind whether he wanted to participate in the discussion or ignore them. Half of him was surprised that he hadn't tried to leave already. One could only pretend to be a slow eater for so long. Then again, it was more than likely that he was just trying to listen in on their plans. It's what Byakuya would have done in his situation, anyway.
Fuyuhiko notwithstanding, he went on to silence the chatter. "Alright, that's enough." Then he addressed Hiyoko again. "My point still stands. I wasn't asking whether you were willing to protect her or not. I'm saying that you physically can't. That's not something you can just ignore."
"I can protect her and I will!"
How stubborn could a single girl be? He opened his mouth for a retort when another nuisance showed up. Monomi cleared her throat confidently where she stood at the top of the stairs and waddled into the room. "I happened to notice that you are in a bit of trouble. Let me—"
"You were spying on us?" Byakuya interrupted her.
Her optimistic smile was wiped away in an instant. "N-No! It was just very hard not to overhear your conversation. I was going to offer my help."
"Nobody called you. Get lost."
"Wait," Mahiru said unexpectedly.
Byakuya looked at her in anticipation. "What is it?"
She didn't seem very sure of herself, even as she said, "Maybe we should consider it. I mean, she helped us before, didn't she? It might just work."
"You can't be serious." He couldn't keep the disbelief out of his voice. Not that he tried very hard.
"Why not? I trust Hiyoko and—"
"You trust her?" he interjected.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"—and if we're careful and always make sure to have other people around, and when Monomi is also keeping an eye out, we should be fine, right?" she finished as if she hadn't been interrupted.
He looked at her dubiously. The rabbit may have been a help at some points in the past, but it was still Monomi. Could they really task her with anything as important as this while her connection to Monokuma was still unclear?
The rabbit gained back some courage at her words. "I promise I'll do my best to help! I'll keep my eyes and ears open to make sure nobody hurts one of my precious students!"
Byakuya could only think of how this whole teacher thing was getting old. As if anyone actually acknowledged either her or Monokuma as an authority figure.
"I think it's a good idea," Chiaki now also chipped in. "With Monomi as an observer, nobody would be able to do something unnoticed."
"But you can't do anything unless any school rules have been broken, can you?" Byakuya asked pointedly.
One of Monomi's ears twitched. "Uh… no. I can't. Not that I would want to physically restrain my students or anything!" she added quickly, making Byakuya raise an eyebrow at her. "But I can notify the closest person that could help! Or stall for time by placing myself between Mahiru and her attacker!" She puffed herself up proudly.
So, in other words, she was trying to sell herself as a glorified meat shield. He sighed. "Well… it's better than nothing, I suppose."
Her eyes sparkled. "Really? You mean it?"
"Why do you sound so surprised?" Hadn't she come here with this outcome in mind? "Yes, you will be assigned as Mahiru's bodyguard. More or less. Just follow her around and make sure nothing happens to her."
"Understood!" she said, going for a weird kind of salute. Then she faltered. "Wait, isn't the teacher supposed to give out the assignments?"
"You better not be annoying. I don't wanna have you around all the time," Hiyoko said with a haughty look. Byakuya thought that she, as a nuisance herself, really had no room to talk.
Looking slightly dejected, Monomi promised, "You won't even notice me. I'll just watch you from the shadows."
Now, that just sounded ominous.
"Fine. I want to remind you that this unnecessary risk is completely on you," he said, looking at Mahiru who looked back firmly, "but we'll switch the pairs. Ibuki, you will be with Peko."
From Ibuki came an "Okey-dokey!" while Peko simply tipped her head forward in acceptance.
"And Hiyoko will be paired with Mahiru." He gave the girls a piercing glance. "I'm just telling you now, if there's even so much as a hint that this might put her at risk after all, we are going back to the original plan."
Mahiru nodded. "That's okay."
"Nothing's going to happen," Hiyoko insisted.
"I hope so. For your sake." With that, he resigned himself to paying close attention to those two personally whenever he found the time. The more he thought about it, the more did Monomi sound like a viable option, though he wasn't just going to rely on her. They would have to see how it worked out.
"Alright, let's move on, then." If they continued like this, they would still be sitting here by noon. "Chiaki will be paired with Mikan."
Mikan choked on the water she had just been drinking. Chiaki, who was sitting next to her presumably because she knew that they would be paired up, patted her on the back to help.
Ignoring her coughing, Byakuya continued, "Akane will be paired with Nekomaru."
"Hell yeah!" Akane shared a grin with Nekomaru across the room, though his was a little less feral.
Well, at least someone was happy with the arrangement. "Fuyuhiko is—"
"Miss me with that shit. I'm not participating."
"How unexpected," Byakuya said under his breath. There was the objection he had anticipated the whole time. He really could have done without the unnecessary yapping from everyone else.
"I don't give a shit about Mahiru, so don't include me in a plan you put together to protect her," Fuyuhiko continued. "It doesn't concern me."
"It's not just for Mahiru's sake. Weren't you listening? We are trying to ensure everyone's safety. Even yours."
"I'm touched, really." Fuyuhiko finally deigned to look at him and rolled his eyes. "Your fucking concern is wasted on me. I can take care of myself without one of your guard dogs hovering around me. I'm not a baby."
"Then don't act like one. You keep throwing one fit after another, like a child. How often do you need to hear it until you get it into your head? We need to work together on this. On everything. If everyone just has their own safety in mind, we won't get anywhere."
"Hmph." And there he was turning away from him again. "So, what about you? I don't see you participating in your own little project."
"I will be taking care of Nagito," he said shortly.
Byakuya saw him blink a few times. "…Right. Forgot about that fucker." He turned his head just far enough to grin at him. "Have fun with him."
Byakuya glared at him. "You can save your sarcasm. This is not a game, no matter what Monokuma says. Would it kill you to cooperate for once?"
"For once?" He twisted on his chair to face him completely. His eyebrows furrowed. "Are you fucking kidding me? You're already forcing me to come to breakfast. Isn't that enough? You can't just add more and more bullshit plans and expect everyone to be okay with that. I told you, I don't care what everyone else does. If they all want to follow your lead like mindless sheep, I'm not about to stop them. But leave me the fuck out of it or I'll stop playing nice. Got it?" With that, he turned back.
"Fuyuhiko…" Hajime started addressing him, only to receive a "Piss off" in return.
"Tch." Once more, Byakuya tried to assert his leadership position. "I don't know what you achieve by being stubborn, aside from showing everyone how unreasonable you are. Hajime will be your partner, whether you agree with it or not."
Fuyuhiko answered with a snort. "Fat fucking chance."
An uncomfortable silence settled over the room. Byakuya was at his wits' end. What more could he do here? He had nothing to bargain with and his words didn't get through to him. He couldn't physically force him. Well, he could try, but… no, scratch that thought. This would end in a disaster. The most important thing to do now was to keep Fuyuhiko from playing the video game. Maybe he wasn't interested in it anymore, but there was no way to know for sure. If he didn't know about the game, he would just be a thorn in his side and nothing more. Byakuya could deal with that. Still, he couldn't leave things as they were. What other option was there?
"Hey, so…" Kazuichi dragged him out of his thoughts and he looked at the mechanic. He was scratching his head with a nervous half-smile, "just a thought, but what if two buddies get along a little too well and… y'know, plan something together? Wouldn't that be more dangerous than someone acting alone?"
Byakuya was stumped for a second, trying to process that.
Ibuki gasped loudly, making him glance in her direction. Next to her, Gundham went from looking at Kazuichi to searching the faces of the other students, his expression darkening with every movement of his eyes. Even Sonia looked a little unsettled.
"Y-you think that might happen?" Mikan asked nervously from a different table.
Fuyuhiko barked a mocking laugh. "So much for that brilliant plan."
Byakuya scowled. Before anyone else could start considering this as a serious possibility, he quickly said, "There is no need to worry about that. A scenario like this would be extremely unlikely."
"How so?" Hiyoko asked. Her brows were tightly knit together.
"Because being an accomplice to a murderer won't have any benefits. Only the one who kills someone will graduate. An accomplice would just get executed with the rest of us. Which means it would be just as stupid to help with a murder as it would be to let someone help. The accomplice could just reveal the blackened to save their own skin. Therefore, you shouldn't worry about this."
"Raaawr!"
Startled, he looked around to see Monokuma jump into the restaurant with his claws out. His red eye glowed menacingly.
"Hey! Stop making up rules about the killing game! That's my job!" he exclaimed.
"What?"
"Shut yer trap!" the bear snapped. "Before more nonsense falls out! That's not how the accomplice rule goes at all!"
Byakuya had a bad feeling about this. "What are you talking about? Only the blackened gets to graduate. You said so yourself."
"Yeah, yeah, if there's only a single killer. However! It's a whole different story when two people team up. You could say they both become the blackened, even if only one of them does the actual killing." As angry as he was when he appeared, his mood changed quickly and he hid his wide smile behind his paws.
No. That was… just wrong. It hadn't worked like that in the last killing game. There had never been any reason for anyone to be an accomplice. Hifumi had died believing that Celeste would kill someone else (who wasn't him) so they would both be blackened. But Hifumi had been an idiot. This, however, …
His stomach dropped. Monokuma was changing the rules.
With the air of a door-to-door salesman, Monokuma spread his stubby arms and said, "Listen up, you suckers! I don't want you to feel like you need to restrain yourself. If you think you'll be more successful with a partner, then go ahead! As a teacher, I need to reward teamwork among my students! How else are you gonna be prepared for when you finally step out into the real world? I want you to make use of all the resources you can access, so you can be as successful as possible. That's every teacher's dream."
He wiped away an imaginary tear, before he continued, "If two people work together to kill one of their fellow students, they both become blackened and if they're not found out, both of them will get to graduate together! Isn't that wonderful?"
Byakuya's breath caught in his throat. He couldn't believe what he heard. This was by far the worst possible scenario.
"So, what, if two people team up, we'd have to figure out both of them? How're we supposed to do that?" Hajime asked in disbelief.
"Especially if we do not know whether there are two blackened or one," Sonia added.
"Now, now!" Monokuma held up both paws in a placatory way. "That would be a bit one-sided, wouldn't it? Don't you worry your empty little heads. This is a game of high risk, high reward after all. As long as at least one blackened is found out, both of them will get punished. It's only fair." He finished with a sharp-toothed grin.
Byakuya gritted his teeth to stop himself from protesting. This was all wrong. There had never been any such rule.
Ah, but… that was exactly the problem, wasn't it? There never had been any rule established about this. Not in this killing game. And Monokuma used that to his advantage to twist the rules into what served him best. Of course, now that they were all going to be walking around in pairs, he was telling them that two people could kill someone together without one of them drawing the shorter stick.
Byakuya wanted to call him out on it, but all that would accomplish would be him losing the other students' trust. He would have to explain to them how he had already been in a previous killing game. And to what end? It would just result in them overreacting. He doubted that anyone would stay calm and realize that he was just doing what was best for them.
Apart from that, Monokuma had now established a new rule for this game. Even if Byakuya revealed what he knew, the bear wouldn't reinstate the previous one. He had no reason to. The current rule would stay in effect either way.
Reluctantly, he kept his mouth shut.
He was so lost in his own furious thoughts, he almost missed Monokuma's following rant. "And when I mean accomplice, I mean you gotta really work together. Plan and execution. I don't care if only one of you ends the poor bastard you choose as a victim, but I won't accept some bullshit like 'Oh, one of us did all the work and the other one just gave them an alibi' or 'Well, we planned the murder independently from each other, but we realized we had picked the same victim by accident when we were in the middle of killing them'! Got that? I want a nice equal distribution of labor if you both want a passing grade!"
Silence settled over the room, even as Monokuma marched out again, cackling all the way. Byakuya felt his control over the situation slip away. Nothing went his way lately. The evening meeting was interrupted by a new motive, Fuyuhiko looked more and more like he could pose an actual problem beyond throwing insults, and now even his carefully thought-out counter measure to the video game motive was used against him. He felt a little helpless, which didn't suit him in the least.
"What are we going to do now?"
He looked up to see Hajime waiting for him to answer his question, a silent plea in his eyes to tell them what to do. The air was noticeably heavy as nobody had any idea how to proceed from here.
He glanced down for a moment, tracing the pattern of the wooden table with his eyes as he thought. What were the options? Come up with a different plan? Just for Monokuma to pop back up and ruin that one as well? Because that was sure to happen. His timing lately had been proof of that.
It was plain to see that the bear would throw a wrench in the works of whatever he was going to try. Which was annoying, but it also meant that Byakuya was doing a good job of opposing him. Enough so that Monokuma saw it necessary to go out of his way to give them more reasons or opportunities to kill each other. He had prevented a murder already and he would continue to do so.
It would be a little more difficult now to keep them all in line with the new rule in place, but it was still the best plan they had for the moment. Besides, if he decided to cancel it, he would just admit defeat in a way. That was utterly unacceptable. He wasn't going to back down.
He looked back up, determination settling on his face. "We will go forward with the buddy system as discussed. Committing a crime together with your partner would be foolish. We all know who might have worked together. Hence, there is no need for you to panic. Just try to connect with your buddy for now and don't forget to be cautious. That is all."
Hajime nodded slowly, his gaze wandering to Fuyuhiko's table with a frown.
The table Fuyuhiko had been sitting at, Byakuya realized. Apparently, he had already left the restaurant while he had been distracted. He still hadn't agreed to the project, though Byakuya wasn't sure whether he would have gotten anywhere with him at the moment. He would have to speak to him again later. Maybe if he just touched upon this enough, he would give in eventually. He couldn't let up.
Here and there, more students started to get up when they realized that the meeting was over. Byakuya sat for another moment, contemplating their situation once again, before he stood up as well to take Kazuichi aside. He wanted to accompany him to Teruteru and tell both of them how things would proceed for them from here on out and give Kazuichi the key to Teruteru's cottage.
As he approached the mechanic, he told himself that it would all work out. They would make it work somehow.
A/N: Next chapter on the 15th or 16th of August, depending on when I'll have more time. Small teaser until then:
By all means, Byakuya could be a normal student and she could just be overthinking things.
Though that didn't explain why he had entered the simulation a few minutes later than everyone else.
