I updated the recap document (link on my profile) and listed the teams there, so it's fine if you don't remember them all.
Chapter 17: Making Connections
By the time Byakuya was done giving a sulking Kazuichi instructions on what to do with Teruteru and left the cook's lodge, he had a headache and was desperate for a break. Running after all of these nutjobs like an underappreciated kindergarten teacher was way too exhausting. How anyone could willingly choose any type of caregiving job was beyond him.
A part of him longed to be back with his own classmates, even if Toko would probably dog him again. Were he a sentimental person, he may have said he missed them. But since he wasn't, he just decided that it was just his growing resentment of the students on this island that made him wish for the idiots he knew.
He took his time preparing a few slices of toast for Nagito, just to have a bit of a breather. When he finally entered the lodge and handed him the plate, Byakuya received a genuine sounding "Thank you for the food" from him. Nagito himself made no comment about how it was almost noon; his stomach made the complaint for him. Byakuya couldn't find it in himself to care.
After filling up the water jug and placing it back by the bed, he sat down on the small couch and watched the other boy eat for a while, not really thinking anything.
Nagito looked up after he finished the first slice and returned his gaze with a smile. Byakuya had no idea what it meant.
Unbidden, his thoughts wandered back to Chiaki's request. He was supposed to understand Nagito's point of view? That girl was way too optimistic. What did she expect him to find out?
"Say," he began, then he faltered. What was he even supposed to say? Hadn't he already asked for the reason behind his actions? Was he really going to ask the same question again?
"Yes?" Nagito asked after he swallowed a bite.
Well, Teruteru's reasoning had to do with his past, so was it such a big stretch to assume the same of Nagito? Byakuya barely knew anything about him anyway.
"I am curious about your life," he finally said.
Nagito halted with his toast halfway to his mouth. Gradually, he lowered his hand again. "My life? What about it?"
"Why don't you tell me something about your past? Your childhood, maybe? I would like to know more about you."
Nagito looked a little confused, though that didn't stop the small bashful smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "I'm flattered that you seem to have taken an interest in me. Though I'm afraid you might find me a little disappointing. The only remarkable thing about me is my extreme luck." He took another bite as he mulled it over. "Well, in a way, it is absolute power, but it would be more impressive if I had any control over it."
Absolute power…? Byakuya leaned forward in his seat. "What do you mean?"
"I guess I should start from the beginning," he said, putting down his toast.
Then he started talking.
What followed was an unbelievable tale of a hijacked plane, dead parents and a kidnapping. Byakuya grew more incredulous with every event Nagito recounted. Still, he kept his thoughts to himself and just listened with narrowed eyes while Nagito told him about all the horrible things that happened to him without a hint of sorrow. His eyes were clear and honest, his lips quirked up in the flash of a smile now and then as he remembered. He didn't hesitate or stumble over his words even once. When he was finished, he resumed eating like nothing was wrong.
Byakuya briefly considered that it could be one elaborate lie. This kind of backstory was way too outlandish for any one person to have. Though something told him that it wasn't.
It disturbed him. Even more so how Nagito had been so casual and dismissive of it as well as the way he had categorized everything into good and bad luck. It sounded like Nagito really believed what he said. That all of those terrible incidents just served to balance out the good luck that inevitably followed. Though Byakuya wondered about that.
Was any of that even good luck at all? From what Nagito said, his good luck apparently revolved a lot around gaining money. A large inheritance, a win of the lottery? All in exchange for… what, trauma?
Yes, wealth was important. Byakuya would be the last person to deny that. However, and he couldn't believe he even thought that, it also wasn't everything in life. Maybe a few years ago, he would have said it was. No, even then he would have realized that he could make billions on his own without relying on his inheritance and that the death of his parents wasn't a necessary sacrifice. Even if Nagito didn't have a high net worth like himself, surely he would realize that he would have gotten this money eventually anyway? By the sound of it, he didn't have any siblings, so there would have been no question about that. It wasn't like this money had come from nowhere. It had already been in his family from the start.
Not to mention, how was the meteor crashing into the plane good luck when it killed his parents in the process? Wouldn't that make the hijacking as well as the meteor double bad luck for something that wasn't even good luck in the end? How was any of that balanced?
The only lucky thing about this whole thing was the winning ticket for the lottery, but even then, there were people who won the lottery without getting kidnapped by a murderer in the process.
"Your illness," he said, suddenly remembering. "What about that? Do you also consider that part of your luck cycles?"
"Oh, of course." The answer came immediately. "Right after I got the diagnosis, I received a letter telling me I had been accepted into Hope's Peak Academy."
Byakuya leaned back and stared out of the window. He didn't understand. This was madness. Going to Hope's Peak when you may not even live long enough to graduate wasn't good luck. It was a waste. Not to mention that they had ended up on this island with Monokuma instead. This was the worst luck imaginable.
It seemed like his previous assumption had been false. This wasn't comparable to Makoto's situation in any way. Byakuya had seen how unlucky his classmate had seemed most of the time, but in the end, his misfortune had usually turned out to be beneficial to him in some way. And even with his random lucky or unlucky incidents, he had managed to live a relatively normal life before coming to Hope's Peak Academy.
Nagito on the other hand was just a walking disaster. All Byakuya could see here was a catastrophic past where he stumbled from one extreme situation to the next. Why did he consider this to be luck at all? Why had the school? Byakuya couldn't wrap his head around it.
"What about you?"
Byakuya regarded him with a puzzled look at the unexpected question.
Thankfully, Nagito picked up on his confusion. "Well, I basically told you the most important events of my life. I thought maybe I would get to hear something about your past as well?"
Oh.
Byakuya hadn't been planning on staying here longer than necessary. And chatting with Nagito without the prospect of finding out something he didn't already know did seem a little pointless. He had been planning to look for Mahiru next to see whether she and Hiyoko had taken all feasible security measures. And he still needed to corner Fuyuhiko somehow.
… Just thinking about that was enough to drag his mood down again. The yakuza heir would just be rebellious and, quite frankly, a pain in the ass to deal with. If Byakuya had a choice, he wouldn't want to see him again for the rest of the week. Not to mention that he didn't expect to make any progress on that particular front anyway…
"Fine. I have another half an hour to spare."
Speaking to Mikan was like trying to carefully move closer to a wild animal without having it run away. It was a matter of patience and gentleness. Chiaki knew that, so she had given her a small gift when she had approached her to gain some points with her from the start. Despite this, Mikan was still nervous and twitchy around her. Asking her if she wanted to do anything in particular had resulted in her devolving into a panicked stuttering mess, so Chiaki had suggested they just stay in the hotel and play a little at the arcades. Thanks to Monokuma, they hadn't gotten to do that yesterday, and Chiaki thought that Mikan might prefer an indoors activity.
She seemed to be correct in her assumption, as Mikan agreed immediately.
Of course, playing in the lobby had the added bonus that Mahiru and Hiyoko had decided to spend some time in the restaurant, so she could pay a little attention to what was going on upstairs as well. When she had checked earlier, right after she had come here with Mikan, Hajime had been sitting with them as well, so there wasn't really anything to worry about. He promised that he would mention it to her if he decided to leave.
Their voices carried faintly down the stairs. Chiaki couldn't understand what they were saying, but it sounded like they were having a relaxed conversation.
It was peaceful; just playing games with Mikan and showing her new inputs for attacks. They tried playing against each other at first, but they quickly realized that it would make more sense for Chiaki to help Mikan win against the AI instead, so they did just that. Mikan was still making distressed noises whenever she was hit, which happened a lot, and she started panicking when the opponent managed to stun her or keep her trapped in a corner. However, Chiaki was a little proud to see that she made some progress. By now she was able to use one simple combo rather consistently, so she took to spamming that most of the time. Now and then she used a different move on accident and Chiaki encouraged her by showing her how to do it again.
She still wished they had Pac-Man instead. It seemed like more of a Mikan game than a random fighting game.
At some point, the lobby door opened and Kazuichi came in, took one look at them and slouched in one of the seats in a corner with a mumbled greeting. He looked like he wanted to be left alone, so she didn't bother him and kept her attention on Mikan.
Apart from explaining some aspects of the game and telling Mikan what her next options would be, Chiaki didn't initiate a proper conversation. Mikan always looked terribly uncomfortable whenever she had to answer a question, so she tried to avoid that. Just spending time together like this was enjoyable in itself.
While they played, her thoughts started to drift to the newest developments. The buddy project, she felt, was a pretty good idea. She had been pondering almost constantly how she could help them all become closer—that was the goal after all—though she hadn't been able to think of anything. It wasn't like her options were unlimited in that regard. She was an observer. Her task was to watch the students while blending in. She wasn't supposed to stand out or draw attention to herself. It was a little frustrating at times.
Therefore, she was glad that Byakuya had taken charge and developed this idea with Nekomaru. It wasn't a perfect solution for all of their problems, but it was a start. It had potential. She was thankful that he was here to help them all, though she still wasn't sure what exactly to think of him.
He was a useful ally, but she could only guess how aware he was of everything. There were so many little things that suggested there was more to him than met the eye, which often made her wonder.
What did he know about… well, anything? Did he know about the nature of this island? Did he know why they were here? Did he know who Chiaki was?
All of these questions were running through her head and she couldn't answer a single one. Byakuya was a puzzle she couldn't solve. Who was he? Did he even have to be cured of despair like the others? Could he have been sent here for a certain purpose, just like she was? He seemed to know what he was doing. He always came up with new plans and projects. Was he perhaps here specifically to fight Monokuma?
Chiaki didn't know and she had to remind herself not to assume too much. Yes, Byakuya showed a clear disdain for Monokuma that almost seemed personal, and he worked actively against him, but he also didn't seem to like Monomi very much. If he knew about the program, surely he would ask her more frequently to help him with his plans? And while he had asked for assistance from Sonia and Hajime a few times now, Chiaki was pretty sure that she herself wouldn't have been included last time if she didn't know a thing or two about video games.
It was rather unlikely that he knew about the other observers.
Then again, Chiaki herself didn't know much about the other observers either. Specifically, she had no idea what had gone wrong for Monokuma to even be here. This island was supposed to be a location of rehabilitation and then this bear appeared, started adding his own rules and messed with Usami. Usami was originally going to give them tasks they would have to solve together. Now, nothing was going according to plan.
Chiaki noticed movement in her peripheral vision and, looking up, she saw that Kazuichi had gotten up and started pacing in front of the reception, his eyes fixed on the ground with a scowl. A 'K.O.' announcement from the arcade and a stressed noise from Mikan alerted her to the fact that they were about to lose this round and she refocused on the game to help her out. Yet, she couldn't let go of her previous thoughts.
It was entirely possible that Byakuya just happened to be the right person for the job. That he was a protector at heart and had enough leadership qualities and ideas to be able to stand up to Monokuma. It would explain why his goals differed so much from Monomi's and Chiaki's.
Well, maybe differ wasn't the right word…
While their programming dictated that they would see the development of a harmonious relationship between the students and a reinforcement of hope as well as good morals as the most important objectives, Byakuya was primarily concerned with everyone's safety. It was a relief for her, actually. She had no idea how she would even go about protecting them. She had been given no instructions for this case; this island had been designed to be a safe space for recuperation, after all. In return, Byakuya didn't seem to take the other students' general wellbeing much into account as long as they were still alive.
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. While they all had their consciousness activated and experienced a made-up memory about how they came to the island at roughly the same time, Byakuya's mind had been uploaded just a little bit later. Was that suspicious? Or just a technical fault?
A sigh escaped her. No matter how much she racked her brain, there were no answers. Only speculation. Even if he was another observer, she wouldn't be able to confirm it with him. She couldn't ask. Her programming didn't allow her to speak about her role, no matter how much the thoughts bothered her.
Well, it was a good thing that she couldn't. Asking him a question that would give away the nature of this location and her status would be devastating if he really turned out to be a normal student. Even if she was allowed to bring it up, she would never risk it. And if he was in the same position as her, he might not be able to talk about it either. It was…
She lost her train of thought when Mikan twitched nervously and hit her with an elbow, which she immediately apologized for.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," Chiaki said.
Mikan nodded shakily and put her fingers back on the buttons. Chiaki frowned when she realized that she was even more nervous than before. She observed her a little more closely and noticed that her eyes kept darting over to where Kazuichi was still walking in circles.
She thought for a second and went back to help Mikan with the current stage. When the life bar of the burly opponent was depleted, she stepped away from the arcade and told her, "I'll be right back."
She got a confused "okay" from Mikan as she walked over to Kazuichi.
"Hey, Kazuichi," she said.
He just kept walking without acknowledging her.
"Kazuichi?"
Still no response. She blinked. Then she reached out to lightly tap his arm when he walked past her again.
"Hey."
He cried out in surprise and whirled around. Mikan screamed back.
Chiaki puffed out her cheeks threateningly, making him take a step back. "You scared Mikan!"
"I—!?" He seemed at a loss for words for a moment. Then he scowled. "You are the one who scared me!"
"But I called you a couple of times already…"
Calming down a little, he sighed. "What do you want?"
"I was just wondering what you were doing. Your pacing was a bit distracting."
His face darkened. "Thinking," he said.
She waited for him to add more, but it soon became clear that he didn't want to talk.
"What about?" she prompted.
"None of your business," he muttered. For a second, he kept up the grim expression, then his shoulders slumped and he looked close to tears. "Life is just so unfair. Miss Sonia is off somewhere to spend time with fricking Gundham and I…"
Ah, so there was the crux of the matter. He really started to develop some obsession with Sonia lately and it was becoming a little annoying. "Well, you've got a buddy too. Why don't you spend some time with Teruteru?" she said.
That was apparently the wrong thing to ask. His eyes narrowed. "No way. I already brought him food, but I'm not gonna spend more time with him than I have to." He looked down and rambled on, seemingly speaking to himself, "Don't know what he was thinking. This guy's a weirdo on top of skewering Nagito. Not that Nagito's any better, but you know what I mean. They're both better off in their rooms. Maybe should've tied them up or something…"
"They're still two people just like everyone else. Why don't you speak to him about what he did? If you can have a calm discussion about it, you could get to know him as a person."
His head snapped up. "I don't wanna get to know him! I don't wanna talk to him! Just… just leave me alone," he whined.
Chiaki sighed. "Alright, fine. You don't want to see him. Would you like to play with us instead?"
He looked confused, as if she had suddenly spoken a different language. "Huh?"
"The arcades." She pointed at them. "Do you want to play with us? It might take your mind off of things."
He looked past her. "Uh… no."
"Are you sure? It's pretty fun."
"Didn't look like Mikan had much fun to me," he grumbled.
Chiaki's train of thought stopped at that. Surprised, she turned around to face Mikan. "You aren't having fun?"
Mikan squeaked, crumpling her apron with her hands. "Ah! N-no! I mean I do! It's lots of fun!" She looked close to tears and quickly turned her head when she accidentally made eye contact.
Chiaki's heart fell. "…You can be honest with me, you know," she said, trying hard not to make it sound like an accusation. She registered in passing that Kazuichi left with a half-hearted farewell.
"I-I don't want you to h-hate me," Mikan said quietly, glancing at her hesitantly through her hair.
Chiaki couldn't help feeling disappointed in herself. Had it really taken Kazuichi pointing it out for her to realize that Mikan didn't actually enjoy the game? Sure, it was sometimes difficult to distinguish between her displaying her normal amount of anxiety and her signs of true discomfort, but… having a good time together had been Chiaki's main objective. Had she really been that lost in thought?
"I'm not going to hate you for saying you want to do something else," she said as gently as possible.
Mikan still grabbed a strand of her hair and pulled at it. "I'm sorry! P-please forgive me!"
"You don't have to apologize, really. You didn't do anything wrong. I should have realized that fighting games aren't really your thing."
Mikan didn't say anything back. She stood there awkwardly, making herself as small as possible. When the silence dragged on, she started to fidget a little.
"Do you… do you still want to do something else?" Chiaki asked. She wouldn't blame her if she didn't. To her surprise, Mikan didn't immediately say no.
Wringing her hands in front of her, she asked back, "Uhmmm… like what?"
Chiaki took the time to think about it for a bit. She didn't want to make another suggestion that would end in Mikan feeling like she had to go along with something she didn't enjoy. Finally, something came to mind and she said, "You like taking care of others, right?"
"Uh… yes?"
"Have you ever had a pet?"
"N-no?"
"What about a Tamagotchi?"
A/N: Finally a chapter that's not overly long like the last two. Next one on the 5th or 6th of September. Teaser:
"You really have a way with words. Somehow, you always manage to make everything sound like a hidden insult."
