Hello everyone. Sorry, I knew this chapter would take a while but I didn't expect it to take this long. May I remind you that there's a summary of the most important plot points linked on my profile for those who don't want to re-read the whole thing.
Thanks for the lovely comments on the last chapter. Re-reading them made me giddy all over again.
So here's a chapter for the end of the year. I hope you all had a wonderful 2023 and everyone who celebrates had happy holidays. As for me, there were some major changes in both my private and my professional life in the past two years and I'd say I've arrived at a point where I'm pretty happy with how things are going. Let's all have a great 2024.
Chapter 19: Plan F
Byakuya hadn't expected any visitors, especially this early in the morning. He had still been in the middle of fighting the silly strand of hair that just wouldn't lay down flat on his head—a new morning routine he came to dislike more with each passing day—when the doorbell rang. Dreading an emergency, he had rushed out of the bathroom to see who was there. Seeing Peko stand in front of his lodge had been surprising. Even more so was her reason for being there.
"You want to switch back?" he asked incredulously.
Peko nodded. "I kept thinking about it and I would feel awful if something happened to Mahiru when I may have been able to prevent it. Not to undermine Hiyoko's determination, but we both know she won't be able to fend off an attacker."
Byakuya frowned. Yes, that had been his concern yesterday and under any other circumstances he would have been happy to see Peko so proactive about the whole thing. But by now he had come to terms with the new arrangement. And she asked him to change all of his plans again? Couldn't they all just accept his decisions for once? If this continued, he would have to think not only of a plan B, but have plan C, D, and E on hand as well. Where would it end? This was ridiculous. Not to mention that Hiyoko would have yet another hissy fit if he implied that she was unfit to watch over her friend.
"Your concern is appreciated, but I don't think we need to officially pair you with Mahiru," he finally decided, trying not to sound as surly as he felt. "Remember that we have Monomi as backup. By all means, if you want to keep an eye out as well, don't let me discourage you."
He was about to close the door in her face when she quickly put her foot in the door.
"Wait!"
He glared at her. For a second, she seemed unaffected. Then she relented and withdrew her foot.
"I- My request wasn't entirely… selfless." She had the decency to look down as she confessed this.
"What do you mean?"
Peko took a moment to think about her answer. Then she said, "I don't want you to misunderstand. I am genuinely concerned about Mahiru's safety. However, I also don't think being Ibuki's partner is going to work for me."
"How so?"
She pursed her lips before she said, "We are very different; I just can't keep up with her level of energy. It's… terribly exhausting."
Byakuya relaxed his hold on the door.
Seeing that he was listening, Peko continued, "I'm sure she means well, but I don't think I can handle her. She never slows down and never stops talking. I understand that she likes to be active, but she expects me to participate in everything she wants to do."
Without hearing any details, he believed her. When he had seen them interact briefly the previous day, Ibuki had quite literally dragged her around.
"I see," he said. This was bothersome. Not for a second had he taken the possibility into account that some of the students might just be incompatible personality-wise.
"That's why I think going back to the original pairs would be best for everyone," Peko added.
Byakuya nodded in contemplation. Yes, he saw her point. Still, he was reluctant to adjust everything yet again. He had half a mind to just refuse her request outright and tell her to suck it up. What if that would just make everything worse, though?
… What were the chances of Peko killing Ibuki out of annoyance?
Maybe a full stomach would help him make a decision.
"I'll think about it. We'll talk about it after breakfast. Could you and Ibuki come and see me then?"
She nodded with a smile. "Yes, thank you." He couldn't even fault her for the relief in her voice. If he had to spend any prolonged time with Ibuki, he would probably feel the same way.
Finally, Peko left and he was free to retreat back into his lodge for a little while to soak up the last minutes of silence. As much as he could sympathize, he did not need students coming to him with their problems first thing in the morning.
Breakfast, thankfully, was quiet. No arguments, no whining, nothing. This meant that Byakuya was able to mull everything over in his head undisturbed. This time, he tried to take every possible problem into consideration and come up with all plausible scenarios. In the end, he managed to come up with a solution that seemed promising to him.
And if there were any more protests, he might just start taking this personally.
Once most of the students got up, he went to stop Kazuichi from leaving. The mechanic didn't make a fuss. If anything, he seemed curious, having apparently figured out that this was about his current lack of a buddy.
Next, he intercepted Hajime when he came back from returning his plate to the kitchen. Ever reliable, he immediately agreed to spare some time for them.
Peko led Ibuki over to them a moment later, a little hesitantly. While Ibuki seemed as cheerfully oblivious as ever, Peko darted confused glances at the boys. Together they went down to the lobby and sat at one of the tables to talk without being disturbed by the students that took a little longer to leave.
"So," Byakuya began, "it appears that working with your previous partners didn't work out for you so far."
Ibuki grinned a little sheepishly. It looked like Peko had already talked to her. Good.
"As a result, there will be some changes. First off, Peko," he faced her directly, "would you say you can handle emotional matters well?"
She seemed a bit taken aback. A small frown creased her forehead. "I'm… afraid I lack experience in that regard," she admitted.
Byakuya nodded, having expected something like that. He turned his head to look at Ibuki instead. "What about you?"
The musician tilted her head a little to the side, humming in thought before she said, "Dunno. Depends on what you mean exactly. I'm not that good at the talking bit, but I do my best to cheer people up in other ways when they're down."
Byakuya nodded again. So far, there were no surprises. He had reflected on this aspect earlier and he remembered a conversation with her the day after the party where she seemed to be much more in touch with what was wrong with Teruteru than Byakuya could ever hope to be. "If I asked you to be Teruteru's partner, do you think you could handle him on your own? Physically and mentally?"
Her mouth formed a surprised little 'o' and she blinked a few times. Her face then scrunched up in thought and she took a few seconds to ponder with her fingers on her temples. Eventually, she opened her eyes and nodded, oddly seriously. "Positive."
"Wonderful. I'll give you the details once the rest of the new arrangement is settled." This was almost going too smoothly. Byakuya felt a little apprehensive about that, still waiting for a catch. He squashed the feeling and addressed Hajime now. "I take it there was no progress with Fuyuhiko?"
Hajime shook his head. "No. He wouldn't even talk to me. He's been avoiding everyone as far as I know."
No changes, then. "Alright. Here's what I came up with: the three of you will form a group of four with Fuyuhiko. That way, you all have other people to spend time with when he keeps being difficult and you won't have to rely on outside groups to leave the hotel. However, I'm asking you to make an effort to keep trying with him."
With a pointed look in Hajime's direction he tried to signal that what he really meant was that they should keep an eye on him to protect Mahiru. Thankfully, he received a small understanding nod in return. He let his gaze sweep over the other two.
Noticing that Kazuichi grimaced, Byakuya told him strictly, "You won't have to interact with him alone, so don't try to tell me you feel unsafe with that plan. Unless you're intimidated by Peko and Hajime as well?"
Kazuichi's face went pink. "'Course not," he told the table.
If this worked out, it would be the perfect solution. Instead of piling more bodyguards on Mahiru and leaving Hajime with essentially no partner, they could have a slightly larger group to deal with the biggest troublemaker together. They would have security in numbers and the effect would be the same. They would be more likely to stop Fuyuhiko if he tried anything.
He looked around. "Any concerns or objections?" he asked, hoping for none.
Ibuki raised her hand high. "Ibuki has one request!"
That was unexpected. "What is it?"
"Can I kick Teruteru when he says something perverted?"
"Naturally. In fact, I encourage you to nip this behavior in the bud."
"Okay!" She gave him a grin and a thumbs up.
"Anything else?"
After a moment of hesitation, Peko spoke up. "Are you sure it's necessary to put this much focus on Fuyuhiko?" she asked. "I thought Mahiru was the one in danger."
"Yes. As I said, Mahiru is adequately protected. And Fuyuhiko has been difficult from the start. He wasn't exactly subtle with his willingness to resort to violence."
He waited for her to reply but it seemed she accepted his answer, even if the crease between her brows said that she didn't fully agree.
"I take it there's nothing else?" he asked again.
This time, nobody said anything. Byakuya almost couldn't believe it. Would it really be this simple? A few seconds passed in silence which he took as a sign that this discussion really was over. He stood up.
"Well, it seems like we're done here. Ibuki, we are going back upstairs. Teruteru and Nagito are probably waiting for their breakfast. I'll explain the details to you as we go."
She jumped out of her seat immediately. "Alright!"
She skipped after him when he walked towards the stairs.
Once Byakuya and Ibuki were gone, the remaining three students were left sitting in silence.
Peko tried not to let her disappointment show by hiding her emotions behind a blank expression. This hadn't gone according to plan at all. She hadn't expected this to go wrong.
She'd had a strong argument about Hiyoko being weak. It even had the added benefit of making her look like a concerned student. Byakuya had to view her as someone reliable and willing to protect. She had even resorted to making this about an incompatibility with Ibuki as a last resort when the first angle didn't work. How could she have known that there were more students with less than ideal pairs? Or that she would end up being one of three people assigned to Fuyuhiko's group?
This was bad. Even if she was secretly on his side, with two more students on her young master's case, his freedom to act was severely restricted.
She would have tried protesting more –maybe she could have suggested two pairs of three, with her joining Mahiru and Hiyoko. That way, even if Fuyuhiko's hands were tied, she would still be able to get close to their target…
In the end, she didn't dare say anything, for fear of appearing too insistent. If anyone started suspecting her, their plans would be ruined before they'd even be able to act. She couldn't risk it.
Still… Fuyuhiko wouldn't be happy about her failure. She didn't want to face him with such shameful news, but it looked like she didn't have a choice when Hajime suggested paying him a visit right now.
Worrying at the inside of her lips, she mentally prepared for his disapproval on the way to his cabin. Keeping to the back, she waited with bated breath as Hajime rang the bell. There was no answer. Of course there wasn't. It was highly unlikely for him to open the door at all. Fuyuhiko didn't answer the second ring either. Maybe she would be spared a little longer.
Hajime didn't give up and knocked on the door this time while calling out to him. Peko made sure not to react upon hearing a string of curses from inside. A moment later, the door was yanked open.
"Didn't I tell you–" Fuyuhiko cut off when he saw the assembly on his doorstep. His fury bled into confusion right in front of them. "… The fuck?" His eyes lingered on Peko for just a second too long.
She decided to just get the confession over with, since it couldn't be helped anyway. "There were some issues with the previous pairs, so Byakuya made some changes. Kazuichi and I are to form one larger group with you and Hajime."
Fuyuhiko snapped right back to anger. "Fuck no. One asshole following me around is more than enough."
"Come on, it wouldn't be so bad if you just tried," Hajime said with a certain amount of desperation in his voice. "We could-"
"Not interested!" The door was slammed shut.
Hajime sighed in resignation. "This is what I had to deal with all day yesterday. You have no idea how exhausting that was. Now what?"
"Well… we tried. Nothing we can do here," said Kazuichi as if he hadn't tried to look as inconspicuous as possible during the exchange. "Let's just leave him alone."
Hajime sent a searching look Peko's way. When she just looked back impassively, he sighed. "I guess. Byakuya won't be happy about this."
"Byakuya's never happy," Kazuichi commented. "Nothing's ever good enough for him."
"That's not exactly… well, nevermind."
"Come on, we can just relax and enjoy the day now. Let's go to the park or something. I couldn't go anywhere yesterday," Kazuichi quickly steered the conversation in a different direction. "You weren't able to leave the hotel either, right?"
"Yeah," Hajime confirmed. "Sure, let's do that." He looked at Peko to see what she would say.
"I'll stay here," she answered the silent question.
Hajime frowned. "Are you sure? We can do something else…"
"No, that's alright, you can go. I just want to rest a bit today."
"Well, if she insists, just let her. Let's go!" Kazuichi was already starting to march off.
Hajime shrugged with a smile. "Alright then, see you later." Then he followed the mechanic.
Peko watched them leave and returned to her lodge to observe the area. Just because this attempt had backfired didn't mean they hadn't come up with an alternative. Of course, it would have been much more convenient if she had just been able to go back to being Mahiru's bodyguard. However, there were other ways for her to get close to the girl as long as nobody suspected her. It would just be a bit more troublesome to get rid of Hiyoko.
Maybe they would just end up having to kill them both.
She watched as Byakuya and Ibuki were still busy in and around Teruteru's lodge, before the new pair of Ibuki and Teruteru joined Akane and Nekomaru when these two left to go somewhere else. However, Byakuya stayed behind. Peko didn't dare do anything, even when it looked like he was going to stay in Nagito's lodge for a while. In the meantime, Gundham and Sonia passed through, talking animatedly and disappearing in the restaurant.
When Byakuya finally came back out and left the hotel area entirely and nobody else was out and about, Peko finally deemed it a good opportunity to initiate plan B. She left her room and went over to Mahiru's lodge. She had seen the two girls leave the restaurant earlier when they had finished with their breakfast. And since they had promised not to leave the hotel, there weren't many places where they could be. And she could in fact hear faint voices from inside.
She would have preferred to catch Mahiru alone, but with the way Hiyoko had acted, she was unlikely to leave the other girl out of her sight any time soon. When she rang the bell, it was indeed Hiyoko who glanced out of the window. She scowled at Peko.
"What do you want?" she shouted loud enough to be heard outside.
Peko hesitated. Was she supposed to shout back? But she didn't want to make so much noise to avoid drawing attention to herself. Instead, she pointed at the door. Hiyoko made a face and turned around, presumably to talk to Mahiru. Then she disappeared.
Thankfully, the door was opened a moment later.
Hiyoko was trying to take up as much space as possible and blocked the doorway with her hands on her hips. "What?" she snapped.
"I wanted to talk to Mahiru. May I come in?"
"No."
"Don't be like that, come on." Mahiru appeared behind her and offered Peko an apologetic smile. "Please come in."
Hiyoko clicked her tongue and glared at her for a moment longer before she stepped aside. "Fine, but keep it brief."
Peko entered the lodge under the watchful eye of the dancer, quickly scanning the room. It looked perfectly ordinary. A couch and a table with a few books and packets of sweets strewn on top of it offered a small sitting area at the far wall. In the corner next to it, there was another table with equipment for her camera and presumably for developing the film. There were two cork boards with pictures on the walls above that table. A glance told her that they had all been taken here on the island.
There were no security measures in place. No weapons that could be used to defend against an attacker. It was almost like an invitation.
But she couldn't act now. Fuyuhiko had to be involved for them to both be able to graduate. She just needed to lay the groundwork for now to create an opportunity a little later on.
Therefore, she carefully kept a neutral expression and tried to appear as relaxed as possible as she followed the two. Hiyoko directed Mahiru to the couch before she parked herself next to her, so Peko took the chair in front of the photography equipment table and turned it around to join them.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Mahiru said once they were all seated.
"I couldn't stop thinking about the situation and I'm sorry that you are being targeted. I do have to admit I'm worried about you."
Mahiru smiled. "That's nice of you. As you can see, we're very careful, so it should be fine."
Peko nodded slowly. "Yes, I'm glad to see that. I still thought I'd offer my help."
"You want to help us?"
"We don't need your help," Hiyoko butted in.
"Hiyoko, don't be so rude," Mahiru chided gently. Addressing Peko, she added, "I'm sorry, she's just very protective."
Hiyoko rolled her eyes. "Who knows what she's planning. We can't trust her."
Peko ignored the remark and hoped her face didn't give anything away. "It's alright, I understand. It's better to be suspicious and be wrong than to be reckless and pay the price."
Mahiru seemed relieved. "Thank you. Everyone always misunderstands, even though Hiyoko is really just trying her best."
"Don't say stuff like that. I'm right here," the girl in question mumbled, looking very embarrassed.
"I'm not trying to scare you," Peko got them back on track, "but if you were to be attacked, you would be unable to protect yourself, is that correct?"
Hiyoko tensed up. With narrowed eyes, she asked. "Was that a threat?"
She shook her head. "On the contrary, I thought it would be a good idea to make sure you would be able to defend yourself at least a little bit. Would you like me to teach you some self-defense?"
"You want to give us a lesson in self-defense?" Mahiru asked, surprised.
Well, ideally it would be just her, but it seemed she wouldn't be able to avoid Hiyoko tagging along. It was probably for the better to get rid of everyone in the know, anyway. Fewer witnesses. Especially ones as vocal as this one.
Hiyoko at least seemed to have lost some of her ire as she contemplated the offer.
Peko continued with a nod. "I received formal training. Some of the moves are not that difficult to learn. With a bit of practice, you should be able to defend yourself a little bit. Even if you can't incapacitate your opponent, you might be able to buy enough time to slip away. Or to alert someone else. Of course, I hope you won't need it in the end. It would be just a precaution."
Mahiru nodded slowly. "That's a really good idea."
She didn't try to hide the smile forming on her lips. "I'm glad you think so. We can meet later tonight. I could come back here to train you, but we could also make use of the old lodge. We would have more space to train."
It would be perfect. They would make use of the silly meetings in the evening. While everyone was distracted, she would lure the two girls to the lodge, where her young master would be lying in wait to help her restrain them. They would leave and if it wasn't too late, they might even join the rest of the students. In a sense, being assigned to Fuyuhiko's group would help them make this seem like a natural progression. The next day, she would kill them alone, while Fuyuhiko was seen elsewhere. This way, he would have an alibi but he still had a hand in coming up with the plan and helping her carry it out. And she would have no motive, so who would suspect her?
Then, everything went wrong when Mahiru said, "Actually, why don't we suggest this as today's group activity?" While Peko was still processing the derailment of the conversation, she continued excitedly, "I don't think Byakuya would have any objections. After all, everyone could benefit from knowing some self-defense."
No. No, that was all wrong. This was a terrible idea. "I wouldn't recommend telling anyone about this. If nobody knows that you're prepared for an attack, you have the element of surprise." And it would ensure that nobody knew about the offer. Their whole plan relied on that to make sure she wasn't a suspect.
"Everyone already knows that I might be a target. They know I'm going to be prepared in some way," Mahiru argued. "I think it would make more sense if everyone learns some techniques. Who knows what else happens in the future. There was already a scuffle at the party. That time, it was in the dark, so we wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway, but what if something like that happens again? It would be for the best if everyone knew what to do in that situation."
Peko frantically tried to come up with a reason why that wouldn't work. "I don't know how far we can get if so many people participate," she said slowly. "We might not be able to do a lot. Why don't I show you the basics today and we include the others tomorrow?"
To her horror, Mahiru blew her last hope off. "It's fine, if we can't cover everything today, we can just continue tomorrow. Or we can start earlier. I mean, we don't have to wait until it's evening to do something as a group. Come on, let's tell Byakuya about it."
This was going way too fast. "Now?"
"Yeah, why not? Or were you going to do something else now?"
"I…" She couldn't think of an excuse. This was bad. "Not really…"
"Okay, then let's go looking for him." She ushered Hiyoko off the couch and gestured for Peko to follow them.
This day was cursed, Peko decided as she stood up reluctantly to leave. The task had been so simple. They had come up with a backup plan. And still it had all gone as wrong as it possibly could. She dreaded seeing the disappointment in her young master's eyes, but there was nothing she could do now.
They would have to come up with a plan C.
A/N: Next chapter on the 26th of January.
Teaser: "I believe you. Doesn't mean I forgive you. But I can't just watch you moping around in your room. It's pathetic. So, I'll keep dragging you out. And I don't care what you have to say about that."
