Chapter Text
Byakuya Togami was bored. That in and of itself was not unusual, for there were few things in the world worthy of holding his interest. But to be bored in such unusual circumstances—such as while trapped in this so-called “school life of mutual killing”—required a level of apathy bordering on the supernatural. Super High School Level Apathy, you could say if you were inclined to make jokes. Togami was above such simplistic levels of humor.
He had once thought he was above locking himself in a storeroom all day to avoid contact with a serial killer, too. And yet… Somehow, this is what his life had been reduced to. Sitting among boxes of freeze-dried fruit, waiting for Genocider Syo to get bored and wander off somewhere else, or better yet, revert to her alternate personality and forget where he was hiding. The occasional burst of distinctive laughter, shrill even when muffled, from the other side of the door told him that neither of those things had happened.
This could last until night. The notion of spending even a few hours in this cramped, dimly lit space that smelled like dust and cardboard was appalling. Togami sighed and stood up, glancing around. There wasn’t much to see. The room was scarcely a few meters long, and most of the floorspace was taken up by the shelves, leaving little room for walking. Togami squeezed in between two of the shelves, looking for something, anything, to occupy the time. It was mostly just food. But, somewhere among the dusty cardboard boxes packed together on the floor, the rim of his shoe brushed against something that made an unexpected sound.
He bent down to pick up the object, and his hand met the thin metal curves of the binding on a spiral bound notebook. It had been wedged underneath a box, with only the binding exposed. Togami pulled it out and wandered to the more brightly lit section of the storeroom to examine it. A quick flip through the pages revealed that more than half of them were full of somewhat sloppy, but not quite illegible, handwriting. The front cover was blank, but the first page contained the words “The Many Hues of a Summer Sunset,” and beneath that, the name Touko Fukawa.
Togami didn’t even need to waste a second wondering why what appeared to be a work in progress was hidden here. Obviously Syo’s existence was just as detrimental to Fukawa’s writing process as it was to his own sanity. She must keep it hidden here for fear her other personality would slice up the pages with her ostentatious scissors. Finding this notebook didn’t exactly solve any problems, as it was too dim to read in the storeroom even if he’d been willing to entertain the notion. He tossed the notebook haphazardly onto the ground and resigned himself to a few more hours of silence. Silence and Genocider Syo’s occasional laughter.
The longer Togami sat in that dim, gloomy room, the deeper his ass sank into the flimsy cardboard box he had tried to use as a chair, and the deeper his mind sank into the notion that maybe, he was a little curious as to the contents of Fukawa’s notebook after all. For her novels to garner such widespread support and recognition despite her lack of experience, there must be something inimitable about them… Something… At the very least, perhaps he could learn the cause of her disturbing obsession with him. If there was any chance of dispelling that obsession, any at all, surely it was worth trudging through one common romance novel?
Regretting the decision even as he made it, Togami retrieved Fukawa’s notebook from where he’d discarded it and slowly approached the door to the storeroom. He hadn’t heard Syo making noise outside in awhile, and there was no chance of reading anything in here, unless he wanted to strain his eyes and probably get a headache. He did not want to do either of those things, so he risked quietly unlocking the door and slowly opening it, just a crack. No Syo in sight.
Letting out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, Togami opened the door the rest of the way and stepped out into the dormitory. There was nobody in sight. He made for the school building and ascended to the second floor. Nobody else made frequent use of the library, so the chance of being interrupted while reading there was low— Hold on.
A sudden ominous feeling stopped Togami just short of opening the library door. Hand on the doorknob, he stopped to listen for a moment. Within moments the bone chilling sound of Genocider Syo’s laughter emanated from within the library.
“Gahyahyahyahyahya!!”
Damn. Had she figured he would just traipse right in and run into her? Fat chance. Okay, if she hadn’t been predisposed to laughing every few minutes, he might have done just that. But there was no sense in waiting around here now. She could waltz out of there at any moment. Better to head up to the third floor just to be safe… As quickly and as quietly as possible.
The art room on the third floor had adequate lighting for reading, and a pleasant enough atmosphere, as long as you faced away from the monobear statue. Togami sat near the back of the room and opened the notebook, already dreading what he might find inside.
Just a few minutes later, his fears had been confirmed and his expectations wildly exceeded. He hadn’t expected the book to be good, but…
“This is practically porn!” The words slipped out in a mumble before he could catch them. The sound of his own voice brought Togami to attention, and he glanced nervously around the art room. Being caught reading rough drafts of smutty romance novels was something he could do without. Thankfully, the room was as empty as when he’d come in and—oh what a perfect time for Naegi to just stroll in, quick, get rid of the damn porn magazine—
The plan Togami came up with in half a second for concealing the notebook consisted of muttering a swear word and knocking said notebook onto the floor. Not one of his best plans. Granted, it was less of a plan and more like what simply ended up happening before he could decide on a more proper reaction.
Ever-so-helpful Naegi took it upon himself to stoop down and retrieve the dreaded thing.
“Uh… you dropped this, Togami…” He offered the notebook, but Togami made no move to take it from him. “Togami?”
Don’t look at him.
“What is this, anyways?” Naegi finally glanced down in an attempt to identify the object he was holding. Not taking it from him before he got that chance was a mistake.
“This is Fukawa’s… Is it a novel of hers? Did she give it to you to read? That’s so cool!”
Togami had once instructed Naegi to call him “Super High School Level Perfection” and had instantly regretted it. To anybody with an iota of malice, that would have been an invitation to start using it as one of the most sarcastic nicknames ever. He was grateful—no, he was lucky that Naegi was too sincere about everything to even consider that possibility. So, really, it was no surprise that someone like Naegi didn’t even bat an eye at the sight of Togami reading borderline pornographic material in secret.
That could easily change if he got a chance to learn the nature of the material in question, though. So with an appropriately dismissive snort, Togami snatched the notebook away.
“I don’t remember asking you to come bother me. Leave.” Togami finally spoke up. Sometimes he had to beg the question, who was more annoying, Naegi or Fukawa? Naegi may only have had one personality, but just looking at him made Togami feel irritated somehow.
“A-ah… I was just looking for someone to hang out with. I don’t really have anything better to do, so…”
Pathetic. Pathetic and stammering and weak. Everything about Naegi was downright infuriating, and where did he even get off being so sickeningly honest—
“Hmph. As you can see, I do have something better to do, so once again: leave me alone. Looking at your ugly face makes me feel sick.”
—and sincere, how could he talk all about hope and trust and look like he meant it, how naïve can you be, but still despite all that—
“R-reading that is better? Uh… Okay, I get it. Sorry to have interrupted…”
—Naegi had still solved three murders and even reached conclusions Togami himself had not thought of. A stupid, hideous failure of a human that should have been one of the first to die, that was Naegi, so how—HOW could he even keep up with Togami, let alone see things he couldn’t?
Naegi had already left the room hastily, not even bothering to wait for Togami to finish his train of thought. At least he was easier to get rid of than Fukawa. Even if he was far, far uglier. Yes, that was definitely how he felt about Naegi. Without question.
Togami did end up feeling a little nauseous, somehow.