Chapter Text
It was another morning for Hope’s Peak’s students, if you could even call them that. They were gathered in the cafeteria for breakfast, as they did every morning spent trapped in this place. The air around them was tense, just as it always was, although the tension seemed to be more dense today as opposed to others. Everyone was still rather shaken up about the incident the day prior. It was hard to believe three of their classmates had died, all in the same day. And in gruesome fashion, no less.
Chihiro was especially shaken up by the matter, never having been one that was good with stomaching these kinds of things. Once, he had rode past a dead bird on his bike, and came home crying. He supposed that incident seemed rather trivial now, though. In fact, all of his problems--big and small--seemed nothing compared to what he had been faced with, these past few days.
Finding himself at a loss for appetite, he pushed his breakfast aside. He looked up, deciding to focus on what was going on around him, rather than facing the awful events that replayed in his head. His eyes scanning everyone present, he registered each of the names in his mind. Sakura Oogami. Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Mondo Owada. Bya- wait, what?
Chihiro blinked, staring at the empty seat that was usually occupied by a certain “Ultimate Affluent Progeny.” Given Byakuya was usually one of the first ones there, it struck him as odd he wasn’t present now. In fact, it seemed as though he was the only one not there at that moment.
Chihiro couldn’t say he was the most fond of Byakuya--the progeny had hurt his feelings more than once, and wasn’t exactly the most pleasant person to be around--but it wasn’t in Chihiro’s nature to not give him the benefit of the doubt. So he was, at the very least, concerned by Byakuya’s absence.
Makoto seemed to be the only other one who shared this sentiment, standing up and asking if anyone had seen the blonde, to which a chorus of “no” and head shaking were offered in response.
“Will anyone help me look?” Makoto asked, and again was met with the consensus of “no.”
“No one?” Makoto sighed, “I know he’s not the best person in the world, and while I don’t want to believe it… there could have been another mur-”
“I’ll help you look,” Chihiro found himself volunteering. Something about the situation wasn’t sitting right with him, and well, if no one else was going to help Makoto out, he figured he might as well. It would help ease his nerves a little, especially after Makoto’s suggestion that the progeny may have been killed. He was sickened at the thought, not to mention terrified.
Makoto gave a faint smile and nodded to Chihiro. “Thanks, Fujisaki.”
The two left the cafeteria, heading toward Byakuya’s room, to start their investigation. Makoto didn’t seem as talkative as normal, likely because he was just as nervous as Chihiro himself was. The closer they got to Byakuya’s door, the more the realisation that something bad could have happened set in.
The pair soon arrived at Byakuya’s door, giving each other a concerned glance, before Makoto reached up and knocked.
“Togami…?” he called, then listening for a response. None was given. Chihiro heard shuffling, but Makoto didn’t seem to notice, asking Chihiro to keep trying while he searched the other areas of the building.
Chihiro focused on the door, listening attentively, as he reached his hand up and knocked again.
“W...who's there…?” he heard a faint voice call from the other side.
“T… Togami?” Chihiro asked nervously, reaching toward the door handle. “It’s Fujisaki… c… can I come in?”
There was a pause.
“The door is unlocked…” the voice--likely Byakuya, although Chihiro couldn’t be sure, as it sounded nothing like him--hesitantly replied. Taking a gulp, Chihiro twisted the nob, and softly pushed open the door. He stepped inside the dark room, surveying his surroundings. It was hard to see without a light, but Chihiro could make out a table, an open instrument case, and papers scattered across the floor in the corner of the room. Given the context, Chihiro assumed them to be sheet music or something of the sort. He noticed a lump on the bed, shaking slightly. He flipped the light on, and then, approaching it carefully, he heard a small whimper come from under the blankets.
“Togami? Is that you?” the small boy asked, sitting down on the end of the bed. He waited for a response, bracing himself to be scolded for sitting so close, or asking a dumb question, because, of course it was him, this was his room after all. Surprisingly, nothing of the sort occurred, and instead the blanket slowly peeled off to reveal a blonde head. And even though he didn’t lash out, or scare Chihiro in any way he was expecting, Byakuya’s expression was much more unsettling to Chihiro.
He looked terrified. Dried tears were stuck to his cheeks. His face was sickly pale, and it almost looked like he had a fever. The progeny was a mess.
“Ah!” Chihiro exclaimed, startled by Byakuya’s appearance, if he were being honest. Byakuya flinched in response, covering his head up with the blanket, more startled than Chihiro was, which was even more of an odd occurrence. Taking a deep breath, Chihiro paused for a moment, before reaching out and pulling the blanket down again.
“I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to scare you,” the small boy quickly apologised, feeling more confused by the second. Byakuya was obviously acting strangely, and Chihiro had no idea why, or if the blonde even realised it.
Byakuya hesitantly sat up, revealing his silk, green jim jams. Chihiro stifled a laugh; of course that was what he wore to bed.
“It’s okay…” Byakuya responded with a sniffle. Chihiro gave him an apologetic smile, before deciding it was time to get to the bottom of things.
“Why didn’t you come to breakfast?” he asked softly, trying to be as careful with him as possible.
“I… I was asleep for a long time… and when I woke up I heard people coming and I got scared! I thought someone was coming to kill me… or Monokuma was coming…!”
“Upupupu! I heard my name?” said an all too familiar being, who popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. Byakuya and Chihiro jumped, the former letting out a small shriek, and burying himself under his blanket once more. Chihiro felt small tears prick his eyes, but tried his best to hold them back. Strengthening his resolve, he sent the most harsh glare he could muster toward Monokuma (although this probably looked adorable), and demanded (asked) to know what he was doing there.
“I came to see my patient, o’course!” the bear responded.
Chihiro tilted his head slightly in confusion. “Patient…?”
“Yeah, seems Togami here’s caught despair disease,” he shook his head, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Haven’t had a case this bad in… ever.”
“Despair… disease…?” Chihiro repeated. Monokuma’s explanation was raising more questions than it answered.
“That’s what I’m sayin’ kid! Duh-spair duh-sease. Despair disease! Togami’s got it real bad.”
“What is… that? D… Despair disease?”
“It’s this annoying disease where you get a high fever, along with various other symptoms that are super despair inducing!”
“Other symptoms like… what, exactly…?”
“Well, some people have had… changes, so to speak…” Monokuma mumbled.
Chihiro understood. So that’s why Byakuya was acting so strangely.
“But… how’d he get it?” Chihiro asked, glancing at the scattered sheet music that was on the floor, and wondering if this disease had something to do with why they weren’t cleant up. He made a mental note to pick them up later.
“Heck if I know! I’m just tryna find a cure here,” Monokuma answered. “Rumour has it, there are these tiny bugs… but I thought those were only a tropical thing! Oh well.” The bear shrugged.
“Oh, and one more thing. This disease is really contagious, so I’d keep away from him for a while. Let me handle this-”
Chihiro objected. “No, don’t go near him!” He blocked the bear from proceeding any closer.
“Fine, fine. Sheesh, a bear can tell when he’s not wanted,” he sighed. “Cya!” And he left just as soon as he came.
Chihiro let out a sigh, releasing all the nerves that were pent up from that one interaction. He turned back to Byakuya, who was still under his blanket.
“He’s gone now,” Chihiro said, uncovering Byakuya’s face, only to see that the ill progeny had fallen asleep. Chihiro couldn’t help but take notice of how peaceful he looked; no sour expression on his face or cruel words on his lips. And no whimpers or shrieks, either. He was almost… pleasant to be around this way.
Chihiro tucked the taller male in--gently, as to not wake him--and stood up. He picked up the scattered sheet music and closed Byakuya’s violin in its case, taking the sheet music, putting it back onto the stand, and neatly placing both by the cello that sat neatly in the corner of the room. After which he headed to leave, turning the light off. He exited, shutting the door as quietly as possible.
“Fujisaki!” Makoto called from down the hall, causing Chihiro to flinch. He turned around to see the slightly taller boy running toward him, waving something above his head. As he got closer, Chihiro recognised it to be a book of some sort. Makoto stopped in front of him, bending over to catch his breath.
“Take a… look at… this…” the brunet huffed out. Chihiro took the book from his hands, and looked it over. There was a dark brown stain on the cover, and the pages were bent inward, as if it had been dropped.
“The stain on the cover is coffee,” Makoto informed, seeing the curious expression on Chihiro’s face. “I didn’t find Togami anywhere, but I’m pretty sure this book is his.” Chihiro handed it back to Makoto.
“Is it a clue?” he asked, to which Makoto replied that he wasn’t sure yet.
“It could be. Anyway, I’m guessing you didn’t see Togami at all when I was gone?”
Chihiro shook his head. He didn’t exactly know why, but he couldn’t let anyone know of Byakuya’s condition. Maybe he wanted to protect Byakuya’s ego, maybe he didn’t feel like answering questions, or maybe he didn’t want to scare anyone, especially Byakuya himself, but the most likely reason was that he was scared of this disease, and didn’t want to risk anyone else being exposed to it. At least, that’s what he himself figured.
“Thought so. Maybe we should investigate his room, there could be a clue in-”
“No!” Chihiro exclaimed, jumping in front of Makoto as he reached for the doorknob. Makoto gave a concerned expression, and Chihiro had to think fast.
“Uhm… I… I tried to earlier, but… the door is locked. So… it’s no use,” Chihiro explained. Makoto seemed to believe the falsehood, and nodded.
“Alright. Well, I think we better tell everyone else about what we’ve found, right?”
“Yeah…” Chihiro agreed, offering a nod. “I’ll meet up in just a second.”
“Okay,” Makoto said, and began walking back toward the cafeteria.
Chihiro sighed, and peered inside the room once more, seeing that Byakuya was still asleep. He grabbed his small notepad and pen that he kept in his left shoe (just in case), and wrote a small note to Byakuya, placing it on the table that sat in the centre of the room.
'I’ll knock three times.
- Fujisaki'
After leaving the note, he walked out again, locking the door this time. Taking one last, deep breath, he proceeded back toward the cafeteria, to completely lie about everything that just happened.