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Byakuya had never really expected to meet Yasuhiro’s mother.
It’s not like he really thought against it, but when he had started dating him and Makoto, he had never really thought about meeting their family. So he was surprised now, to be here after the end of the world, having a conversation with Hiroko Hagakure on a rooftop.
He had been standing there alone, wanting to get away from the commotion below. Makoto, Yasuhiro, and Kyoko were all meeting their long-lost family members that had been held captive. Aoi’s brother Yuta had unfortunately died, but nonetheless she still had her parents to meet. Toko’s family was nowhere to be found, but she probably didn’t want to meet them anyway because of their abusive nature. She also had her pet stinkbug Kameko to keep her company, and had also recently become friends with Makoto’s sister. (However uncomfortable that made Byakuya feel.) But Byakuya had no one to go back too. His entire family was dead, and they still hadn’t gotten back his butler Aloysius Pennyworth freed, due to Warriors of Hope wanting to “keep him in trade for having that little rich boy freed.” So, Byakuya had felt all alone while everyone was laughing with their loved ones, even with his boyfriends. He didn’t like all the noise anyway, so after telling Makoto and Yasuhiro that he wanted to be alone, they let him go the rooftop of the Future Foundation building they were in.
He had been staring out into the burning sunset, lost in memories of being with Pennyworth, when he felt a feminine hand touch his shoulder. He immediately panicked, pushing the hand away expecting to see Toko’s obsessive face but instead seeing Yasuhiro’s mother.
“H-Hiroko,” he stated, still startled. “What are you doing here?”
She chuckled, smiling kindly at him, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya. I just decided to come up out here.”
“I-It’s fine, just don’t touch me like that again.” He then glanced away from her nervously. “…Are you here for a smoke?”
“I would say that, but I’m actually here for something else….But, would you mind if I did? Hiro doesn’t usually like me smoking around him ‘cause his father once burned down the house smoking, so he gets nervous. He’s told me you had a shitty dad, too, so I figure you’ve also got some issues. It’s just safe to ask, ya know?”
Byakuya’s eyebrows furrowed a bit and he tightened his lips, turning to face her. “…I’d prefer not to inhale secondhand smoke.”
Hiroko nodded.
“My father always put down cigarettes, any kind of smoke, or drugs, especially marijuana,” Byakuya explained, not sure why he was speaking. “He said that a Togami shouldn’t need to rely on drugs to stay on task. Drugs lead to destruction. And a great company can’t afford that.”
Hiroko chuckled wryly, “I can see what he means.” She felt the lighter in her pocket.
Byakuya turned away from her as if out of embarrassment. “But he…he would often talk about the 99% and their need for drugs. How they run off and get high because they have nothing of value. Especially the…poor. Especially with marijuana. He might have gotten that idea from the United States.”
He looked back at her, and she had an expression he couldn’t read. “But enough about that. Why are you here?”
“I’m actually here to check up on ya,” Hiroko smiled. “Hiro and that other boy Makoto have been awfully worried about you. But if you want, I can leave. They just wanted me to see if you were doing alright.”
“They were worried? I told them I was fine.”
“Well, ya know, they know how troubled you must feel right now.”
“But why you? No offense, but why didn’t they come to see me?” He hoped he didn’t let the disappointment show in his voice.
“Partly because Makoto still wanted to hang with his family, but believe it or not, Hiro told me you might need an older figure right now.”
“…Older figure?”
“Well, everyone has got their parents or even grandparents. And you’ve got no one. Maybe you need someone older to talk to.”
“…I don’t need anyone right now.”
“That’s alright, so you want me to leave then?”
Byakuya didn’t answer.
“…You don’t want me to leave, do you?”
Byakuya sighed. “…I miss Pennyworth.”
Hiroko’s eyes widened a bit. “That’s…your butler, right?”
He nodded. “I never realized how much I needed him.”
“Do you think he misses you?”
He turned his face to her and furrowed his brows. “He…he misses me.”
“Was he…What was he like?”
“What- what do you mean.”
“Well, you must have been really close to him. What was he like? To you.”
“…He…he was supportive, I suppose. In his own way. In the only way allowed. He never let me down, and was always there for me. Most people saw him as off-putting, but I never saw him like that. He did anything, anything to protect me- but of course, he couldn’t control what happens in the Togami household.”
“Control?”
“Well, of course, he was just a butler. He didn’t have a say in much.”
“…I think I see what you mean. You wish he could have, don’t you?”
“Could have what?”
“You wish he could have been the one who had the control.”
Byakuya closed his eyes and turned away from Hiroko.
“…I think…I think he deserved it more than Father.”
There was a long pause.
“If the world never ended, would the chain have?” He seemed to have muttering to himself, but Hiroko heard him.
“The chain?”
“The chain of…the chain that is the long line of brokenness in my family. What if it- what if it never ended. Because father…father didn’t end it. He didn’t want to. And now I’m here, and guess the only reason why the Togami family ended with me as heir?”
“…Because they’re not here, right?”
“Exactly, because the world, and them, ended! And if it wasn’t for that I would be soon to have- to have sex with women for children to abuse!”
“Well…do you wanna do that?”
“No! Of course not!”
“Well then, sweetheart, that means the shit chain of your family would have ended even if the world didn’t.”
“W-why?”
“Because you would have ended it,” Hiroko assured sweetly.
“Wh-…what? No, I wouldn’t have- …Oh.”
“Do you understand now? You’re not the shitty man your father was.”
“N-no, but I could have been.”
“…I…I suppose.”
“No, you see, the only reason why I don’t think like that now is because of the killing game. I changed because of the killing game. Because Makoto was there. Because he stopped me from being my horrible self forever.”
“Now, I mean, I wouldn’t see it like that. You would have changed even if the killing game didn’t happen. Makoto would have still been in that school.”
“But that’s the thing! I only changed because somebody fixed me!”
“Now I- hmm…listen-“
“See? SEE? You can’t argue that!”
“…No, it’s not that. You’ve always had good in you.”
“Wha- What?”
“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have changed. You wouldn’t have been able to see your issues.”
Byakuya didn’t respond.
“Listen, now you may have been mistreated as a child like my son was and you didn’t come out at sweet as him at first, but that’s not your fault. Your family brainwashed you into thinking what’s right and wrong.”
“…That’s a weird way to try to lift my spirits.”
Hiroko sighed. “Look, even if, you shouldn’t look at it like that. That’s not gonna do anything. You gotta focus on who you are now.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighed again. “Sometimes, sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I didn’t go with Hiro’s father. Looking at it, I’d say life would have been better. I think I’m stupid for doing that, but, in the end, Hiro wouldn’t have been on this Earth, would he?”
“What is that supposed to mean? Are you acting like I chose to be born into my family? What- Is it because I chose to fight to be a Togami? Because I chose to be cruel?”
“No, that’s not what I’m- What I’m trying to say is, you can’t focus on what you did or who you were in the past. What matters is now. How are you fixing those mistakes? And if you can’t, how are you moving past it. And I’m not saying ignoring who you are or who you were, I’m saying looking at it, knowing it’s there, and trying to change yourself from that. Trying to move. It’s hard to explain. But what I’m trying to say is, you can’t just worry about how things would have been different. You have to think about how it could be different now. How it is now, and moving forward.”
She walked closer to him, and motioned her hand towards herself until he was looking at her. “After all, you’re not part of Future Foundation for nothing.”
Tears. Oh God, tears. Tears trying to make their way to Byakuya’s eyes. Byakuya hated that, Hiroko would hate that, she would-
No she wouldn’t.
Byakuya let the tears start to fall down his face. “…Thank you.”
“Hm?”
“Thank you, for, talking to me. Talking how…No, I shouldn’t say it.”
“No, no, what is it, sweetie?”
“There!…Sorry, there it is. You’re talking to me…like a mother.”
“Well, I am.” She chuckled.
“No- you aren’t my mother.”
“Hm? Well maybe I should be.”
“What- I- that wouldn’t work, I’m dating your son.”
“Now I- I don’t mean it like that. I mean, why can’t I be a mother figure to you? Seems like you’ve never had one.”
“I…I guess so. My mother never…talked to me the way you do. Or barely at all. Do I need a mother figure? I’m too old now.”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to at least have?…You deserve it.”
“I- what?”
“You deserve to have someone else look after for you. Someone else to look up to.”
“I…”
“After all, I may be your mother-in-law one day, right?”
“…Well with the way the world is-“
“D-don’t worry about that. Now, come here.”
“Come- Come where?”
“You look like you need a hug.”
Byakuya walked into her arms, and finally let the tears come full force.
“There, there, take it easy,” Hiroko soothed.
When the cries were over, Byakuya let himself out of her embrace. He kept his eyes on her, no longing feeling a need to look away.
She smiled. “Do you wanna go back in, now?”
“No, you can go back in.”
“You sure?”
He nodded. “I’ll just be out here…for now.”
And then he was alone again. But now, he didn’t feel so.