Chapter Text
The first trial definitely left a print on Makoto. He couldn't come to terms with Sayaka's death and what would happen if her plan worked out perfectly. Remembering Leon's execution, he shuddered at the thought of what would happen to them all in that case.
"Oh, pull yourself together." The cold and harsh voice pulled Makoto away from his thoughts. He didn't really expect Byakuya to be speaking to him out of all people, but that arrogant attutide definitely belonged to the blonde. "It's a game, after all. They lost, you won."
Makoto had no clue if that was an attempt at making him feel better or if Togami was trying to make him feel even worse. Either way, it ended up doing the latter. Naegi gritted his teeth, he couldn't bear the thought of just brushing off the death of their friends. Sayaka, Junko and Leon. They were all gone and he wants him to what, just forget about them?
"It isn't just some game, you know? They're dead, goddamnit!" Makoto snapped at him, still sensetive and a bit shaky from witnessing Leon's execution. "I didn't win anything, we all lost."
Naegi's harsh rebuttal definitely made a hint of surprise appear on the face of usually stoic Byakuya. The heir scoffed, shaking his head. He never appreciated someone of Makoto's status talking back to him.
"Fine. If you want to cry about their bad decisions, it's your free will." Togami murmured, glaring daggers at the brunette. He didn't bother staying around Makoto any longer, leaving the aftermath of the class trial with the rest.
Naegi definitely caught some of Byakuya's attention after this meeting. After all, it's not everyday he gets to meet someone so interesting. He managed to solve a murder case almost entirely on his own, which is hard enough, not to even mention the whole class was against Makoto and didn't want to hear out his arguments. Even if Byakuya didn't want to admit it, that was something impressive.
Deep down, Byakuya wanted to know more about Makoto's surprising skills, to test him. He just needed to find out about the murder first himself and the rest should go down smoothly, as long as Naegi is as capleable as Byakuya hopes he is.
Of course, the blonde didn't want to become blackened himself. He doesn't dirty his hands with work like that. He'll let the peasants do all the murder and he'll gladly bring them to their demise. Sadly, as much as he dislikes meddling with corpses, it's going to be a requirement if he wants to test Makoto's abilities and actual worth.
While Byakuya waited for an occassion, a new parasite got stuck to his side. Besides Toko, now he had to deal with... Naegi, which technically isn't that bad. It's just that his clueless attitude got on his nerves. Either way, the boy was at least able to entertain him for a while, so Togami didn't push Makoto away the second he asked to spend time together.
It's almost funny how Naegi, that nobody, think he comes even close to someone like Byakuya.
Thankfully, as Monokuma got bored, a new motive came up and with it - a murder. A murder Togami was lucky enough to find first without anyone else notcing or being around. Of course, there was a small uncertainity of someone walking in on him, but he's inteligent enough to explain everything with no harm done.
Chihiro, huh? To be honest, Byakuya kind of expected this death to happen at some point. People who are weak both physically and mentally never last long. Survivial of the fittest, yada yada. It was time to get to work, to set up everything perfectly.
It was really the perfect opportunity, especially when Toko was dumb enough to tell him her darkest secret. Like he'll keep it to himself. This really will be the perfect, most interesting trial.
Everything went somewhat as planned. While Byakuya had hoped that Makoto will figure out Toko's second identity and that she was framed, he didn't expect him to figure out that he wasn't the one to blame. And just based on a slight change in his expression? That's absurd, however...
It felt kind of flattering, in a way, how much attention Makoto was paying to him. Was it just attention to detail, or could he be really staring at Byakuya like at a painting? The blonde's cheeks gained a red tint at the thought alone, but he quickly shook his head, trying to get that idea out of his mind.
This only further proved that Naegi actually was at least somewhat capleable of thinking for himself, even if Byakuya dragged him around half the time, barely letting him do research on his own. He needed to know the right things to fall into his trap, no? It's not like he wanted to spend time with that pathetic commoner, as if he was used to his presance.
"So, how do you feel now? That was rather entertaining, wasn't it?" Byakuya spoke up, catching up to Makoto. He rarely initiated a conversation on his own so that effort should be appreciated. However, with the amount of time Naegi spend trying to connect with him, he seemed surprisingly hostile and almost offended.
"Entertaining?" The brunette repeated Togami's words, his tone had a harsh hint in it. Makoto turned his gaze away from Byakuya's icy eyes, gathering his composure before speaking up again. "You messed with the dead body of our friend! That's not right."
The blonde scoffed at that reasoning. Could Makoto really not see the bigger picture? The effort that Byakuya put in to make at least one trial interesting? Well, okay, he did it for his own entertainment, not really thinking about how the rest of the class will think, but when did he ever need the approval of those poor commoners? They're like dirt beneath his shoe, why would he ever care about that?
"Oh please, Chihiro was dead already, a corpse is just an object. It's not like I mutilated that body somehow." Byakutya scoffed, rolling his eyes. What a boring conversation. Well, it's not like he'll have a productive talk with someone as Mokoto, but he can at least entertain himself.
"Well, that's true..." Naegi mumbled out, not wanting to irk the blonde further. It's easier to just agree, he does want to get closer with Togami, but the easier road isn't always the correct one. It'd be nice if Byakuya sometimes saw his point of view for a change. "But don't you feel bad for doing that? I mean, you not only outed Toko's secret, but also disrespected Chihiro. Don't you feel any connection with any of us?"
"Connection?" The blonde huffed coldly, as if disgusted by the mere idea of something like that. He was alone his whole life, why should he change that now? Even with the swarm of siblings he had, he fought his battles on his own, never relying on other people. "That's a worthless waste of time, don't you think? Of course, people like you need friends to cry over how sad your lives are together, but I'm on top of the world."
To be honest, this reasoning didn't make much sense to Naegi. Of course, they were very different people, so maybe that's why, but usually Byakuya's explanations helped him understand. Makoto also usually could somewhat imagine himself in the blonde's position, however that didn't make much of a difference. He just couldn't understand how does success translate to human connection.
"...So what? That means you can't have friends?" While talking to a normal person a question this simple would probably be embarrassing. With Byakuya every question, no matter how important or complex, is considered embarrassing purely because it came out of someone who isn't swimming in money and power, so Makoto didn't bother himself much with it.
The blonde shook his head, rolling his light blue eyes. Naegi noticed they seemed almost gray in certain lightning. That bright color made Togami look even more unapproachable. Maybe that's a good thing since one talk with him always makes Makoto's self esteem plummet down.
"That means I don't need friends." Byakuya corrected him in a condescending tone. He often treated the brunette like an especially stupid and annoying child, which is probably how he actually viewed him. "Everything I have ever achieved in my life was done by me and me only. There's no need for me to keep people around who can't do the same thing."
"Does there have to be a reason to be friends with someone?" Naegi asked, scratching the back of his neck, feeling a little bit awkward. Of course, he always felt at least a little bit intimidated around the Togami heir, but this was definitely different. Maybe because he felt disappointed? If Byakuya really doesn't want any connections, were all of his efforts wasted? Well, probably yes.
"There's a reason to everything, Makoto." The blonde explained, his tone sharp and condescening as usual. "Maybe not to people like you there doesn't have to be, but that's what causes you to stay deep down in the 99% of society. You do the useless things, I do things with a purpose."
Naegi sighed at that, looking away, his head hanging low. Maybe he really should just give up on trying to understand Byakuya better, on having a connection? After all, each time they meet he underlines how worthless Makoto is, how he's no better than the dirt under his shoes. The brunette should have taken the hint the first time, but he was too stubborn back then. Not everyone will like him and that's okay.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right." Naegi muttered, brushing off Byakuya's words. He never ended the conversation on his own, it was always Togami who shooed him away. That's why there was a small look of surprise in Byakuya's eyes after that unenthusiastic response.
"Of course I'm right, I always am." The blonde scoffed, although he didn't seem very convinced. Well, he did believe that he's always right, there's no doubt in that. It's just that Makoto rarely agreed with this little care in what he had to say.
Byakuya didn't like this weird little feeling in his chest that showed up when the brunette left so abrouptly to talk with someone else. While a lot of people didn't want to spend time with Togami, he was never so flatly ignored, especially by someone who seemed to interested in him earlier.
"Pathetic loser." The blonde mumbled to himself, making his way into his room, as always after a class trial. He didn't have the patience to deal with those self-pittying commoners, and someone as boring as Makoto shouldn't mess with his head so much.
He closed the door behind himself, turning the key in the lock with a small click. Byakuya let out a small sigh, trying to relax and clear his mind from the earlier annoyance that was caused by Naegi. He grabbed a book from one of the shelves in his room and opened the first page without even looking at the title. Another unexplained murder case, huh? Those were borning to read since he was able to figure everything out on his own and it was frustraiting to read about how unsolvable this mystery is. If only people could actually use their brains the world would be such a better place.
After some time Byakuya put the files back into the exact spot he took them from the shelf. He didn't want his room to be a mess, everything had a place somewhere. Even if he's trapped here he can still keep his dignity and make sure there's order in his space.
Soon came the Monokuma evening announcement and nighttime officially started. He was glad for the new rule the rest of the class established. It's not like he had plans of waltzing around at night and thanks to it nobody is going to bother him about anything that isn't worth his attention.
The next day started... weird. Weirder than usual after a class trial. Kiyotaka wasn't being obnoxiously loud, which would be a nice change if he wasn't sulking in the corner. Everyone seemed more irritated with Byakuya and while he understood that pathetic worms like his classmates will always feel firey jealousy, this time it was a slightly different feeling. Were they really still mad about Chihiro?
But what mostly caught Byakuya's attention was what came after their morning meeting and exploration of recently opened school grounds. Makoto didn't seem even a tiny bit interested in a conversation. While the blonde told himself that didn't care much for having the attention of someone this lowly placed in the social ladder, it was most certainly unusual. For a minute or two Byakuya considered striking up a conversation himself, but that would be too great of an honor for a loser like Naegi. He'll get over it and start bothering him again soon, surely.
Deep down, no matter how much Togami wouldn't want to admit that, he did hope that Makoto will get over himself.