Assist Me - Byakuya Togami

13.

"Hey, Togami." He looked at the girl before immediately looking away. She was wearing a white button-up tucked into a grey skirt with black edges. She wore a black cross tie, similar to his own, and his blazer over her shoulders with the pin of his middle school on her shirt collar. They were in his room.

But she was different.

He couldn't handle seeing her in that state.

Three gashes had torn through the pristine shirt, ripping her skin. the shirt was stained with blood, horrifying him. There were red marks around her wrists and ankles where a rope had been irritating her skin and the rest of her skin was littered with scratches and bruises.

But she was smiling at him.

Why was she so happy?

"Do you remember me?"

"Of course I do."

"Don't lie."

The smile on her face had been replaced with a frown. Her eyes were cold and dull. They were different from what he had seen back in elementary school.

"I remember elementary school."

"That wasn't our only time together."

"What?"

DING DONG, BING BONG.

He woke up from his dream drenched in sweat. Why was she there? What was she talking about? Was that just a figment of his imagination?

He ran a hand through his hair before grabbing a change of clothes and a towel. He took a shower to start his morning, the thoughts of what had happened running through his brain and doing laps. He took his time, not caring for anything that was going on outside of his room. He needed his time alone to think.

He rinsed off before turning the water off. He dried himself off with a towel and got changed before brushing his teeth. After making sure he was appropriate, he left his room. Syo had seemed to notice him from the cafeteria and ran up to him making his teeth sink into his lower lip. He did not want to deal with her first thing this morning.

Another annoyance seemed to crop up. Monokuma's face popped up on the screens in the school which irked him on.

"Listen up, chumps!" Monokuma's voice spoke through the speakers. "After the next class trial, you'll get a gift from me to you! So, ya better get killin' or Miss L/n here will be the next corpse you have to deal with!"

Miss L/n?

He had heard someone say that before.

Pennyworth? No... he had never spoken to me about her.

But he could hear Pennyworth saying that.

He shook it off, refusing to look at the screen. He carried on with his day. But by the next morning, he was staring at the traitor's corpse. After a thorough investigation, he found himself getting irritated.

"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" He shouted, losing his patience, "How do you know what I don't know?!"

They all continued at it until Aoi pushed herself to be called guilty.

Makoto saw through it.

The girl sobbed as everyone voted Sakura the guilty party after figuring out she passed by her actions. Byakuya gripped at his podium, mumbling to himself. He couldn't believe this. He was wrong? He was never wrong! And Sakura killing herself? It couldn't be true!

They soon found out about Aoi's reason for all of this as she revealed a suicide note left by Sakura. Or at least, that's what they thought.

Monokuma revealed the real suicide note which told the remaining students that she gave her life up so that they could end the killing game.

"Well, I guess she died for nothin', huh?"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Makoto shouted at the bear.

"Say huh?"

"She gave her life because she believed in something!" He gripped his podium, "She believed in all of us and I will honour that!"

"Mic drop, bro, I'm with you," Hiro said, smiling to himself.

"What the what?"

"Hmph, Monokuma, your game no longer holds any appeal so I quit," Byakuya told.

"Huh?!"

"Don't worry, you'll still get your fix. We'll send someone to the gallows alright." He smirked, "You don't mind if it's your boss, do you?"

"What the hell's gotten into you snots?!"

Syo held herself, blushing, "I'm out too hehehe... I was only playing cause he played!"

Monokuma growled as Kyoko spoke up, "Well? Still wanna tell us the Ogami's death served no purpose?"

"BAH! Screw you guys, it's punishment time! You and your kumbaya talk won't rain on my parade!"

"Huh?"

"We've got a special victim! Let's bring him out!"

The 6 watched as poor Alter Ego got smashed to shreds. Their last hope of getting out.

Aoi stood before them, apologising for what she had done. Makoto was quick to accept her apology, Hiro followed after. Byakuya surprisingly took the apology while Syo got her scissors out, threatening the swimmer. After some shouting between them, Monokuma's voice rang through the speakers.

"Your present is in the nurse's office, kiddos!"

The 6 looked at each other and were quick to leave. All of them ran and opened the door to see a girl in the hospital bed. Her wounds had been bandaged and she was hooked up to some wires, a monitor tracking her heart rate. She still wore the bloodstained shirt and his blazer on her shoulders, but she wasn't moving.

"She seems to be in a comatose state." Kyoko addressed.

"What should we do? We have no idea when she's gonna wake up!" Makoto asked. They all noticed Byakuya staring at her with wide eyes.

"Dear God..." He whispered. His heart ached. It was just like he had seen in his dreams. His sudden change in attitude took even Kyoko off guard.

"Togami, do you know her?"

"We went to elementary school together. I found a notebook in my closet a while back, it had her name in it. There were notes of meetings and appointments. One of them was a checklist of things that were happening to celebrate a birthday of mine. Although, I haven't seen her since elementary school..."

With the new knowledge in everyone's minds, Hiro spoke. "Do you think she knows who the mastermind is?"

"There's no doubt in my mind she knows, but I heard what she said in that room. She's been watching everything unfold just like us." Makoto explained.

"It's likely she was being tortured by the mastermind. That may mean that she comes to an unresponsive state. It would be traumatising for her and she'd need time to regain her conscience on the matter." Kyoko deducted. In the end, it was agreed that they'd all meet to check up on her in the morning. Aoi volunteered to stay behind with her so they could explore the school and with that, they all headed off to bed.

The next few days would be interesting nonetheless.