A/N: Hey, I'm sad, so have an angst.
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The Ultimate Seamstress was used to people complimenting her looks. Ever since she was young, everyone had gushed about how much she looked like a porcelain doll in the pretty embroidered fabrics and ribbons her mother had dressed her in.
Things weren't different when she came to Hope's Peak. When she was accepted, she'd asked if she could play with the uniform a bit, and not a couple of days later, she was walking around campus elegantly dressed in a white dress shirt with ruffles at the sleeves, a cropped beige blazer, and a frilled, layered skirt. Of course, she matched it with white stockings and the school-issued shoes.
The students gawked, older and younger alike, much to her indifference. She was used to all of it now; being more shy than most, she often immersed herself in work to distract the absence of real friends and to hide away from the empty compliments.
But when she first saw him...
Her entire world collapsed in on itself when an upperclassman, the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, Togami Byakuya, walked right past her on the way to class. He emanated pure poise just walking down the hallway, his narrowed eyes focused straight ahead.
She had merely gawked at him as he passed her, the faint whiff of his expensive cologne shocking her senses more than a bath of ice water. She was smitten in approximately five seconds, and soon she found a new reason to reach out.
She started slowly, trying to reach for his inner circle. Thankfully, the people whose company he sought were friendly enough, and she soon sat timidly amidst their numbers in the academy's off-time, trying to find out as much as she could about him.
One of them, one Naegi Makoto, reassured her on the first day she sat with them. "Don't worry about Togami... he's always pretty crabby, heh."
She smiled nervously, and that was it. She observed how he interacted with others, his favorite types of books to read, his favorite teas to drink and when to drink them, and most of all, how he reacted to... her. The Ultimate Writing Prodigy, Fukawa Toko, who always seemed to shadow Togami like some kind of... smelly parasite.
Not that the seamstress had any hatred in her heart for the girl. In fact, she understood her plight. Just from watching the two, it was obvious that Fukawa crushed hard on the heir, but every time she tried to do something for him, he rejected her harshly.
She almost considered themselves sisters in arms, but she'd seen enough from Fukawa to know that if she ever came forward with her sympathy, she'd be shrugged off and actively pushed away from the man of her secret affection.
And thus, she waited. She went to class, sat with them every day, tried to open herself up a little more, engrossed herself in her work at night, and continued the cycle the very next morning. As much of a kick-in-the-pants it was, she realized that she probably would never have a chance with him.
Her fears were further solidified in the one time she shyly approached him with a novel she just knew he'd like -- one that ticked off all his boxes. He merely looked at it and waved her away with a cross "I've already read that one, sorry." She'd sat in her room crying over her sewing machine that night, imprinting her feelings into a navy-blue kimono.
It wasn't like she was just going to give up on him, though -- oh, no she wasn't. There were some times where she'd catch something that almost seemed friendly from him - pulling out a book for her to look at if they were in the library with the others, handing her a cup of tea in the lunchroom, even asking her about if she'd consider ever creating something for any wealthy families. To her, those were strong reasons to keep pursuing - even if she hadn't actually come forward with her feelings yet. Somehow, she got the increasingly intrusive thought that if she told him, he would mock her for it, and then she'd lose her group of friends.
Desperate for approval, desperate to be liked. She poured her heart and soul into her pieces to fill in the gaps, vent her frustrations, weep over her hardships, and just plain pass the time when she had nothing else to do. As she pined for Togami, she worked harder and harder.
He'd mentioned once in passing conversation that he wouldn't mind getting a custom-made suit tailored to his exact requirements for the year's Christmas ball, and that made the wheels in her head start to turn.
She first asked the PE teacher for copies of every student in Class 78's measurements, then got to work. She carefully noted which ones paired with which piece of the clothing that she was designing, and finally, after two nights of agonizing over which fabric to use and where, she got to work.
She poured her heart and soul into that suit whenever she had time, often taking all-nighters just to make sure it was done by Christmas.
Finally, only two days before the ball, she leaned back in her chair, exhaling loudly. The suit was finished, and it was just as beautiful as she'd imagined.
She hurriedly folded it in a gift box, put a pretty bow on top, and neatly wrote his name on the lid along with 'from a secret admirer'. She prayed it wasn't too obvious and rushed over to Naegi, asking him to deliver it to Togami under anonymity. Graciously, he agreed with a smile -- and all that was left was to wait.
On the night of the Christmas ball, she took her own carefully-designed dress and headed to the auditorium, scanning the dimly-lit hall for the heir.
Finally, after ten minutes of waiting in the corner awkwardly with a cup of punch in hand and enduring people coming up to her, gushing about her dress, she straightened her posture when he walked in... but... he wasn't wearing the suit?
She stared at him, jaw agape in despair. What was wrong with it?! Did she get the wrong measurements? Was the fabric not good enough quality? Was he just kidding about the suit request?
She managed to pull Naegi aside and frantically asked him what was going on.
"Oh..." Naegi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Um... apparently, Togami kind of... already had a suit planned, so... he decided to give it to someone else."
That meant that all her hard work, her blood, sweat, and many, many tears, the culmination of her love for him... it was being worn by some other guy?! The suit with the crest of the Togami family so lovingly stitched on the inside of the breast pocket was being callously misused by some nobody?!
Heartbroken, she thanked him for telling her and bid him good luck with his date, Kirigiri.
He seemed a little worried, but he patted her on the shoulder and walked off with the lavender-haired girl, beginning to ease into conversation with her.
The seamstress could hardly bear to watch as Fukawa laughed as she mocked the suit she'd made, deeming it a 'gross waste of Master Togami's time' and 'only fit for trash'. Of course, whether or not she knew who made it was relative, but it didn't make the words sting any less.
The knife was driven in further when he coldly remarked that he wasn't even interested in anyone, and that the only thing he cared about at the moment was taking on the Togami name and being the pride of the family.
She tried her hardest not to crush the glass in her hand as she began to tremble, tears pooling in her eyes. She quickly downed her punch, suddenly feeling too sick to stay any longer.
She rushed out of the auditorium, ignoring the warm tears trailing down her blazing cheeks. She wanted to pretend that his offhanded rebuke didn't hurt, but she wasn't some kind of emotion-masking champion like Celestia was. She was human.
From then on, she resigned herself to only being an orbiter, faking her smiles and laughter when she hung out with his friend group. As much as it hurt to be so close to the man who carelessly threw away her symbol of her affection so badly she could die, she told herself that she must keep up all appearances. If he'd given it away that fast, then perhaps it was better that he didn't know the suit was from her.
As far as he was concerned, she was only fit to circle him in awe. Perhaps that was for the best for both parties...
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A/N: Hooray for angst. I've also noticed that I haven't really written any for Togami -- whoops! Guess this'll change that.
Please tell me what you thought, feel free to request, and I'll see you guys later.