Lock and Key | Naegami

Chapter 5 - Backstories

I woke up at around 11, feeling hungry. I'd only had two meals over the last two days, and I was starting to feel light-headed.

'By..akuya...' I mumbled, sitting up. He wasn't there.

I slowly stood up to see him sitting on a chair, eating something. There was another plate on the desk.

'Oh, Naegi, you're awake.'

'I.. told you to call me Makoto,' I walked over to him, rubbing my eyes, 'And where did you get that from?'

'Well..' Byakuya started hesitantly, 'While you were asleep, I did a challenge.'

'Wh-What?!'

He shrugged. 'It was nothing big, or life threatening.'

'Don't do that again..' I mumbled, 'What if I woke up and you were dead..?'

'I highly doubt you would care,' Byakuya said, 'Anyway, are you going to eat or not?'

'O-Oh, sorry-!'

'Don't apologise.'

*****

'Hey, Byakuya?'

He sighed. 'Yes?'

'Well.. We've already been stuck here for a few days, and we don't know when we'll get out,' I began, 'So why don't we get to know each other?'

'I'm Byakuya Togami,' Byakuya said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

'That's a start..'. I mumbled under my breath, 'So.. what does your talent mean?'

'One day I'll inherit the Togami Cooperation,' he said in a flat tone.

'Anything else?'

'No.'

I laughed nervously. 'Then uh... how about me? My talent... uh.. I'm lucky?'

'I know that, Makoto.'

My eyes widened at the sudden use of my first name, and I furiously rubbed my cheek, trying to stop myself from blushing. Wait what?

'Ah-Ehm,' my voice cracked as I tried to speak. I cleared my throat before trying to talk again, 'Well... I once got a knife held to my throat by a jewel thief.'

'Excuse me?'

'Heh..' I laughed, 'It's a long story.. It was actually the day I got accepted into Hope's Peak! I lost a game with my friends and had to buy them food and drinks, but I dropped everything on the way back from the store. Then some old man found something I dropped and took it, but left his phone behind. I ran after him with his phone, leaving all the food on the street, following him onto a bus. However, I tripped over and grabbed onto something to stop me from hurting myself. Turns out that that thing I'd grabbed onto was a bag of stolen jewellery! The thief pulled a knife out and held it to my throat, but the same old man from earlier tackled him to the floor. The thief escaped the bus and got on a motorbike and started to drive away, but the bike hit one of the cans I'd dropped earlier on, it flipped over and he got arrested. That same night, I got a letter from Hope's Peak saying I was the Ultimate Lucky Student!'

Byakuya was silent for a few seconds, before finally speaking up. '...Wow.'

'Ok, I told you my story, now tell me about yours! How did you get your talent?'

'Fine,' he sighed, 'It's a Togami family tradition where the male head of family does not get married, and instead couples with many exceptional and wealthy women from around the world to have as many children as possible. Because of this, I had fifteen half siblings.'

'Fifteen?!' I stared at Byakuya shocked.

'Yes. May I continue?'

'Oh, yes, sorry!'

'So, me and my siblings were forced to battle against each other to show who will be the head of the family. I was the last one standing. All of my siblings were exiled from the Togami family and forced to live commoner lives. In my eyes, being exiled is as bad as being killed. I lived my young life trying to take the Togami Cooperation to even greater heights, and at a young age, I was in the ownership of over four billion Yen. Later on, I got scouted by Hope's Peak, and now here we are.'

'Wow, you've had... some childhood,' is all I could say.

'Yes, I know,' Byakuya softly chuckled to himself. However, I could tell that that laugh was hiding a lot of pain and trauma. So, being the kind person I am, I leant over and gave him a hug. 'Wh-What are you doing?!'

'Answer me honestly, when was the last time someone gave you a hug?' I asked.

Byakuya stayed silent.

'Byakuya?'

'I... don't remember.'

I buried my head in the crook of his neck as he eventually hugged me back.

We stayed like that, not moving, not talking, just holding each other in silence. It wasn't an awkward one though, it was comfortable. It felt nice being with him.

Something about Byakuya Togami was different from everyone else, and I couldn't put my finger on what it was.