NO, THAT'S WRONG! ~~Naegami~~

Chapter 5: Lesson Learned

After saying that, Togami got up and walked out of the dining hall, leaving Makoto gaping, clutching his apple like it was a precious jewel. He was aware of the murmurs that were circling around the room, but only barely. What had just happened? He was dazed, his thoughts were fogged, and all he could think was Togami, Togami, Togami. Makoto felt something swell up painfully in his chest, but he ignored it. Maybe he'd unpack it later, but for now he needed to eat and get to class. He lifted his apple to his lips, but hesitated. Something felt... wrong about eating it. After all, it was a gift from the great Byakuya Togami, and that was not to be taken lightly. A small smile formed over his face as he slipped the apple into his backpack. He poured himself a bowl of cereal, ate it quickly, and rushed to his first class.

   Makoto had never been a good student, but he'd never been bad either. He was just... average. Not a class clown, not a teacher's pet. He didn't do homework on the day it was set, but he didn't do it the night before either. Sure, he always tried to get his grades up, but his natural skill- just like his motivation levels- was just depressingly normal. But the one subject he'd always struggled in was Maths. Not a unique difficulty, obviously not, but then again nothing about Makoto was unique. The problem was, he just couldn't get his head around how to get x or y. The numbers- or, more accurately, letters- just didn't make sense to him. And since Maths at his level was basically just algebra, he was pretty sure he was screwed.

   "Okay students!" said the teacher, who had a face that reminded Makoto of a bunny, "I understand that, for a lot of you, you've focused most of your education on sports, or science, or... leading biker gangs or whatever, so because of this, I have decided that you're going to work in pairs today." She then went round putting people into pairs. Owada and Ishimaru, Kuwata and Hagakure, Kirigiri and Celeste, Ogami and Asahina, which left just Makoto and-

   "Togami! You two'll work together, okay?" Makoto didn't know what to say, so he just nodded. He didn't know whether to celebrate his luck or curse it. He was the Ultimate Lucky student, but he was just now realising that that might be a burden as well as a privilege. Swivelling his head around, he spotted Togami slowly approaching. He caught his eyes, and started turning red, but Togami rolled his eyes and sat down next to him. He took out his textbook and started flipping through it. A few beats passed. Togami looked up at him.

   "What? Did you expect us to work together?" he said with a cocky smile. "Even I can't help you out if you're just naturally untalented, you know?" 

   "B-but we're supposed to be working together, Togami, can't we-" Togami cut him off, a glint in his eyes.

   "I'm joking, you idiot. Now, let's start, shall we?"

***

Byakuya watched Makoto slave over a really simple problem. He had part of his tongue stuck out in concentration and his brow was furrowed. It was strangely hypnotising to watch him write, and scribble things out, and write, and scribble things out, and repeat. His handwriting was atrocious, but at the same time strangely charming. He could barely decipher half of his workings out, but he could tell that all of them were wrong.

   "Okay, Naegi, let's work through this. Maybe I can help. Where are you going wrong?" Naegi looked up at him sheepishly, blushed and spoke.

   "All of it? Sorry, I know I'm dragging you down."

   "Yes, you are. But it's fine." Naegi looked up sharply at Byakuya. It looked like he was getting the wrong idea. "Not because we're friends or anything. The teacher asked us to work together, and I can't do that if you're stuck on simultaneous equations. So... what's wrong?" Byakuya was spouting nonsense at this point, but he couldn't let Naegi think they were becoming friends. Not after how he embarrassed himself at breakfast. Makoto sighed and said,