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

Chapter 18: It's All Clear Now

Makoto looked at the blonde standing in front of him, eyebrow raised.

"Really? You want me to come into your room? You do remember what happened the last two times that happened, right?" He teased.

"Oh, do be quiet." Byakuya snapped. "I've had quite enough of your sass for one day. It'll be fine, there's absolutely nothing that can go wrong this time." The taller boy sounded confident, but Makoto still wasn't sure. Nevertheless, he walked in, breathing in the familiar, comforting scent. Yep, that was creepy. Knowing what someone smells like? That's a pretty big red flag.

The room looked the same as he had seen in his dream: clocks and calendars lining the walls, desk neatly arranged with textbooks stacked tidily in a corner, bed made to perfection. It was such a stark contrast to the landfill that he called his room that he couldn't help but laugh. He immediately regretted it, because Byakuya threw him a concerned glance.

"Are you... ok? God, two seconds in my room and you've already gone insane. I knew the pressure would prove too much for your feeble mind eventually, I just thought it would happen much further in the future. It's a shame, but life will move forward." The blonde spoke with a mischievous smile, taking off his blazer and carefully hanging it up in his cupboard.

"Knock it off, idiot." Makoto replied, a small grin on his face, accompanied by cheeks tinged with sunrise pink. "Anyway, run this by me again, I don't fully understand: why am I here? You haven't fully explained it to me, at least not in a way that I remember." Byakuya sighed and responded with a derisive tone.

"My, my. You really do have the memory of a goldfish, don't you? Either that or you simply didn't listen to me. Do you know, I'm not quite sure which is worse. It's a moot point for now, though. I suppose you wouldn't know, anyway, since you were asleep whilst the teacher explained it to us." After he said this, the taller boy's voice dropped, and he muttered something about 'interesting dreams' under his breath.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that last bit."

"Never mind that now. Let me explain this to you. Again." Byakuya began telling Makoto about the project. It was definitely very important, but Makoto had never been one for focusing, and found himself zoning out, barely listening to what Byakuya said. Instead, he focused on something else: the blonde himself. The curve of his smile when he spoke, the way the light glinted off of his glasses, the sharp suit and even sharper tongue, it was all... perfect. There was nothing not to find attractive about the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, except maybe his demeanour. But Makoto was starting to warm to even that. Was that a bad sign? Probably, but he didn't really care about something so meaningless. What mattered was how he felt. And there was no doubt in his mind about how he felt.

***

As Byakuya explained the project to his friend, he noticed that Makoto's focus was waning. Not that he expected much from the boy, but still, it wouldn't do anyone good if he wasn't listening, especially since he was asleep for half of the lesson itself.

   "Stop wasting my time and listen, imbecile. I'm not going to sit here and explain things to you if you're not paying attention." He said, vaguely angry.

   "Sorry, sir. It's just that I've never been good at paying attention whenever anyone talks about Maths. You're lucky I didn't zonk right off!" The brunette replied with a laugh, before blushing. "I mean, not sir! Byakuya! Sorry, I didn't mean to say that, aha." Byakuya was slightly taken aback, but mustered a sly smile.

   "Oh? Do you see me as an authority figure, Naegi?" He mocked.

   "Shut up, Byakuya. It was a slip of the tongue. Quit making fun of me." Makoto pouted, but barely concealed a laugh.