Heir & Heiress

Miscommunication

Byakuya and I had slept separately that night. I couldn't understand his thought process as he couldn't understand mine. In a last attempt to hopefully recover the sketchbook, I scoured my room once last time just as the morning announcement played in the background. 'Someone must have stolen it'. The doorbell distracted my racking thoughts, "Yeah?" I answered, swinging the door to find Byakuya on the other side. We stared at each other in awkward silence. "Where...are you off to?"

"The dining hall. Are you coming or not?" 'Why is he still in such a sour mood?'

"I thought you didn't care about the meetings," I said, gathering my dorm key and locking the door behind me. "And yes, I am".

"I don't care about them in the slightest. I only care about our safety from the Mastermind's little helper". I sighed, and followed Togami, watching his footsteps land in front of mine. 

Surprisingly, we weren't the last to arrive. Makoto and Sakura were nowhere to be found. Besides the tension of two of our own missing, Byakuya and Hina only created more. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking refuge from the menace amongst us," Togami sat down, crossing his legs and arms.

"Menace?" Naegi's voice echoed from the doorway. "Are you talking about Sakura?"

"Have you seen her at all?" I asked, but my shoulders sank when he shook his head. "Don't refer to her as that, Byakuya. She hasn't done anything irreversible".

"Oh? Besides the fact she swore to secrecy with the Mastermind, not trusting any of her friends with her secret?"

"As if you have any room to talk," Hina blurted out, slowly approaching Togami. "You just keep to yourself. Even the one person who knows you better than any of us still has trouble understanding you," she held her hand out, gesturing towards me.

"Hina, it's okay...," I tried consoling the brunette, only to be met with a fierce glare.

"No, it isn't! He's awful! You...just let him walk all over you because you grew up together. That isn't love, Karen! I mean, how can we be sure that he didn't push you down the stairs?".

"Yeah, you could just be covering for him!" Hiro joined in.

"I'm not covering up anything! Byakuya didn't push me down the stairs, I tripped".

"What about Fujisaki? He messed with his body and never once apologized for it!" Hina's yelled.

"An apology isn't going to change anything! Fujisaki is dead. In case you haven't noticed, half of us are dead. The outside world is crumbling to pieces, we are stuck in this perpetual hell, and we are still fighting over the past". Tense silence rolled through the air; eyes averted and hardened, trained on me.

"You sound just like him. Do you not hear yourself?" Hina tugged at the hem of her jacket.

"Enough," Byakuya stood, looming over Hina. "This isn't about us, this about you turning a blind eye to the traitor," his glance snapped towards me for a second and firmly redirected onto Hina. "This entire ordeal would be resolved if she were dead". A sharp snap tore through the air. Byakuya recoiled slightly, hand covering his reddening cheek. In the blink of an eye, Hina had slapped the heir straight across the face. Nothing we said could've comforted Hina; without as much as a final glance, she stomped out of the dining hall.

"You really don't understand, do you?" Kyoko asked. "Underestimating someone's emotions will surely come back to bite you later, if it hasn't already". Her eyes bore into me.

"What are you droning on about?" Byakuya regained his composure.

"What you don't understand is that all of this," I gestured an arm in front of the group, "is personal. Everything that happens here is personal, not a business transaction. You aren't fighting for the heir's throne here". Byakuya stared down at me, cold at first, yet began to slowly nod as seconds ticked on.

"Fighting won't help us. We need to avoid recklessly playing into the Mastermind's hands," Kyoko added, her glare softening to slight disappointment.

"She's right. Let's not create more of an issue than what we're already dealing with," I propped my hands on my hips.

"And who decided that you direct what I do?" Byakuya glared at me.

"I'm not directing you. I'm telling you that your insidious attitude is going to lead to another death if you aren't careful," I spat back. Byakuya gave a curt nod and left the room. I bit my lip, silently cursing at myself. I sank into the nearest chair and covered my face with my hands. Footsteps led out of the room, seeming to leave me alone, except for one presence in front of me.

"You're making this more difficult than necessary," Kirigiri said, taking a seat across from me. "You can't appease Togami and us at the same time. You two were clearly raised differently, even while living in similar worlds".

"You don't know the half of it," my hands slipped away, allowing me to turn my head towards her.

"Distance yourself. Spend some time on your own and maybe you'll start to see clearly," Kyoko rest a firm hand on my shoulder and walked away.

"I can't just turn my back to him! How is separating us going to make light of anything?" I called out, catching her in the doorway.

"Are you serious about escaping together?" I firmly nodded, "Okay, then learn how to function on your own". The door shut behind her. 

I climbed staircase after staircase, passing the library and art room until my feet stopped before the music room. Function on my own, huh?', my fingers danced over the piano keys; pressing notes into the air, I settled onto the bench. From Debussy to Tchaikovsky, my mind finally found peace in memories. Years of playing piano and violin alongside Byakuya resurfaced; we always did find a way to turn everything we did together into a competition.

"You play really well!" Naegi's voice filled the empty room.

I would have thought that being trapped would have made me immune to being scared so easily. "Do you seek out ways to startle me?" I turned, propping my leg on the bench.

"Sorry," he chuckled, "I heard you from the office, so I thought I'd check it out".

"Oh? Noise does travel well through the halls," I sighed. Screams traveled perfectly to each corner of the school; the thought sent a shiver down my spine. "What's so interesting in the office?"

Makoto paused, "Uh...well, I was talking with Byakuya". I nodded, giving a pitiful grin. "He seemed off, so I wanted to see what was going on".

"And I told you that it was none of your concern," Byakuya rolled his eyes at Makoto. "You've improved drastically over the years," he stared blankly at me. The passive compliment felt as if an icicle had impaled me.

"Thank you," I shut the top over the piano keys, quickly standing from my seat. I stared at the two boys, not sure of what to do next. "I...apologize for what I said this morning. I have no right to direct how you handle situations". With nothing else to say, I attempted to pass them, but Byakuya was quick to loosely take my arm.

"What's with the formality?" I could hear the strain in his voice, words barely verbalized through gritted teeth. Byakuya and I stood with our backs to each other. "What did she say to you?"

"I'm sorry," I squeaked, yanking my arm free and slammed the door behind me, not daring to turn back until I reached the dorms. Once locked away in my room, numbness ate away at me as gushing tears washed my face. Returning to loneliness felt disturbingly comforting, yet as if I were laying in my grave.