Naegami - Responsible

Epilogue

Makoto Naegi looked in a mirror, adjusted his tie, and turned to the girl laying in the hospital bed next to him. "Do I look okay, Sayaka?"

Sayaka smiled at him. "You look perfect. Although I'm not sure why you're making such a big deal about this..."

"Are you serious? This is Byakuya's and my first real date! No way am I phoning it in!"

The girl giggled. "Oh yeah, I forgot! You only started real-dating recently, right?"

It hadn't been a question for them if they were going to start actually dating, but when. They were both nervous, though, and when Byakuya approached Makoto awkwardly after class and asked him to come to this fancy upscale restaurant Makoto had never heard of with him, Makoto was over the moon with excitement. That had been two days ago, and Byakuya was due to pick him up in a few minutes. The hospital had proved to be a good rendezvous point for them, and besides, Makoto had wanted to update Sayaka on everything that had happened since he last saw her.

"Yeah," Makoto said, frowning as he straightened his tie for the tenth time since he'd arrived. "We... we really like each other." He turned to her, smiling. "I can't believe things turned out this good."

Well, not everything had turned out perfectly, Makoto reflected. Most of his classmates had believed Sayaka's interview and were back on speaking terms with him. Aoi was almost ready to move past it, and the rest of his homeroom class was more than ready to act like it had never happened.

Except for Hifumi and Celeste, that was.

Celeste, at least, had cooled down a bit, since the main target of this whole situation was Makoto and she had no need to dethrone him from his social standing. Still, every chance she got she would rub it into Byakuya's face that his boyfriend had almost ended up killing a girl. Hifumi, on the other hand...

"Still showing your face around here, I see, Mr. Naegi," he would sneer whenever the two of them walked into the classroom. "And Mr. Togami, too. How shameful. At this point I'm frankly shocked that you haven't dropped out in shame yet."

Usually Mondo or Sakura would shut him up, but that didn't make his insults hurt any less, even if they did come from an overweight otaku with no life outside his Princess Piggles cartoons, and Makoto had started crying in class multiple times.

"Aww, don't cry," Aoi would always say, patting his shoulder. "I don't see how that guy hasn't gotten expelled at this point. Just you wait. Sakura and me are gonna take this to the headmaster first chance we get."

Unfortunately, Aoi didn't exactly have the best track record with Hifumi, who had called out her feelings for Sakura multiple times in the past, and even with Sakura and Mondo backing her up, the headmaster claimed that there was nothing that could be done unless he personally witnessed Hifumi verbally abusing the couple. That hadn't exactly gone over well with Aoi or Mondo, who had needed to be physically dragged back to class by a much cooler-headed Sakura.

"One day, Makoto," Aoi muttered, fuming. "One day we're gonna get that bastard."

But all that didn't matter too much to Makoto anymore. What mattered was that his friends had forgiven him, and Byakuya was by his side. No matter what, Byakuya was by his side.

"Well, I'm glad you're happy at least," Sayaka said with a sad smile as Makoto recounted all this to her. "I can't believe how much you've had to go through because of me..."

"Don't worry about it!" Makoto returned her smile. "If all this hadn't happened, Byakuya and I never would've started going out."

"Yeah..." Her smile was looking more pained by the second, and Makoto realized something suddenly. His heart dropped into the pit of his stomach.

"Wait... are you okay with all of this?"

Sayaka looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Makoto swallowed. "Before all this happened, you and I were kind of... an item. And then, while you were in a coma, I started going out with someone else. I never thought of that before. Sayaka, I'm so sorry."

Her smile might've been forced, but the happiness in her eyes was genuine. "No, it's fine. I don't really deserve you after what I put you through. And besides, you're way happier now, right?"

"That's not –"

"It doesn't matter." Sayaka cut him off, still looking at him with that sad smile. "If you're happy, I'm happy. Because I'm your assistant, right?"

Makoto laughed. "Yeah. I forgot about that. Well, as long as you're okay with this... I guess it's fine."

"Hey." Sayaka put a hand on his arm. "I'm really happy for you, you know? Don't you forget it. And don't apologize to me again, either, you got that?"

Makoto, who had been about to apologize, stared at her. Then he snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, you're psychic. I keep forgetting."

"Right!"

The two of them laughed for a little while. It felt good to just forget about all the insanity that had happened in the past month or so. To pretend that they were a couple of normal high schoolers again – well, as normal as you can be when one of you is a world-famous pop star.

Then Byakuya opened the door, and Makoto ran into his arms. "Oof! No need for such overwhelming displays of affection. We've been over this!"

Makoto pulled back, looking at Byakuya in awe. "You look..."

"As I always do," he finished. "You, on the other hand, look, well... absolutely beautiful. For someone of such a lowly status, that is," he added hurriedly.

Makoto blushed. It was true he had gotten dressed up for the occasion, and this was probably as good of a compliment as he was going to get out of Byakuya. "Well, I wouldn't go that far. And you look pretty great too, you know?"

"No need for flattery. Must I remind you that we're dating now?"

He smiled. "I'm giving you a compliment, silly. It's what a good boyfriend does. Now come on!" He grabbed Byakuya's hand and practically dragged him out of the room. "We're gonna be late!"

Sayaka watched them leave. A single tear that she'd been fighting since Makoto had shown up at her room slipped down her cheek. And she smiled. Because no matter how much she loved Makoto, if he was happy, she was happy. She had meant that from the bottom of her heart.

She lay back, listening to Makoto and Byakuya retreating down the hall, Byakuya protesting that Makoto was running too fast, and closed her eyes.

She was happy. Makoto was happy. And Byakuya, for one of the first times in his life, was happy.

What more could she have asked for?