Chapter Text
The first thing going through Byakuya’s mind when he woke up was that something was wrong. He was far from the type of person to fall asleep at his desk at work, and he certainly didn’t work around the type of people that would let him sleep for long if that were to happen. No… he wasn’t at work. Quickly finding the glasses that were next to him, he stood up and surveyed his surroundings.
No. It couldn’t be.
This was a Hope’s Peak classroom, complete with the same surveillance camera, window barricades, and off-putting doodle he remembered seeing on the first day of the killing game. But… how? Was this a dream? Despite the lightheadedness, he felt very much awake… but what other explanation could there be?
Byakuya stared at the drawing with contempt. The next semester is about to start… Without hesitation, he ripped it into pieces and stomped down on them with his foot.
Looking down, he realized that he was wearing… casual pants? Odd. Everything else was exactly as he remembered, down to the headache-inducing wallpaper, but he wasn’t wearing his usual suit. No– he was wearing a sweater vest and slacks, and the dull ache in his foot from the force he stepped on the drawing with was only more proof that he was actually awake. What the hell was going on?
—
As he made his way towards the main entrance, Byakuya became more and more aware that somehow, somehow, this was real. Everything about the building was exactly as he remembered it, including the areas that were locked away at the beginning of the killing game. He hated how familiar he was with the layout of that godforsaken school. Everything was exactly the same, except for the fact that Makoto wasn’t the last person of the group to get to the main entrance – Byakuya was.
“Whoa, hey! Another new kid?” Byakuya was used to hearing Hagakure’s voice in his everyday life, but seeing everyone else alive again next to him was almost enough to make him lose his composure.
“Do any of you remember anything that happened before you got here?” Byakuya asked, gripping his arms tighter where he had them crossed.
Makoto was the first to speak up, and Byakuya’s breath hitched just from glancing at him. Everyone else looked just as they had before, but the former lucky student was now wearing a full suit, the jacket and pants the same colour as the hoodie he used to wear. “All I remember is preparing for orientation, and when I got here, I was just asleep. I don’t know what happened after that…” His eyebrows creased, and there was a hint of an uneasy smile on his face. He was more well-spoken than when they first met, Byakuya noticed. He spoke more like he did as a member of the Future Foundation, but still with the level of unsureness that a regular teenager would have.
“Whoa, you too?”
“Things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser…”
“So strange… I declare beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is a very strange situation indeed!”
The fact that everyone spoke exactly the same as he remembered only faintly registered in Byakuya’s mind– he could only look at Makoto. But before he could talk to the boy, Ishimaru spoke up.
“Just a moment! There’s something else we must address! You there!” He pointed at Byakuya, “What is your name?”
“Togami Byakuya.”
When he spoke his name, nobody reacted with the slightest hint of recognition. That set off serious alarm bells for him. His mind raced to come up with possible explanations. Were everyone’s memories of his existence wiped? Had the fall of the Togami Corporation happened far enough in the past that he was irrelevant? No, that couldn’t be possible– they had no memories of The Tragedy yet. So was his background just… different this time around?
“Togami! Your tardiness is unacceptable! Surely you were aware the meeting was to start at 8 a.m. sharp! To be late on your first day is unspeakable! I must report you, and you must accept your due punishment!”
The word punishment on its own was enough to make him want to vomit. Before Ishimaru could scream at him any further, Byakuya spoke up.
“This can’t be our first day of class. Look around and think. Does this look like a normal school building to you? Cameras, locked doors, and no one else to be found? Do you use the brain in your skull, or is it just for internal decoration?”
“Wow, this guy’s a dick…” Byakuya heard Kuwata mutter, but he ignored the comment, and looked towards the rest of the group, watching them all shift uncomfortably with the weight of what he’d just reminded them of sinking in.
Byakuya locked eyes with Makoto, not completely sure if he even knew the boy he was looking at.