#kirigiri and togami ended up taking a linking to him and would sneak off to hang out all together

[eggs-can-draw]

Breath of the Wilds your Naegamigiri

[hopeymchope]

Seeking Security - Naegiri Week 2017, Day 3

Happy Day 3 of Naegiri Week 2017!

The prompt for today is “Safe.” Be sure to click “Keep Reading” at the bottom, or follow one of the links below to see the whole story; this one ran longer than I intended.

Links:

Seeking Security on An Archive of Our Own

Seeking Security on FanFiction.Net

Sayaka Maizono was staring out the window of the Hope's Peak dining hall, looking over the plastic trees. "Pretty soon, these phony closed-in courtyards will be as close as we can get to the outside world," she said.

The entire 78th Class was seated around various tables in the dining hall - save for one Aoi Asahina. Even so, the room was largely quiet when she spoke, and the mood was somber.

Leon Kuwata was sitting in a chair pointed outward from one of round tables nearest the window. His attention quickly snapped to Sayaka when she spoke. "First off," he began, "We're still gonna be able to watch TV and use the 'net and that stuff." He tried to sound more confident as he continued, "And second, you don't know how long this thing will last. Maybe we'll go on lockdown and have to crack the school back open within a month — maybe even a week!"

Sayaka turned towards him and smiled sadly. "I kinda doubt it," she muttered.

Junko Enoshima was leaning on the back wall of the dining room, positioned just to the right of the board that was previously used to display each day's menu. Mukuro Ikusaba was standing near her sister as usual with her arms folded, apart from any wall or table, but Junko wasn't paying Mukuro any mind. Instead, Junko was filing her nails when she said, "Worried about somebody, Maizono-san?"

Sayaka turned and looked at her with some surprise. "Why would you ask me that?" she asked, her voice breathy.

Junko looked up at her and smiled. "You're staring out a fake window talking about wanting to see the outside world, which is basically a hellhole right now anyway, right? Seems like maybe you're thinking about some of the people who won't be as safe as us during this nastiness."

"Wow," Sayaka said. "Yeah, I was thinking about some people I was worried about." Her expression shifted from shock to a warm smile in an instant. "Are you psychic, Enoshima-san?!"

Junko raised a hand to her face, covering her mouth and nose as she leaned back dramatically. "Maybe I just have really good intuition," she said coolly.

"HA!" yelped Yasuhiro Hagakure, who was hanging out next to Leon. "That's funny 'cause you just said the thing that Maizono-chi always says when she-"

Celestia Ludenberg, over at the end of the longest table situated in the center of the room, lowered her teacup from her mouth. "That was the point of Enoshima-san's remark, Hagakure," she scolded Hiro. Hiro hung his head, facing down towards the surface of the table.

Junko looked at Hiro and Celestia with irritation. "Ignore them, Maizono-san," she said. Turning her attention back to Sayaka, she continued, "Why not tell about the people you're worried about? It'll probably help to get it out, right?"

Sayaka looked down at the floor. "Maybe... " she conceded.

Makoto Naegi was seated near the middle of the center table. He finally turned his attention to Sayaka and Junko. "You don't need to talk about anything you don't feel comfortable with," he advised Sayaka. "We all know this is... it's a tough time."

His neighbor was Kyoko Kirigiri. She was sitting down to Naegi's right as she reviewed some notes in the Kirigiri Case Notebook. She'd been researching what they knew about the tragedy that had rapidly engulfed the world in an attempt to understand how it had spread so quickly and was only faintly following the conversation in the room. However, the sound of Makoto's voice finally shook her from her focus. There he goes again, she mused. Always quick to offer sympathy and support.

As Makoto finished speaking, Aoi Asahina walked into the room. "I'm all done with my video record," she announced. "Ishimaru? The headmaster wants to record your acceptance next."

"Understood!" Kiyotaka said firmly. He stood up from one of the smaller round tables, where Mondo Owada gave him a thumbs-up as Taka headed out the door. Hina passed by him on her way to another one of the round tables. She took her seat next to Sakura Ogami, who put one of her large hands on Hina's shoulder sympathetically.

"Okay everyone," Sayaka announced, clearing her throat. "It's like Enoshima-san said... I was thinking about the people I'm leaving behind."

Makoto stood up and adjusted his position, turning to sit down on the table itself. Kyoko looked over from her notebook when his butt came down beside her hands on the table. She stared at it for a few seconds, silently admiring how his jeans hugged his thighs and rear until she forced herself to turn back to her notes. Hormones are the enemy of an alert and productive mind, she reminded herself. I wish dad had invested some of Hope's Peaks resources into finding ways to control invasive biological urges...

"We're all thinking about them," Makoto said to Sayaka while remaining oblivious of Kyoko's attentions. "But all of us who have families waiting for us have talked to them and gotten their support. Heck, my family was shocked that I would ever not want to take this opportunity."

"It's not just my family," Sayaka told him. "The ones I'm most worried about are the other members of my group. We all worked so hard to succeed. We made our careers together, ever since we were kids, and I just want all of them to be okay." Sayaka lifted her hand to her mouth and put one finger against her lower lip, looking up towards the ceiling. "Ummm, especially Haneyama-san. She's always been my best friend from our idol group, but she lacks a lot of the confidence that put the rest of us up-front on the stage. I hope she's gonna be okay."

Junko laughed a little. "Girl, you have nothing to worry about," she said. "My agent was already planning to squirrel my butt away in some safe house before he heard about Hope's Peak's lockdown plan. I'm sure the reps for your group have similar plans. They're gonna wanna keep their stars shining as inspiration for the world and all that."

Sayaka smiled at Junko. "I'm sure you're right," she said brightly. "Thank you for that, Enoshima-san!"

Junko smiled so brightly that she squinted. "No big!"" she said. "Maybe we should all share the people we're most worried about, yeah?" She looked out across the dining hall and spoke up loudly as she continued, "This is an awesome opportunity, peeps! We can let out the fears we all have about the people stuck outside of this school, and grow even closer as a class in the process." She grinned a big, toothy grin and threw her arms wide as she shouted, "So c'mon, people! Let's give it everything we've got! Iiiiit's bonding tiiiiiiiime!"

Kyoko placed the notebook on the table and turned her head to Junko, frowning as she did so. Typical of Enoshima, she thought with irritation. Ever eager to stick her nose into other people's business.

Hifumi Yamada adjusted his glasses and chortled a bit. "Our Enoshima-dono has such stirringly dramatic flair!" he enthused. "You should become a narrator on an anime someday."

"Shit," Mondo groused. He leaned back in his chair and swung his feet up onto the surface of the table in front of him. "If we're really doin' this, who's gotta kick it off? I mean, I'm not sayin' it's not an okay idea. I'm just sure as hell not goin' first," he grumbled.

"Maizono-san already went first," Sakura pointed out from two tables over. "Just because Enoshima-san hadn't yet announced the idea that we can all share our concerns for others doesn't mean her admission doesn't still count."

"Whatever - I'm not going fuckin' second, either!" Mondo shot back. He turned and looked over the room with a scowl until his eyes locked on Byakuya Togami seated at a table by himself in the far corner. "Hey, why not do an easy one next?" he offered, his expression brightening. "Let's make the poor little rich boy tell us about all the nobody he's worried about."

Byakuya was reading a book in the corner, doing his level best to ignore the fact that Toko Fukawa was staring at him at the adjoining table. He didn't bother to look up as he fired back, "I never agreed to participate in the fashion model's latest farce."

With little more than a tiny smirk on her face, Kyoko laughed inwardly at the way Byakuya managed to make "fashion model" sound like an insult. That short distraction left her unprepared when Makoto opted to speak up with surprising authority in his voice. "No one is pressuring anybody to talk about their loved ones," Makoto said. "If you want to talk, I think that's great. But no one's gonna make anyone open up." Kyoko sneaked an admiring look at Makoto's face when he finished, and she couldn't help but smile a little. She allowed herself another quick glance at the curvature of his butt before she picked up her notebook and attempted to return to her intended task.

Hiro, who was still looking downward at the table in front of him, swallowed so hard that many of the people around him actually could hear it. "Okay... sure," he began, speaking haltingly. "I'd kinda like to talk next. 'Cause I'm just... well, I'm super worried about my mom," Hiro told the room. "She's always been there for me. She's like, the most important person in my life, and-"

"Hagakure-kun is a mama's boy!" Junko interrupted, momentarily gleeful. Her face fell as soon as she finished, though. "Actually, that may be kinda cute, but it's also pretty predictable. Couldn't you have picked, like, a fortune-telling mentor some crap like that?" She let out an exaggerated, overwrought sigh. "Going with the parent is just so obvious and boring."

"He-hey!" Hiro cried. He shot upright and pointed an angry finger at Junko. "You didn't set up any rules beforehand! And my mom is not boring!"

"Whatever," Junko said, rolling her eyes. "Fine. Let the record show that Hagakure loves his mom and blah blah blah."

"Stop it," Makoto said sternly.

Kyoko's attention was once again diverted to Makoto. Mukuro also spun to look at Makoto, her eyes wide with either shock or fear — it was difficult to say. Junko's own face looked just a bit taken aback. "What now?" Junko asked.

After taking a deep breath, Makoto answered her. "Listen, Enoshima-san," he said calmly. "I know you're stressed out about this. We all are. And I trust that your intentions are good by trying to have us open up to each other. But that doesn't mean you can take your stress out on us while we do it by... by insulting us while we bare our souls. That's just going to make things worse for everyone here — and it's going to make people resent you." He pushed off from the table and stood upright. "You want us to bond more? Start by not being cruel about it."

Kyoko smiled reflexively. He can get rather intense at times, she thought. Very admirably so. He doesn't tolerate unfairness or injustice... it's hard to not be attracted to that.

Further down the table, Hifumi Yamada pumped a fist in the air "Incredible protagonist speech, Naegi-dono!" he cheered.

"Well damn," Junko said with a giggle. "I didn't realize you could get so commanding, Naegi-kun." She smiled at him, letting her eyes droop to a half-lidded stare. "Fine," she acquiesced. "I'll concede that I got a bit harsh. My bad; I'll try to tamp down the sarcasm."

"Yeah! G-good!" Hiro said, still sounding a bit rattled.

Makoto smiled and nodded to Junko in appreciation. "Thanks," he told her. "I just... um, sorry if that was... I mean, Ishimaru-kun wasn't here to make that kind of speech, so I tried to do what I think he would've done," he said softly, casting his eyes down to the floor. He ran one hand nervously through his head of hair before he sat back down on the table with an uncomfortable chuckle.

Junko cocked an eyebrow at him in a way that made him wonder what she was thinking. With that, she looked to Hifumi. "Well, since you liked Naegi-kun's speech so much, Yamada-kun, would you like to go next?"

Hifumi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm... " he hummed. "And you, who has not always been kind in regards to my talents and hobbies? What assurance can you give me that I shan't be mocked for my weaknesses, m'lady?"

As Junko attempted to debate Hifumi, Kyoko leaned towards Makoto. "I think you did very well," she said softly with a gentle smile on her face. Makoto turned to his side and looked down at her when he heard the remark. "However," Kyoko continued, "If your intent was to sound like Ishimaru-kun, I must confess that to my ears, you failed."

Makoto's eyes widened as the corners of his mouth simultaneously turned down. "What do you mean?" he said back.

She looked him in the eyes and said, "As far as I could tell, you sounded like Makoto Naegi."

He looked genuinely shocked by the compliment. "Re-really?" He blurted. He leaned forward, averting his eyes as he whispered. "I mean, well, of course I sound like me, but... you don't think I sound kinda dumb when I get all gung-ho like that?"

"I think you sounded like the exact opposite of 'dumb,'" she whispered back with more than a hint of unintended affection. She felt her chest flutter a bit, and something in the back of her mind screamed at her: Don't betray your emotions. Don't expose yourself to vulnerability. Not again.

Before she could give into her feelings any further, she slid her chair from the table and stood up, turning to face Junko. "I have a suggestion," Kyoko stated, interrupting the model's appeal to Hifumi. "Why not tell us whom you are worried about, Enoshima-san? I think such a gesture would be the ideal way to kick off your 'bonding time' activity."

Junko shrugged. "Sure, why not?" She winked at Kyoko before tacking on, "And in exchange, you get to go next! I know you like to keep your feelings on the D-L, but I'll show you mine if you show me yours!" Junko smiled her huge smile, her eyes widening as she did so. "A fair deal, n'est-ce pas?"

Kyoko folded her arms, already exasperated with Junko's antics by now. "I suppose it is," she conceded. "Provided that you go first."

Junko wrapped her arms around herself as though she were embracing her favorite person and closed her eyes, smiling so hard that she started to blush. "The truth is that I've got it better than most!" she enthused. She turned and looked at Mukuro, then opened her arms as though preparing to hug the air before her. "The most important person in my world is my big sis, and she's gonna be right here with me for this whole boring lockdown!" Mukuro smiled back and blushed happily as Junko immediately turned away and looked towards the false window. She curled the end of one ponytail around her finger, and spoke wistfully as she explained, "There is something I've been doing with my spare time, though. Something you all probably don't know about. Something that... well, honestly? You might be a teensy bit surprised by it."

Leon leaned forward in his seat. "Are we supposed to guess?"

Junko half-smiled at Leon and giggled. She put her hands on her hips, suddenly speaking haughtily as she declared, "You shan't be able to guess in even one hundred tries! Nay, not even a thousand!" Dropping her hands, she looked at the floor and resumed her previous tone of voice. "So, y'know, I'll just tell ya straight up," she said, instantly depressed. "I've been kinda getting to know the class of 77-B a whole lot over the past few months. Even though I'm the underclassman, they've really gotten interested in learning about how I deal with this big, ugly world. I mean, I do see some pretty messed-up stuff in my line of work, so I guess it makes some kinda sense they'd want to know how I cope, I guess?"

Kyoko frowned only slightly, unsure if whether this was one of Junko's jokes. There didn't seem to be a clear patch to a punchline, though. "I suppose it does," Kyoko answered her. "It explains why you've gone missing for extended periods during the past semester," There's something else, she sensed as she watched the blonde's expression. Something she's not telling us. What would be the point of lying about this though? Perhaps just to serve another one of her bizarre jokes or group activities... ?

Junko's face lifted a little, taking on a satisfied, pleasant look "Yeah, I've hung out with them a lot lately," she concluded. "We've gotten pretty tight. I want them to secure their futures as soon as possible," she told the room. "And I want them to take all necessary precautions as they do it."

Sayaka lifted her left hand to her mouth as she gazed on Junko now. "That is surprising, Enoshima-san," she said shyly. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't know you had that kind of interest inside you."

Junko waved Sayaka's concern away. "No offense taken," she promised the young idol. "I try to keep how much I care about stuff buried deep inside sometimes. I mean, if I'm going to be real, I should tell you that there are some other people I love a lot, too." Spinning to face the entire room, Junko spread her arms wide and announced, "It's you, my classmates!" She rocked back and forth eagerly as she said, "I know I tease you all a lot, but I haven't had a family for years now... " She looked down and quietly claimed, "You guys are like, the next closest thing."

Chihiro Fujisaki clapped his hands together and began to tear up. "Th-that's... that's incredibly sweet of you, Enoshima-san!"

"I agree," Makoto told her, beaming.

"Extremely kind, Enoshima-san," Sakura followed. "And I believe most of us would agree with that same sentiment."

Junko soaked in the praise for a bit before turning her attention to Kyoko. "Well, detective girl?" she pressed. "Are you okay to go next?"

Kyoko had her hand to her chin when Junko asked. From there she paused and looked around the room slowly. "I am," Kyoko finally confirmed." With just the hint of a smile, she told the group, "My situation is surprisingly similar to Enoshima-san's," she told everyone. "There's just one person left on the outside of this school that I'm concerned about - my grandfather, who raised me and taught me how to become a true Kirigiri detective. He means very much to me, but in truth, I'm not that worried about him. I know he can handle himself."

"So... how's that similar to Enoshima-san?" Hina asked from her own table.

Kyoko pivoted towards Hina. "Because just like her, most of the people I care about are going to be safely locked within these walls."

"You mean like your father?" Makoto asked.

Kyoko rotated her head before spinning her body to face Makoto completely. Part of her wanted to explain everything right there — to tell him exactly who she was thinking of when she mentioned 'people.' It's you, she thought. Who made me start to come out of my shell when I first arrived. Who I've gotten to befriend and know so well over the past year. The one who brings down my walls and makes me feel like it's safe for me to open up again. You blind idiot... of course I mean you.

Instead, she just told him — and the others, too, but she mostly seemed to be speaking directly to Makoto — "Yes, that's one example." She hesitated a second before adding, "Along with my wonderful classmates and friends, of course."