#yandere naezono

[theamityelf]

How are Makoto's ships (your favs) yanderes with him? What are their dynamics? How do they act with the "romantic rivals"? Whether jealousy, possessiveness or obsession are Makoto's friends and family affected?(Thanks for making Yandere dynamics so interesting I'm your fan!)

Thank you for giving me a yandere question, lol!

Okay, so you said to write my favs, but as I started this I realized that I have many favs, so this post is just going to be my THH favs (for Makoto ships) and later I'll do an SDR2 one with Hajime, Nagito, Izuru, etc.

Besides the examples of yandere behavior I already have them exhibiting in my fics, I'm thinking the paremeters of this post will just be them under 100% normal circumstances. So, pre-Tragedy or No Tragedy, standard life stuff.

Kyoko (Naegiri)

She isn't hiding that she's a yandere, but she also isn't open about it. Her attitude toward it is basically, "If you can figure it out yourself, I don't mind if you know."

She's an extremely effective stalker. She knows everything about Makoto. She has samples of his hair. His fingerprints. She can replicate his handwriting. She knows where he goes and with who and when.

She usually doesn't kill rivals. She'll get them arrested for a crime they've done or frame them for a crime they haven't done. She won't hesitate to kill in self-defense or to protect Makoto, but as far as jealousy is concerned, murder is just too messy for her, when it's so convenient to be the Ultimate Detective.

Even if someone 100% figures out what she's doing and successfully convinces the authorities of it, the most she can get in trouble for is being wrong about a case. Which honestly probably won't even particularly harm her reputation. I guess in a world where Hope's Peak is a thing, maybe people are really keeping track of how well this detective is finding the right criminal, but really the only stakes there are how much people believe in her talent. She's fine.

Since she's still occasionally brought Makoto along on cases and generally used him for her detective work, in this timeline (without the killing game), there's a chance that he might one day come across the right information to realize that she's been framing people.

If he confronts her about this, she would honestly be flattered that he's been looking over her work and proud that he reached the right conclusion. (I'm picturing her hand-to-face slightly-smiling sprite.)

If he continues to press her about it, she'll go serious and basically ask him what he's going to do about it.

Most likely they can talk through the fact that she's a yandere and figure out next steps from there, but there's a non-zero chance that they break up over this and she frames him for something. The idea isn't to send him to jail; it's a fear tactic. Basically, she's made him a suspect. If they don't work out their couple drama, she'll accuse him of the crime. If they do work out their couple drama, she'll remove the suspicion from him.

It's like a game of chicken, where Makoto wants to stand his ground but doesn't want to go to jail and Kyoko wants to make him give in but doesn't want to send him to jail. Either she bends, he bends, or (theoretically) he goes to jail. (He's not going to jail.)

Byakuya (Naegami)

(Full disclosure, having just finished typing this section, I'm not 100% proud of it, so I might revisit this idea later.)

He's rich, so there's already an entitlement to him. I think his initial plans for how to deal with his yandere feelings (and honestly most subsequent plans) get derailed by Makoto. Initially, he wants to make Makoto his personal assistant, so he can be completely in control of Makoto's life. He plans it all out: where and how Makoto will live, what his schedule will be, how he'll make sure he never dates or marries.

Instead, Makoto turns down the job offer. Fine, he'll just make sure no other companies hire him, and then he'll have to accept, right?

Actually, Makoto befriends him. They start dating. Byakuya...didn't plan for that.

(And he's trying to hide that he's a yandere. Any desires or impulses that come from a yandere place, he expresses them as "I just have very high standards." He'd hate to come across as needy or sentimental.)

But he still wants to control where and how Makoto lives and who he's allowed to talk to. Makoto opposes this, but Byakuya is underhanded. If he insists on chatting with the waitstaff when they go out to eat, that waiter is getting fired later. Byakuya will hire hitmen, he'll manipulate the stock market, he has nothing but resources at his disposal to get rid of annoying people.

However, Makoto holds a lot of emotional power over Byakuya. Byakuya is not able to lord over Makoto his ability to do these things, because if he did, Makoto would look at him with those eyes, and he can't handle that. The truly toxic behavior happens either in secret or as petty lashing-out when his awareness of how down-bad he is makes him feel too vulnerable.

All of that said, he likes to show Makoto off. He likes for people to see that Makoto is his. He just doesn't want people to see how thoroughly he is Makoto's.

Kyoko and Byakuya (Naegamigiri/Tonaegiri)

The vibe here is that either Kyoko slid effortlessly into the Naegami scenario or Byakuya did a hostile takeover of the Naegiri scenario. Byakuya is amenable to letting Kyoko into the Naegami scenario because she knows how to Info-chan her way in; Kyoko is trying to block Byakuya out of the Naegiri situation (not because she isn't into him, but because the dynamic there is a lot of belligerent sexual tension where it's enriching for both of them if he's The Villain) until he manipulates the situation using his resources.

They balance each other in a fun way. They don't get to be toxic toward Makoto, in this scenario, because the day Byakuya is a petty jerk is the day Kyoko gets to be Makoto's favorite (at least in their eyes) and vice versa. They only act out when they're in agreement about it. In which case, they will make people disappear.

"Hey," Makoto says, walking in with his arms crossed. (Kyoko and Byakuya are in the kitchen, having a weirdly sexually-charged debate about a historical cold case.) "Is there something you guys want to tell me?"

Byakuya and Kyoko both look at him warily, trying to figure out what he's figured out. There are a lot of things they've done that he could have found out about.

"This is entrapment," Byakuya says, raising an eyebrow.

"Legally speaking, no it isn't," Kyoko says, because the solidarity goes out the window so fast with these two. "Not even close."

(Byakuya glares at her, about to start a whole new argument.)

"Guys?" Makoto probes.

"We haven't done anything major in at least a week," Kyoko says, sipping a drink calmly.

"I was just on the phone with Sayaka," he helps them out. "Are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me?"

"That your ex's foray into dark pop was an even worse career move than her foray into psychedelic pop?" Byakuya says.

Kyoko smirks into her drink.

(Long story short, they may have perhaps caused Sayaka to reroute her world tour so she can't be in town to meet up with Makoto.)

Sayaka (Naezono)

Sayaka is super open about it and seamlessly adopts it into her brand. She's posting pictures of Makoto on her social media with captions like "Love my bf 🥰 #yandere #killforhim #doneitbefore" and "He got me a big teddy bear! 🧸😍 #minenotyours #yandere".

Because she's so open about it, she'll sometimes get troll comments saying, "Sayaka, I want to date your boyfriend." She replies like, "You can try. 😇🔪". All her fans think it's adorable.

She brings him along to every event she attends. When bad luck stuff happens, she just giggles about it.

Makoto is kind of uneasy about all the attention, but he takes Sayaka's behavior mostly in stride. She's just quirky. And super affectionate.

One toxic trait is that she does not let him listen to anyone else's music. She doesn't express it as a rule; she'll just be like, "Oh, you wanted that old CD? I'm so sorry! I threw it out. I thought it was trash. 🥺" Casually replaces his radio with a CD player. Casually replaces every CD in his CD player with one of hers.

She makes posts like, "He only listens to my music. 🥹🥰 He's my biggest fan! ❤️‍🔥😭 #loml #yandere #blessed"

She's always singing to him. It makes him blush.

She doxes anyone who flirts with him, but in a "plausible deniability" way where she can be like, "What?! They got hurt?! Oh no!" if her fans attack or poison someone in her name.

She's willing to murder, but only in clever ways she'll definitely get away with. She'll murder one rival and frame another rival. Then she'll cry about the death so Makoto will comfort her.

Chihiro (Naehiro)

I just like the idea of the canon interactions where Chihiro is like, "I want to get stronger. Makoto, you seem strong. Can you help me?" and Makoto is like, "Actually, I'm not all that strong. Maybe ask Mondo?" still playing out and resulting in Chihiro getting so weird about it, potentially under Mondo's influence.

(While there are a lot of Free Time Events that I imagine happened the same way during the characters' Hope's Peak days, I think the Chihiro Free Time Events, minus the Alter Ego stuff, feel pretty killing game specific. Like, the immediate desire to get stronger feels pretty caused-by-the-motive. Just a headcanon, and I'm only bringing it up now to say that I'll be ignoring it for this post, lol. This post assumes that same interaction still happens without the killing game.)

Chihiro hears Makoto's "I'm not really all that strong" thing, and their reaction is basically, "Cool. Then I'm going to be the strong one in this relationship."

Byakuya says something rude to Makoto, and Chihiro gathers their resolve and says, "That's not nice, Togami. You need to apologize."

And if he doesn't, Chihiro hacks Togami Corp, resulting in a significant drop in stock value.

Chihiro is super excited about standing up for Makoto. It's pretty directly propping up their self-esteem.

And they very casually have him under constant surveillance. They conceal this fact from him, but not really because they think he'd be mad. (If they thought he'd be mad, they'd feel really bad about doing it!) It's just because they're shy. To them, watching him through security cameras as he walks through town is like writing "Makoto Fujisaki" and "Chihiro Naegi" all over a notebook. It's embarrassing.

They might kill for him, if someone tries to hurt him. Picture Chihiro covered in blood, with a corpse at their feet and a switchblade in their hand (Mondo gave it to them a long time ago, as a gift). They're kind of freaking out at first, but Makoto is there, too, also freaking out, so they have to be calm, they have to be calm for him. So they call Mondo to help them get rid of the body, and they take Makoto home to unpack what just happened.

Taka (Naeishi)

Honestly, I feel like this fic captures the whole vibe.

Mondo (Naemondo)

Oh boy. I like to think this one has some internal struggle to it. Like, Mondo falls for Makoto, and he's all shy about wooing him. He's bringing Makoto flowers, inviting him places. He tells Makoto, "I'm trying to clean up my act for ya..." Fewer fights, fewer crimes.

(I maintain that the Naemondo vibe where Mondo completely misreads Makoto as someone who can easily keep up with his gang shenanigans is very fun, but Yandere Mondo is different. Yandere Mondo is trying to shield Makoto from his lifestyle.)

He still has his temper, though, and he often goes behind Makoto's back to kill people who have been mean or relentlessly flirtatious. He's not killing anyone who likes Makoto. He's trying to be normal. But if someone can't take a hint, there's no telling what he'll do.

Basically, Yandere Mondo is in a gas station bathroom scrubbing blood out of his shirt so he can get back before Makoto notices he's gone.

When Makoto finds out what he's done, Mondo is crying apologizing, and Makoto calms him down and has to make peace with helping his boyfriend cover up a murder.

Taka, Mondo, and Chihiro (Naechishimondo)

You know, this one feels like it could be platonic.

Like, I could see that post where they realize they all have a crush on Makoto happening and then they unanimously decide that they'll be shovel-talking anyone who tries to woo him.

They all still have a crush on Makoto, but they approach it in kind of like he's an endangered bird who they've tagged to study. When they, as a throuple, gather for dates or events or just to hang out, they'll often be talking about things they've observed about Makoto's life through stalking and other means.

At dinner, Chihiro might say, "Makoto recently started using two-factor authentication for his email account. I'm so proud."

"Sh!t, does that make it hard for you to read his emails?" Mondo asks.

("Language, bro; we're at dinner," Taka interjects.)

"Nope," Chihiro says proudly. "It might make it hard for other people, though."

"I've noticed that Makoto tends to stay over too long when he studies in Sayaka's room," Taka says, "so I taught him how to set a timer on his phone."

(Chihiro smiles. Almost laughs.)

"Also, I got a wedge that he can use to keep the door open, so I won't have to keep chastising him for visiting a girl's room with the door closed. I plan to give it to him tomorrow."

"I'm sure he'll love it," Chihiro says.

"Doesn't Hiri already watch those sessions through Makoto's laptop camera anyway?" Mondo points out.

(Chihiro blushes modestly.)

"Yes, but Makoto doesn't know that," Taka says.

Honorable Mention:

Yandere Naekusaba

[picosbu]

Heh, Hello.

It's good to see you on your page 💫💦

A little bit about myself -

Birthday December 10 🌨️

Name - Asya

From Russia.

🇷🇺 / 🇺🇲 (🇬🇧)

There will be drawings, comics (Not sure)

Love — Sweets, Weekend,danganronpa

Hate — School, hate myself(?)

Favorite ship — Oumami, Naehara, komahina2 ( Aoi x Komaru), Tokonia,celesgiri,ikuzono, saiouma,saimatsu,naegami.

neutral ship - Togafuka, Naezono,Naekusaba(?),

Hateful ship - Naegiri,Junkan (Junko x Mikan)

Playing in – Roblox, Minecraft, Danganronpa, Doki Doki, Sims 4,detroit, yandere simulator 🧸🖇️

💭 I think that's enough. 💭

💕 🍁 bye! 🍁 💕

(IF ANYTHING, I'M SORRY FOR PUTTING THE TAGS)

[theamityelf]

any thoughts on how makoto’s yandere S/O would react to finding out that he’s been restricting food due to not feeling like he’s at an attractive weight? i’m asking with nagito, izuru, and mukuro in mind, but if there are additional/different characters that come to mind instead, i’d love hear what you think!

(I see that you sent this ask a second time, so for the record this is the first one! 😁 I was working on it in my drafts, lol.)

Ooh, interesting prompt. I'll do the specific ships you asked for first, then see about some others, lol!

As far as the premise itself, Makoto having body image issues could make a lot of sense, whether it's at Hope's Peak (lots of Olympic athletes and movie stars and supermodels) or at the Future Foundation (just imagining their propaganda images of him are super photoshopped to make his body look "more heroic"). Now, for the ships:

Komaegi

I feel like in this case Makoto would be distinctly ashamed of the reason for his bad relationship with food, since Nagito is so focused on principles and virtues. I think Makoto would somewhat expect Nagito to be disappointed by his "vanity".

Nagito's actual reaction depends so heavily on when this happens (pre-Tragedy or post-Tragedy, pre-NWP or post-NWP) and what flavor of yandere he is. Overall, the possibilities exist on a spectrum between Brutal Nagito, who will think it's helpful to reinforce Makoto's insecurities so he can stop fixating on them (or that's the rationalization he offers himself; what he's really doing is keeping Makoto down out of fear that once Makoto knows how amazing he is, he won't need or want him anymore) and Worshiper Nagito, who's just all praise.

So, the former is like, "I see. You're worried you don't look as good as they do? But of course you don't! You're a completely average, normal person. You can't be expected to compare to anyone in a world of Ultimates. Hey, cheer up. Think of it more like this: You don't need to compare to any of them, because no one is looking at you at all! Except me, of course. I think your average build is cute. There's no need to compare yourself to Ultimates; I like you for who you are."

And the latter is like, "Ah, I should have spoken up sooner. How thoughtless of me, to let you waste a second thinking anyone here holds a candle to you. I truly regret my negligence. I would have been singing your praises from the rooftops, had I known you suffered from even the briefest of doubts." And from there he just keeps showering Makoto in compliments about his appearance and personality (and some trace amounts of shade for everyone else) until Makoto goes from ashamed-embarrassed to flattered-embarrassed. And he will be doing this regularly from now on.

Kamuegi

This one's cool because Makoto's attempts to regulate how much he eats will directly grate against Izuru's attempts to feed him good food. It wouldn't take Izuru all that long to figure out Makoto's reservations, but instead of going the way of overwhelming praise like Nagito, he's just going to reinforce the behavior of eating by giving him tasty food and showing him affection when he eats it all (positive reinforcement– providing a positive stimulus to encourage a behavior) and by scolding, insulting, or threatening anyone who continues to feed into Makoto's body image issues (negative reinforcement– removing a negative stimulus to encourage a behavior).

The first part is self-explanatory. The second part is lowkey funny, because all someone has to do is be shirtless in Makoto's presence and have a flatter stomach or bigger muscles, and Izuru is immediately like, "Put those away. You look ridiculous." He's giving everybody else body image issues to make Makoto feel better. And if Future Foundation propaganda is causing Makoto's discomfort, Izuru will be bothering everyone about it until they get the art right. (They probably wouldn't trust him enough to let him make the propaganda himself, especially if we're treating the anime as canon.)

If and when Makoto starts to gain weight as a result of Izuru's treatment, Izuru makes sure that he never feels self-conscious about it.

Naekusaba

For this one, I'm imaging Junko playing a role. Like, maybe when Makoto skips meals or just is hungry in general Junko says that he looks better than usual, and she comments on it like he's gorging himself when he does eat a normal amount. And Mukuro knows what she's doing and eventually has to actually make the decision to push back.

I don't have too much more for that, but it's already a pretty big deal to have her speak out against what Junko's doing, so.

Once she takes that step, she's a more militant (and also clumsier) version of Izuru's negative reinforcement strategy. She doesn't have as precise an understanding of what things make Makoto feel bad, so she's not saying or doing anything to guys who happen to be shirtless around Makoto, but she'll hold a knife to someone's throat for saying the word "fat" in a completely normal way/context.

Also I imagine her as more submissive toward Makoto than Izuru is, so where Izuru would be like, "Eat some more," when Makoto is about to stop eating, Mukuro would be more like, "Is that...all you're eating?" But both result in Makoto picking up his utensils again.

Naezono

Bringing this up just to say that I think that, as a person in the entertainment industry, Sayaka has perhaps also at some point had a less-than-healthy relationship with food, and seeing her own struggle mirrored in Makoto (and vice versa, for him) might help them both kind of climb out of it. She's encouraging him to eat by pretty literally cheering him on, and by doing the same herself. The yandere element comes into play only if someone directly insults Makoto, in which case Sayaka will smile politely and very sweetly post to all her social media that the person called her fat. They'll be getting death threats and other cruel DM's for the rest of their lives. #[ThatPerson]IsOverParty

Naehiro

Similar deal with Chihiro. They're both about to tackle their body dysphoria. It's very sweet, very healing. And if someone ever insults Makoto, Chihiro's challenging them to a physical fight (because I really think the "I want to get stronger!" thing would come out of them in weird ways, for a while). Similar to Mukuro, Chihiro would be shy and awkward about encouraging Makoto to eat, but it would be effective regardless.

Naegiri/Naegami/Tonaegiri/Naegamigiri

Ngl, I feel like Kyoko and Byakuya would be kinda bad at handling this, but in a way I find funny.

Like, Kyoko would notice Makoto's eating habits just as a matter of course, and Byakuya would notice it in an "I took you to this expensive restaurant and you barely ate anything!" way.

And if/when Makoto opens up about his feelings, I feel like both of them would be un-equipped to engage with them in a sensitive way. If he says he's insecure about how he looks, they'd pretty much be like, "Why? That's stupid. Stop being stupid." Any hint of Makoto being insecure or unhappy makes them (I think Byakuya more so than Kyoko) kind of frustrated that they don't know how to alleviate that. They don't really know how to give a great compliment. They'll tell him he looks good, and they'll say or imply that they're attracted to him, but they're simply not speaking Nagito's language.

Yandere-wise, probably the best they can do is seize control of the images he sees. So, they'll smack a magazine right out of his hand, change the channel when he's watching a superhero movie, etc. And he'll be hearing a lot of "Eat." "Finish eating." "You're not done." "You're not getting up until you finish that."

[theamityelf]

What about yandare sayaka,Asahina or celestia haven’t seen much of that

Thank you for asking! 💜

Yandere Sayaka Maizono

Honestly, I'd characterize her yandere self very similarly to the way I wrote her despair persona in Despair's Throbbing Heart. Which, for those who haven't read that fic, means:

She'd be a very smiley yandere. Not at all deluded about what she's doing, but decidedly never admitting to a manipulation as such. When she punishes her darling for bad behavior, it isn't a punishment; she would never! No, it's just a safety measure that they both agree on. Her darling agrees to everything she asks of them not because they would otherwise be punished, but because they don't want to make her sad. Really, they're lucky to be dating such a huge star, and she doesn't let them forget it. But not in a mean way! It's just the truth.

In general, she's a bit ruthless in pursuit of her goals, and if her goal is to be with this person, she will gaslight and mindbreak them into the exact mold of what she wants from them. All while smiling sweetly and innocently like the pop idol she is.

Rivals for darling's love? First of all, she'll make sure her darling knows it's not safe very nice to ask about them or try to see them. Second of all, she'll use any combination of intimidation, blackmail, doxxing, etc. to make sure the person stays away, if getting darling themself to avoid them doesn't do the trick. If it's easy to get away with having them killed, she'll do that, but more likely she'll use her charms.

Potential darlings for her: Makoto, Mukuro. She could try this on Kyoko, but she'd face a lot more resistance. Which could also be fun.

Yandere Aoi Asahina

She's more honest than Sayaka, and more flexible. She wants to form an actual real relationship, and she approaches that in very honest ways. When she's showing off her athletic abilities, it's accompanied by a verbal "Hey, look at me! Check this out!". She is a genuine friend and partner to her darling. Genuine emotional support. And when she gets protective or possessive, she keeps it behind their back, so they won't feel guilty.

And she is extremely protective and possessive, when they aren't looking. She is extremely unforgiving of slights toward her darling, and she makes sure they won't be repeated. (Slapping Byakuya isn't enough; let her shove him to the ground and put her foot on his neck because he made some wry comment that darling didn't even hear! 🤣)

She won't directly kill a romantic rival (unless they hurt her darling), because she wants to triumph over them. She's a winner! But triumphing over them could mean winning darling's affections from them fair and square, or it could mean pestering the other person until they go away. How much extremely personal mockery and judgement do you think you could take from an Olympic athlete before you stop pursuing her crush?

Potential darlings for her: Sakura, of course. Or Chihiro. Also maybe Makoto, but for once I find the Makoto version significantly less interesting than the others. Honestly, I tend to prefer Aoi as a darling rather than a yandere, but she could still be a fun yandere. Maybe mutual yandere. I kind of love the idea of Aoi and Chihiro trying to hide the fact that they're yandere from each other. And the Sakuraoi speaks for itself.

Yandere Celestia Ludenberg

Despite acting like she wants to be pampered, she's actually really into pampering. She treats her darling a lot like she treats her cat. Meaning she relentlessly and absolutely manicures their whole aesthetic and/or life, and she keeps them in the finest accommodations.

She's similar to Sayaka, in that she's very smiley. Her usual temper is actually directed elsewhere; if her darling upsets her, her smile will drop, but she won't yell at them. She'll find a way to make it someone else's fault, usually, and yell at them. For most people, seeing her temper acted out on other people will be enough to keep them in line. If they do continue to act out, there's a point where she will yell at them, but if they're able to push her to that point, they'll probably be able to handle that.

Cue explosive argument where Celeste tells her darling that she will never let anyone else love them like she does, and other classic yandere stuff. "If you look at him again, I'll wear his teeth as cuff links! Do you understand?!"

Potential darlings for her: Angie, because I'm not letting go of that patroness AU. But Hina and Kyoko are also options. And I like to imagine a kind of platonic thing between her and Taka where they're both kind of protective of each other and she picks out his clothes.

[theamityelf]

Yandere Taka and oblivious Makoto? (I really love how you write these two) -@blueboybot

(🤗 Thank you! I'm not sure how well this came out, but here you go!)

------

Taka was not naturally very observant.

That was fine. It was normal. It meant he had to work hard to notice the important things. And he liked to work hard.

Makoto had been his study partner for over a month now. They met up every weekday after school (except some Fridays), and there was not a moment in those usually-two-hours that Taka was the slightest bit inattentive. In fact, the notes he took on even just Makoto's likes and dislikes, during their alone time, rivaled the notes he took for class.

He wasn't very observant, and Makoto could sometimes feel like a hard person to know things about. But he was eager to put in the work.

It wasn't until after their second month studying together that Taka learned he needed to elevate his approach.

It happened when Makoto walked into class one morning. To Taka's eyes (which of course had fixated on him right away, because he was not good at pretending not to be smitten) he looked completely normal. The only strange thing was that he was usually one of the early ones and today he was one of the last in, but that could have been a problem with his morning alarm.

And yet, as soon as Makoto entered, Kyoko asked him, "What happened to you?"

"Huh?" Makoto looked down at himself. "What do you mean?"

"Your hair. It's uneven on one side."

"Oh! Near miss with a hedge trimmer; the guy said he was sorry. I didn't think anyone would notice. Guess I should've stopped by a mirror, but I was already running late."

"A hedge trimmer was that close to your head?" Leon said. "And you're still on time for class?"

Taka's thoughts exactly. He was absolutely brimming with a thrilling mix of attraction and indignation on Makoto's behalf. "I think I speak for everyone when I say we admire your punctuality!" he said.

"Taka, it's 8 am," Junko complained. "Can you talk at people volume, please?"

"And I'm glad to hear the Ultimate Landscaper was polite enough to apologize," he continued.

"Yeah, he didn't mean to be careless. I think he was just pretty wrapped up in what he was doing. The hedges do look fantastic."

So it had been the Ultimate Landscaper. Well then, that guy would be in detention every day for the rest of his time at this school. He was very lucky he hadn't done any real harm.

More to the point, Kyoko's immediate awareness that something had happened to Makoto was a sign for Taka that his work, as yet, hadn't been enough.

He had felt so triumphant to have learned Makoto's birthday, his blood type, his favorite color, animal, food, even song (and it was hard to get specific titles out of him!), but his efforts still hadn't brought his undivided focus to the same level of perception as a casual glance from the Ultimate Detective.

He didn't envy her talent. Quite the contrary: He was excited to learn that he needed to put more work in.

When it came time for their study session that afternoon, he asked if they could do so in Makoto's room, rather than his own. It would help him learn more things.

The first thing he learned was that Makoto didn't lock his dorm room.

At all.

He actually left his key in the room when he left for the day.

Taka saw an opportunity to be helpful. After all, it didn't make sense to leave a room unlocked when an Ultimate Burglar attended this school. So, he borrowed Makoto's key and took to locking his room when he left for the evening.

And locking it again after Makoto left for class each morning.

Which meant, the next time they went to study together, Taka had to matter-of-factly unlock Makoto's room for them both.

"Wait, when did you get a key to my room?!" Makoto asked.

(His startled reactions, and the straightforward way he asked questions as soon as he wanted to know something, were so refreshing, compared to the many people in their class who tried to pretend they knew everything all the time.)

"Sorry," Taka said, blushing a little. "I borrowed it without asking, last time I was here. I wanted to make sure you lock your door more often. There are students here who would love to rob you blind!"

"Ah, I guess it's true that I never remember to lock it. But isn't taking my key and locking it for me a little...?"

"On the contrary! When a friend has trouble with a task, it makes sense to help them out."

"You got forceful all of a sudden," Makoto observed mildly. "Well, if you're just locking it after me, then I guess that's fine."

And he made no further argument on the subject. Taka was in the clear!

Adding Makoto's key to his own key ring made him smile. They clinked together like wedding rings. It made him hopeful that, despite how casually Makoto acted towards him, they might have that kind of future one day.

When he found himself growing anxious, because Makoto looked at a girl for too long or rescheduled their plans or any of the other ways the world seemed unaccommodating of Taka's dreams, he reached into his pocket and ran his fingers over their keys.

And he reminded himself that things didn't have to happen naturally. Love didn't have to be a thing that struck right away. Love, like everything else, was hard work, and Taka was the best at working hard.

Then the Tragedy happened.

...

Taka had his worries about the outside world, but in the privacy of his own mind, it was a relief to be able to barricade all those problems away and just spend all his days with Makoto.

The problem was, he wasn't the only one who wanted to spend time with Makoto, and he wasn't the only one Makoto wanted to spend time with.

Of course, Makoto didn't seem to mind when Taka tagged along on his quality time with others, but the ones he was with would often look at Taka as if to say, 'Do you mind?'

"Is the hall monitor going to be shadowing us the whole time?" Junko said.

"Huh?" Makoto glanced over. "Oh, hey Taka. Did you want to come?"

"The invite only extends to Makoto," Junko interrupted. "I'm the shy type; I can't stand to have too many guys looking at me, you know!"

Blushing, Makoto said, "That...makes it sound like...We're just going to look through your closet, right? For old clothes Hifumi can fix up."

"Exactly! I'm already letting one boy into my room. You think I should let in two?"

"Oh, right. I didn't think about it that way. Uh..."

"That's fine," Taka said. "I guess I'll go spend time with Chihiro."

That was fine. Makoto's gregarious nature was part of what Taka liked about him. And time away from Makoto was time he could spend studying his notes on Makoto. So yeah, it was fine.

(Chihiro got a peek at his notebook during lunch one day and was amazed at all the details. When they took an interest, Taka couldn't help going over a lot of what he'd learned, rambling about Makoto and his many-stage plan to incrementally progress their relationship, for at least a full hour before someone else walked into the dining hall and he quickly fell silent.)

The first serious problem came when Makoto asked for his key back.

It was toward the end of dinner. A lot of their friends had already left for their rooms or wherever else: there was only Taka, Makoto, Sayaka, Celeste, Hifumi, and Kyoko.

"Hey, um..." Makoto scratched his cheek shyly. "You still have my room key, right?"

"Of course," Taka replied. "Are you turning in for the night? Do you need me to let you in?"

"Well, yes, but actually...could I have my key back, too?"

Taka's heart faltered. "You'd like it back?"

"It would be easier on you if you didn't always have to let me back in, right?"

"That's no trouble at all! I've enjoyed walking you to your room."

"...and also, if I ever had someone over, or something, it might be easier if I had the key on me...right?"

Taka wasn't very observant, but he noticed that Makoto was blushing and that he had briefly glanced at Sayaka, who smiled back. The implications filled his brain with heat.

"So, uh, do you have it with you now?" Makoto pressed on.

Taka reached into his pocket, consoling himself with the feeling of the keys at his fingertips. "No, I must have left it in my locker," he said. "Excuse me."

He swiftly exited the dining hall.

That glance Makoto and Sayaka had exchanged. Those shy smiles. Like they already had plans, for once Makoto got his room key. It wasn't right! It was...unwholesome! It was wrong!

Sayaka barely paid attention to Makoto. She had her innate charm, but she wielded it just like Byakuya (who bought Makoto expensive birthday gifts instead of caring enough to make something by hand) or Kyoko (who noticed things without even trying or bothering to spend hours following him). Sayaka didn't know the special way he tied his shoes, or the embarrassing nickname his sister called him over the phone, or what common allergens made him sneeze, or...She probably didn't even know his blood type, his shoe size, his height!

He thought through his options. It definitely wouldn't be right to let Makoto spend time with Sayaka alone in his room. That would seriously complicate their eventual plans to get married!

(Should he maybe inform Makoto that they were going to get married one day? The prospect made him really anxious.)

He could report them to Headmaster Kirigiri (to head off any inappropriate behavior), or throw Makoto's key into the garbage incinerator (necessitating that he sleep in someone else's room), or just refuse to give it back, but then Makoto would be annoyed with him.

For now, Taka settled on returning to his bedroom and not emerging again all night. Makoto didn't come knocking on his door, so for the moment he was fine.

Maybe he should have a frank discussion with Sayaka, warning her that Makoto was spoken for.

But what if she pushed back? What if she insisted on pursuing Makoto? What if she said Makoto liked her more? What if she thought she was going to marry him?

Taka could make them some tea, and lace hers with some kind of toxin from the chemistry lab so she would be too sick to ensnare Makoto. That seemed like a peaceful way of handling things; she would just spend some time in the clinic, and then Taka would have more time to build up the courage to confess his feelings to Makoto.

Unfortunately, toxins didn't come labeled with what amount would make you sick and what amount would kill you. And since it was more important to Taka to avoid doing nothing (to avoid letting Sayaka steal his future) than it was to avoid doing serious damage, he might have been a bit generous with the measurements.

Yes, that was really unfortunate.

But to think about it a different way, at least Makoto hadn't gotten too close to her before it happened! And at least they'd had tea in the rec room and not in Taka's room, so he didn't have to worry about moving her body.

He shut her eyes and folded her hands in her lap, to give her some dignity in death, and took the tea set downstairs to wash.

His heart was pounding with adrenaline. As soon as the teacups submerged in the dishwater, he reached into his pocket to touch the keys.

He relaxed.

It was for Makoto. He'd had to save Makoto from a future with someone who didn't love him the way Taka did. And the world was in turmoil anyway; it might have been doing Sayaka a kindness, to free her from a world that probably wouldn't need pop singers again until she was well past aged-out of the teen pop demographic.

He washed the cups and put them away, deciding to go back to his room for his notes so he could make one of Makoto's favorite meals. A nice, hearty meal to console him through the loss of his friend.