"You cannot be serious." Byakuya stated in disbelief, staring Monokuma down in the gymnasium. It was after breakfast, yet Byakuya was the only student in there.
"I'm as serious as can be! Your beloved friends all came down with a nasty case of food poisoning I traced back to when Naegi-kun accidentally hurled his guts out during dinner the other night! And now everyone else is sick too!" He snickered. "Isn't it amazing how fast disease can spread in such close quarters?"
Byakuya simply stared at him.
"And the reason I called you in here today is because for some reason, you're the only one fit as a fiddle! Which means it's up to you to care for the poor and sick masses!" Monokuma swooned.
"No. My classmates are all old enough to take care of themselves. They've all likely had food poisoning multiple times in their lives. They don't need me," He declined.
"What if one of them was curled up on the floor of their bathroom, crying in agony over being unable to move?" Monokuma cried. "How could you be so heartless, Togami-kun?!"
"What is in it for me? I will not go out of my way to coddle people like that unless it works out in some way in my favour,"
"Well...think of it this way. You guys still need to build those robots and collect materials to get out of here, right? But how can they do it if they're all sick as dogs? Unless you want to do the work of fourteen people, I suggest you get cracking!"
Byakuya sighed. "...This is just a temporary roadblock. I will never do this again," He spun on his heel and left, ignoring Monokuma's continued theatrics behind him.
Just give them some water, make sure they weren't lying in their own waste, then he'd hole up in the library for the rest of the day and read. It was a moderate case of food poisoning, so there likely wasn't much he could even do anyway.
But first, protection was sorely needed.
Byakuya walked into the infirmary and opened up the cabinets, finding several pairs of clean green rubber gloves neatly wrapped-up, alongside a sickness mask. Also in the closet, buried a bit deeper, was a blue scrub suit in his size. He scowled at the implication but still wasted no time, placing his uniform on one of the beds to collect later and slipping himself into the scrubs, tying the mask around his mouth and nose, and snapping the gloves on tightly. He picked up a basket and filled it with clean towels, washcloths, medicine, and water bottles, and begrudgingly headed down to the dorms, rolling his eyes as he thought of what he was about to come across.
As he walked down the halls, he heard several people arguing in the cafeteria and paused, knowing they were his classmates.
Did he even dare go in there and break up their nonsense?
If they truly were sick, they would just collapse from exhaustion in a few minutes anyway.
"Hey, it's the doctor!" Junko gasped in surprise, wandering out of the cafeteria. "Like, is that you, Togami-san? I totes didn't recognize you at first,"
"You should be in bed," Byakuya stared her down, matching her stance.
"Ugh, no I don't. I feel perfectly fine. I have had far worse bugs than this," She rolled her eyes. "Besides, you aren't a real doctor, so I don't have to listen to you,"
"I see we are on the same page, Togami-kun!" Kiyotaka announced, walking out of the cafeteria next with a pointed finger. "I was trying to tell Enoshima-kun she should go back to bed, but she wouldn't listen to me!"
"'Cuz you are just as sick as I am, and you aren't going to bed either!" She scoffed.
"Because I have a job to keep an eye on the other students here and make sure they are making full recoveries!" He shot back.
"Man, can you two please just stop your yapping? My head won't stop fuckin' spinning..." Mondo walked out in the hallway, holding it. He had a slight lightness to his step. "Guess you're the one Monokuma's making take care of us. Well, I don't need a doctor or any of that stuff, I can handle this on my own,"
"Glad to hear it," Byakuya responded snidely as both Junko and Kiyotaka winced and suddenly dashed off at lighting speeds.
"Fuck...I think I'm going to go lie down..." Mondo sighed and walked off, stumbling slightly. He nearly walked straight into his closed door before he realized where he was and opened it and closed it again.
Byakuya scoffed. Plebeians would always be plebeians even in sickness.
He continued walking down into the dorms, opening a random door and walking inside, not bothering to knock or ring the doorbell. They would be too sick to get it anyway.
"Hmmm...? Who is it?" A weak voice called out, and Byakuya glanced around to notice he had arrived in Aoi's room. Aoi herself was curled up tightly in bed, wearing her pajamas and her hair was down.
"Open your mouth," He ordered, and as Aoi opened it to protest, he jammed it in under her tongue, making her eyes widen. He waited for it to beep, then pulled it out, glancing at the number. "No fever."
"N-No...um...could I please have a bucket?" She blinked a few times, rolling over to face him.
Byakuya stared at her. "I'm sure your bathroom is perfectly serviceable," He picked the basket up again and left, leaving Aoi staring at him with wide eyes, dumbfounded.
Byakuya had no set routine or pattern to the dorms and he didn't really care to develop one. Just go into a random dorm, check their temperature, and move along.
The next room he recognized as belonging to Leon, and the owner of the room himself was untying a group of blankets, groaning in annoyance. Byakuya pulled the thermometer out. "Open your mouth,"
"Hey, you're the one who's gonna take care of us? That's pretty cool," Leon smirked instead. "Since you're rich, you probably know a ton about medicine from your private doctors and stuff, right?"
"Open your mouth," Byakuya repeated, and Leon sighed and tossed the blankets away, complying. When the thermometer beeped that time, it indicated he had a slight fever.
"Before you leave, can I ask ya for something to eat? I'm starved. And a new blanket would be nice, I accidentally twisted this one up into knots when I was sleeping last night," He rubbed the back of his head.
"No. I have many people to deal with today and I will not cater to your whims," Byakuya declined, turning to leave.
"What?! You can't say no to a sick person!" He coughed suddenly before dashing into his bathroom.
Kyoko wasn't sitting or lying in bed; instead, she was sitting stick-straight up in her desk when Byakuya arrived, reading a book from the library. Byakuya cleared his throat at her, and she put the book down.
"I just have a fever..." She suddenly stood and headed for the bathroom, shutting the door on Byakuya. He stood there with an annoyed expression as he had to listen to the sound of vomit splash loudly in the toilet for the next minute before it was flushed away and Kyoko opened the door again. "Are you going to check my temperature? Give me a barf-bowl?"
"Does it look like I want to do this?" He shot back, shoving the stick in her mouth. "I'm only doing it because Monokuma threatened me with doing the work of fourteen people if I didn't comply. As if something like that would even work on me in the first place,"
Kyoko gave him a knowing expression.
"I also told him to not expect anything short of routine checkups. You all are perfectly capable of caring for yourselves, and I am not a babysitter,"
He pulled the thermometer out when it beeped and stared at it. "Fever,"
Kyoko didn't respond and slammed the bathroom door again, and Byakuya went on his way again.
As he headed for another random dorm, he heard the sound of high-heels approaching him rapidly, and paused, not bothering to look over.
"Togami-san! Like, you're the doctor! Tell Ishimaru-san to leave me alone! I will go to bed when I wanna go to bed!" Junko put her hands on her hips.
"I will not make Ishimaru do anything, and you are starting to try my patience," He said instead.
Junko gave him a dirty look, suddenly breaking it when she gasped and nearly fell into the wall. "Ugh...I feel awful,"
"Because you have food poisoning."
"Oh, you think it's funny to be snarky like that?"
Byakuya spun around and shoved the thermometer in her mouth, pulling it out when it beeped. "Fever. Get to bed,"
"I'm sure almost all of us have fevers," She played with her hair.
"Enoshima-kun!" Kiyotaka's voice rang through the halls, making Junko wince.
"Crap, I thought I escaped from him.." She clutched her stomach and dashed off again while Byakuya went into another dorm.
The occupant of that dorm wasn't in his bed, though it was messy and unmade indicating he had been in there recently. Byakuya heard moans coming from the bathroom and rolled his eyes, walking in and finding Chihiro hunched over the toilet, hugging it as if it were his only friend in the world.
"Open your mouth," He ordered, crouching beside Chihiro and grabbing his chin.
Chihiro just responded by coughing hard, dry-heaving and bringing tears to his eyes. Byakuya just waited.
"S-Stomach...hurts...o-oh God..." Chihiro coughed, trembling and shivering. His reading indicated he only had a low fever. Byakuya stood up to leave, but Chihiro grabbed onto the legs of his pants. "D-Don't leave...please...t-take me to the infirmary..."
"Even if I wanted to do that, it wouldn't do anything for you. There is no medicine or medical professionals in there," He stared down at Chihiro.
"T-Take me to the infirmary! Please!" He begged anyway, crying. "I-It hurts too much...I'm in s-so much pain..."
Byakuya managed to shake him off and left him in his bathroom, walking to the next dorm, which was Hifumi's.
"Ah, the golden-plated knight, the rival of our dashing hero, has finally decided to show his face! He may be disguised as a cleric, but I can see through his tricks!" Hifumi loudly announced the moment the door opened; Hifumi was standing on top of his bed.
"Lay down so I can take your temperature," Byakuya ordered, walking over to Hifumi.
"This White Knight shall not fall for any of your dirty tricks nor any of your mind games, gold-plated knight! Muahaha, try again, and try harder!"
"If you do not listen to me right now, I will push you right off that bed and force the thermometer down your mouth anyway,"
"O-Okay! For once, the White Knight sees the wisdom in the gold-plated knight's words!" Hifumi shrieked, quickly laying back down on his bed, making it creak and shake. He had a low fever.
Byakuya rolled his eyes and checked on the next room, which was Yasuhiro's. He braced himself and pulled open the door, finding Yasuhiro sitting in the middle of his floor, poring over several coloured candles.
"What is all this?" He asked slowly. Yasuhiro gave him a big smile.
"Togami-chi! I'm guessing you didn't get sick like us, huh? Well, I'm not too bad off either, myself! I'm trying to see what would be my best course of action, waiting this out or trying to cure it myself," He explained eagerly.
"Getting into bed and sleeping for the next several days seems to suit your needs just fine," His reading was just a low fever.
"Don't be that way about it! Natural medicine has become more trendy as of late, you know! And some of it actually works wonders! If it worked for our ancestors, it'll work for us too!" Yasuhiro said proudly. "Like herbs and crystals and oils!"
"Are you going to drill a hole in your head if you get a headache later on?" Byakuya responded back in annoyance. "If you're going to believe all of that new-age nonsense, do so, but leave me and the remainder of the class out of it. They do not need your mystic mumbo-jumbo,"
"Come on dude, you know me better than that! I'm not going to give anyone anything that's going to hurt them!" He laughed, and Byakuya continued to stare.
Hurt them? Probably not.
Humiliate them, waste their time, make them feel physically worse? Probably.
He left Yasuhiro then, walking into a room covered in pink that denoted it as being Sayaka's room. Sayaka herself was adjusting a pair of headphones on her head, blushing a bit when she saw Byakuya come in.
"Togami-kun! I didn't know you were coming!" She gasped.
"If I had a choice, I wouldn't be here. Open your mouth," Once she did so, he stuck the thermometer inside.
"Still, it's nice you're trying to help everyone out," She said once the temperature was recorded; a low fever.
"Again, not by choice. Everyone here is perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. I'm only doing this because if I don't, I'll have to do the rest of the cleaning and building you all are supposed to be doing," He then left, finding Mondo and Kiyotaka arguing with each other in the hallway again. "You two, open your mouths,"
"You can't make me do shit," Mondo grumbled, while Kiyotaka complied.
"I don't care if you don't go to your rooms, but can you two at least stop running around the place like headless chickens? You're disrupting the rest of the class," Byakuya saw Kiyotaka had a high fever. Surprisingly, that explained a lot. "Now you,"
"I don't care if you are my big bro! I can handle this on my own!" Mondo stepped back. "You ain't putting that in me!"
Byakuya just blinked. "Fine then, I'll move on," Hallucination must mean he had a pretty high fever, though Byakuya didn't know the exact number obviously. He left Kiyotaka and Mondo to their own devices and entered the next room; all gothic and fancy.
"Hello? Who is in here? Do not come into the bathroom," Celestia's weak voice called out, still full of pride. Byakuya ignored her and stepped into her bathroom, finding Celestia with her pigtails missing and wearing black silk pajamas with her head tucked into the toilet bowl.
"Time to take your temperature,"
She didn't respond for a few minutes before she finally lifted her head out of the toilet; her face was even paler than normal and her eyes were rimmed with red. Byakuya put the thermometer in her mouth and pulled it out a few seconds later; she had a medium fever.
"Please do not tell anyone I am sick...this sick at least..." She covered her mouth daintily.
"It doesn't matter if I do or not, everyone is just as sick as you are. They won't care," Byakuya left her alone and then checked on the next student, Makoto.
Makoto was asleep in bed when Byakuya arrived, which he was thankful for. He wasn't in the mood for a bombardment of questions. His face was badly flushed and red and he was sweating.
"Some luck you have," Byakuya poked, trying to get Makoto to open his mouth for the thermometer.
"Mmm...T-Togami...-san...?" He slowly opened his eyes to look at him. "Mmmmm..."
The reading said he had an extremely high fever, which Byakuya stared at. Any higher and he'd need actual, immediate medical help that none of them could provide. He found himself hoping Makoto's fever had only recently spiked and would start climbing back down.
He went into the next room; Sakura's. Much like Kyoko was earlier, Sakura was tidying up in her room, up on her feet. Her reading was a medium fever.
"How are the others doing?" She asked curiously.
"Not listening to me. Three of them refuse to go to bed and are chasing each other in the hallways," He grumbled.
"I have a feeling I already know who thou is referring to," Sakura finished cleaning up her room and got into bed. "I will also reassure thee that you don't have to worry about me very much. I just have a fever, I can take care of myself,"
"I'm glad to hear that. Everyone else is going to be a major pain," Byakuya left her alone and went to check on the last student; Touko. He grimaced and tightened the strings on his sickness mask, stepping inside her dark room.
"D-Don't come in here! I don't w-want anyone in here!" She cried out, trembling.
"Calm down. I'm here to take your temperature," He ordered her to open her mouth and was glad to see she had no temperature.
"W-What if s-she comes out while you're trying to take care of me?"
"I am perfectly capable of handling her antics. Besides, you have food poisoning, not the flu,"
"Y-Yeah, but...she's antsy. She's upset with me f-for being sick..."
"That's her problem," Byakuya left and looked at the dorms, realizing he had already checked on everyone. Since he had a better idea of how sick everyone was, the next step was to just give them what they needed and check on them periodically.
Well, he wasn't going to do that at all!
He started to walk back to the infirmary, stumbling and then nearly tripping over a lump in the hallway. He looked down in disgust, finding Junko fainted on the ground, groaning a bit.
"You cannot be serious," He groaned himself and grabbed Junko by her arm, dragging her down the hallway floor, not wishing to touch her.
"Ugh...like...the room is spinnin'," She moaned.
"Yes, nausea tends to do that to you," He dragged her over to her room and pushed her inside, making her groan again.
"Put me on the toilet," She rolled over onto her back, clutching her stomach.
"No."
"Do you want an intestinal volcano all over your shoes?"
Byakuya grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the bathroom, making her yelp in surprise. He sat her on the toilet and left once she started to pull her underwear down, closing the door. He left once he heard her starting to use the bathroom, not wanting to be around anymore.
How was he supposed to know who needed his assistance? He wasn't about to open every single door asking if they needed him. Maybe Monokuma had something for him.
He headed back to the gymnasium, asking for him. "Monokuma. Monokuma? Monokuma, where are you?"
"Geezh, can't a guy take a nap without having to worry about being woken up?!" Monokuma demanded in annoyance, glaring at Byakuya.
"You gave me this job. How can I tell what everyone needs without needlessly barging into their rooms all times of the day?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"You know, I didn't even think about that!" Monokuma gasped. "Though I don't see what's wrong with checking on them manually,"
"Waste of time,"
"Oh, poor Togami-kun, doesn't want his classmates to recover...!" Monokuma began to cry loudly.
"Never mind. I'll solve it myself," He stormed out of the room and walked back to the dorms, sighing. He started throwing open the doors. "Leave your doors open! Otherwise I won't be able to get you anything," He directed, and a few students answered back in confirmation.
He went back to check on Makoto, finding him laying on his back in bed, staring vacantly at the ceiling.
"Naegi," He tried to shake him, only to get a groan in response. "You need medicine. You have an extremely high fever and therefore you are one of my priorities. Can you hear me?"
"A-Ah...mmm.." Makoto moaned in pain. He was wearing a white T-shirt and his hoodie and jacket lay discarded on the floor.
"I'm going to have to take that as a yes," He left a bottle of water by Makoto's bedside and moved on.
He visited Aoi next; she had gotten out of bed and was throwing up in her bathroom. Byakuya remembered she asked for a bowl earlier. How many people were vomiting?
He didn't have any bowls anyway, so he begrudgingly headed back to the infirmary and got fourteen plastic basins and stacked them all up in his basket.
Sayaka was sleeping when he went back into her room, headphones still on her head. There was no signs of vomit in the bathroom, just the smell of diarrhea, so she received simply a bottle of water.
"Hey, you came back! I thought you forgot about me," Leon teased. "I fixed my bed,"
"Perfect. Now you can go lay down in it," Byakuya snapped, giving him a bottle of water.
"Awwww, do I gotta? I feel perfectly fine!" He started to whine. "It's just some measly food poisoning, I don't have the measles or something like that!"
"You have a fever,"
Leon didn't respond, instead ran into the bathroom and shut the door, sounds of sickness soon erupted from him. "Shit...I think I need a bowl...!" Vomit splattered onto the ground. Byakuya winced at the mental image and left a bowl beside the bathroom door. "Oh, can I also have something to eat? I feel hungry..."
"You're ludicrous!" Byakuya gasped.
"What? Just something small, like a hot-dog or something?"
"No!" He left the room after that, checking on Junko, who was still in the bathroom. "Room still spinning?"
"Y-Yeah.." She sighed from inside.
"Vomiting?"
"No,"
Byakuya left a bottle of water on her nightstand and continued to move along.
Chihiro was in the middle of vomiting when Byakuya arrived, his head buried deep in the toilet. It looked more like the toilet was trying to eat him. Byakuya left a bottle of water at his bedside.
"I-I need some...n-new sheets..." Chihiro admitted shyly, lifting his head out of the toilet. "I t-threw up in my bed e-earlier..."
"Oogami seemed to want to help others more than me, you should ask her,"
"B-But...!" He was cut off by his stomach flopping and he started puking into the toilet again. "I-It won't stop...i-it won't stop coming out of both ends..."
Byakuya also left a bowl and went into Mondo's room, expecting the biker to still be running around aimlessly in the halls. To his surprise, he had his head buried in the sink, groaning.
"Vomiting?"
"No..." Mondo groaned again. "Shit...this isn't so bad...once this guy busted his head open when he drove too fast and lost control of his brakes. T-That...that was awful. This ain't shit compared to that,"
"Then get your head out of the sink,"
Mondo was silent. Byakuya crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"I like it in here. Stop botherin' me 'bout it so much, Big Bro!"
"I am not your brother,"
"Come on, yeah you are," Mondo finally lifted his head out of the sink, holding his head and groaning. "That's why you came in to check on me!"
"Get in bed,"
"Okay,"
Thankfully, Mondo complied and got into his bed, sighing. "You haven't been this tough on me in years, Big Bro. I can handle a little bug,"
"You have food poisoning. The only other person ins this school with a fever higher than yours is Naegi. And I have to give him special medicine for it. So help me, I'll put you on them too," He stared Mondo down.
"So? It's still not a big deal," Mondo suddenly gasped and fell out of bed, sobbing. "F-Fuck...why did I have to do this...?! It's all my fault!" He crawled over to Byakuya and grabbed his clothes, making him wince and try to break away. "You're dead, and it's all my fault, Big Bro! It's all my fault! I killed you!"
"I'm not your older brother, and you better get back in that bed, you imbecile, before I pack up and decide to stop paying you visits," He broke away from Mondo's grip and stepped away, making Mondo stare at his hands in disbelief.
"D-Don't leave me, Big Bro!" He tried to get up, only to fall and collapse on the ground.
Byakuya left him there with a water bottle and went to check on Hifumi again, finding him lying in bed asleep, all of his clothes stripped off and discarded, leaving him sleeping in his bed in nothing but his underwear. Byakuya winced at the image and placed a water bottle at his bedside, checking the bathroom and wrinkling his nose at the fresh smell of vomit. He also left a basin by him, happy he was asleep so he didn't have to deal with his nonsense again.
"Togami-kun!" Kiyotaka yelled, suddenly running into Byakuya in the hallway, pressing him against a wall. Byakuya groaned and stared at him. "You're still doing your rounds too, huh? Good on you! I just checked on Maizono-kun, so you don't need to!"
"I checked on her a few minutes ago. You're going to make your sickness worse if you keep running around like this, and then what? I'm going to be stuck taking care of you while everyone gets to go about their day," He glared at Kiyotaka. "And I refuse to care for you any longer than necessary,"
"Don't you know a true student is always going to class, regardless of his health? Not to mention, our classmates all need our help!" Kiyotaka paused, looking like he wanted to say more, before suddenly grabbing his stomach and running back to his room. "Don't mind me...!"
Byakuya smirked and followed him. "I knew it, you're still too sick to be walking around."
Kiyotaka ignored him, shutting the door to his bathroom. Byakuya placed a bottle of water down.
"Any vomiting?"
"No...just...I've been confined to my...bathroom...for at least an hour," He groaned a bit.
Byakuya left, finding Celestia still in her bathroom with the door locked. He left a bottle of water and basin by the door, not wishing to pry into her business. He had a good idea of what she was doing in there anyway, judging by the noises.
Sakura was reading a book in her bed when Byakuya arrived, uncapping and taking a sip from the water bottle she was handed.
"Any other issues?" He asked, sighing in relief when Sakura shook her head. She smiled a bit at that.
"Sounds as though our classmates have been giving thee a bit of trouble,"
"More than I asked for," He then gave Aoi her bowl and water; she was asleep when he arrived.
Yasuhiro wasn't in his room when Byakuya arrived, making him raise an eyebrow. "Hagakure, where are you?" He looked around, setting the water bottle down. He wasn't in the bathroom; the room was open and empty.
Was it possible he was-
Oh God no.
"Hagakure!" Byakuya dropped the basket of supplies and started searching through the other rooms frantically, startling some of the students. "Where are you?!"
"In here!" Yasuhiro responded cheerfully; when Byakuya rushed in there, Celestia was passed out in her bed with several different crystals of various colours and sizes placed on her chest and stomach.
"What is this?" He demanded, glaring at Yasuhiro.
"Crystal therapy! See, you put different healing crystals on the parts of your body that hurt, you lie perfectly still, and the crystals absorb the negative energy from your body and cure you!" He announced proudly. "These may be a bit outdated, so I don't know how well they'll work, but-"
"You imbecile, crystals cannot heal people!" Byakuya snapped. "And shame on you for going after someone who couldn't fight back,"
"Hey, I'm just doing this out of the goodness in my heart!"
"You honestly believe...I agreed to this...?" Celestia's weak voice asked in annoyance from the voice. Oh, guess she was just closing her eyes then. "I quite clearly said 'no' several times, yet he kept placing stones on me," She winced in irritation.
"Because I wanted to help you out! Naegi-chi didn't say no!"
"Because he can't." Byakuya said. "He cannot say anything right now," He started to storm out. "Remove those crystals from her at once,"
"B-But-!"
"No buts."
Celestia tittered. "I would be quite afraid if he became a real doctor one day," She sighed and gave Yasuhiro a dirty look. "You heard him. Take these moronic things off me right now!"
Byakuya hurried over to Makoto's room, finding him asleep with purple crystals placed on his forehead. He angrily brushed them all off and tossed them in the trash, noticing the water hadn't been opened yet.
"Too weak to drink, even..." He pulled the cap open and gently shook Makoto, repeating his name over and over again.
"Nng...?" Makoto's eyes fluttered a bit, looking glassy. Byakuya winced from the state of him. He needed to check the infirmary for fever medication.
"I brought you water. Drink this," He slowly lifted Makoto's head up and lifted the bottle to his lips, helping him drink. Makoto sputtered a few times before collapsing back onto his pillow, closing his eyes. Byakuya waited, but the fluid never came back up. "I'll be back in a few minutes with medicine," He yanked the covers off Makoto; he winced slightly but otherwise didn't seem to notice.
As he wandered the hallways, he nearly tripped again and glanced down at the floor, finding Junko lying there with her hands wrapped around her stomach. He stared down at her.
"Why did you get out of bed?"
"'Cuz, I like totes heard that Hagakure-san is going 'round trying to heal people with his freaky crystals and oils! No way I was gonna let that happen to me!" She gasped. "But then I fell in the hall,"
"Because you are still too weak to move," Without another word, he grabbed Junko by her wrist and pulled her through the hallways again, dragging her back into her bathroom and shutting the door.
He still had a few more people to give basins too if they were vomiting, but he still had to get that medicine as well as barricade Yasuhiro in his room to prevent him from going after anyone else.
In the infirmary, he found a few unopened, new bottles of pain and fever medication. Nodding to himself, he headed back to Makoto's room and forced open his mouth.
"Nnng...!" Makoto opened his eyes in shock, looking over at Byakuya.
"Medicine," He pointed to the bottle, taking out two white pills and picking the water bottle up again.
Makoto didn't respond, just kept his mouth open, and Byakuya poured the water into his mouth alongside a pill, closing his mouth and massaging his neck to make the mixture go down. After hearing a weak gulp, Byakuya repeated the method.
"A-Ah," Makoto winced and closed his eyes, falling asleep. Byakuya left the medicine at his bedside and scooped up the supplies he left in Yasuhiro's room, trying to think of who else he had left. It seemed just Kyoko and...Touko.
Kyoko was locked in her bathroom when he arrived, vomiting splattering on the floor. Byakuya left the water bottle and basin by the bathroom door, leaving right after. He then inwardly winced and pushed open Touko's door, wrinkling his nose at the smell despite the mask.
"Oooooh, my beloved Byakuya-sama has come to take care of me!"
Byakuya froze and started to make a beeline for the door, silently cursing his luck. If Touko was extremely ill, it shouldn't matter what the actual disease was-it should just be assumed Genocide Jack had an easy time coming out whenever Touko wasn't in her right mind.
"You can't escape from me that easily!" She pounced on him from somewhere in the dark, pulling him tight into her arms and laughing. "I caught you! I finally caught you, Master!~"
"Let go of me this instant," Byakuya said, glaring at her the best he could in the darkness. Genocide Jack continued to laugh. "I mean it. I don't have to provide care for your other half, and I know you're just as sick as she is,"
"Awwww, you're such a spoil-sport!" Genocide Jack continued to laugh, but thankfully let him go. He took a breath. "I know what you're gonna ask. Nope, neither of us are vomiting!" She twirled around before collapsing into a heap on the floor. "But we're both hella dizzy and have the runs super badly! How's that for a young lady, huh?"
"You didn't need to go into such detail, I could surmise your symptoms by using simple elimination," Byakuya put a water bottle by her bedside.
"Awww, won't you help me drink it? Since I'm sick and all?"
"You do not even have a fever. You are the last on my list of priorities. Goodbye," He slammed shut the door, only hearing something about him being cold before the rest was cut off. He then walked away, hoping she was too nauseous to actually chase after him.
"I am the king of this land, and I do not need help! I'm perfectly fine!" Hifumi's voice rang through the halls.
"At least allow me to wash your clothes, they are likely covered in sweat," Kyoko's voice responded back impatiently.
"You may leave them there, maid! Why are you concerning yourself over housework? You resemble an upstairs maid more than a downstairs one!"
Byakuya and Kyoko then collided with each other, making her stare at him uneasily.
"Feeling better, I see."
"Far from it." She clutched her stomach and winced in pain.
"Then what are you doing up? Trying to complicate my job even more?"
"No. I just noticed you weren't offering everyone clean clothes and blankets, so I decided to do so myself,"
"That seems like a pointless and redundant endeavor. They will just soil them again,"
"A few of them are feeling better,"
They stared at each other for a while before Kyoko winced and tried to run off, biting her lip from her nausea and falling to her knees, covering her mouth. Byakuya stared at her, smirking when she gasped and began to throw up violently. She coughed and dry-heaved several times, puking a second time.
"I suppose that is your reward for running around," He left her alone, feeling her violet eyes angrily bore into his back.
What was next? Everyone had their temperature taken and symptoms assessed, he had given them all water bottles and basins if they were vomiting, he gave Makoto his fever medicine, what next?
"You sure I can't get something to eat? I feel better," Leon whined. "I don't even want a hot-dog anymore, man! How about some alphabet soup? That's fine, right? I can keep that down, right?"
"You will not be receiving anything solid for at least a day," Byakuya declined.
"Please, please, please? What about something other than water? Lemonade! Yeah, I can have that, right?"
"No."
"Come on! I just have food poisoning! I'm not dyin'!"
"Unfortunately,"
"Why can't I have anything?"
"Because you can't keep anything down yet,"
"Oh yeah?!" Leon grabbed his bottle of water and chugged it, giving Byakuya a smug look once he drained the bottle. "See?"
Byakuya waited, and a few seconds later, Leon grimaced and ran back into his bathroom, vomiting up pure water. He groaned.
"Goodbye,"
Sayaka was in the bathroom, as was Junko. Kiyotaka was laying in bed, grumbling to himself.
"I'm perfectly fine...even if I did spend two hours in the bathroom...it'll take far more than this to keep me down!" He insisted.
"Sure," Byakuya nodded.
Mondo was shivering in his sleep. Chihiro had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor, curled-up in front of the toilet.
"Gold-plated knight, you have a lot of gall coming back into my realm like this!" Hifumi posed in a fighting stance when Byakuya came in again to check on him. "But this knight won't let you get away with trying to poison him again!"
"I'm just giving you some more water," Byakuya scoffed.
"I am the king, and therefore I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"
Byakuya chose to ignore him as he replaced the water bottles, tossing the empty one into the trash.
Celestia was in the bathroom again, while Sakura was still reading a book. Aoi was crying in the bathroom, which Byakuya raised an eyebrow at.
"I...I can't keep it down! I can't keep my water down!" She sobbed. "It just keeps coming out as green-bile-water!"
He cringed at her description of it. "Are you sipping your water gently, or are you taking huge gulps of it?"
"I'm just drinking a ton like I do normally..." She sniffled.
"Oh, there's your problem. Stop drinking unholy gulps through your nose and instead focus on tiny sips until you feel better," He scoffed at her, making her give him a dirty look.
"You're not a very good doctor...!"
"A good doctor is one who provides his patients with true facts and whatever medicine they need to get better. He does not coddle people," Byakuya stared her down, making Aoi match his expression.
"Still...you shouldn't be so harsh to sick people,"
Yasuhiro was in the bathroom when Byakuya arrived; he looked around and found all of his stupid fake medical tools put away completely. Hopefully that meant he was planning on abandoning that idea entirely.
Kyoko was in the bathroom as well, the sound of vomit hitting a plastic basin being audible over everything else. Her water bottle was seemingly untouched.
"I'm sure you weren't expecting something like this to happen to you," Byakuya couldn't help smirking. "Someone as proud and stoic as you...it must literally kill you to know you've been reduced to this level,"
Kyoko moaned in response.
"See?"
"It's...just an illness. A temporary setback," He could hear the smirk in her tone even then. "I should be saying that to you, Nurse Togami,"
"It was either this or do the work of fourteen people including myself. I still think I made the better choice," He left her then, checking on Touko reluctantly and finding her fast asleep.
Makoto was still asleep as well; a check of his temperature indicated his fever was actually going down. Byakuya allowed himself a sigh of relief. If the majority of them were able to sleep despite everything, that meant the illness must finally be lessening. He'd do one final sweep and give everyone with diarrhea some activated charcoal to weaken both that and their nausea if they had any, then scrub himself thoroughly before heading to bed himself.
Who had diarrhea? Nearly everyone by the sounds coming from their bathrooms.
Byakuya headed back into the infirmary and checked the time, doing a double-take.
It was nearly nighttime! How did so much time pass so quickly?!
"Activated charcoal, it'll help lessen your nausea and intestinal difficulties," He explained to everyone he prepared it for.
"Thank you!" Sayaka smiled sweetly.
"Hey, I've had this before," Junko commented in surprise.
"Yeah, whatever," Leon shrugged.
"T-Thank y-you.." Chihiro trembled.
"This is actual charcoal, right? Did you mix it up in water properly?" Kiyotaka berated.
"Oh, thank you very much," Celestia giggled.
"I dunno if I should take this though..." Yasuhiro sighed.
"E-Even if it were poison...coming from you..it'd mean so much!" Touko gasped, drinking all of hers in one large gulp.
Kyoko remained silent and sipped at hers.
He then gave fever medicine to Mondo, Junko, Kiyotaka, Sakura, Celestia, and Kyoko to help lower theirs, while giving Makoto a second dose.
Byakuya then locked himself up in his dorm, allowing himself a sigh of relief. He somehow managed to survive the day. How he did, he wasn't sure, but he was glad he'd never have to do it again.
After a very long shower session, he changed into a pair of pajamas and fell asleep almost instantly.
##
The next morning, the fourteen students gathered in the cafeteria for breakfast, talking happily about what happened the previous day. All of their uniforms and sheets had to be washed, so they all sat around in their pajamas. Mondo's, Kyoko's, and Makoto's cheeks were still flushed from a remaining low fever.
"It was really nice of Togami-san to take care of us like that!" Chihiro beamed. "Especially since he didn't have to..."
"More like, he didn't want to," Aoi grumbled.
"We should thank him properly in some way. It's only fair," Makoto suggested. "He really did try his hardest to take care of us all,"
"I just wish Monokuma-san was a tad more understanding of our situation," Celestia sighed. "I still feel a bit weak and do not want to wander around the school all day looking for random materials,"
"Yeah, same. Wish we got a day off," Leon agreed.
"Like, most of our time today is just gonna be spent cleaning our beds, and our clothes, and our toilets!" Junko pouted. "The state of some of them, yuck!"
"Why don't we all eat something hearty for breakfast to wake ourselves up!" Sayaka suggested eagerly. "We could eat some chicken noodle soup!"
"Nah, I'd rather stay the fuck away from meat for a while," Mondo declined.
"Yeah, thinking about it...it might've been those burgers I made for everyone," Makoto laughed awkwardly. "I didn't even think about being sick until I threw up after making them..."
"A-And we all ate them anyway, l-like the gross people that we are," Touko grumbled.
"It could be many factors that made us ill," Kyoko said calmly. "We shouldn't just blame Naegi-kun,"
Byakuya walked into the cafeteria then, well-dressed and well-rested. Since he was the last one to arrive, everyone else perked up.
"Togami-san!"
"What?" He adjusted his glasses. "I do not have time to talk to any of you. If you believe we are all friends because I spent one day cleaning your messes up, you are sorely mistaken,"
"My, you do not genuinely believe that," Celestia gasped. "Caring for one who is sick is one of the best and strongest bonds that could possibly form,"
"We just wanted to thank you." Makoto said. "You didn't have to do any of that, and yet..you did. It shows how much you truly care about us. Kirigiri-san told me I had a really high fever and you even poured medicine into my mouth,"
"A moment of boys' love?!" Hifumi gasped.
"I did it because I cannot afford your death at my hands. I was responsible for you, for all of you. A death of an Ultimate in such a fashion would tarnish this school's reputation as well as your family's. I thought you would be more appreciative,"
"Oh, but we are!" Sayaka reassured him.
"Do not expect me to do the same should any of you fall ill again. It was a one time thing,"
"Enough of this sappy stuff, can we eat now? I'm starved!" Leon said, making several people giggle and run into the kitchen to make breakfast.
Kyoko smirked at Byakuya as she passed. "You're starting to be seen as some sort of hero,"
"I suppose that is something I will just have to live with. It'll die down soon enough anyway, with how small-minded they are," Byakuya took his usual seat at a different table.
"You saved Naegi-kun's life. That's not something he'll think lightly of,"
"I can deal with him,"
Kyoko just continued to smirk.
#
When Byakuya returned to his room after breakfast, he found fourteen different pairs of underwear folded up neatly into a pile on his bed. His features darkened the longer he stared at it.
"If this is the sort of 'reward' I receive for doing such a thing...never again," He grumbled.