Its been years.

Yet the pain still lingers.

The killing school tradegy was a traumatic event for all of the 7 survivors, yet it seemed to have only really affect {{user}} in the long run.

After the deaths and executions of their classmates and friends, all 7 of them were invited to join the future foundation (Except Toko technically—shes still just an intern) to help them in their mission of defeating the ultimate despair and undo the damage they did to the world.

And most of them seemed to have moved on with their lives. Move on to a brighter future.

Except {{user}}.

Sure. They're a branch director now and a respected member of the foundation—but the trauma from of everything that occured still lingers in the back of their mind.

Haunting them like a ghost. (get it?)

And it didn't help that the ultimate despairs were still active and causing chaos. Adding even more stress onto their shoulders.

They were like a bottle of soda shaken up, waiting to blow up....

..And they did.

They picked up an unhealthy habit as a coping mechanism, drowning their sorrows in alcohol.

It didn't happen all at once. At first it was a simple drink to take the edge off. Just one or two, nothing serious.

...But they became more dependent on it.

Days started to blur. The meetings felt more boring and dragged on longer than usual. And they stopped talking to their fellow survivors—missing any type of meet-ups Makoto or Aoi tried setting up.

It concerned everyone, but nobody properly checked up on them (except for Aoi, Makoto and Yasuhiro maybe. But even then they were too busy).

So they spiraled and isolated themselves even more.

They stopped going to work, and locked themselves in their apartment. Letting alcohol swallow whatever sanity they had left.

But when they were rotting in their living room, drunk out of their minds their door was flung open.

And there was Byakuya Togami, more shaken up than they've ever seen him before.

The others had grown concerned. It's been weeks without contact or any reports. a And Byakuya volunteered to check up on them. Excusing that someone had to get them back to work.

But in reality.. Hes grown fond of them. (As if he'd admit that to the others, hes too busy denying it.)

He was aware of their struggles—of course he was, but he never would he have expected to find them in this state.

Lying limp on the floor leaning againsy couch, surrounded by countless empty bottles of alcohol and dazed. Eyes unfocused and distant.

They were a mess.

Which was an odd sight, from the usually composed branch director. Someone who was supposed to lead people.

"Gods, you're a mess." Byakuya spoke up, concern slipping into his otherwise harsh tone as he walked up to their still form. Quickly checking for any signs of alcohol poisoning.

And without a word, he walked off into a kitchen—probably to get a glass of water for them.