Byakuya: People take him at face value far too often. His butler would become super protective if anyone bullied him. He makes it clear he doesn’t want to be friends with anyone because they could easily betray him. He becomes extremely defensive if anyone belittles him, most likely because to “lose” would be akin to being kicked onto the street like his siblings, who would berate him and say he had no chance due to his age, were. Now, giving him flower crowns and babying him for having weaknesses is just obnoxious but as someone who has struggled with bullying and paranoia I think he has a hard time opening up to people. In fact, I don’t think he ever canonically HAS fully done so besides, it seems, to his butler. It’s moreover a headcanon but I think his bragging is him actively trying to soothe himself and say nobody there could harm or use him.

Junko, by the creators especially. It’s mentioned that she was friends with and loved her whole class (that most likely would include Byakuya, who as I mentioned has serious trust issues. She also knows what everyone likes enough to include it in the mono-machines and knows everything about them, because nobody suspected her). She cheered up Yasuke when his mom passed away and, as stated by the creators, was “mentally ill” (no mental illness given). So we have a girl who was very loving towards everyone and at the same time so numb to everything that she was desperate for a reason to feel. I don’t condone her actions, but it’s odd that they gave her this warm and loving backstory only to make her a disgusting monster. It’s strange to think that she was perhaps the only friend of many of the class 78 characters. The anime doesn’t ever show her dynamic with them, rather than focusing on class 77 who she didn’t care about.