A/N: Written for prosodiical for Fandom Growth Exchange 2017.
Togami woke slowly, neck aching and mouth dry. The more awareness he gained, the more alarm he felt. Why was he sitting with his head face down on what felt like... a table? A desk? He last remembered arriving at Hope's Peak Academy; if he had, for some unforeseen reason, passed out after entering the school, why wouldn't he have been brought to an infirmary?
He raised his head.
His heart skipped a beat.
So this is color, he thought, drinking in his surroundings. He couldn't seem to focus on the actual room; instead he stared and stared, seeing a wealth of color he had never before experienced. He didn't know the words for any of these colors - or, he had heard the words ("purple," "blue," "green," and so forth) but he could not have said which colors matched to which words. But he thought he understood now why color blind people were pitied. Before, he'd scoffed at any such pity directed towards himself. What did it matter if he couldn't see color? Quite frankly, it had sounded unnecessary.
It still wasn't… strictly necessary, he thought now. But he thought he understood the significance people placed on it… even if the pity still seemed somewhat unwarranted.
However… Togami sat up straight. To have gained the ability to see color so suddenly could only mean one thing. Not only did he have a soulmate, but between blacking out and waking up here, he had met his soulmate.
He frowned. Did it count as a 'meeting' if one party was asleep? He scowled upon realizing that he didn't know. He had largely dismissed the matter of soulmates as unimportant to him years ago. It appeared that had been a hasty decision.
There was no more information he could gain from sitting there and ruminating, so he stood and inspected the classroom more thoroughly. Now that he had somewhat acclimated to the colors around him, he could actually focus on his surroundings. The thick metal plates where windows would be - once were? - grabbed his attention, as did the note left on a nearby desk. Reading the note did not enlighten him as to what was going on, but it did heighten his sense of foreboding.
The clock read nearly 8 am, so he made his way to the entrance hall. As his fellow students arrived with similar stories, he wondered if one of them might be his soulmate. It certainly seemed possible… but at the same time, none of them drew his interest as someone who would be a fitting soulmate for him, Byakuya Togami.
Then they were called to the gym, and what followed firmly put soulmates out of his mind. If people were going to take the bear's encouragement to kill seriously…
Then soulmates would only be a liability.
Togami had not planned to interact with anyone at breakfast the next morning. However, Naegi of all people had called a meeting, and since Togami was already there to eat, he had tolerated the conversations taking place around him. When everyone had arrived and found something to eat, Naegi called their attention.
"Um, this is a bit awkward," the boy mumbled, blushing. "Um… It's about my soulmarks."
Togami's attention sharpened.
"What about them?" Fujisaki asked timidly.
"Yes, if you're going to bring them up in front of s-strangers, you'd better have a good reason." Fukawa glared.
"I do, I promise!" Naegi raised his hands placatingly. "Ah, basically… the nature of my marks is that they start out grey, then turn black when I meet my soulmate, and then become colorful when I… kiss my soulmate…"
"This is bordering on TMI, ya know?" Enoshima rolled her eyes. "Get to the point!"
"The point is…" Naegi took a breath. "When I arrived at Hope's Peak, my marks were gray. But when I looked this morning… they were colorful."
Enoshima stilled. "Okay, that is weird."
"None of you fuckers kissed him while he was sleeping, right?" Oowada barked, to a chorus of denials.
"You are certain your marks were gray before you entered the school?" Oogami rumbled.
Naegi nodded. "I'm sure of it… I looked at them before I went inside. You know… thinking that maybe I'd meet them here…?" He blushed and cast his eyes downward.
"So, essentially," said Kirigiri, "either your soulmate did, in fact, kiss you while you were unconscious… or you are missing rather more time than could be explained by merely passing out for an hour when entering the school."
Naegi looked up and nodded hesitantly. "Ah, also… I could be wrong about this, but my marks are two different colors, so I may have two soulmates…"
"Two different people kissing you while you slept does seem unlikely," Ludenberg mused.
There was silence while everyone digested this. Then Kirigiri spoke.
"My mark indicates something similar," she said. "It is a timer that, before my entry to Hope's Peak, showed mere hours before I was to meet my… soulmate. But when I woke, the timer was at zero. Like Naegi-kun, either I 'met' them while I slept… Or I have forgotten my meeting of them."
"You're sure the timer ran out while you were passed out and not, like, when we did our introductions yesterday, right?" Enoshima asked.
"I am certain. I checked it immediately upon waking."
Ludenberg hummed thoughtfully. "In that case, I have a suggestion. If you haven't already, you should check your marks and evaluate whether they are different than they were before you entered the school. Of course, you may wish to do so in private. Why don't those of us who need to do so return to our rooms, and reconvene here in five to ten minutes with our findings?"
This suggestion was met with general agreement, and most of the group filed out of the cafeteria. Togami did not, of course, since he had no physical mark to check. Naegi and Kirigiri also stayed behind, of course, but so did Oogami, Hagakure, and Ludenberg herself.
"I assume the rest of you have already checked your marks, then?" Ludenberg asked primly. "Or are your marks non-physical?"
"The latter," Oogami grunted.
"Me too, haha!" Hagakure sounded far too cheerful. And utterly brainless. "Every year, on Halloween, I wake up in my soulmate's body, and they wake up in mine! I always try to figure out just who they are, but I always get caught up in some weird shit! This year…"
Hagakure chattered on, but Togami determinedly tuned him out in favor of reviewing what he knew about soulmarks.
The proper term, of course, was 'soulmate identifiers,' since not all identifiers manifested as physical marks on one's skin. However, most of them did, and thus the colloquial term remained 'soulmark.'
Togami himself had no physical mark, and until yesterday had been in some doubt as to whether he had a soulmate at all. He had been completely color blind - unable to see any color outside of black, white, and shades of gray. Usually, that kind of complete color blindness indicated that it was actually a soulmark, and that one would be able to see color upon meeting one's soulmate. This had ended up being the case for him, but until yesterday the possibility had remained that he was simply genetically, permanently color blind. There had been no way to be sure until he actually met his soulmate; a meeting which had occurred, but which he did not remember, for one reason or another.
Color blindness was a rather rare soulmate identifier, however. Many soulmarks took the form of the first words a soulmate would say to you… or the last words; others took the form of first names, timers, symbols, and so forth. There was a vast variety of soulmarks; even Hagakure's claim of switching bodies, outlandish as it was, could not be dismissed outright.
One thing was for certain, however. In a situation such as this - in a killing game - soulmates were a distraction. Discussing their marks held some merit, since they might indicate how much time had disappeared from their memories. As such, he had not protested the discussion, or left the cafeteria. However, actually seeking out one's soulmate could only be a distraction.
Either their soulmates were outside the school - in which case, the desire to find them might become a motive to kill - or they were inside the school. In that case, finding one's soulmate would only lead to unwarranted trust and attachment, both of which were quite dangerous in this game.
In any case, seeking out his soulmate would be unwise… but it would also be a completely futile endeavor. Normally, someone with his type of soulmark would know who their soulmate was as soon as they met them. Color would, supposedly, "bloom" across one's vision, and they would be able to see the "true beauty" of the world (and, supposedly, of their soulmate.) But since he did not remember this meeting, he had no way to identify his soulmate, even if he desired to. Which he did not.
The only useful thing about his mark was that he could now see in color, and thus had access to the same visual information that the rest of the world did. That could very well end up being important, in a situation like this.
"Now that everyone has returned," Ludenberg said, drawing Togami's attention back to the people around him, "let us discuss our findings. If your mark is unchanged, or if there would be no way for it to change, you may simply say so; in that case, you do not need to specify anything about your mark if you do not wish to." She cast her eyes around the room. "I will begin. I semi-regularly share dreams with my soulmate, who is not anyone present; I did not do so last night, but that does not necessarily mean anything." She looked to her left. "Fukawa-san?"
"Mine is… and always has been... a first name…" She glared. "And not the name of a-anyone here… so don't get any ideas."
The others took turns chiming in. Most of their reports were similarly useless:
"Mine wouldn't have changed even if I did meet them," Kuwata said.
"Same here," Enoshima yawned. "I went back to my room to check just in case, but… nothing."
Yamada sniffed. "I'm a blank, so nothing's changed. 2D girls are still the only ones for me!"
"F-flowers grow on me… when my soulmate is hurt," Fujisaki ventured. "Um, but I didn't have any flowers when I arrived here, and I still don't have any."
"I have the first words my soulmate will say to me," Asahina declared. "If I ever heard them, then I don't remember it!"
"I also have… words that my soulmates will say," Ishimaru said.
"Eh, I already told you guys about my body-swapping thing, right?" Hagakure scratched his head. "I don't know who they are, but they're definitely not any of you guys."
"I have a compass-type identifier; I can always tell what direction my soulmate is in," said Oogami.
"And did that direction significantly change?" asked Kirigiri.
Oogami hesitated. "The variability of their direction seems to indicate that they are nearby," she finally said. "But the same was true when I arrived at Hope's Peak."
A few of them, however, had actually useful things to say.
"I've got marks that show what emotions my soulmate's feelin'," said Oowada. "Before I came here, they showed… happiness, mostly. Hope. Now they're showin' fear and… I dunno. Confusion, I guess? Definitely no happiness, though."
"I'm the same as Naegi-kun," Maizono said softly. "My mark was gray before I arrived here… and now it's red."
There was silence then, and Togami realized it was his turn. "I was color blind before I arrived," he said, reluctantly. "When I woke up, I could see in color."
"Thank you for your cooperation, everyone," said Ludenberg. "I think the evidence strongly suggests that, while we remember arriving here, blacking out, and waking up in the classrooms… we have actually forgotten considerably more time than than would be accounted for by merely falling unconscious for an hour or so."
Kirigiri nodded. "Naegi-kun and Maizono-san's accounts in particular are significant. Togami-kun and I are missing the memory of meeting our soulmates, and Oowada-kun has observed a change in his soulmate's emotions. But Naegi-kun and Maizono-san not only have met their soulmate, but have kissed them as well. That would imply that considerably more than an hour's time is missing from our memories."
"But - but how can we have forgotten something like that?" Maizono asked.
"Do you five have amnesia or something?" Hagakure scratched his head.
"We remember just as much - or rather, just as little - as you do," Kirigiri pointed out. "That means that if we have amnesia, the rest of you do as well."
"How can we all have amnesia?" Kuwata cried out. The group broke out into a hubbub of confusion.
Togami tolerated this for a few minutes before his patience grew thin. "Enough!" he called out, silencing the cacophony. "We must face the facts. Regardless of the cause, we are missing memories that span an unknown amount of time. That is a serious matter. But to focus on soulmates is dangerous." He stood. "Don't forget what kind of situation we're in."
No one tried to stop him as he left.
Togami didn't give the matter of soulmates much thought, after that. Their missing memories, yes; that was certainly an issue. But soulmates themselves didn't merit his attention. Not during this killing game.
Some of the others were obviously still curious, however. Naegi and Maizono, who even had the same type of soulmark, had been orbiting each other from the start. There was, of course, no way for them to confirm anything. But they obviously wished it was the case. It wasn't even a terribly illogical conclusion to draw, considering the evidence. The main issue, as always, was trust. But what did it matter to him if plebeians trusted each other more than they should?
Barely a few days later, Sayaka Maizono was found dead in Naegi's room. What followed - the investigation, the trial, the verdict - only served to solidify Togami's opinion on soulmates.
"H… hey… wait a second…" Kuwata stammered, after the voting result came through. "This can't be… I… I can't have done that for - for nothing!"
"Kuwata-kun…" Naegi started, "did you really… kill Maizono-san?" As if he hadn't just established that very fact for them all.
"She was going to kill me!" Kuwata cried out. "She was my soulmate and she was going to fucking kill me!"
A hush fell over the room.
"Your soulmate?" Naegi asked.
Kuwata trembled. "My mark… it's just a symbolic image on my chest. When people see it, they just think it's a regular tattoo. But after she… After I…" He choked back a sob. "It was gray. Completely faded. So she was my soulmate, and - and it was all for nothing anyways?!"
"You fucker… killing your own soulmate!" Oowada roared.
"It's not like I fucking knew it was her until afterwards!" Kuwata barked. "And she tried to kill me first… I didn't have any choice! It would have been the same if it was any of you!"
Togami watched dispassionately as Kuwata attempted to defend his actions. If anything had been made abundantly clear by these events, it was that he had been completely right in his analysis. Two soulmates had done their best to kill each other, and one had succeeded. And Maizono had attempted to use Naegi's belief that they were soulmates to frame him for murder.
If he was going to win this game, he couldn't let soulmates sway him.
The library was a bountiful find. If anything, it was the most useful resource Monokuma had seen fit to provide them. The mystery novels would be a useful source of inspiration, when he decided to make his move. There was one unfortunate aspect of the library, however. Despite providing a wealth of information - and the back room was particularly impressive in this regard - there was a distinct lack of books on his specific deficiency in knowledge.
Color.
He could see colors now, of course, but still lacked the appropriate terminology to describe them. So he had taken a few minutes of his valuable time to search out a text on the subject. Surely, in a school library, there ought to be books related to art that could be of assistance. But if there were, he had yet to find them.
The door opened, and he turned around, wary. Fukawa had finally seen fit to leave the library some time previous, and he almost expected that she had returned; instead, however, it was Naegi who entered. Togami relaxed slightly; Naegi was, if anything, bound to become a victim, but likely not a killer.
"Ah, Togami-kun… I know what you'll probably say, but… do you want to spend some time together?"
Why would Naegi ask such an idiotic question? Had he not made it abundantly clear that very morning that he had no desire to cooperate with anyone else here? Togami had a refusal on the tip of his tongue, only to reconsider. If the library couldn't help him, then perhaps the 'lucky' student could be useful for something. Especially since there was no one else present. "Very well," he allowed. "It just so happens that there is something you can assist me with."
"There is?" Naegi blinked in confusion.
Togami rolled his eyes. "Do not take this for any kind of overestimation of your worth. Literally anyone could have helped me with this… but you are here, so you may as well make yourself useful." He crossed the room and took a seat; Naegi did so as well, if hesitantly.
"So… what is it, exactly?" Naegi asked.
Togami briefly explained the nature of his problem. "As you can see," he concluded afterward, "it is a simple enough task even for you. So." He held up a book that he had been engrossed in earlier and tapped its cover. "What color is this?"
"Red."
He nodded curtly. "What about this one?"
"Blue…"
"Very well. The bookcases; what color are they?"
"Brown."
And so it went. After identifying the basic colors, Naegi even explained some basic elements of color theory, such as what order the colors of the rainbow were, and which colors could be combined to form which other colors.
"There's definitely more to say on the topic," Naegi finally said, "but, well, I'm not exactly an artist."
"The information you gave was sufficient. Being able to identify colors is likely all that I will ever need, and I can now turn my efforts to more interesting subjects."
"Right… Ah, Togami-kun, can I ask you something?"
He frowned. "Since you did, in fact, assist me with this… Very well." He was not about to thank Naegi, but if he was able to avoid future embarrassment as a result of this, then he would allow him his question.
"Did you mean what you said earlier? About being willing to kill?"
"Of course I did. If only one of us is going to survive, it will be me."
"You say that, even though... one of the people here could be your soulmate? One of the people here... could be the reason you can see in color now, right? Don't you care?"
Togami stared at Naegi. "Did you learn nothing from the events several days ago? There is every indication that, in a situation such as this, your soulmate is dangerous to you. Maybe even more dangerous than anyone else."
Naegi winced. "Yeah, well… Kuwata-kun and Maizono-san didn't know they were soulmates, did they? Maybe if they'd known while they were alive, they wouldn't have tried to kill each other."
He snorted. "That may or may not be true in the case of Kuwata… but Maizono's desperation to escape would likely not have been deterred. Most likely, the only change would be that she would have murdered Kuwata, and not the other way around. After all… didn't you and her suspect that you were soulmates? And yet she attempted to frame you for murder. Or have you forgotten?"
"No, I haven't. But then, we didn't know for sure, either. That's probably why she did it… because she couldn't be sure, not with the gaps in our memories. But she was sure that her friends were in trouble." His face darkened. "It's all Monokuma's fault, in the end…"
Togami smirked. "So you keep saying. But even you should be able to comprehend that without a way to confirm your soulmate's identity, searching for them is meaningless… no matter what situation you're in."
"Just because I don't have a way to confirm it doesn't mean that they don't," he protested.
"True… but that still means that you searching out your soulmate is futile."
"Yeah, I guess so. Though, Togami-kun, that's true for you too, right?"
"Correct. But even if that were not the case, I would not attempt such a thing. It is - as has been clearly demonstrated to us - quite dangerous, in this situation." He stood. "You are better off forgetting about your marks. The only attention I pay mine is to my newfound ability to see in color."
Naegi slowly shook his head. "I understand that I can't identify them, thanks to the memory gap… but I can't simply forget about them."
"That will only be to your detriment," said Togami. "But it is of no matter to me. Behave as foolishly as you like… though, now that this transaction is complete, I would prefer that you do so outside of the library."
"Ah… all right." Naegi stood as well. "It was nice spending time with you, Togami-kun."
Togami raised an eyebrow. "You made yourself useful, for once. That is the most that can be said."
Naegi laughed nervously, and - finally - left the library.
Togami sat back down and smirked. That Naegi… he might be foolish beyond belief, but he had his uses. Even aside from identifying colors - a plebeian task fit for such an ordinary boy - he had shown surprising initiative during the class trial… even when it had come to light that a girl who he'd thought had been his soulmate had actually attempted to frame him for murder.
There was no doubt about it… now that the killing game had truly begun, it was sure to continue. Togami did not plan to act until he was ready, however. It would be interesting to evaluate Naegi at the next class trial, whenever it was. (It was not a question of "if," but "when.")
Of course, there was one other person who had shown themself to be useful during the class trial. Kyouko Kirigiri was an enigma; she did not even see fit to disclose her talent. She was clearly suspicious… and yet, even if she was not the mastermind, or a traitor working for the mastermind, she was still a threat.
Anyone who committed murder, it seemed, would have Kirigiri's investigation and logical reasoning to contend with - and perhaps Naegi's as well. Togami would have to pay careful attention to them both at the next class trial, to judge just how much of a threat they would be. If it became necessary… well. They could hardly assist the group in the trial if they were dead.
Naegi's words on soulmates came back into his head just then, and he frowned. Hadn't he closed off that possibility from his mind as soon as he comprehended the situation they were in? Even if Naegi was correct, and his soulmate was among the students trapped in Hope's Peak…
He could not trust them. Maizono and Kuwata had proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt. To do so would be to forfeit his life. And, even beyond the issue of survival, he intended to win this game.
If he lost his newfound ability to see color as a result… that was just one more sacrifice. He'd lived his first sixteen years without color. He could live the rest of his life without it as well, if need be.
It wasn't all too long afterwards that Togami received the perfect opportunity. That oaf Oowada certainly wasn't capable of making this game interesting, considering he'd already been witnessed leaving the crime scene and he hadn't even noticed.
Really, he had been handed the perfect opportunity on a platter. He would be able to make the game more exciting, evaluate Naegi… and expose her, of course.
Fukawa was annoying - and dangerous. She had proclaimed that her soulmark was the first name of someone not present. If she had been truthful, then she knew he was not her soulmate, but was… fixating on him anyways. And considering her little secret…
He would be able to kill several birds with one stone.
The next morning, Monokuma had seen fit to wake him up, hinting that "something happened' to one of his classmates. "But you already knew that, of course!" the bear added cheerfully, before finally leaving.
Togami rolled his eyes. It was clear that, with the body left in a fairly out-of-the-way location, Monokuma wanted to ensure it was found relatively quickly. Well, it did not matter to him; he had no need to search for the victim, of course. Undoubtedly, the members of the group who lacked initiative would convene at the cafeteria, so there he went.
This assumption proved to be correct. Hagakure and Asahina were there, worrying their brainless little minds out. Oogami soon arrived as well; unsurprising, as wherever Asahina went, Oogami was sure to turn up. She positively oriented herself around Asahina, in a way that reeked of infatuation. Perhaps a soulmate pair had managed to identify each other? He recalled that Oogami had a compass-type identifier. Whether Asahina would take advantage of this unwarranted trust remained to be seen.
And finally, in stumbled Naegi, looking pale. Togami almost wondered if he had already seen the body, but quickly concluded that Naegi only suspected the truth.
An annoying conversation later, the five of them separated to search (or in Togami's case, "search") for the body. As he sedately walked towards the pool, he reflected on the sheer irritation that some of these people were proving to be. To put it simply, they lacked imagination. They held no secrets worth killing over, so they could not comprehend that the same might not be true of others' secrets.
Of course, their lack of imagination would only work in his favor, when the time came to strike. So he couldn't complain too much.
When he reached the changing rooms, Naegi was already there, pleasingly enough. Monokuma then cheerfully informed everyone that he'd unlocked all the doors for this investigation. Sensible; if he hadn't done so, they would have to wait for one of the girls to think to check the changing room. If no one else, Kirigiri would probably have done so sooner or later, but it was better this way.
"Those changing rooms," he said to Naegi. "They're suspicious. Don't you think so?" If nothing else, that Monokuma would make a note of unlocking the doors just when they'd arrived here would certainly have seemed suspicious to Togami, if he hadn't already known the truth.
The only question was, would Naegi faint again upon seeing this body? Togami pushed open the door to the girl's changing room, and received his answer.
Naegi didn't faint. But he did scream.
He did stop screaming eventually, and Togami was able to begin the work he'd been anticipating since last night: implicating Genocider Syo. He noted out loud how cruel it was to kill a girl this way, and how it almost looked as if she was killed for pleasure.
He was interrupted when Ishimaru ran in, no doubt alerted by Naegi's scream. When Ishimaru saw the body, he went pale and fell to his knees.
"Fujisaki-kun," he whispered. "It was you…" Tears brimmed in his eyes.
"Ishimaru-kun?" Naegi asked. "Are you all right?"
He clutched his wrist to his chest. "She… she was my…"
Soulmate, Togami mentally filled in. Had they managed to identify each other before Fujisaki's murder? No, he thought, studying Ishimaru. Likely, the boy had simply looked at his wrist this morning and seen that his mark had turned gray.
"Naegi," Togami said, "since Ishimaru seems unlikely to be of any use, go and collect the rest of them."
Naegi nodded uncertainly and scurried out of the room.
How ironic, Togami mused, that the very boy Ishimaru had proclaimed his "brother" not so very long ago was responsible for murdering his soulmate. Revealing that was sure to evoke an interesting reaction.
"And to think I yelled at Kuwata for killing his own soulmate… when I did the same fucking thing." Oowada clenched his fist.
The "investigation" - which mostly meant feeding Naegi the information necessary to understand and identify the work of Genocider Syo - had been child's play, of course. The trial had gone mostly as Togami had expected it to. There were… minor deviations - that Naegi of all people had figured out Fujisaki's secret when he hadn't still rankled - but in the end Oowada had been convicted.
"Your soulmate…?" Ishimaru breathed. He had spent most of the trial distraught, emotional; Togami suspected that if he hadn't had his trial podium to hold on to, he wouldn't be able to remain standing. "You mean, you also…"
"Yeah," Oowada muttered, reaching up to touch his bicep. "Guess I really am no better than Kuwata. I was so weak! And because of that, I ended up killing Fujisaki… and hurt you, too. I'm sorry, Aniki."
"Upupupu… What a meaningless apology!" Monokuma interrupted. "Take a good look, everyone! At the end of the day, this is what you all amount to. Just for secret pasts, hidden memories… you think nothing of killing! You'll even kill your own soulmate to escape! And to think you kids were supposed to be full of 'hope!'"
"You bastard -" Ishimaru growled.
"Well, that's enough of that!" Monokuma announced cheerfully. "We're about to get to the main event - the execution!"
"Wait!" Ishimaru cried out.
"Here we go! It's… punishment time!"
"WAIT!"
"I'm sorry, Aniki," whispered Oowada. "I couldn't keep… our man's promise…"
At those words, Ishimaru, who had already been pale, went positively gray. And he screamed, an unearthly wail that put banshees to shame. Oowada didn't say another word as he was dragged to his own execution; the only sound was the screaming. It went on and on, ending only when the motorcycle came to a halt.
"Both of them," Ishimaru whispered, voice hoarse. "They're both… gone…" His face crumpled, and he wept.
Last words, Togami realized. One of Ishimaru's marks must have been Oowada's last words. Thus, his agonizing scream when Oowada spoke for the final time.
He's a fool, Togami thought. To be so destroyed by the deaths of people you barely know… just because they were your soulmates… Utterly foolish.
Still, that scream… He didn't want to admit it, even in the privacy of his own mind, but that scream had been haunting. He'd prepared a few remarks for the trial's conclusion, but with that scream echoing in his head, he found himself speechless.
At least, until Kirigiri demanded an explanation for his interference with the crime scene. Then he smirked, and explained; but all throughout, he could still faintly hear that scream ringing in his ears.
"Oh, so this is where you've been!"
Togami looked up from where he sat cross-legged on the floor. Naegi stood in the doorway, smiling awkwardly. Of course it was him.
"...Don't just stand there," Togami finally said. "If you're going to come in, come in."
"Right, right." Naegi stepped forward, letting the changing room door fall shut behind him.
Ever since Togami had revealed Genocider Syo to the group, Syo had been… pursuing him. If he'd thought Fukawa's fixation on him was annoying, Syo was far worse. He'd tried to dissuade her by reminding her that he could not be her soulmate, but she had simply laughed and said, "Why should I care about who Gloomy's soulmate is?!"
The changing room, which previously had been beneath his notice, suddenly seemed like an attractive place to spend his time. After all, if Syo tried to follow him in, she would be shot. So he had taken to carrying books from the library to the changing room and reading there. He had even taken the student ID cards of the deceased males of their group and stored them in the changing room, so that Syo would not be able to enter that way.
As a bonus, with Oowada and Fujisaki both dead, none of the remaining boys held much interest in training or swimming, so he had been able to read in solitude. Until now.
"If you wanted to swim, the pool is that way," Togami told Naegi.
"Ah, thanks, but… I was looking for you, actually!"
"Is that so? Get it over with, then."
"O-okay." Naegi gingerly sat down on the floor. "Ah… you weren't in the cafeteria the day before yesterday, when we met to discuss our findings of the rooms that opened up to us after the trial."
"Certainly not. I see no need to waste my time."
"That's… your choice, but… there actually was something I discovered, that Monokuma didn't show to anyone else."
"And what would that be?"
"It was a photograph. The people photographed were Fujisaki-kun, Kuwata-kun, and Oowada-kun… and they were smiling. And they were in a classroom, but the windows weren't covered with metal plates like they are here."
Togami frowned. "What happened to this photo?"
"Monokuma took it away only a minute or so after I found it in the art supplies room. It seemed like he didn't want more than one person to actually see it."
He studied the boy opposite him. "Even if you are telling the truth, the picture is probably fake."
"Yes, that's what Celes-san thought. But then we discussed it further…" He frowned. "We know from our soulmarks that we're missing the memories of an unknown amount of time, but definitely longer than a few hours. And that letter we found in the library… You know, the one about Hope's Peak closing?"
"I recall."
"Kirigiri-san said that, based on the dust on the letter, Hope's Peak shut down over a year ago. We kind of dismissed it at the time, but - based on that letter, the picture I saw, and our soulmarks… what if we're missing over a year's worth of memories?"
Togami considered this. "You mean to suggest that we did attend school here for some months - long enough to meet and identify soulmates, and to have photos taken of us during our school days - before the school was shut down. And that, whatever happened afterwards, a year later our memories were removed, so that we perceived we had only just arrived here?"
"Yes, that's right. I mean, I didn't come up with that on my own. It was mostly thanks to Kirigiri-san that we came up with that theory. And…" He laughed nervously. "It all fits together, but it sounds crazy, doesn't it?"
Togami adjusted his glasses. "Saying that a concept is too crazy to be believable - in our current situation, that's folly. After all, before you came here, wouldn't you have said that Hope's Peak students being trapped in the school and forced to kill each other by an animatronic bear was 'crazy?'"
"...Yeah, I probably would have," Naegi admitted.
"You see? In this situation, the rules of common sense no longer apply. If an explanation matches the evidence, then it deserves our full consideration, regardless of how 'crazy' it may first appear."
Naegi laughed.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's just… you sounded like Kirigiri-san just now."
Togami rolled his eyes. "If Kirigiri agrees with me, it only means she is capable of following basic logic. Anyways, your explanation does hold some merit, assuming the photo you saw was not fabricated."
"I'm glad you think so, Togami-kun!" Naegi smiled. "I wanted to make sure you knew about our theory. Kirigiri-san said she'd inform Fukawa-san, as well. Ah, speaking of Fukawa-san, is she why you're reading in a place like this?"
Togami glared. "I don't want to talk about it."
Togami pondered the matter that night as he laid back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Over a year's worth of memories. How long had it been, exactly? A year and a half? Two years? More? It couldn't be significantly longer than two or three years, because surely someone would have noticed that they looked older than they remembered being. They'd already known, of course, that they were missing a worrying amount of memories, based on their soulmarks. That was alarming enough on its own, but to have forgotten a year or more of their lives… The sheer extent of the mastermind's control over them was disturbing.
Still, whatever bonds that may have formed between his classmates had been unequivocally erased. For them to act otherwise was foolishness. In particular, Ishimaru had been equal parts silent and unstable. He was sure to be a target for anyone seeking an easy kill.
However, that both of the murders thus far had taken place between soulmates was a disquieting pattern. Statistically, it was unlikely that the target of your murder attempt would be your soulmate - but it had happened twice. He found it darkly ironic that instead of being "fated for each other," it seemed that they were fated to kill each other.
Not to mention, it appeared that an improbably high proportion of their group had soulmates within the group. If they had truly lost over a year's worth of memories, then that was a year at the least in which they had had the opportunity to meet any number of people who could be their soulmates. And yet. He drummed his fingers on the sheets. Maizono and Kuwata. Fujisaki, Oowada, and Ishimaru. Most likely, Oogami and Asahina. Those made up nearly half their group's original number.
...It didn't matter. Ultimately, he'd learned what he needed to from the second murder. Naegi was ordinary, and naive, but he was skilled enough in both observation and logical reasoning to be a threat to anyone wanting to get away with murder. It was almost amusing, because in every other regard, Naegi was no threat whatsoever. Yet he contributed more to the trials than most of the others combined. How they expected to survive a game like this without using their brains, Togami had no idea. But it would only help him later.
The exception, of course, was Kirigiri. Togami suspected she had figured out the case even before Naegi did, but let him do the majority of the work. Perhaps she suspected that appearing too competent might make her a target.
If so, she suspected correctly. That display she'd made, leading Oowada to implicate himself… that would be something to watch out for.
Unless he killed her. His thoughts went to the thin, sharp letter opener he kept under his pillow. She would be a more difficult target than the naive, trusting Naegi. Of course, if he had learned anything, it was that he couldn't overlook Naegi either. Monokuma did allow for two victims… but another victim meant more evidence left behind.
An idle thought crept into his mind.
Wouldn't it be ironic if either of them was my soulmate?
He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the unwanted thought. Even if that were true, what did it matter? He would not share Kuwata and Oowada's shame and regret. In this situation, in this game, soulmates did not, could not matter…
Though - the thought crept in again - by process of elimination, weren't Kirigiri and Naegi the only candidates remaining?
His breath caught, and he scowled. But now that had thought of the question, he couldn't stop analyzing it. If he was to take everyone's account of their soulmarks at face value… Yamada was a blank; Fukawa, Hagakure, and Ludenberg had soulmates outside the school; Ishimaru's were dead; Asahina and Oogami had each other. It couldn't be anyone dead, because he could still see in clear, crisp color. That only left two possibilities.
Of course, that was ignoring the likelihood that it was someone outside the school, he told himself. That was probably it, wasn't it? Statistically speaking, wasn't that the more likely possibility?
...Except that statistical likelihood and common sense didn't apply to anything or anyone else here. Hadn't he said something along those lines to Naegi, just today? If he were to accept the unlikely, unmistakeable pattern that was making itself apparent, then his soulmate was probably one of them. The two people who posed perhaps the greatest intellectual threat to him in a game like this, the people he had given - was giving - considerable thought to killing, one of them was…?
What did it matter? Why was his heart pounding? He'd already known this was a possibility - in fact, if he were to graduate, the entire rest of the class would be executed, including his soulmate, if his soulmate was indeed one of his classmates. He'd accepted that. It was just a sacrifice he was prepared to make to survive. To win. The colors he could see now, entrancing as they were, were a necessary sacrifice as well. Nothing had changed.
Nothing except his soulmate's identity. Before, it had been but a shadow, but now he could see their faces in his mind's eye. He imagined slicing Kirigiri's throat and receiving a final glare in return, sliding the letter opener between Naegi's ribs and watching his face crumple in betrayal as color bled out of the world. His stomach turned.
"It doesn't matter," he whispered, and he rolled over to attempt to sleep.
The next morning, he barricaded himself once more in the boys' changing room, with food and reading material sufficient to last him the rest of the day. When the door opened, he looked up in alarm - had Syo stolen one of the boys' ID cards in order to get in?
Oh. It was Naegi again.
"Do you have some reason for being here?"
"I just wanted to hang out with you," Naegi said. "Hiding away here all the time… seems kind of lonely."
Togami sneered. "I assure you, solitude is far preferable to constant exposure to the masses. However, if you are determined to spend your time here, I will not stop you."
Naegi smiled and took a seat. "Ah, I actually got something from the vending machine that may interest you… Here!"
Togami accepted the proffered item, and realized with some interest that it was a book. Not just any book, he found; a book on color theory!
"I thought it was a lucky find," said Naegi.
"Yes, this could be quite useful," Togami murmured, tracing the book's cover. At least, it would be useful for as long as his soulmate remained living. "...Thank you."
"Ah, it's nothing! Really, it's only by pure chance that I got it…" Naegi laughed. Togami imagined ambushing him from behind and killing him that way. Then at least he wouldn't have to see the boy's expression of shock, dismay, betrayal -
Wait, what? Togami cursed silently. Why should he care? Why did he care? Guilt, shame, attachment - he had discarded all of those when that damn bear had laid out the rules. Allowing them to creep back in was utter foolishness. And yet -
He looked at Naegi, who had begun awkwardly telling a story about his strange luck, and tried to imagine killing him again. It would be easy - utterly easy - to lure him out - the boy seemed to trust him enough to be alone with him, despite everything he'd declared about his intentions to win the game - and the actual act would be easy as well. He would provide no resistance… especially if Togami brought up the possibility of their being soulmates…
Togami felt nauseous… and then, horrified. Had he lost his nerve?
He dismissed Naegi soon afterwards, preferring to bury himself in books rather than think about Naegi, or anyone else.
Hours later, Togami pulled open the changing room door a crack. The disadvantage of hiding out here was that Syo or Fukawa could ambush him when he left; he had avoided this so far by staying up late enough that Fukawa would be asleep, but caution was still necessary. He surveyed the room and inhaled sharply. Neither Fukawa nor Syo was there… but Kirigiri was sitting with her back against the far wall.
"Finally." She stood. "I was beginning to wonder if you were dead in there."
Togami opened the door, but did not step through it; if Kirigiri planned to attempt murder, the boy's changing room held some measure of safety. "What do you want?"
She stepped forward to stand before him, staring him down. "Do you intend to kill Makoto Naegi?"
Straight to the point. Togami narrowed his eyes. "Why do you think I would intend to target him, specifically?"
"Your words at the last trial indicated that you had raised your estimation of his investigative skills. Logically, that would make him a viable target for you. If that is the case, then I would like to emphasize that if he is murdered, my primary suspect will be you."
He rolled his eyes. "That is a dangerous belief. After all, Naegi is naive, trusting, physically weak… anyone desperate enough to kill will likely view him as an easy target. To presuppose that I would be the culprit is foolish, don't you think?"
"Do not mistake my intentions. I would, of course, take all of the evidence into account… This is a warning. If you kill Naegi-kun, you will not get away with it."
"This is a protective measure, then." Togami chuckled. "I see it now. You believe him to be your soulmate, don't you?"
Kirigiri folded her arms. "Do not tell me you have not done the same analyses I have. Or do you intend to say you're not aware that the only remaining members of our class who have not either identified our soulmates or confirmed that our soulmates are not among us are you, myself, and Naegi-kun?"
He found himself staring at a point over her shoulder. "And if I have?"
She frowned. "Then you are aware, of course, that Naegi-kun has two soulmates."
"First you come here to warn me against killing Naegi, now you mean to imply that he is my soulmate… as if that means anything to me."
"Doesn't it?"
"I'm surprised at you, Kirigiri." He stared down at her. "I would have thought that you, of all people, would understand the danger soulmates pose in a game like this. The two murders we've seen should be evidence enough. Getting attached to Naegi simply because he is your - or my, or both of ours - soulmate is a mistake."
Kirigiri eyed him coolly. "It is not that I am attached to him because he is likely my soulmate," she said. "Blind trust, blind attachment - those would indeed be mistakes. But if he is my soulmate - if he is one of the people best suited to me, if we have the potential to fit together - I cannot simply ignore that, either." She took a breath, then let it out slowly. "Much as it annoys me to say this… I cannot ignore you, either."
"By which you mean…?"
"I mean that I am like Naegi-kun. I have two timers, both of which are at 0:00. In fact, they have always been nearly identical; they were only ever about a minute apart. So I did not think it important to mention when we first arrived here."
"And you expect me to believe this - this transparently obvious ploy to keep me from deciding to target you instead of Naegi?" He glared. "What about my own 'mark' - how do you explain that, if I in fact have two soulmates?"
"...Your paranoia betrays you, Togami-kun. The question of your own mark can have any number of explanations, including the simple possibility that you met both of us at once, which would also match with my timers. As for the veracity of my own marks... I am willing to prove it." As Togami watched, dumbfounded, Kirigiri rolled up the sleeves on both arms to bare her wrists. She then stepped forward and presented her wrists to Togami, utterly shameless. He looked down; each wrist had a black 00:00 printed on it. His heart quickened.
"You are bold, Kirigiri, to show your marks to a near-stranger," he murmured.
Calm as anything, she pulled her sleeves back down to re-cover her marks. "Better that than to let your blind distrust lead you to erroneous conclusions." She looked him in the eye. "Make no mistake, Togami-kun, I do not trust you. Your attitude towards our situation is highly concerning. But I think even you would prefer not to follow in Kuwata-kun and Oowada-kun's footsteps and murder one of your own soulmates. Isn't that right?"
He scowled, and did not answer.
"...Fine. One more thing. Make an appearance at tomorrow's breakfast meeting. I have discovered some new information - unrelated to soulmates - that I wish to present to everyone at once." She turned and stalked away, the tap tap tap of her footsteps fading into the dark corridors.
Togami did not particularly wish to obey Kirigiri's instructions, but he loathed being left in the dark. So the next morning, he arrived in the cafeteria and sat down to eat, ignoring the confused greetings of the others present. Fukawa was there, but Kirigiri appeared to have her trapped in conversation, thankfully.
Naegi was the last to arrive, as per usual. He took a seat next to Togami, and Togami carefully did not meet his eyes.
"Attention, everyone." Kirigiri stood. "You are all aware of the theory we constructed several days ago, that we may be missing a year or more's memories?"
There were murmurs of agreement.
"I emphasized at the time that it was only a theory, and that more evidence was needed to treat it as truth. I have found that evidence. Fukawa-san?"
Fukawa crossed her arms and looked away.
"You and Syo share knowledge, but not memories, correct?"
"Th-that's right…"
Kirigiri nodded. "I spoke to Syo yesterday, when attempting to find you and discuss that theory about our memories. That is when I discovered that while your memories are gone, Fukawa-san, hers are not. So, if you were to let her speak, I think we will find it most illuminative." She looked directly at Togami.
"U-ugh…"
"Just do it," Togami ordered.
"Ah - of course!" And with that, she sprung up and began to laugh madly. "Syo in the house!"
"If you could tell everyone what you told me yesterday," Kirigiri directed.
"Gyahaha… well, I told you that Gloomy was in control for most of that time, right? So I don't know everything. But what I do know should excite you all!"
And then she talked. And talked. Togami listened with horror and fascination as Syo laid out the truth of their school year, of the Tragedy, of the end of the world. Of the poison that lay within the idea of "escape" that Monokuma had dangled before them.
With his head spinning from the implications of everything Syo had said, Togami had chosen to shut himself in his room. Some time later - he didn't know how long - there was a brisk knocking at his door.
He was tempted to ignore it, but the style of knocking seemed different from Fukawa's hesitant knocks or Syo's frenzied ones. So he heaved himself out of bed and opened the door - only to see Naegi and Kirigiri standing there.
"We should talk," said Kirigiri.
Togami scowled. "Fine," he said, stepping back and allowing them in before he shut and locked the door.
"So," he said, crossing his arms. "Talk."
"It's... a lot to take in, isn't it?" Naegi laughed nervously, taking a seat on the bed.
"The implications are enormous," Togami agreed. "The outside world which everyone was so desperate to escape to is in ruins. But that's not why you're here, is it?"
"...You're right," Naegi admitted, flushing. "Ah, Kirigiri-san said that... that you guys had discussed the possibility of..."
"Of us being a soulmate triad," Togami finished.
"Right," said Naegi, quiet. "Ah, maybe I should..." Slowly, with trembling fingers, he took off first his hoodie and then his shirt. His marks were a tangle of lines, criss-crossing and spiralling around each other, spilling from his chest and winding around his upper arms. On his right side, they were colored a deep purple; on his left, an icy blue.
Togami studied the marks for a while; Kirigiri was silent as well, her eyes roving over Naegi's bare chest.
Finally, Togami spoke. "It is still impossible to be certain," he said. "I agree with Kirigiri that it seems likely, at least if we are to assume that we follow the pattern of our classmates. But we cannot know for sure."
Naegi winced. "Ah, you're not wrong, but..." He straightened up and looked directly at Togami. "Aren't you the one who wants things to be more interesting... more challenging?"
"What?"
"I mean, the thing you did with Fujisaki-kun - it was cruel, but... your reasoning was to make things more interesting, right?"
Kirigiri smirked. "From that perspective, wouldn't a soulmate that you could easily identify be too easy?"
Togami smirked. "Heh. So that's your ploy..."
"It's not a ploy, Togami-kun." Naegi looked uncharacteristically serious. "If the three of us are soulmates, then... we should try, shouldn't we? Even if it's a challenge, even if we can never know for sure."
"To be sure," said Kirigiri, "I am not suggesting blind trust. But if we worked together - with appropriate caution - we could avoid our late classmate's fates. We can discover this school's secrets... and take down the mastermind. The three of us."
"You yourself said just yesterday that you didn't trust me," Togami shot back.
"...I think there's potential for trust," she said. "After all, you should understand now that playing Monokuma's game at all is a trap."
Togami inclined his head. "True enough."
"Blind trust, and blind distrust... both are dangerous," Kirigiri continued. "Naegi-kun is more likely to err towards blind trust, while you yourself, Togami-kun, lean heavily towards blind distrust. What I aim to do is to doubt when reasonable, and trust when reasonable. If we can build trust between us - without relying solely on these marks - then I will view that as a success."
"You're right that we can't be sure, Togami-kun," said Naegi, "but I want to try. I think there's potential for something between the three of us... ah, not just an alliance like Kirigiri-san talked about, but more."
Togami looked at them both. Kirigiri, standing calmly; Naegi, nervously curling his fists in the sheets, but looking at him with determination. Both of whom had bared their marks, what some would call their very soul, to him.
"I accept your challenge."