Togami kept a close eye on Ogami as he and Naegi walked her back to her dorm room. She could claim to have turned against the mastermind all she liked, but he didn't believe a word of it. Why would she suddenly abandon the mastermind now, when over half the students had died? If she was going to pretend to some sort of moral outrage, the time for that would have been after the first death. And if she'd only agreed to work against them due to the mastermind's threats against a hostage, well, the hostage was presumably still in danger. She'd cracked under pressure once – what was to say she wouldn't do it a second time?
Still, at least she seemed to be playing along with the idea that she'd joined them for now. That was a relief. When Togami had seen Naegi approach Ogami, of all the people remaining, cold horror had frozen him in place. If she'd taken Naegi's accusations badly, she could have dispatched both Naegi and himself without breaking a sweat. He would have dragged Naegi away to strategize something better than a direct approach, if the other boy hadn't so quickly made it obvious what he wanted to talk to her about.
She certainly had the guilt-ridden act down pat. Togami gave her a hard look as he stopped in front of her door. Ogami stood further back down the hall, looking away like she couldn't bear to meet either of their eyes, shoulders slumped in the very picture of defeat. Maybe she'd practiced the look in front of the mirror to have gotten it so perfectly.
"All right. We'll go down the hall in the other direction fifteen paces," Togami told her, keeping his voice at his most imperious. "Then you'll go in your room and shut the door. Once it's closed, I'll lock you in. Tomorrow morning, at some point after the announcement, I'll return to let you out. I'll signal that it's time by ringing the doorbell sound with one long buzz followed by three short ones. When you hear that, wait thirty seconds for me to get out of range, and then leave the room."
"That sounds like something from a spy movie," Naegi said, wrinkling his nose.
"With reason." Togami didn't take his eyes off Ogami. "So?"
Ogami nodded. "I understand."
"Good." Togami unlocked her door and then caught Naegi's arm, dragging the other boy with him as he walked backwards down the hall.
Ogami didn't move as they walked away, and Togami made very sure to keep his relief off his face. If she hadn't agreed to his demands, he wasn't sure how he could have compelled her to do so. He and Naegi would have had to run, and he doubted they could have made it into one of their dorm rooms if she'd been after them. Possibly they could have gotten into the trash room in time if they'd gotten a head start, but since that room didn't have a lock on the door, it wouldn't have done them much good.
When they reached fifteen paces, he stopped and waited. Ogami nodded once more in their direction, then walked into her room as instructed. When the door latched behind her, Togami bolted forward and slammed the key into the lock before she could have a chance to try to get it open again. Only when he felt the lock fall into place did he allow himself to breathe the smallest sigh of relief.
"Did you really have to do all that?" Naegi asked, walking up beside him.
"Yes," Togami said. "I'm not taking any chances with an admitted traitor. She's the Ultimate Martial Artist, after all – she could destroy us both. This was the best option to get us all back to the dorms safely."
Naegi sighed, giving Ogami's door a forlorn look. The reality of learning there'd been a traitor amongst them all along had really hit him hard, hadn't it? Even the wild spikes of his hair seemed to droop more than usual. With Naegi looking so dejected, Togami couldn't even muster up any satisfaction about being proven right on this score.
"Come on," Togami said, taking the other boy's hand and tugging him back along the hall towards their rooms. "There's nothing to be gained from waiting out here all night. Let's go back."
He tucked Ogami's room key into his pocket and pulled out his own key instead, stopping in front of his own door.
"Uh – your room?" Naegi asked, when Togami didn't let go of his hand as he opened the door. "I mean – both of us?"
Togami glanced over to see that Naegi's cheeks had gone pink. He was still blushing about it, after everything? An unexpected burst of warmth filled Togami's chest at the sight. He found himself wanting to smile, to run fingers through Naegi's hair, to kiss him until his cheeks were pink for another reason entirely.
Not that he was about to admit to any of that in the middle of the hall, of course.
"Of course," he said, heading inside and tugging Naegi after him. "You can't sleep in your bed – it's still got all that dirt and blood on it from yesterday."
Naegi blinked. "Oh – right, it does. I'd forgotten about that."
Togami raised his eyebrows as he shut and locked the door behind them. "Don't tell me you intended to go back and spend the night in that filth."
"I hadn't really thought about it," Naegi admitted.
Togami grimaced. "We're visiting the laundry room tomorrow."
"Um." Naegi hesitated. "We are? Together?"
"Obviously." An unusual hint of uncertainty flickered through Togami's mind. "Why are you asking?"
"It just doesn't seem like something you'd really want to do," Naegi said. "I'd have thought you would rather go read in the library or something while you waited."
Togami stared at Naegi blankly, wondering what exactly the other boy was thinking. Hadn't Togami made himself clear earlier? Or – the odd rush of uncertainty came back, stronger than before – was this Naegi's way of indicating he was getting tired of Togami's company, after an entire day spent together?
No. Togami shook the thought out of his head. Naegi was good at a lot of things, but subtlety wasn't one of them. If he had something to say to Togami, he wouldn't dance around the topic.
And so maybe Togami needed to be equally direct when addressing him.
"It seems I need to clarify something for you," Togami said, crossing his arms and frowning at Naegi. "When I told you that I intend to keep you safe and won't leave you alone, I wasn't just referring to today."
"You mean – you're going to keep staying with me like that?" Naegi asked slowly. "All day, every day?"
"Do you object?" The uncertainty returned, twisting painfully through Togami's heart. He had the sudden awareness that the words Naegi said could cut him more sharply than any knife, if they weren't the ones he wanted to hear. If –
"No!" Naegi's brightening eyes sent the anxiety crumbling away, replacing it with a bright explosion of warmth so strong it made Togami's hands tremble. "Of course I don't mind! I just thought it was only for today, so you could keep track of my head injury. Anything more – well, I didn't want to assume that you were making that kind of commitment."
Togami stepped closer, his hands aching with the urge to touch the other boy. "Don't be ridiculous. If I weren't committed, you and all the others would already be dead."
Naegi flushed again, pink and charming, and Togami couldn't restrain himself any longer. He slid one hand around the back of Naegi's neck and bent down to kiss the other boy, intending to allow himself just a moment.
Naegi's lips parted willingly beneath his, open and ready like he'd been waiting all day for this. Togami stroked his fingertips with feather lightness over the nape of Naegi's neck, dipping just below the collar of his jacket to skim over the covered skin, and he could feel Naegi's responding shiver everywhere the other boy's body pressed to his.
Every instinct Togami possessed screamed for him to take Naegi to the bed and make him shiver like that over and over until he couldn't think about anything else – but instead he wrenched himself away, trying to ignore his ragged breathing and racing pulse. He really should have known better than to do this again so soon – not after what had happened that morning when he'd kissed Naegi in the shower.
Apparently Naegi had forgotten about it, too, blinking up at Togami with glazed eyes and swollen lips. "What – why did you stop?"
"The last time I kissed you, you screamed in pain," Togami reminded him, trying his best to hold his voice steady.
"I'm fine now, though," Naegi protested. "Really, my head barely hurts at all anymore."
Which was not a truthful statement at all, though Togami was sure Naegi didn't really consider it a lie. "Oh, that's very reassuring," he scathed. He put a hand against Naegi's shoulder and propelled the other boy over to sit on the bed with his back to Togami. "If you're fine, you won't mind if I take a look to make sure you're not about to collapse in agony again."
"I'm not," Naegi said, but he didn't pull away as Togami brushed gentle fingers through his hair to take a look at the wound beneath.
It didn't look much better than it had this morning, red and ugly and raw. Another rush of fury flooded through Togami at the sight, not at all lessened by the fact that he'd seen it already. If anything, it was more intense than ever, after he'd heard Kirigiri's pathetic lack of justification for her actions. She'd done this to Naegi as surely as if she'd held the weapon herself, and then she'd had the gall to get mad at him for the perfectly reasonable reaction of withholding information from someone who had just betrayed him.
The injury might not look any better, but at least it didn't look worse. Togami knew a few of the signs of infection, and fortunately he didn't see any of them here. The wound hadn't gone puffy or inflamed, and it didn't feel hot to the touch. That was a small mercy, anyway. If it had gotten infected, Togami had no idea how they would have treated it. He seriously doubted that the mastermind would provide them with any kind of medical attention, after all. With that in mind, it was probably still a good idea for Naegi to take it easy and avoid the risk of making the injury worse.
"This is really nice of you," Naegi said softly.
Togami frowned. "What, trying to make sure you don't collapse because of ignoring your untreated head injury?"
"Yes, that," Naegi said. "I – I like having someone who'll do things like this." He paused. "And – I mean, I'd do the same for you, if you got hurt."
"I won't be stupid enough to wander into hidden areas where the mastermind can attack me," Togami said darkly.
"Still," Naegi said, his shoulders moving against Togami's chest as he shrugged. "I'd take care of you, too, if you needed it."
Togami raised his eyebrows. "Have you forgotten? You already did."
"What? When?" Naegi twisted around to stare at Togami blankly. His eyebrows knit together as he considered it. "Wait, you mean at the trial yesterday?"
Togami remembered Naegi leaning over his podium, eyes flashing with determination as he flung argument after argument at the other students. No matter how strong Celeste's lies had appeared, Naegi had shredded them and proven Togami innocent. "Yes, that's right."
"I knew it couldn't have been you, though," Naegi said.
"So I gathered." Togami smirked. "I enjoyed seeing you take my side for a change."
"Well, it's not going to be a change anymore," Naegi told him seriously. "I'm definitely on your side now." He grinned suddenly. "Or maybe it's better to say that both of us are on our side."
It was a ridiculous thing to say, sappy and sentimental and saccharine sweet – but it sent such a wave of warm affection through Togami that before he knew it he'd leaned forward to press his lips to Naegi's again. This time he retained the presence of mind to let one hand cradle Naegi's head, holding it steady so as not to put any additional stress on the injury. The last thing he wanted was for Naegi to feel any pain while Togami kissed him. And if Togami had his way, Naegi wouldn't have to feel that kind of pain ever again.