Naegi knew his worst fears had been confirmed when they entered the bathhouse to see Yamada and Ishimaru face to face, screaming at one another.

"How could you dare to lay hands upon such an innocent angel?"

"Admit to your crime and return my bro to me!"

Togami ignored them both and strode over to Kirigiri, standing by the lockers with her arms crossed. "What the hell is going on in here?"

Kirigiri looked past Togami, and nodded when she caught sight of Naegi. "That's everyone, then. Good."

Naegi looked around, and sure enough, all the remaining students were gathered in the changing room. "What's going on?"

"This monster –"

"That wretch –"

"Shut up, both of you." Kirigiri's voice sliced through their fury, stopping it cold. She looked over at Naegi and Togami. "As everyone who arrived when Hagakure first summoned them already knows, Alter Ego has gone missing."

"Missing?" Naegi turned to the locker, and sure enough, it stood horribly empty. "How?"

Togami understood more quickly, turning to survey the rest of the group with narrowed eyes. "Someone must have taken it, that's how."

"And who else could it be but that demon, who preys upon the sweet and pure with his filthy hands!" Yamada shrieked, gesturing towards Ishimaru.

"You would pin your transgression on me?" Ishimaru roared, clenching his fists. "Your depravity multiplies by the second!"

"It isn't either of you," Kirigiri said. "I told Alter Ego to scream if either of you or anyone else that he didn't recognize entered the room. I didn't hear anything all day, but when I checked the locker this evening, it was gone."

"So it wasn't them, but it wasn't the mastermind, either?" Asahina asked. "But there's no one else, right?"

"You're ignoring the obvious possibility," Togami snapped, scowling around the room. "There could be a traitor among us."

The pronouncement chilled the air, and Naegi shivered in the suddenly icy atmosphere. "What do you mean, a traitor?"

"Someone working for the mastermind," Togami said, as if it should be obvious. "Kirigiri, Ogami, Asahina, Hagakure, Fukawa, Celeste, you, or me – any one of us could have taken Alter Ego. Any of us could be a traitor."

"Oh, my. You would include your lover in the list of possibilities?" Celeste raised a shocked hand to her lips with a slightly exaggerated gasp. "How very dreadful."

Togami glared at her. "Any of us would have had the opportunity."

"Wait, hold on," Naegi said, frowning. "Sure, we could have, but – but why would we? Alter Ego was working on getting us out of here! Why would any of us want to start working with the mastermind instead of leaving?"

"I'm not talking about a new development," Togami said. "I mean that there has been a traitor in our midst from the very beginning, helping the mastermind run the game from within."

Naegi stared at Togami, the cold calculation on the heir's face a stark return to the person who had so confidently declared he would allow them all to die. "You can't mean that."

"Of course I do. I've considered it a possibility from the start. It would be the most logical move for the mastermind to make, considering that there are obviously ways for us to collaborate that they can't monitor through cameras alone."

"But then – you're saying that one of us did something like that? One of our friends has been working against us from the beginning?" Naegi shook his head. "No. That's – that's unthinkable!"

"No, it's exactly what you need to think." Togami looked around the room. "It's what we all need to think. Someone here is not on our side."

"Our side?" Celeste gave him a sweet smile. "I thought you wished to win the game. Did you not call us enemies? The power of love is truly astonishing if it can enact such a transformation."

Togami glared at her. "Shut up."

"It doesn't matter." Yamada's shoulders slumped with dejection. "It doesn't matter if we're enemies, or if there's a traitor. Just save her – please, save her. Anyone, please. I'm begging you, just – just let me see her smiling face again."

"Agreed," Ishimaru said, tears streaming down his face. "If it can save Bro – if it means he doesn't have to die again – then traitors and the rest of it don't matter."

"So you're saying you'll give up?" Togami turned on them. "You'd let the traitor win so easily? Do you intend to turn on us as well?"

"Of course they wouldn't!" Naegi said, stepping between Togami and the other two boys. "They wouldn't turn on us. No one here would! We don't even know for sure if there's a traitor or not!"

"Don't we?" Togami raised his eyebrows. "Only one of the eight of us could have taken Alter Ego from this room. The only one who benefits from taking Alter Ego before it could complete its analysis would be the mastermind. What other explanation do you suggest?"

"I don't know, but there has to be one!" Naegi looked around the room, at the faces of the people he'd come to consider friends. "You can't really think one of us would work for the mastermind."

"I can," Togami said coldly. "I do."

Naegi stared at Togami in shock, unable to think of words that could cut through the other boy's icy demeanor. This was the boy he'd met that first day in the entrance hall, who'd sneered and condescended to them all. Naegi looked into Togami's eyes, hoping to find a glimpse of the boy who gave him toe-curling kisses and who spent the night sleeping in his arms – but all he could see were sharp accusations and dark suspicions.

But before Naegi could come up with a response, bells rang through the intercoms, heralding Monokuma's nighttime announcement.

"It's already that late?" Asahina asked, startled.

"It seems so," Celeste said. "Unfortunately, we shall have to postpone the continuation of our discussion until morning."

"The discussion can wait," Kirigiri said. "Our priority now needs to be to recover Alter Ego. It's unlikely the thief would have destroyed it, so we can assume that it is still somewhere in the school. In the morning, we can organize a search to find it."

"The morning? You would leave her in the clutches of a thief for the entire night?" Yamada demanded.

"Unusual activity at night will attract the mastermind's attention," Kirigiri said calmly. "Celeste is right – we should observe the curfew as we usually do. The morning will be less risky." She looked over at Naegi. "Don't you agree?"

"Well, yeah, we don't want to rush so much that the mastermind catches us." Naegi sighed, feeling a twinge of sympathy at Yamada's and Ishimaru's crushed expressions. "I know you're both worried, but it will be better if we wait till morning."

"Then let us return and rest until morning," Celeste said. "We will begin our search for Alter Ego then."

"And we'll resume our discussion of the traitor," Togami added. "We can't afford to leave this threat alone."

Togami's words lingered as they all headed back towards the dorms, evident in everyone's lowered heads and refusal to let eyes meet. Naegi could feel the distrust taking root again, destroying the fragile hope the group had formed around the possibility of escape Alter Ego had offered them. The chance for freedom gone – a traitor lurking among their friends – despair seemed to lurk at every turn.

Naegi hesitated outside his door as the others all headed back into their rooms. Togami had gone to his door as well, but he leaned on the doorframe instead of unlocking it, eyes on Naegi. "So?"

"What?" Naegi asked, frowning.

"Your room or mine?" Togami elaborated.

Naegi stared at him. "Are you serious?"

Togami shrugged. "I don't particularly care, but if you have a preference –"

"You honestly think that we can just go back and take up where we left off like nothing happened?" Naegi asked in disbelief. "After that?"

"Why not?"

"Because you just accused one of us of being a traitor, that's why not!" Naegi said. "Are we just supposed to ignore that?"

"No, we're just tabling the discussion until morning." Togami frowned at him. "You're upset about it."

"Of course I'm upset! What did you think would happen?"

Togami sighed. "I don't really suspect you, of course. You'd never be able to lie convincingly enough to pull it off. Does that make you feel better?"

"No!" Naegi thought that might actually make it worse. If Togami really didn't consider him a possible traitor, then that meant it wasn't just about logic – it was about the fact that Togami trusted him. Togami believed in him, but not in the others, and so he'd made accusations that broke the bonds the rest of the group had shared.

Togami drew back, shutters closing over the warmth that had been in his eyes. "I see."

"Look – you don't really believe it, do you?" Naegi asked, desperately searching Togami's expression for some hint of hesitation. "You don't really think one of us would work against the others?"

"I didn't think you were the type to deny the truth," Togami said, crossing his arms. "Maybe you're not the person I thought you were."

Naegi stared at Togami, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't see any softness at all. "Maybe you aren't, either."

He turned into his room, and shut and locked the door behind him, leaving Togami behind.