Naegi could barely sleep that night, tossing in his bed as the events of the day kept running through his mind. Alter Ego was gone – had been taken from them. The terrible reality of their current situation was all the worse now that they'd had a chance for hope snatched away from them. This was the way the mastermind operated, there was no doubt about that.

But did that really mean that whoever had taken Alter Ego was working for the mastermind? Could there really be a traitor among them? Naegi didn't see how he could believe it. How could he doubt his friends? Looking at their faces and wondering if they were lying, if every move could be meant to deceive – no, he couldn't live like that. Those first few days had been that way, and they'd been too awful to remember. He wouldn't go back to that painful doubt.

But what was the alternative? Togami's points had been good ones, Naegi had to admit that. It would make a horrible sort of sense for a traitor to be among them. He didn't believe it, couldn't accept that it was true – but he couldn't get the idea out of his head, either. He could see why someone might be tempted to believe it.

Maybe he'd been too hard on Togami. Naegi rolled over again and buried his face in his pillow, trying to erase the image of Togami's eyes going cold as he drew away. It had been awful to see him that way – but everything about this killing game was awful. And Togami never shied away from the cruel realities of the situation. It shouldn't have been a shock that he would zero in on the worst case scenario and fling it in everyone's faces. That was what he'd been doing since the beginning, and it was unreasonable to expect him to be different all of a sudden.

Had he been expecting that? Had he thought that Togami would start being nice to everyone now? That he'd have an entire personality shift and be friendly towards the others?

On the other hand, he'd stopped saying he was going to win the game. He'd gone to the group meeting without hesitating, and he'd shared his conclusions with the others instead of keeping them to himself. Even Celeste had pointed out that he talked like he was on their side now.

But if he was on their side, why would he want them all to doubt one another?

It was an impossible question, and Naegi didn't know how to answer it. Maybe he shouldn't have stormed into his room and abandoned Togami in the hall. He could at least have asked for an explanation. It hadn't been fair not to hear him out, especially not when it seemed like maybe Togami really had been trying after all.

He would ask in the morning, Naegi decided. He needed to hear what Togami had to say. And with that decision made, sleep finally came a little more easily.

He woke tangled in the sheets, like even asleep he'd been unable to find real rest. He never felt like he slept well here at this school, always waking up more tired than he'd gone to sleep. How could anyone rest in an atmosphere like this one? The only exception had been the night he and Togami had spent together, curled in quiet warmth, with affirmations of trust to keep away the doubts. He remembered the soft way Togami had kissed him awake, the lack of tension in his posture, and he thought the other boy must have felt the same. Was that why Togami had tried to ask him back to his room again last night?

There was no point in speculating about it, though. He needed to ask. And more than that, he needed to head to the cafeteria so the group could begin planning their search for Alter Ego. Naegi sighed and dragged himself out of bed, preparing to face another day.

When he left his room, he hesitated. Instead of heading immediately towards the cafeteria, Naegi walked across the hall first and tried the doorbell outside Togami's door. They didn't have time to talk for real right now, not if they were going to make it to the breakfast meeting on time, but maybe he could at least ask if Togami would want to have the conversation at all. If he could make a start on repairing what was between them, at least that would be one less awful weight on his shoulders.

But Togami didn't answer the door, even when Naegi waited and tried the bell again. Naegi sighed. He must have missed his chance to catch Togami alone before he went to the meeting.

But when Naegi reached the cafeteria, Togami wasn't among the handful of other students waiting there. Only Kirigiri, Asahina, Ogami, and Hagakure stood around the tables, checking the clock from time to time.

"Is this it?" Naegi asked, looking at the others.

"It seems that way," Kirigiri said. "I've been here since the Monokuma announcement, and no one else has arrived."

"Shouldn't Yamada and Ishimaru be here, though?" Asahina asked, glancing up at the clock again. "I mean, they were real excited about starting to search, right?"

"Yeah, I would have thought they'd be the first ones here." Naegi looked around, trying not to think about who else hadn't joined them. "You don't think –"

"It's too early to jump to conclusions," Ogami said. "They may simply have been detained. Let us wait a little longer."

As the minutes ticked away, Naegi considered going back to try ringing Togami's doorbell again – but the one time he stood up to leave, Kirigiri pinned him with such a piercing look that he immediately sank back down to his seat. Maybe she was worried he wouldn't come back if he left.

It didn't really matter, though. Naegi knew it wouldn't help anything to ring the doorbell again. Either Togami was there and had decided to ignore the bell, or he'd left and gone off to sit by himself again, the way he had before.

Or he hadn't answered because he couldn't, because he –

No. Naegi refused to think about that possibility, or to acknowledge the icy dread that had begun coiling in his stomach when he'd walked into the cafeteria and hadn't seen Togami there. After all, Togami wasn't the only one missing. With so many people gone, it didn't have to mean anything terrible had happened.

If he thought it hard enough, Naegi could almost make himself believe that.

Finally, Asahina huffed out a frustrated sigh. "It's eight o'clock. Why haven't they shown up yet?"

Kirigiri's lips tightened. "Something must have happened."

Naegi froze, staring at her in horror. She didn't really mean –

"We need to track down all the missing people," Kirigiri declared. "We'll cover more ground if we split up."

Naegi tried his best to fight back the fear as he headed down to the first floor, where Kirigiri had assigned him to search. There was no point in worrying about it, not yet. He just needed to focus on looking around here, that was all. If he just did that, everything would be okay. He'd probably just open this classroom door and see Togami sitting at one of the desks with a book, looking grouchy about being interrupted.

But the first classroom was empty, and the second. As he headed over to the A/V room, Naegi couldn't stop anxiety from pounding at his chest. Togami was good at avoiding people, he'd proved that time and again – but was he good enough to dodge an entire group of people combing the school? And would he really avoid them all when he'd implied that he'd join them all for the breakfast meeting at the search?

Naegi didn't see anyone in the A/V room, either, but it was hard to tell with just a glance. He walked along the rows, holding his breath as he checked the floor between the rows of consoles, terrified of what he might see. But when he reached the other end of the room and confirmed the floor was clear, he allowed himself a small sigh of relief. Maybe he hadn't had a reason to be afraid.

And then he heard the door slam behind him.

Naegi spun, hoping that maybe it would be Togami. Maybe everything would be okay and he'd been silly to worry –

"Hi, Naegi." Fukawa stared at him, leaning with her back against the door. "I think we should talk about my White Knight."