"Why would anyone run around attacking people wearing a weird costume like that?" Asahina asked as they all left Yamada in the nurse's office.
"That doesn't matter," Ogami said. "Right now, we must focus on finding this individual before any other attacks occur."
Suddenly, Celeste gasped, looking to the right. "A shadow – there was a shadow, moving around at the top of the stairs!"
Ogami clenched her fists. "To the second floor, then!"
But when they raced up the stairs, no mysterious strangers were in sight. "Let's split up," Asahina suggested, and they scattered in all directions.
Naegi had only just opened the door to a classroom when he heard a shriek from the third floor – was it Celeste? What could she have found? Before he knew it he was out the door, up the stairs, meeting with the others as they all converged on Celeste where she stood shaking and terrified in the middle of the third floor hall.
"I saw him!" she cried. "The costumed man – he was here, but he ran off when I screamed." She gestured further down the hallway, away from the stairs.
"Then he must still be here," Naegi said, hope rising in him. Maybe they could find the mysterious attacker and stop him now, before any other attacks could happen. "Come on, let's –"
A scream rang through the halls from below them, agonized and afraid.
"Was that Yamada?" Ogami's eyes widened.
"He's still in the nurse's office – alone," Naegi realized. "We have to get down there!"
"But the stranger – we can't just let him escape," Celeste protested. "We must split into two groups – that is the only way to capture the stranger and protect Yamada."
"I will track down this assailant," Ogami declared, fury rising off her like electricity.
"Then let us leave the stranger's capture to you, Fukawa, and Hagakure," Celeste said. "Asahina, Naegi, please accompany me to the nurse's office."
"All right, let's go. Everyone be careful," Naegi told the others, before following Celeste back to the first floor.
They didn't hear anything else as they ran downstairs – no screams, no sounds of struggle, no footsteps fleeing from the scene of a crime. That meant it would be all right, didn't it? That had to mean it would be okay, that everyone would be safe –
But when they opened the door to the nurse's office, the blood-splattered scene before them proved that wasn't true. Not when Yamada lay sprawled on the ground in a pool of his own blood, another Justice Hammer beside him.
"No," Asahina gasped, hands flying to her mouth. "No way!"
Ding dong, ding dong.
Naegi couldn't tear his eyes away from the awful scene as Monokuma's body discovery announcement played. Not again – it couldn't be this again, not when just a few days ago they'd thought they had a real chance to fight back against the mastermind with Alter Ego's data. There couldn't be another murder among them now.
"He has been murdered by that stranger," Celeste said, grief clear on her face as she looked away from Yamada's body. "Robo Justice, as Yamada called him. He must have done this."
"What?" Naegi blinked. "But wasn't he on the third floor? We didn't see him on the stairs going down. Did he teleport?"
Celeste shook her head. "That doesn't matter now. What matters is finding the others."
But Asahina shook her head, pale even under her tan. "I – I don't think I can leave."
An unexpected burst of compassion softened Celeste's expression. "Then I shall not leave you alone." She looked over. "Naegi, if you would…?"
"Right, I'll bring the others here!" Naegi left and hurried back to the third floor. Celeste had seen Robo Justice running further in, away from the stairs, and the only place he could think of was the physics room. The main room itself was empty, but when he checked the back room –
"No, not again!" Naegi's mouth dropped open in horror at the sight. Ishimaru lay fallen in another pool of blood, and beside him Fukawa stretched across the floor. "Not three of them!"
"Well, actually, Fukawa just fainted when she saw the blood," Hagakure said. "She seems okay, but she just won't wake up. But Ishimaru – well –"
"What did you mean, three of them?" Ogami asked. "Did something else happen?"
"When we got to the nurse's office and found Yamada, he was already –" Naegi broke off and shook his head. "I came to get you guys and bring you down there."
"Then we should hurry!" Ogami raced for the door.
But just as they exited the physics room, they met a frightened Celeste running towards them. "It's gone," she said, even paler than usual. "Yamada's body – it has disappeared!"
It sounded impossible – but when they returned to the nurse's office, Yamada's corpse was nowhere to be found.
Asahina's face had gone gray, and she sat trembling on one of the beds. "We only left for a minute to go to the bathroom," she said. "And then – when we got back, Yamada was –"
"Only the culprit could have moved his body." Celeste looked away, like she was unable to bear the sight. "They must truly be enjoying the sight of us now, terrified and confused, wondering if we will die just like those guys."
"But how can a body just disappear like that?" Hagakure asked. "Was it the aliens? Did they think that two murders at once was too many?"
"Two murders?" Asahina echoed blankly.
"We found Ishimaru in the physics equipment room," Ogami told her. The words forced Naegi to recall the nightmarish sight of Ishimaru laid out on the floor, next to –
"Fukawa!" Horror struck Naegi as he realized that the girl wasn't with them. "You guys – we left her back upstairs!"
Celeste's hand flew to her mouth. "You left someone at the scene of the crime?"
"Well, she fainted when she saw the blood, so it couldn't be helped," Hagakure said, shrugging.
"We have to hurry back, before something else happens!" Naegi said, rushing for the door. No matter how exhausted and out of breath they all were from running up and down the stairs, they raced back to the third floor one more time, making their way to the equipment room.
"Thank goodness!" Naegi breathed in relief when he spotted her still lying there on the ground. She was exactly where they'd left her –
But Ishimaru's body wasn't.
"Are we hallucinating?" Ogami asked, staring at the empty space where the corpse had been.
Naegi shook his head slowly. "No – no, he was here. Someone must have moved him."
"Then he really is dead?" Asahina's shoulders began to shake as tears filled her eyes. "We're all going to die now, aren't we? The culprit won't stop till they've killed all of us!"
"Not if we all stay together until we find the culprit," Naegi said. "People have only gotten attacked when they went off alone, right?"
"But we aren't all together!" Asahina protested. "Kirigiri and Togami are still missing!"
At her words, all Naegi's fears came rushing back to him. He'd been forced to see two horrible murder scenes already today, and it was all too easy to imagine another. He could see Kirigiri laid out on the floor, blood tangled in her long hair, or – oh god, he thought he might be sick – or Togami, eyes blank and unseeing behind glasses covered in red.
"That is true, they are the only ones who remain unaccounted for," Celeste said slowly. "The rest of us have been together in groups all morning."
"No, Kirigiri was with us in the cafeteria at breakfast, while we waited to see if the others would appear," Ogami said. "She only disappeared after we left to search the school."
"I see," Celeste said thoughtfully. "Then that settles it, does it not?"
"Huh? Settles what?" Naegi asked, a chill of apprehension snaking down his spine.
"There is only one person left without an alibi during all of the attacks," Celeste explained, clasping her hands. "The suspicious individual we are looking for can be none other than… Togami."
The words seemed to sound from far away, just barely audible through the loud rushing sound that filled Naegi's ears. "No," he heard himself saying, in a voice too stricken to be his own. "No, it can't be him. He wouldn't do something this bizarre."
The others turned towards him, and to Naegi's horror he recognized the looks on their faces as pity. "No," he repeated. "There's some other explanation. There has to be!"
"If you can think of one, please let us know without delay," Celeste said.
But Naegi's mind had gone blank. With what little they knew at this point, he didn't have enough information to come up with an alternate theory. All he knew was that there had to be one. Togami wouldn't turn on them so suddenly, wouldn't lose it enough to put on a robot costume and attack people with painted hammers. He couldn't believe it of the boy who had trusted him enough to be restrained, enough to sleep in his arms despite the threat of murder hanging ever present in the air.
Could he believe it of the boy who had so easily accused one of the group of being a traitor? The boy whose eyes had gone cold when they'd argued last night in the hall?
"We don't know what really happened," Naegi insisted, shaking the doubts from his head. "We're still just guessing. We need to figure out what happened to the bodies, and we have to find Togami, and Kirigiri, too. Until we know where everyone is, we can't say we know what happened. Not for sure."
"Then since our time to investigate before the trial will be limited, let us split up to search the school," Celeste suggested.
"What? But what if the killer strikes again?" Asahina protested.
"I do not believe that will be a concern," Celeste said. "After all, the school regulations prohibit more than two murders at once, do they not?"
Which meant the others were safe. Wherever Togami and Kirigiri were, they were at least alive. It didn't make Naegi feel much better to know that, though.
"Then let us begin," Ogami said. And with a few last sympathetic looks in Naegi's direction, the others filed out.
Naegi clenched his fists, looking down at the remnants of the pool of blood on the floor, remembering how Ishimaru's body had lain there. He didn't believe Togami could have done something like that – not so soon after what the two of them had shared. However suspicious the heir might look, Naegi was going to find evidence of another explanation and prove Togami's innocence to everyone.
Even to himself.
