Naegi didn't really know where to start looking for the bodies, not when he felt like he'd already spent the entire morning searching the school for one thing or another already. Still, he couldn't give up now, not with all their lives on the line. They would need evidence to discuss during the looming class trial, and how could they talk about anything if they didn't even have the bodies?

Naegi poked his head into the art room first, but Asahina and Ogami were already in there, checking behind the desks and opening cabinets. He crossed the room to try the handle to the repository, since it didn't look like they'd gotten that far yet – but no, it was locked. He sighed and headed out to try the second floor instead.

But there was nothing – no trace of bodies, no missing people, just empty room after empty room, no matter how many doors he opened. With every failure, Naegi felt nausea churn a little more in his stomach. What if he couldn't find anything? There would be evidence somewhere, he was sure of that much – but what if he couldn't find it in time?

It was almost a relief when Naegi exited a classroom to find Celeste hurrying towards him again. "We've found something," she called.

Naegi's face lit up with hope. "Togami?"

"Ah – no, I'm afraid he is still missing," she said. "But I found Yamada's and Ishimaru's bodies. They were hidden in the repository."

"What?" Naegi blinked. Was that why the door had been locked?

"Indeed. Please hurry and join us upstairs," Celeste urged him, before hurrying towards the stairs herself.

Naegi followed after her, reaching the art room at the same time that Ogami, Asahina, and Hagakure did. The others held back, nervous looks on their faces, but there was no time to hesitate. Naegi reached for the door and pushed it open –

– revealing the bloody bodies of their friends yet again.

Ding dong, ding dong.

It didn't get any easier to see the bodies and hear that mocking announcement a second time. No, it was worse this time, the stench of blood stronger than ever, enough to make him gag.

"And here we are!"

Naegi jumped as Monokuma appeared, obscenely cheerful in the midst of all the blood and death.

"It's time for the next Monokuma File! I was going to hand them out when you found the bodies the first time, but I thought something like this might happen. It was really hard to resist, but turns out I was right!"

Naegi caught the file that Monokuma flung at his head.

"Be sure to investigate this one with all your mental might, okay?" Monokuma said, sending a grin directly to Naegi that sent chills down his spine. "You wouldn't want to make any stupid mistakes, would you? Well, not any more than the ones you've already made!"

With wild laughter spiraling out of control, Monokuma vanished again.

"How can he say it like that?" Asahina demanded. "They're dead – they're never coming back! It's too awful!"

She collapsed to her knees at Yamada's side, cradling the boy's head in her lap. Tears fell from her eyes onto Yamada's face – and he opened his eyes.

"Wh-where am I?"

"What?" Naegi stared in shock. This was almost more unbelievable than the reality of death around them. "He's alive again?"

"Cold," Yamada rasped out, his words faint and shaky. "So cold. Is winter coming?"

"Yamada!" Asahina's fingers clutched at his shoulder, desperate hope rising in her face. "Wake up – you've got to wake up!"

"That's right… I remember now." He raised a quivering hand a few inches into the air, as though reaching for something the rest of them couldn't see. "Hope's Peak. I remember… everything. Before I'd met you all… I'd met you all."

"He has lost the use of his faculties," Celeste whispered, hanging her head in sorrow. "He is speaking only nonsense."

"Who did this?" Asahina begged. "Who tried to kill you?"

"Who…?" Yamada's voice grew weaker. "I remember… their name. Their name… T…"

But as he tried to mouth that final word, his breath shuddered in his lips, and stopped, his hand falling back to the floor. And this time, no matter how many of Asahina's tears fell onto his face, Yamada's eyes didn't open again.

"Well, I guess we don't have to investigate anymore, do we?" Hagakure asked.

Naegi stared at him. "What are you talking about? We still don't know what happened!"

"He just told us, didn't he?" Hagakure said.

"The name he tried to say," Ogami said slowly, "began with a T. Only one student has a name that begins with a T."

"What?" Naegi looked around the room, but all the others were nodding, as though this actually made sense. "No, that's not – he must have been trying to say something else!"

"The evidence is not in your favor, it seems," Celeste said with a pitying sigh.

"I won't forgive him," Asahina snarled, struggling to her feet. "If this is true, I will never, ever forgive him. To kill two of our friends…!"

"He wouldn't –"

"He said he would!" Asahina sent Naegi a vicious glare. "At the beginning, he said he'd win the game and kill us all, remember?"

"He changed his mind!" Naegi protested. "I know he did!"

"How, because he slept with you?" Asahina said. "All that proves is that you can't see what's really going on!"

"Perhaps it was his ploy from the start," Celeste mused, looking off into the distance. "After identifying Naegi as one of the primary threats during the class trials, Togami might have taken steps to neutralize his ability to act as an effective adversary."

"What?" Naegi's stomach plummeted, leaving a sick void swirling through him. "No, I –"

"Do you deny that you are emotionally compromised?" Celeste asked, leaning forward to pin him with her eerie red gaze. "After the proof Monokuma showed us of your relationship with Togami, how can we trust anything you say about him now?"

Naegi felt as though the world was tilting on its axis, throwing everything he thought he knew off balance. That – that couldn't be true, could it? He and Togami had had a connection, starting from the moment when Togami had kissed him.

Togami had kissed him – had dragged him to the archive, had approached him again that second time, had begun nearly everything that had happened between them.

Naegi thought he might throw up. Had it all been a lie, from that first kiss on? Was it possible that the whole time he had been falling for Togami, the other boy had been manipulating him?

It was like realizing the truth about Maizono all over again – except that she'd never actually gone so far in her deception. So much of what she'd said and done had been a lie, but in the end the fact that she had cared about him had been true. But now, if everyone was right about Togami, he'd never cared at all. He'd probably been laughing behind Naegi's back at how easy he'd been to deceive.

It made a horrible sort of sense, when Naegi thought about it like that. How everything had happened so fast, why Togami had changed his mind about working with the group. It would be a cold, merciless sort of plan – but hadn't Togami been merciless when he'd used the secret Fukawa confided in him to frame her? With the things Togami had done already, Naegi wasn't sure he could rule out emotional manipulation.

But even taking that all into account, there was still one thing that didn't make sense.

"Maybe I am emotionally invested," Naegi said, "but that doesn't mean I can't think straight. And even if Togami would – would do all – this," it was hard to get the words out, but he forced his way through them, "I don't think he'd wear that weird suit while he did it."

The others exchanged glances, suspicion softening a little as they considered it. "I guess it doesn't really seem like something he'd do," Asahina said slowly.

"He does seem fond of theatrics, based on his interference with Fujisaki," Ogami said. "But it is true, I would not expect something quite so… colorful from him."

"Unless that's why he did it!" Hagakure said, rubbing his chin. "What if he decided to become Robo Justice because he knew no one would believe it was him?"

"Taking a plan to such extremes might be a winning strategy," Celeste said. "Can you truly say the Ultimate Affluent Progeny would take half measures in anything he does?"

The words shook at the fragile faith Naegi had been trying to rebuild. What was he supposed to do? Which version of Togami should he believe in, the one who had held him and trusted him – or the one who had betrayed Fukawa and said he'd watch them all die?

"Maybe I'm wrong." Naegi hated to say the words, but he couldn't help it. "I don't so – I don't want to be – but if I am, I want to know. So I'm going to find Togami, and the truth. Whatever it is."

With that, Naegi turned and walked out the door, leaving the rest of the group behind.