Author's Note: I am back from my traveling, and here is a new chapter as promised. I should be back on my regular posting schedule again.


Naegi woke up slowly, the world blurring in and out of focus as he blinked up at the ceiling. So he'd made it all the way back to his room? That was a relief – for a while there, he'd really thought he might not be able to drag himself all the way across the first floor. But here he was in his own bed, with pillows propped around him in a soft nest of comfort. He couldn't believe he'd had the energy to do all this –

And then a weight shifted on the other side of the bed, and Naegi realized he wasn't alone. He forced himself to turn his head, sending a wave of fading aches through his skull, and he saw Togami sitting up and rubbing at a crick in his neck. Had he slept there?

The way his clothes wrinkled and his hair stuck in all directions suggested that he had. Naegi could kind of remember it now, though those last few minutes were still fuzzy. Just when he'd collapsed against the hallway wall, wondering how he'd ever be able to muster the strength to move the gate to the dorms, it had swung miraculously open. Togami had been there, as if he'd somehow known Naegi needed help and had been summoned to his side. Naegi remembered the soft murmur of words, the support of a strong arm, the sheer relief of being able to rely on another person.

"Are you awake?" Togami asked, propping himself up on one arm as he gave Naegi an appraising once over. Even though it was probably just an assessment of the state of his injuries, the straightforwardness of the look made Naegi blush.

"Yeah." Naegi winced a little as speaking made his head twinge again. "Thanks."

"For what, not leaving you in a broken heap on the ground for any passerby to murder?" Togami scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Be serious. If I'm not going to kill you myself, I'm certainly not going to let one of those other incompetent idiots get a chance at it."

The words might have been harsh – but Naegi couldn't really hear them that way, not when he'd been tucked so carefully into a nest of blankets. Not when Togami had chosen to stay beside him all night.

"I'm glad you're here," Naegi told him, smiling.

Togami rolled his eyes again and turned away to push himself off the bed – but not before Naegi saw a hint of pink high on his cheekbones.

Ding dong, ding dong.

The Monokuma announcement rang through the room, letting them know morning had officially arrived. Naegi grimaced, trying to sit up – and oh, that had been a bad idea. The room spun around his head in a whirl of sickening colors.

Hands caught his shoulders when he would have collapsed back against the bed. "Slowly!" Togami snapped. "Do you want to make yourself faint?"

As Naegi's vision steadied, he realized Togami had bent down to peer intently into his eyes from less than a foot away. "Hmm. Well, you're able to focus your eyes, at least." He frowned. "Maybe the library has books on first aid."

"I'm fine," Naegi protested. He had to admit that the idea of Togami researching how to take care of him made a wave of warmth burst in his chest – but he didn't like the implication that he'd need extensive looking after. "I just got a little dizzy, that's all. I need to get up and meet everyone at breakfast, or they'll worry that something happened to me."

"Something did happen to you." The acid in Togami's words could have etched through metal. "They can wait for us to get there, or they can find something more useful to do than sitting around the dining hall – but I'm not letting you make yourself sick by running around injured. You'll move slowly or not at all."

Under Togami's unrelenting supervision, Naegi found himself inching out of the bed at a snail's pace. He would have objected to the lack of speed – but the ache in his head and the heavy weight of his limbs all told him that Togami had a good point. He probably could have forced himself to ignore it and keep going, but who knew what that would have done to him?

Once he was out of bed and on his feet, Naegi realized just how grimy he was after collapsing on the floor of that hidden room. It hadn't been the cleanest place, and the indeterminate amount of time he'd lying there on the floor had left dirt streaking his skin and clothes. The back of his head still ached, and he could feel his hair lying stiff and matted with blood from where he'd been hit. He desperately needed a shower, and since Togami steered him towards the bathroom, he apparently agreed with that assessment.

But instead of stepping back so that Naegi could go ahead into the bathroom and have a chance to clean up, Togami helped him inside and then shut the door behind them both.

"Uh…" Naegi glanced up at the other boy. "What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Togami tugged Naegi's jacket off, giving the scuffs and dirt a dark look. "I'm helping you shower."

"You – what?" Naegi felt his cheeks flush a brilliant red. "I don't need help!"

"Are you joking?" Togami stared at him like he'd spoken in a foreign language. "You've had a head injury. Are you incapable of keeping that fact in your brain for more than two seconds together? Or should I take this as evidence that you're having cognitive difficulties?" He shook his head. "I'm not leaving you alone to shower. All it would take is one dizzy spell, and you'd slip and crack what's left of your head."

"Oh. I – uh, I guess that makes sense." Naegi supposed it did sound fairly reasonable when Togami put it like that, if a little more on the overprotective side than he would have expected. He must have been in pretty bad shape last night, if Togami was reacting like this now.

"Of course it does," Togami said impatiently. "Now come on."

Reasonable plan or not, Naegi couldn't help the wave of embarrassment rising through him at stripping down so matter-of-factly in front of someone else. It had been one thing before, when they were tangled together and well on their way to sex – but this was much more utilitarian. It left Naegi feeling exposed in a way that he hadn't before, and he wasn't sure if that was fair or not.

To add to his confusion, Togami began removing his own clothes, too. Well, when Naegi thought about it, that made sense. Togami couldn't very well be in the shower fully clothed, could he? Not unless he wanted to get his clothes soaked, and from what Naegi could tell, Togami's clothes were the sort that would be ruined by standing in a shower while wearing them. Showering together was the obvious solution to all their problems.

It wasn't exactly the scenario Naegi would have envisioned for sharing a shower with the other boy, though. He couldn't stop his eyes from tracing the pattern of Togami's fingers as he unfastened buttons, or following the long expanse of bare chest when he shrugged off his shirt. Watching the play of light and shadow against Togami's pale stomach, Naegi wasn't sure if it was attraction or the injury that made his head spin. But when Togami's hands dropped to begin undoing the buttons on his dress slacks, Naegi hastily averted his eyes, turning back to his own clothing. It felt like there was something illicit in watching such a perfectly dressed boy strip away his clothes, even though Togami didn't seem to care.

Even though he refused to look in Togami's direction again, Naegi couldn't help but be aware of the other boy as he moved through the bathroom. Heat seemed to radiate from the area where Togami was standing, calling Naegi to step closer and let it warm him. As he reached out to put his dirty clothing next to the sink, though nowhere near as neatly folded as Togami had left his pile of clothes, goosebumps trailed down Naegi's spine like the ghost of a touch on his back – and he knew Togami was looking at him.

It was an unsettling realization to have while his back and he couldn't see the other boy's expression. Was he checking for injuries again? Naegi had no idea what state his back might be in, and it was entirely possible that he'd inadvertently revealed a wound he hadn't known about. Of course, if that were the case, he'd probably have noticed the pain, if nothing else. So did that mean Togami was just appreciating the view? Naegi much preferred that idea to the thought of being covered in unnoticed injuries.

Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, Naegi finally turned around, steadying himself against the sink when the floor seemed to shift a little beneath his feet, and looked up into Togami's eyes. A deep frown of concern creased Togami's face – but Naegi could see heat there, too, in the lightly flushed cheeks and the dilated pupils.

"I didn't –" Togami swallowed, the motion plainly visible along his pale throat. "I should probably clarify that I didn't intend to suggest anything beyond cleaning your injuries and preventing you from hurting yourself further."

"Oh – right." Naegi knew that was sensible, since with his aching head and body he knew he wasn't up to much – but with Togami so close, it was a little hard to keep his mind on sense. "Just cleaning up."

"Yes, that's right." But then Togami's eyes shifted focus, and his expression darkened as he looked at the streaks of dirt stretching down Naegi's shoulder. Or no – looking closer, Naegi could see that there was blood mixed with the dirt, trailing down from his scalp.

"Right," Togami said again, sounding much more certain of himself this time. He reached out to turn the shower on, switching it to the highest and hottest setting possible. The roar of pounding water didn't do much for Naegi's headache, but his sore body did welcome the heat. With the hot water thundering out at that rate, the bathroom began filling up with steam in seconds. Normally Naegi would have left the door open a crack to let it out, but since Togami had closed it, the steam had nowhere to go and, leaving them slowly obscured by the fog.

Togami circled around behind Naegi, a vaguely defined figure in the hazy air and pouring water, and he began carding gentle fingers through the bloody mat of hair on the back of Naegi's head. Naegi would have turned around to face him to thank him again, but strong fingers kept his head facing forward as Togami leaned forward to murmur in his ear, "Don't turn around."

Naegi frowned. That seemed like an odd thing to say.

"Now," Togami went on, cold steel entering his voice for the first time since they'd woken up, "I want you to tell me exactly what happened last night."