"You think she's –"
Togami's finger pressed against Naegi's mouth, stopping him before he could finish the thought. "Not out loud!" he hissed in Naegi's ear.
Naegi glared up at him. Cameras or not, Togami couldn't just make an accusation like that and expect him not to respond. But he was much too unfairly tall for Naegi to reply the same way, not unless he stooped down. Or…
Naegi tugged on Togami's arm, leading the taller boy over to one of the cushioned benches and pushing him down onto it. Togami let him, though he raised an amused eyebrow as Naegi settled next to him, kneeling on the bench so he could get comfortably close enough to whisper in Togami's ear.
"Kirigiri isn't spying for the mastermind," Naegi said, his voice as determined as a whisper could be. "She wouldn't do something like that. She's been working harder than any of us to stop them!"
Togami tilted his head so that he could whisper into Naegi's ear in return. "So she says, but we only have her word on that."
"That's all any of us have, though," Naegi said. "If you start doubting one of us, then where does it stop? How do you trust anyone?"
"Maybe you shouldn't."
Naegi frowned, flashing back to the cold and aloof heir he'd first met. "But you trust me, right? Even though you only have my word about who I am?"
Togami took a moment to study Naegi before he answered, brushing one of the unruly locks of Naegi's hair away from his forehead. "I do trust you, yes," he said at last. "But that doesn't necessarily extend to trusting your judgement in all other matters." Naegi could feel the other boy's lips curl into a smile as they pressed against the curve of his ear. "Besides, you're a terrible liar."
And Naegi had to admit that Kirigiri was definitely an excellent liar. It wasn't just her ability to hide her emotions – in the few hours he'd tried to spend with her outside of any investigation, she'd demonstrated that she could fake emotions she didn't feel just as easily as she could present a blank façade. But why would she show him that ability if she was really trying to deceive them all about something so important? Wouldn't it make more sense to hide her ability to lie, if she was really lying to them all?
But then again, if the unthinkable was true – if one of their friends really had been lying to them from the start – then Naegi knew Kirigiri wasn't the one they should be suspecting.
He'd been trying not to think about it, but the memory of that terrible battle had been lurking in the back of his mind all morning. He'd seen Ogami fighting with Monokuma, flying through the gym in a whirl of targeted destruction – and instead of impaling her on the spot with a dozen spears like Enoshima, Monokuma had spoken to her, like they were continuing a conversation they'd had before. And then, when he'd mentioned hostages…
Naegi couldn't imagine any of his friends acting against the group, but as they'd been reminded time and again, he didn't know what mattered to the others. Simple betrayal seemed impossible, especially from someone as upright and honorable as Ogami – but if there were hostages involved, would that change things? He didn't know. He couldn't know, not until he'd had a chance to ask her about it.
But he couldn't just leave things like this, either. Togami suspected Kirigiri, and who knew what that would lead him to do. She was already upset about Naegi refusing to tell her about what he'd seen last night – accusations of spying would only make her splinter even further away from the rest of the group.
"I don't know why exactly Kirigiri acts the way she does," Naegi said at last, just as Togami was starting to look impatient at his lack of response, "but it isn't because she's working for the mastermind. We'd have lost the trials without her help."
Togami snorted. "We'd have managed without her. But there's nothing to say that a traitor would hinder us. For all we know, part of her job might have been to try to help us enough during the trials that the mastermind's game goes on for as long as possible. Since we don't know the mastermind's real goal, we can't say what the traitor would have been instructed to do."
"But they wouldn't want to give us hope, right?" Naegi persisted. "They'd want us to fall apart after the trials – and after the first trial, Kirigiri is the reason I didn't. She helped me get past what happened with Maizono. Why would she do that if she was on the mastermind's side?"
"I don't know yet," Togami said. "But Naegi – it's possible that everything she's done has been a lie. You may not want to believe it, but you have to admit that the possibility exists."
"No, I don't," Naegi tried to say, but Togami pulled his head away.
"We need to think of a way to confirm it either way," Togami went on, holding his head so that he could speak into Naegi's ear while Naegi couldn't respond in turn. "Either we prove it and expose her, or if you're right and she's actually innocent, she can explain exactly what she's been doing to make herself look so suspicious. But in either case, we need to confront her –"
Which was exactly what they shouldn't do. Naegi jerked his head away, not letting Togami finish the sentence. He took a moment to make sure the other boy saw his glare before leaning in again. "No. I know she isn't the traitor. We can't just accuse her when she isn't the one!"
He expected another argument, something else cold and calculating to rip apart Kirigiri's actions – but Togami was silent. Naegi leaned away again, getting a glimpse of the deep frown on Togami's face, just before the other boy drew close again.
"You know she isn't the one?"
Naegi froze. He hadn't meant to say it like that, but when Togami repeated his words back at him, Naegi heard the other boy emphasizing the inflection he'd spoken without realizing.
"What exactly did you mean by that?" Togami asked, his voice hard. "And don't try to lie. Not when I just told you how bad you are at it."
"I wouldn't lie to you," Naegi said. "Especially not about something important. I just – I don't know what's true yet."
Togami's hand shot out and clasped around Naegi's. "Is this the thing you couldn't tell me this morning? Is this your secret?" He pressed Naegi's hand tightly, thumb against his palm and fingers wrapping around to his wrist. "Do you know who the traitor is?"
"No," Naegi said, a wretched sort of guilt churning in his stomach. "Not for sure."
"But you suspect someone," Togami said. "Someone other than Kirigiri. And for you of all people to be suspicious, you must have a good reason. What did you see?"
"You said you'd wait," Naegi protested. "You said I could talk to them about it first."
"I didn't know you meant something this important!" Togami snapped. "You can't keep something like this a secret. For god's sake, Naegi, what if they know you saw something about them? Being suspected might push them into acting!"
Naegi bit his lip, trying to hold back the sudden tears burning at the edges of his eyes. He knew he shouldn't keep secrets, but he couldn't just turn on Ogami, either. It wasn't an easy decision, and he didn't know what choice was the right thing to do, and his head kept hurting, and he just wanted to go back to bed and sleep until this was all over.
But he knew he couldn't. It was just like every other time things here had seemed impossible – he just had to keep going and get through it.
"I asked you to wait," Naegi said, hoping his voice didn't sound as shaky as he felt. "And you said that you would if I gave you answers when I had them. I'll keep my word. Are you going to keep yours, or are you going to get mad and run off again?"
Togami went still, his lips pressing together. His thumb slid over Naegi's palm, moving slowly back and forth as he thought.
"You intend to talk to the traitor, don't you?" Togami asked at last.
"Well – yeah," Naegi admitted. "I have to. I don't know what I saw, not really, and I can't just accuse someone without knowing for sure."
"Then I'm not going anywhere," Togami said. "I'm staying with you. I'll wait for answers if you insist on it, but I'm not letting you talk to a potential spy by yourself."
"But –"
"Do you have any sense of self-preservation at all?" Togami snapped. "I know you want to be wrong, but what if you're right? Do you think they'll let you just walk away knowing the truth?"
"I didn't think of that," Naegi said slowly. He'd thought they'd have a conversation, one where Ogami was able to offer some plausible explanation for what he'd seen – or at worst, where she would admit to being forced to act as a spy against her will while the mastermind held threatened their hostages. But now that Togami brought it up, he had to admit there was a possibility that things might get even more dangerous than that.
"Well, I've thought about it for you," Togami said. "And I'm telling you that if you want to walk out of that meeting alive, you shouldn't go alone."
Naegi frowned. On one hand, Togami did make a good point – but on the other hand, he could envision just how that conversation would go if Togami were present, and it didn't sound good. Tact and understanding weren't exactly Togami's strong points. And besides, even if he didn't say the words, wouldn't this still be the same as making the accusation? He'd still be pointing at Ogami as a traitor before he had any evidence.
"You don't have to name the person beforehand," Togami said, when Naegi didn't answer him. "And since I don't know what you saw, I won't involve myself in the conversation until you've gotten your answers."
"That – that might be okay," Naegi said, thinking it over. He still didn't like the idea of casting doubt on one of his friends without any proof – but at least this way, Togami had promised to listen to what Ogami had to say in her own defense first.
"Good," Togami said, and Naegi thought he caught a faint sigh of relief from the other boy as he pulled further away from Naegi. "Then let's not waste any more time."
