Naegi hated the way it felt to stand there in front of Ogami. The slimy sensation of guilt churned through his stomach as he contemplated what he had to say. What if he was making a mistake? Did he really have the right to stand in front of her like some kind of inquisitor, preparing to wring out answers?
No – that wasn't what he was doing, Naegi decided. He wasn't interrogating her. Whatever happened in the next few minutes, even if it changed everything, that didn't matter – right now, they were friends. He was going to talk to her the way that a friend would.
Naegi moved to the other row of benches and sat on the one facing Ogami, as close as if they were sitting at a table in the dining hall. Sitting there, she towered over him, but he didn't feel the aura of intimidation that she'd projected when they first met. She was quiet and still, a faint smile on her lips as she waited.
He took a deep breath, gathering his nerve, and said, "I saw you fighting with Monokuma last night."
He paused, waiting a moment – he wasn't quite sure for what. But Ogami didn't object, or ask what he meant, or anything to contradict him. She just closed her eyes and said, "Go on."
"Well – I was walking past the gym, and I heard noises," Naegi said, figuring that she'd need to know what exactly he'd seen in order to explain it. "And when I looked in to see what was going on, I saw the fight. You were –" He shook his head. "You were fighting so intensely I could hardly see what was happening. And then – then Monokuma asked what you were doing. He said that fighting him wasn't part of the deal."
Ogami didn't respond, sitting so still she could have been a statue, untouched by the words Naegi was speaking.
"I – I did hear something else, too, though," Naegi said, trying to stave off the guilt crawling through his chest. "It wasn't just that you had a deal. He said that he had a hostage."
Ogami's head bowed towards the floor like a great weight had fallen on her. "So you saw all of that."
"Yes." Naegi felt like he was the one admitting to wrongdoing. "And – I'm sorry, but I have to ask – what did it mean? What was Monokuma talking about?"
"He was talking about the fact that I've been his spy since the first night here."
The words hit Naegi like a punch in the gut. He'd expected an explanation, an excuse, some kind of protest. He hadn't thought she'd just admit it. With anyone else, he might have thought it was a bad joke – but Ogami wouldn't joke about something like this. She definitely didn't look like she was joking. She looked like she might never smile about anything again.
"But I heard what you said to him, too," Naegi said, offering the words like an apology for what he'd said already. "I heard you say that you were going to resist him – that you weren't going to work for him anymore. And if you only did it in the first place because it was a hostage situation, then –"
"Don't try to defend me," Ogami cut him off. "No reason can excuse what I've done, or absolve me of responsibility for my actions. It was weakness, my own unforgivable weakness, that made me listen to the mastermind. If the time has come for me to face the consequences, then you shouldn't intervene on my behalf."
"But – if we explain –"
"No explanation will be enough." Ogami looked past Naegi, to where Togami stood against the door. "Will it?"
"No," Togami said. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it." He looked at Naegi. "It sounds to me like you have your questions answered."
Naegi nodded slowly, head still spinning from the ease of the revelation. "Yeah. I guess I do."
"Good." Togami crossed the floor to stand beside Naegi, glaring down at Ogami. "Then it's my turn."
"I expected as much." Ogami nodded. "Go on, then."
Togami frowned down at her. "First of all, how secure is this room?"
Ogami blinked. "What? This room?"
"We've all believed it to be safe from the mastermind, due to the lack of cameras," Togami said, waving an impatient hand at the empty walls. "But if you've been reporting to the mastermind, then you must have some idea about the gaps in their surveillance. Are we able to talk freely here, or do they have some alternate method of spying on us?"
"I don't know for certain," Ogami said slowly. "They did ask about what happened in here – and in much more detail than they asked about what happened anywhere else."
"Then we'll continue with the conditional assumption that we're out of the surveillance range," Togami said. "All right, then. So you've been working with the mastermind? Then tell us their identity."
"I can't," Ogami said, looking away. "I never spoke to them directly, only through Monokuma. He approached me on our first night here. Before that, I knew only what the rest of you did, and afterward, he said as little as possible."
"Of course he did," Togami said. "Because if Monokuma has one defining trait, it's his silence." He rolled his eyes. "Maybe you'll do better with my next question. Are any of the other students also spies?"
Naegi stared up at Togami. "What? What's that supposed to mean?"
"What it sounds like," Togami said, not taking his eyes off Ogami. "There's nothing to say the mastermind would limit themselves to a single spy. In fact, a second one would let them confirm your reports against each other."
"I – I don't know," Ogami said. "If any of the other students were in a similar situation, the mastermind never gave me any indication of it."
Togami's mouth twisted in a skeptical sneer. "So you don't know who the mastermind is, and you don't know anything about what they might know about us? For someone who supposedly just swore to fight against the mastermind with the rest of us, you're not doing a very good job of it. Is there any reason we shouldn't just write this imaginary change of heart off as some kind of plot?"
"It wasn't –"
"Don't," Ogami interrupted before Naegi could form any more of his protest. She eyed Togami a moment longer, evaluating him. "There is one thing that I do know about our situation that the rest of you don't know."
"Oh, really?" Togami leaned forward, eyes flashing eagerly behind his glasses. "And what's that?"
"There weren't fifteen students sealed in this school," Ogami said. "There were sixteen."
