Naegi couldn't believe that this was it – that Alter Ego had finally finished processing the data. It felt like it had been so long since they'd had any kind of breakthrough, and now that it was happening, it didn't seem real. The mood in the school had been so dark all day, but this – this would have to make things a little brighter, wouldn't it?

"Should I get the others?" Naegi asked, before Togami could type a response.

Togami frowned. "Why?"

"Well – so they can hear what Alter Ego found out?" Naegi said, puzzled.

"They can hear it later," Togami said. "I'm not waiting. Something could happen to the laptop if we leave, and then we'll have lost our chance."

Naegi frowned. He didn't think any of their remaining friends would touch Alter Ego – but Ogami had just admitted to telling Monokuma about what had happened in this room. If Monokuma knew about Alter Ego, then there was the chance he might try to get rid of the laptop. Actually, now that Naegi thought about it, stealing the laptop after Alter Ego had finished the data but before they could learn the results sounded exactly like something the mastermind would do.

"All right," Naegi said, sighing. "But we have to tell the others as soon as we've heard it."

"Fine," Togami said dismissively, his fingers already flying over the keyboard. "Tell us everything you've uncovered," he typed.

"Okay," Alter Ego said. "Then I'll summarize everything I learned from the decrypted files. The most important fact I found was that a plan had been put into effect here to isolate the students of Hope's Peak and create a communal life for them. But it was meant to be more than a normal school life. The students were intended to live out the rest of their lives here."

"What?" Naegi stared at the screen in shock. "But that's –"

"A very familiar situation," Togami finished. "It sounds as though all of us were the chosen victims for this plan."

"It's unthinkable, isn't it?" Alter Ego went on. "And what's more, the ones who came up with it were the administrators of Hope's Peak themselves."

"Hmm." Togami tapped a finger against the keyboard without pressing any keys. "That actually explains a great deal. The control of the building, the ability to cloak what they were doing here – the school administration would be able to do all this far more easily than some outside group."

"But why would they?" Naegi asked.

Togami shrugged. "Perhaps Alter Ego learned more about that, too."

"It seems that they devised this plan because of what happened one year ago," Alter Ego went on. "They said it was the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history – otherwise known as the Tragedy. It was apparently some sort of devastating occurrence. And because of the Tragedy, Hope's Peak was forced to discontinue its role as a school and shut down."

"A year ago?" Togami frowned. "That can't be right. Nothing even approaching an event of that scale happened a year ago. Even if it was covered up, my family would have heard about something that world-shaking."

"Then you think Alter Ego got it wrong?"

"Hm." Togami pondered the screen for a moment. "No, I don't. The rest of it makes too much sense – some sort of tragic incident a year ago spurred the Hope's Peak administration to begin this plan. More likely the name of the event was just sensationalized to justify their actions."

"But why would they go so far?" Naegi asked. "And what could the event have been?"

"Exactly what I want to know, as well." Togami typed the questions in as he spoke.

But Alter Ego looked down sadly. "Sorry – I don't know anything else about that. If the information was in the files I had, it's gone now." Tears quivered in the corners of his eyes. "I'm totally useless."

"No, that's not true!" Naegi protested. "We wouldn't know any of this without you!" He didn't hear the clatter of keys, though, and when he looked down, Togami hadn't typed what he'd said. "Tell him that he's been really helpful!"

"It's a computer program," Togami said. "It doesn't need emotional validation."

"Well – is that really true?" Naegi asked. "I mean, I know he's just a program running on the computer, but where's the line between a person and an AI?"

"An AI is a machine designed to respond to a set of external stimuli with preprogrammed responses, and a person is capable of independent thought, actions, and decisions," Togami said. "Fujisaki created this program to extract data. It's just doing what he intended it to do."

"If that's all it is, then why would he have programmed Alter Ego to feel bad about not being able to help more?" Naegi countered. "And that doesn't explain why Alter Ego tried to encourage Ishimaru after Owada's death."

"He just used the data Fujisaki gave him for that," Togami said dismissively.

"Yes, but he decided to do it, when there was no way Fujisaki could've foreseen that and programmed the response into him," Naegi said. "I know Alter Ego isn't human, but with all the ways he's helped us, I can't help but think of him as one of our friends."

Togami stared at Naegi for a moment longer, then sighed and turned back to the keyboard, typing, "Your analysis has been very helpful."

He looked back up at Naegi. "Happy?"

Before Naegi could answer, the sound of the nighttime bells came from outside the bathhouse doors, slightly muted due to the lack of speakers in the changing room.

"It's that late?" Naegi asked in surprise, as the curfew announcement played. "I guess we should head back to the dorms."

"Not yet," Togami said, his fingers still on the keyboard. This time he typed, "Did you learn anything else from your analysis?"

"Actually, I did!" Alter Ego said. "And I think it might be important. It's probably about the mastermind."

"Oh, really?" Togami's eyebrows snapped up as he typed, "Do you know their identity?"

"No, I didn't learn that," Alter Ego said. "But I did find another clue. The person who led the Hope's Peak staff in the plan to isolate you was the Hope's Peak headmaster. He may very well be the mastermind who planned this all out. According to the files, the headmaster is a man in his late thirties. It seems possible, even likely, that he's somewhere in the school right now."

"The headmaster?" Naegi said, frowning. "Well, Monokuma did call himself our headmaster. I guess that might make sense."

"And it would explain why the headmaster's door is locked, too," Togami added. "Either there could be clues to his identity in that room, or that's where he himself is." He scowled at the keyboard. "First a supposed sixteenth student, now a headmaster – this school is getting fuller by the minute."

Naegi thought of all the empty rooms in the dorms, labeled with pictures of students who would never use them again. "Not really."

"Is that the end of the report?" Togami typed, when Alter Ego didn't say anything further.

"Yes, that's everything," Alter Ego said. "I'm sorry I don't have anything else."

"Be prepared to repeat it for the others in the morning," Togami typed.

"Understood," Alter Ego said, as Togami picked up the laptop and returned it to the locker. "I'll be ready."

"In the morning?" Naegi asked. "Shouldn't we try to get everyone so they can hear it now?"

"They'll all have returned to their rooms by now," Togami pointed out. "Dragging them out again after curfew will only attract the mastermind's attention. And while we have to assume the mastermind knows about Alter Ego from Ogami's reports, they shouldn't know about the data extraction yet. Getting them out of bed will be as good as screaming that we found out something new."

Naegi nodded. "All right. First thing in the morning, then."

"We'll tell them about Ogami at the same time," Togami said. "We'll need to explain why no one can tell her about Alter Ego's report, in any case."

"I guess," Naegi said reluctantly. He wasn't really looking forward to telling the others that Ogami was the spy – especially not Asahina. That was going to be a horrible conversation.

Togami strode over to the other side of the room and threw open the door to the bath, quickly retreating as soon as it was open. He hadn't needed to move so fast, though – Ogami stood well out of reach of the door, hair frizzing from the humidity and clothes damp with sweat and steam.

"We're done," Togami said, face going stony as he looked at her. "It's nighttime, so we're heading back to the dorms. You'll stay in sight of us on the way back until you get to your room, and you'll stay locked in there until morning."

Ogami nodded. "That seems reasonable."

"And to make sure that you do," Togami went on, "you're going to give me your dorm key now."

Naegi stared at him. "What? Why do you want her key?"

"I don't want her roaming the school and sabotaging us," Togami said flatly. "It isn't a guarantee if she's lying about betraying the mastermind, but it's better than nothing." He narrowed his eyes at Ogami. "So. If you're serious about switching sides, throw me your dorm key. I'll lock you in for the night, and then let you out in the morning so that you can confirm to the others that you're a traitor."

Naegi would have protested again, but before he could, Ogami pulled her key from her pocket and tossed it to Togami. He tucked it into his pocket with a satisfied nod. "All right. Then follow us back, and be sure to stay out of arm's reach. I don't want you trying anything on either of us."

It seemed like an excessive amount of paranoia to Naegi, since Ogami had said she was on their side now, but he knew really wasn't much point in arguing with Togami about it. It wouldn't change his mind, and Ogami didn't seem to object. He decided to shrug it off and head out of the changing room with Togami, with Ogami trailing a little further behind them.

But as soon as they stepped out of the bath, they all froze. Standing just outside the door, Monokuma was waiting for them, blocking their path to the dorm rooms.

"My heart is pound-pound-pounding away," Monokuma announced, raising his paws into the air. "With anger!"

Almost without thinking, Naegi reached out beside him, and he found Togami's hand moving towards his. With their hands clasped together, a little of the terror at Monokuma's sudden scream of fury dissipated.

"It's not just that the three of you went off to enjoy an indecent mixed bath together," Monokuma went on. "That doesn't matter. Etch this onto the walls of your brain, okay? When you make a choice, I hand it back to you tenfold – a hundredfold – a thousand-million-billionfold! This isn't a freewheeling carnival of random occurrences. In the Monokuma world, you reap what you sow!"

And with a silence even more disturbing than his usual wild laughter, Monokuma disappeared.