Togami strode down the fourth floor hallway towards the stairs, no particular destination in mind other than away. This forced separation was nonsensical, absurd, and concerns about where it might lead already gnawed at the edges of his mind. He should never have agreed to this blackmail, he knew it – but what other option had he had?
He'd been outmaneuvered, and the knowledge burned across his mind. He'd been prepared for accusations and attacks, both outright and implied, but it hadn't occurred to him that the others would go so far as to try to separate him from Naegi. And the thought had never even crossed his mind that Naegi would be the one they targeted to accomplish it.
He should have known. He should have seen it coming. Obviously someone as nice and soft-hearted as Naegi would be easy prey for a pack of manipulations. Naegi trusted Kirigiri enough to eat up whatever lies she wanted to tell him. She could be continuing now, telling him anything she liked – and the thought of what she might choose to say made Togami's stomach turn.
She wouldn't be able to turn Naegi against him, of course – Togami didn't believe that for a moment. Naegi believed in everyone. It was his greatest strength and greatest weakness, both at once. He wouldn't believe ill of Togami without more proof than someone's word – but it went both ways. Even after a confrontation like that one, Naegi would still trust all the others, leaving him vulnerable to a subtler ploy. And Togami had no doubt whatsoever that such a move was coming.
The only question was what it would be. What could someone be planning that couldn't be accomplished while Naegi and Togami were together? The idiots of the group might be thinking that this could be a precaution against another murder, but that was because they barely had the sense to come in out of the rain. Why would he and Naegi work together to commit a murder when that would guarantee one of them would die regardless of how the trial ended? No, whatever her other faults might be, Kirigiri was too smart to believe something like that. So she had to have some other reason driving her actions.
Could this be the start of her own murder plot? The thought sent chills down Togami's spine, and he had to fight not to turn around and run back up the stairs to find Naegi and declare they were done playing this game. The idea made far too much sense for comfort. If Kirigiri wanted to kill, obviously Togami and Naegi had the investigative skills to be the greatest danger to her – and their teamwork would be stronger than ever if they were always together. If she were to be able to derail a possible future investigation, it would be critical for her to separate them, or even –
Togami froze halfway down the stairs to the second floor, paralyzed by the logical conclusion to that thought. Or even kill one of them. It was the perfect way to get rid of a major roadblock to a murderer's success during the class trials, and of course someone as sharp as Kirigiri would have thought of it at once. It was exactly what Togami himself would have done, if he were in her situation. And faced with the choice of which of the two would be easier to kill, Togami knew exactly who he would choose.
His fingers clenched reflexively around the staircase railing as the world seemed to tilt around him. He could see the trial room opening before them, with one more empty seat where a deadly black X obscured Naegi's portrait. He could hear the group's inane chatter about trivialities while they debated the tricks that could have lured the innocent boy to his doom. And Kirigiri – he could see her now, rushing out to paw at Naegi's broken, lifeless body with eager hands, spewing forth her condescending pronouncements about the condition of his corpse. The thought of her cool, clinical voice informing them all about Naegi's last moments the way she'd done with the others – he could barely stand to think about it.
He didn't want that – not the cold shock of realization, not the slow soul-crushing investigation into just how badly Naegi had suffered, not the lingering pain of figuring out how to go on in the aftermath. He could barely get his head around just how much he didn't want any of it, with the almost physical sensation of repulsion churning in his gut like vomit. The knowledge throbbed through his head, his heart, and his soul – he wanted Naegi not to die.
He could only remember one other time he'd wanted something this badly, with a need intense enough to turn every breath of air to ashes and to make his hands tremble with the thought – when he'd fought tooth and nail against his half-siblings for the right to be the Togami heir. His thirst to prove himself had driven him to vicious heights of brilliance that no one had expected of him, twisting and backstabbing his way through a generation of success stories to show them all that none of the rest could compare.
But that had been different. Pitted against his siblings, at least he'd been able to plan and fight and attack with every weapon he had. Here, trapped in this nightmare of a school with the killing game hemming him in, attacking was the one thing he couldn't do. Striking against his enemies here would just lead to the loss of the one thing he wanted most to keep.
A loss that was starting already. His fingers went white where he gripped the railing, a physical manifestation of the fury roiling within him. They'd taken Naegi away from him, as easily as plucking a flower from a bush. Every one of the unfamiliar, unsettling emotions flooding through him was due to the other students' ridiculous, unfounded decision to deny him Naegi's presence. Everything happening was their fault, for believing Kirigiri over him, for working against their own best interests, for being so goddamn stupid it shouldn't be allowed –
The sound of a footstep above him jolted Togami out of his thoughts, and he jerked around to see just who would be descending the stairs towards him. For a brief moment, he hoped it might be the only person left in the whole school he'd want to see – but of course it wouldn't be Naegi.
Instead, Ogami stood just a step down from the third floor entrance to the stairwell, looking like she was considering turning around and retreating at the sight of Togami.
Togami stiffened, briefly considering whether he ought to try to bolt for the closest stairwell exit – but if Ogami intended to catch him, running wouldn't help. Instead, he drew himself up and glared at Monokuma's traitor. "And what exactly do you think you're doing?"
Ogami looked down at him for a long moment, then sighed. "I suppose I don't have any right to complain when anyone asks that now, do I?" She shook her head, sadness lingering in her eyes. "I've been meditating on how best to improve the situation, and I'd hoped to find some of the others. I'd like to talk to all of you about what I might try to do."
"I'll just bet you would." Togami crossed his arms. "Don't you think you've done enough? Dissension, distrust, allies turning on one another – what more could you want?"
"I don't want any of that," Ogami protested, sounding for all the world like it actually hurt her to hear the accusation. "I never wanted anyone to turn against their friends – I wanted to let you all work together, even if I couldn't be part of your circle any longer."
"Oh, that's right, you were only working for the mastermind because you had to," Togami sneered. "Because they have a hostage. You've secretly been cheering us on the whole time that you were reporting our every move to the mastermind, and it just breaks your fragile heart to know that your boss just added yet another victory to their score."
"Another – what?" Ogami's eyes widened in alarm. "I didn't hear the body discovery announcement –"
"Not that," Togami cut her off. "You haven't managed to cause a murder – not yet, anyway. No, all you've done so far is shift the blame for your selfish decision to act as a mole." He took a cold, vicious satisfaction in the way his words seemed to stab through Ogami, inflicting some measure of his own unhappiness back onto her.
"Shift it?" she asked, eyes uncertain. "I don't understand. How could it appear to be anyone else's fault? Who else is there to blame?"
"According to the others, Naegi and myself," Togami said icily. "Congratulations – you've managed to turn the entire group against the only ones who actually bothered to tell the truth about the issue. You even managed to get them to force us apart, destroying any shreds of trust and friendship that might have existed among the group."
Ogami had actually managed to make herself go pale as part of whatever ruse she was attempting. "You're all turning against each other? It's that bad?"
"Why don't you go brag to the mastermind about how well you've done?" Togami laughed, cold and hollow. "Maybe they'll give you a gold star."
"I –" Ogami turned away, bracing a hand against the doorframe back to the third floor. "I have to go. I have to explain –"
"Because everyone's just lining up to listen to the mastermind's spy." Togami rolled his eyes. "You think there's anything left that you can say now?"
Ogami closed her eyes against the words, lips tightening. "No. I suppose there isn't." She drew away. "I have to go. Thank you for telling me what my actions have caused." And without another word, Ogami left the stairwell and walked away, shoulders slumped in defeat.
