Alone in his room, Togami lay in bed staring up at the dark ceiling. He hadn't known what else to do after locking Asahina and Ogami in for the night other than go to bed, since the others all seemed determined to continue following their ten o'clock curfew. He'd never viewed the curfew as any kind of obligation, but on the other hand, continuing to wander the school didn't exactly appeal to him, either. All he'd really wanted was for this tedious day to be over.
But now that he'd gone to bed, sleep eluded him. The bed stretched out around him, too big even when he let his limbs sprawl across as much of it as he could fill, and the room sounded too empty with only one person's breathing disturbing the air. Loneliness pressed around him like a physical presence, the silence too omnipresent to ignore.
This was ridiculous. He'd only spent a few nights sharing Naegi's bed – it shouldn't bother him to sleep alone again. He should be grateful to have the space to himself, content to enjoy the freedom to stretch out his legs and control his blankets. But instead, he found himself reaching for a heavier blanket than he personally preferred or curling automatically onto the far side of the bed, leaving the other half empty as if it no longer belonged to him.
How had Naegi done it? He'd carved out a space for himself in Togami's life so easily, and now that he'd been taken away, Togami could see just how deep the hooks had gone. It wasn't even the result of some kind of planned manipulation to put Togami in his control – Naegi had just been himself, honest and open and nice down to the bone, and he'd wormed his way into Togami's heart more than any coordinated effort ever could have.
Togami had actually considered trying to see the other boy, when he'd been standing alone in the hall after locking Asahina and Ogami away. If he'd waited until a while after curfew to ring Naegi's doorbell, it wasn't as though anyone would be able to hear it through the soundproofed rooms. If he'd been out again before the morning announcement, no one would have had to know.
No one except him and Naegi, anyway – and that had been the problem right there. Togami didn't even have to ask the other boy to know exactly what he'd say in response to the suggestion that he break his word to his friends – and he didn't especially want to hear Naegi tell him to go away, however little the other boy might mean it. And so Togami hadn't even tried to ring Naegi's doorbell, resigning himself to the idea that he wouldn't be able to confirm Naegi's wellbeing until breakfast the next day.
The morning couldn't come soon enough. Togami didn't sleep much throughout the night, spending far more time tossing and turning. Different plans and options for the new day kept running through his head, but every time he came up with one, some crucial difficulty with it occurred to him as he tried to work out the details. By the time it was early enough that he could justify dragging himself out of bed, Togami hadn't managed to come up with either a decent plan or a decent rest. It looked as though he had a long day ahead of him.
There were still a few minutes until the morning announcement by the time he'd finished dressing for the day, but if he had to stare at the inside of his room another second, Togami thought he might start smashing things. To distract himself from the impulses towards wanton destruction, he let himself out into the empty hall, stifling a yawn as he relocked his door. What he really needed was some coffee, but of course the cafeteria was still off limits for now. Maybe the storage room would have something?
Not having much else to do with his time, Togami shrugged and headed around the corner to check. But it only took a few moments to ascertain that no, the only coffee-like items in the storage room was some kind of instant monstrosity that shouldn't even be allowed to share the same name as proper coffee. Togami tossed it away and tried to swallow back another yawn as he left.
Looking down the dormitory hallway again, Togami could see Ogami's door at the end of the row, still safely locked as far as he could tell. He'd probably have to let the two girls out sometime soon, wouldn't he? Personally, he wouldn't mind leaving them stuck in there for as long as possible, but if Asahina didn't make it to the group's breakfast meeting, the others would start to make a scene about it. He'd had enough of them all making baseless accusations at him yesterday – he didn't need to deal with more of that nonsense today. Better to let the girls out before the meeting began.
Of course, opening that door did run the risk that he was about to uncover one or more corpses. Togami headed slowly down the hall towards the door, considering his options. If the mastermind had chosen last night to force Ogami's hand, the martial artist could have taken Asahina down fairly easily, considering the swimmer's blind faith in her. Or there was also the chance that Asahina might have avoided the first attempt and gotten lucky in the aftermath, leaving Ogami as the victim. Whichever way it might have turned out, the tidiest scenario would involve one victim and one murderer.
The worst case scenario would be if both girls had somehow managed to murder one another, leaving two corpses and no explanation of how they'd gotten there. In that case, Togami knew his possession of the room key would not be a point in his favor – and being the one to discover the bodies would only make him look more suspicious. Of course, it would only be circumstantial, nothing definitive – but if Hagakure, Fukawa, and Kirigiri decided to continue with their stupid vendetta against him during the class trial, they did have enough votes to outnumber himself and Naegi.
It might help to allay some possible suspicions if he could bring someone else along with him to open the door this morning – but of course, that brought up the question of who. Naegi would be ideal, but unfortunately he was out of the question. And it wasn't as though any of the others were likely to listen to a request from him –
"Hey, White Knight, baby! Up and raring to go pretty early this morning, aren't you?"
Togami turned sharply to see Genocide Jill standing in her open doorway, tongue lolling out of her mouth as she directed her usual disgusting leer at him. A frown of distaste flickered across his face for a moment, before he realized it could be worse – it could be Fukawa instead. He never would have thought that he'd come to prefer the serial killer personality, but at least her particular brand of crazy seemed a little more predictable than Fukawa's overexcited delusions.
"So what brings you out here all by your lonesome, huh?" Jill asked. "Did you get up early to sneak some alone time with your very favorite serial killer?"
"Definitely not," Togami said flatly, crossing his arms as he considered her. Despite Fukawa's current suspicion and mistrust of him, Jill's attitude towards him didn't seem to have changed at all.
"Oh-ho, so it's definitely fate that brought us together this morning!" Jill laughed. "Well, fate and my finely-honed Byakuya Togami radar! Gotta keep close track of your door if I don't want to miss any action, right?"
He suppressed a shudder at the thought of her sitting across the hall watching his door, like a spider waiting for its prey to touch its web. He had no intention of showing a hint of weakness to an open murderer – but if the girl was going to insist on stalking him, he might as well get something useful out of her behavior.
"Then if you're going to watch me, come on," he told her, flicking his fingers in an imperious gesture as he continued down the hall.
"Sure thing, baby," Jill agreed, scurrying along after him. "You know I'm always happy to get up close and personal."
Well, that sounded potentially horrifying. "Keep your distance. All you have to do is watch as I open Ogami's door."
"The Ogre? Aw, and here I was hoping you might pick up Mahkyutie for some adora-double fun!"
Togami couldn't stop his shoulders from tensing. "No."
"Needs his sleep, huh? Yeah, it looks like whatever you got up to last night left you alllll tired out." Jill grinned, visibly raking her eyes up and down his body.
Togami scowled. He'd done his best to hide the evidence of his sleepless night, but apparently he hadn't managed well enough. "Don't talk about him. Just stand there."
Before she could chatter any further at him, Togami strode up and unlocked Ogami's door. After signaling the doorbell with one long and three short rings, he quickly retreated out of range, back towards Jill – only to find her eyeing him with a puzzled frown.
"What've you got the Ogre's room key for?" Jill asked, one hand on her hip. "Is there something my White Knight isn't telling me?"
"Yes. And I'm going to continue not telling you about it," Togami said flatly, not taking his eyes off the door as he mentally counted down the thirty seconds until the door should open. "Now shut up."
There wasn't much time left for Jill to talk in any case. As the last few seconds ticked away, Togami pondered the options he'd have if the door didn't open. That would suggest either a trap or a worst case scenario, and he wasn't eager to open the door on either option. Maybe it would be better to send Jill to do it? He'd give it another minute or so, and then –
The door swung open, revealing an exhausted-looking Ogami looking out at them, eyes red and outlined with dark circles. She leaned against the doorframe, her usually exact posture slumping like she was trying to take up as little space as possible. Even so, she still filled the doorway, and Togami couldn't quite see past her to determine whether the room showed evidence of a murder.
"So – you did return," Ogami said, her voice a slow rumble. She didn't meet his eyes, gaze dropping instead to the ground. "Thank you for that."
"You don't have to be grateful!"
To Togami's surprise, Asahina pushed her way into view at Ogami's side. She looked perfectly alive and unharmed, if still sleepy and absentmindedly clutching a pillow.
"There's no point thanking him when it's his fault we were locked up in the first place," Asahina went on, sending Togami a glare. "So nothing happened all night – are you happy now?"
"Not particularly," Togami said, crossing his arms. "This just prolongs the situation. At least if one of you were dead, we'd be able to break the stalemate. And with you offering yourself up as such an easy victim, it would have been ideal."
"How can you say something like that, right to Sakura's face?" Asahina demanded. "You don't have any real feelings at all, do you?"
"I certainly don't have any feelings about either of you," Togami said coolly. "I told you last night – if you want to sacrifice yourself on the altar of false friendship, I'm happy to let you. The mastermind's order for death might as well end with a willing victim – and then after the trial, we'd be rid of you both."
Asahina stared at him, repulsion twisting her face. "You – you're a monster. If anyone ends up dead from this, it ought to be you!"
"Oh, so now you're going to start horning in on my turf?" Jill asked, eyes flashing dangerously in Asahina's direction. "Well, you'd better watch it – murdering adorable boys is my shtick!"
"Ugh." Asahina glanced over at Jill, lip curling in distaste as she looked back at Togami. "Seriously? We tell you to stop acting so suspicious with Naegi, and you start hanging out with her instead?"
"Tell him? So now you think you can give my White Knight orders?" Jill's scissors flashed into her hands. "Maybe those gargantuan gazongas of yours are dragging away all the blood that ought to go to your brain. A couple snip snip snips should fix that right up!"
And of course that broke Ogami's pose of depression, her head snapping up at the threat to Asahina. "Leave Hina out of this! It doesn't concern her!"
"It does when she won't stop blathering about it," Togami pointed out.
"Someone has to point out all your tricks and lies!" Asahina snapped. "You might have gotten Naegi and Fukawa snowed, but I can see what you are – lying, selfish, manipulative, cowardly, untrustwor—"
Her tirade was cut off as Jill leapt forward, scissors arcing out in a bright flash of metal. Ogami lunged forward to knock Jill off course, just as Asahina yelped, arms flying up to shield herself – and feathers exploded through the hallway as Jill's scissors cut through Asahina's pillow. Ogami swung Asahina out of the way as Jill collapsed in a cloud of feathers, several loud sneezes rocking through her.
"Hina – you're hurt!" Ogami stared down at Asahina's arm in some approximation of horror. Jill's scissors had torn through the sleeve of her sweatshirt, and Togami could see blood on the skin beneath.
"Oh – no, don't worry, it isn't that bad," Asahina said hastily.
Ogami didn't seem inclined to listen, eyes blazing with fury as she glared into the feathery mess. "Why would you do that?"
But as the feathers settled to the floor, it was Fukawa who sat amid them, staring up at Ogami with terror-stricken eyes. "W-what's going on?"
"None of this has to do with the others!" Ogami insisted, looming over Fukawa. "If you have a problem, you can take it up with me!"
"I don't have a problem!" Fukawa said, shoving herself back away from Ogami's furious glare. "N-no problems here!"
"You don't have a problem – you are a problem." Togami scowled down at her. God, the last thing he wanted to deal with this morning was whatever crazy delusions she'd thought up about him now. "Maybe you should do us all a favor and take another breath of those feathers."
Fukawa whipped her head around, wide eyes peering up at him through her glasses. "You'd rather have her around?"
"I'd be happier without either of you," Togami said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, we'd all be happier without any of you," Asahina shot at him, pressing the edges of her sleeve against her wound.
"I knew you all wanted me g-gone," Fukawa gasped out, scrambling up to her feet and backing away from them. "I knew it all along!"
"It shouldn't come as much of a shock," Togami said, crossing his arms. "I've told you from the beginning that your presence is repellant."
Fukawa's eyes went as wide as if he'd struck her, but when she opened her mouth to reply –
Ding dong, ding dong.
The morning announcement filled the hallways. Fukawa's dark eyes never moved from Togami as Monokuma's cheerful voice rang in their ears.
As the announcement ended, Ogami took Asahina's arm and began leading her away, murmuring something about the clinic. Togami shrugged and turned away to head towards the cafeteria. The breakfast meeting would start soon, and he'd get a chance to see the only person worth talking to in the whole school. He walked away, leaving Fukawa sitting there alone in the pile of feathers.
