As Asahina took a seat at the laundry room table across from Naegi, he tried to figure out just what he ought to say to her. This was the first chance he'd had to try to explain himself to any of the other students since their confrontation in the chemistry lab, and he didn't want to waste it.

With that in mind, he decided he might as well start with the most important issue that he needed to settle. "I know that everything that's happened in the past couple days has turned out really badly – but you have to know that I didn't want any of this to happen. I still think of all of you as my friends, and I would never try to work against any of you."

Asahina considered him for a moment, continuing to run her finger across the stitches in her jacket. "I'd like to believe that. I wish I could. But if I believe in you, then that means – everything you said about Sakura –" She shook her head sharply. "I don't know what to think right now."

"Yeah, it's hard to figure out," Naegi agreed. "I don't know, either, not really. But the only thing we can do in a situation like this is to keep moving forward. We have to talk to each other and share what we think is going on, or it'll just make everyone more distrustful."

"You mean like when you and Togami kept going off on your own?" Asahina's voice had an edge to it, but Naegi decided to ignore her tone and take the question seriously.

"Yes, exactly like that. It made you all think that we were hiding things and telling lies – but we weren't. We were just waiting to tell you all, but that gave Monokuma the chance to make us look suspicious."

"You looked plenty suspicious without his help," Asahina said. "You locked Sakura in her room! What did you think we'd do?"

"It was only overnight," Naegi protested. "And she told us it was okay." He sighed. "I did think about trying to stop Togami from taking her key – but he seemed so upset, I didn't want to argue."

"Oh, he was angry, all right," Asahina said darkly. "We all saw that."

"No – I don't mean angry," Naegi said, remembering the tension vibrating through Togami as he'd kept a careful distance between the two of them and Ogami. "I think he was scared."

Asahina stared at him. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. You didn't see him that night – he was really worried. He even said that if she tried something, we wouldn't be able to stop her."

"Sakura wouldn't try to hurt anyone!"

"I know, but Togami doesn't think that way," Naegi said. "So since Ogami didn't mind, I let him put a couple precautions in place. I guess it was the wrong decision, though." He sighed. "I've been making a lot of those lately."

"You think so?" Asahina gave him a curious look.

"If I hadn't, maybe none of this would've gotten so bad." Naegi looked down at his hands. "I haven't lied to anyone about anything, but – but maybe I haven't been as honest as I could be, either. Maybe Kirigiri is right, and I haven't been fair to my friends."

"When did she say that?"

"A couple days ago, when the fourth floor opened," Naegi said. "We – well, we had kind of an argument. I didn't want to tell anyone about what I'd seen with Ogami and Monokuma, not until I'd talked to Ogami about it, but Kirigiri could tell I knew something. And when I wouldn't tell her what it was, she got really mad at me."

"What do you mean, you didn't tell anyone about Sakura?" Asahina frowned. "That's obviously not true. You told Togami!"

"Oh – no, not that it was her," Naegi said, blinking. "He didn't know who I'd seen until I asked her about it." He sighed, another thought occurring to him. "And I could've let Kirigiri come along for that, too. Even if she wasn't talking to me, I could've offered. There were a lot of things I could've done better."

"So – wait, you kept it a secret?" Asahina asked slowly. "Why did you do that?"

Naegi stared at her, puzzled by the question. "Well, I didn't think I should tell anyone what I heard until I had a chance to ask her for the truth. If I'd just gone around telling people, everyone would've gotten suspicious and stopping trusting each other." His shoulders slumped. "I guess that happened anyway, though."

"But – you mean you thought Sakura might be a traitor, and you still went to ask her about it anyway?" Asahina said.

"No!" Naegi leaned forward fiercely. "I never thought she was really a traitor! Right from the start, I heard Monokuma threatening a hostage to make her behave. And even without that – after all the time we've spent working together here, how could I believe that Ogami would really be on the mastermind's side?" He shook his head. "No. I have faith in her, and in all the time we spent together. I just wish I knew how to make the others see it."

Asahina stared at him, hands clenching into fists. "You really mean that, don't you? You believed in Sakura all along. You – you haven't been trying to trick us, or frame her, or anything."

"That's what I've been saying!" Naegi said, relief lightening the tension aching in his shoulders. "Togami and I have been telling the truth the whole time. Awful things have happened, but we never meant for any of it to happen."

"I'm not sure about that," Asahina said, scowling. "You're being nice again now, but he's been pretty horrible."

Naegi grimaced at the thought of how Togami might have been behaving while they were apart. "Sorry. But I think he's probably angry you made us separate. He'd just said that he wanted to stay by my side and keep me safe." The warm memory brought a smile to Naegi's face, even during the serious conversation.

Asahina stared at him. "You really do care about him, don't you?"

"Well – yeah," Naegi said, puzzled. "Of course I do."

"You have rotten taste." Asahina sighed. "But – I guess you're pretty brave, too. You aren't afraid to face what you really feel, even in the middle of this nightmare." She looked down. "I don't think I know how to be brave like that."

"It's not really bravery or anything," Naegi said, shrugging uncomfortably. "Things just kind of… happened. Besides, you could be brave, if you needed to be."

"No," Asahina said, tensing as she stared down at the table. "I've just been a coward. I've been screaming and fighting with everyone for the past two days, because – because I couldn't face what I really think."

Naegi frowned. "What do you mean? What you really think about what?"

"About Sakura." Asahina's face twisted as she fought back tears. "I've been yelling and screaming this whole time, getting so angry whenever anyone said anything bad about Sakura – but that's not how I really feel."

"You aren't angry?" Naegi asked slowly, not sure he understood.

"I'm scared!" A sob caught in Asahina's voice as she lost the battle against her tears. "I'm so scared I'm going to lose her! She's the best friend I've ever had – I know I haven't known her that long, but it's still true. And now – now, if everyone believes what you and Togami were saying, they'll all hate her! We've lost so many people – I can't lose Sakura, on top of all that. I don't know what I'd do!"

"You're not going to lose her!" Naegi reached out and impulsively grabbed one of Asahina's trembling hands. "We can get everyone to believe in Ogami, I know it! There's still a way out of this. There has to be!"

"I don't see how," Asahina said. "She won't even talk to me anymore, did you know that? She finally got mad at me this morning for yelling so much, and now she's avoiding me. I wanted to apologize, but I haven't been able to find her." She shook her head. "I got so caught up in fighting that I didn't even care what she wanted. I wasn't even listening to her."

"Well, you can listen to her now," Naegi said encouragingly. "You've been spending so much time with her every day – you must know somewhere she always goes. And maybe if you work things out with her, you'll be able to convince her to explain herself to everyone else. I think if she told everyone more of the truth, in her own words, it would do a lot to make them trust her more."

Asahina nodded slowly. "Yeah – yeah, I think you're right. I need to figure out a way that I can definitely talk to Sakura, before I do anything else – and then maybe I need to talk to everyone else, too." She gave him a watery smile, past the tears still damp on her cheeks. "Thank you, Naegi."

"Oh – you're welcome," Naegi said, startled. "I'm glad it helped."

"It did." Asahina pushed away from the table, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm going to go try to find Sakura now."

"Oh, wait!" Naegi leaned over and pushed her sewing kit towards her. "Here, you'll want this back."

"Why? I can't use it," Asahina said, grimacing at it. Then she glanced back over her shoulder to the toolkit sitting beside the dryer. "Actually… now that I'm thinking about it, I have an idea." She scooped up the toolkit, giving it a close examination, then waved it at Naegi. "Why don't we swap?"

Naegi shrugged. "If you want to, I guess we can. I'm not too great with either kit, really."

"Okay, then we'll each have one we can sort of use." Asahina headed for the door.

Naegi nodded. "Good luck. Tell Ogami I still believe in her!"

"I will," Asahina assured him, leaving the laundry room with a last tired smile.