After his talk with Asahina, Naegi felt like a little of the tension around him had eased. The situation was still bad, but it didn't seem quite so insurmountable anymore. If he could get the others one on one, he could manage to get them to understand what had happened. Their friendships weren't permanently broken.
After finishing his attempt at repairing his hoodie, Naegi bundled up his belongings and headed back to his room. It was a relief to be able to reassemble his bed – for a while there, he really had thought he'd be stuck sleeping on the bare mattress after all.
After he'd gotten all his laundry put away and tucked Asahina's sewing kit into his desk drawer, he checked the clock. There was still plenty of time left in the day, but it didn't seem so daunting any longer. Asahina had softened towards him – maybe some of the others would have done the same.
He headed out from his dorm room into the hall – only to hear a startled yelp. Naegi looked down the hall to see Hagakure scrambling backward, terrified eyes fixed on him.
"Wh-where did you come from?" Hagakure gasped. "Oh, man, were you following me? Did you just materialize nearby?"
"Uh – no," Naegi said, frowning. "I just came out of my room, that's all."
"Lying in wait!" Hagakure waved a triumphant finger in Naegi's direction. "You're putting your plan into action, aren't you? You're just waiting to turn on us all!"
"I don't have a plan," Naegi said. "All I want is to talk to you."
"That sounds like a plan to me!" Horror crossed Hagakure's face. "And you're doing it now – with me! Oh, god, this is it, I'm going to be the next to die!"
"I'm not going to kill anyone!" Naegi said fiercely. "I would never kill one of my friends."
"That's what you say now, but how do we know?" Hagakure said, waving a hand around him in wild gestures.
Naegi frowned. Out of everyone left, Hagakure definitely seemed like he'd gotten the most panicked by events. The others had been angry and distrustful, but Hagakure acted like he was genuinely afraid that Naegi and Togami were going to do something horrible to him at any moment. Naegi wasn't sure how to explain something like that away.
"What about this?" Naegi said, gesturing around the hall. "I'm not trying anything now, am I?"
"Of course you aren't," Hagakure said, as though it were obvious. "No one would try to commit a murder with someone else around!"
"Someone else?" Naegi looked around, then jumped when he saw the gleam of glasses staring at him from Fukawa's partially opened door. "Oh – hi, Fukawa. Sorry, I didn't see you."
After a brief moment of hesitation, the door opened further and Fukawa stepped out into the hall. "Of course you d-didn't bother to notice me," she muttered. "Why w-would you?"
"See! If she weren't here, you could've made your move at any time!" Hagakure nodded sharply.
Naegi looked from one of them to the other. It wasn't the ideal situation – but at least neither of them looked inclined to run off, either. Maybe he could make the opening work.
"Look, can both of you listen for a minute?" he asked. "I know that everything the past couple days looked really bad, but Togami and I really have had good intentions the whole time. We did make mistakes in how we handled some of it, but we never lied or acted against anyone."
"You locked the Ogre up!" Hagakure said.
"Yeah – we shouldn't have done that," Naegi said. "But it really wasn't what you all thought. Ogami said she didn't mind, and we were about to explain it all to you when Monokuma called that assembly."
"It's easy for you to say w-whatever you want now," Fukawa said. "You've had plenty of time to come up with whatever story you want."
"It isn't a story," Naegi said, meeting first Fukawa's eyes, then Hagakure's. "It's the truth. Togami and I were only trying to help keep everyone safe."
"By tricking us?" Hagakure demanded. "No way! He doesn't want people safe, he said so – and if you're on his side, you don't either."
"It's not like that," Naegi said. "Togami's not trying to hurt anyone anymore – he's on our side now."
"Oh, I can see that, all right," Fukawa said, crossing her arms. "W-whatever you say goes, huh? All you have to do is t-tell him what to do and who to trust, and he rolls over and does it."
Naegi blinked. "Well – no, it's not quite like that. Yes, I've been trying to convince him to trust Ogami, but we've just been talking about it, like a normal couple."
"You want us to trust the Ogre now?" Hagakure asked, drawing back. "You were the ones who said she was against us! You're just trying to confuse us, aren't you?"
"No!" Naegi said, turning back towards him. "I mean, yes, Ogami did sort of work for Monokuma – but she didn't have a choice, and she isn't going to do it anymore."
Hagakure shook his head, clutching at his hair. "I don't get it – is she going to kill us all or not? None of it makes sense!"
"She definitely isn't going to kill anyone," Naegi said firmly. "Not even if Monokuma orders her to. She said herself that she wouldn't let the mastermind control her any longer. I'm sure she'd tell you so again if you asked."
"What – talk to her alone?" Hagakure shook his head rapidly. "No way, man, that wouldn't be safe at all!"
"I could go with you," Naegi offered.
"Oh, no." Hagakure took a stumbling step backwards. "No way. You're just trying to get me alone again, aren't you? This has all been a trick! Well, you won't catch me that easily!" Before Naegi could say anything else, Hagakure had ducked back inside his room again.
Naegi sighed. That hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped. After things had gone so well with Asahina, he'd really hoped this would be a turning point – that maybe he could even convince everyone to lift the separation. But with the way Hagakure was acting, it looked like he was going to have to spend another night alone after all.
"Not so convincing n-now, are you?" Fukawa said. "Those sad little puppy eyes of yours d-don't work on the rest of us, do they?"
Naegi stared at her in confusion. "What, me? I don't have sad puppy eyes."
"Oh, sure, you say that now," Fukawa said, eyes narrowing, "but I bet if he were here, it'd be different. You'd be s-staring into his eyes and trying to look cute and helpless so he'll do what you want. Well, it won't work on me. I don't think you're cute at all!"
"Uh – that's okay," Naegi said. A thought occurred to him, and he frowned. "So I guess you and Genocide Jill think differently about that?"
Fukawa blinked. "W-what? Why are you bringing her up all of a sudden?"
"Oh – I was just wondering about something she said when Togami and I saw her a couple days ago," Naegi said, shrugging.
"Wait – you saw her? Both of you?" Fukawa demanded. "Together?"
"It was before you all told us to separate!" Naegi said hastily. "We haven't been cheating or anything. We met her in a classroom the morning the fourth floor opened for the first time, and I guess she'd heard about that assembly with the – uh, the recordings." He flushed at the memory.
Fukawa stared at him. "She heard – so she knows about the two of you?"
"It seemed like it," Naegi said, shrugging. "I don't know where she heard, though."
"She knows." Fukawa's shoulders began to shake. "She knows, and you – you're both still alive?"
"Yes, we're totally fine!" Naegi hurried to reassure her. "She didn't even get her scissors out." He remembered the way she'd called him adorable and tried to update Monokuma's weird illustration of him. "I think she was trying to be nice, actually."
"She knows, and she was nice?" Fukawa gaped at him. "She's not nice! She's a m-murderer! She kills any boys I like!"
"Maybe she doesn't want to this time?" Naegi suggested. "I mean, she did point out that we'd all know it was her if she used her signature method."
"So you trust h-her now? Is that it?" Fukawa gave a brittle laugh. "I guess next you're going to start talking about how she's one of your friends, too, huh?"
"I wouldn't say that," Naegi said, blinking. "I don't know her that well or anything yet."
"You w-want to get to know her?" Fukawa's eyes went very wide behind her glasses. "You want to spend time with her?"
"Well, I guess," Naegi said, considering it. "She's trapped here with us, too. It couldn't hurt to try to get to know her a little better."
"Fine, then!" Fukawa snapped. "Spend as much time as you like with the s-serial killer – what does it matter to me? And d-don't come crying to me when you end up crucified!"
With that, she stepped back into her room and slammed the door shut.
