Naegi stared at Kirigiri in shock, her words echoing in his head. "You – you're going to pretend to kill me?"

"You're the ideal choice," Kirigiri said calmly. "You're small enough that I could easily overpower you if I got you unawares, and your trusting nature would let me do so fairly easily. Our recent argument over trust could provide a motive. I think it should be believable enough."

"Yeah, but – what exactly are you going to do?" Naegi asked, a little nervous about how easily she'd laid it out for him.

"It's better if I don't tell you," she said. "After all, if it were a real murder attempt, you wouldn't know about that in advance, would you?"

"I guess not," Naegi said slowly. "Then what do you need me to do?"

"Don't tell anyone about it," Kirigiri said at once. "If anyone else knows about this plan, then Alter Ego will be at risk."

"I understand." Naegi took a deep breath, then nodded. "I won't tell."

"Good." Kirigiri gave him a small smile. "Then the only thing left is to move Alter Ego. We'll have to be careful, or the mastermind may spot us going into the hidden room."

"Wait." Naegi frowned, a memory hitting him.

"I think we need to try," Kirigiri insisted. "This is our best chance of finding new clues."

"No, I understand that," Naegi said. "That's not what I meant. It's about the hidden room." He bit his lip, knowing that Kirigiri wouldn't like what he was about to say. "I – well, I promised Togami that I wouldn't go back there without telling him about it first."

Kirigiri went very still. "You did what?"

Naegi winced as the chilliness returned to her voice. "I didn't think it would be an issue – not after the mastermind cleared everything out."

"I see." Kirigiri's voice didn't thaw at all. "Did he forbid you the hallway outside as well? Are you allowed to set foot anywhere on the second floor without his permission?"

"It isn't like that," Naegi said, flushing pink at the way she made it sound. "He didn't forbid anything – he just asked me to do something for him, and I agreed. And he couldn't have told me to stay off the whole floor even if he wanted to – he doesn't know where the hidden room is."

Kirigiri blinked. "He doesn't?"

"Of course not," Naegi said, giving her an odd look. "All I told him was that it existed and what happened when I went inside, not where it was. You were the one who found it, so I thought that was up to you to decide who to tell."

"I… think I see." Kirigiri eyed him for another long moment. "You have very strange ideas about sharing information."

"Uh – sorry?" Naegi wasn't quite sure how he ought to take that.

"It doesn't matter." Kirigiri shook her head. "The important thing is finding a way to get Alter Ego into that room without the mastermind noticing."

Naegi studied the laptop. It would be pretty obvious if they left the bathhouse to find something to conceal Alter Ego in, so they would have to use something they already had. And they'd need to be able to leave the bathhouse looking normal, too – it would be just as noticeable if they carried a suspicious pile of towels to the second floor. The ideal thing would be if they could conceal Alter Ego in their clothes something. Kirigiri's outfit didn't have much room – but the laptop was just about the right size to fit under his hoodie.

"You see it too, don't you?" Kirigiri said quietly. "We really only have one option."

"Yeah, I see." Naegi looked over at her. "Could you pass a message on to Togami about it for me? He's seen my handwriting before, so even if you delivered it, he'd know it really was from me."

"No." She crossed her arms. "I told you, the more people who know about this, the more dangerous it will be."

"I wouldn't give him any details," Naegi said. "Just that I need to go back into the hidden room for a few minutes."

"And that's more detail than he needs," Kirigiri said flatly. "Besides, the fact that we're working together at the moment doesn't negate the separation between the two of you."

"It doesn't?" Naegi's face fell. He'd thought that maybe, with the way she was softening towards him, she might be close to relenting on the separation issue.

"No. And in case you were getting ideas about loopholes, it also covers both written communication and passing messages through a third party."

"We haven't been doing either of those things," Naegi said. "But I thought that since this is a special circumstance, you might not mind."

"The circumstances are unique, that's true." Kirigiri tilted her head. "Naegi, why do you think Togami had you make that promise?"

"Well – I didn't think about it that much," Naegi said, blinking. "It was right after I got hit on the head, and he was really upset about that. I guess he didn't want me to be in danger again."

"Possibly," Kirigiri said. "But from what you said, he didn't ask you not to go back – he just wanted you to tell him about it before you did."

Naegi nodded. "Yes, that's what he said. Does it matter?"

"I think it does," Kirigiri said. "The first promise I described is the one that would have kept you out of danger. The second one – the one he actually asked you to make – only keeps him informed."

Naegi stared at Kirigiri, not at all liking what she was getting at. "Togami doesn't want me to be in danger!"

"Well, his recent actions have shown his thoughts on that subject fairly clearly," Kirigiri said, her face carefully expressionless. "But I don't think that was the purpose behind this promise."

"Even if you're right, I don't see how it matters," Naegi said. "I still agreed."

"It matters because of the current situation," Kirigiri said. "Even if the rest of us hadn't asked you for a temporary separation, you still shouldn't tell Togami about this. He asked you for that promise so that he could stay informed – but keeping him informed about this would put Alter Ego in greater danger."

"That's true, I guess." Naegi looked over at the computer screen, where Alter Ego watched them nervously. Determination still shone from his eyes, in spite of the hints of fear he was clearly trying to hide. This was going to be so dangerous for Alter Ego already – did Naegi really think that he had the right to make it worse?

"Our highest priority right now has to be keeping Alter Ego as safe as possible," Kirigiri said. She pursed her lips. "But – if we can manage this successfully, it won't matter as much any longer."

Naegi frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

Kirigiri gave him a long, considering look before she answered. "I mean that the rest of us demanded your separation from Togami because we weren't certain we could trust you to be on our side – but this might prove that we can. Even if this plan fails, the risk you're taking to work on it with me would be enough proof for me to withdraw my support of the separation."

"Really?" Naegi's face lit up. "You'd trust me again?"

"Provisionally," Kirigiri said. "And only after the twenty-four hours have passed."

Naegi bit his lip. He didn't like the idea of breaking his promise to Togami – but on the other hand, this wasn't exactly a situation either of them could have foreseen. Naegi wouldn't be the one taking the risk in this scenario, Alter Ego would – and Naegi had it in his power to make that risk just a little bit less.

He looked up at Kirigiri. "I want to tell Togami about it afterwards."

Kirigiri nodded. "After it's all over, you can tell him in person."

"Then… all right," Naegi said. "Let's do it."