Naegi frowned at Kirigiri's question. "You're right – no one else should have been able to get in. We just saw Togami use the key."
"Meaning only he could have used the key to let anyone into the room." Kirigiri raised one eyebrow at Togami. "So?"
"Ogami was the only one I let into the room last night," Togami said. "And I've had the key in my possession the entire time since then." He looked from Asahina to Jill. "The two of you got in here somehow. You ought to know how it happened."
"Sorry, baby, but no can do," Jill said. "That was all Gloomy!"
Naegi looked at Ogami and Asahina. "What about you two? You should know, right?"
Neither girl met his eyes. Ogami stared unseeingly at the blood dotting her bedspread, while Asahina couldn't lift her eyes from her clenched fists.
"So no one wants to admit to it." Kirigiri crossed her arms and surveyed the room. "I thought that might be the case."
"Huh?" Naegi blinked at her for a moment, before the answer clicked in his mind. "Oh – because of the new rule! It's forbidden to break down a locked door."
"Exactly," Kirigiri said. "And if that door was locked –"
"It wasn't."
They all turned to look at Asahina as she raised her head to face them. Tear tracks still glimmered on her face, but she didn't look away. "The door wasn't locked. Sakura had been avoiding me all day, so I decided to try finding her at night when I knew where she would be. Nothing happened when I rang the bell, but when I tried the doorknob, it just opened."
Togami glared at her. "It can't have 'just opened.' I locked it. I remember it very clearly."
"Maybe you just thought you did," Asahina said. "All I know is that when I tried to open the door, it worked."
"Even if you're right, that wouldn't prove anything," Togami said. "Let's not forget that there's one person among us who could probably get away with violating a rule, if she was acting on the mastermind's orders."
"I have never had any indication that I am not subject the same rules that govern the rest of you," Ogami said, lifting her head a little as she spoke.
"Of course you'd say that," Togami snapped. "If you can make us believe the door was unlocked by someone else, you immediately look less suspicious."
"And if you can change the issue, you'll have successfully distracted us from the main point," Kirigiri said, twisting her braid around one finger.
"Excuse me?" Togami raised a haughty eyebrow at his least favorite of the other students. "What are you accusing me of doing?"
"I'm not making accusations this early," Kirigiri said calmly. "I'm just pointing out that you were the only one with the ability to open the door whenever you wanted. After all, the locks are designed to be unbreakable. Even if someone did decide to violate the school rule, they shouldn't have been able to do it with the locks on the dorm rooms."
"So you're suggesting that I unlocked the door and wandered off, in the hopes that someone else might notice it was open and go inside?" Togami rolled his eyes. "If you're going to throw around stupid theories, at least have the decency to make them entertaining."
"Look, we shouldn't be arguing about this!" Naegi broke in, before anyone else could say something else to make things worse. "If no one can tell us what happened, then we need to start looking for clues. We only get so much time to investigate, so we can't waste it."
"True enough," Kirigiri said. "We can resume our debate during the trial."
"Then – we need to decide who will stay with the body, right?" Naegi's eyes went to Hagakure's corpse, and even after seeing so many other bodies, he still shivered at the sight of another dead friend.
Ogami stood. "Asahina and I can –"
"You must be joking," Togami cut her off. "We can't rely on the two of you to guard against each other."
"You believe we would alter the crime scene?" Ogami asked, startled.
"It would be the perfect opportunity," Togami said. "This is a contained scene – it would be all too easy for the culprit to rearrange things to make some small but critical change. If so, the rest of us wouldn't spot the significance, since we don't know how you ended up in this room in the first place."
"That's your objection?" Ogami frowned. "But surely someone could do that without needing to take on the responsibility of being a guard."
"Then maybe none of you should be allowed in the room at all," Togami said coldly.
"Not just them," Kirigiri said. "I would include you in the list as well. You may not have been found in here, but your possession of the key makes you as suspicious as the rest."
Naegi frowned, thinking it over. "So wait, if it can't be anyone we found in here, and it can't be Togami – does that mean Kirigiri and I are going to be the guards?"
"Not just guards," Kirigiri said. "Since you and I are the only ones unconnected to the crime scene, it would be best if the two of us investigated this area on our own. The other four can search the rest of the school for additional information." She looked around the room. "Is everyone in agreement?"
No one looked terribly happy with it. Togami was glaring at Kirigiri, but Naegi was pretty sure Togami wouldn't have liked anything she suggested. Asahina stood staring fixedly at the wall, avoiding any glimpse of Hagakure's body, her face pale, and Ogami shot her increasingly concerned glances. Jill didn't look interested in the discussion at all, other than occasionally glancing down at Hagakure and shaking her head in professional disapproval. But in the end, one by one, the three girls all nodded to confirm Kirigiri's plan.
Togami held out, dark gaze fixed on Kirigiri. "Before I agree to your little suggestion, I have one question for you."
"Oh?" Kirigiri asked.
"How did you know something had happened?" Togami crossed his arms. "You dodged the question when I asked before, but at that point, we had no confirmation that anything had occurred. Now that we know something did, I'll ask you again. You knew. How?"
Kirigiri's expression didn't flicker. "I told you already. They didn't show up for the morning meeting –"
"If you're just going to lie again, don't bother," Togami cut her off. He looked over at Naegi. "Be careful. Don't let her meddle with anything, no matter what she says to try to talk you into it."
And with that, he turned and headed out of the room.
Jill grinned. "Ooh, guess it looks like I'll be getting some alone time with my White Knight this time around. Better luck next time, Big Mac!" She wiggled her fingers at Naegi before running out after Togami.
Ogami looked at Asahina, then gently settled a hand on her shoulder. "We should leave as well."
Asahina blinked, seeming to return to the conversation from a long way away. "Yes. You're right – we should go." Her eyes darted towards Hagakure, but she quickly forced them away, biting her lip and wiping at the tears reforming in her eyes.
Naegi supposed it must have been awful, waking up in a blood-covered bed with a dead body in front of her. He took a step towards her, giving her a concerned look. "Are you doing okay?"
"Of course I'm not!" Asahina gulped, swiping the edge of her sleeve across her eyes. "Who could be? He didn't even want to come here this morning!"
"Huh?" Naegi frowned. "You mean Hagakure?"
Asahina nodded. "Yeah. He was so upset, he just wanted to stay in his room. But – but I thought about everything you and I talked about yesterday, about how we all needed to hear Sakura's story right from her – and I talked him into it. I made him come here. And if I hadn't, he wouldn't have gotten killed!"
"Hina – no," Ogami said in distress, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders. "You didn't intend for this to happen."
"Yeah, it isn't your fault," Naegi agreed. "Everything awful that's happening – it's because of the mastermind. They're the one causing us to do these terrible things to each other."
"I guess." Asahina leaned against Ogami, clutching her hand like a lifeline.
"More to the point," Kirigiri broke in, "did you say that you made Hagakure come here? You were the reason that everyone was gathered in Ogami's room?"
"Oh – well, yes," Asahina said, blinking. "This was – well, it was after the door was open, obviously. I'd already been inside and talked to Sakura a little."
"In the middle of the night?" Naegi asked, blinking.
"It was the only time I knew where she would be," Asahina said, shrugging. "She'd been avoiding me, and – well, like we talked about, I wanted to apologize."
"I told you that I don't need your apologies," Ogami said softly.
"Yeah, but I wanted to anyway." Asahina gave her a watery smile.
"And then you asked Hagakure to come talk to Ogami, too?" Naegi asked, trying to work out the events in his head.
Asahina nodded. "Fukawa, too. I told them I wanted to clear up everyone's suspicions of Sakura."
"Did she arrange this without your knowledge?" Kirigiri looked over at Ogami, who nodded slowly.
"That's right. I was taken by surprise when Asahina approached me."
"I see." Kirigiri frowned, tapping a finger against her chin.
"If that's all, then we should start our search," Ogami said, setting her shoulders with determination. "I've never been much of an investigator, but – well, Hagakure died while in my room. I believe I owe it to him to do my utmost to discover the culprit."
"If you need a starting point, you could look into ways someone could have gotten that door open," Naegi suggested. "They must have used something to do it. Maybe you could find proof of that."
"Possibly." Ogami sighed. "Naegi… good luck. I hope you find what you need." With that, she headed out, guiding the still-shaky Asahina at her side.
"You know that it's unlikely she'll find anything about how the door was opened, don't you?"
Naegi blinked and turned to Kirigiri. "What?"
"If there are any clues as to how that door was opened, they're going to be in this room." She smirked at him. "Let's see what we can find, shall we?"
