Everything was dark, and Naegi sank through the cold pool of blackness with limbs too heavy to move. It felt quiet here, like he could rest peacefully for the first time in far too many weeks, and there was something terribly appealing about the idea of allowing himself to drift through the darkness indefinitely.

… Stay …

Something deep inside him twisted at the thought of staying in this darkness, but it was so hard to grasp any other thoughts with the shadows wrapping themselves around him.

… Stay …

He was aware of having forgotten something, possibly even something important, but he didn't know how to reach for the memory of what it was.

… Promise you'll stay …

Words echoed through his mind, in a voice he knew that he should remember. This voice had mattered to him, mattered enough that he stopped his descent into the empty blackness. What was it about that voice that he'd forgotten?

… Stay with me …

He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew deep in his soul that he had to listen to that voice. Something terrible would happen if he didn't listen. He had to go back.

And as the blackness receded, a second voice spoke over the first, coming to him from somewhere outside instead of the hidden places of his mind.

"Stay with me. Listen, Naegi, you have to stay with me."

Naegi jolted awake, the world snapping dizzily back into focus as the darkness faded to the back of his mind. He found himself lying on the floor of Ogami's dorm room, Kirigiri leaning over him and squeezing his icy hand.

"What… happened?" When he tried to speak, the words seemed to take too long to form in his mouth.

"You collapsed." Kirigiri frowned down at her hand wrapped around his, and Naegi realized that she wasn't holding it as some kind of show of support – she was pressing a damp washcloth to his palm. She pulled it away and sighed, sitting back on her heels. "What exactly do you remember?"

Naegi frowned, trying to think back. "I'm… not sure. We were searching the room. I think… I was going to check under the bed. But after that… it's a little fuzzy."

"That isn't surprising," Kirigiri said, her face grim. "Take a look at your hand."

"Huh?" Naegi lifted his left hand, the one she'd been holding the washcloth to – and he realized there was a small puncture wound piercing through the center of his palm. "Did something stab me?"

"That would be this." Kirigiri nodded to another washcloth, with a silver sewing needle resting on top of it.

Naegi frowned at the needle. It was hard to see without getting a closer look, but in addition to the traces of blood, it looked like there was something yellow coating it.

"Is there something on that needle?" Naegi asked, trying to brace his other hand on the floor so that he could sit up. "Some kind of drug, maybe?"

Kirigiri put a hand on his back to steady him. "It looks that way." She got to her feet. "Do you think you can move? I want to show you something."

"All right." Naegi's head spun wildly as he pushed himself upright, his stomach twisting itself into knots at the sudden change, but he gritted his teeth and held on until the physical sensations died down enough that he could follow Kirigiri over to where Hagakure's body still lay across the foot of the bed.

She didn't seem at all fazed by touching a dead body as she lifted one of Hagakure's forearms – but then, it never seemed to bother her with any of the corpses.

"I can't believe how calm you are," Naegi said, watching her. "No matter how many times I see a dead body, I can't get used to it."

"That's normal," Kirigiri said, moving around to turn over one of Hagakure's ankles. "I imagine it's because I've had plenty of opportunities to touch dead bodies in the past."

"What?" Naegi stared at her blankly.

"Never mind." She shook her head. "More importantly, look here – at Hagakure's arm and ankle."

Naegi looked at the places she'd named, and gasped. There were three small puncture wounds on Hagakure's body, two on his arm and one on his lower leg – and all were identical to the mark on his own palm.

"So this has to be it, right?" Naegi said, looking back up at her. He could feel his thoughts picking up to a little closer to a normal pace, even though the rest of his body still felt heavy and slow. "These needles must be how the culprit knocked everyone unconscious so they could kill Hagakure."

"Possibly." Kirigiri crossed her arms and frowned at Naegi. "Do you know why I took so much time examining the body in this case?"

"Because you want to be thorough?" Naegi asked, confused.

"Yes, but in this case, there was a reason that I wanted to be more thorough than usual," Kirigiri said. "When I examined the wound on the back of Hagakure's head, I determined that while it does look like it bled considerably, it doesn't appear to be severe enough to have been the cause of death."

"But if it wasn't the head wound…" Naegi's gaze went to the puncture wounds on Hagakure's body, then to the mark on his own palm.

"I removed the needle almost immediately, and I believe I got most of the chemicals out when I cleaned the wound," Kirigiri said. "Now that you're awake, I don't think you need to worry."

"Oh. I… guess that's good." Naegi closed his hand so that he couldn't see the mark anymore. "So how long was I out? Is the trial starting soon?"

"You were unconscious for perhaps half an hour," Kirigiri said. "The announcement hasn't sounded yet, but I don't know how much more time the mastermind intends to give us."

"Then… we should keep searching." Naegi braced himself against the wall, looking around the room in determination. "We have to keep moving forward."

"Agreed." Kirigiri gave him an approving nod. "While I was looking through the bathroom for something to clean your wound, I noticed a few things that merit further investigation. I'll examine those, and you can resume your search out here."

Naegi frowned. "I've already looked out here."

"Yes, but you were searching for a much larger murder weapon," Kirigiri pointed out. "I don't believe there are any other needles left in the bed, which means they must be elsewhere in the room. We need to find as many of them as possible." With that, she turned and headed into the bathroom.

Naegi sighed. Searching a murder scene was hard enough normally, let alone when any move made his head spin and his stomach roil – but feeling sick wasn't going to make the trial go away. He just had to ignore the discomfort and do it.

Well, if he was looking for needles, there was one obvious place. Naegi dragged himself over to Ogami's desk and opened the bottom drawer where he'd seen her sewing kit. He hadn't given it much thought when he'd looked at it earlier – but now that he did, he could see that it had been opened already. He opened the kit slowly, not sure if it was dread or drugs making his hands heavy as he examined the kit's contents.

And it was exactly as he'd feared. All six needles in Ogami's sewing kit were missing.