Junko spun slowly in her chair, views from different cameras flashing in and out of her vision. Her classmates seemed to move in stop motion as she caught glimpses of them, slumping and shuddering in her absence. It was almost cute, the way all the bravado drained right out of them without a Monokuma present – like they forgot she could still watch them through the cameras.

Well, in Naegi's case, it was probably the poison finally dragging him down. Junko brought her spinning to an abrupt halt in front of the screen with the best view of her classmates, giving her a good look at Naegi's pale face. Whatever had been in that poison, it wasn't mixing well at all with his other injuries – or maybe it was reacting to the lingering effects of the head injury and the tranquilizer she'd had to use to keep him unconscious down in that hidden room. She'd thought for sure he would have shaken that off by now! That poor kid just couldn't catch a break.

Which brought up a puzzler for her. If Naegi died of chemical overdose, did she want to make them hold a trial? She did like the idea of giving Togami a constructive way to express his feelings about it! But then again, it wasn't like there'd be a culprit to execute – and a trial without an execution at the end just sounded unsatisfying for everyone.

Well, maybe Naegi's luck would finally kick in and he'd recover – though from the look of him, Junko thought that would take some time. It looked to her like his little burst of defiance after the punishments had cost him pretty badly. He sagged back against Togami so hard it looked like the heir was having some trouble keeping them both from crashing to the ground. Junko smirked. She'd never thought Togami would be much for catching swooning damsels. It was a real shame Fukawa wasn't around to see him play into her fantasies for once!

Although that said, Togami wasn't doing too badly as a white knight these days. He'd gotten awfully willing to draw his sword in Naegi's defense – for all the good it was doing. Junko giggled to herself at the way he tried to look intimidating, sending Kirigiri a poisonous glare and positioning himself between her and Naegi as they headed for the elevator. He could posture about protecting his cute little boyfriend all he liked, but that wasn't worth much when Naegi was oh-so-willing to let Kirigiri toss him into danger.

And it looked like Togami knew it, too. Junko turned to the elevator camera, giving herself a nice close up shot of the anxiety lines around Togami's eyes and the grayish tinge to his face. Every time he looked down at Naegi, who'd closed his eyes and seemed to be drifting towards unconsciousness now, a muscle visibly twitched down the side of his neck.

Now, if that wasn't the face of a boy primed to do something stupid, Junko didn't know what was. Naegi might like preaching tiresome sermons about trust and friendship and working together, but for Togami, the head wounds and poison would speak louder. Junko sighed in sympathy for the poor boy. Togami always did have a difficult time sorting through new emotions – and now, with this onslaught of shiny new affections and vulnerabilities, with the feelings from his erased memories echoing back on top of everything else, he'd be at a loss for the best way to cope.

And what kind of girl wouldn't help a classmate in need?

Junko spared a perfunctory glance at the monitors showing the execution chambers, checking to see whether she needed to spur Jill and Ogami to get a move on for the elevators yet. Ah, good, it looked like they'd both spotted the exits and had at least started moving. Jill made a beeline for the elevator, not looking much worse for wear despite her alter ego's execution.

Ogami, on the other hand, looked ready to cause trouble. Junko frowned as she headed not towards the elevator, but back in the direction of the trial room. Oh, no, that wouldn't do at all!

Junko vaulted up from her chair into the control room, and only just made it to the buttons in time. Even in the other room, she could hear the crash from the monitor as the heavy iron security gate slammed into place, locking the trial chamber – and Asahina's body – safely out of reach. After all, what kind of classmate would she be if she let poor, grieving Ogami stare at her precious friend's bloody corpse? No, no, much better to hurry her on her way.

Heading back out to the room with the monitors, Junko was just in time to see Ogami turn away from the iron gate and make her way to the elevator at last. So that made all of them – her only five remaining classmates out of the original fifteen. Junko had to give them a small, proud smile as she activated the elevator. They were doing so well! She'd known that entrusting this role to her beloved classmates was a good idea.

In fact, they were doing so very well that soon, she might need to start thinking about the endgame. After all, she'd given them so many clues that even the dimmest and most distracted of them had to be piecing a few things together by now. Junko flopped back into her chair, letting it twirl her around the floor one last time as she grinned. She just couldn't wait!

The chair slowed to a halt in front of the elevator camera, and Junko beamed up at her classmates' exhausted, broken expressions. They were so very close! She looked from face to face, drinking them in and committing the moment of despair to memory.

But as her eyes fell on Kirigiri's face, Junko's smile fell away and she leaned forward, concentrating intently. The pale girl stood in the corner of the elevator, not facing the door as usual, but staring directly at Naegi and Togami. Another person might have called her expressionless – but Junko hadn't spent two years around her classmates for nothing. With that expression, combined with what Kirigiri thought she already knew – Junko knew exactly what Kyoko Kirigiri was thinking right now.

A slow smile spread over Junko's face, darker and more terrible than before. Maybe Togami wasn't the only weak point among the students after all.


Author's Note: Just a reminder that with the new schedule, the next chapter will be posted on Sunday. See you then!