Naegi winced, looking at the spot where Monokuma had been standing. He hadn't actually meant to chase the bear away – not when he didn't know whether Kirigiri had finished her investigation or not. Had that been a long enough distraction to keep her safe? He hoped so – calling Monokuma back so soon would look really suspicious. Besides, he was a little worried that if he kept talking to Monokuma, he'd end up with a dozen worthless tickets and a handbook that could shoot lasers.
Naegi looked down at the tickets that lay scattered innocently across the floor. He was pretty sure that Togami and Kirigiri would both tell him to leave the tickets alone, but he wasn't sure if he should. Yes, they'd come from Monokuma – but he still didn't know if that meant the mastermind or Ikusaba.
Whoever had been speaking through Monokuma, they'd made such a big point of giving the tickets to him – more than it seemed like the tickets deserved. Had Monokuma just been taking the opportunity to mock him while leading up to the handbook upgrade, or was there something about the tickets that he was missing? Maybe they weren't as useless as they seemed.
Either way, he probably shouldn't leave things just lying around on the ground in the common areas of the school if he didn't want them – that would be messy. These were just a few papers, after all – he could easily throw them out if they turned out to be useless or dangerous.
He braced a hand against the wall and stooped slowly down to pick up the tickets from the ground, trying to ignore the way it made his head spin. Was the dizziness getting worse? No, it was probably just that he was overtired and needed to rest. He'd be fine in the morning, he was sure of it.
Tucking the tickets into one of his pockets, Naegi began the trek back across the hall towards the dorm rooms. After all the walking he'd done today, these last few steps shouldn't have been difficult – that was what he kept telling himself. His dorm room wasn't so far away, not after walking back and forth across the whole fifth floor, or climbing all those stairs. So there was no reason for him to fall heavily against the wall beside his room, clutching at the doorknob in a desperate attempt to keep himself upright.
His shoulder screamed in protest as most of his weight fell on it for a moment, but at least he managed to avoid falling to the ground this time. That had to mean he was moving in the right direction, didn't it? After all, when he'd been overcome by the sight of the ruined classroom earlier today, he hadn't been able to stop himself from collapsing. He would have hit the ground pretty painfully, if it hadn't been for Togami.
Naegi's eyes drifted across the hall, and just for a moment, he let himself fantasize about what might happen if he walked across to ring Togami's bell. He envisioned the door opened by a boy who was surprised but welcoming, wearing the same soft smile Naegi had woken up to during the past week. Naegi would blurt out an apology for everything that had happened, only to hear Togami saying the exact same thing. They would stop, and laugh, and then at last he could fall forward into Togami's arms, where he fit so perfectly that he couldn't understand why he hadn't been there all his life. He could relax, just for a few minutes, trusting that here, with this person, he would be safe.
Except that safety was just an illusion here at Hope's Peak, as cruel and painful as that daydream. Naegi closed his eyes against it, trying to ignore the dampness at the edges of his eyes. He shouldn't let himself sit around in the hallway dreaming about everything just magically being fixed – not when he knew it wouldn't work that way.
Togami was almost certainly asleep, and he'd just be annoyed if Naegi rang his doorbell now. He probably wouldn't even answer it – but if he did, he'd be in no mood for a tender reconciliation. Naegi could still see the expression on the other boy's face, just before he'd turned and stormed out of the entrance hall after the nighttime announcement. His eyes had turned to ice, as cold and haughty as the first time they'd met – like Naegi wasn't even worth his attention anymore.
But if that was how he really felt, then why had he caught Naegi before he could collapse? Why had he taken the time to help Naegi down the stairs instead of rushing ahead with Kirigiri? He'd said it was to avoid the inconvenience of Naegi being injured – but was that really the only reason? Even with the short time they'd had together, Naegi had fairly easily been able to spot that Togami was much more inclined to share his negative feelings. If he'd had other, more sentimental reasons for helping Naegi – then maybe he wouldn't have said anything about them?
Naegi shook his head, then regretted it as the resulting wave of dizziness washed through him, strongly enough to leave his vision blurred and wavering. This situation was too complicated for him to think about now. He probably couldn't even trust any conclusions that he came to when he was this out of it – it wasn't a stretch to think that the dizziness that altered his balance and vision might also impact his reasoning ability.
And if that was the case, he definitely shouldn't try to talk to Togami now. He shuddered to think what he might say if he tried to talk to the heir when he was feeling fuzzy. Yes, he owed Togami an apology and an explanation – but that could wait for the morning. His head had to be better by then.
Naegi resolutely turned away from Togami's door, unlocking his own room and slipping inside. He made sure to remember to lock his own door, nodding to himself as he tucked his room key away. Togami's accusations about his recklessness were unfounded – Naegi could remember to take precautions for his own safety when he tried.
Naegi stumbled across the room towards his bed, ready to collapse onto it at last. The thought of trying to do much more than strip off his jacket and hoodie was beyond him, even if he'd probably regret sleeping in his clothes when morning rolled around. He'd regret it even more if trying to change into pajamas was just one push too far, and he ended up spending the night passed out on the floor.
But as he lay down on the bed, Naegi found sleep elusive, no matter how exhausted he was. He couldn't stop his mind from drifting back to Kirigiri's plan to investigate. Had he bought her enough time? Had she really been able to get into any of the hidden areas of the school?
Well, now he had a way to check. Naegi sat up and took his handbook from his desk, flipping it open to display the map. The only change to the dormitory floor was that Naegi's icon had moved to his room – Kirigiri still hadn't returned. Well, maybe she was still investigating. Naegi began flipping through the maps of the other floors, carefully checking each one.
But by the time he'd gone through the whole school, Naegi was frowning. He hadn't seen Kirigiri anywhere, not on any of the maps. Had he just missed her – or did that mean something much worse?
No, he was getting ahead of himself. Just because Kirigiri wasn't showing up on the map, it didn't necessarily mean anything bad had happened to her. He'd gotten the map from Monokuma, after all – that meant that it was showing information the mastermind had. And if Kirigiri wasn't on it, then maybe that just meant she'd gone somewhere that the mastermind couldn't see. They'd already found two areas in the school where the mastermind couldn't watch them – maybe whatever locked area she'd found was another place that was off the mastermind's radar.
But no matter how many possibilities Naegi's mind conjured, he couldn't shake the lingering worry that something had gone horribly wrong. He checked through the maps again, and then another time, hoping that this time, Kirigiri's icon would reappear, tangible proof that everything really had been all right.
But every time he checked, the other floors remained stubbornly empty. Naegi wasn't sure how long he sat up paging through the maps until he finally lost the battle against exhaustion – but through all of it, Kirigiri never reappeared.
