Togami froze, staring blankly down at Ogami as he realized just what reaction her grief had inspired in him. Sympathy – for a traitor? Because of a death where she herself had been part of the cause? If he was that determined to make things easy for her, he might as well just hand her a knife and bare his throat.
But – wait. Togami frowned, stopping his train of thought before it could continue too far down its usual track. He'd left his room this morning intending to pay attention to what the other students said and did, however distasteful the experience of interacting with them might be. He didn't think he'd been off-base in his initial assessment of Ogami – but then again, there had been a point when he'd believed that about his views of Naegi and Kirigiri, too.
With that in mind, maybe it was worth pursuing this new perception of Ogami. If she was genuinely grief-stricken, it would be valuable to gather information about her new state of mind. And if she was faking as part of some plan of the mastermind's – well, then he would need to know more about it to figure out what the plan was supposed to be.
But how exactly was he supposed to listen to Ogami when she didn't seem interested in saying anything? His earlier consideration about how best to interrogate her about the whereabouts of the other students had been based on the assumption that she would participate in the conversation. He'd clearly need to revise that idea.
Should he pretend to some kind of pity for her, and try to draw her out through a show of compassion? No – he dismissed the idea almost as soon as it occurred to him. He might possibly have been able to pull that off in other circumstances – but the time they'd spent trapped here in the mastermind's killing game had given all the students a much deeper look at one another's characters than acquaintances normally got in mere weeks. After everything he'd said to make his opinion of the other students clear, he doubted anyone would believe an expression of concern from him.
All right, then – he'd take the opposite approach.
"I suppose you think you're accomplishing a lot of good lurking around here in the dark," Togami said, curling his lip in a sneer. "Taking yourself out of circulation is all well and good, but I think we'd all feel safer to have you where we can see you every once in a while."
He could have made the barb nastier, if he'd felt so inclined – but he was a little concerned that being too vicious would do more than just jar her into action. He didn't particularly want the reaction he prodded out of her to be something violent.
But apparently he'd judged it close enough – because this time, he did actually manage to get a response out of her. Ogami shifted until she sat straight up against the wall instead of slumping, muscles moving so slowly he could almost hear them creaking. The look in her eyes sharpened to something less deadened, like she was listening to him in a way she hadn't been before.
"Did Kirigiri and Naegi send you to check on me?" Her voice scraped roughly from her mouth, like she'd forgotten how to speak aloud.
Togami scowled. "No one sent me. I'm hardly an errand boy."
It had been a strange question, though. Yes, he knew that Naegi and Kirigiri had stopped by to talk with Ogami at some point yesterday, but why would Ogami think they'd want someone to check on her afterwards? Neither of them had mentioned anything of the kind – though it hadn't really been the topic of conversation at the time. But he knew Naegi, at least, would never have so much as implied that Ogami might do something to threaten the other students, though Kirigiri might have been a little more realistic about that question.
But on the other hand – there was more than one possible reason to check on someone. And sitting on the floor, alone in the dark, was hardly the decision of a person fully in command of her own sanity.
"What, were you planning to follow through on your earlier threat? While your room was unlocked and accessible to all of us?" Togami watched her almost imperceptibly flinch at the words, his eyebrows knitting together in a frown. "Haven't you caused enough difficulty for the rest of us without forcing us into another trial?"
Actually, now that he thought about it, he was surprised that she hadn't found a way to off herself yet. She'd claimed to be on the brink of it before Asahina's note had disrupted her plans, after all, and it wasn't like the trial had given her much reason to change her mind. Of course, she didn't have her bottle of poison anymore, but with murder methods scattered all over the school, it wasn't as though that was a real impediment.
During the trial, he'd assumed that her story about a suicide attempt had been either a lie to make herself seem sympathetic or part of some obscure plan of the mastermind's – and he supposed that could still be the case, especially since she wasn't actually dead. But he couldn't see how telling them all about her planned suicide attempt would benefit either her or the mastermind, even indirectly. It might possibly have left an opening for a killer to disguise a murder as suicide, but from what he'd seen so far, the mastermind seemed to prefer to be as obvious as possible when offering them all incentives to kill.
He narrowed his eyes down at Ogami, trying to find some clue about her actions in her hollow eyes and thinned lips. She glared up at him, which was no surprise after the way he'd deliberately attacked her – but it wasn't the furious blaze she used to send towards people who angered her. This was still and silent, like whatever had burned within her before had gone bitterly cold.
"So that's why you're here," Ogami said, her mouth twisting into something grim. "You must want to make sure Kirigiri won't have to make good on her threat."
Togami froze at the words. "What threat?"
"They didn't tell you?" Ogami's shoulders shifted in a hint of a shrug. "You're right – I'd been considering ways to eliminate the threat that my continued presence creates for the rest of you. But before I could, Kirigiri and Naegi came to check on me."
Togami could well imagine just how upset Naegi would have been to realize that he might be close to losing another of his precious friends. He had to deepen his scowl at the thought, to stop himself from showing any weakness at the thought.
"And while they were here," Ogami continued, "Kirigiri made it clear that if I did kill myself, there would be consequences during the trial."
"Which would hardly affect you, if you were the victim," Togami pointed out, puzzled. He wouldn't have expected Kirigiri to miss a detail like that.
"No, but she knew I wouldn't want to unleash them." Ogami closed her eyes, pain flashing across her face. "Kirigiri said that if I killed myself after arguing with Naegi, it would look like he drove me to it – like he was the person who caused my death."
Togami stared at her. "He – what?" How could Kirigiri possibly have made that argument? Naegi would never drive someone to suicide, intentionally or not – he was the nicest person Togami had ever met, nicer than he thought anyone could be. If that argument had come up during the trial, even if it had failed, it would have been devastating for the kindhearted boy.
And if the mastermind had bought it, Naegi would have been executed as a murderer.
