For a moment, Naegi thought Togami might refuse his request to come closer, the faint hint of a puzzled frown lining his face. Naegi could see a thousand calculating thoughts ticking away behind the other boy's narrowed blue eyes as his gaze moved from Naegi to the camera and back again, and he tried to think of what kind of explanation he might be able to offer in response to the inevitable questions.

But instead of refusing to act in a way that made no sense with the information he possessed or demanding an explanation before giving in, Togami just nodded. He rose from the chair and circled around until he was on the opposite side of the bed from Naegi's injured arm. With movements slow enough that Naegi barely felt the shift, Togami sank down onto the bed, his body pressing warm and solid against Naegi's side. Only when he leaned in to bring his ear close enough to hear the faintest whisper, positioning himself to block the camera's view of whatever words Naegi's lips might form, did Naegi start speaking again.

"There really is a sixteenth person in the school. Her name is Mukuro Ikusaba, and she's been working with the mastermind."

Togami must have braced himself to try not to react to whatever he might hear, but this close, Naegi could see the infinitesimal widening of his eyes and hear the brief moment when his breath caught in his throat. So that must mean that whatever Togami might have found so far in his investigation, it hadn't made him suspect Ikusaba's existence. He hadn't seemed to take Ogami very seriously when she had first suggested the possibility of a sixteenth student when they'd confronted her over being a spy – the concept had probably slipped his mind entirely.

Togami's gaze flickered in the direction of the security camera, and Naegi could see the moment when realization dawned in his eyes. With his highly cautious approach to both the cameras and the other students, of course Togami's mind would have jumped immediately to the potential risk Ikusaba could present. He didn't know the specifics of the situation, but he understood the need for secrecy.

Naegi could feel the moment when Togami's attention left the security camera to refocus on him, even though the other boy didn't do anything obvious to indicate it had happened. Naegi couldn't have pinpointed exactly what it was that gave it away, whether it was the angle of his head or the rhythm of his breath – but he knew he had Togami's attention before the other boy even parted his lips to speak.

"How?" was the only word Togami uttered in response to Naegi's revelation, his tone flat and inflectionless.

An eavesdropper wouldn't have been able to deduce much about the conversation from that single word, but it barely took Naegi a second to grasp what Togami had meant. Not "how was there another person," since Naegi could hardly be expected to know something like that, and not "how did Naegi know about this," since he'd already explained that Kirigiri had told him. No, this "how" had to translate to the first question that would be likely to occur to Togami in the face of this information – "how did Kirigiri know about it?" Togami didn't like to take anything on face value, and Naegi knew he'd take issue with the information if it were nothing more than Kirigiri's unsubstantiated conclusions.

"She isn't just guessing about it," Naegi said. "Kirigiri knows Ikusaba's here because they've met. Kirigiri went to check out the headmaster's office right after the last trial, and Ikusaba found her there. She talked to Kirigiri in person, not using Monokuma or through a broadcast. There's no way Kirigiri could have made a mistake about something like that."

Togami's only movement in response was a slight thinning of his lips as he processed the new information. Naegi suspected the other boy would have argued if any of the circumstances had been different – but he could hardly doubt the existence of a sixteenth student when Kirigiri had actually seen her. And that meant that if Togami couldn't find a hole in one piece of this new information, he'd attack it from another angle, switching to what he would consider the next most critical question. He would want to know why.

Naegi answered it before Togami could even open his mouth to ask. "She approached Kirigiri because she wants to work with us against the mastermind. She offered to help us escape."

Whatever mental fortifications Togami had tried to use to prevent a visible reaction, they weren't able to hold against a statement like that. He jerked away and twisted around so that he could look Naegi in the face, gaze scanning him with burning intent. Naegi blinked, not quite sure what he ought to do in response to this nonverbal interrogation. What exactly was Togami looking for? He couldn't suspect Naegi of lying, and since Togami had been the one to stop Naegi from continuing to explain, he could hardly believe that Naegi was leaving something out. What else was there?

If Togami had been searching for answers in Naegi's expression, he apparently didn't find them. Instead of moving back so that Naegi could continue speaking in secrecy, he shifted around on the bed until he could bend down and press his cheek to Naegi's temple, his lips close to Naegi's ear. In spite of the tense situation, a shiver snaked down Naegi's neck at the feel of his hair shifting beneath the other boy's breath.

"Don't tell me you believed her."

Togami's words might have been soft enough that only Naegi could hear them, but that didn't make them any less harsh.

"That's the most obvious ploy I've ever heard. A mysterious sixteenth student appears out of nowhere the same day that the mastermind finishes using planted data to manipulate us? A five-year-old could spot the trap in that. Please, please don't tell me you trusted her."

Naegi frowned as Togami moved away again, repositioning himself so that he could hear Naegi's response. He supposed that he might be a little more trusting than the average person, and definitely a lot more than someone as suspicious as Togami – but that didn't mean he was stupid.

"Of course I knew it could be a trap," Naegi said, as soon as he could answer Togami without being overheard. "Kirigiri did, too. We talked about it. But we both thought that even if it was risky to try to work with Ikusaba, we couldn't just ignore her."

Togami's eyes had gone very dark at this, but he didn't move away. He just raised a hand in a peremptory gesture, motioning for Naegi to keep talking.

"Ikusaba offered to open up one of the locked areas of the school so that Kirigiri could look for something to use against the mastermind," Naegi went on. "She thought she could do it without the mastermind noticing."

Togami's frown deepened at that. "When?"

"Last night." As he finally admitted it aloud, Naegi couldn't keep the fear out of his tone. "And I don't think anyone's seen Kirigiri since."