Togami froze in place just a step beyond the library threshold, casting his mind back to when he'd left the room more than an hour ago. He remembered storming out as Jill insisted on chattering about Naegi — and he remembered the door slamming shut behind him. The Hope's Peak architects had clearly decided that such a school's library deserved fairly large and imposing doors, so much that swinging them open was no small task. The only way this door could have gotten open after he'd closed it was if someone had deliberately done so.
He looked around the areas of the room that he could see from the entrance, searching for something out of place — but with the rampant destruction torn across the room, he could hardly tell if anything had changed. It wasn't as though he'd paid much attention to which bookcase had fallen where, or how many books had been shredded. The library was as much a mess as he'd left it, that was the most that he could judge. But even with all the chaos, there was one obvious thing missing.
Ever since Genocide Jill had made herself known to the rest of the students, Togami had hardly been able to enter the same room without seeing her spring towards him out of nowhere. Fukawa had been more inclined to creep behind him, not quite out of his line of sight — but Jill only bothered to hide her stalking if he specifically demanded that she leave him alone. And since he hadn't done so before leaving the library… Jill should have rushed out to greet him the moment he returned.
A sense of foreboding inched its way down the back of Togami's neck. He hadn't thought much of it when he'd left Jill here alone, with the half-disassembled Monokuma in pieces around her — but that had been before Naegi had told him there might be a sixteenth person in the school to contend with. He didn't doubt that the genocider could take care of herself under normal circumstances — but whatever lies Ikusaba might have told, her role in Fenrir seemed rooted in truth. How would Jill fare if pitted against a highly skilled mercenary, one she hadn't known to expect?
His eyes darted across the room to the corner where he'd ordered Jill to wait, screened from view by the row of bookcases. It would be an ideal place to set an ambush — especially since he'd have to return there eventually if he wanted to resume his investigation into the frozen Monokuma.
But on the other hand, if he couldn't see into that corner — anyone there wouldn't be able to see him, either. Slowly, placing each foot so that his steps made next to no sound, Togami circled around the far side of the room, keeping well out of the line of sight of the corner until he could approach the row of bookcases from the opposite side. He pressed himself flat against the edge of the outermost bookcase, held his breath, and peered around to the hidden area.
It stood as empty and untouched as he'd left it.
Togami let out his breath in an exasperated huff, stepping away from the bookcase with a scowl. Naegi's information must have shaken him more than he'd realized, to get him jumping at shadows that way. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt such instinctive alarm at an empty room — especially not when he'd entered a room to discover that his murderous stalker wasn't present.
After all, he doubted she'd stay away for long. She never did, no matter how much he might wish she would. And she'd obviously still been in the middle of trying to remove the blood from the floor — she'd even left the bucket of soapy water right in the middle of the floor. Togami glared down at the tripping hazard, trying not to think about the source of the dark red stains on the sponge floating in the dingy water as he moved the bucket out of his way. He'd have to remember to tell Jill exactly what he thought of people who left their filth sitting around for others to deal with when she got back from wherever she'd wandered off to.
But in the meantime, he certainly had no intention of sitting around and waiting for her to turn up again. He couldn't regret the hour he'd spent with Naegi, not when it had eased the soul-crushing fear that had been gripping him since he'd found Naegi bleeding out on the library floor — but he couldn't afford to lose any more time, either. Every moment that passed was another opportunity for the mastermind to enact the next step of whatever plan they'd begun.
With as much care as he could muster, Togami picked his way through the pieces of electronic equipment he'd left covering the floor, returning to his seat beside the half-gutted bear. He'd put a great deal of effort into making certain that he could reassemble Monokuma without breaking anything, and he wasn't about to waste all that work by carelessly stepping on some critical piece.
Once he'd settled himself in front of the frozen bear again, Togami scanned the electronics around him, checking to make sure everything seemed to be where he'd left it. He might not have paid much attention to the ruin of the rest of the room — but he'd placed these items with the full awareness that any error could cost him his life. He knew exactly where he'd left everything, from the large bomb down to the smallest screw.
And as far as he could tell, none of it had been disturbed. Everything seemed to be just where it had been when he'd walked out of the room, even the way the wires had coiled around themselves. That reassured him a little. Whatever idiocy Jill might be up to, at least she hadn't been stupid enough to fiddle with the pieces of Monokuma — or worse, with the motion sensor on the bomb. He wouldn't have been surprised to come back to find that she'd splattered herself across the library walls — but the bomb was as inert as he'd left it. It looked like he could continue his investigation from where he'd left off without a hitch.
But this time, he wouldn't just be searching blindly for anything that seemed useful. Naegi's information had given him that much direction, at least. Whatever had happened between Kirigiri and Ikusaba, it had to be related to why Monokuma had stopped moving. And if he could find some evidence of that connection, it would shed some light on just what was happening behind the locked doors of Hope's Peak.
There had to be answers here, he was sure of it — and he would find them. With that goal in mind, Togami picked up his discarded tools, bent over the robot, and got back to work.
Author's Note: Just a reminder that this week I'll be posting only on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
