"There — I believe that should hold," Ogami said, rechecking the last of the knots in the makeshift sling she'd constructed to hold Naegi's injured arm.

Naegi blinked down at the sling, wrapped around his neck and cradling his arm to his chest. He wouldn't have known where to begin if he'd been asked to make something like this, but Ogami had barely hesitated. As soon as she'd located a spare bedsheet on one of the shelves, she'd neatly torn it in half and folded it from an ungainly rectangle into a functional piece of medical equipment. For something made from a knotted piece of fabric, it seemed surprisingly sturdy, holding Naegi's arm in place even if he shifted around. It definitely seemed like it would let him be a little more mobile, as long as he didn't make any sudden movements or try to take the sling off.

He looked back up and gave Ogami a grateful smile. "Thank you! This is much better. You must have had a lot of practice making these."

"I would hardly call it a lot of practice, but yes, I have made slings before," Ogami said, shrugging off the praise. "Arm injuries were quite common in our dojo, though sprains were far more common than punctures. I hadn't realized I remembered the motions so well — but it came back to me as easily as if I'd spent months practicing."

"Well, I'm glad you remember how to do it," Naegi said. "Now I don't have to worry so much about jarring my arm if I move."

Ogami frowned at him. "I did not do this so that you could move around. You wished to be more comfortable so that you could sleep. I gave my word that I would take care of you — I can't allow you to worsen your injuries by doing something foolish."

"I know," Naegi said, sighing. "I probably couldn't get very far even if I tried. But I just wish there was something I could do to help."

"There is," Ogami said. "You can take the time you need to recover properly. I doubt Togami would be able to focus on whatever he's gone to investigate if he thought you might be throwing yourself back into danger."

A worried frown creased Naegi's face at the thought of Togami not paying attention as he messed around with the deactivated Monokuma. Surely the heir wouldn't be that careless, would he? But… all it would take for disaster to strike was one wrong move, a moment's inattention. Naegi couldn't risk doing anything that would make him a distraction in such a precarious situation. Togami was trusting him to stay here and rest… and Naegi couldn't forget that he'd already broken one promise he'd made to the other boy. As frustrating as it might feel to be unable to help, he had no other options.

"I understand," Naegi said, letting himself sink back against the pillows with his arm steady against his chest. "I'll try to rest as much as I can. But… even if I do fall asleep… will you wake me up if you see anyone else?"

"Of course," Ogami said, her expression becoming minutely more gentle. "But it may be some time before Togami is able to return."

"Not just him," Naegi said. "Kirigiri, too."

"Kirigiri? But she…" Ogami trailed off with a frown. "You're right, she hasn't been around all day. I would have expected her to wish to check on you. She can't be unaware of what happened."

Naegi hesitated, wondering what he ought to say to Ogami in reply to that. He'd told Togami everything that Kirigiri had shared with him — but she'd given him permission to reveal that information. If she'd meant for him to tell all the remaining students about her meeting with Ikusaba and their resulting plan, she would have said so. But she hadn't — and it was her secret, not his. She'd trusted him to guard this knowledge for her. He had to honor that.

At least, until the point when holding onto the information could put his other friends in danger. Kirigiri had called him her failsafe, her backup plan in case her partnership with Ikusaba went wrong. And if her disappearance meant anything, then something had gone very wrong indeed. If Kirigiri really had meant for him to have this information in case of an emergency, she had to have expected him to do something with it if he needed to. And with one of his friends possibly already caught in the mastermind's trap, he had to do whatever he could to make sure the others didn't end up in the same situation.

But as close as it was, Naegi didn't think that things hadn't reached that point yet. It had only been a day, after all — Kirigiri could still come back safely. With both her and Monokuma out of the picture, there was no proof of what exactly had happened, or where the danger might lie. And just in case Ikusaba genuinely was the ally that she'd presented herself to be, he couldn't add to her danger by revealing her too soon.

"She had some other things she needed to do," he told Ogami at last, figuring that it was better to be vague than to lie to his friend outright. "But she was supposed to come back and tell me about it when she was done."

"I see," Ogami said, though the frown didn't quite vanish from her face. "It will probably be a shock for her to arrive and find you injured, but it might ease that if you woke to speak with her yourself. But even if she wished to speak with you, surely she would wait until a more reasonable hour."

"Maybe," Naegi said. "But please wake me up if she doesn't."

"Very well," Ogami conceded. "Provided you rest now."

"I'll try," Naegi said, forcing himself to close his eyes and settle back into the pillows.

He'd expected more of the same dull alertness that had kept him awake in the first place… but it seemed that the conversation had left him more tired than he'd realized. Only a few moments passed before he felt himself drifting down into the soft darkness of sleep, and true to his word, he didn't fight as it took him.


Author's Note: I'm getting into the critical time before my move, so I'm not sure how much time I'll have for writing in the coming week. There will definitely be a new chapter on Sunday, and based on what I can finish over the weekend, I'll have another schedule update by then.