Togami froze, gaze locking onto the body crumpled on the floor. With its head turned away and draped in some kind of long coat, he couldn't immediately identify it — but even in the gray shadows and blood-drenched light, he could tell that whoever it was, they were no longer among the living. No one could have survived long with a knife buried deep in their chest like that.

But… with so few students left alive, there were only a few possibilities as to who it could be. Ice crept through Togami's blood as he stared at the corpse, the device's light turning its pale coat to a vicious red. He hadn't seen anyone since he'd resumed his investigation hours ago… when he'd left Naegi in the care of a girl who had been the mastermind's agent.

He'd thought that he could trust Ogami to protect Naegi. After seeing everything she'd done for the other boy, he'd believed her promises of protection. Could it all have been a ruse? Had she only acted that way to lull him into complacency, so that she could strike when he least expected it?

Togami couldn't tear his eyes away from the body, hands clenched into painfully tight fists so that they didn't tremble. All it would take was a few steps forward, just enough to turn the corpse's head towards him, and he would know the truth. He'd always believed that it was better to know, better to live in reality instead of the what-ifs and maybes of uncertainty… but even so, he couldn't cross that final distance. He couldn't leave this horrifying limbo of possibility. As long as he didn't look at the face, didn't have an absolute identification, he could still tell himself that it wasn't Naegi. He could look away, look at the twisted arms, the dark stains around the knife, and tell himself it wasn't —

It wasn't Naegi.

Togami felt himself breathe again for the first time since he'd caught sight of the corpse when he finally recognized the faint curves of breasts on either side of the knife. Lightheaded relief surged through him as he drank in a long breath of the sharp, acrid air, strong enough that he nearly staggered from it. This body had to be one of the girls. And while nothing good could come of one of them turning up dead, it was so much better than the other possibilities. The icy fear began to release its stifling grip on his mind, letting him think the situation through more rationally.

He'd thought that he'd considered every possibility of what might be waiting for him in this classroom before he'd entered — but he hadn't thought that a corpse would be a particularly likely option. Why should it be, when Monokuma had disappeared and the remaining students were occupied with the investigation?

But then again — just because Monokuma had disappeared, it didn't follow that the game had stopped. For someone truly determined, this might even be the perfect opportunity to act, with all the other students distracted by injuries and investigations. In fact, if not for Naegi, Togami had to admit he might have taken advantage of such a situation himself. And knowing that, another death now shouldn't come as a shock, especially not after so many of them.

Except… this death hadn't been like the others. Togami hadn't come across this corpse by accident, in the course of his normal activities — he'd been led here. Whether he'd been lured to the ruined classroom as part of some dark plan of the mastermind's, or whether he genuinely had uncovered something that had been meant to remain hidden, the result was the same — he'd found this corpse in the middle of investigating the strange device he'd found inside Monokuma. And that meant that whatever was happening, it had to be connected to the mastermind somehow.

At that thought, Togami sent a sharp look back over his shoulder, scanning the shadows around him for any hint of movement. He hadn't seen anything as he'd walked through a moment ago, but in this shifting darkness, it would be all too easy to avoid notice. He raised the device a little higher, trying to illuminate as much of the room as possible — but no matter how hard he squinted into the darkened corners, nothing suggested that anyone else was in the room with him. Whoever had done this appeared to be long gone.

Once he was reasonably satisfied this wasn't about to turn into a double murder, Togami turned back to the body, though he stayed alert for any changes in the room behind him. He might have braced himself to take a calculated risk or two in the name of investigating the mastermind and Monokuma, but that didn't extend to letting himself become a victim in someone else's plot. But as long as the room stayed more or less the same behind him, silent except for the faintest whirring of the air conditioning, he could give the bulk of his attention to the corpse.

Togami took another step forward, holding up the device to light the area as best he could. Between the darkness and the concealing clothing, he couldn't make out many details, but he could easily see that the corpse was far too small to be Ogami — which left only two choices.

Kirigiri had gone missing more than a day ago, in the middle of whatever convoluted plan she'd been pursuing with Ikusaba. But it wasn't just her — Jill had gone missing, as well. Togami hadn't thought much of Jill's disappearance, since she got bored so easily if he wasn't in her immediate line of sight… but with a corpse in front of him, he couldn't just dismiss it any longer. This body had to belong to one of those two girls…

Or did it? After all, now that the sixteenth student in the school had revealed herself, there was a chance that she could have ended up dead herself. Of course, that assumed that someone here had been able to take down a Fenrir soldier in a knife fight, which hardly seemed likely.

Well, whoever it was, he'd know soon enough. Togami covered the last few steps towards the corpse, then dropped down to kneel beside it.

And his vision whirled around him, wind roaring in his ears. His knees hit the ground with a painful thud, and he lost his grip on the device as his head spun, light whirling madly around the room as it skittered across the floor. He tried to lunge after it, but a series of hacking coughs tore their way up from his lungs. He closed his eyes and braced his hands against the floor, trying to fight off the sudden surge of dizziness with slow, calm breaths — but with the filthy air of this blood-soaked classroom, it didn't help. Not even the foul sting of the air vent blowing across his face could clear his head.

The air vent… which was near the ceiling in every other room in the school. Which should have blown in fresh, clean air, not this strange, chemical foulness.

The breath in Togami's throat seemed to expand to choke him as he realized a little too late just what he'd been breathing while he examined the corpse.


Author's Note: And we're back! Still on a half schedule for one more week though, sorry. This week I'll be posting today (Sunday), Tuesday, and Thursday while I try to get back in the swing of things.