Naegi wanted to cry as he watched the look on Togami's face as the other boy tried to get his bearings, but tears somehow seemed too far off to reach. He might have felt a little better if he could have cried, if the tears could purge some of the guilt churning through his stomach at the puzzled way Togami looked back at him.
Before this moment, Naegi would have said that nothing could make him dislike an expression on the other boy's face — but that had been before disorientation blurred the sharp edges of his frown and confusion muddled the sting of his eyes. Naegi would have wiped that expression off the face of the earth if he could, knowing how much Togami would hate the fuzziness that had forcibly overtaken him.
Just how bad was it? Naegi almost didn't want to know the truth… but it wouldn't be right not to face it. Not when he'd been the one to send Togami in here.
"Togami?" he asked softly, before realizing that was the wrong approach to take. He raised his voice and tried again, staring directly into the other boy's eyes as he spoke as loudly as he could. "Togami? Can you hear me at all?"
He'd hoped that Togami would just roll his eyes and make some cutting remark about how they could probably hear him several floors away… but instead, Togami's eyebrows knit together in a deep frown as he stared intently at Naegi's face, swaying with the effort of concentration. "Say that again," he said, the words slurred strangely together and unnaturally loud.
That didn't sound like a good sign at all, but Naegi tried to ignore his fears and did as the other boy asked, speaking even louder than before. "Can you hear anything I'm saying?"
Togami paused for a long moment — and then nodded. "Some of it."
Naegi felt his face crack into a brilliant smile. "You — you're okay! I thought you might not be! When you didn't answer at first, I was so scared, I —"
"Slow down," Togami cut him off, volume barreling right over Naegi's half-babbled response. "And try to enunciate."
"Right, it must be hard to hear," Naegi said with a grimace.
Togami let out a frustrated huff of air. "I can't understand you when you make faces like that," he said, irritation plain in spite of his muddled words. "None of the sounds I'm hearing make sense — like they're coming through water. I'm trying to read your lips."
"Oh." Naegi blinked, then tilted his head up so that he was facing Togami directly. "Is this better?" He spoke slowly, trying to form the words as clearly as he could.
"A little." Togami scowled. "I haven't needed to read lips in years. I'm out of practice."
"You're doing well so far," Naegi said, trying to offer a reassuring smile after he'd finished speaking.
Togami didn't look mollified. "It's hardly as though you've said anything complicated." He'd probably meant for the words to have a cutting tone, but the harsh notes didn't come out quite right, sounding more uncertain than unkind. Togami frowned, pale pink spots flushing high on his cheeks in what could have been either embarrassment or fury. He was clearly aware that his words hadn't been what he'd intended, but Naegi could see that he didn't quite want to risk feeling even more ridiculous by trying again and getting it wrong a second time.
Words wouldn't help when Togami couldn't hear them, even if Naegi had known what he ought to say — so he didn't try. Instead, he tugged Togami's hand away from where it still rested against his ear, bringing their hands down to rest on the other boy's knee. Letting their fingers tangled together, Naegi wrapped Togami's hand in his with a gentle, undeniable pressure. It had to be horribly unsettling to lose an entire one of the senses so suddenly, and with the heir's high levels of paranoia, Naegi knew he'd hate it more than most — but maybe this small reminder of the other senses could offer some measure of comfort or peace. It was the least Naegi could offer, after the role he'd played in this.
Slowly, a few of the lines on Togami's face relaxed, and his hand melted in Naegi's grip, his thumb stroking the edge of Naegi's wrist. It wasn't true happiness or a real solution to the problem, not when Naegi could still see a trace of fear lingering behind the other boy's eyes — but at least it was better than having that emotion written plain across his face.
And then Togami blinked again, and all the tension came flooding back as his grip tightened on Naegi's wrist. "Wait. What are you doing in here? You were supposed to wait outside!"
"And you were supposed to come back to me." Naegi couldn't help but feel a little grateful that Togami couldn't hear the way those words scratched out of his throat full of the terror of what could have happened. "How could I stay outside when there was an explosion? I thought you were —" He couldn't even bring himself to finish the sentence.
"Well, I'm not." Even mostly deafened, Togami had heard those unspoken words. "And you shouldn't have followed me." He tugged his hand free of Naegi's and began trying to push himself to his feet.
"Don't," Naegi tried to object. "You'll hurt yourself if you do that!"
Looking at his own hands rather than Naegi's face, Togami couldn't have read the words from Naegi's lips — but he could clearly guess the intent anyway. "This doesn't matter," he said, using the edge of the broken desk to finish hauling himself to his feet. "Or have you completely forgotten why I wanted to come in here alone?" He swung around to face Naegi head on with an impatient glare —
And the other danger of the classroom came rushing back to the forefront of Naegi's mind. "The air," he said, horrified. "We've been in here breathing the drugged air." He turned and reached for the fallen music stand pole so that he would have some kind of tool to help force himself back to his feet. "We can't stay in here."
Author's Note: Unfortunately, there will not be a chapter posted tomorrow. I had to do some major revisions on the chapters for this week, and I only just barely got this one done in time for tonight. The next chapter will be posted on Thursday, and it will also include an updated posting schedule for when I go on vacation next week.
