Naegi froze as the familiar sounds of the body discovery announcement echoed through the data center. The announcement hadn't sounded when he and Togami had first entered the ruined classroom, and with the way events had played out since, he'd stopped expecting to hear it. After all, the body discovery announcement couldn't be automated, not with the incredibly specific criteria that went into determining when it ought to air — and they'd believed that Monokuma was out of action. How could the mastermind trigger an announcement if they couldn't operate Monokuma himself?

Except that apparently, Monokuma had never been genuinely out of the way at all. It had all been a trick… just so the mastermind could watch them suffer at this specific moment. And not just the mastermind. Naegi could feel the security camera trained on the three of them, burning against his skin like a sunbeam through a magnifying glass. The mastermind was frying them like ants on the sidewalk, without any real explanation why.

When the screen faded to static, Naegi finally felt able to jerk his eyes away. He turned towards Togami, preparing to explain — but he found the other boy scowling up at the empty screen instead. It stung a little to realize that Togami hadn't been looking at him — but of course he wouldn't need Naegi to explain the body discovery announcement, not when they'd already seen the same recorded message so many times. Naegi knew he ought to feel happy that Togami had managed to understand on his own… but he couldn't help the hollow feeling of a missed connection somewhere deep in his heart.

"I'll leave the next Monokuma File here," Monokuma announced, tossing the files onto the television stand beside Naegi. "You two give it all you've got, okay?"

"But — wait!" Naegi did his best to pull himself together before Monokuma could disappear again. "We — we can't have a trial now! None of the girls are here. They're all missing, or unconscious, or —" He couldn't bring himself to say the other possibility, even though the glaring question of the unidentified corpse loomed first and foremost in his mind. "We all have to be here for the investigation, don't we?"

"Huh?" Monokuma tilted his head, looking puzzled. "Are you making up your own rules now? Because if you're looking to take over the role of headmaster from yours truly, you ought to know that this highly prized title can only be passed on through a glorious mano-a-urso fight to the death!" He grinned, raising his unsheathed claws. "Interested?"

Naegi wished he had a free hand to rub at his temples. He was too tired to try to pick apart one of Monokuma's confusing rants. "What are you talking about?"

"Such a cruel rejection!" Monokuma drew back in a mockery of hurt feelings. "Well, if all you wanted was to know the rules, you could've just looked in your e-handbook. Every rule in there is still just as much in effect now as it has been from the beginning! And not a single one of them says that any of you slackers are required to participate in the investigation if you don't want to."

"But — how can we have a trial if no one else has a chance to look at the evidence?" Naegi protested. "Togami and I are the only ones who can investigate right now!"

"Huh? You're gonna keep looking?" Monokuma asked, tilting his head. "But aren't you nearly done? It sounded to me like you guys got bored of investigating and wanted to go back for a nap!"

Naegi flinched at the reminder. Even the thought of walking down another flight of stairs made his knees tremble with exhaustion — how would he ever manage to endure the grueling hours of another class trial? And then there was Togami — he knew the other boy had only insisted they check the data center to hide the fact that he'd been too tired to take another step. Even if they managed to make it down to the first floor without collapsing, how could either of them expect to make a coherent contribution to the debate?

"We can't do that anymore," Naegi said, more in an attempt to calm the fears whispering through his mind than in a real response to Monokuma's words. "If there's going to be a trial, then — then we just have to keep going." He gulped. "There isn't anyone else."

"Well, suit yourself!" Monokuma said brightly. "But it doesn't sound like a very good reason to change your mind about something important like that! After all, the countdown to the trial started when you two found the body!"

"What?" Naegi frowned. "But — the announcement —"

"Got delayed, like I said!" Monokuma said. "How can you possibly expect a beautifully proportioned bear like me to operate one of your outrageously human-centric keyboards? It's like none of them were designed with the ursine paw in mind! You've been spoiled till now, but you can't expect up to the minute news all the time!"

Naegi blinked, trying to parse Monokuma's rambling into a real answer. So if the announcement had been delayed from when he and Togami had found the body… that meant that all the time they'd spent in the ruined classroom hadn't been the leisurely investigation they'd thought. The clock had been ticking the whole time, even though they hadn't been aware of it. And if they hadn't stopped to check the data center… if they'd gone to the music room to rest, or made it all the way down to the dorms to sleep…

"Were you even going to tell us?" he asked, the question popping out in spite of the fact that he knew the futility of questioning Monokuma. "Or were you just going to let us waste all the time until the trial?"

"Oh, I wasn't worried," Monokuma said blithely, giving Naegi a bright smile. "I have faith that my star pupils will figure everything out on just the right schedule!"

"But I thought you said we were slow and needed remedial lessons," Naegi said, frowning.

"Argh, it's always details, details, details with you!" Monokuma flung his arms in the air with a snarl. "Can a bear really survive on an all-honey diet? How many picnic baskets would it take to sustain the local wildlife? Why don't you stop getting hung up on the little questions and start looking at the big picture, huh?"

And with that, he disappeared again, leaving the boys alone in the data center.

Or as alone as they could be, anyway. Naegi glanced up at the security camera again and shuddered at the thought of all the people watching from the outside world. What had all of them thought about the conversation he'd just had with Monokuma? Had they been supporting him, encouraging him to press on and try to find a solution that would get everyone through the class trial alive… or had they just been frustrated at his inability to find the right words? After all… if the camera feeds were all being broadcast, then that meant the murder must have been shown, too. Anyone watching him right now already knew the answer he needed.

That thought was too awful to dwell on for long. Doing his best to push away the images of a murder playing out on the screens around him, Naegi turned towards Togami, seeking the comfort of his boyfriend's gaze.

But Togami didn't notice him. The other boy had flipped open one of the Monokuma Files, glowering determinedly down at it with an expression that proclaimed his deliberate disinterest in everything else in the room — and most especially with the security camera pointed at him.

Naegi started to take a step towards him, to try to get his attention and start discussing what they needed to do… but as he moved towards Togami, the pressure of a billion eyes slowed his feet, dragging them to the ground before he could cross the short distance. People were watching him now, forced into being voyeurs by the mastermind's constant broadcast whether they would have chosen to observe or not… and they knew everything that had passed between the couple. Even reaching out to touch Togami's shoulder would be a blazing reminder of the more intimate touches they'd shared.

But even that might not have been so bad, if Togami would just look up at him. Naegi knew he could have found the strength to cross the rest of that distance, audience or not, if only he'd been sure Togami wanted him there. But he'd realized almost from the start that the humiliation of being observed would hit Togami much more painfully, with his deep pride in his status and his investment in appearing emotionally untouchable. But even so… he'd hoped that Togami wouldn't shut him out entirely.

Naegi took a deep breath and looked away from the other boy, giving him the space he obviously seemed to want. They didn't have time to deal with this now, not with the countdown to the trial already running. He ought to follow Togami's example and at least try to make some progress on their investigation. He turned his attention to the other Monokuma File lying on the television stand, trying to work out how to get the folder open without a free hand.

Leaning against the television stand gave him a little extra steadiness, although from the way the stand creaked, he wouldn't want to rest all of his weight on it. But it was just enough for the few brief moments he needed to let the music stand pole fall into the crook of his elbow, freeing his good hand to flip the file open and leave the single page inside clearly visible. He shrugged the pole back into his hand again, a little pleased that he managed the maneuver without losing his grip. He might not have the use of his left hand back, but at least he was starting to get a little more adept at managing one-handed.

Once he felt steady enough to shift his weight away from the television stand, Naegi looked down at the file and began reading through the information Monokuma had provided for them.

Monokuma File #5

Due to severe injuries suffered during an explosion, the body's identity is unclear. The explosion occurred after the victim's death.

Two knife wounds in the chest area extend all the way to the victim's back. The second wound occurred after the victim's death.

There are also signs that the victim was exposed to a fatal dose of airborne poison.

There are also signs of many other wounds on the body. However, these are old wounds that were not inflicted in the last few days.

Naegi read through the words several times, but they seemed to make less and less sense with every repetition. He hadn't really expected to find a definite identification of the body in the file, not after someone had gone through so much trouble to hide the victim's identity — but he hadn't thought there would be quite so little information, either. No time of death… no cause of death… none of the details that had been in any of the earlier files.

"Is there more on the back of the sheet?" he muttered to himself, considering whether it might be worth it to try to go through all the trouble it would take to flip the paper over.

"No, there's not."

Naegi looked up sharply to see Togami scowling at him. He must have looked up just in time to read the words Naegi had mumbled, even though they'd been soft enough that he probably couldn't have heard them at the distance he was standing.

"And there isn't another page, either," he went on, snapping his folder closed with a disgusted flick of his wrist. "This is all the information we get this time — not that we should have expected anything more. Whatever else happened, this murder is obviously connected to the mastermind in some way."

"So they'd want to give away as little information as possible," Naegi said, seeing all too clearly where Togami was going with it. "Especially if it's something that we're not supposed to know."

"Precisely," Togami said. He tilted his head and frowned down at Naegi for a moment, and Naegi couldn't quite work out what the other boy was thinking from his expression. "And you must know that whatever secret the mastermind is so determined to keep probably has to do with this Mukuro Ikusaba."

"I guess," Naegi said, his one mobile shoulder hunching a little under the other boy's scrutiny. He didn't mind Togami looking at him… but something about this particular gaze made him feel a little like he was the subject of Togami's inquiry, rather than his partner. "But we already know she's involved."

"But not how," Togami countered. "She could be the victim… or she could be an accomplice, or the murderer herself. We don't know enough about her to judge — what she's been doing in hiding all these weeks, or why she chose now to reveal herself to Kirigiri. We don't even know if that was her operating Monokuma now, or if someone else has taken over in her absence."

"That's true," Naegi said, thinking back to what Kirigiri had said. "Ikusaba did operate Monokuma… but she might not have been the only one doing it."

Togami snorted. "Multiple operatives would certainly explain a lot of the drivel that came out of that thing's mouth."

But Naegi shook his head. "No — I don't think it would. I mean, it's not like a lot of people talk the way Monokuma does. He might not make sense, but… he always doesn't make sense in the same way."

Togami grimaced. "I suppose. I try not to think too hard about his nonsense. So it was just more of the same today?"

"Yeah… pretty much," Naegi said slowly, trying to remember everything Monokuma had said. There had been that one odd moment when Monokuma had first appeared, when he'd almost seemed to have an entirely different personality… but it had been gone in the blink of an eye, replaced with the same bear Naegi had come to know too well over the past few weeks. Maybe that had just been some bizarre joke that he hadn't understood. "Most of what he said was the same as usual."

"Meaning that either Ikusaba is still alive and at the helm, or that whoever is in her place already has experience talking through Monokuma," Togami said, crossing his arms. "That's no help for figuring out who that body is."

Naegi hesitated, not quite wanting to ask the next question, but not seeing a way to avoid it. "Then… do we need to go back upstairs and look at the body again?"

Even as he said the words, he knew how impossible it was. Walking down the stairs had been enough of a challenge… how could they possibly expect to make it up? And even if by some miracle they succeeded, that would just be one more staircase in their way when the investigation period ended and they had to climb down for the trial.

Togami shook his head slowly. "It wouldn't be worth the time or effort," he said. "Identifying the body has to be the priority, if we're going to work out who killed her — and if we could have figured that out from examining the scene, we would have managed it already."

Naegi frowned. He couldn't help but feel like there had to be some piece of information in that room that could tell them whether or not that body had belonged to Kirigiri, something that he'd missed… but Togami was right. They couldn't just go back upstairs and hope for an epiphany. "Then… should we try to get back down to the first floor to wake Ogami up?"

"Why, so she can stand guard over the body?" Togami rolled his eyes. "She's never been much help in any of the other investigations, I doubt she'd start being useful now. We'll go let her out before the trial — and we can question her about whether she saw anything. But we should focus on the upper floors first."

He didn't add because we won't be able to get back up here if we leave… but Naegi heard the words clearly anyway. "Then… where else do you want to look?"

Togami scowled. "To identify that body, we'll need more information on either Kirigiri or Ikusaba. Some sort of personal records would be ideal, but I doubt those are stored anywhere we could get at them. I know there are books about the Fenrir group in the library. If we're done here, I suggest we head downstairs to see if there are any clues there."

"But… are you sure we're finished looking around this floor?" Naegi asked dubiously.

"I suppose we could check the chemistry lab to confirm our conclusions about the poison and the reagent, if you really feel it's necessary," Togami said, shrugging. "But the point of the trial isn't to solve every single mystery associated with the murder — it's to vote on the killer. If we don't know who the victim was, it won't matter how the poison worked, because we'll still have the same set of possibilities. And the library is the only room in the school that might have information related to Ikusaba."

Naegi blinked. "Wait — no, it wouldn't be the only room, would it? I mean… Kirigiri and Ogami both said Ikusaba was the sixteenth student, right? So if she was a student… wouldn't she have a student record?"

"Presumably," Togami said, not sounding terribly interested in this possibility. "But information like that would be locked up somewhere."

"Somewhere like the headmaster's office?" An idea was starting to grow in the back of Naegi's mind. "Because if it's there… then it's not actually locked away, right? Ogami said she broke that lock."

"Yes, but it's still barricaded," Togami said. "And I tried to break through earlier, before — well, before any of this, and I couldn't make a dent."

"You won't need to." Naegi thought of the e-handbook in his pocket… and the two remaining trip tickets tucked in the back of it. "I have an idea."