Naegi couldn't let himself look back as he walked down the hall, away from the headmaster's office. He could feel the pressure of eyes watching his back, steady and firm, and he knew it wasn't just the impersonal glare of the security cameras. If he turned around and saw Togami standing in the doorway, watching as he walked away… he wasn't sure he'd have the nerve to follow through with this plan, in spite of all the reasons he'd given about why it was their best choice. He didn't want to leave, almost as much as he knew Togami didn't want him to go.

But what they wanted didn't matter, not held up against everything else they had to do. The class trial was on its way, like it or not, and they had to get through it. And if that meant he couldn't keep Togami safe by his side… then that was just how things would have to be. Turning the corner that would lead him across the fourth floor to the stairs, Naegi heard the faint click of the door closing behind him. He shut his eyes for a moment, allowing himself the span of a single shuddering breath to hope desperately that he'd made the right choice — and then he pushed the fears away and carried grimly on.

The stairs going down to the third floor were a challenge, but he found that as long as he took each step carefully and didn't make any sudden movements, he could manage better than he'd thought. The biggest danger came from the sudden bouts of dizziness and his skewed sense of balance… but he was pretty sure he could keep those under control. Making it down an entire floor without mishap only fueled his confidence.

Of course, then he had to trek all the way around the entire loop of the third floor to get to the next flight of stairs down. Naegi couldn't help the way his feet slowed even further as he rounded the corner by the art room. It was such a long way back… and he didn't dare stop to rest, not when they were so short on time already. He had to keep pressing on.

But by the time he got halfway down the stairs to the second floor, he was starting to rethink that plan. His head ached from clenching his jaw, and the music stand pole had begun to feel like it was trembling in his grip. He should have given himself at least a few minutes to rest before attempting another flight of stairs, no matter how much he believed he could do it… but realizing that too late didn't help him.

But as tired as he was, trying to rest on the stairs had to be even riskier than trying to continue downward. The steps were so narrow, and it would be so very easy to lose track of himself and tilt just a little too far into the empty air. Naegi swallowed hard, readjusted his fist around the pole, and forced himself to take that last handful of steps until he emerged from the stairs onto the relatively solid ground of the second floor.

He sagged against the nearest wall, soaking in the relief of having another forced carry some of his weight for a few seconds. The mere act of breathing consumed his attention for a few minutes, air hissing in and out between his lips as he tried to catch his breath. Pushing himself so hard had been stupid, he could see that now. He had to be more careful now that he couldn't rely on having Togami at his side.

His nerves drummed at him, a constant litany of keep moving, keep moving ringing through his head — but he knew he didn't dare attempt the last flight of stairs until he felt steadier on his feet. He had to stay put on the second floor for at least a few more minutes.

And if he had to wait around here anyway… Naegi's gaze drifted towards the hall that led to the library. That was where Togami had been working all through the night, disassembling a Monokuma robot to search for answers about the mastermind. It didn't seem directly related to the murder… but it was awfully strange that the mastermind's tool would deactivate like that so close to the same time when someone linked to the mastermind had been killed. Naegi couldn't quite put his finger on the connection, but maybe if he saw the actual scene…

No. He couldn't do that. He'd told Togami that he'd go straight back to the dorms, not wander off in all directions to investigate anything that caught his eye. Maybe if it were on the way, he might have been able to justify it… but the robot pieces were in the library, in the opposite direction that he'd have to go to get downstairs. Even aside from what he'd promised Togami, he couldn't spare the energy, not when he wasn't sure there was anything useful to be found. They would just have to rely on Togami's knowledge of what had been in the library if it came up in the trial.

But maybe there was something else useful he could do with this time. With his back pressed firmly against the wall, Naegi knew he was steady enough to let go of the music stand pole for a moment. He let it rest in the crook of his arm while he twisted his hand into the only pocket he could reach, pulling out his e-handbook and flipping it on. It was a little awkward to manage the device one-handed without dropping it, but fortunately, the map was one of the easier options to operate.

Slowly, Naegi flipped through the maps of the different floors, noting the icons indicating Togami in the headmaster's office and Ogami in the dorms. The fifth floor looked empty, even the ruined classroom — but he supposed it made sense that a dead body wouldn't be marked. But if that was how this upgraded map operated… then what did that mean about Genocide Jill and Kirigiri?

Of course, if Togami was right and this murder really did fall under the killing game's rules, then both girls couldn't be dead. The rules clearly said that every culprit was limited to a maximum of two deaths, and Ikusaba already counted as one. Even if this culprit had done something terrible that hadn't yet been uncovered, they could only have taken out one other girl at the most — which meant that there should be at least one other icon appearing somewhere on this map.

The only exception Naegi could think of would be if the missing girls had ended up in one of the areas of the school where the mastermind's cameras couldn't reach. He'd hoped the headmaster's office might be one — but it had been filmed just as thoroughly as anywhere else, as Togami's icon in that room showed. The same went for the data center, although they'd never actually gotten a chance to investigate that other room behind the strange Monokuma door. They hadn't made it into the biology lab or the stairs leading upward from the dorms, but there was no real reason to think that those areas would have any fewer cameras than the rest of the school. The only places they'd found that had no cameras at all were the bathhouse and —

Naegi nearly lost his grip on his handbook as the realization hit him. The other place in the school that he knew had no cameras was the hidden room, right here on the second floor. Yes, the mastermind could obviously track who went in or out using the hallway cameras, but once someone went inside… wouldn't that take them off the grid?

He scrolled through the maps again until he made it back to the second floor. His own icon stared back at him from beside the staircase to the third floor… just around the corner from the hidden room. He could actually see the space where it had to be, an unlabeled outline connected to the boys' bathroom that could easily have been mistaken for the cleaning supply closet if he hadn't known otherwise. Had that always been visible on his map, or was it something new from that bizarre upgrade? He couldn't be sure — he'd never thought to check his map much before Monokuma had messed with it.

According to the map, the room looked like it was empty — but what exactly did that mean? It didn't seem very likely that the mastermind would go around manually updating the map with new locations for all the students, just for Naegi's benefit. However this upgrade worked, it had to be automatic, and that had to mean relying on the cameras. And if there were no cameras in the place where a student was… then she wouldn't show up.

The wall seemed to tremble at Naegi's back, alive with the potential of what could be mere feet away from him on the other side. He was so close to the hidden room — he even had to walk past the entrance on his way to the final set of stairs. He could stop and check it out, just for a moment, long enough to see if one of the missing girls might be back there.

But that would mean breaking two promises to Togami. Not only would he have to go back in the hidden room without telling Togami what he intended first, he'd also have to deviate from his word to go straight back.

Of course… it wasn't like he'd be going out of his way or anything, not when he had to walk past the bathroom anyway. It wasn't quite going straight back, and Naegi was pretty sure that Togami wouldn't approve of this particular detour… but it wasn't like he was just going off to look for clues or something. One of their friends could be in that room — that was important. And as for the other promise… maybe there was a way to check out the room without actually going inside it.

Naegi slid the handbook back into his pocket and gripped the music stand pole again. With slow, careful footsteps, he began making his way back down the hall, turning right at the corner. The stairs down to the first floor loomed ahead of him, just a few yards off… and the two bathroom doors were immediately to his right. He looked up at the sign for a moment, then took a deep breath and used his good shoulder to push the door open.

Most of the bathroom looked the same as usual, more or less identical to the ones on the other floors. The only difference was the supply closet at the back, where the door stood open to let a slew of cleaning products spill out across the floor. It almost seemed like someone had been rooting through it without much care for tidiness. Naegi blinked at the mess, a little puzzled. He was positive that it hadn't been like this the last time he'd been in here — the closet had at least been contained, if not terribly organized.

He inched closer to the closet door, listening carefully for any hint that someone might be approaching. He hadn't noticed when someone had sneaked up on him last time he'd been in the hidden room — but he'd been pretty distracted at the time. Surely he'd be able to keep his wits about him now that he was prepared. As far as he could tell, the only sounds in the room were the one he was making himself. It wasn't as reassuring as it should have been.

He wasn't actually going to try to enter the hidden room, he decided. He was stretching his promises pretty badly — he didn't want to break them entirely, not if he didn't have to. So he'd just open the door and look inside — it wasn't like the room was very big or had any hiding spots. If either of the girls was in there, he ought to know right away.

With that decision made, Naegi stepped into the supply closet, preparing to open the hidden door — only to find it jammed closed, a pair of thick metal mops holding it in place.

He stared at the heavy barrier in disbelief. Whoever had done this had known exactly what they were doing, wedging the mops in a huge X through the handle so that the door couldn't move in the opposite direction to open. It wasn't a complicated obstacle, but taking it apart would definitely require two hands, not to mention a good few more inches of height than Naegi himself had. There was no way he could get it open.

But… that was strange, wasn't it? The room had been stripped bare after the first time he'd tried to investigate it — why would someone go to all the trouble of sealing off an empty room? Could something have been moved back inside? That might explain the barricade, since it didn't look like this door had a lock. But surely there were other, more secure places to keep things…

Naegi nudged at the door with one foot, rattling the mops a little more than he'd intended. A series of loud clangs filled the air, and he winced. If the mastermind hadn't noticed what he was doing here already, they sure must have caught it now. He probably ought to leave before he did something to attract even more of their attention, especially since he knew he couldn't get through the door now. He turned to go —

Just as something crashed against the door from the other side. The clash of strained metal exploded through the air as the mops rattled furiously in their places. Naegi stumbled a step backward in shock before he realized exactly what was happening. He hadn't caused that to happen — something inside the room had. And that meant there was someone on the other side of the door — someone alive.

"Hello?" he called, raising his voice as loudly as he could to try to be heard over the metallic din. "Uh — can you hear me?"

The crashing stopped abruptly, the rattling metal screeching to silence. Through the last echoes, he could almost catch the sound of something that sounded like a voice.

"Is someone in there?" he shouted again, stepping closer to the door.

He pressed as close to the door as he could get, straining to hear through it — and a few words finally made it to him.

"Is that you, Makyutie? What the hell has been going on?"