Togami didn't know what had possessed him to lie to the other students circled around him in the trial room. He hadn't known about it — obviously he would have put such a valuable tool to use if he'd had the faintest inkling it existed — and yet he'd claimed that he did, with as much confidence as he could muster. He didn't object to lying, when he had good cause and time to plan out a convincing cover story… but he hardly knew enough about the circumstances to maintain this bluff for long. All it would take was one wrong question, and the lie would fall apart.
But even so… what else could he have done? He let his eyes flicker towards Naegi, just for a moment, and the sight of the boy he loved crumpled over a podium flooded his veins with a fresh wave of protective fury. No matter how hard the other trials had been, Naegi had always stayed strong in all the ways that mattered… it was wrong that he should be reduced to this mess of trembling weakness, not even able to lift his head from the top of the podium. And so when Togami had seen those girls turning towards Naegi in this state, circling like sharks with the scent of blood in the water, he'd shielded the fragile boy with a lie before he'd had a chance to think it through.
And as the girls turned back to look at him with varying degrees of surprise and skepticism, he knew just how flimsy a defense it was. Kirigiri crossed her arms, one eyebrow arching high. "For someone who already knew about the map, you certainly took your time inspecting that handbook."
Togami shrugged. "I didn't want to reveal it if it wasn't necessary. It doesn't hurt to have a few hidden advantages — especially with a murderer on the loose."
"But keeping a secret like this seems quite dangerous," Ogami said, studying him as if she were preparing to face him in a one-on-one match. "Surely you must have realized that it would look unfortunate if we learned the two of you concealed it."
Togami had to struggle to hide his reaction — that statement struck a little too close to his own questions for comfort. Because when he thought about it… why had Naegi kept this map a secret? He could understand not telling the girls about it… but surely Naegi trusted him enough. Didn't he?
No — he did, of course he did. Togami dismissed the unsettling hint of doubt from his mind. Naegi had seemed genuinely confused to learn that this was the first any of them had heard of the maps — between the shock of his injury and Ikusaba's murder, it had probably just slipped his mind. That was understandable, even if Togami would have preferred to have gotten the information before Monokuma's dramatic mid-trial announcement. And really, after everything Naegi had been through in the past few days, it was hardly a shock that he'd started losing track of a few things.
And so he did his best to change his near-flinch at the words into a derisive sneer, curling his lip at Ogami. "Don't be absurd — obviously we would have told you all once the trial was over and the murderer dealt with. How exactly were we supposed to know that Monokuma would reveal it first?"
"That's true — he certainly hasn't done anything like this before." Kirigiri faced Togami as she spoke — but her eyes had gone back to Naegi. Togami didn't like the way she watched the unresponsive boy, for all that there was no readable expression on her face. "But he intervened this time… out of fairness. If you really did know about this map the whole time, you should be able to explain what exactly he meant by that."
Of course she would be the one to zero right in on the question Togami hadn't quite worked out how to answer yet. He scowled at her for a long moment, buying himself a few extra seconds to think rapidly through the limited options available to him… but he couldn't put off responding for long without looking suspicious. The only thing left to do was to pick the least unlikely scenario and press grimly on.
"I don't see why we have to believe Monokuma meant anything by it," he said, raising his chin imperiously. "He was probably just trying to stir up trouble — and you're all falling right into his trap."
"Is that so?" Kirigiri tapped one of her long, gloved fingers against her chin, and Togami was almost sure he could detect a hint of affectation in the gesture. It was as though the girl thought she was mocking something, but didn't expect anyone else to be clever enough to notice. Well, if that was the case, he'd just have to make her think again. "But it seems to me that we've already had more than enough trouble in this trial without his help. And even if that was his sole motivation, why not simply reveal the fact of the map without further explanation? Why cite fairness?"
Togami couldn't believe that he hadn't identified Kirigiri as the Ultimate Detective before finding her profile — she was certainly enough of a bloodhound to make it obvious. She'd gotten her teeth into this idea of fairness, as if she believed it had some kind of deeper significance — but Togami couldn't follow her logic there.
"How should I know why Monokuma says any of his idiocy?" he snapped. "I can't hear what he's been babbling about, in case you've forgotten. All I know is that this game stopped being fair the moment the mastermind tried to manipulate events by planting a traitor among us. Naegi knew it, too — this game was never meant to be fair, no matter what Monokuma says."
"No, I don't think that's true," Kirigiri said, looking far calmer than she had any business being. "The rules of the game are in place for a reason, and we've seen that even Monokuma follows them. I think it's very important to the mastermind that the game should be seen to be fair. If you can only win by cheating, by using an advantage not available to the other players… then no one will believe you really won. Monokuma couldn't let the map be an unfair advantage — because without knowing about it, no one else would have a chance to win."
Togami gritted his teeth, wishing for the thousandth time that his hearing would recover. Admittedly, most of what Monokuma said was mind-numbingly stupid… but this was one of the rare occasions when there had actually been a few kernels of worth hidden amid the rubbish. How was he going to bluff his way through this without knowing exactly what Monokuma had said to the others about the maps? He could put the gist of it together from what the girls had said in response — but not enough to go toe-to-toe with Kirigiri on the bear's specific wording. No… his best choice was to try to attack from a different angle that would favor him more.
"It sounds to me like you're speculating quite a bit about just why you think the map matters," Togami said, crossing his arms. "Interesting that you're so sure it supports a theory that points in someone else's direction. But unfortunately for you, there's one other option you seem determined to ignore. The map might matter not because the murderer used it, but because they appeared on it."
Kirigiri raised an eyebrow. "You're suggesting that the map has a recording function, in addition to showing locations? You think that Monokuma would undermine the entire trial system by giving someone a tool that shows who exactly entered the room with the victim?"
Trust her to make the whole thing sound absurd. Well, he wasn't about to back down without a fight. "Nothing so extreme. All the map would have had to do was show someone out of place during the murder — one person who might have been wandering around these halls instead of exploring the dorms."
"Hmm… yes, I suppose I can see why you might think that would matter." Kirigiri reached up to tug at her braid, twisting it around her fingers. "But how exactly do you plan to prove that's the case? I don't hear Naegi speaking up to say he saw anything of the sort." She tilted her head. "Or are you going to tell us that you saw it yourself?"
Togami would have dearly loved to do so and show her once and for all — but he certainly wasn't about to walk straight into whatever trap she'd laid out for him. Lying to protect Naegi was one thing — after all, he knew the boy had been unconscious and too injured to stand at the time of the murder. But accusing someone with a lie, even the girl he knew had to be the killer, was something else entirely, and he had no intention of being that stupid.
"I didn't have the map with me at the time of the murder," he said instead. "And Naegi's in no shape to answer questions about what he saw."
"Exactly." Kirigiri smiled, and Togami's stomach clenched in a sudden burst of nausea. "Which means that the only way the map could possibly be relevant is if it had to do with the murderer. After all, with this powerful an advantage, our culprit would had a much easier time locating and trapping Ikusaba, even with her military training."
Togami prayed that no evidence of the blow from those words showed on his face — but he was all too afraid it must have. Damn it, she'd managed to drag the debate back to the exact point he'd been trying to avoid!
"It doesn't matter how much of an advantage you think this might have given a murderer," he said at last, glaring across the circle. "Naegi and I were the ones who knew about the map — and we're the two with the least incentive to kill!"
"I understand." The deep lines creasing Ogami's face began to relax as she looked from Togami to Naegi. "Neither of you has a motive, not when escaping would mean the other one's death."
"Right." Togami gave her an approving smile, relieved that at least one person was finally beginning to grasp the truth. "The map doesn't matter when we had no reason to use it."
But then a flash of silver drew Togami's gaze in Jill's direction, where she twirled her scissors in one hand while the other rested on her hip. "Sorry to be the cold shower to your sizzle, darling, but I'm not so sure about that last part."
Togami stared at the genocider in shock — had she actually just contradicted him? "Excuse me?"
"Don't get me wrong, White Knight, most cases I'd be more than happy to let you show me what's what!" Jill grinned at him, but there was a darkness gleaming in her eyes that he didn't like at all. "But I'm not about to let you put my life on the line if you don't really mean it." She lunged forward, scissors pointing directly at Togami's heart. "You did have a motive to kill — five feet and three inches of one!"
