Naegi stared at the profile, trying to make some sense of the words that blurred before his eyes. The black scribbles were no more legible than they had been any other time he'd looked at the page… but this time, they seemed to mean something different.

Kirigiri had given him this profile to use somehow… so that he could carry on her work if she was no longer capable of doing so. Taken in combination with the words she'd spoken, the decisions she'd made… the profile was proof that she'd lied about meeting Ikusaba. Was there any way he could use it to prove anything else?

He could show the profile to the others… show it to the mastermind… let them all see what it was and what it meant. And then… if he did that… then what? He tried to think, tried to corral his wayward mind and focus on the possibility of how the future could go if he chose to reveal Ikusaba's profile in response to Monokuma's prompting.

… With Kirigiri's lie exposed, the others would have all the pieces they needed to put together the facts they hadn't had during the trial. Togami would seize on the information, making short work of shredding the cloak of deceit Kirigiri had woven around herself. She'd never met Ikusaba… and yet she'd known about the girl before she'd died. It wasn't proof… but it would look damning.

And with such a blow to her defenses, Kirigiri would respond with an even fiercer attack of her own… with the one weapon she hadn't yet used. Kirigiri knew the mastermind's true identity, and if ever there was a moment to announce it, this would be it.

Kirigiri would tell them all who the mastermind really was, unmasking her before the survivors and before the world. They would finally understand all the mastermind had done, everything she'd done and everyone she'd hurt and everyone she'd killed…

Everyone she'd killed… including Mukuro Ikusaba. The mastermind had killed Ikusaba, it was the only thing that made sense. None of the rest of them had done it… so who else was there? And if Kirigiri could name her, they'd finally know it, understand it, see the truth that lay beneath the lies…

And they'd be killed.

With the mastermind's deeds revealed, she could execute them freely. Their votes had been wrong, he knew they were wrong, and proving her guilt would lock the condemnation in place. She could kill them all…

Ogami, who had only just begun to see the possibility of hope in a world without Asahina.

Genocide Jill, who had never had the chance to live with others as her genuine self.

Kirigiri, who'd fought so hard and risked so much so that she could uncover the truth.

Togami.

Togami would die.

If they proved the truth, unmasked the mastermind, and revealed her crimes… Togami would die.

Naegi felt himself plummeting down through a shadowy darkness so deep he couldn't breathe, paralyzing his throat and turning his lungs to lead. He didn't know how much of the past he could trust, didn't understand the contradictory present he'd found himself trapped within… but he could see the future stretching out clear and inevitable ahead of him. If he took this path, the mastermind would execute them all. And Togami would die.

Togami, who had fought so hard to protect him… who had trusted him every time he'd asked… who had given up his plan of winning the mastermind's game because of how much he'd come to care.

Naegi couldn't raise his head enough to see the rest of the circle, but even so, the other boy was clear and bright before his eyes. His mouth curled upwards in a smirk — arrogant, yes, but drawn from a bone-deep self-confidence that couldn't be bought. His eyes flashed behind his glasses, cold unless you knew how to read the deep emotions hidden beneath the ice.

Brilliant and smug, sarcastic and honest, aggravating and endearing — everything that he was filled Naegi's mind, flooding his heart with so much warmth and sweetness that hot tears filled his eyes again. The thought that this wonderful, impossible, perfect boy could be ripped away from the world was too much to bear. Togami couldn't die, he couldn't.

Naegi couldn't let him die. Nothing else mattered, nothing else made sense, nothing else stayed in his head except that one screaming and inescapable thought. Byakuya Togami could not be allowed to die… because Naegi loved him.

The thought was a revelation… and at the same time, it wasn't. He'd known all along, felt it somewhere in the hidden recesses of his heart too deep for conscious thought to reach. He loved Togami so much, so ridiculously absurdly much, that it was impossible to conceive of anything else. He would do anything, anything to protect the other boy's wonderful, precious life…

Even go along with the mastermind's deceit.

Revealing her crimes would only prove the vote had been wrong, condemning everyone to execution… Togami, oh god, Togami, but not just him. They would all be killed in that case, every single one of his surviving friends. No matter what she'd done, that wouldn't matter — not with the rules of the game still in play. As long as their vote was proved to be wrong, they would have no chance of survival.

But if that wasn't the case… if the vote was allowed to stand as true… then the others would be able to live. They'd have one more chance to fight, to use Kirigiri's information to unmask the mastermind for good, to escape from this nightmare and find what measure of peace they could in the world beyond these walls. They would live. Togami would live.

And Naegi would die.

But he would die either way. Whether the vote was right or wrong, there was no outcome where he could survive. He knew what was coming… he knew how this trial had to end. He couldn't save himself… but he could save the boy he loved.

"No."

Naegi could barely force air through his trembling lips, the word no louder than a breath. He took a shaky breath and tried again.

"No. No challenges. You're right…" He took one last breath, mustering the last of his strength so the whole room could hear… and lied. "I'm the culprit."