The world stopped around Togami as he froze, staring down at his hands. The previous morning, they had been smooth and elegant, perfect as befitted the Togami heir — but they would never look so unmarred again. Dozens of jagged red lines zigzagged across his skin, branching upwards from palms that looked like little more than bloody swathes of flayed meat. His hands had been torn to shreds, ruined by shards of knife-edged glass —

No. Not glass — mirrors. It had been mirrors that had ripped through his hands, the broken mirrors that had lined the trial room. He'd thrown himself at them, tried to claw his way through the door they concealed with his bare hands, in a desperate attempt to reach —

Naegi. He'd wanted to get to Naegi.

He could see the chains dragging the other boy away, hauling him into the darkness beyond the trial room without any regard for the weakened boy's terrible injuries. He'd run, he'd forgotten all trace of exhaustion and flung himself after his boyfriend faster than he'd known he could move, he'd used every trick in his power to try to get to Naegi in time…

And he'd failed.

He hadn't crossed the room fast enough to snatch Naegi from the swift iron chains. He hadn't found a way to reopen the door in the mirrors. All he'd been able to do was stand there and watch from behind the unbreakable window as the mastermind forced Naegi into a ghoulish execution.

No, that wasn't right. The other deaths had been executions, but this hadn't been the same. Those had all occurred according to the rules, punishments meted out in response to a failed gambit to win the game. But this was no rule-sanctioned execution. Naegi had been murdered for a crime he hadn't committed.

Murdered in front of them all, in the middle of a twisted mockery of a dance with the people who should have been his classmates. Murdered by the collapsing walls of the school itself, the prison that had lured them all here to meet their doom. Murdered by the people he'd called his friends.

Naegi had been murdered.

Togami closed his eyes, painful shudders racking through his chest as he tried to draw a shaking breath. The nightmare that had haunted his sleep might have been a delirious tangle of fact and fiction… but the core of it had been the truth. Naegi was gone. He was gone, lost forever to the mastermind's insane plot. Togami had fought so hard to save him, to protect him, to keep him safe and whole and well in spite of the dangers of the killing game… but it had all been for nothing. Naegi wasn't coming back.

The thought was too vast to hold in his mind, too shattering to comprehend its meaning. He couldn't doubt the truth of it, not when the memories of the horrible events sank dark and poisonous through his head… but he couldn't understand it, either. How could it be possible that he would never get another chance to see Naegi smile at him, to wake up with Naegi in his arms, to feel his heart fill to bursting with the unexpected brightness Naegi had given him? It couldn't be true, it couldn't be real, that couldn't be way their romance ended.

Or maybe it was the only ending possible. He could remember the aftermath of his initial tryst with Naegi, when horror struck him as his actions finally sank in. He'd felt as though a noose had settled around his neck, just waiting until he least expected it to destroy him. And that was what had happened. He'd let himself believe that maybe, even in the midst of the killing game, even with the mastermind flinging dangers at them from every angle, just maybe this relationship could be one spark of light in the depths of this nightmare… and that light had been brutally snuffed out.

And now all that remained was darkness, closing in around him as cold and unforgiving as the void of space. Naegi had been warmth, he'd been light, he'd been joy and happiness and hope… and when he'd disappeared from the world, he'd taken all those soft, gentle things with him. Emptiness stretched out through the parts of Togami's soul that they'd touched, emptiness too encompassing for even grief to fill it. Naegi deserved grief, he deserved to be mourned… but Togami couldn't find the emotions within him. Nothing was left, an infinity of empty space spanning beyond his comprehension.

Time passed as he sat there on the bed, but he couldn't have said how much. Time had no meaning any longer, except as yet another force separating him from Naegi. Every painful second that ticked by dragged him further away from the final moments when Naegi had existed in the world. It didn't matter how many of them there were… whatever number it was would be too many.

But eventually, something reached through the thick fog of nothingness, something too grating and unpleasant to ignore. Slowly, without the drive to fight the process or urge it onward, Togami felt his awareness shifting back to the world around him, pulled back by something that was occurring in the present moment… something that was off to his right…

Something that was loud.

That ought to mean something. That was important, as much as anything could be in the wreckage of his world. Togami couldn't find the part of himself that cared about it… but because he knew he should care, he managed to turn his head ever so slightly to the right.

He had a vague sense of disorientation as he looked at the room, a recognition in the distant part of his mind that still functioned that his dorm room hadn't been decorated with punching bags or weights… but that didn't matter. Whatever room this might be, he didn't see anything to his right that would make such a sound. He'd thought it had been like the clanging of a bell… but now it almost seemed like words…

He dredged up the will to turn his head one more time, in the direction of the television screen mounted on every dormitory wall. As he let his eyes focus on the monitor, he recognized the final moments of Monokuma's usual morning announcement. The last few words sounded in his right ear just before the screen flickered back to blackness.

Togami continued to stare up at it, since looking in that direction was as meaningless as any other. Up and to the left… not to the right, where he'd expected to see the source of the noise based on what he'd been able to hear. It didn't match… and while he knew there was a conclusion to be drawn from that, he couldn't see the point of bothering.

He couldn't see the point of anything.

Togami slumped down backwards onto the bed, his head bumping down flat on the mattress instead of onto a pillow. He could have moved, could have shifted to make himself more comfortable… but he couldn't remember why he should. He couldn't see a reason to do anything now, so he might as well just lie here in the silent dorm room that wasn't his own, staring up at a ceiling he didn't recognize. It was as good a way to spend his imprisonment as any. Nothing he could do would make a difference anymore.