Togami strode across the rest of the second floor and up the stairs, not even bothering to look around as he emerged onto the third floor. Too many questions filled his head, pounding at the confines of his skull with demands for answers he didn't have yet. Had it really been Kirigiri who had been researching Fenrir? Had she done it before or after the trial? And above all, the resounding echo of why, why, why?
If Kirigiri worked for the mastermind, why would she have needed to research Fenrir? Did the mastermind keep their agents so ignorant of their different allies that she'd had to rely on documents for information? If that was the case, then the mastermind seemed to be setting up a situation whether their subordinates were nearly guaranteed to distrust and betray one another — just like what had apparently happened. Had the mastermind wanted things to play out this way?
There was a time when Togami knew he would have felt considerable satisfaction at the thought of the mastermind's supporters being as easily manipulated by their leader as the rest of the students had been — but now it settled chilly and dark in the hollow emptiness of his chest. Was that the truth of it? Had Naegi been taken down as simple collateral damage in the mastermind's attempts to create an internal vendetta between two malicious young women?
He didn't know, not yet… but he was going to find out. He'd decided that already, but as he left the third floor to climb yet another set of stairs, he made the promise to himself again. Whatever had led to Naegi's death, whoever had caused it, he would find answers. He would find out who was to blame and make sure they suffered for it… no matter who it was.
That was the thought ringing through his head as he emerged from the stairwell onto the fourth floor and found himself staring directly down the hallway to the data center door. The door leading to the monitor-filled room where the mastermind kept watch on them all.
No matter who….
That was right… it wasn't just Kirigiri and Ikusaba who'd caused this. The mastermind was to blame at the core of it, just as much as anyone else. And not just the mastermind… they'd all figured out early on that this operation had to have a significant organization behind it. And each of those people who had decided to support the mastermind, whether they'd done it for money or ideals or blackmail, each and every single one of them had been a part of taking Naegi from him.
And they had to pay for it. He didn't know yet how he'd manage from inside the mastermind's trap, but somehow he would find a way. The girls here had to be first, of course, since they'd been the ones to betray Naegi when he'd only wanted to be their friend… but it couldn't stop there. Not when people still breathed while they were the reason Naegi no longer could.
"Do you plan to try to go in?"
Ogami's voice jolted him out of his thoughts, and he spun to glare up at her through narrowed eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"The data center," she said, not reacting to his dark expression with more than a blink. "You seemed quite intent upon it, and Naegi told me that the two of you found the key during your investigation."
Togami frowned. He did still have the data center key that he'd found next to Ikusaba's corpse… and there wasn't anything stopping him from using it. And if the mastermind really was watching the camera feeds, if that room really was their stronghold… then that meant that just behind that door…
By the time the thought had formed, Togami was already across the floor, yanking the key from his pocket to shove it into the lock. It slid in, just as it had the first time he'd used it — but when he tried to turn it, nothing happened. He blinked at the key for an instant — and then realization sank in. He had to fight the urge to break the stupid scrap of metal off in the lock when he understood just what the mastermind must have done.
"Is something wrong?" Ogami asked.
So apparently even the most basic of conclusions were beyond her. Togami transferred his glare from the lock to the girl beside him, expression made even harsher by the sharp pang of longing that stabbed through his chest at the memory of what it had been like to work with someone who could keep up with him. He could always count on Naegi to be able to keep up with him, without needing every step of his thoughts spelled out the way so many other people did.
And more than that — every time Naegi had matched him, it had only been so they could work together to achieve something more than either of them could manage alone. He hadn't done it for his own goals or his own glory… he'd offered everything he had without a second thought, going against everything Togami had learned about intelligent people until now. Anyone clever enough to keep up would use their skills against him in the end. Naegi was the only person who hadn't… who had chosen kindness when it was in his power to be cruel.
"Obviously something is wrong," he snapped, reaching for words acidic enough to burn through the lump in his throat. "Or is your head so addled by excessive physical exertion that you can't even make simple observations? This key worked last time, but now it doesn't — and that means the mastermind has an additional mechanism on this lock that they deliberately disengaged to lure us inside yesterday!"
"They — what?" She was trying to follow his logic, he could see the effort in the frown creasing her forehead… but it was too far a leap for her to make alone.
"The key can't open the data center by itself," he said, sighing heavily as he spelled out the explanation. "The lock needs something else done to it before it can be opened. And if the mastermind is even a tenth as smart as they think they are, whatever makes the key operational will need to be triggered from inside the room."
"I see," Ogami said, her frown deepening. "Then it's still locked… and trying to open it would violate the locked door rule, in spite of your key."
"Precisely." Togami glowered at the door another long moment. He could practically feel the mastermind's presence just a few short feet away, laughing at their images on the monitors, exulting in their failure.
"Even if you can't enter… perhaps I could help," Ogami offered, her words slow and halting. "The mastermind summoned me to that room when… well, when I acted as their spy. If I know anything that would be of use, I'd be glad to share it."
He froze, partway through the motion of returning the key to his pocket. "You were inside the mastermind's stronghold — and you didn't think to mention it until now? It didn't occur to you that we might have wanted to know about the camera feeds?"
She frowned. "We did know. Monokuma made it quite clear that the mastermind is observing us through the cameras at all times. Would it have made a difference to know that they'd set up a room of monitors to keep track of us?"
Togami stared at her in disbelief — but everything he saw on her face proclaimed that her reaction was genuine. Even though she'd been the mastermind's tool, even though she'd been in the data center… she didn't know the truth about the worldwide broadcast.
