Togami hated the thoughts forming in his head, but not even the full force of his willpower was enough to stop them now that they'd begun. The mastermind had been one of the three votes that had condemned Naegi — the mastermind, who knew all their secrets and watched their every move. If anyone had known beyond a shadow of a doubt that Naegi was innocent, it should have been the mastermind — and they'd voted against him anyway.
He'd known the mastermind had to be complicit in Naegi's murder, of course. There was no way an incorrect verdict could be confirmed without the mastermind's blessing — but he hadn't realized their involvement went further than a lie to extend the game. But if they'd chosen Naegi… if they'd broken a tie between two people who'd each had two votes… then they'd deliberately chosen to frame Naegi rather than vote for the other possibility.
For Kirigiri. With the two votes he'd already confirmed, she was the only possibility for the other half of the tie. The mastermind had voted for Naegi instead of voting for Kirigiri. They'd looked at the students' voting results, and they'd cast one last deciding vote to ensure that Naegi would die and Kirigiri would live.
A memory of the trial flashed back through his mind, when he'd revealed the evidence that should have been so decisive. The headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, the adult man that Fujisaki's computer program had deemed most likely to be the true mastermind, was named Jin Kirigiri. And he'd saved her, even going so far as to destroy another student to do so. If he'd had any doubts about why the mastermind would choose to intervene here, to manipulate the results of this trial rather than abandoning their agent to her deserved punishment… well, that shared surname more than explained it.
And Naegi had trusted her. He'd called her his friend. Anger surged fierce and hot through his veins, and if there'd been anything breakable within reach, Togami would have smashed it with his bare hands, damn the pain it would have caused his wounds. It was wrong that she was alive, wrong that Naegi was dead, wrong that the trial had been twisted around until this was the result, and he wanted to rip apart the entire world until everything he hated lay in shreds around him.
The thoughts burned red through his brain, painful to acknowledge and impossible to ignore. He couldn't stand the ideas crowding through his mind, would have given a great deal for them not to be true… but they fit too perfectly for anything else to be the case. He didn't even need to hear Monokuma's stomach-churning laugh to know he'd gotten it right.
"Wow, it looks like someone paid extra attention to the lecture! That problem sure had some advanced calculus in it — but you made it right up to the top of the class!"
The bear's teeth gleamed sharp in his gleeful grin — but Togami hardly registered them. He felt his stare burning through the robot, beyond the metal and wires and programming, to the shadowy figure laughing behind it all. His dissection of the inactive robot had shown him exactly where its camera was located, allowing him to look straight into its lens as he addressed the mastermind. "Why did you do it?"
But it was still Monokuma who answered, never wavering from his usual cheerful tone. "What's that? You even have follow up questions?" He went through the motions of a standard head tilt, without any hint that the mastermind acknowledged the demand. "Sorry, too bad — we've just run out of time!"
Togami shut his eyes tight, jaw clenched in a futile attempt to contain the rage simmering just beneath his skin. Of course the mastermind had ignored him — why would they do anything else? He'd known before Monokuma had even begun talking that nothing good could come of listening to this mockery of a lecture. He should have just walked out, should have ignored the summons, should have avoided the entire situation. This had all been meant to hurt him, and like a fool he'd left himself open to the mastermind's attack. The mastermind had never had the slightest intention of making a genuine deal with him, and he should have —
"Well, before I go, I guess fair's fair!" Monokuma laughed again. "Consider it a reward for a job well done!"
Togami's eyes shot open — but even as fast as he'd moved, Monokuma was already gone. And in the place where he'd been standing… a single photograph lay face down on the floor.
He almost couldn't believe it was there. The photo he'd endured that lecture to obtain, the tool Monokuma had used to manipulate him, the one chance he still had of seeing his love again… and it was there. Monokuma had actually gone through with their bargain, delivering the photograph as promised before vanishing… and it was right there.
He fell to his knees beside it, reached out a hand to claim it — but for some reason, his fingers resisted his commands. His bandaged hand hovered mere inches above the photo as if repelled by a physical barrier. No matter how firmly he told himself that this was ridiculous, that he had to stop acting so nonsensically and take the prize he'd fought for… his fingers did no more than tremble in the air.
"Do you think it might be some kind of trap?" Ogami asked softly, kneeling on the opposite side of the photograph from him. "I doubt Monokuma would give you anything nice."
No… the mastermind always had more than one motive for anything they did… and none of them were ever pleasant. Even she could see it… and he'd known the offer was suspicious from the start. The photo in front of him could be anything — even if he'd recognized the outline of Naegi's hair, he hadn't had a chance to see any other details. For all he knew, the rest of the photo was no more than that limited silhouette. And that wasn't even the worst possibility.
"It could be his corpse." He barely recognized the words as he spoke them, the voice too rough and low to have come from his own throat. "If — if they took a picture, back in the trial room — this could be —"
His hand fell back down, hitting the ground at his side with a thump that shuddered through the jagged wounds. He couldn't do it, couldn't reach out and flip that photo over, not when there was a chance he might be faced with that nightmare of a sight.
The only scrap of mercy in that execution had been that it spared any of them from getting a good look at whatever remained of Naegi's body — and that wasn't much comfort, not against the blood-drenched scene that had faced them when the execution ended. He closed his eyes against the hideous memory, but that didn't help. It still played out in the darkness behind his eyes, inescapable and unstoppable in a never-ending loop.
He felt a quiver of motion in front of him as Ogami shifted around, and for a horrifying moment he was certain Ogami was about to be stupid enough to make an awkward attempt at some kind of hug. He stiffened, gearing up for a scathing insult — but it wasn't necessary. She didn't move again, the air as still as if she'd frozen in place.
He opened his eyes again to see what exactly she'd been doing — and the first thing he saw was the photograph in her hand. She'd picked it up so its back still faced him, and a deep frown creased her forehead as she studied whatever image was on the other side.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Togami snapped, the urge to snatch the photo from her grip tingling through his fingers. He'd been the one to bargain for that photo, who'd been mocked and harangued by the mastermind to get it. He ought to be the one looking at it, if anyone was going to.
Instead of explaining, Ogami held the photograph towards him. "It isn't anything from yesterday. I'm not certain what it is, but… I believe it should be safe enough to look at."
Togami looked down at the picture, despising the hesitation that stopped him from reaching for it immediately. There would still be a trap here, even if Ogami had confirmed it wasn't the obvious one. And if that was the case… did he really want to see how the mastermind had twisted Naegi's image into something that could hurt him?
But on the other hand… even if this was a trap, even if the picture was a weapon… it had to be genuine. If it were false, if it didn't really show the person it seemed, Ogami would have said as much. So whatever else this photograph might be… it was definitely a picture of Naegi. And if so… he only had one choice.
Slowly, Togami took the photo out of Ogami's hand, taking great care to grip it gently in spite of the awkward bandages. He brought it close, took a last deep breath to brace himself… and flipped the photo over.
Naegi grinned back up at him from the glossy surface.
Togami's heart seemed to stop at the sight. The world froze around him, colors bleeding to gray and sounds disappearing into static. There was nothing left for him but that image, and he drank in the familiar contours of that precious face. It was Naegi, definitely and without question the same Makoto Naegi that he'd met here… with one key difference.
The boy in the picture was happy. His carefree eyes had the look of a boy who had never seen a friend die, and his bright smile hadn't yet been dimmed by the mastermind's plot. Togami had never seen Naegi look so purely happy, even in the brief moments of peace they'd found together. Trapped here in the killing game, he didn't think that kind of happiness could even be possible.
And he'd never get a chance to see Naegi feel it. No matter how brightly Naegi's smile looked, Togami felt only the cool, slick paper beneath his fingers. Naegi's eyes might seem to sparkle up at him from the page, but they weren't looking at him. They'd never look at him again.
The happy boy in the photo was suddenly too much to bear. Togami looked away, desperate to see something, anything that would distract his mind from the pain of those knife-edged thoughts.
And as he tore his eyes from Naegi, he finally registered that the boy wasn't alone in the photograph. There at his side, pressed all too close as she beamed happily up at the camera, was Sayaka Maizono.
Schedule note: The break from too much time writing has helped my health stuff... but unfortunately it's going to be a bit of an ongoing issue. I'm probably only going to be able to write on weekends for a while, due to computer time limitations, so I'm going to change my posting schedule up a little. I'm going to try only posting one chapter a week on Sundays, and we'll see how that goes. There won't be a chapter next week though, just to give myself some breathing room in case the new writing schedule doesn't work the way I'm hoping. Next chapter will be up on August 13. See you all then!
