"Looks like someone could use a little company!"
Monokuma's voice hit Togami like a slap across the face, shattering the still air of Naegi's room into jagged shards of grief. Togami snatched his hand away from where he'd let it rest on the bedspread, but he couldn't erase the feeling of new wrinkles shifting beneath his fingers when the mastermind's robot landed on the mattress. He'd almost been able to convince himself there had been a connection to Naegi of sorts, when he'd touched the bed left just as Naegi had last made it… but Monokuma's weight on the bed destroyed that illusion, pressing into the mattress until his presence obliterated any trace Naegi had left behind.
There was something obscene in the knowledge that the mastermind had been watching him as he walked through Naegi's empty room, seeing every grief he hadn't been able to hide… but he couldn't expect anything else, not with the cameras still staring down at him. And after everything the mastermind had done so far to prevent the survivors from properly mourning the dead, he couldn't be surprised that Monokuma had popped up to prevent him from finding any measure of comfort.
But that didn't mean he had to be calm about it. Togami crossed his arms and glared at the bear, doing his best to hide all trace of emotions. He knew from the stiffness of his cheeks and burning around his eyes that he didn't succeed, but the attempt made him feel enough like himself to demand, "What do you want?"
"Eh?" Monokuma drew back as though the words had hurt his nonexistent feelings. "Is that all you've got to say to the only one around to comfort you in your hour of need?"
It took all the self control Togami had not to pick up the nearest heavy object and hurl it at the bear. Much as he ached for the momentary relief of breaking the robot's disgustingly cute face into a scattered collection of gears, he knew it was impossible… not while the mastermind was watching. Instead, he poured all the revulsion the bear inspired into his tone. "I don't want any comfort, especially not from you. Get out and leave me alone."
"So cruel — and here I was going to tell you something nice!"
The cheerful grin spreading across Monokuma's face brought bile rising in the back of Togami's throat. "There's nothing you can say that I want to hear."
"Oh? Are you suuuuure?" The bear sang out the last word with the grating lilt of a child's taunt, making Togami's fingers curl into fists. "Not even if it has to do with a very special someone?"
Togami froze. As much as he loathed the paralyzing hesitation that seized him at the implied reference to Naegi… he didn't know how to fight against it. Not here, in the room where the two of them had spent part of their too-brief time together. And most of all, not when the photo of Naegi still lay reassuringly in his pocket. He knew, he knew that anything Monokuma said would be cruel… but he couldn't quite extinguish the flicker of hope that there might be something more as well.
"Fine," he snapped, spitting the word out before he could remember any of the dozens of reasons not to make such an emotionally-driven decision. "You have two minutes to say whatever you came to say — and then you're going to leave me alone for the rest of the night."
"Wow, such a tough negotiator! That must be the legacy of the Togami family — the confidence to make demands when you don't have a leg to stand on!" Monokuma laughed gleefully at his poor attempt at a joke. "Okaaaaay, if you're gonna be so stubborn about it, give me a second to make sure your terms are acceptable!"
And then Monokuma stopped moving, stuck in the middle of his signature smile. Togami frowned, eying the bear suspiciously. What exactly was that supposed to mean? Yes, he and the other students knew that there had to be someone voicing Monokuma on the other end of the robot's operation… but the mastermind usually refused to so much as hint about it. But now, with the way the robot had frozen… it looked almost as if someone had pressed a pause button and stepped away from the controls. But why would the mastermind want to —
"And I'm back!"
Monokuma's bright voice rang through the room, disrupting Togami's train of thought before he could come up with any conclusions. He saw the bear's gleaming smile complete the spread across its robotic face, and felt an instinctive glower curl his own lip in response.
"Oh, what's that?" Monokuma squinted up at him theatrically. "Are you saying you missed me? Were you lonely when I left you here all by yourself?" He threw back his head and laughed. "Too bad! I had to make absolutely sure this was the right decision for everyone involved before doing anything. I mean, just think how awful it would be if your beloved headmaster made a mistake that he couldn't take back!"
"The clock is ticking," Togami gritted out through his clenched teeth. "Waste your time if you want, but after two minutes, I'm done."
"Is that so?" Monokuma tilted his head quizzically. "Does that include the time I had to spend checking with Naegi?"
The world seemed to freeze around the words, all other sounds drowned out by the sheer force of those last few syllables.
Naegi.
Togami could feel his heartbeat pulsing hot through his ears, but the sound was gone, as unreachable as it had been after the explosion. The only thing he could hear, the only sound left in the world, the only words that had any meaning rang through his ears over and over again.
Checking with Naegi… with Naegi…
The room shook and wavered around him, blurring in and out of focus — or maybe he was the one who was shaking, unable to stand firmly on his own two feet in the wake of those words. He couldn't stop hearing them, cascading through his head in an unending litany that blocked out every other thought since Monokuma had said…
Since Monokuma had said those words.
Ice settled in the pit of Togami's stomach, dragging him back into reality. Monokuma had always been the mastermind's mouthpiece, and every word he uttered was only intended to drag them further into this twisted killing game. Whenever he'd pretended to be anything else, it had been only a pretense so that he could hit them with greater cruelty further down the line. Anything he said… anything he implied… it was only meant to cause pain.
It wasn't true.
Schedule Note: After trying it for a few weeks, I've decided that the new schedule wasn't really working that well for me. I'm reverting to my previous posting schedule of one chapter per week, every Sunday, until further notice. Next chapter should be up next week!
