Togami's stomach twisted into painful knots as Monokuma's gleeful laughter rang through the trial room, and for one awful moment he thought he might be sick. He regretted every moment in the past that he'd spent studying cold case files, cursed the times he'd flipped idly through the photos attached to police reports — because now his mind had all the tools to paint a graphic illustration of Monokuma's description. Until now he'd managed to avoid thinking too specifically about any of it in terms of Naegi's body, but now… now…
His stomach heaved again, leaving him shaking on his feet. Only by clenching his hands around the edges of the podium and fixing his eyes on the shadowy lines of the floor could he dredge up the strength to choke back the sour nausea clawing at his throat.
"Does this ticket have that requirement written on it as well?" That was Ogami's voice, he knew it even with his gaze still locked on the ground. Tense and quiet, he could hear that she too had been shaken by Monokuma's pronouncement, more than multiplying her earlier anxiety. "Are there other hidden rules on it? How would we check?"
A derisive snort cut through the room, loud and overblown enough that it could only have come from Jill. "Sounds like a job for a super sleuth decoder ring! Got one on hand, or should we start checking the crackerjack boxes?"
But even with fear on one side and scorn on the other, Kirigiri still didn't respond. He didn't need to force his eyes up to know that she hadn't moved at all. Of course the girls wouldn't make a dent in her mask, not after she'd frozen when Monokuma had told them the final criteria —
No… wait. Togami frowned, the moment playing out in his head once more. Monokuma had interrupted with mockery and taunts… Kirigiri had refused to react… and then…
And only then had Monokuma read the ticket's use criteria.
"You knew."
Togami raised his head slowly to look across the circle, to stare blankly into Kirigiri's stony face. "You knew that the tickets couldn't be used for — for what we'd wanted. You knew that was one of the rules… and you didn't say anything. You weren't going to say anything, not if Monokuma hadn't made you."
He gritted his teeth, bracing himself for the anger he expected to flood through him at her highhanded behavior. She'd chosen to act alone again, to use manipulation and lies again, even after they'd all agreed to work together against the mastermind. After all the times he'd raged at her lesser sins, surely this would raise a fury in him like no other.
But as the seconds ticked away, no anger came. His chest stayed hollow and empty, cold where the rage should have burned. An infinity of darkness stretched down through him, and all he could find within it was a whisper of confusion.
"Why did you hide it from us?"
It should have been an accusation flung at her head, an attack to wound the girl behind the mask… but he couldn't find the energy to do so. It took all the strength he had to force the question out into the open, exhaustion grinding his voice down to near inaudibility.
And for the first time since Monokuma had spoken, Kirigiri's expression flickered. She didn't drop her emotionless mask, not quite — but now she was looking back at him from across the circle. Their eyes met, and for one horrifying instant Togami felt as though Kirigiri could see straight through his soul.
Then she broke their locked gaze with a shake of her head, and the pressure of her scrutiny disappeared. "I don't think there's anything I can say to explain it to your satisfaction."
Which didn't make any sense. Surely he would be capable of understanding any logical reason she had for her actions. Even when Jill and Ogami had faltered during past trials, he'd never had trouble following her deductive processes. Why should this be any different? What was she planning that she didn't want to share?
There had to be a way to convince her to explain herself. Not outright, perhaps, since that might tip her hand to the mastermind, but she should still be able to tell them something. He frowned, starting to sort through options to send a subtle hint —
But Kirigiri made her move first. She held the ticket up so that her podium's beam of light hit it directly, turning to face Monokuma's throne. "I am redeeming this ticket now, in exchange for an excursion beginning immediately. The location I choose is this trial room that we are currently using, and the student I choose to accompany me is Makoto Naegi."
Silence rolled out through the room as her calm voice came to a halt. For one wild moment, Togami wondered if his damaged hearing had interfered with her words somehow, had twisted whatever reasonable statement she'd made into a mad string of nonsense. Of course he loathed the idea that his hearing might be even worse than he'd previously thought — but that had to be what had happened. It had to be, because the alternative was… was that she'd really said…
Laughter trickled through the room, so quiet that it took Togami several baffled seconds to recognize it as a different variation of Monokuma's cackle. The same recorded sound, yes, but pitched low and slowed until it became a different sound entirely. The deep rumble vibrated through his skull, felt as much as heard, impossibly more sinister than the bear's normal laugh had already been.
"Man, and here I thought detectives were supposed to be smart!" Jill glared at Kirigiri with an indignation that Togami could perfectly comprehend. "Do you need a magnifying glass to help you fact check? Brother Bear just said you can't use the ticket that way!"
"Yes, he certainly laid out the rules quite clearly." Kirigiri's eyes remained fixed on the mastermind's robot, hardly even acknowledging the other students in the circle — like she'd decided to disregard them all entirely. "And now that I've used the ticket, those rules should go into effect."
"But — but you didn't follow the rules!" Ogami's hands curled into useless fists, in spite of the fact that she had no one here to fight. "Then — do you mean to say that you've given up? You're forfeiting the ticket because it became unusable?"
Had that been it? No — Togami dismissed the possibility as soon as it entered his head. Kirigiri wouldn't indulge herself in pointless dramatics simply to dispose of an unnecessary bit of paper.
"I'm not forfeiting anything. I just used an item in my possession." Kirigiri raised an eyebrow at Monokuma. "And so?"
"Hmm?" Monokuma tilted his head. "You know, you're very lucky to have a headmaster who puts up with so much blatant disrespect! Just think how devastated a boring old human headmaster would be if one of their precious students tried to misuse such a delightful prize!" He grinned. "In fact, I'm so tolerant of your antics that I'll even give you one shot at take-backs — we can pretend this whole thing never happened!"
"No." Kirigiri crossed her arms. "I stand by my use of the ticket, and —"
"Why?"
The word tore itself from Togami's throat before he realized he meant to say it. He hadn't intended to interrupt whatever plan Kirigiri was in the midst of — but this was ridiculous. "Why are you still wasting time on this when we all know it won't work?"
"What a good question!" Monokuma said cheerfully, as if this were a class discussion where Togami had made a particularly insightful comment. "You know, I think it deserves an answer — don't you?" His red eye bore into Kirigiri.
"Fine." She met the robot's gaze without flinching. "It isn't a waste of time because you yourself said that this situation meets the criteria on the ticket."
