Togami had no idea what he'd just heard come out of Monokuma's robotic mouth, but he knew that he didn't like it at all. That damn bear talked to all of them all the time, more than any of the students had ever wanted, but he'd never spoken like this before. It had been like it hadn't been Monokuma talking to Makoto at all.
Which was ridiculous, because of course it hadn't been Monokuma talking. Monokuma was a robot, Togami had proved that himself when he'd dismantled one of the machines all over the library floor. It had been someone speaking through the bear, just as it had been all along.
Except that it hadn't been, not really. Whoever had been speaking through Monokuma, they'd always given the bear such an over-the-top personality that it was hard to remember someone else was behind him. They'd held to that illusion throughout the entire game, never breaking it even once.
Not until now… when they'd abandoned their iron grip on their character to chat with Makoto. No, Togami didn't like this one bit, and he had to force his fingers to loosen their grip on his boyfriend's wrist before he added another bruise to the fragile skin. "What the hell was that?"
Makoto flinched back, his eyes widening as though he'd been struck. His gaze darted around the circle, flickering towards each of the girls' faces, even back up to the robot on its ridiculously ornate throne — looking everywhere in the room except directly into Togami's own eyes. Only a handful of seconds, but in those brief moments the words he wasn't saying stretched silent and empty between them.
And then Makoto's shoulders set steady and sure, just as they had in every trial before this. His chin raised to firmness, his lips narrowed to a serious line, and his eyes landed squarely on Togami's own. "That was her. The mastermind."
"Her?" Togami frowned, trying to fit this new piece of information into what he knew already. Makoto had said the mastermind had saved his life for some reason… and since that had apparently included getting close enough that he could learn their gender, it hadn't stopped there. "You saw the mastermind? And you're sure that they — that she is one of the students in the game?"
Makoto's head jerked down in a single nod — not much, but utterly unmistakable as anything else. And there was only one way that he could be so sure.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Togami burst out, impatience bristling up his spine until he had to grit his teeth against it. "Who is it?"
"That is a very good question."
Kirigiri's words sliced through the air between them, a jolting reminder that he and Makoto weren't the only two in the room. Togami shot her a glare, because why in the world had she felt the need to elbow her way into this conversation?
She ignored him, gaze locked on Makoto as one finger tapped a slow rhythm against the edge of her podium. "The question we've all been asking ever since we found ourselves in this game. Who is the mastermind?" She leaned forward. "And why don't you want to tell us?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Togami demanded, stepping between them before his boyfriend could answer. He recognized this pattern, and he wasn't about to let her get away with barking out inexplicable questions for Makoto to solve. The kind, helpful, selfless boy behind him would run himself ragged trying to do as she asked if he wasn't prevented — and Togami had no intention of letting him do so. Not when he was already so badly injured… and not ever again after that.
Kirigiri let her gaze flicker towards him, along with a twitch of her eyebrow upwards — as if to imply that she thought he was the one behaving irrationally in this scenario! "It means that I still remember the purpose of this trial. The mastermind challenged all the other participants to solve their mysteries. Someone with first-hand knowledge of their actions would only make that goal more achievable. And that makes me wonder — why is Naegi keeping secrets from us?"
"Secrets?" The sheer absurdity of that suggestion broke through the word with an incredulous laugh. Makoto was terrible with secrets, she ought to know that as well as Togami himself did after the number of times each of them had encountered evidence of it. Even if Makoto refused to share some specific piece of information or other, his open face would proclaim it to anyone who cared to look. "Does he look like he's keeping —"
Turning back to gesture in Makoto's direction, Togami stopped short. Wide eyes, lines of worry creasing his brow, mouth twitching down as his teeth bit into his pale bottom lip… it all added up to one impossible conclusion. "You are keeping secrets."
"No!" But as soon as the denial burst from his lips, hesitation flashed across Makoto's face. "Well — sort of. I do know some things that would help, but — but it isn't like I was hiding them! It's just —" He shook his head, drawing in a deep breath. "It's just hard to say it."
Togami only realized tension had been taut across his shoulders when it eased at Makoto's words. "Of course — talking must be difficult with your injuries."
"That's not exactly what I meant." Makoto craned his head to look at the rest of the circle, so Togami sighed and stepped out of his way. "I do know who the mastermind is… and not just because of the game." He looked around, meeting each of their eyes. "We all know who she is. We just don't remember her."
Togami blinked. "You mean that we met the mastermind personally during the two years we forgot?"
"Yes, we —" Makoto froze. "Wait — you know about that? How?"
"That'd be all yours truly, Big Mac!" Jill called from across the circle, as loudly as if they were several dozen yards away instead of a handful. "Took a while to work out everyone else had a bad case of memory loss, though!"
"But — you did figure it out? You have enough of your memories to tell them about — to tell them the truth?" Makoto's wrist braced tight and harsh beneath Togami's grip, as though suddenly developing more angles than he'd had a moment ago.
"Some of it!" Jill shrugged. "Only the parts Gloomy wasn't around for, though. Not like I remember every little thing that happened up to 2012!"
Before Makoto could answer, Ogami's gasp cut him off. "Wait — 2012?"
"We already established this," Togami began, but he stopped the complaint when she shook her head.
"No, I'm aware what the true year would be. But I just realized why that year sounds so familiar." Ogami stared at Makoto, a frown creasing her expression. "When you woke after the incident in the library… when I questioned you to determine whether you had a concussion… you told me that the current year was 2012."
Which was true… but Makoto shouldn't have known that. And in fact…
"We've explained how we know about our missing memories," Kirigiri said, eyebrows lifting. "So now it's your turn, Naegi. How did you know?"
