Togami could have glared at Enoshima for the rest of the trial, drowning in the dark pleasure of envisioning her death — but there would be no real victory in that. If he truly wanted to defeat her, to revenge himself on the author of every nightmare he'd had to endure, then he knew what path he had to take. They had to win the trial, save all their lives, and put an end to this game.
Determination coursed through his veins, giving him new strength to straighten his spine, set his shoulders, and lift his chin. The movement loosened Makoto's grip on his wrist, and before the other boy's hand could fall away, Togami caught it with his own. Twining their fingers together, he watched a smile break across Makoto's face. Yes, this was exactly the kind of moment the mastermind had plotted to destroy… and he hoped it hit her hard to see that she'd failed to succeed.
Just as he would force her to fail in every other way. No more defensive moves — no, if he truly planned to protect Makoto, it was time to take the fight on the offensive. Togami looked back up at Enoshima with a smirk. "Then it looks like we were right about the real culprit in Ikusaba's death."
"Hmm?" Enoshima had the nerve to blink at him, as if she hadn't been paying attention. "Oh, you mean back when you voted for Makoto? Pretty sure I already said you got that right."
"Not that." She could pretend to be obtuse all she liked, but Togami wasn't about to let her derail him into another discussion of that vote. "If Ikusaba was dead already, nothing from that trial applies any longer. The truth is that it's just like we've been saying all along — the mastermind was the one who killed her."
"Yeah?" She tilted her head. "How do you figure?"
Togami stared at her. "Seriously? You're going to act like you've forgotten? You literally just said that you shot all those spears at her!"
"The spears?" She paused, tapping one blood-red nail against her lips as she thought.
Even though he knew she was doing it to be obnoxious, Togami could feel his blood pressure creeping upward with every second. And of course, just before he hit his breaking point —
"Oh, right, those spears!" Enoshima giggled, bouncing up into the persona of a ditzy schoolgirl. "Yeah, I totally did shoot those, didn't I? Man, they really did a number on her!"
"If by 'did a number' you mean 'were the direct cause of her death,' then yes," Togami snapped. "That's my point exactly. You shot the spears — so you're the real culprit of that trial!"
"Really?" She braced her hands against the seat of the throne, swinging her feet freely in a way that would have been reminiscent of a little girl if it hadn't been for the occasional too-high flip of her skirt hem. "I dunno, I just don't see it! You'd better spell it out for me, or I just know I'll never understand!"
Togami ground his teeth together. At this point, he would have preferred to argue with Monokuma rather than deal with his voice. What was she even trying to accomplish with these games? Had she decided that if she acted dumb enough, she'd win the trial by default? Or… was there something he was missing?
"So you're suggesting that there's some aspect of the situation that we don't currently understand," Kirigiri said, slithering her way into the brief pause before he could decide how to proceed.
"Huuuuh? Am I?" Enoshima's eyes popped comically wide, and her jaw dropped open until her mouth was a perfect O.
"What don't we understand?" Ogami asked, a crease forming between her eyebrows as she frowned at Kirigiri. "Were the spears not what killed her after all?"
"No, the spears wounds were definitely Ikusaba's cause of death. And Enoshima here has admitted she launched them."
"Then sounds like that's a wrap! Roll credits and start the after-party!" Jill called out, when Kirigiri didn't elaborate further.
"Awww, you're done already?" Enoshima's eyes welled up with sparkling tears. "Just when I finally get to join you for a trial, you want to rush off to the final vote?"
"No — we're not done yet." Makoto glared at her. "You aren't going to trick us into ending the trial early. We can't stop before we've solved all the mysteries."
"No?" She tilted her head, the frivolous schoolgirl giggles evaporating like soap bubbles until all that remained was a dull monotone and empty eyes. "Too bad."
Had that been her goal? Had she really been trying to manipulate them into ending the trial with the identification of Ikusaba's murderer, forgetting all the other questions that were still unanswered? Were her contradictory claims of whether she had or hadn't killed Ikusaba meant to be a decoy, taking advantage of the pattern of five trials that had ended with identifying a culprit? If they'd taken her up on her suggestion of a vote, then even if they'd named Ikusaba's true killer, she could still go on to claim they'd forfeited the rest of the trial.
A grimace twisted his face as he contemplated it. She might have been technically within the rules with such a ploy, but still… it seemed so petty, in comparison to the other plans the mastermind had flung at them. Would someone apparently smart enough to plan out the entirety of the killing game really resort to a plan that boiled down to the class trial equivalent of "made you look!"
Well, if he was in any doubt about that, all he had to do was glance at Kirigiri to know the answer. The one steel-cold eye he could see from where the shadow split her face made it clear that she hadn't lowered her guard in the slightest. She still felt the mastermind's blade at their throats.
So… what was it that she'd noticed? He sent his thoughts hurtling back through the argument, trying to work out what she'd seen that he'd missed. He summoned up the memories of everything that Enoshima had said…
And everything that she hadn't said.
She'd never denied launching the spears at Ikusaba… she'd actually said that she'd done so. She'd only objected when he'd tried to call her the culprit… when he'd said that she should have been the blackened.
And with those two opposing truths in his head, memories of the past trial flashed into his memory. First came Celeste, her gothic poise torn away as she admitted to orchestrating two murders, only one of which she'd committed with her own hands. And then there was Asahina, gunned down in the middle of the trial room because she herself had argued that Ogami's rule-breaking had been at her instigation.
"When two people are involved in a murder, the one who comes up with the plan is the true blackened."
He didn't even realize he'd spoken aloud until the other students all turned to look at him.
"I don't see how that applies in the current situation," Ogami said slowly, eying him like she wasn't certain what she would find if she looked too hard.
"Yes… it does sound out of place," Kirigiri said, her gaze falling on him with all the weight of a boulder. "For that to be relevant, there would have to be someone else working behind the scenes. Someone who developed a plan that Enoshima simply carried out."
She could see it too. There was only one way that everything would make sense… one way that the girl who'd introduced herself as Monokuma's voice wouldn't be the blackened.
"Wait… what are you two talking about?" Apparently Makoto hadn't quite caught up with them yet, eyes darting between them like he was watching a tennis match. "You think there's someone else giving orders to the mastermind?"
"Not necessarily," Togami told him. "The mastermind could still be the one giving orders… to all of us."
That little push was all Makoto needed. His eyes jolted wide in alarm. "No — no, I'm sure that's wrong. Junko is the mastermind!"
"Hmm?" Enoshima met Makoto's eyes for a startled moment —
And then flung her head back in a burst of maniacal laughter. When she straightened, hands on her hips, a tiny gold and velvet crown perched between her pigtails. "Why, that's right! Well done — we absolutely are the mastermind!"
Togami watched her through narrowed eyes as his suspicion solidified into certainty. She was lying. Junko Enoshima was not the mastermind.
