Togami couldn't believe that the idea hadn't occurred to him sooner. Enoshima had come running into the trial to make a nuisance of herself in person, with what had really not been a great deal of provocation. Yes, Makoto had begun to explain that she was still alive, but he'd barely done more than name her when she'd popped into the room to prove him right. The mastermind would have no reason to leave her lair on the word of a single student… but a decoy would.

It even fit with sending Makoto back to them prior to her reveal. They might not have believed her if she'd simply appeared before them declaring herself to be the mastermind… but she hadn't needed to. Instead, she'd apparently convinced him she really was the mastermind at some point while she'd held him captive — which would hardly have been difficult, since she'd pulled him out of one of the mastermind's executions. And once he'd rejoined the trial, she'd had him as an unwittingly supporter of her lies.

Togami looked across the circle to Kirigiri, only to find that she'd focused her attention back on Makoto. No wonder she'd been watching him so closely, if she'd figured this plan out — she must have been trying to see how much Enoshima had twisted the information she'd given him.

And sure enough, Kirigiri's next words were addressed to Makoto, rather than the grinning girl on the throne. "So even after hearing our argument, you're taking the position that Junko Enoshima is the mastermind?"

"Well — yes?" Makoto blinked. "I mean, she told me so earlier, and…" He trailed off, nodding up at the throne where Enoshima still had her Monokuma robot sitting on her lap.

"She certainly looks the part," Togami said, a small sneer curling across one side of his mouth as he eyed her outrageously inappropriate outfit. The school uniform look was in extremely bad taste, considering their surroundings — and the less said about those bear hair clips, the better. "Extraordinarily so, considering that she claims to have joined us on a whim."

"You got that right, darling!" Jill chimed in brightly. "If you're gonna revisit crime scene, rule numero uno is to make sure you don't get recognized!" She paused. "Or I guess you could just kill everyone you see, if you want to be really sure you don't get caught — either works!"

"O-ho-ho! What a brilliant solution you've proposed!" Enoshima grinned — and mastermind or not, Togami definitely didn't like the glint in her eye. "We don't normally accept input from our subjects — but perhaps we should take you up on it just this once!"

"You can't just kill us," Togami said, before she could take that idea any further. "We haven't lost the trial or broken any rules."

"Oh? Is that right?" She raised her eyebrows with as much apparent doubt as if he'd told a blatant lie.

"Of course it is!" Makoto said, and Togami couldn't help but give his boyfriend's fingers a squeeze for how he'd immediately flung out his own arguments in defense of Togami's logic. "That was the whole point of having this trial — you were supposed to prove everything had been fair. Killing all the students just because you felt like it wouldn't be fair at all!"

"Well, I guess it's fine if you insist, sweetie." Enoshima shrugged, letting the crown drop back off her head and roll behind the throne. "But next time one of the riffraff insults my outfit, no promises."

"No one is interested in your clothing." Kirigiri didn't give anyone a chance to argue with this pronouncement before moving briskly onward. "Since we now apparently have the opportunity to address the mastermind directly, I have a question." She stared at Enoshima, intent enough that she could have been trying to look through the other girl. "Why did you let Makoto Naegi survive his execution?"

"This again?" Enoshima didn't even bother to cover her mouth as she stretched it open in a jaw-cracking yawn. "Whatever. Ask your cute little buddy there for the reason, and wake me up when he's done." She flopped back in the throne as if she intended to take a mid-trial nap.

"So you're refusing to answer?" Kirigiri raised a single eyebrow. "That's interesting. Why would you expose yourself to us and join the trial if you aren't going to speak with us directly? You could have let Naegi continue as your mouthpiece far more easily if you'd remained hidden."

"Aw, but where's the fun in that?" Enoshima laughed, but somehow she'd lost her gleeful confidence from mere moments earlier.

"That's a very good question," Kirigiri said calmly. "I'd like to hear the answer as well. After all, you're the one who just threatened to fall asleep in the middle of your own game."

Togami forced his face to remain still, not showing any hint of his inward smirk at Kirigiri's words. Watching her verbally dissect someone else for once really let him appreciate just how good at it she was. Enoshima might have had an edge when she was hiding behind cameras and robots, but she should have known that the Ultimate Fashionista could never hope to out-argue the Ultimate Detective.

And sure enough, Enoshima didn't seem to have an immediate answer to Kirigiri's question. Her eyes flickered around the circle, so swiftly that it would have been easy to miss — easy, except that he'd been watching for a tell exactly like that one. She was hesitating, however much she might be trying to hide it — and that had to mean they were on the right track.

"What can I say — I just get bored so easily when you get off-topic like this!" Enoshima gave them the brilliant smile that must have graced the covers of a million magazines. "If you're not going to keep my interest by trying to figure out my game, then who knows what I might have to do to keep myself entertained!"

A chill slithered down Togami's spine at the words in spite of himself — but Kirigiri didn't even blink. "Shouldn't it benefit you if we aren't discussing the right questions? Why would the mastermind want to punish us for doing something to their advantage?"

It took Enoshima just a heartbeat too long to open her mouth to reply — and by that time, Kirigiri was already smiling. "Or is the real problem that you don't know how else to stop us from asking the right questions?"

Enoshima had to object to that, of course — they all knew it. She even put up a good show of it, tossing back her pigtails and rolling her eyes. "Oh, please — you can talk about anything you like! I just want to be sure you put up enough of a challenge!"

"Is that right?" Kirigiri asked with deceptive mildness. "Or could it be that you're waiting for instructions about how to distract us from the truth?"

"Instructions? Hah! We take instructions from no one!" Enoshima slipped back into her imperious attitude, one hand surreptitiously fishing around behind her for the crown she'd lost.

"Not even the mastermind?" Kirigiri asked — and just for an instant, Enoshima froze. Her gaze skittered around the circle one more time, but she didn't seem to find whatever answers she was seeking. When her eyes found Kirigiri again, she clamped her mouth shut, the tattered remnants of her high and mighty act vanishing.

"No comeback?" Kirigiri shrugged. "That's fine. I'd rather talk to the man behind the curtain anyway."

"Wait — Kyoko, wait a minute!" Makoto stared at her in disbelief. "Are you serious about this? You really don't think Junko is the mastermind?"

Kirigiri turned towards him, her expression never shifting away from the calm mask she'd shown to Enoshima. "You disagree?"

Makoto bit his lip, painfully obvious in his hesitation to contradict her directly. "Well — I guess I just don't see how it's possible for the mastermind to be anyone else. After all, Monokuma said that there are only the sixteen of us in the game. There isn't anyone else left who could be the mastermind!"

"That's not entirely true." Kirigiri looked Makoto straight in the eyes. "You could be."