Togami frowned, mental cogwheels whirling furiously as he considered the implications of what he'd realized. Yes, Enoshima had revealed a potential weakness in her armor as she tried to divert them from their discussion of Makoto… but he couldn't see how they could use it against her. Kirigiri's theory was so ridiculous that he could hardly even bring himself to take it seriously, much less come up with a reason for one of the mastermind's lackeys to care about it.

He needed more information if he wanted the chance to damage Enoshima with this… and there was only one way to learn more. As much as the idea made his stomach lurch with revulsion, he was going to have to ask Kirigiri to elaborate on her vicious little delusion. He'd wanted so desperately to protect Makoto from her cruelty, but now he himself would have to be the one who dragged it back into focus.

Before he could lose his nerve, Togami summoned up his most imperious scowl and directed it straight at Kirigiri. "Enoshima did have one half-decent point buried in all her idiocy. There's still one element of the last trial that you have to explain."

"Meaning?" She barely spared him a glance, managing to look far more disinterested than was appropriate for in a trial room.

"You were convinced that Makoto was behind the whole Ikusaba mess throughout that trial," Togami said, "in spite of the fact that he was injured and unconscious for a good portion of the time the culprit was setting up the scene. We didn't know Enoshima was around at the time, so you must have believed he'd been the one to do it." He crossed his arms with the most challenging smirk he could manage. "How exactly did you think he managed it?"

Ogami frowned, considering it. "That is a good point — he could hardly have moved a body or arranged a cover-up after the injury to his arm. Even aside from the weakness and blood loss, his hand simply wouldn't have been up to that much work."

"What can I say — even my improv work is high quality!" Jill let out a single bark of laughter, shrill and scratchier than her usual glee. "When I take someone down, they don't get back up easy even if I want 'em to! If Nancy Drew decided to act like she couldn't see the evidence in front of her eyes, well, just one more reason to ignore her stupid theories!"

In any other circumstances, Togami would have been all in favor of such a reasonable plan — but for once, he actually had a reason to hear his least favorite student out. The only trick would be figuring out how to get her to keep talking without Enoshima realizing he'd seen through her distraction attempt.

Before anyone else could respond to Jill's rant, he shook his head decisively. "No — we're not going to ignore her yet. Kirigiri is the Ultimate Detective — and that means she doesn't just invent groundless fantasies. If she believed this theory, she must have had some sort of basis for it. Wrong or not, I want to know what it was."

That got her attention. Kirigiri's gaze finally broke away from Makoto, flicking up toward Togami's face with piercing intensity. He'd never seen her so focused before, not even when she'd apparently thought she was trying to unmask Makoto during the previous trial. It was almost enough to start worrying him — but after a long moment, the corner of her mouth twitched upward in something that wasn't quite a smile. "Fine, then. It's not terribly exciting. If you really must know, I assumed he'd faked the injury."

"Faked it? But he was hardly able to stand upright." Ogami stared at Kirigiri, bewilderment plain. "He literally collapsed in the middle of the trial."

"And all of that could be done by a good actor," Kirigiri said, her counterattack as calm as ever. "None of you bothered to mention the severity of his injuries at the time, and I could see that he had actually been up and investigating for an extended time. I didn't discover that the wounds were genuine until I was able to see the remnants of the attack in the library for myself."

The library… Togami frowned, thinking back to their long conversation before she'd challenged Monokuma to a re-trial. They'd talked in the bathhouse, yes, but that was only after she'd insisted they go beyond the reach of the cameras. When he'd first found her, she'd been in the library, just as she claimed.

In fact… now that he thought about the timing of those moments before the trial… she must have been looking into the library right before she'd dragged him to the bathhouse and spun that bizarre story about realizing that the mastermind had tricked her. It all seemed like a nonsensical waste of time now that she was making the exact opposite argument, of course… what had she even meant to achieve by that song and dance? Was it just a way to convince him to help her demand a new trial?

Of course it had been. No matter how sincere he'd thought her to be at the time, that couldn't have been the truth. She must have just made up a plausible story to deceive him into supporting her… even though it hadn't worked. Even though it did seem to fit…

A sharp shake of his head sent the questions flying away to the hidden corners of his mind. He didn't have time to try to unpick Kirigiri's motives, not when she'd made it clear they were enemies again. He had to stay focused on her words, no matter how outrageous, if he wanted to work out what it was that Enoshima didn't want him to know.

"So you're saying you believed he fooled us with a fake injury?" Ogami asked, apparently not deterred from her original question. "I suppose it would be possible if we'd only seen him briefly — but we all had the chance to examine him closely. Jill and I are both familiar with genuine injuries, and —"

"I'm aware that my hypothesis was flawed," Kirigiri cut her off. "Naegi's injuries were real, and Enoshima set up the supposed murder using Ikusaba's corpse. However, it's still likely that he helped her."

"Even though you've just admitted his injuries were real?" Togami demanded, hand tightening around Makoto's in an instinctive defense of the boy he treasured. "I thought you were trying to fix the flaws, not add to them!"

"This does fix a flaw" Kirigiri didn't look at all thrown by his burst of anger. "You'd see it, too, if you thought for a moment." She looked up at Ogami, just out of reach beside her. "After all, it might have been reasonable enough to think the Ultimate Soldier could sneak past you to drug your coffee, but it's much less probably that the Ultimate Fashionista would possess the same levels of stealth."

Ogami turned to look up at the throne, grimacing when Enoshima fluttered her fingers with a coquettish smile. "It does seem unlikely."

"But for someone already in the room, in arm's reach of your cup, the bar would be much lower." Kirigiri shrugged. "It isn't a perfect theory without evidence to back it up — but since we know Ikusaba didn't drug your coffee, there aren't many suspects left."

"Well… I suppose that's true." Ogami shifted her stance ever so slightly, as if bracing from the impact of a blow. "But it doesn't prove anything. It isn't a real reason to suspect Naegi of anything!"

"Not by itself, no," Kirigiri agreed. "But I do have reasons — and so should you."

"Me?" Ogami took a step backward, nearly out of her narrow pool of light.

"That's right." Kirigiri crossed her arms. "I'm sure you of all people remember just what happened when you were revealed as the mastermind's spy."