An unfortunate accident or a malicious set-up… Togami couldn't decide which was more likely. Had Makoto's discovery of Ogami been an unexpected twist of events that the mastermind had managed to turn to their advantage, or had they orchestrated it from the start? He didn't believe in mere coincidence, not when everything fit together too well — but on the other hand, it hardly seemed any more likely that the mastermind would have spent so long laying groundwork for an elaborate scheme to make Makoto look suspicious.

And yet one of the two must have happened, however bizarre it seemed. Unlikely or not, Makoto had found his way to the gym during a key moment of battle between Monokuma and Ogami — and his enemies were willing to take full advantage of the fact.

"All you've said is that the mastermind knows how to manipulate us." Togami kept a steady grip on Makoto's too-fragile fingers, doing his best to convey his unshaken trust through touch alone. "The only person that incriminates is her." He waved a dismissive hand at where Enoshima had settled back against the throne, eyes closed as if she were preparing to take a nap.

"That's true," Kirigiri agreed, with an ease that made Togami's eyes narrow. "If we're going to talk about who is directly implicated by that specific action — yes, you're correct in saying that there is no direct proof of Naegi's involvement."

The words she hadn't said rang through his mind as clearly as if he'd heard them. "Then you believe you can prove it indirectly?" He curled his lip in a vicious sneer. "There must not have been much competition for Ultimate Detective if you win your cases with circumstantial evidence."

And she didn't even blink, damn her. Was he losing his edge with insults?

"Circumstantial evidence can still contribute to a solid case. Hints that mean little by themselves are indications about where to look for definitive proof." She raised an eyebrow. "How many clues are you willing to write off as coincidence before you're willing to consider them logically?"

His glare should have set her obnoxiously bland face on fire, if there was any justice in the world. "I am perfectly capable of considering events logically. Coincidences don't prove anything no matter how you spin them. Circumstances could make any one of us look bad, if you found the right angle. The one fact you can't make disappear is that Makoto has never once taken any actions against any of us!"

"Can't argue with that!" Jill agreed, shooting him a disturbingly cheerful grin. "Okay, sure, I didn't see the start of this whole deal, but I'd bet a new pair of scissors that Gloomy saw the same sugar-sweet intentions I do!"

"That's… true." Ogami's voice rumbled from the darkness, speaking more to herself than the rest of them as she felt her way through the thorny facts. "That's true. Naegi has never done anything to hurt anyone. He's good — like Hina. Even if this game made all their actions end horribly, they never meant it. They're both truly good."

Togami wasn't quite as convinced that Asahina had been so pure and good as Ogami apparently believed — but if a few rose-tinted memories of the dead could defend a living ally from Kirigiri's attacks, he had no intention of arguing. The straightening of her silhouette, the gleam of hair moving closer to the light, all of it told him that this had to be the right choice. Kirigiri might have found a weakness in Ogami's guilt over her past choices, but it wasn't enough. As long as she could hold her memories of her beloved friend, it wouldn't be enough to break her.

"Are you sure about that?" Kirigiri's voice sliced through that thin strand of comfort like a knife in the dark. "How can you be certain you know how anyone meant their actions to go? All we have are the actual consequences of our decisions, and the way each of us has chosen to react to them."

"What do you mean?" Ogami asked, taking the bait before Togami even realized he needed to stop her.

"Naegi learned you were the spy, and we all ended up at one another's throats." Kirigiri raised a single finger. "He put Alter Ego in a position to hack the school network, and the mastermind found out." A second finger… and finally, a third. "He was the last to speak with both Fukawa and Asahina, before each of them acted in desperation."

Makoto's fingers went slack in his own, and Togami could not look down at the boy beside him if he wanted to keep his mind clear enough to argue. "You can't seriously believe he meant for any of that to happen. He's been fighting harder than anyone to stop all of the killing!"

"And it's remarkable how often he's had the exact opposite effect."

"That was not his fault! No one could have predicted Fukawa and Asahina would —"

"What did she say?"

The words screeched to a halt on Togami's lips, and his eyes shot to the dark shadows from which Ogami's voice came. Nothing but a silhouette, lesser darkness against the greater — but even so, he could see that she'd turned to look across the circle, straight at him.

No… no, her body angled just a little to one side, and her head tilted down too low to meet a standing person's gaze. She wasn't looking at him.

"What did Hina say to you, Naegi?"

Not the bladed edges of Kirigiri's questions, not the laughing mockery of Enoshima's, not a hint of any malice or cruelty. Those would have hurt Makoto, yes, but at least they would have been attacks. But this… all Ogami's question held was pain, a familiar grief Togami knew he would recognize until the day he died. A grief that had so miraculously lifted from his soul… and that never would from hers.

Her question hung in the air, and Makoto didn't answer.


Schedule note: And unfortunately, I'm going to have to leave it there for a couple more weeks. I have two big work events coming up back to back that will leave me wiped out - and the trial scenes take a lot of work for me to write. The next chapter will be up October 20. See you then!