For all the time and energy Togami had poured into consideration of the mastermind, he'd never quite made the connection of how smart they had to be. He'd known they had to be intelligent, of course — one look at the devious game they'd created, and that much went without saying. Anyone who could get the drop on the sixteen participating students, with their wide range of talents and resources, had to have one of the best minds around.

But even so, he'd never gone so far as to attribute their success directly to their mind before. They had the element of surprise, access to better information, powerful allies to support them, any number of superficial advantages that could give one opponent an edge over an otherwise well-matched enemy. If he'd been the one in the mastermind's shoes, he could have done the same.

But now… envisioning the person who could pull off the scheme Kirigiri had described… the conviction he'd taken for granted faltered, his certainty slipping from his grasp. Could he have pulled off such an in-depth deception? Could he have lived a lie day in and day out for years as he manipulated friends, knowing all the while that he'd eventually intended to torture and kill them?

Revulsion churned through his stomach as he forced himself to consider the idea, what it would take and how it would feel. He knew the answer, whether he wanted to admit it or not — he couldn't have done it.

But someone had. The mastermind, whoever that truly was, had done it. All the students here had been thrust into this nightmare of a game, and dead body after horribly dead body piled up the ghoulish evidence that the mastermind had gone through with exactly the plan he'd just recoiled from. And the genius, the planning, the sheer nerve that it would have taken —

"Ugh, mastermind this, mastermind that — don't you all have any other questions to talk about?"

A bright, bubbly voice bounced through his thoughts, scattering ideas with all the force of a wrecking ball. His eyes shot up to the throne, where Enoshima sat with one hand perched on her hip in a posture of injured annoyance.

"I mean, seriously — I already told you all that I'm the mastermind. What more is there? There are a lot of other more important questions you're gonna need to answer before we're done — better hurry up and get on with those!"

Did she honestly think she'd fooled anyone with that act? Togami narrowed his eyes at the purported mastermind, watching the subtle shifts of Enoshima's body language.

The ever-so-hesitant flicker of her eyes around the circle, the hint of plastic stretching in her too-bright smile… no, she couldn't be as confident as she'd acted. She was good, with a model's knack for disguising her thoughts, and no doubt she could fool anyone who didn't look too closely — but he could see what her mannerisms concealed. She didn't think they were fooled. She was worried.

Which was strange, wasn't it? What did she have to worry about, if they'd really gotten derailed onto a topic that wouldn't help the solve the mysteries of the game? After all, if they guessed wrong, it ought to mean her victory. The only way it would be a problem for her would be… if they were right.

"There are other questions more important than the identity of the mastermind?" Kirigiri finally looked away from Makoto, one eyebrow arching up as she examined Enoshima like a corpse she planned to autopsy. "So then, if we aren't able to agree on the person behind the game, would we still be able to win the trial?"

"Huuuuh?" Enoshima tugged a long strand of her pigtails out, twirling it away from her head like a long twist of gum. "What are you talking about? You can't get it wrong when I already told you the answer!"

"Oh, no." Kirigiri shook her head. "This game has been built on rules from the start — you can't avoid them now. So, to be absolutely clear — if we name the wrong person as the mastermind, what happens?"

"Well, that's easy!" She jerked the Monokuma doll in front of her head again, wiggling it around as she spoke. "You said you could solve each and every one of the mysteries during this trial. So if it turns out you couldn't live up to the hype — you lose!" She giggled, flicking Monokuma's paws up into a pose of screaming anger. "But no way that'll happen with an easy win like this one. So why worry?"

She sounded so earnest, so sincere as she said it — she had to be manipulating them. Otherwise, why intervene in the trial at all? He shook his head in annoyance. "So you're just giving us one of the answers? What, should we think you're feeling merciful all of a sudden?"

"Hardly." She dropped the bear and frowned at him, straightening back into a condescending lecture. "After everything else you've worked out, the identity of the mastermind is just too boringly obvious. There are only sixteen students in the game, the person writing the rules is one of the students, and I'm the only one you haven't met." She shrugged. "I'd say it's elementary, but even grade schoolers wouldn't have had this much trouble with it."

Togami blinked, her words catching at his mind. He hadn't asked the question with any expectation of a genuine answer, but — something she'd said had sounded like one. There was a hint in those words, a reminder of something he'd forgotten during the course of the trial… he just couldn't spot what. After all, it wasn't as though she'd said anything unexpected. Claiming she was the mastermind yet again, tossing in a few insults for camouflage, repeating Monokuma's explanation of the sixteen students in the game —

The sixteen students in the game — and the fact that the mastermind had to be one of them.

Kirigiri had made the same point earlier, reminding them all that the mastermind had to be among them. He'd dismissed it then, just another attack among so many others… but he couldn't do that so easily any longer. Not when the possible options for the mastermind were narrowing all too sharply.

One of sixteen. How many choices could there be?

Slowly, he turned away from the circle of girls, looking back to the wheelchair at his side. Down, down, into dark shadows of black and smears of bloody red, he looked at the pale boy sitting still and alone.

Is it you?

He couldn't bring himself to ask the question, not out loud… but he couldn't stop it from ringing through his ears.

Did you plan this game?

He shouldn't need to ask. After all the time he'd spent with Makoto, after every moment they'd shared, he should already know the answer.

Did you send your friends to die? Did you pretend to mourn the murders that you set in motion?

It could have worked. That was the frightening part. If the mastermind had the courage, the brains, and the sheer luck to pull off such a plan, then it could have worked exactly like the game he'd just endured. And if anyone could really be that skilled…

Did you use me as one more cog to spin through your plan? Did you pretend to care so purely, just to trap me further?

Impossible. He couldn't believe it. Not of the sweet, innocent boy in front of him, who'd so miraculously come back into his life. And yet… he knew the most successful lies would be the ones people wanted to believe.

Did you make me love you just so you could betray me?

He let his gaze lock on to the clear hazel of Makoto's eyes, and felt himself plummeting forward into darkness.