Chapter 5: Day 3

"Naegi better be thankful that he wasn't in charge of assigning the groups," Togami reflected as he scanned the wall of monitors. He had been assigned the data center room by the leadership trio shortly after breakfast, during which Naegi had made his cup of coffee without complaint after being reminded of his new assignment. Togami erroneously thought that it would be a good sign for the day, but when Kirigiri read off the groups, Togami nearly felt sick.

In a normal investigation, Togami would have found the data room intriguing. It was without a doubt one of the most bizarre rooms the corporate heir had come across thus far in the school. With several computer stations, a dead television on a rolling cart, a door covered with a depiction of that cheeky Monokuma, and walls displaying monitor after monitor of black screens or white noise, Togami could only assume that this was where all the feeds from the security cameras would be going...if they were turned on. As it was, without the cameras running, the only sound that should have been echoing was the hum of technology. Normally he would take this opportunity to investigate, if only to satisfy his own curiosity.

"Hey asshole, watch it!"

But the two he was assigned with were making that task nigh impossible.

"I was watchin' it! You got in my way!"

Togami slowly inhaled to steady his nerves as, for perhaps the fifth time that morning, Kuwata and Owada began shouting at each other. The room wasn't that small, and their box sat in the middle of the data center room and out of the way in order to avoid blocking any pathways. Togami peeked over to see it was nearly full of aluminum cans. How and why there were so many aluminum cans in the data center was just as large a mystery as the screens, particularly when Togami was certain that there had been a different group the previous day searching through this very room. "Did the two or three who were in here honestly miss all these items?" he pondered as he straightened his glasses. "Or is something else going on?" He chuckled and shook his head as he thought, "And here I told myself not to bother trying to solve this mystery."

"Fine! You take that corner, I'll take this corner!"

"You can't tell me what to do!"

Togami's hands turned to fists. "That's enough!" he shouted, grabbing both of their attention. He turned to see Owada and Kuwata blink in surprise at him. The two were standing directly in front of each other, with Owada's extended hair nearly touching Kuwata's. Togami had stayed out of the previous fights, but even he could only take so much. "This room isn't that large! Spread out and cover as much ground as you can. For goodness sake, we only have another hour to go, so could you please quit acting like children?"

"Who are you callin' a kid?" Kuwata argued, raising a fist in Togami's direction. At the same time, Owada cracked his knuckles and glared at Togami, clearly indicating he was in a fighting mood.

"Oh I don't know, maybe the ones who are arguing rather than searching for items that will help us get out of here," Togami retorted.

"We got how many cans compared to you, Blondie?" countered Owada. "The fuck you've been doin' this whole time, 'sides lookin' around at the damn monitors?"

Raising a circuit board, Togami noted, "I wasn't just looking for the most obvious items, though I suppose the cans should suffice. Cans aren't going to be enough, though. We should be searching this room for actual wires, circuits, and the like. It's almost a certainty that we'll need some authentic pieces of technology, though I doubt either of you thought of that."

"A circuit board?" Kuwata pulled his e-Handbook out and glanced down at it in confusion. "That wasn't on the list of things in here! Just what are you tryin' ta do?"

"Of course it's not in the handbook, but there are blank lines on the list for this room," Togami explained, holding up his own e-Handbook to make a point. "That means some items weren't found yesterday that are accessible in this room. Our goal should be discovering all the items here rather than piling the box up with one type."

"Hmph, well, then if you're so smart, then keep fuckin' lookin'!" Owada demanded. Togami quirked an eyebrow. He was about to point out that that was precisely what he himself had ordered, then realized there was very little point in belaboring the matter. Fortunately Kuwata and Owada had split apart once again, and Togami sighed before placing the circuit board carefully into the box.

"These two should learn from that Naegi. Just be quiet and do your work." Mentally shaking off his frustration, he returned his attention to the computer screens, taking his time to examine the monitors and stations, both around and under them. Time passed as he closely inspected every nook and cranny, and he was surprised to find another two circuit boards, both in decent shape, if a little dusty. Togami placed them in the box, then pulled out his e-Handbook once again. "11:35, and the bear said we had to stop at 12:00." Putting the handbook away, he looked to Owada. "Do you think you can carry this downstairs without breaking anything?"

"What, the box?" Grinning and giving a thumbs up, Owada exclaimed, "You got it, Blondie!"

"The name's Togami," he corrected. "Kuwata, get the door. I'll make sure we didn't forget anything."

"Pfft, whatever." Despite the remark, Kuwata tossed a final can into the box, which Owada was already lifting up, and pushed the door open. Owada sauntered through, and as the door closed shut, Togami took one final look around the room.

"Our box is full of items, but there was certainly a group in here yesterday." Slowly, he examined the black, offline monitors one at a time. "Something peculiar is certainly going on here… But I suppose simply staring won't provide any answers." He chuckled once again. "I'm not going to be able to stop myself from solving this mystery, now am I?"

He exited the data center and closed the door behind him, then made his way down the hallway towards the stairs. He could hear other groups following a similar route and realized everyone else must've had the same idea of returning to the gym a few minutes early. Indeed, as he reached the first floor of the school, he nearly bumped into Kirigiri, who gave him a curious look. "No doubt your box is full of items…" she began.

Togami crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes, and I assume that means yours is, as well."

"It is. Even though I was assigned to the nurse's station again." She frowned at him. "It was almost as though you and I didn't pick through everything yesterday."

Togami nodded. "I had the same observation. That our room looked untouched."

"Interesting…"

Togami shrugged. "Not really." He turned and walked into the gym, where Owada and Kuwata were already showing off the items they had collected. Pulling out his e-Handbook, the Togami heir watched as several blank spots filled in with new items not just from the data center but from several other rooms, as well. Swiftly doing the math in his head, he realized they were already halfway done with collecting the items they required for the next backup Monokuma.

"Good. That means less time wasted with these imbeciles looking for things."

Hearing footsteps, Togami turned to see the group of cleaners being led in once again by Taka. Hifumi jogged forward on his tiny feet and pointed at the group huddled around the boxes. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he exclaimed. "The hallways have never been cleaner, if I do say so myself!"

"Someone was in high spirits today," Celeste casually explained, her gaze landing on Togami. "Fortunately it made our job just a bit easier."

"E-E-Except he kept getting in the way," complained Fukawa. Togami noted that the Ultimate Writing Prodigy's eyes also locked onto him. Unlike Celeste, she didn't move on. He scowled and returned his attention to the boxes, where the rest of the students were gathered.

"It looks like we found a lot more missing items," Naegi observed as he scrolled through the lists on his e-Handbook. "And we'll need to make, uh…" He looked in confusion at his handbook. "A Greek...statue?"

"Grecian statues?" repeated Hifumi. "Much like the ones in the art room? Ha, what nonsense! Everyone knows 2D is superior!"

"That must've been the weird figurine we used when we made the first Casanova," Maizono remarked. "I guess we'll have to make another one…"

"So how's about tomorrow we make whatever tools we need?" proposed Hagakure. "Including this, uh, statue or whatever. Then we take the next day to find the remaining items, then we can build this stuff and get it over with."

"This is gonna be such a pain," Enoshima complained. "But...that's actually not a terrible idea, Hagakure. Especially since it's past noon, so there's not much we can do anymore."

"So we'll all meet here tomorrow morning after breakfast!" declared Hina. "Maybe if we have some leftover time, we can search for a few items, as well!"

"Everyone, you heard the plan!" shouted Taka. "Tomorrow, breakfast, then gym! Now, everyone is dismissed!"

Togami didn't need to be told twice. Turning on his heels, he exited the gym, but not before shooting a glare at the bizarre writer who was still staring in his general direction. As he turned the corner to begin heading upstairs to the library, however, he heard a second set of steps behind him and turned back around. To his complete lack of surprise, Kirigiri stood before him. "Yes?" he asked, hoping his exasperated tone told her he didn't want to be bothered.

It clearly didn't. "I knew you would be leaving early, so I wanted to ask your opinion on something."

"If it's about the school, then-"

"It's not. It's about the groups that were assigned today."

Togami glared slightly at her. "What about them?"

"We're trying to figure out who works best with whom. Obviously we all have very different personalities, which can sometimes be a positive, sometimes a negative." Crossing her arms over her chest, she stated, "I'm sure I don't have to tell you of all people, but please be honest. How did your team function today?"

"Like animals."

A few seconds passed before Kirigiri's eyebrow rose in confusion. "Can you...be a bit more specific?"

"I had to remind them of the task at hand at least three times," answered Togami, holding up three fingers to emphasize the point. "All they did was fight and find the most basic of items. No imagination, and no true understanding of the task being handed to us. Whoever is assigned to those two needs to act as babysitter, and I'm not in the mood for such foolishness."

"Hopefully that won't be too much of an issue once we've found all the items Monokuma wants us utilizing. But...I do see your point. We can't have groups fighting amongst themselves." Shooting a look at Togami, she added, "Though I'm sure you did little to help ease the tension in the group."

"I'm sorry, did I assume incorrectly when I thought you wanted to get out of here just as much as I do? None of us have the patience for time wasted in this place."

"Yes, but you've already made it clear that you don't trust or want to rely on others. You sit by yourself at the meals you bother to even show up at, and you spend all afternoon and evening away from us."

"You're the second person to make that observation, as though that's some sort of character flaw. And besides, I'm allowing you all to put me in these ridiculous groups, am I not?"

"You are."

"Then do me a common courtesy and put me with someone who will at least do the job without raising their voice every hour. I don't need a daily migraine from dealing with some of you."

A few seconds passed, during which Kirigiri seemed to be contemplating something. Togami snickered, figuring the conversation was over, when she suddenly smiled and nodded her head. "Fine, I have an idea. Tomorrow, we'll all obviously be in the gym, but come the next day, I'll assign you to someone I think you'll find amenable."

"Hmph. Then we're done here." Kirigiri nodded once more and walked past him in the direction of the school store. Togami's gaze followed her until she disappeared around the corner. As he turned to begin ascending the stairs, he blinked upon noticing a braid of dark purple hair sticking out from around the corner of the doorframe leading into the gym.

The writer girl. He scoffed and headed up the stairs, hoping against hope that the library door had a lock on it.