Chapter 11: Day 8

"Puhuhuhu, it's time to begin!"

Togami scowled and crossed his arms over his chest as Monokuma shot up from behind the podium, slamming down on his behind in front of the microphone. Everyone who had been chatting became silent, and all eyes were now glued to the animatronic bear. Without missing a beat, Kirigiri asked, "You're assigning us a new backup, aren't you?"

"Awww, you're too good at this!" Monokuma exclaimed. "Not that it took that much brain power to figure out, but yep! I have your next assignment all ready to go!"

"It's not as though your intentions are hard to read," Celeste countered, twirling her fingers through her hair as she spoke.

"Ah-hem. ANYWAYS. Your next assignment is going to be as follows!" Pouncing off the podium, Monokuma rushed to the side and pulled out another rolling chalkboard. With a dramatic gesture, he flipped it over, revealing in large, chalky text the words "MONOKUMA BUTLER."

"A...butler?" Fujisaki read aloud.

"That's right!" Monokuma proclaimed.

"I-I-Is it going to h-help us clean?" questioned Fukawa.

"Meh, not really," answered Monokuma. "But it's always good to have a butler in waiting, right? Makes the place feel special, like you're VIP guests!"

"Guests? We ain't guests here!" Hiro exclaimed.

"Oh? But you all accepted the invitations…"

"What invitations?" asked Kuwata. "We got accepted to a school, not to this!"

"Puhuhu, that's a secret!" Monokuma taunted, crossing his paws over his wide, grinning mouth. "For now, all ya gotta know is that I want a butler. And just as before, I want it done within five days!" The sound of their e-Handbooks being updated rang out, and Monokuma climbed back up onto the stage. "Well, I've uploaded the blueprint and all the necessary items! You guys have been so good at exploring, I'm sure it'll be a cinch! But just like before, no working after noon! So hop to it, folks!"

And just as quickly as he came, he waddled offstage and disappeared.

Togami sighed before pulling out his e-Handbook, and everyone else slowly did the same. His eyes widened as he read the checklist of items required. "Umm, this one looks...a bit more complicated," Maizono remarked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"We're going to need to collect a lot more items if we're going to complete this within five days," Kirigiri noted. Looking up from the handbook, she said, "Let's begin assigning rooms, then."

"Cleaning crew, you're with me!" proclaimed Taka.

"You go, Bro!" Owada cried out.

"You two are so weird now," Asahina muttered. Fortunately the "brothers" didn't seem to hear her, and Taka led the cleaning crew out of the gymnasium without further incident. Togami looked back down at his handbook, calculating the items needed in his mind as Kirigiri and Naegi began reading off the names of rooms.

Soon enough, he heard his own. "Togami, you'll be with Naegi and Ogami in the library. We're going to need quite a few different programming handbooks, by the looks of it, in order to build all the parts required."

"Because finding merely one that contains all of the necessary information would simply be too easy," Togami thought. He scanned the list once more and frowned. "This list makes absolutely no sense...which, I suppose, fits in with everything else happening here. Another mystery to add to the ever-growing list." He slowly looked up as he heard Naegi and Ogami approach him.

"Ready to go, Togami?" Naegi asked, smiling widely up at him. Togami nodded and put his handbook in his pocket before following the two out, his eyes landing on the back of Naegi's head as they exited the gymnasium and headed upstairs.

"And speaking of mysteries…"

The previous evening had replayed itself multiple times in Togami's mind during his breakfast, yet he couldn't determine why exactly he had acted the way he had. With anyone else, he would have had little tolerance and even less patience for mistakes made. He would have demanded nothing but the best from someone. Anyone who fell short would have been deemed a waste of time.

And yet he spent over an hour with Naegi, teaching the boy how to play pool. How to line up a shot, how to make decisions based on the current layout of the balls, how to gauge how hard to hit the cue ball. He went over these things carefully and with precision, and Naegi listened with that smile of his, taking even the harshest of criticism in stride. It was as though he had genuinely wanted to just play the game with Togami. He made no moves to win and asked very few questions that showed initiative beyond just getting the basics down, yet he stated more than once that he was having a good time playing. And Togami believed him.

What made it all the worse was that Togami himself couldn't say it was terrible. He could have shrugged off the time spent and perhaps even the sentiment as repayment for the coffee, yet something in his mind told him that his previous hypothesis hadn't been correct. Coffee alone wouldn't have made Togami patient. He wouldn't go so far as to say he had fun, but he couldn't deny that there were worse ways to spend an evening. But that in itself was the problem. "The boy is the most common of commoner boys I've ever met," Togami thought as they reached the library and opened the sliding wooden door. "And yet somehow, he is the easiest to be around in comparison to these other fools."

It didn't help that Togami had thought more than once about that awkward blush Naegi had barely managed to contain. Just what had set that off was unknown to him, and Togami wasn't sure what to make of it.

"All right, we ready to go?"

Naegi's voice cut through his thoughts. Mentally shirking off the memory, Togami thought, "There's time later to deal with that." Indeed, both Ogami and Naegi were looking at him, and he knew right away that they would be relying on his expertise. After all, the library was all but his room.

"Where do you think we'll find these textbooks?" inquired Ogami.

Togami pointed to the small bookshelves that lined the center of the room. "I would begin here," he stated, watching as Naegi pulled out the cardboard box for their items from underneath a desk. "Most of the books on the shelves along the walls are novels, not textbooks. If need be, we can sort through them, but we should start with these."

Ogami smiled and nodded. "All right, I'll begin with the far shelf."

"Then I'll take the middle," Naegi stated.

Togami shrugged and approached the remaining shelf. The trio began looking closely at the book spines, occasionally pulling one from the shelf to place in the box. Feeling confident and in his element, Togami's gaze roved over the titles, and time quickly passed as he went shelf after shelf, scouring for any textbooks. He assumed they would be relying upon Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer, to distinguish which books were appropriate and which weren't, but for his own part, finding the most materials possible was the goal.

Thus it surprised Togami when Ogami suddenly said, "So, Naegi…"

"Hmmm?"

"Is Maizono okay? I know she was a little depressed yesterday, thinking about her bandmates outside the school. You seemed to really help her out."

"I think she'll be all right," Naegi answered. "I mean, I'm right there with her. We've been here for a week… It's a little odd that nobody's come by or called us. And I'm wondering where our phones are, too. But Monokuma says we'll be out of here once we're done, so we just gotta keep going!"

"I agree. I'm worried about my family, but there's not much we can do with the way things stand. Still, perhaps it is none of my business, but you and Maizono seem to be spending quite a bit of time together after we're done collecting items."

Togami's finger froze on the spine of the book he was about to pull from the shelf as Naegi's awkward laughter filled the room. "Yeah, maybe…" Naegi trailed off.

"Again, if it's none of my business, you can say so. But… Are you two together? You said you knew each other before this school, right?"

"Y-Yeah, we went to the same middle school," Naegi admitted. "But I never really talked to her. Even back then, she was super popular and, well, I wasn't. I was always afraid to approach her."

"She doesn't seem like the type of person to hold that against someone."

"No, she isn't. But I was too nervous then to really say anything to her."

"And now?"

Realizing he had been standing completely still, Togami grabbed the textbook and opened it. His eyes, however, didn't seem to want to digest the words before him, and instead his attention focused on the others' conversation despite his best intentions. "Umm, now? I mean… I like her as a friend."

"But not in a romantic way?"

"N-No, not really."

"Hmm… I would've thought there was something there."

"Nah. I mean, she's a super famous pop idol, and I'm not. She's made it clear she has her goals for the group, and those come first for her. Plus I like having her as just a friend. She's fun to be around, ya know?"

"That she is."

"Is there anyone you like, Ogami?"

"There is…" Even Togami blinked in surprise at that; of all the adjectives he'd use to describe Ogami, 'romantic' was near the very bottom of the list. The Ultimate Martial Artist was quick to add, however, "He obviously isn't here, though."

"Ah…" A moment of silence passed, during which Togami approached the box and placed the book he was holding inside, before Naegi suddenly asked, "What about you, Togami?"

"What?" He wanted to pretend he hadn't wasted time listening, but even he could tell his response was clumsy.

"Is there anybody you like? Romantically?" Both Naegi and Ogami were smiling at him, and Togami scoffed and shook his head.

"Do I look like someone who has time for a partner?" Togami remarked. Realizing his word choice too late, however, he quickly returned to the bookshelf, turning his back to them to hide the rush of blood he could feel in his cheeks.

"You may want to tell Fukawa that," Ogami noted. "She is convinced you two are a perfect couple for some reason."

"Oh, so you've noticed her stalking me, too?" asked Togami, doing his best to keep his voice steady. "Well, congratulations. Maybe you can assist in telling her to keep her distance from me."

"I'll ask Hina to drag her to the bath tonight," Ogami offered. "We girls were planning on spending some time there. Maybe that'll give you a night of peace."

Togami shrugged, recalling Naegi's similar offer. "If they want to get involved, fine. Let them do whatever." But as he grabbed another book and turned to place it in the box, he casually glanced over to see Naegi looking curiously at him. He frowned. "What?"

Naegi blinked, then smiled while innocently holding his hands up. "Oh, uh, n-nothing…"

Togami glared, then turned his back to the duo once more. "He's a person of average intellect. There's no way he'd put two and two together from that statement alone." But something told him he was wrong. Something told him Naegi knew Togami's word choice was intentional, that he didn't say 'girlfriend' for a reason. Something in his core… Something…

Togami shuddered at the thought. Was Naegi really that oblivious?

For the first time in years, Togami felt a lack of confidence in his observations. He couldn't believe he had so easily said that! Clearly he was spending too much time with the Ultimate Lucky Student. Why hadn't he just ignored the question? He peeked over again. Ogami didn't seem to have a clue, as she had already returned to looking for books, which suited him just as well. Naegi shot him a peek but otherwise returned to the task at hand. Pulling out a random book, Togami frowned and shook his head. He'd just have to hope that Naegi wouldn't have the wits to figure it out and that his instincts were incorrect.