Chapter 41: Day 37

The second floor library had been empty. The archive was just as he had left it. The rec room was in the process of getting cleaned up for the festivities, while the physics lab and giant, unknown machine within remained untouched. Even the headmaster's door and the data center showed no signs of being tampered with, and the music hall was full of the other students starting to prepare for their school festival.

"So where is Kirigiri?" thought Togami, agitated that he had walked four floors of the school to find nothing of value. He glared as he ascended the steps to the fifth floor and strolled down its hallways. Peering into the dojo, he noticed Ogami and Hina looking over equipment but didn't see any lavender hair. He then peeked into the garden and only heard the sound of sprinklers and chickens.

Sighing heavily, Togami thought to give it up when he noticed the hallway leading to some other barred classrooms and a locked off bio lab. He had avoided some of the locked doors and otherwise insignificant hallway, but having come across no clues thus far, he decided to press his luck. He already climbed up to the top floor, after all. He mentally shrugged and approached, making his way around the corner –

– and recoiled.

A smell unlike any other assaulted his senses. It was pungent, dirty, practically choking. And it was coming from a crack in a door. An opened door that, up until now, he could have sworn was locked.

At first, Togami feared that the smell was the same gas Monokuma had used to knock him out, and he took a few steps back a little too clumsily. But as the seconds passed, he found that he wasn't experiencing the same effects. The nausea didn't happen, and vertigo had yet to throw him off balance. Cautiously, he held his hand to his mouth and approached, peeking in through the door and doorframe.

The first thing he noticed was a purple jacket.

"There you are," he muttered under his hand. Pushing the door open, he stepped inside.

And he immediately stepped in dried blood.

Before he could fully process it, Kirigiri, who stood in the middle of the room as if in a trance, swiftly turned and looked at him. Her eyes were wide. Her face was pale. But with a voice fully in control, she demanded, "Close the door!"

He did so without processing the order. Hearing the door click shut behind him, he slowly looked around the classroom.

The stench of blood and human waste was palpable. The desks were upended, with chairs broken and piled up, and amidst them were chalk outlines of former bodies that were now gone and replaced by blood splatters. The clock on the wall was broken. The windows were still plated, but Togami could see evidence of notebooks, former textbooks, and the like scattered along the edges of the room.

It was chaos. Pure, violent chaos.

For a good, long minute, his mind went still as he simply took in the scene before him. It felt like he had just stepped through a portal into another reality, one completely severed from the past 36 days. His eyes widened as he began to actually see the state of the room before him, his brain identifying the objects and destruction. "When did this…" Togami frowned as he inhaled a breath of putrid air and took a step forward, steeling his nerves. "Focus. Take in what you're seeing. Put it in the context of the investigation." He looked at Kirigiri, doing his best to appear unfazed by the scene. "How did you get in here?"

"I assumed Monokuma put more than just distractions in that tower of items," Kirigiri answered as she reached into her pocket. Pulling out a keychain, she opened her gloved palm and said, "I spent most of last night searching through the tower and found a set of keys. I then attempted the doors and found it unlocked this room."

"This room being…"

"A classroom. A former classroom."

He slowly, very slowly looked around. "Death happened here…and a lot of it," he mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he analyzed their surroundings.

"Yes."

"Something that, no doubt, is related to what happened outside."

"Yes."

"Something…we probably went through."

"It's called 'The Tragedy'!"

The voice caused both to turn and face the front of the classroom. Standing on the busted teacher's podium was none other than Monokuma, who grinned cheekily at the duo. "What is called 'the tragedy'?" Kirigiri immediately questioned.

"The event that happened outside," Monokuma explained. "The one that put everything into motion, and the one that caused the mess in this classroom."

"I take it this 'tragedy' is one of the reasons our memories were wiped," Togami remarked.

"Meh, not really," Monokuma replied. "I didn't do it so you could forget about the Tragedy, per se. Like I said, this whole 'making me back-ups' idea kinda came to me last minute. A fun plot twist, if you will!"

"When did the Tragedy occur?" asked Kirigiri. "We have been here for at least a year. Did it happen during our time here, or before?"

"It happened when it happened!" Monokuma said. "And who's to say it's still not happening?"

"Wait… What?" Togami glared at the bear. "What do you mean?"

"Sorry, that's my quota for hints for the day!" Monokuma exclaimed. "But have fun poking around here!" Before either could object, the bear disappeared behind the podium. Togami rushed forward and sighed heavily when he saw no sign of the bear nor any lever for a trapped door.

"Dammit…"

"Let's look around. That's a massive clue, after all."

"You mean the name?" Togami glanced over at Kirigiri to see her nod.

"Yes. A term is something we can search for. And there must be something in this room." Before she began to investigate, however, she looked over curiously at Togami. "You don't…remember that phrase, do you?"

"The 'Tragedy'? No. I don't recall ever hearing about such an event."

"Hmm…"

"Do you?"

"No. But… I'm wondering if it has to do with why I came here to Hope's Peak."

"You mean regarding your father? The Headmaster?" When Kirigiri nodded, he sighed and observed, "Standing here pondering won't solve it. Let's look around."

"Right…"

Ignoring her hesitant tone, Togami scrounged through the desk, pulling out broken drawers and flipping through stained papers. His hands quickly became dirty with dust and grime, yet he ignored it as best he could as he sifted through the pages. To his surprise, they were all assignments. He could see math problems with a few of them circled, though the names of the students didn't ring any bells. Mixed in was a teacher's agenda, a folder with health information, and a fire safety drill chart. There was nothing beyond the fact that it was simply more proof that, at one point or another, this school had actually been run as a veritable institution.

He set the pages down and turned to look at the board. Scratches ran deep into the green chalkboard, breaking it into several pieces. Chalk and erasers sat haphazardly along the edge of the floor. He scanned the board for writing and noticed a small chart in the corner that had been wiped away. It looked to be a schedule of some sort; he could see the characters for the days of the week, if very faded. And above that was a date…

A date that didn't make sense.

"Wait…" Slowly, he reached up and touched the chalk. His eyes widened. He felt fear rush through him, and his lips parted in shock. "No… There's no way…"

"What? What is it?"

"Come look at this." He took a step back, his gaze glued to the date written. The day and the month were smudged, but the year stood out clearly. Kirigiri rushed over and leaned closely. The color draining from her face told him he wasn't hallucinating.

"But… But that's…"

"That's two years after I received my invitation to attend Hope's Peak," he hissed. "That means… If this is accurate, then even more time has passed than we originally thought."

"That would mean we spent two school years here, not just one," Kirigiri whispered. "Meaning… No… Perhaps we only attended one school year? Or maybe more…?"

"How could we have forgotten two whole years' worth of memories? How would we have remained in stasis for that long?"

"Maybe… Maybe we didn't…"

"What are you talking about?"

"There's a gap," Kirigiri argued. "We are having memories, flashbacks, of time we spent here in the school. We have to take that into account. So maybe this date…maybe we were all attending classes at this time…"

"So you think we…we lost two years, but we were…we were aware of one? That one was maybe normal? Or both were normal, then we were…" Togami's mind raced with the implications as he looked back at the date. "We're all two years older than we think we are…?"

The two stood awkwardly as Togami reflected, "I received the invitation to Hope's Peak in 2010. I thought that was what year it was when I awoke. Then we determined from our dreams that we spent a year here, putting us in 2011. But the date on the board reads 2012. Two years of my life…just gone. And nobody came to find us in all that time?! Or, no, that's not right. At least one year was a normal life. A normal, everyday school life. I can recall Naegi studying with me. The snowball fight. And then there's the others' stories. So Monokuma wiped us of both good memories…and bad ones. But why?!"

Togami shook his head. He didn't like what his thoughts implied regarding what lay beyond the walls of the school. Not one bit. And Kirigiri seemed equally perturbed, as she slowly turned and looked around the room. "I wonder…if this is why we stayed…"

The words cut through Togami, and he slowly glanced over to watch Kirigiri approach, lean down, and examine one of the chalk outlines of former bodies. "You are referring to Fujisaki's dream?"

"Yes. If this is a sign of what was happening inside the school, then perhaps what was happening outside was worse. And if so, it would make sense why Fujisaki's father insisted he remain here."

"It doesn't seem as though that was very helpful," Togami noted, eyeing the outlines and blood on the wooden floor. "But then…why did we survive? How?"

"I wonder…" Kirigiri sighed heavily.

"Monokuma certainly didn't do it for our benefit," Togami remarked. "And he stated that the memory erasure wasn't due to the fact that he wanted us to forget the Tragedy. It wasn't a mercy. But still…"

"I need to examine some more. Can you…leave me alone? For a little bit?"

Togami's frown deepened at the sudden request. "Wouldn't you want someone to help?"

"I need some time to think."

He wanted to argue the point, that she was being selfish and senseless, but her tone of voice gave no room for argument. Without really understanding her reasons, he sighed, nodded, and muttered, "As you wish."

"But while you're investigating…" He watched her look over her shoulder at him. "Look in that tower of items with Naegi and make note of the dates. Is there anything beyond 2012, indicating even more time lost? Or, perhaps the better starting point is to find anything from between 2010 and 2012. In any event, we need to identify just how much time has actually passed."

"That's a good idea…" Togami nodded.

"Monokuma wouldn't have left that hint without a reason. If there's nothing in the tower after 2010…that may be a further indication of what's going on outside."

"Or lack thereof…"

"And I'll inform Fujisaki of 'the Tragedy' later, for him to look up."

"As you wish. I'll leave you to this room, then."

"Thank you."

Exiting the classroom, Togami shut the door, took a few steps forward, and breathed in the cleaner air. He figured he would simply return later to the classroom to run his own investigation, but as he began descending the stairs back down to the first floor, he realized he would need to tell Naegi about what he found.

And the thought made his stomach churn. "He's already upset over his dream…and if I show him that room, with blood and destruction, he'll no doubt become even more frightened."

Togami sighed heavily. He couldn't protect Naegi from the truth…but the idea of hurting him upset him more than he cared to admit. "Perhaps the search for copyright dates in that tower can serve as a distraction for us. Plus, if I'm going to use the resources available to help him… I can ask him to find something. Something he likes. Something we can share."

He blushed at his thoughts. "Since when did I become so sentimental? Aloysius would scold me to no end over these considerations. But then again… If Naegi and I dated early into our time here at Hope's Peak…and we were here for nearly two years… How long were we together? And how much did I change due to Naegi's influence?"

He shook his head as he finally reached the first floor. "Stop it, Byakuya. This is no time for such nonsense. You need to search for further clues. And Naegi needs to help now that he is part of the investigation team." Crossing the hallways and passing by the nurse's station, the dining hall, and the laundry room, Togami reached Naegi's dorm room and knocked gently on the door.

"Come in," Naegi called out. Togami felt his heart skip a beat as he entered. Naegi was sitting on the bed looking over some movies and DVDs, and he smiled cheerfully up at Togami. "Hey!" he exclaimed. Togami must have looked out of sorts, however, for the smile began to curdle. "Are you…all right?"

He wondered how to word it. "I… I've been better," he admitted, approaching the bed after he shut the door. "We found something…disturbing…on the fifth floor."

"Oh?"

"I'll tell you later," Togami promised. "Tonight, maybe. Or tomorrow. But not right now. Now, we need to look further at the tower of items Monokuma gave us."

"What for?"

"For dates. Timestamps. Anything indicating when the items in that box were made or obtained."

"Oh…?"

"Yes… I'll explain later."

"Okay…" Pushing himself off the bed, Naegi slipped on his pair of red sneakers and nodded up at Togami. "The tower is still in the warehouse. Come on, we can go check it out." For a second, Togami merely stared down at Naegi's face. The fact that they were older, that so much time had passed, struck him in that moment. He felt the urge to lunge at the boy, to take him in his arms and wrap around him and protect him…but no. He had to be realistic about this.

"Let's go," he merely muttered. "But first, let me wash my hands. The place we found was disgusting." He swiftly entered the bathroom and ran his hands under the hot water. He could still feel the grime from the papers, but no amount of water seemed to fix it. He sighed in defeat and dried his hands off. The two exited the room, and he waited for Naegi to lock his dorm door.

And when Naegi instinctively reached out to grab his hand, Togami immediately interlaced their fingers. "Do you want to play pool then?" Naegi asked softly as they walked towards the warehouse. "Once we're done, I mean."

"Absolutely," Togami answered. He looked back down and smiled. "Coffee and billiards tonight. No exceptions."

The statement made Naegi smile, and for Togami, it had to be enough.