Ayano walked to school past similar looking houses. Today was Friday, the day after her last murder. She passed detectives standing by the front gate at Akademi High School. They gave her a suspicious glance, but didn't give her a second thought. After all, no one suspected Ayano as the infamous Akademi Murderer.

It seemed to Ayano that the police had almost given up on trying to solve the murders. They almost never had any evidence, due to Ayano being careful with every person killed. Even when the police managed to find the body, it was too burnt or mangled to be able to get any evidence from it.

Ayano sighed sadly as she walked into the locker room and noticed her senpai wasn't there today. She was immediately worried. What if Senpai's parents had gotten worried about all the murders recently and decided to take him out of Akademi. Ayano felt like maybe she was worrying a bit too much...after all, he could just be sick or maybe he had gotten an injury in gym. But then again, how couldn't Ayano be worried about the only person in the world who made her feel anything.

However, Ayano's worries about Taro being gone forever were gone after she saw his younger sister, Hanako Yamada. Ayano didn't really have an opinion on Hanako. Sure, she was annoying with her girlish personality, but if Senpai loved her, Ayano couldn't hate her. However, if Hanako ever tried to take Taro from her, she would kill her. Ayano felt like if anyone at Akademi could be anything close to a friend to her, it would be Hanako. They were similar in several ways. Both had the same looks: black hair and black eyes. However, Ayano was pretty sure Hanako didn't see a demon staring back at her when she looked in the mirror. Both were also possessive of Taro. Ayano was possessive in a yandere kind of way, but Hanako was possessive in a worried sibling way. Ayano guessed she could relate to Hanako the most out of everyone at the school.

Ayano found herself wanting to make Hanako shut up every once in awhile. She couldn't stand the things Hanako and her friends talked about. They talked about minor problems, like breaking a nail, like it was the most important thing in the world. At least Asu Rito didn't cry every time a tiny bit of her nail chipped off. Ayano didn't like talking to Hanako either. Hanako would always try to change the subject so the conversation could be about her. She couldn't talk about one topic for more than two minutes.

Ayano sighed, realizing she would have to talk to Hanako if she wanted to figure out where her senpai was and if he was okay. She stuffed her belongings in her small locker and walked over to the short girl.

"Hey, Hanako, can I talk to you for a second?" Ayano asked, dreading the upcoming conversation with the overly positive girl.

"Hey! Ayano, I wanted to talk with you too!" Hanako practically yelled. She turned towards her friends and told them she'd catch up with them later. Then, she told Ayano to follow her. They walked past groups of students to the courtyard in the middle of the school building. They sat down on a bench located away from the small group of students gathered outside.

"Alright, Ayano, you're friends with my brother, right?" Hanako asked. Ayano was kind of worried about the question. She didn't want anyone to figure out how she felt about Taro. If they found out, what if they told him how she felt? He would probably think she was a creep, after all, he probably didn't feel the same about her.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Ayano responded.

"Well, he's been getting nervous lately, because he has a weird imagination and is thinking people are dying because they're his friends. But that's just stupid, they couldn't all be his friends," Hanako explained. Ayano couldn't help but smile slightly at how naive Hanako was. This meant she wouldn't have to worry about Hanako figuring out the motive behind the murders.

"Yeah, there's been too many for all of them to be Taro's friends. Anyways, Taro's a nice guy, I don't know who would want to make him feel nervous like that," Ayano lied. She knew everyone who had died were friends of Taro's.

"That's what I was thinking, well anyways, I was thinking you could help protect him from the killer because you seem strong and stuff," Hanako said. Ayano seemed slightly shocked at what Hanako said. Hanako obviously admired Ayano, but Ayano couldn't figure out why. She definitely wasn't the smartest person in the school, and there were other people who were just as strong as her.

"Uh, why me? I mean, Osana and Asu are just as 'strong' as me, why didn't you ask them that?" Even though Ayano was making it seem like she didn't want to "protect" her senpai, she was really glad Hanako had asked her.

"Well, Osana scares me. She's always so rude to big brother and I didn't know if she would protect him good enough. Asu ignores me too, so I didn't get the chance to ask her. But, I could ask someone else if you don't want to," Hanako explained.

"No, it's fine, just how do you want me to 'protect' him?" Ayano asked.

"Don't know, just watch him and stuff," That wouldn't be a problem for Ayano, she watched Taro all the time anyways.

"Thanks, Ai! Oh, yeah, that's my new nickname for you." Ayano thought Hanako was weird because she always came up with weird nicknames for people. Ayano smiled at Hanako.

"I have to go to class now, see you later," Ayano said as she stood up and walked back inside. After Ayano got to class, she remembered she forgot to ask Ayano how Taro was doing today. Ayano sighed knowing that one day, she would have to kill Hanako. Because one day, Hanako would most likely figure out the motive behind the murders and want to protect her big brother even more. No matter who they were, no one would get closer to Taro than Ayano.