It's almost been a month since I last updated and I'm really sorry. I was really busy and then got sick, which for some reason prevented me from working on this. I also wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do for this chapter which didn't help. Next chapter will definitely be up quicker.

Thanks for your reviews, everyone.

In a completely unrelated note, my sister had me take some MFB meme. Apparently I'm most like Doji. Anyone have a cactus I can borrow?

I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars.

Sophie wasn't actually home sick. Masquerade was undergoing renovations and for some reason, the manager had demanded the staff be present. Not wanting to risk losing her income, she had blown off school. Plus, she figured it would help convince everyone that she was old enough to work there. A few people she worked with had their doubts about her.

When Madoka called Sophie to explain what had happened to Dashan at school, she had dropped her phone. Sophie agreed with the others that S must have had something to do with it. Which meant S was probably getting ready to make a big move.

Especially if they had tossed Dashan in front of the school for everyone to see. That was a warning to them. S was done with just tormenting them with their secrets. S was out for blood.

Which was a thought that pretty much made Sophie sick to her stomach. She was not ready to deal with S coming at them full force. The threatening texts were bad enough.

Soon it was Friday, and the girls had arranged to meet up at their old meeting place where Selen had gone missing to discuss what to do. Mei Mei had texted them earlier in the week, saying she was sick with pneumonia and not to come visit. She would be absent from the meeting.

S had been strangely quiet during the week, much to everyone's relief. Although, if S was planning something, the silence couldn't be good.

When Sophie got to the hangout, Madoka and Hikaru were already there, deep in conversation.

"Did you find out anything about the smoke we saw a few days ago?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah. Apparently there was a fire. It ravaged the area pretty bad," Madoka frowned. "I wonder how it started."

"No clue," Sophie sat down.

"Weird. Hey, didn't Dashan have some burns on him?" Hikaru asked.

"Now that you say that, I think he did. Maybe he was involved in the fire somehow," Madoka surmised.

"Do you think... Do you think that maybe S started that fire?" Sophie asked in horror.

"It's a possibility. If S did start the fire and then dumped Dashan in the front of the school, then S was probably present when everyone was huddled around him during classes to divert suspicion from themselves. The only person I remember seeing was Zeo."

"Why would they need to divert suspicion from themselves? I mean, nobody expects another student to be the one going after everyone. We're the only ones who do, and that's because of S. Besides, they may also want to be away from the scene so that nobody connects them to it. Depending on when they dumped off his body, they could have been halfway across the school when everyone found him," Hikaru argued.

"Okay, so then any of them could have done it," Sophie concluded. "Anything new?"

"I followed Zeo around, but couldn't find anything incriminating," Hikaru sighed. "I feel like this is the same conversation we have all the time."

"That's because it is," Sophie nodded. "I'm guessing we can't exactly eliminate anyone from the list of suspects."

"No," Madoka confirmed. "Especially since S has been silent lately."

"Then we need to pick someone. The person who we think is most likely to be S, and go from there."

A noise behind them startled the girls. The bushes rustled.

A form started to drag itself out from under the bushes. Definitely human. The person collapsed on the ground, clearly exhausted.

Whoever it was had been through a lot. There were blisters all over their body and their hair was singed. There was also a large gash running down the left should and clothes hung off the body in tatters. A faint burnt smell seemed to linger in the air around them. Despite all this, the person was still alive. In major pain, but alive all the same. Tentatively, the girls took a step forward for a closer inspection. Sophie shrieked and jumped back in recognition.

"Chao Xin!" She gasped, horrified. The other girls seemed to realize who it was as well.

Chao Xin moaned in acknowledgement.

"What happened to you? " Hikaru asked.

"Forget that," Madoka waved her hand dismissively. "We need to get him to a hospital!"

The girls rushed Chao Xin to a hospital. They waited at the hospital until they were able to go in and ask him what had happened. It took a few hours. Sophie hoped that it wasn't going to take too much longer since she had to get to work soon. Eventually, they were allowed to go see Chao Xin.

"Mei Mei," was the first thing he said.

The girls looked each other. "What about her?" Sophie asked.

"Where is she?"

"Home sick," Madoka answered.

"I didn't see her," he mumbled, starting to drift off. "She's okay, then?"

"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked.

"Fire..." Chao Xin chose that moment to fall into a deep slumber.

A nurse came in and shooed the girls out of the room. They exited the hospital and got into Sophie's car.

"What was he talking about?" Madoka murmured.

"Does it have to be me?" Madoka asked one last time.

"Yes," Hikaru and Sophie said simultaneously.

Time was starting to run out. Madoka had to get information on Lera. The girls, for the most part, believed that she was the most likely candidate to be S. The only way to be sure, though, was by getting close to Lera. For English, the girls had to pair up for a project. For the most part, they all agreed that Madoka would work with Lera since Mei Mei was still absent. Madoka was reluctant toward the idea, but she knew it had to be done.

Later, Madoka made her way to Lera's alone. Nervously, she knocked on the door.

"Hi," Lera said and invited Madoka into the house. "I have to go get my stuff." She left Madoka alone in the room.

Madoka's eyes fell on Lera's discarded phone. Looking around to make sure Lera wasn't back yet, she picked it up and began to look through it. First, she checked out the pictures.

Madoka was in shock. Every picture she had received from S was in the phone. There were also the ones of her friends that S must have tormented them with. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked through Lera's texts as well.

It was all there. Every text she had received, even ones she hadn't gotten yet, they were in the phone. The next texts to be sent all seemed to be focused on revealing the secrets once and for all. Madoka checked the email account as well and found the message that had been sent to the entire school labeling her as a slut.

Lera was S.

Footsteps alerted her to Lera's return. Madoka tossed the phone back on the table where she had found it. She winced as it slid a few feet past where it had been before. Hopefully Lera wouldn't notice.

"Sorry, Lera. I have to go," Madoka inched toward the door.

"Why? You just got here," Lera said.

"It's an emergency. Sorry," Madoka bolted out the door, desperate to get away from the one who had been hell bent on ruining her life.

Lera approached Madoka the next day at school.

"So when are we going to work on this project?" Lera asked, annoyed. "You left before we got to start yesterday."

"Sorry," Madoka apologized. It was hard to stay calm being face to face with S. "How about tonight?"

"I'm busy," Lera told her. "Hey, is Hikaru wearing that necklace Selen always used to wear?"

"Um, yeah," Madoka saw an opportunity and took it. "What's the story with the locket, anyway? You seemed to know something about it before."

"Oh, right. The day I first met Selen and she flipped when I asked about it. It's really similar to a necklace in an old legend. In the legend-"

Lera was cut off by Zeo. "We need to work on the science project," he told her.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Madoka. We'll talk later," Lera left with Zeo.

Madoka ran off toward Sophie and Hikaru. She had a lot to tell them.

"Lera is S," Madoka ran up to Hikaru and Sophie, panting.

"What?" Hikaru asked at the same time Sophie said, "How do you know?"

"When I went to her house yesterday, I went on her phone while she wasn't in the room. I found everything. All the pictures she sent were on there and the emails we've gotten. It's all there," Madoka said, catching her breath. "Including a few texts waiting to be sent. All of which involve revealing the our secrets."

"Seriously?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes. And I also found out a little bit about Selen's locket. Apparently it has something about to do with a legend. I didn't really get any details. She left with Zeo before explaining. She noticed that you were wearing it, Hikaru. She's obviously interested in it."

"Do you think this whole thing has to do with the locket, then?" Hikaru wondered.

"I doubt it. This whole S business has been going on before you found the locket. There has to be something more. Probably revenge for us making fun of her in middle school. Anyway, now that we know for sure it's her, we need to set a trap," Sophie decided.

"How do we catch her?" Madoka asked.

"We can't just confront her about it. She might send the messages," Hikaru said. "We need to get her phone away from her before we do anything drastic. Otherwise we're all screwed."

"Then we'll figure it out," Sophie said determinedly.

All three of their phones went off.

You think you're so clever, don't you? You think you've got me. News flash: isn't something missing?

~S

"What does that mean?" Hikaru asked.

"Mei Mei," Madoka whispered.

"What?"

"No time to explain, we need to get to her house!"

When they got there, Mei Mei's parents informed the girls that Mei Mei was not there. Her parents explained that Mei Mei had gone on a field trip with one of the school clubs and would not be back for a few more days.

"That's a lie," Madoka shook her head vehemently. "She's not in any clubs. Besides, she sent us texts saying she was sick. Something's up. We need to get to the hospital."

Hikaru and Sophie looked at each other, not sure where Madoka was going with this.

As soon as they got there, Madoka led them straight to Chao Xin's room. He looked better than when they had found him a few days ago.

"Chao Xin, you have to tell us exactly what happened!" Madoka said. "How did you get like this?"

"I can't remember exactly, but I know that I was with Mei Mei when I heard Dashan yell. The two of us ran out into the woods near the school. We couldn't find him, and suddenly a bunch of trees fell and everything was on fire. Mei Mei and I tried to escape, but everything went black. When I woke up, she was gone. I tried to find her, and ran into you guys," Chao Xin said.

Madoka seemed satisfied. "I thought so."

"What does this mean?" Sophie asked.

"It means that-" Madoka remembered Chao Xin was in the room. "Let's go."

"What?" Chao Xin asked. "You guys are hiding something, I knew it. Mei Mei is, too. She told Dashan, but she didn't tell me. What is it?"

"Nothing to worry about," Sophie assured him and turned toward the door.

"I'm going to find out what it is."

"Good luck with that." The girls left the room.

"We can't let him know. He'll end up like Dashan," Hikaru said once they were outside of the room. "What did you figure out in there, Madoka?"

"Remember that fire? S, or Lera, I guess, had something to do with it. Chao Xin and Mei Mei ended up in the middle of it and no one has seen her since. She definitely disappeared in that fire, which means we have to get over to where the fire started to see if we can find anything," Madoka informed them.

A little while later, they reached their destination. The area was completely ravaged. Charred trees decorated the forest floor. Remainders of burnt grass and leaves littered the ground.

"Start looking," Madoka informed them.

The girls split off in different different directions, but making sure to be in view of each other. Sophie and Madoka were both looking around with no luck.

Hikaru stopped dead in her tracks.

"Madoka? There's a problem with your theory about Lera being S," Hikaru called.

As she began to stir, the waking girl became aware that she had been sleeping on a cold, hard floor. Where was she?