Chan proofread Alice's witness statement before ending the day. "We appreciate your help today. We'll contact you if we need more from you."

Alice nodded quietly and watched Chan leave her hospital room.

Clara squeezed her niece's hands gently and spoke softly. "It's over. You're out of the woods and back into the city. You told the police everything that you remembered. Ready to go home?"

"Can I? What did the doctors say?"

"Actually, I should ask the nurses first." The blonde woman stood up and faced Alice's friends. "I'll be back. Please watch Alice in the meantime."

After Clara left, Julie stretched her arms before resting them at the tailboard of Alice's hospital bed. "If it weren't for Shun, we'd probably never find you!"

"I need to convince Dan to get himself a motorcycle," Runo commented.

Alice faced Shun and asked softly, "How did you figure out that Shadow did all this?"

He sat on the chair that Clara used and explained. "It wasn't all just me. The last package that you received had something extra inside. You probably saw only Gunz's smartphone and immediately went on air, but you didn't see the folded note tucked in the side. But Alice...are you sure you want to listen us explain after just experiencing everything?"

The redhead looked around frantically while gripping her phone more tightly. "I don't know how everything ended up this way. I can't understand why or how someone could be so infatuated or obsessed...I can't even—"

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door before opening the door. "Am I interrupting?" asked Hydron.

Runo and Julie exchanged glances before the former said, "We'll get going. Rafe and Jack need our help at work."

"It's been a long day," Julie added. "See you all another time."

The PA student held the door open for the girls to leave before approaching Alice. "I know you went through a lot today, but I—"

Alice subconsciously pulled the blanket over her upper body while breathing irregularly. Shun grabbed the redhead's right hand and pinched her middle finger. "Let me talk to him," he suggested quietly.

Hydron stared in confusion before Shun dragged the former outside Alice's room to talk. "What happened? Why can't I—"

"Alice just gave her victim statement to Chan earlier, which required her to recall every unfortunate event from her kidnapping to now. I know you two are friends from college, but you and Katie are part of the events that led up to today."

"I see... Tell her that I wish her the best in a fast recovery."

With Hydron back to work, Shun reentered Alice's room. "I know you didn't want to see him after what happened. Anything else you want me to do?"

Alice shook her head and lowered her blanket. "I know Hydron has nothing to do with this, but seeing him reminds me of Katie, who reminds me of the hair package, which reminds me of..." She groaned again and buried her face into her blanket. "Actually, I need to use the restroom. This room doesn't have one."

"Do you need help? I'm not sure what's taking your aunt so long."

"I'm fine. I know my way around. It's not my first time being admitted here."

After watching Alice get up and tidy herself before going outside, Shun held the door open. "Be careful with your traveling saline drip."

"Thanks, Shun. You're always so attentive to details."

I'll take that a compliment...I guess?

After using the restroom and drinking water, Alice took a different path back to her room. Should I request paid time off? Or return to work immediately? What was I even thinking when I interrupted Nene's show to—

Alice looked to the right immediately after seeing a flash of pale green. Was that what I thought it was? But why here? There's no reason for— She groaned again and held her free hand on her forehead. I'm probably seeing things. I need to rest...

-x-x-x-x-x-

Once the elevator doors opened for the thirteenth floor, Shun got off and was about to open the radio station's office doors when someone opened them from inside. "Shun, what are you doing here?"

"Alice? I was just visiting."

"Oh... No problem." She kept the door open for the raven-haired student and asked, "Why do you have so many stuffed plastic bags?"

"You'll see." Everyone inside heard Alice talking and faced Shun, who announced, "I brought bubble tea for everyone. Not sure what your preferred flavors are, but here's something to help you put the past aside and keep working forward."

"You're amazing!" Julie squealed before digging through all the bags. "I've never had winter melon milk tea before. It's mine!"

Runo grabbed a cup of thai milk tea replied, "After everything that you did to decipher the packages, I think we should owe you some bubble tea."

"Dan said he asked Chan for bubble tea allowance, so you can thank her for these drinks as well." Among all the bags he carried, one of them was a lavender gift bag, which he handed to Alice. "This one's yours. Don't forget to grab a drink."

The redhead grabbed a cup of coconut milk tea and unwrapped the item inside the gift bag. She pulled out a large vertical canvas that featured an ombre white-lavender background and three paragraphs of text in red, blue, and purple. "You actuallytranscribed the prose that I said on air onto paper?"

"What do you think? I didn't decorate it that much, though."

"I love it!" Alice set down her drink and positioned the canvas in many directions on her desk until she found the perfect fit. "Now what do you think?"

"Anything's better than an empty desk." Shun checked his watch and approached the front doors. "I need to go back to class. See you all next time."

"Thanks for the drinks, Shun!" the office staff greeted.

"I'm going outside too." Alice followed the raven-haired student into the elevator and asked, " Did you really paint this yourself?"

"I had some spare time after finishing a group project early, and Dan's mom had leftover paint from one of her art classes. It took me a while to draft and paint the words in, given all the improvisations you added on air."

"Sorry... I guess I went too into character." Alice leaned in and kissed Shun on his right cheek. Taken back by her sudden action, his face turned slightly pink as the radio host continued talking. "But thanks for the present, Shun. It's never leaving my desk as long as I work here."

"No problem. Although...are you sure you should go back to work this quickly after discharge two days ago? Did you even take yesterday off?"

The radio host shook her head. "The radio station is the root of all the unfortunate events that happened. I want people to know that we're not a dangerous place and that only one person is responsible for everything. Luckily or not, he's already dead."

"If you want people to forget or stop talking about Shadow, then wouldn't it be better if you stayed off air for a few days?"

"But I haven't had a single peaceful day hosting by myself because of all this." Alice unwrapped a straw and stabbed it firmly into her bubble tea, catching Shun by surprise again. "I can go on break when you do."

"I do have another long academic break coming soon. I'll keep you updated." The elevator doors opened, and Shun headed toward the front entrance while Alice went in the opposite direction. "Are you still going to that alley?"

"Why not?"

"But after all that happened..."

"When you told me in the woods that 'it's over', I thought you said that only to comfort me, but I didn't know that you meant it literally. Shadow won't bother me again. I hope no one else will either. Thanks for helping me endure the agony. Right now, I need to copy my housekeys at the locksmith because Aunt Clara changed the lock. Let's talk about better things next time."

"Sure. Take your time." Should I be surprised that she recovered quickly? At first, it was about forgetting the locker room incident, but now... Shun shook his head and exited the building. I still need to uncover the truth about back then.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ooohhh she asked you out?!" asked Dan so loudly that he caught everyone's attention at Joe's bubble tea bar.

Shun stared blankly until he snatched Dan's drink. "No, she didn't. I said that I had an academic break coming soon, and that she'll take her well-deserved break during that time too. Besides, I might visit Lync again and tell Alice about the encounter."

"I bet you two would've hung out much earlier if it weren't for—"

"One more word about that case, and I'm drinking your bubble tea."

"Fine, but please listen to me. It has to do with the case. Shadow Prove had four stab wounds on his torso plus one fatal blow to his forehead. Most of the blood we found belonged to Shadow, while a tiny bit belonged to Alice. The fruit knife we found only has Shadow's fingerprints. It's it weird that Alice didn't use it at all, even though the opportunity was in front of her."

"It seems like the only thing on her mind was escaping as far as possible. Shadow holding a fruit knife is no different from Lync holding whatever knife he had. Alice just wanted to get out of a situation that reminds her of the past. Anything else?"

"The lab analyzed Gunz's smartphone and found small traces of Gunz's blood and Shadow's skin cells. Shadow's previous work history reveals that he used to work at the abandoned building before the building closed down. Lastly, all packages were mailed out from a post office close to Shadow's apartment. Combine that with all the items of Alice we found in his apartment, he's definitely the perpetrator and obsessed fan."

"And all he wanted was attention and praise from Alice..."

"But even if Shadow did all this, what if she killed Shadow and staged it to look like an accident? Don't say that she doesn't want revenge—"

"Dan Kuso, where are you getting your theories from?! First, you think Alice took advantage of the packages and obsessed fan to boost her popularity. Now, you think she killed Shadow to keep him quiet about some nonexistent deal they made. Are we even allowed to talk about this in public?!"

"Please don't defend her just because she's the victim in multiple recent cases!"

"I'm not—"

"And I hope that's not the main reason why you like her either."

Shun shook his head in disbelief and got off his seat. "I'm leaving. You're getting out of control."

"Can I have my drink back?!"

"Shun, wait up!" The raven-haired student turned around to see Joe calling him over to the counter. "Mom told me that Lync wants to see you again."

Shun looked around before asking, "Are you sure? Last time, it took forever to schedule a meeting, and Lync ended up forgetting why he wanted to see me."

"Based on what you just said, he might've remembered again. Your school break is coming soon, so maybe schedule a meeting as soon as possible."

"Thanks, Joe." The raven-haired student returned Dan's drink to him before leaving. "Enjoy your drink in solitude."

On his way out, Shun checked his calendar on his phone. I should have enough time to do everything. What if I told Lync about Shadow? Will that trigger any new thoughts from Lync?

-x-x-x-x-x-

"I'm outside."

Seconds after Shun sent that text message, Alice appeared at her doorstep with yellow sundress, green cardigan, lavender crossbody purse, and white boots. "And I thought I changed into my outfit early. You brought your motorcycle again."

"You look nice. Here's your helmet."

The radio host put on her helmet and took a seat behind her driver, who already restarted the engine. "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere in particular. Just a nonstop motorcycle ride."

The first few minutes were dedicated to driving through city streets. Upon reaching outer city roads, Alice looked at the water to her right. "This is the harbor that we usually go to."

"Yeah, but we're not stopping here."

"Wait...where are you taking me?!"

"Anywhere but here." Shun accelerated, and they were soon parallel to the distal end of the harbor. "I bet you haven't been this far from the harbor before."

"No, I haven't... I probably would never have been to the harbor if you hadn't taken me the first time. It's funny how we've never seen a single water vehicle at the harbor. They're all out in the water."

"This harbor is mainly used for personal boats. The actual ferry station and other cargo harbors are somewhere else."

"You sure know where everything is. I wouldn't know where to find the other harbors."

"I've lived here longer you, so of course I know more."

After a few minutes of silent traveling, Alice suddenly asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"How come you live with Dan? Do you not have other family in Bayview?"

Shun accelerated slightly but soon returned to the local speed limit. "I don't. I used to live in Wardington. So did Dan, Runo, and Julie. They moved during our last year of high school, but we still graduated together. My mom and I didn't move, but I didn't mind. Since Dan and I were friends since childhood, his family let me live with them so that I could save money by not living on campus for college. I went back to my mom during academic breaks...until she got into that motor vehicle accident. Then I stayed with my grandfather in the outskirts of Wardington before moving back to Dan's place for each new academic year."

"You must be grateful to have a best friend like Dan."

"More like...I pick up after a lot of his messes. Sometimes he forgets things at home and makes me find what's missing and deliver it to him. I'm annoyed, Chan's annoyed, but...Dan is Dan. What about you? You never told me how you graduated early despite changing majors."

"I attended elementary and middle school overseas and started one year ahead of students here. Luckily, most of the classes from my former major were qualifying prerequisites for my new major. I had a lot of scholarships and grants in my financial aid package, so I also took summer classes." After stopping at the first traffic light they saw after that previous long stretch of endless road, Alice looked around and gasped. "We're in downtown Wardington! But this is nowhere near my university."

"I wasn't planning on taking you back there, especially after what happened last time."

Since the light was still red, the radio host leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Shun's waist for a back hug. "Thanks for offering to spend today with me, Shun."

I like being with you too, but...Dan always leaves me the most unnerving comments. The light turned green, and the raven-haired student squeezed one of Alice's middle fingers like he taught her last time before accelerating. "You still remember the downtown area, right? Any place in particular you want to go to for lunch?"

"I wonder if that dimsum restaurant is still open..."

"I think I know what you're talking about." Although he arrived in front of the said restaurant, lack of parking prompted Shun to leave the premises. "This is the closest parking I can find. Not only are we three blocks away, but we're also on a slope. Alice, you should get off first. I need time to park properly."

"Be careful."

After finally adjusting the front wheel properly, Shun removed his keys and helmet but suddenly lost his passenger. "Alice? Where are you?"

Her helmet was here, but her person was not. You really couldn't wait for me? He called her number, but it went to voicemail. He tried again a few times but still failed to reach her. That's not good.

Unbeknownst to Shun, Alice was standing in an alley and watched him from behind. Sorry for the change of plans, but there's somewhere that I need to go first. She ran through the alley and exited out the other side before crossing a street to her destination.

In front of her was a skilled nursing care facility, which she confidently entered after a few deep breaths. Visitor check-in was a quick process, and Alice followed the map to her room of interest. The staff hasn't changed. They still remember me as the sole survivor and one of the victim's friends.

The redhead arrived at the patient room but stood in front of the door. Why now? I could've come anytime I wanted while I was still attending school here, so why come now when I've already moved somewhere that's a long drive away from downtown Wardington? Would I have decided to visit if Shun hadn't urged or even brought me to downtown?

She scooted over to the window and was going to put her hand on the glass when someone screamed. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Alice tightened her grip on her purse strap. Am I surprised that he's here as well?