Alice put her hand down and faced the person calling her. "I'm just visiting Mira, Ace. What's wrong with that?"

"Some friend you are." The mint-haired visitor shoved Alice away while he stood in front of the window defensively. "I heard about what happened to you in Bayview. You're playing the victim again, just like when you survived the locker room murders to tell everyone your sad story."

"So you won't let me see her?"

"Keith might let you in, but I won't. When was the last time you visited? You never—"

"Why were you at Bayview City Hospital the other day?"

"So what? I don't need to you my agenda."

"You still live in Wardington so you can be closer to Mira. What reason do you have for visiting a hospital that's a long drive away?"

"None of your business."

"I bet it has to do with Mira. What are you planning?"

With Alice being relentless with her questions, Ace finally put his hands down. "Fine. I'll tell you because you always want to know everything. Mira was showing signs of improvement, so we thought she could be transferred to Bayview City Hospital because of a new pilot treatment plan. But ever since news about you broke out, I'm not letting Mira anywhere near you."

"Whose idea was it to transfer Mira in the first place? Yours or Keith's?"

"Does it matter? You don't even care about Mira—"

"And even if you don't want her to transfer because of me, Keith might still think otherwise. You're not even direct next of kin."

"I know I'm not, but convincing him will be a piece of cake because I helped him handle Mira's affairs ever since you cut off ties with the rest of us. Now get out of here!"

Ace shoved Alice one more time before entering Mira's room and locking the door. The redhead left the facility in dissatisfaction. At this rate, Ace could request the staff to put me on a blacklist...and not even let Keith know. Immediately outside the front door, she saw Shun standing at a parking meter nearby. "How did you find me?"

"I wasn't sure if you purposely picked the dimsum restaurant because you knew that parking would be full and force me to park somewhere where else. Or that the restaurant is relatively close to this 'special facility' you mentioned in the past where your comatose friend might be."

"That sums up everything I wanted to say."

He stepped closer and hugged the redhead. "Did you get a chance to see her then?"

"Shun...I want to go home." Alice pulled the raven-haired student's hands off her and walked back to where Shun's motorcycle was parked. "I probably shouldn't have come here at all. The facility staff or her family would've informed me if she's getting better or worse, right?"

I was always waiting for good news to come my way ever since Mom got hospitalized after her accident, but it never happened. "Ideally, yes. Why?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not next of kin, and I already made the decision to move away and forget about this place."

"Alice, wait." Before letting Alice put on her helmet, Shun stopped the redhead by holding her bracelet hand. "You're alive and conscious. That's all that matters."

The radio host stared at her charm bracelet, then at the person holding her hand—all before leaning forward for a hug. "I hate myself..." she whispered.

"It's not your fault..." While stroking Alice's hair gently, Shun couldn't help but wonder what happened at the skilled nursing care facility. What Alice said doesn't tell me anything about the last victim. Her reaction suggests regret. Alice, what were you even doing in there?

-x-x-x-x-x-

It was another typical workday at the radio station when Runo ran over to Alice's desk with her tablet. "Can you believe it?! This rude person keeps posting nasty comments on your fanpage!"

Alice glanced at the tablet before opening the same page on her computer. "I've seen this user post illogical things recently, but not in the past."

"Should we report this to Anubias? Or even to the webmasters themselves? This is so annoying, and we—"

"I'm going on lunch break soon. Let me deal with it while you go back to work."

"Sure..."

Alice locked her computer and then called someone on her way out of the while building. "Hello?" asked a male voice.

I thought he'd change his number to get away from me, but I guess not. "Ace, stop harassing me with the comments that you posted on my fanpage. I know it's you."

Ace paused for a moment before replying haughtily, "Not until Mira wakes up."

"What you're doing won't speed up her recovery. Unless you address your questions and concerns to me in person, I'm deleting your comments because I won't entertain them."

"That only proves you have something to hide," were Ace's last words before hanging up.

Alice stared at her phone for a few seconds before looking up to see Joe's bubble tea bar just ahead of her. How did I subconsciously end up walking here? She entered the front doors and saw Shun and Joe talking at the counter seats. "You two seem to be enjoying your—"

"My bad..." The raven-haired student dropped a stack of papers, in which he got off his chair quickly to clean up before Alice could even offer to help. "Sorry. This is sensitive information from the university that I'm dealing with."

"Sorry...I didn't mean to do that."

After she placed her order with Joe, the redhead Alice took a seat on the left of Shun and rested her chin on her interlocked fingers. "Alice, are you okay?" he asked.

"People are still talking about what the obsessed fan did to me. Some people say that I was very brave through the whole ordeal, while others say that I should've noticed and stopped this behavior earlier. This is just as bad as the comments people left me when I still had issues with."

"More rude comments, huh..." The raven-haired student relocated his papers and laptop away from Alice. "Give those people some time. They'll forget about it eventually."

"Just like how they forgot about Komba?"

Shun stopped typing and placed his hands on his lap before turning his seat to face the radio host. "Komba didn't actually kill anyone, and he claimed he did everything because of how they treated Runo's parents at the diner. Shadow did way more crazy things, and I wouldn't be surprised if the audience is as traumatized as you are. Then again, the audience didn't get hurt directly, so maybe they will forget about it easily..."

Joe returned with a purple drink and a folded take-out box. "Here's your order, Alice!"

"Thanks." After paying at the register, the radio host waved goodbye to Shun. "It was nice seeing you again."

"Same. Take care."

With Alice gone, Shun searched through his stack of papers while Joe quietly said, "I bet you weren't expecting her."

"Seriously, I wasn't. Especially since you know what I've been doing for the past hour here. I could use another pair of eyes to help me compare something."

"Sure. What am I looking at?"

Shun pointed out differences he found between the online posts on Alice's fanpage versus the printouts of the same posts from last night. "Is it just me, or are all the comments from this user all deleted?"

"Huh...you're right. All comments made by 'Ace Grit' are gone, but other ill-sounding comments are still here." Joe leaned over the counter to flip through all of Shun's printouts. "This person made a lot of claims about Alice—playing victim, using her mishaps to get attention, and so on. He seems to know a lot."

"Then this person means something to Alice, but I open Ace Grit's profile and got nothing. He and I have no mutual friends, and most of his information is private."

"If you think he has something to do with Alice, then message him. But say that you're Alice's 'acquaintance', not 'friend', and that you want to help your mom finish her case. Don't be so direct this time."

"Thanks. Let's hope 'Ace' doesn't think I'm delusional or something..."

Shun began drafting a message to the stranger and tapped his fingers on his laptop. This 'Ace Grit' seems to know a lot about Alice and is so threatening to the point that Alice or the other girls needed to delete his and only his comments.

Then he noticed the cover photo and expanded it. Ace and other students were tossing their graduation caps in front of a familiar building. Ace went to Wardington School of Integrated Health Sciences as well. Would he know anything about the locker room murders? What if that's why he hates Alice?

-x-x-x-x-x-

"You wanted to see me?"

Shun stopped leaning against his motorcycle and saw a mint-haired boy standing not too far away. "You're Ace Grit?"

"Shun Kazami, I suppose?" Out of politeness, Ace shook hands with the person who invited him but retracted his hand quickly after. "I'm not sure what's there to talk about, although I'm surprised that you're willing to meet me in downtown Wardington after driving all the way from Bayview. And at the small lake by the courthouse, nonetheless. What do you want?"

"Answers."

"Then ask questions."

"My mom worked on Lync and Alice's cases during the locker room murders. Her notes said that Lync was gentle and incapable of doing this. Alice insists that he was a cold-blooded murderer who was determined to finish the task. After speaking with Lync personally, I concluded that someone most likely gaslighted them into thinking that the five girls must to be eliminated, but I just don't know who. Recently, I saw some of your comments on her fanpage ever since the police closed the obsessed fan case."

"Your point is?"

"It seems like you think this obsessed fan case is no different from the locker room murders...especially in terms of Alice being the only surviving and conscious victim."

Ace raised an eyebrow in surprise, just before he burst into hysterical laughter. "Clearly, you don't know anything about her."

"Your cover photo indicates that you went to WSIHS as well. Did you know any of the other girl?"

"How do I know that Alice didn't send you to spy on me?"

"Do you honestly think I'd play around when my mom died with lots of unfinished work left behind?"

Ace raised an eyebrow in surprise again and tilted his head while staring at Shun, who stared back uncomfortably. "I do see the resemblance now. I'll trust you this time."

"How about you start by telling me your relationship with them? Only Taylor was dating, and Alice avoids Hydron despite nothing between them, because Hydron reminds her of her lost friends."

"Technically, Mira and I were starting to get to know each other, but the locker room incident put her into a long coma." The mint-haired boy rested his forearms on the lake railing and stared into the water. "Mira and I had a lot of mutual classes during the first year, and I was so close to asking her out during our second year. If only I didn't hesitate..."

So the comatose victim is Mira. "Then how did you and Alice come to know each other? Why write those comments specifically? Playing victim? Using mishaps to get attention?"

"So you managed to read my comments that Alice deleted... I didn't know her very well, but it looked like their quintet got along very well. But once the locker room incident happened, everything changed. All five girls were taken to a local hospital much closer to campus than Bayview City Hospital, but that hospital later filed for bankruptcy. The doctors took hours to stabilize Mira. When I heard that Taylor, Chris, and Soon all expired one hour after the other, I was so scared that Mira was next. But then I heard that Alice was stable and regaining consciousness."

"Did you ever talk to her?"

"I waited until her family left before visiting her. She recognized me from some of our classes, so we chatted a little. I tried asking her what happened, but she said she couldn't remember anything. She asked me how Mira was doing, since her family probably told her that the other three died already. I had no news about Mira until days later when the doctors declared her comatose."

"Did Alice ever find out what happened to Mira?"

"She probably heard other people mention it, but I visited her another time and told her again. Alice didn't react much. She buried her face in her hands and kindly asked me to leave. Alice was discharged a couple days later, but then she ends up all over on TV and radio, where all the media outlets said that she was only survivor. Barely anyone mentioned Mira! There was one news scene of Alice exiting this very courthouse saying, 'I want the person who did this to go away for good so that I can finally be at peace'. You can find that clip online. She didn't even mention Mira at all. Days later, I occasionally saw her on campus. Every time I tried to look for her, she always manages to avoid and escape me. We never had any mutual classes ever again."

"You think she was deliberately avoiding you?"

"Not sure. Once that bankrupt hospital shut down, Mira's family had her transferred to skilled nursing care facility. Her brother Keith authorized Alice and me to visit Mira whenever because we're Mira's friends. When I asked, he told me that he explained everything clearly to Alice when he contacted her, and that she understood all the terminology. Visitor logs from the former hospital and current facility said that Alice never visited—until that one day after the police closed the obsessed fan case. Likewise, Alice got all the attention again, whether it was asked for when she screamed on air, or given to her by the media when asking her questions about the case."

Shun gripped the lake railing tightly and stared at his reflection way down below. What else did Alice not tell me? "How exactly is Mira doing compared to three years ago?"

"Keith told me that she's somewhat responding to the stimuli that the doctors administer. Mira's family planned to transfer her to Bayview City Hospital for some new treatment. I didn't mind at all, until the news about Alice and the obsessed fan broke out. I don't want her anywhere near Mira. I'll do whatever I can to convince Mira's family to change their minds."

"But is delaying Mira's treatment worth avoiding the awkwardness and anger between you and Alice? What would Mira think?"

"The fact that Alice never visited until a few days ago says a lot about how she wants to enjoy all the attention before it wears off. I bet she went back to work immediately after hospital discharging, just like how she went back to class after the media asked her about the locker room murders. People wouldn't stop talking or asking her about it."

Alice moved to Bayview so she could forget the past. How could she have wanted attention from a traumatic event? "Anything else you have that's worth telling me?"

"You're here is because your mom said Lync was nice and incapable of this. I know Alice was the only nice person to Lync among the five. Considering that he didn't exactly 'kill' her, that begs a lot of questions. There is one more thing." Ace removed the cover of his phone and pulled out a micro SD card. "Keep it."

"Are you sure? You don't need to back it up?"

"All it has are some pictures from some overnight trip that the girls went to with other students their academic programs. Figure it out yourself. I'm going home. Better watch your back around Alice."

Shun stared at the memory card, then at Ace as he walked off. The raven-haired student popped the card into his phone and scrolled through the pictures. These photographs were taken on a DSLR camera. Makes sense to bring one to an outdoor trip.

Toward the end of the gallery, there was one picture of the pink-haired general handyman helping a limping redhead student onto the edge of the road before performing first aid on the student's ankle. That's Lync and Alice. He's helping her tend to an ankle injury, and Alice isn't a bit afraid at all. This brings a whole new meaning to 'why he hesitated'.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Welcome back. I think my request to see you got processed faster."

Shun smiled and sat across Lync for their third meeting together. "That means that the administrative staff don't dislike you as much. Anyway, what's wrong? Did you remember what you wanted to tell me last time?"

Lync shook his head. "I forgot, and I don't think I'll ever remember. I haven't slept or eaten well, but I didn't tell anyone because I don't want to be another burden."

"Maybe you're feeling uneasy about the recent news?"

The pink-haired prisoner stared blankly. "What recent news?"

"I'm pretty sure that there are radios and TVs here to broadcast news in this facility. Did you hear anything about the obsessed fan from Free BV Radio?"

"Not really. There's too much news on TV for me to focus on anything."

"Did you know who the obsessed fan was with?" Shun then lowered his voice and asked, "You remember Alice, right? One of the five? The obsessed fan almost killed her because she didn't reciprocate his feelings."

"Is she okay then?"

"Not even close. Even though that fan won't ever bother her again, Alice still can't let it go. She still has nightmares about all the events leading up to her near-death experience and keeps saying that karma is out to get her," the raven-haired student lied. If Lync really didn't mean to kill Alice, then he would sympathize and defend her...right?

"She did nothing wrong..."

I knew it.

"Whoever this fan is should've seen it coming. He must've done something really terrible if she was so horrified."

"Not really. He got rid of people that hurt Alice recently, which indirectly made her radio show more popular. Good for Alice, I guess...but you probably don't want me to tell you what kind of things he mailed her as proof of what he did. Everyone at works at the radio station was disgusted. Alice even went on air to tell this obsessed fan to stop, but things escalated after—"

Lync lunged forward swiftly, only to be held back by the security guard before anything could happen to Shun. "If she told the fan to stop—no matter how kind or mean she was—then he should've stopped when she said so."

"Then what about you?"

Lync froze.

"The girls begged you to stop stabbing them, but you continued doing it because you wanted them all 'dead', right?"

"They—"

"Why did you defend Alice in the present but hurt her in the past? Why did you hesitate when trying to kill her?"

The pink-haired prisoner finally calmed down as the security guard let go. "I'm leaving."

"You didn't answer my—" A second guard held Shun back as the first guard led Lync out of the meeting room. Should I still believe in the possibility that someone convinced him to kill everyone?