After the funeral, all those in attendance were invited to lunch at a small restaurant just outside of town. So for Haku, it meant getting back on the bus, with the cold silence punctured by cruel comments.

The bus ride took twenty minutes, all the while Miku and Luka got into a conversation about Haku's apparent lack of hygiene. Haku tried her hardest to block it all out. She sat up straight in her seat and looked on ahead, but still, she couldn't banish those words from her mind. It was all she could do not to cry.

Beside her, Luo squeezed her hand reassuringly, but it did little to help. Haku swallowed thickly and tried not to let her pent-up sobs escape from the back of her throat. Her skin felt clammy.

When the bus pulled into the parking lot, Haku practically leapt off, desperate for some fresh air. Luo followed close behind, equally as discomforted by the tension as Haku was.

Even though this restaurant wasn't far from the city limits, the rolling green hills blanketed by distant fog made it feel isolated. Haku stared out at them, breathing deeply. One thing about the countryside, she thought, was that there was no exhaust, or any unpleasant fumes, for that matter.

It wasn't raining as hard as it was before; now, it was just spitting. Luo stood beside her for a moment, taking in the sight of the hills and fog, before gently taking her by the hand and leading her inside.

Inside, it was warm. The large group was shown to an event room reserved specially for them. The room was full of little tables, each able to comfortably seat four. One long table sat in the middle, laden with plates of sandwiches, mini pies, small cakes, and fruit and vegetables with dips.

As everyone grabbed a plate and helped themselves to the food, the mood lifted. Light chatter filled the air as people felt they could discuss more light-hearted topics. They were all secretly grateful for the change in atmosphere, feeling like they could release a breath they didn't realise they were holding.

The volumes of people's voices rose a little as more and more of them joined in with the talking, sharing pleasantries and avoiding the painful reason they were all there in the first place.

Qingxian stood in a tiny circle with Sugar and Piko, awkwardly holding a mug of coffee in one hand and a small plate with a piece of cake and a sandwich in the other. She felt drained by that morning's events and she wasn't particularly looking forward to going back to work later in the afternoon. She didn't even know what to do next. There wasn't a whole lot to go on regarding the murders.

Seeing Gumi's mother sobbing quietly into a mug of tea reminded her that there was another case she needed to work on, too. Another equally dead-ended case. She could tell that Piko and Sugar felt the same way. Piko looked grim. Sugar looked despondent, a striking change from her usually chipper self.

Qingxian inwardly sighed. It was times like these that she wished Longya was still alive. He was always the one to bring her out of her infamous moods. He always made it seem like things can, and would, be better.

And sometimes, they really were better.

"What the fuck are we even going to do about all of this?" she said, to no one in particular.

"I don't know anymore," Piko sighed.

Sugar played with her fingers. "I just wish we had more to go off of. These poor families deserve some closure."

"Unfortunately," Qingxian said, a bitter edge creeping into her voice, "some criminals are a lot smarter than others. It's always the smart ones that are the biggest pain in the ass. They tear people's lives apart and then walk away, knowing that they'll get away with it. Smug bastards."

"Voice down," Piko scolded with a whisper, "there are people around who don't want to hear that."

"How about you shush?" Qingxian retorted. "I'm sick of you always telling me- oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me."

Qingxian resisted the urge to shout with displeasure as she spied that good-for-nothing nosy brat Xingchen making her way towards the group, tottering about on those stupid, tacky heels of hers. Sugar sighed deeply. Piko, having never met Xingchen before, only looked confused.

"Hello!" Xingchen said cheerily. "Just the people I wanted to see!"

"Beat it, Zhiyu," Qingxian growled, "we're not doing any interviews."

Xingchen pouted. "Why not? I'm only trying to get all the facts for my story."

Qingxian rolled her eyes. "Sure you are. You want all the gory details so that you can write a story that'll get you lots of awards and people will stop you in the street just to tell you how good it was and you'll get lots of promotions and a big fat cheque for it that you'll frame and hang on your wall because you'll be so proud of yourself that you can't bring yourself to cash it in."

Everyone in the group stared silently at her, until Xingchen huffed and walked away, cheeks burning red.

Piko blinked. "Was that really necessary?"

Qingxian shrugged. "Not really, but who cares? She's too nosy for her own good."

Haku entered the bathroom so that she could splash some water on her face. As she stood over the sink, she heard the door behind her squeak as it swung open, but she didn't glance up to see who it was. She didn't think anything of it.

She never saw it coming.

All of a sudden, a pair of hands roughly lifted up her skirt, while a second pair grabbed the waistband of her underwear and shoved something cold and mushy in them.

Haku gasped loudly and spun around to see Miku and Luka grinning maliciously at her. Miku had something brown smeared all over her hands.

"You should probably go change your underwear," Miku said in between giggles, "you just shat in them!"

Haku looked at what they had shoved in. It was a piece of cake that had been mushed up. She could see the white swirls of the icing and even part of a sugar rose. It felt horrible, squishy and damp. She felt tears spring into her eyes.

"Aww, is the little baby gonna cry?" Luka mocked.

"Does the little baby need a diaper change?" Miku added, making a fake sad face.

Haku's tears rolled down her cheeks as the two girls continued to laugh and jeer at her.

How could they do this? Today of all days? Did they really care that little about other people?

A sudden thought popped into her mind.

She envisioned herself grabbing Miku by her pigtails, and slamming her face into the sink. Then she would take Luka and smash her head into the mirror. Over and over and over again. Until both of them were unrecognizable.

She could do it…

No!

She snapped herself out of it.

No! She could never do something like that! That would be horrible! She would be no better than them!

But she already is worse than them.

After all, she did kill somebody. Brutally.

Haku couldn't stop the tears now. They poured out of her like a waterfall. Her chest heaved up and down with sobs. Miku and Luka stared at her devilishly, an awful gleam in their eyes.

Then the door was flung open and suddenly Luo's voice bellowed, "Hey! What the hell are you two doing?"