Not long after the killer had left, the police and ambulance arrived. Hikaru was in complete shock from everything that had happened, and it only seemed to register when they had gotten down and saw Shiori's body. He began to say 'No' over and over again and would've collapsed if a paramedic hadn't caught him and helped him onto a gurney to take him to the hospital. Haruhi offered to go with him to try and keep him company. She didn't think he should be left alone in this state. Tachibana said he'd meet them at the hospital after he talked to the police.

The ride to the hospital was quiet. Hikaru had passed out from exhaustion of everything that happened and blood loss from his cut. The paramedics told Haruhi that he was going to be fine. The cut on his chest was pretty deep, but it wasn't too serious.

Once at the hospital, Haruhi was checked over well. Other than a few scratches and bruises, she was fine. She was allowed to go home, but she felt like she needed to be with Hikaru, at least until Kaoru had gotten there. Tachibana had called Kyoya to inform him about what happened once everyone had been looked over and informed Haruhi that their friends were on their way to the hospital. Haruhi sat next to Hikaru's bed as he slept. The doctors had to remove his shirt to stitch up his wound and he was bandaged from his left shoulder to the lower right side of his chest. He was most likely going to have a scar, and Haruhi felt awful for him. Not only was the scar going to be a reminder of a traumatic attack, but also witnessed his girlfriend being brutally murdered.

God, poor Shiori. She couldn't believe that had actually happened. She didn't deserve to die like that. She was such a sweet girl who always put her friends' needs before hers. She was also Hikaru's first real love. How was he going to be now since she was gone? Haruhi hoped that he wouldn't become cold and distant from it. Reverting to his old ways before he had joined the Host Club. He would need as much support as possible.

Haruhi's attention snapped back to Hikaru as she heard him softly groan and he began stirring in his bed. He slowly opened his eyes and tiredly squinted to see Haruhi next to him.

"Haruhi..?" He mumbled. "Wh-"

He let out a small groan when he tried to move his arms to rub his eyes. Haruhi placed a hand on his arm to tell him not to move it.

"Careful, don't move too much. The doctor said you're going to be in pain for a few days from how deep the cut was."

"Cut?" He looked down at his chest and saw the large bandage. He then laid his head back down on his pillow as everything slowly started coming back to him. "Oh God, that really did happen, didn't it?" Haruhi nodded, not taking her hand off his arm to try and comfort him. He raised his free hand to his eyes and rubbed them. "Shiori…"

"I'm so sorry Hikaru." Haruhi could feel herself begin to cry. "It's my fault why Shiori died. If I didn't agree to go on the date and just stayed home, then Shiori wouldn't be…"

Haruhi had to pause herself before her sobs would become uncontrollable. She felt extremely guilty. She couldn't believe that she thought she could continue to try and live her life normally since she had security now. Her selfishness caused one of her friends to die. Haruhi felt Hikaru grab her hand and squeeze it.

"It's not your fault what happened Haruhi." Hikaru tried to comfort her. "You had no idea what was going to happen."

"But I knew that the killer was after me." She sobbed to him. "I just thought that since Tachibana was there it would be safer. I should've just stayed home or just hid away."

"Hey, stop being stupid," Hikaru said. "Listen to me. You can not let this killer win. He is doing this to get to you. He wants to isolate you. I don't give a shit how many people he kills. I am not leaving your side Haruhi Fujioka. I don't know what I would do without you…"

"Hikaru…"

Her sobs grew heavier and she tightened her grip around his hand. She wanted to hug him, but she didn't want to hurt him. She knew that she should be fighting him to stay away from her. She had death following at her heels, but she was scared. She didn't want to fight this battle alone. The killer was far more powerful than she was, and she knew that if she saw him again, he could easily kill her.

Hikaru ignored the pain in his chest as he used his hand to wipe the tears from Haruhi's face. He gave her a weak smile.

"Be strong Haruhi. We'll figure something else."

There was a knock at the door and a nurse walked in. She looked up from her clipboard at the duo and saw how close the two were.

"Oh, am I interrupting?" The nurse asked.

"No, no it's fine," Haruhi said as wiped the tears from her face.

"Are you sure? If you two want some alone time, I can come back in about ten minutes or so."

Haruhi understood what the nurse was hinting at and she shook her head and laughed. "We're just friends. Don't worry, he was just comforting me."

The nurse glanced over at Hikaru, who had laid back down and had his eyes closed. He was probably feeling the pain from moving too much and was trying to breathe through the pain. His hands were by his side, scrunching up the blanket tightly as he took in deep breaths. The nurse wrote something down on her paper, probably saying that he needed more pain medicine before looking back at Haruhi.

"There are some guests here that would like to see Mr. Hitachiin. Would you like me to bring them in?"

"Yes please," Hikaru responded tiredly.

The nurse nodded and left the room to get the guests. Haruhi looked back down at Hikaru, who still had his eyes closed until the door closed. He opened his eyes only halfway as he stared at the door lazily before letting out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Haruhi asked.

"Nothing, it's just…I don't think my parents are going to be any of the guests that are here."

Haruhi looked down at him with a sad frown. She wished that she could comfort him and say that he could be wrong, but she knew he was most likely right. She had remembered him telling her last week that his parents had gone away on a trip to Paris for fashion week and wouldn't be home for about a month. Yuzuha loved being early to make sure she was prepared. Even if that means being three weeks early just to add the finishing touches to a few designs. Hikaru knew that his parents loved him, but it always felt like they put their work before him and Kaoru. Hopefully, once they hear the news about Hikaru being attacked, they'll be on the first plane back home to be with him.

After a few minutes passed, their friends came into the room. Once Tamaki came into the room, his eyes landed on Haruhi and he ran up and hugged her tightly.

"Oh thank God you're alright." His voice cracked, almost being on the brink of tears. He separated from Haruhi and looked down at Hikaru, who was giving him a deadpan look. Most likely for not notice that he was the one injured in a hospital bed and Tamaki had completely ignored him. "I'm so glad both of you alright."

"Right…" Hikaru murmured as he rolled his eyes.

Kaoru walked in with Mori and Honey and his eyes immediately began watering when he saw Hikaru. He ran over to the side of his bed and Haruhi moved out of the way so the brothers could have some space. He looked like he hadn't gotten any rest since he had been informed about the attack. His hair was a mess and his eyes were red. Most likely from crying from the fear that he could've lost his brother.

"God Hikaru, I'm glad you're alright. When Tamaki called and told us what happened...that someone had died. I…I was scared that I lost you."

"I'm alright," He gave Kaoru a small smile, trying to comfort him. "Though I'd like to get payback for the killer deeply cutting my chest though. Now I'm going to have a scar."

Kaoru let out a small chuckle. "At least it'll be a cool scar."

"I don't know, I haven't seen it yet. But I can hope." He looked at their group of friends and then at the door, and as if Kaoru could read his mind, he shook his head. Hikaru let out a sigh and muttered, "Why am I not surprised."

Honey walked up to Haruhi since Hikaru and Kaoru were still talking to each other. He held up a medium-sized pink box from his favorite bakery. "I know this won't do much, but I thought that maybe all having cake together would make everyone feel a bit better. Especially Hika-chan."

Haruhi smiled at Honey. Honey was one of those people who could make anyone feel better with his sweetness, but he knew this would be hard for even him to make the atmosphere feel better. He knew the cake wouldn't do much, but it was a nice gesture. Especially for Hikaru, so most likely hasn't processed everything yet by how he was acting. After being friends with him for about six years, Haruhi had caught on to how Hikaru grieves. Kaoru and him had once lost a friend during their first year of college and while Kaoru was affected immediately with grief, it took Hikaru a while to process everything. He didn't cry when he first heard the news. It almost was as if he didn't know his friend had passed, as if his brain was in denial. Until the day of the funeral, when he sat in the church and saw the picture of his friend while the pastor talked about them. That's when it finally hit him that his friend was truly gone. She couldn't imagine the wave of grief that was going to hit him like a tsunami when he finally processed Shiori's death.

Haruhi looked around the room and noticed that Kyoya was not in the room. "Where is Kyoya?"

"He's talking to Tachibana outside." Tamaki's expression grew somber. "He feels guilty for what happened last night and wants to be let go, but Kyoya is trying to get him to stay."

"What? But without his quick thinking, we would've been caught by the killer."

"That is what Kyoya is trying to tell him."

"Are they at the hospital? If they are I can maybe talk to him."

Tamaki shook his head. "I don't think Tachibana is in the right head space right now love. We know that he did all he could to protect us. The killer is smart. He was able to trick him to gain entry into the restaurant and lock all the doors."

"Just like he was able to trick me into a trap..."

Tamaki gave Haruhi a comforting hug, and she wrapped her arms around him. Not long later, Kyoya entered the hospital room, putting his phone in his pocket as if he had just ended his call. Haruhi separated from Tamaki and went over to him.

"How is Tachibana?" Haruhi asked. "Does he still want to leave?"

Yes," Kyoya sighed out. "I told him to take some time off to truly think over if this is what he truly wants. But if he really does want to leave, I can't stop him." Kyoya cupped his chin as he began thinking over the situation. "From what Tachibana had told me, Mokoto spoke to him on the phone saying something was wrong. However, the coroner said that Mokoto was dead before the call."

Haruhi looked at Kyoya confused. "So, do you think that the one who called Tachibana was the killer himself?"

Kyoya nodded. "Tachibana is persistent that it was Mokoto's voice, and I believe him. He's not the type of person to easily get fooled by someone impersonating another. I'm wondering just how. It could be possible that he has some type of voice changer that can mimic other people's voices. Those are hard to come by, but with the right amount of money a person can easily get one."

So the killer had money. It wasn't too surprising since they were most likely someone who was attending Ouran University, but it was terrifying. What other types of tools could the killer have that could get him closer to Haruhi? A voice changer is a powerful weapon. He was able to lead security away to get to her. What else could he do?

"By how seeing that you escaped death twice Haruhi, I really advise you to try and learn some self-defense," Kyoya looked over at Hikaru, who was still chatting with Kaoru, Mori, and Honey in his bed. "I think we all need to. We need to be prepared for his next attack."

Haruhi nodded. He was right, Haruhi was lucky to have made it out alive the two other times, she needed to be prepared if he attacked again.

"Honey and Mori said they would volunteer to help us by teaching us martial arts. Once Hikaru and you are physically able to move around more after your stitches are healed, they will start to train us at their dojos."

"That's great." Tamaki smiled. He wasn't worried about himself, he was worried about Haruhi and was just glad that Haruhi would now have a way to protect herself if she had no one else around her.

"Are there any updates about the killer's identity?" Haruhi asked.

Kyoya shook his head. "Even though I would love to say that we have a lead since my police force is one of the best in the country, he has been slipping underneath our noses easily. He hacks cameras and has tools to mimic people's voices. I even think he has hacked into some accounts of his victims as well."

"Really?"

Kyoya nodded. "While looking over some files, Aijima noticed that someone had been tampering with some of the files about Haruhi right before the date. He thought it was either Mokoto or Tachibana looking them over, but now we realized that it was probably a hacker. It had the information about the double date that you guys and Hikaru went on."

"That's how he knew where we were."

"I'm sorry Haruhi. I thought we had strong enough security that no one would be able to get through, but I guess we need to up our security more."

"It's not your fault Kyoya. You couldn't have known."

"Still, we were unprepared. I will do everything in my power to not let that happen again."

…

Hikaru was released from the hospital later that day. Haruhi asked him if he wanted her to make him anything to bring over to his house, but Kyoya said it wouldn't be the best idea. Hikaru seemed to be a bit disappointed since Haruhi had offered to make one of his favorite Italian dishes, but he understood. He would rather have Haruhi safe than possibly risk her life to deliver him some pasta dish that he could ask her any other time to make.

The next week was a dark one. On Monday at school, people all over the school were talking about the latest Ghostface attack and Shiori's death. On the bulletin board was a beautiful picture of her at the beach, along with notes pinned around the photo from friends saying their goodbyes. Momoka Kurakano was handing out notes for people to write on, and Haruhi took one from her. In high school, Haruhi never thought she would be close to Shiori. She just thought that she was one of Tamaki's guests who were infatuated with him. But once Hikaru and she began dating, she saw the person Shirori was and fell in love with her personality. She wouldn't say that they were best friends, but she could've seen them be friends for a long time. Haruhi took a pen and began writing a note when she noticed people whispering around her. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but by how they were all looking at her, Haruhi instantly knew what they were talking about. Once Haruhi was done with the note, she pinned it on the board and walked away, wiping a tear from her eye. She needed to be strong. She didn't care what the people thought about her at this school, but she knew people would blame her for Shiori's death. She, herself already did.

Within the next week, Shiori's funeral had been arranged. Invitations were sent out to all her friends, family, and classmates in the mail. Haruhi had received her invitation while she had the twins over at her house and she decided to keep it hidden away from them so Hikaru wouldn't see. She had only shown it to Kaoru when Hikaru had to take a phone call outside. Kaoru agreed to not show Hikaru, since it would only make the atmosphere around them somber. After leaving the hospital, he's been slowly realizing what had happened on their double date was real. He had just started going back to school after a week-long break recovering and mourning. When he came back Monday, he looked physically better. He was able to move a lot more and he wasn't as worried about ripping his stitches, however, Haruhi could tell the sadness in his eyes. He seemed to be on autopilot a lot of the time and would wander off alone, only allowing Kaoru and Haruhi to be around him. Haruhi was shocked by how overprotective she had gotten over him when students would go up to Hikaru and try to talk to him about Shiori. With him being nice, he would answer most of their questions, but Haruhi could see that it was tearing him up inside. She would try to drag him away, but the students would grow angry with her saying that they were just asking questions to see if Hikaru was alright, but Haruhi knew better. They were like journalists looking for the story, and buzzing around him until he finally gave in, and Haruhi wasn't going to allow her friend to suffer through that while he was mourning.

When the day for the funeral came, she was woken up early that morning by Hikaru calling her. She answered the phone call groggily but instantly became wide awake when she heard Hikaru's brittle voice over the phone. The death had finally hit him fully and he was a mess. He cried to her over the phone about Shiori and Haruhi stayed up with him and listened, not caring that she was tired. Her friend's needs were far more important than hers at that moment. She stayed up and listened to him until Hikaru had fallen asleep over the phone around 6 am before she went back to sleep.

During the funeral, Hikaru seemed to be back on autopilot. His face was blank throughout the speeches Shiori's family gave about her, and when asked if he wanted to say anything, he just shook his head. He had no words. He didn't know what to say. He probably felt like this was somehow his fault why she was dead, even though there was no way that could be. While Shiori's casket was being lowered into the ground, Hikaru just watched. Haruhi came up next to him and grasped his hand at his side, and that seemed to be the key that slowly began unleashing his emotions. Tears began sliding down his cheeks, and he squeezed Haruhi's hand tighter as his emotions grew heavier.

At the end of the funeral, Shiroi's parents spoke with Hikaru. Telling him that they were thankful for him being a great boyfriend to their daughter. The mother hugged him as she cried and the father, with a tearful smile, gave him a comforting squeeze on the shoulder before they left. Once they were gone, Haruhi went back up to Hikaru. She asked if he wanted her to do anything before she left with Tamaki to go home and Hikaru just shook his head. He just wanted to go home and go to bed. Haruhi understood and gave him another hug before telling him that if he needed anything, he to just call her.

The atmosphere around Ouran was tense for about a week until it seemed as if Shiori's death was pushed to the back of everyone's mind. By that time, Hikaru seemed to be jumping back to his usual sarcastic self and began playfully teasing Haruhi with Kaoru like they usually did. She felt like it seemed a bit too soon for him to start acting like that, but people did process tragic events differently, and since he wasn't a person who likes to be sad around other people, part of him was probably hiding behind a mask.

Once Haruhi and Hikaru's stitches were healed enough that they could move without injury, the club began their self-defense classes. Mori invited the group to his family's private dojo at his estate and told them to wear comfortable clothing since they would be doing a lot of moving.

"Today, Mitsukuni and I are going to show you some basic self-defense moves to help protect yourselves," Mori announced to the group. "Now, even though these are basic, they are quite helpful in dangerous situations."

"Haru-chan, if you don't mind sharing, since you have fought physically with the killer before. Would you be able to describe the fighting style he uses? Is he coordinated in his movements or does he look like he just jumps in without any strategy?" He added at the end when he saw Haruhi confused.

"Umm…" Haruhi thought back to when she had fought him in Yamato's apartment. His movements weren't sporadic, but he didn't seem to have thought them through. He thought that since Haruhi was smaller than him, he would have the upper hand and was shocked by how Haruhi could defend herself. "I wouldn't say he has a strategy, but he's not completely messy with his movements either. It's like he maybe has a plan, but doesn't know how to execute it properly. He does have fast reflexes, he's been able to grab the weapon I was using against him a few times."

"He also has some strength to him," Hikaru added, his eyes dark. "The way he picked up Shiori at the restaurant by the neck…"

Hikaru had his fists tightly clenched as the memories of that night came back. Haruhi placed a comforting hand on his knee, trying to get him to calm down. Hikaru seemed to understand what Haruhi was silently trying to say to him and he began to relax. He had every right to be furious about what happened that night. His girlfriend was viciously murdered right in front of him, but Haruhi knew that if Hikaru began sparing one of them that angry, there would be a high chance of him hurting himself or hurting one of them.

Mori nodded, writing down on a notepad what the two of them informed them. "Does he have any go-to moves that you guys have noticed?"

Haruhi subconsciously began rubbing her neck from where the killer's hands were only a few weeks ago. The bruise that was left from his grip had faded days after the event, but her mind will always remember the vice grip that he had on her neck. The feeling of her lungs burning for air. The haunting sound of his voice laughing as she struggled.

"I don't know if it's a go-to move, but he both choked Shiroi and me. He seems to enjoy watching his victims fight for air. It's as if he gets some type of arousal out of it."

"What a sick bastard." Tamaki seethed out.

Kyoya pulled out a notebook that he had in his bag and began flipping through the pages until he reached a page where he had the edge folded to bookmark his place.

"From the three other murders that we know the killer has done, they are all different from each other," Kyoya informed. "Seika, he snuck into her house, most likely hacking into their security system, attacked her, and hung her from a tree by her neck before disemboweling her."

'Disemboweling..? I didn't know she was disemboweled.' Haruhi thought. She swallowed the bile that began to rise in her throat as she listened to Kyoya go down the list.

"Hayato and Tsubaki were stabbed. Tsubaki's body was posted on her social media page with the killer posing with her. Akira was stabbed and Chikage had his neck slit. Akira's head was sent to his father's company and a photo of Chikage was sent to his family with notes from the killer. Mokoto face was bashed into monitors before having his neck slit. The waiter and chef at the restaurant were stabbed to death. Then Shiori was stabbed and knocked off a ladder. Hitting her head on the dumpster below."

Mori nodded and wrote down what Kyoya gave him. Haruhi couldn't help but see the slight hint of stress in Mori's expression. He and Honey would have an easy time protecting themselves, but now hearing all the murders together, and how vicious the killer was, he was beginning to grow wary. He needed to be the best teacher for his friends so they could learn all that they could because if the killer attacked them and one of them got killed He would fully blame himself for it.

Mori grouped everyone into pairs of similar heights, so it would be easier to learn the moves before sparing with someone of different stature. The first moves that Mori had the group work on were getting out of a choke hold, as well as being able to get out from being pinned to the ground.

Haruhi was grouped with Honey, who she was glad to have as a partner. Even though he was a sweet person, he was very competitive and made it hard for anyone to win against him. So, he wasn't going to go easy on her during the training and she wanted that because the killer wouldn't go easy on her. The first exercise they did was getting out of a chokehold. Since Haruhi had informed how the killer had her pinned to a wall the night she was attacked, that is how they practiced it. As they got into their position, Honey had told her if it got too much for her, tell him and he would stop.

Haruhi took a deep breath and nodded. She knew that having a hand around her neck would trigger memories of the killer. How his hand tightly gripped around her neck, restricting her airway, teasing her by letting her only have a sliver of air to breathe. She didn't want to relive the memory, but she knew she had to. She couldn't let her fears make her quit.

Honey placed a hand around Haruhi's neck and pinned her to the wall. She gulped. Even though Honey was not constricting her neck, she felt like she was having a hard time breathing. She felt her heart began to beat hard in her chest, but she took another deep breath to get it to calm down.

"For this move, it's called the foot pivot," Mori explained. "This move is the easiest to get out of, but you have to think about it. When the killer had you pinned Haruhi, what did you do?"

Haruhi thought back to that night. When he had her pinned to the wall, she felt like she couldn't move. He had his whole body close to her he was practically on top of her as he had her pinned. She was focusing on trying to breathe rather than trying to escape.

"I was trying to rip his hands off of me so I could breathe." She answered.

"Exactly, that won't work. What you need to do is either pivot your body and hit the arm of the attacker. Be sure to always hit in the direction away from the thumb. If you don't, you're fighting four fingers. While hitting away from the thumb, you only fight with one." He explained as he mimed the movements. "Do you understand?" Haruhi replied with a nod to his question. "Great, let's try it."

Haruhi stared at Honey, who held his grip around her neck. She used her right foot to pivot her body and used her right arm to push his arm away to the left.

"Perfect. You can even get out of that grip by just pivoting your body away since this grip is not as tight with one hand.

They practiced a few more times with this move, Honey making it more challenging each time, but she was always able to get out of his grip. They practiced other moves to get out of being choked in different positions. Haruhi found the one the most difficult though was trying to get out of a choke hold on the floor. With Honey, since they were similar in size, it wasn't too difficult, but the killer was taller than her. Around six feet. She knew that he would be harder to bring down.

When they switched partners, Haruhi was paired up with Hikaru. He seemed like a good size to practice with since the killer was similar in height, but Hikaru seemed nervous.

"I don't want to hurt you." He confessed when she asked him if he was alright.

"It's fine, I can handle it. As long as you're not actually trying to choke me we should be fine. But don't hold back. I want you to try and keep me pinned down."

Hikaru nodded and straddled Haruhi to get in position. He was hesitant, but he eventually leaned over and gingerly wrapped his fingers around her neck. She gulped and shivered by the coldness of his touch and he removed his hands from her.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No, no, you're hands were just cold and my body just reacted to it. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yes, now wrap your hands around my neck again so we can do this."

He gave her a sly smirk and did as she asked, however, she noticed that he wasn't as careful as he was before. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought you were trying to come onto me."

Haruhi playfully slapped his arm. "Stop being weird."

"You're the one who worded it weirdly. So you're the only one to blame."

Mori instructed the groups on who to roll out from under the attacker and to get on top. Haruhi made sure she followed each step carefully. She had her elbows to her ribs so the attacker's knees wouldn't be under her armpits. She then crossed gripped one of Hikaru's arms but made sure not to use her thumb since it was harder for the attack to rip his arm away. Then with her free hand, Haruhi gripped the bicep of his same arm. She then used one of her feet to go over his while she placed the other in the center of his leg. Then she raised her hips, getting Hikaru off balance and she was able to flip him over onto his back. She smiled down at him in triumph, she had taken him down almost with ease. Who knew it could be that easy to throw someone off of her?

"I don't like your cockiness." Hikaru's smile turned mischievous and in a swift movement, he got Haruhi back pinned down on the floor.

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" Haruhi protested.

"The killer is not going to care if you're ready or not. I'm only helping you prepare."

"No, you just don't like that I dominated you."

"Actually, quite the opposite. I enjoy being dominated by you." He purred playfully. "I just can't have you tarnishing my reputation."

Haruhi rolled her eyes and tried to get Hikaru to roll over again so she could be back on top, but he wasn't budging.

"Did you already forget what to do, sweetheart?" He teased.

"Shut up!" She gruffed and tried to lift her hips to get him off balance, but he still wasn't budging. After about a minute of trying to get him off of her, she let out a huff and glared up at him as he laughed.

"Can I give you some advice?" He moved her leg so it was over his own. She could slap herself for being so stupid. How could she forget one of the most important steps of this move? That's how she would be able to get him off balance. "Try now."

Haruhi thrust her hips upwards, getting Hikaru off balanced and she was able to flip him back on his back so she was on top.

"See? Much better."

"Stop acting as if you're the one teaching this class." Haruhi panted as she raked some loose hair that fell out of her ponytail away from her face. "You just learned this move today as well."

"Nah, I knew it for a while now, but I have never needed to use it. Not until now anyways."

And with that, Haruhi let out a small squeak as Hikaru maneuvered her so he was back on top, pinning her down on the mat. She scowled up at him, only making his smirk widen.

'Bastard.'