Something felt off. There had been no news about the killer for almost two weeks, and even though Haruhi knew that could be a good thing, she felt like he was planning something big. That made her motivated even more in their self-defense classes. Even if she was exhausted and just wanted to go home and rest, the thought of the killer in the back of her mind kept her going. Not everyone could go every day because of their packed schedules, but the twins made sure to put aside some time every few days for Haruhi to practice with her. Since Hikaru had been attacked before, he knew some of the killer's moves and would incorporate them into their training to help Haruhi learn how to dodge and fight back. She was first uncoordinated and wondered how she was even able to dodge the killer's attacks from how sloppy she was. Adrenaline was a really powerful thing. After a week of training every day, she might've not been on Honey and Mori's level of expertise, but she felt more confident in protecting herself.

Haruhi pulled her hair up into a ponytail as she walked down one of the many hallways of the university to Tamaki, waiting outside his classroom to take Haruhi home. Today had been a tough session. Since she had been practicing so much and her body wasn't used to this much physical exercise she felt worn out. Mori and Honey had been making sure each session was fun so it would motivate her to continue, but she was ready to finally have a break when the weekend hit. Once he saw her, Tamaki smiled at her and took hold of her hand as they began walking to head home.

"How were your classes today, love?" Tamaki asked.

"They were good, although one of my professors is still teaching us the basics of criminal law and it's almost halfway through the semester. I knew from other students that he liked to take his time on each topic, but I think this a little absurd." Haruhi huffed out in frustration.

"If it's really bothering you, you could always bring it up to my father. You know my dad will do anything to help you."

"It's fine. I don't want it to seem that I'm abusing my power by dating you and have that be the only reason why the professor begins to speed things up. Even after other students have complained about him."

"Well, if other students have been complaining about him and my father has been doing nothing I should talk to him. That is no way to run a school in my opinion." He smiled down at her. "And don't worry, I won't mention you."

"You better not." Haruhi chuckled. "I'd prefer not to be on that professor's bad side."

They walked out of the building and began heading over to the parking lot to Tamaki's car. The parking lot was pretty empty, a little strange for being this early in the day. Haruhi had suspected that it had something to do with the killer and a lot of students were refusing to go to school. She had begun to notice a lot of her classmates staying home when a few of her professors gave the option to allow students to have lectures online instead of coming to class. Tamaki had tried to convince her to take the online lectures, but Kyoya had said that might be more dangerous for her since it would only be her and Ranka in a compact apartment and since the security was only scheduled to be at Haruhi's house from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. there is a huge advantage for the killer to break into her apartment while she was alone. Being at the university was a safer option because the killer would be less likely to attack with so many witnesses around.

Haruhi took a look at her watch and saw that it was only three o'clock and grew excited. "There is still an hour left for the sale at Marutomi Supermarket. If we get there in time I should be able to get groceries for my dad and me. As well as ingredients for the curry we're cooking on Saturday."

"We better hurry then. I don't want us to be late for something so important." Tamaki laughed at her excitement.

She gave him an affectionate smile and squeezed his hand. She loved that whenever she got excited over the littlest things, Tamaki would share the same amount of excitement. Even if it's something as boring as a sale on some fruit at the store. He did always have a fascination with 'commoner' things and that might be one of the reasons for his excitement. But the main reason was that he loved seeing Haruhi happy.

As they continued to walk, Haruhi noticed a blur of black quickly move in her peripheral vision, and her smile instantly vanished. She instantly stopped in her tracks and whirled her body around to the right but saw nothing. No other person was in the parking lot with them, but she knew she was still being watched by the way her heart was still pounding in her chest. She didn't know by whom, but she had an inkling and it was making her nervous.

"Is everything ok love?" Tamaki asked.

"I think someone is watching us?"

Tamaki's expression instantly hardened and he began looking around the area for anything suspicious. The parking lot may be empty, but that doesn't mean someone couldn't be hiding somewhere ready to strike. He might've not known too much about this Ghostface guy, but after doing some research Tamaki knew the killer enjoyed stalking his prey before finding the perfect opportunity to strike. He might be an apex predator, but he refused to let Haruhi be his next prey. Tamaki's eyes landed on a black car a few yards away. The windows were tinted black, almost hiding the figure inside. There was someone in the car, watching them. However, Tamaki seemed to recognize the car and his stature softened.

"It's just Hotta. I recognize that car from Kyoya's estate. He was probably just watching over us and might've spooked you when he got into his car."

"Maybe…"

It could've been him. The Ootori family security does wear black for their uniforms, but it still didn't sit right with her. Maybe she was just on edge because there were still no leads on the killer. However, her brain was screaming at her that someone else was lurking out there. Watching them.

…

Megumi Kanoya hummed happily to herself as she chopped some vegetables for a stir fry she was making. It was late at night, and she knew she should head home, but she couldn't bear being at home with her mother. Even though her mother has allowed her to see her father since she is legally an adult now, she always had something to say to her about it. She also had to always make snide comments whenever she cooked at home because they have chefs and 'What is the point of having chefs with three Michelin stars if you just cook for yourself all the damn time?'

She had tried to convince her mom that she could just cook for the two of them and not have to spend money on chefs, who Megumi thought weren't the greatest at their jobs. Preparing flavorless meals and the only talent they seemed to have in the kitchen was to make their dishes look pretty. She had no idea how they got their stars. Megumi was too nice to say anything about their cooking, but she just told the chefs that she enjoys being in the kitchen and that's why she cooks for herself, and from one chef to another, they completely understood. However, her mother refuses to eat her dinners unless the chefs are away because it tastes too much like her dad's cooking and she wants nothing in their house to remind them of him.

Last night, her mother and she had gotten into another argument about how she was spending all her free time with her father cooking, while she should be out there trying to look for a man. Even though she was only twenty-two and still had her whole life ahead of her, her mom wanted her to marry someone as soon as possible. It was aggravating. Especially since no one here at school caught her eye…well, there was one person.

Tamaki Suoh, the man who saved her from being trampled by a horse. In high school, she thought it was just a silly crush on him for being selfless and saving her, and when he confessed that he was in love with someone else she would have to get over it. She didn't know at the time that she was mainly clinging onto him because of the situation with her dad, but she had realized when Haruhi was talking to her shortly after the incident that she (who Megumi thought was a he at the time) could feel that Megumi really did love Tamaki. After Haruhi had told her that, she thought that maybe sometime in the future Tamaki and her could work out, but only a few months later, he and Haruhi began dating. She was shocked since she didn't expect Tamaki could be bi or gay, but when it came out that Haruhi was actually a girl, it made a bit more sense. However, that didn't stop her from being jealous of her. Megumi tried so hard to get over Tamaki, to try and be interested in someone else, and even tried the 'letting love come to me' route, but nothing worked. Every time she pictured herself in a relationship, she would always picture herself with Tamaki, and it hurt her that she couldn't have him. She felt awful about it, but she was waiting for the couple to break up. The two were complete opposites. How could they have been together for FIVE YEARS and be so different from each other? It just didn't make any sense. If Megumi thought about it, she thought Haruhi would have been better suited with one of the twins rather than Tamaki since they were practically inseparable. A part of her was thinking that maybe an affair was going on between her and one of the twins so Tamaki would end things, but nothing. She hated feeling this way, but she just couldn't help it.

It had gotten so bad during her freshman year of college that she talked to her therapist about it and he told her that whenever she felt like this, she either write about it in a journal to let it all out or do a hobby she enjoyed to try and not think about him, and it worked. In the beginning, she was cooking almost all hours of the day, but now she mainly only cooks when she wants to. It doesn't feel like a chore to try and forget about her lost crush and now she has fallen more in love with it. She still has thoughts about Tamaki almost every day, but they aren't as obsessive as they were, and whenever she does see Haruhi and him around holding hands, she just goes to the culinary room at the university and cooks.

Megumi added the vegetables into the pan, moving them around as they sizzled from the heat. She reached for her wooden spoon to stir the ingredients around, but as her arm moved, her elbow knocked it off the counter. She let out a sigh, now having to clean the spoon. She took the pan off the heat and reached down to grab the spoon to wash it. However, when she got down to retrieve it, she heard the rustling of some of the pots that were hung up on the rack. She looked up from where she was to see who was there but didn't see anyone. Did someone come in thinking that no one was in there and left the stove on? She thought she was the only one who was still here on this side of campus, but maybe somebody left something and smelled food and just wanted to make sure no one left the stove on. It has happened before.

Megumi didn't think too much about it and walked over to the sink and began washing the spoon. She looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost nine o'clock at night. She knew that she needed to get home once she was done or her mother would have a fit.

She let out another sigh, not wanting to think about her home life, and dried off the spoon before heading back to the stove to continue cooking, but as she was about to put the pan back on the heat, she noticed something odd. The knife she was using was missing. She thought she had left it on the cutting board after using it, but did she unknowingly place it somewhere else? She didn't take it to the sink, but maybe it fell as well when she dropped the spoon and she didn't notice. She bent back down in search of the knife, but after a moment of searching, it was nowhere to be found. This was beginning to grow odd. She was about to stand back up to see that maybe she did bring it to the sink when she caught her reflection on the metal cabinet in front of her and her face turned as white as the Ghostface mask she saw on the person behind her. The knife she was searching for was in his hand.

She was instinctively going to let out a scream, but the killer quickly grabbed ahold of her from behind and covered her mouth.

"Now, now, that wouldn't be a good idea. Would it?" The killer's sinister voice snickered.

Megumi let out a soft whine and felt her body begin to tremble as the killer had a vice grip on her. Why was he here to kill her? She wasn't associated with Haruhi at all, so why was the killer after her? Was it because they were similar in looks? Did he think that since Haruhi had gotten away from him multiple times he thought he would go after her because of her looks would satisfy his craving to kill Haruhi? She began to cry, she didn't want to die. She had so much she wanted to do with her life…She wanted to see her father at least one more time before we went.

The killer laughed at her terror and leaned close to her ear. "Don't worry darling, I don't plan on killing you. I actually wanted to make a deal with you."

A deal? What deal would the killer want to make with her? She has nothing he would want.

"I know that you're in love with Tamaki Suoh even after you were rejected by him all those years ago. However, I have an idea that might be able to help you have him all to yourself."

No, this had to be a trick. The killer was known for his sick games. He was going to try and make a deal with her but stab her in the back at the end of it. Most likely literally.

"I'm going to remove my hand from around your mouth so we can discuss the deal, but if you even try to let out a scream, I'll rip your vocal cords out. Do you understand?"

Megumi let out a small sob but nodded.

"Perfect." He removed his hand from her mouth and Megumi took in a deep, ragged breath as she tried to keep her sobs quiet. Even though there was most likely no one in the building with them, she didn't want to risk drawing attention. He gingerly grabbed her arm and led her to a table for her to sit down. He took the chair across from her, grabbed the teapot at the center of the table, and poured her a cup of tea.

"How many sugars would you like, love?"

Megumi looked at the tea that he poured her and the little cup of sugar cubes. She had prepared that tea not too long ago, but with him sneaking around she didn't know if he had put something in it. But if he were trying to get her to work with him, there would be no reason for him to poison her. Unless that was all a ruse and he was going to kill her anyway. However, if she didn't take the tea, would he be angry? She could take it and not drink it, just to be on his good side.

"Umm, two please…" She was able to only get out in a whisper.

The killer nodded placed two sugar cubes into her tea and stirred it before sliding the cup toward her. He then placed the knife on the table in front of him, as if it was a warning for her not to anger him. She gulped and looked away from the knife, but looking at the killer was far more terrifying.

"Let's get down to business, shall we." The killer said, and Megumi just gave a slight nod in response. "I want you to drive a wedge into Haruhi's and Tamaki's relationship. Make it so that there is no reason for them to ever get back together. Make them loath each other's existence."

"Ho…How am I supposed to do that?" Megumi stuttered out. Knitting her fingers together to keep them from shaking. "They've been together for so long and Tamaki loves her dearly. I don't-"

"He doesn't love her!" The killer yelled, jumping out of his chair, causing it to smack loudly onto the floor as he leaned towards her over the table. Anger visibly shaking his body. His next words came out like venom. "He doesn't deserve a woman like Haruhi Fujioka. Not after how he always tried to change her before they were in a fucking relationship."

"Change? What do you mean?"

She could hear the killer trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down, but it didn't seem to be working. He began forming his hands in and out of fists as if he needed something to get his hands. He needed to let his frustrations out, but he couldn't hurt Megumi. Not if he wanted to use her. With a roar, he launched a crock pot and pans off the kitchen counter and Megumi let out a frightened yelp as they loudly crashed onto the floor.

"God, I want to kill you so bad." The killer laughed out psychotically. His body trembling with adrenaline. "I want to stab that knife in your throat so many times that the only thing you would be able to inhale was your own fucking blood because of how fucking stupid you are!" He turned to her, Megumi had scooted her chair up against the wall petrified, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks as the killer cocked his head at her. "How? How did he not fall in love with you? I don't fucking get it? I mean look at you. You are almost the exact carbon copy of Haruhi. If we didn't know any better, we would've thought you two were sisters!" He walked up to her and roughly grabbed her face, squeezing her cheeks tightly to make her lips purse. "You know, Tamaki always had this fucked up fantasy of how he wanted Haruhi to be. How she would always make him home-cooked meals. How she would always be overly affectionate to him. Do whatever he asks with no complaint. No matter how absurd. But you," His grip tightened around her face, causing her to let out a small whine. "You were the one who would do those things for him with no complaint. You said you would make him heart-shaped meals, spin around with him in a white dress, and act like a newlywed couple! You were practically his dream girl. So, why? Why did he not fucking choose you?!"

"I don't know…" She was barely able to respond through her squeezed cheeks.

"Oh, it's not your fault love." His sinister voice was sickly sweet, which made him even more terrifying. He released his grip from around her face and went back around the table to pick up his chair to continue the meeting. "Sorry about my little outburst. Let's get back to business. This is what I'm offering on the table if you help me. If you break the couple up, you can be there to comfort Tamaki while he is grieving the breakup. Be kind to him, show him how great of a wife you can be. Be his dream girl that he knows won't ever leave his side. Be the Haruhi that he always wanted. You can finally have what you want and I can have what I want. Does that sound pleasing to you?"

Megumi bit her lip, she hated herself for it, but she was tempted. Her father would be so disappointed with her but her strong feelings for Tamaki were slightly blinding her from making the right decision. She wanted him, she had wanted him for over five years and now a chance to finally have him was presented in front of her. But was it really worth it? She did have one question she had to ask the killer though.

"Why do you want Haruhi?" She asked the question that was most likely on everyone's mind at school. "What do you gain from having her?"

"Ah, ah, ah." The killer tauntingly wiggled his finger at her. "We aren't going to talk about me here. I can't do anything that can risk giving away my precious identity. But I will say this. Just like Tamaki with you, I have had my mind set on Haruhi for years now and I am tired of waiting. I am not going to sit by and let some asshole be with a woman he tried so hard to change to be his 'dream girl.' She deserves someone who truly loves her, and it's not him. That is all I'm going to say. So," He held out his hand for him to shake. "Do we have a deal?"

Megumi looked at his hand, whose own was burning to grasp it, but she knew it was wrong to do. She scrunched the skirt of her dress tightly as she looked back up at the killer's mask, who was patiently waiting for her to shake his hand, but she knew he wouldn't stay patient for much longer.

"What if I say no?" She asked. She already knew the answer, he would kill her, but she felt like she still had to ask for herself. As if it would be the final push for her to accept his offer.

The killer chuckled and retracted his hand. "Still not convinced yet, or is it that you want more? Who knew you were a girl who liked to bargain." He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back in the chair. "How about this, if you refuse my offer I will kill your father, but not before torturing him with his beloved cooking utensils. Who knows, maybe I could whip him up in some type of soup and feed it to people. Perhaps your mother? I have a feeling she would like that." He seemed to feed off the horrified look he was receiving from her and continued. "Then if you refuse my offer again, I will kill your mother, I don't have a plan yet for what I'm going to do to her, but god it'll be fun. I haven't tried poison yet. Maybe, I'll send her some cookies and say that you baked them. So when she dies, she will think her sweet, little daughter was the one who murdered her. She would believe it since you and she have been having trouble in your relationship since she still doesn't want you seeing your dad. I will continue asking you for help, and if you keep denying I will kill more and more people you care about until you either finally accept my proposal or eventually, you kill yourself. Whichever one is first. Oh, and if you don't accept, don't even try warning your father about me. I already have eyes on him and I can find him like this." He snapped his fingers. "Even if he's hidden away. Now, let me ask you again." He stretched out his hand one last time for her to take. "Do we have a deal?"

That was the last push she needed. She was already on the verge of saying yes to his offer, but now she had to. She couldn't risk the lives of the people she cared about. Without hesitation, she grasped his hand in a tight hold and shook it.

"Perfect." He hissed out in excitement. "And I already have the perfect plan for what you can do."

…

On Saturday afternoon, Haruhi was prepping dinner early. Tamaki had wanted her to wait for him to come over for them to start cooking, but Haruhi wanted to make sure everything was prepared. She did love that he wanted to help her in the kitchen, but his chopping skills were horrendous and he didn't know how to properly clean the vegetables well. She gave him plenty of chances to try and redeem himself, but with each time she just got more and more disappointed. So, she just prepped before he was over so by the time he got there they could start cooking.

Haruhi had finished cleaning the carrots and began chopping them when her cell phone rang. She saw it was Tamaki and answered it, putting it on speaker so she could continue prepping.

"Hey, I'm just prepping for the curry tonight. You said you're going to be here around six, right?"

"I'm sorry love, but I'm going to have to take a rain check."

Haruhi stopped chopping and looked over at her phone. "What do you mean?"

"My father is requesting me to join him for a meeting at our family's hotel. I tried telling him that I already made prior plans to be with you tonight, but he said I had to come since it would affect the future of our business. I'm really sorry love."

"It's ok, I understand," Haruhi replied.

"Are you upset?"

"No, no I'm not. I am a little disappointed since I've been looking forward to tonight, but if your father needs you, so be it. We can always have dinner another night."

"Yes, and I'll make sure that my schedule is clear all next week just for you. Again, I'm really sorry for canceling last minute. But I promise the next time I see you I'll make it up to you. In more ways than one."

Haruhi felt her face heat up, obviously understanding the innuendo, and smiled. "Can't wait. Be safe."

"I will love. I'll talk to you once I get home. Love you."

"Love you too."

She hung up and looked at all the food she had already prepped. She let out a sigh, she couldn't let all these ingredients go to waste. Her father was going to be working late tonight, and even though she was going to make extras for him, now there would be far too much food for the both of them. She leaned on the counter and tapped her fingers as she stared at her phone before picking it up again. She scrolled through her contacts until it landed on who she wanted and clicked call.

After a few rings the person answered their phone.

"Hey, are you busy tonight?"

…

"Thank you for inviting us over Haruhi." Kaoru smiled as he and Hikaru entered her apartment.

"It's no problem. Since Tamaki had to reschedule our date I didn't want all this food to go to waste and I thought you two would easily be able to help me put it to use."

"Anything you cook I'll be happy eating." Hikaru gave her a cheeky grin before joining her in the kitchen. "Although, if you're making curry. Can we at least put some spice in it? I'm craving something spicy."

"I'll see what I have."

Haruhi began looking through her cabinets to see if she had anything to make the curry more spicy for the twins. Kaoru had taken off his coat and draped it around the chair he was going to sit at while Hikaru leaned against the counter and watched Haruhi. Ever since Shiori's death, Hikaru has been clinging to Haruhi as if he were a lost puppy. If she wasn't with Tamaki, he was almost always following her at her heels. Haruhi didn't mind since the twins had always been like this with her, but she was worried about how dependent he had gotten on her. She had brought it up to Kaoru, and he said Hikaru had gotten really protective over Haruhi after his girlfriend's death and refused to let anything like what happened to Shiori happen to her. She appreciated that he wanted to look after her, but she didn't want him to drive himself crazy thinking that he always needed to be by her side. Especially since she already had security around her almost 24/7.

Hikaru took an apple from Haruhi's fruit bowl. "So, what was Tamaki's excuse for ditching you on your date tonight?"

"He didn't ditch me." Haruhi rolled her eyes. She found the spice she was looking for and went on her toes to reach it, but felt the presence of Hikaru come up from behind her and grab it for her. "Thanks."

"No problem." He winked and took a bite of the apple. "Now answer my question."

"He said that his father called him stating he needed him to attend a meeting at their family hotel and couldn't get out of it."

After saying that, she noticed Hikaru look over at Kaoru, pausing midbite of his apple, and giving each other confused looks. Haruhi cocked a brow at them.

"Why are you two looking at each other like that?"

"Nothing, it's just." He gave Hikaru another glance, who just shrugged. "Tamaki's dad is in France right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember last week when Tamaki said his dad was going on a month-long business trip to France? Unless the trip was cut extremely short, he should be still over there."

Haruhi shrugged, seemingly not worried as she began adding the spices to the curry. "Maybe that's why Tamaki had to go to the meeting. Since his father couldn't be there."

"Yeah, there is no reason for Tamaki to lie to you," Hikaru added. "I just hope it's worth it and not some deal he got dragged into. I know his father likes to do that."

Haruhi gave a nod in agreement. She loved Tamaki's father, and vice versa. He loved her so much that he had started calling Haruhi his daughter-in-law two years after she and Tamaki started dating. But she had to agree that he did like to throw Tamaki in the deep end whenever he wasn't there. Tamaki said his dad liked to test him, but she knew it made Tamaki anxious whenever his father did that without any warning. She just hoped he had nothing to worry about at this meeting.

…

After a few hours, and many bowls of curry, Haruhi was getting sleepy. She yawned and stretched her back until she heard a satisfying crack before looking at the clock. It was around two a.m. How did she not realize how late it was? Since she didn't want the twins driving home late at night since the killer was still out there, she had offered them to spend the night. They happily agreed and she made sure to text her dad so he wouldn't freak out when he saw them sleeping in their living room, again. The twins seemed to be dozing off on her couch as the credits of the movie they just finished watching were scrolling down the screen. She would just get them pillows and blankets and wish them a goodnight before she headed off to bed herself.

Once she got up from the couch, she seemed to have woken up Hikaru, who tiredly squinted at her as she made her way to her closet.

"Where are you going?" He rubbed his eyes with a yawn.

"I'm getting you guys some pillows and blankets unless you don't want them. Then I'll just head to bed."

"No, no. We'll take them." Hikaru chuckled. "Be sure to give me the old tiger blanket. That one is my favorite."

Haruhi nodded and opened the closet door to get what she needed when the landline began ringing loudly. The sound jolted up Kaoru, who suddenly asked what was going on as the other two looked at the landline. She could see the caller ID from where she was and the memories of what happened weeks ago flooded her mind as it said 'Unknown Number.' It couldn't be him, it had to be her dad calling to say that his phone died or that he was going to be late coming home. There was no way that the killer was calling her. The killer wouldn't do the same trick twice…right?

"Do…Do you want me to answer it?" Hikaru asked. He was trying to be protective of her, but he was scared of whoever was on the other side of the phone as well.

Haruhi shook her head. If it was the killer, she didn't want to risk getting him angry. They just watched the landline ring and ring until it finally stopped. They waited for about a minute to see if the phone would begin ringing again and were relieved when it didn't.

"God, that was scary." Hikaru chuckled softly. "I really thought that it would be the-"

He was then interrupted by Haruhi's cell phone ringing in her pocket. Again, the trip grew silent and Haruhi slowly reached into her pocket for her cell phone before Hikaru stopped her.

"Don't answer it." Hikaru said. "He's just trying to mess with you."

"But what if he has someone hostage and will kill them if she doesn't answer," Kaoru argued. "I hate to play into his game, but I think we have to."

Haruhi knew he was right. The killer could have someone important to her, and do something drastic to them if she didn't answer. She didn't want to, but she couldn't handle any more blood being shed on her hands.

"Shit…" Hikaru muttered. He then looked back up at Haruhi. "Put it on speaker. We'll be quiet."

Haruhi nodded as she pulled out her phone and looked at the number who was calling. A huge wave of relief washed over her when she saw Tamaki's name pop up with his contact photo displayed on the screen. She showed it to the twins, who relaxed as well. She answered the call.

"Hey, god you scared me." Haruhi chuckled. "How was your-"

Her smile instantly fell when the person on the phone didn't have the sweet, charming voice of her boyfriend. But a dark, menacing one. The one she was far too familiar with.

"Hello, Haruhi."