[Y/n] and Mitzu had gone back to the library after finding the drawing of Leya, [Y/n] continuing her search for more pieces of Nyais' past. Pages upon pages were rooted through and discarded, but it seemed hardly a shred of anything was left. Except for one find, which had only served to irritate the girl. [Y/n] found an old sketchbook with every page torn out, save for a single note slotted within. The note was now torn up in tiny pieces on the floor.

'Too late. - Rayne'

That's what it'd said. That bastard! [Y/n] was fuming, and even Mitzu looked a bit concerned for her, watching as she rooted through book after book for something. Anything. Eventually, though only to get in her favour, Mitzu started helping her.

Both were so absorbed in searching for notes or drawings or whatever that they didn't hear the front door open or close. They didn't hear the gentle footsteps making their way down the hallway; nor did they hear the library door creak slightly as it was pushed further open.

"Are you... looking for something?"

That voice.

[Y/n] froze, gripping harder onto the book that she was looking through. This was getting to her head. She sighed, placing the book down, turning around to tell Mitzu that maybe they should stop.

"Mitzu, I think we've—"

Everything froze.

Mitzu turned to see what had caused her to stop so abruptly. He slowly placed the book back on the bookshelf and furrowed his brow, trying to make sense of the situation.

"[Y/n]," Nyais whispered, taking a couple of steps forwards. The swords were still in his hands, but [Y/n] didn't care. She didn't care about anything. She ran forwards, wrapping her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. She didn't know what to say. He was real - he was right here in this very room. He very carefully hugged her back, making sure the swords didn't touch her, instead angling them like defensive shields around the [h/c] haired girl.

"How the hell are you still alive?" Mitzu hissed, though he didn't make any move to approach Nyais. Not yet. The man was armed and had much more experience than he did - if Mitzu tried to attack him now, he'd lose before he could blink. To his annoyance, the violet eyed male didn't acknowledge his existence. "Look, this is a touching reunion and all, but can you answer my fucking question?" Nyais' eyes flitted open, his gaze watching Mitzu carefully.

"Your manners have deteriorated," Nyais muttered, finally letting [Y/n] out of his guarded embrace, though still keeping her close by his side.

"Speak for yourself," Mitzu rolled his eyes. "So does this mean you're leaving me, [Y/n]?" Mitzu asked, a bitter laugh following his words. [Y/n] narrowed her eyes in response to his insecurities.

"Maybe if you hadn't been so damn awful, I'd come and visit you again," she spat. Instantly her confidence had returned. She felt a bit bad... only saying what she thought because she had Nyais' swords to hide behind; wasn't that how cyberbullies operated? No, she wouldn't think of herself like that. These people had destroyed her- tortured her. She felt unsafe before, but now she was secure.

"Mitzu," Nyais said calmly, watching him with a calculative yet... oddly calm expression. "I'll ask you once, please leave. If you refuse I'll have to remove you by force," he said simply.

"What? No fucking way. I came here with [Y/n], I'll leave here with [Y/n]."

"I don't want to leave here," [Y/n] spat back at him.

"Well you don't have a fucking choice!" Mitzu growled, but Nyais' sword raising in his direction shut him up. If he managed to snatch one of Nyais' swords from him, he had a chance. Maybe. No, on second thought, he had no chance. Nyais was faster and more experienced than him, and on top of that he could use his hearing to anticipate what Mitzu was going to do. The only person who possibly stood a chance against him in these situations, the only person who Nyais wouldn't be able to predict, was—

Nyais' eyes widened slightly, suddenly bending forwards in a state of shock. A new voice sounded from the doorway.

"When the old man gave me a new job, I figured Rayne would be hiding something big, but I certainly wasn't expecting this." [Y/n] spun around to face the all-too-familiar smiling face of Kori. Nyais let out a small groan of pain, and [Y/n] quickly realised there was a shuriken lodged in his back. Nyais straightened himself, his muscles pushing the blade out again — thankfully it'd missed his spine. [Y/n] bent down and picked the shuriken up, her small hands shaking.

"[Y/n], leave the fighting to us, would you?" Kori smiled, extending his hand for her to give back the shuriken, though careful of the range that Nyais' swords could cover. [Y/n] instead pulled it closer to her, clearly not willing to let him have it. He let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "If you wanted to keep it as a souvenir you should've just said," he shrugged, pulling another from his pocket.

"No... Kori, please," [Y/n] whispered, "please just leave — I don't want any of you to get hurt..."

Nyais placed a gentle hand on [Y/n]'s arm, pulling her closer to him once more. "He caught me off guard once. Don't think I'll let him do it again," he said softly. A smirk formed on Kori's features. He cast his gaze down for a moment, trying to stop himself laughing.

"I'm moved. Truly," he snickered, "[Y/n], you really have impressed me! You were tortured by Rayne and you still haven't broken," he grinned. Nyais stiffened.

"Rayne... hurt you?" he muttered, looking down at [Y/n], his gaze fearful and apologetic.

"I-it was nothing," [Y/n] whispered, "l-lets focus on this for now," she said, forcing a smile. Nyais nodded, turning his gaze back to Kori, though listening out for Mitzu behind him in case the boy got ambitious. So far he was staying put.

"So Nyais," Kori hummed, "care for a rematch?"

* * *

"This is stupid!" Seishin hissed, tearing up the paperwork he'd been given. Kaist raised a brow. Rarely did Seishin blow up - he was usually so controlled. Then it occurred to him.

"It's only for a year. You can come back to visit, too," he said, rolling his eyes.

"No way! Do you really think you can just cart me off, smiling like some manufactured robot? I'm not a pawn, Kaist," Seishin growled out, standing up, facing his father. Kaist rolled his eyes.

"Your half-brother was the same," Kaist muttered. Seishin furrowed a brow - he had a brother? "He refused to leave, determined to stay to be with the woman he loved. He fought to become an elite, but because he had no experience he died in the challenge. He was arrogant, just as you are. If you refuse to learn from your own mistakes, maybe try learning from someone else's."

"What was his name?" Seishin asked quietly.

"Roan," Kaist responded.

"Who did he challenge?"

"Me," Kaist returned, "and he, for some reason, called for a death match. The greatest disservice I could've done for him was go easy on him because of our relation, so I killed him. The stupid boy wouldn't get far in life anyway. Death was probably a better option for him." Seishin let out a bitter laugh.

"And you call me heartless," he hummed, before slamming the papers down in front of Kaist. "If you want to get rid of me so badly, don't be so half-assed as to send me off to some random island. Do it properly, like you did with that 'Roan' kid," he smirked, before walking away, exiting the building that housed Kaist.

Unfortunately, Kaist had known he would win against Roan. With Seishin, he wasn't so sure.

* * *

Exams. Every single lesson, Sally had heard that word pop up religiously. "Don't slack off, your exams are in two weeks!" - "if you don't put in your all, you'll never get anywhere in life!" Over and over again. She wished she'd got those sound-cancelling AirPods sooner; her father had wiped her bank account after their argument so Sally would have to wait for another week or so before the direct debit put another thousand in.

"What rich-people problems are ya thinking about?" Tara grinned, interrupting Sally's train of thought. Tara had been off all day - it'd been subtle, but she and Damien had been non stop eyeing one another. Sally let out a sigh. Maybe they were into one another? She had no idea what was going on with Tara's boyfriend. She hadn't so much as mentioned him for over a month.

"Exams are so soon," Sally sighed, "how are you so calm?"

"Hm? Exams?" Tara hummed. "Oh. Yeah, those... I kinda want to skip them, but I'll never get into the police force if I do that," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Ugh, I miss the days where my only ambition was to become a stripper," she joked. Sally raised a brow and let out a light laugh with Tara, though the girls slowly became serious again.

"Everything alright with Damien? I can't tell whether you two want to punch one another, snog one another or something in between," Sally hummed, a slight smile on her face, though it was a little strained. Tara's face scrunched up.

"What? Noooo! No way. Ew. I'm not the sort of gal to steal another gal's man," Tara shook her head, "and as far as I'm aware, that one's taken. Even if he doesn't admit it to us," she shrugged.

"Taken?" Sally questioned.

"[Y/n], obviously. Stealing her man while she's away? She'll hate me!" Tara laughed lightly, but her eyes weren't smiling. They hadn't since [Y/n] went missing. None of them had. It was like there was a huge hole in everything they knew and understood — a mystery that only brought emptiness and suffering in its wake. Had [Y/n] been a third wheel to the friendship, perhaps the loss wouldn't have been so difficult, as hard as that was to admit. But [Y/n] was the one who'd held everything together. [Y/n] was like Tara and Sally's beacon of light in this cold, dark place.

They didn't know where she was, whether she was still alive or not... so many times had Tara imagined her dead friend's lifeless body sinking to the bottom of a lake; slowly falling apart in a bath of acid; being segmented and stored in a freezer; buried in a cold, desolate place; left to rot in an abandoned building... it all made her sick. It made her want to rip out her hair and scream. Why [Y/n]? Why not her? Why?

"Tara? You okay?" Sally asked, noticing the girl's eyes begin to become glassy. Tara snapped her attention back to Sally and forced a smile, pretending the tears weren't there. She needed to stay strong for her friends. She would find [Y/n]. She didn't know how, but she would solve this mystery and destroy whoever did this to her.

"Yep! A-okay," Tara affirmed, "I came to check up on you, anyway. So tell me, what gotcha looking so down?" Tara questioned.

"Oh, nothing much, just dad. What's new?" Sally laughed. Tara raised a brow.

"If that bastard hit you again I swear to god I'll go shove his fancy-ass Louis Vuitton umbrella up his filthy ass!" Tara yelled out, her hands on her hips. Sally gave her a soft smile, erring on apologetic.

"It's fine Tara, really," she smiled, "I'm just broke for a couple of weeks. He can't be bothered shutting off the direct debit, though," she shrugged. "Hey... Tara," Sally added, rubbing the back of her neck. Tara tilted her head. "Mind if I stay with you for a few nights?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Tara chuckled, placing her hands on Sally's shoulders. "Also, you gotta help me with English. I suck."

"Only if you help me with Physics," Sally smiled, to which Tara responded with a shrug.

"Depends whether you can teach me how to use that... what's it called? Semi colon or some shit? Who even needs that? Like seriously, what's the point?" Tara huffed, shaking her head. "I swear, English teachers just wanna see us suffer; they've got a sadist fetish or somethin'," Tara shook her head.

"There was a semi colon in what you just said," Sally giggled. Tara crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?! Where?!" she grumbled. Sally shrugged obtusely and Tara tugged on her hair. The blonde let out a small laugh. "So, you coming over tonight?" Tara asked. Sally nodded.

"Lemme just call the maid; she'll send my stuff over," Sally hummed, picking up her phone whilst Tara rolled her eyes and muttered something about rich kids.