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"You think you're hot stuff or something, getting ahead of yourself like that?

There was a surprised yell and the sound of a body hitting brick as a familiar black-haired girl was shoved into the wall. Wei Wei coughed at the impact and rubbed her bruising cheek. She glared up defiantly at her attacker, her dark eyes two poisonous pits promising nothing but vengeance.

But the girls weren't fazed. Because this time, they had backup. A group of male students from Summer Hall, each with their own connections and love of fistfights. They were in the abandoned school building behind the main one, surrounded by dusty gray walls and the sound of water dripping echoing through the hallways. The perfect place to get rid of people you wanted to get rid of.

Mackenzie stepped out from the rest and bent down, seizing the Asian girl's chin and lifting it up. "Did you think you deserve Jay or something?" She sneered cruelly, a devious glint in her eye. "Did you fancy yourself remotely pretty or something, allowing you to get off like that with me? I'll have to remind you exactly who you've chosen to mess with, b*tch."

Wei Wei's face twisted into one of contempt. "If my old man sees a single scratch on me, you're going to have hell to pay."

The guys looked at each other worriedly until Mackenzie fired a scathing look at them, silencing them. "You don't have to worry about that, sweetie," the blonde smiled. "You can't tell your daddy what happened if you can't use your voice or hands, can you?"

The tall girl shrank closer to the wall, her confident mask beginning to crumble. "W-what are you talking about? I'm not afraid of you, Taylor."

"Oh, but you should be. I can show you just how terrifying I can be. Girls," she snapped her fingers. One of her cronies handed a capped glass bottle to her. Mackenzie turned back to the fallen girl with a dangerous look in her pale eyes. "You all think I'm just another blonde bimbo who bought her way into this school. You forget I was chosen to come here because of my excellence in chemistry."

Wei Wei did not like where this was going. Not one bit.

"Hydrochloric acid," the blonde purred, swirling the clear liquid in the jar around. "We're given low concentrations to work with in the lab, but it can still be proven fatal when applied. What do you think happens if we raise the concentration to, I don't know, forty percent?"

"You can't get away with this—"

"But I can. Hold her, boys."

"No, stop—!" A hand over her mouth muffled her voice. Wei Wei kicked, scratched, and bit in an attempt to free herself. But even with as strong as she was, she didn't stand a chance against three guys from Summer Hall. They wrenched her to a kneeling position and pulled her arms painfully behind her. The third one pulled her head back by her hair.

One of the girls stepped closer to Mackenzie. "Mackenzie, I hate that b*tch and everything," she began slowly. "But what if this kills her? 'Cause, I don't know what hydro-whatever does, but isn't it a poison?"

"It's an acid, Yvonne," Mackenzie rolled her eyes. "It'll mess up her mouth and esophagus, as well as her respiratory system. If we give her just enough, she won't die, you idiot. Now hold her tight. And let go of her mouth, you fool."

"Mmph!" Wei Wei screamed into the hand that muffled her. The boy quickly let go of her face and gripped her neck instead to keep her in place. Tears leaked out from the corner of her eyes as she thrashed, shoving an elbow into one of her captor's ribs, making him double over with a grunt.

She seized that opportunity to bring her legs out from under her and kick another boy away from her. "Don't underestimate me just because I'm Chinese, you a**hats!" She snarled, springing up into a defensive stance. "If you think I'm going to sit quietly and let you f*ck up my life, think again, Mackenzie f*cking Taylor!"

"That b*tch is crazy!" A guy spluttered, massaging his sore abdomen. "What is she, a gorilla?"

"Forget the acid, bro. We need a f*cking elephant tranquilizer."

Mackenzie didn't look fazed. She rolled her eyes and let the hand holding the acid fall down to her side. "Way squared, you really don't get it," she sighed. "I don't give to sh*ts about you. Hell, I wasn't even going to bother with you even when you said you liked Jay. Let me tell you a secret, honey."

The black-haired girl watched the blonde approach her with suspicious eyes, her muscles tensed and ready to strangle her in case she tried anything. Mackenzie fearlessly stopped in front of her, smiled, and rammed her knee into the girl's gut.

"Down, b*tch," the blonde snapped. "This is where your eyes meet mine, understand?" She pressed her foot down harshly on the girl's hand. There was an auditory crack and Wei Wei screamed. Mackenzie seized her hair and pulled her up to eye level.

"Not so arrogant now, are we?" She sneered. "I'm rather generous, Way squared. I don't care how many girls go after Jay because I know he'll be mine in the end. Do you know how I know? Because I'm Mackenzie Taylor. I always get what I want."

"T-then..." Wei Wei managed to choke out through the pain. "Why have you been making my life so bloody difficult all these years? What do you have against me, Taylor?"

The other sighed and rolled her eyes. "Honestly though, going through all this trouble to act as if I'm just another fake b*tch is tiring. I don't exactly have anything against you, slit-eyes. Call it an investment, perhaps."

"Investment...? What the f*ck are you on?"

Mackenzie's cold eyes slid over her shoulder. Her cronies took this cue to leave, exiting the room and waiting just outside the old door to the ancient room. Only when they were alone did she continue.

"I mean what I say," she said in a lower voice. "I'm doing this because I was asked to. It's a real b*tch to do all these troublesome things, but let's just say I owe a certain someone a few favors. I don't particularly like them—bloody hell, I want them dead, dismembered, and f*cked up—but I have to do what I have to do. You getting me?"

Wei Wei coughed as the other girl released her grip on her hair, sending her falling down into a crumpled mess on the dirty floor. "You're acting like a lapdog now?"

The shorter girl didn't seem to mind her sass. "We're all b*tches to someone above us, Way squared. You of all people should know that there are people we can't go against no matter what."

"Yeah...that's a given."

"You have to understand, it's the same for me. I was told to mess you up a little, give a scare. But for some f*cking reason, things changed and now they want you dead. But you see, Way squared, between you and me, I have pretty high hopes for you, so I'm not going to kill you. At least, as long as you cooperate with me."

The Asian girl frowned. She pushed herself off the floor and staggered to her feet, holding her broken hand against her chest. "What do you mean?"

"Interested?" Mackenzie purred. "I thought you hated my guts."

"That's one thing. But now I know there's some other f*cktard pulling all the strings, I have new priorities."

The blonde's smirk widened. "Good girl. You know who's side to be on."

Wei Wei ignored her comment. "So? What do you want."

"There's a girl that's been getting on many people's nerves lately. She doesn't know her place and they need someone to teach her it. You're still in?"

"By girl...do you mean (Y/n)?"

She clapped her hands. "Bingo! I knew you Asians were supposed to be smart and everything. Long story short, she needs to be taken care of."

The black-haired girl stared at her for a few seconds before laughing mockingly. "You do realize (Y/n)'s a good friend of mine, right? You think I'd really set her up like that?"

The blonde's smile did not falter. "I don't think. I know." She stepped closer to the other girl and ran a long, slender finger slowly down her cheek. "I know what you're capable of, Wei Wei. I've gathered as much from the twelve years I've known you. You don't do friends, so why start now? So what do you say?"

Maybe it was the chilling atmosphere of the room or her sultry, sugar-coated words that made Wei Wei waver. Or perhaps it was the hidden threat laced into those honeyed words. "What's in it for me? You're obviously not going to step down and let me have Jay."

"Connections, sweetheart. Connections. In this school, you don't want to be dancing on the wrong side. You should know that...tracer."

"Don't call me that, fixer. There are rules you're supposed to follow. You're not supposed to use those names when the game hasn't started!"

She shrugged a delicate shoulder. "Why does it matter? It's just you and me here. I didn't ask for that name to be given to me anyway. I mean, who came up with fixer? Ugh, that's so lame."

"I'd like to see that when you're rotting in a grave," Wei Wei grinned darkly. "Exposing your name will get you killed in the game. Aren't you afraid I might tell?"

"Tell? Honey, it's in your best interest to keep it a secret. I know you won't, which is precisely why I told you."

"...Do I even want to know how you found out I was the tracer?"

"No, you really don't. Just act like I f*cked your throat up or something until the next game starts."

"...Fine."

Unbeknownst to the two girls, they were not alone. A hidden figure watched them quietly behind a wall, his eyes two dull orbs reflecting the faint light that was able to infiltrate the building. He sat quietly, alone, with his legs curled up and arms wrapped around his knees. He perked up at a familiar name mentioned in their conversation.

But at the threat that followed, his eyes narrowed, and his bored demeanor turned dark. He didn't say anything, didn't reveal his presence, as he quietly snapped a picture of the two girls and the ones out in the hallway for memory.

There was nothing but a flash of gold and a dark promise of death, just for them, as the figure disappeared.

That's not someone you want to mess with.

CAR:NIVAL ━━━━━༻ ❀ ༺━━━━━ αftєя

"I'm just going to go back to my corner and contemplate life now," was the only thing she could say as the (h/c)-haired girl stepped out of the circus tent with wide eyes. How one could manage to bend their limbs to such an extreme was beyond her. And that woman who was flying around everywhere with nothing but a tether attached to her hair—didn't that hurt?!

"That was better than I expected," Kieran remarked as he cracked his neck. "Though yeah, even I felt the pain as that contortionist started dislocating his joints."

"They can't be human," she shuddered. "That was too hard to watch."

"Yeah?" He held his hand up. "Watch this."

"Oh lord, please no—" (Y/n) turned her head away and made barfing sounds as the white-haired male began stretching and bending his fingers in ways that shouldn't be humanly possible. Curse him and his double-jointedness.

"Okay, you can stop now." She couldn't look at the way his fingers were moving, as if they didn't have any bones in them. "No, seriously. I'm going to have to pretend I don't know you if you don't stop."

He laughed and relented, shoving his hands back into his jeans. "Maybe I should join the circus. Earn a little pocket money and some fame to go along with it."

"You? Need pocket money?" She shot him an incredulous look. "Last time you offered to book an entire restaurant."

"Restaurants are cheap. I could always use a little more money."

"Can I hit you? Like, right now?"

Kieran began backing away with his hands held up in surrender. "You are not coming anywhere near me or Kieran Jr. like that. Violence is never the answer, koneko-chan."

"That's what Roosevelt said until he decided the states had to join World War II. That cleared up the whole thing. Maybe violence is the answer."

"Please—not the face or Kieran Junior, or my godly right hand—"

(Y/n) rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't want to touch you anyway."

"What do you mean?" He gasped. "I'm a very clean boy."

"Don't think I didn't see what you were doing with that lady next to you."

Kieran opened his mouth to say something, changed his mind, and laughed awkwardly. "We were playing...uh, a clapping game! Is that not allowed now?"

"Yes, because clapping games involve other body parts besides the hand."

"It's called the adult version. Get it right."

"Uh-huh. I totally believe you." She turned away. "Anyway, I'm hungry. Get me food, you peasant."

"And now I'm a peasant?" The white-haired male jogged around her until they were facing. "I remember last time I was a snowman or the pervert. I'm not sure what I feel about all these...unique nicknames you've given me, koneko-chan."

"I could say the same thing," the (h/c)-haired girl drawled. "Stop calling me whatever you just called me and I'll stop calling you a snowman. Deal?"

"Hmm...that's a little hard..."

"Fine. Have it your way, you oompa loompa yeti-looking a—"

Kieran laughed over her words and placed his hands on her shoulders, steering her in a random direction. "Look over there!" He said with forced enthusiasm. "The Ferris Wheel line is pretty short. Let's go on that!"

"Ignoring me, are we?" She muttered bitterly under her breath as she tried to stop him by planting her feet into the ground. It didn't work. "Interrupting me, are we? What a gentleman."

"Why thank you, I pride myself on my ability to woo others."

"That wasn't a compliment."

They got onto the Ferris Wheel, arguable the most cliché ride in the carnival. (Y/n) watched with unimpressed features as the ride started, and the ground began to fall further and further away from them. If it weren't for the glass panel, she would've fallen out of the passenger car.

The car jolted, and she grabbed the back of the seat to steady herself. She sat down normally like any other sane person. You saw nothing.

"You've never been to a carnival before?" Kieran asked. He was sitting with his leg crossed one over the other and he had taken off his jacket. The male's golden metallic eyes flickered to the window. "I haven't been on a ride like this before either?"

"Never?" She echoed. "That's..."

"Surprising?" He smiled and turned back to her. "I guess I can see why you'd think that way. Sorry for dragging you along with all my whims, koneko-chan. Truth is, I thought it would be more enjoyable if I went on the rides with someone else."

Should I ask? If he gives me a negative response I'm going to feel bad about myself. "And...was it?"

His expression was unreadable. "Nevermind that, it's more important if you enjoyed it. Did you? I hope today didn't fall short of your expectations."

I wasn't really expecting anything, she thought. Especially since I was kidnapped out of the nurse's room but okay. "It was fun," she said simply. "The cotton candy was great. Too sweet though."

"Of all the rides I took you on, the food's the only thing you remember?" He said with disbelief evident in his voice. He scratched his head. "That's probably my fault. I promise to take you somewhere better next time."

Next time? "Um, it's fine. I'm just not one for roller coasters and such." I mean, if I can't sleep on it, I don't love it. But I don't dislike it either.

"That's too bad, but I insist. How about the arcade? I know a good one a few train stops away—"

"No, really," (Y/n) interrupted politely. "I'm fine. Today was fun. I don't mean to ruin your mood or anything, but I really did enjoy it. I'm not good with words so..." She made a vague gesture with her hands, not knowing what else to say.

"I see," the white-haired male said softly. "Then that's good."

There was something lonely in his face as he looked out the window at the setting sun. Bright, golden rays melted the shadows off the tents and rides on the carnival grounds. Brilliant colors—reds, oranges, and yellows blending with rich purples and crimson hues—brushed across the ground like paint on an artist's canvas. It was as if those beams were something special, promising them another sunrise after the silent night had its stay and the land had its rest.

The clouds blushed under the caress of the sun. Silhouettes of birds swam across magenta waters until they disappeared into the horizon. Kieran watched his smoky scene, his mind lost in the shining halo that cupped the tents closest to the horizon. His golden eyes mirror the light, his face aglow last rays of the morning before dusk beckons its starry children back onto their blankets.

His lips were curved slightly upward, as if remembering a fond memory, bearing the semblance of a genuine smile. It wasn't a happy smile she saw. It was more of a sad smile, she realized, the smile people put on to appease others when they were really crying on the inside.

(Y/n) recognized sorrow. She recognized fear and resentment. But with all those confusing emotions warping around her, she knew she couldn't fix them the same way she could fix machines. Humans were different—their pain was what made her alive.

So the only thing she could do in that silence is to stay quiet, allowing the white-haired male to lose himself in his thoughts and his moment. Even if it was just for a few moments longer.

They were slowly approaching the zenith of the ride. Every few minutes, the Ferris Wheel operator would pause the ride at the very top to allow any couples to enjoy a brief moment of bliss alone. For just a short while, the passengers could forget their worries and lose themselves in the dreamlike scenery.

Sunsets brought a sense of nostalgia and longing when they came. They left with a feeling of emptiness. At least, that was how it felt to the (h/c)-haired girl. She remembered staring at bleached white walls and wishing color onto them. She remembered climbing onto a little stool and staring out the window, watching the sun rise and set for hours on end. But she didn't do that anymore. (Y/n) didn't know why, but she had fallen out of the habit.

She sat watching the line of light where the heavens met the earth. Neither of them spoke as the movement of the Ferris Wheel ceased, and they hung there, in mid-air, doing nothing but sit and watch. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence that fell between them. It was a knowing silence, where the two could share a moment of peace with each other despite their difference.

She didn't know how much time had passed until the ride finally started moving again. She wasn't sure how long it took her to finally notice the white-haired male's gaze had broken away from the sunset, and he was staring at her.

As the car slowly descended, light washed over his features, turning his snowy hair to locks of silver gold and his golden orbs to two twin suns. The moving shadows and light turned him from Adonis to Apollo, or perhaps it was the reverse—she did not know.

But of course, (Y/n) wasn't the moment ruiner for nothing. "Oh, so you really don't melt."

Kieran blinked in surprise before laughing. "I'm not a snowman, koneko-chan," he chuckled. "Why? Are you disappointed?"

She shrugged a single shoulder nonchalantly. "I changed my mind. You're a Yeti from now on since you don't melt."

"If it's melting you want, I'm confident I can make you do the melting—"

"Woah, we're going down!" The (h/c)-haired girl interrupted loudly. "Aren't Ferris Wheels great? It could do with a lot more speed and thrill though."

He smiled. "I'm glad you had fun." It sounded more for himself than for her, as if he was consoling himself. It puzzled her, but Kieran Fujikawa was just as unreadable as ever. He caught her looking at him and flashed her a roguish grin. "Are you finally realizing my appeal? I'm more than happy to—"

It's the mood, she told herself. It's the weird feeling in the air and the discomforting sensation that makes me want to use a chainsaw to soothe these itches. Whatever it was and whatever excuse she gave herself, it didn't quite explain her sudden action. A whim, perhaps. Or perhaps she was softening. No matter what it was that made her act this way, it wasn't something (Y/n) would normally find herself saying.

"Kieran...are you okay?"

And just for a brief second, so fast she nearly missed it, his smiling facade crumbling. Through the tear, the colors of sadness and regret bled and stained her mind.

Then it was gone, as soon as it came.

"Of course," he said with perfect confidence. "Why wouldn't I be?"

(Y/n) didn't know why she didn't believe him.

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A/N: 90 followers omggg (୨ ^O^)୨ thank youuu 🥺🙏

Are you guys confused with Mackenzie and Wei Wei's conversation? Be confused! Things are finally starting! It would be boring if the story was just a bunch of random murders while (Y/n) gets kidnapped or some sh*t. Mwehehe I bet none of you would accept if you got an invite to attend Fortuna Institute 🤣 It's such a f*cked up school unless you're there like me for the eye c—um, drops.