The sun hung lazily in the sky, its golden glow seeping into the cloud like a broken egg yolk. It had been a pleasant surprise to open your blinds and see such a serene view. Was this the calm after the storm? With all the foul winter weather you had been having lately, it truly felt like it. After getting changed and eating your typical student struggle meal, you pressed your back against the wall and inhaled deeply. You may not be ill anymore but the trauma of the train incident still lingered in your mind.

"I can do this. I can do this. He's not going to be there again. He won't." You spoke without confidence, but this was the best reassurance you had. After all, the festival wasn't on anymore. Even on the busiest days of the week, there was no way the train would be that crowded again.

Truthfully, you did not feel like going to class at all. You had much rather take Kitty's advice and stay off school for a week, but you didn't feel like catching up on a whole bunch of missed work and class notes. It's better to not let it build up. Plus, you didn't want to let your aunt down by skipping needlessly. She had worked so hard to get you there after all. You squeezed your arm, self-soothing as you approached the front door. This was it. Just get it over with. Soon you would be back home, all curled up in freshly-cleaned bedding.

You felt the sun's distant warmth as you attended your daily commute, allowing yourself to be enveloped in the city's usual symphony of sounds. Engines hummed, the underground subway hissed, birds squawked and fluttered incessantly.

Yet, between this familiar chaos, something was off.

And no, it wasn't icy - as Kitty had warned. There was something else awry, though you couldn't quite sense what exactly it was. People moved differently - hurried, heads low, voices hushed. An unspoken tension hung in the air, though no one dared acknowledged it. You passed a group of students clustered near a coffee cart, phones in hand, faces pale and eyes wide with shock and morbid curiosity. At first, you thought it was your own nerves distorting the world around you, but every corner you turned, the situation began to unveil itself more and more.

Your attention was abruptly taken by the loud, droning wail of police sirens. Red and blue lights blinding you are they zoomed through the nearby intersection. You watched, vaguely intrigued by the scene of multiple police cars, though not surprised. It was not uncommon to see emergency services speeding by every now and then.

However, judging by the reactions of those stood around you, something pretty serious was going on. The usual buzz of menial morning conversation was fractured with snippets of fear and concern:

"Do you think those police cares are for... you know?

"Yeah. Did you hear about what exactly they found?"

"It's horrible. They haven't identified a suspect yet."

"God, I really hope it's just a one time thing. Imagine if we have some serial maniac on the loose."

"I know right. Well, whoever that person was, I just hope they didn't suffer."

Such chilling words on such a warm and beautiful day. A pair of police officers stood stiffly around the station, heads turning to survey the area, expressions grim beneath the shades of their caps. Increased surveillance like this was rare. The only time you had ever seen the public on edge like this was back when some dumb teens made a false bomb threat. It felt surreal. You could only imagine what sort of violent crime had occurred to garner this sort of reaction. At least now you didn't have to worry about perverts trying anything funny to you on the train. With this many security officers hanging around, it would be foolish to even attempt.

The atmosphere at college was equally as tense. The "incident" was all anyone would talk about. You did your best to discreetly eavesdrop on the many conversations about it, though you knew couldn't hang around for too long without looking like a creep. Several words continued to pop up repeatedly: death, murderer, remains, torture... jaw bone? You shivered. Maybe it was for the best to avoid all the gruesome details while you're still recovering from your prior sickness.

Walking down the corridor, Liam looked up from his phone and noticed you. He raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect you to come in today. You watched him wave you down and approached him. He seemed happy to see you, yet a part of him was evidently peaky from hearing the recent news.

"[Y/n]! I missed you!" Liam spoke eagerly. You could tell from the glowing look in his eyes that he wanted to hug you but was holding back. Perhaps Sana warned him about being too forward with his acquaintances. Instead, he offered a slightly dejected smile. "Sorry, what I meant to say is that I was pretty worried about you, considering all that's been going on."

You couldn't stop yourself. You needed to hear more.

"I don't think I understand. What's going on?"

Liam looked surprised.

"Ah, you haven't heard? They found human remains not far from here. Dumped and set on fire. They didn't even realise it was a person's body because of how it was... A-actually I'll spare you the details on that. It's kinda graphic. But, yeah, I think they managed to find a fragment of the guy's jaw bone or something like that? Honestly, I don't know the full story. I'm not really a true crime girlie. My stomach can't handle gore like at all. My ex-girlfriend was super into it though. She'd probably be pretty stoked if she was here right now... which might actually be kinda weird now that I think about it. Oh well! Anyways, yeah. A lot going on right now! How are you, [Y/n]? Mimiko told me you weren't feeling too good? I hope you're better now!"

Oh wow. Kitty had some competition. This guy talks.

You blinked as your mind blue screened from the overload of information served to you:

1. Human remains.

2. Bone fragment.

3. Liam can't handle gore.

4. His ex likes true crime.

5. How are you?

6. I heard you were feeling sick?

Being socially anxious, you were never the type to carry on conversation on you own accord, but this time, the words seemed to jump involuntarily from your mouth.

"H-hold on... someone was murdered?"

"Yeah, isn't terrible? When my friends told me about it, I thought they were joking at first! They always tease me with made-up scary stuff like this because they know I'll believe anything they say, but to think that is is real... And so close to us too! Ah!- Wait, sorry. I don't want to stress you out or anything. The campus has good security so I'm sure we're all totally safe! Oh yeah, and apparently they got some blurry ass CCTV footage of the guy who did it. Or girl...? You can't really tell because of what they're wearing. They have this super creepy mask on. I can show it to you if you'd like? Or maybe you're like me and don't want to see it AT ALL, because I completely understand that."

"If you don't mind, I'd quite like to see - if that's okay."

"Sure, one sec."

Liam pulled out his phone and began scrolling through his messages. One of his friends had screenshot the infamous picture from a news article and shared it with the group chat.

"Here you go." Liam handed you his phone - which was kind of strange because you'd never willingly hand over your entire phone to someone you barely know. "I hate it because the mask looks so cute. It just freaks me out even more! Like clowns. Clowns are meant to be silly and fun but there's something sinister about them. I just don't trust it... Please don't tell my friends I'm scared of clowns. Last week they found out about my fear of peacocks and they haven't stopped tormenting me about it."

The image was, indeed, blurry and low quality. And it didn't help that the photo was taken in the dead of night. The figure's dark clothes seemed to blend into the dusky background. All that could be made out - as Liam described - was the cute, smug-looking mask on the person's face. Cat-shaped with an all-too-familiar expression: ('·ω·')

The figure appeared to be looking directly into the camera, possibly gesturing to it. It was as though the figure knew it would be there, like he knew people would see, like he knew you would see. You stared at the picture for a little longer than you cared to admit. That emoticon face always reminded you of Kitty - even when it was pasted onto the face of a supposed murderer. You couldn't wait to tell him about it.

"Oh sorry!" You said quickly as you handed the phone back to Liam. "I didn't mean to look at it for so long. I was just interested."

"Aw, it's okay. I don't mind! Besides, it is quite insane. We never get crazy stories like this around these parts. I always thought this place was pretty safe, you know?"

"I hope you're done scaring [Y/n], Liam."

Both of you snapped your heads around to face Sana who had, at one point, quietly listened in. Though her tone sounded reproachful, she carried a gentle smile across her face. You couldn't quite tell if she was serious or joking - and clearly nor could Liam. He apologised profusely.

"I'm sorry if I made you scared, [Y/n]!! Please forgive me. I don't think sometimes." He said, buckling to his knees and pressing his head against the floor in a pathetic, begging gesture "Forgive me, forgive me."

Sana playfully bonked his head with a firm hand.

"Liam, you don't need to be doing all that. Get up."

"Okay."

Sana turned her attention back to you, her large, blue eyes curiously scanning you. For someone so beautiful, she could be quite intimidating at times whether she intended to be or not. Many people admired her skills and work ethic, though no one felt comfortable making jokes around her. Everyone had this pristine image of her inside their heads. A hard-working girl with elegance, class and formality. This was a disappointment to Sana who, perhaps more so than Liam, enjoyed humour and silliness. It didn't help that most of her "jokes" were unknowingly delivered in her usual, serious tone.

"[Y/n], I'm so glad to see you hear. I heard you were sick." She said, grabbing your hands and giving them a reassuring squeeze. "Don't feel pressured to come to class if you're still feeling under the weather. Liam and I photocopied our notes so you didn't miss anything. Oh, and Mimi offered to help too!"

"Th-thank you. You're all very kind."

"You're welcome! Unrelated, I wanted to ask you something. Do you walk home by yourself, [Y/n]? Or are you picked up by someone?"

"I walk and take the train."

"I see. There's a lot of police patrolling the area right now so it should be safe for students, but perhaps we could should exchange numbers? Just in case something were to happen. And I'm not necessarily talking about the recent events. It's just good to have someone to call if need be. Would that be alright? You can say no if you don't want to."

She paused and glanced at Liam who was smiling her in his usual, pathetic, puppy-like way. She turned back to you, perhaps slightly irritated at him but you couldn't quite tell.

"Liam's too. He lives closer."

"Yayayay. I love making friends!" He said, eagerly opening his phone.

"Be quiet for forty-three seconds. Count it inside of your head."

Liam smiled and obeyed his friend's strange command. They both looked at you, waiting for your response. You sensed a tinge of restrained excitement. Liam was very obviously yearning for your contact info - his expression said this enough. Sana, on the other hand, was more quiet about her desire. She knew how pushy she and Liam could come across. It was hard for her to make friends without it sounding professional.

"Okay, sure. I would quite like that." You answered shyly, a rare but genuine smile appearing on your face as you got out your phone and gave them both your contact information.

[Author's Note: Sorry this chapter has been such a boring yapfest. I hope you guys don't mind it too much. I also apologise for the lack of reader choices so far. The story is still building up to the main yandere plot. Once shit hits the fan, that's when choices will REALLY matter but at the moment it's mostly just dialog options and small things. We're cranking it up sloooooowly...]