I'd recommend revisiting chapter 1 before reading.

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The next morning Keiba let Ruth and Ben know that she would be meeting with Aina later on in the day. At lunch, Ruth decided that they should all get together in her office to go over what they wanted to do.

“So what do you guys think?” Keiba asked. She was sitting in the seat near the corner of Ruth’s office with Min leaning against the wall beside her. Ruth and Ben were sitting side by side on her desk; his hand rested on top of her knee.

“Am I just asking about Ardyn Grove and Yun?”

“Pretty much.” Ben nodded.

 “But, Keiba, I don’t think you should do this alone.” Ruth said. “Maybe we should get the police involved.”

“I agree.” Min said. “They might be able to do some surveillance or something.”

 “But we’re not even sure Aina’s the one who set Yun up.” Keiba argued. “I doubt they’d take us seriously if all we’ve got is a hunch.”

Ben nodded. “Keiba should meet with her first. And then, if she gives us anything useful, we can tell the police.”

“We should have something to give to the police.” Ruth said. “So, Keiba, you should record the conversation.”

“How?”

“You can take my phone.” Ben said. “I have a voice recording app on it.”

“Of course you do.” Ruth smiled. “There’s an app for everything nowadays.”

“Just about.” He agreed with a wink.

Keiba asked, “Do you want me to take it now, or should I wait until later?”

“I’ll give it to Min at the end of our next class. He can take it to you.”

“Okay, cool.” She started to get up, but then she remembered that Ruth had some good news. “Oh, Ruth, you said you had something to tell me?”

“I did?”

“Yeah, yesterday. You said it would cheer me up or something like that.”

“Oh, right…” She looked down and blushed.

Ben grinned and rubbed her knee encouragingly.

“Well, I… Ben and I… we’re going to have a baby!”

“Oh my God!” Keiba exclaimed. “I thought I noticed you glowing! Ruth, that’s great!” She got up and hugged her tightly.

“Congratulations, Ben.” Min said. He walked over to smack hands with him.

Ben met him halfway, and allowed him to pull him in for a bro-hug. “Thanks.” He said, grinning proudly.

Keiba went to Ben to give him a hug and tell him congratulations, and Min did the same for Ruth.

“You two are the first people we’ve told.” Ruth said, leaning against Ben.

“We’ll have to celebrate.” Min said.

Ben nodded. “No doubt, no doubt. We can do it after all this blows over.”

“Bet on it.”

“Keiba, before you go, I wanted to tell you to come by the class for some practice. I want to hear your song again.”

“Sure. Congratulations again, Ruth.”

Her smile was warm. “Thanks.”

Min took Keiba’s hand and walked with her out of Ruth’s office.

“That is so cool.” Keiba grinned. “I bet it’ll be a girl.”

He looked at her. “Yeah? What makes you so sure?”

“I dunno. It’s just a feeling.”

“Well, what do you think your firstborn’s going to be?”

“A boy.”

He chuckled. “Wow. There was no hesitation at all.”

“Like I said: it’s just a feeling.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind having a girl.”

“Really? That’s surprising because most guys want a boy.”

“I do. I just don’t mind if my firstborn turns out not to be one.”

“Right.” Keiba giggled.

“What’re you laughing about?”

“Well,” she said sheepishly. “I don’t want to scare you off or anything, but I was thinking… about our future.” She blushed.

He stopped walking and pulled her in for a hug and a quick kiss. “Kyeopta.” He sighed. “You can’t say cliché things like that and expect to get away without a kiss.”

She smiled. “What does ‘kyeopta’ mean?”

“Cute.”

She laughed. “Of course it does.”

“I wouldn’t mind having a future with you, though.”

She blushed. “No?”

He shook his head. “After college maybe we can even get ma—”

She looked up shaking her head. “No, shh! Don’t say it!”

“Why not?”

“It’s too early. You might jinx it.”

He chuckled. “Alright, alright. I’ll leave it all up to fate.”

“Good.” She pulled away and took his hand. “Now let’s get some lunch.”

A few hours later, Keiba was going over her notes from French for the quiz she knew they’d have tomorrow. She’d returned from playing her song for Ruth again not too long ago, and was pleased to know that Ruth saw that she’d improved from the last time. It was nearly perfect for Saturday.

She looked up when she heard a knock on her door. She knew it was Min-Kyung with Ben’s phone.

“Hey, Min—”

“Are you sure you don’t want anyone to come?” He interrupted. “You’re positive?”

She sighed and opened the door wider so that he could enter. “Yes, Min-Kyung, I’m sure. Besides, don’t you think that would look suspicious?”

“Your requesting to meet with her at all is suspicious.” He pointed out. He’d started pacing in front of her bed. “You not going with anyone would be even more suspicious.”

Keiba leaned against the wall by her desk. She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, it wouldn’t. She doesn’t know that I know that she had something to do with the fire or that I think she put Yun up to what she did.”

“We don’t know if she’s talked to Darcie recently either, so why would she know anything about Ben or Ruth?”

 “Min, you were fine about me meeting with her yesterday and you didn’t say anything about it earlier.”

“That was before I thought about it.” He said. “And I’ve done nothing but think about it since.”

“Okay, then where would they hide? Campus Center isn’t exactly secluded.”

He stopped pacing for a moment. Then he said, “They could walk around and pretend not to be paying attention.”

“Mini, if she has talked to Darcie having Ben or Ruth walking around would be a dead giveaway.”

“I could go with you.”

“Do you want to? I mean seriously?”

“I don’t know.” He admitted. “Part of me does, part of me doesn’t.”

“What would you do when you saw her?”

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Aigo… I don’t know, Keiba. I really just don’t like the idea of you going by yourself.”

“To be honest, I don’t want her anywhere around you—for her sake and for yours. And for mine, too, because if she said anything stupid, I don’t know that I’d be able to stop myself from smacking the out of her.”

That got her a small smile.

 “I know you’re worried, Mini, but we talked about this yesterday. She wouldn’t be stupid enough to try anything in public, so I’ll be okay.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah.” She glanced at the time on her phone and saw that it was a quarter to five. “Looks like it’s time to go. Unfortunately.”

He went to her and kissed her. “Be careful.”

 “Always.” She kissed him again before she grabbed her phone, Ben’s phone, and walked out.

Keiba arrived at a minute passed five, and Campus Central was just as lively as ever. There were students gathered in various areas hanging out. Someone was doing a cover of Bruno Mars’ “Count on Me” on the guitar, and they didn’t sound half bad. Keiba found an unoccupied bench (a rare and fortunate finding on her part) that she could sit on as she waited for Aina to show up.

She pulled out Ben’s phone. He’d disabled the screen lock so that she could open the voice recording app without pause. She sat there with her finger hovering over the red “Rec” button, but several minutes passed without the need for her to tap it. She started to wonder if the girl was even going to show up.

That was when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She flinched and looked behind her. A pretty girl with brown hair and dark eyes greeted her with a smile.

 “You must be Keiba.” She said.

“Y–yeah.” Keiba tapped the “Rec” button discretely and put the phone in her pocket. “Then you must be Aina.”

“No.” Her smile disappeared and her upper lip curled in disgust. “That is not my name.”

“Uh, okay.” Keiba realized then how Aina and Darcie could be friends: they shared the same crazy. “What do you want me to call you then?”

“Meaghan.”

“Oh.” Keiba blinked. “I’ve heard that name. You work in the main office; I saw you the first day of school.”

“Yep.” She replied, sitting next to Keiba. “I’m the one that took Min-Kyung to you.”

“Yeah…” Keiba tapped her fingers against her thighs. Don’t say his name. She thought, her relatively impassive mood starting to turn sour. Ever.

“So what do you want, Keiba?”

“Did you go to Ardyn Grove Middle School?”

“Yep.”

“Ah—okay.” Keiba hadn’t been expecting such a quick response. She’d thought there’d be at least a slight hesitation, but Meaghan’s expression didn’t change at all. A chill started to tickle down her spine.

“So, then, were you involved in the fire?”

Meaghan tilted her head. “How do you know there was a fire?”

“Min went there too.”

“Did he?” She paused, looking reflective. “Huh. I don’t remember him. I guess he wasn’t as attractive then as he is now.” She shrugged.

“So?” Keiba asked.

“So what?”

“Did you start it? With Darcie?”

“Ohh! You’re that Keiba!” Meaghan put her hand to her cheek. “You know, I thought the name sounded familiar, but I didn’t make the connection. You’re Darcie’s stepsister, right? She’s told me a lot about you. She—”

“Did you start the fire or not?” Keiba interjected.

“Maybe we did, maybe we didn’t.” Meaghan shrugged. “Why would you think it would be us?”

“We have Darcie’s diary.”

“Oh. Well, then, there’s no use denying the facts.”

“You—!” Keiba paused; her voice had been loud enough to draw some attention.

“Don’t cause a scene.” Meaghan reminded her.

“Shut up! How can you sit there and act so calm about it?” She demanded, though her voice had lowered a bit. “You two killed over five hundred people.”

“We didn’t kill anyone.” Meaghan said defensively. “They died. And I’m not stupid, of course I know how many of them are gone. I read the papers and saw it on the news. And actually, over six hundred people died. 643 to be exact. What’s your point?”

“You’re murderers!” She accused in a sharp voice. “Do you just not even care?”

 “Do you know how long ago that was? Almost a decade, that’s how long. It’s all water under the bridge, Keiba. By now everyone’s forgotten about it.”

“Min-Kyung hasn’t.” She spat. “Those people who survived, I’m sure, haven’t. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What? Am I supposed to feel guilty that I’m alive and they’re not? Darcie and I could’ve died too because our rooms were in the wing that exploded, but we weren’t there when it happened. Actually, we don’t even know how it happened. Maybe we never will.” She crossed her slender legs and pouted prettily. “What exactly do you want from me?”

“How about some ing remorse?”

“Remorse?” Meaghan twisted as though the word left an awful taste on her tongue. “Look, Keiba, guilt is not my thing. You can leave that to Darcie; I think it’s probably why her life is falling apart now.”

“What do you mean?” Keiba asked, in spite of herself. “What did Darcie do?”

“You don’t know? She dropped out of college.”

“She… She did what? Wait, when was this?”

Meaghan shrugged. “A couple months ago.”

“Where has she been all this time, then?”

Meaghan smiled. “Who knows?”

Keiba’s hands clenched, trembling with the urge to rip the smirk off her face. “Tell me.”

“I think I’ve let you know too much already. I won’t answer any more questions about her.”

She had to work with what she had. “Fine. How did you do it, then?”

“Do what? You mean the fire?” She smiled again. “You know, I don’t really remember. It was nine years ago after all.” She checked her watch, ignoring the obviously furious look on Keiba’s face. “Well, I’ve got homework to finish.”

“Wait. What about Yun?”

“What about her?” Meaghan shrugged. “She was some girl that ran out into the middle of the street and got herself killed. What of it?”

“Did you put her up to what she did that night?”

“Keiba, come on. Why would I set someone up to kill you when I don’t even know you?”

“How do you know she tried to kill me?” The only people who knew what Yun had done were Min, Ben, Ruth, the officers, and Keiba herself.

And whoever set Yun up to do it.

Meaghan paused. Then she frowned. “Like I said, I’ve got homework to finish.”

“Course you do.”

“But before I go, I have a question for you.”

“I’d like it if you kept it to yourself.”

She smiled. “It’s only fair.”

“Fine, what?”

“How is he in bed?”

“What?”

“Min-Kyung. How is he in bed?”

Keiba’s cheeks went warm, but it wasn’t because she was embarrassed. “I don’t see how that’s any of your ing business.”

“You’re right, it’s not. But it’s okay—I know a when I see one.” She stood up. “I hope you know that he’s not going to be satisfied with that for very long. No guy wants to be with a girl who doesn’t put out. You are just an extra credit assignment to him, after all.”

“Now just what in the hell do you mean by that?”

“You’ll have to ask him.”

“I want to hear it from you, Aina.”

She ignored that and looked around, taking in the open air. “You know, this is a pretty public place you picked for our meeting.” She commented. “You weren’t worried I’d do something to you, were you?”

“Why would I have been? Like you said, why would you try to hurt someone you don’t even know?”

She winked at her. “Exactly. I’ll see you around, Keibs.” She walked away, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she went.

Keiba took out the phone and pressed the blue button for it to stop recording. She listened to the playback just to be sure that everything had been recorded. Thankfully, it had.

She put the phone back in her pocket and relaxed into the bench. It wasn’t yet six o’clock, but Meaghan had used up the rest of her strength. This girl was twisted. She was really, really twisted. Keiba was wrong; the two women didn’t share the same crazy: Meaghan’s seemed worse. At least Darcie felt some kind of emotion at the time she wrote that diary entry. Meaghan on the other hand seemed totally impassive.

But Keiba was glad she’d gotten her to admit to it on tape; there was no way the police would have any doubts with the kind of evidence she’d collected.

Hopefully it’d be enough to take at least one of them out of the picture.

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Yay, an update!  

Sorry, guys. Writing this chapter was brutal: there were at least three other versions of this that I had to scrap, and last week I had finals so I wasn't able to write very much with all the cramming I was doing. I feel bad about disappearing off the face of the earth. Next time something like this happens, I'll give you guys an update, I promise.

Much love to subbies new and old! Especially the old for sticking with me \^-^/