On the way back from the campus, Matt was carrying his equipment, which wasn’t much. It was a simple set of several colored glass plates installed on the spotlight, a microphone with a foldable stand, and a laptop. He used the smoke machines they had there instead of bringing his own, as he didn’t actually have any. It’d be incredibly hard to sneak them in as well. Alex walked with him in the chilly darkness, as even at this time of year the nights are cold. They remained mostly silent for the whole endeavor, not one of them saying a single word. Once Matt opened up the door to his house, he let Alex in and went off to put down his stuff, the plates and microphone in the closet and his laptop on his bed. He went back to the living room, seeing Alex already sitting down on the couch. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of her. “Sorry if the place is a bit of a wreck. I haven’t been able to do much cleaning since after… Y’know.” Matt told her, looking at the somewhat messy house. “At the very least, it doesn’t smell bad, just looks like I had a house party. Anyway…” He looked left and right, blinking somewhat rapidly. “So this whole time, it was Kinzie who killed all three of them? I mean, that was a bit obvious, considering how unstable she’s been acting recently, but…” He trailed off, thinking. “How come you didn’t go to the police straight after? I mean, she couldn’t have gone far, right?” He asked Alex. “Well, she got away real quick, and I left my camera behind. I couldn’t pin the murder on her without any evidence.” Alex explained, trying to think of a plan. “Of course, we do have to figure out how we’re gonna take her down.” She continued. “Can’t we just tell the police or something? Isn’t that what we’d normally do in a situation like this?” Matt retorted, trying to think rationally. “Nope. By now, Kinzie’d have gotten rid of everything. Plus, with how roughly FV’s parents must have made them search the place, they’d be pretty burned out by now from having to deal with the murders. So, we’ll have to take care of this ourselves.” Alex told him. She looked around and thought of something on the spot. “Here’s an idea. How about we make her jealous? We do things that’d suggest us being together, and if it goes on for long enough and it’s believable, she’s bound to try and kill me. From there, we try to force it into a situation we can turn on her immediately. Say… if she says a specific spot, you’ll sneak in from somewhere else and grab her from behind or something. That sound like a good idea?” Alex told her plan to Matt, who was trying to make sense of the whole thing. “So we try to get her going after you… It works.” He told her, going off to grab something. When he came back, it was his trusty baseball bat, which hadn’t been used for a while. “Plus, I get to use this again. Might try to hit a home run…” Matt said, chuckling. Alex held it down, however. “Don’t kill her with it though. Just try to knock her out or something.” She warned him. They just nodded at each other, and their plan was set in motion.

The next day was a Saturday, so they took the time to meet up and plan things out. Matt wore a black jacket, a red shirt, some black jeans, a pair of neon-green high tops, and a pair of shades he hadn’t worn in a while. He called Alex to tell her that she should go to Black Scoop Café, somewhere in the city. He couldn’t bring himself back to Nitro 7, as that was where he and FV went to a lot. Returning there would bring back some bad memories. Once he was there, he went to the counter to order a cookies and cream frappucino, finding a seat for both him and Alex. He found a spot with two large comfortable chairs by the window, just under the sign for the store. He waited for Alex to show up, getting his drink in the meantime while waiting. He sipped away at it before hearing the door open and chimes sound, seeing Alex show up, wearing a blue coat, a teal-colored shirt, different looking glasses, some pants, and white sneakers. She went to the counter and ordered something before checking the place for Matt. Sure enough, she found him by the window and sat down in the chair opposite of him. “Heya.” She told him. “So, how do you think we should do this?” She asked him, crossing her legs and leaning forward. There wasn’t really anybody else in the café, so they could plan out their scheme right then and there. Matt thought to himself for a few moments, taking a swig from his drink to help him think. “Hm… Maybe we do what would look convincing enough for Kinzie to take notice of us, and just keep doing it until she decides to target you. Wait… didn’t we already work this out yesterday?” Matt asked her. It was somewhat confusing that they did this after they fixed things up, after all. “I wanted to fine tune the specifics. Can’t just go through this without a plan.” Alex told him before going off to get her drink after her name was called. When she came back, she was holding a chocolate frappucino. Placing the drink on the table and sitting back down, she ended up getting an idea. “How about we make it as obvious as possible to Kinzie? If I know anything about her type, it’s that she’d be trying to control herself at this point, as another murder and her sanity’s gonna be completely gone. The longer we can keep this up, the sooner we can take her down.” Alex suggested. Matt nodded with an approving look on his face. “Sounds like a good plan… And maybe we can set it up so it looks like one of us is making a confession under that tree behind the school, but we’re really just discussing the plan further.” He added. Alex smirked at his idea. “If she sees us like that, she’s DEFINITELY gonna try killing me. We’ll make sure to stop that and put an end to her, of course.” She told him, closing her eyes and chuckling, grabbing her drink and taking a sip. “So, how’s your morning been?”

Once they finished up talking in the café, they headed outside and simply took a walk. They chatted about how the recent stuff’s made them force their hands and be wary of Kinzie. Alex didn’t quite seem bothered by it, as she usually hides herself whenever Kinzie shows up. She’s also been keeping tabs on Kinzie since the first murder, as even back then she felt somewhat unstable already. She brings her camera around a lot, so whenever Kinzie was doing anything suspicious, she snapped a photo. Unfortunately, most of the photos she had weren’t of much use. Matt on the other hand, was slowly letting himself go with each kill. He stopped getting a haircut every now and then after Rin’s death, and his house became a mess after he became depressed from FV’s death. He ended up lying around without doing much after it, only ever doing the laundry so he had something to wear and make food to eat. Overall, their day went pretty well. Before they parted ways, Matt patted Alex on the head, making her punch him in the side. He just laughed it off before heading somewhere else, saying farewell to her. He looked inside a shop and saw a nice looking hat, a trilby of sorts. It was cream-colored and had a black belt around it. He went inside the store, took it, and paid for it, wearing it on the way home since it looked nice. Nobody really paid attention to him wearing it, but that might have been a good thing for him. Once he was back home, he decided to clean up the house, rearranging the furniture, fixing up his clothes, and getting rid of some stuff he didn’t need, like a pile of magazines in the corner that he got from a recently-cancelled subscription. He also fixed up his bed, replacing the sheets and pillowcases. By the time he was done, the house was in a much better shape than before he cleaned up. He smiled to himself before playing some music, using a playlist he prepared on his phone. The house had its first graze with sound for the first time in a while, removing the eerie silence that usually was inside of it. He danced along with it, taking off the clothes he was in and taking a shower, switching into a more comfortable shirt-and-shorts combination. He spent the rest of the Saturday lounging around in his house, going outside that night to get some food for himself.

By the time Monday rolled around, Matt and Alex put their plan into action. They spent lunch together on the usual bench that Matt sat on alone in the middle of the courtyard. Alex didn’t even hide when Kinzie inevitably showed up, looking at the lonely girl. She was writing in her notebook as usual, occasionally glancing in their direction. While Alex suspected her right there, Kinzie’s body language suggested that she was right, in that she was trying to control herself. Her hair was still a mess, and her overall appearance was somewhat disheveled. Alex just raised an eyebrow at her, going back to Matt and just talking about stuff they’ve been up to, including how Matt’s been thinking up an idea for a story. He told Alex about it, saying that the story was a somewhat sci-fi one, involving someone from this world getting sent to another one to stop a hypnotic DJ. It was an interesting concept, and he was planning on getting to work on it later tonight. Kinzie watched the both of them talk, silently wishing to herself that she’d be the one Matt was talking to on that bench. A small voice in her head was telling her to take Alex out, but she knew she couldn’t do that. One more kill and she’d be pushed off the deep end, her sanity completely gone. Plus, it’d probably make Matt completely emotionless, as he would end up with no one left. And even she knew that swooping in and helping him out was a stupid idea, like something out of a fantasy. For the meantime, she simply let them do their thing, supressing her murderous feelings inside of her head.  Every now and then she envisioned herself with a bloodstained knife in her hand, her hands covered in even more blood as her eyes looked dead. She was quickly brought back to reality each time, however, thanks to her subconscious forcing her to keep it together. Once she was done, she left the area hastily, packing up her lunchbox, and bringing her almost-full notebook with her. Alex watched her leave the area, smirking. Matt just called her attention back. “Hey, what have you been staring at for the past few minutes?” He asked her, raising an eyebrow. “Kinzie was just here. Think she knows what we’re up to.” Alex replied in a somewhat low voice. “Is it working then?” He said back. “Yeah. Her movements made it look like she was trying to stop herself.” Alex told him. Playing her cards right, all should go well. Alex just kept talking with Matt, as the longer they kept this up, the higher the chance of Kinzie taking the bait. She discussed something that was planned, and told him she’d see him some other time.

A few days later, things were falling into place. Matt and Alex were getting together a bit more often, even after classes. At school they’d be seen chatting with each other quite frequently, while Matt would also be trying to keep Alex’s voice down to avoid drawing attention to themselves. During lunch period they would eat together, albeit Matt wasn’t exactly seen eating much. Kinzie still maintained a distance from them, still watching and obsessing over Matt, but trying to keep her murderous ideas from taking over her. Alex and Matt didn’t exactly pay attention to her, since it was part of their plan for her to test her limits. Even with their ulterior motives in play, it seemed they were actually enjoying their time together. Off campus, at one point they headed to an arcade, one that seemed somewhat fresh. It was a recent open, and they had some of the newer releases as well. They ended up playing a few games together, particularly, one where they had to use crossbows in co-op against hordes of zombies, a fighting game where Matt got stuck with the machine whose monitor kept blacking out, resulting in him only getting two wins, and a rhythm game with 16 buttons in a cube shape. Kinzie could see them just barely from outside the arcade, watching them have fun and wishing she was in Alex’s place instead, her self-control slipping. She hastily walked off, her chest starting to hurt from the inside. Dashing home, she jumped onto her bed and buried herself in her bed, trying to conserve her sanity. Back with Matt and Alex, by the time they finished up at the arcade, they were about to part ways with each other before Alex told Matt to meet her by the tree behind the school tomorrow. “It’s part of the plan, trust me.” She told him, trying to avoid any confusion or unfortunate implications. The next day, Matt met her there just like she asked. The tree was lively, flowing with the gently blowing wind. The surrounding area was somewhat peaceful too, as due to today being a Friday, classes started a little later than usual, meaning Matt and Alex were the first ones there. Matt stood under the tree for a few minutes, looking around and waiting for Alex’s arrival to see just what she wanted. She showed up eventually, something small clutched in her hand. Behind them, Kinzie was watching from the rooftop, having arrived just slightly after Alex did. “Heya.” Alex told Matt, looking around. “Well, I think we’ve made good progress on our plan. So, I told you to come here to make that a little faster…” She told Matt, scratching the back of her head nervously. Matt just stared at her with a somewhat blank stare, albeit he was still listening since his mouth was tilted to the right a little. “In my hands is an envelope that looks like the ones used in confessions. If Kinzie’s watching us right now, and I just know she is, then it’s a guarantee that she’ll go after me once I give you this. So…” Alex handed him the small envelope, which he quickly opened. It read: “Since you’ve opened this, I need you to smirk and nod your head, making it look like I just confessed to you. Do it once you’ve finished reading this.” Matt did as the letter instructed, and smirked. In the background, he could see Kinzie leave quickly, and looked up to signal it to Alex. “She’s left. I think the time’s getting nearer.” Matt told Alex out of the blue, since even she was only taking a gamble at Kinzie watching their encounter. “Good. I’ll be expecting some sort of calling card later or something.” Replied Alex, who looked at where Matt was. Sure enough, later that day, Alex found a note inside her locker from Kinzie telling her to meet in the lockers later tonight. She contacted Matt about it, who replied that his baseball bat was already hidden in his locker. With everything in place, it’s all about to end...

Later that evening, Alex showed up at the time Kinzie requested her, that being eight in the evening. Since the outside was already locked, they don’t really bother locking the locker room doors or the ones that lead into the school. They’ve had a surprisingly low break-in rate even with that. Alex just looked up at the window inside the girls’ locker room, the moonlight shining from outside. She heard footsteps from behind her, but didn’t exactly turn around. “Hello, Alex.” Kinzie’s sinister-sounding voice was heard, but Alex didn’t seem fazed. She turned to reply to her. “Heya, Kinzie.” Her voice was the usual child-like tone she had whenever talking with people. “It’s good that you actually went here tonight.” She told her, approaching her slowly. Alex just turned back around to the window, tilting her head a little to the left. Kinzie just carried on, however. “I just wanted to tell you… Stay away from my Senpai.” Kinzie pulled out a knife and was about to stab Alex, but she was stopped when she spoke. “Did you really think I was that stupid?” Alex said in an ominous and menacing voice, turning to face Kinzie with a serious look. “I planned out this whole thing from the start. I’d have thought you wouldn’t take the bait, but I guess your insanity forced you to go for it.” Alex told her, hands behind her back. “This could have gone entirely differently. You could have run for us earlier and tried stabbing us both, or you could have not done anything and just ended it all. I could have avoided getting involved in this altogether. You could have had the chance to make everything go your way, but you threw it all out.” Kinzie was slowly lowering her knife and getting nervous, Alex’s words sharper than any of the knives Kinzie owned. “You just wanted your love all to yourself. You didn’t even think of the consequences, did you? And I’m pretty sure you weren’t anticipating me going against you. I just felt like another innocent face, huh? Unfortunately, I ended up being the one to ruin your plans. And I wanted to make you know it. You monster.” Before Alex could continue, Kinzie tried to retort with her own words. “I know that you don’t have evidence of the things I’ve done. So it’s my word against yours.” She told Alex, getting more and more desperate. A voice sounded out from behind her, however. “She’s not the only one.” Before Kinzie could react, a baseball bat hit her in the head, knocking her to the ground and out cold. Matt moved over to Alex, who was looking down on Kinzie. “I hope you realize what you’ve gotten yourself into.” She told the unconscious Kinzie. Matt just raised an eyebrow. “Think I might have overdid the hit?” He asked her, looking at the bat in his hand. “No, she’s still breathing.” Alex replied. Meanwhile, while knocked out, a voice inside of Kinzie started speaking to her. It kept telling her… “Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up.” Over and over and over, the voice told Kinzie to get up, before splitting into two, then four, then eight, and not long after she was being swarmed by demonic voices making her continue. In an adrenaline rush, she woke up suddenly, snatched Matt’s bat out of his hands, knocked him out, and swung at Alex repeatedly, who just dodged all of them before making a dash out of the locker room, not expecting her to wake up so suddenly. When Kinzie came down from her adrenaline high, she looked at the unconscious Matt, and the voices took over. She realized that she’d gotten what she’d wanted. Matt. Her senpai. Her target this entire time. He was out cold, and free for the taking. An evil sounding giggle came from Kinzie, before ascending into a chuckle, and then a full blown evil laugh. She moved to her locker and opened it up, pulling out her notebook. She kept writing in it until she had no more space, then tossed it back inside without bothering to close the locker. She moved back to Matt before starting to drag his body off. She had him in her grasp. Was it all a failure? Yes. Their plan didn’t just fail to get Kinzie punished for her crimes, but also had gotten Matt trapped in her clutches. One can only imagine what happens now…