"Why are you interested in Shakespeare?" Ms. Cho asked.

"The school library is lacking," Haru said. It had been two days since Haru's revelation about her sister. She had spent two whole evenings reading Shakespeare plays instead of studying, since she figured a couple of points could get dropped from her grade if it meant she could find answers. Knowing herself, she probably didn't drop many anyway.

Ms. Cho pushed up her glasses. Ms. Cho was new to the school this year. She was the foreign language teacher, focusing on Spanish, but was fluent in English as well and had been subbing in for the English teacher when he was absent. That's how Haru knew she would be a good resource - frankly, she learned most when Ms. Cho was in the room. "Well," Ms. Cho began, "my favorite play of his is Hamlet...no, that's not right..." She frowned. "Why can't I think of the name?"

"That's all right, seonsaengnim. I've been doing my own research. I'm asking because the school used to do plays as well as musicals a few years back. I'd love to start back up again."

Haru had initially been very fixated on the play, but over the course of the conversation, realized there might be clues in the theater department. If there were old plays or cast lists, maybe she'd be able to find potential suspects from there. Haru knew enough from overhearing the gossipy true-crime girls at lunch that the kidnapper was most likely someone Seojin knew, so this was as good a lead as any.

"I think that's a wonderful idea!" Ms. Cho said brightly. "Let's start small. I'll speak to the head of the theater department about starting with one-acts, and we'll go from there."

"One-acts...one-act plays?"

"Yes. I believe that will be an easier sell. However, I will ask a favor of you, my dear. Will you discuss this with the student council first? I think if there is pressure from the other students, we will be more effective in achieving this."

Haru blinked. She didn't expect this conversation to go this well, but now she was on the hook for talking to the student council. She really, really didn't want to speak with the student council. But...there had to be something in the theater. "Are you sure that's going to work?"

"Why not?"

"Because...I kind of mouthed off at the student council president last time we spoke." Haru looked down, mildly embarrassed.

Ms. Cho started laughing. "Honey, you have nothing to be worried about. If they were upset with you, they probably would have told you. The Student Council President especially makes her opinion known."

Haru found herself unable to argue with that logic. "Fine, I'll speak to them. Thank you, seonsaengnim," she said, bowing her head slightly.

Ms. Cho smiled warmly at her, but Haru could see an anxiety behind her eyes that was not there when she came into the classroom earlier. Haru wasn't sure if it was because of her or something else entirely.

After school, Haru found the student council meeting room. No one was in there, and she didn't want to disturb any of their things, so she elected to wait outside on the floor. She leaned against the wall and thought to herself.

Haru figured she could just...go to the theater and search around. But, she self-justified, she had a very good reason not to do that. The girls who typically got into the musical were a very insular group, gossiping about their supposedly intricate lives. Not only that, they were the kind of girls who would watch Haru get hit repeatedly with dodgeballs and look away. And they wouldn't take kindly to their precious stage being desecrated with her scars.

She didn't realize someone was approaching her until she smelled pungent sweat, barely masked by body spray.

"Oh look, it's Haru!" a male voice jeered.

Haru looked up from her position on the floor and saw Donghyeon grinning at her, with three lackeys behind him. She knew that other girls found him attractive, but she couldn't see why. He looked like he was destined to be a bully.

"Looking for the student council? They're meeting with faculty right now."

Haru blinked at him, saying nothing.

Her expressionless face seemed to set Donghyeon off, especially as she made eye contact with his eyes, which were the color of fresh manure. "You know, they can't do anything about us," he leered at her. "Even if you weren't abandoned by everyone who ever cared about you, you wouldn't be able to come close to me. Hell, the only reason I bother to get close to you is that you're someone else's garbage."

Haru didn't know what deep, dark force possessed her to irritate Donghyeon further, but she found herself sighing at the track star.

"What?" he asked, incredulously.

Haru met his fecal gaze with tired eyes. "Doesn't this whole charade exhaust you?" she asked. "You waste so much time on me, people might start to think you're into me."

The thought finally crossed her mind - what was she doing?!

Donghyeon seemed to have the same question, because he bared his too-straight teeth at her. "You little bitch," he sneered.

"Thank you for the compliment, seonbaenim." Haru blinked and then smiled like she was about to devour his eyes out of his skull. "I do think, though, that I am older than you. I think that makes me your seonbae."

What the fuck was she doing?!

"Don't talk to him that way!" one of the lackeys screamed at her.

"Yeah, you should know how to talk to your betters!" another shouted.

Haru groaned and rolled her eyes. "Stop talking like you're in a bad drama. You're not fooling anyone into thinking you're worth anything."

WHAT THE FUCK WAS SHE DOING?!

"That is IT!" Donghyeon shouted, reaching down and grabbing Haru by the collar. She barely felt as he hoisted her up and pushed her into the wall. "I'm sick and tired of your disgusting presence in this school! You are the most annoying piece of shit to walk these halls! How dare you act like a contributing member of this academy, you fucking freeloader?!"

"That's enough."

Silence fell over the hallway as the lackeys parted, revealing Student Council President Yeonghui in all her glory. Standing behind her were the glasses-wearing Vice President, the dyed blonde Treasurer, and the pigtail-clad Secretary. All four of them stared at Donghyeon and his lackeys with tacit displeasure.

"President, did you hear what she said about me?!" Donghyeon demanded.

"Yes," Yeonghui said flatly. "None of that justifies what you have done, or what you are about to do. Unhand her."

"But she had it COMING!"

"And she will be spoken to, for the way she provoked you. However, I have witnessed firsthand the way that you have mistreated her, and I will not stand for that in my school."

Donghyeon rolled his eyes and groaned, but let go of Haru. Haru was able to catch herself against the wall and slide down somewhat gracefully, getting out of the way and sitting on the opposite end of the doorway. She still had her mission to talk about.

The executive's son turned his rage towards the demure, put-together President. "I know you got elected President or whatever, but I don't think you realize how this works. With the money my parents donate to this godforsaken place, you should be groveling at my feet." Donghyeon walked up to the President and glared down at her. "Know your place."

The solidly-built Vice President put a hand on Donghyeon's shoulder, and Donghyeon froze. "That's enough," the boy said. Haru absently realized that she'd never once heard his voice, but it was harmonious, almost musical.

Donghyeon shrugged off the hand, then glared at Yeonghui. "Brat."

The Student Council watched as the boys walked off before the Secretary and Treasurer dropped to Haru's side and started checking on her.

"Are you okay, Haru-ssi?!" the Treasurer asked, concern filling her voice.

"I'm fine," Haru said softly. She watched the Treasurer's face closely, but sure enough, both she and the Secretary seemed truly worried for her. It wasn't fake like Yeonghui's concern had been the previous week.

"You should know better than to mouth off like that," Yeonghui told Haru sternly, not moving from where she was standing.

Haru raised an eyebrow at Yeonghui. "With all due respect, seonbaenim, I can only take so much of his treatment before I crack. Be glad I didn't bash his head in with a bottle." Lord knows I know how to.

Yeonghui closed her eyes and sighed. "I understand, but you are causing more trouble for yourself than he's worth." She turned away from Haru to confer with the Vice President quietly.

The Secretary examined Haru closely, as a medic would. "I'm glad he didn't hurt you," she said sincerely.

"Thank you," Haru said, matching the sincerity.

Out of the corner of Haru's eyes, she watched as Yeonghui dismissed the Vice President to do who-knows-what before approaching them. "Was there something you needed, Haru-ssi?" she asked, her previous flat tone now replaced with something fake-sweet.

"Yeah..." Haru stood up, dusting herself off. "I want to put on one-acts."

Yeonghui tilted her head. "One-act...one-act plays?"

"Yeah," Haru said, leveraging the residual confidence from her now-disappearing Donghyeon-related spite. "Yeah, I want to put on a one-act. Well, a series of one-acts."

The Secretary whipped her head around to Yeonghui and gave her an excited smile, a begging smile.

"Would you be in them or directing them?" Yeonghui asked.

"I haven't decided," Haru said. "I'm open to your ideas."

And with that, it seemed, Yeonghui was sated. She smiled, and for the first time, Haru glimpsed a real feeling of joy in her face. "I suppose we should take this conversation into the student council room, shouldn't we?"

The next day, Haru was in good spirits. Rosie had helped her find some one-act plays to send to the Student Council. Turns out, the Secretary and Treasurer's names were Chaewon and Euna, respectively. It became clear that Haru wanted to direct more than she wanted to be onstage, but at the unprompted suggestion that Haru could direct a scene from a Shakespeare play, Haru felt a new emotion bubble up.

Excitement.

Haru looked over the play scenes she had on her desk while her classmates. Sure, she had ulterior motives in all this, trying to find her sister's kidnapper, but there was only so much she was able to do without drawing suspicion. And Seojin - Haneul - had told her to have fun with whatever she did.

"Never forget, Columbo has a dog and a wife," Haneul had said. "All great detectives have a life outside their craft, except Batman."

Haru smiled, playing with her obsidian bracelet at the memory.

I think I understand, eonni.

Just then, Haru heard a scream. A bunch of students ran to the doorway, whispering amongst themselves in earnest. Everyone seemed aghast, horrified at what they were looking at. Haru looked up but didn't stand.

That is, until she heard a name.

Donghyeon.

She stood up immediately and finally tuned her ears to hear what was going on down the hall. A voice sounded like it was mumbling, and a male teacher was talking over it.

"Choi Donghyeon, I'm asking you one more time, put the knife down."

Okay, that was interesting. Haru managed to push herself to the front of the crowd to get a better look and immediately confirmed her suspicions. Donghyeon was holding a kitchen knife at several teachers who were trying to corner and apprehend him. He looked disheveled - not in his uniform or his sports gear, hair a mess, eyes bloodshot and with dark circles. He hadn't slept all night, it seemed. He looked...feral.

Haru dove back into the crowd, not wanting to be noticed by her bully holding a knife. She tried to listen to what Donghyeon was saying, but could only make out some of it. Hear. Won't stop. Bell. Ring. Siren. Well, that was good enough. Haru promptly went back to her desk and continued reading her plays.

She barely noticed that the crowd was being parted until some students shouted...

...and there was a bully with a knife in front of her.

Haru shifted her gaze and scooted her chair back, alarmed. Donghyeon was staring at her, his brown eyes wild. The knife wasn't pointed at her or anything; it was actually being held close to his chest in a move Haru recognized as defensive. He was clearly feral and very afraid.

Donghyeon looked at Haru, tears overflowing his eyes, and said something that Haru expected less than an apology. He spoke in English, his voice shaking.

"I go and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, seonbae, for it is a knell. That summons me to heaven or to hell."

He held the knife to his mouth.

And thus marked the second time Haru would be covered in blood.