The group ran into Yuu on their way back to the room. Riddle locked the door and they all sat in silence, staring at each other until Yuu broke it.
"Can I ask why Deuce is holding a bloody knife?"
Deuce flinched as all eyes turned to him. "I didn't know where to put it!" He exclaimed, looking around before gently setting it down on the table, putting a tissue underneath so they wouldn't have to clean the blood off of the table.
Ace held up his butchered arm that was hidden under thick, red layers of gauze to Yuu. "Thought you'd wanna know," he said, and Yuu felt her expression shift. She'd never attempted to harm herself, but she could definitely empathize.
"You two." Riddle cleared his throat, eyes darting between Ace and Yuu. "Deuce told us everything. About Floyd. He thinks that Floyd's responsible for the disappearances around campus."
Yuu felt her blood run cold and she turned to Deuce. "D-Deuce..?" He didn't meet her eyes, but his demeanor was confirmation enough.
She squeezed her hands together, trying to comfort herself. Being faced with such a situation, she found herself wanting to protect Floyd more than anything. Even when she tried to open her mouth to incriminate him, the words wouldn't come out.
"Yuu, we know you're dating Floyd. Do you know if he's responsible for the killings that have been happening lately?"
Deuce didn't know much-she could try and defend Floyd. They had no proof against him. Maybe she could pin it on Jade, or even Ace or Deuce. Anyone.
Just not her Floyd.
"Yuu!" Riddle's voice snapped her back to reality. "Yuu, are you not going to answer?"
She squeezed her hands tighter. "He's-He's innocent, I promise. He has nothing to do with it!"
"Yuu... Think about it," Deuce said, furrowing his eyebrows. "Who else could it possibly be?"
Yuu wanted nothing else besides a peaceful life with Floyd. So what if he killed a few people? He was her amazing, loving, strong, funny, kind, gentle boyfriend that always made sure she was alright!
'So what if he killed Grim?'
"Yeah, Deuce, what are-what're you targeting Floyd for?" Her voice shook intensely.
"Yuu, you already know that Floyd... are you crying!?" Deuce gasped, causing Yuu to raise a hand to her cheek, feeling the wet tears that were streaming down her face. The panic, the thought of possibly losing Floyd, was getting to her.
She rubbed at her eyes with her sleeve. "R-Really, he didn't do anything! He didn't..! Why are you going after my boyfriend!? You just don't want me to be happy!"
"Yuu, calm down!" Deuce grabbed her shoulders. "Think about what you're saying! You know that it's him!"
Yuu curled into a ball, Deuce's hands still on her shoulders. "It's not, it's not, it's not!" she wailed desperately.
"Hold on," Riddle said, staring at the table in front of him, his hand resting on his chin. "I thought it was weird, but the day before Grim disappeared, Floyd was in your room, right, Ace?"
"Yeah, but we were playing cards the whole time," Ace said casually. He was the only one of the three that was actually a good liar. Yet Riddle's eyebrows still furrowed questioningly. "But it was only after that day that you really started spiraling and acting unlike yourself..."
Ace shrugged. "Maybe you just happened to notice then. Really though, Floyd was in my room the whole time."
"But it was right after that when I came into the room that you told me Grim was killed..." Deuce muttered, his eyes widening.
Ace tensed up. "Haha, what are you talking about, Deuce? I was just playing cards with the guy!"
"You told me that Grim was dead! Why are you trying so hard to defend Floyd!? You said that he told you he killed him!"
"I never said anything like that! You misheard me!" Ace shouted. Deuce took a confrontational step toward him. "You were laying in your bed all depressed when you told me! I asked you twice! I know what I heard!"
A look of horror crossed Riddle's face and his mouth opened slightly. He cleared his throat and the two quarreling boys turned to him.
"Ace, you didn't help him kill Grim, did you?"
Ace stood up and slammed his hand on his chest defensively. "What the heck!? Where did that even come from? Why would I help kill Grim!? I hate Floyd for killing him!"
"So you admit that he killed him!" Deuce yelled, grabbing his collar. "Why are you being so weird? Don't you want Floyd to get caught!?"
Riddle pressed a hand to his mouth in thought. "You and Floyd were together for hours, and he left when students began to return from their clubs. Floyd's attention usually doesn't last on things that long. It was just you two, so Floyd could've easily snuck out and had you cover for him while he was gone."
Ace froze, his expression faltering too noticeably to pass off as anything but guilt. "Right on target, then?" Riddle asked, a strained expression on his face. Ace shook his head violently. "No! I didn't-I wouldn't! Why are you attacking me!?"
"Off With Your Head!" Riddle cast his spell and Ace recoiled, falling onto the couch. "Yuu, do you still say he didn't do it?"
Yuu was interrupted by Ace standing up again. "We're not done yet! I didn't do anything wrong! It's not me!"
"You're only making yourself look idiotic the more you deny it," Yuu said coldly, making Ace flinch at her tone. He held his breath for a few moments before deeply exhaling.
"Fine. That one day I disappeared was the day Floyd was gonna kill me. But we made a deal, that he would keep me alive as long as I covered for him. I told him where Grim and Yuu would be so he could kill Grim. I let him use my room as a hideout. I'm his alibi."
Yuu felt a strange, unwarranted, almost hypocritical sense of anger along with a personality switch. She grabbed the front of Ace's shirt tightly before punching him in the face, knocking him to the ground. "How could you do that to Grim!? At least I wasn't involved!"
"So you just wanted me to die!? Thanks a lot! And you think you're any better than me, still cuddling up to him!? It's sickening seeing the two of you acting all lovey-dovey like you don't know he's a murderer!"
Trey pulled Yuu off of Ace and Deuce lifted Ace onto the couch, the two glaring daggers at each other. Riddle cleared his throat, once again reigning the attention to himself. "So, what should be our course of action?"
"We should inform the Headmage about Floyd, first things first," Trey said. He glanced over at Ace and Yuu. "And enlist the help of a therapist..."
"Agreed. Deuce, will you go with Trey to the Headmage's office? I'll keep an eye on Ace and Yuu. Thank you for all of your help."
Normally, Deuce would feel elated upon receiving a compliment from an upperclassman, but this felt more like a loss than a win with the way his friends were staring at him, the absolute hate in their eyes. He knew that he did the right thing, but he couldn't help but feel that it wasn't worth it, being shunned by his two closest friends.
'So this is what Floyd did to you two...'
Yuu watched as Deuce and Trey headed for the door. Of course, she wanted to be free. She didn't want to deal with the internal conflict that dating a killer came with anymore. She wanted to be a normal teenage girl with her normal teenage friends and have a normal teenage boyfriend.
She'd never been faced with the idea of not having Floyd with her, but the concept...
It seemed wrong.
Floyd was the most important person in her life. More important than all of the others who'd died. More important than Grim.
'More important than Deuce. And Trey. And Ace. And Riddle.'
She swiftly moved to the knife and lunged towards Deuce, plunging it into his back and dragging it down his body before jerking it back out again. She could barely keep her balance as he crumpled to the ground. It took more force than she expected.
Trey tried to grab her, but she slashed at him with the knife, stabbing his upper trapezius for good measure. Steadying her footing, she turned to Riddle and Ace, the glistening knife pointed towards them.
"Yuu, stop this! You're the victim! What reason do you have for this!?" Riddle shouted as he removed Ace's collar, both armed with their magic pens.
Clutching the knife as tightly as she could, she threw her head back and laughed uncontrollably. "I know, right!? I'm insane! Who in their right mind defends a murderer!?"
Shakily pointing the knife to her neck, she whispered, "I wish I'd never met him..." before swallowing all of her fear and plunging it into her throat.
A/N: cute chapter right 🥰 anyway, updates may begin to slow down from today onwards! I don't have a lot of material prepped anymore so I might need a few break days in order to complete this book. So that's why you might not see three chapters tomorrow!