With that thought in mind, he reached the edge of their table, the wood slightly sticky with spilled beer and immediately (while he sat between Vincent and Trinity) four pairs of eyes turned to him.

"So the celebrity decides to grace us with his presence," Vincent slurred slightly, raising his glass. "To the man of the hour. Come to drown the memory of getting your ass kicked by Arino?"

Sophie elbowed him. "Vincent! Don't be rude. Are you okay, Valen? Getting yourself thrown off the ring like that. It was awful."

'I wish,' Alice scoffed, before noticing the estranged gazes of Sophie and Vincent. 'What?' she then asked, her brows furrowed in confusion."

There was a prolonged silence at those words, but it was broken by the chatter of other students.

"No, no, you're usually all "meh, death and witchbane" when it comes to Valen. What happened to that, Alice?" Vincent spoke.

"My sister is not some kind of emo chick," Sophie defended, frowning slightly. "She has class."

"Light emo, then,' Vincent shrugged as he leaned toward Alice with a smile. "Hey Alice, can you say, 'Cause tonight will be the night when I will fall for you-' ouch," he was interrupted by a sudden shove to his side.

Meanwhile, Alice just stared at the group, her eye twitching slightly, before she brought her attention back to Mr. Valen and asked, 'So, why are you here, Mr. Chair

"Why do you ask? I thought I wasn't interesting enough,' Mr. Valen said, offering a small, tired smile to the woman before him. He then turned back to Sophie and spoke. "Just needed a drink after all that, and I didn't get my ass kicked, it was more of a tie," he defended, not wanting to go into detail about how Vincent had pestered him all day.

As he sat, his eyes met Alice's for a fraction of a second, those narrowed, suspicious eyes, and he was curious: 'How do normal people handle suspicion in a social setting?' he thought.

He had been suspected before of many things, but never in this exact way, under these exact circumstances.

'Disarming her suspicion will attest to my mastery of normality, but it will be difficult with the personality I have chosen,' Mr. Valen pondered some more.

Suddenly.

"Can you hear me, Valen?" Sophie's voice rang out, shocking Mr. Valen out of his thoughts.

"Huh, y-yeah, I can hear you," Mr. Valen nodded his head, a forced chuckle escaping his lips.

"Rigggght," Sophie spoke in a long, drawn-out manner while nodding slowly, her voice sharp as she asked. "What was the last thing I said?"

Mr. Valen: -_- (Mr. Valen said nothing, his eyes wide).

"Bam!' Trinity gave him a small jab on the shoulder, her eyes narrowed as she giggled. "You should pay more attention, Val. She asked, what are you gonna do now that you have to fight Arino every class?"

"I'd probably avoid self-defense classes altogether, easier to pay your way through," Vincent nodded smugly.

"Who are you even bribing?" Mr. Valen asked, curious as to what corrupt administrative staff Vincent had gotten a hold of. 'Could be useful.'

"Sorry man, I don't kiss and tell," Vincent shook his head, taking another sip from his glass. "So don't you want a drink or anything? You're yet to tell me how your night with that reporter chick went."

"Reporter Chick?" Trinity echoed, her brows raised, 'Is it the one they were talking about earlier?' She thought, thinking back to when the group was arguing about some woman's appearance.

"It's this girl I met at Derald's party. Sorry, bro, I also don't kiss and tell," Mr. Valen said with a shrug, prompting Vincent to pout for a fraction of a second before moving on.

"Touché," Vincent said, raising an arm in defeat and winking at Mr. Valen, an act that mildly confused him.

Trinity, on the other hand, was confused about the name Derald. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on it, until her brain clicked in realization. "Ohh Derald, the friend from Mike's group?" She spoke loudly, thinking back to her high school days.

Vincent seemed displeased at the mention of Mike, a small scoff escaping him as he intoned, "More like Mike's daddy."

"Haha," Mr. Valen chuckled slightly at those words, his gaze turning to Trinity as he spoke, watching her reaction closely. "Crazy, huh? How something like that could happen here on campus. I hope you guys were safely in your dorms last night?"

Trinity raised her brows at those words, her gaze turning back to the group, watching their reactions with a smile.

Meanwhile, "What are you? Our mom?" Alice spoke as she watched Mr. Valen, her words inciting another wave of laughter from the group.

"I wasn't even on campus yesterday though," Vincent chimed in as the laughter died down.

"I was studying too," Sophie mused, before saying. "Though Alice told me Trinity was out last night when I called, but now that I think about it, I called around 1AM."

'1 a.m., you say? Well, hello, potential murderer,' Mr. Valen thought, glancing at Trinity.

At the same time:

"1 a.m? Even I wasn't out that late," Vincent chimed in, his voice grim. "Are you sure it was 1?"

"Ohh yeah it was 1, she went for her routine nightly jog, says she likes the quiet," Alice nodded, her voice (and the air in the table) growing sober when everyone realized that Trinity could just have easily been a victim of murder.

Trinity, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes slightly before saying with a wide smile. "That's why I'm in great shape, unlike some of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Both Alice and Sophie echoed immediately, prompting Vincent to burst into laughter.

The group then engaged in more aimless conversations hovering on their university experiences.

Mr. Valen, though, was unsatisfied, a wide smile on his face as he conversed with the group, but internally. 'Such flawless redirection, I would hate to let you off that easily,' he thought begrudgingly as he spoke, his words intent, "You should seriously be more careful Trinity, it's dangerous whenever you come out at night."

Trinity physically stilled a bit at those words, an unidentifiable look flashing through her eyes as she thought deeply.

The group noticed Trinity's stiff reaction, and so the air stilled a bit.

Suddenly, "Yeah, Valen's right, everyone knows not to be out that late," Sophie used the newly created silence to speak, her tone grim having decided to confront the issue. "Hopefully, campus increases security around here."

"Ohh, they're definitely improving security," Vincent nodded before looking at his watch (the silver, expensive-looking kind that would make one look twice). "I have to get going though, got some work to finish up this evening," Vincent spoke with a smile.

"You're always working at the most inconvenient times," Sophie chimed in prompting Valen to nod in approval.

Though Vincent did not come from a rich family, he had a lot of money. How he made this money was a mystery to everyone; all they knew was that he 'worked'.

After watching Vincent chug down the remnants of his glass, before hurrying away, Sophie rose as well. "I have to go study."

"And I have errands to run," Trinity spoke as she stood up, her gaze lingering on Mr. Valen for a moment too long before she smiled at Alice.

Meanwhile, Mr. Valen simply stared back at Trinity, his lips curling into a smile as he turned to the departing Sophie.

Though he smiled outwardly, he was confused by the sudden change in tempo. 'Everyone is leaving because of me,' he thought to himself with a raised brow.

"You're probably wondering why everyone is leaving," Alice's voice suddenly brought Mr. Valen's attention back to the present, making him painfully aware of the fact that she was still present.

'I can hardly believe I neglected my little detective,' Mr. Valen chided himself before saying, his voice growing calmer. "What do you mean?"

"You talk too much; that's what ruined the mood," Alice said, her speech slightly slurred. "I never noticed it before because I thought you were harmless. But you're weird, you know that?"

"Is that so?" Mr. Valen tilted his head, his gaze lingering on the dark-haired woman before him, her piercing, suspicious blue eyes, and her curvaceous figure hidden behind her dark clothes.

Alice noticed his lingering gaze, but she did not pull away or reel in disgust as she might have in the past. Instead, she continued, "First of all, you're different, more confident. But some things never change. You smile too much (that fake, patronizing smile that salespeople have), and you're always in your own little world, that creepy thing you do, and-"

"ALICE!" Mr. Valen raised his voice slightly, his tone catching her attention immediately. "I don't know what you're going on about, but I'm over you, that thing that we did where I would fawn over you and you ignore me, it's over," he said, a thought appearing in his mind: 'that should throw her off balance.'

Alice went quiet for a bit at Mr. Valen's words, her voice hanging in her throat as she spoke, "Wait-what? That's not what this is-"

'I know, you suspect me of murder,' Mr. Valen thought to himself.

"-I'm not trying to, no, don't make this about me, what were you doing at club One Time Fight Scene? Why did you almost kill that guard? What drugs did you take to make yourself this big?" Alice said continuing her ramblings.

But there was one thing she said that made Mr. Valen take a step back mentally. 'She saw me that night?'

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