The heating inside the Atrium was a few degrees higher than it needed to be, amplified by the smell of cooking meat and the equally steamy, excited masses there for the romantic lunch special. With the dining room full, dine-in seating overflowed to the bar. Shared plates of infinite fries (complimentary with every set) on said bartop had crowded Saki pinned against the wall of her usual corner. Not that the pressure made her any more dutiful.

Sao stopped as soon as they were inside, looking dazed. Rai considered making him wait outside, but he was also starting to think Sao was coming down with a flu or a head cold, and it was better he was warm and uncomfortable instead of freezing on the street.

Of course, Sao might have been rendered senseless by the sight of Skogul at the bar with her piled hair and sequinned crimson gown, the dress’s structure 80% slits and 20% fabric. To show off those slits, her winter trench was unfastened and draped over her shoulders, drifting like a cape as she moved.

And then there was Marsh, looking shockingly sleek beside her in immaculate black tie. Black shoes, black shirt, vest, coat, along with it. There was something even intimidating about him, maybe because he looked so completely at ease. His bashful smile was the same as always but everything around it had morphed.

“What’s the occasion?” Rai asked, approaching them.

“Reunion drinks with you two, of course,” Skogul laughed. That drew more than a few curious eyes off their respective partners. “I’m kidding, unfortunately. It is lovely to see you back. I’m sorry we’re rushing around so much today.”

“We have lunch with friends at the hotel downtown. A couple’ event.” With one shiny shoe, Marsh nudged a large shopping bag under the bar. “If we’re back early and you’re still around, come by the house, won’t you?”

The crowd had cleared enough for Sao sidle up next to them. “We’ll make an effort.” He smiled blearily at Rai. “Marsh is an excellent chef.”

That knocked Marsh’s composure out for a second. “Do you want a drink? Coffee?” Marsh hopped off his stool. “Here, you can take our seat.” He managed a flag down a waiter instantly despite the chaos. It must have been the suit.

“I really am glad to see you back,” Skogul said when Marsh walked off to handle the bill. “Though I wish it was not because of that terrible photo from last night. What will happen to the boy who turned himself in before it happened? I thought for sure he was the culprit.”

“You mean Ayer. He confessed to those two and didn’t even try to change his story today.” Rai’s coffee arrived, with only one pack of sugar. “I don’t think he’ll be punished too harshly. In Mainline, he wouldn’t. But Plaza, and this school being the way it is, I can’t really say what the courts are like.”

“I think you’re right. Marsh says that Ayer boy is from a very influential family on the border.” Skogul pressed a nail to her lip. “This third attack could be used to cast doubt on his overall guilt, couldn’t it?”

“Yeah. That’s a possible motive, so we’ve been looking into people who were close to him. Then there’s the possibility that Tinsel has other supporters, or that Rip and his cohort had additional enemies.”

“That widens the pool considerably.” The nail dug harder into her lip. They were already so plump he worried they might pop. “You could be here a while.”

“Maybe. But if there’s no progress today, it’s back to the office.”

“Tomorrow is Valentine’s. Won’t you consider staying until then?”

“Why? What’s happening besides a school brunch?” Rai took a much-needed slurp of coffee before continuing. “I don’t know if I’ve given the wrong impression, but I’m not a great romantic. I haven’t dated seriously since college, and that didn’t end well. Ask him if you want the story.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at Sao. “He doesn’t like when I tell it.”

Skogul studied him, then shifted to Sao, who had perked up a little with a coffee of his own. A perky Sao usually meant Rai was in for a ribbing, but Sao just kept on smiling. “We do need to be getting back. I have assignments I’ve been ignoring long enough, too.”

“Sko - ah - honey, the taxi’s almost here.” Marsh pushed his way back to their spot at the bar.

Although they must have disappointed her, Skogul still gave Sao’s arm a gentle squeeze. Rai stood and tensed his own arm for the same treatment, but instead she wound her manicured hand around the crook of his elbow (like a needle looking for a vein to sample, was his automatic thought) and pulled him down for a peck on the cheek.

The red mark left behind burned and Rai was not sure what nonsense he would spouted if he hadn’t caught Sao watching him for a reaction. He carefully sat back down and his foot kicked something papery.

“Your bag,” Rai called.

Skogul patted herself like she was checking for pockets, even though all she could have been carrying was in her tiny pendant-like purse. It was Marsh who scrambled back. He thanked Rai so profusely that Rai almost thanked him back. All Marsh’s bobbing and grinning made him feel strong and stable again.

That assurance lasted until the couple were out the door. They could still be seen through the glass. As Skogul looked down to tie the belt of her coat, Marsh reached into the big white paper bag and pulled out a bundle of roses, each the same bright red as Skogul’s dress. He said something, she turned, and her face lit up with delight. Rai could tell it was real because she was trying to hide it, hands over face, movement suddenly tight. She took the bouquet with uncharacteristic jerkiness and blushed, trying to conceal her face again by holding the roses up to her nose.

The taxi pulled up.

Rai noticed his cup was empty and slammed it down. “I just had a crazy thought.”

Sao was browsing a menu.

“Valentines, classy event, a dozen roses - do you think he’s going to propose?”

The menu lowered. But instead of a gasp in shared revelation, what he got was a total blank.

“You heard her - they want us to stay until tomorrow. Maybe they want us to be here for something.” Sao was smiling now. Rai wanted to grab him by the collar of his expensive silvery coat and shake him. “Don’t you think the timing makes sense?”

“I think,” Sao said, “you have a romantic streak after all.”

—

Dee, the tall waiter with a receding hairline, recognized them and brought them a plate of complimentary fries.

“We haven’t ordered yet,” Sao laughed, which had its usual effect. Dee went red as a tomato.

“All the couples’ sets come with them, and we have so much extra,” he said. “And I thought maybe you knew what happened to Ayer. I heard he was arrested yesterday, something to do with a girl… and he got his nose broken somehow.”

“He turned himself in.” Rai took a fry. They were gold and wafer-thin which was how he liked them. “He did get punched, but it was by another student called Happy.” He watched Dee nod along to everything. Probably storing it all up to take back to the kitchen staff. “Happy was a friend to the kid who got attacked last night. Know anything about that?”

“I know those names. Happy’s the guy with the EV and loves laying on the horn, right? Him and his friends get takeaway a lot. Ayer, I’ve seen him too. Last night, on Neocam…” He looked off into the distance and didn’t finish. He didn’t need to. “So why’d he do it? Was Happy after his girl, or something?”

Another one with Valentine’s infesting the brain. “No. The girl everyone’s talking about is named Tinsel. Do you know her?”

“You know what, I do. She’s come in here once or twice for catering. She sets up school lunches, or she’s on some kind of council? And she…” He stopped abruptly, a single crease deepening on his smooth forehead. Thinking of her bare breasts on Neocam, Rai suspected. “You should ask Saki,” Dee said quickly.

That was a trap if he’d ever heard one. “Why would she know more than you do?”

“I just started here last semester.” The crease began to leak sweat. “Saki has been here a year longer and she knows the business better than anyone. And she’s always people-watching…”

“Well, he was helpful.” Sao said after Dee fled with their order of a herb rib rack lunch set. Sao was now sifting around for the small, crispy fry tips and realizing Rai had already picked most of them the best pieces and eaten them.

“The only thing Saki has eyes for is her phone.”

“But she is the one who got you interested in the incidents here, isn’t she?” Sao settled on a few lesser fries, which he arranged on his plate with a sort of tragic gravitas. “‘Not another one.’ Was that what she said?”

“Maybe.” Rai stood. “Let me go ask her for some fresh fries.”

—

The bar had emptied out a little, giving Saki some breathing room on her corner stool. She didn’t look any happier than when she was being smothered. Rai pulled up one of the barstools and sat right across from her.

“Did you hear about what happened last night?” he asked.

Her eyes oozed loathing. “Yeah. You fucked up and got the wrong guy.”

How obvious she’d jump straight to that point. “No, Ayer turned himself in for the attacks on Ace and Zed.”

The oozy eyes rolled lazily off him and returned to her screen. On it, Rai saw gunplay, soldiers diving in the dark, bodies blasting apart. Drowning him out, he assumed, until he saw she wasn’t wearing any headphones. Maybe she was more aware of the Atrium’s comings and goings after all.

“I heard you’ve been working here a long time. What kind of people did Ayer come in with?”

She didn’t bother to look at him anymore. “What makes you think he ever came in here?”

“He’s an outgoing guy, this seems like a popular spot…”

Silence - but he was being scrutinized now, not ignored. “Just ask questions like a normal human being, detective.”

“Your staff have seen him. What we’re doing here is looking for someone who might have decided to continue Ayer’s mission of going after the four boys who themselves attacked the girl named Tinsel. Starting with Ayer’s close acquaintances. He’s been overseas for half a year so we’re hoping we can narrow this down–”

“Doubt many people are willing to put up with him, period. The guy’s a pig.”

It was a very Saki-like judgment. “Meaning?”

“Self absorbed idiot.” That could have been aimed at Ayer or Rai himself. She glared up just as another pixelated body hit a landmine. “You can tell he thinks he’s hot shit, that what he’s doing is inspired and revolutionary.” She gave the words a loopy cadence; it was more emotion than he’d ever managed to get out of her before. “You’re the one who caught him. That girl he was supposedly doing it all for, did she seem impressed? Or was it just him huffing his own farts the whole time?”

Answering her question would go nowhere, so Rai moved on. “Alright, so your answer in normal terms is no, you don’t think he has anyone willing to go that far on his behalf. The girl, her name is Tinsel. Do you know her?”

“Sure. She does a lot of dinner hosting, or something like that, so sometimes she needs catering.”

The acrimony had settled so Rai felt a little safer asking, “Know anyone close to her, who might have been upset by her recent Neocam photo to take up what Ayer started?”

“Yeah, every time she walks in with an order for twenty fruit salads she makes sure to give us a full lecture about her sex life.” She smirked. “We just do business, but she hasn't come by in months. I had totally forgotten her until…” Her smile vanished. “Tin and I aren’t really on speaking terms. Outside of work.”

She must have been thinking of Tinsel’s photo. So there were some topics that subdued even Saki, Rai thought, as screaming soldiers continued to be dismantled on the little screen between them.

“You like war movies?” he asked.

“Better than romance,” she muttered.

“That, we can agree on.”

The oily bangs slid back as she tilted her head to assess him. For honesty or insanity, he wasn’t sure. He felt he should hold still until she was done. But the process was interrupted.

The glass doors opened and Zed entered the Atrium.

He was sweating bullets under the combined stares of Rai and Saki but couldn’t just leave. He crossed the room to the counter to paw through the takeaway bags.

“Sandwiches aren’t ready yet,” Saki said.

“You’re looking better,” Rai said. It was true, Zed was much less washed out than he had been a few days back. “How’s Rip doing?”

Without his order, Zed was trapped. He took a deep breath and pressed his eyes on Rai, the less intimidating of the two. “I haven’t seen him but he’s probably messed up. Is that what you want to hear?”

“Were you hanging out with him last night?”

“For a while. It was mostly Happy on him, pushing him to drink, drink, drink now that they were safe. Guess they weren’t really. I bet he regrets it now.” Zed managed a bitter smile. “All that blood. I feel kind of lucky that the guy who got me knew what he was doing, at least.”

Rai heard tinny screams and pops. Saki had turned the volume up on her phone a little.

“You mentioned before that it was possible Happy could have drugged you as a prank,” Rai said. “Ayer was held at the police station all night, so he wasn’t around. Is there any possibility Happy could have done something to Rip?”

“I was just talking shit, back when I didn’t know. Actually…” Zed scratched his neck, at a flat skin-colored bandage, and his smile grew darker. “Happy has been out of his mind since Rip got bitten. I think he feels left out now. That and he feels bad for making Rip drink himself almost to death. That’s what really makes me think, it probably isn’t him.”

Remembering the face he’d seen outside the police station that morning, Rai didn’t contradict him. “Do you know much about Professor Triad?”

Zed’s hand froze over his bandage. “Shit, Rip was flipping out about him yesterday before you got Ayer. Did he do something…?”

“He’s a person of interest. When we talked to him earlier today he seemed extremely stressed. How well do you know him?”

“Well, he’s our Club advisor but he’s usually out of the country setting up hospitals and stuff. He’s kind of just a bro, hangs out with us when he’s here and signs off anything we need. He’s cool.”

The limping shape in the dark did not strike Rai as a ‘bro’. “So he could get into a student party?”

“He used to grab drinks with us all the time, a year ago. Everyone knows him.” Zed’s horror began to dissipate. “But there’s no way he could sneak in, sneak through everyone to spike drinks, and sneak up on Rip, you know? He’s not exactly built for stealth.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen him.” Rai folded his arms. “Do you know anything about his relationship to Ayer?”

“Just that Triad really favors him. Ayer was in the club the year before I joined, but he didn’t get along with Ace and Happy. Triad never held it against them. It was probably better than way. He worked with Ayer for classes and stuff, and partied with the guys.” Zed’s eyes grew wide. “You don’t think they were like that do you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I mean, it’s crazy but you know, I’ve never seen Triad in the same room as a woman…”

“Doesn’t your club have women?” Rai said, feeling they were straying from the point. “I’ve seen the pamphlet. The treasurer is a girl.”

“Oh, that thing? We kind of just share treasurer duties, that girl was someone’s visiting cousin we asked to be in the photoshoot. All the ads are actually marketing and design exercises, and real life specs always have some line about ‘empowering women’ and shit like that. Girls don’t really belong in—”

The rattling gunfire coming from the end of the bar intensified.

“Yes?” Rai asked.

“They don’t really have an interest in a club like ours,” Zed mumbled.

Be very still, the monster is behind you. It was almost too corny. And yet Zed was afraid. He gulped and turned – and found Saki wasn’t even looking at them.

He rambled on. “It was a joke. You know I say things without thinking sometimes.” Zed began scratching his bandage again. “I’m really sorry. I’m really shit with women myself.”

Any minute he would be on his hands and knees. A little much just to stop someone from spitting in your takeaway, Rai thought. Most bizarre of all was that, for the first time since he’d walked in, Zed was actually being sincere. But Saki only had eyes and ears for her dying soldiers.

The morbid fascination kept Rai watching, motionless, until he saw Dee exit the kitchen with what looked like a tray of ribs and fresh fries. He left Zed to face the one-woman firing squad alone.

—

Sao wanted to walk after the meal. Rai had planned to go to the library or cafe to answer some emails, but a walk was just slightly more appealing, so they walked. The day had not gotten any less dingy but the consistent snowfall had laid down a new layer of clean white over the campus, and Rai had a weakness for crunchy, fresh snow.

“It’s like the skin of really good fries,” Rai said.

“I think I ate too much of them. And the ribs.” Sao tossed a pointed glance his way. “It was supposed to be a set for two.”

Rai had only nibbled at three ribs of the enormous glistening rack they had been served. Thick red sauces always threw off his appetite. But snow, for some reason, made him hungry. He had also eaten a lot of fries.

He wondered if security would let him back into Eggers Hall just to pick up another Snow slushie.

They shuffled their way up the side of the Row to the north end of campus. Some kids were sledding down to the sports field below, climbing back up on the thin set of stairs and sliding down again. The steep smooth slope was enticing. Rai wished he had a tray.

“Any word from Rip or his roommate yet?” Sao asked.

Rai checked his phone, shook his head. “They might be in class.”

They went down the stairs, awkwardly flattening themselves to the rails when passing the sledders who were headed up. When they reached the base of the artificial valley, Rai looked across the rectangular snow-covered field. He felt like he was in the bottom of a big white bucket. It was peaceful.

At the top of the bucket to their left was a miniature pine forest surrounding a dull red house, with a glass canopy sticking out of the back. The upper floor window was decorated with a long flat tub of yellow flowers, just a little smaller than the one he knew was on the front side of the house.

“That’s the back of the Alumni House,” Rai said.

After a few minutes, there was some movement in the window and a hat-covered head on a skinny white neck poked out. Then came two arms, holding a watering can. Rai waved, in case she had come out because of them, but there was no reaction. After dusting some snow from the edges of the planter, Tinsel vanished back inside.

Sao smiled. Snow was catching on his hair and the complicated weave of his wool coat. “Floating on a golden cloud. This may have been where Ayer first saw her.”

Floating on a golden cloud. Rai thought of the movie he had been watching before Happy called him. The female love interest was a humanoid creature with a detachable head, whose organs would pull out and trail under the head like a cloud as it floated around the jungle, searching for warm bodies to feed on. He wasn’t sure about love at first sight, but the first reveal of the woman’s true form had certainly been striking. He didn’t think Sao would appreciate the connection.

“But you gotta wonder why his first inclination was to stage more vampire bites,” Rai said.

“I have to wonder how the whole thing got started in the first place.”

“Schools wind up with all kinds of convoluted traditions. Think of fraternity hazing back in Mainline. They’ve covered up even wilder stunts than Murnau’s roofie vampires. Kids were forced to swallow and regurgitate raw meat, and inject all kinds of stuff up their asses. Sleep deprivation, waterboarding - people got killed. Actually, the last two weren’t frat incidents, now that I think about it. Just friend groups.”

“All this happened at your school?” Was it disgust in Sao’s voice or amusement?

“Only the raw meat thing,” Rai admitted. “I tried it myself.”

“I’m surprised you went along with it.” Definite disgust, there. “I assumed you were a counterculture sort of person.”

“I tried it on my own time. To see what it was like,” Rai said, contemplating if he would have fared better with the topic of a blood-sucking detachable head. “So I did it, but still thought I was too good for a frat or any kind of org. I was too busy with a girlfriend who hated me and then my intern year with the Daily, and in between that, looking into anything that sounded like a shapeshifter or ghost or serial killer.”

“Better off stopping killers than trying out for a club with ridiculous tests.” Sao’s tone had softened again.

“Well, I never found the one I was looking for. The killer, that is. I wasted my whole junior year trying to chase down this one active in the warehouse district. Before the whole area got cleaned up and artsy. This guy, they were calling him a butcher; the MO was basically he stabbed then cut open and guts yanked everything out. Girls, guys, big or small - although he didn’t target kids. I guess.” Rai felt the blood pulsing in his ears. “A factory worker got killed two blocks away from where the office is. Everyone moved out. That’s how I was able to buy such a big place for cheap.”

“I’m surprised you’ve never told me this.”

“Like I said, it was a failed investigation.” Rai thought. “Don’t worry, though, the butcher stopped killing about ten years ago.”

The conversation dried up for a while. They watched the sledders finish up, and their tracks be refilled by the persistent snowfall.

“I never understood the butcher’s motivation any more than I did the frat stunts, anyway,” Rai said. “I thought he might be a shifter, and the guts being thrown around was to hide what was taken to eat. There was also a lot of talk about the killer performing some old magic ritual, like organ divination or something. There was some talk that it was a satyr, so some of the pundits were saying it was a Highland barbarian. That theory was bullshit if you ask me. But I never figured anything out, so…”

“I’d say it’s a good sign that a violent killer’s reasoning isn’t intuitive to you.”

“I didn’t see Ayer’s motivation, either. But a crush, avenging a girl’s honor, or whatever, is something I can kind of understand. It’s better than no reason at all.” Rai shook the snow off his shoulders. “I don’t think there’s anything that could make me kill for someone.”

“Once again, that sounds like a positive. And Ayer didn’t kill anyone.”

Rai frowned and dusted off his hair. “I guess I was conflating him with the killer I was talking about.”

Sao was very still. Was he trying to let a whole snowman form on his head? “From what I know of you and your past relationships, you seem more the self-sacrificing type.”

“My–” Rai wasn’t sure he liked the sound of any of that. “I thought you wanted me to let that stuff go.”

Sao didn’t reply. He seemed to be struggling to form a sentence. His face twitched. He shivered, and just as Rai was starting to worry Sao inhaled sharply and sneezed. The snow in his hair and coat finally tumbled loose.

“You could be catching a cold,” Rai said, tossing him an old pack of tissues.

They were rescued by the buzz of his phone.