It was supposed to be a normal summer day… The birds chirp, the sun's bright is strong and the summer breeze wakes you up.
Everyday life continues, you read the books left by your mother and tries to understand the world, everything is so mysterious and magical out there, but you are not allowed to make eye contact. You sometimes think "If only the breeze could knock at my door…" All those years of isolation, without a living soul, really make you lonely. Her last words always come through your mind and you realise you just can't wish for such a thing.

Tea's ready, it's time to read your favourite book, what was it called again? Oh, it was called "The Eye Wonders", the book is illustrated with lots of beautiful pictures of people you never met, scientists research the eye contact and something else. Although you never knew how to read, your dead relative read it to you when you were just a little naïve child, it's everything you have left of her, aside from the wonderful gift she gave you. One could say it's the magic of the eyes, but it's not…

Knock Knock, someone is knocking at your door! This makes you jump and split the tea on the floor, you think to yourself "What should I do?" and this is the first time, after many years, that you must make a choice. The person outside seems to notice your surprised behaviour, but awaits you to open the door. You suddenly remember that day… How many years have it been since? You made such a beautiful flower crown and seemed happy playing outside, but the truth hidden inside you attracted bad people to your peaceful home.

The mother whom you loved so much hurried herself to rescue you from the hands of the bad men, her power, her eyes… They turned a man into a stone. You don't remember much what happened next, but your mother had disappeared. You finally learned what she meant with "Look anyone in the eyes and they'll turn to stone".

You rush to hide yourself in the closet, hoping the person goes away, but the book you dropped yesterday made you trip on the floor. The person outside hears something strange is going on inside, so he just decides to enter, much more easily than you ever expected him to. You quickly hide your eyes and begin trembling, in a defensive way and you mumble "If I look you in the eyes… turn to stone…", but this kid you just met smiles at this and he approaches you, not scared by what you said.

"I was scared too, a long time ago, that I'd turn to stone but don't you think this world would be more beautiful without fear?" And he just pats your head and raised it. Emotion burst inside you, this is the first time after years of isolation that you make eye contact and tears start to form in your eyes. The young boy has black and short hair, he's wearing a white parka and he's holding a device you have never seen.

"What… is this?" You mutter still scared if it could harm you, the boy smiles and says "This is an electronic device that can reproduce music! It's called and Ipod" So many new words…! The world outside must truly be beautiful, just like the stories your mother used to tell you. You whip away the tears and analyse the strange new object in front of you.

"… Here! You should take it!" The mysterious boy takes of his parka and gives it to you. You just stare at him blankly and he gives you a most honest and warm smile. You feel happy too, knowing that you won't turn people to stone just by looking at them, knowing there are lovely people as well as terrible and mean people out there. Finally, you wave him goodbye and thank him once again for the gifts he gave you, you hold onto the parka tightly and asks him if he'll ever come back to visit you… Oh! You forgot to ask for his name. You get a feeling you two will be seeing one another pretty soon, but for now, it's time to write down all the exciting events that happened today in your diary.

It's already late night when you finish doing everything you ought to before going to bed. Talking with your mother, having dinner, writing in your diary and cleaning the house, today was a special day, but it's not over yet. You go out to refresh yourself under the moon, as you step outside, you notice something is on the ground, a piece of paper. You try to understand what's written on it, but you can't really read anything although you see a photo of three people on it.

Two boys and a girl, though she doesn't look as happy as the boys, she covered herself in a strange parka hiding her beautiful long green hair… you notice the boy who visited you today is in it, did he drop it? The other boy was blond, he was the smallest and his eyes reminded you of a certain animal you saw in a book once. You decide to keep this photo with you instead of leaving it outside, maybe the boy will come back for it? Also, that mysterious paper…

You lay down on your bed and blow the candle, leaving you in darkness. You dream a strange dream… Everything surrounding you is painted in complete blackness; in front of you is a strange figure with black hair… You've never seen the spectre before. It speaks with you but no sound come from it, you look behind and you see a hand stretching to reach you. Everything blackens and you wake up, sweating cold.

Morning comes and you only think about the strange and bizarre dream… it's been a long time since you last dreamt, could the encounter yesterday be the cause? The thoughts start to scare you and you drive them away from your mind.

You wait… wait weeks, months and the boy never came back… was he never coming back? It passes on your mind, but you don't lose hope that someday, he will come back and show the world to you. You barely made any contact, but you want to do a lot of new things with him, to know him, to ask him about the wonderful world, about his friends from the photo, how to read… You find yourself daydreaming for a long time about all the things you want to do and noon already came. You go outside to tend the flowers.

The parka he gave you has changed thanks to you sewing abilities, it has red flowers in the lower part, you wear it every day for he may come any day. You suddenly hear footsteps approaching, who could it be? It seems more than one person this time.

"Hey! Is that you?!" The voice seemed unmistakably his…!
"Huh?" You turn around to see the boy from last year with the girl from the photo, still wearing that parka as if concealing herself. "You came back…" You say with a warm smile at him
"Is… this the girl, Seto?" The girl spoke quietly, she seemed like a person who didn't like showing her feelings in front of people
"Yep. So you do remember me? I see you're wearing the parka I gave you!" Seto, what seemed to be his name, took the Ipod out his pocket and showed to you
"I never gave hope that you'd return someday…"
"Well… It did take quite some time, right?" With a laugh, he seemed slight embarrassed for making you wait this long
"Oh, I think you dropped two things last year…" You hand him the photo and the paper

He thanks you for keeping them for so long, the girl was quite surprised to see her face on that photo. He asked if you could read and you said no. After clearing out what the paper tried to tell, you understand the people from the photo mean a lot for him, the photo was some kind of good luck charm.

He then explains to you about the gang he's with, the Mekakushi dan. Apparently, the girl is the leader. Her name is Tsubomi Kido and her group although small, has people with special abilities with the eyes. You remember the stories your mother used to tell you and feel that there's a place for you…

Would your mother forgive you if you longed to know the world? You believe she must be happy to see you departing home to a place with people just like you… can it be called a family?