Prolouge:

It all started with a little letter, written in a crisp, straight handwriting, cursive of course, and obviously feminine. It was on a piece of old parchment, not the lined, ruled looking paper, but actual parchment, looking like it had been rolled up and had been made, dried and then pressed into a flat sheet. The ink was written with not a ballpoint pen, nor a fountain pen. Honestly, it looked like it came from the tip of a feather, with it's fancy curves and twists. Tied around the parchment had been a red piece of twine, it had been braided 3 or 4 times instead of a single strand, to keep the parchment rolled up tight and perfect in all its beauty.

It had been found in some papers that had been placed in my backpack, it had been underneath everything in there, underneath the pens and pencils, my few CDs, the DVDs I often brought to school to share and trade with my friends, and my laptop. Some mangas, and one or two of the few notebooks I had to carry around for my measly classes also sat atop the parchment. But even the heaviest of all the objects that was covering it did not mash the piece of paper. Why and how it got into my backpack have since dumbfounded me, even to this day. But I didn't want to open this perfect piece of paper, because well...it had this feel to it, ya know? Like I would somehow change my life...somehow. Always.

The very day I had found it, started normally, like all days I should say. I woke up at 7:30 am, ate a measily breakfast of a banana and walnut muffin, watched my sister tease my younger brother about it, because he thought muffins (especially banana) was yucky. My older brother headed off to school before I did, leaving the table with a scoff, mumbling something along the lines of 'to hell with this family'. He was the quiet one. My twin brother was, indeed. My younger brother and sister bounded off after Benjiro (my brother) left to get ready to go to work with mom for 'Take your child to school day', she'd have fun with them.

I met Benjiro at the bus stop and we stood there, silently. The same as everyday. My brother and I aren't exactly the talkative type, we are far from being twins, close ones anyway. Benjiro always wore his uniform like he was going to a funeral, he never added color to it, which annoyed the hell out of me. I, Azami, was different, I had to have a ring, necklace, anything that could add a spoltch of color to the drab black outfits for our school.

The bus arrived late, we boarded. I sat with Mariah, one of my close best friends at the school. She was a transfer student from a small town in Georgia, she once told me, and it showed, her accent was a thick one, I barely understood her at first, then gradually she's come around so I could. We always sat in the back of the bus, Mariah always saved the seat for both of us, we constantly had to make people leave us alone, the annoying brats. Mariah was waiting for me when I sat down, her long brown, blonde highlighted hair was braided and rolling over her shoulders, shining in the morning sunlight. She was in the tradional school uniform, like me, except her stockings were red wool going to her thighs.

"Aza!" She squealed, and huddled in her coat, "Guess what? Tashi asked me out!"

Typical, was my first thought, but I plastered a smile on my face anyway and listened to her ranting about how great Tashi was, how hot, and how sweet he was. Blah.

The only time my brother was ever happy was when he was hanging out with Simpa, his best friend. They sat infront of me and Mariah, I often listened to them rather than Mariah, just because. Today Simpa was filling Benjiro in on the the sickness his mother and father had, how they were like 'zombies' were his words, walking around almost like they had no brains.

"...So I just hope I don't become like them. Don't want to be a zombie!" Simpa laughed, "If I do, shoot me huh?"

Benjiro looked at him with smirk, 'I'll do better than that. Maybe a severed head to add to my collection"

We arrived at school, de-boarded the bus, went to our lockers, did whatever we always did. Except this morning it was slightly different. It felt off, I thought. Our first class came not long after, Mariah was in a class with Simpa then, me and Benjiro shared this class. We sat on opposite sides of the room. Our teacher was out surprisingly, Ms. Reina was never out, we always joked that she was the American Super-man of Japan.

Thats when I found the letter. Thats also when ... it happened.