When I awoke, I could not remember really much of anything.

My head was throbbing painfully, and I didn't really want to sit up, even though the situation called for it. Gathering my strength, I cracked one eye open, then immediately closed it. The walls around me were a blinding white, very unlike dark rooms I was used to. Was I used to dark rooms? Concentrating on the vague recollection, my head began to pound painfully. If I could only remember where I was from, surely I would remember my name… Images began to run across the field of my vision, blurring the world around me and causing my headache to increase by tenfold. I groaned, the images becoming clearer and more painful. Dry lips cracking painfully, I murmured "No…"

My sinuses became clogged with the thick and unpleasant scent of dust and unwashed bodies as my "siblings" and I pushed through the throng of people to where Hiyama stood. Beside him was one of the many carriages that traveled through the crowded streets, though this carriage in particular was different from the others. It was painted bright colors and had silken banners hanging across the side of it. I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to recognize the kanji characters that had been painted elegantly with golden lettering.

"It says," Gumi piped up, recognizing the looks of bafflement on our faces, " 'The Dark Woods Circus is now at your town! Make sure to stop by to see the amazing wonders it holds.' " She nodded, her green hair blowing slightly in the wind.

"Sounds like one of those 'rare item' circuses," Neru observed, "maybe Hiyama's buying us tickets to go, or something." I smiled at the thought, though it was unlikely. Hiyama was a very kind man and probably would have loved to take us to this "Dark Woods Circus", though taking care of all of us was a great burden that Hiyama struggled desperately under.

When I first met Hiyama, I was 12 years old and living with my lazy no-good drunk father and my mother who was too afraid of dad to do anything about him. I was the one who brought in most of the profit from odd crafts I made and sold at the marketplace. It wasn't much money, but it was better than nothing.

In fact, I first came to Hiyama's attention at the marketplace. He had stopped by my little makeshift stand to gaze at a bird I had made out of clay.

"Pretty," he said admiringly, picking up the bird delicately as though it was made of China instead of the dirt I had found behind my house.

"Thanks." I muttered, blushing slightly at the compliment.

"Are you alone, Miss?" I paused, and then nodded, saying "Miku Hatsune, though you should just call me Miku." I don't know why I had given him my name; he was a complete stranger to me, and yet there was something about him… something that made me trust him without question.

"Well then Miss Miku, how would you like to come with me?" I hesitated. There was no way that I could be sure Masuta wasn't a child kidnapper, or worse. However, I found myself nodding my content.

"My name is Hiyama Kiyoteru, though I suppose you can just call me Hiyama." He flashed a quick smile at me, and I blushed deeper. Many young girls my age were already married, and I probably would have been married off pretty quickly if not for my poor background. Not to brag, but I was quite attractive, and at the time I had no way of knowing if Hiyama was flirting with me or not. Hiyama was pretty cute too, though, with modest brown hair and chocolaty eyes. If he indeed was flirting with me, I really wouldn't know what to do.

We made small talk all the way to his house, which I noted was rather larger than the average household in these days. I could not help but marvel at its grandeur, or at least how much bigger and cleaner than my house was.

As we stepped inside, we were greeted by a shout of "Hiyama-chan!" and before my very eyes, Hiyama was knocked to the ground with a little girl no older than 10.

"Whoa, Rin!" laughed Hiyama, pushing the little girl off him. "Calm down! No need to be so crazy to see me!" The girl, presumably named Rin, giggled and stood up.

"Well," Hiyama said, standing up, "Rin, since you're already here in the hall, why don't I introduce you to our newest guest. Rin, this is Miku Hatsune. Miku, this is Rin Kagamine."

"Nice to meet you!" said Rin enthusiastically; grabbing my hand and shaking so violently, my entire body was doing this kind of wave.

"Uh, nice to meet you to," I panted, having finally pulled out of Rin's death grip. A thoughtful look crossed her face.

"You should come meet Len!" she yelped, pulling on my arm hard. "Len?" I yelled as I was dragged off into another room.

"Rin's twin brother!" Hiyama yelled back as I disappeared from sight.

It has been 4 long years since that fateful day I met Hiyama Rin and Len, and there have been many new arrivals since then. First there was Neru Akita, a kind, though spunky gold-haired girl; Kaito Shion, a crazy sort-of-perverted boy, Gakupo Kamui, a boy who at first I thought was a girl due to his long purple hair and girlish kimono (he also thinks he's a samurai) and finally Gumi Megapoid, a green-haired girl who was a bit of a rebel. Out of all of us, Gumi was the only one who could read or write (except for Hiyama-chan, but he was too busy to teach us).

Today we had awoken in our rooms, and after poking around realized that Hiyama was not home. This was not so unusual in itself; however, Hiyama had not left a note telling where he was, which was not normal at all. Hiyama knew that we all cared for him like he was our father, and if we did not know where he was, we would go looking for him.

That's how we ended up in front of this weird circus carriage. Rin, who had calmed down considerably in the past 4 years, walked up to Hiyama and tugged on his sleeve. Hiyama jumped, turning sharply around. When he saw it was us, he calmed down considerably. "My goodness! Speak of the devil. Ma'am, these were the children I was telling you about," he said, gesturing to us. "Children, I would like for you to meet Miss Haigou." The woman inside the carriage did not step out too see us, but instead extended a gloved hand, and by the way she had put the palm down, I suppose she expected us to kiss it.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Haigou," said Len, pushing through the crowd of children to bed over and kiss her hand. As soon as he backed away, Rin slapped his arm, muttering "Pervert."

"They really are quite lovely children," said a voice, emanating from the depths of the carriage. I jumped slightly. By the way she had not come out of the carriage, I had assumed that Miss Haigou was an old maid, too embarrassed to show her wrinkled face in public, but the voice was one of a young woman.

"I'm glad you think so," I said, curtseying as best I could. By now, the entire group of children had gathered around the entrance to the carriage, craning their necks to see Miss Haigou, but all that was visible was darkness.

"Miss Haigou," Neru started, pushing her way to the front of the group, "please don't mind me asking, but what is your business with Hiyama-senpai?" I knew what Neru was thinking. Miss Haigou was obviously wealthy, young, probably beautiful, and by her title, single. Was Hiyama thinking of marrying her?

"This meeting is purely for profit." Miss Haigou said, guessing our thoughts. Though she said it with certainty, I could not help but detect a lie in her lovely voice. As though realizing that I'd seen through her, she stepped outside the carriage to distract us from the problem at hand. I had to suppress a gasp. Miss Haigou was beautiful. She was wearing a long red velvet dress that swept the cobblestones below her. Her short brown hair was encompassed by a crown of red roses, and her brown eyes sparkled with a kind of proud fierceness.

"I'm glad you children found us," said Hiyama, passing a slip of paper to Miss Haigou, "otherwise we would have had to go get you."

"What is the meaning of this?" snapped Kaito, blue eyes blazing.

"Then it's settled," Miss Haigou said, folding the paper up and handing it to an arm that mysteriously appeared out of the carriage door.

"What?" asked Gumi, an alarmed tone sneaking into her voice, "Hiyama-senpai? What's going on?" Hiyama just gave us a small smile and turned away.

"Hiyama!" I called desperately, my voice trembling as I felt two arms wrap around my waist. "Hiyama! Hiyama…"

"Miku!" I heard a voice shout. "Hiyama?" I cried. Could her hear me?

"Miku!" yelled a voice I recognized from four years of being together in the same house.

"Len?" I squeaked, sitting up so quickly I caused Len to fall over. Rin sat by my side, her knees tucked under her chin.

"Good. You're awake. We were beginning to worry." Rin murmured, her blue eyes slightly sad. Len sat up, rubbing his head.

"What happened?" I asked. Already the specifics were beginning to fade from my flashback. Len shrugged.

"We got here a few hours before you did, though we have no idea where 'here' is." He said, standing up slowly. As he reached out to help me up, Rin began to speak.

"Wherever we are, they obviously want to keep us in. The door is locked, and there is only a small window to look out into a hallway. The place is filled with rooms identical to ours. I think that the others are in the same predicament as we are. The entire place is like some sort of insane asylum."

"But we aren't insane," I snapped irritably, finally finding ground beneath my trembling legs. The entire world was spinning around me, which definitely wasn't improving my mood. I realized I was wearing a thin gown marked with the number "01" in red lettering. Rin and Len were wearing identical clothes, except for the fact that they were marked "02a" and "02b". I would have laughed at the sight of Len in a dress, except that my pounding headache was preventing me from doing much more than wobbling and groaning.

"I know that," Rin murmured softly, "I was just saying that it was similar in the way it was built, that's all."

"So now you're some kind of archeologist, right?" Len laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"Architect. You're thinking of and architect, not an archeologist. Architects build buildings, and archeologists dig up fossils and that kind of thing."

"Whatever," muttered Len, rolling his eyes.

The bickering twins, in the end, did help my mood a bit. The days passed by more easily with them. Every day, our meal was slipped in through a slot in the door, and a guard took us each to the bathroom once a day. I missed sunlight dearly, but I knew better than to be nostalgic for the days I was free. Soon losing track of time, I could no longer tell you what day it was, or even if it was night or day. Sometimes, I would be woken by a little cry, so distant you could barely hear it. These noises frightened me, even if they weren't particularly threatening. I found myself wondering if the whole world held only four people; me, Rin, Len, and the faceless guard that came to take us to the bathroom. By the time that night came, I was starting to wonder if I was going insane.

A cry came that night, louder and closer than I had ever heard it. I awoke with a start, jerking my head up. Len was the one making the noise, his head bent over the place where Rin slept. Crawling over to him, I saw that Rin was gone. "I w-woke u-up and f-fe-felt s-so sc-scared for so-some reason," he sobbed, "a-and when I re-reached out f-for h-her, she – she was gone!" He began to cry even harder, tears rolling down his face like a waterfall. I held him close, murmuring "Don't worry Len. It'll be over soon." I don't know how I knew, but it was true. The next night, even though I heard nothing, Len disappeared. I think I'm next; no, I know I'm next, but I think this will be good. I will see Rin and Len again, not to mention everyone else. I miss them all, I miss sunlight too. I think, wherever I'm going, I will be able to see all of that again. Good.

I awoke in a dark room, moonlight shining through a barred window. My legs hurt so much I can hardly stand the pain. Lifting my head off the ground, I see I sight that freezes my insides and turns my mouth to dust. Everyone's there, and they are all alive... but the sight of them makes me wish they weren't. A horrible thought occurs to me, and I look down at my painfully throbbing legs. "No…" I whisper, "Oh, please no…"

To be continued…

Lyrics to the song Wide Knowledge of the Night, Madness (English translation)

One day, in a clean white room

They bring me here, always

Clean corridors, many clean rooms

Every night, one person is removed

Now, it's time

…

Beautiful flower in vivid red bloom

One flower garden room

A lovely sphere comes rolling down

Pochi eats so much

Tomorrow is my turn;

I look forward to going

Tomorrow is my turn;

I wait impatiently

I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I… I…

…