"She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent."
― Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I haven't the foggiest idea what evil means. I have no desire to answer the question, and merely, end up wondering why she would ask such a query. Doesn't Sensei understand what an awkward position it puts us all in?

I stifle a yawn and bury my head into my elbow. I stayed up too late last night.

"Hatsune Miku, Lift your head this instant. You aren't a freshman anymore."

I do, and with a heavy heart. I bow my head, now brutally alert. "Yes Sensei."

She didn't mean to hurt me. She quickly changes the subject, bright eyes scanning through the other blank faces. Her sigh is quite audible, but this one isn't directed at me. "I am disappointed. I expected more interest from this class. Well, if you really have nothing to say, I understand."

She turned back to the board slowly, almost saddened herself. I tried to think of something, anything to say.

That was when it happened. Something quite strange. Another girl, who I could have sworn wasn't in the previously vacant seat, was now there, hand raised. The oddest part about it all, was that I knew this not because I twisted to see her, rather because some part of me that I never knew about somehow… felt her.

"Miss. Please," She began, her voice stilling my heart, and the hearts of those in the room. "Evil is the complete absence of light. Darkness, without any good."

Bright eyes turned from the board, and as I snapped my gaze to look back at the Mystery, Sensei replied with wide eyes. "What an insightful answer, though not really your own, Ne Miku?"

"That…" I began slowly. I was about to explain how it hadn't been me, and how I wasn't even capable of such an opinion-but I was distracted. The Mystery was looking at me when I turned to see her, reddish eyes resting on mine. Her hair, silvery white, almost glowed in the light shown through our classrooms two windows. It delighted my senses, and I was quite mute.

Every other girl in the room didn't care. They should have. The Mystery was much more of a threat to their lives than they knew.

Much more, than even I knew.


IA. She is ever present, ever attentive. I can call her late in the evening, when nothing but the stars can bear to be awake. She doesn't mind that all of my problems are trivial. She listens with age old wisdom. I feel that she is a thousand years my senior, and not moments. Her base instincts are much more primal than any animal, or any legend I have ever known. Even though I speak to her every day, every night, I feel as if the more I learn, the less I know.

I find it quite daunting.

Days have passed since our first meeting. IA doesn't seem to appear anywhere besides school sometimes, so the only time I see her is then, or when I am alone walking down the street. She is terribly strange and distant, so I am too fearful to ask about anything she doesn't seem to want to tell me. She feels familiar in that same place that told me she was there that day in class-and even so, I don't mention her to Kaito.

Until today.

"So… who is she then?"

"I just told you!" I shout, feigning frustration. "Kaito-chan! You never listen."

He laughs, his voice like the sound of sad bells. Luckily, I know the difference between his sad laugh and his happy one. I bask in his glowing grin, walking beside him on this busy street-telling him about the Mystery, IA.

"I know that. You told me her name-but it seems to me that you don't really know her."

"I feel like I do." I say quietly, recalling that mystical undertone in the back of my mind. "It's like… well, I don't know."

He tilted his head, not having received anything helpful from me-still trying to understand anyway.

Maybe that is what I love about him.

"I won't tell you which friends you should pick. If you want to continue to be with her, I wish you both the best. Maybe you can be good friends."

"But?" I invite, knowing with the same certainty that he has more to say.

"But," He continues, his sapphire eyes warming my heart "You mustn't get too wrapped up in Once Upon A Dream, Miku… she might. Also be…" His foot scuffed, and he looked up thoughtfully before returning his gaze back to me. "Nothing like you at all. Something you really don't like, after all."

I nod, reassured. His trust in me, despite having no experience in these matters, is uplifting. I cling to his side, feeling the first of a winter chill on the fall wind.

And so, later that evening, I head back home. It is only after a very passionate farewell shared in something akin to lust. I know I shouldn't, but Kaito makes it feel so right. His presence morphs so quickly from a childhood friend, to a man of strength and allure.

I call her, and tell her about my day. Then, I tell her about Kaito.

"Mn." Her voice comes in after a long moment of silence, welcome because for a moment, I thought she had fallen asleep. "Miku… are you going to give yourself to him?"

I blush madly, and curl my toes. "You're frank as always. You never beat around the bush, do you?"

"Do you think I should? Anyways… you haven't answered my question. Are you or are you not going to give yourself to Kaito?"

I bite my lip. The intense feeling of being hunted, backed into a corner, overwhelms me. I try to cover it up, and show her that I am not afraid of her. Or of her judgements.
"So what if I do? I don't think it's any of your business-"

The sound of the phone hanging up is followed by silence. I am so angry that I can't describe it.

Stupid IA! She doesn't even know me. How can she judge me? And why not warn me before hanging up? I thought that after this long, she owed me that much. But now at least, I know one thing for sure about IA chan. She doesn't feel that she owes me anything. Not a thing.

I punch my pillow, and try to forget about her and my pounding heart. I lay my head against the soft fabric, and let my breathing slow. I almost forgot to take out my hair.

I run my fingers through the blue tresses, working out the ties, eyes open to the dark. Just when I feel that I have calmed down, my phone vibrates loudly on the bedside table. I jump almost out of my skin.

In the silence, I find that things are so much more unsettling. I reach my hand to the table slowly, trying not to hurry. I do want to read the text, but with as much power, I don't.

At last, the blaring light of the screen shows me the number.

IA.

Miku.

Such a good girl will be cut down so easily.

I stare at the text, furrowing my eyebrows only slightly. What?

I will break your chains for you.

Violently, with more fervor than I have ever done before, I throw the phone across the room. It clatters loudly, frighteningly, and I wrench the blankets over my head to block it out. I have no idea why I did it. I just… I just don't want to deal with it right now. She-no, no. Sleep. Sleep.

Sleep.

Sleep, because thinking about how she scares me to the core, with little more than a few words on a screen, is just too hard to do. I would much rather be blissfully unaware.


The next day, I never even saw IA. Walking along a brick path in the bright morning, I was alone. In class, my mind drifted to Kaito, seeing him in the sunlight. At lunch, I ate in silence, relishing the quiet. After that, more classes. Study in the library, meeting with other friends after school. I never told them about IA, or what she had said to me the night before. I didn't have to think about it, and it was a happy feeling.

I think Kaito was right all along. I am glad I found out about how IA would be now, rather than later. Now, I can say that I can step away with a clear conscious-a clear mind.

My friends giggle next to me as we walk, and point. I look in that direction, pleased to see him waiting there for me. His sweet smile is all I need. I rush forward, and bury myself in his delicious, vanilla scented arms.

"Whoah, good to see you too." He catches my chin, and lifts it. I submit to his kiss happily, willing to let him lead. Why not, since he is so good at it?

"C'mon, let's go get some ice cream."

We talk about a lot of things, he and I. I find such release in watching him talk, and tracing his lips with my eyes. Towards the end of the day, he notices once. I don't mind. I want him to notice.

"Miku." He says quietly, watching me too. We look at each other for a good long time in silence, sharing our thoughts like two parts to a whole. Divided now, although we don't want to be. He gets it. He understands, and that is what makes me want him.

"Let's get out of here."

He reaches out his hand, and at last it is clear. This is it.

I take it, and smile knowingly. We rush outside into the brisk air, and find a quiet, dark, and secluded place. He begins to shower me with kisses, little noises issuing from between his lips. He wants for me, and makes me breathless for each measure he takes to let me know. At last, I give in and strip off the layers of clothes that have hidden me from any other boy. He watches me, slowing to see it all for himself. His eyes are dark and instinctual, longing even as I work.

I reach for him again, this time to take off his clothes. When I come to a place I can no longer remove, he helps me. An aide, no matter what. I hum, and hitch my breath when he kisses me again-touching me.

A jolt of pleasure zings through my senses. Our flesh becomes one. In those breathtaking moments, all else slips away, and a void swallows me up. I fall into this senselessness, all the while thinking,

This is the way it is supposed to be.

Plip, plick.

In the darkness of that same madness, I opened my eyes. But not to the real world as I knew it. I opened my eyes and understood everything. IA was there, her eyes flickering beacons of vibrant direction and Depth. In them, I became lost, and the same heartbeat that I felt pounding for Kaito beat in time with hers. Her smile was the most Knowing, most in control thing that I have ever known. She reached out through the darkness, elegant limb stretched out in unending grace and with impending certainty. All I could do is watch helplessly as she touched my cheek. She caressed it with butterfly soft skin, her nails nicking the flesh under my eyes.

"Kill him."


"Miku."

They both screamed. I screamed. We cried out into the night, wolves howling for a primal hunt, predator in the deepest of ways. I watched the fire leave his eyes, entranced. Captured by the dying glint of his weakening will to live. It was euphoria in a subtle kind of way.

Simple. Easy.

And though there was the echo of something much less beautiful, I didn't recognize it. For, what greater contentment is there, than being witness to the finest of mortality?