Disclaimer: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

Note: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

A/N: I would also like to thank Blindseer0 for beta reading all of the chapters in this story. He gets to read the painful versions.

Trigger Warning: There will be attempted rape within the first few paragraphs.

Please read and review.

Chapter 7: Silence of the Lambs

Sekai woke up to a reality worse than the one she had fallen asleep to. She was clothed in only her bra and underwear. Her clothes lay in a heap next to her backpack near the entrance of the cave. She would have gotten up and dressed except that straddling her was Max Samson. He was smiling down at her, but it wasn't a friendly expression like she was used to. This smile was full of malice and madness.

"Oh good, you're awake. This wouldn't be any fun if you were unconscious. I was getting impatient waiting though, so I was just about to get started. You ready for a fun time?" He asked her, still smiling that menacing smile.

"What?" asked Sekai lamely. He head was still pounding from impacting the ground and her brain was having trouble making sense what was happening.

"It's been more than a month and I'm getting pretty stressed out here. I thought I'd wait, but seeing you naked as I checked for a wound has gotten me pretty excited." Sekai realized that Max was only wearing his shirt and boxers, his pants missing. Panic started to fill her as she realized what he was saying.

"What are you doing?" she asked again. Max sighed. Sekai felt a sting on her cheek and it took her a second to realize he had slapped her.

"Keep quiet," he snapped. "If you try to resist, this will hurt even more." Max then reached behind her and unhooked her bra. "If you don't resist then everything should be fine. I've had plenty of practice, nine times to be exact." He gave a hollow laugh.

"Nine times?" Sekai was still having trouble processing everything. She found herself only able to hang onto his most recent comments. "Why are you doing this? Aren't I your friend?"

"Friend? Never. You're just a silly little girl who decided to trust a stranger." He threw the bra into the pile with the rest of her clothes. "A silly little Japanese school girl who didn't realize she was traveling with a suspected rapist and murderer."

"You're lying…"

"Nope. You seem to be having trouble grasping this, want me to introduce myself again? I am Max Samson, age 19, and wanted by the Federal Government of the United States of America for supposedly raping and killing nine women, fleeing arrest, black mailing a lawyer and attorney, being absent without leave from the Marines, the assault and battery of three men, and the attempted rape of another woman. Oh, and for the murder of my father. I don't think I'm missing any charges, there are so many against me I sometimes lose track."

Sekai was too stunned to comment. Max seemed to be in a talkative mood though, so he continued right along.

"What? Not even going to fight back? That's no fun." He lowered his head to her neck and licked it, jolting Sekai. His right hand touched her hip and started to travel up to her breast.

"NO!" yelled Sekai, kneeing Max between his legs. He let out a yelp and fell off of her. Sekai rolled over and tried to crawl away. Max reached out for her, but she lashed out with a kick to his chest. He let out a groan. Sekai didn't bother to look back as she picked up her stuff and ran almost naked out of the cave. A part of her recognized it as the cave they had stayed in the other night. The cave she had nursed Max back to health in. She ran bare foot across the rocky terrain, and into the jungle.

Sekai ran and ran, not bothering to look back. She ran until her feet hurt and her breathing came out irregular and ragged. Finally she stopped running and looked around. Max was nowhere to be seen. The only thing she saw was trees. The girl sat down under a tree, trying to rest and catch her breath. Her brain buzzed with the recent events. Max, a murderer? Impossible. Or at least in a sane world it should be, but ever since the plane had crashed insanity had seemed to rule. Sekai couldn't stop shaking and every time she thought back on Max, the shaking would increase. Where before his smiling face inspired hope, now there was only fear. Tears started to pour down her face as despair started to engulf her.

Sekai was saved from further speculation on this dark turn in her life by a muffled bark. She looked down at her backpack as she felt something moving in it. She out the backpack on the ground and opened it. From inside the bag was a pair of amber eyes staring right at her.

"Clifford!" she exclaimed, lifting him out of the bag and hugging him to her bare chest. Tears dropped from her face onto his fur. He gave another bark, and licked her face, happy to see her. Sekai lowered him gently to the ground. She felt brief shame at not remembering about the pup in her panic before, but it was quickly overridden by relief that he was unharmed and with her. The tears stopped and she wiped them away with her arm.

A gust of wind blew past her, causing her to shiver. She remembered that she was still naked and started to dress. When she was fully clothed, she finally took a good look around her surroundings. The only thing around was trees. The sky was lit by an orange glow as the sun set for the day. I guess I woke up near the end of the day, I wonder how long I was out?

Sekai bent down and checked the supplies in her bag. Everything was still there, she had food, a canteen full of water and all of her other knickknacks. The greatest find was at the bottom of the bag where she found the knife, her knife, the knife Max had given to her on their first day on the island. I guess I should count my blessings on such a bad day. She thought to herself. Night will be here soon, I need to figure out where we're going to camp. It would be the second time she had been away from Max but her chance of finding a cave seemed small. Staying on the ground with just her and Clifford could also be a problem with nocturnal predators. Sekai looked up at the tree she was standing next to when she had an idea. She packed up her stuff and looked at Clifford.

"I need you to stay still in here." She said, pointing to her bag. He cocked his head in confusion, not understanding her words. The girl sighed, and carefully reached over and lifted him up and deposited him in the bag. She zipped it up, leaving a small patch at the top open so he could breathe. Sekai faced the tree, took a deep breath and started to climb.

A yip of displeasure came from the pup in her bag. As Sekai climbed she hummed, trying to calm her nerves and the nerves of her passenger. Soon she was several meters off the ground and found several large sturdy branches that were near each other, creating a type of platform. She unzipped the bag carefully and showed the wolf where they were.

"Stay still, we will be staying up here tonight and we need to be careful not to fall." He stared at her with those amber eyes and stopped fidgeting, seeming to understand her somewhat. While she had been climbing the night had come and surrounded them in darkness. Stars appeared one by one in the part of the night sky that wasn't blocked by tree branches. Sekai was mesmerized by the sight. Every night she had spent with Max she had never thought to look up at the sky. They had either been tired from walking and quickly setting up camp, watching for enemies, or in a cave.

Sekai looked down and saw Clifford resting inside her bag. She settled into a position that should stop her from falling in the middle of the night, and soon fell into fitful sleep. Max, smiling that menacing smile, chased her through her dreams. She was about to be caught by him when she was woken up by voices.

'Hey Yuuki, slow down! You're going too fast, we can't keep up,' yelled out a female voice from below Sekai. The voice had a musical quality to it.

'Fine, we'll take a quick break then continue, that okay?' replied a male voice impatiently.

'Thank you,' said the first voice. 'How are you doing Ayumi-chan?'

'Fine…' came a second female voice, this one timid and soft. 'Thank you...'

Sekai carefully looked down and saw four people resting below at the base of the tree. Two of them wore the female uniforms from her school and another wore the male uniform. The fourth person looked to be a woman wearing a t-shirt and jeans. She was leaning against a tree as if relaxing, but her posture had an alertness to it that reminded her of Max. This observation was accompanied by a quick shiver at fear at the reminder of the American. As Sekai thought about if she should make her presence known, she lost her grip on her bag. A quick cry escaped her lips. The bag started to fall but Sekai managed to grab it and its still sleeping occupant before it could get out of reach. She was partially hanging off the makeshift platform, holding on to a branch to steady herself with her other arm.

The people below had noticed the sound and were looking around. The smallest of the four, one of the girls in uniform who was sitting down looked up straight at Sekai. Surprise filled the small girl's eyes as she realized that there was a person above them.

'Miho-san. Above us is a person,' said the girl. Everyone looked up at Sekai in surprise. Sekai smiled down at them. If her hands hadn't been busy she would have waved.

"Hey, how's it going?" she asked them. The four looked at her in confusion and curiosity. Sekai realized she had spoken in Enlgish, she switched over to Japanese. 'How's it going down there? Mind if I join you?'

'Not at all, need some help?' asked the first girl who had spoken up before. Sekai finally recognized her as Hayasaka Miho from class 3-1. She realized that the boy next to her was her older brother Hayasaka Yuuki from class 3-3. Sekai remembered there were some bad rumors about him. He was supposed to be in the grade ahead of them but had been held back due to getting into fights. She also remembered that the little girl who had noticed her was Tohya Ayumi, also from class 3-3.

'No thanks, I've got it.' Sekai hitched her bag over her shoulders and started to slowly climb down. As she climbed she ignored everything else, focusing only on getting down safely. Within a few minutes she was on the ground and surrounded by the four surprised people.

'Wow! I can't believe you climbed up there and back!' exclaimed Miho.

'Have you been here on the island on your own this whole time?' asked the woman, stepping forward.

'Uh, not quite.' replied Sekai. She had a brief flash of Max's smiling face in her mind and involuntarily shuddered. Her new companions didn't seem to notice or at least didn't comment. Miho turned to face the woman.

'That's not how to start a conversation Yamada-san! We need to introduce ourselves first.' Miho turned and looked at Sekai. 'You're Nanasawa Sekai from class 3-4, right?'

'Yes, I am.' replied Sekai, surprised that Miho remembered her name. Sekai had never talked to her before and assumed the girl hadn't noticed her. Sekai knew Miho though, partly because of her infamous brother, but also because she was known for walking around the school singing. She was good at it too, unlike Sekai and her tuneless attempts made recently on the island.

'I'm glad to see that you're safe and sound.' and she really did sound glad. Miho gestured to the members of her group starting with herself. 'I'm Hayasaka Miho; this is my brother Hayasaka Yuuki.' She then pointed from Yuuki to Ayumi. 'This is Tohya Ayumi, also from our class.' Miho pointed to the woman. 'This is Yamada Erika; she's an American tourist that was headed to Japan.'

'Nice to meet you Nanasawa-san.' said Erika with a nod of her head. Sekai wondered at her formality but just chalked it up to a foreigners caution when dealing with new social rules. 'So, have you been on your own this whole time?' she asked again. Sekai's mind raced as she thought about how to answer. Erika spoke again. 'You said not quite? What's 'not quite' mean?'

Before Sekai could answer a growl came from her bag. She unzipped it and two amber eyes shined out from the bag. Her new companions recoiled in fear and surprise. Yuuki stepped in front of Miho and looked ready to fight what he thought was a threat. Erika stepped in front of Ayumi, making it clear she wanted to protect the girl.

'There's nothing to worry about' said Sekai, trying to reassure them before something bad occurred. 'This is just Clifford; he's been my companion on this island since I saved him from a giant boar monster.' She put the bag of the ground and lifted up the wolf pup to show them. 'Clifford, these are our friends. There is nothing to worry about.' He seemed confused by her words. Sekai wondered if this was because she had been speaking in English the whole time before and her words now didn't seem to match the tone of her voice when she had said the same thing just a few days before. He started to growl menacingly at them. Sekai lifted him up so that her mouth was to his ear and whispered.

"There's nothing to worry about. They won't hurt us. They are our friends." The pup seemed to get the idea and stopped growling but still stared at their new companions warily. Erika had a neutral look on her face as she accessed the situation. Yuuki looked like he still wasn't sure that the pup wasn't a threat. Ayumi had a look of complete wonder on her face. A squeal broke out as Miho rushed forward.

'He's so cute! Is it ok for me to hold him?' she looked at Sekai with eager eyes. Clifford stared at the strange girl and growled softly.

'Uh, that's probably not a good idea. He's not really used to humans yet. He might bite you or something if you attempt it, sorry.'

'No problem, I understand.' Miho backed off but was still smiling at the wolf. Silence filled the clearing for a few minutes as everyone just stared and got their bearings on their new companions. Erika was the first to break the stalemate.

'So Nanasawa-san, it's just been you and Clifford? No other humans?'

'Yes,' Sekai lied. She decided she needed a cover story to get this woman to stop questioning her. 'On the night of the crash I was attacked by one of my classmates but managed to flee the plane. After that I avoided other people as much as I could. I even speak English to Clifford to avoid any eavesdropping.'

"You're fluent in English?" asked the woman in unaccented English that reminded Sekai of Max. Is every little thing going to remind me of him? I need to just forget about him, thought Sekai, mentally shaking herself to clear her thoughts.

"Yes I am. I've always enjoyed American movies and I'm training to become a Hollywood actress. Plus, I just enjoy speaking the language."

'I'm glad to see kids who are interested in learning about other cultures besides their native one.'

Sekai mentally breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed like the woman would stop questioning her now. She didn't plan to tell anyone about Max. Part of it was because there wasn't anything they could have done against him anyways. Mostly it was because she just didn't want to think about him. She just wanted to forget him and his kindness, and his madness.

Yuuki looked impatient, and spoke up.

'Ok, everyone ready to move out? I think we've had a long enough of a break.'

'What's your hurry?' asked Miho. 'It's not like we have a destination to head towards. We've just been wandering around and exploring the island. Why don't we just stop and stay in one place?'

'Because stopping would make us a target. If we spend too long in one place the animals will catch on that that's where we are and will start trying to eat us.' Miho didn't back down, but Sekai could see Ayumi shuddering at the thought. Sekai decided to try to defuse the situation.

'Hey, I haven't had breakfast yet, so would you guys like to join me before you head out? I don't think a little break could hurt. Plus it will give you energy to go longer.'

'Sounds like a good idea to me.' said Miho cheerfully

'No it isn't. Did you forget? We're out of food and almost out of water. We need to find a source soon.' snapped Yuuki.

'You don't have any food or water?' Sekai bent down and grabbed some of the fruit from her bag. 'Here you go, though no guarantees that it doesn't smell like wolf.' She passed some fruit to all of her surprised companions. Sekai fed some berries to Clifford then sat down and ate an apple like fruit that tasted like a banana. Her companions each had three pieces of fruit while Sekai ate two. Clifford finished off the rest of the berries. Well, at least I still have the nuts for later. She rummaged through her bag and found to her surprise some things she had missed earlier. These included the bag of dried nuts and fruits and the second canteen. Max must have consolidated all of the food into one bag, she thought to herself. But it seemed weird. Before he had a policy of always making sure they both had almost equal shares of all the food and water. Their supplies were always split up so that if they were separated they would still be able to survive.

As she ate several other inconsistencies also started to nag at her. Everything she needed was in her bag already, including stuff that was usually not there. And now that she thought on it, why had Clifford been in there? Why had Max shoved him into the backpack instead of just killing him? Am I just grasping at straws? Do I just want to convince myself that there's something going on that I don't know about?

Why had he bothered to have her clothes in a pile by her backpack? Why had the bra purposely been thrown onto the neat pile when it would have made more sense to be discarded randomly around the cave?

It had also been too easy to escape. Would an experienced serial rapist and murderer, one that took on giant monsters with his bare hands, really let himself be taken down by a little school girl? Why hadn't he caught up to her? Something else nagged at her, something he had said. After a moment she realized what it was.

Sekai stood up suddenly causing everyone to look at her.

'I'll show you where a river is now, come on,' she said, turning and starting to walk away. Clifford padded next to her as the other four humans trailed behind. Sekai managed to find the river she had used to refill her and Max's canteens. As everyone drank and filled up their plastic bottles that they used to hold water, Sekai spoke.

'And now this is where I leave you.'

'Leave?' asked Miho, turning to look at her. 'Why don't you travel with us? You and Clifford will be safer in a group.' The girl looked sincerely concerned for Sekai's safety, but Sekai couldn't stay.

'Sorry, but I have something I need to do. I hope you all stay safe.' Without another word, Sekai scooped up Clifford in her arms and ran away. Not looking back to see if they were following she weaved through the trees, not making straight for the cave. After several maneuvers and backtracking, Sekai emerged from the jungle. Spread out before her were the now familiar rocks and crags. She walked towards the cave praying that its occupant was still there, and secretly hoping he wasn't. Max's face kept appearing in her mind causing her to shake violently. Clifford looked up at her from her arms and whined at her distress. Sekai hugged him to herself and continued moving forward. Soon she found herself back at the cave.

Sekai put Clifford down and took out the knife Max had given her from her bag. She held it at the ready and slowly moved towards the cave, watching for signs of trouble. Peaking around the edge of the cave she saw Max lying asleep at the back of the cave, shirt off. She quietly approached and saw that his torso looked to be one massive bruise. That explains how I managed to fend him off. He must be in pain, no wonder he didn't chase after me. Sekai crept up to him. No matter what happened this was a problem she had to solve before she could move forward.

It was obvious how injured and tired he was by how he didn't react as she approached him. It's like he's resigned himself to dying, he's not even trying to protect himself anymore, Sekai thought to herself. She stopped a meter in front of him, Clifford right by her side. Lying discarded to one side of the cave was Max's second knife. Sekai picked it up and put it on her belt. Then she turned and faced the still sleeping man.

"Max Samson, wake up. I want to talk to you." she said, trying to put the ring of authority in her voice. His eyelids slowly fluttered open and his amber eyes focused on the girl in front of him. He tried and failed to hide his surprise at her arrival.

"You returned, I guess you really are that stupid." His voice caused shivers down her spine. And his insidious smile returned causing Sekai to almost break down in fear. Pushing back her panic, she responded as confidently as she could.

"Don't give me that bullshit. Not only do I have your knife, you're injured. With how badly you're hurt I don't think even you could take me on in that condition."

"Want to find out?"

"No. Neither do you, not really. This bluffing is just annoying me. Tell me what's really going on."

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm wanted for several charges of rape and murder."

"You keep saying that, but I don't believe it."

"It doesn't matter if you believe it or not, but it's the truth."

"Maybe part of the truth, why don't you tell me the whole truth?"

"What makes you think there's more?" Sekai noticed that his face seemed to be hopeful.

"Because nothing is adding up, and I want to know why. I want to know about you and find out why you seem to not care if you die. What makes a serial rapist and murderer keep a middle school girl alive for over a month when on their first meeting he could have had his fun, kill her and move on? You didn't need me to survive on this island. You could have left me at any moment and probably done even better. So, tell me your story."

Max looked at her for a minute, then he released a sigh of relief.

"Very well then. Like it or not, believe or not, this is my story." He took a deep breath, and then continued. "Like I told you before, I'm from Los Angeles, California and 19 years old. Two years ago I graduated from High School. I spent a few months bumming around, trying out different jobs, experimenting on how I wanted to live my future. Eventually I decided to join the Marine Corp. I signed up and shipped out to San Diego for boot camp. I went though the 12 weeks of recruit training, followed by several more months of more advanced training. At the end of the training before deployment we received a few days relaxation time. I headed back home to show off to my father who I hadn't seen since I had left. He was a famous doctor at the local hospital. Always putting in extra hours and working himself to exhaustion to try to save all of his patients," Max paused, looking like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. Sekai realized that she had all the food they had had, and since it looked like he hadn't moved, he had probably not eaten anything for at least half a day. She dug around in her bag and removed some of the nuts.

"Here, eat these." She tossed them over. As he started munching on them she dug the second canteen out of her bag and tossed that to him also. He deftly caught it and took small sips interspersed with nuts. Soon he was looking much better.

"Thanks." He said, giving her one of his kind smiles. Sekai couldn't help but flinch as she imagined it replaced my one of his malicious smiles. Max seemed to notice and stopped smiling. He continued.

"I thought to surprise him with my visit, show him how tough and disciplined I had become. That was a bad idea. I came home right as he finished raping and killing a girl. I flew into a rage, questioning him about what he had done and why. He just laughed, calmly dressing and started recounting in detail how he had already done it eight times before. Detail after detail, even now I can imagine each event as if I had been there, doing each assault myself. We fought and I won. He ended up dead on the floor before I had realized what had happened." Max paused and looked down at his lap. Sekai saw tears start dripping down onto the cave floor. The urge to comfort him struck her but she resisted it. She needed to hear the story out completely before making any decisions.

"Are you ready to continue?" she asked in the most dispassionate voice she could manage. Max looked up at her, his eyes red and watery. He really had been crying, not fake tears but real ones. Sekai wondered at what he had been crying about, the death of his father, or something else entirely. The American wiped away the tears and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Luck wasn't on my side. Cole Jackson and Mark Golden, two of my father's closet friends arrived to see me kill my father. They hadn't heard the conversation and assumed I was the criminal. Nothing I said could convince them. So I gave up on convincing them and instead threatened them. Cole is an attorney and executor of my father's will. I had him redo the will so that if my father died, all of his money and assets would be donated to the local hospital. Mark is the accountant that manages the family funds. He had made some good investments on my father's behalf, giving us quite a fortune. I made sure through him that all of the money went to the hospital, except for a few hundred dollars, which I kept for myself for my needs. Then, after everything was in order, I tied them up, made a call to the police and ran for it. Soon after I managed to sneak on board a flight to Guam, hiding out there for a while. I hopped on the plane to Japan in case I was tracked down. I needed to keep moving to not be caught. Then, the plane crashed on this island and well, you know the rest." he finished, staring straight into her eyes. Sekai maintained eye contact with him, not willing to be the one to break away.

"No, I don't know the rest." She replied, staring into his amber eyes. "Why did you keep running, why not tell the police. By running you probably made things worse. If you gave them your story then wouldn't they realize by matching the forensics that you were telling the truth?"

"The truth? No one would have believed me. There were two witnesses against me. Mostly, I was scared. Scared no one would believe me. I didn't have the courage to face that possibility."

Sekai realized that all along he hadn't been expecting her to believe his story. He had achieved his heartfelt wish when she had asked for his side of the story. Max was like a child who had gotten in trouble. He just wanted someone to listen to his side of the story.

"Why did you save me on the plane?"

"To prove I wasn't powerless. I failed the nine women my father killed. It was happening again in front of me and I swore I would stop it this time." He looked down at the floor briefly then stared back at her, hope in his eyes. "Do you believe me?"

Sekai took a deep breath. That was a good question. Did she believe him? It was all just so strange. He had attacked her earlier, and now he was asking if she believed him. She stood there thinking for a minute, staring at the man in front of her.

"Yes, I do." She realized that she actually did. Max's face lit up in pure, unrestrained joy. Sekai wasn't done questioning him though. "Why did you attack me earlier?"

Max's expression turned to a mixture of embarrassment and sadness.

"Because I'm dangerous. After the bear fell on top of you I ran over to try to help. I managed to get you out from under it, but you were unconscious. I carried you back to this cave and stripped off your clothes to see if you were injured. Luckily you weren't, but I realized something when I was done. I felt nothing. No embarrassment, only relief that you weren't injured. It was like disassembling a gun to prepare for a mission. I didn't view you as a person, but an item, a piece of equipment. You were the key to my salvation. If I could protect you, then I could be absolved of my sins." Max looked ashamed and defeated. "I needed to get you away from me, so I decided to show you how dangerous I could really be, scare you away."

Sekai realized at that moment that Max Samson wasn't completely sane. There was something wrong with him. He was a strange mix of childish innocence and adult jadedness. She also realized that he had hurt her because he had honestly believed it would help her. A shiver ran down her spine again. Max stared at her, awaiting a verdict. She needed to make a decision. Sekai out away her knife in its sheath and walked forward.

"You baka!" Max's head snapped around as Sekai's slap impacted it. He didn't even react. He was probably thinking he deserved it. That thought made Sekai even angrier. "You should have told me all of this and let me make my own decision! Were you afraid I would run after hearing your story so you just wanted to get it over with? I never thought you would be such a coward! You've saved my life many times on this island. If it wasn't for you I would be dead. I thought we were companions, friends."

Tears started to pour down her eyes. Max's expression became pained as he observed her stress. He slowly reached out a hand to her cheek, which she slapped away.

"Nanasawa…"

"You really didn't care about surviving this whole time, did you?"

"No…"

"You idiot! Why would you try to throw away your own life! You're just running! You can stand in front of a herd of giant man-eating boars and not flinch! You've fought bears! Stop running from your problems and face them." Sekai stared straight into his eyes and softened her expression a bit. "If you want help, all you need is to go and ask for it."

Max just stared at her for a few minutes. Then, a smile broke across his face. A smile of genuine joy and for a minute Sekai was able to forget his malicious smile from before.

"Ok then. Nanasawa, would you be willing to work with me to survive on this island so that I can escape and turn myself into the police for justice and a chance to clear my name?"

"Yes, I would." Sekai held out her hand to him. Max took it and shook.

"Can I ask you another question?" he asked with a sheepish look on his face.

"What?"

"Would you be willing to be my friend?" his eyes were earnest and full of hope. "I really need one." Sekai felt bad but memories of the day before returned.

"No." a pained look spread across his face. Sekai squashed any feelings of guilt. "You hurt me, and I can't forget that right now. I'm willing to be your companion and give you a second chance. If you want me to be your friend then you'll need to show me with your actions."

His face lit up again. "Deal." he said, smiling.

Before anything else could be said between them, Sekai heard a shuffling sound behind her. Max reacted by looking in surprise at whatever was behind her. Sekai turned around and saw Ayumi standing behind.

'Tohya-san, what are you doing here?' she asked, making sure to speak in Japanese. How much had she heard? Had she been listening in the whole time and they hadn't noticed? And where were the other three members of Ayumi's group?

'Miho-san convinced Erika-san and Hayasaka-kun to chase after you.' she was staring past Sekai at Max and looked like she was going to die of fright. 'I heard noise from this cave and just saw you standing there. That was right before you noticed me.'

"Nanasawa, what's going on? Who is this girl? What's she saying?" asked Max, confused. Sekai remembered that he couldn't speak Japanese and couldn't understand the conversation.

"This is Tohya Ayumi, she's a classmate of mine. When I was separated from you yesterday I met her and three others." Sekai then turned to Ayumi. As she was about to ask where the others were, a voice yelled out.

'Ayumi-chan!' Miho ran up to the cave entrance and peered in. 'Did you find something?' She then noticed Sekai and Max. A look of surprise appeared on her face. 'Yuuki! Yamada-san! Over here! I found Nanasawa-san and an injured foreigner!'

The two came running up to the cave entrance and looked inside in wonder at its occupants. Sekai stood there for a moment trying to figure out what to say. Surprisingly, Max was the first to speak.

"Kon'nichiwa, watashi Ken Sugiyama." Sekai just stood there stunned for a second after hearing his very badly worded and accented Japanese. Everyone else seemed confused or surprised also. Sekai decided that that would be the best moment to speak up.

'This is Ken Sugiyama, a tourist from America. He was visiting relatives in Japan after stopping over in Guam. He doesn't really know any Japanese as you can see.' Sekai thought they were going to buy the cover story for a moment, but then something unexpected happened. Erika moved forward to stand in front of her three companions, and pulled out a gun, aiming it directly at Max.

"I am Erika Phelps, United States of America Air Marshall. Max Samson you are under arrest for charges of rape, murder and evading arrest. If you move so much as a muscle I will kill you."

A/N: Even down here you can't escape all of my author notes. This has been the longest chapter so far by a mile; I hope you all enjoyed it. I felt at this time to mention several musical inspirations that aided in the writing of this chapter. These include Muse's "Madness", "Criminal" by Disturbed (This is what I see as Max's theme song), "Monster" by Skillet (an alternative theme song for him) and "Monster" by Dev (Sekai's theme song, seeing a pattern?). Oh, and lots of Dido. Thank you to everyone who has read the story up to this point and especially to those who have left a review. Did anyone catch the reference last chapter to several characters from the Manga? And next chapter I plan to introduce yet another character from the Manga. Hope everyone is looking forward to it.