Trust

Summary: A girl, Miharu, is kidnapped from her native plane by the power-hungry Hiroyoshi, who brings the young school girl to his own plane. Through sinister twists and turns, he gains her trust, introducing her to his world and her powers. But then, as Miharu is exposed to the Reikai Tantei and the truth, she begins to wonder just who she should be trusting...
Rating: R
Warnings: Extreme violence, torture, language, attempted rape, gore, and descriptiveness
Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters; I also do not own Evanescence, nor their song lyrics.
Claimer: I created Miharu, Miharu's father, Vox, and Ms. Senti from my own mind. Any kind mimicry of other characters from any outside sources is entirely coincidental and accidental.

This is regular narration. "This is talking."
'This is thinking.'
-- These are song lyrics. Currently playing is "Hello", by Evanescence --

+ Chapter 1: Hello Nightmare +

-- Has no one told you, she's not breathing? --

Seconds later, the school girl was landing in any way save gracefully. She lay dazed, on her side, crushed into the worn carpeting by the momentum of her fall.

A hurt moan arose from her lips as she surveyed the damage done. Wiggled fingers, then toes, proved nothing was broken or paralyzed; it just felt like everything was bruised. Sitting back on her palms, she looked up. A dark gray ceiling met her, one that didn't look like anything could just slip through it like she just had. And her school's staircases didn't just disappear like that. What had happened?

Her eyes slid from the ceiling to the room around her, taking in her shabby environment room. A dilapidated faucet above a rusted drain; faint mold growing on the cracked walls; the make-shift bed of a slim foam mattress scantily covered by two small sheets; she was currently prisoner to a stranger.

A shiver shook itself through her, rattling her already jarred bones. 'It feels so strange in here. I don't like this place...whatever it is..' The unnatural quiet of the room was unnerving; it reminded her of when she was younger and would build snow forts in the wintertime. The room she now occupied was as silent as the interior of a snow fort...except they usually exerted the contagious feeling of happiness and welcoming. This place felt so negative and lost.

-- Hello, I'm your mind
Giving you someone to talk to --

Miharu heaved herself up into a sitting position, knees locked to her chest by her arms that were wrapped around them. Just like a snow fort, the room was also chilling temperature-wise. 'Just like a snow fort...' she comforted herself, gently rocking herself back and forth, 'I'm just in a snow fort...'

Thus was the scene he walked in to find: Miharu rocking back and forth, eyes glazed and staring straight ahead, still trying to convince herself through barely audible mumbles that she could exit her snow fort at any time. The man merely chuckled to himself. "So it's a snow fort you want..."

He closed his eyes and outstretched his arms. Soon enough, he observed as she put out a hesitant hand, no doubt feeling the snow around her in the illusion he had just created. A contented smile crossed her face and her eyes opened, surveying her hallucination. He entered her field of vision when he stepped closer

-- Hello --

The school girl shakily rose to her feet, bending in an awkward bow. "H-Hello?" she called out timidly, then louder. "Hello? Who are you? Do you know where I am?" The flow of questions came un-stoppered from her mind through her mouth, only ceasing when the man held up a hand to silence her.

"Miharu, I - "

"And how...do you know my name?" Miharu interrupted curiously, eyeing him with an apologetically wondering expression.

In response, the man waved his hands, therefore vanishing the 'snow' and causing Miharu to look around in awed caution. "How...?"

The man took a step toward her, a threatening red glint briefly lighting his dark grey eyes. "No more questions," he growled. Miharu closed her mouth, nodding thrice. "I am called Vox, and you are in my domain. That is all you need to know."

Miharu watched the man before her fearfully, not moving or making a sound, merely awaiting his next words or movements. Vox nodded curtly, seemingly to himself, and quickly lost his menacing demeanor with the entrance of a soft smile. The gesture seemed disturbingly foreign to his face however, an island of attempted welcome lost in a sea of harshness. It did little to comfort Miharu.

"Follow me and touch nothing," he instructed, turning quickly on his heel and out a door Miharu had failed to notice before. As she passed it, she recognized several locks on the exterior of the frame. Who ever used this room obviously wanted what was kept inside to stay inside.

The doorway deposited them in a hallway, one they traveled down. Up two more of those pesky flights of stairs, across what reminded Miharu of a ball room from a fantasy tale, and through a couple more hallways was where Vox led Miharu. He halted before a heavy wood door inlaid with an attractive woodwork design. The tarnished silver door knob melted perfectly into the design, which Miharu realized was of a repulsive beast with an apple in its mouth. Her heart became suddenly heavy for no reason, and she took it as a sign that she didn't want to know what was on the other side of the door. Before she could voice any worries to Vox, however, he swung the door open. Beyond the creaking, un-oiled hinges was a scene nothing could have prepared Miharu for.

The room looked like something out of a twisted horror movie. The smell of blood and something rotting dominated the room to an almost overpowering degree. All kinds of torturing devices were set up, each designed for a particularly painful experience one would not soon forget - that is to say, if one made it out of the room alive.

'What...is this place...?' A factor that made the equipment even more barbaric in nature was that blood - new and dried - was still splattered everywhere, including on the random bones littering the floor. 'Human bones!'

Miharu balked in the doorway, eyes captivated by the sight of humanity's darkest indulgence. A hand landed on her shoulder. Miharu jumped, gasping sharply in the process, and turned to meet the owner of the firm grip - Vox. He kept his expression stoic, eyes forward and away from hers. She found herself being propelled forward by the vice-like grip he held her in. 'Wow, his hands are warm,' she thought to herself. 'Too warm,' she whimpered inwardly, the great heat radiating off Vox's hand scalding her with his prolonged grip.

The two had walked just past the center of the room when a blood-curdling shriek echoed across its walls. Miharu stopped in her tracks, goose bumps pricking her skin and the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. She whirled to face the way she had just came, which was where the scream had come from, moving so fast that she unconsciously wrenched herself from Vox's grip. She might have thought about the temporary relief of the extra pressure and heat from her shoulder, but the grisly scene before her made her mind go blank with shock and horror.

Miharu stood, mouth agape, and watched as a group of what appeared to be people stood around one of the contraptions. One of them moved aside, giving the school girl a view of what was so interesting: A tri-horned creature strapped down, arms bound above it. The torture part, Miharu quickly realized, was the crank currently being pulled, which in turn pulled a wheel, which in turn pulled at the ropes binding the creature's hands, which in turn was slowly pulling the creature's arms out of its sockets.

Miharu's hands balled into fists at her sides. "Stop it!" she cried, taking an indignant step towards the commotion. The people hovering around the torture glanced at her, and the school girl swallowed hard, thoughts at what they would do to her flying through here head, all painful and severely inhumane.

But instead of advancing towards her or uttering cries of anger or even a shouting 'Shut up!', they just...laughed. At her and her distress. The one closest to the crank causing the torture gave it a quick yank, causing the creature to yelp loudly. It echoed around the room. She was too focused on holding back tears from falling to hear the angered growl emitted by Vox, who stood behind her. "You monsters! Did you hear me? I said - "

Miharu was cut off when Vox's bony fingers wrapped around her neck like five warriors preying on a disobedient foe. He wrenched her backwards to a rough stop uncomfortably close to his body so that she could feel the unnatural heat radiating off of him. "Stop," he said in a harsh whisper, his warm voice on her ear giving her an unpleasant shiver, "Or I'll give them you to play with next." She nodded quickly, not saying another word or meeting his eyes, and was ushered obligingly out of the room.

-- If I smile and don't believe
Soon I know I'll wake from this dream --

Though she was not saying anything aloud on their little trek, she was screaming inside. What she had just seen defied everything she had been taught: People - or, at least, what appeared to be people - were allowed to torture a defenseless creature. Just the fact that people wanted to do that was unbelievable! And then, when someone tried to stop them, to do what was right...they laughed at her. That was what made her the angriest: They didn't acknowledge her anger. In fact, it was as if they were further enticed by her fury at them.

But she was also mad at herself because, in a way, the creature suffered more because of her intervention. One thing was for sure, she would definitely have trouble stopping that scream of incomprehensible pain from echoing inside her head.

And yet there was another emotion present amidst the torrent of anger: Fear. In the short time she had known the man who called himself Vox, he had made it clear that his patience was thin and his temper was not to be crossed. With a sinking feeling of dread, Miharu realized she had both tried his patience and made him angry with her.

The school girl glanced at the male leading her, having been freed from his fiery grip. He certainly wasn't much to look at. His dark blond hair was short enough to stay out of his face, but long enough to become a mess of tangles if not taken care of properly (which is seemingly what had happened). His beady dark grey eyes viewed the world with a mercantile stare and the way he carried himself seemed official, like he was someone important. The business suit he wore was a lighter shade of his eyes, but made his already pale complexion seem more pallid, like sour milk.

She quickly ceased surveying Vox when he glanced sharply at her, as if he had felt her eyes on him. Miharu didn't dare to look anywhere else but at her feet. Which, she noticed with a start, were only covered with socks! 'What happened to my shoes? I know I put my shoes on this morning. How could I have gone to school without them?' Her eyes caught sight of her red and blue pajama pants, the frayed cuffs hanging around her ankles. She had actually grown out of them a year ago, but her father didn't have any money to spare for new ones that fit properly. 'But why would I be in my pajamas? I changed into my school uniform this morning. I know I did!'

"What are you fussing over?" Vox asked in an annoyed, impatient tone. He had stopped walking, causing her to stop as well. He was now peering down at Miharu, who was gaping incredulously at her clothing.

"I...I changed this morning," Miharu said shakily. The abrupt change of her world was beginning to take its toll on her. "I know I did," she continued on, her voice cracking. "What happened to my clothes?" She sniffed, looking to Vox for any kind of answer. A couple tears were released from the well behind her eyes, running down the sides of her face.

The aforementioned man stood rigidly and said coldly, "Tears are useless here. Crying is a weak and disgusting habit." His eyes held nothing human.

Though she tried to bite it back, a sob escaped her lips. More tears ran down her face.

With a resounding smack, five red fingerprints appeared on Miharu's cheek. The girl crumpled to the floor clutching her face, hair splayed over her face, now whimpering in pain and unmasked fear. Vox uttered a sound of disgust and nudged her none to gently with the tip of his foot. "If you don't stop crying, you'll be dead by morning!" The malicious glint in his eye guaranteed his threat would be carried out - and that he would greatly enjoy doing so.

There was a tense pause. "Get up," he ordered, straightening up to stand over her.

She only trembled, biting her bottom lip so that no sound would escape. Tears streamed from her eyes as silently as the afternoon sun streamed into the hallway through a nearby window.

"Get. Up." His voice was strained, the words spit through clenched teeth.

'I can't move...oh god, I can't move...'

"Get up, dammit!" Vox exclaimed, grabbing a section of hair near her head and yanking her up. He looked her straight in the eye. "I tolerated your questions and your disobedience in the torture room. I'll give you a real reason to cry! You will obey me," he shouted.

-- Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken --

She was half dragged to a forlorn door in the corner of the hallway. Vox thrust it open, shoving her inside. She blindly stumbled over her own feet, the pain throbbing forcefully from her scalp enough to block out the receding pain in her cheek. There was only a few second's pause in which Miharu caught a fleeting glimpse of fire shooting from Vox's palm, igniting a small light in the dark, windowless room. The flames greedily ate the oil awaiting them, shadows dancing about the room.

The next second, Vox turned to her. He stalked toward her, the deadly glow of the flames enhancing his exterior to a chilling degree. The school girl involuntarily whimpered aloud again, eyes searching the room for any means of escape. "Please..." she moaned out pitifully, not even sure of what she was begging of him. She didn't know quite what he had in store for her, but she knew it would hurt - a lot. Her legs moved of their own accord, steering her away from the on-coming danger. She bumped into something large and soft, whirling around to find a canopy bed. All the sheets and hangings bathed in the flickering glow to make them appear different shades of crimson. Her head was spinning.

She was about to turn back to face him, but a pair of hands grabbed her, pushing her forcefully onto the bed. Vox straddled her stomach painfully, crushing her small body under his. She desperately clawed at his legs, chest, arms, anything she could reach, to escape - or at least breathe easily again. Vox only growled loudly and held her wrists above her head, chaining them to the bed's frame. She was able to take one gasping breath before Vox had shoved his mouth against hers, immediately plunging his tongue in to assault Miharu's.

She was only twelve. Kisses such as these only existed, to her, in hushed conversations between her and some of her friends. They'd sometimes daydream about how their first real kiss would be like, all scenarios romantic and juvenile. But none of them had ever even contemplated their first kiss could be with a terrifying stranger, who made no romantic advances whatsoever - someone who, instead, made it as un-romantic as possible.

Miharu's mind had gone blank with shock at what was happening to her. When she regained her senses, she could feel something calloused and warm slip clumsily under her pajama top, heading straight for her underdeveloped chest. She squeaked loudly against his lips when he made contact, her eyes going wide.

'This is not happening. This is not happening. I'm having a nightmare. I'm not here. This is not happening...' she told herself, forcing her eyes to shut tightly and block out the feeling of Vox in her mouth and on her breast.

'I'm not here. I'm not here. I'm not here.' It became a mantra in her head, and she focused everything she had on becoming totally unresponsive to Vox, numb to her situation.

-- Hello, I'm the lie
Living for you so you can hide --

And suddenly...she was free. She could breathe easily, was no longer being crushed by Vox. In fact, she was standing. She let herself stand in that place for a moment, reveling in her liberation. All at once, smells and sounds overflowed her senses, causing her to take an involuntary step backwards. She slowly opened her eyes, letting them slowly adjust to the sunlight that bathed the sidewalk she occupied. People busily brushed past her, not stopping to notice the young girl or question why she was in her pajamas and not in school. Inside she was secretly grateful for this; how would she respond?

Vox was not in sight. Miharu breathed a sigh of relief. It was as if she was waking up from a nightmare, the gentle hustle and bustle of the street comforting her stressed nerves. She let a short laugh escape her lips. 'It was all just a dream!' she thought excitedly. 'Just a scary, stupid dream. Now...where am I?'

A booming voice caused the school girl to start. "What's that supposed to mean?" it shouted.

The voice belonged to a tall, orange-haired boy who had just turned onto her street. He was talking to his shorter, black-haired companion, who had undoubtedly insulted him. The black-haired one just brushed him off with a nonchalant shrug. The brown-haired girl next to them just shook her head, telling them quietly that they were beginning to cause a scene. Indeed they were, for at the tall boy's outburst some of the pedestrians had glanced unapprovingly at him. The orange-haired boy muttered a quick, "Sorry," to the street. The girl said something Miharu could only hear as murmurs, then waved and was off. The two boys were left walking.

Miharu watched them with interest. They were each wearing what looked to be a school uniform, though the taller boy's was blue and the black-haired one's was green. Perhaps they were from different schools?

"Hey, Kuwabara, what time is it? Didn't we tell Kurama we'd meet him by four?" the boy with the green uniform asked, the two stopping for a moment.

"Yeah. When I left school the clock said three fifty," Kuwabara said.

"How long ago was that?"

"Ah, I don't know," the taller boy admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

The shorter boy reached up to playfully punch his companion's head, muttering, "Idiot."

Kuwabara just hmph'ed and surveyed the street. When his eyes swept past Miharu she looked into them, keeping his gaze with her own. Kuwabara's face showed concealed confusion, his eyebrows slightly drawn together and his mouth slightly agape. He nudged the black-haired boy, who followed Kuwabara's eyes.

Miharu turned as casually as she could manage and began to walk farther down the street, away from the two boys. She didn't want to attract any attention, she just wanted...she wanted...

'I want to go home,' she realized. Back to her father, her school, her friends, her life...

Miharu was distracted by the two boys shouting behind her: "Hey, you! Wait up!"

Certain no one would be calling to her on this foreign street, the school girl didn't stop. But suddenly, the voices were right behind her. "Hey, didn't you hear us?" Kuwabara's voice asked. The black-haired one appeared before her, blocking her path.

"I heard you," Miharu stated truthfully, eyes warily studying the boy before her, "I just didn't think you were talking to me. Who are you?"

Yusuke gave a cocky grin. "Urameshi Yusuke, toughest punk at Sarayashiki Junior High. This idiot over here's -"

"Kuwabara Kazuma, second toughest punk at Sarayashiki!" Kuwabara interrupted hastily, moving to also stand before the school girl. He glared at Yusuke, crossing his arms over his chest and adding, "An' I'm no idiot, either!"

Miharu laughed nervously, an uncomfortable knot forming in her stomach. "I'm Takeuchi Miharu, student at Fujikane Junior High."

Yusuke gave her a curious look. "Fujikane? Where's that?"

The knot tightened. "I-It's here in Osaka - "

Yusuke looked taken aback, and Kuwabara cocked an eyebrow. "This ain't Osaka - we're in Tokyo! Did you hit your head or somethin'?"

Miharu's eyes darted between the two. It didn't look like they were joking...she really was in Tokyo. She felt like she was going to throw up. "...Tokyo?" she managed to say slowly. Her knees suddenly felt weak and she felt herself sway. She tried to steady herself, but had apparently lost control over her body for the time being.

A hand reached out to steady her, resting firmly on her shoulder. She looked up with the expression of a deer caught in a pair of headlights. Her mind flashed back to when Vox was leading her down that hallway, his grip authorative and dominating. Suddenly it was not a teenage boy with dark hair and startled caramel eyes that was looking back at her, but a leering, grey-eyed, pale Vox. His mouth twisted into a warped grin, mouthing something she couldn't understand. Tears flowed down her face while she desperately clawed his hand away.

-- Don't cry --

But then Vox was gone and it was Urameshi Yusuke, supposed tough punk of Sarayashiki Junior High, who was again in front of her. He held his arm against his chest, looking disbelievingly at his hand, where several scratches were gouged, deep and bleeding. Next to him, Kuwabara was slowly backing away from her.

Miharu looked through her tears to the two teens. "I'm - I'm sorry. I thought you were Vo- I thought you were someone else," was all the explanation she could give.

Yusuke answered angrily, "Yeah, well I feel sorry for whoever you thought I was! I was just trying to help! C'mon, Kuwabara." With that, he turned from her huddled form and stalked down the street. Kuwabara gave her one last, curious look before following his friend.

With the two boys gone, Miharu's tears came freely. She buried her head in her arms and sat on the sidewalk, her back leaning against the wall for support. A quick, biting self-hatred cast itself over her. She hadn't meant to hurt Yusuke - she could have sworn in that moment in time that Vox was there, and he was going to hurt her again. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' she chided herself. Yusuke's indignant cry echoed through her head: "I was just trying to help!"

She tried to calm herself down. Vox wasn't near her anymore, and what was done to Yusuke was done; all she could do about it was be sorry. She inhaled deeply, exhaling through a long sigh, and her tears reduced to a gentle weep.

But her temporary peace only lasted so long. A bright, unimaginably white light shone from seemingly inside her own eyelids. Miharu felt herself being moved, a strong wind teasing her hair. A mixture of panic and confusion made her stomach rose to greet her throat, threatening to throw itself into the air.

-- Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping --

The blinding light receded, the wind died, and her stomach retreated to its rightful place. The school girl cautiously opened her eyes to see what had happened. She tried to raise her arm to brush away a couple defiant strands of hair, but the cuffs Vox had placed around her wrists prevented most movement. A jolt of fear and panic exploded in her mind: She was back with Vox...back in the nightmare

The room was getting increasingly warmer, and Miharu could already feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She became suddenly aware of a burning pain between her legs. Her eyes shot open to meet the cold grey eyes and satisfied smirk of none other than Vox, whose face was uncomfortably close to her own. Perhaps it was the crimson glow enveloping the whole room, or perhaps he was not human, but his normally grey eyes were glowing a torrid red.

"Finally awake," he grunted between rushed breaths.

Miharu's heart felt like it had stopped, frozen in place, when she realized what he was doing. She jerked her head to the side, seeing and feeling his naked skin on her own, his thrusts, the blood... She couldn't take anymore and screwed her eyes shut, but couldn't help the tears that descended from her eyes.

He pulled himself from her, sliding off the bed while lazily pulling his pants back up. When he was done dressing, he patted her cheek. "Don't try that stunt again, Miharu," he warned in lethally low voice. He grabbed an object from somewhere nearby. "But since you did...allow me to give you a permanent reminder of why you should never cross me."

He brandished a short dagger at her, its blade glinting in the glow of the room, before wrapping his hand around the tip of it. The next second the edge of it was pressed into the inside of Miharu's forearm, the blade white-hot. A high-pitched scream wrenched itself from her throat, a feral cry that knew nothing but immense pain. Her hands involuntarily balled into fists as tears poured from her eyes without abandon. She thrashed about the bed, trying to get away, but the chains held her fast. Vox held her arm steady while he worked the blade in some sort of pattern.

He finally withdrew the dagger, standing back to see what was done. He offered a sound of satisfaction. "Now you'll always remember who showed you how weak you are," he said aloud.

But she couldn't bring herself to look. Her eyes were still squeezed tightly together in pain; her fists were still balled, her nails were digging into her palms. She couldn't focus on anything but the building, burning sensation in her forearm. A repugnant smell tickled her nose, increasing her unwillingness to look.

The man took her by the chin roughly, shoving her face up and to the left so she could see what he had done. "Look, Miharu," he said coaxingly, his sugary tone not enough to cover the malice. "Look!"

Afraid he might torture her again just to open her eyes, she opened her light brown eyes to see her arm. A grotesque, capital letter V was burned into her flesh. Her face contorted in horror and she switched her gaze to Vox. She was now forever scarred...branded for eternity to this insane creature.

When he caught her expression, the creature laughed. He turned, chuckling madly, to a side table that had been set up next to the bed. She couldn't see so far over as to what exactly lay on the table, but her suspicions were confirmed when he returned his attention to her, now holding a four-tailed whip. He slung it back over his shoulder and brought it forcefully in front of him, lashing the school girl in four places.

Angry welts appeared on her naked legs, arms, face, chest, and stomach as the creature continually whipped her. Each tormented cry that escaped Miharu's throat only seemed to add to Vox's frenzy. He brought the whip over her countless times until finally stopping, panting for breath. He finally replaced the whip back on the side table and picked up a key. Her chains were unlocked and her only wish was that she could work her legs to run away, or at least will any part of her body to move.

-- Hello, I'm still here --

All she could do was watch with scared eyes as he stood still at the side of the bed, arms folded over his chest.

"What's the matter, Miharu? I've freed you. Can't you escape?" he taunted through a mad smile.

She bit her bottom lip, tried to block out the pain, and willed her arms to lash out at Vox. Yet all her arms did were flop pathetically, earning a scornful laugh from the man at her side. He turned suddenly from her and walked over to the door, opening it wide. The light from the hallway bled into the crimson room, giving Miharu enough light to see the extent of her injuries.

Welts - so many, all over...bleeding...pain... .

She longed to swing her legs off the bed and dash past the madman to freedom, but she couldn't move! Tears of frustration leaked from the corners of her eyes and she whimpered softly. The door was slammed shut.

Vox was making his way back over to his prisoner. "You didn't even try, m'dear," he said almost sadly, close enough to her now that he stroked her hair back from her face. "But I understand. You just want to stay here with me, don't you?"

Miharu didn't have the time to think before words were pouring like acid from her mouth. "You bastard! I would die before willingly staying another second with a piece of shit like - !"

Vox didn't let her finish. "Then die you will!" he shouted before shoving her off the bed. She tumbled head first into the floor, then rolled sideways into something wooden and hard. The impact of her crash sent a somewhat large candle and its metal holder crashing down onto Miharu's crumpled form. Hot wax seeped onto her skin, molding itself into numerous welts and scratches. Miharu saw white for a full three seconds before that pain actually set in.

The girl howled loudly, rolling about on the floor crazily. By this time, Vox was behind her, watching her with amusement. She, however, was blind to his presence. The only thought on her mind was:

'Escape...get out...door's right there.'

She managed to flop onto her stomach and hoist herself an inch or so from the floor. Like that, she began to crawl towards the door.

Vox looked on, letting her get to the door. His grin grew wider as she shakily pulled herself up to her knees, using the doorknob to steady herself, and she tried to open the door.

'Locked!' She let out a defeated cry. She let herself drop, just fall in a heap to the floor, where she sobbed. There was no way out.

Vox sighed deeply. He'd told her about those annoying, useless tears. "Miharu," he said tersely. "Cut that out."

She couldn't hear him.

"Stop crying!" he said loudly, walking heavily toward her.

She could not hear him, and continued sobbing.

A swift kick was received by her gut. It was her reflex to curl into something similar to the fetal position and cough, a sticky, red substance coming from her throat. He kicked her again.

Then all she knew was black.

-- All that's left of yesterday --

+ End of Chapter One +

About Miharu's name, Takeuchi Miharu: In Japan, people's last names are said first. Also a little FYI: Takeuchi is Yoshihiro Togashi's wife's last name (manga artist Naoko Takeuchi).

Hello, author here. I'm sorry about the length of the chapter, it might have deterred some people from actually finishing it...but to those who stuck with it, thank you! It's a bit long, yes, but it needed to be, in order for the story to start right.

I chose the song Hello by Evanescence for a couple reasons. One, I'm a huge Evanescence fan. Two, the song is about understanding the concept of death at a young age, and it's about the death of someone young. In this beginning here, the school girl Miharu I first introduced you to metaphorically dies. She is replaced with a victim, a psychologically and physically damaged adult. It shall be interesting to see what happens next, no?

In the middle somewhat, Miharu is "freed" and finds herself in the middle of a street, where she meets Yusuke-kun and Kuwa-kun. How did she get there (and back to Vox)? What happened? Why? How? Huh?

XD

All in due time, dear readers. All in due time.