This isn't right.

Ryozo Munakata, father of Mikoto, stood on the deck outside his study. He wasn't quite sure what was wrong; he just had one of his feelings. Like the one he had felt when he had first ventured into All God's Village…

But, then again, this place was reputedly cursed. Why shouldn't he have an odd feeling? He shook his head. Nothing had happened, anyway. Nothing to make him feel this way.

Nothing happened then, either. Not until Makabe-sensei died…

He pressed his fingers to his forehead. "Perhaps I just need to sleep for a while," he muttered to himself. "It's getting late, anyway…"

He turned around and walked through the doors that led back into the mansion.

Yae Munakata sat in what had more or less been designated as her private room. She had fallen in love with it as soon as she had entered – it was small, cozy, warm…currently she had only moved her old koto into it, but she planned on eventually converting it to a guest bedroom.

This place…it was so familiar to her. The entire mansion smelled familiar, like a long-lost memory. It smelled

(Like Malice)

sort of musty, sort of warm. She felt a heaviness in the air as well that seemed a little out of place. But, then again, she hadn't ever lived in the mountains before. Maybe it was just different.

She began plucking at her koto. Mikoto had made friends already, something that immensely relieved both Yae and her husband. They seemed like nice enough children – they were very polite but not in a terribly stuffy or laughably nervous way. She smiled to herself. Mikoto was such an adaptable little girl!

The door slid open behind her. She turned around and saw Ryozo enter the room. He gave her a tired smile. "Goodnight, Yae," he said.

She grinned. "The first week we're here and you're already out of things to study?"

Ryozo laughed. "Actually, I'm going to start quite an expedition tomorrow. I'm going to try to open the door that goes to the backyard."

"Which one is that? The one by the stairwell?"

Ryozo shook his head. "Fish Tank Room."

Yae nodded. "You should try to get the door at the top of the stairs opened. Mikoto's extremely curious about what's on the other side."

"I'll do that," her husband responded.

The two continued talking for a few seconds, and then walked together to their makeshift bedroom outside of the study.

Mikoto got very little sleep that night. Her natural energy had taken an amazing leap, and she found herself unable to stay still long enough to get anywhere close to sleep.

So far, she had been enjoying their stay. It wasn't quite "home" yet, but she figured that would take a while – it always did. She had invited her friends to come over and explore tomorrow. Yoshiko and Katsu had accepted, but Mitsuko had politely declined – she said that her aunt was getting married and she wanted to be there. Mikoto secretly thought that maybe Mitsuko was afraid of the mansion, but didn't say anything. She'd come when she was ready.

I'll have to ask Daddy about that, Mikoto thought to herself. He might know why she would be scared. Or maybe I'm just being weird about this…

She rolled onto her back and once again tried to fall asleep. As she looked to the door, she saw...

She didn't know what she saw; it was like a giant staticy area near the little door that led to the stairs. Like a sort of…Not Real. That was all she could think of to describe it. Not Real.

She shook her head rapidly, hoping to clear her vision. The static still clocked the doorway. She considered going over to it, but decided not to. What if it made her Not Real? That would be…

Well, that would be pretty cool. But I'd like to stay me for a while…

She closed her eyes again. This time she managed to slip away into unconsciousness.

Heh…sorry I haven't updated in a while. I got really sick. Actually, I'm still sick, but I couldn't stay away for this long. : )

Hope you liked the chapter! Thanks to pikarikku and Trout for their patronage. : ) Please R&R!