"Don't get any big ideas,

          They're not going to happen

         You paint yourself white

        And fill in the noise

       There'll be something missing

     And now that you've found it…               

   it's gone

 And now that you feel it… you   

don't

        You've gone off the rails."

 

                         -Nude, by Radiohead              

     from In Rainbows (2007)

 

Chapter One: 

        This was not what Nicky Houston had expected his day to go down. 

 

         In fact, it really wasn't his day.

 

         Nicky lay face-down on the hot concrete pavement, underneath the noonday sun just meters away from the school gym. Supposedly he was heading there. Blood messily spilled out of his nasal and oral orifices, staining both his face and the floor. He was lucky enough for not getting his tooth chipped after violently colliding with Enrico Manriquez's callused fists, yet not quite lucky enough to avoid the buff Hispanic guy on his first day at Harvine High School as a new student and a new resident of the town.

 

         As the event garnered attention from the fellow school attendees, Enrico approached the freshman lying on the dusty concrete. He raised a foot, and pressed it onto the poor boy's blond-haired head, increasing the pressure every second. Nick let out muffled grunts of pain, and instinctively made attempts to squirm himself free. With both gravity and physical strength competing against him, it ended in futility, and only brought more pain from his movements and Enrico's annoyance.

 

        "Look, I don't care if I get detention or suspension. You're goddamn ruining my supposedly good day! Here in Harvine, you don't wanna piss me off, newcomer," muttered Enrico with both mockery and venom in his tone. "So next time, never look at me funny, and two: never spill a fucking chocolate juice on my Air Jordan!" To express that rage, he lifted his foot free from Nick's head only to deliver a hard, yet managed kick to the gut that left the boy coughing up blood. He grabbed up the scrawny boy by the collar of his blood-stained anime T-shirt with ease, revealing genuine fear in his blue eyes. That caused the bully and his two thugs at his sides to let out chuckles of amusement. The surrounding students, growing in numbers, observed the spectacle in varied reactions; may they be in awe, helplessness or entertainment. Enrico gave him a grin, indicating satisfaction. "I hope you learn your lesson today, kid. Trust me. You don't really wanna piss me off. And in case you forget…"

 

       Enrico packed his fist once again and began to launch it right into the freshman's cheek, and...

 

       "Hey, Amigo."

 

       It was stopped just inches from landing. Someone was able to catch his muscular wrist with relative ease. A cool, calm and collected-looking Japanese guy with jet-black fuzzy hair and sharp brown eyes. With his athletic build and gorgeous face alone, he was an instant celebrity throughout the school… mainly with the ladies. 

 

        "Ohmygod it's Yuuki!"  the fangirls that happened to be here squealed his name enthusiastically upon seeing him. Enrico rolled his eyes in disgust and annoyance upon recognizing Yuuki. "I've already warned you… not to fuck with my fun, haven't I?" he groaned in suppressed anger.

 

      Yuuki, let out a sigh showing disinterest, as if what he was doing right now was a chore he had to finish, but the self awareness of being responsible in what he had to do was present. "And I too, have already warned you not to fuck with anyone, haven't I?" He settled a quick glance at Nicky, all dirtied and bloodied, before returning his gaze to the 180-pound ball of pure muscle. "Let him go," he demanded. Surprisingly, Enrico complied… only to annoy Yuuki. Enrico yanked Yuuki's hand off and carelessly shoved Nicky away, sending him sprawling on the ground. That caused Yuuki's left eye to twitch, as his body apparently trembled lightly. The brute may have noticed the Japanese guy's subtle response to his twisted version of compliance. "What? I did let him go like you asked me to." 

 

        "Apologize to him, Amigo." Yuuki asked passive-aggressively.

        

        "Look, I ain't got nothing to apologize for. He's ruining my day, glaring daggers at me and dirtying my Air Jordan and whatnot. Look!" He presented his fancy white shoes, both stained in chocolate. "I'm only making things even for us!"

 

        "Yeah, right. Three on one. Even. Blood for a stain. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be," he sarcastically replied, not out of mockery, but of pure annoyance. "Look, you don't wanna force me to make you  all bloody and filthy like Nicky here if you aren't going to use that disgusting tongue of yours apologizing to his face. I don't wanna fight, but if you're asking for it..."

 

       "Oh, is that a threat I hear?" asked Enrico, mischievously putting a hand behind his ear. His two similarly-buff henchmen began to clench their fists, both wanting a brawl. The crowd, ever growing in number, murmured randomly (although the pretty boy's fangirls' worried chanting are very prominent). Enrico took a few steps closer to Yuuki, who gave him an annoyed glare. "I'm just asking you to apologize." 

 

         "No can do, cabron," Enrico responded, before proceeding to spit a thick gob into Yuuki's face. Yuuki did not flinch by the action nor bothered to wipe the disgusting liquid off his face, but his eye twitched again. As for Nicky… Nicky was no longer the spectacle, he realized after sitting up. He instantly averted his attention from his dirtied favorite JoJo's Bizarre Adventure shirt to the confrontation that was guaranteed to turn into a one-sided brawl.

 

         Yuuki let out a sigh of frustration, clearly rooting from his attempts to keep his composure. "Let's just settle this as quickly as possible, alright? Apologize and I'll let you go. I don't want you doing something stupid again or I'll-"

 

         He was cut off when Enrico spat at him again. This time, it landed on his favorite shirt. With that, he instantly snapped. His eyes widened menacingly.  He gritted his teeth. He packed his fists so tight one could have sworn it could crush a brick into a baby powder, as if his very rage conveniently acted as a fuel to produce such strength. 

 

         "Looks like I pissed you off bad, huh--" Enrico was about to finish his mocking sentence, when he found his ajar mouth abruptly meeting the Japanese boy's fists with a terrifying amount of strength applied into it. Next thing Enrico knew, he was down on the ground, coughing up blood and a few of his teeth. Most of the crowd were left baffled, jaws dropped, silenced and all, Enrico's henchmen included as well. He was the campus' big bully for two years after all, and all it took for the Asian to take the football playing bastard down was a single punch. The muscular pair rushed to their leader's aid to check on him. 

 

         "Dude, what the fuck just happened? You okay?" one of them asked not out of concern, but of fear. The other one stared at the angry Yuuki, who was slowly approaching them, cracking his fists as he did. "I'm not done with you guys yet," he hissed. If looks could kill, the henchmen would have been slaughtered with their entrails strewn about at this very moment. "You guys fucking messed up, now you have to pay the price." The two stood up firmly to remind him of their height and overall size advantage, before charging at Yuuki. They both knew they'd be able to knock him down with just a punch or two with their size, regardless of the strength he has showcased. The first guy launched a direct punch at Yuuki's chest, only to be shocked when it missed as Yuuki swerved his body to the side with a surprising speed, grabbed the guy's outstretched arm, and used it as leverage to jump up and knee him right in the face. The guy staggered backwards in pain as he tightly held his nose bleeding like a broken faucet. Yuuki effortlessly ducked from the other guy's right hook supposedly targeting his left cheek. Same guy, who was the biggest out of the three thugs, made a follow up with a hard uppercut using his left.Yuuki bent his body and his head backwards just in time for his jaw to narrowly avoid the blow. He threw a fist again, and again, and again, and again, yet he couldn't touch even the very tips of Yuuki's hair. The big guy, seeing his attacks weren't very effective in hitting the target, made the sufficiently rational decision to charge and tackle him. Too bad for him, Yuuki already was anticipating that desperate move from a mile away. Just as the big guy ran forward to tackle, Yuuki bent his left leg, made a step backwards with his right, clenched his right fist… and jumped up to pull off a devastating uppercut to the jaw. Several of the brute's teeth fell off and his eyes rolled back in his head as he dropped to the ground on his back unconscious. 

 

       Of course, with such power applied up against a hard object, Yuuki's knuckles were bloodied and potentially broken. So naturally, he clutched his wrist as his hand trembled and let out a pained yowl. "Fuck!" He proceeded to walk towards the half-conscious Enrico, who was still unable to get up. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO MY FUCKING HAND!" Apparently, he was still blinded by rage, and did not hesitate to continuously kick Enrico by the hip. "Fuck you! Fuck you!" he cursed to sound as disrespectful as possible as he kicked. "You think I like getting pissed off? You think I like washing off crappy stains on this shirt? You think you're so cool, huh? You think that braindead mug of yours is handsome, huh? You think you're fucking special with all those fat stacks in your pockets, huh? Shitting on anyone you don't like? Not caring about school sanctions? THEN HOW ABOUT I GIVE YOU EXECUTION!?"

 

       "What in the..." muttered Nick, thankful the Asian student wasn't his bully and instead his savior since he proved to be much more dangerous. 

 

        Yuuki kept on kicking and kicking until his victim passed out. Eventually, he stopped kicking the poor thug, now on the verge of reaching a state of soberness from his recent rage intoxication. Also, his foot already hurt like hell. He leaned forward and put his hands on his knees for support, panting in exhaustion. "Shit," he silently declared between his breaths. He wiped a sweat from his unblemished porcelain white face and gave Nicky a concerned look, causing the freshman to lightly flinch in surprise. "You… " he managed a word before taking breaths again. "You okay there buddy?"

 

        Nick nodded nervously. "I-I'm fine… but they aren't." 

 

        "They'll be fine. Amigo here and his company are rich enough to afford hospital bills, don't worry." He proceeded to sigh in defeat, however. "As for me, I'll be in detention, or worse, suspension. The latter's more likely, I guess. I gave in to my temper, now I'll be paying the price. As for you, why don't you take a trip to the clinic right away?"

 

        Yuuki turned to leave when Nicky halted him. "W-wait! How do you know my name?" 

        

        "O-oh. You didn't actually know? We're neighbors now. Your dad and mine somehow made an acquaintance of each other in their chatting yesterday while you were wandering around the town according to him." 

 

        "Wait. Really?"

 

        Yuuki let out a friendly chuckle. "Yeah. Welcome to Harvine."

 

        "Clear out! Clear out! Let me see! Head out to your respective classes this instant! Now what is going in he--!" Mr. Irwin, Harvine High's principal, a middle-aged balding man, made his way through the dissipating crowd of students, only to find two of the thugs unconscious, while the third uncomfortably sat on the dirt, still holding his broken nose with trembling hands. He eyed the similarly-bloodied Nicky and the guilty-looking Yuuki, causing him to misunderstand due to lacking context. 

 

         "Mr. Yoshioka, explain yourself. NOW!"

 

                            ***

 

          "I see," said Yuuki unenthusiastically, wearing a scowl with his head low after an hour and a half of lecturing from Mr. Irwin. His hand still gave him a wave of discomfort, although a quick stop to the clinic helped. "Five school days it is." 

 

          "Don't give me that mopey behavior, Yoshioka. You've sent two to the clinic, and Enrico Manriquez to the Hospital due to pelvic bone fracture. Don't think you'd be getting off lightly for what you've done. In fact, I would have given you a heavier sanction if the violence you have inflicted wasn't justified. Still, violence is violence, and you actually gave them minor permanent damage, a worse treatment compared to what they did to Mr. Houston." 

 

          "They pissed me off on purpose," retorted Yuuki. "I didn't wanna fight. I was simply asking him to apologize so we'll call it quits. But no, he had to spit on my dad's shirt!"

 

          "Then it's about time you start controlling that bad temper of yours, boy," replied Mr. Irwin calmly. " Now, off you go. Suspension starts tomorrow, and I'll be notifying your father about this. Don't worry, however. You are free to attend your classes, and your practice game today. I don't recommend you attending your practice game with that injured hand, however, as much of a valuable player you are. If you do, please do be careful."

 

           Yuuki's face lit up, yet immediately tried his best to hide the reaction.  "I'll be alright, sir. Thanks."

 

           Mr. Irwin gave him a slight smile. "I suppose an attempted act of good still deserves a price, after all. Now, get out of here before I change my mind."

 

          "Got it, Mr. Irwin."

 

          "Careful with your hand, boy!"

 

           With a nod of affirmation, Yuuki left the Principal's office without looking back and checked the watch on his left wrist. 2:24 PM. He still has enough time to slip into Maths class, luckily. He checked his other hand, fingers and knuckles individually wrapped in gauze in a certain way it allowed the fingers a near optimal articulation. His fingers and knuckles were miraculously spared of lasting damage (though they still ached regardless). Years of practicing the art of self-defense taught by his dad paid off, but his wrist still had to suffer as a price, as it was where the force of the collision impact of that punch went into and stayed. It was swollen and discomforting. He lifted it up with his other hand, wincing as he did so. It wasn't wrapped in bandages for obvious reasons. Ms. Colson, the school nurse, gave him an ice bag to apply and press on it instead. "Well, I don't feel any broken bones or any kind of dislocations, and that's saying something, I guess," he thought.

 

         Walking down the corridors, he drew attention from dozens of girls on the way, as always. Some greeted him romantically, some asked about his well-being after his recent fight. Some cheered for him early in their upcoming basketball game with Willenville High, the neighboring town of the same name's school, in two weeks. Yuuki dealt with them as kindly as possible, although that wasn't exactly helping him achieve a peaceful school daily routine of attracting less attention like he always wanted. Still, being on bad terms with anyone is something he'd want way less… even with someone like Enrico and his goons. Conflict is something he refused to initiate or participate in, yet when one possesses the ability to prevent and halt such an occurrence, especially when the weak are being trampled upon, do you still choose to sit by the sidelines? Even with Enrico's despicable misdeeds, Yuuki believes every tree has roots, no matter how much he hates him. He never planned to smack him from the start (though admittedly he wanted to), yet he failed to keep his anger in check. Once that anger builds up and explodes, there's no going back. 

 

         Yuuki reached his destination, hastily proceeding to enter the room where Mr. Garrison was in the middle of formulating an equation on the whiteboard, paying him no mind. Most of the class paid attention to the discussion, and the rest slacked off but kept silent regardless. Adam Hilcox belonged to the latter. Focusing more on how to hold and throw the ball right than improving his nasty handwriting, he spent more of his efforts in keeping his consciousness intact than following Mr. Garrison's trailing pen on the board. Yuuki was a hundred percent sure his friend was awake the whole night raising his rank as high as he can in Crystal Slashers 3, a very popular video game both of them were frequently playing together. Yuuki occupied the vacant seat next to the sleepy Adam without making a noise to the already silent class, and took his own notebook to reread the notes he took down from the lecture yesterday, which was a good idea considering he missed a few lessons today as a result of his late arrival. 

 

        "You know, you should start sorting out your priorities again," said Yuuki without ever leaving his eyes on the board. "You gotta give that shit a rest, even just for once. Next thing you know, you'll be flunking the exams just like the fifth grade."

 

        "Don't worry. I'm contemplating my life choices right now," Adam replied drowsily. "You got some sugar for me to chomp on? I need to beat Freddy Krueger, you know, otherwise I'd be in the restricted area and even then I would still miss my shots like a stormtrooper."

 

        "Oh yeah, I got some snickers here."

 

         "Really?"

 

         "No."

 

         "You'll have to suck it up for the rest of the period since I barely had enough time to see a vending machine," muttered Yuuki. "Heh, I hope you'd still have the energy to spare for rebounding later on."

 

        Adam eyed Yuuki's injured hand. "As if you'd still be able to play with that fucked up hand, buddy." Yuuki gave him a playful smirk of pride. Sincere or not, he still had the right to be proud. "Wanna bet? I could still own you and Marcus under that ring by myself." 

 

        Adam scowled at that remark. "Hey. Flexing is unnecessary to prove you're the basketball prodigy of the school himself. And nice show you pulled off earlier, by the way. Must be satisfying to break your hand on the douche's face." 

 

        "Well, he pissed me off. I never wanted a brawl. For that, starting tomorrow I'll be on house arrest for a week," muttered Yuuki.

 

        "Suspension? Dude, that's good news to me. You'd have seven days to relax and let that hand heal. Besides, you'd still be carrying our team on your own in the next game without practicing for two weeks, no sweat."

 

        "Don't tell me what to do. I know what I'm doing," snapped Yuuki. For some reason, talking about not practicing apparently annoyed him. "There's the park for me to practice in."

       

        Adam paused, before speaking up again. "Okay. Whatever suits you fine. You seemed really worked out today after that commotion you participated in."

 

        "I'm only practicing because I want to. And I don't want an additional broken back carrying your ungrateful asses."

 

        Yuuki got an amused smirk from Adam. "Geez. You need some of that Japanese tea of yours." Not long after, his eyebrows rose up from a certain realization hitting him. "Wait… isn't tomorrow your mother's--"

 

        "Yes, it is," Yuuki cut him off. "Suspension's gonna give me a good amount of time to prepare myself better for visiting her. Getting suspended offers you some exclusive advantages. Advantages I didn't wanna have."

 

        Adam hid his sympathetical look by raising his eyebrows again and putting his arms behind his head to lean back. He regretted bringing that up; staying late at night messed up his focus, he presumed. After an entire decade of accompanying him as his best bud, he should have known better. Yuuki didn't want to talk about his mother… for a reason he dared not discuss.  "Well, uh, that sucks," he mumbled. "But hey, we always have the weekends to practice together if you really want to. How long has it been since we've last bounced a ball in the park, for fuck's sake? A year?"

 

         Yuuki pondered. "Eh… can't remember much. Not that it matters." There was no point for him to do his daily practice in the park's basketball court when he can just do it alongside his teammates and their coach to manage them with full equipment five days a week in the school gym. The weekends were simply resting days for Yuuki, unless homeworks were present to completely ruin them and his mind. Now, though, being suspended, the park should be of good use to him now. Being literally the best basketball player in the town, he was never satisfied with this and thus aimed to improve himself even more. After all, occupying a spot in the NBA's Hall of Fame is something he always dreamed of achieving. That dream is quite a mountain too steep and too high to climb. If he wanted to reach the top of it, he'd have to exert himself way harder. "Anyways, I don't really mind if you aren't going to hang out with me at the park by Saturday, but I'd be lying if I said I don't want your company. So yeah, thanks, man."

 

         Adam chuckled. "No biggie. I always got your back. Ever since the first grade."

 

         "I can't remember those times that much for… reasons we both know, but, I'm pretty sure it's the other way around," replied Yuuki jokingly.

 

         "That's also true," replied Adam back, before he chuckled again. It gradually grew into a genuine laughter when Yuuki joined in to express their amusement. Through those laughs, their minds floated outside the real world for a moment, a moment they both needed, a time of rest albeit a painfully short one, before facing their respective issues in life. With their attention far from being intact, they wouldn't have noticed Mr. Garrison already standing right in front of their seats sooner if he never used his booming voice. 

 

         "Boys!"

 

         The pair flinched and froze when they saw their teacher standing mere inches away from them. He was a man with a physique that appeared to grow height sideways. Yuuki noticed the whole class staring at them… especially him. The majority of the girls got their eyes on him… literally and figuratively. Some of those girls waved at him in a way Yuuki should have found cute or appealing. 

 

         "I would appreciate it if you two would tone down the racket you're making."

 

         "Sorry sir," mumbled Yuuki.

 

         Adam scratched his head. "Yeah my bad."

 

         "And I would appreciate it more if one of you participates in solving the problem on the board."

 

         The two eyed the said problem written on the board. It looked nothing but some nonsensical gibberish which were already nonsensical on their own. Yuuki may have been trying to keep up with his one-plus-ones, yet math was never his forte. As for Adam… starting from the third grade, numbers fuck him in the ass worse than Kryptonite ever did to Superman.

 

          "Aren't Asians supposed to be good at maths? I've always been wondering why you're an exception," whispered Adam to Yuuki. 

 

          Yuuki rolled his eyes and whispered back. "You're a slave to stereotypes."

 

                        *******

 

          Nicky found himself pacing across bookshelf aisles upon aisles of the school library. If there was anything he liked to do in his free time when anime isn't available, it's reading. He traced his fingers from spine to spine as he passed, hoping to find another book that would catch his eye, specifically the allegedly bizarre history of Harvine itself. His mother had been a good source regarding this topic. It somehow was his mom's nature to research… everything he both wanted and needed to know. It was therefore normal for her to look up Harvine's background and perks. Once anything supernatural was involved, it would be enough to raise Nicky's antennas. The Internet should have been convenient enough to do the job, but he would have to wait for a week before their router gets installed. They've only been in the town for three days, after all, and his weekend got spent cleaning up and setting up everything in their home. Regardless, reading was among his hobbies, and there was nowhere better to do it than the library itself.

 

         As his finger ran tracing, it came across a thick, hard-bound book, presumably around 800 pages in the least. The spine read: The Condensed History of Harvine. It looked particularly old, around 20 years, as Nicky assumed. He pulled it out as cautious as he can, lest the books beside it, which were fairly large as well, might get pulled out along and drop with an undesirable thud. With the book in his hands, he hastily left the aisle. Before he could, however, he clumsily collided with someone as a result of prioritizing his attention on the book instead of his pathway. Nick and the random person found themselves dropping down the floor alongside his book, which produced the thud Nicky nor everyone in the library… especially everyone in the library, never wanted to hear.

 

          "Ow, god, sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Gosh… I'm such a klutz."

 

          Nicky, completely off-guard by the sudden voice of sweetness, immediately turned his head to look for its source. 

 

          Right in front of him, was a gorgeous girl sitting also on the floor with a smartphone in her clasp, which she successfully tightened before it could drop as she did. Her red straight hair reminded him of those dancing flames in the campfires as he pranced around it like a deranged chimpanzee while screaming Kumbaya after "accidentally" downing two bottles of beer… not that these descriptions matter. Her eyes were just as blue as the clear August midday sky. Her pale flawless skin and symmetrical face were proverbial magnets for his eyes, and they failed badly at escaping the attraction. And judging by her appearance, she should either be in his age or a year or two older. He was simply stuck there, gazing.

 

           Awkward silence.

 

           "A...are you okay?" concernedly asked the girl, instantly breaking the silence. "You don't look so good."

            "N...no, it's-... I'm fine, I'm fine," he assured her, trying to keep his composure despite failing miserably. She nodded with raised eyebrows to his awkward reply. He rose uncomfortably after picking up the book. The girl followed.

 

            "Wait… you're the new guy, right?"

 

            "Yeah…"

 

            She smiled sweetly, causing Nicky to get flustered all over. "Nice to meet you, then. Anyway, judging by that book, you're interested in our town's history, wrong?"

 

            Nicky nodded.

 

            "Then let me tell you that, despite Harvine's interesting past and lingering supernatural events, mostly everyone here is more afraid than being interested in exploring them. But... you'd be surprised if I told you that little to no one actually thought of moving out. And I know why. Do you?" 

 

            Nick shook his head like a toddler intently watching Sesame Street where Kermit the Frog teaches him the ABCs.

 

            "You see, curiosity… is a bitch. And as the saying goes, it kills the cat. In this case, though… it doesn't. You see, these people's curiosity towards these strange events keep them from leaving Harvine… and sentimental attachments too, but we're going to ignore that for now. So, at the same time, their fear, their primal instincts pretty much prevent them from even trying to explore what they're curious in. They're stuck in between, and they cannot escape… because they won't."

 

            "But you know the thing about human curiosity? It's incurable… unless you obey its commands. Fear, however, can be overcome, while difficult to do so. Can't say whether they're either good or bad or... both. But in conclusion… curiosity will eventually win in the end, no matter how long that takes."

 

            Nicky just stood there, with his mouth ajar, petrified by the charisma the girl possessed. Fortunately, he was able to speak. "W-well… then… th-that's good to hear."

 

            Awkward silence. Again. Nicky apparently did not have anything further to say any longer. What are the odds that she, a girl completely out of his league, would have stumbled upon him, an unattractive geek who spends 48 hours a day reading erotic and shōnen mangas? She even generously gave him valuable information. Was he dreaming? Although if everyone in this town, or mostly, indeed weren't proud of its messed up history and allegedly recurring supernatural events, then it wasn't exactly helping in quenching his thirst of having a little research session, which would start with the book he found.

 

         "I should ask, though," she implied with, strangely, a worried tone. "After this, are you gonna end up like these people, a bunch of curious cats with fear tugging them to stay put? Will you allow yourself to? "

 

          That raised Nicky's eyebrows in surprise, since she took the situation she addressed seriously, for some reasons. Her worried tone however somehow urged him to answer the question sincerely. "I can't guarantee that… but I'll try to not be like them, if… if that's what you want."

 

         The girl, detecting his sincerity behind those words he let out, gave him a satisfied smile. "Okay, then."

 

         "Well, I should go now, although if you've got some questions to ask, I can give you five minutes," she said while looking at the time on her phone. 

 

         "Um…" he could not think of any. His mental processing was currently in a defective state due to overwhelming feelings of ecstasy towards the girl, creating blockages in his neural paths. "No… sorry."

 

         She let out an amused yet friendly chuckle. "Well, that's okay. Anyways, careful with the guys like Enrico next time. Those bruises on your face should give you enough hints for that. And what did you do to have him mad at you, by the way?"

 

         "He…" he hesitated, thinking his reason was ridiculously petty to be proud of. Still, he decided to let it out anyway, since the girl seemed to be nice enough to understand, if not tolerate it. "He was wearing… a rare and expensive Attack on Titan jacket. And I… kinda want it. And he didn't like me staring at him. Not one bit. It also didn't go well when I accidentally spilled my drink on his shoes."

 

         She nodded as an indication of her listening intently. "I see. You like anime? Well, that can't be helped. I'm just saying, be more cautious next time. Because I can guarantee you here you'll be getting more than just a few bruises if you aren't. So, before I go, since you're a newcomer, what's your name?"

 

         "N-Nicky. Nicky Houston," he timidly responded.

 

         "Nice meeting you, then, Nicky. I'm Evangelina. Evangelina Kovalevskaya, half-Russian, as you may have figured out by the name. Although my friends call me either Eve or Evie. Which one do you prefer?"

 

         "Evie, I guess."

 

         Evie gave him a final nod to signify her leave. "Okay, then. I'll be seeing you around." She already gestured to leave when she stopped to look at Nicky again. "Oh, and Welcome to Harvine." She walked past him and made her way towards the library's exit. 

 

         "She's just like… an angel," he dreamily mumbled to himself when he made sure she was gone. It did not take him long to move on, however, to gather his attention on the book he was holding. The fact that he was convinced it would be impossible for someone like him to have himself a girl half as perfect as Evie helped.

 

         After finding a seat and a reading table, he flipped the black hard-bound book open gently. Finding himself facing the foreword after turning the first several pages containing irrelevant introductions aside from finding out the book was 25 years old, he began to read. 

 

         "This book is entirely dedicated to documenting each and every information and occurrence deemed as respective pieces of Harvine's history. However a few of them may be bordering or even overlapping the very edge of the bizarre itself, and thus are among the reasons this town has been attracting a decent number of tourists ever since the late nineteenth century, if the aesthetically satisfying views of hills, lakescapes, mountains (the conveniently nearest spots for the Canadians to visit the Appalachian ranges), and mostly the exclusive greenery offered by the town were to be disregarded. Situated in Maine extremely close to the border between the state and Quebec, the town holds the population of 21,783 as of October 1994."

 

         He continued reading the next parts, only to discover nothing but a load of boring statistical information regarding the town. Nicky turned the pages to the book's table of contents and scanned the whole array of page titles and indicators until his eye successfully caught what they were told to catch. "Page 358…" he mumbled whilst skipping to the page. 

 

         "A year after its establishment in 1846, stories pointing to the mythical and supernatural were already rampant in Harvine, spread by the citizens of the town themselves due to numerous sightings and encounters of unknown entities and bizarre phenomena.  These stories became urban legends, as countless reports from the locals of confronting the very same retold creatures and occurrences continued decades after decades. It gets even better when the town itself has walked down a dark history of its own. Murders and rape were frequent in the past century, as well as notorious serial killers roaming the night. Alleged practices of witchcraft and satanic rituals were present as well.

The most prominent report among others is the case of a woman named Victoria, who resided in a hut settled deep in the woods of Harvine with her three young children around 1868. At that time, young children around the ages of 8-10 years would go missing, and these children, including hers, were found crucified outside her hut by her own doing. When she was captured by the angered locals, she was found drawing a large pentagram with her own blood on the wooden floorboards. She was condemned to death by burning at the stake. 

 

         "As the very threshold of modern times were reached, such crimes and practices gradually ceased to exist. Although however, the legends and sightings persisted up until the present times. Creatures now referred to as woodland demons, fairies and even dryads have been sighted multiple times. Dead bodies with two incisions in the neck and blood completely drained were also reported, inclining the citizens to approve the existence of vampires. A mysterious garden that keeps reappearing on random locations throughout Harvine was also seen for nearly 200 years now. Fortunately, no known individual was reported to step a foot on the very premises of the disappearing garden. In 1967, the local authorities' decision to implement warning signs on the known spots where it kept reappearing fortunately helped as well. 

         "Legends dictate that individuals entering it would either get killed instantly, or be trapped inside forever with no way out. If they do make it out alive, it would be with a price: their gender and humanity."