The Rabbit-Hole Begins

"Out! Whoever you are, get out of my house!" Getting out of my bed, I ran into the opposite side of the room and screamed at the intruder. How did she even get inside my house!?

"Calm down, calm down, I'm not here to rob you or anything!" Signaling me to keep my voice down, I glared at her for a second before thinking about it.

"I don't care whatever you're here for, I want you out of my house!" I could just call the cops and then let them handle it, but if she knows about it, then she'll just run away.

"It's not like I had that much of a choice! You didn't follow Bubba, so I had to be the one to come find you! Keep your voice down, too! You don't know who could be listening in! I have important information that needs to be discussed!" Keeping her voice below screaming level, she walked over to me and pouted.

"And that involves breaking into my house!?" I had managed to keep my voice down, but I can't promise to not scream out again.

"W-Well, no... but who knows if you were going to try to find me the next day- I mean today! If you would've followed Bubba, then we wouldn't be in this situation! You will have time to think about your answer and I would be sleeping right now!" With each sentence, she poked me in the chest with anger clearly shown on her face.

"D-Did you really think I would sneak out of my house in the middle of the night and follow a dog? How stupid do you think I am!?" The poking eventually went to my forehead.

"Pretty stupid! Other than that, I lost sleep because of you!" It didn't matter what I was feeling right now, I grabbed her hand to make her stop.

"I don't care about your sleep! I care about mine, and I wouldn't want to waste mine by walking out in the middle of the night!" I glared at her, and to that she returned the glare with sleep still under eyes.

"I would've spoken to you for about twenty minutes! You know what, nevermind. If you're maintaining this conversation with me, then you're probably interested in why I'm here, right?" What kind of idiot does she take me for!?

"Oh, please state the more obvious questions!" Receiving a chop to my head, I moved back a bit. It didn't hurt, but it was too sudden. "H-Hey! What was that for!" Before I knew it, she was standing in front of my dresser, looking at the sketchbook that I had just got back recently.

"Hm..." Taking out a magnifying glass that was attached to her leg-harness-belt-or-whatever-it's-called, and began looking through the things that were on my dresser. After I saw that she picked up my sketchbook, I quickly got up and ran over to her and took it from her hands.

"Hey! You can't just barge into someone's house and look through people's things!" Upon talking to her, she rubbed her chin with her index finger and thumb. For some reason, she held her interest at my sketchbook and continued to look at it in wonder. "Why the hell are you ignoring me!?"

"I see. So you're more involved than I anticipated." Bringing up her magnifying glass and pointed it at me, I could see that it was starting to glow. "I should thank you, though, you saved my bacon there." What was she even talking about?

"What do you mean by "involved"? What do you even know about me?" She chuckled.

"Sad to say, you really have no idea what you're involved with, do you? Well, I wouldn't expect a highschooler such as yourself to know." Is she seriously saying that I'm oblivious because I'm in school?

"You don't look that much different than a highschooler yourself. How about you start explaining to me why you're here so I can call the cops."

"...Well, you won't be after I'm done talking to you." She smirked at me, acting as if the information that I would learn wouldn't help the police find her. "Put your book on the counter and come here and see this." I was reluctant at first, but to understand what she's doing here, I had to do what she says. Placing it on my counter, I walked back to the girl and crossed my arms in seriousness.

"Okay, what do you want?" With her other arm taking my arm, which caused the reaction to happen again, she forced me to see through her magnifying glass as it was motioned above my sketchbook. "What the..." Strangely enough, when I peered through it, my sketchbook was letting out an ominous purple hue. It was as if the book was smoking for some reason.

"It's a trap to ordinary people such as myself. Since you stopped me from opening the book, the trap didn't activate and all is well." After showing me, she put the magnifying glass away and looked at me smugly. "But... for some reason, you own this sketchbook that so happens to be a trap to ordinary people. And judging by the dumbfounded look on your face, you probably don't know why you have it either."

"..." After picking up the book and opening it, nothing happened. As I stared at her with a serious glance, I closed it back up again. "Do you really think I can trust your-"

"-My words? Or perhaps could it be that you think that the magnifying glass has been tampered with to show some crazy effects?"

...

A brief silence had been bestowed between us, with neither of us wanting to speak up. I was glaring, and she was smirking.

"Amelia Watson." She let out her hand for me to shake.

"...Who are you really?" I let out, even before I thought about touching her. She started to giggle a bit before sitting down on my bed.

"I'm a detective, don't you see? And as my job as a detective, it's my job to look for things that are interesting!" Her attire was a bit similar to a detective, but I couldn't trust that.

"And what do you mean by "interesting"?" Upon asking that, she only smiled.

"For someone who has been killed recently, it makes sense that you're careful around people." What!? I moved back a bit and became nervous around her. There's... no way she would have possibly known about me dying. Unless...

"Are you one of those criminals? And if so-" I had been cut off from her sudden outburst of laughter. What could possibly be so funny?

"I already told you that I'm a detective! Do you have some kind of hearing problem!?" She continued her laughter, but I wasn't laughing in the slightest. If anything, I was clearly seen in fear.

"...How did you know that I was killed?" At that, she stopped and looked at me with a smirk. Suddenly pulling out an envelope from behind her, she showed it out to me.

"This is an envelope that was sent by the shrine maiden, Sakura Miko. She had contacted me in worries of your wellbeing since the events that had transpired. She knew about you keeping your life because of the Phoenix's Feather, so she wanted to relay a message to you in regards to what happened after you died. You never knew what happened to those criminals, did you?"

She knows a lot more than she appears.

"No, I don't." I balled up my fist in anxiety.

"Well, basically, they ran away after noticing that you had used the feather upon your death. Other than that, they ran off and disappeared without a trace." They... just opted and left? Were they only after the feather then?

"...They couldn't have been only there for the feather, right? What else were they after?" She shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Who knows? However... I did hear about the story of an important book being stolen from the same area, too. What kind of book you may ask? Well, it's a quite powerful book. It's a book that leads all the way back to beings that existed way before us, actually. The book that summons supernatural evils, the book that holds magical spells to curse... It is quite an interesting book, if I do say so myself."

"And...? What does this have to do with me?" Getting up from off my bed, she walked over to me and looked at me with her magnifying glass again.

"I want to know more about you, my good sir. There are no other books in the world that are able to use a curse such as that one on your book, Haru. Now then, how about you tell me where you got the book?"

"...From my school. I didn't see who it was, but... I had been given the book back to me after I checked the art room in my school." To say that she was getting too close was an understatement.

"Your school, eh? Now then, allow me to introduce my latest deal to you, Haru. I'll make it short, so listen carefully; there are beings that exist in this world that are surely supernatural. What I need from you is your assistance in finding these beings and helping them live a life that's without violence."

"You want my help in giving these supernatural people a good chance at life? No thanks, I think I'm good. You can kindly leave my house now." After opening my door for her to leave, she still stood there with a smile.

"Well, I guess you won't be interested in wanting to know what happens if these supernatural beings aren't maintained, correct?"

"Correct, I don't care what happens to them. Now, can you please leave?"

"Even if it will eventually lead to the destruction of the world?" Before I could open my mouth, I thought about her words.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, getting a more serious face. Still, she finds it alright to keep her smile at me.

"Earth won't be the same again if they aren't accustomed to our ways of living, Haru. Violence is treated with violence, and you know that very much. If we don't find them, eventually, the people will and it won't be pretty. I'm trusting you to this task with me because you already met someone with enough power to destroy the world themselves if they wanted to. Now, are you in or out, Haru?" With her hand extended out again, I stared at it before staring back at her smile.

For some reason, I thought back to that girl with the wolf-like features that I had met.

'"I'll be seeing you."'

The owner of the Phoenix's Feather, Kiara-san.

'"I'm going to make sure that you'll live the best life you've ever had!'"

The reaper who wants to kill me, Calliope-san.

'"I'm going to make sure I send him to the next world!'"

And even the mysterious person from the art room.

"...How many are there?"

"Huh?"

"How many of those beings exist in the world?" There have only been four that I had been in contact with. If anything, it's safe to assume that there's going to be more that's going to drag me into this situation of life and death again. But... I'm immortal, so I can't be afraid of death anymore, right?

"...Before we do anything, we're going to have to meet with Sakura Miko again to explain more of the details. She may be a shrine maiden, but she knows more about the supernatural than me, you know."

"We have to go to Sakura-chan? I don't have a car, so how are we going to get there?" She smugly pounded on her chest.

"Oh, I have my ways. Just think of them as a detour through the city. But anyhoo, are you sure you want to be part of this? Those guys know your face, so if we encounter them again, things can seriously get messy. Don't you value your life?" I've heard that saying so many times.

'It's not your fault, Haru.'

"I don't, so remember that. For what I've done, I don't deserve a second chance in life. But I'm not going to let other people suffer because I decided to say no at this opportunity. I shouldn't even care about these people, but it won't sit right in my stomach. Not only would I be at fault for death, but if I get more involved with other beings, then I wouldn't know what to do about them."

"A chance for redemption, perhaps?" She smirked at me, but my lips decided to twitch upwards. For some reason, it felt like the right thing to do to get involved in this. If I had chosen to continue my normal life, I would still be brought into this world without my consent. That's the way life is going to treat me for being the cause of death. It won't leave me alone until I'm actually dead.

"No, I just don't want to see people die again."

And it's safe to say that until Calliope-san finds a way to kill me, I'm stuck inside this rabbit-hole.