Chapter 1: The girl with violet hair

The sky was turning to blue, meaning that the sun would rise soon and reveal the aftermath of the night before. White snow was falling, burying everything they touch in white, except for a big black square. In that black square, there was a house as big as a palace. It was only two stories tall, but it was as wide as a lake if it were made of water. The roof was assembled with obsidian bricks like dragon scales; the wall was as white as ivory. But now, that palace was reduced to nothing but charcoal and rubble.

Only a few meters away, there was a girl with dark violet hair. She was wearing a white kimono that was stained in red. Despite the cold wind, so cold as it felt like it cut through the skin and left a chill in the bone, the girl didn't feel anything. She just stood there, looking at the burnt house. When her legs gave up, she would fall to her knees, but she wouldn't look away.

Sudden noises made the girl finally turned her eyes away from the house, as she found a group of people. They were watching each of her movements with their guns already pointing at her. As she stood up, they all moved back and there were in-sync click sounds.

What should I do? the girl wondered. Should I fight them back? But doesn't it matter?

She looked at every gunner again, then looked at her blood-stained clothes.

Let them shoot me.

"Stop!!"

Someone was approaching them with their hand raised, as to signal the gunners to not shoot. It was a man wearing glasses, he had a thin face, brown hair and a slim build. The glasses man told everyone to put their guns down, and it seemed that they listened to him. Then, he approached her with a carefree face.

"Here, you must be cold." as he said, he took off his brown coat and hurriedly put it on her.

The girl observed the man in a closer look. There was no uneasiness in his eyes like he was not afraid of her at all. He was shivering and there were clear signs that he was cold. But why would he give his warm coat to her and let himself cold? The girl wondered.

"Someone took her to the hospital in case she has any injuries!"

The glasses man was talking to other people, giving them orders. Unlike the man, other people were afraid to get close to her. None of them dared to come close to her, they would just tell her to follow them. When they arrived at a car that looked like a black box, one of them opened the door and signaled her to get in.

The car brought her to the hospital. Same as the men, the doctors and nurses refused to touch her, especially when they clearly knew who she was. In the end, they gave her a private room with a bed and a clean set of clothes. After changing into clean clothes, she folded her bloody kimono and got out of the room.

"Excuse me!" she found there was some staff standing at the door. It looked like they were talking about something, then stopped when she came out.

"I would wash that for you, lady Mikado." one of the nurses hurriedly bowed her head at her, then raised her hands, waiting for the girl to give the clothes.

"Lady Mikado," then the doctor spoke, "Would you mind if I give you an examination?"

"I .... don't have any injuries, so you don't have to examine me. I will be waiting for my kimono and the coat to be done cleaning. Then I will be out of here."

"That... 's alright ... if you want. We will be out of your sight then."

Then the doctor and the nurses bowed and left. The girl went back to the room and closed the door. Not knowing what to do, she went to the bed and sit there.

Soon, the same man wearing glasses came and visited her. He was still smiling gently, which was still a strange sight for her. After grabbing a chair and sit down, he raised his hand for a handshake and introduced himself.

"I believe that this is the time for a proper introduction. I am Vincent, and I am from The Overseer. My chief is on his way here, but for now, you are safe here, lady Shiki."

"How do you know who I am?"

"The Overseer was originally founded by the Mikado family. Ever since Mikado family resigned from the organization, we have been watching and protecting the family."

"Protecting my family? I never hear such a thing!"

"Please rest assured that we mean no harms. Now, I heard that you refuse to give the hospital staff permission to do a check-up?"

The girl turned her face away from the man "I believe that it would be better for them to focus on other patients."

"But you are now one of their patients too."

"There's nothing wrong with me. Also, I don't like strangers to examine my body."

The man was puzzled for a second, then he gave out a sigh.

"Alright, no one shall examine you for now. But if you change your mind, I will tell the doctor. May I ask you some questions in the mean times?"

"What kind of questions?"

"Questions related to what happened at Mikado's residence?"

The girl turned to him with a dark face. It was a dead silence filling the room until...

"I don't know," she said in a small voice.

"You don't know?"

"I don't know anything. Please leave, I am tired."

The man called Vincent wanted to say something but decided not to. After getting out of the room, he went to find a telephone to report to his superior.

"Chief Albott, this is Vincent reporting. The Mikado's residence had been burned to rubble. There is only one survivor found. The other members .....", the man took a deep breath. "... We found corpses in the house. The amount of corpses matches the number of members in the family. It's possible that all the Mikado members, aside from the survivor, were inside the house when it was burning.

"This is worse than I thought! Did you send anyone to search a sign of outsider?"

"Yes, the team has already started searching the area, including the forest and around the bottom of the mountain."

"I will be there tomorrow morning. You better prepare a room with a comfortable bed and a window for me. And that survivor you found. They are a Mikado, so they might be not so innocent. Keep your guard up."

"Yes, I will keep an eye on her ."

Then he hung up the phone.

On the way back to the room, he found the girl in the hallway, talking to a nurse. The violet-haired girl and the nurse both got startled when he approached them.

"My hair ... " the girl grabbed a lock of her violet hair "I want to take a shower."

After the girl was gone, the nurse let out a big sigh like all of her worries were gone. Curious at the nurse's reaction, Vincent decided to ask her why was she so on guard.

"Don't you know? She... 's.... a... Mikado ..... and she's reek of blood! Her purple hair soaked in so much blood that it's already turning red."

At first, he didn't think much. Then the glassed man remembered. The girl didn't have any injuries on her, yet she was covered in blood.