Chapter 26. "Be a good girl, Yoria."
<< Asleep Among Endives - Ichiko Aoba >>
Hisakawa Yoria wasn't born in silence.
Miles beneath the surface of Iya Valley, under layers of reinforced concrete and steel, a sharp, strangled cry was heard from the moment that she was born.
Her eyes opened to a world of bright, crimson red and pale, panicked faces. The palest of these belonged to a young woman with a sickly complexion, her long, raven hair plastered to her skin with sweat and blood.
With the last vestiges of her strength, she smiled down at the screaming infant and whispered to her softly, "Shh, hush now. Be a good girl, Yoria."
*
5 years later
"It's her again. Quick Toru! Let's go play somewhere else, before the yokai gets us!" The small children giggled and screamed in mock horror, racing away from the underground courtyard.
