chapter 1

Victoria Blackwood was the epitome of refined allure at Eldridge Academy. With her wayfarer reading glasses perched on a sharp nose, black cardigan draped over a crisp black dress shirt, tights hugging her long legs beneath a pencil skirt, and high heels clicking authoritatively down the halls, she embodied upper-class poise. Her red lipstick and subtle pink eyeshadow with smoky liner gave her an air of haughty elegance, her voice a sassy, sarcastic lilt that could dissect Shakespeare or eviscerate a lazy essay. Students whispered she was an ice queen—cold and introverted on the surface, but with a hidden fire.

Beneath it all lurked secrets. As a child, she'd been the "weird kid," obsessed with occult tomes, spooky folklore, and even cute kawaii ghosts from anime. Bullied for it, she'd hidden it behind Yankee delinquency in her youth—fistfights and rebellion—before channeling it into classy sophistication due to extracurriculars and higher education. Now 32, wealthy from family banking ties, she taught English while her older sister Elizabeth jetted off on "business" with her shy, younger husband Tim—a milf-chaser from a notorious family of dominant seductresses and their hunters from a long evergrowing line of them from the fashion sex tech industries . Their son, Victoria's nephew Edward, was left in her care.

Edward was 18, a reclusive autistic otaku buried in anime, manga, and video games. Incredibly shy and timid, he flinched at strangers, his world narrowed to screens and family—only they could touch him without triggering shutdowns. Victoria had always been closest, more like an older sister, bonding over anime marathons and mmoraids and other old sci fi and horror movies too. In class, she'd klike poke his head with her book or pen to the arm, murmuring "Hi, handsome" with a wink be it in the classroom or the hallway, her subtle checks masked as teacherly concern.

With Elizabeth and Tim away, Victoria invited Edward home after school. "Come see my 'cool stuff,' nephew dear. It'll blow your fucking mind."