You get a call, it's your friend – she's positively squealing with glee. You're annoyed – it's four AM wherever you are, you're trying to sleep – it's a Monday tomorrow. She doesn't care, she's begging for you to get your computer on, get on the internet – you've gotta see this, it's so cool – she's never seen anything like this before.

You're not impressed. You're not happy. You are tired.

But she's your friend and she's threatening to keep calling until you do what she's asking you to do.

So of course, you hang up and turn your phone off. Whatever it is, she's not dying, not in pain and you can deal with it tomorrow.

---

The next day she greets you with more excitement and asking what you thought of it, who your favorite was, what was up with that one dance move – and you have no idea what she's talking about.

She realizes this halfway through 'Wasn't that one outfit GORGEOUS?' and my, my – she looks angry.

You should've watched the stupid thing.

Well it doesn't matter now, she's latched her iron grip onto your wrist and she's dragging you in and sitting you in front of a computer.

You see what she's about to show you and you are not impressed. A thirty second teaser for a new girl group. Nothing new considering that all of them just sprung out of no where, not even giving a warning just BAM – we're here, love us, es.

But you doubt yourself for a little – why is it such a big deal to your friend? She's seen just as many bands with you, complained just as much about the sudden surge, swooned over many many men as well.

Biting back any snarky remarks, you sigh and press play.

00:01

Footsteps echo in a dark corridor and the faint tinkle of a music box can be heard as the camera glides leisurely down the hallway.

00:03
 

Flash, it's only for half a second, but you notice something struggling and water everywhere and even you don't see anything in that half a second you can hear splashing but it's so fast that it's as if it's almost not even there.

00:03

Flash, the music box is louder and the camera is moving faster, it moves out of the hallway and into... a snowy forest? Then you notice that the music has started, you never realized when – but it's definitely there. The angle swings around and then -

00:08

Flash Flash Flash Flash – Faster than you can blink, four images are quickly in and then out to the beat of the music. You can tell that they're different people but you can't distinguish anything except their eerie masks.

00:10

There's a scream, the music is faster but still appealing to the ear – the music box is still underneath all this attractive chaos and gives it a carnival feel. Suddenly you're in a room – a high ceiling gothic cathedral by looking at the windows and the roof, but a shallow Shinto style pond runs across the floor. The camera swings and you hold your breath as you see the cobblestone floor, the deck like sides and the greco-roman pillars, shattered across the room. Four figures are perched at the very end of the room, some on pillars, one on a throne and another swinging their legs off of a deck, barely touching the clear water.

Their costumes are gorgeous – a mixture of old and modern fashion and what seems to be new fashion. Kimonos, stripes, ripped fabrics, lace – it's all there. And they all wear their white masks.

00:17

Another half second screech, this time you see a dark cross in a bright room, a sizzling noise – you can almost smell something burning – it's bright, so bright , too bright – and then

00:17
 

Back to the forest, snap snap – there's the dance that you didn't even remember that most groups need – it's so fascinating, so beautiful that it shouldn't even matter. You blink in surprise as a red splash of liquid streaks across the white snow, the dance still ongoing, but this is the first time such a bright color has even appeared in the video.

00:22

There's a bang – it sounds like a gunshot, this time the half second is a violent jerk, almost dizzying and then a dull thud that you can barely hear through the music.

00:22

Then it's only the music box that you can hear, the silence is close to strange now, the tune speeds up as the camera moves backwards in increasing speeds, you're out of the cathedral, out of the forest, backing up through the corridor, and then suddenly the door slams and you're outside in a dull world, and facing you is a tall, rickety house.

The tinkling of the music box stops and the door opens slowly.

Welcome...

It's a close to silent breath but you hear it as the words Mat.I.Nee are painted in the corner of the screen.

00:30

And then it's over.

And then you realize what the big deal was.

This is the beginning of so much more.