Strike the Blood - Volume 3 - Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE 

FRIENDSHIP, LOVE, AND OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES 

1 

It was not actually the first meeting between the two of them. 

However, the first memory she—Asagi Aiba—had of Kojou Akatsuki was that night at the dimly lit waiting room in the hospital. 

That night, Asagi was sitting on a bench all by herself, gazing absentmindedly at the laptop open on her lap. She was wearing a Saikai Academy middle schooler uniform, with plain, black hair. 

It was sometime after nine PM. There were no longer any outside guests visiting patients. It was dark outside the window; the hospital was quiet. The still-young girl was illuminated only by dim emergency lights. 

Kojou, who just happened to be passing by, suddenly halted, his eyes glued to the side of her face. 

Half of the reason was that he thought he’d seen the girl before. 

The other half was that she looked like she was crying. 

Noticing Kojou gazing at her like that, Asagi suddenly lifted up her face. 

He hadn’t expected her to glare straight at him with firm, tear-moistened eyes. 

That surprised Kojou a little. When he’d seen Asagi Aiba in class, she seemed nothing more than a mature girl who didn’t really stand out much. “You’re…the newbie in my class at school, right?” Asagi asked in an unexpectedly peaceful tone. 

Kojou made a short sigh. “At least call me a transfer student. It’s been almost two months since I transferred over.” 

“Oh… Well, not like it matters, anyway,” Asagi shrugged indifferently. He didn’t learn this until later, but apparently she’d lived on the small, artificial island known as Itogami Island from since she was kindergarten age. Certainly, Kojou’s having come to the island less than two months before made him nothing more than a Johnny-come-lately from Asagi’s perspective. 

“What happened to your glasses?” Kojou asked, as he realized what was different from the way she normally looked in class. So far as Kojou could remember, Asagi was always wearing a pair of plain, unfashionable glasses. 

But Asagi dismissively shook her head. “They’re just for show. It’s not like my eyes are bad.” 

“Is that so? Just seems…” Like a waste of your good looks, Kojou was about to say but thought better of it and swallowed his words; it wasn’t any of his business. 

Asagi shot him a suspicious glare, her eyes narrowed. “More to the point, what are you doing in a hospital at this hour? Sprained a finger?” 

“…I wouldn’t come to a huge hospital like this for a finger sprain, y’know.” Kojou grimaced as he replied. Apparently Asagi knew that Kojou was a basketball player, at least. She made a somewhat mischievous smile, even with her eyes still red and puffy from crying. 

“So what is it? Player on your team got life-threatening injuries?” 

“Cut that out. Got nothing to do with that.” 

Kojou lowered his voice as his lips made a serious, disagreeable twist. He tried to convey things as casually and factually as he could, as if to not make things any graver than they were. 

“My little sister’s hospitalized… Been that way ever since we came to this island.” 

“Is…that so…?” 

Asagi’s expression didn’t change. But he didn’t think the faint wariness and hostility toward Kojou in her voice was just his imagination. 

“Why are you standing up? Sit, would you?” 

Folding the notebook computer on her lap, Asagi pointed to the seat right beside her. 

“Er, but…” 

“It’s fine. I’ll feel pathetic if I’m just sitting here crying all by myself.” 

“My being here isn’t gonna help anything, y’know.” 

She’s got another thing coming if she’s expecting me to console her, thought Kojou as he spoke, but Asagi leered at him. 

Despite her obvious beauty, her smiling face was awfully plain and frank. “It’s fine. After all, if you tell anyone else, I’ll be the one making you cry.” 

“The heck’s that? Aren’t you treating me a little rough here?” 

“Put up with it. It’s your fault for seeing me cry in the first place.” 

Her irrational declaration brought a strained smile to Kojou’s face. He was relieved that she didn’t seem at all concerned about the opposite sex. Her attitude was refreshing. He felt like he was dealing with a guy he’d known for years. 

That memory was before the youth known as Kojou Akatsuki was to be called the Fourth Primogenitor, the World’s Mightiest Vampire… 

2 

—So that’s how it was. 

Kojou gasped and lifted his face as the soft sensation of her lips and the teasing tone of her voice came rushing back to him. 

He was in a packed monorail station. The unenthused train conductor spoke rapid-fire in a sleep-inducing tone. Outside the window were the man-made skyline of Itogami City and the morning sun shining upon the open, blue sea. These were the familiar sights of the Demon Sanctuary. 

Feeling an itch in his nose like he was about to have a nosebleed, Kojou sighed. A dream, huh? 

“Senpai.” 

“Whoa?!” 

Kojou made a vivid yelp as Yukina Himeragi called out to him from point-blank range. 

Yukina hmphed, her lips twisting in displeasure as she looked up at Kojou. 

She was a middle school schoolgirl in uniform with a black guitar case on her back. She had a refreshing beauty to her, almost too nicely arranged. He ought to have been a little more used to seeing her, but when she suddenly popped into his vision looking like that, he got nervous for no good reason. However, she had not the slightest inkling of the effect she had. 

Yukina spoke to the shaken Kojou in a blunt, dubious tone. “We’re going to arrive at the station shortly.” 

Right on cue, the monorail was just beginning to decelerate before reaching the next station. This was the station closest to Saikai Academy, where Kojou and Yukina went to school. This was the normal time slot for the school commute, so there were a good many other students on the train at the same time as they were. Numerous jealous and hate-filled glares fell upon Kojou for being able to go to school with a girl as pretty as Yukina. 

In reality, Yukina was simply performing her duty as watcher, but under the circumstances, no one would believe any such claim. Nor would they believe that the guitar case Yukina carried over her back contained a demon-slaying spear said to be able to kill even a Primogenitor. 

Gimme a break here, Kojou murmured internally as he made a frail sigh. “R-right. Sorry. Dozed off a little there.” 

“I can see that.” 

“C-can you now.” 

“…Is something on your mind? You seemed to be having a nightmare of some sort.” 

Yukina had an overly serious expression as she inquired. Kojou’s expression wavered once more. Of course, he didn’t say something like, Oh, I was remembering how I got kissed by my classmate. 

“N-nah, nothing like that at all. Just surprised me, that’s all.” 

“…Did something happen with Aiba?” 

“Eh?!” 

How did you know? Kojou nearly said, furiously swallowing down the words. Yukina’s spiritual sensitivity as a Sword Shaman was not to be underestimated. 

As Yukina drew closer, staring intently at him, Kojou averted his gaze as a cold sweat came over him. 

“N-no, of course not… Ah-ha-ha…” 

“Really?” 

“Nothing. Didn’t do nothing.” 

“…Why are you looking away, senpai?” 

“I-if you’ve really gotta ask, this angle is kinda…,” Kojou mumbled hesitantly. Yukina was all but pressed up against him as she looked up. 

“Angle?” Yukina blinked with a blank look. 

She was a short girl; Kojou was nearly two hundred centimeters tall. From his vantage point, if he looked down at Yukina while she was at point-blank range, he had just the right angle to stare down at the bust of her uniform. 

In other words, at the pale white skin visible through the gap in her collar and at the valley between those softly swelling peaks— 

“Senpai…!” 

With a sudden move, Yukina covered her bust with both hands and glared at Kojou. 

Kojou desperately shook his head. “Wait, wait! It’s not my fault!” 

“…I suppose not. It is a relief you are being your normal self, senpai.” Yukina sighed deeply as if surrendering. 

Like your being relieved by that is a good thing, Kojou thought with a grimace on his face. It was good that he’d managed to get off that topic for the moment, but for some reason, he didn’t feel like the air had been cleared. 

The automated monorail reached the station, and the doors opened. Kojou and Yukina mixed with the noisy flock of students getting off the train and made their way to the ticket gate. 

It wasn’t even a ten-minute walk from the station to Saikai Academy. Kojou listlessly walked along the undulating road. Glancing up to see the side of Kojou’s face like that, Yukina’s eyebrows frowned in apparent concern. 

“Senpai, are you really all right? You don’t look so good.” 

“Can’t be helped, can it? It’s seriously tough for someone with a vampire’s constitution to come to school at this time of day.” Kojou made a resentful expression as he looked up at the excessively bright blue sky. 

This was Itogami Island, the artificial city of eternal summer floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Even in October, there was no sense of autumn whatsoever; powerful sunrays poured down, as was their wont. Truth be told, it was tough on everyone, not just vampires. 

“Besides, I’ve been sleep deprived all the time lately.” 

“Sleep deprived?” 

“Yeah, ’cause that Kirasaka girl’s been calling me in the middle of the night.” 

“Calls? From Sayaka to you, senpai?” 

Yukina’s eyes were wide in apparent shock. Kojou didn’t even notice. 

“Yeah, she’s been doing that from time to time lately. Like asking how you were that day, and after that, long lectures for who knows what. What the hell’s she thinkin’, calling me over little things like that?” 

“Lengthy…and over…little things?” 

“She said she’s gotta talk to me because you don’t have your own cell phone, y’see.” 

Without displaying any special suspicion, Kojou relayed the explanation exactly as it had been given to him. 

For some reason, Yukina had a serious look on her face as she murmured to herself. 

“…Sayaka’s hated phones since way back. It caused a bit of trouble at times. She’d even turn down calls from her Lion King Agency superiors, saying she couldn’t endure the voice of a man in her ear.” 

“Oh yeah… She hates men, doesn’t she?” Kojou sighed as he remembered how prickly Sayaka’s attitude had been just after they’d met. 

Sayaka Kirasaka was an Attack Mage affiliated with the Lion King Agency, just as Yukina was. 

As a child, she’d been physically abused by her father routinely because of her excellent Spirit Sight power. Thanks to that, she held a grudge against all men, even now. 

“I’ve gotta say, though, she really cares about you to be going out of her way to call me like this. Maybe you could call it concern for her friend, overprotectiveness maybe…” 

“Senpai…” 

Yukina turned a reproachful glare at Kojou as he murmured in apparent annoyance. Kojou was a little thrown off by her unexpected reaction. 

“Himeragi?” 

“No, it’s nothing at all. I suppose you’re right.” Yukina stopped walking as she replied flatly. She seemed to be pouting somehow, but Kojou had no idea why. Yukina kept a blank expression on her face as she robotically went through the motions. “Well then, I must excuse myself. I am going to the middle school campus, after all.” 

“R-right.” 

Kojou tilted his head slightly as he watched Yukina head off into the distance. With the guitar case over her small back, she soon vanished into a sea of similarly dressed schoolgirls. 

“What the heck was that about?” 

He stood in place as the dazzling morning rays of the sun poured down without mercy. It seemed this would be another sweltering day. 

3 

Kojou heard a voice behind him as he changed into his indoor shoes at the entrance. “Mornin’, Kojou. Man, you’re looking worse than usual. You all right?” 

The male student, with headphones hanging from his neck, waved at Kojou with a high-tension demeanor. It was his “bad” friend from his middle school days, Motoki Yaze. Kojou waved back as if barely bothering. 

“Just short on sleep. Leave me alone.” 

“Hmm… Short on sleep, you say?” 

Hearing Kojou’s indifferent reply, it was Rin Tsukishima, passing by at that moment, who smiled and wedged herself into the conversation. She talked and acted cool, and her style was second to none, making her very popular with the boys; she was also the class representative for Kojou and Asagi’s high school class, 1-B. 

“Is there something on your mind? You can speak to me about it, if you like.” 

“No, it’s not like I’m…worrying about it…” 

“Interpersonal relations, then?” 

As she watched Kojou seemingly glossing things over with vague words, Rin made her declaration without any hint of hesitation. Kojou was rocked back on his heels by her confidence-filled words. 

“The shape of your brows and the angle of your nostrils form a face gripped by concerns regarding interpersonal relations.” 

“…I-is that so?” Kojou subconsciously touched the tip of his nose in bewilderment. He’d heard that Rin had a knack for divining by the facial features, but it wasn’t as if he lacked a reason why he’d be concerned about interpersonal relations. 

In contrast to the unnerved Kojou, Rin spoke with a majestic tone. 

“The cause of your anxiety is a person very close to you, yes? The coloring of your spiritual aura suggests…trouble with the opposite sex?” 

“H-how did you know?” Kojou spoke on reflex as he remembered about Asagi. 

It had been over two weeks ago when she’d kissed Kojou. It was right after the conclusion of a certain terror incident. 

Since coming to know Asagi in middle school, Kojou barely realized she was a member of the opposite sex, but naturally, he couldn’t say the same after something like that had happened. Even someone as dense as Kojou could not fail to realize at least the fact she was favorably disposed toward him. 

He did not think of it as any kind of nuisance. Setting aside whether these were romantic feelings, if asked if he liked her or not, Kojou would say without hesitation that he liked her. 

And that very fact was the reason Kojou was troubled by it. 

After all, he had a great secret that he couldn’t tell her: the nonsensical, lethal secret that he was the World’s Mightiest Vampire… 

He couldn’t embrace Asagi’s feelings for him while keeping a crucial fact like that hidden from her. 

Having said that, pushing her away to protect that secret would hurt both her and him as a result. In the first place, could not merely being close to him put Asagi, unaware of the truth, in danger by itself…? When he began thinking about that, Kojou’s thoughts became a quagmire without escape, leaving him completely at a loss. Sayaka’s phone calls weren’t the only reason he wasn’t getting enough sleep. 

“Kojou… I’m surprised that you’re the type who falls for swindlers and con artists so easily.” 

“C-con artists?” 

Kojou stared at Rin in shock as giggles trickled into the air all around them. 

Upon seeing this, Kojou finally understood. Rin had completely taken him for a ride. 

Now that he thought about it, Rin was always close at hand; all she needed to figure out what was bothering Kojou was a little simple observation. She didn’t need to rely on telling fortunes at all. Perhaps she’d figured out that Asagi was the cause of Kojou’s troubles before she’d even started. 

“Shit… You totally fooled me. I’m never gonna trust you guys again. Ever!” 

“‘Fooled’ makes it sound so underhanded. I was trying to have a serious conversation,” Rin replied with a serious look. 

Kojou exhaled roughly. “I’ll pass. I knew from the start that I gotta do what I gotta do.” 

“Hmm… Well, if you say so.” 

Rin smiled charmingly as she stared at the disgusted look on Kojou’s face from the side. 

Kojou and the others, still standing around, turned toward the classroom. It was still a little before the start of classes; about half of the students were already inside. Among them was a schoolgirl with showy, highly conspicuous looks… 

Asagi Aiba noticed Kojou and the others and raised a hand. 

“Morning, Rin. You guys, too.” 

Kojou listlessly returned the greeting, but he was quietly relieved that Asagi was her normal, everyday self. Even after what had happened in the hospital room, her attitude toward him hadn’t changed whatsoever. Kojou was honestly grateful for it, even as he found it a little eerie. 

But Rin, her sharp eyes detecting a subtle change in Asagi, raised an eyebrow, obviously intrigued. 

“What’s wrong, you’re short on sleep, too, Asagi?” 

As Rin pointed it out, an expression came over Asagi like that of a child being teased. She was covering it up very well with makeup, but when Kojou looked more closely, there were faint shadows all around her eyes. 

“Mm… Yesterday was a bit… Er, what, Kojou? What’s with that horrid look?” 

Asagi, her eyes narrowed and sleepy looking, looked skeptically up at Kojou. Rin seemed amused as she looked between Asagi and Kojou, studying their expressions. 

“Akatsuki says he didn’t get much sleep, either.” 

“Wh-what are you grinning like that for…?” Asagi lodged an objection in a shrill voice. Her cheeks reddened as she grasped what Rin’s words were suggesting. The redness remained as she glared sharply at Kojou. 

“And could you please stop inviting misunderstandings like that?” 

“What are you complaining to me for…?” 

Asagi machine-gunned the excuse. “Anyway, the reason I couldn’t sleep last night was because of that ruckus.” 

Listening to her, Yaze murmured as he bit. “I see. Right, that stuff was near your place.” 

“That’s right. There were fire engines going all around till almost dawn. Was really noisy…” 

“…There was a ruckus yesterday?” Kojou asked as the subject tugged at a vague memory. Asagi’s residence was in a pricey residential district near the center of the city. He thought it was a sleepy district free of late-night disturbances. 

“Mm… I saw something about it on the news, about rampaging demons in West in the dead of night? Unregistered demons going at it or something.” 

“Demons running amok?” 

Kojou’s expression froze at Yaze’s amused explanation. 

Asagi listlessly put her head on her hands and nodded. 

“Looks like they made a real mess of things. A bunch of buildings came crashing down, some roads got blocked off, the Island Guard deployed to suppress it… It’s a big uproar. I thought for sure some idiot vampire let some Beast Vassal run amok again, but…” 

“It wasn’t me, I didn’t do anything.” 

Asagi looked up with an exasperated expression as Kojou’s mouth ran ahead of his conscious thoughts. 

“Well, I know that already. What are you talking about?” 

“R-right. Of course,” Kojou said in a frail voice as he wiped the sweat off his brow. Itogami City was a Demon Sanctuary. About 40 percent of its 560,000-odd citizens were inhuman demons granted formal residency. They included beast men, fey, half fey, half demons, artificial life-forms…and vampires. In this city, demons were more likely to run amok than outsiders of some sort. 

That was why, even if a demon other than Kojou went wild and wrecked the city, it wouldn’t really be anything shocking. 

As soon as Yaze and Rin turned to take their own seats, Asagi tugged on the collar of Kojou’s uniform and spoke in a small voice. “Incidentally, Kojou…do you have any plans after classes today?” For some reason, her question sounded bashful, driving Kojou’s tension way up. 

“No. No special plans…” 

Kojou made an awkward shake of his head. He expected that Yukina would be sticking to him in the course of her watcher duties that day, like every day, but he couldn’t call that plans. 

Asagi made what seemed like a small sigh of relief. 

“All right, come with me to the art classroom after class. Alone.” 

“Art classroom? I mean that’s fine, but why…?” 

Even while managing to keep his face composed, Kojou was completely beside himself. The Saikai Academy art club was currently on hiatus due to insufficient members. In other words, there’d be no one in the art classroom after classes at all. What in the world did she intend to do, leading Kojou to a place like that…? 

“Just come. And keep it a secret from everyone else,” Asagi whispered, her cheeks red, ignorant of Kojou’s mental anguish. Unable to hold out against that face, Kojou put some distance between them as if making a tactical retreat. 

4 

And after classes that very day… 

Asagi had left class first to wait for Kojou in the empty art classroom. The thin rays of the setting sun passed through the curtains to illuminate her from behind as the blowing ocean breeze made her hair sway. 

Asagi had a pure white sketchbook right before her eyes. Her right hand was holding a heavily sharpened pencil for sketching. 

“…A portrait?” 

Kojou asked while giving her a look of disbelief. She was wearing an apron over her school uniform. 

Asagi pointed to a calendar standing in the corner of the art classroom. 

“That’s right. It’s a portrait or, you know, a likeness of a friend. I’m supposed to submit it by this coming Monday.” 

“…Didn’t we do this in class last week?” Kojou asked back with a languid look on his face. Called out to a classroom with no other sign of human life like this, Kojou had intended to come prepared for anything. For example, a heartfelt confession or a demand to continue here where they’d left off in the hospital room… 

But Asagi had her usual composed smile on her face. “Right, but I wasn’t in class that day. The police called me over that day to give a witness statement. You know, about when that terrorist group kidnapped me.” 

“So you want me to…model for you?” 

His strength deserting him, Kojou sat in the chair that had been prepared for him. 

“Why not? You have the time and all.” 

“Well, I’m fine with it, but if you’re gonna sketch, wouldn’t someone like Tsukishima make for better material?” 

“Rin has committee work today. And that idiot Motoki is on a date.” 

“…I see… Guess I’ve gotta do it,” Kojou muttered powerlessly as if resigning himself to the inevitable. From a logical standpoint, Asagi’s request was not unreasonable whatsoever. Kojou had simply let his imagination run wild. 

“Right, right. So that’s how it is. Now, would you mind stripping?” Gazing with satisfaction at Kojou’s cooperativeness, Asagi spoke with an offhand, casual tone. 

“Huh? Strip what off?” 

“You’re a model, so of course I mean stripping off your clothes. Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed by something?” 

“Wait, wait! Why do I have to strip off my clothes to model for a likeness?!” 

“It’s for art, so deal with it. Then, I want you to make the same pose as this.” 

With a grin all over her face, Asagi pointed to a corner of the art classroom decorated with a replica statue of David. The original was a masterpiece from the Renaissance painted by no less than Michelangelo. But… 

“He’s buck naked!!” Kojou yelled at the entirely too aesthetic figure. 

Asagi grinned and cackled. “I’m kidding, it’s a joke. All you need to do is take that smelly parka off.” 

“Could’ve just said so. And don’t call my parka smelly.” 

With a low groan, Kojou stripped off the parka he wore over his upper body school uniform. 

This time, Asagi stopped fooling around, too, and sat squarely in front of Kojou as she opened up the sketchbook. Of course, this put their faces directly opposite each other, but Asagi made no sign of noticing. 

Watching her hum through her nose as she made the pencil run about, Kojou was suddenly struck by a sense of guilt. 

Asagi didn’t know he was a vampire. She didn’t know because he was hiding it from her. 

Kojou asked himself: Doesn’t this mean I’m deceiving her? 

He didn’t have to think about it; the answer was yes. Asagi had her guard completely down in front of Kojou because she trusted him. And yet, even now, he was betraying that trust. 

He thought of Asagi as a precious friend. 

Therefore, this was not a betrayal that was forgivable. Kojou only realized that himself then and there. No, he understood it from the beginning. If Asagi was truly drawing near to him with affection, Kojou had to tell her the truth: the crazy truth that he was the vampire known as “the Fourth Primogenitor.” Even if that meant losing both her affection and her friendship in the process… 

That very moment, just as Kojou was quietly hardening his pathetic resolve… 

“Mmm, this is boring.” 

Asagi tossed the sketchbook away as she suddenly rose from her seat. 

Kojou was thoroughly stricken by shock at her completely unexpected behavior. 

“Wh-what is?” 

“My creative juices just aren’t flowing here. I mean, you’re really ordinary. Can’t you make a funnier face?” 

“…Why does the model have to entertain the person doing the drawing? I’m not into leaving behind a portrait of me making some kind of weird face…” 

Of course, Kojou rebutted Asagi’s arbitrary demand. Asagi completely and utterly ignored him, slowly reaching a hand out to Kojou’s face. 

“Oh, don’t say that, give it a try. It might be a lot more fun than you think.” 

“I-idiot! Hey, cut that out! And where did you get that tape from?!” 

Asagi deftly made liberal use of vinyl tape, toying as she pleased with Kojou as he resisted in vain. The reason he couldn’t simply force her off him was his hesitation about touching Asagi’s body with his hands. 

“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Yes, that expression. That will do. Even you look good like this, Kojou. I feel a Picasso-grade masterpiece coming on.” 

“Doesn’t feel like I’m being complimented at all here! It’s not like you’re gonna do a Picasso by having me model a weird face in the first pl… Uh, the heck is that?!” 

“…Hm? It’s makeup.” 

“That’s a paint marker!!” 

Kojou’s voice went coarse as he felt it make firm contact with his cheek. Asagi drew a vertical line on Kojou’s cheek with a practiced hand. 

“It suits you quite well. Gives off a nice punk aesthetic.” 

“This isn’t ‘punk,’ it’s some corny fake, foreign makeup job…! You’re washing off this marker stuff properly afterward, right?!” 

“Don’t sweat the small stuff.” 

“This ain’t small,” Kojou said weakly in reply. Truth be told, it wasn’t that he hated this; when he saw Asagi laughing, all his worries seemed like ridiculous, little things. He suddenly thought, Maybe Asagi’s pulling all these pranks with that in mind. 

“Ah, that’s right… Hold on a sec.” 

Suddenly, Asagi left those words behind as she went out of the art classroom on her own. Kojou watched her go with unease. If it wasn’t for the doodling on his cheek, Kojou would have gone right out after her. 

Finally, Asagi returned to the art classroom, dragging several large rectangular cardboard boxes in with her. 

“Sorry for the wait!” 

“…The heck’s all that?” 

“Costumes. The drama club’s classroom is close by, so I borrowed a few things. A lot of my girl classmates are in that club, see.” 

This said, Asagi opened the cardboard boxes. The costumes within were modern-era style and thoroughly outlandish. They included butler outfits, maid outfits, gothic lolita magical girl outfits, live-action superhero tights, etc. They seemed less like resources for a drama club than the personal belongings of a cosplay otaku. 

“…What am I supposed to do with this stuff?” 

“You’re supposed to wear it, of course. It’ll go great with your makeup, don’t you think?” 

Her face extremely lively as she spoke, Asagi pulled up and showed off one of the outfits. It was a clown outfit with a red-and-white stripe motif he’d seen on the front of burger shops. 

“Like hell it will,” Kojou said, raising a shout. 

“Why do I have to cosplay to help you with your art homework?!” 

“It’s to solve my artistic dilemma. If you don’t want me to draw a picture of you making a funny face, you should at least be willing to put an outfit on for me. Or would you rather strip?” 

“Like hell I’m strippin’! In the first place, it’s stupid for me to be the only one wearing something like that!” 

“…What’s that? If it’s not just you, then it’s all right?” Asagi asked her question with a suddenly serious look. As if taunting the silent Kojou, Asagi pointed at an outfit in one of the boxes. 

“If that’s so, I’ll change my clothes to match yours. No complaints then, right?” 

“Er, no, I think I still have some complaints regardless, but…” 

“Yeah, yeah. If we’re changing clothes, you turn thataway.” 

With Kojou’s objection overruled, Asagi undid the necktie of her uniform. She proceeded to put her hand over the buttons of her top. Kojou hastily turned his back toward her. 

In the quiet art classroom after school hours, the rustling sounds of Asagi changing clothes echoed all about. Kojou forced himself to make imaginary free throws inside his own mind in an effort to fend off the sounds that stimulated his baser instincts. 

After several exceedingly long minutes, Asagi said, “It’s all right now,” giving his shoulder a pat. “Now you can’t complain, can you?” 

Kojou turned and looked; right before his eyes, Asagi was wearing a family restaurant waitress’s uniform. The outfit served to exaggerate the swell of her breasts, with a frilly apron on top. It came with knee-high socks and an unnaturally short skirt. It wasn’t that the outfit was especially exposing, but the unusual situation—a classmate wearing clothes like this on school grounds—bewildered him. 

“…Why a waitress outfit?” 

“I thought you’d like it, Kojou. You’re always staring at the waitresses at family restaurants, after all.” 

“I am not!” 

“Now, now. I’ve given you quite a freebie, so it’s time you changed clothes, too. Here.” 

“You’ve totally forgotten why we’re doing this in the first place, haven’t you? What happened to your artistic dilemma?” 

Steadily complaining all the while, Kojou peered into the cardboard box. He pulled out the sanest outfit he could see, which turned out to be the butler outfit. Asagi regarded it with great interest before turning toward the wall. Kojou yielded to the inevitable and began to change. Fortunately, the size wasn’t a problem. Apparently the drama club outfits had been made to have a certain degree of flexibility. 

“Yeah, this actually looks pretty good on you, Kojou.” Looking at Kojou after he’d changed, Asagi smiled with what looked like admiration. 

“That doesn’t make me the slightest bit happy.” 

Looking at his own reflection in the mirror, Kojou’s face scowled in irritation. The “butler” clothes were black with a tailcoat. Whether Kojou liked it or not, he looked like a classical vampire. He was the spitting image of the terrifying demons that had terrorized mankind in the great war before the Holy Ground Treaty was signed. 

Even as this fact made Kojou distinctly uncomfortable, he muttered, “There, happy now?” as he checked with Asagi. 

…Click! 

His eyes met Asagi’s as her stupidly high-end smartphone took a picture of him. 

“Wh-what are you taking a picture for?!” 

“Mm? Reference photo for my sketch.” 

“Stop, delete that. Delete it right now!” Kojou shouted in a shrill voice. Here he was, after classes had ended, wearing a butler outfit, and not preparing for some kind of school festival. Plus, he had that weird “makeup” on his face; he thought it was a fairly painful situation to be in. 

But for her part, Asagi filled the air with the sounds of her camera shutter on full rapid-fire. 

“It’s all right. It’s not like I’m gonna send them all to everyone in class.” 

“That’s exactly what I don’t trust you not to do! Aw, crap…!” 

In a desperate counterattack, Kojou whipped out his own cell phone and photographed Asagi in her waitress outfit. Seeing that, Asagi let out a cute yelp. Apparently even she had some sense of shame. 

“Hold on… Why do I have to get photographed too?! It’s indecent.” 

“It’s not indecent. These are reasonable countermeasures!” 

“Oh, good grief…!” 

Asagi made a rough, seemingly defiant sigh. Suddenly, she stood right beside Kojou and wrapped herself around his arm. She proceeded to snuggle against him while getting both of them into the camera frame. 

Click, the shutter reverberated. The two-shot was displayed on the smartphone’s screen: a butler and a waitress. It was a bizarre situation, but the image was picture-perfect. 

“And? Got it out of your system? 

“…Well, it’s not really a matter of getting it out of my system or not…,” Kojou said in a tired voice as he glared at the oddly satisfied Asagi. 

Right after, a long chime rang throughout the school. The school day had come to an end. 

Asagi scratched her head in disappointment as she gazed at the blank sketchbook. “It’s not finished at all. It’s all because you were dragging your feet.” 

“This is my fault?! It’s ’cause you pulled out all that weird stuff!” 

“This is bad… Mm, and I have something I need to do tomorrow,” Asagi murmured, seriously conflicted for once. Of course, Kojou felt somewhat guilty, too. 

After all, the whole reason Asagi had to do extra homework was because she’d gotten wrapped up in the terror incident; it was no fault of hers whatsoever. Besides, Kojou himself was hardly unrelated to that incident. 

“…So how about we do it on the weekend?” 

Kojou made the proposal, lacking other options. Either way, it wouldn’t be easy to finish a likeness in just the time after class was dismissed. Besides, if the work was being done at Kojou’s apartment, he wouldn’t have to worry about dressing up in weird outfits. 

“You’re sure?” 

“Yeah. My mom said she probably wasn’t gonna be back for a while still, and Nagisa has club during the day, so there’s no toes to worry about stepping on.” 

“…J-just the two of us, then…?” Asagi murmured in a voice so faint that it was hard to pick up. Kojou felt like he’d committed some kind of fatal mistake, but he couldn’t just say, “Okay, forget it,” at that point. “All right, sorry, but thanks. Saturday, okay?” Asagi said as she looked up at Kojou, a smile all over her face. And so it was. 

5 

Having returned the key to the art classroom and parted ways with Asagi, Kojou was standing in front of a washstand along the corridor. He was there to wash off the doodles Asagi had drawn on his face. 

“Aww, crap… There, finally got it off…” 

Having finished taking pains to wash the stubborn grime off his face, Kojou exhaled in relief. 

As he stood like that, a towel was thrust in front of him. It was a clean-looking, pale blue towel. 

“Here.” 

“Ahh, thanks.” 

On reflex, Kojou responded to stimulus and wiped off his dripping wet face. 

“…Wait, Himeragi?!” 

Kojou froze in place when he realized who had handed him the towel. 

Yukina, in her middle school uniform with her guitar case over her back, was standing right beside Kojou without letting her presence be felt. Kojou had absolutely no idea how long she’d been standing right there. 

“What have you been doing at this late hour, senpai?” Yukina asked in a composed tone. She was in the shadow of a pillar, making her expression impossible to read. Yukina’s voice was gentle, but that only served to rattle Kojou all the more. 

The root of Kojou’s defeat was that Asagi had so filled his head that he’d completely forgotten that Yukina existed. She, a self-styled watcher, i.e., a government-approved stalker, would of course have been monitoring his movements after class. 

“Ah… Er, sorry, a classmate had me help her with some art homework until just earlier there.” 

Kojou maintained a cool composure as he made an awkward laugh. Since he had no idea just how much of the situation Yukina grasped, making a clumsy apology would be a fatal mistake. 

“It’s nothing you need to apologize for, although…” 

Yukina let out a soft sigh as she accepted the towel back from Kojou. 

“…did the homework you are referring to include having Aiba dress up in a waitress outfit and taking pictures of her?” 

“So you were watching?!” 

“I am your watcher, after all,” Yukina said as if stating the obvious. Her voice had its usual clear tone, but Kojou could not fail to pick up the echo of faint dissatisfaction in it. Although Yukina’s moods were difficult to read at a glance, Kojou had somewhat improved his grasp of them to a certain degree from having spent a lot of time with her over the last month. 

“Then, you get it already. That was Asagi playing a prank; all she really asked me to do was model for a likeness.” 

“…For a prank, you both seemed to be enjoying yourselves a great deal,” Yukina muttered with a sullen expression. Kojou was a bit thrown off at how she seemed faintly envious. 

“Huh?” 

“No, nothing at all.” 

“R-right… Well, I’m kinda glad. Actually, I had something to talk to you about, Himeragi.” 

Judging that Yukina had nominally accepted the situation, Kojou forced a change of subject. Yukina glared at Kojou with a guarded expression. 

“Something to talk about, meaning Aiba?” 

“Well… Well, it’s kind of about her and kind of about me.” 

“Ah?” 

“Err, I mean… I was thinking that I should tell Asagi, even if it’s just her, about what I am now…” 

Yukina’s expression grew even sharper at Kojou’s vague outline. 

“The fact that you…lust after Aiba?” 

“…L-lust?” 

Kojou looked back at Yukina, flabbergasted at hearing the unexpected word. Realizing she misunderstood, he hastily shook his head. 

“No, not that. I’m not talking about wanting to suck Asagi’s blood or something…” 

“What are you talking about, then?” 

“I’m talking about telling Asagi that I’m really a vampire!” 

“Ahh…” 

Yukina’s strength seemed to leave her as she indicated she understood. 

To her, Kojou had been the vampire she’d been watching since the moment they’d met. At this point, even if he declared he was coming out of the closet, maybe it just didn’t ring a bell with her. 

Thanks to Yukina’s odd reaction, Kojou felt embarrassed somehow as he continued. 

“Going on deceiving Asagi like this feels a bit…embarrassing, rotten maybe?” 

“Mm…” Yukina nodded vaguely. “It isn’t that I don’t understand how you feel, but why the sudden rush now?” 

Of course, he did not give the honest reply—“because she kissed me”—and voiced a more legitimate excuse. “W-well… I mean, you know, it’d be bad if she got wrapped up in some danger she knows nothing about. Like the kind of thing that just happened recently.” 

“Ah, I see…” 

“The thing is, even if I avoid her, that doesn’t mean it isn’t gonna happen, anyway.” Kojou laughed a dry, self-deprecating laugh. 

Not that vampires were any kind of rarity on Itogami Island, but your friend being an unregistered demon who’d been hiding it from you was a different story altogether. The chances of Asagi entering a wild rage weren’t exactly low. 

“It’s just, if I expose what I am, that affects where you stand, too, Himeragi. So, I thought it was best to discuss it with you first.” 

With a meek expression, Kojou glanced to check Yukina’s reaction. However, for some reason, Yukina looked like her mind was somewhere else as she nodded. 

“I…see… Revealing to Aiba…a secret known only to me…” 

“Eh?” 

“Oh, nothing, nothing at all.” 

Yukina lifted her head and straightened her posture. 

“There’s no reason to be concerned for me. In the first place, I have nothing to hide in public.” 

“R-right.” 

Come to think of it, Yukina was a nationally accredited Attack Mage, and the organization she was assigned to was a publicly acknowledged government agency. It wasn’t something to just wave around willy-nilly, but she wouldn’t be inconvenienced if exposed. If anything, the reason for her to hide her identity was out of consideration for Kojou’s position. 

“The problem isn’t me; it’s Nagisa.” 

“Yeah…” 

Kojou clutched his head as Yukina calmly pointed the fact out. 

Kojou’s little sister… Nagisa Akatsuki, was afraid of demons even though she lived in a Demon Sanctuary. She had an acute case of demon phobia. The cause was having been attacked by demons in the past, suffering grave, near-fatal wounds in the process. 

That was why Kojou had to hide his true nature from her. 

If Nagisa knew the truth, not only would Kojou and Nagisa be unable to live together as brother and sister anymore: worst case, it would inflict severe mental damage upon her. 

If he exposed his secret to Asagi, that naturally increased the danger that it would reach Nagisa’s ears. No doubt that’s precisely what worried Yukina. 

“Aww…crap, the hell should I do…?” 

As Kojou exhaled weakly, he bent over a windowsill along the corridor. 

He could see the middle school yard beneath his vantage point, illuminated by the setting sun. Kojou raised his eyebrows with a “hm” sound as, right in the shadow of a building of another campus, he spotted the sight of a familiar schoolgirl. 

“Nagisa…?” 

The small silhouette was clad in a middle school uniform. Her long hair was, typically for her, tied neatly back. Though not quite a case of “speak of the devil and he appears,” there stood Kojou’s little sister, the topic of their conversation. 

And right beside her stood a boy wearing a sports club jersey. 

The moment he beheld the scene, Kojou’s mind went blank with anger and impatience. 

“…Bastard!” 

“Senpai?! W-wait, please! What do you think you’re doing?!” 

Yukina hastily pulled Kojou back before he leaped down from the window…on the building’s fourth floor. 

Kojou’s face twitched as he looked back at Yukina, his feet still on the windowsill. 

“Wh-what’s with… Why is there a guy with Nagisa?!” 

“…That’s a boy from our class, isn’t it?” Yukina answered the first of his questions with a composed tone. Yukina and Nagisa were middle school classmates; in other words, the schoolboy in the yard was from the same class as Nagisa. 

“Come to mention it, I think I’ve seen him before… His name’s Takashimizu or something.” 

Kojou muttered as he tracked down the vague memory. It was a face he’d seen many times on the grounds after classes when he was still in the basketball club. He was a soccer club member with tidy looks; Kojou recalled he was popular with the girls, too. 

What the hell does a guy like that want with Nagisa? thought Kojou, losing his presence of mind. 

“Ah…a letter.” 

“Wha—?!” Kojou’s breath caught at Yukina’s blunt murmur. When he looked, Takashimizu was indeed holding a sealed white letter in his hand. 

“Wh-wh-what’s some guy in the same class handing Nagisa a letter for in a place with no one else around?!” 

“Not that it is my business…” Yukina slumped with a look of concern. She was apparently overwhelmed by Kojou’s alarmingly threatening attitude. “But is it not proper to hand over that kind of letter in a place away from prying eyes?” 

“What do you mean, ‘that kind of letter’…?!” 

“Is that not a love letter?” 

The instant he heard Yukina’s words, strength drained from Kojou’s entire body. A boy from the same class was handing Nagisa a love letter. 

That’s crazy, there’s no way, Kojou told himself. Nagisa was still a child! It was practically yesterday she still had a knapsack on her back. She believed in Santa Claus until fifth grade, for God’s sake. 

“Um, er… Senpai?” Yukina nervously called out to Kojou as he continued mumbling to himself like a madman. 

A hollow smile came over Kojou’s face. 

“Ha-ha, there’s no way. It’s Nagisa. No boy’s gonna give her a love letter.” 

“No, er… Nagisa’s rather popular, actually.” Yukina revealed the unpalatable, shocking truth. 

“Th-that’s just with dogs and cats and stuff…” 

“That’s not what I mean. I mean with ordinary boys in class… I mean, she’s cheerful and cute, she’s easy to talk to, she’s very considerate, has a lot of friends… I don’t think there’s any reason she wouldn’t be popular.” 

Kojou was only half-present as he listened to Yukina’s words. 

Right about then, Takashimizu, having handed Nagisa the letter in the schoolyard, was walking away, full of himself at what he had accomplished. 

“It appears that today, all she’s done is accept the letter.” 

Yukina, who saw the immediate matter as closed, laid the situation out for the benefit of Kojou, who bent down in the corridor. Astounded at the sight of Kojou shaken like this, her voice was mixed with what seemed like a certain echo of disappointment in what she was seeing.