Chapter 2: Red Eyes and a Silver Blade

Sunday. A clear day without a cloud in the sky.

“I guess I’m a little early, huh?” I said to myself as I looked up at the station clock.

I was waiting for someone, but I didn’t see her yet. It wasn’t a big station, so I couldn’t have missed her... Oh, there she was.

“Hmph. I’m glad to see you’re here early,” said the girl I was waiting for. It was Rosalind wearing a white dress.

“Of course. I’m the one who’s showing you around town, remember?”

“Hehe, I know that,” she said as she naturally took my arm. “So give me the grand tour, Namidare.”

“Right.”

Rosalind had just transferred to my school, and today was the day I was supposed to introduce her to the city.

“This is your first date, huh, Rekka?”

It is not. I’m not into lolicon.

R was floating around me snarking like always, but I had to keep my comments to myself.

“Now, is there somewhere you want to go?”

“I’ll let you decide, Namidare.”

“I don’t know, though... I can show you where the library and hospital and things are.”

“How boring.” She shot the idea down.

“Then someplace more fun? Hmm... Maybe we should take the train somewhere?”

“I dislike crowds.”

“Then where do you want to go?”

“I couldn’t say. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be showing me?”

“...All right, I guess we can just wander around for a while. If you see anything that catches your eye, we can stop in.”

“That will do nicely.”

I didn’t have the slightest idea where we were going to go, but if Rosalind was okay with it, I figured it was fine. We left the plaza in front of the station and started to walk.

There was a big highway that ran through the town, so there were a lot of stations and shops built up nearby. But there were no movie theaters or department stores, and there weren’t any good places for teenagers to hang out. The bustling shops were really our only option, but we didn’t go into any of them. Because...

“It’s pretty small, but there’s an arcade near here.”

“I don’t like noisy places.”

“Want to visit the bookstore?”

“Reading isn’t my thing.”

Every suggestion I made was met with disapproval. The one place she showed any interest in was a bakery that had a good reputation.

“Do they have red bean jam buns?” Rosalind asked as she pulled me into the shop. She looked around at the rows of shelves lined with bread.

“Sure, if they haven’t sold out.”

Every bakery had them. We didn’t have any trouble finding them on the shelves, and we both got one. I picked up three other kinds of pastries, checked out, and took Rosalind into the back of the store. They had four sets of tables and chairs set up so you could sit down and eat what you just bought. As we showed up, a married couple was just leaving, so we were able to get a table.

“Okay, let’s eat.”

“Indeed. Let’s eat.”

Rosalind put her hands together in a manner that indicated she still wasn’t used to making the gesture, then picked up her red bean jam bun.

“Hom nom! Hmm... This has a very different texture than the ones they sell at school.”

“Yeah? Maybe because it’s freshly baked,” I said as I took a bite of my own.

The bread did feel a little softer than the ones from the cafeteria. Yeah. It was good. No wonder this place was popular.

In an instant I’d wolfed down three pastries. Rosalind was sitting across from me, still eating hers. Her little mouth was moving as fast it could, but she wasn’t making a very big dent in it. Hmm... There was one tart left, but it was something Rosalind had chosen.

“You really do love red bean jam, huh?” I said, hoping to fill the silence.

“It’s got a different kind of sweetness than chocolate and cakes. I like that. I’m glad I remembered the name from so long ago.”

“Long ago? So you’ve been to Japan before, Rosalind?”

I’d just met her, so I barely knew anything about her.

“Hmm... Yes. Once before,” she said, looking down for a moment.

Was it something she didn’t want to talk about?

“Huh? So where’d you learn that weird Japanese then?” I changed the subject in hopes of getting her mind off of it.

“It’s not weird at all, simpleton.”

“But you sound like an old lady.”

“Ngwah! Well, excuse me!”

“Hahaha...”

“Hmph. What are you laughing at?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about the incredible difference between the way you look and the way you talked when you first introduced yourself.”

“You are so rude!”

Rosalind indignantly turned away and started pouting. I guess I made her a little angry, but I was glad to see her in slightly better spirits.

“Sorry. Here, I’ll get you some coffee.”

The bakery offered complimentary tea and coffee to its customers. Since she didn’t seem to like cheap tea, I decided to get her coffee instead. I poured some into two paper cups and took them back to the table.

“...It’s awful.”

Turns out the coffee didn’t fare any better than tea.

“I guess anything that’s not made with proper leaves or beans isn’t going to be good enough for you, huh?”

“What? They make coffee without beans in Japan?”

“Well, it’s free, so it’s probably instant.”

“...Instant?”

“You’ve never had instant coffee?’

Rosalind shook her head a little.

“Jeez...”

Maybe her family was really rich. She was bratty and talked weird, so it was almost like...

“You really are a princess, aren’t you?”

“...!”

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing!”

Rosalind quickly chowed down on the remainder of her bun and her tart as if something had spooked her and she was itching to get out of this place.

“C-Come on! Let’s go!” she said.

“Hey, wait!”

I hurried after her. When we made it outside, the afternoon sun shone down on us.

“...”

Rosalind stopped in front of the entrance to the store. When I caught up to her and stood next to her, she said my name.

“...Namidare.”

“What’s up?”

“M-My hand...” She looked down and spoke hesitatingly. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito buzzing. “Can you hold my hand?”

Her bangs were covering her face so that I couldn’t really see it, but it seemed to be flushed red.

“You’re always grabbing my arm. Why are you blushing now?”

“Sh-Shut up! This is different!”

I personally found it way more embarrassing when she grabbed my arm... but she probably wouldn’t stop even if I asked her to. She really was a bratty princess.

“Here.” I chuckled and grabbed the tiny hand she offered. “All right, let’s walk around a little more.”

“I-Indeed.”

We walked for a while in the warm sunlight. Since Rosalind was still rejecting my suggestions, we barely went into any other shops. We eventually took a break and sat down on a park bench together. Once our legs had rested up a little, we started walking again despite the fact that we still had no destination in mind.

“This is basically a walk, isn’t it?”

“Indeed. But what’s wrong with that?”

Normally you’d think this was a boring way to spend a weekend, but Rosalind had been smiling practically the whole time. She was still holding my hand and wasn’t letting go. As long as it didn’t bother her, it didn’t bother me. This was my hometown, but there were places I didn’t know. I was learning things too. But by the time the sun was starting to set, we’d run out of places to visit and headed back to the station.

“Want to call it a day?”

“No.”

Ah, yes, the spoiled princess...

“But I can’t think of anywhere else to go.”

“Then come to my house.”

“Huh? No, that’s...” I was caught off guard by her sudden request. “It’s already dinnertime. Your parents wouldn’t want me just showing up, would they?”

I gave her the first excuse that came to mind, but she just hugged me tight and looked up into my eyes.

“It will be just fine.”

“No, but...”

“You promised to spend the day with me, didn’t you?”

She stood on her toes, stretching to bring her face closer. Her red eyes flashed right in front of mine.

“Yeah... I guess I did...”

That’s right. I had to spend the whole day with Rosalind.

......

.........

............?

“Huh...?”

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“...No.”

Something felt out of place, but when I looked into Rosalind’s eyes, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. It was like a part of my mind was being painted over in red.

“All right, I guess I will stop by then.”

“Good.”

I went to follow Rosalind, but suddenly I heard a voice behind me.

“Huh? Is that you, Rekka?”

I turned around and saw a girl I recognized coming up to me.

“Lea.”

“It’s rare to see you outside of Nozomiya.”

The girl in the T-shirt—Lea—walked right up to me.

“Yes, I suppose it is. What are you doing here, Lea?”

“I was helping Tsumiki with her practice. I’m just taking a little walk to help my digestion.”

“You were eating more dark matter, huh?”

I imagined the face of my classmate, the shop girl at the cafeteria, and chuckled as a bead of cold sweat dripped down my face. For Lea, Tsumiki’s cooking was a delicious and extremely efficient energy source, but it could be fatal to normal humans. Lea suddenly turned to Rosalind, who was still holding my hand, and looked at her suspiciously.

“I don’t know her. Is she someone you know?”

“Yeah. This is Rosalind. She just transferred to my school.”

I gave her a brief introduction.

“Another girl...?”

For some reason, Rosalind was glaring at Lea with narrowed eyes.

“Namidare, let’s get going.”

“Huh? Why are you so mad?”

“I’m not mad.”

“No, you’re definitely mad.”

“Shut up! You’re spending the whole day with me! So stop talking to other girls!”

“I was just saying hi!”

I didn’t know why she had to get so mad.

“Rekka, have you really been with her the whole day?”

“That’s right. Why?”

Lea raised an eyebrow in suspicion at my answer.

“Well, I’m not terribly surprised to see that you’ve found another girl to make friends with. But weren’t you supposed to go shopping with Harissa today?”

I didn’t have a clue what she meant.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about? I ran into Harissa on the shopping street, and she was pretty excited about it.”

Harissa? I was supposed to go shopping with her? What was going on? I tried to think about it, but then there was a painful flash of red light across my field of vision.

“...I really don’t remember. Anyway, I’m heading to Rosalind’s place.”

I quickly ended the conversation and turned to go. I had to.

“Rekka, hang on a second.”

Lea tried to grab my shoulder, but Rosalind got in her way.

“Stop. Don’t say anything to Namidare that he doesn’t need to hear.”

A strange light flashed in her eyes. Lea froze for a moment, but...

“Give back Rekka!” she screamed sharply as she swung at Rosalind with the back of her hand.

“Tch!”

With speed you wouldn’t expect from her young appearance, Rosalind dodged the attack. In an instant, their positions had switched. Lea was now in front of me, standing between me and Rosalind.

“Lea...” I was still dizzy, but I called her name in a frail voice.

“Rekka, get a hold of yourself. You’re being controlled.”

“Controlled, huh...?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that declaration. Normally if somebody literally said to you, “You are being controlled,” your reaction would be to laugh it off. But my bloodline put me in all kinds of weird situations, and this was no laughing matter.

“I think it’s a charm. It’s a special power possessed by certain ancient clans that enables the user to control someone through the power of their eyes. You can’t dispel it, which makes it hard to get rid of, but a strong mind can break through it.”

“...Ugh...”

When she started talking about this mysterious “charm” power, I suddenly felt dizzy again. Why had I just told myself that I had to go to Rosalind’s house? Was I the kind of guy who liked going home with girls he barely knew? Wait... Yes, I was. That’s why I needed to go to Rosalind’s house—

There it was again! It was like my thoughts were forced to go in a certain direction. Now that Lea had said something, I realized how unnatural it was.

“Hmph. So you broke my charm... And on top of that, you seem to know who I am.”

“I’ve been around for a lot longer than you might think.”

As Rosalind and Lea glared at each other, I was struggling against the charm that had been cast on me. Thanks to Lea, I knew that I was being controlled, but I still couldn’t shake the thought that I had to spend the day with Rosalind. My mind was being made up for me. That was the power of the charm.

To make matters worse, it seemed like the charm had the ability to affect my memory in order to make these forced thoughts more believable. Lea had said that I’d promised to go shopping with Harissa today, but I couldn’t remember that at all. No, I couldn’t even try and remember it. It was like the charm was driving anything out of my mind that might stop me from following my order.

Wait. Hang on. If Lea was right, that meant that I’d forgotten my promise to Harissa because of this charm. But what about Harissa? When I’d left the house this morning, she’d waved to me as I went out the front door. If I’d promised to go shopping with her, how come she hadn’t said anything? Had Rosalind done something to Harissa too?!

“Gwaaah!”

Something snapped in my mind. The red fog creeping into my vision faded, and my head was finally clear.

“Rosalind. What did you do to Harissa?”

“Hmph. So my charm’s truly been broken...”

“Answer my question! It’s not just Harissa, is it? You did something to Satsuki and Iris too, didn’t you?!”

“Something? You’re not very bright, are you? I did the same thing to them that I did to you.”

Which meant that Rosalind was controlling them too.

“...What do you want from me so badly that you’re willing to do all this?”

My memories were coming back, and I remembered the conversation I had with Hibiki too.

“I’ll see you at 5:00 P.M. tomorrow.”

I looked at the station clock. It was almost five.

“R-Rekka! What’s all this fuss?”

Right on time, Hibiki came out of the station, along with a girl that I didn’t know. She quickly ran towards us.

“Fuss...?”

Only then did I realize that everyone was staring at us. I guess even in a small station like this, a sudden argument would attract attention. And of course, most stations had a police box in front of them...

“Hey, you kids! What are you doing?”

“Are you okay? Come over here.”

Two officers came running over. One of them gently put his hand on Rosalind’s shoulder and tried to lead her away from us. Given how young she looked, it was a given that the policemen were concerned about her, but...

“How dare you touch me?!”

“?!”

I felt a sudden gale rush around her and reflexively covered my face with both arms. There was a powerful sensation of pressure, I guess you could call it. It was different than the murderous auras I’d felt before... It was a presence—a powerful one—like an invisible force emanating from the tiny girl before me.

“Hmph. So Lea, Namidare, and one other are all still standing, huh?”

Me. Lea. Hibiki. Other than the three of us, everyone else in the plaza had passed out. There had been people waiting for taxis, but fortunately there weren’t any cars passing by. This would have caused a serious accident.

“Tch... Hey, Chelsea. Wake up.”

Even the girl who’d arrived with Hibiki had collapsed. I assumed it was the girl she’d mentioned over the phone. Hibiki was now holding her and trying to get her to regain consciousness.

“Sorry. I was supposed to talk to you about your story, but it looks like I got you caught up in mine.”

“Yeah, I guess so. But if the blond girl is your enemy, who’s your heroine this time?”

“...”

Come to think of it... who was it? I’d only realized after talking to Hibiki yesterday that this was all some kind of sign that I was about to get dragged into a story. Rosalind had used her charm on me immediately after that, so I hadn’t had the chance to ask R if she was a heroine.

It wasn’t obvious yesterday, but at this point it was clear that Rosalind wanted to harm me. So in manga or light novel terms, she was clearly the bad guy. But then who was the heroine? I looked at R.

“Oh, what you’re caught up in right now is Rosalind’s story,” the girl from the future said in her usual monotone voice.

Wait... Was R seriously trying to tell me that I was supposed to save a “heroine” who was actually my enemy? All signs seemed to be pointing to yes.

“Rosalind... Please just tell me what you’re after.”

I was hoping she would answer me if I asked again. But my enemy—the heroine of this story—just narrowed her red eyes and twisted her lips.

“What I’m after? That’s simple... I want revenge on the one called Namidare who sealed me away and sank me into the sea one hundred years ago.”

I could feel the hatred in her words as she spoke.

“You’re nowhere close to a hundred years old. Shouldn’t you be dead if you were?”

“I’m a vampire, you see,” Rosalind said, casually revealing her true identity.

“...A vampire? I thought you couldn’t stand to be in the sun.”

Hibiki lightly shook her head and said, “Vampires are said to have any number of weaknesses, but not all vampires are weak to the same things. Powerful vampires in particular have very few weaknesses...”

“Correct. Sunlight, flowing water, crosses, garlic... None of that works on me.”

Rosalind laughed. When she did, I could see sharp canine teeth that I hadn’t noticed before now. She’d probably been hiding her identity all along.

“I’m going to suck your blood and turn you into a vampire, Namidare.” She stopped laughing and glared at me. “I’m going to take everything away from you. Even your humanity. You’ll spend an eternity in despair... as my plaything.”

A shiver ran up my spine. I could tell from her voice that she was serious.

“Then the reason you transferred to our school and got close to me was...”

“Of course. It was to figure out what was most important to you.”

That’s why she went after Satsuki and the others?!

I gritted my teeth, both in rage and regret. Rosalind was, without a doubt, my enemy. But she was also a heroine who wanted to take everything from me and then turn me into a vampire. That was the last thing I wanted.

My heart was overcome with bitter rage, but my head was spinning in confusion. The bloodline of the Namidare drew me into stories that were on the verge of a bad ending without my help. Rosalind’s goal was to get some kind of revenge by turning me into a vampire... Yeah, okay. I can see how she would need me specifically for that if I was the one she was after.

But if she failed, how was that a bad ending? It seemed to me like her life would go on the same way whether she got her revenge or not. But she was a vampire...

I still didn’t understand Rosalind’s “story” fully at this point. Was there something deeper going on? Was there something else she needed? Something that would make her despair of even life itself if she couldn’t get it?

But, of course, if the stand-in hero (read: me) got taken out before I could learn what was going on, I couldn’t help her either way. First, I needed to get through this, cure the girls, and figure out what the heck was up with this story.

“I won’t let you turn Rekka into a vampire.”

Lea was the first one to take action. As she spoke, the moisture in the air around us began to condense, forming a ball of water in front of her. It was her signature water magic.

“Hmph. You’re nothing,” Rosalind scoffed, readying herself for battle as well.

Hibiki and I both tensed up too.

“I’ll destroy you!” Lea yelled as she launched a ball of water the size of a softball.

Rosalind ducked down to dodge it, but just as it was about to pass over her head, it exploded, soaking her dress and blond hair.

“...I just told you that running water wouldn’t work on me.” Rosalind’s wet face twisted with anger.

“I just wanted to see for myself,” Lea said unfazed.

“I don’t enjoy having my clothes ruined for such a stupid reason!”

Now it was Rosalind’s turn. She closed the gap between them in an instant.

Bam!

There was a horrific noise as Lea blocked the vampire’s punch with the palm of her hand.

“Oh, you decided to block it?”

Rosalind was unimpressed. She struck again, and then again. Lea successfully blocked each of her blows, but it was all I could do to follow their movements. And what the hell was all that noise?! It sounded like someone was slamming a hammer into a metal sheet!

“Damn it!” I yelled.

I wanted to help, but this fight was on a whole other level. Not even Hibiki looked like she could do anything.

Boom!

There was a noise even louder than the ones before as Rosalind fell backwards with her arms crossed in front of her.

“Even a tiny vampire is still a vampire, huh?” Lea whispered to herself as she lowered the leg she’d just used for a kick. There was a single cut on her cheek. Blood trickled down her jaw before dripping to the ground.

“Lea!”

“It’s just a scratch.”

She wiped her cheek as I ran over to her, as if telling me not to worry. Lea was once known as The Strongest Beast, but she’d lost almost all of her power. She could eat Tsumiki’s dark matter to regain her strength temporarily, but even then it didn’t bring her close to her former glory. Did that make her weaker than Rosalind right now...?

“Mmm... Delicious.” Rosalind licked the blood off her hand. “And this taste... With that body, don’t tell me you’re still a pure maiden?”

“I was locked away all alone for a very long time.”

“Hibiki,” I asked, “what’s a ‘pure maiden’?”

“Wh—?! D-Don’t ask me that! Look it up yourself!”

Hibiki seemed to know the answer, but refused to tell me.

“But it was Rekka here who broke the seal that bound me,” Lea said proudly. She smiled, and she briefly glanced over at me. “If I was going to cease being a pure maiden, I’d like it to be at Rekka’s hands.”

Both Rosalind and Hibiki looked shocked. Their faces turned bright red. What was this ‘pure maiden’ stuff about, anyway? Was it something I could help Lea with?

“Lea’s quite the free spirit, huh? If only she was a little more aggressive...”

Even R seemed to know what Lea was talking about. I guess I really was the only one left out. Nevertheless, Lea’s mysterious (at least to me) comment had stopped the battle for a moment, but...

“Gah! This is so stupid! Let’s just finish this fight already!” Rosalind yelled. The very air around her seem to shake.

“...If I’d known this was coming, I would’ve eaten more of Tsumiki’s cooking,” Lea whispered as she dropped into a crouching stance.

“Tch...!”

I readied my hands into fists, and Hibiki moved in front of Chelsea. But then... Rosalind’s body suddenly exploded into red fog.

“What the hell?!”

The red fog swallowed all of us, effectively blinding us.

“Is this her special power as a vampire?!”

I could hear Hibiki, but I couldn’t see her.

“...Gah!”

Next, I heard a low scream followed by the sound of someone collapsing. The red fog then converged on a single spot as if it had a mind of its own. When it cleared, Rosalind reappeared. A downed Lea was lying at her feet.

“Lea! Damn it!”

“Don’t move.”

I started to leap forward, but Rosalind reached out a hand that appeared to transform into two red and black wolves. Damn! Could she just do anything she wanted? By the time I realized that this was another one of her vampire powers, both Hibiki and I had been knocked to the ground by the wolves.

“You’ve wasted a great deal of my time,” Rosalind said.

“Gaagh...!”

Even in her weakened state, she had to be incredibly powerful in order to go toe-to-toe with Lea like that. And on top of that, she had all her special abilities. Was this the true power of a vampire?

“Now, let’s start with the most troublesome one...”

Rosalind reached down with her other arm and grabbed Lea by her hair. She lifted her head up so that they were face-to-face. Then her red eyes flashed. It was her charm magic. Lea had resisted it earlier with her strong will, but what would happen when she was unconscious?

“You are my ally. You want to do anything you can for me. And you won’t listen to anyone but me.”

“Hnn... Hnngh...”

Slowly Lea stood up.

“Lea!”

“...”

But she didn’t answer me. At least the “won’t listen to anyone” part of the charm must have been in effect.

Rosalind giggled when she saw her.

“You... What are you trying to do by controlling Lea?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m going to take everything from you.” She looked down at me, practically expressionless. “This time, I’ll cast a more powerful charm on you. One so powerful you won’t even notice if everyone you care about disappears. Then when you’ve lost everything, I’ll be there to comfort you... And once you can’t live without me, I’ll tell you the truth.”

“No way! I would never just forget about everyone!”

“Give up now. There’s nothing for you to do but become mine, Namidare.”

Rosalind reached her hand out towards my face.

“I won’t... I won’t give up!”

I focused my mind to resist the charm, desperately trying to think of some way out of this. It was in just that moment that I saw out of the corner of my eye someone leaping towards us from the top of the station building. They were aiming straight for Rosalind’s back!

“What?!”

It was a surprise attack from her blind spot, but Rosalind must have sensed it somehow. She quickly tried to turn the wolves back into her arm and turn around, but it was too late. A sharp knife was sticking out of her left shoulder.

“Gwaah!”

With a scream, Rosalind tried to back away from the mysterious attacker. It was only then that I got a good look at our surprise ally. It was a girl with long, unkempt, dirty silver hair. She was staring at Rosalind, but there was no suggestion of an expression on her face. She didn’t even speak.

“...”

Her long, silver hair was moving about on its own in defiance of gravity. The ends of her hair wove themselves together, forming countless rows of silver knives. So she wasn’t human either?! As I watched in shock, the mysterious girl charged at Rosalind.

“Lea, protect me!”

“Understood.”

In response to Rosalind’s order, Lea slammed into the silver-haired girl from the side.

“...”

Still without saying a word, she turned her silver hair into something like a shield—probably using the same method she’d used to make the knives a moment ago—and jumped back away from Rosalind.

Rosalind’s summoned wolves turned to fog and reformed as her arm again. That gave us some breathing room. With the wolves gone, we were able to get up now.

Me and Hibiki. The silver-haired attacker. Rosalind and Lea. A strange triangle was forming between the lot of us.

“Silver Slayer... You’re still alive?”

“Affirmative.”

The mysterious attacker—Silver Slayer—seemed to know Rosalind.

“You’re always so unfriendly. And always so persistent.”

“I was created to defeat you. It is inevitable that I will follow you until I do so, vampire.”

“Hmph. You’re the slave doll of an alchemist. Nothing more,” Rosalind said angrily as she clutched the still-bleeding wound on her shoulder. “Tch. Silver wounds heal so slowly... We’re leaving, Lea.”

Rosalind leaped up with surprising force and landed far, far away.

“Wait! Lea!”

“...”

Lea completely ignored me and followed after the vampire. They were gone before we knew it. Now it was just me, Hibiki, the still-unconscious Chelsea, and the strange girl that Rosalind had called Silver Slayer.