Chapter 2: A Feast at the Noro Household

Noro’s family regularly held banquets at their home.

They were grand affairs that brought the whole Noro clan together in a big hall, but Aiko wasn’t fond of them, because the purpose of the banquets was to drink blood.

Without imbibing human blood, a vampire would weaken and eventually die. Aiko knew well enough from watching her sickly mother that their kind needed blood to survive.

She was told that they mainly used blood products made for transfusions, and their consumption was limited to nights of the banquets, likely due to the head of the household realizing that leaving them all to their own devices to find blood would quickly end in chaos.

Aiko had come home from her last day of tests, and spent some time brooding in her room. But as the hour of the banquet drew near, she put on her dress and headed for the dining hall, letting out a quiet sigh as she arrived. It was a disappointing way to end such an enjoyable day.

The participants — all members of the Noro clan, all vampires — were already lined up at the large table.

The seating placed the members of the immediate Noro family furthest in, and the more distant relatives nearer to the entrance.

The clan’s leader, Aiko’s father, Kazuya, sat at the furthest end of the table. He was a large man whose muscular physique was visible even under his suit. As director of Noro General Hospital, he had a very busy schedule, but he still seemed to manage to slip in a little weight training on the side.

Sitting across from Kazuya was her grandfather, Genzo, a kindly-looking old man with a very becoming mustache. He was French by birth, but had naturalized and changed his name after coming to Japan. He was also fluent in Japanese and had no trouble getting around.

Normally, the spot across from Kazuya would be reserved for Aiko’s mother, Mariko, but she had remained shut up in her room for many years, and did not participate in the banquets.

Sitting to Kazuya’s right was Aiko’s big brother, Kyoya. He was a third-year at Seishin High School, the same one Aiko attended. The French in his blood was more prominent in his appearance, with deep-set features that set him apart from most Japanese boys. His hair was a sparkling silver that came down to his shoulders.

Huh? Silver?

It had been black just a little while ago... Had his condition gotten worse?

Kyoya’s “condition” was middle school syndrome. His version of it was far more delusional than Yuichi’s sister Mutsuko’s. Merely being an actual vampire wasn’t enough for him, since he still didn’t have much in the way of power. His constant talk of being nobility and the “true race” bothered Aiko deeply.

At the moment, he was quietly playing with his wine glass. His mannerisms might look rather attractive to an outside observer, but the moment he spoke, Aiko knew it would shatter any illusions in that regard.

Aiko also had a big sister named Namiko, but she had gotten married and thus wasn’t sitting with the Noro family. She sat a little ways away with her newborn baby.

The rest of the attendees were distant relatives from branch families. Aiko only knew about half of them.

There were about twenty in all, dressed in fabulous dresses and suits and chatting merrily. The whole affair felt like a throwback to a much earlier era.

Aiko sat down across from Kyoya, and the entire family was now present.

The table contained an extravagant selection of dishes, a consideration for people like Aiko who had qualms about drinking blood directly. Still, she found it hard to find them appetizing, knowing there was human blood mixed in.

“I heard you just started high school, Aiko. You’ve become such a beautiful young woman.” A woman in a red dress, sitting to Aiko’s left, addressed her.

“You’re looking as beautiful as ever, Auntie,” Aiko responded.

Eriko Kamiya was her mother’s sister. She was dressed in a flashy, cleavage-revealing dress that was very becoming on her, and lent her a seductive aura that made even Aiko’s heart race. She was over forty years old, Aiko knew, but she didn’t look much older than twenty.

Aiko felt a faint sense of suspicion. Her aunt had always looked very young, but had she always looked this young?

“Aiko, you really must get enough blood,” her aunt said. “You were blessed with a wonderful body. Don’t let it go to waste.” Eriko downed the red fluid in the wine glass. “It’s just heavenly. I wish I could drink it every day,” she continued, blissfully, running her tongue over her red-stained lips.

Just watching it made Aiko nauseous; there was no way she could enjoy it the way her aunt did.

She looked around the room at the others drinking their blood down straight from the glass. Those that did all looked extremely young, while those eating the blood mixed into food looked comparatively more aged.

“Aiko, you’re at just the right age to start. Don’t you want to preserve the beauty you have?” Eriko asked.

“I just don’t like the taste...” Aiko grumbled. She didn’t actually know how fresh blood tasted, but it seemed like the easiest way to end the discussion.

“Eriko, it’s up to the individual to decide. Don’t force her,” Kazuya admonished in a low voice.

“I’m not trying to force her. I just can’t understand why she doesn’t like the flavor. It’s so sweet,” Eriko responded. She looked unsatisfied.

“Aiko, you had your last final today, right? How did it go?” Kazuya asked, changing the subject.

“Hmm, about the same as midterms, I think...”

In other words, it had gone poorly. Aiko’s grades tended to be on the low side of average. She tried her best, but it never seemed to bear fruit.

“That’s not good. Why don’t you let me teach you?” Kazuya asked enthusiastically. As a world-famous “super doctor,” it would be easy for him to teach a high school student.

“No, thanks. You’ve got too much to do, don’t you? I’m gonna ask a friend to teach me. He gets really good grades,” Aiko said, thinking of Yuichi. Despite not seeming to study often or pay much attention in class, he got good grades. She wasn’t expecting good marks on her finals, so she might ask him for help soon.

“I see. Perhaps studying with a friend would be better, then. By the way, you mentioned you were in the survival club at school, right? Is it dangerous?”

“It’s not dangerous at all. We mostly just sit in the club room and talk.” She opted not to mention that the things they talked about were dangerous. How would she explain to her father that “how to make bombs and stun guns” was one of their weekly themes?

“I see. Well, athletics have never been your strong suit. Maybe that’s the best kind of club for—” Kazuya was interrupted by Kyoya, who suddenly rose to his feet.

“I’ve had enough of this farce!” he shouted.

The entire hall went quiet.

“What’s wrong, Kyoya?” Kazuya asked. He sounded dubious about Kyoya’s sudden behavior.

“I’m sick of this ‘blood products’ nonsense! It’s ridiculous! Why should we eat this processed junk? Where is our pride as a noble clan? Shouldn’t we be sinking our fangs into necks and drinking fresh blood directly?”

“What are you talking about?” Kazuya asked, suspiciously.

Aiko had no idea what could have triggered the outburst, either.

All eyes focused on Kyoya. Seeming to wilt under the attention, Kyoya suddenly rushed out of the hall.

“Big Brother...” Aiko said.

“I wonder if he’s grown fangs...” she heard Eriko murmur from beside her.

It was a ridiculous thing to suggest. As far as Aiko knew, vampires, including her brother, didn’t have fangs. It was impossible for them to bite someone’s neck and suck their blood.

Her father’s voice broke through the silence in the room.

“Well, he’s at a complicated age. We all went through the same thing when we were young, didn’t we?”

That statement seemed to break the tension, setting everyone to talking about their own youths. The awkwardness over the proceedings dispersed.

“I’m rather worried. Perhaps I’ll go check on him,” Eriko said, standing up to leave.

As she did, Aiko caught a glimpse of her face. What she saw there sent a shot of anxiety through her...

Eriko was smiling.

✽✽✽✽✽

Kyoya’s door wasn’t locked, so Eriko opened it without knocking, and stepped inside.

It was a simple room with little in the way of possessions. Kyoya had thrown himself onto the bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling.

“Now, now. What’s got you sulking?” she asked.

“What do you want?” Kyoya spat back, but he didn’t try to drive her out. Perhaps he had remembered how often he and Eriko played together when he was young.

“I’m just a bit curious. Oof...” Eriko let out a middle-aged groan as she sat down on the bed.

He didn’t particularly resist as she reached for his handsome face and lifted his lip with a finger. “I knew it. They’ve grown, haven’t they?”

Kyoya’s canines were longer and more pointed than most people’s, a sign that he had been drinking human blood. Surely, drinking the fake stuff would set one on edge after tasting real blood for the first time.

“How many have you drunk from?” she asked.

That would also explain his behavior in the dining hall. Drinking blood increased erratic behavior, making the id more difficult to restrain.

“What are you getting at?” Kyoya asked, looking at Eriko.

Eriko pulled her own lip upwards to show him her canines. He watched as they began to elongate, eventually growing to twice the length of a normal person’s.

Kyoya sat up, his eyes opening wide in surprise.

“I think I’ve drunk from about ten,” Eriko said as she returned her fangs to their normal length. Having them out all the time would made it harder to talk.

“You can do that?!” Kyoya asked, drawing close to Eriko.

“Yes, and many other things, as well. For instance...” Eriko grabbed Kyoya’s shoulders.

Perhaps surprised by the suddenness of the gesture, Kyoya tried to shake her off, but couldn’t. Drinking blood had made Eriko much stronger.

She leaned in towards Kyoya’s neck and pierced it with her fangs, opening up two small holes from which she began to suck up the blood that welled up.

“What are you doing?!”

“Calm down. Those of the same clan cannot dominate each other by drinking their blood,” she said. The wound on Kyoya’s neck healed over quickly. “But this is one of the many things that I can do.”

Eriko could see a vision of herself licking her lips through Kyoya’s eyes. Kyoya could likely see himself through her eyes, too.

This was another of Eriko’s powers: the ability to share what she saw and felt with those she fed from.

“This is really possible?” Kyoya trembled with emotion. He must have found this power even more incredible than the elongating fangs.

“It seems to be a power meant to dominate those whose blood you drink, though it loses effectiveness if you get too far away.” Such abilities were a mere side effect to Eriko’s real goal, though.

“I’ve only drunk from one person,” Kyoya answered, belatedly, seemingly thinking about something.

“Who was it? I hope it’s no one who will make trouble for you later.”

“A girl from my school. She’s in love with me, so she won’t make trouble.”

“Handsome men do have it easy. But I don’t think drinking from one person will be enough to make slaves of others, so you should remain cautious.”

“What should I do? Should I keep drinking blood?” Kyoya asked, eyes shining with hope.

Eriko found it very charming.

“Yes. But you can’t mature by only drinking from the same person. You must drink blood from many people. Many... you see?”

He was easier to manipulate than Eriko could have dreamed.

✽✽✽✽✽

The mood in the classroom was completely carefree.

It was Friday, the day after the last day of tests, and it was doubtful that anyone was really focusing on class. Yuichi was no exception, and spent most of the day partially zoned out.

As class came to an end, he took a look around.

Natsuki, apparently on class duty that day, was erasing the blackboard. She’d still need to write the class diary and submit it.

Aiko was talking with Tomomi about something. As he looked at her, she turned to him and lightly put her hands together, as if saying, “Go on without me.”

They’d see each other later, so there was probably no need for him to wait up. Yuichi slowly rose to his feet.

“Yu! Let’s walk to club together for once!” The door to the classroom slid open with unnecessary force, and Mutsuko’s voice came booming in.

A murmur ran through the classroom.

Yuichi wanted to clutch his head in his hands. Mutsuko was famous all over the school, so there was no hiding it now. But that didn’t mean he wanted her making a scene in front of everyone in his class, either.

“Hey! What’s up?” Mutsuko asked, barging into the classroom to walk up to Yuichi.

All eyes were on Mutsuko. Beautiful women stood out, after all.

“Fine!” Consumed by a sudden need to be anywhere else at the moment, Yuichi grabbed Mutsuko by the hand and fled the classroom with her.

“Don’t visit me in my classroom! It’s embarrassing!” he complained once they were out of the building.

“Oh? Yu, that’s such a siscon tsundere little brother thing to say! Now, dere it up! Say, ‘But I’m so happy you came for me!’ or something like that!” Mutsuko said excitedly.

“I’m not hiding some deep affection for you. I really don’t like it, okay?”

“Oh, you,” Mutsuko said, waving her arms around a little. “It’s okay to let your big sister dote on you a little sometimes!” She didn’t seem to be listening to him at all.

Remembering the incident from the day before, Yuichi checked out Mutsuko’s outfit. She was wearing long sleeves again.

“You brought your saber, didn’t you?” He was beginning to regret not checking earlier that morning. It could result in a tragedy if it came flying out while they were downtown.

“Oh, that! That extender device wasn’t working out, so I’m modifying it! Look forward to it!”

“How are you going to use that, anyway?” The blade ran along the side of her arm. Yuichi assumed at first that it was supposed to be something like a tonfa, but it was fixed along the arm, so she wouldn’t be able to spin it.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll use it like a rooster knife.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a weapon used in Baguazhang. Didn’t I teach it to you?”

“You only taught me the Mandarin duck knife.” The Mandarin duck knife was a weapon used in Baguazhang shaped like a crescent moon. It was nothing like her saber, though, so he couldn’t see how the two were connected.

“It’s a weapon you wear attached to your arm, a complicated style-over-substance weapon covered in blades! Baguazhang’s founder, Dong Haichuan, developed it and it’s said that he loved it! My saber is a little simpler, but it’ll be used in a similar way, I think! Once I finish it, I’ll teach you how to use it, Yu!”

“I’ll pass on the saber, thanks.”

“Huh? But it’s so cool! So Guyver! So Baoh!”

“So it’s all about cosplay, huh?” Yuichi asked.

He ignored Mutsuko as she pouted behind him.

They headed past the sports field towards the old school building. It was hot here in early summer, but he could see the players running around energetically on the other side of the fence.

“Yo! Hey, Sakaki! On the way to club?”

Shota, dressed in his team uniform, called out to him through the fence. Yuichi remembered he’d rushed out the minute class ended. He must have gone to soccer practice.

“Sis, have you two met?” he asked. “This is Shota Saeki. He’s a soccer player, and he’s in my class.”

“Hello there! I’m Yu’s big sister, Mutsuko. Pleasure to meet you!”

“Oh, I’ve heard about you...” Shota responded with some hesitance. He must have remembered the rumors about her unfortunate personality.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know much about soccer. I hardly ever read soccer manga!” Mutsuko cried. All of Mutsuko’s knowledge came from manga. It was what she used to investigate and research things she was interested in. “But I do know a little about it! I practiced the Skylab Hurricane with Yu!”

“And they got mad at us because it was totally against the rules!” Yuichi shot back.

In the Skylab Hurricane, one person lay on the ground to serve as a springboard to send the other flying into the air, where they could headbutt the ball into the goal. Of course, it was against the rules for being extremely dangerous.

“Huh? Rules aside, is that even possible?” Shota tilted his head.

“Huh? Oh... uh, no, of course it isn’t.” The image of Mutsuko flying lightly through the air flitted through his mind and he tried to change the subject.

“Then, let’s see... we also tried to see if we could do the Explosive Disappearing Ball, but we just couldn’t make it work!”

“Yeah, because it’s physically impossible!” Yuichi shouted.

It was a bizarre goal shoot where you triggered an explosion in the ball right in front of the goalkeeper’s eyes to make it look like the ball had disappeared.

Yuichi had gotten to the point where he could hit a non-spinning ball with an overhead kick, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get the most important part, where the ball seemed to explode and disappear in front of the keeper’s eyes. But that was only natural. It was a ridiculous move to begin with.

Yuichi decided to cut Mutsuko off before she could get too far into the tale of the True Soccer Warriors, Real Mannism, who used soccer to stand against an evil organization plotting soccer-based world domination. “Enough soccer talk, Sis. Let’s get going.”

The club room was as cluttered as ever.

As a former classroom in the old school building, it was quite large, but the library-like lines of shelves and ever-present clutter made it feel small and cramped.

The walls were lined with colorful protrusions called bouldering holds, which added even more to the room’s feeling of disorder. Yuichi seemed to be the only one who used the holds, as well.

At the center of the room sat a whiteboard and a long table, where Kanako sat, elegantly sipping tea. She projected the image of an ivory tower girl, though her family was not especially rich.

Yuichi took his seat as Mutsuko moved to stand in front of the whiteboard. Aiko and Natsuki showed up not long afterward.

“Now, we’d better look lively, or summer vacation will start before we know it! We gotta get talking about our training camp!” Mutsuko said cheerfully.

Yuichi remembered the conversation they had had the day before in the Chinese restaurant. He’d assumed she was just getting carried away then, but apparently she was serious.

“If we’re gonna go, I wanna go somewhere fun!” she said. “Okay! Tell me your ideas!”

Yuichi really didn’t want to go, as it seemed like a giant pain, but he knew saying that would be pointless.

“Let’s have the camp at school. In this club room,” Yuichi ventured. It seemed the least of all possible evils.

“...Okay, fine. We’ll keep that as a candidate.” Mutsuko scowled a little, but still wrote Yuichi’s suggestion on the whiteboard.

Without prompting, Aiko, sitting beside him, began writing that in her notebook. At some point, she had grown accustomed to her secretarial duties.

“What about you, Noro?” Mutsuko asked.

“Let’s see. It’s summer, so I really think the beach would be best. Would it be better to go far away?”

“Good question. There’s a public swimming area nearby, but then we wouldn’t be staying overnight... Well, we can think about the place later. Beach, then. Next up, Takeuchi.” Mutsuko wrote the new candidate on the whiteboard.

“Noro. You are aware we’re discussing a training camp for the survival club, aren’t you?” Natsuki asked Aiko, coldly.

“Huh? I guess I wasn’t thinking about that... Well, Takeuchi, do you have a candidate?” Aiko huffed a little in reply. She apparently wasn’t expecting to be questioned on that.

“Yes. I recommend my junkyard as a training camp location,” Natsuki proclaimed unashamedly.

“What is that, exactly?” Yuichi asked, getting a bad feeling in his gut. The name didn’t make it sound like anywhere he’d want to be.

“It’s a place where failures are discarded. A secret location in the middle of nowhere, unmarked on maps. I once used it as hunting grounds. What do you think? It’s ideal for survival, isn’t it?” Natsuki said triumphantly to Aiko.

“No way! I’m not doing that!” Yuichi said vehemently.

Yuichi wondered what she meant by “failures,” but decided not to ask. It couldn’t possibly be any answer he wanted to hear.

“Nice! That sounds so exciting, Takeuchi!” Mutsuko cried.

Perhaps Natsuki and Mutsuko had similar tastes; Mutsuko liked ruins and secrets, after all.

“Well, Orihara? Any ideas?” Mutsuko asked Kanako as she wrote “junkyard” on the whiteboard.

“Is there a way we could travel to an isekai?” Kanako asked. It was a bizarre request — to want to travel to another dimension or time period.

“No!” Yuichi interrupted quickly. “And even if there were, we shouldn’t do it!”

“Do you have any leads?” Natsuki asked.

Even if she did, they shouldn’t do it, Yuichi protested internally.

“Um, well. I heard you can get to isekai through elevators!” Kanako said. She really did seem to enjoy isekai stories.

“Isn’t that an urban legend?” Yuichi asked. Even he had heard that story. If you pressed the floor buttons in the elevator in just the right order, it would take you to a nonexistent floor, which would lead you to another world.

“Search for the isekai elevator...” Mutsuko added to the whiteboard.

“Do you have any ideas, Sis?” he asked.

“Of course!” she proclaimed. “I was thinking we might go overseas!”

“Wait a minute! That’s too insane!” Countless objections popped into Yuichi’s head all at once. “Actually, I just realized a bigger problem. We don’t even have permission to do a training camp, do we? Does this club even have an advisor?”

Official club activities required an advisor, but Yuichi had never seen anyone like that around.

“It’s Ms. Nodayama, the grammar teacher! She told me I could do what I want, so I do!”

“And you don’t see any issue with your interpretation of ‘do what you want’?” He couldn’t imagine that the teacher had meant to give permission to stick bouldering holds in the wall and haul in bookcases by the dozens.

At the same time, he knew that if the grammar teacher Nodayama — in other words, Hanako — was their advisor, they would be fine. Hanako hated to be bothered about anything. She would never come all the way to the club room to tell them what to do.

“Where, specifically, do you want to go overseas?” Natsuki asked, dispassionately.

“What about Taiwan?” Mutsuko asked. “It’s a storehouse of martial arts! Martial arts were suppressed during China’s cultural revolution, so all the great martial artists escaped to Taiwan. That’s why Taiwan is full of master martial artists!”

“I think you’re the only one who would enjoy that, Sis,” Yuichi snorted. Though he couldn’t help but feel that that objection was coming a bit late. Their activities at the club tended to be whatever Mutsuko liked.

“Could we go to India to learn Kalaripayattu? Ah! Or we could learn ancient Muay Thai! Did you know that Muay Thai came from Indian Kalaripayattu? Or maybe... oh! What about England? The quarterstaff! I’m not talking about the old PC game; I mean the weapon!”

“Look, we’re not going to a foreign country! There are a lot of problems with that, and the first one is that it’s too expensive!” Yuichi shouted.

Mutsuko had combined a lot of different martial arts to create the one that Yuichi practiced, leading to something chaotic and baffling. So while he couldn’t claim he had no interest in real martial arts, he wasn’t so passionate about it that he would go overseas to do it.

“Um, if money’s an issue, I could probably help out,” Aiko said hesitantly.

Her family ran a hospital, and they were wealthy. Apparently Aiko had significant funds at her control, too.

“No,” Yuichi objected. “No matter how much money you have, that doesn’t feel right.” He didn’t like the idea of any one member shouldering all the burden for their training camp trip.

“Oh, I forgot to say this at the beginning, but the club funds can handle anything, so don’t worry! Feel free to throw out even expensive ideas!” Mutsuko said.

“How much do you have in club funds to be able to cover an overseas summer training camp?!”

As might be suggested by the over-abundance of bizarre items crowding both Mutsuko’s room at home and the club room, she had some mysterious source of funding. Yuichi had decided not to ask what it was, as he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know the answer. In the end, they decided to rethink their ideas with the knowledge that money was now no object.