CHAPTER ONE

COUNTDOWN TO THE NEW YEAR

1

With direct sunlight pouring in, the deserted corridor shimmered like a mirage.

From the open window, a muggy wind blew into the classroom.

Sitting alone in the seat directly across from the teacher’s desk, Kojou Akatsuki wore a forlorn expression as he struggled with a difficult text written in English. Large droplets of sweat rolled incessantly down his forehead. It was depressing how his moist wrist stuck to the answer sheet.

“So hot…”

Kojou let out a frail murmur as he tugged at the collar of his uniform.

The clear blue sky spread outside the window seemed straight out of midsummer. A cumulonimbus cloud hovered over a corner of the horizon, and the chirping cicadas were noisily out of season.

Somehow managing to solve the last problem, Kojou put down his mechanical pencil—also slick with sweat—and said, “Hey, Natsuki. You know, today’s—”

Before he could finish, something like an invisible fist smacked him between the eyes, scattering pale sparks all about. Natsuki Minamiya, standing at the teacher’s podium, cruelly watched Kojou as he recoiled backward.

“Fool. Do not address your homeroom teacher by her first name when she’s already in a bad mood from this terrible heat.”

“That’s no reason for a teacher to use violence on a student, is it…?!”

Kojou put a hand on his forehead as he retorted, grimacing with tearful eyes. Natsuki, sitting on an extravagant, antique chair, coldly snorted and strangled Kojou’s objection with silence.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.”

For some reason, the homunculus girl wearing a maid outfit was mimicking a voice recital as she sat in front of an electric fan next to Natsuki. Kojou hadn’t seen the electric fan before, but apparently, she’d taken quite a deep interest in it. As a result, Astarte was completely monopolizing the fan, but since she’d brought it in from the staff room in the first place, Kojou was in no position to complain.

“…Today’s New Year’s Eve, yeah?”

“Indeed, it is. The New Year will arrive in little over half a day.”

Natsuki bluntly replied to Kojou’s half-hearted question. Halfway through listening to her response, Kojou stuck his chin on his palm and said:

“Why do I have to cram in extra lessons right at the end of the year like this?”

“Because some idiot with too many unapproved absences and too many red marks on supplementary tests in my subject asked for them. Astarte, help me out a little.”

“Accepted.”

At Natsuki’s command, the homunculus girl went out of her way to retrieve a mirror and place it in front of Kojou. For a time, he silently gazed at his reflection.

Then he cried out, “Wait, this is sarcasm!”

He shooed Astarte away. The homunculus girl in the maid outfit returned to her seat in front of the electric fan.

Natsuki sipped on the tasty tropical iced tea she’d had Astarte make for her. “If you have time to ask pointless questions, why don’t you thank me a little for putting up with extra lessons even on a day like this?”

“Ah well, yeah, I’m grateful for that. Seriously.” Kojou politely bowed his head as he handed the short answer sheet to Natsuki.

Eight months had passed since Kojou inherited the power of the World’s Mightiest Vampire. Thereafter, Kojou’s allowed absences had whittled away in the course of becoming wrapped up in one troublesome incident after another. If Natsuki hadn’t spent her precious extended vacation giving him these extra lessons, Kojou would be dead set to repeat the year by that point.