"Renko, I saw a youkai yesterday."

It was during their evening break from campus in which Maribel decided to inform her friend of the news. Renko stirred the coffee in response, trying to mix the sugar and milk.

"A youkai?" She said, sampling her drink. A tad bit too sweet. "You mean, like on the Internet?"

"No, I saw one in person, at the park yesterday. I don't know what kind of a youkai she is, but she's not human."

"She?" Renko looked at her friend. "By youkai, you mean something like that creature we saw in TORIFUNE, the space station?"

"Well, no, she wasn't as scary as that at a glance. She looked…just like us, in her mid-twenties, possibly. But if you look closely, you can tell she has features no ordinary person should have."

"Such as?"

"I didn't see too clearly, but she had red eyes."

Renko raised an eyebrow. "But a lot of people nowadays have colored pupils, not just red." It was thanks to advances in surgical science. Permanent eye dyes became explosively popular just in time for the turn of the century. Some parents went even as far as altering the genetics of their unborn child so that they will grow up with the desired shades.

"But she was different, Renko. If you were there at the time you would know. Her eyes weren't just red, they were crimson, almost blood-like."

"You have strange eyes too," her friend pointed out, referring to Maribel's unnatural violet pupils. "How would you explain that? Are you a youkai as well? Could it be that you are under the mission of infiltrating the human civilization?"

"If that was the case, I wouldn't be sitting here drinking coffee with you." Maribel regretted the fact that she did not carry her phone yesterday. The one time she thought she didn't need it.

"So what happened to this youkai?" Renko asked. "Did you speak with it…er, her?"

"No way. If she was a youkai, why would I talk to her?" Although, Maribel had to admit, the notion was intriguing. There were loads of question that she could ask about. What was the youkai's purpose there at the park? What is going on with her people in this day and age? Does she have a name?

"At least your day sounded exciting," Renko grumbled, finishing her coffee. "My mom did nothing but nag last night. You should find a job, this, get a boyfriend, that."

"I think it would do you some good if you got either one of those. Not sure about both of them though."

"One is easier to find than the other," with a sigh Renko called for the bill and they promptly exited the cafe.

The two of them decided to find this youkai after class. The club they belong to, the Secret Sealing Club, had been stagnant in its activities for a while, with mainly tests to share the blame. Finding a youkai would fulfill their patriotic sense of work today. Maribel did pique both of their interests, after all.

Neither of them expected to find her right away when they arrived at the park.

"So is she the one?" Renko pointed at the hooded person discreetly. She was the only one there.

Maribel nodded. That was the one she saw yesterday, and it appeared that they were yet to be seen. The youkai doesn't look too dangerous, as far as her charming features suggested, but would anyone stand around a monster, if given the choice? That creature they encountered at TORIFUNE was different, yet Maribel did not doubt that this person too possesses the ability to give her a nasty scratch like last time, perhaps more.

"I think I might have been mistaken, Renko." Maribel gulped and nudged her friend. It might have been bad idea to come. "Maybe she's just a cosplayer. I don't think we should disturb her."

"A cosplayer? What would she be cosplaying as? A shapeshifter? A vampire?"

She may have said the last word too loud, because it was then the youkai turned her attention to them. The deep color of her pupils confirmed Maribel's testimony. There was no doubt. Those eyes are not natural, more so than the dyes and contacts people find trending at this day and age.

"R-Renko, she's looking this way."

"I-I know."

The youkai stood up. Their first instinct was to bolt, but their legs resisted, refusing to budge. Those bloodstained eyes were beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and they can't help but stare back, like a mouse at the sight of a hawk's looming shadow. They knew, during that moment, they were at her mercy.

"I thought you looked familiar," the youkai said. Up close, she had foreign features not too different from Maribel's. Golden locks and creamy skin could get you far in Japan, though not as much as in the past century. "It's good to see you again, Yukari-san."

Her Japanese, Renko noticed, is nearly perfect. There was only a hint of an accent, hidden behind a stray syllable and untraceable from the first hearing. Another thing she observed was that she possesed quite a queer set of teeth. They were sharp and protruding, looking almost like she grew out her canines to their utmost extremes.

Looking almost like…fangs.

"Oh, and your friend…" the woman stopped and analyzed Renko up and down with those murderous eyes. Those breathtaking eyes. "I've seen your face somewhere before. May I have your name?"

Renko swallowed and felt a lump in her throat. "U-Usami. Usami Renko. I'm a second-year at Kyodai."

"Usami. Where have I heard that name? It must have been a long time ago." She held her chin and pondered, looking at the cloudy sky. "Ah, never mind that. I didn't expect to see you here, Yukari-san. Tell me, how is sister nowadays? Is she still into books from the outside?"

But Maribel did not reply. She could not.

"Yukari-san? Are you all right? You look…disconcerted."

And disconcerted she was. One could argue the reason she could not speak was that of the perturbed fear towards the woman, true, but it was the name she was referred to that bothered her the most.

Yukari. It's certainly not a name she's a stranger to. In fact, she's had several friends who all bore the name. But this is the first time that somebody used it to address her, and for reasons unknown, there was a resonation. The name conjured a feeling that is hard to describe. Her name is Maribel. Maribel Hearn. But she could not figure out why Yukari sounded so complicatedly personal.

"I'm…I'm sorry, miss," she shook her head, managed to tuck away the indescribable emotion for the time being. "My name is Maribel. I'm not…Yukari."

"Oh come now, there isn't anyone here but us."

"Miss," Renko said, having conquered some of her fear for the woman. "She is telling the truth. I've been her friend since high school. This is the first time I've heard someone call her Yukari."

The red-hooded woman took a moment to look at the two. Each time her eyes blinked, they could feel their fear coming back. It's simply impossible to escape once caught.

"How about this?" She threw off her hood, letting it fall behind her nape and revealed her hair, medium length with a tail braided on by her left side. "The sun's hiding behind the clouds today, so I can receive some exposure."

They stared at her full beauty in awe. She is simply gorgeous, if not outright a princess straight from a fairy tale, the two of them noted. Her refined European charms, reinforced by her eligible youth, were plenty enough reason to be pursued by men everywhere of traditional valor and passion.

"Hm."

But those were not the reactions she seemed to be looking for. The woman sighed, and placed back the hood from her red denim jacket. "Still don't recognize me?" She leaned closer to study Maribel's face. "You share the same eyes, and your face…the resemblance is uncanny. Are you really not Yukari Yakumo?"

Yakumo…Maribel shook her head.

"That settles it. It appears I'm in the wrong here. My apologies. You must be one of her…sorry, it's nothing."

One of her…?

"Um…"

"Oh, and you," she turned to Renko. "I don't know who you are, but you seem to invoke my memories. Are you a youkai, by any chance? Or a magician, a mage?"

"I'm as humans as I can be." Renko, a second-year at Kyodai, responded fiercely, her body momentarily freed of the bind. "Who are you, miss? Are you a youkai?"

"Youkai is too broad a term," the woman said, stepping back. They could feel their tensions easing. "It's like calling you two just humans, instead of by your race or ethnicity. Renko, is it? You got it correct the second time. I'm a vampire."

So I was right, Maribel thought. They found their answer, but at what cost?

"A-Are you going to eat us, then?" Renko asked, her hands went back to tremble again. "Suck our blood?"

She smiled. It was a friendly gesture, but somehow Renko got the impression that she considered the taste of her flesh in her mind. "I've had my fill. You two are not in that danger anytime soon."

Maribel and Renko exchanged glances. If she's not going to take their blood, then what will she do with them? The Secret Sealing Club, in search for the paranormal, is caught unprepared.