Sonoda Umi is a Prince Charming, so charming that she cannot decline an invitation of one of her juniors to accompany her for a dinner after their usual daily dance practice – she went to the dinner in her school uniform. Slick, Umi, slick.

"Sonoda-sempai, I implore you!" Umi is taken aback by the invitation. The girl bows ninety degrees in front of her house, not even lifting her face up even when Umi said she will rethink about it. Umi at last hesitantly nodded, voicing out a yes – Umi wears her heart at her sleeves, the girl is kind of nice.

Here she now; trotting down the usual cemented pathway towards her house again, her path is illuminated by the yellow lighted street lamps.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Umi stops in her track. She scrunches her eyebrows. She listens.

Never defies a woman's intuition.

Umi dashes along the cemented pathway, not fully knowing why she did such. Or maybe she did – something ominous (a cat?) is nearing her that moment.

Umi runs past the stairways to the temple, she runs past a cycling man, she runs past Honoka's bakery before her breath depletes. Umi gracefully falls down on to the bench near the park she arrives, dropping her bag beside her. Breathing heavily, she inhales large gulps of oxygen to recover back her energy.

Umi stops her breath. She listens – again. Umi frantically removes herself from the bench. She hears… whining across the park. Her hearts thumps wildly against her ribcage as she ponders the action of going to see what it is.

Umi gulps as she moves forward towards the whining source – Damnation for human's curiosity.

Umi freezes in her place as the shrubs where the whining gets louder, shifts. She whimpers lowly, closing her eyes briefly – Why does it have to be behind a shrub?! Why am I even here?!

Umi inhales deeply before striking down the shrub with her newly found broom (conveniently placed broom is convenient) besides the entrance to the park, probably left by the previous cleaner. She strikes and thrust the shrub – undoubtedly making full use of her knowledge in kendo.

Umi jumps back after she strikes the shrub a few times – she will not endanger herself by being closer to the source of danger.

A few minutes (seconds) pass and Umi, deeming that the surrounding is safe, checks the shrub.

Nothing.

Umi retreats back.

"Nothing." Her intuition is wrong – Umi scrunches her eyebrows. That cannot be it.

"It's me~." Umi ducks her head after she hears the growling answer and falls down to the ground from the sheer shock she receives – a man, snarling at her (are those fangs?!) flying above her. Okay, not wrong.

Thinking nothing (run!), Umi scrambles up and runs away, her hand gripping tight of the broom. Is this the something ominous she had felt before? – She definitely hates this one's intuition.

The man chases Umi until Umi takes more than three wrong turns, which leads her to a dead end. How cliché – Umi retorts silently as she retreats back, the man advances forward. Umi hurls the broom towards the man in a final attempt to halt the man from advancing – it did nothing. Umi squirms.

Thud!

Umi firmly presses her body against the cold, moldy (Agh!) wall of the alley, wanting to get away as much as possible as the man places both of his hands besides Umi's body, trapping her as he sniffs her closer, and closer, and unbelievably closer…

Umi never believes in vampires, or any sort of mythical beings (are there more?!) yet this one is right in front of her. Umi briefly wonders whether she will be premiered in tomorrow's news headlines. Umi closes her eyes, anxious for the next action she feels that the man, a vampire will take-

-which does not come. Umi snaps her eyes towards the man. He splays across the alley, groaning and hissing as a very recognisable figure standing in front of Umi; the loose azure blue coloured dress, and the accustomed grey coloured hair Umi had come to know sixteen years ago – "Kotori!"

Kotori turns her body facing Umi and starts walking towards her, in haste.

Alarmed, Umi presses herself against the cold, moldy (Ugh!) wall of the alley again as Kotori places both of her hands besides Umi's body, creating a prison as shesniffs her closer, and closer and unbelievably closer – what is this déjà vu?! Yet she dares not to close her eyes, opting to connect with the amber (of tinge of swirling red?) eyes of Kotori. Is this even Kotori?

"Kotori!" Umi whispers, loud enough to halt Kotori in her advances. Kotori stops. Their faces are inches apart, with Kotori's nose on Umi's left cheek.

"Grr!" The man before is on his feet again, growling ferociously towards Kotori. Umi feels the shift in Kotori's mood.

Kotori nuzzles her nose on Umi's cheek. Kotori snarls (protectively?) towards a scared Umi as Kotori lightly grazes her (sharp) fangs on Umi's cheek, licking it. Umi closes her eyes, empties her mind towards the gesture done by Kotori – she is too scared to form cohesive thoughts. Apparently, Prince Charming had its own limitations – Umi somehow hates that.

Kotori turns to face the man as Umi peeks of their whereabouts, her body slides down against the cold, moldy wall of the alley – Umi can care less of her clothes' conditions as of now.

The man hurls himself towards Kotori, impatient. Seconds after, he is already motionless, splaying lifelessly a few metres in front of Umi. What Umi sees before is a blur; a mixture of orange and grey colours. Umi searches the corpse – her eyes widen as she sees a large hole behind his back, near his heart. She tentatively looks towards Kotori, suspecting the heart is definitely in Kotori's hand – indeed it is.

Splat!

Blood drenches Kotori's dress, sprays across her face and her grey hair and covering bits of Umi's feet. Kotori stands there, motionless, her mouth gaping open. Then, she gulps down her saliva as her tongue darts out to lick the blood.

Her face morphs immediately into euphoric grin. She notices the blood on her hand where she had splatters the heart. She licks it clean, not a spot left on her hand, the grin stays as her licks goes longer.

Thankfully Umi is able to withstand the gory in front of her – she sits in silence, her mind empty as her body frozen in spot, trying to make herself small as possible, in hopes that Kotori (this is definitely not Kotori) will leave her alone. Umi does not come in terms to hate Kotori (whoever this is) from what she had done just now – it probably is not Kotori, in her greatest mind, or probably not.

What if she's a vampire? – Umi dreads the answer. Yet, there is no way Kotori isn't a vampire. From what Umi sees before, Umi cannot think of any other beings – Perhaps a cannibal…? Umi shakes her head subtly – Kotori doesn't eat any flesh right now.

Then, since when? – Umi subtly clutches her hand tight. She shifts a little, uncomfortable by her own stupid questions. Kotori stops midway of her licking blood, starts noticing Umi after Umi shifts in her sitting. Her grin disappears completely. Kotori leers towards Umi. She finishes her licking before tottering forward, letting her body fall on four limbs to crawl nearer Umi.

The smell of the rusty, metallic blood of the man engulfs Umi's sensory organs. She inhales a large amount of oxygen before turning her head away from Kotori's face inching near her, their limbs tangling together. Umi whimpers as she locks her eyes on Kotori's amber swirling red eyes. Kotori stops midway, again opting to nuzzle her now bloody nose, grazing her (sharp) fangs on Umi's cheek as she (lovingly?) licks it. She shivers.

Umi gasps silently; trying to wonder of the gestures did by (not) Kotori. She turns her face a fraction nearer Kotori's face; she spots the small, gentle smile Kotori will always send towards Umi whenever they meet in school compounds, or whenever they are both alone together inside the club room – basically Umi's special smile from Kotori, minus the glinting fangs Umi sees.

"K- Kotori?" Umi gingerly calls her. Kotori cups Umi's cheek, pushing it so that both of them face each other. Kotori's eyes are not her usual yet – it is still amber with swirling red, though calmer than before. Kotori nudges her nose with Umi's, tainting it with some of the man's blood; her smile still adorns her bloody face. Umi searches Kotori's eyes.

Hesitantly, Umi tries pushing Kotori away from her own, slowly, experimentally. The first touch to Kotori's shoulders, she tenses. Umi retrieve back her hand, casting her eyes downwards all the while. Umi waits for another gesture from Kotori – she is given none. She inhales as her eyes are kept downwards. Umi tries touching Kotori's shoulders again. She grazes her index finger, Kotori slowly backs away. Umi is genuinely shocked; she tentatively looks towards Kotori's retreating figure.

Standing there, a glum figure of Kotori, her eyes are her own; amber coloured as she holds the corpse by the collar. Orange haired man.

"Umi-chan…" Umi hastily scrambles herself up, running forward towards Kotori who jumps (fly) into the night.

"Kotori…" Umi scrunches her eyebrows, trying to make sense of the events that had occurred. She looks down; her shoes are covered in blood as well as her stockings, and skirt, and a bit of her lower part of the uniform. Umi touches her cheek where Kotori nuzzles her nose – blood. Umi looks forward – she had no idea where she is. Umi huffs indignantly, half fear, half irritation.

She walks, and walks and slowly walks… She hopes that she will not encounter any more of the vampires after this. Umi still cannot believe about the vampires.

Blinking, Umi abruptly stops in her track. She remembers. Wait.

"My bag."

(x_x) – Pardon for any mistakes and dissatisfaction induced.