"I don't get what Mr. Andrews was saying in class today!" Sayuri whined, leaning on Anise Carlsson, who was munching on a peanut butter sandwich. "You always say that after our English class" Anise said between her munching. "I can't help it! I'm a pure Japanese!" exclaimed Sayuri, pouting. "What a lame excuse. Are you trying to blame your heritage over your inability to understand English? You're not proud of it? As if the minority of the pure Japanese population in this school isn't enough" said Todo Chizuru, giving Sayuri an icy glare. Sayuri puffed up her cheeks, a gesture that shows that she admits defeat but still shows defiance.
There is some truth behind Chizuru's statement. Seiomi Gakuen was famous for accepting students that come from wealthy families, like Sayuri and ones who were well-off and of mixed heritage like Anise. It wasn't until last year that Seiomi offered a full scholarship to students like Lillia and Chizuru, who came from the middle class family. Even so, the population of students of mixed heritage dominates the school, thus Chizuru's prideful declaration. "Hey, now. Let's all eat lunch peacefully, like always. Chizuru, you should melt that icy glare, you're making Rina squirm here" Anise said, gesturing at a timid-looking girl beside her. Chizuru softened her expression and looked down at her lunch. "Forgive me. Been having problems at home, I shouldn't have brought it here to school. I won't do that again" Chizuru said, already letting out a weak smile.
Sayuri then pulled Chizuru into a hug. "Aww, it's all right! We're friends, right?" she cooed, her voice cheerful. "But still, let me defend myself a little bit here! Well, Lillia, I choose you!" Sayuri cheerfully said, imitating the famous Pokemon line at the end. "What?" Lillia said, already finished with her lunch. "I want you to be my lawyer, now go!" Sayuri explained. Lillia kept quiet at this. "I don't know what to say other than the fact that you were much more focused on Mr. Andrews than listening to his lesson" Lillia said, making Sayuri squeal out of fear. "Lillia! You promised not to tell!" she screeched, hitting Lillia's arm playfully. "Oh? So Sayuri has a crush on the hot and young Mr. Andrews! Naughty, naughty" Anise teased, making Sayuri blush.
Lillia noticed Chizuru who was still quiet, even though Anise and Sayuri were already having a 'slap fest' beside her. "Care to share?" Lillia said, her voice low while she lowered her glasses to meet eyes with Chizuru. Chizuru looked up, and her dark eyes showed nothing. "Later" Chizuru said, already trying to separate Anise and Sayuri. Lillia leaned back on the tree that they were taking a shade on. They were having their normal lunch at the school courtyard under the big tree and she admired the garden that was taken care by the school gardener.
It has been a month since she schooled there and she already got used to her new life. She started making friends with Chizuru, Anise, Sayuri and Sasaki Rina on her first day of schooling there. Sayuri and Anise were the ones who approached her and Chizuru, who were somehow shunned by the other peers due to their position as 'prized students'. Rina was Chizuru's childhood friend, even though her family was quite well-off. At least her school life is better. None of her friends never questioned of her appearance, though Chizuru and Anise already suspected something behind her façade. Though that subject was never discussed.
Lillia's thoughts were disturbed by Sayuri's squeal. "Oh wow! They are all walking together! How rare! Where did I put my phone?" Sayuri said, searching for her phone. Lillia looked towards the source of Sayuri's agitation. It was the Sakamaki siblings, rather the three of them were walking side by side and Lillia had to agree with Sayuri's statement, the ensemble was quite rare. The fact that the siblings were walking together already amazed her, much less the three people that were walking side by side. It was Kanato, the middle triplet, with Reiji in the middle and Subaru, the youngest of the siblings by his side. They stopped a few metres away from the girls and Reiji beckoned to Lillia with his usual smile. As Lillia stood up and brush off the grass from her skirt, she could dimly notice Sayuri looking at her with jealousy and murmuring "It's not fair" while picking her sandwich.
"What seems to be the matter, Reiji-san?" she asked politely as she approached Reiji. "Ah, forgive me for interrupting your lunch with your" he gestured at her friends behind her, "friends. I would like to inform you that the three of us will not be coming home" he said, making her unconsciously frown. "Family matters" he continued, noticing her frown. She blushed at this. "Forgive me. I just-" she composed herself, "So only the three of you? That means I will be making dinner for Raito-san, Ayato-san and Shuu-san, am I correct?" she asked instead, already noting one of her jobs as the carer of the Sakamaki household. Reiji nodded at this and gave her an apologetic smile. "Well, see you" he said, nodding at her.
She nodded at him back, then nodded at Kanato and Subaru. Kanato gave her a timid nod while Subaru gave her a curt nod. At least they are kind of acknowledging her. Before she walked back to her friends, she heard Reiji calling out her name. "Lillia-san, I forgot to mention that the others might be coming a little late, so you don't need to wait up for them. I asked them to clean up after their dinner" he said, and Lillia gave him a nod to show that she heard him. As she sat back down, she pondered on this turn of events. She had always been curious of the Sakamaki siblings' background and their father. The siblings seem to not get along that well, but their father had made a condition that they must live together in the old mansion and to have dinner together on the night of a full moon. It was a full moon tonight, so when she heard that their father called out the three siblings, she felt suspicious.
The bell rang, indicating that lunch time was over. Sayuri and Anise were still in an argument, though it was now light-hearted. Chizuru, as always, was walking silently beside her while Rina, who was usually reading a book while walking, apparently was staring into space. "What seems to be the problem, Rina?" Lillia asked, confused by her friend's behaviour. "It's a full moon tonight" she answered with an unreadable expression. Before Lillia could answer, she was called out by someone.
"Hey, you!". Lillia turned towards the direction of the voice, only to groan inwardly. Ayato was walking towards her, his face full of arrogance, as per usual. "What seems to be the problem, Ayato-san?" Lillia asked, keeping herself calm. "Ugh. Let me only say this first; I'm only talking to you 'cause I want takoyaki for dinner tonight" he said, giving her a glare. "All right. Takoyaki for dessert" she said, nodding and already walking away. "Hey! I only want takoyaki!" he yelled at her, making her stop. "If you want to complain, bring it to your father. He did say that you must eat a balanced diet, am I correct?" she said watching him. As she thought, Ayato's angry face turned meek after the mere mention of his father. He turned to walk away, only to glare at her for the last time.
Lillia shook her head tiredly at this, and proceeded to walk together with her friends again. This time, she stopped short again. Rina was looking at her with an unreadable expression and asked her; "Are you going back home alone today, again?". Lillia nodded at this, and continued to walk side by side with her. Lillia noticed Rina started to purse her lips at this. "You should be careful. There have been news lately that people are getting attacked in broad daylight. Most victims were females, too" she said, frowning. Lillia chuckled at this; she did knew about the news, but the female victims were mostly beautiful females, so she merely replied, "Don't worry. Whoever that is attacking people here only aim for the pretty ones". Rina shook her head at this, still frowning. "It's a full moon tonight" she murmured. "What of it?" Lillia asked, stopping in her tracks again. "It's nothing. Just be careful, Lillia" Rina said, walking away.
After school...
Lillia was walking back home from school, already thinking up the dinner that she would have to prepare upon stepping into the mansion. She was at the corner of the road when she heard a rustling sound behind her. Upon instinct, she looked back and waited. Rustle. So she wasn't imagining it, and it was coming from the bushes. She felt torn for the moment; either she walks away or investigate the rustling sound. Considering that she was not really in a rush to prepare dinner, she decided to investigate the sound. She was only a few centimetres close when she heard a moaning sound. She made a mental grunt. I should have guessed that it was some stupid couple making out, she thought and was about to turn back when she heard something that bothered her. A whimper, followed by a "Please, don't hurt me".
Lillia frantically went through the bushes and walked on a strange scene. There was a beautiful woman lying down on the grass, her hair spread against it and her shirt was torn to expose her smooth neck and collarbone. What bothered her was the fact that there was blood on them. There was a man crouching down beside the woman and he looked up to see Lillia. His mouth was smeared with blood. No way, she thought as the man stood up. "Oh, there seems to be a willing victim here. Maybe I should take you" the man said, licking his bloodied lips. He took a step towards her and suddenly froze. "Your blood...smells delicious...too delicious for a human" the man said, looking at her. "What are you?" he asked, but Lillia was too dumbfounded to speak. The man was about to touch her hair when his hand was slapped away by someone. Lillia, who was still too shocked, managed to look at the person who stopped this man...or thing. The man, who originally looked like he was full of ecstasy, seemed to be snapped out of his trance when he studied the person who slapped his hand.
Sakamaki Shuu was looking down on the man with a condescending glare as he gripped the man's arm. "What are you doing here?" Shuu said, his tone cold. The man looked scared as he studied Shuu. "I'm sorry Master Shuu! I didn't know..." The man sputtered and Shuu tightened his grip on the man's arm. "What do you mean, 'you don't know'? Are you trying to say that you didn't realise that the Sakamaki mansion is right around the corner?" Shuu said in such an icy tone that even Lillia flinched. The man's face turned pale and proceeded to kneel in front of Shuu and Lillia. "Forgive me, Master Shuu! I won't do it again! Please don't kill me!" the man begged, his voice shaking. Seeing this, Shuu sighed. "It's a pain to kill you and all, so just leave. Just don't get crazy, there's been news about this thing, especially since it's a full moon" Shuu said, already looking disinterested.
The man, realising that he has been let off, stood up suddenly and bowed deeply to Shuu. He then proceeded to walk away, ignoring the woman who was still lying down on the grass, unconscious. Shuu was about to walk away, too, when Lillia grabbed his shirt. "Hey! Aren't you suppose to do something about that woman...?" Lillia said, trailing her words. Shuu looked at her irritatingly, and she noticed that he had his earphones on. "It doesn't matter. It's not like she's dead. She will wake up and think it's a dream. Worse, she might get hysterical, but who believes in vampires these days, right?" Shuu said a matter-of-factly and proceeded to walk away. Lillia knew that he was right; but they can't just leave the woman there, so she tightened her grip to his shirt, making Shuu grumble. "What now?" he asked, scowling. "At least bring her to the mansion. She might get a cold" Lillia said calmly, though the word 'vampire' was stuck in her head as Shuu groaned and carried the woman to the mansion.
Shuu laid down the woman on the sofa, and Lillia proceeded to tend to her 'wounds'. When she finished, the woman was still unconscious, so she packed up the medical kit while still contemplating on Shuu's words. Are the Sakamaki clan vampires? she thought, as she stood up. On the way to the kitchen, she bumped into Shuu, who already changed into his normal clothes. "Shuu-san...about what you said earlier..." Lillia began, making Shuu to take off his earphones. "What? About the 'vampire' thing? Yeah, that man is a vampire" he said, looking at her. "Are you..." she trailed off making Shuu smirk. He then pushed her to the wall and trapped her with his body. "What? Are you expecting me to say no? Sorry to burst your bubble, but yes, we are vampires, too" Shuu said, giving her a mysterious smile. Lillia gulped as he heard his confession, and looked into his blue eyes to see if he was teasing her or if he was serious. "You don't believe me? I might as well just drink your blood so that the truth will hit home" Shuu continued, baring his fangs. What should I do now?! Lillia frantically thought, as Shuu leaned in closer to none other than her neck.
TO BE CONTINUED
