Chapter 2: A Visit to Shiragami's

It was easy to see what Mahiro meant when he said the aliens lusted after him needlessly. When they went to their classroom for lunch, the grey-haired girl that Asahi saw arguing with Aizawa before leaped onto the poor guy until he held up his fork.

"Nyaruko..." he snarled.

The girl slunk away and began to cry crocodile tears. Asahi could tell that she wasn't really all that sad just by the way her voice sounded as she did.

"Clingy girls always go for that one guy. Even if that very guy won't like them back."

Asahi turned to Hachiman, who had just spoken. He didn't quite register that the sketchy-looking guy had just said anything right away.

"Did you say something?" Asahi asked.

Hachiman's eye twitched as if annoyed. He then turned to Asahi and explained: "A clingy girl will hang onto one guy until they realize that the guy doesn't like them. And this girl is clearly too stupid to realize it."

Asahi felt a twinge of annoyance at this.

Geez, I can't say he's wrong, he thought. But man, he sounds like an asshole.

"Where did you learn that?" Asahi asked, keeping the irritation out of his voice.

"Source: Me."

Asahi couldn't stop the sigh from leaving his mouth this time. Hachiman raised an eyebrow and Asahi felt a lump rise in his throat.

"Kuromine, I have a question for you," Hachiman said. "Do you pretend to be something you aren't?"

Immediately, afraid of what Hachiman might do if he lied, Asahi shook his head and told him, "I can't lie. I had this nickname as the 'Holey Sieve' last year."

"Really? Then how did you keep that secret?"

Asahi knew that Hachiman was referring to the whole 'monsters in our school' thing and of course he couldn't talk about that with so many people around. But he still knew what Fishigaya was talking about.

"It's a long story," Asahi said.

Hachiman didn't seem too pleased with his answer. Asahi wasn't happy about an answer that ridiculous either.

"Well-" Asahi started.

"Wow, that conversation seemed physically painful."

Asahi looked up and saw not only Oka, Shima, and Sakurada standing over their table, but Ayumu as well. Looking at them, Asahi could see something similar between Oka and Ayumu's lazy expressions.

"It sure felt like it... no offense, Hikigaya," Asahi said, quickly adding the last part.

Hachiman shrugged as if it didn't bother him.

The four sat down along with Asahi, Hachiman, Mahiro (well, his seat was there. He was currently chewing out Nyaruko), Yuji, and Shana. The latter two were talking about Shana's argument with the Spirit girl from before, with Yuji chastising her about starting the fight and Shana blatantly refusing to take anything back.

"That wasn't very nice, Shana," Yuji said.

"Well it's not my fault that she likes bread that disgusting," Shana responded stubbornly.

"No, but she's allowed to have her own opinions on what's good and what's bad."

"Shut up shut up shut up!"

A few tables away, Shido and Tohka, the purple-haired Spirit, were eating lunch themselves, and, to Asahi's surprise, were joined by Karen Shirogane, the School Council President and self-proclaimed fallen angel.

Granted, Karen was nice, but still.

Shido had wanted to sit with them, but Tohka followed him almost everywhere. And, in order to defuse the heat between Tohka and Shana, they had to split up between Shido and Yuji, which sucked, but was necessary.

"Asahi, you're still going to Shiragami's after school, right?" Sakurada asked out of nowhere.

Asahi nodded, and he felt Hachiman's gaze burning into his skull.

"Yeah," he responded. "You guys gonna come along?"

Shima, Oka, and Sakurada looked away. Asahi knew what they were looking for: dirt for Mikan to use in her newspaper.

"It's fine, guys," Asahi tried to say reassuringly, trying to go along with them. But the smug looks they had made it clear that they knew he was onto them and Mikan.

"Hey, I'll go," Yuji put in.

Asahi, thrown off by the sudden kind gesture, turned to Yuji and smiled.

"Really?" Asahi asked.

Yuji nodded. With a sigh, Shana added, "I'll come along too."

Mahiro, who had just taken his seat with them, gave a small groan and raised his hand.

Ayumu gave his snarky looking smile and added, "I'm going too, I guess."

They all turned to Hachiman.

"Fine," he said.

Asahi felt a bit satisfied that some new guys were going to be going with him to visit his girlfriend's place. Then Nyaruko leaped on Mahiro's back and sent him crashing to the floor.

...

The only snag of having Shido come along was that it meant Tohka was with them, too. And it was clear that Shana and her had not gotten over their fight.

"Why would anybody with a braincell eat kinako bread? Oh wait."

"W-well, you have negative one braincells!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Both of you quiet down!" Alastor commanded.

On the way to Youko's house, Asahi learned that Shana kept a pendant around her neck which was inhabited by a Crimson Lord named Alastor. Flame Haze apparently teamed up with more well-intentioned Crimson Denizens in order to give them the power they need to defeat the hostile ones. Shana was Alastor's contractor, and so they pretty much needed to always be by each other's sides... platonically, of course.

In fact, Asahi could see that Shana was clearly into Yuji. She was more obvious than him, the 'Holey Sieve' himself. Come on, her gaze flicked to Yuji every five seconds unnecessarily, and sometimes lingered. Asahi hoped he didn't gaze that much at Youko.

"Do you guys live with anybody?" Asahi asked out of nowhere, trying to change the subject and distract himself from how heavy the books in his arms were.

"I got a little sister at home, but that's it," Shido answered, definitely anxious to get away from the argument as well.

"I've got the aliens, my mom, and my dad... when he gets home, at least," Mahiro said.

"Everybody I mentioned lives with me," Ayumu added. "It's great."

They took a bit to stare at him. He sweated a bit before looking away guiltily.

With a cough, Yuji went next: "My mom and dad. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Just my guardian, her Crimson Denizen, and Alastor," Shana muttered, her temper seeping into her voice.

"It's just me," Tohka said simply.

Hachiman hadn't said anything during the trek to Youko's. Everybody's gaze fixed on him, and he finally said, "I live alone."

Asahi noticed that his voice hitched on 'alone'. Okay, so he was a lonely asshole. Maybe he would feel a bit bad.

There wasn't much more time for conversation because, right after that, they had arrived at the apartment of Youko Shiragami… which was swarming with bats.

After a few seconds of silence, Mahiro bluntly said, "How does nobody know?"

Asahi shrugged. He'd like to know the answer to that himself.

As Asahi went up to the door to knock, the others stood back apprehensively. Except for Ayumu, they didn't know what to expect from a vampire, but it sure seemed like Ayumu was worried about what would greet them at the door.

Two knocks on the door. Something crashed onto the floor. Hurried steps to the entrance-

And Youko Shiragami cried out in glee as she slammed the door open and hugged her boyfriend around the neck.

"AAAAAAAAAASAAAAAAAAAAHIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Youko cried happily as the two spun in a circle.

Asahi was not as enthusiastically happy.

"Youko, I can't breathe!" Asahi screamed indignantly.

One of Asahi's legs stepped in the wrong direction, sending the two crashing into the ground. As Asahi let out a low groan, some of the others snorted, much to his irritation.

...

Youko seemed to have mellowed out as they went into her apartment, and now she just seemed embarrassed.

"Sorry about that, Asahi..." she mumbled.

"N-No, it was fine!" Asahi reassured her, his face hot from his own embarrassment, thinking about how good she had smelled and how soft her hair was as she had thrown herself against him. Not to mention how big her brea-

"Do you have a maid?"

It was Hachiman again, and Asahi honestly felt tired of this guy's shit.

The others were sitting wherever they could in Youko's apartment. Asahi hadn't thought ahead of how small the apartment was and how many of them there were, so now everybody just forced themselves to make do. In order to fit into her main room, both Mahiro and Ayumu sat at her table with Asahi, and Hachiman sat in a corner. Shido chose to sit against Youko's closet despite Asahi's warnings that something terrible may happen to him if he did, and Tohka followed suit and was almost touching shoulders with him. Yuji had taken the last viable spot of floor and, after seeing that Shana had nowhere to sit, offered her to take it, but she chose to refuse and lean against a wall.

After a few seconds, Youko turned to Hachiman as if just realizing he had said something.

"Did you say something?" she asked him.

"Yeah. Do you have a maid? Maybe one that can stop time?"

Ayumu's mouth twitched, but none of the others seemed to understand what Hachiman was talking about.

Youko in particular seemed a bit lost. Turning to Asahi, she asked, "Who are they, anyway?"

She has no tact.

"Well..." Asahi started, "...they're from school. Something messed up with the schools, so..."

Youko looked about as confused as he felt.

He continued: "Also, they know about your secret." As she went to scream at him, he quickly went on: "But they also have their own and Akane told me to tell them!"

The vampire considered this, and she just decided to hit him on the head repeatedly while squealing. She wasn't very strong, but Asahi still had to cover his head as she did. He heard some of the others sigh in amusement, but he couldn't tell who.

"Hey, vampire!"

Both Asahi and Youko stopped and looked up at who shouted. Expecting it to be Hachiman, Asahi turned directly to him, but the dead fish-eyes shrugged at him. The speaker, as it turned out, was Shana, who was glaring at Youko as if annoyed.

"You shouldn't be abusing him like that," Shana told her.

She didn't say anything else, but her eyes were solid. Youko looked back at her, and Asahi could see a thin line of sweat on her face. Locking eyes with Yuji, Asahi conveyed a question with his eyes. Yuji shrugged in response.

"I-I'll stop..." Youko finally croaked out.

Shana nodded, satisfied. She closed her eyes and a small smile crept across her face.

"Please do bear with her," Alastor said to everybody. "She's... very impulsive."

Multiple replies came from the other boys.

"I've dealt with that before," Ayumu grumbled.

"Ehh…" Shido managed.

"Oh, gee! I wonder what Nyaruko is, then!" Mahiro shouted.

"Impulsive girls. They say what they want and don't give two shits about what comes after that," Hachiman noted. "Really, I wouldn't bother."

Okay, seriously, Hachiman. Shut up.

Though Hachiman was looking at Alastor, when that thought went through Asahi's head, his eyes turned directly towards Asahi's and bored into them.

Standing up, Yuji announced, "I think I should go home now. My mom would kill me, so..."

He left on the spot. Asahi couldn't blame him. As if realizing he was gone, Shana opened her eyes and walked out of Youko's apartment without a word.

With the source of the commotion gone, Mahiro stopped griping about his life and got up, saying, "Not that I'm eager to leave, but I have to go now. Bye."

He left as well, and right after Ayumu got up and said his goodbyes before leaving. Then Hachiman left after locking eyes with Asahi. That left Asahi and Youko with Shido and Tohka.

Shido had gotten up, as if ready to leave, but instead walked over to Asahi. He then asked, "Hey, you're happy like this, right?"

Asahi's heart was firm. He had loved Youko since he first saw her, first the cool beauty, then the ditzy vampire he came to know and truly fall in love with.

If, after all this time, he wasn't in love with her, he didn't know what he was. He nodded.

Shido's smile made it clear he was happy with Asahi's answer. He got up and grabbed Tohka's hand before helping her up.

"We'll be going now," he declared.

"Bye-bye!" Youko said cheerfully.

"Bye-bye!" Tohka repeated back to her.

As Shido and Tohka left the apartment, Asahi could hear Tohka say, "Shido! Let's go on a date!"

With a sigh, Asahi turned to Youko, who was clearly embarrassed to be with him alone in her apartment.

With a gulp, he knew exactly what she wanted. Leaning his head to the side, he said, "If you want it... well..."

He closed his eyes, and two fangs slid into his throat.

...

Isaac Westcott considered the three figures before him. Each were from a different universe, and he had convinced them to follow his orders.

"So then, Sir Westcott, what do you have for us today?" the King of the Night asked.

"Please try to make it something that isn't pointless," Sydonay grumbled.

Westcott ignored the two men and instead turned to the spider woman.

"The Torch. I want you to find him and bring him to us," Westcott commanded.

The spider woman grinned.

"It will be my pleasure," Atlach-Nacha hissed.