the keeper
7.

Something attracts the others. Maybe it's just Nene's natural charisma, or some sort of instinct, or maybe it's just the news of two obvious vampires (or maybe just one, because no-one's explicitly said Nene is a vampire in this scene and as long as no-one looks too close…) duking it out in broad daylight.

Yuu shows up, along with a group of three which are probably Airu, Ren and Ryouma. And another boy shows up with hair even crazier than Taiki. And Taiki and Kiriha show up, all scuffed up like they'd already been in a fight. And a few other kids, including one that looks vaguely familiar.

Akari wonders if they're all vampires… except Taiki, of course. Or maybe they just know of vampires. Friends, family, and people who provide the lifeblood they can't otherwise easily obtain. It's like the final boss battle in a RPG game. It's the genesis of vampires in the area – but not of the world. It's not the pox vaccine that will eradicate the virus. It's not a vaccine at all.

It might be senseless. Or it might be closure. It's not her place to decide which of those it'll wind up being. Taiki, too, comes to stand by her. And the vaguely familiar boy – and she realises, then, because he's carrying a kendo sword on his back as well. Maybe it's when she's gone to matches as Taiki's manager. Or maybe it's when they're cheering on Yuu.

Some time has passed, she thinks, since she met the Amanos and Aunoma Kiriha. She hasn't really thought of that before, but it's obvious now. And it's obvious she still knows so little. She hasn't met Yuu's rival-friends, or that kid with the wild hair who's talking excitedly with Taiki (and the silver-haired rival-friend of Yuu'sf or a bit), or the brunet who's talking with the kid with the wild hair…

She's getting distracted, but she assumed the people clustering around her are the humans come to watch the spectacle. Yuu is standing by his sister. And Kiriha, and Yuu's friend-rivals, and a few others she's seeing for the first time. And next to the old man is a somewhat younger man: handsome in the way some adults are despite their age.

Part of the honey trap, Akari thinks. Those two have run a dangerous business and what will a bunch of kids do about it? Will they fight until they've physically ripped the pair apart? Or will they fight, like Nene had wanted to some time ago, with words and policies that, as of yet, don't back them?

It's both, in the end. The others don't interfere with Nene's one-on-one until the younger man jumps in. Then it's plain self-defence and there are too many witnesses for the pair to talk themselves out of once the police come.

It's tricky still, because it's two adults and a bunch of kids, but turning someone into a vampire is a punishable crime. The law's still sketchy there, because what Yuu did to Nene is equally punishable except he's a minor. The consent laws come under "grievous bodily harm." Just like someone can't consent to getting HIV, they can't consent to being infected. But unlike HIV, there's no medication to help keep titres down low. They have to find it themselves: that fragile balance. They have to be willing to search, and understand, and to be on the safe-side try a non-human first. Because it's not murder if you don't kill a human. The laws are made for humans, at the end of the day.

But vampires are still humans, even if they drop down the social rungs. And adults harming kids is one of those things that society will forever frown upon. A double whammy with the consent issue, really: kids can't consent and no-one can consent to grievous bodily harm. As for proving that's the case, it takes some pushing but there are enough humans with parents in useful places (for this circumstance, because their parents brought them into this world after all) to get the ball rolling.

And once the ball is rolling, all it takes is PCR to prove the viral strands came from the same source and a timeline to prove the direction of causality and they have a case.

Though who turned the pair is a question, and who else is out there.

Nene laughs bitterly when they congratulate her. 'After all that talk, I almost get myself thrown in a correction facility. Or jail.'

Can thirteen year olds be thrown in jail, Akari wonders? It doesn't really matter though. No-one wants an idol or a politician with a known criminal record but no-one's going to say Nene started the fight (except those two men and their words don't mean much once the bloods are back).

Still, Akari's surprised and yet not surprised to find Nene being a hothead for once. Everyone's got things that set them off after all, and it's pretty obvious that, for Nene, it's anything concerning Yuu. Akari gets pissed too when something happens to her brothers (including Taiki). They're alike in that sense, except Akari's more liable to smack them overhead with her bag of supplies than Nene is.

'You've got a fanbase for when you debut as an idol,' Akari offers, finally. Because one can look at it from either way, now. It's not Schrodinger's box; it's the opposite, really. It's a load off their chest and they've succeeded in taking a step forward in the process. 'Idol and vampire advocate, right? And one day down the track you can come out as the friendly neighbourhood vampire too?'

She laughs more lightly at that. 'I wouldn't say friendly,' she says, 'but that sounds like a good plan to me.'

'Attractive, then.'

In afterthought, she should have said "charismatic". But her mouth let loose before her brain can stop her.