VOLUME 2
Chapter 2
Awaken
First_LEAD.
Part 1
"Ha… ha… ha…."
"Come on, Arakuyo-san, is that the limit of your endurance?"
Kenji narrowed his eyes and glared up at the bulletproof glass windows of the Limit Field. He couldn't see Nakare at all, and he doubted she could make out his harsh expression from where she was watching him, but he was able to find some amount of satisfaction in the gesture.
The red-haired Esper was standing in the middle of the Limit Field, which had been configured with some sort of maze-like arrangement of rectangular and L-shaped walls. Although it looked like a maze, the object of this particular test was nothing of the sort.
The whirring of electric motors could be heard and Kenji's head instantly snapped to the side. Just as he did so, three repurposed security bots swung around the corner, guns aimed and ready to open fire.
The red-haired Esper grit his teeth and charged directly at the group, zig-zagging from side to side to ensure they couldn't properly aim. As simulation rounds zipped past his head, Kenji closed the distance and swung his while body around, delivering a strong, increased-density kick to the patrol bot closest to him. His foot left a small dent in the metal casing and the robot was thrown backwards, careening into another immediately behind it.
Kenji then turned towards the remaining robot and drove his fist into the small red camera lens that purposed as its eye. The glass shattered and sparks licked at the Esper's knuckles, but as the robot staggered backwards and began spinning around uncontrollably, Kenji could tell he had disabled it.
Kenji let out a sigh of relief and paused to catch his breath again, sweat dripping from his chin as he panted.
"I wouldn't look so comfortable if I were you, Arakuyo-san."
Kenji turned to glare up at the glass again, but instantly his ears were accosted by a loud, whining siren coming from the disabled patrol bot behind him. The Esper's eyes widened and he reacted swiftly, kicking the bot in its already damaged eye and ceasing its call. Unfortunately, he hadn't been fast enough. The sound of multiple electric motors could be heard as the patrol bot's backup approached.
Behind him, no less than ten training bots rounded the corner towards him, and in front of him an extra five emerged. Kenji groaned and sent an icy glare towards the Limit Field's observation deck before gritting his teeth and crouching in preparation to sprint.
Anyone else would have doubtlessly sprinted towards the smaller group of patrol bots in an effort to avoid the more difficult confrontation, but the red-haired Esper took off sprinting towards the larger group behind him instead. As he approached, they opened fire, and not even his evasive maneuvers could keep him completely safe. Rubber bullets grazed past his skin and pelted his legs, but he persisted onward.
As Kenji reached the group, kicked off the ground and lept, using his ability to make himself lighter and soar over the large group of patrol bots. Now that he was directly above them, the only group that could shoot at him was the smaller group of five. This had been why he rushed the larger group instead.
Still, there were now five robots who could shoot at him, and in the air he couldn't dodge as effectively.
Kenji crossed his arms over his face as fire from the smaller group of training bots peppered the air around him. He got hit with a few rounds and lost concentration, just barely managing to clear one of the walls before crashing back and sliding until he slammed up against yet another wall of the maze.
Still, he had escaped an encounter he would otherwise be unable to handle on his own. Now Kenji could use the labyrinthine twists of the room's current configuration to split the patrol bots up and continue to take them out in more manageable groups.
The red-haired Esper pulled himself off his feet and sighed, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. He wasn't sure how long he had been at this, but he had destroyed or disabled at least twenty of the training bots already. Still, there were plenty left, and at the rate he was going, he wasn't sure if he could beat all of them like this.
As Kenji wracked his brain for some sort of strategy that would doubtlessly end all his troubles in one fell swoop, he heard the sound of whirling motors behind him and froze. Slowly the Esper turned around, only to find himself surrounded by another ten patrol robots, each of them with their guns trained on him mercilessly.
"Well shit."
The red-haired Esper crossed his arms over his face and squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the robot's attack. However, instead of being pelted with simunition from the surrounding patrol bots, Kenji was met with the sound of electronic whirling as each of the robots turned around and began heading away from him.
"That's enough, Arakuyo-san," Nakare's voice called from over the intercom system, "The test is over, come on up."
A loud buzzer sounded and the walls around him began to sink back into the floor slowly. The red-haired Esper stayed sprawled out on his back with his arms outstretched for a few moments before pulling himself upright. As the walls concealing the full area of the Limit Field disappeared, Kenji could see the remaining training bots returning to the garage they were housed in.
Kenji, too, began making his way back to the elevator entrance, removing the face mask he had been given and wiping the sweat from his brow. There was no suit today. Now that Nakare had implanted him with the device that monitored his AIM field and vitals there was no need for it.
Speaking of the raven-haired scientist, she had been uncharacteristically cocky throughout the entire fight, making subtle quips that quickly approached Kamishiri's own level of wit.
Kenji stepped into the elevator and sighed, still panting from the earlier fight. Once he reached the observation bay, the doors slid open and Kenji was greeted by the uncharacteristically expressive, smiling face of Nakare.
"That was some nice work," the scientist grinned, handing Kenji a bottle of water, "I didn't think you'd do so well, taking on fifty of them at once."
"I feel like you're trying to get back at me for stealing stuff from the Lab…" Kenji admitted out loud, grabbing the bottle of water Nakare had held out for him to take and opening it quickly.
Nakare didn't provide any sort of response, instead opting to return to her seat in front of the computer console to look over the results.
"This data will do nicely for now. I don't think I need to test you anymore for today," Nakare noted, not bothering to break eye-contact with the computer screen, "Oh… it's around lunchtime now, so you should probably head back to the classroom."
Kenji nodded, "Alright. I imagine I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then?"
Nakare shrugged noncommittally, "Perhaps."
Kenji frowned at the ambiguous, coy answer, but decided not to mention it regardless. Instead, he placed the face mask he had been given for the duration of the experiment in a container with a bunch of protective gear and headed off for the elevator to the first floor of the Power Development Lab.
Just as he reached the door, however, the raven-haired scientist behind him turned around and frowned slightly before calling out to the red-haired Esper.
"Arakuyo-san," she began, catching his attention and causing him to whirl around just as the elevator arrived. Her brow was furrowed and her pale yellow eyes conveyed clear signs of distress, but she smiled softly nevertheless.
"I don't know what's happening to you. I have a few hypotheses, but…" Nakare trailed off and shook her head, "Look, just… be careful, Arakuyo-san."
Kenji hesitated for a moment before nodding his head and turning around to step into the elevator. As the doors closed and the elevator departed the observation deck of the Limit Field, the raven-haired woman turned back to the computer to look over the results of the test once more, a small frown crossing her features as she let out a sigh.
"At the rate this is progressing, will that boy really be fine, I wonder?"
Part 2
As Kenji trudged tiredly down the hallway towards Kamishiri's classroom, he couldn't help but reflect on the tone Nakare had used before he had left. It was filled with concern and worry, the kind one would expect their mother to use as she saw them off to go do something incredibly dangerous. There was something Nakare wasn't telling Kenji outright, and whatever it was, it was dangerous.
The red-haired Esper felt around his wrist until the telltale bumps of the tiny vitals monitor Nakare had implanted into him were felt. At first such an action seemed like a scientist concerned with gathering data overstepping her bounds, but Kenji had entirely ignored the fact that Nakare had rushed out to his location the night he was injured.
No, the implanting the monitor into him was a telltale sign of Nakare's concern for the Esper's well-being.
Kenji raised his left hand and looked at it. How many times had he used his ability on this hand without even putting too much thought into it?
Kenji furrowed his brow and frowned, his mind slipping back to the strangest phenomenon he had experienced since his AIM Field began fluctuating.
"That headache from the other day… I just collapsed without warning… and then there was that clarity… In that moment, it felt like a fog had been lifted in my mind and my calculation abilities increased…"
Kenji was so caught up in thought that he barely noticed the brown-haired girl walking towards him until she called out and waved at him happily.
"Arakuyo-san!"
The red-haired Esper snapped his head up and he made eye-contact with Kaede. The very sight of his brown-haired classmate jostled him out of his previous contemplative state, but it was only because her presence in the hallway was utterly perplexing to him.
This particular hallway was not in the direction of the school's cafeteria (not that the cafeteria was open anyway), nor was it between Kamishiri's classroom and the bathrooms or the stairwell to the roof. Even still, Kaede did not seem like she was wandering around aimlessly, and she was carrying a bento wrapped in a light pink cloth around with her.
"Eh, Kaede-chan?" Kenji tilted his head to the side in mild confusion, "Why'd you come down this way?"
Kaede crossed her arms and pouted, "Well, Kurogori-kun is probably the worst person to eat lunch with, so I thought I'd come see if you were free."
Kenji nodded, "Yeah, I just finished up, actually."
"Great!" The brown-haired girl beamed happily and clapped her hands together, "I don't want to sit in a room with that icy-haired sloth right now, so let's find somewhere else to eat."
At a Japanese high school with such a tall building, "somewhere else" was almost synonymous with "the roof." Sure enough, in a few minutes time, the two found themselves standing out on the roof of the building, overlooking the vast cityscape of District 7 and beyond. A wind that always seemed to accompany lunch on the roof blew through the chain-link fence raised around the perimeter of the roof's edge, rustling Kenji's red hair as he let out a relaxed sigh.
"You've got a strange look on your face," Kaede noted, interrupting the red-haired Esper's meditative state, "We came up here to eat, you know?"
Kenji nodded, "Yeah, but sometimes you have to appreciate calm moments like this."
The sentence had entirely stemmed from the stresses of a morning running around getting chased by security robots with guns.
Kaede shrugged before making her way over to one of the benches that had been set up specifically for the students of Fubushima Academy to eat up here. During the school year, the roof was a popular place for lunch where students would rush to find the best areas before it became too crowded for them to eat comfortably. Now that it was summer, however, Kenji and Kaede were the only two who had bothered to come up here at all.
Kenji sighed contently once more before making his way over to the bench as well and plopping himself down with a heavy thud. Beside him, Kaede opened the bento she had prepared and clasped her hands together, voicing her thanks before digging into her meal.
Kenji, on the other hand, poked at the wrapped yakisoba bread he had obtained from the refrigerated vending machines just outside the cafeteria. They had stopped by quickly on the way there, as the red-haired Esper had failed to grab something for lunch in his morning rush. While the cafeteria was closed like he had suspected, Kenji was pleasantly surprised to find the vending machines were stocked despite the summer season.
"You seem tired, Arakuyo-san," Kaede observed, words slightly muddled by the food in her mouth, "What were you up to all morning, I wonder?"
"Ah," Kenji replied, finally getting around to removing the wrapping around his sandwich, "Well, a scientist from the Power Development Lab was running me ragged by forcing me to fight training robots. I think she's trying to push my ability to its limits for some reason."
"Hmm?" the brown-haired girl titled her head in confusion at her red-haired classmate's words, "Does this have to do with your AIM field fluctuating?"
Kenji nodded, "Apparently it stopped, but now my readings are much higher than they should be or something. I think she's worried that something bad is going to happen to me regarding my ability."
"I see," Kaede smiled, though there was something strange about her tone. At first Kenji thought she had trailed off, but then he realized she had been speaking so low he could barely hear her.
"It must be because you're a Level 3 that they're paying attention to you at all…"
The red-haired Esper frowned and looked over at the brown-haired girl sitting next to him. He had heard her, but she had been so quiet with what she said he almost instinctively responded with a concerned, "What was that?"
"N-nothing!" Kaede lied, staring down at the food in her bento like it was the most interesting thing in the world right now.
Kenji leaned back and sighed. He didn't say it out loud, but internally he sympathized with his classmate. He wasn't about to pretend he understood how she felt, but he could at least feel bad for her.
"Being a Level 0 must be tough…" he noted internally.
An air of awkward silence fell between the two as they continued to eat, and Kenji suddenly became very conscious of the position he was in. He was eating lunch with a girl on the roof when there was no one else in sight, and now the two were sitting here awkwardly as they avoided each other's gaze.
Without prior knowledge, this could easily be misconstrued as a couple's lunch.
"I don't know why, but it feels like Mizuki finding out about this situation would be hazardous to my health for some reason…"
The red-haired Esper shook his head at the thought. This wasn't a comfortable atmosphere between two lovers. Kaede was his friend, and she had been in the hospital for a while. Kenji hadn't seen her since before the start of summer break. It was natural for two friends to eat lunch together in this situation.
Just as Kenji convinced himself he was worrying needlessly, the sound of his phone ringing jolted him out of his contemplative state. The noise also startled Kaede out of her quiet reverie, causing her to snap her head towards Kenji with a squid leg from her bento poking out from the corner of her mouth.
Quickly, Kenji rummaged through his pockets until he found the rectangular device and he answered without checking the ID first.
"Hello?"
"Arakuyo Kenji."
Kenji's eyes widened in surprise and he nearly dropped his phone at the sound of the voice on the other end. The way the feminine voice had uttered his name, drawing out each syllable purposefully and with an air of dramatic tension, was familiar to him by now.
Still, there was one question that needed answering.
"G-Greenhart!? How… how did you get my number?"
"Miyako-san gave it to be before I left the house, but that's not important right now," the blonde-haired witch answered from the other side of the phone, "I have a lead on the whereabouts of the vampire. Where are you right now?"
"I'm still at the supplementary courses, though I guess I'm technically done for today since Nakare-sensei said she was finished," Kenji answered, "Why?"
"Good, I'll be there shortly. Can you make it to the roof?"
"I'm already on the roof but there's someone else with me!" Kenji exclaimed. He turned away from Kaede and whispered into the receiver of his cell phone, "If you come riding in on a broomstick or something like that, it'll be way too obvious!"
Kenji couldn't see Greenhart, but he could practically hear the sound of an anger vein popping out on her forehead as she made a frustrated noise into her own phone, "A broomstick!? What do you take me for? Are you expecting me to be one of those witches who scatters stardust behind me as I fly in front of the moon or something!?"
"No! I'm just telling you to be discrete about it! As long as you can be subtle I don't care how you get here!"
"... Fine," the blonde-haired witch replied after a moment of uncomfortable silence, "I'll be there in five minutes. I'll explain things on our way to the hospital."
The red-haired Esper's eyes widened and he frowned, furrowing his brow, "Wait, hospital, just what are we-?"
Before Kenji could finish, Greenhart hung up, leaving him with rhythmic beeping of the dial tone as his only answer. The red-haired Esper let out a heavy sigh and slumped back in the bench he was sitting in, lamenting how out-of-control his life seemed lately.
"Who was that? Some of that sounded suspicious…" Kaede pointed out. Before Kenji could answer her, the brown-haired girl's eyes widened and she gasped, "Arakuyo-san, could it be that she's you're girlfriend? Are you planning on skipping out on classes to do dirty things with her!?"
Kenji's eyes widened and he resisted the urge to grab at his hair in irritation.
"What's with that kind of unreasonable assumption!?"
"She sounded like an older woman… wait, so Arakuyo-san likes an Onee-san type character!?"
"What!? No! How did you come to that conclusion!?"
"Wait!" Kaede gasped, her eyes filled with a crazy, carnivorous look that only a girl interested in gossip and rumors could manifest, "If you don't like older women, then is it possible… Are you the kind of guy who likes the underdeveloped body!?"
"Wait, are you asking me if I'm a lolicon!? What the hell!?"
"I see, so anything above B-cups are no good!?"
"Ah, Kaede-chan… where's the innocent and pure girl I was talking to just minutes ago!?"
When Greenhart finally showed up, Kaede had cornered the red-haired Esper up against the chain-link fence that prevented students from falling five stories from the roof to the ground below them, interrogating Kenji on his preferences for women. When Kenji noticed the blonde-haired witch standing a safe distance away from the dangerous conversation, he made eye-contact and silently pleaded to be saved.
Instead of stepping in, however, the blonde-haired witch simply sat back, watching the conversation develop with a small grin on her face until the time allotted for lunch had expired.
Part 3
The blonde-haired witch walked swiftly down the hallway of the hospital, the harsh lighting and sterile smell irritating her into moving more swiftly than she might have otherwise. She didn't like hospitals, and furthermore she was worried that someone would recognize her, as this had been the hospital she had been taken after her fight with the red-haired Esper behind her.
Still, it wasn't like the blonde stood out extensively. She looked like a foreigner, and there was little she could do about this fact, but she had taken Kenji's suggestion and decided to wear her civilian outfit as opposed to her stereotypical western witch's garbs. Furthermore, she hadn't been admitted to this particular section of the hospital that one time, so the chances of encountering familiar staff was low.
Even then, the blonde made her way hastily down the hallway as she explained the situation to the red-haired high school student behind her.
"The woman we're visiting is named Iwako Chiyoko. She was an Anti-Skill officer patrolling the area they found the corpse of that boy I showed you earlier," Greenhart explained, glancing off to the side regularly to check the room numbers, "It's possible she was also attacked by the vampire, but she managed to escape with her life."
"So," Kenji began, frowning at the thought if visiting someone they didn't know, "We're going to try to interrogate her for information… an Anti-Skill officer, at that?"
"Of course not," Greenhart frowned, replying with a tone that indicated she felt some form of indignation at Kenji's assumption of her plan, "That kind of brute force approach is inelegant. While that may be something a thuggish Esper like you might come up with, I am a refined witch with a powerful book of magic in my possession. My grimoire is mostly for offensive spells, but there are quite a few analytical spells within it as well. I'm hoping to take information directly from her memories."
"Wait, you can do such a thing!?" Kenji asked, his voice a mix of surprise and concern.
"This is not just a child's spell book. The title 'grimoire' is not one given to just any record of magic," Greenhart replied, her tone growing rather noticeably heavier as she lowered her head, "Even though a book like this isn't…"
Greenhart's expression faltered, and she trailed off as though in thought. Whatever she had been about to say likely held some amount of weight to it, and she were debating if sharing that information with Kenji was appropriate.
In the end, she shook her head and smirked, a certain amount of cockiness slipping into her voice as she finished, "Well, just be glad I never opposed you once O'Reilly returned my tome to me, or the outcome of that fight would have gone much differently."
Kenji gulped audibly as he realized just how helpless he would be against someone like Greenhart, who possessed spells he was not even aware of and knowledge he couldn't comprehend.
"Ah, here it is," Greenhart replied, checking the hospital room number on the door to make sure it matched the number scribbled out on the small slip of paper she held in her hands, "Let's enter quietly. If she's still asleep, it will make our job much easier."
The red-haired Esper nodded silently and held his breath as Greenhart slowly slid the door open. From his position behind the blonde-haired witch, Kenji could not see much of what was in the room, but it wasn't like there was anything of note that set this hospital room apart from any other. Inside, there was likely Iwako Chiyoko and no one else, and the furniture would be the same generic chairs and hospital bed that were present in all the other rooms in this ward.
At least that had been Kenji's assumption.
Greenhart froze as she pushed the door open, stopping abruptly and forcing Kenji to poke his head over her shoulder to see into the room.
"Oh, who might you two be?"
The pleasant question had been voiced by a woman who was unknown to the red-haired Esper peeking into the room. The youthful yet clearly older woman sat in a chair at the foot of the hospital bed, one leg crossed atop the other with her ankle on top of her other knee.
She held a rather casual air about her, her position more of a slouch than anything as she leaned back and tilted her head to the side to see the door. She wore a rather short white blouse that showed off a lot of her midriff, tied rather than buttoned just underneath a rather diminutive bosom. She also wore hot pants, a dull pink in color and torn at the ends as though someone had deliberately cut them short. Her feet were bare other than a pair of sandals, one of which was dangling from her foot as she rocked it to some unheard beat, and a pair of sunglasses sat atop the woman's head, nested in light blue locks that were tied up into a short, messy ponytail.
Kenji had never seen the woman before, but something about her seemed familiar in a way the red-haired Esper couldn't quite put a finger on.
Still, the woman's strange familiarity was not as important as the question she posed. Greenhart had anticipated the room to be empty, as this was the intensive care ward and getting back here without sneaking in as they had done was not a trivial matter for non-relatives. She had checked to see if Iwako Chiyoko had any relatives ahead of time, but there were no records of family living within the confines of Academy City.
How Greenhart had gotten a hold of that kind of information when she herself was technically an illegal resident was unknown to Kenji, but to be honest he kind of preferred it that way.
Regardless, there was a woman sitting in the room and she had just asked them who they were. If she was in here at all, it meant there was a pretty decent chance she was close with Iwako Chiyoko. Since they knew almost nothing of the hospitalized woman's life or the extent to which the blue-haired woman knew of it, they couldn't simply lie about being friends or coworkers of hers.
"A-ah, whoops! Guess this is the wrong room!" Greenhart covered quickly, scratching the back of her head awkwardly and putting on a sheepish grin.
"I told you it was room 203, not 302," Kenji replied, playing along. He let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head, "I can always count on you getting us lost."
Even though he had said it as lighthearted banter between two lost bystanders, Greenhart whipped her head around and sent him an irritated glare.
"Wait," the casually-dressed woman leaned forwards slightly, her eyes narrowing on Kenji, "Is that a Fubushima uniform? My little brother goes there, but it's weird to see during the summer like this."
Hearing the name of his school, Kenji jolted in surprise and looked up at the woman, meeting her icy blue eyes.
Suddenly the reason behind the woman's strange familiarity was made clear.
"Y-you're Kurogori-san's…!"
"Yup! I'm Kurogori Akane!" the woman beamed, flashing Kenji a toothy grin, "So you know my little bro! You in the same class or something?"
"Y-yeah, I'm Arakuyo Kenji," the red-haired Esper nodded, "I'm one of Kurogori-san's classmates."
Greenhart shifted uncomfortably, seemingly caught off guard by this random small talk and looking rather anxious to leave. She flashed Kenji a concerned gaze, sending him a silent warning.
"Don't get caught up in the conversation, I want to leave before something else goes wrong."
That seemed to be the message she was trying to convey with her eyes.
Kenji nodded, making it look like he was responding to Kurogori's sister.
"Ah, but to be honest, I don't really know him that much," Kenji admitted, "He kind of keeps to himself, so even though we're in the same class, I don't really talk to him that often."
A small frown graced the woman's features for the briefest of moments before her smile returned, albeit with less intensity.
"Ah, yeah, he can be like that sometimes. Even as a sister I feel like I have trouble understanding him…" the woman suddenly gasped and grasped her cheek with her hand, "Ah! Listen to me talking like a single mother in her forties! And to a stranger at that! Anyway, I should let you go, you were looking for someone else, right?"
Kenji nodded and bowed politely, "Yes, sorry, we should be going-"
"Ahem..."
Kenji and Greenhart both whirled around suddenly at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them. A rather nondescript nurse with black hair and green eyes stood with her arms crossed over her chest and an unpleasant expression on her face.
"If you two would kindly avoid standing in the doorway and blocking entry to-"
It entirely sounded as though the woman intended to continue with her thought, but she trailed off as her eyes narrowed at the sight of Greenhart.
The blonde-haired witch's eyes widened and her face turned at least three different shades of red before settling upon an almost red-violet hue.
"Y-You're that pervert that they found unconscious in the middle of the road wearing nothing but her underwear!"
Greenhart's eyes widened and she waved her hands in front of her dismissively, "W-what! That's totally wrong, you've got the wrong person!"
"No, it was totally you!" the nurse insisted, "I was almost done with my shift I was called down to the ER! Your jaw was busted up and you were wearing those lacy garments!"
"I'm telling you you're mistaken!" Greenhart replied frantically, her blush spreading down her neck and making it clearly apparent that the nurse was anything but.
The red-haired Esper who could easily be pinned as the sole reason this conversation was even happening in the first place calmly let things progress without any input whatsoever.
It looked as though the two had intended to go on for quite a while, but a surprised gasp from inside the room caught their attention and made them stop.
"Oh, Chiyoko-chan, you're awake!"
The nurse, forgetting her prior argument, pushed her way past Greenhart and rushed into the room to check on her patient. Kurogori's sister, who had voiced the exclamation, was now standing next to the bed upon which Iwako Chiyoko rested.
"Now's our chance," Greenhart whispered, "While they're distracted with her waking up, and while she's still out of it from her injuries and medication, I can scan her mind quickly for the information we need."
Kenji nodded silently and the two covertly slipped into the room. Like this, their intrusion wasn't immediately obvious and they could always claim they got caught up in the moment if questioned further about their presence in the room. Greenhart summoned her grimoire quickly as to not draw too much attention, and flipped to a page as she prepared to use whatever spell it was that would let her probe the mind of their target.
The red-haired Esper, meanwhile, turned his attention to the woman waking up. She was clearly an older woman, looking even a bit older than Kurogori's sister, but Kenji wouldn't place her age any older than thirty-five. Her black hair was cut incredibly short and styled in a slightly spikey fashion, giving her a tomboyish look despite her full figure and prominent bust.
She was wearing a standard hospital gown, but Kenji could easily picture this woman in the iconic blue vest and bodysuit of an Anti-Skill officer. She seemed like she would the kind of woman who struck a fear of authority just by her presence. Of course, that effect was greatly diminished considering her dazed expression as she begun to stir.
Iwako Chiyoko's eyes opened slightly and she closed them again quickly, likely trying to adjust to the hospital's harsh light. A few moments later, she opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times before turning her head to the side.
"Chiyo-chan," Kurogori's sister sighed, "Geez, you really had me worried over here! I was told one of the other victims died, you know!"
Iwako Chiyoko's eyes widened and she scanned her eyes around, glancing from the blue-haired woman next to the bed to the nurse who had moved closer to check the heart monitor set up next to the bed.
Her lips curled up into a small smile, and something white glinted as it caught the red-haired Esper's eye.
"Greenhart!" Kenji whispered harshly, grabbing the witch by her shoulder and pointing at Iwako's mouth, "She's a…"
Greenhart cursed as she saw them. Two sharp fangs iconic of a vampire sat in the short-haired woman's mouth, glistening as her lips parted.
Greenhart's eyes widened in alarm and she rushed towards the nurse, who was currently the closest to the fanged woman, "Quick, get away from her, she's-"
The nurse, hearing the call, whipped her head around to meet Greenhart's gaze with a confused look. However, in that moment the woman known as Iwako Chiyoko lunged, grabbing the nurse roughly and using her as support as she hoisted herself upright.
The nurse let out a shrill scream of surprise and Kurogori's sister gasped as the fanged woman snaked her way up to the nurse's neck. Tearing away the high collar of the nurse's uniform as though it were tissue paper, the new vampire plunged her fangs into the woman's veins and her screams immediately ceased. Before the vampire could suck the nurse dry, however, a bright yellow mass of light erupted from the ground underneath the two of them and isolated the vampire, wrapping her limbs in glowing ribbons and dragging her down off the nurse's form.
The nurse stumbled forwards and collapsed, Kurogori's sister rushing in to grab her before she collapsed. As the remaining occupants of the room looked upon Iwako Chiyoko with varying levels of wariness and confusion, Greenhart stepped forwards, her grimoire held open in her left hand as her right hand remained outstretched towards the vampire.
She sent a glare towards the woman known as Iwako Chiyoko, dispelling the light ribbons restraining her and moving to cast multiple light orbs like the ones she had used back when Kenji had fought her in the café.
"So, you've already fallen victim to that creature, then?" Greenhart noted, her voice taking a serious, battle-ready tone, "Fine. I hoped to gain information from you, but this works just as well. If you choose to act hostile, then I will be forced to beat you into submission… Vampire!"
To Be Continued...
AN: Well, here you go! Chapter 2, and the first cliffhanger of Volume 2! It's getting a little late, but it's still technically Friday for us going by EST, so not late! We got to see a bit more of Kaede, learned that Nakare can be a bit vindictive, and we got to see our first human-turned-vampire. I mean, there wasn't an opportunity for it earlier, but since it is one of the key pieces of canon about vampires we know (since we know one of the vampires who attacked Himegami Aisa turned a whole village into vampires), it's interesting it's showing up so late into this fanfiction. Still, I'm content with how I introduced it, and I feel adding it earlier would've been rushed.
Anyway, it's been a pretty long day for me, so I'm going to cut this one here. Thanks for reading, and be sure to leave me a review to tell me what you thought! New chapters every Friday (EST), so I'll be back with another one next week!