A/N: Welcome back, readers. All I can say about this chapter is that it includes some unexpected events. Hope you enjoy!
Note: In this chapter from Shizuma's P.O.V, there's a scenario where Shizuma runs while thinking about a past incident. That means both past and present are simultaneously described. So, present scenes (where she runs and what happens) are written in normal font and the flashback is written in italic. Hope, readers won't get confused by the past and present together situation.
N/B: References are at the bottom of the chapter,
Lies
"What?!" Ayato annoyedly exclaimed, "She thinks we did that?!"
"Yeah...everyone else thinks so." Laito apathetically replied, "After all, whatever happened between us and her..."
"Shut up, pervert!" Subaru grabbed the redhead by collar. "Don't forget that you sneered to her when her name was announced!"
"I just retorted because she said the same thing about us when the notice got on the board." Laito removed himself from his youngest brother, "But I didn't do that, I swear!"
"Well, you know I was too busy in other duties so I didn't have time for such useless act." Reiji stated, "Now I demand you all to be honest. Which one of you registered Shizuma's name into the contest?"
"I already said I didn't!" Laito grumbled. "Kanato-kun might because he held a grudge against her because of teddy."
"Laito..." Kanato said in a deadly tone, "I'll cut you into pieces if you try to put false blame on me! Teddy knows that I didn't do that."
"Ayato."
"Yours Truly isn't a coward!" The other redhead snorted, "My style is face-to-face."
"Shu, do you've anything to say?" Reiji asked.
"You know me...I'm too tired for that." That's all the blonde said.
"Subaru."
"Why the fuck I'd do that?!" The albino yelled, "I never play dirty! It's Kou who's the dirty player."
"Yes, exactly!" Laito nodded, "Only Kou-kun could do such a thing..."
"Stop blaming others..." Suddenly a female voice was heard. Then six of them saw four girls and a guy coming to them, "I won that. Didn't I? So, no point arguing on that anymore."
The six Sakamakis stared at the silver-haired girl, who was crossing her arms, "You guys are creating sound pollution here, do you realize that?" She narrowed her golden eyes at them.
"But Shizuma-..."
"You know what, Sakamakis, whoever did that I'm seriously grateful now." The vampire girl said without looking at the vampires. "Or else, I wouldn't have this day with lots of friends." The girl walked through the midway between them, "By the way, happy friendship day. I'd like to walk home with my friends for tonight. Gofer wants to come with us, too. You better not have any scratch because of that." Last thing she said before leaving for school entrance.
"Umm...see you guys at home." Yui politely said before following Shizuma as quick as possible. Haruna and Xen just passed them after the two girls. Momoka slowly crossed the six vampires and went a few feet ahead. Then she suddenly stopped and waited until the other four were out of sight. Then the little human girl turned around to the six vampire guys,
"I trust you." She stared directly at them before finally stating, "None of you signed Tsubaki's name in that. So, there's no need to worry."
The vampires also looked in awe at Shizuma's small friend, "You trust us?" Reiji tried not to show his disbelief, "But why?"
The short brunette girl didn't answer that, instead she threw, "Do you truly want Tsubaki to leave?"
Words got stopped in each vampire's voice, none of them knew why it was being so hard to answer such a simple question. Then Reiji was the first one to talk,
"We...do have many reasons to despise her."
"Every time Melon has to piss off Yours Truly!" Ayato got courage after his brother spoke, "I fucking hate her!"
"Tough-chan is a terrifying girl..." Laito was still in pain from previous day.
"She's the most annoying girl I ever met!" Subaru grumbled.
"She's so troublesome..." Shu muttered, "She disturbs my sleep even more than Yui."
Kanato didn't say anything, he just hugged his teddy and stared it for a while.
Momoka heard and observed all, before sighing, "You all just described how Tsubaki is..." Then she chuckled, "But none of you answered my question..."
"I want her to get lost!" Subaru yelled, his fist clenched.
"Me too..." Ayato said looking away, "All this confusions and problems...wouldn't have happened if she never came."
"But I don't want her to go..." Laito mumbled, which made his brothers glare to him, "I-I mean, Tough-chan is the most beautiful girl of the school...so I wouldn't definitely want her to leave." The fedora-head chuckled nervously.
"Well, as the student council president, I'd only wish for any student to leave if he or she is proven ineligible to study here or breaks the rules of the school." Reiji said diplomatically.
This time Shu joined Kanato in keeping silence. The little brunette girl observed carefully each of their reaction. She could clearly see the lies written allover their faces. She didn't care though, she got what she had to know. But before she left, she tilted her head for one last time,
"By the way Shu-san. Congratulations for having your old friend back on the friendship day."
"Wait!" Shu unlikely raised his voice, "What do you know...?!" His blue eyes widened, so did Reiji's magenta ones.
In reply Momoka smiled, "Yuma-san didn't send his apples to you, did he? I wonder who did that..." Then she ran quickly after her friends. After she left, the six brothers went out and got into their limo.
"Ayato," Kanato finally spoke up, keeping his eyes on his bear, "Remember? That I didn't let you burn Teddy when you burnt everything that mother gave us...?"
"Hm?" The redhead was in his own thoughts so he was startled at the sudden question, "Oh, yeah...because you said that bear is your friend."
"That was a lie." The violet-haired hugged his toy before resting his head on it, "It's because this teddy wasn't given by mother." [1]
When the three Mukamis returned their mansion, the eldest immediately asked the tallest about the fuss with apples. Yuma was still in shock with Shizuma's action, so Kou described that all.
"Well..." Ruki was appalled inside, yet he tried his hardest to keep his composure, "Yuma needs to thank her someday. But yet, we can't just write her name in our good book."
"Then...what else...she needs to do...to earn our trust?" Azusa snapped, frowning a bit.
"We don't need to trust her!" The dark-haired vampire stated sternly. "We don't have any business with her. Anyways, freshen up yourselves and come down for dinner." With that, he walked out of there.
"Azusa," Finally Yuma spoke up, "Ruki just recovered from his sickness. Don't ya piss him off again."
"Only that's why...you don't want to...talk about Shizuma?" The grey-haired shot back.
"Shut up!" The brunette teleported to his room. Then Kou spoke up,
"Look Azusa-kun, I don't know what's gotten into you...but think, except for that wolf attack and today about Shu-kun and Yuma-kun, S neko-chan did nothing but caused troubles to us. And you heard what she said on that other day [2]. She's at the Sakamakis for M neko-chan's blood. You saw today, how M neko-chan was clinging with her. If this continues, then...S neko-chan will be IN THE WAY of that man's plan. Do you understand that?!"
Azusa went silent for a while, to think something. "I understand." He said before returning to his room. There he stood leaning against the door, telling himself, "You're...right, Kou. Shizuma is...in the way...between...Adam and Eve. After all...Adam can't...fall in love...with anyone...other than Eve."
The moment the blonde entered his room, he jumped on his bed, facing down on pillow. After a while, he looked up raising his head, his right eye was red. He then pulled out his phone, before playing a video which he recorded at the music contest.
Flashback:
"Hehe...S neko-chan will be screwed now!" Kou said holding his phone, he was recording video when Shizuma got on the stage.
"Kou..." Azusa angrily said, "Don't tell me...you're the one...who registered her name...!"
"No, I'm not!" The blonde protested, "My image will be ruined if I do that. I just want to keep this epic moment!"
"Yeah...whoever did that, thanks to him." Yuma nodded, "That Glutton indeed needs to learn some lesson."
Kou recorded the whole of Shizuma while she sang. Then they saw her leaving,
"Hmph...that Glutton blew us again!" Yuma sighed.
"Don't lose here now, Yuma-kun. She's just an amateur. There's no way she's ahead of us." Kou assured him. But after a while, the result was being announced,
"The winner of the music contest is..." Everyone in the hall held their breath to hear the name, and then finally, "...the newest student of the school, Shizuma Tsubaki!"
"YESSSS!" Haruna, Momoka and Xen jumped and screamed together.
"I'm so gla-..." Yui was wholeheartedly applauding before, "Um...I-..." She stopped and looked down as the Sakamakis were glaring deadly at her, except for Shu, who just commented, "Served us right...I had a feeling something like that would happen."
"Tch! What did I say?!" Yuma face-palmed, "When could we beat her?! Now I feel like to punch whoever got her in the contest!"
"Yuma...don't be sad. Shizuma...deserved it." Azusa happily said, "It's fair...after whatever happened...a while ago." [3]
Kou didn't say a word, he just looked down. His fangirls were sitting around him.
"I can't believe that bitch managed to win!"
"She's squashing them all ever since she came here!"
"Don't worry, Kou-kun. Just one contest doesn't count. She's nowhere like you."
"Ehh? Kou-kun...? Ain't you sad?"
The girls were shocked to see a smiling Kou, who was shaking his down head.
The memories of that day flooded Kou's mind, while watching the video. "I'm so sorry, Azusa-kun. I had to lie to you, I had to act two-faced now with my brothers. But I just can't tell you what I'm dealing with! I can't tell anyone that...for the first time, I smiled after losing in a music contest, I realized for the first time that I didn't deserve to win! For the first time, it's happening to me...! I couldn't sleep a single night without watching this video! I just...I just can't stop looking at this Cinderella...!"
"Mmmm...this ramen is so yummy!"
Four humans and the human-vampire hybrid went to a nearby outdoor restaurant on the way home. The vampiress was sipping ramen noodles with chopsticks.
"Didn't you eat a while ago at the cafeteria, Tsubaki?" Xen was in awe to see the ingestion.
"So what of it?" Shizuma replied mouthfully. "And if Kekashi can't finish his meal, then I'll do it for him."
"This girl is incredible..." Momoka muttered at the foodie, "Komori-san seems unmindful." She noticed the blonde girl.
"It's just...it feels nice to go out like this." Yui smiled, "Last time at the aquarium, something unexpected happened. So, I hope it'll continue being peaceful now."
"Don't worry, Yui-chan." Haruna snapped, "Surely it's peaceful since no class-A snob is here. Let's just hope for no demon." By that word, the other four had no trouble to understand who Haruna meant to.
"Well...if I minus their arrogance and annoying attitude..." Suddenly the vampire said, "Then...they can be, what I say...tolerable."
"Eh...Ponytail, do you realize what you just said?" The pink-haired girl raised an eyebrow.
"I've been living with the Sakamakis for a while...let's just say Gofer has reasons to be on their side." Shizuma said unmindfully.
Yui smiled to hear that but the other three humans stared the vampire beauty for a while. Before they could comment, Shizuma's phone rang up.
"What's up, butler?"
Within a minute, four humans saw the vampire's face twisted into shock after whatever her butler said over phone. She stood up.
"Guys, I'm sorry! I gotta go somewhere! Just do me a favor. Call the Sakamakis to pick Komori. Tell them I'll be late to return!" With that, Shizuma went off, not giving any chance for asking to the four utterly shocked humans.
Shizuma's P.O.V:
"What's up, butler?" I wondered if Akatsuki followed me here.
"I'm at the local park, Princess. Something happened here."
"What?"
"A girl, who was missing for a while, has been found dead an hour ago. Socrates senpai gave me the news because...the girl was in the uniform..." My butler sounded hesitant, "...of Ryotei Academy..."
My eyes widened...a student of my school was missing, and now found dead. How come I didn't know?!
"I'll be there!" I hung up. Before my friends and Yui could ask anything, I practically started to run to the local park. While running there, some facts automatically filled my mind, which I almost forgot because of other business. [3]
"You see, not many students want to join this school unless they care only about reputations" [4] Riyasa started to talk, while we were having coffee at cafeteria. It was just two of us. "It's not because of tutions, it's about safety." She added.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"This school has a scandalous issue. And that's the disappearance of students...mainly girl students. A few boys who went to search for the missing students."
I ran and ran in the busy streets. Not caring of being bumped against or being stared by the passersby.
"You mean...students have gone missing. And no one talks about that?!" I was shocked.
"It's exactly what you said!" Riyasa clenched her fists, "And you know why, because they've all 'transferred' from here...in the official documents. I'd never have known it if I weren't a student council member. I'd never have found out...if it didn't happen to my best friend."
I don't know how long I ran, but I caught up myself to hear sirens and to see cops gathering at the entrance of a park.
"Hikari Sendo, my best friend. Akemi Yozuku and Naoko Goda were two other girls, who were her neighbors. One day when three of them left for home together...they never showed up at school after that. And few days later, as usual, the school authority informed that Hikari, Akemi and Naoko had been transferred."
"What the hell?! Three girls together missing!" I exclaimed in disbelief. "Then sealed as 'transferred'?! Not even any inquiry!"
I panted a while after running. This was the place. I slowly walked inside. But some cops didn't let me in. I even pointed my uniform that I was from same school, but yet they didn't because I was underage. So I called Socrates.
"I thought myself this was crazy, but I used to wonder for long why so many students would just transfer without informing anyone...then, finally when I knew about Hikari's transfer, I couldn't believe..." Again tears filled Riyasa's scarlet eyes, "Because I knew she'd never leave without telling me, so I contacted at her home. But her family shifted from here suddenly. Later I got her brother over phone who spilled to me that Hikari didn't return home that night...and someone threatened them to shut it or else her whole family would pay for that."
I could hear the pounding of my heart. I have my own friends here...and there's no way I'd let anything happen to them. I anyway, managed to ask Riyasa, "Do you've any suspect?"
Socrates and Akatsuki took me in. "Are you okay, Princess?" Snowman asked to see me sweaty.
"Yes...where's she? Have you found her identity?"
"We got her id card." Akatsuki gave it to me. There was a picture of a pretty auburn haired blue eyed girl. It said Misaki Shimera, Ryotei Gakuen Academy, second year.
"How did it happen...? I asked while looking at the picture in the id card.
"Her family reported missing case 3 days ago." Socrates replied. "Tonight the maintainers of the park discovered the body inside the bush." He pointed the body, which was covered by a sheet at a side. I sauntered to it.
"Yes...I suspect someone...or rather, some people." Riyasa directly looked at me, "Who, I don't think you're ready to hear about, Shizuma..."
I pulled the white sheets and uncovered the face. No one would say it was the pretty girl from her id picture. Her face was damaged because it's been 3 days since her death...also she was so sickeningly pale, looked like she had no blood in her body.
"After Hikari was gone, I became the member of student council, thus I checked the files and contacted with the families of more missing girls by stealing their infos...and all turned out same as Hikari. All those girls had mysteriously disappeared." The green-haired girl spoke in low voice, "And someone really powerful was either paying off or threatening their families to forget about the girls. And since, they all were from this school...that means that someone must be related to this school, too."
I looked at Socrates and my butler...I didn't know if they could tell what I was feeling right now. But they gestured me to continue.
"Finally I realized...who could be behind all of this." Riyasa paused for a second, "Hikari and all those girls had something common in them...they all were die-hard fangirls of two certain families...who're on the favor of the school's founder and chairperson, the famous politician Tougo Sakamaki."
I grabbed Misaki's face in trembled hands and slowly tilted. Even though I half expected, yet I felt my spine chilled when I saw that on her neck...the mark of pinpricks, which could be created only by a pair of fangs.
"Asahina..." I gulped when Riyasa said that, "So, you're implying that the responsibles behind the disappearance of the girls are..."
I was born with the vow to serve and protect human, not to kill them, so did Akatsuki. So of course, it wasn't us who killed Misaki. And apart from us, there were ten vampires in this town...who're the high-profile students from same school,
Sakamakis and Mukamis... I totally saw this coming the moment I knew the school was filled with vampires, didn't I?...Then why I'm getting so upset now?! Is it only because I couldn't prevent the murder? Or, is it also because...they eventually turned out to be their true selves...?!
That's all for this chapter. From the last scenario, I think that I might have to write something terrible in upcoming chapters. :3 But yeah, as you saw in the last line, finally I started to add Shizuma's inner feelings about the DiaBoys.
Reference chapters:
[1]: Increasing lust (Flashback)
[2]: Chaos & Confusions (from the point Few minutes later)
[3]: Romeos & the Cinderella, Hints were given in the chapter 'Torturous Pleasure'.
[4]: Prologue (Point name: That night at Ryotei Academy)
