It was as sharp and bright as the feeling of firecrackers going off in her mind. Yuuki's thoughts scattered like sand in a desert storm the moment she lay her eyes on Zero.

Perhaps she should have noticed it the moment she opened her eyes. When she met Kaname, when she was called Yuuki. Cross Academy. Kaien. Surely, wouldn't she have realized after she asked about the reconstruction in the Moon Dormitory? How the upper level uniforms switched to the same black as the lower level? So many details she brushed off as being clichés instead of specifics.

For all his distinctions, there was nothing distinctive about Kaname: another high ranking, dark-haired vampire with a tragic past. Kaien's presence in the anime was a shadow, nothing like his presence in her life. That show never mentioned a Keiko or Masao. But Zero.

The first time she, who had rarely liked anime, saw him on the screen, she had laughed and called him an edgy teen Sephiroth. The name of his gun was like an emo MySpace username. The 'Uchiha Sasuke' for Supernatural fans. And then, her friend smacked her with a pillow, valiantly defending his honor. (What was my friend's name again?)

That girl who was high on the laughter of her own bad jokes, laying on her friend's bed and scoffing at some anime boy on the laptop's screen- Yuuki wanted to be her. She no longer recognized her in the mirror, didn't speak the same way as her, didn't look like her, but, oh, Yuuki wanted that skin back. The feeling of loss and confusion tightened her insides like every particle of air was vacuumed out of her body. Yuuki was so very small looking at Zero, who had just lit a match to burn the papier-mâché battlements of her ignorance. She was growing smaller by the second, meeting his eyes and breathing the same air as something not real-

The lights in the receiving room shattered.

(It seems she did have some ESP after all)

After the initial shock and bewilderment, Kaien and Momochi shuffled the three of them into the living room while they had a muffled conversation in the hall. Well, if Yuuki pressed her ear to the door she would look rude to her guests. It was doubtful she would hear anything anyways.

She didn't want to look at them, so Yuuki kept her eyes to her clasped hands in her lap as she sat opposite the boys. Much of the furniture they were sitting on was new, to fill up such a large space. She helped Kaien design nearly every room that the previous headmaster left empty. They probably weren't going to stain the pale couch, the blood on their clothing looked too dry.

That event likely happened over four hours ago, since it was around ten in the evening Kaien received a call and went rushing out. 'I have to help some people at the association, so just stay here, okay?' Yuuki had watched the rest of the movie alone.

In the anime, a white-haired pureblood massacred the Kiryu family, taking one twin and leaving the other a vampire. So why was it, Yuuki was sitting across two traumatized boys before her?

Was she or was she not in a fictional world? The characters seemed right, the events and personalities weren't as Yuuki remembered. It could entirely be the fault of her own memory. It had been so long in the first place, and when she thought about certain topics a wall would come up. Yuuki didn't even read the manga series. Just the ending, because that friend had been so mad with how the final arc concluded.

Was she or was she not utterly fucked? Yuuki, because she wasn't (original) Yuuki at all, had or will mess/ed up the destined timeline. Discomfort blossomed at the thought. She wasn't a trail-blazer, a trendsetter, a fate-wrecker. Going against the grain rubbed her in the wrong direction. Like an utterly boring person, she had planned on following the life-script to a 'T' in her previous life and had planned on following it as 'Yuuki'. School, university, job, family, death. In the end, that 'death' phase had come earli- (Don't, don't think about it.). Was she, in fact, supposed to be doing something else, being someone else? She couldn't be anyone else but herself., but what was herself and what should she have been?

A sound of an opening door made the three of them startle.

Momochi came in and looked at them.

"...Talkative, aren't you all?"

He sat next to Yuuki, relaxed and spread out like he wasn't dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy. She raised her gaze to observe the twins, trying not to shift and make her uneasiness known. Ichiru sat pressed against Zero, like he was trying to meld behind his brother. A depressed-scared reaction, if his downward eyes and body language were anything to go by. Zero sat as straight and formal as Yuuki, although she bet anything it was more out of tenseness than etiquette. His eyes held a sort of breakable emptiness in them, like a cracked marble, when she accidentally met his eyes. Someone had wiped their faces clean, but missed the bloodstains in Zero's light hair.

"Kaien-san went out to get supplies," Momochi said. "This is where you guys will be living from now on."

No reaction.

"You've already been introduced in the receiving room, but this is Yuuki. Think of her as like your sister from now on."

Ichiru trembled and Zero tensed further, frown on his face.

"Our family is dead. There's no sister."

Yuuki slowly turned her head up and to the side to catch Momochi's gaze.

You tried, huh? You clumsy bull of a social speaker.

Kaien should have brought Fujibayashi. She said irritating things in an intentional, relaxing way. Then again, her neck and arm scars might have been considered scary.

There was no one in the room who knew how to diffuse this sort of situation. Maybe if she had a dog, instead of a cat, Yuuki could have offered some pet therapy, ignoring the fact animals didn't like hunters. Instead, there was nothing for her to offer besides bland, stereotypical platitudes.

Empathy required some thought about what the boys were going through and she was not going to think about family and death.

It took fifteen minutes of silence for Kaien to come back.

Ignoring the fact that his announcement of 'I'm home. Is everyone getting along well?' was met with blank stares, Kaien instructed Yuuki to lead Ichiru and Zero to the bathrooms. He handed her two sets of soft, dark blue pajamas with the academy emblem on the right breast. It seemed the school provided both day and night clothes.

The main floor bathroom, hiding at the back of the house, was the only one in the japanese style. Its double doors revealed the initial handwashing station and two other closed entrances containing the bathtub with showers and the toilet respectively. Yuuki was… pretty sure they could operate everything they needed. Ten year olds could surely do that. She set the clothes on the counter.

"This is the first bathroom," she said. "Do you want me to lead one of you to the second?"

Ichiru shook his head, "No."

Yuuki thought as much. Since Zero still had his brother, she wouldn't have to pretend to like him. It wasn't that the feeling she had was dislike, but everytime she looked at him, the world stopped being real. You're Yuuki, you should be comforting and happy and-

She turned to leave.

In the upstairs bathroom mirror, starred Kurosu Yuuki. Kuran Yuuki. Imposter. Body thief.

She released her long hair from its ponytail and leaned in, examining every pore, curve, and coloring. It was her face, she had spent too long in the body to recognize it as anything else. And yet.

The feeling was a cousin to what she experienced when she suddenly found herself five years old, except with more disillusionment than fear. What did this mean for her? Obligation to follow the original plot, what remains of it there was? Ichiru hadn't been taken, what other events went pear-shaped?

Instead of knowing nothing, the information she had was compromised, and could possibly lead her to make unjust conclusions. Yuuki leaned back. In the end, her goal of gathering as much knowledge as she could didn't change, it only became harder.

Walking back down to the living room displayed the curious scene of Momochi leaned back on the couch, looking lost in thought, and Kaien sitting slumped next to him, face covered by his hands. Yuuki paused at the opened door. Her father wasn't crying, was he? Did he have such a close relationship with the Kiryu family?

She walked closer and patted his head, "I'm here for you."

Kaien shifted, staring at her, no red around his eyes. Oh, maybe she misunderstood and he was just exhausted from the late hour?

"It's hard for those guys, but it also must be hard for otou-san."

"Thank-you, but aren't our roles reversed here?" he said and took her hands, "Since we're taking in Ichiru-kun and Zero-kun, I'll need a bit of your help to make them feel at home," Kaien tightened his grip. "However, Yuuki-chan can always come to me if she feels bad, you know?"

But I've never gotten sick? Playing dumb would only make him sad, so Yuuki lied.

"Then I'll be sure to rely on you."

Kaien managed to pull everyone into a stilted conversation during breakfast.

Ichiru liked his eggs scrambled. Zero prefered apple juice over orange juice. Yuuki thought tou-san was a great cook. That great elephant in the room wasn't discussed. It was likely whatever needed to be said, had been done before Kaien brought them to the academy. That didn't help Yuuki with figuring out how much the massacre deviated from the plot. Ichiru looked like he would go into a flashback if she asked, Zero wasn't an option, and Kaien was too paternal to tell her the gruesome details. He had gotten so angry when he caught her and Masao watching a horror film a couple months ago.

Kaname might know. In the series, he was reticent and elusive. Maybe he would be when they became older. As they were now, Yuuki was knowledgeable enough to know where to push his weak spots and smart enough to detect when he would try to evade. Kaname wasn't putty, but she could verbally beat him into soft clay. (Unless that had been an act and he was lying to her the entire time.)

The question was if Yuuki wanted to even look at Kaname in the near future. Playing 'spot the difference' to his actual personality and his series-told personality wasn't a game she was excited to play. So far, she had treated everyone she met as if they were real people. What if every facet of their character came from inside someone's head? What if she were created from someone's imagination?

Yuuki didn't have a good morning.

It was Kaien who suggested she introduce Ichiru and Zero to her art supplies.

Embarrassingly, Yuuki had been content to stay silent, doing nothing, while Kaien busied himself with paperwork and the boys hovered around her, still unsure of their welcome in the manor. It might have been a holdover from her inpermanent death, what she could do: detaching herself from the world and letting time pass until something required her attention. That was a common occurrence in the early days, when she was still processing what had happened to her. Existential stress must have brought up the old habit.

Now wasn't the time for idleness, though. She had children to take care of. They sat in the living room, filling in unused coloring pages on the coffee table. Yuuki was almost done with a muted sunset-colored monkey before one of them spoke up.

"Your picture is nice," Ichiru blurted out. His face grew more and more embarrassed the longer Yuuki looked at him.

"Thank-you," she replied five seconds too late to be natural. "Yours also looks good."

He looked down at his drawing, a red and yellow dragon, before muttering his thanks. Zero had started on a goat, a quarter of the way blue, before losing interest. He rested his upper half on the table, looking with disinterested eyes up at Yuuki, who glanced pleadingly at him to carry on the conversation. Had she really forgotten how to talk to someone or was it because they were her own age?

Yuuki wildly grabbed onto a topic and threw it at Ichiru, "I like your hair. It reminds me of my friend, Seiren."

Zero interrupted his brother's reply.

"This is boring," he indicated to the pages and pencils strewn around.

"What do you usually like doing for fun?"

"Spend time with family," came the prompt answer.

She very carefully made sure not to show any reaction, "What else?"

"Play with friends."

"..."

The afternoon was a bust as well.

Kaien did the heavy work in opening up Ichiru and Zero.

Twice a week a one-on-one session would be held in the reading room between Kaien and a twin. Trauma-focused therapy conducted by someone without a license sounded like a mistake, no matter how many child psychology books he had in his study. However, there was little option for anything else. A normal therapist didn't know about vampires.

Any discontentment over Kaien having never done something like that with Yuuki was quickly dismissed upon further thought. After all, Yuuki's memories were suppressed. There would have been nothing for her to talk about, because nothing was wrong with her.

A tentative pattern formed after the first week of settling in. Clothing and necessities were brought from the Kiryu household to the manor, Kaien worked from home more frequently, and there were more plates at the table. Ichiru followed people around like a permanent shadow. He mainly stuck to Zero, then Yuuki when Zero wanted to be alone, and rarely Kaien. Zero flitted from one occupation to the next, from painting to television to ineffectually coaxing Daedala into liking him. He dropped interest in studying within the day and kept up playing the out of tune piano in the library for a week.

The library was one of the few remnants from the old headmaster, tucked underground with a half-empty wine cellar. The dust had been nearly lethal when they first opened the door. Now, the season's incoming cold prevented long-term occupation in the small room. Without a doubt, it once belonged to a hunter or adjacent individual. On one side, medical textbooks covering blood transfusion and genetic engineering. Occult readings filled the rest of the shelves, covering the broad topics of the paranormal and mysticism. Nothing screamed 'vampire', the idea simply breathed down one's neck when looking at the titles.

If she was correct, then 'vampirism' would be a touchy subject for the twins, even though none of them held a tattoo on their necks. That 'if' was on unstable ground. Yuuki was walking blind in a changed room she half-remembered. If things were remotely similar to the series, then Ichiru and Zero would freak out once they saw Kuran Kaname, vampire amongst vampires.

Within a heartbeat, Yuuki broke Kaname's gaze, who suddenly arrived outside, and closed the curtains of the second floor recreation room window. She hopped off the couch, moving the blankets and waking a formerly sleeping Ichiru next to her. It wasn't uncommon for him to take one or more naps during the day. Not surprising, considering Zero's night terrors disturbed even her sleep, who had the bedroom next to the twins' room.

Zero looked up from where he was engaging in his newest hobby: origami. A crane and horse stood proudly at the edge of the table. Yuuki hesitated then decided to lead the boys to ask Kaien for questions so she wouldn't have to deal with the fallout.

"Tell Kaien-san that I'm going outside with Kaname."

'Kaien' instead of 'chichi', because it was awkward to point out the fact she had a father to orphans who recently lost theirs. Of course, she only switched to the name when out of his hearing range.

"Kaname?" asked Zero.

"Outside?" echoed Ichiru.

But Yuuki was already gone.

Cool wind surged against Yuuki's face after she opened the door, immediately hugging Kaname. A second embrace was given to Seiren, evidently he brought her along. A possible ally when interrogating Kaname or a hindrance he could hide behind. Yuuki took both vampires' hands and tugged them away from the manor.

"Let's go to the gardens," she all but ordered. That would give them privacy, especially since the new curfew prevented all students from entering the school portion during night.

Seiren's faint answers to Yuuki's questions filled the air as they walked. Despite her initial apprehension, Seiren didn't hesitate in divulging all the details of what she did during the past half year, which included a lot of training to be a proper servant and an eclectic mix of martial arts. A few names were mentioned, like Ichijo Takuma and Aido Hanabusa. They were the closest 'friends' Kaname had, despite his ambiguous reply when directly asked, and seemed to be on warm terms with Seiren.

Next to the valerian resting area, she was persuaded to allow her hair to be braided by Yuuki. Lilac gray strands reached just past her shoulders and felt soft to the touch. Yuuki was intensely jealous. Her own hair and eye color was a plain dark brown with auburn undertone.

It was as Yuuki started a half crown braid that Kaname spoke up. He had waited longer than she thought. Alone together, prolonged silence was fine. With others, he had the childish habit of not wanting to be ignored by Yuuki.

"How have you been?"

"Chichi brought in Kiryu Ichiru and Zero," she glanced ahead at Kaname before keeping her attention towards Seiren, who was seated between her legs.

"I heard about that. Do you get along well with them?" he said.

"Yes. What happened to their family?"

Not a flinch.

"I think Kurosu-san would prefer being the one to tell you."

She smiled sardonically and said, "Because I can't press chichi-ue for more information when he sidesteps it."

Kaname took the safe route and didn't reply.

"It's okay if you don't say. I was only wondering which level A did it."

Seiren turned and asked Yuuki, "Aneki is saying it was a pureblood?"

"No," cut in Kaname, voice sharp. "Why do you think that way?"

"Who else would want to or be able to wipe out a hunter family?" Yuuki said.

She continued braiding in the silence.

"Your reasoning isn't wrong," he said after a while. "Given the right motive, a pureblood would easily be able to." A complicated look crossed his face. "Isn't it frightening- to have the sort of pow-"

Yuuki wasn't interested in being derailed, "You're very confident it wasn't a pureblood. So what other possibilities are there?"

"...that sort of thing is still being investigated."

"I don't believe it was any sort of vampire, now that I think about it," Seiren said. "We aren't in a position for war."

Narrowing her eyes, Yuuki asked, "Killing a family would escalate the situation that much?"

Ignoring the fact the vampires apparently couldn't afford a war, the simple deaths of two hunters shouldn't be enough for open conflict. Unless peace was already tenuous or the Kiryu were vitally important.

"Not just one, but three? Yes."

Yuuki slowly worked on the braid as she processed. Undoing her own simple bun, she finished up Serien's hairstyle with the elastic band.

"Were three families massacred? On the same day?"

"It's reported that way," said Kaname, astute eyes observing her. "We have nothing to do with it."

Not only did vampires have no involvement, but Yuuki expressly wasn't related to the matter. That was Kaname's polite way of saying to drop it.

Yuuki got off her seat and faced Seiren, incidentally blocking her view of Kaname, "What do you think of it?"

Seiren touched the back of her head, feeling the braid while she thought of an answer, "I don't really care, honestly. Goshujin said 'cause evil, an evil result'."

'Goshujin' probably referred to the head of the Ichijo family, since Seiren also lived in the same house as Kaname.

"You think hunters are evil?"

"They're unnecessary: the council can police their own kind. That's what goshujin says."

"All those lessons and you can only parrot what other people said?" Kaname asked, face glaringly calm.

The only times Yuuki had seen Kaname appear angry was in a fake way, meant to be more cute than serious. Kaname's expressions of actual annoyance or jealousy revealed themselves in how he tried so hard to remain apathetic to the situation. Like now: harsh words thrown from someone looking like they were watching the weather forecast. Personally, Yuuki preferred cutting insults delivered with an innocent expression. It made people doubt themselves just enough that their retort fired a second too late.

Kaname stood up from his chair and walked to the other side of Seiren and Yuuki. Crouching down, he tilted Seiren's face to look properly at him. She immediately lowered her eyes towards the ground.

"If the council had their way, then what happened to you wouldn't be seen as wrong."

"How can it have been wrong when it gave me the opportunity to serve Kaname-sama?"

Said master's face twisted into a new look Yuuki hadn't seen before. One of pity, disgust, and helplessness.

"What happened to Seiren?"

Seiren kept her head down and Kaname looked away. Alright, Yuuki just walked further into awkward territory instead of out of it. If she had said something wrong when speaking with Ichiru and Zero, she would have let the mood fester without care. The original Yuuki would have lightened up the scene.

No, she couldn't think that way. She didn't know what damage she would do if she went down that path. Not only was Kaien more active in her life, but Ichiru and Zero were always near. This Yuuki wasn't allowed to take days-long depression naps. Not yet.

So she took a page out of Kaien's playbook and gave a smile that probably just highlighted the deadness in her eyes.

"Okay, today let's just discuss happy things."

Kaname looked back at her, "What do you suggest?"

"..."

Why did it feel like out of the three of them, Yuuki had the most social IQ and even she wasn't at 100 points? The silence reigned on as each person tried to come up with a happy topic.

"..."

"..."

"More and more birds are coming back from migration," Seiren offered.

"Is that so?" asked Yuuki. It was true that winter was quickly turning into spring.

As it turned out, Seiren knew more than a few things about birds. The conversation turned to animals in general, to the horses in the academy, to each person's favorite and least favorite animal. Seiren didn't like squirrels and preferred owls. Yuuki loved cats and didn't care for pigs. Kaname disliked horses and liked-

"Crowned cranes?" Seiren repeated, her eyes briefly flickering to Kaname's nose before looking to the side. Small steps. "I don't know much about them."

"Aren't they extinct?" asked Yuuki. The cranes used to be greatly symbolic, she remembered learning from some television program. Most of them died a very long time ago from the first onslaught of climate change. A few species had bravely survived up until a couple thousand years ago.

Shock passed through Kaname's expression before showing sadness. "Really? I suppose that's the case."

Yuuki tilted her head. Aren't you supposed to be extinct? The more she thought about it, the less she actually remembered about Kaname the fictional character. Sad backstory. Annoyingly mysterious. Older than he appeared even for a vampire. Incesty but not. Then he died at the end and all the fans were mad.

Having memories of her past life to see that the world around her was fake was supposed to give her foresight and clarity. Yet, the still waters of Kaname's thoughts were just as cloudy as before.

He caught her gaze, "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm just wondering if you're real."

"We think alike a little too much," said Kaname and reached out his hand, palm side up. "Well then, is it real?"

Yuuki took his hand.

The receiving room clock read ten minutes until eleven.

A normal child would have had a stricter curfew. Kaien never set one for Yuuki. He either trusted Kaname to a ridiculous degree or the thought never occurred to him. It was a gated academy, after all. Even the woods had a limit. Escape was futile until she grew older.

Although she spent a few hours outside, Yuuki didn't need to warm herself up when she entered the manor. Kaname had carried her as they walked home and the warmth of his back kept her from being too cold. The real danger was from the complete lack of outside lighting around campus. It had to be intentional. Anyone without vampiric sight would need a flashlight to see and thus be easily spottable from a distance. Perfect to catch after hour rule breakers.

The lights on in the living room didn't surprise her. No one in the house had a proper sleep schedule. However, seeing Ichiru and Zero sleeping on opposite ends of the couch and Kaien reading on the sofa wasn't usual.

"I'm home," Yuuki said at the doorway, causing Kaien to glance up from his book with a soft smile, even though he probably already heard her open the front door.

She returned the smile out of recent habit. Ever since Ichiru and Zero came, Kaien fell back into the idea of 'I'm going to smile even though I'm not happy in order to put the other party at ease'. Yuuki couldn't stop him from doing it, so she joined him and tried to look happy once in a while in front of the kids.

"They wanted to welcome you home," Kaien gestured towards the sleeping figures. "In order to see for themselves that you're safe and sound."

"You told them about Kaname."

"Technically, you told them about him and I just answered their questions," there wasn't an accusation in Kaien's tone, but that didn't mean he hadn't caught on to how she shoved the responsibility onto him.

"Were they angry?" Yuuki walked in front of Ichiru, who slept on his side, face half buried by a pillow.

"Only a little. Mainly worried about you."

Bending down, Yuuki nudged Ichiru's shoulder until he blinked open his eyes. "Boo."

"Mmmh. You're not scary."

"Only because you're too sleepy to see it."

Ichiru sat up and tossed a pillow at Zero, waking him up. Ah, sibling affection.

"...You're back," Zero said.

"Yes," replied Yuuki and turned in a circle for his inspection. "Unharmed. Unbloodied. Still living."

Zero took her hand with a solemn gaze, "You need to be careful around vampires. Even… if they're the kindest, most sincere and caring person you know, being a vampire will force them to do things they don't want."

"There are still good-" Kaien was interrupted by Yuuki.

"I know that vampires can hurt a lot of people. That some have hurt other people," she tightened her grip. "However, 'dangerous' doesn't mean 'stay away', just 'be prepared'."

"And are you prepared?" Zero asked, doubtful.

"No, but I'm trying to learn how to be."

It took three days to set up the indoor gym, filled with mirrors and mats. Another week passed until Masao was invited into the manor to see the room. Masao, who had looked at the Kiryu twins (their distinctive hair, at least) and then Kaien with wide eyes. Yuuki made a mental note to ask.

After first meetings, there was little time wasted in getting into training. Kaien had previously tested the martial arts ability of Ichiru and Zero. They knew the basics and some specialized moves. It was clear there was the foundation of a specific style they were learning, which would now be lost.

Yuuki speculatively eyed the staffs in Kaien's arms. Two were a little less than two meters and the other three were more than one meter. Clearly, Kaien would allow only Masao and himself the adult-sized sticks.

"I thought you would be teaching us swordsmanship," she said, disappointment leaking through. Kaien had demonstrated before how good he was with his side sword.

"Learning bojutsu will be just as fun."

He ran through an introduction on the weapon, teaching them how to hold and move the staff. The next hour included paired work with rotating partners. Yuuki had to reach much higher to block Masao's staff than she needed with Ichiru and Zero. The teenager towered over her, quickly approaching his fully-grown height. If they sparred once again, beating him wouldn't be simple. However, Yuuki had a feeling those carefree close days were over between them. Masao was older now and probably gained friends which kept him busy, if his declining visits were any indication.

Training ended in time for an early dinner. Kaien went out to get food from the dining hall. Most days he cooked with occasional help from one of the children. Other times they had the closest thing to 'take-out': fresh food prepared by the incredible chefs employed at Cross Academy. Above uniforms, buildings, and education, food was the best indicator on how good an institution really was.

With Kaien's 'I'll just be gone for a bit. Have fun! Get to know each other!' still hanging in the air, Yuuki took Masao's hand and tugged him upstairs.

"You haven't seen my room, have you? Let's go."

The walk to their designation was longer than Yuuki would have liked. Gone were the days of the cozy groundskeeper's house, now she lived in an unnecessarily large manor like a lord. Yuuki closed the door when they entered her bedroom. Even if the brothers they left in the living room went up to eavesdrop, each room was nearly soundproof if no one yelled.

"Wow," Masao said, walking around. "It's certainly a room. With a bed. A bedroom, if you will."

"So, the Kiryu twins."

"You spirited me away here to ask about them? You're the one living with them."

"I can't ask them about the details of that night and chichi won't tell me either."

Masao sat down on the bed and petted a sleeping Daedala, waking her up, "Don't you think small children such as yourself shouldn't know the details?"

Daedala bit him softly. A love bite, a warning bite. The former street cat was never very affectionate. Being constantly exposed to either hunters or vampires probably didn't help either.

"Ichiru and Zero know what happened."

"Because they were the ones to have experienced it. I don't even know everything. Just gossip from aneki and some others."

"Do you know who the three families were?" Yuuki picked up Daedala and set her on the floor, letting her hide under the bed.

Masao sighed, "The Kiryu, obviously. The Fujibayashi and the Ishikawa."

"Fujibayashi?" she looked at him seriously, thinking of the woman who helped her and Kaien move from the groundskeeper's house. If she were dead, wouldn't her father be holding in a lot of pain? Kaien likely also knew the other victims. "Do you know if there were any survivors?"

"I was just told there were a few who survived. Not the names," Masao looked at the door, "nor what happened to them after."

"Then what did you guys gossip about?"

Keiko had mostly discussed with Masao about how their family would be affected. Because there was little evidence vampires were responsible, suspicion casted itself on hunter-adjacent people and humans in the know who would benefit from the chaos. All three families, along with the Kurosu and Jinichi, traced direct roots back to the original vampire hunters. The potential permanent loss of their ancestral knowledge and DNA was a huge blow, forcing the association to rely more on orbiting groups, like the Ichinose.

Yuuki's solemn 'Was your family the ones to do it?' was met with Masao's laughter and 'Do you think I'd tell you if we did? No.'.

They went back to the living room, greeted by Ichiru and Zero, who immediately stopped their conversation.

"Are you guys finished having your secret chat?" Ichiru asked, disgruntled.

"Relax," said Masao. "We only took so long because Daedala-pi really missed me."

Zero narrowed his eyes, "That cat hates everyone."

"I'm super charismatic."

"You don't seem it."

"Look closer."

Yuuki stifled her laugh at Masao's deadpan response. "Do you know what would make you really cool? If you showed us that card trick."

"Fine. Prepare to be amazed, kiddos."

Taking the cards from his backpack, he shuffled them and started to set five cards out.

"Oh," Ichiru said. "We know what this is."

"It's sort of boring once you know it's basic precognition," Zero's words caused Masao to become still.

"So gakuchou-sensei already showed you?"

Ichiru shook his head, "Some of our cousins. Can you make a card spin? They were able to do it."

"Of course it's the Kiryu who turned such a high level skill into a party trick for children."

"Like you were about to do- predicting the card faces?"

Masao looked at Zero, the annoyance in his eyes clearly reading as 'listen here, you little shit'. Before a retort could be made, the front door opened. Kaien, carrying a white box, walked into the living room and was greeted with a chorus of 'welcome back'.

"I'm home. Are you all friends yet?" They were saved from giving an awkward answer when he spotted the coffee table. "Playing cards?"

"Sort of. Ichiru-kun was wanting to learn how to move them," Masao not-quite-lied.

Kaien hummed and walked closer. With three steady taps on the box in his hands, the cards rose in the air. First, the four individual ones Masao layed out. Next, the ones still in the deck, floating up to separate themselves from the pack at an increasing pace. The cards circled around the four youths. Yuuki looked at their faces, spotting multiple duplicates. Masao's deck was clearly rigged.

"Psychokinesis is less useful for hunters than remote viewing and clairvoyance. Don't be surprised if you or others haven't inherited the ability." Suddenly, the cards dropped down to the wooden floor and Kaien smiled, "Now, who wants sushi?"

Fresh fish. It had been a while since Yuuki last had it, when she was out with Kaien in town. Where they lived wasn't oceanside, but close enough to see it after a couple days' travel. Seafood was still rare in the household. Nothing wrong with chopping up a chicken, however Kaien clearly had something against tentacles and scales.

Yuuki took the last of the tuna nigiri for herself. Zero had asked if she were a vegetarian. In hindsight, her actions were too suspicious: both not eating the meat dishes Kaien made and leaving the room whenever he started to cook them. The truth was she didn't like the sight, smell, or taste of cooked meat. Yuuki wasn't going to think about the reason why.

"The truth is," Kaien started, "I asked Masao-kun here to request a certain favor."

"Whatever it is, I accept. My family told me they approved of it when I visited them during winter holidays," said Masao, putting his chopsticks down.

Kaien frowned, "I'd still like it if I truly received your full cooperation. They already told you about my proposal?"

"Just a hint that it involved fighting vampires," he raised an eyebrow. "Unless there's another reason why they started training me on their anti-vampire qiang?"

The qiang was a type of spear. Was that why Masao was already so good with the bo staff? Did they have the gym lesson in order for Kaien to subtly test him on his skills?

"Ideally, you won't ever fight a vampire," Kaien replied. "Masao-kun, you know the intention of this school, right? To teach the children of today knowledge, understanding, and acceptance. That includes making peaceful relations with vampires."

Masao raised an eyebrow, "You want to expose the secret to humans?"

"Not quite. I'm going to make a 'night class' of vampires to compliment the 'day class' we already have."

"You what," said Zero, voice flat.

"Are you saying you misheard me?" Kaien asked, looking just as serious as when he first brought the Kiryu twins into the manor.

Zero looked to the side, "Vampires are dangerous. To expose them to humans…"

"Humans and vampires won't truly have peace between them unless they make positive interactions. A school, where prejudice is still easily breakable, is the best way to form those relationships."

Yuuki tilted her head slightly, "Aren't we at peace right now?"

"No," said Masao quietly. "It's more like a ceasefire of open conflict with superficial talk of cooperation. I know there are hunters and humans who want total domination. I'm sure some vampires think the same."

"Which is all the more reason to not allow them into the school."

"Zero-kun, there are good vampires who are capable of controlling themselves. Trust me. I wouldn't let in someone who might hurt my students," Kaien said. He looked back at Masao, "I'm not blind to the possibilities. Which is why I'd like a guardian or two to watch over the contact between night class and day class."

"So I'll kill them if some vampire wants a human snack? Would the other night class students allow it if it came down to that?"

Kaien gave a forced chuckle, "Preferably, no one would die. You'll just de-escalate the situation and issue punishment."

Masao looked unconvinced, "You asked my family if I could bring their anti-vampire weapon on campus."

"A precaution and empty threat to keep them in line."

"Sobo says I shouldn't carry a weapon unless I intend to carry the consequences of using it."

"Technically," Ichiru cut in, "anything can be used as a weapon."

"You try killing someone with a spoon instead of a spear, brat."

Kaien leaned back, "Yuuki-chan at least supports me, right?"

Yuuki smiled purely out of politeness, "I sure do, tou-san."

Laughing at the insincerity in her tone, Masao said, "It's not completely terrible. I'll do it. I'd like to see if it's possible."

"I still think there are other options besides this," said Zero.

"I agree," Ichiru added as he leaned on his brother.

Kaien's confident grin was sharp, "Good thing this isn't a democracy."

In the late hours of the night, 'dream' went to the same place as 'memory'.

Shadow figures at the edge of her vision. Rhythmic whispers like a song, like a chant. The rope prevented limb movement from the spread eagle position they were in. Fear in the form of a heavy blanket covered her. Resignation muddied thoughts of escape. She knew how this would end. Why fight? If she turned her head, she would be able to see-

Daedala's prolonged growling dragged Yuuki fully awake. She automatically reached out to calm the cat down. Sitting up from her sideways sleeping position, she squinted at the open door. A silver-haired boy stood at the entrance.

"Zero…-san?"

He shook his head, "Aniki had a really bad nightmare and went to talk with Kurosu-san."

"...Okay." Her sleep-addled mind didn't understand why he was telling her this.

Ichiru walked towards the bed after partially closing the door, dragging along a gray blanket, "I'm still tired though, so can I sleep here?"

"You can't sleep alone?"

Another shake of the head.

Yuuki moved over and opened the covers. It was a large enough bed anyways. Ichiru crawled in, resting his head on a pillow. Lavender eyes remained open.

"I feel silly," he admitted in a hushed voice, "because I know I'm too old to… But I was sleeping alone during that night too."

Placing a comforting hand on Ichiru's head, she said, "You're safe. Whether you're with us or alone, you're safe. So it doesn't matter in the end and you can just go to sleep."

Without further comment, Yuuki closed her own eyes. Night resumed without interruption. However, when dawn broke through her window, the streaming light revealed three small bodies on the bed.

The following day, Yuuki drew both Ichiru and Zero in the sun.