"Ahh…" Yui let out an exasperated sigh as she watched Kyoko peeking around the corner in a way that she probably thought was stealthy. "I've really gotta stop just going along with these ideas of yours. You were just going by her classroom to see if Akari was attending the club today, so how did you end up stalking a transfer student?"

"I already told you, Akari was going to check on Chinatsu in the infirmary. Apparently, she collapsed from exhaustion earlier in the day, and Akari wanted to make sure she was alright. That's when I noticed the vampire!"

"Even if she is a vampire, which she isn't, because they aren't real; this is stalking. If you're really that curious, just go talk to her." The two girls got more than a few glances from the other students as they passed by.

"Talk to her?!" Kyoko had a look of exaggerated terror on her face as she glanced back at Yui. "What if she tries to drink my blood?! I'm sure a beautiful girl like me has delicious blood. She probably won't be able to hold resist my allure." Even Kyoko started to regret what she said when faced with the silent judgement of Yui's deadpan stare. "H-hey Yui, say something."

"I envy that Ayano is too busy with her duties as student council president to deal with this right now."

"How rude!"

"She isn't a vampire. There's no such thing. But even if she were, why would she ever drink your blood in broad daylight?"

Kyoko seemed to pause to seriously consider that, before she confidently replied, the look on her face seeming to imply it was the obvious conclusion. "Because she's an exhibitionist?"

"Oi. Don't decide something like that on your own." Yui looked genuinely annoyed for the first time in the past few months now. "You decided a girl with a garlic allergy was a vampire three months ago, and you kept harassing her until you proved she wasn't." Kyoko hadn't actually harassed her, but with how headstrong she could be, it could come off as harassment to those who weren't used to her personality.

"It wasn't harassment! And I apologized after I realized how much it bothered her." She had seemed to hesitate for a moment after Yui brought up that incident, but ultimately decided that this wasn't the same. "But this time I'm positive. She's definitely a vampire!"

"The fact that she has sunlight sensitivity doesn't make her a vampire." Kyoko hadn't been paying attention during homeroom, but their teacher had explained that if they noticed a student wearing a hooded cloak, that she was allowed to wear it because of her condition. "If you really need a reason to talk to her, why not invite her to join the club? I don't think any of the athletic clubs would recruit someone who needs a cloak and parasol to be out during the day."

"Nice idea! We can lure her in with the promise of manga, and then once she's gotten used to being a member of the club, we can prove that she's a vampire!"

"Give that a rest already, and actually now that you mention it, we haven't done any work on our latest project since April. The deadline's next month, the week before summer break begins. Do we really have the time to be stalking the new transfer student?"

"Hey, Yui, why's she taking so long to leave?" Kyoko either hadn't been paying attention to Yui, or she just chose to ignore it because she didn't want to face the problem.

"If I had to guess, I'd say she probably decided it was in her best interest to wait until the sun sets to start heading home." Yui was perfectly aware of how pointless it was to keep trying to push the issue when Kyoko clearly had no intention of addressing it, but she spoke up again anyway. "You always put it off until the very last minute, and then you always panic when you realize you're only just barely going to finish in time."

Despite her annoyance, Yui couldn't help the smile that formed on her face. After all, these stupid stunts of Kyoko's were ultimately what made her the person she was.

"I have to hand it to Nishigaki-sensei, if nothing else, she's really good at cleaning up." It was only just yesterday that she'd blown up the clubroom, yet despite that, it looked good as new. "Not that a clean clubroom is doing me any favors." Azumi's desk was still covered in blank sheets of manuscript paper as she gazed out the window to the courtyard below.

"I don't know if I'll be able to keep my promise to our senpais." Truthfully, Azumi knew that her issue with writing had nothing to do with a lack of skill or talent. Just like everything else in her life, writing had lost whatever joy it had once provided nine months ago. "At this rate, I'm not even sure I'll be able to keep our promise, Yuzu."

Eleven Months Ago

"Don't even joke about that." Azumi had stiffened the moment Yuzu had broached the topic, her pen coming to a halt in the middle of the manuscript paper. "You'll be outta here and back to school by next year."

"Azumi, we both know if I was going to get any better, I would've started to show results by now. The doctors are hopeful since I haven't gotten any weaker yet, but that isn't enough." Azumi didn't need to face Yuzu to know the expression she had on her face.

"How can you just give up now?" Azumi's voice was unusually small as she spoke up, and some part of her was aware of how selfish she was being, but the rest of her was just barely holding back tears. "I don't even want to think about what I'd do without you."

"Without me…?" Yuzu pretended to consider that, but she already knew her answer. "You've always been stronger than me. Even when I'm gone, I know you'll be fine. Our world holds so much beauty, and the loss of one person won't change that." The tone of her voice was one Azumi recognized all too well. She only ever used that tone of voice when she accepted reality. At least, that was the way she saw it.

"You always do this. You'll fight to your last breath for anyone else, but when it's for your own sake…?" Azumi couldn't see it as anything other than giving up. "Anyway, you're wrong. You are so much stronger than I could ever hope to be, and the reason this world holds so much beauty is because you're in it."

"Don't be ridi-"

"I'm not!" Azumi cut Yuzu off, her voice rising as she felt this uncomfortable tightness in her chest. She forced herself to lower her voice, not wanting to disturb any of the patients in the neighboring rooms. "Before we met, the world I knew was ugly and uninspired, as if everything was grey; and then I met you. You were annoying, nosy, and you always dragged me along with whatever crazy stupid thing you were doing without giving me a choice in the matter; yet the next thing I knew, everything was so colorful, and the girl that had once been so infuriatingly annoying to me was so beautifully inspiring."

"Maybe you don't feel the same way, Yuzu, but for me; this world is so beautiful because you are in it. I'd be broken without you. I wouldn't even be able to keep writing." Even what she'd written during today's visit wasn't up to her usual standards.

"No."

"What do you-"

"I can't bear the thought of you never writing again. You love writing." Yuzu paused, but only for the briefest of moments. "Promise me something. No matter what happens, you'll keep writing. Even if...when I die, you will keep writing."

"On one condition. You can't give up. Don't just accept this as the way things had to go. Keep fighting until your very last breath, just like you'd do for anyone else." Yuzu let out an exasperated sigh, but couldn't hide her smile.

"Then it's a promise."

"What am I saying?" Azumi picked up her pen as she turned back to the blank sheets of manuscript paper. "Even if it didn't change anything in the end, she still kept her promise. So I have to keep mine." With renewed determination, her pen started racing along the blank sheet of paper.

Not even a full fifteen minutes passed before she tossed everything she had managed to write.

Determination alone wasn't quite enough to overcome her lack of inspiration, and silence fell over the room once again as the sound of pen on paper died out.

"Nanase-sensei?" Akari spoke up as she stepped into the infirmary, looking for the school nurse.

"She's not here. After she was sure I was okay, and there weren't any lasting effects of my 'exhaustion', she left in a hurry." Chinatsu replied, sitting upright in the bed closest to the window.

"Glad to see you've recovered." Akari seemed a bit relieved, having had a chance to relax during the afternoon classes. "I was a little worried I might've gone a bit too far after I had a chance to cool down." Even though she was a bit more aware of her desires, and a bit more active in pursuing them, Akari was still the same person at heart; which often led to her being worried she'd gone too far in the heat of the moment.

"I really am fine. I appreciate your concern, but I'm not made of glass." Chinatsu stood up, taking one of Akari's hand with a reassuring squeeze. "There's a reason I didn't use the safe words." Admittedly, earlier that afternoon, she had quite literally been rendered speechless by the overwhelming pleasure; but she didn't feel it necessary to point that out.

"I know that, I do, but knowing that isn't enough to stop me from worrying about it. You're..." ...the love of my life. Akari swallowed the words before she had a chance to say them, reminding herself of the limits to their relationship. "...important to me. We should probably start heading to the club now, right?"

"Actually, there was something I wanted to talk about." Chinatsu grabbed ahold of Akari's wrist as she started to turn away, inexplicably upset as she noticed the redhead's last minute self correction. "I don't really know what love is. I mean, I haven't ever really experienced it before. So when you confessed to me…" Chinatsu hesitated, and as she tried to gather her thoughts, Akari spoke up.

"Chinatsu, it's okay, you don't have to explain."

"No! It isn't okay." The frustration added by the interruption seemed to have helped her gather her thoughts, at the very least. "I rejected you because I felt as if I had to. I believed that since I couldn't confidently return your feelings, it would be unfair to you if I accepted your confession. But I decided that I was wrong. It isn't my place to decide whether or not something is unfair to you." Chinatsu paused for another moment, but this time Akari didn't interrupt, knowing she had more to say.

"I can't say for sure that if we start dating, I'll fall in love with you; because I still don't know what love is. I don't have any idea how or if the relationship we have now can or should coexist with that type of relationship, but I know that you are the single most important person in my life, so I want to give this a shot; and I can't ever voice just how sorry I am that it took me five months to reach this conclusion."

"I don't care how long it took. You could've kept me waiting for five years, and I wouldn't be any less happy." For the first time, the pair were on equal standing as their lips locked together, sharing a much softer and sweeter kiss than ever before. Even as their lips separated, they didn't move away from one another, silently gazing into one another's eyes; until after what felt like an eternity, Akari broke the silence in a very soft voice. "Chinatsu, I love you."

"I know." The pinkette was inexplicably happy, considering some small part of her was having a minor panic attack. I got caught up in the heat of the moment. I only meant to agree to going on a date with her, not to start going out with her.

Ultimately, she wasn't as concerned as she probably should've been. It was hard to be upset when Akari looked so happy, and even if that wasn't the case, Chinatsu was pretty sure everything would work out in the end.

Celeste's first day at Nanamori High School had gone better than she expected, largely because one of the teachers at this school was completely insane. Celeste had gotten a few odd glances when she entered the classroom, but as she learned later in the day, that wasn't anywhere near as weird as the teacher that was constantly causing explosions.

She still ended up being the last student in her classroom, having assured the class officer that she would be fine on her own. "The weather today really is awful." She let out an exasperated sigh as she glanced out the window on the opposite side of the room, not a cloud in sight. She had been the first to school, long before it was open and the sun had a chance to dawn, and she had similarly decided to wait to leave until well after sunset.

Now that the room was silent, she couldn't resist the exhaustion she'd been dealing with practically all day, sleep slowly starting to overwhelm her.

"Heya!" Just as sleep claimed Celeste, she was suddenly supernaturally alert, a blond girl wearing a second-year uniform leaning back in a chair pulled up in front of Celeste's desk.

"How did you…" Celeste knew that not even a full second after she'd fallen asleep this girl had suddenly been sitting in front of her. She couldn't have had time to move that chair there. "No, nevermind. Who are you?"

"You don't know?" The blond seemed surprised, before seeming to realize something with a heavy sigh. "You're a newborn. Right, I'll skip right to the good bit then. This little chat we're having? We're not really having it. I slipped into your dreams when I noticed you finally nodding off."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're a vampire, love. Don't waste time denying it, because I'm a sorcerer; and this form that I'm wearing..." She gestured over her body as she spoke. "...it's not really mine. It was taken from your subconscious memory, and the fact that you don't recognize it is how I know you've been a vampire for less than a year."

"...What do you want with me?"

"What do you think? A vampire shows up and enrolls at my school, I have to make sure she isn't going to cause problems for me. By the way, how fucking suicidal do you have to be to enroll in a school? You're immortal, love. You've got all of time to learn, why risk being reduced to ash every single day just to learn in this building?"

"I'm not going to cause any trouble. As for why I'm enrolled in this school? It has nothing to do with learning. As you pointed out, I can't remember anything from before my rebirth, and my patron believes that I have to regain those memories on my own; but she did tell me that my best chance of finding those memories was to enroll in this school." Celeste seemed to realize something, unsure of how she hadn't realized it until yet. "Are we speaking english? How are we speaking english?"

"English is my native language, so when I travel the dreamscape; I prefer to speak it over Japanese. As for how you can understand and speak it? Sorcerer." She made a little wave with her hand as she said that, before nodding as she considered what she'd just been told. "Vampires really do have it rough. In addition to all the stuff that the mythology gets right, the process of actually becoming one is so traumatizing they temporarily lose all memories of their past lives. Can't even remember their own names."

"It is more than a little...upsetting. Especially since I apparently wanted this." Celeste had a dark look on her face. "What could've possibly led me to want this?"

"Don't let it bother you too much, love. Whatever your reason was, it must've been important, and you'll remember it within time." Having said her piece, the blond girl stood up and started towards the door, pausing before she stepped through it. "Unless you start causing trouble, we probably won't meet again, and we almost certainly won't meet in real life."

"That's all you had to say?"

"I've confirmed you aren't a problem, threatened you with repercussions if you become one, and you might have a slight problem in the waking world. Cheers, love." The dream started to unravel as the sorcerer girl waved goodbye, and a very groggy Celeste regained consciousness.

"Ah. She's awake." As Celeste looked up, she found herself face to face with a different blond girl in a second-year uniform; only this girl had the most satisfied look on her face that Celeste had ever seen, and standing next to her was a black haired girl who looked absolutely dumbfounded.

"Can I help you…?" In response, the blond girl pointed to her other hand, her eyes shining with excitement even as Celeste realized the hand in question was holding a mirror.

"What's it like to be a vampire?" Celeste felt an overwhelming sense of relief at the unexpected reaction. I'm so glad the girl who figured it out is a total weirdo. If she started screaming like a normal person, I would've been in real trouble.

A/N - This is the first chapter giving the most focus to this story's OCs. Now that they're in the focus, I feel it's necessary to restate this. I do not own YuruYuri or any of the associated characters. The only characters in this story belonging to me are Azumi, Yuzu, and Celeste.