Chapter 27

The vampires were looking the surroundings, intrigued by the multitude of young people on the city's streets: some were chatting while sitting at a table of what looked like a bar, others were working on an electricity generator, and more were joking among them.

What impressed them was the network of narrow streets above their heads, where a couple or more of youth sporadically wandered, wearing a kind of uniform; Anna explained that they were internal security officers, adding that the blue ribbon on their right arm distinguished them from those who controlled the external surrounding environment, who had a yellow coloured ribbon.

- And the red ribbon? - Kanato muttered questioningly as his eyes stared at man (the first they saw being older than thirty years old) with said accessory around his arm.

- Ah, those are worn by the elders who take care of the most important stuff- Isa exclaimed, waving to a group of girls who had passed by, her classmates; she was a little annoyed by their enthusiastic glances at the albino and thought she should probably make the first move...

... thus she had approached him, pretending nonchalance.

- About the elders... I noticed that there are just a few of them...? - Kou muttered perplexed, ruffling his hair a little.

- This island is sort of divided into two parts - Anna, who was leading the group, stopped and turned to look at them - One is this city, where young people learn to fend for themselves, besides studying and stuff; the other, which is fifteen minutes by car from here, is where we are born and live during the early years, and then return to if we decide there's nothing more to do here... Obviously I summed it up and, for God's sake, CLAIRE! Pull yourself together! – she suddenly snapped to the friend who hadn't stopped flirting with Laito since the beginning.

The others had tried to ignore them, disgusted, but it didn't help, and they sighed out of relief when the girl finally separated from him, although apologizing in a cheerful way; the other instead wrinkled his lips, sulking, and then smiled again at her winking.

- Interesting - Ruki said, rubbing his chin, as Yuuma chuckled that surely the Sakamaki brothers wouldn't have been able to orient themselves in the hypothetical case they had been left to themselves in that city.

Reiji cleared his throat and gave the giant a dirty look, warning him not to associate him with those inept brothers of his, in particular the eldest who was yawning; Shuu wasn't that bored, actually, if anything he was worried about Mary, who had not returned yet even if forty minutes had already passed since they had ventured into that city, led by the four girls as if in a tourist trip (an excellent one, too).

Yui's eyes were shining; she hadn't seen so many young people outside school, and the fact that Isa was making friends with her (she was holding her arm in arm, in fact) made her happy; Ayato was a little less happy, as jealous as he was, but seeing her enthusiastic smile made him think that maybe he could have bear with it...

The Mukami brothers, among the vampires, were surely the most fascinated.

If Reiji was interested by a "strategic" point of view, Kanato and Ayato were looking for sweets and takoyaki, Shuu was distracted and Laito was looking at Claire's behind, on the other hand Ruki was feeling strangely euphoric and wandering everywhere, Kou was blinking at anyone, noticing how different they looked from the usual boring people he would meet at work or at school, Yuuma was admiring some who were working hard, and Azusa was looking a little jealous at groups of friends joking among them.

Oh, and Subaru.

The albino was silent, an indecipherable grimace etched on his face; Isa was observing him, confused and wondering what was upsetting him and, with a lot of courage and blushing a lot, she pulled his sleeve to get his attention.

- Are you all right, Subaru-kun?

- O-Oi... let me go... – he stammered with an eye twitching, without wagging his arm despite the impulse to do so; the witch immediately let him go, apologizing in a very agitated manner - B-Be quiet! I don't bite!

They both fell silent and looked at each other; she stifled an amused laugh and he rubbed his neck, shaking his head, embarrassed.

- Anyway, I'm just annoyed. Too much noise, too many people... and I'm with these guys- he mumbled contemptuously narrowing his eyes at his brothers in particular.

- Don't you like company? Not even with those you could get along with? - the girl asked, tilting her head tenderly.

Subaru bit the inside of his cheek, shooing the thought of how much she looked pretty, and turned his gaze away, snorting.

- It's a w-waste of ti-time ... yes, a waste of time.

Isa thought the answer wasn't very convincing and he himself wasn't very convinced; before she could say anything about it, Morten, who had been left behind with Theo all the time on their own business, had started arguing with Anna as he had reached her to tell her that it was time to head for the house straight away.

Azusa whispered if it wasn't the case to interfere (in case they has started to hit each other), but Finn wisely held him back through a very tight grip around his arm, making him moan with happiness; Ruki looked at them with a puzzled look, sighing.

- Forgive them, they always fight - Claire exclaimed, resting her hands on the arms that Laito had just wrapped around her waist, taking advantage of Anna's distraction.

- And just because she accidentally hit him with her elbow in the eye? - Yuuma commented, incredulous, scratching his head; Theo put a hand on his shoulder.

- You know, his height...

A silence of compassion fell for Morten, interrupted by the giant who, holding back a cruel laughter, decided to put an end to that quarrel, too annoying to endure.

- Oi, quit it! – he snapped, banging a hand against the wall and shaking the surrounding structure (a little flat where little girl was leaving and who jumped because of that mini-earthquake); the blond-haired wizard looked at him from below, even more irritated.

- Don't meddle in, Giraffeman!

Silence. Yuuma felt his eye twitching and announcing a violent clash between him and the little guy; he was terrible in English, but even a fool would have understood what that nickname meant.

- What did you say, Chibi?

- Hah?! Who are you talking with, you beanpole?

- Stop it, you two! – Anna reproached them, trying to suppress the desire to fight with both; after all, there were guests, they had to behave in a calm and friendly way...

- Shut up, Goldilocks! This is business between men! If we can consider this pipsqueak a man - Yuuma chuckled, flashing a mocking look at Morten, who blushed with rage and began to stutter; Anna, however, had become black with hatred and had grabbed the collar of the giant's jacket, pulling it towards her: she hated being called "Goldilocks".

The three kept on arguing with each other, attracting the glances and chatter of passers-by, those who were amused and those who were annoyed; Theo tried to approach them and try to calm them down, but Finn stopped him, shaking her head silently.

- Eeeh... I'll take you home, but what about them...? – he asked, holding his beret.

- We'll just leave them here, come on! Hehe~ - Claire giggled, while stroking Laito's cheek with her finger, seductive; Theo nodded slowly, raising an eyebrow at the scene.

Reiji and Ruki, and probably the others too, thought that perhaps it would have been better to leave both of them behind, too; and as they finally started to head home, Kou didn't miss the feeling that there was someone staring at him...


- It looks like a hovel - Ayato said, in front of the building which reminded so much of an abandoned factory, among many bare trees, with trunks covered by a thick layer of straw to protect them from the cold.

Reiji glared at him, although he quite agreed with him, but that was just the outside appearance: maybe the inside would have been in a better shape; Claire chuckled and retorted with a slightly offended tone that the vampire had spoken too soon, and then whispered to Laito that he wasn't wrong about the twin being a little silly (Ayato nearly attacked them out of offense for that insult).

Theo turned the key in the lock and invited the guests to enter, advising caution in going downstairs.

Once inside... they were pleasantly surprised.

Despite the rough and blank walls, the rest of the structure had been restructured and divided so that a mezzanine covered three quarters of the sides, one with the bedrooms' doors, the second with the bathrooms' doors and the last one leading to the entrance; descending the stairs, they were greeted by a large space: on the right there were armchairs, sofas, tables (with a television and videogames platforms) and shelves full of books against the walls; on the left there was a room protruding from the wall, probably recently added, without door, around which long and not too narrow tables had been placed along with chairs.

Morten went in with Finn, announcing that they would have made some tea, revealing it to be the kitchen; later on, Isa would have explained to Yui that there was a trapdoor communicating with the pantry and a room arranged as a private infirmary.

On the same side, at the bottom, there were several pieces of furniture with computers and various work tools, besides other indistinguishable forms due to the darkness hiding part of that area (Theo would have told Yuuma there were doors leading to the garage and the greenhouse where they were growing some edible plants and flowers); a last detail caught the vampires' eyes: four columns rose at the corners of this working area, supporting an additional room "hanging" from the ceiling, accessible through a ladder which disappeared inside a hole.

- What the hell is that...? It looks like it could come off the ceiling and fall down at any time - Ayato muttered perplexed; Kanato agreed with him, although he added that there was something appealing and original about it.

- What do you think? - Anna exclaimed in a tedious tone, as if to suggest that the answer was very easy to find out, as she invited everyone to sit in the "open living room".

Yui blinked and murmured in disbelief:

- Mary-senpai and Mark-san's bedroom...?

Claire, Anna and Isa nodded, and Theo burst out laughing at the guests' expressions.

- A special room for special twins, right? - he stated and then took his leave and headed towards the space where he would work, having some fixings to complete.

Reiji had sat in a armchair, the Mukami had occupied a sofa long enough to contain all four of them, Yui, Ayato and Kanato had settled on another sofa, Shuu had fallen into another armchair next to Subaru and... Laito was gone, who knows where with Claire.

- We won't miss them, I believe - Anna said sourly, sitting on a chair next to Isa; she crossed her legs and arms, before giving a quick glance at everyone and clearing her throat.

- The bedrooms are not enough... there are three rooms available for three people, and one of you will have to share another with Morten and Theo. Ah, Yui-san - she looked at said girl – you'll sleeping with us girls, since we have the biggest one.

Before Ayato could have protested, Reiji and Ruki had already accepted, albeit a little unwillingly; next, they had to arrange which of them would have shared a bedroom with others: Kanato surely with Reiji, since he could put up with him more than the others, and Ayato, considering that otherwise he would have shared the room with Subaru, Shuu and Laito (and Ayato didn't really like Morten either); the Mukami brothers peacefully (the Sakamakis had quarrelled) chose Yuuma to share the two wizards' room, so that Ruki could have looked the other two.

In the meanwhile Morten had arrived with a teapot and cups on a tray and Finn with a basket of biscuits of all kinds; at its sight Kanato felt like being in his goliardic paradise.

- Have you already thought about what to do during your stay? - Morten asked, pouring the tea into the cups and asking Isa to distribute them, the girl keeping on secretly glancing at the albino with the smile of an infatuated girl.

- As for me, I'd be interested in visiting the city, I find it very suggestive - Reiji replied first, examining his hot drink and cracking a smile of approval at smelling its scent - I don't know what brothers want to do, but, as much as it annoys me, it'd be better if they came with me so that I can keep an eye on them, who knows what kind of troubles they could get into...

Ayato and Kanato immediately protested against theirs elder brother's words, as Subaru clicked his tongue in irritation, casting a questioning look at the little witch with amber eyes; Shuu, who had closed his eyes relaxing with the music, turned up the volume, completely ignoring that comment, rather worrying about his beloved one.

- I see... what about you? - the blond wizard glanced at the Mukamis.

- We'd love to visit the city too - Ruki smiled politely, sipping his tea and glaring at Yuuma and Kou, who were stuffing themselves with sweets (and Azusa was holding the cup with his hands to get burned).

- Well, then I'll make sure I get a few days off to guide you... - Morten murmured thoughtfully, taking a chair for his little sister and grabbing his own cup of tea, drinking while standing up, until he nearly spilled everything as he jumped because of Mark, who had suddenly appeared next to him.

- MARK! - he cried, rubbing his forehead, irritated - Stop showing up like that!

- Meh... - the half wizard said, raising his head upwards.

- Cho-hime? - Anna asked abruptly, staring at him darkly; Mark didn't answer right away and then murmured that they were also arriving.

- They? - the witches and Morten repeated in unison, questioningly and incredulous.

They heard voices coming from the outside, intensifying as they approached, and Mary entered the front door as she uttered:

- I've never heard of a Casanova zombie!

As she climbed down the steps with a quick and annoyed pace, the ice-eyed young man with a scarf of feathers around his neck followed her, replying with a slightly offended and a little joking smile:

- Come on, Mary-chan, it's been so long since I've last seen them!

- You shouldn't have seen them anymore! You should have stayed underground!

- Heee, Mary-chan, you're so cruel - the young man pretended to whimper, and then finally look at the newcomers and smiled – Good evening~ I'm Ryan Plum, her ex – he introduced himself, pointing to the girl who rubbed her nose bridge exasperated.

- Theoretically - Mark added, unfortunately not able to see the vampires' perplexed faces and Azusa, Kou, Shuu and Subaru's shocked ones (and even Laito was shocked when he found out later on) - He should be dead.

- And some idiot brought him back by mistake - Morten continued, sighing annoyed - That is, he isn't alive. It's a corpse restored to its best appearance and animated.

- Mary-senpai, are you ok? – Isa asked, worried about her friend; at first she gave her a somewhat blank look, and then forced a little smile.

- I've been through worse? - she replied, not really convinced; the witches frowned, those worried and those slightly irritated by that answer (random name: Anna).

Shuu stared at Mary intently, quiet.

- Oh, hello, lovely lady! - Ryan reached Yui, who jumped surprised and blushed at that exuberant approach - Did you have a good trip? Are you tired? If you want I can...

Mary threw the empty teapot at him, stopping him from going on with his advances, before Ayato could have reacted in a worse way; and Morten let out a terrifying cry of anguish at seeing that teapot shatter on the ground, a gift from an elderly lady whom he had helped in the past.


I'm so sorry for the late update! I was busy with the final exams T^T

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!

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