Chapter 35

Kou awoke with a grunt, massaging his eyes and hiding his head under the pillow, to drown out the voices coming from outside the room, in vain: with the very fine hearing given by his nature, those attempts were futile; he raised himself on his elbows, laying down on his belly, and crossed his arms to rest his chin on them, snorting.

- Ruuuki-kuuun – he chanted, without receiving an answer; recovering full control of his senses, he realized that neither his older brother nor Azusa were in the room, so he got up, got dressed quickly and went out, while tying a lock of hair in his usual ponytail.

He joined Ruki was standing behind the mezzanine railing, watching the people below; following his gaze, he caught glimpse of Azusa sitting on the last steps of the stairs, next to Finn who was resting her head against his neck, clasping his hands slowly, with gestures apparently tired. His eyes then moved to the hall and blinked, perplexed.

Theo was going back and forth from the tables around the kitchen, where Mary was in a bad mood, at the garage, and from the few words they exchanged, it was clear that they were talking about her bike's repairs; sitting at the computers, there were Morten and Lily, with stress painted on their face and with a phone between head and shoulder, through which they were receiving notices from the headquarters (Kou felt like being in one of those action movies, with secret agents and technologically advanced devices).

Martha and Mark were sitting somewhere farther, bored, and talking about random topics from time to time, without being really interested; in the living area, Shuu was sleeping on a sofa, and Ryan was frowning at him over the back, as Yuuma was shaking a strand of plastic grass (?) over the vampire's face, sneeringly guffawing.

The racket that had waken Kou up had been just caused by Morten and Lily's voices, to his surprise: it had seemed to him that there had been more people.

- Do you understand what's happening, Ruki-kun? - he asked, looking at his brother from behind his golden fringe.

- They're receiving instructions on what to do; yesterday, after the attack on the old school, they identified some suspicious individuals, but failed to reach and recognize them in time. And it seems that now everything is quiet - Ruki sighed, catching his breath; he added - On the contrary, they're ninety per cent sure that they'll soon attack en masse. This was a kind of warning.

- Eeeeh, such bad mews - Kou muttered, crossing his hands against the railings and resting his head on them; perhaps he had thought too soon it was a lot of fun, and it was really a pity, because the environment put him, and the others as well, at ease.

He heard an door opening and, turning around, saw Claire and Anna come out, with indecipherable expressions on their faces, followed by Yui, who stopped for a moment in the doorway, presumably looking at Isa, inside, with worried eyes; the two witches went down the stairs, reaching the kitchen to have breakfast, as the neo-vampire approached the two brothers, moving her gaze from them to the atrium repeatedly.

- Do you know what's going on? - she asked, worried, clutching her hands on her chest.

Ruhe repeated what he had told Kou and the blonde murmured that the situation saddened her: after all, she had made some friends and thought that during that stay in the city she would have piled up a lot of beautiful experiences and happy memories; the idol was amazed at listening to her, for he shared her opinion, and he wasn't the only one: even the other vampires had perceived a drastic change in their mood since they had arrived, as if that island's sea breeze had purified them (this is a bit exaggerated...).

In the meantime, the Sakamaki brothers left the rooms: Kanato had gone to sit on a chair, chatting with Teddy and mocking Shuu as he was pestered by Ryan and Yuuma; Reiji had approached Lily, waiting for a free moment to update himself on the situation; Subaru had looked around for Isa, shouting at Kou that he wasn't worried about her, then informed by Yui that the witch was still in her room; Ayato, yawning, had rushed into his girlfriend, taking her away from the two Mukamis who had looked at him with annoyed faces; Laito had hurried to the kitchen, following Claire's smell, and had clung to her, complaining that he had felt lonely and ignored.

Ruki sighed and nodded to Kou to get off the mezzanine; as soon as Subaru put his feet on the last step of the stairs, Morten got up from his desk and drew everyone's attention.

- Since we'll be busy today, you'll have to plan your day yourselves. You can go around the town... but don't get close to the coast, or go out of the city - he specified, brushing back his blond hair - In case you need us, you can come back here and talk to me or Lily-san, or Martha-san if you meet her around by chance.

- If we're allowed to visit the city freely, I assume that the situation isn't that serious? - Reiji asked.

- The city is still safe, at the moment; be careful, please, though it should be easier to detect any danger with your senses, right?

Ayato gloated right away, saying that he would have immediately noticed if something was wrong, to which his brothers and Mukami rolled their eyes, as Yui cracked a smile, somehow softened by his megalomaniac attitude.

- Morten-senpai, we're going - Anna left the kitchen followed by Claire, who looked a bit more cheerful judging by the smile she had addressed to Laito; the girls, reached by Finn who separated from Azusa with a suffering expression on her face, said goodbye and left, not after struggling at snatching the half-demon from vampire's arms as they were exchanging more and more passionate effusions.

At last, Lily interrupted the communication and stood up, informing that Mary and Ryan had been assigned the task of patrolling the island with another group, Theo was to carry out repairs in the places marked on a piece of paper that was given to him and Mark had to join Anna's older sisters, Angela and Ellen.

- Martha - she turned to her younger sister – Go to Isa and take her to the Governor – she asked her, and Martha nodded then teleported into the girls' bedroom.

Laito and Kou approached Morten to inquire who the "Governor" was and, ignoring Reiji's comments on how foolish they were not to be able to reflect on who he could be, they learnt he was the one who represented the whole island and had the task of dividing the powers among the various administrative bodies, controlling that the laws were respected and managing the several issues concerning welfare and security of the population.

Subaru jumped and asked if Isa was involved in some big trouble, if she had to meet such an important person, but kept quiet before the two vampires could tease him, blushing violently and looking away.

Theo verified that Mary's bike's conditions were optimal and bade farewell to everyone with a smile, leaving with Mark, apparently impassive, yet betrayed by his trembling hands at the thought that he would have been next to the girl he was in love with.

Mary hadn't moved yet from the chair and was staring into the distance, thoughtful.

- Neko-chan~ - Kou called her, approaching and sitting next to her; not receiving an answer, he wrinkled his pouting lips and snapped a finger against her nose.

- Ouch! - the girl covered her nose and looked at the vampire in confusion, as Ruki and Azusa joined them.

- You were ignoring me, meanie~ - the other complained, sulking; Subaru muttered something from afar that made his eye twitch and soon disappeared from her view to bicker with the albino.

Mary blinked, looking at them puzzled, then giggled.

- Ah... Izanami... finally... - Azusa said, grabbing her hands and squeezing them - I... I rarely saw it, lately... I missed your smile...!

Mary gasped, unable to say anything; Ruki let out an amused snort and stared at her with an almost unusual sweetness, then took on a sour grimace: Shuu had appeared on the other side, resting his head on her shoulder.

- That hilarious zombie is waiting for you at the door... be careful – he mumbled sleepily, grunting annoyed at hearing Yuuma scream at him not to run away from him (he had managed to slip the strand of plastic grass into a nostril).

The girl nodded and patted his head affectionately, stroking his hair, then stood up and bid farewell to the two Mukami; she waved her hand, turning to everyone else, and left with Ryan, exiting from the garage; engine noises were heard, fading after a while.

Morten and Lily had returned to the computers, armed with the usual phone between the shoulder and the ear, and were immersed in their work; Martha had probably teleported with Isa, because Yui had found the bedroom empty when she came back to retrieve her coat before leaving .

The two families exchanged looks a bit awkward, a bit spiteful.

- Let's go have breakfast together~? - Kou suggested, to break the ice, with an arm around Subaru's shoulders, the albino trying to stay calm.

They glared at him.

And Shuu had returned to snore on the couch.


The first thing that Reiji and Ruki noticed as they walked through the city streets, was the gaze lost in the emptiness of the elders; some young people would sometimes turn their eyes to the sky or look around attentively, but they were all mostly quiet, absorbed in their daily chores.

Passing by some groups gathered at the corners of the streets, they heard them recall past episodes, referring in particular to what had happened the April of the previous year; the vampires had exchanged a questioning look, but they couldn't find out more.

Or rather: if Ruki would have asked his brothers, or Reiji would have asked Shuu or Laito, they would have learned something.

Soon they were both distracted by a restaurant that was already beginning to prepare a few meals: in particular the Sakamaki had recognized the smell of carbonara, while the Mukami had smelled fish soup.

The owner welcomed them willingly and a couple of hours later, Reiji had remained to talk about Italian cuisine; Ruki had headed for the library, and he would ha stayed there for a long time.


Yuuma had stopped in front of a shop of gardening items, looking thoughtfully at some tools, considering that the ones he owned were old and with no longer sharp blades (also because of someone...); Kou had stopped in a shop a little further away with musical and electronic items, pleased that they were selling all of his CDs and didn't think twice to suggest to the owner to plan an afternoon to receive fans and give them his presence, first of all, and an autograph.

Azusa, whom the giant had forbidden to follow him and who cared little about music and electronic devices, had ventured into a cute and cozy little place, mainly aimed at offering an indoor place and a quiet atmosphere to who wanted to stop and study, chat with friends, read, or just have a cup of tea and some biscuits from the inside bar and watch passers-by from the windows; the vampire noticed at last some items on sale exposed on some shelves in a corner, mostly stationery products or completely random (like a pot with a small cactus inside...?), and smiled, thinking he had found the right place to spend free time with his brothers.

And also for an date with Finn.


Had it not been for a disturbing individual behind them, stuck to the window of one of the counters of the same bakery where Martha had brought him, Ayato would have considered that one of the best moments in his long life: in front of two cups of hot chocolate and two plates of cream crepes and cherry jam, he was sitting at a table with Yui, who smiled, happy that for once they were behaving like a normal couple (a normal couple doesn't stay at home twenty-four hours a day to feed on each other's blood); he was glancing at her cheerfully chatting with him, as he muttered, unable to stare at her for long because of her beautiful serene face. He couldn't wait to get out of that place and look for takoyaki, believing they would have helped him cool his head.

Kanato, counting those few coins that he had saved for some time to buy some special sweets, was pondering whether to take a whole ice-cream cake with white chocolate and raspberries or buy a supply of pastries and chocolate bars: a hard choice, and not even Teddy could have answered as the vampire asked him, his eyes bright with frustration.

He mentally cursed Reiji for having reduced his pocket money after that disaster in the kitchen that had happened years before; if he hadn't stolen a part of the money that rightfully belonged to him, already scarce itself, he could have bought both.


Certainly Subaru despised his brothers, a little less Shuu, but especially the triplets (even Reiji wasn't at their level, with all his reproaches for the broken walls and repair costs, after all he wasn't wrong): Kanato was whining so much that his eardrums were pained and sleep was impossible; Ayato with his superiority issues irritated him to the point of wanting to stab him in the stomach; Laito was the most insufferable with all his references to a particularly awkward field, and also seemed to prefer teasing the albino.

His patience was beginning to graze the limits since, venturing into the school hallways with the watchman's permission, the brother who had followed him kept on asking him a lot of questions about his relationship with Isa.

On the other hand Laito hadn't followed Subaru just to torment him; he wanted to be separated from his Claire as little as possible, a reason not believable from the point of view of a stranger if he had been seen in the corridors of the building: he was waving and winking at every girl met by chance, from those who were headed to a laboratory, to those who were simply going to the bathroom (in this case asking if he could join them...).

During the mid-morning break they had met with the four witches: Anna was rather annoyed by their visit, especially at seeing her flirtatious friend and the perverted vampire looking for a more isolated and intimate spot, and Finn had curled her lips out of disappointment, since Azusa was absent; finally, after a few minutes, Isa arrived too, and was about to inform them about the conversation with the Governor, but she stopped as soon as she realized the albino's presence.

Her eyes sparkled with happiness.


- What did Theo-kun write to you?

- Pfff, something like a lot of gasoline got on his face... and a bit into his mouth.

Ryan refrained from laughing, biting his lips, and Mary put the phone in her pocket, shaking her head with a grin on her face; the two of them glanced at the abandoned farm that had belonged that old man who used to open his shop in the city every afternoon, offering to the students sandwiches stuffed with cheese produced by him with the milk obtained by the small herd that he used ranch.

- I miss that good old man - he said, sighing, and brushed his fingers against the wooden fence.

Mary nodded, narrowing her eyes on the windows glass-free since two years before, when the landowner had died; the latter and the cattle had been sold by the daughter to another farmer, who lived in an area of the Japanese coast and that despite the distance delivered its products to the city... the food was delicious, but yet so different.

- Do you remember? We had come here with Isa-chan that winter, to help her manage her powers... - Ryan murmured in a feeble voice full of nostalgia.

Mary nodded again, this time with a touch of coldness in her eyes; that time Rose had accompanied them too. The boy sighed and turned, returning to the bike.

- Come on, Mary-chan, we still have a lot of places to inspect!

The girl stared at the land in front of her and in her mind images of the late elder appeared, who she used to go and visit with her twin and her father when she was a child, in summer, to get directly from him milk, cheese, meat and some vegetables or fruits that Mr Flyer wasn't growing yet.

She bit her lip and swallowed, holding back tears of melancholy, and turned her back on the farm, reaching Ryan.


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