"Do you see anything yet?"

Susumu and Yardi had been wandering the second district of New Lumos for what felt like hours. They had heard that there was a particularly powerful monster nearby, and had decided to investigate. And yet, no matter where they searched, they couldn't seem to find anything.

Yardi looked back at Susumu. "Geh... Nothing's here," he huffed. "Let's just go home so we can get out of the-"

But that was when Yardi heard a noise behind him. "...Huh?" He turned around. Strange, was that a shadow moving in the-

"EEK!" Suddenly, the shadow jumped out at Susumu, knocking her to the ground.

"Susumu!" Thinking it was the same shadow from before, Yardi rushed to Susumu's side, preparing his knife. He stopped, however, when he noticed something odd about this shadow. It was... Oddly human-shaped. It was...

...Trying to bite her...?

"Urgh! Get away from her!" Yardi charged at the shadow, trying to push it off of Susumu. The figure suddenly looked up at Yardi. It... Was a person?! Whoever it was, he tried to push Yardi away, but Yardi wasn't giving up so easily. In the struggle, however, the person's teeth got driven further into Susumu's arm-

Susumu let out a yelp of pain that caused Yardi to let go of the strange person. The stranger then let go of Susumu and stood up, looking even more annoyed than usual. "You idiot," he hissed at Yardi. "I hope you're happy with what you've done. Both you AND your little girlfriend there will suffer for this."

Yardi was outraged, but before he could speak up, the stranger vanished. Whatever. Susumu was more important to him anyway. "...Susumu!" He quickly ran to Susumu's side and helped her up. Geez, her arm was hurt bad. He pulled a bandage out of his bag and wrapped it around her arm. "Are you alright?"

"Urgh... I-I feel... Really weird..."

Yardi sighed. "You're probably just shaken from what happened. Anyway, it's getting late. Let's just go home so we can get some rest."

The two returned to the inn, and the rest of the night was rather uneventful. Susumu slept pretty hard that night, and everything seemed fine, until...

When Susumu woke up the next morning, things felt odd. The sun seemed... A lot brighter than she remembered it being. She pulled the blanket off of her head, carefully poking her nose into the sunlight. "Augh!" That... Kind of hurt. She buried her face back into her blanket. What was going on here?

A few minutes later, Yardi got up. He was going to let Susumu sleep a bit more after what happened to her, but... He felt like he should at least see if she was okay. He went over to her bed and gave her a slight shake. "Susumu?"

"Ah! Y-Yardi!" Susumu exclaimed. "D-Don't... Look at me! I... I don't feel good at all today..."

"Susumu..." Yardi was starting to feel bad about yesterday. "Please, at least let me see your arm..." he pulled the blanket off of her and-

"Gah!" Susumu quickly covered herself with the blanket again. "Y-Yardi?! What's..." Well, there was no point in hiding it any longer. Still keeping her head covered, Susumu at least revealed her face to her friend. Her eyes were now an odd red color, and glowing slightly, and she seemed to have grown a pair of sharp fangs overnight.

"S-Susumu?!" Yardi jumped slightly at the sight of her. "W-what happened?! Are you... That guy- Was he-"

"I... Don't know," Susumu said starting to cry. "I just woke up like this. I-I don't even know why or how..." She curled up inside the blanket again. "Yardi... Would you mind closing the curtains? The sun hurts."

Yardi reached over to the window, and closed the curtains as Susumu had asked. He then went over to the window at the back of the room and did the same. Looking back at Susumu, he spoke up once more. "Hey, actually... I think there's a book downstairs that can help us. It's full of all kinds of information about magic and stuff. Maybe it'll tell us what that guy did to you!"

Susumu nodded. "Hey, yeah!" she said. "I think that book was somewhere in the front room, actually. ...Also, Yardi? Would you mind getting me a drink too? I... Don't want the others to see me like this."

Yardi nodded, and went downstairs to look for the book. "...Aha! Here it is!" Yardi took the book from the shelf and opened it up, flipping through the pages as he went to get Susumu something to drink. One of the pages in particular caught his eye. "...Vampires?"

Susumu was curled up in her blankets, beginning to fall asleep again, until Yardi suddenly burst into the room. "Susumu- Oh!" He suddenly looked embarrassed. "You... Probably want some rest now, don't you?"

"Honestly, I just want to be myself again," Susumu groaned. "Am I ever gonna have a normal life again?"

"It's alright, okay?" Yardi tried to assure her. "According to the book, you got bitten by a vampire. It says you'll be back to yourself at sunrise tomorrow. Er, just as long as you don't bite anyone yourself, that is. Here, I brought you something you can drink instead.

Susumu gulped as Yardi handed over a glass of tomato juice. Susumu HATED the taste of tomatoes, but... The thought of biting someone make her feel sick. She wouldn't mind avoiding THAT at this point. She started to drink from the glass, expecting to hate it, but... Oddly enough, it tasted extremely refreshing. Without thinking, she gulped down the entire glass. Hey, she was thirsty, after all. Yardi was... A bit surprised at how quickly she did this. "Er... Alright," he said. "I'll get you some more, okay?"

The rest of the day was surprisingly less trouble than Susumu expected. For the most part, she was just extremely tired. She spent most of the day sleeping, while Yardi stayed in the room keeping an eye on her, bringing more tomato juice every now and then. However, he DID try to avoid answering the others when they asked where Susumu was, simply saying that she had gotten sick from being in the rain. How else was he going to explain what happened?

This went on just fine, until later that night. Susumu sighed and curled up in her bed. Yardi said sunrise, right? Just a few more hours, and she would be herself again, wouldn't she? She closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep. Except... Of course. The one time she actually WANTED to sleep today, she couldn't. As much as she hated to bother Yardi at this time, she had to tell someone how she felt. "...Yardi? Yardi! Are... You awake?"

"Mmph... Susumu...?" Yardi was half-asleep at this point, but as soon as he heard Susumu calling him, he got up. "Susumu? Is everything alright?"

Susumu sat up in her bed. "I... Can't get to sleep, Yardi," she admitted. "I tried, but..."

Yardi looked a bit sad. "O-Oh," he said, trying to think of something to do. "Well... Do you just want to talk about something?"

Just talk...? "...Actually, Yardi..." she began. "There is one thing I've been wanting to tell you for a while."

"Really? What is it?"
"Well... We've known each other for a while now, haven't we?"
"Yeah. We have."
"And, well... After what happened in the Dark Lord's castle... I've been thinking about you a lot."
Yardi's cheeks went pink then. "You... Have?"
Susumu nodded. "You and I, and all the things we've been through... All the times we've protected each other, and that first day when you saved me... It all got me to thinking."
"Thinking... What?"
"Yardi... I..."
"...Susumu?"
"..."

Yardi got up out of bed, taking a look at Susumu. His face scrunched up when he saw what had happened. She fell asleep before she could say what she wanted! He sighed and went back to bed. Somehow, however, he was more relieved than anything. If it meant Susumu was okay, he could rest easily now.

The next night, the two returned to the second district of New Lumos, still searching for that powerful monster they heard of. "Stay close to me this time, Susumu," Yardi warned her. "In case that creepy guy comes back."

The person from before, however, happened to be listening to everything they were saying, carefully following them as they went. "Bleh... We're never gonna find this thing, are we?" Susumu asked. "We're almost at the inn and I haven't seen that boss anywhere!"

"...So you're looking for the monster that lives here?"

"Huh?" Yardi looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, until the person from before stepped out of the darkness. "! Y-You!" Yardi yelled. "What... What did you even DO to Susumu?!"

"Oh, shut up," the person snapped. "I know you wanted to play the hero but I couldn't care less. You're going to need me if you want to find the boss anyway." With that, he hovered towards the inn. "I'm going inside."

"Inside- Wait-" Yardi ran after the person, yelling at him the entire way. "Who said you could join us?! Who do you even think you are?!"

"...Toshiro."