Kamakura beach

I'm going to make chapters considerably shorter from now on

"I wish everyone was as nice as them."

Mayu was standing with Wanta in her arms as usual watching the sun go down. It was almost routine for them. Her thoughts drifted towards the people she met yesterday. Yuka was super nice, Nyu was adorable but she wondered how a woman who looked like she should be around the same age as Yuka got to be like her. Nana seemed nice but she didn't get to see her much, seeing as how Nana was a vampire. She still had been taken aback by how vampires were real.

Kouta was different. He frightened her.

After witnessing the fight against Alec, if you could even call it a fight; she wondered what made Kouta the way he was. Was he always that scary or did something happen to him? She however felt there was something more to him than what was on the surface. She was always good at reading people.

She could even read that monster of a stepfather.

That bastard.

The moment she laid eyes on him, Mayu knew he was no good.

Whenever her mother wasn't around, he would rape her. She hated him more than anything in the world. Part of her wishes that she could watch Kouta tear him apart.

"James there you are!" An unfamiliar voice said. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

A dark haired woman who looked like she was in her mid-twenties came up and grabbed Wanta from Mayu. Mayu didn't fight her since she drew the conclusion that she must've been Wanta's owner.

"Ma'am, are you his owner?" Mayu asked.

"Yeah that's right." She said in a snooty tone.

"Well, do you think maybe I could visit him?" She asked politely. Mayu didn't want to lose her only friend. "I could walk him for you."

"Look at yourself." She insulted. "You've got to be kidding." She obviously thought that Mayu was beneath her. She was some idiotic preppy snob that thought her shit didn't stink and anyone with a small spot of dirt on them was inhuman.

She turned around and walked away.

"James you're safe now." She said as she walked away with Wanta in her arms.

Mayu felt absolutely defeated. Her only friend was just taken away from her. She had no one to warm her on cold nights or to talk to.

The sun was going down soon so she would have to go back in the shelter she made. An hour past and the sun was completely down and it had started raining really hard.

"I'm happy for you. You'll get to eat real food." She thought. "I just wish you were her so I could brag to you about turning fourteen today."

She began to cry but was stopped by:

"What are you doing here, little girl?"

It was a cop. And older male cop. He had a younger partner with him as well. They were in their rain suits shining flashlights on her.

"We had reports of a girl your age loitering." The younger one said. "Come on out. We want to talk to you."

Mayu knew for sure that if they found out she's a runaway, they would take her back home.

Home to that rapist piece of shit.

So she ran. She quickly ran past the cops, taking them by surprise. She circled around to the rear of the makeshift fort she had been sitting in.

She saw the ramp leading up to the road. A street lamp was turned on which was how she was able to see it in the rain.

She had a plan. She was going to go to the opposite side of the city. There were a lot of other homeless people there and she might be able to avoid the cops there. She also knew some people there and might be able to sleep there for a few nights.

She got to the foot of the ramp and stopped abruptly when she saw a male figure step out from the shadows.

It could be only one person. Her stepfather.

She froze in her tracks.

"No... I don't wanna go home."She said.

"Who said anything about going home?" A familiar deep voice said.

The figure emerged from the dark into the light of the street light. It was Kouta, followed by Yuka, Nana, and Nyu. Kouta and Nyu had been under and umbrella together and Nana and Yuka had been sharing one too. They had dressed out in warmer clothing since it was freezing out. Yuka wore her green jacket with her dress and Kouta wore a plain tight black wool beanie.

"We've been looking for you Mayu." Yuka said.

The two police officers came up behind Mayu and noticed the group, particularly Kouta.

"Who are you people? Are you friends with his girl?" The older officer said.

"We're family." Kouta said. "We got split up. That's all." His gaze seemed to make eye contact with the older cop, not daring to break.

A short pause.

"I see. Well... Take care now." He said in an almost monotone voice.

The younger cop looked almost bewildered at his older partner. The younger one reluctantly followed his partner out of the area back to the squad car.

Back on the footsteps of the maple inn, Kouta reached in his coat pocket for his keys.

"Those cops didn't seem all that bright." Yuka said. "They just swallowed what you said without question."

Kouta unlocked the courtyard door.

"It was only the older one." He said. "Mind control is a valuable ability."

"Mind control, eh?" Yuka said, brow raised.

Kouta slid the courtyard door open.

"Stronger vampires get it." Kouta said.

The group entered the courtyard and slid the door shut. The rain had completely stopped at this point.

"But, why'd-why'd you do it?" Mayu asked.

"Didn't feel like playing fifty questions with a couple of beat cops who probably spend more time dipping donuts than slapping handcuffs on thugs." Kouta said.

"That's not what I was asking." Mayu said. "Why did you come for me?"

"We're not about to let you sleep alone in the rain." Yuka said.

"Nyu!" Nyu said assertively.

"Come on. We have dinner prepared, and the lady at the bakery left a present for you."

Later at the table;

Yuka set out the cake that the bakery owner hand made for her.

"She made this for you." Yuka said with a smile. "Happy birthday, Mayu."

"Really?" Mayu said, surprised. "For me?"

"Yeah." Yuka said. "She told us it was your birthday."

"So how old are you, kiddo?" Kouta asked.

"I'm fourteen." Mayu said.

Suddenly, the door slid open and Nyu strutted in with an overfilled bowl of rice and placed it next to the little cake.

"What's with the rice?" Kouta asked as he brushed his hair behind his shoulders.

"Oh, it's because Nyu saw Mayu eating rice yesterday and she looked happy." Yuka said. "I guess it's her own little way of saying happy birthday."

Mayu started to tremble slightly and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Nyu?" Nyu said, quizzically.

"Thank you, so very much." Mayu said. She almost looked like she was about to burst into tears. But a quick side hug from Nyu and comfort from Yuka kept that from happening.

"Why don't you stay with us until we get things sorted out?" Yuka said.

Mayu immediately ran into Yuka's arms and began to cry. Yuka and Kouta glanced at each other. They both knew that her residence was likely a permanent one.

"Thank you so much!" Mayu said.

Outside Kouta's vampire hearing picked up the sounds of a small puppy barking at the door.

Kouta smirked.

"You've got a visitor, Mayu." Kouta said.