This was Koishi's first time seeing a Western mansion. It would probably have had more of an effect on her if the lack of light wasn't stopping her from seeing most of it. She could just make out the crimson paint on the walls - the same shade as the bakery, and just as unnerving as it had been back then. A large gate blocked further entry, the only way past a fence that circled the entire building.
A small cubicle stood at the side of the gate, where presumably a guard was supposed to stand watch and ward off potential intruders. 'Presumably' was the word that ran through Koishi's head, because the woman inside the cubicle wasn't doing much in the way of guarding. Snoring, on the other hand, she was doing more than enough of.
Sakuya let off an angry rapping through the glass window of the cubicle, and the guard sat straight with almost impossible haste. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism she'd developed after being caught napping on the job for so long. Either way, as the guard sat upright, Koishi recognised another familiar face - albeit one with a large red mark on her forehead from where she'd pressed against the glass.
"Wha-Hello, Sakuya!" Meiling yelled, words stuttering out of her mouth like a machine gun. "Lovely weather today, isn't it?!" Her eyes darted about in every direction other than towards Sakuya. They quickly found something worthwhile to rest upon, stopping at the pair of newcomers Sakuya had brought with her.
"Wait...Koishi-chan? What's she doing here? Are you two friends now?"
Sakuya frowned. "We're...acquaintances." Her voice was distant and impersonal.
"And you haul acquaintances out in the middle of the night to your place?"
Meiling had woken up quickly, taking the first opening for a quip that Sakuya had given her. The maid rewarded her with a solemn-looking glare.
"Just open the door, China. You have no idea what kind of day I've had."
The door guard's cheer crumpled in seconds. She started fiddling with the control panel in front of her, eventually pulling the gates open with a loud creak.
"Uh, there you go. Have a good shift, I guess?"
Meiling's voice faded with every word until she was barely audible. Sakuya paid her no mind, walking through the now open gateway and making her way towards the mansion. Koishi and Sango fell further behind the maid, both watching her with judging eyes.
"Hmmmm." Sango pursed her lips. "Izayoi-san is...sort of a jerk, isn't she?"
Koishi was very tempted to nod at that. They'd seen her play for dirty money at casinos, argue with every fellow employee she had, and in general they'd seen nothing out of her that was vaguely charitable.
"...Still. Does that sound like the sort of person Yukari would trust with a Teardrop? Someone who'd use the power to break the banks and die wealthy?"
"She's got skill," Sango said with a shrug. "What makes you so sure she's not just a jerk with talent?"
Koishi started on an answer, then stopped. There was a feeling about Sakuya she couldn't quite put into words. The maid seemed...distracted, almost, like she'd never really been paying attention to her surroundings. Something else was taking up her thoughts, but Koishi wasn't sure exactly what. The fragments of the discussion they'd overheard in the bakery leaped into Koishi's mind.
It took the pair a couple of minutes to cross the pathway to the mansion itself. Sakuya had gone on ahead, but she'd at least been thoughtful enough to leave the door unlocked. Even the handle was foreboding - a beast's face was carved into the metal, and Koishi half expected it to bite her as she gripped it. Was the family who owned this place deliberately trying to scare guests off?
The hallway which Koishi stepped into was in no way more welcoming. From the inside, she saw that curtains had been set up across all the windows, ensuring that light had no chance of making it inside. Only the dim lighting from the chandelier above stopped her from walking into a wall - or more likely, the two statues that had been set out in the hallway. They were men, both of them, relatively old but with fearsome glances that seemed to follow Koishi as she walked around. The light seemed almost deliberately set up to make them look foreboding as a cruel joke on the part of the designers. Koishi needed a deep breath before she could step forward and look more carefully at them, and by then a hand had already grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Uh, Koishi-san..." Sango's upper lip was trembling. "Maybe we should wait for Izayoi-san to come back. Y'know, we might end up going somewhere we aren't meant to and all. Let's just wait outside for now..."
Evidently, Sango was having an even worse time of this than Koishi was.
C'mon, Sango-san. You can fight for your life against magical abominations, and you're scared of a few pieces of rock?
The dolphin pouted, puffing her cheeks up as she furrowed her brow.
I'm not scared! I'm just...being cautious, that's all.
The Siren let out a little sigh. Turning around, she took Sango by the hand and gripped it tightly.
"If you get scared, just squeeze it. Okay?"
Sango's face went a little red. The wounds from their earlier accident hadn't quite healed yet. Eventually the dolphin managed a jerked-out nod as she squeezed back. She followed along as Koishi approached the statues, deciphering the English title beneath it.
"Bram...Stoker? Wasn't he a writer or something?"
The name rang a vague bell in Koishi's head, but beyond the books they covered in English she wasn't very familiar with foreign literature. It was somewhere in her brain, but it'd take her a while to fish it out.
The statue of Stoker stood proudly with a book in his hand, running the other through a well trimmed beard. The stonework was well kept - it couldn't have been more than a few years since it was sculpted. The man across from him was from a much darker age of history - dressed nobly for his time, but without the modern sophistication of Stoker. Perhaps most disturbing was the large stake the man was holding besides him - maybe it was a trick of the light, but Koishi could have sworn there were a few droplets of blood at its tip.
"Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia? And I thought Bram was a strange name for a ma-"
"You would do well not to insult those names, girl."
Two sensations struck Koishi at once. First, a sudden chill down her spine as a powerful voice rang through the hallway. Second, the feeling of Sango squeezing her hand so hard she was surprised it didn't break.
"P-Phwweeeeeee! Who's there?!"
Sango had already taken refuge behind Koishi, both of them looking straight in the direction the voice had come from. Its owner stood in the stairwell, one hand on the railing as she slowly made her way down the steps. Every footstep echoed, as she deliberately avoided the red carpet in the middle and stepped on solid stone.
As she came into view, Koishi found her initial fears were mostly unfounded. Though she spoke with confidence, the girl who'd spoken up was no threat physically. Her skin was almost pure white, like it had never seen the sun, and her hair was only a fraction darker. Her red eyes were bright and powerful, staring straight into Koishi's without fear, but they seemed out of place in that frail body. Combined with the light pink dress she was wearing, Koishi almost mistook her for a doll at first glance.
"Perhaps you Eastern folks are not educated in our histories. Pitiable, but understandable. Maybe you know him better by another name?"
The booming voice echoed across the room again. She spoke Japanese in the same manner Patchouli did - fluently, but more formal than most conversation would ever need. Koishi had steeled herself against the stranger's charisma, but Sango was still clutching tightly to her hand, ready to bolt out the door at any moment. The girl grinned at her reaction, picking up speed down the stairs.
"His people knew him as Vlad Tepes - Vlad the Impaler. Understandable, given that he saw no better punishment than to run a stake through those who he saw as immoral. Thieves, adulterers, liars, and the sort."
Silence. The girl looked Koishi head on, looking for a hint of recognition. Again, there was nothing - Western history was perhaps an even worse subject for Koishi than Western literature. Professor Kamishirasawa hadn't done anything to help with that, given her insistence on bringing up Japanese folklore every time she found an opening for it.
"...No? Still nothing?"
The girl in pink frowned. For an instant, Koishi saw her proud stature give way, and instead of a confident, charismatic figure she found herself looking at a selfish, frustrated child. The grin was back a moment later, though, and she spoke again as if the lapse had never happened.
"Well, I suppose I shall have to give you all of the answers. You must know of Bram Stoker's most famous book, mustn't you?"
This time, Koishi's eyes did show a flicker of understanding. It was there - the name, she knew it, she just needed time to think-
!
Of course. How could she have forgotten? The clues were staring her right in the face. Vlad the Impaler. The stakes. The blood. This girl with ashen skin and brilliant red eyes.
The name fell out of Koishi's mouth. "...Dracula."
That was exactly what the girl had been waiting to hear. She cackled - laughing in a way that seemed to pass through the air into Koishi's skin, leaving the hairs on the back of her neck tingling.
It can't be...she isn't a...?!
Sango was still horribly out of the loop, clinging to Koishi's hand for dear life. Dracula? What's that? Who's that? What's going on!?
The lady of the mansion took the last few steps down the staircase, coming to a stop in front of her two guests. She was clearly enjoying this whole spectacle, an impish smile running across her face.
"I see you've put it all together, child. Allow me to congratulate you for deducing the blatantly obvious."
She pinched the sides of her dress, then performed a flawless curtsy towards Koishi.
"Remilia Scarlet, the noblest vampire of Gensouto. Trust me, the pleasure is all yours."
Koishi needed a moment to notice the change.
A few seconds ago it had been Sango squeezing her hand in panic and preparing to flee. Koishi had been relatively calm, ready to take on the ill-looking girl.
The instant the word vampire came up, Koishi had come apart. Vampires? She heard the stories about how they took young maidens in at the dead of night and drained them of their blood, leaving them dead or - worse - undead. The girl's charisma had made the story an easy sell, even before Koishi took her knowledge of youkai into account. And what if Sakuya was one of her servants, and they'd been lured here as a trap-
"Oh."
Meanwhile, Sango's fears had vanished entirely, and she simply gave Remilia a blank stare. Koishi jerked her head backwards, her heart still pounding in her chest.
Sango-san, what are you waiting for!? We need to get out of he-
Vampires don't exist, Koishi-san.
Awkward silence followed that thought. Koishi felt vaguely as if her heart had been thrown down a flight of stairs.
...R...Really?
Trust me. I know a hell of a lot about youkai, and vampires are just one of those urban myths you humans like so much.
Koishi's emotions moved swiftly from fear straight to humiliation. She chose to refrain from comment as Remilia continued her monologue.
"Ah, so you are brave enough not to flee in my presence. That is impressive! It has been years since someone showed me such courage. Isn't that right, Sakuya?"
Remilia's head turned suddenly to a side corridor, with Koishi and Sango turning to look in the same direction. They'd been watched, at least for a short while, by a young woman in the traditional maid outfit of old. A dark blue dress with a frilled white apron, it held to her figure perfectly. But even in this anachronistic choice of outfit, Sakuya was unmistakable.
"Milady," Sakuya started, with a tone of respect that neither girl had heard from her until now, "may I suggest you return to your room momentarily? I must inform our guests of your...heritage."
Rather than calling out Remilia on her behaviour - or even on the fact that a girl her age shouldn't have been up this late - Sakuya offered her mistress a deep bow alongside her request. Again, Koishi saw the expression on Remilia's face shift for a moment to a childish pout, followed by a sigh.
"Very well, Sakuya. I hope this will not make tonight's meal tardy?"
"You underestimate me, Milady. I could lecture this pair for an hour and still have your dinner ready in advance."
Remilia grinned, likely at the sight of a servant willing to challenge her. She began to make her way up the stairs again, offering a devilish smirk to the guests as a parting gesture.
"If you two are staying tonight, may I suggest a coffin? Somewhat stuffy, perhaps, but you'll never have to worry about morning light."
With that, she made her way up the stairs. The act broken, she dashed upwards in an utterly childish manner, leaping two stairs at a time. Maybe she looked unwell, but Remilia was still physically capable.
For a moment Koishi stood in place, unsure of what to make of her encounter with Remilia Scarlet. A petite cough from Sakuya was her cue to step back into reality.
"Come with me," the maid muttered, turning on her feet and slipping back into the corridor. Koishi followed on afterwards, letting go of Sango's hand entirely. Immediately she were surrounded by doors on all sides, each one identical to the ones surrounding it without so much as a label. In spite of this, Sakuya traversed the twists and turns of the mansion with absolute confidence, and her two 'acquaintances' followed close behind out of fear of getting lost. Again, Koishi noticed that every window was blocked by a curtain - not only that, but they were much thicker curtains than most households ever used.
"I had hoped there would be a chance to explain this all before you met her," Sakuya said, not even bothering to hide her frustration. "Milady is a very...special case."
Sango scrunched up her nose. "Milady? Isn't that one of those words that died out sometime last century?
"It's what she wants to be called," Sakuya replied, without a hint of humour. "And given that she saved my life, forgive me if I feel the need to display respect for her."
Her answer served to shut up Sango entirely, and the dolphin slumped behind Koishi for cover. Koishi felt her hand grow slightly warmer.
"I think I know what Sango-san wanted to say," Koishi said, much more carefully than her companion. "Sakuya-san, you know this household isn't exactly normal. Why is your mistress convinced she's a vampire?"
Sakuya came to an abrupt stop. Koishi almost walked into her back, and Sango almost walked into Koishi's. The maid turned on her heels to face one of the identikit doors, unlocking it with her master key and pulling it open.
"I don't feel I can give you a thorough enough answer. That's why I'm taking you to an expert."
Koishi couldn't see more than a few feet inside, but she made out the first few bookshelves with ease. It was no challenge to conclude that this was a library, and Sakuya was taking them to meet the librarian. Still, Koishi hadn't had an answer to her question.
"An expert on what?" she asked again.
The term that flew out of Sakuya's mouth was long and scientific to the point it made Sango's head spin. Yet it was spoken with such ease, such grace, such simplicity, that it was clearly a term Sakuya knew far too well.
"Have you ever heard of xeroderma pigmentosum?"
The dim lighting reared its ugly head the moment Sakuya closed the door. Bulbs hung from the ceiling, making a deliberate attempt to give off as little light as possible. Koishi's shoulders grew sore after the third or so collision with a nearby bookshelf. She hadn't been aware that walking forward could actually be this difficult. Sango had taken the smarter option by hanging behind - thus learning from Koishi's mistakes - but that might have just been her trying to stay away from Sakuya rather than a clever move on her part.
The books lined up on these shelves shared a common theme - they were medical tomes, in more languages than Koishi even knew existed. Some were up-to-date, laminated for preservation; others were suffering badly from the wear of time, set to collapse entirely if touched with anything resembling force. The titles that were in Japanese may as well have been in gibberish from all the weighty scientific terms they used. In short, this was not Koishi's type of literature.
The further in they went, the more focused the books became on their topics. One phrase jumped out more often the further in they walked, still in every language Koishi had heard of and several she hadn't. If she hadn't heard Sakuya say it a few minutes earlier, it would've been gibberish to her.
But there it was, coming up over and over again. Xeroderma pigmentosum. She almost considered pulling one of the books off the shelf and giving it a look, but based on the titles they'd be too complicated for her to understand without five years of med school.
The march felt like it had taken an age, but in truth they'd been walking for a few minutes at best. Time seemed to hold no meaning here - there was no sunlight, and what little light there was could only be described as inadequate. Looking backwards, Koishi could see no sign of the entrance either, like she'd stepped into another realm entirely.
Eventually, the trio came across the one object in the room that was not a bookshelf. A small desk was neatly placed between two of these shelves, perhaps the only surface in the library not to be covered by a layer of dust. On the chair behind it, a frail-looking young woman was lying back, letting off a quiet snoring. The light purple nightgown she'd worn made it clear she hadn't fallen asleep by accident. Koishi recognised the woman in a few seconds - Patchouli, the stern-looking clerk from the bakery. Instinctively, she slowed her pace down so that her footsteps didn't wake up the sleeping librarian.
Possessing none of Koishi's subtlety, Sakuya simply started to shake at Patchouli's shoulder.
"Mmm...no, of course it isn't lupus..."
The librarian mumbled to herself for a few seconds. Rather than taking this as a sign to stop, Sakuya began to shake at her even harder. The puffed-up white hat laying on her head eventually slipped off - Koishi wasn't paying too close attention, but from what she could see the girl's eyes leaped open the instant the hat hit the floor.
"Wha...what's-"
Patchouli's eyes darted around the room for a moment. They stopped quickly on Sakuya, and the worried look on her face shifted back to the severe expression Koishi recognised.
"Ah, so you're back after all. From the way you stomped out of the bakery, I hadn't expected you to return without the almighty panacea in your hand."
A vile glare passed from Patchouli to Sakuya, and straight back in equal measure. Just on reflex Koishi stepped backwards, accidentally smacking Sango in the chest with her head. For once Sango had an understanding of subtlety, and managed to muffle her complaint.
"So, what drives you to wake up an unwilling librarian in the middle of the night?" Patchouli asked with a yawn. "From what I recall, the children are your responsibility for the next eight hours."
Sakuya pointed backwards at the pair she'd hauled in. "I figured that you were the only one here qualified to explain the situation with the mistress."
There was no sign of camaraderie between the two. Patchouli seemed all too eager to turn her attention away from Sakuya, beckoning Koishi closer with one hand. Recognition dawned on the librarian as the schoolgirl approached.
"Ah, you're the one I asked to find Izayoi. Well, considering it was her bringing you in rather than vice versa, forgive me if I'm not willing to rummage around for the reward."
Koishi shrugged. Frankly, she couldn't care less about a discount at a bakery right now. There was a story here, and she needed to hear it; for Sakuya's sake, and quite possibly everyone else's as well.
"So why is Patchouli-san the only one who can explain this?" she asked. "She's a librarian, isn't she?"
Patchouli's nose jerked upwards. "A librarian? Please. I think you should be giving me a little more credit." She pulled a pair of reading glasses from the desk, slipping them on casually. The level of professionalism and respect she gave off intensified in an instant, making Koishi forget that the woman was in her nightgown and not a labcoat. Sakuya rolled her eyes with a bored growl.
"You are, after all, speaking to one of the world's most talented geneticists. Specialising in rare genetic disorders and treatment of such, I graduated at the top of my class from the University of Cambridge. Combined with a natural gift for tongues, I gained my degree with the potential to work anywhere in the world if I so pleased-"
The soliloquy was (thankfully?) interrupted. A sudden hacking cough forced its way out of her throat, shaking her entire frame. Koishi could have sworn the woman was made of glass, prepared to fall apart at the slightest touch. After a few seconds of choking, Patchouli at last caught her breath.
"...At least, that is how my life would have gone were my physical health not something of an issue. I was rather quickly prohibited from being anywhere near patients for fear that I would either pass on whatever illness I happened to be carrying, or be killed by the very disease I was attempting to cure."
Koishi caught, for the tiniest moment, a hint of sadness in Patchouli's eyes. She was speaking eagerly of a life she never had the chance to live, and that fact had left its mark on her. The vulnerability was gone in an instant, though, and she was back to the haughty 'librarian' she'd been before.
"Perhaps I would have died penniless were it not for circumstance. A French philanthropist caught my name in an article, and knowing I could not seek employment elsewhere asked for my assistance. He was looking for a personal attendant, one who could aid his wife during her pregnancy. He had no intention of trusting the wellbeing of his children to state doctors - he wanted the best of the best, and thus he called for me. It was a fully-paid position, accommodation and all, so I saw no reason to refuse; even if he had perhaps misunderstood the English article and respected me for a duty that was not my specialty.
I was with them for nine months, and everything went as planned. The two children were delivered safely, to overjoyed parents who gave them all the love they could. As a family celebration, they organised a trip to Japan - to the tiny city of Gensouto, where the fresh air would be much more beneficial to them than the Parisian smog. To that extent, they were right."
Patchouli's face grew grim at that point, her earlier confidence decaying rapidly. Sakuya looked on, glare growing sterner with every word.
"But the children - something was wrong with them. The sun burned them far worse than it should have - half an hour out in the sun could leave them red all over. They gained freckles, far too many. And beyond all that, there were crusty, black blotches running across their skin. Their parents were terrified, looking for someone to tell them what was happening."
The geneticist let out a long, heaving sigh. Koishi saw a little vapor trail slip out of her mouth in the cold air of the room, and imagined a little part of her soul slipping away with that sound.
"I told them their children were likely to be suffering from xeroderma pigmentosum. To protect the twins, the Scarlet family took a home here, and with my help they did everything to keep the children safe. To save them the trouble, I doubled as the daughters' teacher, ensuring they were fluent in Japanese as well as French. But the guilt was hard on the parents - perhaps if they'd never made that journey to Japan, they'd have been able to raise their daughters in their homeland rather than a foreign country neither of them truly knew-"
"Are you done with your tangent?" Sakuya said, arms folded as her fingers began to fidget. "I came to ask about XP, not for your life story."
Patchouli flinched as if she'd been shot. Every other eye in the room fell on Sakuya, Sango staring at her with barely concealed disgust. The atmosphere in the room felt like a weight on Koishi's shoulders.
"...Very well, then." Patchouli recovered her composure. "My apologies for rambling. It's not as if the rest of us have our own troubles to deal with, after all."
Her words were laced with venom, but they bounced harmlessly off of Sakuya. Seeing no response, Patchouli caved in and began her explanation.
"Now. Before I say any more, understand that the sun is a powerful thing. It releases ultraviolet rays that could easily damage the DNA of skin cells, thus causing all sorts of deadly cancers. Thankfully, the human DNA system can typically repair itself from this sort of damage, and for the most part we are safe in the sunlight."
Patchouli's eyes never moved away from Koishi. Her anger disappeared, and her tone was cold and professional as she spoke about her work.
"For sufferers of xeroderma pigmentosum, though, this repair system is not functional. As such, the sun's rays will damage their skin with ease, leaving them prone to all these cancers I spoke of earlier. The easiest course of treatment is preventative, ensuring that the victim never makes contact with sunlight."
The realisation hit Koishi with all the subtlety of a brick.
The sun hurts them...just like it would hurt a vampire.
The young girl's vampire act in the hallway took on an entire new meaning. It was a coping mechanism, the girl's only way to deal with her disorder, and Koishi had felt the nerve to consider it strange. She murmured an apology under her breath to no-one in particular.
"Then...what's the cure?" Sango asked. "Is there any way to fix it?"
Almost unnoticeably, one side of Patchouli's mouth rose upwards. "No. Genetic disorders come from weaknesses in the sufferer's DNA. It can be worked around, but those girls will never be able to live a normal life."
She turned to Sakuya, the old glare of resentment returning. "No matter what some of us want to believe."
The first crack appeared in Sakuya's armour, her upper lip trembling as she started her retort. "So you'd have me surrender, then?"
"I'd have you come to grips with reality." Patchouli leaned forward over the desk. "I know what you've been up to, Sakuya. The illicit clinic visits. The generous donations. The showering of wealth onto anyone who promises to look into the disorder."
Koishi felt like her voicebox had caved in. Even though she was only a few paces away from the discussion, she felt like she could do nothing but watch. At her side, Sango's eyes burned holes into the back of Sakuya's head.
"I appreciate your concern, but you've achieved nothing in the last few months." Patchouli shook her head, tutting like a disappointed parent. "I've had to explain away your absences to the girls more times than I can count. Sooner or later I'll run out of lies to tell them, and then what?"
"Then you can tell them that I'm trying to help," Sakuya growled. "Unlike a certain someone who thinks it's fine to lock them away in a mansion for the rest of their days."
A fire burst to life in Patchouli's eyes. "Don't even try to give me that. Do you think you're the only one who cares about those girls? Valéry was my friend too, and if there was anything I could do for his daughters don't you think I'd have done it already?"
"Oh, of course," Sakuya said, moving towards the desk with one mighty stomp. "Because a stuck-up rich girl who won't even leave her library for dinner is just who I can count on to help me."
Koishi's heart went the same way her throat had, folding in on itself and paralysing her. The tension in the air had locked her feet into place. There was only one way this argument could end, but both women were giving off a pressure Koishi couldn't hope to match.
"Now, you listen to me, Patchouli," Sakuya muttered, every word bathed in aggression. "What I do with my life is no business of yours, and you can keep your opinions to yourself about it. I've had all of you I can stand, and it's taking every ounce of self control I have to keep myself from coming at you."
In spite of her measly frame, Patchouli didn't budge an inch. "So now you think you can threaten me? That's just what I expected from a child like you."
The word child made Sakuya shiver from head to toe. Patchouli rose to her feet as she rallied onwards.
"Because that's what you are, Sakuya. You act cunning and suave, but in the end you barely know how to fend for yourself. You live in your own fantasy world where there's an answer for anything as long as you throw enough money at it. You've completely ignored the damage you've done to this family."
The last sentence boomed out of her with impossible strength. "And if you've got any sense, you'll pull the wool out from under your eyes and grow the hell up."
Koishi felt it. She almost heard something snap inside of Sakuya then. The maid's hand curled into a ball, all her nervous energy coming together in one place. The hand rose off of the desk in as Sakuya's face morphed into a look of rage.
At the same time, the force holding Koishi in place dispersed. Her body leaped forward on its own, the whole ordeal playing out in slow-motion. She caught Sakuya's hand mid-swing, grabbing at it with both arms. Sakuya twisted her neck backwards, her eyes still glimmering with fury. She made one attempt to bat Koishi away, but the Siren's grip was too strong.
Unfortunately, she still had one hand free. As her left hand curled into a fist as well, Koishi realised she had overextended. This time she couldn't hope to stop the attack. Patchouli's face grew even paler than it was before, and she could do nothing but stare at the fist crashing down towards her.
In a single fluid movement, a fourth figure charged forward from behind Koishi.
"That's enough!" Sango yelled as she grabbed Sakuya's other arm. The maid hissed, but even in her rage she was no match for a youkai's strength. Sango pulled her back from the desk, Sakuya struggling against her with all her might.
The moment passed, and Koishi saw the red mist lift in Sakuya's eyes. Two feelings struck the Siren at once. One was relief that Sakuya had been kept from making a terrible mistake; the other was a gut-wrenching worry that they'd dealt with the symptoms, but not the disease.
She's in denial, Koishi thought. She's afraid of the truth.
The maid looked down on herself, then towards Patchouli. The librarian was still frozen in place, every muscle tensed as she braced herself for an attack that never came.
"...Ah."
Sakuya deflated physically. The anger holding her rigid dissipated, and her shoulders slumped as low as her joints would let them. Her expression couldn't be described as apologetic - that was far too generous a term. Better would be 'conflicted', or at best 'regretful'. Sango's grip remained as tight as ever as she held the maid in place.
After what felt like an eternity, the maid managed a whisper. "Patchouli, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"I know what you meant." Patchouli had lost all semblance of emotion, as if the shock had turned her into a clean slate. She sat back down at her desk, returning to the book in front of her. "Now get out of my library before you do something you'll regret later."
Sakuya complied, hanging her head in shame. Her motions were as well-rehearsed as ever, but the guilt was scrawled across her face. Koishi and Sango hung behind, neither finding the courage to say a word.
But the look of disgust from Sango said more than enough.