Yuya sat in his inn room looking out the window at the setting sun. Over the last few weeks, there had been many scary incidents in the village. People vanished from their beds every night. Livestock was found slaughtered and drained of their blood. A strange and unsettling fog had fallen on the village, blocking out the sun.
Everyone knew what the cause of the terror was. Vampires. But nobody knew what to do about them. It was a well known fact that the king and three princes were vampires. But there were other vampires in the world too. Nobody could be sure if the vampire terrorizing the village was the king or princes or if it was a different one. If they knew it was a different vampire, the village could set up defenses. But if it was one of the royal vampires, then setting up defenses would only serve to anger the royal family and the whole village could be wiped out by their shadow beasts.
It was too dangerous to leave the inn. Which was a big problem because the tomato was running low on money. Yuya was an orphan, and he had spent the last three years performing for tips in order to buy food and pay for lodging. He loved to entertain the crowds, and had become the most beloved performer in the village.
Yuya sighed, turning away from the window to count his money. He concluded that he had enough for two more meals and one more night in the room he was staying in. After that, he would be in big trouble. And there weren't enough people in the inn to perform for at the moment. He prayed to whatever power may be that the vampire problem would be solved before he ran out of money.
A knock at the door startled him out of his reverie. Before he could respond, the door opened and some armed guards walked in. "Sorry kid, but we have orders to leave you out for the vampires," one of the guards said. He actually did sound regretful.
"What? Why?!" Yuya asked, his face going pale. One of the other guards sighed, "Look, we love your performances. But the king sent his instructions. He's the one terrorizing the village, and he said he'll only stop if you're left out tied to a tree just outside of the village borders tonight. You're a really wonderful entertainer, but we have to follow the king's orders for the sake of the whole village."
Yuya swallowed hard and reluctantly allowed the guards to escort him out of the inn and down the village path. With every step he grew more and more terrified. He didn't understand what the king wanted with him, but he was ready to accept his fate to protect the rest of the village.
When they reached the trees outside of the village, the guards pulled out a piece of rope and tied Yuya to a tree with his arms over his head. They looked like they were genuinely sorry to do so. When Yuya was tied to the tree the guards left, leaving the tomato to his fate.
Yuya watched the sun dip below the horizon from the tree. Soon night would fall, and the vampire king would probably come and drink his blood. The terror he was feeling started to overwhelm him. He began hyperventilating, and before he knew it he had passed out.