Chapter Text
-A DECADE AGO-
Chie was walking home from school on her usual route when she noticed some of her classmates stopped ahead of her in front of a particular house. The three girls were huddled together, and the shortest one (who was the little ringleader of the group and who Chie knew to be a bully and a pretty pathetic person overall) was pointing up at one of the second-floor windows.
Chie was sure they were up to no good, no doubt talking about the Hanamura boy, Yosuke, who used to be in the same class as all of them. He had stopped coming to school quite suddenly, and everyone had speculated about what the reason might be. Even Chie was curious, but the rumors had grown so ridiculous at this point that she didn’t listen to them anymore. She wished the stupid people of their little town could find something else to talk about.
The girls hadn’t noticed Chie yet, so she quietly moved closer to hear what they were saying.
One of the girls exclaimed, “No way! You’re saying Hanamura stopped coming to school because he’s…”
“Yep, a vampire!” the ringleader said proudly, and Chie immediately wanted to pull her pigtails so hard they’d come right out of her head. “That’s why their house has all those special windows.”
The most timid one said, “But he seemed so normal when he was in class with us…”
“I can’t believe a real-life vampire lives in our town! That’s kinda scary, isn’t it?”
The ringleader said, “Don’t worry, he can’t get us during the day. But if I were you, I’d watch out at night…”
That was the final straw for Chie, so she stomped toward them, yelling, “Hey! People who don’t know what they’re talking about should shut up! Now get outta my way!”
She managed to shoulder check and push all three of them out of her path, eliciting a satisfying variety of surprised and angry noises, and then she continued stomping her way all the way up to the front door of the Hanamura house. Feeling the girls’ gazes on her back, she squared her stance, put a hand on her hip, and rang the doorbell repeatedly until a concerned-looking woman cautiously opened the door.
“Oh, hello there,” the woman said, seeming confused as she looked down at Chie. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yes, there is!” Chie asserted. “I came to find out the truth!”
“The truth?” the woman asked, frowning as she stepped outside the door and closed it behind herself.
“Are you Hanamura’s mom?” Chie asked, both hands on her hips now.
“Yes, I’m Yosuke’s mom. And who might you be?”
“I’m Chie Satonaka! Hana… er, Yosuke is in my class at school, or he was. Why doesn’t he come to school anymore?”
Mrs. Hanamura sighed, looking down at her feet before she looked back up at Chie. “Well, Chie, he’s sick.”
“Oh, that’s all? That’s not so bad! So when we will he be better?”
“He…” Mrs. Hanamura hesitated, debating on how straightforward she should be with this spunky little girl who had shown up on her doorstep. “Well, he won’t. It’s a kind of long-term sickness, so he has to stay in the house.”
Scratching her head, Chie said, “I don’t get it. What kind of sickness is that?”
“It’s called XP,” Mrs. Hanamura said, opting to tell Chie the truth since that was what she had come for apparently.
“Like Windows XP?”
Mrs. Hanamura couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “No, XP stands for Xeroderma Pigmentosum, which are just big words that mean sunlight hurts Yosuke.”
“It hurts him? You mean like how it hurts my eyes if I look at the sun for too long?”
“Not quite like that,” Mrs. Hanamura said, trying to think of a way to explain it that Chie could understand. “Are you allergic to anything, Chie?”
“Hmm, not really,” Chie said, appearing to be contemplating the question very seriously. “Only vegetarians, I think.”
Mrs. Hanamura burst out laughing, but she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth to quiet herself down.
Chie continued, “But my mom is allergic to peanuts! If she even gets close to them, they make her all itchy and wheezy.”
Mrs. Hanamura nodded. “So it’s kind of like that for Yosuke, except he’s allergic to the light from the sun. If it touches his skin, it hurts him very badly, so he can’t go outside during the day.”
“Wow, what a bummer!” Chie said, feeling sorry for Yosuke. They hadn’t spoken to each other much in school, but he’d always seemed nice enough. In hindsight, she wished she had talked to him more, because he probably could really use a friend right now. “But hey, what about nighttime? Is he okay to play after the sun goes down?”
“I suppose, bu—”
“Awesome! I’ll be back tonight!” Chie decided.
“You will?”
“Yeah! If that’s okay, I mean,” Chie said, momentarily remembering to have something like manners and quickly bowing to Mrs. Hanamura. “I wanna be Yosuke’s friend. I don’t really have any friends at school—” she said, shooting a look over her shoulder at the three girls and shouting, “—PROBABLY BECAUSE I DON’T GET ALONG WITH MEAN, STUPID PEOPLE!”
When Mrs. Hanamura looked up at the three girls, just now noticing them, they squeaked and ran away, scattering like mice.
Chie went on at a normal volume, “And it must be hard for Yosuke to make friends when he stays in the house all day. So we’re a pretty good match, don’t you think?”
Feeling her guard coming down, Mrs. Hanamura smiled and said, “I suppose you are.”
“Great! So I’ll see you tonight!” Chie said, already turning on her heel to run home so she could get her homework and chores out of the way. She then called over her shoulder, “Oh, and I like meat! So no salads for dinner, okay? Later!”
Before she got too far, Chie looked back up at the second-floor window, and she was surprised to see Yosuke peeking over the bottom ledge of the window at her. As soon as they locked eyes, he ducked his head and disappeared from view, but a few seconds later, his head popped back up, eyes full of curiosity.
Laughing, Chie waved wildly up at him and yelled as loudly as she could, “I’ll be back later, Hanamura! I promise!”
He seemed confused at first, but then he smiled shyly and raised his hand in a small wave.
For some reason, that little gesture made Chie feel warm inside, like it was the first step of what would be a great friendship.