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Kohane’s not sure what to do with their time. Akito-kun’s had to cancel on them, so they all agreed to take a bit of a break, but Kohane can only go to Phoenix Wonderland so often.
She should probably go straight home, her parents have been really concerned about all the attacks and disappearances recently, though Vivid Street has been pretty safe.
She’s lost in thought when she walks into Akito-kun himself.
“Oh! Sorry!” Kohane says.
“Ugh, hi Kohane,” Akito-kun says. He’s wearing sunglasses that really clash with his outfit for someone so fashion-conscious.
“Is something wrong?” Kohane says. “Have you been feeling well?”
“Yeah! I’m fine, I just got in a fight and got a nasty black eye,” Akito-kun says. “I need to cover it up for work.”
“Oh, are you ok? Who were you—”
The light changes and Akito sprints away from her. “Sorry! Talk to you later!”
~
Even with An sprinting to the school store, the special sweet buns they get once a month are already sold out.
“Damn it!” An mutters. But then she realizes she might have a chance when she sees Akito.
“Akito~” An says. “Would you do your team member a favor?”
“No,” Akito says.
“I didn’t even ask!”
“Still no.”
“Look, I just want to know if you grabbed an extra sweet bun.”
“Oh, is that all?” Akito pulls one out of his bag.
“Wait, you’re seriously giving me your last one?” An said. “I thought I’d have to haggle you for half.”
“I already gave Toya his,” Akito says. “I got one for myself but I don’t have much of an appetite.”
“ You don’t have an appetite for sweets?”
“Do you want it or not?”
“No, no I’ll take it.”
~
“Akito?” Toya asks, “what’s that on your arm?”
“What’s what?”
Toya immediately pulls him close and pushes up his sleeve. There are two small pricks in his forearm.
“Did something happen?” Toya asks.
“Those are mosquito bites,” Akito says.
“You really expect me to believe that?”
“What, you don’t think my blood is that tasty?”
“Seriously, what aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing!”
“Partner…”
“Look,” Akito says, “I promise everything is fine.”
~
Kohane, An, and Toya meet up the next day.
“I think something’s wrong with Akito!” they shout in unison.
Kohane blinks. “Wait, really?”
“Yeah, he turned down sweets,” An says.
“He’s been dodging my questions about his whereabouts for a while,” Toya sighs.
“He was wearing sunglasses to cover up a bruise yesterday. He said he was in a fight, but wouldn’t we have heard about it?” Kohane asks.
“Akito wouldn’t cover up a black eye with sunglasses in the first place,” An says.
“If it was really a problem he’d use make up,” Toya adds.
“Th-then what if something’s wrong?” Kohane gasps. “Should we do something?”
“I think I know what the problem is,” An says, deadly serious. “I think Akito’s a vampire.”
“What?!” Kohane gasps.
“No.” Toya says flatly.
“The staying out late, the bite marks, the sunglasses to ward off sunlight! He’s a vampire!” An insists.
“That’s impossible.”
An puts her hands on her hips. “Ok, let’s prove it. We’ll meet up tonight and try to figure out where he’s going.”
That night they follow Akito after practice, staking out his house until Akito leaves just after dark.
They follow him all the way to Kichijoji.
“He hasn’t done anything suspicious yet,” Kohane says.
“What the hell is he up to?” An mutters. “Maybe he’s going to a vampire bar for blood.”
“Are you basing everything you know about vampires in movies?” Toya sighs.
“I’ve never met one in person,” An says.
“Guys!” Kohane gasps. From their spot down the street, they see some guys jump out and attack Akito.
“Akito!” Toya gasps, rushing over.
“Stand back, citizen!” the leader, who’s clearly a kid their age says. “I’ll handle this vampire!”
“What?” Akito asks, flatly.
“Hurry! He’s still up, hit him harder!” one of the guys says, and the main one hits Akito again, knocking him down, and leaving him clearly dazed, though he wakes right up when the guy pulls out a wooden stake.
“Woah, ok. Let’s not do anything hasty here.”
“This is where you meet your end foul vampire!”
“…idiot.” Toya mutters.
“What was that?” The leader of the group says.
“I said you’re an idiot.” Then Toya… bares his fangs?! What?!
“ T-Toya-kun’s a vampire?!” Kohane gasps
He’s trying his best, but he can’t fight off all of the guys, so An rushes in next and draws one of the guys away with… a siren song?
“An-chan, you’re a siren?” Kohane gasps. “I DIDN’T HAVE TO HIDE I WAS A WEREWOLF THIS WHOLE TIME?!”
She quickly shifts into wolf mode and joins the fray, and soon Akito’s attackers are gone.
“Thanks for the help, Akito,” An says.
“The hell was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know use your cool vamp powers to fight them off?”
Akito looks at her like she’s stupid. “I’m human.”
“W-what?!”
Toya sighs. “Vampires are weaker in the sunlight but we certainly don’t need sunglasses to deal with it. And I can eat normal food.”
“Oh,” An says. “Wait but then why did you freak out when he pulled a stake on you?”
“Most things die if you stab them in the heart with a big pointy object,” Akito says.
Kohane tries to check if Akito’s ok, but he quickly moves away and hides behind Toya.
“You should transform back before someone else sees you,” Akito says.
Ah, that’s right, he’s afraid of dogs.
Kohane shifts back. “Are you alright? What have you been doing if you’re not a vampire?”
Akito sighs. “I’ve been filling in as a last minute server at this teen-friendly club as a favor to the owner so he’ll let us perform here.”
“Have you been doing that on top of practice AND your regular job?” Toya asks.
“It’s only temporary!” Akito says quickly. “But yeah that’s why I haven’t gotten enough sleep and have been getting migraines, so I wore those sunglasses,”
“And not eating?” An asks.
“I just haven’t been hungry with all the work lately.”
“Oh but what about the bite marks?” Kohane asks.
“You saw that? That’s just Toya.”
“No, she means the marks on your arm,” Toya says.
“Oh, long story short a busboy tripped, a steak fork went flying, and I was in the wrong place so I got a little stabbed,” Akito says.
“And you didn’t think to tell me?!”
“I didn’t want to get your hopes up about the venue!” Akito says. “Look, the guy I was filling in for is already back so I just need to finalize performance times with the owner. Why don’t we do that now if you don’t believe me?”
~
After they talk everything over with the venue owner (who apologizes again for Akito getting hurt) they all go out for ice cream.
“I can’t believe it! Other monsters!” Kohane says. “I’ve only known my parents and Minori-chan!”
“You can’t see all the monsters on Vivid Street?” Akito asks.
“Wait, you can? ” An gasps. “You never reacted before.”
“Yeah because I didn’t know if I’d get in trouble for being a human and knowing monster and demon stuff,” Akito says. “So I just act like everything’s normal.”
“My parents are very insistent on keeping us a secret,” Toya explains. “Once they caught me feeding on Akito so I had to pretend I hypnotized him into forgetting.”
“My parents are always really insistent on keeping it a secret too,” Kohane says. “Monster hunters and stuff.”
“Oh makes sense,” An says. “I mean sirens already look mostly human outside of the water, and years ago a wizard cast a glamour on the place so you could only see it’s true face if someone there allowed you to. I’m guessing Akito was just so confident we all assumed he could already see and we just let him. That or when Toya got accepted into Vivid Street and Akito knew about him that made it work?”
Akito sighs. “See, this is why I’m no good at this magic stuff. I don’t understand that at all.”
“Does that mean you didn’t want to tell me?” Kohane asks.
“No! I did, I really did!” An insists. “I was just worried how you’d react. You know humans can freak out about this a lot.”
“Unless you’re Akito,” Toya says, “all things considered, he took finding out I was a vampire really well.”
“Yeah, but you know, on the whole. I’ve heard the adults talking, there are more monster hunters popping up in Tokyo these days,” An says.
Kohane sighs. “I guess that makes sense, I didn’t want to tell you I was a werewolf either.”
“Yeah but now you can really experience Vivid Street to the fullest!” An says.
“I’m just glad I don’t have to keep pretending I don’t know EVER are a bunch of centaurs,” Akito says. “It’s so hard to pretend they’re human.”
“EVER are WHAT?!” Kohane gasps. “How do they get on stage?!”
“Magic,” An says. “And you know Uncle Taiga’s a werewolf too.”
“So I don’t have to pretend to be on my period to get out of practice on the full moon?” Kohane gasps. “Oh thank goodness, now I can take my actual periods off.”
“Huh?” Toya asks.
“Puberty stuff,” Akito says. “Especially when you’re young, periods can hurt like a bitch.”
“How do you know that?” An asks.
Akito shrugs. “I had to make sure Ena wasn’t bullshitting me when she sent me out to get stuff for her, so I did my research.”
“Wow. Honestly that’s the most attractive thing you’ve ever said,” An says.
“Hey!” Toya says, wrapping an arm around Akito.
“Relax, it was a joke. I’d take my Kohane over Akito any day.”
Kohane turns bright pink. “A-an-chan!”