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Kumiko has been Reina's roommate for about half a year, and has been crushing on her for 4 of those months. Reina was a trainwreck with a job that could only pay a quarter of the rent for their already small apartment, which was probably meant for one person. The situation Kumiko was in was just great, wasn't it?
Slinging off her bag and placing it outside the door, she arrived home, eyelids drooping. It was 10 PM, and her job as an office worker was grueling, especially since she worked for one of the biggest anime companies in Japan, Kyoto Animation. She wasn't a writer, an animator, or anything exciting; she simply looked through the script for grammar mistakes. Great. Just fucking great.
Half of the time, she didn't even follow the story, just looked on blankly. Not the best for her health, which was already deteriorated by her long hours, from 6:30 AM to 9:45 PM. At least she lived relatively close to the building, and it payed very well.
She hung her tan coat on the coat rack that was on the pantry door (as said, it was a small apartment) and tugged the hairband from her chocolate hair roughly. She stumbled into the kitchen, hands wandering for a light switch on the walls. Surprisingly, she found it before she could knock an expensive painting off the wall. Flicking the dull yellow light on, she saw that Reina’s shoe weren’t at the door. Tch. She had been coming home late for a while now, even though her part-time job at the local gas station only lasted until 5 PM.
She’d been planning to tell her how she felt for a week or two now; after all, how could such an awful person deny her when she didn’t have a chance with literally anyone else; perhaps she was an awful person for thinking that; but Reina always avoided her, for some reason. Perhaps out of kindness. Perhaps out of rudeness. Kumiko didn’t have a clue.
Opening the minifridge (their only fridge), Kumiko took a cheap Ramune and uncapped it. She chugged it, ignoring the pungent flavor as it had probably spent a month in there, and threw it in the already overflowing trashcan next to the sink. She went into the bathroom, getting ready for bed. She looked at herself in the mirror and snorted with distaste. Her hair was messy; probably a result of the rather frisky uber driver, who she had sprayed with her pepper spray; and her Clannad shirt she had gotten for free when she joined the Kyoto Animation crew was rumpled and probably ripped at the sleeves. Or maybe it was just meant to look cool. Her black leggings were baggy in more than a few places and had ketchup spilled on them. Her socks were probably originally white but were now more of a green color. Add the crazy roommate she was in love with, and all and all, she obviously had her life together.
Taking her hello kitty toothbrush she had gotten for only 50 yen (seriously who wouldn’t buy it), she brushed her teeth thoroughly. If she was going to look insane, she may as well have good teeth, huh.
She looked to the side, almost carelessly, and saw the picture. It was probably the only nice picture Reina had allowed Kumiko to see, and she looked fucking beautiful. A white dress, her hair done up in a ponytail, and a gorgeous silver trumpet at her lips. She had played euphonium in high school, but was never that good. However, Reina wasn’t very modest, and told Kumiko all about how great she was at the trumpet, though she wasn’t very open in other topics.
Even when she had asked Reina about her band life recently, however, she had shrugged and turned away. Yes, something had definitely changed recently.
She swished the mouthwash that didn’t dribble down her chest in her mouth, and spit it into the sink. Kumiko then took the doorknob to her room in her hands (though the apartment was limited to a bathroom, a living room and kitchen combined, it still had two rooms, thank goodness) and as quick as she opened it, she closed it and flopped onto the uncomfortable mattress. Wincing at the stiffness, she managed to kick off her frighteningly dirty socks and throw off her cheesy shirt, concealing a white tank top underneath, as she often got too hot to sleep.
She managed to keep her eyes open long enough to check her instagram on the bright light from her phone on her bedside table, and smiled as she saw the background of her phone. It was Kumiko’s family, all squished together into the thin line of sight the phone had, her little brother doing a peace sign, and all laughing. It was a good night.
She then set her alarm to 5:45 AM and went to sleep just as she clicked the ‘off’ button on her phone.
Kumiko woke not to the expected kpop music that was her morning alarm, but the slamming of the door and something crashing. Reina. She looked at her phone’s clock, and saw through her blurry vision the time; 1:03 AM. Just amazing, she thought to herself, and practically fell out of bed. As much as she hated the girl right now, she needed to get her into bed so she didn’t get hurt.
Not bothering to put on her shirt again (and, yes, perhaps she did want something more to happen), she opened the creaky door, looking for those sapphire eyes that always shone in the dark. “Reina?” She called, having to go through the dark bathroom before getting to the even darker living room (the planning of the rooms in this building obviously went to some drunk) and flailed, looking around for her roommate.
Oddly, she felt her presence, but couldn’t see her. She snorted; was she in a horror movie? If so, she was going to do the horribly cliche thing and look around for her friend; if she could call Reina that; in the middle of the night. No regrets, even if this is a movie, she told herself.
Deciding to take the broom anyway, she looked around in desperation, though it was pitch black. She could be in a TV show and she wouldn’t know. “Where the hell are you? It’s 1-fucking-AM, I need to sleep! You know how early I wake up!” Realizing that Reina was probably in a drunken stupor and getting mad at her wasn’t the answer, she shut her mouth in embarrassment.
Walking over to the general direction of the couch, she let out an “oof” as her side painfully hit the edge of the otherwise rather soft material. Almost hissing in pain, but deciding not to in case it really was a TV show, she kept the broom in front of her like a sword with her dominant hand and felt around for her surroundings with the other. When Reina woke up, even hungover, she would definitely have to explain herself. Or maybe she was actually on illegal drugs, in which case, Kumiko.. probably wouldn’t tell the authorities, damn crushes.
Swinging her hand around blindly and merely hoping she wouldn’t hit the raven-haired girl, after a few moments, her wrist was caught. Staring at her hand (that she could barely see), Reina’s pale fingers wrapped around it. She did never notice how incredibly pale they were..
Before she could finish her thoughts and perhaps ask the girl about why she was so pale, Kumiko’s wrist was slammed into the wall, a few feet from where they were standing. Oh, yes, this was definitely a horror movie. A live-action horror movie. Her body was roughly pushed up against the wall as well. Not having any time for more sarcastic thoughts, her mind went blank with terror. “R-Reina?” Her voice caught before she could say anything more.
“I’ve tried so hard, you know.”
Her voice was soft, which was usually calming, but so eerie in this situation. Kumiko tried to find voice to respond, but the chords were twisted, her mouth dry. She only managed a choke before another hand slammed into her neck, cutting off anything but a little bit of air.
“So. Damn. Hard. But it seems you’re just begging for it.” Maybe, in another situation, she would’ve laughed at how that sentence sounded. But now she was fighting just to breathe.
“Kumiko.. Why do you have to try to be such a good person?” Her voice lilted. “I know how awful you are. You are so generous in letting me pay only a quarter of the rent, and yet, you don’t stop me from coming home so late. Oh, you’re so terrible.” Kumiko could feel it; her mouth was whispering into her ear. “So tempting.”
Was this her wildest dream coming true?
Reina started chuckling. “Now you’ll have to face the consequences.”
Something told her this was definitely not her wildest dream coming true.
Kumiko managed to open her eye a bit, when she didn’t even realize her eyes were closed, and look at Reina.
Her eyes. They were no longer sapphire, but instead, ruby. Still as bright, but more vicious. Her eyes were slitted slightly, looking like a cat’s eyes would. And her mouth had fangs, white and pearly and fucking terrifying.
Kumiko’s eyes dilated. She started squirming in fear. No. No. No no no. She had heard rumors but she was never one to believe in fantasy. Was this what had happened to her crush over the past few weeks? Was this what was going to happen to her?
She didn’t pay any attention to the fact her body was pressed up against the others’. Her mind was moving in about 6 different directions and all of them were away, away, away.
“Don’t worry, love.” Instead of beaming at the word, like she would’ve before this, Kumiko tensed at it. “I won’t hurt you. I won’t kill you. I’ll on-” Her word was cut off, and the girl that had been in front of her was across the room in a millisecond.
“oh no. oh no no no. no no no. fuck. fuck. fuck. what am i doing.” Her words were faint and quiet, almost nonexistent. This was a different person from the other girl, who had been there moments before. “ive been killing; drinking; other people, and yet my mind is fuking focused on her. why. what did i do to deserve this. fuck. fuck fuck.” Just a few sentences told Kumiko all she needed to know. However, she didn’t untense, didn’t let her guard down. That girl could come back at any moment.
Quickly grabbing the broom again; when did she drop it?; she took a few steps toward the roommate. “R-Reina? Who are you?” As she said it, she knew it was a bad choice. She looked back up at her with her sapphire eyes; sapphire ; and started sobbing.
“I-I don’t know, Kumiko!” Now, she was yelling, a contrast to what she was doing before. “I don’t fucking know what I am! Some other demon? A monster? I may as well be Satan, because I. Don’t. Fucking. Know.” Her breaths started to get uneven. “Y-You really are terrible..” A hoarse laugh caught in her throat.
Kumiko fidgeted, not really knowing what to do. She still hadn’t untensed. Her eyes hadn’t normalized, like Reina’s had. She was a terrible person; worse than a vampire, who still had morals, at least.
But..
She could make this right.
Taking a deep breath, she straightened from her cowering position and walked with unsteady legs over to the vampire. She was a pitiful sight; her head in her hands, tears leaking out onto the already damp floor, her hair even worse than the brunette’s. Only what she was about to do made her feel slightly better. “Hey, Reina,” Kumiko whispered softly, eyes caring.
Reina’s head shot up, glaring at the girl opposite to her. “What.”
She looked away, tension still not gone, her instincts fighting the words that came out of her mouth next. “Uh, I don’t know how to say it, but…” She crouched down, level to the girl, and took her hair from in front of her neck. “Here. If you really need to.”
She couldn’t see Reina’s expression but could feel her shock anyway. “Kumiko, what are you saying?” A new emotion filled the girl in front of her, felt through the air; eagerness. But also wariness. She was conflicted.
The brown eyed girl smiled. “This is so weird. Drink, Reina. I don’t want you to feel like this.”
Reina tried to push herself back, but she was already up against the wall. “Kumiko, y-you know you’d become-” she thought to herself for a moment. “Become one of my kind, right?” The word that was both their minds was too scary to say aloud.
“I know,” she said at a whisper. “Please, don’t shove it in my face, we’ll deal with it later. For now…” She nudged herself closer, practically pushing her neck into Reina’s face. “Please.”
Reina tried to cling onto any strand of mortality that would stop her from changing the human into something more, but the smell of blood filled her nostrils. Life pumped under Kumiko’s skin, pulsing, pushing at its confined. She wanted to change that. She wanted her to be as pale and as lifeless as her, sucked almost dry, but not quite.
She would change that.
At obviously superhuman speeds, Reina wrapped her arms around the girl and pushed her fangs into her neck. Kumiko cried out, but didn’t try to escape as the again ruby eyed girl smirked into her skin and sucked the life out of her through her fangs. She also pushed venom out of her pearly canines, pushing what made her a vampire in the first place into the other girl. Making sure she didn’t have all of the blood, still leaving most of it, but still enjoying every last drop she could get. She only stopped when she knew that Kumiko was on the brink of actual death. The raven haired vampire released her, dropping her to the floor.
Her eyes returned to normal, human-like, and she wiped the red liquid from her lips. It dripped onto the floor from her hand, from her mouth, from her chin. She looked up, now worried she may have hurt her; could she call Kumiko her friend?
Kumiko’s fallen frame was clear to see under Reina’s improved vision, her eyes closed, body lifeless. However, this was only a phase in the transformation; she should wake up in a few hours, fresh, newer, stronger. Better.
She stood up, satisfied. The drinking had gone even better than what she had desired. Taking the girl in her arms, bridal-style; how cliche; and took her through the bathroom, not into the girl’s original room, but into Reina’s room. She remembered waking up in a back alley, immediately remembering everything, and sobbing into her dirtied shirt and throwing up in the garbage bin. She would never make it so terrible for Kumiko, no.
Laying the brunette in the queen bed and a blanket over her, the awake girl closed the door silently; as if Kumiko would wake up if she was too loud; and walked to the other side of the bed. She lifted the covers carefully and slid into the comfortable sheets. After a few moments of thought, she rolled over to the once tan, now rather pale girl, and lay her arm over the figure lazily. Thinking for a moment, she raised her head and pressed her lips to the girl’s forehead sloppily, then rested back down.
She sighed to herself happily, and nestled her nose into the chocolate hair, falling into a peaceful sleep.