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The apartment was quiet this evening, but that wasn’t particularly unusual.
As she glanced at the clock, Satsuki groaned. Hinako usually left her room around this time if she had some sort of training to subject her to, or if she was taking her outside to feed.
Satsuki picked one of her books up and started reading. She was in the middle of a rather engaging passage, so she didn’t mind a little extra peace. Just as she’d settled down; however, she heard footsteps, and then the sound of the door unlocking.
“Evening.”
Satsuki quickly rose to her feet. “Evening, H-hinako.”
“Feeling energetic?” Hinako asked.
“Mm? No, I just- you’re usually out here by now.” Satsuki said. “I was a little anxious.”
“I had a decision to make.”
Satsuki noticed she wasn’t wearing her coat tonight.
“What’s that?”
“You have made satisfactory progress this week. As such, I’ve chosen to loosen your leash slightly.”
Satsuki’s eyes widened.
“You will hunt on your own tonight.”
“Oh! I see. That’s exciting.”
Hinako’s expression remained neutral. “Consider this practice. Your performance tonight will dictate the freedom I offer you in the future.”
Satsuki nodded and began walking towards the door.
“Do not fail. For both of our sakes.”
“Right.” Satsuki nodded. “I won’t.”
“You’d best leave immediately,” Hinako said. “Don’t be hasty, and don’t linger. I will be very unhappy if I have to come and rescue you.”
With that, Hinako returned to her study.
Satsuki watched as she left, and stared at Hinako’s door for a few moments, before putting on her shoes and getting to the roof as quickly as she could.
The moon was bright tonight, and as such, Satsuki took care to avoid the major thoroughfares and streets, and instead stuck to the outskirts of town. Eventually, after fifteen or so minutes, she found a nice rooftop overlooking an alley that ran for nearly half a kilometer. Even better, none of the lights in the alley were on. Satsuki didn’t think she could have found a better spot for an ambush. Perhaps something could be found further out from the city center, but a perfect trap mattered little if there was no prey to trigger it. Satisfied, she sat down and waited for the prey to come to her.
After half an hour, she heard voices, and lay down to avoid being seen.
Three girls stopped at the entrance to the alley; Satsuki thought they looked like college students, probably coming home from a party or maybe a late study session.
One of the girls waved goodbye and began walking down the alley. Watching as the other two continued to walk along the main road, Satsuki stood up, and began walking, keeping herself parallel with the girl below. This dance continued until Satsuki had let the walk nearly halfway through the alley unmolested.
Suddenly, with no warning, she came crashing down on the student, slamming their head into the wall as she landed on top of them.
The girl was still breathing, but was unconscious. All the better for Satsuki, as there was no need to silence her.
Satsuki supposed this wasn’t a terrible way to die. No slow draining of one’s life, just a simple blunt pain, followed by darkness.
She lifted the girl’s neck to her mouth, and bit down. After a barely audible squelch, fresh blood flooded into Satsuki’s mouth. She couldn’t remember when, but at some point it had stopped tasting like copper. It still didn’t taste good, though that hardly mattered. The feeling of blood revitalizing her as she drank was more important than the taste anyway.
When Satsuki was nearly finished, the thought of her next steps came to her. She needed to dispose of the body, obviously. She tore herself away from the girl’s neck, gazing longingly at the blood still flowing from the bite. Satsuki had an idea, and figured leaving a little blood would make this deception a little easier. There was a level crossing a few blocks away. She could walk down the track a few metres, and then set the body down there. She slung the body around her shoulder, and leapt over to the crossing. Just past the fences, there was an overgrown area. With luck, no one would come across the body until morning. As she approached, Satsuki realized something. While the girl’s head was pretty mangled, she didn’t think it was bad enough to be believable as a railroad accident. With this in mind, Satsuki set the corpse down with its head laying on the rail, and stomped down, breaking it apart like a melon. Surveying the aftermath, she decided it would do. With that done, it was time for her to return to Hinako’s apartment. She leaped atop a signal pole to get her bearings, and began the trip home.
—
Hinako had no reason to be worried. She’d drilled the basics into that girl’s skull for nearly a month now. If she somehow forgot them, she was better off dead.
Despite that fact, her death was an entirely unacceptable outcome.
A wonderful, infuriating contradiction. Regardless, she’d trained Satsuki diligently. Unless something truly unpredictable happened, all would be well.
Hinako was primarily worried about herself. She knew that if this girl were to die, Princess Brunestud would make her regret ever existing.
She paced back and forth.
Just in case…
Hinako pulled back the curtains and opened the window. If she felt anything was amiss, she could intervene quickly, and ideally avert a worst-case outcome.
Nearly an hour passed as she sat by the window and waited.
This was ridiculous. The whelp would be fine, Hinako chided herself. Even if Satsuki failed, she’d simply have to drag her back out tomorrow to find something worth eating; none of this warranted her anxiety.
Yet…
Finally, she heard Satsuki open the door to the apartment. Hinako breathed a sigh of relief. After taking a moment to collect herself, she closed her window and exited her study.
—
Satsuki wiped off the last of the blood off her face as she opened the door. As she kicked off her shoes, Hinako emerged from her study,
“You look like you’ve fed properly.” She said, looking Satsuki over.
“Yeah!” Satsuki said cheerfully. “I definitely took a little too long to find someone, but it worked out alright.”
“Your choice?”
“A college student. At least, I think she was a student. She looked a little older than me. I waited for her to cut through an alley before eating her.”
“And what of the corpse?” Hinako said, continuing her debrief. “Please tell me you disposed of it properly.”
“I set it beside the train tracks.” Satsuki said, “When I tackled her, I mangled her skull pretty badly, so I thought that maybe it’d look like an accident. I left some blood in as well.”
“Good work.” Hinako said. “I’m glad you’ve learned enough restraint to think of such things.”
“Thank you.” Satsuki said. She bowed a little. She knew Hinako wouldn’t care one way or the other, but old habits are difficult to shake.
Indeed, Hinako barely seemed to notice. She simply stared at Satsuki, eyes dissecting and appraising her like always. Satsuki stood in place, too unsure to dare move.
Finally, Hinako broke the silence.
“I will accompany you again on your next hunt, but I will consider allowing you to hunt on your own again soon.”
Satsuki’s eyes widened, and she was about to thank Hinako, but she was cut off.
“Good night.” Hinako turned and retreated back into her study. She didn’t slam the door this time, which Satsuki took as a sign of progress.
Satsuki sighed and lay down on the couch. For a few moments she simply lounged, letting the stress and adrenaline of the hunt ebb away, leaving her tired. Grabbing a book from the coffee table, her eyes were drawn to something: the strange, vibrant flowers Hinako kept on the coffee table. Satsuki often found herself wondering how she kept them looking so lovely. Hinako never watered them, and the curtains kept the sun at bay. In spite of that, a pot of red flowers were always in full bloom atop the table.
She’d best not think about it too much.
Satsuki sighed, and leaned back into the cushions, and began reading.