Monday (11/17/XX) 6:15PM
I started biting my hand as I was staring at my phone.
Ryunosuke walked with a spell book in hand disguised as a novel. He glanced at my perturbed face and let out a tired breath.
Sen looked over my shoulder. “What’s wrong, Aki?”
I cringed and put my phone against my chest. “N-nothing!”
The boy pursed his lips and tilted his head. I gave him an artificial smile.
“Akio, just do it.”
I whirled my head to Ryunosuke. “Huh?”
“GOTCHA!” Sen triumphantly said while snatching my phone away.
“SEN GIVE IT BACK!” I begged.
Sen giggled to himself and started to look at my phone until Ryunosuke slapped the top of his head with his book. The phone fell out of his hands and landed in Ryunosuke’s hand.
“Here you go, Akio.” Ryunosuke pushed up his glasses as Sen was complaining and punching Ryunosuke’s back.
A sigh of relief left my mouth, but my breath hitched as I saw a notification on my phone.
Can you meet up today?
I stopped in my step and looked at my phone with wide eyes. “Um, I’ll see you later. I have to go grab some things at the convenience store.”
“I want to go too! I want Onigi-” Sen stopped mid-sentence as Ryunosuke covered his mouth with his hand.
“You’re too loud.”
I took this opportunity and started to run faster. I love Ryunosuke. Looking down at my phone, I reread my response.
Yes meet me at my house
-
I leaned against the gate of my house as I caught my breath. I saw Nikolas standing across from me near the front wall surrounding my house.
"Sorry," I said while fixing my uniform. "I was walking home from school."
He blinked and nodded.
I furrowed my brows. "How come you're out here? Shouldn't you be sleeping by now?"
Nikolas put his palm on the cheek. I noticed the large bandaid on his face. "I got suspended."
My mouth dropped. "WHAT?! HOW?”
“I got into a fight.”
“With who?” I yelled in shock.
"Akio!” The two of us turned to the voice. “Why don't you invite your friend to come inside?"
"O-oh, hi mom," I said, getting caught off guard. "Come inside, Nik."
The two of us awkwardly walked into my home, him keeping a distance from me.
“You’re Akio’s classmate?”
I answered before Nikolas could speak. “Yes! We’re in the same grade.” I gave a look at Nikolas that told him to play along.
He blinked a few times before nodding obediently.
“How nice! Why don’t you stay for dinner?” My mom walked into the kitchen. “Akio doesn’t invite many of his friends over so I’m glad.” She set dishes on the counter and opened the rice cooker.
A door opening could be heard from the hallway. My brother walked into the dining room and looked at Nikolas in confusion. “Who are you?”
My eyebrow twitched. “This is my classmate, Nikolas.”
“Anji, can you grab the rest of the dishes?” My mom asked.
He nodded and served everyone their plates. I watched how he towered over my mom. Now that I think about it, my younger brother is almost as tall as Nikolas.
She set the filled bowls of rice on the table. “Come! Sit! I hope you don’t mind eating fish.”
Nikolas pulled out a chair and sat down while shaking his head. “I eat anything, but beef.”
The four of us ate dinner together after saying our thanks for the meal. I uncomfortably sat across from Nikolas while my brother sat next to him.
“Your eyes are cool, do you wear colored contacts?” Anji asked with a mouthful of salmon and rice.
“It’s natural,” Nikolas responded before taking a sip of water.
“You have a natural pink eye?”
I kicked my brother’s foot as he asked.
He flinched and glared. “Well, I think it’s cool, I never met anyone with red eyes.”
“You’re also very tall, Nikolas!” My mom chimed in. “Where are you from?”
“I was born in Transylvania, but moved to Japan when I was in intermediate school.”
Anji’s chopsticks stopped midway to his mouth. We locked eyes and he gaped at me.
“Your Japanese is amazing! Are you still able to speak your native tongue?”
Nikolas nodded while chewing on his salmon. I knew he glanced at me, but I continued to look down at my plate.
Anji watched as Nikolas ate his food. “Hey, Nikolas, can you pass me the salt?”
The vampire put his chopsticks down and grabbed the salt shaker. He placed it in Anji’s hand.
“Thanks.” Anji smiled. It was one of his fake smiles.
At this point, we were all close to finishing our meals. My mom wiped her mouth with her napkin. “It’s late, why don’t you sleep over, Nikolas?”
Anji and I both choked on our food.
“That’s alright. I don’t have a change of clothes.”
My mom waved her hand in dismissal. “Anji can lend some of his clothes. You two seem to be the same size.” She nodded at Anji. “Anji, go grab some spare clothes. I’ll go wash the dishes.” My mom said as she got out of her seat.
“I’ll help you.” Nikolas stood up and grabbed his empty dishes.
My mom told Nikolas that he didn’t need to, but he insisted.
Anji and I were still sitting at the dining table. He jumped out of his seat and pulled me into the hallway.
“Akio,” he held onto my shoulders, “I think your friend is… Is…”
“A what?”
He shuddered before whispering, “A vampire.”
I bit my cheek and forced out a laugh. “That’s crazy! There’s no way Nikolas is a vampire.”
“Akio, he doesn’t like beef? Red eyes? HE’S FROM TRANSYLVANIA?!” He let go of me and looked down at his hands. “When I asked for salt I touched his hands and they were ice cold.”
I anxiously ruffled my hair. “Anji, there’s no way a vampire could go to school with me. Think about it, how is he able to walk in the daytime?” I didn’t want to mention to him the idea of sunscreen, but my brother was too idiotic to think of that possibility.
“I guess you’re right…” Anji suddenly yelped and stepped back.
I turned around and felt my heart jump in fear.
Nikolas was behind us with his head tilted. “Sorry, I want to go shower, can I borrow some clothes?”
“Here you go!” Anji fakely smiled again and quickly handed him his clothes.
I pointed down the hall. “Bathroom is that door.”
Nikolas examined my face before nodding and walking past the two of us.
Once the door was shut my brother fell to his knees. “He is a vampire.”
I picked up my brother off the ground, holding him under his shoulders. “Alright, in your room you go! Anchan needs some rest. You're acting delusional.”
“I’M NOT DELUSIONAL!” He cried.
I shook my head as I threw him onto his bed. I strolled out of his room and shut the door on the way out with an unsteady sigh.
-
Freshly out of the shower, I entered my bedroom and saw Nikolas sitting on the futon that I set out for him. It was strange seeing him wear my brother’s clothes. I cautiously walked to my bed and sat down. The room was painfully still.
I plugged in my phone and cleared my throat. “W-well, good night!” I threw the blanket over my head and faced my back to him.
The room was silent for several minutes before he broke the silence. “Akio.”
I pretended to fall asleep.
“Can we talk?”
I psyched myself to slowly turn in bed and saw those glowing scarlet eyes staring back at me. I sat up while looking down. I gave a slow nod while patting the spot on the bed next to me.
He got up and sat a distance away from me. "I shouldn't have taken advantage of you that night,” he muttered. “I'm sorry…"
"What do you mean?” I chuckled nervously. “I wanted you to do that." I squeezed the blanket in my fist out of anticipation.
He shook his head. "I took advantage of you when you were vulnerable. You also said and did some things you probably didn't intend to either."
I gritted my teeth and grabbed onto the collar of his shirt. His eyes were wide in disbelief. "What makes you think I don’t like you? Even if you didn’t bite me, I’d gladly do that again."
“Still,” Nikolas said in a low voice. “It was indecent of me to do. Didn’t that scare you?”
“I mean, I thought I was going to die, but I trust you.” I shook my head. “More importantly, this entire time, I tried to talk to you.”
“Why didn't you?”
“You would always push me away! I knew something was wrong, but you wouldn't let me speak.”
He rubbed the nape of his neck. “That's because I knew I wouldn't be able to control myself if you were near me.”
“Well,” I continued. “After what happened, I didn't know if you wanted to talk to me anymore. I was scared you wanted me gone.”
He was quiet for some time before saying, “Can I touch you?”
I nodded slowly.
“I'm so sorry, Akio.” He leaned his forehead on mine. "I wanted to treat you tenderly, but instead, I ended up hurting you. I thought distancing myself would work, but I was wrong. I hate myself for it.”
“Don't say that. I know how you are.” I smiled warmly. "You've always been thoughtful and treated me with tenderness."
He moved his face away as I let go of his collar.
“I should also apologize.” I lowered my gaze. “I was there when you came to the locker room, but I decided to hide from you. I wanted to talk to you, but I didn't have the courage to.”
“Am I that scary?” He tried to look into my eyes, but I shyly averted his gaze.
“N-no… My feelings overwhelmed me and I became too flustered to do anything.”
“Your feelings?” He squeezed his eyes and shook his head before fixing his eyes on me again. “Does that mean,” he whispered in a low voice, “you like me?”
I could feel my face turning red. “Didn't I already say that?”
He blinked several times. "Even if I'm not human?"
"That doesn't matter to me.”
A rare smile was drawn on his face. For once, I could see his fangs.
We locked eyes as he lay down and put me on top of him. I was a breath away from his face. His soft pink lips were close to mine, but I hesitated to inch forward. My hands that were pinned next to his head felt numb. I felt his hands move away from my hips and trailed towards my face.
Are we going to do it?! I started to lose it.
As if he read my mind, the vampire said, “We’ll move at your pace.” The vampire pushed my bangs from my eyes, brushing my cheek with the back of his hand.
I slowly nodded, inching backward.
He moved his hands away from my face and opened his arms wide, beckoning me to lie down. “For now, let’s sleep.”
I gulped and steadily put my head onto his chest. I could feel Nikolas place his hand on the middle of my back, the other hand playing with my hair. I could tell he was being considerate.
I lifted my head and furrowed my brows. “Wait, does that mean you like me too?”
Nikolas stopped playing with my hair and brushed off my question. “Good night.”
I playfully smacked his chest and giggled.
After a long, long time, for once, I felt comfortable with where I was.
ns 18.68.41.137da2
