Two years later…
I lethargically sat in my lecture room after a long lesson. Next to me, Sen was sleeping with his head on the desk. I shook him awake to tell him that the lecture was over. Sen sat up with disheveled hair. I giggled and took a picture and sent it to Ryunosuke.
“I saw that,” Sen said irritably.
I giggled and showed him the photo. “You look ugly when you sleep.”
“Hey, shut up! Delete that!” Sen attempted to steal my phone, but he tripped over his bag.
After bickering, the two of us started to gather our belongings. We greeted our professor before leaving and entered the hallway. In the distance, I could hear quick footsteps echoing from the hallway.
Ryunosuke ran towards me, yelling my name. The two of us turned and saw Ryunosuke panting. “I did it! I finally did it!”
“What’s wrong, Ryu?” Sen asked.
“Akio, you need to come with me!” The wizard yanked my arm.
I jolted in surprise. “Ryunosuke, wait! What are you talking about?”
He fixed his glasses and caught his breath. “The spell. It’s done.”
-
Akio stood frozen in place.
“I’ll meet you later, Sen!” Ryunosuke called out before grabbing Akio’s hand and dragging him away.
“Where are we going?”
“A place where no one will see us. In case something bad happens, we’ll be away from crowds.” The wizard led Akio to an empty room on campus where Nikolas was sitting at a desk. In front of him was a blue cornflower.
Akio gasped. “I can’t believe you did it.”
Ryunosuke sat across from the vampire. “I've been raising this flower for almost two years now, and today it finally bloomed.”
“Whoa, two years?”
Ryunosuke nodded, crossing his arms. “You should be thanking my ass.”
Akio chuckled and kicked Ryunosuke’s leg playfully as he slyly smiled.
The wizard's face turned serious as he looked at Nikolas. “We don't have much time. The final step is for you to eat the flower.” Ryunosuke took the flower out of the glass casing and handed the blossom into Nikolas’s palm. The flower appeared different from the cornflowers he’d seen. This one was iridescent, glowing an ethereal blue. It looked as if the flower was glowing in the sunlight shining through the window of the room.
With a grave look on his face, Ryunosuke continued. “I will warn you that the process is extremely painful. However, if you fail to eat the flower when it's in its fullest bloom, you'll have a lower chance of not surviving the transformation.”
Fear in his eyes, Akio looked at Nikolas whose stare was unwavering at the wizard. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I’m more sure than ever.” Nikolas reached for Akio’s hand and gave him a confident smirk.
Akio pursed his lips and gave a hesitant nod.
With a swift movement of his palm, he placed the cornflower into his mouth and chewed on its petals. With one swallow, the flower was gone. Instantly Nikolas winced and tensed his jaw. He put his clenched fist to his mouth as his eyes began to glow red. Akio tried to comfort Nikolas, but Nikolas shook his head.
“I need you two to leave.” Nikolas’s sharp nails pierced through the table as he dragged his fingers in agony. Cracks began to form on the table. “I’ll let you know when it’s over.” He said through bared teeth.
“I can’t leave you like this.” Akio panicked, his hands shaking as he tried to reach for Nikolas.
Nikolas grabbed his hand with his normal hand and gave him a stern look. “Go, I'll be alright.”
Ryunosuke shook his head. “Akio, it’s dangerous! I’ll stay behind in case I need to restrain him.”
Akio refused to move from where he was, but the wizard pushed the frightened Akio out of the room.
The sound of Nikolas’s grunts and pants could be heard before the door closed. Nikolas felt sharp pains all over his skin, fighting the urge to scream. This pain made the pain he felt during his near-death experience at the winter solstice nothing. Until he could no longer handle the pain, Nikolas fainted on the desk.
-
I could hear Nikolas’s painful grunts as I leaned my back against the door. I banged my fist on the wall, begging for Ryunosuke to bring me back inside, but it was to no avail.
I exhaled as I accepted defeat. “I guess I have to wait for his transformation to finish.”
“Transformation?”
My spine stiffened hearing a familiar cold voice. I turned my head to the side as I was met with a pair of golden eyes.
“It's been a while.” He grinned widely, pinning me to the wall. His hair was shorter now, but they were still an elegant shade of lavender. Our faces were barely a breath away from each other.
Zaros?
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