Episode 9 –  The Truth

A Cheeky Junior Denied Me My Entire Life, so I Tested What Would Happen if I Jumped off a Rooftop to Vent My Anger

After talking with Kamiya-san. I returned to the apartment where Asama-san lived, looking up at the sky as if observing the night sky.

“Kamiya-san, she seems to be in a slightly different mood than usual.”

Maybe something happened while I was absent from school.

“Well, I’m not interested.”

But I don’t have time to think about that now. I’ve found something much, much more enjoyable to do. To be honest, I don’t care about Kamiya-san, Usa-san and Rengo, or any of it.

“…..But then again, it’s a filthy room.”

The room I returned to was in such disarray that it looked as if it had been burglarized and there was no place to step. I’ve gone to the trouble of cleaning it, but now I have to start all over again. It really might be quicker to just move out.

“But I guess that’s to be expected after such a mess.”

I’ll have to clean it all over again. With that thought in mind, I went back to my room.

My room is relatively clean because I don’t have anything in it. The only hobby I have is painting, so even taking into account the fact that I had just moved in, the spacious room was unnaturally bleak.

” …… tired.”

As if collapsing, I lay down on the bed. The soft and fluffy bed that Asama-san had prepared for me. I hate sleeping without taking a bath, but I don’t have the energy to move any more right now.

“I wonder if Asama-san is still in that abandoned building?”

She said she didn’t need to sleep, but is she still staring at the missing moon with those red eyes and laughing by herself?

“Vampire extermination, huh? I never imagined this would happen. ……”

I meditate and think back to the visitor from a few days ago.

◇

I try to draw a picture and unintentionally break my pencil. After doing something stupid like ……, I got up to cook for a change.

But as if to interrupt me, a chime rang and a girl came in.

“Onee san, it’s me. Please open the door.”

What I saw through the camera was a girl with long black hair, about junior high school age. I don’t …… recognize her. I am sure she is probably the girl who visited Asama-san.

I was a little unsure of how to respond, and then I said

“Asama-san hasn’t returned yet.”

Hearing my voice, the girl on the other side of the camera made a surprised face.

“Who are you, ……?”

“No, I’m going to be staying at this house for a while…”

“Oh, are you the ‘cuteboy’ onee san was talking about?”

The girl stares at the camera with colorless eyes. Even though you shouldn’t be able to see me from the other side, I feel like I’m being seen right through.

“Anyway, please open up. I have something I want to tell you as well. Or rather, if you don’t open it, I’ll go in on my own?”

“……, even if you don’t tell me. I don’t live here alone, so I don’t want to be too careless…”

“Just hurry up and open the door. Otherwise, I’ll be here crying my eyes out.”

“What kind of threat is that? ……”

I thought she was kind of a strange girl, but she didn’t seem to be a saleswoman, and the word “sister” bothered me more than anything.

I gave up and took her up to my room. She sat cross-legged on the living room sofa and sipped the coffee I had prepared.

“My name is Asama Rio. To put it simply, I am Asama Ion’s younger sister.”

“Asama san’s younger sister, huh? I’m …… Aoi Susumu. I’m Asama-san’s classmate, and for some reason I’ve been staying at this house for a while.”

Saying that, I also take a sip of my coffee. I’ve never heard that Asama-san has a younger sister. …But if you ask me, the atmosphere is a bit similar.

“Just to confirm, you know onee san’s secret, right?”

“Secret? No, I don’t know anything about it.”

“…Are you in denial? I’m the one who knows, so there’s no need to hide it.”

“No, I don’t know what the word means …… .”

“What’s with that face? Don’t tell me you really don’t know ……?”

The girl …… Rio-san looks into my face as if she can’t believe it.

But really I know nothing about Asama-san. She is a girl in my class who goes to the same school. She is stunningly beautiful and excels in sports and studies. But for some reason, she is an unusual girl who is always alone.

Normally, if she is that beautiful, a foolish man would have approached her. There is at least one such foolhardy guy in the class. And yet, even those guys can’t say anything when she stares at them with those bright red eyes.

Rather than being a high peak ……, she is an artificial flower mixed in a field of flowers. She is unnaturally beautiful, and because she is too beautiful, she is isolated. Asama-san was clearly different and foreign.

She was the one who saved me when I fainted after a failed attempt to jump off a building. And for some reason, she offered to leave me at home, as I had nowhere else to go. She said something about …… something, like she had a favor to ask me, but she has yet to tell me what it was.

In retrospect, I really don’t know anything about Asama-san. Rio-san looked at me thoughtfully and exhaled in disgust.

“My sister is special, you know. Being the daughter of Asama Group is a title that means nothing in front of her.”

“…. Asama Group is the biggest company in Japan, right? If it doesn’t mean anything, then what does it mean?”

“Well, you really haven’t heard anything, have you?”

“You say a lot of things that sound like a …… big deal. But I really haven’t been told anything.”

“It seems so. ……”

Such gestures are not unlike those of Asama-san. She doesn’t hesitate or worry. She has the power to force you to believe any word she says.

Rio-san exhales in resignation and opens her mouth.

“My sister is special. My sister and I are sisters, but we are not blood related. She is not human, but she is more special…”

The chime rings again, interrupting Rio’s words.

“Someone’s here again. …… sorry, I’ll be out in a minute.”

“…… take your time.”

I got up and was about to check the camera, but …… before I could do so, the front door somehow opened. Huh? This apartment building has automatic locks, right? I was thinking, I’m going to head for the front door anyway.

The man standing there was a long-haired man with a scarf and a coat on, even though it was already summer. Of course, I don’t recognize this man either.

“I’m sorry,……. Who are you? I’d prefer if you didn’t come in here without permission. ……”

“……….”

The man didn’t speak back, but with a fluid gesture, he took out a knife and plunged it …… into my heart.

“……….Eh?”

I fall to the ground before I can even feel the pain. Red blood …… flows. But I still don’t feel any pain.

“Ah.”

Yes, that’s right. Then I remembered. How could I have forgotten? I had indeed jumped off the roof that day. The pain was all over my body, and the ground was stained red with blood, just like now.

I did not die instantly. But I would lose consciousness in a few seconds and my life in a few minutes. It must have been such a serious injury. ……Yes, that’s right. I am sure I died at that time. Then why am I still alive? Why am I not …… dead, even though I was stabbed in the heart?

Is the person here really …… Aoi Susumu?

“…..!”

My thoughts are hazy. For some reason, I remember Asama-san’s words.

[What happened to you and why were you crying …… with such a face? I want you to tell me your pain.]

She certainly said that. What do you mean, …… but I was crying?　It was raining that day. How could she know that I was crying when I was covered in blood from jumping off the rooftop in those conditions? ……What really happened that day?

Before the question can be answered, something strange happens to my body. The hole that was supposed to be in my chest is closing up by itself.

“……. Surely this is …… special.”

Words that sound like they are coming from someone else’s perspective overflow from his mouth. The incomprehensible reality in front of me makes my head hurt as if it were cracking open. But for some reason, I …… was smiling.

[TLN : I’ll be damned…It really is about vampires!]