AZUSA twirled in front of the cheval glass, her scarlet skirt and ribbon glittering under the fluorescent lights. She pulled her dark chocolate blazer on, covering the characteristic part of her uniform that imitated the corsets worn during the Victorian period.
“All right! Not a single piece seems to be out of place,” she commented with uncontained excitement. Today was the day she had been waiting for—Azusa was going to transfer to a local high school.
A month passed since they repelled Tsukiharu’s attack. What awaited Azusa after the contract with Kouya were long, boring days brought about by too much freedom and nothing to do. With the contract in place, Kouya didn’t have to stick around as much now that he always knew where she was. Not to mention her time with Subaru and Ichi drastically decreased.
Ichi came every day for dinner as promised, but Kouya only joined them once a week. A hectic schedule kept Subaru from coming since the first time the four of them had dinner together. The fun teatime she had with them almost every day before the contract was now reduced to a lonesome party of one.
The freedom gained in return for contracting with a vampire resulted in Azusa having too much time on her hands. She first complained about her tedium during dinner with Ichi a week ago.
“In that case, Azusa, why don’t you try attending school here? I have discussed the possibility with Subaru and Kouya. You previously expressed a desire to go back to school, correct?” Ichi asked in response to Azusa’s complaints.
The suggestion was undeniably tempting. According to Ichi, a vampire school imitating human school was built in the zone between the Red, Blue, and Yellow Coven towns. No one was required to attend school, but the majority of children from the three towns attended regardless of being from different Covens. The school was established with a curriculum in line with Japanese human school in order to raise vampire children capable of blending into human society.
“This vicinity only has one elevator school that goes from preschool to university. I hope you are all right with that. Also, as there were no students in the high school sophomore class for more than three months, you will have to attend the freshman class. Does that work for you?”
At that moment, Azusa thought she saw a goddess in Ichi. They immediately set about handling all the tedious procedures and now, one week later, Azusa was about to attend her first day of vampire high school.
“I’m coming in.” A reserved knock and familiar voice at the door brought Azusa out of her reverie.
“Oh, Kouya, come in.”
Kouya opened the door and came inside, followed by a younger boy. Contrary to Kouya’s ebony-black hair, the boy’s tawny hair reflected a faint amber color in the morning sunlight. His large, round eyes brought out his youthfulness and were set against refined facial features.
Kouya possessed refined facial features as well, but while his face gave off the impression of a finely sharpened blade, the young man standing beside him had the gentle impression of the sun reflecting off morning dew.
“I’m Youta Doumeki. Thank you for always looking after my older brother. I’m attending school under Kisaragi, my mother’s maiden name. Please feel free to call me either Kisaragi or Youta while at school.”
His voice was deeper than expected, considering how his delicate looks could get him mistaken for a woman. His elegant smile was angelic. Charmed by his looks, Azusa needed a minute to register what he said.
“Older brother?”
“He’s my younger brother—from another mother. He’ll be your classmate starting today. You can rely on him if anything comes up at school,” Kouya explained.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sixteen, a year younger than you, but I hope we can be friends.”
Wow, what a blinding smile this kid has. Even more so when you compare him to Kouya who rarely ever smiles. They’re so different; it makes me doubt they’re even brothers! Azusa thought as she shaded her eyes from Youta’s sunny smile.
“There is still much I don’t know yet, but I hope we can get along!” Azusa said and deeply bowed her head. Kouya poked her forehead.
“Let’s go greet the headmaster and school office staff today. Are you heading to school now, Youta? If you are, we’ll go with you.”
“Hmm, I’m flattered by the chance to attend school with you, but I want to greet Ichi before I go. She’s staying in this mansion, right?” Youta’s cheeks faintly flushed. Kouya let out an exasperated sigh.
“I think she’s still here, but don’t let Subaru catch you.”
“I won’t. See you later, Kouya. See you at school, Azusa.”
“Someone’s in love. Spring comes early around here, huh?” Azusa couldn’t help commenting after watching Youta wave goodbye and skip down the hallway toward Ichi’s room.
“I’m surprised you could tell so quickly.”
“Something has got to be wrong with you if you couldn’t tell from the way he was acting.”
“Ichi hasn’t noticed yet though,” Kouya snorted.
“Ah, Ichi does seem like the dense type when it comes to this kind of stuff.” Azusa looked at Kouya with a wry smile just as he looked at her—their eyes locked. Azusa sucked in her breath, as did Kouya.
“Um…long time no see.”
“Yeah.”
The conversation suddenly took an awkward turn. Thinking back, Azusa realized it had been more than a week since they last saw each other. Moreover, there was no conversation between them during last week’s dinner. Whenever she tried to start one, all she got was, “Yeah” or “I see” in response. The evening was awkward enough Ichi had to mediate.
Kouya seemed to be avoiding Azusa since the day of the party. She tried to ask him what was wrong, and got the single line of, “don’t worry about it,” in reply. He didn’t avoid her when they were alone, but he was deliberately putting space between them when others were around. It had actually been about a month since they last held a real conversation.
“Let’s go.”
Kouya’s curt comment brought Azusa back to reality. Flustered, she quickly chased after his back as he left through the front door, and prayed their relationship would return to how it was before he started avoiding her.