“…AND so it seems like Kouya isn’t feeling well. Do you have any idea why, Youta? I tried asking him, only for him to reply with, ‘It’s not your problem’ and ‘don’t worry about it.’”
“Hmm, I wonder what it could be. I only really got to know Kouya a little over a year ago, so I still don’t know him too well. I doubt he’s got a serious illness or anything. Maybe he’s just not getting enough sleep?”
“Azusa.”
“A lack of sleep, huh? Now that you mention it, he did say he goes to bed at 3 a.m. every night and he woke up earlier than me the other day. At like 6 a.m.? Which means he’s been getting less than three hours of sleep a day?! That would definitely lead to a lack of sleep.”
“Hold on a minute, did I just hear you say he woke up earlier than you? What’s this? Have you guys already crossed that line—”
“Hey, Azusa?”
“WHAT?! No! No way! You got the wrong idea! I made the mistake of falling asleep in his room and he just let me stay asleep until morning!”
“Oh, that’s all? But it sounds like it’s true you and my brother get along great. Maybe he really is just lacking sleep then?”
“Hey, I’m talking to you here!”
“Geez! What is it, Tsukiharu?!”
“Is that really something you should be talking about with me present?”
“Why not?”
“You’re talking about Youta’s older brother being in a weakened state right now, right? Should you talk about that with me around?”
“Uh-oh.”
“He is going to get seriously angry at you for not being more careful. Well, I’m a nice guy, so I won’t take advantage of the situation, but still.”
“OH MY GOSH! Forget everything! Seriously, just forget everything you heard! Please forget it!”
Azusa, Youta, and Tsukiharu were having lunch together on the rooftop as Azusa promised. The normally locked rooftop was Youta and Tsukiharu’s usual lunch spot. Naturally, Tsukiharu destroyed the lock and put on a new one, so only they could access the area. The teachers never went up there, leaving the change undiscovered.
Not even Kouya’s cat familiar could access the rooftop, leaving it to carefully observe them from the top of a nearby tree. The distance kept him from overhearing their conversation, but the tree was tall enough the third-story rooftop would be fully visible to him.
Azusa had been consulting Youta about Kouya’s condition the previous night—thoroughly forgetting Tsukiharu was there too…
“Please, please, please forget it! I was lectured for two hours straight yesterday. I won’t survive another day of Kouya in lecture-mode!”
“Which is why I was trying to warn you not to expose such information to me?”
“I know! I won’t say anymore! So please do me this favor and let it go this once!”
“All right, all right. I got it. I won’t,” Tsukiharu answered her with a forced smile.
Azusa’s wariness of Tsukiharu weakened whenever she saw him acting like a normal high school boy. She sighed at her own stupidity and strongly resolved she needed to fix that part of her personality.
She was genuinely trying her best not to speak to Tsukiharu. She ignored him, acted curtly, and treated him like he didn’t exist. As a result, she completely forgot he was there and accidentally exposed Kouya’s weakness in front of him.
Anyway, it’s too much to ask me to ignore someone… Even when he abducted me and locked me up, I started cooking for him by the third day. Azusa found her lack of caution and ability to adapt to any circumstance frightening.
“Hey, Azusa?”
“Hm? What’s up?” Azusa was ashamed of herself for responding to him normally when he spoke to her out of the blue; she always forgot to ignore him.
“From what I heard of your conversation, I think Akaon—Youta’s older brother is simply in need of blood. Are you making sure to feed him your blood?”
“What?”
“I’m pretty sure prolonged tuning of his senses to his familiar has got to be a serious drain on his energy and blood levels. I bet he’s staying connected to that cat as long as you’re at school,” Tsukiharu said, pointing to the black cat sitting intently on the tree branch. Was it just Azusa’s imagination the black cat was glowering at Tsukiharu?
“Tuning your senses to your familiar doesn’t burn too much energy in and of itself, but the sheer length of time is going to take its toll. He has to stay connected from 8 a.m. to about 6 p.m. on days you stay late, right? Totaling ten hours, without severing his connection at all. Keeping that up every single day has to be pretty excruciating and draining…”
“It is? …By the way, I’m just curious, but what will happen if he continues on without taking in more blood?”
“You would normally die, no? The blood sucking part of bloodsucking vampires isn’t just there to sound cool, you know?” Youta answered her.
Azusa gasped.
Kouya might die at this rate and it would be my fault too! He prepared the cat to look after my safety. And that’s taking a toll on him. Azusa couldn’t sit still once she arrived at that conclusion. She put away her half-eaten lunch and abruptly jumped to her feet.
“Youta, can you tell the teachers I left early today because I didn’t feel good?”
“Sure. I’ll let them know, ‘Azusa went home because of sudden excruciating stomach pain.’”
“Thank you! As for you, Tsukiharu!”
“What is it, Azusa? Are you going to thank me too?” Tsukiharu jested.
“Yes, I am. You helped me big time here. Thanks so much!”
“Huh?”
Azusa dashed from the rooftop, leaving a befuddled Tsukiharu and Youta behind.
“Good for you, Tsukiharu.”
“Nah, well, yeah.”
Youta carefully assessed Tsukiharu as he fidgeted bashfully. Noticing his gaze, Tsukiharu glared at Youta with pursed lips.
“What?”
“I was just thinking you genuinely want to be just friends with Azusa. At first, I thought it was because you have romantic feelings for her, but it doesn’t seem that way. But you were really happy when she thanked you.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“Hey, can I ask what Azusa is to you?”
“…What she is to me?” Tsukiharu repeated with a troubled expression that turned dark when he locked his eyes on Youta. “What have you heard about me from your brother?”
“Let’s see, ‘he’s dangerous, so don’t get close to him,’ is all he said.”
“Then why are you spending time with me right now?”
“I don’t need my older brother’s permission for who I choose to be friends with, do I? I wanted to be friends with you. It’s as simple as that.”
“……”
Tsukiharu froze, his eyes wide as saucers. Youta watched him as his expression grew darker and more apologetic.
“Tsukiharu?”
“The reason I spend time with you is because—”
“I know why. You wanted to gather information on Kouya, right?”
“Huh?”
“I’m not an idiot. I could grasp that much from the first time I saw you two interact.”
“Then why stick around me?”
“Because I thought you looked lonely. Oh, it’s not out of pity! At first, I simply couldn’t leave you alone…”
“……”
“I did it on a whim. But that only applies to the beginning. I hang out with you now because I have a lot of fun being with you. Okay? You can keep it limited to what you can tell me, so please talk to me. I know there is a secret between you, Azusa, and the others. I realize there are things you can’t say. So it’s fine if you limit it to what you can say. I don’t even mind if it’s a lie. Tell me more about yourself. And if there’s anything we can worry about together, let’s tackle it together. I might not be able to do much for you, but I can listen and give you a push in the right direction.”
“Didn’t you ever hear curiosity killed the cat?” Tsukiharu pouted and turned his face away, red tingeing his ears.
Youta smiled broadly at his reaction, “There you go! I wanted to see you get back that sharp tongue of yours.”
“Shaddup!” Tsukiharu grumbled out, happiness hidden in his expression.