CONTRARY to the earlier tension, Azusa now enjoyed a peaceful tea time. Only she and Youta sat at the table, eating the cheesecake she made with relish. The rest of their party members were having a secret strategy meeting in one of the empty rooms inside Youta’s manor. Recalling how Tsukiharu went along with them even though he didn’t really want to, made Azusa earnestly hope they could all get along someday.
The way they met was beyond terrible, but the Tsukiharu she interacted with as a classmate was genuinely kind, friendly, and someone who got carried away easily. Continuing to ignore him required great mental anguish on her part. Lately, ignoring him made her feel like a bully. She hated herself for it every day.
She had no intention of suddenly becoming best friends with him, but she had more than enough confidence to treat him like a normal classmate now.
“By the way, Azusa, what happened to your neck? Did you hurt it?” Youta asked, pointing to the gauze covering a portion of her neck. The gauze was large enough to cover the palm of someone’s hand. A high-collared shirt hid it, but apparently it still caught Youta’s eye.
Azusa turned slightly red at his question and avoided meeting his eyes. “I know it’s the norm for you vampires, which means there’s no point in hiding it, but I find it kind of embarrassing, so I hid it for now… Kouya seems to have forgotten to erase the marks.”
“Marks?”
“Marks.”
“What? You mean bite marks?”
“Ah, yes.”
Azusa tilted her head at Youta’s frozen look of disbelief. Azusa remembered hearing on multiple occasions that the act of drinking blood was neither embarrassing nor anything noteworthy. If that was true, why did Youta’s face gradually turn a deeper shade of red?
“Youta?”
“I have no idea where to start, but I have just come to understand how taciturn my brother is. Please allow me to apologize on his behalf as his younger brother. I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“I knew Kouya hasn’t drunk any blood for a long time, but you would think he would at least keep to the rules. What the heck is he doing making his younger brother apologize for something like this? The worst part is that I know he did it entirely on purpose. I’m ashamed he did it knowing you absolutely wouldn’t understand the meaning behind it. And since when did he become capable of drinking blood again?”
“Um? Don’t all vampires do this? It’s nothing shameful or embarrassing, right?” Azusa became flustered by Youta’s perplexing reaction. Drinking blood wasn’t an embarrassing act among vampires—it was their method of eating. With that fact in mind, she couldn’t understand the reason behind his reddening face.
“Azusa.”
“Yes?”
“It’s true the act of drinking blood is nothing especially embarrassing or worth writing home about. The problem at hand is the fact he left the bite marks.”
“Is there a problem with the bite marks?”
“Leaving bite marks is a so-called proof of ownership. It’s like telling other vampires, ‘this is my prey, keep your hands off.’ Oh my gosh, what the heck am I saying?! I don’t want to say stuff like this aloud!”
“Proof of…ownership?”
“It’s not an official stamp of ownership, but more like an unspoken understanding? It’s got the same meaning as a hickey might among humans.”
“A h-h-hi-hick-hickeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!” Azusa shouted, turning tomato-red.
Youta quickly jumped in to ease the blow, “Yeah. But Kouya hasn’t drunk blood in a long time. Maybe he just happened to forget to erase the marks this time!”
There’s a ninety-nine percent chance he did it on purpose though. Youta kept his thoughts to himself.
“Y-You think so? You surprised me! I better get Kouya to erase it for me then!”
“You should.”
She believed me.
Youta’s expression gradually grew more exasperated as he watched Azusa fan her flushed face. He wasn’t exasperated at Azusa who sat across from him, but his absent brother.
He recognized his older brother put a wall between himself and everyone else—no matter whom they were. He may have been on considerably better talking terms with him now compared to when they first met, but not once did he think he had ever gotten past that wall to get a glimpse of his heart. To think he would someday see a piece of who his brother really was in this way.
Youta looked at the spot where the marks lay hidden beneath the gauze and thought how much she must matter to Kouya. At the same time, he was exasperated at how Kouya was trying to keep his affections hidden from her. Why didn’t he even consider trying to make things work? From what he had seen of their interactions, it was evident Azusa wasn’t appalled by him, yet he made the extravagant choice of refusing to grab hold of the feelings that were just in reach.
And here I am frantically trying to grab a hold of feelings my hands can never reach. Ichi’s dignified and elegant form crossed Youta’s mind. No matter how much I care for her, it’s always that Subaru guy who gets to stand by her side. I only invited Ichi to the party today, but he tagged along without seeking my permission first. How many times did I consider sending him away today? But if I did, she would leave too. And this is why I always end up agreeing to let him be around. Youta shook his head to shake off the bad thoughts before they depressed him further.
He turned to face Azusa again, only to find her happily stuffing her face with cake. Apparently, she internally labeled the proof of evidence as something Kouya innocently forgot to erase.
“Say, Azusa, would you mind letting me take a look at the marks?”
“Hm? Sure, but I don’t think it will be particularly interesting?” Azusa undid her collar and removed the gauze without any hesitation. Youta froze for the second time.
He slammed his right hand against his reddening face and groaned, “My brother is an idiot.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Kouya probably just forgot. Maybe it’s best for you to wait for it to heal naturally? Also, even if you get him to erase the marks, you should leave the gauze on for a while.”
“What? Why?”
“…Why, you ask? …Because it’s a two-tiered trap?”
“Huh?”
“Never mind! At any rate, you better keep the gauze on for about a week. Even if he erases the marks! Please!”
“O-Okay?” Azusa reluctantly agreed, bringing Youta immense relief.
Youta thought back to what he saw while she covered the marks. Beneath the gauze were two holes in line with the fang marks left by sucking her blood. Under the fang marks was a distinctly red, swollen mark—a real hickey. Even if Azusa asked Kouya to heal the marks, he would most likely heal only the fang marks and leave the hickey there for all to see. From what Youta could judge, someone with little to no experience with men like Azusa wouldn’t be able to determine the red swelling as a hickey. And Kouya knew that.
Youta was saddened by the fact Kouya badly wanted to leave proof she was his, yet wouldn’t say anything about his feelings to her. It was almost as if he had given up from the start.