“Kii! Yuu! And Youta too!”
“Hiya! How’re you doing?”
“Um, is this…eek!”
“Hi there, Azusa, brother. Long time no see.”
They each entered her room with different reactions. Kii and Youta casually came inside, but Yuu cautiously looked from Kouya to Azusa from the doorway.
“Not coming in?”
“Hahaha! I will come in!” Yuu practically leapt into the room at Kouya’s question. She clung to Kii’s arm that was the farthest from Kouya.
“Hey, Yuu, didn’t I tell you it would be fine? He’s not as scary as he looks. Also, Youta, you just called Kouya your brother…is he your brother? I never heard about that before…”
“It’s true. I wasn’t trying to hide it. It’s pointless to be scared of my brother, Miss Yamamoto,” Youta smiled, referring to Yuu by her last name. His cheery demeanor relieved Azusa. The reality of his safety finally settled in.
“Coming for a visit is fine, but why did you pick them?” Kouya asked Tsukiharu out of curiosity with one eyebrow raised. It was hard to say any of the people present got along well, but they were on better terms than before.
“I only invited Youta to come. I simply captured these two when I spotted them wandering in front of the mansion. They said they came to see Azusa.”
“We were worried sick because Azusa has been absent from school for days now. Things ended with no one telling us anything about what went down in the schoolyard. Aren’t you asking a lot by telling us not to worry?” Kii questioned. Yuu nodded several times behind her.
“You didn’t see what happened?”
“Your enemy shot out a ton of whirlwinds, right? The dust and dirt they kicked up made watching what went down the least of our concerns. Not to mention, the twisters that came right for us… Anyway, I’m just glad to see you’re okay, Azusa! If anything had happened to you, I’d probably find myself dead at Kouya’s hands for pushing you to get involved,” Kii dryly laughed. Youta glanced down awkwardly, guilt written across his face.
Seeing Youta’s reaction, Tsukiharu spoke up in a cheerier voice than usual, “Setting that aside, what is it you’re holding, Kii? A get well gift?”
“Oh, this? More than a gift, I thought it would be fun to talk if I was allowed inside for a visit, so we dropped by the convenience store to buy snacks and—”
“And juice,” Yuu finished Kii’s sentence and held up the plastic bag in her hand. Juice and snacks filled the bags. One bag even had paper cups and plates.
Azusa’s eyes sparkled at the contents, “These are the new limited edition foods I wanted to eat!”
“Right? I thought you’d love them! If it’s all right with you, let’s have a girl’s party right here and now!”
“By girl’s party, does that mean I can’t join in?” Tsukiharu flashed a smile at the girls. Yuu’s cheeks flushed red.
“Okay, let’s rename our girl’s party to a snack party then!” Kii suggested and everyone, except Kouya, cheerfully agreed. Kouya opened the door with a troubled smile.
“Where are you going, Kouya?” Youta asked.
“I’ll leave the room. I’ll be right outside the door, so call me if anything comes up.”
Dissatisfied by his response, Youta and Kii both puffed out their cheeks.
“Aw, you should just stay with us.”
“You really should. I will feel oh-so-bad if you leave now because it will seem like we made you leave,” Kii pouted.
“Don’t worry about me. Besides, I don’t know what would be considered appropriate topics for discussion.”
“Why don’t we invite Ichi and Subaru then? You won’t have to feel out of place that way, Kouya!” Azusa suggested. Youta jumped at her suggestion. Tsukiharu sharply picked up on his reaction and elbowed him in the side.
“What’s this? You don’t want her here, Youta? You would have jumped for joy at that suggestion before.”
“It’s not that I don’t want her here, but I’m torn because I’ve shown her nothing but my pathetic side lately… How do I put it? I don’t know how to face her—”
The door suddenly opened just as Youta smiled bitterly. Ichi burst into the room.
“Kouya! Do you know where Youta is? His room was empty when I went to check on him. All I found was Tsukiharu’s note—wait, Youta?!”
“Kou, you here? The blood test results just came out—uh, what’s with all the people?” Subaru blurted seeing what was unfolding inside Azusa’s room. Everyone was in the middle of laying out the snacks around Kii and Yuu in the middle of the room. “Um? Is something about to start here? Who are these girls?”
“We’re Azusa’s classmates! We’re about to hold a snack party. Would you two like to join us?” Kii happily invited Ichi and Subaru who blinked at the same time.
In the end, they held the snack party with all eight of them. The conversation was mostly held between the students and Ichi, who were all giggling over some trivial topics. Kouya and Subaru watched over them from a corner of the room.
“What can I say? Things are peaceful, huh?”
“I agree,” Kouya assented with a soft expression. Subaru saw his expression and sadly lowered his gaze.
“I wish things could go on this way forever…”
“That wouldn’t be reality then, would it?”
Kouya held his hand out to Subaru. Subaru handed him the envelope he was holding. Kouya sighed at what was documented inside.
“Almost all of it is what we suspected. Azusa’s blood possesses the capability to change the makeup of a vampire’s body. Just like how Youta turned into a normal human from it and how it turned a healthy vampire into an F…”
Kouya sighed a second time, this time bearing the weight and severity of what was to come.