After ten minutes, Shirô had lost sight of the bat.
He looked around and listened hard for a sign of it.
From the right, inside the shrine grounds where there were black trees that looked like smokestacks, he heard a faint screeching sound.
“There you are.”
Running up the stone steps, he looked around again.
Suddenly something hit his shoulder. It had come from the sky. Before he could react, he smelled an animal smell, and a sharp pain in his neck.
“Damn!” He felt something furry on his shoulder.
It was the bat. Shirô realized it was a trap. It had flown high above and out of his sight; and when Shirô had stopped to look around, it had folded its wings and dropped on his shoulders. It was so the sound of its wings flapping would not give it away. And now it had its fangs in Shirô’s neck.
“Damn you! Get away!” He tried to wrench it off him, but it did not budge. He could not get a grip on its soft body.
Something began to dribble down his neck. Shirô staggered a little, almost blacking out. The chain around his neck spun.
A screech.
It flapped away and quickly gained altitude. Bracing himself to keep from falling unconscious, Shirô looked up at the sky and saw the black shadow almost graze the face of the moon.
He held his savior in the palm of his hand.
It was the gold crucifix Jigorô had given him. His senses were so dull he did not notice the change in his body. But he found out when he gripped the crucifix in his hands.
The doctor concluded that Akane was anemic, owing to severe blood loss, but the cause was unknown. In all Tokyo—in all of Japan, for that matter—the only person who knew the cause was probably Kanô Jigorô.
“She should eat some beef or eel to get her energy back. No need to worry.”
Five minutes after the ignorant doctor had left, Akane woke up.
“Akane, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Though there was something hollow and cloying about the way she spoke, Chizuru was relieved, thinking it was just the anemia. She must be better if she’s talking.
“No, Akane. You must be still.”
Akane smiled a little.
Chizuru noticed the sharp canine teeth peeking out of her mouth, and she wondered if they had always been that long. They were like fangs.
Akane sat up.
Chizuru put a hand on her shoulder and tried to push her back down, but, like a wall, Akane could not be budged.
How cold her body is. Like a corpse.
Chizuru quickly let go.
“I want to see him,” Akane said. Her eyes were red.
“Who?”
“Minazuki… Daigo… sama.”
“Akane-san…”
“I’ve always liked him… Didn’t you know… sister?
“No.”
She couldn’t believe it—that her cheerful sister had feelings for Daigo and had kept it hidden. How she must have suffered.
Before Chizuru could say anything, Akane said, “I’m going… to see… Daigo-sama…”
Akane got out of bed and started to walk slowly toward the door, before Chizuru could stop her.
Jigorô stood between her and the door. It would be nothing for the founder of Kôdôkan, who had fought against the jujitsu establishment to start a new martial arts discipline, to stop a sixteen-year-old girl.
When he tried to grab her wrist, it was she who grabbed his.
He was frozen by intense pain and extreme cold.
In the next instant, Akane had swung her arm and sent the founder of judo crashing helplessly into the wall.
“Akane, what are you doing?”
Akane turned to her sister, who tried to come near her.
The face that Chizuru saw was pale, with eyes that burned crimson and fangs jutting from an open mouth.
It was the face of evil.
“Get out of my way!” she said, aiming for her sister’s throat. She was about to pounce on her like an animal, when Jigorô came at her from the side and thrust out a golden crucifix.
It was Akane who was frozen this time.
“You have been possessed by the devil.”
Akane retreated backward toward the bed, as Jigorô stepped closer.
“But it’s not too late. We will try to save you from the devil’s embrace.”
Without a sound, Akane trembled at the side of the bed.
Jigorô had pressed the crucifix against her forehead.
The smell and sound of burning flesh filled the room.
When Jigorô removed the crucifix, the mark of the cross was burned clearly on her forehead. Although she had tried to avert her eyes, Chizuru saw it all.
Akane collapsed on the bed as a plume of smoke rose up from her forehead.
“Sensei, what has happened to my sister?” Chizuru asked. She felt as if she were trapped in a nightmare.
Jigorô did not answer as he continued to look over Akane. It was not until she had fallen asleep and was breathing regularly that he finally stepped away with a look of relief.
“Sensei…”
Jigorô nodded, looking at Chizuru and then back at Akane. “I never thought such a thing could happen in this city and with the twentieth century approaching… Please, listen and try to stay calm.
“A vampire has sucked your sister’s blood.”
Chizuru was in a daze as she listened. A vampire? What is a ‘vampire’?
He might have read her mind, because he continued by explaining, “Western legend has it that they were vengeful ghosts that live for hundreds of years by sucking the blood of humans. Although they are ghosts, they have a physical form, so they are able to touch and be touched. In other words, they are not quite immortal: even though they can survive for hundreds of years, they can be killed. I learned about it from a doctor friend who likes to study European lore, since I have an interest myself in this sort of thing.”
“Oh…”
Chizuru stared hard at this man who still looked so youthful.
She could not believe that such a rational and practical man—as rational and practical as the judo techniques he taught—could have any interest in such absurdities.
Composing her thoughts, she asked, “What will become of my sister? How can I help her to get better?”
For a moment, Jigorô was silent, his face clouded with doubt. But then he reached a decision, looked at Chizuru, and smiled.
“There is only one way to cure your sister: we must destroy the vampire that sucked her blood.”
“How?”
“By driving a stake through its heart. A knife would also work.”
A terrible thought rose up in her mind. She must not ask, she thought to herself, but she had to.
“And if we can’t destroy it… what will happen to my sister?”
“She will probably go on living, in the same state as you see her now. But the horrible thing about vampires— Now you must listen carefully. I should be telling this to your father, but at present you are the head of the household, and, since you seem to be a resilient girl, I will tell you instead. The most terrible thing about vampires is that they infect others with their evil. Those who have died from having their blood sucked will come back to life as vampires themselves unless their bodies are cremated. It hasn’t come to that yet with your sister, but if he kisses her one more time, she might become one of them.”
She fainted. Jigorô caught her before she fell to the floor.
Just when he was thinking he should take her somewhere else, she opened her eyes and pulled away.
“I’m fine. Really. But, Sensei, help my sister. Please help Akane.”
He nodded and gently held her as she sobbed in his arms.
“There will be a battle such as the world has never seen before. But I will try my best, not only for your sister’s sake but also to protect the lives and souls of the people of Japan.”
A voice from behind said, “We will do it, Sensei. I will help you.”
“Shirô.”
Jigorô turned around. Though certainly a prodigy, his apprentice was still young and had so much to learn—but never had his teacher seen him looking more reliable and strong. Shirô walked past Jigorô and Chizuru and went to Akane’s bedside, holding his hand to his neck. He looked down upon her face, which still bore the mark of the crucifix on the forehead.
“Sensei, I’m sorry, but I was caught by surprise,” he said with his back turned to them.
“What?” Jigorô’s eyes grew wider.
“I was listening in on everything you said about the vampire. Sensei, do you think we can find him again?”
“Yes, I do,” replied Jigorô. His voice sounded very hoarse. “Barring extraordinary circumstances, vampires tend to go after the same victim until they’ve made that person one of them. And they are fearless. Even if Dracula knows we have discovered his true identity, and that we’re waiting for him, he will not be afraid to show himself.”
Chizuru moaned.
“I hope he does… for Akane-san’s sake, and for mine.”
Shirô removed the hand from his neck. At the same time, he grabbed his collar and pulled it down.
Jigorô could not speak, and Chizuru turned her face away.
Shirô had the same puncture wounds on his throat as Akane did. And on his hand was the mark of the crucifix that had been seared into his leathery palm when he had warded off the bat.
It was the same mark as Akane’s—the very same mark that signified that she had been possessed.
That night, there had been two victims at the hands of the cursed vampire.
No.
In truth, there were three.