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THE space Leon was renting was located above a bar. It could only be reached by climbing a rickety set of stairs.
It was a dank room with little sunlight. The door was shorter than him, and Leon’s bed was only half the size of Hana’s. A stove and counter rested against the wall with a plain wood table nearby.
Hana had never seen a kitchen and a bedroom combined into one room before now. Leon smiled bitterly as she spun around, taking everything in with a sense of wonder.
“Are you surprised it’s so small?”
“Yes, but you know I like places with little sunlight.”
“I’m glad, though that’s not exactly a compliment.”
If she ever returned to the manor, they would never let her out again. This was Hana’s new home if she truly wanted to be with Leon.
“Leon, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
“…What?”
“I’m not a normal human being. I’m the descendent of vampires. …See? My teeth are sharp. That’s why I can’t handle sunlight…” She had no idea how to break the news to him without him thinking she was crazy. It didn’t feel like she had done a good job explaining it, but she wasn’t sure what else to say.
“I’ve known for a while.”
“You have?”
“Either you’ve forgotten or you blocked out the memory, but back when the cotton roses were in bloom, you drank my blood. Both times you collapsed, I snuck into your room.”
Hana gulped. He was right. The taste of his blood was coming back to her. The unpleasantness of the headaches and the cold sweats returned. At the same time, a haze broke in Hana’s mind.
“Hana…? I’m sorry. You probably forgot about it because I freaked out. But I didn’t hate you for it. Everyone’s scared of what they don’t understand at first, right? …But I’m not afraid anymore. I understand now, so it’s all right.”
It’s gonna be all right.
Those words brought all of Hana’s memories rushing back.
The memory of that hot summer morning, while the cotton roses were in bloom, when she finally chose the single most important person to her.
✦ ✦ ✦
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SOMEONE was calling Hana’s name.
The air around her was tepid and she had broken into a cold sweat.
“Are you all right, Miss?”
“Miss Hana! Miss Hana!”
Leon’s voice was so close, while Walt’s was so far away.
The intense smell of blood broke through her mental haze and she struggled desperately to get free from Leon’s grasp as he tried to scoop her up.
She wasn’t sure if she could resist any longer. If she stayed with him just seconds more, she might suck his blood.
“…Miss Hana, do you want some blood?”
How could Walt have known that?
Confused, Hana continued trying to get away,
“No…you have to get…awa…noo.”
Her breathing had become ragged and the world around her was enveloped in an orange haze, making it difficult to find something to focus on.
It made her crave Leon’s warmth even more. And his blood. But she was terrified that she would lose all sense of rational thought and turn into a monster if she gave in.
“Miss Hana, it’s all right. I know all about it. Here…”
Something was being pushed into her lips. It felt like a man’s finger. A metallic scent filled her nose.
No! No! I want Leon’s blood!
Something similar but all too different from what she wanted filled her mouth. Her body convulsed, trying to reject the foreign substance.
Hana could no longer suppress her urges. She pulled herself up and grabbed on to Leon’s shirt with all her might. She bit down on his neck, hard.
“Wha—Miss! Stop! What are you doing?!”
She had craved Leon’s blood for so long, but it tasted like a mix of sand and tears. She had wanted his blood for so long, finally having it failed to meet her expectations. The tears belonged to her, flowing down her cheeks and blending with his blood.
Leon tried to pull away, but Hana threw her hands around his back and bit down harder.
“Let me go…! Let me go! Stop. This isn’t right.” Leon yanked himself away, tossing Hana to the ground.
“Leon! Calm down, please! Miss Hana…wasn’t supposed to…”
Hana had no sense of the pain flowing through her body. The only thing she knew was that Leon had rejected her.
Tomorrow he wouldn’t even want to be her friend.
The first time a vampire drank the blood of the one they loved was supposed to be a happy occasion. But she had ignored his objections and now she was sure he would never forgive her.
Hana’s thirst had been satisfied and yet, despair encircled her heart.
She was exhausted and released her grip on consciousness. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep and forget all of this.
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LEON told Hana all about that first time she drank his blood.
She could see it in her mind and still hear the two young men’s voices clearly. But the sense of something akin to despair that accompanied those memories clenched her heart.
“So that’s what happened… I repressed the memory somehow…”
Leon nodded. “That was when Walt told me about your family. After that, I started sneaking you my blood. I thought it would just be better for you if you didn’t remember. But in reality, I guess I also wanted you to forget how upset I was and how I pushed you away.”
Hana understood why he wouldn’t want her around after all that had happened. So the fact that Leon had asked her to live with him even though he knew she was a vampire brought her untold joy.
“I just reckoned if I left, if I wasn’t there for you to think about…that you would just find someone else’s blood to drink. But I was wrong. I’m sorry. You must have been in so much pain.”
Without realizing it, Hana had chosen Leon as her partner. There was no going back now.
Leon had left under the assumption that Hana could just pick a new partner. But he told Walt where he would be going, just in case Hana had another fit.
“…I was also wrong about so many things…so, shall we call it a draw?”
Leon had rejected Hana out of fear once, as she had him.
Hana laughed as she pointed out the tie between them. Leon smiled bashfully.
Walt had likely heard about the family’s vampiric ancestry from Saizoh, and so he understood Hana’s condition on some level. It was he who explained her condition to Leon and he who facilitated their reunion. He knew all about their secret meetings. He had always been watching over them. Hana had no idea how she could ever repay him.
That night, Hana climbed into bed, comforted by the warmth of the man she loved. But it was hard to get used to sharing a bed with another, let alone for that person to be someone she felt so strongly for. Her heart raced and she found she could not sleep.
Choosing Leon should have made her happy, and yet she couldn’t just forget her parents or Walt. She didn’t feel at peace with her decision at all.
“Give it a little time, then we’ll go apologize. Together. Just because you chose me doesn’t mean you gotta cut your parents off forever.”
“Will they ever forgive me for being so selfish?”
“You’re their little princess, I’m sure they’ll understand.”
“…I hope so.”
Shortly thereafter, Leon found another gardening job and Hana slowly adjusted to her new life. Her parents were more upset over the fact that she left without telling them than the fact that she chose Leon. They wouldn’t forgive her so easily.
Walt served as the arbiter between parent and child. Eventually, it was decided that Leon would take on the Watoh name. Any children born to the couple would become Watoh heirs and were required to be educated as such. This was at Leon’s insistence. He wanted his children to have the benefit of a good education. He felt he lacked refinement and didn’t want his children to suffer the same fate.
The pair then found a new home. Hana opened an Eastern medicine clinic on the first floor of that shop. While trying to think up a name for her shop, Hana thought about how the neighborhood children called her the “Raven-haired Witch”, so she took on the name “The Witch of the East”. It was meant to be a light-hearted name that she used sparingly in the beginning, but over time, she came to love it.
The name “Misfortune Devouring Witch” would come several years later…