The water Ruka bought from the vending machine flowed down her parched throat, and she felt herself start cooling down and exhaustion leaving her.
“Phew! So refreshing!” She massaged her thighs and glanced to the side.
Shijunana, who had lowered her hood, was watching Ruka. She kind of looked like an anime cosplayer standing there in that long coat, with her silver hair and beautiful features lit by moonlight, but Ruka thought it was a weirdly good look for her.
Shijunana seemed to notice Ruka’s gaze and asked, “Have you calmed yourself?”
“Seriously? No way.” Ruka had cooled down a little, but her heart was still pounding and she was sweating up a storm. What the heck was that black thing? What does she mean, “former vampire hunter”? And how the hell did that spear just vanish? I’m grateful she saved my life and all, but I need answers!
“So vampires...like the ones in manga and movies, yeah?” Ruka asked.
With a calm nod, Shijunana replied, “Correct. They are also known as nosferatu, nightwalkers, and ghouls.”
“And vampire hunters are...?”
“The people who exterminate them.”
An awkward chuckle slipped out of Ruka, but Shijunana looked dead serious telling her this ridiculous story. Vampires and vampire hunters were just characters from manga or dramas on TV. Ruka felt like she had to ditch all of her common sense to accept any of this.
Still, a monster attacked me, and the girl who saved me’s saying vampires and vampire hunters are a thing, so...
“’Kay, I made up my mind.”
“What do you mean?”
“Vampires exist, and you’re a vampire hunter. All good!”
Ruka was ready to max out her Shijunana trust gauge, but the hunter furrowed her brows.
“You really believe me?”
“Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I believe someone who saved my life? Oh, I know—you can tell when people are lying, right? C’mon, take a good look at me.”
“Y-You really believe me...”
Ruka ignored the confused look on Shijunana’s face and started picking up her stuff up off the ground. Even though it’d all slammed into the asphalt, nothing was broken. When she grabbed her phone, she saw the dead rat with its belly sliced open and its guts spilling out.
“Vampires are rats, huh? That’s a new one,” Ruka said, grossed out by the freaky little corpse.
“That is not a vampire,” Shijunana replied.
“Huh...? Then what the heck was it?”
“A retainer—something akin to an underling. Vampires create such monsters by injecting their blood into small animals and insects.”
“Gotcha... So what are legit vampires like? Are they all hot?”
Shijunana frowned. “The beautiful vampire is a fictional invention. Real ones are vicious and underhanded beings who only exist to harm humankind. In that sense, vampires are worse than pests.”
“V-Vicious and underhanded...”
“They attack people and steal their blood. They take pleasure in destroying peace and order. They do not even see their own ilk as allies and live solely to bring harm to society as a whole... Truly, vampires are inhuman in every sense of the word.” The tone of Shijunana’s voice was harsh, and her expression was intense. Her hair started floating like it was responding to her anger, and little silver specks of light appeared all around her body.
“Hey, whoa, something’s leaking,” said Ruka.
“My apologies... I lost my composure.” The lights around Shijunana steadily died down.
Does she have a light switch or something?! Ruka shook off that thought and asked, “What the heck’s that sparkly silver stuff, anyway?”
“Ah...” After hesitating a bit, Shijunana formed a little ball of light on her palm. “This is exoforce. It strengthens my physical abilities and lets me create weapons from thin air. Without it, we cannot fight vampires.”
A glow brighter than the streetlights slipped through the gaps in Shijunana’s fingers before disappearing like little shooting stars. It was so magical and mysterious that Ruka couldn’t make herself look away.
“I thought I would never have to use it again, yet here we are...” Shijunana whispered as the light vanished.
I don’t get this whole exoforce thing, but I guess it lets her fly and make that silver spear? That sounds hella convenient, so what does she mean by not having to use it? Actually, what does former vampire hunter mean anyway?
“Hey, when you said you were a former vampire hunter... Did you, like, retire or something?” Ruka asked.
Shijunana’s face scrunched up like she had trouble answering. “I didn’t retire. I am no longer needed.”
“Huh? Why’s that?”
“Because...not a single vampire remains...”
“Gotcha, so... Wait. What...?” Something about this bothered Ruka, and she started racking her brain. If vampires make those retainers or whatever, and there aren’t any vampires left, then why’d one of those things show up now? That was weird enough for Ruka to notice, so she knew Shijunana had realized it too.
But Shijunana simply—though awkwardly—continued. “Half a year ago, the hunter alliance...the organization of vampire hunters I belong to executed an operation on a global scale. After several months of battle, we wiped out the last vampire, Albert von Dittersdorf, and fully eradicated their kind.”
“Eradicated...” Ruka repeated.
Shijunana sounded frustrated when she answered—perhaps she had picked up the doubt in Ruka’s voice. “Yes, I find it strange as well. A retainer indicates the presence of a vampire nearby. That would mean vampires were not truly eradicated—that the hunter alliance made a mistake in its investigation. Perhaps a vampire with the ability to evade the search app...” Shijunana pulled her hood over her head again and turned away from Ruka. “At any rate, we still have much to discuss, Moriki. Get on my back.”
“On your back... Wait, a piggyback ride?”
Shijunana silently nodded, so Ruka did as she was told while doing her best to hold what was left of her bag without spilling everything in it. She could smell the stench of dirt and iron clinging to Shijunana’s long coat.
“I am going to run home using exoforce. You may wish to close your mouth.”
“Wait, what do you mean... Gaaah!”
Ruka’s head jerked back as a gust of wind rushed past her cheeks. Her hair whipped behind her as they zoomed forward. She had to close her eyes, partly because she felt like she was going to puke up her guts. When she finally took a peek, she saw their town far, far below them.
So this is what she meant?! Damn, girl, you gotta explain better! So freaking scary!
“Vampires are creatures that prey upon the flesh and blood of humankind. They possess great physical strength, regenerative skills, and lifespans long enough to be considered immortal. Some even wield supernatural abilities such as flame summoning or teleportation.
“However, they are by no means superior to humanity. Exposure to sunlight brings about great agony, and they fear religious symbols such as crosses and Buddha statues. Naturally, they are weak to exoforce as well.
“The greatest difference between vampires and humans, though, doesn’t come from their strengths or weaknesses. No, it is their thinking: the fact that vampires do not hesitate to kill. To them, humans are simply prey. If hurting humans made vampires feel guilty, they would never be able to keep on living. Over time, they even started to enjoy the act of murder itself. Even though we were originally the same species...
“Ah yes, that’s right. Vampires are transformed humans. As shown in many stories, a human infused with vampire blood will turn into one themselves. Their flesh changes, and their mind shifts as they come to crave human blood. However, not everyone with vampire blood in them will transform, and an ongoing transformation can be treated with exoforce and medicine.
“The police and those with governmental authority are aware of the existence of vampires. They devote their efforts to manipulating information and preventing widespread panic while leaving the fighting to us, the hunters, who have been trained to battle vampires.
“That is a general synopsis of vampires. Did you understand all of it? I am not the best at delivering explanations, so it may have been difficult to comprehend. What do you think?
“Moriki? You’re not responding. Are you... Ah, you’ve lost consciousness...”
After all the shaking her brain and inner ear got on the way to Shijunana’s apartment, Ruka was a complete wreck. She held her hands over her stomach as she followed Shijunana inside the building and sat in the corner of the elevator before stumbling out on the seventh floor.
Shijunana walked up to a door, swiped a security card, and went inside. Ruka followed, taking off her shoes and going down the hall into what looked to be a dark living room before collapsing on the spot.
“I-I-I’m cooked...” I feel like absolute garbage. The floor is swaying, and my thighs are cold and shaky. If I’m not careful, something’s gonna come back up...
“I will get you some water. Just rest.” Shijunana turned on the light, revealing a soft-looking sofa nearby.
Ruka crawled over and flopped in front of it. The living room was huge, with five doors along the walls. The matching furniture looked high-end, and the place didn’t really feel homey. It really didn’t seem like a family lived here, so Ruka wondered if Shijunana was here alone.
“Here. Drink up.” Shijunana came out of her kitchen with a cup.
“Thanks...” Even though Ruka had just downed a whole bottle of water a few minutes ago, her throat was already parched again. Drinking the water Shijunana offered didn’t make Ruka feel any less awful, and her hand trembled as she held the cup, but she was grateful for the thought.
“So, do you have a proper understanding of vampires now?” Shijunana asked.
Shijunana had explained everything on their way here. Ruka had read plenty of manga and watched plenty of TV shows about vampires, and she had decided to trust Shijunana, so she didn’t have trouble accepting everything she’d heard...though she really wished the explanation hadn’t been in the middle of a free fall.
“So vampires used to be humans, yeah?” Ruka asked.
“That is correct,” Shijunana replied. “However, it is impossible to coexist with them.”
Ruka held her tongue. She had been working up to her real question—if humans could work with vampires, since vampires used to be humans and still spoke the same language—but Shijunana’s ice-cold expression made Ruka lose her nerve.
“If vampires do not eat regularly, an intense urge to suck blood and kill takes over. They cannot exist without killing... We can’t live alongside such a race.” Shijunana paused and sighed. “The hunter alliance has already tried to come up with a way for us to coexist. Drugs, surgical procedures, and even all sorts of inhumane methods failed. Now, such attempts are no longer necessary.”