Aw, yeah, we did it! Victory! Yay!
While Ruka was off enjoying feeling like a superhero, Ginka had taken David down. His arm was bent at a weird angle, and one of the garage pillars was wrecked, so lots of stuff had happened.
But we totally won! All’s well that ends well, right? I wonder if I should give Ginka a high five... Would she be into that?
“So I’ve lost? Completely and utterly? H-Ha ha ha...!” David sounded like he was mocking himself with that laugh.
But then—
“Argh!” David screamed and writhed in pain.
Ruka didn’t see how it’d happened, but there was a silver knife through David’s wrist now.
Ginka pointed her silver sword at David’s nose. “Make no mistake. I didn’t leave you alive just to chat. Give me the names of your collaborators in the vampire revival plan. You’ll get more knives in your arm until you tell me every one.”
Both of his wrists were wrecked, and he was covered in cold sweat, but David grinned like he was challenging Ginka. “Y-You think mere threats would make me sell out my allies?”
“All right, time for another.” Ginka summoned and brandished a second knife.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Gross! Grotesque!” Ruka objected. The brutality threw me for a sec, but I gotta stop this. “We already won, right?! Davy-san doesn’t look like he can move, so you can stop now!” She made a big X with her arms and held it in front of Ginka’s face.
Ginka shook her head. “Ruka, this matter is on a different level.”
“L-Level? ’Kay, then, how do I level up?!”
Ginka ignored that. Her eyes were still firmly locked on David. “We should assume that anything this man did can also be done by his allies. If we do not extract their information from him, the world will plunge into chaos. I’ll use any method necessary to obtain their names.”
She’s dead serious, thought Ruka. She’s gonna keep hurting Davy-san... That’s no good.
“L-Let’s contact the hunter alliance,” Ruka suggested, “or maybe the police.”
“The hunter alliance cannot take action, and the Japanese police lack the strength needed to restrain a hunter.”
“O-Okay, but torture’s bad news.”
“The hunter alliance granted me the right to kill another hunter.”
That coldhearted statement made Ruka freeze. Ginka’s exoforce lets her cut down retainer after retainer. Heck, she can even bring a building down if she wants. And she can use it against humans... “M-Murder. That’s murder.”
“The vampires I have killed used to be human. Retainers are made from animals and insects—living beings. I’ve injured many and stolen countless lives. This would be just one more sin out of many... If you cannot watch, then you should leave.” Ginka’s voice carried a hint of sadness, but it was full of cold, detached resolve.
I don’t want to see anyone get hurt. And if it’s Ginka doing the hurting? That’s way worse. I wanna run away... Which is exactly why I gotta stay right here.
“I’m not leaving,” said Ruka.
“You’ll watch?”
“Nope!” Ruka grabbed Ginka’s wrist.
A massive rush of exoforce hit Ruka like an overflowing river. The dim silvery glow around Ruka was nothing compared to the blinding light coming from Ginka’s body.
Davy-san called Ginka the strongest vampire hunter. I guess this is what he meant...
“Let go,” Ginka commanded.
“No...way! Don’t...wanna!” Ruka clung to Ginka’s arm with everything she had, with her body pressing up against the hunter.
Ginka looked annoyed, but she didn’t send Ruka flying. Ruka knew she was only harsh with her enemies like vampires and David, and she held back against civilians.
This is my only chance to convince her!
“Th-The fight’s already over!” Ruka yelled.
“No, it isn’t. Not until I’ve extracted the information from this man.”
“That’s not what I mean!”
“What are you talking about?” Ginka’s voice was quiet, but her exoforce flared.
Come on, brain! Give it all you’ve got!
“I mean your fight with the vampires, not Davy-san! If you torture him, you’ll be at war again! You can’t do that! All you VHs worked so hard to end the war. If you start again, then that makes all your hard work pointless!”
It took all of Ruka’s willpower to keep going. This time, she whispered to Ginka. “You said being with us is fun, didn’t you? So stay with us. Stay in this world a little longer.”
It comes down to our feelings. I just wanna be with her. It’s not the best argument, but I don’t think it’s wrong. I wanna know more about her, and she feels the same about me. I’m sure she does.
“If I don’t extract information from him now, there will be more victims...” Ginka hesitated.
That was when Ruka really knew Ginka felt the same way. She let go of her wrist and took a deep breath. “I don’t think Davy-san’s a terrible guy anyway.”
Ginka and David both flinched when they heard that. Both of them looked intensely pissed off. Ruka thought she even felt some bloodlust mixed in, since they were still coming down from their fight, but she decided to ignore that.
Ginka pointed the tip of her blade at David again. “For the sake of his ambitions, this man harmed civilians—including you, Ruka—and even tried to turn them into vampires. You’re saying someone like that isn’t ‘a terrible guy’?”
“I mean, he saved my butt.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Remember Yoshiyama? That senpai who almost turned into a vampire?”
“What about him...?”
“I ran into him in front of Bianco. One thing led to another, and he almost hit me. That’s when Davy-san stepped in. Isn’t that, like, super good timing?”
“You’re saying he stepped in to save you?” Ginka whispered. “In other words, he’s not past the point of rehabilitation?”
“Yeah, that! He can still be, um, rehabbed!”
Ginka looked down at David with a chilly gaze. “That’s Ruka’s story. What’s yours?”
If Davy-san agrees with me, then maybe Ginka will take that one good thing into account when she decides what to do. But if he doesn’t...
“She’s delusional.” David had a broken wrist and a knife through his other one, but his words were clear and firm. “I appeared because I saw that boy had the makings of a vampire. Youth and irritability are important qualifications. A quarrel would have been troublesome to deal with, so I got involved. To think that my actions would be misconstrued in such a way...” he said with a deep, throaty laugh. There was a sarcastic look on his face. “I won’t sell out my allies. I’m confident I can endure any torture you have in mind. If you wish to protect civilians from further harm, I recommend killing me here and now.”