In the student council room, Akira, Iori, and Seichirō sat around a table as Iori began his story.
"Long, long ago," Iori said, "there lived a young vampire boy. He lived far away from the rest of the vampires, hiding among humans as one of them. So, just like normal human children, he went to school, disguised as a human."
At that point, Akira had already realized that Iori was talking about his own story, but he didn't say anything. He knew Iori had a tragic backstory, yet he didn't know the specifics, so he listened carefully.
Iori continued.
"He tried to be friends with the humans there, too, but as you know, vampire children normally can't control their bloodlust, so they are raised in isolation. Because of that, the young vampire boy didn't really have any normal human friends. The only friends he had were strange children like himself."
"But unfortunately," Iori went on, "none of those strange friends could go to school with him, at least not in the same year."
Akira realized that Iori's friends must have been the younger generation of the Starlight Family from that era, however long ago that was.
Iori continued quietly.
"So… he was mostly alone."
Iori continued.
"He did try to make friends, and he did become friendly with a lot of people… but it's hard to truly become friends with people who are different from you."
Akira thought, "Really?" Then memories from his previous life surfaced, and he realized, "Yeah, that makes sense."
Iori went on.
"And it wasn't just because of how different they were. To the boy… they were also, in a way, a food source."
Akira looked at him in shock. He had always thought vampires… at least the Sendo family usually got their blood from blood banks.
Iori noticed his reaction and explained, "I know that now, my family gets our blood from blood banks. But back then, sure, we could get it from banks too, but… well, drinking directly from humans is much faster. As long as you don't kill the person and erase their memories afterward, it wasn't really a big deal."
"It wasn't officially accepted," Iori added, "but it was an open secret. As long as no one messed up too badly, no one would notice."
Akira waved a hand. "Fine, fine. Just continue the story."
Iori nodded. "Alright."
"So the boy lived that kind of life…attending school, making friends, drinking blood. Life went on normally…"
He paused.
"…until that fateful night."
Iori continued, "That night, the boy was drinking blood as he normally did, without disturbing anyone."
He spoke calmly, as if recalling something distant.
"He usually lured the person he wanted to drink from to a quiet place, away from others. But this time, something went wrong. A friend of the girl noticed that her friend hadn't returned. Worried, she went looking for her. And unfortunately, she found them. She witnessed the boy drinking blood from her friend."
"But the boy didn't panic," Iori went on. "All he had to do was erase that girl's memories, too. She was just a human, what could she possibly do to him?"
He paused, then smiled faintly.
"But what the boy didn't expect… was that the girl didn't run away in fear. Instead, she rushed forward and attacked him with her slippers, desperately trying to save her friend."
"For the boy," Iori said, "it was love at first strike."
Akira stared at him. "…What?"
Iori shrugged. "It can't be helped. Have you ever seen a girl chasing a vampire with her slippers? It was a completely new feeling for the boy."
Akira said nothing, only giving him a strange look.
Iori didn't seem to mind and continued.
"And because of that, the boy only knocked the girl out. He didn't erase her memories."
He leaned back slightly.
"He erased only her friend's memories. Not hers."
"So, when the girl woke up," Iori continued, "at first, she treated everything as if it had just been a dream. A bad dream. A strange dream. Something her mind tried to dismiss, but that didn't last long."
Iori smiled. "The boy had already fallen in love. So, the very next day, he appeared before her and tried to talk to her."
"He didn't know how to love either," Iori said. "So he did the only thing he knew how to do. He pestered her. Constantly. Without stopping."
Akira could actually imagine Iori doing it.
Iori continued, "At first, the girl was afraid. Then she became irritated. And after that…They became friends. The boy worked hard, really hard, to get closer to her. And in the end, he succeeded."
"The girl even accepted him for who he was," Iori said quietly. "A half-human, half-vampire. Because of her, the boy stopped drinking blood directly from humans. He began relying on blood from the blood bank instead. Slowly, step by step, they grew closer. And eventually, they became lovers."
Iori looked a bit happy and then sad as he said, "They lived happily, until one day, something happened."
Iori glanced toward the window, his gaze drifting outside as if he were looking back on something far away.
"For some reason," he continued, "the blood he usually drank slowly stopped quenching his thirst."
Akira looked a bit shocked as Iori continued.
"No matter how much he drank, it wasn't enough. And the desire to drink that girl's blood," Iori said quietly, "started to increase."
Akira frowned slightly. "Wait… he never drank her blood until then?"
Iori shook his head. "No."
Then he explained, his tone calm but serious.
"You see, Akira, for vampires and dhampirs, falling in love with a human is not an easy thing. Most pure-blooded vampires don't see humans as equals. They see them as fodder. Even when they have children with humans, it's rare for them to love their human partners."
Akira listened without interrupting.
"But when they do fall in love," Iori continued, "they start to crave the blood of the person they love more and more. Other people's blood gradually stops being enough. And if they drink that person's blood even once…"
He paused.
"They can't stop. For the rest of their life, only that person's blood will be able to satisfy them. Other blood simply won't be enough anymore."
Akira's eyes widened slightly. "Really…?"
Iori nodded. "Yes. Though it can return to normal if that love disappears."
Then he added quietly, "But normally, love isn't something that easy to make disappear."
"True love," Iori said, "is not something that is easy to forget."
Akira said nothing.
He simply remained silent, absorbing every word.
Iori continued.
"So, when the boy started to desire the girl's blood, he became scared and locked himself up. He thought he would calm down in a day or two, but his mother found him before anything else could happen."
"She immediately realized what had happened, the fact that he had fallen in love with a human girl."
"So she explained to him what was happening to him, and then gave him two choices."
"First, he could make the girl his dependent and continue their relationship."
"And the other choice was to erase that girl's memories, and stop loving her."
Akira asked, "Couldn't they continue their love normally?"
Iori said. "Well, the boy asked if they couldn't love normally. To that, his mother asked him what he would do if they continued to love, and the girl died from old age one day, while the boy continued to live and continued to love her."
"It would be unbearable for him."
"The same thing that happened to the boy's grandfather."
Akira was shocked when he heard that.
He wanted to ask what had happened to his grandfather, but decided to ask about it later.
Iori continued.
"So his mother told him to choose, to change her into his dependent, or to let go of his love."
"And as you know, turning a human into a dependent is a risky thing to do."
"It was a gamble."
He glanced toward the window, where the trees swayed gently in the wind.
"If she wasn't compatible, she could become a ghoul. Or a zombie."
"If it half-worked, she might lose herself, first her memories, then her emotions."
"Some fall into a long sleep."
"Some never wake up again."
"And even if it succeeded, she wouldn't just gain immortality."
"She would change."
"Slowly."
"Irreversibly."
"That boy loved the girl, but he couldn't take the risk."
"So in the end, he chose to let her go."
"He erased her memories of their time together, all of it."
Iori continued, leaning back slightly.
"On graduation day, they met for the last time, and after that, he chose to never meet her again for the rest of his life."
Akira spoke up quietly.
"Wouldn't it have been better if he turned her into his dependent?" he asked. "They could have lived happily together, right?"
Iori nodded once.
"Yeah. They probably could have."
"But he could never take that risk," Iori said. "Because the opposite outcome was him destroying the one he loved with his own hands."
"He couldn't do it."
Akira went silent.
He understood Iori's choice.
He had almost made a similar one himself when Erika had asked to join the Star Chasers.
But Akira knew he wasn't like him.
Unlike Iori, Akira was a bit too selfish.
Even if he hadn't accepted Erika into his world, he would have stayed with her anyway.
He knew that much about himself.
Iori continued.
"So he erased her memories."
"But forgetting her was harder than he thought."
"He still craved her blood, and the blood from others didn't suddenly start tasting good, no matter how much time passed."
"He even watched her from a distance," Iori said, "but never appeared in front of her."
"So it took the boy a really long time to accept it."
"But eventually… he did."
"And the girl," Iori said softly, "she went on with her own life too."
He paused.
"The end."
Iori finished the story.
After a brief silence, Akira asked quietly,
"So… did he stop loving her?"
Iori shook his head.
"No. He still had feelings for her," he said. "He just stopped letting love be the axis that moved his life."
Akira frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Iori smiled.
"It doesn't mean he no longer loved her," he explained. "It means love was no longer the most important part of his life."
"He loved her, but it wasn't everything. It became more of a silent, watching-over kind of love," Iori said, "rather than an active, direct one. and over time, he learned how to live his own life… even if she was no longer a part of it."
Akira stayed silent for a moment, then asked,
"So… what exactly am I supposed to get from this story again?"
Iori leaned back in his chair, smiled, and said, "All I'm saying with this story is don't do what the boy in the story did."
"As for how to love her," Iori continued, "that's for you to figure out."
Akira hesitated, then asked quietly,
"Did you regret it?"
Iori smiled faintly.
"A bit," he admitted. "Not the choice I made. If I were given the chance again, I'd make the same one."
"But," he added, "I did regret not giving her a choice in it."
He looked at Akira, his smile turning serious.
"All I'm saying here," Iori said, "is that love is something that can only be achieved with two people working together. If one person tries to take all the burden, or make all the decisions, on their own…that's just asking for trouble."
Akira stared at Iori for a few seconds.
Then he spoke.
"I understand what you're trying to say," Akira said, "but that doesn't really solve any of my problems. I just… can't go to her and talk about this, you know."
Iori looked at him with a grin.
"Ohh? I thought you were asking for your friend."
Akira snapped back instantly.
"Who cares about that, just tell me what exactly I'm supposed to do!"
Iori laughed lightly.
"Well," he said, "I already told you everything I know. And my best advice to you is simple, talk to her about your problems. Honestly."
Akira shook his head immediately.
"There is no way I can talk to her about my problems."
Inside his mind, his thoughts spiraled.
"Yeah, how the hell am I supposed to say that the first thought that came to me when she went away was wanting to lock her up so she could always stay with me forever... What if she hates me?"
His expression darkened slightly as the thought lingered.
Akira looked sad.
Frustrated.
After a moment, he finally said it out loud.
"I… don't know what to do."
Both Iori and Seichirō looked at Akira in shock.
This was the same Akira who, even when surrounded by enemies and completely out of mana, could calmly take them out with a smile, as if it were nothing. Seeing him now, wearing such a lost and helpless expression, was something neither of them had ever thought he was capable of.
Iori sighed inwardly.
"I guess that's what love will do to you…This is troublesome. Still, it couldn't be helped. In the end, this big brother would have to save the day."
After thinking for a moment, Iori spoke.
"Actually, there are some methods that could solve your problems."
Akira's eyes lit up immediately.
"Really?"
Iori nodded.
"Yes. They might be a bit… unusual. But they will help you. I promise."
Akira didn't hesitate.
"It doesn't matter, as long as they help me understand what I should do."
Iori glanced at his watch.
"Well, explaining all of it would take some time…"
He paused, then added, "And it's already pretty late. I was planning to take a bath too."
Then, as if an idea suddenly struck him, Iori grinned.
"How about we talk about it in the bath, like real men?"
Akira blinked.
"Who talks about this kind of thing in a school bathroom like real men?"
Iori laughed.
"Oh, I didn't tell you? Our school's grand bath isn't a normal bath."
He continued casually,
"It's a huge natural hot spring. You can relax, clear your mind, and talk freely."
Akira frowned slightly.
"Why is there a hot spring here?"
Iori shrugged.
"Don't ask me. Your family built this place, so it's probably magic."
Akira sighed.
"Whatever… but can I even enter that place? I'm not a student yet, right?"
Iori waved a hand dismissively.
"Don't worry. I already have your ID. I just never had a good chance to give it to you."
He pulled it out and handed it to Akira.
"But," Iori added, "before we go, I want you to do something for me too."
Akira looked at him suspiciously.
"What is it?"
"Well," Iori said, smiling, "since I'm helping you, help me a bit too. Clean up all this, and I'll help you."
Akira looked around the room.
Files.
Papers.
Documents everywhere.
He felt a bit irritated at the thought of being left alone to clean everything up, but he had asked for help. It was only fair, so he sighed.
"…Okay. I'll do it."
Iori nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. Sei and I will head there first. Catch up to us soon, alright?"
Akira quickly asked,
"Hey, at least tell me where the bath is!"
Iori told him the directions, then left the room with Seichirō, heading toward the bath while Akira stayed behind to clean the room alone.
As they walked away, Seichirō asked quietly,
"What are you planning?"
Iori grinned.
"Well, I did promise to help him, didn't I? So I'll just have to play Cupid and help them out."
Seichirō looked at him, then shook his head and sighed.
"…I hope you survive this."
But Iori just grinned as they continued walking toward the bath.