A Vampire's Kin?
Beep, beep.
Is this sound coming from the afterlife?
It sounds too mechanical to be an instrument played by angels, but perhaps heaven has also become mechanized.
I don't know since I've never died before, but is this the kind of sound the afterlife would have?
Thinking that I must have died after all, I open my heavy eyelids.
"...Ugh...!"
A bright light greets me, and for a moment, I wonder if I’m in heaven. But that illusion is quickly shattered as I wake up in a bed.
It looks like I'm in a hospital room. Not the afterlife, but a hospital room... I guess I'm still alive after all...
"Where am I..."
Before I can even think about how, I hear the sound of the hospital room door opening.
"Hm? Oh! You're awake. It seems your recovery is going well, haha."
I thought this must be some kind of joke.
I mean, the person standing before me is the Prime Minister, dressed in a suit just like he does when he appears on TV."
"Huh? Um... What is..."
"Now, now, first calm down and just listen to me while lying down, okay? You're a victim of a vampire attack, after all..."
"Um... er... By ‘vampire’…you mean…?"
The monsters often depicted in various works—vampires that are supposed to be part of the occult and not real—those vampires, said the Prime Minister.
"Oh...and I'm late with my introduction. You probably know me from TV and such... I'm Masaru Kiryu, the Prime Minister. Pleased to meet you."
"Ah! ... I'm Masato Tanaka."
We shake hands. I never thought the day would come when I'd be able to shake hands with the Prime Minister.
"Er... Erm! The vampires you mentioned... Do they really exist?"
"You saw them yourself... it’s the truth..."
He answered my question while casually sitting down in a chair in the hospital room. Judging by his reaction, I don’t think he’s lying.
"They've been in human society from the beginning. Their existence has been confirmed since ancient times, but…they only began to be actively sighted around the world about 20 years ago, around 2004. At first, those sightings were dismissed as urban legends or fakes, and if only that had turned out to be the case… But this is the reality. Don’t worry, the girl you saved has been safely rescued."
The Prime Minister spoke while stroking his beard with a grave expression.
"Well, let's end the serious talk here. Now... I have a request for you!"
"The Prime Minister has a request for me?"
I asked while feeling somewhat uneasy about his smiling face.
"The girl you saved... She's also a vampire. It seems you've become her kin. She hasn't told us much about the details either though..."
"By kin... you mean like a vampire's servant?"
"You’re on the right track. In your case, you have a certain degree of freedom. Well, in most cases, there’s usually no freedom at all. Anyway, now that you’ve become her servant, I want you to live with her as part of her kin."
"Huh? Live together? How did things come to this…?"
"Ah! Don't worry about housing-related matters. We’ve already prepared a residential unit for you two, so you can just live there."
"Um... Will I be able to go home?”
"That would be impossible. There would be problems if her whereabouts or condition were found out through you when you’re not by her side. If you insist on going back, we'll have to eliminate you..."
He spoke those words in a calm manner. A chill runs down my spine, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over me.
"It's right for you to be on guard like that, but... your life is already in our hands. Even this room is filled with countless surveillance cameras and restraints, and with just one of my commands, skilled soldiers will come in. You understand, don't you? This is a threat... I'm threatening you to make you comply quickly... You don't have time to question this."
"Why go this far… Just what do you want from me?!! *cough* *cough*..."
"Don’t get too excited. Your body is still unstable since you just became her kin. I told you there would be problems if her existence became known through you. The world is in a precarious state, where it could be thrown into chaos by one vampire kin. Your life alone is a cheap price to pay to hide her, you know? The only reason you’re still alive now is because of our promise to her. Since you’re not human, the law doesn’t apply to you, so the fact that you’re still alive is due to our mercy, boy..."
"...!"
His tone shifted from the previous light-hearted manner to a low, menacing voice, causing my body to stiffen. The Prime Minister spoke in a grave tone that conveyed his seriousness.
"I understand... I just have to comply, right?"
"Yes! I knew you would understand, hahaha!"
He lightly patted my shoulder. As a new working member of society, I felt the weight of a burden that I didn’t even want to know about, pressing heavily on my shoulders, even though there was no real pain.
"Well, I'll be going now, since I still have work to do. You should be able to be discharged by the afternoon, so you'd better prepare yourself until then, hahaha!"
"Yes... I'll do that."
I felt that person was a kind of monster too. I began to think that humans consumed by their desires were scarier than vampires. The Prime Minister insists that the hero who sacrifices one to save many is justified. He’s probably not wrong from a leader’s perspective, but that would render my thoughts as an individual as insignificant as dust.
With the sound of the hospital room door closing, all strength left my body, and I flopped onto the bed.
"Sigh... I want to go home... Ah! But what about work?! At this rate, I'll be missing work without permission... What should I do..?."
Due to such thoughts, I rushed out of the hospital room. Thinking there might be a phone somewhere in the hospital, I set out to look for one.
Since my wallet was also in the room, I grabbed it with me on my way out.
"Huh... Where am I..."
And so, I found myself lost inside an unfamiliar hospital.
It can't be helped since I’ve never been here before. I had been bedridden the whole time, and when I woke up, I was in a hospital room inside a hospital I didn’t recognize. It’s only natural, I thought.
"Hmm... This isn't it either... Ah! Oh... Wrong again... If I could at least find the reception desk... Where is it…?"
I wonder if I look like a suspicious person wandering endlessly through the hospital. I think it's okay since I'm wearing hospital clothes, but...walking around everywhere has made me thirsty.
Just then, I saw a vending machine, and for some reason, I ended up buying a tomato juice.
Come to think of it, I don't even like tomatoes. Usually, I can eat them if I force myself, but I would never choose to eat them on my own... Let alone tomato juice, which I dislike even more. It's unimaginable for my usual self to buy this.
"*Gulp* *gulp*... It’s not doing it... My throat is still so dry..."
Without even looking at the vending machine... My vision blurred as I staggered, and somehow I felt hungry as well.
*Growl*~
Red liquid... Not tomato juice... Something different... It feels like only that will go down my throat.
"*Huff* *huff*..."
My throat hurts... It's so dry and painful. I wandered through the hospital unsteadily.
"Where are you... Ah! Finally found you! Wait right there, kin No. 1!"
I turned around when someone called out to me, and there was the girl who I ran away with before.
"*Huff* *huff*... A sweet... smell..."
For some reason, there was a very pleasant scent coming from her. It was as if that scent pierced my instincts, making my body tremble...
"*Sigh*... Of course you'd get hungry walking around in that state... Hmm... The transformation into my kin was faster than I thought... Even though it's because of my blood... Hmm..."
"Ugh! Run away…quickly! *Huff* *huff*... Give me... give me blood! Gwaaa!"
My body lunged towards the girl. This mysterious impulse that I couldn't control must be coming from instinct. Otherwise, I wouldn't think of attacking such a small girl right now.
"But that’s not going to work...you should continue living as a human. Hmph! My kin! I, of the Diasmirthia bloodline, command you. From this moment on, you are forbidden to suck blood!"
"Gwaa! Ugh! *Huff* *huff*..."
After hearing the girl’s words, I felt as if I could suppress my instincts, and the bodily impulse faded away. The strong thirst that had been stabbing at my throat also subsided. Only the sensation of reasoning remained, caressing my body, as if the beast had retreated back inside me.
"Yes, that should do it..."
"*Huff*... What... just what are you?"
"What, you ask… Didn't that Japanese representative tell you? That I'm a vampire?"
"He did...but I still don't get it... Though I don't need to right now... More importantly, what did you just do to me?"
"To put it simply, it was just discipline. You've probably seen something similar before, right? It’s a form of discipline that’s somewhat different from what you would do to livestock or pets. I merely did that to you because you acted in a way that has nothing to do with my will, that’s all."
"Um... The impulse disappeared in an instant. What was that about?! What was I about to do…?"
"You were simply hungry and wanted to attack me to drink my blood. You wanted to eat, basically. If you had gone outside the hospital in that condition...you would have joined the ranks of monsters, but you're lucky you picked me to attack first."
I continued to listen to the words she spoke matter-of-factly, and she answered my questions properly. She kept on talking, perhaps thinking it necessary to calm me down in my confused state.
"It seems you've calmed down. My blood is flowing through you now, so take care of your body."
"Your... blood...?"
"We'll talk about that when we get home. Now, shouldn't you go back to your hospital room and prepare to leave?"
"No, I need to contact my company first!"
"It’s fine, don't worry about that. That Japanese person took care of various things for you, and now you're what they call unemployed. ‘Resigned’, was that what he called it? He did that for you, so now you’re safely unemployed."
"What!?"
Wait, what's going on? There’s too much happening all of a sudden and I'm confused again... So I've resigned from the company I was working for until yesterday and now I'm unemployed... Unemployed(Mushoku)...Maybe she was talking about me being ‘colorless’(Mushoku) given my current attire... No, let's face reality... The Prime Minister is behind her. At this point... I don't even know what’s going to happen next. But still! After all the trouble I went through with job hunting in high school, to suddenly resign from the job I finally got...
"What's wrong now? Your face has turned blue... Is your head okay?"
"If you say that to me now, I might want to attack you in a different way than before, so keep your mouth shut..."
Anyway, thinking about it now... It’s not like I particularly liked travelling... and I didn’t like working either...
This might actually be a good thing. Maybe when I protected her from that man, I was just using the situation to die in a cool way, without any lingering attachments to this world...
No, let’s stop thinking about unnecessary things. All I can do now is accept this reality as it is.
"I'm sorry. There are still things that confuse me, but I've calmed down. Am I correct in understanding that I'm your kin now?"
"Huh? Yeah, that's right, but... you're acting strange... It's creepy... Your expression keeps rapidly changing, maybe there’s something wrong with your head after all..."
"That's mean… Here I am, trying to put on a smile for you, and you call me creepy..."
“Stop it. Don’t force yourself to smile in front of me. Smile only when you genuinely want to. I shouldn’t have to order you to do this, but it’s basic etiquette if you want to stand beside me, so remember that.”
"Yes... I'll be careful?"
"Why do you sound so uncertain…?"
"Because I thought people wouldn’t normally care about such things?"
"*Sigh*... I'm a vampire. If you're thinking of me as a normal person, I'm only going to be anxious about our future life together... So, don't let every little thing bother you..."
"Okay, I'll be careful."
"Good, that's better."
She extends her hand, and I take it as she guides me back to the hospital room I was originally in.
Back in the hospital room, I changed into the prepared clothes, then I said goodbye at the reception and left the hospital. As we stepped outside, I realized something.
"Come to think of it, are you okay with sunlight, Ms.Vampire?"
"Ah... That's just an old superstition that humans used to believe. The sun is not a problem for me."
I can't help but chuckle a little at the irony of this mythical being calling something a superstition.
"Heh... hehe..."
"Ah! You just laughed at me, didn't you? Are you sure you want to do that? To laugh at your master?"
"Not 'you', it's Masato Tanaka."
"Hmph, I'll keep that in the corner of my memory. Masato! Hehe!"
Grateful for a master who allows such banter, I chatted with her as we walked in front of the hospital in broad daylight.
I don't know where we’re going, but the vampire seems to... With uncertainty, I move forward, as it's the only option I’m allowed to take.
"Now! Let's go, Kin Number One!"
Today, as my ordinary life lost its shape and collapsed, I moved forward with the feeling that a strange new daily life was about to begin
