Chapter 32: ACT.1 "A Winter Rumor"

I am Sion.

Sion Eltnam Atlasia.

I have always questioned myself.

But what exactly is it?

No matter how much I ponder, the answer remains elusive.

I have lived without knowing the answer.

That is why three years ago,

I participated in the subjugation of that vampire.

I thought that if I went out into the world, I would gain something.

But there was no result.

Half-vampire now, I have spent these three years solely chasing after him.

Where did I come from?

Who am I? Where am I going?

I think and think and think, but I don't know.

Where did I go wrong? The answer has never come.

This year is a strange winter.

The average traffic is five vehicles per hour.

The average number of train users is around 100 people per day.

The temperature is extremely low, and the breath escaping my mouth is white and cold.

The cold pierces through the clothes covering my body.

There is nowhere to escape, and I feel my body temperature being stolen away moment by moment.

And a sensation, as if I could sink into the ground if I let down my guard.

―――― It's like a fish drowning in the deep sea, someone once said.

"A fish drowning in the deep sea, huh? A strange analogy, or perhaps not."

I look out over the town.

It's daytime, and even though it's a holiday, there are no people.

Few cars drive on the roads, and the town is silent, like a ruin.

The sky is cloudy, and the light pouring down is faint.

The towering, deserted buildings look like gravestones or an ancient city submerged in the deep sea.

"I see, a fish drowning in the deep sea. That's certainly true."

Walking unsteadily in such a place, without any clear purpose,

I am indeed a fish myself.

Yet, people's lives do not stop.

Inside the tombstone-like buildings, people are working today for tomorrow.

It's just that there are extremely few people walking on the streets like me.

Especially at night, people disappear entirely, and darkness and silence reign.

I know that the cause of all this is that 'Rumor'.

The rumor says the killer was a vampire like the Grim Reaper.

The rumor says the victims of the bizarre killer were all drained of blood.

The rumor says that the war is starting again.

A vampire!

Yes, a vampire.

The battle surrounding the vampire I met,

the one who made me face my own past.

That was last year's story.

I was sure I had ended that connection with my own hands.

There shouldn't be a second or third vampire appearing.

Despite this, the rumor continues to spread, and people are terrified by the number of victims being reported.

But I—

No, everyone involved at the Tohno mansion knows the fact: [There is no evidence that anyone has fallen victim to a vampire.]

"Something is truly odd."

It's not just Akiha, who manages the underworld of this town.

Ciel-senpai, Arcueid, and even Satsuki—they all reached the same conclusion after investigating.

As for the rumor that that war is starting again, Ciel-senpai seems to have heard of it before, but I don't know anything about it.

Furthermore, Satsuki's unconscious murmur, "Too soon," is also bothering me immensely.

More than that, the rumor is only expanding, not converging.

They say "where there's smoke, there's fire," but this time, it's a situation where there's smoke despite no fire.

For a mere rumor, there are too many things that feel out of place.

It's as if someone is deliberately spreading the rumor itself, artificially...

"That is natural.

Because they are a being that cannot exist otherwise."

"Huh?"

Her sudden remark, as if she had read my thoughts and answered them, made me instinctively turn around toward the source of the voice.

"――――――"

There stood a girl with purple hair.

Like Ciel-senpai and Arcueid, who have been frequenting the Tohno mansion lately, she seemed to be a foreign girl.

She had deep-set features and a high nose, uncommon for Japanese people.

Her features were not like the Western European appearance of Ciel-senpai or Arcueid;

she looked like she had Middle Eastern blood, a different kind of beautiful woman stood there.

"――――――"

The girl also turned to look at me.

Her intellectual, purple eyes watched me intently, as if observing me.

Even though I'm the only man in the Tohno mansion and am used to being around women, being stared at so fixedly makes me uneasy.

"Excuse me..."

As if sensing my thoughts,

the girl made a gesture as if extracting something, then moved away from me.

"What on earth was that...?"

Her words sounded as if she knew my circumstances.

Perhaps she is connected to the same world as Ciel-senpai and Arcueid.

"Should I follow her..."

She probably knows the cause of this rumor.

In that case, asking her directly is the best course of action.

I changed my direction to follow her.

Muffling my footsteps, I began my pursuit, maintaining a distance.

Since she hadn't gone far, I quickly caught up with my target.

I continued the chase.

...............

.......................

...............................

.......................................

I met her before noon.

I've been tailing her ever since, but the sun has already set.

After walking all day, my not-so-strong body is already completely worn out.

I've already missed the curfew set by Akiha,

and I'm seriously worried about how I'll explain myself this time.

The last time, I carelessly said I stayed over at Arcueid's house... I went through hell.

Akiha, veins popping on her temples, physically throttling me.

Arcueid and Ciel-senpai barging in to stop Akiha, leading to the usual brawl.

The sequence of the mansion being destroyed, and me getting caught even when I try to run away, has become a complete pattern.

Satsuki teased me, saying, "You're so popular, Shiki," but apart from Arcueid, I don't recall trying to flirting with Ciel-senpai or Akiha, do I?

Anyway, what's important is the present.

And as for her, she did nothing.

She was just walking around the town as if she was sightseeing.

The places she stopped at were suspicious, but I couldn't figure out her destination.

The place we're currently at is a building called the "Shrine."

It's currently under construction, and I don't know what it will be used for, but I think "Shrine" is an excessive name.

This entire area used to be a park, but it was leveled, and now there's no trace of its former appearance.

And my target, as usual, is only strolling around the area.

She stops occasionally and says something, but since I'm far away, I can't hear what she's murmuring.

However, after observing her actions all day, I realized one thing:

She is definitely someone investigating the rumor circulating in this town right now.

The route she walked overlaps with the routes we took when we investigated the vampire rumor.

But this is only speculation, a hypothesis, not confirmed evidence.

It would be an option to continue tailing her and find out her base of operations, but

that won't get me anywhere. The time may have come to finally ask her directly.

I took out the knife I had tucked away and took a step forward.

"...!!"

In an instant, my heart suddenly beat faster.

A chill ran down my entire body, and a current jolted through my limbs.

My mind was consumed by tension, and my lungs felt compressed, making me feel sick.

I took one more step forward.

"...Ugh."

My heart pounded even faster, and the chill intensified.

I know this sensation—yes, this is clearly the same feeling I get when I encounter 'something non-human'.

First Arcueid, then Roa, and then Satsuki... Yes, a vampire, a vampire! It's similar to the feeling of encountering a vampire.

Could she possibly be the very vampire rumored in Misaki Town—!?

"Good evening, and how do you do? Or should I say, Tohno Shiki."

A voice came from the front; behind the voice, illuminated by the moonlight, stood the girl.

"Ah, ah. Hello."

For some reason, the chill had disappeared.

However, since she had spotted me, I needed to cover up.

A man tailing a woman in a place like this sounds awful, wait...

How does she know my name?

"I knew you were following me from the beginning."

Ah, I messed up.

It seems this is...

"What you are looking for and what I am looking for are the same, but our objectives are different. More than anything, you are an irregularity to me. In this TATARI (Calamity), your existence disrupts all calculations."

I drew my knife and readied myself.

It seems she played a trick on me.

She also pulled out a handgun and poised herself for the next action.

"Therefore, I, Sion Eltnam Atlasia, hereby declare that I will seize your freedom right here!"

Declaring her name loudly,

she, Sion Eltnam Atlasia, ferociously lunged at me.

"Damn it!"

I want to curse my own carelessness!

But now is not the time for such thoughts or words; I must only fight.

I'll save the cursing for later.

And I'll question her then.