Chapter 9: Each One's Intentions III

“What the hell!?”

Even in a relatively well-lit part of the back alleys, the boy continued to run.

Cursing under his breath, he sprinted toward the main street with a desperation that made all his usual laziness seem like a lie.

Why did things turn out like this?

Why did something like this have to happen to him?

The red-haired boy on the run—Arihiko Inui—wondered that to himself.

It had all begun by chance.

One of his few friends at school had gone missing.

Normally, with his policy of avoiding getting involved with others, he wouldn’t have paid much attention.
But she had been someone he knew since middle school.

Still, he understood there was nothing he could personally do, so the extent of his concern had been checking the news every day.

But then he heard a certain rumor.

They said someone had seen Yumizuka-san near the entrance of an alley around ○○ Street.

From there, everything went wrong. He ignored his older sister’s warning not to go out because there had been a murder that night.
He figured it would be fine as long as it wasn’t too late. After cutting through the main street, he followed a weird cat for some reason—and before he knew it, he ended up in this mess.

“Take this!!”

He kicked a heavy trash can beside the walkway to obstruct the path.

In a narrow alley that barely fit one person, it should have slowed down his pursuer.

With a loud crash, the figure stumbled—but immediately rose again, expression lifeless as he continued the chase.

Even the box of beer bottles Arihiko kicked next was neither dodged nor avoided; the pursuer just barreled straight through it, as if nothing were there.

“――――”

That person—no, he was no longer a person. A living corpse.

At first glance, he looked like any ordinary salaryman, but his eyes were lifeless and his neck was twisted at an impossible angle.

Like something straight out of a horror movie, he chased after Arihiko without slowing even a little.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. That guy isn’t actually a zombie… right?”

Even now he cracked a joke, though cold sweat poured down nonstop.

Earlier, he had followed that strange cat.
When he came to, the man was about to kiss him, so Arihiko had reflexively thrown his “proud right straight.”

Maybe it hit too well, because the man collapsed. Arihiko panicked and went to check on him—

But the man, eyes rolled back, tried to bite him.

Everything after that was such a blur that he could barely remember.

His sixth sense had screamed that the place was dangerous, and that had led to this desperate escape.

“A— A person!?”

A silhouette swayed into view ahead of him.

Anyone you met in a back alley without proper lighting—an alley that lacked even basic street lamps—tended to be bad news, but right now he didn’t care.

Human, monster, saint—whatever.
Just knowing it was a real human like him filled him with relief.

“Oh.”

Unfortunately, it seemed the figure ahead was a companion of the one chasing him.

With the same zombie-like gait, the newcomer approached Arihiko, staring at him with vacant, unfocused eyes.

His moment of hope crashed instantly into despair.

The front zombie opened its mouth wide and lunged at Arihiko with a wordless groan.

It happened so suddenly that Arihiko couldn’t move.

His hope had overturned into despair so fast that he couldn’t even react.
He stared blankly at the figure attacking him, and muttered internally:

Ah… I’m dead.

His body understood before his mind did.

Soon, he would become just like them.

Meaninglessly, mercilessly, his short life would end here.

Yes—Arihiko Inui’s life was about to end—

Or so it seemed.

“Eh—?”

His viewpoint had shifted.

The smell of the ground stung his nose—he was lying on the pavement.

But strangely, he was still alive.

He let his gaze wander, and saw a small back in front of him—a girl’s back, with long twin-tails hanging down.

No way, he thought—just as the girl opened her mouth.

"It shouldn't have involved luring people with a familiar... well, I was lured that way too, I suppose."

The voice of his friend since middle school—Satsuki Yumizuka—echoed before him.

Where had she been until now? Why was she here?

Questions flooded his mind. He swallowed and tried to speak—

“――――――――”

But no voice came out.

From Satsuki—who was glaring at the two attackers—an invisible killing intent radiated.

The air crackled with such sharp, overwhelming murderous intent that it dominated the entire alley.

“U… ah…”

Impossible, his heart screamed in place of his voice.

Something like that should not exist within the category of “human.”

That thing was a monster wearing human skin—and his instincts screamed the warning.

“――――Crush.”

Her voice was cold enough to freeze.

Her arm swung down.

The attackers were some distance away from her. Arihiko wondered how she could reach them—

Then the scene that unfolded shattered all his expectations.

First, blood sprayed and flesh was torn.

Next, bones cracked with a dull sound and organs burst out.

And finally, their bodies were sliced vertically like thin sheets of cheese.

All of this happened in an instant, accompanied by brutal sound effects.

A massive claw-like mark slashed across the wall as if they’d been swept away from afar, and the attackers vanished.

The only trace left was the splattered blood across the wall.

…What just happened?

The sight was so unreal that Arihiko lost all words.

Her presence alone felt inhuman, and his thoughts couldn’t keep up.

“…Ugh, yeah, that’s rough…”

Suddenly the heavy atmosphere evaporated. Satsuki dropped to one knee, covering her mouth.

Arihiko, now somewhat recovered from the chaos, managed to speak again.

“H-Hey! Yumizuka, what the hell were those things!? And you—where have you been…!?”

He got up and questioned her sharply, but she didn’t answer.

Instead, the moment she sensed him rising to his feet, she immediately backed away without turning around.

“…Sorry. I can’t explain right now.”

“Yumizuka…”

Arihiko understood, at least in his head, that Satsuki must have had a reason for acting like this.
Even so, he grew frustrated—frustrated at her current state, and at his own inability to do anything to help.

—So you’re not planning to explain? Then I’ll force it out if I have to.

The moment he stepped toward her—

A strange slicing sound cut through the air.

“—!!”

Satsuki turned, swinging her arm. Sparks lit up the alley.

“Whoa!!”

Before he could understand what was happening, blade-like objects flew toward him in rapid succession.

Each impact sent up clouds of dust, carving into the asphalt and sending fragments flying.

“W-What the—!?”

Arihiko was beyond words.

After zombies, superhuman feats, and now this—there was no way for a normal person to comprehend the sequence of events.

The storm of attacks ceased, and as the darkness settled again—

“She’s gone?”

No one was there beyond the clearing dust.

Only a cross-shaped sword remained, stuck in the ground like a grave marker.

Well—there was one person.

And that person was the last someone Arihiko expected.

“So she fled… Good evening, Inui-kun.”

“Ciel-senpai?”

Wearing a cassock, the upperclassman smiled warmly as she turned toward him—standing in the exact spot where Satsuki had been moments ago.

She looked as cute and reliable as always, but her blue eyes were not smiling. They were cold—unnervingly calm.

“Honestly, you shouldn’t be wandering around so late.”

“Uh, well, Ciel-senpai, that’s… true, but…”

—What is Senpai doing here…?

He tried to voice the question, but suddenly noticed something.

His mouth wouldn’t move.

Not only that—his entire body was frozen, as if bound by invisible chains.

“Inui-kun, go home. And forget everything.”

Wrapped in a non-human presence just like Satsuki, her words carried no room for refusal.

Arihiko recoiled—

“Huh…?”

His body swayed, consciousness blurring.

His mind sounded alarms, rationality desperately trying to cling on.

But his brain functions shut down first, and he lost consciousness.

“She doesn’t seem to be completely consumed yet.”

After confirming that the first-year student dragged into this mess had left the alley safely, Ciel thought back on the one who had once killed her—even if she herself was immortal.

Normally, once someone falls into vampirism, both their mind and body transform completely.

Their conscience and human internal conflicts disappear, replaced with pure monstrosity.
But this girl was different.

Her destroying the dead could be interpreted as laying groundwork to kill her “parent,” Roa.
But she also saved her human friend.

Since Ciel had been killed by her out of self-defense more than malice, it was possible the girl still retained human emotions.

—Unlike me, who messed everything up.

“…But even so, she might end up the same way I did.”

Continuing her search, Ciel whispered to herself.

She had once failed to resist Roa and committed sins.

Yumizuka, on the other hand, had yet to kill anyone besides Ciel—and that was unavoidable self-defense.

The weight of sin couldn’t simply be measured by number of victims, but still, the difference stirred strange feelings in Ciel’s heart.

—But why was she able to become a vampire at all?

A sudden question.

Ciel had become one because Roa’s nature allowed her to bypass the intermediate stages of ghoul or living dead.

But Yumizuka Satsuki had turned merely from being bitten—meaning she possessed incredible latent potential.

And that wasn’t all.

Monsters attract monsters.

That saying seemed fitting—because supernatural beings had been converging on Misaki Town as if drawn there.

Could this really be coincidence?

“Come to think of it, this area is ruled by the descendants of a certain mixed-blood clan, isn’t it?”

Her prior research as a candidate vessel for Roa floated to mind.

Normally, she should have immediately executed Yumizuka without investigation, then searched the city for Roa at leisure.
But something tugged at her thoughts, making her stop.

“It’s dangerous, but it may be worth confirming.”

That place—if their guesses were right—might have turned into a magical fortress.

Risky, yes. But sometimes striking at what seemed to be the enemy’s headquarters wasn’t a bad idea.

Gazing toward the mansion on the distant hill—the Tohno estate—Ciel whispered to herself.