Episode 50 — Blood Crave Illness
～ Part 2 ～
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After a little while, Ryuzaki returned to the heavy cruiser branch school anchored offshore. Because the landing permission was easily gotten, the students ate quite an anticlimax. The students, who had started to completely yearn for land during these nearly 2 weeks voyage at sea, clung to Kaminari Totoha the thunderbird, or took down the boats and prepared to head to the beach.
“Oi, Akira, you okay? We arrived at Albadanba?”
“Ah, right…. Have we finally arrived…? Uuu…”
Hino Akira the Wisp was groggy. The thermal power made up his body was obviously weak at a glance.
“Sorry, Kyousuke…. Can you take out the motion sickness bag…”
“Is–is there such a thing? No, in the first place, you can vomit…?”
“F–feel like I’m going to vomit due to motion sickness at anytime now…. Uuuu…”
∗Bupaa∗, a large amount of white ashes gushed out from the wisp’s body.
“Uoo…”
“So–sorry. Kyousuke, this is, unsightly…”
“No, it’s fine since it’s not unsightly, visually speaking…. Really, is this vomit…?”
Kyousuke cleaned up the scattered ashes with a broom placed in the corner of the room.
“Well, since we’re going to set sail again after a while…. It may be a short stay, but it’s the long-awaited southern island. Let’s fully enjoy it.”
“That, that’s right…. Southern island…”
Akira, floating unsteadily, said such a thing.
“Has, other students … already landed?”
“Rin is waiting. And then Sakuma is at Akai’s place.”
“Akai’s…”
“Right.”
Kyousuke nodded.
Even now, Akai was still shutting herself in her room, not trying to disembark. As a matter of fact, her condition had worsen again these past few days, the times she showed up in the dining room had also lessen. Either way, this seemed to be because she hadn’t been sucking blood.
The classmates were also worrying about Akai in their own way, the Uozumi siblings caught a sea turtle and hand it over to Sugiura, Sugiura using the meat of that sea turtle to make steak, cooked to rare, a special menu just for Akai. It appeared that she also extracted its blood, put it in a bottle and let Akai drink it, but Akai’s condition didn’t show any improvement at all.
Part of the classmates were thinking about a method to get blood from humans, but whatever methods they could think of only seemed to result in harming the humans’ trust, so they didn’t carry them out.
As for Sakuma and Kaoruko, judging from the brooding expression they sometimes made, the girls too, was probably considering making use of the power of «Temptation» and have the humans donate some blood.
Kyousuke, matching the really slow flying pace of Akira, came out to the corridor. As they were about to head to the deck where Rin was waiting, they saw unexpected students waiting in the corridor.
“What’s this, isn’t this Harui and Hebitsuka?”
Harui the harpy and Hebitsuka the Lamia.
When speaking of Queen Akai’s entourage, it was these two people that felt strangely nostalgic somehow. These two looked at Kyousuke group direction but they instantly lost interest and looked away, showing a bored look.
“You two…. What are you doing?”
“Waiting. For Asuka.”
Akira’s words were answered by Harui’s strangely harsh tone.
Waiting, they said, but the place the two were standing was quite a bit distant from Akai’s bedroom. Kyousuke couldn’t comprehend why there was even a tinge of aggressiveness in her words. But because he couldn’t understand, he exercised his brains and let his imagination swim.
“You seem to be in quite a bad mood.”
Hino Akira, ignorant of fear, said so fearlessly.
“Hah, what do YOU know!”
“No, I know. I think you’re dissatisfied that Akai didn’t rely on you.”
When Akira lightly said that, the two people froze. Kyousuke inclined his head.
“What kind of thing is … is it better if I don’t asked?”
“Well, Kyousuke, if you’re considering the subtleties of their heart, I won’t say anymore than this.”
∗Twitch∗, Harui’s face cramped. She was going to say something, but just at that time, the door of a room a bit further away opened. Akai Asuka and Sakuma Sachiko appeared. Harui and Hebitsuka, first made a worried expression, then instantly erased that.
“Asuka…”
Looking at the dead tired appearance of Akai, Hebitsuka murmured.
Akai Asuka’s complexion was absolutely bad. Already white originally, now Akai’s skin went past white to pale. The smooth whiteness quite like wax itself was ghastly vivid. Just like that of the dead.
If this was the symptom due to lack of blood, why had she remained silent until this point?
“Ah, Utsurogi-kun. Harui-san and Hebitsuka-san too.”
As Akai noticed this place when hearing Sakuma’s voice, she raised her face.
“……Ahh.”
Saying just that, she casted her eyes down again, not trying to speak anything more in particular.
“Asuka, you all right?”
“…I’m tired, but okay.”
She answered Harui’s words without breaking her usual tone as much as possible.
“…There’s Utsurogi, and Hino too. Just, right.”
As it was, she turned her gaze toward Kyousuke group.
“…There’s something I want to about regarding this state to Utsurogi as well.”
“Sure, I don’t really mind but…”
“Oi Asuka.”
As Kyousuke was giving his answer, Harui’s cold voice echoed from behind.
“What was that?”
“Harui…”
“I’m not saying not to rely on Sakuma or Utsurogi or anything, but why every-time there’s such an important story, you never talked to us about it? What is this? Asuka, are we so unreliable to you?”
Her words were strangely thorny. If taking the meaning of her words as is, then it was certainly as Akira had said. Kyousuke finally understood.
“We, aren’t we friends?”
These two had been Akai Asuka’s followers since the human days. At least the surroundings had recognized it that way. But, ‘followers’ was a little malicious way of calling, at least for the girls, it was ‘friendship’. Since there might have been a hierarchical relationship when looking from the side, it might be a fact that Harui and Hebitsuka had resigned themselves to that though.
Nevertheless, Harui and Hebitsuka might have been shock that Akai had been hiding the fact that she was a vampire, and that it wasn’t them she confided in first but Sakuma. Akai relied on Sakuma and Kaoruko, but at least, she didn’t rely on Harui and Hebitsuka. That might have been shocking to them.
Did she not think that she would be told such a thing? Akai was showing a surprised look.
“Harui…”
“Well, it’s fine though. I’ll be going ahead.”
Saying so, Harui turned her back to Akai and went up the stairs leading to the deck.
“Ah, oi, Harui!”
Hebitsuka raised her voice and chased after Harui.
Akai too chased after her with her gazed, but instantly turned back to Kyousuke direction.
“…Well then, Utsurogi. It’s about my present state, but,”
Even though she said that so lightly, Kyousuke was surprised.
“Is it okay not to chase after Harui?”
“I want to talk to you first…. Ahh, Sachi, sorry. It’s fine already…”
Akai who was being supported by Sakuma so far, said so and barely stood in the corridor with her own two legs.
She was staggering a bit, but the way she stood was firm beyond expectation. While repeated rough breathing, she scratched the black hair stuck on her forehead along with sweats.
“Blood crave illness…. That’s what it’s called. It’s my present condition.”
“Blood crave illness…?”
“Yes…. Without human blood intake for a long time, it will become like this…”
What is called ‘vampire’ in Kyousuke’s world is a species that obtained power with a special energy flowing in blood. That energy is very similar to magical power, it is something like spiritual gene, taking different form in each individual. Using the part of the same structure within the spiritual gene, the owner can give out command to their kins.
Because Akai’s blood had that same structure which received orders from the King’s spiritual gene, Kyousuke, as Akai’s kin, had that same structure in his spiritual gene as well.
Vampires are once ordinary humans. They are a species that was made to be able to flow the spiritual gene within their blood through external means. That is inherited by children who are born between vampire parents as well, but because the spiritual gene is something that humans aren’t supposed to have originally, some structural abnormality was born.
When the spiritual gene is consumed by life activities and exercising their power, it stayed in their blood. So to speak, it is the energy’s cadaver. No matter how that circulated, it is impossible for the vampires’ internal organs — which is originally not much different from humans — to purify that. Therefore, it is necessary to take in pure blood of humans, unmixed with the energy’s cadaver.
Do not taking in blood for a long period and your blood will be filled with sedimented energy’s cadaver. That is the blood crave illness.
“I understand that, but…”
Kyousuke scratched his cheek.
“WHY did you tell me all that?”
Asuka next spoke up a very surprising comment.
“If I remain to be unable to suck blood like this, I may have to temporarily make you return the blood, that’s why.”
You can do that? Kyousuke thought.
Next Episode: Curiosity Kill the Dog
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