Everlasting Spark ~DARK 05~
Chiyo huffed when she finally unloaded the books on one of the tables in the mansion’s study. She ended up taking a bunch of biblical essays with her, as well as some books that seemed to have biblical themes.
She took a moment to gather her thoughts on a sheet of paper. What did she know so far?
Dreams about Lilith, Adam and Eve, a new group of Vampires that suddenly appeared in town, her being sent to this mansion as well as a car crash…
Were these related? What would the Mukami family have to do with all of this? Absentmindedly she started to bite her lower lip, a horrible habit to have when you were a Vampire with fangs. She drew some blood.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. Chiyo jerked her head up to see who was standing behind her.
It turned out to be Yui.
She really needed to work on being more conscious about her surroundings now that there were so many people she’d rather avoid. Looking up at the girl with a defeated sigh, she asked:
“Did you need something?”
“I’m sorry, I called out to you, but you didn’t answer, that’s why I came closer.”
“I did not ask about that, did I?”
“Right,” Yui said, “I wanted to apologize. For what happened on the rooftop the other day.”
Chiyo frowned but made no attempt to stop the other girl from continuing her monologue.
“You see, there was never anything between Shuu-san and I, I’m sorry if it seemed that way. And it looks like the two of you used to be very close, so I just… wanted to say that you don’t need to be worried about me liking him or anything.”
Chiyo rolled her eyes.
“I have more important things to do than worry about whatever sick play Shuu is into these days.”
“Are you sure? You seemed quite upset yesterday…”
Could it be that Yui was genuinely trying to make sure that Chiyo was doing okay? She couldn’t tell, such a thing was as foreign to her as the idea of working out was to Shuu. Quite honestly, the incident did bother Chiyo, but right now she felt as if she could put that thought away and focus on something more important.
“Listen, it’s complicated, okay?” Chiyo said.
She saw Yui fumble with her hands, visibly in thought.
“I have time to listen, if you’d like to share it after all,” she said.
Chiyo has never spoken about what had happened between her and Shuu with anyone. At the same time, she didn’t feel like she trusted Yui enough to start baring her soul now.
She eyed the girl warily.
“It’s just, it helps talking about things sometimes. But I understand that you might not want to talk about it,” Yui said.
“Well, we’re not exactly friends, are we?”
“Do you think we could be?” Yui asked. A bit too eager.
Chiyo never had a friend before. Shuu and she started out as friends, if she thought about it, but she never got along with any girls in the other world. Eventually she just accepted the fact that she was treated as an outcast. Truth be told, she never believed she needed anybody else but Shuu, he had been the center of her world ever since they became close. There was nothing else that she had use for when she had him. Only that now she did not have him anymore. She didn’t really have anyone.
But was it worth a shot to take the extended hand of the human girl in front of her?
“I don’t know,” Chiyo said, “I’ve never made friends before…”
It was embarrassing to admit it in front of Yui. She felt inferior to her, since she seemed like the kind of person that got along with most people. Yui probably had a lot of friends outside the Sakamaki mansion. Hell, she even seemed to get along with the brothers fine. As fine as someone could get along with them of course.
“That’s fine, there’s a first time for everything, right?”
Yui smiled her usual sweet smile. Part of Chiyo wanted to gag at how kind the other girl was, but part of her also felt grateful, relieved even.
“I suppose so…”
In the following days Chiyo decided that she might have to revise some of her conceptions about Yui. While she could be annoying at times with how much of a pushover she was or how she wanted to make everyone happy, Chiyo felt that she actually started to enjoy the girl’s presence.
It was nice to get her mind off Shuu and all the other things that have been happening lately. Maybe Chiyo has been too harsh on herself, trying to solve a mystery she might not even need to solve after all. Maybe she could just enjoy her time in the human world?
“Wow, Chiyo-san! You have so many perfume bottles!” Yui said in awe.
Chiyo had invited the girl to her room to spend some time. Yui has expressed an interest in Chiyo’s makeup skills before so Chiyo thought hanging out and doing some makeup might be fun for once.
“Oh, you know… gotta occupy yourself with something when you have an eternity to live,” Chiyo said sheepishly.
In truth, her obsession probably stemmed from everyone always pointing out her non-vampiric smell. Though she also liked the cute bottles.
Yui looked at all of them, her eyes stopping on a bottle that looked a little bit different from the others. A dark but semi translucent fluid in a clear bottle stood on Chiyo’s vanity. It had no label but a very intricate seal.
“What’s that one– “
She was about to reach for it when Chiyo pushed her hand away.
“Don’t touch that!”
The girl flinched and Chiyo’s eyes widened. She didn’t mean to raise her voice like that, but she also didn’t want Yui to touch this highly valuable flacon of demon essence.
“I’m sorry I– “
“No, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to... yell,” Chiyo said.
She placed the perfume bottle back on her vanity with a sigh.
“This is demonic essence; I use it to mask my human scent.”
“Human scent?”
Chiyo sighed again and looked at Yui with a tired expression. She motioned for Yui to sit down and took a seat opposite of her. For a moment she looked at her own reflection in the vanity mirror before speaking up:
“My mother was a human, but I suppose one of the others already told you as much.”
Yui nodded, a rather serious expression on her face.
“I don’t know her or anything, she died when she gave birth to me. But her smell still follows me everywhere, or rather the mix of Vampire and human blood apparently makes for something actual Vampires detest. So, my father had this made for me.”
“I see,” Yui said, “it seems your father must really love you for custom making something like this for you.”
Chiyo shrugged. She remembered how the last interaction she had with him was him slapping her across the face without even removing the rings from his fingers. She and her father hardly had any common ground; this perfume was the only thing she was grateful for. Sometimes she wondered just what kind of lunatic her mother must have been to have fallen for such a creature.
She turned towards her vanity once more, gathering a bunch of makeup products in her hands, before dipping a brush in sparkly eyeshadow.
“Anyway, enough of this depressing chit chat, hold still, okay?”
The girl’s skin looked smooth even up close. Chiyo wondered why so many people, well... the Sakamaki’s mainly, commented on Yui’s bad appearance, when it was perfectly fine. Sure, maybe a bit dull because she never went out of her way to actually do anything special about it, but she could definitely work with that. She couldn’t help but drag a finger along Yui’s cheek.
“Wow...” she muttered.
“C-chiyo-san? What... are you doing...?”
Her flushed cheeks were kind of adorable, Chiyo chuckled. “I was just admiring your soft skin, not a blemish in sight,” she said, “Don’t worry, I’m not out to bite you. Now really stop squirming or it will mess everything up.”
