VOLUME 1

Chapter 3: Part 9

For some reason, when I went home, Sera’s face was pale. The beauty of her gloomy expression almost sent s.h.i.+vers down my spine… but was everything alright?

“I need blood… could you call Haruna over for me?”

Sera’s entreaty came out in a voice reminiscent of the buzzing of a mosquito. If you want to know, vampire ninjas needed to drink blood every now and then or they would die. But when they were well-supplied with blood, they were almost as hard to kill as I was.

“You can’t just use mine?”

“… That would be unpleasant.”

“I… see…”

Even in an emergency, you don’t want to drink a zombie’s blood?

For now, I ran up the stairs for Sera’s sake and headed for Haruna’s room. I knocked twice, and heard the heavy sounds of someone walking. I hurriedly put my hands on the doork.n.o.b.

“Hey! Don’t come in! Don’t you dare come in!”

I opened the door with all my might, and Haruna came flying out of the room. Today, she had just one pair of panties on. She managed to put on panties in that short of a time? Tch, disappointing.

“You d.a.m.n eroboros!”

“Now that one I don’t get at all…”

“It’s a snake!”

Ahh, Ouroboros. (1)

“Well, whatever, but Sera’s in bad shape. Can’t you give her some blood?”

“I don’t want to! Deeeeeeeeeefinitely do. not. want. to! Hey! Don’t look at me!”

Her face flushed red, Haruna confined herself back into her room. No matter how many times I see it, her skin sure is beautiful… but now was not the time to be thinking about that. What should I do? Should I force her downstairs?

For now, I returned to the living room, where Sera was now laying on her side. “Are you sure you don’t want my blood?” I asked.

“I don’t want to. I deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefinitely don’t want to.”

She elongated that word even more than Haruna had…

Tap tap. Sera and I faced the desk from where we had heard the tapping sound.

My blood should be no problem. = “Yuu’s blood is fine, right? I’ll do my best!”

“That’s…! I can’t just take h.e.l.lscythe-dono’s blood…”

“Come on, Yuu said it was fine, so just accept her blood this once.”

A look broke out on Sera’s face, almost as if she had just drunk a bitter cup of tea. She put her bent index finger to her mouth, and after thinking for a bit, faced Yuu resolutely.

“Well, let me take advantage of your kind offer then. Thank you very much.”

Sera reluctantly walked over to Yuu, and just like she had done with Haruna, she took Yuu’s lips in a kiss.

Yuu stood there without an expression, and didn’t even blink. Sera confirmed that Yuu’s eyes had thinned a bit, and then bit into Yuu’s neck.

“… Ah.”

With a speed I had not seen her exhibit up until now, Yuu clapped both her hands on her mouth. And if that weren’t enough, she also shut her eyes tight. Was that just her voice right now? It was the first time I had heard it. Did it hurt? She looked like she was blus.h.i.+ng though.

After she finished sucking Yuu’s blood, Sera suddenly kowtowed to Yuu.

“Really, I’m very very sorry!”

Her flush fading, Yuu gave a fleeting nod, and after that moment turned back to the television and her usual posture.

“That probably means she forgives you.”

Even though I told her that, Sera still seemed uneasy. She continued to watch Yuu, but Yuu paid her gaze no heed. Oh right, there was something I had to ask Yuu.

“Yuu, about the dog from before… he was a Megalo, right?”

Yuu faced me and gave me a slight nod.

“So, you come from the Megalo side then. Can you transform into one of those monsters as well?”

Yuu poured tea slowly down her throat and turned her body towards the table. It seemed that she was willing to talk about this with me.

In the underworld, there are people who live there just like people live on this world. I am nothing more than one of those people.

“In other words, you don’t have a monster form.”

She nodded strongly.

But, there also exist those who have that power.

I see, so there were people who had unusual abilities just like Yuu. As expected from the underworld. It really did seem like a place of devils and demons.

“What exactly are Megalo?”

In the underworld, to oppose the masou shoujo, souls of the departed are gathered. They are then inserted into the body of animals and are allowed to grow. That is the Megalo System.

“People who die in this world become Megalo?”

Not just this world. All souls of those who have died gather in the underworld. In the underworld, there are people who have that ability.

People who die become Megalo… hold on a second. Then, what does that make a zombie? I thought that a zombie was just someone who had died but still could move, but could it be that a zombie was a Megalo?

Ayumu is not a Megalo. Ayumu’s soul is being held together with my power.

I see. Megalo had to have died, but I had not died. So, I was similar but not so similar to Megalo. So I was really a zombie? I guess I could breathe easy then?

The white particles that the Megalo dissolved into after they died were probably their souls breaking apart.

“Yuu, don’t you consider Haruna an enemy then? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Haruna is just a poor girl who has lost her powers. She poses no threat.

In other words, Haruna had lost her powers, so Yuu didn’t really pay her any heed.

“Sera, do you have any connection with the Megalo?”

“Unfortunately, I do not even follow what you two are talking about.”

So, vampire ninjas had nothing to do with Megalo. Well, even if they got involved in the battle between masou shoujo and Megalo, the masou shoujo could just manipulate their memories, so they wouldn’t even notice.

“But, even though I didn’t say anything… you just jumped in and helped take out the whale and the anteater, remember?”

“Since ancient times, I have taken on the mission of protecting humans from demons.” (2)

Demons, huh? Those legendary breed of monsters may have just been another name given to the Megalo.

“Yuu, are you really alright with this? From here on out… Haruna and I are probably going to continue to exterminate the Megalo.”

I don’t mind. It’s not as if I am that fond of the Megalo System. Dead souls should be left in peace.

So, Yuu hated Megalo? Could it be that the Megalo System also had something to do with why she had come to this world from the underworld?

Geez… today was certainly pretty eventful. It really felt like a long day.

Brbrbrrrr. Brbrbrrrr.

I felt my pocket vibrate. When I took out my cell phone, I saw that I had received an email. It was from Kyouko-chan. It was a cute email filled with emoticons.

In summary, her grandfather was coming to visit her tomorrow, and she told me that she had gotten him to bring some Kyoudoufu with him. That he probably would leave to go back home just around the time school ended. She really pulled through for me. Thanks, Kyouko-chan. Now, Haruna may be able to finally finish her mission.

I went back to my room and dove into bed. Ah, right. I should probably tell Dai-sensei about the tofu. I took out my phone, and dialed her number through my call history.

Rinngggggg. Rinnggggggggg. Rinngggggg.

“Thank you for calling. This is the Matelis Magical Academy, Elusu speaking.”

The pretty sound of a girl’s voice rang in my ears. It was a voice filled with life that put my heart at ease. But, it wasn’t the voice of Dai-sensei.

“Ah, umm… could I speak with Dai-sensei?”

“Huh? I’m sorry, but who is that?”

“Ah, umm… the person in charge of Haruna from Refrain Year, Rising Cla.s.s.”

I’m relieved that the name of her year and cla.s.s were easy to remember. The names really gave off a strong impression. Although, don’t expect me to remember her attendance number.

“In that case, could you be talking about her homeroom teacher Ariel-sensei? Ariel-sensei has stepped away at the moment, would you like me to take a message?”

“Ah, well, umm… just tell her that I will get what she wanted tomorrow…”

“Understood. Could you please provide me with your name?”

“Ah… My name is Aikawa Ayumu.”

“Aikawa Ayumu-sama, is it? Understood. Was that all for today? Well, thank you for your call. Goodbye.”

Yes. Ah, yes. Yes. Yes. Goodbye.

I couldn’t really respond in a less monotonous way. If you ask me why, it’s because I was nervous.

Well now, it’s been a while since I’ve been to a convenience store and browsed through some of the magazines, so shall I do that?

Why am I not sleeping, you ask?

Well, more than any animal, zombies are creatures of the night.

END CHAPTER 3

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) A symbol of a serpent eating its own tail. Wiki to the rescue.

(2) The word she used here was youkai, which is borderline common enough that I could probably get away with not translating it, but oh well.