Prologue

"The club is in danger of being disbanded...!"

Her dignified and beautiful face contorted with sorrow, Rush.e.l.la Dahm Draculea declared to the members of the club before her.

Currently after school, the location was an empty cla.s.sroom in a corner of the school building -- in other words, the club activities room.

Standing before the blackboard was the self-styled "club president" Rush.e.l.la who had founded the club several weeks earlier.

Nevertheless, in all this time since the club was established, neither the club's name nor its activities had yet to be finalized.

"...All this is because you guys are negligent! Especially you!"

"Eh, me!?"

Kujou Hisui had been reading manga with his back to Rush.e.l.la. Hearing himself singled out, he turned around unwillingly.

"Why are you blaming me... I didn't do anything!"

"That's exactly the problem; you're not doing anything! Furthermore, you even ignored all my suggestions... Such as giving the club a more friendly name of '○○○ Club,' or giving everyone different armbands based on their individual responsibilities, or entering the 'Inter School Writing Compet.i.tion,' or setting the 'National University' as the goal, or 'welcoming midsummer,' or agreeing to a decisive match with the 'rival' during the finals in the tournament but losing to an underhanded enemy in the semifinals, or having a 'teammate' dying in a traffic accident, or 'unbelievable, for such a handsome character to be killed off'...!?"[1]

"Your suggestions are so ridiculous that I give up on retorting! Come on, the items in the second half of your list hardly count as suggestions!?"

"...By the way, isn't she learning about rather obscure things?"

Leaning against Hisui and trying to make conversation was another member of the club -- Sudou Mei.

Like Hisui, she had ignored Rush.e.l.la's various suggestions and spent her days in the club cla.s.sroom lazily.

"...It's probably because of her strong curiosity. In order to fill the gaps in her memory, she's been investigating all sorts of things... Unfortunately, she's not good with kanji even though she seems quite fluent with foreign books. Plus the fact she doesn't seem to like serious books, this has resulted in her being brainwashed by anime, manga, variety shows and the like..."

"...Based on the outcome, did she found the club under the influence of those things?"

"Hey, you guys over there, whispering is not allowed! Also, you are not allowed to wrap yourself around my servant's arm without my permission!"

Rush.e.l.la swiftly pointed over with her finger, but Mei nonchalantly hugged Hisui tighter, bringing her lips near Hisui's little earlobe that was as cute as a girl's.

"Oh my, why does everything need your approval? Besides, when did he become your servant?"

"I bit him, so he's mine! And before coming to school today, we already shared a kiss!"

"Don't forget to add the words "Vampire's" before the word kiss. Please don't say things that could cause misunderstandings, especially in front of cla.s.smates."

Recalling the pain from this morning, Hisui instinctively reached out to the left side of his neck -- where traces of the "kiss" remained.

Normally, the only trace a kiss could leave behind... Would be a kiss mark at most.

...However, Rush.e.l.la's kisses were not the harmless type.

Those were fang marks carved upon the skin by snow-white canines that one could glimpse behind those bright crimson lips of hers.

Not only that... but she also sucked blood.

Correct -- even though it was unbelievable, the girl before his eyes was a true authentic vampire.

No matter how well the high school uniform fitted her, or how well her behavior conformed to modern society -- she was still an inhuman supernatural creature.

She had bitten Hisui while he was on his way home from the high school entrance ceremony, made his home her own, and even followed him to school. And currently -- she was his master and the club president here.

"Sucking recklessly to your heart's content every single day... If it wasn't me, who knows what might happen..."

"...By the way, Hi-kun, you are getting your blood sucked every day, and yet, you're still safe and sound?"

Mei wondered as she stole a glance at Hisui's neck.

His pristine white skin was enough to shame most girls into admitting inferiority. Let alone a bite mark, there was not even a single blemish.

If blood was drawn as claimed, there should be a wound first of all.

More importantly, being bitten by a vampire implied the loss of human ident.i.ty to become an inhuman supernatural creature.

Just as the ancient legends described, a person who had been bitten by a vampire would turn into a vampire too.

This was an absolute eternal rule and curse that no human could disobey.

But only Hisui was the exception.

"That's the kind of const.i.tution I have. Let me remind you, even though I won't become a vampire and my wounds recover faster, losing blood still hurts a lot! If I suffer an instantly fatal wound, I'll still die. Because of this freeloader invading my home, I'm forced to eat a lot of liver recently for replenishing nutrients..."

"Shouldn't you take iron supplements as well? But suffering that every day is really terrible... Vampires are really troublesome!"

"Who are you calling troublesome!? My race has existed for countless eons, carrying utmost prestige for over a thousand years. You dare say something so rude? You fake human with only mere centuries' worth of history!"

"What did you say......!?"

Her berserk b.u.t.ton having been pushed, Mei stood up.

At the same time, she slammed her hands on the table.

This was merely a natural motion which required no emphasis.

But the instant her hands left the table -- the table was split into two.

This was not because the table was originally old and worn out, or cobbled together -- it was destroyed by pure brute strength.

"...Not this again. Please stop now. Sudou, the more you do this, the further you'll be from human, you know? Could you show some mercy to the public property here please? That strength of yours cannot be compared to normal humans!"

"I didn't choose this body. Besides, isn't this already a lot better than before?"

...Saying that, Mei pulverized the ballpoint pen in her hand.

Had it simply snapped into two, it could still be considered a show of strength.

But for her light grip to turn the pen into fine powder, this had completely surpa.s.sed the human realm.

More accurately, she was no longer human. No matter how seductive or tempting her appearance.

In other words, like Rush.e.l.la, Mei was actually an inhuman supernatural creature.

A perfect creature made in the image of mankind and meant to surpa.s.s humanity. But for some reason, be it G.o.d's joke or the devil's curse, it was born as an ugly monster. Mei happened to be the descendant of the infamous Frankenstein's monster.

"Hmph, no matter how you disguise yourself, a fake is a fake. Ultimately, you cannot become human!"

"...Shut up, I don't care what you think. My wish is precisely to become human! To become one with a human... Or I should say, have babies with Hi-kun❤"

"Sorry, no can do."

Hisui shook his head expressionlessly.

If she kept hugging tighter, he really would be at risk of injury. That's Sudou Mei for you.

"Why? You're already getting your blood sucked by that vampire every day, right!? Coudn't you inject a little white liquid into me as well!?"

"Umm sorry, could you stop these blatant p.o.r.nographic descriptions!? And of course the answer is no!"

"I forbid you to ignore me! Also, hugging together is not allowed!"

Rush.e.l.la squeezed herself into the fray.

Things were always this chaotic around the three of them. Club activities probably failed to make progress thanks to that.

But like always, the situation was brought under control by the monotonous voice of the final member.

"...I have no objections to quarreling, but if you really want to stop the club from being disbanded, you people should think of a plan more seriously, right?"

The speaker was named Kariya Eruru.

Distanced from the noisy ruckus, she had been sitting in a corner of the cla.s.sroom, staring at a notebook computer without a word, tapping audibly on the keyboard nonstop.

Her face was as cute and adorable as a French doll, but her cold manner of speaking was completely emotionless in tone.

"There's not much time remaining. If you want to continue using this cla.s.sroom, the club must first be categorized and all sorts of content need to be edited. How about a more serious discussion?"

" " "......Yes......" " "

Her irrefutable suggestion silenced the other three.

Returning to their own seats, they began to recall the cause of the incident.

Speaking of the club disbandment crisis, one must begin with a particular question someone posed.

Translator's Notes and References

Jump up↑ The latter portion of Rush.e.l.la's list is a reference to the baseball manga Touch.[1]