PROLOGUE — ROCK N' ROLL, DARKNESS FALLS ON YOU.

I've always aspired to become a hero.

Not the hero who saves the world─a street level operator is enough. I'd also love to be a decent artist, maybe a manga-ka or a guitarist, who inspires an entire generation. Still, I would welcome being bitten by a radioactive bug, or become the avatar for a deity of any kind.

Expectedly, these were troublesome for my teachers during career conference week.

That was last year, when I'm only halfway through being a sophomore. I found the idea of being a doctor or a teacher boring. I preferred that high-octane action calling when my impressionable mind has yet to escape from those mainstream superhero flicks.

"Son, you need to choose a real career path," they said.

Afterwards, I got to know all the things I've been good at as they point out one by one the titles I could take. Their words, not mine: "I could be a scientist and make a real breakthrough for mankind to benefit from." I hated that─on several pages of issues knowing my science projects were blatantly copied from the giants of the past.

For instance, the "Poyo-Gun" was just something I ripped out of an anime─which anyone can make as long as they know Tesla's work.

In any case, after a bunch of retaliation that would mark my infamy for them, I finally wrote "I want to be a quantum physicist" on paper for their satisfaction.

Of course, this didn't stop me from wanting to become a hero.

And I'd poke fun at them for rejecting the dream.

I know this isn't a viable option for school.

With respect to myself, I don't want to bar that from coming true. Sometimes, I like telling other people things I want to happen for the pressure. I wouldn't want to betray their expectations. Then, bam! Surprise, motherfuckers, I have electricity coursing through my veins─then I'd zap every evildoer on the planet.

Ha ha! You get the idea.

I say all that, however, when I first encountered a vampire─

─I couldn't be the hero who I ought to be.