Fell on Black Days

Saitou

Well, at least I didn’t have to call them, I thought as the “men in black” came and handcuffed the struggling girl. One of the officers retrieved a small piece of paper out of the car and slapped it on her forehead. She stopped resisting.

A second sedan pulled up, followed by a third. Seven more officers got out, helped the middle-aged guy up and checked his wounds. He was bandaged quickly, but instead of calling for an ambulance, the police had him get in the third car for “questioning.” Even though I wasn’t a victim of the girl’s vampiric impulses, they insisted that I come with as well. Somehow, they knew my name.

“It’s late at night!” I protested. “I have school in the morning! My parents are gonna be worried sick if they realize I’m out too late! What did I do wrong? And who even are you!?”

“Well, first of all, you shouldn’t even be out alone this late, kid!” said a particularly gruff-looking officer from the first car. “Second of all, we’re picking up your parents right now and they’re coming to the office in a fourth car.”

My parents? Oh, man...

“Third, you’ll learn who we are when we get to where we’re going! So shut up and do as you’re told or we’re gonna handcuff you just like the girl!”

He gestured at me to get in the back. I almost didn’t when I realized the girl in question was in the right passenger seat behind the driver! She was sitting still with her head down and her eyes closed.

“Oh, HELL NO!” I shouted. The girl flinched, opened her eyes, and glanced at me before putting her head down again.

The cop jabbed me in the back.

“Get. In.”

I cursed under my breath as I got in the opposite passenger seat and put on my seatbelt.

We rode quietly for a while. The leather seats were cold and the two “men in black” in the front were silent. All I could hear was the pitter-patter of rain on the windows and the occasional splash as we drove through a puddle. On the back of the driver’s seat, there was an emblem with a crescent moon that said “Tsukinode Investigative Division - Gifu Prefectural Office.”

Gifu?!?

“Hey, officers,” I said. “Gifu? That’s pretty far.”

“Yamagata,” said the driver, a short, skinny man who hadn’t spoken to me at all yet.

“Is that at least near the city of Gifu?” I asked.

“Yep.”

“How much longer until we get there?”

“One hour.”

Come on!

Although I was still scared of the girl in the passenger seat, I was intrigued by her silence. And what was with that piece of paper on her head? Why did it have the kanji for “moon” on it?

She IS kind of pretty—

I shook my head.

Nope! There’s nothing attractive about randomly attacking poor middle-aged men in front of convenience stores!

But I was still curious. Especially because I realized the paper on her forehead had the numbers "2-5-2-1-5" written on it in kana.

“Minato Yamashita?” I said cautiously. “Hello.”

She opened her eyes, turned to look at me with a fearful look, then turned her head away and looked out the window. I thought I heard her mumbling something.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said in a low voice.

“Cut the chatter!” yelled the man in the front passenger seat. Again, the girl flinched, and she returned to sitting there with her head down.

We rode the rest of the way in silence.

***

It was sometime after 11:00 PM when we arrived at our destination.

The Tsukinode Investigative Division’s Gifu Prefectural Office was a two-level building at the edge of Yamagata with a sign that said “Yamagata Foundation for Environmental Advocacy.”

What kind of place is this? Foundation for Environmental Advocacy?

The two officers got the girl and I out of the sedan and took us inside the building. It looked just like an empty office building inside. There were cubicles and computers all over. We were taken inside a conference room together—a room with tinted windows, bare white walls, and a single brown table with seven chairs.

“Sit down, both of you,” said the driver. He turned to his partner. “Wakata, see if the parents have arrived. If so, have Kadomatsu bring them in. Then, go check the latest intelligence and prepare a status report for Kadomatsu.”

“Yes, sir.”

We sat alone with the driver for a few minutes before a hulking, long-haired man came in with my parents, who sat on both sides of me. I sat in a chair directly across from Minato, who was staring blankly at the tabletop. The big man sat at her right and the smaller man sat at her left.

“Please, Mr. and Mrs. Arashi, sit down,” he said in a deep voice as he bowed. “We don’t have a lot of time, but first I must assure you that your son is not in any kind of trouble.”

My mother still looked incredibly worried. My father—a man with glasses and a sort of rounded face like mine—simply nodded.

“This is Minato Yamashita,” said Kadomatsu, pointing to the girl beside him. “She is a living, breathing vampire and she is 16 years old.”

My parents and I gasped.

“I am Yoshinori Kadomatsu, the Executive Director of the Intelligence and Correctional Committee of the Tsukinode Investigative Division’s Gifu Office. And this is Hironobu Maruyama, my Deputy Chief of Intelligence. The Tsukinode Investigative Division is a secret government agency under the joint oversight of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defense. The Gifu Office is responsible for protecting the Chubu Region from magical threats. This includes harmful mages, magical creatures, and vampires. We also ensure that they are kept secret from the Japanese public. The Foundation for Environmental Advocacy is merely a front.

“However, Tsukinode has made the mistake of allowing this vampire to attack innocent people for far too long. We are deeply sorry to the Japanese public for allowing this to occur. Now, please, Maruyama, tell this family how we’re going to proceed while I go fetch a cup of coffee and a copy of the instructions.”

“Yes, sir.”

Maruyama nodded as Kadomatsu got up and left. He looked my father in the eye, and then my mother.

“Ginji, Hinato, and Saitou Arashi, listen carefully. Under orders from the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Force, we are entrusting this girl to your care.”

“WHAT?!?” my mother, father, and I exclaimed in unison. Minato’s eyes went wide and she looked up at us.

“You can’t be serious!” my father shouted, standing up from his chair in a flash and slamming his fist down on the table. “I will NOT put my family and the entire city of Nagoya at risk! How DARE you!”

Minato was now crying and trembling uncontrollably.

My mother and I stood up.

“My husband is right!" my mom yelled. "You are making a big mistake!”

“Exactly!" I added. "If you mean living in the same house as a VAMPIRE who ASSAULTED a man right in front of me and bit him, then assaulted ME when I tried to stop her, then I’m sorry, you are out of your mind!”

Kadomatsu came back in with a cup of coffee and a stack of papers.

“We believe she can best be rehabilitated by living with a host family while wearing a talisman," said Kadomatsu.

“HOST FAMILY?!?” my parents and I screamed.

My father grabbed his chair and looked like he was about to throw it!

“I’m sorry…” Minato whimpered. She looked as if her life was flashing before her eyes.

“Need I remind you that this is happening under order from officials much higher up in the Japanese government than myself?” said Maruyama. “Put the chair down, Mr. Arashi. Don’t do something you’ll end up regretting. I’m sorry, but the Gifu Office has been told to arrest you if you do not comply. And you are not to harm Ms. Yamashita.”

“Idiots! I’ll have you know, I am a dedicated civil servant. This is not acceptable! I will do everything I can to make sure you bureaucrats can never put my family in danger again!”

My father put the chair down with a thud. He sat back down and gestured at my mother and I to do the same, so we did.

Kadomatsu pointed at tearful Minato’s forehead.

“See this? This is called a talisman. It’s a magical artifact that redirects something called cursed aetheric mana from the girl’s brain. As long as she’s wearing the talisman, she cannot and will not harm you! Now, take these papers with specific instructions and get out of my conference room! Maruyama will drive you home.”

Maruyama uncuffed Minato and escorted us outside.

The five of us sat dead silent for the entire drive home.