Lighting

Suddenly, the red scene was interrupted by a repetitive vibration in my pocket. It was a text message from Rio.

“Hi, Akito... Sorry for not replying sooner”, I read quickly, and a subsequent message soon arrived. “I'm fine, but some things are happening, and...”, the message ended without further elaboration.

Suddenly, upon discovering that I had read the messages, Rio called me. A drop of my own blood fell on the phone screen as I pressed the button for ignoring the call.

“Hello, Akito!?", I heard her say.

The drop of blood that had fallen on my phone messed up the touch sensor and made me answer the call instead of ignoring it. Damn it.

“Ri-Rio?", I asked, idiotically.

“Who else would it be, you idiot!? Are you okay?", she spoke, breathless.

“...What?", I asked, idiotically again.

“I was admiring your photo — uh, I mean — I was looking at it, and...", she stammered, which was very unusual for her.

“You're crazy. Don't worry about me. Goodbye", I replied, hanging up immediately and tossing the phone aside.

I crouched down, trying to process the sheer volume of things that were happening at that moment.

“Damn...", I repeated to myself, flooded with doubts and regrets.

“... Akito...", Akashi's weak voice whispered, and I suddenly heard him fall to the floor.

The vampire fell next to Toshiki's corpse, almost as if he intended to die alongside him.

“Akashi!", I exclaimed, getting up and running towards him.

I held his cold, stiff body as he gasped for breath, still motionless.

“Akashi! Is it blood? Are you lacking blood? Come on, take some!”, I held out my wrist toward his face.

“You know, my protégé...”, he pushed my fist weakly with only one hand, and gazed up at the night sky. “It was my job. My fate. My obligation", he mumbled. “My life. My work. My duty. My salvation", he continued.

“What do you mean, Akashi?", I asked.

“At dawn... The dawn of April 1st...", he said. "I was the one who lost the camera. And I was the one who let Cubas wake up. I was out... Drinking. Passed out somewhere on the street, in the shadow of a building. It's my fault. Both you and Cubas...", he explained.

I was stunned and unable to respond at that moment.

"After a hundred years... Sometimes you relapse into being irresponsible. Too much power allows you to do stupid things, and... If everything gets too bad... You just watch the sun rise", Akashi said.

“Stop being an idiot, Akashi", I took a while, but I replied.

“What?", he widened his eyes.

"Stop trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. You're only a hundred-something years old, there are people alive in the world who have lived as long as you. That doesn't mean they have to fix the whole world!", I argued with him.

“Tell that to yourself before you come and give me advice, kid", he replied. “Don't play dumb. I heard your call with the girl", he revealed.

“...!", I was surprised by his response.

“She has the damn photo, and she still cares about you. She has a right to know. You told your sister, why wouldn't you tell her?!", he argued with me.

“I...", I didn't know how to respond.

“You think she'll walk away, huh?", he rubbed salt in the wound. “What, with you being involved with the Apparitions... She'll think you're weird and disappear? Or maybe she won't even believe you and think you're crazy?", Akashi raised his head slightly, still lying on the floor, but soon lost his strength, and I held his arm.

Along with Akashi's strength, my hopes for a normal relationship with Rio were also fading. Not a romantic relationship, since that would be an exaggeration on my part, but a normal relationship. A normal friendship, perhaps the first in my life. I was so happy before I met Braz Cubas, and just as quickly my life had been turned upside down.

Rio was the last thing that tied me to the life I had before, even though she was the last thing that happened to me before the camera. I didn't want to mix the two things. I didn't want to blame her for the photograph. I didn't want to have to say that it was because of her that my life had completely changed, and not necessarily for the better.

I wanted her to be the reason my life improved, a reason to feel joy. I wanted it to be just what it had been: a good date. The last memory, and the best memory, of my vacation.

Akashi was right, just as I was right about him. In that sense, we made a good team, me pulling his ear and him pulling mine. We stayed there for a while, sitting on the floor.

“Well, I need to build him a decent grave”, Akaashi remarked, getting up after some effort and lifting Toshiki's body with both arms.

He walked over to where the boy's silver shovel had been left and picked it up as well. At that moment, I was once again struck by the terrible odor of burnt blood.

“Hey. Doesn't that hurt you?", I asked, still seated in the same place as before.

“Not as much as leaving him like this”, he replied curtly.

I could see, however, in Akashi Asaami's eyes, that he was telling only a half-truth. Not only had he suffered damage during our training session, but he had also been injured beyond tolerable levels during the battle against Toshiki.

Despite that, there he was, digging the moist soil with that shovel, panting and grimacing in pain.

"Step aside. Let me help you", I got up and took the shovel from his hands, with some ease. At that moment, I could feel just how intense was the weakness that had been afflicting the vampire's body.

“Thank you... Akito”, he said sincerely.

“In the meantime, tell me the story”, I asked.

“What?", he didn't understand.

“You know... About the temple, his family. About Toshiki. We're holding a funeral, aren't we? That's what people usually do”, I explained.

“Ah... Of course", he finally understood. “The Kuroda family was chosen three or four generations ago to guard the tomb of Braz Cubas", ,he began to speak. “There was a contract that all family members signed. They took the risk in exchange for continuing to learn about magic and passing that knowledge down across generations. Toshiki grew up in that environment. He knew of the Apparitions from birth. He was strong and extremely sensitive to magic.”

As Akashi spoke, I continued digging, and now the night air had regained its usual pleasant smell.

“The family was… Chosen? By whom? Tell me the whole thing", I teased him, asking.

“My master, the one who raised me as a vampire", he said. “At the time, she watched over the apparitions that appeared in this city.”

“The one who raised you as a vampire? Isn't that the one who turned you into a vampire?", I asked, curious.

“No, no. Two different people", he explained. “My master was the first photographed one", he revealed, much to my surprise.

“I see... And have there been others since then?", I asked again.

“There was one more. However, she looked at her own photograph only a few years after", he explained.

“And the first one?", I asked further.

“My master lived until I could take her place, then destroyed her photo, and lived normally until she died of old age", Akashi elucidated.

“Two very different fates...", I commented.

“I'm curious as to what yours will be", he replied to my comment with one of his own.

“... Me too", I said after thinking for a moment.

“However, here's some advice", he began. “Neither of the two were more or less happy for hiding their immortality", he said.

“What do you mean?", I was confused.

“Of course, in the old days, there weren't cameras everywhere, and the exposure was much less intense, but... All the humans close to them knew”, he said. “Keeping a secret like that... It's painful. Especially if you keep it from those you want close to you”.

“Woud you look at that... You're starting to sound like a hundred-year-old wise man now", I said ironically. “But... Thank you, Akashi. I really didn't know what to do”.

“I'm not deaf. I heard the call earlier”, he said. “Hiding it won't help at all, it will only prolong your suffering. That is, if the suffering part even happens.”

“But...", I was going to argue, but the words died in my mouth.

“Quit being so stubborn and call her back", he asked, holding my hand.

“Only if you quit being stubborn and drink my blood first”, I replied.

“Deal”, he agreed as soon as I finished digging.

Akashi then sat down, still with his legs stretched out, and held my fist as I knelt down and took the phone out of my pocket. He gently held my free hand and bit my wrist. His bite was firm, but it didn't hurt at all.

At the same time, I dialed Rio's number.

“Ring... Ring... Ring...", Suddenly, I heard a phone ringing, far behind me, near the cherry blossom trees that surrounded the temple.

“Oops... Heh-heh. Sorry, Akito... I just got here, and I didn't know what to say...", It was my turn to widen my eyes.

It was Rio.

The moonlight seemed to illuminate only her, no one else.

“Rio!? How... How? How are you here?", I asked indignantly, Akashi's mouth still on my arm.

“Me? Well...", she stammered for a moment.

“You were already on your way here when you called me!? How did you even know I was here!?", I bombarded her with questions.

“I saw you blowing up in pieces, in the photograph... And there was only one place with lights flashing in a pattern compatible with explosions...", she tried to explain.

“And you left your house at midnight? To try to find me!? Thinking I had exploded!?”

“I know it doesn’t make sense! But the photograph moving on its own didn't either! I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but it guided me here!", Rio yelled at me, as if frustrated by her own lack of knowledge.

“Did you not even consider the risks!?”, I yelled firmly.

At first, she was silent. Then, she thought for a second before answering.

“I did”, she said.

“Eh?”, I understood nothing.

“I did, Aki”, she repeated herself. “I thought, and pondered, and considered…”

“Then… Why!?”, I still asked.

“What else could I have done?”, she asked back, getting closer and closer to me and Akashi. “Huh? What are you two doing?”

The vampire, then, let go of my wrist. It bled for a couple of seconds, before completely healing.

“I did hear the rumors, but this…”, she whispered.

“Rumors?”, I inquired.

“You know… Amidst my boredom, I met this guy on the street… And he said there was a vampire loose in town”, she explained.

“What?”, I didn’t believe it even harder.

“You remember our talk about boredom, yeah? Wel… I thought that might be a good way to combat it”, Rio said.

“What?”, I repeated.

“Then I saw your picture, I saw the explosions here at the temple... And I thought something extraordinary was happening. Something unique", Rio continued.

I remained silent.

“Dee... It's not really a good time", I replied.

“Hey, kid. I think you owe her an explanation", Akashi interrupted. “You know, she went through the trouble of coming here and everything". 

“That's true, Aki. I want to understand, I want you to explain it to me", she said.

“Is it just because you want to know?", I asked.

“What?", She was speechless.

“At no point did you mention being worried about me. You just said you saw me dead in the photograph, right? You didn't even say you were concerned for my life or my well-being", I blurted out the words that had been stuck in my stomach.

“I…", she seemed unsure how to respond.

“And you came here, knowing I could be in danger, why?", I argued. “To throw your life away?", I shouted.

She remained silent for a moment, her hands behind her back, clasped together, her face down, her bangs partially hiding her expression.

“I'm sorry, Akito... I think I offended you, didn't I?", she backed away. “Look... I'm really sorry. I've always prided myself on being able to understand things well, but... I really don't understand anything anymore", she confessed.

“It's okay, Dee...", I immediately tried to comfort her. My heart was all over the place.

"No, no. I want to understand. I want you to tell me. I want you to share this with me, if it's not too much to ask", she pleaded.

“You... You... Thank you, Dee", I finally thanked her for her good intentions.

“Wow, young lady...", Akashi interrupted us again. “It's been a long time since I've seen someone with your ability to accept things", he said. “It almost seemed like you were already well-acquainted with Apparitions". 

“Huh?", she was confused. “Apparitions?", she said doubtfully.

“I am a vampire, Akashi Asami. Your friend, Akito Itabashi, is now immortal", he said.

“Is he a vampire too? I saw you biting him...", she wondered.

“No, no. He's got you to blame for that. What immortalized him was the photograph you took", Akashi explained.

“Oh, this one?", she showed him the photo.

“Akito, don't look!", he shouted, covering my eyes.

“Be careful with that thing, miss!", he urged her to put the photograph back in her wallet. “If Akito looks at it now, he will die. Or maybe he will become a vampire, with no way to turn back", he said.

“Ah! It's like in a book I read…", she commented.

“Probably, many works of fiction were written based on Basil Halberd's ideas. Or was he inspired by the fiction of his time? Anyways... What matters is that this photo must be kept away from Akito's eyes. Understood?", Akashi asked.

“Understood", she replied, obligingly.

“Right... You pick things up quickly. You're smart", the vampire praised her. I feared he might have been hitting on her.

“Thank you...", she replied, somewhat embarrassed. Honestly, I would be too, with a vampire like that complimenting me.

“Ahem", I cleared my throat to interrupt the small talk. "So, Dee... There's a guy out there named Cubas. He's a walking corpse, and he's after the photograph. He tried to kill me for it, and he stole the camera", I said.

“Ah! So that's why you couldn't bring the camera to my house today!", she concluded.

“Yeah... Sorry about all the lying", I said.

“Don't worry about it. It's understandable. It's not every day that your life turns into a fantastic story of vampires and immortality and things like that. Actually, I'm quite interested...", she admitted, and I became increasingly concerned over her mental health. 

Curiously, her willingness to believe everything had really facilitated the process. This could have been a really dramatic situation.

“Well... I'll leave you two lovebirds alone", Akashi commented, walking over to where Toshiki's body and grave were. “I'm going to pray for him", he said, leaving us alone.

“Of course, Akashi... Sorry for being insensitive", I apologized to him as well.

“No, no. Relax. I've already accepted reality", he said, clearly saving his grief for after he killed Cubas.

Then Akashi left us right in front of the temple, and went to bury his victim in the grave we had dug together. It was truly a tragedy, but... There was nothing else that could be done. Still, I felt like a coward for risking his life like that. I also thought that if Rio had arrived even a minute earlier, her life might have been in danger too.

“You... You really don't realize the dangers you've put yourself in, do you?", I commented.

“To be honest... I don't think I do. But, then again, I don't care", she replied, without a worry in her airheaded mind.

“Are you really willing to risk your life in the name of living a fantasy?", I asked.

“Of course", she replied. “We had a whole conversation about this, didn't we?”. 

“Yes, we did. It's true, it's just that... When it actually happens, it's weirder. It's more complicated. After all, it's real", I explained my conflicting thoughts.

“Yeah, that's true...", she admitted.

“Honestly, I wish the camera had chosen you instead", I admitted.

“Huh!?", she was quite surprised.

“Well, it would be easier for you. You're smart, skilled, good at sports, too. I'm sure you'd learn to fight hostile Apparitions in no time flat”, I said.

“Is that your way of complimenting me? He-he", she laughed, covering her mouth with one hand, but clearly letting the rest of her teasing expression slip through.

I was naturally embarrassed. Rio sat down next to me, staring at the spot where Akashi had bitten me earlier.

“You really heal fast...", she thought aloud.

“Yeah. I'm bound to stay exactly as I was when the camera photographed me", I explained how it worked. “But the magic wears off the moment I look at the photograph". 

“Wow... How interesting!", she adjusted her glasses and looked at me with the eyes of a scientist.

“You... Don't you want to give me back the photo? That way, you can get away from this mess and go back to your normal life", I suggested.

“Akito...", she said. “I don't think I ever want to go back to my old life". 

I couldn't react, except to swallow hard and admire her for her nobility and confidence. The moonlight, as always, shone only to illuminate Rio at night. All the lights in the temple also seemed to be directed at her, embellishing the subtle shadows of her face and silhouette. I found myself thinking, for the first time, how truly incredible she was. Beautiful as well. 

She took the photograph, being careful not to show me the printed side.

“Hmm...", she thought. “Right now, you only have light-colored eyes, just like during our call", she said.

“That probably means I would turn into a vampire if I looked at the photo. After all, the last thing that happened was Akashi biting me", I explained.

“That makes sense... It's amazing that the photo can reproduce even that", she said. “And by the way... You'd be quite the handsome vampire, huh?", she said, almost as if to tease my curiosity to see.

“You would certainly look nicer than me", I said.

“Who knows? He-he", she laughed, dragging herself to sit a little closer to me, still at the entrance to the temple.

“Frankly...", I expressed my disbelief at the absurdity of Rio being there. “Thank you for coming, Rio. I don't know what I would do without you", I confessed.

“Don't mention it, Aki. Sorry for coming in unannounced...", she finally apologized.

“No, no. You have free will. We talked about that, too", I recalled.

“And... What do you intend to do now, Aki?", she asked.

“Well, since you don't want to give me the photograph...", I said. “I'll be forced to continue protecting you until I defeat Braz Cubas". 

“Oh, my noble knight in shining armor!", she said dramatically, as if acting in a play.

“Seriously", I shrugged. “Braz Cubas is really dangerous. That boy who was here...”

“Hm?", she approached, curious.

“That boy with Akashi... He was Toshiki Kuroda. He was our age. We couldn't save him from Braz Cubas' mind games... He was just a boy...", I began to cry, finally releasing the conflict that tied my stomach in knots.

Rio stroked my back and gave me her shoulder to lean on.

“It's okay, it's okay... I'm sure you did what you could, Aki. That's just how you are, after all", she said, comforting me. “I'm glad I took this picture of you, Aki. In a way, you've been... more human since", she said.

Her statement filled me with doubts. After all, everything I had felt until then, all the emotions and euphoria and suffering, had been, in my definition, non-human. Inhuman. Unhuman. To think that, to an outsider, I looked more human than I had before... It was inconceivable. Still, for Rio, it was true, and nothing but the truth. I conceded.

I continued crying for a while, occasionally hearing the sounds of the shovel and the dirt that Akashi threw over Toshiki's body. I felt guilty for being with Rio while he buried the boy alone. Simultaneously, I felt like he needed that privacy. 

“Rio, I...", I started to say something, but I stuttered.

“Well, well, well, well, well, well... What do we have here?", a deep, extremely deep male voice said in the distance.

A chill ran down my spine. I knew that voice. Akashi knew that voice. Only Rio didn't know that voice.

It was Braz Cubas.