Space

“... Welcome,” my little sister said, looking at the pair of strangers behind me.

“Finally, home...” I said, quickly pulling up one of the kitchen chairs to sit down.

“Aren't you going to introduce me, dear brother of mine?” Yukina asked irritably as she served me a sandwich and a mug of coffee.

“You... made me coffee?” I asked, fascinated.

“I thought you were still sleeping in your room... But now I see you were out and about all night,” she looked at me with contempt.

I looked at Akashi and Rio, both behind me, awaiting explicit permission to enter.

“What's the matter? Come in, both of you,” I said.

“Excuse us!” they said at the same time, and also entered at the same time, closing their umbrellas and removing their sunglasses.

“So, Yuki... Rio is now a vampire, too,” I revealed.

“... Wasn't one already enough?” she asked incredulously.

“Right?” I agreed, ironically. “At least... You don't have to set the table for either of them,” I commented.

“You really are a masochist, Akito...” she said, with a wry smile on her lips.

“By the way, Akashi... I think Yukina should know too. About magic,” I said.

“Yes... I suppose you're right. She already knows about us, after all,” he agreed.

Then Akashi Asami pulled one of the chairs toward him and sat down backwards, leaning his chest against the backrest. Rio, in turn, sat politely in the chair next to me, and my sister finished pouring her own coffee and sat down in the last of the four chairs. Luckily for us, my parents had already left for work.

“Well... Of course, Yukina and I are going to be late for school, but... Akashi, please tell us,” I asked.

“Okay, okay... A-hem,” he cleared his throat before beginning to sing.

“Here we go...” I commented before he started.

"It is said that the first Apparition arose from a story. The First Writer had created a tale, humanity's first contact with what we now call the imaginary. His desire for his story to become real was immeasurable, and his imagination was so fertile and vivid that everyone around him came to believe in the tale. The lie became the truth. The vital energy of that community was catalyzed through collective belief, and the story came to life. In ancient times, before modern civilization, it was easier to create Apparitions," he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Today there are too many humans, and many are skeptical of the supernatural, which prevents the birth of so many Apparitions,” he replied. “Even so, those first apparitions eventually gave rise to others. Still, other people with the same power as the Primerio Escritor were born throughout the ages,” the vampire continued.

“For example?” Rio asked.

"Artists whose paintings come to life, Artificers whose inventions are capable of unimaginable things... Eventually, Apparitions were indistinguishable from reality, and became real from the moment they interacted with these humans. Conviction, to be strong, can come from several humans, or from a single extraordinary human being," Akashi replied.

“Ah... That's really fascinating,” the new vampiress admitted.

“Nowadays, there are still dozens of Apparitions, but knowledge about them is restricted to the groups that study them, and those circles are very difficult to enter... And also to visionaries, who are able to see and create them, just like the First Writer."

We were all amazed by the story told by the vampire, yet none of us were able to question it, given the existence of the very being who sang the tale.

From what I had gathered, magic and the supernatural were restricted to specific groups who got to study Apparitions. There were exceptions, though — people who could see and interact with these beings from birth.

It seemed to me that the Apparitions and the scholars who studied them shared a common interest: to not reveal the existence of Apparitions as an absolute truth to the world.

The conclusion of what would happen was obvious. If apparitions draw power from human life force channeled through belief in the fantastical, if all humans were forced to believe their existence... All apparitions would become extraordinarily powerful, and would be as prevalent in the world as humans themselves.

“From your expression... It seems you understand, Akito,” Akashi commented.

“Yes... Revealing the existence of apparitions to the world is an incalculable risk", he replied.

“Precisely. That is why most powerful apparitions, such as vampires, prefer to remain anonymous, revealing themselves to only a few individuals in order to stabilize their own power,” he explained.

“I see...” His words were engraved in my mind.

“The wise men categorize the supernatural into four main categories,” he added.

“How convenient...” Yukina whispered softly.

“First, the Apparitions. That is, living beings born from the vital energy and beliefs of human beings. We vampires, for example,” he said, pointing to Rio and himself.

“That part was obvious,” I commented.

“Then there are the Artifacts, which are complex creations. Sometimes they are alive, and sometimes they are not. They have an origin and a creator, whether human or Apparition. The camera that made Akito immortal, for example,” he looked at me as he spoke.

“Hmmmmm,” I began to take a real interest in the story, starting from the moment my name was mentioned.

“Thirdly... The Agreements, which are contracts between a human being and an Apparition, making the human believe that they have borrowed part of the Apparition's powers. Initially, the Apparition is weakened, but the powerful human attracts popular belief to themselves, strengthening both parties to the Agreement.”

“Is that different from turning a human being into a vampire?” Rio asked, wanting to know about her case.

“Good question. Yes, it's different. I turned you into a full Apparition, Rio. You don't follow the laws of biology, chemistry, and human physics,” he explained. “The Agreed are still human, they only act as channels to activate part of an Apparition's power.”

“I see...” she thought for a moment. “It's as if part of the Apparition's existence is superimposed on a human, but the human itself does not become an Apparition,” she concluded.

“Bingo. Finally, there are Blessings and Curses. They are exactly like agreements, but they are not consensual, and the goal of the Apparition offering them is to make their victim believe in them, not for others to believe in both of them,” he concluded.

“... And Blessings are good things, and Curses are bad things?” Yukina asked.

“Not exactly. Blessings are always things that add to the existence of the target human, while curses are like restrictions or punishments,” Akashi corrected her.

“... That makes sense,” my foolish sister admitted.

“Now do you understand, Akito?” he asked. “Toshiki had an agreement with me, and was therefore able to use some of my more complex abilities,” Akashi added.

“To be honest, I think it's going to be really hard for me to get used to this right away...” I confessed.

“What skills are those, Akashi?” Rio asked, curious to know if she herself would be able to use them, having become a vampire.

“Well... You would refer to them as magic itself,” he revealed. “In reality, it is the ability to act upon the world, within the limits of what is possible for the type of Apparition that you are.”

“... What do you mean?” Rio rested her elbows on the table, immersed in thought.

“Of course...” I made a point of commenting. “I should have guessed. What I witnessed at the top of the building was not natural.”

“Exactly, my protégé,” Akashi reaffirmed. “Toshiki used ancient artifacts from the temple and activated them with his own blood. That's where the explosions came from, Akito,” he said. “And, of course... You will surely master these skills soon, my descendant,” he finally made Rio smile with the statement.

“Akashi... One question,” I interjected.

“Of course,” he replied briefly, giving me an opening to ask.

“Why the hell didn't you use these abilities in the battle against Cubas!?” I shouted, incredulous.

“Ah, heh-heh,” he laughed. “Calm down, Akito. Manipulating blood and shadow consumes a lot of energy, and Cubas is able to easily reject both techniques,” he pointed out. “That's why I didn't use them.”

“In the case of Rio and Yukina, I understand, but... Wouldn't it have been easier for you to tell me about these things before?” I asked, still tense.

“In your case, Akito...” he thought. “I wanted you to know as little as possible about the Apparitions, to keep the hope that you could maintain a normal life,” he replied.

“What do you mean?!” I exclaimed, confused.

“The more you know, and the more you interact with the Apparitions... The greater the chance that they will appear to you again in the future. Currently... I would say that it will be very difficult for you to return to a normal human life. Unless...,” he was about to say, but cut himself off.

“Oh, no. No suspense. Now, you talk,” I said, irritably.

“It's the same way I have to make Rio human again, if she wants to,” he said. “Vampires are notorious for their ability to influence, it's more prudent to even call it hypnosis,” he said.

“So what?” I pressed him.

“If I make the three of you forget everything that happened since the photograph...” he said. “And also, if we kill Cubas, if I destroy the photograph, and then die...”

“There would be no evidence left of our contact with the supernatural,” Rio added.

“What?!” I was outraged.

“Exactly. If I die before Rio establishes herself as a vampiric entity, and no one remembers that I transformed her... It's possible that the transformation could be reversed. If no one remembers the photograph, and it is destroyed... The wall between the natural and supernatural worlds would rise again for the three of you,” Akashi speculated.

“... Is that the only way?” I asked.

“It's the only way. But there's no point in talking about it now,” Akashi ended the conversation, standing up. “Go, Akito and Yukina. You have school, and I have a lot to discuss with my descendant...” Akashi proceeded to expel us from our own home.

When I realized it, I was already outside with Yukina, both of us in our school uniforms. I had the slight feeling that we had been hypnotized and taken outside by Akashi. However, it was not possible to confirm or refute that statement without causing a direct confrontation.

As we walked to school, I made sure to tell my sister about the events of the previous night. I relived every memory, from Toshiki to Rio's arrival, Braz Cubas, and finally, dawn. I omitted, however, that last moment with Rio.

“... You should stop hanging out with vampires, Akito. Next thing you know, you'll be sleeping upside down like a bat...” Yukina commented.

“I'll be fine... I hope,” I replied.

As we approached our destination, I remembered a very important issue I needed to discuss with Rio. So, I decided to send her a message.

“Dee, do you happen to remember who told you the rumor about a vampire on the loose in the city?” I sent it.

“...,” I waited a few seconds for a reply.

“Not exactly... I remember it was a man, but that's all. Sorry, Akito,” she replied.

"No problem. Thanks," I said goodbye to her, still via text, putting my phone back in my pocket.

By the next step, I had already arrived at school. I went about my usual routine, dropping Yukina off at her classroom door and heading straight to mine, with as little human interaction as possible during the process.

Suddenly, by coincidence, I ended up paying attention to a conversation between my classmates.

“Hey, hey, you hear?” said the first one.

“What?” asked the second one.

“It seems like there was an explosion in one of the temples on the outskirts of town…” replied the first one.

“Really?” asked the second one again.

“Really. And they still haven’t found any of the family members who looked after the place…” added the first one.

“Wow! Could it be arson? Maybe they're trying to commit insurance fraud...” the second one commented.

“You know what I heard?” a third one joined the conversation. “I heard that the place was cursed... Could this explosion be part of the curse?”

“How scary!” the other two replied, hugging each other.

I contemplated for a moment just how accurate this speculation about the temple being cursed was. The next moment, I thought it was very strange that there were already rumors about what happened at the temple the morning after the incident. It was possible that someone was watching us. Maybe Cubas himself was spreading rumors? I couldn't confirm or deny this speculation until I confronted him.

Finally, a thought occurred to me. Was the supernatural really becoming so popular among young people? The girls at school talked as if the place being cursed was an obvious fact. According to Akashi's explanation, it was possible that this shared belief could become the birthplace of a new apparition... Or even strengthen the existing apparitions in the city.

At the end of the school day, I soon met Yukina at the school gate.

“Aki... Have you heard the rumors?” she asked immediately.

“About the temple?” I sought to confirm.

“Yes. The girls in my class talk about nothing else,” she said.

“Mine too,” I revealed.

“Yeah... They've even linked it to the rumor about the vampire on the loose a few days ago,” Yukina pointed out.

“These rumors are starting to get dangerously specific... Has your fame allowed you to find out anything else?” I asked.

“Of course. I don't like half-baked gossip,” she said proudly. “They're discussing magic, the occult, and the supernatural extensively on a message board. Here, look!” She practically threw her phone onto my face so I could see.

“Besides the temple... Are there any other supposedly haunted places in town?” I asked.

“Let me see...” Yukina scrolled through the forum posts like a true professional. “There’s our school... The abandoned lighthouse... And they also say there’s a ghost under the bridge,” she said. “But that’s it.”

“Well... That should be enough to start with. Akashi says he can sense the presence of other apparitions, so he'll surely tell us which of these really hold secrets...” I concluded.

“Aren't you at all surprised by the rumors about our school?” she asked.

“Well... Technically, I'm haunting the school once a day,” I commented.

“That's true...” Yukina admitted.

At this leisurely pace of conversation, we walked back to our house, hoping we would be welcome this time. And, before that caused any concern, we were lucky that our parents had left extremely early and would not be back until extremely late.

Opening the door, I noticed that Akashi and Rio were no longer in the kitchen or living room. So, I opened the backyard door to investigate.

As soon as I finished sliding it open, however, a head came flying toward me. It was Akashi's.

“Hey! Welcome back, my protégé! Could you please throw me back over to my body?” he asked, laughing.

And, of course, before thinking about anything else, I threw his head in the general direction of the backyard. Following it with my eyes, I was able to gradually admire the scene that was unfolding in my own backyard.

Rio and the headless vampire were fighting, in classic no-holds-barred style. It was certainly one of the ways he had to teach her the same things he had taught me on my first day as an apparition, but his method remained quite unorthodox.

Heads flew, then arms, legs, and even bats, and everything dissolved into shadows, the blood evaporated, and in the blink of an eye they were completely healed.

“Wow...” my sister's eyes widened, apparently fascinated.

“Oh, no... Another nutcase for fights between immortals...,” I commented. “You stay there watching, to make sure they don't destroy the yard, Yuki. I'm going to make some coffee," I said immediately, closing the door to the yard and leaving the vampires to play at sunset, in the shadows of the neighboring houses that surrounded us.

Then I set about making afternoon coffee, hoping that Yukina wouldn't join the crazy vampires in the vile act of destroying my parents' yard.

Fried eggs, and... It was all ready.

“Breakfast is served!,” I shouted, hoping that at least Yukina would have heard me.

I was met with silence. Or rather, I was met with loud noises and thuds coming from my precious backyard. Irritated, I decided to open the door and teach the vampires a lesson, as they fought aggressively, showing no regard for the well-tended plants in the garden.

As soon as I opened the door and looked at the situation, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head.

An arrow had pierced my skull from one side to the other.

I turned to the side, and my sister was shooting with her bow and arrow while the vampires fought each other amicably, their bodies covered with arrows.

“Oops! Sorry, Aki! That one went astray!” Yukina shouted at me, waving with a smile.

I could practically hear the veins in my temple throbbing, and I gritted my teeth.

I pulled the arrow out of my head and threw it at the vampires. The arrow flew right between them, hitting the tree in the center of the yard. Startled, they turned their collective gaze to me.

“I said... That coffee... Is on the table,” I repeated, pausing to make myself clear.

“Oops, sorry, my protégé. We didn't hear you, the fight was so entertaining!” he said, panting.

“That's true...” Rio agreed, also panting.

“Come in. I have things to discuss with you,” I said, gesturing with my hand for them to come closer.

“Yes, sir!” Akashi exclaimed playfully.

“Honestly…,”, I muttered, sitting down in my chair.

Akashi sat down to my right. Rio sat down to my left. Across the table sat my sister, Yukina.

“Just a quick thing, Akito… Before you talk about what you found out…”, Rio interrupted.

“Yeah... We're hungry because of the fight...” Akashi added.

Then they both bit me at the same time. Each on one side of my neck, each on a jugular vein. I sighed, not knowing which of the two made me more uncomfortable.