[ 1 ] Day

Ten seconds left to kill every vampire in this room.

The boy thinking this raised his sword. Okay, ten seconds wasn’t bad. He’d gotten about thirty-five down so far. He could get beat the rest before time was up. Probably.

Relax, he told himself. All he had to do was picture someone like Yuichiro Hyakuya in his head and do what that character would do. Then everything would be alright.

He even wielded a sword, just like him. It was fate.

“Is he really only Rank C?” someone was whispering from a bench outside the room. “If I were the higher-ups, I’d promote him already. Most people in that rank can only defeat, like, ten in a minute.”

“I don’t think he’s eighteen yet,” the person next to the someone whispered back.

Meanwhile, the boy past the training gate was swinging his sword faster than most eyes could follow through about five more holograms. This was... boring. The goddamn things weren’t even real vampires. Were actual vampires this slow? He heard that the exam trainees were given to pass up to Rank B presented fake vampires that actually acted like, well, real vampires, but what was the point if the training didn’t do the same?

There was a loud beep—time was over. He looked up at the number on the wall. Forty-two. Fuck. He didn’t even beat his record of forty-three.

He sighed as he put his sword away, kicking the door open. Well, at least he was doing something. Just one more year of this and he would finally…

Yeah, he really couldn’t wait one more year.

“Please don’t kick the door,” said the adult monitoring the training rooms. As if it was necessary to monitor anything. What, did they expect people to accidentally stab themselves instead of the illusory vampires? “Uh...” The adult looked down at a screen in her hands, which Day had used to sign up to use the training room. “Day... Bitch? Oh, no, wait, sorry, I see it says Day Birch—”

“Save it, man,” he said as he started towards a bench and sat down.

“Day!” He looked up at the voice, seeing a girl hurrying over to him from another one of the training rooms. The Rank D training room. It was Anais. She had far too much sweat on her face, and the hair loose from her ponytail was sticking to her face. She collapsed onto the bench next to him, grabbing his water bottle and drinking straight from it despite his protests. “So?” she said, lowering the bottle from her mouth. “Beat your, uh, record yet?”

“No,” he groaned, looking away. “Forty-two. I was, like, one away from getting there. I can’t believe myself.”

“Hey, at least you’re at more than twenty. That’s a lot for someone at your rank,” she said, giving him a look. “All the trainees aspire to be like you.”

“And I aspire to be like all the actual vampire hunters. What’s there to be jealous of about someone who’s still stuck at a training rank?” Day let out a sigh. “What about you? How’d you do? I thought you’d moved up to C already.”

“Thanks,” she said, finishing his water. “No, not yet. And I didn’t do that well. I beat, like, ten holograms. How many am I supposed to beat in just a minute, anyway? Ah, I know this doesn’t mean much to me, but I really do aspire to be like you.”

“You really don’t, Anais.”

“Sure. Say, what are you gonna do if the whole vampire hunt is over by the time you’re eighteen?” she asked, tossing the empty bottle at a trash can. She missed by a huge margin, but she just clicked her tongue and looked back at him, leaving it for later. “There aren’t that many vampires left in the world since the war’s over, y’know. Now all the hunters do is find the small amount of vampires that are still left in hiding and kill them. The hunt won’t last forever.”

“I know. If I lost the chance to become a vampire hunter, I’d kill myself.”

“Great answer.”

“But I don’t think there could be that small of an amount of vampires left, anyway. They’re superior to humans for a reason. You can’t just wipe them off the face of the Earth in only a few years.”

“Better answer.” She shrugged. “I sure hope you’re right, anyway. Okay, I’m going for another round. You?”

“I’m going home,” he announced, standing up and walking over to the water bottle that Anais had failed to throw away. He meant to drop it into the trash can, but it somehow bounced off the rim and fell to the ground again. What the fuck.

“Okay, bye,” she said, waving at him and running off.

If there was anything Day hated, it was sitting idly doing nothing.

Not that he was really sitting or anything. Or doing nothing. Per se. He did things. He woke up, he went to headquarters—not school—received boring, tiring training, came home to nobody waiting for him, slept, watched anime, read manga... well, you get the gist. He led a pretty normal life.

But that was just the thing. He figured he could do so much more, you know?

“Why can’t I move up a rank? It’s been, like, three years,” Day was saying to someone from the corner of his hallway. “I want to be a real vampire hunter already! And live my life as the badass warrior I’ve always wanted to be! Like, like Goku and Saitama and Ichigo and—”

“Yes, three years since you were fourteen,” she interrupted, ignoring his weeby comments. “And now you’re seventeen. Not quite there yet.” She was eating something at the dining table, though it was already eleven. She always came home late. “You have to be an adult, remember?”

“I am an adult at heart.”

“Hilarious.”

“No, okay, but really.” He walked over to the table, sitting across from her and crossing his arms. “Nobody needs to train for three years, Night”—ignore the fact that their parents thought it’d be a hilarious idea to name their children Day and Night—“to be ready. I’m so ready! I mean, I was ready from the start, but now I’m, like, ultra-mega-super-ready. I don’t need to be a trainee anymore.”

“You are not an adult.”

“Who said adult... adult... adultery? Wait, no. Adulthood, sorry. My bad. Stop looking at me like that. Who said adulthood was necessary to be a full-fledged vampire hunter? I’m tired of fighting those holograms. It’s so pointless.”

“Okay, look,” she said, spooning the rest of her food into her mouth and standing up, “you don’t get it. You’re far from mature. There’s no way you can handle the whole vampire-hunting thing the way you are right now. Training is just for learning how to slay a vampire; age is for learning how to deal with being a vampire hunter. Two very different things. Two very important things.” She cleared her throat. “Two of which I have. Only one of which you might have.”

“You’re not that mature.”

“Says the dude who still cries over anime.”

“Listen, you can’t say that when you know how sad the dad’s death wa—”

“Look, just wait,” she said, ignoring him. “Ever heard ‘patience is a virtue’?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Duh, and I’ve been patient for three years already. Is there really no way I can move up?”

“You can change your birth certificate.”

“Ah, yes, look who’s the hilarious one now.” He sighed. “Can I, like, sneak with you on one of your missions—”

“Absolutely not. Stop asking.”

“Fuck you.”

“Okay, I’m going to bed now.” She yawned, as if trying to emphasize her point. “Good night.”

“Yeah. Good Night.”

“Stop making that joke.” She put her plate and utensils in the sink and went up the stairs, leaving Day alone at the dining table.

He sighed, resting his head in his arms and trying not to kick a chair in frustration. Was it really necessary to wait four entire years just to move up to a rank in which he was considered an actual vampire hunter? And went on missions? And was actually allowed to use his skills to do what he wanted to do? He wasn’t gonna lie, staying home and watching anime wasn’t bad, but going to headquarters and knowing all he was going to do was pointlessly train rather than do real work always put a damper on his day.

Every day.

It was the same.

And the more he got used to the boring-ass training, he knew the harder it’d be to adapt to real fighting. Was that part of the test? If so, he hated it. In the long run, it wasn’t going to matter much.

Oh, whatever. Might as well sleep, too. He’d find some way out of having to wait another entire year to get what he wanted and clearly deserved at this point.

The next day, when he woke up, he went downstairs to find Night watching the news while absently eating from a bowl of cereal. “Good Day to you,” Night greeted him, eyes not leaving the screen.

“Whoa, a vampire attack?” He looked at the TV as he was walking towards the table.

“The victim is the CEO of the biggest phone company in the world, Marco Rutherford,” the reporter was saying in a bored tone. “The attack was done by a vampire in Santa Clara, California, and the vampire hunters—”

“That’s our city,” Day mused.

Night gave him a look as he stood up from the table. “Where are you going? Eat breakfast, you idiot.”

“I’m going to talk to Chrono.”

“If you think he’s going to let you help with finding the vampire, he probably won’t.”

“The world is full of possibilities,” he declared as he left the house.

Night shook her head, looking up at the clock. It’d be a while until her next mission. She kept eating, waiting for Day to come back—he’d probably be back at the house soon. Chrono never listened to him.

Anyway, Day merrily left the house to go to headquarters, hurrying over to an office. A man sat inside, typing something in a computer. Chrono. He had slightly long, black hair that he lazily tied into a ponytail. Reminded him of Kurono from Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan. If Chrono was Kurono, Day hoped he was Ikki (the badass main dude, of course, who also happened to fight with a sword, double of course). He’d clicked his tongue in annoyance the moment Day had burst into the place. Rude.

“What do you want? I’m busy.”

“With what?” Day asked.

Trainees weren’t allowed to just casually waltz into the higher-ups’ offices, but Day and Night had known Chrono for a long time since their first days as trainees, so he was unfazed by this. “Nothing. I said, what do you want? Make it quick.”

“Are you busy with the murder of that Rutherford dude?”

“No, actually, but that’s next on my list.” He blinked a few times, as if he was remembering something, and then looked up. “Oh, wait, right, Day. Sorry, I didn’t even totally process that it’s, like, you. Good day, and good timing!”

“What do you mean, you didn’t even process it was m—”

“What a coincidence. I was going to ask you something,” Chrono cut in.

“Okay, it can wait, because I have to ask you something first,” Day said.

“Would you like to help with the mission?”

“Can I help with the mission?!”

They both said it at the same time, so they hadn’t even been paying attention to what the other person had been saying. Day stared at him expectantly, thinking he would either repeat what he just said or answer Day’s question, for at least five seconds. “Wait, what did you say?” Day asked.

“I asked if you wanted to help with th—”

“That’s what I just asked! Oh my God! Chrono, yes, please please please I’m begging you I can’t believe you’re making an exception for me like this I really want to help with just one thing okay if I end up being useful does that mean that you’ll acknowledge me and move me up to Rank B so I can be a real vampire hunter and I don’t have to wait until I’m eighteen please please please please please please—”

“Stop talking. Fine.”

Day’s eyes lit up so fast that they blinded Chrono. “Really?!”

“Yes, really. You ask me if you can help every single time you hear about some incident concerning a vampire doing insert-something-here, so I’ll cave. Once.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other, and then crossed his arms, too. As if that was supposed to make him look more firm about what he was saying. “Only once. If you succeed, you’re in Rank B. If you fail, you’ll have to wait until you’re nineteen to move up the ranks rather than eighteen.”

“What?” Day said, the light in his eyes fading slightly. “Why? That’s not fair.”

“It is very fair.”

“But Chrono...” he said, averting his eyes. They looked shiny. His shoulders were shaking, too.

Chrono’s expression faltered, too, and he uncrossed his arms, leaning forward a bit. “I—Okay, I’m sorry, Day, what the fuck, don’t cry. I’m sorry. I don’t have... to... uh... I don’t have to add that requirement if it bothers you that much, please, I—uh—” At this point, he was practically flailing his arms, having no idea how to respond. Day’s shoulders only shook more, but after a few seconds, Chrono realized it was with laughter. “Are—Are you—”

Day burst out laughing, and then he quickly covered his mouth, shaking his head. “Chrono, oh, my God, you’re still too naïve. You know I don’t cry that easily.” Now his eyes were actually teary, but for obvious reasons.

By now, Chrono’s mouth had dropped to the floor.

“You don’t have to remove the requirement, it gives me more incentive. Plus, I’d be a weenie if I couldn’t handle high stakes! Please stop glaring at me like that, it was a joke, I—”

Cue Day screaming as he fled the room at the speed of light when Chrono made as if to murder his sorry ass.

He stumbled out of the building and stopped running, though he was positive he had already lost him quite a while ago. Chrono wasn’t mad, right? He was still on the mission? Fuck, he hadn’t even received orders. And he’d already run out of the office. If he ran back, he’d just get murdered. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the dude instead.

“You leave my office and then call me from right outside the building.”

“Yeah. Uh, what exactly do I do?”

“Die, that’s what,” he said. He heard him mutter something like, ‘This fucker has no respect for his superiors,’ to himself before continuing. “But seriously, nothing yet. I told you, the mission’s next on my list. Nobody’s busy with it right now. Though I suppose you could benefit from meeting the people you’re working with, uh... hmm... they’re not really in the building, but I suppose I can call them. Ahh, they’re going to kill me for doing this. Maybe tomorrow.”

“I can meet them when it’s actually time for you to give us orders, you know.”

“Or the three of you can train together and actually figure out how you’ll work together as a team. Which is better to happen, like, not right before you get your orders to set off and do the real thing, but tomorrow.”

“Uh, so, are three hunters necessary just to take on one vampire?” Day asked, raising an eyebrow. Not that Chrono could see his expression.

“Ah... it’s slightly a bigger deal than you think, Day,” he informed him. “I mean, not because I’m trying to tell you that a vampire murdering someone in the city is a bigger deal than you think, because you probably already know how big of a deal murder is, and if you don’t, I’m not going to waste time lecturing you on it, but there’s just more to what was found. It seems the culprit’s a vampire we’ve been trying to catch for... uh... a while, and she’s dangerous. Really dangerous.”

Day was already grinning. Again, not that Chrono could see. Maybe that was for the better, anyway. “Oh? Say, if this mission’s probably more dangerous than the other ones I’ve asked you to bend the rules to put me on, why’re you only making an exception this time?” He could already feel his opportunity to shine. This was better than just casually being put on a mission and succeeding—this was receiving a challenge and not letting the giver down. Indeed, he’d finally gotten his chance to fucking... to fucking be the Yuu, the Ikki, the Goku, the Ichigo, the Saitama, the Rin, the Yato—okay, you get the point—of his story.

“You’ll... uh... you’ll see,” Chrono answered quickly. “Better for you to see than for me to tell you. It’d be anticlimactic. To you, I mean. Not the readers.”

“The who?”

“But anyway, I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you back when it’s time for... yeah. Alright. Bye, Bitch.”

“It’s Birch, Chr—”

The line cut off.

And then the phone went ringing again a mere second afterwards. Day answered it, immediately saying, “It’s Day Birch, and what?”

“I forgot to tell you something. I told you the vampire’s dangerous, but I forgot to tell you her name. Because you’ve probably heard of her. And it’s probably important for you to know, just so you don’t underestimate what this mission’s going to be like.”

“Yeah? Get on with it, then.”

“It’s Marthe.”

“Oh,” Day said slowly. “Oh. Oh.”

Of all the vampires it could’ve been, it was her.

“Yeah, you heard me, and no, I’m not talking about Marth from Fire Emblem.”

“I wasn’t even—I don’t—I—don’t ruin the moment,” he sputtered, hanging up on him. He shook his head, putting his cell phone back in his pocket and walking away from the building, looking up at the sky.