The Way You Are

"Honestly, TenSlime? I've tried it once, but it's so silly—"

"But the huge cast is amazing, Hino-san ☼ It's full of monsters."

"I don't know..."

"I can show it now ♡"

After class, Amano and I were walking to her home so I could borrow her a book—who am I kidding!? I was going to feed on her flavorful otaku degeneracy. However.

Dammit all! This girl's too innocent... and nice! Do I really need to lunge on her!? I could seriously fall in love with her... If she was a guy... Right, a guy...! Plus, I was supposed to be a vegan vampire... somehow. I just need a few days to come up with a way—

My stomach growled no.

Okay, if I have to do it, I need to do it right. I'll call Dad and ask if I have some hypnotic gaze to put her to sleep or if my phenomena could do the trick. I don't want to scare away such a catch... for friendship.

So I stopped walking to catch my phone, and once my adorable prey turned to me, I said. "I need to make a quick call, Amano-san—"

"Don't be silly, call me Kiyoka ♪"

"What!?" I leaned in, putting the phone back in my pocket. "But we just met..."

"I know, it has been a while." Amano shrugged a bit awkwardly. "Elementary, middle, and now high school..."

Wait, what?

"Everybody always avoids me, but you always greet me, let me borrow a pencil or a rubber, and catch the stuff I let fall on the floor..."

Yeah, I may do all this, but I do it to everybody else. The hard blow sent me to a guilt trip.

"We may not be friends until now..."

That was a straight hit to my voracious belly.

"But we've been peers since forever ☆"

And that knocked me out.

"I'b zo solly!" I burst out crying. "I'g neber pad atencion t' yiu, and yu're zo naice... Wahhh!"

"Hino-san?"

The moment Amano approached me to soothe me, my stomach started to hurt, so I just cried louder.

"Wahhh! I'm so sorry for being stupid! Sorry for being self-centered! Sorry for all those years we could be friends...! Wahhh, only if I didn't waste them being so afraid of being called flat otaku!"

While I was on my knees, making a scene in the middle of the street, Amano hugged me. "No, it's fine, I swear. I knew you never noticed me... I mean, not that sense, but you never offended me—what are you doing?"

I don't know why, but, once Amano hugged me, I started to nibble her neck. Even her sweat was yummy.

"Hahaha... stop, it tickles ♡"

"Sorry, I'm just too hungry!"

Amano then pushed me away to google her eyes at me.

◆◆◆

"So you want to feed on me?"

"A thousand pardons!"

I was prostrating on the sidewalk, so I don't know which face Amano was doing. Pavor? Disgust? Pity?

"Are you... going to die if you don't feed on me?"

I just rubbed my forehead on the pavement.

A predator who can't hunt? It's pity, for sure!

"Cool ☆"

I raised my head towards a bright beam of enthusiasm.

"Being a succubus' food is the dream of every otaku..."

Count me out.

"Besides, I kinda always had a crush on monster girls, so I couldn't choose a better person to share my first kiss ♪" Amano revealed out of the blue, shaking her booty on the streets with a winsome and pure joy.

I managed to smile for the long while that took me to realize I just had been confessed...

Is Amano-san the type who overshares once she overcomes shyness...? Well, she looks all bubbly now.

"But I'm not a succubus. I'm a vampire."

The joy vanished right away as Amano's face turned pale like I'd already sucked her dry.

"Please, I'm not gonna hurt you!" I reached out my hands to Amano's to assure her I'd rather die than harm such a nice girl.

However, Amano started to step back, stuttering, "D-Do you mean you want to s-suck my bl-bl-bl-blo..."

Too terrified to notice, Amano stepped on the asphalt the moment something honked.

"Amano, look out."

I don't know what happened next. At one moment I was running to save my friend, and at the other, I was high in the sky holding her.

"Amano-san, are you fine?!"

"Y-Yeah..."

I guess the Fantasy World will have to look for another savior. Still, I felt something squishy.

"Please Hino-san, don't squeeze there!"

At that moment I was a starving castaway with two bulky boules on their hands. It was just too much.

"Yuuummy..."

With my last strength, I managed to break our fall, but I couldn't get up. My vision was a blur, and all I could hear was Amano desperately yelling my name.

◇◇◇

"Hang on, Hino-san, my home's next block!"

What the heck am I doing? Yesterday, there was a secret assembly in school about Hino. They were warned she'd turn into a type of succubus, and all students must be careful around her because...

"Okay, door opened!" I told my unconscious crush, who was being scooped on my arms. "Soon you can rest in my bed while I call help!"

I have no idea. All I could think is that the peakest monsters ever would attend my classes, and nobody else would try to befriend her. Maybe without choice, I could stand a chance to be considered for a friend role.

"Sorry that my phone's battery is dead!" I dropped Hino-san on my bed. "But now I can call you an ambulance."

And if she decided to feed on me, who knows? It could be a special bond, or she could even fall in love with me. And apparently I'm super 'yummy'... but I puke by just thinking of blood.

However, before I left, something grabbed my wrist. It was Hino, but something was odd: it didn't look like she was fully awake.

As I turned to her, Hino crawled off the bed towards me and lifted my shirt.

"Wait, please!"

But Hino just stared at my belly while I turned bright red. The reason why I use heavy clothes is because I'm a bit out of shape in the midriff.

I tried to push her away, but Hino shoved me to a chair, crawled over my lap, and sank her fangs in my muffin top.

"One sec... H-Hino..."

Vampire stories always describe being sucked as an erotic situation, but to tell the truth, it was like donating blood the third time the same week. The cold fangs thrusting inside me like needles, my belly burning as Hino pulled it, my extremities getting colder, mouth tingling, stomach turning, the whole room spinning...

"D-Don't suck too hard..."

But, just like donating blood, it was for someone else's health. And not just anybody: it was one of the monster girls I'd always cherished. It felt like I was finally able to please someone. No, more than that, she needed me. Right then I was the world to Hino, and we were one, still not in the lewd way I imagined.

After a few pullings, Hino let me go. Despite feeling a bit anemic and my belly throbbing, I don't think I was in a condition serious enough to call the ambulance for two.

"You are tasty." Hino murmured, turning starving-puppy eyes to me.

While she was crawling over me, I tried to ask, "A-Aren't you done—"

But she slammed the wall behind me with such a rom-com intensity that my body shuddered, from head to toe. Next, she turned downward, and ripped a cleavage in my uniform to sink her fangs on my upper-chest.

I have to admit: it's not that I had the guts to resist, nor that I didn't have the strength to resist... I didn't want to resist at all. I just warped my arms around Hino's nape and let her sap the life out of my body.

Maybe I'm the predator here...

◇◇◇

"Here, I brought you some cookies!"

"Thanks—"

"And chug this bottle! You need water!"

"Glub, glub, glub—I'b drownin'!"

Before I knew it, I was feeding on Amano's. The poor thing was pale like a ghost and all lethargic, so we switched sides as I fed her... even if I got a fever, which is why I was being a bit rough.

"Sorry!" I removed the bottle from Amano's throat. "It's so hot, and... I need to make up."

As I fell on my knees in the middle of Amano's room, the latter, who was seated on her bed, leaned in to listen to me unburdening.

"It was just too sudden. Yesterday I was an average antisocial teen, and today I'm not even human. I didn't even have time to prepare myself or digest what was happening. My featherbrains of a family dumped everything too late... Grrrrr!"

"Pl-Please, don't bite my plushies! You can tear them apart!"

It took a while, but I released my second victim that day... the second one.

"I don't want to hurt anyone. Living like a predator, hunting on the lustful... It's just so difficult keeping humanity when you aren't human anymore."

"Then don't be!" Amano shouted.

I turned my watery eyes to Amano, whose eyes were fired-up.

"Hino-san, you can't live your life pretending to be something you are not," Amano spoke with an intense tone that reflected her conviction. "Even to get help, you must admit you have a problem first."

Next, she grabbed my hands and continued, "Nobody is happy pretending to be something they aren't. If you are a predator, if you need to feed on my blood, then puff your chest and be proud! We humans eat meat and vegetables too, and we never apologize for that!"

Yeah, eating living things is nature's way. I'm still me, just one step higher in the food chair.

"After all, monster girls pretending to be normal are boring as fu—"

I shut Amano up with my hands. It was too good a speech to let her 'otakuness' ruin it. But I ended up getting too close, and maybe it was the fever speaking, but something in Amano's eyes was so mesmerizing that they made my blood boil.

As Amano looked into my eyes back, I removed my hands from her mouth and inched my lips. Meanwhile, she just pursed hers, and we both pressed them together.

It wasn't just her blood and sweat: Amano's saliva was so sweet that my tongue made its way inside her mouth. It's about 30cm, though. I guess Amano had the fright of a lifetime. Thus, I stopped making out the same instant, but Amano's expression was taken by a delicious mix of fear, shyness, and thrills.

"I will proceed," I announced. "I'm a lilim, and you are my prey. I will feed on each aspect of you until I get sick of your taste. Are we clear, Amano-san?"

Amano's answer was to bob her head yes incessantly. "But please, call me Kiyoka ☼"

"Then call me Aimi, Kiyoka-chan!"

Kiyoka clenched her hands and nodded harder. "Aimi-chan ☆"

With my tongue I started to lick Kiyoka's forehead, just like a pet, murmuring, "You taste savoring."

"Stop ♡ I'm all sweaty."

If Kiyoka truly wanted to, I would, but I went for her mouth again. She was right: embracing my true self instead of denying it was truly liberating.

◆◆◆

Later that night I went back home to read the lost treasure I borrowed. However, while I was immersed in dreamy fantasy, my disappointing reality was peeking from behind.

"Dad!" I flinched on the couch. "I've told you to not peep my stuff!"

"Sorry, Darling." Dad sat by my side. "You seemed to be having some fun."

As he headpatted me with a carefree smile, I cried, "DAAAAD!!!! I'm not a child!"

Dad's face sobered right away. "Yes, you're an adult. It means changes."

"Tell me about it." I fingerhooked to show my fangs.

Dad chuckled a bit and continued, "Still, I guess there was some miscommunication on someone's part, so..."

"So...?"

The damned beckoned at me as I was the one owing him apologies. He smiled with real confidence in his make-believe communication skills until I smashed it with a book.

"Sorry, Dad," I apologized with a real reason.

"I'm sorry too." Dad leaned on the couch. "I did just like my parents. It's a tradition in our clan to let our offspring learn by itself... maybe it's an old-fashioned custom."

It's savagery! We're not animals...! No, even some animals teach their offspring during their youth.

"You betcha," I shot a cold glare at Dad. "But I should learn to look after myself."

"Still, ask for our help when you can't handle yourself," Dad tapped my shoulder. "In fact, I guess I should start teaching you how to disguise—"

"No need," I raised my palm. "I want to get used to all this... and pride myself."

"That's the spirit, Darling." Dad tapped my back. "But don't hesitate in asking for help."

"I won't." I beamed.

I guess even old dogs can learn new tricks. I need to tell it to someone.

So I texted Kiyoka right away, just to trigger a bombardment of questions about the novel and if I was enjoying it.

Hehe... Who could guess I would end up getting such a lover—ly friend today? Thank goodness I met such a monster girl's lover on my first day... as a monster girl?

After a few seconds I gasped.

What an astonishing coincidence!

So I texted about it, but Kiyoka didn't answer. Maybe she was busy... or as shocked with the mysteries of the universe as I was.

Thus, I stood up, stretched, and prepared myself to take a shower until a shrieking cry echoed toward the neighborhood.

"Darling, I replenished the stock in your backpack! Remember, security comes first!"

"MOOOOOOM!!!!"