Diastolic

The drawn curtains add a sense of gloom to the reception chamber. Ayaka sits opposite her maid at a drab table in need of a few splashes of color.

Megumi pours the matcha green tea for her mistress, as usual, but this time, she reserves a cup for herself too. Without waiting for permission, the maid leans back in her chair and sips a mouthful of tea, etiquette completely thrown out the window as she crosses her legs.

“Ah. Nothing like warm tea on a late day shift. Almost as good as blood.”

“Is there something you want to talk about?”

“I want to talk about how good blood tastes, but you probably have nothing good to add to the conversation. Unless…”

“Not happening.” Ayaka wants to down the whole cup in one go, but her lips betray her by retreating once they touch the edge of the hot fluid. Right, vampire pain resistance. How could she forget?

“It’s hot.”

“Shouldn’t you say that before I burn myself?”

“Right, it’s the duty of a maid to do so. But if you leave this family, I won’t be your anything anymore.”

Ayaka sets the ceramic back on her plate with a clink. “This family… which one? Matsuhira or Maehana?”

“Maehira.”

The human girl chuckles with a noise that can only be described as spite. “Except Maehira isn’t a real family. It’s just a solution to keep the two real bloodthirsty families from waging war over which last name to give the child.”

Megumi closes her eyes while she drinks more of her tea. “Do you rather be in either of the families?”

“I want to be in neither.”

“Why? There are plenty of privileges to being in these two prestigious families.”

“Only at the cost of selling my soul.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“They can kill each other for all I care.” Ayaka realizes that unconsciously she has let the hot tea flow down her throat, almost mimicking her maid’s actions. The pain seems easy to ignore now, for reasons she doesn’t want to understand.

“That’s why you are running away? Because you don’t care?”

“Get your facts straight. I’m not running away. Just going on a short trip.”

“Is that so?” Megumi sets down her cup.

“Yes, and if you have nothing else to say to me, I’ll take my leave now since time is money.”

“Either family has pretty much infinite money.”

Ayaka stands up, but a well-timed grip stops her from doing anything else. Not by force, but rather the sight of those curled pale fingers tugging at her shirt like they may break off any second, even though this possibility makes no sense at all.

“Do you have something to say?” Weak. Weak response from Ayaka. She knows full well that Megumi requires more force to shake off. But that vague question is the only thing she can bring up, when her maid clutches her while showing a pair of glimmering red eyes. It must have been a trick of the light, because she has never seen any fluid shed by a vampire that isn’t an act.

“Vampires can turn humans into new vampires. At least the ancient ones can. Do you want to see if I’m old enough for that to work?” She opens her mouth to show off her fangs, but this time Ayaka feels nothing at all from this vague threat. Or is it a threat? It has become more and more unclear.

The human girl freezes, stunned by the humid air lingering statically so long that she wonders if she will start suffocating. Might this be fear? She thinks not. She just doesn’t know what to say and what to do.

Perhaps bored from the lack of response, Megumi continues. “Maybe not. Turned humans have a weird relationship with the sire. Don’t want you to be all over me. What if you beg me to suck your blood? That would be so bad.”

So bad that she is blushing with a smile. Sure. But at least her delusional speech spares Ayaka from answering that awkward question.

She is about to resume her departure, but her maid isn’t done yet. “Even the Matsuhira and Maehana families started feuding because both of their ancestors were chasing after the same sire.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“The girl they were pursuing refused to make a choice and ran away. Hence, the situation became what it is today.”

“You expect me to believe that these two groups of demons started to hate each other because of a love triangle?”

“It’s the truth. It doesn’t matter if you believe it. The important thing is that the girl fled and regretted it very, very much.”

Ayaka finds the strength to tear herself out of Megumi’s grasp. “I’d rather you threaten me to stay than tell such a bizarre lie. Force me! Lecture me on how it’s my destiny.”

“I can’t. Sorry…” Softer than usual, the vampire speaks without the expected edge. Her presence, which normally commands the atmosphere, has shrunk, and looking at her now, Ayaka can only see what her appearance advertises—a helpless little girl uneasy in a confrontation. The vampire retreats her gaze to her hands rubbing against each other.

“Sorry for everything, Ayaka…” Her voice gets even lower than a whisper. Barely audible. Megumi diverts her gaze from her mistress to the empty cup on the table. Who is this woman standing here? Ayaka can’t help but ask in her head.

But still, the draft continues on, probably from a forgotten vent in the corner. She has to take the chance, when the maid seems most preoccupied, to slip away. Sure enough. Nothing stops her next as she leaves the mansion without any more resistance, into the sunlight, into the bright world that appears to be filled with wonderful possibilities.

The hours of the train ride should drag but pass by in a flash. Perhaps it is because no matter the distance she travels, her mind still can’t escape from that guest room in the mansion. That expression on Megumi’s face—what can it possibly mean?

When she arrives at the station, the night has already taken over, and she can’t shake the feeling that someone is following her. Just an intuition parading at the edge of her mind. As the time of darkness has come, Ayaka sighs and resigns herself to checking into a hostel. If anyone cares about her whereabouts, it has to be a vampire. That means daytime travelling gives her the best chance of leaving her stalker in the dust.

The mattress of the hostel is comfortable, but something is missing. Something has to be. Maybe she has relied too much on Megumi over the years, so she has lost every self-care skill. Not every single one. She can still take a bath herself and brush her teeth, but it feels off.

It can be the prospect of sleeping in a foreign bed, looking at the strange yellow light bulbs on the ceiling that provide barely enough illumination. Her shackles should be gone the moment that she has left Kyoto, because even the families’ influence weakens beyond the city they dwell in.

The strange buzzing through the night bothers her less than she thought it would. Perhaps sleep has always been off the table the moment she has decided to rest somewhere other than in her bedroom. Any moment might be a vampire attack from either family, especially without the protection of Megumi. Especially when no sunlight is present to deter any of the fiends. Especially when her death will wipe out any evidence of a union between the two groups, just as her parents’ deaths have shaken its foundation.

A few times of dozing off will have to do for now, as she keeps to her plan of setting off in the morning. She almost misses her stop on the bus, and walking while sleep-deprived isn’t the best activity either. At the very least, that feeling that someone is watching has disappeared. Or maybe a less generous way to interpret it is that she has missed too much rest to sense any spying, while that person can strike at any moment and she would be powerless to stop it.

Swaying on the path, her thoughts are too muddled to even feel any fear about any potential threats. Trudging through the swamp of fatigue, her mind gains a second wind of clarity when she finally has that pine tree in sight. The Lonely Christmas Tree of Biei, a scene that her parents saw during their honeymoon.

A line of fence consisting of sticks and strings separates the outsiders from the home turf of the tree. Part of Ayaka wants to cross it no matter how much trouble that will bring her, all so she can hug the tree and feel its bark against her. All so she can hug something that still possesses a strand of connection with her parents.

There don’t seem to be any tourists today, perhaps because it’s early morning in the middle of spring. That isn’t to say that no one is here. Someone is. A small figure wrapped from head to toe in a black cloak, holding a dark blue umbrella that projects a shadow extending almost wider than that person’s height.

Though the mysterious person is covered, after Ayaka gets closer, she can be confident about who is under the layers of cloth. “Megumi, why are you here?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” The maid’s voice comes out, confirming the girl’s suspicions. “I’m not Megumi. Not a maid either. Just another passerby here.”

“Can you go back to Kyoto? I told you I wanted to be alone.”

“Why here? Is it because of your parents?”

“It’s none of your business.” Ayaka glances at the isolated tree wavering in the cool breeze, and then decides that she has seen enough, turning around to leave the way she came.

“What do you think about your parents, stranger?”

“They don’t think about the consequences of their actions.” Despite her wishes to remain at peace, her lips tremble, and she clenches her fist. She hasn’t realized how emotional talking about her parents would make her. Since when is she this way? Rushing into things, simply irrational. “Why did they have to get married? Didn’t they realize how many problems that would cause? I know they loved each other, but they should really think about things!”

She feels tears rolling down her cheeks. Is she crying? The sky is clear, so she has no chance of blaming it on the rain. She can only admit it. Yes, the sorrow that has persisted since the funeral finally starts to leak out.

Ayaka turns around to Megumi once more. Hands waving, she says. “Even if they get married, why do they have to get in the middle of a family feud? Why do they have to sow new seeds and give birth to me?”

She can’t see Megumi’s face, and she sincerely hopes that her maid has a neutral expression no different from usual. Because she can’t handle anything else right now.

“Sorry, I want to hug you, stranger. But I don’t do well under the sun, so instead…” The disguised maid reaches out her gloved hand and pats Ayaka on the head. Her height makes the feat nothing short of amazing.

The touch feels soft and gentle but too much like a smothering pillow. Ayaka scrambles away from the umbrella’s shade, to gain some space to breathe again. “Don’t touch me! You said it yourself. We’re strangers. And it’s true. I don’t actually know anything about you. I can’t even be sure if you killed my parents or not. Or if anyone killed my parents, for that matter. Why am I even here? Why?”

Even when the spiralling girl steps backward, further from the vampire, the latter doesn’t chase after the former, only keeping still and her veil facing the girl. Ayaka comes close to meeting her gaze.

“I really did live here. That isn’t a lie. I met a recently married couple once, who had a similar problem to yours. They were bickering and arguing. I thought they would get a divorce on day one. But the strangest thing happened. When they took a picture in front of this tree, they acted like the happiest pair on earth.” After this, after this speech that even Ayaka surprises herself by listening, Megumi finally steps forward.

The human girl starts running away. Maybe it’s primal instincts or something else. She just can’t understand. Not herself. Not Megumi. Not the families. Everything is a mystery and it makes the hair on her arms stand up. She shivers under the rising sun and sets off to run further away, beyond Hokkaido to a place where memories and hostility can’t reach her.

Not her parents too…

As expected from a vampire, Megumi can easily keep up. She should be able to catch Ayaka in no time, but chooses to maintain the distance between them, toying with prey. Is she treating this as a game? This must be true, but something in her voice says otherwise.

“They were ordered to marry by their respective families. Sentenced to be a peace treaty signed between the two. Yet they persisted. Unlike me, they faced their destiny. And maybe it was this similarity between them that at last found them common ground.”

Those words lack any malice, but sting more than if they had. Ayaka wants to run faster, enough to escape Megumi, but she is only human. She can’t hope to outpace a vampire. Unless…

An idea emboldens her enough to stop and turn around while holding out her arm. “You can drink my blood. On one condition: leave me alone after this. Don’t stalk me and come after me ever again.”

The silence that follows the offer proves hard to decode. Ayaka once more feels utterly disconnected from her maid’s thoughts and internal happenings, at the mercy of vampires.

“I told you. I don’t do well under the sun. Ask again tonight.”

More games. She can’t take this anymore. With the most resolve of the day, she turns to march along the lonely road, telling herself that she will never look at Megumi again. “What’s the matter with you? Are you this loyal to those two good-for-nothing families?”

“Is that what you think? I’m just here because I want to. Because I don’t want another person to feel the regret and pain from running away.” The voice stays as loud as before, but Ayaka finds herself less able to shake it away.

“What’s wrong with running? I didn’t ask to be born sandwiched between two landmines. Why should I bear this burden? Why? Why did they leave me behind like this? It’s not fair!” Her knees shake as she gets closer to collapsing from what has to be the day’s worth of traveling.

“It’s never about them. It’s only for you.”

“How can you say this? I can’t do anything. I don’t know anything. They could have murdered my parents. You could have. You might even be brainwashing me right now! How can I know what I’m doing won’t lead me to the same fate as them?” Tears. The tears are back. She thought she had shed every last drop of them but she was so wrong.

The shadow encroaches, so she knows their distance has closed without looking back. A whisper flows into her ear like bird songs in the breeze. “Your parents didn’t know each other’s intentions too. Neither did their families. Yet they persevered through the uncertainty in the pursuit of a better future, and the marriage survived until the day the two of them died. You have their blood in you too. That’s why I know you can do the same. Of course, you can run away too. But ask yourself. Will that make you happy? Or will your past always loom over anything you do? It’s your choice, in the end. Your choice and your consequences.”

Something lands on the top of Ayaka’s head again. It’s ridiculous how the vampire girl must be standing on her tiptoes. Ridiculous enough to make Ayaka break into a chuckle.

“Right. It’s my choice.” She wipes the lines of tears from her cheeks. Her eyes drift back to the lone tree that will always be in the distance. “Right.”

She will forever remember their time together. Every small moment. Birthday celebrations. Family trips. Dinners and game nights. Disagreements and bickering. It all leads to this moment. Perhaps, she can be glad to be born into this troublesome family.

“Megumi, let’s go home.”

“What are you talking about? I’m a stranger.”

“Sure you are. See you later then.” Her gaze returns to the tree for one last time. “See you later.”

And she gets back on the road from where she came. Gets back on the road that she was born on.