Haru stood on a curb, waiting for Keiko to arrive. He watched the morning sun rise over the horison. His stomach grumbled. Haru looked at the time on his phone and saw that he had time to get something light to eat.
Haru walked into a fast food restaurant and walked up to the counter. The cashier sneered at him.
“Welcome to Burrito Chime,” she forced a smile, “How can we help you?”
“I’d like a Mashed Bacon Chocolate Nacho and a soft drink. I’ll give you an extra thousand yen for it if you don’t spit in my food,” he said.
The cashier looked at Haru with narrowed eyes.
She sighed, “Alright, I won’t spit in your food. I need the money.”
Haru left the restaurant and returned to the curb. When Keiko arrived, she found Haru eating the last of his food.
“Sorry if I made you wait,” Keiko spoke.
Haru said, “It’s fine. I showed up ahead of time on purpose.”
The two of them took a moment to look at each other. This was the first time they had seen each other in their casual wear. Haru wore jeans and a t-shirt with a light jacket over it. Keiko also wore jeans, but she wore a polo shirt rather than a t-shirt. He took a note of her upper-end clothing.
“So, are you ready?” Keiko asked.
He answered, “Just one thing first. You were surprised when you saw my magic, right?”
“I was. I didn’t even know that the supernatural existed when we met.”
“I see,” Haru paused for a moment in thought, “Come on, let’s get to the museum.”
After a short walk, they entered the museum. As they paid, the clerk leered at them.
“You had better not break anything while you’re here,” he looked right at Haru, “Delinquents like you always want to wreck this place.”
When they were out of earshot, Keiko said, “Your curse is horrible.”
“It is, but I like to count my blessings,” Haru stated, “It could be worse.”
“How so?” she asked.
“I’d rather not say right now. I don’t trust you enough yet to give you more details on my curse.”
Keiko replied, “That’s fine. I wouldn’t trust anyone if I were you either.”
They went over to an exhibit featuring a daisho and samurai armor. An arquebus and spear were there as well.
“Samurai had some pretty impressive equipment. That armor could probably protect you pretty well,” Haru noted.
“Oh, it could. You can’t cut through metal armor with a sword,” Keiko said, “Samurai aimed for the light or unarmored regions like the armpit, the neck, or the waist.”
He thought for a moment, “Could you cut through armor with a sword if you had super strength?”
She replied, “Maybe, but you’d need a sword that could withstand it. If you hit armor with enough force for a sword to cut through it, the sword would end up bending or shattering into a million pieces.”
“You know a lot about swords. I’m impressed.”
“It isn’t anything special,” Keiko worried that he’d see her as unapproachable and quickly deflected, “My family just made me learn about swords.”
“Well, it’s still impressive,” Haru said, “And you can relax. I like hearing your voice.”
Keiko blushed, “A-Alright. You have a nice voice too.”
They spent the rest of the day looking around the museum, checking out paintings and historical items. When they left, Haru looked at the sky.
“It’s getting dark out,” he said.
“Yeah, I should get going,” Keiko stated.
Haru asked, “Will your parents worry about you?”
“No,” she said with a hint of bitterness.
“Do you want me to walk with you back home?” he asked.
She answered, “I’d like that. It’s this way.”
The two of them moved along empty streets. They took a short-cut through a park. Darkness descended just as they reached the middle of it. In an American southern gentleman’s accent, a voice called out.
“I say now, that’s enough right there.”
They turned around to see a lanky man with reddish-brown hair dressed in a white suit. Moonlight glimmered off the gilded scabbard of a cavalry saber that was slung off his hip. He was six meters away from them.
Keiko said, “A foreigner?”
“Who are you?” Haru questioned.
The man spoke, “A gentleman, I say. And I must kindly ask you to unhand that lady.”
Haru’s face turned blank, “I’m not even touching her.”
“No sir, but your intentions are clearly not honorable,” he replied, “A man who doesn’t treat women well is the worst scum in the world, boy.”
Keiko said, “He isn’t…”
The swordsman cut her off, “Worry not, young lady. I’ll protect you from that scum.”
Wind rushed as he sprung into the air like a flash of light. Keiko could barely keep up with his movements. Moonlight flashed off of his saber as he drew it from its scabbard. The swordsman bore down on Haru, bloodlust in his eyes.
Haru put his hand forward, “Veter Dut.”
A torrent of wind sent the man flying into a tree. THUNK! He collapsed to the ground, motionless.
Keiko asked, “Is he dead?”
“He’s just a vampire,” Haru shrugged, “It’ll take a lot more than that to kill him.”
“What? He’s a vampire? If he’s one, shouldn’t you kill him?!?” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. Vampires don’t kill people when they drink their blood. They can if they want to, but it’s too risky to leave corpses behind with modern investigative technology. And this guy is too weak to be a vampire leader. If we kill him, it’ll make his boss mad. That’s not a good idea.”
Later that evening, the southern vampire was kneeling before a young man in his mid-teens. The boy was dying his hair.
The vampire said, “I’m sorry, Master Erik.”
“You attacked a random person, getting your ass kicked and potentially exposing us,” Erik turned to him with cold eyes.
“But you don’t understand, sir! He was a massive misogynist in the presence of a lady! We have to do something!”
“We have to do nothing,” Erik snapped, “You’re not provoking a spellcaster.”
“Yes, sir,” the vampire said.
Master Erik leered into his eyes, “When you went after him, were any of his family there? Were you trying to kill him in secret?”
“I was, Master Erik. Please und…”
Erik punched him, sending him flying through a wall. Rubble collapsed on him, hitting his face and covering his body.
“You dishonorable coward, we are not assassins! We do not murder people!” Erik’s own ear drums rang as he screamed, “If you want to kill someone, you do it in the open! That isn’t murder, even if the authorities see it differently. At the very least, their family should know. Anything else is dishonorable.”
He turned his attention to a young adult female vampire, “Lenora, clean this mess up.”
Erik pointed at the southern vampire and said, “And tend to Beauregard’s wounds. I need him to go to the blood bank tonight.”
“Of course, Master Erik,” she said.
Lenora smiled as she walked over to Beauregard and examined his wounds, “My goodness, you made quite a mess here.”
Erik sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose.
“How did I get stuck with these idiots?”
Ved'ma Story 