About Child Making – Part 1

"Hello, good morning! Are you doing, Dawn?"

2:51 AM.

A cheerful voice echoed in my bedroom. Entering my house without my permission was a certain glass-wearing red-eyed girl.

"..."

"Hm? Strange. Why are you staring at me like so? If I didn't know better, I would think that I turned into a ghost."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Hm?"

The girl approached me as I was sitting on the ground close to my bed. She put her fingers on my neck with a puzzled expression.

"You look alive but… Ah! Could it be that you are like that one girl who forgets about her acquaintances after a week?! Wait, you aren't going to shoot me again, are you?! Wait a second! I am not mentally ready to go through that… again…?"

Not letting her finish her tirade, I hugged her as strongly as I could. I don't why I did, I just felt the urge and she was close. That is all.

"... Is there a problem?" she asked.

"How come you aren't cold? You are supposed to be an undead."

"Ah! Rudeness! Such rudeness! I am definitely not undead! I am way too alive if you ask me!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hm, Dawn? You are awfully clingy today."

"I know."

"... Is there a reason for that?"

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... So, what is the reason?"

"I won't tell you."

I felt his back loosen a little. I hadn't noticed up until that point, but me glomping her out of nowhere must have seemed quite out of character for her. I guess even she would be embarrassed by this kind of sudden development.

"Surprise. Did you miss me this much?"

Ah, I guess not…

I looked at her face. Well, I tried but her chest was on the way so I backed away.

"... So you know the reason I am doing this yet you ask. How horrible of you."

"Hm? No. That was just a wild guess," she said with such an honest-sounding tone that I would have been tempted to believe her if not for the smile she showed right after. "Eh? You missed me? Really? Heh, maybe I heard that wrong? Could you repeat it please?"

"No," I replied dryly, turning my head sideways.

She raised her hand, "Confidence. I heard it just fine. I just wanted to hear you say it again. Or rather, I wanted you to say it directly."

"..."

"... Apologies. I suppose you are not currently in the mood for this?"

I stared at the red-eyed girl before me for a little while hoping that maybe she had something to have atop that weak excuse of an apology she gave me. She only "supposed" I wasn't in the mood? What could I even reply to that?

"*sigh*... Are you asking me or are telling me?"

"... Sorry."

"What are you apologizing for exactly? I am just some random human you just bumped into by accident. You don't have to warn me whenever you disappear."

"Sorry again…"

"You don't have to ask for my permission to reappear a week later as if nothing happened."

"I can only apologize."

"It is not as if I was worried about you and spent my nights waiting for you. I wasn't so stupid since I know that you don't care about me."

"My flattest excuses."

"Like I said, why are you apologizing for exactly?!"

The irritation in my voice was almost tangible. Even though the vampire girl apologized to me every time I reproached her, I couldn't help but feel more and more angry. With each apology, she bowed lower and lower, and yet, my anger only rose higher and higher. The worst part was that I couldn't tell why I felt that way – this frustration only added to my wrath to the point I could hardly say something without choking.

"I am terribly sorry for what I did," she said again before raising her head. "I won't try to make excuses but there is something I think I must correct. I didn't bump into you by accident, I met you by chance!"

"... YOU… YOU… THAT IS ANNOYING, YOU KNOW?! CAN YOU NEVER BE SERIOUS?! DO I LOOK LIKE—"

"I AM SERIOUS!!! MEETING YOU WASN'T AN ACCIDENT, IT WAS A CHANCE!!!"

"Eh…?"

I let out a confused interjection.

Leaning forward the girl before held my gaze, her eyes shining like gems. My mind was blank. No, rather I was thinking too many things at the same time. Too much to be able to follow even the simplest of them. I could react with confusion.

"... A chance? Meeting me?"

"Of course!"

"A chance… How can you say things like that with a straight face?"

"Hm? Confusion. Why would I have any problem stating the truth with a straight face? It is not as if I am in the same position as that doctor who has to announce to the family that their dear one is dead, am I?"

"..."

I just looked at the floor before me, realizing something. I was confused, confused but surprisingly calm. All my anger had evaporated, but why? The answer I couldn't find earlier was now crystal clear: the only reason I was angry was because she wasn't denying any of my claims about me not being important to her. She just apologized as if she was truly guilty of thinking all that about me.

Of course, I intrinsically understood that it wasn't truly her opinion but the fact that she wouldn't even try to correct must have hurt me deep down. I mean, how else could I explain this feeling in my chest? That strong fluttering. So strong that it was burning my chest and my cheeks. All because she said something as stupid as that…

"I don't care about it anymore…"

I covered my face with my hands.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh, I want to dieeeeeee…"

"... You are quite lively today, aren't you?"

***

After a few seconds or maybe minutes, I finally calmed down enough to reorganize my thoughts. The vampire girl was still sitting before me, her mouth hidden by first and staring at the floor. Seeing her that deep in thought reminded me of Iovanna – it wasn't an error then, they did look like each other.

"Hm? Is there a problem?"

The glass-wearing girl's red eyes raised to meet mine, a move that flustered me a little.

"H-Huh? Uh, no… Ah! Actually, there is!"

"I am listening."

"Well…"

I found myself mimicking her posture. I needed to think about how to engage with this subject in the most comprehensible way possible. The simpler the question, the higher the chance to be understood

"Do you have a sister?" I asked.

She tilted her head, "You mean Iovanna?"

"So you know her… Is she your sister?"

"Affirmation! She is one of my sisters!"

The vampire girl smiled proudly, letting out some worrisome piece of information.

"One… One of your sisters?"

"Correct."

"Plural…?"

"Correct!"

"... How many of you are there?" I asked, unsure if I wanted to know.

"..."

The vampire girl's smile disappeared, leaving its place to a hesitant open mouth. Her eyes turned to the far left as if she were trying to make them roll in their orbits.

"... Sorry, was that a complicated question?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"Let's say your mother has been around for centuries and was known as quite the sociable person—"

"I am sorry I shouldn't have asked about that please forgive me," I quickly said to stop her before I learned about any other disturbing piece of information.

"Oh? Could it be that you are embarrassed to hear about my mother's private life?" she said with her usual smile back.

"That isn't the problem here! Should you even talk about that so readily?!"

"It isn't a secret though? Explanation. My mother is infamous for the sheer amount of children she brought into the world. She even received a prize for that."

I stared at her for a moment and then put my hands on my face once more.

"Again, I think I heard something I shouldn't have…"

"It isn't anything to get flustered about, though?"

"Do you even understand the concept of embarrassment???"

I sighed in exasperation, but an idea crossed my mind. To seem so unaffected when your mother is known as... that kind of person for centuries; maybe it wasn't that she lacked shame – she was probably exposed to shame so often that she simply couldn't act upon it anymore. People can be so cruel.

It must have been hard, I thought.

"By the way," I continued, "does it... does it mean that Iovanna has a... different father from you? Oh, you don't have to answer if it is too personal or…"

"Hm? No, it is not too personal but…"

Her eyes turned to the far right this time as she seemed to ponder about how to answer me. Needless to say, this wasn't exactly reassuring.

"... I am not sure I want to ask this but… was my question too personal after all?"

"Not really..." she said absentmindedly. "It is true Iovanna doesn't have the same father as me but that is not all. We don't share the same mother either."

"Huh? But you said she was… Ah…"

So that was the reason. The two of them were vampires but they were not related by blood. That explained why they didn't share either their hair or eye color.

Well, family isn't all about blood relationships. I heard that vampires women have a hard time having children so things like this must have been common. In fact, I started thinking that maybe what she meant earlier was that her mother just turned a lot of people into vampires throughout her long life. That being said, receiving a prize for that seemed a bit… immoral? Well, maybe not in vampire culture? I couldn't tell and quickly understood that it was irrelevant to the matter at hand because…

"My mother is actually Iovanna's father."

… She said something incomprehensible.

"Excuse me?"

"My mother is Iovanna's father."

So she repeated.

"... This time I will stay calm and listen to the whole story so… huh, please, put it in a way I can understand please."

"Hm? Ah! I understand your confusion! I think Iovanna mentioned that you didn't know about my family and you don't seem to know much about vampires. Now then, bear with me for a while, please. This is going to take some time."

"Take your time..."