About the First Day at Beach – Part 1

"Hey cutie, you alone?"

The beach. A sunny paradise with a perfect view on the infinite blue sea. It is a place lacking the common inhibitions of society; a place where girls are somewhat okay with walking around in what are basically underwear and where boys are more aggressive than usual.

"I know I shouldn't come at you like that, out of nowhere, but what about taking a drink with me?"

In such a place, amongst so many good-looking people there was no doubt that someone as beautiful as her would be courted right and left by boys and girls.

"D-Dawn… how… nice to… I can call you… Dawn… right?"

"..."

This was no surprise. This was no surprise but… Why was I the one being courted?!!

***

*knock**knock**knock*

Let's go back a bit shall we?

That morning, someone knocked at my door waking me up. At first, I panicked a bit, unused to waking up in an unknown room, but I quickly remembered – the day before, Miss Blue Bridge wanted to see me because she wanted to ask me what to do with the cage with my cat inside. Needless to say, I was embarrassed beyond belief. Forgetting about my pet just because the vampire girl was, willingly or not, too flirty with me…

Okay, even now, I still think this was an acceptable reason. I didn't feel bad and because I didn't feel bad, I ended up feeling bad.

Huh, either way, I ended up asking her to release him in the apartment, and, as usual, he disappeared behind some furniture.

"... I am going to be bitten again, huh?" I mumbled.

Catching him at the end of the trip was going to be a challenge. No doubt about it: I had better enjoy my stay as long as I could.

Sa… Ahem... Thankfully, Miss Blue Bridge gave me the key to another bedroom so I could avoid doing something inappropriate to someone else that night, or rather, I could avoid not sleeping a whole night thinking whether or not I should or shouldn't do said things. Yeah, rather, I spend the whole night doing pointless research and making my collection grow.

Oh, by the way, movie trailers were originally supposed to go at the end of movies, hence the name. A knowledge worth seeing the vampire girl in her smiling shiny glasses mode.

"Oh, is it the hour yet?" I asked, acting as if I didn't notice anything.

Talking about things I noticed, she was now wearing a black jersey in contrast to the red one of the day before. Also, her hair was now tied in a long ponytail.

"(Eeh~... I here I thought you wished to be a generic character or something…)"

"Remark. You look tired."

"Well, I just woke up."

"Do you want to postpone our activities?"

"No. No. Just give me a second."

I headed towards the bathroom and a few minutes later, I was ready.

"Oh, leave the bed that way," the vampire girl asked. "Blue Bridge will take care of it."

"Huh, really?"

She nodded, "Affirmative. Besides, this requires a bit of strict techniques you are not familiar with. It will take hours before we can reach a perfect result so let's gain some time."

"Strict techniques… to straighten a bed… Ah, yes, I can see that."

"Hm? Sarcasm? Was that sarcasm?"

"Even if it was sarcasm, I wouldn't say yes. That is kinda the point."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... So, was it sarcasm?"

"Do we eat before going there?"

"Your breakfast is ready and waiting for you, Miss Riftwalker," said the white-haired maid as she appeared behind the vampire girl. "Though I would have preferred if you didn't let the food get so cold."

"Ah…" Sorry…

"See? I did tell you to wait until she woke up to start cooking," said the vampire girl, shrugging her shoulders.

She bowed to the vampire, "I will follow your advice starting now, Mistress YAKATARINA." And bowed to me, "Forgive me for my carelessness, Miss Riftwalker."

"Oh, no. I don't mind eating cold food at all AND WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!"

"Hm? Why are you suddenly yelling, Dawn? Could it be that you—"

I didn't let her finish and caught her by the shoulders and shook her as violently as I could.

"YAKATARINA?!! WHO IS YAKATARINA?!!!"

"WAIT!!! DAWN, WAIT!!! NOT HERE!!! THIS KIND OF THING TAKES TIME~!!! I NEED PREPARATION!!! AAAAAHHH!!! NOOOO!!!"

"WHAT ARE DOING IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, YOU PERVERT VAMPIRE?!!"

"So, anyway, why are you asking?"

As soon as she stopped yelling and asked me that, I couldn't even move her body. It was like trying to shake a hard unmoving rock. The sudden change made me lose balance a bit and my face crashed on her chest.

"... Dawn, I understand that you can't restrain yourself around me but this is a bit… You should take your cereal first…"

"I LOST BALANCE!!!" I said, pushing her away. "*sigh* Anyway, you didn't answer my question yet. Who is that Yakatarina she spoke of?"

"Hm? That would be me?"

"Are you asking me or are you telling me?"

"I am not sure why you ask? Didn't we already…... Ah!!!"

The vampire girl's mouth opened wide and her round glasses hid her eyes again. She then looked at me with a blank expression.

"Realization. I didn't tell you what my name is…"

"You only realize it now?"

"I always wondered why you never used my name. So it was that... So it was for such a stupid reason, huh? I see, I see…"

Her gaze mellowed as she smiled. It might just be a personal impression, but the way she looked at the ground made her look as if she was relieved. Did the fact I never used her name bother her that much? Argh, why was she so good at making me blush?!

"Uh, sorry. I wanted to ask about your name for a long time now but I just.. couldn't bring myself to do it? I am not really sure. I was embarrassed but I should have just done it from the beginning. You asked mine without problem but I…*sigh*... Wait, you didn't ask it for a good reason now that I think about it!"

"Hey, Dawn. How about we use each other's names from now on? In fact, let's start now!"

"Huh?"

"Dawn."

"What is it?"

She took a step forward, "Dawn!"

I took a step back, "Ah, you are talking about that…"

Using her name starting. It wasn't as if I didn't want to but... All of this seemed a bit anticlimactic to me. I waited for weeks to learn it – listening to her sister while hoping she would drop it, convincing her to play online games in the hope she would use a part of her name as a pseudonym, avoiding pages talking about her family because I didn't want to learn it by Internet. I wouldn't say I suffered doing this, but it wasn't easy. I used every "courageous" means availables to a coward like me.

And then, a random maid just dropped it like nothing. I was at lost. No, I was a bit angry or rather frustrated. I was frustrated but... well...

"You have the weirdest ideas, Yakatarina!"

I smiled. I couldn't stop myself from doing it. Somehow, learning her name was like that was fitting. I never truly knew what to expect about her so everything was a surprise. The fact that I learned about it in such a dumb way was maybe to be expected. Yeah, in fact, it kinda suited our relationship.

I stared at the vampire, huh, I stared at Yakatarina and for some reason, she was staring back at me, her mouth agape yet again. Could it be that I was the one surprising the other in our relationship now? Heh, an interesting shift. The idea didn't displease me.

"... So precious."

"W-What?" Pre… cious?

"Ahem!"

Miss Blue Bridge cleared her throat loudly enough to catch our attention.

"Miss Riftwalker, your food is still waiting downstairs."

"Ah! Sorry! I… I am coming right away!"

"I hope you don't dislike frozen food?"

"Huh?"

***

"Uwah…"

On the kitchen table downstairs was a field of dangerous-looking items. Lustrous pieces of bread, boiled eggs, greasy bacon, grilled mackerel, and… mushrooms??? The most copious breakfast I ever had was laid down in front of me.

I turned to Miss Blue Bridge, "Excuse me, but isn't this too much for breakfast???"

The young woman raised her eyebrows, "Sorry. I found myself adding more and more as you slept longer and longer. Please, think of it as your dinner. It is almost 1 PM after all."

"No, I mean… regardless of composition, breakfast is just the generic name for any meal taken less than 2 hours after awakening so this is breakfast no matter how you look at it but…"

"Ah. Then it is fine, isn't it?" intervened Yakatarina.

"No, it is not! Make it cereals, please!"

"Eh~, are you afraid of gaining weight?" she asked with a tone not which didn't translate into surprise, but interest.

"No, it is not about that."

"I wouldn't mind seeing a chubby Dawn, though. In fact, you are a tad too thin."

"Like I said, it is not about my weight."

"Oh well, if you'd rather not gain weight, I guess it is fine. Blue Bridge?"

"Right away."

"Do you ever listen?"

Not listening, the— I mean Yakatarina ordered the maid to fetch my cereals. She opened the fridge and pulled out a cereal box.

"Huh?"

I couldn't help but vocally signify my surprise. Not only because I saw a maid pulling a cereal box out of a fridge, but also because it was the only thing in that fridge. By that, I mean that the fridge was full of different brands of cereals.

"What is wrong, Dawn?" asked Yakatarina.

"Does your mother like cereals?"

She tilted her head, "She probably does but why are you asking?"

Yakatarina's eyes followed my finger towards the opened fridge.

"Oh, that? Misunderstanding. There is a little misunderstanding. They don't belong to my mother. She doesn't even come here often."

"Are they yours, then?"

"Hm? Impossible. I cannot digest things like that. I bought them for you."

"For me?"

"Mistress YAKATARINA guessed you must be 'team cereals' like many 'twenty-century denizens'," said Miss Blue Bridge, making quote signs with her fingers.

"I don't even know what to reply to that." I just asked because I wanted something light and that I wouldn't eat for 4 hours straight.

Confused, I sat on the table where the maid put a bowl before me.

"Team 'milk before the cereals' or 'cereals before the milk'?" she asked.

"... Excuse me?"

"I read that humans can be quite vindictive about the subject so I asked her to ask you that," said Yakatarina, sitting before me.

"I don't know what you read, but you should burn it."

"So milk before the cereals or cereals before the milk?!"

"You aren't listening, are you?!"

That face she was making. I saw it often enough to know that she wouldn't leave me alone unless I replied to her question. She would turn into something worse than a demonic parrot otherwise.

"Now, let us see the color of your soul even if it puts half of the world against you, Dawn!"

Well, answering wasn't that hard so I could at least do that.

"Don't know, don't care. I eat cereals without anything."

Really, a simple answer. I eat cereal without milk, that is all.

If I was to give a reason...

I think I would say that I started doing it when my mother, my sister, and me moved into our third or fourth house. My sister disliked milk and my mother was always indulging in selfish requests so she let her eat her cereal like chips at pretty much any time of the day. I think I got jealous or something and started eating them like that too so that she wouldn't empty the box alone. Well, I grew out of that eventually, but the habit stuck and here I was.

Anyway, it seems my answer was so oit the ordinary that it froze Yakatarina. Hell, even Miss Blue Bridge looked at me with an utterly choked expression. Was it so uncommon to do that?

"... What now?" I asked, with my brows furrowed.

"..."

"..."

"No, seriously, what now?"

It was Yakatarina who first acted.

"Boldness. Such a bold claim!" she said, pushing up her glasses.

She then put her elbows on the table and intertwined her fingers just before her mouth. Her glasses reflected light making her look like a high perched demon observing me.

"So you didn't choose either the safe option – that is to say claim that you like both – or the mid option which would only make half of the world your enemy. No, you chose the most controversial option. You choose hard mode!"

"... Ah?"

Then Miss Blue Bridge joined her. She sat on the ground and then groveled, her forehead touching the ground and the box of cereals still in her hand.

"To make the whole of humanity your enemy in order to assert your preference. It seems that I was greatly mistaken about you, Miss Riftwalker. No! MISTRESS RIFTWALKER!!!"

"See?! I told you she was great!!!" exclaimed Yakatarina violently raising herself from her chair which, of course, fell immediately afterward.

"There are people who just enjoy eating cereals like chips, you know? Don't know if it is common though," I said, but they didn't seem to listen. Also, poor chair.

"I can't agree more, Mistress YAKATARINA!!!" exclaimed Miss Blue Bridge, raising her upper body and clenching her fist so hard that she crushed the box, making flakes spill on the ground.

"Ah!!! What have you done, Blue Bridge?!!"

"I-I am sorry!!! I-I didn't mean to— argh!!! Mistress YAKATARINA, run as long as you still can!!! I— argh!!! — I already can't help myself!!!"

"Are you two on drugs?" I asked, my eyes narrowed.

Of course they didn't seem to listen… again – as expected you might say. Also, poor wheat chips box.

Yakatarina walked past me with the slow and steady steps you would expect from some heroine.

"Don't be ridiculous, Blue Bridge," she said, putting her hand on the white-haired maid's shoulder. "No matter what happens, I will never let you suffer alone."

"M-Mistress!!!"

A true heroine saving a maid. Though said heroine seemed to be on some… eponymous-sounding other thing?

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…"

Both of them started to count the number of flakes on the ground with great seriousness. It was like a scene coming out of some… another planet, clearly.

"Hey, you do realize that for someone who doesn't know much about vampires what you are doing now is… oh well, what you do always is."

I was already asking myself why I was even here to begin with. Anyway, all of this served a greater purpose – I learned that at least 98 of the cereals in that box went past the legendary 5 seconds.