And So, My Life as A Vampire Begins (End)

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"Well? Why do you look so flustered?" Kiss-Shot asked, genuinely puzzled.

"N-Nothing," I stammered.

How embarrassing. It turned out that Kiss-Shot had never intended to make me suck someone's blood. She just wanted me to drink blood but not in the way that I had imagined. That was why we found ourselves before the blood bank across the alley which I had embarrassingly overlooked. Following her lead, I stepped into the building.

Everyone's eyes were immediately on us as soon as we entered the building, but it was not surprising considering how beautiful Kiss-Shot was. She had mentioned about how easy it was for her to enamor people with her beauty, so I immediately ignored the look. Some women threw weird glances at me also, but I didn't mind. They might be wondering how someone like me could be with such a beauty.

Kiss-Shot nonchalantly walked to the counter and asked for a couple of blood bags, ignoring the flustered male behind the counter. Another staff took over and then told Kiss-Shot to fill out a form as her coworker went to get the blood bags before asking for the payment. When the form was filled out, we were told to wait for the blood. We looked for a bench and then sat there, conveniently ignoring everyone's curious gaze.

"They don't seem to need blood if they still have enough to blush upon looking at you," I comment offhandedly.

"Awesome, aren't I?" Kiss-Shot smirked.

"I guess so."

Probably sensing my disinterest, Kiss-Shot opened her mouth to address it but stopped when someone joined us on the bench. Kiss-Shot looked intrigued, so I followed her line of sight and looked at the girl sitting beside me. The girl had soft, chestnut brown hair with feathery bangs blocking the sides of her face. Some part of her hair fell between her eyes and the rest of it was straight strands running past her shoulders which curled slightly at the tips. I idly noted that she was quite a fashionable girl with her choice of blouse and jeans.

Noticing my stare, she faced me and looked at me with her medium-large, bright amber-brown eyes which accentuated her fair skin. She tilted her head before smiling a little bit too brightly at me. If I had been two years younger, I would have been reduced to a spluttering mess upon being faced with her pretty face and bought her façade. Now that I had met Kiss-Shot and Haruno; I just stared at her emptily, nodded lightly, and turned away.

"Are you here to donate blood also?" the girl struck a conversation, much to my displeasure.

"No, I am here to buy some," I replied, not bothering to hide my disinterest.

"Heh…I can see that. You are as pale as a dead person! Is it anemia?"

"It is far more serious than that, but let's agree to call it that."

"Oh…"

At her sudden drop in mood, I turned my head to her. I wondered if she had finally caught on to my annoyance. Much to my surprise, I found her smiling wistfully. I could confidently say, at that moment, she wasn't wearing her façade. I deduced that she must have lost someone who suffered from a terminal illness or, worse, was suffering from it. Either way, it was not my business, so kept quiet.

"I am Yamauchi Sakura, by the way. What is your name?"

"…Hikigaya Hachiman," I answered after sighing faintly in resignation.

"You are still in High School, right?"

"Yes."

"Where do you attend school?"

"Sobu High School."

"Ah, we are so close! I attend Kaihin Sougou—third year!" Sakura smiled at me. "Are you a fellow third-year also?"

"I am in my second year."

"I am your senpai, then. But don't worry! You can call this Onee-chan Sakura. I don't care about honorifics."

I wondered what I had done in my past life to be put in this situation. I am already cursed to become a Vampire for the rest of my life for god's sake. Isn't that already enough payment for my bad karma? Luckily for me, Sakura's nagging would end when our blood arrived. Until then, I would just entertain her.

"Anyway, why did you even come here at this hour?"

"Ah, I kinda got bored. My family and I are spending some time here with my grandparents in Edogawa. I love them, but it is not that fun, you know? I slept like a log the entire day and when I woke up, I just felt like this was time to be more useful to other people. So, here I am," Sakura explained cheerfully.

"By donating your blood?" I remarked, crossing out the possibility that she was suffering from a terminal illness. "How very noble of you."

"It is not that noble when you don't have much time. While the desire to help people is there, you most likely care more about having a part of you live in someone. You just don't want to be forgotten—you want to live."

A frown marred my face at the development. My worst deduction turned out to be the reality and I was quite stumped. Turning my head around, I opened my mouth but was interrupted by the staff carrying our blood bags. Sakura looked up at the staff, ignoring my pensive look entirely. Concluding that she didn't want to talk about it, I stood up and took the blood bags from the staff's hand.

Kiss-Shot stood up a second late and thanked the staff. The staff bowed before scurrying away in a hurry. She was probably freaked out by assertiveness earlier. She had been quite flustered when my hand touched her. Turning to Sakura, I gave her a light nod.

"We will be taking our leave. It was a pleasure to meet you, Sakura."

"Ah, yes, yes. Can I get your number by the way?"

"Sure."

We soon found ourselves outside the blood bank after I gave my number to Sakura and received a message from her. Kiss-Shot kept her silence as she led the walk. I wonder what she is thinking about. She had been contemplative since my conversation with Sakura. She seemed to have found something intriguing about the girl.

"She wasn't enamored by my charm. Has my charm finally failed me?"

Ah, so that is the case.

….

After jumping from building to building, we found ourselves back at Kiss-Shot's apartment. I noticed that it had only taken us fifteen minutes to get there. She opened the door to her room wordlessly and told me to get in first. She locked the door, ushered me to the sofa, and then busied herself with the blood bags. I made myself comfortable on the sofa, idly thinking about whether I should sleep naked tonight of which the thought I immediately discarded.

Kiss-Shot's footsteps brought me out of my musing. I looked at her and found her bringing two glasses in her hands. I wisely ignored the fact that I wasn't bothered by the blood in the glasses and sat up straight. She handed me my glass before sitting across from me. She dipped her finger into the viscous blood, turning it watery enough to swirl inside the glass.

I stared at the still viscous glass in my hand in hesitantly. I was not bothered by the blood, but the human experience was telling me I shouldn't do what I was thinking about doing.

"Just put your finger into the blood and imagine you were stirring your tea," Kiss-Shot supplied before drinking the blood.

Sighing lightly as I dipped my finger into the blood, I felt the tip of my finger warming up even before I could imagine anything. Quickly enough, the blood turned watery. Suddenly, I became painfully aware of the smell. To my silent horror, it smelled like anything but blood. My nose picked the unique smell and decided it would taste sweet. My mouth watered slightly and I found the blood more attractive than before.

Before I could stop myself, I had drunk the entire blood in one gulp. Surprised by my action, I slammed the glass down. Shivering in disgust at what I just did, my body immediately stiffened as I registered the taste of the blood I had just devoured. My nose didn't betray me as it indeed tasted sweet. I couldn't describe the sweetness well. It was sweet enough to satiate your palates but not enough to make you sick even if you consumed a huge amount of it.

The taste was not that important, of course, compared to the sensation I was feeling. I felt like I had just eaten a good meal after an exhausting boxing match. I felt filled. For the first time in my life, I felt satisfied by something that entered my stomach. Not even the food that Komachi cooked had ever got me to feel like this.

"You look ready to die with that expression," Kiss-Shot commented, waking me up from my daze.

"Wel…that was certainly something," I drawled out. "Is it because it was my first time or that's what you feel every time you drink blood?"

"Well, both of your guesses are right. Though, you will get used to the sensation soon."

I nodded my head and fiddled with my empty glass. I spent a couple of seconds contemplating in silence before making up my mind.

I want more.