Chapter 25: Meeting Harumi Again
Chapter 25: Meeting Harumi Again
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After getting out of his house, Frank reached the train station a few minutes afterward, this time, just as yesterday, Harumi was standing there amongst the crowd, waiting for the train to get here.
Frank was honestly a little bit scared of her… After all, she had tried to kill him yesterday, and showcased tremendous power, magic, and the ability to paralyze and cause hypnosis just by glancing at someone… such a dangerous being would only belong within the depths of a dungeon as a boss monster in Frank’s mind… yet it was living right next to him, going to school with him as well, and pretending to have a ‘normal’ life, despite being part of a prestigious and ancient Vampire family that inhabited Tokyo.
However, Harumi had already noticed him even before he even entered the train station, she perceived his scent about a few hundred meters away from her, her range of detection was immense due to her sharpened Vampire senses, although her scent was not as good as a werewolf, it was already in the realm of superhumans.
Harumi, however, decided to not mind him any longer, glancing elsewhere and ignoring Frank, which actually relieved him for a bit.
“I wonder if she will sit behind me at school again… What should I do? Now that I think about it, the Vampire Family and the Monk Clan are in peace… right? Her threatening me was a misunderstanding on her part, but it does not mean that she is my enemy. I should try to talk with her, although she seems shy, I am sure she hides a good personality behind. Well, she is also quite lonely, perhaps she just wants someone to speak to her? I mean, why not?” thought Frank as he walked near Harumi and greeted her casually.
“Yo, Harumi. Did you had a nice nap in your coffin last night?” asked Frank while formulating a slight Vampire joke.
Harumi did not take this as kindly.
“I don’t sleep in a coffin, that is a terrible stereotype, and a bit cringy as well. Please, do not talk to me from now on” said Harumi, only glancing at Frank for a split of a second while releasing a bit of her power, showing itself as a slight, almost invisible force that hit Frank’s forehead.
“Damn. I shouldnt joke around with someone several times my strength…” thought Frank.
Some of the people glanced at Frank’s slight discomfort but did not noticed any kind of power from Harumi being fired into his forehead, so they assumed he was like that due to her harsh response.
After all, he called her a vampire, and without proper context, the people would have thought that it was an insult, as if he were a bully that was molesting her for being pale and a bit sickly in her complexion.
Although the people of Japan would often never get into external conflicts, it did not mean that they did not have ears nor eyes to glance at Frank with various expressions.
Frank felt a bit of pressure as he stepped forward again, trying to apologize, as he wanted to make of Harumi a friend he could rely on in the future, she was a super-strong Vampire after all, who would not want the friendship of such a strong being?
“Okay, okay, sorry for that… Let’s be friends, Harumi, I see potential in you. …I am a bit awkward with socializing a bit, so I apologize for that as well…” said Frank with a confident smile.
Harumi, however, remained silent while her eyes glanced at the city, she was a bit irritated, she did not want this simpleton human to tail her around… But as she thought more about Frank, she remembered that he was a rare Healing Mage-type Ability User, and one even capable of resisting her strong curse of paralysis and even her hypnosis, not to mention that when she had thrown him into the wall yesterday, his bones did not break somehow, despite her superhuman strength capable of bending steel bars with ease.
And after thinking about that, Harumi also recalled the words of her mother, Clementine, the Vampire Matriarch; “We might require his services in the future in my Family if he develops his capabilities further, so try to be friendly with the kid, okay, girl? You better not let him see you as an enemy, we already have too many and we do not want the Monk Clan to use him as an excuse for a war… Not now, at least,”
“Sigh…” Harumi sighed as she glared back at Frank with her dark purple eyes.
“Did you do yesterday’s homework?” asked Harumi with a plain voice.
“…What homework?” asked Frank, he didnt remember any homework…
“You don’t remember? The Math teacher gave us homework, pages 12 and 13 of the math book,” said Harumi.
“Really? …Homework on the first day of high school? What kind of boring teacher is he?” asked Frank, he suddenly recalled the homework, but because he had been so busy, he never had time for actual school… and his mother would kill him if she were to find out that due to not doing homework, he was to get a bad first impression on his math teacher.
“You’re really hopeless…” said Harumi.
“Perhaps, but that doesn’t stop me from also being shameless. Could you lend me your homework? I will make up for it,” said Frank, acting politely with Harumi.
Recalling what her mother said, making Frank dependent on her for homework might open a path where he will own her and her family a lot of favors, favors that will be useful if his abilities are required.
“…Okay, but you’ll own me one. And you better do it right away whenever we reach the classroom while the teacher has not come yet. I won’t allow you to do it on the train” said Harumi.
“I apreciate it… Although it would be better to make it in the train… But fine,” said Frank with a gentle smile, Harumi glanced at his clumsy and friendly behavior and could not help but find him slightly cute, her pale cheeks releasing a small tad bit of red as a flush.
“It’s interesting, she just got really nice. Is she actually a good person deep down? Or maybe she wants me to own her favors? As long as they’re simple things such as what I am asking her for, it shouldn’t be bad, and this might even give me more chances with her in the future… No, maybe I am projecting too much into the future, I should stop thinking stupid things,” thought Frank as he moved near Harumi, the two glanced at the train rails as the train approached.
After entering it, Harumi sat right next to Frank, as the train was surprisingly empty today, perhaps it was an occurrence amongst occurrences in such a populated city as Tokyo.
As Frank waited for the train to reach the destination, he glanced as Harumi took out her phone, glancing at Twitter, she seemed to follow a lot of anime-styled artists.
“You like anime? Have you watched any episodes for this season? Man, I’ve been missing out for a while, I have to catch up with the previous season-“
“…I haven’t,” said Harumi with a dry tone in her voice.
“Oh, I see… Well, anyway, we are at high school… have you planned what you want to study?” asked Frank.
“Study?” asked Harumi.
“Yeah, like at college,” said Frank.
“…Why would I do that? I am coming to school for her motives. College is meaningless to me, I don’t need to work like a normie for a salary” said Harumi.
“‘Normie’? Woah, what with that terminology… she must be on the internet more than I thought…” thought Frank.
“Is that so? Well, even after being part of your family, I would still try to find a job or something. I kind of want to be a doctor, but I don’t have that much confidence if I will even accomplish that…” saidFrank.
“A Healer that wants to be a doctor? How poetic. You want to save people’s lives with science or with your gift?” asked Harumi.
“Err… well, with knowledge and… ah, whatever doctors use other than that. I’ve always wanted to save lives and make my family proud of me,” said Frank.
“Such bittersweet dreams… You’re really way too innocent for the world you have begun to inhabit…” said Harumi.
“Innocent? I am not innocent… Anyone can have dreams, you know? It does not simply mean that you are immature. I just like to see the bright side of life, despite knowing really well that life really sucks. Call me a positive realist,” said Frank.
“Positive realist? This is the first time I’ve heard someone call themselves like this. Most people is always depressed and pathetic, and often nihilist idiots that think that everything is meaningless… Maybe you’re not so bad as I thought…” said Harumi, continuing to browse through her Twitter.
“Was that a praise?” wondered Frank.
Frank left Harumi in her own world as he decided to do the same as her, glancing at his Twitter and finding some more news about the recent cases of assassination, and the corpses spread across Tokyo’s streets.
The corpses would often be shown to have deep wounds in their faces or chest, seemingly as if the assassin used some kind of spear or horn to puncture the victim with enormous force… various victims were also found to have several deadly toxins inside of their bodies, most likely injected through the strange attacks. Experts had associated this with an assassin that used some kind of modified weapon coated in lethal poison.
However, it was obvious that the wounds seemed as if they were… stinging wounds of a giant bug creature.
Perhaps Frank’s imagination was going a bit rampant in here, but to him, it seemed to be the case.
“So that guy is doing it again… Sigh” muttered Harumi as she glanced at Frank’s phone.
“Eh? What guy?” asked Frank.
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Thank you very much for reading!