Akaoni contract with a v.., p.5
Akaoni: Contract with a Vampire, page 5
“Then I’ll commence my plan when I meet him!” Azusa promptly decided.
“Okay.”
If the Patriarch had the power to decide, going to the court of inquiry or meeting with him would render the same result.
“I’ll absolutely get Dad’s unconditional release!” Azusa exclaimed. Kouya felt a little worried watching her huff like a dragon ready for battle.
***
“I can do this!” Azusa stood in front of the Japanese sliding screen leading to the room where the Patriarch waited and slapped her cheeks. The brisk slap echoed through the lengthy hallway.
Shortly after Kuki left, she returned to show Kouya and Azusa to this room. Naturally, Azusa was to lead the way into the room—Kouya followed behind her. For some reason, his presence gave her courage.
Azusa checked under her kimono, Good, I still have my sole weapon on me.
“Excuse me! Can I come in?” she asked from outside the sliding door.
“Come in,” answered someone from inside the room.
Azusa slid the door open the moment she was granted permission, revealing a spacious traditional Japanese room decorated with expensive-looking antique hanging-scrolls and katanas on the back wall. The room looked like what Azusa had seen in Yakuza movies, adding to her initial thought the Patriarch would be a stern-looking middle-aged man.
However in the middle of the room sat—
“Welcome. I assume you are the girl Kouya is contracting with? …Is what I planned on saying, but you’re…”
No matter the angle Azusa looked at him from, the man was clearly in his early thirties.
“Um, pardon me, where is the Patriarch? Is Kouya’s father, Mr. Akashi, not here right now?”
“I am Akashi Doumeki, the current Patriarch of the Red Coven. I am undeniably the person you are looking for, Azusa Saito.”
“You are?! But…”
He appeared young enough be Kouya’s older brother. His eyes, silky black hair, and straight nose were similar to Kouya’s, but Azusa had a hard time believing they were father and son.
“Kouya, you’re there, aren’t you? Azusa will be confused if you don’t explain to her.”
“…Vampires age at a much slower rate once they reach twenty. He might not look it, but the Patriarch is over 200 years old. The stronger the vampire, the longer their lifespan,” Kouya explained to Azusa after reluctantly coming out of the shadows. His voice was stiff.
Azusa’s eyes widened, “Then you are really the Patriarch?”
“Hello, Azusa. I know about you. My condolences for your unfortunate kidnapping. Now then, why are you here? I assume you are not actually here because you are going to establish a contract with Kouya, no? I feel bad for Kuki,” Akashi smiled as if to say he knew everything. He rested his elbows on the table and looked as if he were testing her.
Azusa caught her breath. Akashi’s expression may have appeared gentle, but the aura coming from him screamed he was the powerful vampire in charge of the rest of the vampires around here. The game was about to begin.
“Allow me to get straight to the point! Please release my father. I want his unconditional release where he will not be judged or punished for any crimes!”
“Is it all right for me to assume the man you refer to as father is the researcher who kidnapped you without permission? If I am not mistaken, his name is Shinji Saito.”
“Yes. You are right. Can you do that for me?”
“Impossible,” Akashi asserted. His one word seemed to freeze the air in the room. “Could you ask the same of us for a criminal who stole millions or even billions of yen worth of goods? You cost us about that much. You want us to acquit him of that grave crime… Don’t you see the unfeasibility of your demand?” Akashi’s expression and tone were kind, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. He wasn’t angry, but studying her.
Azusa carefully picked her next words, “Is it impossible?”
“Impossible.”
“No matter what?”
“No matter what.”
“In that case, I have my own idea of how to make it possible,” Azusa said and pulled a paring knife from under her kimono. Akashi’s expression faltered for the first time.
“Oh?” he uttered a little surprised. “Are you going to threaten me with that knife? Unfortunately, your knife will never reach me. I may not look the role, but I am the man who rules over the entire Red Coven. I’ll rip off all five limbs before you can swing the knife.”
“…I am sure you will,” Azusa commented and calmly held the knife to her throat. The knife cut into her flesh. Blood dripped onto her arm. Kouya gasped in shock behind her. “At this distance, I will be able to slit my throat faster than you can stop me, right? Now then, let’s negotiate, Mr. Akashi.”
“…You’re an interesting girl,” Akashi chuckled like he was genuinely amused.
“Please release my father.”
“Your threat is that you will kill yourself if I don’t accept your terms? You aren’t that important to us. You shouldn’t overestimate your own value, child.”
“Lies! If that were true, you wouldn’t have sheltered me in the mansion with bodyguards! If all you wanted was to prevent me from being captured by the Blue Coven, you would have killed me the moment I was in your possession, right? But you guys didn’t do that. All because you want to know more about me as a resource for your ‘research to become human’… Am I wrong?”
“…I guess you are a smarter girl than the reports let on. Our research to become human is just one small piece of our greater research to ‘preserve our species’. Our hopes for you span to a resource for more extensive research. Even so, your death won’t adversely hinder our research. You were somehow able to run away this time, but I have ordered your bodyguard Ichi to kill you if you attempt to run away too many times. Whether you are alive or not doesn’t matter much to us.”
“Regardless of what you just said, don’t you believe when it comes down to having a living guinea pig or a dead guinea pig, a living guinea pig has more value?”
“Are you saying you will become a compliant guinea pig?”
“No, I will not be compliant! I will fight you to the best of my ability! In return, I won’t run away!”
“Oh?”
“I will resist! But I won’t run away either! I will not leave this town of my own volition! You can do whatever you want! Chasing me, capturing me, and vivisection is all up to your own discretion! Go ahead and continue your research!” Azusa looked straight into Akashi’s eyes. She glared to keep from losing to his overwhelming aura.
“In other words, in return for promising the unconditional release of Shinji Saito, you will live the rest of your days here as a guinea pig. Did I understand you correctly?”
“Yes. I will fight you though!” Azusa repeated. She said everything she came to say. She felt sweat gushing from all her pores. Akashi looked genuinely taken by surprise. He smiled broadly and started laughing aloud.
“All right. I will acquit Shinji Saito! And as token of kindness for your bravery, I will allow him to live with you in the mansion you are confined to. You are a good girl who has an immense love for her parents. It appears there is much I need to learn from your father on how to raise children.”
“Th-Thank you very much!” Relief swept through her body, zapping her of strength and causing her knees to buckle. Kouya wrapped his arm around her waist to support her as she was about to fall backward. He looked like he couldn’t accept what just happened, but he nodded when their eyes met.
“I don’t know why you ran away Azusa, but I presume the Blue Coven was involved. Kouya, you brought her here; you are responsible for guarding her from now on. You can let Ichi continue to watch over her when she bathes, changes, and sleeps, but you are responsible for everything else. You will stay in the same mansion in a separate room. Understand?”
“…Understood,” Kouya nodded unhappily. Azusa felt sorry for him. She really caused him nothing but trouble.
“One more thing, Azusa. As long as you do not break your promise to me, I will guarantee your safety in this town. I cannot allow you to be alone for obvious reasons, but I don’t mind if you freely walk around town with Kouya. Naturally, I don’t have to say what will happen if you…go against your word.”
“I won’t! Thank you very much!”
“No need for thanks. This is the result of your actions. You can be proud. Also, you said we can dissect you alive, but we don’t have the desire to do so yet. We are curious what changes your body will go through on your way to adulthood. Your blood is the Ancient’s, but your body is human. We don’t even know if you will age normally or at a slower rate like we do. As such, I believe over the next five to six years we won’t take any heavy-handed measures such as vivisection. I personally don’t want to do anything like that after six years either, but it will depend on the situation, making it something I cannot promise you at this point. But I will endeavor to avoid such a thing.”
Akashi smiled at Azusa, completely changing the aura he gave off earlier—now he actually seemed like just a nice man. Azusa was relieved.
“I am fond of personalities like yours. To the point I would be thrilled if you established a contract with Kouya for real.”
“I will not!” Azusa flatly declined, the concept of contracting being the same as marriage nagging at the back of her mind.
Chapter 11: You From the Distant Past
FOUND her.
Kouya quietly hid behind a large tree, his eyes locked on a young girl playing in the park. The girl had flaxen hair and large chestnut brown eyes—in all likelihood she was the target. Kouya compared a picture of the woman the Blue Coven scumbags had kidnapped and experimented on without permission with the little girl.
Azusa Saito. Age 4.
Alias: Snow White.
A young girl created with the blood of the Ancient.
The girl in his report kicked a pink ball to one of her friends.
This is a story that took place thirteen years before Azusa was kidnapped.
***
THE day was unbearably hot, as though nature sought to convey the coming summer. The young man hid his characteristic red eyes behind contact lenses and donned a short sleeve shirt and casual slacks. His slightly longer-than-normal hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail. No matter how you looked at him, he was a normal human. However, he was actually a vampire.
Kouya Doumeki—he appeared to be in his early-twenties. Kouya had been moving around the past several months on orders he received from his father Akashi, Patriarch of the Red Coven.
His orders were:
“Find the girl with the blood of the Ancient before the Blue Coven and take her into custody. Capture the man with her—Shinji Saito—dead or alive.”
“Take her into custody? Who are they kidding? This is more of a kidnapping,” Kouya grumbled to himself, recalling his orders.
The search began the day after Yayoi and Shinji vanished, but several years passed without finding them. The Red Coven Patriarch grew impatient and selected his own son, who he took pride in being the strongest of all the vampires in his coven, to take over the search. He made the right choice—Kouya finally grasped the whereabouts of Shinji Saito, the man who had disappeared with the girl’s mother. He also determined the girl was living with him.
Guess I should report back soon.
Kouya hadn’t reported their whereabouts to Akashi yet. Having no definite proof Azusa truly possessed the blood of the Ancient was one factor, but the main reason he hadn’t was because he had reservations about destroying her peaceful life and entrusting her to the two-faced cunning devil he called father. But not reporting back and leaving her be could lead to a far more miserable future at the hands of the Blue Coven.
Kouya had investigated the Saito household a few days earlier to discover she dearly loved Shinji Saito as a father. They lived with Yayoi who she considered her mother as well. The family of three got along very well. He couldn’t bring himself to destroy their family. But that was possibly an inevitable sacrifice for her future safety.
“Oh, hey, Mister! Please get my ball!” a girl called out just as a pink vinyl ball bounced at his feet. Azusa Saito ran over to him as fast as her little legs would take her.
Shoot, I didn’t plan on letting her see me, he thought, but it was too late for regrets.
“Thank you very much!” Azusa bowed her head after he threw the ball to her. She turned around to run back to her friends, but tripped over a root and fell magnificently on her face.
“Gah!” she cried out in a weird voice.
“…Are you okay?”
Is she going to cry? What should I do if she does? Kouya was at his wits’ end on how to handle a crying child. Azusa suddenly popped up off the ground and flashed an angelic smile at him.
“I’m okay!”
“I see…”
Noticing the fair amount of blood oozing from her knee, Kouya stopped her from running back to her friends. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around her knee. Azusa patiently let him tend to her.
“Have your dad look at it when you get home. He’s a doctor, right?”
“Why do you know that, Mister?”
“…I heard about it from someone,” Kouya answered—not like he could honestly admit he found out during his investigation to kidnap her.
“Cool! Daddy’s famous!” Azusa grinned happily. Kouya’s heart stung at her innocent smile. “Thanks, Mister!”
He felt a little guilty watching her run toward her friends. He quietly decided to abduct her in a week’s time, internally apologizing for the crime he had yet to commit.
Chapter 12: Lucky Clover
“MISTER! Come out! Mister who helped my booboo!”
“……”
How did it come to this? Kouya wanted to put his hand to his head to stop the oncoming headache.
Azusa Saito—his target was calling for him. Calling for him in the middle of the park in a loud enough voice the neighboring houses could hear.
This is bad. Really bad.
It was the day after he had decided to abduct her in a week’s time.
“Mister with pretty black hair! Mist—”
“Hey, I’m begging you, please quit that.”
“Mister!” Azusa ran over to Kouya when he showed himself. Her face brightened with a broad smile. “I thought you would appear if I called for you here!”
“You didn’t think I wouldn’t appear? It’s not like I’m always here.”
“But you came out, didn’t you?”
“…I did,” Kouya sighed.
She grinned and held out his washed handkerchief. “Thank you very much for yesterday!”
Her parents must have told her to say that to the person who lent it to her, because her expression filled with the satisfaction of successfully completing her mission.
“You are welcome.”
You could have thrown it away, he thought, but quietly pocketed the handkerchief—something fluttered out of the folds as he did.
“Oh yeah! I was thinking of giving that to you, Mister!”
“A four-leaf clover?” Kouya picked up the clover from the ground.
“I found two four-leaf clovers when I searched after playing yesterday! One for Mommy! One for Mister! Did you know good things happen when you have a four-leaf clover on you?”
“…I don’t need it. Give it to your dad,” Kouya said trying to return the clover, but Azusa quickly pushed his hand back.
“Take it! It’s my thanks for yesterday! You look like you have poor health after all, Mister!”
“I’m healthy.”
Vampires possessed skin whiter than humans, but this was Kouya’s first time being called sickly because of it.
“It’s fine, it’s fine! I’ll search for Daddy’s today! I need to search for more for Mommy too!”
“Do you look for them every day?”
“Yup! Mommy’s sick, so I want her to get well soon. Daddy said she should actually be in the hospital! But then he said we can’t bring her there. I wonder why.”
“……”
He’s probably trying to keep them hidden from vampires.
The majority of vampires living in Japan were from the Red, Blue, and Yellow Covens, all of which had created their own towns, but there were always exceptions. Vampires were capable of living similar lives to humans. It wasn’t unusual for there to be some who chose to live among humans.
Her parents, Shinji and Yayoi, were likely scared of being discovered by vampires. Escape would be far harder if Yayoi were hospitalized.
“Is your mom’s condition bad?” Kouya asked before he realized it. Azusa’s bright smile disappeared.
“Yeah. She won’t eat much. She only eats about half of what I do. I’m gathering four-leaf clovers to help her get well soon!”
“I see. I hope she recovers.”
“Yeah! Okay, I’m going to go look for more! You take care of yourself too, Mister!”
“I will.”
I’m healthy though, Kouya thought, but he couldn’t say that to the small back running away from him. He watched her leave before looking down at his feet to find a four-leaf clover. He glanced at his hand thinking he dropped the one she had given him, but it was still there. On closer look, the one he spotted was growing out of the ground. He picked it and carefully wrapped it in the handkerchief.
“Guess I can give it to her tomorrow.”
He imagined Azusa’s beaming smile. Without realizing it, Kouya’s face had softened into a smile.
***
“UM…one, two, three. This one has three leaves. So does this one. And this one.”
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
Sure enough, Azusa appeared in the park the next day too. Once again she was diligently searching for four-leaf clovers. Kouya stood behind her and held out the four-leaf clover he picked the day before.
“Mister!”
“Mm-hm.”
