==Chapter 1: Demon Sanctuary==
Intense sunlight blasted down from the west skies dyed in madder red.
“Hot…I’m getting roasted, getting burned… I’m turning into ashes…”
He was at a family restaurant in the afternoon. Akatsuki Kojou fell face-down and died tired onto a table next to the window and muttered weakly.
He was a senior high school student in his uniform. Disregarding the white parka he wore, there wasn’t really anything peculiar about him, he was like a male student found anywhere. Due to the listless expression on his rather good-looking face and his sleepily narrowed eyes, there was somewhat of a sulky mood in the air.
It was the last Monday of August. The skies were clear. The temperature outside had long gone beyond a person’s body temperature, and despite that it was almost time for the sunset, there was absolutely no sign of the temperate going down. Even with the air-conditioner working at full strength, it seemed to be insufficient for cold air to reach all the way to Kojou’s seat inside the restaurant.
While being basked the murderous quantity of UV-rays piercing through the thin, flimsy blind, Kojou was listlessly glaring at the questionnaire laid on the table.
“What’s the time now?”
What leaked out from Kojou’s lips was a soliloquy-like murmur. One of his friends sitting at the seat in front replied with a tone holding laughter back.
“It’s almost 4. Just 3 minutes and 22 seconds to go.”
“…Woah, it’s already this late. Tomorrow’s supplementary paper starts at 9 in the morning, if I remember right.”
“If you don’t sleep tonight, you still have 17 hours and 3 minutes left. Is that enough?”
The other person sitting at the same table asked with a not-his-problem, carefree tone. Kojou kept silent. He gazed at the pile of textbooks expressionlessly for a while.
“Hey…It’s been bothering me a little since that time, but…”
“Hn?”
“Why must I receive such a large number of supplementary papers?”
Hearing Kojou’s murmur to himself, his two friends lifted their heads.
Kojou was ordered to take in total of 9 supplementary papers including the 2 subjects on English and Mathematics. In addition, he had the half-marathon for his gym practical. There were few humans that had to suffer such things in the last three days of the summer vacation.
“—Hey, isn’t the scope of the topics to these supplementary papers too wide? We haven’t even covered these in the lesson. To make matters worse, what’s with having seven-day-week supplementary lesson? Do our teachers have a grudge against me or something?!!”
Hearing the youth’s bitter outcry, his friends exchanged glances mutually. There were one male and one female, both wearing the same school uniform. Thoughts of astonishment on why he was saying these now were held in their expressions.
“Err… That’s because they do have a grudge.”
The one, who answered while spinning a mechanical pencil, was a male student with standing pointed short hair and a pair of headphones on his head. Yuze Motoki was his name.
“It’s because you calmly skipped lessons that much day after day. They would think that you’re making fun of them… normally… Making things worse, you even skipped the test before the summer vacation, right?”
While elegantly grooming her nails, Aiba Asagi said with a smile.
She had a glamorous hairdo and a uniform gaudily decorated to the very limit of the school rules. Whether she had good taste or not, she strangely did not have a gaudy image. In any case, she was a girl with an eye-catching appearance.
If he had to say it directly, she was an undisputed beauty, but probably because of her usual grin, she didn’t have sex appeal. It was probably also because of that that he felt a sense of relaxedness like being together with male friends.
“…I’ve been saying that that’s something I can’t help with. I had various circumstances. To begin with, I’ve said that the very first test in the morning is tough for me with my current constitution many times, and despite that that homeroom teacher…”
Kojou explained with an irritated tone. The reason his eyes slightly turned bloodshot was not because of anger, but simply because of the lack of sleep.
“What do you mean by constitution? Kojou, do you have hay fever or something?”
Asagi asked in curiosity. Kojou noticed he made a slip of the tongue, and distorted his lips,
“Ahh, that’s not it. I meant something like I’m a nocturnal person, and that I’m not good at waking up early.”
“What do you mean by a problem of the constitution? You’re not even a vampire.”
“You’re right… Haha.”
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Kojou turned evasive with a stiff smile. Vampires were not unusual beings in this city. They were as uncommon as hay fever patients, and in fact on the contrary, that was a problem to Kojou’s current state.
“However, I like Natsuki-chan. She’s a good teacher, isn’t she? She’ll let you clear the days you missed with supplementary lesson, right?”
While Asagi sipped up her juice with a slurping sound, she said that. “I guess”, Kojou went, agreeing with her.
“Besides, I also think that you’re miserable, so that’s why I’m here teaching you to study like this.”
“After getting as much as you please on food and drinks with someone else’s money, you ought to not say it like that like you are doing me a favor.”
Kojou gazed at the plates of food piled up in front of Asagi with reproachful eyes. He didn’t know where they went into that slender body of hers, but Asagi was a big eater to the point that it was absurd. He regretted that he had forgotten that when he said that he’d treat her for teaching him.
“For your info, what covered the cost for Asagi’s meal is with the money I loaned you, you know. You better pay me back, Kojou.”
Yuze pointed that out with a calm voice. Despite being a rich man’s son, he was strangely particular about things like this.
“I got it, damn it… Are you guys even warm-blooded people?”
“No no, the one thinking of shirking payment after borrowing money is, no matter how I think about it, the scoundrel, right… And, you know, it’s a prejudice to say one’s blood is warm or cold. You should watch your words.”
Yuze made a sarcastic laugh and said, “at least on this island.”
“What a troublesome society… They themselves don’t particularly mind.”
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Murmuring “at least, I don’t mind” within his mouth, Kojou made a careless sigh.
“Ahh… what, it’s already this late? Well then, I’ve to go. It’s my part time job.”
Viewing her cellphone, Asagi drank up her remaining juice in one breath and stood up. Kojou raised his eyes at her like that,
“Part time job? Is that the Gigafloat mangament corporation’s…”
“Yea, it’s the one on the maintenance control of the security department’s computers. The pay’s good.”
Asagi showed up gestures like she was typing on a keyboard in the air, then, she said her farewell and waved her hand before leaving the store. She had said that with a carefree tone as though she was going to work on a cash register of a supermarket, however, the security department of the management corporation wasn’t a place that ordinary people could simply go in and out.
“I’ve always been thinking about it, but it’s just foul play that she’s a genius programmer with that appearance and character of hers. I still can’t believe it now… If I’m not wrong, her results were better than mine by a wide margin since the time we were kids.”
Seeing off Asagi from behind, Yuze slovenly rested his chin on his hand.
Yuze and Asagi were old acquaintances from the time before they became elementary students. Having been living on this island since more than 10 years ago, the two of them became the people, who had stayed in Itogami City the longest, among Kojou’s generation. It was a city built on top of this artificial island, and twenty years had not even passed since it was completed.
“As long as I can get help for the cramming for the exams, I’ll do anything.”
Without lifting his head, Kojou said that. Yuze observed Kojou in such a manner while he feigned a nonchalant tone,
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“Come to think of it, it’s rather surprising for Asagi to be teaching someone. She dislikes things like that.”
“Dislikes? Why?”
“She dislikes appearing to be smart or like someone that studies a lot. Despites her looks, even she had quite some troubles when she was a kid.”
“Eh…I didn’t know that.”
While Kojou agonized over the complicated factorization question, he said that with a blunt tone.
It was 4 years ago when Kojou moved to Itogami City. It was the moment immediately after he entered middle school. He got to know Yuze and Asagi soon after that, and thereafter, they would hang out once in a while. He no longer remembered the encounter, but he had some recollection that the one, who greeted him first, was Asagi.
“Although, she was willing to teach me without a word of complain. This time, she even let me copied a good amount of her homework.”
“Hohoo. That’s strange. Why is only Kojou so special? Isn’t this a cause for concern?”
While Yuze tilted his head in an exaggerated manner, he muttered unnaturally.
However, Kojou shook his head, going, “No no, it’s nothing like that.”
“After all, she’ll demand a reward without fail. She made me do things like treating her to meals, doing her day shifts and cleaning shifts that she pushed to me. I too had gone through much hardship.”
“I-I see.”
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Yuze shrugged his shoulders in disappointment, and covered his eyes as if saying “those two are hopeless.” Kojou sluggishly raised his head in response to that questionable behavior of his friend,
“What’s the matter?”
“No, it’s nothing. Well then, it’s about time for me to go home too.”
“Ah?”
“That’s not it. I’ve even finished copying the homework, and Asagi isn’t here, so there’s no point even to study in such a place. After all, my supplementary exam only consists of 1 subject, so I’ll manage somehow making use of the whole night. Well, you ought to work as hard as you can.”
“See ya!” his friend collected his things and stood up. Kojou looked up at him with a blank, idiotic face.
It seemed like Yuze slipped into the turmoil and had shrewdly finished copying for his own homework.
On the other hand, most of Kojou’s share of homework was left completely untouched. Due to preparing for the supplementary papers, it wasn’t much and it was as expected. However, having been already at the tipping point, the overwhelming difference Kojou was shown to was sufficient to break his heart.
“I’ve lost my motivation…”
Being left behind alone in the family restaurant, Kojou fell facedown onto the table again.
Now that he thought of it, he had also gotten hungry. However, the current state of Kojou’s wallet did not even have the luxury of adding on another order of food. He was also slowly reaching the limit of deceiving his empty stomach with the self-service carbonated water.
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Speaking of vampires, he had the image that they only had to drink wine, tomato juice and alike, but the truth was that they got hungry normally and also ate food. That was to say that he felt like he was tricked for some reason. For the time being, he was thankful that he was only sleepy during the day and that he was able to perform normally.
Kojou absently gazed at the still-pure-white questionnaire.
Suddenly, he recalled about things he heard during some lesson. Among various evolved living things, the one with the highest survival potential was the species that had best adapted to its living environment, therefore, the ones that were surviving presently were the offspring of those best adapted beings—or so, the theory was.
It was a theory that was called the survival of the fittest or natural selection.
He somehow thought that it was good that it was simple, but it was indeed a well-known topic.
On the contrary, if he was to put it to words, creatures that had been naturally-unselected were species that couldn’t adapt to the environment.
In the distant ancient past, as there were the heroes that obtained god-like powers and super-beings, the species that held strange powers like theirs didn’t survived. That fact was also adequately explained by the same theory.
They could not adapt to their surrounding environment.
Akatsuki Kojou understood that well.
No matter how strong his power was, or that he had a sturdy body, or that he was called the world’s strongest vampire, those powers were useless in the modern world.
They couldn’t even help him finish one thin questionnaire that covered the scope of topics for the supplementary papers.
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“I guess I shall go back too… Hopefully, Nagisa didn’t forget to prepare dinner.”
Kojou muttered that, then, he tossed his textbooks and questionnaires into his bag, grabbed the bill and stood up.
Upon finishing calculating the cost at the cash register, there was only small change left in his wallet that always felt deplorable. In its current state, it would result in him not having enough for lunch from tomorrow onwards.
While seriously thinking on what excuses he should use in order to get his sister to lend him money, Kojou went towards the exit of the restaurant. Then, he suddenly stopped and squinted at the glaring evening sun.
Before the family restaurant. On the other side of the intersection.
There was a figure of a girl in the backlight.
It was a girl in uniform carrying a black guitar case on her shoulder.
She had her back to the sun and was standing there without a word.
She was standing there without even a single movement as though she was waiting for Kojou.
