My Vampire Older Sister and Zombie Little Sister:Volume7 Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Part 1

The sun had fully set.

That meant it was her time to shine.

“E-Erika.”

I climbed my home’s stairs and approached a room on the second floor. I knew a light knock on the door wouldn’t get an answer at this time, but it was still the polite thing to do. I knocked a few times like it was a good luck charm and then reached for the doorknob.

“I’m coming in, Erika.”

After a final warning, I slowly opened the door.

…Her room was so elegant it barely felt like it was built the same as mine. It also had a sweet aroma. She did not have all that many things, but each individual one was tasteful. There was a desk, a dressing table, a closet, and an accessory case. Instead of just maintaining her appearance, it felt more like dressing herself up was a hobby. It was a mystery how she applied makeup when she was not reflected in mirrors, but maybe a mirrorless camera would work.

Regardless, it was the queen-sized bed with a canopy that drew the eye.

She was just really good at using space. If Ayumi and I were given an identical room with identical furnishings, we would definitely run out of space when arranging it all.

But I was not here to review her room.

I walked to the large bed. No one was lying on it and there were no wrinkles in the sheets, but that wasn’t what I was focused on.

Below the bed was what mattered.

The entire bottom was made into a single large drawer, so I inserted the gold key Erika had given me and grabbed the handles with both hands. When I slowly pulled forward, it became apparent the bed was actually a luxurious coffin lined with scarlet velvet.

The sweet aroma grew stronger.

Our perfect big sister, Amatsu Erika, was sleeping inside with her delicate eyelids shut. She was like a secret treasure hidden there. Her gorgeous golden ringlet curls and white skin stood out. If the gentle curves of her large chest had not been slowly rising and falling, you would have thought she was a work of art. And why was my explanation so much more detailed there? Because she was only wearing a see-through negligee! My focus was dragged there whether I liked it or not!!

I was hesitant to touch her exposed shoulders, so I started by using my voice.

“E-Erika, the sun has set.”

“…Hh, nh?”

“Wake up, Erika. I have something fairly important to discuss with you.”

“Hh.”

Why did every one of her breaths have to be so cute and alluring!? And all she did was lie there without even reaching out a hand!? She was a Vampire with 20-times the strength of a human. If she grabbed my cheek, I would be dragged into the coffin with no way of preventing her from going back to sleep!!

Finally, her eyelashes fluttered like the wings of a butterfly drinking nectar and her eyelids opened.

“Oh, Satori-kun. Good evening.”

“Yes, good evening. I know this is sudden, but this is the Class Rep. A person in a military uniform said you could do something about it if I gave you the wheat doll.”

That was why I was restraining myself so much in front of my defenseless negligee sister! I couldn’t do anything careless in front of the real Class Rep!!

Meanwhile, Erika still looked sleepy, but she managed to silently rise from the coffin.

“Satori-kun, there are two things I would like to ask you.”

“Yeah, I had Maxwell run through countless conversation simulations, but it sounds like there’s no way to keep you from being furious with me, so I’m ready for it. Bring it on.”

“…Since you have Class Rep-chan’s doll, I take it you and Ayumi-chan left your defenseless big sister behind and went on a rampage, you bastard.”

“I’m really afraid of where this is heading, but I know there’s no escaping it. So I’m sorry! But there was no way I could wait until night!”

“No one likes an impatient gentleman. Now, question two: who is the person in a military uniform? I certainly hope it isn’t a girl with short silver hair dressed in black. Yes…about this tall.”

“Yeah, that’s her. …Western names are so hard to remember. Flay? Fly? Yeah, that’s it! Fly!”

“…”

“Someone named Fly Villiers is here to see you. Um, she said something about the 13 Eastern European Families. But, Erika, don’t you have your night classes?”

Part 2

The silver fly girl in a black military uniform actually rang the doorbell and waited at the front door until I answered the intercom.

“How do you do, younger brother?”

“…I’m surprised. I thought there would be a sudden blackout before you crashed through the window with the full moon in the background.”

“This is the Queen’s abode, after all. Moreover, it is against Vampire etiquette to enter a home without an invitation from a resident.”

That was a thing, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it because the fear of Vampires came from the fear of a cult secretly spreading through your city? In other words, it was a metaphor for secret gatherings at graveyards and abandoned buildings and for proselytizers showing up at your front door.

“Sure, come on in. Erika should be fully awake by now.”

“Oh? She can show off that side of herself here? This should be a fascinating conversation.”

The way she seemed unsure whether or not she should remove her shoes at the entrance had a very European feel to it. I led her to the living room.

I saw a silver glint in her slender right wrist. And it looked more functional than a simple silver accessory.

“I’m shocked. A Vampire is wearing a cutting-edge GPS watch?”

“Younger brother, Vampires have many weaknesses: we cannot enter homes without being invited, we cannot cross flowing water, and we are weak to sunlight, silver weapons, and ash wood stakes. With our weakness to sunlight, knowing exactly when sunrise and sunset will occur is crucial. It is best to protect yourself with the latest gadgets. Then again, the Queen sticks with the basics and has more antique tastes, so if you see her as the standard, this might indeed look unusual.”

“Hmm.”

A few things stood out to me.

“Why do you call her the Queen? I seem to recall a test tube labeled that in the Bright Cross’s facility too.”

“It is one rarity of Vampire curse. Queen and King Vampires stand at the very top.”

“Um, are those two different things?”

“Of course. In the world of the immortal, the same sort of monster can have very different traits depending on whether they are male or female. An Abominable ‘Snowman’ and a ‘Snow Woman’ (or Yuki Onna as they are known in this country) are entirely different, are they not? Either way, that is not something that affects me.”

“…Are you saying Erika is even more amazing than that fly thing you did in the tunnel?”

It was true she caused an artificial asteroid strike in the simulator, but what would happen in a legit battle against Fly? To me, it didn’t seem that simple to figure out.

Then the black uniform girl laughed and gently pointed out my error.

“Not everything is decided via pure physical strength.”

“?”

“Vampires blend into human society and build up their strength that way. So a balance is crucial. We must maintain an appearance that fits human beauty standards while expanding our great power. In that sense, Meslayate and I are somewhat inferior as we tilt the scale more toward power than beauty.”

Fly adjusted her flat hat and, for a brief moment, her eyes glittered like complexly-cut brooches. Or like an insect’s compound eyes.

She had said it herself, but it may have been a kind of psychological defense. And like a pro baseball player watching competing chefs, a human like me could not tell just how delicate an issue this was. I had no idea where the landmines were, so I decided it was best to change the subject.

“Oh, right. Speaking of clocks, don’t smartphones automatically sync with the accurate time? The weather apps tend to be way off, though.”

“We of course use those as well. But this is our lifeline, so we would be in trouble if we lost or forgot the phone. It is better to have multiple gadgets and one you can ‘wear’ is best.” Fly, who at least looked adorable, smiled. “This watch automatically sets itself to the local time, which is very useful. Some of us insist on Swiss or German watches, but when it comes to electronics, you can’t beat ‘made in Japan’. They are mass produced with uniform quality and they are highly effective at a decent price. And as long as you know Japanese, the customer service is more friendly and polite than anywhere else.”

The silver fly kept heaping on the praise. She may have been one of the foreigners who was completely taken in by this country’s way of treating customers like gods.

“Come to think of it, I never thanked you for saving us today.”

“Do not bother. I was only hoping for a good story to make up for rudely visiting without a gift for the Queen.”

“That was during the day, so how were you wandering around the city?”

“Every building in the city is connected underground. Bugs can hide anywhere and they are made quite tough.”

We found Erika seated on the living room sofa. She was already dressed, but…huh? That wasn’t her usual gothic lolita dress. For the most part, it was a black dress with a red corset pushing up her large breasts, but the material was thick, the long skirt was opened wide in the front, and her slender legs were covered by shiny black leather pants. She would have looked at home holding an electric guitar.

She looked even more gorgeous than usual, but she also seemed to be hiding the practical weight. Cloth, leather, and cotton. When used right, those materials were no laughing matter. Just like a riding suit or the protectors worn over the arm when training police dogs, she may have been focused on the ability to stop impacts or a blade.

…But why?

Had me lifting her skirt hit her so hard that she felt the need to be fully equipped even at home?

But she also seemed sharper than normal.

“It has been too long, Queen. Heh heh. I am honored you would dress up to greet me.”

“I have little time. Keep it short.”

“Yes.”

They did not ask for details while smoothly completing the exchange with the bare minimum of interaction. They were like two gears with their own predetermined roles. I could tell they had spent time together that Ayumi and I had not been a part of. …That made me feel a little sad, but I used all of my teenage pride to keep it hidden inside.

Also, Erika said she had little time because dad and mom (a former Archenemy researcher and a legit part-time cashier Demon Lord) would be home soon, but how much had that silver fly researched our family?

Both Erika and Fly looked like they had a refined palate, so I doubted any tea or coffee I could make would earn a passing score. And times like that called for a smoothie. Just by tossing some fruit in the blender and switching it on, you would have a luxurious and healthy drink. And as long as you used good ingredients, the flavor would be the same for a veteran or an amateur.

“Here you go.”

“Oh, how polite.”

While seated across from Erika, the military uniform girl held a black-gloved hand toward the glass and a swarm of fat flies immediately gathered around the edge. She claimed she was having it spoil to the perfect extent and I knew it had to make sense to her. I got that!! But our guest glass had become a bug-catching bottle with a mystery gelatin inside!!

“Satori-kun. When serving the silver fly, always use disposable paper plates, paper cups, and plastic convenience store utensils. She seems to think you can make anything classy if it ferments a bit, so keep that in mind.”

Erika sounded exasperated.

Fly seemed to be happily enjoying the sticky sweetness(?) like a rhino beetle sucking up tree sap during a midsummer dawn, but then she began speaking.

“I will get right to the point. It concerns the incident your younger brother ran across. I refer to those who intend to rebel against the gods on a physical level.”

“You mean the Echidna who hijacked and rewrote Absolute Noah and the Voodoo Evil Spirit?”

When I interrupted while still on my feet, Erika breathed a soft sigh and elegantly crossed her legs on the sofa. Since she wore black leather pants, I heard the rubbing of leather from the base of her legs. But why did she have the look of someone whose ally had discarded the wrong tile in a game of mahjong? She also patted the seat next to her with a black-gloved hand.

…Was she telling me to sit there and stop giving unnecessary hints?

Fly giggled quietly while watching me hesitantly obey. I had not put any carbonation in her drink, but the contents of the clear glass were bubbling.

“Precisely. They are not a single organization. You could call them a Hidden Cloud that binds together several groups.”

“Hidden…?”

“Yes. Of course, I doubt they have taken a form that the authorities of any nation could track. It feels more like the different embers sputtering around the world have recently joined together to spread fires in several waves.”

The black uniform girl turned her gem-like eyes alternately between me and Erika.

“We have also detected Sun Offering, which links a Central American cartel with Aztec rituals, and Witch Dance, which fuses Western European brokers with forest witches, but that honestly does not really matter. We have nipped those threats in the bud before they manifested themselves in a way that would reach the Queen’s attention.”

…She hinted at some frightening things.

I just hoped she was not acting on the logic of a delinquent.

“So what’s the problem?”

“Well. …The problem is the 13 Eastern European Families.”

I felt like the air solidified a bit.

“Do you mind if your younger brother hears this?”

“You should have asked that before mentioning the term. Satori-kun can search the entire world two-and-a-half times over with just a keyword, so there is no point in knocking him out now.”

“My apologies.”

Fly removed her flat hat with one hand and bowed so smoothly I could only imagine she had planned it this way.

“Then, younger brother, the 13 Eastern European Families is exactly what it sounds like: a Vampire community centered in Eastern Europe. The format is based on that of a coven and its primary activities are creating a register and supporting our noble lifestyles.”

“Hm?”

What was this? A register and noble lifestyles?

I had assumed a Vampire organization would be after world domination.

Fly Villiers giggled.

“Those are both important tasks. We Vampires require human blood, but if we suck less than a lethal amount, they will not die or be transformed into a Vampire. But even if we only intend to suck a little, a human can still die if multiple Vampires end up targeting the same one.”

“Ah.”

“So it is necessary to register the names of whose blood you have sucked so others will not target them a second or third time. We require humans, so we do not want a chaotic pandemic that covers the entire planet. And the creation of the register is not disconnected from human society. The high society of the nobility is not strictly necessary, but our system was built in a very different age when 24-hour convenience stores and family restaurants did not exist. At the time, the cities really did go to sleep early. The primary activities that overlapped with a Vampire’s active hours were noble evening parties.” The silver-haired uniform girl lightly shook the glass of entirely changed contents. “By living the elegant life of nobility, we Vampires have marked ourselves as a step above other immortals.”

…Hmm, come to think of it, I didn’t know why Erika wore her blonde hair in ringlet curls. And it was true Vampires had a different aura from other Western monsters like Werewolves and Trolls who lived in forests or caves.

“That said, such a fulfilling lifestyle naturally requires money and the ceremonies differ between era and region. To learn how to acquire a variety of items, we must maintain contact points with harmless humans. Keeping the perfect distance like that is quite difficult. …Oh, and it was the Queen who suggested using animal meat, wasn’t it?”

“Meat? What are you talking about?”

“Before modern cars and refrigerators were common, fresh ingredients were a luxury in urban areas. Even at specialized markets, buying meat not preserved through smoking or salting carried the risk of food poisoning. And we Vampires are the experts when it comes to draining the blood to help preserve the freshness of meat and fish. Humans cannot hope to compare. That proved to be an excellent commodity we could acquire and manage within our own territory. And since humans cannot turn down a luxury, we were able to semi-officially join noble high society.”

…But wait.

She had mentioned some old-fashioned things like noble evening parties, so…

“If that’s true, then how old are you really, Erika?”

“Ahem! I am a high school girl and I will hear no further questions about it.”

Erika quickly corrected me.

I was pretty sure Ayumi had been smaller than she was now when we first met, so did they just stop growing at some point?

The military uniform girl of unknown age smiled gently at me.

“It was a bit of a problem when the alchemists had their popularity stolen by our unnaturally long-lasting ingredients and accused us of using devilry. The blood draining was pure technology, but it is true we are undead. It was not easy dodging those accusations while keeping our identities secret. Anyway.” Small Fly paused for a second. “You can think of the 13 Eastern European Families as a group in which the Queen, myself, and 11 others have created a register of humans to efficiently manage the blood-sucking of the entire organization.”

“Hm. So even though it’s a Vampire organization, it’s really just 13 people?”

“Yes, at the smallest unit.”

“?”

“The 13 Eastern European Families is a single group of 13. …But there are more examples of the same framework than you would think. Just as grimoire authors like to use the same names as all the others, if you simply follow that name in the history books, it might look like we can teleport or time travel.”

Slender Fly giggled, so it was possible someone had mistakenly thought precisely that at some point.

“Different groups are shallowly linked by invitation and we will at least share our registers and rate each other’s noble lifestyles. Having external eyes on you is the best way to ensure you keep yourself looking beautiful, but we cannot afford to mistakenly give away our identity while surrounded by dangerous humans. Before heading out to an evening party in disguise, we must have someone safe to practice on.”

“Isn’t that overly complicated?”

“It is because we have been hedged in by this system that so many Vampires continue to keep up an air of nobility even in the modern age of skyscrapers made of reinforced glass and concrete. Now, let us set aside where in the history of the different 13 Eastern European Families our group falls. We are a secret society with no set base and we are hidden in multiple countries, so we do not want an excessive number of members. We desire human blood, but we do not wish to chaotically expand the number of Vampires. That is the purpose of the register and our noble lifestyles. Unfortunately, a large number of members would be too much to handle and the nature of the group would change.”

“So it’s easiest when it’s a single group of pals who are close enough to keep an eye on each other?”

“Indeed. Also, you must not forget that each of us is a powerful source of infection. As long as we keep enough of a distance that we cannot all be eliminated in one fell swoop, we can prevent a large human group from wiping us out.”

Fly gave a snort from her small nose, but Erica cut in with her crimson corset lifting up her large breasts.

“One correction: I have already left my position in the group. I am not relying on your precious register.”

“Unfortunately, you are still considered a member, albeit a retired one. A Queen’s extreme beauty and power is quite influential, so you hold a lot of value for the 13 Eastern European Families. We will never have someone else take your spot and I would not allow it if the others tried. Yes, no matter who it was.”

That final emphasis was quiet but powerful.

“Um.”

I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to join the conversation, but staying quiet was exhausting in its own way.

“So the 13 Eastern European Families sounds like some old group Erika belonged to, but what about it?”

“I was getting to that.” The baggy uniform girl snapped her black-gloved fingers. “Like I said, there have been many 13 Eastern European Families from antiquity to the modern age, but not just anyone can start one. There must be 13 members for one, but a new group must receive the approval of all existing groups of 13. Of course, the ones who are not allowed in an existing group and have their new group rejected will generally be so humiliated they start a dispute with the existing groups.”

“Um, what’s your point?”

“I had believed our group had fairly strong bonds between the members, but some of our 13 are showing signs of siding with the aforementioned Hidden Cloud. Not in a different 13 Eastern European Families but in our 13 Eastern European Families. It would have been nice if this was a product of my overly suspicious mind, but we cannot be so optimistic at this stage. Can they really be found everywhere?”

Had it always been that way?

Or had they been influenced into it at some point?

The source of a Vampire’s power was apparently a curse. When someone violated a powerful taboo in lifestyle or burial, they were cursed by god and forced to forever wander the world of the living. So was it really that surprising that one of them would view the gods as an enemy and want to take action against them like the Echidna and that Bokor?

“We’re talking about a group of people who want to rebel against the gods, right?”

“Indeed.”

I wasn’t sure what “the gods” really meant. It didn’t seem to have any real weight to it. I felt like I was watching someone staring at a set of scales while they did their best to try to measure the weight of the soul. Of course, if all the gods were like Valkyrie Karen, I might be interested in joining this Hidden Cloud.

“For the Echidna, it was resentment for her killed children. For the Bokor, it’s pure greed. Then what is it for the 13 Eastern European Families? Why would they want to disturb their organization in order to join the Hidden Cloud? Why throw out their entire life to rebel like this?”

“That I can’t tell you. You would have to ask the traitors themselves.”

…Well, I suppose so.

“But Vampires were never protected by god. Every Archenemy has its own self-definition, so whoever is doing this may not need a reason. It may be that they see no reason not to do it.”

Fly sounded almost careless. Was that because she had nothing more than speculation, or was it because a conflict with her companions was unavoidable regardless of the reason for it?

Erika asked a question with her legs still crossed in their tight black leather pants.

“How many?”

Were we just talking about two or three people here? That would be enough of a threat. We were talking about people who sat at the same table as the silver fly who had taken less than a minute to fully incapacitate that Voodoo monster that shrugged off being hit by a train.

But this was something else entirely.

The slender girl in a black uniform licked her lips. She chose her words carefully before speaking.

“They like to use prepaid cellphones and second addresses, so I do not have individual names. However, based on the lifestyle rhythm seen in the location and timing of the transmissions, I can predict the number of people who are hunched over and secretly contacting the Hidden Cloud behind our backs. There just aren’t as many signals flying around as in this country. Of course, there is a possibility it could be a single person making it look like a greater number.”

“Get to the point.”

“Yes, Queen.”

This time, Fly Villiers gave an actual answer.

“Of the 12 not counting you, I predict the split is 4-to-8. We are outnumbered 2-to-1.”

“Wha-…?”

Even Erika sat up from the sofa.

My throat went dry. 2-to-1. They had lost control of 8 whole Vampires. The situation was entirely out of Fly’s control. A worldwide outbreak could happen at any time!

“That is why I came to discuss it with you, Queen.”

“Discuss? But even with her, it’s 5-to-8. You’re still outnumbered!”

“Yes. The 13 Eastern European Families generally make decisions through discussion, but if anyone is dissatisfied with the outcome of a vote, a physical conflict will break out. However, brute force is not effective when outnumbered, so the votes are still important. For example, there is no chance of overturning a 12-to-1 decision. In other words, this is a very bad situation.”

Fly was prepared for a fight. She did not naively believe persuasion was an option.

And if her side was suppressed, the Hidden Cloud side could do whatever they wanted. The majority would wash away the minority. When would a pandemic begin in this city to settle things with Fly’s group?

“But things are different with you. Right, Queen?”

“…”

Erika’s expression silently changed. It looked much bitterer than before.

“Eri…ka?”

“Queen. Might I explain to your younger brother to eliminate his concern?”

At the black uniform girl’s insistence, Erika took a slow breath. And she gave a heavy nod.

“Younger brother. We are Vampires. The difference in numbers is indeed great, but it is not an insurmountable obstacle.”

“What do you-…?”

I trailed off as I felt a twinge of pain like a thin fishing line was squeezing my heart.

“Are you saying you’re going to bite people!?”

“That is always an option.”

“…”

How could I wipe that composed look off of her face?

“I am a silver fly who allows fresh blood to rot so I can enjoy its aromatic fragrance. I do not mean to brag, but I am an oddity even among Vampires.” Fly smiled in a gentle way, but it also exposed her sharp fangs. “Meanwhile, if I were to bite you and suck out all of your blood, the odds are low you would inherit the silver fly. You would likely become a normal Vampire. Younger brother, this is a rude question for someone who has spent so much time with the Queen on a daily basis, but do you know is the source of a Vampire’s power is?”

“A curse.”

It was not much of a question when she had mentioned it herself earlier.

“Correct. We are either the unclean who were cursed by god after violating a taboo in our birth, lifestyle, death, or burial, or we were attacked by the source of such a curse. Thus, the victims are merely cursed by god for breaking the major taboo of ‘losing one’s life to a blood-sucking villain’ and who did the blood-sucking is of little relevance.”

“…I’m not sure you can describe any Vampire as ‘normal’. And I’m not interested in pushing you two away, but I can’t overlook it if you try to trigger an outbreak in the middle of the city.”

“Let me preface this by saying we will not do that. Now, a pandemic might look frightening, but it is actually difficult to use one in an effective way in a battle between Vampires. If one side starts an outbreak, the other side must do the same to fight back. But the difference in the initial number of infection sources will remain unchanged, so the minority cannot overcome the majority’s production rate. So if our outbreak were detected early on, the 4-to-8 conflict would only have grown to 40,000-to-80,000 and we would still be outnumbered.” The girl with short silver hair paused for a beat. “However, the Queen alone is a little different. You could say she has a special curse inside her. Just like the Kallikantzaros or the Varcolaci, there are abnormal mutations that are extremely rare even for us. They only have their blood sucked, but they receive a curse very different from blood sucking. And this is something not even Amatsu Erika can predict.”

“You mean you would have to keep repeating the process until you got something other than the major blood sucking curse? In other words, until you had a vampire with a curse as ‘useful’ as Erika’s or yours?”

I recalled in the simulator when Erika had produced an irregular Vampire called an Upior that could move around during the day and kill people with the ringing of a bell. Those were traits Amatsu Erika did not have since she was weak to sunlight like normal.

However…

“That’s just leaving it up to luck!”

“Indeed.”

“Would it take hundreds, thousands, more? During that sisterly fight in the simulator, how many irregular Vampires turned up after drowning an entire city in blood? Are you going to use up people’s lives en masse like an adult buying trading cards in bulk!?”

“But the Queen was counted as the foundation of our fighting force in the past. If you do not get her on your side, you will suffer a serious upset.”

…Really?

Overturning everything with a secret weapon wasn’t logical or methodical and it ignored any kind of flowchart. Wasn’t it just flipping over the tea table? So even if Fly looked composed, she had to be panicked. She was clinging to a legend. I of course was not going to let Erika do that. I couldn’t help but focus on the smartphone in my pocket.

Depending on the answer here, things could change a lot.

Concerning what I would do about this silver fly, that is.

“Also, there is no need to steer in that direction.”

But Fly remained relaxed on the sofa.

“We need not start an outbreak. The Queen need not act. In fact, it would have the greatest psychological effect if she remained silent throughout.”

“?”

“If she joins us, it will turn us into a black box. The Hidden Cloud side will not know how many enemies they have or what kinds of Vampires they must fight. The 4-to-8 structure will become a thing of the past and they will be forced to gather information from scratch.”

“Oh, I get it.”

“It is not a problem as long as we have a means of buying time. We create an environment in which they will not attempt to use the power they have. While they hesitate for fear of stirring up unnecessary trouble, we can isolate each of their members and defeat them 4-to-1. Or rather, it would be a problem if they could see through our plan.”

…It made sense.

But could Fly Villiers stay true to her bluff to the very end? If the Hidden Cloud side felt no impatience or fear, they would let their numbers do the talking and wipe out her side. Would she really not press Erika to start biting humans if that happened?

“Are you sure the Hidden Cloud side will be that scared? They outnumber you 2-to-1, right?”

“That is the entire point. Betraying the organization carries an inherent risk. Outnumbering us eliminates that concern, so that should be a major reason why they are working together here. It is because they have the advantage that they do not want to be eliminated from their game of musical chairs. That will create some hesitation. No one wants to be the first one.”

Erika finally settled back down on the sofa. The unique rubbing sound of leather came from the butt of her black pants. She also crossed her arms below her large chest and sighed.

“But the Vampires on the Hidden Cloud side are members of our organization. They should know my traits.”

“Yes. They too will attempt to eliminate the risk of an unlikely defeat by luring you onto their side,” said small Fly Villiers. “We are badly outnumbered, but nothing is set in stone yet. And the biggest fear there is having everything thrown into a black box by your presence, Queen. Do you understand the gravity of the situation now?”

Part 3

Things were not looking good.

“Fuguu…”

When I stepped out onto the balcony late at night, I found someone already there. It was my little sister Ayumi who wore her long black hair in twin butter rolls.

“I’m so confused.”

“That’s about right for a Zombie. Intellectual work doesn’t suit you.”

My joke elicited a dramatic “fuguu!” in response.

When I was little, I had thought the planet switched off for half the day, but now that I had grown (or at least my self-consciousness had) and started thinking of myself as an engineer, the night was not that strange a time. In fact, if you counted the time I spent working in my room, I probably knew it better than the daytime.

Had I wanted to conquer the night by messing with machines? Had I wanted a “power” like Archenemies had?

“The Hidden Cloud ties together organizations on the level of the Echidna who ruined Absolute Noah and the Bokor who runs that black market. …Is another sign of the Calamity approaching?”

The Calamity was a possible end of the world feared by the ark. It referred to a time when a line was crossed, humanity’s morals dramatically lowered, and too many simultaneous crimes, riots, and wars occurred to be contained. It was like a pandemic of malice. It was unknown what would directly trigger it, but seeing serious moral hazards like Evil Spirit rising to the surface was apparently a sign of danger.

And Absolute Noah was no longer functioning.

That was a good thing from my personal perspective, but would humanity as a whole agree with me? Especially with the threat of the flood approaching.

“So now that Hidden Cloud thing is taking over Onee-chan’s old group?”

“Yeah, the 13 Eastern European Families they called it. To be honest, they didn’t give me many details, but I feel like that may be for the best. Having 12 more people like Erika in just this one group and having them fight over who gets her on their side sounds like a nightmare. I’d probably faint if I learned more.”

“If getting Onee-chan on your side lets you win even if you’re outnumbered, she sounds a lot like a goddess of victory or something. Fuguu. Her image is always so clean and pure.”

Erika herself had gone to the night school like usual. Perhaps fighting an extreme moral hazard required fighting the temptation to do nothing on special days like this.

I didn’t know where the silver fly had gone.

Or Valkyrie Karen for that matter. I had been too preoccupied with the military uniform girl to think about her.

…How many Archenemies were there in the city I could see out there? And how many sinister plans were underway? Of course, the dangerous ones were only a small fraction and those sinister plans were only a nuisance for people like Itou Helen the Witch or Muramatsu Yukie the Dark Elf.

“This isn’t looking good, is it?”

“No.”

I readily admitted it.

For one thing, it was hard to say we had actually defeated that Bokor and overcome the dark underground on our own. If Fly had not visited us there, I may not have been able to protect my little sister. Not to mention rescue the Class Rep. The odds were much better I would have gotten myself killed.

And the incident brought to us by the silver fly clearly went beyond Evil Spirit. I had not leveled up, yet I was being thrown onto the next field or into a new dungeon. It was obvious I couldn’t get by with trickery and I would be eliminated quite spectacularly before long.

I may have needed to prepare myself.

Since my own skill was not up to the task, I would have to make some sacrifices to make up for what I lacked. What could I offer up and what could I protect with that? I couldn’t just wait for an opportunity to show itself. I was already having trouble keeping up and it was only going to get worse from here on.

It was the same as a disaster.

Fly Villiers had not brought a fearsome prophecy to us. We had to count ourselves lucky we knew the storm was coming in advance. It was valuable information. The future would be determined by whether or not we could make use of it. I couldn’t just shut my eyes, tremble, and repeatedly insist it wasn’t possible.

At the very least, I couldn’t afford a repeat of what happened in the darkness deep underground. I couldn’t just watch helplessly while the occult struck down my little sister.

I would not rely on Fly next time.

I would not repeat that mistake.

“…”

That was when a soft light flashed to the side.

It was the neighbors. That was proof that time had returned to a previously dead room.

That was enough to blow away the oppressive atmosphere that felt like being buried below the thick bedrock.

Ayumi narrowed her eyes kindly while leaning on the balcony railing.

“But I guess no one can say you did the wrong thing.”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t know what exactly my stepmom and older sister had done, but you couldn’t argue with the results. The Class Rep’s soul had been removed from the wheat doll and returned safely to her original body.

Even if I had to redo my life 100 times, I would go to rescue the Class Rep every single time. So I couldn’t regret that I had run across Evil Spirit and gotten entangled in the 13 Eastern European Families mess.

It had already happened, so I had to focus on how to overcome it.

After getting my mind back on track, my body finally remembered how cold it was. I held my shoulders.

“Ayumi, I’m going back in. Don’t catch cold, okay?”

“Fugu.”

I wasn’t quite sure if that was a yes or a no, but I returned to my room all the same.

And as soon as I did…

“Phew, guess who’s finally back? Man, today was rough…”

…Not again.

The person sitting cross-legged on my bed and scattering her nice smell everywhere had apparently never heard of giving people a little warning before visiting! Also, we had just been out on the balcony and I doubted she had used the front door and walked through the house in that armor and miniskirt, so how had she gotten in? The other window facing the Class Rep’s house!?

“Gods always appear when you least expect it.”

“They say the same about demons,” I retorted.

“And why are you so surprised? I’m relying on you here, Satori-san. I mean, we’re talking about networks and clouds now, which are your specialty.”

“…So that’s what it’s about.”

“The Echidna and Evil Spirit were no more than two of the Hydra’s countless heads. My goal is to root out the Hidden Cloud itself to stop the global Calamity. So I wanted to do you a favor in advance so I could use you your excellent computer skills. That was the plan anyway. Ta ha ha. But a certain Vampire got there ahead of me.”

…That raised a question.

If it had been the Valkyrie instead of the silver fly who had come running in that underground tunnel, what would I have done? Would I have continued to say how much I hated her but still felt indebted to her for saving my little sister and the Class Rep?

“What are you going to do now?”

“Good question. Do you still intend to fight, Satori-san?”

“…”

I had solved the Class Rep issue.

I really wanted to withdraw before I overextended myself and got burned, but both sides of (one of?) the 13 Eastern European Families were after Erika.

In that case…dammit.

“Let’s settle this as quickly as possible. But I’ll only help out with eliminating the Hidden Cloud’s influence from the 13 Eastern European Families and setting it back on track.”

“Very well. Nee hee hee. To be honest, that is quite fortunate. Military might is really the only card I have to play.” Karen’s smile was extremely worrying. “So now that we’ve confirmed each other’s intentions, how about we get down to business?”

“?”

“Oh, come on. The vague term ‘13 Eastern European Families’ isn’t enough, right? We need specific information to know who to attack and where they live.”

“…So you’ve already decided it’s going to be an attack? You’re like a living bomber plane, aren’t you?”

“Um, what did you think a Valkyrie was? We live for war.”

Anyway.

I had an idea where to start. Fly had said she knew the number of people but not their identities due to the use of prepaid phones and second addresses. I didn’t know how the 13 Eastern European Families maintained solidarity, but assuming they did not converse telepathically, they would have to have a mailing list or online group to support their community. I needed to check that, create a list of members, and work out which ones were in the Hidden Cloud group.

According to Fly Villiers, her group was already outnumbered 4-to-8.

“You’ll be starting with Fly, right?”

“You know about her too? Well, she is the only member I know. Erika has apparently already left, so I can start by going through her acquaintances to list up-…”

“Non, non. Not what I meant.” The goddess on my bed suddenly cut me off and explained. “Which side is Fly Villiers really on?”

Part 4

…Wait.

That was certainly a possibility, 4-to-8 odds were bad even for Russian roulette, and nothing was stopping her from being on that side. But…wait…but…

“It couldn’t be.”

“Why not?”

“If the silver fly was with the Hidden Cloud group, she would have no reason to tell Erika she was being targeted! Or to reveal the 4-to-8 number!! Couldn’t she just pretend nothing was wrong and then attack Erika while she was sleeping or something!?”

“What if Fly Villiers does not know what the other 11 are doing and does not know who will contact the Queen first? Instead of lying and arousing suspicion, wouldn’t it be better to earn some trust by telling the truth?”

“But…oh, right. What about Evil Spirit? If Fly is part of the Hidden Cloud, then she’s on the same side as the Bokor, right!?”

“The Hidden Cloud really just binds a few independent organizations together. I doubt she would care much about anyone who was not a part of her own group. Besides, Satori-san, have you forgotten what I said?”

“What?”

“Why was I trying to fight for you? Did I just want to help retrieve Class Rep-chan’s soul from Evil Spirit? …It was obviously because I wanted to earn your trust despite any conflicts in our past.”

“…!?”

“But that didn’t work out thanks to Fly stealing the best part. Hey, Satori-san? Why did you invite in a Vampire you had just met and argue that she couldn’t possibly be an enemy? Doesn’t that impactful meeting seem a little contrived to you?”

…Now that she mentioned it, it had been like a cheap pick-up artist technique from a skit. You send a rough-looking guy to bump into a young girl and then the supposed gentleman swoops in to save her and earn her trust. But unless someone else pointed it out, it was hard to tell you had fallen for such a trick.

Fly had saved us without killing the Bokor or Sagawa Akemi because she had not wanted to leave a poor impression on me.

Wasn’t that what she had said!?

“I mean, she would be trying to trick their Queen. Who would be more familiar with that cultish fear of a force spreading below the surface?”

A cult.

Yes, a cult!

Hadn’t I noted that Vampires needing permission to enter your house was a metaphor for proselytizers!? Why had I been so stupid as to assume I wasn’t falling for the same thing!?

I-I couldn’t find anything to say!!

“Ahhh, ahh, ahhh, mahhh!!”

“Ha ha ha. Don’t worry. Everyone reacts that way when they find out they’ve been conned. You’re perfectly normal, so get back on your feet already.”

“Ahh! Ahh! Ahhhhh!!”

I was so embarrassed I shoved my face in my pillow and thrashed around on the bed, but I realized the pillow had changed shape thanks to Karen’s shapely butt. That meant I could not escape reality even if I wanted to.

I could only speak up with a tremor in my voice.

“Wh-what am I supposed to do?”

“Let’s see. If I used my newlywed body to comfort you, you’d be well on your way to falling for a cruel and inescapable marriage scam☆”

“Mahhhh!!”

“If you don’t want to be tricked again, then start thinking for yourself and being proactive instead of just going with the flow. First, think about the 13 Eastern European Families which is based on a coven. Well, this is just one such group, but whatever. Information on it is hard to come by since it’s a lot like a secret society, but I know the identities of 3 who are here in Kukyou City. And that’s 4 once I add Fly.”

“If they’re all on the Hidden Cloud side, then we’ve already identified half of them.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know if they are or not. I’d say Fly probably is though.”

“Probably? Got any actual evidence?”

“Ah ha ha. You’re not serious, I hope. We’re not arguing this in court and this isn’t turn-based combat where the enemy will wait for us. If we don’t take the initiative at every opportunity, we’ll never make any progress.”

In that case…

“The best way to shake them out would probably be to send the 3 whose identities we know and see how they react to Erika, who we know is clean, and Fly, who we think is guilty.”

“Yes.”

“At the same time, we check anyone who contacts the known members. If we can identify the rest of the members like that, we’ll have the whole picture.”

However…

Simply identifying the enemy was not enough. We were talking about Vampires here. Not only did they have superior physical strength, but they could take over people’s souls and bite them to increase their numbers. Based on the simulator, the apparently needed to suck a lethal amount of blood and could not spread explosively with a single bite like Zombies, but we still could not let our guard down. It would be bad if there was an outbreak in the city.

Would the Valkyrie’s strength really be enough then? It was possible Karen would be overwhelmed if the 8 members of the Hidden Cloud group decided to settle things by simultaneously spreading their infections. Fly had claimed there was almost no risk of that happening, but I couldn’t trust what she said anymore.

It sounded like we had to end this before the people of the city were used as pawns as a pandemic turned them into an army.

But…

That was simple enough to say, but how exactly would we do it? In the simulator, Erika and Ayumi’s rampage had been enough to destroy the city, but this would be 12 or 13 of them! Could we really manage all of this while staying a step ahead to keep them from doing that!?

“M-Maxwell!”

“Ehh? Coming out of sleep mode is such a pain. (p_-)zzz”

“Don’t sulk just because I haven’t been talking to you. You don’t need that kind of functionality! More importantly, I need your help. Please lend me your knowledge!”

“Sure. You should have just relied on me in the first place. (・ω・)ノ”

“And you’re surprisingly simple. As your father, I’m a little worried.” I breathed an exasperated sigh. “I want to stop a Vampire community known as the 13 Eastern European Families from devouring Kukyou City. I don’t know their identities, locations, or whether or not they’re part of the Hidden Cloud group. But we’re short on time. What do you think I should do?”

“Honestly, asking me to run a simulation without first entering the preliminary conditions is a truly abnormal command, but Miss Erika is the final hope for the loyal members of the 13 Eastern European Families who are outnumbered 4-to-8, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Then no matter how powerful these Vampires are, the side that wants to finish off the other side and the side that wants to make a miraculous comeback will be unable to afford displeasing Miss Erika. Can’t you use that to your advantage?”

“How exactly?”

“User, you cannot channel the occult, so the answer will not just fall into your lap. Try watching their reactions. If neither side can ignore Miss Erika, the meaning of contacting them will differ.”

…Watch their reactions.

…The meaning of contacting them.

…Neither side can ignore her.

“I see. But we don’t have time to send a message to each individual one. Plus, we don’t know who most of them are. We can’t pinpoint their address.”

“Then can’t you use a service that does not require an address?”

“Hm.”

I thought for a bit and then raised my head. I remembered we had an incredibly powerful monster here.

“Karen.”

“Yes, yes. What is it?”

“I want to borrow your knowledge as well. I want you to debug a death game by checking the rules for holes. I want an expert to double check it all.”

Part 5

I stayed put until close to dawn waiting for Erika to return from her night school and then I immediately discussed it with her.

We used a video site.

She was an incredibly sexy person, but she did not like showing off her beauty to people she didn’t know, so convincing her took some doing. That’s what you got with someone who seriously wrote “a lovely wife” on her future plans form. She was probably more Yamato-ish and Nadeshiko-y than your average Japanese person.

But in the end, I was aiming a camera at the study desk in her room such that it only captured her hand writing out several letters. …It was true this hid her face, but I wasn’t about to tell her it made it look more like an indecent video chat. It would be a problem if my cute older sister puffed her cheeks out right now.

She of course also spoke.

“To my beloved brethren. I may have left the table for a while, but your Queen is sending you an invitation.”

Most everyone in the world would have no idea what the video meant.

“Come tomorrow at midnight, I will make my wishes known to you in the special conference room on the top floor of the Starlight Kukyou multi-purpose building. I would like a show of good faith from both sides of your split ranks: the Traditionalist side and the Hidden Cloud side.”

But those in the know would understand.

The soft and cold voice, the black-gloved fingertips barely showing up in frame, the large bust emphasized by a crimson corset, the long blonde hair in ringlet curls, and even the wooden desk and the wallpaper were hints. Based on Fly’s reaction, that outfit was a familiar one to the 13 Eastern European Families. The Vampires lurking in this city would know their fates were riding on this, so they would be staring intently at the video and quickly analyzing all the data within.

“You may enter the party room any way you like. Just make sure you do not anger me. I will support whichever side is present in greater numbers. The current split is 4-to-8, so members of the Traditionalist side will earn two points to make it fair. And as this meeting is meant to measure your good faith, your side will lose points for every unnecessary trick you attempt. The final count of points is all that matters.”

We were turning a battle into an event.

We were setting up a death game with real lives on the line.

…This was the answer I had reached with help from the simulator and from Karen, the planner of the Colosseum.

The 13 Eastern European Families was currently split 4-to-8, but Erika’s actions could change everything. So no matter where they were hiding in the city, the members of both sides could not afford to skip this. They had to send all of their members to ensure the other side did not outdo them and take Erika.

We didn’t need to go on a treasure hunt. Not if we could set up circumstances in which they would gather on their own.

And Erika had used the vague term “good faith”. That sealed off any destructive tricks such as biting a random human to send in their place or using the locals to build up a Vampire army just in case.

All the true members would gather unarmed in one place. Even if they thought it sounded fishy, they were not allowed to step off the rails. They were bound by invisible chains.

…This would prevent the city from being chaotically drowned in blood for the time being.

The next problem was how to deal with the double digit number of monsters once they were gathered together. It would be bad if we had no way of knowing which ones had been corrupted by the Hidden Cloud. We only had one shot at this. It might become necessary to incapacitate enemy and ally alike.

In other words, it didn’t matter which side they were on. We just had to take care of all 12 of them.

Amatsu Erika made her final statement.

“Everyone. I hope you will make an effort to participate with good faith and sincerity in your hearts.”

Part 6

But the reaction to the video arrived far faster than we had expected.

By which I mean, word of it reached Amatsu Yurina in less than 15 minutes after it was posted.

…Oh, honestly! The people from that ridiculous coven structure of the 13 Eastern European Families weren’t the only ones who would recognize Erika’s voice, her handwriting, the desk in her room, and the wallpaper. Of course her own family would!! Why was I so stupid!?

“Fuguu…”

“Satori. Stop copying Ayumi’s mannerisms. You’re her big brother, aren’t you?”

It was 5:30 AM, which was earlier than the daily breakfast preparations. I had been captured and forced to sit on the living room floor.

…Now, I could accept that Erika wasn’t here with me. I had been the one to convince her to do it and she had to be in her coffin before sunrise. But no matter how much I surreptitiously operated my smartphone, Maxwell would not respond. And whatever happened to Valkyrie Karen!? She wasn’t just a passive accomplice! She was more to blame for this than me, so where had she gone!?

Meanwhile, my stepmom stood in front of me with her boobs resting on her crossed arms.

“Satori, can you guess why I am angry?”

“Heh, eh heh heh. You feel left out of this major event, so you’re trying to compete with Erika and Ayumi at your a-…bwah!?”

She hit me with the sofa’s kitty cushion. That sounds cute, you say? She was a legit Demon Lord. And even water or tofu can be deadly weapons if swung around with enough speed!!

I honestly thought that horizontal blow was going to take off my head.

“If! You know! This isn’t a problem you can handle alone, then don’t get involved in the first place!! The weakness of your heart is obvious enough from the fact you went crying to Erika for help, Satori!!”

“Wait, you’re swinging it back and forth!? Hbh, you’re really going to knock my head off!!”

She kept hitting me for a while.

“Now, is there anything I can do to help?”

Then she asked that.

She was really good at switching modes, but it could sometimes be hard to tell what was supposed to be a reward and what was supposed to be a punishment.

“By the way, mom, what’s going on with Absolute Noah these days?”

“The Echidna left the inside of the ark such a mess that the organization is close to falling apart. You could maybe think of it as a physical version of ransomware. No one knows where she is now, so it might be faster to redo everything from the ground up. …If the Calamity will kindly wait that long.” She sighed. “It’s falling apart on the inside and we had earned enough grudges to have a lot of external enemies. But on the other hand, a single large event could bring everyone back together. For example, if someone suggested stopping the Calamity by destroying the Hidden Cloud which had caused all our problems.”

“…”

Hm.

In that case…

“That might be difficult. Our plan to summon the 13 Eastern European Families to one place is counting on the element of surprise, so our biggest fear is having them catch on in advance. If a big name like Absolute Noah shows up with an unknown number of pawns on the game board, we’ll have no way of predicting who will do what.”

“…What if I acted on my own?”

“You said yourself you’ve earned a lot of grudges. If word spread that you were walking through a back alley without any kind of bodyguards, we couldn’t predict what external forces would interfere. Stay a part-time housewife for now, okay?”

Amatsu Yurina breathed a very sensual sigh.

And then a voice escaped the gap between her soft-looking lips.

“I feel so useless…”

“Frankly, I’m impressed I can still live a normal school life with everything that’s going on. Has dad found a new job yet?”

“It’s enough of a problem for a parent to have their children worried about such things.” She began rubbing her temple with her slender index finger. “Listen, Satori. If you logically think you can win this and you aren’t just acting on emotion, then I will step back and not let my emotions take over. All I want to do is increase the odds of your survival.”

Then she bent over to move her face in close and poked my nose with the finger she had been rubbing against her temple.

“However, never forget that you have access to the ultimate switch to destroy everyone’s plans. If your method starts to work against you, I will not hesitate to intervene. No matter how much that screws with your plans and distances you from the conclusion you imagined.”

She did not seem to be joking. After all, this was the person who had weighed her family against the planet’s 7 billion people and chosen the former.

There was only one thing I could say.

“I’ll do my best.”

“So does everyone.”

My stepmom had an immediate response to that as well.

And she added one last statement.

“And yet the world has always been headed in the wrong direction. Enough so to invite the Calamity.”

Part 7

It all came down to midnight tonight.

What did we need to do before the 13 Eastern European Families arrived?

“I’m ready to go at any time.”

It wasn’t even worth asking how that Valkyrie had gotten here. She was on the school roof during lunch despite wearing blue armor and a miniskirt.

…It was true she was our strongest fighter against all those Vampires. There was also Itou Helen the Witch or Kuroyama Hinoki the Mermaid, but I couldn’t let them get hurt.

We were badly outnumbered and it was best not to drag those girls into a losing battle.

If I was going to ask for their help, I would have to find a safe area for them and calculate everything out so they never left it.

“Just to be clear, we’re only interested in incapacitating them. They’re all my sister’s old acquaintances, so we can’t just slaughter all the suspects.”

“I don’t really care either way, but I guess I’ll do as you say. After all, my target is the entire Hidden Cloud, not just this one 13 Eastern European Families.”

“?”

“Do you not get how this is different from the Echidna or Evil Spirit?” Karen gave me a somewhat provocative and mischievous look that seemed to be testing me. “The 13 Eastern European Families have yet to be fully corrupted. The Hidden Cloud is still working on them. …That means we might find some information not found in the previous organizations.”

“You mean…?”

“They’re soft, just like a freshly molted crab. Their loyalty and data security won’t be perfect. And if the 13 Eastern European Families is still skeptical, they’ll want more information to search out the truth of the Hidden Cloud. So if some of that internal information is left behind…”

…That fleeting cloud would start to seem more real. She could list up all the organizations composing the Hidden Cloud and deal with them all at once. I doubted it would actually be that easy, but it still might function as a handhold on an otherwise sheer cliff face.

After some though, I shook my head.

“Sorry, but I’m going to focus on the threat before my eyes, not that grand plan of yours. If we don’t stop that 13 Eastern European Families, it’s all over. I can’t afford to leave anything in reserve. Letting the future distract me is meaningless if the city ends up drowning in blood because of it.”

During that sisterly Archenemy fight in the disaster environment simulator, Erika alone had been enough to destroy the city. And she hadn’t altered the parameters with anything akin to cheat codes. That meant she could do the same in reality. But I couldn’t allow that to happen to the real Kukyou City.

“But what exactly will you do?” asked Karen. “Leave it to me and you’ll end up with a life-or-death battle, but individual Archenemies like Erika and Ayumi are only so strong. I’m not so sure they can overwhelm a double-digit number of Vampires without killing them.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“More importantly, you’re the person who took issue with the Colosseum and ended up driving the Bright Cross to destruction even though it had roots in more than 100 countries around the world.”

“Again, I’m aware of that!”

I repeated myself like I had lost my temper. It felt like having my stepmom ask over and over if I had done my homework. Now, what kind of look was that warrior widow giving me?

While half-sulking, I childishly pouted my lips and said more.

“That said, I’m not a manga protagonist. I can’t unlock some hidden power in a pinch, so I’ll have to take on these legit Vampires with what I already have on hand. And we’re talking about a dozen of them.”

“So what exactly will you do?”

“You know my field of expertise, don’t you? Maxwell.”

“Honestly, are you quite done flirting with that widow goddess, you unfaithful boy. Yawn… _(:3」z)_”

“I’m not even listening to your nonsense anymore. It’s about time to start with our tricks. …Let’s hack the Vampire world.”

Part 8

The night wore on.

The promised time was approaching.

…The weather was clear.

This would have been easier if it was raining, but I had to make do with what I had. It was time to get started.

Erika would have already changed into her special outfit, the gothic lolita dress, and made her way to the meetup point at Starlight Kukyou. The plan was to capture all of the gathered 13 Eastern European Families and question them, but none of them would show if Erika was not there. That prevented any tricks on that front.

However.

“Fugu.”

“Ayumi, I know how you feel, but no biting Karen.”

“But, Onii-chan, wouldn’t I be doing the world a favor by biting and taking control of that wicked woman?”

“You’re a Zombie, not a Vampire, so you can’t control the people you bite. And it wouldn’t be okay even if you could.”

“Fuguu…”

She puffed out her cheeks more than necessary, so she must have been quite upset. Still, she managed to restrain herself.

And the powder box named Karen had this to say:

“Now then, now then. Let’s do this as planned. Don’t worry, Ayumi-chan, this plan was drawn up by Satori-san, so there’s no room for my malice there.”

“…Mh. That’s fine then.”

“And that means you can’t blame me no matter what happens. If this blows up in our faces and some precious lives are lost, send all your complaints and opinions to Satori-san!!”

“…Onii-chan, I really think I should bite her.”

“Stop it, Ayumi. You’ll screw everything up!”

We could not move as a group either. We split up and approached the multi-purpose building along separate routes.

I doubted this would turn into a grand adventure since we weren’t leaving the city, but there was still a chance of being attacked on the way. We had explained the rules, but there was no guarantee everyone involved would do the rational thing.

I had asked Erika to stand in front of her old group as a victory prize, so I couldn’t allow this to fail while she was there. No matter what, I had to avoid a mistake that allowed all the Archenemies relying on me to be captured.

“Maxwell, are you ready?”

“Sure. Everything is ready. However, the enemy targets have too many unknown factors to accurately calculate the risk.”

In all likelihood. 99% odds.

No matter how certain it seemed, there was always a risk of it immediately devolving into a head-on clash or just having the bad luck to run into a random mugger, murderer, or rapist on the streets. And no matter how unfair it was, it was all over for us if anything went wrong.

“Younger brother.”

“Kh.”

My shoulders jumped a bit when a soft voice called out to me on the dark road.

It was the Vampire with short silver hair and a black military uniform: Fly Villiers.

And if Karen’s theory was correct…

“Wh-what? Oh, Fly?”

“Even if the Queen insisted on good faith, you are being careless. The 13 Eastern European Families are split between the Traditionalist side and the Hidden Cloud side. And I believe I already explained that we are outnumbered 2-to-1.”

Letting her know what I had realized would not end well, especially given the overwhelming difference in strength. So I needed to act naturally so she would not notice anything was off.

“Hee hee. It feels so odd to be able to confidently enjoy Kukyou City’s night. Not long ago this was the Bright Cross’s most heavily guarded fortress. I suppose it is a sign of how fleeting things are in the human world.”

…She told me in no uncertain terms that my ideas were no more than idealism. My face tensed and, the more I told myself to act natural, the less I knew what “natural” even meant. After all, as skinny as she looked, she was still a Vampire with 20 times the strength of a human. There was simply no way I could defeat her. How was I supposed to maintain a poker face against a monster stronger than construction machinery? It was like I had a steamroller bearing down on me!

“Younger brother, are you attending the event as well?”

She of course meant the meeting tonight. It almost seemed like she was implicitly asking if I had planned it all…but no. I was being too suspicious. I had to stop assuming the worst. Erika had urged the Vampires to make a show of good faith. It was simple enough to think they would actually treat me quite well in the hopes of earning bonus points. Right!?

“Y-yes. Erika says she’s going to make up her mind on her own, but I’m still worried.”

“I can see how you would look at it that way. In that case, I will accompany you.”

…If Fly really was on the Hidden Cloud side like Karen predicted, then this was actually quite a dangerous situation for them as well. She could easily defeat a human like me, but attacking me could turn Erika against them. And if I panicked and attacked the silver fly without thinking of the consequences, the difference in power could be so great she would have trouble stopping me without killing me. Just like using an industrial robot arm to play catch with a raw egg. So she would be trying to keep me in a good mood while working to control me the best she could.

Even weakness could be a weapon if the conditions were right.

Of course, you had to be careful since it could not be a shield, but I had been well aware what my weapons were when I came here.

This was fine.

My pulse was still a little fast, but it was calming down now that things were kicking into higher gear.

“Fly.”

“Yes?”

“How long have you been a Vampire and what caused it?”

I spoke to her while we walked down the night road to the multi-purpose building near the subway station.

…I doubted that was a pleasant memory, but I went there anyway. Fly Villiers could not afford to lose my trust, so she would have a hard time refusing to answer. I wanted to bother her just enough to keep her from trying to control me while not enraging her either.

She pulled her flat hat down to cover her eyes – almost like she was trying to hide her true thoughts – and she asked a question of her own.

“I asked this before as well, but what do you think is the essence of a Vampire?”

“The curse.”

“Indeed.”

My immediate response did not faze small Fly. She may have been afraid of an accident occurring because the military uniform girl actually waited for the crosswalk light to change even though there were barely any cars at this time of night. And she continued speaking while she waited.

“If you break a taboo during your life – be it how you were born, how you lived your life, how you died, or how you were buried – god will curse you and you will become a Vampire. So if you do not want that to happen, you must obey the rules.”

“…Are you saying you weren’t bitten by anyone?”

“Blood sucking is just the most obvious example of a taboo. And that applies to those who attack others to suck their blood and those who actively offer their blood to someone. But as you guessed, my origin is related to a different taboo.”

“?”

“Let me warn you up front: this is not a pleasant story.”

The crosswalk light turned green and we safely crossed the road. But that safety was entirely reliant on the rules, so I would be killed instantly if a complete stranger decided to ignore the traffic laws.

“In my case, it was the consumption of unclean food. My luck ran out when I was born into an age of famine. I lived by fighting over fly-infested food with other children who lived in similar circumstances. But the final ‘feast’ I so desperately fought for ended up taking my life, I was left out in the open without even being buried, and so many flies covered my body that it looked like a single silver mass. I was born from the adultery of my criminal parents, I broke food taboos in life, and I was not properly buried. That was three strikes. And the world seemed to think it was appropriate for someone who ate unclean bugs to be eaten by unclean bugs. Ta ha ha.”

“…”

I just about came to a stop in the middle of the intersection.

It was worse than I had imagined.

This was nothing like the elegant nobility of the night you saw in classic literature and that Erika dressed like. But had Fly meant anyone any harm in that story?

We tended to glorify stories of battles against Vampires or Zombies, but you were still attacking the victims and rubbing salt in the wound. I felt the same bad aftertaste I felt from the Little Match Girl.

Fly, on the other hand, continued crossing the intersection as if it were all perfectly normal. It was almost sad how little it bothered her.

“Each member of the 13 Eastern European Families has their origin in a different curse. From Elizabeth, the peak of the historical Vampires, to Yuri, the Kudlak who was cursed as a Vampire simply because he was born wrapped in an oddly-colored amnion – no two of us are alike. I know it can seem strange, but the blood-sucking taboo is not all there is to Vampires. So despite calling ourselves families, we do not always have successors. Although that may have something to do with our lack of lifespans.”

Elizabeth and Yuri.

Remembering those names sounded like a good idea and I quickly caught up to the small back in a black uniform.

Of course, it was always possible this was all a lie and no one by those names existed.

“Unclean foods, glorification, immaturity… We tend to concentrate and enhance the curses within us. You could call us a gathering of new, unknown sins which have yet to blossom into the dark flowers of deadly sins. We are the well-fertilized dirt that has yet to go supernova and expand the current 7 peaks to a maximum of 20.”

The Seven Deadly Sins.

That made me think of those extraordinary beings like the Leviathan of Envy or Lilith of Sloth. And my thoughts turned to the baseless idea that this explained why Amatsu Yurina was the mother and Amatsu Erika was the daughter.

As we approached the shopping district near the subway station, the sidewalks grew busier and the stars faded from the night sky.

The silver-haired girl with a baggy black military jacket and synthetic pants held down her hat with a hand and looked up at the incomplete night sky.

“Just as all the stars twinkling in the sky are collections of gasses and dust in space, we must search for our own purpose once born into this world. Even if that purpose is no more than fluff or sand to the one who designed us. That is the essence of the 13 Eastern European Families who were cursed by god.”

Why would someone trample on their old organization, oppose their former companions, and throw out a stable life in order to join the Hidden Cloud and rebel against god?

I kind of got it.

The outline was still vague, but I felt like I had sensed a faint core of meaning there.

It might be foolish to seek relief in the words of someone who was likely an enemy. There was a chance she was just planting the seeds of unnecessary suspicion in my head.

Nevertheless, I asked within the crowd.

“…Then that’s true of Erika too?”

“You would have to ask the Queen herself. I do not intend to act like Ruthven, but that information is not mine to reveal. But do not worry, younger brother. The day will come that she will confide in you. I can tell from the look on your face when I told you the story of my unclean food.”

…I didn’t have a mirror, so I didn’t know what look that was. What kind of dumb look did I have when lives were on the line?

Fly covered her mouth with a black-gloved hand and giggled as she walked by my side.

“That should be obvious, younger brother. Not once during our conversation here have you attempted to rely on your precious smartphone. If you had tried to cheat, you would have only given me the cold civility spat out by an optimized algorithm.”

“…”

Come to think of it, why hadn’t I?

The answers would be right there in my pocket.

Fly was suspicious. And scary. I knew that, but had some part of me wanted to take on this Archenemy without any tricks? But without Maxwell (and even with Maxwell), I was only a powerless high school boy.

“We have arrived, younger brother.”

At some point, the silver fly who represented unclean food came to a stop.

We had reached one of the high-rise buildings near the subway station: the Starlight Kukyou. That was the one-night stage for those who had struggled to shine and be known as stars no matter who said they were merely dust.

“It is just about time. The Queen and our allies are waiting.”

“Yes.” I looked up and added one thing more. “This is where it really begins.”

Part 9

The Starlight Kukyou.

It was a large building near the subway station, but I had honestly never really been inside it. As the vague title of “multi-purpose building” suggests, it had no predetermined stores like a department store. It primarily rented out space in this prime location for offices, studios, conference rooms, galleries, event locations, stages, trunk rooms, etc. While I was satisfied with digital media for most everything, Erika had gone there to view solo art exhibits and Ayumi, who was learning vocal music at her high-class girl’s school, had gone there to enjoy operas or musicals while taking a nap.

At the moment, they were holding an exhibit of tropical fish from Okinawa.

“There we go.”

The building had automatic doors on all four sides, but I stood in front of the slope to the underground parking garage and held my smartphone over the card reader to unlock the shutter.

The silver-haired black uniform girl sounded impressed as she watched the collection of special steel bars rise.

“That certainly is convenient.”

“It isn’t my ability. I’m reliant on Maxwell for everything.”

“I would like to say creating an all-mighty flask makes you perfect. (´ω｀) Heh heh.”

“Now you’re complimenting me as a roundabout way of praising yourself, aren’t you?”

I had already confirmed that the security cameras in this area had their wiring removed. In other words, they were only for decoration. …Rather than cheaping out on security, it felt more like someone had intentionally left a hole to allow in and out someone or something they wanted no records of.

…But it looked like I was the only one using this entrance. How had Erika, the rest of the 13 Eastern European Families, Ayumi, and Karen gotten in? Well, those extraordinary people could just climb the walls and enter through the roof. Even that Transylvanian count was skilled at scaling cliffs.

Late at night when none of the events were underway, the parking garage was as dark as a hospital at night.

Erika had said to meet at the conference room on the top floor. That was about 30 stories up, so I pressed the elevator button and waited.

“Maxwell, send a message to Erika. Tell her Fly has arrived.”

“Sure. It seems Miss Fly will be the last to arrive.”

The automatic door opened with a soft tone and revealed a cramped elevator which was as bright as a convenience store at night. The bright fluorescent lights were reflecting off of the aluminum interior, so it blinded me a little.

I stepped inside with the silver fly and pressed the button for the top floor. The door closed, an uncomfortable floating sensation surrounded me, and we were now inside a strange silver space that would produce the same popping sound as a kitchen sink if you simply leaned on the walls.

…Now.

“Fly.”

“Yes?”

Why had I called that small Vampire’s name here? Given what I was about to do, I had to avoid having her catch on at all costs.

And yet I had called out to her. I was apparently easily influenced. I was the one springing a trap, but had I felt a need to play fair or something?

“Sorry.”

The elevator ground to a halt with an unnatural heavy sound and then the annoyingly-bright fluorescent lights went out.

All I had to rely on in that narrow cage was my smartphone’s backlight.

“Younger brother, what is this!?”

“You should already know, Fly. I can’t let you all reach Erika. I will defeat the Hidden Cloud here, and that includes you who they’ve corrupted.”

“…”

I felt like a pair of jewels was faintly shining in the darkness. Fly Villiers was the silver fly who would one day become a new deadly sin. She may have revealed her true self and gained compound eyes. She may have used her paranormal power that, unlike Erika’s, lacked the proper beauty to blend into human society.

“Younger brother.”

Did I not immediately try to smooth things over because I had accepted that this ruler of rot and pollution was an enemy?

“To remain in the Queen’s favor, I will be as careful as possible. But no hard feelings if you still die.”

“If you think you can win, then just try it. Maxwell!!”

A heavy noise infiltrated the dark space through all four walls as if crushing it. Had Fly noticed? C’mon, notice it. This is meaningless if you don’t. Think about what it was that caused the elevator to stop!!

Then I heard something moving through the wind.

The sound was heavier than a swinging bat and sharper than a cutting razor. It was not until quite a while later that I realized it was the sound of a black-uniformed arm reaching out to grab my throat.

But that did not matter.

A moment later, someone crumpled to the ground like they had been hit in the back of the head, but it wasn’t me. It was Fly.

“Wha-…?”

“Are you too weak to stand, Fly? Of course you are. You can hear it through the walls, can’t you? The roaring of a waterfall!”

“Younger brother, you…?”

“Vampires cannot cross running water.”

It was a declaration.

This was what mattered most here.

“The large conference room on the top floor isn’t the only space here. And they’re showing off some interesting things at the Okinawan fair: tropical fish. I redirected the artificial seawater being circulated there and remade the elevator shaft into a giant waterfall.”

“Dammit, you’re attacking there!?”

“Even that Transylvanian count was weakened by running water, so he was afraid of being attacked while on a boat. Fly, the greater a Vampire you are, the harder it is to escape this problem. Right now, you’re weaker than a human like me!”

I heard a buzzing sound reminiscent of electric clippers. Her internal balance must have collapsed. Had she separated her entire body into fat silver flies to attack me?

But it was too late.

Had she not considered why I had used an elevator?

“Defeating me would be meaningless. There are no gaps you can use to escape, Fly.”

“!?”

“This is a giant bug cage made of steel. There are no gaps and you would only find a giant waterfall if you did get out. You’re not a carp. A weakened fly can’t climb the waterfall. Get out of here and you will be hit by all that water and dropped down into the artificial underwater lake that was once the parking garage!”

The buzzing of countless wings joined together to make it sound like the darkness itself was speaking.

“Young…er…brother…!?”

If you were at full power, you could probably hit me with the black plague or cholera.

But.

No, so.

I couldn’t give you time to use your full power.

“Farewell, Fly. Humans are creatures who will dig up a grave if need be. You knew how crafty we can be, didn’t you?”

That was it.

It was like a switch had been thrown. The silver storm reflecting my smartphone’s backlight lost the strength to fly and each individual fly dropped to the elevator floor. That silver carpet left nowhere to step.

…Vampires had many weaknesses for an Archenemy.

Fly herself had said so. I couldn’t deny they seemed incomplete when compared to Lilith or the Leviathan.

I let out a slow breath and reached into my pocket.

“Maxwell, use the diagram to place markers on the screen. I’ll add duct tape weather stripping to make sure not a single fly can get out once Fly comes to.”

“Sure.”

“Move the elevator to the nearest floor and then I’ll step out and seal it up. Then the bug cage really will be complete.”

I sealed up the vents and other openings before leaving the elevator. We were on the 14th floor. Yes, the elevator had moved just fine. Also, there was no water inside the shaft.

“That worked better than I expected,” I said into my smartphone.

Vampires could not cross running water.

That was well known, but the specifics were not entirely clear. I knew the ocean and rivers were out, but they did not seem to have trouble with a wet road after it rained and they never seemed worried about the plumbing or underground water veins that were not on the map. Erika took long baths, but she did not seem afraid of the shower or tub.

Was it an issue of natural versus artificial?

But Erika had been isolated on a building rooftop in the sunken city after the dam broke in the simulator. So that was not the issue.

“It was their perception that mattered.”

While feeling thankful for the small speakers on smartphones these days, I placed a vertical strip of duct tape down the middle of the elevator’s automatic door to seal it up. I had of course taken control electronically so none of the buttons on the inside would do anything.

“The important factor is the line drawn by the Vampire themselves: ‘I can’t cross water flowing at that speed’ or ‘that much water is too much’. That’s why they’re not worried about being trapped by ubiquitous plumbing or underground water veins that they’re not even aware of. But that also means it doesn’t really matter if there’s really any water there. Whether it’s virtual or an optical illusion, they just have to be convinced from the bottom of their heart that water is flowing through there at a tremendous rate.”

The world’s most famous Transylvanian count had slept in his coffin until reaching his destination when riding a boat across the water. In other words, he had rendered himself unconscious so that he was no longer aware of the running water there.

So…

“The elevator’s inner walls were made of soft enough aluminum to make noise if you merely leaned on them,” said Maxwell. “The 3D acoustic effect using the resonance of playing a water noise from a smartphone micro speaker is honestly not that accurate, but turning out the lights like at a movie theater must have helped immerse Fly in the experience. Being trapped in a stopped elevator hits multiple psychological fears – closed spaces, heights, and the dark – so there is a good chance she could not judge the situation as well as normal.”

It was all a battle of awareness.

Lies and the truth did not matter here. If you just needed to give it realism, going over the top could sometimes help convince someone.

Just like people tended to get motion sickness from nonexistent virtual experiences.

“Continue playing the water noise from the elevator’s emergency speakers to keep Fly weakened in her bug cage.”

“Sure.”

“As planned, hack the parking garage’s sprinklers. They have a built in pump, right? Once you’re ready, open the valves.”

That said, running into Fly Villiers had been pure luck. One of the traps I had come up with while staring at the Starlight Kukyou’s layout had just so happened to fit perfectly. If I ran out of tricks and things stopped working as planned, a mere human like me was done for.

“Maxwell.”

“Sure.”

“Let’s attack the real strength of those Vampires using nonexistent virtual bullets.”

Part 10

Now, a question.

When people were inside a high-rise building with windows that did not open, how did they check on the weather outside?

“I have taken control of the emergency alerts for the three major carriers,” said Maxwell. “I am sending flash flood warning emails.”

That might sound complicated, but the system was actually full of holes. That was obvious enough from the frequency of false alerts. There was no need to enter the strictly-guarded main server of a major IT company’s headquarters when accessing the cheap computer in a local government office was enough to send out a city-wide alert.

“Fly used a normal GPS watch, right? If the other Vampires also rely on convenient modern tech, we can plant some doubts in their heads. And even if they don’t all have phones, the information can spread between them by word of mouth. Okay, Maxwell, let’s deal with the roof now.”

“It would be possible to rupture the water storage tank by altering the internal pressure.”

“We don’t need to go that far. And I don’t want to send all that heavy water crashing to the ground at once. As planned, mess with the settings for the rooftop garden sprinklers and create some artificial rain around the sides of the building. The winds between buildings should blow the drops back at the windows.”

“Sure.”

Even in the dark hallway, I could hear what sounded like rain blowing against the windows. I approached a window and found the nightscape was indeed distorted by drops of water.

And I saw something when I looked down at the ground.

“Looks like Itou-san and the others are here.”

Itou Helen the Witch, Kuroyama Hinoki the Mermaid, and Muramatsu Yukie the Dark Elf…

I had asked those girls I knew to stand outside holding umbrellas. The open umbrellas stood out a lot. If you looked out the window and saw the blowing drops of water and the umbrellas on the ground, anyone would assume it had suddenly started to rain.

“It may be late at night, but the sky is clear overhead,” said Maxwell. “This method is not perfect as I was unable to alter the meteorological agency’s database.”

“They can see it happening, so they’ll assume it’s a sunshower. Or a moonshower in this case. Abnormal weather conditions like sudden downpours are becoming more common.”

There were more umbrellas than I had arranged for. Other people must have pulled out their umbrellas due to the sprinkler water.

The wet road was reflecting the streetlights, so it was looking good.

“How about the parking garage?” I asked.

“As planned, the internal pump near the rising slope is running and pumping water down the slope. The security cameras there have had their wiring intentionally removed, so there will be no record of it.”

“Record the footage of the flooded parking garage with a different camera. Use some bannerware that automatically opens and redirects people and then send out the fake video.”

“Sure.”

Just as Fly had worn a watch to know when the sun rose and set, the other Vampires would be sensitive to their weaknesses. They would probably be checking several weather forecast sites, both government-run and privately-run. They would not suspect anything no matter what was placed between sites. And even if a site itself was clean, a nasty banner could infect a mobile device. They could even send you to a different site that looked identical. To the 13 Eastern European Families, it would look like a sudden downpour outside had flooded the underground parking garage and transformed it into a great torrent of water.

…Vampires could not cross running water.

I had never heard of a height restriction there. If they could just transform into a raven or bat and cross it in the sky, it wouldn’t be seen as a weakness.

I took an elevator up to the top floor.

On the way to the large conference room, I found two of them already collapsed in the hall. One was a girl with wolf-like fur in places and the other was an old man in a sailor’s suit and a thick coat. I had no idea what kind of fearsome legends those two held, but I wouldn’t have challenged them if I thought I could lose. I tied their hands behind their backs with duct tape and also bound their ankles for good measure.

I didn’t stop to check who was who and what kind of abilities or traits they had. In the time it took me to untangle all the threads of the 13 Eastern European Families, the damage could spread to the entire city.

If I was doing this, I had to defeat them all with a single action and in a single mission. I of course couldn’t give them a chance to strike back.

I did feel a little bad for the 4 traditionalists who had done nothing wrong and showed up despite being outnumbered.

“Erika!”

“Oh?”

When I threw open the large double doors and stepped inside, I saw Erika standing below the bright fluorescent lights in her gothic lolita dress with skintight black leather pants visible below the opened front of the long skirt. The long tables were shifted out of place, chairs had fallen over, and there were other signs of a slight struggle in the large room, but I could see no sign of injury on my older sister whose crimson corset lifted her large breasts.

There were 1, 2, 3, 4 people collapsed on the ground.

“Just 4? There were 2 in the hall and Fly is in the elevator…so are there still 5 left!?”

It only took 1 to start an outbreak.

It had been 4-to-8, but we didn’t know who was on what side, so the only way to avoid a pandemic was to incapacitate all of them.

I tossed a roll of duct tape to Erika and she sighed while elegantly catching it in her black-gloved hands.

“Defeating this many budding deadly sins at once will probably get you a new nickname in the hunter community.”

“Who cares. If we let even 1 of them escape, there’s no stopping it! Seeing that sea of blood in the simulator was enough for me!”

We left the conference room and returned to the dark hallway.

…Our biggest concern was the possibility of someone leaving the building. Once they found the downpour and flooding were lies, the Vampire-specific placebo effect would disappear. Not only could they reach the surface or the roof, they could also break through a window and fly into the sky. After all, they could transform into bats or ravens. Even the duct tape binding was only effective when they were too weakened to transform.

Like I had said before, there simply wasn’t time to figure out each of their abilities and traits to challenge them to a head-on fight. If we didn’t deal with all of them tonight, there was no predicting what kind of retaliation we would receive. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

“Maxwell, let’s pursue them psychologically. Do you think the Vampires believed in the flooding and were trying to escape, or do you think they doubted it and went to check!?”

“Those still resisting should have begun to notice that the inability to cross running water affects different Vampires to different extents. If it was the same for everyone, they should all have collapsed in the conference room. So even if something seems off, the odds are good they cannot escape the trick. Just like someone who wants to go to sleep but cannot.”

“So they would want some solid evidence to rid them of their doubts, huh?”

For us, there were two things we couldn’t let the Vampires see: the sprinklers for the rooftop garden and the parking lot that was only flooded by the fire sprinklers.

Also, the conference room was on the top floor. Which was closer: the ground or the roof?

Plus, if it did turn out the parking garage was flooded, the Vampires would be swept away the instant they touched the doorknob. They would be captured by the very running water they wanted to avoid. But even if it was all true, the roof would only expose them to some blowing rain. So it was obvious which one they would check.

…I would be honestly impressed if any of them still chose the parking garage in this situation.

“Maxwell, let’s head to the roof for now. Search the blueprint for emergency stairs.”

“Sure. I will display the route on your screen.”

I used the backlight to make my way there, but an internal wall suddenly broke through on the way there. A large mass rolled out into the hallway, but…

“Ayumi!?”

“Fuguu!!”

She replied with an energetic but silly voice, but what was this? One of the traps I had set up must have worked. A child-sized monster was pinned below a sticky mess courtesy of the fire extinguisher I had filled with black tar.

Vampires could not stand the strong smell of garlic and tar. There was a legend of people using tar to draw a cross on their front door to keep Vampires away.

Anyway.

“Okay, that’s one down! Did you see that, Onii-chan!?”

“…Yes, I saw you raining down blows on a child-sized Vampire that was already incapacitated by the two weaknesses: running water and tar.”

“Fugu. He’s apparently known as a Child of Judas. He’s super tough, so I’m worried he might only be pretending to be defeated.”

We discussed it while binding his arms and legs with duct tape.

Ayumi pointed to the bathroom.

“There’s another shoved in there. I think she’s called a Vrykolakas. She looks about my age. Wanna go check?”

“That’s the women’s bathroom, so I’m not going in there with you. Anyway, that leaves 3.”

I looked up the stairs to the roof and saw someone looking at us with both hands raised. They looked like a kind old lady. I could have easily seen her as an elderly teacher.

…But what was she really?

I couldn’t allow the Vampires to spread, so I had set everything up the best I could. Were there really any normal humans left in the building?

“I surrender,” she said.

“Ayumi, be cautious.”

My obvious warning did not change the old lady’s behavior. If anything, she seemed too perfect.

“I only wish to protect the Queen. I know you have no way of telling the Traditionalist side from the Hidden Cloud side, so you only need to capture me here. If you defeat everyone, you can eliminate the threat.”

“…”

It was extraordinary.

But I could not move for a while after she made that suggestion. I hated that I couldn’t trust this expression of good will. Silence continued for a while.

I had seen how frightening Vampires could be in the simulator and that abandoned hospital. Erika was 20 times as strong as a human and Ayumi was 10 times. That meant we could not rely on our numbers or let our guard down in a direct confrontation. In an actual fight, I would be entirely ineffectual.

First, Ayumi took a step toward the stairs.

Next, I held my smartphone sideways and walked forward while making sure to keep both of them on the screen at all times.

The silence weighed heavily on my stomach. We only had to move a few meters and up 10 steps. But we had to take each step while making sure our focus never wavered.

Ayumi’s hand finally touched the old lady’s shoulder.

“!!”

My little sister did not hold back. While holding onto the shoulder and elbow, she dragged the Vampire to the floor and pinned her down.

Even as we bound her hands behind her back with duct tape, the elderly teacher voiced no complaint. But she did turn her head sideways in order to look us in the eye.

There was nothing but sincerity there.

“Please…please look after the Queen…”

“Stay here.”

With that, Ayumi and I looked up to the metal door at the top of the stairs.

A moment later, we heard an explosive noise and the thick door swelled out like a balloon. No, its hinges tore and it flew through the air.

There was nothing we could do.

The metal door flew between Ayumi and me like a giant shuriken or guillotine and stabbed into the concrete wall behind us.

Something had happened on the roof.

That was only the side effect. I could tell on an instinctual level.

“Warning.”

Maxwell’s message was entirely unnecessary.

I gulped and we walked up toward the roof.

And there we found…

Part 11

The atmosphere was oppressive.

And there had to be more to it than the smell and dampness of rooftop garden’s soil and the sprinkler water. This was something that a human’s five senses could not normally detect. No, it was something that should not have existed in a purely physical world. This space may have been filled with that kind of waveforms and particles.

The darkness of night should have been ruled by the Vampires, but it was defiled by the color gold.

That spear and shield may have been symbols of a sun that would never lose its shine.

“Oh, Satori-san. How many have you gotten?”

The greeting was as carefree as someone wandering around the city searching for monsters with their smartphone.

It was Valkyrie Karen.

That blue warrior woman was an embodiment of divine punishment.

A deep sound of running water continued. Metal pipes stood vertically at even intervals. Those were the kind of sprinklers found on golf courses, but a few of them were broken. And beyond that, it looked like an airplane had crashed: several pillars had broken, there was a straight line torn in the soil, and something lay at the end point.

The person that was collapsed on the ground and curled up to protect its face and gut…was something similar to a human.

Based on appearances alone, it looked like a girl with short reddish-blonde hair.

I didn’t know what she had originally been, but if she was part of the 13 Eastern European Families just like Erika and Fly, then she would have a legend of her own as well as her pride and dignity.

But the way she was curled up, covering her face and gut, and holding out a trembling hand to beg for forgiveness showed no hint of that former glory.

This was a ruler pulled down from her throne.

Two objects glittered on the floor as the sprinkler water started to wash it away. They looked like longer and sharper versions of a human’s canine teeth.

They were fangs.

Even if they would regenerate, what did it mean for a Vampire to have those broken by someone else?

…I had no way of knowing who she was or whether she was on the Traditionalist side or the Hidden Cloud side. She may have come here purely out of concern for Erika.

I wanted to identify the Hidden Cloud group and return the 13 Eastern European Families to normal as soon as possible.

I opened my mouth to shake free of those thoughts.

“I trapped 1 in the elevator and 2 in the hallway, 4 had collapsed in the conference room, Ayumi got 2, and we captured 1 more on the stairs. Karen, what about you?”

“I started by responding to this 1 who was closest to discovering the secret. You couldn’t let the Vampires see what’s on this roof, right?”

“Fugu?”

To avoid accelerating her rotting, Ayumi had stayed by the door without venturing out onto the sprinkler-wet roof, but she tilted her head here.

“But wait. That doesn’t add up. 1, 2, 4, 1, 2, 1. And Onee-chan doesn’t count. Fugu, that’s only 12! We missed 1!”

This building had more than 30 floors, so there were plenty of hiding spots. And since Vampires could transform into rats or bats, searching all of the hallways and rooms might not be enough to find them.

“But what good is running away for them?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” replied Ayumi.

“Both sides should want Erika on their side. That parameter shouldn’t change even if they were betrayed. Fleeing empty-handed won’t help them if the enemy gets Erika. They’ll have no way of recovering after that.”

“So if they are going to escape, they’ll want some kind of reward, no matter how small?” asked Karen.

“They would need some kind of power to plot a comeback. In that case…”

They might be surprisingly close by.

It was possible we had seen them without realizing it.

I spoke into my smartphone while I thought.

“Maxwell.”

“Sure.”

“Let’s get back to the basics. Do you have footage of when we met Erika in the conference room?”

I looked through that recorded rectangular slice of the past. Erika herself was not what mattered. Nor were the other Vampires collapsed around the room. Yes, I was right. When I watched Erika elegantly catch the roll of duct tape in her black-gloved hands, I could see it behind Erika who wore her combat(?) gothic lolita dress made of thick material and worn with skintight black leather pants. I could see it in the thick reinforced glass window separating the darkness outside from the brightness of the fluorescent lights.

“I was careless…”

“Fugu?”

“I thought just one of them was unaffected because Erika knew about the plan and thus wasn’t fooled. But I was wrong.”

I tapped at a point on the screen.

The light had transformed the window behind Erika into a mirror.

“Vampires aren’t reflected in mirrors.”

“Ah, but there it is!”

“You can see Erika’s reflection in the video. I don’t know how, but there’s only one possibility: there was a non-Vampire in the 13 Eastern European Families and they were pretending to be Erika. That’s why we can see their reflection in the window and why they weren’t affected by the sudden downpour diversion using the rooftop sprinklers and umbrellas on the ground.”

And that led to another question.

“Then where is the real Erika?”

“…”

“Where did they take her, dammit!?”

[crucial notice] Draft for an Archenemy Feature Article [on the pinup board]

Vampires are seen as the representative example of Archenemies these days, but they were once a minor species that was often confused with and mistaken for other species.

For example, it was Witches that used suspicious spells and potions to transform into animals and fly through the night sky.

For example, it was Incubi and Succubi that snuck into homes during the dead of night and had children with the residents.

For example, it was Werewolves that lived normal lives in populated areas and revealed their true form on nights of a full moon.

You could say the blood-sucking monsters took on the traits of those other species as they became an all-encompassing department store of taboos and uncleanliness. They are a jack of all trades that can accomplish anything to some extent, but that has left them with no traits that particularly stand out.

Researchers disagree on which era it was that Vampires rose to stardom, but a major factor was how the Vampires concentrated their taboos and uncleanliness (which they probably see as taking advantage of god’s curse) and how they distinguished themselves from the other filthy undead by living luxurious lifestyles similar to those of the nobility.

Vampires established a solid social standing for themselves in that way, but that also created the ability to fight back against them.

For one thing, undead beings who seek the blood of the living are not that rare.

Because they can accomplish most things, a demonstration of paranormal powers beyond drinking blood does little to prove whether an undead being is a Vampire or something else.

Surprisingly, it is possible to run across a category error where everyone assumes someone is a Vampire when they are in fact not. Even the person themselves might be mistaken.

• Focus more on a single central theme.
• Don’t get so serious just because this is your favorite topic. If you want to talk about the thesis you wrote while stranded deep in the Transylvanian mountains in your college days, we can go drinking some time.
• This isn’t very exciting, so maybe I’ll spice it up with a sexy photoshoot. Perhaps a frilly gothic swimsuit on a moonlit poolside?

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