The two of us decided on meeting up at the usual spot to evaluate my manuscript—at the children’s playground with that big oak tree. I had a shift till late in the evening and she had whatever vampires had going on for them all morning, so we decided on meeting up around 9pm.
“She still isn’t here.”
It being already late, the playground was devoid of any signs of people—the same went for 27-year-old vampires. That being the case, I went to the vending machine just in front of the playground to grab myself a warm can of coffee. The blue lights coming from the vending machine were a bit irritating to the eyes, considering there was a scarcity of street lamps along this road. But I managed to locate the one I wanted.
The can made a clang as it dropped in the pick-up box.
“Pokka coffee? Seems pretty old fashioned if you ask me.” A hooded figure leaning against the vending machine said in a teasing voice. I got startled for a second until I realized it was only Kashiwagi. She was sporting her usual summer attire, rubber shoes and short-shorts. But this time, her top was a sleeveless shirt with a hoodie at the back. If I saw her from afar in this dimly lit street, I’d think for sure she was part of some cult about to perform a ritual.
“You have a problem with Pokka? Also, why do you have your hood up, it’s the middle of the night.”
“Why, you got scared for a bit didn’t ‘ya?” She said with a teasing smile.
“Well, I did get startled a bit..”
“Eh, honest as ever, you’re no fun to tease if you’re always so straight forward." She said with a disappointed sigh as she removed her hood. She then directed her gaze to the canned coffee I had in hand. “My master used to love Pokka.”
“Your master sure has good taste.” I opened the can and took a quick sip. “The coffees you get in vending machines these days are too sweet for my taste, they almost taste completely artificial. You can never go wrong with the one that started it all.”
“You say that but did you know it wasn’t actually the first canned coffee in Japan?” Her face started to light up as she started giving out canned coffee trivia. “The first canned coffee was actually Mira coffee which originated from this prefecture back in 1965. It was short-lived though and was eventually replaced with Pokka in 1973!”
“Ehh..” I stared at in amazement before finally connecting my thoughts. “You got that from your master didn’t you.”
“You could tell?” She said as she made a teehee pose. I swear she seemed poorly drawn just now.
“Coffee history aside, here.” I took my manuscript out of a Manila envelope and handed it over to her.
“Hmm?” She seemed confused at first, but after recognizing the front page, she soon realized it was my work. “Oh right we’re here for that. My bad, it totally slipped my mind.”
“That was the whole point of meeting up here though…”
We relocated back to the playground and sat on the swings that was clearly not intended for two grown adults to sit on. She didn’t utter a word the moment my work was in her hand and she started reading in silence as soon as she was settled down.
The novel I wrote was a relatively short read. It was what you’d call a one-shot in manga-terms. So at average, It would take her a good forty-five to sixty minutes to read through all of them. But to my surprise, she seemed to be going through the pages at a much quicker pace than I had imagined. I suppose it’s one of the perks of vampires’ enhanced eyesight. It’s either that or she was just a fast reader.
After twenty minutes, she had gotten to the final page. And with a silent “hmm” to herself, she flipped the last page over and placed my writing on her lap. She remained silent as she fixed her gaze to the vending machine up front. But on closer inspection, it was as if she wasn’t looking at anything at all.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“A love story between a vampire and a mortal.” She eventually uttered after a long moment of silence, eyes still staring into the void. “What made you think of writing romance. You usually write about depressing stuff wherein the story ends on a sour note.”
This is true, that was the general tone of my usual writing. The concept of immortal beings growing weary of living, seeking something more than what this world had to offer; that was the subject matter I tackled quite often, if not always. However, for some reason, me, a mortal having encountered an immortal being gave me inspiration to approach the concept of vampires in a different light.
My mind, as I was writing, continuously kept pouring out the words printed on those sheets, ideas and scenarios that just presented themselves to me with open arms as if they were suppressed in the back of my mind for such a long time. both my hands moving on their own as if it was the story they wanted to tell—as if it was the story I was born to create.
But despite having eloquently explained the creative process in my head, my mind couldn’t process those thoughts and feelings into words without it sounding completely abstract. Which is why I ended up only answering,
“I suppose something in me just wanted to write something different for once.” I responded in a low tone, my voice unsure.
Despite me having already answered, Kashiwagi remained silent. I followed suit and did the same. I couldn’t look her in the eye after having my work read and not knowing her thoughts of it yet. The suspense was putting me on edge. Now that I’ve had time to thinking about what I wrote, I was beginning to doubt whether it was actually good or not. Oh god, was it really that cringy that she couldn’t form an opinion..?
But after the long and painful sound of absolute stillness, a noise eventually broke the silence. It was the sound of weeping—the kind that sounded like it was being forcibly held back. I whipped my gaze to the side and saw Kashiwagi, bawling her eyes out. Her shoulders seemed to be shaking uncontrollably, and her tears streamed down her face at a consistent pace. My manuscript that was on her lap had already been soaked, as if they had been exposed to the downpour for a good minute or two. I didn’t know how to respond, nor how to handle the situation.
“O-oy, are you alright..?” She clearly wasn’t, but that was the best my pathetic mind could conjure up on the spot.
She raised her palm in front of my face, gesturing me to stop what I was attempting to do. She tried controlling her weeping first before finally being able to collect her thoughts.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why but I just felt like crying..” She was still struggling a bit to form her words but tried her best to converse regardless. “Your work is beautiful, it’s the best story I’ve read in a while. It’s short but, but..”
Struggling to look for the right word to use to describe her emotions, she eventually gave up and simply gave me a heartfelt look and a soft “Thank you.”
I was left confused at how she responded. What could she be thanking me for, I wondered. At a surface level, I could only deduce that she was thanking me for making her a part of the writing process. But other than that, I was completely clueless.
“Thank you as well for reading my work, as well as the emotional feedback.” Unsure of how to respond, I simply thanked her as well in return.
After finally calming herself down, she wiped her tears and we started conversing normally again.
“You included this playground in your story, why is that?”
“This spot is the only place around this area that had an oak tree.” I paused as I took a quick glance at the tree in question. “From what I understood, the two kanjis for your surname is written as both oak (Kashiwa) and tree (ki). So I thought about using this using this place as a setting.”
“I see.” Processing my literary genius, she gave a short pause before continuing. “Now that I thought about it, I never told you how to write my surname. How did you figure it out?”
Now that she mentioned it, I guess she never did show me how. But I strangely just had a feeling that that’s how it was written.
“Just a hunch I guess.” I answered with a conceited grin. “Think of it as a thanks. A small easter egg to the vampire who helped me write a story that could make any vampire bawl their eyes out in tears.”
“Ehh, don’t get too cocky now, it’s probably just me being sensitive to this..” She told me off with a pout, but then transitioned into her usual, teasing smile. “Don’t tell me you’ve already fallen for me for you to have my surname as an easter egg in your story.”
“O-of course I haven’t!” I rebutted all flustered, “in fact, I stated in the story that a vampire and human can’t be together, right?”
“That’s why you had the vampire kill themself to reincarnate as a human in his next life huh?”
“You did say vampires are guaranteed humans in their next life so I just thought about using that element for the story. Please don’t get the wrong idea here.”
“Ehh, that’s more like it. I like it when boys aren’t being honest with themselves.” She stood up from her seat and placed my manuscript on the swing. She then proceeded to walk in front of me and lean in so close that our breathes almost felt connected. “What if I turned you, would you reconsider?”
She was too close, extremely too close for comfort. It was almost as if it was a tactic to mess with my head and make me not think straight. But regardless, I tried to rationalize the situation to the best of my ability.
They say that vampires are born innately charming, which is why I want to rule out any feelings I may have towards this vampire since, if there were any, they’d most likely be ingenuine—simply a product of her vampiric charm. However, her hypnotic stare that was piercing through my soul was making me want to answer both honestly and mindlessly.
“W-what if I say no..?”
She cradled the back of my head with her left hand and whispered into my ear. “Remember when I said at the start that I was going to help you under one condition?”
I do remember that part. However, I wouldn’t have imagined her condition to be this. Getting together with a vampire wasn’t—
“Almost right, but slightly missed the mark.” Having read the inside of my mind, she cut me off before doing the unthinkable.
Kashiwagi Anne, the vampire I had met only almost two months ago, buried her fangs at the side of my neck. I was left speechless due to the indescribable sensation.
It initially hurt, having my skin punctured by two sharp fangs. But a warm feeling overcame my whole being, as if my brain chemistry was slightly changing as we speak. My mind went blank for a second before coming back to my senses, but this time, all of my sense were enhanced.
My hearing, my vision, as well as everything in between.
Without any warning, I was turned into the being I was only fascinated about till now.
A vampire.
Kashiwagi pulled out her fangs that were stuck on my neck and backed away before extending a hand. “Congratulations, from today onward, you’re officially a vampire!”