"I didn't know you could be like this too..." muttered Ayano, breaking the silence between them.

Taking his hands off from her shoulders, Ryu scratched the back of his head gently, "Sorry, it's at a heat of the moment." The night atmosphere definitely influenced him to spoke such bold statements toward her.

'Didn't I told myself to take it slow!' Ryu keeps cursing himself inside his thoughts, he's worried that Ayano would form a longer bridge in their relationship because of what he had said earlier. If only Ayano doesn't give a confused look right now, he might've already stroked his head very roughly for his stupidity. But, in the middle of this distress, he suddenly heard a faint laugh entered his mind.

"Well, okay, I'll try to be more straightforward with you." chuckled Ayano as she covers her mouth using the palm of her hand.

"Eh? Pardon?" Hearing the unexpected reply, Ryu subconsciously tilted his head to the side. After all, that kind of response could only be uttered when he said it in two months in the future. What did he actually do to gain that level of trust this fast?

Looking into the bewildered expression, Ayano gave another smile, "What? You didn't expect the answer?"

"To be honest, yes..."

"Well, it's because you treat me the same as you treat others." Fidgeting with her hands, Ayano then added, "And for the main reason, maybe because I got a feeling that you already seen through me."

"I see." Listening to her reasoning, Ryu finally feels relieved, it seems what he initially thought to be a blunder move wasn't true at all. Instead, it could be considered a great leap for his bond with her. Before long, Ryu began to smirk teasingly, "Well, if you said that, should you have one more thing you need to confess to me regarding the previous sparring?"

"Oh, that reminds me, maybe I could only participate in the training thrice a week." Somehow, when Ayano told this, her gazes are unsteady, and she also begins to fidget with her hands for the second time.

"Come on Ayano, I think we both know what I am talking about."

Catching the playful tone behind Ryu's sentence, a pout began to form in her cherry lips as she conceded, "Geez! You're so mean, yes, I lied about the potion! Satisfied now?"

"Well, I know it's probably because of Narukami, right?"

"Then why did you ask when you already know the reason?" retorted Ayano.

"I simply want to see your reaction, that's all," responded Ryu while tried to stop his giggling, although it's ended to no avail. Observing this, Ayano begins to hit Ryu's shoulder repeatedly as she yelled, "That's not fun at all!"

"I'm sorry then," Ryu replied with his face still full of laughter, making his apology appeared to be not earnest at all. Of course, because of that, Ayano increased her frequency in her beatings. Which weirdly, makes Ryu laugh harder than before. 'This is the Ayano that I know.'

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Following that event, they keep fooling and joking around until the Forest City castle has entered their field of vision. Pausing her movements, Ayano turned her head to face towards Ryu, "I guess we need to cease our chat here."

Because her house has strict security, prior to the escort, they've already agreed to stop the instant the majestic green building comes into their sight.

"Well, see you in tomorrow's lecture then," Ryu said while waved his hand.

"Yeah, thanks for escorting me, I didn't know that a conversation could be this fun and enjoyable." Ayano smiled before replying to the hand gesture, "Bye."

After seeing Ayano off, Ryu's currently on his way back to his residence.

While walking, he keeps repeating the scene where Ayano smiled very brightly over and over again. Because of that, one of the memories he had locked deep inside his heart inadvertently broke free from its shackles as it begins to projecting itself before his eyes.

***

... Out of a sudden, Ryu found himself standing in a dark round chamber, the only source of light in there was a torch, circularly planted on the ground.

Yet, there's a stack of dead bodies, flesh to be more accurate, being sorted nicely on every single of those torches side. In addition, there's also an abundant amount of dry blood being splattered all over the room, causing a stench smell to comes out from it. There's no doubt that ordinary people would go crazy when seeing this scenery.

However, that's not the reason for the ear-piercing scream that Ryu has been making this whole time. In front of him... There's a demi-human with sharp fangs and claws, flying using its pair of bat wings to land before his wife.

"NO, AYA, NO! PLEASE RUN FROM THERE, AYA!"

No matter how hard he shouted, Ayano still can't hears his voice.

... 'Splats,' The sound from the other side clearly penetrated his hearings, and at the same time, he could saw his wife, Ayano, had her stomach being torn open brutally.

Just as her body about to lie flat to the ground, the creature suddenly used his power to hypnotize Ayano, making her stand with her own foot powerlessly. It was exactly like a doll being played with its owner.

[Kuhuhu, woman, at least before I'm being slain with your party, I'll enjoy my last meal and take you with me to the afterlife!]

Finished saying this, the Vampire Lord brings his fangs close to Ayano's neck before biting her intensely, and just like that, Ayano's blood has been sucked until there's only her flesh and bones left, dropped limply on the ground.

"NO, AYA... NOOOOOOO!!!"

"No... This can't be happening! It's only a dream! I've seen this scene multiple times!" Aware that it's just another nightmare that's popped from his thoughts, he starts to meditate himself in these creepy places.

'In...'

'Out...'

'In...'

'Out...'

Hoping that the nightmare has already ended, Ryu hesitantly opened his eyes. But, when he did so, he instantly saw the previously attractive purple eyes already turned into a lifeless one, staring at his direction on the bloodied floor.

Horrified, Ryu forcefully shakes its head, "No! She's still alive! Didn't I just see her off!'

'In...'

'Out...'

Ryu keeps repeating those motion even until after several hours have passed, it's better to sew his eyes off than seeing those scenes.

And at last, he could feel a gentle wind brushing off his hair. Convinced about it this time, Ryu immediately opened his eyes wide as he began to pant for breath very loudly. His body has been drenched with cold sweets, it may have the same amount as today's training.

"Finally, I succeeded in getting out of that hell!" As Ryu shouted this loudly, he felt something different from sweats flowing down on his cheek.

"Eh? Why I'm crying? Isn't that just a mere dream?" Ryu tried to brush off his feeling by chuckling, but the drops from his eyes seem doesn't have any intention to stop at all.

"I shouldn't have asked for the detail if I knew that it gonna haunt me like this." Wiping his tears, Ryu began to regret the choice that he made at that time...