New Beginnings Arc -Start-

Chifuyu's Pov

Last week, Ariel suffered a crushing defeat to her younger sister. She was quick to recover though, for the better. Ariel is far stronger than me right now, I couldn't help at all in her last fight let alone watch. I'm motivated to grow even stronger, so that I can fight alongside Ariel in any situation.

Iris and I spend a few days packing all of our stuff since we'd be moving out of Shoyo's place to Odd Jobs Cafe. I'll definitely miss it here, I don't think Ariel will though.

Speaking of Shoyo, he publicly announced that he'd been training 3 students and proclaimed us as his disciples. Ariel's assuming the same age as us and a different last name. Iris is already 17, but my birthday is still a few months away. Anyway, the news of Shoyo having disciples exploded all over Shioto. We'd forgotten how popular he is as the strongest Hunter, so now the world has their eyes on us as well. We asked Shoyo if he used social media, and he did in fact. Boasting over 150 million followers, I was blown away and Iris fainted when we found out. We have one social media platform titled Shiogram that has around 300 million active users. Shoyo recommended we make accounts but I wasn't too sure, it was a definite no-go for Iris.

A few more days passed after that and we're in the process of getting all of our stuff organized at our new place.

"I'm kind of tired, can we just do a recap?"

"Uh… We just started the second arc, Chifuyu."

"Kagura should be back in a few minutes."

We're here with Ina Boreas, our boss so to say and a Special Rank Hunter currently on hiatus. Things may be awkward since she isn't too fond of me and Ariel, but it shouldn't be too bad. This Kagura girl was apparently so excited to meet us that she went to grab us breakfast. She doesn't have a license so she walked to the fast-food restaurant down the street. It's super busy throughout the whole day, the drive-thru has at least 15 cars waiting at all times and the inside is even busier.

"You excited to start this Odd Jobs Cafe, Iris?"

"Well... I'm only doing this cuz you're here. Now that I think about it, I'll be interacting with a lot of people. Maybe this wasn't a great idea..."

"Hahaha, you'll be fine!"

I smack her back a few times at an attempt of reassurance.

The living quarters here really is amazing, I'm sure things'll be great here.

Suddenly, we hear a loud thud coming from the lobby. We were surprised for a second, but remembered who it must be. Footsteps begin running toward us and we see a girl's head peek through the door. I remember this particular hairstyle and hair color, it indeed is the girl from the trial.

"You guys are here!"

Squealing with excitement, she comes running through the door and grabs my shoulders once she's in front of me.

"It's great to see you're doing well, Chifuyu! I'm Kagura Mikase: Best Girl. I was one of the Hunters at your trial!"

Did she just self-proclaim herself as Best Girl?

"Yeah, I remember!"

This girl's got more energy than me, even I'm sweating a little from nervousness. But I try to return the same amount of excitement.

"I heard you recommended me for this place, sounded like it'd be a lot of fun here so I can't wait to start!"

"You seriously mean that?!"

"Yeah, of course."

"I knew I was a good judge of character."

"Haha, pleasure to meet you."

Kagura then turns her eyes to the girl behind me and goes to greet her.

"You must be Iris, thanks for joining this place as well!"

"Er-uh... It's my pleasure."

Her face is saying, 'Oh no, another extrovert.'

"I brought some food guys, so let's eat. Oh, and tell Ariel she can come out too!"

'You heard her.'

"Hm, don't mind if I do.'

Ariel emerges out of my shadow as gracefully as ever, wearing a tank top and shorts. This has been her casual wear for a while now.

"Woooow, you're even cuter than when I first saw you!"

"Hehe, is that so?"

Ariel turns her head back and whispers to me.

"I like this girl."

Heh, pushover.

After eating together, Ina Boreas took is going to take off in a few hours having some work to take care of. Although she's on hiatus, she's still seemingly very busy. We have a few days to get settled in and start work on Tuesday. Now that Ariel is going to be out in the open a lot more, she'll be in human appearance for the most part. That means no pointy ears, bloodshot red eyes, fangs, or sharp fingernails. The last one she usually had away anyway since it was a bit of an inconvenience more often than not.

"By the way Kagura, what rank are you? I see 3 stars on your collar. That means..."

Curious about what rank this Hunter is who's around my age, I ask her straight-up.

"I'm 2nd rank," she replies holding up a peace sign.

"Wow! Wait... If I remember correctly, the Hunters who were at my trial were all 1st rank beside Shoyo. How were you able to be there?"

"Well..."

"I pulled some strings since I knew what the trial was about. I figured you were going to die anyway so I just had Kagura go to see it through. Should've known Shoyo would have a big hand in keeping you alive."

"I see..."

This Ina Boreas lady had no expectations of me surviving that trial... I wonder if everybody in the Boreas family despises vampires this much. Come to think of it, Shinatsu: our tutor for a few months seemed impartial to me. I wonder if this is her sister or aunt, surely not her mom, she looks way too young.

"Well, take your time unpacking. I'll take a look at your rooms once you're done, so try not to make it too bland."

"Oh, sure."

She's going to be looking at our rooms?! Guess I should make a good impression. Wonder if she's a fan of anime. No, probably not...

Ms. Ina went to her room which she's using as an office. Shouldn't take a few hours to finish unpacking, I can give her a good look at my character before she leaves.

"If it wasn't obvious already, I have no problem with the two of you being vampires. Well, half-vampire in Chifuyu's case."

"Oh, right. Thanks Kagura, means a lot."

"You have my appreciation as well," Ariel adds in.

"Alright Iris, let's finish up our rooms!"

"Y-yeah.."

I pump my fist in the air since I already have an opportunity for Ms. Ina to see me in a good light. Iris is confused as to why I'm so excited though, but she also raises her arm.

Flash forward a few minutes, I'm sitting on my bed that was already put up by moving people, contemplating what the perfect room would look like. Ariel went into my shadow to take a nap.

"Hmhmhmhm."

For some reason, Kagura is in here with me humming while sitting on the floor criss-cross applesauce.

"What is it, Kagura?"

"Hmhm, I already know what you're thinking. 'How can I make the perfect room to impress Ms. Ina'."

"What the... Amazing! Are you a clairvoyant or something?"

"Haha, I'm just kinda good at reading people. Anyway, you're overthinking here Chifuyu."

"I am?"

"Yep. You just have to be yourself, make your room simply how you had it before."

"...Even so, I feel like I should do a little more."

"Hm. Well in that case, leave it to me! Just tell me what you want your room to be like, and I'll fix it up for you!"

"Let's see..."

"For starters, what do you love?"

"Anime and manga."

I responded instantaneously.

"Ho, you don't seem like the otaku type."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Next, what kind of anime and manga do you like the most?"

Oh, she ignored me.

"If I had to say, Shonen is definitely my favorite."

Though I do like romcoms and slice-of-life just as much.

"Shonen huh? Alright, I got it, leave your room to me!"

"Huh, that's all you needed to know?"

"Yep, I'll call you once I'm done."

"If you say so.."

I can't help but be worried. What is she going to make my room into, I hope it isn't too over the top.

***

An hour passed.

"All done Chifuyu!"

"Let's see it."

"I just know you're gonna love it."

"Haha, I hope so."

Once I opened the door, I couldn't believe my eyes. My mouth was agape and I swung my arms to the back of my head in disbelief.

"Kagura, what is this..."

"You said you love shonen, so I decorated your room full of it. It was a simple solution, I don't know why you didn't think of it."

"Shonen?"

"Yeah, that's what you said."

"THIS IS BL!!!"

BL: Boy's love. In other words, gay men. My new room had been covered top to bottom in it. Posters, manga volumes, clothes, my bed sheets, and even gay porn playing on my tv. Everything was BL.

"BL?"

"I'm finished, if Ms. Ina sees this..."

As if speaking it into existence, the person in question walks through my door.

"I heard your room was finished, Chi-"

All I could do was look back, my face sunken to despair.

"Ms. Ina, this isn't what it looks like!"

Surprisingly, her face blushed up a bit. Seems even she can get a little flustered.

"So you're into this kind of stuff. I don't judge people's tastes, just forget I was ever here."

"Ms. Ina, please come back before you leave! I promise this isn't my doing!"

"Haha, you got Ina all embarrassed! Hahahaha!"

"You..."

"Huh?"

"GET OOOOOOUUUUUT!"

"Wait what?"

"Ms. Ina has the wrong impression of me now because of you! Where did you even get all this stuff?"

"This isn't what you wanted? Isn't Shonen about males fighting and making love to each other?"

"I should've just made my room myself, this is nowhere near what I wanted..."

"Nowhere near? So the opposite!"

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"What?"

"Forgive me, Chifuyu! I misunderstood what Shonen is, I'll get it right this time, I promise!"

Sigh

"Knock yourself out."

It couldn't get any worse, right? I'm gonna take a nap.

***

An hour and a half passed.

It got worse.

My room had now been littered with lewd anime girls and hentai, there's even figures and a body pillow this time.

"Well, did I get it right?"

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND??!"

"What, I still got it wrong?"

"Get this outta here right now!"

"Oh, Ina."

Right then, I felt true fear for the very first time.

I slowly turned my head to see Ms. Ina staring at me with absolute disgust.

"So you're one of those type of otakus..."

She turned around coldly and walked away.

All I could was accept defeat. I sat down on my ecchi sheets, head down, arms between my legs. Why did my first day here have to go like this?

A few hours passed and I was finished brooding. Before Iris could get a chance to look at me with discontent, I cleared my room and approached Kagura.

"Hey, Kagura."

"What's up?"

"How old are you?"

"Me? I'm 19."

"And you're already a 2nd rank Hunter, does that make you the youngest to be in that position?"

"Hm... pretty sure, yeah."

"That's amazing. I have to set some kind of goal for myself since I was dragged into this world, so I'll make you my goal."

My and Ariel's main goal is to end the long war between vampires and humans, and to find a way to turn me back to normal. I don't see either happening anytime soon, so until then I need to continue growing stronger and do my job as a Hunter.

"Ho..."

"So let's spar, and don't hold back. I want to see where my strength lies next to yours."

"Okay, you're on."

Her face just yells 'Let's get it on'. Shouldn't be a surprise that most Hunters love to fight.

Our spar is taking place in the front yard. We're using wooden swords of course. Ariel came out to watch along with Iris, Nailah already left to take care of some business.

We're both eager to show the other our strength. Ariel is getting ready to count down.

"3...2...1... Start!"

Against vampires, I should wait for their first move. But this is a spar against a Hunter around my age, I don't have to worry about getting punished for being too aggressive... Is what I thought. Taking the initiative, I charge at her at delivering swift diagonal swings that are all easily evaded.

"Your form's good, but you're telegraphing your moves."

She counters one of my strikes knocking me back, my arms get stunned upward but I keep a grip on my sword. Before I can bring myself together, Kagura chops at me relentlessly not giving me a moment to breathe. When I thought I had a chance to attack, she knocks my sword away and sweeps off my feet with one of her legs, making me fall on my ass. Pointing her wooden sword at me, I lost in a flash.

"Guess you got a lotta work to do, Chifuyu."

This girl always has a smile on, it's definitely contagious.

"Chifuyu lost in a matter of seconds."

"Haha, she wiped the floor with you, master!"

I really am grateful I entered the world of Hunters, I get to meet incredible people like this.

"I didn't stand a chance, you're strong Kagura."

"Heh, I know right."

Smugly agreeing, she helps me up with one hand.

"That was great, I see you're already getting along, Chifuyu."

Somebody was walking up to us while clapping their hands. It was Shoyo.

"Yo!"

Damn, he saw me get my ass kicked.

"You're Shoyo Kusakabe, the strongest Hunter!"

"That's me. You must be Kagura."

"Yep, nice to meet you!"

"Likewise."

"Wh-what're you here for, Mr. Shoyo?"

"I actually came to warn you guys about something."

"Warn us?"

"There's been a string of homicide incidents in this district for the past few days. The death count just hit 15 last night."

"15 deaths in just a few days?"

"Is it the Slayers?"

"No. Investigation has shown that there's one culprit. Homicide doesn't refer to the killing by a vampire. We're dealing with a human here."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"We have a pretend vampire on the loose.”

"Oi Shoyo, are you serious?"

Ariel promptly follows up with Shoyo's crazy news by confirming if what she just heard is true.

"Yeah, have you ever heard of anything like this?"

"Not once. What kind of sick bastard pretends to be a vampire?"

"No idea. All the victims have died from blood loss due to chunks of their bodies torn off with bite marks around them. Tests have shown that they're without a doubt human teeth. It could be from a vamp hiding their fangs, but that's highly unlikely. Until it's confirmed for sure though, we're just saying it's a vampire going on a spree. The news should be announcing it any second now, so this district is gonna be on high alert until further notice."

"You won't have to worry about us Shoyo, I'll look over your disciples."

"Hmph, good to know."

"If this creep shows himself anywhere near here, we'll take care of em. Right, Iris?"

"Eh, I want nothing to do with this."

"Gah.. You're a Hunter now y'know, it's a job to do something about it if you can."

"Oh, right."

"Well, I have the day off. So I say we do something together before it gets too late."

"I'm down."

"Tch." Ariel clicks her tongue.

"Let's go back inside now, I'm starving."

***

"You guys gonna get your driver's license anytime soon? You've been busy training for the past year, I don't know if you have any experience behind a wheel, Chifuyu. I know Iris doesn't."

It's important for Hunters to know how to drive. Classes are offered at the Hunter Training Academy but not every student takes them.

"Hehe, I do in fact."

"Oh?"

"With a motorcycle actually. My dad let me drive his around in empty parking lots during the morning when I was 14 and 15. I did that a lot, but I still have to get on the road."

"Well, go ahead and sign up to get your permit. I'm sure your pops can help you."

"Yeah, he already told me he would. I just forgot about it when training started."

"What about you, Kagura?"

"I'm glad you asked, check it out."

Smoothly pulling out her phone, she shows her license on it. In Shioto, licenses are mostly digital if the owner has a smartphone. It comes with a special code so it can't be created or replicated by others illegally.

"Hey, nice. You buy a car yet?"

"You see, I'm saving up for one of the most expensive sports cars there is. I knew it was my dream car the moment I saw it."

"Is that so? I came here in my own sports car as a matter of fact."

"You did?! Can I take a look at it?"

"Of course."

A Hunter's annual pay starts at $50,000. They're also paid for individual vampires they eliminate. Members of Odd Jobs will be receiving a different pay rate though. Kagura has a lot more to save up if she wants to buy the car she's talking about.

"Hey Iris, you login to your Hunter Direct Pay app yet?"

"Eh?"

Shoyo asked the question, but Chifuyu follows up responding to her confusion.

"You already forgot? It's how we're gonna get paid, login using your Hunter ID."

"Oh right. Sorry, it slipped my mind."

"Go ahead and do it now, you may be in for a surprise."

What could Shoyo mean by that? Both Chifuyu and Iris want to know.

After she logs in, the two of them look at her balance in absolute shock. Since Shioto is at its most peaceful time right now, that naturally means vampire incidents are at their lowest. Shoyo has already implied that this is just a front. Many people still go missing each month, they already know the vampires will make a big move soon. But that's beside this point. Since vampire deaths are rare right now, the pay for killing them is higher than normal. As of this time, killing a single vampire determined to be low ranking in strength pays at least 8 grand. Iris took out 50 vampires. Shoyo determined some of them to be stronger than usual, so the pay for those was somewhat higher. Plus, Iris took at all those vampires at once, so the bonus for that increased her pay exponentially.

"You obviously forgot, but you did beat 50 vampires alone. You weren't a Hunter at the time so you weren't paid yet. But now, you can truly see the worth of what you did."

No Hunter has ever been paid so much besides a few others in the past few decades. After all, it's been a while since somebody killed so many vampires at once. This also goes to show that a group of vampires with such numbers have not shown themselves altogether like this in a while.

"Fi-five hundred th-thousand..."

"HALF A MILLION?!"

"I'm rich..."

"Way to go girl, that's a lot of money!"

"I never have to work again for the rest of my life."

"Huh?"

"Farewell everybody, it was good knowing you."

Thus, Iris leaves with an epic goodbye.

Or, tried to at least.

Shoyo grabs her shoulder.

"You're funny, Iris. I'll give you that much."

"Eh, I wasn't trying to be..."

"Listen, now do you see your worth since it's come in such a large payment? You can already fulfill your goal, now it's time to think about what comes after."

Shoyo snapped Iris back to her senses.

"...You're right. This is enough for my parents to take it easy for a while and to send my little sister to a university when she's old enough."

Chifuyu pats her on the shoulder. "Good for you, Iris."

She lets out a genuinely happy smile.

'What's next...?'

"As you know, that incident has been kept under wraps. As such, although you got the pay for it, you won't be getting the promotion since that goes through public merits."

"Oh, I'm fine with that."

Bzz

Iris's phone vibrates from a text she got from her dad.

"'Hey, when can we see those friends you made'."

"Ch-Chifuyu!"

"Oops, sorry about that." He read the text aloud.

"Who was that?"

"Her dad."

No remorse for her privacy, but he was asking about them.

"You told Isaac about Chifuyu?" asks Shoyo.

"Yeah..."

"Ha, would you look at that? That means she's grown fond of you."

Iris's face flushes red, she told her parents a while ago about new friends she made and they've been asking for her to bring them over, but she hasn't.

"The text said friends, plural. So she was also talking about..."

They look at Ariel.

"Me?" she says while pointing to herself.

"You think of me as a friend?"

Still red, Iris nods her head yes while looking down. Ariel blushes a little from surprise.

"Well that settles it, we're visiting Iris's home today."

"Can I go too?" Kagura inquires.

"Of course, let's get ready."

Chifuyu chuckles looking at the embarrassed Iris, patting her on her back.

The group of 5 walks out to Shoyo's sports car, and Kagura spends several minutes admiring it. She wants to hold off on driving one though until she gets her own. The chances she actually waits are slim.

"Even I must say, this doesn't look too bad."

"Ho, so you can appreciate my amazing car, Ariel?"

"Yeah, it's a remarkable beauty Shoyo!"

"What the... You uh... You good?"

Ariel's complimenting her sworn enemy, what exactly is her ploy here?

"Allow me to drive us to Iris's home."

"Huh? Do you even know how to drive?"

"How hard could it be?"

"Hell no."

"Tch."

"Did you just click your tongue?"

Swallowing her pride, Ariel walks up right in front of Shoyo.

"Just this once, I don't ask very much of you. Let me drive your vehicle."

"Why in the world are you so insistent on this?"

The truth is, Ariel got excited hearing the car talk earlier and wanted to get behind a wheel herself as soon as she could. There's no such thing as cars in the Alter World, there's not even technology there. So she's been curious and eager to try out a lot of things in the past year. Also, the fact that Shoyo can do something she can't pisses her off.

Clasping her hands together and shyly facing her head down at a 3/4 angle while holding eye contact on top swaying her shoulders, Ariel pulls out the ultimate puppy card attack.

"Please Shoyo, it's always been a dream of mine..."

"Okay stop, I'm about to hurl. Here, take the keys. But you have to show me you can drive around the block first."

"Haha, thanks!"

The other 3 watched this whole scene play out like it was some sort of comedy skit.

"Kagura, ride with her would you?"

"Sure thing."

Getting in the driver's seat, the powerful Vampire Lord finds herself unable to even see above the steering wheel.

"Pfff."

"Hahahahahaha."

"Ariel, I'm sorry.. Hahahahaha!

Shoyo, Chifuyu, and Kagura all start laughing at this amusing sight. Iris looks on not knowing what to do. Clearly ticked off by their ridicule, Ariel starts the car without adjusting the seat.

"Hey, wait for Kagura!"

"Don't worry, I'm not taking off just yet," Ariel declares as she rolls down the passenger window.

"I'm gonna rev this thing up."

"Uh, do you know how to do that?"

"Of course, I just move this stick thing to R."

"No, no, Ariel..."

"Ariel, wait!"

Yelling out before the inevitable disaster, Chifuyu and Shoyo run towards the car. Right as Kagura and Chifuyu jump on it, the car goes flying in reverse and slams into a car 20 feet down the street.

Shoyo looks down at Ariel with a blank stare. She doesn't even look up as she knows she just royally messed up.

***

Shoyo's now driving everyone to Iris's house with a damaged rear bumper and a brake light that doesn't work. Ariel lost any driving privileges she would've ever had for a while. Shoyo left his contact and insurance information on the car that Ariel rammed into. She hasn't spoken a word out of embarrassment.

"Sorry, Shoyo."

He looks at the interior mirror and sees her sulking.

"... Sigh... Don't worry about it. I'll help you improve your your lousy driving skills."

"I'll look forward to it."

She isn't.

Upon arriving at the Sakata house, they're greeted by Iris's little sister.

"Hello!"

"This is your sister? She's so cute!"

"What's your name little one?"

"Ikura."

"Aw, that's a sweet name. How old are you?"

"I'm 9 years old."

Shoyo who was still in the car is just now getting out. Seeing him, Ikura runs and jumps on him.

"Mr. Shoyo!"

"Haha, hey! You doing okay?"

"Yep. So my sister really has friends!"

"Gah..."

An arrow of betrayal stabs Iris, the little one doesn't hold back her words at all.

"Of course I do... Where's mum and dad?"

"They told me to let you in cuz they're making dinner for everyone!"

"Seriously? They didn't have to."

"Well let's go in."

Iris's family lives in a nice small 2-bedroom home, nothing to complain about. They've been saving to move to a more spacious home and they have plenty saved up, but they're about to be receiving a lot more from their eldest daughter.

"Oh my god, Iris really brought over 3 friends!"

"Our friendless daughter is finally growing up."

Two more arrows of betrayal penetrate Iris's abdomen.

"Why doesn't my own family have faith in me..."

"Hahaha."

"Pfff."

"And that's 3 fatal wounds for our young heroine."

Chifuyu, Shoyo, and Kagura are getting a kick out of Iris's own family dissing her. After making some introductions, everyone except Shoyo hangs out in the living room because he knows his way around the kitchen so he offered to help cook. Chifuyu put on Kung Fu Panda while they waited.

"I love this movie!"

"Oh yeah? What's your favorite line from it?" asks Chifuyu.

"Skadoosh."

"Ay, that's what I'm talking about!"

Chifuyu and Ikura high-five. The little one actually has great taste when it comes to animated movies.

"Chifuyu showed me these movies. I love the tiger lady, what about you Ikura?"

"I love the tiger lady too!"

"Hmph. You know what they say, great minds think alike."

Ariel and Ikura exchange a double high-five.

"Ikura, have you ever had your hair braided?"

"Yeah, I like having it in braids! My mom does it a lot."

Sitting in Kagura's lap, she starts getting her hair braided for fun. Meanwhile, Iris is on her phone. Looking at the weather app. In her own home.

'Why is my little sister more social than I am...?'

Complete embarrassment. Iris was never good at starting conversations. Most of the time, she's only ever answering other people's questions. Although she has opened up a bit more in the past year, she still has a long way to go.

Ariel sees this.

After about 20 minutes, the parents realize they forgot something.

"Oh no, I forgot some ingredients."

"I could go and grab them real quick."

"Thanks, Shoyo."

"Actually..."

Appearing in front of the kitchen was Ariel.

"I'll get them if that's fine."

"You've never been grocery shopping before."

"Then I'll take someone. You hear that Iris? Let's go!"

"Huh, me?"

"Text her what you guys need, we won't take long."

"Thank you, Ariel."

"No problem, Mr. Sakata."

Shoyo smiles, realizing why Ariel is doing this.

***

Ariel saw the grocery store on the way, so she knew it was only about a 10-minute walk since it's right down the street.

There's an awkward air around them, Ariel intends to finally clear it.

"You have a nice name, Iris."

"Huh? Wh-where's this coming from?"

"Nowhere, I've always thought this. They represent your beautiful blue-violet eyes. It's a shame your always hiding them behind your bangs."

"I don't like my name... It's too pretty for someone like me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"..."

"C'mon, spit it out."

"...A name like Iris deserves to be for someone who's confident and full of energy..."

"What? That's a dumb reason. Why do you think like that?"

"I can't help it..."

Ariel takes a deep breath in and out.

"Listen, your parents decided to name you what they did because they knew it'd be a perfect fit. Isn't that how it is for most cases? You need to cherish it."

"... You really think so?"

"I know so! Stop putting yourself down so much."

Iris looks down with an awkward but joyful smile. Ariel sees this which in return makes her happy.

"So, you've thought of me as a friend?"

The Vampire Lord is curious about this, after all, Iris had told her parents she had not one but two friends.

"Well, yeah..."

"How come? We never really talked to each other."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"What're you apologizing for? I'm super happy you think of me as a friend!"

"Eh?"

"Honestly I thought you didn't like me this whole time."

"... I- For a while I just had no idea how to interact with a vampire. But after no time at all, I realized you're just as kind as any other human could be. But I could still never get myself to talk to you."

"Is that so? I'm relieved."

"Relieved?"

"Yeah, that you didn't hate me or anything. It all really just came down to your social anxiety."

"Heh, I guess so."

"Mind if I ask why is it that you're so shy and anxious?"

"Um... I've just been like this for as long as I can remember. I was never good at making friends when I was a kid. And for the past 5 years, I hadn't even talked to anyone my age before I met Chifuyu."

"Hm... Well, I can't speak on your past, but what I can say is that you have a long future ahead. Your strong Iris, you'll definitely be one of the strongest Hunters in a few years. You'll meet plenty of people who you can call friends, so I hope you can start to have a little confidence in yourself from now on. I can see it, one day I'm sure you'll even be a great leader!"

"Me, a leader? No way."

"This is what I'm talking about. If you don't believe in yourself, who will?"

"... I'll try. For now, I think my goal should be to just make a few more friends."

"There we go!"

"Reduce your expectations to zero."

"Iris!"

"Hehe."

Iris makes a break for the grocery store to escape Ariel's silly wrath.

***

After returning with the forgotten ingredients, the gang all ate together and spent time with the Sakata family. Hearing the news about how much money Iris has already made and how many vampires she killed brings her parents to their knees in surprise. They'd decided that the earnings Iris is giving will all go to Ikura's University savings.

Iris's mom gives a short speech.

"You've been dedicating yourself for the past few years to training, so if beating 50 vampires is just a fraction of the proof of your hard work, we're positive you're destined for greatness. We're grateful to have such an amazing daughter. You're our pride and joy, Iris."

Her words bring not only Iris, but also Chifuyu and Kagura to tears.

"Thank you, Mum."

"What about me mommy?"

"Hehe, you're amazing too, Ikura."

"We know how talented you are Iris, but we still worry about you. Always be careful out there, would ya?"

"Of course, Dad."

Iris and her parents engage in a heartwarming family hug, with her little sister jumping in after a couple seconds.