Shoyo explained the curriculum and everything they needed to know about the Hunter Training Academy before taking his leave. Since Erika's getting in through his recommendation, they have no tuition fees to pay. Emily still isn't completely sure about her decision. She worries if she'll end up regretting it, but...

"You were so against me leaving, mom. I'm surprised you changed your mind so quickly."

"You know, I also thought about becoming a Hunter?"

"What, for real?!"

"Huff, yeah. I knew I would never do it though."

"Does it have anything to do with my father?"

"Yes. In the end, it was no more than a silly fantasy. After seeing each other for over half a year, I thought, 'Would we be more than just lovers if I also became a comrade by his side? Someone he could leave his back to.' I thought a special kind of relationship would evolve from that. But not too long after, he left. Mr. Kusakabe gave me the little push that I needed to have trust in your father again. That wouldn't have happened if you didn't suddenly want to become a Hunter, so I have you to thank as well. That's why I'm allowing you to do this, with the 2-year condition of course."

"You're the best, I love you, mom!"

She throws herself into Emily, embracing her with a hug.

"Now then, I'm eager to talk about your love story, but I'm sure you're hungry."

"Don't worry, I'll go out to get something to eat real quick! I don't have much of an appetite so I'll stop by the convenience store."

"It's late, you need to be careful."

"I know."

"I'll give you some pepper spray."

"Hehe, thanks."

***

Chifuyu's Pov

My school should've already received the news that I won't be attending there anymore, but I still stopped by to say my farewells to my teachers, friends, and my basketball team.

For some reason, Mike didn't like it when I told them I'd be training to become a Hunter. I guess he did just tell me he'd be doing the same, he must think I'm trying to one-up him or something. My teammates and coach decided to throw a party for me at the gym. We had pizza, donuts, soda, and played basketball for a few hours completely exhausting ourselves. I promised to keep in touch and left after we partied for several hours. We had to get permission to stay on campus after hours.

Ariel kept on bugging me about saving a donut for her so I did.

I stop at a park and make sure nobody's around before telling Ariel the coast is clear. She gracefully emerges from my shadow, same as she did in the courtroom and at my house. Ariel closes one eye and sticks one hand out as she thrusts her hips to the side holding it with her other hand.

"Hm."

She gestures her hand twice prompting me to give her the donut.

"Hope you like it."

"If it's not to my liking, I shall eradicate the human race."

"What?"

"Haha, I merely jest!"

"Haha."

?

'Chomp'

The fateful bite, what is in store for humanity? Will we live, will we die? That remains to be seen. Tonight, this loli vampire will either grace us with her benevolence or destroy us with her wrath.

"Master."

"Yes?"

For some reason, I stood at attention. Why am I afraid of someone calling me master?

"This donut..."

This donut?

"...IS THE TASTIEST SHIT EVER!!"

"LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO"

Ariel has a potty mouth.

"Go where?"

"Oh, uh... It's a saying, like, you say it when something good happens."

"I see. I'm interested in learning how you humans talk now. But that's not important at the moment, this donut is... revolutionary!"

"They're pretty good."

"Master! How could you?! They're more than just some satisfactory form of sustenance, these should be hailed as a form of higher being!"

"You're saying... we should make a religion out of them?"

"Correct!"

"I only have a couple like every few years."

"Blasphemy! I'm sure if you have enough, you'll see how foolish you've been."

"You've literally only had one bite."

"I'll finish it now. When I eat human food, I always devour it in a bite or two. But this first donut of mine shall be savored."

We sat at the park for over 5 hours as Ariel took her time eating the donut. After each minuscule bite, she would relish in the donut's overpowering tastiness. I fell asleep after 3 hours.

After taking her sweet time, she woke me up with a face of victory. I looked at her with my baggy half-open eyes and asked how many bites did it take her to finish it. The answer was 87.

This fateful day that had the fate of humanity riding on the line would be known as The Bite of 87 for generations to come.

The next day, I got 2 dozen donuts with an array of flavors and ate them all. Ariel showed me the light.

She saved me twice.

Glory to whoever made donuts.

***

I spent some quality time with my parents as well as Ariel who they accepted as family. I was only going to stay a few days, but that turned into a week. Plus another week of helping pack up everything so they could move to District 5. I'll be staying there as well with Shoyo at one of his houses. (He's rich)

The plan is to finish my high school education on top of receiving training to become a hunter by the time I'd be graduating, so in 2 years.

Erika and Dakota's parents allowed them to transfer to the Hunter Training Academy. We'll all be busy and it might be a while until we see each other. I'm leaving for District 5 tomorrow, so we went to an amusement park and had a blast. Some kid who was behind us on a roller coaster threw up on Dakota though. Yep, definitely a blast.

"Thanks for inviting us, Chifuyu."

"Don't thank me, this is the night before I leave. Of course I wanted to hang out with you guys."

"I'm kinda regretting coming here. You think I could sue that kid's mom for assault? Cuz I was definitely attacked!"

"It was an accident. They apologized, didn't they?"

"An apology isn't enough, I need to be compensated for having my night ruined. I couldn't get myself to eat anything after that!"

"Stop crying, you were just gonna get the same overpriced hot dogs."

"Hehe."

"Like you're one to talk, you always get churros!"

"They're better, and I get my money's worth."

"That's it. Hop on when we get back home, I need to beat you in a game to feel better."

"One: I wouldn't lose to you. Two: I don't have time, I have to get up early."

"Sounds like excuses to me."

"Whatever."

"Come on you two."

"Pff."

"Hmph."

"Haha."

"Hahahaha."

"Hahaha."

We all laughed.

After leaving the amusement park, nobody said anything as we walked back home. Eventually, we got to a street where we'd have to part ways.

"Don't leave us behind, Chifuyu."

"I'll try not to," I said with a smirk.

"This'll be the start of my popular phase."

"Sure."

"Hehe. I'll work my butt off, and make sure Dakota does the same. So don't worry about us."

"Thanks guys, for coming with me down this path."

"We're friends, aren't we?"

"I don't think just friends would go this far..."

"Best friends!"

"Eh..."

"The bestest friends ever!"

"Maybe."

"Dakota, Erika. Let's make a promise."

This isn't a death flag.

"Let's not contact each other until we finish our training. To serve as motivation for the next time we meet. Our promise is to become strong."

"Bro thinks he's a shonen main character."

"Sounds fine to me, Chifuyu."

"Alright, let's put our hands together."

"Ready when you are."

"Sigh."

"We promise..."

"To become strong!" All 3 of us said in unison.

"That was corny."

"Okay, let's leave before Dakota ruins it."

These surprisingly harsh words were spoken by Erika.

We turned around and waved each other off, we're setting off on a new journey.

"We'll see each other in 2 years, at Sabaody."

To be continued

***

"So yeah, it could take a year if you want."

"Huh?"

"Your training and homeschool."

"Uh, yeah. I know. But, how? I thought you said it would take 2 years, so I'd be finishing around the time I would've graduated."

"Yeah, but we can hurry it up."

"So no 2-year timeskip?" Chifuyu clearly looks dejected.

"I mean, if you wanna take 2 years then sure."

Shoyo casually drops this news on Chifuyu with an unserious tone as they were eating breakfast.

A few more days have passed and Chifuyu has finished getting settled into Shoyo's home, which is in District 5.

"Well... No matter how determined I am, can I really finish 2 years of training and homeschool in half the time? I don't even think I could finish 2 years of learning at school in 1."

"That all depends on you. There's two reasons why I'm bringing this up, one is because the second Alter World Expedition we plan to carry out will most likely happen next year."

"And you want me to take part in that big mission?"

"It'll be our hardest mission yet, no doubt. But I think you'll be able to hold your own. Pass me the salt, by the way."

"Sure."

"So, what do you say?"

'Well, I guess my dramatic farewell to Erika and Dakota was all for naught now.'

"I was already expecting these 2 years to be rough, so if I can shorten it by half the time, what's a little more sweat and blood?"

"You'll be training and studying 6 days out of the week for about a year then. It'll be intense."

"I'm stuck being a Hunter for life anyway, might as well put my all into everything."

"That's the spirit."

***

Shoyo's living quarters in District 5 is a 4-bedroom house with a giant backyard and an underground training facility. There's high-quality workout equipment that he prepared in the past couple of weeks.

Chifuyu's routine will start at 8 a.m. and consist of 5 hours of rigorous training, and an hour break followed by 6 hours of intense studying that ends at 8 p.m. Shoyo recommends Chifuyu go to bed anytime between 9:30 and 11 p.m. Therefore he's getting his bare minimum 8 hours of sleep so he can wake up at 7 a.m.

Chifuyu spends 30 minutes warming up his muscles and gets ready for his first day of Hunter training. While doing so, Shoyo explains how the state of the world has changed over time since vampires appeared.

"You already know how there was a huge battle that took place when the vampires first appeared over 200 years ago. A battle we would've undoubtedly lost without the help of the unknown person from the Alter World."

"Right, the one who sealed Ariel."

"The world has gotten relatively peaceful over time, thanks to the humans who stepped up to fight against vampires who came to be known as Hunters. Our mysterious protector taught us how to fight for a couple of years before vanishing. About a year after, the vampires tried to launch another large-scale attack, but they failed."

"I suspect most of the vampires that came to this world were those under me."

"Ariel, you're awake?"

"I got plenty of rest to make sure I would be up for your first training session."

As she said this, she arose from Chifuyu's shadow.

"Well thanks!"

"Your smile never fails to brighten my day."

"Good morning, shorty."

"Tch. All tall people should burn in hell."

Shoyo has made a point to tease Ariel over the last few days. He succeeded in getting on her nerves. She has a little complex over her height. Ariel is very short for vampire standards as well. Humans and vampires have about the same average height.

"Getting back to what I was saying, vampire attacks have decreased over time. But the 50 years following their second large attack is when vampire incidents were at their highest. Vampires would attack in broad daylight and there were several mass murder cases. There were countless casualties each week. But thanks to the increase in Hunters, their numbers slowly died down. The next 50 years after that, there was a noticeable drop in incidents. The average number of deaths by vampires declined from the tens of thousands to a few thousand a month over those next 5 decades."

"Tens of thousands a month died for decades? The mortality rate must've been unimaginable."

"This puts things into perspective huh? Over a hundred million died in the first century that vampires arrived in. Most of those lives were claimed in the first attack."

Shoyo sees Ariel looking crushed. She feels guilty as this was all caused by her.

"Everybody deserves a chance at atonement Ariel, and you're getting it right now. Besides, I'm sure we would've gotten invaded sooner or later. You just happened to be the one to initiate it."

"Sigh. Putting your stupid face aside, you're genuinely a good guy."

"Stupid face?"

"I'll continue feeling sad for all the lives I've taken, but I won't regret it. After all, I wouldn't have been able to get to this point without my actions that led me here."

Shoyo and Chifuyu smile with relief.

"As for my subordinates that have been running wild here, it's my responsibility to stop them."

"We're gonna need you. Over the last century, vampire incidents continued to gradually decline. But there have been another few big attacks, 2 of which had several thousand casualties. The first was exactly 68 years ago in District 11. The second was 20 years ago in District 25. The third was 5 years ago, which was when I became known as the strongest."

"Everyone my age knows about the Island 86 Incident from 5 years ago."

"Yeah. So besides those 3 major battles, the world has gotten relatively peaceful, especially in the last 30 years. The current average number of deaths by vampires a month is about 30 to 50. The main way they take lives or drink blood nowadays is by breaking into people's houses at night. About a thousand hunters patrol each district during the day and night, so as much as I hate to say it we can't stop every death."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Thanks for explaining all of this to me. It's because of Hunters that we can try to enjoy our life to the fullest without worry. I'll put my all into training."

"Good to hear... Say Chifuyu, while you're still warming up, why don't you watch some live combat?"

"Live... combat?"

"Yeah. Ariel, what do you say to having a little spar?"

"Ho."

"Wait, Ariel can't fight humans because of her vow."

"Remember carefully, Chifuyu. She vowed never to harm a human with malicious intent. So she can still help out with some training."

"No, if I do hurt you I'll probably die."

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

"I don't like you after all."

"..."

"Well, this is awkward."

"Haha, I merely jest. But you do rub me the wrong way. So sure, let's do this little spar. Don't think I'll let you off easy."

"Heh, that's more like it. Don't think I'll lose to a runt like you."

"Keh..."

"Oh no, Ariel's definitely mad."

"Let's go, shall we?"

"Whenever you're ready."

Shoyo grabs his scabbard from his waist and unsheathes his blade before he tosses it to the side.

"You actually look like you wanna harm me."

"I do."

Shoyo's future is bleak.

"There's a couple conditions though, the spar will only last one minute. Of course, I can only use the back of my blade and can't use my blade's ability, and you can't use your curse."

"Ok."

"Curse?"

"Let's start when one of those leaves falls in the pond."

"Hmph, how cliche."

"I think it's cool."

Shoyo assumes his sparring stance while Ariel just stands there nonchalantly.

They're currently in the vast backyard which has a fairly sized pond with a cherry blossom tree sprouted in the middle. The two patiently wait for one of the calming pink leaves to fall into the water. Not even 20 seconds later, the pond is graced by a cherry blossom leaf.

The spar begins.

Ariel lunges towards Shoyo with quick speed. A normal human wouldn't be able to react to a vampire's speed, but Hunters have been trained to. Shoyo tosses the sword to himself and catches the hilt in his mouth. This was a preemptive move that was already in process half a second before Ariel's charge. Shoyo does a half-backflip, holding the balance of his body with his hands and uses the momentum of Ariel's lunge to send her flying upwards with both of his legs.

Ariel was sent at least 50 meters in the air. Shoyo assumes his stance once more as she comes flying down. Ariel takes a nosedive to accelerate her descent and parries Shoyo's swift strike by precisely lifting her legs up to evade the swing and uses her hands to halt her fall on his blade mid-swing. An exchange of attacks that continue to be parried follow.

A move is finally dodged and it's by Shoyo. He spins around Ariel and grabs her by the arm, tossing her straight to his house. This was just to create a little space. Ariel gracefully sticks the landing on the outside wall of his house and punctures her nails into the stone to momentarily stay there. Shoyo rushes her and scales the wall to get a hit on her. She kicks herself away though, only to still be chased. Ariel dodges his first slash, but receives a kick back to the ground. Shoyo is quick to follow and gets a jab on her. Instead of using his sword for that attack, he intentionally sucker punched Ariel to make her mad. Her nose slightly bleeds.

"Let that sink in."

"You are so annoying."

"Most ladies beg to differ."

"Eugh."

Ariel takes another lunge towards Shoyo, this time a lot faster. Her attack is dodged but she immediately pushes back in, sliding under Shoyo's horizontal slash. She grabs his leg mid-slide to return the favor triple fold. Instead of tossing him, she slams Shoyo right into the ground, face first. That's going to leave a bruise.

"Why you…"

"Heh."

Shoyo leaves his sword on the ground. Not much time remains. He intends to humiliate Ariel with a good ol' fist fight.

"Let's see what you've got."

Punches are thrown with fierceness. They both trade heavy blows, swinging incredibly fast. 10 seconds of that pass, and time's up. They both got a fair amount of blood on them from mainly going for face shots. Chifuyu spectated the entire spar with astonishment. They weren't even trying.

"Tsk, I shouldn't have accepted that one minute condition."

"I can go longer, actually I want to."

"Uh, Shoyo. I'm supposed to be getting trained here."

"Oh yeah, I forgot I started this spar for you."

These two are undoubtedly dissatisfied with a draw, but there will be more chances to beat the living shit out of each other.

"So, what'd you think of that spar? We weren't trying at all so you should've been able to follow our movements."

"Figures. But yeah, I could follow you guys no problem. The first fight I saw was a one-sighted slaughter, but this was more like a real battle."

"Hm hm."

Shoyo smiles with pride.

"It looked like you were trying awfully hard to me."

"I guess even vampires need to get their eyes checked."

"Hmph."

"Anyway, I'd say Ariel was moving as fast as your average vampire. But her skill can't be compared to them at all."

"As I am now, I doubt I'd last a second against Ariel. But by the time my training's finished, maybe I could fight for a whole minute."

Chifuyu wants to ask what Shoyo meant by curses, but he's sure he'll bring it up to him later.

"Well it'd be a good idea to test that huh?"

"You mean you actually want to…"

"Yep! Let's have a sparring session on the evening of your final day!"

"I'll try not to disappoint you."

"Ha! Nonsense."

"Well, looks like you finished warming up Chifuyu. Shall we get started on your long arduous training? It'll be a long roa-"

"Take a shower first."

"My bad."

***

"How does it feel to hold a katana, Chifuyu?"

"Not bad."

Shoyo had given Chifuyu a brand-new blade he'd requested.

"Most hunters use katanas as their weapons, but a handful also use bows, spears, scythes, and a couple more."

"A scythe sounds cool as hell."

"Don't they? Chifuyu, remember I told you there were 2 reasons why I wanted to speed up your training. The first was so you could take part in the expedition."

"Yeah."

"The second reason is because... I'm the strongest."

"Right..."

"What is this buffoon waffling about?" Ariel says unamused.

"What I'm trying to say is that I shouldn't even be allowed to give a kid special training for a whole year, let alone 2. It's because you're special that the upper brass at the Hunter Agency allowed this."

"Wow, they must have some high hopes for me."

"Of course, you have one of the strongest vampires and me backing you up."

Hunters are divided into 4 separate divisions based on their skill and merits. At the top are a handful of Special Rank Hunters. Going down the line of divisions are 1st Rank Hunters, 2nd Rank Hunters, and 3rd Rank Hunters.

Shoyo is the undisputed strongest Hunter. His presence alone inspires fear in every vampire knowing they could be faced against at any moment if they show themselves in public. This is thanks to Shoyo's Alter Weapon.

Alter Weapons are forged in the Alter World and were given to the Hunters by the unknown person. The Hunters were granted exactly 20 weapons that Unknown forged themself. Every Special Rank Hunter has one along with a few 1st Rank Hunters. The rest are under the custody of the Hunter Agency until a suitable user is presented. They grant the users special abilities from the monster's blood they were forged with.

Shoyo's Alter Weapon may allow him to be anywhere a vampire appears, but that's it. It doesn't grant him any real advantage during actual combat. A Hunter's swordsmanship is the deciding factor when fighting a vampire, and Shoyo's is simply the best.

Shoyo's blade is unwavering and undefeated.

"So let's get started now. I'll be explaining some things to you, but it'll be as you're doing practice swings. I'll demonstrate how to properly do them, so follow my lead."

Unsheathing his sword, Shoyo assumes a stance.

"Like this?"

Observing him, Chifuyu imitates the pose.

"Draw your sword up, and swing downward like so."

They do 20 swings so Shoyo can see if Chifuyu is able to correct himself on his own.

"Your form is sloppy, but that's expected. Can you point out one of your mistakes?"

"Let's see... I'm overextending a little when pulling my sword up."

"Yep, that's one of them. You want to make sure your form is the same each time. I'll break the practice swing down for you."

They assume the practice pose and take 5 swings.

"Your leg movement is good. Stand with your left foot back, and take a step forward with your right immediately followed by the left keeping the same distance."

5 more swings.

"Don't rush. These swings are to hone your technique and core strength. Take your time."

5 more swings.

"Pay close attention to me. Push your sword up with your left hand, the right is just following along. And make sure you're not pulling towards yourself. Don't fold your arms any more than you need to when coming up."

10 more swings

"When striking down, lean with your left arm going forward. Your right wrist stays the same, it's supposed to maintain control. Your left wrist contracts downward while swinging, your left arm is what you apply power to.

20 more swings

"Cut forward, not down. Watch where I'm stopping."

25 more swings

"Looking good, Chifuyu. Keep that up. Now for the lecture portion."

"This'll put me to sleep."

Ariel gets her quip out.

"You're training to become a Hunter, so the most important thing for you to learn first is how to kill a vampire."

"Right."

"Snore...."

Ariel lies on the ground knocked out.

"This little..."

"She actually fell asleep."

"Back to what I was saying; vampires are much stronger than humans, it's impossible to beat them with brute strength. So, what do we need to best them?"

"A Hunter's swordsmanship?"

"Yes. Your skill, technique, awareness, and experience with the blade is what decides who comes out on top of a life-or-death battle with a vamp. Sometimes, even cunningness can be a deciding factor."

Shoyo brings out a dozen dummies for demonstration.

"The surefire way to off a vamp is good old decapitation. Slice their neck clean off and they're done. They can't regenerate a new head. The 2nd most efficient way is a deep slash across the chest, slicing their heart which also can't regenerate."

"So those are the guaranteed ways to kill a vampire, sounds like one of those things that's easier said than done."

"Oh yeah, especially for novice Hunters. The safer way is the slow and steady method. You get in multiple effective but non-fatal attacks. Vamps can regenerate, which is common knowledge. But they get weaker after losing too much blood. By slowly chipping away their blood, you'll be able to finish them off once they're in a weakened state."

Chifuyu is listening clearly but is starting to get physically tired of the practice swings.

Shoyo cuts through half of the dummies with decapitations and gashes across the chest.

"These were perfect swings using no more than the necessary strength to efficiently cut down a vamp. Though the real thing will be different of course since they won't be standing still, but you got a glimpse of what to strive for."

"Aren't you cool?"

"I thought you were asleep."

"I told Chifuyu I wouldn't miss his first training session, you were a fool to believe me."

"Go to sleep forever."

"Haha..."

"I'm about to wrap up, Chifuyu. It's crucial to not let vampires land the first blow on you, as it could be fatal. So being able to dodge, parry, block attacks, and know when to strike is what the second half of your training will be over the final 6 months."

"What'll be the first half of my training then?"

"Nothing but practice swings and stamina training."

"Huh?"

"As I said, practice swings are to sharpen your technique and build your core strength. Doing this for half a year will have quite the payoff."

"I've been doing this for only 30 minutes and it feels like my arms are gonna fall off!"

"You can do them in sets of course, your goal is to do 400 swings 6 days out of the week for the first 3 months, and 700 swings for the next 3 months minus that last week. You'll be doing 1,000 swings for those last 6 days. Wanna quit?"

"We're just getting started, no way in hell am I gonna chicken out already."

"Hmph. Go ahead and take a quick breather."

Shoyo smiles, Chifuyu never fails to relieve him.

***

Chifuyu's first day of training and studying finishes. He's wiped out, but wants to do something for Ariel.

"Hey Ariel, let's go to the mall."

"Mall?"

"It's a place that has dozens of different stores to shop and get food from. You're gonna be living here for a while, might as well get familiar with Shioto. Plus you need some clothes you can wear in public."

"I suppose so, only if we acquire some donuts as well."

"Why of course."

Shoyo dropped them off at the closest mall. Chifuyu showed Ariel all around and they got some donuts before shopping for clothes. Most people who passed them easily thought they were siblings. Ariel had on one of Shoyo's shirts that reached all the way to her knees. The thought of putting on his clothing grossed her out so when they find a new shirt for her she's going to immediately throw his away.

Even Chifuyu's shorts were too big for her so she opted to go commando. Nobody noticed it. Chifuyu was going to use the small amount of money he had to buy Ariel's clothes, but Shoyo gave him more than enough telling him not to worry about it.

Ariel ended up choosing mainly tank tops for casual wear along with several skirts, but they also got matching pajamas and hoodies. Chifuyu had Ariel choose some pants to go with the hoodie. Shoyo picked them up after nearly 2 hours and was surprised to see them wearing matching hoodies, but was still delighted all the same. He took a picture.

On the car ride home, Shoyo brings up an important matter.

"So Chifuyu, remember after the end of the trial I told you I was also homeschooling someone about the same age as you. Actually I think she is the same age as you."

"Oh yeah, I do."

"I gave her a 2-week break, and she'll be returning tomorrow. You see, I was giving her training and homeschooling in the district she's from. So beginning tomorrow, she'll also be staying with us."

"Wait, you were training this person too?"

"Yeah. And as a matter of fact, she's already completed her training. She just needs to get her high school diploma before she's able to become a Hunter."

"She's about 16 years old and is already that strong?"

"Yep. She's a prodigy only me and the HA President know about. I'm sure you'll get to know a lot about her."

Chifuyu got goosebumps. Hearing that someone his age is already strong enough to be a Hunter gave him a boost in motivation.

"She still trains a few hours a day and would've finished her education in 2 years like normal, so I asked if she wanted to cut that time in half. Iris was hesitant, but said she'd be fine with it."

"So her name's Iris."

Chifuyu was excited to meet her.

"She's a little shy, but I'm sure you two'll be good friends.

***

Fast forward to tomorrow evening. Chifuyu's done for the day and is relaxing watching tv on the couch. The doorbell rings and Shoyo goes to open it.

"Chifuyu, this is Iris Sakata! Iris, this is Chifuyu Kyotani!"

She's hiding behind Shoyo looking down at the floor with quivering legs. Iris has beige blonde hair with blue highlights covering both of her bright blue eyes. Must be hiding a pair of Sharingans.

Even Chifuyu is taken aback a bit.

"I'm Chifuyu, it's nice to meet you."

He extends his hand.

"I-I-I-It's nice to m-meet you. I'm.. I-Iwis... Aaahhhhh!"

Having completely flubbed her introduction, she runs away, leaving the house.

Chifuyu stands there in shock.

"THAT'S WAY MORE THAN A LITTLE SHY!"

***

Iris's Pov

Iris Sakata here. I've been standing outside of Mr. Shoyo's house for almost 30 minutes. I've been trying to think up several comedic entrances I can do but that'll just be impossible for me. I can't believe he suddenly told me I'd start staying with him and some other boy. And my parents so easily agreed to it.

For the past couple of years, ever since the incident, Shoyo would come by my house to give me training and help with homeschooling for a few hours a day, from Monday to Tuesday. Apparently, the training I've been receiving is supposed to be secret too. I wonder if I'll actually just suddenly be allowed to become a hunter, even though Shoyo said not to worry about that.

My new life away from my parents, I'm not optimistic about it at all. I already miss them. At least I won't miss Hana.

Heh. Maybe this won't be so bad after all. Well, here goes nothing.

***

Hello again, I'm currently running away as fast as I can. I couldn't even introduce myself without tripping all over my tongue. I wanna die. Wait no, that was a joke. I just wanna live peacefully with mom and dad. Why'd I have to go and attract the attention of the Hunters?

Also, live with a guy my age? When was the last time I even talked to someone my age? Even when I went to middle school, I never had any friends. I knew this wasn't gonna work out. If there's anything I can have confidence in, it's my legs in dire situations.

When I was 9, this terrifying German Shepherd was wandering around my neighborhood and decided to harass me as soon as we locked eyes for some reason. I ran like the wind and left that mutt in my dust.

Heh. I'm quite proud of that achievement.

I might be the fastest human alive.

Or so I thought.

The boy who I'm supposed to start living with is hot on my trail.

"Ehhhhh?"

I try to speed up even more, but it proves futile. This guy is catching up at an alarming rate. I at least thought I was the fastest 16-year-old. My confidence was shot to the ground and I came to a stop.

"It's over."

I said feeling defeated with my hands on my knees.

"Wow, you sure can run!"

"Huh?"

"You just cleared several blocks in less than a minute, that's pretty amazing!"

Says the one who caught up to me with ease.

"..."

I don't know what to say.

"So, why'd you run off like that?"

"Um..."

"Nevermind, I already know why."

"Y-You do?"

"You're super shy aren't you?"

"Gah!"

"What was that? Are you that surprised? Haha."

No one's ever straight-up told me they know that I'm shy.

"Let's start over. I'm Chifuyu Kyotani. Do you mind if I ask you your name?"

"... Iris Sakata."

"What was that?"

Why did I whisper it??

"Iris... Sakata."

"Iris huh, that's a nice name, isn't it?"

"..."

He's pretending like Mr. Shoyo didn't tell him my name. Well, he did want to restart the introduction.

"We're gonna be living under the same roof with each other for the next year, so I hope we'll be great buddies!"

Ahhhh! His extroverted aura is too powerful.

Guess I'll just have to go along with this.

"It's nice to meet you, Chi-Chikuyu."

"It's Chifuyu."

Gah!

***

"Welcome back guys. Did you have a fun honeymoon?"

"H-h-honeymoon?!"

"Iris sweety, what're you so surprised for? We're a happily married family!"

Chifuyu plays along with Shoyo's nonsense.

"Me and a boy... MARRIED? Ah..."

She passes out and deflates like a balloon falling to the floor.

"Haha, Iris is grade-A material to tease. This'll never get old."

"Is she actually unconscious?"

"She'll be fine. As you can see, Iris is a bonafide introvert. Thus, she has no friends."

"That's pretty rude."

"It's the truth. That's why I'd like you to be her first friend."

"You didn't have to tell me, we're gonna be training buddies after all."

"Well, you should rest up too, you have that spar tomorrow that Ariel wanted."

"Oh, yeah. I'm sort of looking forward to it."

"Hmph, don't think she'll go easy on you."

"I wouldn't hope for it."

***

"A-a vampire?!"

"Good morning."

"Wait Shoyo, don't tell me you haven't told her."

"Oops, must've slipped my mind."

"Sigh..."

Both Chifuyu and Ariel sigh in unison over Shoyo's negligence. 'For the top hunter, he sure is irresponsible.' is what just went through Chifuyu's mind. Before Iris passes out again, they quickly explain the situation.

"Top secret information, one of the strongest vampires joined the side of humanity, and a boy my age who's now a half-vampire is her master. I'm not sure I can keep up with all of this..."

"Well, it's the reality. We've got a lot to do in the next year so no slacking off Iris."

"Ok..."

"Feel honored that you've been graced with my presence lowly human. Ahahahaha!"

Ariel wasn't asleep last night when Chifuyu met Iris. So although she didn't come out, she was listening and heard that she's easy to tease.

***

Day 3 of training is over. Before Chifuyu moves forward with his studies, he has a sparring session with Ariel.

"Are you ready, my master?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

The only ones present are the two sparring and Shoyo who's overseeing it. Iris has been inside the whole day getting bodied by some geography.

"Alright then, on the count of 3. 1... 2... 3!"

Ariel charges at Chifuyu who was slow to assume his sword stance and kicks his blade out of his hands. A duet of right swings follow which can only be blocked, the second one sends Chifuyu tumbling across the ground. Luckily he finds himself where his sword was kicked and quickly grabs it.

Not letting Ariel charge at him again, Chifuyu takes the initiative instead. Using the back of his sword, he takes several swings that are easily dodged. As it's only his third day with the blade, his form is nothing less than sloppy. Ariel parries the final slash and gifts her master with a vicious dropkick.

Chifuyu's dazed for a little over 10 minutes. "Are you alive master?"

Slowly opening his eyes, Chifuyu gets up sluggishly. He finds himself in Shoyo's lap who's grinning at him like a creep.

"What the hell dude?"

"You're up after only 10 minutes, that's some pretty good endurance you've got."

"Well, thanks. We didn't even set a time limit and I only lasted like 30 seconds."

"Don't mind."

"Somehow your pity pisses me off."

"Don't worry master, everything about him pisses me off."

"Sad face."

"But hey, that wasn't bad at all. Any normal person wouldn't have lasted a few seconds. I'll be awaiting our next sparring session once you finish your training."

"Hmph. It won't be an easy win next time."

Chifuyu's looking forward to it as well. He knows the mistake he made and that his form has a long way to go. He won't make the same mistakes twice.

Now on his hour break, he heads inside. Curious as to how Iris is doing, Chifuyu walks upstairs and knocks on her door.

"Huh..."

Iris found herself wrapped by a familiar texture. One of her favorite feelings this world had to offer. She was under the comfort of her cover in bed.

"Crap, I just wanted to take a nap. How long have I been asleep?" Iris questions whispering to herself.

"You good in there, Iris? I'm coming in."

"Wuh?!"

Launching herself out of bed at the speed of light, she opens her laptop and opens her textbooks as if she had been diligently studying.

"Good afternoon, how's your studying going?"

"Oh um, it's going well. Did you need something?"

"No, I was just checking up on you."

Chifuyu walks into her room like nothing and makes himself comfortable.

"You sure got unpacked fast."

"Y-yeah."

'Th-this guy just invited himself into my room!'

"Oh, you're wearing glasses. Are they for reading?"

"Yes."

"They kinda suit you!"

"Oh, aha... they sure do. I'm gonna go get something to eat."

"I'm starving myself, what're you getting?"

Chifuyu follows Iris as she walks downstairs to the kitchen. He's intentionally trying to have a conversation with her so she can open up a little but it's not working so far.

After getting a snack, Iris quickly escapes back to her room.

"I'll see you later, Iris!"

"Yeah."

Back in middle and high school, Chifuyu was always able to easily become friends with those he talked to. But Iris's shyness was on another level.

"I'm sure she'll open up eventually."

"Ariel."

"You're a good person, just give her some time."

"Okay."

***

A little over a month has passed.

Chifuyu has been initiating small talk each day to slowly get Iris to open up.

"Hey."

"Hm."

"You're a half-vampire now right, do you not have any vampiric features?"

Iris finally engages in a conversation with Chifuyu!

"Well, I'm glad you asked."

Happy that Iris approached him first, Chifuyu has a smug expression on.

"Ariel told me how to revert my features to be human-like. It's simple, all I have to do is envision it. The blood it takes to do this is basically negligible."

"So that means... vampires really could be living among us."

Horror overcomes Iris.

Chifuyu realizes he probably shouldn't have explained the blood part.

"Hey uh, let's go out to eat!"

"What?"

Out of panic, he randomly suggests they all eat out.

"Me, you, Shoyo, and Ariel!"

"Like, at a restaurant? When was the last time I've been to one?"

"It doesn't have to be fancy or anything."

"Sure."

"For real? Nice, I'll go let them know!"

Iris had been constantly avoiding Chifuyu which she feels bad for as he goes out of his way to be nice to her, so she thought the least she could do was accept this offer.

"Oh boy, what can I wear?"

Later that day...

"Bwahahahaha!"

"Wait, why are you wearing that?"

"Um…"

Shoyo and Chifuyu burst out into laughter.

"Iris, why are you wearing a suit?"

"Hahahaha!"

"It looks nice to me."

"That's not the problem, Ariel. We're just going to a little restaurant, and she's wearing a suit of all things!"

"I told you it wouldn't be anything fancy.. Hahaha!"

"Sorry, I think I'll just stay here after all."

"No, it's fine. It adds to your character."

"You're saying that like I'm fictional."

Does she know?

"Anyway, let's get going."

'I knew this was a bad idea...'

***

"Wooo that hit the spot. This place wasn't too bad. Nice going, Chifuyu."

"I searched good fish places nearby but I didn't expect this joint to be this good."

"I enjoyed it. Thanks for the meal."

"Oh, you're smiling Iris!"

"Oh."

Not even Iris herself noticed she was smiling, this was a good sign. Chifuyu's efforts weren't in vain.

"The donuts were my favorite from this place!"

"Of course. I can't believe they even had donuts here."

Although the donuts were the best to Ariel, she had even more fish than everyone else.

"Human food is quite filling, I could get used to this."

"Is that so."

"Stuffing myself has made me grow tired somewhat. I'll be taking a nap now."

"Wait, Ari-"

Without anybody else in the restaurant noticing, she slips into Chifuyu's shadow.

"She eats off my money then instantly goes to sleep. Ha, what a pig!"

"Haha..."

"I'm going to the restroom. If the waiter comes back, ask for the check."

"Got it."

Although Iris did say she enjoyed the food, she's still sitting in the corner silent. So Chifuyu goes to sit next to her.

"Hey, Iris."

"W-what is it?"

"What's your reason for becoming a Hunter? You've been training under Shoyo for a while now so you must have some special circumstances."

"That's..."

"You don't wanna say?"

"..."

Iris silently shakes her head up and down, indicating she doesn't.

"That's fine. I was kinda dragged into this world by force when I became... y'know. But I don't think it'll be so bad. I'm actually excited for what's to come."

Iris wants to say something back, but she's holding herself back for some reason.

"That's so admirable. I might become a fan of yours."

"Haha, thanks."

"Um, Chifuyu..."

"Hm?"

The voice that responded wasn't Iris. It didn't even belong to a girl. The reply was so natural, Chifuyu didn't even notice.

After realizing this, Chifuyu looks across the table with wide eyes.

There, sat a boy in a high school uniform with a cap on. His eyes were closed, but once they opened, shivers immediately ran down Chifuyu and Iris. Even more happened from his cold lifeless stare.

They'd imagined their own deaths.

Several blades being run through every part of their body, with endless amounts of blood gushing out.

They experienced true fear.

This boy who appears to be around their age somehow sat in front of them without being noticed or making a single noise.

"So you're excited about your future? Is there anything you want to be? The number one hunter? Or king of the hunters?"

"Haha, nothing as grandiose as that."

Chifuyu tries to keep up a front, but his cold sweat is as clear as day.

The two just envisioned their own deaths, and they're still able to sit there without buckling to this person's immense hostility.

But that's all.

The boy's lips twist into a malicious smile.

By the time Shoyo got back, Chifuyu and Iris had gone missing.