"Hey, have you heard? Those vampire rumors lately."
"Huh? Vampires?"
"Yeah! Handsome vampire gentlemen, coming out at night to prey on lonely women…"
"Handsome? That sounds perfect! I'd be willing to die for that~"
At the train station entrance, Sakurai Saki tuned out the chatter of the passing girls, his attention fixed on his phone. A new notification from Hayasaka Ai blinked on the screen.
[Ai-chan: Sorry! I saw your message in the notification bar, Sakura-chan, but I didn't open LINE! I'm so sorry~]
…An explanation. The kind you'd give to a backup, isn't it?
Sakurai had never been a backup, nor had he ever navigated a relationship. He didn't realize most girls wouldn't bother explaining their 'seen' status to someone they considered insignificant.
He typed a simple reply: "It's fine." and looked up. The crosswalk light turned green.
On the other side of the street, a brigade of promotional models handed out flyers. Among them, one woman stood out: a baseball cap worn sideways, long hair obscuring one eye, a mysterious, knowing smile playing on her lips.
"Interested in learning about the All-Knowing Odd Jobs Store? Any problem, any request—solvable for the right price." Her pitch drifted over the crowd.
Sakurai crossed the street, his gaze lingering on her for a fraction too long. A mistake.
She homed in on him instantly. More trouble.
His morning had already been derailed by Shirogane's sudden announcement of a "karaoke training camp." To sing well at karaoke… they were going to karaoke in the daytime. The logic was so circular it gave him a headache. He understood the president's desire to save face, but the cat was already out of the bag with him and Chika. Who else was there to impress? Kaguya and Ishigami already knew. If half the ship was sunk, why not scuttle the whole thing?
"Hello, young man. I am Senior Woyuan. Everyone calls me that." The woman introduced herself, her voice carrying a casual, world-weary charm. "My Odd Jobs Store is quite spacious. Feel free to come hang out. If you get tired, you can even sleep there."
"Are you hitting on me?" Sakurai Saki asked, a polite smile on his face. This was his chance. He finally got to use the line he'd been saving for years, a line that had only become valid as of yesterday:
"Sorry, Miss. I already have a girlfriend."
"I'm not hitting on you." Woyuan Izuko's expression shifted to one of bemused curiosity, as if he'd just sprouted a second head. She pulled out her phone. "This… have you seen it?"
Sakurai turned to leave. Persistent type.
"The vampire rumors around here lately? They're true." With a flick of her wrist, Senior Woyuan tossed her phone. It spun through the air and landed with a soft smack right into Sakurai's palm.
The screen displayed a tabloid article: "Vampire Sightings—Mysterious, Handsome Figures Near Tokyo. Walking Alone at Night? You Might Just Meet Your Dream…"
"Has nothing to do with me." Sakurai began to hand the phone back, then froze. She had already pulled out four more identical devices from her bag.
Even Hayasaka, a tech enthusiast, would be impressed by that arsenal.
"It has everything to do with you, S01," Senior Woyuan said, adjusting the headphones resting around her neck.
Sakurai's polite smile vanished. "You…"
"I know everything~" She fished a simple business card from the pocket of her loose pants. "Interested in a chat?"
Sakurai turned his head, his voice flat. "Sorry. I, Sakurai Saki, love saying 'no' to riddle-speakers more than anything."
He emphasized his human name—a declaration of identity.
Woyuan Izuko acknowledged it with a tilt of her head. "Sakurai-kun. You will encounter a vampire tonight," she stated, her tone shifting from playful to prophetic. "And I suggest you save her."
Save a vampire? An aberration he'd never met? The notion was absurd. Aberrations and humans could not coexist. They were predators. This wasn't prejudice; it was documented fact.
"Mystery attracts mystery," Senior Woyuan said, falling into step beside him like a tenacious tour guide. She hadn't expected him to be this stubborn. "I can handle any cleanup. Aberrations or otherwise," Sakurai stated, not breaking his stride toward the garish sign reading 'Karaoke Paradise.'
"What do you want from me? Just say it. You clearly went to great lengths to gather intel on me. Instead of playing cryptic games to pique my interest, state your business directly."
Woyuan Izuko's expression stalled for a few seconds. Then, she chuckled, low and knowing. "Did you… use an ability just now?"
The shift in her demeanor was too sharp, too calculated.
"Who knows?" Sakurai pushed open the door to the karaoke building, the synthesized pop music washing over them.
As he did, data superimposed itself over his vision, a silent readout from today's Superpower User:
[Target: Woyuan Izuko]
[Threat Assessment: Green (Friendly)]
[Elimination Count: 159]
[Title: Aberration Expert]
Today's ability was a Danger Sensor. The side effect was that it forced him to process information through an emotional, rather than purely rational, lens. For someone whose greatest strength was cold logic, this was a crippling vulnerability.
'She's not lying. The reading is 'Friendly.'' The confirmation did little to ease his mind.
The two of them ascended the stairs to the second floor, the thump of bass and off-key singing swallowing their conversation, one a wary fortress, the other an inscrutable key.
"In this very city, a hunt is unfolding," Woyuan Izuko stated, her voice losing its playful edge. "The hunter: a vampire. The prey: another vampire."
She paused, letting the weight of the statement settle in the sterile, hallway air. "In this game of predator and prey… what becomes of the ordinary people caught between them?"
Sakurai Saki's steps halted.
A memory surfaced, unbidden: the weary-looking office worker he'd glimpsed last week, her collar slightly askew. And before that, the student named Rika in the library…
So what was on her neck back then wasn't a hickey at all.
It was a bite mark.
The realization clicked with cold clarity. The pattern had been too perfect, too symmetrical. He'd morbidly admired the "skill" it would require. Now, the truth was far darker.
"Having heard the premise," Woyuan Izuko prompted, studying his face. "Are you interested in the story now?"
"Why tell me any of this?"
"Location: Kyoto. Time: Last autumn…" She pressed down on her baseball cap, her one visible eye glinting. "Do me a favor. Only you can do it. It's not difficult—just a single sentence. If all goes well, you won't even need to lift a finger."
"And if I refuse?"
"Japan will be destroyed. Oh, of course, I'm joking." Her delivery was so deadpan it stripped the words of all humor.
"You're not adept at handling aberrations. Or rather, you lack… finesse." She leaned slightly closer, her voice dropping. "Aberrations don't just spawn from urban legends and collective fear. They also originate from here." She tapped a finger against her own chest. "The human heart is the most terrifying monster of all."
"The mysterious and the abnormal will gradually seep into every corner of your life. Wouldn't it be prudent to have a… specialist on retainer? Someone who can deal with aberrations on their own terms?"
Sakurai Saki understood her implication. The mindless horrors like the ramen shop owner were straightforward. But what if the aberration was born from human emotion—grief, obsession, love? Violence would be a blunt, tragic instrument.
A hypothetical, unbidden and chilling, flashed in his mind: What if one day, Hayasaka Ai became an aberration born from loving him too much? How would he "handle" that?
It was just an example. A worst-case scenario.
(But Ai-chan really does love him. The intensity was its own kind of terrifying.)
"Is this vampire… the type who 'deals with' other aberrations?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral.
Senior Woyuan let out a low chuckle that held no warmth. Then her expression sobered into something grave. "She might prefer a more… terminal approach than 'dealing with' them."
She met his gaze squarely. "After all, she is an aberration among aberrations. An existence known as the Aberration Killer."