The night was deep and oppressive.
Standing beneath the shadow of the faculty dormitory, Ito Makoto stared up at Kawashima Toya's apartment, his dark eyes wide with a predatory hunger.
"So close... the scent is getting even stronger."
"Actually, Ito-kun, I'd say you're just one step closer to your final rest."
A voice drifted down from above. Toya descended from the sky, landing with the weightless silence of a shadow directly in front of the creature.
He had dropped from the seventh floor, yet he made no sound, and the pavement beneath his feet didn't so much as crack. He stood there as if he had occupied that space since the beginning of time.
Toya offered a thin, mocking smile. "I'll ask you one last time. Who was the one who turned you?"
Though he already suspected the answer, he felt it was only fair to give the boy a final chance to speak before the end.
Run. This guy is dangerous.
Seeing Toya land with such impossible grace, Ito realized he had picked a fight with something far beyond a normal human. Without a second's hesitation, he turned and bolted into the darkness.
Puchi!
A vermilion spear suddenly materialized, piercing through Ito's torso and burying itself deep into the reinforced concrete. He was pinned to the ground like a specimen on a board, his limbs thrashing uselessly as he tried to claw his way free from the Gáe Bolg.
This is impossible... what is he?
Ito felt a wave of primal terror. Even after becoming a Shiki, he had never feared another being as much as he feared the man currently looking down at him.
Toya strolled over, idly tossing a few small pebbles in his hand. "Still nothing?"
"Then rest in peace. Those who have already passed should not linger in the world of the living."
Whish!
Before Ito could utter another word, a pebble whistled through the air, punching a clean hole through his forehead. In an instant, the Shiki's regenerative powers were rendered moot.
But Toya wasn't finished. Two more pebbles followed in rapid succession, destroying Ito's heart and severing his spinal column. In the blink of an eye, the three vital points of a Shiki had been pulverized.
Ito Makoto was dead—truly dead this time. His dark power faded, and the body began the slow, natural process of reverting to a common corpse.
Toya summoned the Soaring Spear of Piercing Death back into his hand, watching as it dissolved into motes of light. He looked down at the remains with a troubled expression.
"Now, what to do with this?"
The thought of dragging the body back to the Ito residence was out of the question; he found the remains quite repulsive.
"I suppose I'll leave it for an unsuspecting witness," Toya muttered, scanning the area. A familiar figure was currently making its way toward the dormitory entrance.
"Sorry to burden you, Dean-san."
It was the balding Dean of Sakano Academy. Toya gave the man a final glance before turning and heading back up to his apartment.
.....
Toya had just stepped back into his living room when a high-pitched, distorted scream shattered the silence of the night.
He stood by the bedroom window, watching the scene below with a dry laugh.
He's a Dean, for heaven's sake. How can he have such a weak heart?
Once he was sure the body would be discovered and handled by the authorities, Toya returned to his bed to get some actual rest.
The next morning, just as the sun began to peek over the horizon, a frantic pounding on the door jolted him awake. Toya opened the door, staring at Saionji Sekai with a flat, murderous expression.
"Saionji-san, if you don't have a very good reason for this, I am throwing you off the balcony."
Sekai looked like she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "Sensei! Something terrible happened! Ito-kun is dead! I mean, he's dead-dead this time! Someone found him right outside the building!"
"His three vitals were completely destroyed!"
"And for that minor news, you've been banging on my door for a full minute?" Toya asked coldly. "Are you prepared to be tossed?"
A man's mental health for the day depended on a good night's sleep. Being woken up like this felt nearly as traumatic as the Dean's discovery of the body.
Sekai shook her head frantically, gritting her teeth. "He died right outside the faculty dormitory! They say the Dean was so scared he had to be hospitalized! Now the police are going door-to-door looking for witnesses!"
"So? Why does that matter?" Toya asked, his patience thinning. "Waking me up for—wait, did you say the police are here?"
Toya blinked, finally looking at the girl standing in his living room. "Why are you still here? Why haven't you hidden yourself?"
"Why would I hide?" Sekai asked, confused. "Sensei, shouldn't we be worried about the fact that we were at the Ito house last night?"
Toya let out a long, weary sigh. "Forget it. It's too late. They're here. Just let me do the talking."
He wasn't worried about the investigation; he was worried about the optics. What would the police think finding a female student in a male teacher's room at dawn? No matter how innocent the circumstances, the misunderstanding would be catastrophic.
Knock, knock.
"Police. Is anyone home?"
Sekai finally realized the gravity of the situation. Her face went pale as she looked around the room. "Kawashima-sensei... I'm so sorry. This looks really bad, doesn't it?"
"I'll handle it," Toya said firmly. "Just don't say anything that can be misinterpreted."
He opened the door. The officers looked at Toya, then their eyes drifted to Sekai standing awkwardly behind him. Their eyebrows shot up in unison.
Toya offered a polished, professional smile. "Good morning, officers. I'm Kawashima Toya, the health teacher here at Sakano Academy. Is there something I can help you with?"
"A teacher and a student..." one of the officers muttered. He cleared his throat and tried to look professional. "Kawashima-sensei, did you hear anything unusual last night?"
"Unusual?" Toya appeared to think for a moment. "Does a high-pitched, feminine scream count? I was half-asleep, but I heard a cry so loud it sounded like someone had been startled out of their soul. Honestly, it sounded like a grown man screaming like a terrified soprano."
The officers' expressions turned incredibly forced as they tried to suppress their laughter. They knew exactly who the scream belonged to.
The Dean of Sakano Academy had screamed so hard he had actually damaged his vocal cords and was currently being treated in a nearby clinic.
"Right... well, thank you for your cooperation, Sensei," the officer said, his voice straining. "We'll leave you to your... business."
As they walked down the hallway, their muffled laughter echoed back to the room. Toya turned to Sekai. "Saionji-san, classes start soon. You should leave."
If she stayed any longer and someone else saw her, no amount of evidence could save his reputation.
"I'm going, I'm going!" Sekai gave him a sweet, apologetic smile. "See you later, Kawashima-sensei! Next time, though, could you please give me an extra blanket? It was really cold on the floor."
With that, she turned and hurried toward the stairs.
As Sekai stepped out of the apartment, she nearly collided with a beautiful girl with long, black hair.
"Sorry!" Sekai apologized quickly, lowering her head and rushing past.
Katsura Kotonoha stood frozen in the hallway, staring at Toya's open door.
Wait... did a girl just come out of Kawashima-sensei's room?