Ex8-3. Welcome to a Wonderful World Full of Love

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/69/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

In other words, I was a substitute for Mother in Father’s eyes.
And for Mother I was the accursed existence that had brought her relationship with Father to an end.
A child shunned by the parents who gave birth to her cannot fail to warp.
I do not intend to push all the responsibility onto them, but that they were involved in some portion of it is not something that can be denied.

“Even so, you’re the one at fault. You killed Ryotaro. You tore me and Ryotaro apart. If only you had never been born, this would never have happened!”

Bound at the limbs on the bed, she flung that at me with a face full of malice.
Even so she denied it, and refused me, Mother.
Words like sludge settled on a riverbed, ugly enough that the former me would have had her heart broken by them.
But I, who had obtained backing that called to mind a boys’ manga—love and strength and courage and companions—could only hear it as bluster.
A show of strength, to cover the agitation of being told of Father’s death and having her lips taken by her daughter.

“…What. What are you laughing at…”
“No. Only that a mother who once looked so large now looks very small.”

Rather than that I have grown, I should say I have been transformed.
An existence that was a threat is now, before me, only one frail woman.
Thinking so, I suddenly found her dearer than before.
In a human body I would have been captive only to hatred; as a Demi-Vamp I can love even a parent like this.
Wanting Mother to understand that wonder as well, I stroked her throat with a fingertip as I spoke.

“With only a little pressure of a nail, I could kill you, Mother.”
“—”

Slide a finger under the thin skin, pierce the flesh, snip an artery.
That is all the simple motion I would need to take Mother’s life.

“But I will not. I have been reborn, and I have become far kinder than I was. Kind enough to cherish even a parent who is trash like you.”
“Re…born?”
“Yes. I became a vampire.”

So saying, I lifted the corner of my mouth with a forefinger and showed her a sharply pointed fang.
Mother, who had no image of vampires except as imaginary monsters, wore a blank face.

“Are you out of your mind?”
“Whether you accept this fact or not is all the same to me, Mother. The result will not change. From now on I will use magical power to charm you. You will forget Father and come to love only me.”
“Th-that’s…”

Impossible—every human in this world decides so.
Even seeing the shadows that bind her own limbs, she will not admit the existence of an unrealistic power.
Only when she experiences it in her own person does she recognize it, and by then it is already too late.
Mother will be no exception, I suppose.
Even while we are in contact like this, my magical power is being poured into her, and her heart is being drawn little by little toward me.

“At first it is only a tiny discomfort. Being touched by me like this—do you feel something, Mother?”

When I stroked Mother’s cheek, she glared at me after a slight pause.

“…Only how disgusting it is.”
“Kuskuskus. Yes. Only. Indeed.”

She truly has not noticed, I suppose.
But the slight time lag in her reply itself indicates a change in her mind.
The Mother who rejected me by reflex is already gone.
My soul, if only a few millimeters of the surface, is already beginning to enter the inside of hers.
I will knead it, stir it, and have her gasping before long.

After that I spent several tens of minutes with my hand still on Mother’s cheek, looking at her from close range.
In the warmth at my fingertips and palm, and in the feel of skin roughened by irregular living, I felt not the slightest nostalgia.
I seem to recall hearing that children held by their mothers when small all remember their early years in that warmth.
As I thought, stories heard from others about growing up without being given affection are not to be relied on.

She had been glaring at me, but as the wordless time continued the force of her hatred waned little by little and burned lower.
What surfaced next was “anxiety.”
Toward me, whose feelings could not be read at all, Mother’s mask of bluster began to peel, and fear gradually showed on her face.
Does magical power truly exist? Is it overthinking, this sense that Ryotaro’s presence is thinning in her heart?
Such thoughts went round and round in her head; a negative spiral stirred feelings of every color and dyed them black.

Still more time passed.
Mother was frightened, her complexion a little drained of color.
I treated such a her with affection: I set cheek against cheek, and dropped kisses that were only a touch, again and again.
At first Mother had frowned at every kiss, but whether she had grown used to it or had come to find it not entirely unwelcome, the feelings that rose were no longer only ones of disgust.
As that sort of closeness was repeated, the color returned to Mother’s cheeks.
Further, passing skin-color, they even took on a faint pink—
In the palm against her skin I could feel, faintly but clearly, the rise in temperature and the blood beginning to circulate more actively.

“I love you, Mother. I love you very much.” Continue reading →

Ex8-2. The Day My Father Died

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/68/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Mochizuki-kun. Long time no see.”

In a night park lit only thinly by a few streetlamps, there were two figures, a boy and a girl.
The girl smiled at the large, long-limbed boy who had just arrived—Kosuke Mochizuki—with a familiar expression.
Kosuke, for his part, looked surprised at the sight of her.

“No way… Is that really you, Akizora? The one who went missing?”

Sakuna Akizora.
That was the name of the girl who, several months earlier, had gone missing along with several classmates.
A group disappearance, or perhaps a kidnapping—the news of them had stirred the public, but so few leads emerged that the uproar subsided with the mystery still intact.
The investigation continued, but personnel had been diverted to the recent mass murders, and it was not progressing properly.
By now, only a few occult enthusiasts whispered urban-legend rumors among themselves; aside from close friends and family, most people had lost interest in the case.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I look like someone else? From any angle I’m obviously me.”

Such a girl had suddenly appeared.
A message had arrived on Kosuke’s phone about twenty minutes earlier.
Why a message using Sakuna’s name would reach him, when they had not been particularly close.
His first suspicion was a prank, but if they had his contact, it was probably a summons from a classmate.
Some guy friend had sent it as a joke, no doubt, and he would have to go yell at them—so he had left the house.
That the person herself would be there had never entered his imagination.

“Um… I felt like you were prettier than the last time I saw you.”
“Ahaha. Don’t tell me you’re hitting on me? I can’t say I don’t get it. Being called to a park all of a sudden at night—a healthy guy would get his hopes up.”

He was not hitting on her.
She was certainly the Sakuna he knew, and yet something felt different from before.
Was it winter? Was it night? Or had his own expectations put a correction on the way he looked at her?
With her standing there, hands clasped behind her back, swinging her feet, Kosuke somehow could not speak well for nervousness.

“Well, we weren’t that close to begin with, so being called out of nowhere is awkward, yeah. Anyway, let’s get to the point.”
“A-ah…”
“There’s something I want to show you, Mochizuki-kun. Will you come with me?”
“Got it.”

Kosuke followed as Sakuna led him, walking behind her.
They went deeper into the park, left the path, and entered a grove of mixed trees.
The leaf mold of piled fallen leaves made poor footing; even so Sakuna went lightly, and Kosuke followed, losing his balance now and then.

“Sakuna-chan.”
“Oh, Toka. Weren’t you supposed to wait?”

Along the way through the woods, another girl appeared.
Toka Sato. She, too, was one of the classmates who had vanished with Sakuna.

“Sato as well… Where have you two been all this time.”

Kosuke spoke to Toka, but she gave him only a glance and at once looked away, uninterested.
They had had even less to do with each other than he had with Sakuna, so it was only natural, but the near-ignore still wounded him, alone.

“I got lonely waiting by myself.”
“It wasn’t even that long. Toka, you really are a baby.”
“Yeah… I can’t manage unless Sakuna or Lady Chigusa is nearby. I got changed that way.”

So saying, Toka brought her face close to Sakuna’s.
Sakuna closed her eyes as a matter of course and accepted the kiss.

The two of them did not stop at a greeting. They lingered, as if they had forgotten anyone else was there.

“Ha…? Wh-hey, you two, what are you…”

Kosuke could only stare, dumbfounded, at the girls’ sudden display.
Sakuna and Toka had been close, it was true, but they had not been like that.
Or had they closed the distance while they were missing?
Even so—it was not something to do in front of another person.

Sakuna chided her, and Toka looked downcast.
Even so she did not quite let go of Sakuna.

“Nn… You’re too worked up. After we’re done with business, later. All right?”
“U… Got it.”

Still drooping, Toka moved away from Sakuna.
Sakuna put on a face that was, at least, apologetic, and bowed her head to Kosuke.

“Sorry for making you wait. Come on, let’s go. There’s someone waiting.”
“…Yeah.” Continue reading →