I ran through the corridors breaking rules like a teenager enjoying his youth but this teenager is also worried since the matter right now was very serious. Got to find Ai, got to find her.
What if she was able to identify who did that? Kizuhara was also part of the soccer team meaning, shit, he is in big danger now. I rushed towards the soccer field and was breathing heavily. My eyes looked around for his figure but I could not find him.
"Um...senpai, where is Kizuhara? I was supposed to meet him," I asked the senpai drinking the water from the bottle.
"Really? Some girl from his class took him somewhere. Damn, she was a beautiful piece of art," he said making me worry more.
Where did Ai take him? Think Kazuki, think. Somewhere not everyone would be and no one would be able to probably hear them. The storage shed!
It was a place which students found out to be not under use but still open and students could go there. It was a famous place for a couple to go and not for the right reason. I am sure Kizuhara has no idea that he is probably going to get his body chopped off or something along those lines and I don't want to be too late.
I ran towards the storage shed and I heard voices of things falling down coming from there. Please, I should not be too late.
I opened the door and a figure jumped behind me. The entire storage shed was a mess and before me stood a figure in the dark with her red eye glowing so it is only logical that the person behind me was Kizuhara. I looked at him and his arm was bleeding and his leg had a big cut on it. He was cowering in fear the figure in front of me just stopped seeing me.
"K-Kazu-kun, what are you doing here?" she asked me pulling her hands behind her back.
"Nothing actually. I was wondering where you went and I heard some voices coming from here so I decided to check. Didn't expect to find you here Ai," I said smiling at her.
She looked at Kizuhara and glared at him making him stiffen behind me. He held my shoulder and his hands were shaking.
"Shiba, help me. Tsubaki-chan has gone crazy and started attacking me," he said.
"No, you are lying Kazu-kun. I know you are here to save this asshole. I know how kind and nice of a person you are," she said still glaring at Kizuhara.
I closed the door behind and Kizuhara looked at me confused. I looked at Ai and took a step forward normally and Ai just stood there but seeing me, her expression often.
"No Ai, you are wrong," I said calmly. "I am not here to save him. I am here to get you."
"Huh?"
She did not understand what I meant which made me chuckle a little. I was now standing face to face with her. Her eyes were no longer glowing with me blocking Kizuhara from her peripheral vision.
"As I said, I am here to get Ai so we can go home together. I even thought that I will make that chocolate cake today. Don't you want that?" I said to her and her face lit up.
"Yes, I would love that," she said.
"So first Ai, make Kizuhara forget everything that happened right now and heal his wounds," I said taking her hand giving her a pleading look on my face. "Please."
She averted her face as soon as she heard me mentioning helping Kizuhara but in the end, she accepted the request. Kizuhara had no idea what we were talking about and Ai walked over to him glaring and then her red-eye glowed. She then makes a small cut on her arm and then pours her blood on his wounds which quickly started healing his wounds.
Kizuhara then just stood up and walked out of the room as if nothing happened.
"I didn't know that you could do that with your blood," I said to Ai who turned smiling.
"Well, I actually can," she said and then clung to my arm. "Now time for cake!"
I chuckled and we left the storage room with blood splattered on the walls and the equipment of the rooms but no one uses it so it is fine since no one normally comes here. It is quite rare that someone comes here and even if they did, they won't really know what happened.
We head out of the school building and made our way back home. On the way, we made a stop to buy the ingredients for the cake and Ai was sweet hunting yet again. The ones in the fridge are not even over and why did she buy wine chocolate? I have read enough to know that it is a big red flag. Still, Ai was somehow able to convince me to get them and we entered the house with our hands full with shopping bags.
We placed the stuff back and I quickly went and changed into a lot more comfortable clothes and luckily Ai did not try pulling anything off. Now, it was time for the main event. To bake the chocolate cake. Depending on how you make it, it can take three to four hours to even days sometimes but that is for a lot more extravagant ones.
Wearing my apron and rolling up my sleeves, I started making the base for the cake with flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and a little salt mixing it all well. The next step had to make the second part of the base which will actually make it available to properly bake with eggs, buttermilk...now I feel like it is a cooking show that I see on televisions.
Once making the bake, I got two cake pans out with parchment paper placed in it and greasing it with butter to make sure it does not stick to the pan. Since I was making two layers, I put enough for one layer and put it in the oven which looks like it was never used but fortunately worked fine. While that was happening, I made the frosting and it did not take much time.
After the first layer was baked, I brought it out and placed it on the table. It was then I noticed Ai eyeing the little cake like a predator.
"Don't eat it," I said to her in a commanding voice.
"I was not going to," she said making me raise my eyebrow. "Okay, just a little bite. I have to make sure it was made properly."
"I can do that on my own," I said and keeping the layer of the cake away from Ai. "Hey, stop eating the frosting like that."
What will I do about her? When I finally made her not eat the layer of the cake, she went over to the prepared frosting and started eating it with her finger like a little kid.
"One more and you will not be allowed to eat this cake."
I dropped the bomb and Ai's hand stopped in the air which was going for another scoop.
I let out a sigh and poured the second layer of the cake into the pan which I had to prepare again after taking out the first layer. Placing it in the oven, the only thing left was to wait.
"Hey Ai," I called her out. "I was asking to say, just how strong can you become?"
Hearing my question, she sat down and placed her finger on her chin pondering over the idea.
"If I have to say, with a normal amount of blood at once, I can be as strong as a noble," she said finally.
"Noble?"
"Oh, actually the vampires are divided into different categories depending on how long they have been a vampire for. There are five categories from bottom to top which are critters, novice, nobles, lord of the night and the first."
"Listen Ai," I said rubbing my head. "Please tell me all this information in the beginning! I think this really is a thing I needed to know. So the vampires you have fought till now were..."
"Oh, they were all novice ones. I guess you were right. I needed to tell you all this long ago but anyway, when a person just turns into a vampire, it is called a critter. These are not too strong than others but they are a lot more dangerous since they are just newly turned vampires, they would be out seeking blood more than others. This period goes for about six months and then they enter the novice state. The novices can be differentiated by their skin being paler than normal. This period stays till they are a vampire for three hundred years, which is when they can be called a noble."
"Wait a minute. It takes three hundred years for a vampire to become a noble?" I asked her honestly surprised. Don't they get bored by living almost three lives?
"But they are really hard to defeat since they are a lot more intelligent and proficient in combat after all those years of survival. When a vampire becomes a noble, they can use things like mind control and even break rocks with a simple punch. Then we have lord of the night and the first and I am pretty sure you can only imagine how strong they would be."
Taking all the information in and digesting it was a big task. This made me worry since it would be really bad if we were to be attacked by a noble but seeing the situation, it looks like an inevitable case. But, the question stands when it will happen? And if it does, will we be prepared by then?
"I have one more question," I said. "It is just my theory but yesterday you said that the vampires are made by transfer of blood of the lord of the night and the first so if they are converted by the first, does that mean that they can overcome the sun?"
This was one question that is worrying me the most because if it is possible then we are not even safe in the daylight.
"Not really," Ai said. "The lord of the night never allowed him to use his blood for that reason because according to her, he was special. But there was one man who was turned by the first but he is a gatekeeper to an altar."
"Gatekeeper to an altar?"
"Unfortunately no one knows what is in that altar and any vampire who tried to find never came back alive," Ai said.
So there was one vampire who can still stand in the sun meaning we won't be attacked in the broad daylight. It was a relief.
My thoughts were cut by the sound of the oven and the second layer of the cake was ready. I brought it out and let it cool down before covering it with the frosting I made. Done with that, I flattened it out and stuck chocolate chips on the side. Now, it was standing in its full glory and Ai was literally drooling seeing it. I picked up the cake and put it in the fridge.
"This will be after dinner so don't eat it right now," I said to her and she slouched her shoulder.
"Eh? Boo."
"No complains."
Ai went to the couch and crashed there throwing some tantrums which looked really cute. Her cheeks were puffed and her face looked really childish.
Like this, the time passed by and it was already a month. Something happened in the school like some girls proposing to me and then I never saw them again. I hope it is just a cold. Kizuhara no longer bothered me and I and Ai got along pretty well with her pulling off a stunt every now and then.
Now summer vacations were about to come but...we were unaware of the big surprise that we will get before that. Yes, the inevitable situation actually happened and she was someone we were not prepared for.
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