My name is Keisuke Matsumoto. I was born and raised in Japan, and after a change in custody in regards to my parent's divorce, I moved to Tokyo.
I have curly white hair that stops at my green eyes and pale white skin that occasionally bruises when even the smallest amount of pain meets it.
I play guitar, games, and cook food in my free time which seems to be in limited supply nowadays. I have two sisters, one older and the other younger, who used to keep me company when I got lonely.
The older one, Hina, moved to the US to pursue her dream in acting and the younger one, Mori, occasionally visits me despite her traumatic memory loss.
Due to an accident involving the death of my older brother, Mitsuo, I live my life with only one lung. It's not so bad, especially since it gives me an excuse to skip exercise and sit at home doing nothing.
Along with my missing lung, I also suffer from Avoidant Personality Disorder, social anxiety, and mild Agoraphobia.
It's manageable and, if I'm honest, it's not very difficult to deal with. Sometimes, my little sister, Mori, will forget about my condition because of her memory loss.
She tries hard to remember things but she can't seem to recall the accident that almost killed her and me.
Since then, our family has separated, sending me and Mori into a custody war between her mother and father.
Once I had moved to Tokyo, my father and mother passed away within a couple of months. The mystery of their deaths is still currently under investigation after they couldn't find out who killed them.
The evidence they managed to collect only proved two things: they were dead and some kind of otherworldly thing had killed them.
There is a small problem though: I was the one that killed them.
Roughly a month after I moved to Tokyo, I was attacked by a vampire. Luckily, she became obsessed with me and decided to turn me into one of her.
For months, I lived like a monster, killing people to stay alive.
I was so out of control of my body that I attacked and killed my father and mother.
I had consumed their blood and scratched them profusely as they struggled to defend themselves.
To this day, I still hear their pleads and screams as I killed them without a single hint of regret and mercy.
Then one day, I met a girl named Tae. At first, I had attempted to kill her, but she pitied me when I failed so easily.
Instead of killing me, she removed my vampirism through a very painful ritual that put me in a coma for a week.
When I awoke, I had retained a few side effects due to how long I was a vampire and gained a huge debt from how much I owed her.
Tae said if she had waited to do the ritual for another two weeks I would have been rendered uncurable, so it really couldn't be helped.
To this day I still struggle to pay her back the amount of money I owe her, which came out to roughly 175,000 yen.
I now live with Tae, helping her take care of herself and the house while occasionally making small payments to remove my debt.
I sometimes get calls from Mori saying I should come to visit her in Okinawa, but more often than not she'll forget she even asked me. Being half-vampire isn't so bad, though.
Since I retained the side effects of being one, I kept my regenerative abilities, increased physical strength, and an enhanced sense of smell, which all prove useful for the most random and insignificant things.
Unfortunately, I have no heartbeat and my hair remains the same chalk-white it changed to when I first turned. All of which doesn't make sense to me. I have no idea how I'm able to survive without a heartbeat and one day I asked Tae if she had any information that would clear it up.
She gave me a long lecture about how vampires survive in the first place, yet I was still confused about how I was alive.
I ended up stealing one of her old books and reading about it for myself.
Turns out, half-vampires are quite a common thing to happen. As I read I began to learn more and more about myself and how I was able to retain my powers.
Long story short, can survive without a heartbeat simply because I am constantly regenerating.
I also found out that half-vampires can regain the strength of a real vampire after a year of being cured because of their regeneration, which sort of trains the body involuntarily while building muscle and other abilities.
Although half-vampires are no longer carnal and lose their diet of blood, they experience extreme hunger when they don't eat at least 4 meals a day.
This led to my hobby of being a cook, which was pivotal in my survival.
Today, the morning was painfully brighter than usual. When you looked up, you saw a clear blue sky without a single cloud floating above you.
Birds chirped a looped melody and cicadas chimed with the sounds of the wind. The trees danced as the wind blew through their leaves and loose trash floated down the sidewalks.
Yes, it was the perfect morning, but all I felt was uneasy and paranoid. As much as I wanted to be excited about it, I dreaded the first day of my high school year.
My alarm clock screeches as I refuse to move a muscle. It was almost as if my body was paralyzed. The ceiling comes into view as the sleepiness leaves my baggy eyes.
As I struggle to sit up, my white hair sticks to my pillow like little arms trying to pull my head back to fluffy comfort. I rub my eyes and look out the window for a second.
The window is slightly cracked, letting in a small breeze that passes my face as I open it wider.
From the window I could hear the sound of the birds chirping in a tree nearby, students gossiping as they walked down the street, and cars honking as they struggled through traffic.
It was days like these that made me feel even more alone.
Suddenly, a voice from outside makes me lift my eyelids.
"Kei-chan! Good morning!"
I peek through my window and come face to face with an orange-haired girl. She had bright green eyes with a light sparkle that reflected a small ray of sunlight as it illuminated her face. Her lips were just inches from mine before I dodge quickly, a violent flush of red on my cheeks.
"Morning Oumi," I said with a groan, "What do you want?"
"I'm here to wake you up!" She says, cheerfully, "It's our first day of school, y'know!"
"Oh, yeah, I completely forgot," I said.
Oumi is an old friend of mine. We became buddies in kindergarten and have lived in the same neighborhood since then.
The day I met her, she was made fun of because of her height and for some reason, it awakened a sense of justice within my undeveloped brain.
I got my ass kicked, yes, but I gained a friend that day, though, sometimes I regret sticking up for such an annoying human being.
That day, we went home together and spent the night scarfing sweets and talking about anime which was all we had in common.
For some reason, I haven't told Oumi about my vampirism and I hope that I never have to.
Her whole life has been a struggle and I'd hate to become one of the things that make her life seem any more supernatural.
From the window, I can see her trying to force her little head through the pane. She looked up at me and I could tell without her saying that she was stuck.
I let a laugh escape my mouth as I watched her fight the window before giving up and begging the window to let her go. Eventually, she stops and looks up at me as if I was her last hope in her escape from the dreaded window.
"Uh, Kei-chan, can you lend me a hand," she says, puffing out her rosy cheeks.
I'm just about to walk over and help her when a devilish plan forms in my head. I put on a menacing smile and slowly lift my foot to press it against her face. Oumi looks up again in time to see my foot fall onto her blushed face.
A look of pure and utter fear appears on her face as her arms flail around, attempting to stop it.
"No! Kei-chan!" She pleads, "Don't use your foot!"
A smirk appears on my face as my foot pressed against her soft skin. I use my body weight to push her out of the window and as soon as she escapes she curls into a ball on the floor.
"You're such a jerk, Kei-chan!" She says, crossing her arms over her chest.
She pulls out a makeup brush and attempts to fix her makeup as her eyes bawl. As much as I wanted to feel bad for quite literally stepping on Oumi, I only felt pity for her.
"It's not my fault you're so easy to bully," I said with a snicker.
"Meanie."
I back up from the window and shoe Oumi away before changing into my school uniform and heading out the door.
After I brush my teeth, comb my hair, and nab a box of pocky from the cabinet, I head out into the living room.
Tae's door slides open and her limp body drags on the floor as she crawls to the kitchen like a caterpillar.
"Morning Tae," I said.
"Yo," she said, ignoring me while she browsed the fridge in search of food.
When she finally makes a selection she reaches her hand into it and pulls out a half-full gallon of milk.
Tae is about 2 years older than me and works as a manga artist for a popular publishing company. She seems unproductive and useless but she gets a lot of things done in a short amount of time.
One night, I caught her at 2 in the morning drawing panels and storyboarding with a bright smile on her face.
Surprisingly, she greeted me with that same smile which marked the night I decided she was nocturnal.
I often tease her, calling her a vampire or opening the blinds in her room, which elicited the same fury I saw when she first defeated me in a fist fight.
"I'm off to school," I said, "Try to clean your room or run some laundry. You've been sleeping way too much lately."
"I meet the deadlines," she said, "And why would I clean something when I could just have you do it."
As much as I wanted to refute it, she was right. I've always felt in debt to Tae since she saved me and as a way of showing my gratitude, I'll do her house chores or help her with her manga.
It wasn't much, but whenever she gives me that half-assed "thanks" I can't help but feel even a little needed. She doesn't know, but for the longest time, I have been sort of in love with Tae.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact she practically saved my life, but something within tells me it's because of her D cup breasts.
Thoughts like these continue to remind me of why I'll never become someone's love interest. Not to mention my various mental conditions and inexperience with women. Some may think that Oumi is a lead for my path into manhood, but Oumi is just as useless and inexperienced as they come.
She still remains the only person I met who has only ever talked to two guys in her whole life. Those two being me and her father.
I throw my bag over my shoulder and shrug. Tae closes the fridge door and heads over to the cupboard. Her hand reaches in and comes back holding a glass bowl.
"Ah, I guess so," I sigh, "I'll be back at 5, so try to be awake by then."
Tae walks to another cupboard and pulls a box of cereal from it.
"Sure," she finally says.
She places the bowl and cereal on the counter next to the gallon of milk and starts making herself a bowl of cereal.
I nod and head over to the front door, sliding my shoes on and placing my hand on the door handle.
"See ya," I say, "Try not to die or anything."
Tae picks up her bowl of cereal and opens a drawer, pulling out a silver spoon and placing it in her mouth. Her feet drag on the floor as she walks to her room the way a zombie walks aimlessly in search of food.
She places the bowl on a table in the middle of her room and walks back to the door. Laying her head against the wall, she slowly shuts the door, attentively staring at me.
"You too," she finally says.
I slide open the front door and shut it behind me. I start walking towards the street when I see her. Standing by the gate of my front yard was Oumi, fidgeting with a pen.
"Jeez!" She yawns, "You took longer than me to get ready! I could've walked to school, chosen my seat in the class, and made friends with all of the 1st years by the time you finally left your house."
"We both know that isn't true," I said, doubtfully, "Oumi making friends? Never have I ever seen you hanging out with anyone but yourself and a wandering butterfly. Maybe even an army of ants."
"Not true!" Oumi shrieks, "Remember that dog that came up to me at the park?"
"I do, but I also remember you clinging to me and running for your life screaming 'No! Don't lick me!'," I say with a smile, "You climbed up a tree when it chased after you and you refused to get down until the owners came and got him."
Oumi lets out a sigh.
"You're not so popular yourself, Kei-chan," she said, frowning, "I don't see you hanging out with anyone but me. Me and those pillows with those anime girls you like woven into the fabric."
"Hold on," I said.
How in the hell does she know about that? Never mind that, I need to come back at her with something that'll surely shut her up.
"First of all, take the cameras you hid in my room out," I said, "Second of all, weren't you the girl that put on cat ears and pretended to be a cat all through middle school?"
Oumi's skin goes pale as a terrifying look appears on her face.
"You even got suspended for bringing a cat to school," I continue, "Then you blamed the cat saying that it was holding you hostage by taking over your body."
"Ok! Ok! Fine!" Oumi screeches, "You win! I don't even want to talk about it."
"Too easy," I said, "One big difference between you and I, Oumi, is the fact that I have faced my past and accepted who I was then and who I am now."
Oumi makes a strange grunting noise as she crosses her arms.
"That and the whole cat phase you went through," I say.
"Haha," she mumbles, "Not the only difference I hope."
"Anyways, did you watch that new episode of Myaku ga Nai?" I say.
Oumi's eyes light up.
"Oh my god! Yes!" She squeals, "I can't believe Minami was a vampire the whole time! Imagine if someone close to you turned out to be a vampire?"
My heart sinks to my stomach.
You'd be surprised, Oumi, I think to myself.
I had thought about telling Oumi when Tae first cured me and I even had a long conversation with Tae about it. In the end, I decided it would cause more commotion than needed, and perhaps things would be better if Oumi continued to consider me at least a little bit more normal.
Based on the events in our relationship so far, I have been the most uninteresting person with a strange home-life involving eromanga and other degenerate things that Oumi will always tease me about.
I always refute her discriminatory words with "I'm not ashamed of who I am" but I immediately eat my words when I get insecure if I act myself.
Back in middle school, I started to put on a facade and act completely different compared to who I am. I became a spiteful and uninterested punk that gave you a dirty look if we met eye contact.
Eventually, I had completely assumed that personality and essentially lost who I used to be. The only parts of me that remained were my love for anime, manga, and chocolate, which wasn't much of a help to the whole thing.
Oumi plays with her hair as we continue to talk about what happened on Myaku ga Nai's newest episode. Suddenly she glances at her watch and jumps when she reads it.
"We're going to be late!" She exclaims, grabbing my hand and running down the street with insane speed.
My body already starts to shrivel up from my lack of a lung but the pain slowly goes away before coming right back.
This cycle of burning pain and pleasurable relief continues as we run down the street, attracting estranged glances from neighbors sitting on their porch or tending to the garden.
Along the way, I caught a glimpse of our new school. It's big enough to see from my house though it's almost a 10-minute walk away. From Oumi's house, it's a straight shot from one side of the neighborhood to the other.
The community we live in is fairly small though it houses quite a lot of people. Take Oumi for example, the only girl in her household (besides her mother) chock-full of 3 younger brothers and 2 older brothers.
Her father was always in and out of the house for work while her mom stayed home and shouldered the impossible task of raising 6 children.
I've only visited Oumi's house twice in my life. The first time was when we were in kindergarten and Oumi took me to her house to treat me to sweets in exchange for being her bodyguard. The second time, we had a group project and Oumi decided to procrastinate and do her part of it at the last minute. I went over to her house to help her but I was soon bullied profusely by everyone in the household. It was my first time in a girls' room and it will always be the worst time.
Oumi goes over to my house almost every day. Simply because she's too dense and stupid to understand how to do her work, leading her straight to me as she begs for help.
Ninety percent of the time I end up doing everything for her as she takes a nap, raids my kitchen, or helps Tae with her manga.
Oumi isn't much of a drawer but she has steady hands that prove useful in drawing straight lines or designing panels, and terrific penmanship which is perfect for writing anything that needs to be handwritten.
Sometimes I think about the day Tae kicks me out and hires Oumi as her assistant.
Once we arrive at the front gate, I take a long pause to fully gaze upon the enormous building. It had been under construction for about two years before it finally was open for the teachers to situate.
I remember passing by it every day as I walked to the store or took my dog, Chibi, out for a walk.
Oumi taps my shoulder, waking me up from my trance.
"C'mon!" She beams, grabbing my hand once again.