they were rumours, something noriaki considered to be
townspeople that were just scared of a local legend,
makebelief and heresy, but as the other showed himself,
he definitely knew that in fact it was true. that there was
indeed a vampire living where the townspeople had led
him to. if the long trek towards his destination had been
any indication of how much evil that still was to be
getting rid of, then he had much work to do.
he dodged, avoiding the fire as it continously tries to
chase him. seeing the man that was opposing the fearsome
vampire, you’d perhaps think him a little meek, if you were
to judge him by his rather slender build. he only had a
few weapons on him, not being much of a melee fighter.
not that it mattered much, for he had a much stronger
weapon in his arsenal, one that a mere vampire would
not be able to take away from him.
as if magic, he took to the air, seemingly standing on
nothing above the flames that tried to reach for him, but
couldn’t. no, this power allowed him to do extraordinary
things, from being able to shoot projectiles at from a
distance, to being able to allow him to freely move about
the room where they had met a moment ago.
「 you’re a vampire, are you not? — are the rumours
really true, or are you just some lone soul that waits inside
an empty castle to make friends, only to burn them to ashes
using fire the moment they walk in? talk about a warm welcome. 」
Jealous ? Visibly, the concept is foreign to him, eyes round as he takes in his senior. Situational perhaps — he was used to the envy that consumed his peers when grades were posted and his name was printed in first place, a brand at this point. The raw hate he saw in their eyes when he overtook the lead in track, or scored repeated goals, or hit every ball thrown his way ; none of that was uncommon to him. It’d never held any personal meaning to him, it was just something he was supposed to do.
But his abilities ? Even before he had them, they’d been all he ever wanted ; the very meaning of life. They’d meant more to him than anything, and for once he understood.
The comment had been offhand. Perhaps even something meant to subtly reassure him that he was doing fine, not to be taken seriously in the slightest, but it only makes him shift with discomfort. After all, he knew first hand just what that could mean and do to a person.
“ — Stress. ” Short, to the point. Details are irrelevant and neither is he keen on sharing any. He picks up his juice and raises it to his lips before he pauses, nose crinkling as he sits it back down. Drinking it now seemed unsanitary. “ My nii-san can do a lot more. My … ” He falters, thinking, and then continues, “ friends too. I can only move things, really. I’m not sure if I’ll be capable of anything more. No one seems to know how this works. ” But, he supposed that was to be expected with matters of the mind, as disappointing as it was.
a slow blink. the answer was so short. too short, for
noriaki’s personal liking, but seeing as this was ritsu, a,
dare he say it, skittish thirteen year old teenager, he could
only imagine what he was struggling with. puberty, school,
being busy with definitely not opening up to others.
but whatever happened to him that caused him to awaken
to his powers, must have been extreme. stress was the
simple answer, but he had a faint idea of what might have
happened, given that it was enough for him to awaken to
them, and though he did want to know more, the finer details,
he guessed that ritsu was not open to talking about it with
how dismissive he was of the topic.
「 — at least you’re not alone. 」
it was something he had wished for, were he younger.
all remembers is how much he struggled just being, existing
while no one understood him. while no one could see him,
in his entirity. no friends, not even his parents could get
close to him, as he kept pushing people away.
「 your friends, do they have different powers? you make
it sound like they do. 」
the devil is a foreign concept , a being of pure evil — meant to only serve as a reminder to not question the holy light of compliance. human religion itself was distant to him / a blurry ideal that he cannot grasp — a lifestyle he cannot live by. an apathetic gaze fixed upon the man in front of him , he decides to pursue the topic.
‘ you humans have many devils running about , which one do you speak of ? ‘
he shudders at the question, his head kept low as to not
make eye contact with the man that spoke to him. the
devil was a commonly known entity, a being from hell itself,
but if noriaki had to think of one, then the first one that’d
come to mind would be his own personal devil ——
「 —— dio. 」
the mere thought of him often sent chills down his spine,
and though long gone, the near death experience he
experienced because of them, having shown weakness in
front of them, and feeling humiliated, was something that
still made his hair stand on end, the memories haunting
him again now and then.
he questioned the other, hoping they’d explain what they were, for yu was one that never talked much. not in public, and neither to his friends really, but it was always enough just to give others a idea of what he thought or meant. he guessed that it made him kind of mysterious, the silent and cool transfer student type. thinking about it, he didn’t even know that much about him.
「 what dreams are you talking about? like, a job? or a university you wanted to apply for? 」
With enhanced intelligence came an affliction that struck few of Pet Shop’s species — boredom.
After weeks of no attempts to pass the mansion’s gates, it had begun to weigh heavily on the bird’s ill-defined sense of loyalty. Day by day, he rose to greater heights. His territory expanded to the streets surrounding his home. Then, to the ones surrounding those. Yet, they held nothing of interest to him. There was no diversion in humans walking. The sound of their cries as they went about their nonsensical business. Going to and fro from their voluntary cages to their noisy metal boxes that rolled around the roads.
Soaring far above them had lost its charm, its superiority.
Pet Shop needed a target and found one. Hard to say how his choice had been made. Perhaps it was a sense of ‘ otherness ’, a difference between this man and the Cairo natives. A sense of recognition, a similarity spotted between him and the human without understanding. Perhaps no choice had been made at all and it was simply bad luck on the human’s part.
Trajectory changed. Wings folded in. Pet Shop became a speeding missile, absurdly precise. Guided by instinct and a brain flickering through 100 images per second. A comet hurtling faster than any human could react. Talons unfolding, ready to strike —
And an easy flap of wings carrying him off on the warm currents, having pierced nothing but empty air a scant inch away from the human’s face. Cruising with unnecessary obviousness to land on the corner of a sand-colored building’s roof. Self-satisfied. Untouchable. Were he capable of it, Pet Shop would have pitied humans, condemned to never knowing the freedom of the skies. Weak creatures. Soft. His to play with.
As far as could be told from a face that was never made to display expressions, his was smug.
the sunglasses he wore were to protect his eyes from
the sun, heat and sand that was in the air, for albeit he
could see again, they were still somewhat healing. for
them to get infected or exposed to sunlight or light in
general for a extended period of time cause harm his
eyes and, perhaps, turn him blind if not careful.
wanting to get a feel for moving about the city while
wearing the spectacles, before he’d head for the others
of the group, he wanted to walk around a little, just to
get adjusted to his somewhat impaired vision. everything
was darker for starters, omitting tiny details from his sight.
the rim of the glasses even prevented him to being able
to see various parts of the area. he’d have loved to
argue with the doctors that he had to be able to move
about without them to function at 100%, but that wasn’t
going to happen if his eyesight was on the line.
it was ever so subtle, but he could feel the faintest waft
of air in his face, as if a door closing next to his face. that
wasn’t a normal gust of wind, he was sure. looking around,
he didn’t notice them immediately, but finally looking up,
he noticed a bird sitting upon the corner of a building,
seemingly watching him with a single eye, but that’d be
ridiculous right? yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling there
was more to the bird he was looking at. for one, the cap
they wore indicated they were owned by someone, but
there was no telling who. he looked away, continuing to
walk, but couldn’t help but feel being looked at.