𝖞𝖆𝖒a𝖙𝖔 𝖓𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖍𝖎k𝖔 (ap)

he was excited to see her again. as any boy would be. damn, did she get prettier in the time they were apart? wow, that was smooth. he should say that to her. why isn’t he? because he’s feels like it’s too risque.  but, mental high-fives for thinking of that. 

‘ yeah! sounds like fun. i haven’t been to an arcade in forever! ’

if they do what she wants to do, then there’s no way that he could mess up. besides, all of her ideas sounds like fun. shopping, a bite to eat, and then they can go play around some more. 

As Noriko acts her typical oblivious self, she doesn’t notice how he sees their ‘outing’ to really be. Though, can she really complain? They continued walking, and like she said, downtown came into view quickly. She smiled, excitement bubbling inside her as she ushered him to hurry up. 

“Here’s the shop!” She happily pointed her fingers towards the little shop she gotten her key-chain, walking right into the establishment. It was clearly owned by town-folks, everything compacted just enough to call it COZY. She found the hanging key-chains on a small rack, showing off the various ones. 

‘ BYE. BYE! ’ he’s waving excitedly at the girl while she walks off.  but the bell constantly ringing is reminding him that he has to go to class, which just makes him sulk. —if only the day would go by faster so he could see her again.

when the school day is finally over, he rushes over to the front gate where he could meet up with noriko.

She caught a glimpse of the delinquent she just planned an outing with, weaving through the crowd as she greeted him. “Okuyasu,” She smiled, walking up to him, “Are you ready?” She asked. She clutched her bag excitedly, her nerves on edge. She couldn’t blame him, saying he made her feel uneasy was untrue but social interaction was rare for her. She wasn’t completely sure what to do... 

THIS IS IT. he’s going to spend his afternoon spending time with a cute girl! oh my god. he’s going to have to tell josuke, koichi, someone, ANYONE about this.  this means that HE would be the one canceling established plans with friends because of a girl. —he has a DATE. right?

‘ Y-YEA! AFTER SCHOOL SOUNDS GREAT. ’

is he yelling? he might be yelling. but, nothing this good has ever happened in his 16 years of life. he’s exaggerating.

Noriko couldn’t hide her own excitement, her heart fluttering with a rush of eagerness. She’s always liked Okuyasu, and spending time with him after school seemed... nice. Hell, even more than just nice. She was glad to see him agree with her, the bell ringing which signaled the class switch made her realize how quickly it’ll be before they leave! 

this girl doesn’t realize she’s only making it worse. 

she’s inviting him to go out to eat after shopping. —that was a date. in his 16 years of life, he’s never gone out with a girl anywhere outside of school. and barely in school too. 

actually want to hang out with her?

HE’LL GO ANYWHERE WITH A CUTE GIRL!

‘ y-yeah! i wanna go! —-where do you wanna meet up… and what time? ’

Now truly considering what she currently landed herself, she tried to think of a plan. Thinking about her pathetically empty schedule, she didn’t how meeting up right after school was an issue...

WHAT!? was this cute girl inviting him to come hang out with her? NEAR HER PARENT’S RESTAURANT? —did she want him  to meet her parents already!? NO. he wasn’t ready for that!

COOL IT, OKUYASU. 

‘ah… w-well… if you really w-want to…’

yes. score. he had to go tell josuke about this. he was glad his mother gave birth to him.

She can already see him taking this wrong way. GREAT.

The greatest question is why she acts as if she has a busy social life, and her schedule is always filled to the brim. Just goddamn go with the boy to get the key-chain, Noriko. 

he might have been staring at that keychain for a little TOO long.  how’s he gonna keep up his macho rep if everyone knows he’s got a soft spot for cats. –especially in front of a chick.

‘ pff. —no…. but, you know… where did you get them? ’

it’s not like he wants to know to buy one later, right before the store closes.

She was a little surprised to see he had even a ounce of interest in her cat key-chain. She easily pushed aside her astonishment, and decided to tell him where she got it. 

“The convenience store in town. It’s near my parent’s restaurant, so I sometime stop by... It’s not far at all. Maybe we can go together after school?” Her suggestion didn’t have any hidden meaning to it, nor did she really think out the implication. 

“Jouko!” Noriko excitedly greeted the taller girl, skipping ahead of the normal formalities (which there was no need for, they’ve known each other for long enough).

“Noriko Kakyoin,” he repeated, his stoic expression never wavering. He wasn’t about to let her go so easily. “You’re seeing how odd this is, right? My name is Noriaki Kakyoin.” 

His emerald eyes eyed her appearance, tracing over her unique hairstyle, down to her peculiar accessories. It matched up with his own. “What are you? The work of an enemy Stand? A stalker?” 

ENEMY STAND? She’s never thought saying her own name would bring about suspicion and doubt to a stranger before. Shouldn’t she be asking if he was a enemy stand user? 

“No, not at all! I’m not sure why we have similar names nor appearances...” She said, feeling nervous under his scrutiny. A question popped inside her head, and she knew if he answered correctly, it would ease her own doubts. 

“Pardon?” Kakyoin looked over, frowning deeply as he took in the source of the voice. It was some girl who… looked remarkably familiar. It was in a way Kakyoin found unpleasant. 

“It’s not, no…” he said slowly. “Who are you, exactly?” 

His question threw her off guard, not expecting him to question who she was. However, as her question was answered, she hoped to offer the same generosity. 

Dione looked down at the young woman for a moment, licking her lips out of habit as she pondered this odd situation she was in.   Wait… she felt a familiar, pleasant coppery taste on her tongue.  Blood.  Dione realized what had happened, now.  Dione had been quite hungry… and this girl had been following her, or at least was close enough.  Dione figured her bloodlust must have completely taken over.

However, the young woman’s last question made her wonder… had just she infected someone with vampirism, perhaps without meaning to? It certainly was odd this stranger wasn’t dead, considering all the blood she had likely drained to satisfy her bloodthirst.

“Mm… I suppose asking those questions are understandable, considering your circumstances at the moment…” the vampiress chuckled, wiping her bloody lips and chin with her shirt sleeve.   

“I am what you humans would call a ‘vampire’.  As for what you are… I’d assume you are a human, though if I bit you, that may not be the case anymore. You might be like me, now…”

Noriko did not belong here. 

She was a foreigner, plain and simple. She didn’t have golden hair and crystal blue eyes like the many foreigners she’s heard about. Was it a mistake to lead herself to England? She had much wanderlust within her soul, and she carefully bred it since a young age. She didn’t know her natural curiosity would bring to her demise. 

The young woman before her shone beautiful, a natural crafted elegance and posture. Her calm, collected attitude did not waver, it wasn’t afflicted by Noriko’s onset panic. She blinked again, her hand swiping over her wound. It was healing?! 

“I don’t know what you did to me but... I want to go back! I don’t belong as a MONSTER like you!” Noriko was growing hysterical, her mind growing blurred from her bubbling anger and overwhelming terror.