Suddenly, as he brought the crescent rim up to his lips, there was a resounding knock; and before he could inquire on who it was, the very visage he yearned to see popped her cute little head in. “Eichi, I heard from Keito-kun that you were still here⋯ shouldn’t you be home by now?”

From behind Eichi’s frame, the moon illuminated through the window pane and ensnared his entity in an ethereal and sanctified glow; even if he was anything but holy.

“I had some extra proposals I needed to work through. Knights’ producer gave me three different ideas for the same live⋯ she’s quite the hardworker,” Eichi laughed quietly, albeit the sound was strained as he took a sip of the sickeningly red ‘water’, “but I know you’re not here to listen to me blather about work. Is there anything I can do for you, Vivian?”

Eichi’s beloved Vivian—her radiance was salubrious, ameliorating the natural decay he constantly underwent and filling him with vitality. His best friend and a human, too; which was always a topic of conversation whenever she was mentioned around his family.

Shaking her head softly, Vivian ambled deeper into the student council, door closing behind her figure, and reiterated, “I just wanted to check in on you.”

Incapable of suppressing a smile, no matter how exhausted he was he could always smile for her, Eichi relinquished another laugh. “I’m fine, I promise,” he assured her, once again taking a desperate sip as a burst of dizziness spun in his head, “I won’t say no if you want to watch over me, though♪”

“Of course!” Vivian twittered whilst capering over to one of the unoccupied chairs settled at the side of the room. “I’ll stay with you until you’re finished.

A certain, familiar dissatisfaction threaded through Eichi’s emotions as he examined how far away she was from him. “Bring the chair closer, we’re friends; you shouldn’t be sitting all the way over there,” he requested, a surge of appeasement overthrowing him as Vivian complied.

Now with her right beside him as he oversaw these proposals, Eichi was content.

Although, truthfully, a maelstrom of abysmal censure was brewing within the pit of his stomach.

Vivian’t sweet, exquisite scent wafted in the air to Eichi’s heightened senses, corroding his entire body from the inside out with a ravenous hunger. It was pitiful of him, truly—hence how he had already begun to berate himself.

Eichi should already be at home, not here overworking himself to the absolute limits of his ability, and he shouldn’t have asked Vivian to come closer to him when he knows how thirsty he is—but he couldn’t cope with the possibility of being so far from her.

“Not now⋯” he uttered beneath his breath, shaky and feverish gasps of air emitting from his trembling lips. Desperately, Eichi began to swill his supplementary ‘water’ with more urgency.

Ah, fate was truly unfair.

Tilting her head solicitously as she heard Eichi murmuring, Vivian reached forward and placed a delicate hand on his forearm. “A-Are you okay, Eichi? You’re pale⋯”

“I’m alright. Just have a little bit of a headache,” Eichi gave her a vague, half-heated lie, although part of him knows that Vivian is already seeing right through him, “Don’t worry about me—khh!”

“Eichi!” Vivian’s disquieted voice tore through the pain throbbing in his body, and she brought herself even closer to him; the propinquity making him woozy and unbearably weak. “Y-You need something more than these supplements, right?”

“Vivian, don’t,” Eichi snapped, wretched despair twisting his guts in a mess, “Don’t say it.”

In the worst cases, Eichi was so damn tenacious, wasn’t he?

“I’m not giving you a choice!”

Thrusting her wrist in front of Eichi’s face, Vivian hopelessly pressed the joint against his lips; shivering as the wet flesh grazed such a sensitive spot.

“Drink from me⋯ and you can buy me dinner after, okay? Deal?”

Vivian’s pulse vibrated against his lips as he found himself kissing the supple skin, a delirious-sounding moan overflowing from his hoarse vocals as he inhaled her scent so closely. “Ahh⋯ you’re playing so cruelly,” Eichi whispered, tongue running across her wrist as he abdicated his personal morals, “I’ll be gentle.”

Finally conceding, the voracity reverberating from the depths of his core pervading so acutely he couldn’t ignore it any longer, Eichi parted his mouth wide; pearly-white and sharp fangs glistening in the scintillating moonlight.

That gleam only dissipated into an unholy darkness the moment his fangs sunk deeply into Vivian’s flesh, losing its hallowed lustre as he committed such a monstrous act.

Squeezing an eye shut as she winced in pain, a piercing and unparalleled sting course through the excoriated spot, Vivian exhaled. She could never begin to imagine the kind of harrow Eichi goes through, so sacrificing this little bit of pain was the least she could sacrifice for him.

As Eichi’s fangs pumped the natural aphrodisiac into Vivian’s veins, he tenderly held onto her; lithe fingers stroking her skin to alleviate any discomfort. Once he scrutinised her cheeks flushing with warmth, eyes glazing over with a mind-numbing daze, Eichi, as weak as he was, smiled against her wrist.

“Mm—!” Eichi melted into her as he slowly began to suck, the succulent taste of her blood seeping across his tongue. It was delicious, it was heavenly—it was everything he’d been dreaming of.

Eichi had drank from Vivian before—they’ve been friends since the beginning of their tale—but he always abhorred the idea of asking for any of her blood. It had been such a long time since he had tasted her, he nearly forgot how utterly delectable she was.

Eichi would rather die alone in a ditch than burden her with such a duty of giving him her blood any more than as a last resort. She was far too precious to him⋯

Resonating within the room was Vivian’s quiet, hushed mewls and the lewd squelching of Eichi slurping from her wrist. “E-Eichi⋯ mmh,” Vivian called out his name benginly, her body quivering in her seat as hot pleasure permeated through the seams of her nerves; the pain was almost nonexistent to her now, mind only able to rivet onto the rapture.

And god, for Eichi, each little pule emanating from her mellifluous vocals only made his instincts palpitate and galvanised him into sucking a little harder on her sensitive joint; desperate to hear more of her cries. It was selfish, naturally, but she was too irresistible like this. 

Pliant and drowning in the haze of arousing blood-sucking, Vivian was angelic—even as he perpetrated her with his wicked desires, her needy silhouette should be memorialised,

“Vivian, stay still,” Eichi whispered between greedy gulps, his words making her descend further into his sinful thrall. “Just a little more, please⋯ then, I’ll buy you anything you want for dinner; with dessert, of course.”

Hearing that implore, Vivian fluttered her eyes shut and nodded.

Swallowing anxiously, the seam of her throat exacerbating in dryness, Vivian slowly slipped out from underneath the covers and left the only safe spot she knew in this mansion.

Vivian still hadn’t retained the layout of Eichi’s capacious home, and she knew for a fact that she was going to get lost at some point.

Crystals and ornate glass sculptures reflected purity all around her—or rather, perhaps, it was a lack thereof as it all felt so hollow. Even if her countenance was mirrored in the pellucid ornaments, Vivian surmised it didn’t seem right because she knew that Eichi truly doesn’t feel at home here.

Continuing to wander the contrived hallways with a sense of wonderment for the decorations, trying to navigate each lengthy stretch, Vivian felt utterly hopeless.

All she wanted was a glass of water⋯!

Vivian peered into a random room, discerning what appeared to be a bedroom within—although it seemed as if it was memorialised with the clear tarpaulins enveloping each piece of furniture. It clearly hadn’t been used in a long, long time.

And she kept discovering more and more rooms like that.

The entire house felt so empty, unlived in. The thought made Vivian sad, believing that even Eichi’s home imitated the vacant hospitals he was often confined to against his own will. Were all rich people so thoughtless with their homes? Aren’t homes supposed to parallel a feeling of solace and closeness?

Upon meandering some more, Vivian made her way into a grandiose room—veneered on the walls were ostentatious designs of unbridled luxury, golden and white in colour. Of course. Multiple chandeliers were casted from the high-rise ceiling; it was almost too much.

With the beams of moonlight filtering through the diaphanous curtains, Vivian for a moment felt like an itinerant princess in olden fairy tales.

Ambling into the middle of the space, Vivian couldn’t help but twirl fatuously to revel in the ambiance that would never belong to her. Yet the daydream was interrupted by the creaking of the doors, the clamour resounding and echoing not only throughout the room, but in the crevice of her chest.

Preparing to throw herself to the floor in shame and apols, Vivian scrutinised Eichi as the one stepping inside. Wasn’t he asleep?

“Vivian, here you were,” Eichi laughed, padding into the ballroom to come closer to her, “I woke up and you weren’t there. I was lonely, you know.”

“Not worried?” Vivian bantered back with a sheepish chortle, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she realised he caught her playing around like a child.

“Well, I know you’d be safe in the Tenshouin home, so no; I wasn’t worried♪” Eichi said as he marvelled at her alluring movements, the sight of her embarrassed visage made his skin tingle with a featherlike ripple.

Once Eichi reached her side, Vivian could perceive the lurid exhaustion rimming his blue irises; and she thought that he shouldn’t have gotten up to look for, even if the gesture made her nerves burst with exultation. 

“I see you found the ballroom.”

“Are you sure you don’t live in a castle?”

Shaking his head, Eichi swept his gaze upwards; an almost wistful glisten shining in his eyes. “It must feel like that to you. What do you think? Do you like it?”

There seemed to be some sort of implication in his question, with how he spoke it so subduedly and yet with a barely concealed yearning.

“Do I like it? Well, I don’t think it matters?” Vivian softly began, although she knew she always dreamed of being like a real princess⋯ walking through the halls earlier just made her sick to her stomach. “I think I’d only like it if you were constantly by my side.”

Quickly, Vivian realised what nuance those words might’ve held, and got flustered over the notion that Eichi might catch on to the wrong idea. “L-Like, or a staff member? Who needs big hallways like that to make yourself just feel smaller, you know?!”

A gale of effervescent laughter oozed from Eichi’s vocals, the noise resonating with Vivian’s timorous feelings and making her heart flutter. “That’s a good way to put it,” Eichi couldn’t help but affirm her thoughts, “it’s like imagining an idol on stage with no one in the audience.”

“That would never happen to you!” Vivian felt the overwhelming need to reassure Eichi, a firm and staunch worry laced in her voice; so completely protective over his well-being. “I’d always be watching you! I promise!”

A genuine smile curved on Eichi’s lips as his precious childhood friend avowed her loyalty to his career; to him.

Eichi strode further into the ballroom, admiring it for all that it is—and isn’t. A snapshot of a desolate venue coruscated across his vision, his gut twisting with wretched inquietude. For Eichi, it wasn’t only himself he concerned himself with⋯ it was all idols.

“That makes me happy. I’d be able to give it my all if you were in the audience at every performance,” airy and light, Eichi said that to her; another heap of a faraway longing glazing over his eyes. “But I know it’s impossible for you to be at every single one as much as I wish for it.”

Feeling her heart squeeze, Vivian made a silent pledge to herself to do her best to fulfil that wish—even if it seemed impossible. After all, the princesses in every fairy tale always find a way! Although, maybe her role was better fitted for the loyal sidekick⋯⋯

“What’s with that sad expression, Vivian?”

“O-Oh, nothing⋯!” Vivian hastily dismissed his solicitousness, before saying, “We should head back to bed, right? It’s not good for you to be missing sleep like this.” 

“You got up from bed for a reason, didn’t you? Besides, I heard that staying up late to cause chaos is commonplace for sleepovers, fufu♪” Eichi was insouciant, impervious to the concern in her words and she didn’t know why.

“I just wanted a glass of water,” Vivian shyly laughed at the thought. “I ended up finding this place instead.”

For a moment, Eichi looked lost in thought.

“Before we head back, why don’t we take advantage of having the ballroom to ourselves?” Eichi queried, extending out a hand to her, “Usually it’s filled with both familiar and unfamiliar faces; strangers I’m supposed to pretend to know, when I never truly will.”

That statement along only accentuated the loneliness Vivian knew Eichi was endlessly plagued with, and she reached forward on a rupture of courage to seize his hand into her own as he offered it. “I-I don’t really remember a lot of the fancy dance moves you taught me, but I’d love to dance with you, Eichi!”

Those were the words he wanted to hear.

“We don’t have anyone to play music for us, so I’ll hum, how does that sound?” Eichi asked whilst gently pulling Vivian back into the middle of the dance floor.

Nodding her head eagerly, Vivian chirped, “Perfect! Your singing voice is so pretty anyway.”

Vivian was sincere in her plaudit, trying her best to stave off the embarrassment beginning to swell in her gut as she felt Eichi press his body against hers.

Guiding her hands around him, placing them on his shoulder and into her hand, Eichi leaned down and whispered in her ear, hot breath fanning over the shuddering lobe, “Are you ready?”

Humming once she quietly voiced her willingness, Eichi’s euphonious and mellow voice filled the room; imbuing grace and pulchritude in the clefts of solitude and emptiness.

The two of them were garbing their pyjamas in the middle of an exalted ballroom, streams of glorious moonlight highlighting their frames as they slowly began to move together in tandem with Eichi’s beats.

There was something so cherished and splendid about the scene.

And for a moment, with the light shining upon his mien, Vivian thought she saw Eichi blushing. Was he feeling just as self-conscious as she was? Being this close to Eichi in such an intimate setting⋯ it made her heart take flight. Was that weird of her? But what if he was feeling the same? No way⋯ they’re just friends.

“Ah, Vivian, it’s a step back here,” Eichi genteely corrected her, albeit she heard a tincture of mirth underscoring his tone. As if he was covertly amused by her faults.

“I-It is⋯?!” she squeaked, desperately trying to fix her posture and steps. How many times had Eichi taught her this simple dance? And yet she can never get it right. It wasn’t her fault, she thought, having him stare at her with such rapt attention as they dance was making her too tense and nervous. “Sorry⋯”

“Fufu, don’t apologise. It’s cute to watch you being all fidgety♪” Eichi’s voice is hushed in the air as he took a cursory moment to respond to her, his singing stopping; yet he was still able to guide her immaculately as if it never did stop at all.

Beneath her flustered state, Vivian couldn’t help but be in awe at how impressive Eichi was. Even though he looks patently exhausted, he’s still able to effortlessly swirl her around to perfection whilst talking; balancing all that on himself.

“Geez, d-don’t call me that!”

“Cute? But you are,” Eichi innocently remarked, although he was anything but. “Can’t someone compliment his favourite friend?”

Ah, right. Stop getting ahead of yourself, Vivian. She chastised herself, telling herself it was completely normal for friends to compliment each other. As a plethora of thoughts gyrated in Vivian’s head, it only magnified her diffidence.

Abruptly, and not in accordance with the dance he taught her, Eichi spun Vivian and dipped her; displaying his strength, discombobulating her and causing her to yelp.

“You’re making that face again, Vivian,” Eichi started, almost tentatively, and kept her suspended in the air as he supported her with all his might. “I suppose it’s rude to comment so often on a lady’s appearance, though. I’m sorry.”

But for Eichi, it was difficult. He was ceaselessly paying attention to Vivian’s diverging faces and expressions, but he could never tell her why.

Bringing her back onto her feet, Eichi wondered why the distance between them suddenly felt so large. Their bodies were flush against one another, with Eichi feeling her heat and how the fabric of their silken pyjamas slid together with every motion they make together, yet he couldn’t reach into her mind; her heart.

This home of his is truly lonely, isn’t it?

It took everything in Vivian not to squeal from his praise. And for Eichi, it took everything in him not to let his lips curve into a self-satisfied simper from having discerned the corsage he gifted her attached to her wrist.

As the limoscene pulled away and more throngs of people arrived in a panoply they’re surely accustomed to, the couple ambled up the stairs into the capacious-looking building where the hosts are holding the party—something the eminent, prolific Tenshouin family is invited to yearly.

Something about charities and an auction, if she recalled correctly.

Encased in opulence and splendour, the hall appeared straight out of a fairytale and Vivian was mesmerised. Eichi adored how the resplendent lights reflected in her eyes, the gloss overlapping her giddy irises and shimmering in a way that made his soul fill with yearning.

With her arm roped around his, Eichi gave her an affectionate squeeze. “Don’t worry, I won’t let go of you,” he whispered into her ear, sending a frisson of excitement down the column of her spine, “not even once.”

“Thank you! There’s so many people. Is everyone here from wealthy and influential families—or companies?” Vivian asked, albeit she was unsure of her own wording. That slight reticence in her voice was too adorable, Eichi thought as he admired how lost she appeared.

“Mm, for the most part. These sort of charity balls happen every so often, and I don’t typically go out of my way to attend them⋯ but this is a rare case, you see,” Eichi elucidated, the two of them departing further into the grandiose hall.

Eichi was going to elaborate on top of that, yet stopped himself as he felt it wasn’t necessary. Vivian was already aware of his unfortunate health issues and how much he prioritised his idol work above all else right now; and that wasn’t even including his monitoring of ES with a meticulous and hardworking zeal.

So he decided to tease her, omitting the importance of tonight’s event. That wasn’t needed either, was it? Not when he had successfully monopolized her time like this and he simply wanted to enjoy being by her side without fretting about things unrelated to her.

“Perhaps the real reason I decided to come was because I wanted to see you all dressed up for me♪” Eichi hummed smoothly, tilting his head enough so that a lock of pale blond hair descended across his countenance in a tantalizing display.

Warmth clustered into the apple of Vivian’s cheeks at Eichi’s playful teasing, spreading across her visage. “I already know it’s because you have to fulfill your duties as the Tenshouin’s heir~” she retorted, taking his banter in stride with a beaming grin, “I would dress up for you anytime you ask, you know.”

“Oh, don’t say that. I’ll grow spoiled,” Eichi chortled, his eyes flitting around at the congregation of people filling up around them. He took a step away from Vivian, only to extend his hand back out, cupping hers confidently and kissing her knuckles, “but before anyone comes, may I—”

As if the finale had come too soon, a pair of donors who’ve known the Tenshouin family for decades interrupted the couple’s moment before it even came. Then another came along. And another.

Eichi knew that once he began to exchange pleasantries with the fellow guests, there would never be an end of them—which was precisely why he wanted to dance with her at least once before this happened.

Even Vivian, who stood next to her lover with a practiced genteel for this particular occurrence, found herself growing unbearable fatigued by the time over an hour had passed.

She could only imagine how Eichi was feeling beneath that urbane veneer he put forth, the beads of sweat accumulating on the nape of his neck only noticeable to her as she peered up at him.

They still hadn’t even had an opportunity for a single dance together; rather, other people were constantly thieving him away for dances under the guise of talking business and catching up.

In a small lull where they weren’t inundated by others, Vivian pulled on Eichi’s sleeve. “Are you tired, Eichi? Why don’t we take a break, find somewhere quiet?” she suggested softly, attempting to beguile him into trailing away for a much needed moment of respite.

“No, I should push through⋯ Mrs. Sumeragi said she was going to be right back,” he sighed, shaking his head in dismissal, “I know this is a lot for you, too. I don’t mind if you’d prefer to take it easy by the buffet tables.”

Who was Sumeragi again? Vivian had heard so many names, she couldn’t keep track of who was who.

Well, whoever she was, clearly she hadn’t considered how Eichi must be feeling with his slightly blanched complexion and semi-droopy eyes. “I think I’ll go,” Vivian abruptly spoke up, knowing that the way she phrased her words sounded deplorable and misleading, “Come find me when you’re ready.”

“⋯⋯ What?” Left dumbfounded and incredulous by her articulation, Eichi froze as soon as Vivian turned around and began to disappear among the crowd with swift, hurried movements.

Eichi’s own body moved on its own in order to chase after her—mind reeling, abandoning the thoughts of his obligations.

“Vivian, don’t leave!”

As he rushed out the lofty doors and down the steps, Eichi’s heart pounded with guilt. Had he pushed her too much? It was awfully inconsiderate of him to suggest his date go wait by the buffet tables on her lonesome, wasn’t it?

Pursuing her frame as it vanished into the garden, Eichi watched as Vivian plopped herself down onto a contrived, wooden bench; her silhouette surrounded by the beauteous flowers, their colors muted by the darkness of the night.

Standing in front of her, cheeks adorned with rosy hues of exertion, Eichi relinquished a shaky exhale. “Are you trying to be like Cinderella?” He looked almost like a saddened puppy with how his lips smiled in a subdued relief, and he added, “Well, you are my princess.”

Giggling, Vivian patted the seat next to her, urging him to sit as she said, “Maybe a little. I knew you’d follow after me, though.”

“Are you not upset with me?” Eichi questioned as he nestled himself beside her, their legs brushing together as it was hard for him not to want to be close to her.

With an exaggerated, fatuous pout, she chided him, “Only for not taking appropriate breaks!”

“Vivian⋯” Even if he had just sat down, a heat still searing his lungs, Eichi stood up once more and reached for Vivian’s hands. “My lady, may I please have a dance? I feel it’s well overdue.”

“A dance?” Vivian parroted in surprise, her lips parting as she brought herself up and nodded; desperately trying to suppress the rapturous grin from spreading on her mein. But with how brilliant and pretty Eichi looked, she was destined to fail from the start. “I would be honored, my liege.”

In the quiet garden, Eichi placed his hand onto her hip as hers settled on his shoulder, and their intertwined fingers felt heavenly.

It made Eichi wish he endeavored harder to sneak away—and much sooner. After all, from the beginning, he wanted to have a romantic, whimsical night with Vivian.

The faint sound of the classical music from within the faraway mansion melded with the noise of their own feet against stone, and Vivian knew she was a few steps behind, yet Eichi never scolded or corrected her on it.

From the bottom of his heart, he looked as if he was having fun. There was no symphony more extraordinary than this moment right here with his beloved.

The twinkling stars speckled around Eichi’s reflection in Vivian’s eyes, and he thought with an unbridled smile,

“Ah, I love it when her eyes shine from beautiful things, but⋯ I really do love it best when the only thing she sees she is me. I’ll have to continue to work harder as an idol, as her partner, to make sure she never takes her eyes off me.”

“My family has more wealth than they know what to do with. Please don’t hesitate to ask for anything you need or want♪” Eichi had told her when he first brought her home, exalted to indulge her in opulence at every turn.

Even if she didn’t ask for it.

Skipping down the cobblestone path as she looped back around to the front of the palace, protrusions of grass sashaying in the spring breeze and tickling her ankles when she twirled, Vivian giggled; but found herself halting the moment she espied Eichi on the veranda.

Garbing a solemn mien, Eichi’s luscious hair became vesper-kissed from the skeins of sunset beguiling his sylphlike frame. Vivian didn’t like the look on his face—but the familiar thrall of captivation and security entangled around her. Just seeing him was enough to do that for her⋯ even though it was supposed to be the other way around.

“Oh, princess, are you finished your daily patrol?”

Eichi’s comforting voice made her ears twitch in joy.

Nodding her head exuberantly, Vivian chirped, “Yep! There’s nothing out of the ordinary!”

“There usually isn’t, is there? Hardly anyone would dare to attack the Tenshouin estate, unless they had a death wish,” Eichi commented, deliberately enforcing a lighthearted tone as a chortle overflowed from his thin lips.

Gesticulating for Vivian to come closer to him, Eichi was pleased as she obliged—her lively feet springing over to his side in a rush—only to hear her squeal as he circled his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

In an instant, Vivian’s instincts kicked in and her teeth chomped right down onto Eichi’s cheek, the plushness squishing beneath her incisors. It left a lurid blemish, reddened hues flourishing against that pale complexion of his.

“Ow—!” Eichi let out a yelp of his own, and yet, even as the shooting sting surged through him, his arms didn’t move. Keeping Vivian ensnared within his arms, grasping onto her with a desperation he scarcely displays. “Haha, that hurt♪”

With a pout of guilt twisting on her mien, Vivian murmured, “S-Sorry⋯”

“No, I needed it⋯” Eichi suspired onto the crook of her neck as his head sunk into her shoulder, lips feathery against the skin as he nuzzled impossibly closer, “I needed you.”

“⋯ Another rough day, Eichi-sama?”

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me ‘-sama’? Just Eichi is fine⋯ please,” he began, kissing along the slope of her sensitive neck, “I can’t bear it when you treat me like everyone else.”

All the other servants and workers relentlessly chastised Vivian whenever she addressed Eichi without an honorific—without “the utmost reverence”. And yet Eichi thought so highly of her that he practically begged for her to call him less formally.

Vivian was just a weretiger with no eminent ties. Eichi was the one who saved her from her demise.

The streets are dangerous and unforgiving no matter who you are—but when you’re a weretiger who can’t properly transform, shift between forms, it’s even worse.

Heavy torrents of rain drenched the corners of the earth, filling the crevices and ineluctably waterlogging each space, and Vivian, without a place of belonging or shelter to hide under, dipped into a grotty alleyway in an inefficacious attempt to escape it. 

She was so hungry it’s nauseating, each pelt of rain against her skin only amplifying the cravings in her stomach, and as she pressed her back against the wall, she was unaware that someone had caught eye of her.

“Aren’t you a poor little one,” a disembodied voice resonated with the drops tarnishing the ground. “What are you doing, hiding here of all places?”

Panicked eyes peered up, espying an umbrella encasing a divine-looking man, and Vivian hissed as she bared her fangs to him, “Get away!”

Unstirred by her disposition of acrimony and hostility, he brought his umbrella forward to cover her beneath it; but the innocent gesture was viewed as minacious to Vivian’s primal, fierce instincts. In the blink of an eye, she scratched at his hand with her claws and caused him to drop the umbrella altogether.

The umbrella bounced off the ground as he cradled his hand, blood oozing from the laceration while the both of them were becoming soddened by the rain. “Your nails are quite sharp, aren’t they?” he laughed, almost airily—as if the throbbing pain meant nothing to him. 

“You don’t have a home.”

Those simple words cut deep into Vivian’s chest, carving out her defenses and perfusing a hurt all of its own. This man standing before her⋯ he was fearless, she thought, eyes glistening with a tenderness unbeknownst to her.

She shook her head wordlessly, not knowing how else to answer him.

“If you have nowhere else to go, why don’t you come with me?”

Once more, Vivian’s eyes widened—lips rounded in an ‘o’ shape that reflected how her fangs still protruded in anxiety.

The downpour made his skin even more pallid, and Vivian could tell that standing defenseless in the rain like this was worsening the weak constitution he possessed. She could smell that he was sick, yet he remained in front of her like this without conveying that to her.

“What’s⋯ who are you?”

“Eichi. Tenshouin Eichi.”

Extending his hand out to Vivian once more, taking that confident chance in case she rejected him and hurt him again, Eichi still had that soft, endearing smile on his face.

Before she knew it, Vivian was kissing and giving kitten-like licks onto the mark on Eichi’s cheek from where she bit him. Eichi was always so kind, forgiving her no matter what she did (or didn’t)⋯ and she wanted to be the one to comfort him this time.

Squeezing her waist a little tauter as he propped her legs astride his body, their hips pressed flush together, Eichi brought his mouth up to her ear and whispered, “Vivian, call my name.”

A plea spoken with hidden neediness.

“Eichi,” Vivian said his name as her tail flickered back and forth behind her, the longing in her voice palpitating his heart and imbuing a heat surpassing heaven, “Eichi, I love you! I’m here for you, so don’t look so sad⋯ okay?”

Incapable of resisting the temptation any longer, Eichi cupped Vivian’s chin and tilted her head up before attaching his lips against hers. “Haah, you’re incredible,” he drawled, kissing her sweetly again and again. “Just you saying that makes all my troubles feel so far away⋯”

It’d be nice if Vivian could make all his troubles vanish forever. She’d eat them every last one if she could, storing them inside her and harboring the pain for herself. Anything to spare him heartache.

“I do want a few more kisses, though,” Eichi playfully teased as he noticed her expression falling ever so slightly, bringing his mouth over hers and sucking in the air she breathed like he needed that oxygen to survive. Like she was his lifeline.

And, unknowingly to her, Eichi did feel that way. That day, when he found her⋯ to him, it was her who saved him.

“Mmh⋯” Vivian relinquished a soft, muffled moan as their lips rounded with each other’s, luxuriating in the pleasure and bliss that seeped into their entities with every motion. Intrinsically, as her nerves bristled with an untamable warmth, her tail wrapped around Eichi’s arm in an effort to settle it down.

She was being awfully pliant right now, even purring cutely in his arms, and it made Eichi hum and smile into the kisses. In order to rile her up even more, Eichi took her bottom lip between his teeth and tugged.

“Mmph?!” Squirming in Eichi’s lap, the fingers that were curved around his shoulders pushing him away, Vivian huffed. Her lips parted in retaliation, falling to his lips and giving him yet another bite tonight.

“Nn! Alright, alright, I’ll stop playing around,” Eichi conceded with a breathy laugh, “I don’t want any swollen lips again.”

Eichi had an important meeting to attend to tomorrow, and he can’t exactly show up with bitten, puffy lips, can he? At least not if he wanted to appear professional; he’s already had an incident in the past that aroused far too many questions for his liking.

Can’t a man enjoy his princess giving him bites in peace?

Lifting his gaze up to the darkening sky, the clouds dotting the horizon now streaked with shade, Eichi suggested, “Why don’t we take a bath together? The sun’s about gone now.”

Vivian stuck her tongue out in disgust.

“Oh, come now, you have that reaction every time, princess,” Eichi chided lightly, the two of them untangling themselves from each other as they stood up. Eichi seized Vivian's hand to occlude any thoughts of running away she might’ve had, “Let me pamper you tonight. It’ll help rejuvenate me. And then, we can snuggle in bed.”

Intertwining their fingers together, Vivian fervently nodded her head and sung, “Mhm! If you promise to give me lots of cuddles, I’ll be a good girl in the bath~♪”

Eichi didn’t believe that for a second, and it only made his heart ache hotly. He loved her. He loved her so much.