November—blue skies, summer still in the air.
On Sunday, Shichen lounged at home watching TV with nothing to do; sitting beside him were La Folia and Aiba Asagi.
Asagi already knew about La Folia's relationship with Shichen. With La Folia's looks, just showing up on campus made it impossible to keep things quiet—and Shichen had told her directly anyway.
Given that La Folia was a princess—famous the world over—anyone with a clue knew who she was; Asagi had heard of her too. And for such a noble royal to choose to be with Shichen, even willing to share him with his other partners, Asagi really had no way to object.
Maybe it was royal values, maybe Shichen's status—either way, La Folia didn't mind him having other women. Regardless, Asagi chose to go along. She might hold a normal girl's view of love, but she wasn't naïve about the man she'd chosen—his power, the fact that more and more women would be drawn to him; she'd prepared herself for that long ago.
Today, she'd come simply to be there. She couldn't spend time with him during school; weekends were all she had. In short: maintain presence. She'd come yesterday too.
"Sigh, Yukina hasn't spoken to me for days," Sayaka muttered from La Folia's other side.
"You two still haven't made up?" La Folia glanced over.
"Mm… She still lets me stay at her place, even sleep in the same room, but she won't talk to me—acts like I don't exist," Sayaka said, close to tears.
Ever since that day—when Shichen drank her blood—and Yukina found out, things had been like this. Shichen, meanwhile, was fine with Yukina; she still waited for him in the morning, sought him out after class, said hello, walked with him to and from campus. There was less smiling and fewer expressions, but even that was better than how she treated Sayaka.
Over the past few days, Shichen had been thinking about how to lift Yukina's mood. It boiled down to this: he'd drunk Sayaka's blood—either that upset Yukina, or her best friend's "betrayal" did. Clearly the latter weighed more. And as a monitor, while he was the one being monitored, he'd still gone behind her back with a girl—her best friend, no less. Not a small thing.
What would cheer her up fast?
"Haven't you tried talking to her?" La Folia asked.
"I have… but Yukina ignores me."
"Heh~ serves you right for competing with me," La Folia said with a teasing smile.
"I—" Sayaka shot an uneasy glance at Shichen. She was thinking clearly now, but what had happened that day was something she'd never imagined herself doing. She'd done that, been treated that way by Shichen… even now she sometimes felt like something was still stuck in her mouth. She must've been out of her mind.
"Why are you blushing?" Asagi noticed something was off.
"M-me? Am I?" Sayaka whipped her head away.
"Now your ears are red too."
"…"
"Besides getting your blood sucked, did you and the Sensei do something else?" Asagi asked, brows knitted.
"N-not really…"
"Who are you trying to fool?"
"I…" Sayaka looked to La Folia for help; there was no way she could confess this.
"Hehe~" La Folia chuckled softly. "You're still young. You don't need to know that yet—you'll find out in time."
"What do you mean 'young'?" Asagi's face darkened. "I'm about the same age as you two!"
"I don't mean just age~"
"Hmph—like I haven't done anything with the Sensei."
"What—just kisses and some groping? Anything else?"
"How do you know that?"
"As expected, still a kid. Talk to us again when you're at our level," La Folia said, smiling in challenge.
"Ugh… Sensei, you should drink my blood too." Asagi slipped her arm through Shichen's, giving it a playful shake. For once, the easily flustered girl was being bold. If those two were going to be so brazen, and all they'd done (besides the rest) was have their blood sucked, then fine—she wanted to see what else came of it.
"What's with the sudden urge?" Shichen asked, amused.
"Isn't the Sensei going to drink mine anyway?" Asagi shot back.
"Is that so? Are you ready? Don't do it on a whim."
"What would be the problem?"
"You'll never get older again~"
"Older? You mean age—or body?"
"Age."
"Isn't that even better?" Asagi's eyes lit up.
"…," Shichen fell silent. He'd almost forgotten how irresistible the promise of not aging was to a girl.
"Sensei, no time like the present—drink my blood now." As she spoke, Asagi let go with one hand, swept her hair aside, and bared a white neck—translucent skin with the faint sheen of cherry blossom, the very picture of youthful beauty.
"Better wait. La Folia and Sayaka are here—you'll regret it."
"Why?" Asagi asked, baffled.
"You want them watching?"
Shichen leaned to her ear and whispered a few of the aftereffects of being bitten.
"Eh?"
Asagi's face flamed as she glanced, flustered, at La Folia and Sayaka. "So, you two actually went into heat then? Don't tell me you already… with the Sensei…?"
She trailed off, but everyone knew what she meant.
"Unfortunately, we stopped just short," La Folia said.
"'Just short'…"
Asagi let out a breath—that was fine, then. But curiosity followed close behind. If they hadn't gone all the way, why did they dare mock her for doing less with the Sensei than they had? What else could there be?
"Don't look at me—I'm not telling," Sayaka said hotly.
"I could tell you," La Folia smiled wickedly, "if you let Shichen drink your blood right here. We could even give you a live demonstration."
"I'll pass…" Asagi shook her head. She didn't have a 'performing for an audience' kink. She'd find out when it happened to her. As for becoming a blood thrall, she was already mentally prepared.
"Really? What a shame," La Folia said—but her face showed zero disappointment.
"By the way, aren't you a princess? Is it alright for you to linger on Itogami?" Asagi asked.
Word of La Folia being on the island had already reached the higher-ups. She hadn't gone through immigration, but that wasn't a big deal—given she was with Shichen. People were already wondering if she and Shichen had something going on. And being the Fifth Primogenitor's woman meant something very different.
"With Shichen here, what's the problem? I've also contacted my country—they've probably already sent someone to fetch me."
"Have they. Good."
"You don't like having me here, do you? Afraid I'll steal Shichen?" La Folia hugged Shichen's arm tighter.
"No—just that you being here will stir up trouble," Asagi said evenly. La Folia represented a nation; the powers that be would never assume she came just to play.
"At least you get it. Yukina just gets jealous and mad—she doesn't understand what Shichen wants," La Folia said approvingly.
"No—Yukina's the normal one. You're the odd one. I'd rather deal with her," Asagi shot back.
"So I'm the unpopular one now, hm~? What do we do, Shichen?" La Folia pouted theatrically.
"Relax. Asagi doesn't actually dislike you."
"Really?"
"You two just need to get along."
"That's what I want. Not sure what she wants."
"Hmph—I'll do as the Sensei says," Asagi snorted, turning her head away.
"She looks a little unwilling," La Folia quipped.
"Enough teasing," Shichen said. "Question for you—when you and Kanon go back, will you two come back together?"
"Come back… Shichen, do you want me to?" La Folia asked, eyes on him.
"Of course I do."
"In that case… I am your woman. Father won't dare say no, hehe~," she said, smiling sweetly.
"I'm not a demon king…"
"Close enough~"
"Seems you want to try the same 'punishment' Sayaka got," Shichen said.
"I am curious~"
"What punishment?" Asagi asked, curious.
"Nothing at all!" Sayaka blurted, staring hard at La Folia. You promised not to tell!
"Very suspicious," Asagi said, eyeing her.
"Ahem—well, enough about that. Isn't Itogami about to hold a festival?" Sayaka said, cheeks red, forcing a topic change.
"I know about that too. Shichen, can I go?" La Folia asked, intrigued.
"Of course—I'll go with you."
"Great!"
"Sensei, can you spend some time with us tomorrow?" Asagi asked.
"'Us'?"
"Mm. Kojō's got friends coming over."