As Akira was desperately trying to gather his thoughts and prepare himself for the emotional speech he was about to make, Erika was having a very different conversation, a telepathic one.
"Selena… is this really okay?" she asked nervously in her mind. "I seriously don't think he can handle this kind of conversation…"
Even before learning about Akira's emotional problems, Erika had always known he wasn't good at handling situations like this. It was true she had felt vulnerable and accidentally revealed some of her true feelings earlier, but when she tried to change the subject, Selena had insisted she keep going. And now, Erika was starting to regret it.
"Don't worry, Erika-chan," Selena reassured gently. "He needs to go through this. And isn't this the best way to know how he really feels about you?"
Erika bit her lip. That much was true. After their recent talk about Akira's past and his emotional state, she had started to wonder something: "What exactly am I to him?" Maybe this situation could help her find the answer… but still, she also knew Akira's usual way of handling awkward emotional moments was to make a joke or start talking about anime.
"Relax," Selena added, reading her thoughts. "He might be an idiot, but even he knows when not to joke around. Trust me."
"…Alright," Erika murmured and looked at Akira, who had just taken a deep breath, steeling himself.
Finally, he began. "Listen, Erika… I don't know how others feel about other vampires, but I only know you. And I never thought you were scary or dangerous."
"That's because you're strong," Erika said quietly.
"Exactly," Akira nodded. "I am strong. Way stronger than you, that's the truth. and I can't speak as someone weaker, because I've never been weak. But that's why I can confidently say I was never scared of you. You could never attack me and hurt me. No matter what you do, you seriously can't harm me. Even if you were out of control, you still couldn't hurt me."
Erika's eyes wavered. "But… you only don't fight back because of me, right?"
"Yeah, that's true," Akira admitted without hesitation. "I'm not the type to just give my blood to anyone. Believe me, even if some random vampire were on their deathbed, I wouldn't give them my blood. I wouldn't even give it to Iori if he were in danger. Sure, I'd save him somehow, but having him drink my blood? No way."
"Then… doesn't that mean you got hurt because of me?" Erika asked, her tone wavering.
"No," Akira said firmly. "I mean, what's the difference between what you did and donating blood? In fact, it's even less painful than donating blood."
"That's not true…" Erika mumbled.
"It is true," Akira countered. "A vampire's bite isn't as painful as you think. Honestly, most people would rather have their blood taken by a beautiful vampire than by a needle."
"B-Beautiful…?" Erika stammered, blushing furiously. "W-What nonsense are you talking about?"
"What I'm trying to say," Akira continued, "is that you could never hurt me. You couldn't cause me pain or make me fear you."
Erika fell silent. "…What about everyone else?"
"I honestly can't speak for everyone else," Akira admitted. "But as long as I'm here, you don't need to worry about anything. And if you're really worried about hurting people or drinking someone else's blood, then… how about this?"
He paused and then dropped the bombshell. "Why not just drink my blood and my blood alone for the rest of your life?"
Erika turned crimson, completely flustered and stuttering. "W-What are you talking about?!"
In her mind, she screamed telepathically, "Selena! What nonsense is he saying?!"
"Well… he's going above and beyond," Selena replied, barely containing a laugh, "but I seriously don't think he realizes what he's saying. Calm down a little, Erika-chan."
"I meant what I said," Akira insisted, leaning closer. "Think about it, if you just drink my blood, you won't ever have to worry about hurting anyone else, right?"
"B-But… what about when you're not with me and…." Erika muttered, overwhelmed by everything happening.
"Then I won't leave you," Akira said without missing a beat. "I'll never leave you alone, I will always be by your side, now and forever."
Erika was now on the verge of a meltdown. She was blushing so hard she thought she might explode. Selena was frantically trying to calm her down. "Calm down, Erika Chan, Calm down!"
But Akira wasn't done. "Of course, you might think it's bad for me, but rest assured, you drinking my blood is for my sake too. I'd love for you to drink my blood."
Erika's brain short-circuited. "L-L-Love…?"
Even Selena started to feel things were going too far, too fast. "Brother… what are you talking about?" she asked telepathically.
"What? Isn't donating blood good for the body?" Akira answered, completely serious. "Especially mine, since it's magically charged. It's healthy for me to lose blood regularly. When I train with Mother, I lose blood anyway. So Erika drinking it is actually good for me."
Selena was speechless.
And Akira kept going.
Leaning in even closer, his face now mere inches from Erika's, he asked softly, "So… what do you say? Are you willing to drink only my blood for the rest of your life?"
Erika was overwhelmed. Her face was redder than a tomato, and she was stuttering incoherently. She had no idea what to say. But Akira still leaned in, repeating, "What do you say?"
But just as she was about to implode under the pressure.
BOOM!
The room suddenly shook as the door burst open. Akira's "army," the robots and elemental wolves, heroically stormed in.
Both Akira and Erika froze in shock. Then Akira realized they were following his order from earlier to "save" him if he got caught.
The robots launched smoke grenades, filling the room with thick clouds. Before Akira could react, Za-kun grabbed him and hoisted him onto its shoulder. The wolves and robots unleashed chaos to create distractions as they heroically escaped with Akira in tow.
"W-Wait!" Akira shouted as they carried him off, disappearing into the smoke.
Erika was left alone in stunned silence. "…What the hell just happened?"
Selena sighed. "Good for you, Erika-chan. My brother's stupidity saved the day. But how are you going to answer my brother's proposal?"
"It's not a proposal!" Erika screamed, her face blazing red. "This is all your fault!"
Selena only smiled teasingly. "But you liked it, right, Erika-chan? If not for them, you might have said yes."
"I-I would not!" Erika shouted back. "It's not like that!"
But her blushing face told a very different story.