Chapter 2: Why Does He Have Fangs?!
Threatening? Did he just say he'll erase my memories if I talk?
Yep. That's what he said. And now, Japan's most famous idol—whose face is on every billboard from here to Hokkaido—is staring me down like I'm the one who owes him rent money.
"Er… insurance?" I croaked, sweat dripping down my forehead. "Is that, uh, legal?"
Kurosawa Riku smiled. That same perfect, dangerous smile from his music videos. Except now, his fangs were showing. Real, sharp, glinting fangs.
"You're asking a vampire if it's legal?" he said smoothly, crimson eyes glinting like rubies.
Okay. Pause.Back up.Deep breath.
This is not happening. I'm hallucinating. Yeah, that's it. Must be the stress. Cheap rent, midterm exams, and instant noodles are messing with my brain. Any second now, a doctor will walk in and say, Congratulations, Haruto, you've won the mental breakdown lottery.
Except… the mirror behind Riku is showing only me. He's not there. Zero reflection.
Holy crap. This is real.
"...You're actually a vampire," I muttered.
He gave a little bow, like he'd just won an award. "Ding ding. Ten points to Haruto."
"Don't joke about this! You're drinking blood out of a juice box!"
"It's organic," Riku replied calmly, sipping through the straw like this was all perfectly normal.
"That's not—" I stopped myself before I screamed again. "You're an idol! You're supposed to drink kale smoothies, not... people!"
"Do I look like a kale person?" He gestured to his black leather jacket, silver accessories, and ridiculously perfect hair. Okay, fair point.
I pressed my back against the wall, heart pounding. "Look, dude, I don't care what you are. I'm not gonna tell anyone, okay? You don't need to erase my memory or whatever."
He tilted his head. His eyes glowed faintly, almost hypnotic. "Oh, but I do. Can't risk a slip-up."
"W-Wait—"
Before I could blink, he was standing right in front of me. One second he was across the room, the next he was an inch from my face, his cool hand resting lightly on my shoulder.
"Listen closely, Haruto…" His voice dropped to a low, velvety tone that sent chills crawling down my spine. "Forget everything you saw tonight. You will obey me without question. You will become my loyal—"
THUNK.
"…Ow," I groaned as the back of my head hit the doorframe.
Riku blinked. "…That wasn't supposed to happen."
Five minutes later, I was sitting on the couch with an ice pack pressed to my skull, while Riku scrolled through TV channels like this was any other Tuesday night.
"Okay," I muttered, "what the hell was that? Some kind of vampire Jedi mind trick?"
He frowned. "It usually works. Maybe you have… strong willpower."
"Or maybe you just suck at it."
His eyes narrowed. "I do not suck."
"Literally, you do."
"Haruto," he said in a dangerously low voice, "do you want to live past midnight?"
I shut up.
We sat there in tense silence while a rerun of a cooking show played in the background. A cheerful chef was chopping vegetables like nothing in the world was wrong, while I was sitting next to an apex predator in tight black jeans.
"So…" I finally said, voice cracking like a broken radio. "How long are we living together?"
"Until the scandal dies down."
"What scandal?"
He yawned, stretching like a cat. "Let's just say… a fan broke into my old place, saw me hanging upside down from the ceiling, and ran screaming about demons. PR nightmare."
"Wow," I muttered. "And here I thought my life was complicated because my microwave exploded last week."
He smirked. "Welcome to my world, Haruto."
As I dragged myself to the tiny futon in my new room that night, one thought refused to leave my head:
I'm living with Japan's number one idol.He's a vampire.And for some reason… I'm still here.
God help me.
TO BE CONTINUED…