Several days passed, and my daily routine gradually began to take shape.
Most vampires went to sleep around noon and woke again at six in the evening, so almost all activity took place at night.
As for combat training, that was Sebastian's direct responsibility.
Moreover, after he learned that I could use the Ten Shadows Technique, he did not show any particular surprise. He merely said, quite briefly,
"As expected of Lady Kujo."
At the same time, the care and attention of the people in the mansion slowly became normal to me, and before long I had grown used to it.
...
Come to think of it, before I moved into this body, I had one dream.
I wanted to return once more to my school days.
I wanted to experience school life without stressing over studies, without worrying about the future, and without having to rush after anything at all.
So that night, I asked Sebastian for permission to leave the mansion, and he agreed surprisingly easily.
I wanted to see what Tokyo was like now.
I summoned Nue from my shadow. Because of the immense amount of cursed energy I had gained from my Heavenly Restriction, the Nue I called forth was clearly larger than it had been before it was fully tamed.
I put on a hoodie, shorts, and black thigh-high stockings that rose slightly above the hem of my shorts, then climbed onto its back and slowly soared up above the main mansion.
The mansion itself stood deep within a forest, with a road stretching out from it toward the residential district under the ownership of the Kujo family.
It was like a small sub-city with a population of over a million people, considered a special administrative district of the Kujo family.
This area lay on the western side of Tokyo, near Shibuya.
On a spring night, cherry blossom trees lined both sides of the road, softening the streets in a way I had not expected, while the people below continued living and moving about as usual.
I pulled Nue back into the shadow in my palm and dropped down into an alley where no one was passing.
Honestly, I had always wanted to try Japanese food at least once, but because of the strict rules of the mansion, I had never had that chance before.
When I pushed open the restaurant door, a little bell rang.
"Welcome, customer."
Inside, it looked exactly like the kind of counter-seating ramen shop I had seen in Japanese anime.
"I'll have whatever people order the most."
"In that case, how about spicy miso chashu ramen? It's our best-selling item."
"Ah..."
Not long after, he placed it in front of me on the counter.
The soup was a deep red and looked spicier and heavier than I had expected.
"Thank you for the meal..."
I did not forget the table manners I had learned from Japanese anime either.
But first, it was awkward to eat with my hood still up, so I had no choice but to take it off.
Would he realize I was a vampire?
And would humans outside the mansion think the same way the maids did?
But honestly, even if I had white hair, it was not as though people with unusual hair colors were all that rare in this world.
So I stopped overthinking it and picked up a few noodles for the first bite.
Hot.
Spicy.
And unbelievably delicious.
The richness of the soup and the heat that slowly followed afterward made me keep eating without even noticing.
In the end, I finished the entire bowl and paid in cash.
When I stepped out of the ramen shop, I walked along the lively street. Groups of schoolgirls were chatting happily as they walked, while a middle-aged man in a suit carried a leather briefcase at his side and talked on the phone.
"Hey, little miss."
Someone called out to me from behind.
Calling a vampire "little miss" the moment you met her—wasn't that moving a little too fast?
I turned around.
Teenagers?
They were wearing school uniforms.
"Hello."
This was the first time I had interacted with people outside the mansion.
"Want to go karaoke with us?"
To me, they did not look trustworthy in the slightest, but what was I supposed to do?
At that point they had already surrounded me, and one of them had even draped an arm over my shoulder.
I glanced at the filthy hand touching my body, then brushed it off without hesitation because I did not want my clothes getting dirty.
"I think karaoke does sound interesting, but when you suddenly touch me like this, don't you think it could count as sexual harassment?"
"Haha, easy there. Forget that and come with us, okay?"
I let out a small sigh.
"You people really are persistent."
I doubted resisting them would get me anywhere, and besides, it did seem interesting, didn't it?
In truth, they were not all that different from my old college friends. I was already used to this kind of crude, disrespectful behavior.
It was unpleasant.
And yet, on the other hand, I found it a little amusing to watch them fool around like this.
I turned to look at the young man who had been talking to me from the beginning.
He had blond hair and a handsome face.
"So, what do you say, little miss? We've got money."
I was not interested in money, but...
"All right. But no more than half an hour, okay? I'm rather busy."
I did not actually have anything in particular I needed to do, and I had no clear enough reason to refuse.
"Of course."
On the way there, I became the focus of attention for the people passing by, so I remembered to pull my hood back up over my head.
Before long, we stopped in front of a karaoke place.
"Here?"
"Yeah. I'll pay."
"I forgot to mention this, but I can't sing."
"Don't worry, little miss. Who in here do you think sings well besides me?"
"You're quite confident in yourself, aren't you?"
"Of course."
The six of us went into the room together, counting me.
Dark red sofas stretched along both sides, several menus lay on the low glass table in the center, and a large screen on the wall was already displaying bright, colorful background visuals to welcome new customers.
"All right, what does everyone want?"
The blond-haired boy was the first to drop into a seat and pick up a menu with practiced ease.
"Water is fine."
"I'll have fries."
Their conversation bounced naturally back and forth, and I began to understand that this group must know each other fairly well, even if they were a bit crude and lacking in manners.
I sat quietly in the corner of the sofa, looking at them one by one.
The blond boy, the one who had invited me in the first place, was clearly the center of the group.
"All right, who's singing first?"
"You, obviously. Haven't you been acting smug since outside the store?"
"Fine... Then this pretty girl here can see for herself that we didn't drag her here for nothing."
"You say that like you actually sing well."
He ignored the teasing, quickly chose a song, and as soon as the intro started playing, he leaned back against the sofa and began singing without hesitation.
...He was a little better than I expected.
Several of his friends burst out laughing immediately.
"Now who was it that said there was only one good singer here?"
I watched in silence.
These people were ridiculous.
And yet somehow, the atmosphere was not uncomfortable at all.
At this level, it was no different from younger classmates inviting me out to eat after working together.
When the first song ended, exaggerated applause broke out all around the room.
The blond boy set the microphone down and turned to me with the same grin as before.
"So, little miss, how was it? Good enough?"
"I'll give it six out of ten."
...
The microphone was suddenly held out in front of me.
I stared at it for a moment.
"I already told you I can't sing."
"At worst, we'll just have to endure it."
"Who would want to sing after hearing that?"
"Fine, then I'll say it differently. Even if you sing badly, we won't laugh."
I looked at him expressionlessly.
He flashed a wide grin.
"Your face says otherwise."
I let out a small sigh.
It seemed I had run out of ways to refuse.
Besides, I had grown curious too about what the voice of this body would sound like.
"If I sing and it turns out terrible, all of you have to stay quiet, okay?"
"Deal."
I took the microphone loosely in my hand.
A long list of Japanese songs scrolled down the screen. I skimmed through it before choosing the one that felt most familiar from my old world.
At the very least, if I was going to sing, it should be a song whose rhythm I knew.
The intro began slowly.
The entire room fell silent without anyone having to say so.
I stared at the lyrics on the screen for a moment, then began to sing along with the rhythm.
The first note came out softer than I expected.
Even I froze for a moment.
The voice of this body was strangely clear and steady. It was not overly sweet, but carried a certain coolness, making even an ordinary melody sound sharper.
I kept singing for another few lines.
When I glanced at them slightly, I found that everyone was sitting in silence.
Even the blond-haired boy, who had been the most talkative earlier, was only looking at me without saying anything.
I finished the first verse and lowered the microphone slightly during the instrumental break.
"..."
"What's wrong?"
One of the boys blinked rapidly, as though he had only just come back to his senses.
"Didn't you say you couldn't sing?"
"I thought so too."
The blond-haired boy put a hand to his forehead.
"This is so unfair."
"In what way?"
"You're already pretty, and now you sing well too."
"Thank you. I really must be a genius."
Laughter broke out all at once.
I looked at the microphone in my hand.
Then, without realizing it, I smiled a little.
It was the kind of atmosphere that made one feel nostalgic.
I slowly set the microphone down on the table.
The blond-haired boy leaned back against the sofa and smiled at me again.
...
"Thanks for coming to sing with us, little miss."
"The feeling is mutual. It was rather fun."
"Can I get your contact info?"
At the mention of contact information, I remembered that I had only just received a new phone from Sebastian and still had not checked my own number.
It took me a moment to find it before I told him.
"I completely forgot to introduce myself. I'm Kirishima Ren. And you?"
I did not think there was much point in hiding my name.
"Kujo Tsukiyo."
We exchanged contact information, and after that the blond-haired boy raised a hand in farewell.
I responded with a nod.
After that, I returned to the mansion and ate my usual midnight meal.