CHAPTER 01
The sun was slowly beginning to set, changing its hue from orange to red. Before it completely disappeared below the horizon, it was obscured by the black silhouettes of buildings and trees. The sky's color was fading from blue to navy blue, mingling with the glow of the falling sun.
And the day was ending, just like the current season. Summer was slowly turning into autumn, but Tsunehito remained stuck in the same spot, ignoring the stares of strangers who, as everyone knew, were judging him from top to bottom. He had no intention of hiding the fact that they were doing just that.
And now he sat as he always did, like a last-ditch squat in the same dingy cafe. A cafe that served a disgusting liquid they called „coffee," which, no matter how you looked at it, looked nothing like it. However, anything else that was „edible" and didn't contain any alcohol in liquid form was unavailable there. If he'd had the choice, he probably would have never set foot in this place. Especially not on this worn-out floor, which had seen its glory centuries ago and was plastered with God only knows what, something Tsunehito didn't want to know.
Not to mention the same worn-out, old chairs and tables, their color long faded. Added to this were the darkened walls and torn, crumpled pieces of dirty fabric that could once have been called curtains. Old, barely hanging lamps hung from the ceiling, barely letting the light from the bulbs through the grime.
It was no wonder, then, that he couldn't understand why they still wanted to work here. Especially that people came here, which was beyond his comprehension, though he couldn't do anything about it. It was because it was the only place like it in this whole, in his opinion, flea-infested city.
From here, he stared for a moment at the gray windows, through which he could barely see anything, while trying to gather his chaotic thoughts, which refused to form a coherent complete. Which, as Tsunehito knew, was out of his league, but he realized he had no other choice.
No matter how much he thought, nothing really came to mind. So he sighed heavily and looked at what lay before him. Which didn't exactly fill him with optimism, as he didn't particularly want to drink it, but he had no choice in the matter.
„How on earth is this place still around? If I were you, I'd either renovate it or just close it down and sell it to someone else..." Tsunehito mused to himself, slowly sipping the contents of his worn cup.
A cup that might once have belonged to an expensive set, because the same thing applied to the „supposed" saucer it had been sitting on just moments before. Now it was in his hands, and he was examining it from every angle. With each passing moment, he felt worse and worse from the musty smell wafting through this stagnant, long-unaired room.
In addition, there was the smoke from the cigarettes that were smoked habitually here, without regard for the health of others. Tsunehito was increasingly eager to leave this shady establishment with a questionable reputation. But, as if to spite him, he couldn't, which irritated him greatly.
And the clock hanging on the wall had long since shown the same time it had died, and no one had bothered to look after it again. No one on the staff had yet thought to replace its battery. Which didn't surprise him at all, as the staff themselves were both strange and suspicious.
„How much longer do I have to fucking wait‽," Tsunehito cursed under his breath.
He reached into his bag to pull out his cell phone to check the time. He learned it was just after 9 p.m. And he still hadn't received a single text from his girlfriend, which was starting to get very suspicious.
It was no wonder, then, that his stomach began to tighten again as he remembered the recent news reports, which claimed another victim of the „Psychopath Vampire," who had yet to be apprehended. The term came from the fact that each victim bore stab wounds on their necks, as if inflicted with a thick needle.
The police still had no clue how the perpetrator drained his victims of blood, because nothing had fit them so far. This was because they didn't believe the perpetrator was truly a vampire—to them, these creatures were just a myth. However, Tsunehito believed there was a grain of truth in every story, even if it was just his opinion.
And that didn't mean others had a completely different opinion on the matter. However, in such a situation, there was no way it couldn't be true. There had to be something to it, otherwise they wouldn't be comparing this murderer to a vampire – of that he was one hundred percent sure.
„I have nothing to think about either, only such idiocy!," Tsunehito muttered to himself under his breath.
After a moment, he unlocked his phone and searched his girlfriend's contacts for her number. He decided to call her anyway, because, as everyone knew, something could have happened and she simply forgot. That happened sometimes, so it could have happened this time too, although it didn't have to.
He didn't want to think about the fact that she had simply ignored him. He secretly hoped that wasn't the case, although, as everyone knew, it was very possible. He had tried calling her, but so far, he had been unsuccessful. So he put the phone away and put it back in his bag, only to get up from the creaking chair a moment later.
Smelling simultaneously of cigarettes, alcohol, and mustiness, he paid for his lousy coffee. He left to leave the place and step out into the crisp October night air, which had momentarily choked him. Finally, he could take a deep breath and breathe deeply, something he'd never been able to do before.
He glanced again at the window and door of the place, which—truthfully—didn't seem to invite him in at all. And the people passing by seemed to pay no attention to the place, as if, in their opinion, it didn't even exist. He just sighed quietly, wrapping the jacket he'd been wearing that day tighter around him. He cursed profusely under his breath for not wearing a thicker jacket, but he knew it was long past teatime and there was nothing he could do about it.
„Why am I still hanging around like this last peg?," Tsunehito asked himself after a moment.
He watched the colorful leaves falling from the nearby trees. It might have been a rather interesting sight, but then again, watching it alone wasn't what he dreamed of right now. That was because he saw happy, laughing couples who didn't care about others staring at them.
Deep down, he envied these boys, who now had their girlfriends to cuddle with. Unfortunately, he couldn't experience that because his girlfriend wasn't with him. Finally, he couldn't bear to watch it anymore, so he moved forward, longing only for a cup of good chocolate and a bed to warm himself up.
He couldn't forgive her for treating him like that, much less for refusing to answer his call. But a part of him subconsciously worried about her—perhaps something had happened to her, and that was why she couldn't answer? That was the only thing that came to his mind at the moment, not what was about to happen.
The cold finally began to really bother him, so without thinking any further, he headed towards the bus stop. Just standing there wasn't really doing Tsunehito any good, which was really killing him. He didn't know why, but he was slowly starting to have mixed feelings about all of this.
Something deep inside him told him she'd simply stood him up and had no intention of meeting him today. Which was highly probable, but he didn't want to consider it. He preferred to hope that wasn't the case, and that something must have really happened for her to decide this.
„Then I'll try calling her again tomorrow. And if not, I'll just go to her house...," Tsunehito said after a moment with resignation.
At the same time, he wondered what her excuse would be for standing him up like that at this time of year. He was torn apart not only by a ghastly wind, but also by the conflicting emotions inside him, which were giving him no peace. He wanted to get rid of them, but he couldn't do it with every step he took.
And his path was crossed, as if out of spite, by couples in love, embracing each other as if nothing had happened. At that moment, he felt like jumping off a nearby bridge to never see this again. However, even that option would have been pointless, so all he could do was ignore them and simply press on.
Although it wasn't as easy as he'd initially thought, and that was the worst part. So he simply shook his head and focused on what lay ahead, because that was the most important thing right now. He wasn't particularly happy about it, but he had no other choice, which was driving him crazy. He had to endure it somehow, otherwise he wouldn't be able to reach his home.
„For what sins do I have to watch this?," Tsunehito asked after a while, sighing heavily and lowering his head, pausing for a moment.
