Block A 「Nishimura Riki」

30

"I know," Sunghoon had rasped when Eiko implied that the incident was not Riki's fault. He had begun to feel indignant when he was judged without the chance to explain. How hypocritical. "But when I was young, what could I do? You expect me to be fine with someone who's family killed someone of mine. I was barely 13 and the wound was fresh."

Eiko pondered over the situation while the room settled into silence. Sunghoon's side was reasonable because family is such a big part of him. He probably felt betrayed in some way to think that Riki's family had been the reason as to why his aunt was gone. But Riki's side was just as reasonable. He had nothing to do with it and being judged because Sunghoon assumed him to be was unfair. Well, it was not decided if he had anything to do with it yet.

Eventually, Eiko looked at Riki. The ring Sunghoon talked about must have been the one that Eiko had seen in his drawer, they were both blue. "So what exactly is the ring?"

Sunghoon turned his gaze to Riki. He already knew what it was, of course, but he was testing to see if Riki would tell Eiko himself.

"Then why didn't you do anything?" Riki asked. He had blocked Eiko's voice with the thought that rang in his head with a solemn frown on his face. It was upsetting to see him take it so strongly but they were best friends at one point.

"What?" Sunghoon inquired, taken aback from being accosted. He stopped wandering and stood completely and utterly still. Jake had to put a hand on his shoulder to keep Sunghoon from losing control of himself.

"If you knew it wasn't my fault then why didn't you try to befriend me again?" Riki kept his eyes transfixed on the ground below, his hand squeezing Eiko's without thinking. She looked at him, feeling ambivalent about the entire situation and the possible rekindling of Sunghoon's and Riki's friendship. The problem at hand outweighed the fact that she was not feeling well, and all Eiko felt was pressure in her chest.

When the room went quiet again, Eiko blurted whatever came to her mind first to alleviate the tension. "You guys can talk about that another time when it's just the two of you. Right now, we still need to figure out why the routine is suddenly fixed. And no, Jake, Riki didn't turn me."

"Then how does Sunghoon know that he didn't?" Jake questioned. He raised an eyebrow as he diverted his quizzical gaze over to Sunghoon. Then he folded his arms to appear more authoritative and assessed Sunghoon's appearance.

Eiko thought during the second Sunghoon left the room silent without an answer. And she was brought back to her now-healed shoulder injury. "Actually." Eiko perked up and faced Sunghoon. "When I had my shoulder injury, you reacted a certain way. Why did you?"

And in the end, Sunghoon was the one surrounded by questions. He huffed out a sigh then decided to spill whatever he knew in one fell swoop and in one reality-shattering comment; "It's simple. You are a vampire, Eiko. You always were."

Eiko balled her hand into a fist, the one holding Riki's hand squeezing him tightly. He raised her hand but Eiko only felt the hesitant fan of his breath against her knuckles before he stopped.

"Not to interrupt, but also to interrupt, I don't want to see PDA. But, Sunghoon please continue," Jake interjected. He grimaced at the scene of Riki and Eiko then turned to Sunghoon and they matched looks of disgust.

"Okay, okay." Eiko rolled her eyes in feigned annoyance. "What do you mean by 'I'm a vampire'?" She asked, and her eyebrows furrowed deeply as perplexity settled on her face.

"I'm surprised you didn't realize it, Ni-ki," Sunghoon emphasized as he walked over to Eiko's spot on the bed. He turned Eiko's arm carefully and then peeled part of the bandage back. Then by way of explanation, "You stopped getting headaches when being around us, didn't you?"