No Warmth

Chapter 26- Blood

Two weeks later

Akari walked out of the school building with a yawn.

Rima walked beside Akari. "You should probably take a nap when we get back to our dorm."

"I have too much on my mind to sleep." Akari replied.

"What's on your mind?" Rima asked.

Akari met Rima's gaze. "I sent two letters to the Hio residence requesting an audience with Lord Hio during the holidays...I thought he might have woken up and not told the public."

Rima furrowed her brow. "What did they say?"

"Nothing...they didn't even bother sending a reply." Akari huffed. "However, they are mistaken if they think I'll give up just because they ignored my letters. I'll visit the Hio mansion personally next time."

Rima sighed. "Just be careful...don't make me worry about you too."

"You still haven't heard from, Senri?" Akari asked.

Rima shook her head. "It's strange though...he's been showing up at work, but I haven't been able to get in touch with him."

Akari frowned. "Like Takuma, Senri notified the school that he'd be late due to family circumstances, right?"

"Yes...I hope he's okay." Rima lowered her gaze.

"I hope so too." Akari looked up at the Day Class students that gathered around her classmates.

"Kaname, we missed seeing you during vacation!" A group of Day Class girls exclaimed.

Akari looked beyond the group of Day Class girls and froze.

Ichiru was standing beside a tree. He smiled at Akari when their eyes met.

Akari walked through the crowd of Day Class girls and stopped a couple of feet from Ichiru.

"It's been a while, Ichiru." Akari looked at his black uniform. "...but why are you posing as a Day Class student?"

"I'm not posing." Ichiru said with feigned hurt. "I am a student at this academy now."

"That's great." Akari said. "Anyway...during the holidays, I spend time with M..."

"Let's talk later. We're drawing attention to ourselves." Ichiru lowered his voice.

Akari looked at their surroundings.

Some of the other students were staring at them.

"Ichiru is talking to a Night Class girl." A girl from the Day Class whispered to her friend.

Ichiru took out an envelope from his coat pocket and placed it in Akari's hands. "I wrote down everything I wanted to tell you in this letter."

"Thank you. I will read it and get back to you." Akari turned around. "Then, I'll see you later."

Akari began to walk towards Rima when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.

"Is that a love letter, Akari?" Aoi asked.

Akari looked at the letter in her hands. "I think so."

Aoi giggled. "Are you going to write back to him?"

Akari nodded. "It would be the polite thing to do."

"You don't have to take these things too seriously, Akari. You can choose to ignore the letter if you don't want to respond." Mei came to stand next to Aoi. "Besides, romantic relationships between humans and Aristocrat vampires rarely ever work."