Sakura Festival

The Sparrow and the Crow: A Crow's Blood Story - Part 4

The Sparrow and the Crow: A Crow's Blood Story - Part 4

The lab was filled with tension as Maki, Haruka, Kaoru, and Takeshi stood before the lifeless bodies of their classmates—Mai Utsui, Aoi Nojiri, Hikari Yanaka, Keiko Yodogawa, Nami Katayama, Chisa Furugōri, and Shinobu Matsumura. The summer camp had turned into a nightmare, and now, against all odds, they were about to attempt something miraculous.

Haruka, standing at the center, took a deep breath. "I'll need just a drop of my blood," she muttered, more to herself than to the others. She grabbed a scalpel and made a small cut on her palm, letting a single drop of her blood fall onto each of the bodies. The effect was immediate—flesh began to knit back together, color returning to pale cheeks as life flowed back into their veins.

Kaoru and Takeshi watched in awe, their skepticism slowly melting into shock. "That... that actually worked?" Takeshi whispered, unable to believe his eyes.

"It did," Maki replied, relief and amazement washing over her.

But as the last body revived, Haruka suddenly clutched her stomach. "I'm starving," she groaned, her voice filled with urgency. She had exerted herself far more than she had anticipated.

Kaoru, still reeling from what they had just witnessed, hurried to get the food Haruka had requested earlier. As soon as the burgers were brought in, Haruka began to devour them with an intensity that made everyone step back in surprise.

"Thank you, Haruka," one of the revived classmates' parents said, overwhelmed with gratitude. "We can't express how much this means to us."

Haruka, barely looking up from her food, waved them off. "Yeah, yeah. I need to eat," she mumbled between bites, her focus solely on satisfying her voracious appetite.

Maki, noticing the awkwardness, quickly stepped in to smooth things over. "I'm sorry about her. She's... a gaijin, a foreigner," she explained, hoping it would make sense to them.

But the families, their loved ones returned to them, were just happy. "We're just glad they're alive," one of the parents replied, smiling through tears.

Takeshi, still trying to wrap his head around everything, looked at Haruka with a mix of curiosity and disbelief. "Are you really half-alien?" he asked, almost without thinking. He couldn't help himself—this was too much to take in.

Haruka glanced at him with a smirk, wiping her mouth. "Want to find out?" she teased, holding up her hand as if to offer him a taste of her blood.

Takeshi hesitated, then poked her finger cautiously, half-expecting some sort of cosmic revelation. But nothing happened—no shock, no sudden epiphany. Haruka just laughed, a sound both human and unnerving.

"See? I'm as real as it gets," she said, her eyes gleaming with a strange, otherworldly light.

As they left the lab, the air was filled with a mix of relief and uncertainty. They had done something extraordinary—something that would change their lives forever. But as they walked out into the world, the question remained: What would come next?

To be continued...