Haikyuu Creature Collection

Trust (Akira Kunimi)

Outside... What's it like out there? I... I can't remember anymore. I've been kept here for so long; it's as if the only life I know is this one that I'm trapped in. Being little more than food for a vampire, I was rarely allowed out of my room. I didn't even know his name; I'd always been told to refer to him as 'Master.'

As Master finished and I felt his fangs withdraw from my neck, he released his grip on me, letting me collapse on the floor. It wasn't uncommon for him to take so much of my blood at once, but he'd always been careful not to take too much. He wanted to keep me around so that he didn't have to go out and hunt for new victims all the time, which would have quickly drawn the attention of hunters.

My body is so weak... I can't even lift my head up from the floor. My hearing is the first to go, all sounds becoming distorted and muffled. Sight goes next, strange blotches that appear to be blinking start covering my field of vision. I'm getting weaker by the second and soon everything fades to nothing.

There's a strange beeping noise and when I finally opened my eyes again, the room was bright. This wasn't that vampire's dark mansion; this was a hospital room. It took a moment to realize that the beeping was a simple heart monitor.

In the corner of the room sat a boy. He looked like he was close to my age and he was kind of handsome. Though I had absolutely no idea why he was here. Or why he was staring at me. Wait. Uh oh... he's staring at me...

I carefully sat up in my bed, making a mental note of all the wires and tubes connected to me. Whoever had brought me here must have thought I was in a pretty bad condition. But now what? Where was I supposed to go and what was I supposed to do?

"You're awake." The guy in the corner spoke calmly. If I had to guess, he was probably one of those calm, rational types of people. "Dad wasn't sure if you'd turn or not, so he asked me to keep an eye on you while he tries to figure out who you are." Slowly he stood and made his way over to me. "I guess now that you're awake, you could tell-"

As he got closer and as he spoke, I caught a glimpse of his teeth. While that might not seem like such a big deal, he had fangs and only vampires had fangs. Immediately I backed up a little and threw my arms up as a shield, wincing when the sudden motion tugged at the tubes in my arm.

He was a little surprised by my reaction, but I could tell that he understood and he took one step back. "You don't have to worry about me," he said, his voice still calm like before. "I'm only half. My father's a human and a vampire hunter. My mother's a vampire. I got stuck with the fangs, but that's all. I don't have any desire or even a reason to want your blood."

"O-okay..." I slowly lowered my arms, feeling a little ashamed of the way I'd reacted. It's not like I could really help it though. After everything I'd been through, I doubted I'd ever let a vampire get within ten feet of me ever again.

After a lot of discussion, the three of us learned a lot. The boy was named Akira Kunimi and his father was Takeshi Kunimi. To avoid any confusion, I decided to call them both by their first names. Since I was human and could not remember who I was or where I was from, or really anything at all besides my first name, and they couldn't seem to find any record of me, I would be staying with Takeshi and his family.

I began attending school with Akira, who was my age and trained enough to take me down if I ended up turning into a vampire. It was unlikely at this point, but better safe than sorry. After some time, I began to adjust to normal life. Of course, that was after I'd freaked out a little while meeting some of Akira's teammates from his volleyball club. In my defense, they were vampires, so it wasn't like it was for no reason.

"Can I tell you something?" Akira asked, leaning back against the tree that we sat under.

That tone in his voice was one that I'd grown to recognize well. What he really meant was if he could tell me something without me ever saying it to anyone, especially his father. "Yeah."

Akira is silent a moment, putting the words together in his head before he dared to speak them. "I wonder what it's like, being a vampire." Technically he is one himself, but only half. "What would it be like, drinking someone's blood? How would it taste? I'm curious, but I'm not sure I'd ever really want to try and find out."

From what I knew, the child of a human and a vampire can be almost anything. It could take after the human parent and gain none of the vampire traits. It could also take after the vampire parent and suffer from bloodlust and weakness to the sunlight. Or it could be anything in between. Akira falls in the in-between. He has fangs, yet he doesn't require blood or get weak from the sun.

"Takeshi would be sad to hear that."

"He'd be furious," he corrected me. Takeshi had often said that if Akira turned into "one of those filthy, no good bloodsuckers," he'd kill him. Because of that, Akira never dared to try out anything that a vampire might do. "He's really got his heart set on me being just like him too."

I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "You don't want to be a vampire hunter?"

Akira shook his head. "It's just not me, you know?" It didn't feel right to him, and I understood that, but he was well-suited for such a job. He's calm and thinks things through. Plus he has the physique and being half-vampire, half-human, he's already got an advantage over any normal human or vampire. "It just doesn't feel right for me."

He sighs and tilts his head upwards, closing his eyes. Sitting the like that, he's very peaceful-looking. It's silent awhile before I speak.

"You don't have to be what he wants you to," I said, placing my hand over his. This was the first time I'd ever touched him by my own choice. Akira opened his eyes and looked down at me. "It's your life; he can't tell you who you are or what to be. If you do as he says, then it has to be your choice, or else you won't be happy."

"For someone who has no family, you understand well."

I shook my head. "I just know how it feels to be forced to do something you don't want to." While I didn't say it then, I'd spent quite a few years being forced to do whatever someone else wanted. Only after I met Akira and his father was finally able to do what I wanted, and I was much happier because of it.

"Um... Akira?" He looked at me, his head tilting just a tiny bit. It was something he always did, but you would have to pay a lot of attention to him to ever notice. "For being half-vampire, you're a great guy." A smile spread across my face as I gave his hand a light squeeze. "And you know what? I really like you."