The Black Rose

Chapter 3

"It's nice to meet all of you. My name is Kashiwagi Yuki. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," Yuki bowed.

Just then, Rena quickly pointed her gun in Yuki's direction. Everyone backed away, shocked.

"Eh?!"

"Rena, what's wrong?"

"Sayaka, get away from her!" Rena yelled. "That girl's Black! She's a vampire!"

The woman furrowed her eyebrows, confused. "What? No, she's not. Yuki's a human, just like all of us."

"No! She's lying, whatever she told you, it's a façade! I know it, she's Black!"

Yuki thought in the back of her mind, "The hypnosis didn't work..? She still remembers me..."

Takamina pulled Rena back. "Rena, you must be a bit stressed since a few days ago. Yuki may look like her, but me and Sayaka can assure you, she's human."

"But..."

"Don't worry. We'll take care of Black when we can. For now, your new mission is to help Yuki-chan train."

"Haa?!" Rena's jaw dropped. "No way in HELL am I--"

Takamina silenced her and leaned in her ear.

"Behave and be nice to Yuki-chan, and if you don't try to kill her, I'll treat you to a limited edition gourmet melonpan."

Rena felt weak at that statement. Not because of the melonpan (because she loved melonpan), but because now that everyone saw her make a scene, she was going to have to hide her hatred towards the now human-disguised vampire girl.

"Okay..."

"Good!" Takamina smiled and slapped Rena's back. "Now, go apologize and make nice! Just play along, play along~"

Rena saw Takamina wink as she said one of her many catchphrases. She walked up to Yuki, giving her a glare before faking a smile.

"Please forgive me. I mistook you for someone."

"No problem," Yuki said sweetly. "I hope we can get along."

"Me too."

They bowed to each other, and when Rena looked up, she saw Yuki give a slight glare. She then heard her voice inside her head.

"How disappointing, you still remember everything. You're much stronger than I thought."

Rena scowled, not showing the others however as they smiled and Rena started to walk back. She heard Black speak in her mind again.

"Meet me in private later."

After that, they took a short break from training. As Rena left the room and walked down the hall, she saw a shadow flash by her and Black herself appeared in front of her.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Rena said sarcastically, then she got serious. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was going to try and make peace," Black said. "But that scene you just made is gonna cause some trouble. Why did you fake being hypnotized? More importantly, how are you able to resist? No one's been able to do that."

The hunter smirked. "We hunters have been trained to block your mind control. You can't get anything through me."

"Oh really?"

"Yup."

"Then... how come Akimoto and Takahashi weren't able to?"

Rena's eyes widened. "What..?!"

Flashback, yesterday

Black entered the hunter base while Sayaka and Takamina were practicing one-on-one late at night. When the two saw her, they immediately took action.

"Vampire!"

Sayaka was the first to approach her and threw a punch. Black caught her fist and twisted her arm behind her back, locking her gaze.

"You won't fight," Black tried to hypnotize her, but Sayaka wasn't cracking. She flipped the vampire over and pinned her down. Black coughed as she fell hard. "So... there are some who can resist. I see..."

"Takamina, get the silver bullets!"

Before Takamina could head to the armory, Black held out her arm and made Takamina stop in her tracks, unable to move her legs.

"Argh..! Sayaka, I can't move..!"

Black took her chance to escape while Sayaka was distracted. She grabbed Sayaka and pulled her down, staring into her eyes.

"No..!"

"You won't fight." She held Sayaka's head in place as she put her under. Sayaka's body fell weak and she stared blankly into the vampire's eyes. "You won't remember me. You can't see me. Not until tomorrow."

"Not until tomorrow..."