The Black Rose

Chapter 16

After three days, Rena was back in stable condition and discharged from the hospital. After her mind started restabilizing, she forgot about when she was acting like a kid to Yuki. Even after she left the hospital, however, she decided she needed a break from hunting and took a personal vacation.

While everyone was doing their job, going out to slay vampires, Rena stayed at home by herself. The empty house was quiet and still without the company of Jurina or the vampire Yuki. Not really knowing what else she could do, she decided to sleep.

And she dreamed of snow...

Meanwhile...

"A new hunter?"

"Yes," Takamina confirmed with the group, gesturing to a young girl with short hair standing beside her. "She just transferred to Tokyo from Kagoshima."

"My name's Miyawaki Sakura. It's nice to meet you," the girl bowed.

"Sakura-chan, then. Yoroshiku!" Sae greeted her cheerfully.

"Since Rena's taking a break, Yuki, Jurina, you two will be helping her out on missions. She's a skilled prodigy, so it shouldn't be much trouble."

"Understood," Jurina said before smiling at the girl, "let's get along, Sakura-chan."

Sakura blushed a bit by her charming smile, nodding before glancing at Yuki. She stared at her for a moment before bowing her head.

"Yosh! Sayaka, I need you to come with me," Takamina then said. "The rest of you, start training."

"Yes, ma'am!"

As the girls split into their respective groups, Sakura began training on her own. She put on some fingerless boxing gloves and began training with a dummy, performing some dirty boxing mixed with kickboxing elements.

Yuki glanced over at the girl as she and Jurina set up for combat training. While distracted, she didn't notice Jurina run towards her and was tackled by the younger girl.

"Ahh!" she hissed as she was thrown to the ground. "Oi! I wasn't ready!"

"Haha, sorry, sorry."

As she helped Yuki up, the vampire then asked, "Hey, Sakura-chan looked at me weird earlier... Do you think she suspects I'm a vampire?"

"Eh? You think so?"

"Mm... the way she looked at me felt like she was suspicious."

"What do you wanna do about it?"

Yuki tried to think about it, but when she glanced back, she saw Sakura was staring at her. Yuki looked away, pretending not to look at her.

"Hey, Yuki-san, Jurina-san," Sakura called out to them. "Could you come over here?"

The two looked at each other before approaching the girl on the other side of the room.

"What's up?" Jurina asked.

"I was wondering if one of you could help me train. As a sparring partner."

"Sure," Jurina smiled, "Yuki-san, would you wanna start?"

"Eh! Uh, sure."

As Sakura got into position, Yuki popped her knuckles and neck.

"Don't think I'll go easy on you," she told her.

"That's my line."

"Huh--" Once Yuki was in position, the girl suddenly ran towards her, grabbed both her shoulders, and tackled her to the floor. "AHH!!!"

Everyone turned to look when they heard Yuki suddenly screaming. Takamina and Sayaka also came back in, only to see Sakura holding Yuki in an uncomfortable position. She had her arms around her neck in a choker hold, Yuki struggling to break free.

"Ack! Uncle! I give, I give!" Yuki said, tapping out.

Sakura immediately let her go, making her collapse face first onto the floor.

"Holy crap, Sakura! Where'd you learn how to do that?!" Sasshi asked.

"My dad used to be a wrestler. We played wrestling all the time."

As Yuki sat back up, holding her neck, she noticed Sakura was wearing a ring on her right hand.

"Sakura... what's that ring?" she asked.

"Oh, uh... it was a birthday present from my dad last year!"

"Lemme see," Jurina said, looking at the ring on her hand. "Hee~ cool design."

"Woah, that is cool!" Takamina also commented.

"Is this real silver?"

"Yup!"