Black in the Moonlight

Chapter 02: Hourglass

The briefing about the Kyoto family massacre case becomes a lecture about purebloods in the privacy of the director-general's safe room at the lowest basement of Koancho's building. At the forefront of the long center table is a computer that will be reformatted later after they conclude their meeting to erase every sensitive information it currently holds about their new case. A wireless projector is installed from the ceiling to display insightful material - that not all hunters are informed about - to Rinko's newly-formed four-member section.

The walls of the safe room are blindingly white, as if they always get cleansed for everyday use even if there is barely anyone within the Rakutanteki who can talk about these 'special vampires'. There are no windows but there are CCTVs positioned at all corners of the room's ceiling to document each meeting that occurs there in order to ensure which information gets divulged to which hunters. The footages they take go to the highest authorization level of the database accessible only by the prime minister and the parliament. High definition video and audio make it easier to verify written reports that keep track exactly who are the ones who have to know about purebloods.

The entrance to this safe room is guarded by a blast-proof metal door. It is unlockable from the outside using the general-director's access card but if a threat is confirmed to have gotten inside the room, the door can be electronically locked by the artificial intelligence that monitors Koancho's headquarters to seal everything inside. Only hunters are allowed to descend down Koancho's basements so Rinko does not expect other employees to know what safe rooms are for but the ones closer to the surface are used as interrogation rooms for the vampires they manage to contain. Rinko wonders if it ever happens that a vampire has been locked down inside the very space she sits on because it has escaped its chains and murdered everyone inside the room.

"Officer Harada," Osamu calls Rinko's attention, startling her, as he leans on table with both of his palms open. "Are you listening?"

"Yes," Rinko asserts, flipping through the police reports about their new case with sudden interest. "Purebloods can cause a human to mutate and become a vampire by making humans drink their blood. Great. Now I have to see if any other part of fiction happens to be real but classified."

"It has to be classified because not all Koancho officers are hunters and not all hunters have the experience needed to deal with purebloods that are stronger than ordinary vampires," Osamu explains, probably for the fifth time since he has started discussing the new case. "Purebloods are rare even for those who have to deal with them so there has been no need to divulge information to new hunters for years. Until now."

"So why are we being informed?" Rinko challenges to be answered, "I don't even have prior knowledge about purebloods, much less experience."

Osamu presses his lips in a hard line and Rinko imagines his hair going whiter by the minute. She reminds herself of the cameras currently recording them so she shuts up and looks somewhere else. She finds Rui's eyes on her from the end of the long table where he has chosen to sit, and she awkwardly smiles at him, trying to find an excuse for her attitude but having none. Rui attempts to smile back but he keeps nervously looking around the room for it to be a happy gesture. He glances at the cameras, at the bloody images of the purebloods projected on the too-white walls, and at the gigantic door blocking their only possible point of exit. He wants the briefing to be over as much as she does, which proves how long Osamu has been dragging it.

"These are your objectives," Osamu reckons, effectively dismissing Rinko's provocation, "You have to find and secure this college student, Jun Ichijou, before the police does. If he's a vampire, it's going to get ugly if they get him first. We are cooperating with the police to get him as soon as possible but they don't know we must hinder them from capturing the target. The police are still civilians as much as our policies are concerned."