Rising Rays of the New Century: Tale of the Japanese Empire

Fear of Vampire

April 10, 20:12

Takadanobaba Station, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo

People were heading home after work. Tired-looking workers who had finished working overtime were coming out of the station one after another. One of them, Shotaro Odagiri, was heading for his apartment in Takadanobaba.

"Phew..."

Odagiri sighed loudly from exhaustion. He approached his home step by step with his heavy and tired feet. And with each step away from the station, the number of people gradually became sparser. When he reached the residential area where his apartment was located, there was no one around him. The lighted windows of the applicable and residential buildings illuminated his footsteps. Odagiri was walking home in silence.

Then he heard the sound of something flapping its wings and a high-pitched cry.

Kii! Kii!

"!?"

It was a bat. It flew toward the moon, flapping its wings.

"...Oh, just a bat."

It is not unusual for bats to fly in the evening, even in the streets of Japan. Odagiri sighed with relief and started walking home again.

However, he is oblivious to the great anomaly going on behind him. Centered on the bat that had flown up, numerous bats were gathering from all over the place. When it became one mass, it was a single feminine figure with batlike wings on her back. The woman flew toward Odagiri, who turned away. And when her fangs peeked out from inside her mouth, Odagiri noticed a presence approaching behind him and turned around.

"...Huh? AAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

But by the time he realized it, it was too late. The bat-woman gripped Odagiri's shoulders with tremendous force and then plunged her fangs into his neck.

"H-help... Please!"

Odagiri tried to scream, but her mouth was quickly covered. At the same time, the blood drained from his body, and he gradually turned pale. And by the time the woman pulled her fangs from his neck, Odagiri is completely out cold.

"Fufufu... fufu...!"

The woman licked her lips, which are covered with drops of blood, and laid Odagiri down on the asphalt. Then, having achieved her goal, the woman's face gradually changed. When she attacked Odagiri, she had the appearance of a Westerner with silvery-white hair, but it was only a false face for camouflage. The woman who has returned to her true face is none other than Touma Tsukigami, a sophomore at Shinkawa High School.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

April 11

Investigation Division 4 Section 7 Office, Metropolitan Police Department 

The officers of Investigation Division 4 Section 7 all looked grim. It is because another victim of the Shinjuku serial blood loss case they are chasing has turned up.

"Shotaro Odagiri, 44 years old, male, a company employee. He was on his way home to his house in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku Ward, when he was attacked and bitten by a flying Western-looking woman. He passed out on the spot..."

Section Chief Juen pasted a new mug shot on the whiteboard. He is the tenth victim. Like the previous victims, he was in stable condition, but he was confused at the time of the interview.

"Like the previous victims... fortunately, he was not left for dead. Fortunately they are not turned into zombies..."

The vampires, said to be the most powerful race in Terralus, have the ability to turn their victims into zombies and turn them into their loyal servants. Not all beings that have been blood-sucked can be turned into this, and the target can be chosen at will. However, the zombies that are created attack other humans and animals and sire them into their own kind, just as if an infectious disease were spreading. If even one such creature is released, Tokyo will be hit by a biological disaster of unprecedented scale.