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

The Vampiric Menace

"Sister, let's not do this anymore."

"Aoi!"

Touma's eyes widened. There was Aoi Tsukigami, Touma's younger brother. His eyes are shining as red as blood, just like Touma's.

"...Sister, please return to your original appearance. The police, too... please put down your weapons for now. If you hurt my sister any more, I will join the fight. Two vampires are more than enough to literally annihilate you in the blink of an eye. After all... we inherited from our mother... the blood of a true vampire, the Devils of the World and the strongest of all beings."

"!!"

His words implying their vampiric heritage shocked Rokutani, Hozumi, and the others. The two facts were revealed: a vampire woman had entered Japan illegally, as the Foreign Affairs Police had speculated, and she gave birth to two children with a Japanese.

"Aaah...!! Your power...! You've finally awakened your vampiric powers!!"

"Um... well, yes."

Touma rushed to Aoi, put her hand on his shoulder and exclaimed with joy. On the other hand, Aoi had a somewhat troubled expression on his face.

Their mother's name is Branvie Tepes, a vampire woman who entered the country 60 years ago at the time of the Return and whose whereabouts were being hunted by the Public Security and Foreign Affairs Bureaus.

Since humans are "lesser lifeforms" to vampires and are the object of predation (bloodsucking), no one knows the story of how she gave birth to two children with a human man. When Touma, the eldest daughter, was in the second grade of elementary school, Branvie disappeared somewhere, leaving behind her husband, Shigeru Tsukigami, and her young siblings. The father who remained raised the young siblings by himself, but he was killed in an unfortunate car accident and disappeared from the lives of the siblings, as did their mother. The father's relatives do not accept the mysterious 'monster children,' and the two siblings must live alone together from then on.

Touma, who was taking the form of a young man a head taller than Aoi, was enveloped in a golden light. After the light disappeared, Touma returned to her original high school girl form. She rested her body against her brother's chest and raised her voice at the police officers surrounding her.

"Fearing our blood... this world has rejected us. And now you want to take something from us again!?"

Touma herself did not resent her vanished mother, but rather was proud of the vampire blood that flowed through her and her sibling's bodies. However, those who learned the truth of the matter left them one after another. Touma, who no longer believed in anything in this world, came to love and depend on her own brother Aoi, her only living relative.

"Sister..."

Aoi gently stroked her distraught sister's head soothingly. The first thing he did was to calm her down, and then he called out to Juen, who was lying on the ground.

"Officer-san, you understood anyway. Even if all of you teamed up, you would be no match for us. Even this country's power can't hold us back. So... how about we make a deal?"

"...A deal!? What the fuck are you talking about!? You can't expect us to just turn a blind eye to ten cases of assaults on civilians and fighting the police!"

Rokutani was furious at Aoi for offering a one-sided deal. But Aoi, too, was firm in his words.

"Don't get me wrong? Police? Trials? Military? You know we are not afraid of such things. This is our confession, and if you don't take it, we will turn all of you into zombies and unleash you here in Tokyo. You understand what I am saying, don't you?"