Call Me Rose

New Blood

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" panicked the criminal running through the streets of Tokyo. He was fat middle-aged man dressed in an office suit, with a greasy facial mustache, short-cropped pale blue hair, and gray eyes. As he rounded the corner, he paused briefly to catch his breath. Pausing for a moment, he listened in an attempt to figure out where his stalker was. Not hearing anything suspicious, he cautiously peeked around the corner, fearing to see the person he was running from. To his relief, there was no one there. Relaxing his breath, he turned around, only to see a young man with green hair and red eyes, wearing a half-unbuttoned jeansuit the color of a military uniform, underneath which was a red T-shirt, black pants, and maroon sneakers. The stalked opened his mouth in horror, but before he could make a single sound, young man grabbed him by the throat, pinning him against the wall.

"Well, well, well. What do we have?" the young man asked with fake playfulness, examining his prey, "Yukio Miyazaki, supposedly a harmless office clerk. In reality, he's a serial killer and child molester with nearly three dozen victims to his credit."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Yukio began to lie.

"You do," young man continued in a slightly colder tone, "I have to admit, you've been doing a pretty good job of hiding from the police. But as we both know, he who seeks will always find. I did my own investigation and gathered all the evidence I needed. Thankfully, it didn't take me too long to find your diary with the details of your crimes. Seriously, buddy, a desk drawer isn't the best place to hide something that shouldn't become public knowledge."

"Who are you?" whispered Miyazaki in panic, trying in vain to figure out what his pursuer wanted.

"I have plenty of names, but you?" the green-haired man threw the criminal to the ground, "You can call me Rose," steam billowed from the young man's body. Before the eyes of a scared shitless Yukio, his stalker turned into a humanoid monster that looked very much like a rose. It had pink buds on its face, shoulders, and chest, with leaves and thorn-covered stems underneath. There were thorns on the back of his head, as well as the back of his hands and feet. Instead of a right palm, there was a kind of green-colored garden shears. All fingers on the left hand except the thumb were replaced by relatively long spiky vines. There was a rose petal pattern on some parts of the body. The monster's feet were shaped like the same petals. Beneath the two yellow-orange eyes in the face bud was a maniacal grin and a mouth full of sharp fangs. Laughing ominously, the monster approached the gray-eyed man, who, having regained his senses, got up and tried to run away. Unfortunately for him, young man was faster. One jump, and Miyazaki was pinned face down on the pavement as the monster grabbed him by the hair, lifting his head up.

"You don't have to call for help," Rose informed him, "I deliberately lured you into an abandoned neighborhood so no one would hear your screams," the monster opened its mouth and sank its fangs into victim's arm, tearing off a chunk of flesh. Yukio screamed in pain and tried to break free, but in vain. As the young man had predicted, absolutely no one heard the criminal's screams. Finally, after eating the body, the monster returned to human form, took out a switchblade from his pocket and carved a rose on the victim's cheek. After casting a last appraising glance at the corpse, he turned and walked in a direction known only to himself.

***

Y/N L/N awoke to the ringing of his alarm clock. Pulling himself up, he went to clean himself up and then headed to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. After eating, he decided to look at the news on the internet. Almost immediately he found a recent article about the brutal murder of an office worker by the Rose. After briefly familiarizing himself with the text, he changed his clothes and started packing his backpack, not wanting to be late for university. His motorcycle could be there in less than ten minutes.