Laying on my back, I stare up at the ceiling of my new room and contemplate emptily. I reach a hand up and close it around nothing.
So... I'm back at square one with a different set of idiots. They... seem to have a vague inkling of the trauma inflicted by the Sakamaki's from my early days of residing with them. Even with this plan of theirs, it seems that they have empathy for the plight they think I endured.
I sit up and wander the room to the door, taking a bobby pin from my hair and jimmying the lock. With sluggish feet, I descend the steps and wander the halls. My nose brings me toward the smell of human food and I wonder furtively if they were cooking for me. I hadn't seen wait staff, so they had to be the ones that were cooking.
I enter what looks to be a dining room and observe the cutlery set out.
"Do you need help setting anything out?" I ask of the slight disturbance of air behind me.
The man behind me starts, but seems to recover quickly, "Yes. Follow me."
Ruki emerges from behind me and strides to the kitchen where he hands me a set of plates.
"Oi, you're not supposed to be out, sow."
I pointedly ignore him, meticulously setting out the large dishware. Yuma follows with a set of salad bowls already filled. At the sight of tomatoes on the salad, I gnaw on my lower lip.
"Oh, what a surprise Maso-kitty!"
Again, I don't respond, instead finding my way back to the kitchen.
"How rude."
"I'm not fond of disgusting pet names," I say, taking a prepared pan of shrimp from Ruki with trivets to protect myself from the heat.
"You'll put up with whatever we call you, livestock."
"No," I respond, placing the dish out on the table. "Hello, Azusa."
"...Eve," he greets and I let out an audible sigh.
"My name is Miyako," I say with a small smile, correcting him.
"Ah... Miyako... it is a... pretty name."
My lips part in surprise and I meet the vampire's eyes, "Th-thank you, Azusa."
"Mm..."
"You'll be sitting over there, livestock," Ruki says, gesturing to somewhere I deliberately didn't pay attention to.
"Where?" I ask Azusa instead and he gestures to the seat beside him.
Scooping my skirt beneath myself, I perch myself uneasily on the edge of the chair.
"So, Kou, I remember that the last time I met you mentioned that you were an idol," I begin, watching as the blonde seats himself across from me, "What kind of music do you specialize in?"
"Well, pop of course," he says cheerfully, but with an edge as if that much was completely obvious.
He did have the appearance of a pop idol I supposed, looking him up and down. The modern style of boyband dress with tight pants and a shirt loose around the collarbone implied a casual professionalism. He catches the gesture and smirks.
"You see something you like, Maso-kitty?"
As if flicking a switch, I let my face go flat and turn my gaze to the others that were now taking their places.
"What do the rest of you like to do?" I inquire of the table, adeptly changing the subject.
"Gardening," Yuma says between bites, not waiting a moment after everything was set to inhale what was in front of him.
"Oh... was the salad from your garden perhaps?" I ask, eyeing the bowl even more apprehensively.
"Yep! You better eat up every last morsel!"
At this, my stomach dropped and I let out a sigh. So I'd eat the salad last to avoid my allergic reaction at the table; tomatoes were the weakness in question. Inevitably, after eating them, my tongue would swell up and they'd eventually come back up the way they'd been put down.
Nevertheless, the sadistic vampiric punishment for not eating them was likely to be feared more.
"Azusa... what do you do?" I wonder, bringing a shrimp reluctantly to my mouth, knowing that I'd probably be seeing it again later.
"I like... to collect knives... as well as... create lovely... patterns on my skin."
Tattoos? I wonder absently, staring at the bandages on his arms, but decide against probing further.
"And Ruki?"
"I exercise knowledge in literature and mathematics," he says shortly and without a shred of passion, unlike his brothers.
"That's important," I encourage, slowly pecking away at my food.
"And you... Miyako?" Azusa inquires.
"Oh, well I'm an expert at short-sword weapons combat... and I've been teaching myself how to swim!"
"You don't know how to swim?" Yuma asks incredulously.
"Well, no, I was never taught formally."
"There's a lake out back – we'll throw you in there," he says with a crooked grin.
Instead of excitement at the prospect of continuing my endeavors, his expression looks rather mischievous. That kind of look from a stranger and a vampire no less... it was unnerving.
"Hey, no fair, I want to see her in a swimsuit – "
"That reminds me, I don't have any of my clothing here..." I muse, staring at the ceiling in thought.
Perhaps if they allowed me to go shopping I could use that as an opportunity to escape –
"We have everything prepared in the guest room where you're staying," Ruki interjects, "You need only look about in the chest of drawers."
"Oh, er, thank you..."
"It's expected of a master to provide for his livestock."
This response has me chewing on the inside of my cheek, my lips turning toward an irritable pout despite myself.
"Eat, sow!"
Rebelliously, I pick up the glass of water instead and take slow, measured sips.
"We'll be here all night if you eat like that," Kou complains loudly, his expression turning very suddenly sour. For a moment, there's a flash of his eyes that sends a shiver down my spine. "You should be more grateful of the food that's been meticulously prepared for you."
"Eating too quickly may upset a lady's stomach," I say carefully, making sure that Yuma couldn't use his now-empty plate as an excuse to make me eat faster.
Yuma growls and rolls his eyes, helping himself to seconds of everything.
"You're... a very strange... woman... Miyako."
"From what you all know of me, I shouldn't appear that strange," I ponder, resuming my tenuous consumption of the dinner at hand.
"No, you're pretty weird, Sow. Most women would grateful to have been spared from most certain death."
"The Sakamaki brothers were in agreement that I wasn't to be killed," I shrug, "In fact, we were getting along nicely. My life wasn't in danger from them, not anymore..."
"You don't know what those guys are capable of!" Ruki snaps, but I glare at my place setting mutinously.
"Pretty sure I do – I've witnessed their true nature," I refute softy.
"Hah?"
"Feeding frenzy," I say quietly.
"You survived a frenzy?" Kou wonders incredulously.
"Barely," I laugh, "They were so apologetic that they treated me like porcelain for weeks afterward."
"How much... did you... bleed?"
"Er, that's a woman's business – "
"No, how much blood was drained from you?" Ruki corrects my assumption.
"A great deal – I think Reiji fed me a blood replenishing elixir at one point."
"Don't say their names in this house," Kou snarls so suddenly that I jump in my seat, chopstick clattering to the plate from my jittery fingers. In the next second, his tone softens a slight bit, "You'll make me jealous."
"W-well, that's what happened, anyway," I stutter conclusively.