My uncle is a vampire.
Because he has a long life, he is a bit strange.
* * *
“Happy birthday, Yuria.”
Uncle Hall came to celebrate my birth when I was six years old.
"I'm Hall. July Hall. I’m your uncle. I brought you a present."
The present my uncle gave me without smiling was the thighbone of some animal.
"Uhm, what is this...."
"You bite when your teeth are itchy, right?"
"Does uncle bite too?"
"I don’t bite.”
"Eh...."
I don’t bite either. As I was about to say so, I noticed that his eyes were on my tail and the ears above me.
Ah, could it be? Maybe he thinks I'm a dog or something. (These ears and tails, after a few years, became able to appear and disappear by themselves.)
"Thank you. I will treasure it."
"Yeah."
The next day my uncle brought me a humeral.
"Go ahead."
"….Uncle, this is a bone."
"You don't have to be shy. There's a lot more."
"Huh, a bone! Uh, yes, this is already enough!"
If it goes on like this, I am afraid that I will have a complete set. My uncle tilted his head in wonder when he saw me flustered.
"Then what else do you want?"
I'm in trouble now, because I have everything I need to live on.
"Is uncle... busy?"
"I've never been busy."
"Then, please stay by my side."
At that time, I had just lost my mother and father, and I was lonely. At my words, my uncle made a solemn expression
"You want full fleshed bones?"
"I wasn't talking about bones!"
* * *
From the next day, my uncle went out with me. We catch the insects, take care the roses, make canes with nice branches and polish the mud balls.
And then one day....
"Uncle, uncle. Look. It's so beautiful."
I proudly showed my uncle a long-bearded bright blue colored insect――perhaps a kind of longicorn beetle――that I had caught with a great efforts.
"What's it name?"
"It's an insect."
My uncle answered.
"An insect."
Uhm. You're an insect. I nodded.
Uncle is strange. He has lived a long time, but he doesn't know anything. No, in his eyes, the world seemed very simple.
"Ah…!"
At the moment, the insect stabbed my hand with its sharp chin. It tried to run away from the gap of my hand.
In an instant, my uncle gripped the insect.
"If you do this, it won't run away."
In my uncle's palm, the insect was crushed.
"It will only lose its shape a little."
"....Thank you."
I laughed awkwardly while received it dead body. Then I made a small grave at the end of the mansion and buried it.
Since that day, I stopped catching insects.
* * *
It was a rainy day after that.
Meow… Meow….
I heard a kitten's voice out of nowhere.
I went around the garden, and while relying on the sound I heard, I found a black kitten. Where did this child come from? It was full of fleas, haggard and also thin. And because the rain made it wet, it smells bad.
"Uhm, uncle. Can I let this child stay in the mansion just for tonight?"
At the front door, I asked my uncle while still holding that child.
"For what?"
"This child is trembling. If we don't warm it up, it might die."
"What's wrong with that?"
"I'll be sad if this child die."
"Yuria has an interesting idea. You can do whatever you want."
The maids then prepared hot water. I washed the kitten while smashed it fleas. Then I wrapped it with a towel and made it drink milk diluted in hot water.
"If this child gets well, I wonder if it want to be my friend."
"Do you want to have friend?"
"Uhm."
I kept the kitten warm all night. However, the kitten still did not get better. The situation remained as when I found it.
"This child might not have died if I had found it earlier."
In my hand, the light of the kitten's life flickered. I was so frustrated and sad that I cried.
"Yuria, don't cry."
My uncle stroked me on the back with his cold hands. I shook my head.
"It waited alone for help in the rain until it became so weak. It's terrible. And also too much. If only I... I found it earlier...."
A weak voice that came to my ears. Back then, how scared was this young child must be?
"Poor thing...."
I sniffled at the time. My uncle then took the kitten from my hand and bit it.
"Uncl...."
I'm dumbfounded. Tears ran down on my cheeks.
"....Yuria, it's okay."
My uncle then spoke slowly while the cat opened it mouth and tried to stand up.
It then let out a little meow.
"..........."
"See, it feel better now."
He patted me on the head.
* * *
I kept crying that day. My uncle looked very troubled and asked over and over what was the matter with me. But I didn't have words to express my feelings at the time, so I just cried.
"I'm going out for a while. I'll come back tomorrow."
When it got dark, my uncle left the house. He didn't come back the next day.
I was alone again.
* * *
My uncle's sense of time is much different from other people's sense of time. So, I'm sure he'll be back in a few years. But maybe he won’t come back at all. Maybe he was disgusted with me because I couldn't stop crying.
After a while I closed the curtains of my room. That way, the maids can visit my room even during the day. They came as soon as I rang the bell.
I said to them, "Good morning."
While they answered, "Good morning."
"Today’s weather is really nice, isn’t it?”
"Yes."
"Uhm, today breakfast is also very delicious."
"Yes."
"Uh, that...."
And silence.
They won't answer unless I talk to them. Gradually I lost the will to speak, and shrugged.
"….It’s nothing. I'm sorry for holding you up so long.”
"Then, excuse me."
They listened to my requests as long as it was within my grandfather's command. But that's all.
I opened the curtains. The faint sunlight made me feel even more lonely.
* * *
And for about 10 years, I busied myself with reading and, sometimes I also played the piano that my mother left behind.
"....Cough, cough."
One day, I was sitting on a chair in my study, reading a book, when a dry cough came over.
“Aa. Aa... Aa... Aa... Haha, I think I'll forget how to speak."
This mansion is a decorated grave. Slowly, I walked toward the death.
I looked out the window.
The vast lush green garden can seen below. Colorful flowers are in full bloom, and the refreshing breeze brings out a sweet fragrance.
The world I could see from this window was all I had. What a beautiful and lonely view.
* * *
“Woah! It’s true. It’s really Uncle Hal! I was surprised to see you coming all of a sudden. It’s been 10 years, right?”
"Is that so? I don't remember it well."
“I’ve been worried because I haven’t heard anything from you since you said you will see me tomorrow.”
Suddenly, my uncle came back. Not as usual, he brought someone with him.
"....Who is this?"
"Your caretaker."
"Caretaker?"
"Look, before, you said you wanted a friend, didn't you? My Father said he won’t allow it, so I found you a caretaker instead."
"You remembered that. I'm so happy."
I looked at the man standing behind my uncle.
Huh?
The first thing I felt was something isn’t quite right. He was ‘nervous’. When he saw me, he looked at my eyes for a moment before he lowered his head.
"....Hello."
Could it be... Could it be this person?
"He is Ban-san."
My uncle said his name in a flat voice.
"Ban-san."
I repeated his name and got a step closer to him.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Yuria."
He shook back the hand that I offered to him. That hand was very... very warm.
"Young Master... Yuria."
"Haha, please don't call me 'young master'. Just Yuria is fine."
Ban-san had a strange smell. There are many different scents mixed together. But in a word, it's sweet. His smells is so sweet.
I was nervous when I was around him. I feel like I want to bite his neck.
* * *
The next six months that I spent with him were like a dream. He gave me many things that I wanted. He laughed a lot, at first I was surprised, but then it made me very happy. He also likes the junk that I keep in my secret base and my piano's poor performance.
At first, I thought he was kind to me because of money. I was still happy though. But... then I realize I was wrong.
Ban-san loved me as if he was trying to rescue me from my lonely past.
To me, his warmth... became an irreplaceable treasure.
* * *
"Hey, Ban-san. Can I hug you?"
I spoke on our way home after taking care of the roses.
"Why do you say that after we done with gardening? I'm still sweating."
Ban-san then frowned as if he was in trouble.
"No?"
"No. Wait until I take a shower."
I walk faster. I hugged him from behind.
"I don’t want to. I can't wait."
"....Hey!"
I buried my face in his neck, which immediately filled my nose with the smell of refreshing sweat. Check. He is alive... I'm alive, too.
"Hah, you."
Ban-san relaxed after trying to push me away for a moment.
"....It’s smell sweet."
Ah, I want to kiss you.
Suddenly, that thought came to my mind.
I want to kiss his lips. Like a lover in a story.
But what would he do if I did that? He may never talk to me again if I do that. Because he is my caretaker.
"Let me go now."
"Just a little more."
I murmured while my lips touched his earlobe.
Hey, Ban-san. I'm very lonely, so treat me kindly.
"Geez, you're really...."
Ban-san laughed in distress. I hug him tightly with my arms.
My entire world can only be seen from this window. A beautiful, but small and closed world. But now I think it’s good.
....Because, I can keep looking at you forever.