Tales from Negi's, er, Collective.
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Chao Lingshen.
"Do you miss anyone from back there? Or should I mean back then?"
Getting to learn your friends had spent months if not years hiding whole secret lives from you meant that you had to either walk away from them or getting to know them all over again. Being a tolerant person and not having the means or excuses to ask Dad for a transfer meant Murakami Natsumi had to resort to the latter.
Now came Chao's turn to be met all over again, as they sat in bikinis by the false seaside of Evangeline's resort.
Chao hummed. "Not really. There's a reason why I escaped that period, other than the whole dystopia thing. Although I guess both things were tied after all, yo. A harsh environment breeds harsh, unlikable people for the most part."
"Yet you turned out social, and helpful," Natsumi said. "There must've been someone you were close to, who motivated you…"
Chao said nothing for a few moments.
Natsumi blushed. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I, I, I didn't mean to, I was just too curious and didn't think it through! Of course you wouldn't want to--!"
"No, that's fine, I keep those people in my mind all the time anyway," Chao sighed, grabbing a pebble and tossing it far into the sea.
"But you said you didn't miss anyone."
"I don't miss them," the genius replied. "I was taught there was no point on missing those who are gone, for you only hurt yourself in vain, yo. I just want to be glad they moved onto a better place, and that happened long before I made my way here. So there's nobody I could return to anyway."
Natsumi lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry."
After a moment of doubt, she placed her hand on Chao's and squeezed softly.
Chao smiled nostalgically. "Oh, you guys have spoiled me! That valuable lesson, on never missing anyone no matter what? You'll make me forget it altogether, at this rate…"
And yet, she was thankful over this.
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Housen Ryofu.
"Are you sure about this?"
The buxom, green haired, tanned young woman nodded. "Yes, I am. I also am, naturally, thankful over this great gift."
"Don't thank me yet!" the immortal hissed. "I hate being taken for granted by gnats like you! Look at yourself, foolish thing. So afraid that you don't even consider the depths of the abyss you're facing!"
"I'm a warrior," Ryofu said bluntly, "and a warrior would rather brave hell on earth itself than surrendering to illness. That is not how I wish to die."
"I didn't wish to be this either," Eva pointed at her own chest, "yet Fate asks for no one's permission to play its hand."
"I take the reins of my own fate."
"And yet, you rely completely on my own will to bring this curse—not a gift—to you."
"You seem completely happy with this great horrible curse by now," Ryofu challenged the notion.
Eva smirked wickedly. "I have more than earned it, through conquering the darkness, rather than becoming its slave."
"A feat I will duplicate," the taller female boasted.
"So bold a claim. Most likely, you will walk into the light out of your own will, long before you can become a Daywalker. On your knees, then," the vampire ordered, advancing towards her.
Ryofu obeyed and bared her neck.
"Welcome, foolish child. We will see if the power of your heart and mind matches that of your fist," Evangeline said, huskily blowing onto her flesh, right before sinking her fangs in and giving her the kiss of undeath.