"May I ask what you seek from me oh dear princess of the shallow night," I deepened my voice as if to imitate that of a hero who was ready to battle against the demon lord or queen in this exact context. We were on the school's rooftop and it was no different from the average school rooftop, open and spacious. I lazily sat by the wall and stared off at the sun. Although hot, it wasn't enough to bother me one bit.
"Don't tell me Yuu kun, you're into roleplay?" Despite my attempts at ragebaiting Yumiko, I ended up regretting it with her sudden clap back. She leaned in closer and teased me with a faint grin.
"What's wrong with roleplay?"
"You're basically playing a character you aren't."
"No, more like you're playing a character you want to be like. Those have two different meanings, right?" I tilted my head to the side, my eyes catching a glimpse of Yumiko before returning to the clouds in the sky.
"Then it's delusion."
"…" She was good at refuting statements, wasn't she?
"So may I ask what you need?" I decided to cut right to the main point. No matter how chill Yumiko might look, I found it hard to deal with people like her, maybe because of how proactive she seemed to be when she approached me. She bred this air of confidence, or should I say an aura of secrets around her. In my eyes, Yumiko had a lot of things to hide but she wouldn't say anything no matter how hard I asked. She's a vampire, I'm sure she's experienced different kinds of things in my life, and not to mention I probably would have been dead if not for her to begin with.
"Yes, I wanted to talk about the issue of the murders."
"Murders? Didn't you kill that supernatural who killed them? I mean that tentacle supernatural?" Even though that was last night, I doubt I'd forget that early.
"No… you're not entirely wrong." Yumiko got up and leaned on the wall. Her eyes narrowed. It was clear she was rather serious. How passionate.
"What exactly am I missing?" I asked, opening my lunch box, and to my utmost surprise, what I expected to be a lavish meal was just a cup of ramen inside my lunch box. I expected too much from Irish. But without batting an eye at Yumiko, I picked up the cup, tore it open, and poured water inside it. At least Irish hadn't forgotten that.
"There have been twelve different murders this month alone, and although it isn't my job to do so, I decided to research how these murders took place." I pulled my conjoined chopsticks and dipped them into my ramen.
"First of all, out of all twelve so far, seven have been men and five have been women."
"You're also counting the most recent one? Then if you don't believe the tentacle supernatural did it, then who?"
"I'm getting to that!" Yumiko's voice was unexpectedly sharp, her blunt tone forcing me back to my ramen. I ate without pressure as she continued.
"July third, a man who was apparently working on a night shift had just left his workplace at exactly 10 pm. According to witnesses, he went to a bar where he spent an hour, so exactly 11 pm he left the bar but didn't go home. By the next day he was found dead. His body was pale, as if he had lost all the water in his body."
That was the first victim of this month? And not to mention, a day after I just got here? Do those events have a connection? No, it would be too blatant if that were the case. But the most confusing part of her story was…
"Pale? You mean as if he had his soul sucked out or something?"
"Yes… no one knew the cause of death, but I knew this was the work of a supernatural, so I did some investigation of my own."
"You couldn't let the cops handle it?" I asked after swallowing a huge gulp of ramen down my throat, then arrogantly pointed the chopsticks at her.
"The police in this town are… pretty useless if I say so myself." I grimaced at her comment, but I couldn't disagree.
"Then according to my research, I found another witness the cops couldn't get their hands on."
"How did you do something like that?" Before I could further question her, she yanked the chopsticks right from my grip.
"What are you—" I wasn't even given a chance to protest as she gently kicked the ramen cup off my hand, landing miraculously on her palm.
"Thanks for the meal, Yuu kun," she grinned.
"This is bullying! Sexual harassment! The ramen didn't consent to you eating it!"
"Relax, I haven't eaten all day as well, so give me a break," her tone was dismissive. It didn't matter if I argued; I doubted she would return it casually.
"Anyways, according to my witness, they claimed to have seen the man exactly fifteen minutes past eleven, and he had walked into a restaurant not too far from school." Yumiko ate the ramen and continued.
"They called the restaurant Moon Tale." Yumiko's gaze sharpened right at me, and I froze. I almost forgot the name, but my memories immediately recalled it. I had been to that restaurant on the first day of school, two days ago. Despite how strange I found that place, I didn't perceive anything dangerous or evil there. But one thing was for sure—the old man knew I had negative energy, though I hadn't stepped foot back into that restaurant. Was I scared?
"After the man was seen dead, including the other victims, they all died in the exact same way, and not to mention, they were last seen exiting that exact same restaurant."
"Then how did the last victim end up in such a gruesome manner? If all the deaths were similar?"
"That I'm yet to figure out. But it wasn't the tentacle supernatural we fought last night. The difference is the wounds didn't seem caused by something sharp. He was pierced with the lamp pole, nothing else."
"And even if it was that supernatural, he had no reason to leave the body behind instead of letting it rot in broad daylight."
That was when it hit me.
"Maybe the supernatural took the body secretly to imitate the other eleven deaths? At any rate, the one who caused the recent murder was way too aggressive and wild, and not to mention…" I could still remember how the exact body spoke to me. It was no doubt some sort of supernatural, but when I encountered the body in the tentacle supernatural's store, I didn't sense any negative energy. I sighed in frustration. Why was this so complicated?
"I would like to believe the past eleven have been from the exact same cause, but the last test murder wasn't."
"But you have a prime suspect, right? That Moon Tale restaurant?" I replied, my tears slowly rolling down my eyes as Yumiko ate my ramen whole and nonchalantly kicked it a far distance. That was indeed vampire strength.
"No, that's the thing. I'm going to explain something to you. In this world, to be more exact in this town, there are beings called the Moon Tales. The Moon Tales are paranormal myths and legends that have existed in this town for a very long time." Yumiko casually began stretching.
"For example… there's the myth of the Golden Queen."
"Golden Queen?"
"Yes. She was praised to be the most beautiful woman of her era over a hundred years ago, married to the prince of this town."
"The prince? Then she was of royalty?"
"I'm not sure. Some books say she was, others say she wasn't. But according to the legends, she was stabbed by her own maid out of pure jealousy, on the neck seventeen times."
My heart sank, and my face went pale.
"Seventeen times? And out of jealousy?"
"Mhm. It's said her spirit haunts her shrine that's far from here, and whoever looks into her eyes will be instantly smitten by her charms and killed."
"That doesn't sound like a bad death—"
Out of nowhere, the heel of Yumiko's right foot went straight to my cheek, but I luckily managed to roll out of the way.
"Are you trying to kill me?"
"Guys like you don't take things seriously until things get out of hand. I'm not sure if that's a bad thing, but there's one thing I know for sure." Her voice dropped, her tone seductive. She went on all fours and crawled right up to me. Of course, I pushed myself further away until I reached the wall and her face leaned close to mine. Our breaths met, our eyes locked. While I was in a state of confusion, Yumiko had a coy grin.
"It's… hot."
I sighed and pushed her cheek away with my palm to increase the distance.
"Then these legends that are common in this town are known as the Moon Tales?"
"Yes…" Yumiko's expression had completely returned to the casual, nonchalant stare she always had.
"Then this restaurant is a Moon Tale?"
"There are myths about it. For example, they say this particular restaurant disappears out of nowhere at exactly midnight and returns at six in the morning. No one knows why. Some say the owner is a conspicuous serial killer."
"Then isn't that enough lead to bust them down?"
Yumiko got up on her feet and turned to watch the distant mountains. This school was probably one of the tallest buildings, so a clear view of the town was feasible. Despite how ordinary the town looked, it held a sense of comfort, as if it were home, but yet contained so many dangerous and murderous things inside it. Yumiko had explained a lot to me, but I had one more question.
"Could the Moon Tales be only limited to this town alone?"
My question caught Yumiko off guard for a mere second.
"I can't say." She shrugged it off, and that nearly pissed me off. I already knew so much about this town. Somewhere inside me, I wanted to run away, but at the same time I wanted to keep exploring. At that moment, a thought flickered into my head. How does someone like Yumiko know all this?
The school bell rang. Lunch break was over. I was pissed. I wanted to be alone, but Yumiko had disturbed it. Still, I couldn't deny I got something useful out of it—about this town, and how mysterious Yumiko as a person was.
"After school, we are going for your first supernatural hunt!" Yumiko's voice cracked through the silence as I got up on my feet. I simply stared at her.
"Huh?"