“Are you just going to let me pick it up?” Vincent asked.

  “I want to beat you,” Erika replied, “but doing it now would only prove I can handle you when you’re unarmed.”

  “Alright, as you wish.”

  Vincent bent down to pick up his sword. He planted his feet on the ground, readied his shield, and assumed a combat stance again.

  “But I’m not sure if I’m going to get what I want,” Erika said. “You don’t seem motivated. You’re lacking, I don’t know, a spark.”

  Erika lowered her swords. Yes, she fought with two.

  “What’s wrong? Trouble in paradise?”

  “Something like that,” Vincent said.

  “Aha. Tell me more.”

  “I made her drink my blood.” The words escaped him before he realized. Stupid. Stupid. Vincent bit his tongue. Literally. It was too late to do it figuratively.

  Erika arched an eyebrow.

  “To a vampire? The vampire is that upset about drinking blood? How strange. Why?”

  “You don’t need to know. I shouldn’t have told you that in the first place.”

  “Yeah, well, whatever it is, fix it quickly.” Erika lowered her swords. “If this continues, you won’t be able to give me what I want. That’s why I disarmed you so easily.”

  She was wrong, of course. She had simply been more skilled than him. She had beaten him fairly. His mental state wasn’t the best, but being honest with himself, he didn’t think it had influenced the outcome. Once again, what people preferred to believe about him played to his advantage, although, on the other hand…

  “So, that’s it? You don’t want to fight anymore?”

  On the other hand, this was more humiliating than a crushing defeat. Like being defeated before really starting to fight.

  “Of course I want to fight,” Vincent said, “but not today.”

  The girl shook her head.

  “Today it’s obviously not going to be possible, unfortunately. Tell me more about the vampiress. Maybe I can help you solve your problem.”

  “Really? You’re offering to help me just like that?”

  As suddenly as she had asked him for the fight.

  Erika shrugged.

  “Why not? It’s helping myself, and I’m good with people. Maybe I can offer you a different perspective, better for being more distant.”

  Vincent couldn’t believe he was seriously considering it, but he was.

  “Still… it was on a quest that Ayame… our first proper ‘judge,’ got badly hurt, seriously injured, and I forced her to drink my blood because I wasn’t sure she’d make it to the infirmary in time, and I didn’t want to gamble, not with her life.”

  He hadn't told her too much, had he? This wasn't something she could use against him. Maybe she would talk about Ayame being injured and me not being so strong after all; maybe she could whisper that, but he didn't really believe it.

  “Then it’s no wonder she got angry,” Erika said.

  “But I did it to save her life.”

  “Look, it doesn’t matter that it was for her own good. If she told you no and you did it anyway, well, it’s normal for her to have mixed feelings. You understand that, don’t you?”

  Vincent remained silent.

  “Let me guess,” Erika continued. “Of course I understand, but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

  “Yes. It’s true you’re good with people.”

  Erika shrugged.

  “A matter of practice, like everything in life.”

  “What do you suggest I do?”

  “I suppose you’ve already apologized, right?”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Yes, sort of. You know, that I don’t regret it, but…”

  “Aha. Not a very good apology, but I guess it’ll do. So, could you, for example, do nothing?”

  “Great advice,” Vincent replied, sarcastically. “May I ask why?”

  “Why? Well, because she herself knows she’s angry for no reason, that it doesn’t make sense, and she’ll get over it. I suppose there will be other mixed feelings. Shame, I guess. That you saw her acting like a wild animal…”

  “Watch what you say,” Vincent replied, tense, cold.

  “Yes, a volcano about to erupt.” Erika crossed her arms and tilted her head. “I don’t mean it in that sense, and you know it. Anyway, I remind you that this is the first time we’ve met, I don’t know anything about you.”

  “Well, that’s true.”

  “Anyway, you’re right, but whatever, it’s surely shame. Surely that’s the most important thing, she didn’t want you to see her like that.”

  “I already knew she was a vampiress. Seeing her react to blood wasn’t any great revelation.”

  “But you are a great revelation to her,” Erika said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look, fool, she’s a vampire. How many friendships do you think she has? Much less relationships do you think she’s had with humans?”

  “She and I are not what you think.” Now that he wasn’t facing an enemy, but someone he was asking for advice, there was no point in continuing to lie. It made him feel flattered, actually, that people thought Ayame would look at him twice, but there was no reason to be an asshole and imply what wasn't. Ayame certainly wouldn't like it.

  “Oh, no?” Erika said. “I could have sworn… well, never mind. The point is, you’re something new to her. Damn, for all I know, vampires are very cold; she probably hasn’t had many relationships with her own kind, not even her own parents. You’re a new world to her. And maybe that girl, the Archer, whatever her name is…”

  “Tara.”

  “Yes, that Archer you invited to your group, for whatever reason, may have already become disproportionately important to the vampiress too. That’s what it means to not have good perspective: you don’t know what you have or what you don’t have.”

  “Wow,” Vincent said, “you think you’re so smart.”

  “I’m good at fighting, inside and outside the ring, you know what I mean. That’s all.”

  “Yeah, I think I understand. Anyway, is that your big advice? Wait for her to get over it?”

  “You could try to make her more than a friend, if you’ve told me the truth and you’re not together already. It would surely do you a lot of good.”

  “I’m serious,” Vincent said.

  “So am I. It would be an effective method, although on the other hand, if you’re rejected, you won’t recover for a long time. Our fight would have to be postponed too long. Better not try it for now.”

  What a piece of work. He already regretted telling her so many unnecessary things.

  “But seriously,” Erika continued, and patted him on the shoulder. “Apologize more if you want, but in the end, this is just a matter of time, because she is the obstacle. Herself, her own feelings, nothing more. Sooner or later she’ll get over it, because she knows you’re right.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything more to talk about.” Vincent nodded. “I suppose you’re not wrong, though that doesn’t help me much.”

  “I’m sorry, I really tried.”

  “You don’t have to apologize either.”

  Erika shrugged, as if to say, “what can you do.”

  To be fair, it hadn’t been entirely useless. He thought it would be, but even though it hadn’t provided him with an answer, at least he felt better. That counted for something. A lot, actually.

  “What are you going to do now?” Vincent asked.

  “Train, of course. Now I can’t have the fight I wanted, but you owe me one. Especially if I’m right, which I am.”

  “Alright, I owe you one.”

  Erika said goodbye and left at a brisk pace.

  ***

  In any case, it was obvious that seeking advice wouldn’t do him any good. From the beginning. Because from the beginning, he had known what he had to do. He had to apologize and tell her the truth, who he really was, before she found out. That was the only way out. She would find out soon; better from his own lips than from someone else’s, or for her to deduce it from some ability. And if this turned out to be the end of the line, well, even so, he didn’t regret anything.

  ***

  He went to the team’s room. However, he only saw Tara.

  “Ayame’s not here?”

  “Nope,” she said, eating a bag of potato chips, chewing loudly. The “nope” sounded muffled by the food, but it was understood. The girl swallowed. “Before you ask, I don’t know where she is.” And she shrugged.

  “I figured. If she comes back here, contact me, okay?”

  “Of course. Is something wrong?”

  “Nothing you don’t already know.”

  “Aha. Are you going to apologize again?”

  “Yes, but better this time.”

  “Yeah. Makes sense. Don’t try too hard, okay? It’s not your fault.”

  As he left the room, Vincent didn’t understand, of course, what she was doing, where she could be. That and other questions he couldn’t answer. They were teammates, friends, but at the same time, almost completely, strangers. He knew nothing about her. So it was normal for him to feel this anxiety, this knot in his chest, as if everything could end at any moment.

  That, that had to change. And it would.

  ***

  He didn’t take long to find her. It was by chance, however, by some strange intuition, not because he had known.

  She was lying on a park bench, looking at the sky. A park on the academy grounds, by the way.

  “Ayame,” he murmured.

  Slowly, the girl turned her head to look at him.

  “Hello, Vincent,” she said softly. “Is something wrong? You look strange.”

  “You’re what’s wrong with me.”

  “Yes, I suppose so. I’m sorry.” Ayame put her hands on the bench, sitting up. “I think we should talk somewhere truly private.”

  Vincent swallowed. His friend’s expression was impossible to read. The moment of truth had arrived. Or not.

  “Okay, I’ll follow you.”

  He was scared, but it was too late. He could only move forward and hope for the best.

  Ayame led him among the trees. She put a hand behind his back and pushed him close, very close. Her lips brushed his ear.

  “You’re an NPC, right?” The sensation of her warm breath in his ear as she whispered. “A Blacksmith, not a Knight, right?”

  “Yes.”

  There was no point in denying it at this stage. Now he was in the hands of fate, in Ayame’s hands, which was the same thing.

  He wondered when this girl's dreams, life, and happiness had started to matter more to him than his own. He wondered why, even now, on the edge of the precipice, on the verge of losing everything, he was thinking more about the sensation of her small, warm body, her breath on his ear, than about what was truly pertinent.

  The silence felt very long, but finally, Ayame smiled.

  “I see. Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”