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Rating:
Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning:
Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category:
Gen
Fandoms:
BakemonogatariParahumans Series - Wildbow
Characters:
Araragi KoyomiAmy Dallon | PanaceaOshino Shinobu
Additional Tags:
Canon-Typical ViolenceDramaMystery
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:2019-08-09Updated:2020-04-09Words:77,966Chapters:19/?Comments:16Kudos:117Bookmarks:21Hits:4,844
Hot-Blooded
frantic
Chapter 2: Cognition 1.2
Chapter Text
I walked home more excited then I had been in years. I'd made a friend. A real, actual human being who wouldn't mind my company. This was seriously something to celebrate. Of course I wouldn't tell my family. They'd create horrible misunderstandings and try to sabotage it. So one thing was absolutely certain --
No matter what happened, my family could not know about my new friend. I had to hide Panacea from the terror that was my sisters at all costs.
I took a deep breath, and opened the door--
"I'm home."
The house was quiet as I took off my shoes, and as I stepped up the stairs there was still no sound. This was the state of the Araragi household most of the time. Much like Panacea, there is absolutely nobody to save me from my solitude. On the fridge, there are four notes.
Onii-chan, we're going out crimefighting!
Koyomi, please remember to do the dishes.
Koyomi, we'll be out late tonight. Money for food is on the table.
Onii-chan, our crimefighting adventures are over, but we're tired so we're gonna take a nap.
My little sisters have always had a very strong sense of justice. I think it comes from our mother being a police officer. I'm… not entirely sure what our father does, but I assume it's work for the city. These were most definitely not joking notes. My little sisters are absolutely very serious crimefighters. They don't have a name or anything, they just patrol the area around our neighborhood, and tell the ABB to knock it off if they're being too loud. I'm surprised they've gotten away with it for this long but…
I don't have the heart to tell them it's a bad idea. I don't want to crush such beautiful dreams so meaninglessly.
I go to my room, and sit down at my desk, reaching to put my bag on the table -
-- only to realize there is no bag in my hand.
I forgot my reference books.
And my dirty book.
In my excitement at making a friend, I had completely crushed my chances of passing my math test. I sulked briefly at my desk, staring at it moodily. Taking out my phone, a small smile crossed my lips as I saw the name that had been entered in it.
Amy Dallon.
My friend. Araragi Koyomi's friend. That's such an impossible sounding occurrence, right? Straight out of a comic or something. A superhero becoming friends with someone as uninteresting and normal as I am? It's totally ridiculous.
I start to type something to her.
Then I stop.
I start again.
Then I stop.
It continues in this manner for a while. I'm beginning to realize that unlike my sisters, I have absolutely no frame of reference for how to text another person. It's something completely out of the ordinary for me. I sigh, standing up. I've realized exactly what I have to do, as annoying as it is. With the pretext of replacing my reference books, I, Araragi Koyomi, am going to purchase a young adult novel.
Young adult novels are seriously amazing. They give you a real insight into what it's like to be an ordinary high school student in an extraordinary situation. Reading one can give you insights into how to talk to girls! Or make friends! Or even how to become a hero!
I'm getting worked up just thinking about the power of young adult novels. There are some real works of art out in the world that people just don't bother with, because they're tagged like that. Ahhh, I can't wait to get really deep into the adventures of some ordinary people with just one thing different about them.
Standing up, I grab my jacket again and prepare to head to the bookstore. It's a bit of a walk, but I enjoyed walking. I used to bike more often, it's just that when it's only ten minutes at most, there's no real point, you know? It's just a total waste of energy to bike when you could otherwise walk.
I open the door, and the wind cuts through my jacket like it's not even there. It's not a good day to be out in the Bay, but I don't really have a choice, do I? I'll absolutely embarrass myself in front of Panacea if I fail a test the day after we became friends. I pull my jacket a bit closer around me as I start walking. I didn't bother grabbing my bike, I wasn't going far enough.
Brockton was quiet at night, at least in my district. There wasn't really much crime here, even though the city's a hotbed for it. Sure, you see ABB lurking around every now and then, but the territory around our neighborhood is mostly free of serious crime. For the most part, gang members are just another part of the neighborhood. I haven't seen one of the gangs actually try anything in months. I never really thought about why, but meeting a real superhero made me frown as I passed by a corner store, the clerk snickering at something on his phone. There was no reason for my part of the city to be so much quieter than the rest, right? It's really unnatural. I ignored it and kept walking.
The owner of the bookstore and I exchanged polite conversation. I picked up a dirty book about short, brown haired girls who looked too tired.
…
It had absolutely nothing to do with Panacea. Definitely not. Seriously, you'd have to be crazy to have a crush on someone like that. While I may be a loser, I'm definitely not insane enough to try to date someone like Panacea. Glory Girl would crush me like an ant. A tiny, perverted ant with lewd intentions on her sister. Which I absolutely do not have.
Here is a fact: for every two reference books you buy, you must buy one dirty book. Even if that dirty book has a girl on the cover who looks similar to your only friend. It's simply a man's agreement, and when I went to the counter with my purchases, he gave me a look amongst men, and nodded, saying without words that we were brothers. He even gave me a discount on my young adult novel, even if he did arch his eyebrows at the title.
"The other stuff made you look like you had taste, Araragi," he said. "This is…"
"It's for my sister. She loves the series," I lied through my teeth as I looked at the cover of A Magician's Guide To Surviving High School, where a brown haired boy held up some sort of science wand towards the sky as it collected lightning. A girl held onto him in awe.
The book's back said that the hero was a serious loner, and without the help of the girl next to him he'd never have made any friends. It's the perfect reference book for someone like me, a person with one friend who can help me make more friends.
"If you say so, Araragi," the man said, handing me my book. "Excellent taste as usual. But I thought you liked class rep types?"
I nodded. "A class rep type is something to really be admired. Glasses, the figure, the smarts - they're definitely the all-around package. But shorter girls are seriously cute too, you know? They're a different kind of breed, but they've got the same kind of determination and hot-bloodedness that makes a class rep type so quintessential."
"Yes, but unlike shorter girls, class rep types are seriously stacked, you know? They've got a little bit of everything that makes them a higher rarity then another type. The glasses, the figure, the smarts - those are some S Rank stats there, Araragi. How could a shorter girl compete with that sort of thing?"
I paused, thinking it over. I couldn't comprehend why Panacea was so stuck in my head, or why I would buy a dirty book of girls that looked like her instead of class rep types. How could a shorter girl compete with someone who outclassed them in so many ways?
"Passion."
"Passion?"
"Passion. Short girls are seriously passionate about things they care about, right? Like, disturbingly passionate to the point where you hope they calm down. That's something you would never see in an S-tier class rep type. A class rep type wouldn't have such a blatant flaw! It would be something simple and cute like 'she can't cook very well', or 'she's not good at studying'! Not something as obvious as 'cares too deeply about random things', or 'socially awkward in a crowd'!"
I'm getting worked up. I take a deep breath, looking at the cashier before me. Tell me, King of Books, do you have enough lewds in stock?
He chuckled, and waved me away. I left without further conversation with a wave of a hand, having passed another test to allow myself access to the dirty and adult book side of this bookstore. It's a bit ridiculous that I have to justify my purchases to him every time, but it absolutely wins out over not being able to purchase dirty books at all any day of the week.
It's cold out on the streets. I shivered a bit.
"..lp m.."
One of the rules of Brockton Bay was to never follow voices that you couldn't find the source to. Actually that was just a general rule that you should follow all the time. Masters are pretty dangerous, you know? They can control almost anything, in any amount, at any time. It's kind of scary.
"...elp… me…"
I shouldn't follow the voice. There's seriously no reason for me to follow this voice. Just because someone's there doesn't mean I have to listen. I turned to leave.
"... Help me…"
I turned back to the stairwell, and started walking down. I could feel my heartbeat hammering in my throat. I shouldn't be here. I should leave.
" Help me!"
I kept walking down the stairs, my feet tapping on seemingly endless steps before a seemingly endless walkway appeared, heading below the bridge that was overhead. I barely absorbed any of it, as my eyes flicked down, and saw the sticky, wet red that coated the steps. I knew it immediately, even as my feet kept moving down.
It was blood.
"Please, help me!"
It felt like an hour of walking before I saw her. A blonde woman, with an enormous bust, and some sort of gothic lolita dress, leaning against a wall. She looked up at me, and blood coated her lips with a sort of sad smile on it. She looked at me, and I looked at her.
She didn't have any limbs.
Every single spot on her body where her limbs would be was a void.
I stumbled back, before pulling out my phone, and then hesitating. I didn't want to call Panacea for something like this. I'm just an ordinary high school student after all. Nobody I know has died. Nobody I know has a terminal illness. From a logical standpoint, the value of my happiness and unhappiness could be said to be the same.
I put the phone away. The woman arched an eyebrow. It's not that I'm not shocked by her complete lack of limbs, its that I can't begin to comprehend it. Beyond that, this is Brockton Bay. This is Earth Bet. I'm not your ordinary two-bit protagonist character, you know! I can handle something seriously dangerous, even if its something like this, okay?!
"You were asking for help?"
She smiled. "Not going to asketh about mine own limbs?"
"I can't do anything for you if they've been misplaced, sorry. I don't carry around Panacea in my back pocket."
"I wast careless," she replied as an answer to a question I hadn't asked. "I thought he'd beest weaker. In earnest, one hunter for me? Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade? I thought it a jest at first."
She laughed.
It looked bizarre without any limbs.
"I require aid. Wouldst thee mind helping me?"
She smiled. It was all teeth. Pointed, sharp teeth. I smiled back.
In my entire life, I have never once had a reason to be considered anything other than a corpse that happens to move.
"You're dead, aren't you?"
"I've been dead for a long time," she replied, eyes smiling. "I've been dead since before thee took thy first breath, and I'll be dead long after thee breathes thy last."
In my entire life, I have never once seen a corpse that happens to move that isn't named Araragi Koyomi.
"But if you're dead, how can you breathe? How can you speak? How can you move?"
She blinked. "Obviously, because I am a vampire."
In my entire life, I have never once discovered any reason for me to exist. My sisters are more loved by my family. My schooling is irrelevant to me. I don't have any friends. I don't have any enemies, either.
"I'm a human," I said, for lack of anything else to reply with. She laughed, and it was like bells.
"Of course thou art. And you're still going to help a monster? Thou art still going to risk thy life for something as terrifying as me?"
"I'm barely human at all, honestly. My existence is unnecessary. My life has no purpose. I'm just a corpse that happens to walk."
"How ironic. I am also a corpse that happens to walk."
We both smiled. I knelt before the limbless corpse, and spoke to it, one corpse to another.
"When I weigh the effects of my death versus my life, I've found that my death often has more positives than negatives. That my heart has no purpose but to pump blood into my veins. When weighed, my life has less value than anyone else I know."
She was quiet for a moment, as I paused, looking at our surroundings. A vampire and a human, and we first met underneath a bridge near a man-made river. I could even see the trash people had thrown in throughout the day coasting through.
"So if you really are a vampire, and I really am a human, then take it."
I stretch my head to the side, craning my neck.
"Take… it?"
"My blood. All of it. Give my death a purpose that my life never had. Let me save you, so that there is at least one remainder of 'Araragi Koyomi' on this world, Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade."
Was she crying? I couldn't tell.
All I saw was her body move towards me, and I barely had a chance to wrap my arms around it before all there was was pain and darkness.
hotbloodedcoldbloodedironblooded
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