6 About Dueling Sickness – Part 1

To use the popular saying, I will say this. Ahem. In this world, there are two types of people: those who like sunny days and those who have umbrellas.

I don't like the sun and I don't have an umbrella. Who even said people can only be in one group or that there are only two groups?

The name is Dawn Riftwalker. Sixteen. First-year student at Eve's Anathema and a rain lover. I get crazy whenever it is raining. You know, getting in bed and rolling around again and again or wanting to run while yelling something. Or walking home in the rain even though you have no umbrella. Yes, walking. Wal-king.

So full of good ideas, ain't I?

Anyway, what should have happened happened. I was stuck in bed with a horrible cold and no one to take care of me. No, I am not complaining. It was my fault and I regret nothing. NOTHING!!!

Ahem.

Anyway, I still needed to call the school to warn them I couldn't be here. So I did just that.

"Hello? Eve's Anathema here! We are listening! To everything. Everything!"

"Er… Miss Tru'nembra? It is—"

"First-year student Dawn Riftwalker! What is it? You sound sick. Are you sick? Are you at school? Are you calling me from school? No, you are not! Why aren't you at school?! Come to school!"

"..."

Our discussion started weirdly but they ended up understanding I was too sick to go to school on this day of all days. I thought everything was fine, but then they asked me to produce a medical certificate confirming I was sick and was supposed to send it to the school before the next day.

"Huh? How am I supposed to do that? No—"

"What is it? No doctor would want to examine you under this weather? No parents to testify either? It can't be helped! You can't be helped! We can't be helped! We are all damned! The world is gonna end! *overly dramatic manic laughter*.... Haa~… *sniffle* Anyway, First-year student Dawn Riftwalker, come to school or else..."

And then they hung up.

"... What is the problem with this school?"

To be honest, I wasn't sick enough to not be able to go anywhere but the rain that was no ordinary rain – it was the bullet rain.

The bullet rain is an uncanny phenomenon that happens every second Thursday of every month (except in summer and fall) and goes on for several days from 1 to 3. What makes it special is that a) it only happens in this town and b) it makes every 1 rain droplet out of 2049 pierce matter like a bullet. If you ask me how we know that I would simply reply that, well, some people just have that much time.

However, this effect can be avoided if someone is holding an umbrella, is underground, or in a house with a non-flat roof.

If this sounds confusing to some, that is because, well, IT IS.

I mean, except for the umbrella thing, the exact limits of the other means of protection are hazy. At best. And even the umbrellas are obscure in their own way since you just really need to have an umbrella on you to negate the effect, not to actually use it.

Of course, since humanity still has that thing commonly called in common tongue 'common sense' in most common people, there was a consensus about the bullet rain: the heavens have sent a day-off! Or, the heavens are in mandatory heavenly washing duty! Take your pick really.

Since everyone likes to use days off as an excuse to legally not work, no one goes out on days like these…

Except for people associated with the eight schools… That means a lot of people…

Except for workaholics too...

Except for people who actually wish to die…

Er, let's just exclude pretty much everyone who is either uncommon or lacks common sense shall we?

Well, I don't know about my common sense but I can clearly be labeled as uncommon. I mean, I am not attending Eve's Anathema, one of the infamous "eight schools" for no reason. Just by virtue of that, I needed to go out and get in touch with a doctor.

But I didn't have an umbrella. But I had to go out. But I couldn't without an umbrella. But I had to go out to find an umbrella. But I couldn't since I didn't have an umbrella.

"Eh, is that one of those Catch-22 things?"

That was my conclusion – I had to go out to be able to go out.

Yep, sounds impossible enough. There was no way I could do something I couldn't do because I couldn't do it. Yep, sounds logical enough. With that in mind, I could go back to my bed and sleep without a worry.

And so, Dawn Riftwalker put her bed sheets back on her body and went to sleep again with her phone in plane mode. Why the plane mode? Well, because I knew I would get a panic attack if I heard my phone ringing. I don't know if it's a trauma or something but whenever my phone rings, my heart starts to beat faster and I panic. A sort of sudden anxiety attack. Usually, I can manage but I really didn't need that while sick so I made sure no one could call me. Thanks to that, I managed to sleep all the way to evening when another noise woke me up: someone was knocking on the door.

*knock**knock**knock*

My first thought was: "Ugh…".

My second thought was: "Are they going to give up if I just pretend to not be there?"

I didn't decide on anything but I didn't get up either. Too lazy. It was still raining, I didn't feel like getting out of my bed at all. My fever had gone down - or at least I got used to it - but I really didn't feel like going down.

"..."

But I did anyway. I went down the stairs and opened the door. Of course, this time I took my revolver with me. One must be cautious after all; I almost died from an intrusion recently!

I carefully opened the door in such a way that the person outside couldn't see I was holding a gun. I didn't want to scare the possibly good-natured person who bothered to come here under this rain after all. That being said, I immediately regretted that mindset when I remembered that no sane person would come here under this specific rain. Not that being insane and good-natured are incompatibles mind you; it is just that I didn't feel like handling any uncommon person at the moment.

Okay, now is the time for the question with an obvious answer. What could possibly be behind my door at the moment? I will help. One, it was an uncommon person. Two, it was an uncommon person.

Did you guess right? Is that your final answer? Really? Are you really, really, sure about it? Sure? Okay, because the answer was: an uncommon person… drenched in blood.

Hey, never said there were no more than two answers!

*thud*

Soon after I opened the door, the person fell on the ground face first but with an interesting two-step animation – That is to say, their head hit my door a bit too violently for comfort and then the ground.

"..... Uwah… Why is this always happening to me?"

As I lamented about my unbelievable bad luck, I had a relatively reassuring thought. Who could possibly come to my house without an umbrella under this rain?

A tourist? Unlikely. The person was wearing a white cloak— or rather a formerly white cloak with too many holes to be purely aesthetic but I could see them breathing, albeit weakly. At least, it looked like breathing to me. I don't know if I wanted to believe that or if it was true, but I am glad I believed that.

"Hey, what are you doing, idiot? Coming here so early. And under this rain. Are you stupid?"

I crouched and poked at her head repeatedly. If it isn't obvious by now, I was talking to the vampire girl I recognized under this cloak. Or at least, I talked to the vampire girl I wished was under this cloak.

"Hey. Get up. You are staining the floor again."

"..."

The cloaked person didn't reply. A strange feeling tried to fill my stomach. A sort of oppressive warmth accompanied by an idea I pushed away immediately.

"It can't be helped huh? I will take care of you."

I put my hands under her armpits and dragged her up the stairs all the way to the bathroom. Why? Well, I needed to do something about all the blood. Nothing fancy, truly. I took care of not taking off her hood but it was clear she was well, a her. And given her size, she was probably the one I thought she was. Hopefully. I wasn't looking at her too much, to be honest.

"S-So heavy! What exactly do you eat? Oh right, blood. You do eat blood, right? You never told me," I said, putting her in the bathtub.

That's when I noticed her pale legs weren't covered by black pantyhose but rather… white ones. She was wearing white stockings with other things my mind didn't care enough to register. The white was enough.

"Yeah, this isn't her huh?" I blurted.

I don't know why, but my brain decided this couldn't be the vampire girl I knew. That being said, there was no way a normal human being would still be breathing after losing this much blood.

Maybe.

Probably.

I sure hoped that.

"... Excuse me for a bit."

I finally took off her hood revealing a beautiful face of unnatural fairness not unlike someone I knew. Her eyes were closed so I put my fingers on her mouth and pushed her lips open.

"Man… I was so worried…"

I couldn't help but let out those words as I was overcome with relief. The girl before me was also a vampire which meant that she would recover. Eventually.

Case in point, she had no visible wounds even though she was covered in blood. All I had to do was to wash her body and then wait for her to get up.

… Wash her body.

"*gulp*"

Ahem.

So, you see, there are two types of people in the world – those who have their car washed, and those who have their body washed!

When someone has their car washed, it means they are above the base plebeian using their feet to get where they want! They are the very embodiment of the power of capitalism! Or something like that. Anyway, having to wash someone else's car is generally a sign of lower standing so one should always strive to have their car washed!

(I too have many things to say against this idea BUT this isn't the point).

On the other hand, when one has their body washed, it generally means they are at the mercy of whoever is doing this. Compare it to a kid who has to be washed by their parents or a bedridden person who can hardly move. The washer becomes the very embodiment of divinity taking after the rain's heavenly power of washing whoever it wants! As such, washing someone is the very sign of superiority over them and one should always strive to wash others!

"Ah, of course," I said, nodding. "Yes, indeed. The heavenly duty of washing people's bodies. Why, that is a given. Hmhm, yes, yes. This is nothing. Nothing. NOTHING. Not inappropriate at all. Not at all. This is fine."

Hear me out, I need to clarify something first – I didn't do anything inappropriate!!! I just washed her and NOTHING ELSE!!!

Sadly, this would come to bite me afterwards but you will see that soon enough.

"..."

As expected afterward, my mind was clean. Clean of pure and or coherent thoughts that is. No, I was not lusting at her or anything but you have to wonder why drinking blood would give people such a healthy-looking body. I don't remember mosquitoes or bats being anywhere near that level of healthiness. Just saying.

Regardless of how that worked exactly, I dressed her in one of my pajamas looking like an overgrown T-shirt, and gave her one of my panties. Why did I choose these pajamas specifically? Well, the vampire girl brought it a few days ago claiming it would look perfect on me.

"Yes! I am sure anyone looking at you in that outfit couldn't possibly refrain from their desires! Yes, they would definitely want to do it!" she said.

"D-Desires? You… You don't mean— Wait, do what exactly?"

"To buy one too! They aren't even that expensive! Being t-shirts and all," she exclaimed.

"... Ah. Yes. Of course. Indeed." As expected, huh?

"That said if you were to put it on while only wearing your panties… Heh, nevermind. It wouldn't be good for your mental health. Or mine for that matter."

"Eh?"

"That aside, could you try wearing the legendary naked apron next time I—"

"Refused!"

"Ah. Sadness."

And we left it at that. I decided to never put that on. Besides, I had an already comfy and similar combination being my dear hoodie and shorts.

Since I didn't find it that useful, I decided to use it on this girl and tried the 'only panty on' clause. Yeah. Would probably be more interesting to watch if I didn't cover her with my sheets, huh? Not that I cared much.

On the other hand, she was really beautiful too even leaving the rest of her body aside. Long scarlet hair, straight bangs, long eyelashes, and tempting lips. She was a vampire alright. As dangerous as they come. This was omitting the fact her face was somewhat familiar to me.

For some reason, I grew restless. I wished her to wake up as soon as possible. There was a lot I wanted to ask about her.

But she wouldn't make things easy.

"Uwah! So hot! How could a fever go up so quickly?!"

While I was monitoring her, the vampire gi— huh, the other vampire girl started acting up. It was like she was in delirium mumbling random things. Also, she had difficulty breathing and started sweating profusely. Of course, I started by trying to cool her down with compresses and such but it didn't seem to work.

Well, I have no experience dealing with colds so maybe I am just panicking for nothing, I thought. In stressful situations, time seems to slow down so maybe the compresses will work eventually, I thought.

But then, I asked myself something. Something so silly yet important that I instinctively squinted my eyes: Can vampires catch colds?

I told you it was silly. Well, it was silly-sounding at the very least. Nevertheless, it still led me to make a quick search on the Internet.

Lo and behold, after inputting my questions on Doodle, I received this reply:

[Yes. Vampires can get colds. While operating on different rules than humans, they still have a body close to humans which is why they can get infected by the same disease as them. However, vampirism is a form of di…]

Huh, yeah, I had to click it. Long story short, that article explained that vampires can contract the same disease as humans, but added that vampirism is a sort of symbiotic disease by nature; the kind of disease that reinforces the immune system among others rendering them immune to pretty much every disease while granting them super regeneration and immunity to cancer of all things.

However, this comes with many costs. For instance, vampires have difficulty digesting anything but blood and are legally forced to be polite. That is to say, they just CAN'T STAND not being invited into a house.

"Ah…"

I knew I found it. The so-called Dueling Sickness or Common Vampire Cold or CVC like only I say. Scratch that. Did I say Common Vampire Cold? I meant Deadly Vampire Cold! Or DVC but that is not funny.