Taking Lumi Spike to a 『safe place』 naturally wouldn’t be a normal, simple delivery job. Seymour and Lumi were both implicitly aware of that fact, but they quickly encountered an issue that needed to be rectified posthaste. Lumi was a vampire, and wounds not inflicted by her legendary weaknesses apparently vanished without a trace. Unfortunately, this was limited to just her body.

In other words, her clothes were a tattered mess thanks to yesterday’s events.

“────Okay, we’re here.”

Because of this, Seymour had driven them to a middle class residential area nearby in his Essex a few hours after sunset.

“This place is…?”

Considering their destination, it was best for Lumi to avoid looking like a 『suspicious woman wearing filthy clothes』, thus she was currently covering herself with Seymour’s jacket. However, the oversized men’s clothing only added to her overall indecent appearance.

Seymour knocked on the door of a white house with a small garden.

“It’s my parent’s home.”

Stepping off the car, Lumi’s eyes widened, “…….Your parent’s home? So, that means your parents will be inside?”

“Why do you look so surprised? Did you think that I was some kind of car part that was manufactured in a factory?”

“That’s not it, but…it’s somewhat difficult for me to think of you as anything but a courier.”

Is that how it works? Well, maybe it’s normal to have trouble with that. Seymour also found it hard to imagine Lumi living the happy life she had before she had the mafia on her tail.

Soon after, a voice could be heard from the other side of the door, “Yes, who might you be?”

“A hitman.”

“Ah, bro. Welcome home.”

The door opened in front of Seymour as he pouted. A tall and lanky girl appeared before them. She was just slightly shorter than Seymour, but tall enough that their eyes could still meet. Her wavy, voluminous hair was cropped short, making her look rather top heavy.

“I’m back, Sunny. Long time no see.” Seymour deftly spread his arms, clearly asking for a hug.

Sunny readily ignored his gesture, extending a hand towards him instead. She patted down his butt and thighs, then moved upwards, locating and pulling the pack of cigarettes out of his breast pocket. After crushing it in her hands, she grinned.

“It really has been a long time. Hmm, I think the last time you came back home was in summer?”

“You’re probably right since you spent ages deliberating on which swimsuit you wanted to wear to the beach.”

“You tease!” Sunny casually jabbed Seymour’s shoulder.

Then she suddenly noticed the girl gawking up at her next to Seymour with a start. Having said that, it was fairly understandable. When Seymour and Sunny interacted, Lumi wouldn’t really enter their line of sight.

“Eh? Whoa!? What a cutie! Umm, who might you be? Oh, wait, bro suddenly coming back must mean…? Bah, you need to tell us such things in advance, you know!? I wonder, who’s older between us? Are you going to be my big sister? Or my little sister? I have to tell Mum right away! You have pretty hair!”

“Umm, you see…”

“Let her speak.”

When Seymour poked her forehead, Sunny slapped her hand over her mouth and mumbled through her palm, “I’m really sorry! I always end up babbling on end all by myself!”

“N-No, don’t worry. I’m Lumi Spike. Umm, Mr. Seymour is…umm.”

Seymour put a hand on Lumi’s shoulder as she struggled to find a good explanation for their circumstances. He had handled Sunny with a lighter hand.

“This is Sunny, my little sister. And Sunny, it’s been decided that I’ll take care of this girl here for a while due to work. However, various things happened and I couldn’t prepare any clothes or anything for her.”

“Due to work, huh? That’s totally fishy.”

Sunny’s eyes were pinned on Seymour’s jacket around Lumi. Come to think of it, I’ve worn this jacket in front of Sunny before, haven’t I? She’s a fussy one who never forgets small details like that.

“Are you still working as a courier?”

Seymour’s family had a vague idea about his job. The goods he actually delivered aside, at least they knew that he was a private courier who’d accept any job, no matter how shady.

“Yep, it’s a job for that shady Mr. Courier. You’ve still got all your old clothes, don’t you?”

Sunny grew as fast as bamboo once she hit puberty, so she had many opportunities to buy clothes. Out of nostalgia and sentimentality, his sister had kept almost all of those old past clothes.

“Can you lend me some? I’ll probably give them back to you soon.”

“Bro, that’s the tone you use when you don’t plan on returning things… Well, whatever, I’ll lend you some anyway. Hmm, I think the clothes I wore when I was 13 should be just right for her.”

“Which reminds me, I haven’t asked yet either. How old are you, Ms. Lumi?”

“…I’m 19 years old.”

Confronted with her big upturned eyes, Seymour and Sunny’s smiles were strained.

“Okay, I’ll wait in the car then────” Seymour started to say, as if he had expected nothing less, but Sunny immediately cut in.

“You’re not going to greet Mum, bro?”

“…… Hmm, I guess you’re right, I should.”

An unnatural pause, and a mumbled agreement. Ignoring the faintly questioning look in the golden eyes, he asked Sunny to take Lumi with her, and entered the house as well.

Seymour gently massaged the area around his eyes, knowing without looking that his brows were instinctively furrowed. This place was filled with too many memories. As he passed the short hallway and walked into the living room, he ran into his mother. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t noticed Seymour entering, but her eyes didn’t leave the knitwork in her hands.

“Hey, Mum. I’m back.”

Three chairs stood at the long table. Two were lined up at the head, close to the door, and one had been left on the opposite side. The chair that exuded an air of isolation was his mother’s usual spot. She didn’t reply to Seymour’s greeting as he leaned against the door. Seymour sighed, and sat down on the chair diagonally across from his mother.

After sitting down, he noticed a cushion had been put on the chair. Frowning at its softness, he pulled it out and stacked it on top of Sunny’s chair. The cushion hadn’t been there when he came here last time. Although many years had already passed since Seymour moved out, his mother was still buying furniture and other things in sets of three. She probably knew that this fact kept Seymour away from this home instead.

“I’m back.”

His mother slowly looked up at Seymour’s face.

“Welcome home. Why the sudden visit? Are you going to stay for dinner?”

“I just came to borrow some of Sunny’s clothes and pick up something I forgot. I’m on a job right now, so I’ll leave right away.”

“Job, huh? Did you land a decent job?”

“Not really. I’m still scraping by with my courier service, just like before.”

Sighing in lieu of a reply, his mother got up from her chair. She made a trip to the kitchen and came back with a teacup in her hand.

Putting it down in front of Seymour, she suddenly asked, “You’re not smoking, are you?”

Seymour smiled at her, one of the few people these days who was against smoking.

“I’m not.”

“I see. I’m glad to hear.” Even as she said this, she patted him down, frisking his thighs and breast pocket.

There was no longer a cigarette pack for her to find. But had he still had one, Seymour would have likely given the same answer, knowing his mother would take the same course of action regardless.

“Are you coming home soon? Look, you’ll need to get a decent job eventually. Why not give school another shot?”

“I’ll think about it. If I feel like it, that is.”

“How about picking up baseball again? You’re still growing, aren’t you?”

It was a conversation they had had the last time he had been here. And the time before. They had had this conversation over and over for many years now, and it had lost all meaning at this point. It was like the cry of a hill myna.

Decent.

It was his mother’s favorite word. Each time Seymour heard her use it, he wondered how she could say something like that. It irritated him and was the reason he was unwilling to return.

For a little while after that, until he hit the limit of his patience, Seymour spoke with his mother. But, once his patience ran out, he considered all conversation after that pointless and instead knocked back his black tea in one go. It was still so hot that it might have actually scalded his throat.

“Okay, there’s something I came to pick up. I’ll go see if it’s in my room.”

“I see. I understand. Come to me if you need anything.”

Seymour brought his teacup back to the kitchen before he left the living room. He was fairly sure the sweat running down his spine wasn’t from the heat of the tea he had just knocked back.

Knowing he’d regret it if he let out a sigh, he swallowed it down and went to his room. The room had been left just as was during his teenage days, back when he still lived here.

“……Now then, I wonder what I’m going to take back with me.”

Seymour stood in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips, looking around at his school supplies, baseball bat, and various other possessions. He wasn’t in the mood to sit down on the chair or bed. It wasn’t his first time that he had brought the conversation with his mother to a close with the excuse of needing to pick up something. And since he had taken something back with him everytime he used the excuse, nothing of value to him remained in this room anymore.

Looking around the room, he spotted a picture frame on his bedside table.

“……”

Of course, it wasn’t the first time he had seen it. This picture frame had always been in this room, and he always felt a strong sense of relief when he saw it, though he would never admit it even to himself.

He picked up the frame. A single picture had been placed into the crude, wooden frame Sunny had made in elementary school. It showed the child Seymour standing next to his mother with an embarrassed grin, a broadly smiling Sunny,…in his father’s strong, military-uniformed arms.

“……”

“Excuse me.”

Seymour jumped when a voice came from behind him. He had completely failed to notice the door opening. It seemed like he had been quite lost in thought.

When he looked back, he found Lumi standing there. Inside this ordinary house, her presence was even more out of place. Seymour narrowed his eyes at her dream-like appearance. He put down the picture frame, face down, knowing that it would likely be upright again the next time he visited.

“Yo, something wrong? Where’s Sunny?” He asked.

“Umm, she’s currently packing the clothes for me. So she told me to come find you, Mr. Seymour.” Her voice was more hesitant than usual, and right now, in this situation, that had an especially strong impact.

She kind of looks like she’s trying to imitate a penguin waddle. I guess she must be nervous in a house full of strangers.

“I see. Still, I’m just killing time here, too. Should we chat for a bit?”

“I suppose, we could…”

“I was wondering a while back, but we crossed a river some time ago…are you okay, what with being a vampire and all?”

Vampires being unable to cross running water was one of the core limitations of vampires. On the way to his house, Seymour and Lumi had crossed a river.

Lumi answered the question Seymour had only just remembered to ask, “I hear vampires can cross rivers in coffins, you see?”

“Okay. In other words, my Essex registers as a driving coffin, huh? Not bad.”

Even though he was laughing, Seymour was rather puzzled.

How do I describe it? Lumi kinda sounds like she’s talking about someone else’s problems. It feels a little fake, like she’s reading off a script.

Or you might as well say, she’s a vampire like they are in pictures. A vampire who jumped right out of a story. There’s no doubt that Lumi Spike is a vampire, but the fact that such a stereotypical vampire has been living quietly in this world ─ even though she’s right in front of my eyes ─ is somewhat unreal.

Since Seymour was silent, it was Lumi who spoke up this time, “Umm, is it okay for me to ask you something as well then?”

Seymour braced himself for a difficult question upon hearing her surprisingly firm tone. Seeing the silent permission in his eyes, Lumi slowly breathed in.

“Mr. Seymour, why are you a courier?”

“Hmm? Because I transport things? I receive payment in exchange for delivering their orders?”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean…” Lumi’s fingers fiddled around with the hem of his jacket, clearly demonstrating her nervousness. “Mr. Seymour, you’re a human, and on top of that, you have a place to call home. And yet, to be something as dangerous as a courier…”

The rest of her comment went unsaid, disappearing with a soft sigh. But, Seymour fully understood what she wanted to know.

She was a vampire, had lost her home, and was being chased by the mafia. Things that quite naturally led her to her current circumstances. None of those applied to Seymour. He had a proper place to call home. He had a foundation on which he could rely. And as a human, there was nothing troublesome tied to his fate. If he felt like it, he could stop being a courier today, and nothing troublesome would happen because of it. If he had one of those decent jobs, he would have a steady income, be able to show his face in society, and he might be able to lead a much happier life than he did now.

Or maybe what she really wanted to ask was: Why do people choose to be couriers, hitmen, and join the mafia? For a non-human such as her, it might be incomprehensible why such people existed among humans.

Seymour could only provide her with an answer to the former question. He had no reason to hide it either. His motivations became cold, dispassionate words, and passed his lips, “You see, I had a father. Though he’s not around anymore.”

“Anymore……?”

“There was a war. My Dad was a decent man, had a decent job, and was a decent soldier, so naturally he fought well on the frontlines too.”

If he still had his cigarettes, he would have lit one up. But, his pocket was empty. Instead, Seymour tapped the picture frame next to his bed with a finger.

“And, well, he died. Despite how decent a man he was, his coffin, which I buried, was empty.”

“That’s……”

“It’s in the past now. I don’t need sympathy or anything like that. Even with my Dad dead, I wasn’t troubled in any way. His military pension comfortably secured our livelihoods.” With a laugh, Seymour added, “In fact, my life was actually somewhat easier.”

“That’s why, yes, the reason I became a courier is────”

His father, who had lived a decent life, died miserably at the front. His life, which should have become difficult with his father’s absence, became more comfortable instead. And even though he could only believe that something was very wrong with this, he had nowhere to vent his frustrations in this world where everything had been reduced to individualism. And when he realized this, Seymour Road lost all interest in going to school and getting a proper job, making it impossible for him to keep living in this house.

After recapping all of this with a few words, Seymour’s lips quirked, “────basically because money isn’t everything in this world.”

Even though that was one of the few things Seymour believed in, it felt rather shallow when he put it into words. Though it was something that he felt he ought to scream so loudly and passionately that his voice gave in, he had already buried all that passion with his father’s coffin. Ever since then, his words were empty, regardless whether he told the truth or not.

Seymour swallowed down the frustration that threatened to close off his throat with his smile.

Just then they heard Sunny approach the room. Seymour scanned the room, knowing that he only had moments to decide what to bring back with him, and spotted something good.

“Oh, right. Are you interested in reading?”

There were several books in a pile on his desk. He grabbed the pile, tucking the books under his arm before Lumi had a chance to reply.

“Bro! Everything’s ready!”

“Gotcha. We’re coming,” he yelled back, and then added to Lumi, “Ms. Lumi, let’s go.”

Seymour tried to leave the room immediately, but before he could, his hand was suddenly grabbed.

“Oh?”

As if mirroring the situation from several hours ago, Lumi had grasped his hand.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, looking into her eyes. They were trembling.

He was well aware that he had spoken about boring, sentimental stuff. And in this city dominated by pragmatism, sentimentality was worth the least of all. If you ever exposed any naivete from your heart, you would only be met with scorn. Because of that, her slightly moist eyes touched an unexpectedly deep part of his heart.

“U-Umm! Mr. Seymour! Would you stop addressing me so formally?”

“……Huh?”

“I mean, you can speak casually with me. You did save my life. That’s why, please feel at ease around me, just like you are with your family!”

If he was honest, he didn’t really understand why Lumi had suggested this all of a sudden. But, the request was probably her response to Seymour’s words from before. She chewed her thin, well-shaped lips. Noticing that, Seymour realized that he had to answer her quickly, and that he had no reason not to accept a girl’s request to be more familiar with each other.

“Ah, then, let’s go with that. Would Lumi be fine?”

“………….gh.”

Even though it was something she had suggested herself, Lumi’s eyes widened when her name was used directly. A scarlet tinge, like an overenthusiastic application of rouge, appeared on her flawless white skin.

Restlessly looking around, she looked up to Seymour with all the caution of a small animal peeking out of its burrow.

“U-Umm, I think it’s alright…”

“Okay, can you address me more casually as well then, Lumi?”

“W-With a man…t-that’s impossible…….”

Seymour laughed loudly at Lumi’s behavior, before Sunny’s voice came again.

“Come on, bro! Can you hurry it up a bit!?”