Vampiric squee, encore!
Chapter four, I've already done (the meeting with Michitaka and flashback to Douzan), so it's on to chapter five! This is the story where Ageha and Makoto unsuccessfully go hunting, and save another kid. In the TV show, it's interleaved with the meeting with Michitaka/flashback story for episode four, here it stands alone.
Scene: It's December. [It is in fact Christmas Eve, a day for Japanese couples to go on dates.]
Kiyoi is drinking tea and talking on the phone: Today? But we saw each other last month! . . . Ah. An end-of-year bonus is of course something to be grateful for. What, a present too? Michitaka-san, isn't it possible you just want to meet me? And so early! Really!
Michitaka: *looks mortified and caught out* You're crazy!
Meanwhile, Masakazu is walking to college. A car draws up.
Konoe: *sing-songs* Masakazu! I have a new car! I'm on my way to a Christmas date!
Masakazu: Haruka . . . how on earth do you have so much money?
Konoe: Daytrading! I'm a natural!
Masakazu: *is overcome with jealousy*
Meanwhile, Makoto and Ageha are engaging in the cross-cultural pursuits of all schoolboys ever. Goofing off in school.
Makoto: It's cold today . . . what are we doing for this evening?
Ageha: *sulky* No one's there. When we get home, no one will be there. You weren't awake enough to take it in, but Kiyoi got a call really early, he's had to go out to get our bonus and Masakazu said he'll be at a party.
Makoto: So what'll we do?
Ageha: *produces a Y5000 note* *flashback to Kiyoi apologizing and saying they can buy dinner with it* I don't want it! I don't want to eat anything except Kiyoi's cooking!
Makoto: Don't be such a kid.
Ageha: Perhaps we should go on the hunt tonight? In December the number of crimes go up, and we're in a bind and can't live as vampires. We'll dry out - we need blood! And Haruka said if the two of us went out we'd have a chance at older girls!
Makoto: Don't take him seriously, Ageha . . .
Ageha: The matter is decided! *yells* Girls are on the menu tonight!
Makoto: Yikes! Could you possibly say that any louder?
Scenes of Ageha trying to pick up girls and failing horribly, just like the TV episode. Ageha is downcast.
Makoto: It's just that it's Christmas Eve! Normally, we'd be mega-successful! (Note by him: groundless confidence) Come on, let's go to a convenience store and get cake and go home - we'll get your favourite cakes, ok? Two boys in school uniform, hanging their heads on a day like this - don't you know how uncool we are?
Ageha: *disbelief* Uncool?
Makoto: Yeah, come on. What sort of cake do you wan-eh?
A very small child runs into his legs and grabs his trouser leg.
VSC: Mama . . . *weeps*
Makoto and Ageha are struck by small child fear, but take his hand, looking round for his parents.
Ageha: Now we've got a kid round our necks, what a problem! We can't leave him here. Where are his parents?
They reason that the parents must be around somewhere, the VSC is well-cared for and can't have been out too long by himself, though he has been running, panicked, for a while. Makoto is worried their bodies are too cold to warm a child. Ageha buys some hot food for the VSC to warm his hands on, and they wander through the crowd, searching.
Makoto: (thinks) I hope we can find the parents while Ageha can still control his bloodlust! Walk a little closer to me, kid.
Ageha: We're hungry too, we just wanted to hunt . . . *looks hungrily at passersby*
Makoto: *feels all alone in the crowd* *begins to flashback to his mother* [He notices Ageha looking at him worried, and fibs.] I was just wondering what they have in their big bags - food and presents! I'm not sad! I was just thinking I used to get lego for Christmas, and I'd build things with my mother . . .
Ahega: *looks sad*
Makoto: I didn't have a father.
Ageha: Oh. . . .yeah. *looks very sad* *flashback* Tell me, Ageha. Who are your real parents?
Both boys are caught up in sad memories, and Makoto is seized with the certainty that the VSC has been abandoned by his mother, just as was Makoto. He begins to check the child for signs of mistreatment.
Ageha: . . . Makoto?
Makoto: *begins to freak out* Doesn't he have burns or marks of beatings somewhere? Does he get enough to eat every day? Fangs! Maybe he has fangs! Listen to me Ageha, he's real small, but couldn't he be one of us? If anything happened to him I'd be really sorry! We should take him home with us! Don't you think so?
Ageha: *is horrified at what Makoto has just let slip* . . . we can't do that. You know that. None of that applies to him - he's just lost his parents, and we're looking for them. He's totally different to us!
Makoto: *cries*
The boy's mother appears, with a policeman. As the boy runs for her, Makoto grabs him up, holding him tight, and starting to look vampiric.
Makoto: You've got a lot of shopping bags there! Aren't you ashamed to have left your kid and to have gone off shopping? He was totally helpless! He was afraid and hungry! He was calling for his mother and came the whole way here from the station on foot! *lets the child run to his mother* *collapses in tears on Ageha's shoulder*
Ageha: Hey! Let me tell you, if we hadn't seen him he'd definitely be lost and could have been killed! You could look a bit grateful instead of complaining! Understand?
*holds Makoto's hand* Let's go home, Makoto. Now you have a place where you belong, and where you can always return to.
Makoto: (narrates) At the end of a long, dark way, when Ageha first took my hand, at the top of a hill there is a lonely house, an old western-style building. The house I can always come back to . . .
Kiyoi: There you are! Eaten already? No? Good!
Makoto: I thought you had to be out?
Kiyoi: *giggles* Yes, I thought so too! That was before I drank him under the table and left the rest to his secretary! [picture of Michitaka slumping over the table, his secretary/chaperone almost equally bad and Kiyoi cheerfully heading off with the end of year bonus] It's OK, I got the bonus! *bitchily* Listening to his jabbering isn't part of my job. Really, such a nice-looking man acting like a little child. It's mortifying.
Masakazu bursts in, complaining his party wasn't fun. When he sees Makoto seems to have been crying, he produces the novelty prizes he won at bingo, which cheers Makoto up and they all have a nice Christmas Eve dinner together.
Later, playing with Ageha's playstation:
Ageha: If . . . if you want to cry some more, go for it.
Makoto: Nah, I'm OK. I don't want to worry any of you.
Ageha: *is overcome with teenage boy mortification* *pretends to be concentrating on the game* I was just wondering if you are sad, here with us.
Makoto: *looks grateful* No, I'm not.
[Awww, cute teenage vampires. And cute Michitaka, who is a lot more forward in the manga about his total inability to realise he fancies Kiyoi. (Manga!Kiyoi seems a lot more aware than TV!Kiyoi). Saving another child is rather creepier here, with Makoto giving away more than he realises about his own early life, and there being far less optimism about parental love than in the episode. Till they get back to Kiyoi, of course, and his enjoyment of the fatherly role].
Scene: It's December. [It is in fact Christmas Eve, a day for Japanese couples to go on dates.]
Kiyoi is drinking tea and talking on the phone: Today? But we saw each other last month! . . . Ah. An end-of-year bonus is of course something to be grateful for. What, a present too? Michitaka-san, isn't it possible you just want to meet me? And so early! Really!
Michitaka: *looks mortified and caught out* You're crazy!
Meanwhile, Masakazu is walking to college. A car draws up.
Konoe: *sing-songs* Masakazu! I have a new car! I'm on my way to a Christmas date!
Masakazu: Haruka . . . how on earth do you have so much money?
Konoe: Daytrading! I'm a natural!
Masakazu: *is overcome with jealousy*
Meanwhile, Makoto and Ageha are engaging in the cross-cultural pursuits of all schoolboys ever. Goofing off in school.
Makoto: It's cold today . . . what are we doing for this evening?
Ageha: *sulky* No one's there. When we get home, no one will be there. You weren't awake enough to take it in, but Kiyoi got a call really early, he's had to go out to get our bonus and Masakazu said he'll be at a party.
Makoto: So what'll we do?
Ageha: *produces a Y5000 note* *flashback to Kiyoi apologizing and saying they can buy dinner with it* I don't want it! I don't want to eat anything except Kiyoi's cooking!
Makoto: Don't be such a kid.
Ageha: Perhaps we should go on the hunt tonight? In December the number of crimes go up, and we're in a bind and can't live as vampires. We'll dry out - we need blood! And Haruka said if the two of us went out we'd have a chance at older girls!
Makoto: Don't take him seriously, Ageha . . .
Ageha: The matter is decided! *yells* Girls are on the menu tonight!
Makoto: Yikes! Could you possibly say that any louder?
Scenes of Ageha trying to pick up girls and failing horribly, just like the TV episode. Ageha is downcast.
Makoto: It's just that it's Christmas Eve! Normally, we'd be mega-successful! (Note by him: groundless confidence) Come on, let's go to a convenience store and get cake and go home - we'll get your favourite cakes, ok? Two boys in school uniform, hanging their heads on a day like this - don't you know how uncool we are?
Ageha: *disbelief* Uncool?
Makoto: Yeah, come on. What sort of cake do you wan-eh?
A very small child runs into his legs and grabs his trouser leg.
VSC: Mama . . . *weeps*
Makoto and Ageha are struck by small child fear, but take his hand, looking round for his parents.
Ageha: Now we've got a kid round our necks, what a problem! We can't leave him here. Where are his parents?
They reason that the parents must be around somewhere, the VSC is well-cared for and can't have been out too long by himself, though he has been running, panicked, for a while. Makoto is worried their bodies are too cold to warm a child. Ageha buys some hot food for the VSC to warm his hands on, and they wander through the crowd, searching.
Makoto: (thinks) I hope we can find the parents while Ageha can still control his bloodlust! Walk a little closer to me, kid.
Ageha: We're hungry too, we just wanted to hunt . . . *looks hungrily at passersby*
Makoto: *feels all alone in the crowd* *begins to flashback to his mother* [He notices Ageha looking at him worried, and fibs.] I was just wondering what they have in their big bags - food and presents! I'm not sad! I was just thinking I used to get lego for Christmas, and I'd build things with my mother . . .
Ahega: *looks sad*
Makoto: I didn't have a father.
Ageha: Oh. . . .yeah. *looks very sad* *flashback* Tell me, Ageha. Who are your real parents?
Both boys are caught up in sad memories, and Makoto is seized with the certainty that the VSC has been abandoned by his mother, just as was Makoto. He begins to check the child for signs of mistreatment.
Ageha: . . . Makoto?
Makoto: *begins to freak out* Doesn't he have burns or marks of beatings somewhere? Does he get enough to eat every day? Fangs! Maybe he has fangs! Listen to me Ageha, he's real small, but couldn't he be one of us? If anything happened to him I'd be really sorry! We should take him home with us! Don't you think so?
Ageha: *is horrified at what Makoto has just let slip* . . . we can't do that. You know that. None of that applies to him - he's just lost his parents, and we're looking for them. He's totally different to us!
Makoto: *cries*
The boy's mother appears, with a policeman. As the boy runs for her, Makoto grabs him up, holding him tight, and starting to look vampiric.
Makoto: You've got a lot of shopping bags there! Aren't you ashamed to have left your kid and to have gone off shopping? He was totally helpless! He was afraid and hungry! He was calling for his mother and came the whole way here from the station on foot! *lets the child run to his mother* *collapses in tears on Ageha's shoulder*
Ageha: Hey! Let me tell you, if we hadn't seen him he'd definitely be lost and could have been killed! You could look a bit grateful instead of complaining! Understand?
*holds Makoto's hand* Let's go home, Makoto. Now you have a place where you belong, and where you can always return to.
Makoto: (narrates) At the end of a long, dark way, when Ageha first took my hand, at the top of a hill there is a lonely house, an old western-style building. The house I can always come back to . . .
Kiyoi: There you are! Eaten already? No? Good!
Makoto: I thought you had to be out?
Kiyoi: *giggles* Yes, I thought so too! That was before I drank him under the table and left the rest to his secretary! [picture of Michitaka slumping over the table, his secretary/chaperone almost equally bad and Kiyoi cheerfully heading off with the end of year bonus] It's OK, I got the bonus! *bitchily* Listening to his jabbering isn't part of my job. Really, such a nice-looking man acting like a little child. It's mortifying.
Masakazu bursts in, complaining his party wasn't fun. When he sees Makoto seems to have been crying, he produces the novelty prizes he won at bingo, which cheers Makoto up and they all have a nice Christmas Eve dinner together.
Later, playing with Ageha's playstation:
Ageha: If . . . if you want to cry some more, go for it.
Makoto: Nah, I'm OK. I don't want to worry any of you.
Ageha: *is overcome with teenage boy mortification* *pretends to be concentrating on the game* I was just wondering if you are sad, here with us.
Makoto: *looks grateful* No, I'm not.
[Awww, cute teenage vampires. And cute Michitaka, who is a lot more forward in the manga about his total inability to realise he fancies Kiyoi. (Manga!Kiyoi seems a lot more aware than TV!Kiyoi). Saving another child is rather creepier here, with Makoto giving away more than he realises about his own early life, and there being far less optimism about parental love than in the episode. Till they get back to Kiyoi, of course, and his enjoyment of the fatherly role].