what if I'm an undead! then so what?-Chapter 38: project Bloom

In a luxurious, spacious hotel suite nestled on the upper floors of Sapphire tower Tokyo hotel, Masaru sat quietly with Akane, while Hinata and Eve stayed off in their own corners, occupied with their respective tasks. Despite the polished marble floors and soft golden lighting, the tension in the air was unmistakable.

"So, let me get this straight," Akane began, her voice calm yet laced with curiosity. "You were contacted by Severine... after you had already contracted a cat from the First World?" She arched a brow, trying to ensure she hadn’t misunderstood.

Masaru gave a firm nod in response, his expression unreadable.

Akane folded her arms and leaned back into the plush velvet sofa, her crimson eyes narrowing. "Well, as I mentioned earlier, Severine isn’t your typical familiar. Normally, vampires can only form a contract with one familiar in their lifetime. But there’s a certain vampire family—quite the outliers, honestly—who took a different approach. Rather than only traveling to the familiar realms and forming a contract with familiar from those worlds, they... forged their own. They create familiars from scratch, making it possible to bypass the once in a lifetime restriction." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

She leaned forward slightly, voice dropping lower, as if revealing a dangerous secret.

"By making their own familiars, they can form multiple contracts, each vampire in their family gaining access to more power than tradition would ever allow. It’s an ancient, controversial practice."

Masaru listened quietly.

"So," Akane continued, "it’s entirely possible that the cat familiar is still dormant inside you. You just need to keep feeding it blood energy until it awakens. If you’re perceptive, you may even notice the presence of two familiar spaces within you."

She glanced at Masaru, waiting for a reaction, but he merely shook his head. "I’ve checked. Only one space—Severine’s. That swirling mass of blood energy... that’s the only one I can feel."

Akane tilted her head thoughtfully. "Hmm. Maybe the cat’s presence is hidden deeper. Familiar spaces aren’t always easy to perceive until they activate."

Masaru stared down at his hands, uncertain.

"Well," she said with a small smile, "at least you’ve got a powerful ally in the meantime. Why don’t I tell you the tale of the Weeping Smiling Girl? Or, as you know her... Severine."

Masaru blinked, his curiosity piqued. "She has a story? Do all self created familiars have a cool back story or something?"

Akane nodded. "no. Most created familiars do however but it was only former from rumors. It’s rare for one of them to not carry the weight of a tragic past. But her story... it’s whispered in hushed tones by servants and lower-tier members of the vampire families. Take it as rumor, if you like. But here’s what was gathered—"

---

The Tale of the Weeping Smiling Girl

Severine the Created Familiar

She was once a child. Just a girl who adored birdsong and the comforting scent of warm bread. That girl is gone now.

In a house where vampires wove power from cruelty, a ritual tradition persisted: the creation of familiars—not born, but forged.

Children were taken. Orphans. Runaways. Forgotten souls. Reshaped through dark rites that shattered both body and spirit. To them, it was just another tradition. Routine. Efficient. Atrocious.

Severine was chosen for her silence. Her stillness. Her serene smile.

The transformation was brutal. Over days and weeks, her memories were stripped away, layer by layer. Her laughter erased. Her warmth carved out. Her innocence devoured.

What remained was a vessel. Loyal. Obedient. Smiling.

Then came the finishing touch—an experiment that fully made her a monster. She was sent to the other world, without protection from the miasmas those worlds released, left for weeks in real time and who knows how long in the other worlds when she was brought back her body and soul had completely shifted to what you saw.

And they did.

She learned to mend wounds without blinking. To fight without hesitation. To smile when commanded to kill.

They gave her a name Severine. It wasn’t hers. It never was.

To her creators, she was no more than a tool.

But something went wrong... or perhaps, right.

A fragment of the original girl clung on. Somewhere deep inside the obedient husk, the real Severine wept.

She cried in her sleep. Laughed at strange times. Gazed at the sky like she was waiting for someone—something—to bring her home.

And always, she smiled.

A haunting, beautiful, broken smile.

To strangers, she was eerie.

To those who knew her, she was tragic.

Because behind every word, every bow, every soft spoken promise, was a child who still remembered the warmth of sunlight she could no longer feel.

They call her...

The Weeping Smiling Girl—a familiar born of cruelty, who never fully let go of her humanity.

"...That’s Severine’s story," Akane concluded softly. "The fact that she returned to her original self after forming a contract with you... no one would have ever expected that. Not only that, but her strength remains intact. She might be the best asset you have. Why don’t you try summoning her?"

Curiosity burning in his chest, Masaru nodded. He closed his eyes, focusing his energy. Within seconds, his shadow twisted unnaturally then blossomed open like a gate.

From it, a small figure emerged.

A young girl with soft blonde hair and gentle hazel eyes stepped out, wearing a simple yellow gown embroidered with delicate flowers. Her bare feet barely made a sound on the polished floor.

She looked like a character from a fairytale.

"...isn’t she adorable adorable?," Masaru asked with a smile on his face. "And... her power feels different. Has her aura always been this gentle since you contracted her?"

Masaru nodded, but even he was in awe. Something about her now radiated warmth instead of coldness.

Hinata and Eve approached, both wide-eyed.

"Are you sure this is the same Severine?" Hinata asked incredulously. "The one who nearly killed Masaru a few weeks ago? She... doesn’t even look capable of violence!"

Eve nodded. "She’s like a doll. So... sweet-looking."

Then Severine spoke.

"Severine would kill to make Master happy," she said, beaming up at Masaru.

The room fell silent. Her words were cheerful, innocent—even loving—but the meaning behind them was unsettling.

That smile, so bright and childlike, suddenly became eerie.

She hadn’t changed completely. The dangerous core was still there.

"Well then," Akane said after a tense moment, clearing her throat, "Hinata and I have some errands to run. We’ll be gone for an hour or two."

She gave Masaru a knowing glance before leaving the room with Hinata, leaving only Eve and Masaru behind.

Silence followed as Masaru sent Severine back to her space. The two rarely spoke outside of group discussions, and this was the first time they’d been alone.

Eve finally broke the quiet.

"...Do you mind if I ask something?" she said softly, trying to mask her nervousness.

"Of course," Masaru replied with a gentle smile. "Ask away."

"I’ve noticed... you look at me differently. Since the day we met. You even called me by another name. Was it... related to someone you knew?" she asked nervously as she looked down.

Masaru didn’t flinch. "We’re friends, right? You don’t have to be nervous."

He took a breath and looked into her eyes. "You reminded me of someone. Her name was Sakura. You resembled her so closely—your voice, your smile. But... I must’ve been wrong. Still, I think that’s why I’ve always looked at you the way I do."

Eve’s gaze fell to the floor.

"I see. Then... maybe it’s okay for me to tell you the truth." Her voice trembled. "This... isn’t how I’ve always looked."

Masaru blinked. "Huh?"

"I don’t even remember my real face anymore," she whispered. "Back at the organization I escaped from, there was a girl. A human. They called her Project Bloom. Pink hair. Sweet smile. Everyone admired her because she was a natural—born with the power they tried to force into the rest of us."

She hesitated, eyes glistening.

"I envied her. I... wanted to be her. And then... one day, I became her. My face changed. My voice changed. And I forgot what I used to look like."

Masaru stared, a flicker of pain rising in his chest. "Wait... That girl. The one with pink hair. The one they called Project Bloom..."

He remembered the night when men in black had taken Sakura from the orphanage. They weren’t Japanese. They had accents. Uniforms. Cold eyes.

"Could that girl have been... Sakura?"

"What was her name?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"She didn’t have one," Eve replied. "We weren’t allowed names. Only codenames. Hers was... Project Bloom."

Masaru felt his heartbeat quicken.

"Bloom. Sakura. Both names tied to flowers..."

His eyes widened.

"That girl... Bloom. Is she still at the organization?"

"No," Eve said softly. "Two years ago, there was a raid. Another organization attacked the facility. They took two subjects from Project Genesis. Project Bloom was one of them."

Masaru’s breath caught in his throat.

"...I see."

But his thoughts raced.

Could it be? Could Sakura really be... alive?