My Horny Stepmom Turns Me into Her Vampire Slave

Chapter 130: B - Direction: Nagano

The gentle rays of the morning sun glisten on the tear tracks dried across Miori’s face.

She’s asleep on a bench in a public park on the southern outskirts of Sakari, a town near the border of Ueda.

After running away from home, she wandered aimlessly for almost an hour.

Exhaustion finally caught up with her around four-thirty in the morning, and she collapsed onto the bench.

It’s around nine o’clock when the shouts and laughter of the first children brought to the park by their parents wake her.

Miori slowly opens her eyes, still red and burning from all the tears she shed.

"Mom, why is that lady sleeping in the park?" a curious little boy asks, taking a few steps toward Miori.

"What are you doing? Get away from her!" his mother hisses, pulling him back by the arm.

"But Mom, I want to sleep in the park tonight too!" the boy whines.

"If you don’t study, you’ll end up spending your life sleeping in parks just like that girl!"

Then the woman walks up to Miori.

"Miss, this is a park for children, not a shelter for the homeless! You’re scaring the kids — leave right now or I’ll call the authorities!"

"Oh, shut your mouth, bitch, or I’ll buy your house and make you live under a bridge," Miori mutters.

She’s still half asleep and groggy from barely getting any sleep.

Who am I kidding...? By now my cards have probably already been cancelled. Good thing I still have enough cash for one last decent meal at Cordesol Meat...

"Mom, what does ’bitch’ mean?" the boy asks with complete innocence.

"It means that young woman is extremely rude — and I’m calling the police this very second!"

"Stop making a scene — I’m leaving," Miori mutters.

Then she slowly rises from the bench, her bag tucked under one arm.

She staggers toward the park exit.

Taking public transportation to Nagano would be the smartest option — but it would also make me much easier to spot if the police are actually looking for me, however unlikely it is that my mother really reported me missing.

And honestly, it’s not like I’m in any hurry to get there. Cordesol Meat doesn’t open until eight tonight.

Besides, I’ve never walked all the way from Ueda to Nagano before. I guess it’s one of those things everyone should try at least once in their life, right? No. Definitely not.

Still, it should take six or seven hours at a normal pace — nine if I factor in breaks and something to eat along the way. I’d get there right around eight. Perfect timing for dinner. That works.

It’s just past ten in the morning when, after two hours of walking beneath the increasingly scorching June sun, Miori reaches the industrial district of Chikuma.

There isn’t a soul in sight.

The factories are closed, and the entire area lies in absolute silence.

That silence is broken only by a faint clicking sound behind her — a sound that gradually grows clearer.

A large dog is approaching.

Instinctively, Miori spins around and braces herself, worried it might be a stray defending its territory.

And she’s right — it’s clearly a stray.

The animal, a two-year-old golden retriever, has no collar. It looks underfed, and patches of its hazel-colored fur are dirty and worn thin.

But its intentions aren’t hostile in the slightest.

It trots toward her with its tail wagging, limping on its right hind leg.

"Looks like you’re homeless too, huh?"

She crouches in front of the dog as it licks her left hand, while she gently strokes its muzzle with her right.

But the softness in Miori’s eyes — something almost like compassion — suddenly vanishes.

Her expression hardens. Cold. Dark. A sadistic grin spreads across her face.

Her right hand clamps around the dog’s muzzle, locking it in an iron grip.

With her left, she grabs its tail and lifts the animal off the ground, leaving it dangling helplessly in the air.

The dog thrashes wildly, kicking its legs and letting out muffled whimpers of pain. But every attempt to break free is futile.

Small and weak, it has no chance against her overwhelming strength.

Miori grits her teeth and breathes slowly, heavily, her sapphire eyes burning with a senseless, delirious murderous rage.

Her grip tightens even further.

The dog’s jaw begins to creak under the pressure.

The animal gasps desperately for air as it starts to suffocate.

It is only a heartbeat away from dying in agony beneath Miori’s thrilled, satisfied gaze.

Then, all at once — with the same abrupt, unpredictable motion — she releases both its tail and muzzle, letting it fall to the ground.

She remains frozen in place, eyes wide open, as if struck by a sudden moment of clarity.

Meanwhile, the dog limps away, whining as it flees, its injured leg worse than before.

Miori collapses to her knees, crushed by guilt and horror at what she had almost done to that defenseless creature.

Her gaze remains fixed on the dog as it retreats into the distance, shrinking into a tiny speck.

Heavy tears fall onto the scorching asphalt.

"W-Why... WHY AM I LIKE THIS?! WHY?!" Miori screams, pounding her fists against the pavement as she breaks down completely. "I hate myself... I hate myself so much!"

She lowers her head, trembling.

"I... I’ll never let anyone suffer because of me again! I swear it — never again!"

● Eleven Hours Later ●

"So, as of today, you’re officially a year older than me. It’s hard to believe you’re twenty. If I didn’t know better, I’d guess you were sixteen — maybe seventeen at most," Aoshi says with a teasing smile.

He and Ayane are sitting side by side on the bus from Ueda to Nagano.

"You say that every single year on my birthday. And besides, it’s not exactly flattering to tell a twenty-year-old woman she looks like a high school student..."

"It was a compliment! These days, women are terrified of getting older and spend a fortune trying to look younger — and you’re lucky enough not to need any of that."

"You’re not helping your case, Aoshi."

"You know that red-haired woman who lives in my apāto? She’s spent a fortune on treatments just to look a few years younger — she’d probably sell her soul to have your luck. I-I didn’t mean it as an insult, I swear..."

"Of course. That woman has to be over sixty! Old hags will do anything to look younger, while young girls do everything they can to look older. Why do you think we wear makeup and dress like grown women even when we’re still very young? Oh, Aoshi... when it comes to women, you’re truly hopeless..."

"I-I never really thought about it that way..."

He pauses for a moment.

"By the way... don’t you think you’re dressed a little too elegantly? I mean, we’re just going to a fast-food place."

Ayane is wearing a red dress that falls to her ankles, with a high slit running up her right thigh. The front is low-cut, the back completely exposed, and she’s paired it with matching high heels.

Aoshi, on the other hand, is wearing nothing but a hoodie and a pair of jeans.

"It’s my birthday, and you invited me out — just the two of us. It’s normal to dress up for something like that, no matter where we’re going, isn’t it?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess so..." he murmurs, looking out the window.

They’ve just passed Nagano’s large water park, which means they’re almost there.

A few minutes later, the bus pulls up right beside the fast-food restaurant, directly across from Cordesol Meat, the restaurant where he and Eliss celebrated their first month together.