“Cough... ptu!”
A metallic, fishy taste pooled in my mouth with every cough.
I turned my head and spat; a sticky clot of blood flew free and splattered onto the floor.
“Hah... hah...”
Leaning against the wall, I fought to steady my breathing.
The surroundings were... quiet. I couldn't feel any sign of pursuit yet.
Stumble.
“Ghk...”
The moment I let my guard down, even slightly, the strength drained from my legs, leaving them buckling beneath me.
Idiot. Get a grip. If you lose your nerve here, there's no coming back.
Step.
“...!”
A single, faint sound sent a jolt of tension through my entire body.
Someone was coming. Was it that bastard?
I bit my parched lips.
Scanning the area for anything that could serve as a weapon, I gripped a shard of glass small enough to fit in one hand.
I wonder if Eto... made it home...
I hoped she would stay out a little longer. If she saw the house in its current state—a complete disaster—it would only spark worries that didn't need to exist.
As the presence drew closer, I replayed the events of the afternoon in my mind.
“Eto!!!”
I had realized Eto was lying and rushed home in a panic, but the girl was nowhere to be found.
Even after scouring every inch of the house, the result was the same.
The picnic backpack I had given her as a gift and her pair of shoes were both gone. That confirmed my suspicion: she had left the house.
“Damn it!!!”
I slammed my fist into the wall in frustration.
I had been too careless. I had underestimated a Ghoul's physical capabilities. I never imagined she would have overheard that conversation.
No, I can regret that later. First, I have to find her.
Where would she go? If she had run away out of guilt, I might have been able to guess her destination. But...
“That kid has a tendency to act way too mature... If what moved Eto wasn't 'guilt' but 'responsibility'...”
I dashed to her room and yanked open the drawer.
As expected, it was gone.
The map where I had marked the suicide spots. Eto must have taken it.
“That idiot!”
This wasn't a simple runaway. She had gone out to procure food for herself.
Right. As long as she was a Ghoul, this was an experience she would eventually have to face.
If something ever happened to me and I couldn't provide, there was always the possibility that Eto would have to hunt on her own. But this was far too soon.
A corpse was not the same as the scraps of meat that had been placed before her until now.
Could anyone enjoy a beef steak while watching a cow being brutally slaughtered? The shock of imagining death and the shock of confronting it in reality are not the same.
Eto was far too young to stare death in the face.
I didn't want her to encounter it until she had developed a firmer set of values and the mental fortitude to handle it!
Maybe it's not too late!
I hurried out of the house to catch her.
While I didn't know every detail, I had memorized the general locations of the seven suicide spots. The problem was knowing which one she had chosen.
All seven were too far for Eto to reach on foot.
She was a bright girl; she wouldn't have just walked. She must have used public transportation. If so, any of the seven locations were possible.
Where? Where would she go?
I had to follow the trail. The moment I stepped outside, I stopped anyone passing by, asking if they had seen Eto.
If she hadn't been gone long, someone must have seen her.
Sure enough, I soon found someone who had seen a girl matching Eto's description.
“About twenty minutes ago, I think? She was lingering near that bus stop, staring intently at the people boarding the bus.”
Based on the flower shop owner's account—who had seen her while watering the storefront—I checked the bus schedules, assuming Eto had taken a bus.
I discovered that three of the buses led to the three suicide spots I usually visited by bicycle.
Bus 13 went to the iron bridge over the river.
Bus 20 went to an abandoned house in the slums.
Bus 22 went to a cliffside mountain road on the outskirts of the city.
Eto had definitely taken one of those three. However, there was no way to know which one.
Deciding to check the closest one first, I headed for the iron bridge.
“Eto—!!”
I searched from the bridge down to the riverbank where corpses often drifted ashore, calling her name, but I found nothing. The woman's body I had seen previously was gone, likely already cleared away.
It didn't take long to realize this place was a bust.
Feeling the waste of time, I climbed back up from the riverbank to move to the next location.
I had to hurry. I stood by the roadside, waiting for a taxi—a luxury I normally couldn't afford.
Why is it that whenever I'm in a rush, taxis completely vanish?
I tapped my foot impatiently, watching the endless stream of cars pass by without a single taxi in sight.
“Hey.”
Thump.
A large palm landed on my shoulder. I flinched, my expression freezing as I turned my head.
...Ah. Crap. I forgot.
I wasn't exactly in a position to be wandering around in broad daylight.
“We meet again.”
The man was a police officer who looked a few years older than me.
And this officer... was the very same one whose face I had blasted with a foul-smelling paint bomb before fleeing at dawn yesterday.
Because I had run during the checkpoint, I was now a prime suspect in yesterday's murder case... I knew this would happen eventually, but the timing was atrocious! Of all times, it had to be while Eto was missing!
I couldn't stay. Even if they put my face on every wanted poster in the country, I had to get away now.
Paint bomb, time to shine again!
I discreetly reached into my pocket to retrieve the bomb. Then...
Click.
“You have the right to remain silent, but you no longer have the right to use these toys.”
The middle-aged officer—who had also been covered in paint yesterday—grinned as he snapped handcuffs around my wrist before I could pull the bomb out.
...Fate, you absolute bitch. I just composed a six-thousand-character freestyle rap of curses in my head. Want to hear it?
“Why did you run last time?”
“I have panic disorder. I'm very sensitive to scary things, like murder cases.”
“And what was in that guitar case?”
“A guitar.”
The police car. A vehicle I had firmly believed I would never enter in my entire life.
If I had to describe the experience, it was the embodiment of 'depression.'
Two officers sat in the front. The younger one drove, while the older one handled the interrogation.
Looking through the rearview mirror, I could see that the middle-aged officer's suspicion hadn't wavered. He knew I was hiding something.
“Look, I really have nothing to do with the murder. Besides, I heard Ghoul bodily fluids were found at the scene, right? I'm human.”
“It's not unheard of for someone to obtain Ghoul fluids to frame them for a crime. Just last year, there were three cases that looked like Ghoul work but turned out to be human culprits.”
“......”
This was bad.
These men had no intention of letting me go.
Meanwhile, Eto could be suffering a massive shock from seeing a fresh corpse, or she could be lost...
“By the way, senior, shouldn't we just hand him over to the CCG for a Ghoul test?”
“Why bother with all that paperwork?”
As I fretted over Eto, I overheard the officers talking.
“He claims he's not a Ghoul, but he could be one pretending to be human.”
“If he were, he would have broken those cuffs and bolted by now. Don't worry about it.”
“I guess so...”
“I'm telling you, it's fine.”
...Wait?
Listening to them, I felt a strange sense of dissonance.
It was a simple, mundane conversation. Nothing special.
But why did it feel so wrong?
It might have been my imagination, but the feeling was too persistent to ignore.
I needed a way to test this bizarre intuition.
“...You know there's no such thing as 'absolute' in this world, right?”
I hunched my shoulders and lowered my voice to a dark, ominous rasp.
Sensing the sudden shift in my demeanor, both officers glanced at me through the rearview mirror.
“You said Ghoul traces were found, didn't you~? You should have just left it to the CCG. Why stick your noses in and invite your own deaths...?”
Clang!
I jerked my wrists, pulling the handcuffs tight as if to snap them.
Bared fangs. A gaze filled with murderous intent.
The beast hiding in human skin finally revealed its true colors.
“I'll kill you all!!”
KWA-GA-GA-GA-BOOOOM!!
...And the beast's frenzy ended abruptly against a transparent barrier.
It was the partition separating the front and back seats. While there was a sliding door, it remained shut unless opened from the front.
“......”
“......”
Under their freezing stares, I remained pressed against the partition and spoke.
“...Just a joke.”
“Add obstruction of justice and intimidation to the charges.”
“Damn it...”
Thud!
I slumped back into my seat, cursing under my breath.
It wasn't because my grand performance had failed.
It was because I had finally identified the source of that dissonance.
Even now, a chill ran down my spine, making it impossible to sit still.
Why... why is there something like that here?
As I analyzed the feeling, I reached a hypothesis.
And that hypothesis pointed toward the absolute worst possible conclusion.
It seemed impossible. A police officer? A government employee? How could that be possible?
But the doubt gradually hardened into a terrifying certainty.
Careful not to be seen, I discreetly pulled out my phone. I was lucky I had set it to silent while procuring the corpse.
Pretending to look out the window, I moved my fingers rapidly in the shadows of the seat.
I had to send this immediately. To the person who could help me most in this situation.
“Mr. Hajimoto, are we almost there?”
“Hmm, it's been a while since I've visited the son of my benefactor. I can't go empty-handed. Come help me pick out a gift.”
“I don't think Koma cares about that sort of thing.”
Hitokawa looked at his superior with a mix of disbelief and amusement. They were on their way to Koma's house, yet the man had insisted on stopping at a department store because he'd forgotten a present.
Well, such conscientiousness was one of his boss's strengths.
Ding~
“Hm? A text from Koma?”
Just as Hitokawa was about to suggest a set of manju, he reflexively checked his phone.
『S.O.S.』
“Huh...?”
Hitokawa's eyes widened at the first word. At first, he thought Koma was joking, but as he read the subsequent messages, his face turned pale.
“Mr. Hajimoto!!”
Hitokawa called out urgently to his superior.
On the screen of the phone in his hand, the message read:
『S.O.S.
The police officer is a Ghoul』
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