My body moved.
It was hard to tell whether I had reacted to the sharp crash of shattering glass, or if I had moved just before it.
What was certain was that if I hadn’t, my head would have been taken clean off.
A dark red, metallic tentacle sprouted from the Ghoul’s back, brushing against the back of my hand.
He drove it straight forward like an ancient war spear, piercing through the window and surging into the room where I stood.
CRASH!!!
The space above my waist was neatly sliced away.
As I was sent rolling across the floor, the phone on the shelf, a flowerpot, and other assorted junk were smashed to pieces, raining down upon me.
In that instant, rage flared.
It wasn't because my life was being threatened. It wasn't even because I was upset over the broken objects.
He was destroying the notebook where I'd written the address of the amusement park I’d planned to visit with Eto next week, and the flowerpot I’d watered every day, longing for it to bloom. One by one, he was smashing things packed with precious memories.
That damned Ghoul was trampling the only place in this world where Eto could feel safe with his filthy feet.
Perhaps it was the medicine, but even knowing it was futile, the fierce anger I felt toward him dictated my next move.
I'm going to beat the hell out of you!!!
I grabbed whatever was within reach. Feeling its weight, I swung it with both hands.
My head, muddled by the heat, only realized after the swing that I had been wielding a guitar case.
KWA-ZIK!!!
The guitar case burst into wooden splinters and scattered uselessly into the air.
Beyond the spray of fragments, a black shadow closed in like a beast stalking its prey. It was his right foot.
THUD!!!
“Ghk……!!!”
The air fled my lungs all at once, as if it could no longer endure the pressure. Both my feet left the floor.
Weightlessness. One, two…… how many seconds had passed? Could I even trust my internal clock right now?
It felt as though I’d been floating for ten seconds, but if I had actually been hit with enough force to fly that far, I would already be dead.
But I wasn’t. Though my side, struck by the kick, burned as if seared by a branding iron. I felt a few ribs snap.
“Grrrgh……!!”
Clenching my teeth, I forced my sprawled body up from the floor.
Endorphins raced through my brain, dulling the pain, while adrenaline gave me just enough strength to keep moving despite the injury.
After charging in blindly and receiving a painful lesson—one involving actual broken bones—I cursed my own stupidity.
You idiot. Don’t lose your head. Your odds are slim even if you fight with your brain, so don’t just charge in with brute force.
Barely managing to stand, I pressed a hand to my injured side and put some distance between us.
The gap was about six or seven steps, with a table holding a laptop sitting between us.
“……How did you find this place?”
Suppressing my ragged breathing, I asked in a low voice. This wasn’t the time for idle chatter, but I needed every second I could get to think.
Fortunately, perhaps because he felt secure after cornering me, he answered.
“Did you forget that Ghouls have a keen sense of smell? I followed the trail of blood you left through the alleys. Then, I spotted a taxi that still carried your scent just as it was pulling away. I memorized the license plate and tracked it. After I caught the driver, he told me he’d dropped you off at this villa. I figured you might try something desperate, so I cut every phone line in the building, but the timing turned out to be perfect.”
“Damn it…….”
I’d thought taking a taxi would throw off a scent-based pursuit, but once the vehicle was identified, the plan became useless.
As I swallowed my curse, he looked over the splintered remains of the guitar case and wore a cryptic smile. The sight irritated me further, and I frowned.
“What?”
“No…… When we first met, I had my suspicions, but I guess it wasn’t just my imagination after all.”
He retracted his metallic Kagune and used his free hand to pick up one of the fragments, bringing it to his nose and closing his eyes as if savoring the scent.
“This guitar case smells like a corpse…… You must have used all sorts of chemicals to mask the odor, but it doesn’t disappear that easily. This fragrance is quite lovely.”
“…….”
“So that’s why you ran back then, right? ‘There was a corpse inside the guitar case.’ Even if you aren't a Ghoul, you must have a reason to avoid the police. I wonder what that reason is……?”
TAAT!!
I kicked the table up with the tip of my foot and lunged at him.
I couldn't afford to let him think. I had to stop his train of thought before he reached that conclusion!
The table and the precious laptop flew through the air, only to be casually smashed apart by a flick of his hand.
The moment he swung his arm, I seized the outstretched limb.
Even for a Ghoul, their weight isn't vastly different from a human's. I yanked his arm, attempting to throw him over my shoulder.
BOOM!
However, the body that had been rising smoothly stopped mid-air.
His Kagune had sprouted from his shoulder blades and driven into the ceiling, pinning him in place.
“Cheap trick.”
“……!!”
The hand I used to grip his arm was seized in return.
Drawn by the Ghoul’s strength as he braced his feet against the ceiling like a handstand, my body was flung through the air once more.
CRASH!!!
I slammed into the kitchen.
A frying pan hanging on the wall fell, and plates shattered around me.
The sink hose jerked upward, and as my fingertips caught the valve, it turned, sending water spraying across the bare floor instead of into the sink.
Tap.
He pulled his Kagune free from the ceiling and landed lightly on the floor.
Grinding my teeth until they bled, I forced myself up. I grabbed the fallen frying pan and swung it with everything I had at the back of his exposed head.
Twitch.
The moment I saw his Kagune writhe, survival instinct overrode my rage.
I abandoned the attack and ducked. The Kagune swept horizontally in a wide arc, slicing through the air exactly where my neck had been a second before.
A beat later, the Ghoul spun around and seized my lowered face with a brutal grip.
BOOM!!
“Kraaaah!!!”
My head was slammed into the wall.
He must have held back, because my skull didn't shatter, sparing the wall from becoming a grotesque abstract painting of brain matter.
However, the gauze covering my wound was ripped away, the cut on my forehead split wide open, and blood stained the wall.
A concussion left me paralyzed, unable to move.
He tossed me aside like a stuffed doll, throwing me onto the wreckage of the laptop and table.
“Is this some kind of occupational habit? You’re reacting so violently that I’m genuinely curious about what you’re hiding. You forged your identity and test records to become a police officer, but you actually took pride in the job? Though I suppose eating the occasional person who trusted you because you were a cop was a nice little bonus.”
“Ghh…….”
Unable to do more than groan as I crawled along the floor, I was clearly nothing more than a bug to him. He turned his gaze away, spotting the refrigerator.
As he walked toward it, I tried desperately to rise, but the only things that rose were the dizziness and nausea.
He stepped over my body, strode to the refrigerator, and flung it open. He proceeded to dump every single item inside onto the floor.
And then, he found it.
The slab of meat hidden in the deepest part of the fridge.
He peeled off the plastic wrap, took a piece of the meat, sniffed it, and swallowed it in one gulp.
“Heh heh…… No doubt about it. Human flesh.”
His vile laughter echoed in the room.
Still lying face-down, I reached out my hand. Just a little…… just a little more…….
“Human flesh in the refrigerator…… I’ve heard of humans with a taste for cannibalism. I could assume it's for you…… but my instincts tell me otherwise.”
I reached it. Now, with this…….
While I held my breath, I heard him rummaging through the kitchen. Then, I heard the sound I dreaded most.
I flicked my gaze sideways. What he held in his hand was unmistakably Eto’s.
“A child’s spoon and chopsticks…… Ah, I see. So that’s it. Hahahahahaha!!! This is a masterpiece!!”
Having sniffed them, he was now certain that the owner of the utensils was a Ghoul.
He threw his head back, as if witnessing the most ridiculous farce in the world, and looked back at me.
“Raising a Ghoul! What the hell is wrong with your mind!?”
“…….”
Gnash…….
I ground my teeth hard enough to make a sound.
He had reached the conclusion. He had discovered Eto’s existence—the one thing I most wanted to keep hidden.
He strode toward me again. His dirt-stained bare feet stopped right in front of my face.
He leaned down, a sneer on his lips.
“What a bizarre hobby. Are you the type who gets aroused by things that aren't human? Did you get a thrill from subjugating and raising a being superior to humans? Hey, tell me.”
Grip…….
The tendons in my hand tightened around the frying pan.
Listening to him insult both me and Eto was torture. But not yet. Not now. Wait for the moment.
Biting my lip, I endured the insults raining down from above. Then, I saw the water from the kitchen pooling on the floor, finally reaching his feet.
“……Want me to tell you?”
“Ha! About what? How your Ghoul pet was the shame of all Ghouls?”
“No…….”
Planting my hand on the floor, I pushed myself up and raised my head.
The face reflected in his eyes was twisted with a rage so intense that it felt foreign even to me.
“I'll tell you how dangerous it is to insult a man's daughter right in front of her doting father.”
Immediately after,
BZZZZZZZT!!!
“……?!!!”
Sparks erupted from the Ghoul, and his body stiffened instantly.
He must have been bewildered by the current suddenly surging through his body.
The answer was simple, if only he shifted his gaze.
The wire I had used to unlock the handcuffs was shoved into an electrical outlet, touching the ground.
The end of that wire was touching the water that had spread from the kitchen.
And standing in that water was the damned Ghoul who had just been insulting me and my daughter.
But I didn't tell him that.
As the sudden shock paralyzed him, I murmured in a low voice.
“Bite down, asshole.”
Shaking off the last of the concussion, I gripped the frying pan with both hands and swung it with all my might at his face.
BOOOOM!!!
A bright, satisfying sound rang out, cutting straight through the frustration in my chest.
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