Screech!
The blade of the Quinque greatsword sliced through the belts binding me. Once I was free, Hitokawa propped me up and began unwrapping the remaining compression bandages.
“...So you're saying Eto is acting as bait all by herself to buy us time?”
“That’s the gist of it.”
As he spoke, Hitokawa flinched, his movements pausing mid-knot.
“...Are you planning to beat me up?”
“Did you think I wouldn’t?”
I waited impatiently for him to finish loosening the bandages around my arms. I wanted to be ready to land one massive hit.
Hitokawa panicked, waving his hands. “W-Wait, wait, wait! I told you! I had no choice! It would have taken too long for the CCG to mobilize, and if I had stepped forward as the bait, the enemy would have been far more suspicious!”
“Hey. How old is Eto?”
“...Seven.”
“Then tell me—if some bastard left a seven-year-old child alone on a battlefield, claiming she knew how to shoot a gun and execute a mission, what would you do to him?”
“I’d beat him until he was dead... ... ...”
Exactly. No matter how capable she was in a fight or how mature she acted, Eto was still just a seven-year-old child. More importantly, I cherished her as if she were my own daughter.
How could I not feel my stomach churn knowing that child was out there fighting those vicious monsters alone?
Even if it was the most rational decision on paper, the human heart doesn't work on logic.
“Later! I’ll let you beat me up after this is all over, so just focus on escaping for now!”
“Tch.”
He was right; this wasn't the time for a leisurely fistfight.
Instead, I decided I would simply increase the number of punches I'd deliver to Hitokawa for every single scratch on Eto’s body.
“Did you just think something ominous?”
“If you don’t want those thoughts to become a reality, hurry up and untie me so we can go help Eto.”
“Ghk...”
Groaning, Hitokawa accelerated his pace. However, the bandages had been tied so tightly that they wouldn't budge, forcing him to use the edge of the greatsword to cut through them.
While he worked, my eyes drifted toward Minami, who lay collapsed against the wall.
One of her arms was visibly swollen, likely from the direct impact of the metal case. It seemed she would need more time before regaining consciousness.
“In the end, just who was that woman...?”
“Who? You mean Shinaoto Minami?”
“Yeah. The one who kidnapped me. She kept spouting nonsense about being a regular employee at some Ghoul company and wanting to become a Ghoul herself.”
Hitokawa let out a hollow, disbelieving laugh.
“Ha! She wants to become a Ghoul? She’s even more far gone than I thought.”
“What? You know about her?”
“Of course. As soon as I realized she was the one who extracted the Q Bullet delivered to you, I did some digging. There was a pretty famous incident about seven or eight years ago—the 21st Ward cult massacre.”
“...!”
I had heard of it.
It was a case where the executives of a cult gathering in the 21st Ward were slaughtered in large numbers during a Ghoul attack. It had been heavily covered by the news and newspapers at the time.
The peculiar part of the incident wasn't the Ghouls who attacked, but the cult itself.
They were a group that worshipped Ghouls.
They revered Ghouls as transcendent beings and evidence of a new evolution beyond humanity. They attempted to transform their fear of Ghouls into a form of religious awe to assimilate with them.
To the rest of the world, it was pure madness, but there is always a handful of lunatics wherever you go who are drawn to such insanity.
That small group, which had existed in the fringes of society, was suddenly exposed to the world in the most horrific way possible.
The irony—that a group seeking safety and an escape from fear by worshipping Ghouls was ultimately annihilated by them—was perfect gossip for the masses.
The media dissected the event with faux-expertise until, as time passed, the story faded from public memory.
Such incidents are like chewing gum; they taste sweet when the conversation is fresh, but once the flavor is gone, people simply spit them out.
There were far too many tragedies in the world to keep chewing on the same piece of gum forever.
I was one of those people who had taken a passing interest in the strange case before forgetting it.
It wasn't that I had lost interest, but rather that I didn't have the luxury to care. How could I worry about world affairs when a man I knew had suddenly appeared and asked me to raise his child?
I never imagined I would encounter that forgotten incident again in a way like this.
“I remember it. But why bring it up now?”
“The names of the cult leaders were Shinaoto Yakashi and Shinaoto Yozuka.”
“...Shinaoto?”
I questioned my own hearing. The surname was far too familiar.
As if confirming my suspicion, Hitokawa jerked his chin toward Shinaoto Minami.
“That woman is the daughter of the cult leader.”
“...”
My gaze naturally drifted back to the unconscious Minami.
Based on her behavior and ideology, I had suspected her past was abnormal, but hearing the truth was still a shock.
A Ghoul-worshipping cult.
I didn't know exactly when it started, but if it had existed for over twenty years, she had been raised in a warped environment since childhood.
So that’s why she reacted so strongly to the mention of parents?
As I stared at Minami, Hitokawa continued.
“She was also the sole survivor of that massacre.”
“...She was actually there?”
“Whether the Ghouls spared her because she was a child or if she was just hiding, I don't know. But they say that when the investigators arrived, she was just staring blankly at a field of shredded corpses. What’s even more disturbing is the first thing she said after being taken into protective custody.”
—"It was beautiful."
What exactly did she find beautiful?
The Ghouls who slaughtered the people? Or the sheer amount of death filling the air?
Either way, it was skin-crawling.
“The CCG took her in at one of their orphanages, but she left the moment she became an adult. After that, her trail went cold. Who would have guessed she’d end up participating in this kind of sick hobby here?”
Snap.
Hitokawa cut the final bandage.
Finally, my body was free. My head and shoulders still throbbed, but it wasn't enough to hinder my movement.
“Right. We can figure out what happened to turn her into a psychopath later. For now, let’s go help Eto.”
“Wait. We need to request backup from the CCG first. We can only retreat safely once they arrive.”
“You didn’t contact them before coming in?”
“I couldn’t. If the timing was off, the reinforcements might have made Eto a target as well.”
I stared at Hitokawa, my eyes widening. I was genuinely surprised to hear him speaking in a way that prioritized Eto's safety.
“Well, given everything, I just figured it would be more of a pain if you two were separated,” he added.
Feeling the weight of my gaze, Hitokawa looked away.
His tone was blunt, but the suspicion and hostility from before were gone. A natural smile crept onto my face.
“So you do understand Eto. Thanks.”
“Anyway! Let’s call for backup. Now that I’ve rescued you, it’s fine if I reveal my presence. Eto can slip away, and I’ll hold off the Ghouls to buy time.”
Unable to handle the sentimentality, Hitokawa quickly pulled out his phone.
Just as he was pressing the buttons to contact the CCG, I spotted a flickering shadow behind him.
“Hitokawa, behind you!!”
“...?!”
Hitokawa spun around reflexively.
Minami, having regained consciousness at some point, had crept up behind him and was swinging her axe in a wide arc.
Hitokawa started to swing his greatsword in response, but he froze for a split second.
The greatsword was a Quinque—a weapon designed specifically for Ghouls.
He couldn't swing it at a human. If he did, the sheer power of the weapon would likely slice through the axe and split Minami’s body in two.
Damn it!
He abandoned the counterattack and pivoted to evade. Thanks to his training and reflexes, he managed to dodge the trajectory of the axe.
However, the phone in his hand wasn't so lucky.
The blade clipped the device, knocking it violently from Hitokawa’s grip.
The screen shattered, and a portion of the casing was sliced clean off. Internal components spilled out across the floor.
Clatter.
As we watched the broken phone roll away, our expressions hardened.
We had lost our only means of contacting the outside world—our only link to the CCG.
Amidst the shock, a thin, lilting laugh rang out, grating on our nerves.
“Hehehe... I can’t let this end with a happy ending... Someone’s happiness is a terrible thing if it creates someone else's misery.”
Her hair was disheveled, and one arm hung uselessly, broken.
Clutching the axe in one hand and muttering to herself, she looked completely insane.
“Be miserable, Koma-kun. Be miserable, and in doing so, make everyone else happy!”
“I’m already miserable enough, you psycho!!”
“Same here!!”
As the madwoman charged again, axe swinging, Hitokawa and I braced ourselves to face her.
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