Once I find Satoshi...
I head in that direction while keeping an eye watching them from inside the shop, hidden in a ceiling beam where no one would look.
Sound frequencies translate to my brain and I hear their conversation.
The man next to Satoshi drinks a can of beer and says in a tired voice.
"Glad you're still alive, Satoshi. It was a horrible day, one of the worst I've seen in my career."
Satoshi nods while slurping his noodles loudly as steam rises from his bowl.
"Yeah... total shit. Never thought it'd turn out this way. Damn ghouls! Why can't they just leave humanity alone?"
The other man continues curiously.
"By the way, you were at that place during the operation too, right? How the hell did you make it back alive when everyone died?"
Satoshi swallows his noodles before answering.
"They sent me back to bring information before the main operation started. If I'd stayed five more minutes, I'd probably be dead too. Hah..."
"So you must know how it all started, right?"
Satoshi nods slowly, eating more ramen with a tired face.
"I don't know the exact details. Just that there was a girl at that location we suspected was a ghoul when we checked who lived in the neighborhood houses."
He pauses to take a long sip of hot soup before continuing.
"She's a girl who lives alone all the time, no parents or guardians. You can also see she goes out at night frequently through a hidden security camera installed by one of the paranoid neighbors. She was even seen jumping a two-meter wall wearing a hood at night, which is abnormal."
The other investigator listens attentively.
"After confirming all this evidence, they sent me back to the office to register this suspect in the database while the others cornered her at her house. What a disaster... Everyone died, including Investigator Yamamoto."
Saying that, Satoshi laments the loss of his colleagues.
The man next to him opens his eyes wide.
"So that girl is the Bloody Ghoul from the video?"
"She's not. Everyone who went there died, and the video that went viral is very blurry, so one can't make out the ghoul's exact appearance clearly. But can see it's at least a boy. Probably a friend who came to save her. Still, it's a ghoul child."
The man whistles, impressed.
"Hishh... to think a ghoul child has that much destructive power. It's terrifying. Makes you wonder how many more are out there hiding."
At that moment...
"Ah, yeah, give me a bowl of ramen please. Make it really hot and spicy!"
I say that to the shop owner with a smile.
I feel Satoshi and the two men look at me. They're probably wondering what a kid is doing around here at this hour.
Pathetic.
The first thing they should've done was suspect me considering what happened today. Don't they even wonder if I could be a ghoul?
Well, I guess they're destined to be low-rank investigators.
Both ignore me. They speak in low voices, and if I were like the humans around, I wouldn't hear them.
"It's sad what happened to Yamamoto and all the other investigators, but... that's life in this job. We knew the risks when we joined. So cheer up a bit, Satoshi. It's not your fault."
He pats Satoshi's shoulder and continues.
"Now that Mr. Yamamoto died, we're missing a Special Class Investigator to take charge of the 20th Ward Branch CCG Office. We can't be without leadership."
The shop owner approaches with a bowl of hot ramen in his hand. He puts it in front of me at the bar, and after receiving payment, goes back to serving other customers.
"Oh! This smells amazing!"
Several eyes fall on me. I feel their furious looks telling me to shut up or lower my voice.
How fun. Annoying people.
Meanwhile, Satoshi sighs and speaks in an even lower voice.
"I've heard rumors that Mr. Busujima has been invited to take the position."
"Huh? Mr. Busujima?! Didn't he retire years ago?"
At this surprise...
"Seriously?!"
I'm more exaggerated and shout those words upon hearing the surname 'Busujima'.
Satoshi gives me an annoyed look.
"Kid, can you be more respectful? You're bothering people."
I know.
"Hehe... Sorry. This ramen is too good. I haven't had it in so long."
With that said, I happily bring the bowl to my mouth and start slurping loudly.
Delicious.
I'm glad I became a vampire and can feed on more than just blood.
After so many years, I can enjoy the taste of spicy ramen again.
With a dark complexion, Satoshi decides to ignore the noises from my mouth while eating and responds to his companion's previous question.
"That's right, he retired a few years back. But Mr. Busujima is an upright man who despises ghouls with passion. Surely upon learning of Yamamoto's death, he won't mind becoming active again."
The other investigator nods understandingly.
"They say Mr. Busujima is pretty strong, right? I think at some point he even fought directly against the One-Eyed Owl."
"That's right. He's one of the best investigators the CCG has had in decades."
Hearing this complete conversation, I finish leaving the ramen bowl empty.
'But Busujima, huh?'
Isn't that Saeko's surname?
Then it's probably her relative, maybe her father or an uncle.
Could be her father, actually, considering this world is very different from the original High School of the Dead.
Outstanding humans are outstanding anywhere and in any situation.
The same could be said of Mr. Busujima, if he turns out to be the person I'm assuming. He adapted to this world and became a renowned and powerful CCG investigator.
'Interesting.'
Was Saeko trained to become an investigator?
But that's a problem for another day.
Now I need to deal with these two before they talk to someone else about Touka.
Because surely upon returning, Satoshi will investigate Touka knowing she might still be alive.
About twenty minutes later, Satoshi and the other man leave the ramen shop after paying their bill. They walk down the dark street chatting about mundane topics.
"Well, see you tomorrow at the office. Rest well."
The man says goodbye with those words while stretching.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Don't forget to prepare to properly say goodbye to our fallen comrades and Mr. Yamamoto."
Just as they're about to separate, one taking the left street and Satoshi the other to the right...
A dark tentacle full of crackling lightning impales the man on the left, pinning him against the concrete wall.
With eyes wide open in disbelief and surprise, he raises his trembling hand to grab the tentacle. He struggles, but the tentacle doesn't move.
He opens his mouth to scream, but his words are replaced by a mouthful of blood that's coughed out.
In the next second, the man dies. The tentacle retracts, leaving behind a human-head-sized hole in his stomach.
When the lifeless body falls to the ground, it produces a dull sound. Along with the crackling sound of lightning, it's impossible for Satoshi not to hear it.
He suddenly turns around.
"Who—? Huh?"
He sees his friend's body lying in the dark street. And a dark silhouette with tentacles around it, crackling with lightning.
"You... You..."
Is it because I'm wearing a scarf and have tentacles with lightning?
"It can't be! B-Bloody Ghoul?!"
Satoshi seems capable of superimposing my figure with the ghoul from the viral video.
"Heh, I'm surprised you're able to recognize me."
Violently startled, Satoshi takes a step back. His purple aura, meaning fear, flickers like flames.
"T-that voice... Don't tell me..."
"Yeah, I'm also that kid from earlier. Hehe."
My red eyes and smile full of teeth reflect in Satoshi's eyes.
His aura turns grayish-purple, making him enter a state of extreme fear.
"H-how? Weren't you supposed to be dead?!"
"Well, supposedly."
Satoshi brings his hand to his waist, where I know he has a hidden revolver. But what can a revolver do against a ghoul? Much less against a vampire.
At that moment, my eyes become brighter.
The moment the scared man pulls out the weapon and aims at my head, his eyes meet mine.
"Stay still."
His eyes become glassy and empty.
This is the difference between remote mental manipulation and an in-person operation.
While it's true that his extreme fear of the monster before him becomes a fundamental part in considerably decreasing his mental defense, it doesn't change the fact that the whole process of breaking his barrier with my mental frequency and entering his brain to give him orders is much smoother and more effective.
It's also because I'm now using Basic Control.
I approach him.
"Does anyone else know the information about Subject 2714?"
Satoshi responds in a monotone voice.
"No. Apart from me and the man you killed, no one else."
"Why are you so sure?"
"Because almost no one from the 20th Ward office is alive after today's operation. And currently, all CCG attention is focused on calming scared citizens and managing the public relations crisis. I only registered the information in the database and left it there without formally reporting it to anyone else. I didn't have time."
The 20th Ward is a ward considered safe, unlike other wards.
For that reason, CCG investigators at this ward's branch are very few. Maybe five from this branch were added to the new recruits who came for the operation to find the dangerous ghoul from the 20th Ward, which is actually me.
But those five investigators were already considered sufficient force to maintain order in a safe zone.
'Good to hear.'
That only these two knew about Touka.
And one's already dead.
I stare at Satoshi. For a moment I seriously consider letting him live and just erasing his memories about Touka.
But then I think better of it.
No.
It's too risky to leave him alive.
If there's even a 0.1% chance he remembers something about Touka later, she'll be in danger. I can't allow that under any circumstances.
"Nothing personal, but you're a minor threat."
My blade-fingers pierce his heart.
'Killing is becoming too easy...'
Doesn't even weigh on my conscience.
Don't know if that's good or bad.
Truth is, I don't care.
I make the devouring mouths emerge from both corpses, both Satoshi's and the other investigator's.
The grotesque mouths full of sharp teeth start chewing voraciously.
They devour both bodies completely until nothing's left. There's not even blood on the ground, no bone fragments, no clothing remains.
Pretty convenient. This ability.
I clean my hands with my blood manipulation. A small crimson ball made from blood floats in front of me. Opening my mouth, I toss it down my throat.
—Gulp!
Disgusting.
With my hands in my pockets, I start whistling cheerfully in the darkness as I walk back to the hotel where I left Touka.
×××
When I arrive at the hotel room, it's almost two in the morning. I open the door quietly, trying not to make noise in case Touka's asleep.
But Touka's awake, sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, looking toward the door with a tense expression. The moment she sees me enter, she quickly stands up.
"Where the hell were you so late?"
She speaks in a low voice so as not to wake others in neighboring rooms.
She's angry, but I can see worry in her blue eyes.
I understand what she's feeling right now. Everyone who mattered in her life has disappeared one by one.
You could say that besides her human friend, I'm the only important person to her.
Someone that important to her had disappeared right after getting her this hotel. Well, I left an All-Seeing Eye to watch in case something unexpected happened. Still, doesn't change the fact I was a bit insensitive going without explaining much.
"Right where I was supposed to be, doing exactly what I had to."
With a vague answer, I close the door and lean against it.
"Touka, come here."
She hesitates for a moment before slowly approaching. Her expression is confused and distrustful.
"What do you want? Wait... You're a vampire. So, is that it...? Perverted bloodsucker."
Her cheeks flush slightly as she says it, but her tone is accusatory.
"Perverted? So what if I am? I could bite you if you want."
"No thanks. I'd rather have a snake bite me than you."
She's too easy to provoke.
I toss her the folded paper I have in my pants pocket.
"You can do whatever you want with that. Whether tearing it up, burning it, or throwing it in the toilet."
Touka catches the paper in the air.
"What's this?"
"Read it."
With a face confused by my attitude, she slowly unfolds it and starts reading.
×××
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