It had been well over a week since I'd taken on Eto.
Living alone had changed a lot once Eto became part of the picture.
For starters, the books I usually picked up had shifted from novels to beginner parenting guides.
A Ghoul baby was just like a human baby, except for the part where it ate human flesh.
There was a lot to learn: music and games that were good for babies, how to check their health by looking at their waste, the stages of infant development and how parenting methods changed along with them... Books alone weren't enough, so I even started using TV programs and internet cafes.
I didn't know Eto's exact birthday, but judging from her development, she seemed to be over three months old.
"Let's see... 'Babies older than three months generally start to develop a sharper sense of smell, and their legs get stronger too, so their kicks become more powerful'... Is that really true? Eto, give me a kick."
I leaned toward Eto while checking tips from someone else's parenting journal online.
Whether she understood me or it was just a coincidence, Eto let out a bright little laugh and moved her foot.
Thud!
...There was something I had overlooked.
Ghouls had strength several times greater than a human body's normal limits.
Apparently that applied to Ghoul babies too.
Thump!
After Eto's kick sent my jaw sideways, I had to crawl around the floor for a while. That was a pretty vicious hit.
Another thing that had changed, after my daily life, was the scenery in my room.
A crib, toys like rattles, a baby carrier for going out, diapers, baby powder, and so on...
The room of a high school boy who liked games and novels was being swallowed up, and the home of a baby was steadily expanding its territory.
Well, the odds were absurdly low, but if I ever got a girlfriend, there was no way I'd be bringing her home.
Even though the tools for raising Eto kept increasing, that didn't mean things were getting better.
"...I need to start keeping a household ledger."
How much money could a high school student living alone possibly have?
My father sent living expenses every month without fail, but it wasn't exactly a huge amount.
Up until now, I'd been breaking into the savings I'd set aside for buying new games to purchase baby supplies, but even that wasn't enough anymore. I was at the point where even the minimum money needed for daily life was in danger.
'Should I ask Father to send more living expenses? ...No. I might get a little more money for now, but if he catches even the slightest whiff of something suspicious, he'll come home. That absolutely cannot happen.'
And I couldn't leave Eto alone, and I had nowhere to temporarily entrust her, so finding a part-time job was out of the question too.
Wasn't there some convenient job where I could work while bringing Eto along?
"My head hurts~!"
After thinking it over for a while and still not finding an answer, I flopped backward and declared defeat.
Apparently my weird noises and dramatic collapse were entertaining, because Eto crawled over and started patting my forehead with her little palm.
"Baa~!"
"...Yes, yes. Thank you for the enthusiastic encouragement, Princess."
The way those tiny, fern-like hands tapped my forehead was strangely healing.
Feeling a little more energized, I sat up and decided to look for a new way forward.
I turned on the TV news, figuring I might get some useful information.
As usual, the announcer on the screen was reciting the day's news in a mechanical voice.
"At around 8:00 this morning, a corpse believed to have been caused by a Ghoul was discovered on ☆★ Street in Ward 7. The victim has been identified as Nakajima Shioto, 55, who ran a bakery in the area and is believed to have been attacked while returning home after work last night. In response, the CCG, the Ghoul Countermeasures Bureau, has dispatched Ghoul Investigators to the scene..."
"Tch. That's right around here."
The fact that a Ghoul openly committing cannibalism had appeared nearby was bad enough, but the news that Ghoul Investigators were being dispatched to investigate the case meant one more headache had just been added to my already overflowing list.
On the TV screen, a middle-aged man who was an active Ghoul Investigator was being interviewed.
A white suit coat and a metal briefcase held in one hand. He was the textbook image of a Ghoul Investigator.
Ghoul Investigators.
They were specialists who found and eliminated Ghouls hiding among humans, and they were known for being able to stand toe-to-toe with Ghouls whose physical abilities were several times greater than a human's.
Their basic policy toward Ghouls was to capture them alive, but if they judged even a little danger, they would eliminate them on the spot.
I didn't know what kind of treatment a Ghoul baby would receive, but I definitely didn't want them finding out about Eto.
I let out a small, dry laugh at the fact that I was more wary of the human-aligned Ghoul Investigators than of the dangerous Ghoul who had appeared nearby.
I sat Eto on my lap and showed her the TV as I said, "Eto. You absolutely mustn't go near people who look like that, okay? They're very scary people."
"Buu?"
Eto just sucked on her finger and stared blankly at the investigator on the screen.
This child still had no ability to recognize danger.
She probably had no idea that the investigator on TV, who looked like an ordinary neighborhood uncle, carried a "weapon" that could split open a vicious Ghoul's stomach in an instant and rip out all its innards.
So I had to sense danger on her behalf and keep her far away from it.
I didn't think a Ghoul Investigator would be able to tell Eto was a Ghoul just by looking at her, but I decided it would be best to avoid going out for the time being.
Ding-dong~
"Huh? Who is it?"
I didn't remember ordering a delivery, let alone expecting a visitor.
Even if I had, it was extremely rare for anyone to come by this early.
Still puzzled, I checked outside through the small peephole in the door to see who it was.
".........!?!?!?!!!!"
I'd heard that when people are too shocked, they can't make a sound, but I never expected to experience that myself.
My mouth opened and closed as if trying to form words, but my brain was screaming at me not to make a sound and was doing everything it could to keep one from slipping out.
And in the next instant, I was using every muscle in my body to race around the room.
I gathered up every baby item in the room and shoved them all into the closet. When that ran out of space, I hid the rest deep inside the trash can.
I took the parenting books and, following the old advice that if you want to hide a tree, hide it in the forest, wedged them between some old adult magazines I used to favor.
Then I took the clothes I'd bought for Eto and, with tears of blood in my eyes, hurled them into the garden visible outside the window.
I felt like collapsing just thinking about having to retrieve everything later and wash it all, but I clenched my teeth and kept moving.
Finally, I picked up Eto and looked around frantically.
Where was it? All I had to do now was hide Eto!
After a moment, I decided there was nowhere else to put her except in a rather troublesome place, and hid Eto there.
Before hiding her, I whispered urgently into her ear, "Listen, Eto? You absolutely have to stay quiet and not make a sound! Your dad is... your dad is about to go into the fight of his life!"
"Baa?"
Eto tilted her head, completely lost.
Well, of course. There was no way she'd understand me talking so seriously to myself like this.
Thinking about when Eto was usually the quietest, I pulled out a blood pack and a baby bottle.
"Paa~!"
Eto's eyes sparkled as she clamped her mouth around the bottle and happily sucked my blood.
Okay. That should keep her quiet for a while.
I hurriedly hid Eto and opened the front door.
The man waiting outside, while I was drenched in cold sweat and breathing hard from my one-man war, looked at me suspiciously.
"...What were you doing?"
"I was having one of those private self-care sessions single men living alone are known for."
"...Fine, whatever."
As if understanding that men had their reasons, he gave a small nod.
Fine lines marked his face like the rings of a tree, making him look like he was well into his forties.
A pure white suit coat covered him below the neck, and he held a metal briefcase in one hand.
The visitor to my apartment was the same Ghoul Investigator who had just appeared on TV.
And...
"So what brings you here? ...Father."
And... he was my father.
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