The guitar case I brought back was something I picked up from a dump.
I'd almost passed it by as just trash, but after thinking it over, I decided it could be useful and took it home to modify it myself.
I replaced the inside of the case with Styrofoam insulation, like an ice box. It was for long-term storage of meat. Then I lined it with plastic and sealed it tightly so blood and smell wouldn't leak out.
Normally, one arm or one leg would have been enough, but last time taught me that the amount of meat Eto needed had increased.
So I filled the guitar case to the brim with one arm, two legs, and some liver and internal organs besides.
After finishing the dismemberment, I moved the remaining body and buried it in a sunny spot, setting up a few stones in place of a gravestone.
In front of it, I brought my hands together and offered a prayer.
"I'll make good use of the body you threw away."
After the prayer, I turned on my phone to check the time.
5:40 a.m. Since this place was closer to the mountains than the city, the sun still wasn't visible, but the sky was brightening. Dawn had already begun to break.
Thinking about how much work was left before Eto woke up, I'd wasted too much time.
I hurriedly stuffed the tools into the guitar case and slung it over my shoulder.
"Ugh..."
It was so heavy I nearly toppled over.
That made sense, since I was carrying more meat than usual. Just the meat crammed into the guitar case alone easily exceeded half the weight of an adult man.
I dragged my body uphill and barely made it back to where I'd parked the bicycle.
I'd been worried that the extra weight from the guitar case would make it hard to ride, but it moved forward surprisingly smoothly.
Still, I should avoid hills if possible. If I climbed one with this much weight, I'd definitely collapse on the spot.
I checked the map for a route that avoided uphill roads as much as possible and set off that way.
Once I left the mountain path leading toward the cliff and headed for the city, the sky grew brighter and brighter.
Was it relief at escaping a night full of death, or just simple sleep deprivation? Maybe it was the medicine I'd taken earlier.
As I rode the bicycle, wanting nothing more than to get home quickly, a voice stopped me.
"Excuse me for a moment."
"Huh? Ah. ...?!"
I reflexively hit the brakes and stopped, immediately cursing my own stupidity.
I was carrying an ultra-dangerous load on my back, and I hadn't even been watching my surroundings!
Of all the roads in the world, I'd somehow ridden right up to a police car conducting a random stop, and I hadn't noticed until I was practically on top of it.
"It's morning, but it's still dark. It's dangerous if you don't ride with your light on."
"Ah, yes. I'll be careful."
So that was what they were warning me about not turning on my light... It didn't seem like they were planning to inspect my bicycle, since they had other things to do. I thought I could smooth this over and get away quickly, but...
"If you don't mind, where are you coming from?"
"Why do you ask?"
"..."
Oh, crap. I'd lost it.
What was I supposed to do by making it sound like I didn't want to answer? I might as well have been advertising that I was hiding something.
I'd answered a sensitive question a little too emotionally. The older-looking officer narrowed his brow suspiciously.
Once words were out, there was no taking them back. I needed to come up with something to cover for it fast.
"Ah, sorry. I was up all night practicing with my band until just a little while ago, so I'm a bit on edge. May I ask why you're asking?"
I tried to put on a friendly face, but maybe I was too obviously faking it, because the officer's expression didn't improve.
The younger officer who had been stopping passing cars for random checks had also noticed the suspicious atmosphere here and was walking over.
"There was a murder nearby."
The officer answered my question without taking his strange gaze off me.
"A murder?"
"Yes. It's not certain yet, but part of the victim's body is missing. It may have been the work of a Ghoul, but there's also a possibility it was a grudge killing staged to look like a Ghoul attack, so we're investigating."
Huh? This was going in a bad direction.
If, by some chance, the human flesh in my guitar case was discovered, I'd get pinned as the culprit in a murder case where nobody could tell whether a Ghoul or a human had done it.
"So, our investigation found that if the culprit was human, they'd likely still be carrying the missing body part. With that in mind, could you show us the guitar case for a moment?"
The officer held out his hand with the look of, "If you've got nothing to hide, you can show us, right?"
I was in the mood to curse fate, destiny, and whatever else existed by the bucketful.
I'd screwed up.
Thinking that, I panted hard, my breath rising all the way to my throat.
I'd tried every excuse under the sun to avoid showing the contents of the guitar case, but all I'd done was make the officers even more suspicious.
So in the end, I had no choice but to take the hard line.
First, I told them I'd show them the case and got the two officers to come closer...
"I never thought I'd actually get to use this..."
I looked at the small water balloon rolling around in my hand.
Inside was a homemade paint bomb mixed with dye, corn syrup, ammonia, and other ingredients.
If it hit someone's face, the foul liquid would stick there and keep them from seeing properly for a while.
While pretending to show them the case, I brought the water balloon hidden in my sleeve up to the officers' faces and popped it.
As the officers screamed in surprise at the mysterious liquid clinging to their faces, I hurried onto my bicycle and fled at full speed.
After riding along the main road for a while, I detoured into narrow alleys where the police wouldn't spot me and kept running for a long time.
And now, I was on that steel bridge popular with people who wanted to kill themselves, tossing my bicycle into the river.
Those officers had seen my face and the bicycle model. Taking the bike home like this would be dangerous.
It was a shame, but throwing it away was safer. I'd have to get rid of this guitar case later too.
As for my face being known... I'd think about that later. Once the real culprit was caught, they'd probably forget the face of some suspicious-looking guy anyway.
After disposing of the bicycle, I grabbed a taxi passing nearby and headed home quickly.
"Haa..."
Disassembling a corpse was already backbreaking work that drained every last bit of strength from me, and now I'd gone and had a chase with the police at dawn. My body and mind were both wrecked.
Leaning against the elevator wall to ease the weight of the case even a little, I stared blankly at the red numbers climbing upward.
Suddenly, those numbers looked grotesquely warped.
The next instant, the distorted digits formed the image of the female corpse on the riverbank staring at me with death in her eyes...
"Ghk...!"
The nausea I'd forgotten surged up, and I hurriedly covered my mouth.
Damn it, this is what happens when I let my guard down. And I even took two pills...
When the elevator opened, I pressed myself against the hallway wall and slowly made my way home.
Unlocking the front door with my key, the familiar smell of the house welcomed me, washing away the stench of corpses.
After stepping inside and glancing over, I saw Eto still asleep in the bedding I'd left behind. Seeing that, I finally felt relieved.
Thud.
My knees gave out before I'd even made it past the entryway. I must have relaxed too much.
Hey, what are you doing? Get it together. There's still work left.
I forced my body upright again and dragged myself to the bathroom.
Shhhhhhh...
I turned on the shower and tossed the human flesh I'd taken out of the case under the falling water.
The blood on the human flesh washed away, staining the bathroom floor bright red.
After that, I honestly don't remember much.
I just moved the saw mechanically, separating the bones and meat from the cut-up limbs and wrapping everything neatly in plastic over and over again.
Because my hands were clumsy, I gathered the bones that hadn't been cleanedly stripped and still had bits of flesh on them into one pile and wrapped them in a towel.
Then I picked up a hammer and brought it down hard.
Thud. Thud.
Each time I swung the hammer, I could feel the bones inside the towel crumbling.
I put the suitably crushed bones into a plastic box and hid them in a corner of the refrigerator along with the wrapped human flesh.
Done.
That finished the procurement work.
Thud!
The moment I closed the refrigerator door, I collapsed onto the cold kitchen floor.
I wanted to just pass out and sleep like this. As I whispered to myself to close my eyes and sleep, another voice cut me off.
"Hey, idiot. What about Eto?"
Flash.
Right. Damn it. I'd almost made another mistake because I was out of it.
If Eto woke up and saw me collapsed in the kitchen, she'd be terribly shocked.
Besides, my body still carried a faint corpse smell. With her sharp nose, Eto would figure out what I'd been doing and why I was in such a wreck.
And because of that, she'd probably lie again about how much she ate so I wouldn't overdo it. If she's going to be a kid, I wish she'd just act her age and let me worry about normal things.
I stripped off the disgusting clothes soaked with sweat and corpse stink and threw them into the washing machine.
Then I went into the bathroom and, while showering, scrubbed away every last bloodstain left on my body.
To get rid of the smell, I sprayed fragrant air freshener all over the place too.
When I finished showering and came out shaking off the water, there was no sense of refreshment at all. All I could think about was how badly I wanted to rest.
I crawled into the bedding beside Eto and buried my face in the pillow without even pulling up the blanket.
Okay, sleep. Tomorrow, I'm going to keep sleeping like I'm ready to skip my part-time job entirely.
Just as I was welcoming the drowsiness coming toward me with open arms...
"Dad..."
Startled, I drove the sleepiness away for a moment and turned my head toward Eto.
When had she woken up? Her eyes, which had still been closed when I came in through the front door, were now open and looking straight at me.
Her gaze looked so sad it was as if she might cry at any moment.
"I... I'm okay with being a little hungry. So you don't have to go through so much trouble to get it."
"..."
With a look that held far too much for a child her age, Eto spoke carefully.
I stared at her blankly for a moment, then let out a small laugh.
"Our Eto's all grown up. Even worrying about her dad."
As I stroked her hair, I went on.
"I'm fine. All you need to do is eat well and grow up strong."
"But..."
Eto trailed off, as if she still couldn't accept it.
I wanted to give her something more convincing, but... no. That's the limit. I'm about to lose consciousness.
I thought of a way to reassure Eto while also getting some rest.
"Then at least won't you comfort your dad?"
"Huh?"
"Here goes!"
Wham!
I spread my arms and pulled Eto into a hug. Her warm body heat spread through me, as if soothing my exhausted mind.
Since she was tucked right into my chest, I couldn't see her face, but judging by how stiff her body went, I must have startled her a little.
"Let's sleep like this."
"Y-yes..."
I couldn't see her expression, but somehow the ears visible through her hair looked much redder than usual. Hmm. Did my plan work?
I decided I'd think about that after I woke up again, and tried to close my eyes.
Then the darkness in one corner of the room warped, and the phantom of the female corpse I'd seen in the elevator glared this way.
Those eyes, settled in death, threw a look at me as if they despised me for holding a Ghoul in my arms.
I raised my middle finger at the phantom.
"Get lost. I'm in the middle of healing."