"Ghk...!"
The Ghoul's face twisted as he clutched the wound on his calf with his right hand. One finger sank in up to the knuckle.
Ghoul bodies were certainly tough, with excellent regenerative power, but there were clear exceptions.
One was when they took a fatal blow that even a Ghoul's toughness and regeneration couldn't recover from. The other was when they were attacked by another Ghoul.
The saliva and mucus contained in a Ghoul's Kagune acted as a weak poison against other Ghouls. It made them easier to wound and dulled their regeneration.
It was a wound inflicted by a brat he had dismissed as nothing more than a Ghoul raised by humans, a pathetic idiot.
The moment he turned that pain into rage and glared viciously at the kid who had no idea of his place and dared block his path...
He saw something impossible.
He blinked several times, but it did not change.
The brat's eyes, glaring back like a small predator, had one [Kakugan] rising in a dark red hue. The other eye remained in its normal human state.
A Ghoul's eye and a human's eye existed at the same time.
"A one-eyed...!?"
[Kakugan] appears when a Ghoul's emotions become intense or when a Ghoul's cells are activated beyond a certain level.
Even if a Ghoul can control their emotions to keep the [Kakugan] from surfacing, there is no Ghoul who can control only one eye to awaken. There is no need for such a thing to exist.
If it did, it would be a mutant.
An existence that could only be born by stepping outside the natural order of Ghouls.
He muttered in utter disbelief.
"The child of a Ghoul and a human... The world really has gone mad."
For a brief moment after that mutter, the fact that some mixed-blood mutt with human blood was growling at a tiger without knowing its place made the Ghoul's killing intent ooze thickly.
"Eto..."
My breathing had only just returned after being knocked out of place, so even forcing out a voice hurt. But I couldn't not call her name.
More than relief that I'd survived thanks to Eto, anger surged up first.
Why are you in that position? Why are you turned away from me, glaring at the Ghoul?
The sight of you standing guard over me and baring your hostility at a Ghoul.
No. Stop.
You shouldn't be there.
No matter how much a Ghoul can wound another Ghoul, Eto was still a child. There was no way she could beat an adult Ghoul.
She didn't react to my words, looking ready to throw herself at the police Ghoul any second, so I raised my voice again.
"Eto!"
Startle!
Maybe she had read the emotion mixed into my voice.
At my call, Eto glanced sideways at me with a faintly uneasy look.
"Ru..."
"Run away" was what I wanted to say, but I shut my mouth halfway through.
Lips pressed into a hard line, eyes narrowed sharply. I knew Eto made that face whenever she was at her angriest.
Usually she listened to me very well, but at times like that she turned into a stubborn little mule and refused to hear a thing.
If I told her to run, Eto would ignore me and charge the Ghoul. She hated the idea of leaving me behind here alone more than death itself.
So I had to choose my words carefully.
In this desperate situation where not even a second could be wasted, I worked my brain as hard as I could and changed what I said.
"Run away with me!"
Tap!
Eto leaped without hesitation.
Not toward the Ghoul, but toward me.
"You think I'll let you!"
The Ghoul, who had been about to lunge at us, reacted a beat late, apparently not expecting Eto to suddenly change course and flee.
By the time he charged and swung his Kagune, Eto had already wrapped both arms around my upper body and vaulted up the alley wall as if lifting me with her.
It should have been impossible given Eto's size, but the Ghoul strength unleashed at full power, free of its usual restraints, made it possible.
The instant his Kagune smashed the wall my back had just been touching, Eto had already cleared it. Her speed was even greater than I'd expected, and it shocked me.
Landing beyond the cracking wall, Eto tightened her hold on me once more and sprang again.
Clinging to Eto as she kicked off an old wall and ran along rusted iron railings, darting between buildings as if flying, I looked back over my shoulder.
The Ghoul's figure vanished in an instant, but we were not free yet.
We couldn't escape. He was a Ghoul with an excellent sense of smell.
No matter where Eto took me, he would definitely track down the scent of my blood and come after us.
"Haa... Haa..."
I could hear Eto's breathing growing louder by my ear.
She probably had never moved at full power like this before, and now she was carrying my weight on top of it. There was no way a child like Eto had the stamina to keep this up.
I knew Eto couldn't run away with me. Even so, I made her do it because I needed a little time.
"Eto, over there."
"...?"
Eto looked questioningly at the place I pointed to, then quickly changed direction. She must have trusted that I had a plan.
What we were hiding in now was a long-abandoned building that looked like it had been closed down ages ago.
A three-story structure with all its paint peeled away. Maybe it had once been a hospital. The place gave off nothing but a gloomy aura, the kind of building summer thrill-seekers would love to visit.
"Looks like a good place to make a grave too..."
With that pointless thought, I entered the wide open space that seemed to have once been used as a single large room and leaned against a pillar supporting the ceiling.
I had been strangled by that damn Ghoul in a police costume until I was just about to glimpse the River Styx.
My body, slumped against the pillar, had almost no strength left, as if it were collecting all the strain I'd put it through with interest.
"Dad, are you okay?"
Eto looked me over with a face that seemed on the verge of tears. Her fierce expression from before looked like a lie.
"Hoo..."
I closed my eyes and flexed both hands, checking my condition. I had no strength left in my body, but at least my arms still moved.
Using my hands, I touched the blood flowing from the wounds all over my body. Then I brought it to Eto's face.
"W-What?! What are you doing!?"
Eto flailed in panic, but I ignored her and carefully smeared my blood over her face and clothes.
After that, I grabbed both of Eto's shoulders and spoke seriously.
"Eto. Listen carefully to what I'm about to say. Right now, go outside like this. Then keep taking only the alleyways and run. No matter who talks to you, do not stop. Understand?"
"Huh?"
Eto blinked, unable to understand.
I was definitely cornered. Whether in chess or janggi, a king cornered like this was bound to die.
And yet, even a king who had no choice but to die could still change the flow so that at least one family member he didn't want to lose could survive.
"There's a Ghoul named Kuzen. You can trust him. If he catches my scent, he'll definitely find you. Then you go with him. That Ghoul will protect you. Understand?"
Kuzen Mister's fight with that so-called "organization" was dangerous, yes... but at the very least, it would be far safer than staying with me while a Ghoul was about to attack.
There was no problem. It was only a child who wasn't my daughter returning to her real father.
I was just letting the bird out of the cage called me. That was all.
Even if that bird was making a heartbroken face.
"Why... why are you saying that? Then what about you, Dad?"
"Enough. Just say you understand!"
"No!! I don't know! You're just telling me to run away by myself!"
Damn it. I'd run to buy time to break that stubbornness, but it didn't look like it would break easily.
Please. Please just run this time. I don't want to use the last resort.
But ignoring my wish, Eto grabbed my arm again to drag me along with her.
"We'll run together! Let's go find that Kuzen person together!"
"I'm not in any condition to keep running! You were already out of breath just carrying me this far, so how are you supposed to run away with me!!"
"I can do it! I can!"
Please... Please don't make me say that.
"I'm absolutely not running away alone! I'm going with Dad!"
Please...
"That bad old man is after you, Dad! If we stay here, then Dad..."
"I'm not your dad―――――!!!"
I'd done it after all, damn it.
The moment I said the one thing I never wanted to say, an invisible knife seemed to dig into my heart. It must have been the same for Eto, who had just heard the one thing she never wanted to hear.
Eto's eyes flew wide in shock as she fell silent.
I wanted to stop. What I'd just said denied all the time Eto and I had spent together.
But I couldn't stop. Before the pain spread so far that I couldn't say anything at all, I had to make Eto leave me.
"I'm not your dad! Your real dad is that Ghoul I told you about, Kuzen! I only raised you because he forced you on me! I just got stuck with you and raised you!! I was never your dad even once!!"
"..."
"When that bastard looked down on me and called me a cage! I couldn't even argue back! Because he was right! A human raising a Ghoul is weird, isn't it? Humans and Ghouls live in completely different worlds! There's no way it should work! I'm raising you wrong! I'm only ruining you! Only making you weak! It really was a cage! If you don't want to die trapped in that cage, get out right now! Go back to where you belong!!"
Haa! Haa!
For a while, only my rough breathing filled the space.
Eto said nothing. Maybe because she was in shock, her head was bowed so low I couldn't see her expression.
But she still didn't try to run away alone. Even after I'd said all that, why?
I was about to open my mouth and say it again.
Crack...!
The moment I caught that sound in my ears, I realized it.
Time was up.
The ceiling split into dozens of pieces, and chunks of concrete rained down over my head.
KWA-BOOOOM―――!!!!
Even the smallest fragments that fell were as big as a child's head. One hit would have been enough to kill.
And yet my thoughts kept going even after the deafening roar faded. It was hard to say I had died and come to the afterlife when the fatigue in my body was still there.
I slowly opened my eyes. And...
"Ugh..."
I could see Eto's face, twisted in pain, right in front of me.
She had shoved me down and taken the concrete fragments on her back to shield me.
"Eto!?"
I shouted like a scream.
Crushed by the weight, torn and pierced by sharp fragments, Eto's back was a complete mess.
It was the first time in her life that Eto had suffered such a severe injury. I felt the blood drain from my face.
"What are you doing!? Move, now!!"
I grabbed her shoulders to push her away, but Eto's two arms were braced at the sides of my head and refused to let go.
With blood running down her back, Eto suddenly spoke.
"I... sometimes have scary dreams."
"...?"
Dreams? What was she suddenly talking about in a situation like this...?
"It was a rainy day. Something scary was trying to hurt me... and Dad wrapped himself around me like he was protecting me and ran. Even while lying there bleeding like this, he kept trying not to fall so he could protect me. And in the end... he got angry at that scary thing for my sake."
"...?!"
Something came to mind as I listened to Eto's story.
But no, that couldn't be... Impossible.
Back then, Eto had only been a three-month-old baby. There was no way she could remember...
"Dad... You said you were a cage, didn't you? But that's not true. If you're rusting under the rain and wind, getting dented by someone's kicks, breaking apart... all while trying to protect the baby bird inside, then that isn't a cage... It's a 'nest.'"
"E-Eto..."
"And that 'nest' isn't closed like a cage. It's open, not restrictive. A nest that gives the baby bird a chance to fly, cheers it on, and stays by its side all the time is no longer a nest."
Drop.
A hot liquid fell onto my cheek. It wasn't Eto's blood.
It was a tear falling from Eto's pitiful eyes.
"It's a 『family』, right? Dad..."
"Ah..."
Right... Why had I forgotten?
Even if we weren't bound by blood, even if we were different species.
We were family.
Even if the world refused to acknowledge it, we had never doubted that we were family...
Pshhk!
"...!?"
One of the fragments embedded in Eto's shoulder was pulled free, and blood burst out.
Blood... no, it wasn't blood.
That substance gushing out like blood but gradually taking shape was...
"...A wing?"
"Dad. You didn't raise me wrong. You didn't ruin me. You didn't make me weak."
One wing, so red, so grotesque... and at the same time so beautiful, bloomed from Eto's shoulder like a flower unfurling its petals.
Eto pulled back from my body.
Then, as if showing off a new, pretty outfit, she spun around once, fluttered the wing, and smiled brightly.
"The 'love' you've given me all this time... is still making me this strong right now."
KWA-BOOM!!
With a massive impact, Eto's figure vanished from my sight.
With a kick off the ground, her body turned into a red flash and shot up into the sky.
Right into the torso of the 'enemy' tormenting the 'family' that had appeared above the hole in the ceiling.