The alleyways, tangled together by indiscriminate construction, were like a maze. I wasn't even sure where I was heading anymore.
After running for a long while, I was out of breath. I checked to make sure he wasn't chasing me, then hid behind a corner.
It was lucky that it was dusk. Orange light had begun to stain the sky above the buildings, which were otherwise nothing but bleak concrete. The left side was darker, so that must be west. At least that let me figure out roughly which direction I was going.
That was all, though.
I'd never been anywhere near this area before. Even if I got out of this alley, there was no guarantee I'd know where I was.
And if I tried asking a passerby for directions...
"...In this state, I should be glad I don't get caught by some brave model citizen."
I glared miserably at the handcuffs that still clung to my wrists. Handcuffs. The perfect symbol of "I'm a criminal." I could try pretending they were a toy, but...
The problem wasn't just the cuffs. My face and clothes were both soaked in blood.
No, "soaked" wasn't quite right. It was more like I was completely covered in it.
The blood on my face had come from the gash on my forehead. The blood on my clothes had been picked up when I climbed over the police officer whose head had burst open as I escaped the police car.
"I wish I could contact Hitokawa..."
My phone had been taken by that Ghoul. It had been the latest model, damn it...
If I couldn't reach Hitokawa, I could always try finding a CCG branch and asking for help. That plan was blocked by the simple fact that I had no idea where I was, too.
To be honest, what I wanted most right now wasn't to run away from here, and it wasn't even to land a hit on that Ghoul.
"Eto..."
I was just worried about Eto.
Worried about that kid who had left home to procure food on her own because she felt responsible for me falling apart.
Please, let her mission have failed. I didn't want her getting hurt.
But if she had succeeded... if she had witnessed death with her own eyes for the first time, then that would have left a deep wound in a heart that still wasn't fully grown.
I had to go back to Eto. But not now.
Right now, I wasn't even sure I could survive. If I died like this, then Eto...
Die... Eto... I...
"...Ugh!!"
My upper body doubled over as if someone had slammed the back of my head with a heavy blow.
It felt like hundreds of snakes in my stomach were trying to crawl up my throat, tearing their way out through my belly.
My hands and feet trembled uncontrollably, as if I'd been electrocuted, and my vision shook so violently I couldn't tell up from down.
Now that I'd escaped the immediate danger, I could finally recognize my own condition. A Ghoul hunting me, a murder already committed right in front of me, the smell of death clinging to my skin... my mind rejected all of it with the same ferocity as a child throwing a tantrum, and that rejection surged up through my body.
Panic attack.
This one was stronger than any I'd ever had before. It was bad enough that I wondered if I might die from the attack itself instead of from the Ghoul.
Having a panic attack in a situation where I might be chased at any moment only made everything worse.
I fumbled inside my chest pocket for my medication. But...
"It's gone...?! "
The pill case that should have been in my pocket wasn't there.
Then I remembered the police car flipping over and me tumbling around inside it. I must have dropped it then.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!!!"
Even as I kept cursing, I forced myself to stand.
I didn't have the luxury of lying here until the attack passed. If I didn't suppress it with medication, it would keep coming back and drag me down again and again.
I had to get home. I had to take the spare pills from the shelf.
If I didn't deal with this attack first, I wouldn't even be able to come up with a plan to do anything about that Ghoul.
Moving with half my mind already trying to flee from reality, I staggered forward. The end of the alley came into view. I could see the road where cars passed by.
And then... I saw the only lifeline available in this situation.
"There aren't many customers today..."
The taxi driver leaned back in his seat and sighed at the darkening sky.
He'd only picked up three passengers all day. And not a single one had been a long-distance fare. At this rate, he wouldn't even make enough for gas, let alone buy the birthday present for his daughter.
So he prayed to the sky. Human, Ghoul, ghost—he didn't care what it was, just please let him get some customers.
And whether God really existed or not, not long after that prayer, he heard the rear door open.
"Welco—!"
The taxi driver, who had been trying to smooth out his grim expression and greet the customer brightly, froze with the smile still on his face.
A passenger had gotten in. Unfortunately, he looked nothing like a normal one.
He was a man absolutely caked in blood, so badly that it couldn't even be called fashion. His forehead was split open to the point where it looked like he should be in a hospital, his breathing was rough, he was sweating coldly all over, and he kept shaking in a way that felt ominous. That alone was enough to put him well outside the bounds of normal, and to top it all off, both wrists were bound in handcuffs.
The taxi driver was suddenly seized by the urge to cancel the prayer he'd just sent up to heaven.
"Mister..."
"Yes, sir! Speak!"
At the voice, tightly restrained as if by force, the taxi driver answered at attention.
"Pick one. Do you want to chat about why I look like this? Or do you want to quietly take all the money in my wallet and floor it to the ○★◇ villa?"
"..."
The hesitation was long, but the action was fast.
He started the engine and tore down the road like a racing driver.
To him, human, Ghoul, or ghost—it didn't matter. If they paid, they were a customer.
After emptying all the bills in my wallet into the taxi driver's hands and leaving only a few coins behind, I got out of the taxi.
I told him not to report me because I wasn't a suspicious person, but I doubted the taxi driver would actually listen.
Even if he did report me, there wasn't much I could do about it.
"Huff... huff..."
Clinging to the wall, I made my way to the elevator and reached my apartment. My hands kept shaking so badly I couldn't get the key into the lock, and after several failed attempts I finally managed to open the door and go inside.
The house was quiet. Eto still hadn't come back yet, apparently. That worried me, but at the same time I felt the ironic relief of not having to show her this state of mine.
Thud!!
Without even taking off my shoes, I collapsed in the entryway. Maybe because I'd finally felt safe in my own home, exhaustion crashed over me all at once. The panic attack seemed to be subsiding, but it still clung to my body with a vicious grip.
Leaving a trail of blood that hadn't fully dried yet, I crawled toward the shelf where the medicine was kept.
Getting up and reaching for the pill case was more of a struggle than I'd expected. In the end, I dumped everything on the shelf onto the floor just to get my hands on it.
I took out two anti-anxiety pills and tossed them into my mouth. Trying to swallow them without water made them catch in my throat and trigger a cough. I forced them down with saliva.
"Haa... haa... hoo..."
I stretched out on the floor and caught my breath.
As time passed, I could feel the attack easing. Maybe because of the drug, the pain from my wounds also dulled considerably.
Once I could move my body with some degree of ease, the first thing I did was find a piece of wire in the toolbox.
I didn't know any real lock-picking technique, but after wrestling with the wire for a long while, I finally managed to get the handcuffs off my wrists.
I threw the cuffs away, then went into the shower without even taking off my clothes and washed off the blood and dirt. As soon as I got out, I stripped off the blood-soaked clothes and took out the first-aid kit.
I sprayed disinfectant on the wound on my forehead, wrapped it in gauze, and secured it with white tape. I ignored the rest of the minor scrapes. I didn't have time to treat every little cut one by one.
That Ghoul would definitely come after me again. I was holding information that was far too dangerous for him.
After changing into clean clothes, I headed for the house phone.
I tried to recall Hitokawa's mobile number, the one I'd saved but never really memorized.
"3478... no, was it 9?"
With uncertain confidence, I punched in the number. Then I waited silently as the ringing came through the receiver.
Ring... ring... click.
"...?"
What?
The ringing that had been going through just fine suddenly cut off. I put the receiver down and picked it up again, but now there wasn't even a dial tone.
"What's going on?"
I needed to reach Hitokawa as quickly as possible, and now the phone had suddenly broken...
Broken? Was it really broken? The timing was way too perfect for that.
...I desperately prayed that this feeling would end up being nothing but my imagination, but heaven didn't grant it.
Thump.
I heard something land heavily.
Was it by the front door? No.
The other side. The balcony.
On the railing of the fifth-floor balcony, a place no ordinary person could possibly reach... sat a police officer soaked in blood.
"Hii~ there~?"
That damned Ghoul in a police uniform moved his mouth like that.