"Cough... spit!"
With the cough came a metallic taste pooling in my mouth.
Turning my head, I spat it out. A sticky clot of blood flew free and hit the floor.
"Hah... Hah..."
Leaning against the wall, I forced my breathing to steady.
The surroundings were... quiet. I still couldn't feel any sign of pursuit.
Wobble.
"Ghk..."
I'd only let myself relax a little, and already the strength in my legs was draining away.
Idiot. Get a grip. If I lose my nerve here, there's no coming back from it.
Step.
"...!"
One small sound made my whole body go rigid.
Someone was coming. Was it that bastard?
I bit my dry, cracking lip.
Scanning for anything I could use as a weapon, I picked up a shard of glass small enough to hold in one hand.
"I wonder if Eto... made it home..."
I'd hoped she'd stay out a little longer if possible. If she saw the house in this state, it would only create worries that didn't need to exist.
Feeling the footsteps drawing closer, I replayed what had happened earlier that day.
"Eto!!!"
I'd realized Eto had lied and rushed home in a panic, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Even after searching the house from top to bottom, the result was the same.
The picnic backpack I'd given Eto as a present, along with her shoes, were gone. That was enough to confirm she'd left the house.
"Damn it!!!"
I slammed my fist into the wall for no good reason.
I'd been too careless. I'd underestimated a Ghoul's physical abilities. I never imagined she'd overhear that conversation.
No, regret later. First, I had to find Eto.
Where would she have gone? If she'd run away because of guilt over herself, then maybe I could guess her destination. But...
"That kid has a tendency to act way too mature... If what moved Eto after hearing that conversation wasn't 'guilt' but 'responsibility'..."
I dashed to my room and yanked open the drawer.
As expected, it was gone.
The "map" I used to mark suicide spots. Eto must have taken it.
"That idiot!"
This wasn't a simple runaway. She'd gone out to procure food for herself.
Right. For a Ghoul, that was something she'd eventually have to experience.
If something happened to me and I couldn't get food, there was always the possibility Eto would have to get it herself. But this was too soon.
A corpse wasn't the same as the little scraps of meat that had been placed in front of Eto until now.
Could a beef steak go down pleasantly while watching a cow being slaughtered right in front of you? The shock of an imagined death and the shock of facing a real one could never be the same.
Eto was far too young to stare death in the face with her own eyes.
I hadn't wanted her to confront it until she'd developed a firmer sense of values and enough mental strength to handle it!
"Maybe it's not too late!"
I hurried out of the house to catch Eto.
I didn't know the exact details, but I had memorized the rough locations of seven suicide spots. The problem was which one Eto had headed for.
All seven were places too far to reach on foot for Eto.
She was a clever kid, so she wouldn't have just walked there. She must have used transportation. If so, any of the seven was possible.
Which one? Where would that kid have gone?
I had to follow the trail. The moment I left the house, I grabbed anyone passing by and asked if they'd seen Eto.
If she'd only left not long ago, someone had to have seen her.
And before long, I found someone who'd seen a little girl matching Eto's appearance.
"Maybe about twenty minutes ago? She kept wandering around near that bus stop, staring hard at the people getting on the bus."
Using the flower shop owner's account—she'd seen Eto while watering the street outside—I checked the bus timetable on the assumption Eto had taken a bus.
As a result, I found that three of the buses all led to the three suicide spots I used to visit by bicycle.
Bus 13 went to the iron bridge over the river.
Bus 20 went to an abandoned house in the slums.
Bus 22 went to a cliffside mountain road on the outskirts of the city.
Eto had definitely taken one of those three buses. The problem was that there was no way to know which one.
Deciding to check the nearest place first, I headed for the iron bridge.
"Etooo—!!"
I called her name from the bridge all the way down to the riverbank where corpses were said to drift ashore, but I couldn't find her. The woman's body I'd seen last time was gone too, probably already removed by someone.
It didn't take long to decide this place was a bust.
Feeling like I'd wasted my time, I climbed back up from the riverbank to head for the next location.
I had to move fast. I stood by the side of the road, waiting for a taxi to pass so I could take one—something I normally couldn't even consider because of the price.
So why was it that when I actually needed one, not even a nose appeared?
Just as I was tapping my toes against the ground, growing impatient at the lack of taxis among the countless cars passing by...
"Hey."
Thump.
A large palm landed on my shoulder, and I flinched, my expression stiffening as I turned my head.
...Ah. Crap. I'd forgotten.
I wasn't exactly in a position where I could be wandering around outside like this.
"We meet again."
The hand on my shoulder belonged to a police officer who looked two or three years older than me.
And this officer... was the same one whose face I'd hit with a stink paint bomb and then run from at dawn yesterday.
Because I'd fled during a stop-and-search, I was already suspected of being involved in yesterday's murder case... I knew something like this would happen eventually, but the timing was awful! Of all times, it had to be when Eto had gone missing!
No good. Even if they plaster my face on wanted posters nationwide, I had to run now.
Come on, paint bomb. Do your job again!
I slipped a hand into my pocket, trying to pull it out. Then...
Click.
"You may exercise your right to remain silent, but this little toy won't be exercising anything anymore."
The middle-aged officer, also one of the men who'd been splashed with the paint bomb yesterday, grinned as he snapped handcuffs around my wrist before I could pull the bomb out.
...Fate, you absolute bitch. I just turned a six-thousand-character swear session into a freestyle rap in my head. Want to hear it?
"Why did you run last time?"
"I have panic disorder, so I'm weak against scary stories like murder cases."
"What was in that guitar case?"
"A guitar."
The police car. A vehicle I'd firmly believed I'd never ride in my entire life.
If I had to describe the feeling of sitting in one, it was pure depression.
Two officers in the front seat were questioning me. The younger one was driving, while the older one did most of the talking.
In the rearview mirror, the middle-aged officer's suspicious stare showed no sign of easing up. He'd realized I was hiding something important.
"Look, I really have nothing to do with the murder case. And from what I heard, Ghoul bodily fluid was found at the scene, right? I'm human."
"There are plenty of murder cases where someone gets hold of Ghoul bodily fluid and tries to frame a Ghoul. Just last year alone, there were three murder cases everyone thought were Ghoul work, but the investigation turned up human culprits."
"..."
No good.
These people had no intention of dropping their suspicion of me.
And all this time, Eto might be getting a huge shock from seeing a fresh(?) corpse, or getting lost, or... anything.
"By the way, senior, shouldn't we hand this guy over to the CCG for a Ghoul test first?"
"Why bother with something that troublesome?"
While I was worrying about Eto, I heard the two officers in the front seat talking.
"He says he's not a Ghoul, but what if he's a Ghoul pretending to be human?"
"Then he'd have run off after getting cuffed already. No need to worry about it."
"I see..."
"I'm telling you, it's fine."
"...?"
Listening to that conversation, I felt a strange sense of wrongness.
Their exchange just now. It was an ordinary little conversation, nothing special.
And yet... what was it?
Why did it feel off?
Maybe it was just my imagination, but it was too nagging to ignore.
Was there anything I could bring up to poke at that bizarre feeling?
"...You know there's no such thing as absolute certainty in this world, right?"
I hunched forward and lowered my voice as much as possible, making it sound dark and ominous.
As if sensing something strange in my sudden change, the two officers' gazes shifted toward me through the rearview mirror.
"You said traces of a Ghoul were found, right~? Instead of handing me over quietly to the CCG, why are you sticking your nose in and rushing your own death..."
With a sharp clink, the handcuffs around my wrist jerked tight as if they might snap.
Fangs bared. Eyes full of killing intent.
The beast that had been hiding behind a human face finally revealed its true nature.
"I'll kill you all!!"
BANG!!
...And the beast's frenzy ended in vain against a transparent barrier.
It was the partition separating the front and back seats of the police car. There was a sliding door, but unless the front seat opened it, it was effectively always shut.
"..."
"..."
Under the two officers' cold stares, I pressed myself against the partition and opened my mouth.
"...Just kidding."
"Add obstruction of official duties and extortion threats to the charges."
"Damn it..."
Thud!
Cursing, I slumped into my seat.
It wasn't because my all-out gag had gone up in smoke.
It was because I'd figured out the source of that wrong feeling.
Even now, gooseflesh was crawling up my spine, and I couldn't stand up straight.
'Why the hell is there something like that?'
As I dug into the source of the unease, I arrived at one hypothesis.
And right now, that hypothesis pointed to the worst possible outcome imaginable.
It made no sense, of course.
A police officer? A civil servant? That was possible?
But the thought that had once seemed absurd gradually hardened into certainty.
Careful not to be noticed by the officers in front, I quietly took out my phone. Thank God I'd set it to silent when I was dealing with the corpse.
Keeping my face turned toward the window, I moved my fingers quickly in the shadow of the seat.
I had to send this fast. To the one person who needed help most in this situation.
"Mr. Hajimoto, are we there yet?"
"Hmm, it's been a while since I went to visit the son of someone who saved my life. I can't show up empty-handed. Come here and help me pick out a housewarming gift."
"I don't think Koma would care that much."
Hitokawa looked at his superior with half-amused disbelief as the man, on the way to Koma's place, suddenly stopped by a department store because he'd forgotten the gift.
Well, that conscientiousness was one of his superior's strengths.
Brrring~
"Hm? A text from Koma?"
Just as Hitokawa was about to recommend a set of manju to Hajimoto, he opened his phone without thinking.
『S.O.S.』
"Huh...?"
The moment he saw the message, Hitokawa's eyes went wide.
At first he thought Koma was joking, but as more messages followed, his face turned pale.
"Mr. Hajimoto!!"
Hitokawa hurriedly called out to his superior.
On the phone screen in his hand, this message was displayed:
『S.O.S.
Police officer Ghoul』