A car pulled up beside the deserted dump. The person who got out from the driver's seat was Hitokawa.
After looking around, Hitokawa realized that Eto still hadn't arrived and took out his phone.
When he opened it, the current time appeared.
12:40 a.m. Roughly fifteen hours had passed since Koma was kidnapped by the Ghoul.
After the incident, Eto was tasked with gathering information on the Ghoul side's Insect-Masked Ghoul, while Hitokawa independently collected information on the human side's "Shinaoto Minami."
Eto, who had met Minami, said she had never once smelled like a Ghoul.
But judging from the circumstances, Minami was clearly connected to the Insect-Masked Ghoul.
So while Eto chased the Insect-Masked Ghoul, Hitokawa focused on tracking the traces of the human named Minami, and came to the agreed meeting place to share the results.
Beep. Beep. Beep. The line rang out.
He entered the number and pressed the call button. The dialing tone continued softly.
Then the receiving tone for that signal came from directly behind Hitokawa.
"...!!"
Hitokawa reflexively put distance between himself and the steel case in his hand. Perched on the roof of the car he had just gotten out of was a small, owl-like figure.
The blanket wrapped around her body was torn in several places and stained with blood.
The Owl character mask covering her face was cracked and ruined, making a mockery of its status as a mascot from a popular manga.
Seeing the eyes of both Ghoul and human through the broken mask, Hitokawa let his guard down.
"Eto?"
"Yes."
Eto nodded and jumped down from the car.
It was a movement light as a bird's, but when she landed, her balance wavered slightly. It was obvious at a glance that she was exhausted.
Hitokawa looked at her with complicated eyes.
He wasn't a Ghoul, but he knew the Ghoul world was a place of survival of the fittest, where the weak were weeded out.
Even if she was looking for someone, there was no way a strange outsider and little kid like Eto would be handed the information she wanted so readily.
So the method Eto had taken was... not hard to imagine.
A child born to a Ghoul and a human, raised by human hands, had thrown herself into that brutal world and come back.
All to save the human who had raised her, with a body that small....
Shake, shake! Hitokawa shook his head. This was no time to be lost in sentiment.
Apparently Eto felt the same way, because the moment she saw Hitokawa, she got straight to the point.
"Did you bring the map?"
Hitokawa took out the map he had left on the back seat and spread it on the ground.
The map of Tokyo, divided into a total of twenty-three wards, lay before them at a glance. Eto looked it over once, then took a pen in hand.
Red dots appeared one after another on the map. Then long lines extended from the dots, forming arrows.
Hitokawa had no idea what Eto was doing and tapped his foot impatiently.
He knew Eto was a smart kid, and he knew this wasn't the time for jokes, but from the outside it still looked exactly like a child scribbling on a map.
"Hey, what are you doing? Tell me too."
"Mister Hitokawa, you said that Ghoul was the first Ghoul to be discovered this time, right?"
"Yeah. I do wonder why a guy that strong had no information on him until now, though."
"I think that's because he hardly ever goes outside except to get food. If his only purpose is eating, then he'd center himself around his hideout and expand his hunting grounds from there. In fact, every sighting of the Insect-Masked Ghoul happened only when he was eating. These are the places where he was seen."
Hitokawa scanned the map. The red dots were concentrated in Wards 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15, while the appearance rate in other areas was noticeably lower.
So the red dots were the guy's range of activity? But even just the high-frequency areas covered most of southwestern Tokyo.
There was no way they could investigate all of that, even with a large team.
"Then what about the red arrows?"
"The direction the Insect-Masked Ghoul moved after eating."
For once, Hitokawa couldn't help admiring Koma for having raised her so well.
If the only purpose was food, then once that purpose was fulfilled, the guy would head straight back to his hideout.
Of course, the direction could change depending on his mood at the time. But if it wasn't just once or twice, and he kept moving toward the same place over and over?
And the place where Eto's arrows were actually converging was....
""Ward 12!""
Eto and Hitokawa spoke at the same time.
More than half of the arrows were pointing to Ward 12. And most of the arrows starting from the red dots inside Ward 12 were pointing toward the coast.
"This is as far as I can figure out. Now the only option is to go directly to Ward 12 and comb the coastline like a fine-toothed comb."
"There are about eight hours left until the time limit. Considering travel time, that's way too tight. Get in the car, now!"
Hitokawa got in and started the engine. But Eto didn't climb in after him and shook her head.
"It'll be faster if I run straight there over the rooftops instead of going by car. I'll go ahead and look for Dad, so Mister Hitokawa, follow behind me."
In terms of efficiency, that might have been better. But Hitokawa rejected it.
"Idiot! Haven't you experienced how fast Ukaku users burn through stamina? Sure, with your speed you'd reach Ward 12 faster than a car, but you won't have any strength left to fight the Insect-Masked Ghoul. And besides, where's the guarantee that the enemy is only the Insect-Masked Ghoul?"
"But...."
"No buts, get in! And I still haven't told you about Shinaoto Minami. You need to know about that woman too! Her past isn't normal either!"
"...."
Eto wanted to rush off and save Koma as soon as possible, but Hitokawa was right.
She was already exhausted from the repeated battles she had fought while gathering information. At this rate, even if she reached Ward 12, she wouldn't be in any condition to fight.
And that hard look on Hitokawa's face. It hinted that there was something unusual in the past he had uncovered about Shinaoto Minami.
A woman connected to the Insect-Masked Ghoul, and someone who had helped in Koma's kidnapping. What kind of person was she? She would hear from Hitokawa on the way to Ward 12.
Eto suppressed the urge to rush ahead and got into the passenger seat.
Vrrrrooom!!
The engine roared to life, and the car carrying the two of them shot out onto the road and raced toward Ward 12.
A soft touch was tickling my face. It was a wet towel.
When the towel that had been wiping the coffee spilled across my face moved away, I could see the face of the person who had dragged me here.
"You're awake? Is there anywhere that feels bad~?"
"...Want me to give you about ten pages of manuscript paper's worth of complaints?"
"Mm~! Looks like there isn't. What a relief, what a relief~. Our section chief really is mean, isn't he? He handles material so carelessly~. You've got to keep yourself in top condition until the day you're sublimated into art~!"
"You don't listen to a word anyone says, do you?"
That was how I felt when we first met too, but the more I talked with this woman named Minami, the more exhausting she became.
Ignoring Minami, who was speaking to me familiarly from beside me, I looked around.
The Ghoul superiors who had been gathered here a moment ago, and even the Insect-Masked Ghoul who had been sleeping upside down from the ceiling, were nowhere to be seen.
"Everyone went into a meeting~. I wonder whose proposal will be adopted this time~? Personally, I think the section chief's 'Prometheus plan' has the best chance, but... hmm~ still, I'd really like mine to be chosen~."
Minami babbled on without being asked.
By the way, Prometheus? That wasn't the Prometheus I know, right? No way they were going to peck my liver out while I was still alive, were they?
Every one of them was insane, so it was even scarier because I had no idea what would come out next.
"Aren't you going?"
"I'm the lowest of the low, so I'm on guard duty~."
Minami puffed out her cheeks, apparently unhappy that she hadn't been allowed to join the meeting.
Since we were alone, I decided to ask the thing I'd wanted to ask.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Huh?"
"You're human, aren't you? Why are you with them? Why do you want to become a Ghoul?"
"Why? Uuuuh~?"
Minami crossed her arms as if she'd been given a nonsense quiz and tilted her head over and over.
Then, as if she'd reached a conclusion, she relaxed her expression and looked back at me.
"Admiration."
"Admiration?"
"Yeah~. It's like the admiration people feel when they go wild over idols~? Ghouls are cool, aren't they~?"
"...."
What the hell is this woman talking about....
It felt like I was facing a kid who thought a serial killer was cool and wrote "serial killer" down as their dream job.
"Sorry, but I really don't get it."
"I figured~. But you know~. For example~ I'm just saying this as a totally hypothetical example, okay~? Let's say there's a small animal~. That little animal grew up being isolated and bullied by the others in its group~. Even if it wanted to fight back, it couldn't~. But then, one day, a vicious carnivore appears and eats all the animals that had been bullying the little one~! The carnivore does effortlessly what the little animal could never do no matter how hard it struggled~! That's cool~! It makes you admire it~!"
...She sounded like she was trying to say something meaningful, but some random JoJo-style rant had completely ruined the mood.
Even so, Minami kept talking.
"Anyway, that's how it is~. I want to live like a Ghoul, and to them I'm a useful existence if I'm used well~. I like them, so I stick around, and they use me, and it's a great win-win relationship, isn't it? This is what Ghoul-human symbiosis is all about, isn't it~?"
"...Are you kidding me right now?"
Minami's words were so ridiculous I spat them out coldly.
"What do you mean, symbiosis? One side is a fool following along without even knowing what she's doing, and the other side is just using her. Don't call that symbiosis."
"Huh~? I think this is the relationship that suits Ghouls and humans best~. Isn't it way better than a relationship where they eat each other? So what is it? Do you know a better relationship between Ghouls and humans~?"
"Well... better, maybe. Or in some ways, even worse than you people."
"...?"
"Something called 'affection' connects people to each other, but surprisingly, it can also become a dangerous trigger. You bastards just went and touched that trigger."
I hadn't spent seven years together with someone without thinking.
Even here, with no information at all, I could see exactly what that kid was feeling, and where she was, and what she was doing.
That was why I was worried, and that was why it was dangerous.
Just how do you people plan to clean up after this?
"My daughter is on her way here."