[ Time Limit - 2 ]
“…….”
Night had fully fallen.
Eto, her face hidden behind an Owl character mask, stood on the roof of a building and looked down over the city.
The red eyes glowing lonely from within did not rest on the city‘s beautiful nightscape.
What she watched was not light, but darkness.
The shadows beyond the reach of the city lights, stretching beneath them like a spiderweb. The creatures writhing there. The presence of the Ghouls who could only live in such places…….
Eto wrapped herself in a filthy blanket she had picked up at a construction site. Wind slipped through the gaps and puffed up her small frame.
At a glance, it was impossible to tell whether she was a child, a hunched adult…… or a giant owl.
“Owl…….”
Eto closed her eyes and recalled the middle-aged man she had met during the day.
The man who had appeared without a sound and vanished without a trace. The man she had thought looked like an owl.
She remembered his every small gesture and movement.
His breathing, the movement of his mouth, his deeply sunken gaze, even the muscles that shifted with each movement of a finger joint—she recalled them with perfect clarity and began to merge herself with them.
She was not blindly confident.
When asked whether she could imitate that man or not, she simply thought she could, so she was imitating him.
Her breathing faded away.
Her heartbeat sank.
As if every cell in her body were falling asleep. As if she were calling night down over her entire body.
The signs of life that naturally accompanied bodily activity disappeared.
She was becoming an owl.
Becoming a hunter that erased even the wind, let alone sound, while beating its wings.
The owl spread its wings.
And then Eto‘s form was erased into the night sky.
Grrr…….
“Big brother, I‘m hungry…….”
As I walked through the deserted alley, carefully checking every corner, my little brother‘s whining voice came from behind me.
My little brother was a boy seven years younger than me.
For ordinary kids, he‘d already be in elementary school by now, but that wasn‘t possible. We were outside the ordinary.
We brothers were Ghouls.
Our father had died long ago after being taken down by a Ghoul Investigator, and our mother had met a new man and abandoned us.
The world of Ghouls was never a forgiving place for children. If I abandoned this kid too, he would never survive.
That was why I was taking care of him. I could barely keep myself alive, but somehow I was scraping by.
Last time, I had sneaked into a mansion, planning to use an old man I thought lived alone as food, only to be caught by the old man‘s son, who happened to be visiting from the capital.
Before I could even stop him, he reported me to the CCG, so I ran like hell. If I‘d stayed to silence him after being spotted, I might have ended up caught by a Ghoul Investigator.
I had been wearing a mask at the time, so my face hadn‘t been exposed, but it was over for hunting in that area now.
So I was moving far away with my little brother like this.
But after failing to get food and traveling such a long distance, my brother seemed to be starving badly.
I was hungry too, while I wondered whether this alley would be suitable as a new hunting ground.
I patted my whining brother‘s head to comfort him.
“Hang in there a little longer. Big brother will get us something to eat soon. Our Kenta is a tough little man, right? You can hold out, can‘t you?”
“……Mm!”
Clutching his empty stomach, Kenta pressed his lips together and nodded vigorously. That‘s my brother.
For his sake too, I needed to hurry and hunt a human.
Even though I was a Ghoul, I wasn‘t especially strong, so if I tried to hunt recklessly, I might get counterattacked.
If I hid well enough in this alley, ambushing a passing human was the best I could do right now.
Where would be good? Behind that utility pole over there?
Tilt…….
“Huh?”
Something unbelievable happened. The utility pole was leaning over.
I thought something unreal was happening, but the thing tilting wasn‘t just the utility pole.
The alley itself, the dry concrete walls—everything was slanting along with the pole.
“B-big brother!”
Even Kenta, staring at me with a face gone pale blue, was tilting too. What the hell was this!?
Only after the slanted world slapped my cheek did I realize I had fallen over.
There was nothing there, so why had I fallen? Had I gotten dizzy from hunger?
Confused, I braced myself on the ground with my arms and tried to lift my upper body. I bent my legs to stand up next, but…… something felt off. Looking down at my legs in confusion, I…… felt the blood drain from my head.
Both my legs had been cut off.
The severed legs, apparently unaware they had been cut away, were still lying where I had been standing. And only then did blood gush out as they thudded to the ground.
“W-what the hell is thisssssss!!!!”
What had happened? Pain and shock had turned my mind to mush.
What had really happened? Instead of losing strength, I couldn‘t detect anything with my senses, which were sharper than most Ghouls‘.
No one had entered this alley except me and my brother. Not even a breath of wind had passed through, let alone a human presence.
And yet my legs had clearly been severed, as if a grim reaper had swung a giant scythe and passed by.
And then I saw it.
Behind my little brother, who was running toward me with a face gone pale.
There was no giant scythe, but there was the shadow of a person, scattering an ominous cloth like a reaper.
Who was it? CCG? A Ghoul?
What should have been on its face was the Owl character mask from some manga my brother liked.
No, the identity didn‘t matter. What I had to do now was…….
“Kenta, get down!!”
Startled by my shout, Kenta still ducked his head.
At the same time, a Kagune burst from my tailbone and shot out like a spear, aiming for the Owl mask.
Whoosh!
But what it pierced was nothing but empty air.
The moment it seemed the Owl mask moved, it vanished completely from sight.
Not just sight. I couldn‘t sense even the slightest movement from anywhere in the alley.
What the hell? What the hell is this? Am I fighting a ghost!?
Once panic set in, everything after that happened in an instant.
The Owl mask appeared again and swept sideways, slicing through my Kagune as if ripping it out.
I reached out to grab even the hem of its clothing, but an attack from a direction I never could have expected severed the arm I had extended.
I threw myself to protect Kenta, but before I could, a sharp steel rod like the kind used at construction sites flew in and pierced my remaining arm, pinning me to the wall.
I couldn‘t move.
In that hopeless situation, I looked at Kenta.
Kenta had already been seized by the Owl mask and was unable to move a muscle.
“Answer the question.”
“W-what……?!”
A voice. Muffled by the mask, but shockingly, it was the voice of a child.
But being a child didn‘t make the situation any better.
The skill that had subdued me in an instant, and the chilling atmosphere that felt like a blade was digging into my ear, were all packed into that voice.
“If I judge that you‘ve lied even a little, I‘ll kill this one.”
Inside the blanket covering the Owl mask, something like wings could be seen. The feathers rose like spikes and pressed into Kenta‘s neck.
Kenta was frightened and on the verge of tears.
“B-big brother! Save me!!”
“Stop!! What do you want!! I‘ll tell you everything, so don‘t touch him!!”
“Have you ever seen a Ghoul wearing an insect mask?”
“An insect mask? Was there such a Ghoul?”
Nothing came to mind right away, but I desperately dug through old memories. If I didn‘t know what this thing wanted, answering carelessly could put Kenta in danger.
Insect mask, insect…… and then I remembered the face of a deranged Ghoul I had once seen long ago.
“I-I have! You mean that guy who laughs like ’kehehe‘ like he‘s hopped up on drugs, right?!”
“Where did you see him?”
“The slums of the 12th Ward! I saw him hunting there!”
“Where did he disappear to?”
“Where……?”
I clearly remembered what he looked like.
The grotesque mask was memorable enough, but more than that, his insane behavior had left a bad impression.
But maybe that part had stood out too much, because I couldn‘t remember the smaller details of what he did after that.
“I-I don‘t know!”
“…….”
Pshk!
“Aaaahhh!”
“Kenta!?”
One of the thorn-like Kagune feathers pierced Kenta‘s neck. It was probably only a threat, because it had gone in just a little. But Kenta was thoroughly terrified and burst into tears.
“Tell me.”
“I-I‘m telling the truth! I don‘t remember where he went!!”
Pshk!!
Another feather drove in.
This one went a little deeper than the last. Kenta‘s crying grew louder.
“Damn it!! Damn it!! Damn it!! I told you I don‘t know!! What am I supposed to do if I really don‘t remember!! How the hell would I know where some freak like that went!!!”
“…….”
Even as I shouted curses, the thing didn‘t move an inch.
A third feather was about to stab into Kenta‘s neck.
If it went any deeper, even a Ghoul would be in danger. But I couldn‘t save him, and it made me want to cry.
Drop.
In the end, the tears that overflowed fell from beneath my chin.
Moisture filled my vision.
And the moment I saw the world distort in those ripples, one scene flashed through my mind.
“The sea!!”
“……!”
At my shout, the Owl mask stopped moving.
“The sea! I saw the sea in the direction he went after finishing his hunt and heading back!!”
I had seen him from a rooftop, so I knew. Beyond the direction he had moved, the horizon had been faintly visible.
“…….”
Apparently satisfied with the answer, the Owl mask released Kenta.
And then…….
“I‘m sorry!”
“!?”
It bowed deeply and apologized. Kenta and I stared at the Owl mask, dumbfounded.
The chilling atmosphere from before was gone.
A clear, childlike voice full of apology drifted out from inside the mask.
“I had no choice but to threaten you all because of unavoidable circumstances. I‘m truly sorry for injuring you. But I hope you‘ll understand that this was the only way to save time.”
The Owl mask came over to me and pulled out the steel rod that had pierced my arm.
It was a chance to strike back, but I couldn‘t bring myself to do it.
I hadn‘t sensed even a shred of hostility from the other side, and I had already experienced firsthand that even if I tried to retaliate, I wouldn‘t stand a chance.
The Owl mask politely clasped both hands together and bowed once more.
“Thank you for telling me. I cut the limbs cleanly, so if you hold them against the stumps for a few minutes, they should reattach. Please eat this and recover quickly.”
The Owl mask took a plastic bag from inside its clothes and placed it in my hand.
It smelled delicious, so I opened it and, sure enough, it was human flesh. It looked as if someone had deliberately processed it to make it easy for a child around Kenta‘s age to eat.
The Owl mask apologized once more and vanished without a trace, just as it had appeared.
It felt less like I had met a Ghoul and more like I had faced a ghost.
Who the hell had that been?
Judging by the way it spoke, it seemed like a girl around Kenta‘s age, but that was all I could tell. I could only roughly guess that it had attacked us because of some serious circumstances.
“Big brother, are you okay?”
“Yeah…… I‘m more or less okay…… I think?”
Looking at the severed limbs as the Owl mask had said, the cut surfaces were smooth, and the cells were still alive.
It was definitely at the level where I could reattach them if I held them in place, and I even had food that could help.
Just how sharp did you have to grind a Kagune to do something like this?
At that age, with that kind of skill…… there were truly terrifying people in this world. Thinking that, I checked on Kenta‘s condition.
“Kenta, are you okay?”
“Yeah. I‘m okay.”
The wound on his neck wasn‘t as serious as I‘d feared.
As I was sighing in relief, Kenta tugged hard at my clothes.
“Hey, big brother.”
“Hm?”
“When that girl grabbed me earlier, I was really, really scared…….”
Kenta fidgeted with his fingers and blushed.
“But her body smelled really nice, so I felt good. Do you think I‘ll get to see her again?”
“…….”
I was left speechless for a moment by my brother‘s bombshell declaration that he wanted to experience that ice-cold nightmare again.
Hold on a second, little brother. You must not open the door to that world.