"Why do you work under someone like that?"
Not long after the boss left the room, Minami started humming again and preparing the tools she'd use to dismantle me.
I threw the question at her back, and she turned around as if she thought it was strange.
"Someone like what?"
"Your boss. You almost got murdered just now."
I was talking about the moment Minami cut off the boss's greedy stare when it landed on me.
Back then, she had claimed ownership of my body, and the boss had looked like he was hoping she could somehow let it slide.
Up to that point, it was a perfectly ordinary conversation. The subject matter was just too deranged.
Minami had brought up another target and shown her refusal, and the boss had pretended to think it over accordingly.
But his gaze hadn't changed.
The look that had been on me shifted to Minami, but the disgusting quality of it stayed the same.
The bastard was weighing it.
Whether it would be more profitable to keep Minami alive, or to kill her now and take my body.
If the phone hadn't rung at that exact moment, something would have happened for sure.
I could tell just by watching from the side. No matter how unhinged she looked, there was no way Minami herself hadn't noticed anything.
And yet she remained as calm as ever.
She checked the tools again and said, "I don't care. The way they treat ordinary employees is below slave labor anyway."
"...That's a strangely hard thing to argue with."
It felt like a painful slice of reality had come out of the mouth of a woman who seemed the furthest thing from reality.
In other words, she'd been working with those bastards all this time in an atmosphere where she might be killed at any moment, just like before.
I didn't get it.
I didn't get why she wanted to become a Ghoul, either, or why she was working with people who didn't seem to treat her all that well.
But apparently, none of that mattered much to her.
Clatter-clatter.
The tools she'd been checking were laid out in a row beside the iron bed I was lying on.
The awl she'd planned to use to gouge out my eyes was almost cute by comparison.
Saws, scissors, sulfuric acid, surgical scalpels, hammers, and more. The whole set looked like props from a B-grade gore film.
Ah. So this is really how I die, I thought, even though there was nothing I could do.
Probably because I'd thrashed around earlier and smashed the boss's crown with my head, someone had fetched a thick belt and strapped me to the bed. Now I couldn't even struggle.
The only thing left to me was to keep talking and somehow change Minami's mind...
Could I even do that? Could I talk this crazy bitch down?
I didn't have a psychology license or anything, but I had no choice but to try.
"What were you doing before you got into this kind of work?"
"Oh? Are you interested in me now?"
"Wouldn't I be interested if you're about to tear my body apart right this second?"
I didn't have much time.
I had to find it. The keyword that would strip away this woman's sly smile.
The decisive keyword that would make the real face hidden behind it come out.
Quickly, before she finished deciding whether to use the awl or the saw in her hands first.
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"I've had plenty of people come after me, but none of them were good enough."
"Then how about me?"
"Oh? That's not bad. If we meet in the next life, I'll be the one to confess first~."
So I'm definitely dying in this life, huh.
That wasn't working at all. Something else!
"Why do you want to become a Ghoul?"
"I already told you, didn't I? Because they're cool, so I admire them."
"If you admire Ghouls, should I introduce you to one? A really strong middle-aged Ghoul, too."
"Really? If one actually exists, that'd be nice~."
No good. She was reacting a little, but she didn't seem to believe me.
And I couldn't exactly call Mr. Kuzen right here to prove it. Something else!
"By the way, what do your parents do? My parents are both dead. Especially my father, because of your damn boss..."
Clang!
The metallic shriek tore through the air and cut me off.
It was the awl. The awl Minami had been holding was now half-buried in the iron plate by my head.
Minami, still gripping the handle, smiled sweetly at me.
"Could you focus a little? You need to prepare yourself before starting work~."
"..."
I shut my mouth in shock and stared at the awl lying by my head.
I wasn't startled by Minami's threat.
'She reacted.'
I found the keyword.
"Parents." That was the keyword that triggered Minami.
I had to drag out her true face with that. And just as I was desperately trying to string together words that could use that keyword,
Thump!
"Mmph?!"
Minami covered my mouth with her hand first.
She finally seemed to have made up her mind as she looked at the saw in her other hand.
"All right, I've decided. Gouging out your eyes would be fine, but I think I'll just cut your head off cleanly."
"Mmmph! Mmph!"
"Don't worry. I'm used to this sort of thing, so I can cut it off nicely. First, the saw blade will slice into your skin. Then it'll hit the thyroid near your neck. It's cartilage, so it'll cut easily. Once it goes a little deeper, the muscle and body fat will make it harder to move the saw, but once I cut the artery, even that'll start to lose resistance. After that, I'll cut through the airway and reach the neck bone, and from there I'll bring down an axe and sever it in one go."
As if she'd done this exact thing many times before, she poured out the words like a waterfall.
There wasn't even any killing intent in it. Like someone used to slaughtering pigs, moving a knife without a care, Minami brought the sharp saw to the tip of my Adam's apple.
"Mmmph!! Mmph!"
"Then good night, Koma-kun~."
She whispered gently, as if putting a child to sleep, and tightened her grip on the saw.
The blade dug into my skin—
Knock, knock.
Suddenly, an out-of-place knock rang calmly through a world that had been strained to its limit.
Minami stopped and looked toward the door with a strange expression.
As if she found it odd. As if none of the people she knew had the manners to knock before entering this room.
With a suspicious look on her face, she said toward the door, "Who is it?"
That voice.
As if it had been waiting to hear that one line, the door was violently ripped off its hinges.
Along with a voice I knew very well.
KWAANG!!!
"It's a democracy delivery, you rotten bitch!!"
Hitokawa chose the stairs leading underground.
It wasn't some special intuition.
He'd simply been taught that, because Ghouls who hid themselves preferred places that weren't conspicuous and were blocked off on all sides.
If they were hiding their bodies and, in case of emergency, using underground waterways as an escape route, then they were more likely to be below ground than above it.
Surely there wouldn't be a Ghoul sitting calmly on the top floor of a giant building, looking down at the world. If there was, he wanted to see its face once.
He made it down to the first basement floor, but even after searching every room there, there was no sign of Koma.
If he went down to the second basement floor and still found nothing, then his guess had been wrong, and he'd have wasted a significant amount of time. That thought made him impatient.
While he was searching the second basement floor, he heard a faint sound.
Was it just a rat passing by? Someone talking? Clinging to a small hope, he followed the sound.
What he found was a door at the very back, tightly shut.
The door was made of iron, but the hinges were old and worn. If he kicked it with all his strength, he could probably bring it down.
But if he did that, the noise would give away his presence.
Hitokawa gave the door a tentative knock.
"Who is it?"
What came back was a voice he remembered.
After hearing that voice, there was no reason to hesitate any longer.
He kicked the old hinges and brought the door down.
KWAANG!!!
"It's a democracy delivery, you rotten bitch!!"
He'd made a flashy entrance, but he never lost his cool.
The moment the door fell, he quickly scanned the room with his eyes.
There were no visible Ghouls. Only Minami with a saw, and his friend who was about to have his throat cut open.
Rather than relief that he'd made it in time, he prioritized eliminating the threat.
The distance was too far. Even if he threw himself forward, it would take two or three steps. If Minami went crazy and sliced an artery with the saw, it would be disastrous.
'In that case...!'
He limited himself to a single step.
He stomped hard on the fallen door.
The rebound shot up through his legs, through his body, and into his right arm gripping the metal case. He used that force as it was, swinging it like a pro baseball player and hurling the metal case.
"...?!!"
Minami reflexively raised her arms to protect her head.
But the force and weight behind the metal case were substantial, and a dangerous sound rang out from the arm that blocked it, the impact reaching her head as well.
As Minami collapsed like rotten wood, Hitokawa rushed in.
He opened the metal case by pressing the switch on it as it fell with Minami, and drew out his Quinque.
At the same time, he kicked Minami's completely exposed abdomen and sent her flying toward the wall. Then he naturally followed through by gripping the deployed Quinque, his movement already shifting into a stance prepared for a possible ambush.
There was no ambush to guard against.
He didn't sense anyone rushing in after hearing the noise, either. Eto must have been doing well up above.
Hitokawa let out a breath and looked at Koma, who was tightly bound to the iron bed, with a smile that was half relief and half disbelief.
"What the hell is that supposed to be? A caterpillar impression?"
"And what are you supposed to be, a veteran Ghoul Investigator?"
Koma grinned back at Hitokawa, saying he looked pretty convincing.