Minami Sinuoto. She hovered by the staircase leading to the second floor, her face etched with a prying, inquisitive interest.
First, there was Takaki Koma—the man who had become her drinking buddy just yesterday. In the middle of discussing how he had no memory of the previous night's events, his expression had suddenly turned rigid, and he bolted up the stairs. Immediately after, Koma's daughter, Eto (he looked so young to have a daughter that age—impressive!), turned ashen as if she had realized something terrible and chased after him.
In the end, Minami was left standing alone, abandoned without a word of explanation.
What is going on?
When they spoke of the previous night, both had remained remarkably composed. Even when they mentioned being attacked by a ghoul, they had been indifferent, as if surviving a ghoul attack was a mundane, everyday occurrence. Was there a truth even more bone-chilling to them than the prospect of being devoured?
That curiosity drew Minami toward the stairs where the two had vanished. She took a step, intending to sneak up after them, but was blocked by Eto, who had returned with surprising speed.
The girl stood there with her head hung low, radiating an aura that defied description. Minami tilted her head curiously and looked down at Eto as she descended the stairs.
"Is something wrong?"
"...It's family business. Please don't concern yourself."
Eto's voice was utterly drained of energy, yet it possessed an invisible, sharpened edge. Watching her was like observing a small animal bristling its fur in the face of a mortal threat. Minami, like a spiteful cat savoring the reaction of its prey, smiled and followed Eto as she trudged toward the living room.
"So something did happen, didn't it~?"
"I told you, it's family business. Anyway, shouldn't you be leaving?"
"I'm just so curious, you know? Can't you give me a little hint?"
At those words, Eto seemed to reach her limit; she whipped her head around and glared at Minami. There was something fundamentally different about that gaze—something that didn't belong to a child. Minami flinched instinctively, then raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Alright, alright~. It's clear you want me gone, so I'll take my leave. I have to get to work soon anyway."
At the mention of work, Minami let out the melancholic sigh of a typical modern employee and gathered her things. Just before stepping out the front door, she turned back to Eto and flashed a thin smile.
"But really, you have to understand~. I just can't help being curious."
Just before the door closed, Minami poked her head back inside like a child playing a prank. In that instant, her eyes transformed, becoming cold and alien—the eyes of a different person entirely.
"That face you're making right now... you look exactly like someone on the verge of committing murder."
"...!!"
"𝘍𝘶𝘧𝘶𝘧𝘶♪"
Like a witch delighting in the tragic wandering of a fairy-tale protagonist, Minami vanished, leaving only the echo of her cryptic laughter behind.
The front door clicked shut with a dull thud. In the oppressive silence that followed, Eto slowly touched her own face.
Was that just a cruel joke from Minami? Or was it...
"...And you expect me to believe that?"
"It's all the truth."
"..."
Hitokawa covered his face with both hands, looking as though he didn't know what to say or even what expression to wear. A long, silent sigh escaped him—a heavy breath that betrayed the depths of his internal chaos.
I had revealed everything to him. My relationship with Mr. Kuzen; how it began with him saving me and ended with him entrusting Eto to my care; and everything I had endured while raising her until now. He had grimaced slightly when I mentioned procuring food from the corpses of those who had committed suicide, but fortunately, he didn't press the issue.
I kept my account objective. Adding personal sentiment would only fuel Hitokawa's resistance. I presented the facts in a way he could accept, emphasizing that Eto was different from other ghouls. Even if he hadn't known she was a ghoul, he had watched her grow. He, of all people, should understand.
Please, let this be enough to change his mind...
"...Fine. I can see that there isn't necessarily a reason to kill Eto."
"Hitokawa..."
Relief began to wash over me, thinking things might actually work out. But before that relief could take root, Hitokawa's next words struck me with the coldness of frost.
"Instead, Eto will be imprisoned in Cochlea."
"...!!!"
Cochlea. The name of the ghoul detention center in the 23rd Ward. An impregnable fortress built with cutting-edge technology—the Purgatory of ghouls. Once a ghoul was locked inside those walls, they would never see the light of day again.
He wants to lock Eto in a place like that? An uncontrollable heat surged from my heart to the top of my head.
"Hitokawa!!"
"Just because there's no reason to kill her doesn't mean she isn't dangerous!!" Hitokawa shouted back, grabbing my arm.
He forced me to look at a scar on his right arm. It was a jagged mark, as if a piece of flesh had been torn away by a child. I was momentarily speechless. Hitokawa spoke with a terrifyingly calm voice.
"Eto did this, didn't she?"
"...It was a child's mistake. She hasn't done anything like that since."
I deliberately omitted the times Eto had nearly lost her sanity to hunger in the past. If he found out about those incidents now, the situation would only spiral further out of control.
"A child's mistake? The moment she loses self-control even once, the conversation is over. Whether she's 'good' or 'evil' doesn't matter; if she possesses a 'ghoul's instinct,' she must be under systematic surveillance. That is the only way for Eto."
"...The only way for Eto?"
𝘎𝘳𝘪𝘱!!
I grabbed Hitokawa's arm—the one holding me—and wrenched it away.
"Don't give me that crap. Do you think I've forgotten I'm the son of a Ghoul Investigator? I've heard the rumors about Cochlea! Don't tell me you, an active-duty investigator, don't know the truth about that place!"
Cochlea was more than just a prison. On the surface, they claimed to uphold the human rights of ghouls, but behind the scenes, horrific human experimentation was carried out—all to find 'more effective ways to kill ghouls.' And when a ghoul became useless or died, they were fed into a crushing machine deep underground, turned into minced meat, and buried where no one would ever find them.
Hitokawa's brow twitched, confirming he'd heard the same rumors. But he quickly steeled himself.
"Those are nothing but rumors!!"
"Even if they're just rumors, it doesn't change the fact that it's hell for a ghoul! Are you really going to send Eto there? You know how kind she is! You've spent so much time with her! Are you really going to lock her in Cochlea just because she's a ghoul?!"
"Yes!! Because if we don't, ghouls and humans can never coexist!!"
𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘱.
The moment those words left his mouth, the thin thread of my sanity finally broke. By the time I regained my senses, I was already throwing my weight into a violent headbutt against Hitokawa's face.
𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬!!
"Ugh!!"
Blood sprayed from Hitokawa's nose. He groaned, his head snapped back, but he forced himself upright and lunged. His own patience had reached its limit; with a face twisted in rage, he drove a fist into my abdomen.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!!
"𝘎𝘢𝘩...!"
The air was knocked out of me, and my body doubled over instinctively. But I didn't go down. I lunged forward, tackling Hitokawa around the waist and bringing him crashing to the floor.
Hitokawa was strong—he trained daily to fight ghouls—but ever since my encounter with the police ghoul, I had realized my own weakness. I hadn't spent all my time just being a parent.
𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩!! 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨!!
We rolled across the floor, trading frantic, uncoordinated blows. Blood spattered the walls, and furniture was reduced to splinters.
𝘗𝘢𝘬!!
Finally, a stray kick—I didn't even know whose—pushed us apart, and the brawl ground to a halt. Because our levels of training were so different, my body was a wreck, covered in bruises and cuts. However, Hitokawa had taken significant damage as well; he grimaced and spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
𝘏𝘶𝘧𝘧... 𝘏𝘶𝘧𝘧...!
We both sat on the floor, gasping for air, glaring at one another. Hitokawa was the first to stand.
"We're both... too heated. We can't talk like this. I'll come back tomorrow. We'll talk then. Until then, this matter is on hold."
Hitokawa walked toward the door, leaving me behind as I struggled to recover enough strength to stand. With his hand on the doorknob, he turned back to me.
"Don't even think about running. If I get even the slightest hint that you and Eto are trying to flee, I'll report this to the CCG immediately and mobilize everyone."
"..."
I said nothing. Taking my silence as an answer, Hitokawa opened the door.
"Ah..."
He froze, staring into the terrified face of Eto, who was standing right outside the room. I had told her to wait downstairs, but she must have come back up when she heard the sounds of the fight.
"..."
Hitokawa said nothing. He simply walked past her. His footsteps as he descended the stairs and left the house carried a cold finality—the silent declaration that no matter what expression the child wore, it no longer mattered to him.