"...Haaah."
[๐๐ณ๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.... ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ.]
Hitokawa let out a heavy sigh and snapped his phone shut. Simultaneously, the ringtone from another phone lying at his feet ceased. He picked it up and checked the screen. As expected, the display showed nothing but a long list of missed calls from Hitokawa's own number.
Clearly, one of the teams assigned to surveil Koma's house had been right here. But now, they were gone.
"I'm looking for the standby team, but all I find are their phones left behind like this.... Where did they disappear to? There aren't even any signs of a struggle...."
"...Ugh."
"Eto?"
Hitokawa, who had been examining the phone, turned his head at Eto's sharp intake of breath. Though she had suppressed her ๐๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ, the sheer volatility of her emotions meant she couldn't stop her ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ถ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ from manifesting; she followed behind him, wearing sunglasses to hide the crimson glow, her gaze fixed on the depths of the alleyway.
"What is it? Did you find something?"
"...."
Without a word, Eto ventured deeper into the alley. Hitokawa, sensing a mounting, nameless dread, adjusted the strap of his Quinque case and followed her. Though the path twisted and turned, the alley was essentially a dead end.
Eto's footsteps eventually came to a halt. She was staring at an old, rusted trash canโa cylindrical iron container that had long since lost its original purpose, now merely another piece of debris among the trash littering the alley.
Hitokawa glanced at Eto, then back at the container, before stepping toward it.
"What about this trash can?"
"Don't open it."
Hitokawa's hand froze as it reached for the lid. Eto's voice was laced with such profound tension that it forced a horrific possibility into his mind.
"If you open it... you'll regret it."
"...!!"
Eto's expression was grim. It was the face of the 'human' Eto, desperately rejecting the 'sweet fragrance' wafting from the bin. The implication was clear and devastating.
Hitokawa gritted his teeth and threw the lid open. Regret didn't matter. He needed to bury the dark suspicion clawing at his brain. He looked inside.
And then....
"๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐โโโโโโ!!!!!"
Curse words erupted from his throat before the bile could even rise. The missing Ghoul Investigators.... The shock came from the realization that they had 'all' been stuffed into this tiny, rusted bin.
"๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ!!"
"...."
"๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ!!"
"...."
"๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ!!!!"
"...Hey, do something about your Section Chief. I think I'm going to puke."
I felt the old familiar seeds of a panic attack beginning to sprout in my chest. This was because the ghoul they called 'Section Chief' was staring at me from inches away, unblinking.
Setting aside the hideous insect mask, the deep crimson ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ถ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ shimmering within the eyeholes flickered with the dangerous instability of a drug addict. Viscous saliva dripped steadily from its maw. To have this creature hovering in my personal space, letting out that deranged laughterโhow could anyone stay sane? The fact that his spit was flying onto my face was just the cherry on top.
"Ah~ that? You know, that's just... that."
Minami was scribbling something furiously with a pen, her answers to me half-hearted at best. I winced at the Section Chief's laughter echoing in my ear and pressed her.
"What is 'that'? What are you talking about?"
"๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฎ~ Just last night, didn't you blow out our Section Chief's eye? Maybe it's a grudge?"
"...."
"๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ!!!!"
As if confirming her words, the Section Chief's laughter grew even more shrill and rhythmic. Ah, so that was it. The incident where I supposedly lodged a Quinque fragment into the right eye of the ghoul that attacked me while I was drunk....
But I have no memory of it. I know 'blackout drunk' is the go-to excuse for perpetrators, but I truly don't remember. And if you think about it, he was the one who attacked me, so he's the perpetrator here.
"Don't be so tense~. Didn't I tell you our Section Chief is kind? He might look like that, but he's a real sweetheart. Don't worry. You'll be best friends in no time~. Right, Section Chief?"
"๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ!!!!"
No. Dialogue was impossible. No matter what anyone said, the creature just laughed and scanned me from head to toe. The sheer stress of it was making me feel like I was losing my mind too.
Regardless, I understood the Section Chief had a grudge. So why wasn't he killing me immediately? It meant their primary objective wasn't my death. Come to think of it, he had targeted me even before I blew his eye out.
"What's the point of kidnapping me? Does it have something to do with this 'company' of yours?"
"๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฎ? Shall we say that's part of it? Tell me, Koma~ what do you think of this society?"
Suddenly, the conversation was taking a turn for the pretentious.
"Modern society is so bleak~. With the rapid advancement of civilization, people have no room in their hearts, and conflict just keeps growing~. In times like these, what do we truly need? Regardless of the era or place, the thing that soothes a weary soul is the presence of Beauty. I'm talking about Art~!"
๐๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ!
Minami set down her pen and spread her arms wide toward me, speaking like a preacher delivering a sermon.
"Art is the spiritual banquet for those living in this world! While the body can survive by eating whatever it findsโleaves on the street or stray dogsโnothing enriches the spirit like Art. That is our company motto! 'Bringing happiness and abundance to society through Art'~! Isn't it wonderful?"
"...."
It wasn't wonderful. It was hair-raising.
On the surface, it was a harmless enough sentiment, yet I felt a visceral, overwhelming rejection of her words. Minami spoke of happiness and abundance, but her eyes were warped. This wasn't a conversation within the bounds of normalcy. She was more like a fanatic.
"๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ!!!!"
The way the Section Chief had been examining me also weighed on my mind. He looked like a child wondering which corner of a gift-wrapped present to tear into first. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead as I asked:
"And just for the record... what exactly is this 'Art'?"
"It's this~."
Minami thrust the paper she had been working on in front of my face. My breath hitched the moment I saw it.
ใ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ตใ
This wasn't like the medical diagrams I'd seen in science class. This was a process for deconstructing and utilizing a human body.
The method for gouging out eyeballs, the process for pulling out muscle fibers one by one to use as thread, the intricate steps for extracting the heart and lungs while leaving the ribcage intactโit was all there in agonizing detail. It even began to describe the process of creating a 'work' using these extracted 'materials' before the notes cut off.
Next to the dense text was a drawing of a human body, partially dismantled in various places. And at the bottom, the name '๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข' was written clearly.
Minami flashed a thin smile.
"From now on, you will be reborn as a work of art that brings happiness to the world~. This is the proposal~. I'm going to submit it to the General Manager, but I wonder if he'll pass it? Last time, only the 'Tree' suggested by the Team Leader got approved~. Such a shame~."
"The... Tree...?"
The shock made it hard to speak, but the mention of a 'Tree' triggered a memory. A photograph Hitokawa had accidentally shown me once. A Christmas tree that desecrated both the divine and the dead. Hitokawa had told me it was the work of a ghoul known as the 'Artist.'
"Don't tell me... that corpse tree was also..."
"Ah! You saw that? Wow~ this is embarrassing~. The title of the piece was 'Blood Christmas'! It was the Team Leader's project. I helped out a little bit too~."
"...."
I was speechless. The realization that the lunatics who created that nightmare were standing right in front of me made my soul feel like it was departing my body.
But wait... the 'Artist' wasn't a single individual... it was a group?
Was this entire 'company' composed of such 'Artists'?
"๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ!!!!"
"๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ! No, Section Chief~! You can't crush the eyes! Koma's eyes are his best feature~! They absolutely have to be utilized in this piece~!"
As I sat there in shock, I watched Minami and the Section Chief bicker. The scene was so peaceful it felt wrongโthey didn't look like two people debating how to brutally ruin a human being.
To them, this was natural. It was so ingrained in their daily lives that they didn't just stop at taking lives; they felt entitled to violate and mock the remains. Ordinary ghouls might kill out of a desperate need to survive, but these people were different. Their goal wasn't to eat.
They were simply....
"You're all insane...."
The words slipped out. Minami turned back to me and beamed.
"Oh my, you've figured us out already? See? I told you we'd be best friends in no time~โช."