"...."
The sun had completely set.
Eto, her face hidden behind the 'Owl' character mask, stood atop a building and looked down at the city. The solitary red eye glowing from behind the plastic didn't linger on the beautiful nightscape. She looked past the light, into the darkness.
She watched the shadows that stretched like spiderwebs beneath the neon glow—the places where creatures squirmed, where the scent of ghouls lingered, the only places they could feel at ease. Eto wrapped herself in a filthy blanket she'd scavenged from a construction site. The wind seeped through the gaps, bloating her silhouette.
To a casual observer, it would be impossible to tell if she were a child, a hunchbacked adult… or a massive owl.
'Owl....'
Eto closed her eyes and recalled the middle-aged man she had met that afternoon. The man who appeared without a sound and vanished without a trace. The man she had thought of as an owl.
She visualized his every movement—the rhythm of his breathing, the set of his mouth, the depth of his gaze, even the micro-movements of the muscles that shifted a single knuckle. She synchronized herself with that image.
It wasn't that she possessed a vague sense of confidence. It was simply that when she asked herself if she could imitate him, the answer was 'yes.' So, she did.
The sound of her breathing vanished.
Her heartbeat settled into a slow, deep rhythm.
As if every cell in her body were falling asleep. As if she were summoning the night into her very being. The presence of life—that natural byproduct of physical activity—slowly ebbed away.
She was becoming an owl. A hunter that erases not only sound but the wind itself with the beating of its wings.
The Owl spread its wings. Soon, Eto's form was erased by the night sky.
𝘎𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘭𝘦...
"Hyung, I'm hungry...."
As I walked through the deserted alleys, scanning every nook and cranny, I heard my younger brother whining behind me. He was seven years younger than I—a boy who should have been in elementary school by now. But he couldn't. He was outside the realm of 'normal.'
We were ghouls.
Our father had been killed by investigators years ago, and our mother had abandoned us for a new man. The ghoul world isn't a place that shows mercy to children. If I abandoned him, he wouldn't survive a day. So, I took him with me. I could barely look after myself, but I was doing everything I could to keep us alive.
Recently, I'd tried to scavenge an old man I thought lived alone, but I'd been caught by his son who was visiting from out of town. The guy called the CCG before I could stop him, so we had to bolt. I wanted to go back and silence him, but I knew I'd get caught by investigators if I lingered.
I'd been masked, so they didn't know my face, but hunting in that area was now out of the question. That was why I was moving my brother so far away. But we'd failed to find food, and the long journey had left him starving.
I was just as hungry as he was, wondering if this alley would make for a decent new hunting ground. I patted Kenta's head to soothe him.
"Just wait a little longer. Hyung will find something to eat soon. Our Kenta is a brave man, right? You can hold on?"
"...Yeah!"
Kenta gripped his empty stomach, bit his lip, and gave a vigorous nod. That's my brother. For his sake, I had to hunt a human soon.
Even as a ghoul, I wasn't particularly strong. If I tried a direct approach, I'd likely be overpowered. Hiding in an alley like this and ambushing a passerby was my best bet.
Where would be good? Behind that telephone pole?
𝘓𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩….
"Huh?"
Something impossible happened. The telephone pole was tilting.
I thought I was witnessing a glitch in reality, but the tilting didn't stop with the pole. The alleyway, the dry concrete walls—everything was leaning along with it.
"H-Hyung!"
Even Kenta, who was staring at me with a face drained of color, was tilted. What is this?!
It was only after the tilted world slapped my cheek that I realized I was the one who had fallen. Why did I fall? Was I dizzy from hunger?
Confused, I pushed myself up with my arms. I tried to bend my legs to stand… but I felt a strange lightness. I looked down at my legs, and felt the blood drain from my head.
My legs had been severed.
My legs were still standing exactly where I had been a second ago, as if they didn't even realize they'd been cut. Then, blood finally began to spray, and they toppled over.
"𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?! 𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘐𝘚 𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘌𝘕𝘐𝘕𝘎?!"
My mind was a mess of shock and agony. What had happened? Despite my lack of strength, my senses were sharper than most ghouls, yet they had detected nothing.
No one else had entered this alley except for me and my brother. There was no presence, not even a breath of wind. And yet, my legs were gone. It was as if a Reaper had swung a massive scythe and passed through.
Then, I saw it.
Behind my brother, who was running toward me in a panic. There was no giant scythe, but there was a shadow—a figure draped in an ominous, fluttering cloth like a shroud.
Who was it? CCG? A ghoul?
Where a face should have been, there was an 'Owl' character mask—a mascot from a cartoon Kenta liked. No, their identity didn't matter. Right now, I had to...
"Kenta, get down!!"
Kenta flinched at my scream but ducked his head. Simultaneously, a Kagune erupted from my tailbone, flying like a spear to pierce the Owl mask.
𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩!
But I pierced nothing but empty air. The moment the Owl mask seemed to move, it vanished from my sight entirely. Not just from my sight—I couldn't feel a trace of its movement anywhere in the alley.
'What? What the hell is this?! Am I fighting a ghost?!'
Once the panic set in, everything happened in an instant. The Owl mask reappeared, moving in a horizontal blur, and sheared off my Kagune as if it were nothing. I reached out a hand to grab even a piece of its clothing, but an attack from a completely unexpected direction severed my arm.
I tried to throw my body to protect Kenta, but before I could, a jagged piece of rebar—the kind you'd find at a construction site—flew through the air, impaled my remaining arm, and pinned me to the wall.
I couldn't move.
In my despair, I looked at Kenta. He was already caught in the Owl's grasp, frozen and helpless.
"Answer the question."
"Wha...?!"
I heard a voice. It was muffled by the mask, but it was unmistakably the voice of a child. But that realization didn't make the situation any less terrifying. The skill with which they had neutralized me, the bone-chilling aura that felt like a blade pressing against my ear—it was all there in that voice.
"If I judge that you have told even a single lie, I will kill this boy."
A wing-like Kagune peeked out from beneath the blanket covering the Owl. Its feathers sharpened into spikes, pressing into Kenta's neck. Kenta began to sob in terror.
"H-Hyung! Save me!!"
"Stop!! What do you want?! I'll tell you everything, just don't touch him!!"
"Have you seen a ghoul wearing an insect mask?"
An insect mask? Was there such a ghoul?
Nothing came to mind immediately, but I searched my memories desperately. If I gave a vague answer and the Owl decided I was lying, Kenta was dead. An insect mask, insects... In that moment, an image of a deranged ghoul I'd seen long ago flashed in my mind.
"I-I've seen him! The one who laughs like he's on drugs, right? '𝘒𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘩𝘦'!"
"Where?"
"The 12th Ward slums! I saw him hunting there once!"
"Where did he vanish to?"
"Where... did he?"
I remembered his appearance clearly. The hideous mask was one thing, but his insane behavior had left a lasting impression. But that impression was so strong that his subsequent actions were a blur.
"I-I don't know!"
"...."
𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘩!
"𝘞𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘩!"
"Kenta?!"
One of the spike-like Kagune feathers had pierced Kenta's neck. It was shallow, likely a warning, but it was enough to send Kenta into a fit of crying.
"Speak."
"I'm telling the truth! I don't remember where he went!!"
𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘩!!
Another feather pierced him. This time, it went deeper. Kenta's wailing grew louder.
"Damn it!! Damn it!! 𝘋𝘈𝘔𝘕 𝘐𝘛!! I told you I don't know!! What do you want me to do if I can't remember?! How am I supposed to know where a freak like that goes?!"
"...."
No matter how much I screamed and cursed, the figure didn't flinch. A third feather was about to pierce Kenta's throat. If it went any deeper, even a ghoul wouldn't survive. I was on the verge of tears from sheer helplessness.
𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘱.
A tear finally spilled over and ran down my chin. My vision blurred with moisture.
As the world distorted through the tears, a single image flared in my mind.
"The sea!!"
"...!"
The Owl mask stopped moving at my words.
"The sea! I saw the sea in the direction he went after he finished hunting!!"
I'd seen him from a rooftop, so I could tell. Beyond the direction he was heading, the horizon had been faintly visible.
"...."
Satisfied with the answer, the Owl mask released Kenta.
And then....
"I am very sorry!"
"!?"
The figure bowed deeply in apology. Both Kenta and I stared at the Owl mask, utterly stunned. The terrifying aura from moments ago was gone. A child's clear voice, filled with genuine regret, flowed from behind the mask.
"There were unavoidable circumstances that forced me to threaten you. I am truly sorry for the injuries I've caused. But I hope you understand that this was the only way to save time."
The Owl mask approached me and pulled the rebar from my arm. It was an opportunity to counterattack, but the thought didn't even cross my mind. I didn't feel a shred of hostility from the figure anymore—and besides, I'd already learned the hard way that I was no match for them.
The Owl mask folded its hands politely and bowed once more.
"Thank you for the information. The cuts on your limbs were clean, so if you hold them together for a few minutes, they should reattach. Please eat this and recover quickly."
The Owl mask pulled a plastic bag from its clothes and pressed it into my hand. I could smell the fragrance; it was human meat. It seemed to have been processed specifically so a child like Kenta could eat it easily.
With one last apology, the Owl mask vanished without a trace, just as it had appeared. It felt less like I'd met a ghoul and more like I'd encountered a ghost.
Who the hell was that? Based on the voice, it was a girl around Kenta's age, but that was all I knew. I could only guess that some dire situation had forced her to attack us.
"Hyung, are you okay?"
"Yeah.... I think I'm... okay?"
I looked at my severed limbs; as the Owl said, the cuts were so smooth the cells were still viable. I could regenerate quickly if I held them together and ate the food provided.
How sharp does a Kagune have to be to achieve this?
To think someone that young possessed such skill… I realized just how many terrifying monsters were out there as I checked on Kenta.
"Kenta, are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
The wounds on his neck weren't as bad as I'd feared. I was sighing in relief when Kenta tugged on my sleeve.
"Hey, Hyung."
"Yeah?"
"When that girl caught me, I was really, really scared..." Kenta fidgeted with his fingers, his face flushing. "But she smelled really, really good, and it made me feel nice. Do you think we'll meet her again?"
"...."
I stood there, momentarily speechless at my brother's bombshell confession—wanting to experience that brush with death all over again.
Wait a minute, little brother. You must not open the door to that world.