I woke up in the morning and made a quick piece of toast. When I checked my phone, there was a message from Hitokawa Tomoru saying he did well on the written exam and that he enjoyed the rice cakes.
Eto was still asleep, but I knew she'd be starving once she woke up, so I decided to draw some fresh blood.
Recently, I've been drawing so much blood that I've been dealing with anemia. I need to buy meat to eat, but I have no money…
I stuck the blood-donation needle into my arm—now I could do it blindfolded—and while blood filled the bag, I leisurely chewed my toast.
Still groggy from the morning, I stared absentmindedly around the room and suddenly my gaze landed on the box of diapers.
"Ah, I'm out of diapers."
It was the first time I was going out with Eto since I stopped going to school.
I strapped Eto into the baby carrier on my chest and put on sunglasses to hide her [Kakugan].
I opened the front door and stepped outside, greeted by a gloomy sky that looked like it could pour rain at any moment.
"Wonder if it's going to rain?"
Boo!
Just in case, I grabbed an umbrella and left the villa where I live.
The overcast weather made the humidity high, but the breeze was cool, which actually felt nice.
I started whistling as I felt, and I caught sight of Eto moving her head from side to side to match the tune, which made me smile.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, I went to the supermarket where I'd completely gotten to know the lady at the counter. It was quiet since it was early morning.
As I passed the food section, I reminded myself of my recent anemia.
No matter how broke I was, if I passed out like this, I'd get nowhere—so I had to be prepared to spend money sometimes and buy meat to eat.
I asked the lady at the food section for a chunk of the meat still dripping with blood, and after my wallet got that much lighter, I felt like collapsing on the spot.
With a plastic bag of meat in one hand and diapers in the other, I headed home.
I took out my key, inserted it into the hole, and turned it.
Creak.
Hesitate.
The moment I saw the keyhole turn all the way without catching on anything, I froze in place.
The lock… wasn't locked.
Did I forget to lock the door when I left? No way. I clearly checked it and locked it before stepping out.
So that means someone picked the lock? The landlord? Or a thief?
I almost wished it was one of them.
Because the worst-case scenario I could imagine popped into my head.
I always hid an emergency key in case I lost mine. It was right on top of the electrical box near my place.
It was placed above head height, so no one walking by in the hallway would notice it. But when I reached for it, there was no cold metal beneath my fingers.
No doubt. Someone used the real key to open the door.
The way I hid my key was a habit I carried from my old house.
And the only people who knew about that habit were those who lived in that house.
Me, my mother, and my father.
Now that my mother is gone, the only one besides me who knew about it is…
"…Dad."
I suppressed my shock at seeing my father standing there and spoke.
This is bad. I had made a plan after Dad's surprise visit last time, but that had only accounted for if I'd been at home.
Dad had come while I was out. That means he saw every childcare item I didn't have time to hide.
My father sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor, turned his head, and finally spoke.
"Come in."
The suffocating air pressed down on me like a weight.
It had been twenty minutes since we sat facing each other in the room. Not a word had been exchanged. If you could kill someone with silence, this would definitely do it.
The only sounds filling the room were the raindrops hitting the window, the meaningless tick-tock of the clock, and...
Oooh?
It was the sound of Eto patting my father's knee as if she was looking at something fascinating.
Stop it, Eto. My heart is already pounding so hard I might have a seizure. And you're joking around with your natural predator right now!
Since he'd seen all my childcare supplies, I knew that trying to cover it up with lies would only make things worse, so I decided to just introduce Eto proudly—but now I'm not so sure that was the right call.
As I scrambled to figure out how to explain Eto to Dad, he finally broke the heavy silence.
"…I'm sorry."
"…What?"
Hmm, did I just hear that right?
It felt like I should be prostrating myself in apology, yet here was Dad apologizing to me.
Whether or not he knew his son was in full panic mode, Dad continued in a heavy voice.
"No matter how much I've failed to look after you, I never imagined you'd go and have a baby and raise it on your own… It's all my fault. It's a parent's job to set a wandering youth back on the right path. It's a great failing of mine that I couldn't be there for you."
Whoa… If I'm judging by what he said just now…
He actually thinks Eto is his granddaughter—my child!?
It was bewildering, but on reflection, it was natural for him to make that mistake—there was no way he'd think I was just babysitting some guy I knew's daughter.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad turn of events.
The worst possible scenario now would be if he found out that Eto is a Ghoul. I was too scared to imagine what would happen then.
I would have been much better off inventing some fling of a non-existent girlfriend and pretending I had a kid with her.
I have to ride this wave!
"A-actually, I'm sorry too. I couldn't be honest with you, Dad..."
"It's fine. But where is the mother?"
"Uh... she—no, she left, right?"
"She left? She left you and the baby behind?"
"Yeah. She went off somewhere incredibly far, so I had no choice but to raise the kid on my own."
"That must have been tough."
Dad reached down and stroked Eto's head as she fidgeted around his knees. Eto didn't seem to dislike his rough, coarse hand, and she relaxed into his touch.
Dad likewise found Eto cute and let a faint smile spread across his face.
Anyone else would think it a truly peaceful sight of a grown man and a baby. But for someone who knew one was a Ghoul Investigator and the other a Ghoul, it was nerve-wracking.
Dad watched Eto for a while, then finally turned to me with resolve in his eyes.
"You don't have to struggle anymore. I will raise this child from now on."
"Nooooo wayyyyy!!!"
I reflexively yelled at Dad's words. Dad raising a Ghoul! What else is that if not like heating a nuclear bomb on a frying pan!
But seeing Dad's shocked face and Eto starting to cry, I regretted reacting so hastily.
"What are you doing, Koma?"
Suspicion appeared on Dad's face. No. If I don't explain quickly and properly, he'll realize something's off!
I held Eto to soothe her and addressed Dad.
I didn't have time to judge whether what I was about to say was right or not, but for now, I had no choice but to leave it to fate and just go for it.
"Sure, it's tough! I know people will rip me apart for it! But Eto is my child! Even if I'm vilified or drowning in poverty! Even if I have to wake up in the middle of the night to soothe her tears, change diapers at all hours, and feed her! Even if I often feel so overwhelmed I want to give up! I'm still Eto's dad! Even if I'm a pathetic man who can't even manage my own life, I have responsibility as a father! So there's no way I'm giving her up!! I will raise Eto!!"
Gasp!Gasp!
It was just rambling, but once I finished, it actually sounded pretty convincing.
Maybe it got through to Dad too, because after a moment's thought, he nodded in agreement.
"…If that's how you feel, I can't stop you. Alright. Then it's up to you to raise her."
Yes, it worked! As Dad turned his head out of my sight, I clenched my fist in a triumphant grin.
In any case, it was a relief that Dad wouldn't interfere with raising Eto.
With this, I'd be able to raise Eto a bit more comfortably….
Drip…
"Huh?"
A strange discomfort at the tip of my nose.
By the time I noticed it and reacted, it was already too late.
Since when had it started? Was it because I was worn out from taking care of Eto? Or was I too hyped up from that little speech I just made?
Of all times, why a bloody nose right now? And I'm already struggling with low blood in my body….
"Koma, you're bleeding from the nose…"
Dad, who was getting up when he saw me bleeding from the nose, froze mid-motion.
"Misfortune always strikes without warning."
I suddenly recalled that line. It was one of my favorite passages from a novel I loved.
The misfortune that came to me wasn't my father arriving unannounced.
Just when I'd finally gotten past what I thought was misfortune and felt relieved, the real misfortune hit me like a stab in the back.
"...Koma, put that down right now."
Dad's voice, quiet and tightly controlled, sounded cold—like someone else's voice.
In one hand, he was gripping a steel briefcase so tightly it looked like it might crack, and his half-risen posture seemed less like a man pausing to stand up and more like a beast poised to attack its prey.
His gaze wasn't on me.
That gaze, sharper than any blade, wasn't slicing toward me but toward Eto, nestled in my arms.
At the droplets of blood falling on my nose... and Eto, thinking it was a normal meal and eagerly taking it in...
And Eto, with her Ghoul identity on full display—the [Kakugan] blooming in her right eye.