"...Based on the information you sent me, I managed to track down the police car. When I got there, the vehicle was overturned, and I found a headless corpse. I thought my heart was going to stop right then and there. I gathered witness reports about someone escaping in a taxi and rushed to your apartment, only to find the place looking like a war zone—bloodstains everywhere. Do you have any idea what I went through? I spent two whole days searching for you. Two full days, without a wink of sleep. And after all that, I finally find you, and you're..."
Hitokawa stood there with his arms crossed, radiating a ghastly, oppressive aura.
He was certainly an investigator—a fledgling, perhaps, but a member of the CCG nonetheless. I could feel him growing stronger by the day. He wasn't the type to die easily anymore. But my satisfied nod only seemed to stoke the fires of his temper. Hitokawa grabbed me by the collar and began to shake me violently.
"YOU WERE LOUNGING AROUND IN A HOSPITAL BED THIS WHOLE TIIIIIIIIIIME!!! If you're safe, you call! You make contact! I've aged ten years mentally because of you, you bastarrrrrrrd!!!!"
"Hitokawa. It's bad manners to scream in a hospital. Besides, I'm a critically injured patient. Calm down."
"You look perfectly fine to me! And how the hell did you even manage to repel a Ghoul!?"
"I didn't. Another Ghoul stepped in, wanting to eat me for himself. They ended up fighting each other, and one got devoured. But seriously, Hitokawa. It really hurts, so could you let go?"
Every time Hitokawa shook me, agony flared through my body—mostly from my split forehead and my broken arm. While the pain was a welcome reminder that I was still breathing, I felt like I was going to be in serious trouble if this continued.
Actually, not me. Hitokawa was the one in trouble.
𝘛𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘤𝘬!!
"...!!!"
How should I describe Hitokawa's expression right now? Perhaps it was best compared to a distorted abstract painting by a famous artist, one meant to capture the combined agony and sorrow of human existence.
He began to foam at the mouth from a pain that can only be understood by men. Hitokawa released my collar and collapsed, clutching his groin. Standing behind him was Eto, huffing through her nose as she looked down at him with disdain.
"Don't bully my Daddy!"
"Hitokawa, you still with us? There's a urology department in this hospital, you should probably pay them a visit."
I peered over the edge of the bed to speak to him, but he didn't seem to be listening through the haze of pain. Meanwhile, Eto hopped over Hitokawa's slumped form and approached my bedside.
"Daddy! Is your body okay?"
"Yeah. I'm much better now. You don't have to worry anymore."
To soothe the lingering anxiety in her eyes, I placed my hand on her head and stroked her hair. Feeling the gentle warmth of my palm, Eto's expression softened into a smile. To be honest, it still felt like a dream—the fact that I was able to face her like this again.
Back when Eto had lost her sanity after defeating the Ghoul, watching her crawl toward me while salivating like a beast... I had truly accepted death. I had accepted her. I opened my arms to welcome her, and Eto had lunged with her teeth bared.
𝘚𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘳𝘵!!!
Fresh blood had sprayed.
Crimson droplets scattered across the grey canvas of the room like falling petals. However, it wasn't my blood.
"Eto?!"
Eto had lunged past me to tear into the corpse of the Ghoul lying nearby. She ripped through his abdominal wall, staining the surroundings with viscera and gore. She didn't even pause to strip away the shredded police uniform as she chewed the Ghoul's flesh. But her face contorted in agony, as if she were swallowing poison.
𝘉𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘩!!!
She threw it up.
Yet, like a person possessed, she tore into the vomit-stained corpse again, swallowing the meat and gagging repeatedly. I didn't know the full implications of a Ghoul eating another Ghoul, but seeing her body reject it so violently made it clear that it was a horrific act.
Unable to watch her continue, I grabbed her by the shoulders to stop her.
"Stop it, Eto!"
But Eto brushed my hand away and bit into the corpse again. I had no choice but to wrap my arm around her waist and pull, but she resisted, her teeth still sunk deep into the dead meat. We struggled like that for a while.
I had no strength left, but Eto had even less. Eventually, she let go of the corpse and collapsed against my chest.
"Eto! Snap out of it! Can you hear me? Eto!"
Eto's face was a nightmare of blood, raw meat, vomit, sweat, and tears. In one of her unfocused eyes, that primal, terrifying Kakugan still flickered. I laid her down on the floor, pulled off my shirt, and used it to wipe the filth from her face.
I didn't know what Ghoul flesh did for her kind, but it wasn't useless. The wound on her back began to knit itself back together, and the signs of her starvation vanished. As I wiped her face, I noticed her small lips moving, a faint sound escaping them.
She was trying to say something. I leaned down, pressing my ear to her lips.
"...anymore."
"What...?"
I blinked and looked at her. Eto's eyes were closed. A moment later, she began to breathe with a soft, rhythmic cadence. Lacking any natural resistance to such extreme fatigue, she had fallen into a deep, death-like sleep.
Was it a mumble in her sleep? Or was it her final conscious thought before slipping away? I didn't know, and I didn't need to. Whatever it was, the warmth in those words completely sealed the wounds that had been eating away at my soul.
—I won't... hurt Daddy anymore...
"Thank you, Eto..."
I kissed her forehead, wishing her a peaceful sleep.
𝘚𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘻𝘦… 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘻𝘦…
Perhaps the sensation of me stroking her hair was comforting; Eto had fallen asleep leaning against my hospital bed. Once he had recovered enough to move, Hitokawa stumbled back to his feet.
"Koma, did I ever do anything to make Eto hate me?"
"No. It's just a physiological repulsion, so don't take it personally."
"That hurts way worse!!"
Well, a Ghoul Investigator is the natural enemy of a Ghoul, after all. If Hitokawa—who reeked of that ominous investigator scent—wanted to open Eto's heart, he was going to have to work for it. I continued to stroke Eto's hair, hoping she would stay in her deep sleep, and then turned my attention back to Hitokawa.
"Anyway... that Ghoul who attacked me. You looked into him, right? What was the deal? He seemed to have lived as a cop without anyone noticing."
He was a man I never wanted to remember, but there were things I needed to know. Recalling his words, it was clear he had been a police officer for a long time. The irony of a protector of the citizens being a monster... could I be sure he was the only one?
Hitokawa scratched his head as if the topic were a difficult one, then finally decided to speak.
"Yeah, we looked into it. That guy was a Ghoul who 'swapped identities'."
"Swapped... identities?"
"There's a Ghoul we call the 'Broker.' The CCG has been hunting him for a long time, but he's a slippery bastard who gets away every time. His primary business in the Ghoul world is identity laundering. But his method is extremely peculiar. He doesn't just make forged IDs; he steals the lives of 'actual living humans'."
"What?"
Stealing a living human's life? What did that even mean?
"The guy was likely human when he passed the police exam. The Ghoul screening test would have confirmed it back then. But he was swapped. The 'Broker' researches a person's life, their personality, their way of speaking. Once he confirms they have no close relatives or friends, he decides they're a perfect candidate for a swap. Then, he deals with a wealthy Ghoul who looks similar enough to the victim and sells them the identity. The swap is so natural that no one even knows the human was murdered and replaced by a monster."
"..."
It was a chilling story. To think there was someone out there secretly embedding Ghouls into the heart of human society.
"Even so, I didn't think they'd be able to swap out someone in public service, like a cop. Because of this, the CCG is upgrading the Broker's threat level and putting everything into finding him."
"Do you think you can catch him? You haven't been able to until now."
"We'll see. Anyway, that's all I can tell you. I told you because as a victim, you have a right to know, but from here on, it's a job for the professionals. Leave the Ghouls to the investigators and go back to being a normal civilian. Since you were indirectly victimized by the 'Broker,' I'll get revenge on your behalf."
'A normal civilian, huh...'
I chuckled inwardly at Hitokawa's words.
Could a man who was raising a Ghoul child, who spent his nights scavenging corpses, and who had put a bullet into a Ghoul's brain truly be called a "normal civilian"? I was already far too deep into the world of Ghouls.
Hitokawa didn't elaborate further, but that "Broker"... I should keep him in mind. There was no telling how or when our paths might cross. But a normal civilian... that didn't sound bad either. These past few days had been far too gruesome.
Once I was discharged from the hospital, I would return to my "daily life" with Eto. Not an everyday life where I walked a dangerous tightrope alone, but a peaceful, truly familial life.
"Mmm… Daddy..."
Eto mumbled in her sleep, and I took her hand. A smile naturally spread across my face. Hitokawa waved goodbye and left the room, telling me to enjoy my time. With a light heart, I began to plan what Eto and I would do first when we got home. I was actually looking forward to tomorrow.
"......Wait. My house is a total wreck. That goddamn Ghoul."
The sudden realization of my ruined apartment soured my mood instantly.
"Oh, right. I forgot to ask Koma something..."
Having left the hospital room, Hitokawa stopped in his tracks. During the commotion when Koma was suspected of being the culprit, there was a part of his testimony that felt inconsistent. He'd meant to ask about it, but…
"...Well, whatever. We found the Ghoul, anyway."
Since the real culprit had been identified, he decided to chalk it up to a minor misunderstanding and move on.
"Excuse me. Are you Mr. Takaki Koma's guardian?"
A doctor, seeing Hitokawa exit the room, called out to him.
"Huh? No. Not his guardian, just a friend. Is something wrong?"
"We found a strange scar while treating Mr. Takaki. A bite mark on his right arm that looks like it was made by someone..."
"A bite mark? Ah, Koma was attacked by a Ghoul. It's probably a scar from that bastard."
"No. I know Mr. Takaki was brought in after a Ghoul attack. What concerns me is that this scar was created 'before' that incident."
"What?"
"Furthermore, there were signs that it wasn't treated at a hospital; he performed emergency first aid on himself. I asked Mr. Takaki about it, but he just brushed it off. I was wondering if you knew anything about it?"
"...How big is the scar?"
"Quite small... It looks like it was bitten by a child. About five or six years old."
A child?
The image of the young girl who never seemed to open up to him—or rather, the girl who always seemed to be "on guard against an enemy"—flashed through Hitokawa's mind.
Hitokawa turned his head back toward Koma's room. Through the small window in the door, he could see inside. He watched them for a moment, then let out a small laugh and shook his head.
"No, I really don't know anything about it."
"I see. Understood. Thank you for your time."
The doctor bowed and walked away. Hitokawa looked back into the room one last time.
The idea of a scar from a child's teeth made him think of Eto for a split second, but he dismissed it. It was impossible.
Inside the room, a young girl slept like an angel on the hospital bed while his friend watched over her with a gaze full of warmth. It was a scene overflowing with a familial love so thick it would warm the heart of anyone watching.
Hitokawa couldn't imagine a world where a Ghoul and a human could create such a scene.
Deciding that Koma's scar was simply a private matter he wasn't privy to, Hitokawa left the hospital to return to his duties.