"You think this is funny!? We are so dead. There are three of them." He hissed, wide-eyed by the fact she was unbothered.
"Relax, Captain," Rika whispered back, slight amusement in her voice. "We're not dead yet. And besides, it's only two ghouls now. That one on the ground doesn't count." She subtly gestured with her chin towards the dismembered body of Kazuo.
Kiyota swallowed hard, his gaze flicking between the two active ghouls and the gruesome scene on the ground. His heart was still hammering, but Rika's strange calmness was infectious. He felt a flicker of utter bewilderment. How could she be so composed?
Nishiki, the hazelnut-haired ghoul, turned his attention to the crate with a predatory smirk spreading across his face knowing he was going to eat good tonight. "Well, well, what do we have here? Some curious little humans, are we?" His voice was sharp and clear. It was geting louder too as he walked closer.
Touka, the blue-haired waitress, remained silent, her balck and red ghoul eyes glowing as she stared at their hiding spot. Her posture was tense, ready to spring. She knew first hand how dangerous humans could be. The black-haired boy was still recovering from Nishiki's chokehold, was now on his knees on the floor coughing while massaging his throat.
Kiyota felt a cold dread creep up his spine. This was it. The lion, surrounded by coyotes, ready to rip him up just like that human that was dead and laying in his own pool of blood a few metres away. This wasn't a basketball game, there were no fouls, no timeouts to bail him out. This was real and his story could very well just end now.
"Stay behind me," Kiyota muttered to Rika, pushing her further back with a trembling hand, even though he was still shaking himself. He knew it was a futile gesture against beings like them, but it was an instinct, a desperate attempt to shield her, someone he had grown to like a bit.
Nishiki took a slow, deliberate step towards the crates, his smirk widening. "Come out, I'll finish you quickly and painlessly. No point in hiding. You saw too much."
Suddenly, Touka moved. Not towards the crates, but towards Nishiki. "Leave them, Nishiki. They're not your concern. Anteiku will take care of it. This isn't your feeding ground so leave." Her voice was sharp and cutting through the tension by adding more tension.
Nishiki paused, turning to face her fully. "Oh? And what's more important than dealing with witnesses, Touka? Unless… you want them for yourself? Youre a greedy bitch you know?" His eyes narrowed and a new layer of suspicion entered his tone.
"Don't be an idiot. Anteiku doesn't involve itself with unnecessary bloodshed you know this," Touka retorted, her voice laced with disdain. "I will dispose of them but they are not your food."
"You wanna die?" Nishiki scoffed, his gaze sweeping back to the crates. "They look like prime snacks to me. And they were eavesdropping on my territory dispute." He took another step towards Kiyota and Rika, his kagune, a long winding appendage, beginning to emerge from his back. It was a iridescent blue with green accents and it wrapped around his leg.
Kiyota's breath hitched because he could feel the raw power emanating from Nishiki, a primal hunger that made his skin crawl. This was the true face of the predators he'd only heard about on the news.
"Don't make me fight you, Nishiki," Touka warned, her own kagune, a powerful red-orange wing-like appendage, unfurling from her shoulder. It crackled with a dark, purplish energy at the tips of her 'wings'.
"You think you can stop me, Touka?" Nishiki sneered, his body tensing, ready to pounce.
With the two ghouls on the verge of battle. Kiyota realised this was their chance. A small, desperate window of opportunity.
He gripped Rika's arm tighter. "When I say run, you run. Don't look back." His voice was still a whisper, but it held a certain authority befitting a leader.
Rika was first surprised but then simply nodded, her eyes still fixed on the ghouls.
'She's… calculating something and it doesn't seem like escape. No, I need to focus on the situation at hand. This is to dangerous to be getting distracted.' Kiyota thought as he was getting ready for a prime moment to run.
"This is your last warning, Nishiki," Touka said, her voice low and dangerous.
"Or what, Touka? You'll cry to your old man?" Nishiki taunted, charging forward.
As Nishiki lunged, Touka met him head-on, their kagunes clashing with a sickening thwack and a metallic clink that reverberated through the alley. Sparks flew, and the air filled with the sound of tearing flesh and a pained roar from Nishiki.
"NOW!" Kiyota yelled, pulling Rika up and scrambling from behind the crates. He didn't wait to see the outcome of the ghoul fight, his only thought was to get Rika and himself to safety. He half-dragged her, half-ran, his long legs pumping as fast as they could carry him.
They burst out of the alley and onto a slightly busier street, the distant hum of city traffic a welcome sound. Kiyota didn't stop, not until they were several blocks away, under the reassuring glow of a brightly lit streetlamp. He leaned against a wall, gasping for air, his body trembling uncontrollably.
Rika, surprisingly, wasn't panting as hard as he was. She looked at him, her expression unreadable. "You okay, Captain?" she asked, her voice calm, almost too calm.
Kiyota slid down the wall, sinking to the cold pavement, burying his face in his hands. "No. No, I'm not okay. We almost… we almost died. They were… they were monsters." His voice was raw, filled with a horror he hadn't known existed. The image of Kazuo's dismembered body, of Nishiki's kagune, flashed behind his eyelids.
Rika sat down beside him, her presence a solid, comforting weight. She didn't say anything for a long moment, just let him breathe, let him process the terror.
Finally, she spoke, her voice softer now. "They are. But we got away. You got us away."
Kiyota lifted his head, his eyes red-rimmed and wide. "I… I don't know what to do. I've never… I've never seen anything like that." He felt small, insignificant, the lion he imagined himself to be reduced to a terrified cub.
"It's okay to be scared, Kiyota," Rika said, her hand gently touching his arm. "Anyone would be."
He looked at her, really looked at her. Her face was pale, but her eyes were steady, unwavering. There was no fear there.
"How are you so… calm?" he whispered.
Rika gave a small, almost imperceptible shrug. "The world isn't always as safe as we think it is, Kiyota."
He stared at her, a bunch of questions coming to him, but he was too exhausted and too shaken to ask them. He just wanted to forget, to pretend none of this had happened.
"We should probably call the police now," Rika suggested, pulling out her own phone. "We're out of that alley, so we should have reception."
Kiyota nodded, still trying to steady his breathing. He watched as she quickly dialled, her tiny fingers typing the numbers on the phone, her nails making soft taps. He heard her calmly explain the situation, giving their location, a description of the ghouls, the gruesome scene. She was incredibly articulate, explaining everything in detail. A bit too much detail, how the bite marks on the first human that was being eaten by Kazuo looked. Surprisingly she gave almost no information on the ghouls that were present there just what they were wearing and their builds.
After she hung up, she looked at him. "They're sending someone. We should wait here."
Kiyota simply nodded, leaning his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. He didn't have the energy to think about that stuff right now, he would just leave the rest to the police and CCG. She walked over to him and sat beside, shoulders touching. Normally Kiyota would blush but he just didn't have strength right now.
"Hey," Rika said softly, nudging him. "You did good, Captain. You really did."
He opened his eyes and looked at her. Her smile was small, but genuine. He had been terrified, but he hadn't frozen completely. He had pulled her away. He had tried to protect her at least the best he could've against man-eating monsters.
Maybe he wasn't the fierce, unbreakable lion he imagined. The distant wail of sirens began to grow louder, approaching the general location.