Eiríkur walked the cracked streets of the 20th Ward like a ghost. No hood. No Veil-Frost. No disguise.
His skin was pale, hair dusted with frost, runes faintly glowing beneath his collarbones like embers under snow.
He was done hiding.
Every step closer to Anteiku made the whispers louder.
"They will not accept you." "Let them see what you've become." "Burn the building down. Walk away from the lie."
"No," another voice whispered — softer, older.
"You were human here once. Remember that."
He stopped in front of the café.
And opened the door.
Inside Anteiku The bell chimed.
The café had changed — quieter, emptier. Fewer people. More shadows. But the scent of coffee still clung to the air like memory.
Kaneki looked up from a table.
Touka froze mid-step behind the counter.
Yoshimura emerged from the back, calm as always.
Eiríkur stepped in. And the cold followed him like a second skin.
"I'm not here to stay," he said.
"I came to say goodbye."
The Confrontation Kaneki approached first.
"You disappeared," he said quietly.
"I couldn't control it," Eiríkur answered. "The power. The voices. The anger. I didn't want you to see what I was becoming."
Touka's voice cut in — sharper.
"But we already did."
Eiríkur turned to her, and for a moment — just a breath — his right eye flared, glowing with icy blue light. The runes on his neck flickered.
She recoiled.
"Do you still hear them?" she asked.
"They never stop."
The Breaking Point As if summoned by her words, one of the Draugr spirits seized his mind mid-sentence — a jolt, like ice water in the skull.
He grabbed the edge of a chair, breathing hard.
"They will never forgive you." "Say it. Say you are not their brother." "You belong to us now."
"No." Eiríkur growled aloud. "Not now."
He looked up at them, eyes flickering between his own and someone else's.
"Sometimes… I don't know which voice is mine anymore."
Yoshimura, ever calm, simply poured a cup of coffee and placed it before him.
"Then speak anyway. And let us remind you which voice we love."
The Goodbye Eiríkur sat.
He held the cup in shaking hands.
He didn't drink.
"I don't know if I'll survive much longer."
Touka stepped forward, arms crossed tightly.
"Then what do you want from us?"
He didn't look up.
"I want you to remember me. Not the Draugr. Not the frost. Just… me."
Yoshimura smiled gently.
"Then don't be so quick to leave."
Outside – Watching Across the street, in a parked black sedan, a CCG observer lowered his camera.
"Target confirmed," he said into the receiver. "Frost-Walker has returned to the 20th Ward."
The voice on the other end was sharp. Cold.
Kanou.
"Then begin extraction. Now."