"Welcome~"
Accompanied by the ringing of the bell as the door was pushed open, the young man in a light gray suit nodded to the smiling girl.
"The usual."
After saying that, he sat in a seat near the window and looked out at the street without saying a word.
"He really is a weirdo..."
Ever since she learned about his identity from Yoshimura that day, Touka Kirishima mood had been very complicated. After all, the other person was not only an 'executioner,' but also a highly efficient executioner. She wanted to kill him directly, but she was afraid that it would lead to a CCG investigation of the cafe, so she had to suppress this feeling. But what she didn't expect was that although she gave up the plan to kill him, the other person seemed to have taken a liking to this cafe for some reason.
More than ten days had passed since the other person first came to the store, and he came back almost every day. The only difference was that most of the time it was around five or six in the afternoon, but sometimes it would be seven or eight. If he came late, the other person would always emit a faint smell of blood.
If it were an ordinary person, they might not be able to distinguish it, but for ghouls, it was all too familiar.
Today, Lancer sat in his usual spot by the window, silently drinking tea and eating dessert. Without any surprise, he would probably leave in about half an hour.
But today, it was rare for him to not leave after eating, but instead, he sat by the window, staring blankly outside.
What was wrong with the other person today? He was later than usual today. Could it be that he was thinking about something related to ghouls?
After glancing at the store, which only had the other person in it, Touka Kirishima, out of curiosity about the ghoul investigator, sat in front of him.
"Mr. Lancer, is something wrong today?"
With Touka Kirishima words, Lancer, who was originally staring blankly, shuddered violently before turning around with a wry smile.
'I really am an idiot, I actually forgot that this is the 'enemy's' lair.'
But after the wry smile, he also sighed again.
"It's nothing, just some work matters..."
Upon hearing the words 'work matters,' Touka Kirishima ears immediately perked up. After all, information about 'doves' was very rare. It would be great if she could get a little bit of information, but she also knew that she absolutely could not show too much concern at this time, or it would be bad if her identity was suspected.
"Is it something you can talk about? It might feel better to talk about it if you can. Of course, if you can't, then forget it."
"It's not something I can't talk about. Today, our CCG organized a small-scale encirclement and suppression operation..."
Lancer could clearly feel that Touka Kirishima emotions were a bit off, and he knew why, but at this moment, he just wanted to find someone to 'vent' to.
Some of his views were simply sacrilegious in the eyes of the people in the CCG, but ever since he came to this world, he had basically been in a high-stress state. Now that he wanted to find someone to talk to, he ended up realizing he couldn't find anyone.
His mind was already a bit messy, and after a pause, he continued.
"Actually, it was no different from usual at the beginning. Because of my recent achievements, I served as the main attacker and personally hunted down two ghouls, but at this moment, I received a distress call from a teammate. When I rushed over..."
"Your teammate was killed by a ghoul?"
Touka Kirishima, as a ghoul, was a little excited to hear that a CCG investigator might have been killed, but unfortunately, Lancer shook his head.
"No, although he was seriously injured, he was rescued. The key is his opponent... Although I've only been working for a few months, my intuition tells me that the other party didn't want to kill him..."
At this point, Lancer suddenly felt a tickle in his throat. He patted his body and, unfortunately, didn't find a cigarette. In the end, he could only take out a piece of gum and chew it. After taking a deep breath, he continued.
"Later, according to our investigation, the other party should belong to the 'Corpse Collector'."
Lancer obviously skipped a part in the middle, but it didn't really matter. After all, for investigators, there was only the difference between 'ghouls' and 'humans.' As for others... it had nothing to do with them.
And Touka Kirishima body trembled, and her breathing started to become a little rapid.
Indeed, after this period of getting along, she had reluctantly accepted Lancer identity as a 'dove' and could talk to him normally, but when he mentioned 'ghouls' and the 'Corpse Collector,' her heart was still in chaos, and she asked a question that she shouldn't have asked.
"Was it the ghoul you... hunted...?"
"No."
"Then if it was you, would you have done it?"
"..."
This time, Lancer didn't answer her directly but looked out the window in a daze, but in the end, he didn't give a clear answer.
"That's what I was thinking about just now."
But for some reason, Touka Kirishima didn't seem to have any intention of giving up.
"Did you come up with an answer after thinking for a long time?"
"..."
Another silence was her reply, but soon, Lancer turned around and looked at her with an extremely serious expression.
"I think I would! Because I am an 'investigator'!"
Touka Kirishima originally thought she would hear a 'different' answer. After all, in her opinion, since Lancer would hesitate and be conflicted, even if his answer was the same as what he said before, it should at least be accompanied by confusion. But unfortunately, what she got was a resolute answer.
"Why? The 'Corpse Collector' shouldn't attack humans..."
"There is no why, because they are ghouls, and I am human! Maybe as you said, the 'Corpse Collector' doesn't attack humans, but that only represents when they are still the 'Corpse Collector.' What if they aren't one day? What if their descendants don't want to continue being the 'Corpse Collector'? No one knows! No one can guarantee it!"
Lancer interrupted Touka Kirishima before she could finish, and the reason he gave made Touka Kirishima feel extremely disgusted, even nauseous, but —————— if that's the case, why did the other person seem to lose all his strength after saying it?
Just as Touka Kirishima thought, having been attacked by a ghoul and almost killed by a door kill, he hated the 'ghoul' race from the bottom of his heart.
If he stood from a human's perspective, whether it was the 'Corpse Collector' or ordinary ghouls, they were all man-eating monsters, so it was understandable to hunt them. If he didn't know the so-called 'plot,' he would probably be happy to hunt them, because 'investigators' were human heroes.
But it was precisely because he knew the so-called 'plot' that he knew that even ghouls had joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and he also knew that some of them also longed for a normal life...
That's why he couldn't completely harden his heart.
'Sometimes, ignorance is also a kind of happiness...'
He was only in his twenties, but maybe because he had so much blood on his hands during this period, he actually started to lament, which was rare for him.