"Splash! Splash!"
The sound of water hitting the tiles in the bathroom was intermittent, and Ryōko Fueguchi, who was sitting on the single sofa, felt her heart pounding. Perhaps this was the so-called 'waiting for death is more terrifying than facing death'?
She was afraid that the man would do something excessive to her, but she also hoped to save her daughter by sacrificing herself. This conflicted feeling made her feel uneasy.
"Pat! Pat!"
At this moment, the sound of bare feet rubbing against the floor made her sit up straight. Then she saw the investigator, wearing a shirt and shorts, sitting on the sofa opposite her.
"Tonight, you'll have to make do with the living room for a night. I'll go rent a house outside tomorrow. Although I think what happened today will probably spread throughout the entire branch tomorrow, you'd better stay at home. If you need anything, just tell me. Okay, I'm tired today, I'm going to rest."
After saying that, Lancer got up without hesitation and went back to his room.
Lying on the bed, Lancer looked at the pale ceiling and couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.
'Sure enough, knowing too much is also troublesome... Am I being a hypocrite?'
Lancer had not killed female ghouls before. Not to mention the distant past, in terms of looks and body, Ryōko Fueguchi and the undeveloped Hinami Fueguchi were far inferior to Rize Kamishiro. He could hold his spear with a determination to kill when facing the other party, but when faced with a trembling girl and Ryōko Fueguchi, who was desperately protecting her daughter, he found that he couldn't do it.
In those scarlet eyes, Lancer saw not the usual brutality and madness, but helplessness and fear.
He, on a whim, took the two of them to a CCG subordinate organization to have their kagune removed and injected with an RC inhibitor, but on second thought, this was not a solution at all, because he couldn't provide them with food.
The food for the ghouls in the 'detention center' seemed to come from the bodies of death row inmates. So what about Lancer? There was no doubt that he couldn't do that. Not killing the two of them was already his 'hypocrisy.' Would he feed them the bodies of his own kind?
'Humans and ghouls cannot be reconciled.'
This was a fact, a fact acknowledged by everyone. After all, it was impossible for predators and prey to coexist peacefully. As for the few humans and ghouls who became friends or even spouses? They were just exceptions. An exception could not represent a race.
The only solution was for ghouls to no longer feed on humans, but at least in the 'plot' that Lancer knew, there was no such thing, and he only had two months left in this world. He was completely helpless.
This was why Lancer said he was a 'hypocrite.'
He didn't kill the two of them to satisfy his 'idea,' but the two of them might suffer greater torture. Sure enough...
"Click~!"
Just as he was lying in bed, lost in thought, the sound of the door being twisted open made him sit up straight reflexively and reach for the quinque hidden next to his pillow, but before he could do anything, he was completely stunned.
Ryōko Fueguchi, with water droplets still in her hair, was standing at the door, wrapped in a towel.
Her entire face was red with shame. There was no doubt that she had never thought that one day she would stand in front of a stranger like this. Her body was even trembling with fear.
But even so, she didn't back down. Or rather, when she pushed open this door, she had already made up her mind to protect her daughter. When she saw Lancer staring at her blankly, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness in her heart, because her husband had just passed away yesterday, but she had to...
Looking at the tears in the corner of Ryōko Fueguchi's eyes, the stunned Lancer instantly panicked a little.
Although he had once jokingly said things like 'be a gentleman to lolis with a pen and a master with omegas in bed,' he was actually a little otaku who had never even watched A V and had only watched things like AliceSoft, Yuzu Soft, and Illusions. At this moment, even though the other party was wrapped in a towel, the sight of her pale skin swaying in front of him made his brain feel almost overloaded.
Ryōko Fueguchi, who had originally made up her mind but subconsciously turned her face away when she thought of her husband, waited for a long time but found that there was no movement. When she turned around, she suddenly felt like laughing.
Lancer, sitting on the bed, had his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide, not knowing where to look. At the same time, he was holding the quinque in one hand, but the other hand seemed to not know where to go and was waving around.
If it weren't for their relationship, she would have almost laughed out loud.
'Although he looks quite old, he's still like a child.'
But then she no longer hesitated and walked towards Lancer, but when she got close to the bed, Lancer stood up and held her shoulders.
But what happened next was beyond her expectation because Lancer didn't move closer. Instead, he pushed her out of the room.
"Phew~! Ha~!"
Lancer, who took a deep breath, finally managed to completely move his gaze away from the other party.
"Whether you believe it or not, the reason I didn't kill you two is because of my personal reasons, so you don't need to do this. I hate most ghouls because they have long lost their humanity, and I don't want to be like those monsters."
Saying this, Lancer couldn't help but recall the fragmented human corpses in his mind. Lancer even saw traces of torture on some of the bodies before these people died, which, of course, included sexual abuse.
Lancer didn't want to become a 'monster,' so he gave up on becoming a half-ghoul. And this so-called 'monster' didn't just refer to his body but also his heart. Once he did something today, he felt that he could never turn back.
"What we have is just a deal. If you feel so bad about it, then clean my room for me in the future."
After saying that, Lancer let go of her shoulders and walked into the living room to pick up Hinami Fueguchi.
"You two can sleep in the bedroom tonight. I'm going to rest. I still have to go to the branch to submit my report tomorrow."
After putting Hinami Fueguchi on the bed, he picked up the white suitcase on the side and came to the living room to lie on the sofa.
Ryōko Fueguchi, who hadn't reacted to what had happened, stared blankly at her daughter lying on the bed and then at Lancer, who was lying on the sofa with his back to her. With an extremely complicated feeling, she finally closed the door.
As for Lancer, who was lying on the sofa, he opened his eyes again after the door was closed. He looked at his bulging pants, and his expression became extremely subtle.
No matter how grandly he spoke or how much he resisted in his heart, his body was incredibly honest. Just thinking about a 'widow' wrapped in a towel throwing herself at him just now, he felt a hot current surge from his abdomen to below.
"Forget it, let's practice with the spear..."
He opened the modified study and held a wooden spear, assuming the 'charged strike' stance. There were other people living at home now, and they were ghouls with extraordinary senses. Since he couldn't rely on his five fingers, he would just exercise and use up the excess energy.