Ezekiel blinked at the blue screen. He'd read plenty of novels and manga before… and in almost all of them, the protagonist could ask questions to their system
Before talking to his system, Ezekiel needed a quiet place. He started to look around. He was… somewhere that looked a lot like Shibuya Crossing.
As a fellow manga reader, how could he not recognize the place? The familiar streets and bustling crowd solidified one thing in his mind: yeah, he was definitely in Japan.
Knowing the place, he started walking, thinking about what he could do next. He knew no one here in Japan but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind, figuring it was a problem for his future self.
For the first time in a long time, he didn't feel that familiar lump in his stomach. For the first time in a long time… he felt free.
The more he walked, the fewer people he saw and heard until finally, there was no one around. He found himself in a narrow street. In the distance, he could still hear the faint sounds of people walking and talking.
Before talking to his system, he pulled out his phone. 76% battery. 6:00 PM.
He glanced around the narrow street again, taking a deep breath. It was quiet here… quiet enough to finally try talking to the blue screen.
He hesitated, forcing a neutral expression that, to anyone else, looked like nothing but anyone who knew him well might notice the faint trace of embarrassment in his face.
"System… are you here?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
He waited. One second… ten seconds… one minute. It felt like an eternity. But the system never replied.
As he was starting to have a little breakdown realizing he really was all alone he heard footsteps behind him. He spun around.
Two people were walking toward him, both wearing long, crinkling coats. One looked young, maybe around twenty-five, while the other seemed older, his back slightly crooked, his face strange, and his eyes… unsettling. Both of them carried cases in their hands.
Ezekiel froze. Even more confusingly, he could swear he'd seen them before in a manga he'd read.
The closer the two strangers came, the more Ezekiel's theory was confirmed and the worse it felt. They were coming straight toward him.
Fear knotted in his chest, but then he remembered… his status. It said he was human. So he should be fine… right?
As that thought passed through his mind, the two figures finally reached him. The older one stopped, his strange eyes narrowing, and then he started to speak.
The older man tilted his head, eyes glinting unnaturally as a crooked smile spread across his face.
"Well, well… what do we have here?" His voice was playful, almost sing-song, but carried an edge that made Ezekiel's stomach twist. "A stray little lamb wandering Shibuya at this hour… How curious. Don't you think so, Amon?"
The younger man at his side tall, broad-shouldered, and serious frowned slightly but didn't answer, his sharp gaze fixed on Ezekiel.
Thanks to his [Intermediate Acting] skill, Ezekiel remained calm on the surface but inside, his mind was racing.
The old man had called the other one Amon. That was too much of a coincidence. And then… a name flashed in his memory. Sen Takatsuki.
Piece by piece, the picture came together, and his stomach dropped. Was he really… in the Tokyo Ghoul world?
Ezekiel decided to take a gamble. Worst case, they'd give him weird looks. Best case… it would confirm his theory.
His face stayed stoic, not betraying the storm inside his head.
Ezekiel's eyes flicked to the strange cases in their hands but he quickly averted his gaze.
He thought about the gamble he was taking. "Y'all aren't ghouls, right?" he reasoned. "Because if you were… that would be exactly what a ghoul would say to someone in a narrow street."
On the surface, his expression stayed neutral, betraying nothing. Inside, his mind was racing because if he really was in Tokyo Ghoul… he'd be cooked
Mado's crooked smile widened, his eyes glinting dangerously. "Oh? Not ghouls, you say~?" He tilted his head, as if studying a particularly interesting specimen. "How… amusing. And yet, here you are, staring at us in this little alley. Curious little lamb, aren't you?"
Mado's crooked smile lingered for a moment, his eyes glinting with dangerous curiosity. Then, as if remembering some urgent task, he straightened slightly.
"Well, this little lamb will have to wait," he said, voice still playful. He and Amon began walking away from the narrow alley, their footsteps fading with each step.
Once they were out of sight of the immediate street, Mado's voice carried just enough for Amon to hear. "Keep an eye on the kid. The way he was looking at our cases… suspicious."
"So… I'm in Tokyo Ghoul. Fuck, I'm cooked. Okay, first I need to get the hell out of this crooked street and back to somewhere crowded. Second… I need to find somewhere to sleep. But where the hell do I even get money?"
He pulled out his phone, unlocked it, and opened his bank app. 346,213 yen. A quick Google search told him it was about $2,329.82.
Not much, but enough to survive for now. I have to move fast who knows if any hotels still have rooms? If I dawdle, I could be stuck out here… alone… ye fuck no.
Luckily for him, with the help of his phone, it didn't take more than an hour to find a hotel. It wasn't expensive $23.26 a night.
His room was modest: a bed, a small TV on the wall, a bathroom… and that was about it. What did I expect from a $20 room, anyway?
With his mind at ease, he finally started to relax. And with that relaxed state, all the information began to really hit him:
He's in Tokyo Ghoul.
He knows no one.
Fuck I just wanted to die.