"Kill... you!"
As the Tengu growled those words in a low voice, its Kagune suddenly erupted from its waist, gleaming with a chilling and terrifying light.
Uruka Minami stepped in front of Rei Izanagi without the slightest hesitation.
Even Uruka Minami herself was somewhat surprised and confused by her instinctive reaction.
Could she have subconsciously wanted to protect Rei Izanagi?
Was it because she had developed feelings for him during the time they had spent together recently?
Just as Uruka Minami was caught in self-doubt, she heard the whistle of a gust of wind beside her ears. In an instant, a black shadow flashed past her like a ghost.
Before she could react, a streak of cold, piercing light flashed like lightning, sweeping straight past the Tengu's neck.
The next moment, a thin line of blood appeared across the Tengu's thick neck, and bright red blood instantly gushed out, forming a crimson pillar. The Tengu's head rolled straight to the ground, landing with a heavy, dull thud.
"Not interrupting others' conversations is the most basic etiquette."
Rei Izanagi held an oil-paper umbrella in one hand to block the spraying blood, while his other hand tightly gripped a pitch-black katana. The blade shimmered with an eerie, dark-red light, exuding an intensely ominous aura.
As Uruka Minami stared at the katana in Rei Izanagi's hand, a strange sense of familiarity involuntarily welled up within her. That ominous aura was shockingly similar to the aura emanating from Rei Izanagi himself, as though the two were one and the same.
But how had this sword appeared? Rei clearly hadn't been carrying it just moments ago!
Was it a Quinque? Was Rei an Investigator from the Commission of Counter Ghoul?
"Don't worry. It's not a Quinque, and I'm not a Dove from the Commission of Counter Ghoul!"
"It's called [March of the Dead: Yatsufusa], or you could call it the [Yatsufusa Secret Technique]. You can think of it as a Quinque if you want, but it has some special abilities!"
"It can merge into my body, similar to a Ghoul's Kagune, and emerge from within me."
Rei Izanagi seemed to know what Uruka Minami was thinking, so he simply smiled and explained.
Meanwhile, the corpse of the Tengu that had been decapitated by Rei Izanagi began moving again like a puppet, its joints and limbs moving like those of a marionette.
"How? Its head was cut off..."
A Kakuhou emerged from Uruka Minami's waist, resembling boiling flesh, before extending into a slender Rinkaku. (The guidebook calls it a Rinkaku, but in the original anime, the shape of the Kagune doesn't really match a Rinkaku; it looks more like a Bikaku.)
"I didn't give him permission to become a puppet, did I?"
Rei Izanagi flicked the katana in his hand, and the Tengu's corpse instantly collapsed to the ground, showing no further movement.
[March of the Dead: Yatsufusa] is a Teigu belonging to Kurome in the anime Akame ga Kill!. It was a starting reward granted by the System when Rei Izanagi was on the verge of death six months ago, after his mind was suddenly flooded with countless memories that did not belong to this world. In other words, he had no memories of being a transmigrator before that moment.
In the original work, it can turn creatures it kills into puppets, with a maximum limit of eight.
However, it also has a side effect: the more corpses the wielder controls, the more their own abilities decline. Therefore, Rei Izanagi has only ever had one puppet since obtaining [March of the Dead: Yatsufusa].
However, in the case of Rei Izanagi, its effects have changed somewhat.
Holding Teigu · March of the Dead: Yatsufusa Secret Technique: Due to the host, a bug occurred in the System, causing its ability to change. It can now turn any creature it kills into a puppet, and the puppet can temporarily unleash its physical strength.
[Notification: Host killed an A+ grade Ghoul and randomly plundered 900 points of its physical constitution value. Every 10,000 accumulated points can increase physical constitution by +1!]
The System's notification rang out, and Rei Izanagi sighed.
As expected, even killing a Ghoul that was too weak yielded very little physical constitution. The System seemed to judge the strength of the Ghoul when determining the reward value for killing it.
Moreover, during the early stages, the danger level of a Ghoul wasn't determined by combat power, but by how many people the Ghoul had killed and how dangerous it was to ordinary people.
"Classmate Izanagi, what kind of person are you, exactly?"
Uruka Minami finally couldn't hold back any longer. She wanted to know what kind of existence Rei Izanagi truly was.
If he were from the Commission of Counter Ghoul, he wouldn't be able to talk to her here.
If he were an ordinary person, he wouldn't have been able to deal with a Ghoul so easily.
Rei Izanagi smiled. He almost blurted out, "I'm just an ordinary passerby, remember that!"
"Classmate Minami, I have feelings for you, so I want to get along well with you. If possible, please let me pursue you!"
Rei Izanagi narrowed his eyes and asked Uruka Minami with a strange smile on his pale face.
Uruka Minami was stunned upon hearing Rei Izanagi's words. Then she was covered in black lines!
This guy really changed topics too quickly. She could barely keep up with the pace of Rei's conversation.
But being confessed to so suddenly?
A ripple couldn't help but stir within Uruka Minami's heart.
As a girl with sweet features, excellent grades, and the image of a well-behaved student, she naturally had no shortage of people confessing their feelings to her. But to Uruka Minami, the love between humans seemed to have nothing to do with her.
In this world, humans were undoubtedly a selfish species.
Even among Ghouls, there were cases of them dating humans. But in most cases, these Ghouls would eventually be betrayed and exposed by the people they loved, falling into the hands of the Commission of Counter Ghoul.
Sometimes, female Ghouls who had lost their ability to hunt would be ruthlessly sold by humans to certain places, where wealthy people could treat them as possessions.
Although Uruka Minami longed for that seemingly beautiful human life, she deeply understood the ugliness and squalor hidden beneath its surface.
Even so, she still longed for a human identity.
"You can take some time to think about it before giving me an answer!"
Rei Izanagi smiled and put away the oil-paper umbrella in his hand, since the rain had already stopped.
...
Uruka Minami walked out of the narrow, dark alleyway like a frightened little deer.
She lowered her head slightly, a faint blush appearing on her pretty face, as charming as the sunset clouds in the sky. Rei Izanagi's sudden confession had been like a bombshell, causing a huge uproar in her normally calm heart.
"No... that's not right!"
Suddenly! Uruka Minami realized something.
"I was really too naive. Instead of decisively killing him, I was swayed by his words, following his rhythm and falling into his trap step by step."
Uruka Minami felt secretly annoyed, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She couldn't help but think of a saying widely circulated among humans.
Those who fall in love will have their intelligence lowered and become idiots. Could it be that she was currently proving that saying true?
Even though she was living in a world filled with crises, she could be reported by humans and purged by the Doves of the Commission of Counter Ghoul at any moment. Yet, because of a momentary flutter of her heart, she had let down her guard.
However, Uruka Minami herself understood this clearly.
She really did have special feelings for Rei Izanagi. She liked the aura emanating from him. It was almost imperceptible when he wasn't drawing attention to himself, yet once discovered, it revealed an alluring quality.
If it weren't for Arima Kishou and Fura Taishi constantly investigating her identity as [Lantern] while she was a Ghoul, perhaps she would have been more willing to continue studying and spending time with Rei Izanagi recently. But reality was always so cruel, making it impossible for her to pursue these feelings as she wished.
Thinking of this, Uruka Minami sighed softly.
She knew that, given the current situation, she was in great danger. The Ghouls she had betrayed in the past had all been unable to kill Arima Kishou.
Arima Kishou had now become her greatest threat, and she vaguely felt that Arima Kishou had already realized she was Lantern.
"Sigh... it seems I'll have to do it myself in the end."
"If I run into him later... after all, I've been preparing for the past few days!"
Uruka Minami muttered to herself, a trace of coldness flashing through her eyes. It seemed she had no other choice if she wanted to survive.
"Isn't this Classmate Minami?"
Suddenly, Uruka Minami, who had been deep in thought, had her train of thought interrupted by the unexpected voice.
She looked up somewhat blankly in the direction from which the voice had come. She saw a blonde teenager standing not far away. It was Fura Taishi, a classmate who often acted together with Arima Kishou.
The delinquent teenager's outfit was still very flamboyant today. His blonde hair, flip-flops, and arrogant swagger were all difficult to get used to.
"Oh, it's Classmate Fura!" A gentle smile immediately appeared on Uruka Minami's face.
That smile was as warm as the spring breeze, making it impossible not to be captivated by it.
Since I've run into him, let's settle things today!
"I really didn't expect to run into Classmate Minami here. What a coincidence! I've been wanting to find an opportunity to ask you about a few things..."
Fura Taishi spoke while unconsciously scratching his head, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"Oh? What kind of question is it? Classmate Fura, feel free to ask!"
Uruka Minami replied with a smile, a flicker of curiosity appearing in her eyes. However, at that moment, her gaze was involuntarily drawn toward the flow of people on the street. More precisely, it seemed as though her line of sight had been firmly captured by one particular figure among them.
Fura Taishi obviously hadn't noticed Uruka Minami's sudden distraction.
Instead, he lowered his head, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly asked, "Um... Classmate Minami, are... are you... lik..."
Before he could finish speaking, he realized that Uruka Minami wasn't listening to him at all. She was staring fixedly at a particular spot.
Fura Taishi followed her gaze and discovered that Uruka Minami was looking at a strong man with black hair who was wearing a black suit.
"Classmate Fura, that guy is a suspicious person I've been investigating. Please contact Classmate Arima, and let's follow him."
Uruka Minami said this while picking up her school bag and preparing to follow.
The person she was actually following was Yakumo Oomori, also known as Jason.
It looked like a coincidence, but everything was part of Uruka Minami's plan, and the necessary conditions had just happened to fall into place. Just as Uruka Minami and Fura Taishi were chasing after him, the figure of Rei Izanagi also emerged from the crowd.
Beside Rei Izanagi, a woman was standing quietly.
Her brownish-yellow hair fell like a waterfall over one shoulder, cleverly tied into a low side ponytail that gave her an exceptionally gentle and graceful appearance.
She was wearing a snow-white long dress, its hem fluttering gently. The dress outlined her elegant figure, while her fair, slender feet were lightly slipped into a pair of white low-heeled sandals.
Her entire presence exuded a strong maternal aura, as though she could embrace everything in the world. After all, it had been less than half a year since she had given birth to Hinami Fueguchi.
She was Ryouko Fueguchi, currently a single mother without a husband.
The year was 1998!
Rei Izanagi was only eighteen years old, while Ryouko Fueguchi had only just turned twenty-one.