I've been away for quite a while. At first, I just had a fever and thought I'd rest for a few days, but on top of that, someone who was very important to me passed away.
In fact, I even thought about stopping writing, and I did for a while, but in the end I started writing again because it's a good way for me to pass the time.
×××
Shinichi tenses up at my words. His right hand shifts slightly, and Migi speaks through the mouth in his palm.
"Who are you?"
"A hungry guy who was passing by."
"That's not enough. Your smell is abnormal, and while I sense a resemblance to my species, you aren't one of us either. What kind of species are you?"
I think for a moment about something both of them can understand without me having to explain too much.
"A ghoul. You can call me that."
Shinichi looks at me with a pretty strained, forced smile.
"And... are you going to eat me?"
"I have no interest in that."
"Ah... aha... okay then..."
A kid who has a parasyte in his right hand, who just watched a stranger eat another parasyte in one bite, and on top of that the stranger introduces himself as a ghoul. This kid has bad luck.
Migi says something to Shinichi.
"Bring your heart rate down. You're making me nervous too."
"Migi, how can you be calm right now?"
"Because if he wanted to kill us, he would have done it before eating the other one."
It's right, and I'm glad it thinks that way.
Shinichi looks at me again, takes a breath, and says.
"Okay... so, bye."
He turns around and tries to run.
I put a hand on his shoulder and stop him.
He turns his head toward me. My grinning face is reflected in his pupils behind the glasses.
Migi turns too, and for a second or two examines me up close with the eye on the middle finger. At the same time, the hand stretches out like rubber and perches on Shinichi's shoulder with legs and arms shaped from the other fingers. It looks like a little chubby creature the color of Shinichi's skin.
"Shinichi, you can relax. He doesn't seem to have bad intentions, but your heart is still racing."
"Because I just watched him eat a whole parasyte in one bite, Migi!"
"That's what a predator does."
Migi doesn't seem to understand Shinichi's reasoning and leaves it at that.
I let go of Shinichi's shoulder and put my hands back in my pockets.
"Alright, I don't want to scare you. I just wanted to talk for a bit. It's pretty unusual to see a parasyte that only took someone's arm instead of their head. A parasyte and a human actually interacting."
Migi blinks.
"So we're unusual?"
"Pretty much."
By this point, the parasytes that took something other than the head should have already mutated and taken full control over their host's body.
So why is Migi still separate?
Shinichi glances down the street and lets out a resigned sigh.
We move to an area with benches on the side of the road. There's nobody else around at this hour, so we sit down. Well, Shinichi and I sit while Migi hops off Shinichi's shoulder and perches on the bench, still watching me.
"So... what do you want to talk about?"
"I'm curious about something. Parasytes have been here for two years since they arrived from outer space. And in that time, even the ones that only took a part of the body have gone on to take full control of their host. They mutated."
Shinichi, who seems to have heard only the first part looks at Migi.
"So you really are an alien."
"I'm not sure about that classification. I only know that I failed to take the head."
"You're still on about that...?"
"It's my original purpose. Unfortunately I failed."
"Stop it!"
While the two of them start bickering, I continue.
"How long has Migi been with you?"
Shinichi blinks.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just answer."
"...About a week, give or take."
"A week, huh. That confirms what I thought."
While I was busy tracking down signs of Owari no Seraph in the cities around Tokyo and making sure the people I care about were okay, I might have missed a few things.
"...Migi is from a second wave of parasytes."
Shinichi looks at Migi, who looks back at him.
That would also explain why...
"Shinichi is still human."
The kid with glasses startles at hearing that.
"Wait, does that mean I won't be human later?"
I look deep into his eyes behind the glasses. There's already something there that isn't quite human. At the same time, I feel his frequency.
I laugh a little.
"I was wrong. You're not fully human anymore."
Shinichi turns to Migi with a look that says "tell me he's lying."
Migi doesn't say that.
"What he said is correct."
"...Migi."
"It's the truth."
Shinichi goes quiet for a moment and then stands up suddenly with a determined look.
"You're leaving already?"
"I'm going to turn myself in to the Special Parasyte Division."
Migi stares at him with a fixed eye.
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I want them to lock me up before I hurt my family. That's the sensible thing to do, isn't it?"
"I've read about that division. They're humans trained to kill members of my species. It's dangerous for me, and it wouldn't be good for you either."
"That's better than hurting someone at home!"
Migi transforms two fingers into blades and holds them up in front of Shinichi in a threatening gesture.
"Have you forgotten that you're still alive because of me?"
"That's exactly why I want to go! So you don't turn me into a monster without me even noticing!"
"They might dissect you. Or lock you in a lab and study you for the rest of your life."
"..."
"You're afraid of hurting your family, but that might take years to happen. Or it might not happen at all."
Shinichi looks at me.
"What do you think? Will I become dangerous to them?"
I shrug.
"I'm not going to tell you no."
Shinichi presses his lips together.
"Then it's better if I turn myself in..."
"I have a human family I've been living with for several years."
That shuts him up immediately, and he looks at me with wide eyes.
"I worried about hurting them at first too. Then I realized that staying was better than leaving."
"How? If you can hurt them at any moment..."
"Because I can protect them from things they can't see or understand. The monsters that exist in this world are a lot more than just you and me."
Shinichi listens in silence, looking lost in his own thoughts.
I give him a pat on the shoulder.
"Think about it from that angle. Using yourself as a weapon to protect the people you care about. You have Migi, and at the same time, you have the chance to get stronger. That can be a tool, if you want it to be."
Shinichi keeps looking at me.
"But my strength depends on Migi... I can't do much on my own..."
Migi speaks up.
"What he's saying isn't wrong. And our situation isn't that bad. We're two consciousnesses in one body. That's unusual even among my species, which could give us an advantage over others."
"There you go. At least it's a less miserable outcome than becoming a lab rat, right?"
Shinichi lets out a long sigh, and then his eyes settle on mine.
"If I ever become a danger to my family... can you take care of it?"
I nod.
"You can leave that to me."
At my answer, which comes out without any hesitation, Shinichi nods too and looks down at his own knees.
Migi stays quiet, staring at some point between the two of us.
This little creature is pretty sharp, and it's probably suspicious of my intentions, though I don't actually have any hidden ones for coming to them. Honestly, I'm just a little curious about the two of them.
The street stays empty, and from somewhere far off comes the sound of a car passing on the main avenue.
After a long while, Shinichi speaks again.
"What's your name?"
"Arata."
"...I'm Shinichi. Izumi Shinichi."
"I know."
He frowns.
"That reminds me, you called me by name before we even introduced ourselves. How do you know who I am?"
"Ah, don't worry about that. I have my own ways."
Shinichi gives me a look that says he's actually very worried about that, but he doesn't say anything more.
Migi takes the silence between us as an opening to speak.
"I'm curious about species other than humans. You being a ghoul, will we meet again?"
"Probably. I live not too far from here."
I get up from the bench, put my hands in my pockets, and start walking toward the exit of the area.
Behind me I hear Shinichi ask Migi something in a low voice, and Migi answers back just as quietly.
Without caring much about what they might be talking about, my body dissolves into a mist of blood and I disappear into the night sky.
By the time Shinichi turns back in my direction, he finds nothing and scratches his head.
Today's mission is complete.