"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Sato stared at Amano Hiro with a grave expression.
"I'm a law-abiding citizen, officer."
"I just happened to pass by."
Amano Hiro looked flustered and panicked, trembling as he spoke and walking toward the two of them.
"Stop!"
"What happened here?"
There was no way First-Class Investigator Sato would believe that nonsense. Just passing by? No one would pass by a place like this on the way to anywhere.
That statement was as absurd as coming home to find your wife naked in bed with a half-dressed man in the house claiming he just happened to pass by.
They had received a tip that ghouls were holed up in this abandoned building and had come to investigate.
Now all the ghouls here were dead, and the boy in front of them was undoubtedly the prime suspect.
"I don't know."
"It was already like this when I got here."
"I was terrified by the bloody scene and didn't know what to do. Then you showed up."
Amano Hiro's face looked shaken, as if he had truly been frightened badly. Even his voice trembled.
"We received a report that ghouls were active here."
"If you say you were just passing by, then come with us to the branch for a formal investigation to prove your innocence."
Sato and his partner locked their gazes tightly on Amano Hiro, watching his reaction after speaking. The moment he made any suspicious move, they would act.
"Investigator-sama, I really was just passing by."
"I don't think an investigation is necessary."
Amano Hiro lowered his head. His expression could not be seen clearly, and his tone grew slightly impatient.
"No. Those are the rules."
"Every citizen has the duty to cooperate with an investigation."
Sato grew even more alert. His finger was already pressing the activation switch on his quinque.
"Oh. Is that so."
"That's a shame."
Two scarlet tentacles shot out from Amano Hiro's chest without any warning, stabbing toward the two at incredible speed.
It was too fast. Second-Class Investigator Haibara did not even react before a tentacle pierced a huge hole through his chest. He fell straight to the ground.
By the time First-Class Investigator Sato reacted, it was too late to dodge. He could only barely raise his quinque case in front of him.
With a wet sound, the tentacle pierced through Sato along with the suitcase. Blood gushed from his mouth, nose, and chest.
The suitcase altered the trajectory slightly, causing the tentacle to miss his heart. He did not die immediately, but such a fatal wound would not allow him to last long.
"Cough..."
Sato vomited another large mouthful of blood. His vision began to blur. The quinque was already damaged beyond use, and even if it were not, his body could no longer fight.
The most urgent task was to relay the information to headquarters. An extremely dangerous ghoul had appeared in the Twelfth Ward.
Headquarters needed to dispatch personnel to eliminate this ghoul before a larger incident occurred.
His left hand trembled as he took a communicator from his pocket.
Crack.
The arm holding the device was instantly twisted like a rope, and the communicator was crushed.
"Why bother? You could've just pretended you didn't see me."
Amano Hiro stepped on Sato's chest and looked down at him expressionlessly.
"Cough..."
"Heh... you... these... maggots... sooner or later... will be exterminated."
There was no fear in Sato's eyes. Only hatred, unwillingness, and regret. Perhaps from the moment he resolved to become an investigator, he had already abandoned fear.
"Is that so."
With a slight increase of pressure under his foot, Amano Hiro ended Sato's life. His mood barely shifted at that moment. It was almost calm.
He took a deep breath and looked at the corpse beneath him. Suddenly, he bent down and tore off an arm. He wanted to taste it.
The arm in his hand emitted an alluring aroma, wildly stimulating his taste buds and making him want to take a bite immediately.
He carried it upstairs to Yamada Ryu's room and rinsed it with bottled water from the corner. Just as he was about to take a bite, he realized it did not look very elegant.
His right hand turned into a blade. With a swift motion, he cut off the hand and discarded it, then quickly sliced the rest into thin pieces and put one into his mouth.
"Why?"
"What's the principle behind this?"
"How can it taste this good?"
The flavor was impossible to describe in words. It was like returning home after ten years and eating your favorite dishes cooked by your mother.
It was like a royal chef preparing a custom meal tailored perfectly to your taste.
The texture was excellent. Firm and springy, pleasantly chewy. Perhaps because investigators trained often, their muscles were denser.
Even the bones were effortless to chew, like crunchy snacks.
After finishing one slice, he stuffed another into his mouth. It was so delicious he could not stop.
At that moment, he suddenly understood why Rize looked like she was in ecstasy every time she ate. When he watched the anime, he had thought she was simply a pervert. It really was so delicious that it made both body and soul tremble with pleasure.
After finishing the remaining slices, he turned to look at the ghoul corpses on the ground. He remembered Kaneki Ken saying that Jason's flesh tasted like rotten fish guts.
He wanted to see whether ghoul meat was really like Kaneki described. When Carnage absorbed Kakuhou, there was no taste.
A tentacle tore off a small piece from a corpse. He rinsed it carefully with water, examined it, and put it into his mouth.
"Ptooey."
"Disgusting."
Both were humans, yet one tasted so good it made him want to cry, and the other was so bad it made him want to vomit. He did not know why the difference was so huge. This world was absurd. It did not follow biological evolution at all.
After eating his fill, Amano Hiro prepared to head to the next buffet.
...
"Ugh."
"Ah."
"Who are you? Why are you attacking us?"
The answer was a scarlet tentacle. At its tip was a sharp blade. With one slash, the man's head flew off.
Boom. Bang.
Creak. Crack.
A massive scarlet figure flickered through the abandoned warehouse, each flash accompanied by heart-wrenching screams.
When the screams finally faded, the warehouse had become a living hell. Mangled corpses lay scattered everywhere, and blood splattered across the walls.
Carnage slowly withdrew into Amano Hiro's body, revealing his face twisted in a frenzied smile. This was already his fourth day in the Twelfth Ward.
These past days had been filled with relentless slaughter. Whether he encountered ghouls or investigators, he spared none. All of them became his nourishment.
Carnage steadily recovered. Even if it was not fully restored, it was close.
Whether because Carnage was nearly restored or because of the constant killing these days, Amano Hiro had become somewhat unhinged.
...
On a high-rise rooftop under the night sky, a young man in a long white coat stood quietly to the side. His short white hair was neat and sharp. Beneath the red half-mask on his face, a pair of scarlet pupils gazed calmly at the small figure near the edge.
That figure was wrapped in a slightly oversized pink cloak. Clean bandages covered her entire body, unmoved even by the wind. She sat at the very edge of the rooftop, her bare feet extending from beneath the cloak, wrapped in bandages as well, gently swaying to some silent rhythm.
"Eto," the young man spoke calmly, his voice cutting through the wind. "'Carnage.' Have you heard of it?"
Eto tilted her head slightly. Beneath the shadow of the cloak, one could almost sense her gaze flicker. "Hm?" Her voice carried a naturally sticky laziness. "Carnage? Haven't heard of it."
"Someone who's recently become active in the Twelfth Ward," the young man explained, his tone neutral. "Not weak. Every time he kills, he leaves a signature at the scene. The word Carnage written in blood."
"Oh?"
A trace of genuine interest rose in Eto's voice. Her swaying legs stopped. She leaned back slightly, her center of gravity suspended over the void, yet her movement was as natural as turning on flat ground.
"Interesting."
"Why not... bring him over to our side?"