Seihara High School's third-year B class homeroom teacher, 38-year-old Genshiro Kanazuki, found himself in a very troublesome situation.
The time was when he had just entered the classroom for morning assembly. He could feel the awkward atmosphere that hung over the entire class.
Normally, the students would have quieted the moment they noticed the teacher arriving, but today they didn't seem to notice him at all and continued whispering.
Every student in the back row kept their gaze fixed on the seat by the middle window on the right, and the ones in the front couldn't help but cast furtive glances in the same direction.
Kanazuki followed their gaze and looked at the student sitting by the window.
It was Takaki Koma, who had been absent for the past two days with a cold. Seeing him at school meant he'd clearly recovered.
Koma was a quiet student who'd never caused any trouble.
He liked novels and games, but never to the extent of being caught doing them in class.
Since nothing about him stood out, the only thing Kanazuki remembered about Takaki Koma was that much.
On Koma's desk, however, there was something attracting all those stares with tremendous force.
"Daa~ bu~"
It was a baby.
Not Koma's usual novel or portable game console, but a living, breathing infant.
The baby's body was wrapped in a white cloth that covered its head, so the right side of its face was hidden, but the visible left side showed adorable eyes and cheeks as soft as mochi.
The baby seemed fascinated by the way Koma was skillfully twirling a gel pen with one hand and stretched out its tiny hand, straining to grab it.
Koma looked down at the baby with a gentle smile, then noticed Kanazuki standing frozen at the door and finally spoke.
"Teacher? Aren't we doing the assembly?"
"Can I do that right now?!"
If there's a super high-tech teacher out there who could carry on with the assembly in this situation, let them come forward.
Of course, Koma was summoned to the faculty office for a one-on-one meeting with the teachers.
"Whose baby is this?"
"It's my relative's child."
"Why did you bring it to school?"
"There was an unavoidable situation, so I left it in their care and came."
"Do your parents know about this?"
"As you know, my father is so busy that we only manage to get in touch once a month."
"Even so, bringing a baby to school is…"
"Are you telling me to leave this little one alone at home!?"
"N-no, that's not what I meant… But why am I the one getting lectured?!"
The meeting lasted over two hours.
In the end, Mr. Katsura, who tended to go with the flow, fortunately took it in stride.
After much deliberation, we decided that bringing Eto to school myself was the best option. It would put my mind at ease.
I was a bit worried that homeroom teacher might contact my father over today's incident, but the chance of reaching him was slim.
My mother died long ago, and my father was reachable only once a month because of "certain circumstances."
In any case, after that lengthy debate, I returned to the classroom holding Eto.
Since I was allowed to bring her as long as she didn't disrupt class, the next hurdle was dealing with my classmates' flood of curiosity.
"A baby girl? How cute~"
"Her name's Eto?"
"How old is she?"
"Oh, she looked this way."
"Kyaa~! I just want to squeeze her!"
The way the girls who'd never paid attention to me suddenly swarmed around my desk was overwhelming.
Dammit. Maybe I should have gained some experience with the opposite sex sooner?
"Uu—…"
Eto, suddenly frightened by the crowd, clutched at my shirt and looked like she might cry.
Oh no, stop it. Don't come any closer. She's about to cry. Can't someone suppress their maternal instincts immediately?
"Can I hold her just once?"
At that moment, a female student reached out to Eto.
Seeing the outstretched finger, Eto momentarily lost her fear of the crowd, her eyes sparkling as she opened her mouth.
Hey? That's exactly the motion she makes when she bites down on my finger and drinks blood…
"Don't you dare touch her!!!!!!!!!"
clangclang
I leapt onto the desk, arms wrapped protectively around Eto, and shouted. The classroom froze in an instant.
All the girls nearby—and even those uninterested—gaped and stared at me in shock.
Feeling the intense gazes all around, my face burned with embarrassment and I snapped out of it.
Thinking quickly how to break this awkward moment, I mumbled a weak excuse, grabbed my bag, and darted out of the classroom.
"I-it seems our baby needs her diaper changed, so I'll be back after I do that!!"
My classmates watched me hastily run toward the restroom in bewilderment.
After that incident—which sparked malicious rumors among the girls that I might be some kind of baby-fetish weirdo—I headed up to the roof during lunch.
I muttered to Eto as I recalled the nearly disastrous moment from earlier.
"Seriously. You can't just try to eat someone out of nowhere. You could have gotten us in big trouble."
"Buu~"
"'Buu'? What are you, Majin Buu? Do people really look like cookies to you?"
I sighed and tilted the bottle to a drinkable angle. It wasn't milk it held, but my own blood, brought in a transfusion pack.
The bottle that should have held a pure, healing white liquid had become a gruesome prop out of a horror show, crimson red fluid sloshing inside.
The horrific contrast between the bloody bottle and Eto happily sucking it down was extreme.
"Hmm, I'm starting to feel like it doesn't matter anymore. This is dangerous. I think I'm turning into a total doting dad."
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"What do you mean 'turning into'?!"
"Huh? Oh."
slam!!!
Suddenly the rooftop door burst open, and as soon as I recognized In-young, Eto flung the bottle she was sucking with all her might.
The blood bottle arced over the railing and vanished, and surprised by having her bottle snatched, Eto began to cry.
"Wahhhh~!"
"Ack! Sorry! I didn't think—!"
I panicked as I tried to soothe Eto and hurriedly wiped the blood from her mouth.
Meanwhile, In-young, who'd come up to the roof, exclaimed in surprise at seeing me comforting the crying Eto.
"Oh! So the rumor about you bringing a baby to school was true after all."
"Y-you… It was you, Hitokawa…"
The solidly built, good-looking guy who came up to the roof was Hitokawa Tomoru.
Though we were in different classes, if I had to pick my closest friend at school, it'd definitely be him.
"Where'd you get a baby? Is this… your kid?"
"No way."
"Right, you haven't even held a girl's hand since the elementary school dance show. Where would you…?"
"True."
"Ha ha."
They joked around as Hitokawa leaned against the railing nearby.
Eto had already stopped crying.
But because she'd just been feeding, her right eye had a kakugan active.
If Hitokawa saw that, it would be dangerous.
I used the cloth to casually cover Eto's right side of her face and racked my brain for new conversation to turn his attention.
That's when I noticed Hitokawa's hand was wrapped in even more bandages than before.
"You got more cuts on your hand."
"Huh? Oh, this? It's just everyday stuff, no big deal."
"Still chasing that dream?"
"Yeah. I know it's lofty. But I have to work this hard to make it happen."
"I see…"
I turned my head to hide my dark expression.
Hitokawa, whose connection to me dated back to elementary school, was my closest friend.
I didn't want to hide anything from him if I could help it.
I wanted to tell him about everything I was going through and share it with him.
But I couldn't.
At least not with him…
"Don't worry too much. Being a Ghoul Investigator is dangerous, and you never know when you might die… But it's still a cool job—protecting family and friends and fighting ghouls! I'm definitely going to become a Ghoul Investigator."
Thinking my scowl was caused by worry over my dangerous path, Hitokawa gave a determined smile.
I couldn't bring myself to tell him,
that if he chose that path, he and I would inevitably clash.
Swallowing those words, I hugged Eto a little tighter, protecting her.
Hitokawa was only the beginning.
As long as I hold this child, I'll only lose more as time goes on.
'This really is too hardcore a quest for me, Mr. Kuzen…'
I complained silently to the absent Mr. Kuzen as I looked up at the sky.
An owl—out of place in the city—flapped its wings and flew into the sky.