This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
When Eto was still young and unable to control herself, she had once unconsciously bitten my right arm.
There had also been a time when Eto, seriously injured in a fight with another Ghoul, had been driven by pure survival instinct and bared her appetite toward me.
But this time was different somehow.
Eto, her face half-covered by a strange mask, smiled at me.
It wasn't because she couldn't control herself. It wasn't because she had been cornered so badly that control had become impossible.
There was no appetite, no instinct, not even killing intent.
Only the lightness of a child plucking and biting into a delicious-looking fruit.
That was why no one here could react to Eto's sudden move. By the time Enji and Kaya noticed something was wrong and tried to move, it was already too late.
Eto's face drew closer to mine.
As if she were simply taking a bite out of the fruit in front of her, she bared her sharp teeth toward my throat.
I couldn't react to the change that happened in an instant.
Crunch!!
Flesh was torn away. Blood sprayed.
There was no pain.
It wasn't even my blood to begin with.
"You…?!"
I looked at the face of the one who had shoved me away in shock.
It was Arima.
At some point, he had slipped between Eto and me, shoved me aside, and blocked the lunging bite with his arm.
As the flesh around Arima's left forearm was ripped away so deeply that bone was faintly visible, his right hand flashed out in a blinding arc.
Sshhk!!!
The Quinque in his right hand swept across Eto's neck.
But the Quinque had become too short to cut all the way through.
Eto, whose spine and nervous system were still intact, kicked Arima in the torso and put some distance between them.
Right after that, the path the Quinque had taken split open, exposing the inside of her neck. The sight was grotesque and ominous, like a mouth in her throat was grinning.
The wound Eto had taken was fatal. An artery had been severed, and her esophagus had been cut open.
But the piece of Arima's flesh Eto had swallowed had already passed beyond her esophagus.
Wounds inflicted by a Quinque hinder a Ghoul's regeneration, but the body's recovery after absorbing fresh, newly arrived nourishment was far greater than that.
The wound in her neck healed in an instant, and the other injuries scattered across her body began to vanish as her vitality returned.
"Ahahaha!"
Whether she knew she had just gone back and forth between life and death by a hair's breadth, or whether she was some mischievous brat casually stepping over a line she shouldn't cross, Eto laughed with a neck that had already returned to normal.
Riiip! Thud! Arima tore at his own clothes and stopped the bleeding in his left arm.
No matter how much of a butcher he was when it came to slaughtering Ghouls, his body was still human. The wound in that arm must have dealt him serious damage.
But after only a simple first aid, Arima strode toward Eto.
He had been the same infuriatingly consistent bastard from the moment I first met him until now. There wasn't a trace of hesitation in the way he walked to kill a Ghoul.
By then, Eto's gaze, as if her body had fully recovered, was also fixed on Arima.
The mask covering half her face. The Ghoul eyes glinting strangely.
Dangerous. That wasn't the Eto I knew.
She felt closer to that Kakuja monster we had encountered in the cavern.
The moment that thought reached me, I understood what the mask covering Eto's face really was.
A Kakuja?! Eto?!
I couldn't hide my disbelief.
From what I'd heard from Hitokawa, Kakuja was a phenomenon that appeared in Ghouls who repeatedly practiced cannibalism over a long period of time.
But I had always watched over Eto at my side. There was no way she could have ever eaten Ghoul flesh. There had been one exception in the past, but that was already years ago.
Even if she had been forced to handle a Ghoul corpse here in the sewer, there was no way something like this could happen from that alone.
And yet, as if mocking that line of thought, Eto was undergoing Kakuja transformation right now.
Was it the effect of hybrid superiority? Or some other reason I didn't know about? But there was no time to trace the cause now.
Eto and Arima were about to collide.
Right now, it was hard to expect Eto to respond as she normally would.
I was certain she wouldn't stop until she had torn her opponent to pieces, or until her own body had been torn to pieces.
I watched the two of them closing in on each other and moved my feet silently.
Then, just as the two of them charged with killing intent aimed at each other, I threw myself in as well.
"Eto!"
As I cut in, Arima's eyes narrowed slightly.
He probably thought I was throwing my life away after he'd gone to the trouble of saving me. Honestly, throwing myself at a child who wasn't in her right mind didn't look especially wise to me either.
But I had no choice. I couldn't lose Eto here.
Steeling myself, I reached out toward Eto, who seemed to flinch at my voice.
The cliché of a hot embrace to bring her back to her senses… could wait for another time.
For now, I brought down the huge rock in my hand on Eto's head.
Smack!!
The impact rang out clean and sharp.
Arima, and even the other Ghouls watching, seemed so stunned by my sudden move that they froze in place.
Who wouldn't, when someone charges in like they're about to stop a fight, then starts bashing a girl's head with a giant rock?
But I was serious.
I was seriously disciplining her.
"I told you! Not to! Pick up! Random crap! Off the street! And eat it!"
Smack! Smack! Thwack! Smack!
As I kept talking, I kept pounding Eto's head.
Outwardly, it looked like a thirty-year-old man was beating up a middle school girl with a rock as a weapon.
The visuals were awful, but I couldn't help it. If I hit her with my bare hands, it wouldn't do much, and I'd just wreck my own hand.
Meanwhile, Arima looked down at his own arm as he listened to my scolding.
Having part of his body, which had been eaten by Eto, suddenly treated like food dropped on the street must have been complicated for him in more ways than one.
Grab.
Then Eto, who had been quietly taking the beating, raised a hand and caught my wrist.
I swallowed dryly inside.
I'd hit her head to snap her out of it, but I wasn't sure it would actually work.
If I messed up, either Eto or I might meet our end here.
"Ah…."
Eto's mouth opened.
Sharp fangs and thick, stringy saliva came into view.
"It hurts sooooo much!!!!!!!"
With tears filling her eyes, Eto shouted. Her mask was gone before I knew it.
Was it relief at having survived? Joy that Eto had come back? The way she glared at me, looking angry, felt unbearably adorable.
I ruffled her hair hard, especially the spot I'd kept hitting until it had swollen up, and said, "Hahaha! See? A loving beating works like a charm! Fixed you right up!"
"What do you mean, loving beating, with a rock?! Do you think my head is a broken TV?! You just keep hitting it to fix it?!"
"Why? Did you want me to wake you up with a prince's kiss or something?"
"That's…! …Actually, that's a little tempting…."
"Huh? What did you just say?"
She'd said something that caught my attention, but she'd spoken too quietly for me to hear clearly.
Eto looked away from me and surveyed the surroundings. Then she frowned at the scene, which had changed a great deal from what she remembered.
The Ghouls were keeping their distance, probably because of Arima. Enji and Kaya, who had been fighting alongside us just moments ago, were being supported by others.
And not far from us stood Arima. On his left arm was a wound that hadn't existed in Eto's memory.
Finally, Eto's own body had already recovered quite a bit.
"What happened?"
It seemed she didn't remember what had just happened to her.
I tried to eat you… wasn't something I wanted to say and shock Eto with. It wasn't the right situation for that either.
I decided to leave that part out.
"You bit into that guy's forearm."
With a point of my finger, I indicated Arima.
The moment she heard that, Eto shoved a finger into the inside of her own throat without hesitation.
Uweeeek!!
And then, as if to say she could throw away the image of a lovely young girl for all she cared, she vomited up the contents of her stomach. But only gastric fluid came out; there was nothing else.
Realizing that Arima's flesh had already been broken down and absorbed into her body as nourishment, Eto shuddered with a disgusted expression.
She had never been the kind of child to try to eat the body of a living being, but in this case, it seemed she simply hated the fact that she had eaten Arima's flesh at all.
"You hate it that much?"
"Of course I do! That guy's a pervert who says he wants to find his own identity and then keeps throwing his body at me like he's ready to die with me!"
Eto pointed at Arima as if tattling on him.
I also frowned and looked at him.
"You little bastard…."
"I can feel malice in your choice of words."
Arima, suddenly branded a pervert, objected.
If the reason he had been so fixated on Eto was really to satisfy some twisted desire, I'd want to beat him senseless on the spot. But I owed this man.
Because of him, we had avoided the worst-case scenario of Eto hurting me. For that, I was grateful.
I had come here prepared to bring him down, but if we could get through this without fighting, I wanted that.
Scratching the back of my head, I said to Arima, "I don't expect a very good answer, but… could you just let us off this time? The ones here are Ghouls, sure, but they're easy to talk to. I'll make sure they live quietly on the corpses of people who took their own lives. How about it?"
As I said it, I started to feel like a demon lord trying to persuade the protagonist before the final battle.
If this world were a novel, Arima Kishou would definitely be one of those absurdly overpowered monsters who break the balance.
I was only now realizing that when a demon lord tries to negotiate, it isn't because the protagonist's abilities are tempting. It's because he's so strong that he's terrifying.
And, as expected, Arima responded like the protagonist he was and pointed the shortened Quinque toward us.
"Separate from my fight with that child, I will carry out my mission. 'Do not let any Ghoul leave this sewer alive.' That is the order I received. There are no exceptions."
Arima's gaze said that Eto was included in that Ghoul.
Well, I'd expected as much.
With a sigh, Eto stepped in front of me.
"Dad, please step back. If we don't finish things with that guy, he'll keep chasing us obsessively. We have to settle this here somehow."
"I agree with that."
Patting Eto on the head, I said it and then clenched my fist and stood beside her.
Eto's eyes widened when she realized what I meant.
"What are you doing?"
In terms of combat power alone, the opponent was a monster that surpassed Ghouls. My help was pitiful at best. If I didn't get in the way, that would already be a blessing.
I understood that perfectly well. Even so, Eto looked at me as if she couldn't understand why I was stepping forward.
Arima also tilted his head, apparently surprised that I was joining in. Without taking my eyes off him, I said to Eto, "You can't do it alone. But I can't do it alone either. We need both of us in this fight. Only then can we win."
"What do you mean…."
"Back me up so I don't get taken out in an instant. And keep an eye on his movements. You're a sharp kid, so you'll catch on quickly. …To that guy's 'fatal flaw.'"
I gave Eto a wink, as if to say, 'You trust me, right?'
It looked ridiculous, but I wanted to ease her worry and tension.
Eto stared at me for a moment as if I were absurd, then soon snorted and took her stance, as though she believed I had some plan.
"Are you done talking?"
Whether it was courtesy, arrogance, or anticipation that something would finally happen, Arima, who had been waiting without moving, asked.
I clenched my fist and shouted, "Come at me anytime, you pervert!"
"I'm not a pervert."
Thud!!
Maybe the provocation worked, because Arima, whose dry voice seemed to carry just a hint of emotion, charged in.
***
"Hey, old man, you really said there was a way to beat that guy, right?"
"Of course, boss! Sure, part of it was because he grabbed my hair and threatened me, but he looked like he had something up his sleeve, didn't he? That's why I brought him!"
Enji, supported by one of his subordinates, looked down at his arm.
Another subordinate had brought back the severed arm and was holding it against the stump. Regeneration was slow, so it would take a while before he could fight again.
Enji looked at the three people about to clash: Eto, Koma, and Arima.
He didn't know what Koma was thinking.
If he needed support, he would have said so already. Instead, Koma was trying to fight Arima alone with Eto.
That made it awkward to have his subordinates jump in. If they charged in without understanding the intent, they might end up interfering instead.
Not knowing what he was plotting, Enji watched the collision and prayed it would somehow go the way Koma wanted.
And then….
Thud!!
Someone was sent flying spectacularly by a kick.
Not Arima. Koma.
Thud!!
"Guhk!!"
At the same time, someone else was sent flying spectacularly by a kick.
Enji's foot had kicked Katsura away.
"Hey, you bastard!! That doesn't do a damn thing!!"
"Waaah! I knew I shouldn't have trusted that guy and brought him here! I'm sorry, boss!!"
Surprisingly, Koma got back up right away.
Because Eto was attacking from the side, the force of the kick had been reduced. He had definitely taken damage, though, since he staggered while clutching his battered abdomen.
The sight of him charging at Arima again in that state felt less like stubbornness and more like misery.
No matter how you looked at it, it was just a reckless frontal assault.
There was no sign of any strategy.
Unable to watch any longer, Enji shouted, "I can't take this anymore! Everyone, charge! If we overwhelm him with numbers, at least our odds will be better than they are now…!"
But Enji's words, as he continued to order his subordinates in, suddenly stopped.
Another Ghoul, noticing something strange in his tone, turned his head to follow his gaze.
It was a fist.
It didn't carry overwhelming force. It wasn't especially fast either.
Just an ordinary human fist.
Thud!
That fist landed.
On Arima's face, of all places.
"He got… hit?"
One of the Ghouls muttered as if he had just witnessed the most shocking thing that had happened all day.