Q: How do you evaluate Takaki Koma?
In response, the Ghoul wearing a police uniform spoke.
"That bastard? To put it simply, he's like a piece of dog shit. I just happened to step on that dog shit by mistake. But when I tried to scrub it off, it wouldn't budge; instead, the filth seeped in and took my life, you know? How ridiculous! So that guy is just a dog-shit bastard..."
Bang!
The police Ghoul never got to finish. A single gunshot rang out, and a small hole pierced clean through his forehead.
"Congratulations on dying twice to that piece of dog shit, you bastard."
As Koma watched the police Ghoul's head snap back and his body topple over, dead, he felt a strange gaze directed toward him.
More precisely, it was the gaze of Eto and Hitokawa, aimed not at Koma, but at the pistol in his hand.
"This? It just appeared because I felt like I needed it."
He gave the pistol grip a little shake as if to show it off, then turned his attention elsewhere.
There, a man with long, thin limbs was sitting in an absurdly pretentious pose. At first glance, it looked like some strange posture, but it was actually Rodin's "The Thinker."
"I'd like to shoot you dead right now too, but if I do, the story won't move forward, so I'll hold back."
"Calm down. I'm not the type to randomly badmouth people like that police gentleman just now."
The man relaxed his posture and waved his empty hands as if to show he meant no hostility. But could they really believe him? Not after they had fought so viciously, each trying to kill the other.
A Ghoul known as the Artist. For this bastard, the grudge might have been even deeper than the one with Shinaoto Minami.
"Well, I'll admit that back then, the blood had rushed to my head and I was dying to kill you all. But after I died and regained my reason, my thoughts changed. I realized I had discovered something truly beautiful!"
"Something beautiful?"
Eto, like Koma, did not let her guard down as she asked.
The Artist suddenly thrust out a hand toward Eto and Koma and exclaimed, "You two, of course—the Takaki father and daughter!!"
"What?"
"???"
The two people suddenly singled out couldn't hide their dumbfounded expressions.
"A Ghoul daughter who throws herself into danger to rescue her captured father! And when that daughter is wounded and collapses, a human father bares his teeth like a ferocious beast and rages! Your bond and love that transcend species! And the despair and fury revealed when one half of that connection is about to be lost... it was a fragment of the greatest art I've ever pursued! I truly regret dying so much! If I'd only stayed alive, I could have left behind the masterpiece of my lifetime using your corpses...!!!"
As if it were a genuine lifelong regret, the Artist began tearing at his own chest, skin and all, while tears streamed down his face.
Eto, still wearing a baffled expression, looked over at Koma and asked, "Is that a compliment?"
"No idea. To my ears, it just sounds like he's spouting bullshit and asking to be killed already."
Deciding he had listened to enough bullshit, Koma loaded a [Q Bullet], thinking it was time to put him down.
Just then, Hitokawa, who had been listening in silence, cut in.
"Hold on. Don't I get any comments? I fought there too, you know."
"Hm? Ah, right. There was some Ghoul Investigator who looked like he'd rolled in from who-knows-where. A filthy human who didn't stir even a shred of emotion. Like some mismatched foreign object wedged between a father and daughter who held the utmost beauty? No, not even a foreign object—just trash that makes all dignity vanish the moment you think of it..."
Crack!
In that instant, a sword-shaped Quinque flew in and pierced the Artist's forehead.
When Koma and Eto turned toward the source, Hitokawa was still holding his throwing pose as he said, "It just showed up because I felt like I needed it."
"...Right."
Only after the two Ghouls had been killed all over again could the questioning proceed.
But there were still plenty of slips left. Koma muttered that they should hurry up and finish, then picked up the next one.
This time, unusually, three questions appeared in succession as soon as he unfolded the paper.
「Will the protagonist become a Ghoul in any form? - by Kkhs」
「@If the protagonist is badly injured, what are the odds that a Ghoul's organs that happened to come into the hospital get transplanted into him? - by. One who will try」
「@If Koma receives a Ghoul organ transplant and becomes a Ghoul, how would the story unfold? - by. Leak」
"What's with these questions?"
Different wording, but they all led to the same conclusion.
The core question was: "Is Takaki Koma destined to become a Ghoul?"
"I'll take this one."
"...?!"
"He's back!"
At the voice that suddenly came from behind them, the three immediately went on guard and widened the distance between themselves.
He had appeared again—that mysterious man who looked like he'd be unpopular no matter where he went.
Ignoring the wary trio, he looked off into the distance and spoke.
"As things stand, Takaki Koma is not slated to become a Ghoul. Why? Because if Koma became a Ghoul, it would amount to nothing more than rehashing the original protagonist's hardships. That said, even if such a situation did occur, he'd adapt much faster than the original protagonist. He has experience raising Eto, and he'd have the help of those around him, so in terms of environment, he'd be far more stable than that person who suffered endlessly."
After finishing his incomprehensible speech, the man turned toward the table where the three were sitting. They raised their guard further, and Koma spoke on their behalf.
"Who are you?"
"I am Iron Man."
"..."
Koma fell silent, but he suspected that this childish nonsense meant the man might be the one who created this bizarre world.
Regardless, the man strode up to the table and pulled a bundle of slips from the box.
"Your banter is entertaining enough, but if the text gets any longer than this, I won't be able to take it. So I'll quickly handle only the questions I can and then disappear."
Saying that, the man selected a few slips from the bundle and unfolded them.
「This question would be a shame to leave out of the Q&A. Author-kun, what underwear do you wear? - by Keraris」
The man gave a proud thumbs-up and answered, "Gray striped trunks."
"..."
Silent glares from three directions stabbed into him, but the man ignored them and reached for the next slip.
「@Are you planning to write multiple endings? - by SKYDRUM」
"In this novel, where the author may die at any moment from sudden acute laziness, there's still hope left for an ending! I'm moved. If I manage to finish it and still have energy left over, I'll even try writing an IF story!"
Flap.
He unfolded the next slip.
「@I'm very curious whether this novel will really make it to the original story... but if so, we'll have to wait longer, right..? (Ah, no way it won't reach the original... If it doesn't, I'd like to see the original part in a side story at leastㅠ) Hehe - by Una-il」
"It will reach the original! It absolutely will!"
With a voice full of baseless confidence, he moved on to the next slip.
「@Do you have plans for a time skip to enter the original storyline? - by Ossang-ossang」
"No. To get into the original timeline, at least one or two more episodes need to pass first!"
As expected, the next slip.
「@Even after entering the original story, will you keep getting tangled up with Ghouls? - by Kang Shin-cheol」
"Of course. In fact, I'm worried there might be Ghouls who can't even appear because there are too many connections."
And the next.
「Do you plan to do side stories later? - by Novel-labor」
"If the opportunity looks right! When I think the timing is good!"
Again, the next.
「Congratulations on 100 chapters!! I knew Eto would be a father-con, so if the male lead died, please tell us how she'd live - by Lavandula」
"We'll follow the original route. However, instead of hoping the current world is destroyed and a new one appears, she'll go berserk, destroying everything until nothing is left."
Koma and Hitokawa's gazes turned to Eto.
Eto shook her head, firmly denying that such a thing would ever happen.
「@If the protagonist's stamina is 100, what's the expected damage taken by the ending? - by worb」
"Minus 3000."
"Huh? Wait. Didn't this bastard just say something extremely ominous?"
At the man's words, which suggested Koma would face countless life-threatening crises in the future, Koma shouted in alarm. But the man brushed it off and unfolded the next slip.
「@(Seeing the chase scene with Arima) You hate Koma, don't you, author? ㅇㅂㅇ - by Gradion」
"Of course not! I love every character in my novel. Yes! So much that I can't help but torment them...!!"
"Isn't this guy seriously dangerous?!"
"His eyes look dangerous!!"
Hitokawa and Eto's voices rang out, but once again he ignored them and moved on to the next slip.
"This time there are some duplicate questions, so I'll answer them all at once."
「Can the protagonist get stronger? - by Moonlight of the Abyss」
「@Is there a possibility of a story where Koma gets stronger? - by onkst」
「@Can Koma be powered up? - by Creator of Magic」
"These are all asking whether Takaki Koma can become stronger."
At that, Koma perked up.
Koma didn't dislike the idea of getting stronger. That was why he trained whenever he could, but compared to a Ghoul Investigator hardened through real combat, he still fell far short.
No matter how much Eto helped, handing his life over to her at every critical moment was not sustainable. It would be better to become strong enough to protect his own life.
Besides, for some reason, he had the feeling that whatever this man said would turn out to be true.
Keeping his attention sharp, he listened closely. After a brief pause, the man spoke.
"He will get stronger. With all the things he goes through, there's no way a human body wouldn't grow."
Yes! Koma clenched his fist, but the next words left him looking blank.
"However, as you know, this is a world full of hidden monsters, so even if he gets stronger, he'll still end up suffering just as much as usual."
"Huh? Hey. What the hell does that mean?"
Feeling that same inexplicable unease again, Koma protested, but the man immediately moved on to the next question.
「@Can the protagonist get protagonist buffs? - by CriArk」
"The fact that he has survived until now is the protagonist buff."
"Then what was that ominous crap you were saying from before!? It sounds like something terrible is going to happen to me!"
Koma pressed the issue fiercely, but it didn't get through to the man at all.
"Now then, the next question is..."
"I already picked out a suitable one, nya."
He froze.
The man's hand, reaching for the next slip, stopped stiffly in place.
Koma, Eto, and Hitokawa turned to one another at the suddenly low, cute voice. At the very least, it hadn't come from among them.
Flap.
Two scraps of paper were tossed lightly into the air.
Written on them were these questions:
「@When can we see our Dragon Slayer, Shiron? - by chlehtjd」
「@This is a bit off-topic, but... when can we see Sharon again... Abon was officially released on Steam, and even Master Jinouga appeared... - by nwn」
The man turned his head with an expression of utter disbelief.
There stood a bipedal cat about waist-high to a person, with silver fur.
"Shiron...! How the hell did you get here...!?"
"Isn't it the rule here that anyone who asks a question gets dragged in and made to answer, nya? A rule made for fun ended up shortening your own life, author!!!"
KWA-GA-GA-GA-GA-BOOOOM!
The cat called Shiron lunged forward like a flash of light and threw a punch. The man twisted away just in time, and the tiny fist smashed into the space he had occupied.
The blast that erupted there was enough to make the three people nearby stagger violently.
But the explosion was only the beginning. A ferocious momentum burst out from a body and appearance so small it was impossible to imagine, and it chased after the fleeing man as if it meant to grind him into paste.
"Hey, you! Calm down! This isn't your world!"
"Shut up, you damn bastard-nya!! If you were going to go on hiatus, you should at least have done it after making me a body that could get married, nya!! You left behind another victim like me and disappeared, nya!?!"
"Try being in my shoes!! After a whole day of work, I don't even want to write a single character!! These days I've only just barely found the time to write!!"
"I've heard your last words, nya!! Keeping you alive would only create more victims like me, nya!! Before that happens, I'll smash you to pieces and shut this serialization down completely, nya!!!"
KWA-GA-GA-GA-CRACK! Bang! Kugugu! BOOOOM!
Even though it was clearly an empty white space, the floor cracked under the barrage of explosions that made it feel like a battlefield.
The man was running for his life, and Shiron was charging after him like a tiger pursuing prey.
Watching from behind the table, the three of them muttered, "W-wow, that's amazing, th-that... um... cat?"
"Every time it swings a fist, it feels like dynamite is going off."
"If it could talk, I'd want to recruit it into the CCG. It's got the strength, and it's got mascot potential too."
At Hitokawa's muttered words, Shiron, perhaps hearing them, kicked the man's spine apart and then glared this way.
It was different from the sticky, murderous stare of a Ghoul. It was the cold, sharp look of a powerful predator, and the three immediately crouched under the table to hide.
Eto held out the box in her arms and said, "S-should we keep going among ourselves for now?"
"Yeah. Let's do that."
The hunt by the beast looked like it would continue for a while.
Rather than wait around until it ended, the three each drew a new slip of paper.