Awkward.
There was no way it wouldn't be awkward. The person who had delivered a dropkick to the face the moment they met and the person who had taken that dropkick were now sitting across from each other at the same table.
But what could I do? The moment I saw him after all this time, my body had simply moved on its own.
Of course, I knew Kuzen had his reasons.
Raising Eto had been a struggle, but I didn't regret a single moment of it.
And yet... even so, there was this unavoidable surge of resentment rising up inside me.
Did I resent almost getting killed by a Ghoul? As if.
Ghouls had always been mixed into this world, hidden in plain sight.
I'd nearly been killed by one before I ever met Eto, and from the moment I started raising her, I'd already accepted that my life would be entwined with the world of Ghouls. Why would I be upset over a little brush with death?
So what was I actually upset about?
Everything else!
Do you know how that feels? Eto calling me "Dad," and some neighborhood auntie deciding on her own that I was some unmarried guy who'd knocked up a girl in a reckless youthful fling.
Do you know how that feels? Being in the prime of my physical health, yet unable to even look at a dirty magazine or porn properly because I was raising a little girl—having no outlet for my desires, so I had to secretly wash my damp underwear at night like some miserable criminal!
Do you know how that feels?!
And when Eto started researching adult diapers and wheelchairs because I'd have no one to take care of me in my old age since I never married... do you know how chilling that was!!
I'd forcibly blocked all information on that front, telling her not to worry about it, but I know the truth.
I know Eto is meticulously filling the very last pages of her diary with a detailed fifty-year care plan for me!
I had a mountain of things to say, thanks to all that built-up frustration, but there was no way I could spit it all out here.
Regardless of my grievances, this was a momentous occasion: a father and daughter reunited after fifteen years.
The first wave of resentment had been vented with that dropkick, so I'd deal with the rest later.
For now, I should just quietly watch and let the two of them have their reunion.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Ten minutes passed with the three of us sitting around the table without a single word being exchanged.
I'd decided to watch quietly, but the awkward silence was starting to feel suffocating.
What was this? Shouldn't this normally be a more moving scene?
At the very least, I'd expected the two of them to embrace while I watched with a bitter, slightly jealous look on my face.
But Kuzen hadn't said a single word beyond speaking to me, and Eto wasn't even trying to talk—she was clinging to my back, half-hiding behind me.
...No. Maybe this is actually normal.
They'd barely seen each other for fifteen years. Eto had been separated from him the moment she was born.
If some complete stranger I had no memory of suddenly showed up and claimed to be my father, I'd be confused too.
Kuzen had rushed here to see her, but now that he was actually facing the daughter who'd grown so much in fifteen years, he seemed completely lost on how to act.
I needed to break the tension.
The silence had already stretched past twenty minutes. If this kept up, I was really going to suffocate.
"Um... I'll go make some coffee, then."
Come to think of it, I hadn't even brought out anything to drink.
Coffee was a precious palate cleanser that even Ghouls could enjoy. This place was technically a bar, but there were definitely coffee grounds stocked in the back.
I figured if I left under the excuse of making coffee, at least one of them might finally open their mouth.
Just as I started to stand up, Eto grabbed my sleeve.
"Please stay here."
Eto seemed to be struggling with the awkwardness just as much as he was.
Now that I—the only person capable of neutralizing the suffocating air—was trying to leave, she was desperately trying to hold me back.
"No, Eto. We should at least have something to drink—"
"Please stay here, Koma-kun."
"Kuzen, what is wrong with you too!?"
It seemed I wasn't the only one who couldn't stand the silence.
It wasn't just that he didn't know how to act—he was so flustered he couldn't even bring himself to speak.
"Seriously, is this really supposed to be a touching father-daughter reunion? Don't you two have anything you want to say to each other?"
When I snapped at them in disbelief, Kuzen finally seemed to gather some courage and spoke to Eto.
"You've... grown well."
"...Yes."
That was it.
The room fell silent again... or rather, it was about to, when my voice smashed that silence to pieces.
I wasn't going to be trapped in that stifling atmosphere any longer.
"Are you two elementary schoolers meeting for the first time or what!! Say what's on your mind!! Eto, ask him why he abandoned you for fifteen years! Kuzen, say something like, 'I fought so hard to survive and come back, and this is how you treat me?' You can talk either way!"
"Isn't that a little too blunt?"
"If it were me and my father, that's exactly how it would've gone!!"
Of course, that father was currently resting comfortably in heaven, but still.
Maybe my shouting gave her a little backbone, because Eto finally spoke.
"...I know you had circumstances that made it impossible for us to stay together. I also know that what you did was because you loved me."
As if trying to overcome emotions too complex to sort through, she fidgeted with her hands on her lap and continued.
"But... I'm still a little scared."
"..."
"Eto?"
At her unexpected words, Kuzen fell silent, and I let out a startled sound.
She wasn't just awkward; she was scared?
"Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying I'm scared of you. It's just... I'm scared of the way my surroundings are changing."
With that, Eto looked toward me.
"The idea that I can't call the person I called Dad until yesterday 'Dad' anymore, and that I have to call someone I didn't even know by name yesterday 'Father'... that's too big a change for me. That's why I'm scared."
Family is the smallest, most basic unit of society.
This girl was afraid that the world she had protected until now would collapse because of the sudden appearance of a father she never expected.
Did he understand that?
Kuzen's eyes softened even more than before as he spoke.
"Don't worry. I still... don't intend to have you call me Father yet."
"...!"
"What the hell are you talking about, old man!?"
Eto's eyes went wide in shock, and I raised my voice in tandem.
As if understanding my frustration, Kuzen soothed me.
"Koma-kun, I still don't have the right to be called a father."
"There you go again! I told you before, didn't I? You don't need qualifications to be a parent!"
"You're right. And that is precisely why this child already has an excellent parent, does she not?"
"...Huh?"
Still not understanding what he meant, I blinked, and both Eto and Kuzen's gazes shot toward me at the same time.
"Me!?"
"Indeed. You've raised this child by your side for a long time. She grew up with you through joy and hardship alike. If parenthood doesn't require qualifications, then even if you aren't bound by blood, you are this child's father."
"Anyone hearing that would think I'm the only one who cared for Eto. Kuzen, you've been fighting for her too! In places we couldn't see!"
I knew.
If I had been the light shining on Eto, then Kuzen had been the one in the shadows, cutting off the dangerous threats that tried to reach for her before they could ever take hold.
But Kuzen shook his head.
"That was entirely my own problem. From the moment Eto was born... no, perhaps from the moment I met Ukina, I was never in a position to be a father. I was connected to the deepest darkness spreading through this city, and unable to escape it, I eventually had to find someone I could entrust Eto to."
Kuzen's gaze turned to Eto.
It was a gentle look, but it carried a profound sadness.
"I was a 'negative.' Only now have I barely hidden myself from the darkness and reached 'zero.' Just now standing at the starting line, I cannot replace the place you've held all this time, taking Eto's hand and moving forward. I suspect this child would be the first to not want that."
"..."
"Kuzen..."
Kuzen quietly stood up.
He walked around the table, bent down beside Eto, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Eto. You don't have to think of me as a parent. Just an old man you know will do. But... if there ever comes a day when you can accept me as your father, would you call me that then?"
That gentle touch. That warm gaze.
Kuzen said he still wasn't qualified, but to me, he already had more than enough right to be a parent.
"...Yes."
Eto must have felt it too, because she didn't refuse and accepted his words.
It was finally a heartwarming father-daughter scene. So much so that I, watching from the side, felt my chest ache.
Ah, this is a problem.
I knew Kuzen would come back someday. I knew Eto would return to him eventually.
But now that I was actually seeing them like this, it hurt.
Enough that I wanted to rush over, snatch Eto away, hold her in my arms, and declare, "Eto is my daughter! I'm never giving her up!"
That probably meant I'd grown attached to Eto that much. Enough to really think of her as my own daughter.
As I smiled bitterly and watched the two of them, it happened.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence returned.
The same silence I'd just beaten down and chased away.
At first, I thought the warm mood would just continue, but no matter how much time passed, the silence showed no sign of lifting.
Both Eto and Kuzen were visibly stiff with awkwardness, their expressions frozen.
I felt my blood pressure starting to rise and asked, "What are you two doing?"
"U-um. Well..."
"It's good that we've sorted out the relationship issue... but I don't know what we're supposed to talk about next."
"I can guarantee you this: if you two had met in any other way, you'd have ended up in a relationship built on nothing but resentment and affection because you're both too socially stunted to communicate."
I had to clutch the back of my neck as my blood pressure boiled, staring at the father and daughter who were completely hopeless with each other.
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