"Sir, your coffee. Please enjoy."
"Hmm… thank you."
Setting aside the chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind, Ren slowly lifted his head and looked at the shop assistant standing before him.
Her pale lavender hair draped down like silk, covering one eye. Under the warm, dim lighting of the café, her delicate features appeared even softer, almost gentle.
But that softness was only superficial.
Her expression was cold and distant, her posture guarded. Even while serving customers, the girl carried an unmistakable sharpness, as though she could explode into violence at any moment.
Even though this wasn't their first meeting, Ren still felt a strange emotion stir in his chest.
It wasn't merely because of her beauty—although Touka Kirishima was undeniably attractive.
It was because of who she really was.
One of the central characters of Tokyo Ghoul.
…
No matter how reluctant he felt, Ren had to accept the absurd truth.
He had transmigrated.
There was no dramatic death, no truck accident, no sudden collapse from overwork.
He had simply woken up one morning and found himself in another world.
And the scene before him—
An old-fashioned café located in Tokyo's 20th Ward.
To ordinary people, it was simply a quiet coffee shop.
But in reality, it served as a sanctuary for ghouls.
The café was called Anteiku.
Behind the façade of a normal business, it functioned as a refuge where ghouls could gather and attempt to coexist peacefully with human society.
The one who maintained this fragile balance was the café's manager:
Yoshimura.
Kind, gentle, and calm on the surface, Yoshimura appeared to be nothing more than a mild café owner.
But in truth, he was a ghoul of terrifying power.
A former SSS-rated ghoul known as Kuzen Yoshimura.
In the past, he had been feared as the "Non-Killing Owl."
Now, however, he ran Anteiku as a place where ghouls could survive without unnecessary slaughter.
Of course, even Yoshimura couldn't completely forbid ghouls from feeding.
Ghouls required human flesh to survive. Unlike humans, they could not digest ordinary food.
The best he could do was enforce strict discipline within the 20th Ward—encouraging ghouls to feed discreetly and avoid reckless killing.
Most ghouls in the ward respected his authority.
Even those who disagreed rarely dared to challenge him openly.
At least… on the surface.
…
"Is there something on my face?"
Touka's cold voice abruptly interrupted his thoughts.
"Ah… sorry."
Ren snapped back to reality.
"You look a lot like a friend of mine…"
Realizing he had been staring for far too long, he gave an awkward laugh.
Touka turned away indifferently, her purple hair tracing a smooth arc through the air.
"This is troublesome…"
His fingers unconsciously tapped against the rim of his coffee cup as he sighed.
The real problem wasn't the transmigration.
It was the danger surrounding him right now.
From the moment he entered the café, he had already noticed it.
Two undisguised gazes filled with hunger.
At a table near the window sat two men—one burly, the other thin and sharp-faced.
Their eyes lingered on him again and again.
Like predators staring at prey.
Occasionally, they even wiped the corners of their mouths unconsciously.
To a ghoul, the scent of human flesh was irresistible.
Even someone slow-witted would realize something was wrong.
Clearly, these two starving ghouls had already chosen him as their meal.
Ren quietly began thinking of an escape plan.
For now, he was safe.
Within Anteiku, no ghoul would dare cause trouble.
Not under Yoshimura's watch.
But he couldn't remain inside the café forever.
He raised his head and glanced toward the window.
The sky outside was dyed gold by the fading light of sunset.
Night was approaching.
And when night fell…
Anteiku would close.
Without the café's protection, he would inevitably face those two ghouls.
Generally speaking, unless someone was a trained investigator from the Commission of Counter Ghoul, equipped with a quinque, ordinary humans were helpless against ghouls.
In the eyes of a ghoul, a normal human truly was nothing more than livestock.
But Ren wasn't completely defenseless.
Because—
He was a transmigrator.
And like many protagonists before him…
He had a system.
"System."
A semi-transparent interface unfolded before his eyes.
[Name: Ren]
[Race: Human]
[Ability: Fluent in Japanese]
[Items: Lethal Injection x3, Injection Gun x1]
[Evaluation: With your delicious flesh, you're a tasty lunch in the eyes of ghouls~]
[Exchange Points: 0]
[No Sign-in Today]
The system currently only had two functions:
Daily sign-in.
And the system shop.
Fluency in Japanese was simply a default ability.
The lethal injections and injection gun came from the beginner gift pack.
[Item: Lethal Injection]
[Note: A syringe (with a specially designed needle) composed of a mixture of various chemical agents. It can easily kill an ordinary person and has some lethality against ghouls...probably?]
"Probably," the system said.
In other words, unreliable.
Ghouls possessed physical abilities far beyond normal humans.
Their bodies were strengthened by RC cells, allowing them to endure injuries that would instantly kill a human.
Even if he managed to inject the poison, whether it would actually kill a ghoul remained uncertain.
Not to mention—
He had no combat training whatsoever.
In his previous life, he was just an ordinary college student.
Landing three precise injections on a ghoul?
That was wishful thinking.
The system shop contained many powerful items, but with zero exchange points, it was useless.
Everything now depended on today's sign-in reward.
If he didn't receive something useful…
He probably wouldn't survive tonight.
…
"System. Sign in."
Realizing this might be his only chance, Ren immediately activated the sign-in.
A flash of white light appeared on the interface.
Soon, the reward appeared.
[Item: Symbiote "Venom" (Fragment)]
[Note: An unconscious symbiote organism from the Marvel Universe. May produce unknown reactions.]
He blinked in surprise.
He hadn't expected something like this.
…
He glanced around.
Aside from the two ghouls occasionally glancing toward him, no one seemed to be paying attention.
Taking advantage of the moment when their attention shifted, he retrieved the reward from his system space.
The system had conveniently stored it inside a sealed bottle.
Inside the bottle…
A small mass of black liquid wriggled slowly.
Like living tar.
Ren stared at it with twitching lips.
Of course he recognized Venom.
He had seen it in movies and comics.
Symbiotes normally required a host to survive and function properly.
Without bonding to a host, they existed only as unstable liquid organisms.
Unfortunately, the small fragment in front of him showed no consciousness whatsoever.
In other words—
It currently provided no immediate help.
Which meant his only real weapons were still those three lethal injections.
"Wait…"
He suddenly froze.
"Lethal injections…"
A thought flashed through his mind.
Slowly, he opened the bottle cap.
After several seconds of hesitation—
He tilted the bottle.
The wriggling black liquid slid into his mouth.
He chewed twice.
Then swallowed it with a gulp of coffee.
The taste was bizarre.
Something like chocolate mixed with mint.
Extremely unpleasant.
"…Consider it insurance."
After that, he sat quietly, carefully sensing any changes within his body.
Nothing.
No reaction at all.
As expected.
He hadn't really believed consuming the symbiote directly would give him power.
This was simply his final gamble.
Even he wasn't sure whether this "insurance" would ever work.
…
Night had fallen.
The last trace of sunset disappeared beyond the horizon.
Ren drained the final sip of coffee from his cup.
Then he stood up and pushed open the glass door.
The wind chime above the entrance rang softly.
A damp night breeze rushed in.
Behind him—
A chair scraped against the floor.
The two hungry predators had indeed followed him out.