I barely managed to escape. But I couldn't be sure if I'd truly shaken him.
The cold rain was leaching the strength from my body in real-time, and my breath burned in my lungs as if they were being torn apart. At this rate, I'd collapse from exhaustion before my father ever caught me. I desperately scanned the area for a place to hide.
Emerging from a narrow alley, I saw the riverbank and a wide bridge spanning across it. Judging it a suitable place to evade the rain and catch my breath, I sprinted toward it.
"๐๐ถ๐ง๐ง! ๐๐ถ๐ง๐ง! ๐๐ถ๐ง๐ง!"
I ducked into the hollow space between the pillars supporting the bridge and struggled to steady my breathing. Only once my heart rate slowed did I realize that Eto was crying. Had my gasping breath been so loud that I hadn't heard her? Or had I simply lacked the mental capacity to notice? Likely both.
"I'm sorry... Father scared you, didn't he...?"
I soothed Eto, peering into her tear-filled eyes. Seeing my own reflection in her pupils, I let out a heavy sigh.
"No... ๐ was the one who scared you."
I had fallen through trees, tumbled onto concrete, and rolled through the mud. I was a wreck. It was only natural that Eto would be terrified seeing me in such a state.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณโฆ
Perhaps it was because I had been running through the downpour for so long, but a deep chill began to seep into my bones. I rubbed my arms to generate heat, but the cold wouldn't budge. My head throbbed with a dull ache, and my limbs felt as heavy as if I were carrying a leaden weight.
"Dammit, of all the times...!"
My condition had been poor to begin with, but the rain and overexertion had finally triggered a fever. I had to get away before my father tracked me down. Just as I forced my body uprightโ
๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ค๐ฉ.
The sound of someone else stepping into the mud.
Misfortune following misfortuneโtoday was undoubtedly the worst day of my life.
Leaning against the pillar, I turned my head. My father was there.
"You're injured. That's more blood than the rain can wash away."
Ah, right. That, too.
The branch lodged in my back. The wound had widened; there was no longer any point in keeping it in to plug the hole, as blood was now leaking out in steady streams. I'd hoped the weather would wash away any trail, but apparently not. Or perhaps my father's tracking skills were simply that formidable.
Seeing my state, my father reached out a hand.
"Come here. Let's go to the hospital."
"...I'll go, if you promise to take Eto with us."
"...."
Without a word, my father raised the arm holding his Quinque. It was a clear rejection. He intended to kill Eto here and take me to the hospital afterward.
I gave him my answer.
"๐๐ถ๐ถ๐ถโฆ?"
I set the trembling Eto down and stood up. Turning toward him, I clenched my fistsโa clear combat stance. It was my way of telling him to go to hell.
Seeming exhausted by my stubbornness, my father sighed.
"Why? Why do you go to such lengths to shield a ghoul? Is that baby truly so precious to you?"
"Who knows...? At first, she was just a nuisance a guy I knew dumped on me. but after living together for a month, I think I've actually turned into one of those doting idiots."
Watching him stride toward me, I gritted my teeth and walked to meet him.
"Move."
"No."
"I am telling you one more time. Move."
"And I'll tell you a thousand times. No."
As the distance between us closed, I lunged forward and swung my fist.
๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ.
But he caught it with sickening ease. With a sharp twist of his body, I was pulled along, unable to resist his strength.
๐๐๐๐!!
"๐๐ข-๐ฉ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ!!"
The world flipped upside down as I was slammed into the ground. A bitter fluidโI couldn't tell if it was blood or bileโsurged up my throat. I spat it aside, rolled across the dirt, and forced myself up.
My father ignored my struggle, hoisting the butcher-blade Quinque over his shoulder. He took a throwing stance, like a man aiming a javelin. His target was Eto.
"STOP IT!!"
I tackled him, wrapping my arms around his waist.
His balance shifted slightly, causing the thrown Quinque to veer off course.
๐๐๐๐๐!!
The Quinque embedded itself in the ground about thirty centimeters to Eto's left. She was unharmed. Before I could even feel relief, my father's elbow slammed into my back.
๐๐๐๐๐๐!!
"๐๐ฐ๐ฉ-๐ฉ๐ฐ!"
My breath vanished. The strength left my arms, and my grip on his waist loosened. My father grabbed me by the collar as I fell to my knees and hauled me back up. What followed was a punch as fierce as a wildfire.
๐๐๐๐๐๐!!!
It was a one-sided slaughter.
Strictly speaking, it was a fight between a man and a boy, but the disparity between a middle-aged veteran of a thousand battles and a youth in his prime was far too vast.
๐๐๐๐๐๐!!!
The punch sent me rolling toward Eto. I tried to push myself up, but my arm buckled. I forced myself to stay propped up anyway; if I collapsed now, I'd crush Eto beneath me.
"๐๐ข-๐ฉ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ. ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ!"
As I coughed, blood and bits of torn flesh fell from my mouth onto Eto. Ordinarily, she might have hungrily accepted it, but now she did nothing but wail at the top of her lungs. Even a baby like her could tell that something horrific was happening.
"Just... why..."
Rarely, my father's voice trembled. I looked up to see him grinding his teeth, his fists shaking with rage.
"Why do you keep trying to protect a ghoul!? Have you forgotten what those monsters did to our family!? I thought that you, at leastโyou who witnessed ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต with your own eyesโwould understand! Even if you couldn't join me in my revenge, I thought you would understand my hatred! But! Why...!"
"...."
...๐๐ฉ, this man is really bringing back some bad memories. I wiped the blood from my mouth and stood up.
"That incident?"
I looked my father in the eye. Despite the blood loss, the beating, and the fever, the only reason I could stand so straight was the adrenaline surging through my veins, fueled by pure fury.
Yes, I was angry.
The anger I had suppressed for so long, the stagnant emotions I had dammed up behind a calm facade, were now leaking through the cracks.
"Are you talking about ใ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญใ?"
Yes, to you, that was the reason to hate them. You lost your beloved wife, the woman you swore to love above all others in this world, and so you became a vessel for that hatred.
"Yes! I cannot forgive them! Who are they to dare steal our family's happiness!? Ghouls are existences that warp the world!! They must be exterminated!!!"
My father roared in his rage.
I am the same. I lost my family, too. I lost my beloved mother. But my anger wasn't directed at the ghouls. It was directed at the man standing right in front of me.
"You're the last person who should be saying that...!!!"
"...What?"
My father looked stunned, unable to fathom my anger.
"I saw it. I saw it clearly with these eyes! I still remember it! That day! The ghoul that attacked me and Mother as we were coming home from shopping! I remember how he ended her life and how he tried to take mine!! It's exactly as you know it!!"
But...!! My voice was thick with a resentment I couldn't control. There was something my father still didn't know. Something that only I, present at the scene of my mother's death, remembered. There was a sight that only I could understand!
"That ghoul... ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ."
"Crying...?"
"Yes! Why do you think that was!? It's because that ghoul!! He was a ghoul who had lost his family to a 'certain man'โa Ghoul Investigator!! In his sorrow!! In his hatred!! He tried to take his revenge in the exact same way it was taken from him!! Against ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, Father!!"
"...!?!!"
"I hated that ghoul! But at the same time, a part of me felt pity for him! Because after he killed Mother and approached me to finish the job, he was crying and apologizing over and over and over again! That was the only way he had left! For a ghoul whose family had been slaughtered and who had nothing left but despair, revenge was the only reason his heart was still beating!!"
๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ! ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ!
Because I was shouting so violently, every wound on my body began to scream in protest. I struggled to catch my breath and continued.
"...The one who saved me at that place was a ghoul named Kuzen."
"Kuzen...?"
"Yes. And... he is Eto's father."
I found out later that the ghoul attacking me and my mother had been a target of the 'Organization' Kuzen once belonged to. Kuzen had come to eliminate that ghoul and discovered us in the process.
"Mr. Kuzen... even though he knew exposing himself would put his own life at risk, he took me to the hospital while I was still breathing. That man is my savior."
I lifted my head and glared at my father. Shocked by the truth he had never considered, his legs buckled, and he barely managed to stay upright.
"And yet, right now!! You are trying to do the exact same thing as that ghoul!!"
"...!!"
"If you kill Eto here, Mr. Kuzen will never forgive you!! But!! If Mr. Kuzen kills you for his revenge!! Then ๐ will never be able to forgive Mr. Kuzen!!"
I'm so sick of it. It's a nauseating, endless cycle of hatred.
"That's why I want to break it!! This disgusting cycle!! Stop passing on this godforsaken hatred!! Let's end it with our generation!!"
My vision began to blurโperhaps from the blood loss. Yet my voice grew even louder. I still had things to say. I couldn't fall here without delivering it all.
My father had gone pale, breaking into a cold sweat. He muttered with confused eyes, as if his reality were collapsing.
"That can't be... Ghouls are what warp the world..."
"IT'S NOT JUST GHOULS!!!"
My knees began to give way. The flow of blood grew heavier. I ignored every warning my body sent, screaming at me to stop.
"THE ONES WARPING THE WORLD!!! IT'S NOT JUST GHOULS!!!"
Please! Just admit it, Father! Humans are not the masters of all creation. If humans are unhappy, they bear a clear responsibility for it themselves!
"Ghouls aren't the only ones making humans miserable!! The person making you the most miserable right now is ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง!!!"
"...!!!!"
๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฅ.
My father's knees gave out. Mine followed.
What a pathetic fight between father and son. A fight that did nothing but severely wound each other's minds and bodies. Not even children would fight this miserably.
"Father..."
I tried to squeeze out more words, but whether my throat was hoarse or my body had truly reached its limit, I could no longer find the strength to speak.
"Even after hearing this... if you still intend to exclude ghouls to the very end.... If you're going to keep doing this, even knowing it will only end with you being devoured by one... then go ahead and do it."
My vision was too hazy. I couldn't even tell if he was listening.
"So please...! Even if the only result left is to be eaten by a ghoul...!! Let me be able to believe in them and reach out...!!"
It was the final selfish request of my life.
Please, hear me, Father...โฆ.
๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฅ.
His mind was a total blank.
In the moment after hearing his son's story, he could no longer think.
No, he was ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ it.
He tried to dismiss it as the nonsensical rambling of a child, something not worth listening to.
"๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ~! ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ~!"
He heard a baby crying.
He saw the child of a hated ghoul, crawling through the mud toward his son.
"...."
He gripped his Quinque.
He was a Ghoul Investigator. His duty remained unchanged.
He approached the ghoul child, feeling the butcher-cleaver Quinque heavier in his hand today than ever before.
"๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ~! ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ~!!"
As he drew near, the baby cried even louder. But she refused to leave his son's side.
Instead, she wrapped her tiny arms around his unconscious son's face.
It looked as if... the baby was throwing herself in the way to protect his son.
"...."
He raised the Quinque over his head. To end it in one blow, he tightened his grip on the handle...
โIt's not just ghouls!
He tightened his grip...
โThe ones warping the world! It's not just ghouls!
He...
"Dammit...."
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ.
The Quinque slipped from his hand and rolled across the ground.
A sob broke from him. Like the rain still pouring down, he simply wept, his tears falling without end as he wailed into the storm.