DING DONG
Hearing the doorbell, Takashi walked over to open the door. He already knew who it was.
Two men in grey coats stood there. One of them had a scar across his face, like it had been slashed. Takashi had noticed them earlier while returning from school.
It had been an hour since then. They arrived just as he had expected.
"Yes?" he asked calmly, as if unaware of the situation.
One of the men pulled out a card.
"Miroya Shuzu, CCG Rank 2 Investigator."
Takashi took the card, glanced at it, then returned it.
"I haven't heard of this department before."
"That's natural," Shuzu replied with a smile. "We're not exactly famous."
His partner, the one with the scar, spoke next.
"Let's talk inside."
Takashi stared at them for a few seconds, but they didn't react. It was clear they were planning to enter whether he liked it or not.
He sighed and stepped aside to let them in.
"I don't like you guys," he muttered. "For all I know, your whole department could be fake."
The agents didn't respond to his displeasure.
Taking a seat on the sofa, both of them turned their attention to Takashi, who sat in the single chair nearby.
"So, what do you want to discuss?" he asked calmly, though a hint of malice was in his voice.
"We'd like to know if you're familiar with ghouls," the scarred agent began. He watched Takashi closely for any reaction.
But Takashi frowned, looking as if he was hearing the term for the first time.
"Is this some kind of joke? Asking about ghouls, like they're fantasy creatures? Why don't you ask about God, angels, or the Devil while you're at it?"
His tone and expression made it clear. He had expected something serious, something important. Not a conversation that sounded like it came out of an anime.
Seeing his reaction, Shuzu thought to himself, He doesn't seem to know about them. Still, better to stay cautious.
"Sorry, my junior was just joking," Shuzu said with a light chuckle. He smoothly changed the subject. "We're actually investigating a series of missing persons cases. The people involved are loan sharks. In fact, you encountered two of their men last Saturday, didn't you?"
Now Takashi looked thoughtful. His tone became cautious.
"Are you talking about the two who showed up at Misuzu's house?"
"Yes, exactly," Shuzu nodded. "We heard how you stepped in and handled the situation."
Takashi nodded slowly. "It wasn't exactly a big deal," he said. Still, there was a hint of pride in his voice.
Both men exchanged a glance, silently thinking the same thing. Why are you pretending?
"So," Shuzu continued patiently, "do you know anything about them?"
"Well, not really," Takashi replied. "I found her mother and brought her back to the house. She called the neighbours just to be safe. Then those two showed up. I managed to stop their plan by catching them off guard. By the time I was waking the others, they'd already run off."
The two men weren't surprised. This matched what they had already heard. While a few things didn't quite add up, they didn't press for details. Their job wasn't to handle human issues. That was the police's responsibility. Though in this case, the police hadn't even had a chance to act, since the matter was now under their jurisdiction.
They asked a few more questions before finally leaving the house.
Outside, the scar-faced agent spoke quietly. "He's not a ghoul. We've already confirmed that. No connection to the group before Saturday either."
Shuzu nodded. He already knew that.
Ghouls. That's what the CCG hunts. Monsters that feed on humans to survive. The loan sharks had been the link, tied to a powerful ghoul organisation. Some ghouls hunted humans directly, raw and brutal. Others saw that as crude, choosing a twisted sense of etiquette instead. They let others do the dirty work, whether ghoul or human.
This group belonged to that second type. They handed out loans, set people up to fail, then made them vanish. The loan sharks weren't just collectors. They were predators. Hunters serving someone worse.
"I think it's the work of some rival group," the junior agent suggested.
Shuzu nodded slightly. "Wiping them out without even a chance to fight back isn't easy. But I'm considering another possibility. Maybe they weren't attacked by enemies. Maybe they were discarded."
The junior froze.
"Our information was leaked...?"
Shuzu didn't answer. His expression turned grim. That possibility had crossed his mind too. The group might have discovered their investigation and removed their own men to erase the connection.
"Let's head back to headquarters." Quietly, the two made their way out, eager to report as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Takashi sat on the sofa with his eyes closed, lost in thought.
So… ghouls exist in this world too.
He was honestly dumbfounded when they asked if he knew about them.
Of course he did. Tokyo Ghoul. One of the best anime series ever made, at least before it went downhill. Still, he remembered enough.
CCG. The Commission of Counter Ghoul. The same organisation from the anime that investigates and hunts ghouls.
Which meant that loan shark had been working for a ghoul group. One already on the CCG's radar.
No wonder they found me.
They probably visited every family that had taken a loan. Misuzu must've mentioned me.
Still, they were smart enough to follow the trail I left.
He grinned.
Before leaving the house, while everyone was still asleep, he left a letter.
No mention of the other stuff, of course. Just a line that the two bastards ran away.
He knew they wouldn't report it. Why would they? Reporting would only create more problems. And even if the police found something odd, they'd assume it was due to stress or trauma.
No one would believe a teenager could have taken down two grown men. Let alone the others.
But the ghouls… They were something else entirely. Regeneration. Strength. That tail.
Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
DING DONG
His brow twitched.
What now?
Had they forgotten something?
Takashi stood and adjusted his expression in the mirror, putting on his mask again.
He moved to open the door.
But it wasn't the agents.
It was a girl.
Tall. Taller than him. Her pink hair flowed like silk. Red lips. Perfect face. Black skirt and blouse hugging a flawless figure. His brain lagged for a moment.
Whoa. She's… beautiful. Like, heart-stopping.
But then he saw her expression.
Disgust. Pure disgust.
Her eyes narrowed like she was staring at something rotten.
Did I… do something?
"Hello—" he began, trying to ask, but—
"Shut up," she snapped. "And die."
His heart stopped.
In a split second, the air changed. His instincts screamed louder than ever. He was going to die.
Behind her, wings unfolded. Black. Two pairs. Feathered and terrifying.
His eyes went wide.
No. I know what this is. She's not human.
But before he could move, before he could speak, she raised her hand.
A black spear shimmered into existence, glowing with deadly energy.
And then—
SHINK.
The spear pierced through his chest.
He couldn't even scream. Blood spilled from his mouth. His breath caught.
And in the next instant—
SLASH.
His body was cut in two. Left and right halves collapsed to the ground with a sickening splash.
The girl stood over the remains in silence.
From beneath her coat, she pulled out a strange cube.
She pointed it at the body. A beam of eerie light scanned the remains.
A glowing orb rose from the corpse and vanished into the device.
"Things like this shouldn't exist," she muttered.
The cube pulsed.
Bright. Blinding.
"It's going to blow," she said flatly.
Without hesitation, she flicked her hand and opened a portal. The space beyond shimmered with distorted light and swirling chaos.
She tossed the cube in.
FOOMP.
The device disappeared just as the portal snapped shut.
She let out a slow breath.
"Looks like it worked."
She glanced one last time at the corpse. Her lip curled in disgust.
"Disgusting creature."
With a single powerful flap of her wings, she launched into the sky and vanished.
************
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