It was the next day, the day they planned to tail Kaneki at night. After his classes were finished, Hide went home for a bit. He kept lying down to rest and then getting right back up again. The chaos in his mind got louder as the time to meet the others approached, and being alone was getting painful.
“Gotta get out of here,” he said to himself.
He left the house a little early. The cold wind, somehow smelling of night, slipped next to his skin before rushing back toward the sky.
Looking blankly at the sky, which still showed traces of burnt red toward the west, Hide thought about the old days.
He thought about the school play that had been a success in its own way, that summer night when they’d set off bottle rockets and that old lady from the neighborhood had yelled at them to keep it down, and about the Big Girl hamburger steaks they’d stuffed themselves with to their hearts’ content to celebrate getting into college.
Kaneki was part of all of those memories. And it would be the same vice versa.
The wind began to blow again. With his arms wrapped around his trembling body, Hide spotted a vending machine.
He stood in front of the machine, staring at the selection of hot drinks. The machine had the type of canned coffee Kaneki preferred. Black, no sugar. Hide knew it was far too bitter for his taste.
He bought it anyway. He clutched it in his hands to warm his cold skin before stuffing it in his coat pocket.
“Huh?”
He’d decided to head where there were lots of people and had just happened to pass by the station. All of a sudden, the sound of someone singing happily stopped Hide in his tracks.
He looked around and saw a street musician singing in the plaza. The song was good but nobody was listening.
Hide checked his watch. Still two hours until they were supposed to meet. He sat down directly in front of the busker. He’s not much older than me, he thought. The guy noticed him and, giving Hide a carefree smile, he started to sing louder.
“God is there, yeah, don’t lose sight …” he sang, during the most exciting part of the hook.
“God?” Hide muttered to himself.
“Is something troubling you?”
“What?”
Lost in his own world, Hide was surprised to hear a voice suddenly directed toward him. The musician had stopped playing. How did he hear me talking to myself? Hide raised his head in reaction to the musician’s question.
“Oh, sorry, man. No … I was just thinking what a great song that was.”
Hide applauded hurriedly, but he knew that it was pointless to try to keep up appearances with someone who could tell something was going on from one casual remark. All at once, the worries that he’d been keeping locked up inside began to spill out.
“It’s just … my friend’s in trouble and I want to help him but I can’t in any big way. Like, it’s not going well at all. If there is a God, I need their help.”
What’s the point in even trying, he thought. This whole thing with the ORC has become so drawn out because I couldn’t stand up to them properly.
“I see,” said the musician, nodding. He was silent for a moment before he spoke again. “But you know, it’s okay, isn’t it? You don’t have to do anything big to help.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that your friendship isn’t based on helping each other, but on being together. To put it simply, you’re friends because you enjoy being together.”
The musician had a slight accent when he spoke. Hide wondered where he’d moved to Tokyo from.
“Sometimes it helps just to be someone’s friend. I think there’s nothing better than that,” he said.
He hadn’t expected to get encouragement from a total stranger. But his words had, oddly, filtered into Hide’s mind. Hide nodded as if to say, “You’re right.”
“Looks like you’re feeling a little better already! Or maybe I’ve gotten a little naive!” the musician said.
Hide got to his feet.
“Oh, I should give you something to say thank you,” he said, getting out his wallet.
“Keep your money,” the musician said. But Hide still felt he had to give him something. He was panicking, wondering what he could give the guy, when he remembered the canned coffee in his coat pocket.
“Sorry, man, this is all I’ve got,” he said.
The can was pretty lukewarm. But the musician’s eyes lit up.
“Wow, no way! I know I said keep your money, but I haven’t eaten too well these past few days. This helps a lot!” Taking the can, he smiled and said, “God’s work.”
“Like I said, man, it’s all I had,” Hide said, smiling back. He bowed his head deeply in thanks before rushing off.
“Uh, where can I get them …”
After he left the musician, Hide went into a discount store. In his mind were the memories of setting off fireworks with Kaneki. Hide bought some rockets and a lighter, then headed for a convenience store.
“Hey, Nagachika!”
By some chance, Kiyama was there by the periodicals rack, flipping through a magazine.
“Oh, hey. Killing time?”
“You know me, always gotta be doing something! You?”
“Well, you know.”
Hide went on by. First he grabbed a rice ball, then headed to another section.
“Huh? What are you getting that for?” Kiyama asked, his head tilted to one side. Seeing Hide at the register, Kiyama had stopped reading and come over. Hide took the product in his hand as if he were going to crush it.
“Because I wanted it,” he said.
By the time they got to the meeting point in front of Anteiku, Cain and Sankou were already there. Cain saw them coming and gave them a small wave, then squinted to try and see inside the café.
“Kaneki’s not done working yet. Let’s have a look around this area for the time being. We might lose sight of him if we’re not familiar with the lay of the land,” he said.
Most of the streets around Anteiku were deserted. Once night fell they would be all the more eerie, like a haunted house.
Everyone followed behind Cain as he started down the darkening streets.
“Cain? I keep feeling like something’s gonna jump out.”
Kiyama kept looking around; he was all keyed up and unable to calm himself. Sankou’s gaze, too, was restless.
“I know what you mean. I can walk around abandoned buildings or whatever with no problem, but something’s got me nervous today,” Cain said. Maybe we shouldn’t go too far.
As Cain spoke, there was a rustling. And the sound was getting louder.
“W-what is it?!”
Trembling with fear, Kiyama turned around—to see Hide taking the crinkly wrapping off his rice ball.
“Oh, sorry. Got hungry.”
“Not a care in the world, eh, Nagachika?”
Hide chomped into the rice ball.
“You’ve got nerves of steel!” Cain laughed.
“You know what they say: you can’t go into battle on an empty stomach. But maybe we shouldn’t wander too far. A real-life Ghoul might come out at us …”
“Hide, are you freaking out too?”
“Yes, I am! Even people who live in this area get lost around here.”
“Oh, right. Well, then, maybe we should head back.”
Having only just gotten there, Cain started back toward the café. Kiyama and Sankou’s relieved faces seemed to say, Finally.
But the group had gone down a rather deep alley. And sure enough, they had gotten lost.
“Another dead end, Cain.”
Stuck in a narrow blind alley, everyone stopped and looked up at the sky.
“Oh no, lost again … Sorry, everyone, just a second while I figure out where we need to go,” Cain said, tapping at his smartphone.
It was dark there, far from the streetlamps. There were no lights on any of the buildings surrounding them, nor were there signs of other people nearby.
Kiyama pushed his glasses up, mumbling to himself, “Really does feel like a Ghoul might jump out.”
Perhaps his words triggered what happened next.
Suddenly the hairs on Hide’s arms were standing on end; he had an oppressive feeling, like he was being suffocated. What’s happening? But before he’d even had that thought, events were already in motion.
“You’re right, this is a great hunting ground!”
The voice echoed in the tiny dead end. Hide looked around to find Kiyama no longer beside him.
He screamed.
Kiyama had not disappeared. He had been thrown back against the wall behind them, slammed against it by the momentum. When Hide looked back, Kiyama had fallen onto the concrete, as if he’d slid down.
“Kiyama!”
Sankou ran up to Kiyama’s body and started shaking him. From the corner of his eye, Hide saw it.
The blood-red eyes.
They weren’t dealing with a human being anymore.
“Had to get all the puzzle pieces in place first, but now … my dinner is ready!” And there, with a smile of ecstasy on his face and something taillike waving around him, was Cain.
“Hide, I’m one too, I always have been. I’m a Ghoul too! Look, see, it’s burned into my eyes! The world you will see at the end!”
With a sound like the wind whipping past, Cain’s tail, which had been quivering behind him, grew swiftly. It lightly caressed Hide’s cheek before slamming itself into the wall. The wall could not withstand the force: shards flew and dust rained from the hole left behind.
“Pretty scary stuff, huh?! Shake, cry, cower all you want, but look! Look at this!”