“You’re the ones who’ve been following me?”
“That’s right. You killed our friend, we kill you … That’s the Futamaru code.” A victorious look came over his face as he said the name of his group, the same one that the Ghoul killed by Touka and Ayato had mentioned. The four of them against one tiny girl on her own—there was no way they could lose.
But Touka looked them over dispassionately, then smiled.
“Your inferiority is showing.”
“What?!” The veins on the man’s forehead started standing out.
“You think it’ll take four of you to take me. You know you’re weak.”
“What the hell do you know?”
“I know that you idiots came here to kill me.”
“Shut it, bitch!”
Enraged by her words, the men released their Kagune. The one who seemed to be their leader had a kokaku to match his strong frame. Not a good match for someone with an ukaku, which deals a light attack, but he attacked her directly so she was able to dodge him easily. The man who had been blocking her from behind disappeared, and just like that, their plan to surround her was over.
“What the hell …”
Her eyes still red, Touka put all her force into her back. Her throbbing ukaku instantly spread like wings, ripping through her clothes.
“With all of you in such a small space, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel, you idiots.”
It was so ridiculous she had to laugh.
Because the space was so narrow, Touka’s ukaku could swing through all the men who lined the walls of the alley. There was nowhere to escape with them sandwiched in between tall buildings on both sides. They were all fair game.
“Aaaaaaghh!”
The man nearest to Touka took the first hit and staggered.
“Ugh!”
With one slash of her Kagune, Touka sliced the man’s leg cleanly off. It spun in the air before falling to the ground with a thud.
He screamed in agony.
The giant man collapsed without the support of his leg, and his panic was palpable. His companions were also in shock.
Touka moved back to get some distance and immediately launched a long-range attack with her ukaku blade. The other three all had bikaku. Unlike their friend with the kokaku that could withstand her attack, these guys couldn’t easily attack Touka from a distance.
“T-that’s unfair!”
“Hm? What is?”
Don’t push your luck, she thought, and laughed. One of the men, beside himself now, jumped out in front of the rest.
“Too bad, so sad.”
Touka focused her attack on one place: the man’s body. But he rushed forward wielding his bikaku, so Touka kicked off the wall, jumping high into the air, then used the momentum from her fall to split the man in two.
“Right, who’s next?”
It was all going Touka’s way. Her superiority was overwhelming.
“C’mon, take me!”
One of the remaining men turned his back and started trying to escape. Nothing’s as weak as a man with a broken spirit. Touka simply struck him as he ran.
Blam!
He crashed into the wall face-first, breaking his nose. He collapsed in a slump, losing consciousness quickly.
That left one man standing.
“Let’s finish this.”
The last man left was cowering in fright. He looked like he’d already lost the will to fight. It wouldn’t take more than a minute to take him down.
But then he yelled, “We have a hostage!”
His words stopped Touka dead in her tracks. Hostage. The first thing that came to her mind was Ayato. Seeing that Touka had stopped and perhaps thinking that he could turn the tables, the man shouted, “I’ll show you,” before bringing out the hostage, who had been hidden at the far end of the alley.
Touka had another shock when she saw who it was.
It wasn’t Ayato. It was a middle-aged man in a suit—that boy’s father. He’d been bashed by these Ghouls, because his face was swollen, his clothes were bloodied, and he was drifting in and out of consciousness. It was clear that he needed to be taken to the hospital immediately.
“Why him?”
“You never talk to anyone but your family and the guys at Anteiku, but then suddenly here you are, being sweet to some humans. So I thought I’d keep an eye on him!”
They’d been keeping tabs on her all week. So they know about the boy too.
“We were gonna nab the kid too, but he ran away! Seems like it had an effect on you anyway …”
Touka was more than a little upset, as he said. I never thought this man and his son would get caught up in my business. There was one more thing. Her choices came to her now as sweat formed on her brow.
“When we asked him about you, he just said he didn’t know anything! Oh, humanity—I mean, don’t it just make you wanna cry? Right, don’t move! We’re gonna kill you, me and some other guys! Wait and see!”
He had the boy’s father in front of him like a shield as he tried to escape. Touka’s heart beat faster.
On one hand, there was the choice that Touka had to make in order to survive. That is, to kill this Ghoul and the boy’s father …
“What are you doing, sis?”
A familiar voice echoed. Touka’s head whipped around. There stood Ayato, head tilted to one side.
“Ayato …”
As she said his name, Ayato’s Kagune emerged. He rushed forward, slicing through the air, and approached the man. His Kagune made a crunching noise as it took its form.
“Ayato, wait …”
She knew what she had to do. Unconsciously she let out a scream. But Ayato didn’t hear her.
Bang!
At that signal, he brought down his Kagune, thick as an icicle and hard as rock. Ayato’s Kagune went through not only the man who had attacked Touka, but also the boy’s father. Touka gasped.
“Bunch of small fry. Boring.”
Ayato kicked the body of the Ghoul he’d just killed.
“What’s this human doing here?”
He looked like he was going to give the boy’s father a kick too. “Stop!” Touka said sharply.
“What?”
She hesitated. “You’ll get him too bruised to eat.”
“Oh yeah.”
Ayato put his foot back down, then looked around at the Ghouls that Touka had killed.
“I came ’cause I thought it’d be interesting. How boring.”
Having lost interest, he turned and started walking toward their apartment.
Touka stayed, staring at the boy’s father.
Suddenly a shudder went through his body. I thought he was dead.
“Y-you’re alive?”
The Ghoul who had tried to use him as a shield had, in actuality, taken the brunt of Ayato’s attack, lessening the impact on the human.
But now, because of that, Touka had a decision to make.
There was no way he didn’t know now that Touka was a Ghoul. He knows my secret, I can’t let him live. I have to kill him.
Touka bit her lip and reached out toward the man.
“Daddy, daddy …”
But just then, in her mind, she heard the boy yelling. Crying and running through the streets. Still searching for his kidnapped father.
This boy who had already lost his mother would now lose his father. Just like Touka.
Touka pulled her hand back and pressed it to her face. All the heartbreak and suffering of the day she’d lost her father came back instantly as she imagined the boy. It was horrible.
Touka took a step back.
Although Ayato hadn’t landed a fatal blow, the boy’s father was still in serious danger. And this alley would have few passersby wandering down it until the morning at least. If she left him alone without helping him, he would certainly die.
It was a cruel, heartless choice to make. But—
If he’s miraculously helped, then he might live.
If Touka took on that danger, then there might be repercussions.
She took a step forward, ready to make her escape.
Just then, she heard the crack of a stone hitting the ground and rolling away. She looked down at it and picked it up silently. Then, resolutely, she threw it down the alley, toward the main road. The stone ricocheted, and the sound echoed. This time, she left without turning back.