DIFFERENT KIND

The road where I wished we’d always be together was the road where we parted ways.

The simple wish to live is a crime in this world.

We are overwhelmingly more powerful than humans, yet the only existence we’re allowed is one that must be hidden from their eyes.

We are Ghouls.

Each Ghoul experiences countless bitter interactions with people—some dramatic, some trifling—and Touka Kirishima was no exception.

When she was young, Touka’s family was betrayed by a human who had taken care of them, and the memory of being chased by an investigator from the Commission of Counter Ghoul, the agency that seeks to exterminate Ghouls, was still fresh in her mind. That is why she and her brother Ayato both lived with their backs turned to humanity.

“How stupid can these bastards be, fighting us when they’re so weak? Eh, sis?”

Dispassionately, Touka and Ayato looked down at the twitching body of a man on the pavement, splayed like a suicide who had jumped from the top floor of the building above.

“Shit … shit … you little punks! I’m a Futamaru leader, meant to control this area! I … can’t get killed by some brats!”

Ayato raised an eyebrow at the man, who still had enough life in him to groan in anger.

“Cool it, Ayato,” Touka cautioned him. “He’ll die soon. All this action’s got me hungry. Let’s go eat.”

Touka started walking away. Ayato seemed unconvinced, but he followed after Touka in resignation.

But then the man mustered his last bit of strength to get up.

“This’ll …”

He released his Kagune again.

“You little brats! Ah!”

His thought seemed to be to get them while their backs were turned.

But at the same time the siblings’ Kagune emerged from their backs, Rc cells surging through them. They fixed their red eyes on the man.

“You moron.”

“At least die like a grown-up.”

Their Kagune punched through him and, with one last cry, his life was snuffed out.

The world of Ghouls is eat or be eaten. With strength on your side, there are very simple structures that allow you to live without being trampled on by others. It is a very different world from the one humans live in, with their boring, stifling rules.

But there are some downsides.

The color started to return to Touka’s bloodred eyes. She looked up at a nearby apartment building. Light was pouring out of the windows of one apartment, and she heard joyous laughter. All these people are nothing but Ghoul bait, and somehow they go on living with no sense of crisis. She felt disgust welling up in her at their lack of awareness, and a scene from long ago came to mind.

It was of the three of them—Touka, Ayato, and their father, Arata—around the time when they were living under the pretense of being humans. And within this memory was the same sense of peace as the happy family behind those brightly lit windows …

But Touka shook her head, flinging those memories far away. Ghouls and humans are not the same. There’s no overlap, she told herself, and turned away from the light.

II

“ ‘Ghouls rule Tokyo?!’ huh …” Touka read the headline from the cover of a magazine that had been left on the apartment floor. Something he stole, I suppose. Touka set the magazine on the table and sighed.

It was already past noon. Ayato was perhaps still asleep, because he hadn’t come out of his room yet. Touka debated for a little bit before calling for him.

“Ayato,” she said, in the direction of his room.” I’m going over to Mr. Yoshimura’s place. What are you doing?”

No response. Either he’s asleep or he didn’t hear me.

“Ayato?” She tried again.

“Shut up. I’m not going …” His voice was full of irritation. The door jerked open and Ayato, who looked like he had just woken up, walked out into the living room. He ignored Touka as he combed his hair.

“What’s with the attitude?”

Touka sounded irritated too, and Ayato looked at her blankly. He looked away and sat down on the sofa, picked up the magazine that Touka had just set on the table and started flicking through it.

“Go whenever you want,” he said.

Before, he’d followed her everywhere she went, but now he only acted on his own whims. Everything Touka said seemed to rub him the wrong way. I never know what he’s thinking.

When she arrived at Anteiku—from outward appearances a normal coffee shop, but in actuality the headquarters for the Ghouls of the 20th Ward—the café was quiet, perhaps because it was after lunchtime. A few people were having coffee, but they all appeared to be Ghouls.

“Welcome …”

Yoshimura, the manager, was drying cups in the back of the shop. He noticed Touka and looked her way. He already seemed to know about the Ghoul that had died in the fight with Touka and Ayato. Preparing herself for the usual lecture, she took a seat at the counter and asked for a cup of coffee.

Yoshimura said nothing as he made the coffee and set it down in front of Touka. She had expected a warning from him, but his silence actually made her feel more uncomfortable. This was far crueler than she had anticipated. Feigning calm, Touka brought the coffee cup to her lips.

“Yomo dealt with his corpse for you, but if you keep this up the CCG will start asking questions.”

And there it is. He just jumped right in.

“This again,” Touka said and turned her head, still holding her coffee cup.

“The other side has ways of identifying Ghouls from the marks left by Kagune. They will find you if you get too cocky. And by ‘you,’ I don’t just mean you, Touka. I mean Ayato too—”

Just then the door chimed. A new customer had arrived—a human.

It was strictly forbidden to talk about things that would identify them as Ghouls in front of people. Yoshimura returned to his work as if nothing had been going on, and Touka closed her mouth too.

Another human customer came in, then another. Ayato preferred to shy away from Anteiku, and this strange environment was probably the reason. Human customers in a Ghoul café. A place where Ghouls and humans coexisted, albeit temporarily. This seemed to grate on Ayato’s nerves.

“Ayato’s so young, but he has tremendous strength. I worry that that strength will take him in the wrong direction,” Yoshimura said, quietly, so that people could not hear him.

“What’s the wrong direction?”

“If you have power, you have a lot to lose.”

Yoshimura always came back to these vague lessons. Annoyed, Touka set her coffee cup down on its saucer roughly.

“Touka.”

Saying nothing, she walked straight out the door of the café and did not look back. As she walked away, she thought she could almost hear Yoshimura sigh.

With the sun shining and people bustling here and there, the city was full of life. But Touka’s heart was sinking. Go home, she whispered to herself, and started walking again, but time after time she came to a stop. Looking at her reflection in a store window, she saw an expression frozen on her face. I can’t go back looking like this.

After checking to make sure there was nobody around, Touka ascended to the roof of a nearby apartment building, using walls and low roofs as footholds. Up there she had a nice view, but it was windier than down below, and Touka’s black hair whipped around her.

I’ll just stay here until I calm down. Touka sat down on the edge of the roof, wrapped her arms around her knees, and closed her eyes.

But she soon heard someone crying somewhere. At first she tried to ignore it, but the sound continued, and she began to listen closely. The crying seemed to be coming from somewhere below the building. Touka looked down, searching for the owner of that voice.

“A kid …”

A boy, about five years old, was sitting there crying. Listening carefully, she heard him saying, “Mama.” He got separated from his mother, perhaps?

“Right, now, where is his mother?”

None of the people near him appeared to be his mother. Those passing by looked down at him wondering what was wrong, but they all walked by without saying anything. He was curled up in a little ball, sobbing, “Mama, mama.”

For some reason, Touka saw Ayato when he was little.

Clicking her tongue at herself, Touka came down from the roof in a way so as not to be noticed. Why do I always get involved with humans like this? she thought, then called out to the boy from behind.

“What’s wrong?”

The boy jumped with surprise, then turned to look. He stopped crying at once.

“Where’s your mother?” she took the opportunity to ask.

“Waaaaaah!”

The boy began to sob again, sparked by Touka’s question.

“Wait—”

Suddenly all the passersby looked at Touka. I must seem very suspicious right now.

“Oh, you idiot, come here,” she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from there.

The boy seemed to calm down as they walked. They went into a nearby park and sat down on some deserted swings. The boy started swinging happily.

“What—what’s going on?”

The thought suddenly came to her: Maybe I should just leave him and go.

As she considered her options, the boy said, “Thanks.”

“Huh?”

“Daddy told me I should say thank you when somebody helps me,” the boy told Touka, who was lost in confusion.

“But I haven’t helped you …”

Touka didn’t know what to say, but the boy kept swinging happily, seemingly satisfied now that he’d thanked her.

“Where’s your dad?”

When she’d asked about his mother, he’d started crying, so she decided to try asking about his father.

“At work!” he said, cheerfully. Suddenly he stopped swinging, crestfallen at the realization. “If I don’t go back to kindergarten, daddy’s gonna be mad.”

“Kindergarten?”

He must’ve run away.

“Then let’s take you back.”

The boy silently picked up a pebble from the ground near his feet and threw it toward the fence surrounding the park, sulking.

The easiest thing to do would be to take him to the nearest police station. But Touka was the right age to be in school, too, if she were human. If she took the boy to the police, they would likely start asking prying questions about why she wasn’t in school. I should’ve never gotten involved, she thought.

But then she heard a voice.

“Shota! Shota!”

Touka looked around and saw a man in a suit coming toward them.

“Daddy!”

Shota leapt down from the swing and ran toward him. I guess that’s his dad. His father gave Shota a rap on the head.

“You made me worried!”

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

I guess that’s that. All wrapped up now. Touka started to leave without saying anything, but she caught the boy’s father’s eye.

“You’re here with my son, aren’t you?”

“N-not really …” Touka stuttered.

The man smiled.” He ran away from his school, we’ve been looking for him all over. Thank you.” He was about the same age as Touka’s own father. She felt a twinge of nostalgia.

“I think he was looking for his mother,” she told him, meaning it in a kind way, but as soon as she said it, the expression on the boy’s face changed.

“I wasn’t! Don’t make stuff up!” Although she’d been looking after him until now, the boy started yelling. “She’s lying!”

Touka didn’t know what to do, but the man started rubbing his son’s back. “Of course,” he said in agreement. What a naughty boy.

After telling her she was mischievous, the father thanked her, saying, “I’m sorry,” and left the park with the boy in his arms.

Left alone in the park with a stupid expression on her face, Touka muttered to herself, “What was all that?” I went out of my way to help him and that’s the thanks I get? His parents must’ve spoiled him rotten.

I never should’ve gotten involved.

Touka kicked the ground in frustration, then left the park.

III

A week passed. Touka was off to Anteiku in search of coffee again. She’d asked Ayato if he wanted to come along, but he had shouted, “You don’t have to tell me every time you go out, you know! I don’t care!” and that was the end of that.

When Ayato went out without saying anything and didn’t come home for hours, Touka got worried that something had happened. So she told Ayato where she was going thinking he shared the same concern, but apparently he did not. And that difference made Touka’s heart hurt.

If I were a human would I have to suffer like this? She looked up and saw two boys around high school age.

“I got this album and the lyrics are just awesome, you gotta hear it!”

“Is this the one that’s all in English?”

“Yeah! I translated some of the songs so if you don’t understand it, I can just sing along!”

“Oh, uh, that’s cool, dude, but …”

Look at them, nothing but smooth sailing under sunny skies. Never had to struggle a day in their lives. Touka felt a deep envy and hatred in her heart.

“Hey, you’re the …”

Suddenly, someone called out to her. She looked and saw a man in a suit on his way back from work. She recognized him from somewhere. After a moment’s thought she realized that he was the father of the boy she’d found crying.

Once she recognized him, she became cautious. Touka remembered how he’d believed what his son said, and she wondered if he was going to try to have a word with her.

But the man did not seem hostile. In fact, he smiled broadly.

“I just wanted to say, I’m sorry about troubling you before. I got a call about Shota running away from school, so I went out looking for him with his teachers. Thanks for staying with him in the park.”

The conversation could have ended there. Just when they both should have said their goodbyes, the father said, “One more thing. You said he was calling out for his mother?”

Touka was still distrustful, but neither could she stand being completely misunderstood.

“He was sobbing and saying, ‘Mama, mama,’ ” she said bluntly.

“I see,” said the boy’s father, looking worried. His attitude seemed very different from before. “I guess he tries not to say anything in front of me, but he must be missing her.”

Touka frowned at these meaningful words, and the man forced a bright expression.

“My wife passed away six months ago.”

“… Oh.”

“He’s very good when he’s with me, but at school he’s starting to act out. He runs away, like he did this time, or he starts fights … He hates it when he hears people at school talking about their mothers.”

And here I thought he was living innocently and happily with his family. This unexpected confession brought to Touka’s mind an image of the boy crying for his mother. A shot of pain ran through her. When she’d seen him crying it had reminded her of Ayato when he was little, but suddenly Touka could see something of herself in him too.

When Touka had lost her mother, she’d cried like that. And her father had comforted her.

“But he’s still got to go to school.”

The man smiled sadly.

“He doesn’t want to cause me trouble, he wants everything to be ‘normal.’ It’s his own way of getting through it and fighting on …”

So that’s why he got angry when I told his father that he’d been crying for his mother—because he thought his father would be worried?

“Oh, I’m sorry. For telling you all this. But thank you. You’re very kind.”

Those last words were a phrase that Touka was not used to hearing. She raised her head in surprise. But the boy’s father didn’t notice. He checked his watch and suddenly looked hurried.

“Oh no, I said I’d be there early today, but I’m late now. I’ll see you around, I suppose. Thank you,” he said, and rushed off to pick up his son. Touka found herself unable to move from the spot for a while.

That’s why she didn’t notice.

With the incident with the boy and his father’s words echoing around her head, Touka went into Anteiku and, to her surprise, saw that Renji Yomo was there. Unlike Yoshimura, who generally accepted most things, Yomo’s mere presence made Touka feel tense. She felt slightly uneasy knowing that he’d had to clean up the evidence when she and Ayato had gotten sloppy recently.

Sure enough, when Yomo glared at her, Touka felt uncomfortable and turned her head.

But Yomo’s gaze was directed at something on the other side of her.

He walked past her without saying anything and opened the café’s door. He cast his severe gaze left and right, then he spoke.

“You’ve been followed, Touka.”

“What?”

She quickly gathered herself and looked around, only to see someone running off. From the way the figure carried itself, it appeared to be a Ghoul.

“We were just talking about you.”

Yoshimura’s face stiffened. He looked at Touka.

“Some friends of the Ghoul you and Ayato killed are aiming to retaliate against you.”

Now Touka remembered that the Ghoul they’d killed had said he was one of the leaders of Futamaru, which ran things in this part of town. Although Anteiku was in charge of the 20th Ward, there were more than a few Ghouls that operated independently, but in groups. I guess he was one of them.

“They’ve already got Ayato.”

“Got him?”

Ayato hadn’t told her this, and she hadn’t been able to tell from his behavior. But Yomo was not the kind of man to make jokes or tell lies. All kinds of things were happening without Touka realizing.

“You let your guard down too easily.”

Yomo’s warning made her blood start to rise.

“I haven’t done—”

“Enough excuses,” he cut her off. “You’re asking for it,” he said, then left the café. His words had been few, but Touka felt extremely chastised. Angry at not being able to respond, she started hitting the wall of the café.

“Touka.”

“Shut up!” she roared, venting her anger, then rushed out the door.

“Dammit!”

I don’t need to give some long speech, I can solve this myself. I can fight.

She looked around. The object of her bloodlust had disappeared into the distance, as if to say, Come and get it. Touka decided to take the invitation and headed in that direction.

But suddenly she felt anxious. Each battle set off a chain of events with unexpected consequences. She wondered how long this would go on.

No, this isn’t the time to think about that. Her senses were sharpened now, and her ears buzzed with a fierce cacophony of sounds.

It’s not them. Not the ones who are after me.

“No way.”

She stopped, frowning at the terrible voice she’d just heard.

“Daddy, daddy!”

It was that boy. He’d run away from school again, calling out for his dad as he fled. There was something urgent about his cries now, not like when he’d been crying for his mother.

But Touka turned away so as not to see him. Because he did have a father there to understand him and take care of him when he cried.

Unlike Touka. She had to fight to take care of herself, and she had no choice but to put her own life on the line to protect what was important. And right now, she had to take down the Ghouls who were trying to take Ayato’s life.

The boy’s voice eventually disappeared far into the distance.

At last the sun set, ushering in the time when Ghouls can operate freely. Touka stood at her own feeding ground. She could feel that something was wrong. Someone had invaded her feeding ground to provoke her.

Keeping vigilant as she moved, she walked into a back alley where there would be few passersby in hopes of luring her opponent in for the kill. But someone was already there.

“Kirishima, isn’t it?”

The voice, colored with a hint of surprise, came from behind her. She turned to find a well-built man blocking her way out. She could see some other men behind him, taking the signal to come out of hiding. Four of them in all. They stood ready to attack her from all sides.

“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.

IV

Nothing changed in Touka’s life after that. She had to imagine that the man had not been saved. If he had, then he would have told the CCG what had happened to him, and then their investigators would’ve started popping up all around her.

She felt the suffering that she had inflicted on that boy, who had now lost both of his parents. He would bear a grudge against her to be sure. Just like Ayato, who had been betrayed by humans and now hated them.

She could not push away this feeling as she walked aimlessly through the streets. I want to forget, but the more I try, the more hold it has on me.

As she walked, she heard the happy voice of a child, and she looked around. She saw some kids, about four or five years old, playing in the park. She realized she was subconsciously looking for the boy. What are you doing, she thought, and started to leave, but suddenly she overheard some mothers talking.

“Poor Shota …”

She stopped in her tracks. Shota—that was the boy’s name. There must be tons of kids named Shota, but she kept listening, feeling strangely anxious.

“I know. But it’s amazing what happened.”

“It really is. I can’t believe they found his father lying in the road.”

Found his father lying in the road?

She jolted in surprise, clasping her hands to her chest to calm her thudding heart. Everything that had happened that night came back to Touka right away.

The boy’s father, lying in a dark back alley. And there—

“Shota says that somebody told him where his father was. By throwing a stone or something …”

“Who knows what the truth is. But anyway, his father seems to be getting better now, so I’m glad.”

She could almost see the boy noticing the pebble that she had thrown and running that way.

A vast range of emotions flooded through Touka. Before she could collect her thoughts, she muttered to herself, “Amazing.”

This small, helpless human child, much weaker than Touka, had rushed there, sobbing all the way, but he didn’t give up and he found his father. And saved his father?

I always stubbornly refused to believe that Ghouls and humans were similar. I could not admit it. But now I understand. Having love for your parents isn’t a Ghoul thing or a human thing. It’s something we share.

On the other hand, if he lived and was getting better, then why hasn’t he told the CCG about me? Is it because he doesn’t want the trouble, or is there another reason?

With all that she knew and all that she didn’t know, she could not find the answer, no matter how much she thought about it. She wondered if her father, Arata, who had lived alongside humans, had seen this in them. And if I get to know humans, like my dad, will I be able to see what he saw?

Her curiosity was rising, but there was no way of knowing—or there shouldn’t have been.

“Touka, do you want to try going to school?”

Yoshimura made the offer to her after a conflict with Shu Tsukiyama, an eccentric and well-known foodie. The proposal came abruptly for Touka, but it was clearly something that Yoshimura had been mulling over for a while. He said that he could help with the entrance fees and documentation, as well as giving her a hand with studying.

“No way, old man,” said Ayato, who preferred to keep his distance from humans. This was, perhaps, the right way to live for a Ghoul.

But however much you turn your back, humans are still there. And I live in the society that they built. So it might actually help me if sometimes I met people, got used to them, lived with them.

Besides that, she wanted to know. About humans. And about the world.

And someday I’ll understand my dad, too, she thought hopefully as she slipped into her school uniform.

She didn’t know that from now on, she would share joy that she could not find in the Ghoul world, as well as suffering that she might never have experienced otherwise.

“Ayato, listen to me. You won’t believe what happened at school today. Yoriko was like …”