by Shin Towada
The boy remembered her. This was a real problem for them, because a child that age would talk about anything that happened to him without a care. And apparently he’d talked to his parents about Hinami. So now there was a possibility of the story getting around where it shouldn’t.
Kaneki also had complicated feelings about it. As much as he wished for Ghouls and humans to get along, there was—practically speaking—a big, steep wall standing between them.
“Mr. Kaneki! Hey, Mr. Kaneki, look how pretty it is …” Hinami said, holding the bookmark up in the light.
“You’re right,” Kaneki said. A complicated expression crossed Touka’s face.
After that, Hinami seemed to treat the bookmark the boy had given her with the utmost care.
When the due date for her books got close she would start begging to go back to the library, and they frequently ran into the boy who had given it to her. He seemed to come to the library a lot, perhaps because he loved books.
He was younger than Hinami, but he treated her like a big brother would and sometimes taught her words instead of Kaneki.
It made for a delightful scene, but Touka’s expression was cloudy, and Kaneki looked on in confusion too. What is the correct thing to do here?
The boy sat down beside Hinami, and they began to read a book together. Relieved from his post, Kaneki sat a short distance away and watched the two of them.
He decided to look at a newspaper to pass the time. Page after page was devoted to extensive coverage of another incident involving a Ghoul.
“ … was a female nurse working at the university hospital in the 20th Ward, who was apparently just married …”
She had gone missing just before her honeymoon, but when they found her they made a horrible discovery.
“I wonder what they mean—‘suffered extensive damage to the skin.’ Was her skin torn off, or … ?”
“Strange way of eating. I don’t care what they say, it’s gotta be that guy again,” Touka said. She was sitting next to Kaneki, looking at Hinami with obvious boredom.
“Someone you know?”
“I don’t know.”
It certainly seemed like she did know, but he didn’t feel like responding to her. Kaneki folded the paper up and returned it to where it had been.
“Hold up.”
Just then, Touka grabbed his arm to stop him.
“What is it?”
“Just shut up.”
Touka half rose to her feet. She was staring as if she were looking for something. Could we really be in imminent danger? Kaneki gulped hard and looked in the direction she was looking.
When he did, he saw a woman approaching them. She looked like she was probably a college student too. She had long, black hair, and when she reached point-blank range, she said to Touka, “Oh, you come to the library too, huh.”
At first glance she looked like an average woman, but Kaneki knew from Touka’s defensive demeanor that she must be a Ghoul, too.
“She’s the girlfriend of the guy who got killed near Anteiku the other day.”
“What?!” Touka’s explanation provoked an outburst from Kaneki without thinking.
“I wasn’t,” she said, rejecting it, but her expression never changed. “He just told everyone I was. He knew where I go to college, and he tried to blackmail me into giving him ‘food’ by threatening to expose me there. I’m glad he’s dead.”
She sat down next to Touka, who also quit being on guard and sat back down.
“Kizayaro is so violent, though.”
Is that the name of the guy who did the crime we were reading about in the paper? Kizayaro?
“Yeah, sounds like it. We were in the same class in middle and high school but we don’t really hang out now so I don’t really know him. Anyway, forget about that—this is Kaneki, right? The kid I’ve heard so much about. This is the first time we’ve spoken, isn’t it?”
“Nice to meet you …”
After the battle with the Ghoul investigators, there had been widespread rumors that Kaneki had defeated a dove. It seemed like she’d heard them too.
But when Kaneki bowed his head to her, she remained expressionless.
“Nagachika’s a smart kid, isn’t he,” she said.
How does she know Hide’s name?
It was Kaneki’s turn to be tense.
“We were active together a while back,” she said.
“‘Active?’ What do you mean by that?”
“It’s better not to get into it. Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal. And it’s got nothing to do with what I want to do to you now,” she said without any inflection as she ran her fingers through her long black hair. Her eyes turned to Hinami.
“I thought you didn’t seem like the type to go to the library, Touka, but I see you came for the girl’s sake. You shouldn’t have.”
“Why not?”
Touka knit her eyebrows at the girl’s frank way of speaking.
The girl stood up. “Clever people shouldn’t get too near Ghouls. And Ghouls who can’t lie shouldn’t get too near humans,” she said, looking down at Kaneki and Touka. “Otherwise all you’re doing is spreading misery.”
What does that mean? Kaneki wondered. He looked to Touka, who was grimacing as if she’d just realized something.
“And you too, Kaneki.”
“Me?”
She turned her attack on Kaneki. But I’m definitely no good at lying either.
However, she had more on her mind than just Ghouls who can’t lie.
“I don’t have a lot of friends, so maybe I’m not a good point of comparison, but … you should take a more objective look at Nagachika’s abilities. His sensitivity winds up giving him insights into things you couldn’t see to begin with.”
What she said was similar to what Nishiki Nishio had said, before he’d caused harm to Kaneki and Hide.
Hide’s words and actions were idiotic, but he could see the world around him clearly. Keeping close to a human with that kind of ability was dangerous for a Ghoul like Kaneki, she said.
“Sankou, what the hell’s gotten into you? Why would you say that?” Touka cut in. Sankou tilted her head to one side.
“Just out of the goodness of my heart. I mean, it’s thanks to Kaneki here that things have gone back to normal. It’s been fun talking like a friend to people who might be mistaken for being my own age,” she said, then quietly added, “I’m very grateful to Nagachika too.”
Then, saying, “Well, I’ve done all I could,” she left Kaneki and Touka, who were still confused.
“W-what was she talking about?”
Kaneki couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He looked at Touka.
“I dunno. Sankou isn’t the fighting kind, and I think she’s fine as long as she’s left alone. She might look tough, but she rarely talks in front of humans and goes to great lengths not to be seen, and she’s the kind who hides her bad side too.”
But Touka stood up and walked toward Hinami anyway, as if something in the girl’s words was pulling her there.
“‘Spreading misery?’”
Left on his own, Kaneki turned the phrase over in his head.
III
“Okay, today we’re going home right away!”
It was the millionth time the three of them had gone to the library together. Touka said her catchphrase, and Hinami ran off into the shelves. The boy didn’t seem to be there that day. Touka was relieved at that.
And Kaneki, for his part, stood next to Touka, watching Hinami picking out books. Every time he watched her happily selecting a book, he was glad they’d brought her, but he still had Sankou’s words in his mind.
Some lies had to be told in order for a Ghoul to blend in with the human world.
First, that you were not a Ghoul. And to tell that lie, the biggest o
ne, there were hundreds of little lies that had to be told.
Hinami was innocent, obedient, and a good kid. She was not used to the game of telling lies, pretending she was something else, and taking people for a ride. To her, such an act was bad in and of itself.
The boy had not tried to find out why Hinami couldn’t read very well, but the day would eventually come when Hinami had to lie. Thinking about it gave Kaneki some very complicated feelings.
Lost in his thoughts, Kaneki suddenly heard a hysterical voice behind him.
“Wait, what—what are you …”
Touka, who was standing next to him, started to shake in response.
“Yoriko?!” she stuttered.
Kaneki turned around to see Touka’s friend Yoriko.
She was panicking like she’d seen something she wasn’t supposed to see.
“I-I’m sorry, Touka, I didn’t mean to butt in! I was just surprised …” Yoriko started defending herself in a fluster.
“No, no!” Touka looked drawn.
“It’s okay, see you at school!”
“Yoriko, wait! Yoriko!”
Yoriko rushed off, and Touka chased after her.
“You idiot! This is all your fault! And it’s your problem to solve!” Touka yelled at Kaneki, who was standing there, flabbergasted. Without any idea what was going on, he followed the two of them.
“Hello? Touka? Mr. Kaneki?”
Hinami came back, her arms full of books, to find the two of them gone. She looked around but they were nowhere to be seen.
“Where’d you go?”
She put her books down on a chair and ran off looking for them.
Five minutes later, Kaneki and Touka came back, done with playing the chasing game with Yoriko.
“She was too quick. And all that running around …”
“I don’t think the problem got solved, either.”
They had caught up with Yoriko, but whatever Touka tried to say, Yoriko just kept repeating, “It’s fine, I didn’t see anything.” It looked like there was no way to solve the “misunderstanding” after all. Touka frowned.
“Oh, looks like she’s found some books.”
Kaneki gestured to the stack of children’s books near where he was sitting. Touka picked the books up and looked toward the bookshelves.
“I guess she’s still looking …”
They sat there next to each other, waiting unquestioningly for Hinami.
“Touka? Mr. Kaneki?”
Unaware that the two of them had gone back to where they were before, Hinami left the library and wandered the streets in search of them.
“Where are they?”
Tears of fear welled up in her eyes, and she wiped them away. This was the kind of worry she had always caused her mom and dad. She knew she had to be strong on her own.
“Hey!” someone yelled at Hinami, who had stopped in the middle of the road trying to stop crying. She took her hands away from her eyes and looked up to see some rough-looking high school kids standing there.
“Get your head outta the clouds, brat!” they shouted at her. Hinami was frozen with fear.
“S-sorry,” she stuttered.
They laughed and jeered at her.
“Think you got it bad now? You should come with us …”
The teens surrounded Hinami, staring at her as if they were sizing her up. Overcome by fear, she tried to run away, but they grabbed her arm.
“Oh, where do you think you’re going?”
“S-stop … please,” she said.
“She sounds cute too,” one said, cackling.
“No way, man, she’s just a kid. You a pedophile or something?”
“Look, my big brother and sister are …”
“Hey, what’d you call me? Shut up, man. You’re coming with us.”
They didn’t listen to a word Hinami said. Instead, they started dragging her off somewhere.
What do I do? What do I do?
Hinami was panicking but people kept walking past her quickly.
“Wait …”
Among all those people, only one stopped. It was the boy who had given Hinami the bookmark. He had seen Hinami surrounded by the group of teens. And he could see that they were trying to take Hinami somewhere she didn’t want to go.
“Where’s your big brother and sister?!” he said, looking around, but there was no sign of the two people he’d always seen with her.
“P-please help, I think they’re bullying that girl!” He started begging nearby adults for help. But they were all in a hurry and wouldn’t pay any attention.
“What do I do?”
They were trying to drag Hinami across the street by the arm. The boy took a step toward them.
But there were five of the boys, and they were much bigger and taller than him.
He took a step back. Then he turned around and started running.
“I’m sorry!” the boy yelled, running away from the scene.
“She’s taking a while, don’t you think?”
Around that time, Touka had started getting suspicious that Hinami was taking so long. She stood up and started looking for her. Kaneki checked in Hinami’s favorite corner, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Find her?”
“No, she’s not there.”
Touka’s face darkened before Kaneki’s eyes. Hinami had been at risk due to her own carelessness before, and she was upset that the same thing might have happened again.
“Let’s have another look,” Kaneki said, masking his worry. “I’m sure she’ll turn up.” Touka nodded and went off to search the library again.
“Sir, Miss!”
Just then, they heard a cry too loud for the quiet library. Everyone turned to look out of curiosity, as did Kaneki and Touka. There they saw the boy. He ran up to them, tears streaming down his cheeks and panting. His obvious distress told them it was an emergency.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“She’s—she’s on the other street, and some scary people have got her …”
The words “scary people” suggested to them either Ghoul investigators or Ghouls.
“Hinami!” Touka started running immediately.
“I’ll take you!”
She grabbed the boy’s hand as she passed him. Kaneki also started running at full speed. There were lots of people on the street so Touka couldn’t make use of her full capabilities. But the fact that there were lots of people around also meant something else.
If the investigators have got her, they’ll evacuate the area before they attack … But everything seems normal. So maybe it’s not the investigators.
But Touka had the boy with her. Kaneki couldn’t use the word “investigators” so carelessly around him.
“Hey, Touka, I don’t think it’s those guys, you know!” he shouted.
But Touka shouted back, “What guys?” She was completely lacking in calm.
When they got to the road, the boy pointed a little farther down.
“There she is—there!”
“Hinami!”
As they ran down the road they saw Hinami ahead of them, surrounded by a group of boys from a nearby school. Not investigators, not Ghouls, just a group of humans. Nonetheless, Touka’s anger bubbled up at the sight of Hinami sobbing in fear.
Her eyes turned bright red.
She’s gonna kill them.
The moment he realized that, he yelled, “All we need to do is save her! That’s enough!”
We’re not here to kill anyone, we’re here to rescue her.
“What’re you doing?”
The teens turned around. Touka’s red eyes went away just in the nick of time. She dropped the boy’s hand and stormed over.
“Wha—”
Tou
ka pushed her way into the group like a galloping beast. The boys’ eyes grew wide with surprise as she grabbed Hinami and got back out before they could even reach for her.
“H-hey! What’re you doing?!” the boys finally yelled, dumbfounded, as they started to move in on them. Kaneki put himself between the teens and Touka.
“Touka, take Hinami and the boy and get away from here.”
“I’m gonna kill them.”
“Touka, no!”
She let Hinami down from her arms and started going for the group of boys, but Kaneki’s voice stopped her. He spoke to her harshly.
“For Hinami’s sake, get her and the boy out of here.”
If her true form was revealed, she would kill people to keep her secret. If she killed the teens then and there, that might include the boy. And who knew what that would do to Hinami.
“I’m begging you,” he said, pleading with her. Finally regaining her composure, Touka clicked her tongue, grabbed Hinami and the boy by the hand, and ran off.
“Hey, wait!”
“Just stop!”
Kaneki spread his arms out to stop the boys, who were trying to run after them.
“Who the hell are you, man?”
“I’m a friend of theirs. There’s no need to be violent, so stop. Let’s talk it over.”
The boys turned and looked at each other.
“You making fun of us?!” they yelled as they started to hit him. Kaneki took their punches. He rolled to the ground from the momentum and wound up flat on his stomach. His teeth bit into his cheeks hard, where the boys couldn’t see. His teeth cut into his flesh and pain ran through the cuts, but he bore it. Then, keeping his mouth shut, he stood up.
“Hey, give it up!”
Another boy punched Kaneki in the stomach.
Perfect.
Kaneki grabbed his stomach and bent over as he opened his mouth. When he did, all the spit and blood he’d been holding in his mouth came out at once. It looked like a cheap horror movie effect, but the blood made the teens recoil.
“H-hey …”
Kaneki coughed exaggeratedly, spitting out blood, as he fell to the ground.
“Whoaaaaa!”