I'm sorry for not updating these past few days. I've been with my family, who came to visit.
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As I bite into the heart, I feel the fleshy texture crumble under the force of my teeth as warm blood spreads explosively in my mouth.
—Gulp!
I swallow the first piece.
Delicious! Too delicious!
My eyes shine brightly as the chewed piece of heart goes down my throat into my stomach. For any normal person who ate it, a raw human heart would be disgusting and repulsive, right? Something that would make you vomit immediately.
But to me, it's sweet as nectar and juicy as cake. It feels like I'm eating the most exquisite luxury meat in the world.
I am completely intoxicated by the overwhelming pleasure of eating this heart, causing a feeling of euphoria to run through my entire body.
"Fufufu..."
As I laugh like that, I feel the judgmental gaze of the girl next to me, but I don't care and begin to greedily devour the entire heart while deeply inhaling the intoxicating smell of blood floating in the air of the alley.
When the heart disappears from my hand, having been consumed down to the last piece, I realize that I no longer feel any pain in my stomach.
'Oh, it's completely gone. I feel dead again. It's a shame...'
At first, during the whole time when my stomach hurt and I felt terribly hungry, it was as if I was constantly in a deep trance. That is, I didn't really know if it was a dream or reality.
But now that the insatiable hunger has finally subsided and my stomach is no longer torturing me, my consciousness is no longer so clouded. Mental clarity gradually returns and I can think coherently again.
I look at the decapitated head of the man I still hold in my left hand. His lifeless eyes stare at me and his mouth is open in a frozen expression of terror.
"..."
I drop it from my hand.
But before it hits the dirty ground of the alley, I kick it hard.
—Bam!
The head flies through the air like a ball. It spins and spins as it rises.
I put a hand over my eyes as I watch excitedly where the ball is flying. I mean, the head, the man's head.
It flies quite far, leaving the alley and landing somewhere on the main street with a wet sound.
Seeing that it rolled very, very far, I put on a satisfied smile.
The police will probably come eventually to investigate this crime scene. But honestly, I don't care that much anymore.
At that moment, I hear a young female voice speaking in an annoyed tone.
"You've completely ruined my food. I remember telling you that this meat belonged to me."
Only after hearing her voice again do I finally remember that there is someone else here with me in this alley.
I turn my head toward her without really understanding what she's saying.
"Your food? You mean this dead man as your food?"
Then I suddenly remember. Earlier, when I was looking through that strange monochrome world with my transformed left eye, I had noticed that she has a pulsating purple thing inside her body. On her back, specifically.
I see. So she's a ghoul.
I look at the man headless body lying on the ground, forming an ever-growing pool of red blood. I walk over, grab his right arm with one hand, put a foot on his back for leverage, and pull hard.
—Cuaashhhh!
His arm is torn from the shoulder with a nasty sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking.
Then I take a bite out of the freshly torn arm.
My face immediately contorts with an expression of disgust. I chew a couple of times and the taste is horrible. It's like chewing and tasting rotten meat.
I spit out the flesh and blood with a nauseated face as I try to get the disgusting taste out of my mouth.
"Phew! Ugh!"
Then I look at the ghoul girl and ask her directly.
"You're a ghoul, right?"
That said, she doesn't seem hostile towards me. This is curious, as I initially thought that all ghouls are evil, so is it okay to assume that some of them are peaceful ghouls like this girl?
As I think, I throw the bitten arm towards her.
She catches it in midair and shows a surprised expression on her face.
"You don't intend to eat the rest of the body? I mean, you killed him..."
I shake my head while still grimacing in disgust.
"I didn't think normal human flesh would be so disgustingly horrible. I could only eat the heart."
That's true and quite strange. It seems that I can only consume the heart specifically and not the regular flesh of the body, which contradicts the insatiable hunger I feel when I see or smell human flesh. My body tricked me into thinking it wanted all the flesh, but it turns out it only needs the heart.
"Isn't that what you expected? Does that mean this is the first time you've eaten a human?"
The ghoul girl asks this curiously.
"That's right. First time."
She tilts her head, and that gesture causes her bangs to fall over the right side of her face.
"And how does it feel? Killing someone for the first time. How does it make you feel?"
I look at the mutilated body lying in the pool of blood on the floor.
I would be lying if I said that killing a human being didn't affect me at least a little. Of course it affects me on some level since I'm not completely insensitive, and I even feel a little nauseous.
However, I don't feel like those protagonists in some anime I've seen. In the past, I genuinely believed that I would feel guilt and deep hatred towards myself. That I would cry inconsolably and break down emotionally while wanting to deny the reality of what I did.
But in my case, I honestly don't feel any significant remorse. There are no strong waves of emotion hitting my heart beyond a slight superficial disgust towards myself for so easily accepting my new reality.
All these years, I always complained bitterly about why I had to be born a zombie, and why I am not loved by God. And many times I wished I would just stop living because I wanted to cease to exist.
But now I finally realize something important. I just have to fully embrace my zombie nature and accept what I am. Because anyway, there are no realistic ways to escape this condition unless I actively decide to end my own life for good.
That said, I still don't want to die.
Oh, wait. Am I already dead anyway? It's quite confusing.
I answer her question with a smile on my face.
"I heard what you two were saying before I arrived. That man was a disgusting pervert who stalked and attacked girls. He needed to die anyway. So I don't care at all that I've wiped such human trash off this world."
I pause as I think of Rei and Saya.
"I won't allow this kind of scum to continue living while I have two cute and innocent friends who could become victims of guys like that."
The ghoul girl shows a look of surprise at my words. She looks at the dead man. With deep disgust, she throws out the arm she was holding and uses it to contemptuously slap the corpse's body.
"If you put it that way, I guess it makes sense."
I ask her curiously.
"Weren't you going to eat him then?"
She shakes her head.
"I lost my appetite after watching you eat."
Hey... I'm not that disgusting while I eat!
Or so I think?
At that moment, my sharpened ears pick up the sound of a heartbeat approaching. Of course, that heart belongs to a person moving at high speed in our direction.
"Let's move. Someone's coming this way at high speed."
She doesn't seem to really understand what I'm saying or why it's urgent.
"What? How do you know...?"
But I don't have time for long explanations. I grab her arm firmly and pull. Her small, light body is easily lifted off the ground. To prevent her from falling or getting hurt, I hold her properly under her knees and back in a bridal carry position.
"Kyaa!"
She is initially surprised by the sudden action and lets out a small cry of surprise.
But then she immediately becomes enraged as her cheeks turn red.
"Put me down right now! I didn't give you permission to touch me!"
But I look at her with a smile and say mischievously.
"If you don't shut up right now, I'll kiss you right here."
Of course, I wouldn't really do that since I'm not that kind of person. But my hands are busy holding her body, and apparently, my threat to kiss her to shut her up works. She immediately covers her mouth with both hands while giving me a cold, murderous look with her blue eyes.
Nodding with satisfaction, I bend my legs and jump upward with all my strength.
—Boom!
The alley floor cracks under the force of my jump.
My feet land and dig into the brick wall of the building, specifically on the third floor. Then I start running vertically up the wall with the ghoul girl still in my arms.
I quickly reach the top of the five-story building. I jump across a few terraces, and on the flat terrace, I lower the girl, who takes several steps away from me as if I were dangerous.
She looks at me with a confused and annoyed expression.
"Why did you do all that? What's going on?"
I lean over the edge of the terrace and look down at the alleyway, about 100 meters ahead.
I gesture with my hand.
"That's why. See for yourself."
She also approaches cautiously and does the same, leaning over the edge.
Her eyes widen in surprise. Huh? Is she afraid?
Down in the alleyway is a man in a white suit carrying a large metal suitcase in his hand. He reminds me of the two men who came to investigate this part of town in search of ghouls in the past. At that time, I had hidden from them.
This man kneels before the mutilated body of the dead man and examines it, touching it with hands covered in white gloves.
I can hear what he says with my senses of hearing.
The man speaks in low voice as I notice a communicator attached to his clothing.
"A completely consumed heart. Head violently torn from the body. Right arm also torn off. The scene is very recent, probably less than five minutes old. The pattern of mutilation is consistent and similar to the work of a ghoul with considerable strength."
Then the men looks around the alley. He notices the footprints from the jump and looks up at the building. Fortunately, I had jumped other buildings, or he would have noticed us already.
In a nervous voice, the ghoul girl whispers beside me.
"He's a CCG inspector."
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20 advanced chapters on Pá treon.
pá treon.com/OlwinMoriarty