"So the first question. I hope you'll answer me, Touka-sensei. What are ghouls?"
I'm sitting on the living room floor looking at Touka's small back. She's standing in front of a small kitchen preparing something. I hear the sound of boiling water and the aroma of coffee.
We're both monsters who can't eat normal food. So I don't understand the reason why she's preparing coffee since she doesn't have to pretend in front of me.
As I think about asking her about that, I suddenly feel it's gotten a bit colder than before.
'Um?'
I look toward the window and see it's closed.
So it's not because of that...
Touka slowly turns toward me. Her expression is absolutely ominous, somehow I can even feel a dark aura emanating from her.
"Eh..."
I'm confused about the reason she's looking at me like that.
Did I say something wrong?
She walks toward me with slow steps before putting two steaming coffee glasses on the floor table in front of me.
'There's no need to put them down so hard...'
Then she gets even closer to me, and as I look at her with curiosity, I feel her grab me by the hood of my sweatshirt. She starts dragging me toward the entrance door.
"Wait! What are you doing?!"
I complain while being dragged sitting across the floor. Fortunately I'm sitting on top of a cushion, so I won't leave part of my butt on the floor.
She responds with a cold voice.
"What I said I'd do. Kick you ass out of my house."
"Why?! I seriously don't know anything! So where am I supposed to start asking from?!"
Touka stops when she hears me say that and lets me go.
"Are you seriously telling me you're a ghoul and you don't even know what that is? Didn't your parents explain anything to you?"
Her voice sounds surprised.
"Exactly! You finally understand!"
I say relieved that she finally understands my situation.
"As for my parents, I don't have them. And the only ghoul I know who isn't aggressive and doesn't try to eat me is you."
Well, shit. I remember she was drooling when she smelled me.
Her expression changes as I see the hardness in her eyes soften as she decides to lower her head.
"I'm sorry for saying that. I should have assumed that when you came wanting to ask about ghouls."
I smile widely.
"It's nothing. Don't worry."
At that moment I feel an emotion that isn't mine reaches my senses. I feel what Touka is feeling. There's a sense of recognition since she's found someone similar to her. After all, we're both children without parents.
'Lately I'm able to feel others' emotions even if I don't specifically focus on them.'
Touka sits on the floor on a cushioned pillow and sighs.
"Fine."
Saying that, she grabs one of the coffee glasses and brings it to her mouth. She takes a sip slowly before swallowing it without showing a disgusted expression.
Is she pretending? Maybe she's practicing.
"Ghouls are very different from humans mainly because of our RC cells, which gives us superior physical capabilities and the ability to manifest a kagune."
"RC cells? Kagune?"
I ask immediately since it's the first time I've heard those terms. If you ask me, I'd say they sound very technical and scientific. Saya might love hearing those things, but I don't like them.
She nods while placing the coffee glass back on the table.
"RC cells exist in both humans and ghouls. You can think of those cells as if they were blood but with the ability to solidify until they become extremely hard. We ghouls obtain them by eating human flesh and store them in a special organ called Kakuhou which is exclusive to our species."
'Kakuhou... Tsk. Another term.'
At that moment Touka's eyes change as her sclera turns black and her irises transform to red.
At the same time, from her back appear shining wings. They're significantly larger on the left side than the right.
"This is a kagune. It forms when the Kakuhou releases RC cells. It's our main weapon and also our identity as ghouls."
"Ohhh!"
I clap excitedly.
So what she calls Kakuhou is that purple organ I see with my Ghoul Vision. And what materializes externally is called kagune.
I understand what she's saying.
But what really has me delighted are Touka's wings.
Mr. Ghoul wings I killed when I was six were quite ugly and disgusting. They looked like raw meat that throbbed and pulsed grotesquely, plus they smelled horrible and made me want to vomit just looking at them.
But Touka's wings are beautiful because they look like butterfly wings but at the same time they move as if made of fire. No... is it shining liquid? Anyway, the colors shift subtly between reds, purples and oranges as they move.
"They're beautiful."
Touka blinks surprised for a moment before her cheeks turn red. She deactivates her transformation quickly, making her eyes return to normal and the wings disappear.
"O-Our bodies reject normal food."
She coughs uncomfortably while deciding to change the subject.
"The only thing we can consume without vomiting is coffee."
"Really?! Can ghouls really drink coffee?"
Touka looks at me exactly how she would look at an idiot.
"I still find it surprising that you've survived until now without knowing even the most basic things."
She lets out a tired sigh before pointing at the coffee glass on the table in front of me.
"You can drink it. Check it yourself."
I take the glass and feel the heat penetrate the glass and transfer to my palms.
I bring it expectantly to my lips and take a big sip.
"Puagh!"
I immediately spit it out.
It tastes like urine.
I mean, I've never drunk urine nor do I plan to, but I have the feeling it would have a similar taste.
My face contorts into an expression of nausea.
"You can't drink it?"
Touka opens her eyes very wide and her voice sounds surprised.
The expectation I had built in my chest vanishes and in its place I feel disappointed.
"It seems not..."
I say sadly while looking at the coffee glass.
Damn it. I thought I could finally drink something.
Touka looks at me while tilting her head. Under her suspicious eyes I feel like a rare specimen being studied.
"Are you sure you're a ghoul?"
"Now that I think about it, you only have one eye that transforms. That's not normal at all. Is it possible that one of your parents was human and the other a ghoul? That would make you a half-ghoul. I thought they were just an urban legend."
"I don't know. I was abandoned by my parents when I was a baby. But I had seen their looks of horror when they saw me for the first time after being born. So it's very possible that neither of them was a ghoul in the first place. I'm probably just an anomaly, don't you think?"
A zombie maybe? It's possible I'm not actually a zombie, but an imperfect organism that needs to evolve.
As she listens to me speak, Touka suddenly crawls toward me on the floor. She gets very close and I can even feel her breath on my skin. Then she starts sniffing my body. Her nose moves along my neck, my shoulders and my chest.
"You smell better than when we met. You seem more delicious now. Are you like a fruit that can ripen?"
I can see saliva accumulating at the corners of her mouth.
"Hey, you're drooling."
I push her face away from me with my hand.
"Continue the explanation instead of trying to eat me."
She sits back down discreetly wiping the corner of her lips with the back of her hand. She seems a bit embarrassed to have been caught drooling like that.
"Back to the topic, there are four main types of kagune. Ukaku, Koukaku, Rinkaku and Bikaku. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses..."
Touka continues explaining in detail about each type of kagune but in reality, I had already completely lost the thread of the conversation after the first thirty seconds.
My mind wanders while she talks. I look out the window seeing the city lights in the distance.
"Are you even listening to me?"
I turn toward her when I hear her voice and see she's looking at me with an annoyed expression.
"I'm bored. Hey, Touka, do you want to go out for a night walk instead of continuing with this theoretical class?"
A vein throbs on Touka's forehead. She clicks her tongue while sighing deeply. I can see she's making a great effort to be patient with me and not kick me out of her house.
"Why would you want to go out at this hour, you big idiot?"
I smile widely showing all my teeth.
"To hunt ghouls, of course."
×××
20 advanced chapters on Pa-treon.
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