Rei Ao: "Ghouls are a special humanoid species in Touka's world."
Rei Ao: "They look almost exactly like humans, except for one key differencetheir eyes. When they hunt or fight, their eyes turn red, something called a kakugan."
Rei Ao: "But their biggest defining trait is also what makes their existence so tragic."
The tragedy of ghouls
Ghouls can't eat normal food.
Bread, veggies, fruit, meateverything we'd call food
is absolutely repulsive to them. Some of it is even toxic.
If they try to eat it, they'll get violently ill.
Weakness, nausea, even death.
The only thing they can eat is human flesh.
That's because human bodies contain RC cells,
a kind of cell ghouls need to survive.
They have to hunt humans.
There's no other option.
This survival instinct immediately puts them in direct conflict with human society.
But it gets worse
Ghouls aren't just "different."
They're powerful.
They're stronger, faster, and can heal way faster than humans.
And then there's their most feared ability
the Kagune.
It's a weapon made from their own RC cells.
It can take different formswings, tails, claws, armorand it's deadly.
There are four main types, based on how and where it forms:
Ukaku: Grows from the shoulders. Fast, good for ranged attacks.
Koukaku: Grows beneath the skin. Great defense.
Rinkaku: Grows from the waist. Balanced offense and defense.
Bikaku: Grows from the tailbone. High offensive power.
They look human.
Many of them just want to live normal livesfit in, enjoy food, feel the sun.
But hunger is constant.
That craving for flesh... it never stops. It wears them down. It drags them into the dark.
They can't escape what they are.
And humans will never accept them.
To fight back, humans created a government task force called CCGthe Commission of Counter Ghoul.
Its agents, known as Doves, use powerful weapons called Quinquesforged from the bodies of dead ghouls.
It's a cycle of killing and being killed.
That's life in Touka's world.
Rei Ao: "So when Touka says her fate was tragic from the start, she's not exaggerating."
Rei Ao: "Every ghoul, from the moment they awaken, carries a silent cursetrapped in a nightmare where survival battles with morality, instinct clashes with humanity, and there's no escape from being hunted."
They'll never be accepted.
All they can do is wait in the dark for the next wave of hunger
Or die by a Dove's blade.
In a world like that, is it really any wonder they question the existence of godor curse the unfairness of fate?
As Rei Ao's messages kept appearing in the chateach one heavy but crystal clear
the once lively conversation completely died out.
No more jokes.
No more side comments.
Just silence.
Akame: "They have no choice but to hunt and kill always running, always hiding. That kind of fate it's heartbreaking."
Frieren: "Even immortals don't suffer like this. Demons choose to kill. Ghouls they have to."
Saeko Busujima: "Their whole world is broken. It's pure, violent species conflict."
Ayame Yomogawa: "God, I can't imagine living in that kind of constant fear and hunger"
Miko Yotsuya: "Ugh scarier than ghosts. That's a living curse."
Misaka Mikoto: "This is worse than any of Academy City's darkest experiments."
Mai Sakurajima: "Wait so the new girl literally eats people? Like, for real?"
Shock.
Disbelief.
Pity.
A deep, haunting sorrow.
The chat was filled with mixed emotions, but everyone had come to one sobering realization:
For the first time, they saw what it really meant to be a being born into tragedy.
The very existence of ghouls shattered everything they thought they knew about life and morality.
~~~
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Chapter 846: Cruel Fate and Hotel
Anteiku Caf Upstairs Bedroom
Kirishima Touka sat silently in the bedroom above the Anteiku caf, staring at the group chat screen.
Messages poured inshock, pity, even fear.
She watched as Rei Ao revealed the brutal reality of her world, exposing it openly for everyone to see.
She bit down on her lip, the taste of blood spreading across her tongue.
It felt like being stripped barevulnerable, raw.
And yet, deep in her chest there was something else. A strange sense of release.
So even in other worlds, people found the fate of ghouls just as absurd just as tragic?
She closed the glowing chat window, hugged her knees to her chest, and buried her face.
The room was silent, save for the faint sound of her breathing.
Through the gap in the curtains, the cold flicker of neon lights spilled in, casting sharp, lonely shadows across her.
Itomori Miyamizu Mitsuha
Back in Itomori Village, Miyamizu Mitsuha was just as shaken. She couldn't say a word.
This was the first time she truly understood that other worlds carried pain far heavier than her ownfar more than the isolation of her small town or her duties at the shrine.
In the face of such raw, visceral suffering even the gods felt distant and blurry.
French Restaurant Private Room
Rei Ao exhaled quietly, closing the chat interface.
He looked up to find Utaha and Sonoko watching him closely, concern written all over their faces.
They hadn't read the messages, but they could feel the shift in his energythe sudden weight of it all.
"The new girl she's really a ghoul?"
Utaha asked, her burgundy eyes filled with disbelief.
"Yeah," Rei Ao nodded. "She's someone born into a cruel fate trying to escape it, but never really able to."
He didn't say more.
Even Sonoko, normally the one cracking jokes, turned serious.
"If she needs help," she said softly, "we could probably do something, right?"
Rei Ao just smiled faintly and picked up his utensils.
"Let's eat. In the end, only she can decide how to face what's ahead."
That Night
Dinner ended, but the three didn't head home.
Instead, they went to a hotel.
The bathroom door creaked open, the sound sharp in the still room.
Steam spilled out like mist, followed by Rei Ao.
A loose white towel hung low on his hips.
His damp black hair dripped, water tracing down his sharply defined chest and abs before disappearing into the edge of the towel.
The soft glow of the room's lighting caught the water on his skin, making every line of muscle shimmer subtly.
With a towel draped over his shoulder, he lazily rubbed at his hairevery movement relaxed but in control.
To him, this bodyintimidating to mostwas just another day.
But to the two girls watching, it was like someone had thrown a stone into a still lake.
Utaha and Sonoko, sitting on the edge of the bed, froze like they'd been electrocuted.
They'd just finished their own showers and were wrapped in the hotel's soft white robes.
Their damp hair clung to their shoulders, the ends still dripping.
Utaha's signature jet-black hair looked thicker wet, and her already pale skin glowed with a blush so light it almost looked translucentlike the petal of a spring bloom.
She instinctively pulled her robe tighter, fingers whitening from the grip.
It felt like the only barrier between her and the humid, lingering warmth of his presence.
Her head lowered, thick lashes trembling.
She locked her eyes onto her own knees, pretending they were the only thing in the room.
The air felt thick and heavy, sweet with the scent of body washand charged with something unspeakable.
"Ahem."
Sonoko cleared her throat gently, finally breaking the suffocating silence.
She raised her hand to her lips, putting on a casual front.
Turning, she glanced at Utahawho looked like she wanted to disappear into the mattress.
In her eyes, the tension was replaced with a familiar teasing glint.
A subtle smile tugged at her lips.
"Utaha-chan?"
Her voice was light, playful.
"You seem a little nervous?"
"WhWhat?!"
Utaha jolted, like she'd just been zapped.
Her wine-red eyes went wide with alarm, reflecting Sonoko's teasing grin.
The blush on her cheeks spread fastears, neck, everything lit up.
"N-Nervous?! Sonoko-san, what kind of nonsense is that?! I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Her voice cracked from how fast she was talkinghigh-pitched and completely flustered.
"W-Who would get nervous over something like this?! That makes no sense at all!"
She kept rambling, eyes darting around like a panicked deer.
Anywhere but at Sonoko. And definitely not at Rei Ao, who now stood a few feet away, calmly watching.
"Oh~?"
Sonoko's smirk widened.
She looked like a fox that had just cornered a rabbit.
Instead of backing off, she leaned in closer.
The mattress dipped slightly beneath her weight.
A wave of post-shower warmth and subtle perfume floated with her.
Their arms brushed slightlyskin against fabric.
Utaha flinched but didn't pull back. Sonoko's gaze had her frozen.
"Since you're not nervous at all"
Sonoko leaned in, whispering right beside Utaha's flushed earjust loud enough for the two of them and for Rei Ao to catch every word.
"Then why don't you go first later? I'll sit back and watch maybe take a few notes. Sound good?"
Her voice was silky smooth, laced with wicked amusement.
She drew out the words "watch" and "take notes" just enough to spark every possible implication.
Chapter 847: Watched x Fun
Kasumigaoka Utaha stared in disbelief at Machida Sonoko's smiling face, just inches away.
Her beautiful eyes widened to their limit from a mix of shame and shock, her pupils contracting slightly.
"Sonoko-san! You!"
Her voice trembled with a broken, hushed exclamation.
This... this was justtoo absurd, too humiliating!
How could she... how could she do something like that in front of someone else... and even be watched?
The very suggestion was so outrageous that it made her blood feel like it was flowing backward.
Without thinking, she was about to firmly and flatly refuse, using the harshest words she could muster to condemn her senior's "malicious intent."
However
Just as her cherry lips parted and the first syllable of rejection was about to escape
"Heh."
A deep, magnetic chuckle, laced with unhidden amusement and absolute control, rang out, cutting through the lingering sound of water droplets in the bathroom and silencing all of Utaha's unspoken protests.
Rei Ao had somehow already walked up beside the bedjust one step away from the two of them.
His tall figure cast an imposing shadow that enveloped the two women in white bathrobes entirely.
Steam still clung to his skin, mixing with a potent masculine presence.
There was an inexplicable air of dominance.
He casually flicked the water from his damp hair.
A few cold drops landed on Utaha's flushed cheeks and collarbone, sending a subtle shiver through her body.
His deep eyes burned with unconcealed fire and playful mischief.
His gaze shifted between Sonoko's mischievous smile and Utaha's face, which was burning with shame and anger.
Finally, his eyes locked onto Utaha's breathtakingly beautiful, now panicked and blushing face.
"I think"
Rei Ao spoke slowly, his deep voice cutting through the tension like a hook dragging across taut nerves.
"Sonoko's suggestion"
He deliberately paused.
...Relishing the moment Utaha's eyes flared with humiliation.
The smirk on his lips widened into a commanding smile.
"is an excellent idea."
His gaze bore down on Kasumigaoka Utaha like a physical force.
"Then let's have Utaha go first."
The moment his words fell, Rei Ao's strong, well-defined hand moved to the edge of the towel wrapped around his waist.
"WaWait!"
Utaha's panicked cry was cut off midway.
The next moment, Rei Ao's fingers gave a light tug.
The white fabric lost its support and slipped to the dark carpet below.
Everything was exposed under the soft, diffused lighting.
Time seemed to stretch indefinitely in that moment.
Utaha's mind went completely blank.
All of her thoughtsshame, anger, resistancewere shattered by the sheer shock of the scene before her.
"W-wow~ As expected of Rei Ao-kun."
Sonoko, watching from the side, exclaimed with sparkling eyes.
"Has he gotten even bigger?"
As someone who had experienced it, Sonoko was stunned.
"I"
Utaha's breath caught in her throat.
Her eyes widened to the limit in shock, reflecting the raw, primal symbol of masculinity in front of her.
It was a declaration of absolute dominancea storm waiting to strike.
She forgot to scream, even forgot to shut her eyes.
She was frozen, like a beautiful statue suddenly drained of its soul.
Rei Ao's lips curled into a dangerously smug smile of control.
He stepped forward.
His large frame loomed over Utaha's petite body.
He leaned down.
Steam and body heat clung to his breath, brushing against her sensitive ear and neck, sending goosebumps across her skin.
One strong hand, hot and undeniable, rested firmly on her slender waist.
Even through the thin fabric, the sensation was sharp and forceful.
"Mm"
A helpless whimper escaped Utaha's tightly shut lips.
She felt a force pulling her downward, her body falling onto the soft bed without resistance.
Rei Ao's broad shoulders and damp chest filled her entire field of vision.
The overwhelming presence made her dizzy.
As her consciousness teetered on the edge of collapse, she frantically turned her head toward Sonoko beside the bed in a silent plea for help.
But what she saw
Was Sonoko's face lit with excitement, mischief, and a deeper, unspoken anticipation.
She even shifted her sitting posture.
Leaning forward slightly.
Her experienced eyes sparkled with intense interest, as if watching a thrilling show about to unfold.
There was no hint of trying to stop it.
In fact, she seemed to be urging it on silently: "Go on, Utaha-chan."
That look shattered Utaha's last shred of shame.
The shame of being watched mixed with rising arousal and confusion.
"Rei Rei Ao"
His only response was a kiss, heated and aggressive, that silenced her fragile protest.
It was clear nowthey weren't getting out of this tonight.
Sunlight streamed generously through the clean glass windows, filling the Kobayashi family's tidy living room.
The air carried that particular laziness unique to weekends.
