From the corner of his eye he stole glances at Rize. She walked unhurriedly, steps graceful. The sunset lit her profile, making her even more beautiful. She didn't seem bothered by the silence; a faint smile still rested on her lips. Now and then she looked at a shopfront or a passerby, perfectly at ease.
The calmer she seemed, the more Kaneki berated himself. This was such a good chance, and he had no idea how to handle it. Several times he tried to speakask what she liked to do, maybe chat about the weather. But the words died at his lips every time, for fear of saying something dull and ruining the mood.
"Um Kamishiro-san" he finally ventured.
"Mm?" Rize turned to him, eyes gentle. "What is it, Kaneki-san?"
Under that gaze, his heartbeat kicked up again. Everything he'd meant to say vanished. He opened his mouth and managed only, "N-nothing It's just the weather's really nice today."
He wanted to crawl into a hole. What a worthless thing to say!
Rize seemed amused by his fluster; her eyes smiled. "It is. The sunset's beautiful." She didn't press him, nor show any impatiencejust picked up the thread naturally. Kaneki let out a small breath.
They fell quiet again, but this time it felt less awkward. Maybe silence was also a way to be together, he told himself, quietly savoring her presencenervous, and a little sweet.
He didn't know how long they'd walked before Rize stopped and pointed at an apartment building up ahead. "Kaneki-san, this is my place."
Kaneki blinked, followed her finger, and felt a faint pang of disappointment. He wanted to stay with her a little longer. But he knew he couldn't rush thingsespecially when pursuing a girl.
"Okay, I'll head back then," he said, forcing a smile to look composed.
Just as he was about to turn away, Rize spoke up with an invitation: "Kaneki-san, would you like to come in for a glass of water?"
His heart jumped; his first instinct was to blurt "yes." The chance to be in her home, to have more time alone togetherthat was everything he'd hoped for. But then he hesitated. It was late. A boy going alone to a girl's placewouldn't that seem frivolous, out of line? If he left a bad impression, it would backfire.
After a fierce internal struggle, reason won out. He pulled a stiff smile and shook his head. "No it's pretty late. I wouldn't want to give you the wrong impression. See you tomorrow."
He wavedpart pep talk, part farewellthen turned and strode off in the opposite direction. He didn't dare look back, afraid that if he did, he wouldn't be able to refuse her invitation.
~~~
A Gift Memberships in Patreon!
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
Currently You can Read 220+ Chapters Ahead of Others!
Chapter 876: Getting Warned
Watching Ken Kaneki's slightly hurried figure fade around the corner, the gentle smile on Rize Kamishiro's face slowly drained away.
In its place came something cold and ravenous.
Her eyes were no longer clear and tenderthey brimmed with unabashed hunger, locked on the direction Kaneki had gone.
It wasn't lust.
It was something more primal, more brutalhunger.
She could practically "smell" the human scent radiating off Kaneki, pure and enticing. It was like the finest spice, constantly teasing her palate and stoking her appetite.
The boy's innocence and awkwardness were, to her, nothing more than garnishlittle touches to heighten the flavor of a delicacy.
Only when Kaneki's footsteps vanished completely into the night did Rize slowly pull back her gaze.
She flicked out her tongue and lightly licked her lips, as if savoring an aftertaste.
Her palm smoothed over her flat stomach.
A strange, satisfied smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and in a voice only she could hear, she chuckled:
"My, my before the main course, I should have a little appetizer first~"
With that, she turned and slipped into the apartment block's shadows.
Her figure vanished quickly, as if she'd never been there at all.
Night fell in full.
The city sank into darkness.
Neon spilled prismatic reflections across the wet pavement, yet could not push back the gloom pooling in the corners.
Deep in a narrow, out-of-the-way alley
"Ahhhh!!!"
A shrill, ragged scream tore through the quiet.
It cut off at once.
"Tch tch tch"
Then came a sickening sound of feedinglike some beast worrying flesh from bone, the crisp crack of splintering skeleton mixed in.
The uncanny noise echoed through the still alley, raising gooseflesh.
Farther in, the light was dim.
A crouched shape could just be made out, back to the alley mouth.
She moved with broad, deliberate motions.
Each time her head dipped, a dull chewing thud followed.
Just then
Tap!
A clear footstep sounded at the mouth of the alley, breaking the gruesome rhythm.
The feeding stopped dead.
Silence fell.
The coppery reek of blood thickened in the air.
The next second
Whoosh!
Something hissed through the dark: a sharp, blood-red, scale-plated tendrillike a viperlanced out from the depths of the alley.
It howled through the air, driving straight for the newcomer at the entrance.
At the instant it was about to strike
Shff!
A fan of iridescent spikes blossomed from behind the newcomer's back, flower-like yet hard as a shield.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The blood-red tendril smashed into the prismatic spikes and was knocked aside, arcing away to slam into the wall with a heavy thud.
"Oh? Kid, didn't anyone tell you it's taboo to interrupt a fellow ghoul while she's eating?"
The voice that floated up from the alley's depths was sour and arrogant.
The crouched figure rose and turned.
In the thin light from the alley mouth, her face came clearRize Kamishiro.
But the gentle, refined woman from the caf was gone.
Her glasses had vanished at some point, revealing a pair of murderous, blood-red kakugan. Her pupils had narrowed into vertical slits that glinted with danger.
Blood smeared her mouth and cheeks.
It dripped from her chin, leaving vivid trails down her neck.
Behind her, four blood-red, scale-armored tendrilsher kagunewrithed faintly, radiating a predatory chill.
At her feet lay a human corpse, gnawed to a mangled ruin.
The scene was brutally, viscerally grotesque.
At the alley mouth stood a woman in a rabbit mask.
She was slender.
A pair of iridescent, wing-like ukaku fanned out behind herbutterfly-beautiful and blade-edged.
"Heh"
At Rize's words, the woman gave a cold, mirthless scoff beneath the mask. Her voice came through the filter with an icy distortion.
"I'm with Anteiku."
Rize's swaying kagune stilled for a beat.
Her blood-red eyes narrowed at the intruder.
"Anteiku?"
"The manager sent me to warn you," the rabbit-masked woman went on, ignoring the reaction, her tone flat and unyielding. "Don't hunt so brazenly in the 20th Ward. Otherwise, you'll make yourself the enemy of every ghoul here."
Calm words, but the warning brooked no argument.
Rize's gaze deepened.
She stared hard at the woman in the rabbit mask, a flicker of killing intent passing through her eyes.
But in the end, she didn't move.
Anteiku's standing in the 20th Ward was particular. She wasn't afraid of them, but there was no point making enemies for nothingespecially when she had a more important "target."
The rabbit-masked woman clearly didn't want to drag this out either.
Seeing Rize hold her tongue, she shot her a final, frosty glance and left one last line:
"You've been warned."
Her iridescent ukaku gave a light beat, and her figure slid back like a wraith, melting into the night in an instant.
Back in the alley's depths, Rize stood where she was.
Her kakugan still glimmered with peril.
She lifted her chin toward the direction the rabbit had vanished, and a cold, cruel smile curved her lips.
"Anteiku, huh"
She murmured, disdain thick in her voice.
"Meddlesome."
She turned back to the ruined body.
She licked the blood lingering at the corner of her mouth, hunger flaring in her eyes again.
Her meal, rudely interrupted, clearly hadn't satisfied her.
The hideous sounds of feeding crept back into the dark, swallowed by a night that was somehow both noisy and silent in this city.
Across town, in another corner of the city
Ken Kaneki had just gotten home. Sitting at his desk, he replayed every little moment he'd shared with Rize that day, a shy, sweet smile on his faceutterly unaware he'd already become a "delicacy" in the eyes of a beast.
Chapter 877: Another Episode on Kirisu Mafuyu' House
Late at night.
The guest room in Mafuyu Kirisu's apartment.
Heavy curtains shut out the city's last traces of light.
The room lay in near darkness, the only sound the soft hum of the air conditioner.
Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogatanow in their early twentieswere lying side by side under the same thin quilt on the room's one large bed.
In the dark, neither could sleep.
Their breathing was uneven, and their minds kept loopinglike a glitched slideshowthrough the day's scenes:
Mafuyu-sensei being tugged into the shadow at the turn of the corridor
Rei Ao's teasing smile as he wiped the corner of his mouth
Mafuyu-sensei reemerging later, clearly flustered
And earlier stillthe "accident" in Rei Ao's living room that had blown their minds.
Every image seemed to burn, stirring up heat and a suffocating embarrassment that twanged the taut strings of their hearts.
Fumino felt her cheeks so hot they could fry an egg.
A strange, restless warmth welled up inside, making her squirm under the covers.
Beside her, Rizu had gone stiff as a board. Her round glasses sat on the nightstand; without them, her violet eyes were wide open in the dark, heart thudding like it might leap out of her throat. A fluttery, hollow ache pulsed low in her belly.
"FuFumino" Rizu's voice trembled, breaking the oppressive silence.
"Are you awake too?"
"Mm" Fumino's muffled answer came from under the quilt, thick with shyness.
"My head's a total mess"
Both knew exactly what the other was thinking, but neither dared to say it out loud.
The air itself seemed tinged with that particular mix of youthful awkwardnessbashful, secret, and a little feverish.
Just as the embarrassment and heat were about to swallow them
"Help!"
A cry cut clearly through the not-so-soundproof wall from the master bedroom next door, like a stone tossed into a still pond.
Fumino and Rizu froze at the same time.
That voice Mafuyu Kirisu?!
Shock and worry swept away every trace of shame.
"Kirisu-sensei?!" they blurted in unison, jolting upright.
They traded a wide-eyed glance in the darkpure panic mirroring back.
No hesitation.
Fumino flung off the covers; Rizu fumbled for her glasses and shoved them on.
They didn't even bother with slippers, sprinting barefoot for the master bedroom door, hearts pounding.
"Kirisu-sensei! Are you okay?!" Fumino called, twisting the handle.
Clickthe door wasn't locked.
They pushedhard!
The door banged open.
A bright bedside lamp flooded the hall, making them squint.
The next second, they froze in the doorway like someone had cast a binding spell.
Blank minds.
All their fear, urgency, and momentum shattered against the sheer impact of what they saw.
The scene was very much adult.
Mafuyuflushed and breathlesswas in the middle of an intimate moment with Rei Ao.
"Help" The word that had carried through the wall clearly hadn't been a real plea; it was the startled half-cry of someone caught off guard.
Mafuyu heard the commotion and, eyes hazy with moisture, turned her head.
When she registered her two students in the doorway, the haze snapped into pure, blazing mortification.
"Eek!" A sharp, strangled yelp escaped her. She tried to curl up and yank the covers over herself, but the movement faltered; she could only bury her burning face in the pillow, trembling with shame.
Rei Ao turned his head slowly, meeting the doorway with cool, midnight eyes.
There was no panic on his faceonly a slow, amused curve to his mouth, as if this were nothing more than an awkward comedy of timing.
Under that look, Fumino shivered. Her voice finally returned in broken pieces.
"W-we we must've come at a really bad time! S-sorry! We'll goright now!"
She grabbed Rizu's hand and started to back out, desperate to flee the scene that felt like it might vaporize her soul from sheer embarrassment.
Rei Ao's voice, low and velvety with a lazy smile, reached them:
"Not now."
But there was no menace in itonly a calm request. His gaze slid over the two women in their thin sleepwear, softening into a gentler apology.
"Everything's fine. Please close the door."
As if nudged by an invisible draft, the door swung inward on its hinges.
Fumino jolted, then hurriedly pulled it shut herself, the latch clicking into place and sealing off the roomalong with the outside world.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
Currently You can Read 220+ Chapters Ahead of Others!
Chapter 878: Emilia is Back!
Ente Isla.
The central Holy Capital.
Dawn was just breaking.
After months of war and negotiation, the remnants of the Fallen had been completely purged. Under the renown and wisdom of the hero Emilia, a newborn order of peace had been painstakinglybut solidlyestablished. The clouds that once shrouded the land finally lifted, and Ente Isla began to stir with life again.
Emilia shed the holy silver armor that had symbolized the final battle and changed into simple, mobile travel clothes. Her silver hair drifted lightly in the morning breeze. A faint, almost imperceptible fatigue touched her exquisite features, but her blue eyes shone brilliantly as she gazed toward the far eastern horizon, as if she could pierce the distance itself.
"Albert, I'm leaving Ente Isla in your hands."
She turned and spoke solemnly to the armored knight kneeling on one knee behind her.
Albert had chosen to stay, becoming a cornerstone in the defense of this reborn land.
"Rest assured, Emilia-sama! I swear by the honor of the Fourteenth KnightI will protect the peace you've brought!"
His voice rang clear and firm, his eyes bright with resolve and respect.
Emilia nodded, heartened, and looked to the two companions at her side.
Emeralda, once a high bishop, had put aside her ornate vestments for a plain travel dress. A gentle yet steadfast smile rested on her face as she held a heavy tome in her hands.
