Recently, Amano Hiro had become a regular at the corner café.
He always chose the seat by the window where he could also glimpse the entrance, ordered a plain black coffee, and sat there for most of the afternoon.
On the surface, he looked like a leisurely literary youth, holding Takatsuki Sen's newest novel in his hands, his gaze resting on the pages. But in reality, it took a long time before he turned a single page.
Most of his attention was on another table not far away, on the shy college student named Kaneki Ken, and on the purple-haired woman who would appear by his side from time to time. Kamishiro Rize.
In front of Rize, Kaneki Ken was almost like a completely different person. His usual introversion and restraint vanished, replaced by an almost clumsy excitement.
A casual word from Rize was enough to make his eyes light up and the corners of his mouth lift uncontrollably. He looked exactly like a fish hooked through the mouth, willingly biting the bait called "gentleness."
"A bookstore date." Amano Hiro took a sip of his slightly cooled coffee and shook his head speechlessly in his heart.
He turned a page and thought to himself: Kaneki Ken really is something. What normal guy would choose a bookstore for his first date with the girl he likes?
But when he thought of Rize's true intention hidden behind those intellectual glasses, the whole thing felt ironically reasonable. She was not going to savor a literary atmosphere. She was going to "feed."
For Amano Hiro, this was undoubtedly good news. The fact that Rize could no longer restrain herself meant that the moment he had been waiting for was about to arrive.
The night became his best cover. When the café lights went out and the scent of books faded, Amano Hiro would blend into the city's shadows.
His nights were equally "fulfilling." Cleaning up some blind "little bugs" that took the initiative to crash into him.
These ghouls who mistook him for prey were as fragile as ants before him. The process was not complicated, even somewhat dull.
Along the way, he would also make a few strokes of ill-gotten gains. The blood-scented money stripped from those "bugs" was pocketed without the slightest psychological burden.
At least next month's water and electricity bills were no longer a concern, and he could continue maintaining his observation post in the café, along with the Takatsuki Sen novel in his hands.
He closed the book and looked out the window again.
The setting sun cast a warm golden glow over the street. Kaneki Ken stood there with anticipation written all over his face, glancing toward the direction of the bookstore.
Amano Hiro's expression remained calm and placid, but deep in his eyes flashed an almost imperceptible cold light.
The fish had taken the bait. The hunter was in position. The stage was almost set.
...
The date ended. Rize gently declined Kaneki's offer to part ways immediately and smiled as she asked him to walk her home. As night deepened, Kaneki naturally had no reason to refuse.
Amano Hiro seemed to melt into the shadows as he followed the two silently.
He concealed all his presence. Rize, walking ahead, seemed completely immersed in the pleasure of having her "prey" within reach and did not notice him at all.
The road they took grew more and more remote, the streetlights dim, pedestrians scarce.
At that moment, Kirishima Touka and her best friend Kosaka Yoriko happened to walk down another road.
Touka spotted Rize and Kaneki in the distance at once, and her steps subconsciously halted.
That familiar regular from the café was unknowingly following a dangerous existence into the depths of the darkness.
Her lips moved slightly, and a trace of hesitation crossed her heart. But in the end, she remained silent, watching as the two disappeared around the corner. With a complicated expression, she turned and pulled Yoriko, preparing to leave.
The moment she turned back, she unexpectedly ran into another familiar figure. Amano Hiro was trailing not too far behind, as if he had seen the same scene she had.
"Amano?" Touka asked in surprise.
Amano Hiro wore his usual smile and greeted her naturally. "Good evening, Touka."
He reminded her gently, "It's been unsafe at night lately. It's better to head home early."
Touka looked at him and asked in return, "It's so late. Aren't you afraid of running into danger, wandering around alone?"
"I have some important things to take care of."
Amano Hiro did not answer directly. He smiled, the smile carrying a faint deeper meaning.
Then he gestured slightly and walked past her, continuing in the direction where Rize and Kaneki had disappeared.
Kosaka Yoriko immediately leaned in, her face full of curiosity as she whispered, "Hey, Touka, who's that? He's pretty handsome."
"Just a regular at the café."
Touka explained, somewhat embarrassed as she saw Yoriko's teasing expression.
Seeing Touka's flustered look, Yoriko's expression grew even more gossipy. "So suspicious. Don't tell me you like him. Hehe."
Touka lightly punched her. "He really is just a regular."
Yet her gaze drifted uncontrollably once more in the direction Amano Hiro had gone. That direction was exactly where Rize had taken Kaneki.
A vague thought flashed through her mind, making her heart skip a beat. But she shook her head, as if denying her own suspicion.
"Let's go." She stopped thinking about it and pulled the still gossiping Yoriko away from the increasingly quiet street.
Rize led Kaneki Ken near that construction site where almost no one passed by.
The surroundings were terrifyingly silent. Only the faint sounds of distant cars made the place feel even more remote.
Kaneki seemed to sense that something was wrong and asked uneasily, "Rize-san, did we take the wrong way?"
The gentle smile on Rize's face gradually faded, replaced by a strange expression mixed with hunger and cruelty.
"We didn't take the wrong way, Kaneki-kun." Her voice grew low and dangerous. "It's very quiet here. Perfect for 'dining.'"
Before her words even finished, and before Kaneki could react, several ferocious, scale-covered kagune burst from Rize's back, tearing through her clothes like predatory pythons and instantly coiling toward Kaneki.
The tremendous force hurled him violently against the building at the construction site. The intense pain and extreme terror nearly suffocated him.
He could only watch helplessly as Rize's blood-red kagune thrust toward his eye.
At that critical moment.
"Whoosh."
A crimson tentacle, fast as lightning, tore through the air, striking from behind yet arriving first. It lashed precisely against the kagune Rize had sent at Kaneki. The force was so great that her kagune was knocked sharply aside, carving a deep gouge into the ground.
Rize was startled and quickly leapt back, retracting her kagune to guard in front of her as she shouted sharply, "Who is it?"
From the shadows, a figure slowly stepped out.
The crimson appendage gradually withdrew back into his body. His expression was calm, yet carried an inhuman coldness.
"It's you?"
Rize was somewhat shocked. The person who had appeared was Amano Hiro, whom she often encountered at the café.
She had originally planned to make him her next target. She had not expected him to be a ghoul, and to interfere with her meal.
"Nosy fool." Killing intent surged in Rize's eyes. More kagune erupted, like wildly dancing whip-blades, shredding toward Amano Hiro, determined to crush him along with his meddling!