Five am. The streets of Taito ward are silent, save only a faintly chilly wind blowing bits of litter around. The air is cold, and thick with fog. The sound of a shop door closing echoes softly through the scene. High overhead, the moon is little but a smudged blur of white chalk.
A pair of glittering red eyes appear from the darkness of an alleyway.
A scuffing sound, like multiple pairs of ragged shoes dragging across the filthy cement. Six more glistening crimson eyes appear from the shadows. They watch in silence as a flicker of movement makes its way down the street. It's moving slowly and laboriously, accompanied by heavy footfalls.
A man. He smells of cheap liquor, and slivers of drool hang from his lips. He thinks of his wife, at home and worried sick. She's waiting for me, He thinks. I have to get on the bus. I have to get home. He doesn't see the pale leg sliding into the light from within the alleyway.
The leg is followed by thin and bony hips, clad in a tattered purple skirt. A torso, shrunken with lack of food, but strong from the countless nights of fighting. A second leg, then a hand sliding along the bricks of the alley wall. The fingernails are chipped and cracked, but painted in bright hues of aqua and pink.
A hollow and sunken face appears from the dark. The eyes, quivering with bloodlust, lock onto the drunken man. He has nearly made it to the bus stop.
The withered scrap of humanity emerges entirely from the alleyway. She stands in the middle of the street now, gazing at the man shrouded in whiskey and fog. Her long, dark hair hangs in tangled curls, swaying rhythmically in the wind. She doesn't look much older than eight.
The child holds her hand up, beckoning the others into the street. Three boys slip out of the alleyway and huddle behind her. One is slightly taller than his compatriots, and he sidles up to the girl.
"Mina." His voice is dry and cracky, lacking all confidence. "He looks scary." His blazing red eyes shine with uncertainty as he stares at the man. "Maybe we should find something else. Something smaller."
"And starve to death?" The girl, Mina Ashido, pastes on a smile as she turns to face him. "Ejiro, come on. We can't do that!" She squared her shoulders, then dropped into a crouch. Two shimmering white tentacles, dripping with acidic pink mucus, burst from her back. They weren't very impressive, Ejiro Kirishima noted. Only two feet long, and her "acid" left nothing more than a mild sting. He should know, as he was unusually the one forced to play fight with her.
Behind them, the two other boys crouched down as well. "So what do we do, huh?" The smallest boy, a sliver of a child with a mop of blonde hair, asked. The other, a boy with ragged black hair and buck teeth, nodded in agreement.
"Hanta, Denki, you two go distract him. Get him to go somewhere a little more out of sight. We'll come in after you once his back is turned." Her face suddenly turned stern. "And most importantly.." The boys both gave her worried looks, and returned to her unusual wide grin. "Don't worry!"
Denki Kaminari and Hanta Sero both sighed in relief. "I thought she was actually angry for a second." Sero whispered as the two of them trotted over to the unfortunate man at the bus stop. Kaminari snickered in response, then fell silent as they approached the man.
"S-sir?" Sero dropped his shoulders, letting his lower lip quiver. "S-sir?" The man didn't respond. Glancing anxiously at his friend, Sero reached out and lightly shook the man's knee. "Sir? Dude? Are you alive?"
Still crouched in the fog, Mina's kagune, her acid tentacles, twitched with barely suppressed nerves. "Ejiro." She whispered.
"Yeah?" Kirishima glanced at her nervously. He could tell she was scared.
"Do you think we can do this? Like...actually? I mean, what if he calls someone? What if...what if they send a hero after us?"
"No, no, they…" He swallowed hard. "They wouldn't bother sending a hero after a bunch of kid ghouls." Even at his age, he knew that having a hero show up would mean the end of them all. He, Mina, Denki, and Hanta were all ghouls. Ghouls preyed on humans to live. And heroes existed to capture and kill as many ghouls as possible. And that's just how it goes.
"Right, yeah. You're right." Mina shrugged it off. "Anyways, get your kagune out. We're gonna need it in a moment."
As Kirishima extended his scaly red shoulder kagunes, Sero grabbed the man's knee and shook it roughly. "Hey! Bro!"
"Wake up so we can eat you!" Kaminari said half-jokingly. But his eyes betrayed just how scared he really was. Sero smacked him lightly, then yelped as the man suddenly lifted his head. "Aw crud." Kaminari whispered.
"What?" The man squinted blearily. His mind had been on his children. Two little boys and a ten-year-old girl. All of them probably anxiously waiting for their father to come home. "What's going on?"
Sero quickly put on his 'innocent little orphan' face. "S-sir, my friend is sick! She's lying in that alley way!" He pointed frantically to the chosen spot. "Please help us sir, she's going to die! We need someone big and strong to carry her to the nearest hospital." He gestured vaguely in the direction of Ningen no Hinansho hospital. "It's not too far away. Please mister?" He gave the man the best puppy-dog eyes he knew.
The man gazed at him in confusion. "Um…" He glanced around himself, feeling a massive hangover headache coming on. "I…" As he stared at the empty road before him, he thought once more of his own kids. If it was them dying in an alleyway...well, I suppose I could at least take a look. He got unsteadily to his feet, then crouched down to weakly tousle Sero's ragged hair. "Ok kid. Show me your friend."
Sero grinned, then gasped as he breathed in the man's scent. Behind the stench of alcohol, there was something delicious. So good it made his mouth water and his eyes widen. This is gonna be the best dinner ever! "She's right over here." He skittered away from the man before instinct could overwhelm him, then turned and headed for the alleyway. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see Mina and Kirishima creeping up behind, kagunes out. This is gonna work!
Suddenly, Kaminari stiffened. His bright blue eyes were fixed upward, wide with fear. Sero glanced at him with a frown. "Denki, pay attention!" He hissed.
The man glanced around the alleyway. He saw nothing but garbage bags and rats. No dying children in sight. "Where is she?" He jumped with a squeak of surprise as caught sight of a fleeting shadow on the rooftops above.
Sero glanced at him anxiously, then back at Kaminari. What's going on?
"Well, um…" The man's hands began to grow rather sweaty. "I best be going now…" He drifted off as two massive shadows slid up the wall before him. Whipping around, he saw two strange creatures blocking his escape. Oh god no.
Kirishima and Mina, the creatures in question, stalked slowly closer. Kirishima shook all over as he stared up at the much older man before him. How is Mina so calm?! Glancing at her from the corner of his eye, he could see no fear in her face. Only steely determination. She's the best.
The man backed away, eyes wide. "Huh?" His voice was shaking uncontrollably. "You can't be...ghouls...you're a bunch of kids!" His breath grew ragged, and his chest heaved. But his legs seemed unable to move.
Mina bared her teeth and stretched her kagune as far as they would go. "I'm sorry, but I have to feed my family!" She lunged forward with a shrill war cry. Behind their prey, Kaminari and Sero followed suit. But just as Mina was about to stick a landing on the man's chest and tear his throat out, a long black kagune slammed into her from above.
Kirishima froze, terrified that this mysterious other ghoul would slam her into a brick wall and kill her. But to his surprise, this kagune had a set of hooked claws on its tip, and they were carefully holding Mina away from the human. She looked completely unharmed too, and the sharp claws were only barely pricking the tattered fabric of her shirt. The man, shaking with terror, fell to his knees. Behind him, Kiaminari and Sero shrank back nervously.
"Hey! 'Leggo, this one's mine! You can't have him!" Mina felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She had tried so hard, and gotten so lucky, to find this perfect opportunity. Her little band of miscreant ghouls had been surviving off of scraps left behind by bigger ghouls for years, and they weren't getting enough food to keep up with their growing bodies. Finding a proper meal without an adult's help was absolute hell, and Mina had been living it for about three years now.
She was so tired.
"Please!" She shrieked. She dug her fingernails into the kagune, but to no avail. It was an adult kagune, hard as obsidian and strong as steel. Practically unbreakable. "Please…" She fell limp, too exhausted to move, as a single tear raced down her sunken cheek.
"No need to be upset. You'll eat soon enough." The voice came from a dark shape silhouetted against the moon. He sat crouched on the corner of a crumbling warehouse roof, crimson eyes shining through long black hair. "You're safe now." He gently placed Mina on the ground, then lightly swatted the human with his kagune. "And so are you. Go home."
The man stumbled away, but Mina desperately reached out and grabbed his leg. "Wait! Please...just one bite...we're starving…" He shuddered and shook her off, then turned and dashed into the night.
As he pounded down the street away from his brush with death, he thought, I hope my kids are safe…
Back in the alleyway, Mina whimpered and fell onto her hands and knees. Snot and tears dripped down her face, smudging the lipstick and eyeliner she had found in a dumpster weeks ago. Her arms shook, and she had never felt so aware of their weakness. I failed them. My family. I ruined everything, and now we're going to starve. She glanced up miserably as the adult ghoul leapt down from his perch and began slowly creeping toward her. At this point, he could at least kill us. Spare us all the pain of dying slowly.
Kirirshima felt the same as he gazed up at the intimidating figure coming closer. "S-sir…" He whimpered. "I'm sorry. We didn't mean to steal your catch. I'm sorr-'' He squeaked in terror as the spiked kagune swept up to his face and held one claw to his lips. Is he shushing me?
"Calm 're all being over-dramatic." As the man crouched down in front of him, Kirishima was suddenly hit by an amazing smell. He lifted his head, eyes wide. The whites of his eyes went black, and his pupils burned red. The sign of a very hungry ghoul.
His suspicions were confirmed, as the mysterious man pulled a parcel of meat from a bag slung over his shoulder. "Here. Eat." He ordered.
Despite his hunger, Kirishima hesitated. Was it safe? Mina, however, clearly had no reservations. She dove head first at the meat, ripping open the package in a frenzy. Kaminari and Sero hurried over as well, taking care to steer around the strange ghoul.
Her mind a whirlwind of hunger, Mina began tearing the meat into chunks. Saliva dripped from her mouth as the human blood splattered over her hands. "Take it." Her voice was scratchy as she handed portions to her team.
The man watched from about a meter away, noticing with interest how Mina waited until everyone else was eating to feed herself. Even at her young age, she puts the needs of others first. He smiled faintly.
After shoving a couple handfuls of flesh into his mouth, Kirishima eyed the man nervously. Now that he was closer, the boy could get a better look at him. He looked to be in his late twenties to mid thirties. He had long, black hair, and his eyes were now a dark grey color. He wore what looked like a very basic, very loose grey bodysuit with a black utility belt around his waist. And most importantly, he had four kagune limbs, all coming from his upper back. Each one was a shimmery black color, with a rounded tip covered in very sharp claws. A bit like a hagfish. Ugh. While the upper kagune looked about ten feet long, and the lower about four five feet, he also seemed to have several loops of kagune around his neck and face like a scarf, obscuring his mouth and nose. I've heard that some adult ghouls wear masks to hide their identities from the heroes. But usually only the kind that likes to make trouble!
"Hey." Mina said suddenly. She whipped the blood off her face with the back of her arm. "What's your deal?"
Sero and Kirishima both winced, while Kaminari just looked confused. "Wait, are we mad? Why are we mad?" He glanced down at his bloodstained hands and licked his lips. "That was really yummy!"
Mina opened her mouth to protest, but the man interrupted. "I just want to see other ghouls be safe." He sat down, leaning against a dumpster, and unwound the kagune around his face. Underneath was a stubbly chin and a somewhat bored expression. "And humans."
"Sorry, but you kind have to pick one or the other." Mina retorded with a haughty snort. "You can't do both."
He arched one eyebrow. "But I just did."
Mina shook her head, ignoring Sero, who was frantically signalling for her to shut up. "Sure, that guy lived, but what about this meat? It tastes gre...okay, it tastes okay, so it must be human." She tilted her head, staring at him challengingly.
"True. It is." He grabbed a leftover scrap from their feeding frenzy and popped it in his mouth. "But it's from a human that died of an unrelated cause."
"Unrelated cause?" Mina narrowed her eyes. "Like what?" Sero sighed heavily, while Kirirshima wished internally that he had that kind of confidence.
"Suicide, killed by a fellow human, old age, drug overdose, car accident, the list goes on. Humans are rather weak, and they die naturally every day. If every ghoul took only what they needed, we could coexist." The man shrugged and began fiddling with a chunk of his hair. "It's as simple as that."
Mina blinked, taken aback. That was not at all what she had been expecting. Glancing around, she could see her friends were just as shocked. "Really? That's...weird." She frowned. Such a concept had never presented itself before, and she didn't know what to think about it.
"Weird, but amazing!" Kirishima blushed as everyone turned to look at him. "I just...I think that sounds really cool." He thought back to what he had been thinking of earlier. That's just how it goes. But what if…? He swallowed hard. "That would be incredible."
The man fought back a smile, trying to stay professional. This kid gets it. Reminds me of Toshinori, heh. "Look, I'd like to offer you all something." All four of their heads turned to look at him. One worried, one hopeful, one suspicious, and one downright lost. This blonde kid doesn't look terribly bright. "Me and a few other ghouls are trying to set up a school for juvenile ghouls of all ages. We'd like to teach the ghoulish youth of Japan a less violent lifestyle. And-" He sighed, remembering the mini speech Toshinori had given earlier that morning. As cheesy as it had been, he had to appreciate the man's way with words. "And raise a generation that can change the world for the better."
All four kids were struck silent with amazement. Mina's eyes were full of stars. Sero pictured the idea of being friends with a human, and couldn't help but smile at the concept. Kaminari was thrilled at the prospect of free food. Kirishima's lip quivered, and his eyes grew watery. A generation that could change the world for the better. Not in all my wildest dreams did I think I could change anything, let alone the world. But maybe...just maybe...it could be worth a shot.
"Oh, and," The man added. "My name is Shota Aizawa. So...what do you say?"
"Okay