The word "ghoul" caught Ken Kaneki and Hideyoshi Nagachika's attention. They looked toward the boys discussing ghouls. They were boys about the same age as them, and one of them was biting into a hamburger as he enthusiastically rambled about ghouls.
Ken Kaneki muttered to himself.
"Ghouls..."
"...If she were a cute female ghoul, I'd be willing to date her," Hideyoshi Nagachika whispered to Ken Kaneki, looking completely serious. As expected of a boy with romance on the brain, he made Ken Kaneki laugh despite himself.
He spoke as he laughed.
"Hide... are you really that desperate? You're not old enough to give up on yourself yet!"
"But how much longer am I supposed to stay single...? I really want a girlfriend!"
Neither Ken Kaneki nor Hideyoshi Nagachika had ever seen a "ghoul" in person. They were something mysterious, like an urban legend. Everyone feared such terrifying creatures, but they did not feel very real. After all, fewer people died to ghouls each day than in car accidents, so they had not caused much panic in society. Perhaps it was because people lacked a sense of reality about them.
A virtual secondary screen appeared before Lin Yan, displaying a line of text explaining ghouls. It did not mean much to Lin Yan, since he already had some understanding of them.
Ghouls were a humanoid species that survived by eating human flesh. Normal human food tasted disgusting to them, and forcibly swallowing it could harm their bodies. Some described them as "monsters disguised as humans," because they showed no abnormalities in their daily lives. They possessed Kagune, each individual's Kagune differing in both predatory and offensive capabilities. However, the better the food they ate, the more powerful the energy they gained, which was why there were stronger varieties that fed on