"Whoa... Look, you guys! The target's here!"
Miyuki Shirogane gripped the binoculars, his criminal-psychology radar going wild.
"Her footsteps are impossibly light. She barely makes a sound, even when she steps on dead branches!"
"And look at what's on the corner of her mouth!"
Ken Kaneki followed his gaze through the binoculars. His whole body jolted, and his voice trembled.
"There's some unidentified white paste on her mouth... and she's smiling! She's licking her lips! Oh my god! That's definitely not ordinary cream! Could it be brain matter left over from her last victim?! Look at her canines! They're way sharper than an ordinary girl's! Those are the hunting traits of a carnivorous predator!!"
Just then, Kaori Miyazono seemed to grow annoyed by Kousei's obliviousness. She puffed out her cheeks and gave his shin a light, reproachful kick with her little leather shoe.
To Kousei Arima, it was just a girl being playful.
But behind the bushes...
Click!
Miyuki Shirogane nearly dropped the binoculars. "A probing high kick?! Arima visibly stepped back half a pace! This woman's physical strength... She's definitely not an ordinary human! Is she a cyborg? A genetically modified soldier?!"
"That's not all."
Houtarou Oreki, who had been keeping his eyes shut to "conserve energy," finally had to open them and peer through a gap in the trees.
In the distance, Kaori Miyazono took a couple of skipping steps, then stopped abruptly. She leaned weakly against a tree, one slender hand pressed to her chest. Her breathing grew labored, and her face turned sickly pale for an instant.
It was a sign of weakness brought on by her severe chronic illness.
But to Oreki, consumed by his deductions...
"Her breathing changed dramatically in a fraction of a second..."
Houtarou Oreki rubbed his temples and murmured a chilling