Fishing

It was evening rush hour, and crowds surged through the streets as people headed home from work. Before long, an urgent cry rose above the noise.

"Stop, thief!"

The crowd erupted into confusion. A hooded man squeezed his way out and sprinted desperately into a pitch-black alley nearby, moving so fast that no one behind him could keep up.

Taking a deep breath, Louis searched through the wallet, then slipped the money into his own pocket.

"I've only been here a few days. Haven't seen a single ghoul, and I'm already half-starved."

Louis held his forehead in misery. These past few days had been rough.

Mission requirements had led Louis to study some basic Japanese at the academy in his previous life. But here, where he could barely do anything without identification, finding work was impossible. His wilderness survival training was useless, too.

Left with no other options, Louis, a former member of the Special Ability Army, had actually resorted to theft and robbery.

Life had really brought him to his knees.

Louis had considered riding the main cast's coattails, but this damned system didn't even know where they were. It infuriated him.

It couldn't translate or locate anyone. He had no idea how this system had slipped through compulsory education back in his world.

So Louis spent each day moving between different places, scanning the crowds for familiar faces. He didn't dare speak carelessly, afraid of drawing attention and putting people on their guard.

Fortunately, the system had told him this was Ward 20, where the protagonist lived, so he at least had some direction in his search.

"System, export my current status."

"Exporting data."

Name: Louis

Age: 18

Height: 177

Combat rank: B+

Superpowers: Physical enhancement, low-temperature crystallization

Strength: B+

Agility: B

Speed: B

Physical durability: B+

Recovery: D

Crystal hardness rank: A

Equipment: Basic combat suit provided by the system.

Louis stared at the status panel and rubbed his chin. Only a few days had passed, yet his basic abilities had improved considerably, and his overall combat rank had risen from C to B.

Perhaps because he'd already gone through this once in his previous life, his progress this time was remarkably fast.

Louis had been twenty-five, but the body reconstructed for him here was only eighteen. His physical capabilities had declined considerably, and his combat rank had dropped from A to C before climbing back to B. According to the system, his overall physical capabilities at B rank were comparable to those of a B-ranked ghoul here.

Louis also understood that he needed to avoid injuries as much as possible when fighting ghouls. Though he recovered far faster than ordinary humans, his healing was nowhere near as powerful as theirs.

"If I could break past the limits of my previous life here..." Louis looked at the system panel, his heartbeat quickening despite himself.

S rank...

Whether in his previous life or now, that was the rank he longed for.

An A-Rank could only be considered an elite in the Special Ability Army, while only those at S-Rank and above could truly be called powerhouses! Too rare to form large units, S-Rank and higher powerhouses were used as secret weapons. The legendary strategic-class powerhouses could even determine the course of a war.

In his previous life, he'd never managed to break through the barrier of A+. If only he'd reached S rank in those final moments...

At least he could have died a little more impressively.

But that didn't matter. Heaven had given him a second chance...

[It wasn't heaven. It was this system!]

Get lost...

The system's interruption sent Louis's temper flaring. Even now, he couldn't hold a normal conversation with anyone.

"I'll have to get fluent in Japanese while I look for them."

As a superhuman, Louis had an unusually developed brain and an exceptional capacity for learning. His progress had only been so slow because he had too few opportunities to talk to other people.

"First, let's find somewhere to stay!"

Louis put the money away and prepared to leave.

"Tap... tap... tap... tap..."

The faint sound of footsteps alerted Louis.

"What's that?"

A figure was heading deeper into the alley toward him. Louis wanted to leave quickly, but the stranger closed in at an unnerving speed.

"Well, well. Stealing isn't what good children do."

A greasy-faced, middle-aged man appeared before Louis and continued approaching him.

"Poor child. Come with me. I can give you something to eat." The man looked deeply sympathetic and kept talking.

But...

What's this old guy babbling about?

Louis listened for quite a while without understanding a word. His enhanced nose did, however, pick up the man's unpleasant body odor.

"Come with me, child..."

Not wanting to get tangled up with him, Louis was about to cover his nose and leave when he suddenly caught a scent that didn't belong to a human. Every hair on his body stood on end.

"Killing intent!"

Having served in the Special Ability Army, Louis knew that feeling well. He leaped backward, dodging the man's swift grab.

"Oh? You dodged that? Quick reflexes..."

The greasy man looked at Louis. Though a little surprised, he quickly resumed his vicious grin.

"But you're out of luck... I'm just too hungry..."

The whites of his eyes instantly turned black, and his pupils became a horrifying red.

A ghoul!?

Louis frowned. Only upon encountering one in person did he realize how terrifying these creatures were. A strange, bloody smell came from the split corners of the man's eyes, and those pupils in particular made his skin crawl.

"I have no idea what you're saying, but I'm guessing you want to eat me..."

As Louis spoke, he quietly formed an ice-crystal dagger. The alley's shadows neatly concealed the subtle change.

His opponent clearly hadn't noticed and was still muttering words Louis couldn't understand.

"A foreigner?"

The middle-aged ghoul was somewhat surprised, but having revealed his true nature, he couldn't let Louis leave.

"Doesn't matter. You're going to die anyway!"

On the final word, the middle-aged man lunged forward.

Not fast!

Seeing his movements clearly, Louis chose not to use the crystal dagger. Instead, he charged straight at him, driving a fist toward his forehead.

The middle-aged ghoul grinned and swung his fist straight into Louis's. To him, humans were pathetically fragile and couldn't possibly withstand his punch. For an instant, he could already picture Louis's entire arm exploding into blood and torn flesh.

Bang! Crack!

The spray of blood and flesh he had imagined never appeared. Instead, the bones in his own hand snapped at a ninety-degree angle, while the young man had only scraped the skin on his fist.

"Aah! Impossible!"

The middle-aged man howled and staggered backward, but he couldn't retreat nearly as fast as Louis advanced.

Thud!

Louis gave him no chance to react. After slamming the man against the wall, he pressed the tip of his level-three-strength ice-crystal blade beneath his chin.

In strength, speed, and physical durability, this ghoul was far inferior to Louis.

Ordinary blades couldn't pierce a ghoul's body, but this level-three-strength ice blade had already cut the chin of the ghoul before him.

"S-stop..." The middle-aged man tilted his chin upward, terror in his eyes, afraid Louis would drive the blade straight into him.

"..." Well, what do you know? I actually understood that.

Thump!

A vicious punch struck the middle-aged man's stomach. He dropped to his knees, unable to move.

Louis dispersed the ice-crystal dagger, which turned into a drift of cold air and floated away. Creating ice without water was his supernatural ability.

How did it work? The scientists who had spent years studying him like a lab rat had never figured anything out.

Ignoring the man behind him, Louis ran straight out of the alley.

As long as he stayed on the main streets, he generally didn't need to fear ghoul attacks. That was practically a rule here.

He'd wanted to ask where the Anteiku coffee shop was, but if they grew suspicious and mistook him for a White Dove, it wouldn't be worth it.

The people at CCG would probably mistake him for a ghoul because of his powers, while ghouls with their superhuman sense of smell would definitely consider him human. Neither side would accept him...

And besides...

Louis touched the scrape on his fist and unconsciously sealed it with crystal.

People kept sniffing around him... from eighty-year-old men to four-year-old girls...

"Oh, right... that ghoul just now..."

Louis hurriedly turned back, wanting to question that ghoul, but when he looked around, the greasy man was already nowhere to be seen.

Forget it. Next time, for sure.

[Ding! Urgent notification: A main storyline battle location has been confirmed. Please proceed there immediately.]

"Battle location?"

Louis looked at the virtual map before him. The green dot marked his current location, and a red circle labeled S rank was drawn a short distance away.

Louis glanced back at the building nearby, stirring memories that had gathered dust for years.

"Useless system, is this where Rize Kamishiro fights?"

[Correct, host!]

"Correct, my ass! You didn't even tell me who's in there! Two S ranks! Are you trying to get me killed?"

[Dear host, there are many battle locations, and you've kept your head down without visiting a single one. That is why the system hasn't explained who participates in the battles. However, if you ask, the system will tell you. Note: No one wants the host to survive more than the system does!]

"Ha. Ha."

Louis gave two dry laughs, then walked in the opposite direction without looking back.

He hadn't lived nearly long enough yet...

After all, he'd only lived a short twenty-five years... and... most of that time had been spent under other people's control, being experimented on while also being forced to handle their dirty work.

Perhaps Louis was so hostile toward the system's suggestions precisely because he feared becoming a tool for this damned thing, too.

And if he counted from the day he'd gained his freedom, he was still just a toddler. What was wrong with a little toddler rebellion?

That afternoon, an enormous television screen was reporting on the previous day's events.

"Early yesterday morning, several unidentified male bodies were discovered at Aqua, a commercial building in Tokyo's Ward 20. Saliva suspected to belong to a ghoul was detected on the remains..."

Louis squatted by the roadside, munching on warm bread while watching the news report on the giant screen before him.

"This should be what 'Gluttony' did yesterday."

Though he couldn't understand the specifics of the report, Louis already had a general idea of the plot, so it wasn't difficult to work out.

"Ghoul? That must be what they're called in Japanese."

After finishing his bread, Louis stood and continued searching for the main characters.

"I need to find them soon, or I'll fall behind the main storyline."

Ride their coattails, skip eleven episodes' worth of effort, and shoot straight to the peak of season one.

Scanning his surroundings, Louis hoped to find Anteiku as soon as possible. He still had a vivid impression of the building.

There weren't many pedestrians. A tall woman with purple hair and purple eyes passed beside Louis, bringing a waft of fragrance.

But something mixed into that fragrance made Louis instinctively step back.

"Ghoul..."

Louis spun around. Beneath her perfume, he'd caught the same scent as the middle-aged ghoul from last night. Only hers was mixed with a pleasant bodily fragrance, while his had been mixed with the stink of sweat.

"Hm?"

The purple-haired woman turned around and tilted her head, looking in confusion at the filthy man before her.

Rize Kamishiro!

Louis pressed his lips together, instantly recognizing her. He had finally found someone he'd been looking for-though she hadn't survived the first episode...

"Ding! Identity confirmed: Rize Kamishiro. Current favorability: -1."

"..."

Louis gradually relaxed. The word he'd instinctively blurted out had been the Chinese pronunciation of ghoul, so Rize probably hadn't understood it.

"Sumimasen!"

He hurriedly apologized, then immediately ran away.

Of course, he wasn't really leaving. Though he didn't know the exact timing, according to the main storyline, Rize should be heading to Anteiku for a memorable encounter with the protagonist.

"What a strange person..." Rize Kamishiro smoothed the hair at her temple, turned around, and continued on her way.

After running far away, Louis turned and watched Rize.

"She shouldn't notice me at this distance, right?"

Trailing an S-ranked ghoul put Louis under considerable pressure. He only dared watch from as far away as he possibly could.

If that crazy woman caught him before he met the main cast, with his current strength...

And so, following Rize the whole way, he actually arrived at Anteiku's entrance.

"Yes!"

Looking at the familiar building, Louis clenched his fist in excitement and stepped into the place he'd been dreaming of day and night.

Just then, a voice reached him, mentioning one of the few names he could remember.

"Good luck, Kaneki, you daydreamer~"

"Huh?"

Louis couldn't help glancing back at the blond kid who had just brushed past him.

Hideyoshi Nagachika?

The name gradually surfaced in Louis's mind.

He was the protagonist Ken Kaneki's close human friend, who helped him from beginning to end and never changed his attitude just because his friend's identity had changed.

Louis picked a seat at random, and a waitress whose bangs covered half her face walked up to him.

"What would you like to drink?"

Ding! Identity confirmed: Touka Kirishima. Current affinity: 5.

There's an affinity score?

Louis couldn't help taking another look. This was indeed the first time he had seen that face since coming to this world.

Still... she really is pretty.

"A cappuccino, please. Thank you. (Japanese)" Louis delivered the Japanese line he had prepared beforehand.

If he remembered correctly, that was what the protagonist ordered, too.

Louis then turned his gaze toward a white-haired old man quietly working behind the counter...

That must be the manager, right? Yoshimura, an SSS-class powerhouse...

If it hadn't been daytime, Louis wouldn't have come here even if his life depended on it.

A few minutes later...

Louis held his coffee, utterly exasperated, because Rize Kamishiro, who had entered before him, was smiling at him with narrowed eyes.

Perhaps thanks to her, quite a few people nearby had started sneaking glances at Louis, as if they were all saying, "How did a neat, refined girl like her become interested in this filthy tramp...?"

But Louis didn't want their attention. Apart from the staff, fully half the people here were ghouls...

Rize Kamishiro exuded an air of refinement, which, combined with her stunning face and the faint killing intent in her eyes, made Louis very nervous.

One of the strongest S-class ghouls. I really can't afford to mess with her...

Rize Kamishiro's affinity: -5

"..."

Louis simply pretended not to notice and looked elsewhere. In this scene, their dear protagonist had to be here, too.

Sure enough, behind him sat a young man with his face buried in a book, occasionally glancing to the side, his cheeks even a little red.

Unless I'm mistaken... that should be the protagonist...

Kaneki's mind was probably full of Rize Kamishiro at that moment, though exactly what he was thinking...

Once the system confirmed Ken Kaneki's identity, Louis memorized his face, then stood up, took out the money he had stolen, paid, and left.

I won't interrupt you two...

Louis began working through future scenarios in his head: his strength, the fights he could intervene in, how to earn the main cast's trust, his chances of successfully latching onto them for protection, and how to raise his standing in their eyes.

Perhaps a little later, he could become Kaneki's life mentor, help him work through his troubles, and farm some affinity. Or he could throw himself in harm's way to protect him, get injured, and play the sympathy card.

He clearly couldn't handle those three S-rank ghouls-[Yamori], [Gluttony], and [Gourmet]-yet, but there seemed to be an easy target in the early main storyline...

"System, how strong is Nishiki Nishio?"

Host, Nishiki Nishio's information is as follows.

Name: Nishiki Nishio

A-Rank ghoul

Combat rank: A-

Kagune type: tail kagune.

Louis looked at the few lines before him, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Even Nishiki Nishio has an A- combat rank?"

That forced Louis to reconsider his own strength.

Host, you have been playing it safe this whole time and have not initiated a single fight.

"..."

"Beating up random people or ghouls would lower the main cast's affinity toward me, wouldn't it? Why do you keep telling me to go where the fights are? They have nothing to do with me. Wouldn't I just be asking for trouble?"

Host, if that concerns you, there is actually another way!

"What?"

Have you ever heard of entrapment?

"???"