Ghouls devouring their own

"Lou, why are you so strong?" Ken Kaneki couldn't help asking on their way back.

"I... didn't I already tell you?" Louis rubbed his chin. He meant the story he had told last time, the one nobody believed.

"Then why do you want to get stronger, Lou?" Ken Kaneki kept asking questions like an eager student.

Because of what they had both been through, and because they had joined Anteiku on the same day, their relationship was different from their relationships with the others. They often got together to talk.

"To be prepared?" Louis answered seriously. "Whether it's protecting myself or the people I care about, all I can do in a world like this is improve my strength, so I won't be left with regrets because I wasn't strong enough when something happened."

"To be prepared..." Ken Kaneki repeated, sinking into thought. That was the kind of person he was; he thought far more deeply than most people.

He had already fought Nishiki Nishio once to protect Hideyoshi Nagachika.

"Yeah. Kaneki, have you ever thought about what would happen if, one day, everyone at Anteiku needed you to protect them?"

"Protect... everyone at Anteiku..." Ken Kaneki froze, not understanding why Louis would say something like that.

As expected, the idea was still far too remote for him.

"I once heard someone say this-all the disadvantages in this world stem from the inadequacies of those involved. I don't completely agree, but I have to admit that, a lot of the time, having enough ability makes difficult problems easier to deal with."

Louis smiled and patted Ken Kaneki on the shoulder. "Keep at it..."

As they passed a corner, faint groans and the sounds of punches and kicks reached their ears.

"Huh?"

Louis cautiously took a look.

Three or four people were gathered together. Judging by their scent, they were definitely ghouls. Lying in their midst was none other than Nishiki Nishio, beaten to the ground and looking very weak.

"Nishio?" Ken Kaneki's face went pale.

"Ghouls devouring their own..." Louis withdrew his gaze and lowered his voice. "He's tried to hurt you several times. What are you going to do?"

"What do you think, Louis?" Ken Kaneki seemed to want to help him, but he hesitated.

"I'm staying out of this crap, obviously..." It had absolutely nothing to do with him.

"But..."

Before Kaneki could finish, however, the hesitation on his face turned to terror, and he stared in shock at something behind Louis.

"Well, look who it is. Someone brought us a snack..." Hearing the noise, several ghouls came around the corner with vicious grins, drooling as they looked at Louis.

"You brought him here to eat him, right? Nice work, kid." The man grinned wickedly and reached for Louis. "Since you brought him, you can have a thigh."

"That's not..." Kaneki looked flustered and tried to explain.

"..." Louis checked the three men's panels. Once he confirmed that none of them ranked above C, he relaxed and looked calmly at Kaneki.

[Ken Kaneki, S-rank half-ghoul, Rinkaku, overall combat power: B+]

Kaneki could handle them without any trouble. In fact, it would be fairly easy.

As Louis considered this, he felt someone grab his shoulder.

"Get in here, kid!"

"Get lost!" Louis kicked him away, then quickly ducked behind Ken Kaneki with a devilish grin. "Go get them..."

With that, Louis shoved him forward.

"Mr. Louis!" Kaneki was a little frightened, but when he saw the hostile men in front of him, he clenched his small fists and readied himself to fight.

"Huh? A ghoul hanging around with a human?" Disgust immediately filled their eyes as they looked at Kaneki. One threw a punch, but Kaneki dodged it easily, and the blow struck a sheet of metal, leaving a dent.

As Kaneki dodged the three men's attacks, he gradually realized that they weren't very strong. He immediately punched the man in front of him in the face.

The effect was instant. The middle-aged man's body went limp, and he collapsed.

This was probably Kaneki's first real fight, his first fight with ghouls, and, above all, his first victory.

Seeing that they were outmatched, the remaining men immediately helped the fallen man up and fled, shouting threats as they went.

Louis knew perfectly well why the ghouls had run after barely exchanging blows. They survived like predators in the wild. Though powerful, they would never waste too much energy hunting prey they weren't sure they could take down.

They had to make sure their strength would last until their next hunt.

And once they were injured, they might no longer be able to survive. They could even be eaten by creatures weaker than themselves. Just like...

Louis turned his gaze toward Nishiki Nishio in the corner of the alley.

"Mr. Nishio, are you all right?" Once the men had fled, Kaneki hurried over to Nishiki Nishio and helped him up.

"Damn it, why are you pretending to be the good guy..." Nishiki Nishio grumbled stubbornly, but then he suddenly spotted Louis at the mouth of the alley.

"Why are you always hanging around with humans..." Nishiki Nishio cursed, then shouted at Louis. "Hey, get over here and let me eat you!"

Because of his girlfriend, Nishiki Nishio retained his reason even when he was starving.

"Kaneki, it's awkward with me here, so I'll head back first." Looking at the starving Nishiki Nishio, Louis knew that staying would only add to his temptation.

Kaneki took Nishiki Nishio home, while Louis chose to return to the café.

Louis went up to the café's second floor and ran into Hinami's mother-Ryouko Fueguchi.

She was a gentle, kindhearted mother who had sought Anteiku's help because she couldn't hunt for herself.

The two of them hadn't spoken much...

"Mr. Louis, could you please spend a little time playing with Hinami?" Ryouko Fueguchi looked troubled. "She's been asking to go back and see her father these past few days... but..."

"Sure." Louis nodded, agreeing without hesitation.

"Hinami... may I come in?" Louis stood outside the door with a cup of coffee. This was his second time at Hinami's door.

"Yes..." This time, her voice sounded a little less nervous than before, but a little more dejected.

When he opened the door, sure enough, he found Hinami sitting miserably on the sofa.

"I heard you wanted to go back and see your father." Louis set the coffee down and asked gently.

"I haven't seen Daddy in so long..." Hinami hugged her knees, exposing her pale ankles, her face filled with sadness.

"It's dangerous outside right now..." Louis didn't know how to answer her either.

"Oh, right!" Louis held out his hand and glanced at Hinami. Amid a series of crunching sounds, a palm-sized piece of ice gradually appeared in his hand, its shape still changing.

He had already performed this little trick for Hinami before, so she still couldn't muster any interest. Soon, however, the ice caught her attention again.

As wisps of cold air rose from it, the palm-sized ice kept changing shape and breaking apart until a miniature figure emerged.

Louis worked on it a little more, refining the tiny ice figure's details.

"Is that a little Hinami?" Hinami's eyes lit up. She leaned close to Louis's hand and carefully examined the delicate model.

"Yeah. This is my first attempt, too." Louis smiled, then cut his finger with a crystalline shard, letting a drop of blood fall onto the little ice figure.

Louis felt Hinami stiffen and quickly covered the wound with ice.

The moment the drop of blood touched the ice figure, it didn't run down its surface. Instead, it gradually seeped inside. A faint blush appeared on the lifelike figure's face, as though it had come alive.

"As long as I'm alive, this ice won't disappear." Louis nodded in satisfaction and gave the little Hinami to Hinami.

"Thank you, big brother!" Hinami's eyes shone as she held the little ice figure, unable to put it down. Her earlier worries vanished completely.

"Oh, big brother, can you make Daddy, too?"

"Do you have a picture?"

"No..."

"Then describe him, and I'll make him..."

"Okay!"