Rize Kamishiro

"Clang-bang-crack-"

"Aaah!"

With a scream, a man with red eyes went flying, slammed into the wall, and passed out.

Louis dropped the two severed ice blades. Without his power sustaining them, they would soon melt.

The man before him was the opponent Louis had chosen, a B-rank fighter, the same rank as Louis. Still, the kagune that suddenly shot out had caught him scrambling.

"A B-rank was already this much trouble. Never mind an A-rank, let alone an S-rank."

"Just your bad luck. You ambushed me the moment I slipped in."

Following the system's dirty little suggestion, Louis had gauged the strength of the ghoul who owned this feeding ground from its location, then strolled right in. All that remained was to eagerly wait for his opponent to come at him.

It looked like an accident, but everything had been calculated.

"Ghouls eating each other, huh..."

Louis looked at the other ghoul's corpse nearby and couldn't help shaking his head.

You can only really feel how cruel the world of ghouls is by experiencing it yourself.

Louis had no firm allegiance, nor the power to change how things ended. Given that, he would rather remain a spectator and watch it all play out.

But his experience from his previous life told him that he couldn't get by without enough strength. Even if he didn't go looking for trouble, trouble would find him. If only to protect himself, he had to improve his strength as much as possible.

Actual combat had always been the fastest way to grow stronger. Risk and reward went hand in hand.

So... sorry for the trouble, but I'll have to give you all a beating.

Louis gathered his thoughts, cleaned up the bloodstains, and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, a terrifying surge of killing intent erupted overhead. In that instant, Louis felt as though a demon had fixed its gaze on him.

Boom!

An enormous blood-red rinkaku swept past Louis's eyes, cutting off his retreat.

Had Louis not taken a step back just then, that strike would probably have crushed him into pulp.

"Earlier today, did you say this to me-ghoul?"

A purple-haired woman wearing glasses stepped out. Her two kakugan sent chills down his spine, and tremendous killing intent poured from her.

"Rize Kamishiro!"

Louis's eyes widened. Even in his previous life, he had rarely encountered such powerful killing intent! How many people had she killed to radiate something like that? For a moment, his mind went blank.

In that brief lapse, several slender fingers had already settled against his face.

!!!

"What an intoxicating scent..." Rize's face appeared before him, her excited smile tinged with rapture.

"Now that I look at you, you don't seem so unpleasant after all..."

"No!"

He sprang backward, breaking free of Rize Kamishiro's hand, and struggled to calm himself.

She didn't chase him. Her smile only grew more unrestrained. She seemed to relish the hunt.

How is this possible? Why is Rize here?! Didn't she go on a date with Kaneki?!

Staring at Rize blocking the only exit, Louis wore an expression of disbelief. Behind his back, his trembling hand condensed a crystalline blade.

Wait, did she just say "ghoul"? Does she understand Chinese?

"(In Chinese) You speak Chinese?"

Louis stared at Rize's face in disbelief, staying on guard while hoping she would give him an answer.

If she really understood Chinese, his behavior earlier that day would have exposed him!

"Are you asking whether I speak Chinese? No, no... I don't speak Chinese."

Rize smiled delightedly, but her gaze never left Louis. Every so often, her tongue flicked over her lips.

"But when we were chatting earlier, they mentioned other words for ghouls."

"Hahahaha! Aren't I clever? He only said it once, and I remembered!"

The quiet alley filled with the madwoman's unrestrained laughter. After laughing for quite some time, perhaps tired or perhaps hungry, she abruptly stopped, leaving only a faint smile.

"So... shouldn't you tell me how you knew I was a ghoul...?"

"..."

A trickle of cold sweat slid down his forehead.

Rize tilted her head as she stared at Louis. Her smile faded, and her expression grew increasingly savage.

"Before you answer... let me have... a... little... bite..."

The stench of blood suddenly hit him. An enormous kagune stabbed toward Louis's thigh like a pointed blade. This woman had no intention of killing him outright.

"Damn it!"

Louis gritted his teeth. Several ice blades hidden behind his back shot out as he rapidly retreated.

An enormous rinkaku smashed into the ground where he had stood. The ice blades struck the kagune, only to bounce away or shatter.

Holding two reinforced ice-crystal daggers, Louis assumed a fighting stance, his nerves stretched taut.

The kagune withdrew. Rize curiously toyed with a fragment of an ice blade in her hand.

"Is this... ice? Where did you get it...?"

It hadn't hurt her at all...

Louis looked at the shattered ice blades littering the ground, his brow furrowing further.

"But that doesn't matter. You're interesting. I want to eat you more and more!"

Rize smiled savagely. An enormous kagune whipped out from behind her and slammed toward him again, even faster than before!

"Scrrrape-"

With nowhere to dodge, Louis drove his dagger against the kagune with his arm, doing his best to deflect its course while twisting his body. Only by pushing his nerves and muscles to their limits did he barely evade the blow.

She was merely toying with him, yet he had to use almost all his strength to fend her off.

"I won't hurt you!"

As Louis defended himself, he desperately searched his mind for Japanese words.

"Let's go outside and talk this through! Ghouls don't have to live in the shadows!"

Rize froze for a moment after hearing him, then broke into another strange laugh.

"You seem to have misunderstood. My favorite pastime is eating! Hahaha! A special human's blood should taste even better, shouldn't it?"

"No, it'll... definitely... taste... delicious..."

As the final word fell, all four rinkaku swept out, their assault fiercer than before.

"Hahahaha! You're really interesting. You're awfully strong for a human! Don't tell me you're one of those half-humans! That would be disgusting, but I'd still be willing to sample you just to try something new!"

Her attacks grew ever sharper, and cracks covered Louis's two ice-crystal daggers.

Louis gritted his teeth, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes.

"Aagh!"

The scream came not from Louis, but from Rize. A conical pillar of ice erupted from the ground, knocking Rize into the air directly above it.

Cold air surged. At some point, a smooth layer of ice had formed across the ground...

The kagune's assault paused. Seizing the opportunity, Louis launched himself into a sliding tackle toward Rize. The slick ground let him slip beneath her at tremendous speed and escape.

As he passed under her, Louis thrust the blade in his hand toward her back with every ounce of strength he had.

But the result was far from satisfactory.

The ice blade, sharper than ordinary swords and knives, penetrated only two centimeters before it stopped. Seeing this, Louis let his momentum carry him past her, then sprang up and bolted out of the alley.

Ignoring the stares of passersby, Louis pulled up his hood and ran, shouting as he went.

"There's a monster!"

He had barely taken two steps when the system, for some inexplicable reason, suddenly lit up the translucent map in front of him.

Louis was about to curse at the system when he heard its alarm.

[Warning: SSS-rank Furuta Nimura is rapidly approaching! You cannot defeat him. Host, please evade.]

Furuta Nimura?! Isn't he the big boss who only shows up much later?! Why is he here?!

Despite those thoughts, Louis didn't pause for an instant. He immediately used cold air to mask the smell of blood, then plunged into the crowd, ignoring everyone's startled cries.

Louis looked back. A dark figure moved swiftly, landing in the alley he had just left. Rize did not pursue him.

Louis used the flow of the crowd to get farther away. He remembered that Rize and Furuta Nimura seemed to have a close connection. If Furuta Nimura learned that he had stabbed Rize, who knew whether he would tear him apart alive?

After one last lingering look, Louis prepared to leave.

His life had once again come under serious threat, leaving Louis shaken. Having died once hadn't helped him overcome his fear of death. On the contrary, he feared it even more.

Ah... Manager, Touka, I know you're good people. Could you please take me in...? I mean no harm. I just want to live...

Louis hadn't slept well during this time because he didn't dare sleep. He had no place in this world. Ghouls and Ghoul Investigators alike would kill him, and his only companion was this cold-blooded system.

"Ding~ The system has no blood, so it isn't cold-blooded. The host appears to be feeling down. Please cheer up..."

"Get lost..."

"System, let me ask you something. Can I change the course of the plot here?"

Louis questioned the system as he walked.

[Of course. Aside from a few important plot points protected by the system, the host may change anything else at will. However, to improve your chances of survival, the host is advised against doing so.]

"Then which plot points are protected? I've already changed things so much that Kaneki can't even become a ghoul anymore. That's the biggest possible change to the plot, isn't it?"

Louis questioned the system in confusion.

[Heehee.]

The system's electronic voice rang out.

[Nothing has changed-]

Louis stopped in his tracks and abruptly turned to look at the alley he had escaped from.