Tokyo Ghoul: Beginning

Rain drops hanged by the blade edge. Last night, there was a summer drizzle that dissipated the heat; buildup within the concrete foundations. I passed the night under a bridge. It was far from a comfy spot. The mosquito buzzed around me. I tried to waved them away, but as soon as I fell asleep, they would again buzzed all around me. When I woke, my skin was covered with red sores. My neck was a patchwork of bumps that itched horribly. 

As the first rays of the sun grew stronger, so did my hunger. I couldn't believe that I hadn't eaten for more than a day. I realised how much I was dependent on gramp. I felt a slight gloominess hanging over me, realising once again that I was all alone in this vast city. 

Of all those uncanny events that I witness last night, I came to know that I was 'more or less not a human'. What gramp said, I thought he blurted all that out in delirium. But may be there was some specks of truth in it. 

'If I'm a ghoul, I need that ... I need human flesh' I thought, forced by desperation. 

'Yesterday, that Oni mask killed that ghoul, maybe I could eat him ... He might be palatable' I thought and hurried out from under the bridge. 

I passed along those pavement that had became familiar to me so quickly. The little water that sat on the pavement where being taken away by the merciless heat. The coffee shops were starting to filled up, people flowed in and out as water from a kettle spout. Peoples were racing against me, from front and back. Some were heading to schools with sleepy faces. Office workers hurried in their black suits, paying no attention to even to their untied lashes. 

The more closer I got to that site, the more excited I became. 

'Opposite to the park, that alley, that twist and turns... Yes, there lies that body' it brooded inside my head. 

But with every step forward I could see people faces changed. They no longer beared that plainess of summer morning, but uneasiness creeped as a plague across their face. The school girls held their handkerchief and darted away as quickly as they could. They look like grasshopers, hopping across a summer field. The man held a smirk of disgust at the corner of their lips. There was fear and anger in their eyes, as much as I could tell by them. 

I reached the park. I was just about to turn and enter the alley, I saw it was changed. The whole passage have been blocked by police tape. 'Donot enter' it said. My breakfast was just a few meters away from me. And what held me was some flimsy tape. I grabbed one and tried to get my way inside. I felt someone hand on my shoulder. And pulled me violently out. I fell on the pavement, but a head stretched forward to lift me up.

"Excuse me! You cannot enter this area. It has been sealed. " he said to me politely even in a father like voice.

I was astonished. I knew that I had committed a crime, but this man who look like a body builder to me talked in such a calm voice. He was quite big that an average men. He wore a grey suit. He has a thin beard. His hairs were short and his eyebrows were particularly large.

"And who may you be?" I asked.

He sighed and put his hand inside his pocket and pulled out his ID and showed me. 

"I'm Rank 1 Investigator Yukinori Shinohara. There has been a ghoul attack here so we are temporarily sealing this area" he explained putting his ID back into his pocket. 

I nodded. "Was it a man who was attacked?" I asked him trying to get out some information from him.

"No, it was a woman who was half eaten. We didn't find any other human trace... Wait do you know anything about it. Were you a witness" he suddenly started to hound me for answers.

I was frightened and tried to run away blurting out "I don't know anything" again and again. The words that I heard while escaping was "wait! wait!"

Shinohara sighed and was about to head back when a familiar voice addressed him.

"As usual you are quite early at your job. Have you find any more clues?" an old man said to him. His hairs were long and dishevelled. His back was slightly hunched and his eyes were sunken deep into his socket.

"Nothing of any use, Mado kun. But I met an unusual kid. He asked me if the victim was a man. Well no use of it, he just ran away." he told.

Mado raised his head from the ground and looked at Shinohara with an annoyed but forgiving look. 

"Shinohara kun, that kid might have been a great clue that you let escape. In our profession you must question everything; even the truth. You are young and experience, so was I when I joined. Let's hope that we will meet him soon" he said patting Shinohara shoulder and headed along the pavement all alone. 

Shinohara was perplexed. He couldn't believe how much of a great evidence he had let out of his grasp. He stood under the raging sun that was above him. His forehead was covered with sweat perhaps from the heat, perhaps from the sheer burden.