And so, all hell broke loose for a second time, but Ryu’s second punch failed to hit its target. Her opponent is far too agile, but it was still a one-way fight, and it’s her victory to keep. Anito had finished processing what he had done, and if he did any further, he’d start bleeding from the inside.

Anito leaped through the narrow countertop, knocking a few utensils out of balance. Speed sacrificed focus, so he failed to notice the table behind the countertop. He slid off the table violently, tagging along a few placemats and plastic cups. The table quickly lost balance with Anito’s force, so it fell right after.

“Just as expected from a ghoul,” Ryu said to herself. She effortlessly took a butcher’s knife from the rack behind her and warned him. “But you’re not getting out of here free!”

Anito stood up with his hair wet from the spilled iced tea. He failed to notice the knife coming right after him, but the wind and his instincts told him to duck at that moment. The knife crashed directly onto the old television’s thick bezels, failing to pierce through the cathode screen. Anito was quick to lay his eyes on Ryu and screamed worryingly.

“ARE YOU CRAZY? WHAT DID THE TV DO!?”

Ryu ignored his question and launched onto Anito, her fist making the air struggle to keep up. “TASTE MY FISTS!”

At that moment, she realized she was not the only strong person in the household— at least for that one second of maximum adrenaline. Anito may be slim, but his right hand was somehow enough to negate her punch. Now that her dominant fist was held shut by his right hand, Anito went for a taste and licked it.

Ryu wasn’t disgusted, she was just outright confused. “What are you doing?”

“I tasted your fist?” Anito innocently answered.

“It’s a metaphor, Anito,” Ryu replied, shaking her hand free of Anito’s grip as she murmured. “Uneducated swine thinking like a goddamn dog…”

But Anito was somehow not there to hear her insults.

Ryu heard the door of Kali’s room slam with full force—and the locking sound that came afterward.

“A golden retriever to be precise…” Ryu added.

From inside the room, Anito felt it was unnecessary to open the lights. His strong eyes provided enough vision for him to see in the dark.

“Shouldn’t this chase be the other way around?” Anito worryingly asked himself before answering his question. “No, this shouldn’t be happening for both sides, but it’s really weird… A normal human, hunting down a ghoul? That’s destroying every stereotype made by that soap opera--”

He wasn’t even finished with his explanation when the door came smashing against the room’s wall as the sound of many keys twinkled about on Ryu’s hand.

“There’s no such thing as absolute privacy in this house,” Ryu explained. “I know you’re behind the door, wretched ghoul. Show yourself!”

Anito wasn’t there, though; he was on the ceiling. He grabbed onto the door header and swung his way out of the corridor and back into the dining room without Ryu noticing, but she was quick to realize his disappearance. Anito was back to where he once was, but now, had no place to go; The house wasn’t built for acrobatic demonstrations, and a fight outside could easily attract people. Although he almost looked like the average human, his chasseur's loudmouth would be more than enough to gain the townsfolk’s easygoing trust, but there still was one more option: The door beside the living room.

Wide space and tons of barricade fences were the strongest of his desires. Anito plowed through the door and quickly checked his surroundings. In his sight lies a giant tree, a few trash bins, some vines, and a compost pit. He took some time to choose where to hide, but the giant tree was, obviously, the only correct answer. Behind all that, he invisibly breathed out a sense of relief, having seen the fences block the yard from public view.

Fortunately, Ryu focused on equipping her brass knuckles a few seconds earlier as she went down, so not a single fist landed on Anito’s back, but a disgusting scent did find its way into his nose.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“That’s weird… I swore I took a bath yesterday~” Anito thought, though a simple glance from behind revealed the culprit: Ryu was wearing a necklace made of garlic bulbs.

“Uhh, since when were you wearing that?” He politely asked. Anito’s inquiry, however, fell on deaf ears again as Ryu emotionlessly charged at him like it was just another day for her.

“I’M GOING TO DESTROY YOU!” Ryu replied. She showed no signs of stopping, so Anito made a run for the tree— and climbed it effortlessly. It was quite an impressive skill to have in Ryu’s opinion, so she paused and watched him climb.

“Monkey.” She spoke.

Anito lost his breath climbing the tree, but its leaves were quick to replenish it.

“You can’t hide there forever. The higher-ups will be quick to take you down.” Ryu angrily warned Anito.

“W—well, did you call them already?”

“Of course not. This game is mine—and only mine.” Ryu answered. “Now go be a good boy and turn yourself in. I’ll tell the curation facility to make it easier for you.” Ryu added.

Her negotiations, however, fail to strike an agreement with Anito. “Y—your monologue after chapter 4 says otherwise...”

“God damn it~ he saw through the bluff,” Ryu said, snapping her fingers aggressively.

Anito took a quick rest in the tree’s shade. “I guess I’ll just stay here, then… Forever… The lifetime supply of java apples sounds great.”

Unable to climb trees, Ryu looked for other alternative measures, but even the broken ladder made from Corteza de Majarlika beside the garden tools was of no use. The only thing she can do right now is to stand her ground and wait for the moment Anito crashes down…

She was quick to lose her patience, though.

“ARGH! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSFUL MOMENT!” Ryu shouted at the skies.

“For me?” Anito asked.

“No! For me!”

Ryu's rage opened up a conversation for the first time in minutes. “From the moment you’ve shown yourself to be who you really are, I felt nothing but resentment over what happened to my mom and dad. I don’t want to take another chance.”

Anito took a few seconds to reply. “I don’t mean to be rude, but their sin isn’t mine. I don’t know exactly what the other ghouls did, but that small group doesn’t represent who we are. What will I gain from eating my best friend, anyway?”

“It’s not like he’s the only one you could feast upon in this house,” Ryu replied, thinking she had cast the net against the ghoul.

“Then, what will I gain from eating you guys?”

Ryu shook her head, having predicted his answer. “I don’t trust that question one bit.”

“I’m not sacrificing a friend just to fulfill a thought I never had, Miss Girl.”

At that moment, Anito’s voice of reason was his own closest ally. His answer was a slap to Ryu’s long-upheld grudge, so Ryu tried to sway the conversation in a different direction.

“It’s weird. I’ve never seen a ghoul so happy before.” Ryu said.

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re like the third human I finally got to talk to! I can finally expand my friend circle from just Kali!”

“Even if it risks your life?” Ryu asked.

“Yeah! What Kali and I talked about last night really opened me to a lot of things. He said I’ll go through a lot~ and I think our fight is an example of what he meant by that.”

Anito’s upbeat attitude amid a life-altering fight wasn’t exactly in Ryu’s mind. The sound of the wind filled the dead silence between the two children.

“So you’re saying that he hid your identity to keep you safe?” Ryu asked hesitantly.

“Yeah!” Anito simply answered, picking up a few ripe java apples as he did.

Anito took a bite from one of the fruits he picked. Stuffed with pulp, he continued the conversation.

“I know you don’t wanna lose anyone else anymore, but if you turn me in, I think Kali will never forgive you. You’ll lose him if he loses me.”

Ryu reconsidered her thoughts. It was no longer about who had been gone, it was now about those who were still there.

“So, how about it? Can you make an exception?” Anito asked her. Ryu paused for a little while before she gave a final answer.

“Ugh. If keeping you means keeping him, I guess that’s a worthwhile risk.” She doubtfully answered. “But the moment you go rogue, I won’t hesitate to break curation protocol and kill you.”

Anito responded to her with a simple smile and a light-hearted thank you.

Not a single word of respect came out of Ryu’s mouth after that; she merely returned to a house engrossed in disaster. It was the quickest of conversations, yet in that minute alone, she was convinced to stand down. It was an unsung defeat; her mindset proved ridiculous by a ghoul he just met.

Her next course of action was to take off her knuckles, heat the rice, and prepare their table for dinner, just in time for Kali and Obet to arrive.

“Ryu, Anito. We’re home.” Obet announced—though he wasn’t ready to see what became of the dining area. “...What’s with all this mess?”

“Dysmenorrhea,” Ryu replied nonchalantly, adding a cup of water to their cold rice.

“Already?” A concerned Obet asked. “This has just been your third.”

“It’s probably because of unwanted risk factors,” Ryu answered, setting the stove to medium as she made her way to Kali, whispering a few cryptic words to him.

“Like not telling me you welcomed a trigger warning into this house.”

Kali was aware of what she was implying this time around, but as his heart started beating swiftly, he saw Anito, carrying with him a few java apples from the living room door. Anito quietly mouthed a few words before he went inside.

“She knows.”