"If I see any sign of aggression toward your schoolmates, staff, or anyone, with the help of the others, I'll knock some sense and food back into you. Don't stay too long without eating, and no hunting by yourself until you have eaten, okay?" Matsumae said as she gently removed her hand from his embrace.
Shuu simply smiled and nodded. Matsumae sighed deeply and bowed slightly as she left the room. Shuu headed to the fridge in his room, stocked with top-notch wine, scotch, whiskey, bourbon, and bottles of water. Taking five bottles of water, he downed them. After some time, he attempted his usual 1000 push-ups but managed only 400. As for sit-ups, he could only do 200, and finally, a five-minute plank hold.
'Ha, it feels like I am human again,' Shuu said as he passed out on the floor without the energy to even shower afterward.
His alarm woke him up the next morning.
'Ugh. Do I really have to go to school today?' Shuu groggily said as he struggled to get up. Deciding on only 100 reps for each exercise, he regrettably acknowledged that, though he could regenerate, the lingering soreness would remain if he did his usual routine before school. He walked like a robot to the bathroom, freshened up, and wore his school uniform.
Mairo was surprised to see his young master thirty minutes earlier than usual, but what surprised him more was the sight of two black bracelets on each of Shuu's arms. He praised his master's progress in his mind but wondered if it was okay to wear them to school. Mairo had his bracelets on since the young master had ordered everyone to wear theirs at all times. Upon closer inspection, one would notice real gold inscriptions of roses on them. All the bracelets had the same design after all, made of black gold with inscribed roses made of real gold.
"Good morning, young master. Are you ready to go to school?" Mairo asked as he opened the car door.
"Yes, Mairo, let's leave now," Shuu said as he entered the car.
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"Shuu-kun, you look tired. Are you okay?" A female student with long hair and a bob that reached her eyebrows asked Shuu. They went outside to buy some materials for their class at the request of the teacher and were coming back.
"This is nothing that should warrant your concern, Miss Ikaru. Hopefully, you don't pry into something that kills you," Shuu said lazily while carrying a small box containing the bought items.
"You saying that would only make me more diligent in my prying. Anyway, you look like you are having trouble carrying that, you look like a damsel in distress right now, especially with your bracelet you have going there," Ikaru said as she looked intensely at Shuu. Ikaru is the president of an occult club that researches ghouls—and she is a ghoul!
Shuu simply ignored her but wished he could drop what he was lifting and give her a good knock. The duo passed a narrow empty street on their way back home. Shuu sensed a ghoul nearby. This would be normal, of course, as ghouls live among humans and try to blend in. But this ghoul, in particular, exuded an aura of hunger and cannibalism. The ghoul tried to hide it, but Shuu could sense it as clearly as he could distinguish colors. He thought Ikaru picked up on this but continued walking with him with a bored expression.
Mairo was escorting Shuu from a safe distance so his young master wouldn't know he was around watching over him. But Shuu knew this all along as he could pick up his location in a twenty-meter diameter because he felt his gaze on him. In fact, after sensing the ghoul with hidden malicious intent, he had subconsciously unlocked a new trait for his system.
"Miss Ikaru, please prepare to be attacked at any moment," Shuu said quietly while the duo walked forward. She wanted to question his assumption but went along and prepared herself. The attacker jumped at Miss Ikaru seemingly out of nowhere. Shuu could tell the route the attacker used, which was the roof of a small building they just passed, and could see his movements as the assailant attacked who he judged was the weakest of the two.
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The attacker wore a grey hoodie and grey sweatpants with a bird mask covering only the upper part of his face, and the lower part, consisting of his nose and mouth, was left exposed for ease of biting attacks and eating. The attacker lunged at a slightly surprised Ikaru who was taken down and flung with such force she destroyed the wall she was thrown at and passed out. The ghoul stood there as if to admire its strength and looked back slowly at Shuu who witnessed the whole thing with concern on his face.
He judged that the ghoul before him was at least A rank but not peak A rank. Shuu is currently at the peak of the A rank, but at the moment was three days starved. Secondly, he didn't want to release his kagune until he achieved peak S rank status. He was also weighed down by the weighted bracelets that almost felt like a ton. He didn't move but simply watched the attacker as his heart pounded wildly in anticipation.
'Damn it, he probably hears how fast my heart is beating now,' Shuu thought as he saw the attacker smile under his mask and approached him slowly. The attacker moved his left leg and appeared at a reasonable pace in front of Shuu, who simply sidestepped to avoid a claw attack. The ghoul in grey looked surprised but shrugged it off as a lucky move. The hooded ghoul performed the same attack but with a quick follow-up sweep attack which Shuu evaded with a jump containing some of his strength since his movements were limited while holding the box containing their class materials.
'He did all that while carrying that box, that's it—I'll end this quickly with my kagune before the *'doves' notice my trail.' The hooded ghoul thought as he withdrew and released his kagune before Shuu who could only widen his eyes in surprise.
*CCG investigators are usually referred to as 'doves' by ghouls.
Meanwhile, Mairo saw a grey hooded ghoul attack his young master's friend and attempted to attack his young master to no avail as he easily evaded his attacks. Mairo took the shortest route that would give him the advantage of surprise when he attacked as he ran at full speed.
'Wow, only if he knew my master was being weighed down while fighting him… Still, Shuu-sama can't use his kagune since he is not far from school and neither can I since I am his driver.' Mairo said as he sped up with all his might and arrived as soon as the ghoul released his kagune.
Mairo landed a quick surprise dropkick that was blocked by the attacker with some effort. The ghoul's attention was on Mairo as he launched blow after blow. Mairo got a little stronger or to be exact a little more agile since he had worn the weights for some time now. The attacker had a kagune that made him look like a four-armed
Ashura, so blocking wasn't an option—he could only give wide gaps while evading which tested his stamina greatly considering the speed of the attacker.
Shuu decided to stop spectating and ran to the attacker. But what happened shocked him, the attacker, and Mairo as well. Shuu, some ten-fifteen meters away from them while carrying a brown box, suddenly appeared behind the attacker. Not losing momentum at all, Shuu started kicking the attacker's lower back with everything he had. One kick from Shuu almost made the attacker's kagune disperse but he held on and tried to turn only to have Mairo follow suit by kicking his stomach.
That one lapse in concentration caused by Shuu was fully exploited by Mairo to find the opening he had been looking for. The duo basically reversed the situation in their favor. If you saw them from afar, they looked like bullies violently kicking a four-armed hooded person who couldn't help but cover his head. The beating-cough-fight lasted for three minutes which was enough time for Ikaru to return from the forceful entry into dreamland. She woke up with a slight pain and saw Shuu and Mairo doing the Lord's work and quickly joined in. She was aiming at the attacker's head this time.
A few seconds after Ikaru joined in this wholesome bonding experience, the attacker's kagune soon dispersed and collapsed on the cold floor. Ikaru was so angry that she didn't have enough time to 'talk things out' with the attacker and spat on him.
"Are you fine, Shuu-sama?" Mairo asked dusting himself after he dragged the attacker deep inside the alley.
"I am fine. Stay beside this hooded attacker but call Miss Matsumae to be on standby in case he tries to be dodgy. Then phone in the CCG as an anonymous caller. Destroy the phone after. Knock him out again when you see the doves coming and leave," Shuu said with his back to Mairo as he headed to school with Ikaru who was busy dusting and cleaning herself.
The CCG received an anonymous call about a ghoul attack. The CCG had been chasing a grey hooded ghoul from the 24th ward to the 20th ward. The ghoul was nicknamed 'Little Ashura'. The ghoul, getting stronger by eating its kin, was wanted by the CCG to stop him before he became something that only special class and special class investigators could handle. Two first-class investigators with ten rank-one investigators as their subordinates, along with Cochlea buses, were dispatched to the ghoul's last reported location. It was a quick operation; they encountered a weakened grey hooded ghoul that matched their description on the CCG's database. In fact, the whole thing was just a training exercise for the young rank-one investigators as they practiced efficient restraining techniques they learned at the academy under the careful supervision of the two first-class investigators.
The capture was clean with no injuries or casualties on the CCG's side. The ghoul was bound and exposed to the gas that hinders the use of kagune. The ghoul was then transported to Cochlea, a state-of-the-art high-level prison for holding ghouls. The ghoul was questioned and interrogated but was too ashamed to admit that he was beaten up by a bunch of peace-loving civilians and remained silent.
To be continued.