Sending A Bigger Monster: A Hellsing/Tokyo Ghoul Crossover Fanfiction

[Xavier Rall]

Hellsing (OVA) and Tokyo Ghoul are two of my favorite anime, one big reason being that both series deal with common themes of humanity`s conflict with the monsters of the world, both physical and metaphorical, while also showcasing that man can be just as monstrous as any of the creatures of the night that he may face. So, imagine my surprise when I discover that just about nobody has tried a crossover of the two before. Thus, here is this work of fanfiction.

Sending A Bigger Monster
​

Question: What would happen if you dropped Seras Victoria, complete with full vampiric powers courtesy of Alucard, into the world of Tokyo Ghoul? Let`s find out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing or Tokyo Ghoul, only this story and my original characters.​

 

[Xavier Rall]

Chapter 1: First Vampires, Now Ghouls (Not That Kind)​

Seras Victoria knew something wasn`t right from the very moment she woke up.

The reason being that she appeared to be lying in an abandoned building in some city, when she distinctly remembered last being in a European castle. Also, a quick look around the warehouse revealed to her everything that was in writing, from scraped stickers on boxes, to labels on rusted equipment, to peeling posters on the walls, all of it, was written in Chinese.

Japanese, actually, ma chère, said her familiar, Pip Bernadotte.

Also, she noticed that, judging from way the sun was shining, it was late afternoon. Which was odd, considering it was literally the dead of night only moments before.

When she had gotten up earlier that evening from a satisfying sleep, she soon learned from Sir Integra that they had new intelligence on the location of a nest of vampires that had somehow slipped under their surveillance for years. Known as the Coven, all that Hellsing knew about it was that they were a splinter group of the destroyed Neo-Nazi group, Millennium, who were led by a mysterious leader that claimed to be the vampiric descendant of the infamous vampire, Countess Bathory. Seras was then ordered to their latest known coordinates: which happened to be an old castle in France, one that the Nazis had used during the Second World War. The immediate concern was the idea that an old Nazi fortress being used by a splinter of Millennium did not bode well for anyone, especially Hellsing.

Hellsing still had yet to fully recover from the Zeppelin Incident over ten years ago, where the organization was nearly destroyed and its trump card, Alucard, was silenced, with no indication that he would ever return. In the years since, both Britain and Hellsing had undergone extensive reconstruction, and, for a while, Seras was literally Britain`s only line of defense against supernatural threats, like vampires. It was years before Hellsing was rebuilt to the point that Seras wasn`t needed on every field mission that Hellsing operated. The thought that a new group had arisen with the power to potentially destroy Hellsing completely was terrifying.

Thus, Seras had departed, alone, to confront the threat, with a fully loaded Harkonnen Mk. III cannon at her disposal.

Flying upon the castle in the dead of night on shadowy wings, she gave no quarter to every member of the undead she found, blasting them to bloody smears and dismembered limbs with her oversized gun. They tried to fight her, firing guns and rockets from hallways, around corners, and from behind obstacles, and launching ambushes from above and below, sometimes crashing through the walls, ceiling and floor to get at her. Tried being the key word, as everyone she fought fell.

Then she came to that dungeon.

In that room, she saw an entire room covered in glowing, blood-written runes and symbols, as well as three circles of chanting vampires, with one male in the center who could be nothing other than the Coven`s vaunted leader. She then emptied the last of her ammunition killing the vampires in the room, including "Count Bathory."

At least, that`s what she thought happened, for as soon as he went down, the runes flashed into a blinding light, and she thought she could his form still moving…

And now, here she was, in God knows where, without her guns, without a way to contact Sir Integra, since she didn`t have the telepathic link that Alucard had shared with the woman, or her phone number, since her phone that she brought that had a direct line to Integra`s office wasn`t working, and no idea how on Earth she even got to wherever here was.

Then, she heard a scream from below. The scent of blood followed.

Rushing over to the window, looking down, she saw a young girl, bleeding from wounds all over her body, guaranteeing her death from blood loss. And Seras had no idea what was looming over the girl in predatory fashion. What Seras saw wasn`t a vampire, seeing as its eyes were red and black, it had what looked like two green tentacles coming out of its waist, and wore a half-mask across the lower half of its face with a biohazard symbol on it. The two were both yelling in Japanese, but Seras easily recognized the diminishing cries for help from the human girl, as well as the taunts from the thing.

Seras decided to figure out her situation later, and deal with the urgent monster problem now.

---

This was how it would all end for her. In the belly of a ghoul.

The creatures that prowled the streets of Tokyo at night she had heard looked, sounded, and acted just like humans, until they had you alone, vulnerable, and far away from help. Then they would reveal themselves for the man-eating, red-eyed monsters that they were. They were mankind`s nightmares made real, the bane of all human existence, which was held back only by the heroic efforts of the Commission of Counter-Ghoul, whose Investigators had spent years of training with the specific purpose of finding and killing them.

But, ghouls had never concerned her. After all, she was the daughter of First Class Investigator Matsuzaka Akumo. He was especially known for one incident where he received a death threat on his family from the S-rate Scythe and his gang. He then went on a relentless ten-hour patrol where he hunted down and slaughtered almost the entire gang single-handed, including Scythe himself. Ghouls kept their distance from his family since. Also, she was smart enough to never go anywhere with suspicious company. And, considering how popular she was at school, she was never really alone anywhere outside of home.

This ghoul, however, had convinced a cab driver to drop her friends off in the middle of nowhere, leading to him chasing herself and her friends throughout the warehouse. Now, she lay here, bleeding and broken, and this ghoul, who called himself Biohazard, salivating over her.

"HEEELLLPP! Somebody please! Anybody!" She screeched.

"Sorry, bastard girly," Biohazard sneered. Your scary daddy`s nowhere close enough to save you. By the time he`s here, all that will be left of you is a pile of bloody dust."

"Please, don`t kill me. I beg of you," she said, as her vision began to blur.

"I will most certainly kill you. This is payback for what your Pops did to Scythe and the crew. I was the last survivor, and that leaves me with the responsibility of avenging his death. Taking his precious daughter will be sweet. Almost as sweet as y-"

He exploded. Or rather, something came down on top the ghoul and tore him apart into mincemeat and a shower of blood in such rapid succession, she could only think his body has spontaneously gone ka-boom.

What stood in the ghoul`s place was something even more terrifying.

She soaked in the creature`s whole appearance. The distinctly female figure, messy blond hair, dried-blood colored military uniform, leggings and boots, impeccable white glove on her right hand, a writhing red and black thing in place of her left arm, and, most of all, her glowing red eyes. No black, like with a ghoul. The strangest thing, however, was the look in those eyes.

Concern. Sadness. A little bit of confusion.

Now she was confused. Why would a ghoul show concern for a human?

"It doesn`t look like I arrived in time to save you. I am sorry." Michi recognized the English words that came from its mouth.

"Why?" she asked. "Why would a ghoul try to save me?"

Now the confusion in the other`s face was more apparent. "Ghoul? No, I`m not a bloody ghoul. I`m a vampire. And the reason I saved you is because it`s my job."

Vampire? Michi thought in absolute disbelief. Seriously? Did this ghoul get hit on the head by a quinque too hard? And this is its freaking JOB?! What the hell is wrong with this thing?

"No, I did not get hit too hard with whatever a quin-something-or-other is, yes, this IS my freaking job, and the only thing wrong with me is that I don`t know what the bloody hell is happening to me right now," the self-proclaimed vampire said.

Michi was shocked, to say the least. "C-can you, like, read my mind?"

"Yes. And you`re running out of time. I can tell that you would rather not die, but it doesn`t look like you have much choice. And, since you`re a girl, I can`t make you a vampire like me even if you wanted. But, if I do drink your blood, I can take you into myself, and become my familiar, so that you can continue existing. However, it has to be your choice."

This was all a little much for the young lady, as her fading mind tried to comprehend what was being said, but she heard 'continue existing,' so she reached her hand out in desperation, before it fell…

---

With her flesh-and-blood right hand, she caught the girl`s outstretched hand, reflecting on how much the same it was to when Alucard proposed vampirism to her all those years ago. She then leaned forward, next to her ear.

"Before I do it, can you tell me your name?" Seras whispered.

The girl struggled to open her mouth, whimpering out two words, "Michi Matsuzaka," remembering the western-style of given name coming first, then family.

"My name is Seras Victoria, vampire to the Hellsing family."

Then, Seras sank her teeth into the girl`s now-willing neck.

Then, she knew everything that she needed to know about the place in which she found herself. She now knew about the ghouls, the human-shaped cannibalistic monsters, and the CCG that hunted them. She knew about Tokyo, and its twenty-three wards. She knew about the ongoing war between humans and ghouls.

She also learned about the rest of the world, that the time was correct, but the history was missing something big. Then she realized.

The Zeppelin Incident. The accounts given to the public about what really happened were distorted, but the entire world could not afford to have missed it, the terrorist attack that caused more death in one night than any natural disaster, and more than any war aside from the two World Wars. Just about everyone had heard of it.

Michi knew nothing about it. On top of that, all history since 2000 had been replaced by the knowledge of a War on Terror led by the United States after a terrorist attack called 9/11 involving the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Also, the urban legends of vampires and Hellsing that had sprung up in the wake of the Zeppelin Incident were also not to be found in her mind.

Blood told no lies, and Seras knew that this girl was no ignorant lout, but she still had a hard time believing what Michi was telling her through her blood. Seras was done feeding, as she felt the girl`s presence inside her. Ultimately, Seras could only come to a single conclusion:

"I`m in a bloody alternate universe. Sir Integra is not gonna be happy about this."

 

[aeroprime]

Innnnnteresting.

 

[Xavier Rall]

Chapter 2: A New Existence​

His hunger had driven him to go hunting now, right in the middle of the day. It was an event that he both loved and dreaded. He loved it because this was the time that made him feel most alive, in a world that would deny him his right to live. It was also the time he feared the most, for it was also the time when he would likely run into those that hunted ghouls: the doves or other, stronger ghouls. He`s faced a few Investigators on a couple of occasions, but he`s never stuck around long enough to get into a serious confrontation. The first and only time he actually fought with a pair resulted in the rookie losing his hand, and the senior taking off his arm. He`s had the even greater misfortune of meeting cannibal ghouls twice – and those events made him want to avoid other hungry ghouls even more than the doves; at least the humans wouldn`t eat him alive.

And so, now he was patrolling the back alleys and side roads, looking for some unfortunate human to ambush, that way he could get his meal quickly and quietly without getting any unwarranted attention. He made sure to wear his dark shoes, sweatpants and black hoodie in order to keep hidden better in the shadows, and he continued to walk along quietly.

He could hear his stomach growling, and feel the hunger gnawing at him. He didn`t believe that there was a single human alive that could possibly understand this pain. A pain so great that it could drive one irreversibly insane. He had seen it happen to his own brother, whose hunger drove him so crazy that he attacked and killed his sister before he even realized what he had done. He killed himself as a result.

He was not eager to have that happen to him.

And it appeared that salvation was at hand, because he smelled a human nearby.

Dashing in closer, he saw that the smell was of a petite teenaged girl wearing a school uniform. She appeared to be taking a shortcut on the way home. Now, there was a good reason not to attack and eat her, most notably the fact that, if she didn`t get home, people would come looking. And if doves decided to get involved, then he, in turn, could be hunted down and killed.

But, instinctual hunger won out, drowning his mind with the thought of food before his rational mind could even formulate such a thought. He sneaked in closer and closer as she walked along, completely oblivious to his stalking.

Then, finally, after coming within twenty feet of her, and smelling no one else nearby, he leaped out of his hiding place into the air, his koukaku kagune emerging from his shoulder, his kakugan flaring, and his voice peeling the air in sadistic laughter. His trajectory took him into the air, and he came right down on top of the girl, just as she was turning towards him, with shock and surprise in her eyes. He loved it, the look of fear in the eyes of his prey. After all, what self-respecting predator wouldn`t? And before she could even scream, his koukaku had already pierced her gut, cutting off any sound she could otherwise make.

Landing on top of her, now given a closer look, he could tell that coming out here at this time of day had been well worth it. The girl had long, glossy black hair cleaned and combed to perfection, with a delicate face, shining dark eyes, full lips, and a slender, but well-endowed figure. She was the very picture of feminine beauty in his eyes, and the perfect meal to boot.

"I am sure as hell gonna enjoy eating you, bitch," he whispered predatorily, as he pulled out his kagune and standing up. It was a voice he loved to use, paired with his slasher smile as it always solidified the prey`s feeling of fear right before they died. He couldn`t wait to see it.

"Oh right, I`m already dead," the girl suddenly said, the fear replaced by a calm look of realization.

Now he was confused. She was already dead? Did she mean to say that she was dead before he had even attacked her, because he was certain she was dead now, what with a kagune through the stomach and all. What the hell was she talking about?

That`s when she suddenly decided to stand up, and then she smiled. "I guess I still haven`t gotten used to that fact, haven`t I, Mistress?"

Now he was starting to get all creeped out, stepping back a few paces, unable to take his eyes away from the spectacle playing out in front of him. A girl who should be bleeding out to death on the pavement was now standing and walking as if losing several major organs in the most horrifying moment of one`s life was an everyday occurrence. And, who was this Mistress she was talking about?

Then she spoke again, but it wasn`t the girl`s original voice that came out. "Don`t fret over it, it took me a while to fully accept the idea that I was one of the undead, and there are still times that I can`t quite shake the feeling that I`m still human." This new voice was deeper, echo-like, older, and chilled him to the bottom of his heart. That`s when things when from creepy to full-blown horror show.

At first he thought he was hallucinating, when he saw the blood the girl spill suddenly start seeping and flowing back toward her. Then, if that wasn`t enough, it was even literally floating off of his clothing and his kagune back to the girl, mending her wounds and even her clothing. That`s when her left arm suddenly melted into some kind of black and red shadowy, flowing substance, which swirled and spun around her in the air, surrounding and engulfing her. Throughout it all, what kept him fixed in place was her predatorily smiling face. When her eyes blinked, he swore they became glowing red. And those eyes fixed him with a gaze of pure bloodthirsty glee. He felt akin to a mouse hiding from a cat, a rabbit hiding from a wolf, or a helpless human before a powerful, hungry ghoul.

As the supernatural storm of blood and shadows dissipated, he heard the g-, the thing in front of him suddenly chuckle, and say to itself, "So this is what Master felt like, when he dealt with freaks and trash like you." Then, when the storm vanished, he saw, in place of a frail Japanese human schoolgirl, a red-eyed, blond-haired monster of a young European woman, clad entirely in clothing the color of dried blood, from her boots and stockings to her military-like jacket and miniskirt, the only article of clothing not sharing the scheme being its right-hand glove, and the left arm looked to be molded out of the shadow-matter he saw earlier, with strands and streams appearing to still come from it.

It spoke once more, in that terrible voice, "It`s trash like you that my Master couldn`t stand, and that I find I cannot find myself tolerating. So, would you like to do me the honor of sating my thirst?" Then she gave a bare-toothed smile, and- oh my God, are those FANGS?!

That was the last straw. He immediately turned tail and bolted, his hunger completely forgotten, every part of his being screaming at his muscles to take him as far away from the monstrous apparition as possible, while his voice sent his screams and pleas. He began to sprint, putting any human runner to shame, dispelling his kagune in order to gain more speed. He turned corners, leaped over fences, and continued to run with all his might, hoping and praying to God that he would be spared, promising to do anything in order to live through the next hour. He turned the next corner-

And something gripped his ankle, tripping him onto his face.

Now his screaming became rather girlish screeching, as his hands and his again-dispelled kagune gripped at anything and everything around him, the walls, the dumpster, the very ground itself, causing his fingers to bleed and straining his muscles as he desperately tried to claw away from this unnatural monster.

"Stop yelling, you`re liable to wake the dead." Then teeth latched onto his neck, and he faded into oblivion.

---

"Mom! I`m home!" Michi shouted, as she walked through the front door of her family`s little home. It was comfortably large, big enough for her two parents and younger brother Mamiru, with its two floors and three bedrooms. Her older sister, Mika, was walking in their father`s footsteps to become a CCG Investigator, and so, was learning to live on her own in an apartment in a different part of the 14th Ward, closer to the city`s center, and the Home Office.

"Hello! I`m in the kitchen right now!" her mother called. "Wait a moment, and I`ll come right on over."

Michi put down her bags and looked up to see her mother come and embrace her. "It`s nice to have you home, dear. I see you came back alright. Anything special happen at school today?"

Michi shook her head. "No, Mom, school was pretty much the same as usual. Tanaka and Oikawa are still getting it on, everyone`s still gossiping about the desk incident a few days ago, and Nanami is still my best friend as usual. Oh, although on the way home today, I had a ghoul for snack. Tasty."

Her mother chuckled at the comment. "Still going with that old joke I see. It doesn`t surprise me anymore like the first time did. Listen, I know you also want to be a ghoul investigator like your father, but seriously, enjoy your time as a teenager, and don`t go doing stupid stunts like your father did when he was your age."

"Weren`t those the same stupid stunts that got you two to meet and fall in love?" Michi inquired. "If it weren`t for your knight in shining armor, I wouldn`t be here."

"True," her mother acquiesced. "But, seriously, ghouls are dangerous monsters, and it takes strong people like your father to keep us safe from them. I don`t know what I would do if I lost any of you, but I thank God that you`re all still fine. So, I won`t stop you if you decide to go down this road, just do me the favor of going down it less recklessly than your father, like your sister is doing. Okay?"

Michi hugged her mother tight. "Okay."

After separating, she picked up her bags again and went into her room to do her homework. It used to be a little more cramped, since she shared the room with her sister. Now, it all belonged to her, from its one solitary bed to the computer desk to the bookshelf and the clothes drawers. She closed the door behind her and locked it.

We both know it would be better for your mother if she didn`t know that she`s already lost you.

Michi turned around and saw her lounging on her bed. Or at least, that`s what her eyes showed in her mind`s eye. In fact, her eyes weren`t even hers anymore, let alone her body. It all belonged to her.

And that she didn`t know that every time you make a joke of consuming a ghoul, that you are actually telling a half-truth, said her vampiric mistress, Seras Victoria. You may need to consider not making them anymore if your father starts catching on to us and your mother connects the dots somehow.

I understand, Mistress, Michi replied sullenly, sitting down at her desk and taking out her books. I guess I`m still a little unused to this new change of pace. It`s been a month and all, and everything that I`ve learned over its course I`m still finding hard to let sink in. I mean, this world was crazy enough with the ghouls, but now vampires from alternate worlds? That`s a new level of weird I don`t know if this world is ready to handle.

Be glad your world doesn`t have to, Seras replied. I do believe that you can still remember when I showed you my memories of Alucard and Millennium?

Michi stiffened. Even after all this time, they were filled with images that she`d never forget.

A vampire dressed like a priest, surrounded by an entire town of zombies- ghouls Seras called them, although zombie fit in Michi`s mind better, since she had a different image attached to the word "ghoul." Alucard appearing from the night, annihilating the swarm and vampire before turning her, after she agreed willingly. The first battle with Father Anderson. The invasion of the Valentine brothers into the Hellsing mansion. The slaughter of the SWAT officers in South America. The attack by Millennium upon the mansion. The confrontation with Zorin Blitz. Drinking Pip Bernadotte`s blood. Coming to Sir Integra`s aid in London. Alucard`s Level Zero Release, and battle with Iscariot. Walter`s betrayal. Storming the Zeppelin. Battling the werewolf Captain. Blasting the Major in half with a tank`s main gun. Flying out with Sir Integra from the ship back to the manor, over a smoking city.

And those memories were only from Seras` first few months as a vampire. That`s not including the years of blood and gore that followed, where Seras embraced her vampiric nature more fully, allowing herself to drink more blood and take on more familiars, including a cast-off Millennium werewolf experiment and a shape-shifting demon that was foolishly summoned by occult-studying college students.

All in the service of a woman with a will to put steel to shame, one that could bend any monster to do her bidding. One Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing.

And all of which happened because of a chance encounter with a genuine monster that made even the most bloodthirsty ghouls of her world appear tame as lambs. The vampire Alucard, who was once the one and same Dracula of Bram Stoker`s classic horror novel.

She shook her head and slapped her cheeks. She had homework in Biology, History, and Mathematics. And she couldn`t very well get her head in the game if her mind was filled with someone else`s memories, now could she?

Mistress-

It`s Seras Victoria, schoolgirl, she replied. Don`t call me Mistress.

Yes, Mi- I mean, Seras Victoria. Could you leave me be for now? I have homework right now.

Homework. Those were simple days indeed. But, then again, they were a pain when I was human, so I pity you.

Thanks. That means so much to me, Michi replied sarcastically. She then went back to work.

---

When he finally got home, dinnertime was already going on. His beautiful wife Sakura had cooked spiced chicken with beans and vegetable greens. Both Michi and Mamiru were seated there, calmly eating alongside her. "Hey, I`m alive, and I`m home," he said.

"Welcome home, honey," Sakura said, with a smile.

"Hey Dad, long time no see," Michi mumbled, food in her mouth.

"DAD! Did you kill any ghouls today? Huh? Huh?!" Mamiru exclaimed excitedly.

"Nice to be home everyone," Akumo replied. "And no, Mamiru, I didn`t get to kill any ghouls today. They were all hiding too well for us to notice today. Although, there is something that I have to tell you all."

Everyone`s eyes turned toward him. He sighed, rubbed his eyes, and began.

"This is something the Home Office is going to announce tonight, but I want you all to hear it from me. Over the past month, there have been a series of over 40 killings all over the ward. We`ve come to the conclusion that all of these killings are the work of a single ghoul."

Sakura gasped, Mamiru was in awe, and Michi didn`t react at all.

"The reason we believe this is so is because all of the victims were similarly killed-" more like played with, torn to pieces, and then their throats ripped out-"and all of the victims
were ghouls."

Now, even Michi reacted, looking up with widened eyes, while Mamiru went bug-eyed with excitement and Sakura became absolutely pale.

"That means we are dealing with a cannibalistic binge eating ghoul. To date, we can`t say that this ghoul has killed any humans yet, but it`s bound to, sooner or later. For now, until Investigators encounter it and gauge its strength, we are giving the ghoul the codename Ripper, and it is an S-rated ghoul. More investigators from the Home Office will be brought in to help in the investigation. What all this means for this family, is that I`m setting a curfew. No one outside after dark, and everyone home by 6. Am I clear?"

Everyone said their yesses and nodded. Dinner continued to its conclusion without much more conversation. He also continued quietly eating his meal, contemplating what he`d been seeing over the past month.

It all started when he investigated the scene where two teen girls had been brutally murdered in a warehouse by a ghoul. The girls were friends of Michi, and the ghoul was a former member of Scythe`s gang, Biohazard. They found him in worse condition than the girls. He didn`t think anything more of it than a random dispute between ghouls, but then they began to find more dead ghouls, similarly mutilated and killed. What made all these cases so strange was the lack of blood at the scenes. If a body was torn to shreds, the blood would be everywhere, even if a ghoul managed to consume most of the body. Here, however, they were able to find almost the entirety of every murdered ghoul, but most of the blood was gone, as if this ghoul was more interested in blood than flesh. Thus, at the workplace, people had another name for this ghoul than Ripper:

Dracula.

---

Well, ma chère, it looks like you were right, said Pip. These CCG doves appear to have been on to you for some time.

What do we do, Mistr- I mean Seras? asked Michi. What if Dad finds out about you? About me?

Seras mulled over these words and thought. I doubt the CCG has ever gone up against vampires before, and certainly haven`t gone up against anything of my caliber. I highly doubt they can kill me. Still, you need to know, Michi, that you could have simply refused my offer and let yourself die. Now, you`ll have to deal with the reality of living out your un-life without your family someday, when I finally return to my world. Wherever I go, you must follow, forever a part of me. That`s what it means to be a vampire`s familiar.

What if you never get back? Michi asked.

I will find some way to occupy my time, as will you. I might get myself a fledgling to train. Eternity is such a long time. In the meantime, I know that when we confront the CCG, I will make certain to set the record straight. Don`t forget, you aren`t the only familiar I`ve acquired in this world. And although these ghouls are monsters, one thing we`ve both learned is that they have souls just the same as humans. This means that not all ghouls have to be evil, there must be those that desire nothing more than to live normal lives.
Starting tomorrow, we`ll be looking for them. And we will make the first steps to finishing this endless war.

 

[Xavier Rall]

Chapter 3: Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind
​

Suffice it to say that, tonight, there were a myriad of very logical reasons for Rank 2 Junior Investigator Renji Fujiyama to be shaking in his boots, with a heart that felt like a pulse-pounding block of ice that threatened to leap out of his mouth at a moment`s notice. Reason number one: tonight was the night of his first patrol as a Ghoul Investigator in the CCG, so he had little to no idea of what to expect to happen. Two, he was patrolling in the 10th ward, a part of Tokyo that he wasn`t familiar with, having grown up in the 20th ward. The second half of the second reason was that the 10th ward was next door to the 11th ward, which was widely reputed to be the most heavily ghoul-infested ward in Tokyo. The third reason was the Investigator he had been partnered with, one Associate Class Investigator Daisuke Nakadai. This man was infamous in the CCG for two reasons: being a magnet for ghouls – rumor had it that he would be attacked by ghouls at least once a week – and was extremely sadistic towards the ghouls he captured, especially young ghouls.

All of that paled considerably in comparison to the fourth and final reason that he was nearly wetting his pants instead of shivering with excitement.

He had been assigned to the 10th ward, which, as of a little more than a month ago, had become the stomping ground of the newly infamous S-rate Ripper, known in-house in the CCG as Dracula.

This ghoul was both a mystery and a grave danger. Although his kill count only included ghouls, he had still slaughtered close to four dozen that the CCG was aware of, and they had no idea if he had killed any humans yet, or how many at that if he had. Also, due to how much the bodies had been torn apart, it was nigh impossible to identify the victims beyond the fact they were ghouls, and the near-complete lack of blood at the scenes further added to the mystery of this ghoul. After all, it was far simpler to just eat the entire body rather than go through the trouble of drinking every last drop of blood in the body and NOT eat its flesh. What made this even more frustrating was the fact that the cause of death was nigh impossible to identify and each scene also bore no marks of a kagune`s usage. And the cherry on top of all this was the fact that since Ripper was known to have already killed dozens of ghouls, it was likely the ghoul had probably killed many more before popping up in the 10th ward, and the consumption of so much ghoul flesh (mainly blood from what they could tell) had likely made the ghoul even stronger than he was before his current rampage.

Ripper was a cannibal, a binge eater, and an unknown, thus unpredictable, entity. Although it was currently S-rated, many feared that this ghoul would become the next One-Eyed Owl – a SSS-rate terror upon Tokyo.

Renji shuddered. He had no plans tonight to-

"Hey, Rookie! Are you listening to me?!"

"GAH!" Renji screamed, suddenly snapping back to the reality of his stern superior`s weathered face leaning forward, glaring at him. "Seriously, Investigator Nakadai! Don`t scare me like that!"

"Feh," Nakadai snorted. "I wasn`t even trying to scare yah. Believe, you`d know if I tried."

"That`s not exactly a comforting thought, sir."

"Know what I don`t find to be a comforting thought? A ghoul coulda speared you through the gut and then swallowed you whole from your thin glasses to your fat shoes before you bothered to look up and so much as notice there was a living thing standing in front of your nose. You cannot afford to let down your guard Fujiyama! Ever! That`s how many a good man lost his life! You got that?!" he roared at his subordinate.

Renji`s spine could have been swapped with a lead pipe and you wouldn`t have been able to tell the difference. "Y-y-yes, s-sir."

Investigator Daisuke stood back up, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose to calm himself back down. He opened his eyes again, looking down at his subordinate partner. "Okay, what`s got your boxers all twisted up?"

Renji`s breath hitched for a moment. "Dracula."

Not even Daisuke could stop himself from feeling a shred of sympathy for the rookie. "Yeah, I get it. No ghoul has gotten the CCG so riled up since the Owl first showed up. To be honest, I myself am more than a little nervous about the prospects of facing off against him. Or her, considering we can`t even tell its gender. Still, our job right now is to patrol these streets, find a man-eating monster or two, and put them down before they get to enjoy dessert. So chin up and let`s get to work!"

Renji gulped. "Yes, sir."

---

That`s Associate Class Investigator Nakadai, isn`t he, Michi? Seras inquired of her familiar, sending a mental image to her. Seras was watching them from her rooftop vantage point about a kilometer away from them, but her third eye viewing them as clearly as in broad daylight from a few feet away.

Yes, Seras, Michi confirmed. He hasn`t changed at all since I last saw him a few months ago when I last visited the CCG`s 10th ward branch. Michi was currently enjoying a rare family movie night, as her father had a rare night off. However, it was Mamiru who had won the right to choose the evening`s entertainment, so the Matsuzakas were now gathered `round watching "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust," a rather apropos film for Mamiru`s tastes and utterly ironic to Michi, an irony she sadly couldn`t share with her family.

And he`s still as ugly a bastard as ever, Pip added, watching the unfolding events from within Seras` mind. That`s a face only a mother could possibly love. I`m glad I didn`t look like that broken rock face of a man when I first met you, ma chère, or I never would`ve gotten where I am now.

Which is stuck for eternity inside your vampiric lover`s soul along with an angry, furious mob of man-eating monsters, Michi retorted.

Pip laughed at her comment. I know I`ve said it before, but you`ve got spunk, girl. Besides, I would rather deal with undead souls than that calculus mumbo jumbo you`re tackling in your school. It`s dangerous, but I know how to handle.

Same here, she replied. So, now`s when the rubber really hits the road, right, Mistress?

Yes, school girl, Seras replied. Time to see what the world really has to throw at me.

---

Tonight looked like it was going to be one of those nights. One where the foreboding atmosphere produced by a moonless night, a slight, yet loud, breeze, and the random flash of a car`s headlights from the street crafted his sense of anticipation for some bloody action yet ultimately left him hanging. He and his rookie partner, which he requested on a whim to ease his boredom and give himself a little more of a challenge in life, had been walking around for what felt like ages and had yet to see hide or hair-

SPLAT!

He and Renji immediately jumped and about-faced to find a dead body on the ground behind them. It was lying face-up with its eyes open, revealing its kakugan, showing that it was a ghoul. They were quick to notice the letter on its chest, written in large, red, English lettering:

WANNA MEET? –RIPPER

They looked up in time to see a red figure suddenly disappear back into the office building`s upper floors.

"Come on!" Daisuke shouted at his subordinate. Immediately rushing through the building`s glass doors, while Renji immediately called for backup, citing a possible sighting of the S-rate Ripper at their location. He headed straight for the security desk, reaching into his coat to pull out his ID, when he noticed something was very wrong: the guards were all slumped in their seats. Going behind the desk, he noticed that the security monitors were all showing blank screens. Grabbing one of the guard`s radios, he also heard nothing but static. He gritted his teeth. If it was indeed Ripper they were dealing with, then they were either looking at an entire gang of especially sadistic ghouls or one very dangerous and intelligent ghoul who loved to toy with its specially chosen victims.

He then smiled at the thought. Looks like I`ll get to have some fun tonight after all, he thought.

"Sir," Renji reported behind him. "I`ve called the branch office. Help should arrive in fifteen minutes. We should also check with building security to find the ghoul."

"Don`t bother with security," Daisuke replied. "Ripper was here way before us. Knocked out the guards and shorted the feeds. We`re blind here, boy. And I`d bet my last Yen that Ripper has cased the whole joint and has a trap set up for us."
"I wouldn`t quite call it a trap, Associate Class Nakadai," an ethereally feminine voice suddenly called out.

They froze for but an instant. Then, slowly, they turned their heads towards the staircase which descended from the next floor up. At the top was a woman dressed in red.

"Well, I did kind of arrange all of this ahead of time so that we were all alone in private in a big office building and the invitation was more than a little abrupt and shocking so I guess you couldn`t help but think it was a trap. Sorry about that," she continued, scratching the back of her head and looking none too sheepish.

Daisuke was more than a little unnerved by this girl. Taking into account her youthful face and well-endowed figure, he pegged her to be mid-20s at oldest. He also took note of her peculiar choice of attire, which seemed to be a military-type uniform jacket with a miniskirt, thigh-high ripped stockings and large boots, all colored in varying dark shades of red, like dried blood. Her right arm was mostly bare, with a white glove on the hand, while her left arm down to the fingertips were covered in a long, black and red sleeve. The features that were the clearest to him, however, were the girl`s deathly pale Caucasian skin, which, along with her short, spiky-bunned straw blond hair and British accent, indicated that she was a European, and her red ruby eyes.

Although it was rare, sometimes ghouls` kakugans manifested permanently. Although there was the even rarer case among ghouls that their irises stayed red while their scleras stayed white. This ghoul`s eyes were pools of fire, that, despite the carefree demeanor she was exhibiting, betrayed the look of someone who had been through Hell and didn`t come back out the same as going in. It was a look he had seen time and again on the faces of many people who had experienced a ghoul attack.

It burned him to the depths of his soul to be mocked by a monster daring to bear the same eyes.

What burned him the most was the fact that the ghoul appeared to be so arrogant that it wasn`t even wearing a mask.

He took a step forward, getting ready to unleash-

"Hey! I already have a lover! Get your head out of the gutter you playboy," she blurted.

Daisuke`s thought process and forward progress immediately ground to a halt. She thought that he-

"Not you, the Casanova-wannabe you dragged along!" she shouted, pointing at Second Rank Fujiyama. "Bloody Dove, you just had to pick a ladies man for a rookie partner," she said exasperatedly.

He spared a moment to send a withering glance at Renji, who immediately froze up again. "S-Sorry sir!" he spluttered. "It`s- well um- I guess- I didn`t really expect my first ghoul to be a really pretty girl, and Dracula on top of that-"

"What was that you called me?"

Daisuke immediately turned back toward the staircase to face the red monster, intent on not letting his guard down before her again.

She wasn`t there.

He began to panic. Where did she go?

"AAGGHH-"

Turning around again, he looked to see that the rookie had suddenly vanished into thin air. He immediately turned back toward the stairs, and there he saw the Ripper ghoul holding an unconscious Renji Fujiwara in its arms, bridal style. It set him down at the top of the stairs with care, like a lover laying his sleeping partner to rest on a bed. She stood back up.

"There. Now that the kiddies are put to bed, the adults can now talk."

Daisuke was in shock. This thing had to be doing some kind of trick. Otherwise, he would have to accept the fact that, in the moments between when he was alternately shifting his focus between the positions of his subordinate and the ghoul, she had managed to silently move past him twice and snatch away Renji before he was even able to register her movement. He knew that ghouls were superhumanly quick thanks to their biology, and he had heard of instances where ghouls moved too fast for the Investigators to track, but this was when they were in an up-close melee, not standing apart at a good 20 meters apart with a stairway between them. He had never heard of a ghoul being even remotely this fast. Although she had yet to even show off her kagune, her speed alone indicated she was probably a SSS-rate.

A darkness began emanating from the girl`s black sleeve. She began walking towards him.

"I`ve been here for about a month now, and I have to say that I`m quite disappointed in the state of the world. When I first got here, I regarded the ghouls as nothing more than monsters, since the very first one that I saw was about to have a schoolgirl for dinner. So, I began scoping out the 10th ward, looking it up and down, making a mental map, and hunting down the man-eating monsters that haunted the nightmares of this world. Soon, two weeks had passed and I had slaughtered dozens."

Oh God, he thought. SSS-rate. This girl`s another One-Eyed Owl. He now felt more afraid for his life than he had in decades. He knew that he was a strong Investigator, and he had faced down a number of strong ghouls in the past. However, he remembered seeing the footage of the Owl`s attacks on the CCG and why it was rated SSS. He knew that he would only ever face that thing with at least a strong partner at his side and an army at his back. He knew he had bouts of recklessness at times, but he knew where his limits lay.

The darkness was spreading behind the girl and up the walls. She was at the bottom of the staircase.

"Then, one night during my third week, I saw the dying body of a little girl. When I approached her, I learned that she was a ghoul. And she had witnessed her mother and father get brutally murdered by two men. Ghoul Investigators. It was then that I realized the truth about the ghouls- that they were living, loving beings like humans. That they had dreams and emotions just like humans. That not all of them became monsters by choice. And I was forced to remember once again that man can be just as monstrous as the hell spawn that walk the earth. This world has become stuck in a perpetual cycle of despair, vengeance, and death. One that will, one day, tear it asunder."

And soloing a fight with a SSS-rated ghoul was beyond them. All he could do was watch this gho- no, demon- slowly, calmly, approach him with supernatural grace, as the darkness swallowed the lobby.

"So, I thought to myself, how do I break the cycle? How do I, an outsider, bring resolution to this eternal war? Then, I remembered something that my Master`s Master once said. I wasn`t there to hear it myself, but, paraphrasing her, she said that the most effective way to destroy a monster was to send a bigger monster."

She stopped less than a foot from his face. Eyes had opened in the darkness, with bright red pupils, all staring at him. Daisuke was frozen in terror.

"And so, pass the word on to everyone. Tell them, Senior Officer Seras Victoria of the Hellsing Organization, No-Life Queen of the Vampires, hearby declares war on the monsters of Tokyo, be they human or ghoul, until such time as the humans and ghouls of Tokyo can find reconciliation. Effective immediately."

She had shown off her fangs.

He activated his quinques. She was literally right in front of his face, so he couldn`t possibly miss. He was able to keep one part of mind sane in this maddening situation, and it took advantage of this golden opportunity to slay this dragon right here, right-

They shattered. Both of his quinques, his will personified, Deimos and Phobos, had been speared, crushed, and snapped simultaneously by the very darkness that surrounded him, breaking apart like champagne glasses. He also belatedly noticed that his feet weren`t touching the ground, like he was being held up by some invisible force.

"I`ll forgive you this once, since I need you to be my messenger," she told him, her voice echoing throughout the space of his mind. "But, I am very well aware of the kind of monster you are, Mr. Nakadai. Pray to God that you never meet me again. Or I will avenge that little girl whose mother you slaughtered."

Her eyes flashed like stars, and she reached her hand forward.

His world went dark.

---

"Hey, Michi, either watch the movie or go to bed."

Michi suddenly snapped awake at the sound of Mamiru`s voice. Watching the unfolding encounter with the Investigators through her Mistress` mind had proven far more horrifyingly entertaining than the animated vampire film playing out on the TV, which, although quite good for a vampire flick, didn`t even hold a candle to the reality that was
Seras Victoria. "Oh, sorry, Mamiru."

As she turned back to old anime flick, she decided to melodramatically sum up the night`s main event in just one thought directed at Seras:

The show has only just begun, hasn`t it?

Her mistress simply smiled.

 

[Xavier Rall]

Alright, the initial period of crazy-copy-paste-posting from fanficiton.net is finished. The forum can now truly begin in earnest.

 

[aeroprime]

Don't forget to do the thread marks for the story posts.

 

[Xavier Rall]

In time, when this thread reaches page 2.

 

[Sleepy100]

Prologue or chapter 1. Michi is in a pinch. It doesn't feel like it though. From how it was written, I can only feel that Michi is having a "normal" conversation with Sera. Michi is dying from blood loss. She should be feeling dizzy. She should be feeling weak. Talking and forming sentence should be hard. Thinking should be hard. Vision should be losing focus.

 

[PandorasLock]

This is very interesting. Will Seras interact with the rest of ythe Tokyo Ghoul cast, or will she stay out of the way, "regulating" by the sidelines?

 

[Shadowend]

Oh you got my attention so far.

 

[konamikode]

Probably won't be continuing to read this, but I figure I might as well list out the reasons why.

1. You've got a very break heavy style that utilizes what I would say is an overabundance of commas. It works if one or few characters use that to set the tone of their 'speaking', but I see it being used by both major characters and in descriptive sentences. This makes it sound like everything is being read in a single tone of voice.

2. Seras doesn't read like Seras. I get spurts of Abridged! Seras mixed in with bits of a third party. She feels way too flippant even for post canon police girl.

3. The hook in the opening chapter didn't really reel me in nor did I find myself interested Michi as a character. Admittedly I stopped halfway through the second chapter, but skimming through it I didn't see much more that I'd like to read given how much Seras seems to be blatantly channeling her old relationship with Alucard with her new familiar instead of having matured as a character over ten years.

 

[shobi]

I think it is a great beginning. Please do not stop and continue, your awesomeness!

 

[FatedBread]

Hmm, hasn't Seras effectively consigned the ghoul population to death by starvation? It's not like there's an alternative source of meat which they just choose not to eat. What would she do when she does come across a ghoul that is hunting only so they can feed their family but yet is hurting an innocent civilian in the process?

Half of the issue of Tokyo Ghoul is that ghouls don't really have a choice to not eat humans and the scientists won't be coming up with any substitutes if V can help it.

 

[Xavier Rall]

Hmm, hasn't Seras effectively consigned the ghoul population to death by starvation? It's not like there's an alternative source of meat which they just choose not to eat. What would she do when she does come across a ghoul that is hunting only so they can feed their family but yet is hurting an innocent civilian in the process?

Half of the issue of Tokyo Ghoul is that ghouls don't really have a choice to not eat humans and the scientists won't be coming up with any substitutes if V can help it.

Click to shrink...

Seras is aiming at forcing the two species to find a way to reconcile. Basically, her ultimate goal here is to stop the humans from indiscriminately slaughtering all ghouls and stop the ghouls from killing just anyone, and force the two species to come to a working solution.

Also, it`s implied that, over the time that she`s been in Tokyo, Seras has come to differentiate between ghouls who are and are not, as she would say, "monsters." She`s going to be a little more discerning in how she deals with ghouls. She`s come to be more understanding of the ghouls` plight.

As for V? Well, nothing need be said there. Seras just hasn`t learned of them yet.

 

[Noxturne90]

Seras is aiming at forcing the two species to find a way to reconcile. Basically, her ultimate goal here is to stop the humans from indiscriminately slaughtering all ghouls and stop the ghouls from killing just anyone, and force the two species to come to a working solution.

Also, it`s implied that, over the time that she`s been in Tokyo, Seras has come to differentiate between ghouls who are and are not, as she would say, "monsters." She`s going to be a little more discerning in how she deals with ghouls. She`s come to be more understanding of the ghouls` plight.

As for V? Well, nothing need be said there. Seras just hasn`t learned of them yet.

Click to shrink...

I imagine that most people's problem is that we haven't seen this yet. Just Sera's tearing them apart.

 

[Jrin]

Makes me wonder what happened to that cab driver. Would like a flashback to what the father felt up on his daughter's close call.

 

[FatedBread]

Also, it`s implied that, over the time that she`s been in Tokyo, Seras has come to differentiate between ghouls who are and are not, as she would say, "monsters." She`s going to be a little more discerning in how she deals with ghouls. She`s come to be more understanding of the ghouls` plight.

Click to shrink...

My main point of contention is that assuming she does away with all the psychopathic murderers, the 'non-monster' ghouls will still need to eat and in the end, some innocent humans will still have to die — so how does Seras deal with this, when both sides are equally blameless and asking ghouls to stop hunting might as well be a death sentence?
It's kind of the paradox where one of the two parties must die

EDIT: There are alternative sources of meat of course, but it might be good to show Seras puzzling that out

 

[Noxturne90]

There's always Death Row.

 

[Isaacssv558]

Hmm, hasn't Seras effectively consigned the ghoul population to death by starvation? It's not like there's an alternative source of meat which they just choose not to eat. What would she do when she does come across a ghoul that is hunting only so they can feed their family but yet is hurting an innocent civilian in the process?

Half of the issue of Tokyo Ghoul is that ghouls don't really have a choice to not eat humans and the scientists won't be coming up with any substitutes if V can help it.

Click to shrink...

Ghouls can eat dead humans. It's just that stealing bodies is just as risky, if not more so, than hunting and the Doves will kill you either way. The more pacifist Ghouls just eat suicide victims and the like, but raiding morgues and hospitals would probably work as well. Literally all that needed to be done was give the Ghouls access to "natural" human corpses and switch the Doves over to cooperating with the "friendly" Ghouls to crack down on anyone that decides they'd prefer fresh meat.

 

[Xavier Rall]

Seras is aiming at forcing the two species to find a way to reconcile. Basically, her ultimate goal here is to stop the humans from indiscriminately slaughtering all ghouls and stop the ghouls from killing just anyone, and force the two species to come to a working solution.

Also, it`s implied that, over the time that she`s been in Tokyo, Seras has come to differentiate between ghouls who are and are not, as she would say, "monsters." She`s going to be a little more discerning in how she deals with ghouls. She`s come to be more understanding of the ghouls` plight.

Click to shrink...

My main point of contention is that assuming she does away with all the psychopathic murderers, the 'non-monster' ghouls will still need to eat and in the end, some innocent humans will still have to die — so how does Seras deal with this, when both sides are equally blameless and asking ghouls to stop hunting might as well be a death sentence?
It's kind of the paradox where one of the two parties must die

EDIT: There are alternative sources of meat of course, but it might be good to show Seras puzzling that out

Click to shrink...

True, this is an issue that Seras is going to puzzle over in her mind, and with Michi. It`s not something she`s going to figure out on her own, but neither is she expecting that she`s the one who`s going to work out the details. She simply wants to force them to sit down at the negotiating table and figure out a workable compromise.

 

[Mechanis]

huh. interesting. Watch'd.
love me some Seras. real fooking vampires!

 

[Angle]

Damnit. Now I have to go and watch the proper Hellsing series, and read the Tokyo ghoul manga. See what you did?

 

[Isaacssv558]

True, this is an issue that Seras is going to puzzle over in her mind, and with Michi. It`s not something she`s going to figure out on her own, but neither is she expecting that she`s the one who`s going to work out the details. She simply wants to force them to sit down at the negotiating table and figure out a workable compromise.

Click to shrink...

I don't really understand why Seras would need help figuring out that she could just feed the Ghouls the recently deceased.

 

[Xavier Rall]

Chapter 4: Unknowingly Caught in the Eye of a Growing Storm
​

"Now, when it comes to teaching the World War II era, many Western educational institutions place emphasis on Germany`s atrocities when it comes to human rights abuses, particularly when it comes to the Holocaust, when the Nazi Party exterminated tens of millions of people in a quest for racial purity; particularly noting the six million Jews who were murdered during their reign."

Who doesn`t know this BS already? Hisao groaned mentally. Although he personally liked learning about history, he did not particularly enjoy relearning the same lessons that he had learned by himself.

"While true and tragic at the same, these same institutions also fail to either notice or place emphasis on the fact that our own nation during those years was guilty of crimes of equal and even greater magnitude than our, shamefully, erstwhile allies-in-arms."

No kidding. We were REALLY messed up in the head in those days. He had read through every history book he could get his hands on in his home before discovering the wonderful world of the library, where he now spends the vast majority of his free time in reading anything that catches his random fancies, from computer manuals to shounen manga.

"In fact, after the Imperial Army won a more difficult battle than expected at Shanghai during the pre-World War II invasion of China, they vented their frustration on the next city they conquered, Nanking, by slaughtering over half of the city`s 600,000 residents, going so far as to rape tens of thousands of women and girls and then butchering them. This event-"

A hand was raised, interrupting the lecture and drawing the female professor`s attention - and Hisao`s - to the bespectacled girl sitting to his right.

"You have something to say, Iseri Nanami?" the teacher called, using the traditional method of addressing someone with their family name first.

"Yes, Shoji-sensei," Nanami said. "Although I understand the importance of us learning about such historical events as this, are you sure that we should be taught it in such gory detail?"

"First, I don`t think you`re one to complain about "gory details", Nanami, considering the fact that I know you are an otaku with a particular interest for anime that have explicit violence as one of their main draws, and two, just like I`ve said in my lessons on Feudal Era Japan, I have a firm belief that history ought to be presented as is, without any romanticism, propaganda, or political correctness on the subject."

At least she`s honest, so thank the gods for that.

"Besides, who needs to be an otaku when the world is practically a real-life horror story? Who needs anime and manga when all you need is a newspaper or even a science documentary to get your daily scares?"

This random, uncalled-for comment came from the girl sitting directly behind Hisao. One Michi Matsuzaka, daughter of recently-promoted Associate-Class Ghoul Investigator Akumo Matsuzaka.

"Michi," Yui Shoji said, annoyed. "No matter how insightful you may think you are, in order to speak in my classroom, you have to raise your hand and wait for permission to speak, just like everyone else. And, last I checked, that`s the way it`s done everywhere at every educational level. So, be polite and considerate, that is your last warning."

"Yes, ma`am," Michi droned.

As the teacher restarted her lecture, continuing where she left off with the Rape of Nanking, Hisao let his mind think about Michi.

Not too long ago, Michi was one of the most popular girls in the school, having rubbed shoulders with the likes of Masahiko Himura, star athlete in both track and archery, Chiasa Hara, daughter of one of the members of the Japanese Diet, and even Katsuo Ishikawa, a rumored member of the yakuza.

Then, she and her two dearest friends, Asuna and Reiko, were the victims of a ghoul attack that left the two dead and Michi in shock.

For a time, her social life had suffered, as her father, in paternal and professional paranoia, managed to get protection for Michi for the next two weeks while she grieved the loss of her friends, ensuring that only the truly concerned, or morbidly curious, would bother to approach and bother her. It didn`t help that people were afraid that, if they were associated with her, some ghoul stalker might come and eat them too.

Then, two weeks prior, came the CCG`s public announcement of the cannibalistic S-rated ghoul Ripper, a ghoul which hunted and killed its own kind.

This announcement had the odd effect of restoring Michi`s popularity, when rumor spread that the real reason Michi had survived the ghoul attack was because Ripper had saved her at the last minute, leading to just about everyone pestering her for any and all details she could give about the latest on the CCG`s Most Wanted. Despite her obvious discomfort, Michi was able to take advantage of everyone`s curiosity to reestablish her previous relationships with her various other friends and the other popular kids and assuage fears about being her friends. And now, everything was back to normal, with Michi again using smart comments in class.

Despite all this, Hisao just couldn`t stop that nagging feeling in the back of his head that there was something he was missing…

---

BBBRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!!!

FINALLY! I thought that would never end! Nanami thought exasperated, as she gathered up her textbooks and notebooks into her bag, got up and walked out the door towards the cafeteria, more than happy for the arrival of lunch break.

She had never really enjoyed history class, and never liked learning about bloody stuff in it either. Despite Ms. Shoji`s point that she enjoyed bloody anime, with the likes of Elfen Lied and Berserk among her favorites, she always possessed a very distinct understanding of the unreality of fiction – basically, she herself was not frightened, swayed, or otherwise affected by anything that she knew to be false. In real life, she could barely stand the sight of blood or any news regarding ghouls or bloodshed. Thus, unlike many others, she indulged in anime and manga because she could then pay witness to over-the-top acts of violence without suffering a complete mental breakdown.

Although, she also thought back on Michi`s comment that real life was like a horror manga. What with all the ghouls running around and eating people, and that Ripper causing a ruckus throughout the 10th​ Ward, she couldn`t help but admit that life did look like a horror manga. After all, she was regularly attending high school, the practically default setting for just about every other anime or manga EVER, man-eating human-looking monsters prowled the streets both day and night, a powerful and secretive, although public, organization was hunting them down, and, for the cherry on top, her classmate and friend Michi had gotten caught up in the madness.

"Something on your mind, Nanami?" came the concerned voice of Michi.

"Oh! N-n-nothing much," she replied, flustered. "I was just thinking about what you said in class. About life being a horror manga."

"Yeah, I did say that. I mean, with the stuff I`ve seen, it definitely would be most at home in a manga or one of those cheap B-rated horror flicks, wouldn`t you agree?"

"Yeah, heh," Nanami laughed nervously, as the two walked into the cafeteria and headed toward a table that sat next to the windows. Sitting down, she opened her bento box to see a delicious array of salads, both vegetable and fruit, and saucy chicken inside. Wafting the scent of the food in delight, she said her thanks and began eating, taking a brief moment to see Michi`s equally delectable lunch before her.

"So, Michi," Nanami started.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Back on the earlier topic of life being like a manga, would you think you`re the protagonist in one?"

"Hmmm," Michi thought. "In my case, maybe I am, but maybe not. If not the main character, then maybe a side character."

"Come on, Michi," Nanami groaned. "You`re beautiful, you`re smart, you`ve got big familial connections to a giant government organization that hunts monsters for a living, you even got attacked by one of those said monsters! If you`re not THE protagonist, you`re at least one of them, a major character, or the protagonist`s love interest."

If Michi had had anything in her mouth at that moment, it would have been spit right back out all over Nanami as Michi guffawed at this last statement. "WHAT?! The love interest?!? What do you take me for, some random cut-and-paste anime girl that you can find anywhere that have no depth to them or any actually redeeming qualities?"

"Nononono, that`s not it at all!" Nanami exclaimed, waving her arms in front of herself (just like in anime) trying to calm down her flustered friend. "I mean, you strike me as the kind of person who would either be a big part of a story or, at least, have the attention of someone who is. Unlike me, who would probably be nothing more than your average disposable side character who gets a one-off appearance and then drops off the face of the Earth." This last part was said in self-pity, as Nanami had never believed herself to amounting to much in life, what with her being an otaku and all, knowing well that it was frowned upon in general society.

"Hey, don`t sell yourself that short, Nanami," Michi said, having gathered her nerves about her once more. "I mean, who knows. You could make a very interesting character in a story if done right. That`s something that can be said for everyone, because no two people are the same. That`s what makes humanity so beautiful after all. Everyone is precious."

Nanami blinked. And then just laughed in spite of herself. "That was as corny and cheesy as a giant bowl of popcorn. But thanks. It helped."

"Don`t mention it."

Nanami then remembered something. "Oh yeah, I just finished reading this book recently, and I was wondering if you wanted to check it out." She reached into her bag to grab it.

Michi was curious. "What is it?"

Nanami then pulled out the book, and, in a dramatic flair, plopped right onto the middle of the table. "Well, what do you think? I personally liked the author`s vision of swapping
out ghouls for vampires and werewolves, and-" she stopped when she noticed her friend had frozen up completely, staring at the book with her eyebrows twitching. She looked up at Nanami.

"Tell me this is a joke. Please." Michi`s eyes held Nanami`s with a look of equal parts disbelief and pain.

"Uhhh, no?" Nanami said, feeling nervous.

Michi then lifted the book and held it out from herself like it was bio-waste material, and rushed to the nearest recycling can for paper and dumped it inside with a sigh of relief.

Nanami`s jaw would`ve been clattering on the floor if it had been detachable.

"B-b-bu-but, WHY?" Nanami exclaimed. "I thought we were friends!!"

Michi placed her hands on Nanami`s shoulders and looked the glasses girl dead in the eye with a look that brokered no argument. "No self-respecting friends with so much as
half a brain doesn`t make friends read Twilight. It makes them WANT to be eaten by ghouls."

A purple-haired girl sitting at the table behind them suddenly and violently sneezed, jump-scaring the girl sitting opposite her to cry out and fall back and startling Nanami and Michi apart. There was food all over the girl`s uniform and hazelnut hair, showing that her friend had just taken a bite when the sudden sneeze had occurred.

"Ohmygod I`m so sorry!" the sneezer said, rushing over to her blown-over comrade. "Seriously, I have no idea what came over me!"

"It`s okay," the girl replied, getting back up. "At least I`ve got spares at home, and I know how to wash out food from my clothes."

She then looked at Nanami and Michi. "Sorry for that, you guys. My friend doesn`t normally get sick, so don`t mind us."

"No no, it`s okay," Nanami replied. "I mean, there was that one time that I literally slipped on a banana peel when I was rushing through the cafeteria for my next class."

"Wait," the purple-haired girl stated. "The story of the Banana Girl, from last semester, that was YOU?!"

"Yep," Michi replied, putting an arm around Nanami`s waist. "And, fun fact: that was MY banana peel she slipped on! That`s how we met and became friends!"

"No kidding?" said the girl who`d been knocked backwards.

"Nope."

The other two girls just gaped, looked at one another, and then just burst out laughing. Michi and Nanami couldn`t help but join in. After calming down, Nanami bowed and said,

"Well, fellow accident victim, my name is Nanami Iseri. What`s yours?"

"Yoriko," she said, bowing in return. "Yoriko Kosaka."

"Michi Matsuzaka," the banana peel-dropper said with her own bow. She turned to the purple-haired girl. "And you?"

"Touka," she replied, returning the gesture. "Touka Kirishima."