The Malnourished Ghoul

Surviving as a Ghoul is just as much a test of intelligence as it is strength. Not every ghoul has both, most tend to have more of one or the other. Regardless of where your talent lies, as a Ghoul, survival is the priority.

I can't live like this.

Within a shabby looking apartment and suffering from a cruel bout of hunger, sat a scrawny youth of 17. Saliva drooled uncontrollably from the edges of his mouth as he held his stomach in pain attempting to control himself. It had been days since he had eaten in an attempt to maintain his morality.

Food he had once eaten with passion and joy now tasted like eating shit. No matter how hard he tried he threw up with every bite consumed. Understanding what was happening, he grew fearful for what this meant.

I'm sorry. Closing his eyes and taking a breath, he apologized for the action that he had just resolved himself to do.

Rain fell harshly upon the night-walkers of Tokyo. Restaurant's lights helped to give clarity on the dark wet streets. Moving from shadow to shadow and doing his best to hide that he was frothing from the mouth was Noda Eiji. Sporting a head of disheveled black hair curtaining a pair of black sclera and red iris he traveled with haste.

Living in a poorer area in a big city, homeless can always be found. In a society where shame is abundant for those who can't make do for themselves, the homeless tend to hide where no one can see them. Alleyways where the lights of society don't reach and trash piles littering their living space.

Understanding this logic, Eiji who had been struggling to maintain his thoughts when starving, blanked out upon the sight of the first person he saw in one such alleyway.

Sanity came with the feeling of fullness, yet he had only eaten half of the person before him, so far.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Despite these thoughts, his hand reached down, ripping the lungs out from his prey and biting down on it. Despite being repulsed by the sight in front of him the taste kept him moving. Rain seemed to be falling in tandem with his emotions, becoming heavier by the second and cleansing any sign of blood from his mouth or tears from his eyes.

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Alone in his room, Eiji reflected whilst viewing himself in the mirror. His eyes which had once shined under the bright sun seemed to have been dimmed by the reality he found himself in. As his pale and thin body gave insight into how he had been eating these last few days, he couldn't.

Ghouls were something he had known about since he was a kid, monsters that were very real, but also rare. Throughout his whole life Eiji had never even seen a ghoul, humans vastly outnumbered them.

Despite feeling dejected, all he could do right now is think. Eiji didn't consider himself to be smart, but he did consider himself decisive.

I know Ghouls are always in hiding, living a life of fear where death is as common as the air they breathe. Am I… prepared for that? Is that what I have to do too?

Grim thoughts rolled through his head like tumbleweeds picking up in intensity.

I can't, I don't know how to cover my tracks, I don't even know what to do with myself. Whenever I try to think about the wrong I just committed, my thoughts drag me towards the next course of action.

Is it… even wrong?

I know Ghouls can't survive without humans, what, what am I supposed to do? What are Ghouls supposed to do?

At that moment Eiji had a realization. As a human, every time he heard that a Ghoul had been killed, he celebrated, but why? What right did he have as a living creature to celebrate another living creature's death? Realizing how he thought in the past, and thinking of his current situation, Eiji then came to a conclusion.

Ghouls aren't wrong for eating humans to survive, it's their only option. Humans aren't wrong for hunting Ghouls, they are just protecting themselves from a natural predator.

Eiji, whilst still attempting to understand the hurricane of emotions within him caused by his situation, had at least come to terms with one fact. He was no longer human, from now on, he was a Ghoul.

Recognizing the exhaustion brewing in his mind, Eiji allowed himself to fall onto his mattress.

These past few days have been sickening to live through. Life is going to look very different isn't it?

"Why?" muttering this word containing sadness and doubt, Eiji drifted into slumber.