He didn't remember how he awoke in that apartment room, nor what in the hell he was.
He couldn't recall anything past waking up in that bedroom in a rundown apartment. It was bleak and colorless, gray walls staring all around him without anything to give the room a sense of feeling, a feeling of life that could make him feel comfortable. Though, to be honest, he was content with his living quarters.
The kitchen was small, but large enough for a person to eat and a fridge stocked with food. It held a variety of meat, though even at first glance one could see that it was no ordinary meat. The smell was practically begging him to eat it whole. He had only a light meal, but the red tang in his mouth remained even after he brushed his teeth.
He stared at his reflection in indifference. He had expected black hair, not white. He expected to look like hell, not healthy. He expected to have a gash in his body, not pale skin. He expected to have bloody and torn garments, not clean clothes. A simple black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the forearms, and dark jeans with the belt hanging lazily off both sides. He noticed that his left eye was prominently different from his right, bearing a black sclera and red irises, while his right had brown irises and a normal white. Perhaps he had that medical condition involving one's eyes? Homochromatic or whatever it was called?
Oh well, not that it mattered to him.
It was while he explored more of his apartment that he realized that all he had, with the exception of food and clothes, was just his name. "Haise Sakaki", nothing more and nothing less. He even had a wallet with his ID, his name and date of birth, and even his occupation. A high school student attending Kuoh Academy, it seemed. Of course, he also some cash to spend, possibly enough to keep him fed for a while.
He tried searching for other clues in his head. He recalled a name, and with it, the face of a girl. Touka, a cute girl with dark blue hair, the bangs covering her right eye. Her left was, more or less, the same as his, but between the strands of her bangs, her right eye was the same.
He tried to remember more, but all he could recall was that girl, and a term. "Ghoul". He didn't know what the term meant, so he ignored it for now. He briefly glanced at the clock over by his bed, which he had yet to make. It was nearly time for him to go to school. He checked the closets, but he found no uniforms.
Oh well, not that it mattered to him. He preferred his usual clothes anyhow.
He slung his bag over his shoulder and locked the door behind him. The morning sky was azure with streaks of white, and the sun shining down upon him. People moved about, some looking ignorant and others happy and content. For a reason, no matter how he looked at them, they seemed to make his mouth water slightly.
He shook his head once he realized what he was thinking. Eating humans in broad daylight was a surefire way to get noticed. He ignored the feeling and made his way to school, ignoring a few of the looks people gave him when they saw his eye, which was covered up with an eye patch. He didn't want people freaking out over nothing.
He was close to strangling these idiots, he truly was.
No matter how far he went or where he hid, they always seemed to find him. Girls at this school were downright persistent, and it did not help matters that his appearance had attracted one of the school's "Two Great Onee-samas".
Rias Gremory irked him to no end, and he had no idea why. Perhaps it was the way she looked at him whenever they passed by each other at the hallways, offering him a kind smile in contrast to her cold blue eyes. Perhaps it was her figure, with the slender curves moving back and forth as she strut forward and ignoring the lustful looks from the boys, including those three perverts that seemed to earn looks of displeasure from every girl they came across. Perhaps it was her vibrant red hair, which made his heart stop for a moment, and his mouth water.
Her hair reminded him of his breakfast from this morning. It hadn't been much, and by the time it was lunch, he was already hungry again. He could deal with it, ignoring the signs of hunger, but while in those stuffy classrooms, he could swear he was contemplating whether or not to eat everyone in that room. He briefly wondered why, and then supposed it must have had something to do with this "Ghoul" thing.
Oh well, not that it mattered to him.
What did matter, however, was the fact that he seemed to interest Rias Gremory, evident by her attempts to find him after class had ended or when she tried to speak with him in the halls. He managed to evade her easily, either finding a corner to duck into when she tried to approach him or hide in a nearby classroom, or his personal favorite, jumping out from a window regardless of height. It was something of a game, really, with her chasing him. It didn't really help matters when she brought in reinforcements in the forms of the other "Great Onee-sama", the popular mascot of Kuoh Academy, and the famous Prince.
He had hoped the game would end, considering that he seemed to have a tolerance to something like this, but he begun to grow annoyed by the fact, despite his attempts at hiding, there had been at least a few people that managed to track him down. One was a girl wearing glasses with her brown hair tied up into a messy ponytail, striking up conversations that seemed to involve either his hair, what he kept hidden underneath that eye patch, or more...lecherous...topics.
The second to find him, as well as the third and fourth, were those three perverted imbeciles that managed to get the shit kicked out of them whenever they were caught peeping. Motohama and Matsuda, a lolicon and a cosplay fanatic, were probably the worst out of the bunch, calling him a "bishonen" for trying to steal the girls from them while also trying to convince him to go watch the more finer parts of life, case in point being women undressing themselves.
However, Issei Hyoudou was not like them. He seemed to respect his privacy to a degree, but when that was gone on the occasion, the boy did nothing but talk about a woman's 'finer parts' and harems. Apparently, he aspired to be something called a harem king, surrounded by the most beautiful and gorgeous of women.
Hm...he wondered if perverts were a delicacy these days? On second thought, never mind. He might actually develop similar traits to the morons he would eat. Again, he wondered why he thought about eating humans, and why he referred to them as such while he himself was human as well.
Oh well, not that it mattered to him. He wasn't interested in such mundane things.
A week had passed.
His life hadn't changed all that much, save for the income. When he returned home, he would find his fridge freshly stocked as if someone had been in here earlier, and on his coffee table was money, easily enough to fend for himself for a while. There was also a letter addressed to him, to Haise Katase, next to the wad.
He gingerly picked it up, and undid the seal, removing the contents from the envelope. It was a crisp sheet of paper, black ink written neatly in cursive. However, the sender's name was not there, nor was there a stamp anywhere he could find.
Haise,
It seems like you're awake now. You probably don't remember anything about yourself, just a few things about how to survive, right? I don't have much time to explain, so I will keep it brief.
When we first met, we were enemies. I had planned on killing you, but then I received a change of orders from the higher ups. So, my job is keep you alive, for however long they want you walking. The meat in the fridge is artificially made, and though it's nowhere near as appetizing as human flesh, it should tide you over every so often.
Ah, so that's why he contemplated eating humans every now and then. It had been because he was a cannibal.
In case you don't remember what you are either, you're a being called a Ghoul. Ghouls feed off of humans to survive, and kill once or twice a month. The people I work for hunt down Ghouls and to make sure they don't harm anyone. You were no different, until someone high up on the food chain decided to keep you alive. You should be grateful for that, kid.
Why did it feel like whoever was writing this was mocking him?
If you kill a single human while under surveillance... I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you what will happen, now do I?
...
I have no idea why they're so interested in you, but to be honest, I don't really have time to care. Enjoy your new life, for what it's worth. It might be the only normal life you'll get to have for a very long time, kid.
The letter ended there. He showed no emotion whatsoever, just staring at the paper before he sighed and crumbled it up into a ball and tossed it into the garbage bin. A normal life his ass, he hadn't had a normal life since the day he met that crazy woman.
...Crazy woman? Who was that?
...
Oh well, not that it mattered to him.
He wondered what exactly had happened to Issei. His two perverted friends would come by to try and convince him to go on their 'excursions' or offer their 'prized possessions', but he was confused as to why he Issei, the boy that tried the hardest to turn him into a perverted sicko, was avoiding him like the plague. It seemed strange at the time, especially since he started to hang around Rias Gremory now, despite the rumors that were flying around.
Though, to be honest, he didn't care about that, he was concerned with other matters. Issei was different, for he no longer bore that mouth-watering scent that he carried like all the other humans in this school. Rather, he smelled... dangerous. He didn't know Issei seemed dangerous, but he knew that if tried to approach the boy, he could possibly regret it. He allowed the boy to keep his distance, and went about his normal life.
Or, at least, that was the plan until Issei had tracked him down right at the school gate once school had ended. "Ne, Haise-san..." the boy asked him with a serious expression. Quite a rarity considering that this was among the biggest perverts in the world talking. "What would you do if you wanted to save someone, but your friend forbids it?"
The question took him off guard. Issei wasn't telling him the full story, but apparently a new friend of his, a nun of all people, was in danger from these 'bad' people, and while Issei wanted to save her, one of his friends, most likely Rias Gremory from the sound of it, wouldn't allow him to do such a thing. He pondered the decision for a bit. Normally, the correct response was to trust Rias Gremory's judgement on the matter and leave the girl alone.
However, he was not normal, and for some strange reason, when he heard Issei's plight, the face of that girl appeared in his head. He hardly doubted at this point that the girl was some stranger, that this... Touka... wasn't someone he just bumped into randomly. She was a dear friend, he knew that deep within his breast.
"Do whatever you want."
Issei blinked at his blunt response, but he could see something flickering in the boy's eye.
"She's your friend, right? Then what are you doing, standing around here for?"
Issei's face brightened up like a light bulb, and bowed humbly towards him. "Thank you, Haise-san!" he said, clasping both of his hands together. "I will do as you say! I'm gonna go save Asia, no matter what it takes!"
He didn't know why, but for some strange reason, he felt the corners of his lips curl upwards as he watched Issei bolt off like a dog running after a mailman at top speed, heading towards the church.
For some reason, he felt a strange unease as he watched Issei go.
Oh well, not that it mattered to him... Oh to hell with it.
He walked straight back to his apartment, ignoring the infuriating itch in his left eye, and repressing a dark smile from forming on his lips. A familiar scent was beginning to swell within his nostrils, images flashing by in his head. Corpses, mangled and twisted with looks of absolute horror staring back at him with blood splattered everywhere. In front of them was a boy with dark hair wearing a faded blue hoodie and a black mask of some sort, hiding all of his face with the exception of his left eye, which was the same as his, black sclera and red iris and all.
He could have sworn he heard someone call out for him before he returned to reality, thoughts that were not his own lingering.
Perhaps he was starting to remember what it was like to be human since meeting Rize.
The church was beaten down by the elements, there was no doubt about that. Beams were rotting, shards of glass scattered around the windows and revealing a bit of the interior. He had changed clothes, and adorned the same mask the boy with the hood wore. Somehow, it was hidden away in a box inside of his closet. It was almost like that of Frankenstein, baring his face from the world with the exception of his dark and bloody eye. His shirt was covered by a black trench coat, and removed his sneakers in place of leather boots. He also made sure to change from his white slacks to a pair of dark gray jeans. Blood stains were a bitch to get out of white clothes, after all.
He opened his nostrils wide, and inhaled. Instantly, a myriad of scents flooded within, and his body trembled.
Blood.
So, so much blood...
He felt his mouth begin to water again, and this time he allowed dark thoughts to enter his mind. He felt his back flare in pain, but it soon subsided, and blood splattered along the area behind him. Four bloody tendrils lashed around, begging to spear and tear and rip and skewer anything in sight. He would allow it, of course, so long as the victims were not this Asia girl that Issei wanted to save, and the idiotic pervert himself.
He pushed the doors open, and found that the interior was no better than the outside. Wooden benches were destroyed or shattered beyond recognition, splinters lying all over the floor alongside debris. The walls were heavily cracked, alongside scorch marks of intense heat and missing bits of plaster and concrete. The statue of an angel was destroyed beyond repair, its remnants lying on the floor beneath it. A staircase was leading down before it.
Ah, a hidden entrance?
"You can smell it too, huh... Haise?" a sickly sweet voice whispered seductively in his ear. He looked slightly to his left to see a woman with long silky hair colored violet, and eyes like his left eye staring back at him, wearing a white blouse over a purple top, and a long pale yellow skirt. Despite how beautiful she seemed, her smile betrayed her looks. "My mouth is watering just from the smell alone..." she shivered in excitement, clutching her arms. "Ooh, I can't wait to get my teeth into whatever is down there! I can imagine it already, the blood gushing into your mouth, the sweet taste of bliss splashing against your tongue..."
He ignored the woman and continued down, but he had to admit, that was quite an accurate detail for what he was thinking of doing should he find what food was waiting for him. The staircase was circular; leading downward while the passageway itself was barely lit. Small candles provided little illumination, and only added to how terrifying he looked.
Once he reached the bottom, he found a steel door in front of him. To a normal human it would be heavy to move, but the tendrils made quick work of it, tearing it off of its hinges and tossing it aside. This earned him looks from everyone in the room. Most of the occupants of the antechamber were wearing black cloaks, gathered en masse in front of a cross. Hanging limply from a few shackles was a girl wearing a tattered nun's outfit, her platinum blonde hair falling downwards. Issei was lying flat on his stomach, but what caught his eye was what was on the boy's arm, resembling a crimson gauntlet with sharp talon like fingertips and a glowing green jewel in the center at the back of the hand.
Once Issei saw him, his eyes widened. "Haise-san, what are you-HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING?!"
"This boy..." the woman reappeared behind him, her arms wrapped around his body as she peered from over his shoulder. "...is an idiot of epic proportions."
She had no idea how right she was. Honestly, the boy just now noticed the mask and the things growing out of his back? His presence terrified a great deal of the men in cloaks, but they instantly regained their composure and equipped what looked like cheap light saber knock-offs. In their free hand were handguns.
A dark smile appeared beneath the mask.
This would be like sending pigs to the slaughter.
"KILL THE DEVIL! DON'T LET HIM INTERFERE WITH THE CEREMONY!"
Haise Katase laughed in a rather creepy, dark way as his left eye burned within the darkness of the antechamber. "Devil, huh?" he repeated the word with a taste of approval. "Oh, believe me, I'm worse than a devil, but hey, whatever works. Now then..."
He undid the zipper of the mask, and his tongue lapped around his lips. It was then that the tendrils began to quiver and shake, as if ready to burst forward and slaughter every human in this room while the woman grinned, and at once, the two spoke in unison, similar thoughts forming within their already twisted minds.
"It's feeding time."
-Chapter END-