❣ His Glistening Gray Eyes ❣ //amoneki//

❣ Curiosity ❣

Chapter 1

...

These three walls have become my cage. Three walls and a fourth built of steel bars and no hope of escape.

My current residence is a prison created by the CCG called Quinx Penitentiary. It imprisons humans and ghouls alike, and every day I stare into the face of ghouls I imprisoned, helped imprison, hoped to imprison, or were imprisoned before I became a ghoul investigator. To see the tables turn on me is...horrific. Devastating.

I deserve this though, don't I? I'm not imprisoned just because the CCG said "hey, why not?" They have legitimate concerns, and legitimate reasons. They believe I befriended the notorious ghoul Eyepatch.

It's not true at all, but I can almost understand their unsubstantiated worries. I have been...intrigued by Eyepatch. CCG does not have to worry about me befriending the enemy though. Eyepatch intrigues me, but...I hate him. I hate him with all my being.

The scenery surrounding my cage is minimal. The huge room is two stories, and I'm placed on the second. Within this room are 50 cells, 25 on one side and 25 on the opposite side. On both first and second floors are one row of ghouls and one row of humans. Between the two sides is an open space, and looking down I can see the first floor. Looking straight ahead I can see every single ghoul imprisoned within this room.

I despise it, but I also take a certain satisfaction in it.

Serves them right.

I look to see one ghoul in particular, the one ghoul that makes my blood boil enough to jump out of my skin. Eyepatch himself was imprisoned here a few weeks ago for a reason I don't know, and since then he's been stationed in a cell directly across from mine. I try to ignore him whenever I can, but sometimes I can't help but stare. I hate him, and I'm intrigued by him. It's an obnoxious paradox I'd rather live without.

When my former partner Mado-san had been fighting Rabbit, Eyepatch was my obstacle, and when I finally found Mado-san he was drenched in his own blood, dead.

Eyepatch...you will never be forgiven.

But as he sits in his cell it's a stark contrast to eating and killing and letting Mado-san die. He is staring through the bars that encage him and his face is absent of expression. He is so calm, so stoic. While I am often a raging tornado of emotion he is a serene log drifting downstream.

It makes me all the more curious of him, but it also makes me resent him. Because it's a lie. He is a ghoul, amurderer. Yeah, he seems calm. He's calm until he's sinking his teeth into your throat and calling you a snack.

Throughout imprisonment it's clear I'm not the only one that resents the One-Eyed ghoul. I've been locked in Quinx Penitentiary for months, and I've picked up on many things. One of them is, Eyepatch isn't exactly...welcome. Primarily because he's dangerous, probably more dangerous than we know.

A guard passes by his cell, spitting between the steel bars and landing directly on Eyepatch's cheek. The boy does nothing, and it makes me wonder what could possibly rile him up enough to retaliate.

The empty space between my cell and his is great, but I can still easily hear the guard's words. He takes the baton and hits Eyepatch between the bars.

"What the hell is wrong with you ya goddamned ghoul? Don't you say anything?"

In all the instances I've seen him, I've felt that Eyepatch tries to be a mere shadow amongst the walls. He doesn't want anyone to notice him or interact with him. He just wants to be alone.

Of course, because of his abilities and unique one eye, I doubt that'd ever happen.

One-Eyed says nothing, and the guard stops beating him and leans against the bars. I can't hear what he's saying, but I notice the responding twitch of the ghoul's body. I wonder what was said.