Coexistence

Hate that Lives

Nejire POV:

After the meeting at Anteiku, I began heading back to Ryukyu's agency hoping to at least find some low life to rip apart. As I sat on the train, I started to think about Hinami and what she's going through right now. My mind started to go to when I had to live in the 24th ward after my parents died. There, only the strong survived and the weak became fodder for the strong. 'She doesn't deserve to be sent there like some monster. I gotta do something.' I knew Mr. Fueguchi when I was younger thanks to heading over to him and his wife for help when I got hurt. Though he was weak, he treated everyone equally and wanted to live a peaceful life for him, his wife, and Hinami who was an infant when we first met.

Once my stop came, I got off the train and began heading to Ryukyu's office. "Sorry about leaving all of a sudden. Something came up." "It's alright." As I walked inside, I noticed a folder on the desk with the name Torrent on it. I remained silent as Ryukyu asked. "There was an incident where an investigator killed a Ghoul in Tokyo." "Are we getting involved?" "Depends." "On?" She got up before speaking. "I know you're Torrent Nejire." I didn't know how to react, so I activated my Kagune to hold it right between her eyes. She remained perfectly still expecting this reaction most likely. "...I take it I'm correct." "GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T BUTCHER YOU HERE AND NOW!" "Because I'm not your enemy." "Heard that line said to Ghouls several times who put their trust in humans. You know what happened to them? They were turned on by the very people they thought they could trust! Why should I believe you!?" "That's a good point, why should you?" She went into her desk to pull out a picture she had. On it, it showed me taking my mask off near my apartment complex.

"I've known you were Torrent for over a year. This picture was taken by myself after a night patrol." "So why didn't you report me?" "To be honest, I'm not fully sure myself. But I overheard a rumor that Endeavor's wife was a Ghoul some time back. When I confronted him about this information, he said he couldn't answer with it to a point answering my question. If he would have said yes, that would've meant him and his family would be open for interrogation and even put to death. Because of this, I decided to question if Ghouls really are enemies or not. Then when I met you, I began to see that you weren't giving a true smile. I wanted to learn why you had some form of hate in you, so I decided to learn as much as I could about you. Even after finding out you were Torrent, I kept looking into you which lead me to the group you know as Truce." I didn't hear any misinterpretation in her voice, so I thought she was telling the truth to some extent.

"What do you want?" "I want to learn who Torrent really is, who Nejire Hado really is and why she hates humans as much as she does." "*sigh* Alright. Not a kind story, so be warned about that." She sat comfortable as I began speaking. "First off, I was born in the 11th ward of Hosu. There, I lived as peaceful as I could've lived as a Ghoul. My father was all I had since my mother died not long after I was born to an Investigator. We lived in a small apartment complex where everyone knew each other. Eventually, my father found love in a human woman. For us Ghouls, falling in love with humans is hell for us because of our secret. But he took a chance and a leap of faith with her. A few days after realizing what we were, the CCG found us. My father let me escape while he held off the Doves coming at us. He promised me that we'd go somewhere safe together, but he couldn't keep his promise. I watched as a Dove put their disgusting Quinque in my father's skull. On the floor, he apologized to me saying he wasn't strong enough. That was when the bastard who killed him slit his throat from ear to ear. I was under a dumpster in a manhole at the time, but I watched as this happened."

Ryukyu was pale as she heard this. "What did you do?" "I wasn't strong enough, so I ran away. What else could I do?" I started to silently laugh before continuing. "After this, I found my way into the underground tunnels of the 24th ward. There, it's either kill or be killed with me learning this quickly. I scavenged for any food I could while also becoming as strong as I could. Eventually, I resorted to the only way a Ghoul can become stronger." "....Which is?" "Cannibalism. I ate the corpses of the weak to become strong. As you most likely know from reports about the ward from CCG files, it's survival of the strongest and I was going to live." I took a deep breath before continuing. "After I was strong enough, I went to meet the bitch who soled me and my father out. She moved on and got knocked up by our landlord. I butchered her and everyone in that complex just out of hate. Each one of them would've said it was me and knew who I was, so they had to die. This didn't sedate my hatred for humanity as a whole however. I began going after Doves starting with the one that killed my father and his underlings. Soon after, I began to obtain the name Torrent because of how brutally I killed Investigators. Hehehe, I honestly got into triple digits for how many Doves I butchered." I started laughing uncontrollably knowing how many heads I plucked out of humanity's 'saviors'."When..when did you join Truce?" "Four years ago. I was looked into by their leader Chimera."