'Is this considered a date?' Kiyota thought to himself as he walked beside Rika.
"Do you think this counts as a date?" Rika asked suddenly as she was glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
Kiyota nearly tripped over his own foot and fell in the sidewalk. "H-huh? What?"
"I mean, we're walking alone, going to eat pizza... sounds like a date to me." She said casually, hands in jacket pockets.
Kiyota blinked, still a little thrown off. "Uh… yeah I guess it kinda does."
Kiyota blushed, seeing that she was wearing his jacket, hoping the darkness would hide his blush as he walked with her to the pizza place.
"Don't get the wrong idea though. If you try and kiss me or anything, I'll kick you. I'm pretty strong." Rika said jokingly as she glanced at him and smirked.
Kiyota choked on his own breath. "Wha– I wasn't even thinking that!"
"Relax, I'm messing with you," she said, laughing softly.
"Even after I gave you my jacket? Forget it, I'm not even going to look at you." He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, thanks for that. It's very warm." Rika bumped her shoulder against his as they entered the backstreets. "And smells like you." Rika muttered to herself, too low to hear.
"Whatcha say?" Kiyota said as he looked around, observing the surroundings in the alley.
"Nothing. I'll take it home and wash it for you." Rika said, moving closer beside Kiyota's tall figure.
"Nah, you can keep it for a bit," Kiyota said as his eyes still scanning the alley. "I've got another one."
"Oh? Just handing out jackets to girls now? Should I be jealous?" Rika teased, grinning up at him.
"Only gave it to one person." He replied, trying to sound casual, but the corner of his mouth tugged upward.
"That so?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "Guess I should feel special then."
Kiyota gave a small shrug. "You kinda are."
"HELP ME, PLEASE." A piercing scream "HELP ME, PLEASE." A piercing scream cut through the quiet of the alley. The scream sounded desperate, like the 'man' assuming from the voice, was dying.
Kiyota immediately froze and his head snapping in the direction of the sound. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah. It came from just around the corner." Rika said as she was already moving towards the sound.
"WAIT! Rika, hold up." Kiyota said as he grabbed her wrist firmly. "We don't know what we're walking into. For all we know, it's a ghoul. Let's call the police and let them handle it."
Kiyota quickly took out his phone, opened the phone app and dialled the police number while keeping a grip on Rika.
"Shit, no reception." Kiyota said to himself, cursing internally at this shitty luck.
"Of course there's no reception in this sketchy ass alley." Rika muttered as she yanked her hand free.
"Rika... seriously, don't do anything dumb. We can backtrack and find help." Kiyota said as he stepped in front of her her.
"I'm not saying we charge in, but we can't just leave someone screaming like that." She shot back with a tone firm but low.
"...Fine. But we stay low and quiet. First sign of anything dangerous, we run." Kiyota clenched his jaw as he glancing down the alley again.
"Deal." Rika said with a nod as she started creeping forward to the corner.
Kiyota followed her aswell, creeping towards the sound.
"What is that scent? I've smelled it before. A foul metallic smell." Kiyota muttered under his breath.
"Blood." Rika whispered her eyes narrowing as they reached the corner. "It's definitely blood."
Kiyota glanced at her, surprised. "How do you even know what blood smells like?"
Rika didn't answer right away she just gave him a side glance. They both peeked around the corner slowly, careful not to make a sound.
Kiyota's breath caught. "...Holy shit."
It was a man, no, a ghoul. Long ashy hair and prominent nose. He was wearing a powder blue coat over a white shirt and khaki pants. He was on top of a lifeless corpse.
Rika grabbed Kiyota's sleeve tightly, eyes locked on the scene. "He's feeding."
The ghoul lifted its head his mouth smeared red with blood as if sensing their presence.
Kiyota instinctively ducked back behind the wall, pulling Rika with him. He pinned her to wall and put his hand over her mouth. Kiyota breathing became strained. Rika's eyes widened as she felt Kiyota trembling. His whole body was shaking.
His chest rose and fell in rapid bursts like he couldn't get enough air. His hand over her mouth was cold, but his grip didn't loosen.
"Shit, shit, fuck," he whispered under his breath trying to stay quiet but cracking with each word. His knees buckled slightly and he pressed harder against the wall as he was clutching his chest with his free hand.
Rika reached up slowly and gently pulling his hand away from her mouth.
"Kiyota." She whispered with her voice calm but firm. "Breathe. Hey, look at me. Just breathe."
"I—I can't—" he gasped, his eyes darting like a cornered animals. "My chest—my chest won't—move."
A loud metallic clash, sound of beer kegs and other rubbish falling down, sounded from where they were just 40 or so seconds ago. Both Kiyota and Rika froze. The ghoul was still eating as if he didn't hear anything, too preoccupied with his meal.
'I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. That ghoul is still eating. I'm gonna vomit.' Kiyota thought to himself.
In quick succesion, footsteps were coming from the direction that they'd come from. At this rate the 'thing' would see them.
Rika's eyes sharpened. She grabbed Kiyota by the collar and yanked him down behind a stack of broken crates just beside the wall.
"Stay down. Don't move." she whispered as she also crouching beside him.
Kiyota was still trembling but he nodded slightly as he forced himself to breathe through his nose instead of his mouth. The footsteps got louder, crunching on broken glass and gravel, then suddenly stopped.
"I-I-It's him." Kiyota stuttered as he whispered so low that even Rika, who was inches from his face, had trouble hearing.
"Who?" She replied in the same quiet way.
"The guy from the cafe." Kiyota said, breathing heavily.