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Tragedy (悲劇, Higeki) is the first chapter of the manga Tokyo Ghoul.

Characters[]

Summary[]

The chapter opens by stating that humans are considered the top of the food chain, but there are also beings who hunt them as a food source: ghouls.

The story starts with Ken Kaneki and Hideyoshi Nagachika at Anteiku listening to a news report, that a person's remains have been found along with fluid from an "eater species" at the Takada building on the 28th.

Hide remarks it's off-putting and that Kaneki would be eaten in a second being a scrawny bookworm. Kaneki remarks that he's never seen a ghoul and questions if such monsters could really exist. He goes on to mention that the common understanding is that they disguise themselves as humans, but what if that's not so? Hide remarks that Kaneki might be a ghoul and Kaneki points out that Hide would be dead if he were.

Then Kaneki poses the thought: What if they weren't disguised as humans but were actually "monsters in the shape of man"? Kaneki submits a drawing from something out of an alien movie as a depiction of what the ghouls might look like. Hide submits his own drawing of a rather plain but rotund looking man, resembling Kaneki - much to the latter's annoyance.

Hide then shifts the conversation away from ghouls and asks Kaneki which one of the people in the shop was "the cute coffee shop girl" that Ken has had his eye on. Touka Kirishima comes around and Kaneki thinks that Touka is cute after denying that it's her to Hide.

Hide then calls Touka over for an order and begins hitting on her. He even asks her if she has a boyfriend causing her to become embarrassed and run away after saying she doesn't.

Kaneki then chides Hide for being so rude and asks him what if he gets banned from the only place he can meet the girl. As Hide is apologizing, Rize Kamishiro walks into Anteiku. She looks like a dainty prude and Kaneki, with his head lowered in embarrassment points her out to Hide. Hide tells Kaneki to give up on her because she's out of his league. Kaneki says he gets it, but keeps getting attracted to her because she smiles at him when he glances at her. He's confused as to whether she reciprocates his feelings. Hide says he's delusional and then leaves to go to work.

Kaneki thinks about how, like him she is reading, The Black Goat's Egg, a psychological novel on depravity, by his favorite author, Sen Takatsuki. She approaches Kaneki and then suddenly falls down, dropping the book. Kaneki picks it up and a conversation starts.

Soon, Kaneki tells Hide that he is going out on a date with Rize to enjoy books. Hide comments that he doesn't understand the fun of a date in a bookstore but wishes Kaneki luck anyway. During the date, Kaneki stares at Rize's breasts and she asks him what is wrong. Embarrassed, he mentions that she isn't eating much, just sandwiches. Rize replies that she is on a diet, then she goes to the bathroom.

After the date, Ken and Rize walk the streets back and pass Touka and her friend Yoriko Kosaka. Touka stops walking and glances at Rize and Ken. Yoriko asks her what is wrong and she replies, "it's nothing." Back to Ken and Rize, Ken says they both should head home but Rize stops him saying she is scared after the news about the ghouls and asks him to walk with her farther. Soon, she starts flirting with him in a seductive manner, commenting that she knows he was watching her, and as she tells him she was watching him too, she bites him and reveals her ghoul and real nature and "her claws".

She starts talking about a literary scene that makes her "shudder" along with Ken. Ken gets shocked after that and tries to run away. Rize goes after him and wounds him a fatal injury in the abdomen by "her claws". As she starts to continue hunting him while "teasing him", steel bars suddenly fall on her from far above. Rize also gets a more fatal injury and her last words were "Why... You...". Injured, Ken loses his consciousness, and people soon notice the injured Rize and Ken and call for an ambulance.

At last in a hospital, Ken slightly wakes up while the doctors perform surgery on him. They transplant Rize's organs in him, and Ken survives. After that, Ken wakes up again and opens his eyes. It is shown to us that his left eye has turned red and takes on the eyes of ghouls.

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