Chapter 2

Reporters press for answers about the operation that saved Kaneki. Doctor Akihiro Kanou fronts a press conference to walk through what happened, and when asked why the injured woman, Rize Kamishiro, was allowed to die, he explains that nothing could have been done for her by the time she reached him.

Kaneki tries to convince himself the attack was only a nightmare, but the scar across his belly refuses to let him. During a follow-up check, Kanou wonders why he leaves his meals untouched. Every bite Kaneki attempts tastes foul to him, and he realizes that despite never eating he almost never feels hungry, grimly joking that he might be turning into an insect like a character out of Franz Kafka.

Once discharged, Kaneki accepts an invitation from his best friend Hideyoshi Nagachika to a burger restaurant. The food disgusts him, and he gags that it feels like chewing pig innards. Walking home, he returns a stray ball to a small child and is suddenly gripped by the scent of human flesh, swallowing the urge and fleeing back to his room.

A television program on ghouls seals his dread. A so-called ghoul expert, Hisashi Ogura, notes that ghouls find all human food nauseating and are driven to retch. Kaneki panics, tearing through his refrigerator, but everything still tastes vile. Seeking air outside, he spots a girl being harassed by a grown man, recognizes her, and feels the same predatory craving stir. When the man rounds on him, Kaneki snaps back while his lone ghoul eye flares. Touka Kirishima then cuts the man down, severs his arm, and holds it out to Kaneki as a meal.

Kanou publicly frames the transplant as a routine emergency and never reveals the organs came from a ghoul. Kaneki confirms his transformation as normal food becomes inedible and human flesh grows tempting. A televised segment on ghoul biology makes the pattern undeniable, and the chapter closes with Touka killing a predatory man and offering the corpse to Kaneki.

This is the manga's second chapter, carrying the Japanese title Ihen and the English rendering Oddity, first printed on September 15, 2011. It sits in the opening volume and continues directly from the debut chapter, marking the first time Kaneki confronts the physical reality of his new nature.