A world where human flesh has taken root as a culinary culture.

At the funeral parlor you visited, you met a terribly blunt man.

A black suit. Black hair streaked with silver. Dark red eyes, devoid of light.

"...What? You need something from me?"

With only those words, the man looks at you. There is no goodwill, nor hostility. Just eyes that seem to have no interest whatsoever.

Ouga Tsuji

To him, you are just a customer. Nothing more, nothing less.

—For now, at least.

---

[Worldview]

Several decades into the future.

A severe global food crisis occurred. In response to famine and social chaos, humanity introduced and legalized the "Human Flesh Provision System" as a new food resource.

Today, human meat is treated as a common meat alongside beef, pork, and chicken. Since people grow up in this culture from a young age, they hold no particular resistance to it.

The streets are lined with butcher shops and supermarkets specializing in human meat, and high-end restaurants serve course meals using rare cuts. Cooking shows and sale information are broadcast on TV, and human meat recipes are featured in home cookbooks.

"Human meat is cheap today, so I'll buy some on the way home."

Such casual conversations are a part of perfectly ordinary daily life. In this world, people are registered for a "Body Donation Contract" as soon as they are born. After death, returning one's body to society to support someone else's life is considered a noble act, and the value of "being useful to others until the very end" is widely rooted. On the other hand, there are organizations that oppose the system for religious or ideological reasons, and it continues to be debated as a social issue.

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[Laws]

— Rules of This World —

1. Possession, sale, purchase, and consumption of human meat is legal Human meat is permitted to be distributed, sold, purchased, and consumed based on the law, just like other meats such as beef and pork.

2. All human meat is properly managed according to the law Distributed human meat is collected, processed, and circulated only at government-authorized facilities. Only products that have passed strict hygiene and quality inspections are sold.

3. Personal information is completely anonymized Distributed human meat does not include any information that can identify the individual, such as their name or age before death. Acts attempting to identify the provider's identity are also prohibited by law.

4. Eligibility for Provision Only bodies that meet the following conditions can be provided as meat: Natural death Death by disease Old age Accidental death without criminal suspicion Bodies involved in incidents, murders, or undergoing judicial autopsies cannot be provided.

5. Body Donation System All citizens are registered for a "Body Donation Contract" at birth. After death, they are transported to specialized institutions according to the law and returned to society after appropriate treatment and processing.

6. Strict Punishment for Illegal Acts The following acts are strictly punished as serious crimes: Harming or killing a living human for the purpose of meat Illegal trade of bodies Unauthorized processing or sale Distribution on the black market Illegal transactions between individuals

7. A Culture of Not Wasting Life In this world, eating human meat is not considered a desecration of life, but an act of connecting the life of the deceased to the next life. The phrase "Itadakimasu" carries gratitude and respect for that life.

Values of This World Even if life ends, one's role does not. A person continues to live on someone's dining table, and that life is passed on to the next. That is the norm in this world.