The rain kept falling.
The misty drizzle hit the car window, and soon it would be covered with a layer of water droplets.
Hayashi turned on the windshield wipers, adjusting them to the slowest setting.
The wipers swept back and forth occasionally.
The car drove toward the market at a moderate pace.
All along the way.
There were more Public Safety and CCG personnel again.
There had been fewer of them just recently.
Now there were more again.
Really exaggerated.
Thor looked at the Public Safety and CCG officers on the streets and asked in confusion.
"Is this really useful? Even if they sweep out ghouls like this, they'd only be ghouls planning to live normal lives, right? What does that have to do with what happened before?"
"Isn't CCG just forcing normal ghouls to do bad things by acting like this...?"
"Normally, shouldn't they be gathering forces to sweep out ghoul organizations...?"
Thor couldn't understand what the purpose of these operations was.
Was it just for show?
It was all just surface-level work!
Hayashi was used to it: "Just normal backwards thinking."
"Organizing forces to clear out ghoul organizations is definitely something they'll do, but they'll only pick the soft targets first. They won't go after Aogiri Tree right away."
"CCG's compensation payments are so expensive. Going up against Aogiri Tree would probably result in heavy casualties, but picking soft targets won't, and the report card they turn in looks better too."
"This way, they have something to show the government cabinet. Otherwise, too many deaths would be hard to explain."
So accountability comes first.
Cost-effectiveness comes second.
Actually dealing with danger comes third.
No matter which ghoul organization they clear out, they can claim it was the mastermind.
It's all just accountability anyway.
If it weren't for the fact that humans and ghouls have different core structures.
They might even solve some gang problems and claim they were ghouls.
Thor tilted her head and thought: "Why does this sound similar to some kingdoms in the other world?"
"That's perfectly normal." Hayashi smiled. "History spirals upward. What's happening now can definitely be found in history too. Human societies are all extremely similar."
"Mm-hmm."
After a while.
The car arrived at the market.
After parking, Hayashi took Thor and Kanna out of the car with umbrellas.
"Oops~"
But just as Tohru got out, she "accidentally" broke the umbrella.
The entire umbrella bent in the middle and was obviously unusable.
Hayashi: o.0?
Facing Hayashi's gaze.
Tohru calmly said: "I didn't notice and broke it, sorry. Deduct it from my salary, but now I can only share an umbrella with Hayashi-san."
Hayashi: ....
He knew exactly what Tohru was thinking.
What "didn't notice and broke it"...
"Alright, alright, fix the umbrella and put it back, then share one with me." Hayashi waved his hand helplessly.
"Heh heh heh~~~"
After discovering that Hayashi had seen through her.
Thor didn't care about that. He had agreed anyway.
So she immediately used magic to repair the umbrella.
Then threw it back in the car.
She immediately flashed to Hayashi's side, hugging his arm tightly.
"Then let's go."
"You really are..."
"Let's not talk about that. Today's light rain is really nice, Hayashi-san."
"Now you're changing the subject, huh."
"Of course."
"You're not even as independent as Kanna. Look, she's walking ahead by herself."
"I don't care, I just want to stick to Hayashi-san!"
Compared to Kanna.
Tohru was obviously particularly clingy.
Kanna was so independent despite being so young.
Thor would immediately stick to him whenever they were almost alone together.
But when they weren't in a private setting.
Like when there were several acquaintances around.
She wouldn't be very clingy.
This was one of Hayashi's favorite traits about her.
The three walked toward the market.
As they approached the market.
They saw CCG and Public Safety conducting inspections.
They were doing a sweep.
Mainly checking household registrations and various documents.
Under normal circumstances, people who could clearly state where they lived, what job they did, whether they had a driver's license - normal people who could answer these questions clearly wouldn't have problems.
But with CCG nearby.
Weak ghouls would generally be very nervous. As long as they became hesitant, had no address, and no job, it would be easy to spot them.
Of course.
This time it was also at the market.
After the market management personnel were called out.
Seeing Public Safety and CCG, he immediately said angrily: "You guys again!"
"How many times do I have to say it? Ghouls can't eat normal food, what's the point of inspecting the market like this!"
When the old manager was scolding and wanted to continue scolding.
His eyes glanced over and saw that the CCG personnel who came this time were also carrying a case....
They were combat personnel.
"Cough cough." The old manager cleared his throat twice: "Fine, inspect however you want, just don't make a mess of things."
So Public Safety led CCG inside to begin their sweep.
Hayashi and Thor were shopping normally, buying things.
He had just bought some seafood.
When he heard the shop owner suddenly click her tongue.
"Really, these people are here again. Instead of investigating ghoul organizations, what are they doing at the market?"
Hayashi turned to look and saw it was Public Safety and CCG.
Of course, this wasn't his concern.
He continued shopping with Tohru and Kanna.
Along the way, when they encountered tomatoes and Kanna wanted to eat them, he bought some and gave them directly to Kanna to swallow.
When they encountered fruit, he also bought some for Kanna to eat.
When they encountered seafood... oysters were fine, but the rest could be skipped.
As they were shopping.
Public Safety and CCG members passed by Hayashi.
A CCG member Hayashi didn't recognize.
Looked carefully at Hayashi, Tohru, and Kanna, then left.
Thor looked back at them.
Then turned and asked: "Why did they look at us like that? Is there something wrong with us? Why didn't they inspect us?"
"Because we obviously look different from ordinary people."
Hayashi looked helplessly at Thor and Kanna.
These two women, whether in their usual demeanor or appearance, didn't fit the same style as normal people.
He himself was actually the same.
Receiving attention was normal.
"They didn't come to inspect us because he thought people like us had an extremely low probability of being ghouls, and even less likely to come to the market to buy groceries."
Kanna had just been eating raw oysters and tomatoes.
They probably saw all of it.
If Kanna was considered to be Hayashi and Tohru's child.
Then a ghoul's child similarly couldn't eat normal food.
So there was no need to inspect them at all.
"Oh~, I see." Tohru indicated she understood, then patted Kanna's head.
"Kanna, you can eat more."
"Mm!" Kanna nodded.
"...."
The three continued browsing the market.
They bought everything they wanted, then carried large and small packages back to the car once.
Then continued to go shopping at the mall.
The three came to a bookstore.
This kind of cultural building.
Generally wasn't just one floor selling only books.
Very likely the 2nd floor would sell figures, the 3rd floor would sell manga, the 4th would have an entertainment center, the 5th floor would have adult manga-related industries, etc.
In any case, they were all together.
The three came to take a look.
As soon as Hayashi entered, he saw a shelf in the store with writing that said: "Takatsuki Sen Complete Collection."
That is, including "Black Goat's Egg."
All the works published by Takatsuki Sen, several books in total, packaged and sold together.
Thor also noticed and exclaimed: "So Takatsuki Sen-san is this famous."
The bookstore even had her books.
This definitely counted as famous.
The display location was also very good.
"How should I put it." Hayashi picked it up to look, and finally nodded: "Let's buy a set to collect. We'll put it in the shop, also as support for Takatsuki Sen."
"Mm-hmm." Thor agreed.
Kanna walked around in the bookstore.
She wasn't very interested in reading books. She looked at several but didn't like any of them.
So the three bought the books and came out.
They strolled around some more.
After finding nothing else they wanted to buy, they drove back.
The vehicle traveled on the road.
The misty drizzle had been falling for half the day.
Hayashi looked around boredly; there weren't many people on the road either.
At this time.
His phone rang.
Looking at it, it was actually Makima.
He answered: "Hello."
Makima: "Hayashi-kun, sorry."
"? What sorry? Sorry for what?"
"About the Gun Devil flesh pieces. The cabinet firmly refuses to budge. This is their strategic weapon, already sealed in a classified area, but I know it should be at some president's house."
"Oh, it's about the flesh pieces..."
For Makima to want to get the Gun Devil flesh pieces was really too difficult.
The Gun Devil was like a nuclear weapon in America.
In Japan, it was even more so, because they didn't even have nuclear weapons.
So how could they possibly give such a thing to someone else?
No matter what, it was impossible.
As for who exactly had it.
That didn't matter.
They weren't good people anyway.
Hayashi held the phone with one hand and drove with the other, saying carelessly and consolingly:
"Don't be too anxious about this. If you can't get it now, then you can't get it. There's still plenty of time. No matter how you make contracts, the existence of nuclear weapon-level things will never be given to you."
"Take it slowly. Unless there's something Japan can't solve that only you can solve, only then might it be possible to naturally obtain the flesh pieces."
This sentence from Hayashi seemed to make Makima suddenly think of many things.
She was silent for a while on the other end.
Then answered: "Mm, I do understand now. Thank you, Hayashi-kun. I'll come to the shop for dinner this afternoon."
Hayashi: "Good, come anytime."
After hanging up.
Hayashi drove home normally.
Since Tohru was right beside him, she also heard the conversation.
Afterward, she sighed: "I feel like Makima-san's goals are even loftier than Takatsuki Sen-san's. Can this really be achieved?"
Takatsuki Sen's goal was to create a world where humans and ghouls coexisted.
Don't ask specifically how they would coexist for now.
While Makima's goal was to make all demons in hell disappear, creating a world without domination.
Don't ask specifically how there would be no hell and domination either.
Even if she dominated the entire world, then made the world have no domination, wouldn't that also be a kind of "no domination"?
If Makima's operation were applied to Takatsuki Sen.
That would be first eliminating all ghouls.
Then dealing with human affairs.
A ruthless person among ruthless people.
"Whether it's either of them, wanting to achieve this is something close to an impossible utopian world, or a dystopian world."
"But as I said that day, let them do it first. Nothing stays the same forever. In the mid and late stages, there will always be adaptive changes."
"It's not a bad thing anyway."
Thor thought about it and it really was true: "That's right too."
Whether it was Takatsuki Sen's forced ghoul management law.
Or Makima's demon extermination law.
Both were good things for human beings and social stability.
So why care so much about it?
Let them do what they want to do.
It doesn't affect you anyway.
On the other side.
Inside the Devil Hunter Association building.
After Makima hung up, she kept thinking about a sentence Hayashi had just said.
"When there's something that Japan itself can't solve, but you can solve it, then the Gun Devil's flesh pieces can naturally be obtained."
Actually, the Japanese cabinet holding onto it themselves wasn't very useful.
But this kind of thing couldn't be easily given to people either.
Even if they wanted to give it, it couldn't be given directly.
There had to be a reason.
The process had to work.
And what Hayashi said was the process - this was society.
Makima thought about this sentence.
She looked down at the documents on her desk.
In the documents.
Was a list of individual names of a new batch of demon assassins.
This batch of assassins was very strong, all elite assassins from overseas.
Some even required Makima to personally take action.
And her original plan.
Was to prepare in advance and hunt them individually.
Then dig out their source hearts and bring them to Hayashi to make "husband and wife lung slices," which was a dish.
But thinking about it now.
It seemed there was no need to be so hasty?
How about guiding them to assassinate a batch of cabinet ministers?
One or two deaths might not be enough.
But what about half of them dying?
Then she could express that she lacked a bit of power.
With the Gun Devil's flesh pieces, she could eliminate all the demon assassins.
Although it seemed to have loopholes, it was nonetheless legitimate.
The content of the contract.
Was that Makima couldn't kill cabinet ministers.
While the cabinet was willing to use the fortune of all Japanese people to give Makima unlimited resurrection.
But these people weren't killed by her.
Nor were they ordered by her.
It was just incompetent handling of affairs.
There was another point.
Makima didn't want to put on so much of a show. Leaving a few loopholes that the cabinet could understand would be fine.
She was Japan's only supreme combat force.
If she wanted it, they had to give it.
It wasn't a matter of principle anyway.
The faster they gave it, the fewer would die.
Finally, Makima nodded.
"Mm, let's do it like that."
Looking at the time, Makima sent a message to Himeno.
"Himeno, call the newly joined members. After work this afternoon, let's have a group dinner at the late-night diner."
Himeno: "Yes, ma'am."
On the other side.
Kamishiro Rize, who had woken up and slept for several more hours in bed.
Finally woke up and went to the bathroom to clean her body.
Warm water splashed on her body.
Kamishiro Rize opened her eyes, washed her hair, washed her body, and finally touched her lower abdomen, showing a troubled expression on her face.
She dried her body and returned to bed.
Taking out her phone, she found Takatsuki Sen and asked:
"Is it possible for a second existence like you to be naturally born?"
After a while, Takatsuki Sen replied.
"What are you talking about? Even if there's a probability, it's so low it can be ignored. Moreover, a powerful mother would automatically devour the fetus, while a normal mother would be devoured by the fetus. Do you think it's possible?"
Kamishiro Rize saw this message.
She was stunned for a while, then sighed: "Fine."
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