In just a short week, Ken Kaneki experienced a change from heaven to hell.
He originally thought he had found a woman he could understand, but he didn't expect the other party to be a ghoul; he clearly escaped death, but he discovered that he had become a 'ghoul'...
His originally peaceful life seemed to have been completely shattered by a heavy hammer. Looking at the men and women in butler uniforms around him, he felt as if he was in a dream.
He used to be afraid of the existence of 'ghouls', but he never expected to become one of them today, and the shop he often came to was full of ghouls. The thought of it felt quite terrifying.
But the only thing he was grateful for was that he was at least temporarily taken in, and the manager also promised to teach him how to live as a 'ghoul'...
"Ding~!"
But at this moment, the door of the shop was pushed open, and the crisp sound of a bell reminded him that a customer had arrived.
"Welcome..."
Kaneki, who had finally managed to adjust his mood, was completely stunned because he saw the existence of a 'CCG investigator'.
Yesterday, the manager had specifically reminded him to be careful of 'CCG investigators', but why would the other party appear in the shop? Could it be that the shop was discovered because of him? Especially when he found that the tall investigator was looking at him with a strange expression, he felt cold sweat run down his back.
"Mr. Lancer, is it the same as usual today?"
"Mmm, the same as usual will be fine."
The 'female voice' that appeared behind him at some point startled him. When he saw Touka Kirishima, he barely breathed a sigh of relief, but then he opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
"Hehe~ Is this a new guy in your shop? He's a lot like how we first met. Are 'investigators' really that scary?"
Is it scary? He didn't know, but it was indeed quite scary for ghouls.
In the end, Lancer didn't say much and just sat in his usual window seat in the cafe, quietly drinking his coffee.
On the other side, Kaneki, who was taken to the back kitchen by Touka Kirishima, had his head tapped by her.
"Even though he's a 'dove', he doesn't have an 'RC cell detector', so it's impossible for him to discover that we're ghouls! The more nervous you are, the easier it is for him to notice that something is wrong!"
At this moment, the full of aura Touka Kirishima showed no sign of being lectured by her senior earlier. Although Kaneki was older than her, he was like a submissive boy, lowering his head and accepting her 'lecture'.
But in his mind, he was thinking about other things.
'The CCG is incredibly mysterious. Maybe they can help me return to being a human?'
Although he knew his current situation because of the manager and started working at the shop, he had never accepted his identity as a 'ghoul'. Even now, he still longed to regain his human identity.
But Touka Kirishima, who was standing in front of him with her arms crossed, looked at Kaneki, who hadn't said a word.
She couldn't read minds and didn't know what Kaneki was thinking, but as someone who had been 'acting' since birth, she was a much better actor than this somewhat introverted young man. Just by seeing him secretly glancing at Lancer outside the door, she could roughly guess what he was thinking.
"If you want to ask that 'dove' for help, I'd advise you to give up. In the past two months, he has personally killed over 50 ghouls. I also once personally asked him for his opinion on ghouls. If you expose your identity, I think he will directly kill you. If you still remember the kindness of the manager who took you in, then you'd better not die in the shop."
Although she was not yet an adult, she had long been accustomed to the ups and downs of human relationships. She knew that in the face of a bewildered Kaneki, such 'ruthless' words were more convincing than a gentle explanation.
Just like at this moment, Kaneki's face turned pale, and the look in his eyes when he looked at Lancer was filled with an incredible fear.
Sitting by the window, thinking about how he could 'farm points', Lancer had no idea that he had been imagined by someone into a strange image of him laughing maniacally on a mountain of corpses. However, even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care too much, after all, his time in this world was already more than half over.
And in the past two months, what major actions had the CCG taken? Wiping out 'Anteiku'? From Lancer position, while it was impossible to leak information, considering that he would still rely on the 'main character' team to solve things in this world, he had no intention of doing anything underhanded. After all, he hated 'ghouls who attack humans'.
He would absolutely not allow those who had completely lost their 'humanity' and should be called 'monsters' to exist!
As for those who suffered the lashes of fate because of their birth... turning a blind eye was already Lancer limit.
Thinking more carefully...
In the 'Jason' battle, besides 'Jason' himself, didn't he have many ghouls under him?
Wait! Didn't the Tsukiyama family also have many ghouls?
But this was more troublesome. After all, since the 'Tsukiyama family' dared to be so unscrupulous, they must have some support behind them.
"Damn politicians..."
Although Lancer had only watched a part of the anime and didn't know the later plot, a careful analysis now could lead him to an 'expected' answer.
Then it was impossible to 'report' and apply for 'action' in a normal way, but relying on him alone might... no, it was definitely impossible to survive.
The only way was to use unconventional methods!
Thinking of unconventional methods, the 'introducer' in his mind appeared.
Through their time together, besides learning that Kureo Mado was a paranoid person, Lancer biggest impression of him was probably that he had a wide network of connections.
Although he was only a first-class investigator, more than one person said that his strength was definitely not inferior to most 'associate special-class investigators'. And because of his age, he could be considered a 'senior' to most people in the entire CCG. If he could use him as a breakthrough, he might be able to directly bypass some troublesome guys.
Thinking about it, this plan indeed had a decent feasibility.
Lancer, sitting by the window, didn't seem to care about the bitter coffee in his cup. Instead, a strange smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, but this smile made people feel a chill.