Just as Lancer found a 'lead,' Touka Kirishima was staring at the sky at school, her expression changing multiple times as she thought about something.
"Touka~"
At that moment, a pair of hands suddenly covered her eyes from behind. This sudden darkness startled her. Her first instinct was to break the hands covering her eyes, but she managed to calm down in the end.
"Yoriko? What's wrong? You scared me."
"Hehe~ Touka, you're so timid."
The girl in the sailor uniform had no idea that Touka Kirishima wasn't scared by her, but by her own overly aggressive reaction. However, she had no intention of explaining, as it was completely meaningless. Yoriko then sat across from Touka Kirishima with a smile on her face.
The girl, with her hands cupping her face and a curious expression, even made the seemingly unapproachable Touka Kirishima blush a little.
"Yoriko~ what's wrong with you?"
"It's not what's wrong with me; it's what's wrong with you, Touka? You're a little strange today~"
Her friend's words made Touka Kirishima reflexively want to retort, but she just opened her mouth and in the end, didn't say anything, because she also knew that she was a little strange today. After all, she couldn't deceive her own heart. At this moment, her heart was in chaos.
What happened to Hinami and Aunt Ryouko after Lancer captured them? Are they in the CCG branch now? If he killed Hinami and them, should she kill him?
Although she had known about Lancer ghoul suppression activities before this, she had always felt that it had nothing to do with her because of her position. At this moment, she even regretted why she didn't kill Lancer earlier? In that case, maybe the Fueguchi mother and daughter would have been fine.
But when she thought of this, her face turned incredibly pale, because before this, let alone killing a 'dove,' she had never even killed a human. When she was a child, her father took care of her and her brother. Later, the manager took her in. She was already an anomaly among ghouls...
"Touka? How about you leave school early today? Although I don't know what you're thinking, you always like to overthink things. Instead of thinking about it, why not try it?"
There was no doubt that Yoriko, being a normal human, didn't know that her friend was a ghoul, and a ghoul with enough strength to have a warrant issued by the CCG. But as Touka Kirishima friend, she also understood her. Her friend's serious personality made her always like to overthink things. It seemed that this time was no exception.
"Try... try... I know! Yoriko! Thank you! Please tell the teacher that I'm taking the afternoon off! I'm not going to my afternoon class!"
Looking at Touka Kirishima, who hurriedly grabbed her school bag and rushed out of the door, Yoriko couldn't help but smile a little.
"She's still the same as before~ She looks like a mastermind, but she's actually an idiot..."
She remembered when she first enrolled in school, the other party was her deskmate. At first, when she saw her cold face, as if she was isolated from the rest of the class, she thought she was an unapproachable person, but later, when she was being harassed by an upperclassman, the other party stepped in and saved her.
After that incident, she thanked the other party multiple times, but the other party always said 'it's nothing.' If the other party had accepted her thanks, maybe she wouldn't have continued to pay attention to her, but it was precisely because of the other party's disregard that it aroused her curiosity.
After observing for a while, she found that this girl, who was privately discussed in class as 'unapproachable' and 'cool,' was nothing more than an ordinary girl. She was lazy and didn't like to make her own bento, she would doze off in class, and she would forget to bring her gym clothes for PE...
Even her rejections gradually softened. As for when the two of them became friends? She probably didn't even know herself. She only knew that when she came to, the two of them were already eating lunch together.
It was precisely because she often observed the other party that she knew she had her own secrets, but she didn't care. After all, even family members have their own privacy. In her opinion, this so-called 'secret' was even more attractive to her.
Yoriko, with one hand propping up her head, looked at Touka Kirishima, who was running towards the school gate, and couldn't help but feel a hint of loneliness on her face————————
'With Touka gone, class will be boring...'
It wasn't until the other party's back completely disappeared that she put her head on the table and yawned.
On the other side, Touka Kirishima, who had jogged to her car, also had her eyes gradually become more determined.
Since she couldn't think of an answer no matter what, she would create an answer!
First, she went back to her rented room to get her mask, and then she went to Lancer current residence according to the address she had gotten from the manager in the morning.
"This building has over twenty floors, and Lancer home is on the 20th floor. Directly infiltrating from the outside is basically impossible, so..."
She looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, then she first went into a vent, came out in an empty place, and then walked into the emergency stairwell.
To hide her identity, she wore a 'mask,' and taking the elevator could easily leave video footage. At this time, the emergency stairwell was the best choice. And generally, if there was an elevator, very few people would take the emergency stairwell, so it was not easy for her to be discovered. It was simply the best choice!
As for the physical strength consumed by climbing the stairs? It was indeed a considerable test for ordinary people, but it obviously had no effect on a ghoul.
But when she arrived on the 20th floor, a new problem appeared. There were six doors here. Which one was Lancer home?
It was true that because of Lancer high-profile actions, he was considered 'famous' among ghouls, so as long as there were ghouls nearby, they would know the general location. But it was obvious that no one dared to directly follow him, and even the data for the 20th floor was just a result inferred by the ghouls standing downstairs based on the elevator's stopping number that they saw.
'Am I supposed to break into each one? That doesn't fit my original intention of quietly gathering information...'
But just as she was struggling with whether to make a move, the sound of a door lock turning suddenly came from the second door on the left.
'Oh no!'
She reflexively manipulated the kagune behind her to attack the door, but she quickly stopped her hand because she saw the person she was looking for.
"Aunt Ryouko? What are you doing? Never mind! Where's Hinami? Let's go!"
"Touka?"
Not only was Touka Kirishima surprised, but Ryōko Fueguchi, who was holding a garbage bag in her hand, was even more surprised. Having just finished cleaning the room, she didn't expect to see Touka Kirishima here. However, when she heard that the other party wanted to take them away, a hint of longing flashed in her eyes, but in the end, she shook her head and pointed to the 'collar' on her neck.
"What did that pervert do to you, Aunt Ryouko!"
There was no doubt that Touka Kirishima had 'thought too much.'