"Welcome back."
When Lancer opened the door and turned on the light, the sudden welcome made Lancer pause. It was obvious that he was not used to some of the Japanese customs, and shouldn't the other party not be doing this?
"Dinner is ready. Do you want to eat?"
"Uh... okay."
Looking at the miso soup, grilled fish, and pickles in front of him, Lancer expression was very strange. After all, in his impression, ghouls' unusual diet led to their 'ingredients' being different from ordinary people's, and it seemed that whether the food was raw or cooked, it didn't make a difference to them. So generally speaking, they wouldn't cook.
Ryōko Fueguchi, who seemed to have guessed something from Lancer stiff movements, sighed helplessly.
"I also learned a few things to communicate with other housewives. Although I'm not very good at it, the other housewives' reviews were okay..."
After confirming again and again that no strange things were mixed into the ingredients, Lancer had his first standard Japanese dinner (Lancer used to eat his work meals directly). Ryōko Fueguchi, who was standing on the side, also breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Lancer eat.
'Sure enough, Touka was right.'
...
A few hours ago.
Because she didn't know if Lancer had installed any surveillance cameras at home, Ryōko Fueguchi specifically told Touka Kirishima not to take off her mask when she invited her in. On the other side, Touka Kirishima, who was invited into the house, was a little hesitant.
Was this a trap?
But in the end, before she could think it through, she had already been pulled into the house by Ryōko Fueguchi. Fortunately, there were no traps in the house, and she didn't see any torture devices in the living room. It was no different from a normal person's living room.
Then a figure hiding in the room peeked out...
"Big sister Touka!!"
Although Hinami was very sensible, she never cried or made a scene after her father was killed and she and her mother were captured. Of course, the incident in the morning didn't count. After she just woke up and fell into a state of hysteria because of the 'shocking image,' at least now she didn't want to add pressure to her already sad mother because of her.
But no matter how sensible she was, she was still just a child. After suffering things that a normal person would probably never suffer in their entire life and being unable to vent to her parents, she had actually been hiding all her thoughts in her heart. Now that she suddenly saw Touka Kirishima, she naturally couldn't control her emotions anymore.
Looking at Hinami Fueguchi, who was silently crying in her arms, Touka Kirishima was even more confused. Why didn't Ryōko Fueguchi want to leave with her?
Even the 'detonation collar' she had just talked about wasn't completely without a solution. Even if the collar contained powerful explosives, as long as there were other S-rated ghouls protecting her with their kagune, it wouldn't be a big problem. After all, there was a gap between the neck and the collar.
"According to that investigator, it seems that we had a tracking chip implanted in our bodies. If I leave with you, it might cause trouble for 'Anteiku coffee shop.' And if I'm not with you, without my kagune, I can't even protect Hinami from an ordinary person..."
Touka Kirishima, who didn't know the details, was completely stunned when she heard that Ryōko Fueguchi had lost her kagune. Although in theory, even if a ghoul loses their kagune, they can still regenerate it as long as they replenish their RC cells, but this was an extremely long process.
Knowing that even if she took the two of them away, she probably wouldn't be able to protect them, Touka Kirishima became quite dejected. But at that moment, Ryōko Fueguchi patted Touka Kirishima back instead.
"Don't worry, this investigator Lancer didn't do anything excessive to us. At least for now... nothing will happen for now."
Although she looked delicate, Ryōko Fueguchi, who was strong on the inside, began to comfort Touka Kirishima. It was not only because she was older than Touka but also because her husband had already left. As the only support for this family, she had to be strong, just like before when she unhesitatingly thought about sacrificing herself to protect her daughter when she found Lancer.
After knowing that the Fueguchi mother and daughter couldn't leave for now, she also began to think about how to help them.
First, secretly preparing food for the two of them was impossible, or rather, she couldn't do it unless there was absolutely no other way. After all, once they ate, the number and activity of their RC cells would increase, which would expose her existence. So what else could she do?
She began to recall information about Lancer and the personality he had shown during their time together for over a month————————
"Aunt Ryouko, since you two can't leave for now, why not take the initiative to do something?"
"What... do you mean?"
"Well... simply put, in my opinion, that 'Investigator Lancer' is a bit of a chauvinist and has strong self-control. Since he didn't do anything to you at the beginning, as long as there are no accidents, he probably won't actively do anything in the future. So as long as you actively portray yourselves as the 'weak' party, it shouldn't be a big problem."
In short, it was to 'show the enemy your weakness.' After thinking about it for a while, Ryōko Fueguchi also nodded.
Thinking about it carefully, what Touka Kirishima said made a lot of sense. She remembered that when the other party pointed his gun at her, the feeling she got from him was that he wanted to kill her, but in the end, for some unknown reason, he gave up. And later, he really didn't abuse them.
She knew that when she was taken home by the other party after having her kagune removed, she had already prepared to sacrifice herself. And she was sure that the other party had been tempted last night, but in the end, he actually gave up forcefully...
From a certain perspective, this could be considered a 'weakness' of the other party, but she had to say that she was very lucky that the other party had such a weakness.
...
In the end, when Lancer finished dinner and Ryōko Fueguchi was cleaning up the dishes for him, he wanted to ask her several times, but in the end, he gave up.
Looking at Lancer, who returned to his room with the white suitcase, Ryōko Fueguchi, who was standing in the kitchen, finally couldn't help but smile. She seemed to have found a way to get along with Lancer.
On the other side, Lancer also opened the box and took out his new weapon.
If the spear he had used before was just 'green gear' made from an ordinary ghoul's kagune and didn't even have a name, then this spear in his hand, which was made from Rize Kamishiro's kagune and named 'Kamishiro 1/4,' was at least 'purple gear.'
Next, he was going to take action against the completely unknown 'Tsukiyama family.' The new equipment at least gave him some confidence, but this was still not enough.
'I wonder if I can gather enough points for some more trump cards before Shuu Tsukiyama reveals his true nature?'