Lancer, who had no idea that his reputation was once again in crisis, was walking towards the 20th Ward branch as usual. Along the way, many new investigators greeted Lancer, which made Lancer a little uncomfortable, after all, he himself was not very comfortable with the strange rules of Neon (for example, greeting seniors). As for Kureo Mado? The other party was his lifesaver, so no matter how he saluted, Lancer would not find it troublesome.
But what surprised him was that he saw a familiar person in the branch.
"You are... Hideyoshi Nagachika?"
Lancer sudden shout made the blond young man in front of a sign freeze for a moment.
"You are... Investigator Lancer?"
Hideyoshi Nagachika never expected to be greeted in the CCG branch, and the person who greeted him was Lancer. Just by looking at Lancer, his expression was a little complicated.
"What's wrong?"
"No, nothing, I just didn't expect to see Investigator Lancer here."
"Haha~ What's so strange about seeing me here? I'm an investigator belonging to the 20th Ward branch. By the way, is there something you need? Could it be that you found a clue about a Ghoul? Do you need my help?"
"No, nothing, I just happened to see the part-time job information outside..."
The relationship between Hideyoshi Nagachika and Lancer was probably similar to 'nodding acquaintances'. The two had met many times because they would both appear at the Anteiku coffee shop, but if it was just that, he should be happy, after all, it should be easier to get things done if you have an acquaintance when applying for a job, but in reality, his heart had been in his throat.
'He won't find out that Kaneki is hiding in my house, will he?!'
That's right, Ken Kaneki, whom Lancer had been curious about, was currently hiding in Hideyoshi Nagachika's house.
Although he was a human, Hideyoshi Nagachika had known for a long time that Ken Kaneki had become a Ghoul, but even so, the friendship between the two had not been broken. In his opinion, his friend's personality was gentle, and the reason he became a Ghoul was completely an accident, and he shouldn't alienate him because of this accident.
Later, when Ken Kaneki was taken away by Jason, he was also very nervous when he heard the news, but unlike the people in the coffee shop, he was just a human and could not help, but he was still worried and chose to go near the 11th Ward. It wasn't that what he did had any meaning, he just simply felt that doing so might allow him to be a little closer to his friend.
But what he didn't expect was that his self-comforting action saved Ken Kaneki's life.
When the 'explosion' began, he knew that it was meaningless for him to stay, but when he was riding his bike to go home, he happened to see Ken Kaneki, who was covered in blood, lying on the side of the road.
Then he rushed to the other person's side without hesitation.
It was also fortunate that Ken Kaneki was a Ghoul, otherwise, just having his flank pierced by a Quinque would have been fatal, but in reality, his situation was not much better, after all, the principle of a Quinque is to use RC cells to deal with Ghouls.
Then Hideyoshi Nagachika helped Ken Kaneki remove the Quinque spear that was stuck in his flank, and used his clothes to simply bandage the other person, and finally, he took the seriously injured Ken Kaneki alone to a house that looked like no one had been there for a long time.
It can be said that Hideyoshi Nagachika was not just a simple matter of having clues about Ghouls, he was completely harboring a Ghoul. At this time, facing Lancer, he even felt a little at a loss.
But fortunately, Lancer did not expect that Ken Kaneki would be with the other person, so he was just simply joking, and then he patted him on the shoulder and led him to the part-time job application office next to them.
"Part-time jobs at the branch are generally for organizing some documents, which shouldn't be a problem for you. Although I don't think there will be any boring guys at the branch, if there are, just tell me and I'll deal with those black sheep."
"Thank you, Mr. Lancer."
"No need for that, we're acquaintances after all, and the branch is indeed a bit short-handed."
How could they not be short-handed? Now that the 11th Ward branch has been completely wiped out, the personnel of each branch have been transferred to the 9th and 10th branches next to the 11th Ward, and as the most stable 20th Ward, it naturally has the most personnel transferred.
And the 'partner' who was following behind Lancer was silently writing down strange news in her notebook------
'Special Class Lancer is not only interested in high school girls, but also shows great interest in male college students...'
Lancer had no idea that he was just simply greeting an acquaintance, which made a certain serious-looking woman imagine some strange things.
On the other side, Hideyoshi Nagachika's application was extremely smooth with Lancer help. After all, the branch was already short-handed, so after he finished his business, he naturally went straight home, but------
"I'm back."
After opening the door, he habitually shouted, but there was no response, and the aisle was a little messy.
'Did the CCG people come here?'
Feeling that something was wrong, he rushed into his room but only saw Ken Kaneki, whose upper body was tied with bandages, lying on the ground.
"Kaneki?! What's wrong with you..."
"Bang~!!"
Hideyoshi Nagachika, who had just helped Ken Kaneki up, was directly pressed to the ground by the other person. And looking at Ken Kaneki's completely different scarlet Kagune eyes, Hideyoshi Nagachika couldn't help but shiver. He felt that his friend seemed to have become a different person at this time, just like... a wounded beast.
But at this moment------
'Slap~!'
Ken Kaneki, who was pressing on his shoulder, suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself, and then bit his own arm...
And Hideyoshi Nagachika, who was lying under Ken Kaneki, touched the mixture of blood, saliva, and tears on his cheek, and a look of relief appeared on his face.
"Sure enough, no matter what you become, you are still my best friend..."
As he spoke, he took out a fruit knife from behind him and, with a tangled expression, cut his own finger.
"Although... I can't be like Senior Kimi, but what can I say, you're a guy? If you were a girl, I might have just given it to you directly..."
Hideyoshi Nagachika, whose expression was twitching due to the pain, put his bloody finger to Ken Kaneki's lips, but he said a nonsensical cold joke, maybe to relieve his own pain.
And Ken Kaneki on the other side, perhaps because he felt the things he craved in his mouth, his ferocious expression gradually became gentle, and it wasn't until the end that he weakly called out 'Hideyoshi' and fainted in his arms...