"I'll go."
While Enji Koma and Renji Yomo were still bewildered, Touka Kirishima declared solemnly:
"You want a test subject, don't you? Then let it be me."
"Touka-chan?" Enji Koma's expression darkened as he urgently glanced at Renji Yomo.
"Touka, you?!" Hearing his niece's words, Renji Yomo's face immediately changed.
But when Renji Yomo met Touka Kirishima's resolute gaze, he opened his mouth, realising he had no means to dissuade her.
His niece had been strong-willed since childhood. Once she made up her mind, not even nine bulls could pull her back.
At the very least, this uncle of hers couldn't do it.
'Still, there might be someone who could persuade Touka Kirishima...' With this thought, Renji Yomo turned his gaze towards Yoshimura.
Noticing this, Yoshimura sighed and prepared to intervene:
"Touka."
Yet before Yoshimura could continue, Touka Kirishima, seated on the high stool, responded:
"Manager, don't say anything. I've had enough of these powerless days."
Clenching her fists, Touka Kirishima took a deep breath and said earnestly:
"At least... just this once, let me be selfish."
Seeing Touka Kirishima's determined expression, Yoshimura froze.
In that moment, he seemed to see a reflection of his daughter Eto Yoshimura from over a decade ago, when she'd secretly observed his life.
Back then, his lonely daughter had similarly gritted her teeth while attempting to cook and consume human food.
'That stubborn demeanour is exactly like Eto's...'
With this realisation, Yoshimura lost the courage to dissuade her. He merely sighed and fell silent.
"This..." Witnessing even the manager fail to sway Touka Kirishima, Renji Yomo was dumbfounded.
He wanted to say more, but when he looked up and saw Touka Kirishima's wolfishly resolute eyes, he too fell silent.
For that instant, the staff of Anteiku collectively lapsed into wordlessness, the atmosphere unbearably tense.
It was then that Luo Shu picked up his coconut latte, took a small sip, and with an odd expression, addressed the complex-faced group:
"While I hate to dampen Miss Kirishima's noble spirit of sacrifice, I must ask - have you all misunderstood something?"
Hearing this, Yoshimura and the others immediately focused their attention on Luo Shu.
Particularly Touka Kirishima, whose gaze at Luo Shu seemed to contain gunpowder, as if conveying 'even if I die by your hand, I'll accept it'.
Noticing this, Luo Shu calmly sipped his latte before setting down the cup:
"I believe I mentioned that, in recognition of your thorough documentation submission, which counts as meritorious service, I'm offering you a recommended test subject slot."
"So the question is - what kind of experiment would require my recommendation for Ghouls like you to participate?"
"This..."
Hearing Luo Shu say this, Yoshimura exchanged glances with Renji Yomo and Enji Koma, the three of them looking at each other in bewilderment.
Meanwhile, Touka Kirishima, who had been ready to sacrifice herself heroically moments ago, now wore a rather peculiar expression.
Things seemed... different from what she'd imagined?
Thinking this, Touka tentatively asked:
"So... what kind of experiment are you talking about?"
At this point, Luo Shu turned to face his notebook, tapped several times on the U-key area, then swivelled the screen towards Touka:
"Here~"
Touka blinked in surprise, reading the title of the report on screen aloud without thinking:
"Research on the Root Causes of Carnivorous Hazards Resulting from Ghoul Genetic Defects, Version 2.0 - Author: Verde."
"What is this?"
Touka looked up, her expression utterly blank as she stared dumbfounded at Luo Shu.
"Simply put, before coming here, I asked a top genetic scientist to research why Ghouls eat humans and why they can't absorb nutrients from human food."
As he spoke, Luo Shu picked up his latte and drained it in one go, smacking his lips afterwards:
"And this is the report document they sent over."
Hearing this, Touka immediately forgot everything else and squeezed in front of Luo Shu, clicking open the file and staring intently at it for a long while.
Seeing this, Luo Shu looked startled and asked curiously: "Huh? You can actually understand what Verde wrote?"
When questioned like this, Touka fell silent for a moment before admitting with reddened cheeks:
"...I can't understand it."
Luo Shu facepalmed in exasperation: "Then why were you staring at it so seriously?"
Touka flushed deeper and retorted:
"It's the report writer's fault! The whole thing's in English."
No sooner had she spoken than someone tapped her shoulder.
Touka turned to see Yoshimura looking at her with a complicated expression as he said:
"Touka... that's not English. It's Chinese."
"Uh..." Touka froze, taking several seconds to process this before exclaiming with crimson cheeks: "Well, it's all foreign writing anyway!"
Luo Shu couldn't be bothered humouring this idiot and rolled his eyes:
"I suggest you skip straight to the conclusion at the end. Oh, and you can skip the bit before the conclusion too - start reading from the fourth last paragraph. The summary is in Chinese, Japanese and English - you can read Japanese, right?"
"I can read Japanese just fine."
With somewhat guilty movements, Touka scrolled to the bottom of the document and read the short summary:
"This lifeform exhibits clear signs of Gene Adjustment in its genetic makeup. Detailed adjustment methods require further experimental verification."
"Direct application of individually tailored Adjuster Drugs is recommended for treatment. Development of universal therapeutic methods is not advised."
"Conclusion: Worthless test subjects. Recommend against wasting limited research funding on useless experimental animals. Should you send such pointless specimens again, I shall block your internal communications. - Verde"
"This..." Having read the contents, Touka turned to look at Yoshimura, who was standing beside her.
"A genetically modified test subject..." Yoshimura murmured with sudden realisation, sighing wistfully. "In my youth, I heard rumours that the first Ghouls were products of joint research between Germany and Japan during World War II. It seems those weren't just baseless gossip after all."
Luo Shu couldn't help but interject sarcastically:
"Don't just blame everything on the WWII Germans."
Every genetic modification issue gets pinned on that German moustache guy. What is he, Danzo the Shadow Hokage? Professional scapegoat?
Meanwhile, having received Yoshimura's explanation, Touka Kirishima turned to Luo Shu with scepticism:
"So this report suggests there's a way to cure Ghouls' human-only diet? I'm not misunderstanding, am I?"
"Close enough to the truth."
Luo Shu shot her a glance, thinking, 'Her figure isn't even that great, so how come she's missing some brains?':
"The reason I said experimental slots require recommendations is that transforming Ghouls into normal humans requires classified SDS technology. Since you're not formal members, I only have a few recommendation slots to offer."
Beside them, Renji Yomo finally understood, muttering to himself:
"So that's why you need recommendations to become test subjects?"
Enji Koma had an epiphany.
'So this test subject position actually does require recommendations to qualify!'
At this realisation, Enji Koma turned to Touka Kirishima: "Does that mean Touka could become human?"
Now comprehending the situation, Touka Kirishima realised all her earlier mental preparation had been for nothing – she'd nearly stolen the manager's opportunity.
With an exasperated smile, she looked at Yoshimura:
"Manager, I should return the slot to you."
"No need, let Touka go instead." Yoshimura paused at this point: "Consider it as helping me test the effects of the Gene Adjustment Mr Luo Shu mentioned."
As he spoke, Yoshimura glanced at Luo Shu and smiled cheerfully:
"I assume this recommendation quota isn't permanent, is it?"
Luo Shu raised his head slightly but didn't refute.
Seeing this, Yoshimura understood and chuckled: "Just as I thought. It seems these old bones will have to move around more, at least to earn a quota for my daughter."
"Eh? The manager has a daughter?" Touka Kirishima froze, having never heard Yoshimura mention this before.
In contrast, Renji Yomo and Enji Koma both stiffened slightly, as if recalling something.
"Heh, that child is much older than you, Touka, though she's not particularly close to me."
Yoshimura said no more after a few words:
"Touka, just think of it as a father being concerned about the experiment's effects and wanting your help to test it."
"Is that so..." Touka Kirishima replied, half delighted and half melancholic.
If possible, she'd like to secure a quota for her younger brother, Ayato Kirishima, too.
But if she really wanted that... Touka turned to glance at Luo Shu.
It seemed she'd have to work obediently under this monstrous man to earn a recommendation.
Noticing Touka's gaze, Luo Shu asked indifferently:
"Have you decided?"
"It's settled. Touka will undergo Gene Adjustment first." Yoshimura nodded.
"Good that there's a decision." Luo Shu stood up while packing his laptop:
"I'll take the laptop with me. The specific experiment time... I'll come to the café tonight to find you."
When saying the latter part, Luo Shu looked at Touka Kirishima and said flatly:
"I hope you'll be smarter next time we meet. At the very least, more obedient."
Touka immediately wanted to retort that she wasn't an idiot, but thoughts of her brother made her hold back.
Fine, idiot it is. For her brother to stop feeding on humans, she'd accept it.
Luo Shu glanced at the unusually docile Touka but said nothing more. He nodded at Yoshimura and left Anteiku directly.
After pushing open the café door, Luo Shu took out his phone, navigated to contacts, saw the number labelled 'Meer', and pressed call without hesitation.