"Eto."
Yoshimura gazed at his long-grown daughter with complex emotions.
The last time he'd been this close to her, she'd been a mere seven or eight-year-old child. Back then, he'd only observed her movements as a bystander.
This might well be their first proper encounter since her adulthood.
"How unnecessarily meddlesome of you, Father."
Takatsuki Izumi stepped out of the car with a delightfully amused smile:
"First submitting to V, now bowing to an otherworldly human organisation? I suppose this is just your style."
The sarcastic, mocking words elicited no emotional reaction from Yoshimura.
He stood motionless as a wooden doll, simply watching his daughter.
His impassivity only aggravated Takatsuki Izumi's simmering resentment.
Who could maintain composure facing a father who'd abandoned her to a friend's care in infancy, failed to appear when her foster father was murdered during her childhood, and whose sole subsequent involvement amounted to distant observation?
Ah, yes - and hadn't this same man personally killed her mother, too? To prevent her capture by V's execution squad.
"How long do you intend to converse outside?"
Luo Shu, standing by the café entrance, glanced coldly at the staring contest between father and daughter, providing Yoshimura an escape from the confrontation.
"If you want to perform your heartwarming family reunion, save it for after we've concluded business. I'll allocate time for your mutual slaughter later."
With that, Luo Shu pushed open the café door, adding:
"Oh, and since Mr Yoshimura currently falls under my management, to ensure this investment isn't wasted, I'll naturally have to order him to emerge victorious from any... familial disputes."
Having casually sentenced a father to kill his daughter, Luo Shu strode inside.
"Eh? So if I can replace Father's usefulness, you'll let me kill him instead?"
Takatsuki Izumi bounded after Luo Shu with hands clasped behind her back, grinning:
"That's what you meant just now, right?"
Luo Shu side-eyed her cheerful expression and deadpanned:
"You're quite the clever one."
Yoshimura turned around, watching the two figures' retreating backs, took a slight breath of cold air, then quickly followed.
"Sorry, we're closed for the day."
Enji Koma at the counter automatically apologised when he saw the shop door open. Upon noticing Luo Shu entering with an unfamiliar green-haired girl, he paused, then called out to Touka Kirishima, who was clearing tables nearby:
"Touka, they're here."
"I can see that." Touka Kirishima stacked the plates and coffee cups from the table before walking over to the counter. To her surprise, Luo Shu sat Takatsuki Izumi down on the barstools in front of the counter.
"Coffee or juice?"
"Coffee." Takatsuki Izumi replied with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Orange juice for me then." Luo Shu said calmly.
Seeing this, Enji Koma handed them two hot towels to wipe their hands and was about to start preparing when Yoshimura approached and stopped him:
"I'll handle this."
"In that case, I won't have anything." Takatsuki Izumi remained smiling.
Yoshimura didn't respond but went ahead to make the coffee first.
"What's going on?" Touka Kirishima wiped her hands with a tissue, looking puzzled at Enji Koma.
Enji Koma hesitated before saying, "That girl... her scent is similar to the manager's."
What he didn't mention was that the bloodlust was several times stronger.
Touka Kirishima, whose sense of smell wasn't as sharp as Enji Koma's, suddenly understood:
"The manager's daughter?"
Having figured it out, she glanced curiously at Takatsuki Izumi, though still wondering why the manager's daughter would come with Luo Shu.
Judging by the situation, it seemed Luo Shu's planned visit to the lab with her would be delayed a while longer.
Just as Touka Kirishima and Enji Koma watched curiously, Yoshimura handed over the freshly brewed coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice.
"Your coffee and Mr Luo Shu's orange juice. Please enjoy."
Takatsuki Izumi glanced at Yoshimura, who immediately went to tidy up the tools, clicking her tongue:
"So he used himself as payment to get the whitelist?"
Luo Shu, who understood what Takatsuki Izumi was referring to, calmly took a sip of juice:
"The total doesn't exceed fifty people. Of course, if we count the Abyss Artefact in Shizuka Hio's possession, there could be 70 slots - provided she's willing to use it."
"Naturally, the fewer people on the whitelist, the better, since transforming a Ghoul requires substantial funding."
"Hah, funding?"
Takatsuki Izumi couldn't help but scoff.
The reason only 50 Ghouls could survive was due to funding constraints - how utterly ridiculous.
"How much does one slot cost?"
Though absurd, Takatsuki Izumi still wanted to understand the financial requirements. She had no intention of using the slot Yoshimura had traded himself for, but Shizuka Hio's 20 slots clearly wouldn't suffice.
Wanting to keep an alternative option, she voiced her question.
Luo Shu looked at Takatsuki Izumi with slight pity:
"Excluding the later costs of creating sanctuaries, just the medication to treat Ghouls comes to about three million US dollars per person."
Takatsuki Izumi's expression froze momentarily before she said:
"...Is that medicine made of gold or something?"
"Pretty much."
Luo Shu nodded, then added:
"By the way, the whitelist funding will likely come from my department's budget, so don't make things difficult for me."
"And what if I do want to make things difficult?"
Accompanying these words was a rapidly extending Kagune.
The crimson Kagune formed massive blade-like structures that, within this extremely short distance and accompanied by screeching extension sounds, targeted six vital points on Luo Shu's body.
BOOM!
A tremendous crash echoed through the counter.
Yoshimura's face twitched as he watched Takatsuki Izumi, her entire head smashed into the counter, then turned to see Luo Shu wiping blood from his hands with a hot towel, suddenly at a loss for words.
"It seems you lack the capability to make things difficult for me."
Luo Shu neatly arranged the bloodstained hot towel on the counter and picked up his orange juice with his clean right hand, taking a sip:
"Planning to lie there much longer?"
Takatsuki Izumi shook her neck, climbing up with her already healed but still blood-and-brain-matter-covered head, picking up the fallen hot towel to wipe herself as she said:
"Underestimated you."
"So this old bastard was beaten into submission by you."
Yoshimura, called an "old bastard", dared not make a sound.
Takatsuki Izumi, one crimson Kagune eye open, tossed the hot towel onto the cracked counter:
"How many like you exist in this world?"
"If we limit our scope to Japan..." Luo Shu sipped his juice, narrowing his eyes: "The Onmyou Agency's Twelve Divine Generals, plus the five enshrined National-Level Sorcerers - that makes seventeen."
"Aside from that, the Metropolitan Police Department's martial artists likely include 5-8 individuals with a 3rd-tier rating in martial arts. There are probably over 50 such experts in the wild, not to mention the hidden forces within shrines across the country, as well as the inherited traditions of major families and non-human races."
"Not counting technological or equipment enhancements, or organisations outside Japan, there should be around 300 people in this country who are roughly on my level."
Takatsuki Izumi's face twitched slightly upon hearing this.
In other words, there were over 300 monsters like Luo Shu in this country who could completely overpower an SSS-rated Ghoul like her?
After a long silence, Takatsuki Izumi asked expressionlessly:
"Do you have a way to return to our original world?"
She was tired. Tired of this world where even Ghouls were considered weaklings.
If in the original world, the Ghouls' predicament was due to V's control over human society, crushing them through rules and influence, then in this world, it was purely a matter of strength.
If just Japan alone could produce 300 monsters comparable to SSS-rated Ghouls, how many would there be worldwide?
Ten thousand? A hundred thousand?
Takatsuki Izumi didn't know the exact number, but she was clear that among the 20,000 Ghouls in Tokyo, only five had combat power roughly equivalent to SSS-rated Ghouls.
And that number excluded herself and her father, Yoshimura.
So, currently, the Ghouls only have three SSS-rated combatants who can resist, corresponding to this world's 3rd-tier rating.
Three independent 3rd-tier experts against 300 opponents? One versus a hundred?
After calmly assessing the disparity, Takatsuki Izumi asked:
"I can do everything this old man can do, and more. Give me the whitelist he's holding..."
"Eto!"
Seeing such filial devotion from his daughter, Yoshimura couldn't help but speak up:
"I can only give you 15 slots. The Anteiku has many Ghouls who've never killed humans and need protection."
"Deal!"
Takatsuki Izumi's agreement came far quicker than Yoshimura had anticipated.
This made the old man suspect he'd been played by his own daughter.
"15 slots, plus the 20 obtained from Shizuka Hio - 35 slots in total. That's more than enough."
Takatsuki Izumi sipped her coffee with a smile:
"In fact, the slots exceed our budget. Looks like we can recruit quite a few mad dogs."
"Oh, right, Boss, are there any restrictions on whitelist candidates? Must they be Ghouls who've killed few humans?"
"What do you think?" Luo Shu countered.
"Oh, so we can only recruit those who specialise in eating other Ghouls~" Takatsuki Izumi said with remarkable ease.
"Eto..." Yoshimura looked at her with a pained expression. "You wouldn't..."
The Aogiri Tree, the Ghoul organisation controlled by Takatsuki Izumi, was arguably the largest overt Ghoul faction.
For such an organisation, 35 slots were clearly insufficient.
Thus, Yoshimura immediately realised Takatsuki Izumi intended to abandon most of her loyal subordinates, using the freed slots to recruit more powerful Ghouls instead.
Was this girl still planning to establish her own kingdom?
Seeing how quickly Takatsuki Izumi's identity had shifted, Luo Shu couldn't help but laugh:
"Interesting."
He knew Takatsuki Izumi, or rather Eto Yoshimura, had other schemes in mind, but he didn't particularly care.
The Ghoul situation was merely something he was investigating. The actual execution of extermination wasn't his responsibility.
With the intelligence he provided being so thorough that even each Ghoul's abilities and combat styles were annotated, if Japan's major factions still made mistakes, they deserved what came to them.
As Luo Shu spoke, indigo Mist Flames rose from the ring on his left middle finger.
After the flames flickered, two documents appeared on the counter.
"Since you've reached an agreement, take a look at this plan."
Takatsuki Izumi immediately picked up the documents and scanned them:
"'Buffet Plan'? That's quite an amusing name."
However, when she saw the contents—where SDS would provide food while Anteiku and Aogiri Tree distributed it to 20,000 Ghouls across Tokyo—she fell silent:
"20,000 corpses in a single day? Are they real or fake?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu snapped his fingers.
With a thud, a corpse of Yoshimura collapsed at Takatsuki Izumi's feet.
Her pupils contracted sharply, and she instinctively used her Kagune to sever Yoshimura's arm from the corpse beside her foot.
Blood splattered onto Takatsuki Izumi's face.
She wiped some with her hand, licked it, and after her expression shifted slightly, she smiled and said:
"I understand."
"Oh, by the way, Boss, can all 20,000 corpses have this face? It'd be hilariously fitting."
At these words, not just Yoshimura, but even Enji Koma and Touka Kirishima nearby felt their eyelids twitch violently.
What the hell?
Did she want all 20,000 Ghouls in Tokyo to eat her father on the same day?
Even Luo Shu widened his eyes, momentarily stunned, before recovering and saying:
"What do you think?"
"What a shame." Takatsuki Izumi stood up, calmly wiping her cheek with the back of her hand before picking up the documents. "May I leave now?"
Luo Shu reminded her: "At 1 a.m., bring your people to Kamijou Hospital in Kanda, Chiyoda. Someone will take you to collect the corpses."
"Understood."
Takatsuki Izumi responded, then turned to Yoshimura before leaving:
"Old man, your coffee is the worst."
Yoshimura's face darkened, but before he could say anything, Takatsuki Izumi walked out of the shop on her own.
At her feet, the corpse bearing Yoshimura's face gradually dissipated into mist, along with the blood vanishing without a trace.
Luo Shu didn't watch Takatsuki Izumi leave. Instead, he picked up his orange juice, downed it in one gulp, and said to Touka Kirishima:
"Get ready. We're leaving."
"Uh, right!" Touka Kirishima blinked, then nodded.