"...Of course it won't be anything boring like that. But I haven't decided on a specific request yet. I'll come to you when I think of one."
Byakuya said evenly.
"Sure."
Eto replied casually. "By the way, you took in the two daughters of this house's original owner, didn't you?"
"You mean Kurona and Nashiro? What about them?"
Byakuya said.
"Nothing much. I'm just surprised they came to their senses so quickly..."
"Eto" said. "They're quite the pair of sisters. The old them would have traded endless self-loathing and guilt for endless love. But Kanou isn't their father—no matter how they tried to fill the void in their hearts, it couldn't change the fact of that emptiness. If they'd stayed the way they were, that would've been quite entertaining... Too bad they've become boring now~"
"..."
Byakuya had no desire to respond to her twisted remarks.
But he understood one thing: "Eto" harbored such twisted interests because she resonated with Kurona and Nashiro.
"Father," "emptiness," "one-eyed"... These things were so similar.
So he neither agreed nor rebuked "Eto."
"So you're the one who saved them, aren't you? Otherwise... given their circumstances, Kanou would have eventually gotten them killed. Even if they didn't die, they'd have met a miserable end."
"Eto" said with amusement in her voice.
"They were my classmates. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing."
Byakuya responded.
"Eto" was silent for a moment, then the corner of her mouth curved up. "...It's all your fault. You've robbed me of such great entertainment."
"Enough. Stop saying meaningless things."
Byakuya brought the increasingly derailed topic back on track. "Let's continue."
"Aw~ I wanted to rest a bit longer."
"Eto" then stood up and dusted herself off, stretching lazily. "Also, next time you get the chance, bring those sisters to meet me."
Then they resumed their "chase" performance.
After all, places with surveillance cameras would be monitored by Dr. Kanou. Although Aogiri Tree was cooperating with Kanou, the cooperative relationship between "Eto" and Byakuya definitely couldn't be casually revealed to others.
And so, Byakuya chased "Eto" all the way to Dr. Kanou's laboratory.
This was an enormous laboratory. The surrounding walls were lined with cultivation tanks. From outside, one couldn't see what was inside, but Byakuya knew they were all failures from the "half-ghoul transformation surgery."
There was also the largest cultivation tank in the center of the laboratory, with a woman imprisoned inside. This was Dr. Kanou's experimental subject—also a member of the Washuu Clan.
And Dr. Kanou stood atop it.
With a calm, composed expression, he said to Byakuya: "Welcome, Amaha-san."
"Kuro and Shiro must be under your care now. And they're still working at CCG—that's quite surprising."
Dr. Kanou showed no panic whatsoever as he chatted with Byakuya.
"Yes. And you're the one who helped them see your true nature..."
Byakuya said evenly.
Dr. Kanou smiled slightly without denying it. "That's fine. I won't interfere with their lives anymore. Though the fact that they've become 'half-ghouls' can't be undone, perhaps they can find the so-called 'love' they seek in you."
These words weren't from any guilty conscience—it was simply that Kurona and Nashiro had no more value to him. He didn't care what kind of lives they led from now on.
"I'm actually curious about one thing. They've always viewed you as a 'father.' Did you never have even the slightest feelings for them?"
Byakuya asked.
"No."
Dr. Kanou answered without the slightest hesitation.
As if the question were completely pointless in his eyes.
"..."
Byakuya wasn't surprised by this answer. As expected, Dr. Kanou was purely a person who would do anything to achieve his goals...
"Why can't caged birds fly freely in the sky? Because the 'cage' doesn't belong to them. Then who creates the 'cages' in this world?"
Dr. Kanou suddenly began speaking to himself. "I've realized it—this world is imprisoned by a 'twisted cage.' I want to destroy it, so I need the most powerful means possible. But only 'one-eyed ghouls' born from forced hybrid vigor can become a ray of light piercing through the dark clouds."
Byakuya understood what Dr. Kanou was muttering about—essentially a veiled criticism of the Washuu Clan.
But he had no intention of responding.
"For this, I've sacrificed much and made countless attempts. The 'RC cell walls' above are one of those achievements. But I still can't create successful subjects. Kuro and Shiro barely count as successes, but they're still far from adequate. They too are things I could sacrifice with a single thought. Developing feelings for them would only waste my mental energy."
Dr. Kanou said in a detached tone.
He was willing to say so much to Byakuya partly because "Eto's" presence gave him confidence, and partly because Byakuya himself interested him.
However, at that moment, the cultivation tank beneath Dr. Kanou's feet was suddenly shattered by something.
Byakuya's eyes could catch that four dark red kagune tentacles had destroyed the tank—Rize's kagune.
Rize Kamishiro now wore the Akatsuki Robe, her face covered by the white mask she'd had made at Uta's shop. The woman in the tank had already been pulled out by her kagune.
"What?"
Dr. Kanou was startled, clearly not expecting this.
Though "Eto" was slightly surprised, she didn't move to stop it. She had already determined that the one who destroyed the tank was Rize Kamishiro, which obviously had something to do with Byakuya.
Besides, this experimental subject wasn't that important to her anyway...
[Ding! The "Akatsuki" organization led by Host destroyed the cultivation tank and seized the experimental subject. Reward: 30 Fusion Points!]
Byakuya's expression remained neutral. He had indeed just agreed to let "Eto" have Dr. Kanou, but he'd never said he would leave the experimental subject for "Eto" as well.
Without an experimental subject, even if Dr. Kanou went to Aogiri Tree, he couldn't do much for the time being.
Of course, "Eto" wasn't in a hurry to have Dr. Kanou do anything either. In her plans, she would soon obtain a new and more powerful experimental subject—her father, Yoshimura...
...
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