On the rooftop of a building in the 11th Ward, a petite figure sat perched on the edge.
She wore a crimson robe, her small body wrapped tightly in layers of bandages. Her two slender legs swung back and forth in the air, carefree and lively. Her mood seemed unusually cheerful.
At that moment, a tall figure approached from behind.
"Eto, we've already gathered nearly all the ghouls in the 11th Ward," he reported calmly.
"Those who refused to comply have been driven out."
The girl sitting on the ledge was none other than Eto Yoshimura, the leader of the Aogiri Tree.
Her other identity was even more terrifying
the name that made countless CCG investigators tremble in fear:
The One-Eyed Owl.
"Tatara," Eto said lightly, her voice clear and ethereal, almost pleasant to the ear.
"Prepare a little longer. Once we're ready, we'll launch our attack on the 11th Ward."
"We'll completely destroy the CCG branch stationed here."
"War should begin already. If we don't show humans our power, they'll really believe they can wipe us out with ease."
"Eto… I'm afraid that plan may need to be postponed for a while," Tatara replied in a low voice.
"Hm?"
Eto slowly turned her head, her green eyes fastening onto him, unblinking and sharp.She couldn't understand why when everything had been progressing so smoothly the plan suddenly needed to be delayed.
"News came from the 7th Ward," Tatara explained gravely.
"The Tsukiyama family's Ghoul Restaurant was attacked."
"More than a hundred ghouls gathered there were slaughtered."
"And all of their kagune were removed."
"This level of casualties… aside from large-scale clashes with CCG investigators, this is the first time something like this has happened."
"That's why I believe we must identify whoever is behind this."
"Otherwise, when we engage the CCG, we might draw the attention and retaliation of this unknown force."
Tatara laid out his concerns clearly.
"A hundred ghouls… dead?"
Eto's voice turned noticeably cold.
In her eyes, Aogiri Tree was in a phase of rapid expansion.
They were on the verge of fully taking over the 11th Ward, while already beginning to infiltrate the 9th and 10th Wards.
Before long, Aogiri Tree would control a vast portion of B-City.
The 7th Ward had been a target sooner or later anyway.
Yet before she could even make a move, over a hundred ghouls there had already been wiped out.
It felt as though something that belonged to her had been destroyed.
"Yes," Tatara continued.
"According to our information, incidents of ghouls being hunted and having their kagune extracted first appeared in the 20th Ward."
"No one expected it to spread to the 7th Ward so quickly or in such a brutal manner."
"The 20th Ward…" Eto murmured softly.
"Perfect timing," she added, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
"I have a book signing in the 20th Ward tomorrow."
"Then let's investigate properly."
"I want to see exactly who has the guts to do something like this."
...
The next morning.
20th Ward.
Hands tucked casually into his pockets, Fushimi Kyo strolled leisurely toward school.
Along the way, he noticed groups of people gathered here and there, whispering excitedly among themselves.
"Is it true? Over a hundred ghouls were killed?"
"It's real! The news already reported it. They say the ghouls were all gathered together and got wiped out in one go."
"It has to be the CCG. Who else could possibly have that kind of strength?"
"Are you stupid or what? If it were the CCG, why would they put out a 36-million yen bounty for the culprit?"
"Thirty-six million! I wouldn't see that much money in my entire lifetime!"
"Either way, a hundred ghouls dying is a good thing for us. Those beasts live by eating humans."
"I just wonder who that hero is… It's unbelievable."
After clearly hearing their discussion, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Kyo's lips.
Indeed killing that many ghouls meant countless innocent people would be spared from becoming prey.
From that perspective alone, what he'd done truly was something remarkable.
"You seem to be in a good mood," a familiar voice suddenly spoke from behind him.
It was Touka.
Kyo turned around and smiled lightly.
"Over a hundred ghouls being killed is good news for humanity."
"As a human myself, of course I'm happy."
"Mm." Touka nodded.
"I heard you were taken away by the police yesterday," she said.
"What happened after that?"
Although she already knew those ghouls had been killed by the man standing in front of her, she still wanted to hear the details.
"Oh, that?" Kyo replied casually.
"I was pretty shocked after they took me to the station. They said I was a murder suspect."
"But after messing around for a while, they realized they'd arrested the wrong person."
"The real culprit was someone else, already caught and confessed, so they let me go."
He made it up on the spot.
He knew Touka didn't believe him but telling the truth would only make things more awkward between them.
"Hmph. Like I'd believe that," Touka snorted.
"If you don't want to talk about it, fine."
"You always feel like someone with a lot of secrets."
"Everyone has secrets," Kyo replied calmly.
"Take you working part-time at Anteiku, for example."
"If I hadn't run into you myself, I wouldn't have known you had a side job."
"Sometimes, not digging into each other's secrets makes getting along a lot more pleasant don't you think, Touka?"
He looked straight into her eyes, his expression unusually serious.
"…Mm."
Touka nodded slowly.
Soon, the two of them arrived at the classroom together.
"Touka! Kyo-kun! Have you heard?!"
The moment she saw them, Yoriko Kosaka practically bounced over, her face glowing with excitement.
"At noon today, Takatsuki Sen is holding a signing event at the bookstore near our school!"
"That's Takatsuki Sen we're talking about! I can't believe we actually have a chance to get her autograph!"
"Takatsuki Sen?" Touka replied honestly.
"I'm not really interested in her books."
She wasn't exactly an academic achiever.
Even keeping up with her third-year curriculum was exhausting enough she had no spare time to read novels.
So she felt nothing toward Takatsuki Sen at all.
"On the other hand," Kyo said with a smile,
"I'm pretty interested in that novelist."
"The signing's at noon, right? Yoriko, how about we go check it out together?"
"YES!"
"That's exactly what I was waiting for!"
Yoriko jumped up excitedly, unable to contain her joy.
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