“The higher-ups just assigned us another mission, and its priority is even higher than Rize and Jason.”
Koutarou Amon, a well-built man standing about six-foot-one with handsome features and a black suit, slipped his communicator back into his pocket as he spoke.
“Interesting. Looks like there are quite a few big fish hiding beneath the muddy waters of Ward 20.”
Kureo Mado stopped walking and glanced at his reflection in the glass wall beside him.
His hair was completely white, his posture slightly hunched, and he wore the gray uniform unique to CCG investigators.
One eye was larger than the other.
Combined with the almost crazed smile on his face, he looked more than a little mentally unstable.
“Come on. Let’s grab an appetizer first and put me in a good mood.”
Mado tugged at the white glove covering his left hand.
He had no intention of letting ghoul blood stain his wedding ring.
“According to CCG intelligence, one of Jason’s underlings should be inside the nightclub ahead. Maybe we can pry something useful out of him.”
Ever since Kureo Mado had personally watched his wife get mauled beyond recognition by the One-Eyed Owl, something inside him had broken completely.
From that day onward, he hated every ghoul alive.
That hatred had long since twisted into something pathological.
…
“Early this morning, extensive structural damage was discovered along Murashima Street in Tokyo’s Ward 20 and the surrounding area. Multiple traces of human blood were also found at the scene, with ghoul saliva detected on several samples.
“According to current police estimates, there are at least three victims. Authorities have tentatively concluded that ghouls were responsible.
“Citizens are advised to avoid going out late at night for the time being. Police will continue investigating until the suspects are apprehended.”
At that moment, inside a coffee shop called Anteiku, an elderly man with a gentle smile handed Touka a cup of coffee.
“Only that guy would cause this much trouble without giving a damn about the rules.”
Touka stared at the television mounted on the wall, her expression blank.
“Rize Kamishiro is still alive.”
The old man set down the coffee and walked back behind the counter.
“Rize isn’t dead?” Touka looked surprised. “Then the organs inside Kaneki are…?”
She had no idea that, at that very moment, Ken Kaneki was getting the shit beaten out of him by Nishiki Nishio.
Coincidentally, Nishiki happened to be Kaneki’s upperclassman at university.
And since Kaneki had dared to trespass into his feeding ground, Nishiki naturally had every intention of teaching him a lesson.
“They’re Rize’s.”
The old man picked up a clean towel and began wiping a coffee cup.
“Do you remember that organ-transplant story from a while ago? Two students were crushed beneath falling steel beams. The doctor personally ordered the organs of the deceased female student to be transplanted into the boy who survived.”
Touka frowned.
“Early yesterday morning, Enji Koma came to find me. He said someone was hunting ghouls throughout Ward 20, and not quietly either. More than twenty ghouls had already been killed.”
The male waiter standing beside the old man had light brown hair swept neatly back and a broad nose.
He rolled up his sleeve.
A vicious scar ran across his right arm.
“I used to be called the Devil Ape, you know,” Enji Koma said with a bitter smile. “But against that guy, I couldn’t even last one move.”
He glanced down at the scar.
“Luckily, the whole place was chaos at the time. That’s the only reason I managed to escape.”
His expression became serious.
“I also saw Rize Kamishiro.”
Touka immediately looked at him.
“But she was being dragged around by the neck by that man. From the looks of it, she’d completely lost her freedom. And something was seriously wrong with her mental state. It looked almost like…”
“Psychological collapse caused by excessive cannibalism,” Yoshimura supplied calmly.
“Exactly.”
Koma nodded.
“Rize’s eyes were blood-red the entire time, and she kept screaming that she was hungry.”
Remembering what he had seen the night before, Koma’s face turned grave.
“So Rize survived having her organs removed,” Yoshimura said. “And for reasons we still don’t understand, she somehow ended up in that ghoul’s hands.”
He paused before continuing.
“By the time I arrived, there was nothing left except blood everywhere and severed limbs scattered across the ground.”
Yoshimura lowered his gaze.
“There was no sign of the man himself.”
“Kaneki is in danger.”
Touka had no idea what Ivan’s real goal was, but one thing was obvious.
Kaneki had Rize’s organs inside him.
That alone made his current situation extremely dangerous.
Touka immediately stood up and headed for the café entrance.
“Kaya Irimi, please follow her and keep an eye on things,” Yoshimura said to the female employee inside the shop.
The stern-looking woman nodded once and followed Touka outside.
Enji Koma and Kaya Irimi had once been the leaders of two major ghoul groups operating beneath Ward 20, the Devil Ape and the Black Dobers.
Both had been rated SS by the CCG.
In the end, however, Yoshimura had managed to change them.
They abandoned their old lives and joined Anteiku, becoming ordinary employees at the coffee shop.
…
[Rc Cell Fusion in Progress: Current Progress 61%]
Inside a long-abandoned villa, Ivan sat on the sofa watching the news while enjoying a shoulder massage from Rize Kamishiro, the infamous Binge Eater.
Rize stared at the back of his head, murder written all over her eyes.
But the moment she remembered just how terrifyingly strong the man was, she had no choice but to force the bloodlust back down.
Humiliation.
She had never suffered this much humiliation in her entire life.
And somehow, Ivan had managed to cram more of it into a single night than everyone else had in all the years before.
After eating the kakuhou from the ghouls he killed, the bastard had actually tossed the mutilated corpses to her.
Like feeding scraps to a pet.
“Sir, massaging your shoulders isn’t the only thing I’m good at.”
Rize leaned close to Ivan’s ear, breathing out a sweet fragrance.
“Is that so? Sit here.”
Ivan patted the empty space beside him.
A trace of disgust crossed Rize’s eyes.
Then it vanished beneath a charming smile.
“Of course. I’ll make sure to serve you wholeheartedly.”
“Should we warm up the mood first?”
She stepped in front of Ivan and pressed a pale finger against her pink lips.
Then she slowly bent forward, deliberately presenting the generous view beneath her clothes directly in front of him.
Ivan straightened his back.
The next second, his right hand punched straight through Rize’s sexy waist.
Bang!
His fingers curled inside her flesh.
Then he ripped out a bloody kakuhou.
“Mm. The concentration’s gone up a little.”
Ivan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Keep working hard.”
He stood and walked over to the window.
At some point, several black cars had surrounded the villa.
A muscular man in a white suit stepped out of one of them.
Under the jacket, he wore a dark red shirt.
A hockey mask covered his face.
As he got out, he calmly adjusted the purple tie around his neck, patterned with dark red flowers.
The doors of the other black cars opened at the same time.
Nearly twenty men dressed in black stepped out and formed an orderly line behind him.
“So the bait I left behind finally paid off.”
Warm sunlight passed through the glass and fell across Ivan’s smiling face.
For Rize, who was clutching the hole in her waist, that smile only made her colder.
Suppressing the pain, she staggered over behind Ivan and followed his gaze outside.
Her expression changed instantly.
“Jason!”