Juuzou Suzuya

True to his title, Kishou Arima was a ghoul investigator who had never failed, and unquestionably the CCG's strongest fighter.

Many ghoul investigators idolized Kishou Arima, and the combat instructor standing before Amahane Byakuya was no exception.

"All right. Sorry for the trouble, instructor."

Amahane Byakuya said.

Having the instructor's help would certainly make applying for field training easier.

"Yes, I think someone with your abilities should have no trouble passing the field training."

The combat instructor told Amahane Byakuya, "But don't get too hung up on putting in an outstanding performance. Your safety should come first."

Of course, from a performance standpoint, the better Amahane Byakuya did during field training, the better it would reflect on the instructor.

Even so, the students' safety mattered more.

Since Amahane Byakuya and the combat instructor weren't speaking in private, Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa overheard them nearby.

The two girls immediately grew restless and came over as well.

If Amahane Byakuya excelled during field training, they would have even less of a chance.

So they had to participate in this round of field training and perform better than Amahane Byakuya.

"Instructor, Nashiro and I want to take part in the field training too."

Kurona Yasuhisa spoke up at once.

"You two want to join as well?"

The combat instructor was a little surprised. "Three students should be fine, I suppose. I'll try to secure spots for you."

Normally, the schools only arranged field training for their students near the end of the first year at the Ghoul Countermeasure Education Center or the end of the second year at the Ghoul Investigator Training School.

Early field training was therefore an exception, with limited spots that required an application.

Just then, Amahane Byakuya suddenly remembered a detail from the original story: before joining the CCG, Juuzou Suzuya had accompanied Kishou Arima on field-training missions in the 24th Ward.

However, since Juuzou Suzuya was a student at the Ghoul Countermeasure Education Center, he could only start as a Rank 3 ghoul investigator in the CCG after graduating.

Otherwise, given Juuzou Suzuya's abilities, making him a Rank 2 ghoul investigator would certainly have been no problem at all.

A little while later, the Quinque practical class ended.

"By the way, haven't you two been pretty hostile toward me right from the start?"

Before leaving, Amahane Byakuya asked Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa.

By "right from the start," he meant before he had told Kurona and Nashiro, "If you suck, practice more." Even then, he had already vaguely sensed the Yasuhisa sisters' hostility toward him.

"..."

Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa both remained silent, apparently unwilling to answer him.

Their silence only made it more likely that there was a reason behind it.

Amahane Byakuya thought it over. Perhaps it had something to do with Akihiro Kanou?

By this point in the timeline, Akihiro Kanou had long since forcibly taken over Nanao Yasuhisa's house-Kurona and Nashiro's home-and was using its basement as his secret experimental facility.

Unaware of the truth, Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa even called Akihiro Kanou "Dad."

Akihiro Kanou had probably deceived the sisters, when in reality he saw them as nothing more than test subjects for creating artificial one-eyed ghouls.

Since Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa refused to talk, Amahane Byakuya couldn't be bothered to keep pressing them.

With the combat instructor's help, Amahane Byakuya and the Yasuhisa sisters soon received a response.

Their classes changed accordingly, all to prepare them for the upcoming field training.

For instance, their basic theory classes were temporarily canceled and replaced with classes specifically focused on eliminating ghouls, covering subjects such as ghouls' weaknesses, the weaknesses of different types of kagune, and ghouls' feeding habits.

The students preparing for this round of field training were also temporarily assigned to a dedicated classroom.

Amahane Byakuya thus learned who would be taking part alongside him.

Aside from Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa, there were Juuzou Suzuya and two boys he didn't know.

The white-haired child with dark red eyes and a somewhat feminine face was Juuzou Suzuya.

He wore slippers in the classroom, had a small, thin frame, and had all sorts of strange stitches on his body...

Juuzou Suzuya (he looks a little uglier in the anime, but in the manga he's cuter than the girls).

Even though class was about to start, Juuzou Suzuya lounged there without a care, even using a needle and thread to play at "human embroidery" on his own body.

As though he felt no pain at all, he enjoyed himself immensely.

He was exactly the Juuzou Suzuya Amahane Byakuya remembered. It felt just right.

The situation in the classroom was rather interesting too. Kurona Yasuhisa, Nashiro Yasuhisa, and the two unfamiliar boys were clearly keeping their distance from Juuzou Suzuya, deliberately avoiding seats too close to his.

The school had already issued a public reprimand against Juuzou Suzuya. Hidemasa Togakage had pinned all of Tooru Mutsuki's cat killings on him, banking on Juuzou Suzuya's isolation and his perpetually indifferent attitude toward everything.

Juuzou Suzuya wouldn't explain himself, nor did he care what other people thought of him, making him the perfect scapegoat.

That incident had prejudiced both the Yasuhisa sisters and the two boys against Juuzou Suzuya.

Only Amahane Byakuya sat relatively close to him.

"All right, get ready. Class is starting."

The lecturer came in just then.

When class ended.

One of the boys, who had a buzz cut, took the initiative to get acquainted with everyone.

They all introduced themselves to one another, leaving only Juuzou Suzuya out.

Even without the cat-killing incident, Juuzou Suzuya's bizarre behavior would have kept most people from approaching him.

"So you're Amahane. Nice to meet you."

After the two boys finally introduced themselves to Amahane Byakuya, they simply skipped over Juuzou Suzuya.

But after a moment's thought, Amahane Byakuya walked over to Juuzou Suzuya and held out his hand with a smile. "I'm Amahane Byakuya. We'll be teammates from now on."

Juuzou Suzuya apparently hadn't expected anyone to approach him. He hesitated for a while before stopping his needlework, then looked at Amahane Byakuya's outstretched hand with a puzzled gaze.

He didn't seem to understand what the gesture meant, but he could at least sense the other boy's goodwill.

Just as Juuzou Suzuya opened his mouth to respond, Kurona Yasuhisa suddenly came over and warned Amahane Byakuya coldly:

"I'd advise you to stay away from him. He's the kind of guy who tortures even kittens to death."

P.S. That's the third update finished. I originally wanted to put out four updates in one go today as well to make up for the ones I owe, but it's too late. I can't keep writing until three or four in the morning every day. I'll make it up with four updates tomorrow.