Touka Kirishima

After Rize Kamishiro left, Amahane Byakuya remained in the café, in no hurry to leave.

After all, the café was home to plenty of major characters from the original story, including the manager, Yoshimura Kuzen, Touka Kirishima, and Renji Yomo. Perhaps he could accidentally trigger the system's reward mechanism again.

Of course, Amahane Byakuya wasn't about to deliberately bother them or try to strike up a conversation.

Since the café had a bookshelf, Amahane Byakuya decided to pick out a book and take his time reading it there. He hadn't finished his coffee yet, either.

On the shelf, he found several books by Sen Takatsuki.

At this point in the timeline, which was probably a little before the original story began, Sen Takatsuki was already a hugely famous author.

Amahane Byakuya was genuinely interested in Sen Takatsuki's work, so he decided to give it a try.

He knew perfectly well that this bestselling young beauty of an author had another identity: the SSS-rated ghoul known as the "One-Eyed Owl" from the ghoul organization Aogiri Tree. Her real name was Eto. (Also translated as Yoshimura Aizhi or Yoshimura Ganzhi.)

That was precisely why he was so interested in her work.

Amahane Byakuya chose Sen Takatsuki's debut novel, "To Kafka." The original story had never described its contents in detail, so he was now reading something entirely new to him.

While he focused on "To Kafka," quite a few ghouls nearby continued whispering about him.

[Ding! The host has read "To Kafka" and received a reward: 1 fusion point!]

When Amahane Byakuya was halfway through the book, he suddenly triggered the system's reward mechanism.

Although it was only one fusion point, what mattered was how broad the range of triggers was. Even reading a book could earn him fusion points, evidently because it was one of Sen Takatsuki's works.

Amahane Byakuya immediately felt that he could read all of Sen Takatsuki's books whenever he had some free time.

His attention soon returned to "To Kafka." Even though he had only read half of it, he could already sense Sen Takatsuki's distinctive style.

It carried the oppression, despair, pessimism toward the world, and distrust of everyone that could only be found in Sen Takatsuki's works... All those elements formed a style that only Eto, who had grown up somewhere as utterly brutal as the 24th Ward, could possess.

Still, the plot was excellent overall. That personal style wasn't really a flaw; instead, it became part of the appeal. A distinctive voice was always more compelling than the same tired, formulaic style.

Just then, Amahane Byakuya suddenly felt a little hungry. He glanced up at the clock on the wall and realized that evening had arrived while he was absorbed in his reading.

It was time to get dinner.

Amahane Byakuya placed a bookmark on the page he had reached, then carried the book over to the counter.

"Hello, could I borrow this book for the night? I'll return it tomorrow morning."

Amahane Byakuya asked the waitress at the counter.

The waitress in front of him was a girl with short blue-purple hair, dressed in a work uniform.

Her hairstyle was rather unusual, though, with bangs that almost covered her right eye. She looked quiet and shy, with delicate, cute features.

The girl was unmistakably Touka Kirishima. Amahane Byakuya recognized her at a glance.

Touka Kirishima

At the moment, however, Touka Kirishima's expression was rather cool. "Sorry, we don't offer a book-lending service. But if you really want to borrow it, you can leave a deposit. As long as you return it on time tomorrow, we'll refund your deposit."

The main issue was that Rize Kamishiro might suddenly eat this guy at any moment, in which case the book wouldn't be coming back either. At least a deposit would cover some of the loss.

"Sure."

Amahane Byakuya felt around in his pocket and found that he really did have money.

At the same time, the system fed some information into his mind, explaining his current circumstances.

It essentially told him where he lived, that both his parents were dead, that he owned a car and a home, and that he was a student at Kamii University.

Of course, this was all an identity the system had arranged for him. In other words, the system had directly altered certain things in this world, as casually and easily as an author changing the setting of their own book.

Kamii University...

From what Amahane Byakuya remembered, it was a prestigious university in this world's Tokyo. Back in China, it would be on par with a Project 985 university-not somewhere just anyone could get into.

The system had certainly made him look good. Still, compared with owning a car and a home or attending an elite university, the ability to "fuse with Madara Uchiha" was far more impressive. Everything else was just icing on the cake.

Amahane Byakuya casually took out the deposit and handed it to Touka Kirishima, then left the café with "To Kafka."

As Amahane Byakuya departed, Touka Kirishima watched his retreating figure for a little while.

"Touka, are you a little interested in that boy?"

Another waitress, named Kaya Irimi, teased Touka Kirishima.

"Not at all. It just annoys me a little to see Rize Kamishiro treating that human as prey."

Touka Kirishima spoke bluntly, keeping her voice low.

"But there's nothing we can do. We can't keep that woman in line. She's practically a natural disaster. Apparently, every ward she's stayed in has been left in utter chaos. She even got the leader of the Sixth Ward captured by the CCG."

Kaya Irimi sounded somewhat helpless.

"I know. That's why I'm not planning to meddle."

Touka Kirishima pushed those distracting thoughts aside and stopped dwelling on Rize Kamishiro's mess.

Neither of them really understood why Manager Yoshimura let such a menace as Rize Kamishiro do as she pleased.

But from an omniscient perspective, the explanation was simple: Rize Kamishiro's true identity was a "breeder" of the Washuu Clan. The Washuu Clan was the enemy Yoshimura Kuzen feared most, and could also be called the main antagonistic force in the world of "Tokyo Ghoul."

If Yoshimura Kuzen laid a hand on Rize Kamishiro, Anteiku, which he had poured so much effort into building, would inevitably be destroyed. All he could do was turn a blind eye to her various outrageous acts.

Staff members such as Touka Kirishima and Kaya Irimi naturally knew nothing of Yoshimura Kuzen's history with the Washuu Clan, so they couldn't understand Manager Yoshimura's attitude toward Rize Kamishiro.

Meanwhile, Amahane Byakuya was on his way home.

He continued reading as he walked, stepping around anyone he spotted out of the corner of his eye.

Just then, however, he caught a glimpse of a petite figure who looked familiar.

He instinctively looked up and discovered that it was Eto-Sen Takatsuki, the author of the book "To Kafka" he was holding.

P.S. This is the third update. As usual, during the new-book period, there will be at least three updates a day.