Stop Saying "Cute"!

Right then, the subway arrived at the 23rd Ward station.

After waiting for a little while at the subway station, everyone had gathered.

However, Kishou Arima and the other Zero Squad members were not rendezvousing with them here, but rather waiting for them at the entrance of the 24th Ward just like yesterday.

Therefore, once they were all together, they immediately set off for the 24th Ward.

"Amahane-kun."

When Amahane Byakuya and Juuzou Suzuya met, Juuzou Suzuya actually took the initiative to greet him this time.

Although his tone was a bit stiff, after all, he had never interacted normally with other cadets in the training facility like this before.

"Good afternoon, Juuzou-kun."

Amahane Byakuya responded as well.

The two didn't have much exchange, just exchanging a simple greeting like that.

"You clearly know he has severe violent tendencies, yet you're still willing to get close to him like this?"

At this moment, Kurona Yasuhisa didn't bother controlling her volume, speaking directly to Amahane Byakuya like that.

And since Juuzou Suzuya was right behind Amahane Byakuya, he naturally heard what Kurona Yasuhisa had said.

Normally, he would never care about such things, but hearing Kurona Yasuhisa say those words to Amahane Byakuya made him inexplicably want to defend himself.

Yet he still didn't speak up; after all, even if he explained, no one would believe him, and the director had already issued a circular criticizing him directly.

"Even though all of you say that, I actually don't think Juuzou-kun is the one who did those things."

At that, Amahane Byakuya expressed his own view.

However, he couldn't directly say that he had witnessed Tooru Mutsuki kill the cats with his own eyes back then, and that Hidemasa Togakage had covered for Tooru Mutsuki.

First of all, without evidence, no one would believe him; secondly, this matter had already involved the Academy's director.

Although the director probably didn't know the truth either, merely listening to and believing what Hidemasa Togakage had said.

Yet without evidence to refute Hidemasa Togakage, Amahane Byakuya stepping forward would undoubtedly offend quite a few people, including the director.

Of course, with his strength, he didn't need to fear them, but if he really displayed his full strength, he would definitely be targeted by the Washuu Clan. Being targeted by the Washuu Clan in advance would be extremely disadvantageous to his subsequent actions.

It was true that he had the ability to protect himself, but he couldn't possibly spend every day hiding away while secretly growing stronger. If the Washuu Clan truly targeted him, they would definitely launch an endless hunt just like they did against Yoshimura Kuzen back then, which would be far too boring.

Therefore, before he had fully developed, Amahane Byakuya just wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble, which was why he had decisively turned and left the moment he saw Tooru Mutsuki and Hidemasa Togakage back then.

?!...

As soon as Amahane Byakuya uttered those words, Juuzou Suzuya was instantly startled.

He had never even bothered to defend himself, yet Amahane Byakuya actually believed he hadn't done it?

"You... you've got to be kidding, right? Things that even the director put out a notice about-don't you believe the director?"

Kurona Yasuhisa asked in a surprised tone.

"I know about that, but I still feel like Juuzou-kun wouldn't do such a thing. I consider my read on people to be quite accurate."

Amahane Byakuya still maintained.

"Since you say your read on people is so accurate, then what kind of person am I in your eyes?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Kurona Yasuhisa immediately added, "Don't you dare say the word 'cute' again!"

"You're clearly so cute, yet you won't let me use the word cute-you really are a bit cute, you know."

Amahane Byakuya said with a faint smile.

Hearing this, Kurona Yasuhisa's face turned slightly red, and she said with a hint of bashful indignation, "I already told you not to use the word 'cute'!"

"Alright, alright."

Refraining from teasing Kurona Yasuhisa any further, Amahane Byakuya said in a serious tone, "Then... emotional deprivation."

"Emotional deprivation?"

Kurona Yasuhisa hadn't expected Amahane Byakuya to say that.

"Yes, that's what my intuition tells me."

Amahane Byakuya spouted nonsense with a straight face.

He almost couldn't keep a straight face himself, feeling practically like a charlatan.

Of course this wasn't any so-called intuition, but rather an analysis he had conducted on Kurona Yasuhisa from a "god's-eye view".

To be precise, both Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa suffered from a lack of affection because they lost their biological father at a very young age. As for their mother, she wasn't even mentioned once in the original work.

Later on, Akihiro Kanou forcefully occupied the Yasuhisa estate, likely sweet-talking the young Kurona and Nashiro at the time. Having lost their family at a young age and lacking care, Kurona and Nashiro came to regard Akihiro Kanou as a "father", obeying him in every possible way and even willingly accepting the artificial half-ghoul experiments.

Just thinking about it made it obvious that Kurona and Nashiro were bound to be starved for affection.

"Your intuition is inaccurate then. I am definitely not starved for affection."

Kurona Yasuhisa refused to admit she lacked affection, or perhaps she simply hadn't realized that she did.

Amahane Byakuya merely smiled and didn't dwell on it further. "Actually, whether you're starved for affection or not doesn't matter. Anyway, Kurona-kun is very cute, and that's the most important thing I want to say."

"Y-You're doing it again!"

Kurona Yasuhisa's cheeks flushed red in an instant, her usual aloof demeanor vanishing completely.

At that moment, Juuzou Suzuya paid no attention to what Amahane Byakuya and Kurona Yasuhisa were discussing. In his heart, he was thinking that since Amahane-kun truly believed him so much, perhaps he could find a chance to properly explain things to Amahane-kun.

Whether the others believed him or not didn't matter to him at all; he only hoped that Amahane-kun could believe what he said.

Just like yesterday at the same spot, Amahane Byakuya and the others rendezvoused with the entire Zero Squad and prepared to enter the 24th Ward.

Those few members of the Zero Squad were still wearing that same white combat uniform, which seemed to be the exclusive, unified attire of the Zero Squad.

Other CCG ghoul investigators wouldn't dress as conspicuously as them, generally opting for casual wear or formal attire like suits. Being too eye-catching made it inconvenient to capture ghouls, unlike the Zero Squad, which possessed absolute, overwhelming strength.

"Zero Squad Combat Uniform"

"Amahane-san!"

The moment Hajime Iba spotted Amahane Byakuya, he waved at him.

"You've already gotten this close with him."

At that moment, Yusa Arima, standing nearby, spoke up.

"Hajime has always been like that, but it's true that Hajime is clearly much closer to that Amahane-san than he is to ordinary people."

Rikai Soutou remarked indifferently.

"Anyway, barring any accidents, he'll be our colleague in the future. It's a good thing to build a good relationship beforehand."

Ui Koori said with a faint smile.

In his view, given Amahane Byakuya's performance, there was a high probability he would enter the CCG as the top graduate-unless there were even more monstrous anomalies among the other cadets in the same cohort, though he felt that possibility was very low.

Moreover, Amahane Byakuya had plenty of room for upward mobility. He estimated that Amahane Byakuya had the potential to become a Special-Class Ghoul Investigator in the future; of course, that was his conservative estimate as well.

ps: Three chapters completed, please send some gifts~