Contradictions

The next day.

Fuyuko's face was pale, her eyes filled with nothing but despair.

They had broken their promise... Her good friend Niko Kuroba was dead too, the three ghouls had not left, and she had suffered another night of abuse.

Burdened by guilt toward Niko Kuroba and unease, Fuyuko returned to school.

Time ticked slowly by.

"It's lunchtime... Everyone, please keep checking whether you can reach Niko Kuroba. Let me know right away if you hear anything."

After hearing the teacher's announcement, Fuyuko sat like a puppet, an air of death hanging around her.

Go tell the CCG... Let them all die... Dad and Mom are gone... My best friend is gone too...

You're a ghoul. Go somewhere else and start over. You can make new friends and live a new life.

Two figures, one black and one white, argued beside Fuyuko, each clinging to its own reasoning as their debate went on and on.

Fuyuko's resolve teetered on the brink. She no longer knew which path to choose.

"Is it her?"

"Yes! That's her!"

The quiet lunch break was shattered, and everyone turned toward the door.

"It's Yuri. What's she talking about?" Yoriko looked toward the door in confusion from her corner, while Touka Kirishima sat across from her, looking miserable.

Every lunchtime was torture for Touka. To blend into human society, she had to eat human food and carefully maintain her relationships with humans to avoid being reported.

For ghouls, eating human food was like eating flavorless sponge, a torment of both taste and texture. Their different digestive systems also meant they could not digest human food at all, and it could even make them vomit.

If a human grew suspicious and reported them, death would follow. The CCG, the Ghoul Countermeasures Bureau, did not care about their identity or standing. Once a report arrived, investigators would be sent to determine whether they were ghouls.

Staring at the food she could barely stomach, Touka Kirishima swallowed what Yoriko had given her as though she were marching onto a battlefield.

Touka Kirishima did not even dare chew much. She merely imitated the pace at which humans ate, then swallowed while fighting back her nausea.

"Fuyuko is a ghoul... She got Niko Kuroba killed!"

Yuri pointed at Fuyuko and shouted. Being back among humans seemed to have given her a sense of security, and her voice was no longer as quiet as before.

"What?! Yuri, you're not joking, are you?"

"Fuyuko is a ghoul? No wonder she was absent for so long."

"Is it true, Fuyuko? I'm willing to believe your answer."

"Fuyuko is actually a ghoul? Can't you just hurry up and die?! You're not even human, yet you're living among us."

"You're worse than an animal. Hurry up and die! I must've been blind to go to the same school as you."

Yuri's words struck the calm surface like a massive boulder, sending towering waves through the classroom. Every student stared at Fuyuko with condemnation and disgust. A few spoke up for her, but their voices were drowned out by the abuse.

"Fuyuko is a ghoul?!" Yoriko cried out, her eyes full of disbelief.

Beside her, Touka had already fixed her gaze on the man standing next to Yuri. The revelation that Fuyuko was a ghoul had not stirred her emotions.

"The Executioner... What a terrifying human."

Touka Kirishima watched Huiqi gravely. Even though her strength had already reached S-rate, she still trembled, an instinctive fear and dread rising within her.

"I... I..." Fuyuko stammered, trying to explain, but everyone saw it as nothing more than an attempt to cover up the truth.

"Stop making excuses. I saw you take Kuroba home with my own eyes that day."

"No... They promised me... As long as I brought her back, I could leave, and my parents could come back... B-but they lied to me!"

"Do you know how much Kuroba cared about you?! She treasured your friendship so much, and you got her killed... I regret it for her."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Tears streamed from Fuyuko's eyes as she dropped to her knees and knocked her forehead against the floor.

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me. You should go to hell and find Niko Kuroba."

Huiqi watched impatiently from the doorway. Since she still had not used her kagune, he could not act immediately. Under CCG regulations, investigators could only use their Quinques in urban areas once a ghoul used its kagune.

Of course, under certain special circumstances, Huiqi would not follow the rules. People were alive, after all, while rules were not.

"Go to hell... To hell...? I really do deserve to go to hell. I got my best friend killed with my own hands."

"Just die already. You've wasted enough of my time." Growing increasingly irritated by the scene before him, Huiqi produced a jet-black throwing knife and aimed it at Fuyuko's head.

"Before I die, please kill them! They're in my house."

Fuyuko's voice was full of hatred. Those three ghouls had brought every misfortune upon her.

"Already slaughtered them. Three scumbags who escaped from Ward 10."

"Thank you..."

At that, Huiqi flicked the throwing knife into her heart. The blow was fatal, but it would spare her any pain.

"She's dead... Fuyuko is dead..." Beside him, Yuri stared ahead, dazed. The person who had been speaking just moments ago was now a corpse.

The classmate who had once laughed and joked with her had died before her eyes. It all felt unreal, like an illusion or a bubble. Having witnessed her old friend's death, she was overwhelmed by a tangled flood of emotions.

"Can't accept it? That's how society works. We Ghoul Investigators face all sorts of things fighting on the front lines."

Huiqi turned toward the despondent Yuri and spoke.

"I... regret it a little..." Yuri said in a voice only she could hear.

"Great job! Good kill!"

"She should've died ages ago!"

"You should've killed her sooner instead of listening to her nonsense. What does a ghoul know?"

"Good kill. If we hadn't found out in time, that scum would've hurt someone else."

"Way to go, Ghoul Investigator! From now on, you're my big brother!"

The students around them shouted excitedly, and the atmosphere grew jubilant. Everyone celebrated Special Class Investigator Huiqi's killing of the ghoul.

Yet in the corner, Touka Kirishima remained silent.

She recalled what the manager had taught her.

"You must hold love for humans in your heart."

"Not all humans are filled with malice."

"We must help one another to survive."

Manager... Do you see this...? After everything we've done, after trying our hardest, all we receive is betrayal and cheers.

That afternoon...

Touka Kirishima returned to the coffee shop, looking dejected, her movements stiff.

"What's wrong?"

Ken Kaneki looked at Touka Kirishima in confusion. Gloom seemed to radiate from her.

"Nothing. I just feel that certain things aren't worth it."

"Not worth it?"

Watching Touka's back as she went upstairs, Ken Kaneki echoed her words without thinking.

Just as Ken Kaneki was about to ask more, Yomo suddenly came downstairs. "Come somewhere with me in a little while. Someone wants to meet you."

"Meet me?"

Ken Kaneki pointed at himself in confusion.