Anteiku's front room.
"Not many customers today... By the way..."
"Where's Roma?" When Nishio arrived for work, he noticed that the other person on his shift hadn't shown up.
"The Manager said she came in yesterday to resign," Koma replied from behind the counter.
"Did I go too far with what I said last time?" Nishiki Nishio stopped what he was doing and turned to look at him.
"I don't think so." Koma glanced out the window, then walked to the door and flipped the open sign over.
"We have some special guests coming today, so we need to close early."
"Guests..." Nishiki Nishio looked up and saw several people coming through the door.
The familiar white hair, white eyepatch, and white shirt stood out as he lingered stiffly at Anteiku's entrance, seemingly preoccupied.
"Nishio, Mr. Koma..."
Before Kaneki could finish, a small child peeked out from behind him. She lifted the glasses and wig she had worn as a disguise, revealing her young face and innocent smile.
"Ah... Come on in..." Nishio's expression stiffened. The contrast between Kaneki's familiar appearance and unfamiliar demeanor created an unnerving sense of distance, leaving him unsure how to react.
Once everyone had entered, Koma stepped outside instead. He looked down and spotted Sante and Banjō by the car. "Aren't you coming in to sit down with us?"
"No. We're carrying out Mr. Louis's orders. We still have things to do." Banjō looked up at Koma.
"Ah, that's a shame." Koma looked at the black sedan's rear window. Though he couldn't see inside, he could detect two other scents. Judging by those scents, they belonged to ghouls stronger than Banjō and Sante.
"Pretty impressive..."
Who could have imagined that someone who couldn't even beat an A-Rank ghoul before would now have so many S-Rank