That morning, before the café opened, Hideyoshi Nagachika arrived.
"I don't have a phone..." Louis scratched his head awkwardly.
Ever since Louis had said those things beside Hide, the two of them had exchanged a few words whenever Hide visited the café. Of course, it was only idle chatter. Both of them acted as though nothing had happened that day.
Today, however, Hide had specifically asked Louis for his contact information.
Louis had no legal identity here, so naturally, he couldn't get a phone number. Besides, he didn't really have anyone to contact.
"No way... You actually don't have a phone!" Hide looked astonished. "Then how do you keep in touch with people?"
"I'm usually here at the café, so I don't need one. If you want to find me, just come here." Louis was also curious about why Hide had suddenly asked for his contact information, but he could only brush the question aside.
"Oh, okay." Hide nodded, looking a little disappointed. He took a sip of coffee and glanced at the person who had just come down from the second floor. His eyes suddenly widened, and he spat out his coffee.
"Nishio?!"
Nishiki Nishio was a student at Kamii University, a year above Kaneki and Hide. All three of them knew one another.
"Oh, it's you, Hide. Still wearing that sour face, I see." Dressed in a café waiter's uniform, Nishiki Nishio looked resigned as he immediately took a jab at Hide.
After the previous incident, the manager and Kaneki had persuaded him to join Anteiku, working in exchange for the food stored there.
"The more I look at you, the less you seem to fit in here, Nishio." That tone confirmed that this really was Nishiki Nishio, and Hide couldn't resist firing back.
"Watch it, or I'll kick you out. Besides, it's so early we're still getting ready to open." Nishiki Nishio leaned against the counter, looking rather exasperated.
"Anyway, why are you working here too, Nishio?" Hide kept repeating his name and chattering away, apparently determined to get an answer. Mostly, it was because he rarely got to see this side of Nishiki Nishio.
"You're such a pain. A lot's happened to me, too." Nishiki Nishio grew increasingly exasperated by Hide's endless questions. He couldn't exactly admit he had come to Anteiku because life had beaten him down, could he?
"Ha! Is it because of Touka?!" Something suddenly occurred to Hide, and his eyes widened.
"Huh? Who would fall for that brainless woman?!" Nishiki Nishio retorted. That, at least, came straight from the heart.
"Careful, or you'll get beaten up." Louis took a sip of coffee. Thanks to Nishiki Nishio, he didn't have to work today.
"She can't hear me anyway. I haven't seen her around for days." Nishiki Nishio spread his hands. Behind him, Irimi Kyouko, who was arranging the cups, promptly placed a brush in his hand, signaling that it was time to get to work.
Hide asked, "Touka still isn't feeling better?"
Kaneki replied, "No..."
Since the previous incident, Touka hadn't gone out. Nobody knew exactly why.
But Louis suspected that the bond between Nishiki Nishio and Kimi Nishino had reminded her of something.
As they chatted, sobbing came from a corner of the café. Then they spotted Hinami.
"I want to see Daddy!" Hinami wiped her tears with her arm, then ran upstairs crying, leaving her mother sitting helplessly in the corner.
Over the past few days, Hinami had missed her father more and more. She had lost control of her emotions several times, and all she talked about was her daddy.
Louis had already made her a whole Fueguchi family meal set. He was truly out of ideas.
Children are so hard to soothe...
The outer ends of Ryouko Fueguchi's eyebrows drooped slightly. Hinami's mother looked upset as well. "I'm sorry. Hinami's father hasn't contacted us in a long time, so..."
At those words, Louis frowned, and the hand holding his coffee paused.
He hasn't contacted them in a long time...
Then there's a good chance that has already happened...
Hinami's mother didn't notice anything unusual about Louis and began explaining to Kaneki. "Hinami's father got into some trouble in the 13th Ward before, but he hasn't done anything like that in a long time. After Hinami was born... To Hinami and me, he's a very gentle man. He's also the most important member of our family."
"..."
Hide left. Kaneki and Hinami's mother went upstairs to do who knew what, leaving only Nishio, Louis, and Irimi Kyouko, who was in charge of making coffee, in the café.
"The wounds on your face..." Irimi Kyouko looked at the faint scars on Louis's face and tentatively brought them up.
Louis touched his face. Although the wounds had healed, the scars would still take some time to fade. "I don't heal as quickly as you do. These scars will need another few days to disappear."
Nishiki Nishio glanced at the wounds on Louis's face and scratched his cheek, but he just couldn't get any words of thanks out. "You actually managed to fight Tsukiyama for that long. When we first met, you couldn't even last a few exchanges against me."
Ever since he had joined the café, Louis was finally no longer the weakest person there.
As for Kaneki, his physical abilities were actually formidable, even surpassing Tsukiyama's and Touka's. Unfortunately, he had too little combat experience, and his attacks weren't fierce or decisive enough. That was why he seemed so weak.
"By the way, Kyouko, why don't you and Mr. Koma usually say much?" Remembering how the two normally behaved, Louis quickly asked.
Whenever the others chatted, she and Koma usually stayed silent, but whenever someone asked them for help, they were always eager to lend a hand.
Irimi Kyouko paused, then looked up and thought for a moment. "I suppose watching you all fool around is fun..."
"I'm surprised you noticed. It's probably the age gap. At our age, we just want to watch you all brimming with youth a little longer." A wistful look appeared on Irimi Kyouko's face.
"You make it sound like you're ancient." Louis couldn't help chuckling.
Irimi Kyouko looked twenty-eight or twenty-nine at most. She was always gentle and caring, a typical mature woman. Louis hadn't asked her exact age, because he had heard that asking a woman her age outright was rude.
Louis didn't know much about Irimi Kyouko or Koma. He only recalled that they were both very gentle people.
As they spoke, two people suddenly came downstairs: the Fueguchi mother and daughter, who had been at odds earlier. Now, however, they seemed to have made up. They had an umbrella with them and appeared ready to go out.
"I'm taking Hinami out to buy a few things." Hinami's mother smiled gently and said goodbye to them.
"Okay..." Louis answered, watching the two leave the café.
Going out at a time like this...
"Could they run into danger out there?" Watching this familiar scene, Louis recalled that morning's conversation and connected it with fragments of his memories. He couldn't help bringing it up.
Nishiki Nishio shrugged dismissively. "Even Tsukiyama got beaten into the ground. Who around here would still dare touch anyone from Anteiku?"
"I'm going to learn even more words and give Daddy a big surprise!" Hinami held her mother's hand. It was a rare outing for her, and even the rain couldn't dampen her good mood.
"Yes... You're working so hard, Hinami." Ryouko Fueguchi nodded gently, but a moment later, her mild expression grew tense.
Not far ahead of them, several men in plain clothes were questioning passersby with a set of photographs, as though quietly investigating something.
Although she rarely got involved in these conflicts, Hinami's mother could still sense the danger. She immediately stopped Hinami from walking farther. "Let's go back first."
"Huh? Aren't we going to the next shop?" Hinami clearly hadn't noticed the danger yet, but she soon saw the expression on her mother's face.
The two walked away hand in hand.
But the men in plain clothes had already noticed them...
[Ding! The location of an imminent battle has been identified!]
Deep inside the box, the man in black looked at the location marked by the system and took a deep breath. Ice crystals gradually covered his face.
Before you continue