Hinami, who had been walking beside her mother, suddenly lit up. She broke free of her mother's hand and dashed off. "It's Daddy's scent! Daddy's come to get us!"
"That's impossible... Hinami, come back!" Ryouko Fueguchi had already realized something was wrong, but it was too late to catch Hinami. Deeply uneasy, she dropped her umbrella and chased after her through the rain.
"Daddy, Daddy!" Following the scent, Hinami reached a quiet alley. The father she had longed for day and night was nowhere to be seen. Instead, two men carrying cases waited silently beneath umbrellas in the rain.
The place was eerily quiet. Aside from the two men dressed in white, there was no one else around.
"Dad... dy...?" Hinami looked at the source of the scent: the case in the white-haired man's hand. A terrible suspicion arose in her heart, and her face immediately paled.
"Hinami..." Just then, her mother, Ryouko Fueguchi, caught up. Her eyes slowly widened at the sight of the two men carrying cases. She understood the situation far better than Hinami did.
"What lovely rain..." The white-haired man raised his umbrella a little, revealing the twisted face beneath it. "But if it keeps coming down this hard, it'll be rather troublesome... I won't be able to hear your screams..."
As he spoke, two men in black plainclothes closed in on the alley's exit. They drew specially made handguns from their waists and blocked the way out.
This was clearly a trap: lure ghouls into a deserted alley, then eliminate them at the lowest possible cost.
"Could you spare us a little time, Mrs. Fueguchi...?" The white-haired man turned his twisted face toward the mother and daughter, unable to conceal the excitement in his eyes.
Ryouko Fueguchi understood. As though she had made a decision, her gaze gradually hardened, and she gently patted Hinami, who was trembling beside her in fear.
"Hinami..."
She closed her eyes. The back of her clothes bulged as a huge, moth-wing-shaped koukaku slowly emerged behind her.
Under CCG regulations, once a ghoul revealed their kagune or kakugan in front of others, investigators were permitted to use quinques to kill and eliminate them.
The tall young man beside the white-haired man immediately pressed the button on his case. The enormous case instantly transformed into a quinque weapon-a blunt weapon with a long handle and a cylindrical head.
Ryouko Fueguchi wrapped her enormous kagune around herself and her daughter. Then she crouched down and brushed aside Hinami's hair, wanting one last look at her face.
"Hinami... run."
Ryouko Fueguchi was not skilled at fighting. Knowing she was no match for the two Ghoul Investigators, she intended to hold them off with her life in exchange for her daughter's survival.
"Mom..." Tears spilled from Hinami's eyes. No matter how oblivious she might have been, she understood what was happening now. The mother before her might leave her forever.
"Be a good girl, Hinami. Go back to Anteiku first. I promise I'll be back soon." A tear slid from the corner of Ryouko Fueguchi's eye. As a mother, she desperately wanted to see her child grow up, but now it seemed that wish would never come true.
"No... no..." Hinami threw her arms around her mother.
"..." Ryouko Fueguchi closed her eyes, feeling her daughter's warmth once more. This was the last tenderness she could offer her.
When she opened her eyes again, they instantly turned a menacing red. Her enormous kagune lashed out, forcing back the two plainclothes men blocking the alley.
"Go!"
"A mother's love for her child... How disgusting." Watching Hinami flee the alley, Kureo Mado chose not to attack. His guiding principle was to take his targets down one by one, balancing ruthlessness with caution.
Besides, a young ghoul who had lost both parents could never escape his grasp.
The conflict between ghouls and Ghoul Investigators had already become irreconcilable. They hated one another, and Kureo Mado in particular had let his hatred of ghouls warp his personality into something sick and twisted.
"I won't let you past!" Ryouko Fueguchi glared fiercely at Kureo Mado, nothing like the gentle woman she had been before.
Meanwhile, on a street bustling with traffic, Kaneki was holding his phone and reading a message from Hide.
Suddenly, he noticed someone wearing the Ice Mask and a hood running swiftly through the rain.
"Lou?!"
"Please, someone! Anyone, help..." At the same time, Hinami Fueguchi, who had escaped the alley, had already lost control of her emotions. Tears streamed down her face as she desperately ran toward Anteiku, crashing into one passerby after another in her panic.
"Whose kid is that?!"
Just then, startled cries rose from the crowd as an even faster figure darted through it, brushing past Hinami.
Hinami had never seen Louis wearing his mask and did not recognize him.
In the alley, Ryouko Fueguchi, who was no fighter, had been defeated by Koutarou Amon alone. With no strength left to support her body, she knelt slumped on the ground in the rain, her blood staining the water beneath her red.
But she had bought enough time...
"It seems fighting isn't your strong suit... Such a rare kagune, and you don't even put it to good use." Kureo Mado stood with one hand in his pocket, dissatisfied with the result. He had not even had a chance to use his quinque.
Before coming here, he had been looking forward to bringing out the quinque made from her husband and savoring her hysterical screams and attacks.
Just thinking about it excited him.
But... never mind...
"Stop, Amon. I'll handle the rest."
Kureo Mado looked back at the slumped Ryouko Fueguchi, crouched down, and set his case on the ground.
"A mother throwing away her life for her daughter. How ridiculous."
"The way you ghouls imitate humans."
Kureo Mado slowly opened the case, an excited, twisted smile spreading across his face.
A scent drifted out. That familiar smell made Ryouko Fueguchi stare at the case in disbelief, her eyes filling with terror and despair. "That's impossible... no..."
It was a quinque made by simply processing her husband's kagune.
"Yes! Yes! Wonderful! That's exactly the expression!" Kureo Mado cried excitedly at the sight, his sick smile twisting even further. "Despair, terror, hatred!"
"That's the expression! Show me more! Let me see more!"
Kureo Mado pulled out his quinque. Its sections resembled white bones, linked by flesh-like red tissue that allowed it to extend and retract at will. At the tip of the kagune was a hard, sharp blade.
Ryouko Fueguchi stared at the familiar kagune, the despair in her eyes deepening.
Just then, one of the men in black plainclothes answered a call, his expression turning grave. "Understood..."
He hung up and immediately shouted to Kureo Mado.
"Associate Special-Class Investigator Mado! First Class Investigator Amon! Someone wearing the Ice Mask is rapidly approaching!"
"Oh?" At those words, Kureo Mado hesitated for only a second before laughing and looking back at Ryouko Fueguchi.
"A friend of yours? Ha, that works too. One more plaything."
"I wonder what expression he'll make when he sees your corpse..."
"Well, your time is almost up. As a final act of mercy, do you have any last words?"
Ryouko Fueguchi had lost all hope. She raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears, and opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something.
Whoosh-!
But at that very moment, the blade of the jointed, bone-like kagune suddenly swept toward her amid Kureo Mado's crazed laughter. He had never intended to give this ghoul a chance to speak her last words.
Bang-!
At the last possible instant, a figure suddenly lunged in. A crystal-covered fist collided with the bone blade, producing a clear metallic clang.
Before you continue