"Mr. Fura, even when we face a ghoul stronger than us, we cannot retreat as long as there are civilians behind us. That is the Ghoul Investigator's code." Shizuri stripped off her coat, revealing the snug combat suit beneath and the curves of her figure. Her expression turned serious.
"Yeah... I understand." Yu Fura resolutely stepped in front of Louis. "Leave Ice Mask to me. You handle the one from earlier."
Louis had only beaten Kureo Mado through a great deal of luck. If they had possessed equal information, he would never have been Mado's match.
As for the one from earlier... Louis shook his head helplessly. They clearly had no idea how strong that ghoul was.
Touka was a textbook ukaku-type ghoul, capable of explosive bursts of speed and power. Without adequate preparation, even Louis could not stop her.
"You're kidding, right...? That one's a lot stronger than me." Louis spread his hands.
At those words, Yu Fura and Shizuri, who had been so full of fighting spirit a moment ago, suddenly froze. With their current strength, handling a single S-rated ghoul would already be impressive. Taking on two at once...
Seeing that neither dared make a rash move, Louis turned his attention back to Touka.
Louis stopped paying attention to the two in front of him and instead looked at Touka beside him. "You're not protecting anyone, and you're not fighting to survive. Continuing this battle would be meaningless."
"Go back..."
Louis had seen how, after killing Taira Kusaba, Touka could clearly have killed Shou Nakajima in an instant. Instead, she had changed the angle of her attack at the last second and kicked his arm, breaking it. Her hesitation had been obvious.
She, too, knew that what she was doing was wrong, at least by Anteiku's standards. She had continued with that awareness.
What she resented most was that, while it was only natural for the CCG to eliminate a murderer like her, why did the Fueguchi family have to suffer their one-sided slaughter?
The Kirishima Family had been honest corpse scavengers long ago, yet the CCG had hunted them down all the same. Touka had lost her parents because of it.
Precisely because she had already lived through it once, she could not bear to see it happen again.
Her hatred of the CCG was real. But when she killed her first civilian CCG employee, she began to hesitate again. How was doing this any different from the murderers she hated most?
"..." Touka said nothing. She clenched her fists, then relaxed them. Much of her threatening presence faded as she turned to walk back.
But suddenly, a figure charged over, thrusting the silver dagger mounted on the back of her hand toward Touka's nape.
Another figure arrived at the same instant. An upward stroke of the icy blue-white Ice Blade knocked the attack aside, followed by a downward slash intended to force her back.
"What are you talking about? You killed one of ours, and now you think you can come and go as you please?!" Shizuri glared viciously at the two before her. After her strike failed, she dodged the Ice Blade, but instead of retreating, she spun into a kick. The blade on her heel shot straight toward Louis's forehead.
Louis tilted his head. With a grating scrape, the blade on Shizuri's foot left a mark on his mask.
"Then what do you want to do?"
Louis stamped hard on the ground. A mass of crystalline spikes rose up, blocking every avenue for her to attack and forcing her to retreat.
"Charge in and get yourselves killed?!" Louis snapped, drawing a line across the ground with crystals. The meaning was clear: cross that line, and the two of them would attack.
"If you want revenge, go back, think it through, and prepare properly! Don't just charge in recklessly like this and throw your lives away."
Shizuri and Yu Fura were cowed by his words and the crystals that had suddenly appeared. Neither dared advance for the moment. To them, this S-rated ghoul was definitely not someone to provoke.
For a moment, the situation settled into a stalemate...
What they did not know was that Ice Mask, who seemed so steady and unshakable, was actually panicking inside.
Louis endured the searing pain in his abdomen and shoulder as he barked at them. In truth, he was sealing the wounds there with ice crystals to keep them from seeing the blood seep out.
That brief exchange with Shizuri had already reopened his wounds. If a real fight broke out, he would be at a serious disadvantage.
"Hey... why does it feel like you're taking a jab at me?" Touka's low voice sounded behind him. Louis looked back, only to meet a murderous stare.
"Am I...?" Louis wanted to explain, but Touka grabbed his collar. A tug came through his clothes, and he was lifted clean off the ground and carried toward the rooftop.
Though she was still furious, she had finally accepted Louis's words and chosen to leave.
Of course, it would have been better if she had carried him away with a little more dignity.
In Yu Fura and Shizuri's eyes, the S-rated Ice Mask was simply hauled away by the rabbit-masked ghoul, gripped at the nape like a chick.
"Hey, stop!" Shizuri gritted her teeth and tried to pursue them, but Yu Fura barked at her to stop.
Yu Fura's face was grim.
"Stop... can't you see it yet?" Yu Fura recalled the report on the operation to capture Ice Mask. Dozens of people had been injured, but not a single one had died.
He gritted his teeth, his face filled with frustration. "Ice Mask was saving us..."
"Being pitied by a ghoul... it really pisses me off..."
Before you continue