Decision

At the CCG's Ward 20 branch, the ghoul investigators stood solemnly in several rows as the branch chief read his address from the stage.

"Let us pay our deepest respects to Taira Kusaba, who was killed by a ghoul in the line of duty."

"A moment of silence!"

At his command, everyone below closed their eyes and bowed their heads in mourning.

Whenever a ghoul investigator died in the line of duty, regardless of rank, a memorial service like this was held to honor and mourn their sacrifice.

Amon, Shizuri, and Yu Fura were all present. Aside from the injured Kureo Mado, every investigator transferred from headquarters was there.

"If... I'd gotten there sooner... or if we hadn't split up... maybe none of this would have happened..." After the memorial service, Amon gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. By the time he had arrived at the scene with his Quinque, all he had seen were Rabbit and Ice Mask leaving.

Whenever an investigator he worked with died, he turned his grief and anger into strength and endured it without showing any emotion. This time, however, he felt an anger unlike anything he had ever known.

Because the person killed this time was an administrative staff member who worked beside him, someone who had done nothing wrong.

"Mr. Amon..." Shou Nakajima, who had survived, had dragged his injured body to the memorial service as well. As Kusaba's closest colleague, he had been in terrible shape since the incident. "Could we... go get ramen together...? My treat..."

"..." Amon's clenched fists loosened a little, and he nodded silently.

The two went to the ramen shop they had visited yesterday, the one closest to the branch.

"At least Kusaba didn't have a wife yet. Otherwise, it'd be too awful." Shou Nakajima looked exhausted, with deep shadows under his eyes, and his voice sounded much more worn. He glanced at Amon, who sat silently beside him.

"He seemed to really look up to you."

"Someone like me..." Amon clenched his fist in silence. Just then, their familiar ramen sets arrived.

"Yeah... Kusaba was always making me buy him meals, and he never stopped talking. Honestly... couldn't he just shut his mouth and eat...?" Shou Nakajima finally began to lose his composure. He covered his face and gritted his teeth, his voice trembling with anger and sorrow.

"That bastard... who's supposed to let me buy them meals now...?"

When a life suddenly vanished, it affected so many of the lives around it. The gap left at work could be filled, but the regret left in people's hearts lasted forever.

Just then, Amon's phone rang. He checked it and saw that Yu Fura was calling.

"Hello..."

"Amon, Mr. Mado has given us some suggestions about Rabbit and Ice Mask. We'd like you to come to a meeting now."

"Mr. Mado... understood. I'll be right there." Amon hung up.

"Is it work? Then you'd better get going." Shou Nakajima had heard enough to understand, too, and reined in his emotions.

Amon slipped his phone into his pocket and frowned. Then he abruptly picked up the ramen in front of him and wolfed it down in one go under Shou Nakajima's astonished gaze. He set the bowl down hard, his expression turning fierce and resolute.

"No one had any reason to kill Mr. Kusaba!"

Amon hurried to the strategy meeting, where the other three had already been waiting for some time.

On the blackboard in front of them hung files on Rabbit, Ice Mask, Ghoul No. 744 (Ryouko Fueguchi), and Ghoul No. 745 (Hinami Fueguchi), while the file on Devil Ape sat farther off to the side.

"We can now establish that Ice Mask has close ties to Ghouls No. 744 and 745."

"Rabbit, who appeared last time, also has some close connection with Ice Mask. According to Ice Mask, Rabbit is stronger than he is, so we can provisionally classify her threat level as S-Plus Rank." Shizuri presented the intelligence they had compiled.

"There's also Devil Ape, who suddenly appeared in Ward 20 after lying low for years. But we still don't know whether he acted that time to rescue Ghoul No. 744 or for some other purpose."

"If we assume the worst-that they're all connected, or even belong to the same organization-then this operation will be nightmare-level in difficulty."

"Headquarters is currently preparing for the Ward 11 Operation and can't spare any more personnel to support us. So Associate Special-Class Fura and I believe we should suspend efforts to apprehend Ice Mask, Rabbit, Devil Ape, and the others for now, and reconsider once the Ward 11 Operation is over."

Shizuri had spoken for both herself and Yu Fura. Amon clenched his fists and was about to speak, but the bandaged Kureo Mado beside him spoke first.

"In other words, you want to let them run rampant in Ward 20? Not that I care anymore..."

"Mr. Mado, we're only trying to avoid unnecessary casualties and preserve our strength so we can wipe them out in one decisive strike later." The more levelheaded Yu Fura answered first.

But he did not know that, to Kureo Mado, this was the most unforgivable thing of all.

Early in Kureo Mado's career, an operation had been deemed unwinnable, leading to an order for the strongest person present to stay behind and cover everyone else's retreat.

The person who had stayed behind was Kureo Mado's wife. That was also why he hated ghouls so deeply.

"When is an investigator's operation ever safe...? We're abandoning an operation just because the enemy might be stronger than us?" Kureo Mado gave a contemptuous smile, stood, and walked to the blackboard, adjusting the positions of a few files.

"Even if we assume Devil Ape took part in rescuing Ghoul No. 744, he acted very late. Either he and Ice Mask aren't part of the same organization, or that organization has limited personnel and its members aren't in close contact."

"The same goes for Rabbit. We didn't even see her when we tried to apprehend Ice Mask."

"With an organization as loosely knit as this, in theory, we can pick them off one by one as long as we're properly prepared."

Yu Fura hesitated, but he had to admit that Kureo Mado had a point. Every investigator operation was dangerous. Against ghouls, only taking risks brought results. "But how do we find them? If an S-Rank Ghoul wants to hide, we'll have a hard time finding them."

"Don't worry about that. I brought these..." A twisted smile appeared on Kureo Mado's face as he lifted two packages.

"After Ghoul No. 743 was made into a Quinque, some specimens were left over... With the ghouls' distinctive sense of smell, we might be lucky enough to draw in No. 745 and No. 744. Then Ice Mask, Rabbit, and even Devil Ape might appear. We can have our stationed personnel observe them before deciding on our next move."

"We just need to place them around Ward 20... heh heh... It might not even be a bad thing if they're an organization. We could narrow down its location, too..."

Yu Fura suddenly found himself admiring Mado's veteran experience. What he had considered the worst possible scenario could instead become a breakthrough in Mado's hands.

"Then the next issue... is our fighting strength." Without realizing it, Yu Fura had already accepted Mado's plan.

They looked at Kureo Mado's still-bandaged hand. If they split up, they would struggle to mount an effective operation and might even get killed. But if they stayed together, they might not reach the scene in time.

"Come to think of it, we only have so many specimens... Why don't we divide the ward into areas and place them in batches...? But we'll have to do it ourselves. Too many people would draw attention..."

Anteiku...

"You attacked the CCG?" The manager confronted the two when they returned.

Under the manager's stern gaze, Louis steeled himself and nodded.

"The price of attacking the White Doves is being prepared to bear all the consequences yourself. Whether you live or die, no one else may intervene. That rule has been in place at Anteiku for a long time." This was the first time the manager had been so stern.

Touka clearly knew the rule, too. She gritted her teeth and turned her head away. "I'm the one who killed him. It has nothing to do with this guy. He came to stop the fight."

"..." The manager looked at Louis and sighed. "The decision is yours. But if you run into trouble involving the CCG, I still won't intervene."

The pressure on Anteiku had always been shouldered by the manager, Yomo, and veterans like Irimi and Koma. The manager's words meant that from now on, the two of them would have to bear their own share of that pressure.

After the manager left, Kaneki approached Louis.

"Lou... what happened...?" Kaneki rarely saw the manager like that. He wanted to ask Touka, but after thinking it over, he decided Lou would be easier to talk to.

"Touka killed someone from the CCG... The manager told her to deal with the trouble herself." Louis sighed. "As for me... he suggested I stop getting involved in all this, but he still left the decision to me."

"The manager made that judgment based on his wealth of experience... I haven't been at Anteiku long, but... I have my own thoughts, too..."

Touka had killed an investigator, and the CCG probably would not let it go. Sooner or later, a fight would break out. With his system, Louis could learn the location and participants a little in advance, but how much warning he received varied wildly. Most of the time, it was only enough for him to get there, leaving him little time to stop anything.

Today, for example, he had thought that saving Ryouko Fueguchi and easing Touka's hatred would keep her from acting... Then there were the newly dispatched investigators. He had no idea what would happen next.

Louis sat in a chair in the café, his elbow braced on the table and his head in his hand, feeling utterly troubled. Then he looked at Kaneki. "Kaneki, if we end up fighting the investigators again, what would you choose to do?"

As a half-ghoul, Kaneki should have the right to choose, too.

"I..." Kaneki froze, looked down at his hands, and hesitated for a moment.

"I'm not as strong as you, Lou, and I don't have the manager's wealth of experience. I don't even really understand the rules of the ghoul world yet. So I want to take a good look at this world with my own eyes before I make my decision."

It was a very rational answer.

"Yeah..." Louis nodded gently and looked at Kaneki. "As for me... I actually made my decision a long time ago."

"I don't have much right now. So whether they're human or ghoul, if they're someone I cherish, I can't just stand by and watch something happen to them, even if I have to pay a price."

Those words came from his heart.

Louis looked at Kaneki. "That's all I have to say. As for the rest... go ask Touka."