Four pairs of partners sat on either side of the conference table, discussing the recent situation in Ward 20.
Yukinori Shinohara and Juuzou Suzuya, Hōji Kōsuke and Take Hirako, Yu Fura and Shizuri, and Kōtarō Amon and the newly arrived Akira Mado.
Headquarters had assigned them to investigate Ward 20, where Eyepatch had first appeared.
"There's something about this that concerns us." Hōji Kōsuke had begun investigating as soon as he arrived in Ward 20. A few days earlier, he and Takizawa had visited Kanou General Hospital.
Take Hirako stood up and projected their findings onto the conference room screen.
"We investigated when Eyepatch appeared and discovered something difficult to explain: the falling steel beam incident four months ago."
"Steel beams... I remember something about organs from a deceased woman being transplanted into a man without authorization." Amon thought back. At the time, he and Kureo Mado had still been responsible for Ward 20, and the incident had caused quite a stir.
"Yes. According to our investigation, both the surgeon who performed the operation and the boy who received the organs are now missing."
As Hōji Kōsuke spoke, the screen changed to show two people: Kaneki and Kanou Akihiro.
"Around that same time, Gourmet and Gluttony both disappeared without a trace." Shinohara nodded, believing this lead was worth pursuing.
It was winter on the second floor of the Anteiku coffee shop in Ward 20, yet even colder air kept seeping out of Louis's room.
Louis felt the cold flowing through his right arm faster and faster, its release becoming increasingly efficient. Then, as though he had reached some critical threshold, an unbearable pain shot through his fingertips.
"What's going on..." Louis abruptly opened his eyes and looked toward the source of the pain.
The color of the area wracked