Chapter 283: 283: The Story Ends, Hinami's Family

“Noro is dead?”

Standing behind the counter, Yoshimura narrowed his eyes and lowered his chin slightly, sadness entering his voice.

“More or less. Your daughter used a kakuhou to turn his corpse into a kagune monster. There’s still a small part of his consciousness left, though.”

Ivan guessed that the Rc cells inside Noro’s body had undergone some kind of unusual mutation, giving him regenerative ability far beyond that of ordinary ghouls.

If Noro could be raised into an SSS-rated ghoul and Ivan later fused his bikaku as well, then his own regeneration would probably rise another level.

“Over all these years, I’ve hurt too many humans and too many ghouls,” Yoshimura said. “Because of my cowardice, tragedy kept happening. Perhaps you were right. I am someone who runs away.”

He looked down slightly.

“Faced with an organization as powerful as V, all I ever did was retreat. Avoid them. Run from them… Perhaps that was never the way to solve anything.”

“Instead of thinking about how to solve the problem, just get rid of the people creating it.”

Ivan finally finished his second cup of coffee.

This time, he had no intention of asking for a refill.

Yoshimura stared deeply at the man in front of him and gave a quiet sigh.

“Young man, you’ll only understand how terrifying that man is once you stand in front of him yourself. His strength can no longer be described with ordinary ghoul ratings. Even the strongest ghouls seem fragile before him.”

“Manager, who is this man?” Touka asked curiously. “Even you can’t beat him?”

Yoshimura slowly shook his head.

“He was born to fight ghouls.”

His expression became grave.

“And he is the sharpest blade the CCG possesses.”

“Hold on.”

Ivan lifted a hand.

“I like finishing what I start. Let me complete the story first.”

While casually enjoying his coffee, Ivan had also been controlling his clone elsewhere, wiping out Jason’s stronghold in Ward 20.

The ghouls there had given Rize Kamishiro a substantial boost in strength.

At this rate, it probably would not be long before she advanced to SS.

“Around ten years ago, Kuzen happened to hear rumors about the leader of Aogiri Tree, the One-Eyed Owl.”

“He became convinced that the Owl was the child he and Ukina had once had together.”

“So during one of the CCG’s operations to suppress Aogiri Tree, when the One-Eyed Owl was badly injured and needed to escape the encirclement, Kuzen disguised himself as the One-Eyed Owl and fought the CCG alone to cover the retreat.”

“But during that battle, Kishou Arima, who was only a Rank 2 Investigator at the time, tore off both of his arms and forced him to retreat.”

“Afterward, Kuzen opened a coffee shop and began living a quiet life.”

Ivan smiled and stood up.

“And that’s the end of the story.”

He looked directly at Yoshimura.

“So, Mr. Yoshimura, are you willing to make a deal with me now?”

“Go ahead.”

Yoshimura’s hands, hidden behind his back, tightened unconsciously.

He had already guessed roughly what Ivan was about to say.

“Your daughter, the One-Eyed Owl, actually has several other identities.”

Ivan’s smile deepened.

“Besides being the leader of Aogiri Tree, she’s also Eto, one of Aogiri Tree’s three top executives.”

“And in the human world, she’s the bestselling author Sen Takatsuki.”

“I saw an announcement for her new book event on the way here.”

Ivan turned toward the door.

“If you’re interested, perhaps you should go meet your daughter.”

With that, Ivan left the café.

…

Elsewhere.

Rize Kamishiro’s eyes were glowing crimson as she controlled two kagune and attacked Hinami’s parents.

“Ryoko! Take Hinami and get out of here!”

Hinami’s father had wrapped his body in koukaku armor and was taking hit after hit.

As one of Jason’s subordinates and business partners, he immediately recognized the attacker in front of him.

Rize Kamishiro.

The ghoul who had recently been slaughtering her own kind throughout Ward 20.

“Jason was the one hunting you, not me!” Hinami’s father shouted while desperately defending himself. “I had nothing to do with him!”

God, this is boring.

Rize fought two ghouls at once while still having enough spare attention to complain internally about the task Ivan had given her.

What the hell was that man trying to do?

“I’m not leaving you behind!”

Ryoko Fueguchi shielded her daughter, Hinami Fueguchi, behind her.

“Hinami can’t lose her father too.”

“Dad…”

Hinami’s young face was already covered in tears as she watched Rize’s kagune pierce through her father’s body.

Rize had deliberately avoided his vital organs.

She glanced at the crying girl and gave her a disdainful look.

“That man is even more boring than Jason. If he wanted to eat this family, he could’ve just done it himself. I really don’t understand him.”

Rize looked toward the huge moth-wing-shaped kagune spreading out behind Ryoko Fueguchi and curled her lips.

These two were pathetically weak.

There was no challenge at all.

“Go! If you don’t leave now, it’ll be too late!”

Hinami’s father gripped the two rinkaku kagune buried in his shoulders with both hands and roared at his wife, blood filling his mouth.

Ryoko looked at her husband, his entire body drenched in blood, and felt unbearable pain in her chest.

Oshiete yo, oshiete yo, sono shikumi wo…♫

“We’re leaving.”

Ryoko painfully turned away and reached for Hinami, ready to carry her out.

But the instant she looked back, she froze.

Hinami, who had been crying just moments earlier, had wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

“All this time, you’ve both been protecting me.”

A stubborn, almost resolute look appeared on the young girl’s face.

“Now it’s my turn to protect you.”

The moment Hinami awakened, a moth-like kagune similar to her mother’s spread from her back.

At the same time, two long, spotted, tubular kagune extended outward as well.

At that moment, she looked like a young moth that had just broken free from its cocoon.

Beautiful.

Fragile-looking.

But strong.

Having inherited traits from both her parents’ kagune, Hinami displayed shocking power the instant she attacked.

Rize was blasted hard into the wall.

Before she could recover, the incoming kagune sliced both of her arms off at the roots.

Rize stared at the bloody stumps in astonishment.

“So you’re the one that man was really after.”

Then a crazed smile appeared on her face.

“All that strength inside such a tiny body…”

Her grin widened.

“I’ll get to taste you soon.”

Boom!

At that exact moment, two massive tentacles smashed through the wall.

They wrapped around Hinami like giant pythons.

Bang!

The tentacles lifted her high into the air and violently hurled her sideways.

The wall she struck exploded apart.

Chunks of stone flew everywhere as dust filled the entire room.

Through the white haze, a tall black figure slowly became visible.

“Here he comes.”

Rize picked up her severed arms from the floor and pressed them back against the wounds, smiling.

“It’s over.”

Hinami’s father leaned against the wall in despair.

He watched the figure covered in black kagune-like armor walk toward his daughter one step at a time.

At that moment, he hated himself.

Hated that he had never been strong enough to protect his family.

Two streams of hot tears ran down his face.

His chest felt like it was being torn apart as he let out a broken scream.

“AAAAAAAH!”

End it.

Rize watched eagerly, waiting for Ivan to cut the entire family into pieces.

Just imagining the scene made her body tremble with excitement.