"Hey, Byakuya, you should have already received the Quinque, right? That is a B-rated Koukaku Quinque, but it doesn't have a name yet. You can name it yourself."
Ihei Byakuya once again received a call from Director Washuu Yoshitoki.
"Alright, and I have already met with Associate Special-Class Mado."
Ihei Byakuya replied.
"Then work well with Associate Special-Class Mado from here on. Just make sure you don't talk carelessly about certain things that must not be spoken of."
"Yeah, I will be careful..."
Ihei Byakuya responded.
After that, the call ended.
Ihei Byakuya looked at the tachi-style Quinque in his hand and fell into brief thought.
According to Washuu Yoshitoki, this was a B-rated Koukaku Quinque.
The meaning was straightforward. First, B-rated referred to the danger rating of the ghoul whose kakuhou was used to make this Quinque.
For example, Manager Yoshimura Kuzen was the SSS-rated The Non-Killing Owl. The Quinque made from his two kagune arms was therefore an SSS-rated Quinque called Owl.
In the original story, it was the strongest Quinque ever created and the only SSS-rated one.
And then there was the word Koukaku...
As everyone knew, the kakuhou or kagune of ghouls came in four types: Ukaku, Koukaku, Rinkaku, and Bikaku.
If the RC cells spread like feathers and formed the kagune around the shoulders, that was an Ukaku. An Ukaku did not have a fixed shape.
Some appeared as thin wing-like forms, some functioned like flame throwers capable of spraying fire, and the Manager and Eto father and daughter even had sword-like forms running along their whole arms.
The characteristic of Koukaku was that it had a metallic texture. The kakuhou was located under the shoulder blade. Koukaku kagune were formed from high-density RC cells and were the hardest among all kagune. They usually manifested as sword or shield forms, with heavy, sharp edges.
A Rinkaku was like tentacles covered in scales. The kakuhou was located near the waist. Its form was usually flexible tentacle-like appendages.
The number of Rinkaku kagune varied between ghouls. For example, Rize had four Rinkaku, and when Kaneki Ken became the half-kakuja Centipede he had six Rinkaku.
Finally, the Bikaku kakuhou was located near the tailbone. The kagune protruded like a tail and was often shaped like a long sword, a piercing spear, or a tentacle, but its surface had no scales.
Aside from this, the four kagune types had different strengths and weaknesses.
Ukaku excelled in speed, jumping ability, and explosive power, and also had long-range and wide-area lethality, but such explosive power came from rapidly burning RC cells, so its endurance was poor.
Koukaku had extremely strong defense and close-range power, but its weakness was sluggishness and poor mobility.
Rinkaku had the strongest offensive power, great regeneration ability, high flexibility, and could exhibit various combat techniques. Its weakness was poor defense, high offense with low defense.
Bikaku was the most balanced kagune. It performed well in all areas, and it was also the type most commonly used to make Quinques.
Its advantages were strong lower body support that enhanced a ghoul's physical combat and adaptability to various combat environments. Its weakness was that it was too balanced and lacked decisive killing power.
The four kagune types also restrained one another. When their overall strengths were similar, the rule was basically armor beats feather, feather beats tail, tail beats scale, scale beats armor.
"No wonder this tachi feels a bit too solid and heavy..."
At this moment, Ihei Byakuya looked at the tachi in his hand and murmured to himself.
This tachi was a Koukaku-type Quinque, which meant its defensive power and close-combat ability were strong, but its mobility was relatively poor.
Fortunately, the Gura Gura no Mi did not depend much on mobility, so a Koukaku Quinque was actually quite compatible with his Gura Gura no Mi.
"What were you just muttering to yourself about?"
Yoshimura Eto looked at Byakuya with a slightly strange expression.
"Nothing. The Director called earlier and told me this was a Koukaku Quinque, and this tachi really is as heavy and clunky as a Koukaku typically is."
Ihei Byakuya explained.
"Oh..."
Thinking about this, Yoshimura Eto figured that she would probably choose an Ukaku-type Quinque in the future.
Because the kakuhou she was born with was an Ukaku.
This came from what Eto inherited from the Manager Yoshimura Kuzen. The Manager's kakuhou was also an Ukaku, and the father and daughter's kagune shapes were highly similar.
This was also why the CCG couldn't distinguish between The Non-Killing Owl and the One-Eyed Owl later on.
After that, Ihei Byakuya casually swung the Koukaku tachi.
Fortunately, his physical strength was far greater than that of an ordinary human, so it wasn't difficult to swing it, though compared to other types of Quinque, it was definitely less agile.
Since Ihei Byakuya had a chronic inability to name things, he couldn't be bothered. He simply named the tachi 'Nameless'.
"Preparations are just about done. Then tomorrow I'll start infiltrating that school to carry out the investigation. When you're home alone, will you just watch TV?"
At this moment, Byakuya asked Eto.
"I prefer reading."
Yoshimura Eto answered honestly.
"That works too. I'll take you to buy some books."
Ihei Byakuya said.
And he happened to need to go out to buy a backpack and stationery as well. He obviously couldn't show up at school empty-handed tomorrow.
...
At the bookstore, Yoshimura Eto excitedly picked out several books, all classic traditional literature.
Seeing this, Ihei Byakuya wasn't surprised at all.
Later, when Yoshimura Eto became Takatsuki Sen, the works she liked to write were also this kind of literary style.
Though Eto, who had only gradually begun to understand human currency, frowned slightly at the prices on the books.
Everyone knew that physical books in Japan were expensive. A single book usually cost between one thousand and two thousand yen.
A few books added up came to more than ten thousand yen gone instantly.
Seeing the price, Eto wanted to put two books back, but her small hand was pushed back down by Byakuya.
"What are you doing? Feeling like it's too expensive?"
Byakuya asked.
"Yeah, it feels really expensive."
Yoshimura Eto nodded.
"It's fine. If you want to read them, buy them. Liking books is a good thing."
Ihei Byakuya said with the gratified smile of an old father.
After all, who wouldn't want their child to love reading? In that situation he practically couldn't be happier.
At this moment, without realizing it, Ihei Byakuya was subconsciously treating Eto like his own daughter.
"..."
Hearing Byakuya's tone and seeing that strange smile, Yoshimura Eto felt like this guy was imagining something very impolite...