Although it was already very late, the Antique Coffee Shop in front of them had already closed.
However, there was still faint light inside the shop, as if someone was still inside.
Ihei Byakuya directly placed Uruka Minami, whom he had been carrying on his back, at the entrance of the Antique Coffee Shop, then prepared to leave.
Before leaving, Byakuya at least took off his outer coat and draped it over Uruka Minami.
Although with a ghoul's physical constitution, things like catching a cold or getting chilled almost did not exist...
In any case, Uruka Minami would definitely be discovered by the staff of the Antique Coffee Shop tonight, so he simply left.
...
After only a short while, someone pushed the door open and came out of the Antique Coffee Shop.
The one who came out was an elderly man with a tall build and a large amount of white hair on his head, wearing a squinting-eyed expression and looking like a kind and gentle old man.
This elderly man was precisely the shop manager of the Antique Coffee Shop, Yoshimura Kuzen.
At the same time, he was also Yoshimura Eto's father, and later assessed by the CCG as the SSS-rank [The Non-Killing Owl]...
Actually, at this point in time, Yoshimura Kuzen had not yet aged too severely. Compared to his peak in his prime, his strength had not declined by much, it was just that his appearance looked relatively old.
"..."
Seeing an unfamiliar girl leaning at the entrance of his shop, Yoshimura Kuzen's expression became somewhat grave.
In fact, he had just smelled someone's scent at the door, which was why he had opened the door to check the situation.
At first, Yoshimura Kuzen had almost thought it was the scent of a human. After approaching, he still discovered through subtle differences that this unfamiliar girl was actually a ghoul...
As the strongest known pure-blood ghoul in the original work, his sensory abilities in all aspects were naturally far stronger than those of the A-rank ghoul [Barber], by an unknown margin.
Yoshimura Kuzen could tell Uruka Minami's physical condition just by looking at her, and he immediately helped her into his shop.
"It doesn't look like she came by herself. Who could it have been...?"
Yoshimura Kuzen murmured to himself.
He had also smelled another scent just now, and that was the scent of a human.
Why would a human deliberately place a ghoul who was currently in a state of hunger at the entrance of his shop?
What concerned Yoshimura Kuzen even more was that this human seemed to know about the existence of "Anteiku"...
Matters about "Anteiku" generally circulated only among ghouls in Ward 20. Even humans of this Ward, and even the CCG, were completely unaware of the truth behind "Anteiku", let alone humans from other Wards.
It was precisely for this reason that Yoshimura Kuzen cared so much...
It seemed he would have to wait until this girl woke up and ask her personally...
Thinking this, Yoshimura Kuzen went up to the second floor of the coffee shop.
The second floor not only had rest rooms, but also storage rooms for keeping certain things.
Yoshimura Kuzen took out a package from the storage room. Wrapped in paper, it was actually human flesh, more precisely, decayed flesh from a corpse...
As early as more than ten years ago, Yoshimura Kuzen had stopped personally killing any humans. The later establishment of "Anteiku" had also upheld the principles of not killing people and not preying on humans.
And their food source was precisely human corpses from suicides or accidental deaths.
They had to go out every day to search for human corpses.
After all, Japan's suicide rate was quite high, and even if there were no accidental deaths, people who committed suicide at certain fixed locations existed almost every day.
Not-fresh decayed flesh could also fill one's stomach, it just could not provide ghouls with enough nutrition, and its effect on increasing Rc cell activity was also very small.
Long-term consumption of decayed flesh would only cause one's strength to slowly decline continuously...
But for Yoshimura Kuzen and "Anteiku", being able to fill their stomachs was already enough.
Yoshimura Kuzen took this package of decayed flesh back to the first floor and waited for the unfamiliar ghoul girl to wake up.
While waiting, he also unhurriedly brewed a cup of coffee for the girl.
And he added a meat pellet into the coffee, which was actually a pellet made from human flesh.
On ordinary days, this Antique Coffee Shop operated normally. When receiving ghoul customers, a meat pellet would be added to the coffee to enhance the flavor.
Occasionally, human customers would also visit, and for humans, such meat pellets would not be added.
The scent of human flesh and coffee drifted through the air, causing the already extremely hungry Uruka Minami to awaken from her sleep.
"?!"
Uruka Minami suddenly opened her eyes. Seeing that she was in a completely unfamiliar environment, she immediately felt uneasy.
Where was Ihei...?
Before she fell asleep, hadn't she still been with Ihei?
Or could it be... that she had already been thrown into a place where she was about to be dealt with?
"You're awake."
At this moment, Uruka Minami suddenly heard a voice.
She immediately turned her head and discovered an elderly man with a benevolent expression.
"You are...?"
While still dazed, Uruka Minami smelled the ghoul scent coming from him.
This made her even more confused. Why would Ihei bring her to another ghoul's territory? And then leave her here alone...
Although the elderly man before her looked kind and benevolent, in an unfamiliar place, especially in another ghoul's territory, Uruka Minami could not help but remain vigilant and uneasy.
"I am the shop manager of this coffee shop. Welcome to 'Anteiku'. However, you seem not to know that you were delivered to the entrance of my shop by someone?"
Yoshimura Kuzen said with a smile.
"Anteiku...?"
Uruka Minami, who was far away in Ward 13, had never heard of Ward 20's "Anteiku".
Because she basically had never left Ward 13. Ghouls generally did not easily leave their own "feeding grounds", so they were not very clear about the situation in other Wards.
"No need to rush. Your body is very uncomfortable right now, isn't it? You can first fill your stomach."
Yoshimura Kuzen placed the coffee and that package of decayed flesh in front of Uruka Minami on the table.
"..."
Uruka Minami immediately found it hard to believe that another ghoul would actually be willing to provide her with food.
What kind of place had Ihei brought her to exactly?!
In Uruka Minami's understanding, ghouls were basically in competitive relationships with each other, fighting over other ghouls' "feeding grounds" in order to prey on humans more effectively, resulting in life-and-death battles.
This was all completely normal.
And ghouls who would willingly give up a portion of food were something she had never heard of and never seen before.
Seeing the doubtful look in her eyes, Yoshimura Kuzen took the initiative to explain, "We at 'Anteiku' are an organization of mutual assistance among ghouls.
Helping ghouls in need integrate into human society more naturally and more peacefully is our purpose."
"Speaking of which, the person who brought you here seems to know quite a bit about us as well."
Yoshimura Kuzen was still concerned about the human who had brought this ghoul girl here.
"He..."
Uruka Minami could think of only one person the old man was referring to, and that should be Ihei, but she hesitated for a moment and still did not reveal Ihei.