From Ward 20 back to Ward 13 where the school was located, Uruka Minami definitely had to take the subway to make it in time.
Fortunately, it was not as if she had never taken the subway before, so she did not reach the point of not knowing what to do.
Sitting on the subway, Uruka Minami felt a little nervous inside.
At the same time, she also felt a little expectant, looking forward to when she would meet Ihei Byakuya later...
Uruka Minami, who had gotten up early enough, still arrived at school on time.
She could see that Ihei Byakuya had come to class as usual, and Uruka Minami slightly let out a sigh of relief.
Because she had been worried that after yesterday's events, Ihei Byakuya might suddenly disappear today...
"Good morning, Ihei-san."
Uruka Minami greeted Ihei Byakuya just like usual.
As if nothing at all had happened last night.
The entire morning was also very ordinary, attending classes and resting between classes.
Until noon break time arrived...
"Ihei-san, let's go eat lunch together?"
As soon as class ended, Uruka Minami came to Ihei Byakuya's desk, clearly being more proactive than before.
"..."
Hearing that Minami was once again going to eat together with Ihei Byakuya, Fura Taishi, who was sitting in his seat, could not help but start paying attention.
"Also, I have some things I want to say to you..."
Uruka Minami said softly to Byakuya.
And it was the kind of words that were very easy to cause misunderstandings, sounding almost like a confession...
Even though Uruka Minami spoke relatively quietly, Fura Taishi, who was sitting to Ihei Byakuya's left, could still hear some of it.
"?!"
Hearing this, Fura Taishi was so excited that he almost stood up on the spot.
He forcibly restrained his emotions, not wanting to make strange and inexplicable movements in the eyes of others.
He could only watch helplessly as Ihei Byakuya and Uruka Minami left the classroom together...
...
The rooftop of the school building.
Today, the wind on the rooftop was not strong, blowing on people just comfortably.
Ihei Byakuya brought the bento he had prepared in the morning, while Uruka Minami had empty hands and no food at all.
It was probably because she felt that since Ihei-san already knew her ghoul identity, there was no need to keep up the act anymore.
Uruka Minami directly sat beside Ihei Byakuya, the two of them very close to each other.
At this moment, her posture was very relaxed. Her legs lightly swung back and forth, and she seemed to have no vigilance at all toward Byakuya, who was a ghoul investigator.
"Ihei-san, when did you start suspecting me?"
Uruka Minami asked.
"On the night you attacked those delinquents. You left some things at the scene, especially that shoe with a length of twenty two centimeters. After investigating it, I started to suspect you."
Ihei Byakuya answered calmly.
"That's amazing... but since Ihei-san is a ghoul investigator, why were you willing to help me, a ghoul? Last night, at that coffee shop called 'Anteiku', I received help from the manager. That was all within Ihei-san's expectations, right?"
Uruka Minami wanted to get everything clear with Ihei Byakuya today.
"That's right. I do indeed know about the existence of Anteiku. However, I need to clarify a misunderstanding. I was not purely trying to help Minami. I believed that Minami still had value to be used."
Ihei Byakuya replied very directly, without any beating around the bush.
"..."
Hearing this, Uruka Minami was momentarily stunned.
"For example, that [Barber] from last night. You must know quite a few ghouls like that, right? After all, as [Pumpkin Head], you can be said to be the 'manager' of Ward 13, it's just that your control over Ward 13 may not be that solid yet."
Ihei Byakuya continued.
The so-called "manager" meant the ghoul leader of each ward.
For example, Yoshimura Kuzen was the "manager" of Ward 20, and Kamishiro Matasaka was the "manager" of Ward 6.
The manager of each ward was generally the strongest ghoul in that ward.
In some wards, under the leadership of the manager, ghouls followed the systems established by their manager, carried out appropriate feeding, and avoided killing each other. Such relatively stable wards were also less likely to attract the attention of the CCG.
This benefited both ghouls and the CCG. Ghouls did not need to worry about being targeted by the CCG, and the CCG could send more manpower to suppress the more chaotic wards.
The most typical example was Ward 20. Yoshimura Kuzen himself was an SSS-rated [The Non-Killing Owl]. Placed in any ward, he would be overwhelming through sheer power, ruling Ward 20 with absolute strength.
He then established the ghoul mutual-aid organization Anteiku, and also tried as much as possible not to attack humans, feeding only on corpses.
This made Ward 20 basically become the most stable ward in all of Tokyo, and the CCG more or less stopped paying attention to it.
This was also mainly because the CCG's own manpower was insufficient, and they often needed to reassign personnel to wards where serious incidents occurred.
"So that's how it is..."
Uruka Minami smiled and nodded. "I understand."
However, beneath her smile, a trace of disappointment appeared deep in her eyes.
After all, she had originally been thinking whether Ihei-san cared about her more than usual, and whether he might even be able to accept her ghoul identity...
But in the end...
It seemed she had thought too beautifully...
That said, Uruka Minami's mood did not become too low, because she had not held too much hope in the first place.
"What a shame..."
At this moment, Uruka Minami unconsciously muttered, almost blurting it out.
Even though she regretted it immediately after saying it, it was already too late.
"What's a shame?"
Ihei Byakuya asked in confusion.
"N-nothing."
Uruka Minami quickly said.
That was close...
She almost let it slip...
"?"
Ihei Byakuya looked confused, but did not pursue it further, since this was not the main topic.
"Then what do you think? Are you willing to cooperate? Or..."
Ihei Byakuya returned to the main issue.
"I don't really have any other choice, do I?"
Uruka Minami said.
"More or less. If you refuse, then you won't have any value to be used."
Ihei Byakuya said coldly and without mercy.
That was also how a Washuu Clan half-human was supposed to be...
"I understand. Then please take care of me from now on, Ihei-san."
Uruka Minami said with a smile to Byakuya.
"Hmm..."
Looking at Uruka Minami's cute smile, Ihei Byakuya felt slightly surprised.
Knowing full well that she would be used as a tool, yet she still looked to be in a pretty good mood...?