"Maybe..."
Ihei Byakuya wore a completely expressionless face.
"But speaking of which, as a ghoul investigator you do not need to put too much pressure on yourself. Things like dating and getting married do not need that much concern. As long as both sides have thought it through clearly, there is no problem."
Speaking as someone who had been through it, Mado Kasuka gave Ihei Byakuya some advice.
However, the issues she had considered back then were different from ordinary people. She simply felt that changing her name would be troublesome, so she was too lazy to get married.
As a result, Mado Kureo directly changed his own surname to match Mado Kasuka's "Mado". In other words, Mado Kureo effectively married into the Mado family. But this was only in name, and in reality it did not affect their relationship as a couple.
Now that they had a daughter, Mado Akira, Mado Kasuka's view on marriage had become somewhat different from before.
...
Ihei Byakuya went downstairs first.
He found that Uruka Minami was really still waiting downstairs.
"Ihei, are you done talking?"
Uruka Minami immediately asked.
"Yeah. Let's each go home first, and then meet up at the school again tonight."
Ihei Byakuya said.
On the way back, Ihei Byakuya and Uruka Minami were still going in the same direction.
As they walked, Uruka Minami hesitated for a while before she could not help asking, "That older sister just now is very pretty, and her figure and temperament are also very good. Ihei probably thinks so too, right?"
"Seems like it."
Ihei Byakuya agreed without thinking.
Because he did indeed feel that Uruka Minami's evaluation of Mado Associate Special-Class was quite accurate.
But he was only agreeing in a straightforward sense, without any other meaning.
Hearing Ihei agree without hesitation, Uruka Minami's expression immediately changed slightly.
"As expected... it seems Ihei prefers the type that is older than himself. Ahahaha..."
Uruka Minami laughed, though it looked a bit forced.
"...?"
Ihei Byakuya froze for a moment and suddenly realized that something was off. "Wait, Minami, did you misunderstand something?"
Only then did he react. Could it be that Uruka Minami thought he liked Mado Associate Special-Class?
This misunderstanding was a bit too outrageous.
"Eh...? No? Doesn't Ihei like that older sister just now?"
Uruka Minami asked even more directly.
"No, no, this really is a huge misunderstanding. Mado Associate Special-Class has already been married for a long time, and her daughter is almost ten years old."
Ihei Byakuya immediately explained. "So, Associate Special-Class Mado is only my superior and partner, nothing more."
"Ah... is that so? Eh... then why just now...?"
Uruka Minami's expression grew even more puzzled.
"That's because Associate Special-Class Mado has no idea that your true identity is [Pumpkin Head]. She thought you were just an ordinary student from the same school as me. She was afraid you would discover my investigator identity, so she deliberately acted like my older sister."
Ihei Byakuya slowly explained everything.
"So that's how it is..."
After understanding what had happened, Uruka Minami immediately let out a sigh of relief. "That's good then..."
"What's good?"
Ihei Byakuya asked with some confusion.
"N-no, nothing."
Uruka Minami smiled slightly, a faint blush appearing on her face.
For now, she was still embarrassed to express her feelings, and she was also a little afraid of being rejected by Ihei.
Although it was clear that Ihei did not hate ghouls and had no prejudice against them, that did not mean he would be willing to fall in love with a ghoul.
Although it felt a bit strange, Ihei Byakuya did not pursue the matter any further.
"What Associate Special-Class Mado talked to me about just now was the matter of [Barber] and [Pumpkin Head you]. Because she does not know that you are [Pumpkin Head], she thinks [Pumpkin Head] is still hiding in the school, so she told me to be more cautious."
At this moment, Ihei Byakuya said.
This kind of thing did not matter even if he told Uruka Minami. After all, Uruka Minami was already more or less on his side now.
"In other words, at present only Ihei knows my identity?"
Uruka Minami was somewhat surprised.
She had thought that once Ihei confirmed her identity, the entire CCG would immediately know the news.
But she did not expect that even Ihei's superior still did not know about it.
"More or less. I have not told anyone else yet."
Ihei Byakuya nodded.
"..."
After a moment of silence, Uruka Minami smiled and said, "Thank you, Ihei."
She thought that Ihei had not told others in order to protect her.
In reality, it was more or less like that. Ihei Byakuya did not want variables to occur so quickly, such as CCG insisting that he first capture [Pumpkin Head] or something like that.
"You do not need to thank me. I just think this makes it more convenient to use you."
Ihei Byakuya said calmly.
After hearing this, Uruka Minami smiled even more brightly. "I know."
Clearly, she was increasingly disbelieving the words Ihei said on the surface.
Because Ihei always appeared cold on the outside, but his actual actions constantly made her feel safe and warm, and this had happened more than once already.
"..."
Looking at Uruka Minami's smile that seemed to come from genuine emotion, Ihei Byakuya suddenly felt that the development of things seemed to be going a bit beyond his expectations.
...
After the two of them parted ways midway.
Ihei Byakuya quickly returned home.
"I'm back."
As he entered, Ihei Byakuya habitually called out.
After all, he was not living alone. Yoshimura Eto was also at home.
"Welcome back."
Yoshimura Eto in the living room almost reflexively responded.
After that, Ihei Byakuya sat down on the living room sofa to rest, when Eto suddenly moved closer.
She leaned over Byakuya and sniffed him. She could immediately tell whose scents were on him.
Scents from brief contact would dissipate quickly, so passersby or classmates would not affect her ability to distinguish smells.
And today, the two strongest scents on Ihei Byakuya were undoubtedly Uruka Minami's and Mado Kasuka's.
Yoshimura Eto had impressions of both of these scents and knew who they belonged to.
"Why are you like a puppy every day now..."
Seeing Eto crawling over like a little dog on the sofa and sniffing his scent, Ihei Byakuya could not help but complain.
"In case you suddenly abandon me one day."
Yoshimura Eto said bluntly with a serious face.
"...I would never do something like that. And what does that have to do with what you're doing now?"
Ihei Byakuya felt somewhat speechless.
Leaving aside the fact that he would not suddenly abandon Eto for no reason, could sniffing his scent really prevent him from suddenly abandoning her?
...!
Wait...
Could it be that she was collecting the scents of all the acquaintances who had relatively close contact with him, constantly grasping his weak points?
Then, when necessary, she could use those weak points to corner him with no way out?
With Yoshimura Eto's abilities, finding the people corresponding to those scents would not be difficult.
Ihei Byakuya suddenly felt a chill run down his spine the more he thought about it. The more he thought, the more terrifying it became.
The key point was that this was truly something Yoshimura Eto under the [One-Eyed Owl] persona could do.