Kishou Arima lived up to his titles—a ghoul investigator who had never known defeat, and undeniably the CCG's strongest combatant.
Many investigators idolized Arima, and the combat instructor before Byakuya was no exception.
"Thank you for your help, Instructor."
Byakuya said.
Having the instructor's assistance with his internship application would certainly make things easier.
"I'm confident you have what it takes to pass. Just focus on completing the internship safely."
The combat instructor continued, "Don't worry too much about standing out—your safety comes first."
From a career standpoint, an impressive internship performance would benefit the instructor as well.
But a student's safety mattered more.
Since Byakuya and the instructor weren't speaking privately, Kurona and Nashiro had overheard everything.
They immediately tensed up and approached.
If Byakuya excelled during the internship, their chances of surpassing him would shrink even further.
They had to participate—and outperform him.
"Instructor, Nashiro and I would also like to join the internship."
Kurona spoke up at once.
"Both of you as well?"
The instructor seemed mildly surprised. "Three people should be fine. I'll try to secure the spots."
Under normal circumstances, first-year students at the Ghoul Countermeasures Institute would only be assigned internships near the end of their program, while Academy students did theirs at the end of their second year.
Early internships were exceptions—limited slots that required formal applications.
Then Byakuya recalled a detail from the original story: before officially joining the CCG, Juuzou Suzuya had completed an internship in Ward 24 under Arima's supervision.
However, since Suzuya was a student at the one-year Institute rather than the two-year Academy, he could only start as a Rank 3 Investigator after graduation.
Given Suzuya's abilities, a Rank 2 position would have been entirely justified.
Shortly after, the Quinque practical session concluded.
"By the way, I feel like you two have had it out for me since the beginning."
Before leaving, Byakuya addressed Kurona and Nashiro.
By "the beginning," he meant before he'd even said "git gud" to them. He'd already sensed their hostility back then.
"..."
Both sisters remained silent, apparently unwilling to answer.
Their evasiveness only suggested there was something behind it.
Byakuya considered the possibilities. Could it be related to Dr. Kanou?
By this point in the timeline, Akihiro Kanou had already forcibly taken over Yasuhisa Nanao's house—the twins' family home—using its basement as his secret laboratory.
Unaware of the truth, Kurona and Nashiro called Kanou "Father."
Kanou had likely manipulated them somehow, though in reality he viewed the sisters as nothing more than test subjects for his artificial one-eyed ghoul experiments.
Since they weren't willing to talk, Byakuya didn't press further.
...
With the combat instructor's help, Byakuya and the Yasuhisa sisters soon received their answer.
Their course schedules changed accordingly, all in preparation for the upcoming internship.
Basic theory classes were temporarily suspended, replaced by specialized courses on ghoul extermination—ghoul weaknesses, vulnerabilities of different kagune types, feeding habits, and so on.
Students selected for early internship were also assigned to a dedicated classroom.
This gave Byakuya his first look at who would be joining him.
Besides Kurona and Nashiro, there was Juuzou Suzuya, plus two male students he didn't recognize.
The child with white hair, dark red eyes, and almost feminine features—that was Juuzou Suzuya.
Wearing slippers in the classroom, small and slight of frame, with strange stitches visible across his body...
Suzuya looked less attractive in the anime, but in the manga he was prettier than most girls.
Despite class being about to start, Suzuya sat there with a completely carefree, languid expression, using needle and thread to perform "human embroidery" on his own skin.
As if he felt no pain at all, he seemed to genuinely enjoy it.
This was exactly the Juuzou Suzuya Byakuya remembered. Very much on brand.
The classroom dynamics were interesting too. Kurona, Nashiro, and the two unfamiliar boys had all deliberately distanced themselves from Suzuya, leaving a wide gap around his seat.
Because Suzuya had already been publicly reprimanded by the administration. Tokage had pinned all the cat killings on him—correctly betting that Suzuya's antisocial nature and perpetually indifferent attitude would make him an easy scapegoat.
Suzuya wouldn't bother explaining himself. He didn't care what others thought. That made him the perfect fall guy.
The twins and the two boys had developed their prejudice against Suzuya because of this incident.
Byakuya was the only one who'd chosen a seat relatively close to Suzuya.
"Alright, class is starting."
The lecturer entered the room.
...
When class ended.
One of the male students—a guy with a buzz cut—took the initiative to introduce himself to everyone.
They all exchanged names, except for Suzuya, who was left out entirely.
Even without the cat incident, Suzuya's unsettling behavior kept most people at a distance.
"So you're Amaha-kun. Nice to meet you."
After the two boys finished introducing themselves to Byakuya, they simply moved on, skipping Suzuya entirely.
But Byakuya thought about it for a moment, then walked over to Suzuya and extended his hand with a smile. "I'm Amaha Byakuya. Looks like we're going to be teammates."
Suzuya seemed surprised that someone had voluntarily approached him. He paused, setting down his needle and thread, and stared at Byakuya's outstretched hand with a puzzled expression.
He didn't seem to understand what the gesture meant, though he could sense the goodwill behind it.
Just as Suzuya was about to respond, Kurona walked over and interrupted, her tone cold:
"I'd advise you to stay away from him. He's the one who's been torturing and killing cats."