They stood frozen for a moment before remembering they had work to do.
They immediately moved to confirm the corpse's identity.
Cross-referencing against Jason's elimination order, they examined the body.
Though Yamori's entire body had been scorched beyond recognition, his general facial features and released kagune still allowed identification. This was indeed Jason, the S-rated elimination target.
"It's definitely Jason..."
Confirming his identity, the investigators collectively drew sharp breaths.
In fact, following Mado and Amon's failed pursuit, the CCG had already upgraded Yamori's threat rating from S to S+.
Otherwise, First Class Mado and Rank 1 Amon wouldn't have struggled so much against a mere S-rated ghoul.
Mado was widely recognized within the CCG as having Associate Special Class-level comprehensive ability. He simply chose not to accept promotion to that rank.
S+ was straightforward to understand—between S and SS.
Even after discovering Jason was a half-kakuja, the CCG hadn't raised his threat level to SS.
First, he was already dead, so updating his rating seemed pointless. Second, compared to other heinous ghouls, Jason hadn't actually committed particularly egregious crimes against humans.
Yamori generally didn't attack humans. As an Aogiri Tree executive, he didn't need to hunt for himself. He preferred capturing ghouls for his "playroom" torture sessions. Humans died too quickly under torture, so he had little interest in them.
If Yamori hadn't escaped prison—his original rating had been A—and injured the interrogator Tokage during his breakout from Cochlea in Ward 23, his threat level would never have jumped so dramatically.
A Rank 2 Investigator eliminating an S+ ghoul like Jason and emerging completely unscathed utterly defied everything these investigators thought they knew.
The medical support staff especially had no idea what to do. They'd come prepared for emergency treatment, only to find Investigator Amaha perfectly fine.
"Investigator Amaha, are you really alright? If you're injured anywhere, please tell us immediately."
One of the support personnel spoke up.
"I'm fine. Really."
Byakuya replied.
Since he'd said so himself, they truly had nothing to do.
"Then I'll leave this to you. I have other matters to attend to."
Byakuya had no intention of wasting time here. Processing the scene would take a while anyway.
He had nothing else to do here, so he headed home.
...
A short while earlier, Touka had brought Ryouko and Hinami straight back to Anteiku.
It was the only place she considered safe.
"What happened? Why do you all look so panicked?"
Kaya Irimi immediately asked.
"We were attacked by a ghoul who came at us without warning. He was incredibly strong. If someone hadn't appeared out of nowhere to save us, we probably wouldn't have made it back."
Touka was still somewhat shaken.
"That's terrible. Who was this attacker?"
Enji Koma, standing near Irimi, asked.
Touka shook her head. "I don't know. But Ryouko-san seems to recognize him."
Ryouko then explained about Yamori and Aogiri Tree—the very reason she and Hinami had come to Ward 20 seeking refuge.
"Perhaps you should stay here at Anteiku for the time being."
Yoshimura suggested.
He graciously welcomed the Fueguchi mother and daughter.
In the original story, after Ryouko was killed by investigators, Yoshimura had planned to send Hinami to Ward 24. That was because the situation had escalated to the point of threatening Ward 20's peace.
With Ryouko dead and Hinami's identity exposed, Mado would have hunted her relentlessly.
Yoshimura had worried that more investigators would flood into Ward 20, so he'd considered sacrificing Hinami. It was only Touka's fierce opposition that prevented Hinami from being sent to Ward 24—a brutal place where Hinami would struggle to survive.
Looking at Yoshimura's treatment of his own daughter, of Kaneki, and of Hinami, his fundamental nature was to make sacrifices or flee in order to survive.
First, he'd fled V's pursuit by abandoning his wife and daughter. Later, he'd contemplated sacrificing both Hinami and Kaneki. But eventually he did change. In the end, he stopped running, placed his hopes in Kaneki, and accepted death.
"Touka-oneechan, that person earlier... I think I might know him..."
Hinami spoke up suddenly.
"Which person? The one in the white mask?"
Touka asked immediately.
"Yes. I recognized the clothes he was wearing. And his scent seemed familiar too..."
Hinami continued, "It was that young man named Amaha Byakuya. The clothes and scent were very similar."
Despite the chaotic, dangerous situation, she'd noticed the mysterious masked man's clothing. She'd deliberately tried to catch his scent.
Even though the circumstances only allowed her to detect a faint trace, she'd determined it was most likely that young man.
"You mean Amaha Byakuya? That's impossible."
Touka's immediate reaction was disbelief.
She'd always thought Byakuya was just an ordinary human college student. She'd been close enough to smell him before—definitely human.
But the mysterious masked man had crimson eyes. And he wore a mask—something almost exclusively associated with ghouls.
In terms of identity alone, Byakuya and that masked man had nothing in common.
"But I really think it was him..."
Hinami sounded certain.
What concerned her most was that this young man had saved them. Could he be her father's friend? Was that why he carried her father's scent?
"Alright... regardless of whether it was him, I need to go back. That person saved us. I can't just abandon him."
Touka said.
She could also verify whether Hinami's intuition was correct.
For now, she still refused to believe it.