Touka bent down and sniffed near Byakuya's neck.
With no ulterior thoughts in her mind, she felt no embarrassment.
"..."
Byakuya wasn't entirely sure what she was doing.
Trying to determine if he was human or ghoul?
Touka closed her eyes and analyzed what she detected.
Apart from Rize's scent, there was no obvious ghoul smell.
This was unmistakably human.
Now she was even more convinced the masked man couldn't have been Byakuya. She distinctly remembered those red eyes.
Though in retrospect, they'd seemed somehow different from kakugan—but she knew ordinary humans didn't have eyes like that.
Just then, Ryouko and Hinami entered the lounge.
From their angle, Byakuya's face happened to be blocked by Touka's.
At first glance, it looked like they were...
Hinami was young, but she wasn't ignorant. The scene immediately gave her the wrong idea.
"S-sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!"
Like a startled rabbit, Hinami fled the room.
Her cute little face had turned pink. She'd been shocked. Touka-oneechan had said she barely knew this young man—so why were they doing something so intimate right away?
"Please, continue. I won't disturb you."
Ryouko smiled awkwardly and prepared to withdraw.
Touka instantly realized the misunderstanding. "No! You've got the wrong idea!"
It took considerable effort for Touka to quietly explain things to Ryouko and Hinami outside the room.
Byakuya sat alone in the lounge, calmly sipping his coffee.
Though Touka had deliberately kept her voice down, he could guess well enough. They'd called him up here because of yesterday's incident. They probably wanted to confirm his identity.
After a while, Touka, Ryouko, and Hinami returned.
Touka had regained her composure. "The ones who wanted to see you are these two."
The three of them sat across from Byakuya.
...
Byakuya regarded Ryouko and Hinami with a questioning look.
"Um..."
Hinami spoke first. "It was you who saved us yesterday, wasn't it? First, thank you so much!"
She paused before continuing. "Also, even though I don't know you, you must know my father, right?"
[Ding! Host has triggered a quest. Divine Selection activated!]
[Option 1: Play dumb. Act confused and claim not to understand. Reward: 5 Fusion Points!]
[Option 2: Admit the masked man was you, but claim you withdrew mid-fight. Someone else eliminated Yamori. Reward: 10 Fusion Points!]
[Option 3: Admit it was you and reveal your CCG investigator identity. Reward: 50 Fusion Points!]
Facing Hinami's question and the system's options, Byakuya's mind raced.
Admitting it was him shouldn't cause problems. Everyone who'd witnessed his fighting abilities—except the now-deceased Yamori—was gone. As for the Sharingan they'd glimpsed, he could spin some excuse.
As for revealing his investigator identity... he'd already thought of an approach.
"Yes, that was me. As for your father... is his name Asaki Fueguchi?"
Byakuya smiled gently.
He chose not to hide. As long as there were no serious consequences, transparency was fine.
Hinami's face lit up with joy. It really had been this young man, and he did know her father.
"Yes!"
She nodded eagerly. "You must be my father's friend, right?"
Her reasoning was simple: he'd saved them yesterday.
But then Touka couldn't hold back. "But that person yesterday clearly had—"
She nearly blurted out that he'd been a ghoul, but caught herself just in time. She couldn't casually mention such things in front of outsiders. She quickly covered her mouth.
"You mean the eyes, right? I was on an investigation mission at the time. For convenience, I wore colored contacts. They looked like kakugan but were completely different—specifically designed to deceive targets."
Byakuya's explanation was delivered with perfect nonchalance. "The mask served the same purpose."
His straight-faced improvisation was flawless.
"Oh... is that so?"
Touka didn't immediately catch the key word in his statement. A moment later, realization hit. "Wait! You said you were on an investigation mission? Are you...?"
That terminology was specific to ghoul investigators.
Was he a CCG investigator?
"If you're asking whether I'm an investigator, then yes. I'm with the CCG."
Byakuya answered plainly. "So, little miss—I'm not your father's friend."
[Ding! Host has completed Option 3. Reward received: 50 Fusion Points!]
Ryouko and Hinami's expressions changed instantly.
He was a ghoul investigator who'd had contact with their husband/father. Did that mean he'd already...?!
And during the fight with Yamori, both Ryouko and Touka had released their kagune. He'd clearly seen they were ghouls—and now he knew their identities...
For Touka and the Fueguchis alike, this was terrible news.
Any ghoul whose identity was discovered by investigators was typically hunted relentlessly.
Touka even briefly considered silencing him permanently. She absolutely didn't want Anteiku's peaceful existence destroyed. If she let this investigator leave alive, the consequences could be catastrophic.
But she quickly calmed down. In her agitation, she'd nearly forgotten—this man had the strength to eliminate Yamori.