"I... I understand..."
Nashiro was somewhat startled by Rize's expression and tone. She came fully to her senses and forcibly suppressed her craving.
At the same time, she was amazed. She'd never realized Byakuya's body was so delicious.
But thinking about it, she understood. She hadn't been a ghoul before—it was only recently she'd transformed. Naturally, she couldn't have noticed Byakuya's secret before.
"Rest and lie down. You should fully recover soon."
Byakuya reminded her.
"Okay."
Nashiro obediently lay back down.
She could clearly feel her kakuhou slowly self-repairing.
Her regeneration had shut down due to kakuhou damage, yet Byakuya's blood and flesh seemed to act as an independent healing force within her body.
This miraculous sensation left her unable to calm down. Byakuya's body seemed completely different from other humans. What was going on?
"Thank goodness. Nashiro's okay."
Kurona sat at the bedside clutching Nashiro's hand, overwhelmed with emotion. Tears involuntarily welled in her eyes.
She'd been so terrified of losing Nashiro...
Then Kurona remembered something. She looked at Byakuya, her gaze complicated. "Thank you for this..."
Though Byakuya had injured Nashiro, she could distinguish right from wrong. If Byakuya hadn't held back, neither of them would have survived.
So undeniably, Byakuya had not only shown mercy but also saved Nashiro after "Father" abandoned her.
Kurona suddenly realized she'd unconsciously still thought of Kanou as "Father." Did someone like that deserve to be called "Father"?
"Don't mention it. We're classmates, and now colleagues too."
Byakuya smiled.
"Colleagues?..."
Kurona laughed bitterly. "That's impossible now."
She knew "colleagues" meant CCG investigator work, but she and Nashiro were now ghouls. They couldn't work at the CCG—they wouldn't even pass the RC detection gates.
"Why impossible? Once Nashiro recovers, I can take you both to report for duty at the CCG. No problem."
Byakuya said casually.
"Idiot, Nashiro and I would be detected instantly by the RC gates."
Kurona objected.
"Trust me, you won't. You'll see."
Byakuya spoke with confidence.
"...Fine. I'll see where your confidence comes from."
After everything they'd been through together, Kurona had unconsciously developed considerable trust in Byakuya.
"By the way, Kurona, where's Father? And is this Amaha-kun's home?"
The bedridden Nashiro suddenly asked.
"Yes, this is his place. As for 'Father'..."
Kurona's tone turned cold. "I don't think we should call him 'Father' anymore."
"Why? What happened...?"
Nashiro had been unconscious the whole time, completely unaware.
"He abandoned us. Abandoned Nashiro. Said saving you would be a waste of time. He doesn't care if we live or die."
Kurona had seen clearly now. "He probably manipulated us into accepting the experiment too. Our real father might have been killed by him..."
Their biological father had died when they were very young, but they'd never known the exact cause.
When Kanou had them undergo the experiment, he'd told them the "truth" about their father—that the CCG had killed him, making them resent the CCG and more willing to participate.
Now that Kurona had lost all faith in Kanou, she assumed his earlier claims were also lies.
"I can't believe this..."
Nashiro found it hard to accept.
"Anyway, he's not our 'Father' anymore. We don't need to follow his orders. He's just trash who used us as tools."
Kanou's cold indifference when abandoning Nashiro was burned into Kurona's memory.
"Mm..."
Having no choice but to accept reality, Nashiro closed her eyes, her feelings clearly complex.
[Ding! Host completed Option 3: "Help the Yasuhisa sisters escape their predicament of being deceived by Kanou." Reward: 100 Fusion Points!]
The system notification confirmed it—Kurona and Nashiro no longer trusted Kanou. They'd escaped his "cage."
But Byakuya corrected one of their misunderstandings: "Actually, your biological father wasn't killed by Kanou. That incident remains a mystery, but he genuinely wasn't involved."
He didn't plan to tell them the full truth yet because it involved the CCG's dark side. He still wanted them to continue working at the CCG, and learning that darkness too soon wouldn't be good.
"I see... The past doesn't matter anymore. As long as Nashiro's okay."
When they'd first heard from Kanou that the CCG killed their father, they'd been emotionally volatile. But after everything now...
Nashiro's safety. Kanou's abandonment.
Kurona was exhausted. All she cared about now was Nashiro's wellbeing.
"Come to think of it, you held back against me and Nashiro on purpose, didn't you? If you'd wanted to kill us, we couldn't have escaped."
Kurona suddenly brought this up. "We'd already become ghouls—enemies to you as an investigator. Why did you help us so much?"
From their encounter at the Ghoul Restaurant until now, she hadn't sensed any rejection from Byakuya. He seemed more accepting of their ghoul status than they were themselves.
She wanted to know why he was so kind to them.
Or rather, she wanted to hear a specific answer...