"Get away! Stay back!"
Watching his companions fall one after another, one ghoul's mind went blank with terror. He flailed his kagune wildly, desperately trying to kill the Dove before him.
By pure accident, his strike was unexpectedly tricky—and through sheer coincidence, it synced almost perfectly with another ghoul's attack.
One kagune swept in from the front, another from behind, both horizontal slashes that would simultaneously strike Hairu's head and legs in the next instant.
Under normal circumstances—at least from their perspective—there was no way she could dodge this!
But... they'd celebrated too soon...
Their attacks and coordination were indeed tricky, but Hairu could execute even trickier evasions.
Her legs splayed into something approaching a split, yet her toes remained planted on the ground—meaning she could still generate force from her legs.
But the absurdity of her position didn't end there. Not only were her legs nearly in a full split, but her upper body had bent backward until it was almost parallel to the ground. Her head came close enough to touch the floor, yet her balance remained perfect—not a single tremor. And while doing all this, she'd tossed the Scorpion dagger into the air with a backhanded flick.
Her flexibility, agility, and core strength were all terrifyingly impressive.
Both kagune attacks whiffed completely.
"She dodged that?!"
The two ghouls gaped in shock.
Before they could recover, Hairu had already sprung back up using just the strength of her toes, casually catching the falling dagger.
"A bit slow on that one."
She critiqued their attack while dispatching them both with the dagger.
Only one ghoul remained alive—the one Hairu had originally been chasing. His legs had gone weak from fear.
This Dove was too terrifying. She'd eliminated all his companions without breaking a sweat.
Just as Hairu was about to finish off the last ghoul, Byakuya's voice stopped her. "Ihei-san, hold on a moment."
"Huh~?"
Hairu turned to look at Byakuya with innocent confusion, leaving herself wide open from the ghoul's perspective.
But that ghoul was too cautious to attempt a surprise attack.
From what he'd seen, this Dove's strength was absurdly overwhelming. Any sneak attack would probably just get him killed. Better to use this chance to run.
His instincts proved sound. Careless as Hairu might be, she'd been killed in canon by Matsumae and Mairo working together—an SS-rated and an S-rated ghoul. And that had only happened because she'd slipped on blood she hadn't noticed. A sub-S-rated ghoul like him had no chance of ambushing her successfully.
If he'd actually tried, he'd be the one dying...
At this point, Hairu's physical abilities might even exceed those of her twenty-year-old self during the Tsukiyama Family Extermination Operation. This was due to the half-human lifespan problem.
Just as the nineteen-year-old Kishou Arima from ten years ago was undoubtedly stronger than the current twenty-nine-year-old version. By now, one of Arima's eyes was already affected by glaucoma—the only improvement was that his current Quinques were better than those from a decade ago.
Around age thirty, a half-human's body would deteriorate to roughly the condition of an eighty-year-old human, even though they'd still look about thirty externally.
"Don't just stand there going 'huh.' Be careful he doesn't escape—at least catch him first."
Byakuya quickly reminded her.
Hairu really was an airhead...
"Right, Amaha-senpai."
She acknowledged the instruction.
Without even fully turning back around, she flicked the dagger at the ghoul like throwing a dart. The blade buried itself precisely in the back of his skull.
The impact disrupted his balance, and he collapsed forward uncontrollably.
"Is this good enough, Amaha-senpai~?"
Hairu smiled at Byakuya.
Everything that had just happened seemed like a game to her—nothing worth taking seriously, those ghouls not worth a second thought.
"Yes, but you really should be more careful going forward. Don't let your guard down—treat every ghoul fight seriously..."
Byakuya offered the advice with good intentions.
After all, in the original story, Hairu's carelessness had cost her life...
"Okay, Amaha-senpai."
She nodded obediently.
But given her casual tone, it was hard to tell if she'd actually taken it to heart.
"Actually... Amaha-senpai, you already seem like a proper superior, even though you haven't officially started leading subordinates yet."
Hairu remarked suddenly.
"Do I?"
Byakuya hadn't noticed that himself. "Let's deal with him first. The reason I stopped you from killing him immediately is that Grey Straw's real base probably isn't here. Otherwise, there'd be more than just these few."
"True, there were only a handful of them, and they weren't anything special..."
Hairu nodded slightly.
"So... keeping him alive is useful. We can make him reveal Grey Straw's actual headquarters."
Byakuya spoke matter-of-factly. "The simplest approach is to lock him up in Cochlea and let the specialists handle the interrogation. We just wait for him to talk."
"Mm-hmm, that makes sense, Amaha-senpai."
Hairu nodded in agreement.
Byakuya then contacted the CCG Ward 21 branch to handle the scene and arrange for the surviving ghoul to be transferred to Cochlea.
Once the Ward 21 investigators arrived, Byakuya and Hairu headed back to Ward 20. Their work here was done.
"It's been a while since we left. Let's not keep Ui-san and the others worrying."
Byakuya checked the time, then called Koori Ui to let him know they were safe.
"Really? Hairu went off on her own again? Honestly, I'm going to have Arima-san give her a good talking-to later."
Even through the phone, Ui's exasperation was palpable.
Hairu was strong, but she kept making reckless decisions.
"Anyway, it's good you're both okay. Thanks for keeping an eye on her. Just grab the desserts and get back here—otherwise dinner's going to get cold."
"Got it. We'll hurry."
He ended the call.
...
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