While the mother and daughter wolfed down the remaining bones, Byakuya and Hairu waited outside the shipping container.
"Amaha-senpai, you felt sorry for those two ghouls just now, didn't you?"
Hairu leaned against the container, idly tapping her boot against the ground as she spoke.
"No. I simply made a rational judgment that keeping them alive would benefit our investigation."
Byakuya wasn't about to admit anything.
"I can tell, you know~ You definitely went soft on them, Amaha-senpai."
Hairu tilted her head toward him. "I won't tell anyone, so just admit it~"
Her tone had taken on an almost coquettish quality.
"Soft or not, our interests come first."
Byakuya replied evenly.
"So I was right. Who would've thought Amaha-senpai would be so gentle toward ghouls?"
Hairu smiled as she spoke.
She didn't approve of his behavior, but she didn't find it objectionable either. She'd been raised in the Sunlit Garden, taught from childhood that all ghouls deserved death—every last one of them.
She could sense that the mother and daughter had emotions just like humans. But that wouldn't make her show mercy.
She was simply curious about Amaha-senpai, finding him hard to understand. Someone with such formidable strength, yet willing to spare a ghoul mother and child.
"..."
Byakuya chose not to respond.
Just then, the mother emerged from the container with her daughter.
"Sir, we've finished. And here's what you asked for..."
The mother handed Byakuya a small fragment of bone.
This was exactly what he'd requested—just this tiny piece would be enough to identify the deceased.
Beyond that, they'd consumed all the remaining bones inside. Not even scraps were left.
"Good. Now let's discuss the Grey Straw ghoul who attacked you. Have you thought of a way to lure him out?"
Byakuya asked.
"Well... Grey Straw ghouls don't really move during the day. We'd only have a chance to draw him out at night. If we just walk into his feeding ground, that should do it..."
The mother spoke carefully, her voice small and deferential in Byakuya's presence.
"So we need to wait until nightfall. Alright, but first—take us to those train tracks you mentioned. If there are still remains there, that'll prove you weren't lying."
Byakuya said.
"Yes, sir..."
The mother agreed immediately, though she worried there might not be any bones left from the same victim.
Fortunately, when they reached the area near the train tracks, they found plenty of scattered bone fragments and flesh—clearly the remains of someone who'd thrown themselves in front of a train, their body torn apart on impact.
The specifics would need professional verification. Byakuya quickly arranged for investigators to bring a medical examiner to the scene. The rest was their job.
Byakuya did all this simply because he wanted the mother and daughter to survive. For ghouls who survived on human corpses, he saw no need to hunt them to extinction. Better to spend that effort on eliminating the Washuu clan—the true architects of this system.
Going forward, the ghoul mother and daughter would accompany Byakuya and Hairu. They couldn't wander the streets, or Grey Straw ghouls might notice something was off.
With nothing else to do, Byakuya took them to a café in Ward 21.
While waiting for nightfall, he let the mother and daughter have some coffee—one of the few normal foods ghouls could consume.
It wouldn't do much to satisfy their hunger, but every little bit helped.
Inside the café, the pair sat nervously, clearly surprised that someone would bring them to a place like this for coffee.
Byakuya had been friendly throughout, but Hairu's presence terrified them. They sipped their coffee with extreme caution.
"Drink as much as you'd like. We'll just sit here until dark."
Byakuya told them.
"Thank you, sir..."
The mother replied immediately.
She also gently nudged her daughter, prompting her to thank Byakuya as well.
"Th-thank you... big brother..."
The little girl's voice was barely audible.
But hearing her daughter call him "big brother" instead of "sir," the mother's heart sank. She quickly corrected her. "You can't just call him that! It should be 'Lord Amaha'!"
"It's fine."
Byakuya waved his hand dismissively. "There's really no need to call me 'sir.' I'm just an ordinary investigator. Call me whatever you want."
"Alright..."
The mother nodded, suddenly feeling that this young investigator was surprisingly easy to talk to.
He really had been kind to them from the start, almost as if he didn't see them as enemies at all.
She'd never heard of an investigator like this.
Ghouls generally assumed all Doves were dangerous and terrifying—like the pink-haired girl beside him...
The thought made her glance involuntarily toward Hairu.
Their eyes met.
Hairu wasn't displaying any murderous intent at the moment. In fact, she didn't really have that kind of expression—even when exterminating ghouls, she wore a smile. Which somehow made her even more terrifying...
Hairu smiled slightly. "Is something wrong?"
"N-no, nothing..."
The mother quickly looked away, not daring to meet Hairu's gaze.
"By the way, what are your names?"
Byakuya asked the pair.
"We don't have family names, but we do have given names. I'm Meiya. My daughter is Ako."
The woman who called herself Meiya answered.
"Ako? That's a lovely name."
Perhaps because of Byakuya's influence, Hairu showed no hostility toward them now. She even smiled at the little girl as she spoke.
"Thank you..."
Ako's thanks came out very quietly, her eyes darting nervously. She was clearly still afraid of Hairu.
"Still scared of me? Well, I suppose that makes sense... I almost killed you both earlier."
Hairu's airheadedness surfaced again—she said this right to their faces, her expression still innocent and guileless.
...
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