"Houji-san, do I really have to stay behind again for this operation?"
Learning he'd be stationed here with Houji, Takizawa felt his entire body go numb.
"Yes. These are headquarters' orders. We can only follow their arrangements."
Houji knew Takizawa wanted to fight, but there was nothing he could do.
"But!..."
After the Aogiri Tree Suppression Operation, Takizawa knew complaining to Houji was pointless—it would only cause trouble. So he said nothing more, just quietly grumbling about headquarters' unfair arrangements in his head.
In a way, CCG keeping Takizawa out of combat was actually good for him.
In the original story, his greatest tragedy was participating in the Second Owl Suppression Operation—the Anteiku Raid—when he absolutely shouldn't have. That's when Tatara attacked him.
The reason? His Quinque happened to be made from the kakuhou of Tatara's brother, from the Chinese ghoul organization Chi She Lian. Otherwise, Tatara wouldn't have targeted him so specifically.
Afterwards, he was transformed into an artificial half-ghoul by Dr. Kanou, who was already collaborating with Aogiri Tree.
If CCG had continued overlooking him, none of those later tragedies would have occurred.
At that moment, Byakuya happened to pass by the room where Houji and Takizawa were talking. He heard Takizawa's complaints, and simultaneously, the system's voice echoed in his mind.
Ding! Host has activated a Choice Mission!
Choice One: Accept CCG headquarters' original arrangement without any additional commands. Reward: 20 Fusion Points!
Choice Two: Deploy all Ward 21 CCG investigators, leaving only Houji Kousuke and Takizawa Seidou to guard the branch. Reward: 20 Fusion Points!
Choice Three: Give Takizawa Seidou an opportunity to participate in combat. Reasonably allocate combat and guard personnel. While exterminating the ghoul organization Grey Straw, ensure the Ward 21 branch isn't successfully ambushed. Reward: 50 Fusion Points!
Choice Three offered more points because it tested Byakuya's command abilities.
But with sufficient strength, "commanding" was trivial.
"Actually... if Takizawa-san really wants to fight, he could give it a try."
Byakuya walked in and addressed Houji and Takizawa.
Honestly, he thought CCG's handling in the original story was ridiculous. They never gave Takizawa smaller operations to gain experience, then threw him straight into the Anteiku Raid.
It was like sending a newbie to fight an early-game boss—and that battle happened to involve another major boss in Aogiri Tree. The difficulty was completely beyond appropriate levels. Poor Takizawa had just happened to stumble into it. The guy's luck was absolutely tragic.
So this time, Byakuya would give Takizawa a chance to accumulate combat experience while also earning system rewards. A win-win.
"Really?!"
Takizawa's excitement was palpable.
"Will that be alright? Headquarters was concerned Grey Straw might circle around and attack here while we're out. That's why they wanted me and Takizawa to stay behind."
Houji looked worried.
"It's fine. We just need to adjust personnel allocation."
Byakuya said calmly. "My plan is: combat personnel will be just the four of us—myself, Ihei-san, Houji-san, and Takizawa-san. Some logistics and medical staff will accompany us. Everyone else guards the branch. That way, there's no need to worry about a Grey Straw ambush."
He didn't need to overthink command. Just brute force it.
Honestly, if not for keeping up appearances and giving Takizawa a combat opportunity, he and Hairu alone could have stormed Grey Straw's base.
He could even handle it solo with room to spare. But that would be too conspicuous—unnecessary.
"Just the four of us?..."
Houji was stunned by this decision.
But since headquarters had temporarily given command authority to Byakuya, he wouldn't oppose it.
"Correct. As long as Grey Straw doesn't have an SSS-rated ghoul exceeding One-Eyed Owl's combat strength, I'm absolutely certain of success."
Byakuya spoke calmly.
"As expected of Amaha-san!"
Takizawa was deeply impressed.
In his mind, besides Arima, only Amaha-san would dare use the One-Eyed Owl as a benchmark like this.
"You really do remind me of Arima. If he were here, he'd probably say the same thing."
Houji couldn't help remarking.
Thinking about it, there was nothing wrong with Byakuya saying this. Grey Straw couldn't possibly have another One-Eyed Owl—in CCG's records over the past decade-plus, there had only ever been that one SSS-rated ghoul.
So with Byakuya as commander of the Grey Straw Suppression Operation, victory was essentially guaranteed.
Hearing Houji's comment, Hairu also had a realization. "Now that you mention it, Amaha-senpai really is similar to Arima-san."
"However, with just the four of us, Takizawa-san will need to be extra careful. Ihei-san, Houji-san, and I will focus on A-rated and above ghouls. You'll be facing B-rated ghouls and any A-rated ones we might miss."
Byakuya reminded Takizawa. "Logistics personnel will stay close to you, and we'll keep an eye on your situation. But you still need to be cautious—this is your first operation of this scale."
"Yes! I'll do my best not to disappoint you!"
Takizawa's expression was solemn.
He understood this was an incredibly rare opportunity from Amaha-san. He was determined to perform well—not just to satisfy Amaha-san and Houji-san, but potentially to gain headquarters' attention.
Byakuya nodded slightly. "Then there's nothing else for now. Don't forget your pre-battle preparations."
The "pre-battle preparations" naturally referred to the "last testament" that every participant had to prepare before operations of this scale.
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