"With Byakuya here too, this investigation should be much easier."
Ui smiled.
As Byakuya's former superior, he knew his strength well.
"I'm Juuzou Suzuya. Nice to meet you~"
Suzuya greeted Akira.
"Likewise. Nice to meet you, Rank 2 Suzuya."
Akira nodded.
"First Class Amaha needs no introduction. Rank 2 Mado previously conducted investigations in Ward 1 under Special Class Arima's command. Arima acknowledged her abilities."
Shinohara briefly summarized Akira's background.
"If there are no other matters, let's begin today's briefing."
Shinohara picked up some documents from the table.
"Let's start with the Binge Eater. For unknown reasons, she vanished six months ago. We've received no concrete intelligence about her. We're completely stumped—it's as if she really did evaporate..."
Shinohara sighed.
The Binge Eater case was his responsibility. With her gone this long without appearing, he could only dig through six months of newspapers like a headless fly, not knowing how long it would take to find anything—if he found anything at all.
The Binge Eater situation was giving him a massive headache.
Byakuya remained expressionless and silent.
"Next... Ui, please report on the Gourmet."
Shinohara addressed Ui.
The Gourmet was Ui and Rikai's assignment.
"Right."
Ui stood. "Regarding the Gourmet—like the Binge Eater, he's recently disappeared. However, with help from other branches, we've discovered the Gourmet may be connected to the Ghoul Restaurant. Ward 20 has no Ghoul Restaurant. That's our only finding so far."
"Come to think of it, didn't First Class Amaha infiltrate and destroy a Ghoul Restaurant in Ward 7 before? Do you have any leads on the Gourmet?"
Shinohara suddenly remembered and asked Byakuya.
"Yes. I probably saw the Gourmet at the Ghoul Restaurant. He wore a crescent-moon-shaped mask, right?"
Byakuya didn't deliberately hide this.
"Exactly that shape. So the Gourmet really is connected to the Ghoul Restaurant."
Shinohara's expression grew serious. This was an important discovery—it might help locate the Gourmet.
While Ui, Shinohara, and the others pondered the Gourmet and Ghoul Restaurant connection, Akira picked up a document. "Though the Gourmet has nearly vanished, there are still suspected predation incidents. They're just far less frequent than before."
"Akira..."
Shinohara was somewhat surprised.
Most juniors would quietly listen without offering opinions in such situations. A few might share speculation. But Akira just naturally joined their discussion.
Considering Akira's excellence and that she was Kureo Mado's daughter, Shinohara said, "Go ahead and share your thoughts."
"Six months ago, the Gourmet's predation frequency suddenly dropped sharply for a period. It later increased somewhat but remained far below pre-drop levels."
Akira analyzed calmly. "I believe something happened to the Gourmet six months ago—perhaps attacked by another ghoul and forced to recuperate."
The others fell into thought at her analysis, showing no particular reaction.
Only Byakuya felt impressed. Akira had truly inherited her father Kureo Mado's intuition.
Just from examining predation frequency charts, she'd deduced the Gourmet's situation accurately. Back then, Tsukiyama had indeed been badly beaten by Rize and needed time to recover.
"Then recently, the Gourmet's predation frequency dropped sharply again—to zero this time. He likely experienced the same situation."
Akira continued. "Notably, in the days before it hit zero, there was a small spike—as if celebrating or preparing for something. Was he anticipating a fight with another ghoul? Or eagerly awaiting a specific prey?"
"After the frequency dropped to zero, the Gourmet became even more discreet. Almost no predation incidents occurred—any that did were only suspected connections."
"Before the first drop, between the first and second drops, and after the second drop—across these three periods, his predation patterns kept changing. It's as if something was restraining him, making him increasingly unlike the original Gourmet, completely against his hunting style."
Akira had analyzed extensively.
Shinohara, Ui, and Rikai could follow her reasoning normally, but Suzuya's brain had crashed. He sat there looking utterly lost, completely unable to follow Akira's explanation.
Byakuya remained expressionless, simply marveling at Akira's intuition.
"In conclusion, I believe the Gourmet has a primary prey target—and that target is simultaneously someone he can't handle. Hence a protracted six-month standoff. His gradually decreasing predation frequency is likely him suppressing his appetite for this target."
Akira's analysis reached its conclusion. "And his prey target is probably in Ward 20... though possibly another ward. However, we can rule out wards where he's previously committed predation—he'd avoid alerting his target. But my intuition says Ward 20 is most likely."
Her eyes had grown cold and sharp like her father Kureo's, her slender finger pointing at Ward 20 on the Tokyo map.
Akira's intuition was indeed remarkable—her analysis was nearly spot-on.
Yet even with such accurate intuition, she'd never imagine that the "Gourmet's prey target" she'd emphasized was sitting right beside her, less than half a meter away...
...
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