Amano Hiro gently held Rize, his fingers unconsciously twining a strand of her hair, while his mind began reviewing the course of events and considering the road ahead.
From Cochlea, to the Owl Suppression Operation, to Carnage's ambushes repeatedly meeting setbacks, the Washuu Clan should now also be somewhat impotently furious.
The atmosphere inside the CCG should not be optimistic either.
He wondered how far that old fox Marude Itsuki's investigation had progressed. If he could add another spark to the Washuu Clan's fire, all the better.
"If the Washuu want to regroup and reverse their decline, they will inevitably need a 'great victory' enough to shake all of Tokyo..." he mused silently.
As for something that could count as a major move, in the original work that auction gathering forces from all sides was undoubtedly the best stage.
There was also the Tsukiyama family extermination operation. But the current Tsukiyama Shuu was still a gourmet aesthete "gentleman," not yet obsessively deranged, so that conflict would most likely not occur.
However, those events following the original timeline should still be far in the future.
Perhaps it would not even take that long.
The plan to annihilate the Washuu Clan should not require so much time.
Still, Amano Hiro could not fully gauge it now. The Washuu were not brainless.
They had used missiles on him twice. That had truly been dangerous. Without Carnage, he would already be dead.
Now the Washuu people had vanished somewhere unknown. If only there were some intelligence-lowering system so they would just stretch their necks out waiting to die.
But there was no need to rush for now. The Dragon core research was not yet complete, and Washuu Yoshitoki's value had not yet been exhausted.
And there was also the Clowns organization, another ticking bomb.
But overthinking was useless. With the ghoul side's current combat strength, he truly did not see how they could lose.
They could simply wait for the enemy to make a move. Once a flaw appeared, finish them in one stroke.
Time flew. Since Amano Hiro and Rize moved into their new residence, more than half a year had passed in the blink of an eye.
These six months of life were calm to the point of unreality, as if they had finally stepped out of the grotesque world of Carnage back into ordinary human society.
Their daily routine was filled with the most mundane trifles: shopping, watching movies, seeking food.
It was as though they meant to make up all the ordinary time they had missed in the past.
Every few days they would sit for a while at "Cafe Hope," savoring the calm steeped in coffee aroma, or visit the Aogiri Tree base, seemingly casually yet in truth closely monitoring the progress of the Dragon core research.
The whole world seemed to have fallen into a strange silence.
Aogiri Tree had proactively withdrawn all its tentacles, pouring all effort into that future-determining secret research, with no conspicuous action.
And the CCG had also changed its former aggressiveness, becoming unusually low-key, as if licking wounds in the dark and accumulating strength.
This eerie calm was like the stillness before a storm.
CCG Headquarters, in a relatively simple meeting room, it was already full.
On both sides of the long table sat two distinctly styled teams.
At the head were two familiar faces: Associate Special Class Investigator Suzuya Juuzou, and First Class Investigator Mado Akira, who had reached the rank her father once held.
On the right was Suzuya Juuzou's sharply styled direct unit.
On the left was the newly formed Quinx Squad led by Mado Akira.
A group of humans capable of using ghoul power.
This special team that in the original work had been led by Kaneki Ken was now led by Mado Akira.
Seeing everyone present, Suzuya Juuzou's deputy, Second Class Investigator Abara Hanbee, distributed sealed files to each person.
He then stepped to the display board at the front, cleared his throat, and broke the silence.
"Everyone, these were discovered in the home of the ghoul 'Mayu Clips'... order records concerning 'ingredients.'"
He deliberately stressed the word "ingredients," paused slightly, and continued.
"'Mayu Clips' is a human trafficker specializing in collecting and 'processing' special human specimens."
Everyone looked gravely at the materials in their hands.
"Auction?" a young investigator asked quietly. "You mean... auctioning people?"
Mado Akira gave the exact answer in her characteristically calm, almost cruel tone.
"Yes. Kidnapped humans are publicly auctioned as commodities."
Quinx Squad's Mutsuki Tooru unconsciously clenched his fists, his voice trembling slightly. "Bought... to be eaten, right?"
"Not entirely." Mado Akira's gaze swept the room.
"Besides food, there are also buyers with special collecting fetishes who keep them long-term as 'pets.'"
At this, Abara Hanbee's eyes involuntarily drifted toward Suzuya Juuzou at the head.
His superior's tragic childhood as a ghoul "pet" was not a secret internally.
Sensing the subordinate's worried, probing glance, Suzuya Juuzou merely tilted his head nonchalantly and returned his trademark faint smile, as if that dark past had nothing to do with him.
The current Suzuya Juuzou was completely different from when he first appeared.
His hair had been dyed black, and his whole person had grown far steadier, no longer carrying the former distortion.
Abara quickly composed himself and continued the agenda in a professional tone.
"According to current intelligence, this underground auction is very likely closely connected to another SS-rated ghoul, 'Big Madam.'
Therefore, please prepare for a joint operation with Division II and in-depth investigation."
After the meeting, the two teams dispersed and began executing their assigned plans.
Night deepened. Inside a nightclub in the 13th ward, lights were hazy.
In a corner of the hall stood several fashionably dressed young women, each with different charm in height, build, and style.
One among them, however, was glaringly out of place.
She was unusually tall, her proportions somewhat odd, and her appearance unforgettable.
This tall "woman" suddenly lowered her voice and complained in a rough tone utterly mismatched with her appearance.
"I'm telling you... here... no, I'm the only one who looks totally out of place, right?"
They were members of the Quinx Squad, currently disguised as prey, trying to approach the target and obtain the auction's exact location.
Except for Urie Kuki, absent due to a medical exam, all squad members were present.
The reason Shirazu Ginshi appeared here was entirely due to Mado Akira's order:
"Maintain team diversity." In her words, if some customer with special tastes happened to like his type, it would be perfect.
In the original story Kaneki Ken, or rather, Sasaki Haise, had also cross-dressed, so he had not been the only male.
Now he really was the only man. He obviously didn't know Mutsuki was actually a girl.