Kirishima Ayato cast a glance at the still-struggling Kaneki Ken, then, without a moment's hesitation, reached into the metal box and withdrew one of the vials.
"No time to waste babbling with this guy. The One-Eyed should be fine with this."
After a brief moment of thought, Ayato silently concluded as such in his heart.
Ignoring the look of abject horror on Kaneki's face, Ayato unceremoniously plunged the injector of RC Cell Concentrate into Kaneki's neck.
As the liquid slowly entered his bloodstream, an inhuman scream tore from Kaneki's throat, a sound so shrill and anguished that it seemed to pierce through the very soul.
His knees buckled, slamming hard against the ground. His body trembled violently, and he gasped out tortured moans that made one's hair stand on end.
Ayato, however, acted as if he had seen nothing. Without even turning back once, he walked straight out of the room, calm and indifferent.
"If he dies, so be it. Still better than being tortured by those bastards. That place is hell."
...
At that moment, Banjou Kazuichi and the others happened to return.
The moment they stepped through the door, they were struck by the sheer intensity of the screams, halting in place with startled expressions.
Especially Banjou, upon hearing the voice, a terrible sense of dread gripped his chest.
Without thinking, he broke into a sprint toward the source of the sound.
When he crossed paths with Ayato in the corridor, Banjou breathlessly demanded,
"Ayato, what the hell did you do?! What happened to Kaneki?!"
"Hah? Banjou, looks like you're itching for a beating."
Ayato's eyes flashed with irritation as he abruptly kicked Banjou in the stomach with a heavy blow.
Caught off guard, Banjou had no time to evade. A wave of pain flooded his body, and he was sent flying like a puppet with its strings cut.
He crashed into the floor with a thud, hands clutching his abdomen, spitting out several strands of blood.
"Forget that guy inside. If you go in, I'll kill you."
Ayato threw down that cold warning, then leaned casually against the wall, seemingly deep in thought.
"Banjou-san, are you alright?!"
The others, all wearing gas masks, rushed over in concern. Though Banjou had little in terms of combat strength, his resilience was top-tier.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me... but..."
Banjou raised his head and glanced worriedly at the room Kaneki was in. Still, he caught a glimpse of Ayato from the corner of his eye and refrained from making any rash decisions.
...
Meanwhile...
"Ryu... um, about that position as Bureau Staff Assistant..."
Nagachika Hideyoshi scratched his head with an awkward smile, his cheeks slightly flushed. He was clearly hesitant and embarrassed.
Yesterday, Hide had called Uesugi Ryu, asking what qualifications were needed to join the CCG, obviously intending to get in to search for Kaneki, who had likely been captured by Aogiri Tree.
Upon hearing this, Uesugi Ryu immediately guessed the situation. Judging by Hide's behavior, Kaneki must've been taken.
Ryu narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"Bureau staff assistant?"
A moment later, as if realizing something, he let out a knowing smile and said in a firm voice:
"You mean... an Investigator Assistant."
Hide blinked in surprise.
"Investigator Assistant?! Ryu, you're giving me a serious promotion here!"
The title "Bureau Assistant" sounded nice, but it really meant little more than a glorified courier or secretary, delivering documents and handling errands, with no access to ghoul-related intel.
But Investigator Assistant was a whole different matter. It was an actual official CCG position under the direct command of a Ghoul Investigator.
And as a First-Class Investigator, Uesugi Ryu certainly had the authority to appoint one.
Ryu gracefully raised his steaming cup of coffee, took a delicate sip, then set it down and smiled.
"With your talent and potential, joining CCG as an assistant is more than fitting."
"Come report in tomorrow. Once you've gotten used to the job, I'll think about promoting you."
He added a warm, encouraging glance.
Sitting nearby, Mado Akira watched the exchange, her expression completely blank. The corner of her mouth twitched ever so slightly.
So this is what Uesugi Ryu means by "recruiting talent for the CCG"? Campus recruitment from the university?
From any angle, Foreign Languages major Nagachika Hideyoshi didn't exactly seem like CCG material. It's not like they were swamped with international ghouls.
And more importantly... from the looks of it, these two clearly knew each other already!
Her eyes narrowed, locking onto Hideyoshi with a penetrating gaze. But despite the suspicion gnawing at her, Akira chose to stay silent.
Whether it was out of trust for Uesugi Ryu or for reasons she couldn't quite explain herself, she let it go.
Hide, for his part, immediately sensed Akira's sharp gaze. He shifted uncomfortably, instinctively leaning away from her line of sight, and quickly lifted his cup.
"Thanks, Ryu. Uh, she won't be a problem... right?"
He subtly gestured at Akira with his hand, clearly unnerved by her expression.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it."
Ryu waved him off casually, then added,
"By the way... Kaneki still hasn't returned to normal, has he?"
There was a pause.
Hide's decision to join the CCG meant Kaneki had indeed been taken by Aogiri Tree.
Perhaps the "gift" Ryu had sent earlier might prove useful. As for whether Kaneki could survive the RC spike from the injection?
Honestly, Ryu hadn't thought too hard about it.
After all, Kaneki Ken was the undisputed king of withstanding punishment. The undisputed champ of torture endurance. A little RC overload should be fine.
And it had taken quite a bit of effort to obtain those two small vials, he'd personally wrangled them out of Inoue Tomoya.
When creating Quinques, there was always leftover RC concentrate. Inoue had pocketed those leftovers, of course.
Now, Ryu had successfully climbed to the rank of First-Class Investigator, while Inoue had made a name for himself as one of the most prominent Quinque craftsmen in the CCG, second only to Dr. Chigyou.
That was largely thanks to Ryu constantly feeding him ghoul corpses. All the useless Kakuhous went straight into Inoue's lab for practice.
It had to be noted: Ryu did not absorb any Kakuhous that met Quinque-making criteria, to avoid raising suspicions from the CCG.
With such an endless supply of practice material, if Inoue couldn't make progress, he really would have had to go bash his head against a wall.
"Sorry, sorry... Kaneki told me to keep it a secret. It really was Shhhh...super secret!"
Hide finally gave up trying to play dumb, raising both hands in apology.
Kaneki had told him about Ryu. Judging by Ryu's earlier attitude, Hide had assumed the man hadn't seen through Kaneki's lies.
Ryu rolled his eyes.
"Just this once. But if you still consider me a friend, don't hide it from me again."
"Yes, yes, I get it!" Hide quickly promised, breathing a sigh of relief.