"We interrupt this program with a major news flash. Just moments ago, Tsukiyama Shuu, the next heir of the Tsukiyama Group, announced that the group has successfully developed a synthetic food that can be consumed by Ghouls and can replenish the cellular nutrients they require."
"After repeated testing on numerous Ghouls, the Tsukiyama Group has confirmed that this synthetic food is completely harmless to all Ghouls. Relevant experimental records and summary reports have already been made public online."
"More importantly, this synthetic food is extremely cheap to produce. Every 100 grams costs only 320 yen. A price even the lowest-level Ghoul can easily afford."
"This means that from today onward, Ghouls no longer need to attack humans or consume human flesh."
"This technology from the Tsukiyama Group is simply the greatest biological invention of the 21st century."
Tokyo. Ward 20. Dusk.
Inside a room on the third floor of the Anteiku coffee shop.
Yoshimura Eto, her green hair in disarray, stared blankly at the computer screen, frozen in place.
The dietary needs of Ghouls had always been minimal.
The flesh of a single human was enough for a Ghoul to survive normally for a week or longer, assuming no fighting or injury. That was several times more efficient than human food consumption.
If it was only for survival, an ordinary Ghoul would only need to spend a few hundred to at most a thousand yen per week on food, depending on the price.
There was no longer any reason to attack humans.
With their physical advantages, Ghouls could easily earn that much even by moving bricks at a construction site.
From this point on, any Ghoul who still attacked humans would be no different from a human criminal who killed purely for selfish reasons.
They would be scum.
Trash.
Ghoul waste-individuals with the ability to work but unwilling to do so.
And their elimination by the CCG and national police would be entirely justified.
"Hey, hey, hey..."
Eto stared at the dense experimental data on the screen and rubbed her messy green hair in irritation, grinding her teeth.
"I just confirmed the target with Arima, and now this happens?"
"Does it really have to be this coincidental?"
"Would the Tsukiyama Group die if they'd announced this two months earlier?"
"Aah-aah-aah-"
As her mood hit rock bottom, the smartphone she had tossed onto the bed suddenly rang.
"Mikan, Mikan, Mikan is calling! Mikan, Mikan, Mikan is calling!"
The ringtone made the caller's identity obvious.
"Mikan..."
Eto muttered.
"She's probably calling about the Tsukiyama Group, right?"
She stood up, completely ignoring her near-explosive hairstyle, then dove onto the unmade bed.
Pounce.
Picking up the phone, she pressed the answer button and spoke weakly.
"Hello?"
"Eto! Eto! Did you see the news just now?! Synthetic food you can eat is finally out! From now on, you won't have to eat human flesh anymore!"
"Maybe after some time, you won't even need to hide being a Ghoul! You can stand on a stage and proudly tell everyone you're a Ghoul!"
The bright, excited voice on the other end made Eto's already terrible mood sink even further.
Still, because the caller was Yuuki Mikan-her only human friend-Eto forced herself to stay calm.
"I saw it."
That's exactly why I'm so annoyed.
If this had been announced two months earlier, I wouldn't have had to sit down with Arima Kishou to discuss creating the One-Eyed King, leading the Ghouls, and eliminating the rift.
"Eh? You sound weirdly calm, Eto. Did you know about this beforehand?"
"The Tsukiyama Group's secret research? How would someone like me know about that?"
"Then why-"
"Well... how should I put it."
Eto stared up at the pure white ceiling, her voice tinged with helplessness.
"It feels like I just agreed to do something important with someone... and then suddenly found out it was completely unnecessary."
From any perspective, Ghouls no longer needing to eat humans was a good thing.
Eto understood that perfectly.
What she was feeling now was just an emotional backlash-being caught off guard, or perhaps an unwillingness to accept that her plans had been abruptly rendered meaningless.
"Hm. I don't really get it."
Mikan's response was exactly what Eto expected.
The call went on for a while longer.
After hanging up, Eto stared at her phone and was about to call the blue-haired young man she had been conspiring with recently.
Then she paused.
"...I just realized I don't have that guy's contact information."
With that thought, she tossed the phone aside and rolled over on the bed like a dried fish.
"Forget it. He wasn't important anyway. Who cares about him?"
"Though now that I think about it, Hiro-shounen hasn't come by in a long time."
"What an ungrateful kid."
"Next time, I'll have Mikan bring her sister along and go visit his place."
Inside a CCG transport vehicle, Arima Kishou adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose and silently closed the newly updated news report.
"So... from today onward, Ghouls no longer need to eat humans."
"...Mm."
"Tsukiyama Shuu."
"Although the research direction differs slightly from the original plan, the plot has already collapsed beyond recognition."
"It doesn't matter much anymore."
Elsewhere, allowing his sleeping maid to cling to him, Hiro silently muttered to himself after reading the same report.
"The only Ghouls I'm acquainted with are Yoshimura Eto and Yoshimura Kuzen."
"And neither of them are short on money."
"As for the others..."
"Kirishima Touka."
"Fueguchi Hinami and her mother."
"Kamishiro Rize."
"I haven't even met them yet."
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