After the parent-teacher conference ended.
Touka's closest friend, Yoriko Kosaka, immediately came to find her.
"Touka, is this your father?"
Yoriko asked right away.
Having known Touka for so long, she had never met Touka's parents—only knowing that Touka had an uncle who usually attended parent-teacher conferences.
Touka had never mentioned anything about her parents.
Yoriko had assumed something had happened to Touka's parents and, considering Touka's feelings, had never asked.
So hearing today that Touka's father had come was both surprising and intriguing.
"Mm, my dad has been working overseas on a long-term assignment. He finally had time to come back for the conference this time."
Touka explained with a natural expression.
She had anticipated this situation and had prepared an explanation for Yoriko in advance.
"Oh, I see. I was wondering why I'd never seen Touka's father before."
Yoriko nodded.
As an ordinary girl without any guile, she completely believed Touka's explanation.
"I'm Touka's friend, Yoriko Kosaka."
Yoriko introduced herself to Arata.
"To be precise, her best friend."
Touka emphasized.
"But the person Touka likes the most is someone else entirely~"
Yoriko said with a smile.
"Honestly..."
Touka thought to herself that she was glad she wasn't her former self—otherwise, Yoriko's comment just now would have made her extremely flustered.
"...?"
Yoriko immediately sensed something was off.
The Touka she knew would have blushed furiously and rushed to deny it.
But not only had Touka not hurried to deny it—her expression was remarkably calm.
Could it be... Touka had already...?
"Touka, are you already dating that guy?"
Yoriko tested the waters.
Actually, this wasn't testing—this was a direct confrontation.
Only now did a faint blush appear on Touka's face. "It was... just recently."
"It's actually true!"
Yoriko exclaimed in amazement. "Touka, you're impressive! You're already dating him so soon."
"Don't say it so loudly..."
Touka said, somewhat embarrassed.
Yoriko's exclamation was practically echoing through the entire hallway.
"What's the big deal? Other people would be envious if anything—having such a handsome and dependable boyfriend."
Yoriko was genuinely happy.
Clearly, she was sincerely happy for Touka.
"Stop it. I just don't want to be so public about it."
Touka looked embarrassed.
Seeing Touka getting along so well with her human friend, Arata felt both happy and relieved.
After chatting with Yoriko for a while, Touka and Arata returned to the coffee shop.
"The last time I attended Touka's parent-teacher conference... I can't even remember how long ago it was. I was a bit nervous this time, but fortunately nothing went wrong."
Arata said with some relief.
His biggest concern was his ghoul identity being exposed.
The most important thing now was to avoid being discovered by the CCG—especially at school, where he couldn't arouse suspicion. Otherwise, Touka would be implicated too.
So throughout the conference, Arata had been extremely careful.
"Kirishima-san doesn't need to be so nervous. Ordinary humans wouldn't imagine that students or parents at school could be ghouls."
Irimi said.
In fact, students on campus did tend to have rather shallow knowledge about ghouls.
Perhaps because they were well-protected by schools and investigators, the vast majority of students had never witnessed a ghoul preying on humans.
For example, in the original story, Kaneki Ken at the beginning had absolutely no understanding of ghouls—he imagined them as bizarre monsters and was even mocked by his best friend Hide.
Or take young Arima in the side story—his classmate Taishi Fura had been completely at a loss when attacked by Lantern Mika Rika. That had been his first encounter with a ghoul attack.
"Anyway, the conference is over now. Let's not dwell on it."
Koma walked over with a cup of coffee. "Kirishima-san hasn't tried our shop's coffee yet. Would you like a cup?"
"Yes, thank you all."
Arata nodded.
He accepted the coffee and took a sip...
He knew ghouls could drink coffee, but this cup seemed to have an unusual aroma.
Seeing the hint of confusion on Arata's face, Koma explained, "Actually, there's a tiny piece of meat in this coffee. Kirishima-san should understand what kind of meat I mean."
Hearing this explanation, Arata immediately understood.
"I see. It is quite delicious."
Arata praised.
Just then, Yoshimura and Yomo entered through the front door.
"Oh, the Manager and Yomo-san are back."
Irimi spoke up.
Hearing that Renji and the Mr. Yoshimura were back, Arata immediately turned to look.
Yomo's eyes met Arata's at that moment, and his expression changed dramatically.
He had never expected to see Arata here—he had always believed Arata had died long ago...
"Is that... Arata?!"
Yomo's voice was filled with shock.
"Renji..."
Arata didn't know what expression to wear when facing Yomo.
He had never been able to protect his wife back then, which had always made him unable to face Renji.
He had promised Renji that he would protect Touka and Ayato no matter what, but in the end...
This filled Arata with deep guilt. Renji's sudden arrival made him even more flustered.
"..."
Yoshimura didn't say anything, but he already understood the general situation.
Though Arata didn't know him, he knew about Arata from what Touka and Renji had told him.
This also confirmed his earlier suspicion. During the Ward 11 Aogiri Tree Suppression Operation, when he'd faced Shinohara and Kuroiwa, he had seen the koukaku Quinque they wore and heard them call it "Arata." At that moment, he had formed a hypothesis...
Sure enough, Arata hadn't been killed—he had been imprisoned by the CCG for Quinque experiments.
With a living Arata suddenly appearing before him, Yomo was deeply shaken. He couldn't find words for a long moment.
At that moment, Arata walked toward Yomo and suddenly knelt down before him.
...
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