This wasn't the first time Arata had knelt before Yomo.
He had knelt before Yomo once before, after his wife Hikari had been killed by investigators.
Back then, it was because he'd been too weak to protect his wife and was wracked with grief and self-blame. This time, it was because he had failed in his duty as a father, letting Touka and Ayato suffer so much.
But before Arata could voice his guilt, Yomo forcibly helped him back to his feet.
"Arata! You have absolutely no need to apologize to me."
Yomo said firmly. "Now that you're back, just take good care of Touka and Ayato. There's nothing else that needs to be said."
He had never blamed Arata. The only one he hated was the investigator who had killed his sister all those years ago—Kishou Arima.
So he didn't want Arata to apologize or kneel before him again...
"Dad!"
Touka hurried over to help support Arata as well.
Meanwhile, Byakuya wasn't present.
When Arata had gone to attend Touka's parent-teacher conference, Byakuya had gone to work at the CCG branch office.
Afterward, once Arata had calmed down, he sat with Touka and Yomo, drinking coffee together.
"I heard from Touka earlier that Ayato is now with a ghoul organization called Aogiri Tree."
Arata brought up Ayato.
Among his surviving family members, he had now seen both Touka and Renji. The only one he hadn't met was Ayato, so he was very concerned about his son's situation.
"Don't worry about that kid. He's actually quite safe in Aogiri Tree."
Touka said.
Because the current Aogiri Tree... Byakuya was the One-Eyed King, Eto-san was the One-Eyed Owl—they were basically allies. Ayato being in Aogiri Tree was actually safer now.
"Because one of the people leading Aogiri Tree is Byakuya, and the other is the Manager's daughter."
Touka explained.
...
Ward 20, CCG Branch Office.
Due to some important new intelligence, Branch Director Byakuya needed to come to the office to review it.
Though Byakuya now possessed the Rinnegan, he could still switch freely between the Rinnegan, the left Kamui eye, and normal black pupils—all abilities granted by the system.
Otherwise, normally speaking, once the eyes evolved to the Rinnegan, one couldn't revert to normal black pupils or even to the Sharingan.
This was much more convenient for Byakuya—he didn't need to bother with colored contacts or anything like that.
The documents piled on his desk posed no pressure for him.
His ability to read ten lines at a glance was immensely helpful when reviewing documents. The accumulated pile was processed in no time.
Halfway through his review, Byakuya came across this batch's important intelligence.
A ghoul wearing a black rabbit mask had appeared in Ward 6.
Since the black rabbit mask corresponded to the white rabbit mask, the ghoul had been designated "Black Rabbit," and was suspected to be connected to "White Rabbit."
"That should be Ayato..."
The moment he saw "Black Rabbit," Byakuya immediately thought of Ayato Kirishima.
In the original story, when his sister Touka was being targeted by the CCG, Ayato had deliberately worn a black rabbit mask and appeared in other wards to confuse the CCG and draw their attention to himself.
Specifically, he had hunted First Class Investigators in Ward 7 to attract the CCG's high-level attention.
But this world was different. Ayato had infiltrated Ward 6 rather than Ward 7, and Byakuya had also warned all ghouls in Aogiri Tree not to actively attack humans or investigators.
As for feeding, they would find human corpses like Anteiku did.
So Ayato was just acting conspicuously while wearing the black rabbit mask, without actually attacking anyone.
"What a good brother, caring about his sister."
Byakuya remarked with emotion, then continued reviewing the next document.
Of course, he was alone in the office at the moment—Akira was handling other matters elsewhere.
...
After quickly processing the backlog of documents, Byakuya got off work.
When he returned to the coffee shop, he found Arata, Touka, and Yomo sitting together discussing matters concerning Ayato.
"Byakuya's back. You can ask him about Ayato."
Irimi spoke up from nearby.
By now, the staff basically all knew that Byakuya was Aogiri Tree's One-Eyed King.
"Byakuya, do you know where that guy Ayato is?"
Touka immediately asked. "My dad wants to see him, but we don't know where he is at the moment."
"What a coincidence. I actually received some intel today—a ghoul wearing a black rabbit mask appeared in Ward 6."
Byakuya said with a smile.
"A black rabbit mask?"
Touka looked somewhat puzzled.
Clearly, she hadn't immediately made the connection between the black rabbit mask and herself—she was just curious because she happened to like rabbits.
"The ghoul wearing the black rabbit mask is undoubtedly Ayato, right?"
Byakuya said.
"Him? What's he doing appearing in Ward 6 wearing that kind of mask?"
Touka couldn't help but ask.
"It's simple. Touka, you wear a white rabbit mask. He's wearing the corresponding black rabbit mask to confuse the CCG—to shift the investigators' attention onto himself. It's his way of indirectly protecting you."
Byakuya explained.
"He..."
Touka found this hard to believe—that brat Ayato would actually use such a method to protect her.
"He may have acted disrespectfully toward you before, but he actually cares very much about his big sister."
Byakuya said.
Touka was silent for a moment. "What the... I thought that kid had completely forgotten he had a sister."
Arata, sitting nearby, also spoke up: "I also believe that no matter how rebellious Ayato is, he definitely still cares about his sister."
Touka immediately stood up. "Let's go find him. I need to give him a good talking-to. How can he do something so dangerous all by himself?"
One thing was one thing—Ayato's actions had indeed touched her as his sister. But such behavior... was undoubtedly very dangerous, being targeted by the CCG while alone in Ward 6.
If something unexpected happened...
"Then I'll take you to Ward 6 right now."
Byakuya said.
Then, Arata and Touka were brought into the space-time portal together.
When activating the dojutsu, Byakuya's left eye transformed from black to the Kamui Mangekyo.
Arata noticed the change in Byakuya's eyes.
This made him quite curious. At first glance, it looked like kakugan, but upon closer inspection, it was different.
Combined with what Touka had told him earlier, this young man was clearly no ordinary human.
...
In an instant, Byakuya brought Arata and Touka to Ward 6.
This was the ward where the Ghoul Restaurant had been most rampant.
Though Byakuya had raided the Ghoul Restaurant twice before, there were still plenty of so-called upper-class ghouls around.
For example, the upper-class faction "Madam" that had created the Ghoul Restaurant was still alive and well.
But this time, Byakuya hadn't come as an investigator. Nor had he put on the white mask and Akatsuki Robe—he was simply walking around Ward 6 like an ordinary passerby with Arata and Touka.
It wasn't like they were searching blindly for Ayato. Byakuya knew that Ward 6 also had an Aogiri Tree temporary base that hadn't been discovered by the CCG yet.
Ayato probably stayed there at night.
Byakuya first took Arata and Touka to the temporary base to find Ayato.
The base was located in the suburban mountains—an abandoned multi-story residential building.
"?!"
Ayato, who had been resting inside, was suddenly alerted by footsteps outside.
Since he'd just been resting, his awareness wasn't fully clear, and he hadn't sensed exactly who was approaching.
Instinctively thinking investigators had found this place, he immediately went on high alert and prepared for combat.
Ayato quickly moved to the first floor and hid, ready to deliver a fatal blow to any investigators who broke through the door.
Just then, Byakuya pushed the door open.
Ayato instinctively prepared to ambush, but he immediately realized something was wrong—the scent was too familiar...
"Ayato, get out here right now!"
Especially Touka's shout, which instantly brought Ayato fully awake.
"This is Sis?! And..."
Ayato's heart lurched. Looking more carefully, besides Byakuya, he saw someone who shocked him beyond belief.
D-Dad?!
How could he still be alive?!
Ayato immediately thought he must be dreaming.
He jumped down from his hiding spot in a dark corner of the ceiling, landing in front of Touka and the others.
Only, he was still wearing the black rabbit mask and had momentarily forgotten to remove it.
"Ayato...?"
Seeing the "Black Rabbit" before him, Arata immediately spoke.
"...Is it really Dad?"
Ayato asked incredulously.
He simply couldn't believe he was seeing his father alive.
Though he hadn't seen his father in many years, he would never forget that familiar and dear face.
The reason for his disbelief was naturally because he had thought his father had been killed by investigators all those years ago.
"Of course it's really him. What kind of brat can't even recognize his own father?"
Touka directly smacked Ayato on the head.
She had long wanted to teach this ignorant brat a lesson but hadn't had the chance. Taking the opportunity now to give him a good smack was quite satisfying.
"Hey, stupid sis, wait a second—this is really Dad?"
Ayato was too preoccupied to argue with his sister now. The sudden appearance of his supposedly dead father was far too shocking.
"I already said it's really him."
Touka stood with her hands on her hips. "It's too dangerous for you to be here alone. Hurry up and come back with us—Dad's worried about you too."
Finally meeting Ayato, Arata didn't know what to say for a moment. After hesitating, he finally spoke with an apologetic smile: "...It's been a long time, Ayato. I'm sorry—I wasn't a good father."
"..."
Ayato fell silent for quite a while, as years of suppressed bitterness welled up in his heart. His feelings were extremely complicated.
Not only did Arata not know what to say to Ayato, but Ayato equally didn't know what to say to Arata.
Father and son reunited—but there was no scene of embracing while weeping, no tears streaming down.
After all, Ayato had grown up too.
Especially after being educated by Byakuya, Ayato had become more mature.
The one thing that hadn't changed was that he had always cared about his sister. Whether leaving without a word to join Aogiri Tree at the beginning, or now wearing the black rabbit mask to draw the CCG's attention—it was all to protect his sister.
The reason he had so strongly rejected staying at a place like Anteiku like his sister was because Anteiku's philosophy was almost identical to their "dead" father's—being friendly to humans, huddling together in one place for warmth. He was afraid that his sister staying at Anteiku would eventually meet the same fate as their father—killed by humans and investigators.
So he had chosen a different path from his sister, attracted by Aogiri Tree's philosophy, wanting to gain powerful strength to protect his family.
"...Dad, it's good that you're back. What exactly happened before? Stupid sis and I always thought you had already..."
Finally, Ayato spoke.
Arata then explained to Ayato what had happened back then, and how Byakuya had rescued him just today...
"So you were captured for experiments. Those damn bastards..."
Ayato's hatred for those investigators deepened.
"Did you forget that I'm also an investigator?"
Byakuya interjected calmly.
"..."
Ayato immediately deflated. "That's different. I was just talking about them, not you..."
"Alright, let's not discuss this for now. Your father has finally returned—shouldn't your family spend some time together?"
Byakuya said.
Ayato hesitated for a moment, then slightly shook his head. "I still need to stay here."
He had only been in Ward 6 for two days, just starting to attract the CCG's attention. He hadn't achieved his goal yet.
He wanted to completely shift the CCG's investigative focus from "White Rabbit" to him, the "Black Rabbit"—that was his ultimate objective.
Byakuya spoke directly: "You just want to divert the CCG's attention here to protect your sister. But I don't think your actions are necessary. Do you think I don't have the ability to protect your sister?"
...
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