Tokyo Ghoul: I am Madara

"I did read in a book that first kisses are important."

Hairu said. "But... if it's with Byakuya-senpai, I really don't mind at all."

"If you don't mind, then I have no objections either..."

That was all Byakuya could say.

"So, let's try it."

Hairu immediately looked eager to give it a go.

"But here's what I'm thinking."

Byakuya suddenly thought of a rather nice approach. "For instance, we could share one piece of candied hawthorn together."

"Share one piece of candied hawthorn? That does sound interesting."

Hairu nodded.

Then, Byakuya and Hairu together bit into a single candied hawthorn from the stick.

At that moment, they had already touched each other...

They then ate that piece of candied hawthorn together in this intimate manner, splitting it between them.

Hairu's cheeks were adorably flushed, though she didn't appear shy.

"So this is what kissing feels like? It really is wonderful~"

Hairu savored the moment.

[Ding! The host has completed a "kiss" with Hairu Ihei. Reward: 50 Fusion Points!]

"That's good."

Byakuya said with a smile.

It would have been troublesome if Hairu had felt resistant to it.

"Byakuya-senpai, let's go over there next. I want to try the cake from that shop."

Hairu pointed in a certain direction.

"Sure."

Byakuya nodded slightly.

...

The date lasted the entire afternoon. Byakuya accompanied Hairu through the food street, eating everything she wanted to try.

"Ahh~ I've never been this happy before."

On the way home, Hairu exclaimed.

"Whenever I have time, I can bring you here to eat."

Byakuya said with a smile.

"Really?! So dating is such a fun thing! I want to go on dates with Byakuya-senpai every single day from now on!"

Hairu said with great delight.

Byakuya could only smile helplessly. After all, dating every day was hardly possible...

...

Ward 20, ":re."

Byakuya arrived at the coffee shop.

As soon as he entered, he heard Touka Kirishima discussing parent-teacher conference matters with the staff.

Noticing that Byakuya had arrived, Touka immediately said to him, "Byakuya, what should I do now? My uncle usually attends my parent-teacher conferences, but this time he suddenly has urgent business. I don't know who else to ask, and the Manager went with him too..."

The uncle Touka mentioned was naturally Renji Yomo.

Clearly, the Manager and Yomo had gone off to gather intelligence again.

"What about Irimi-san and Koma-san?"

Byakuya asked.

"They have to work. Today happens to be their shift."

Touka said.

"Sorry, Little Touka. Today happens to be when Koma and I are on duty. The other staff members aren't here either, so it wouldn't be convenient for us to suddenly leave the shop."

Kaya Irimi said apologetically.

"That's right. Or how about this—maybe Amaha-san could pretend to be your older brother, Little Touka?"

Enji Koma suggested.

"Huh? Have Byakuya pretend to be my older brother?"

Touka immediately felt some resistance.

Mainly because the idea of becoming the younger sister felt strange...

"That's not entirely impossible."

Byakuya nodded slightly.

"...I suppose there's really no other option."

Touka could only accept reality. "Then let's do that. Byakuya, pretend to be my older brother for now and attend my school's parent-teacher conference for me."

"Alright."

Byakuya agreed.

Just then, Byakuya suddenly thought of Touka's parents...

Arata Kirishima and Hikari Kirishima.

Hikari had already...

But Arata was actually still alive. As long as the "New Proto" kakuja Quinque series continued to be produced, Arata was definitely still alive.

Even in the original story's late stages, Suzuya Juuzou had worn the latest version of the "New Proto." Yet it seemed no one remembered Arata anymore—even the original author had probably forgotten. (Author's note: Actually, I almost forgot too...)

"Touka..."

Byakuya suddenly spoke up. "Your father's name is Arata Kirishima, right?"

"Yes. How do you know..."

Hearing that name, Touka's expression immediately changed.

"Because Arata Kirishima is at the CCG. He's been imprisoned long-term for the development of new kakuja Quinque. So he should actually still be alive..."

Byakuya said solemnly.

"Dad... is still alive...?"

Touka froze on the spot.

It seemed that ever since Arata had left her and Ayato many years ago, she had assumed her father was already gone...

After all, no one had ever told her any news about her father. All she knew was that he had been hunted by Ghoul Investigators.

So when Byakuya said her father was still alive, she found it hard to believe.

"Yes, he should be somewhere within the CCG."

Byakuya said. "If you want, I can take you to see him right now. By the way, when does your school's parent-teacher conference start?"

"A little after two in the afternoon."

Touka replied immediately. "If possible, I hope we can rescue him..."

"No problem. If the conference starts after two, we have plenty of time."

Byakuya said calmly. "Get ready. We can leave soon."

"Do you need our help? It sounds like you're about to do something dangerous."

Enji Koma spoke up. "Even though Irimi and I have to watch the shop today, I can call my boys to help clear the way for you."

"No need. Just Touka and I will be enough."

Byakuya shook his head slightly.

"How foolish. Are you still doubting Byakuya's abilities at this point?"

Kaya Irimi took the opportunity to tease Koma.

"I'm clearly just worried about Amaha-san!"

Koma retorted.

"I'm not going to argue with you. Well then, be careful on the road, Byakuya, Little Touka."

Irimi said.

"Mm, we'll be careful."

Byakuya smiled.

...

Soon, Byakuya and Touka were ready.

Both had put on Akatsuki Robes and donned the white mask and rabbit mask respectively.

Then, Byakuya directly grasped Touka's hand.

"Eh?"

Touka's cheeks immediately flushed slightly.

She thought to herself: This is hardly the time—why is he suddenly being so forward...

However, the next moment, Touka experienced a sudden spinning, dizzying sensation. Her vision went black, and she found herself in an unfamiliar place.

It was a world of perpetual darkness—no blue sky, no clouds, no sunlight. There were no buildings or plants of any kind, only massive stone pillars. The oppressive atmosphere made it somewhat hard to breathe.

This was the Kamui dimension—an independent alternate space that only the owner of the Kamui Mangekyo could enter. "Kamui dimension" was simply an easier term for it.

Though Byakuya's left Kamui eye couldn't directly open a space-time portal on himself like the right eye could, it could still open a portal in front of him.

Uchiha Madara had used this method to enter the Kamui dimension and reclaim his Rinnegan. Whether using the left or right Kamui eye alone, one could freely enter and exit the Kamui dimension—it was just that early on, Kakashi had only known how to use the left eye as a long-range attack.

"This is..."

Before Touka could ask where they were, that uncomfortable sensation returned.

Then she heard Byakuya's voice beside her.

"We've arrived."

"What? Already?!"

Touka exclaimed in surprise.

Looking around, she confirmed that the scenery had indeed changed again.

"Yes. This is the CCG Laboratory Building—the facility dedicated to Quinque research. I believe your father is most likely being held here."

Byakuya said.

Though he wasn't completely certain, it was highly probable.

Besides, no one could stop him and Touka anyway. They could take their time searching.

"Okay!"

Touka nodded vigorously.

Though she was curious about that dark, sunless space from before, she knew the priority right now was rescuing her father!

"If we encounter staff here, don't hurt them. We'll just ignore them."

Byakuya reminded Touka.

"Mm, I'll be careful."

Touka nodded.

The two then began exploring the interior of the CCG Laboratory Building.

Byakuya's plan was to start searching from any potential basement levels, since given the CCG's methods, any secret experiments would be conducted underground.

Thanks to Byakuya and Touka's extreme speed, no staff members had yet detected their presence.

But when they encountered a steel door blocking their path, they had no choice but to force their way through.

Unfortunately, the left Kamui eye didn't have the "intangibility" ability—that was unique to the right eye. Otherwise, Byakuya could have made himself and Touka intangible and simply passed through the door.

He suddenly felt that if he had both Kamui eyes, he'd probably use them even more frequently than his current Rinnegan. They were simply too versatile.

BANG!

A bulletproof steel door was instantly kicked open by Byakuya.

This loud commotion would undoubtedly attract the attention of the entire building's staff.

Before long, alarms began blaring.

The surveillance cameras everywhere had captured Byakuya and Touka.

The Laboratory Building immediately requested reinforcements from CCG Headquarters. A large number of investigators would soon be dispatched to protect the facility.

But Byakuya and Touka ignored all of this, continuing their search for the basement entrance.

Since it was truly difficult to find, Byakuya resorted to the most effective method: grabbing a random researcher and interrogating them.

Using death as a threat, he eventually extracted the location of the basement entrance.

Of course, Byakuya released the researcher afterward.

Having found the entrance, they discovered the mechanism was slow and troublesome to operate. To save time, Byakuya simply stomped through the floor.

Touka dropped down into the basement with him.

They found that the CCG Laboratory Building's basement was no smaller than the underground laboratory beneath Nanao Yasuhisa's mansion.

Though the place was somewhat maze-like, Byakuya could determine the most frequently traveled route by observing the footprints on the floor.

Following this path, Byakuya and Touka arrived at a massive door that required biometric identification to open.

"This is most likely the place."

Byakuya said immediately.

"This heavy door doesn't look easy to break through..."

Touka could barely contain her inner excitement—her father might be just on the other side of this door...

But its thickness gave her little confidence. She could also smell that it was constructed using RC cells—a specialized door similar in principle to Ward 24's "flesh walls."

"Easy. Just step back a bit."

Byakuya said calmly.

As he spoke and Touka retreated a few steps, Byakuya's eyes transformed into the Rinnegan.

Universal Pull!

Byakuya raised his hand and activated the Rinnegan's dojutsu. An invisible, terrifying force pulled at the door, instantly wrenching it toward him. The specialized walls connecting to the door crumbled like tofu, completely unable to resist the power of Universal Pull.

Seeing this, Touka was stunned.

Byakuya had just demonstrated yet another powerful ability she'd never seen before!

Then Byakuya casually tossed the door behind him.

Now Byakuya and Touka could see the full interior, though there were no workers or researchers present.

Presumably, personnel only entered when experiments were being conducted.

The scene inside resembled the laboratory where Washuu Chika had been imprisoned by Kanou—a large nutrient tank in the center of the space, with a figure inside...

"Dad..."

Touka seemed to recognize that the person in the nutrient tank was her father. She called out.

"Looks like he really is here."

Byakuya immediately walked inside.

Upon entering, he noticed multiple surveillance cameras covering every angle without any blind spots—probably to prevent Arata from escaping or any other accidents. But Byakuya ignored them.

They had already broken in and been discovered. Destroying the cameras now would be pointless—like "announcing there's no silver buried here."

"Dad!"

Touka couldn't help but shout, rushing over with overwhelming emotion.

...

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