Martial

Sometime later, the Basement of Anteiku.

The basement of the Anteiku looked very nice and clean; it was used mainly for storing supplies for a cafe and human meat for ghouls.

In the basement, two figures were standing side by side in waiter uniforms. Both of them were looking at something in the distance and thinking about something else; by one glance you could say that the young woman looked rather displeased.

"Why help him, sir?"

Asked a purple-haired teen woman. Touka was the so-called Ice Beauty, only admiring from a distance but no touching, or you would be beaten to death.

"Touka."

Said old man Yoshimura to which she immediately looked at him. It was because she felt concerned about his voice. She respected him a lot, and he was a father-like figure for her; learning morals from him, and he was her support.

"Have you seen the recent news about the organ transplant case?"

Questioned Yoshimura with a curious voice. Even though he knew the answer that she didn't, he still asked.

Young people nowadays are less and less interested in the news.

"...?, No, not really."

Said Touka indifferently.

"It all started when steel beams fell on some students. One of the victims, a female student, died instantly, and the other one, a young man, was on the brink of death. He needed an emergency organ transplant. The doctor chose to transplant the dead girls' organs into the young man...."

Here he took a short pause as he was explaining some important context to Touka.

"It seems those organs...belonged to Rize."

Touka almost got a heart attack from this as she screamed as soon as he finished this sentence.

"Rize?! Did she die? In an accident?"

Asked Touka in disbelief. Something like hearing that an S-Rated ghoul died in something stupid like an accident was very unusual and rare.

"The injury must have been so severe that not even a ghoul's regenerative abilities could repair the damage. And so Rize's organs were used."

He finished his speech about this event.

"So now there is a human with ghoul organs inside them? Sir.. his yes. Could it be...?"

Asked Touka with a shaky voice; it was unbelievable that a normal human was turned into a ghoul.

Yes, sometimes some rare breeds like one-eyed ghouls appear, and half-humans, too, aren't something very rare. But creating a ghoul out of nothing was now impossible; turning a normal human into a ghoul was something unheard of before.

"Yes."

Yoshimura answered while nodding his head in agreement because now, even the impossible is becoming possible.

"Touka, do you remember that foreign young man that came to the Anteiku on the day of the incident?"

Asked Yoshimura.

Truth be told, it was almost impossible not to remember someone like that; with those silver hair and bright blue eyes, he looked like perfection himself.

Touka nodded her head in approval.

"He is the ghoul, an extremely strong one."

To this, she froze in shock; she didn't think that he would be a ghoul.

"He gave me a message. It stated that war is coming and chaotic times are going to descend."

Touka didn't know what to say, but if it was confirmed that war would be coming between humans and ghouls, then the situation was solemn.

Very solemn.

"Who is he? You are talking about him as you know him, sir?"

Asked Touka in a curious voice, as she knew that Yoshimura knew him from the way he was talking about him.

"He is from the noble family of ghouls; all of them are extremely powerful. I don't know what one of them doing here in Tokyo is. Maybe you should find it out."

Finished his sentence with a teasing smile, to which Touka had a slight blush. He noticed how Lucien was looking at her, and he wanted her to befriend him.

Yoshimura was a very experienced man, and from how Lucien was behaving and talking to her, he noticed that he didn't have any ill intent or something. Having strong allies was always a good thing.

'Washuu Clan and Aeon House were always enemies to death; from information that was available in Vasuki, it is apparent that Aeon House is much more formidable than Washuu Clan, but they can't leave the place they are residing in. So now the question is, why did they decide to act? But now, with someone from Aeon House here, the Washuu Clan won't be so daring as they have a new formidable enemy to deal with.'

Thought Yoshimura in his head.

He was thinking about how to get Lucien on their side.

***

When Yoshimura and Touka were taking care of newly found Ghoul Kaneki Ken, Lucien was training in his estate. He was constantly training in Rinkaku Martial Arts.

"Hmm, what to do now? Maybe I should go visit Itori; I haven't seen her for a few days."

Said Lucien to himself.

Lucien exited his estate and went on a walk through the city. As he was walking, he noticed some screams in some back alley. He went toward the source of the noise until he stopped and started listening.

It was a familiar feminine voice that was speaking.

Lucien knew that Touka was screaming at somebody, probably ghoul newbie Kaneki Ken.

"There's no place for someone who can't decide between being one or the other. If you want to be human so badly... try starving yourself to the limit once."

She apparently stopped and started walking away from him towards the place where Lucien was standing and listening to their conversation.

"I'll tell you right now, a ghoul's hunger... true hell."

After that, she exited the back and dark alley when she heard someone walking behind her.

"Don't you think you are being harsh on him a little?"

Said Lucien with a chuckle.