Is this okay?

"It will absolutely not be excessive."

"Of course it won't be excessive."

Upon hearing this, Leng Mo and He Zhen immediately gave a comical smile, exchanged a glance, and made a heartfelt promise.

Chapter Sixteen: You scoundrel, you actually schemed against us!

"Yoshi! Let's go!"

Leng Mo raised his fist with great force, ready to go out.

This late at night is the best time for ghouls to appear; you might run into a group of ghouls as soon as you step outside.

"Wait, wait, wait! First, let me tell you, what do we do if we encounter a ghoul? You know, an ordinary ghoul can easily defeat countless ordinary people." Kazuma suddenly remembered something and shouted loudly. Although he could transform into a magical girl, he could die, he really could die.

He didn't want the city to be filled with legends of magical girls the very next day.

"Isn't that what we have, Tatsumi?" Leng Mo said with a slight smile, indicating that Tatsumi was invincible.

But at that moment, Kaneki Ken suddenly thought of something.

"Why don't we beat up Rize Kamishiro, kidnap her, and study her? She's already suffered enough in the story, so why don't we lessen her suffering and study her ourselves? Maybe some miracles or magic will happen?"

“That…makes sense!” Leng Mo suddenly realized, feeling that there was nothing wrong with it.

"Hiss! Now that I think about it, that makes sense. Rize Kamishiro is destined to be studied anyway, so why don't we just snatch her and study her? Besides, Rize-neechan is really pretty!" Kazuma thought of something and looked eager to try, even showing a bit of a perverted behavior.

Unexpectedly, Leng Mo seemed to have thought of something, and said with a sorrowful expression:

"It's a motor! We were too hasty!"

"Huh? What's wrong?" Tatsumi looked at Leng Mo strangely, not understanding what was wrong with being hasty.

"When I came here, I accidentally fell off the roof and knocked Rize Kamishiro unconscious. I didn't think of that at the time and just sent her to the antique coffee shop. If I had known, I would have just brought her back!" Leng Mo explained with frustration, feeling extremely unwilling.

As a result, He Zhen noticed the blind spot and looked at Leng Mo with a subtle expression, asking:

"So the more than 100,000 yen you had on you was actually something you took after knocking someone unconscious?"

“Kazuma.”

"What are you doing?"

"It's too late to say anything now. The money was used by everyone, so you can't escape this blame either. Hehe!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Good heavens! You scoundrel, you actually schemed against us!

When Kaneki Ken and the other two saw Leng Mo shamelessly admit it, they were speechless for a moment. They even felt that it was reasonable and that they were just too naive to have been tricked by him.

But it doesn't matter!

Since it's already been used, let's just pretend we didn't know anything.

Knowing some truths only adds to your troubles.

Nothing happened just now; all that money just grew out of the ground.

"Cough cough!"

He awkwardly coughed to interrupt his train of thought and continued with the previous question.

"It's the same question as before. Rize Kamishiro is incredibly strong. How are we going to kidnap her?"

He was constantly worried about his strength, and his face was full of anxiety.

Rize Kamishiro is, after all, a key figure, and her strength as a key figure is definitely not weak.

If the four of them went up there in normal condition, they would just be food for the enemy; no matter who came, it wouldn't make a difference.

Upon hearing this, Leng Mo fell into deep thought, then said with some concern:

"Kazuma, I said if, I mean if."

"Well, you said."

"What if we transformed into Pretty Cure characters, wearing plush toy costumes, and while Rize Kamishiro wasn't looking, we beat her mercilessly with a sack of flesh and then kidnapped her?"

"This seems like a good idea! It not only boosts our combat strength but also conceals our identities—it's a perfect choice. If executed well, the enemy won't even know who's attacking us! A perfect plan!"

"Yeah, I think so too. But there's one thing to be careful about: we absolutely cannot let her find out. After all, if we are discovered, we could easily get killed."

"How about we leave it at that? I can't think of any good solutions for now."

"Yes, we need to play with spirit and style!"

"Don't worry about that. I'm quite confident that I can deliver a full-power flying kick to a girl's face."

"Heh heh! Looks like a strong opponent of the same type! I also have the courage to make a girl cry with all my might, and I'm even quite confident!"

"Comrade!!"

"Comrades!"

In an instant, Leng Mo and He Zhen revealed excited smiles, reached out and shook hands. This was a handshake between comrades, an epic scene of like-minded comrades, comrades-in-arms, and dream chasers.

"..."

Why are you two able to talk about beating and kidnapping girls so openly and honestly?

Kaneki Ken was speechless for a moment when he looked at Leng Mo and Kazuma in front of him. He was even a little eager to try it out. He didn't want to miss this thing that was obviously not right but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong. It must be very interesting.

In the end, although Tatsumi didn't quite understand the situation, it seemed that he had made a firm decision, so he just had to follow along without thinking too much.

Once the goal is decided, all that's left is to wait.

Although I said I was going out tonight, didn't I just change my mind at the last minute?

Patience is for the purpose of better venting.

……

The next day, at the antique café.

Rize Kamishiro woke up in bed to find herself lying on the second floor of an antique shop. Her mind was blank. She got up in a daze and found that her whole body ached, but she couldn't remember what had happened.

"How is this going?"

She sat up, frowning as she tried to recall what had happened, but all she could think about was the delightful experience of chasing down a certain office worker.

Then there is no more.

The moment I close my eyes and open them again, it's here.

"Hey, are you awake?"

At that moment, Touka Kirishima's voice came from the doorway of the room. She looked at Rize Kamishiro, who was sitting on the bed, with a subtle expression.

Although I don't know what happened, I have to admire Rize Kamishiro's resilience.

Despite suffering multiple fractures, she recovered in less than half a day, though she didn't seem to understand what had happened.

"When I found you, you were lying at the shop entrance, with fractures all over your body, and you were almost dead. What happened to you?"

Ignoring Rize Kamishiro's confusion, Touka Kirishima asked directly about the situation.

This is what she wants to know, and it's also what the store manager wants to know.

"I don't know... I was hunting when everything went black and I don't know anything anymore."

Rize Kamishiro was completely baffled by this question. After explaining her situation, she had no idea what was going on and felt that a large part of her memory was missing.

"I see. Well then, get up and have a cup of coffee. But you'd better be careful lately; you're being watched. We talked a lot about what happened yesterday."

Seeing that Rize Kamishiro herself didn't even know it, Touka Kirishima didn't ask any further questions, casually gave a warning, and then stopped paying attention.

Now, what she cares about is Kaneki and Rize Kamishiro meeting. Since her rebirth, she has made up her mind to never let Kaneki and Rize Kamishiro meet and to rewrite everything.

Even future happiness can be given up, because the process is too cruel for Kaneki.

After talking to Rize Kamishiro, I stopped paying attention to it.

She left the room and went to the coffee shop on the first floor to start work.

Business has been good these past few days, with more humans and ghouls than before. However, Touka is acting strangely; it seems there weren't this many people in her previous life.

Hesitantly, Dong Xiang didn't think too much about the business and picked up the trays and pushed the food cart to deliver the customers' orders.

The movements were very skillful, and not a single drop of coffee was spilled.

jingle.

At that moment, the door was pushed open, and four teenagers slowly walked in.

"welcome!"

Touka instinctively greeted them, but froze when she saw the four of them.

Touched and saddened, nostalgic and sentimental, that person, both a stranger and a familiar face, has arrived.

It's Kaneki...

Kaneki arrived, bringing three unfamiliar men with him.

Dong Xiang frowned slightly when she saw Leng Mo and the other two, a strange look flashing across her face.

Who are these three people?

Shouldn't Kaneki have come with Hideyoshi?

Chapter Seventeen: Unsweetened coffee is really bitter.

When Leng Mo and his group of four entered, an unexpected situation arose after they saw Dong Xiang.

Kaneki looked at Touka and suddenly didn't understand. At this moment, he seemed to have forgotten everything around him.

He stared blankly at Touka in front of him, his expression shifting from dazed to smiling, as if he had thought of many things in that instant.

Especially after learning about the future plot, there was a sense of surprise that the girl in front of him was his future wife.

Countless images flashed through his mind, and Kaneki's eyes seemed to hold happiness mixed with a touch of emotion.

Touka was also taken aback when she saw Kaneki, her eyes trembling.

Why is he looking at me?

Why that nostalgic look in your eyes?

Could it be... that Kaneki has returned as well?

研？

Touka was almost losing control of her body, frantically speculating about everything, even wanting to ask directly, "Are you back too?"

But she held back; she didn't want Kaneki to repeat the same mistakes, nor did she want him to carry the pain he had suffered before.

Now that we've made the preparations, we must persevere to the end.

Even if we become strangers in the future... we must keep going.

She knew from the beginning that Kaneki was just an ordinary person, not a savior, a miracle worker, or the One-Eyed King.

The sound produced by the open mouth changed.

"Please have a seat."

Touka smiled and pretended not to know anything as she greeted Kaneki and the others, gesturing to the table next to her, where Kaneki usually sat.

Kaneki looked at Touka's smile and couldn't help but tremble; his smile became even gentler.

That sentence involuntarily came to mind.

She smiled, a smile that seemed troubled and tinged with sadness, making me think, 'There are such beautiful people in the world.'

But I won't bother her...

I want to change everything and turn all the tragedies around.

Even if it means severing all ties with her.

If possible... I want to wait until everything is over before pursuing her.

Kaneki smiled gently and walked to the table that Touka had arranged for him to sit down.