God, she was tired.
Dead tired.
She hadn't slept at all after getting back to the attic last night.
That bizarre chat group that had suddenly appeared in her consciousnessit felt like a black hole of mystery, temptation, and danger. She'd been sucked in, unable to look away.
The members were straight out of a fantasy novel.
A dragon named Tohru. An elf named Frieren. A God-King called Bibi Dong.
And then there was the group admin: Rei Ao.
Who even was that guy?
A literal god?
Or some higher-dimensional being no one could understand?
Why did he create this group in the first place?
Those questions had circled in her head all night, draining every last bit of mental energy she had.
Sure, ghouls were way stronger than humans physically
But mentally? Stress and overthinking could still knock you flat.
"Morning, Touka."
A calm, low voice pulled her out of her daze.
Renji Yomo stood behind the counter, quietly polishing a glass cup with a white cloth.
He wore a dark caf apron, his silver-gray hair neatly styled, looking every bit calm and dependable.
He looked up and saw the half-dead expression on Touka's facelike she could drop to the floor and pass out any second. His brow twitched slightly.
"Didn't sleep again?"
Touka rubbed her dry, stinging eyes and nodded with a groggy "Mm."
The rich, slightly bitter scent of roasted coffee beans filled the air, blending with the cool morning air. It helped clear her head just a bit.
Manager Yoshimura was probably busy in the back roasting room.
Irimi hadn't come downstairs yet, and the other staff weren't in yet either. The shop was silent.
Yomo placed the cleaned glass back onto the rack with practiced precision.
Then he turned to face Touka directly. The usual calm on his face gave way to something heavier, more serious.
"Touka, there's something I need you to be extra careful about."
He lowered his voice, just enough so only she could hear.
"It's about that unfamiliar ghoul you sensed sneaking into the 20th Ward."
Touka immediately straightened up. Whatever sleepiness she had left vanished, replaced by sharp focus.
A flicker of crimson ghoul-light flashed in her eyes and disappeared.
She nodded firmly.
"You found out who it is?"
Yomo nodded back, his eyes narrowing.
"Last night, I went out to investigate while it was still dark."
"Based on scattered intel and leftover traces... I'm pretty confident."
He paused for a beat, then said the name clearly:
"Rize Kamishirothe Binge Eater."
"Rize Kamishiro?"
Touka recognized the name instantly. In the ghoul underworld, it meant only two things: danger and madness.
"The glutton?"
"Yeah. That's her."
Yomo's tone turned grim, tinged with disgust.
"She's completely lost control of her appetite. Hunts nonstop, no restraint, and she's absolutely brutal."
"There've been a bunch of reports about people going missing in and around the 20th Ward lately... odds are, it's all her."
Touka's stomach dropped.
An SS-rated ghoul, completely driven by hunger, loose in the 20th?
It was like dropping a bomb in the middle of a peaceful neighborhood.
"She's already caught the CCG's attention," Yomo added, his voice getting even more serious.
"Reliable sources say Special Class Investigatorsthe White Doveshave been deployed here in secret."
"Right now, the 20th Ward is like a volcano on the edge of an eruption. Looks calm on the surface, but everything underneath is boiling."
Angercold and sharpstarted rising in Touka's chest.
After all these years, Yoshimura had managed to keep the 20th Ward in a fragile but peaceful balance.
It had become a safe place for ghouls who were done with fighting and just wanted to live in peace.
And now? Rize Kamishiro shows up and threatens to ruin it all.
Like one rotten apple spoiling the whole bunch.
One wrong move, and the CCG could go full purge modedragging everyone down with her.
"Someone like that..."
Touka's voice turned ice-cold. That signature ghoul intensity flickered behind her eyes.
"Shouldn't be allowed to stay."
"If we let her run wild, she's going to get us all killed!"
She clenched her fists tight. Her knuckles went pale.
Anteiku was all about coexistence, not carnage.
But when someone like Rize breaks all the rules, maybe expellingor even eliminatingher is the only option.
Yomo saw the fury building behind Touka's eyes and sighed, slowly shaking his head.
The gesture was like a splash of cold water on her fire.
"Touka, I get it. I really do. But we're talking about an SS-rated binge eater hereat full strength and fully driven by hunger."
His voice was heavy with reality.
"She's not someone we can take lightly."
"Even if a few of us teamed up, it's a long shot at best."
Truth was, they were all running on emptymalnourished compared to her.
"And more importantly"
His eyes drifted across the quiet, spotless caf, thick with unease.
"If we fight her, the fallout's gonna be massive."
"All it takes is one slip-upone trace left behind. If the Doves catch wind of it or find even a single clue that points back here"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
Touka understood exactly what that meant.
~~~
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Chapter 854: Two People Dreams and only the Mysterious Chat Group can fulfill it...
If things got too loud
The Anteiku coffee shopthe hard-won safe haven for ghoulswould be completely exposed to the CCG's crosshairs.
The manager, her uncle, Irimi-san, herself, and every ghoul who relied on this place... they'd all be facing complete destruction.
Kicking out one lunatic might cost them the entire 20th Ward.
"So, what we can do right now"
Yomo Renji's voice was low and heavy.
"is stay sharp, wait it out, and keep ourselves in check."
"Try not to go anywhere alone. Especially at night. Watch your back, Touka. That's straight from the manager."
He name-dropped the manager to make sure she knew this wasn't just friendly adviceit was serious.
"..."
Touka said nothing.
A wave of helplessness wrapped around her heart like a vice. It was worse than angermore suffocating.
She got it. She really did. She understood the manager's and her uncle's concerns. She understood how important it was to protect Anteiku.
But knowing that a threat was running wild nearby and having no choice but to sit on your hands and pray you wouldn't be the next targetit was frustrating. Infuriating.
Her deep blue hair fell over her eyes, hiding the turmoil behind them.
Protect herself?
In a storm with both an SS-class ghoul and a Special Class Investigator circling each other, was self-preservation even realistic?
Her eyes unconsciously shiftedtoward something no one else could see.
The mysterious chat group interface hovered quietly in the back of her mind.
In the member list, Rei Ao's name stood out like a lighthouse in the dark or maybe more like the edge of a black hole. Either way, it radiated a strange, undeniable presence.
Reality and miracle collided in her head.
"If he's really some kind of god..."
The thought grew like a vine in the shadows, twisting tighter and tighter through her mind.
"If the group admin really is what he seems could he take out an SS-rated ghoulsolve a crisis that has all of Anteiku paralyzedlike it's nothing more than brushing off lint?"
It was crazy. A desperate kind of fantasy.
But it was also dangerously tempting.
The cost?
Those four cold words from the group's bulletin flashed through her mind:
"All trades come at your own price."
It made her heart skip.
But then she looked at Yomo's serious face. She could feel the heavy pressure hanging over the 20th Ward like a storm cloud.
Touka closed her eyes tight.
When she opened them again, that familiar red glow in her vision had fadedreplaced by exhaustion... and something deeper. Something harder to name.
She didn't say a word.
Just nodded, letting him know she understood and would be careful.
Then she turned quietly, pushed open the heavy wooden door, and walked into the gray, misty morning.
Morning in Itomori.
It began with birdsong and the soft chime of wind bells hanging from the shrine.
The old wooden buildings of Miyamizu Shrine stood still in the soft lightquiet, calm, almost sacred.
The scent of trees and grass mixed with the faint, lingering smell of incense.
Inside the house, at a low table in the dining room, Mitsuha Miyamizu sat quietly across from her little sister, Yotsuha.
Breakfast was simple: steamed rice, miso soup, pickles, and a small piece of grilled fish.
Yotsuha, still a kid, ate fast, cheeks puffed out like a squirrel. Her eyes kept darting toward the cartoon clock on the wallclearly counting down how much time she had left before school.
Compared to her, Mitsuha looked like her mind was somewhere else entirely.
She poked her rice with her chopsticks, eyes distant, like her gaze was drifting through the paper screen window and into some far-off world.
She'd barely touched her fish. Her miso soup was almost full.
"Sis?"
Yotsuha swallowed her mouthful and spoke up, breaking the heavy silence.
She tilted her head and stared at her clearly spaced-out sister, dark round eyes full of concern.
"What's up with you? You've been poking your rice to death! Didn't sleep last night?"
"Huh? Oh!"
Mitsuha snapped out of it like she'd been shocked. Her chopsticks nearly slipped out of her hand.
She quickly brushed her bangs out of her face and forced a dry, awkward smile.
"No, I'm fine! Just a little... out of it, that's all."
"Soup's too hot. I'll let it cool down."
She lifted the bowl and gently blew on it, but her eyes were still unfocused.
Yotsuha wasn't buying it.
She set her bowl down, rested her chin on her hands, and stared at Mitsuha like a tiny little grown-up.
Then, with an exaggerated sigh, she said:
"Geez, sis you"
Her eyes shifted toward Mitsuha's phone, which was lying screen-down at the edge of the table.
Then back up at Mitsuha's facestill clouded by that dreamy, faraway look.
And just like that, she said it:
"You still want to go to Tokyo, huh?"
The question hit Mitsuha like a pin to the chest.
Her hand holding the soup froze. She stopped blowing on it.
Did she still want to go to Tokyo?
Of course she did.
That dream had been carved into her bones since forever.
Itomori was too small.
Small like a polished little birdcage.
The same mountains and lakes every day. The never-ending old festivals. The endless shrine-maiden rituals and outdated rules...
It was all stifling.
She craved the chaos of the city.
The metal thunder of trains.
The glossy windows filled with fashion magazines and glowing signs.
She wanted to be cool. Free. Stylish. She'd never stopped wanting that.
But now, with her sister saying it out loud
Mitsuha fell into silence again.
That dream of Tokyo still burned bright in her chest.
But something else had started growing around it. Something stranger. Something bigger.
Like new vines wrapping around old roots, lifting them toward something vast and unknown.
What are the other worlds like?
Because of that mysterious group chat. Because of the people in itpeople from other worlds
Mitsuha Miyamizu had, for the first time in her life, started wondering what lies beyond her own.
Chapter 855: There's a wider world than Tokyo! Shin's Private Message!
"..."
Mitsuha didn't respond to Yotsuha right away. She slowly set her soup bowl down, her eyes drifting into spacelocked on a point only she could see.
There, floating in the void, was a window only she could accessa private gateway to the "Trade Chat Group."
Last night, just before falling asleep...
She had stared at the chat like she was holding her breath, watching the messages scroll in one after another.
Terms straight out of myths and fantasy novels were being tossed around like casual small talklike they were just chatting about the weather.
And along with those words came vivid, real-life snippets.
It all felt so realso real that it shattered everything Mitsuha thought she knew about the world.
She had grown up in Itomori, a sleepy little town that worshipped a vague, probably fake deity...
Where ancient customs like braided cord rituals and rice-chewing ceremonies were still practiced.
She used to think that was the extent of the world.
But the people in that chat group had shown her something completely different.
Bigger. Wilder. More dazzling. More mind-blowing.
Different worlds.
Different rules.
Different lifeforms.
What did the sky look like in a place where dragons flew freely?
Where was the kingdom guarded by a Holy Sword?
And that group adminRei Aojust what kind of being existed at his level?
"What are the other worlds really like?"
The thought dropped into her heart like a stone in a still pond, only instead of ripplesit stirred up a tidal wave.
And it hit her even harder than her dream of going to Tokyo.
This wasn't just curiosityit was something deeper.
Something like a sacred calling. A need to explore.
Tokyo, in all its neon glory, suddenly felt... small.
Tiny, compared to a universe filled with magic, sword fights, and civilizations from other dimensions.
Her heart had already left this quiet little shrine dining room behind.
She had broken free from the mountains of Itomori, escaped Tokyo's gravity.
She was like a baby bird flapping its wings for the first time
Clumsy, but filled with burning determination.
Drawn toward that vast, unknown universe the chat group had revealed to her.
She didn't even realize she'd clenched her chopsticks so tight her fingers had turned pale.
Morning sunlight streamed through the window, lighting up her youthful, wonder-filled face.
And in her clear, steady gaze...
The reflection wasn't of Itomori anymore.
But of countless unknown worlds.
"Sis?"
Yotsuha tilted her head, frowning.
Something was definitely off about her sister today.
Especially her eyeslike she was staring off into another dimension.
Is it because of Tokyo...?
Meanwhile, in a high-rise suite...
Thick blackout curtains shut out the morning light completely.
Only a few warm bedside lamps cast a soft, golden glow over the room.
