Chapter 274: Chapter 274: If It’s Senpai, Then It’s Fine

Hairu had finished explaining everything she needed to. The trainees all nodded to indicate they’d understood.

Afterward, everyone made brief preparations before heading to Ward 24.

En route, Hairu walked up front and brought up the earlier incident with Byakuya.

"Byakuya-senpai, that girl called Yonebayashi seems to have mistakenly assumed we’re dating."

Hairu said with a hint of playfulness in her voice.

She was curious how Byakuya-senpai would react to this.

"Is that so? I wonder how they got that impression."

But Byakuya’s response was quite calm.

He’d also heard the exchange between Yonebayashi and Shirazu but had similarly chosen not to address it.

"...Honestly, Byakuya-senpai didn’t react at all."

Hairu muttered under her breath.

"What reaction was I supposed to have? Should I have said ’let’s just roll with the misunderstanding and actually start dating’?"

Byakuya joked in response.

"Hmm..."

Hairu actually appeared to consider it: "If it’s Senpai, then it’s fine... It might be interesting?"

"You... don’t just agree to something because you think it would be ’interesting’..."

Byakuya was exasperated.

"It’s not ’just’ anything."

Hairu said: "I’m only considering it because it’s Byakuya-senpai. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t even think about it."

At this, Byakuya couldn’t help but look at Hairu, his expression somewhat surprised.

She’s actually serious...?

Hairu tilted her head slightly, maintaining her smile as she met Byakuya’s gaze.

"So... Hairu, do you really like me?"

Byakuya asked in a more serious tone. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Mm... I like you~"

Hairu answered with a smile.

But Byakuya noticed she’d hesitated briefly, so he asked: "Wait, let me clarify first. What kind of ’like’ are you talking about?"

"It’s just ’like.’ What other kind is there?"

Hairu said plainly, looking slightly puzzled.

"True enough. ’Like’ doesn’t need reasons..."

Byakuya said.

Mainly, he suspected Hairu might not even know what "like" meant—or she knew perfectly well and was just messing with him. After all, Hairu was the type who seemed sweet but had a dark streak.

"Think it over, Byakuya-senpai. I need to go tell them some other things."

With that, Hairu turned back to address the trainees.

"This is getting complicated..."

Byakuya murmured with a sigh.

...

Ward 24, Underground Labyrinth.

Byakuya had led everyone into the area, following pre-planned routes.

They naturally wouldn’t take rookies into deeper or unexplored regions—they were training in areas that had already been mapped with established routes.

After an afternoon of training, Byakuya had largely assessed each trainee’s personality.

First was Kuki Urie, the most outstanding of this batch—and also the most achievement-obsessed. Basically, whenever they encountered ghouls, he was always first to charge in.

Though this was reckless behavior, his skills were genuinely good. After an entire afternoon, he’d sustained only minor external injuries.

Next was Ginshi Shirazu, who was quite hardworking. Contrary to his delinquent appearance, he was very earnest and diligent in action.

After all, he needed money to save his dependent sister. His fundamental reason for becoming an investigator was the paycheck...

Saiko Yonebayashi was clearly somewhat lazy, with obvious signs of slacking during operations.

As for Tooru Mutsuki... apparently too timid, she’d barely taken any action the entire time, hiding behind other trainees. From another perspective, Mutsuki’s slacking was far more severe than Yonebayashi’s.

These four basically matched their characterizations from the original story and aligned with Byakuya’s impressions of them.

Aside from these four, the other trainees varied considerably in skill level, with most being relatively weak.

Byakuya had noted each trainee’s personality and performance, since he’d need to provide evaluations after the training concluded.

As evening approached and their shift was ending, they returned to the Ward 20 CCG Branch to dismiss.

"I observed all of your performances today. Let me highlight a few points. First, Urie—your performance was indeed the best, but you were too reckless. My advice is to prioritize safety."

Byakuya addressed the trainees: "Then there’s Mutsuki. You’re the exact opposite of Urie—perhaps too ’calm.’ I hope you can be bolder. You can’t become a ghoul investigator if you’re afraid to face ghouls..."

He’d only singled out these two extreme examples. He couldn’t go through every trainee one by one—even if they didn’t mind, he’d find it tedious.

"Understood."

Kuki Urie nodded with a neutral expression.

He wasn’t arrogant enough to disregard Investigator Amaha, and besides, Investigator Amaha hadn’t said anything too harsh. A simple nod would suffice.

Hearing this, Shirazu felt a touch of schadenfreude—he’d never liked Urie anyway.

The guy only cared about achievements. Not only was he arrogant, he showed no concern for his teammates.

Their personalities were polar opposites, so Shirazu and Urie had never gotten along.

Meanwhile, Mutsuki hung her head in shame, even becoming somewhat self-deprecating: "I’m sorry... My performance was terrible. Maybe I’m just not cut out to be an investigator..."

"..."

Seeing Mutsuki already starting to give up on herself, Byakuya felt exasperated.

As expected, this one was troublesome—probably the most troublesome of all the trainees...

...

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