Akira's gaze rested on the documents on her desk as she asked, seemingly casual.

"Because... that Ms. Takatsuki was obviously just teasing me. I didn't feel like playing along."

Byakuya explained.

"I see..."

Akira nodded slightly. "Indeed, she was probing us the entire time. Calling it research was a bit much."

"However..."

Akira continued, "First Class Amaha seemed quite familiar with Ms. Takatsuki?"

Though Byakuya and Takatsuki had both acted like mere acquaintances, Akira's instincts told her differently.

"I wouldn't say very familiar. I've always enjoyed reading Sen Takatsuki's works. I met her at a fan meeting once."

Byakuya explained calmly.

"I see..."

Akira didn't press further.

Right now, she was more focused on what Sen Takatsuki had said about Nanao Yasuhisa...

"First Class Amaha, what's your take on the information Ms. Takatsuki provided about Nanao Yasuhisa?"

Akira asked.

"I think we need to verify its authenticity."

Byakuya's expression grew serious. "You understand how significant this is, Akira. If it's true, then the CCG..."

His expression was grave—as it should be in this situation. Otherwise, showing no reaction would suggest he'd known about this all along, which would expose him in front of Akira.

"Yes..."

Akira nodded. "Nanao Yasuhisa was Kurona and Nashiro's father. I think we should ask them first."

"Agreed."

Byakuya said.

They temporarily set aside their work. Confirming the authenticity of Takatsuki's information was clearly more important right now.

...

Meanwhile.

Kurona and Nashiro were at the Quinx Squad's rented apartment, ostensibly working—though everyone was actually just lounging around with nothing to do.

According to Dr. Chigyou, Urie and the others were still in their adjustment period and needed regular stability tests at the CCG Laboratory Building before they could begin active duty.

Kurona and Nashiro weren't Qs Surgery recipients, but they also underwent regular checkups with Dr. Chigyou to see if there was any way to lower their RC cell counts. There wasn't...

Even Dr. Chigyou couldn't do it. Neither could Dr. Kanou. In the original story, even Kaneki Ken never managed to eat normal food until the very end.

Kurona and Nashiro didn't hold much hope, but they believed Byakuya would eventually solve this problem for them.

The twins were sitting on the couch watching TV when they heard a knock at the door.

"Is that Byakuya-oniichan?"

"I'll go check."

They went to answer together and found both Byakuya and Akira.

Kurona was about to say something when Akira spoke first. "Kuro, Shiro—we have something very important to ask you. Let's talk inside."

"Oh, okay..."

Both twins were confused, but they nodded.

In Kurona and Nashiro's room, Akira closed the door behind them and got straight to the point. "Kuro, Shiro—this is about your father, Nanao Yasuhisa. Is it alright to discuss this with us?"

Hearing this, the twins exchanged a glance. Neither showed displeasure.

"That's fine."

"No problem. Go ahead, Miss Akira."

They spoke simultaneously.

"Alright, I'll be direct. An author named Sen Takatsuki visited the Ward 20 branch today and shared some information with us..."

Akira briefly summarized what Takatsuki had told them.

Both twins' eyes flickered.

They knew Sen Takatsuki was both the One-Eyed Owl and Manager Yoshimura's daughter. They also knew the true circumstances of their father's death—Byakuya had told them long ago.

When Akira suddenly came asking about this, they immediately understood what they needed to do: support Byakuya and Eto.

"About that... Nashiro and I don't really know much. When we were little, the police told us Father was killed by ghouls. We didn't know anything about what his company did—we were too young then."

Kurona spoke first. "But there's one thing worth mentioning. When Dr. Kanou was deceiving us into accepting the half-ghoul surgery, he told us something: the CCG was actually responsible for our father's death. We accepted Kanou's experiment because we hated the CCG at the time..."

"That's right. Kanou even told us specifically that the CCG killed him to silence him—to prevent anyone from learning about that underground laboratory."

Nashiro added. "Kurona and I believed him at the time and willingly underwent the surgery. Even now, we still don't know whether what he said was true or not."

"...That matches what Takatsuki said."

Akira's eyes narrowed.

Kanou had been a CCG coroner before suddenly resigning one day. He clearly knew something.

What he'd told Kurona and Nashiro was highly credible—and it aligned perfectly with Takatsuki's information.

So... was all of this true...?

"One thing we can confirm is that the underground laboratory existed before Kanou came to our house."

Kurona added.

"I remember the first time Kanou led us into the underground lab—there were obvious signs that things had been deliberately destroyed. Some kind of experiments must have been conducted there before. As for anything else, we can't say for certain."

Nashiro said.

The twins maintained an appearance of limited knowledge while gently guiding Akira toward the truth.

They knew this was what Byakuya and Eto wanted...

...

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