"Stop messing around. And you three as well—I already said I'll give you something to eat."

Byakuya lifted each of the three girls clinging to him one by one and set them on the ground.

The little ones finally settled down.

Afterward, Byakuya and Eto led them back along the route they'd come, ascending from the deepest part of the underground labyrinth to the surface.

"What is this place? So bright!"

"My eyes hurt so much—I want to go back!"

Having lived their entire lives in the perpetual darkness of the underground world, and with it being daytime on the surface, the Dead-Fish-Eyes Sisters couldn't handle it at all.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to warn you. When you first come out, your eyes need time to adjust."

Byakuya said apologetically.

After quite a while, the sisters' eyes finally managed to adapt to the brightness.

This was mainly because ghouls had powerful physical constitutions and strong regenerative abilities, which naturally meant their adaptive capabilities far exceeded those of ordinary humans.

Byakuya then took the Dead-Fish-Eyes Sisters directly to the Manager's coffee shop.

If he was going to feed these three, the carrion stored at the shop was the most suitable option.

"Where did these three little girls come from?"

Seeing Byakuya return with three unfamiliar young girls, Touka Kirishima immediately asked.

And she noticed that Eto-san had come along as well...

"Underground."

Byakuya answered succinctly.

"Underground?"

Touka didn't immediately understand.

"There are too many people here. Let's go upstairs to talk."

Byakuya said.

"...Alright."

Touka nodded.

...

Yoshimura happened to be upstairs as well.

Or rather, Manager Yoshimura was at the shop almost every day.

"These three little ones—I brought them from the underground world. There's another world beneath Ward 24..."

Byakuya gave a brief explanation of the situation.

"The underground world..."

Yoshimura's expression immediately grew more serious.

He had heard of the underground world's existence but had never gone to verify it. After all, no normal person would want to go somewhere like Ward 24.

But today, not only had Byakuya confirmed the underground world's existence—he'd brought back three people from it.

Looking at these three girls, their clothing did seem quite strange.

"They haven't eaten in a very long time. Does the shop have extra 'food'?"

Byakuya asked.

"Yes. I'll get some for them."

With that, Yoshimura rose to fetch the supplies.

He soon returned with several packages of carrion and placed them on the table. "Please eat."

Unable to understand what Yoshimura had said, the Dead-Fish-Eyes Sisters looked questioningly at Byakuya.

But they knew one thing—the packages on the table contained something delicious. They could already smell it.

Though it was nowhere near as appetizing as the scent coming from the human beside them, he wouldn't let them have even a taste...

"He's talking to you. Go ahead and eat."

Byakuya spoke to them in their dialect.

"Okay!"

All three nodded eagerly and immediately grabbed the carrion from the table.

"They can't understand us? No wait, it's still Japanese—just with a drastically different accent..."

Yoshimura observed. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Mm. It has to do with the One-Eyed King from a hundred years ago. They're descendants of the humans who were turned into ghouls and sank underground along with the One-Eyed King."

Byakuya explained.

"So all those rumors were true..."

Yoshimura was visibly shocked.

With Yoshimura's life experience, he naturally knew those rumors. Touka, on the other hand, listened with a confused expression, not understanding what Byakuya and the Manager were discussing.

"An underground world and the One-Eyed King... what's all this about?"

Touka couldn't help but ask.

At that point, Eto pulled Touka aside and explained the situation in detail.

After a while, Touka nodded with partial understanding. "Oh, so it's the Washuu Clan's original One-Eyed King. I thought you were talking about Eto-san..."

In her understanding, Eto had been the One-Eyed King of Aogiri Tree, which was why she'd been so confused.

But wait... why the Washuu Clan?

Touka remembered that the Washuu Clan was the famous family that had founded the CCG—wasn't it supposed to be a human family?

How could there be a One-Eyed King among them?

Since Eto hadn't yet explained the truth about the Washuu Clan to Touka, she was confused all over again.

"No, no, no. I haven't been the One-Eyed King of Aogiri Tree for a while now. It was someone else before, and now it's Byakuya."

Eto said casually.

"Byakuya is your One-Eyed King now?"

Touka was rather surprised.

"Mm-hmm. Little Touka should know how powerful Byakuya is. I've been completely captivated by his gallant figure~"

Eto clasped her hands to her face, deliberately putting on a lovestruck expression.

Clearly, teasing Byakuya alone hadn't satisfied her. Now she'd started teasing Touka as well.

"What?!"

Touka's reaction was intense.

But she immediately realized her response had been too obvious. She cleared her throat to cover it up, her cheeks slightly flushed, and asked in a small voice, "Eto-san, do you... have feelings for Byakuya?"

"What if I said yes?"

Eto replied.

"Then..."

Touka's first instinct was to say "absolutely not," but she managed to restrain herself. "Why would Eto-san fall for that guy...?"

"Why are you asking why? Didn't I just explain the reason?"

Eto said with a straight face and steady heartbeat. "He's not only incredibly powerful but also handsome. This big sister just loves capable little brothers like him~"

"..."

Touka immediately felt a sense of crisis.

Though she'd been wary of Eto-san for a while now, this was the first time her suspicions had been confirmed.

Meanwhile, Byakuya and Yoshimura could hear Eto teasing Touka from where they sat.

They had been discussing the underground world, but the conversation was now interrupted.

After a moment of silence, Yoshimura spoke earnestly to Byakuya. "Byakuya, I'm entrusting my daughter to you..."

"Don't take her seriously—she's obviously just messing with people, right?"

Byakuya immediately corrected him.

At Byakuya's words, Eto immediately put on an expression of hurt and grievance. "That's so mean. You're treating my sincere feelings as a joke."

...

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