"On the afternoon of the day the ghoul restaurant incident occurred in the 7th Ward,"
Mado Akira said after a brief hesitation,
"a special arrest operation targeting an ordinary high school student took place near Kiyomi High School in the 20th Ward."
"A special arrest… of a high school student?"
Shinohara Yukinori, Houji, and Amon Koutarou were all taken aback.
As CCG investigators, the cases they dealt with were almost always related to ghouls.
A police operation arresting an ordinary high schooler no matter how one looked at it seemed completely unrelated to the 'Ghoul Hunter.'
"What was special about it?"
Shinohara asked.
Although he didn't yet understand why Mado Akira had brought this up, the fact that she mentioned it so cautiously meant one thing
This case was anything but ordinary.
"Six police officers were dispatched to arrest that student,"
Mado Akira continued.
"However, there is no record of that student ever being registered at the police station those officers belonged to."
"That means one thing he was never brought into the station."
"What's even more surprising is this."
"After the massacre that night, that same high school student appeared in the 7th Ward."
"He spent most of the night playing games at an arcade and didn't return to the 20th Ward until around one or two in the morning."
She laid out the details she had uncovered one by one.
"Investigator Mado,"
Shinohara said thoughtfully,
"what do you think this means?"
At first glance, the case was clearly abnormal.
It looked very much like certain scum within the police force had colluded with someone to deliberately kidnap a high school student.
In a world like this, where light and darkness coexisted, such things were far from unheard of.
There had even been past cases where ghouls threatened police officers into helping them hunt humans.
Shinohara had already considered this angle but he wanted to hear Mado Akira's conclusion.
"He was kidnapped, yet escaped by unknown means."
"More importantly, after escaping, he showed no signs of fear whatsoever."
"Instead, he casually played video games."
"If this could still be explained as an abnormal reaction from an ordinary person…"
"Then what I'm about to say next is what truly raises suspicion."
Mado Akira's expression turned grave.
As she unraveled her reasoning step by step, Shinohara and the others nodded repeatedly, unconsciously playing along.
"What exactly did Investigator Mado find suspicious?"
Amon asked.
Mado Akira glanced at him, then spoke evenly.
"We all know the standard procedure when police arrest a criminal suspect."
"The first step is to inject an RC cell suppressant, to prevent the suspect from being a ghoul."
"However, I checked the mission drug requisitions filed by those six officers."
"In addition to RC suppressants, they also applied for large doses of human anesthetics."
"In other words "
"When arresting that high school student, they injected him with both RC suppressants and a high-dose anesthetic."
"You should know that this anesthetic has an effective duration of four hours."
"And even after it wears off, the human body requires at least another hour to fully regain normal mobility."
"But that student appeared at the arcade…"
"…only three hours after the time of his arrest."
"So I propose a bold hypothesis."
"He is immune to both anesthetics and RC suppressants."
"Now take it one step further."
"What if the people who kidnapped him intended to take him to the ghoul restaurant to be devoured "
" and instead, were all killed by him?"
"If we assume that, then everything suddenly makes sense."
Mado Akira finished calmly.
"That's still just speculation,"
Takizawa Seidou objected.
"An ordinary high school student, how could he possibly be that abnormal?"
Her hypothesis was simply too bold.
Logically sound, yes but at best, it only suggested that the student had secrets.
There was still no concrete evidence tying the ghoul restaurant massacre to him.
"I said it myself this is a hypothesis based on facts,"
Mado Akira replied coldly.
"Investigator Takizawa, didn't the academy teach you to hypothesize boldly and verify carefully?"
"Without that mindset, how do you expect to become a qualified investigator?"
Her tone was sharp.
She had long since grown tired of Takizawa's constant jabs.
"Mado, you "
Takizawa started to speak again.
But Shinohara cut him off.
"Do you have a photo of this student?"
Shinohara asked.
"Yes."
Mado Akira flipped through the inner pages of her notebook and took out a photograph.
At once, Amon Koutarou stepped forward.
"Investigator Mado please let me take a look."
He was one of the few who had come face-to-face with the Ghoul Hunter.
Although the Hunter had been masked at the time, a person's physique and aura were often unmistakable.
Sometimes, you didn't need to see a face to recognize someone.
And as a First Class Investigator, Amon was confident in his own judgment.
Mado Akira handed him the photograph.
In the picture
A young man wearing the Kiyomi High School uniform.
Short black hair.
Well-defined features.
A smile that carried a faintly wicked edge.
It was Fushimi Kyo.
"This photo was taken recently at his school,"
Mado Akira added.
"The hairstyle is very similar."
"And the aura feels alike as well "
" though the person in the photo appears more robust."
Amon studied it carefully before answering cautiously.
"How similar would you say they are?"
Mado Akira asked.
"Sixty percent."
He hadn't seen the Ghoul Hunter's true face.
And after multiple physical enhancements, Fushimi Kyo's body had changed significantly.
He hadn't become a hulking brute, but he had grown around five centimeters taller, with noticeably denser muscle mass.
Under those circumstances, being able to say sixty percent was already remarkable.
"Understood,"
Mado Akira nodded.
"I'll conduct a deeper investigation into this individual."
"As expected of Mado's daughter,"
Shinohara exclaimed in admiration.
"You've only been in the 20th Ward for a few days, and you've already uncovered such a major lead."
"The younger generation really is impressive."
"Thank you for the praise, Special Class Investigator,"
Mado Akira replied.
"However, aside from the Ghoul Hunter himself…"
"These kagune that can separate from the user's body are also a major discovery."
At that, Shinohara's expression grew solemn.
"I never imagined ghouls could possess such an ability."
"This has never happened before."
"I'll report this finding to headquarters immediately…"
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