"I should have stayed to listen!" Touka rolled on her bed while thinking about what she might have discovered if she had eavesdropped on their conversation.
After a few seconds of eavesdropping, she had decided to leave out of respect for Boss Yoshimura and Kenzo, both of whom needed to clear their differences but had never done so before. Perhaps tonight would be the night, so she finally decided to leave after thinking about it for a long time.
"I hope both of them manage to get closer..." Touka finally fell asleep, imagining what Kenzo was talking about with his father.
...
Kenzo slept soundly throughout the night.
In his silent, dark room.
After sleeping for a long time, Kenzo suddenly opened his eyes, sat up suddenly from the bed, lightly covered his chest with his broad palms, gasped continuously, and sat on the bed without understanding what was happening, looking at the dark room, unable to recover for a long time due to the sudden shock.
After a while, he turned his head, looked at the slightly dark space outside the window, touched his face unconsciously, recalled the real scene in the dream a moment ago, and, for some reason, suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu.
But in a daze, the things in the dream turned blurred again, unreal, and when Kenzo wanted to remember them carefully, he couldn't remember anything at all.
Sighing helplessly, Kenzo stopped thinking about it for the time being, lifted the quilt covering his body, and got out of bed, walking directly to the bathroom, reaching out to take a shower, but before that, he held the water with both hands and rinsed his face directly. The water touched his cheeks, instantly making him much more sober.
After wiping away the remaining water spots on his face, he raised his head and looked at the mirror in front of him. In the mirror, there was a twenty-two-year-old man with messy hair and a lack of good emotions.
All this time, the lives he had taken, no matter how little it affected him, had caused subtle and very noticeable changes. Kenzo lowered his gaze, looked at the water, and the reflection of his face displayed a very different feeling.
Kenzo took off his sweat-soaked black shirt, revealing his large and muscular physique. He was a tall and very muscular man, very different from the average men in this country, which set him apart from the rest.
When he finished examining his body and started to feel a little better, he walked to the shower to cleanse his body and finished in about five minutes. He took a towel from the bathroom and began to dry himself. There were several scars on his body, many of which had been caused by accidents or fights before he became a full Ghoul, memories and marks that reminded him of where he came from and what he wanted.
After freshening up, he left the bathroom, left his dirty clothes on a chair, and then took a set of clothes similar to what he had on from the closet and began changing. He walked over to the table where some of his important belongings were and started putting them in his pockets.
Once he was ready, he walked downstairs to the café.
Upon seeing him, Touka hesitated to say anything but continued attending to her own matters with a cold expression.
At this moment, Kenzo's eyes turned towards a guest who had just arrived.
This female guest exuded mature femininity, and as soon as she entered the café, she garnered the attention of many people.
"Rize Kamishiro...?"
Kenzo recognized the woman at a glance.
Immediately, in his cold and calculating manner, Kenzo noticed that she occasionally glanced at a couple of young men at another table.
Kenzo recognized one of the young men at that moment but had simply not noticed him earlier due to his subtle behavior.
This young man is, naturally, the boy he had called a brat the day before, and from the loudness of his friend, he should be called Kaneki.
It's just that Kenzo's attention quickly returned to Rize Kamishiro. Indeed, this woman was exactly like the report he had received about her, and she truly exuded a very enticing aura.
The way she hunted made her act in that manner, a straightforward way to attract men, but it's certainly much more striking if she does it in a café where many of the customers are Ghouls.
While Kenzo was lost in his thoughts, a voice beside him slowly reminded him, "Kenzo, don't be fooled by this woman's appearance; you'll end up more than hurt if you're not careful!"
Manager Yoshimura had appeared by his side and cautioned him while preparing coffee.
"Oh..."
Kenzo, who had a bored expression, felt a little annoyed, recalling that he had provided information the day before but hadn't received anything in return from his father figure.
"This guest..."
Touka immediately wanted to go and greet Rize Kamishiro at this moment but was interrupted by Kenzo, who took the menu from her hands.
"Wait, let me go!" Kenzo, with the menu in hand, walked over to the table where the woman had sat down and placed it in front of her.
"Eh?" Rize Kamishiro looked at Kenzo, slightly surprised, and after a few seconds, she gave him a delicate smile.
"Thank you!" A soft and watery voice came from Rize's mouth. Her seduction skills were very refined, but it was a pity that Kenzo was colder than ice on the inside, and such situations didn't affect him.
"It's not very common for beauties like you to visit this old café. What would you like to drink? Let me invite you this time." Kenzo sat openly in front of Rize and gave her a somewhat disinterested look with his narrow eyes, immediately giving him an air of someone uninterested in others, which intrigued Rize.
"Oh..." Like a seasoned actress, Rize Kamishiro was surprised for a moment, making her wonder something. Is the casually dressed person in front of her an employee of this place? Why did he just sit down in front of her with such little care?
Touka was also stunned. She could tell, even if she was foolish, that Kenzo struck up a conversation because he saw that the other party was beautiful.
This was Kenzo's most notable advantage - his tired look and disinterested appearance often caused people around him to misjudge him, when in reality, he was a quite calculated and careful man in each of his actions.
After a while, Touka turned her head in anger and left, not before giving Kenzo a very obvious look of disdain.
"Is that your girlfriend? She seems upset with your attitude in talking to me so openly!" Rize Kamishiro said this with a smile, giving the man in front of her a scrutinizing gaze.
"My girlfriend?" Kenzo smiled strangely for a moment and asked, "Don't we make a great couple? Too bad I've been rejected by her many times, not to mention, maybe she does it because we're coworkers."
"Now that I think about it, my taste in women has always been special..." Kenzo said again as he crossed his right leg over his left.
Every passing minute, Rize Kamishiro was becoming more intrigued by him.
At that moment, the TV hanging on the wall of the old café played a news report about the gluttonous ghoul that had recently appeared in District 20.
"What happened recently in District 20 is really terrifying, isn't it?" Kenzo observed how Rize Kamishiro's expression changed, whether intentionally or not.
Kenzo could feel those subtle mood changes perfectly, which made him smile even more in silence and think, "Damn witch, how dare you come to my district and openly do as you please?! If you weren't so valuable, I'd have crushed you a thousand times against the ground."
However, Rize Kamishiro seemed calm, as if the recent massacre had nothing to do with her.
She could clearly sense that the man in front of her was very different, not as simple as an ordinary person on the surface but still human, judging by his rich scent.
"Here it is...!"
At that moment, Manager Yoshimura appeared at Kenzo's side.
"Eh?" Kenzo gave the old man, his father, a questioning look with a raised eyebrow.
"This is the coffee you ordered, savor it slowly!" Manager Yoshimura took the coffee from the tray and placed it in front of Rize Kamishiro.
"Thank you!" Rize Kamishiro made a gracious gesture.
"Have you already placed your order? I can't recall..."
Yoshimura gave a calm look to his son, who was acting quite clueless, and said, "She's a regular customer, always orders the same thing, so today I took the liberty of serving her fastest, just as I do with my most loyal customers."
"That's what you call customer service..." Kenzo stood up and left at that moment. He knew that his father obviously knew that Rize Kamishiro was the glutton who recently appeared on television.
It wasn't necessary to know how he knew, as the man who ran the operations base for District 20 was right here in this café.
Anything that happened here, as long as Kuzen Yoshimura wanted to know, was impossible to hide by any means.
"Huh!" Touka looked at Kenzo approaching, snorted with arrogance, and cast an obvious look of disgust towards Rize Kamishiro.
Kenzo's disinterested gaze soon found Touka's, and an affectionate smile appeared on his face as he asked, "Don't tell me, is my dear Touka jealous?"
"What did you say?!"
Kenzo leaned in, extended his hands, and held Touka's waist while no one was looking. He spoke with a smile, "You will be the woman I marry, but dear, don't be jealous. You shouldn't stop your amazing friend from talking to other women. Only you are in my eyes, I don't usually approach anyone I don't know."
"Sicko, do you know who that woman is?" Touka said with disdain as she tried to remove Kenzo's large hands from her waist.
"Well, who is she?" Kenzo asked mischievously as he leaned closer to the girl in front of him.
Touka frowned, looked around to make sure no one was listening, and finally whispered, "She's the glutton who recently appeared on television!"
"Oh, I'm so scared! But I'm sure my dear Touka will keep me safe from the clutches of that witch. You better eat me before she does." Kenzo finally pulled away, and his ironic smile was directed at the aggressive Touka standing before him. One of his most entertaining moments was teasing this woman, who seemed to harbor a deep hatred beneath her kindness. That combination was extremely dangerous and at the same time attractive in Kenzo's eyes.