My new favorite quote: "Someone spent days mass reporting this book, only to find it on top ranking again" — Correal.
...
Nashiro stared at Ryoma, eyes wide and searching. She waited for his answer.
Her heart already knew what she wanted to hear. In that moment, she wasn't the shy, quiet girl she'd always been. But as silence dragged on, her nerves returned. She looked away, her cheeks tinged with red.
"I mean, do you even need to ask?" Ryoma said without hesitation. "I didn't want a cute girl dying in front of me. That'd be way too depressing."
He said it simply, directly, with no attempt to hide his thoughts.
He meant every word. The memory of Nashiro's tragic death in the original timeline had always stayed with him. He changed that future because he could. That was it.
When Nashiro heard the words "cute girl," she instantly buried herself deeper beneath the blanket, hiding everything below her eyes. Her ears burned.
Kurona's blush deepened too. Ryoma was looking right at her, and she had no way to hide.
She opened her mouth, tried to say something—maybe ask how he really felt about her and Nashiro—but the words caught in her throat.
"Forget it. It's nothing," she muttered, retreating from the question.
Rize stepped in with a smirk. "If I remember right, didn't dear say something similar to me once? So this is your go-to line for picking up girls, hmm?"
She hadn't forgotten what Ryoma said after rescuing her back during the rebar incident. He said he liked her, that it was love at first sight. This wasn't quite the same—but the vibe was familiar.
Ryoma smiled helplessly. "I meant it. All of it."
Rize had been the first beautiful girl he saw in the story, the one who caught his attention immediately. And just like then, he meant what he'd just said to Kurona too.
Before he could continue, Kurona cut in, her tone laced with curiosity and something more. "Why do you keep calling him 'dear'? What exactly is your relationship with him?"
Rize's eyes sparkled. She leaned close to Ryoma's ear and whispered, "Yes, dear. Why don't you explain what we are?"
Ryoma opened his mouth. "We're in a coopera—"
Before he could say "cooperative," Rize clamped a hand over his lips.
"I'll answer that," Rize said sweetly. "We're lovers."
"That's not possible," Kurona said immediately. "He's a ghoul investigator. You're a ghoul."
"And? Who says that's impossible?" Rize shrugged. "Why do you think I'm living in his house?"
Kurona had no comeback.
When she arrived earlier, Rize had already been there. She'd been in casual clothes, too comfortable to be a guest. That meant... she lived here.
She lived with Ryoma.
"Alright, alright. Enough teasing," Rize said, waving the topic away. "I just treat him as my personal stockpile of food."
"Speaking of food..." Kurona's tone changed. "Nashiro and I can't eat normal food anymore. But we don't want to hunt people either."
Under Kanou, they had been fed failed experimental subjects. Human in scent, but still flesh. It kept them alive without forcing them to kill.
But now that they'd cut ties with Kanou, they were out of options.
"That's not hard to fix," Ryoma said. "There's a place in the 20th Ward called the 'Stability Zone'.. also known as "anteiku". The manager there helps ghouls who don't want to hunt. They supply discarded meat.. it's of low quality, just enough to survive but it works."
Kurona and Nashiro didn't care about strength anymore. Before, they sought power to gain Kanou's praise. But now, the man who once posed as their father meant nothing to them.
"As long as it keeps us alive," Kurona said.
"Then it's settled," Ryoma nodded.
"By the way," Rize said, "did you completely destroy the Ghoul Restaurant?"
"I did, more or less. Most of the ghouls escaped, though," Ryoma replied.
"That annoying freak really had the guts to mess with my food," Rize muttered.
She meant Tsukiyama Shuu.
The thought that Shuu had not only targeted Ryoma, but intended to share him with a crowd of nobles, infuriated her.
She didn't even enjoy sharing meals normally. And Shuu wanted to serve Ryoma to dozens of ghouls like a delicacy?
She'd never forgive that.
"He won't stop. You know how he is," Ryoma said. "But he's not a threat."
That much was true. Shuu might be persistent, but Ryoma had the power to handle it.
Kurona and Nashiro listened quietly. Even if they didn't know the full story, they could piece it together. Ryoma had clearly been lured into a trap at the Ghoul Restaurant, likely by "Mr. PG," and destroyed it.
It explained everything.
Rize smiled faintly. "Good. Next time he shows up, let me handle him. I'll make it fun."
###
Hmm... Boys, we're just 270 power stone away from reclaiming top #1 position & just 1.2k collection away from top #1 collection ranking. Let's do this!!!~
Patreon.com/Zexxxxy
Also, I need MTL/Chinese fic readers who can test the poison of some of the potential One Piece fic I've found.