Sen Takatsuki

After having the digital version of Dear Kafka printed, Byakuya asked the print shop owner to send the file to his email.

This way, he could access the electronic version on his computer once he got home.

Then, Byakuya handed the original manuscript back to Eto, saying, "Miss Yoshimura, please keep this manuscript with you. Also, you might want to consider a pen name. Most authors use one unique to them."

"A pen name..."

Eto thought for a moment and then decided, "I'll go with 'Sen Takatsuki'"

"'Sen Takatsuki' huh... That's a great name. So, from now on, I'll refer to you as Miss Takatsuki"

Byakuya complimented her.

"Well, that's all for now. I should probably return to the publishing house. After work, I'll go over Miss Takatsuki's manuscript in detail to see if I can offer some useful editing suggestions"

After bidding her farewell, Byakuya left. But after taking a few steps, he remembered something. He turned back and handed Eto a 10,000 yen note.

"Almost forgot. This should cover some expenses for the next few days. My paycheck's a bit tight until I get paid later this week"

"Thank you... this is more than enough" Eto said, accepting the money with gratitude.

"By the way, do you have a cell phone? If not, I could take you to get one. It'll be hard to stay in contact otherwise"

Byakuya had budgeted enough for a phone.

"I don't have one..."

Eto replied.

So, Byakuya purchased a cell phone for her in his own name, covering her future phone bills.

After Byakuya left, Eto returned to her hideout, the base of "Aogiri Tree" a ghoul organization she had only recently established. Although the group was still small, they had managed to build a foundation of strength.

Outwardly, Aogiri Tree's mission was to protect ghouls from human persecution and to resist the CCG. However, their base was humble an abandoned, decrepit building surrounded by wild grass and woods, far from human activity.

"Whoa! Incredible!"

"You made 10,000 yen in just one day? How'd you manage that...?"

"As expected, Eto is really different from us. She was incredible during the CCG raid too..."

Since most ghouls lack legitimate IDs, it's hard for them to work or earn money like humans. Public places have started installing RC Scan Gate, which expose ghoul identity by detecting high RC cell levels unique to ghouls. Ghouls' ability to live among humans has been increasingly limited, worsening their situation.

"This money should last us a few days. We need to allocate it wisely. I'll go buy some supplies tomorrow" Eto told her members.

Except for her, the rest of the Aogiri Tree members were pure ghouls who could not consume human food and instead saw humans as their food source. Thus, there was no need to buy food for them, but the organization did require funds to stay together.

Eto herself was unique, not only the only natural-born half-ghoul in Japan but possibly the only one in the world.

Half-ghouls and half-humans, both exceptional beings, are born from unions between humans and ghouls.

Offspring of humans and ghouls have an extremely high mortality rate. Those who survive are usually half-human, but Eto's case as a half-ghoul is exceptionally rare.

Half-humans lack kagune, kakugan, and are capable of eating normal food. They have superior physical strength compared to regular humans but a very short lifespan.

Half-ghouls, on the other hand, possess a single kakugan and a kagune, just like full ghouls. They can also consume human food and have a human lifespan.

In theory, half-ghouls have the highest potential strength, though there's an exception—a "cheat" character named Kishou Arima, who is a half-human.

Later, Eto sat alone in the derelict building. She set the manuscript of Dear Kafka aside and held a notebook that her father had left her, filled with entries written by her mother.

'Mom... I won't run away like my father did...'

Eto thought silently, looking up at the sky. She needed more power and followers to strengthen Aogiri Tree, or else she couldn't stand against "them".

Elsewhere,

Instead of returning to the publishing house, Byakuya went to the CCG branch in 2nd Ward.

In the world of "Tokyo Ghoul" Tokyo is divided into 24 wards, with the CCG headquarters located in 1st Ward, and Shoeisha Publishing in 2nd Ward. Apart from 1st Ward and the underground labyrinths of 24th Ward, each ward has its own CCG branch.

Currently, Byakuya works at the CCG branch in 2nd Ward and had returned to verify some information.

He passed through the CCG's RC Scan Gate smoothly and used his investigator ID to access the building, allowing him to look up some information.

CCG's system contains a lot of public information accessible to all investigators, and Byakuya checked this data on one of their computers.

"I see… the One-Eyed Owl has already attacked 2nd Ward twice, and the ghoul detention center in 23rd Ward has also been breached…"

Having checked what he needed, Byakuya confirmed the timeline.

The One-Eyed Owl, also known as Eto Yoshimura, was not instantly classified as an SSS rated ghoul by the CCG.

Initially, she killed an Associate Special Class Investigator in 3rd Ward, which led the CCG to classify her as an S rated ghoul, based on his combat prowess surpassing that of Special Investigators.

While Special Investigators vary in strength, the existing ones during this timeline had relatively comparable abilities, since Kishou Arima had not yet become a Special Investigator.

Afterward, Eto launched a surprise attack on the CCG branch in 2nd Ward, resulting in heavy casualties.

Covered in feather-like kagune, Eto was codenamed "Owl" and with only one ghoul eye, the full codename became "One-Eyed Owl"

Following this attack, her threat level was upgraded from S to SS.

Later, the One-Eyed Owl led many ghouls to capture the ghoul detention center in 23rd Ward, raising her threat level to SSS.

Recently, the One-Eyed Owl had attacked the CCG branch in 2nd Ward a second time, but this time she was critically wounded by Investigator Iwao Kuroiwa, who inflicted a fatal wound on her kakuhou. Consequently, the One-Eyed Owl had to retreat.

In other words, at this point in time, Eto was still recovering from a life-threatening injury.