Chapter 31: New World

Lucian walked slowly down the crowded street, looking at the large skyscrapers around him, with their many screens and signs, but hidden in this seemingly prosperous city, he could smell blood floating in the air.

'I'm in Tokyo, but from what world?

Straightening his suit, Lucian looked around before heading towards the place where the smell of fresh blood was coming from, he had a feeling it might help him with his problem.

As the source of the smell wasn't too far away, it didn't take him long to get there, it was an alleyway, which on this night, was completely engulfed in darkness.

Going deeper into the dark alley, he soon spotted a man kneeling on the ground, his hands moving, he seemed to be eating something.

Looking more closely, Lucian saw that the man was eating a human corpse, which had been pierced to death by a cylindrical object in the chest.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the man turned around, his eyes had black scleras and red irises, a mad hunger could be seen in his pupils.

Blood stained his mouth, as did his hands and clothes, which were well worn, indicating that the man didn't have very good living conditions.

"What are you? Have you come to rob me?" The man stood up vigilantly when he smelled something strange. Looking at Lucian, he didn't smell like a human, nor did he smell like one of his own kind.

"Far from it, I'm just strolling around this place," said Lucian, denying the man's words, "But I think you should be more attentive, getting dirty like that could get you into trouble."

"... Trouble? Will I get into trouble? Are you going to cause trouble for me?" Unfortunately, the man didn't seem to have much sanity left.

Hunger, misery and persecution, both by humans and by his peers, had pushed him to the limit.

Then an appendage similar to a tail came out of the man's body, which attacked Lucian furiously.

"I see hunger has reduced your intelligence." Lucian's voice was full of mockery and before the man could get any closer, Lucian decapitated him with a swift movement of his right hand.

And having a good mindset of not wasting food, he absorbed the man's body and the corpse that lay on the ground.

Visiting the man's memories, he soon confirmed his hunch.

He was in the world of Tokyo Ghoul and had just killed a ghoul.

'Rc cells...kakuhou... kagune, this liquid muscle is really fascinating, apart from the fact that some develop special abilities.'

Leaving the alley, he continued walking, this time with a destination - Anteiku.

Fortunately he was already in the twentieth district, which made the process easier.

As for why he was going there, there were two reasons: to check on the progress of the plot and, of course, to make contact with the powerful ghouls in Anteiku.

By finding out whether or not Kaneki was working at Anteiku, he would know if the kakuhou transplant surgery had already taken place.

With a goal in mind, Lucian walked calmly while whistling a little tune.

At the same time, ideas began to emerge in his mind: in the world of Tokyo Ghoul, humans possess special cells and a large number of them guarantee great power.

It could be assumed that as long as a human obtained a sufficiently high number of rc cells, he would gradually turn into a ghoul.

The body would then adapt, becoming more and more suitable for obtaining rc cells, and an organ directly related to this would emerge - the kakuhou.

The kakuhou and kagune exist for the purpose of facilitating hunting.

'Gathering demons with rc cells will certainly bring about pleasant changes...'

Walking lost in reverie, it wasn't long before Lucian arrived at Anteiku's door. In case you were wondering how he knew the way, the answer is simple: insect-shaped familiars.

Releasing insect-shaped familiars is very good for obtaining information.

Entering Anteiku, Lucian looked around.

On one side there were tables and chairs, and on the other there was a counter with a few stools.

He simply sat down in a random chair, took a deep breath and looked at the menu.

'Ahh that smell... I don't really like drinking coffee, but the smell is so nice,' thought Lucian, the smell of Anteiku was a mixture of coffee, cappuccino and sweets.

A waitress approached not long after Lucian sat down, she had a large fringe of her dark blue hair covering the right side of her beautiful face, leaving just one of her blue eyes exposed.

This is Touka Kirishima, a ghoul with ukaku-type kagune.

"Bring me a cappuccino... do you like rabbits, by the way?" Lucian made his request, before asking a question as strange as it could be.

Hearing Lucian's question, Touka's pupils shrank, for anyone else this question would have no special meaning, but for her...

'Does he know who I am?' she asked herself nervously.

"I'll bring you a cappuccino," she said, heading for the kitchen.

Before Lucian actually took any offensive action, she couldn't do anything there, but she would still notify the manager about it.

'An enemy dove or ghoul?

'She really is pretty,' thought Lucian, glancing at Touka's back as she slowly walked away, and then turned his gaze to the counter.

Behind the counter a man with black hair and a white eye patch was making coffee; with such recognizable features, it didn't take Lucian much effort to work out who it was - Kaneki Ken.

'So Rize has already been captured by Kanou... now I have to think: do I give him time to create more ghouls or do I attack right now?'

Allowing Kanou to create more ghouls would be like waiting for the fruit to ripen before picking it, something Lucian felt quite inclined to do.

'Although Kaneki being here doesn't really say much, just that the Aogiri Tree hasn't captured him yet.

Tiniling Tiniling!

"Good morning!"

At that moment the bell on Anteiku's door rang, interrupting Lucian's thoughts.

Normally someone entering the café wouldn't be noticeable, and Lucian wouldn't pay attention to it, but the pair who entered were special.

A woman with long brown hair, braided on her shoulder and adorned with three flowers, her features were kind and had a motherly glow. As a whole, she gave off a feeling of gentleness and weakness, totally different from what you would expect from a ghoul.

To her side, a smaller version of her, an equally pretty girl, wearing a tiara in her hair, her countenance was shy.

They were Ryoko and Hinami Fueguchi, two very unfortunate characters in Tokyo Ghoul.

Ryoko was killed by Mado Kureo using a quinque made from her husband's kagune, while Hinami basically saw her mother killed in front of her.

In fact, this event was one of the reasons why Lucian hates the weak Kaneki, just watching without doing anything...

At the time Kaneki was weak, but even so, he could have helped Ryoko escape.

Even if Lucian wasn't very kind, he still wanted to help them by changing this sad fate.

"Welcome!" Kaneki greeted them, thinking that they were both just ordinary human customers.

"Well, are you new?" asked Ryoko, looking at the hitherto unknown Kaneki.

"Oh! That's right!" Kaneki nodded.

"Ryoko-san, little girl!" Touka greeted them soon after, noticing them.

"Hi Touka-chan, I've come... I thought there wouldn't be any customers here at this time." Ryoko smiled as she greeted Touka back, and just as she was about to say what she had come for, she noticed a customer still at Anteiku.

"You wouldn't be wrong, but I'm here to talk to the manager, I was just having a cappuccino while I waited for the store to empty." Lucian stood up, smiling amiably at her.

"I see." Ryoko nodded, imagining that Lucian must also be a ghoul.

However, Hinami, who has sharp senses, noticed something unusual about Lucian and hid herself even more.

"... He's dangerous." Hinami

Yes, she could sense that Lucian was a great source of danger.

"No doubt about it, but you should worry about the investigators who are coming after you." Lucian confirmed Hinami's words, keeping his smile unchanged.