Yoshimura Eto's voice carried the cruelty of someone who has seen through the dark.
"Heh. You're far too naive, little rabbit."
"W-what do you mean?"
Kirishima Touka frowned, a bad feeling rising in her chest.
"Heh."
Eto let out a cold, contemptuous laugh.
"If I told you that the CCG—the organization that claims its highest mission is to hunt ghouls—its true top decision-makers, the ones giving the orders…"
She paused.
Then, word by word, like icy knives stabbing into everything they thought they knew:
"…are themselves ghouls?"
"What?!!"
This time it wasn't just Touka—Renji Yomo, Kaya Irimi, and Enji Koma all gasped, their faces a mix of disbelief and horror.
The CCG's upper echelon… are ghouls?!
How could that be?!
It sounded like sheer nonsense!
Why would ghouls create and lead an organization dedicated to exterminating ghouls?!
"T-that's impossible!"
Renji Yomo blurted out. The claim upended his worldview.
"Impossible?"
Eto's sneer deepened as she turned to Yoshimura Kuzen.
"Then let him—once a 'cleaner' for the V organization—tell you himself."
Every eye snapped to Yoshimura Kuzen.
Under their stare, his face dulled to ash. He closed his eyes, heavy with guilt.
Only after a long moment did he open them, speaking in a hoarse, exhausted voice:
"She's telling the truth."
He drew a long breath,
tearing open an old, festering wound.
"The CCG's predecessor was the 'Ghoul Countermeasures Institute.' Its founders—and the ones who truly control it to this day—are a family called Washuu."
"And the Washuu…"
"…are a pure-blood ghoul clan."
Boom—!!!
Another thunderclap went off in everyone's heads.
A pure-blood ghoul family founded and rules the CCG?!
"They've strengthened their bloodline through long-term 'ghoul-on-ghoul' cannibalism. They're born kakuja—monstrously strong."
Kuzen continued, every word crushingly heavy.
"The CCG's purpose was never to eradicate ghouls. It was to control."
"To control ghoul numbers and maintain a fragile 'balance' that benefits them."
"And at the same time… to safeguard their pure bloodline and exalted status."
"Humans, to them, are livestock to be penned and a cover to hide behind."
"Ordinary ghouls, to them, are unstable trash to be culled—or food to fuel their 'cannibalism' and make themselves stronger."
Kuzen's gaze swept over the stunned Touka and the others, finally dropping to his aged hands.
"And the V organization I once served… is actually a branch arm of the Washuu. It's largely made up of 'half-humans'—beings like Kishou Arima."
"V's job, as the 'cleaners,' is to erase any heretical force that might threaten that 'balance,' whether it's an overly powerful ghoul or… a human who gets too close to the truth."
The truth crashed over Anteiku like an arctic tide.
"!!!"
Touka felt the cold seep into her bones. Her mind went blank.
All her life, her world had been black and white.
Ghouls hid and hunted to survive.
Humans formed the CCG to fight back.
But now… someone was telling her that the human guardian, the CCG, was ruled from the top by the strongest ghouls?
They pen humans like cattle—
and send humans and half-humans to butcher any ghoul they can't control?
What kind of twisted, hopeless world is this?!
Humans?
Ghouls?
Who is the enemy now?
Who is a companion?
In that instant, all positions blurred.
Only the suffocating weight of a vast conspiracy remained, leaving them adrift.
"As long as the Washuu still exist—as long as this warped system of rules they wrote remains…"
Eto's icy voice rose again, shattering the deathly silence.
"Then whether we choose to become human or go on as ghouls, we're just living in the same cage they so carefully wove—only in a different pose. The essence never changes."
She looked to Rei Ao, the light in her single eye clear and merciless.
"So mere destruction or simple conversion won't fix the root."
"What I want is revolution. The old rules have to be smashed to pieces."
Rei Ao regarded her, the corner of his mouth lifting in approval.
"You do see things clearly—better than those who only know how to fight or forever run."
He snapped his fingers, as if settling on a decision.
"In that case…"
His gaze moved across Yoshimura Eto, Yoshimura Kuzen, and the silent Kishou Arima.
"Why don't the ones most entangled in this decide exactly how to change this vile status quo?"
Before any of the three could answer, he slowly raised his hand.
At once, a vast, indescribably sacred presence flooded the room!
A brilliant, non-blinding gold radiance gathered in his palm, condensing, shaping—
until it became a golden Holy Grail—ancient in form, etched with countless mysterious runes, and emanating a warm, overwhelming power.
The Grail drifted up to hover in the air, slowly turning as motes of golden light spilled from it.
Within it churned the supreme power of creation and destruction.
Everyone in the shop was seized by this sudden, sacred artifact, their attention utterly consumed.
Each of them could feel in it a power that seemed capable of granting any wish—terrifying in its promise.
Pointing to the Grail, Rei Ao said to Eto, Kuzen, and Arima:
"This is a 'Holy Grail' I whipped up. The energy inside should be enough to grant three solid wishes—each one world-shifting."
This wasn't some tainted Grail. It was the real thing.
"The three of you get one wish each."
"Use it to make the wish you believe can truly change this world."
"Rewrite the rules, judge the guilty, create a future—whatever you decide."
Yoshimura Eto, Yoshimura Kuzen, and Kishou Arima stood frozen.
Their eyes locked on the Grail hanging in the air—its inviting glow, its limitless possibilities—and their minds nearly stopped.
Grant… a wish?
Decide the world's future yourselves?
The sudden weight of that choice clamped down on their throats and their thoughts alike.