[Ding! The Host has successfully completed "Mission One: Encourage the Kirishima Family to Join 'Anteiku' or 'Aogiri Tree'."]
[Reward: 20 Attribute Points!]
At that moment, Uchiha Byakuya heard the system notification.
It wasn't hard to guess, Renji must have convinced the Kirishima family to go to Anteiku.
Ultimately, this was the result of his actions.
Moreover, Yomo would surely mention him and Arima.
And since Kirishima Arata and Hikari wanted to protect their children, they didn't really have any other choice.
Right now, every ghoul in the 4th Ward was at risk.
"I sent those two straight to 'Anteiku' as soon as I could; they should be out of danger by now."
At that moment, Eto spoke up.
"Mm. You've worked hard."
Byakuya responded while preparing dinner, casually chatting with Eto.
"This kind of thing isn't really 'hard work.' By the way, do you need my help? Though I've never actually cooked before."
Eto asked, looking straight at him.
"I think you should give it a try."
Byakuya was curious to see what Eto would come up with.
"Are you serious? Don't regret it later."
"No problem. Worst case, I'll help you finish it."
Since Byakuya didn't seem to mind, Eto really wanted to try.
She stepped into the kitchen, wearing her strawberry-patterned slippers.
Byakuya let Eto handle a simple dish as a starting point.
As things turned out, her knife skills were surprisingly good.
Though, considering her past experience with "butchery," it wasn't all that surprising.
Byakuya didn't interfere at all, allowing Eto to cook freely.
Before long, Eto had finished preparing a dish.
Visually, it looked perfectly fine.
At the very least, it wasn't some kind of horrific "cursed dish."
Dinner was ready.
Byakuya and Eto sat together at the table.
"I'm digging in."
"Me too~"
Eto took a bite of her own cooking first.
She chewed for a moment and immediately realized; the taste wasn't exactly great.
"Bleh, it's not good, compared to what you make, it's awful."
Though this was her first time cooking, Eto still felt a little disappointed at the result.
Byakuya took a bite as well, then gave a straightforward review:
"Yeah, it's not good, you didn't put enough salt, and it's uneven, the vegetables are slightly burnt as well."
He paused shortly, "But for a first attempt, it's actually pretty decent."
His evaluation was completely fair.
The food was bad, but definitely not to the point where it would be considered inedible.
"No need to sugarcoat it. That just makes me feel like you're pitying me."
Eto wasn't the type to appreciate "kind lies."
"You've misunderstood; No matter how bad it tastes; if it's made by you, I won't mind at all, there's no need for me to sugarcoat anything."
Byakuya said with complete sincerity.
Eto blinked, momentarily stunned.
Then; "…You're really a hopeless lolicon, huh?"
"Wrong, I've never been a lolicon."
Byakuya denied the label, as always.
"Not convincing at all, Lolicon-san~"
Eto teased him with a light smile.
Though she joked around as usual, Byakuya's words just now had genuinely made her happy.
Somewhere deep inside, her heart felt a little warm.
"..."
Byakuya was at a loss for words.
He had already explained himself many times, but Eto simply refused to believe him.
There was nothing he could do about it.
In the end, Byakuya and Eto finished dinner together.
Even though the food wasn't great, they still ate all of it.
"How's the situation in the 24th Ward?"
After dinner, while resting, Byakuya asked Eto.
"It's going well. The competition in the 24th Ward is weak overall, right now, 'Aogiri Tree' has already expanded to over 200 members."
Eto continued:
"Once we completely take over the 24th Ward,
we can start spreading into other districts."
"Mm but there's no rush to expand territory for now, I have a plan..."
Byakuya was ready to discuss the Cochlea operation with Eto.
"I'm planning to attack Cochlea, as the 'One-Eyed King.'"
Eto raised her eyebrows, clearly concerned, "Aren't you afraid of being discovered?"
"It's fine, right now, the Washuu Clan and V still don't know I'm a mutated half-human; as long as I disguise myself like last time, they won't recognize me."
Byakuya spoke calmly.
"That's good, if we work together, we should be able to completely take Cochlea."
Previously, when Eto attacked Cochlea, she was too isolated.
At the time, Aogiri Tree's numbers weren't large, and Cochlea itself was heavily guarded.
She failed to breach the facility and only managed to release some S-rank ghouls.
But the real prize was inside the SS-rank and SSS-rank cells.
Originally, Cochlea was only built to contain S- to SS-rank ghouls.
So even Hoito Roma, an SSS-rank ghoul was merely locked away on the SS-rank floor.
"No. I have a different mission for you."
Byakuya said.
"I need you to lead part of Aogiri Tree into the 13th Ward, create a distraction to draw the attention of the CCG, the Washuu Clan, and V."
Byakuya continued as he looked at her.
"Meanwhile, Arima and I will 'pretend' to investigate the 24th Ward, in reality, I'll be leading another team to attack 'Cochlea' in the 23rd Ward."
"...Fine."
Eto trusted Byakuya's strength.
But she still gave a few words of caution:
"Just be careful, Cochlea has never once weakened its defenses."
"Yeah, I'll be careful; we'll begin in two days."
Byakuya had finalized the Cochlea operation with Eto.
But then, he suddenly changed the topic.
"By the way, when you went to Anteiku, you didn't meet the old man?"
"No. I don't want to see him yet."
Eto's expression grew slightly melancholic.
"Even if I did, I wouldn't know what to say..."
"Alright."
Byakuya wouldn't force Eto to see Yoshimura Kuzen.
"When you feel ready, we can go together for a cup of coffee, the old man makes a good brew."
"Oh? That means... you've already been there?"
Eto caught a small detail.
"Yeah, when Uruka sought refuge there, Arima and I accompanied her, we had some coffee while we were there."
Byakuya answered truthfully.
"Uruka? Oh, you mean Uruka Minami, right?"
Eto recalled the name.
She then added with interest, "By the way, when can I meet her?" quickly following up with; "It'll help with my writing."
But in reality...
Eto was more interested in how much attention Byakuya was paying to Uruka Minami.
And that, both the fact that she cared as well as the attention Byakuya put on that girl, were starting to bother her.