As for his Mangekyō Sharingan, that naturally wasn't a kakugan, so there was no need to bring it up.
"Ohh, so that's the difference between half-human and half-ghoul. I learned something new."
"But speaking of which, now that we're all attending the same school, let's just call each other classmates."
Uchiha Byakuya said.
Being called "Chairman," or "Dragon General," and the like by his fellow students did feel a bit awkward.
In the TSC, such titles were used for professional purposes, but in school, there really was no need for that kind of formality.
"Um… is that really okay?"
The ghoul girl seemed a little timid, not quite daring to call the TSC Chairman a mere "classmate."
"Of course it's okay."
Byakuya nodded.
"Then… Uchiha-kun? Arima-kun?"
The girl finally tried it out in a tentative tone.
From then on, the other members of the Ghoul Research Club also began referring to Byakuya and the others as fellow students.
Since universities in Japan generally don't provide dormitories, Kamii University was no exception.
Even if dorms were available, they tended to be rather poor in quality, it was much better to just rent your own place.
As it happened, Byakuya and Yoshimura Eto already owned a villa in the 1st Ward, and they had the "Anteiku" café in the 20th Ward, so they never actually stayed on campus after class.
They headed back to Anteiku first.
"We heard you all successfully got into Kamii University, that's amazing!"
As soon as they entered, they were greeted with praise from Kirishima Hikari.
"Kamii University, I remember that's one of Tokyo's top elite schools!"
Koma Enji added in admiration, "For the four of you to all get in together, you're basically academic prodigies!"
"If we go by human social norms, this would definitely call for a lively celebration."
At that moment, Irimi Kaya spoke up: "Manager, how about we throw them a proper celebration?"
"I think it's a good idea too."
Yomo Renji said calmly.
Yoshimura Kuzen nodded slightly. "In that case, let's do it tomorrow. Closing the café for a day won't be a big deal."
Of course, it naturally still depended on the wishes of the people being celebrated.
And naturally, Byakuya and the others had no reason to refuse.
So it was decided, just like that.
But just then, Arima Kishou's phone suddenly rang.
"Mm… mm… I understand."
A moment later, Arima hung up.
"TSC business?"
Uruka Minami immediately asked Arima.
"Yes. A large number of Dragon Orphans have appeared in the 22nd Ward, along with some powerful ghouls stirring up trouble. The TSC branch in that ward is understaffed and requesting reinforcements."
Arima briefly explained the situation.
Because the 22nd Ward had rarely seen ghoul or Dragon Orphan incidents in the past, very few personnel had actually been assigned to the TSC branch there.
Now that so many enemies had suddenly emerged, they had no other choice but to call for backup.
"I'll go too. I'd like to see which ghouls still insist on opposing us at this point."
Byakuya said.
Those ghouls who remained stubborn and unwilling to cooperate needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. Otherwise, they'd only continue to hinder the coexistence between humans and ghouls.
"Now that you mention it, it's been a while since I've had any cannibalism."
Yoshimura Eto said with a soft chuckle.
Eating a ghoul's kakuhou, or devouring Dragon Orphans both counted as acts of "cannibalism."
So her meaning was clear: she planned to go have some fun, too.
Although their combat strength was indeed overkill for the situation, none of them were particularly busy at the moment, so heading to the 22nd Ward to quickly resolve the issue was a good thing.
Moreover, now that the four of them were all members of the "Zero Squad," acting together wasn't strange at all.
After the CCG was renamed the TSC, the Zero Squad was never disbanded.
With Byakuya as the squad leader, and Eto, Arima, as well as Minami as team members, the Zero Squad was composed of just the four of them.
"Looks like we might not have time tomorrow after all."
Yoshimura Kuzen said.
"Let's try to wrap things up today if possible."
Byakuya said.
He figured that should be doable.
Any one of him, Arima, or Eto placed in the 22nd Ward would already be an absolutely unbeatable force.
Only Minami was slightly weaker, but even so, she was still a "Quasi-Dragon General" of the TSC now. At the very least, she was obviously no pushover.
Tokyo, 22nd Ward.
Byakuya, Eto, Arima, and Minami, all headed straight to the 22nd Ward at once.
The 22nd Ward wasn't far from the 20th Ward where Anteiku was located, so they arrived rather quickly.
The atmosphere on the streets was somewhat bleak. There were very few figures coming and going. Because recently, a large number of Dragon Orphans and a few ghouls had been rampaging throughout the 22nd Ward, many people were staying home, afraid to go out.
Members of the TSC 22nd Ward Branch were constantly patrolling the streets, trying to prevent harm to the civilians.
Among them were both humans and also ghouls.
The ones currently reporting to them were a human-ghoul duo.
"We've already located the nest of those Dragon Orphans, but we're sorry, we don't have the ability or the guts to go in and clear them out."
"No worries. Leave it to us, the Zero Squad will take it from here."
Byakuya said flatly. "Prepare to gather personnel to block all exits of that nest, to prevent any from slipping through and harming civilians."
"Yes, sir!"
They immediately relayed the orders to the other TSC branch members, assembling at least half of the available combat personnel.
In less than half an hour, a large force of TSC fighters had surrounded the Dragon Orphan's "nest."
Their so-called "nest" was actually a large, long-abandoned factory.
The factory had front doors, back doors, windows, so once the fighting started, Dragon Orphans could try escaping from any direction. Their task was simply to stop any that tried to flee.
The actual fighting, however, would be handled by just the four members of the Zero Squad.
Once it was confirmed that the entire factory had been surrounded, Byakuya immediately began the operation.
"Let's go. Let's try to finish this quickly."
At his command, the four members of the Zero Squad entered the abandoned factory at once.
As soon as they stepped inside, they discovered many Dragon Orphans lying in ambush. It seemed that among them, one had developed a tiny bit of intelligence, at least enough to take on a "leader" role.
Otherwise, mindless Dragon Orphans shouldn't even have the concept of an ambush.
However, no matter how well they hid, it couldn't make up for the overwhelming difference in strength.
Byakuya used his Kamui to perfectly avoid every incoming attack.
Naturally, Eto immediately transformed into her kakuja form, "The One-Eyed Owl." The Dragon Spawn who tried to ambush her either had all their heads sliced off or were directly stuffed into her stomach.