“It’s extremely simple. You just have to tell him Kaneki’s alive.”
Impression
A slow chapter this week – most of it focused around seemingly unrelated threads of plot, probably meant for world-building rather than anything else. I still think Yoriko must have been re-introduced for a purpose other than just being a potential love interest for Kuroiwa, but the focus on the CCG means that we’re unlikely to get more of her for the time being – similar to how it is with Touka, who we only know visits the hospital occasionally and works at another coffee shop. At least now we know that whoever Touka’s visiting, it’s not Yoriko. It being Hide now looks even more likely.
All that biology stuff was interesting, and I’m sure it’s making Urie especially happy to know that there’s a way to quickly have his physical strength increase so he can duke it out with Kuroiwa. And it’s only applicable to ghouls or anyone with RC cells in their system – because the RC cells apparently aid with healing damaged muscles and other body parts, leaving them a lot stronger after they end up rebuilding compared to the results of normal muscle training. In essence, the more ghouls get hurt, the stronger they become. I guess it’s the reason Urie is such a muscle maniac, because the gym is a relatively safe environment through which he can get stronger with tangible results. The only other way to exploit this method is to do a Haise and get injured countless times, and that’s clearly not been too fun for him. I bet his fingers, toes and eyeballs must be tougher than steel now.
Speaking of Haise’s fingers and toes, we also saw him meet his torturer’s torturer this chapter – basically, the guy whom Yamori learnt all his torture techniques from, by virtue of having been subject to the same pain when he was captured and interrogated in Cochlea. I swear he was dead given that Yamori managed to break free, but clearly not – I’m also wondering if it’s just a coincidence that they have such similar facial structures. In general, he’s just not a very nice guy – Haise should have reminded him that the Mutsuki he said was so useless is now Rank 1, and that Juuzou’s made it all the way to Special-Class.
As for Tsukiyama… well, I can understand why Kanae was so unwilling to let him know Kaneki was ‘alive’. I don’t think I’d use the same wording Hori Chie did, given that Haise isn’t really Kaneki (yet), but it should prompt some sort of reaction from Tsukiyama. The thing is, Kanae hates him for the same reason he hates Hori Chie – it’s because Tsukiyama has an odd fixation with them that goes beyond just food, and it’s the sort of attention he’s jealous of because he’s so obsessed with his master. Kanae knew all along that telling Tsukiyama about Kaneki was the way forward – but for him it’s a rock and a hard place, essentially a choice between a depressed, useless Tsukiyama and a lively one who only cares about Kaneki-kun and Little Mouse. Poor Kanae, forever alone.
