Mado Kasuka immediately spoke politely.
She felt a bit undeserving of the other party's apology.
"Yes, it's alright."
Mado Kureo also said.
After all, it was something that didn't actually happen and they certainly didn't hold any serious hostility toward Yoshimura Eto.
If it had really happened, that would be a completely different story. At the very least, Kureo definitely wouldn't be so polite.
If Byakuya hadn't stopped Eto back then, and if Kasuka had ended up like she did in the original; gnawed and chewed into an unrecognizable mess, then there was no way the people here now could be chatting and laughing together.
Watching this scene unfold from the side, Byakuya genuinely felt happy from the bottom of his heart.
Eto and the Mado family had truly let go of everything between them.
"By the way, another batch of new recruits joined our TSC today. Grand Chairman Uchiha, are you interested in taking a look?"
At this moment, Kureo suddenly said to Byakuya.
"Do you have a list?"
Byakuya asked.
"Yes, I happen to have a list of the new recruits right here."
Kureo then pulled out a list and handed it to Byakuya.
"Let me take a look."
Byakuya glanced over it, and immediately spotted a very familiar name.
"Amon Koutarou…"
Byakuya was of course extremely familiar with this name.
If in the original story, Kaneki Ken was the protagonist from the ghoul side, then Amon Koutarou was practically the protagonist from the human side, at least in the early stages.
"Oh?"
Kureo looked surprised, "This list only has names, it doesn't include rankings or anything, yet the Grand Chairman Uchiha managed to instantly single out this batch's number one, Amon Koutarou?"
"No, it's just that this name sounds a bit familiar."
Byakuya explained, "I remember back then when Special Class Kuroiwa and First-Class Kuramoto captured an SS-rated ghoul named 'The Priest,' the only surviving child found in the orphanage where 'The Priest' was located seemed to have this name."
This explanation of his was practically flawless because that really was what had happened.
"That's indeed him. The Grand Chairman still remembers that incident, huh? He's grown up now, and his performance is excellent."
Kureo said.
"Very good. Our TSC needs fresh blood like him."
Byakuya said.
The original "CCG" had only been renamed, not dissolved and so naturally, the original investigator academy was still around. It had just changed terms like "investigator" to new ones.
This specialized academy still served as a pipeline for cultivating talent to combat the Dragon Orphans for the TSC, and they had even begun attempting to train ghoul children as well.
After all, the TSC now consisted of both humans and ghouls mixed together. Cultivating ghoul-background talent was part of the greater trend.
"To be honest, I'm quite interested in this child Amon Koutarou. I hope I can partner with him."
At this time, Kureo sounded almost like he was making a request to Byakuya.
Because with just one word from Byakuya, he could immediately be paired with Amon Koutarou.
"That's no problem at all."
Byakuya nodded.
After all, in the original story, Amon really was Kureo's partner and later on, practically became Kureo's Son-in-law as well.
A few more months passed, and Byakuya and Eto's second works had both already been published in succession.
They were Black Bullet and The Egg of the Black Goat, respectively.
The Egg of the Black Goat was also Eto's second work in the original timeline, naturally, it was only published after she finished writing it.
Because studying took up quite a lot of time, Eto's third work, so; 'Sayoshigure' or 'Winter Shower at Night', was progressing quite slowly.
Meanwhile, Byakuya was serializing a long-form work and didn't plan to start any new book for the time being.
After all, the original Black Bullet had been on hiatus for a very long time. He could only keep writing the story himself, slowly making it up as he went, and publishing a new volume each time one was finished.
But now, Byakuya and Eto had something more important to deal with, that was, of course, taking the upcoming national unified exam.
It was an exam that basically every graduating student in Japan had to take..
In terms of difficulty, Japan's unified exam was much easier than, say, the Gaokao.
The real challenge was actually the respective universities' individual "entrance exams," especially for top-tier schools like Kamii University.
By comparison, the unified exam was more like going through the motions and the real determining factor for which university one could get into was still the school's own entrance exam.
"Uchiha-kun, Eto-sensei, do your best!"
Before entering the exam hall, Uruka Minami cheered on both Byakuya and Eto.
Arima Kishou was naturally also there beside her.
The four of them were all taking the exam at the same testing center. Luckily, they'd all been assigned to the same venue as well.
"Yeah, you guys too, good luck."
Byakuya nodded.
"Good luck."
Eto smiled slightly.
"Once this final exam this afternoon is over, how about we all go to the beach tomorrow? Let's go to Okinawa."
At this moment, Minami suddenly proposed.
"I think that sounds great."
Eto said.
"Alright, we can start getting ready once the exams are over."
Seeing that Eto was interested in the idea, Byakuya naturally agreed as well.
"Looks like I'll need to go pick out a swimsuit tonight…"
Arima said in his usual calm and collected tone.
He had never been to the beach before, so of course he didn't have a swimsuit.
Now that Minami had brought it up, he too, suddenly felt like going to the beach.
After the final exam ended..
Large groups of students came out of the exam hall, some happy, some worried, others like dead fish.
There were people who had done well, and naturally there were also those who hadn't.
Even though the final results weren't out yet, most people already had a rough idea of how they did.
Byakuya and Eto were both in a good mood, because their personal sense of how they performed was pretty solid.
"How did it go?"
Seeing Eto at the exam hall entrance, Byakuya immediately asked.
"Basically no problem. You're the same, right?"
Eto said.
"Yeah. So now we'll see how the school entrance exams go."
Byakuya nodded.
"Minami-chan and Arima came out too."
At that moment, Eto waved toward the two of them.
When they walked over, Eto immediately said, "No need to ask how you guys did, I'm sure it's basically a guaranteed thing."
Arima and Minami were always ranked first and second in their school exams. Unless something completely unexpected happened, there was no way they could do badly.
"More or less. There were a few questions that were actually pretty hard."