A Demon King Through The Worlds

Experiences make people mature, especially bad experiences.

Following the credo of a certain character: "Knowing pain helps us to grow, to mature. And growing up means being able to think and make your own decisions."

When a person suffers, they realize that they "made a mistake" and try to fix it or do it differently, the "right" way. Creatures have the instinct to avoid pain and people have the instinct to seek as many benefits as possible.

A dog won't bite an electric fence twice... maybe it will, but there's no need to get hung up on the smallest details.

'Looks like asking Tsukiyama to break a dozen ribs wasn't enough... at least the blood I injected into him will make the rc cells increase at a slightly faster rate.'

He wasn't too keen on waiting years for Kaneki to transform into the dragon, so it's necessary to hasten this process, even slightly.

Only the oggais still lacking.

"... That offended, I think it would offend anyone," Kaneki said, his gaze showing that he was somewhat speechless. Being called foolish and weak is the opposite of what anyone would want.

"But he's right, the world is cruel and ignoring that fact doesn't stop others from attacking you." Touka also spoke up at this point. Kaneki's weakness had been bothering her for a long time.

Leaving the conversation aside, the café was still open and needed someone working, namely Kaneki and Touka.

And just as the sun was setting, an unusual customer appeared, one who clearly wasn't going to the café to get something to eat or drink.

"Welcome." Kaneki greeted this customer a little hesitantly, definitely thanks to his expression, a frown as if he was owed a hundred thousand yen and perhaps his strange circle-shaped beard.

"Is the manager of the coffee shop here?" the man with the circle beard asked.

"The manager? He's out right now," Kaneki replied.

"If you have business here, I'll bring you a cup of coffee, sir." Touka intervened.

"Ah?!" At the sight of Touka, the man's expression was filled with shock, even a little fear, but on closer inspection he soon realized something, "Oh... it's a girl..."

Clearly, he had mistaken her for someone else, someone very similar, but male.

"Um... how about I pass your message on to the manager?" Kaneki suggested, while Touka remained confused by the man's reaction.

"There's something I'd like to know, I can ask you too. Do you know Rize Kamishiro?"

Kaneki exchanged glances with Touka, wondering what to do next and, more importantly, whether this visitor was an investigator.

Touka invited the man into an inner room of the café, where they performed a simple but effective method to confirm his identity – showing his kakugan.

"I'm Banjou, I was in the eleventh district with Rize." With his identity as a ghoul confirmed, the man introduced himself.

"Well then, why are you looking for Rize?"

"Do you really know her?!... As I thought, she came to this café." Banjou was pleased to see that he had been right. A look of doubt soon appeared on his face when he smelt something familiar.

He even approached the source of the smell so that he could smell it better.

On the other hand... 'Tsukiyama did the same... why do all the ghouls keep smelling me like that?'

'Why? Why do I smell Rize on you?" Banjou asked with a suspicious tone and a threatening look as he grabbed Kaneki's collar.

"Calm down, don't be violent in here!" Touka warned, a little worried that Kaneki would get beaten up again. In fact, most of the times she'd seen him, he'd been about to get beaten up or in the process of doing so.

"You're Rize's boyfriend!?!"

Well, Banjou's question broke all the tension people were feeling at that moment.

"Is she your girlfriend?!" he asked again, raising his fist this time. His stance, expression and greater height than Kaneki made him very threatening.

"Is he always like this?" Touka communicated with Banjou's subordinates/friends, finding this ghoul strange.

"Well, usually..."

During this short dialog, it didn't take Kaneki more than a second to knock Banjou to the ground, easily causing him to faint, because unlike his somewhat threatening appearance, he's actually a peace-loving ghoul with zero combat power.

"What's that noise?" Lucian got up after being woken up by the sound of Banjou falling to the ground.

'Oh, it's that guy. He had been at Anteiku all this time waiting for Banjou, and this person's arrival was almost a signal for the arrival of the Aogiri Tree.

If it hadn't been for that, there were plenty of other places where he would have liked to sleep, places much softer, warmer and more comfortable.

"A guy who came looking for Rize just fell over," Touka replied simplistically, pointing to Banjou passed out on the floor.

"That one won't be waking up any time soon, at least you've gotten a bit stronger Kaneki. I imagine it's about time I left too." Having confirmed the time, Lucian needed to leave.

If he was at Anteiku when the Aogiri Tree people arrived, his plans would be ruined – after all, he's powerful enough to stop Kaneki from being taken.

And if he prevented that, Kaneki wouldn't undergo his most important transformation. But if he were at Anteiku and didn't stop it, it would be difficult to explain in a way that didn't destroy the diplomatic relations he had already built up.

"I see. Actually, I don't know why you came all this way to stay asleep." Touka nodded, there was no point in Lucian staying.

"Before you leave, I'll give you 'little Lucian'." Then he put his hand in his pocket and took out a miniaturized version of him and handed it to Touka, "Give him a kiss and a signal will be instantly transmitted to me."

"I'm not going to kiss 'little Lucian', and I very much doubt your intentions for the name and activation trigger of this doll." Touka blushed with embarrassment, or maybe it was anger, maybe it was both.

But either way, she wouldn't kiss "it".

"Ah, then a drop of blood will be enough," Lucian said nonchalantly, as stoicism preaches, you can't always control what happens, but you can control how you react.

So he chose not to feel embarrassed about it at all.

In any case, the trigger didn't matter much and could easily be changed with a single command from Lucian, the only preference being that it not be a common enough trigger to be activated accidentally.

And unlike his relay towers, as his miniature doesn't transmit the signal constantly but only once, the energy cost is practically zero and a small amount of blood is more than enough to keep it functional.

As for his appearance... he had no particular reason to do it like this, he just wanted to.

Having done everything, Lucian left Anteiku, happy that a bit of movement was about to happen.

In all honesty, he felt a little complicated thinking that when there was something to do, he ended up feeling lazy.

And when there's nothing to do, he wants something to do.