Chapter 31: Yoriko

At Kiyomi High School, Touka Kirishima cannot stop replaying Kureo Mado's final words, until her friend Yoriko Kosaka pulls her out of her thoughts. The two sit down for lunch, and after noticing Touka eat a jam sandwich two days running, Yoriko hands her a slice of fried meat, which Touka forces herself to swallow. She later slips to the restroom and tries in vain to bring the meat back up.

Heading home, Touka runs into Kaneki, who explains he had wanted to help arrange Hinami Fueguchi's room while quietly worrying over her. Yoriko drops by as well, worried about how Touka behaved during the day, and leaves her a pot of meat and potato stew she prepared herself. Touka and Kaneki eat it together, and Kaneki privately catalogs how repulsive each part tastes to a ghoul: the onions like insect wings, the potatoes like chalk, the broth like muddy water, and the whole dish like pencil lead.

Because Touka insists on finishing every last bit, Kaneki concludes that Yoriko must matter deeply to her, given she would endure downing the entire pot to honor her friend's kindness.

Touka struggles to keep her ghoul nature hidden while eating human food to protect her bond with Yoriko. Kaneki takes on the task of helping Hinami settle into her new living space with Touka.

Yoriko's homemade stew becomes a test of endurance that shows Kaneki how far Touka will go for the people she cares about.

The chapter spotlights the strain of a ghoul maintaining a human friendship and humanizes Touka beyond her fighter persona. A translation error in the English edition of Volume 4 has Mado reference the One-Eyed King in Touka's flashback, when it should read as a separate One-Eye referring to Eto Yoshimura.