Scar

Kaneki pleads with Tsukiyama to finish him quickly, and when the Gourmet stalls he tries to reach Kimi with his kagune. Unable to summon any power to it, he watches Tsukiyama move toward her, only for the Gourmet to recoil at the scar marking her shoulder.

Nishiki Nishio's memories flood back. Abandoned by their parents, he and his elder sister survived by hunting for themselves, with his sister stepping into a maternal role. She longed for an ordinary human life and schooling, but fear of exposure pushed her toward part-time work so the siblings could afford decent clothes and a soft bed. Every job ended in dismissal, and after she confided her admiration for a shop owner, that manager betrayed her to investigators, who killed her. Nishiki carried on alone, adopting her name and living off her savings.

At college he met Kimi Nishino by a vending machine, and their friendship deepened into romance. Finding him starving and close to death, Kimi let him eat her flesh, accepting what he was. She later confided that her family had perished in a plane crash the very day they met, and that he had rescued her from grief. Though trusting humans came hard to him, Nishiki decided that betrayal by Kimi would be a price worth bearing, and he gathers his strength to shield her from Tsukiyama.

Tsukiyama flinches at the scar on Kimi's shoulder. Nishiki's full history, including his sister's death and Kimi's sacrifice, is revealed. Nishiki finds the will to fight back.

The title Scar refers both to the mark on Kimi's shoulder and the lasting wounds of Nishiki's past. It is the forty-third chapter, part of Volume 5.