:re Chapter 143

Ken Kaneki dwells on how differently his life might have unfolded had Rize Kamishiro never crossed his path. He has come to see existence as an unbroken chain of choices whose outcomes must be accepted, since one decision alone can send everything spiraling.

Reaching the 24th Ward, Kaneki finds the ground littered with dead White Suits. Miza Kusakari asks whether the Provisions Squad came with him, and he admits he returned alone before spotting Naki's corpse. She assures him Naki fell fighting to the last, then points him toward Route E14, where the escaping ghouls should be after passing Routes 20 and 21. Kaneki races off.

A flashback shows how Kichimura Washuu first sold the operation to Suzuya. Codenamed Kouryuugi, the plan means penning the enemy in and wiping them out. When Suzuya balked at the burden, Kichimura argued that letting the ghouls grow stronger would inflate the CCG's costs and drain the fund that treats wounded officers. The thought of Yukinori Shinohara won Suzuya over. He briefed Hanbee Abara, sent for Keijin Nakarai, and told them to ready their wills.

Back in the present, Suzuya and Kaneki collide. Calling him Haise, Suzuya makes clear he intends to kill, and Kaneki accepts that his opponent will not back down. He orders Hinami to run ahead. Suzuya warns Hanbee that death is possible as they engage their Arata armors, and Kaneki shifts into his kakuja form, telling himself he has survived this long to shield his friends.

The fight leaves Kaneki broken on the ground, his limbs gone. Suzuya and Hanbee are carried off badly hurt but alive, their willingness to die having won the day. Kichimura tells Kaneki he fought well yet still lost, adds that Route E14 has been sealed so no ghoul can slip out, and leaves him to Hajime Hazuki. Hazuki arrives carrying the severed heads of Shio Ihei and Rikai Souzu, mocking the beaten Kaneki and questioning why he ever admired him. Meanwhile the S3 Squad halts Touka and the last of the fleeing ghouls, reporting that they are moving in to finish them. Goat, it seems, is done.

Kaneki discovers Naki dead and learns the ghouls' escape route. A flashback reveals how Kichimura recruited Suzuya for the Kouryuugi operation. Kaneki is defeated and dismembered by Suzuya and Hanbee, then handed to Hazuki as the S3 Squad corners the surviving ghouls.

This eighteen-page chapter ran in issue 2017-45 on October 5, 2017 as part of the thirteenth volume. Its title is rendered only as a blank space, leaving the installment without a spoken name and underscoring the bleak note on which Goat's defeat is sealed.