:re Chapter 17

Tooru Mutsuki comes to in a pitch-black, unfamiliar space, his last memory being Nutcracker's car alongside Juuzou Suzuya, who is nowhere in sight. Realizing he is entirely on his own, he curses under his breath. In the auction hall, the crowd murmurs while waiting for the event to open. Kanae von Rosewald, seated with Matsumae, spots hooded figures in a corner and suspects they guard Big Madam, though Matsumae is more concerned with their seats. The symbol-speaking Scarecrow also lurks among the guests, and Big Madam waits eagerly with her Scrappers, hoping to buy an appealing male.

The stage lights up as Roma Hoito and Ganbo clown around in costume, ending their slapstick when Roma yanks a rope and drops a rickety tower onto the boards. An announcer opens the auction and presents the hosting Clowns, and No Face steps out of the tower to greet everyone. Mutsuki finds his communicator dead, recalls the gas mask Nutcracker wore in the car and the exhaustion that followed, and wonders whether Haise Sasaki knows where he is. Outside, Nutcracker orders a crate moved.

The Clowns wheel out a frightened actor, Yoshiki Ookura, working the room by appealing to his fans. Kanae dismisses the fading star, but a bidding war breaks out between Big Madam and a flamboyant man, drawing her and Matsumae's notice. Karao Saeki asks who the newcomer is, and Ayato Kirishima says he calls himself Croque Monsieur, runs with a separate group, and does unknown work. Ayato adds that captives fetch varying prices and that these cheaper women hold no appeal for elite ghouls. As Saeki wonders whether he could buy one, Hinami Fueguchi cuts in, sensing something wrong, just as No Face announces an item not in the catalog and Nutcracker hurls Mutsuki onto the stage.

Mutsuki wakes captured and cut off from support inside the ghoul auction. The Clowns, fronted by No Face, open the event and put up the actor Yoshiki Ookura. Mirumo Tsukiyama, using the alias Croque Monsieur, joins the bidding against Big Madam. Hinami senses trouble as Mutsuki is thrown onto the stage as an unlisted lot.

Titled Popular, this is the seventeenth chapter of Tokyo Ghoul:re and belongs to the second volume. It appeared in the 2015 twelfth issue on February 19, 2015.