:re Chapter 83

Stunned, Kaneki rushes to the falling Arima, who is bleeding from the throat he just cut, and cradles him while berating the act. Arima insists on being heard, explaining that little time remained to him and that he only hastened a death already coming. He reveals that the Sunlit Garden's students, among them Hairu Ihei and Nimura Furuta, are the children of ghoul parents and failed hybrids, half-humans rather than half-ghouls. His glaucoma, usually an ailment of the old, stems from that heritage. He tells Kaneki that half-humans are actually the more common outcome of a human and ghoul pairing: they gain enhanced bodies, may lack a kagune, can eat ordinary food, yet age far too soon. Arima then discloses that the Washuu Clan are ghouls, and that V may simply wish to become human.

Elsewhere, Marude holds Yoshitoki Washuu at gunpoint, disputing a claim from King Bileygr that the Washuu collaborate with ghouls. Though he never fully trusted the book, his quiet investigation of Yoshitoki turned up nothing until he examined Rc Scan Gate records and found that Arima, certain Garden-raised members of Arima Squad, Ching-Li Hsiao, and the Washuu never set off the alarms. He concludes the Washuu are not allies of ghouls but ghouls themselves, and he fires. As Matsuri and other investigators react, Yoshitoki rises unharmed, exposes his kakugan, and voices his disappointment. Marude reflects that everything was a lie and that Hideyoshi Nagachika had been right.

Kaneki learns that the ghouls Yoshimura once served belonged to the Washuu Clan. Asked what he wants, Arima requests that Kaneki claim credit for killing him and promises the reason will become clear. Kaneki understands and thanks him. Arima says he has always hated taking from others and is grateful to leave something behind, then tries to speak Haise's name with his final breath before slipping away. Kaneki weeps over his body.

Arima reveals that he and other Sunlit Garden students are half-humans born to ghoul parents, and that the Washuu Clan are ghouls. He asks Kaneki to be named as his killer before dying in his arms. Marude independently deduces the Washuu's nature through Rc Scan Gate records and shoots Yoshitoki, who survives and bares his kakugan.

The butterfly Arima releases here is the one he caught back in Chapter 74, standing in for the burdens he carried across his life. The chapter reframes the CCG's leadership and Arima's own identity, tying the Washuu directly to the ghouls Yoshimura served.