Side Story: Rize

Rize presents herself as a woman who passes for human yet feeds on them, and whose relentless gluttony has made her a nuisance since drifting into the 20th Ward. Half a year before her supposed death, boredom had pushed her out of the 11th Ward. A flashback shows her on a rooftop coldly finishing off a lover, one of several killings that soon reach the press. She reads novels, mingles smoothly with those around her, and shrugs off her landlady's warning about a neighbor named Hayashi complaining of the stench seeping from her apartment.

Rize belongs loosely to a ghoul group run by Hagi in the 11th Ward, who blame her binging for nearly eleven deaths that have crippled everyone's hunting. Reminded of the group's rules about paying her dues, pausing her feeding, hiding all evidence, and respecting the territory of others, she treats every one of them as tiresome. Banjou, fond of her, floats the idea of her leading the ward, which she brushes off before threatening to kill him should he ever trail after her. Cornered at last by Hagi and the rest as she packs to leave, she cuts them down with a single sweep of her kagune.

Telling Banjou she means to chase an enjoyable life no matter how many lives it costs, Rize sets off for the cafe of human-friendly ghouls she has heard about. There she meets Yoshimura, who reminds her that a hunting ground belongs to its rightful owner, and she lightly promises to return it, admitting the ward and its people suited her taste. Strolling away afterward, she catches sight of a nervous young man about her own age, and sensing her advantage over the flustered boy who will grow into Kaneki, she smiles to herself.