So, I, like everyone else, am very excited about the possibility of Tsukiyama’s re-introduction into life in the upcoming chapters of TG:RE. I’ve seen a lot of speculation on how it will be, based on Tsukiyama in the previous series, and what can I say? It’s super exciting to think about a favorite character emerging from a proverbial grave.

But I can’t help but think about Kanae…poor, poor Kanae. Because if you really consider the position that he is in from his perspective, the choice that he’s just made is a devastating one.

First, we know that Kanae loves Tsukiyama dearly. After all, Tsukiyama embraced him, helped him, and was kind to him when he was a lonely orphan child whose entire family had been viciously murdered.

We can only guess what the events of Tokyo Ghoul looked like from his perspective. But imagine it. This person that he loves, that he serves, disappearing again and again, putting his life on the line for someone who shouldn’t have meant more than a meal. This person that he loves, that he serves, being consistently rejected by the object of his affections, no matter how hard he fought, no matter how much money he spent, no matter how much of himself, his time, and his family’s estate he offered up. And finally, this person that he loves, that he serves, being left catatonic and injured on a rooftop, unable to move, to eat, to function, because that person who never should have been more than a meal has now died. It’s no wonder that he thinks of Sasaki as a “dirty pig.”

Kanae has struggled so hard to understand, to ascertain how to fix this, how to restore Tsukiyama to his former glory. I think, after seeing Tsukiyama waste away for two years, he was willing to try to suggest to him that Kaneki was still alive, but stealing his underwear was not enough to break through Tsukiyama’s depression. It was only a half-assed measure to take…and that’s because Kanae wasn’t desperate enough to do the obvious thing.

So he tried another plan. He thought that he could find a substitute…a half-ghoul, with enough similar properties to satisfy Tsukiyama’s insatiable hunger.

But he is outbid. However, in the commotion of the raid, he gets a second chance…

But that opportunity is taken from him.

And not only that, but it made matters worse. Now the CCG has their collective eye not only on Kanae, but on the entire Tsukiyama family…so that anything that Kanae does is a risk, any move that he makes now could have disastrous consequences, for himself, for Shuu, for the entire Tsukiyama household.

But what can he do? The master he serves is completely at his wit’s end.

And Shuu is getting worse by the day.

But this is no longer just an in-family issue…the CCG has abducted one servant, and they can no longer trust in their ability to move freely through the city.

At the same time, alerting Shuu to the idea that the object of his obsession is still alive not only opens up avenues for new disasters, but also creates the very real possibility that Shuu will run straight back into a situation that is very truly toxic for him.

Imagine knowing that the person who is most important to you in the entire world is involved with someone who, at worst, could literally be the death of them. Imagine knowing that even if that person doesn’t cause the death of your loved one, they are, at the least, horribly toxic? That they are a force for self-destruction in the life of your loved one? How would you handle that? What would you do? Your loved one may lose their mind or their life if they are separated from this person, and they may lose their life and destroy the lives of their entire household if this toxic person is returned to them. Kanae’s distress, his self-abuse, his grief is not difficult to understand. He has been put in such a deeply impossible position, he has even come to hate the one thing that has driven him since childhood; his love for, and loyalty to, Shuu and the Tsukiyama household.

So though he knew, or suspected, that he would need to unequivocally prove Kaneki’s existence to Shuu in order to stop Shuu’s descent into madness, it was not something that he wanted to do…because at this point, who can tell if this information will actually help the situation at all? He’s angered when Chie even suggests it.

Kanae is, essentially, making a deal with the devil. Not that Chie is the devil, per se, but in that he is agreeing to do something with the knowledge that the consequences might be disastrous, because the current situation is so unbearable that it trumps the fear of the unknown.

So Kanae has made his choice. The bomb has been dropped. Shuu has seen the first picture…he knows now, or is about to know, that his precious Kaneki is still alive.

It begins. But we as readers, like Kanae, can not possibly determine whether or not this decision will end in utter ruination for the Tsukiyama household. We, like Kanae, can only watch the consequences of this decision as they unfold.