I was lying on the floor of our little apartment, my roommate having stolen the couch. I was facing the window, watching the sun go down on Tokyo's thirteenth ward. The weather had been pleasant of late, the nights cool but not chilly.
"Hey." I said to my roommate. She looked over at me.
"Yeah Maddy?" She replied.
"Are you hungry?" I asked.
"Omg yes." She answered. "Do you know how long I've been waiting to hear those words?" We laughed. Kaylee was my roommate and also my best friend since public school. She had been hearing impaired since I had known her, her hearing aids having always been in bright shades of pink and orange. Her most recent pair were purple, and her first pair she had received in Japan. We were both born in Canada, literally the furthest country from Japan, but we had always enjoyed anime and manga. So visiting Japan had always been a bit of dream for us, and living there was a dream come true.
"I wonder how the pickings are tonight?" She wondered aloud.
"Well," I said. "I'll go get ready." I got up and headed to my room.
We had nice rooms, for an apartment, with closets and windows in each. I opened my closet, reaching into the back to pull out my box of tee-shirts I liked to wear for hunting. I dug through them, finding my X-men one. I picked up my khaki short pants from the floor. Once I changed clothes, I tied up my hair in a terrible braid so it wouldn't be in the way. I looked at myself in the mirror. Looking good, me. All I needed was the final touch. Reaching into the back of my drawer, I pulled out my mask. I had commissioned it from a Canadian cosplay mask maker, who also supplied to geeky Ghouls, like myself. It was a simple adherent black domino mask with white lenses over the eyes. It was based off masks worn by several of my favourite BatFamily members. I had found it hard to situate properly on my face at first, and even now I found it easier to put it on in front of a mirror. One final toss of my braid and I was down the hall to Kaylee's room.
She was dressed in a tight red shirt and dark-wash jeans. She had on a black beanie to cover her hair. (She claims it's recognizable) She had a thing about wearing shoes while she hunted, she never did because she didn't like not feeling the ground. I think she secretly enjoys the blood on her feet. Her blue mask was styled to resemble a bird, wrapped around her eyes and on her nose. The blue faded to an indigo purple at the edges. It was quite pretty. I tapped my still stocking foot impatiently.
"I would like to be back before midnight this time." She looked over at me.
"That was not my fault."
"Actually, I think it was." She threw a towel at my face.
"Go put your stupid boots on, I'll meet you at the window." I smirked, and headed down the hall.
The "stupid boots" she was referring to were my Columbia waterproof hikers. I had brought them with me from Canada because I loved them so. They were perfect for hunting, good treads, dark colour, and waterproof like I mentioned before. They never stained either, which is nice as a Ghoul who has lived among humans her whole life and wants to keep it that way. As I finished lacing them I heard Kaylee come down the stairs.
"Right on time." I commented. She bowed.
"Like always." I opened the window as she approached. The breeze blew gently, billowing the curtains out dramatically. Kaylee flipped all the lights off as I stepped out into the evening.
"Remember to shut the window!" She hissed.
"I know!" I reached in and shut it quietly. We stood on the narrow fire escape, then, together, we leapt off and down onto the streets of Tokyo.
It took us near twenty minutes to locate our prey. We caught an ugly guy trying to rape some chick about three blocks from our apartment. I narrowed my eyes. Not on our watch. I looked to Kaylee and she nodded. We closed in, Kaylee first jumping down into the alley, then me. Both the man and the woman looked terrified.
"Yo!" I called to the woman. "Get out of here!" She ran away with the speed of a nervous deer. I smiled and Kaylee did the same.
"Just us now, ugly." She said. Oh, nice one. I fought the urge to high-five her. Not now. Kaylee's eyes turned under her mask, now black with red irises. I could feel mine turn as well. We advanced, pinning the man against the wall. His gross face was contorted with fear.
"Please," He whined. "Don't kill me. I've got a family, a wife!" I heard Kaylee release her Kagune behind me.
"Yeah," She said darkly. "Right." She promptly stabbed him.
We didn't toy with him much. He only ran about ten meters before collapsing, bleeding out through his abdomen. Kaylee's Kagune was Koukaku type, two blades that wrapped around her right arm, finishing in razor-sharp claws. Sometimes I get jealous, then I remember that I have the best Kagune. I'm Bikaku type, I like to compare it to a scorpion's tail. Long and curved, with a wonderful barb at the end, nice for kill strikes.
"Hey, you hit him first, I get to kill him!" I called to Kaylee, not too loudly. She backed away from our victim, and I crouched down so he could hear me.
"Filth like you doesn't get to live in our neighbourhood." I told him. Then I killed him. A quick strike to the back of the neck, cuts nerve communication to the brain. In other words, instant death. We're no monsters, after all.
He tasted good, for a rapist. Most criminals weren't too tasty, and since we only ever ate criminals, it was rare to get good meat. We chatted while we ate.
"That was a great line." I told Kaylee. She glanced at me over her hunk of thigh.
"Which?" I put down what I was eating.
"That 'just us now ugly'. Genius." She looked gratified.
"You really think so? I thought it was sort of meh. Ermnermnermnerm." There go the noises. Ugh.
"Kaylee." I said. "Stop doing that." She looked over at me.
"Why?" I facepalmed.
"It might attract attention!" I wasn't really worried, it just annoyed me. She kept doing it anyway.
"Shut up." I said in warning. She stopped to speak.
" I will make noise if I want to." And continued. Aarrgh!
"Shut up!" I yelled. It seemed to echo down the alleyway.
"Well hello there." Said a voice. Our gazes met, with expressions of horror, and we looked upon the intruder. He was shorter than me, with hair so white it practically glowed in the dark. He was dressed oddly, in a white shirt that was a bit too big for him, with mismatched patterned suspenders. Five hairpins held his bangs out of his eyes, in a pattern like the Roman numeral thirteen. And strangest of all he had stitches, all along his right arm and hand, around his left wrist, up the front of his neck and on his face, under the right corner of his mouth and under his right eye. He looked almost doll-like, with his large dark eyes and pale skin. But his expression was anything but cute. He looked almost psychotic. I swallowed.
"Uhh, hi." I said, waving nervously. I stood up. Kaylee stood as well. She can get a little loopy when she's scared, and now was no exception.
"Hello, heavily armed person!" I was confused. Heavily armed? Then I noticed the scythe.
"Oh my god he has a giant scythe!" I whisper-screamed to Kaylee.
"You think?" She replied. I tried not to panic.
"We didn't kill that guy, he was dead when we found him." White-hair guy shrugged.
"You're still Ghouls." He said in his eerie high voice. "I still get to kill you." He charged, and we ran.
I haven't got a clue how far we ran, but I was tired when we stopped. Creepy scythe boy was nowhere in sight. I turned to Kaylee.
"I think we lost him." I said. Then his voice sounded from above.
"Not quite!" He was coming at us full speed, scythe ready for swinging. I breathed. We would have to fight him. I stepped out of the way as he landed, and I picked up a telltale mechanical whirr. I cocked my head.
"Is that a fake leg?" I asked him. I like to banter with my opponents, it keeps them on their toes. He looked down at the leg and said:
"Yeah. Lost it fighting the one-eyed Owl!" He swung his scythe on the last word. I dodged fairly easily. That weapon was almost too big for him, but he handled it well. Was he playing with us? Kaylee ran at him and jumped, intending to cut right through his head with her Kagune. He tipped his head back, losing only a bit of hair. Kaylee landed on his other side and tried to slash him, but he was ready this time. He had knives in his off hand now, and he blocked her with those. I released my own Kagune and came at him, pairing hand blows with stabbing strikes. He blocked all of them, then saw an opening and took it. He flipped through the air over our heads and landed behind us. He grinned.
"Clearly I'm way out of your league, you may as well surrender now." He said. I gritted my teeth.
"You're the one who's out of his league, kid!" I charged again, this time prepared. I could take advantage of the reaction gap caused by his inexpertise with the large weapon to strike and end this. He looked honestly bewildered.
"Kid? I'm twenty years old!" That almost stopped me in my tracks. Twenty? He barely looked fourteen, but he was older than me! He threw his handful of knives, which embedded themselves in my chest.
"Agh, that hurts." I said. I turned to Kaylee. "Back me up!" I began the assault. Blending dodges with attacks, I was able to finally get a hit in, knocking White-hair to the ground. Kaylee was instantly upon him, the points of her Kagune to his throat. He only smiled, with what looked like honest happiness.
"That was fun. Let's do this again sometime." Then he stabbed her arm, using the brief lapse in her grip to escape. Kaylee tried to run after him, but I stopped her.
"Let him leave. Whoever he is, he's on a different level. Once he gets the hang of that weapon... There won't be any way to stop him." I pulled the knives out of my chest, holding on to one. "Come on, let's see what we can take off ugly's corpse."
Three weeks later, Plaza Thirteen
Kaylee and I strolled through the mall, coffees in hand, enjoying ourselves. Our stab wounds had healed nicely, and we were enjoying some well-deserved quality time.
"So I heard English Ghouls like tea instead of coffee," I was saying to her. She laughed.
"Typical. Fine English gentlemen like their Earl grey." We both laughed. The mall atrium was a huge space, the glass ceiling casting light over the shops around it. Kaylee pointed to a store.
"What's that place?" She asked. I was better at reading Kanji than her, though even I had only a basic understanding. I looked at the sign.
"Some kind of candy store I guess. Doesn't look too crowded." We passed closer to it, enjoying the bright colours of the sweets we would never taste. Then someone came out of the store. He didn't look familiar at first, loaded down with two bags of assorted sweets, but then he turned and I saw his face. White-hair was now Black-hair but his face was unmistakable. Not to mention the bright suspenders and stitches. He stared at us and we stared back. I managed to look normal but Kaylee babbled quietly, looking like a fish. I elbowed her in the ribs and she made a sound not unlike a squawk.
"Sorry." I said to Black-hair. "My friend here is new and hasn't been around here before." It wasn't a great excuse, but it would do for now. Kaylee did her best to play along.
"E-everything is so b-big?" She stammered. There were a couple awful seconds where I feared all was lost. Then, Black-hair smiled.
"As Branch Chief of the Thirteenth ward CCG, I welcome you to our little community. But I feel like I might have seen you before?" He asked me. I laughed nervously.
"It's possible. So, CCG huh? Tough job?" I tried to make small talk as we began to walk again. He thought it over.
"Honestly, I find it's pretty fun. But hey, I'm only the Branch Chief. You'd have to ask my underlings about it." He laughed eerily. "Well, I'd better get back to work. I have a meeting to get to." He began walking away.
"Wait!" I called. "You never told us your name!" He put his hand on his forehead.
"Oh right! Suzuya Juuzhou." Then he was gone. As we turned and headed back in the other direction, I thought to myself,
'Suzuya Juuzhou. I look forward to meeting you again.'