The last thing that Shirazu felt before passing out was the feeling of darkness consuming him.

Opening his eyes, Shirazu looked at the unusual, and yet somewhat familiar sights. He felt pain, a massive amount of pain, especially on his torso, and as he looked around the room, memory started coming back to him. He was with the rest of his squad, Noro appeared, Urie hit Noro... The memories of the last battle swirled around in his mind, he started feeling more and more concerned. Where were the others? Were they alright? Was Sasaki alright? What happened?

Shirazu tried to lift himself up slightly, but let out a cry as the wound hurt even more. What was going on? Suddenly, the door opened with a bang a doctor came inside, accompanied by a nurse.

The doctor addressed him. "Hello, Mr. Shriazu." He said with a professional, but warm smile. "You're quite a fighter, aren't you? You could've died there."

Shirazu interrupted him. "Is everyone else ok? Did anyone else die?" He coughed violently. It maybe wasn't the best idea to speak, but he couldn't help himself.

The doctor shook his head. "I don't really know. I wasn't told anything except for your... Condition. However, the CCG told me to notify them when you wake up, and as such, I called them. They will probably explain what's going on much better."

Shirazu nodded compliantly, settling back onto the pillow as the doctor checked up on him. He felt himself drifting off again, until his shoulder was shook, by the doctor.

"Now that I'm done, I should probably tell you how your health is - and also that the two CCG officers visiting you will be here is twenty or so minutes.

Shirazu nodded again.

"Alright. So, you were cut almost in half by the ghoul, however despite that, you managed to survive, which is surprising, despite you being a Quinx. You had lost a massive amount of blood and broken numerous ribs, so you will be excluded from missions for the next month, and should take it easy after that.

Shirazu's eyes widened. And entire month? He couldn't be able to help out his squad for entire month?

The doctor seemed to understand Shirazu's emotions almost instantly. "If you do, you will risk the chance of injuring yourself even more, and I doubt that death would be a well liked option."

Shirazu sighed and leaned back further onto the pillows. This was a shitty situation for him, and there was no doubt about that. The one thing that he would like is to know is what happened to his Squad, and everyone else that was there. Was anyone else badly injured? Was anyone but Michibata, Umeno, and Nezu dead? Was Kuramoto alright?

While his mind was still spinning the possibilities around, he didn't notice Akira and Arima walk in thru the door.

"Shirazu, are you feeling any better?" Akira asked, more concern apparent in her voice then usual.

He nodded lightly, careful not to hurt himself more. "Well, I'm not dying, so I feel that I am at least a bit better then I was. What is the date anyways? And what happened to Sasaki, and Urie and all -"

He was cut off abruptly by Arima. "Be patient. We are going to tell you. Today is eight days after the mission, and as you probably know, you just woke up."

He paused just long enough for Shirazu to be extremely worried. "What?" He snapped, not caring about the pain that came right after.

Akira winced slightly, her eyes turning slightly glossy. "Well, first of all, we have many causalities - Umeno, Mezu, and Michibata from the Kuramoto squad, the entire Kijima squad including himself, and Ihei from-"

Shirazu interrupted again, with clear shock in his voice. "I-Ihei is... Dead?" He couldn't believe this; Ihei was powerful, and amazing, and...

Akira nodded. "Unfortunately, she was found decapitated by Ui. The only survivor on that floor was Furuta."

"Then are the rest of us, and Haise alright? And Kuramoto? They weren't on that floor, right?" Shirazu's voice rose in pitch, and he seemed almost terrified.

Akira breathed deeply, and looked at Arima, urging him to continue for her. He nodded. "The Quinx, while not unharmed, are all alive. Kuramoto, as well, is recovering in the hospital. While he is not in the best position." He paused.

Shirazu, even though he wasn't in the best position, realized that Arima had skipped Sasaki.

"Where's Sassan?" He demanded, hoping that Sasaki was alright, that he was alive, that he was at home. Arima swallowed.

"He has... Disappeared. He could not be found after the battle, alongside the Tsukiyama family heir."

Shirazu gasped, shocked by what happened. "W-what? Sassan is gone? W-where?" He knew his voice was shaking, but he didn't care. All he wanted was for Sasaki to be safe.

Akira nodded, and once again, Shirazu noticed that her eyes were glazed over, as if she wanted to cry. "That's correct."

Arima looked at Shirazu very carefully. "There are two more things that we would like to talk about. One good, one bad. What of the two would you want us to tell you first."

Shirazu though it over for a moment - which would he decide, before picking the former. "Let's start with the good news."

Akira smiled worriedly. "Well, as you might know, you killed Noro."

Shirazu's eyes widened. But it was Urie that killed Noro! Why was he -

Akira continued, cutting off his train of thought. "Noro was an SS-rated ghoul. And, you showed large amounts of courage, and care for your comrades as well as skill when killing him. As such, we decided to give you two awards - the prestigious Double White Wing medal, and a promotion."

At this, Shirazu interjected - the medal was one thing, but a promotion? If anyone wanted, and deserved a promotion, it was Urie. "Urie deserves that promotion more then I do. And so do Saiko and Mutsuki."

At that, Arima raised a brow. "We believe that Mr Mutsuki and Mr Urie deserve a promotion - however Saiko Yonebayashi is the other Quinx member is getting a promotion."

"Is that so we all will be 1st rank?" Shirazu asked, shocked that Urie and Mutsuki were not getting a promotion, out of the four.

Akira smiled, though bleakly. "The other three will be. You on the other hand, are going to be... " she looked back towards Arima.

He nodded at her. "You're going to be a First Class investigator. Congratulations on that. You truly deserve it."

At that, Shriazu let out a giant gasp, followed by a very cringeworthy cough of pain. "W-what?" He croaked, feeling even dizzier and lightheaded then he had felt mere moments ago. "W-why am I skipping 1st Rank? Why do I deserve this promotion? Why?" By the end, his voice has cracked numerous times, and he was feeling slightly sick. Was this supposed to be positive? It wasn't. He wasn't anywhere near good enough to be a First Class. Akira was a First Class, and she was thousands of times better then him.

Akira had noticed his terrible guilt, and giving him the same shaky smile she had moments before, she patted his arm. "Shirazu, it will be alright. You deserve this promotion."

Arima, on the other hand, did not have such tact, or maybe, and more likely, he preferred to not use it. "Now, on to the bad news, I'm afraid."

Shirazu gulped again. There were worse news? Hell, after that, he didn't think that there were any worse bombshells that could be dropped on him. His mentor was gone, his friends were probably all badly injured, some of his comrades were dead, and even past all of that, he was now promoted instead of Urie, the one who should've been promoted. Hell, he wasn't even promoted one rank! He was now above Urie, Mutsuki and Saiko in rank. His head spun again.

"There are worse news?"

Arima nodded, almost sympathetically, but when combined with his stoic demeanour and his unnervingly piercing gaze, it really didn't help. "Unfortunately, yes."

Shirazu nodded in understanding. "How bad are those news?" He suddenly thought about his sister. If it had something to do with her, by God...

Akira interrupted his train of thought once again. "The news are very... Grave, and very life changing. You should prepare yourself. Would you like some tea before hearing them?" She asked, scared of what Shirazu's reaction would be.

Arima's mouth twitched downwards, and he elbowed Akira harshly. Her eyes widened, and she quickly corrected herself. "I mean, would you like some coffee?"

Shriazu's eyes narrowed, wondering what the exchange that just happened was, but he then nodded slowly. "Yes, please. I would get some coffee. "

Arima nodded and went outside of the room to the hospital cafe to get two cups of coffee and a cup of tea, as Akira was left alone in the room with Shirazu.

She was very obviously tense and upset about something - that was apparent. However, when Arima left, he

closed his eyes and sighed.

"Are you alright?" She asked, still sounding terribly upset.

Shirazu nodded slowly. "Not really but..." He sighed. "I'm not sure what to do." Akira bit her lip. After learning the bad news... Well, he probably wouldn't be anywhere near alright. Thankfully, Arima and Akira managed to convince the Washuu family to leave Shirazu in their command, but was that even a good thing for Shirazu? Did he want this?

The duo sat in silence until the door banged open and Arima walked in with the cups, no expression on her face. Shirazu's eyes instantly snapped open, and Akira straightened out, a fake looking smile back on her face.

She took the tea and one of the coffees from Akima, and put the coffee down onto the counter right beside Shirazu. "Do you need any help sitting up?" She asked, glancing down towards the large, gaping wound on his torso, that despite being bandaged and healing especially fast she knew was still large. He nodded. Slowly, but surely, she helped him sit up, beside the coffee, though he was leaning oddly onto the wall, favouring his right side.

She moved towards the seat in front of Shirazu's hospital bed, right beside Arima. She took a sip from her tea, and Arima copied the motion. Shirazu hesitated, but took a sip from his coffee. His eyes lit up, and he took another, larger sip. When he put the coffee cup down, he had a small, quiet smile on his face.

Arima nodded at that action. "Shirazu, did you enjoy the coffee?" He asked, his tone rather stern and not sounding like someone to be disobeyed.

While he looked confused, Shirazu nodded. "Yeah... It was barely bitter. Did you put sugar in it or something?"

At that, Akira let out a small sob, but quickly covered that up with the more professional expression that usually graced her features.

Arima smiled lightly. "Are you hungry?" He asked. "You haven't eaten in a while."

"Is this the setup for a bad dad joke? But I'm not hungry at all, surprisingly enough. Though if you would give me something, I wouldn't mind it."

Arima nodded, and gestured at Akira, who nodded, and went outside for a second. After, she returned with a tray that had some fish, rice, miso soup and tofu. She put it beside him. "Go on, try something." She urged.

Shirazu took the chopsticks, and decided to take a bite of the fish first. After biting in, he winced. Undeterred, he tried every item on the menu, his face twisting up more and more with each bite. Arima looked suspiciously cheerful, while Akira was looking downwards. After he had tried everything, he winced and put his chopsticks down.

"How does it taste?" Asked Arima, his eyes glinting.

Shirazu glared at Arima. "It tastes terrible," he muttered. "The Rice tasted like glue, the texture of the tofu is the same as solidified animal fat, and the miso soup tastes like engine oil. I can't stomach it!"

Arima nodded. "Now, why do you think that is?"

Shirazu grimaced. "Because the person that made this cannot cook?"

Arima shook his head. "No. Guess again."

Shirazu rolled his eyes. "That's the only possible explanation. Or did my tastebuds scramble?"

Arima shrugged. "Warmer."

Shirazu rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Tell me. What happened."

Akira took a deep breath. "Well, as you know, your Kagune was behind a set of Quinque steel frames. During the battle, you..." She paused. "You broke through the frames." She looked back at Arima."Because of that, you had stopped being a Quinx."

Shirazu almost gasped. "D-does that mean..."

Arima nodded solemnly. "You are now a full half-ghoul. I apologize."

The last thing Shirazu heard was blood rushing in his ears before he fainted from the recent shock.