Phantom Ghoul

He felt a heavy energy around him, thick, depressing energy that always made his smile fade immediately. Juuzou glanced around, a short eyebrow raised, as he listened to a continuous high pitched whistle which never seemed to be far from him. Out of the corner of his eye he barely caught a glimpse of a lanky figure, with a red face, lingering on the other side of the street. When he turned to face it fully, it was gone, however the whistling still lingered moments after the figure was gone.

He turned and continued on his way to work, a deep frown on his lips. The whistling had been going on for nearly a week then, he would hear it several times a day at random intervals. The whistling followed him everywhere, be it home, work, a restaurant, it was always there lingering around him along with a dark figure which he would always glimpse out of the corner of his eye. It had to be a ghoul, right?

Shinohara had paled quite a bit as Juuzou finished telling him of his whistling stalker. The older investigator sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Not, good…" He breathed, Juuzou cocked his head to one side curiously as he waited for his mentor to explain. "You're being stalked by the Phantom Ghoul."

"Eh? Phantom Ghoul?" Juuzou repeated. Shinohara nodded.

"A triple S-ranked ghoul. One that wear's a red mask with a yellow fanged grin that leads all the way up to its eyes." Shinohara leaned back in his chair as he continued. "There's not much of a physical description other than that. I mean, no one's ever really gotten a good look at it. We don't even know if it's a male or female. Anyway, the Phantom is well known for stalking its victims to extremes. Since it stalks its victim until they're near a mental breaking point it lingers around individuals for different amounts of time. Usually it doesn't attack until the victim is considerably anxious, to the point that others might think them to be insane. What's more is that the ghoul seems to wait for its victim to have one final encounter with another person, in order to make it known to others that the victim is disturbed… Then it strikes." Juuzou crossed his arms.

"That's an awful lot of trouble to go through for a meal…"

"It's unclear if the ghoul eats its victims or not." Shinohara added causing Juuzou to lean forward in interest. "The Phantom… Skins its victims, and that's all that's ever left for us to find. It's unclear if the Phantom skins it's victims pre, or, post-mortem, but it's likely the former." He scratched his chin. "All the crime scenes are relatively clean, not much blood, no finger prints, hair, or skin follicles. What's more, the Phantom always pins the remaining skin of its victim to a wall, in a similar way to how scientists pin dead frogs to trays for dissection. It's quite disturbing."

"And I've become this Phantom Ghouls new target?" Juuzou questioned.

"You had no prior knowledge of this ghoul, and everything you've told me matches exactly what victims had reported experiencing before it struck… It's likely."

"How cool!" Juuzou grinned excitedly, causing Shinohara to frown.

"I wish you wouldn't say things like that."

"Why not? I might get a new quinque!" He cheered.

"Didn't you hear me?! It's a triple S-rank! You have to be cautious!"

Juuzou wasn't listening then, no he was too excited about the possibility of getting another quinque. But then he wondered, would there be another quinque as cool as his Jason?

The icy air of winter licked at her face as she went on, but even as her face began to feel numb she continued to drag her feet at slow pace. Her back hunched forward only in the slightest, her hands pulled up to her chest, making her appear small despite her height.

People gave her strange looks as she shuffled on, no doubt wondering how a singular person could look so depressed. The crowd seemed to part and drift around her as water would when its flow was interrupted by a rock, but it was fine. Rokuko Hinata was used to being avoided by the majority of people who saw her. It was understandable considering the heavy, damp, vibe she gave off, oozing depression from her very being.

Her appearance didn't help much with the atmosphere she gave off, in fact it only intensified the sensation of sadness. Her jacket was a blue so dark that it was nearly black, the only way to tell that it wasn't so was by the pitch black, knee length, frill-ridden, skirt she wore just under it. Her leggings were the same type of blue as her jacket, littered with a spider web design, as were her gloves. Her shoulder length, dark, untidy, curl ridden hair sported a large spider burette. The darkness of her hair only making the paleness of her skin more apparent, along with the light green of her eyes.

She would've been beautiful had she not carried around such a weight of depression that it was visible to everyone who passed her.

The all too cheery dinging of a bell rang in her ears as she entered into Anteiku coffee shop. She was greeted immediately by the staff before she approached the counter, her pale eyes downcast as usual.

"Coffee?" Kuma questioned and Rokuko nodded quietly.

"Kuko-Oneechan!" Hinami bounded up to her excitedly. Rokuko hardly had anytime to stand from her chair before Hinami wrapped her arms around her waist. "I missed you! It's been so long!" She exclaimed, Rokuko petted the child's hair.

"…Yeah… It's been months hasn't it?" She agreed in a low, sluggish, tone, a small smile on her lips. "… Are you going somewhere?" She questioned when she noticed Hinami was dressed oddly, as she was wearing clothes that looked a bit too big for her.

"Mm-hm!" She jumped back, beaming up to Rokuko. "A book signing by my favorite author! I borrowed some of Touka's clothes, do you think she'll mind?" Rokuko blinked.

"…You… You borrowed clothes from Touka?" She questioned. That was odd… Since when did Hinami hang around Touka? In fact, since when did Hinami come to Anteiku without her mother? Rokuko's eyes darkened. Something must have happened to Ryoko while she was away.

"… I don't think Touka would mind at all…" Rokuko responded honestly, "… W-well she never minded when I would borrow clothes from her…"

After Hinami left, Rokuko took her seat again, sipping on her coffee quietly. Kuma asked her to follow him to the back room… She declined his invitation. He was only going to tell her what happened to Hinami's parents, but that wasn't necessary because she already figured it out. The Doves got to them.

It was such a shame. Ryoko was never one to be a bother to anyone, be it ghoul or human. She was one of the very few of their kind whom had gone her entire life without killing, then again that's probably what got her murdered in the first place. The inability to kill was a weakness which ghouls couldn't afford.

After asking Kuma to let the manager know that she'd returned, she left, feeling a little bit heavier than she had when she'd entered the shop. But it wasn't like that feeling would stop her from doing her job.

As Rokuko left the coffee shop she bumped the shoulder of a young man, who was a head shorter than she, sporting white hair and red stitches. Her expression never morphed from despair as she looked on her newest prey, who stared owlishly up at her for a long moment.

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" He exclaimed as a grin took to his face a bit too quickly for it to be normal. "I didn't even see you coming! Weird since you're basically a pole!"

"…I…It's fine…" She spoke slowly as she always did. "… B… Bye…" She moved around him, trudging on slowly as he watched her go.

Second class investigator, Juuzou Suzuya, age nineteen… She'd done research on him, knowing that he was a much more dangerous target than the others. Rokuko's eyes watered a bit as she thought of how he would be her next victim. She nearly began to sob when thinking of the horrible way that he would meet his end. How truly awful. But there was no time to feel sorry for him, not when there was yet another victim she had to tend to.

Juuzou stood straight as a post as he continued to watch the strange girl with a vibe so thick it made him never want to smile or laugh ever again. He'd felt a similar energy like that before… But only when the whistling sounded.