Mado Akira wasn't a fan of being made a fool of.

And Nagachika wasn't fooling anyone.

The junior investigator had disappeared from the CCG offices more often than usual lately. Although it wasn't unusual for him to vanish during the busy hours- she wasn't fooled by the nervous anticipation on his face- trying to hide it as he might be.

So it was with due caution that she dropped off her work early to tail the young investigator to see what he was up to- she knew of his not-so-secret obsession with the Centipede case.

Today he clutched a small package to his chest.

She made a point to grab a few investigators for 'coffee' with quinqes in hand (for all safety related reasons, of course).

Nagachika was smart to weave his way through crowded Tokyo streets on his bike, hat low and unassuming. It was a miracle they could keep an eye on him at all. That miracle panned out in the Roppongi district. The blonde had vanished from her line of view.

"God-damned..." She grumbled. It wasn't exactly a case related point to continue following him, but the looks they were receiving were anything but friendly. This was a heavily Ghoul populated area- not the ideal place for three heavily-armed ornery looking investigators to find themselves. They were alone and barely armed.

Akira snarled quietly. Nagachika almost certainly had no reason, not any feasible goal in sulking around Roppongi ghettos- with its notorious ghoul infested slums. Not unless he had something to keep quiet.

And she wouldn't blame him to keep his contacts to himself. Nagachika had already worked miracles with his Aogiri information and nipping what she had with him wouldn't be smart. The incident at Cochlea had surprised and alarmed him so it was safe to assume this 'contact' of his wasn't as deep as she thought. She pursed her lips.

Without much time to dwell on it, however, her face dropped to a scowl when six or seven masked- presumably ghouls- surrounded them. Not Aogiri.

"Don't flinch, Kisagawa." She hissed under her breath to the shaking investigator to her right. He swallowed and clutched his weapon tighter. She ignored him. Where was Nagachika?

The ringleader stepped forward, albeit warily.

"You've got some business, sticking your nose into our territory, Dove." The leer was evident even behind the garish mask. What were they supposed to be, insects?

She sneered at him. Her? It wasn't an issue. What warranted her full attention was Nagachika.

The idiot was staring at the lot of them from a few meters away behind a bridge post- a clutch of packages held to his chest. He looked...pissed. Like Mado following him was some sort of personal blow, and he wasn't going let this go easily.

But more than that, he couldn't seem to hide the panic on his face. Mado wasn't sure if it was the ghouls or her- but something about them being here scared him shitless.

His leads? She didn't think he'd lose his shit over something like that unless he was dealing with some seriously nasty people. Or ghouls. Did them being here put him in danger?

But she couldn't put him to further thought for now. The ghouls fell upon them and she dealt with them until they fled.

Nagachika was gone.

-

Hide was probably going to start panicking in the next twelve minutes. He had a ravenous ghoul to feed and had apparently piqued the interest of the least desirable investigator to the point that she had tailed him. All the way to Roppongi.

It didn't sit well with him and he was glad he had set those friends of Kaneki's on them when he did. He hoped they would set them off if not hurt them enough to dissuade them.

Or he could sic the entire CCG on him and what was left of his best friend.

Hide pushed to door open to his apartment. It was pricey to keep up- but Banjou and his friends did what they could.

For Kaneki's sake.

The apartment was quiet and dark, and abnormally warm for April. The furniture was sparse but they served their purposes. Hide sometimes thought of it like an insect terrarium. He didn't like that thought.

Kaneki himself was lost to his Kagune and Kakuja instincts- all reason lost but to the basest level. If their bond wasn't as strong as it was he would have been torn to pieces already and eaten. The only other person this Kaneki would stand to touch him was Hinami but she couldn't visit as often as she would like. Yomo was positive she was still in danger of being devoured.

"Kaneki...?"

The call was soft and the tone like one used on injured animals. Loud noises that could startle him aren't really in his best interest.

There was a muffled keening and clicking from the other room, so Hide made his way to their shared bedroom. On crazy nights Hide would pioneer the couch. Almost as comfortable as being wrapped in bristly kagune that tore his pajamas and scratched his skin. Kaneki made a point of looking him over in the mornings like some sort of mother. It was...cute, in freakish way.

Feeding was another interesting point. Kaneki thought it was necessary to see to it that Hide was also fed- some sort of instinct- so more often than not he ended up with choice bits of flesh shoved at him. Saying, 'no, thank you.' was also not an acceptable answer. Hide would have to untangle himself from spiny kagune that shivered and made a terrible creaking that freaked him out to no end- (animal planet insect week, anyone?) and try to avoid having it shoved into his mouth.

Predictably, Kaneki was wrapped up in his Kagune again in the corner. Banjou had apparently dropped by, if the telltale smell of cadavers were as obvious as the head Kaneki was gnawing on. Hide winced when one of its eyes fell out with a wet plop.

Kaneki looked up from his toy and spied the package in Hide's hands, and made for him in an instant. He latched onto Hide by way of his regular kagune and tore into it.

Hide whipped his hand out of the way before Kaneki could take a bite out of them, and surveyed the room- interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. He tried to avoid Kaneki's snarling at it, and answered.

"Hello?"

"Nagachika."

Fuck. No, she wasn't going to to do this now.

"Mado-san." He managed, Kaneki curling tighter at his apparent stress. "I wasn't expecting a call from you."