«October Eight 2012»
"That takes care of that," I say, restoring my Quinque back into it's rugged case. "Done for the day right sir?" I look to my superior, who pats me on my head, as if I were a kid. I hate it when he does that. We defend the world from the things that go bump in the night. The least he could do is treat me with some respect.
"Sorry, we got to deal with it's brother," My superior crouches in front of the body. He examines the black bikaku. It has almost a purple sheen to it. He shifts the small body of the child, of the little girl.
Ghoul… It's an animal… Feral
"But… I can't help but feel sorry for them. You know? We call them animals… But even animals deserve some rights," I rub the back of my neck. He looks to me as if we don't have time for this. He sighs and pats me on the shoulder, as if I have much to learn.
But even still...
"Like you said, they are animals. The difference is that they have so few from us. They talk like us, walk like us, they can even act like us. We're nearly identical. However," He pauses, looking at me straight in the eyes. The stare gives me chills. He gives the kind of eyes that someone gives when they have they are about to kill someone. The kind they give us. "They are not us."
It's not fair through
He halts his speech as his cell phone, His eyes widen. My superior has never looked shaken before, even in the toughest situations. And yet, he looks to me with worried eyes. "I'm going to need you to hold." He looks to me, lowering his phone, "They found Marble Rook… Your sister is in critical condition."
What? How Could This Happen
"S-sir… may I be excused." I feel myself tremble. He looks to me and nods. expecting the worst, I rush out towards the ward 16 base of operations.
They are not us
«Present Day»
"You're overdoing it," He says blowing out a puff of cigar smoke into my face. I cough, waving the smoke away. We stop in front of a stairway down to the Ramen shop. We've been searching for this place for a long while. The entire time with him smoking that same cigar and lecturing to me about my faults. I'm not a rank three anymore, and I would have hoped he understand that.
"How so sir?" I say. My eyes water in response to the smog he exhales. Unfortunately, he doesn't understand. It's a battle between us and them and all he can do is battle me about what mistakes I've done.
"You're blunt. You follow where your words take you," He takes a deep inhale. "That's wrong. It's like letting a horse lead the carriage."
"Well, how may I fix that sir?" I say, gritting my teeth. We are supposed to learn from each other, but all he has been doing is lecturing me and telling me my wrongs.
"Sadly, we can't just have close your mouth for the rest of your time here..." My hands ball into fists, but I hold myself back. He talks so nonchalantly about why I'm so useless. I don't want to be useless. We're the offense against them, and I'd prefer if I get treated better than a civilian. "You remember what the recruits would call you in the Academy?"
"Jumper," I say.
"Do you remember why that is?"
"Because I'd always jump the gun," I say begrudgingly.
"Exactly! No one can do a job out of passion alone!" He says. "Your art comes from the heart. Your tact comes from Here" he points at my head. I roll my eyes.
"Sir, with all due respect, would you mind if we were to continue with the case?" I say, slightly aggravated. He frowns in response. "We are looking for the Bake-Hebi, aren't we?" Another killer… I never expected them to hide in a business so open to humans. I think back to what he had said to me two years ago. They are almost like us. Almost... He nods as we start walking down the stairs to the ramen shop under the apartment complex. He extinguishes the cigar, and crushes it under foot.
Paper lanterns hang loosely on twine above the cash register. The floorboards creak under my feet as I look around at the moderately empty shop. The Waitress sits on a stool, leafing through a magazine. It's an empty house... My stomach turns at a certain possibility. The possibility that any business she may have had was eaten. I take a seat in front of the bar-esque counter. The shapely young lady comes in from the stool, tucking the magazine into her apron and giving an inviting smile. "Hello and welcome to Hinagiku Paradise." She takes out a notepad. She eyes the cases. "If you are ghoul investigators, just show your I.D and you can get twenty percent off."
Before I have the chance to speak, my superior cuts in, a hand raised in greeting. "Not at all! We're just some traveling salesmen looking for a bite." He gives a friendly smile. However, with his stocky build, close shaven head and large hulking muscles, it's hard not to look intimidating. I don't know what he's even doing though. I give him a questioning look as he places his case on the floor. He grabs my shoulder and squishes me up to him, "You see, my nephew and I have been selling vacuum cleaners and we haven't been eating anything but onigiri and dried shabu shabu." That's when I get the picture.
"Uncle! Stop it! You're embarrassing me!" I whine, squirming under his force. The hug feels like a two steam rollers slamming into me, but luckily, we are able to amuse her. The girl giggles to herself. We have this situation on lock. "Ugh… M-ma'am? Would you mind giving us combo number four and six?" I give a strained smile as my superior's grip get's tighter.
"Certainly! I'll be back in a short while," She leaves into the back. The place must be solo run. My superior releases me and sits at a seat. I'm pretty sure both my shoulders are bruised from the ploy. I sit next to him and face him.
"Sir, is there a reason we always use that alias?"
"For several actually," He starts. "For one, you are the youngest I've worked with, so you are the only one I could successfully do it with." I roll my eyes. He reaches into his pocket for another cigar. I take it from between his fingers. It's a non smoking zone. He gives me a death glare as I pocket it. I Shake my head as if talking to a dog begging. I welcome the brief power shift.
"Eat up~" She says smiling. She places two bowls in front of us. Beef ramen and Shrimp Udon. I nod my head in thanks and take some chopsticks. My superior puts a hand over mine before I'm able to dig in.
"Also the fact that I consider you my son." I stiffen. I'm shocked to hear so. So shocked in fact I don't even notice him reach for his case. He grabs it and allows it to unfold into a thick, short war axe. The waitress' eyes shift into kagune as long tendrils erupt from her back. I grab my quinque and let it unfold into a jet black broadsword. She swings at me, throwing me back into the tables. I grunt in pain, slowly bringing myself to y feet. I mdeflect a tendril with the flat of the blade and cut it off. I barrel towards her, cutting the tendrils as I advance. My Superior slashes into the air, launching spines of kagune. An unconventional use of an ukaku quinque, but it manages to force it's way through her stomach and arm. She gives a growl as she dodges the blue spikes. She retreats into the kitchen. Before we pursue, I look to my Superior.
"Sir… how could you tell?" He gives me a questioning look. "That she was a ghoul."
"The ramen," He responds. His face stern and body ready to spring into action. "It fizzed wrong…"
"It… Fizzed…Wrong…" I stare at him confused. What the hell could he even be talking about. We're a team. We should exchange this information.
"Let's go!" He says, sprinting into the kitchen. I force the idea out of my head. All that matters is that it's us against them, and we're on higher ground.
I narrowly dodge a pan to the face. She balls her rinkaku around her, using one tendril to throw pans and cutlery at us. I dash towards her, batting her against a wall with the flat side of the blade. She is knocked into the wall as I try to slash through the tendrils. I cut faster and faster, pushing my body as I get past the rinkaku barrier. As the barrier fails, I start to cut into her.
Her body resists at first, but as my blade continues to slash, long deep wounds start to cover her chest and stomach. I keep slashing. Blood starts to spray from her muscle as they split and barely maintain their form under my the edge of the quinque. She gasps and screams, trying to catch her breath from ruptured lungs. Her organs start to slowly leave their casing of tissue and bone as I slash at her legs, cutting them off. She spills onto the ground. I give her thirty seconds to regenerate. She looks up at me with pleading eyes. The same eyes Chiyu must have given to the monster that attacked her. As her shredded flesh starts to regain it's form, I begin again. This time she has the capacity to beg. To scream. To howl like the beast she is.
"JUMPER! Stop!" I freeze mid slice, I look up to him. He is glaring at me. He walks up to the woman. She's crying now, weakly raising a hand for help. He sighs. "It's okay… it's over now…" He says to the girl. He then swings his axe, lodging several needles into her skull. Her eyes widen. Her throat lets out a monstrous wail. Her body starts to convulse as her speech becomes a jumble of random phrases. He ended her. Her body stiffens, then goes limp.
Lucky for us, blood is easier to clean off of kitchen tile.
"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
