Relinquish in the Darkness

A place where all things connect.
The place that broke and saved them.


"Can't I be a researcher instead?"

Luna's hair was tied up into a ponytail and a lab coat was draped over her shoulders. The man beside her sighed, placing a hand on her head in efforts to ease her apparent anger. She couldn't understand why she was placed in this department- it wasn't what she trained for.

"Sorry Luna-chan... they said that we didn't have enough people to help out here, so they assigned you here." His voice was slightly quivering as she saw her shake in anger. "You were the only one who had the qualifications..."

"Okazu, you make it sound like it's your fault."

"But the researching facility that you wanted to be in had around the same numbers as us!" Okazu had to refrain himself from getting to emotional. "I think its because they have a young genius with them."

"...the decisions are final. There's nothing we can do about it. Why not take me around for a tour?"

The green-haired man could only nod at her request, taking her to see the different facilities. Her flushed face was a little distracting; he was concerned for her well-being. Her dreams just got crushed, after all. Okazu didn't know what to do, either than converse with her like he always did.

"Say, Okazu." She had a look of curiosity on her face. "I wonder how ghouls are actually like."

He smiled bitterly at her, though it went unnoticed. There were things that cannot be known, and are better left that way. As they watched the process of the others transforming kagunes in quinqes, Okazu's eyes flashed red for a second.

"I wonder."


The labs were filled with corpses, freshly collected from the battlefield. Miharu dumped the last of the bodies on the ground, wiping a ragged cloth on her clothes to get rid of the blood. Luckily, the material she uses is easily cleaned. But that wasn't main point here.

"Well, well. We have someone interesting here, right Miharu?" Kano chuckled, pointing to Amon and Takizawa, who were side-by-side. "What do you say? Will they remain the way like you did?"

"Shut up, old geezer." Her brown eyes showed him no mercy. It was similar to the time where she had to kill Irina. "I'm out of here."

"Going back already?"

"What else?"

"2nd-ranked commander of the Kyoto Prefecture. How ironic."

The girl stared at the two dying men before turning away. Eto was waiting for her at the doorway, along with Tatara. Ayato was still somewhere else in the facility.

"Miha~ Good job!" Eto hummed as she clung onto Miharu's arm. "We are going to get Ayato, then return to the headquarters for a meeting. Then, you're needed back at Kyoto. So it'll be awhile till we meet again!"

"I do remember you requiring to do a book signing at Kyoto."

"Awww, you spoiled the fun."


Orion was busy with gathering the members of their prefecture and making sure he brought the efficient ones over. In no way would he bring someone untrained to that place, even though now could be considered a "safe period" with the massacre of several investigators, quite a few Rank 1 ones were taken down. But there was another issue bugging him as well.

Their base was the place which kept both ghoul and human prisoners. Sure, they could be brought out with someone with power, but a certain somebody certainly wasn't too high up to bring her out into another prefecture. But that man wasn't simply taking no as an answer.

It was crazy enough that he brought an imprisoned CCG personal to a war. And now he wants her to be by his side almost every second of his life. Orion only personally knew Tatsuge for 3 years, so it was not his right to judge his unnatural attachment, but it was common sense to know that ghouls and humans just cannot be together.

"This is absurd. I'm responsible for her, and I can't take her out. What, I haven't proved enough?! She didn't attempt to kill any of us, and even kept the doves away. This bullshit-"

A wall was harshly broken with the force of his punch, cracking the bones in his knuckles. Luna...Luna...why was she so important to him now? He could never understand the feelings raging up in him like a storm.

"Tatsuge-san. I know you're angry you can't bring me along but...why are you so angry?" Luna asked.

"Luna..." His voice was slightly cracked. "Say the name first human man that comes to mind."

"What are you planning? You aren't going to kill the person right?"

"No...just hearing a new name will ease my anger..."

"Um." She gulped nervously. He was weird, to have his anger to soothed like that. But she understood that he would be happy to learn more about her. "...Okazu..."

Kokonoe's ears perked up at the name. At the same time, Miharu seemed to have remembered the name, putting her hands together as if she came up with an idea.

"He had green hair and eyes like Kokonoe..." She mumbled to herself. "But one day, he was out with the investigators and he...never came back."

"Okazu...? Wasn't he a ghoul?" Orion had hopped into the conversation, not understanding the insecurity in the atmosphere. "Right, Kokonoe? Okazu was your-"

"Nii-san." An unexpectedly cold voice rang in the air. "Nii-san, he got killed by doves."

"Even when he helped them. Just because we're like that, no one trusts us. Killed by them, doves. That person, that person who killed him. I. Must. Find-"

"Plastic-kun~" Miharu had returned from her meeting with Eto and the others. Her perky attitude destroyed Kokonoe's moment of relapse, shocking him slightly as she jumped on him.

"Ka-Kaichou..." He looked down to see the glinting sword by her side. As much as he didn't like quinqes, Cocoa was in a way still alive, so he didn't mind her having it. The blue shine from it seemed to comfort him.

"We're heading to Kyoto soon. Tatsuge, if you wish to bring Luna along... how about you talk to Eto?"

"Akuryou*, are you serious?! I can't-"

"What~?" She started pushing him out of the door along with Luna. "Leader's orders. Don't come back to us until you've done it."

"AKURYOU-!" And it ended with a kick that sent him outside. Luna could only nod at Miharu for what seemed like her concern before leaving the room.

"..." Kokonoe stared at the closed door in silence. It was a while since he got into a state like that.

"Be careful, Plastic-kun. You were about to kill her."

"I-I'm sorry, Kaichou. But, I have a question for you... why do you use quinqes all the time?"

"Because her kagune is troublesome." Yano quickly answered, seeing to reason for Miharu herself to answer- she looked like she was going to say something to confuse the distraught boy. But the truth is that even he himself never saw her kagune- the very best he saw was her kakugan.

"Hah... either way, we've all ended up in Aogiri Tree." Orion cringed as if he hated this place. "A place like this..."

"Hehe, we're forsaken alright." Miharu giggled as if it were all a joke. It was kind of true though- she'd be dead if she didn't accept to be here.

There are things which cannot be obtained. Forbidden love, utopia, friendships, peaceful lives... things that people wish for deeply. But sometimes, the place that destroys these wishes form more attainable goals.

"Yeah..." Kokonoe's eyes lingered at his leader's mysterious form, hoping that she would be the light at the end of his dark tunnel.


Authors Notes: *Akuryou stands for Evil Spirit in Japanese.

Let the flashbacks flow. Following chapters will obviously be more about my OCs (mainly Tatsuge, Luna & Kokonoe), so sorry if you wanted to skip the re: timeline right after the battle. May be able to update more frequently now.

Thank you for reading!

R&R extremely APPRECIATED!