Tokyo Ghoul: The Other Story
Chapter 10: Tension
The front of the college entrance came into Hinami's and Hide's sight but just then Hide stopped and pulled Hinami back by the shoulder, he seemed to be staring at something at his far left and Hinami turned to face his direction and suddenly understood.
"That's not a CCG van is it?" Hinami asked but Hide could only nod, it seemed that they weren't the only two staring at the van, other residence of the town shared glances at the unusual van parked outside the college and where talking in shushed voices and whispers.
"It looks like Hinami was right to leave while she could" A familiar female voice spoke behind them and they turned to see a very pissed off but concerned Touka who was staring at the van with hatred and anxiety betrayed in her eyes.
"Onee-chan!" Hinami gasped as she strolled closer to the older ghoul "What's going on? Are the CCG in the college? What about Onii-chan?" Touka put a gentle hand on her shoulder and stared into her eyes as she spoke,
"Look don't worry about Kaneki at this moment" She said harshly but her eyes said she was just as concerned as Hinami and Hide "But first we need to get out of here, you to Hide" She nodded at the human who was standing there not sure what to do with himself. His best friend was now in a building full of investigators yet he didn't know what he could do about it. But he knew Touka was right, Hide used to volunteer at the CCG and there was the possibility of him being recognised and be questioned so he had no choice but to reluctantly follow the two ghoul woman to god knows where.
Xxx
As soon as Akira Mado introduced herself she ordered everyone in Sasaki's class, including the four rank three investigators to stand in the line at the front of the class, there were some protests from other students who looked nervously at the machine one of the men was holding. It actually took both Sasaki and Honda to calm everyone down and make them do as the strange woman said with the promise that no harm should come to them and if there were any two teachers the students could trust it was these two.
Once everyone was stood in neat line starting at the door to the other end of the wall did Mado explain herself, which Sasaki wished she could off done so earlier?
"Now that I have your attention" The woman said clasping her hands together "let me explain that we are from the CCG and have come all the way from Tokyo to be here"
"The CCG?" One of the boys in Sasaki's class explained "Don't they deal with ghouls?"
"Ghouls?" a girl gasped in fear "In this town?"
Before it could turn into a full on panic conversation Mado clapped her hands loudly graining everyone's attention back onto her, Kaneki couldn't help but be impressed by the control she had over the students as he stood beside Honda behind his desk watching the scene. He couldn't help but notice that the only ones that didn't look fearful or surprised were Urie, Mutsuki, Saiko and Shirazu who stood at the end of the line by the wall.
"Yes as it was pointed out" The blond woman said "The CCG do work with eliminating ghouls who mostly lurk around Tokyo's streets, but I don't want anyone to fear" Mado gestured her hand towards the metal device the man was holding, Kaneki couldn't see what it was due to the man with his back towards him but it seemed rectangle shaped and made of metal with a small computer screen at the front with buttons on the side. The device wasn't too big but it needed two hands for it to be carried safely.
"This device here" Mado explained "its full name is Red Child Cells Detector 1.1 but we just call the RCCD1, now does anyone in this class know what Red Child Cells are or they are most commonly known as RC cells?" To be honest Kaneki would be surprised if anyone in his class knew the answer to Mado's question, all anyone knew in this town about ghouls was the fact they ate people and because of that they wouldn't even know how to identify a ghoul or that ghouls can blend into society effortlessly instead of being flesh eating monsters that hide in the shadows.
So when no one raised their voice, not even the four new students (probably not wanting make themselves look like experts) Mado turned her head towards the two teachers standing at the back, she pointed towards Kaneki,
"You there" She said "You're Haise Sasaki right, the sensei in this class?"
"Yes ma" Kaneki said with confidence in his voice and gave the woman a slight bow of respect, he just hoped that this woman couldn't hear his heart pounding with anxiety.
"So you're a man of knowledge?" The woman commented with an approved smile "Can you explain to your class the meaning of RC cells?"
Kaneki had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep himself in check, why did he have the feeling that this woman was making fun of him? Or testing him even? Was she trying to make him look a fool in front of his class, but why? Or did she suspect that he was Ken Kaneki too? Did she want to see how he would react to the question? Like if he knew too much about RC cells it might make him more of a suspect? Yet it would be strange if he didn't since Haise Sasaki like Ken Kaneki grew up in the city were ghouls where more known.
He just had to explain in the most limited way he could and just hoped that his voice wouldn't waver on him,
"RC cells" Kaneki began loud and clearly, putting up his teacher mode "are small cells than run though the body like blood, both ghouls and humans have these" Kaneki explained feeling proud of himself that he managed to keep his voice calm and collected, it seemed that talking and teaching calmed his nerves.
"Very good" Mado nodded "but can you explain what separates a ghouls RC cells to a humans?" Now Kaneki was sure that this woman was playing with him, she was treating him like he was students and not a professor with his own classroom but any sly comments he wanted to make he bit them back, he needed to set an example for his students after all besides if she was an investigator he was sure he could get his own back in time…
"I'm not an expert like you Mado-san" Kaneki said "But what I do know is that a ghoul's RC level is roughly ten times higher than a humans, for example humans have an RC Level of about 200 to 500, while a ghoul has an RC level of about 1000 to 8000" Kaneki hoped that he hadn't said too much but it was worth it seeing the impressed looks on his students faces. Mado then asked another question,
"And do you how ghouls get such a high RC level and why they need it?" She raised an eyebrow daring Kaneki to explain the answer but he won't, he had already said too much that an ordinary person would know already but he did know the answer very well.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you Mado-san" Kaneki said he felt his hand go up to chin "but like I said before I'm no expert, but I suppose all these questions have something to do with the device one of your men is holding?".
Mado nodded though Kaneki noticed the look of disappointment in her face "You are correct" She said then she turned back towards the class and answered her last question "Ghouls get such a high RC level because they get it by eating us humans, the cells are then stored in what's called a kakuhou and then when the ghoul needs it the cells become hard and the kagune is released from a kakuhou that is used a weapon" Mado paused and gestured back to the machine "This device here can measure a person's RC level and tell us roughly how many RC cells that person has, it is very similar to the RC Scan Gate we have in the CCG building in Tokyo instead this is more informative as it can know how many RC cells that person might have and it can be carried around".
The same boy who shouted out before raised his hand and Mado nodded in his direction, "But miss, if ghouls are so dangerous shouldn't you have more RC scan gates around Tokyo"
"If only that were so it would making finding ghouls much easier" Mado sighed "But these things cost funds that the CCG doesn't have at this point in time, but these however" Mado gestured to the machine again "are a lot more effective since they are portable and informative which makes them more useful they are also cheaper due to their size, I bet you in the next three years these will be used in public places such as train stations and airports and maybe one day it can be attached to shop walls and schools to warn ghouls off"
The students couldn't help but be impressed by the CCG cleverness but Kaneki only felt fear and despair at the cursed device. If this device was the same as the RC gate he passed through four years then it wouldn't affect him but what about Hinami or Touka or the rest of his ghoul friends. If the CCG found the funds and it was made the law to have these devices around public buildings including café RE then Touka would lose the business she had worked so hard on to re-build and what about Hinami? Was her education for nothing if she couldn't go into a public building to work?
The other things that worried Kaneki was the scene on the device that probably showed the RC level, even if it wouldn't react to him surely his high number of his RC levels would raise some suspicion? Looks like he wasn't out the cross-fire after all and he found himself desperately wanting to run out of the classroom.
"Now" Mado explained "I'm going to turn the RCCD1 on and want one person at the time to look though this little window by the screen" Kaneki couldn't see the glass object due to the investigators having his back to him, but then a though occurred to him.
What was the point in this?
He thought, he knew very well that none of the students were ghouls but then he suddenly remembered how they didn't mention that Karao Saeki might be a ghoul in the newspaper a few days ago, he risked a question since they could discover who he could be in matter of minutes he found no harm in it.
"Before you do that Mado-san" He said interrupted as Mado turned to him hiding her annoyance "for the safety of my students I must know if there are ghouls in our town?" the students stared at their sensei suddenly understanding what he had meant.
"Yeah" The girl said nodding "why else would the CCG be here if they don't suspect ghoul activity?" Now the whole class had a look of panic on their faces and Kaneki swore that he had just seen Mado's face go a shade whiter, this was not a question she wanted to be asked that was why she had been going on about RC cells. The only people who didn't react were unsurprisingly his new students.
This was what Kaneki had wanted however, now that Mado had to calm down the class and explain herself he could now reach into his pocket and send a quick message to Hinami telling her not to go back to the college. There was no point asking Touka or Hide for help because there was nothing that was going to stop Mado reading his RC level no matter the distractions or how much time he brought.
He began to wonder what Mado would do once she saw Haise Sasaki's high RC level on the screen, they didn't appear to be carrying Quinque cases he was sure he could leg it but what would his students think of him? Everyone's favourite teacher was a ghoul and a SS ranked at that. Would their outlooks on ghouls change or would it change the way they saw their teacher? What about Honda-san?
It seemed that Mado's and Honda's control of the class was now gone and students were chatting fearfully and excitedly to themselves even Mutsuki, Urie, Shirazu and Saiko where talking between themselves. He cleared his voice and straightened his back and breathed, if today was going to be his last day as teacher he might as well make the most out of it.
"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" suddenly the whole class went silent even the four ranks three investigators, Mado and the two men spun to face the fuming sensei including his Honda who had her hand on her heart like she was close to a heart-attack.
"Mado-san and her two companions are guests at this college!" Kaneki shouted staring at each member of his class in turn, each of them going paler than the next. It wasn't often that their sensei shouted but when he did it left the whole atmosphere in the room tense and silent. "You are meant to show respect to our guests, not only is you're behaviour embarrassing to me but you're giving bad name to the college and to yourselves!"
Next he turned to Mado who still looked the little stunned "My apologies Mado-san" Kaneki bowed at the woman for the second time that day "I didn't expect my question to create such a fuss practically between the members of my class" his hand went to his chin again "Please answer the question and there will be no interruptions"
"Thank you" The woman nodded "And no, there are no ghouls in the area that we know of this is just a precaution to ensure that the ghouls don't expand their territory, is that an answer Sasaki-sensei" Kaneki just nodded, he was expecting an answer like that since they wouldn't want the whole town in panic but at least make them aware of ghouls existence.
Akira Mado went over to the first person in the line, the boy who kept shouting out. He was ordered to look inside the glass box, suddenly the device gave a small delightful ping noise and a flash of green which must off meant he was a human. The same pattern happened to each of his students, they even did the same to Urie then Shirazu, Mutsuki then Saiko each time the device responded Akira ticked something off on a sheet of paper she had folded in her pocket. Kaneki could only guess that it was a list of names of his students.
Once they came to the end on the line Akira turned towards the two teachers, Kaneki knew what was coming.
He swore Akira liked teasing him because she went to Honda first and the old lady didn't need to be told to look though the piece of glass on the machine. A thin red line of a scanner appeared on the screen examining Honda-sans eyes then like the others a small light flashed green and a soft ping from the machine and Kaneki read the number 340 on the screen next to it and Mado tricked something off.
Then the woman turned to smile at Kaneki.
Kaneki wondered how the machine would react to him it would probably flash a bright red and make a warning air-raid noise with a large four digit number on the screen. He kept his breathing steady and his face as neutral as possible as Mado came to stand in front of him like commander would do to his underlings. Kaneki knew there was use escaping it and already had a quick plan in his head when he needed to escape.
"Now Sasaki-sensei" She said with a smile still on her face "If you could please look into the glass…"
Xxx
Touka, Hinami and Hide had speed-walked through the streets of people for the past five minutes wanting to put much distance between the college and them as possible. Touka had then turned a corner down a dark alley way behind the houses and corner shops. The trio caught their breaths back as the strong rotting smell coming from the bins filled the two ghoul's noses, even Hide wondered why Touka would take them to such a foul smelling place.
"Ok Touka explain" Hide said as demanding as he dared when addressing the scary looking ghoul but Touka didn't seem bothered by his tone, she brushed herself off and addressed Hinami and the lone human with fear and determination in her eyes.
"It will take a while and we don't have all day, I don't even understand some of it either" Touka said breathlessly "First of all I don't want you to worry about Kaneki, the CCG are only there to scan the students to see if any them are ghouls, Kaneki has been though a scanner before for some reason they don't work on one-eyed ghouls"
Hinami looked revealed at the information but Hide couldn't help but feel uneasy, he had heard of that incident from Kaneki before when he and Touka where giving false information to the CCG and some crazy looking investigator pulled Ken though a RC gate and it didn't react to him. But that was four years ago, technology had improved since then and he was sure that the CCG had. But he couldn't say anything, not in front of Hinami and he was sure that Touka wanted it that way too.
"The person we need to be more concerned about is Nishiki Nishio" She said by Hinami asked the question before Hides words could come out,
"But that doesn't make sense" Hinami said "You told us that Nishio-san left Tokyo around the same time we did, I mean we haven't had any contact with Nishio-san for three years now".
"You guys haven't" Touka said shaking her head, Hide stared at Touka until realisation hit him,
"Touka" He began slowly "You have been keeping contact with Nishio-sempai" It wasn't a question, Hide was sure of it. Touka sighed again she couldn't look at the pair and her one unhidden eye found the ground quite interesting.
"He didn't want me saying anything because he didn't want you guys to worry about him or get in his way"
"Touka what's happened to Nishio the past three years and where is he now" Hide said calmly as he put an gentle hand on her arm but still Touka couldn't look at him, she spoke in words softly and Hide had to strain his ears to hear her.
"He's been torturing fellow ghouls and humans across Tokyo and the rest of Japan for information…" Hides felt his heart stop for a second because of those words, Nishio? Torture? Why would he do something like that? Yeah maybe Nishio and tried to kill him and Kaneki in the past but Nishio had saved them more times than not. So what had happened to him?
"Information on what?" Hinami asked shakily, wondering where this was going.
"Torso, or you two might know him as Karao Saeki" Touka said then suddenly Hinami's phone went off, the younger girl pulled her phone from her pocket and checked the message.
"Who was it?" Touka asked,
"It's from onii-chan" Hinami said silently "Warning me not to go back to the college…"
Xxx
275 was the number that showed up on the screen and a soft pinging noise and a bright green light filled Kaneki's senses.
275?
Kaneki pulled himself away from the machine blinking a few times, it felt like the whole room had gone silent but that wasn't right because it had been silent since Mado ordered the first boy in line to look into the machine.
Kaneki's grey eyes drifted around the room, none of his students or Honda-san seemed surprised by the devices reaction. He eyes however couldn't help but glance other at his new four students each having their own expression. To Kaneki's surprise Mutsuki looked relieved and was smiling at Sasaki almost proudly, Shirazu just had a satisfied look on his face while Saiko couldn't help but smile. The only one out of the four that seemed to have a negative reaction was Urie, he was doing his best to keep his expression neutral but Kaneki couldn't help but notice the burning fire in his dark eyes and his mouth twisting at the corners. Kaneki pretended not to notice but instead to look at Mado who looked generally surprised, Kaneki could tell that the woman looked disappointed at the result and if Kaneki didn't have any self-control he would off laughed in her face.
Mado then ticked the name 'Haise Sasaki' of on her paper and turn away the teacher, "Ok" She said turning to the man besides her "You can turn that off now" then she turned away and thanked the class for their co-operation so it was only Kaneki that noticed that while the machine was shutting down the numbers on the screen 275 quickly changed to have the number 3 on the end so the numbers were 2753 doubled to 5506.
Maybe it was just how the device reacted when it was turning off? Or maybe the device got confused because it had never scanned a half-ghoul before? Well whatever the reason he was just grateful that Mado didn't stare at the scene any longer than she had.
Xxx
Touka took and quick look at her watch and turned back to the other two "Look we haven't got much time explain I have to get back to the college, Hide make sure that Hinami gets home safely".
"No wait!" Hinami cried out as she held out the folder towards Touka "look this is the folder I took the four students in onii-chans class, they work for the CCG and this is the folder of information they had involving the auction that is to happen this Friday". She paused looking into her onee-chans eyes with a fierce expression that Hide even had trouble looking at the younger ghoul.
"Please onee-chan I know you think I need protecting" Hinami continued "But I got this information all by myself and onii-chan has been giving me plenty of training over the last three years, please whatever is going on let me help".
Touka's eyes looked down at the ground, she seemed to be considering Hinami's words but was reluctant to do so and Hide couldn't blame her but he had been living with Hinami for almost four years now and he knew there was no point arguing with her once she had that look in her eyes. She would follow Touka whatever anyone said, and Hide was the same.
"Look Touka" Hide said gentle "You know we can't just go home and sit and do nothing while you might be in danger and besides even if you refused our help we would just follow you anyway, you might as make us aware of the situation so me and Hinami-chan are safer"
Touka couldn't argue with Hide's logic but she said in sad tone "You're right Hide, I took you here so you had a chance to hide but it seems that I've been away too much not to see that both you and Hinami have grown up" She paused and managed to look at the two "Stay close to me, Hinami I want you text Kaneki telling him to meet us around the back of the college and put that folder in your bag we will need it later…".
Xxx
After Akira Mado and her two companions left Kaneki had sent everyone home. It was now ten past twelve and he just hoped that his four new students won't go home straight away or that Hinami was already back at the house with a lot to tell him.
After lunch he had one more session with some science students and History students (he only taught them basic writing skills since he liked doing the extra work and money) then he could go home but if he had be honest with himself he couldn't be assed. He had just barely escaped the CCG from discovering him and he wasn't sure if he wanted to jump and down in happiness or go to bed.
He decided that he should text Hinami to ask if she was back home yet but his just then his phone buzzed in his pocket as soon as he took it out of his pocket. He saw that the message was Hinami, he opened it up and it read,
Onii-chan, don't worry I'm fine and with Onee-chan and Hide. Touka doesn't have credit on her phone so she wants me to ask you if you could met us around the back of the college if possible, Nishio-san is in town we don't know where but something is wrong with him please come.
Hina.
Kaneki sighed, this week just gets more and more eventful by the hour. He picked himself up from his chair, pulled on his jacket and locked up his class room wondering what Nishio had gotten himself into this time.
Xxx
It only took Kaneki as little as two minutes to escape from the college, along the way he noticed more white coat investigators coming out of classrooms and going down the halls caring a RCCD1's in their arms. So Sasaki's class wasn't the only one being investigated today? He wondered if they would come again tomorrow…
Right now Ken Kaneki was sitting on one of bins at the back of college where the only people who came there where bin-men and cleaning staff. But since it was the middle of the day all was silent and the only thing he could hear was the chatter of students and staff in the building and the smell of garbage filling his noise.
When Ken first became a ghoul all those years he didn't have the nose of ghoul, the only time he could smell probably was when he was hungry and the only thing that filled his senses was flesh and blood. But since Hinami had been giving him lessons his senses had improved greatly so despite the horrid smell of decaying waste food he sense caught up that another ghoul was present.
At first he thought it was Hinami or Touka but then he closed his eyes and concentrated on both his nose and ears, ignoring the chitter-chatter and stench of the humans inside the building and concentrated on the ghoul scent he caught before. And to his dismay he just knew that it's wasn't Touka or Hinami coming towards him.
The half-ghoul could smell cheap men's aftershave that seemed to be used to cover up the sent the dried blood on this ghouls clothing's but this ghoul hadn't done a good job masking it. Or maybe Kaneki just had a really good teacher? The footsteps of the ghoul seemed to also confirm that they belong to a male ghoul in contrast to lighter footsteps of females and this ghoul seemed to be creeping up from him from the roof of the college building…
Xxx
"So Touka-chan, why are we going back to the college?" Hide asked running as he struggled to keep up with the fast Ukaku-ghoul even Hinami seemed to be having trouble.
"Because that's the most likely place were Nishio-san is" Touka answered,
"What he's not after onii-chan is he?" Hinami asked suddenly "If he want's information about Torso then he doesn't know anything".
"Your right" Touka nodded "But Kaneki does have information on the person who has made contact with Torso recently".
"What you don't mean Mutsuki?" Hide said astonished that Nishio would know such a thing, the name of the victim wasn't made to the public. The only people who knew were himself was Kaneki, Hinami, Touka, Chie, the CCG investigators and possibly Shuu Tsukiyama so how would Nishio know unless…
"Touka-chan" Hide began as a chill went up his hot back "You don't think someone in our number is giving out information do you?"
"Well I didn't tell Nishio about the Torso accident" Touka said as she slowed into a slow jog so her companions could keep up. But Hinami stared at Hide and Touka in shock.
"No way!" She gasped "Maybe it's the CCG has a spy? They also knew who attacked Mutsuki".
"That could be true" Touka nodded "But if you think about it don't you think it's strange that the Madams are hosting the auction in this town, the same town where the famous SS ranked Centipede is hiding when you have like a load of other towns to choose from?"
"I also find it strange that CCG are here at the same week of the auction and how they are only targeting Kaneki now" Hide said and he felt his jog become slower and his brain became to work faster "Unless both we and CCG have a different spy giving out random information to Aogiri Tree and different ghouls or most likely…."
"There only one spy" Touka started "It is most likely someone in our group who has been giving out information to both Nishio, the CCG and Aogiri Tree".
Xxx
Kaneki rolled out of the way just in time before something dropped from the roof aiming towards where Kaneki once stood. Bin's and boxes shook and crashed to the floor due to the impact, Kaneki quickly got to his feet fists clenched and body positioned for a fight he had been ready for since Monday when this whole thing started.
The half-ghoul analysed the attacker in front of him, he wore a long white coat with pale red blood stains on which didn't look very practical considering the warm spring weather and plus the whiteness was just shouting out to be noticed. But what really stood out to Kaneki was his mask that seemed to be made from dark snake skin that was shaped somewhat like a snakes head with black slits for the eyes and a strange line across the mouth creating a creepy smile (Which was rich considering Kaneki's own mask).
He couldn't remember seeing such a mask before or anything similar, was this an Aogiri Tree member set out to capture him? Or maybe an old enemy from Tokyo? Well soon discovered that he wasn't far off from the second as soon as he heard the ghouls voice.
"Yo, shit-head Kaneki, long time no see"
"Nishio-sempai?"
Important Author Note!
There won't be a new chapter next week because I'm on holiday that's why you're getting two chapters!
I have changed one of the sentences in the last chapter to 'they hadn't heard Nishiki Nishio since the Anteiku raid' to 'they hadn't heard from Nishiki Nishio since she, Hide and onii-chan moved out of Tokyo' This is so it connects more to my short stories.
Also the next chapter briefly refences one of my short stories 'The untold tale' so if you haven't read it don't worry, I'm just warning u do u won't be confused.
I have spell checked the first two chapters of this story I will do the others when I get the chance.
Also let me explain Kaneki's RC level if others can't work it out: In Tokyo Ghoul RE Haise's RC level is 2753, that is probably because of the RC Suppressants the CCG probably fed him. I believe this because if the highest RC level is 8000, for a half Kakuja like Kaneki don't you think 2752 RC level is a little low? So what I did was I just doubled his RC level in RE and it comes out 5506 which seems right if you think that a full Kakuja like Eto has 8000 or maybe over it would make sense for a half Kakuja to have half that amount.
I went by wiki research and it's hard to guess the RC level when it doesn't show the RC level for other ghouls like Touka or Shuu so if there is something wrong with my logic please tell me!
Also I would like LuffyTheKing115, TH3 51L3NT A55A551N, tats magicalmcguffins, and reality deviant for reviewing the latest chapter, keep it up guys! You reviews are taken into account and all feedback is welcoming!
P.S I wonder who the spy is?