Kaneki: Hide, calm down. You're panicking, I can feel it.

Hide: kaneki u dont understand akira is gonna behead one of us

Hide: shes so demanding.

Kaneki: She just wants to make a good impression on the new Investigators.

Hide: eeeeeeehhgijoj

Kaneki: It'll be okay. Remember, after today, you get an entire week off! But only if it goes well.

Hide: pshhh days off those little newbies are gonna steal my job

Kaneki: Hide.

Kaneki: I only have half-day shifts.

Hide: yeah

Hide: OH

Kaneki: Just work hard, and I'll meet you at Anteiku tomorrow morning.

Hide: mmkay ;-) byebye

Kaneki: Bye.

Hide reluctantly put his phone away, checking the time quickly. Only a few hours before the transfers arrived. They would go straight into a briefing, then be assigned to different squads. The Mado Squad was getting two or three to help with the ongoing Gourmet investigation, so Akira was going to take them out for a sweep. Hide had a good idea of why they were really getting transfers, though, and it wasn't good.

The ghoul activity in the area, Hide had learned, was actually being carefully monitored and controlled through Anteiku. They kinda… stole meat from already dead humans, which was freaking weird from his perspective, but a viable option to a ghoul. Better than being a murderer. ...Like Kaneki said, it existed for ghouls that didn't want to hurt humans- and apparently, to minimize the threat to the locals. Which made his job easier, but… If higher ranking Investigators, like him, weren't needed, there was always the possibility of being moved to a problem Ward. Maybe away from his friends. Away from his home.

… Away from Kaneki.

So even the promise of an entire week with his soulmate couldn't lift his usually high spirits.

Anyway. It only took Hide a few minutes to double and triple check through his work for the day that did not include the transfers, so he was left to deal with a rampaging Akira for the majority of the morning. Seido had wisely offered to deliver papers from office to office, leaving him out of the crossfire. Amon, for once, kept his mouth shut and let Akira do her job. The other Investigators kept their heads down and their mouths shut. By noon, her bun was slowly unraveling, along with her patience. There was apparently a mix-up at another branch, so the Mado Squad would be one short.

"Okay, final report! We will be getting one Special Class Investigator and one Rank 3 Investigator! When they arrive from briefing, I want them paired up and sent out to sweep. I have to go deal with these issues, so if they arrive before I get back… Amon, you will deal with it. No objections! Take them to all known hotspots of Gourmet's activity." Akira said, looking over all of her squad. Hide made sure to nod when she met his eyes. He'd keep things running smoothly for her. Amon probably got the job so that Hide could keep an eye on the remaining Investigators.

Seido came back to his desk, back from his last delivery, carefully kept hair beginning to fray. "Woah. Hard day, am I right?"

Hide sighed tiredly. "Yep. Our transfers are gonna be here soon. We got two, one Special Class and one 3rd."

"Akira's busy though, who's-"

"Amon's gonna take them, and we're gonna keep an ear out back here. If anything happens, we dispatch backup, if they find anything, they report it back, we record it, etc." Hide clicked off his computer, and turned on his radio. "We'll get them on our frequency first."

The doors opened, and a sort of hush fell over the office. Let's see who we got. Hide rose out of his chair, closely followed by Amon. There was a huge guy, with a seriously cool haircut, and a kid who couldn't even be in his twenties yet. The one in the suit stepped forward, and held out his hand. Hide took it, eyes still trained on the other. He had a wicked sense of style.

"Shinohara Yukinori. This is Suzuya Juuzou. Glad to be here. ...Amon, is that you?" The guy informed, and Amon casually stepped in front of Hide to shake Shinohara's hand. Rude.

"Shinohara-san! It's been a while." Amon said gravely, and Shinohara nodded.

"Had to be Mado-san's funeral, yeah? How's she holding up?" Amon shrugged, and held a hand out to Suzuya. His big eyes flitted from him to Hide.

"When will we get our quinque?" He asked Hide, and he was taken back by how… small, he sounded. He had red pieces of thread seemingly sewn into his skin, and his blank stare was kind of unnerving.

"That should've been explained in the briefing. You'll be equipped with guns until-" Amon answered, but Suzuya's eyes narrowed.

"I didn't ask you."

Shinohara chuckled a bit nervously. "Please, forgive Suzuya. He's very… driven."

"No problem. For today, you'll have the guns. As soon as you come in tomorrow, you can get a quinque. Sound good?" Hide replied, and Suzuya seemed a bit let down, but nodded. "Great, so, if you'll get out your communication devices, we can get you hooked up to the rest of the squad and send you out!"

"I will be escorting you for a sweep." Amon said, with little enthusiasm. Pshhh. He could at least fake it.

"Why can't he?" Suzuya asked, pointing to Hide. "Hey, who are you, anyway?"

"Nagachika Hideyoshi. Special Class. Nice to meet you. And I've gotta keep an eye on things here. Just in case something happens." Hide said, showing Shinohara how to get to the right frequency. He did the same with Suzuya's radio.

"So something could happen?" This guy was full of questions. Very enthusiastic. Hide worried about him in the field.

"It's always a possibility. We have a couple of high-ranked ghouls in this Ward. Just a heads up." Amon said, going to retrieve a case containing the weapons for the day. He passed each new Investigator a gun and a few cases of quinque bullets. They were all set. Suzuya twirled the gun skillfully, then stuck it in his waistband. Shinohara slipped it into his jacket pocket. Amon seemed satisfied. "We'll be off."

Hide nodded, and returned to his desk. Seido pointedly looked between the door and his friend. Hide raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"What's with that kid?" He asked, and Hide just turned his chair to face his computer.

"It's rude to talk about people. He seems nice enough. Eager."

"That's one word for it." Seido muttered, and went back to his own work. Yeesh. Tensions were running high today. Hide needed a coffee. Unfortunately, Kaneki and his refined tastes had spoiled the office's cheap supply, and he knew that one of Touka's lattes would hit the spot. Double unfortunate, he was working late today. A whole week off for this, he reminded himself, and Akira sped through the doors. She came at him like a train, and Hide's blood ran cold. She was furious.

"I swear, the other teams are absolutely incompetent!" She said lividly, and Hide stood to talk to her. "We are missing three sets of paperwork, and no one knows who's responsible! It can't be us, because we made sure to send out each set after double checking everything, but they love to point fingers."

"Well, they have to be somewhere, right? Breathe." Hide waited until her breath slowed to continue. Seido watched meekly. An angry Akira was a scary Akira. "Our transfers seem great. At least we have order here, okay? Find the small things."

Akira puffed out a strained laugh. "Small things. Got it."

Hide reached over to pat her shoulder, and she untensed them. This was good. Akira always got so stressed about work, and she never had anybody to vent to. He hoped that Amon was feeling the pressure, because this should've been his job, not Hide's.

"We've got an all clear from section one." Seido said quietly, hand pressed to his ear. "Suzuya is a ball of energy, Shinohara is really impressive. But of course Amon would say that."

"Shinohara? Shinohara Yukinori?" Akira asked, and Seido nodded. "He was… my father's partner."

oOo

Juuzou let his arms swing at his side as he lazily followed Shinohara. He was b-o-r-e-d. There were no ghouls in sight. Sigh. Why couldn't have he been put through to 11? Now that would've been exciting! He'd wager he could even get his hands on a motorcycle there, and access to a bunch of high tech quinque. Not to mention the extreme number of ghouls. Nothing like 20. 20 was… quiet. Lifeless.

He absently picked at the stitches on his wrist, tastefully embellishing his counter. Or, at least, he thought so. Maybe he should redo them? Nobody at the briefing seemed impressed. He noticed for the first time that it no longer read 24 hours. Amon paged in another all clear, and Juuzou resisted the urge to put himself out of his misery. He would be good today, just because it was day one and he knew that there were bigger fish to fry here. Pshh. Gourmet didn't even do much anymore, ghoul restaurants were so outdated.

"Come, Rei-chan! Time to make Madam proud!"

Good thing, too.

"Suzuya?" Shinohara asked. Juuzou had stopped walking, frozen on the sidewalk. He grinned up at the man, and the Investigator hid his unease with his own smile. Very poorly. Tsk, tsk.

"Not much to doooo…" Juuzou sang, and Shinohara nodded. They resumed walking, leisurely compared to Amon's brisk pace. What was the rush?

"Well, this Ward is known for its quiet nature."

Juuzou leaned in conspiratorially, and faux-whispered. "Plus, Amon-is is kind of a bore, too. Don't you think?"

Shinohara raised an eyebrow. "It's not his fault that the ghouls aren't out. And isn't that a good thing? Safe?"

"Yeah, guess so." Juuzou shrugged. "'Sides, what can we even do without quinque?"

"Not much." Shinohara allowed, offering a small smile to Juuzou. It was a bit more genuine than the last.

"Say, are we partners, Shinohara?" He asked suddenly, curiously interested in the answer. He'd never really cared who he got paired up with, so long as they stayed out of his way. Lots of people disliked him, though. He didn't get it.

"I would assume so." He said slowly, looking over at Amon. His shoulders were a tense line, and he seemed to be struggling with something. Weird.

Juuzou let himself grin in the worst way he knew how. Shinohara didn't flinch... externally. Heh, he had to know about his history, yet here he was, carrying on a civil conversation. Juuzou liked that. "Then, you can call me Juuzou."

"... You're not calling me Yukinori." Juuzou snorted. As expected from a Special Class Investigator.

"That's fair, Shinohara-san." They turned a corner. Amon ran a hand through his hair. Juuzou whistled quietly. Something drew his eyes to a side street on his left, and he slowed. There was a trio surrounding someone on their knees, and Juuzou almost turned back away in disinterest. But.

But,

A flash

Of red.

He could see it, even in the dark. Kagune. Amon was too far ahead. They would miss it if he didn't act now. ...Eh, he could handle it. Their loss. Smirking to himself, he stole away down the street, dancing away from the rings of streetlights. He would be quick. Efficient. Mama's good boy!

Execution came as easily to him as breathing.

In no time at all, the three ghouls were absolutely riddled with holes. Huh, maybe these guns weren't so useless after all. The human he'd saved struggled to their feet, thanking him profusely. The patter of two sets of footsteps let Juuzou know that his absence was noticed. He turned, returning the smoking gun to his waistband. Was it just him, or did Shinohara seem relived? Amon looked livid, but Juuzou's easy smile never slipped. He started harping on about cooperation or whatever. Heh. Not his style. Besides, he got the job done, didn't he? Shinohara quietly started interviewing the victim for any pertinent information. Amon continued to nag. Bodies slowly bled out on the sidewalk.

Pretty good first day, Juuzou guessed.

oOo

"Three ghouls, all down. No casualties." Seido reported. Akira was perched on the edge of Hide's desk, where he was furiously manning the control center of the office. He hit a few keys and a map of the Ward pulled up. He tapped out a warning for the location Amon was in, just in case there were more ghouls in the area. Akira silently directed him in a few more tasks. She was a lot calmer, though she was a bit red in the face.

None of them had expected the transfers to find any ghouls. The running hypothesis was that the low ranks were just passing through 20, but they'd had quite a few cases of small fry stopping to hunt. Why in 20? It was one of the safest Wards… would that make the people more trusting? Akira glanced down at the pad of paper Hide was writing on. She nodded at his theory.

"Increase border security, and put out more warning adverts. The people need to be made aware that ghouls can still travel from Ward to Ward. Just because it's quiet doesn't mean it's safe!" Akira commanded the whole room, then slipped off of Hide's desk. She leaned down to him. "Look into those missing reports for me. You're working late, right?"

Hide sighed. "Unfortunately. I'll see what I can do. Seido, any word on those MIA files?"

"N-no. Nobody knows where they went…" Seido answered, and Hide nearly thunked his head on his desk. Who lost two whole folders full of critical transfer reports?

"God, okay. Just see what you can do." Akira pressed a hand to her temple. He'd have a headache soon, too, if things kept being this stressful. He still wanted that latte. He wanted Kaneki. He wanted to go home.

"Got it, boss." Hide said, at the same time Seido said, "A-Amon and transfers, coming home."

oOo

"...And I still couldn't find those files. I snooped all night, and the only thing I found was that they did come from our office, but Akira said Seido promised that he got everything to its place." Hide vented as Kaneki gently ran his hand over his back. Hide was on his stomach, head resting on the pillows, staring into Kaneki's bleary eyes. They were in bed- Kaneki's bed- though nothing had happened. Hide had worked to his breaking point, and then he had come over here without a second thought, only to crash. But Hide would run over to his apartment later to grab a few things, clothes, human necessities, and then had the whole week to do... whatever. Kaneki's spare pajamas were really comfortable, though.

"Well, have you checked with the recipients?" Kaneki murmured, stifling a yawn. He probably wanted his morning coffee, and here Hide was, complaining. He made a move to get up, but Kaneki's light touch turned to anvils on his back. Kaneki clicked his tongue. "You get to have bad days, too, Hide. Breakfast can wait."

Hide grumbled, but drooped back into the mattress. The pressure on his back relented. Kaneki resumed his ministrations. "Stubborn. Yeah, I checked. They… said they didn't see Seido, but…"

"But you're taking his word for it?" Kaneki said, and his tone implied what Hide also feared. Seido might've been the one to screw this up. And then, he lied right to Akira's face. Hide hissed in a breath. Kaneki's deft fingers ran up his spine and scratched over his scalp. "Don't worry about it. If Seido is at fault here, that's his problem."

"I don't wanna rat him out," Hide whined, "But Akira-"

"Not your problem." Kaneki insisted, and he patted Hide once on the head. "Okay. Breakfast now? I can probably make eggs or something, but you'll have to salt them."

Hide's heart warmed, and he disregarded the issue for now. He had a wonderful ghoul soulmate who just offered to cook him food. How endearing. "I can try to make your coffee?"

"No, Hide. You can barely tell the difference between water and good coffee." Kaneki instantly deadpanned, and grunted as he rolled away from Hide. He stood and stretched, giving Hide a really nice view of his back muscles.

He pouted. "That's not very nice." Hide followed him, though, into the kitchen, and didn't argue any further. His coffee was nowhere up to scratch with a ghoul's, let alone Kaneki's.

The kitchen was small, but efficient, and still packed with Hide's delicious junk food. When Hide insisted he stock the shelves himself, Kaneki waved him off. The food- half eaten jars of peanut butter, open bags of chips, empty soda cans- actually helped divert CCG suspicion. Which Hide totally did not file away for later. Soon, the scent of bitter coffee and the sizzling sound of cooking filled the air. He and Kaneki kept up a steady stream of words, poking, teasing, flirting, talking.

He poured two mugs of coffee as Kaneki scooped out the eggs from the pan. Hide took over at the sink, rinsing the dishes, and Kaneki carefully measured out sugar and creamer for Hide's drink. They worked sinuously and simultaneously. Kaneki managed to peck him on the cheek as he passed, giving Hide a cheeky smile. He was probably thinking the exact same thing as him- they were being awfully domestic. Hide wished it could be like this all the time.

oOo

Juuzou noticed Takizawa's eye twitch as he finally reached the end of his rather long-winded spiel. He'd been regaling his new coworker with war stories, enjoying his miffed and horrified reactions. Shinohara was on a coffee run for the both of them, because the office coffee was very unimpressive, so Juuzou had taken to his own special brand of socializing.

Mado's daughter hadn't had time for him, though she did humor him a bit. He seemed to pique her interest, which wasn't the normal revulsion or sympathy. Juuzou liked variety sometimes. She was very controlled, something he admired, but something broiled below the surface of her very skin and bones. She was a time bomb. Juuzou wanted to be there when she finally caved under the pressure of an entire squad and the reputation of her dead father.

Her boyfriend (her timer was zeroed, he could tell, but, but, but, she and Takizawa…?) on the other hand, treated him like a pest. Which, admittedly, he probably was, but… did he care? Not really. The man was jumpy, shifty. Hiding something. How interesting. Juuzou was instantly drawn to him, perching himself on the Investigator's desk. The office gossip was all about the mysterious reports that had vanished, but Juuzou had a good idea of where they went. Besides that, he was kind of a pushover, a try hard, and Juuzou honestly wondered how he was in such a privileged squad.

That blonde (fake, but well done) was missing too, and after only 10 minutes of repeated asking did he learn that he was off for the week. How lame. There was something about him that resonated with Juuzou, and he had a knack for recognizing the out of place. So what about Nagachika was out of place? He really wanted to find out.

Amon held nothing of note for him, just another uppity CCG cog that was way too invested in his work. He liked to think he was efficient, but was he really? There was something distracting him, big time.

Juuzou felt that he was going to like it here.