Tokyo Ghoul: The Other Story
Chapter 12: Corrupted Societies
Not long after Kaneki spilt of from Hinami, Naki and Takizawa the Quinx were already munching on over expensive sandwiches, chocolate and snack drinks. The four were making themselves comfortable on one of the benches outside the supermarket but as Mutsuki looked up to the sound of rumbling grey clouds clashing against each other and the eyepatch Quinx couldn't help but shiver.
"Erm guys" Mutsuki started turning to his three teammates "I think we should start making a move, it looks like rain is coming"
"Yeah we should head in, maybe look around the supermarket more?" Saiko suggested trying to lighten up the quiet and tense mood,
"Don't you think we should try finding Nekisan and the others?" Shirazu suggested looking over to the direction the other half of the team headed, it was were the clouds seem to be at their darkest and Shirazu couldn't help but have a bad feeling.
"Oh they will be fine" Saiko said waving the orange haired Quinx off "I mean they know where we are and I don't think Maman would be happy with us if we put ourselves in a dangerous area for his sake"
"Yeah your right" Shirazu said shrugging the worrying thoughts out of his head "Their stronger than us and don't think their stupid enough to get into trouble"
"I hope so" Mutsuki couldn't help but say and then he turned to look at the ever so quite Urie who was also staring at the dark clouds up a head unaware of the conversation around him, it seems that Shirazu and Mutsuki weren't the only one with a bad feeling.
Xxx
Ken Kaneki stood outside the front door to the Helter Skelter, the rumbling of the storm clouds outside made him shiver and he felt lucky to be upstairs in the dimly lit corridor than to be out there. From the outside the place look no different than when he first came here five years ago, the dark nicely polished door that looked out of place in the plain corridor still had the black closed sign hanging up but he knew better to think that it was empty.
He knocked on the twice and waited thirty seconds before calling out,
"Itori-san, it's me Kaneki!" He knew someone was in there, he could smell them and he knew it was more than one person behind that door, "I need some information so if you aren't going to open up I'll just let myself in!"
Still no answer…This was starting to get tiresome and he didn't have all day to play with the Clowns games, so the half-ghoul sighed in frustration and reached his hand out towards the door handle but what he didn't expect was the door to be imminently opened and Kaneki stepped backed and his face filled with pure shock and terror as a large fat but humanoid face burst out, its eyes where black and hollow like caves and its face was pink rubbery like fat but what made the face even more horrifying was the large but drooping pig nose that remained Kaneki of a slug that has had it body squashed together.
Kaneki fell flat on his butt and he heard a familiar laughter above him and now he couldn't help but feel awfully stupid for letting himself get scarred so easily, he was sure if Eto was here he wouldn't of heard the end of it.
"Honestly Kanekichi" a young woman's voice spoke with a chuckle as she removed the mask with ease "For an SS rated ghoul you do tend to fall for the same trick twice, you really are hopeless!"
"At least I didn't faint this time" Kaneki argued back as he looked up to see the smiling youthful grin of Itori peering down at him as she held the floppy pig masked "However you haven't changed a bit, I see you are in to pig noses now" Kaneki nodded to the mask which had the similar kind of creepiness to the old woman mask from five years ago but he could see Uta had become more creative.
"Don't be so mean!" Itori shouted flicking her long red long red hair back from her large brown red eyes and Kaneki couldn't deny that she hadn't aged much from the last time he saw her, not that he found her attractive or anything… "Ah I remember the good ol' days when you were so sweet and innocent and here you are teasing my cute little pig mask that Uta-san made me!"
Cute?
"Anyway" Kaneki started brushing himself off the door trying to ignore his embarrassment or the red appearing on his cheeks "I came for your help, do you mind if I come in?"
"Not all!" Itori said smiling as she opened the door wider for Kaneki to enter and he was not surprised to find that the bar hadn't changed either although it wasn't in a style which will go out of date anytime soon, the dim lightening showed only a single long black counter with rows of shelves running behind it stacked with all various alcohol and wines and he was hundred present sure that there would blood on those shelves to be mixed for ghoul customers.
Also sitting on the counter was some familiar faces, Nico dressed up in his usual bright and flamboyant get up with his pink flamingo shirt half buttoned with black skin tight trousers belted up with a bright orange belt that clashed horribly his outfit but luckily for Ken he was used to seeing awful colour combinations.
"Ah Kaneki!" The feminine dressed ghoul waved at the newcomer with a bright red smile, Kaneki smiled politely and nodded before his eyes wandered to the person sitting beside Nico, which was of course Uta. The goth dressed ghoul was sipping on a wine glass filled with blood but he didn't look up until Kaneki entered and smiled at the half-ghoul.
"Hey Kaneki long time no see, how do you like Itori's new Halloween mask?" Uta asked "it still needs a little work but if it scarred you…"
"Oh no" Kaneki said shaking his head and sitting down besides Nico "To be honest though, I couldn't tell the difference between the mask and the face"
"Hey!" Itori cried out and the three men chucked, well Kaneki had to get revenge on Itori somehow.
"It's been some time since we last saw each other isn't is Kaneki-kun" Uta said taking a sip of his blood but Ken kept his eyes locked on the mask maker,
"Yeah, the last I saw you was four months ago I must say you would make an excellent host, I didn't think that Clowns would take on such a big leading role" Everyone stared at Kaneki with shock and humour written on their faces, their little Kaneki was really full of surprises.
"Yeah I thought a recognised that Clown mask in the audience" Uta said, his large black eyes widened with interest as he remembered that fateful night "I'm sorry I couldn't greet you directly however I had a problem getting away from a certain investigator…" Now this was news to Kaneki.
"Anyhow" Uta said putting his now empty down his glass on the counter for Itori to pick up "I'm surprised to see you around here, Eto let you off her leash now?"
"She had sent me a few others to grain back authority over the 11th ward" Kaneki explained ignoring Uta's comment "I'm expected to take charge, however I haven't been to the 11th ward in years and I don't know the current situation over there, there is somebody waiting for us with the information but I can't trust a total strangers word"
"And I guessing this 'total stranger' works for Eto" Nico spoke resting his head on his hand "That's where there is no trust, yes?"
"Yeah" Kaneki nodded "Her name is Alethea and she was captured in the 7th ward by the CCG but we manged to free her before they could take her to Cochlea"
"Oh yeah it was all over the news a few day ago" Itori said handing Kaneki a wine glass of blood and went to fill up Uta's "They were saying they had something to do with you, I suppose you want more info on this girl then?"
"Yes please" Kaneki nodded before putting the glass to mouth, he was sure that Itori spiked this drink… "I want any info you can, just name your price"
"And are you sure that's all the information you want?" Nico said gasped dramatically with his hand over his mouth and mascaraed eyes wide open "But isn't there something else you want to know?"
"Yeah" Uta nodded "As soon as Eto let you out of the base I was expecting you to march in here and demeaned to know why I was hosting the auction that night and if I'm the spy who gave it away to Aogiri and CCG your hiding place?"
"No" Kaneki shook his head taking another sip of his drink, the blood and lingering taste of alcohol met his lips "Though I did think you guys were the traitors at first, you are the Clown after all so I expected nothing less, however while I living in Aogiri's base I got the feeling that the spy neither a ghoul or works for the CCG"
"Really?" Itori questioned sitting down in the seat next to Kaneki and leaning uncomfortably close to the half-ghoul "And what makes you say that?"
"Does this count as payment for the information you have on Alethea?" Kaneki asked with a slight smile, the Clowns weren't going to get more information than he was going to grain and he liked the feeling of being a little ahead of the Clowns.
"Mmm" Itori tilted her head back in thought "I don't know…it's not that important though it would be interesting to get more details on the matter"
"But don't you guys already know who the spy is?" Kaneki asked raising an eyebrow as the Clowns just shook their heads
"Nope" the Clown said unison and Kaneki couldn't tell if they were being honest or hiding something but it didn't matter anyway, he will find out the spy's identity soon enough, he was on the right track but if only Eto hadn't sent him away…
"So the price?" Kaneki asked before getting deeper into thoughts. Itori grinned placing her hands together of she could rest her chin looking they much like a Cheshire Cat,
"Well you see…" Itori started "Aogiri is not the only one who are interested in these foreign CCG's, even us Clown have trouble graining all the information it's like the Government wants the Japanese citizens to know as little as possible, even the people living in those counties don't know the details".
Kaneki wasn't going to ask how Itori knew about Eto wanting more info on the foreign CCG's and he was sure that the Clowns knew about Arthur Reed too.
"So what's the deal?" Kaneki asked finishing his glass "Do you want me to tell you what I learn about the foreign CCG's, can't you learn that information once I give it too Eto?"
"We aren't that close to Aogiri" Uta explained as Itori refiled Kaneki's glass "Sometimes we have to do some digging to get the full story"
"And besides there is a catch" Nico said "We want this information before Eto gets a hold of it"
"Why?" Kaneki asked raising an eyebrow,
"Nothing you need to worry about" Itori explained handing Kaneki the newly filled glass "But I will give some additional information if you accept the request, information that might help your investigation on the CCG"
"Already accepted" Kaneki stated taking another drink of once again alcoholic blood, he knew he shouldn't but it was a nice mix and it made feel better "However this additional information I'll be getting better be useful"
"Oh I'm sure it will" Itori said "I know you are a man of your word so I'll just tell you anyway…" The female ghoul paused for dramatic effect and sat back down again on her original stool "A little birdy told me that a small group of Americans entered the CCG's main office this morning, dress in black and white jackets and carrying quinque cases"
"So it's like Eto feared" Kaneki said enjoying the alcoholic blood, he tried to keep his mind sharp but the Half-ghoul was a light weight and couldn't help but feel the bubbliness sink in "The CCG are sending in new investigators"
"Of course not, you have it wrong" Itori said shaking her head in disproval "Most of the western countries have a different way of dealing with us ghouls, surely you must know this? If we lived somewhere like the US or the UK then we wouldn't need to hide our nature, we could have normal jobs, live among humans without them realising or caring what we are, what do you think would happen if they tried to bring this way of thinking to the Japanese citizens?"
"I have no idea?" Kaneki said looking down at his glass in thought "In Asia the existence of ghouls has been so demonised that the thought of co-existence sounds impossible"
"Of course it is" Itori said nodding grinning "Out of all the countries in the world Japan is estimated to have the highest population of ghouls and due to this so much tragic loss has been taken from both sides so…Why do think this country doesn't take up the western ways? Surely that way all those deaths could have been avoided?"
"I'm not sure but I guess you're trying to tell that CCG didn't call the USGEP in nor the BCGM in?" Kaneki said, so what was a British investigator doing here then if he wasn't called by the CCG? And why are there the American investigator entering CCG's main office? It made him think what had wound up the world so badly that suddenly they suddenly decided to interfere with the CCG's system.
"Thank you for bring this up" Kaneki said nodding his thanks "I will make sure you get that information before Eto does however I still want that knowledge on Alethea and soon"
"Well of course" Itori nodded "I haven't forgotten, maybe that additional information is too much to think about so I'll get someone to send you report on her but enough of that! Would you like your glass refiling?"
Kaneki looked down at his once again empty glass that he didn't realise he had finished, he must be getting drunk and it was only the afternoon however it hadn't been an hour yet and it had been so long since he had been away from Aogiri or the Quinx children, maybe one more drink wouldn't hurt….
Xxx
Hinami, Takizawa and Naki where taking a stroll keeping to darkest corners and looking for a place to take shelter, it looked like it was going to rain any minute however every sheltered place was already taken by the local ghouls who glared at the trio every time they tried to get close and Hinami had to pull Naki away every time he was about to complain or start a fight.
"Don't worry Hinami" Naki said who was leading the gang "I'm sure we can find some shelter before it rains"
"I hope so" Hinami said but that wasn't what she was worried about, she was worried about her brother who had been distant since being forced to join Aogiri, though he had tried his hardest to give her attention and see if she was ok he had blocked up his feeling and refused to talk about their old friends in RE.
She looked over to Takizawa who had been silently following them for past twenty minutes; she wondered what went on inside his head or if there was anything at all. The half-ghoul never spoke but he seemed to follow instructions ok and despite seeming to be in his own world most of the time he was still able to listen to people when they were talking. She hoped that this trip would be able bring out Takizawa's personality more and hopefully lean about him.
Hinami was too busy thinking about her friends and Naki was too busy searching for shelter that the only other person to look out for anything strange was unfortunately Takizawa who for the first time since he could remember felt like someone was watching him which was strange because he was the one usually doing to watching. Was it his ghoul senses kicking in? No, it was more like a sixth sense, something he had used a long time ago.
The white haired half-ghoul couldn't help but look up to the roofs of the buildings where a group six men, all ghouls, stood on the rooftops looking down at the trio and they looked like they were about to pounce.
"Move!" Takizawa shouted, his voice felt strange even to him but he had no time to think about it as he pushed Hinami out of the way before one of the ghouls could jump down of the girl. Naki spun around in time to find that five of the other ghoul had jumped down as well. All six of them were huge with large muscles hidden under their black jackets and their faces where covered up by the classic ski masks, let's just say Naki wasn't very worried.
"Hey goons!" Naki laughed "You've picked a fight with the wrong guy…" But the gang wasn't paying any attention, they pulled a gun like weapon from their pockets and shot at Naki who cried out in shock,
"What the hell" The white suited ghoul screamed as he pulled out the needles in his hand and sleeves and he couldn't help but feel confused, these where ghouls weren't they? So why did they have weapons? How could a needles stick into his hand and why was he feeling really dizzy right now?
"Hey!" Naki shouted as the goons then pointed there weapons towards Hinami and Takizawa who still lay on the floor and stared at their attackers in shock, Naki took a step forward but as soon as he did his legs failed on him and he crashed to the ground. However nor Hinami or Takizawa could help because soon enough the goons where shooting their needles towards them and Hinami pulled out her Koukaku kagune, the large butterfly Koukaku shielded her and Takizawa however to Hinami's surprise she could feel the sharp pain of the needles pierce though her kagune and she cringed. Where the needles made out of quinque steel? And what was in them? Already she could feel her kagune becoming weak.
Takizawa crouched under Hinami with his hands over ears but he didn't know why, it wasn't loud only the small pricks of needles sinking into Hinami's kagune could be heard. Maybe it was the fear making him tremble but if so he shouldn't be scarred because Hinami was protecting him, but he saw the Kagune lower slightly and looked up towards the female ghoul who was looking surprisingly tried, was it something in the needles? And where was Naki?
Hinami knew that she couldn't play defence forever, she looked down to Takizawa crouching in fear but if she let go and shield to fight would Takizawa be able to protect himself? The half-ghoul who could once put up a fight against the mighty Centipede ghoul was now reduced a quite wander who needed to be remained to eat and go to bed.
No, Takizawa couldn't protect himself.
Hinami put a hand on Takizawa's shoulder and the half-ghoul looked up at the girl who strongly fighting the drugs that where infecting her and the rain which was starting to fall.
"Run Takizawa!" She shouted "Go to my brother at the Helter Skelter, I'll fight them and get Naki then I'll catch up!"
Takizawa wondered what the female ghoul was planning to do and suddenly he feared for her rather his own life. She was staying behind to rescue Naki and to make sure that Takizawa got away.
How selfless.
Takizawa nodded, he could still remember the route that Kaneki took, he will get the Centipede ghoul and they will save Hinami together but now there was no time to plan the future. He gave Hinami a small nodded and shot off down the alleyway further and further away from the commotion. He looked behind him to see Hinami's Rinkaku had come out to join the battle but she looked so tired and weak. Those needles where doing something her but Takizawa was an Ukaku ghoul and he was fast, so maybe he could find Kaneki before anything bad happened.
So with his feet splashing on the newly forming puddles and ignoring everything around him he shot off towards the Helter Skelter with a new pounding in his heart and buzz of fear and excitement running though his body and he couldn't help but let a smile form on his face because for the first time since he could remember he felt alive.
Xxx
The CCG's main office was in a mixture of both confusion and hustle and the rumours were already spreading between staff members. Quite a number of people saw four strangers march in though the CCG's front entrance like they owned the place, two wearing black short jackets made of leather and another two wearing white leather jackets and carrying quinque cases. A few of the investigators thought they were a gang or something who were stupid enough to raid the CCG for cash however when the young woman in a black jacket flash her ID card towards the startled receptionist he inspected it then gave it back to woman nodding before picking up the phone to make a phone call.
Then a strange thing happened, the RC gates where suddenly turned off and the one and only Matsuri Washuu followed by two of his subordinates came to welcome the strange group and they lead further in the building but as soon as they went through the gates they turned on again. The only reason they would turn off the gate was if they were letting a ghoul though but the CCG would never let that happen, right?
Right now Mado's office had become the main meeting place, it was privet and they couldn't let any information about the case out to the other investigators. Akira Mado stood in front of her desk fidgeting with her skirt nervously for the past ten minutes, with her was Matsuri Washuu sitting at her desk like he owned it. Shimoguchi and his three squad members sat on the spare chairs that had been brought into the room and on the other side of them was Itou's squad along with Suzuya's squad.
It was the first time all these squad had been brought together but all of them looked as confused and started as the next because standing in front of them was the four strangers who had refused to sit down and going by the few sentences they had spoken they seemed to be American and be a part of a Government program called the USGEP and they refused to state their business until everyone they asked for had arrived and Akira cured Arthur, Kuramoto and Suzuya for their tardiness.
While she was waiting she had been trying to examine the strange group of American Investigators. The young woman in the black jacket, who seemed to be in charge, looked not much older Akira herself however her tanned skin and her funky brown curly hair tied in a high ponytail made her look youthful and her brown slight red tinted eyes showed intelligence and confidence.
Besides her stood a male around the same age as her, his skin looked darker than the woman's but looking at their face features they seemed to be brother and sister. He had the same curly brown hair but he didn't bother to tidy it and his eyes where the same colour of brown and red but they looked more sleepy and relaxed than anything and the way he held himself was slouched and uninterested, he was also wearing a black jacket.
But Akira was more puzzled about the two other people at the back, they were another pair of a boy and girl but they wore white jackets and unlike the two black jacket pair they looked younger, around eighteen or nineteen and they carried metal grey cases with them which looked like Quinque cases.
The girl had a playful and childlike look about her, her hair was died a bight bubble-gum blue and cut short and spiked around her ears. She had been staring around the room for the first two minutes before getting bored and put chewing gum in her mouth instead however the young male couldn't look anymore different; he almost seemed out of place in the misfit group. His hair was a plain bright brown that was cut in a ball shape and his face would of looked quite handsome if it weren't for the square shaped glasses that rested on his strangely large nose, but out of the four in the group he looked the most serious, the type who couldn't crack a joke, not even at a party.
Finally the door opened and Akira made sure to shot her best glare towards the late newcomers. Kuramoto and Suzuya stood in front with Arthur looking quite grumpy at the back, probably not happy about his shortened tea break, but his face seemed to light up when he spotted the group of Americans.
"Ali!" He greeted waving at the leader, whose name seemed to be Ali, and for the first time Akira saw the young woman smile. The woman walked over and took Arthurs hand and spoke in English,
"Oh Arty, it's so good to see you!" She said happily and bright eyed and Akira wondered how they knew each other.
"You too" He said nodding and he turned to Ali's brother and greeted him a high-five,
"Yo Oli" Arthur said "Still following your twin sister around I see"
"Oh shut up" Oli rolled his eyes and Arthur turned to the white coated kids who were staring at Arthur in wonderment, and so was everyone else.
"Oh you haven't met our new students have you" Ali said and pointed to the young male "That is Daniel Marley" And then she pointed to the girl "And this is Adrianne Wembley" She said and the blue haired girl nodded her hello with a big smile.
"If you lot are quite done!" Washuu spoke for the first time in ages and Akira was sure she could see a vein which looked on the verged of popping out of his head and for once Akira couldn't blame him. This meeting was turning out quite unprofessional, these where their guests however they summoned everyone involved in the Aogiri case but refuse to say anything more until everyone had arrived, they don't even mention their names and here they were having a nice cosy conversation with someone who wasn't even a part of the CCG.
"If we could all sit down and get this meeting started if you please" Washuu continued and the three late investigators sat down and finally they could start the meeting and learn more about what these Americans wanted.
"I'm sorry" Ali said in Japanese, turning around her face all serious and business like now as if the past few seconds never happened "There is point in explaining ourselves if everyone isn't here, usually we would start without late intruders however this is matter of importance and I can't avoid to explain things twice"
"You're from the USGEP aren't you" Akira stated "So I'm guessing this has something to do about one of your investigators, Victoria Cysice?"
"Yes" Ali nodded "Found dead a couple of days ago and only after a couple of hours of being in Tokyo"
"You can't hold us responsible for the death of every person who gets killed by a ghoul" Washuu said interrupting "We do our best to keep down their numbers but there will always be a few ghouls left to pop up when its least expected"
"Oh no you have it wrong" Ali said shaking her head "We don't blame the CCG personally for the death of Victoria Cysice, she was the type of woman who liked to rush into things with without thought so though it was a nasty shock to hear of her death she had it coming in a way"
"So you have come to find out the cause of death and hopeful get revenge?" Suzuya asked,
"Something like that" Oli said "in fact it's one of the duties the USGEP Chairman has given us"
"We haven't really introduced ourselves" Ali said "My name is Ali Woods and this is my brother Oli Woods, the two behind us are my students Daniel Marley and Adrianne Wembley and we are the USGEP's Chairman's, David Cysices personal squad and we are nothing but the best".
Note: Wow this was a fun chapter to write and I hope no one minds the new OC's but you didn't think that USGEP would let one of their members die without a fuller investigation did you? I can't wait to develop them further and we should get more on Alethea, she is an important character after all.
I would like to thank Haruto Arima, , nissangtrlover2569 and codename00guest for reviewing on the last chapter and I would like to thank all those new people who have followed and favorited the story, seriously I love it how I get new people every week lol!