DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo Ghoul Root A and Tokyo Ghoul:re and other products related to the TG Series are all owned by Sui Ishida, Shin Towada and Shueisha.

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Case 9: Monochrome Drop (1)

"Patrolling?" I found myself muttering as I stared at the case's description offered by the document I was given by Arima. It was the first time I heard something like this, and I was caught off-guard by this circumstance. I heard of these specific-task roles having general reasons to happen, like the increase of ghoul activity in one of the wards of something tied to a specific ghoul running chaos somewhere in Tokyo. But I couldn't see any of that in our debriefing paper, and… the rank was way lower than the standard Patrol Mission. Too low.

"It's a mission that I believe you and Hairu will be more competent to solve compared to other investigators due to the individuals you will have as part of your team," The white-haired man replied with a calm nod. "These individuals are experienced members that I had the chance of fighting together with, but I strongly suggest you help them grow accustomed to… societal standards."

I glanced back down to the paper and frowned as I found four names in there, with two in particular gaining my attention. Hairu reacted first to this, looking more surprised at these particular names than the others.

"I-I have direct siblings?"

"It's standard in the Garden to divide siblings from the same mother to remove rebellious attitudes from developing. But yes, these are your younger brother and sister."

"And… you have a brother, Arima-san?" I pointed out with a deeper frown, noticing the man tense up slightly.

"Officially, he is to be designated as my cousin. But… yes."

I didn't press on the matter, perceiving a note of unwillingness to pursue this kind of conversation at the moment. It was clear that the argument wasn't exactly a light-hearted one, and I could tell from Hairu's own reaction to this revelation that she too needed a moment to recover from the shock. As far as I could tell, the Pinkette thought she knew everything about the secret existence of the Garden and the truth about the Washuu Clan. This discovery opened an upsetting door that held numerous questions on what had yet to be revealed about them.

"So our job isn't really to patrol them but-"

"To help them understand how to… behave as a normal citizen of this country."

My lips formed a thin line as I could tell this wasn't going to be easy, and I wasn't talking about dangerous difficult, but of… babysitting difficult.

I could take care of one or two individuals, but… the list mentioned four people. I would have expected Hairu to have some knowledge of all of them, but she recognized only one since Arima's younger brother. After asking Arima why he wasn't taking part in this, he mentioned that the director didn't want to create a scene by having him around. Which was technically true since there were high chances of the news catching wind of this and storming our position with reporters as soon as we were noticed by people and that didn't sound like a good idea, but then I could tell there was more to that from the White Reaper's part of things.

I didn't question, but I sure knew that there was something more than just being a babysitter for a full day. Once we were through the debriefing, it was time for us to greet the four we were meant to babysit and… I could tell from a mere glance alone at them that the term was really appropriate since they were all teenagers.

Rikai Suzu was the oldest at 16. She had pale lavender hair, cut into a chin-length bob with straight bangs and two violet eyes. She was wearing a dark-blue jacket, a violet shirt underneath, and a pair of black pants. She was the one that greeted us first, perhaps taking note of her seniority compared to the other half-humans. She gave off the air of a no-nonsense kind of serious individual that still held some degree of calm and relaxed when she was incredibly certain she could drop to it without repercussion.

Next was Yusa Arima. He had short, wavy black hair, and a pair of black eyes. His current outfit being made with a light-gray and black jacket, a dull red shirt and baggy dark-blue pants. He had some similarity with his older brother through his facial features, and he seemed as calm and collected as him. I still managed to perceive a glint of… child-like wonder out of him as we approached and he introduced himself to us.

Then Shio Ihei introduced himself. The boy had short, white hair and green eyes. Wearing a light-brown jacket, he had a dark-green turtleneck and a pair of light-gray pants. He was slimmer compared to the other teens, but he seemed to hold himself with politeness just like the rest of the group. He was glancing briefly at Hairu, seemingly aware of their blood tie, but preferring to keep quiet about it until the girl brought this up to a conversation.

And finally… there was the young girl that was Hairu's little sister. Suzu Ihei was the youngest at 12 and she had an impressive resemblance with Hairu herself when it came to pink hair and silver hair. This element caught the girl off-guard as she didn't expect someone to be literally a younger version of herself at this point. She was wearing a quarter-length black jacket, a purple shirt underneath, and a dark-gray skirt and pantyhose that reached down to her small shoes.

After we were done with the introductions, Arima left us in charge of these four and… yeah, I wasn't exactly sure how I was supposed to deal with them. The general concept was easy to grasp, but I really didn't know where to begin with them. How bad was the situation? I had to go and see for myself as I decided to start by wandering around the First Ward and ask them simple questions about the few small-tier shops in the area.

The result of that experiment ended up quite poorly. First I had to mention how they didn't need to address me as sir and Hairu as ma'am or other terms generally used to address senior leaders within the CCG. Then there was the fact that they all had pocket money to use and buy their own things from this interesting 'school' trip I was now in charge of. We passed by a magazine shop and I tried to find something for them to buy. Anything really mattered after a first look didn't bring any attention from them onto the items in display.

Relief washed over me when I saw Yusa decided to pick a magazine about Kamen Riders and one about cars. I could tell the young man was deeply fascinated by everything actually, but he decided to settle just for these two. Seeing the allowance of this action, the others soon decided to explore this opportunity.

Shio felt happy as I approved of him picking the first three volumes of Naruto. I felt that being quite ironic since he seemed to break away from his polite self the moment he got the green light to retrieve the manga.

Then Suzu moved and picked a magazine about cooking, and the decision looked unusual since I could tell these four didn't have experience in that specific subject. Maybe it was a repressed topic that the girl just wanted to experience now that she could, but first she needed some preparation about it. I glanced in Hairu's way at this, and I could tell the older pinkette took notice of this detail too and was pondering about it.

Rikai was the one that took more convincing to actually buy something. She wasn't amused by any of the items in display, but she eventually grew fascinated by one of the books in the library section. It was a History Book that explained in detail the first decades of the Meiji Era, giving insight over the Japanese modernization and the rise of Imperialism in the country. An interesting read for sure for those that were interested in History, and I could tell the girl was into it.

Once we were done by the shop, the rest of the trip was mostly exploring, allowing some breaks so they could enjoy the magazines and books they bought. It really felt like a school trip, and soon I managed to channel my inner 'sensei' self through the whole thing. Not the worst idea, but it was still slug-paced with how much I had to explore to educate them how to behave like part of this community without appearing too detached.

I gave them little tasks on an individual level. Sometimes it was merely greeting someone and giving them a simple, non-invasive interview to try and understand how people generally reacted and answered to specific questions, while also giving them explanations of how specific shops tended to work and why some were… to avoid due to their age.

After spending roughly four hours getting them through the basis of interactions, I knew it was time to bring them to learn about the various places where they could go for lunch and dinner. With everyone pretty much hungry, I decided to take a risque approach and go to a place I've not visited in a long time.

The Special Time BBQ was a small chain of restaurants that was prominently located in Tokyo and the smaller cities around the capital. A good place where to enjoy some homemade BBQ dishes at a modest price, it was a good setting where I planned to introduce the teens to food that wasn't really that common to find and I doubted the Washuu ever gave them the chance to try out.

Even Hairu was surprised by this choice, but she took it happily as she gave a quick look at the menu and found a couple of dishes she actually was familiar with. The rest had to actually ask about the ingredients and how the dish was going to taste in the end. It was a very interesting circumstance, but one that gave me plenty of ideas if this experience was supposed to happen again.

Knowing the director and grasping some more at this circumstance, I could say that this wasn't going to be the last time I had to handle these… 'ducklings'. It might sound offensive in some cases to just address them like this but, the more I helped them around, the more I felt like I was babysitting younger but polite kids.

They were good, but definitely clueless about their surroundings and eager to fix this lacking perception of their surroundings together with someone they could trust in this matter. I wasn't sure how well that was going to work by the end of the day since they had more and more mistaken views of some aspects of society that I just didn't have the time to fix. As soon as lunch was over, I received a call from Arima that asked for the return of the four teens back at the CCG headquarters in the First Ward.

There was no issue with that order, especially when that seemed to draw an end to the work day for the time being and I planned to use this chance to plan out a way to finally coerce some info out of Juuzou once I was back home.

But as I bid a good day to Hairu and started to make my way back to the flat, I slowly started to feel a pair of eyes watching me from afar. I was being followed.

This was the first time I genuinely unprepared to handle a pursuit this heated. I had my experiences with the whole 'being chased around', but this was the first time I was so underequipped. I managed to keep a calm posture for a while, holding a good mask over my current stalker without gaining their interest. I didn't look at where they might be watching me from, knowing that any sudden shift in my current attitude would push my current follower into being more aggressive and lure me into a trap.

Planning out a counter-ambush was the key to solve my current predicament and I didn't hesitate in checking for any tight place where to set up a trap and finally get through with this issue. I paused, looking at one of the alleys on the side, noting how it was a dead end, particularly restricted and offering limited room to dodge any of the bullets from my MP5Q2.

The gun, which had been created out of a normal MP5K, had been conceded to me by the CCG Weapon Group after it was deemed easier to conceal and it gave investigators the chance of defending themselves when they didn't have the license to hold Quinques when they weren't on active duty. Knowing how my situation was with the soon to come promotion, I doubted it was going to take long for me to finally match all requirements to request the license and finally have some real firepower to depend on. I still appreciated the guns and I wasn't going to stop using those, but I believed the Quinques were a huge step up compared to most weapons.

And right now having the Preacher wouldn't have been a terrible idea to handle this problem…

Still, I had a tiny, stupid, but possibly good plan. As soon as I dived inside the alley, I swiftly rushed to the nearest dumpster and I carefully entered inside it. Despite the unflattering place I had chosen as my current hideout, I knew it was ideal to hide away from my current stalker. I could tell it was a Ghoul chasing me and, since the dumpster offered a cover from sight but also from smell, I just waited there and expected for the ghoul chasing me to come into the alley and give me the opportunity to deal with this issue.

I kept quiet, my right hand pulling out the MP5Q2 as I silently waited for something to happen. Slow, silent and… pristine. I was correct to assume I was being chased by a ghoul. The figure was wearing a white tunic with a long sleeve on her right arm while the other limb was exposed. The hoodie within the tunic covered part of the black and white horizontal-striped mask, but it was clear that this individual was a female ghoul. She started to look around, paying little attention at the dumpster as she approached the wall at the end of the alley, perhaps trying to find some manhole I might have used to leave.

Much to my relief, the screws used for the lid of the large container weren't in a bad shape and I managed to sneakily leave the dumpster as soon as I knew I could finally move out in the open and turn the tables against my pursuer. Gun drawn and carefully aimed at my current issue, I slowly and silently approached the Ghoul as she still didn't perceive the current trouble she was in. Finally, as I saw her stop, I decided it was about time to strike before I lost my element of surprise.

"Who are you?" I asked loudly and sternly. My voice quickly got the stalker tense as she slowly turned around. There was silence, no response, but I could feel her eyes merely staring, gauging and studying me. I wasn't in the mood for long waits, so I pressed the issue once again.

"Who do you work for? Aogiri? V? Kanou?"

The last name gained her attention and I knew that I hit the target for once.

"The sick bastard deserves jail and worse for what he is doing. I can't believe a Ghoul is working with that monster."

"He… he isn't bad," The figure spoke up, her soft voice somewhat familiar. There was a lot of conflict that I could perceive in there, but nothing that I could properly understand without assuming and going for a wrong idea of it all. "He is trying to… save the world."

"From what? The only reason he goes this far is to stroke his ego, to lull himself away from the pain of death. He is afraid for himself, not for this world."

Her body language exuded reluctance but unwillingness to concede to that point. "He cares. He saved my life and-"

"How many people were burned out through this? Most became cannon fodders for the Ghoul Restaurant. Fighters of an arena that they will never leave because they have been sold by a doctor that spoke so highly of a chance the moment they gave him trust. Kanou is a monster that lies all for the sake of proving a point… to himself. That he can reach the unreachable," I remarked. "Human life? It doesn't exist for him."

…

"Why didn't you kill me if that was the case? Aren't you meant to kill all Ghouls that threaten human lives, Kaikakkun?"

"Because you don't have a choice in this," I pointed out. "You don't ask for this and yet you were brought in this madness and we can help, the CCG can help like we did with the first one that got turned by Kanou and..."

Wait. That nickname is… familiar.

"Kakkun, you should sleep this much. You might end up growing lazy."

"Kakkun, you are going to embarrass yourself if you play that prank with Jucchan."

"Kakkun, Kuro-nee is teasing me. Can you tell her to stop too?"

My eyes widened as I finally realized who I was talking to.

"S-Shiro-chan?"

Her body tensed up again. "I-I'm not-"

"Shiro, I can recognize that nickname and- and that's your style," I interrupted with a serious tone. "I meant it when I said we can help you. You and Kuro-chan."

She stifled a snort. "A-As if. You all forgot about us, there was an investigation but it never took off."

"Because Kanou bribed for it to be concluded quickly," I rebuked. "I tried to force it to continue by trying to open new ones, but those requests were shot down before they could reach out and start something official."

Nashiro kept quiet for a moment. "W-What? But father said-"

"Akira and I started a secret investigation, we went through all clues by ourselves- we got Juuzou to join this too and then we brought all we found to the director. He was… frustrated by what happened, he would have never allowed this to happen," I brought up, interjecting again. "We didn't stop searching… and I couldn't let go. Not like this, never like this. I care too much for both you and Kuro."

"Father-"

"Shiro, I can swear on my life that he isn't a good person. He killed innocents just to cover his tracks and he is allied to a group that wants to ruins everything- the city itself might not survive this one and that's the least of the troubles this issue is going to cause."

…

"W-What if you are lying? This could be a ploy to- to trick me and lower my guard and-"

Click.

"H-Huh? Wh-what are you doing?" The girl asked as I unloaded the magazine out of the gun I was currently holding, dropping the thing on the ground and bringing my hands up.

"No tricks. I'm not lying, Shiro-chan."

…

"I-I don't believe it. Y-You have to be lying or- or this is a lie!"

I shook my head. "It's not."

…

"L-Liar," She muttered again, this time I could feel her close to start crying at the circumstance. "Y-You are a dumbass, Kakkun!"

In a brief moment, she unleashed her kagune, using it to propel herself onto the rooftops of the nearby buildings. She didn't spare any word, not even a glance, as Nashiro left the premises of the area in a state of utter confusion and distraught.

I remained there, like this, pondering over the absurdity of the situation and… and I knew that I had to do something about this. Kanou was trying to use the twins to hunt me down but… why? Why me in particular? Sure, revenge is a good reason, but he had kept himself from attacking those he knew were very protected by the CCG and the Washuu so… why change now?

Despite this confusion, I still knew there was one thing I had to do. Something that I was going to handle once I was through with my discussion with Juuzou… but first-!

"Akira? Yes, sorry for the sudden call but… are you free for dinner? I think we need to talk about something that came up about Kanou. It's the twins."

AN

Time to bring back more seriousness as we return to face Kanou. And yes, I will add a backstory to the relationship between Kaizo, Juuzou and the twins. I want to give them 'density' with their personalities as only Kurona received something due to her role in :re. But it was just… something, and I have big plans. Sexy plans.