Hey guys! I haven't uploaded in a while because of the Christmas holidays. I hope you understand and have had a Merry Christmas and a happy new year yourself! Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 18: Vanish
The trio decided to head back to :RE for the time being to rest, especially since they had Gazel wounded and in need of some sort of first aid treatment. They bandaged her up in the break room of :RE and let her rest. After resting themselves for a while, (especially Kaneki since the side affects of using his kakuja were really getting to him), it was very early in the morning and Yomo still hadn't returned. They grew worried at his disappearance but decided to set it aside for the time being, as they had a bigger problem on the loose: The Frankenstein monster. The trio decided to head out in search of the monster, as they were strongly influenced by the white haired ghoul believing it was his responsibility he let it get away, even when the other two dismissed the thought.
However the thought of leaving Gazel in :RE alone didn't bode well with the two ghouls as flash backs of what happened with Hinami came to their minds. Hide agreed, but more for the reason of what would happen if she woke up alone in a place she had never seen before. So they decided to leave with Gazel sleeping soundly at the back of Hide's car.
The 20th ward was in confusion; everyone, or at least every human, was worried. The monster had rampaged through only one road and suddenly disappeared, but it didn't stop the news and panic to spread fast. Crowds of people formed near the attack, while reporters were also on the scene.
"The strange zombie looking-monster stormed through this very road here, then proceeded to destroy a local shop selling fruits and vegetables. Luckily the owner of the shop who was the only one in the building at the time suffered minor injuries when the beast threw him into a stall of tomatoes. The beast then seemed to lose interest in the man and the shop seen as he rampaged back out through the streets. It's location is currently unknown at the moment, and the CCG is under investigation of the incident. Investigator Akira Mado, does the CCG have any kind of idea what that thing was?"
"No. As you said, the investigation in still going on and the CCG hope to get some answers or hints from interviewing the victim in the attack." Akira answered, trying her best to walk away from the reporter.
The reporter followed the investigator in an attempt to get more information out to the public. "Have you identified the victim yet?"
"I haven't received word."
"Is the 20th ward even save anymore?"
Akira picked up the pace in order to avoid any more unanswerable questions from the eager reporter. Blending in with the crowd, Akira managed to get away from the interview with a sigh of relief.
"How is it Akira?"
Akira forgot her ear comm was still on, but thankful it was to talk to someone familiar. "It looks like a crash site to be honest, except the concrete is messed up as well."
"Messed up?"
"Cracks, claw-like marks and indented footprints."
"Where do the footprints lead up to?"
"I followed them before and they led me to an alleyway."
"… So I'm guessing they disappeared from then."
"Not really… I couldn't tell."
"How so?"
"Because the alleyway was already demolished to begin with, Arima-san."
"… I see."
Five minutes ago
"Hurry up!"
"We already just escaped the police by running a red light, how much faster do you want me to go until we end up crashing?"
Kaneki didn't stop egging his best friend to push on the accelerator. Anxiety was, once again, eating him alive.
"Oh no…" Hide slowed the car down to a halt, but because the car was already speeding, it felt like an emergency stop.
"What's the deal? Why did we almost trigger the airbags?" Kaneki asked after recovering from his face smashing against the seat in front.
"That's what it felt like to you since you didn't wear a seat belt." Touka commented, completely fine with the protection of her seat belt.
"I was in the back seat."
"Doesn't mean you can't wear a seat belt."
"It does when this sleeping girl is practically using them all up." Kaneki pointed to Gazel laying on her side next to him at the back, sleeping soundly with seatbelts strapping her in place.
"There's still one left." Touka pointed at the unused seatbelt, still staring at the white-haired boy's red nose.
Kaneki shot her a glare to which she smiled and laughed. "Anyway, why have we stopped Hide?"
"Damn it." Hide cursed under his breath. "Look ahead of us."
Touka turned to look ahead while Kaneki peered from the back seat to see a load of trapped cars ahead. Most of the concrete road was destroyed further on ahead, and two flipped parked cars were on the pavement. Crowds formed around them as well as a local shop that Kaneki noticed to be severely damaged.
The three stared for more than ten seconds without a word. Each one of them was absorbing their surroundings and seeing the destruction the beast caused in awe.
"It really is a mindless thing that runs on wild instinct huh?" Hide commented, observing the damaged on the road ahead of all the stuck, honking cars.
"Seems like it." Kaneki agreed.
"… To think it was possible to actually make a Frankenstein monster, less than a day ago it was fiction." Touka said to herself, biting her thumb. "So, what now?"
"I could try reversing out of here." Hide suggested, but immediately realised he couldn't after looking back and seeing even more cars had already queued behind him.
"Yeah and bump into the cars behind us." Touka replied.
"If you ignore the fact that there are cars behind us then it would be a smart idea okay!" Hide defended.
Touka rolled her eyes. "But there are cars behind us, you can't just ignore something like that dumbass!"
"Calm down you two! We actually need to find a way to get the hell out of here." Kaneki interrupted from the back seat.
"Which is what I tried to do to begin with!" Hide reminded.
The female ghoul rolled her eyes again. "Yeah but your idea was retarded-"
"Everyone please calm down and stop honking your horns! Traffic will start moving around the damaged area very soon so please be patient!" Police officers who began calming citizens and stuck drivers interrupted the pointless argument between the blond driver and the blue-haired ghoul.
"Well I guess we could just wait until we get out of here, like the man said." Hide thought aloud, trying to get his friends opinions on the thought.
"But the thing could be anywhere, and could come back to attack at any time. That's why everyone's panicking, it's dangerous." Touka reminded.
"True, and I guess we would be vulnerable unless you two would be prepared to reveal to the CCG what and where you are." Hide continued.
"Speaking of CCG," Kaneki began, "It won't be long until they come here huh?"
"…and?" Touka raised an eyebrow to the white haired ghoul. "There are at least a hundred people here. It's not like we would stand out."
Kaneki nodded his head. "True, but I would."
"…Oh yeah, you're right, and that would be a problem." Hide thought, resting his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "We could just stuff you in the back."
"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!" Kaneki retorted loudly.
"Hahaha, just kidding man calm down!" Hide smiled along with a laugh from Touka.
"Whatever." Kaneki mumbled. "Well now that we've got that stupid suggestion out of the way, the question still stands. What exactly are we going to do?"
"Why don't we try calling Yomo-san again?" Touka suggested.
"Another good suggestion." Hide commented before reaching for his phone.
"What do you mean 'another'?" Kaneki asked. "All the suggestions have been shitty."
"Well at least Hide and I have actually suggested something." Touka shot back at the half-ghoul.
"I'd rather make no suggestion than a crap one." Kaneki stared back.
"At least I actually used my brain to think of something." Touka remarked.
The white haired ghoul sighed. "That level of thinking doesn't require any brain power."
"Just a minute ago you said to stop arguing. You'll wake up Gazel at this rate." Hide reminded as he scrolled through his contact list.
"Exactly." Touka whispered smugly.
"I'm talking about you too. Anyway, let's see if he answers the call this time." Hide pressed the call button and the three waited intently.
…
"Come on…" Hide muttered under his breath as there was no answer. "What could he possibly be doing?"
"Well at this rate, we're wasting our time like the pointless past two minutes of arguing." Kaneki said as Hide hopelessly ended the dial.
"I'm sick of this," Touka sighed, "Why don't we just ditch the car and come back to it later?"
Hide didn't like the idea of his precious car being at risk. "That's too risky!"
"The strange zombie looking-monster stormed through this very road here, then proceeded to destroy a local shop selling fruits and vegetables. Luckily the owner of the shop who was the only one in the building at the time suffered minor injuries when the beast threw him into a stall of tomatoes. The beast then seemed to lose interest in the man and the shop seen as he rampaged back out through the streets."
The three looked out the car's windows to see a reporter standing in front of the damaged shop.
"Well the reporters are here-" Hide started.
"It's currently unknown where it is at the moment, and the CCG is under investigation of the incident. Investigator Akira Mado, does the CCG have any kind of idea what that thing was?"
The three immediately froze, eyes wide. The name was familiar to all of them, in their own respective ways.
Akira Mado, the daughter of the married man I murdered. Touka remembered.
Akira Mado, the woman I worked with at the CCG. Hide remembered.
Akira Mado, my superior at the dreadful days I was an investigator. Kaneki remembered.
"… And so is the CCG." Kaneki finished Hide's sentence. "If they see me I'm done for, and so are you guys as long as you're with me."
"You know, ditching the car for the time being doesn't sound too bad after all." Hide thought out loud.
Touka rolled her eyes. "Too late now."
"Even if it wasn't too late, we can't just leave Gazel here." Kaneki reminded, pointing to the peacefully sleeping girl.
"True." Touka admitted. "But another 'good' suggestion down."
"Hey! It was a good suggestion!" Hide furrowed his eyebrows.
"That's what I just said."
"Sarcastically." Hide bluntly stated.
"How do you know that? It could just be the way you heard me say it." Touka giggled at Hide rolling his eyes.
"Guys, we can't just stay here arguing forever. We need to think of something." Kaneki reminded. "Honestly, I never thought our team work would be this trash."
"You could just wear a hood or a hat or something. And cover your mouth and nose with a scarf." Hide suggested.
"You know, that's not such a bad idea." Touka nodded.
"Yeah, (finally)." Kaneki agreed. "But what about you Hide?"
"What about me?"
"Yeah, Akira knows you. If she sees you she'll most likely come say hi or something, then I'm busted too. And that would take you to prison and bust Touka on top of all that as well." Kaneki sighed. "This shouldn't be so complicated…"
"It should be fine. She won't spot me-" Hide stopped for a moment. "Wait a sec. We might just want that!"
"What?" Kaneki and Touka both simultaneously said.
"If I go distract Akira, then the two of you can go away some place scott-free!" Hide clicked his fingers for added effect of his ingenious idea.
"You know, for once you're actually useful!" Touka sarcastically commented, making Hide roll his eyes.
Kaneki smiled. "But what about Gazel? We can't just leave her."
"Don't worry." Hide assured. "I'll come back to the car when you guys get passed Akira."
Kaneki nodded. "Okay so what's the plan?"
Akira sat on a bench near the incident, drinking a milkshake she bought from the only store she found to be still open. Sighing, she put the vanilla milkshake down and stared at the bright sky. Her recent weeks haven't been very enjoyable considering the hefty amount of paper work set at her desk every day.
As she was about to pick up her milkshake and leave, a shadow blocked her sunlight. Looking up she saw a blond boy smiling brightly like the sunshine he was blocking. Just as she was about to ask if he needed something, the intense smile immediately seemed familiar.
She kept staring at the blond boy to confirm whether the milkshake she had drunk had alcohol and she was seeing things or there actually was her former subordinate standing in front of her. Blinking a couple times, she finally realised that the boy was indeed there and let her jaw drop in shock. "N-Nagachika… how?"
Hide's smile dropped. He hadn't realised how much he had missed his former superior until now, especially since his first reunion with her is simply a distraction for his friends. Hide took a seat next to her and brought back his smile. "Long time no see! It's been like forever huh?"
Akira smiled back, and her eyes glistened. Filled with happiness and shock of seeing the cheery blond she had never thought she'd see again, Akira replied, "Y-yeah. Where have you been? You've been missing ever since the owl extermination operation."
Hide looked up to the sky and answered. "I've been having a peaceful life." It was an honest answer, after all he has been happy and peaceful with his reunited friend. "Thought I'd take it slow." Hide smiled and looked back at Akira, only for her to smile and look ahead. "Why don't you take a break too?"
The investigator looked to the ground, and her smile faltered. "I can't find it in me to stop working. It's the only way I can keep myself distracted."
"Distracted? Distracted from what?"
"From everything I've lost." Akira answered.
Hide lost his smile. "But you lose more and more when you keep yourself distracted. It's really-"
"Selfish. I know."
Hide looked at the investigator as she looked back at him with a smile. "I'm a very selfish person. I do nothing to help the people around me. As I grow more and more attached to them, I struggle to change my selfish attitude towards them, and they vanish before I know it. I know it's my fault but I choose to ignore it, and tell myself lies like 'There's nothing I could have done'. Just like when it happened to you, my father, Amon, and Haise."
Hide's eyes grew wide with genuine shock. Did she just say Haise…?
As always, thank you so much for reading. It really means a lot to me to see people enjoying my work, thank you!