Kotarou Amon considered himself professional. He didn't question orders, kept his gripes between himself and and the bottom of his beers, and did his best to not call his juniors out about their failings. As such, he was professionally discouraged from addressing the bickering going on in the backseat of the sedan. What Amon was very able to do was wish he was still working with Allen. It had been near enough the best of company he could've asked for: little personal conversation into private life, no uncomfortable chatter about rivals at the academy, just the necessary amount of words on the topic at hand. Not for the first time, Amon sighed at the shame that Akira had only been assigned as his partner only after Allen had been moved; he could have imparted a little more professionalism to her.

And unlike the other occupants in the vehicle, Allen would have been Amon's first choice of who to have at hand for an operation like this. Akria and Tazikawa were not exactly green despite showing their immaturity through their constant bickering, but it could only be hoped that their friction wouldn't interfere once they needed to be serious.

Then there was the driver to Amon's right: Hasuko, twentith ward data analyst who had earned the right to add the word 'former' to her title after proving herself in the Aogiri raid back in the fall, making her green, but very competent. She had been working with Allen as his driver-slash-aide and Amon could see where Allen's reserved side had been absorbed by her. Nominally, Shinohara was supposed to be her mentor at the moment, but as Juuzou was a problem child, she had mainly been independent or under Amon's guidance.

Kotarou Amon knew some questions had no answer to them; it was a fact he had learned even before he had partnered with Mado. He had learned from him though; that casting aside an unanswered question was less trouble than allowing a it time to sit and fester. And of the few that he couldn't remove from his head, only one managed to nag more often than not in the past months: Allen Grissom. This was getting into the thumbtacks and red yarn territory; linking coincidence after coincidence, leaving the revered chain of evidence so far behind that his old teachers would have bonked a book on his head.

There had been no warning on day Allen had left, just a pair of shady suits from the central office arriving to inform him of the foreigner's reassignment before proceeding to before debriefing him on nearly everything to do with Allen. It was only some time after that interview that Amon had started hearing rumors and omissions of what was going on out of sight. The member of the Washuu clan who had gone over to America as the other half of the exchange had apparently came back in a bag. He had seen CCG forensics vans outside the building where Allen had been staying and none of his classmates from the CCG academy had said anything about the novelty of having an American around. Then the stories of a foreign ghoul making trouble the wards and the apparent infighting among Aogiri during the CCG raid.

How many coincidences add up to make a fact?

Amon's view had been that they were unrelated but unusual, up until the gristly question of what Kanou did to Kaneki Ken. Amon knew, Akira knew, possibly even Juuzou knew about how blackened the history of American ghouls were. With a history like that, the faint possibility of actually going so far as to use ghouls to hunt other ghouls was there, and with fewer historical inhibitions to boot. How much had Allen talked about his personal life? How many times had they shared a meal? He had chalked it up to just being an awkward foreigner, but now Amon's intuition was tingling whenever he thought of it.

Despite how Mado had pounded the idea of trusting his instincts into him, Amon had kept his suspicions to himself. If he was wrong, he would crater his own career despite whatever endorsements had been in Mado's will. On the other hand, being right would crater the careers of a lot of people over him—people who would hold a grudge long after the shakeup ended. And as for the possibility of asking Hasuko, Amon had ruled that out from the beginning; there was a reason she hadn't been working in the field. If he was going to invite all that fresh hell, Amon had figured that it would be better off keeping his mouth shut.

"Where is Shinohara, anyway?" Hasuko didn't even break eye contact with the road. "He and Juuzou woulda fit if we had a van."

"Investigator Shinohara is riding separately." Amon didn't know the details, but the big man had referenced needing to 'prep an ace in the hole' at the lab. "He said he'll meet us at the site."

The fact that the backseat had turned two of his juniors into bickering children was unenviable with two seats occupied. Having three would probably require him to play the father and and pull them apart. Thankfully it was just Akira and Tazikawa, and they at least regained their composure when separated.

A tingle of deja vu poked at Amon at something that was said in the backseat. Unlike the trains zipping past next to the highway, the ride was long enough for the passengers that thoughts started to circle back like a ghoul revisiting hunting grounds.

"I don't suppose you've heard anything recently...from Allen?"

There was a definite rev in the engine. Perhaps, Amon thought, he should have asked when she wasn't changing lanes. Or, was he going too far? All the considerations were tantamount to going against the decisions of people above him, people who knew better than him. Perhaps Hasuko had already came to the same conclusion, making him seem like the foolish junior.

"I—Not recently." Hasuko's hands shifted back and forth on the steering wheel. "Not since the time of the Aogiri raid."

Amon tried to appear unconcerned. "Did he have say anything interesting?"

"Eh." Hasuko said nothing as she merged onto an exit ramp. "He might've wanted to avoid being a distraction. Hoping he was asking after you?"

"I see." Amon was now aware that the backseat had been quiet since he had mentioned Allen.

"I had almost expected him to be included in the Aogiri raid myself." Now Akira's voice piped up from the behind Amon's head. "After reading the debriefings from your encounter with Rabbit, he probably would have evaluated as an Investigator First Class."

"He's a foreigner." The dismissive eye roll was audible in Tazikawa's tone. "You really think we'd let him join something like that and claim some glory for themselves?"

Unsurprisingly, Akira refused to let him have the final word, reminding him that GFG transfers weren't excluded from major operations and that there had even been one or two agents from China at the Aogiri raid.

"Fine, fine, you win! So what's your take?"

"He's an American, you know: not one of the GFG or any of the firms in China. In fact, he might be the first American with any ghoul hunting experience to set foot on Japanese soil since nineteen forty seven."

Tazikawa sniffed. "So he's unique? Could've said that with fewer words."

"It means that he's the first link in what the CCG hopes to be a long and fruitful relationship with the BGA." Catching a whiff of another brewing argument, Amon decided to interject. "So it's preferable to make sure he doesn't die at the biggest raid of the past four years."

"One can only wish the Americans at the BGA had your wisdom." Akira noted wryly. "It hardly reflects on them well that a Washuu came back dead."

Amon had no ideal reply to that observation. "Sometimes a sure case turns bad. Intelligence can be bad, a weak ghoul can have a strong friend; all we can do is try to be ready for it."

Much to his relief, Amon heard nothing from the rear seats; his statement had been taken as the final word on the matter. Now if only he could bring himself to fully believe his own words.

Hiding one's true beliefs, saying what was expected stay in line and keep suspicions down while keeping a separate perspective hiddent was getting dangerously close to how a conspiracy theorist operated. The comparison was one Amon could draw, but there was one closer to home that he couldn't help but make; a ghoul.