The blue of the atmosphere is fractured, darkening as it splits into a cracked web. Lately, it's as though the sky has been falling. A nonreflective mirror as fragile as glass has shattered and everyone below is left to pick up the broken pieces. Or so, that's how Tsukauchi feels as he stares upwards into the not so heavenly heavens. The detective opens a black umbrella, hoisting it over his head and blocking the view. Should any more shards rain down from above, he's hoping that the covering will be enough.
From here on, he stares ahead. The police cruiser that he borrowed stays stationary, parked behind him. And he moves forward. Even though he feels he's always looking back, going nowhere. Not only had the world lost one of its greatest heroes, if not THE greatest hero ever, but Tsukauchi had lost his dearest friend. And the case he'd been too fixated on to set time aside for that friend still remains open. There's a lot of guilt weighing the detective down that he feels pulled back. But as Aizawa would say, there's still work to be done.
Speaking of the underground hero, that's exactly who he's come to see. The case involving the Tokyo Ghoul has gotten out of hand, but they started it together, and that means they'll end it together no matter the grief it gives them. Tsukauchi's grip on the umbrella's handle tightens ever so slightly; he tells himself that it's in case the wind begins to pick up so that it doesn't fly away. He'd been kicking himself for giving the kid a chance all this time, but he can't imagine how Aizawa must be feeling.
So when he knocks on the underground hero's door, he isn't expecting to see what's on the other side. Or rather, WHO he finds behind the veil. "Is that.. Himiko Toga.. ?", his bewilderment leaves him slack jawed for a few seconds.
The League Of Villains member sits on the floor of the underground hero's home, Eri across from her. The two girls have a set of coloring books between them, colored crayons scattering the carpet. Both of them pause their doodling to look at the newcomer and wave, but it's the blonde that greets him verbally, "Hello!" And with the nerve to be casual about it no less.
"Yes. Now that we've established that, get inside before someone else notices", Aizawa grabs Tsukauchi by the collar of his trademarked tan overcoat and pulls the detective inside. The underground hero slams the door shut behind them before letting go.
"Dammit, Aizawa. What's a villain doing in your house?", Tsukauchi has trouble reigning in his frustration and shock still. After all that has happened, this is the last thing he'd expect from the underground hero. He massages his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, trying to rub out the creases that are bound to become wrinkles.
"She's a valuable asset when it comes to finding Midoriya", Aizawa crosses his arms over his chest as though he's confident about what he's saying; however, Tsukauchi is sure he hears a hint of doubt in the statement.
The detective folds his own arms to match Aizawa, "Oh yeah? How so?" His stare is skeptical, not so patiently waiting for the answer to the question.
Aizawa looks away, unable to answer at first. "All the people that he'd seek out are in one place", but eventually his gaze finds Himiko and Eri. "Them", the underground hero turns his eyes back to Tsukauchi, "And us" His face becomes somber, expression soft despite the rough stubble around his chin, "The kid has nobody else."
But Tsukauchi remains stone cold, setting his jaw. "What makes you think Midoriya would come back to us?", he asks the question bitterly. When the underground hero doesn't answer, the detective sighs. "Face it, Aizawa. We fucked up", it's his turn to avert his gaze as the feeling of guilt returns.
Aizawa stares down at the floor too, still having trouble finding the right response. "I refuse to believe he can't still be saved", he eventually settles on a self indulgent whisper.
But after all that has occurred, all the lives that have been lost and the destruction left in the ghoul's wake, the reply from Aizawa only upsets Tsukauchi further. The detective reaches into his overcoat to dig out what he brought and originally came here to give the hero, "Then maybe you should have a look at this", he shoves a book into Aizawa's arms.
Aizawa falters, looking down at the novel. It's a hardcover. He bends it open to flip through some of the pages while asking, "What's this?"
"A lead", Tsukauchi prompts the hero to keep skimming the pages. "They call themselves the Meta Liberation Army, and they're working with Midoriya. Turns out 'Aogiri Tree' is just a branch connecting to them", the connection between the book of propaganda and Tokyo Ghoul comes as a shock to Aizawa.
"How did you come by this?", the underground hero glances up from the book to look into Tsukauchi's rectangular eyes. It's a pleading gaze, expressing Aizawa's desire to know more.
Tsukauchi breaks eye contact. "We've got someone on the inside", but the detective still discloses some of the inside information with a hushed tone.
However, "Who?", that only prompts Aizawa to dig deeper for answers.
But he can only get so far. Tsukauchi glances around, appearing on the brink of paranoia. "Not here. Not with her present", but his sights settle on Himiko and all is clear to Aizawa then.
The underground hero relents. "Fine. But this doesn't change the fact that she can be useful", he follows the detective's gaze to the pair of girls coloring together on the floor.
"We should arrest her", Tsukauchi grumbles just loud enough for Aizawa to hear him. And he doesn't once take his eyes off of the blonde villainous.
"She can be useful", Aizawa repeats himself with more insistence. Despite sounding so adamant, the hero doesn't get the detective to deter his laser focus on Himiko.
"She's killed people", Tsukauchi reminds Aizawa of the girl's crimes. There's an unspoken part of that reminder that correlates with Izuku Midoriya who posed as Akatani Mikumo during his time as the Tokyo Ghoul.
"Give me a break!", and the underground hero finally breaks. He shakes his head and throws his hands up in the air, "Admit it. Neither of us know what we're doing. We're in over our heads. At this point, there's no wrong choices."
Finally, Tsukauchi takes his gaze off of Himiko to assess Aizawa. Though, he doesn't turn his head fully. He sideyes the underground hero, silently evaluating the emotional outburst that's a tad uncharacteristic. Sensing the investigation and plentitude of cases combining have taken their stressful toll, the detective humors the hero by asking, "How exactly do you plan on putting her to good use?"
Aizawa stops short, clearly not having expected that question. After a moment, he hesitantly tries, "..You said you have somebody inside the Meta Liberation Army?" Though that only prompts Tsukauchi to continue staring with expectations of elaboration. "Two are better than one", the underground hero gives a noncommittable shrug as he provides his suggestion.
"What makes you think we can trust her?", Tsukauchi raises a brow as he questions the proposition. He leans heavily to one side, planting his foot down.
"Who would Midoriya trust more than her? I'm sure they're both in dire need of a long awaited reunion", Aizawa turns to face the detective fully. His own feet settle into place, his legs standing firm.
Tsukauchi casts the underground hero a withering look. "Aizawa.. I can't even begin to list the number of reasons why that's a bad idea. First and foremost being because their emotions for one another could cause a conflict of interest", he voices his disapproval as delicately as he can though since the hero has clearly gotten so emotionally attached.
"Yoohoo! I'm literally right here", but Himiko herself interjects before Aizawa can begin to respond or Tsukauchi can continue. The fact that she may as well have been listening in on their conversation the entire time has them balking slightly. "You're not even whispering", Himiko squints at them teasingly.
"Why did you think this was a good idea?", Tsukauchi turns on Aizawa with a much lighter volume of voice. The hushed tone is slightly hoarse to keep conveying his aggravation though.
"You can't start now that I pointed it out", Himiko deadpans. Eri blinks in confusion, glancing between her sister role model and the adults.
"I told you, at this point, any idea is a good idea", but Aizawa ignores the blonde in favor of disputing with Tsukauchi. He too has lowered his voice to a quieter level.
"What happened to being logical?", Tsukauchi snarks again while keeping the same angry whisper. He levels his gaze with Aizawa for added emphasis.
"You haven't exactly been showing the best judgment lately either", the underground hero responds with his own refute while maintaining eye contact. The staring starts shifting to a set of glares.
"What's that supposed to mean?", Tsukauchi's face forces a frown as he cocks his head incredulously.
"Wow. You two bicker more than an old married couple", Himiko chimes back in. She hadn't stopped eavesdropping, much more keen to listen in now more than ever.
"Not helping", Aizawa turns his glare from Tsukauchi to her in order to quiet her down. The blonde holds up her hands in a sign of mock surrender.
When Aizawa returns his attention to Tsukauchi, the detective just shakes his head. Tsukauchi then jabs a harsh finger at the hero's chest, "Look at the book. Stay in touch", before using it to switch aim from Aizawa to Himiko, "And as for her.." The blonde waves. "Figure out what you're going to do. I'm not involved", Tsukauchi turns away with a slight flourish of his overcoat.
Only after the detective has left and Aizawa is left contemplating with the book in his hands does Himiko speak up again, "I think that went well."
Aizawa casts her an unamused glance with a tired tilt of his head. But she's already back to playing with Eri, too occupied to notice. "I need a cup of coffee..", the underground hero sighs to himself before reopening the lead that Tsukauchi left him with.
As for the person on the inside at the Meta Liberation Army, they just so happen to be making their introduction to the ghoul momentarily. Led there by Re-Destro himself, the turncoat steels themself for the meeting. The Tokyo Ghoul has quite the reputation, afterall.
Behind closed doors that lead to his quarters within the Meta Liberation Army compound, the ghoul clutches his throbbing skull with pale fingers. Nails blackened by dried blood during his torture dig into the pulsating flesh beneath his bleached hair. Just like the design of his leather mask, his teeth are gritted together. Sweat drips down his face the same as a few tear droplets coming out of his bloodshot eyes.
"My fingers in my mouth–", his hands fly from clutching his head to in front of his face so that he can see the scarring of where his fingers had been severed, "Centipedes crawling in m- in my ears!" The panicked boy smacks at his frontal lobe, trying to shake something out. "IN MY HEAD!", he shouts while pivoting in a mismatched fashion to how his mind is spiraling out of control.
A memory. A distant memory. "Mother- Mother-", he calls out to the image in his mind of a green haired woman covered in blood. Realizing that she's dead and that he's the reason for her death, he comes to a jarring halt. "Aahh.. I'm soo fucked up..", he whines through ragged breaths before sensing the presence of others than himself.
The ghoul snarls, turning to glare at whoever dares enter his den without knocking first. He finds Rikiya Yotsubashi in the doorway, standing next to another familiar face. Red feathered wings and ash blonde hair that matches the yellow visor covering his eyes; the pro hero known as Hawks has joined their ranks the same as Slidin' Go betrayed the heroes. He can't say he's too pleased to be working with either of them if they're such frauds to heroism but he also doesn't have much of a choice. He forces his sneer to morph into a more welcoming expression.
The expression Hawks had throughout witnessing the whole mental breakdown stays on his face after seeing how quickly the ghoul changed his mood and behavior. "I've met some crazy villains over the years, but you got to be the craziest one yet", he shakes his head in disbelief.
Hawks has no idea how true that statement is.