Long chapter is long.
Thank you for the feedback you've given to me, and due to a review I've received in regards to my paragraph bodies being too long and making it hard for some of you to follow and maintain interest, I've decided to try and experiment with a new style of writing!
Let me know if this is an improvement or a step back; thank you, and please enjoy!
P.S., Hide will be important to the plot don't worry.
Edit (7/31/2020): Fixed Nishio's name.
Sitting down in his worn-out chair that seemed to squeak out on its own accord every time he got just a little bit too comfortable, Hideyoshi Nagachika had plenty of time to himself during his midnight shift as the Main Office's dispatcher; a title given to Hide that meant a lot a less than what he originally had hoped it did. After spending two years in the CCG's academy, the young blonde man had built his aspirations of wanting to improve society when he took his oath as a sworn ghoul investigator; his remarkable perception and seemingly sixth-sense about being able to scope out situations was what landed him his comfy desk job to begin with. About six months into his daily routine of doing absolutely nothing, those aspirations and ambitions that led him down his career path had vanished, and instead Hide now enjoyed being paid to do essentially the bare minimum. "Not exactly how I saw myself when I wrote that 'Five Years from Now' essay back in high school… But hey, a job's a job, right?" Hide said aloud to himself as he scrolled past the breaking news segments on his social media page, while only occasionally looking up to see the surveillance feed; a practice that was done nightly by not just him, but every other investigator who was sentenced to his monotonous position.
Interrupting Hide in the midst of him typing a comment on a post that he found to be particularly spicy was the dull buzzing sound coming from the radio that was placed on the right corner of his desk. "Bravo Five to Dispatcher, do you copy?"
Sighing to himself with a slightly annoyed look on his face, Hide placed his phone down on his desk before reaching over to pick up the small and black speaker-microphone to bring the device up near his lips. "Call for Dispatcher, go ahead."
"Dispatcher, be advised that there's a protest being held just outside the barricade perimeter, and they appear to be growing in numbers." While the friendly heads-up was something that was common practice for investigators to give to one another, Hide couldn't help but mentally scold himself for his incompetence before quickly shifting his brown eyes up to the monitor that displayed the live recording of hundreds of hooded figures surrounding the metal barricades.
Baffled at not only the size of the protestors, but by the fact that the protesters seemingly all had masks of different sizes and designs covering their faces, Hide couldn't help but have a bad feeling about the entire situation. "What the Hell...?!" Hide muttered to himself out of bewilderment, as a sense of dread began to creep up his back.
"Dispatcher, did you copy that?"
Realizing that he never actually replied back to the investigator on the other line, Hide fumbled with the small speaker-microphone in his fingers before finally pressing down on the button. "C-Copied, Bravo Five; I'll go ahead and raise the FPCON to Charlie, just be sure that you're checking ID's at all times, copy?"
There was a momentary pause on the radio, and after taking a quick peek over at the monitor that housed the live recording of the outside area where Bravo Five stood guard with another investigator, Hide quickly figured out that the delay in response was due to Bravo Five seemingly shaking his head at the small handheld radio in his hand. "Bravo Five to Dispatcher, don't worry about us out here on the frontlines, copy? We actually do our job out here, so just worry about your duties and we'll worry about our duties."
Through the live feed, Hide was able to see the other investigator beside Bravo Five appearing to be visibly laughing at the other man's remark. "... Copy that, over." Hide replied back into the small microphone in his hand, before setting it back down and sighing. "What an asshole… Not only that, but I can't believe that I have to actually do something tonight... How wonderful…" Hide spoke aloud to himself, before resting his chin underneath his palm, as he gazed intently at all of the monitors displaying the exterior of the Main Office. "... I really should stop talking to myself."
Dressed in baggy clothes and hoodies, Rize wore a disheveled and nervous expression on her face as she pushed herself along with Eto through the crowds of what the CCG thought of to be protesters. When the two women approached the end of the crowd that led in the separate and barricaded opening where hundreds of investigators were lined up in a row, the devious purple-haired ghoul looked over her shoulder at Eto before leaning in close to whisper into the half-ghoul's ear. "Remember, you're Ken Kaneki's aunt…! Just follow my lead and try to seem convincing, okay?"
"... I remember Kamishiro, I remember..." Eto replied back with an unsure look on her face. Although they had gone over the plan plenty of times, Eto was admittedly feeling a bit rusty herself when it came to the act of pretending. Years of harsh reality made her someone who found lying hard, but nevertheless the half-ghoul nodded reluctantly as she gazed up toward the night sky to look upon the top of the Main Office. "... Don't make me regret trusting you again, Kamishiro."
Taking only a moment to break the facade of being a helpless damsel in distress, Rize smiled widely at Eto. "You won't…! Now come on, we got work to do…!" Rize said excitingly, before instantly changing her expression back into a look of fear and panic; a feat that was done a bit too well in Eto's eyes, but she kept that to herself before mimicking the same kind of expression onto her own face. "Help…! HELP! HELP US!" Rize cried out with an anguished tone in her voice, as she sprinted out past the last of her disguised soldiers before rushing toward the barricades. "H-HELP!" Rize continued to scream through quickly conjured-up crocodile tears, as she led Eto by the hands towards the open arms of an investigator, who stared down at her with a bewildered look in his eyes. "Thank God…!"
"M-Ms. Kamishiro?! What in the world are you doing here?!" The investigator asked in a confused tone of voice as he looked up to see the terrified expression etched onto Eto's face. "And who's this woman?!"
"Help us…! Y-You have to help us, please…!" Rize begged in a convincingly-frightened voice, as she wrapped her arms around the man's waist before burying her face into the breastplate of his riot armor. "Help…! You have to help us for God's sake…!"
"Hey, hey now…! You're safe, okay? Just… Just tell me what's going on." The investigator asked calmly, although it was apparent to his colleagues who were watching the scene unveil before them that he too was beginning to feel unnerved by the looks of despair and terror on their faces.
Hyperventilating and visibly shaking, Rize pretended that she was trying to catch her breath while reaching into her hoodie to pull out her smartphone. "T-They're burning down everything…! It's a living Hell outside…!" Rize stuttered with a wide-eyed expression, as she quickly opened up her social media feed before handing it to the investigator. "L-Look…!"
Staring down at the screen of the phone along with the many other investigators who broke out of formation to look over his shoulder, the man felt his fingers grow numb and a chill run up his spine as the live video showed scenes of rioting, protestors and civilians alike looting, arson, and acts of violence being committed against law enforcement and bystanders through out what appeared to be all twenty-three Wards of Tokyo. "Jesus fucking Christ…!" The man swore underneath his breath.
"It's horrible…! P-Please… You have to let us in; we have nowhere else to go! T-They burned our homes down, and we're scared! Please…!" Rize begged with tears streaming down her cheeks, as she shakingly reached up with her trembling hands to take back her phone from the shell-shocked investigator. "Please sir, t-this is Kaneki's aunt; the one taking care of him; I found her wandering the streets outside of her burned down house…! I beg of you, d-don't make us go back out there… I-I…!"
Just then, Rize deceived the investigator and completely sold off on her alibi by appearing to have a mental breakdown. Falling to her knees, Rize screamed continually while struggling to gasp for air as the investigator stared down at her shaking body with a horrified look on his face; a look of absolute uncertainty of what to do that his colleagues had on their faces as well. "F-Fuck…! I… I can't, I mean… I shouldn't… Shit..!" The investigator cursed to himself, as he struggled to bring himself to defy his orders for the sake of helping the two women before.
Seeing how Rize's performance had sent the man into a desperate state of vulnerability and confusion about what was the right thing to do, Eto stepped forward in order to do her best to appear as though she were struggling to keep herself together. "P-Please sir, we're just civilians…. We don't have any protection out there, and I'm all the family that Ken Kaneki has left; I have to be here with him…! Surely you would want your families here with you as well, no?!"
Eto's question was more than enough to not only persuade the man, but the half-ghoul's mentioning of family made every investigator nearby suddenly tense up and freeze like deer staring at oncoming headlights. Young or old, most of the investigators who had been designed as riot control for the Main Office's perimeter had been so caught up with what was going on around them that they practically hadn't thought of where their loved ones could be.
Breathing hard underneath his grey riot armor, the man fought through the hundreds of dreadful thoughts that were coursing through his head as he reached for his handheld radio on his belt.
"Bravo Three to Dispatch… B-Be advised that I'm letting two civilians onto property."
Baffled at what he had just thought he heard, Hide stared at the surveillance of the investigator with a perplexed and dumbfounded look on his face, as he watched them walk through their line of defenses and around the reinforced barricades. Quickly fumbling for the microphone-speaker, Hide brought the device back up to his lips before speaking. "Dispatcher to Bravo Three, that's gonna be a negative, good buddy. FPCON Charlie dictates that you only let personnel with CCG ID badges onto the property; tell them they'll have to go elsewhere."
It wasn't long after Hide had spoken into the radio until the investigator replied back to what the dispatcher had to say. "Dispatcher, the young women I'm allowing into the premises aren't unidentified personnel. They have personnel relations with Ken Kaneki."
Frustrated that the investigator wasn't taking the mandated protocols seriously nor respecting the authority that his position had over him, along with the other investigators who were on riot control duty, Hide gritted the molars of his teeth before speaking back. "Dispatcher to Bravo Three, you are going against procedure and will be reported to the chain of command if you don't do your job and escort those two back out of the premises this instant!"
Almost immediately after Hide had just threatened to report the man for insubordination and negligence, the man quickly responded back over the radio. "Dispatcher, with all due respect, I'm choosing to follow our oath of helping out our human citizens in need above all else."
"Oath...?! The nerve of this guy!" Hide shouted out in the office with an angered look on his face, as he scrunched up his nose before quickly following up on the radio. "Bravo Three, this is your last chance; get your ass over there and tell them to go kick rocks elsewhere, or I'll have your ass Court-Martialed as soon as this shit-show ends!"
After Hide had finished making his second threat to the man's career for that night, he found himself hunched over his desk with his eyes glaring intently at the investigator through the soft-glowing monitor. Hide watched as the man stared down at the radio, and looked as though he were about to back down and follow Hide's orders. That's when the same investigator who had given grief to Hide walked over to him to swipe his radio before bringing it to his mouth to speak. "... Bravo Five to Dispatcher. Allow us real investigators to do our job out here and make the right calls as we see fit; you just keep an eye out for trouble like how you're supposed to do. I'll keep an eye out for Bravo Three myself. Bravo Five, signing off."
And with that being said over the radio, Hide watched in disbelief through the monitor as the investigator raised his radio up to turn the power dial of his device off, before clipping it back onto the younger investigator's belt. "That… That dumbass! UGH!" Hide grunted loudly as he slammed his balled fist against the surface of his desk. "Who the Hell even is Ken Kaneki…?! What makes him so damn special?!" Hide asked out loud to himself out of frustration, before quickly bringing the microphone back up to mouth after he had switched channels on the transmitter so he could make a public announcement to all of those who were inside the sturdy walls of the Main Office.
"Attention Main Office personnel, be on the lookout for two young women who are posing as relatives of Ken Kaneki. One has purple hair, and the other has bright green hair; they're not hard to miss, folks. I repeat, be on the lookout for these trespassers."
Behind the plastic shield of his facial mask, Dr. Kanou couldn't help but roll his eyes at what he had just heard being broadcasted on the public announcement. "Bah! That must be that blonde guy no one likes! What a paranoid young man… Doesn't he know that everyone knows who your lovely young lady friend is by now; I can't imagine anyone actually taking that announcement to heart! Isn't that right, Kaneki?!" Dr. Kanou mused with a scoff, while carefully connecting an assortment of Kaneki's arteries into the gently-glowing red kakuhou. "... Oh ho, why am I asking you a question right now? Forgive me young man, I've grown so used to your company, that I was actually waiting for you to verbally respond back to my ramblings! Ha ha ah!" The doctor said with a hearty-belly laugh, before continuing the process of the unconscious man's surgery.
The announcement had made Eto assume that their plan of inciting civil unrest amongst the ghoul community and infiltrating the Main Office was going to be for naught; and for a moment, Rize appeared to have a nervous look on her face that made Eto believe that she thought the same. As if the announcement wasn't damning enough, the two young women had found themselves standing before a patrolling investigator while on their way toward the back entrance of the Main Office. Standing with Rize at her side, Eto stared back at the eyes of a fully-geared patrolling guard, and was preparing to quickly subdue him before he could alert anyone of their location. That's when the man blew a raspberry at the announcement with an annoyed look on his face, as he shook his head.
"Man, that Nagachika kid is really starting to get on my nerves! Seriously, it's either he doesn't give a passing thought about his duties, or all of a sudden he thinks he's the big man on campus!" The patrolling investigator retorted out loud, as he smiled back at the half-ghoul with an apologetic look in his eyes. "Don't you worry about any of that, ladies. Make yourselves at home, and don't you pay any mind to the protestors outside; we got all of our investigators focusing their attention on them and whatever else comes our way!"
Eto had already expected beforehand that years of peace and victory would have changed the practices and attitude of CCG's investigators, but never did she ever think that they would grow as complacent as how she was seeing them now. Relaxing her shoulders a bit while keeping her guard maintained, Eto continued to play the part of a scared and defenseless woman and cracked a weak smile at the confident and very incompetent investigator before her. "T-Thank you sir, that makes us feel better…!" She said meekly, which earned her a reassuring grin from the patrolling investigator.
"Happy to help you, ladies! Oh, and also… When you see Kaneki, mind telling him that Bravo Seven said hello and that he was wondering if he could spruce up his quinque a bit with that fancy handiwork of his and the Doc?" The man asked sheepishly, while waiting for a confirmation regarding his request.
"Y-Yes of course… I'll let me know that someone by 'Bravo Seven' said hello, and that his… What was it again?" Eto asked with a naive look on her face; as to appear clueless about what a 'quinque' exactly was. "Kiwi-Ch? Is that what you said?"
"It's called a 'quinque', it's uh… Well, um… Actually, that's okay ma'am; just let him know that I said hello, please." The man said with a small smile; deciding that explaining to the woman what a quinque was would be a poor use of his limited amount of time. "Anyways, I gotta finish making my round before my supervisor starts complaining. Have a good night, and stay safe ladies!" The man said with a wink, before continuing on his way; leaving Eto and Rize alone to exchange glances with one another.
"What about… 'Star Platinum'? Or uh, how about nicknaming it after that song, 'Unravel'?!" Kaneki spoke aloud to himself in his dream, where he continued to cross out the rejected possible nicknames listed on the piece of paper in front of him. "Okay, okay… These edgy and stolen names aren't cutting it for me… What about something simple, like 'Snickers'? Oh, that's a good one… I'll name it-!" Interrupting Kaneki's eight-hour long maraton of a season that involved solely around the dilemma of trying to figure out an appropriate nickname for his kagune, a black cloud began to rise up from the imaginary floor of the office that he occupied, and soon his entire dream became enveloped by a thick blanket of darkness that surrounded him.
Looking around at his new dreamscape, Kaneki couldn't help but compare his new environment to that of being inside a black cloud during a storm. "Cumulonimbus, to be exact… Although, I suppose with the absence of precipitation and any static discharge, can it really be considered a true example of cumulonimbus? That, and this is a dream, and pretty much anything is possible in a dream… So there's that..." Kaneki reasoned aloud, as he stood patiently by to see what else his mind would conjure up from his subconscious.
Waiting anxiously for something to happen, Kaneki couldn't help but feel disappointed after a whole lot of nothing occurred for what seemed like an hour; albeit it was far less longer than an hour, but to Kaneki it seemed that way. Beginning to wonder if he was about to see some kind of nightmarish version of Mufasa from the 'Lion King' emerge from the black clouds, it soon dawned on Kaneki that despite him feeling like he was in dream, he couldn't help but to feel surprisingly more vulnerable than how one usually feel, even when having a nightmare. He was clearly conscious of what was going on, unlike how he felt while trying to conjure up a nickname for his kakuhou and future kagune.
"I still liked 'Snickers' as a nickname…" Kaneki said aloud to himself, despite being in a situation many would consider to be very uncomfortable. Everything around him felt so foreign, so alien, and most worrisome of all, Kaneki couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched intently. "... Hello? Is anyone… Is anyone there?" Kaneki called out in a voice that was far too insecure and uneasy for his liking. "... Why did I just ask that? I… I know this is a dream, or at least a hallucination caused by either something injected into me or perhaps a byproduct of the surgery… I don't have anything to worry about… That makes the most sense, yet…"
*Greetings, partner.
Immediately, even with hundreds of reassuring scientific explanations coursing through his mind that could have explained the reason behind the unknown voice that echoed around him, Kaneki instantly knew that something was wrong. "... Who are you?" Kaneki asked in a meek voice; feeling as though he were still being watched, despite the fact that there appeared to be no one around him.
*I've gone by many names.
*'Father', 'Husband', 'Brother', 'Son'... 'Best Friend'.
*Those names were earned and bestowed unto me by those who considered themselves close to me… I used to be admittingly proud to have those.
"... I've also earned names that many would consider to be very… Undesirable.
*They've called me 'Psychopath', 'Monster', 'Evil', and 'Fallen Child of Man'...
*In the end, a name is just a name, and holds no true bearing… Purpose is what matters in the end, and the impact we have on the world we leave.
*You don't have to worry about my name. Just consider me your new partner and… Beneficiary of your soul.
Quietly, Kaneki stood there surrounded by the dark presence that had just implied that it was going to take his soul away from him. After remaining silent with an unreadable expression on his face that one could sum up as being mild concern, an amused smile broke the heavy tension in the air. "Oh my God...! Dr. Kanou must have but used a little bit too much morphine, ha ha ah!" Kaneki laughed out loud with tears beginning to well up in the corners of his eyes. "Oh wow, that's terrible; funny, but kind of mess up too…! Wow… I can't wait to tell him all about you when I wake up."
*You won't have that either, partner.
"Oh!? And why's that? Are you going, what, haunt him and use your magical powers or whatever to put a voodoo curse on him~?" Kaneki asked mockingly with a wide grin on his face. To the young man who believed in science above all else, whatever fearful presence that the voice had going for it lost all credibility to Kaneki the moment it tried to threaten to take his soul.
If anything, Kaneki figured that since he was more than likely high off of his rocker, he might as well have fun with the seemingly polite and well-spoken voice of what sounded like the voice of a young child.
*No, I'm not going to use any sort of fictitious means to end that doctor's life.
Although he still felt like he was hallucinating the whole situation up inside of his head, Kaneki still couldn't help but feel uneasy again the moment the voice spoke of killing his mentor. "Haha, oh uh, ha ha ah… That's uh, that's not really… Why would you want to do that to him?"
*Because once I take control of your soul, I'll walk amongst the living once again.
*I have a VERY long list of people who need to die by my hand, and he's the first of many who need to be dealt with.
*I've been trapped inside these walls for years; left to decay. However, with your help, I'll be able to rise again, and end this pointless war that these fools made for themselves.
*... I see you aren't smiling anymore. Why is that?
*...
*... Oh, I see.
*... You too fell for the temptation that all forbidden fruit bears, didn't you?
*...
*Did he make you feel important too? Like you were the one to unite them?
*...
*I used to feel that way too.
Whatever confidence and reassurance that had kept Kaneki at bay with the dark presence was now absent. Kaneki was beginning to truly question the nature of the voice itself.
He thought about it, and it soon dawned on Kaneki that the voice he was hearing was unfamiliar to him, and every part of him knew that this was the first time that he was hearing it. Although Kaneki had read once that one would only dream of voices that they've heard in the real world, the young man didn't push it past the realm of possibilities that perhaps he couldn't remember if he had heard the voice from a movie or song.
That was reasonable enough to think.
However, the talk of taking control of his soul and using him like a puppet was… Off for Kaneki, considering that he figured souls to be as real as Santa Claus.
So why now was his subconscious acting this way?
"You're… You're not real." Kaneki stammered out; finally breaking the silence after finding the courage to speak up. "Souls aren't real, this place isn't real… None of this is real…" Kaneki declared with as much confidence as he could muster. "Besides… If you could kill me, you would have done it by now… Subconscious or drug-related hallucination, o-or whatever you are, you don't have any control of me!"
*...
*You're saying 'no' to me?
*...
After standing up to the dark voice that Kaneki was no longer willing to tolerate, the young man found himself with his hands balled into fists by his sides as a long period of silence followed after. Expecting for something to pop out of the darkness to attack him, Kaneki found himself trying to prepare himself for what could happen next. Luckily for him, after waiting for a while, Kaneki figured that the voice had gone away. Letting out a sigh of relief, Kaneki sat himself down on the black and seemingly nonexistent floor as he watched as the black clouds surrounding him began to pull away from him. "Finally… For a moment, I was beginning to think tha-"
Without warning, the black clouds surrounding Kaneki came alive once more with a booming echo that shook his being to its very core. Following the ominous thunderous roar was an unholy orchestra of what sounded like a cross between a high note being continuously played on a violin and what sounded like a heart slowly beating in a hellish rhythm that Kaneki could physically feel in his ear drums.
*... I don't think I like that answer, partner.
"Why… Why am I in this m-much pain?! This shouldn't be happening…! I-I shouldn't be feeling anything right now!" Kaneki asked aloud in a panicked and confused voice, as he reached up to try and cup his hands over his ears to muffle out the migraine-inducing melody. "I-Impossible…! My front lobe should have been separated from my nervous system by now...! I-I shouldn't be feeling anythi…"
Suddenly, a haunting and horrifying revelation cut its way through the immense pain and torture that he was forced to endure, as a mind-boggling realization dawned on a Kaneki. In the real world, he should have been brain dead; feeling, much less still having the ability to think, should have been impossible for him.
Despite his best efforts to block out the screeching noise, the high pitched series of repeated notes only intensified along with the rhythmic heartbeat, that was beginning to beat faster and faster by the passing moment. Just when Kaneki felt as though his ear drums were going to start bleeding, a blinding assortment of blue and white sparks erupted from his upper back. Experiencing a new level of pain that he knew for a fact would have been too much for a human body to bear without going into shock, Kaneki's mind became overwhelmed, and almost immediately the young man's disembodied-self collapsed onto the astral plane underneath him. Silent and unable to even muster up the mental capacity to scream, Kaneki laid there with a wide eyed expression frozen on his face, as his body became enveloped in a bright burning light.
*... You don't have a choice anymore, partner.
*...
*...
*Why are you struggling?
*Do you think you can override my decision?
*...
*SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?
"Son of a bitch...!" Dr. Kanou cursed aloud, as he recoiled back from the operating table with his teeth gritted down against each other. Just before he was able to finish using his q-metal needle to finish sewing the front of Kaneki's cranium, a heavily-concentrated heated bolt made up of RC-Cells shot out from the young man's surgically-opened back, and managed to singe the doctor's face. Had it not been for his plastic mask that absorbed the voltage of the bolt, Dr. Kanou surely would have died instantly.
"God damnit, what is it doing?!" Dr. Kanou asked out loud, as he pulled off the melted and blackened face shield in order to quickly swipe it out for another one from his supply closet. "Arata never used to do this; nor was his kagune ever capable of doing this… Why…? Why now?!"
After he had hastily put on several more layers of PPE to protect him from any more probable bolts of blue plasma, it was only then when the doctor turned around to look at his patient did the gravity of the situation finally settle in. While Kaneki's EKG monitors were blaring with recorded heart rhythms that shouldn't have been possible, his body was flailing underneath his restrictive bonds while his kakuhou sparked violently in a display of bright blinding lights that acted as though they were live tesla coils. Considering how Kaneki was still alive at this point, Dr. Kanou quickly jogged back to the operating table and looked up at the IV bag filled with blood and watched in absolute bewilderment and horror as the bag was draining at a rapid speed that made it clear to the ghoul biologist what was going on.
Due to Arata's kakuhou being connected to Kaneki's cardiovascular system, it was successfully capable of circulating oxygen through it; a vital operation that allowed his modified kakuhou to use its ability to create artificial RC-cells from the carbon dioxide coursing through Kaneki's arteries. The need for this modification along with many other modifications stemmed from the problem that came with the 'Arata Prototype I' series; back when those quinques were created pieces of Arata's original kakuja to make power armor to help investigators combat ghouls who were classified as above 'SS' on the CCG's power scale. The problem with the 'Arata Prototype I' series was they needed RC-Cells to function and would seek it from the user of the quinque, which meant that unless it was monitored and restricted, it would continue to drain the user's RC cells until they died.
Due to not being able to be regulated by Kaneki's frontal lobe, his kakuhou was operating on its own biological adaptation, and was obtaining RC-Cells from Kaneki's body by forcing it to function at a more than humanly possible rate in order to produce as much carbon dioxide as it could. Kaneki's comatose body was trapped in a cycle of constantly being boiled from the inside out while only being kept alive by the very thing that was killing him. Kanou needed to connect the nerve endings from Kaneki's exposed spine to the kakuhou in order for the body to have a CHANCE to stop it from draining him of his blood and killing him.
There wasn't time to waste, and even with the thick layers of rubber protection coating his hands and body, Dr. Kanou could feel his skin melting and boiling underneath the intense heat being produced from Kaneki's body. Taking only a moment to get up to move away the flammable equipment from the operating table and to roll over his entire refrigerator filled with blood bags over to where he would need to stand in order to operate, the old man couldn't help but wonder to himself how he was able to be so level headed at the moment.
"I-I'm not going to come out this procedure unscathed, it would s-seem…! Isn't that r-right, K-Kaneki?!" Dr. Kanou asked with a forced grin on his face, as he did his best to ignore the fact that some of his melted skin was oozing out from underneath his layers of gloves he wore. "T-Today might have to be the d-day… The d-day I pay a long overdue debt…"
Even in the face of danger and uncertainty, Dr. Kanou still sought inspiration and motivation from his apprentice; which only fueled his resolution and gave him the strength to see the surgery through to its end.
"Kaneki… You… You look so much like him."
Up on the top floor of the Main Office, where the Washuu clan lived amongst one another in their penthouse, the three head members of the Washuu clan that oversaw the operations of CCG stood behind the large glass-panel wall and watched over the black clouds of smoke rising across the glowing orange horizon of the burning city. Yoshitoke, the Bureau Director of the Main Office, gazed out through at the very city that he swore to rid of other other ghouls with a forlorn look on his grizzled face. "Father, does this look like the work of Yoshimura? You knew him back in your youth, didn't you?"
Sitting down in a chair between his son and grandson, Tsuneyoshi stroked his white beard that hung down his face before sighing quietly. "Yoshimura always had a way with words; the old bastard was cunning as he was charismatic… With that being said, there's not a doubt in my mind when I say that Yoshimura would never use the power of his voice to incite violence onto others." The old man said with a confident yet solemn look on his face, as he felt a strange sense of dread coursing through his wrinkled veins. "Never in my years would I have guessed that Tokyo would have to face this level of civil unrest and rioting… Matsuri, you mentioned that this riot wasn't a byproduct of secrecy, correct? You mentioned that this was incited on the World Wide Web?"
Being the youngest man out of the three figure heads, Matsuri was the most trendy when it came to technology available to the public. Kneeling down on the hardwood floor so that he was able to be at eye level with his grandfather, Matsuri pulled out his smartphone and opened up his social media app before presenting the screen to his father. "No Grandfather, it was an extremely public announcement; it was advertised as peaceful, yet my father decided to respond to their protest by sending in investigators armed with riot gear and firearms… A foolish decision, in my opinion."
Outraged that his own flesh and blood was accusing him of being the reason why the riots had been instigated, Yoshitoke glared bitterly with his eyes toward the other man. "What I did was what any civil protection agency would do in their right minds! I was fully prepared to have my men respond to any civil discourse and even had the brilliance to try and implement spies to sabotage the protests and change the mob mentality toward our favor! I did everything right! Everything!"
Ignoring the tension between his son and grandson, Tsuneyoshi merely nodded slowly while processing the information presented to him before deciding to speak. "I see… Then explain to me, both of you if you will, what went wrong? Why is my city in flames and civilians and investigators alike are attacking each other? Why is there a civil war unveiling before me?"
Before either Yoshitoke or Matsuri could muster up an answer to please the chairman's curiosity, the double doors leading into their penthouse behind them opened up slowly to reveal the bodies of their guards leaning against the ivory doors. Reaching into his coat pocket, Matsuri took out a revolver and aimed down the sights at the two hooded figures walking toward them. "Stay where you are! Not another move or else I'll open fire on you both!" The man yelled out in a booming voice, as he took a step forward so that he was standing in front of his family members.
Doing as he had commanded, the two hooded figures stopped dead in their tracks; their hoods from their jackets making it hard for Matsuri to make out their faces clearly.
"Identify yourselves and slowly take off your hoods! Do it!" Matsuri commanded in his loud authoritative voice, as he kept the barrel of his firearm aimed steadily on the taller figure's head.
Lifting her hood up slightly to reveal a wide and devious smile, the tallest figure unhooded herself before looking up at the shocked expression on Matsuri's face. "My name's Rize Kamishiro… Of course, you wouldn't know me by the name alone, huh? After all… I was never privileged enough to have a name of my own; isn't that right, father?" Rize asked bitterly, as she stared past Matsuri's confused expression to look over at the eldest man in the room.
Confusion gave way to a downward spiraling realization of horror, as Tsuneyoshi got up from his chair the moment Rize's purple eyes fell on him. "Y-You…?! You were… You were the 'Womb' that got away?!" The old man asked with a bewildered and terrified look on his wrinkled face. "Impossible…! Aogiri Tree took you from us back in the year 2000! You should have been eaten or, or worse!"
"Eaten…? What do you take us for, Washuu? As pillaging monsters who eat children…?" Letting out a humourless and low laugh, Eto unveiled herself from the hood of her own jacket to reveal a look of hate in the form of a sadistic smile. "Womb, huh? Is that how you see your daughter as? Just something to stick your limp and decrepit old dick in?" Eto asked with a disgusted look in her green eyes, as she quickly leapt toward.
Before Matsuri's mind could register to pull back the trigger of the revolver, Eto's hand had already wrapped itself around the barrel of the gun. Yanking it out of the man's hand, Eto hastily cocked back the hammer of the revolver that the man had forgotten to pull back, and emptied the six rounds from the firearm's chamber into Masuri's forehead, causing the top of his head to burst like a balloon.
As Tsuneyoshi and Yoshitoke stared with wide eyed expressions on their faces, Eto glared down at the headless man before tossing the empty revolver casually beside where Matsuri's corpse laid motionlessly in a pool of blood. "How does it feel to see a member of your family die in front of you? Does it hurt you, or was he just another number to you?" Eto asked cynically, before reaching down with her hand to rip through the man's abdomen to pull out a handful of his kakuhou before sloppily tossing it on the floor. Without bothering to glance over at either of Matsuri's relatives, Eto quickly knelt down beside his corpse and began to hum a tone to herself before beginning the methodical process of pulling out the man's small intestines.
Realizing that their family's secret no longer mattered, Yoshitoke's kakuhou produced a long snake-like kagune from his tailbone before aiming its sharp tip directly at Eto's forehead. "You… YOU MONSTER!" Yoshitoke bellowed at hatifully, as his eyes quickly became black and red. Before his kagune could make contact with the half-ghoul's forehead however, Rize's four tendrils shot out from her lower back and had wrapped themselves around his kagune. "W-What in…?!"
Smiling sadistically at her older half-brother, Rize took pleasure in seeing the terrified expression on his grizzled face as her kagune quickly tore his into shreds. "Oh big brother, did you really think you were going to get out of this alive~?" Rize asked tauntingly while faking a sweet and innocent voice. With her mocking expression on her face, Rize quickly plunged the tips of her tendrils deep into Yoshitoke's chest.
Letting out an anguished scream, Yoshitoke felt a pain unlike anything else he'd ever felt before shooting out through his chest, while Rize's tendrils slammed him into the tall ceiling of the room. With his back pressed against the surface of the ceiling, Yoshitoke let out a low groan of pain and felt his shattered ribs and grounded-up organs swash around in what was left of his chest cavity, and could only watch as viscous and blood rained down from openings from his chest down onto his father, as Rize began to repeatedly stab him with her tendrils.
High off the endorphins and adrenaline coursing through her head, Rize let out a hysterical laugh as she watched Yoshitoke flail helplessly above her. "Don't think you're getting a quick death! I'm going to take my time with you, just like how you used to take your time with me…!" Without a second thought, Rize slammed Yoshitoke's shredded body down onto the living room's couch; sending wooden shrapnel and blood-coat cushions all over the living room. "Prepare yourself for a living Hell…"
As Rize approached the dying body of her older half-brother, Eto had finished coiling up all seven meters of Matsuri's small intestines and held the bundled up organ like one would hold rope. "Washuu, I used to think very kindly of what you did for us back in the day… Back when you wanted to help other ghouls, not kill them." Eto said calmly, as she got up from Matsuri's defiled body before making her way toward the terrified and weak old man. "Tonight is the night where you can finally make amends with what you did to my family, Washuu. Tonight, you'll be a beacon to all the ghouls you've caused so much grief to; a sign or a new era, if you want to think about it that way."
Knowing that he stood no chance against the woman before him, Tsuneyoshi instead tried to reach up with his right hand in order slit his own throat to take his own life; a selfish act that was driven by a cowardly motive of wanting to save himself from the pain she was undoubtedly going to put him through. However, before his fingertips could sever his neck as he had planned, Eto acted quicker than he was able to, and was able to snap off both of his hands as though they were twigs. Groaning in pain, Tsuneyoshi fell to the floor and tried to use his bloodied stumps on his wrists to catch himself; only to fall down flat on his face in pain after Eto went behind him to stomp down on the back of his kneecaps. "W-Why…?! Why are you doing this?!" The old man asked pathetically, as he felt Eto using her foot to slowly tear his legs apart.
Staring down at the old man with a look of disbelief on her face, Eto finished using the edge of her foot to pull apart the man's lower legs from his knees; making sure to sever his white tendons from the aged muscle that clung desperately to what was left of his crushed bones. "The answer to that question would take more time to explain than what you have left on this Earth, Washuu. Just do me a favor, and try not to squirm too much."
Standing behind the army of ghouls that she was in charge of leading, Touka Kirishima stared through the eyeholes of her white rabbit mask with a look of concentration in her blue eyes, as she gazed up past the barricades and armed investigators to fix her focus on the top floor of the Main Office.
While her men and women posed as humans protesting for rights of ghouls and how they should be protected while in custody, Touka had overhead talk of gunfire coming from the top floor from some of the investigators, a growing fire spreading from the bottom floor underneath the foundation of the skyscraper, and how several bodies were found inside the building. Silently, she watched as some of the investigators who had received the news over their radios became anxious and struggled to keep a strong presence of authority in front of her massive army.
Everyone on her side of the barricade were hot and sweaty from the summer night and from being so pent up with emotions boiling up inside them; while on the other side of the metal barrier, the investigators' legs were beginning to grow sore and the rising tension and news of violence spreading through the city from the dispatcher over the radio made them all afraid. It was only a matter of time before someone snapped, and Touka knew it.
"G-Get back! Get the fuck back!" One of the investigators barked out at a protestor who had gotten a little too close to the metal barricades that separate the investigators from the army of ghouls. "I said get back, motherfucker!" The investigator shouted yet again, except this time he cocked his shotgun before taking aim at the invasive protestor.
"You're a coward! You ain't shit without your gun!" The agitated protester shouted back, before beginning to smack his balled up fists against the surface of the barricade.
The ghoul who was purposefully trying to rile up the investigators was none other than Nishio Nishiki; a ghoul who had been hand picked by Touka to essentially just talk shit and get the investigators angry. "Why don't you use your money and resources to help ghouls?! Instead of wanting to find solutions to better their living, you just-"
"I SAID GET BACK!" The scared investigator screamed back, interrupting Nishio before firing a warning shot into the air. "Make one more move, motherfucker and I'll blow your f-fuckin' head off!" The investigator said fearfully, and it wasn't longer after the smoke from his firearm's barrel subsided that it dawned on him: he was being filmed the entire time. Not just by Touka, but the rest of her disguised army as well; all of them had their phone out and their lights focused on the blinded investigator. "S-Stop it… Stop recording me…!" The man ordered with a weak breath, as he cocked his shotgun again to eject the emptied shell onto the concrete floor below.
"We're going to find out who you are, pig! We're gonna find out who your family are, and we're gonna deliver some justice to them!" Nishio said tauntingly with a wide and amused smile on his face, as he took another step closer toward the visibly shaking investigator. "How about we take them from their beds at night?! Just like how you bastards like to do to ghouls; let's see you like it!"
The pieces were set on the board: Nishio had delivered his performance quite well, and had managed to get several investigators to aim their firearms at him while he stood with his arms wide out and open for what they were about to do to him. Best of all, she had her dedicated cameramen recording on their social media accounts for all to see live and in action. All she needed to do in order to begin the game was to wait for the sign from up above to signal for her to lead her charge.
Just then, as if God himself had heard her prayers and answered them, the sign came.
Most, if not all of the investigators outside in riot gear turned their heads over their shoulders and up towards the large shattered window located on the top-floor of the Main Office. Many of the investigators watched as glass rained down onto the concrete courtyard toward the main front entrance of the building behind them, and gasped as crimson red droplets fell quickly down afterward.
A collection of aimed handheld MAG flashlights revealed that the blood was dripping down from the bodies of three men being dangled down from the shattered window, all of which had their eyes gouged out and their limbs severed. The three men who were quickly identified as Tsuneyoshi Washuu, the chairman of CCG, and his son and grandson: Yoshitoke and Matsuri. The three men who had the most power within CCG hung up from the top floor by their small intestines, and were stripped naked to reveal their gruesome injuries for all of those below to see.
Subtly leaning forward and making her way past the crowd of distracted onlookers, Touka tapped firmly on the back of Nishio's shoulder, and gave him a nod of her head before backing off to get into place.
Taking a quiet sigh and whispering to himself a silent prayer before banging his fists against the metal barricade one last time. Mustering a look of pure sadism on his face, Nishio greeted the look of the mortified investigator with devilish smirk. "See that? That's what I'm going to do t-" Before he could finish his empty threat, the ghoul flew back after receiving a shotgun blast directly into his chest.
Watching as Nishio collapsed beside the crowd of protestors who had been sprayed with blood while recording the shooting on camera, the investigator held his shotgun with shaking hands and a shell-shocked expression came on his face as his world came crashing down on him. "I...I-"
Rushing from behind, Bravo Five grabbed the investigator by his shoulders to quickly throw the man away from the rattling barricades and away from the outstretched hands of the protestors. "What the fuck did you do…?!" The veteran investigator asked with an outraged look on his face, as he quickly raised his rifle up at the crowd of protesters, who were beginning to tear apart the metal barricade as though it were made of plastic. "Shit…" Bravo Five muttered to himself, before reaching down with one hand to turn on his radio.
"STAND BACK!"
"MURDERERS!"
"I SAID STAND BACK!"
"FUCKING PIGS!"
"GET BACK FROM THE BARRICADE!"
"RETRIBUTION!"
"BRAVO FIVE TO DISPATCHER, WE HAVE A CASUALTY OUTSIDE! I REPEAT, CASUA-"
"JUSTICE!"
"BRAVO FIVE TO DISPATCHER! PROTESTORS ARE NOW RIOTING, I-I…! BRAVO FIVE TO DISPATCHER, THEY'RE NOT HUMAN! SEND IN REINFORCEMENTS! F-FUCK!"
"TOKYO IS OURS!"
"PUT AN END TO THE DEGENERATES!"
"BRAVO FIVE TO DISPATCHER, RESPOND! WHY AREN'T YOU RESPONDING?!"
"CRUCIFY THEM!"
"BURN THEM AT THE CROSS!"
"WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF PROTEST IS THIS?!"
"DEATH TO THE PROFLIGATES!"
"DISPATCHER, I NEED THOSE FUCKING REINFORCMEENTS RIGHT-FUCKING NOW!"
"AOGIRI TREE, ADVANCE THROUGH THEIR DEFENSES! CAPTURE THE MAIN OFFICE!"
"SHIT, THEY'RE THROUGH! FUCK! OPEN FIRE! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!"
"THROUGH THE MAIN ENTRANCE!"
"FALL BACK! FALL BACK!"
As the radio inside the empty security office echoed static screams and pleas from those stationed outside, the monitors above the control board on top of the table displayed the gruesome carnage occurring just outside the Main Office's walls. It wasn't long after Hide had abandoned his post when the front entrance to the Main Office was blown away by the mighty explosive barrage from Touka's red angelic wings that protruded from her upper back.
Leading her army into the Main Office, Touka's white rabbit mask was both odd and unnerving for those working in the lobby of the Main Office to witness. Staring around the room and it's few occupants with the might of her kagune and army behind her, Touka signaled for the ghouls behind her to halt before making her way to the center of the lobby. "My name is 'White Rabbit', my army will be looting and extracting information and supplies from your armory and supply cache. You will all aid them in their effort, and in return you will be rewarded with the privilege of being able to go home to your families tonight. Any resistance will be dealt with accordingly… Do I have any objections?" Touka asked with a professional and callous tone in her voice, as she scanned around at the outnumbered and outmatched investigators and office workers who stared back at her with shaken looks on their faces. "That's what I assumed… Aogiri Tree, Delta Group will be in charge of extracting information from their database. Echo Group will be assigned with transporting supplies and weapons. Go."
With a wave of her hand, her army moved forward in their pre-assigned groups before quickly executing their orders.
Having witnessed her speech along with the horrors that went down, Hide quietly stood still with his back against the corner of the hallway where he had eavesdropped on Touka giving out her orders. 'Aogiri Tree?! Weren't they all wiped out?! What the Hell is going on here!?' Hide thought panickingly to himself, as confusion and fear coursed through his body.
Forcing himself to move quietly away from the scene after hearing the lobby being littered with the marching sound of incoming footsteps, Hide made a beeline down the hallway where he quickly entered the room housing the large staircase that led into every floor inside the Main Office. Almost immediately after closing the door behind him, Hide soon regretted his choice of escape route the moment his lungs were filled with the white smoke coming down from where the fire had occured in Dr. Kanou's office. Hide wasn't sure what could have caught the basement laboratory on fire, and wasn't sure whether or not there were still occupants alive in that room; all that mattered to Hide was survival and to seek reinforcements.
Turning around, Hide scrambled to keep his balance as he struggled to correctly enter the code on the keypad beside the door in order to lock the door behind him. After trying three times in a row, Hide was finally able to successfully lock the door behind him just in time to hear the knob of the door beginning to rattle. He knew that the door was going to be opened soon due to Touka ordering her hostages to comply with their captor's commands, so Hide decided to climb down the flight of stairs and in order to find a way to escape from the Main Office by hopefully accessing the underground garage. "Everyone… Stay alive, and keep holding out until I get help…!"
Opening wide eyed with his lungs filled with water droplets that had come from the sprinkler system above, Kaneki sat up from the metal frame of the operating table before leaning forward to vomit on the floor beside him. After coughing out a lung full of water, Kaneki fell back on the operating table before raising his arm up to shield himself from the raining droplets from above. It was when he gazed up to notice the black armored plating covering his forearm and hands did memories of the operation come flooding back into his mind. "Dr. Kanou…? Dr. Kanou, where are y-"
Unable to finish his sentence, all it took was one look around his surroundings for Kaneki to realize where the doctor had gone. What was left of the elderly man who took him underneath his wing laid charred and bundled up beside the bottom of the operating table. Dr. Kanou was motionless, and the laboratory that he had used to accumulate decades worth of research had been destroyed by what looked like a fire. In fact, almost everything around him appeared to have been burnt and melted to some degree, which only added more to the confusion that Kaneki felt. "... No… No…! No! NO!" Kaneki screamed out loud, as he fumbled to hop off the operating table in order to kneel down beside what was left of Dr. Kanou. Staring down with tears streaking down his already soaked cheeks, Kaneki's reached out with a shaking hand to hopelessly feel for a pulse. Of course, there wasn't any sign of life present; Dr. Kanou was truly gone. "... I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"
As Kaneki felt his life spiraling out of control and his world falling apart around him, the voice of an evil child returned once more when he was at his most vulnerable.
*You're stricken by grief over the tragedy that's bestowed itself upon your awakening. These three short months with the doctor have been the most fulfilling time of your life, and for just a brief moment, you felt like you had someone who wanted you.
*You can't regret your decision, it's too late to go back on what you've agreed to.
*You can grieve another time, partner. Take his phone, and say your goodbyes to him.
*You may be dead on the inside, but that's alright; your soul is mine, and I'll lead you from behind.
With his mind in a haze and unable to think for himself, all Kaneki could do was stare down at the corpse of his mentor. Having only been covered in his kagune from the neck down, Kaneki gazed down at Dr. Kanou for one last time before paying his respects. "... Thank you Dr. Kanou… For everything you've given me." Kaneki said solemnly, before allowing his kagune to completely engulf his head to give off the appearance of a black knight.
Walking over to the table where his belongings had been, Kaneki picked up the doctor's still intact smartphone before placing it by his hip to allow his kagune to swallow it up like a makeshift pocket.
*Excellent work, partner. You and I have a lot of work ahead of us, and I can't have you slow us down right now.
*Feel free to gather your thoughts while I take it over from here.
The thought of being able to become a passenger to his own body, to let go of his control and give up was extremely tempting to the grieving young man. He didn't know what was going on, or what he was going to do now that he was alone with the voice of an evil anomaly that wanted nothing more than to eradicate his enemies that had apparently wronged him back when he was still alive. Kaneki wanted to let go, but something deep inside of him wouldn't let him, and this wasn't unnoticed by the voice either.
*...
*What are you doing?
*...
*Are you refusing?
*...
*How? Your soul is mine, there's no reason for you to go on partner; everything that you had going for you was burned down in flames!
*You have nothing left on this Earth; nothing! No future, no potential! Your life is as meaningless as it was back when you were in foster care! No one has ever wanted you, and the only person who put their faith in you is dead because of your selfish deeds! Your delusions of grandeur have been your downfall!
*...
*...
*Stop it… Stop fighting back.
*...
*I don't understand… You don't have any reason to go on, so why are you so adamant about not letting me have absolute control?
*...
*...
*...
*...
*...
*... Why are you so determined?
In the previous edition of this story, I felt like I didn't use Arata's soul to its fullest potential. Rather than trying to make him an inconsistent feature in the story who always presents himself as a morally good person without flaws, who welcomes Kaneki with open arms, I decided to make him more present in the story, while changing his character up to make him more of a malevolent force than an angelic presence.
Inspiration for Arata's new character and later revealed backstory is inspired by Chara Dreemurr from UNDERTALE, in case that wasn't obvious.
Without a soul of his own, Arata had forgotten how to feel, and thus only harbored the desire for revenge during his inactive state. Unlike before, Arata wants to use Kaneki for his own purposes, but will slowly change his agenda as memories of his own past come into light.
In this story, Touka and Ayato will switch roles. As seen in the end of this chapter, Touka is far more powerful than how she was in the beginning of Tokyo Ghoul, which will be explained later. Just know that Ayato will be one of Kaneki's companions later in the story.
Thank you, and please have a good one!