Sorry that this chapter took so long to write! Originally, I had to rewrite a few things and had planned to make this chapter over 20K words long, but I decided to cut it into two parts. Without spoiling anything, I'll leave more author notes at the bottom.

Standing at the door frame leading into the Main Office's security surveillance monitoring room, Touka shoved the front desk receptionist into the room. Glaring at the visibly shaking woman through the eye slits of her white rabbit mask, Touka pointed her index finger at the computer sitting on top of the room's only desk before reaching into her black hoodie to toss her hostage a black USB thumbnail drive.

"You're going to delete all recordings of what transpired tonight. While that's happening, you're also going to use your administrative credentials to download everything you can fit into that USB drive regarding Arata Kirishima and Hikari Kirishima… You have less than fifteen minutes to complete those two tasks; failure to complete either task will result in less-than-pleasant consequences for you. Do I make myself clear?" Touka asked sternly, to which the horrified and sobbing woman quickly responded with a frantic nod before scrambling over to the computer to do what her captor had demanded.

"Good; I have other matters that must be attended to, so I'll be back to check in on you in fifteen minutes. If you try to run, I'll find you… And unless you want to be the fourth body to be hung up by your intestines, I would advise not to do so." After Touka had made sure that the woman knew that she wasn't a ghoul to be trifled with, she turned around to slam the door close behind her as she made her way to the lobby.

With Touka's two squads going in and out of the staircase to pillage the Main Office for all that it was worth, the pristine walls of the white lobby of the Main Office were practically devoid of life, Rize, who stood patiently awaiting for the White Rabbit's arrival.

Smiling with a large grin, Rize's purple eyes grew wide with excitement as she watched Touka walking over to where they were standing. "Ah, Kirishima! Just the woman I wanted to see!" Rize said happily, as she extended her arms out to gesture at the chaotic mess around them. "Allow me to be the first one to congratulate you on your success in leading the charge through one of the most highly secured CCG areas in Tokyo; with an army of less than one hundred, you were able to mow through their defense with a substantial number of survivors left… Most impressive, Kirishima, most impressive indeed."

Although Rize was responsible for recruiting her back into the ranks of Aogiri Tree, Touka didn't hold the ghoul before her in any high regard once so ever. Thankful that her mask was able to hide her facial expression, Touka glared hatefully at Rize with her teeth bared instinctively at her. "... Where's Eto?" Touka asked in a joyless tone of voice, while making it clear that she didn't want to speak to Rize more than she had to.

Letting out a quiet and amused chuckle under her breath, Rize smirked back at Touka before answering her question. "Your dear Auntie is in the restroom, Kirishima. While I find it odd and even would go as far as to call it inappropriately timed, I suppose that when nature calls, one can not ignore it." Rize mused with a suggestive undertone to her voice, but scowling at Touka with her purple and glimmering eyes. "Isn't that right Kirishima~? Don't we all get urges from time to time? Urges to… Assert our dominance over our enemies? Dare I say… Urges to reach the 'absolution'~?" Rize asked mockingly, while taking silent pleasure at seeing Touka's body tense up.

Clenching her fingers down to ball her hands into fists by her sides, Touka felt her mind grow hazy and a pit of absolute rage built up inside her at the mere mention of the world 'absolution'. Triggered by the flooding memories of her father's negligence and what little interaction she had with him, Touka wanted nothing more than to turn Rize into a pile of ash; but the inner soldier in her; the same one that her father ironically built inside of her soul, told her to stand down. "... I have duties to attend to."

Knowing fully well what the daughter of Grave Robber was capable of, Rize decided to not push her luck any further; she got her laugh and didn't want to end up as a blackened stain on the floor. "Suit yourself, Kirishima; I'll be posted outside in the courtyard. Be a darling, and if you get a chance, let your dear Aunt know that I'll be expecting to see her outside as well~!"

"Understood." Touka replied back quickly, while having nothing else to say to Rize.

Smiling at Touka, Rize turned around to begin making her way across the shattered glass that was left scattered in the wake of Aogiri Tree's invasion. Whistling a tone to herself, Rize decided to amuse herself by taking out Kaneki's ID badge to press it against the card reader beside the ruined sliding door frame. While still whistling to herself, Rize patiently waited for the contorted metal frame of the sliding doors to screech out as the mechanisms fought to pull apart the broken doors. As soon as the door had opened and the left metal frame that once held high-impact resistance glass fell off and landed on the outside pavement, Rize turned around to give Touka a playful bow before heading out to the courtyard.

Even though none of the Main Office's staff were currently working their desk jobs, Eto still couldn't help but feel the need to isolate herself in one of the private executive bathrooms high upstairs. Locking the door behind her, as if somehow it would magically be able to keep out a ghoul or determined investigator, Eto had made sure to put the faucet on full blast before making a beeline to the toilet. Kneeling down beside the ceramic throne, Eto bunched up her messy green hair and held it high above her face before staring down into the water with tear-soaked eyes as her nausea finally became too much to bear. Spilling out the contents of her stomach into the bowl, Eto quickly reached up and flushed the toilet as her head began to pound furiously. 'This was always easier when he was around… I-I never thought I would be the one to do the killing! I-'

Before Eto could finish her thought, another wave of sickening nausea forced her to once again vomit whatever she had left inside her stomach into the bowl; which was essentially just stomach acid at that point. Flushing the toilet again as the pain in her head intensified, Eto wiped her lips on her sleeve before collapsing to the floor on her back. Staring up at the ceiling as her brain-splitting headache incapacitated her, Eto's bloodshot eyes continued to grow more watery as she found herself yearning to go back to a simpler time when her life was good; more specifically, a moment in time when her entire life changed. Back when she was happy.

Due to her father's kingdom being built deep underground and relying on the excess water from Tokyo's flood system to provide them with their resources to survive, the city of ghouls inside the 24th Ward, Aogiri, had been built close by the rushing aqueducts to allow them to strive as a civilization. It was rare for ghouls to head up to the surface, but if they did, it was solely to gather food and needed resources. Their food was mostly compiled of corpses of those who either committed suicide, or who commited atrocious acts and wouldn't be missed.

Although Eto was never allowed to go up to the surface without her father or her guard, by her side, she was given permission to explore the flood system so long as she didn't stray far from where she was allowed to go. Due to crime being unheard of within the closely-knitted community of ghouls, there was little concern for Kuzen and Ukina Yoshimura to have in regards to allowing their eight-year old daughter the freedom to explore; especially when Aogiri's guards would patrol the sewers constantly, and she herself was extremely capable of handling herself even at her early age.

Being the Princess of Aogiri, the young ghoul found herself having to entertain herself due to the seclusion she would have to endure due to other children her age being afraid of her existence. Although her parents were held to a high regard, some of the elder ghouls still held onto the superstition of half-ghouls being extremely volatile and hostile, so Eto never had anyone her age to play with.

Armed with a bright flashlight attached to her bucket hat, Eto decided to borrow her father's fishing pole for the day and took her cup of dug up worms with her to the edge of the large cement chamber where the flood tunnels would all dump their water into, that would be drained back into the ocean. The waterfront where she had made a spot for herself was on an old and abandoned maintenance harbor that had been built long before her time, and is where she spent most of her free time. Excited to see what fish she could catch and bring back home to have her mother cook it for her, Eto made sure that her life jacket was on securely around her small frame before sitting down on her lawn chair that she kept down there beside the drop off point where the water would meet the concrete shore.

Putting her newly obtained CD into her walkman, Eto put in one earbud before beginning to vibe out to Red Hot Chili Peppers' latest album, before casting her line out into the dark murky waters.

Due to her long journey of having traversed from her house all the way down to the waterfront, Eto was feeling rather tired, so it wasn't long until the rhymytic strums of guitar strings being played in her ear bud had lulled the child to sleep.

By the time Eto awoke to the sound of splashing and her fishing pool tugging up and down violently, the album had reached its end; had it not been for the fact that the music wasn't playing anymore, Eto probably wouldn't have woken up to hear the gurgling coming from the water. In her sleepy stopper, Eto fumbled to wrap her small hands around the grip of her fishing pole before grabbing its small wooden handle to begin reeling in the line, which was surprisingly heavier than usual. Had it not been for her half-ghoul anatomy making her as strong as a full-grown ghoul, Eto probably wouldn't have been able to reel in her latest catch.

Excited to see what was waiting for her on her hook, Eto reeled and tugged at the pole with a wide smile on her face that didn't last long. By the time that her fishing pole was beginning to nearly bend itself in half, it was then that Eto managed to finally catch a glimpse with the help of her headlamp at the young boy who was tangled up in her fishing wire. Feeling the color in her face fade away, Eto let out a small gasp before accidentally letting go of the pole.

Watching in absolute terror as the young boy's body began to once again sink back down into the dark waters below, Eto's mind raced with a million thoughts as she stood still. After having a plethora of thoughts course through her brain, Eto was finally able to think of what her father would do, and how brave and heroic he would be if he was in her shoes. Finding the resolve to do what was right, Eto's shaking legs struggled to carry her over to the where the pole had fallen before bending down to allow her to pick it back up.

"I'll help you! D-Don't worry!" Eto shouted back to the young boy, despite having a suspicion that he wouldn't be able to hear her through the water's surface even if he was awake. Reeling the line back with all her might, it wasn't long until the boy's head was once again resurfaced. Unfortunately, by the time Eto had reeled in the fishing line enough to have his body dangled up with his waist above the surface of the water, her pole had suddenly snapped in half.

"No…! No, I said I was gonna save you, and I still am, kid!" Eto shouted back defiantly with fear still taking its grip around her heart. Before the young boy could resubmerge back into the water completely, Eto felt her heart beating fast inside her small chest as she leapt into the water after him. Letting out a yelp due to how cold the water felt around her bobbing body, Eto remained afloat on the surface due to her life jacket as she splashed her way over to the young boy. Plunging her small hand into the water, Eto was only seconds away from having him slip through her fingers before grabbing the young boy by his arm. "There! I got you!" Eto shouted excitedly, before dragging the pale young boy through the murky waters and back to the drop off from where she leapt off from.

Tossing the young boy onto the cold concrete faced-up toward the cavernous ceiling with his back straight, Eto thought back to what her mother had taught her. Before marrying her father and becoming the human queen that ruled over the ghouls of Aogiri, Ukina had been a nurse, and had taught Eto several life saving techniques that were easy enough for someone of her strength to do. After several minutes of administering CPR, Eto was successfully able to get the young boy to cough out the water that was in his lungs. "I saved you! You're okay now!" Eto said happily with a proud smile on her face, while the young boy shivered violently while still trying to get his bearings.

"Is… Is this Hell…?" The young boy asked in a whisp voice, while letting out a shaking breath of aspirated air, before letting out another cough to clear his lungs free of water.

"Um… My mom said that's a bad word. But, no, you're not in 'heck'." Eto answered with an uneasy laugh, before catching a glimpse of the young boy's condition. Now feeling more confused over the boy's appearance more so than his odd question, Eto decided to shine the light of her headlamp on him. Despite his colorful blue hair that hung above his shoulders and eyebrows in the style of an unkempt bob, showing rough signs that perhaps he was responsible for attempting to cut his own hair, the young boy's hair was perhaps the only remotely happy thing about him.

Dressed in sewn up rags that were stained with blood, the boy before her was covered from head to toe in black and blue bruises that trailed all across his pale skin. However, the most baffling feature about the boy wasn't the physical condition of his body, but rather his large black-orbs that he had for eyes that were glimmered underneath the light of her headlamp.

It didn't take long for the young boy to realize what Eto was doing, and soon the all too familiar feeling of being judged made him look down at the cold dark concrete below to avert his shame away from her wide emerald-green and ruby-red eyes. "You don't have to stare, ya know… Look, just… Just go away, please? Go back where ever you came from, and… Just let me do what has to be done, okay?" The young boy asked solemnly in a low voice, and waited still in his spot with baited breath, as he hoped that the young girl would listen to his plea.

However, after a few minutes had gone by and there wasn't any sign of Eto even attempting to move away from him, the young boy grew frustrated with the girl's presence. Shifting his head back up so that he could glare at the young girl with his void-like eyes that bled a thick-black substance from his tear ducts, the boy found himself flinching and backing away from the outstretched hand in front of him.

"Don't be scared, I won't hurt you!" Eto said reassuringly back in her sweet voice, while doing her best to smile widely at the fearful look on the young boy's face. "My name's Eto Yoshimura! What's your name?" Eto asked politely, despite noticing almost immediately that the boy really didn't want to speak to her, but didn't allow that to deter her from her curiosity. "It's okay, you can tell me! We can be friends, you know!"

"Friends…? Y-You want to be… Friends with me…!?" The young boy asked in a bewildered tone of voice, as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. It wasn't long after Eto had offered her friendship to the boy until a thought of doubt entered into his head. "... I don't believe you." He said quietly, before staring back down to wipe away the black substance that was falling down from his eyes. "If you're going to mock me, save it… I've gone through the whole 'I want to get your hopes up before I hurt you' kind of deal before…! So if you're just gonna make fun of me and kick me when I'm down, then please go away."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings… But really, I do want to be your friend!" Eto said optimistically while expressing as much empathy as an eight year old girl could. "I don't have a friend yet, so I would love it if you and I could play and even be best friends! After all, I saved your life, so that basically means that you have to say yes, right?" Eto asked with a bit of sass in her childish voice, as she continued to smile back at the boy.

Hiding away his somewhat amused smile, the young boy let out a soft chuckle before slowly nodding his head. "Ha ha, ha… Y-Yeah, I guess your efforts should be rewarded, huh? I suppose that it's only fair that I tell you my name then." The boy mused, before falling back into silence. "... Arata; my name is Arata."

"Arata, huh? That's a nice name!" Smiling even brighter than before after managing to get the young boy before her to finally tell her his name, Eto decided to bend down even further to grab his hand to shake it. Even though he let out a whimper the moment she touched his hand, Eto still shook his scarred hand respectfully before taking a seat on the concrete spot in front of him. "I like your name Arata, but don't you have a last name?"

"I… I don't have a last name."

"What?! That's crazy! I've never met anyone who didn't have a last name!" Eto exclaimed with a loud gasp, as she found the idea of Arata not having a last name to be unbelievable. "What about your mom and dad? What were their last names?!"

"I never met my parents."

"Really?! Then who raised you?!" Eto asked with a flabbergasted look on her face; becoming more and more interested in Arata's life by the pass second. "If you didn't have parents, then what about an orphanage? My parents visit the one we have in Aogiri a lot, and the kids there are very happy… What about you, Arata? Do humans have orphanages up there on the surface?"

"...'Aogiri', huh? So, you really are a ghoul then?" Arata answered back in a low voice, feeling more self-conscious as it became a part of him that the young girl before him had a far better life than him.

"I'm a half-ghoul, actually! I can eat normal food just fine, but I'm pretty strong, ya know! That's how I was able to save your life, Arata!" Eto declared with a somewhat egotistical and proud tone in her voice, which made Arata let out a small chuckle. "What?! What's so funny?!"

"Nothing, nothing… You're good." Arata said dismissively with a small grin on his face, that quickly vanished after trying to find the right words to use in order to explain his situation back home. "So… On the surface, we do have orphanages, and each one is different. The one in my village, the same one that well… Let's just say that even though the children there are mostly happy, I'm not welcomed there for… Obvious reasons." Arata mused with a solemn and joyless smirk on his face, but looking back up at Eto to point at his demon-like eyes. "I don't know why my eyes are like this; I think it's a birth defect, or something like that… They've always done this."

"I… I like them; I think they look shiny and nice." Eto said as she complimented Arata, which actually shocked him. "Why are you down here, anyways?" Eto asked curiously once more, while being sure to tilt her head toward her other shoulder as she patiently waited for Arata to answer her question.

Before deciding to speak, Arata simply stared and observed Eto's curious face and continued to wonder to himself why she was being so nice to him. "Ya know… It's funny; I think this has been the longest I've ever talked to anyone since… Ever." Arata mused with a solemn chuckle in his throat before returning back to the subject on hand. Having been lost in conversation with the first person in his life who ever treated him with any level of dignity and respect, Arata had almost forgotten the reason why he had left his village in the first place. "... I thought I made it obvious, but um… I came down here to… Ya know…? Disappear... To go away… Forever." Arata admitted reluctantly, as a new fresh wave of black tears ran down his wet cheeks. "You, um… Y-You already got a good hard look at me, so… Y-You can pretty much see that I'm not well-liked where I'm from. In fact, I usually get called things like 'evil', 'anti-Christ', 'omen', and 'Fallen Child of Man' where I'm from… I think it's because I look scary." Arata mused quietly, before falling into a momentary period of silence before speaking again. "... Let's just say that I came down here to escape from all of that, and this was supposed to be a 'one way trip', if you get what I'm saying."

Taking a few moments to process what Arata had implied, Eto felt a bolt of pain and sadness strike her heart. "Oh… That's not a very happy reason..." Eto said quietly with an uncomfortable look on her face, as she lowered her gaze down at the floor between him and her. Even though Eto had previously heard from her fellow ghouls that humanity was cruel, especially towards her kind in general, she never actually met a human other than her saint of a mother.

A few minutes of heavy silence passed before Eto leapt forward and wrapped her small arms around Arata's small frame without warning. Letting out a gasp at first, Arata's blackened eyes shot wide-open in confusion as he felt Eto's chin rest on his shoulder. "W-What are you doing?!"

"I'm hugging you, s-silly." Eto replied back with a sadden smile on her face, as she let out a quiet sniffle. "... When I'm sad, my mom and dad hug me and tell me it's gonna be okay… Arata, it's gonna be okay now... Whatever bad stuff happened to you up there can't hurt you down here."

Hearing how genuine Eto sounded as she comforted him by lovingly rubbing his back, the affection she was showing him was something that was completely foreign to Arata, yet needed. While heartache and pain was something that the young boy had grown to be far too familiar with feeling, the painful emotion stirring up inside of him while in her embrace was something he never felt: katharsis. Clenching his teeth together, Arata soon found himself reaching up with his trembling arms to wrap them around Eto before burying his face into her shoulder.

With Arata sobbing violently into her shoulder, it wasn't long until Eto felt herself choking up as well. Tightening her fingers deep into the wet rags that clung loosely around Arata's shivering body, Eto cried as well while continuing to rest her chin against the young boy's shoulder.

As they sat in the dark and hollow chamber of water, the two young children took comfort in each other's embrace. Eto continued to wrap her arms tightly around Arata as she comforted him until he was ready to get up. Once they had both stopped crying and were feeling at ease, Eto felt excitement spark up inside her as she suddenly came up with an idea that she was as brilliant. "Please, come with me Arata! I'm gonna take you home to meet my parents! They're very nice people and will love you too! Come on, I'll hold your hand so you don't get lost." Eto said reassuringly, before getting up first to help Arata back up to his feet.

Eto would introduce her newfound friend to her parents, who almost instantly fell in love with Arata and had no qualms about taking him into their home as well, especially after hearing about his hardships. By the end of that fateful night, Eto was no longer just the lonely princess of Aogiri, but had been promoted to being a proud sister.

Getting up from the bathroom floor, Eto's chest was rising up and down quickly as anger and heartache tore at her soul. The pounding inside her head only intensified as she picked herself up from the floor. 'Humanity ALWAYS hated Arata… He didn't do anything wrong, he just looked different before he got that surgery… Humanity's the one who wanted him dead, and CCG were the ones who took him from me; took EVERYTHING from me! THEY MADE ME LIKE THIS! THEY DID THIS! THEY KILLED HIM!' Eto thought frantically and bitterly to herself, before letting out an enraged scream.

Hide could tell that the Aogiri Tree soldiers were too afraid to make the first move, even if he didn't know why they were reluctant to. 'Eventually one of them's going to work up the courage to make a move on us…! I better act fast and take a few out before they close in!' The trained investigator thought strategically to himself, before quickly making a beeline toward a nearby patrol car to take cover behind it. "Alright you sons of bitches…! Time to do this!" Hide grunted out loud under his breath, before using his elbow to shatter the passenger side window to climb into the cabin of the patrol car to search frantically for a weapon.

While Hide was trying his hardest to obtain a weapon while also simultaneously anticipating for a bullet to pierce right through his body at any given second, Kaneki thought more about what the voice inside his head had said. "They're afraid of me, huh…?"

*They're stricken with fear; you should hurry up and strike them down before they act.

*Let me take control.

*I'll take care of this in a few seconds if you just…?

*...

*What are you doing?

Ignoring the voice's persistence in trying to incite him to attack while the moment was right, Kaneki took a quiet breath in and held onto it as he took one step forward in the crowd's direction. As Kaneki was hoping for, the ghouls who were in front of the crowd tried to back away from him the moment he took a step forward. '... You're right, they are afraid.' Kaneki thought back in response to what the voice inside of his head had said. Shifting his kagune's white eyes back and forth at the frightened crowd of ghouls and back at Hide, Kaneki quickly came up with his new plan of action

*You plan on posing as the Grave Robber, and pressuring them to retreat without so much as laying a finger on them.

*Yet you know what has to be done first, in order to live up to Grave Robber's infamous reputation.

*...

*You secretly hope to yourself that the blonde child will understand what you're about to do to him, and that he'll forgive you afterwards.

"Come on, come on, come on…!" Hide repeated under his breath in a frantic voice, as he crawled into the back compartment of the patrol car in order to pull down the middle seat to access the trunk to search blindly inside for anything that felt like a weapon. Breathing hard with his arm outstretched far into the trunk, Hide felt his heart leap for joy as his fingers brushed along the elongated and robust barrel of what he thought to be a grenade launcher. "Oh Hell yeah…! We might actually stand a sliver of a chance with-AHHHHH!"

A loud blood-curdling scream erupted over the sound of metal denting and glass shattering everywhere after Kaneki had lifted the patrol car's back bumper up to violently launch the vehicle with Hide still inside against the cement wall beside him. The raw display of strength that was given to him thanks to his kagune along with the continuing sounds of painful anguish coming from the destroyed car added more fear into the hearts of ghouls surrounding Kaneki. Staring at the destroyed patrol car with a heavy weight of guilt on his shoulders, Kaneki did his best to ignore Hide's screaming as he slowly and purposefully turned around from the crushed car to glare menacingly at the trembling ghouls.

With his kakuhou producing more sparks of electricity than before, Kaneki stood up tall before crossing his arms over his armored chest. "... You all have five seconds to stand down, before I slaughter every single one of you." Kaneki said threateningly with his best impression of what he figured Arata would say in his exact scenario, before lifting one hand up to begin counting silently.

"Y-You heard him…! P-Put down the weapons, quickly, before he reaches five...!" One of the ghouls whispered in a terrified voice, as he along with every other ghoul in their group threw down their quinques and firearms beside their feet, and one by one each of their kagunes vanished into a collective cloud of mist.

Grinning behind his face mask with his heart beating faster than ever, the white eyes of Kaneki's kagune shined violently red, as to insinuate anger. Almost immediately, Kaneki could hear many of the ghouls letting out horrified gasps and the faint sounds of hyperventilating grew intensely in conjunction with Hide's loud cries of anguish. "I, Grave Robber, have crawled out from the deepest depths of Hell… Death means nothing to me, only reaching the 'absolution' matters. Tonight I've returned to continue my warpath towards reaching that goal, and slay anyone in my way. Send your bravest up here to represent your feeble masses; I'll speak to them, and decide your fates tonight." Kaneki demanded, as though he were pretending to be an angered god more than a ghoul.

*...

*Is that truly how you think Grave Robber talks?

Once Kaneki had given his demand out to the quaking ghouls before him, many of them backed away against the walls while some of the ones closer to the entrance quietly fled with the intentions of going home and never looking back. Out of the crowd of reluctant ghouls, only one ghoul emerged willingly from her peers to push past her fear in order to silently make her way to Kaneki.

"You, girl, identify yourself now." Kaneki ordered in an angry tone of voice, as he purposefully made sure that his glowing-red eyes were as intimidatingly bright as they could be.

Standing before who she thought was Grave Robber, the young woman took a calming breath in before reaching up with her trembling hands to not only remove her own hood, but to also remove her own mask as well. With an extremely forced straight face, the young teenager slowly bowed down to Kaneki while her deep-lavender hair draped down beside her pale cheeks. "Grave Robber! M-My name Yumitsu Tomoe, I'm sixteen years old and h-have taken the alias of 'Grave Robber' as homage to your greatness, and to pay tribute to your memory. I beg for your forgiveness if my actions were a transgression against you…" Yumitsu said apologetically without sounding too pathetic. "Grave Robber, I… I've dedicated my entire life to follow your example and footsteps, s-so I-I am prepared to t-take whatever punishment you see fit, if your will calls for it."

*...

*You feel embarrassed for her, but also feel guilty for misleading someone so devout in their beliefs and lifestyle.

*You are also wondering to yourself if this was normal for Grave Robber back when he was alive.

*Ghouls used to praise him without fear in their hearts, back when he was a part of Aogiri Tree, yet they still never walked in his presence without forgetting his power.

*Of course, Grave Robber never tried to present himself as an inspiration or a role model by any means.

*If you get to be as powerful as Grave Robber was, you'll understand.

*In the meantime, continue with your act.

*I actually find it enjoyable.

Taking a moment to process what the voice in his head had told him, Kaneki collected his thoughts before focusing his attention back onto Yumitsu, who was still bowing before him. "... Rise, my loyal subject; you will live to serve my honor another day." Kaneki said with an intimidating voice, although truth be told, he was starting to feel very awkward with trying to rule over one specific ghoul rather than addressing them all as a group.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, Yumitsu continued to keep her stoic expression on her face as she rose back up to her feet. "T-Thank you Grave Robber. I-I am yours to command, so please, t-tell me what your will is, and I'll see to it that it is done." Yumitsu said with a servitude-like tone in her voice, as she felt her heart beginning to beat faster in her chest in excitement. "M-My life is yours, after all..."

'What the Hell?' Kaneki thought to himself, as he stared down at the ghoul's stoic face to watch as her cheeks began to grow slightly red. "Um… Y-Yes, my will." Kaneki stumbled out awkwardly, as he swallowed back the lump in his throat before speaking again. "Yumitsu, I command you to instruct your flock, for I've deemed you worthy enough to hold power above them." Kaneki said in a booming voice, and looked up from the ghoul's blushing face to address the ghouls behind her. "You have all proved yourself to be lambs who are cowards, and cowardly lambs are worthy of only being slaughtered. You will obey Yumitsu's commands, for her word is my own, and to disobey her is to disobey me."

Kneeling down to pay respects to who she thought was her idol, Yumitsu gave her gratitude to Kaneki before rising up to her feet to return back to her squad so that she could orchestrate what he had asked for. In less than a minute, a group of thirty six hostages were shoved out before the ghouls and ordered to make their way over to Kaneki. Being just as terrified as the Aogiri Tree mob that had offered them up to Kaneki like sacrifices to save themselves, the office workers were sobbing violently and whimpering with shaking legs as they waited with baited breath for the outcomes of their fates. "... One of you, open this door. Now." Kaneki ordered sinisterly to the group of petrified and defenseless pencil pushers.

Having spoken, it wasn't long after until an office worker came forth to hastily enter the correction combination of numbers into the keypad. The light located on the corner of the small keypad turned green and flashed for a few seconds before the large and reinforced garage-like door separating the underground parking lot from the outside world roared loudly as it reeled itself back into the ceiling. As the warm summer night's breeze howled while it made its way down the black asphalt ramp that led up toward the inner city streets, Kaneki let out a small sigh before turning around to address the Aogiri Tree soldiers. "Go. Return to your homes and pray that I don't ever find you, for I may not be as charitable as I was here tonight."

Without needing to be told twice, the ghouls nearly trampled over one another as they fled through the open garage gate with fear and adrenaline coursing through their veins. With the cowering, and secretly admittedly pathetic, group of CCG's administrative team standing before him, Kaneki waited for ten minutes to pass before retracting his kagune-made helmet and face-shield back into his kakuhou to reveal his smiling and familiar face to them. "It's going to be okay, everyone… I'm not going to hurt you. I'm the good guy here."

With Rize standing guard in the courtyard outside the Main Office's entrance while Eto still was nowhere to be seen. Touka rested her back against one of the walls inside the lobby as she stared down at the screen of her phone. "Come on Ayato, reply back already… You're starting to worry me." Touka spoke quietly aloud to herself, as she stared down at the several unread text messages that she had sent to her younger brother. 'Damn it… I swear to God Ayato, you better be sticking close to Yomo and that old guy right now; I'm afraid that your dumbass might try to play hero, and… I shouldn't be thinking like this right now.' Touka thought to herself, before looking up at the time located on the upper left-handed side of her phone. 'I'll swing by Anteiku once this is all said and done; in the meantime, I need to check up on that woman to see if she's done yet.'

The walk over to the security office wasn't a long one to begin with, but even within that small frame of time that it took Touka to walk over to the room, she knew something was wrong almost immediately. Not only was the woman gone, but the flash drive that Touka had given to her to fill was no longer in the room as well. "Here I was thinking that I made myself clear to her… Why are all these damn humans so cowardly…?!" Touka swore angrily out loud, before rushing over to the desk. Looking up at the monitors initially to see if she could use the surveillance cameras to find out where the woman had gone, Touka swore again after realizing that the monitors had turned off thanks to the cables that had been disconnected from the bottom. "... She'll pay for that." Touka declared out loud, before leaving the security office to begin searching through the lower floors to pursue her manhunt for the woman.

Parking their vehicle on the curb of where the sidewalk led over to the roundabout plaza in front of the Main Office, Squad Zero and their newest escort made their way through the destroyed and trampled over barricades that had picket signs and the bodies of both protestors and investigators scattered all across the once beautiful front entrance. "Oh my God… What in the Hell happened?!" Koori asked aloud with bewilderment in his eyes, as he took in a mental count at all the corpses surrounding them. "Jesus, these must have been all almost all of the Main Office's investigators… It looks like the aftermath of a war zone out here."

Feeling Hinami hiding behind his leg and trench coat to avoid having to stare at the sea of deceased and mutilated bodies that painted the concrete pavement crimson with blood and entrails, Arima gently rubbed his hand through her brown hair as he took in the sight for himself. "... We should proceed with caution. There's no telling who won this skirmish, but we should assume the worst for now." Arima instructed, as he reached down beside his belt to unsheathe IXA with his left hand, while letting go of Hinami in order to equip Narukami with his right hand. "Let's go."

Following Arima from behind, who had Hinami practically riding his tailcoats, Ihei had T-Human raised at the ready in front of her while Koori was at her side with an assault rifle that he had reluctantly picked up from a bisected investigator. Stepping over the bodies belonging to both CCG and Aogiri Tree, Squad Zero had no choice but to climb up the concrete stairs that were littered with the dead; none of them bothered to speak as they all avoided having to look down at where the steps would have been, so that they didn't accidentally lock eyes with someone they knew.

After finally completing the painful task of ascending the story-tall flight of nightmarish-concrete stairs, Squad Zero made their way past a few more meters of scattered limbs and viscous gore until they arrived at the large courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard's plaza stood a large and decorative stone water fountain that made a gentle titter-tatter sound as water cascaded down from the fountain and onto the surrounding pool of water that glistened underneath the entrance lights and the moonlight from up above. Sitting there at the edge of the fountain was none other than Rize.

With her arm extended out to plunge her hand into the shallow depths of the water fountain's pool, Rize focused intently at the rippling trails her hand made in its wake as she heard Squad Zero's footsteps come to a halt. "... Isn't it funny how one decisive wave of the hand is all it takes to create so many ripples? It's something that most people tend to ignore during any given moment; which can also be said for actions and their consequences." Rize spoke poetically with a somber tone in her voice, before gently pulling her hand out from the water. "And even when we realize what we've done, it's too late to undo the ripples. Ripples that bring with consequences inflict wounds to our hearts, and you know what they say about wounds: 'time heals all wounds,' right? Tell me Kishou, because I've been waiting and waiting, and the pain we've given to others and ourselves haven't even begun to scar over yet… So, when will that pain end?"

Making sure to hand Hinami off to Ihei, so that the young ghoul would be protected under her watchful eye, Arima approached the water fountain quietly with his quinques still in his grasp before coming to a stop just five meters away from where Rize sat. "So, I'm assuming that you're the one responsible for this."

Smiling mockingly at Arima, Rize half-heartedly put her hand up while shrugging her shoulders. "Guilty~! Well, kind of, but not really." Rize said with a throaty chuckle, as she reached down to wipe her wet hand dry on her pants. "All I did was orchestrate the set up of this little shindig that you've come to call a 'city-wide riot'. I didn't force anyone to fight, nor gave them a reason to want to burn your federal establishment to the ground; you and your eugenic-loving group of ghoul-hating nazis already did a fine job with that~!" Rize spat out loud with a hearty laugh. Cackling, Rize raised a hand up to signal for Arima to give her a moment to recompose herself before finally managing to once again be able to speak.

"Don't you get it, Kishou?! This is all your kind's fault! You, the government who implants what's right and what's wrong, establish yourselves as nothing more as a 'do as I say, not as I do' sort of authoritative figure, which is absurd if you ask me!" Rize scoffed out loud, as she slapped her hand down on her knee.

"Seriously! Your entire gang of thugs profit off the idea of exploiting ghouls who you KNOW are bound to go out and hunt for food! And when they don't hunt for food, you still go after them... You don't want to help us, you just want to kill us, but not completely! No, if that were the case, then CCG wouldn't be able to exist in a world without ghouls…!" Rize laughed out hysterically again, and despite her struggling to take in air, she continued to speak.

"Balance my ass…! No Kishou, ha ha…! To answer your question, I didn't do any of this: you did. A-All I did here was set the pieces up for this game to begin with… The first of many games to be had has met its decisive outcome, and guess what...!?" Rize laughed out with a maddening look on her face, as she climbed down from the edge of the fountain before pointing up at the three bodies that swayed in the air above them. "Check-mate, check-mate! CHECK-FUCKING-MATE! I WON THIS ROUND!" Rize shouted crazily at the three investigators, as she felt a proud sense of victory overtake her while she took in the sight of seeing their faces contort at the sight of seeing their top brass dead and mutilated.

Enraged to the point where he could feel his blood practically boiling up inside of him, Koori let out a loud battle cry as he rushed past Arima with Taruhi raised up in a jousting position. "Damn you… DAMN YOU!" Koori screamed out loud over the manically screeching ghoul, as he pierced his spear into Rize's kakuhou before ripping his quinque up to disembowel the still laughing ghoul, who only gazed at him with an ever present smile on her lips even when he pinned her into the ground. "Why…? Why are you still laughing! I'm going to kill you, do you hear me?! You're going to die for what you did!"

"Y-You have NOTHING to take away from me that your g-group hasn't already taken from me!" Rize laughed mockingly at the slightly trembling investigator who stood over her with a confused look in his eyes. Smiling back at him as her mouth began to fill up with blood, Rize let out another chuckle before turning her head sideways to vomit out a large portion of blood before slowly turning her head back up to stare into Koori's eyes. "D-Did you think that I expected to actually live through this...? I posted a picture of myself after I killed the Washuu Clan… I knew how this was going to end from the start. I got what I wanted… I even got to kill a few inbred rapists… I think I came out on top for this one, wouldn't you say? Haha…"

As he could see the life fading from Rize's eyes that were struggling to stay open, Arima quickly knelt down beside the young woman to ask the only question on his mind that concerned him. "Rize, what's the goal of your plan here? Why did this happen?"

Letting out a weak chuckle, Rize felt her vision fading to black along with her hearing going out as her body grew cold, and the light at the end of the tunnel became more and more welcoming to her by the passing second. Still, Rize decided that if she were going to talk to anyone before dying, it might as well be Arima. "To… To use your people… I let those who wanted to kill each other fight each other… They don't deserve salvation… No, no it's... People who… Want peace… They... Deserve to be saved. People who aren't like Arata, Eto, or myself… They are the ones who will live on... They will flock to the King of the Underground… And only then, will Aogiri Tree truly rise again…" Rize said quietly, as she could see her adoptive father waiting for her with open arms and a bright smile on his face as she drew closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.

"... The King will save Tokyo's ghouls, and see to it that our hopes and dreams come true…." Rize said quietly with a smile on her face, before finally breathing her last breaths as she felt the warmth of her adoptive father's loving embrace awaiting for the next life over. "Goodbye, Kishou…"

Standing around her, Squad Zero looked up at one another while Hinami buried her face into Ihei's trench coat. Rubbing her fingers through the small ghoul's brown hair to comfort her, Ihei let out a solemn sigh as she stared down at the deceased ghoul that Koori still had pinned into the blood-stained pavement. "... 'The King'? Wasn't he the one who used to control that ghoul settlement down in the underground or something? Didn't he die back in 2015, when that Grave Robber guy destroyed Aogiri Tree?" Ihei asked out loud, before turning her eyes to focus on Arima. "Kishou, weren't you the one who put Grave Robber down? What did you find down there?"

Pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, Arima glanced over to Ihei to meet her gaze before sighing. "... There was a lot of fire, dead ghouls and investigators were everywhere. From what I remember, I don't recall seeing the legendary 'King of the Underground' anywhere during my time in their new home under the 11th Ward. I do remember seeing someone claiming to be the princess of Aogiri Tree though; she had been cut in half and was bleeding out when I found her." Arima said with a reluctance in his voice, as he watched Hinami visibly squirm in discomfort at the mention of gore.

"... To make a long story short, I don't think we ever found out who he was, or even if he ever existed at all." Arima said with a thoughtful look in his eyes, before remembering the reason why they were there in the first place. "... I don't think she deserved to die like this, but we should-" Before Arata could finish his sentence, the sound of glass shattering from high above them immediately broke him from his train of thought, and soon he along with the rest of his squad looked up at the fifteen-meter tall and pale entity crawling out from the Washuu Clan's penthouse with its grotesque head poking out to glare directly down at them. "Kakuja, twelve o'clock. Ihei, protect Hinami. Koori, I need you to focus on flanking it."

"Rodger, Arima! Let's go-?!" After feeling the rush of adrenaline that one would only get while preparing themselves for an intense battle, Koori found himself nearly losing his balance as he tried to move back to get into proper formation. Thinking that he perhaps tripped over Rize's arm or some other limb, Koori looked down only to realize in horror that one of Rize's tendrils had kept itself wrapped around his lower leg. "How the Hell is that still there…?! She's dead, right?!" Koori asked in bewilderment and terror, as he tried to free himself by using his quinque to pry the tendril loose, and when that didn't work the young investigator even tried resorting to trying to slice off the tendril, but to no avail. "Arima! I'm stuck!"

The moment after Koori had told Arima that he couldn't move, Arima looked down at the single tendril before realizing that it was growing longer and was wrapping itself more and more around Koori's leg. "Ihei, switch me quinques." Arima quickly ordered in a calm voice, before turning over to face his equally confused partner. Without bothing to ask why, Ihei wordlessly switched Aus for IXA, and took a step back with Hinami's small hand held tightly in hers as she watched Arima attempt to slice through Rize's body at where her kakuhou was. Despite how hard and fast Arima was swinging, Rize had been practically sliced in half by the time he realized that more and more tendrils were growing from the desomanted kakuhou. "That shouldn't be possible… Koori, you need to-" A loud roar erupted above them, which suddenly alerted them that the One Eyed Owl was coming closer to them. All it took was one look up at the night sky to realize that Eto's free falling kakuja-form was heading down towards where Koori was. "Damnit… Ihei, I need you to aim at its center of mase. Maybe if-"

"Arima! Move!" Koori barked out loudly with a determined look in his eyes, as he turned his focus away from the incoming large kakuja-formed ghoul. Feeling the vine-like tendrils beginning to crawl up his hip and around his torso, Koori already knew that whatever last trick that Rize had planned for him had already doomed him. To Koori, there wasn't any reason why his friends should have to die too. There wasn't much time for him, so all Koori had time to say was "... I love you guys," before accepting his fate.

"... We love you too." Was all Arima could say back in response before quickly turning back to tackle both Ihei and Hinami in order to get them away from the inbound monster. Using his own back to slide down the long flight of stairs with Ihei and Hinami's stunned and shellshocked bodies still in his arms, Arima stared off into the night sky as a loud and sickening splatter of gore became audible over the sound of Eto's kakuja-form cratering itself into the courtyard and where Koori and Rize were.

"N-No way…" Was all Ihei could whisper out in a hoarse and shaking voice, as she finally snapped out of her stupor enough to use IXA to stop their fall by creating a barrier behind them. "T-There's no way he's… K-Koori, no..." The pink-haired woman said quietly through teary eyes, as sorrow began to flood throughout her heart. With IXA still supporting all three of their weights, Ihei's sadness quickly transformed into an unrivaled sense of rage as she saw the One Eyed Owl's long and thin skeletal-like face smiling widely down at them from the top of the stairs. "Y-You…! You…!" Was all Ihei could be bothered to say at Eto, before quickly getting up to help Arima and Hinami back up to their feet as well. "That thing is in our way." Ihei said hatefully, as she retracted IXA's lance-like blade back into its normal form before switching it back for Aus with Arima. "Let's end this."

With two pissed-off investigators staring back up at her and a small pre-teen child who appeared to be horrified yet still seemingly determined to stand by Arima and Ihei, Eto used one of her six clawed appendages to scrape away the remains of the third member of Squad Zero before speaking in a booming voice. "Kishou… Just the dirty 'brother killer' I wanted to see!" Eto shouted in a crazed voice, as she focused with all her willpower to push past her pounding headache and rampant mind to keep her attention on the tall white-haired man. She might not have had Arata there to shield her away from the bloodshed and horror of fighting, but her kakuja's discombobulating effects on her mind was good enough for the half-ghoul to have no qualms about killing him and his friends.

"It doesn't feel so good to have someone you care about murdered in front of you, does it?! DOES IT!?" Eto screamed hatefully with a maniacal laughter echoing out from her kakuja's thin lips, before using its large spikey back to aim down at the three investigators with the intent of raining down a hailstorm of k-bullets down at them. "Farewell, Kishou! I hope they have a special place for you in HELL!"

With the last remaining few CCG personnel waiting patiently for Kaneki to carefully pry open the smashed-in backseat of the patrol car to pull apart the door from its hinges, the young man carefully pulled Hide out from the wreckage. Looking up at him with confusion, anger, and physical pain, Hide stared up at his 'savior' who had managed to completely shatter every bone in his arm while also successfully managing to break the entire right side of his rib cage. "Dude… What the fuck man...?! Why did you go all 'hulk smash' on me?!" Hide demanded, as Kaneki carefully made sure to lift the injured blonde man from what was left of the backseat of the vehicle. "At least if you were gonna pull some kind of shit like that, you could have at least warned me first…!"

"Sorry Hide, it was a last minute decision. Besides, even if I did tell you prior to engaging in my plan, would you have climbed inside the car to begin with?" Kaneki asked with an apologetic smirk on his face, as he carried Hide over to the large white diesel truck that had armed personnel inside of its empty haul. "Plus, I had to make it seem believable; I wouldn't have gotten you to scream the way you did if you were expecting me to injure you. Who knows? You probably would have over exaggerated your reaction, and might have blown my cover." Kaneki added on with an optimistic smile on his face, as he laid Hide down on the flatbed of the truck to leave him at the hands of the medically-trained administrative team. "What's done is done, and the best part is that no one got hurt except you! This couldn't have gone better in my opinion!"

Hide wasn't sure if Kaneki was actually right in the head or not, and could only stare back at Kaneki's gleaming smile of accomplishment with a look feeling of disbelief coursing through his broken bones. "You're an asshole, dude… But erm, thanks…? I guess?" Hide said with an unsure tone to his voice, before having Kaneki shut the trailer doors behind him. After securing the doors to make sure they wouldn't randomly open up during their escape, Kaneki made sure to double check the closing mechanism before knocking his fist against the back of the truck's white and unmarked trailer to signal for the driver that they were good to go.

As the white diesel truck fled up the ramp and ascended up to ground level using the same exit that ghouls had fled from, Kaneki smiled proudly to himself before turning his attention to the wrecked patrol car.

*Congratulations on your victory.

*You took the pacifist route to that situation, which is something I wouldn't have done.

*But don't drop your guard yet, partner.

*You have company.

The voice in his head foretold him, before gesturing Kaneki over to turn his attention over to the woman in a black-leather hoodie and white rabbit mask standing quietly with her glowing and translucent wings by the parking lot entrance into the inside of the Main Office; completely on the other side of side of where Kaneki was in standing.

*By the mask you see on their face, you assume that this is who the blonde boy had referred to as 'White Rabbit'.

*You've decided to approach her in hopes of being able to fool her as well.

With lightning still sparking out his upper back from where his kakuhou had been implanted, Kaneki made sure to use his kagune to cover his face and head once again in a self-made knight helmet before approaching Touka with a bluffing amount of bravado in each step he took. "Hm…? Who dares approach 'Grave Robber?' Do you have a death wish, insolent… Why aren't you walking away?" Kaneki asked suddenly out of nowhere, before coming to halt beside the scattered quinques and firearms that had been dropped by the same ghouls who he had managed to fool. However, not only did Touka not flinch when he approached, she was also beginning to approach him with the same level of confidence that Kaneki pretended to have.

"You're not 'Grave Robber.'" Touka said as a matter of fact, before coming to a complete stop just a few meters away from where Kaneki was fighting the urge to run away from. "You don't even sound like Grave Robber; you sound more like someone my age rather than a full grown man…" Touka mused with a slight hint of amusement in her voice that quickly left as soon as it came. "... Whatever it is that's given you the appearance of him, I can feel it… That kagune, quinque, or whatever the Hell you want to call it belongs to Arata Kirishima." Touka spoke with the same level of confidence she had in her voice, as she watched Kaneki's stance beginning to waiver.

"... I take it you were very close to Grave Robber then, huh?" Kaneki asked with a bit of interest in his tone, as he began to wonder to himself how the young woman before him could have known Arata, who was surprisingly silent in his head ever since Touka had begun to speak.

Touka let out a half-hearted chuckle before shrugging. "I wouldn't say that we were close, but I knew who he was, and he knew who I was." The young ghoul replied back with a bit of resentment in her voice, before letting out a sigh. "I am 'White Rabbit', and I've noticed my squadron has been absent lately… You wouldn't happen to know the reason for that, would you?" Touka asked menacingly, before having her right glowing wing-like kagune wrap itself around her arm to form a majestic and well-formed blade that extended out past her wrist by a meter. Raising the tip of her kagune-blade toward Kaneki, Touka stood ready to show the young imposter the true strength of a Kirishima family member as she felt a smile cross over her lips. "I've ran out of patience for today, so unless you want to be a scattered pile of ashes for someone else to sweep up, I suggest you start talking. Now."

*...

*I remember that voice.

*...

*The ghoul before you is named 'Touka Kirishima'.

*She's…

*She's my daughter.

Well it took a while, but I really wanted to make sure this chapter was done well enough!

The only notes I have to add here is the following:

Touka is far stronger than she is in the canon, due to her having to look after Ayato and always feeling the need to protect her family due to her father's absence. She isn't angsty like Ayato was, and not really sadistic either. She has a mentality of a leader and a soldier, yet still has her moments where she shows her true colors.

Ayato Kirishima will be shown as a waiter for Anteiku.

Kaneki bullshitted his way out of fighting, which was supposed to showcase his method of handling confrontation. He would rather solve things peacefully and without needing to take unnecessary risks. He's a pacifist, while Arata is shown to favor ending the lives of his opposition.

The theme of this chapter shows that violence breeds violence, hence shown between Koori and Rize.

Eto was eight years old in her flashback, and Arata was hinted to be around her age as well. Once again, inspiration for their chemistry and dynamic was based on Asriel and Chara, from Undertale. I'm not even gonna pretend that I didn't use that game as inspiration lol.

This can be considered an AU fanfiction, in case that wasn't made clear yet, so characters might act differently based on their new and different circumstances. I think I wrote this in the last chapter's author notes as well.

Not to spoil the next chapter, but don't expect Kaneki to actually have an epic fight with Touka. Without making him into a Mary Sue, there is no conceivable way that Kaneki would ever stand a chance against Touka at this point in time.

That's about it for now! I'll have to redo the writing I did before editing and reworking this chapter, so the next chapter might take a bit too! Always, let me know what you'd like to see and feel free to give me any suggestions or feedback!