I had fun writing this chapter! This is a Hideyoshi Nagachika centered chapter, while also introducing a new character that's actually from a completely different Fanfiction. More notes at the end.
Please enjoy!
Confined within the fortified white-walls of his newly acquired detention center that now served as his army's primary headquarters, the irony wasn't lost on King Yoshimura on the fact that he was literally a king who was underground who also went by 'King of the Underground' as a title.
Sitting down behind the polished mahogany desk belonging to the recently deceased warden of Cochlea, the King of the Underground himself had been practically gifted with the finest furniture and items of comfort that had been salvaged from his executives and supporters.
Sitting behind the blue screen of an enormous set of curved monitors and a space-age keyboard, the old ghoul muttered quietly to himself as he used the white wireless mouse to navigate the cursor to open up the latest email he had received from his daughter. "My, my… One would have imagined that in this age of technology, where we all have portable cellular phones in our pockets and computers that look like they're from NASA… One would think that even my own daughter would have at least had the courtesy to call me…" King Yoshimura mused aloud, before reaching over to pick up the strange looking titanium container that looked like it had been used in the International Space Station; or at least it that's how it looked like to the old ghoul.
'I believe Touka called it a 'tumbler'...? What an odd name for a coffee thermos…!' King Yoshimura thought to himself, as he pressed his lips against the edge of the plastic mouthpiece to take a sip of the black coffee that his granddaughter had made for him.
The taste of the cheap-instant coffee that Touka had accidentally burnt after forgetting to use a filter to catch the coffee grounds was indescribable, and made the old ghoul's wrinkled face reflexively scrunch up the moment the hot liquid violated his taste buds.
'Perhaps Touka needs a… Refresher course, on how to make proper coffee.' Kuzen thought to himself with a frown, before setting his tumbler down beside the framed picture of his family that Eto had given to him after she had gone through her what little belongings she kept while underground.
Not wanting to get too distracted before his morning orders could be emailed to his executives, King Yoshimura returned his squinted gaze back toward the set of monitors collectively staring back at him. After needing to enlarge the text of the email by holding down the ctrl button and using the white mouse to scroll its wheel up, a trick taught to him by Saiko, King Yoshimura began to read the email aloud to himself.
"'Father, our combined efforts of securing CCG's most prominent division centers and offices has been most impressive indeed; and while our current orders are to secure the 8th Ward in order to have absolute control of Tokyo's ports and harbors, I must request that we send a recon unit over to the 20th Ward'... How odd… What could be more important than the 8th Ward right now?"
Surprised as he was perplexed, King Yoshimura couldn't help but to catch himself needing a moment to pause from reading through the digitally typed words of his daughter's rather odd request before continuing to read to himself.
"'I understand that my request at first glance would come off as a bit of an unorthodox one at that.'"
"'However, I learned from Touka the other night that apparently someone was posing at the Grave Robber last night; bearing Arata's kakuja as their own and even being able to fool a group of our men and women as well.'"
"'While this isn't enough of a reason to send a death squad to eliminate an investigator using an Arata -type quinque while posing as him, Touka mentioned that the young man she saw underneath her father's helmet matched the appearance of Ken Kaneki; the one who Rize had used to gain us access into infiltrating their Main Office."
"'Without including my own doubts and suspicions, I would like for you to send a recon unit into the 20th Ward to locate the last seen whereabouts of this Ken Kaneki, and have him brought in for questioning. Because according to what Touka was swearing to me by, Ken Kaneki not only has Arata's kagune, but could possibly be linked to Arata somehow.'"
"'This is all speculation of course. From what information was able to have our more tech-savvy members extract from CCG's database, this Ken Kaneki had been Akihiro Kanou's apprentice. It wouldn't be outside the realms of possibility that he could have researched who Arata was from the doctor's private records before being convinced into volunteering himself as Kanou's latest guinea pig.'"
"'Don't worry about replying to this email, father. I'd much rather have you include your decision in this morning's orders. Thank you, and I love you.'"
"'Sent from my iPhone.'" King Yoshimura read quietly to himself, as a flurry of mixed emotions stirred up inside of him. Questions such as 'Who exactly is Ken Kaneki, and what is his connection to my deceased son?', 'What did Touka say to my daughter, and what exactly did my granddaughter see?', and of course 'If my daughter was using her phone to type me an email in the first place… Why didn't she just call me?!'
Regardless of how important those questions were to the King, he decided to put them on hold as he clumsily navigated his mouse to click on the compose button to draft his written orders for his executives to follow. After all, he was just as intrigued as his daughter was in regards to who this walking enigma who bore his son's kakuja really was.
While Aogiri Tree's King was in the midst of typing his email dictating who would have been given the special assignment of venturing back out to the war-ravaged streets of the 20th Ward to locate Ken Kaneki for questioning, the group of investigators that Hide had managed to join in their efforts of survival kept the lights underneath the surface level of Big Girl's Restaurant to a minimum, as they ate their hastily prepared breakfast within the dimly-lit confines of the cellar basement.
The group of surviving investigators had been fortunate enough to loot the only set of keys from the deceased owner of the restaurant when they found him with his upper body submerged inside the once boiling vat of grease. And while Hide would have preferred a less morbid way of obtaining the keys, the shelter and food that awaited for them underneath the foundations of the restaurant were a Godsend.
Fortified within the safety of the cellular that, upon further inspection, had been built originally as a fallout shelter back in the 1940's, the five investigators had trouble sleeping during their nightly stay that was plagued with screams of agony, gunfire, and of course, the occasional wanderer who would cry out for help before being hunted down by whoever had been trailing behind them.
Without his cell phone having enough battery left in it for him to use it to inform himself of what was going on the surface, Hide ate away at his microwaved cheeseburger with a bored expression on his face. Swallowing the extremely dried out bite from his gullet, Hide's brown eyes scanned his eyes around his surroundings at the other four investigators who had so far kept to themselves for the most part.
From the small and barley furnished dining table within the makeshift kitchen area he sat at, the blonde young man turned his attention towards the long and brown-haired 2nd rank investigator, who perhaps took CCG's devastating blow the hardest amongst the five of them.
Hide knew him as one of the investigators who had been ordered by the late Matsuri Washuu to be amongst the group of investigators assigned to control the crowd of 'protestors' who were gathered around the Main Office. Upon first seeing him wandering where his diesel trunk had broken down, Hide was at first surprised to see that there were any survivors to speak of that had managed to survive the onslaught led by some of Aogiri Tree's most powerful ghouls.
Hide figured that Kaneki didn't survive either, but after seeing Sediou Takizawa wandering around the backed-up freeway of abdonended and burning cars, the young blonde investigator began to wonder if maybe the talkative young man he met inside the garage was alive after all.
And while Hide would have loved to hear how Takizawa managed to escape from the Main Office's massacre, he figured from the young man's visibly shaken up condition that it would have been best to avoid mentioning the traumatic event as much as he could.
"Seiduou," Hide called out calmly, which seemed to still be enough to make the young investigator flinch upon hearing his name spoken. "Have you ever been to this place before while it was still open? Big Girl's?"
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Takizawa's lips quivered for but just a moment as he opened his dried mouth to fumble out a nervous, "n-no… N-No, I… I haven't, Hide."
"Really now?! What a surprise~!" Hide replied back with a wide grin on his face, which served to confuse the startled young man enough to begin making him momentarily forget of his trauma. "I figured you would have been the type of guy who would be a regular customer here~!"
"... H-How is that a surprise? This place objectifies young women sexually….! What's there to love about a place that reheats frozen food and pays minimum wages to girls who probably deal with sexual harassment on a day-to-day basis?!" Takizawa demanded with an annoyed look in his eyes, while Hide simply continued to flash an ever present smile on his face.
While Takizawa wasn't exactly upset at Hide for what he had said, his misinformed retort was enough for the usually quiet 3rd rank investigator to speak up. "M-My… My old friend used to have a sister who worked here… Her name was Oohashi, and she actually made a lot of money in tips when she worked here as a w-waitress..." Ayumu Hogi objected in a calm and anxious tone, as she sat hunched over on her rolled-out sleeping bag with a plate of delicately-picked chicken wings lying on a plate beside where she had tried sleeping.
"... Besides, I've eaten here a few times by myself before… Some of the girls who work here are really sweet and, well… Attractive…!" The young blonde investigator said admittingly, much to Hide's amusement and silent support. Had it not been for her long and messy mop-like blonde hair that covered most of her face, then the two young men would have been able to see her freckled cheeks burning with a bright shade of pink.
"That's what's up!" Hide chuckled with a wide-toothy grin, as he put his cheaply-produced burger down on the paper napkin he was using for a plate in front of him. "See Takizawa? This place isn't as crooked and sexist as you think…! Plus hey, I'm sure that if you actually did come here, one of the waitresses would have been esatic to meet such a strapping stallion like yourself~!" Hide said half-sarcastically, while trying his best to boost the young man's confidence and morale.
Ceasing his body's trembling shivers, Takizawa's head perked up as he stared at Hide's smug and playful face with a look of shock on his face from what he had just heard. "... Do you really think I would have gotten a girl's interest, if I came here? Like… Phone number and all?" Takizawa asked in a naive tone that sounded extremely endearing to Hide's ears.
"The whole 'shabang', my man! Who knows? You probably would have had girls fighting over you if you ended up telling one of them that you worked in law enforcement~!" Hide mused half-jokingly, all with the good intention of wanting to improve Takizawa's mood.
So needless to say, whether it was an act caused from the young brown-haired man's pent up psychological stress, or merely the fact that he had passed up more possibilities that were only available to him before the riots, Hide wasn't expecting Takizawa to suddenly stand up on his feet to slam his fist against the wall behind where the he was sitting on couch was pushed against.
Ignoring the various judgemental looks that he was receiving from the rest of the investigators in the room with him, Takizawa clenched his jaw shut tightly before pressing his sweat-soaked forehead against the concrete wall that he had busted his knuckles against. "GOD DAMNIT!" Takizawa screamed loudly into the small confines of the shelter they were in, as he felt hot droplets of his tears beginning to trail down his soft cheeks.
As the room grew silent, and all that could be heard were the quiet sounds of Takizawa lightly sobbing to himself out of frustration, Hide got up from the kitchen chair he had seated him at while the troubled young man began to speak. "I… I shouldn't have shot that guy…!" Takizawa said aloud to more so himself, with nothing but repressed remorse taking its course through his weakened psyche. "If I wasn't such a coward, t-then maybe things w-would, I don't know, would have changed?! M-Maybe if I let that snake-looking guy take a swipe at me first, t-then maybe… Maybe those riots wouldn't have been THIS bad…!? Mayb-"
Placing his hand on Takizawa's shoulder, Hide greeted the teary-eyed young man's startled expression with a warm and empathetic smile on his face, before speaking calmly."Hey, hey… Takizawa… I understand the regret you're probably feeling; I do, I really do, man… But ask yourself this: 'Is blaming myself for protecting myself really justified'?" Hide suggested in an effort to comfort Takizawa, who was once again beginning to visibly shake underneath the blonde investigator's grasp.
"Besides, you shouldn't be blaming yourself, Takizawa; you were just doing what you thought was best. Under those same exact circumstances, I'm more than positive that anyone else, including myself, would have shot that asshole right then and there…!" Hide said reassuringly, while sporting a half-cocked grin on his face. Even as he lowered his still-injured arm down from where he had clamped his hand down on Takizawa's shoulder, the young blonde investigator continued to smile brightly to comfort the troubled young man; even while enduring the pain he felt shooting up the arm that Kaneki had injured.
After having been watching the scene played out in front of him, Chuu Hachikawa stood up with his back pressed against an open and free wall. The tall and muscular associate class investigator, who was senior to the rest of the investigators in the shelter by not only age, but rank as well, adjusted his circular glasses that covered his bored-looking grizzled eyes before finally speaking from behind the cover of his grey trenchcoat's turtleneck collar.
"Nagachika has a point, Takizawa; the riots last night weren't a result of your actions on duty, young man… No, because according to what I was able to gather on my own accord before Ayumu and I regrouped with you three, I came to the conclusion that last night's riots were started thanks to the deaths of the Washuu Clan… Deaths that were caused by none other than Dr. Kanou's careless apprentice…" Chuu Hachikawa explained, which earned him a confused look from Hide.
"Dr. Kanou's apprentice…? Ken? You mean Ken Kaneki?" Hide asked with a furrowed brow.
"... Figures you would know who he is." Hachikawa mused with his scratchy voice, which immediately got on Hide's nerves more so than the snarky attitude he had when he had made his comment.
"Considering that you were stationed in the Main Office in that cozy little dispatch office of yours, I suppose it only made sense that you and the rest of those dumbass security personnel who let those two Aogiri Tree members waltz right in would have known who Ken Kaneki was… After all, wasn't his badge that was used to give those two terrorist access to the Washuu Clan's private penthouse?"
Offended that the senior investigator was implying that Hide had a part in the reason why CCG's top leadership had been murdered last night, the blonde young man frowned angrily at the grey-haired older man before speaking out in his defense.
"First of all, I did what I was allowed to do within my authority to make it clear to the security team that what they were doing was a terrible decision! Trust me, I wouldn't have let two girls posing as someone's relatives just come waltzing through the Main Office if I had the power to actually stop it." Hide retorted back without feeling the need to raise his voice, while Hachikawa continued to stare back at him with a bored expression in his eyes, as he waited to hear that else Hide had to say.
"Secondly… Unlike you, I actually met Kaneki last night while I was trying to evacuate from the Main Office after White Rabbit took everyone inside hostage." Hide said, before suddenly feeling a spiraling mixture of emotions stir up within him, as he continued to think back to that night he met the overly confident young man who risked his own life to save his.
Granted it was obvious that the young black-haired man's confidence and social skills were a facade, but Hide still knew even then through his natural intuition that Kaneki wouldn't have been capable of committing such an atrocity.
"He's… He's not really good at socializing, and yeah sure, he was the guy who did a number on my arm in the first place… But I couldn't see him as being someone who would have actively sought out for this sort of thing to happen." Hide said in not only his defense, but of the defense of the quinx who had surprisingly left an impact on the blonde investigator's life.
"I mean… Giving credit where it's due, he was able to trick Aogiri Tree into making them believe he actually WAS Grave Robber… He's also the guy who managed to talk White Rabbit's battalion into handing over the hostages to him, and even managed to make them flee from the Main Office to buy us time to escape... You know, before the office collapsed..."
"... If it wasn't for Kaneki, I, nor any of the surviving Main Office's staff, might not have left there alive." Hide said quietly out loud, as though he were finally realizing the gravity of the situation he, along with the rest of the Main Office surviving employees, had been in.
"... So yeah, I don't think Kaneki should be held responsible for last night's riots starting, nor should he have to be the scapegoat for the Washuu Clan's assaination. That doesn't sit right with me, 'Scarface'." Hide stated back at Hachikawa with an overabundance of sass in his voice, that earned him a chuckle and amused look from both Takizawa and Ayumu.
Even Take Hirako, the twenty-eight year old stoic man who was only a rank beneath Hachikawa, found Hide's quip to be amusing; although, one wouldn't have been able to guess that if they were there to see the ever-present and emotionless expression that was practically etched onto Hirako's face.
After letting out a quiet and throaty chuckle, Hirako decided to address their situation aloud with the intention of discussing their available options with the already heated man in the room.
"Look, Hachikawa… Despite whatever happened last night, that shouldn't matter to us right now… There's still people up there who are trapped in their homes or stuck in whatever shelter they were able to find… "
"We all heard it happen already; more than a few times, actually… People have lost faith in CCG, and are preparing themselves for an apocalyptic catastrophe to go down." Hirako said, as he finally addressed the elephant in the room that even Hachikawa wasn't ready to accept as the truth yet.
"... Our mission is to protect humanity from ghoulkind, no matter what conditional state the CCG is in. We shouldn't be the ones hiding from Aogiri Tree; they should be hiding from us." Take said with a subtle hint of emotion in his voice, as he tightened his grip around the onyx-handle of his quinque, Nagomi ⅓.
"We've stayed here long enough... We should be fighting right now, not cowering inside a fast food joint..." Hirako muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear the disgust in his voice, before beginning to stride over toward the staircase leading up toward the kitchen area where the door led up to.
However, Hirako suddenly stopped in his tracks just as he reached the first step as he heard the familiar sound of a quinque transforming from its compact suitcase form and into its unraveled state. Without the quinque needing to be physically pressed against his back, Hirako remained cold and stoic even as he could practically feel the cold tip of Hachikawa's golden quinque, Kajiri, aimed at the back of his head.
"Oi… What do you think you're doing, Hachikawa?" Hirako asked in a serious and unphased tone; a tone that was matched by Hachikawa when he parted his non-existent lips to reply to the younger investigator's inquiry.
"Don't pretend that you don't know what you're risking if you open that door… You make one more step forward and open that Goddamn door Hirako, and I'll put you down where you stand." Hachikawa threatened without a hint of remorse or reluctance in his ominous voice, before continuing to speak once more.
"My orders to you are clear, Hirako … And as your senior, you will follow them under my command… We are to focus on our own survival until we're in a position to engage the enemy."
"'Under your command'...? Who the Hell put you in charge?" Hirako asked without having any vocal tone in his voice to indicate that he was being sarcastic. "More importantly… Why should I listen to you?"
"You're going to listen to me since we're FUCKED, that's why…!" Hachikawa barked back in his raspy voice, which made the junior investigators in the room physically flinch from how frightful he had sounded. "Look what's happening right now, Hirako… This is Tokyo's own version of 'Judgement Day'. From the lack of communication amongst our sister branches, and from the surrounding cities' chapters, one thing has made itself evident in light of what's going on around us…"
"We lost, Hirako… There's no point in throwing our lives away if WE'RE the targets Aogiri Tree is after, not so much the civilians who they see beneath them..."
"... Let them worry about themselves, and let us worry about our own kind's survival, so that we're able to help rebuild our chapter to what it once was." Hachikawa stated in a far calmer voice then the once had been using moments ago; as if though now he were trying to plead to the other investigator to not force his hand. "Let's not throw away our lives for a lost cause… Not when we still have the potential to regroup for a counterstrike…"
"This is your only chance Hirako… Live to fight another day, or go against your chain of command, and die an unnecessary martyr's death." Hachikawa said as a final plea for the investigator not to throw away his life.
Hirako had an extremely important decision staring right back at him from up above just past the final steps of the staircase he was frozen in place on. After having a moment of silence filled with tension, the bored-looking investigator finally sighed in defeat before deciding to give his answer to Hachikawa. "... Okay," was all Hirako said, before quietly turning around to stare back emotionlessly at Hachikawa.
Relieved that he nor any of his fellow junior investigators would have had to witness a live execution occur before their very eyes, the relief that Hide experienced was quickly shattered in the same exact moment when a large blackened tendril plunged itself through the splintered metal door upstairs. Before anyone could react, the pulsating kagune from the unknown assailant upstairs tore through Hirako's chest cavity from behind.
Time seemed to stand still, as all four investigators stared in absolute shock as the pierced investigator was lifted a meter above the first step of the staircase by the tendril.
Without the ability to control his body's movements after the black kagune had successfully ripped apart a large midsection of his spine, all Hirako could do as he dropped his quinque onto the floor underneath him.
Too injured to anything more but to continue to gaze back at the fading vision of his comrades without any trace of emotion on his face, Hirako closed his eyes before all of a sudden being yanked back by the black tendril.
Having his limp body torn apart as the kagune forced his body through the hole that it made through the steel door, Hirako's severed head rolled down the steps of the staircase while his mutilated arms fell onto the top step with a wet and heavy thud.
Breathing heavily as memories of last night's massacre were being played back in his mind, Takizawa began to hyperventilate while Ayumu forced herself to quietly maneuver her violently trembling body to bring her fellow junior investigator with her, as they instinctively grouped around the senior investigator out of fear for their own safety.
Meanwhile, despite being just as horrified as everyone else, save for Hachikawa who seemed somehow cool headed after seeing his fellow investigator being brutally killed before his eyes, Hide knew that they wouldn't stand a chance against whoever was upstairs if they only had one quinque to fall back on.
Fighting back the fact that he could feel his stomach beginning to grow queasier by the passing second, as Hide along with everyone else could hear the nerve-rattling sounds of muscle and bone being torn apart and chewed upstairs by what he could guess were by several ghouls, Hide quietly knelt down to pick up Hirako's quinque, Nagomi ⅓, before silently leaping in bounds towards the conjugated group awaiting for him on the other side of the compromised shelter.
After about a minute of holding their breaths and being forced to endure the sounds of their fallen comrade being feasted upon, a deep yet femine voice from up above broke out in a condescending laughter; a canine-like laughter that had been previously burnt into Hachikawa's mind from when he was a junior investigator.
'N-No... Not now…! How…?! How did she find me…?!' Hachikawa thought to himself in a panic, while still doing his best to remain outwardly unphased by hearing the voice of his past tormentor.
"Chuu Hachikawa… It's been a long time, hasn't it?" The voice from above spoke, which instantly incited a quiet grunting gasp from the associate special class investigator. "Dogs, such as myself and my pack up here, all have an excellent scene of direction and smell… Especially when it comes to our ability to recognize the unmistakable scent of fear~!" Kaya Irimi said aloud, to which her pack of fellow 'Black Dobers' responded by following up with what she said with their own mad cacophony of canine-like cackling.
"Black Dog…!" Hachikawa grunted out through his muffled collar, as he felt himself beginning to sweat profusely from his wrinkled forehead.
"Aw~...! So you DO remember me! How sweet of you~!" Irimi replied back from upstairs with a mocking and sadistic tone, while her entourage of fellow gang members continued to laugh cruelly at the misfortunes of the investigators below.
"Chuu-Kun, you'll have to forgive my pack and I for the rude intrusion~! I would have probably found you wandering by yourself later during a more convenient time for both you and I, but things ain't like how they used to be, Chuu-Kun~!"
"Ever since King Yoshimura told us that we were to spare civilians who followed our laws, we couldn't hurt them… You can see how that makes my burning desire to tear flesh apart hard to fulfill, right?!"
"However, in light of what the King has ordered us to do… There's a loophole, you see."
"One of Aogiri Tree's laws is that all investigators and ghoul-killers are to be labeled as criminals, and you should know how punishable it is for someone to hide a fugitive; let alone five of them."
"The best part? I didn't even have to scare the information out of them! Poor bastards came to me, just BEGGING for King Yoshimura's protection! All for exchanging information in regards to where some fugitiatives might be hiding…"
"Fugitives, like you five…"
"Well… I suppose it'd be more appropriate for me to say 'four' now, wouldn't it~!?" Irimi snickered cruelly, before slapping her hand against her knee while her gang of ghouls gave a hearty laugh as well.
"T-To think…! Y-Your, haha, own kind are the ones who sold you out~...! Haha ha, ha…! How FUCKING hilarious is that?!" Irimi bellowed out, as she and her gang once again began to howl and make canine noises, as they revealed in the uneasiness and dire hopelessness that had been damned upon the very group of doves who had been betrayed by their own kind.
"I… I can't believe that." Takizawa spoke out in defiance all of a sudden, albeit with a trembling and frightened voice, that only made the Black Dobers laugh even harder and loudly at; but defiance, nonetheless.
"Believe it, kid! Humanity lost its chivalry a very, VERY, long time ago~! Take a look at your own organization of wannabe 'Spanish Inquisitors', dumbass! The same kind of people who threw you under the bus were the same kind of people who have been doing the same to our kind..."
"I suppose what can be learned from all of this is that it doesn't matter who's in charge; CCG or Aogiri Tree... "
"Humanity or ghoul kind…"
"The only thing that matters to these collectively brain-washed pieces of shit are themselves… Selfish, selfish, selfish…"
"But I'll tell you what… For the sake of the hunt and to keep things interesting… I'm willing to offer you a deal~!" Irimi announced in a sing-song type of a voice, before having to shush her gang of laughative and hyper ghouls who were stifling in their own muffled laughter.
"... CCG doesn't negotiate with ghouls; let alone with a filthy bitch like yourself." Hachikawa replied back with an angered tone in his voice.
Her gang's maniacal and muffled laughter all of a sudden took a shift in tone, as they all began to fill the upstairs area with a unanimous, "Oooooo…!" A daunting act of banter that was quickly put to an end after the closest woman beside Irimi was backhanded for egging their leader on in a negative way that the black-haired woman didn't much care for.
"Since I was expecting such a half-assed answer from someone as bitter and as broken as you, old man, allow me to extend my offer out to the younglings downstairs~...!" Irimi said, as she knowingly said it to spite the associate special investigator.
"Listen up, children! I know there's three of you still downstairs with that big and nasty old man, so don't try to pretend that I don't know of your presence~!" Irimi called with a mockingly sweet voice that served to once again strike up laughter within her gang of fellow ghouls. "I'll keep this simple, so that even little kids such as yourself can understand without me having to clarify anything…"
"If you three want to walk out of here alive and see another day in the 20th Ward, you'll send Chuu Hachikawa upstairs for my gang and I to have our… Fun with him, before we end his pathetic excuse for a life…"
"I'll allow you to take whatever supplies out into the streets with you in exchange for sacrificing his life, so that we'll meet again on more interesting terms~!" Irimi announced with a pleased tone in her mockingly polite voice, before suddenly lowering her voice to a far more serious and darker tone.
"If you don't bring him up alive within the next five minutes, I'll splatter your insides against whatever high-cholesterol canned goods are left down in that fast food shelter you call 'safe'..."
"... Your time stands now."
As Irimi took out her cell phone to begin counting down to the minutes via her timer app, all of the Black Dober ghouls snickered and whispered quietly amongst each other; some of them even began to place monetary bets with one another, to see if Hachikawa was going to be given to them willingly or by force.
With their limited amount of time litteralying being counted down by the second, Hide was the first to turn around to face Hachikawa; a move that had been expected by the older and more experienced investigator, who immediately aimed his bolt-firing quinque directly into the young blonde man's forehead.
"I'm not going up there, Nagachika; so get that ill-conceived notion out of your head, before I splattered it out through the other side of your skull..." Hachkiawa said quietly in a hushed tone, as he fought against his violently shaking arm to keep his aim steadily focused on Hide's unflinching face.
"C-Come on, man…! I-I'm sorry, but… But you heard what she said… Either she takes you, or… Or all four of us die." Hide said with a solemn grimace on his face, as he felt his stomach churning and his heart pounding against his chest. "I… I understand that you're afraid to die, I really do, and-"
"-No Nagachika, I don't think you DO know…" Hachikawa replied back quickly, with a noticeably tangible amount of fear in his once previously stoic and cool voice. "I've… I've seen what they do to people before they kill them... When they're able to sit down, and take their time with them…"
"I… I saw the viles acts with my very own eyes… T-They held down my squad leader and the rest of us, and started to…" The wrinkled man whispered, as he trailed off from what he didn't have the stomach to say with a forlorn look on his face.
"The Black Dobers… T-They play with their prey before they finally decide to eat them alive… T-They're more like fucking hyenas then they are dogs…" Hachikawa muttered, as he began to hear the distant yet familiar cries of anguish from his long-since deceased comrades of the past within his damaged psyche, that had scarred him far worse than the physical wound Irimi had inflicted to him all those years ago.
That's when he realized it: Irimi had never planned on sparing his life that night when he and his old squad were attacked. Even after leaving him alive as the sole survivor of their attack, Hachikawa realized now more than ever that it was just a sadistic way for Irimi and her gang to prolong the cat and mouse game that put him through Hell.
"... S-She was just saving me for later… A-All for the sake of the hunt…" Hachikawa whispered aloud in a hoarse voice, as he felt a sudden jolt of calmness wash away the anxiety and fear that had gripped his soul throughout the years. "I… I know what I have to do."
Although he hated the idea of having to send one of his own up to face their excruciating end, Hide felt a great amount of sympathy for the elder man, he was yet relieved that Hachikawa was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save their lives. "S-So…? Y-You'll… You know…? You'll go up there by yourself…?" Hide asked with an immediate twinging pain of guilt in his heart, to which earned him a sorrowful scowl from Hachikawa, who stared painfully back at the blonde man's brown gaze.
"No… No, I just won't let them take me alive…" Hachikawa stated aloud with an odd tone of relief in his voice, before turning around to face Ayumu; the junior investigator who had idolized him ever since she had first joined his squad. "... Forgive me, Ayumu; I-I'm not strong enough to endure what they'll do to me."
After having given what little solace he could offer to the quietly sobbing young woman, Ayumu finally broke down into violent sobs the moment she saw her squad leader turning his quinque on himself to press the end of its barrel-like tip against the bottom of his jaw.
However, before Hachikawa was able to give himself the sweet and merciful release of death that would have saved him from what was waiting for him upstairs, Hide sprung into action.
Grappling the right arm that Hachikawa was using to hold Kajiri's barreled tip into his own jaw, Hide's close-quarters-combat training that he had received from the academy kicked him into autopilot, as he pushed the palm of his hand up against the older man's elbow to make the associate release his grip from the quinque long enough for him to drop it..
"N-No...! No...!" Hachikawa muttered out in a ghastly voice, after having felt Kajiri slip from his grasp. With his heart sinking deep into his chest, Hachikawa watched as his only chance landed on the floor moments before feeling his whole world crashing down on him as both Hide and Takizawa forced his arms behind his back. "N-No… NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!"
Feeling the same amount of heartache that the rest of other junior investigators were harboring, save for Ayumu, who was now bawling uncontrollably on the floor with her hands raised up to cover her ears from having to hear the cries of fear coming from the man who she loved, Hide exchanged pain-ridden glances with Takizawa before the two of them began to drag Hachikawa towards the staircase that still housed Hirako's decapitated head.
"I'm sorry…! I'm so, so sorry…!" Hide cried out through his choked up voice, as he dragged the screaming man up the flight of stairs, as he and Takizawa continued to watch Hachikawa thrash violently in his attempts to escape. "I wish there was a better way, man… I-I really do…!"
No longer able to keep silent himself, Takizawa finally broke into tears as he forced himself to avert his gaze down at the wooden steps underneath his feet; the same very steps that were still splattered with Hikaro's blood and spilt viscius.
"F-Forgive us…! Forgive us, p-please…!" Takizawa begged in a desperate tone underneath his sobbing, as they finally approached the door upstairs, where a tall and slender woman dressed in black with a dark-dog-like mask that exposed her black and red kakugan-eye waited in anticipation for what was coming to her.
"Haha, ha, ah~...! Isn't this SO fitting, Chuu? Doesn't this make you feel twenty-years younger?!" Irimi asked mockingly with a wide smile underneath her black-dog mask, as she glared down into the old investigator's horrified gaze. "Self preservation… It's what you were always good at, wasn't it? You didn't think my friends and I didn't hear you threatening to kill the investigator we just ate after we tore him to shreds?! You're a selfish bastard, Chuu, and you're about to DIE AS O-!?"
While Irimi had only a port-hole-sized hole through the steel door to see from while she was waiting upstairs, she had been too distracted with savoring in the sight of her arch nemesis' fruitless effort to save himself from being sacrificed like a lamb to realize that she lost track of something else that was very, very important.
Had she been paying more attention to the quinque that was still tucked away underneath Hide's armpit, then she might have been more prepared for when Hide suddenly released his grip on Hachikawa's arm seconds before swinging the bladed Nagomi ⅓ upwards to cleave through her throat.
Unable to speak, let alone breath through her gurgling, Irimi fell onto the ground with her own hands raised up to her neck in an effort to cover her wound to allow it a chance to heal.
While Takizawa and Hachikawa were trying to process what was going on, along with every other black dober in the restaurant, Hide rushed forward with his one-handed quinque toward the pack of confused ghouls, and used it to cleave through the skull of the nearest gang member who was unfortunate enough to be the one closest to Irimi seconds before she was defeated . "Tch…! Oi! Don't just stand there!" Hide shouted back at his comrades in hopes of gaining support, before hastily stepping away from the same tendril that had killed Hikaro.
Due to Hikaro's killer being in a position where swinging his quinque wouldn't have been effective, Hide decided to quickly improvise by reaching over with his free hand to grab hold of a glass container of cooking oil. Catching the ghoul off guard at first more than anything, Hide slammed the bottle of greasy oil into the black dober's masked face.
"This is for Hikaro...!" Hide spoke hatefully with a burning passion in his voice, before grabbing hold of the back of the ghoul's head to shove the unexpecting and bewildered gang member's face into one of the nearby stove top oven's exposed pilot lights.
The rest of the ghouls, who were mere seconds away from overpowering Hide, froze in horror at the sight of their friend letting out a blood-curdling scream as his face erupted into a massive ball of flames.
Ayuamu, in the midst of her mental breakdown, had finally found enough nerve to act on her instincts. Gritting her teeth and breathing heavily in rapid breaths, the messy-haired girl made sure Kajiri was wrapped around her forearm before sprinting past the other unarmed investigators to assist Hide.
"... Outta girl!" Hide quickly said with a confident smile on his face, just as he shoved the incriminating ghoul away to slice clean through the midsection of another ghoul who had been unfortunate enough to be in his warpath.
Scrambling onto his feet during the same exact moment the flames were beginning to enter through his polyester mask to eat away at his eyes, the ghoul whose head was engulfed in flames ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, while the blonde investigator continued to hack and slash through the black dobers. Eventually, the burning-head ghoul was shown mercy when a large bolt fired from Ayumau's quinque flew into the side of his cranium with enough velocity that it severed his charred head clean from his melted neck.
Staring toward the wall where the ghoul's still-burning and severed head was pinned into, Takizawa and Hachikawa exchanged surprised yet hopeful looks, as Ayumu fired bolt after bolt into the skulls of any ghouls who got too close to Hide.
The counterattack that no one, not even the other investigators, expected finally came to an end when Hide severed the legs off the last black dober who had tried to flee. "Sonofabitch…!" The man groaned underneath his breath, as he fell flat on his back the moment he tried to turn himself around to get a desperate one-list-hit on Hide; a last-ditch effort that was quickly foiled when Ayumu fired a bolt into his chest that resulting in him getting skewered into the floorboards and concrete below.
Standing over the legless and kagune-less ghoul, Hide raised his quinque above his head while getting ready to finish off the last of the black dobers with one last-righteous blow. That's when he was suddenly caught off guard when the ghoul underneath him immediately removed his own mask before raising his arms up in the air to shield himself.
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! I-I HAVE INFORMATION! VALUABLE, VALUABLE INFORMATION! J-JUST FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T KILL ME!" The ghoul cried out pathetically, which actually was something that Hide wasn't expecting to hear at all.
With his quinque still raised in the air, Hide didn't dare show the injured ghoul underneath him the kindness of him lowering his weapon. However, if the ghoul underneath him had information regarding either Aogiri Tree or even a location to a cache of supplies, it was too good for Hide to pass up.
After making sure that Irimi wasn't still breathing as she laid in a pool of her own blood, Hachikawa glared bewilderingly at Hide for not immediately slaying the pleading ghoul.
"What are you doing, kid?! Spill that bastard's innards on the floor, and let's vacate the area before more of their kind start snooping around for them...!" Hachikawa said with a concerned voice that soon shifted into a sadistic chuckle, as he caught himself glaring down at the horrified eyes of the ghoul. "... Better yet, how about we start up the deep fryer, and give him the 'Manager's Special'...?" Hachikawa suggested aloud to strike fear into the already terrified ghoul's heart; but not before pulling down his collar to expose his boney smile for the ghoul to bear witness to.
"Oi... I wonder what deep-fried dog tastes like."
"SHIT MAN, NO! D-DON'T DO THAT!" The long-blonde haired ghoul squealed, as he used his trembling forearms to cover his tattooed face and black lipstick once more. "F-FUCK, PLEASE…!"
While Hide was still not on great terms with the man who had tried moments ago throwing away all of their lives for his own selfish intentions, he had to admit that Hachikawa had a dark sense of humor that actually managed to make him chuckle a bit.
"... So how about it? Either you spill the tea, or we'll be serving you a white platter next to a side of fries and ketchup, hehe~?"
"O-OH GOD, NO! J-JUST LEAVE ME BE!"
"All in good time, friend, all in good time~..." Hide said with an amused tone in his voice, before tightening his grip around Nagomi ⅓'s black handle as Ayumu came to his side to aim her quinque down at the ghoul's forehead. "Say… All of this talking is sure makin' me hungry~! Might ask my friend here to make you into shish kebabs while we're at it; seeing how our roles are apparently reversed, nowadays..."
Opening his mouth to speak out against the blonde young man's tauntings demeanour, the pale-faced ghoul immediately found himself shutting his jaw close the moment Ayumu shifted her quinque down from his forehead, and all the way down until she was aiming Kajiri directly into his crotch.
"I… Tch, fine...! FINE!" The ghoul spat back defiantly with fear still coursing through his cold veins, as he finally cracked like an egg after realizing that his efforts of trying to buy himself time for a miracle were in vain.
"Good! I'm glad you came to your senses~!" Hide replied back with a sassy tone in his voice, before suddenly kneeling down over the ghoul to place the edged tip of his quinque against his neck. "...Start talking. Now."
No longer was Hide being playful or even smiling at the ghoul, but rather was glaring with murderous intent behind his chocolate eyes, as the vision of Hirako's final moments branded itself into the recesses of his mind.
"Okay, okay… S-So… So like, there's like… You know who 'Grave Robber' is, right? That scary dude who was responsible for wiping out Aogiri Tree after that one Chinese guy, Tarata, took control of the group…?!"
"Yeah, I guess you could say that I know him on a first name basis… Why, what about him? What does Grave Robber have to do with anything?"
"W-Well, t-there's a rumor going around that he's back f-from the dead, or some crazy shit like that, a-and is possessing the body of some guy named K-Ken, Kenny, o-or whatever…!"
"T-The reason why that's important for you to know is b-because t-the leader of Aogiri Tree, K-King Yoshimura, sent out these guys, erm… B-Bin Brothers, t-to uh… Um..."
"... T-The point is, there's also talk f-from the e-executives that t-the One Eyed Owl herself i-is wanting to have that Ken guy join them, a-and then use him to k-kill the rest of you off…!" The ghoul said, with a wide and toothy grin emerging from the corners of his lips. Stifling in the urge to laugh at the thought of the legendary ghoul coming back from the dead to lay waste to their enemies, the ghoul couldn't but let out a snicker as he looked over past Hide's shoulder to see Hachikawa's face turn immediately pale.
"T-That's right, old man… He's back…"
'G-Grave Robber…"
"T-The Prince of the Underground…!"
"The F-Fallen Child of Man!"
"H-Haha, ha... ! H-He's back, and he's gonna kill all of you! And then, w-we'll have White Rabbit, the One Eyed Owl, AND Grave Robber all fighting on the same team…! Y-You're all just biding your time right now… Y-You're going to die a painful d-death… I can p-promise you that…!" The ghoul said mockingly with a weakened and amused chuckle, while Hide continued to glare down at him without showing any sign that the ghoul was getting into his head.
"N-Now g-get the Hell out of my sight…! T-There's probably a McDonalds or a B-Burger King that you four can take refuge in next, mmph mmmph, mphh…!." The ghoul said mockingly with the last of his body's sass, as he let out a dry and throaty chuckle. "... I told you what you wanted to hear… Y-You'll hold up your end of the bargain, w-won't you…?"
"... Yeah… Yeah, a deal's a deal, I guess..." Hide replied back with a cold and startled voice, as he couldn't imagine someone like Kaneki working alongside the very same artificial ghoul who had been responsible for countless lives being lost.
"... Come on guys, let's leave ol' peg-legs here for the rats to gnaw on him..." Hide said with a forcibly playful tone and weak smile on his lips, before getting up to pat Ayumu's small back to usher her forward towards the busted-open entrance of the restaurant.
Seeing how Hide had not only been the voice of reason and leadership amongst their group during what she figured were going to be her final moments left alive on Earth, Ayumu reluctantly aimed the golden quinque away from the whimpering ghoul's forehead before beginning to follow the charismatic young man's unspoken orders to move forward.
Before Takizawa could finally build up enough nerve to begin taking the first of many steps needed to catch up with the two blonde investigators, he let out a yelp as he felt a large hand clamp down on his shoulder. "H-Hachikawa...?!" The nervous young man asked aloud in a gasp, before turning his head over his gripped shoulder to lock eyes with the ghastly-gaze of the man.
"Listen here boy, and listen to me well… Arata Kirishima, the Grave Robber himself, is a danger to us all. Proxy or no proxy, if Kaneki truly is able to contain his conscience into theirs, then we can't afford to risk having Aogiri Tree recruit him and more importantly, Grave Robber, back into their ranks…" Hachikawa whispered from behind his ruffled collar, as he quietly made sure that neither Hide nor Ayumu would accidentally overhear him from outside the restaurant.
"Hideyoshi Nagachika… He seems to have a fondness for Ken Kaneki, however… So that'll be an issue for us."
"H-How so, s-sir…?!"
"If CCG has a chance to recover from Aogiri Tree's insurgence against and once again protect these streets, we're going to need to ensure that Arata Kirishima is sent back to Hell where he belongs…" Hachikawa whispered, as he motioned for Takizawa to begin moving forward toward the exit to avoid suspicion. "Without the interference of Arata, we'll be able to focus on eliminating Aogiri Tree's executives, before finally moving in on dethroning their monarchy once and for all… All by putting this 'King Yoshimura's' head a fucking stake..."
"... What I'm saying is this: If the boy decides to join Aogiri Tree, we won't stand a snowball's chance in Hell if Grave Robber is with them..." Hachikawa whispered in a hoarse voice, as he and the panicked young man traversed across the corpse-ridden dining area where their massacred comrade laid in a pile of gore beside the still-grinning face of the injured ghoul who was still bolted into the floor.
"If that were to happen, then Tokyo will be lost, and along with humanity's hope… That's why we can't afford for that possibility to exist, Takizawa… Ken Kaneki must die, and whatever's left of Arata, along with him..." Hachikawa finished whispering, just in time to move away from Takizawa's ear during the same exact moment Hide turned his head over his shoulder to stare back at the duo.
"Are you slow pokes okay back there?" Hide asked with a much more playful look on his face compared to what he had going on for himself moments ago, as Ayumu also turned her head over her shoulder to stare back at Hachikawa, who scowled back at them with his usually unreadable expression, while still keeping his hand clamped down on the trembling young investigator's shoulder.
"Quite fine, I can reassure you; the boy was just a bit shaken up by the grizzly sight of Hirako's remains being scattered across the checkered floor." Hachikawa replied back in his usual tone.
Meanwhile, Hide couldn't help but notice and feel that something was off about the entire situation of what he was seeing before him. For one, it struck Hide as more than a little bit strange that Hachikawa was still keeping his hand tightened over Takizawa's shoulder, and the perceptive young man found the older man's suddenly caring demeanor to be off putting as well; especially after Hachikawa had made it clear to the rest of them that was okay with throwing them to the wolves to save his own skin.
"... What are you staring at, Nagachika?" Hachikawa asked back with a confrontational tone in his voice, to which Hide played off by merely shrugging while still keeping a smile spread across his face.
"Nothin', I was just admiring your fatherly instincts, was all… Especially when you were willing to have us all killed back there…!" Hide said sarcastically with a mocking wink, to which quickly cut deep into the older man's pride as an investigator and as a leader.
"… Enjoy the limelight of being a hero, boy; revel in your victory while it lasts, Nagachika..." Hachikiawa retorted with a scornful grunt at the end of his sentence, as he tightened his grip even more so on top of Takizawa's already aching shoulder. "With that being said… Thank you. Thank you for handling that well, and for rescuing us… Especially Ayumu."
Upon hearing her name, Ayumu's ears were practically perked up as she even went as far as to adjust her bangs so that she could look into her squad leader's tired eyes. When Hachikawa caught her staring at him through her pushed-aside thick lockets of blonde hair and into her eyes that were as large and as beautiful as the ocean itself, the grey-haired man, as stonehearted as he was, couldn't help but feel remorse course through his aging body.
Although he saw the tender moment that was being shared between the two investigators of Squad 2, and didn't want to break up their moment together, the popping in his shoulder was indication for Takizawa that unless he wanted his shoulder dislocated, he had to speak up. "M-Mr. Hachikawa…! Y-You're hurting me…!" Tazkiawa whispered through his clenched jaw, as he felt a heavy drench of sweat coagulating along his smooth forehead.
Hearing the young investigator's pleas while still not daring to break what little contact he was able to have with his beloved underling, Hachikawa immediately released his grip on Takizawa's shoulder before stepping past him to get in front of Ayumu.
"Ayumu… You've done well, and seeing what you were able to do under such stress makes me proud…"
"Proud not only as your squad leader, but in the same light a father would see his daughter in." Hachkiawa said with a genuine tone of paternal warmth in his voice, which took the air out of Ayumu's lungs, as she found herself struck with amazement and heart warmth after finally hearing the words she had been waiting to hear for years. "... Thank you, Ayumu; thank you for being my pride and joy."
Fighting back the tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes, Ayumu was speechless at what she had just heard. Only able to reply back to her squad leader's kind words with a gentle nod, the young blonde girl let out a quiet and elongated breath as she gave Hachikawa his bolt-firing quinque back.
While Takizawa was still standing behind Hachikawa with a patient, yet nervous, look still on his youthful face, Hide couldn't help but notice how sinister the associate special investigator was as he stuck his hand back down into the conical-shaped quinque.
After Hachikawa had wrapped his aged fingers around Kajiri's internal pistol-grip, the grey-haired man glared through his circular glasses as he briefly made sure to that the tip of his weapon 'accidentally' crossed over Hide's direction in its line of fire, as he made a few motions to aim down his quinque's sights before setting back down to his side.
"... We're going to need to find the nearest armory to get ourselves prepared to… 'Locate' Ken Kaneki." Hachikawa said menacingly, as the thought of being the one to plant a bolt into the head of the young boy was pleasant enough to elicit a low chuckle from the usually emotionless man. "Come now... We'll head over to the Lab Division, and see if my badge still works." The man ordered, while knowingly taking pleasure from undermining Hide's authority while taking back his role as the group's leader.
Although Hide himself knew that he himself was handy with a quinque, the young blonde man also knew of the danger he would have to face if he were to break off from his group. If a group of ghouls from Aogiri Tree saw him wandering alone with only one quinque to his name and no backup support, it would be the end of him, and he knew it.
Begrudgingly, Hide let out an annoyed groan underneath his breath before placing the back of his quinque's blade over his shoulder. "Great… Yeah, let's go ahead and listen to the guy who kept aiming his quinque at us; I'm sure that won't bite us in the ass later…!" Hide muttered sarcastically to himself, as he reluctantly began to follow the group from behind, as they headed toward the 20th Ward's Lab Division with the sole purpose of gaining the means to kill others.
Laying there alone, surrounded by the corpses of his latest meal and massacred friends, Ryuuchi Kagami continuously whispered obscenities underneath his breath, as he slowly pulled out the heavily RC-Cell condensed bolt that had been lodged inside of his chest.
After five minutes of having to experience the agony of pulling out several fragments of bone and thick-crimson viscous that to be remove in order to free himself from the floor, Kagami was finally relieved to be free as he dropped the weighted bolt down into the thick pool of blood that was pouring out of his wound.
"This? This is fine… This is all… Perfectly… Fine." Kagami spoke aloud through his parted makeup-covered lips, as staring up at the restaurant's white ceiling above where he laid. "All you gotta do Kagami is just sit tight… L-Let mother nature heal that nasty wound of yours, and let yourself build up an appetite…"
"I'll finish whatever's left of that guy in the corner, before getting the Hell out of dodge, and find me a boat that'll sail my sweet-sweet ass to the fuckin' Bahamas, man…" Kagami said with a longful look in his tired eyes, as he unknowing ignored the obvious sounds of god-awful chewing for the sake of imagining himself with a glass of chilled blood-wine, laying down on a fold up chair in beach-perfect weather; with nothing but the glorious Mexican Gulf sea crashing gently down near his future sun-kissed body.
"Yeah… Yeah fuckin' aye man, that's the plan Kagami… That's the pl-"
Before he could finish his sentence, a loud and deep sounding growl startled him awake from the inner working of his imagination. It was only after he was brought back to reality did he finally take notice of the hulking black beast that appeared to be towering below where his feet were two meters tall, and nearly ten meters in length.
Whatever Irimi had done to her fallen comrade's corpses within such a small window of time had been finally enough for her to develop her half-kakuja into a full one; giving her the appearance of a Hellhound with a thick-armored hide, two large kakugans, two rows of razor sharp teeth, and and metallic claws that were as long as long swords.
Staring down at her speechless meal who had betrayed the King himself, and the quite possibly even the future of the Yoshimura family who thee were sworn to protect, Irimi let out an ungodly snarl as she raised her kakuja-created claws up in the air before splattering Kagami's lower half into an explosion of gore that painted the interior of the dining hall with organic matter.
With the windows blocked out by the crimson viscus, the red lighting inside the Big Girl's restaurant made Kagami's last moments a living Hell, as he watched the maddened Irimi use her dog-like kakuja head to begin tearing his body apart like how a wild wolf would do to a rabbit.
Having left her office space in the 20th Ward's large sector that was dedicated to an entire block-sized massive office duplex composed of different laboratories, otherwise more commonly known as the 'CCG Lab Division', Morie Masuda, a ghoul biologist who many had considered to be a gifted prodigy in her line of work, awoke with a slight ache in her back as she sat up from the large branch she has fastened herself to the night during the riots.
Wearing nothing but the track suit she had on underneath the navy blue smock she left behind in her office, Morie used her brown perceptive eyes to scan across the horizon of the park where she fled to in order to avoid being seen alongside CCG presence.
Unlike the inner city of Tokyo, where desecrated corpses and the remains of wrecked vehicles and scattered luggage from those trying to flee the city were rampant across the sidewalks and streets, the flowing emerald blades of grass that danced in the blowing warm summer breeze while the unphased sparrows sung their loud chirps for all to hear, as if though that morning had been like any other for them.
'I don't see anyone else here… I must have made the right choice coming here, after all.' Morie thought somewhat amusingly to herself; although such a lighthearted thought stemmed from a not-as-lighthearted reason.
With a low growl emanating deep from within her stomach, and her lips as dry as a desert, the ghoul biologist was reminded of the fact that it had been more than a day since she last had food, and clean drinking water sounded just as pleasant to her during that moment as a hot showered sounded to her as well.
'... Unfortunately, the shower is going to have to wait until I get myself established into a safe environment… Food and water, on the other hand, could become a scarcity soon… It'd be in my best interest to see what I can get around here before whatever's available here gets taken.' Morie thought strategically to herself, as she carefully slid her laptop bag down from the nearby secure branch that she had used to keep her valuables from falling down from the large cedar tree branch that she took temporary residence in, within its tall and well perfectly-obscuring thistles.
Securing the laptop bag's strap around her shoulder, Morie had an easier time pulling her large-clunky machete-like quinque by its bandaged-covered handle and out from the tree trunk where she had lodged it into for safe keeping as well. With her dull black blade, named 'Masuda', tucked in between her armpit, Morie ensured that it wouldn't slip away from her, before making the careful climb back down to the ground below.
Making sure not to trip on the exposed and aged roots of the pine tree that were emerging from the soil below, along with numerous amounts of the dried needles and fallen pine cones that were scattered across the area surrounding the base of the cedar tree, the hard surface of the earth underneath her boots crunched before sinking in under her light weight, as Morie headed towards the grassier path that led towards the park's public restrooms; restrooms that had two vending machines stationed outside of their concrete and weathered walls.
After having sat in solemn silence within the barley lit public restroom, all while being on edge during her duration of staying within the stall within the small outdoor building housing what she figured would be her shelter for the time being, the woman had finally finished morning business before getting up to head to the chipped bathroom sink.
'It's not graceful by any means, and if I'm being honest with myself… The smell could be better.' The messy-haired woman thought to herself, as she finished washing hands before collecting a handful of water from the faucet in order to wash away the dirt that had gotten matted on her pale skin during her treetop slumber.
'Still… It may not be perfect, but at least I have power outlets inside the restroom that are being powered by the solar panels on the rooftop, and there's 'questionably' clean-running water here with a source of food from the vending machines… There might even be the occasional wandering wildlife that I could make use of, if I'm having a hard time finding an adequate source of food, that is...' The calm and calculating brunette thought to herself, before using the sleeve of her tracksuit to wipe away the water from her face.
Upon doing an acceptable job of drying herself off with what little her nylon tracksuit was able to accomplish for her, the woman looked up to find herself staring back at herself through the reflection of scratched surface of the mirror above the sink before her.
Observant that her hunger must have been the cause behind her kakugan eyes activating on their own, Morie didn't think too much of it as she stared into the rest of her reflection to only be met with a practically expressionless face that would have been commonly mistaken by others as her being bored.
Although being alone hadn't ever been a problem for Morie, the knowledge that she was all on her own while the world around her was crashing down into a pit of war between two races that weren't all that different from one another was enough to shake her to her very core.
Gripping the ceramic sides of the sink she was now using to support her weight, Morie averted her gaze away from her reflection in order to focus on the water faucet beneath her.
She couldn't allow herself to lose herself in the overwhelming amount of violence and despair that was awaiting for her outside perimeters of the park she found herself taking sanctuary in. If she was going to survive the brave new world that she was now a part of much like everyone else was, she was going to have to stay focused on what was in front of her rather than getting lost in the entire list of possibilities that needed to work out in her favor.
"One… One drop at a time." She spoke quietly to herself to ease her rampant mind, as she gazed down at the gentle titter-tatter of the leaky faucet head below her. "Just… Just take it one drop at a time…"
Aogiri Tree is trying to locate Kaneki, Take Hirako is dead, and Hide is traveling with a band of fellow misfits in a cruel and unforgiving world; all the while Irimi is on the loose as well.
My, oh my. A lot happened in this chapter, and all while Kaneki and Arima are traveling to the 20th Ward to begin scouting around for allies and equipment.
Morie Masuda is an OC belonging to KitsuneFire01, and is the main protagonist of her author's retelling of Tokyo Ghoul called 'Those Who Wander Through Life.'
She's very smart, not very social, yet is a character that gets stuff done and has an interesting concept behind her. A lot of thought was put into her, so please check her out if you're looking for something more symbolic and serious than this story to read.
s/13398844/1/Those-Who-Wander-Through-Life (Just copy and paste that after the dot net portion of your URL to be taken to her story).
If you'd love to collaborate too, let me know! Thank you, and have a good day!