Chapter 8

Hello everyone!

So, I'm back with another chapter. Although this one is a tad short, more chapters are on their way.

A thing to mention before proceeding is the fact I merged the days where Kaneki meets Hinami and the meeting that follows it. In the manga the meeting happens in the morning of the following day. I felt that the story would flow better if I merged them.

The sun was just starting to set when Morie returned to her home and she was glad she left when she had as rain streamed down from the sky as soon as she got undercover. She dropped her bag on the ground and placed her laptop on her desk next to a sleeping Shirozumi.

Deciding dinner should be prepared she readied herself for another tasteless meal of rice and grilled fish she managed to pick up on sale a day ago. She washed her hands underneath running water before turning on the section underneath to stove to warm up in addition to pulling out her rice cooker and also turning it on.

As Morie dug an empty mug into a bag of rice to measure out how much she wanted to cook the ringing of a phone echoed through the silent apartment. It was muffled by the fabric constructing her backpack but its shrill buzzing was still sharp. She sighed and put the mug on the bench as she strode to her bag.

Digging around for the item she eventually felt the plastic of its case and looked at the screen to find out who was calling. It showed a photo of Kaneki so she slid the green phone symbol and answered, "Morie here. What's going on?"

It was not Kaneki who spoke. "Miss Masuda, I need you to come back to Anteiku." The voice belonged to a gravely serious Yoshimura.

"I'm on my way," she stated whist returning back into the kitchen to turn off the appliances.

"Thank you" was the reply as the line was cut.

Morie threw her phone back into the bag, slung it over her shoulders and left the apartment. The rain was still coming down heavy and Morie wrinkled her nose in disgust as she quickly stepped down the outdoor staircase and onto the streets of Tokyo. She quickened her step, hands tightly gripping the strands of her bag.

It got just dark enough for the streetlights to turn on when she arrived at her destination. The café itself had its open sign flipped to close and the curtains were closed and as she entered, the chairs were placed upon the tables. There was no one on the ground floor but she could hear commotion coming up from the second in the form of a loud bang.

Morie ran up the stairs paying no heed to her damp footsteps and saw Touka on her knees in the entry to the management room, her fists shaking.

"You're kidding!?" exclaimed the fallen girl, fury resonating. "SHE CAN'T SURVIVE IN THAT SHITHOLE BY HERSELF!"

As soon as Morie stood at the doorway everyone but Touka looked at her, sadness in their eyes. Morie noted Kaneki whose eyes were red from tears. She glanced around analysing the figures. Everyone who worked for Anteiku that she knew was there but she swallowed hard. There was nothing right about this situation.

Touka noticed everyone looking at the space behind her and slowly turned her head. She snarled once she saw Morie's figure. Her body snapped up to face Morie. "You... You lead them here didn't you?" her voice dripped with venom.

Morie took a step back and raised her hands in front of her chest, eyes narrowing. "Look, I don't know what has happened but I haven't done anything. Don't start accusing me."

The girl took a step towards Morie but as she opened her mouth to speak Yoshimura placed a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Masuda had nothing to do with this. The doves were drawn here due to Rize's actions not her's."

"Tch," Touka spat. She continued to glare fiercely at Morie but eventually moved to let Morie into the room.

Morie took a seat on the couch next to Kaneki as Touka lent against the doorframe again. "The CCG huh?" She closed her eyes but opened them revealing a harden stare. "Who?"

A phone buzz sounded and Morie knew it was from her's. She fished for it in her bag before tapping the screen to show who sent the message. It was an email, an email sent by the CCG. "Hang on. Let me read this." She swiped the screen, unlocking it with her password and scanned her eyes over the words of the message.

To those whom it may concern,

Today two ghouls were sighted in the 20th Ward. Fortunately, First Class Investigator Kureo Mado and his partner Kotaro Amon were quickly on the scene and managed to exterminate the elder of the two ghouls. However, the younger one appearing to be a girl in her early teens depicted in an artist's rendering below, escaped.

Your help to exterminate the 'Daughter' ghoul is appreciated.

Kamemochi, 20th Ward Branch Director

Surely enough attached to the email was a police sketch clearly depicting Hinami.

"Shit. It's Mado." Morie growled as she put her phone away. "Don't say her name. Where's Hinami? Is she safe?"

"She's currently asleep in the storage room. Yomo and I are making plans to move her to the 24th Ward in the coming days," informed the Manager calmly, careful not to portray his sadness.

At that comment everyone but Kaneki's tightened their muscles at the mention of the 24th Ward

"That's where Arima plays Whack-a-Mole," Morie said as the gazes from Touka and Yomo hardened. "Cannibalism too. A little girl can't survive there." After a pause of silence Morie continued. "Listen, I know the people involved. You do not want to cross paths with Mado. I don't know anything about his partner." She internally shivered at the thought of the man with the bulging eye.

Touka spat back, "This Mado bastard won't be a problem if we kill him first."

The stoic Yomo cut the teenager off with a "No". Arms crossed he continued to proceed. "If a Dove dies in the 20th Ward, they will consider the area to have hostile ghouls. If that happens, they will proceed to send more and more until new ones arrive. You have to understand, Touka…"

Morie nodded in agreement along with Yoshimura. Kaneki just looked around nervously.

"The best option is to do nothing," Irimi spoke.

Touka's eyes started to well with tears and she turned her back to the group. "I will be tragic if we don't retaliate."

"What's tragic isn't that we can't retaliate," Yoshimura replied. "What's truly tragic is being consumed with vengeance and not being able to live your life."

Touka snapped her head back to face her boss. "What are you trying to say?!"

There was no response. They stared at each other until Touka stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Yoshimura gave a sad smile towards Kaneki's direction. "Don't worry. She's also dealing with a lot of things." Returning to a serious expression, he addressed the group. "Kaneki you can return home for the night but Miss Masuda, I request that you stay here to explain what you know about the investigators."

"Um… right." Kaneki picked himself up with his gaze hanging low. "I will see everyone tomorrow." With that he exited Anteiku.

"Masuda, will you tell us what you know?" Yomo asked.

Morie nodded, took her phone out and placed it on the table to show the email. "I don't know much about Amon apart from the fact he is still most likely a rookie. Mado on the other hand is the one you need to watch. He is elderly looking but he has this intuition that is almost always correct. Furthermore, people in the CCG refer to him as Quinque Freak due to his in collecting the kagune of the ghouls he defeats. If he enters Anteiku then everyone working here will be compromised. I can get more information two days from now."

As the phone got passed around Yomo started to described the investigators he observed to the workers. Morie paid attention to the description of the tall, broad man with trimmed black hair with great interest. Now she knew who to lookout for in the coming days.

Once the conversation concluded, Morie picked up her phone and excused herself from the café. By this time the sky had fully transitioned to night. The rain had ceased but clouds and light pollution still blocked sight of the moon and stars.

Choosing to explore the area in order to investigate, Morie took a detour one the way home and as she turned the corner down a nearby street, she saw it. Two blocks down was a sectioned off side alley. A person dressed in white holding a silver suitcase stood by the taped area watching a small group of onlookers stood by the entrance.

Morie pushed her way through the crowd of worried people and to the man in white. He watched the student's movement carefully as she approached. "This is a CCG incident area. You need to stay behind the tape," he ordered.

Morie paid no attention to the investigator, choosing to look at the scene behind instead. An officer with their back turned stood shining a torchlight at the centre of the alleyway. A puddle dyed red tricked slowly into a drain off to the side. Blood was flicked onto a nearby wall. Kneeling at the puddle, shaking his head was a middle-aged man in a formal suit whom Morie recognised.

She wanted to get a closer look so with eyes firmly on the investigator she said the following, "Morie Masuda, CCG affiliate. I request entry."

There was no reaction when the investigator replied. "I need some identification then."

Morie huffed as she shook of her bag to show an ID she received from the CCG but stopped when the person with the torch shone it at her. The light making her eyes squint. "I thought I heard Masuda's voice," exclaimed the man, his young eyes peeping from behind his round glasses.

"Evening, Kusaba, Nakajima," Morie said as she ducked under the tape. The investigator watched every move the girl made as people in the crowd began to murmur.

"Did you see the email?" asked the man kneeling next to the puddle.

"I did." Morie stood near the walk sprayed with blood and pondered for a second. "Judging from the pattern, Mado decapitated the ghoul, correct?" She ran a finger around a bit of blood that had started to dry, images of the grieving mother flashing in her mind. Her breath remained still.

"Yeah. Get this, he used the quinque made from the ghoul's husband to do it too," the same man scoffed.

The younger of the two men investigating the scene moved his torch from Morie back to the blood in the centre. "I wonder about the child that was with her. The drawing shows that she's still quite young…"

Morie moved from the wall and closer to the puddle. Gazing down she watched the liquid wind between the small gaps in the pavement and into darkness. Her eyes narrowed in contemplation.

"A ghoul's a ghoul, Kusabe and we have a job to do." The crouched man got up and snapped a picture of the scene with a drawn-out sigh. "We need to hurry this up. Say, Masuda, care to join us for dinner?" he asked. "You'll get to meet Amon."

Morie shook her head. "I don't have the money to. Besides, I have things at home."

Kusabe pointed the torch at the wall whilst Nakajima took another photo. "Your presentation is coming up soon. Surely, you can spare the 1500 Yen for tonight. You'll receive payment on the 12th anyway."

Morie once again shook her head. "No. I can't afford to spend money on things like that right now."

"Geez," sighed Nakajima as he put the camera down and brushed his hands on his pants. "As you wish. Come on Kusaba, let's start the clean-up."

"Right."

Morie turned her back to them and lifted an arm up in a lazy wave. "I'll see you two at the presentation."

She once again ducked under the tape much to the ire of the investigator keeping guard. The crowd had started to dissipate allowing Morie a clearer view of the alleyway from the street. As she turned around a corner her body froze. The scent of old books, coffee and flowers met her nose. She stood there and inhaled deeply before briskly walking away, out of sight from the CCG members.

Under a lightpost, she sat. The water around her splashed as her hands fumbled for her phone. They were there. They were there and they saw everything. Her friend and the child. Morie scowled as she scrolled through her list of contacts. Her finger stopped on Kaneki's profile and paused for a moment before she scrolled up to Hide's name.

She brought the phone up to her hear as the ring ring of it dialling made its way into her ear. 'Pick up,' she thought to herself as the ringing continued. It continued to ring until it reached voice message.

Not wanting to waste time speaking to nothing, Morie hung up, pulled up the texting screen. Her fingers moved fast over the keyboard.

Kaneki needs something

Send.

A coffee or a book idk he needs something

Send.

He saw something he should of never seen

Send.

As she clasped the phone, hoping the energetic student would see the messages any second right now, Morie lowered the screen. The glint of the light from the lamppost reflected off the phone just enough to make the surface reflective. Staring at Morie was a red dot. She titled the phone to get a better look and surely, it belonged to her.

As she threw the phone back into her bag, she picked herself up and ran back to her apartment, making sure to tilt her head down to hide her eyes.

After nearly tripping on the slippery stairs leading up, she eventually made it back home. Dropping her bag at the front door and foregoing taking off her damp shoes, Morie marched to the bathroom. By the time she got there her right pupil was not longer swam in a sea of black.

She stripped off her the wet clothing that clung to her body and turned on the shower. After steam started to fill the room, Morie stepped inside. The hot water streamed down her body as she breathed in and out to calm herself. Eventually she grinned and laughed.

Never had she been an onlooker from the ghoul's perspective personally. This scenario was everything she wanted to avoid for the sake of humanity and for the sake of ghouls. If only they listened to her. It was a riot.

Turning off the water, drying herself and brushing her teeth, she walked into her bedroom to get changed into her pyjamas. After the whole ordel, she didn't feel like fixing herself a meal. Collapsing on the bed with a grin and a sigh, she laid there until her own thoughts carried her to sleep.

It was later that day that another email was sent, an email announcing the death of Ippie Kusaba and a wanted ghoul donning a rabbit mask.