Eto Yoshimura stood in one of Aogiri's many bases. Naki stood next to her.
"Did you really let him put stitches on you?" Naki asked, sounding a bit disgusted.
"Yes," Eto said, not in the mood to argue with the blond ghoul. She had said goodbye to Juuzou this morning, and they had talked of their marriage. She had looked into his eyes, and kissed him. They had told each other they loved each other. And thinking about it made her happy, but it also hurt.
"How did that even work?" Naki mumbled, rocking on his feet. "Needles can't hurt us."
Eto sighed. "He was interrogating a ghoul once, and for some reason he decided the best method was sowing his eyes open. He used a needle made of quinque steel. And after that, he kept it."
"That's sad," Naki said, tears in his eyes.
"It's an interesting torture method, I would like to try it sometime," Eto commented.
"Are you sure this is the place the doves are going to attack?" asked Naki.
"Yes."
"Do you feel bad?"
"About what?" Eto asked the tall man.
"Using the dove to find out bout raids."
Tears came to Eto's eyes. She couldn't bare to think of things in that way.
"I'm not using him!" Eto snapped.
"His trust," Naki said, a confusing expression on his face. Eto was familiar with that expression, it was the one for when he was trying to think of words.
"You have no idea how difficult this is for me," Eto growled. "Keep your opinions to yourself."
Naki sighed, a defeated look on his face. He looked much sadder than usual.
"What's the matter?" Eto asked.
"Lost a servant last night," he said. "Wouldn't listen to me. Was a boy. Age 19."
"He's dead?"
"Yeah, Heikinotoko killed him. That's his job though, get rid of servants who won't listen."
"What was his name?"
"Ju Roku," Naki said. "He was really close to Ju San. She's not doing good. She screamed a lot."
"How old was he?"
"Twenty two."
Eto sighed. She was going to say something to Naki, but suddenly, an alarm blared through the building.
"Doves are here," she muttered. "Shouldn't you be with the white suits?"
Naki nodded, and he left to go find the group. Eto sighed. It was time to be the one eyed owl. She transformed, and she caught a glimpse of herself in her reflection on the windows.
I'm so ugly like this, she thought sadly to herself.
She crashed through the building, letting out a roar. She thundered to where the main battle was going on. Naki was engaged with several doves, Tatara was nowhere to be seen, Noro was fighting many doves, and Seidou Takizawa was killing investigators left and right. Thankfully, Juuzou was nowhere to be seen.
Many investigators froze in their tracks, horrified at her appearance. She smiled, daring someone to challenge her. Two investigators stepped up— Amon and Akira.
The battle began. Amon was good, and he was wearing Arata battle armor. He struck Eto again and again with his quinque, and she fired back. Eto was so focused on Amon, she paid no mind to the absence of Akira.
That is, until a pain like none other she had felt before shot through the shoulder blade. She bellowed in agony. Eto turned her head to see the origin of her discomfort. Akira stood on a platform above Eto, and she was glaring at the quinque that was embedded in the one eyed owl's shoulder blade.
Now, normally, this would be no problem for the powerful ghoul. However, the quinque had happened to pierce Eto in just the right spot— the quinque had pierced her kakuhou, the sack that held her kagune.
Suddenly, Eto began to feel her kagune shrink away.
"No," she whispered to herself as the ferocious owl disappeared and a girl in a magenta dress took its place.
She had not worn her bandages that day, just her dress. Tears streamed down her face, which she hid from her hands. The bloody hole in her shoulder burned in pain.
"A girl?" Eto heard Amon whisper.
"Please—please don't hurt me," Eto said, still hiding her face. She knew she was completely incapable of fighting right now; it could take weeks for her kakuhou to regenerate.
"How you can you say that?" Amon growled, walking up to her. "When you've killed so many of us?"
He grabbed Eto's wrists and forcefully yanked her trembling hands away from her face. His eyes widened at the sight of her face.
"Takatsuki Sen?" he said in astonishment. "The author? You're— you're the owl?"
Eto crumpled to the ground. It was over. It was completely over. By the end of the day, Juuzou would know. Her heart was shattered. Her stomach was twisted, and she thought she was about to throw up.
"I'm taking you," Amon said, reaching down to grab her.
He suddenly let out a cry of pain as he was knocked to the floor. Takizawa stood above Amon, and the white haired ghoul sneered and then laughed. His expression became curious when he turned his eyes to Eto.
"You're hurt," he said, picking her up.
He carried her out of the building. Eto should've been shocked at this half ghoul's gentle gestures, but she was to heartbroken to care.
"Where are you taking me?" Eto said, tears still running.
"Outside," he said simply.
"Put me down," she said, and he did as he was told. "Go back in," she said, gesturing to the building. "I'll be fine."
He left, and Eto, crying the whole way, walked to her and Juuzou's apartment. She left a trail of blood on the sidewalk behind her.
She swung open the door to their apartment. It was empty. She switched on the lights, and was forced to look at the life she had. Their bed was unmade, just the way she liked it. The furniture they had picked out together; all their things… It was all haunting.
"I have to leave," she told herself.
The half ghoul pulled a suitcase out of the closet and began to gather what she needed. She was abandoning this place.
She wailed and cried with each thing she grabbed. Everything Juuzou had ever told her ran through her head. How could she have been so stupid? Why had she not listened to him? She had known this day would come. How foolish, to think the owl and the investigator could've been married.
The raid had finished. Surprisingly, the CCG had not lost all that many men. As soon as the investigators returned to headquarters, and emergency meeting was called.
Juuzou yawned as he walked into CCG's main building. He didn't care how much of an emergency the meeting was, he was tired and he was going to take his time. He was tired. The raid had been boring. He had slaughtered lots of ghouls, but none had actually been a challenge.
He plopped down in a chair in the meeting room next to Kiniko, and he was surprised to see Amon standing at the podium.
When everyone was settled in, Amon cleared his throat. Juuzou began to play with his stitches, bored.
"Invstigator Mado and I have made a giant revelation that could possibly take down Aogiri tree," he said into the mic.
Juuzou looked up, now interested.
"The identity of the one eyed owl," Amon said. Whispers went through the crowd. "Is well known author Sen Takatsuki."