One Week Later

"Suzuya," Houji called from an open doorway. "There's a meeting. You need to be there."

Juuzou groaned and dragged himself into the conference room. Around the table sat Akira, Amon, Arima, Take, Kuramoto, Shirazu, Urie, Mutsuki, and Yonebayashi. He flopped down in a chair, wondering why everyone was gathered. Arima nodded at Amon, who spoke.

"So, I'm sure everything is aware that Kiniko has been missing for over a week now. There was no body, so we could not confirm him dead or not. However, police found large amounts of blood in a nearby alleyway, and the M.E. confirmed the blood to be Kiniko's. There was to much blood at the scene for him to have survived. Our forensic people examined the site, and kagune secretions were found. All evidence concludes that Kiniko is indeed deceased, and the cause of death was by a ghoul."

Juuzou's mind was running wild. How could there be kagune secretions? Suddenly, it hit him. He had used his quinque. Quinques were made from kagune, so when he had severed Kiniko's head, the Quinque had left a kagune fingerprint.

"Suzuya," Amon continued. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Juuzou said nothing.

"That will be all," the black haired man said, concluding the meeting.

Everyone stood up and filed toward the door, but Akira caught Juuzou's attention.

"Suzuya. You're waiting here."

A knot formed in his stomach, but he returned to his seat. He waited for the door to shut behind everyone, and then looked at Akira. The woman was standing and looking down at the white haired man, frowning.

"Now," she said, breaking the silence. "With Kiniko gone, you need a new partner."

Suzuya cocked his head. "Who?"

"She was a first class, but she has just been promoted to Special Class. I hope you will get along."

"What's her name?"

"Special class Takai Joseino."

Juuzou blinked. "The one who follows Arima around like a puppy dog?"

Akira scowled. "Yes, that one. And here she is now."

The door flew open and a young woman came rushing in, dropping papers all over the floor.

"Shit!" she muttered as she picked up the flyaway documents.

She stood straight up and brushed herself off.

"I'm Takai Joseino."

The woman looked to be in her early twenties and was about an inch or so taller than Suzuya. She had wide, expressive sky blue eyes and thick eyebrows. Takai was tan, and curls of blond hair tumbled down to her shoulder blades. She wore formal attire: a coat, a skirt, heels, and a dress shirt. However, her white dress shirt was the only thing that wasn't black.

"Suzuya Juuzou."

"Great, now you two know each other," Akira said. "You're to look into the gang known as The Cards. They're in the 22nd ward."

Juuzou smiled; thanks to Mesume, he already had some info on them.

Akira excused herself and Takai joined Juuzou at the table. The young woman laid out the papers down and looked at her new partner.

"First things first," she said. "Please don't call me Takai."

"Call you by your first name?" Suzuya asked, mildly surprised.

"Well, my first name is Joseino. You can call me Josei, okay?"

"Alright," Juuzou said.

He watched her as she began sifting through the papers.

"So the cards," she said. "What do you already know about them?"

Suzuya did not respond and continued staring at her.

"Why the fuck do you keep looking at me like that?" she asked, giving her new partner a strange look.

Her use of profane language did not stun Suzuya. "Why do you follow Arima around?"

A blush spread of Josei's face. "I don't."

"Yes you do."

"Shut the fuck up."

Suzuya just chuckled and took a piece of paper from the pile. It read:

Name: Seven of Spades/Flower Crown

Sex: Female

Appearence: Long brown hair. Usually seen in white dress. Card bandages mask with card number painted. Flower crown.

Rc Type: Rinkaku

Rank: S

Ward: Unknown Ward of origin, only spotted in 22nd ward

Notes: Taken part with several skirmishes. Seems to work with Two of Spades. Flower Crown is responsible for the death of the following investigators-

Rank 2 Kyoi Zokuyo

Rank 1 Imasu Dakuu

Rank 3 Akari Appu

Rank 2 Bachera Isshoni

Rank 3 Doko Enkai

Rank 3 Tada Kino

Rank 3 Sugureta Aki

Rank 2 Misu Kimiwa

Rank 3 Shibo Tani

Rank 3 Wakai Kazan

Special Class Ratto Irezumi

Special Class Aijo Sebu

Special Class Iwa Roru

Suzuya swallowed hard. This was Mesume's file. She was definitely becoming more and more dangerous.

"We just need to catch them when they're not expecting it," Josei said, tapping the desk.

"I'll get more info on them," Suzuya said.

"Alright."

Josei took out a lollipop and opened it, stuffing the wrapper in her pocket. She stuck the orange candy in her mouth, and then looked up at her partner, who was staring at her intently.

"Do you want one?" she asked the best she could with the candy in her mouth.

Juuzou nodded, and the woman handed him a blue lollipop. He smiled. Maybe it was a good thing Kiniko was gone.