Chapter 3

The Newbie, The Spiral Beard, and The Artist

The blue cloudless sky of the 11th ward was painted with flying crows and pearly white clouds. The air temperature was hot, making certain two ghouls whining in complain.

"Damn... It's really hot today..." complained a big ghoul with spiral beard as he fanned his face with his big rough hand.

"Yes it is..." a shorter, younger ghoul with light voice agreed. He had a bottle of cold water in his hand and gulped a fair amount of it. After the shorter ghoul had drink a half of it, he offered the bottle towards his companion, "Here you go, Banjou-san."

"Thanks, Zen." Banjou received the bottle and gulped it down.

Zen was feeling tired because of the long walking. Adding the hot temperature, he was getting even impatient. "Banjou-san... where exactly is the Mukade's base? I see that we have been walking to a deserted place. You're not intended to eat me where no one can see us, are you?" Zen's eyes squinted in suspicion.

Startled because of what he heard, Banjou immediately choked out his water. The big ghoul put away the bottle and pounded his chest as he coughed. He snapped his head towards the prejudiced ghoul.

"No I'm not! I'm not a canibal!" yelled Banjou, "...Mukade's base is located under an abandoned construction. We're almost there, so hang in there, kid." said Banjou nonchalantly when he phrased the 'kid' as Zen's nickname.

"Don't call me a kid! I'm a healthy 18 years old ghoul!" Zen retorted. He really hated it when someone called him a kid just because of his 168 cm height. "...Does that mean, the base is underground?" rather than rage, curiosity took over Zen the best.

"Yeah. You'll see when we've arrived." answered Banjou simply. Zen couldn't help but get even more curious because this would be the first time he ever saw the real self of Mukade.

Zen had a reason to go with a member of Mukade. The CCG killed his twin sister four days ago. It happened when he was in the 19th ward. He lived there only with his sister, and both of them didn't attend school. They had always supported each other, until two first-class investigators found his sister when she was hunting for food. So she was killed on the spot, and Zen just realized her death the next day.

Since then, Zen has harboured a deep hatred towards the CCG. He also have heard about the rumoured Mukade, a ghoul organization that was said existed to destroy the CCG. He also heard that the leader was super strong. Then again, Zen never really paid attention to it. At first he didn't want to get involved as long as he had his sister. But now the table has turned down.

Suddenly Zen remembered something that he has always been curious about. The hazelnut haired ghoul turned his head up to the ghoul that has been whining just how hot the temperature was.

"By the way, Banjou-san. Back then I met you in Onikisu..."

Banjou turned his attention towards Zen, "Yeah. What's wrong?"

"Well, Onikisu is a popular coffee shop. It has 20 branches all over Tokyo. And you said... Mukade is the one who actually owns them." Zen scratched his cheek, it was his habit as the sign of his ignorance, "What exactly is it for?"

"Ah... that..." Banjou began to recalled his memory, "well, there are actually two reasons. One, it was made to become a place where we recruit members. Of course every ghouls who ever visited Onikisu know that Onikisu is a ghoul cafe just by judging the smell of the workers there. Everytime ghoul customers came, they would always give them an invitation letter along with the coffee. You have also experienced it before right?"

Zen nodded. He remembered the first time he came with his sister a year ago. He only went there thrice because Onikisu's price was pretty expensive for what he could effort. The waiter did gave them a letter to join Mukade. It was written with yes or no options. If he chose no, he was instructed to give the letter back to the waiter later when he left the cafe. If he chose yes, then he had to give the letter to the barista. Then there would be a member who came to talk to the ghoul customer. In Zen's case, it was Banjou who came. To avoid suspicion from the humans, the waiter also gave them a letter but it was written with a customer's feedback. Because of this system, Onikisu has been successfully keeping their true identity a secret.

Seeing that Zen was still all ears, Banjou continued with a big smile, "Two, it was for our organization's income. It's hard for a big organization like Mukade to run without money. Starting from weapons, services, facility, and gears. Our leaders are rich because of the profit they have gained!" there was no hint of enviness in his voice. In fact, it was something close as a feeling of proud. When Zen saw that face full of pride, he began to imagine just how admirable the leader of Mukade could be.

Suddenly, Banjou stopped his feet. "Ah look, we have arrived, kid."

"I'm not a kid-" Zen's snarl wasn't finish because he finally saw the place that Banjou had told him. An abandoned construction. There were only red rusty giant steel bars standing on top of the dry soil and some traces of bricks and solidified cement. Also there were steel pipes lying around, some were stacked over the steel bars. Zen concluded that maybe they were running out of funds while building this.

"Let's go." Banjou continued to walk. Zen followed closely from behind. He was getting kind of nervous.

The two ghouls were walking into the middle of the construction. Zen was browsing around his surroundings. He began to wonder just how long this construction was abandoned. But feeling it wasn't really important, Zen kept his mouth shut and followed Banjou silently by his side.

Soon later, the brunette ghoul saw two tall man who were sitting on top of the steel bars and sipping a canned coffee. They were wearing black leather jackets with jeans, making them looked like a gang of badass man who liked to pick a fight in bars. Because of that, their appeareance were kind of intimidating in Zen's eyes.

"Relax, they are just guards." said Banjou when he realized that the newbie beside of him was getting tensed.

"I-I'm not nervous at all!" Zen retorted but his voice didn't match what he said.

Realizing that there were two ghouls who came approaching them, the two guards stood up. Banjou and Zen closer their distance and now they were standing face to face.

"Good morning, Banjou." greeted the man with bald head and a red centipede tattoo drawn on his scalp. His other friend was just keep on silent with his canned coffee in his grasp.

"Good morning, Giro-san," Banjou glanced towards the guard with black sleek hair after he bowed to Giro, "and Kazu-san."

Rather than the one who greeted him, Kazu put his attention to Zen who has been keeping his mouth shut. "Where's your tattoo?" he asked with an intimidating aura and glared down. Added the the head of the centipede tattoo that was visible on top of his hand, Zen felt even more nervous.

Not knowing what the guard was talking about, Zen panically looked towards Banjou, "T-Tattoo? What tattoo? B-Banjou-san?"

Realized that he forgot to introduced Zen, Banjou quickly reasoned before the sleek haired guard killed the poor guy, "Ah, K-Kazu-san! This ghoul is a new member!"

"Oh, a new member? I see," Giro said in understanding, "Then you can enter. Banjou will explain everything in there." despite his wild appeareance, he was actually more easygoing than his partner. His characteristic made the panic ghoul relaxed a little bit. At least Giro wasn't as scary as the other one.

Giro walked away to the place near where they were seating. Zen observed closely what the big ghoul was doing. He then saw him was pulling out something rectangular from his pocket. Looked like it was a card.

There was a card swipe machine attached on one of the standing steel bars. Giro swiped his black card on it and suddenly, the ground was shaking lightly.

"Wh-what's happening...?" Zen worriedly asked to everyone, hoping for an immediate answer.

Then his question was answered with a black steel door that was appearing slowly from under the ground. It was shaped like a big box and it looked very sturdy.

Kazu and Giro pulled out the door together. There was actually a stair that went down with neon lights on the walls, luminating the way.

Zen gaped his mouth in awe. He only have see anything like it in movies. But to saw it in real life, he only needed to get used to it fast.

"That's amazing..." Zen muttered. Banjou heard him even though he was speaking lowly, afraid to get mocked as a dork.

"Let's go." Banjou began to continue his escort. He stepped into the stairs and was followed by the nervous newbie. "Watch your step, kid." Banjou added the friendly advice.

"I know, dammit!" Zen snapped because of the third time Banjou called him a 'kid' today. Even though he heard Banjou to watched his steps, he didn't really get too careful because the light was bright enough to helped his vision. The air was also cool even though he wore a jacket. He thought it was going to be hot since it was underground.

As he walked further down, Zen could hear some noises coming from ahead.

"This is... People talking?"

Soon later, Zen could already see the light from another room. He figured that it must have been the main area.

At the mouth of the gate, Banjou stopped himself. He glanced back towards the ghoul behind him. "We're here." Banjou said with a proud smile. The brunette ghoul widened his eyes.

He saw a big room where there were a lot of ghouls chatting and playing. The walls were made from silver colored steel and they were looking strong and clean, unlike the abandoned steel bars from above. There was also a bar with one bartender and some female ghouls sipping a glass of red liquid. From that, Zen already could guess what they served that isn't an alcohol.

There were also some sofas and cushions for the members to seat comfortably. The steel floor was also covered with black rugs. That place was neat and very crowded, like it was in a club.

The astonished ghoul imagined the base of Mukade would be scary and full of ghouls with scars and monster eyes. But he was wrong. A lot of the ghouls here were still young, but some of them were as old as the two guards above. He also had never imagined that there was this party of ghouls under the deserted 11th ward. Who was he kidding? That's the rumored Mukade for ya.

The young ghoul's moment of shocked was interrupted by Banjou's tapping on his head, "Does it really amazed you that much to see that the organization that's supposed to destroy the CCG was just like a random hidden night club?" Banjou asked with a grin, "We don't have a disco ball though. Kaneki-san is against it, haha!"

"'Kaneki-san'?" Zen questioned after he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Oh that's right, Kaneki Ken is the name of our leader!" Banjou raised up his thumb and grinned, "And he is absolutely super strong!" Banjou paused for a moment, "But... sometimes he's ruthless though... ahaha..."

Once again curiosity took over Zen. Just how was this 'Kaneki-san' looked like? Just how charismatic that leader was to made Banjou mentioned his name proudfully and without shame?

"Well, kid. It's time to continue to the next procedure. I'm going to take you to Uta-san. Let's go, this way." Banjou said as he tapped Zen's shoulder.

"What are we going to do there?" asked Zen, this time, the shorty ghoul didn't yelled back.

Banjou smirked, "Make your tattoo."

"Um... this one, I guess." Zen chose timidly. His index finger was pointing on one of the tattoos style that was displayed on a book.

"Ahahaha. You have a good choice, Zen-kun. That one is actually also my favorite." praised the topless skinny man with his body full of tattoos. One of those many tattoos, the centipede one was on the side of his waist. It was embedded with number '10'. His voice was surprisingly light and friendly.

"Th-thanks, Uta-san." replied Zen sheepishly. Meanwhile Banjou was seen sitting on a black chair near Uta's work desk that was stuffed with stains of inks, pencils, and sketches.

The ghouls were in the studio of Mukade's most talented artist, Uta. The room was a little dark because of the low lights and the walls were decorated with masks and paintings. When Zen entered the artistic studio, Uta already explained that he was the one who made everything here.

"So where do you want it?" Uta began to prepared his tools and wore the tight gloves.

"Uh... I don't know. Where do you think is good?"

"Hm..." Uta was observing his client's tanned topless body and also his legs. Then considering the tattoo that his client picked, Uta made his decision, "Your right calf will do." said Uta with a confident soft smile.

"Ah, okay." Zen wore his lion printed green t-shirt back.

The artist instructed the soon to be member to lay on his stomach on the thin bed that was prepared for the clients. After that, he prepared the tattoo machine and alcohol.

Before he began, Uta just remembered something that's important. The artist looked to his behind to see the other ghoul who was currently picking his nose. "Banjou-kun, what is Zen-kun's number?"

"Oh? Uuh... wait let me check," Banjou picked up a document from the desk and flipped it until the last page, "899." It seemed like it was a document of members. The latest number was 898 so that made Zen as the 899th member.

Uta nodded and began to rub Zen's calf with alcohol. Zen shuddered because of the sudden cold sensation. Uta turned on the tattoo machine and the clemorous sound was coming from it. The teen ghoul began to get worried about his calf now because the noise sounded scary and manacing. The tool itself looked so scary and he thought it might put a clean hole in his calf.

"Uh... Will it hurt...?" Zen asked in anticipation. He wanted to get ready first but he knew it was too late. He had never get a tattoo in his life. He got no choice but to have one because the newbie just learned that having a centipede tattoo with your member number was one of the regulation. It was for your identity as a Mukade, and an oath of loyalty.

Knowing that his client was scared, Uta only smiled kindly in return, "Don't worry. Just a little bit. You're a ghoul, so it won't hurt that much." Zen didn't get too convinced but he tried to steady his fast beating heart.

Before he knew it, the brunette ghoul felt something sharp piercing his calf's skin.

"Aw!" he winched.

"Relax, Zen-kun... This will be over in half an hour." Calmed Uta as he put off the tattoo machine and rubbed Zen's calf with the cool alcohol. The chilling sensation eased the pain somehow.

When Banjou watched his friend's working on the newbie, he was thinking about the time. Uta said he would finished in half of an hour. The waiting ghoul checked the black square framed clock in the studio. It was 8:30 AM sharp. Suddenly a question popped up in his head.

"Uta-san, has Kaneki-san arrived yet?"

"I don't think so. But Jason-kun arrived 14 minutes ago. Well, you know why he's always early." replied Uta without shifting his attention to the ghoul he was answering. The tool machine in his hand continued to draw the tattoo. What Uta said made Banjou's expression turned dejected. He knew exactly what the artist was talking about. Honestly Banjou didn't like the leader's right hand man. But who was he to tell what's right and wrong to that guy?

"WHAT!?" after hearing the 'Jason' name, Zen loudly gasped. He couldn't hold in his shock so he tried to sat back. But it didn't work out because Uta easily grabbed his ankle like he already predicted it would happened. He stopped the tattooing process beforehand, though.

"Calm down, kid. You don't wanna ruin your tattoo." Warned Banjou from his seat. Zen calmed himself a bit and he laid down his stomach again.

"B-But... 'J-Jason'? You mean Jason of the 13th ward? He's also a member? That SS rated ghoul?" Questioned Zen to convinced himself without pause. Uta chuckled and put away the tattoo machine again, doing the same procedure as before by rubbing the alcohol on the tattooed calf.

"Every new members were also shocked when they knew. But Jason-kun is more than a member," Uta gave the astonished ghoul a teasing smile, "he's the leader of Mukade, along with Kaneki-san and The Binge Eater."

"EEH!? LEADER!? AND WITH THE BINGE EATER TOO!?" Zen finally yelled in disbelieve. He just couldn't believe what he heard. He knew those two famous verocious ghouls. They were rated highly not for nothing. "Wh-what kind of a plot twist is this..."

Uta chuckled again hearing his customer's comment. He found it funny to see his reaction. The artist continued to draw carefully.

"Well... it's too late to turn back now. I'm sure you've already been warned by Banjou-kun. Once you're joined, you're not allowed to quit." his hand colored the centipede's body parts, "Because Kaneki-kun won't let you breath another air." The end of the light-voiced man sentence also accompanied with the finishing of the centipede's legs.

Uta's words sent shudder to the teen ghoul's skin. He already knew about the warning. Banjou did told him to really make sure about his decision but the spiral beard guy didn't say exactly why. He only said Zen just had to put his life on the line and be loyal, in exchange of Mukade's service and protection. Zen believed he was prepared, he would do anything for the sake of his one and only family. But now that he knew exactly what would happened to him if he quit, Zen felt somehow burdened with it. The responsibility to put your life on the line, he wasn't quite sure he's ready. Zen dared to say himself as a weak ghoul. As an ukaku type, Zen only depended on speed. And that speed... he mainly used it to run away, or attack the enemy with his back facing him.

The newbie's shameful thought was interrupted with the sound of the studio's door's opening. Automatically, Zen shifted his head towards the door. And there, he saw a very unfamiliar tall, white haired man who was wearing a white eyepatch that covered his left eye and neatly wore a black suit with loose black tie.

"Ah, a new member?" said the man with a monotone voice.

Banjou immediately stood up and bowed 45 degree with a very strong force, "GOOD MORNING, KANEKI-SAN!" greeted the big ghoul with full of spirit.

Uta also stood up and bowed to show his respect, "Good morning, leader."

Zen who just realized that it was his soon to be leader who was currently standing charismatically before him abruptly sat up and descended from the bed.

"G-Good morning, K-Kaneki-san! A-ah... I-I...!"

Kaneki glanced the nervous ghoul from head to toe. His sharp onyx eye pierced through him, searching for potential. Zen gulped down his guts, didn't dare to continue speaking. For some reason he was sweating even though the studio was cool. Then he realized just how powerful the being that was standing in front of his weakself.

After observing, Kaneki only said without a smile, "Your name?" rather than question, it sounded more like a command.

"H-Hakuren Zen, sir!" the lighter voice stuttered once again. He was feeling like he was questioned by a very strict admiral.

Kaneki didn't say anything until he turned himself away from the studio's door. "Welcome to Mukade, Hakuren." then the leader turned on his loafers and walked away.

Zen's mind got blank. He was speechless because he got welcomed by the leader himself, "Th... thank... you..." quickly the new member turned his head towards the other two ghouls who seemed astonished, "I-I'm not the only one who got welcomed by the leader himself, right?"

In respond, Uta only shrugged and Banjou shook his head. They honestly didn't know.

"Well, if Kaneki-kun smiled to you, that would be even weirder. Thank heaven he didn't." Uta made his way to his seat near the bed again. "Come on, let's continue."

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean..." Zen scowled as he got back to the bed.

Banjou smiled and walked back to Uta's desk, "Kaneki-san rarely smiles. He's cold and only shows his soft spot for Rize-san and Yamori, but mainly to Rize-san though." Banjou picked up the members document and prepared to leave, "I should get going to the meeting room. You just stay here until the meeting's done. Okay, kid?"

"Dammit stop calling me a kid!"

Ignoring the short ghoul's protest, Banjou left the studio, leaving Uta and Zen alone. Only the sound of the tattoo machine and Uta's hum accompanied them. But hearing that Banjou had a meeting, Zen got curious about what was the meeting about.

"Uta-san, you're not going to the meeting?"

"Well, I should have go but right now I have to finish this. I'll just ask Banjou what did the leader talked about in the meeting." replied Uta nonchalantly.

"Does everyone go to the meeting?"

The artistic ghoul chuckled, "Nope. Every Sunday morning the strongest members of Mukade will do a meeting. You can say... Executive members. There are 11 of us, including Kaneki-kun, Rize-chan, and Jason-kun." he put away the tattoo machine and rubbed the newbie's calf with alcohol again, "And that also includes me, the two guards you met above, and Banjou-kun."

Zen widened his eyes for a countless time now. He didn't expect that. He underestimated that spiral bearded man. He thought Banjou as an ordinary ghoul whose job is to escort every new members to the base but...

"...Okay, that will be the last surprise I can take today. I won't ask anything anymore." Zen also promised to himself, he would have to call Banjou with full of respect. Or else, he wouldn't know what Banjou could ever do to him if he's pissed.

Uta now really laughed out loud because of what his client said. The newbie got too speechless that even the energy to shout 'WHAT!?' was not enough. The artist could only just pat his client's back and continued the tattooing process.

"You might not believe it, but Banjou-kun was very weak. He couldn't even release his kagune. That was 4 years ago, though. He trained like a madman, until eventually defeating 2 third-class investigators alone is just a piece of cake."

"Wow, that's amazing... But, why would he go that far..."

Uta shrugged his shoulder and rubbed Zen's calf with alcohol again, "I don't know but... Banjou-kun said he owed Kaneki-kun."

There were still a lot of things that Zen didn't know about Mukade. Starting from Banjou, until about the leader itself. His curiosity was very overwhelming, and he was also nervous for what he could possibly do for the organization. Being a greeny was hard, but Zen just had to adapt quickly. After all, Mukade was a place for him to return now.

A/N:

Over 3000 words bitches. Damn.

I seriously want to write where Banjou is really strong! I think it's going to be fun to see him in real action! XD

Reuploaded: changed "until eventually defeating 2 second-class investigators alone is just a piece of cake." to "third-class" (don't wanna make him too OP), and fix some errors

Disclaimer: Zen, Giro, and Kazu are my OCs