Akira and Touka team up to pull a snow job on Haise

Akira gave herself twenty-four hours to process everything before she acted. Another investigator might have immediately charged in, but Akira understood how delicate this situation was. The two at the center, Haise and the ghoul, had constructed a precarious, emotionally fraught situation for themselves. And people—or ghouls—acting out of their emotions were dangerous and unpredictable.

One wrong move and things could spiral out of anyone's control so quickly. That's the mistake they always make in those Romeo and Juliet stories. Good thing I'm much, much smarter than that

Her first objective was to get the lay of the land and do some damage control.

This would require a soft touch, not brute force.

She was very good at picking out the perfect times to stop in at Café :re. She had a good sense of when to strike, in battle and at coffeeshops.

Haise was out with the Quinx squad and the lunch rush should be winding down, so Akira left the office for an afternoon cup of coffee.

She entered and sat at her preferred seat at the counter.

A drink appeared in front of her. "Cortado, on the house."

Akira took a sip and watched Touka busy herself with bussing a table. Another worker exited the back room with a tray full of clean dishes. He had a surly expression, and hair even lighter than her own.

He set down the tray and quickly stacked the cups on top of the espresso machine. Before he reentered the back, he glanced at Akira, at the attaché case on the floor by her feet, and finally at Touka. Akira didn't miss the icy look they exchanged.

Once he was out of the room, Touka went back behind the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee. Holding the cup with both hands, she took a sip and watched Akira. "Well?"

Akira responded by stirring her drink with the tiny spoon it came with. "Was that a friend of yours?"

"For legal reasons, no."

"Hmm. For a stranger, he seems to have some very strong opinions about my presence here."

Touka looked askance and frowned. "Fine, if you must know, a relative of mine, who doesn't work here, recently told me I'm too much like my mother and I'm on track to be killed by the White Reaper and leave behind a broken family, just like her."

"Your relative might be right yet." Akira sipped her tiny cup. "Suicides, though. I'd never considered that. Would it be overly optimistic to hope that's where your diet begins and ends?"

Touka thought about it. "No, actually, these days that is my diet. But you're asking the wrong question."

"What's the right question?"

"Even humans must understand hunger, right? The things we do out of self-defense, or vengeance, or just being a pissed-off teenage girl, though…"

Akira frowned, suddenly feeling uneasy at the current avenue of conversation, and gave in to the urge to change the subject. "On second thought, don't get too comfortable and incriminate yourself around me. You're living on my good graces right now."

The investigator slid her drink to the side and fixed a serious stare on the ghoul across from her. "How is this…even possible? And I swear, if the next words out of your mouth are any variation of 'when a man loves a woman,' I will slap you."

Touka rolled her eyes and set down her own coffee. "I don't know how much information the CCG has about Aogiri's One-Eyed Owl, but the rumor in ghoul circles is that the Owl isn't a full-blooded ghoul."

Akira reined in her excitement at such unprecedented access to ghoul gossip. She calmly took a sip of her of her drink. "Is that so." Why don't we cultivate active informants outside of Cochlea? Every other branch of law enforcement does, she pondered.

"Yes. The Owl is supposedly a half-ghoul, the result of a human and a ghoul falling in love. So it may have happened at least once before."

After spending time around Haise and the Quinx, she suddenly saw the Owl's "one-eyed" moniker in a different light. "That…is very interesting. But won't the baby be three-quarters ghoul?"

"Half-ghoul. Biology was the one class I really liked…and I've already figured out that Haise's genetically human, so if I were human this kid would be a normal human baby. Haise will put that together sooner or later. Once it becomes obvious that the kid's half-ghoul, it's game over."

Akira sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Wait, how did you know he has human DNA?"

Touka shrugged. "I knew him when he was just a normal human. He had an organ transplant, not gene therapy."

Akira sensed that this was just one of many secrets the ghoul was withholding from her. "What was he like?"

"He was just some shy college student. Nose always in a book, pretty quiet. He was always hanging out with that loud blond friend of his."

"Hide," Akira whispered sadly.

"Yeah, that was his name." Touka tilted her head to the side and pondered Akira for a moment. "Small world. I didn't spend much time with him until after the operation, you know, but I did first meet him back when he was a regular human."

Akira tapped a finger to her chin in thought. "Well, for now, no talking to him about any of that. And don't tell him you're a ghoul. He's seemed…more unstable recently. I don't need you triggering an episode when I'm not around."

"So…maintain? I would honestly love nothing more—I'm glad he's not being hunted by you guys anymore, he never deserved that—but I'm getting more and more worried about just sitting around waiting for something to go wrong." The ghoul patted her stomach discreetly. "I usually wear sweaters and oversized shirts anyways, but that can only disguise certain developments for a little while longer at best."

"My priority in this situation is Haise, not you."

"You're so professional. Here I thought this situation couldn't be described without the word 'cluster'."

Akira narrowed her eyes at the ghoul, feeling dangerous. "Don't get cute with me. You're right, though. It would be wiser to take control of the narrative before something forces our hand. So, I'll tell Haise that he can inform you of his status as an artificial ghoul and you will be very supportive and accepting. That will take one problem off his mind."

"Done."

Just then, the bell on the door rang and a giggling crowd of students walked in.

Touka perked up and called, "Welcome! I'll be with you in a moment."

Akira finished her cortado and stood. "I'll be going now, but I'll be in touch."

Touka nodded. Then she turned to the new customers, and her whole body language changed as she stepped back into the role of waitress and barista.

As she left Akira heard her say, "Okay, what can I get you all?"

For a moment she paused, considering the fact that she'd just left a ghoul alone with a bunch of innocent teenagers.

Then she kept walking. She still needed to talk to Arima and Haise before the end of the day.