Akira says something she'll definitely live to regret
Later that afternoon, she knocked on the door to Arima's office.
"Come in."
Akira took a deep breath. She was already flirting with treason, so she had to lay down some serious groundwork to keep everything from blowing up in her face.
You're the one taking point on this, she reminded herself, so control the narrative.
Her first impulse had been to tell Arima everything, but the more she played it out in her mind the more that seemed the sort of action that would instantly ignite the situation. Arima had declared that taking care of Haise was her job. Now, to do her job well, she needed to start keeping secrets from Arima.
"I wanted to warn you. Haise's been dating someone and I think it's getting serious."
"Hmm. He hasn't mentioned anything about that to me."
"Me either. Luckily, I have eyes everywhere. He's keeping her a secret from everyone in the CCG, probably because he's afraid his work will put her in danger."
He sent her a look, heavy with significance. "His work or his nature?"
"I think…it would be best if I told him I'm aware of his secret girlfriend, and he should explain to her about certain…unique aspects of his physiology. I think he'll perform better and be more stable if we take that worry off his plate."
"If you judge that to be best. It seems that forbidding relationships tends to just strengthen them, so I doubt an authoritarian approach would actually yield the desired results, even if Haise ostensibly agreed to follow orders."
"That was my thought as well. Rumors about the Quinx squad are already circulating among the public, so as long as Haise doesn't talk about ongoing cases there isn't any added security risk."
Arima looked back down at the paperwork. "Agreed. An interesting development for this project, but it sounds like you have things under control."
Akira nodded and was about to leave, when she recalled one last thing she wanted to bring up—see if she could pick Arima's brain.
"I was wondering if I could get your opinion on something before I go."
He nodded disinterestedly as he returned to the paperwork on his desk.
She took a deep breath. "We know that our one-eyed artificial ghouls were created through surgery, but…have you ever wondered if anything like that could happen naturally? Like with the Nutcracker case?" The ghoul had been dispatched for a few months at this point, but in the ranks she had become a gallows humor joke about why it wasn't wise to go off alone with any strange woman. A lot of the boys at the CCG still teased each other about it.
Arima silently stared at her so long that Akira started regretting ever bringing it up.
"What makes you say that?"
Akira had an explanation ready. "I watched a documentary about ligers the other night. It was a stray thought that occurred to me. Nevermind, I'll save it for the next time I meet with Dr. Chigyo."
Arima adjusted his glasses. "It's an interesting thought experiment, but neither of us are scientists."
"Well, science aside, how do you think a natural half-ghoul would be legally categorized? Human or ghoul?"
Her superior frowned and looked out the window for another long, still moment. "I suppose it would come down to how many ghoulish traits they exhibit. The most important one being, of course, diet."
He seemed lost in thought, as sometimes happened, so Akira turned to head out. When her hand was on the doorknob, she heard a voice behind her.
"Outbreeding enhancement versus outbreeding depression. You could read up on that."
Akira looked back over her shoulder at him, questioning look on her face.
"Not every hybrid is as hearty as ligers are. Think on that before you make any ethically dubious suggestions to Dr. Chigyo."
Akira was shocked at his assumption, and rushed to assure him, "Oh, no! I don't think the CCG should start a breeding program. I was just wondering because if it were possible, I should think that half-ghouls are already out there somewhere."
She bowed her head and ducked out of the White Reaper's office. She almost didn't catch the dark expression that crossed his face as she was leaving.
Next stop was Haise's office. He was alone, working late to finish up some case reports. While he went over some handwritten notes, Akira walked up behind him and glanced at his computer screen.
"Do you have a moment to talk?"
Pulled up on his computer was a PDF of the employee handbook, open to the section about spousal benefits in case of death in the field. He quickly switched tabs, but she recognized it nonetheless.
She was very familiar with that section. After her mother died, her father had marked that page in his own printed handbook. Ah, that explains the hurry to elope.
"Yeah, what do you want to discuss?"
Deep breath. "I know you're still going out with that waitress. Have you told her you're an artificial ghoul yet?"
"What? No!"
She'd charged in and blindsided him so fast, she knew he wasn't lying. Which meant Touka was also being truthful on that score. Good to know.
"At this point, if you haven't told her yet, you'd better tell her soon."
He just stared at her, still very confused at what was going on.
Akira kept explaining. "The longer you date, the higher the risk of her finding out somehow, and it won't look good if she finds out on accident from someone other than you. So you can either tell her now or break up with her. Choose."
Haise nodded, but his thoughts were clearly elsewhere. "You're right. I don't know how I'll even broach that subject, but it's important to tell her…"
No, please don't confess that you already married her. I just don't have the time or energy today.
"…because she's pregnant…" he trailed off, curling in on himself a bit. Probably waiting for Akira to explode or start beating him.
Dammit. Now we need to have this discussion? She opted to steal Arima's blasé response. "Well, that's certainly an interesting development."
He looked down at his lap. "I'm…I'm kind of scared. What if there's something wrong with the baby because of me? What if Touka leaves me when I tell her everything?" In a whisper, he added, "What if the baby has to eat what I have to eat?"
Akira winced internally. Why did he have to be so starved for maternal comfort? "Then I suppose we'll have to provide for the damn kid the way we provide for you."
She sighed and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I won't sugarcoat anything for you, Haise. You're an adult and that is a mess you got yourself into. But I think you're going to be okay, and I'm here for you." Hell, at this point, you and the kid are the most innocent parties in this mess, between Touka and I lying our asses off to you.
"Thanks. You're a good boss."
She suppressed a groan at the words she was about to say—honestly, she should give him a good thrashing for how quickly his liaison with that ghoul had derailed her own life, but the boy was still blithely unaware of all that and he already seemed particularly pathetic today. It took effort, but she bit back the words she wanted to say.
So instead, she said words she knew she'd live to regret. "You're not just an assignment or an underling. Your well-being is important to me. I mean it when I say I'm here for you."
And of course, that earned her one of his most earnest smiles.
She concluded another part of the truth later that night, while brushing out Maris Stella's fur.
Akira had puzzled and puzzled over everything she'd learned about Touka, and she couldn't shake the growing suspicion that if Touka had a history with Haise, she had a history with Eyepatch. And the only still-living ghoul she could think of that had a connection with Eyepatch was Rabbit.
Which was a whole new can of worms that she just felt too tired to open. And yet, it demanded investigation.
She'd long since tracked down Touka's phone number and address from when they started dating, but there had been no need to use that information until tonight. Akira pulled up the GPS on her phone, grabbed her quinque, and headed out into the night.
Maybe if I just kill her and deal with the fallout, everything will go back to normal…
The GPS led her to a mid-market apartment building close to Café :re. She knocked firmly on the door to the unit, not really caring if she disturbed the neighbors. It took a second knock until she heard shuffling on the other side of the door.
And because Akira's wonderful luck hadn't run out yet, it wasn't Touka that answered. It was Haise, wearing nothing but boxer briefs, throwing open the door.
"What is this about and why can't it wait until morning—Akira?!" He turned bright red in an instant.
He grabbed a sweater from the coat rack next to the door and threw it on, but she still caught a glimpse of the organ transplant scar that altered the course of his life.
What the hell is he doing here—oh, wait, I know exactly what he's doing here. She groaned and covered her face with her free hand. And of course now I have to come up with an excuse for why I'm here in Touka's doorway, quinque in hand. Perfect.
"We picked up some chatter tonight that Rosé was on the prowl for any one-eyed ghouls working for the CCG. Yours is the only phone whose location pinged somewhere it shouldn't have."
Haise was so red he was practically glowing in the dark.
Half to continue playing dumb, and half to really drive in the knife and twist it a bit, Akira innocently asked, "So where are we exactly and why are you here?"
"Umm…this is Touka's apartment. I came over to talk to her and ended up falling asleep here."
"Mmhmm." Maybe it was bad of her to let him believe he was in the wrong, but she felt like she deserved a bit of revenge.
"I didn't want to put off telling her everything any longer, you know."
"Mmhmm."
"You were right that I needed to be the one telling her. It went a lot better than I thought it would." In his nervousness he began fiddling with a necklace. She hadn't noticed him wearing it ever before.
"What's that?"
"She gave me one of her family heirlooms as a gift." He held up the ring at the end of the chain for her inspection.
She caught sight of some writing on the inside of the band. "What's it say?"
"Hikari and Arata. Her mother and father's names."
Touka didn't appear to be aware of her own father's fate, but Akira had scoured the case files from both her parents. She was aware that the elder investigator Mado had been the one to take down the Corpse Collector. Arata.
She was excellent at compartmentalizing, and she had always viewed the world, viewed ghouls through the lens provided by her parents and the CCG. This was an unwanted reminder that things weren't as cut and dried as she liked them to be.
What was it she said? "The things done out of self-defense, or vengeance, or just being a pissed-off teenage girl."
She also remembered Nagachika's conjecture that there were actually two Rabbits. At the time, she'd thought he was grasping at straws. With all the new information she had, it suddenly made perfect sense.
She was fairly certain that Touka wasn't the Rabbit with Aogiri, but she was the white-masked Rabbit and she had some sort of hand in her father's death, among a myriad of other crimes. She was also aware that the ghoul had been orphaned at quite a young age if her math was right. The White Reaper exterminated the ghoul's mother, or so she'd recently been told, and her own father had taken down the Corpse Collector and turned him into a weapon.
She felt her moral high ground erode—just a tiny bit—and she resolved to save that confrontation for another time. It took a few deep breaths, but she reined in her anger.
It's not as if I can get away with anything while Haise is here, anyways. Besides, I'm better than that. I already decided to be smart about this. Not indulge in silly emotional knee-jerk reactions like I am right now. Get a grip, Mado.
As she worked through her interior turmoil, Haise had continued talking. She tuned back into him and immediately regretted it.
"I told her everything, Akira. I even warned her that the baby might be half-ghoul and she might have to eat human meat to stay healthy, and she said that if it came to that, she could do it for our baby. She's so strong," finished Haise with breathless admiration.
Akira's eye twitched in rage. "You sure do have amazing taste in women."
He laughed, oblivious to her barely contained fury. "Yeah, I don't think anyone else would have accepted everything so calmly."
"You should cook her a big dinner to show your appreciation. Pregnancy increases appetite, so make sure you cook extra large portions."
"That's a good idea," said Haise thoughtfully.
"I'm leaving. Stay out of trouble, Haise."
Back in her car, she sat in the blessed quiet darkness and lay her forehead on the steering wheel.
How did this become my life? I spent all day running interference for Eyepatch, who killed my partner, and Rabbit, who killed my father. How did I even end up this deep in their stupid romantic drama?
She laughed so hard she had tears rolling down her cheeks. Wiping them away, she started up her engine. The heaters kicked on and soft jazz started playing on the speakers.
It's for the best that I table the issue of the Rabbit. Here I was, about to do something rash that could have thrown everything into chaos.
As she drove back towards her empty, silent apartment, she thought grimly, At least it's all a good distraction.
I'm really swinging for the fences on this, so buckle in for setting up all the dominoes before they can start getting knocked down...and there are just so. many. characters and moving parts to deal with-but I guess that's on me for trying to be ambitious :)
I can tell that I had Kaguya on in the background as I was writing this bwahahaha