Akira can't resist Faustian bargains if they involve cats.
The address was fake. She should have guessed. The apartment was inhabited by a young couple who had lived there for the past three years.
She sighed and glanced in the front window of Café :re, just to make sure no one like that tattooed man was going to get in the way of her plans.
She entered, ringing the bell on the door. A table in the corner was empty, so Akira made a beeline towards it and seated herself.
Touka quickly approached and pulled out her notepad. "I was wondering when I would see you again. What'll it be today?"
"A flat white, I think." She glanced around to make sure none of the other customers were within listening distance. "I need a small favor."
Touka looked at her blankly for a moment. "Go on."
"I need help locating the home of a ghoul. She worked in a finance office, near the Tokyo Stock Exchange."
"Doesn't sound familiar. I don't know everyone, and I'd prefer not to narc on someone who's just minding her own business. Why do you need to find her?"
Akira was aware she was treading on risky ground, admitting to killing a ghoul in a ghoul establishment. "I already found her. I need to find where she lived. Past tense. The problem is…I think there's a cat. I was going to take it to an animal shelter, but her listed address was fake."
Touka swallowed hard and pursed her lips. "Let me get your drink and think on it a moment."
Akira nodded and pulled out her tablet so she could work on her report while she waited.
She was deeply focused on her work when her drink appeared in front of her. Akira looked up to see the man, Yomo, was sitting silently across from her. She glanced up at Touka, who was standing next to the table looking apologetic.
"Am I being ambushed now," Akira deadpanned.
The man in question spoke to Touka as he stared at Akira. "The more time she spends here, the more our other customers stay away."
Touka shot back, "They already got spooked when Haise started coming by. Besides, we were never as big and important as Anteiku was, and our regulars know they're safe enough."
Akira calmly sipped her drink and slid her tablet to the side. She was becoming quite good at conversing casually with ghouls. "She has a name, you know." She at Touka out of the corner of her eye and raised an eyebrow. How much does he know?
"Yomo and I had a long conversation this week. He knows everything."
Yomo's frown spoke volumes on that point.
"If you want to locate that cat, he's who you should talk to. He has more friends in low places than I do."
As always happened in the moderately popular café, more customers entered. Touka glanced over at them, then back at the table. "Behave yourselves. I'll be back in a moment."
Akira took another drink. Yomo crossed his arms and stared her down.
He talked first. He had the soft-spoken manner of someone who knew he was deadly. "That girl has a reckless streak like her mother's. It scares me. I've already watched most of my family die too young. I won't let the same thing happen to her without a fight."
Akira nodded. "I wouldn't consider myself an ally, but I have my own reasons to keep her from getting killed. And for keeping the CCG out of things, for now."
"For now?"
"You understand, everything happening right now is unprecedented. I don't know how or when, but I'm confident disaster is imminent, and it'll take me down with the rest of you. Until I can see how it all unfolds, I can't make any promises about the future."
In her mind, she finally voiced the thought that had been haunting her. I'm doing all of this for Haise, in the end. If he regains his memories and becomes someone else, will I still have that soft spot for him?
Yomo thought on her words as he stared her down. "You're telling the truth, at least," he stated. "I can take that deal. For now."
Akira smirked. She'd never admit it out loud, but Touka's…uncle, was he? He was amusing in his way. There was something about how serious he was that almost reminded her of Amon. Amon was easier to toy with, though. More fun, too, she lamented before pushing any thoughts of her departed partner away.
"Describe who you're looking for."
She gave him a detailed physical description, down to the ghoul's penchant for nice blouses.
"Do you know what type of kagune?"
The ghoul had been ambushed so fast that she hadn't used her kagune. Akira paused, then reached for her tablet to check if anyone at the CCG labs had updated any files on their end. Dr. Chigyo had already added his notes.
"It looks like she was a kokako. Rating of around B."
Yomo rubbed his chin. "And she had…a cat."
"Yes. I feel bad for the cat. It shouldn't starve to death."
He looked down at the nondescript case of her quinque, sitting on the floor near her ankles. "Touka's father was killed by investigators. His children were left alone to starve to death while they waited for him to come home. But you feel bad for the cat."
Akira frowned. She knew something he didn't: Touka's father had been killed by her father. It seemed like anything she could say would upset him even more, so she opted to wait for him to go on.
Yomo looked away. "She doesn't sound familiar. It might be a few days before someone notices that she never came home. I'll ask around."
It was difficult to hide her disappointment.
Touka had finished handling the new customers and approached the table again.
"If no information surfaces after a day, maybe we could ask Itori."
Yomo glared at her from behind his unkempt hair.
Touka shrugged. "She already knows that Haise has been hanging around here. She's definitely behind Uta popping in the other day. So…I'll confirm to her that we're dating. That'll be good enough to trade, and it'll be obvious enough soon. She gets interesting information with a time limit on its usefulness, and we get to choose what gossip gets out instead of waiting for a leak."
"Eyepatch ate a lot of people and made a lot of enemies. Telling Itori might result in open season on him."
Akira butted in. "Eyepatch is dead. He doesn't exist. And who is this Itori you both keep mentioning?"
With hesitation, Touka said, "She's a professional gossip, so anything she hears will come back to bite me in the ass. And she's mostly friendly, but if she has to choose between loyalty or the chance to toy with you, I think she probably won't choose loyalty."
"She's not evil, just amoral," Yomo defended. "When you can't afford to care about right and wrong, and happiness is scarce, it can do that to a person. You wouldn't understand unless you grew up like we did."
Interesting. He's lecturing Touka. Yomo cares for his childhood friend, but Touka doesn't really like or trust her. Akira furrowed her brow as she pondered all the history hidden in the subtext.
"I think I'll leave anything involving ghoul politics to you two, then. Please let me know if there's any news. I truly appreciate the favor."
The implication wasn't lost on Touka or Yomo: giving out favors meant they could be called in.
Akira finished off her drink, gathered her belongings, and began to leave. Yomo followed her, circling around to hold the door open.
She was surprised, but not deeply worried when he followed her towards her car. She opened the door and deposited her quinque and purse in the back seat, then turned around to face the ghoul.
"Did you need something else from me?"
Yomo stood back, hands in his pockets. "I know your kind. I've known plenty of ghouls like you, and you're no better than them. You'll come into our lives, make us trust you, and turn around to kill us in cold blood."
Akira narrowed her eyes at him, glowering at his low voice and predatorial stillness. She'd set down her weapon on purpose, to keep emotions from boiling over. She still felt like she was facing off with an uncaged tiger.
"She's the White Rabbit, isn't she? I haven't told her I've figured that out yet."
Yomo paused, then nodded once.
"The White Rabbit killed my father. There's nothing cold-blooded, between any of us."
His mouth twitched in reaction to that news. He wasn't happy to hear it. "Like I said, she's got a reckless streak."
"I noticed. I also know that if she dies or even gets taken to Cochlea, then Haise snaps, and war erupts around everyone who's connected to either of them. They're both well-liked in their circles, and punishing them for falling in love and having a child…the optics aren't good. It's an emotional powder keg designed to confuse allegiances. So, you see, I'm committed to keeping the situation contained. Does that put your fears to rest a little better?"
He sighed. "For now." He turned to walk away, then looked over his shoulder at her. "You think we're monsters, but I care about my family. Touka is reckless but she's a good person. Don't make me regret this."
Akira opened the car door and laughed as she got in. "Oh, I think we should all have plenty of regrets by the end of this. Good luck finding my cat."
He waved coolly as he strode off and disappeared around the corner.
This is where things start to get interesting and the plot begins moving forward a bit—or at least, I had a ton of fun writing the next several chapters!