Akira has a late-night dinner party
The ghoul who'd tipped her off called several times. The blonde didn't pick up, preferring to pace aimlessly around her apartment.
After the third ignored call, Akira texted her: Thanks for checking in, I'm fine. Hopefully, that would settle Touka down enough to leave Akira alone with her thoughts.
It didn't work, of course. Touka felt compelled to stop by her apartment within the hour. It was a mistake to let her know where I live. She groaned.
The ghoul knocked aggressively. "Hey! Let me in! When he finally called me back, Haise said you were acting weird after the fighting ended."
Akira begrudgingly unlocked the door and allowed Touka to enter.
"I brought you some pastries from Yoriko." She set the box down on the kitchen counter and looked Akira over. "You alright?"
The blonde sighed. "Today was rough for a couple of reasons."
"Do you…want to…talk about it?"
Akira snorted. "No."
Suddenly Maris Stella yowled from her spot on the couch and raced out of the room.
Touka froze and stared past Akira. The investigator watched with dark fascination as the ghoul's eyes flooded with black and red.
"Akira, move aside."
Touka didn't wait for compliance, though. She firmly pushed Akira out of the way, standing between her and the balcony door.
The light in her apartment had turned the glass door into a mirror—to Akira's eyes, at least. What does she see?
Akira was treated to another interesting close-up when the back of Touka's shirt rippled and shredded, allowing one large wing to flare out.
There was something about a ghoul releasing their kagune that always sucked the air out of the room. Standing so close, Akira could almost feel her hair stand on end, as if lightning was about to strike her.
The sliding door rattled, then flew open. The glass cracked in the frame.
She recognized the hulking shadow in the doorway in an instant.
The shadow in the doorway recognized that kagune, too. "Rabbit," he growled. One eye lit up bright red.
Rabbit stiffened, her kagune roiling.
Here we go…this is exactly the kind of explosion I've been trying to avoid and it's going to happen in my living room. Then, more pleased than she should have been, If he knew exactly when a ghoul entered my apartment, he must have been keeping a close watch.
She shouted sharply, "Touka! I know him. Put that away."
The ghoul looked back over her shoulder in horror. "Akira…"
Amon—who was completely lost as to why Rabbit was in Akira's apartment and why Rabbit was protecting her from him—also had to exclaim, "Akira!"
"Both of you! Just take a deep breath and calm down!"
She had a total of three blazing red kakugan turned on her, in extremely close quarters, and she didn't have a quinque in the room. This is fine. Just perfect.
"I mean it. Amon, you stay right there. Touka, do not start a fight in my apartment." Akira stared down Touka, who still looked ready to turn and attack.
Her seething wing dissolved into air, leaving behind only a large tear across the shoulder of her shirt.
She backed away from Akira, taking deep shuddering breaths. Tears ran down her cheeks. The effect would have been better if they weren't still the iridescent red eyes of a killer. "I…I'm sorry…I don't know what to say…"
"Do you think I'm stupid? I figured out that you're Rabbit almost immediately."
Touka leaned against the wall behind her, covered her face with her hands, and just started sobbing.
Amon stepped up next to her. "What is going on?"
"We're either watching Rabbit put on an expert show of how to weaponize pity, or this is an outburst caused by pregnancy hormones."
The perplexed silence from Amon was gratifying. She'd spent so long lost and confused by his death, it felt like she was returning the favor in some small way.
"I think it's probably just hormones. Pull yourself together, Touka."
The weeping ghoul wiped away her tears and hiccupped a few times.
Akira turned to look at Amon. "Meet Rabbit. Her name is Touka, she runs a coffee shop, and she's married to an investigator who has no idea that she's a ghoul. And pregnant with a little monster, to top it all off. So whatever bullshit you were planning on feeding me about why you didn't come back sooner, don't. I don't have the time or patience to put up with any more nonsense."
While Akira was talking, Touka walked over to the kitchen sink to splash some cold water on her face. "I know I shouldn't have hidden that from you for so long. I'm selfish like that."
"Yeah, you didn't want me to find out until you knew I was in too far. I know exactly what your plan was. You're not that difficult to figure out."
Touka wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the ground. She opened her mouth to speak, but Akira held up a finger to silence her.
"Nope. Save it. Today is not the day. I don't want to talk about it right now."
The ghoul swallowed her words, wiped her eyes one last time, and settled for watching to see what Akira would do next.
As the threat of an imminent mêlée faded away, Akira felt an unreal exhaustion settle over her.
What a day. I haven't eaten since lunch, she realized.
She made a decisive turn towards her kitchen and started rummaging around in the fridge. "I need to eat something. Touka, have you had any human food today?"
"Uhh…no?"
"Then you're staying. Amon, you can sit at the table and have a cup of coffee, at least."
She glanced back at Touka. "I have a French Press and some coffee grounds in that cabinet. Would you be so kind?"
Her inhuman guest nodded, then closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her forehead, looking like she might faint for a moment.
Akira grabbed her upper arm. "Touka?"
She opened her eyes and steadied herself. "No, I'm fine. Just…using my kagune really takes it out of me lately. French Press. Coffee." The ghoul was happy to be given a distracting task that she excelled in.
Akira began throwing together a quick cucumber salad while her toaster oven preheated. She didn't have the energy to cook anything too involved, but she had some leftovers—rice and okonomiyaki—that would do fine.
"But…how?" Amon was still stuck on seeing his former subordinate with a ghoul in her kitchen, acting the part of an obedient sous chef.
Akira shrugged as she tossed her food into the toaster oven. "You've been gone a long time. A lot has happened." She set the timer, then turned around to face him. "That looks like Dr. Kano's handiwork. Sit down and tell me where you've been."
Amon glanced at Rabbit, who was busying herself with heating up water but clearly listening to every word they said. He awkwardly folded his large frame to sit at the table. "I…was rescued from Aogiri tree by Nagachika."
"He's alive?!"
"Yes. He told me to stay hidden, and don't draw attention to myself."
"Why? Where is he?"
"I don't know his current whereabouts. He didn't explain all the details, but he said it would be very dangerous to show myself. I assume the CCG wouldn't be welcoming me back with open arms."
Touka set his piping hot cup of coffee in front of him. She shuffled uncomfortably, looking ready to bolt, until Akira glared at her and pointed to an empty side of the table.
"Sit. Food's almost done."
Touka, stiff with nerves and uncertainty, sat herself at the table and politely waited while Akira plated up two dinners.
She gave herself normal-sized portions and set out plain half-portions for the ghoul. Any seasoning or sauces would be wasted on those servings.
"I don't know how much food you need to eat right now, but I don't think 'none' is the correct answer."
Touka nodded and stared at the chopsticks next to her plate. "Do you have a knife and fork? I'm not very good with those…"
Akira suppressed a cringe at the thought—of course a man-eater was more adept with a steak knife than chopsticks. Striving to be a good hostess, she replaced her guest's utensils.
She can't read calligraphy, she can't order off a novel menu, and she can't use chopsticks…her human act is nearly flawless, but the gaps in her knowledge are telling.
Within a few bites, the blonde investigator's mood started to reverse course. Amazing how food could salvage her state of mind. Speaking of which…
"Amon. What are you eating these days?"
He nearly choked on his drink, and moved to set his coffee cup down. The expression of horror as he sputtered for a response was extremely amusing to Akira. I forgot how much I loved messing with him.
She took another bite before continuing. "Because I happen to know that Touka here provides her neighborhood ghouls with the remains of suicides."
It was Touka's turn to nearly spit out the bite of food she was attempting to choke down. "How did you know that much?"
Akira took another leisurely bite of dinner before answering. "That is an investigator's secret. I was tired of being caught on my back foot around you. Do you have room for one more customer?"
The younger woman glanced at Amon, but quickly looked away. She seemed unsure of how to behave around him—although, really, it was Akira who had engineered a mealtime with unlimited potential for awkward silence.
Touka shook herself out of it. "Um, yes. We're not in control of supply, but usually we have more than enough to go around."
"I can't. I won't," Amon said decisively.
The ever-more-exasperated investigator closed her eyes in frustration. "Let me try speaking your language, you oaf: there's no glory in self-imposed martyrdom. You saw what happened to Eyepatch when he insisted on only eating ghouls."
Touka couldn't hide her shock at Akira finally acknowledging Haise's previous life.
Now that Eyepatch wasn't the murderer she'd believed him to be, it was a lot easier to stomach Haise's past.
"So unless you want to fast-track your way to becoming a kakuja, you're going to show up at Café :re, and get a meal that is not the result of murder."
Touka rattled off the address then added in, "Knock on the back door in the alley," She glanced at the blonde. "He's very…noticeable."
Akira nodded and rather aggressively pointed a finger at Amon. "You're going to knock on the back door, and you're going to say please and thank you while you're at it."
The man looked at Rabbit, who was keeping her eyes down and mechanically eating bite after bite of rice. She wasn't bothering to hide the queasy look on her face as she ate, or the way her eyes watered as she fought the urge to vomit.
He turned back to Akira. "I have a bad past with Rabbit. Why would she help me out?"
Before his former partner could respond, Rabbit answered for herself without looking up. "I'll help out anyone if it'll keep my family together. Old grudges, my anger, my pride, it's all useless to me now. I just want to keep them safe."
Akira set her chopsticks down and pushed her dish away. "I'll catch you up on everything, but for now know that she's telling the truth. She needs all the friends she can get, and there's a chance she can get ahold of information on Takizawa, so please accept this truce."
A shadow crossed Amon's face. Ah, maybe he knows something about Seido, too.
Collecting everyone's dishes from the table, she continued. "Coming here tonight was a good thing. You don't realize it yet, but you're sitting at a table with two people who have the most experience in the world at dealing with artificial ghouls."
The man she'd pined after for years looked away in frigid silence. She'd thought she was lightening the mood, but maybe she was just poking at a sore spot.
The investigator turned to the ghoul. "I think it's time I sent you home to Haise. He had a rough day, as well, and I'm sure he's wondering where you are."
The ghoul nodded. "He was finishing up a report at work when I left, but he's probably waiting for me at my apartment by now."
She turned to leave, and Akira saw her badly torn shirt again. "Wait."
From her hallway closet, she grabbed a lightweight bomber jacket she rarely wore. Tossing it at the departing ghoul, she said, "Get this back to me when you can."
With a thin, watery smile, Touka said, "Thanks." Then she rushed out the door without looking back.
After she left, Akira locked the door and leaned her forehead against it for a moment.
"Why…"
She turned around to face Amon, who looked far too tall and inscrutable to be standing in her boring little apartment. "Yes?"
"If you knew she was the Rabbit why haven't you said anything?"
Because I've been ignoring it and hoping everything somehow works out perfectly and I never have to have that discussion? Akira pressed her lips together. "She's young. She was even younger when my father was killed. I figured out very quickly that whatever she was up to in those days, she's grown up since then. Bringing up old hatreds wouldn't serve any purpose when I have so many other problems already. Besides…if I confront her about being the Rabbit, I'll have to deal with the issue of Hinami Fueguchi."
Amon didn't know precisely who that was, but he knew Mado's quinque was known as Fueguchi. He could infer why that might be a complicated topic. "I was there when the female was killed."
By my father.
Amon continued. "At the time, I thought it was just how the CCG got the job done. Now, looking back, I wonder…if we were crueler than we had to be."
Akira glanced at the calligraphy on the wall. Did you cut down innocent wayfarers, dad? How many?
She ran her hands through her hair, undoing her braids with efficient motions as she walked over to her fridge. After a moment of hesitation, she grabbed a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc she'd originally bought to enjoy with dinner and poured herself a glass as she spoke.
"I can't talk about this with colleagues, and I don't want any of the ghouls to know, but…I just don't know anymore. The more I talk to them, the more complicated everything becomes. It's not that I think we were wrong and they don't need to be stopped—it's more that I realize we were always working from inadequate information and if we had the whole picture, we would have done things differently. We would have gone after different targets. Still exterminated some, but let others live…"
Amon looked over to her cracked balcony door. "I understand what you mean. Nothing is as clear as it used to be."
"No." She leaned against the counter, wine glass in one hand, and looked at her erstwhile partner. She knew his mind was already far beyond her living room. Everything is so different since the last time you were here…
She changed the subject. "Your hand. I've never quite seen that happen. Why do you think that is?"
He stared at her for a long, quiet moment. "You'd have to ask Dr. Kano. All I know it that I wasn't sleeping well…or eating…while it was healing. It must be like how a broken bone that isn't set properly will try to heal the best it can, even if it's crooked."
"You need to take better care of yourself." She took a healthy drink of wine and shook her head. "You drove me to drink, Amon. I couldn't sleep well after you disappeared. Now I need a glass before bed to fall asleep."
"I'm sorry," he said with a tortured expression on his face.
She smiled sadly and set her wineglass down. "You're going to disappear again, and I'll start drinking two glasses every night."
He looked down at his three-fingered hand. "I don't think I'll disappear completely. I was afraid of coming back, how I would be received…"
"But now that you know I'm socializing with ghouls…"
He cracked a cautious smile at her. He was still so handsome. "I still need to hear the story of how that came to pass."
Even years later, she felt the sting of his rejection at the cemetery. Don't make a fool of yourself again…
"And I'll tell you that, and everything else you've missed, but not tonight. It's been a long day and I'm dead on my feet." She walked around him to open her balcony door. The glass cracked a little more in the process. "I can't stop you from leaving, but come back soon. Don't wait until the next time I have a ghoul in my living room so you can barge in heroically."
Amon took a long, bittersweet look at her and with a rush of air that set her blinds aflutter, he was gone.
Maybe I'm bad at sitting on interesting plot developments—it turns out I'm super impatient as a reader and a writer.
I suspect okonomiyaki might not be super popular in Tokyo, but it's so fun and easy to make at home! I think when I wrote this I'd bought a whole head of cabbage on impulse, and I was frantically making okonomiyaki, sauerkraut, and coleslaw all week. I just had cabbage on my mind, you know?