Akira has an accidental power hour

The next day she was called into Marude's office. He sat behind his desk, fingers tented and eyes downcast.

"Congratulations on taking down Torso, but I have to ask, Mado: do you have any idea how high my motorcycle insurance rate is now?"

Truthfully, she didn't feel an ounce of guilt on that front, but it would be rude to laugh at the veteran investigator. "No sir. I drive a car."

"For cripes' sake, I expect this shit from Suzuya. But now you too?"

"I'm sorry, sir. If you've read my report on yesterday, I explained that when I tried contacting the Quinx squad, I realized they were being attacked and I needed to get there as quickly as possible."

The older man leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "And it's very nice of you to be there for your subordinates. I gotta ask though—do you really care about them that much?"

She tensed up at those words, and the implication. "Of course, sir. Why wouldn't I care?"

"Because they're barely human. Arima's little protégé especially. Some days I really wonder what the Washus were thinking when they initiated the Quinx project. Someone who used to be on our payroll invents a new weapon, and they immediately need to master it."

He cleared his throat and tugged his tie a little looser. "Meanwhile, they just keep sending good men to die," he muttered mostly to himself.

The part of her that was loyal to the CCG felt suspicion rise at his comment. The part of her that was betraying the CCG filed it away for later use.

"Having spent time with them, I can assure you that while they aren't fully human anymore, they are people. You'd probably enjoy talking to Shirazu about motorcycles."

He waved a hand to dismiss the thought. "People who aren't humans—don't get philosophical with me. It's still a helluva line for the CCG to cross."

"Perhaps it was, but what's done is done. They're here, and they deserve to be treated with a certain amount of respect."

"You shouldn't get too friendly with weapons. It just makes it harder when they break."

"I know. I have a long history of caring too much for my weapons."

Marude ran out of steam and looked at her sadly. "I hope your care isn't wasted. You're dismissed."

When she got home that night, Akira sat for a long time, staring at her phone on the coffee table. It felt like an eternity before she finally figured out how to phrase a text to Touka she'd put off for far too long:

Come to my apartment tomorrow after you close the café. We need to talk and I'm ready to hear your side of the story.

A few moments later, she received a single response: OK.

Akira had just poured herself a large glass of the Sauvignon Blanc when the knock at the door came.

Touka was standing awkwardly on the other side. Akira motioned for her to enter.

"The tall guy stopped by today. He knocked on the back door, said please and thank you, the works."

"Good. I'm glad." Akira settled on her couch and took a healthy drink of her wine before she set it down and pulled an indignant Maris Stella onto her lap.

Touka sat on a small ottoman, across the room. "But he wasn't the one you wanted me to ask Itori about?"

"No. I had no idea Amon survived. It's Takizawa I saw at the auction. He was fighting Haise and Hinami Fueguchi. I still want any info you can get on him."

Touka cringed. "Oh, so he's the one that nearly killed Haise that night. Should I thank him or kick his ass for kicking off a series of events that ended with me choking down a sandwich this afternoon?" She patted her stomach, now ever-so-slightly rounder than the last time Akira had scrutinized her.

They were all running out of time to find a way to make it through alive.

"Why choose either/or when you can go with both/and?" The weary blonde swirled her glass of wine and took a sip. "Just tell me, Kirishima. Rip off the bandage."

"I'm not so proud of what I did anymore. Now when I think back, no one comes out looking very good. Except maybe Hinami and Kaneki—Haise, I mean."

Then, haltingly, Touka recounted from the last days of Ryoko Fueguchi up until the death of Kureo Mado.

Akira had to rein in her anger at times, but she knew she'd get a more honest retelling if she didn't interrupt. Only a few times did she chime in, needing clarifications on chronology or location.

Touka finished by describing her, Yomo, Kaneki, and Hinami trudging back to Anteiku, bloody and exhausted.

By then, her wine glass was empty. Akira got up to refill her glass in the kitchen.

This bottle only filled three glasses—is it small or am I drinking too much?

While she checked the label, hoping the bottle was smaller than the standard 750 mL, a thought occurred to her. She tossed the bottle into her recycling bin and walked back in speaking distance of her guest.

"You said that my father grabbed Haise and dragged him through the RC gate, but it didn't go off."

Touka, braced for some sort of recrimination, responded with a confused, "Yes?"

"This is important. Are you sure?"

"Positive. I watched it happen."

Akira took another good gulp of wine. Worrying about alcoholism could wait for less confusing times. "We have to add the Quinx to an exceptions list to keep them from setting off the gates every time they enter. I assumed someone had already done that for Haise before I was put on the project. How could he already be on the exceptions list so long before coming into CCG custody?"

Touka shrugged. "Are they really that sensitive?"

"They are exquisitely sensitive, not just to elevated RC cell counts but to individual signatures. That should not have been possible." She shook her head. "But that can wait, for now. I'm…not exactly grateful for finally hearing the truth about my father's death, but at least there's closure."

The blue-haired ghoul hung her head. "I only wanted to hurt someone who'd hurt someone I cared about. It blinded me. I didn't realize, back then, how much my actions affected everyone. That even someone I hated might have loved ones who'd mourn him. I know better now."

"Yeah, well, I need to think about everything you said. I was devastated then and I'm still pretty pissed off. But we have more important things to focus on for now, like what to do about Fueguchi."

"Hinami? I haven't seen her since she ran off, but she was always such a sweet child. She didn't deserve to get caught between Aogiri Tree and the CCG."

"Maybe not at first, but she stayed with Aogiri. That's incriminating."

"She was little better than a hostage. Please don't condemn her for being naïve enough to trust them," Touka implored desperately.

Akira finally made her way back to the couch, and stroked Maris Stella while she thought. "She's technically under Haise's custody in Cochlea right now. I don't think he knows what to do with her, but he can't let go of her. I suppose I should at least avoid anything that can't be undone, so I'll see what I can do about quietly postponing her disposal for a while."

Touka's eyes lit up. "You would do that?"

"I might want to go talk to her myself at some point. I don't know." She rubbed at her neck, trying to get some of the overly tense muscles to loosen up. "It's not good for him to talk to her. If they were that close, she could trigger an episode."

"Why…don't you want him to remember?"

"I know Haise. I like Haise. I don't know Eyepatch and I don't want to know him. For me, it's that simple. From a practical standpoint, however, that memory loss is the only thing saving him from being treated as an SS-rated ghoul. While he's Haise, he can count as human. He's controversial as-is in the CCG. If he started to get his memories back in any meaningful capacity and the wrong person found out, I think he'd be targeted for destruction immediately."

The ghoul shifted around uncomfortably, before she finally said what was bothering her. "The longer I go along with the lie, the worse his reaction will be when he remembers. And he has nightmares, every time he spends the night. Probably at the Chateau, too. He hides it well, especially from me, but I don't want him to suffer like that forever. I don't even know if he can live like this much longer."

I know, she thought. She wasn't about to concede that out loud, though. "The goal of the Quinx project is to produce a crop of investigators that are at or beyond the level of the White Reaper. Maybe once Haise's reached that level, his position in the CCG will be cemented and he'll be less subject to suspicion…"

Touka laughed darkly. "Assuming he stays alive and sane until then."

"One mountain at a time, Rabbit. One mountain at a time." Akira stood. In a quiet voice, she added, "I'll be by the café in a few days, but I need some time right now. Get home safe."

Once her apartment was quiet and empty again, she sat back down on the couch. Remembered her father braiding her hair when she was far younger. It was with disappointment that she realized tears were running down her cheeks. Wasn't I supposed to be stronger than that? She wiped them away.

Maris Stella hissed at the still-broken balcony door, snapping her out of it. Checking through the blinds, she was startled to see Amon standing outside. He looked so formal and grim she had to laugh at him.

"Get in before the neighbors see," she whispered as she pulled open the door.

He stepped inside. "I waited until the ghoul left, and I didn't barge in."

"I noticed. Good boy, following directions."

He looked at her, shocked and offended. She laughed. For all that he had seen of the ugliness of life, there was still such an earnest air to him. As if nothing he could go through would knock that uprightness out of him.

She envied him for that, and at the same time it reassured her that sometimes the world wasn't such a confusing place.

"Have a seat. I'll make you some coffee. Rabbit just told me an interesting story, and you were in it. Now let me tell you a story or two."

This wasn't the most exciting chapter, but I think the next few are some of the most fun so far muahahahaha

In fact, I keep laughing to myself every time I remember next week's bumper text so I think I might start adding those on as a teaser. So…

Next week: Akira discovers cosplay.