A/N Hey guys, welcome back to the manga arc of this story and I've decided to combine chapters 7 and 8 of the manga in this chapter so without further ado, enjoy.

I was currently on my way to meet with Shirou in the hopes that he uncovered something about the humans causing problems in the city since I wasn't able to find anything out, which baffled me since we should've at least picked up their scent.

After the whole incident with Hiroshi was taken care of, Shirou and I continued our investigation into the human group stirring up chaos in the city but we weren't having much luck locating them and it was like they were invisible or something.

I was starting to feel a little frustrated since there had to be a way to find these assholes because they couldn't stay hidden forever since something had to draw them out eventually, though everything they have done so far and the fact they were able to hide in plain sight while doing it told me that this group was organized and definitely knew what they were doing.

Still, they had to be getting help from somewhere so I considered if maybe they were getting funding from War Dogs and Legion or maybe the two divisions were responsible since this sounds like their usual MO, which would make sense if they wanted to stir up chaos to create justification to invade the city.

Either way, these assholes need to be stopped before they cause irreparable damage so I kept walking through the city streets while following Shirou's scent when I eventually met up with him, the older wolf god in his beast form as he sent me a nod and we walked down an alley until we came across Marie, who was waiting for us.

"Well? How's it going?" Marie said and Shirou frowned.

"No matter how hard Doug and I search, we cannot find a human scent anywhere," Shirou replied, and I could tell this was frustrating him just as much as it was for me.

"Hmm...well, if your noses can't find it, then no other beastman's nose can. You know, I had to work really hard to get ahold of this stuff," Marie told us as she rummaged through her pack and pulled out some kind of spray bottle to show us.

"I guess you could call it a pseudo-animalizing agent, which creates a 'beastman-like' scent that's completely indistinguishable from regular beastmen, allowing them to hide in crowds," Marie added and my eyes widened in shock.

"Jesus, no wonder Ogami and I haven't been able to locate them since they were masking their scents to come off as regular beastmen," I said with a look of surprise and Marie smirked.

"Human science, am I right?" Marie remarked as Shirou took the spray bottle and started examining it with a hard glare.

"Ah-ah, be careful since it can be used as a weapon in high concentrations," Marie warned and Shirou took her advice by not sniffing it until he shifted back to his human form.

"What about the other thing?" Shirou asked as Marie went to sit down on a set of stairs and she gazed up at us.

"I'm not sure how many there are, but there are humans who are planning to invade the city and a beastman traitor who is cooperating with them," Marie told us and I tensed at that.

Hearing that a beastman was involved in this conspiracy made sense since they would know the city like the back of their hand by now and would assist this human group in infiltrating it, so this was troubling and we need to find them fast before they do carry out this invasion.

"Okay, do you know who the traitor is?" I inquired but Marie shook her head.

"Honestly, it could be anyone since all I know is that there is a beastman traitor and that they are working with the humans who are responsible for all of this chaos," Marie replied and I frowned.

I did know that Hiroshi was working with the humans who are causing all this chaos but he wasn't a threat anymore since Tsume was making sure of that, so it was possible that he wasn't the only beastman who is involved and that made me uneasy since who knows how high this might go.

"Alright, thanks for the info," I said and Marie shrugged.

"Just remember that I had to work my ass off for this one so I might owe you a favor later on," Marie told me and I rolled my eyes at that, though Shirou and I left before making our way back to Beast Co-op while I was lost in thought.

"You okay? You look troubled," Shirou pointed out and I gazed at him.

"I'm honestly worried, there's no telling how deep this conspiracy goes so if it turns out that Hiroshi wasn't the only beastman working with this human group, then there's no telling how many are involved and that unnerves me," I admitted and Shirou softened his eyes before placing a hand on my arm to comfort me.

"I know you're worried since this appears to be much bigger than we first thought, but we will stop them before they can achieve their endgame so everything will be fine," Shirou reassures me and I smiled back at him before kissing him on the cheek.

"Thanks Shirou, I appreciate you trying to make things more hopeful for me," I said just as we arrived at Beast Co-op, then we head inside and eventually started speaking to Gem and Melissa about what we've discovered so far.

"These humans are a lot smarter than we thought since they knew exactly who they were going to kidnap from the start, so even if the invasion fails, they'll still have the hostages as a trump card for negotiations," Shirou told the Horners just as I picked up the scent of Michiru and Shirou stopped talking, implying that he picked up her scent as well so we all looked at Michiru.

"There you are, was wondering where you were since you've been gone for hours," I said while holding a look of concern but Shirou was mostly stoic.

"Where have you been?" Shirou inquired as he gazed at Michiru fully and the female tanuki started looking nervous under his steely expression.

"Uh, nowhere really, I'm just tired...so, they have been calling me a 'love expert' recently and you two may be surprised by this, but I was asked to get your autographs so I've been looking all over for you two," Michiru replied, though I was suspicious since her body language and the micro expressions on her face told me that she was hiding something.

"I hear you made contact with The Family, then you must have heard about the kidnappings so this is no longer a case you can handle," Shirou stated, and Michiru flinched at that but she composed herself and gazed at him fully.

"Shirou, wait-" Michiru tried to say and was cut off.

"Our enemies are human, and some of them are beastmen who betrayed their own kind so you're no longer involved in this anymore," Shirou said coldly before walking past Michiru, who looked hurt as she stared at the floor.

"Don't take it too hard, it's just Shirou's way of saying that he's worried about you," Melissa reassured her, but Michiru was quiet for a little bit until she suddenly looked at Shirou's retreating form.

"Shirou, wait!" Michiru called out, making the immortal wolf beastman stop and Michiru hesitated before taking a deep breath.

"If there is a traitor...what are you going to do to them?" Michiru asked and Shirou looked back.

"What?" Shirou questioned and Michiru sighed.

"No, rather...given that the traitor is a beastman, maybe they have a reason and I know there are bad beastmen out there but, when I look at you, I feel...scared," Michiru admitted with a solemn expression and my eyes softened but Shirou didn't look impressed and started appearing frustrated and angry.

"That's because you're...you can say that because, at the end of the day, you have a home you can go back to. Even if something were to happen to this city, you'll still have the human world to call home but Anima City is different.

There are many who were born here, who fled here, and who have nowhere else they can go so I will protect this city, even if it means killing those who ally themselves with humans," Shirou snapped harshly until he stormed out and slammed the door, causing it to rattle and Michiru flinched as she took a few steps back.

"I don't understand...why is he so stubborn that he won't consider other possibilities?" Michiru wondered quietly and I sighed, gesturing for her to follow me so that we could speak in private and we went to my room until I had her take a seat on the bed.

"Michiru, you have to consider what Shirou's been through for a thousand years...he witnessed everyone he cared about being slaughtered in front of him by humans and had other pretty bad experiences with humanity for centuries so his hatred of them is understandable and it's not something that he will be able to get over that easily...trust me, I know that far too well.

He's dedicated himself to protecting beastmen and Anima City because it gives him a purpose in a world where he's a living breathing relic from an era that no longer exists, which is something he really struggles with. After all, he has so much difficulty remembering the time before the massacre of Nirvasyl.

Please understand where he's coming from because, in his eyes, beastmen allying themselves with humans is something he considers a betrayal to him and other beastmen so he sees it as personal and wants to handle the matter himself.

I admit that him wanting to kill beastmen who betray their kind is going a little too far, but we haven't experienced the kind of hell he's been through so he would do whatever it takes to ensure another tragic incident like Nirvasyl never happens again

Also, don't take it too personally because even though he was being harsh, he's just worried about you and has trouble expressing that after being alone for centuries so I hope you understand that he still struggles with a lot and still has a lot of unresolved trauma that still haunts him to this day," I explained and Michiru looked shocked, gazing down in thought.

"I...never knew he was suffering so much...I know he's been through a lot because of what the mayor told us but I didn't realize he felt that way," Michiru said quietly.

"People deal with trauma differently in some cases and Shirou is still trying to deal with it, despite a thousand years going by so you just need to consider that since the man has been through more hell than any person can take and he is still able to hang on to his determination of helping beastmen so that they can achieve a brighter future.

It's the only thing that keeps him going in this world and I believe that one day, humanity will be able to put aside their hatred and work together with beastmen to achieve such a future but for now, we just need to make an effort to work to earn humanity's trust and prove to them that beastmen are not the monsters they claim them to be.

I know that there are beastmen who are assholes but to be honest, no one is perfect in this world but that shouldn't stop us from trying since we can achieve so much once we move past our negative views of each other and put our minds together," I said and went to leave my room, leaving Michiru to her thoughts as I started to take a walk outside to clear my head.

Hours had gone by after that and it started raining as the rest of the day went by so I hurried back home and hoped that Shirou was doing okay since I haven't heard from him in a while, probably wandering the city to clear his head like I was.

I was busy drying off when I received a call from the mayor and she informed me that Shirou had discovered the identity of the traitor and wanted to let me know that the traitor was Aya, which shocked me since I recognized that name because that was the name of the girl who owned that department store Michiru and I visited once.

I was also informed that Shirou was busy tracking down Aya and I started feeling concerned since I know what he was capable of when it comes to beastmen who betray their kind so I didn't want him to cross that line again because it was the type of thing that wears on you after a while.

One thing I was wondering is why Aya would work with the humans who are causing chaos since she seemed like a nice girl and one thing I did know is that she wouldn't do this unless she had a very good reason since it was never that black and white.

I needed to find Aya before Shirou did and get the answers out of her myself because I knew Shirou would kill her if he found her and I couldn't let that happen. After all, too much blood had already been spilled and I didn't want to have another body on my conscious.

So, I was about to leave when I heard somebody coming into the living room and it turned out to be Michiru as Melissa expressed her worries about her while I headed into the living room and could see the older woman helping the female tanuki dry off with a towel.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to worry you," Michiru said while Gem looked concerned.

"Don't be so reckless, Michiru. I've heard that so many beastmen in this city have been disappearing, so if you were to disappear too..." Gem trailed off and Melissa went to gently smack him in the head.

"Come now, don't say such a stupid thing! Besides, this case will be solved soon, right?" Melissa asked Michiru, who looked puzzled.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Michiru asked in confusion.

"They found out who the traitor is so Shirou left and is out looking for them right now," Melissa explained and Michiru's eyes widened.

"That's good, I've never felt so relieved," Gem added when Michiru looked down and left without a word, despite Melissa looking confused.

Seeing Michiru's behavior today and how she wasn't happy to hear that news, I decided to have a talk with her myself so I followed after Michiru and found out that she was heading to the roof so I kept my distance while following her until she made it to the roof and I soon arrived as well until I saw her crouching against the railing and holding onto the bars until I was startled to hear her letting out a shout of frustration.

"Michiru? Are you okay?" I questioned as I walked up to her, which made her flinch until she looked back and appeared conflicted.

"Hey Doug, you don't have to worry because I'm fine," Michiru lied and I sighed.

"No, you're not because I can tell you have something weighing pretty heavily on you so it's about the traitor, isn't it?" I asked as I went to sit down next to her.

"It's nothing, I just don't want you to worry is all," Michiru evaded but I frowned since her words didn't convince me at all.

"It's more than that...you spoke to the traitor, didn't you? Michiru, the mayor informed me that the traitor is Aya so that's why you've been acting off, because you talked to her and now you don't know what to do," I pointed out and Michiru grimaced.

"I could never get anything past you, can I? Yeah, I spoke to Aya and don't be alarmed, but that happened after I was kidnapped by the humans who were causing trouble lately," Michiru told me and my eyes widened.

"Wait, you were kidnapped and I didn't even know about it?! Oh Christ, did they hurt you?!" I exclaimed and Michiru held her hands up to placate me.

"Easy, they didn't get the chance to because Aya helped me escape," Michiru assured me and I relaxed slightly.

"Okay, and you talked to her so did she tell you her reasons as to why she was helping these scumbags?" I inquired and Michiru nodded.

"Yeah, she told me that she had been working with them from the very beginning and that she did it for her boyfriend, who's a human," Michiru replied and I was surprised by that.

"And you're sure she wasn't lying to you?" I questioned and Michiru looked thoughtful.

"Pretty sure, she seemed genuine when talking about her reasons for helping them so I don't think she was lying about that," Michiru said and I frowned.

"In that case, we need to find Aya before Shirou does since we know what he's capable of when it comes to beastmen who betray their own kind," I stated and Michiru nodded.

"I agree, so let's go," Michiru agreed as we stood up but I shook my head.

"We'll do it tomorrow since I don't want you to run yourself ragged trying to find her," I pointed out and Michiru looked like she wanted to argue but she sighed and nodded reluctantly, so she went back to her room and I went back to mine until I went to bed and tried to get some sleep while hoping that we would find Aya before Shirou did.

A/N Well guys, only one more chapter left and the manga arc is complete so hopefully Michiru and Doug get to Aya first before Shirou does so let me know what you think and stay tuned.