After Isa had texted goodnight to Tatara, she called Ina. They had a short conversation about meeting up in three days-which was the same day that Isa was going to meet up with Tatara, but at a later time.

The events earlier that day kept on swirling in Isa's mind. Those men-who were they? Weren't they ghoul investigators? It reminded her of Arima. It'd been so long since they last time they've met. He was also the one who saved her life, too. Isa hoped he was doing well.

She pondered about those two words those men talked about. Aogiri, was it? And raid?

A battle.

Why am I wondering about things that don't even concern me?

Both sides...are good…

Isa shook her head, immediately changing her thoughts to the day when she met up with Ina and Tatara.

"It'll be a good day," Isa said to herself, smiling.

There's no way I'm going to join Aogiri again, Ina thought.

It'll...just destroy my relationship with Isa. I need to protect her, she's the only one left.

But I need...strength… I'm so weak… She stared at her cupped hands filled with water, looking at her own reflection, thinking.

I can't let Eto meddle into my life anymore. All they do after all-they just need more pawns to kill off for their own sake. I'll get stronger on my own.

I'll protect what I have left with everything I have.

I'll live...happily. She splashed the water on her face, relishing the coolness on her skin. It made her feel calm, forgetting all the bad things in her life for the brief second. She looked in the mirror.

I'll become stronger.

The next day, as Isa was doing her daily chores inside the house until she saw mail being delivered to her front door from the window. Suspicion clouded her thoughts and made her hesitant, as she thought it was some sort of prank. She never gotten mail-especially not a small box of it. She watched the mail man disappear to the next house, and then headed towards her door, peeking through the little hole to see if she could see what it really was.

She opened the door and stared at the object in front of her on the ground, reading the name of the unknown sender.

Eto?

She bent down and grabbed the box, carrying it inside. She went to the kitchen and laid the box on the table, then got a knife to cut the tape that bound it shut.

To: Isa, it read. From: Eto.

She was about to cut the tape, but then paused, thinking hard. Who was Eto? It sounded like it would most likely be a girl, but that being a boy's name was possible. Isa ended up sitting down at the table, pondering for minutes of who it could be.

Does it really matter who it's from? She finally thought after a good couple minutes. It was addressed to her anyways.

Grabbing the box, she shook it wildly, trying to guess from the sounds coming inside what it could be. The thickness of the box was thin, while the length was long and the width shorter.

Could it be a book?

Gliding the knife around down the diameter of the rectangular box, the two flaps came apart, and Isa flipped them up to reveal a smaller rectangular shaped object wrapped with wrapping paper.

It was clearly a book.

Now curious while laced with excitement, Isa ripped open the wrapping paper, seeing the shiny cover of the book, and instantly reading the title.

Ghouls.

Her eyes widened. Then, she looked down to see the author's name-it was the same as the sender of the box. Eto. Isa instantly knew that it was a pen name. The only person that Isa knew that was wanting to write a book about ghouls was Takatsuki, so she assumed it was her finished product that she mailed to her. Isa remembered the time when Takatsuki wanted to use her opinions of ghouls for her book.

Smiling, she knew she had something to do for a couple days.

It shocked Isa how deeply Takatsuki had explained the lives of ghouls so...realistically. Did she get information from ghoul investigators? Or was it all made up in her mind? Either way, Isa was amazed and wowed at the same time. But the story itself...was quite pessimistic. There was no hope.

All the facts about ghouls spun in Isa's mind as she wondered about them, trying to connect the facts together. She didn't even know what she was trying to lead in her mind.

The thought of asking Takatsuki about the book came into her head, and she grabbed her phone and dialed her contact number.

There was no answer. Twice.

Feeling a little unsatisfied, Isa decided to take a walk.

Everything from the book crept into her thoughts as she went down the streets, watching everyone do their own thing, wondering if they could possibly be a ghoul. She knew she was getting paranoid from reading that book, but ghouls were real.

Takatsuki really has a thing for ghouls, huh? She thought, blaming her friend for making her feel so alert. Smiling, she couldn't wait until she talked to her about it.

The next day, Isa woke up earlier than usual because of her cell phone. Blinking hard a couple times, she lazily picked up her phone from the nightstand. There was a text message from an unknown number. It read:

It's me, Takatsuki. How did I know it was your #? Well, I have my ways. ^^ I was hoping you were available tomorrow in the afternoon, after your work.

Isa had already made plans with Ina that time and Tatara later on. She replied:

Sorry, I've already planned on meeting with Ina and Tatara tomorrow, Isa typed lazily, finally pressing the send button. Her eyes were getting droopy, so she dropped her head back into her pillow, but another notification sound made her look back up the screen.

Ah, a shame. I was hoping that we could leisure and talk about my gift to you. But it's alright. I'll be away for a couple weeks after tomorrow, so I may not be able to contact you until I return. Have a good week! Oh yes-I happened to bump into Ina yesterday. We had a nice chat before we both had to run. I forgot to ask for her contact #. Could you give me it? Appreciated.

Isa gave her Ina's cell phone number, then said she was going back to sleep.

Eto pressed the confirm button to add a new contact number. She grabbed her other cellphone and started texting Ina, using her main phone to look at her number.

How do I live in this world? We simply live and blend in. But my world is different. I'll simply do anything I can and put it under my control. Why don't we meet and have a discussion about this? I'll tell you everything. Your father, your mother. Because everything is in control. I'll show you what I mean.

A big smile plastered on her face as she sent the message.

Tomorrow was the day.

Going on a mini-vacation~ May or may not be able to update.

Thank you for your kind comments~

~janice