Akira thought she escaped meetings when she left the CCG. She thought wrong.

At the kitchen table the next day, Akira recounted her version of events on Rushima—from Furuta winking at her on the docks, to leaving Takeomi behind on the beach.

Yoriko was bustling around the kitchen, blanching this and chopping that. She had not stopped cooking for a moment since she'd been secreted away to the hideout. I guess everyone copes with stress differently, thought Akira as she ate a slice of quiche from the impressive spread on the table.

A lot of the food was being consumed by Hirako and his team of defectors—someone stopped by every morning to trade finished dishes for fresh ingredients—but Yoriko was still producing food faster than all the humans around could eat it. Soon the freezer would be full.

Touka was also at the table, drinking her own cup of coffee with Ichika on her lap and occasionally helping the child try small bites of anything she pointed at.

When Akira reached the end of her story, Yoriko finally stood still and sat down.

She looked like she was a woman on the verge of breaking. "He needs to at least know that I'm safe. If Takeomi doesn't know I survived…"

Akira thought about his face on the beach and nodded. "Everyone who knew he was up to something is no longer with the CCG, so he's safe on that front. But you're right. After the tricks we pulled on him, he could easily become a threat if we don't do some damage control."

"Or," interjected the ghoul, "it's because she doesn't want him to suffer?"

Akira scowled at Touka. "I'm getting kind of sick of people assuming I don't have a heart just because I look at strategy first instead of charging in based on emotions. People like me keep impulsive, noble idiots from dying young for lost causes."

She turned back to Yoriko. "I want us to figure out how to get to Takeomi. Not just because it makes sense strategically, but because he doesn't deserve to suffer like that and it's the right thing to do."

"Nice save." Touka stood to leave. "Well, I've got to check on the café. Make sure no one's burned it down or started a fight. You guys stay here. I'm sure things will get crazy again soon."

They waved goodbye to her as she put Ichika in her stroller and disappeared through the front door.

Akira looked at Yoriko, who was still motionless. "Are you doing all right?"

"Yes. No. I mean…I don't know. It's…a lot. I was so mad at her when she showed up out of the blue like, 'oh by the way, I forgot about you for years but I'm married and pregnant and let's be friends again,' but she's always seemed so…alone, so I kept it to myself and just tried to be there cause I thought that's what she needed…but that was just the tip of the iceberg."

"It was. You're handling things well, though. Better than I would expect of most people."

Yoriko buried her face in her hands. "I don't know…how to handle anything. I keep trying to talk to Touka about all the times I made her try my food, and it turns out she was suffering all along, and she just keeps changing the subject. I know I'm not supposed to because of the Countermeasure law and all that, but…I still feel so awful. Now I feel selfish for being mad at her for disappearing like that."

"It seems to me that she never really liked being a ghoul," Akira mused. "Most of them don't fight nearly as hard as she did to fit in to the human world. I think the most important thing is you gave her a glimpse of what it was like to feel like a normal human when you made her food, which was the best thing you could have done for her. She always talked about you as the best friend she ever had."

Yoriko nodded and wiped her eyes. "We're still in big trouble, though, aren't we?"

"Yeah. Real big trouble."

A couple of days later, Akira was feeling about as healthy as she ever had. Fully recovered. A good thing, too, because the word of mouth spread through their little network that the One-Eyed King was calling a meeting. All ghouls and select humans were expected to make their way to the designated location.

Amon stopped by the hideout to accompany her. She was a wanted woman, after all. She needed her bodyguard.

They got to the planned meeting room several minutes early and both made a beeline to the same spot: standing against a back wall, to prevent any attacks from behind, and with a clear view of all entrances. It was yet another one of those little habits that reminded them both they would always be products of the CCG. There was simply no undoing some things.

Hirako spotted her across the room as soon as she entered. He unflinchingly crossed through the crowd of ghouls he was hunting a couple of weeks ago. Akira had always admired his coolheaded professionalism. His heart wasn't in the fight against ghouls at all.

He's like Arima in that way, she thought with a pang.

When he reached the wall she was leaning against, he nodded to Amon in greeting and turned to Akira. "I heard things were touch-and-go with you for a while. I'm glad you recovered."

With arms crossed, she shook her head at him in disappointment. "You know, if you'd just told me what you were up to, we probably could have avoided a lot of pain and suffering. And deaths."

He looked at her impassively. "I could say the same about you."

Oh, I hate getting called out like that. The righteous anger drained out of her. "It…was a risk I couldn't afford at the time. And I suppose you'll say the same thing."

He looked back at her, blank-faced and placid.

A commotion back at the entrance distracted everyone. Kaneki had arrived.

"I know you aren't happy about how things shook out. It's what he wanted, though." Take looked over the room. "To leave behind a protégé who was stronger than him, who had more tools to change things in a way he was never free to."

The ghouls from Café :re walked by to try and get to a clear area on the floor. Touka paused to say hello.

Akira rolled her eyes and looked over the room. She quickly picked out the ghoul who was conspicuous in her absence. "Is Hinami watching Ichika?"

"Yeah. I figured a fight might break out here. Naki already tried to start something on the way in. She's had a hard year. Better to keep her and the baby away for now."

Akira nodded and Touka broke off to get closer to her husband. The former investigator turned her attention to the attendees nearest her.

Take was still nearby in the crowd. He'd walked up to position himself next to Irimi. If she strained her ears, Akira could pick up on what they were saying to each other.

Irimi crossed her arms and, still staring ahead, muttered to the investigator, "Look, I don't blame you, I know I'm very charming. It was an act and our business has concluded."

Take shrugged, and looked at her with something akin to pity in his eyes. "Hate to break it to you, but I know a honeypot when I see one. I was actually going to ask when you can make me another cup of coffee. That was some amazing coffee."

"Oh," she said, a bit surprised. "Just go back to the café and buy some." She walked away.

Take stared after her as she left, an amused look on his face.

Soon, the meeting was called to order. Or, as much order as the half-tame Aogiri members and various rogue ghouls could muster up.

They listened in fascination as Kaneki outlined the formation of Goat and its mission: to bring the battle between humans and ghouls to an end.

There was skepticism and derision at first. While the new One-Eyed King dealt with the crowd, Akira looked around the room. She nodded in approval. "Now we have numbers and some real firepower. I can do something with this," she muttered to Amon.

"Like what, General Mado?"

"I like the sound of that." She took a deep breath. "You heard him. We're going to start a revolution."

That thought hung in the air, dangerous and enticing.

Akira couldn't stop her mind from spinning for very long, though. "We still have limited resources, all things considered, so I'd go with the Fabian strategy. Avoid direct conflict, push at strategic weak points. Pick a fight, retreat so they give chase, and voila—we lure them into position for an ambush."

"To dialogue with them, not to kill them, right?"

She nodded. "Sure."

Amon smirked at her grandiose plans. "And what dictator do you install in the resulting power vacuum?"

"I understand the point you're making." She looked again at the room. "I haven't figured that part out yet." I'm a fighter and a strategist, not a diplomat.

She instantly knew who would be useful if he wasn't AWOL: Nagachika. He had that winsome personality that quickly won everyone over, and he was better at getting a read on people. Too bad he's a ghost right now.

Amon thought for a moment. "If Eyepatch is right, if it's possible to get them all to see the good in their enemy, to work things out civilly instead of killing each other…maybe we can build something better."

"I cannot emphasize enough how much I respect that idealism." Akira sighed. "Get them to see the good in their enemy. Because it was just that easy for the two of us, right?"

Kaneki was working his way through the crowd after the main meeting ended. It was a while before he got to her.

"Are you still prepared to be a kingmaker, Akira?" He had dropped the façade of a visionary leader, and now he just sounded exhausted.

"I said what I meant and I meant what I said. Do you really have what it takes to be a king?"

He stood a little straighter. "I don't know. But I have to try. Too many people depend on me now."

"Alright then." She thought for a moment. "Do you know what your first step is? It won't be long before the CCG regroups from Rushima and starts hunting you."

"We won't harm anyone. Break quinques, sure, but we won't be the murderers they think we are."

Akira nodded, quickly grasping the game he wanted to play. "Not bad for a first move."

He met her eyes with a look of determination she'd rarely seen him wear before. "We fight back in every way we can, except the way they want us to."

That's more like it.

Afterwards, the inner circle opted to follow up at the café, taking a moment to chitchat about inconsequential things and enjoy a cup of coffee. Nishiki, Irimi, and Koma ended up behind the counter, churning out order after order for the suddenly full dining room. Hinami even brought down Ichika to make the rounds.

Naki kept staring at Akira, though. If he thought any harder, his head would explode.

"What," she finally shot at him. She wasn't precisely happy about sharing coffee with former enemies as if they weren't murderers who'd once taken a bite out of her. It was one of those situations where holding a grudge wouldn't benefit anyone, though, so she tried not to feed that fire.

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

Strangely, she was offended that he didn't even have the courtesy to remember her. If he was going to take a bite out of her leg, the least he could do is remember it as the best, most delicious calf he'd ever eaten. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Huh. Weird. I thought I'd already deja viewed you somewhere."

"That's not…ugh…nevermind. Leave me alone, please."

She grabbed her coffee and walked away before she started a fight. Looking around, she decided to sit at the counter, near where the other artificial ghouls—Takizawa and Kurona, was it?—were sulking.

As soon as she approached, however, Takizawa quietly stood and scurried out of the café's side door. He was avoiding her, and she didn't completely understand why, aside from wanting to sidestep difficult reunions. If that was why he was refusing to make eye contact and looking to leave the room anytime she was around, that was disappointing.

Though…perhaps it was for the best. She'd been told of his actions after she'd passed out on the island and that had resurrected some hope that a bit of the Seido she once knew had survived. It wouldn't hurt, though, if she let the memories of him slaughtering Hoji's squad fade a little more before she spoke to him.

"Thanks for giving up the seat," she muttered sarcastically. "I guess Amon can sit there when he's done."

She spun on her chair and spotted him across the room. He'd somehow ended up holding Ichika while Touka and Kaneki helped run drinks to every table. He had a very serious and concerned look on his face as he watched the baby play with her feet.

Akira couldn't hold back a surprised laugh at the sight.

"It's not fair," the ghoul at her side growled. "It's like the filth of this world doesn't stick to him." Looking down at her inhuman hands, she said, "It sure stuck to me."

Maybe when she was very young and understood less of empathy, Akira would have also resented Amon's goodness for similar reasons. Hell, she had for a time, when she first met him. That righteousness of his had outraged her in a way she'd rarely felt before. Now, though, it seemed like the most steadfast, admirable part of him.

"Don't say that. He suffered a lot to become who he is."

Kurona stared at her, out of the corner of her eye. "You're one of the investigators who left, right? The one Juzo perforated."

Akira winced at the phrasing but couldn't argue. "Mmhmm. That was me."

"Don't you hate him, then? Don't you think he needs to be stopped?"

She thought about it for a moment. The ghoul was obviously looking to commiserate, but Akira couldn't lie. "No, I don't hate him," she answered honestly. She'd powered herself with anger and hatred before, and it hadn't done a single good thing for her. "It's not worth hating him."

"You should," scoffed Kurona. "I hate him. He took my sister from me. Besides…it just isn't fair. He was the one who was supposed to end up a monster, not me! Look at him, look at everything that little butcher did, and he still has a home and people who care about him. I have nothing. It wasn't…My life wasn't supposed to be this way. I should have his life and he should have mine."

She recalled Juzo at Shinohara's bedside, looking like a lost boy. He was a strange one and he didn't feel things the way normal people were supposed to, but he did have a heart. "Juzo's suffered, too. Life makes fools of us all. Resenting him will poison you more than it'll ever hurt Juzo."

"I might as well poison myself. It feels better than being sad." The girl turned the chair and angled herself away from Akira. The conversation hadn't gone the way she'd wanted, and Kurona was done with it.

You can only hide sadness with anger for so long. Akira refrained from speaking, though. That wasn't the sort of lesson someone could understand if they weren't ready to. "I hope that works out for you," she mumbled to herself instead.

It was surprisingly enjoyable, that air of tentative camaraderie and just a bit of excitement for the future—

—until the syndicated sitcom on the TV was interrupted with a breaking news report.

They all watched in horror, ghoul and human alike, at the attacks unfolding in the branch offices. Horror at the people who were dying, and at the ghouls being blamed.

"So that's how they want to play," said Touka.

Take couldn't take his eyes off the screen. "He's clearing house, getting rid of anyone inside the CCG who would oppose him while making himself look good."

"You think he launched a false flag op against himself," Akira asked. That would be crossing a line into a new, worse class of enemy.

Take nodded. "You said he was with the Clowns. There's no other ghoul organization with the resources to pull this off right now."

Akira pressed her lips together. This is not good. "So, on one hand, our list of enemies has collapsed down to one. On the other hand, they've consolidated." She glanced at Take. "There's a Hungarian term—salami slicing tactics. Shave your enemies down bit by bit. We sat back and watched Aogiri and the CCG chip away at each other, but now it seems like Furuta's going to be using it against his enemies. Including us."

Next Week: Akira wears a crop top.