The Quinx of Change
Summary: Some limits are meant to be broken, Hide realizes, as he contemplates what his subconsciousness really is. With the ghoul that resides in his mind trying to force Hide out of his human side, and to embrace his ghoul side, will he retain the balance he needs to successfully, not only fight for his defence, but also for future CCG missions?
Hide's Unconsciousness
"Alright then, how do I activate it? The kagune?" Hide asked Amber, the name he had been given to call the ghoul, who was living in his subconscious mind.
"How do you activate it, huh?" Amber asked, somewhat sarcastically. "Well, if anyone here knows better, it's definitely me, you say, right?"
Hide did not know what this ghoul was referring to, or what games she was playing with. For all he knew, he was currently bleeding out from being pierced by Haise's kagune. "Listen, can we stop playing games, for all I know right now, I'm injured."
But Amber downplayed his worries, "Don't worry, remember, in your subconscious you can play out any time length. Of course, you'd know how to shorten time due to your stay in Cochlea."
Hide's eyes widened in surprise at that, "Wait, you saw all of that? Even though you were just a dust particle?"
Amber chuckled, "Ever since I became a part of you, I'd witness and learned everything you've gone through. I even know of the rc fluctuation issue you have."
Hide sighed, "Of course you knew that, wait, ever since you became a part of me? How do you know about my rc issues?"
Amber chuckled, "When did you start waking up in these dreams?"
Hide shrugged, "I don't know, about a couple weeks ago when I-" Hide's mind then hit a realization, and Amber could clearly see that, judging from the shocked expression on his face.
"I see your finally beginning to realize what I and your subconscious mind truly are. What you must understand is that I now occupy your mind, in a delicate relationship. I get the information of the host I'm working for, and you get a personal person to talk to." Amber merely stated after noting that Hide was beginning to accept the facts, after the initial shock.
"So, are you, like the ghoul whose kakuhou was put into me?" Hide asked at last.
Amber smiled, showing her white teeth again, "Congrats, you finally figured it out."
Hide sighed. In a sort of way, it made sense, with the timing and all. Originally, he was somewhat terrified of the unknown. The unknown, such a delicate being, that could either terrify or intrigue those. Now that Hide knew what he was dealing with, he wasn't sure if he should be terrified or nonchalant.
"Well now I know, it only took right now to figure it out, better late than never I suppose..." He mumbled.
Amber chuckled again, leaning on what appeared to be a mutilated human figure, which made Hide flinch.
"You know what they say, better late than never, but that's a statement meant to appease the weak." Amber mockingly started. "They say that to those pathetic individuals who cannot achieve feats faster than the rest."
Hide looked to the darkened figure of Amber, her clothes and heels blocking any sort of trait he could define from her.
"What do you mean by that?" Hide asked.
He quickly felt a tingle on his shoulder, spotting Amber, rubbing her bare frozen fingers on Hide's back. He could tell that the skin is pale, but had evidence of a tan colour.
"Better late than never. It's like giving extra credit to those who finish last. Those who are hesitant. What about those who came sooner? The strongest, they get glossed over, in favour of putting more effort into the weak!"
Amber came closer to Hide's ear, which made him shiver. The cold chilling breathes of Amber, she ironically smelt phenomenal.
"If you want to be stronger, then don't abide to that stupid rule of better late than never. If you could achieve it before, you could avoid it entirely."
She then rubbed her lips, tenderly on Hide's ear, who was now shivering in complete fear, the atmosphere around him turning from blood red violent, to a more orange field, that looked more sinister than innocent.
"After all, sooner is better than later. But the peak is now. If you want to prove your worth, now is the time."
The female ghoul removed her mouth from Hide's ear, who was now flinching on his hip from the sheer tone this ghoul could perform. The orange skies, with the autumn like trees, Hide looked down to his figure to realize he was wearing his yellow and black hoodie, an orange backpack, with green shorts and orange shoes. In this environment, the black hooded figure was sticking out like a sore thumb, while Hide blended in well.
Hide shook his head, "Okay, but how do I activate it? You did not give me an answer and even then, will it even give me a chance?"
Amber merely shrugged, "You never know. Activating it is one story, but controlling and using it for defense is another. If you really want advice, I'd recommend simply believing and trusting your instincts. Don't hesitate, and be willing to play dirty. Being honest will get you nowhere, trust me."
Hide sighed, "But even if I somehow get it to activate, how do I control it?"
Amber smiled, that creepy white teeth, "That you'll figure out. Besides, your kakuhou is already controlled, so I wouldn't worry about it."
Hide looked at Amber, who was still quite the enigma to him. She was apparently a dead ghoul who was now living inside Hide's mind. Why was she show up now? When he was in a fight with Kaneki, or Haise, whatever they are.
"Hey Amber." Hide called out, watching the ghoul just sit there.
"Hmm?" She merely made a noise to confirm she was listening.
"What do you do exactly when I'm not in my subconscious?" He asked, looking at the ghoul who herself looked unexpected to answer the question.
"Now that you mention it, I don't know. It's like the opposite for you. I only wake up when you asleep. I sleep when you're awake. Though there is another way to wake me up while you're awake."
Hide turned at that, "And what is that way?"
Amber merely showed her teeth again, "You'll find out if you show your strength and worth."
Again, Hide was confused, but Amber merely continued, "Remember, the best time to act is now. Enough with the better late than never bullshit, you can one up it entirely, not make a puny statement to make yourself feel better."
Hide looked at Amber one more time, before he found himself, and his vision turn black. Amber, the environment, everything turned to dust briefly before Hide saw nothing.
Chateau
That is, until he woke up. It was strange, for him. It felt like he was waking up in two different worlds. He had to look around quickly to realize which one he was in.
"The conscious one," he quickly determined. He had names for the two, ironic, the conscious or the one with everything in it, and the subconscious, where he talks to Amber.
But he felt different this time. He felt a stinging pain in his shoulder blades, but miraculously that was it. Any semblance of pain in his stomach, chest or of exhaustion was gone. Perhaps he regenerated it quickly?
"Can't believe he knocked the new guy out." Hide heard a faint voice in the background.
"He never even did that to us; he was extra brutal for some reason..." He heard the sound of a female, probably Saiko this time, expressing more concern.
"I'm sure he's fine, we're just trying to get him to activate his kagune, that's all. You need to be brutal."
"And why is that?"
"The best way to make somehow activate it is to scare them in a life-or-death situation, or by making them feel a strong emotion, like anger or fear."
Hide could tell, that despite his eyes slightly opened, they didn't realize he was awake.
"So I need to be scared into a life-or-death situation to activate it, huh…" Hide thought, the first thing he told himself as he got up.
"You should've gone easier on him, you know he's new, and just got out of the surgery, what if he hurts his internal self?" Hide could tell by that voice it was Tooru.
"Again, his regeneration seemed well, according to Dr. Shiba, so he'll be fine." Hide could tell that was Kaneki/Haise.
"Still, you didn't go as far as to knock us out on the first day." This male voice Hide was not known for.
"I should've gotten the ca-" The other individual did not get the chance to finish their sentence, because that was when Hide decided to get up.
Hide did a mental physical check, trying to locate any sort of pain in his body from the previous altercation. He wasn't able to find any, maybe some negligible pain in his stomach and his chest, but the biggest came from his shoulder blades. However, unlike the others it was more of a feeling, rather than actual pain.
"You're standing back up, I thought you were done by the 15th second." Haise stated, his face turning a bit of a smirk.
Hide got into a straight position, "How long was I out?" He asked, noticing that his teacher still had his kagune out, in the form of two tentacles.
"Umm, only like just under a minute? Why?" Urie answered, then asked.
But Hide never answered his question, as he couldn't believe it had only been a minute.
"Only been a minute, but it felt like an hour when I was talking to Amber, what..." Hide merely thought, before he spotted a red tentacle head his way.
His eyes widened before he jumped over it, spotting the second one on its way, trying to slick Hide again.
This time, Hide spotted the pattern, and shifted his upper body parallel, to grab the second tentacle.
"Go Hideyoshi!" Saiko screamed, noticing that he had gotten out without injury.
Then it this was when Hide used his greatest strength: his speed.
Hide began to swing alongside Haise's tentacles, which were trying to slice him off. In a matter of seconds, Hide let go, managing to aim himself directly towards Haise. It was rather lucky he let go now as Haise had gone as far as to slice the tentacle Hide was on just a moments before.
But it was too late, and Hide's figure was spiraling towards Haise, who could only put a tentacle up in front of him just barely, before he felt the impact of Hide's figure strike him to the floor,
Haise looked up to see Hide, panting heavily from the attack, on top of him, his thigh taking the blunt of the damage, which the tentacle lodged into his left thigh.
Very quickly, with Hide's grip weakening, he flung Hide with that same tentacle away from him, the orange haired boy finding himself landing on the wall again.
He got up, panting heavily as he spotted Haise slowly making his way over.
Hide's eyes widened at realization.
"This, isn't this very familiar?" Hide asked himself mentally.
The tentacles moving around like their own animal, it reminded Hide of the dust-figure back when he was stuck in Cochlea.
"If you want to be stronger, then don't abide to that stupid rule of better late than never. If you could achieve it before, you could avoid it entirely!"
The sound of Amber's voice echoed in Hide's head, and he quickly realized this would be the second time he'd be beaten by Haise.
The other bystanders, who were watching for around half an hour, noticed the scene, and thought nothing different would happen.
While most agreed Haise was acting a bit brutal compared to the rest, they also somewhat admired Hide's determination. Even after sustaining quite the number of wounds, he was able to get back up and fighting back. His tactics also managed to get him to land some blows on Haise, even if they lacked the power.
"Don't hesitate, and be willing to play dirty. Being honest will get you nowhere, trust me" Some of what Amber had told Hide was replaying in his mind, and while Hide did want to see her as a nice person, in reality she did give Hide the creeps, especially when she got close to him, with her frozen lips and fingers.
"Looks like you really are a weak pathetic individual after all." Amber's voice, seeming like an echo, played in Hide's mind, that he for some reason could hear.
"No..." He mumbled, "I'm not weak..." He told himself quietly, watching as Haise got closer to him, his tentacles inches away from striking him down.
His eyes widened, as he heard the sound of Amber, teasing him, insulting him, telling him to remain strong.
"Don't hesitate, and be willing to play dirty. Being honest will get you nowhere, trust me"
Hide knew that with how this was going, he could not fight back, especially with those tentacles spiraling around him, he had to do something, anything! He did not want to play dirty against his amnesiac best friend.
"If you really want advice, I'd recommend simply believing and trusting your instincts."
There it was! It was small, but he felt something moving in his shoulder blades. Almost like extra limbs.
"Trust your instincts..." Hide mumbled, as he began to let the feeling grow inside of him.
"No, but you're a quick learner, if you actually tried, and stop hesitating, and blaming your lanky body, then you can achieve activating it." The voice of Amber was getting slightly louder, but the echo remained, and he could have sworn that someone could hear it.
Hide let his instincts take over, his emotions. His fear and agony, as the voice of Amber taunted him, yet encouraging him, as if it was benefiting her.
"Perhaps you are worth my time after all..." Was the last sort of echo Hide heard, before he let out a bloodcurdling scream, as he felt the tingle and movement in his shoulders reach the final layer of his skin.
The final barrier.
Just as one of Haise's tentacles were about to slash Hide from his face, a surprising barrier stopped in.
"What the..." Hide mumbled, panting heavily, as he felt some strange, extra limbs sticking out from his shoulder blades. All Hide saw was something orange collide with the red tentacle.
The two kagune's clashed, making sound upon contact, as Haise looked at Hide in surprise.
Meanwhile, Hide could hear Amber speaking to him, without an echo. At first, he thought everyone else could hear him, but he was the only one. It was like Hide's subconscious was briefly intertwining with his conscious world.
"Well, you seemed to have successfully brought it out," Amber playfully commented in Hide's brain.
Despite this, and despite the gasps and mummers from the rest of the Quinx Squad, mostly about how quickly Hide's kagune had come out, Hide simply stared at Haise's whose tentacles were moving less than usual.
"Yippee! You have my kagune, what a surprise!" Amber sarcastically spoke, as Hide sighed. He kind of figured he would have hers, if she was the ghoul, or kakuhou inside of him.
Hide's kagune, of interest, was clearly in the shape of large wings. While they didn't appear as anything spectacular, a flaming orange resembling a flame being its only colour, with some bright orange particles floating around them, the sheer size of the kagune was what was impressive.
In a way, it made Hide look sort of like a phoenix, with the wings that were located on his shoulder blades. Said wings were raised up to reach just above his head, while covering his upper portion of his body, his ribcage. Unlike many other ukaku's Hide's own wing-like kagune took a stalactite form, which was indeed physical, which was even more apparent when his rc cells crystalized.
What made his kagune more threatening was the flame-like particles, coloured flaming orange that surrounded Hide's entire body, with it noticeably accumulating on his winds, pouring off the sharp edges of his wings, before dissipating around Hide's figure. Of course, Hide himself could not see nor feel the flames, as they mostly dissipated below his wings.
As if that wasn't enough, he also had some smaller orange-like armour, that strapped his wings across his shoulder and collarbone. Through all of this, contained the kakugan in his right eye. The grey sclera a hallmark of a quinx's kakugan.
Hide's kagune spanned very long, but wasn't wide. It could cover up to perhaps three Hide's to his right and left, but could probably only fit one in terms of width. But what got most of the Quinx Squad excited was the kakugun on Hide's right eye, which now took a greyish blackish and red colour.
Haise couldn't help but show a small smile, before he noticed Hide's glare.
"He was the one who attacked you, perhaps you should take the offense." Amber's voice was clear, and taunting to Hide, who was now struggling, as he had let his instincts take over.
"He's attacker being his best friend, he was also the one who had knocked you unconscious, show him what you are capable of." Amber once again iterated, and this time Hide obliged.
With another yell, Hide began to crystallize his kagune, his wings taking an even more stalactite texture, before orange and black shards began raining down towards Haise. The orange flames that surrounded Hide's kagune transforming into blame flames, which shifted the phoenix-like look Hide had to a more bat-like look. It was somewhat strange, where exactly this change came from, but it was aesthetically pleasing.
Haise merely covered himself with his tentacles while moving out the way.
"Attack with your crystallized kagune, but don't shoot anything." Amber commanded, in which Hide nodded.
He charged Haise, who seemed confused as to why a ukaku would be attempting to close the distance.
He merely raised his tentacle in the way, only to be met with the sound of clashing. Haise raised his eyebrows, noticing that his tentacle was now fighting against one of Hide's crystallized wing. His wings turned back to his phoenix-like tone, the flames rubbing across Kaneki's own kagune.
Hide then let out another scream, as the flames on his kagune began to move around more frantically. Whilst they did not seem to attack Haise, it was notable in how wild the flames seemed to have spouted out. Plus, with the little armour that was on Hide's collarbone and shoulder, it meant that there were areas that were more difficult to strike Hide.
Haise tried using his other tentacle to strike Hide out the way, only for the other crystallized wing to counteract his attack.
What now began as a one-sided sparring match, with Hide struggling, now became more balanced.
That wasn't to say Hide was even matched, Hide was clearly struggling to keep up with Haise's tentacles, but whereas Haise's was quicker, Hide made up for it in his own mobility, as well as the sheer protection his crystallized wings could cover.
It suddenly became a sort of dance, with Haise's tentacles and Hide's crystallized wings clashing over and over. The dance looked more dramatic to the observers thanks to the flames Hide was spouting across the field. Thankfully, it seemed that, for now, the flames did not catch onto anything flammable, causing anything to burn down, but it did say a lot that this could be quite the hazard.
Regardless, Hide continued his onslaught.
However roughly ten minutes of clashing between each other, Hide's attacks were slowing down. This wasn't surprising considering the ukaku's usually are poorly equipped for long battles, but still, even Haise was surprised to find that Hide's crystallized wings were actually well adapted to close quarters fighting.
And it wasn't just Haise who was surprised, but also the other bystanders. With the exception of Urie, who had left shortly before Hide showed his kagune, and Shirazu who was somehow still sleeping, the other member of the Quinx Squad was clearly shocked at what Hide was accomplishing.
What unfortunately made Hide lose his stamina quicker, was the flames. His flames, whilst having potential for offense, also seemed to be sapping Hide's own stamina away, as it was noticeably burning and costing rc cells from Hide. While it was clear that Hide was capable of regenerating his rc cell count, with his body unusually resistant to high amounts, it was clear that he was running low due to the flames burning it off.
When Hide eventually looked tired enough to not continue even in his state. This was when Haise called him out. Hide collapsed, clearly tired and exhausted, unable to get up.
"Impressive work Hideyoshi." Haise stated, which seemed to have made Hide stop immediately, his eyes widened.
"Come on coward, he's open, strike him now!" Amber's voice was attempting to tower over Hide's authority, but even her loudest was a mere normal speaking tone.
"No, he's not attacking no more, I can stand down for now." Hide told himself, as he began to calm down.
The sound of Kaneki made Hide freeze up, bringing himself back to where he was. He looked to his top right and left to see his crystallized, orange wings dissipating, as the puncture on his shoulder blades were also beginning to heal, and with that, so did the sounds of Amber. Eventually, Hide managed to catch himself.
Hide sighed in relief, as he felt the stress of his body take a hold of him. He dropped to one of his knees, trying to get up, laughing silently before facing Haise, who was simply writing something down on his notebook.
The echo of Amber was no more, and Hide simply waited for Haise to say something.
But eventually he did, "Well..." He simply started, and Hide continued to wait for a response.
When, even Haise was somewhat shocked at the performance Hide had shown him today.
"You seemed to have quickly understood how to use a quinque, for beginners, that is relatively well, and for a first timer, once you begun understanding the battlefield, you began to perform better. However, I should warn you that this won't be the case against actual ghouls."
Hide nodded, it wasn't surprising. What was surprising was the mere stoic tone Haise was using. It sounded so out of place for a character like Kaneki, Hide thought, as he looked at Haise sadly.
"Is something wrong?" Haise asked, and Hide surprised, began to babble.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine, just tired is all." Hide managed to say at last, but knew it was more serious than that. For now, his torso was hurting him, and he didn't know why. Did he push his kagune too much? He didn't know. Perhaps he lost too much rc cells, and needed to rest, he didn't know.
Haise simply nodded in understanding, "And then there's your kagune training, where I definitely have a lot to say. I understand I went a bit rough on you, but that was to hopefully help activate your kagune sooner, so perhaps you could eventually reach the levels of the rest. That seemed to have worked, better than expected, due to the fact that you were able to activate your kagune within the first day of training. Not only that, but you also managed to utilize it in surprising ways."
Hide scratched his head, "Thanks, though it took beating me up a couple of times for it to come out."
Haise managed a small chuckled, "Indeed that was the only part you did poorly in, it isn't surprising. What was surprising was the rate in which you got your kagune out, and began using it effectively. How did you activate so quickly?"
Hide then scratched his head, feeling a bit conscious if he were to reveal the subconscious world he had going on in his mind. "I don't know, honestly, if felt more like instinct? Maybe it was the rough nature of how you beat me up? I don't know."
Haise put a hand on Hide's shoulder, "Well it's fine, regardless of whether or not it was intentional or not, being able to activate it at all is an impressive feat."
Hide smiled at the compliment, "How long does it usually take?"
Haise looked at his notebook, seemingly doing some calculations in his brain, with the amount of time it took, "Probably a week or two, and a month to effectively use it. Like I said, I don't know how you managed so quickly."
With that Haise left the battlefield, probably to talk to Arima or something.
Looking down at the ground, all Hide could say was, "I don't know how either."
While he did feel oddly sad about what transpired, the other two bystanders were impressed and cheered Hide for his performance.
"Dude, you literally got beaten up, and then began to fight against Haise! That's so sick!" Saiko eagerly commented, her face being that of excitement.
"Haha, I think it was just a fluke." Hide merely stated, trying not to get overconfident.
"I would disagree, how did you activate your kagune so quickly?" Tooru asked.
Hide sighed, "I really don't know, but it was weird."
They looked onto Hide, seeing his confused expression. Tooru simply shrugged, "Well, I wouldn't worry about it, you'll get the hang of using it after a while. Today may have been a fluke if you think, but each day you can only go up."
Hide chuckled in response, before realizing how tired he was.
"Oh crap, my body hurts..." Hide mumbled, followed by the chuckles of Saiko and Tooru, who helped him up.
"I can carry myself!" Hide complained, which only made them laugh harder.
"Well, look who decided to finally wake up." The sound of Saiko's tone got Hide to stare at Shirazu, who had just woken up.
"Yeah, I had the best sleep out of all of you." He merely stated, before looking at Hide, "Woah what happened to you?" He asked.
"He sparred Haise." Tooru merely stated.
Shirazu chuckled, "Got your ass kicked by him I presume?"
"Initially yeah, but he eventually got a decent footing. He even activated his kagune." Saiko stated, with Shirazu not believing it.
"I refuse to, the newbie at his first day?"
The banter was enough for Hide, even though he was injured and tired, to laugh at the somewhat childish tone they held.
Eventually, he managed to walk on his own, to get a simple toast to eat for breakfast. He would need to clean himself up, as he was sweating. Not the best in terms of cleanliness, Hide thought, trying to replay the events that transpired when he had released his kagune.
He remembers the sound of Amber teasing but encouraging him, before ordering him around during the battle.
"So, is that what she meant by other ways?" Hide asked himself, remembering when Amber had told him there was a way for her to awake when he was conscious.
In a way, it did make sense, considering she was the ghoul in Hide, so to speak. Whenever he activated his kakuhou and kagune, it was expected she would wake up, as it originally was hers.
Suddenly, it began to make sense of the orange-haired investigator, who quickly realized he had to attend a CCG meeting.
"Oh crap! Wait for me!" Hide yelled realizing the silence within the building.
He did manage to catch up, where ironically both he and Shirazu were in the same boat, being left behind.
Once they reached the building Hide was unsure where to go, but with some assistance from Akira, he had successfully managed to find his footing in the CCG, where thankfully the whispers as he walked were less pronounced, and he wasn't getting the same stares as before.
Perhaps he wouldn't mind the CCG after all.
CCG Headquarters
"So how was he on his first day of sparring." Arima asked Haise, who had entered his room while he was examining some notes.
"Very interesting, Arima. His skill with a quinque is relatively limited, considering it was his first time holding it. I went easy on him, and he did manage to quickly adapt."
Arima nodded, it was as he expected, "And what about his kagune training?"
When Haise remained silent, Arima knew something interesting had happened. He kept his stoic expression and asked Haise again.
"Oh, well, believe it or not, he actually managed to activate it." Haise stated at last.
That surprised Arima, "Really? Already? What does it look like?"
That was a shock, Arima had been thinking, questioning how the boy had managed to already activate his kagune. It should've taken around a week or two, not a day!
"Yeah, though it took some beating of course, he managed to activate it. As for what it looked like, the best I could describe was a phoenix. He has large, yellow-orange wings, with additional flames coming off of the edges. It does seem that Hide can be able to use the flames as a form of attack, but at the moment, seems unable to. Plus, it does seem that for now, the flames do more harm than good."
Arima nodded, this was to be expected if Dr. Shiba had given him the kakuhou of one of the ghouls samples the CCG had.
"Well, did you fight him with it?" Arima asked.
Haise nodded, "Indeed, in fact it was him to went on the offensive after the kagune was activated. I was simply planning on waiting until his kagune activated, but he quickly released crystalized shards at my direction, though the shards were weirdly shaped, and were black and orange, like a jaguar."
Arima nodded, "I see, so in terms of overall fighting, he's a typical ukaku."
"I wouldn't necessarily say typical."
Haise's tone at his last statement was a weird commotion and tone, Arima had thought as he looked at Haise's face which was more surprised if anything.
"And why do you say that?" Arima asked.
"Well, ukaku ghouls usually prefer long ranged battles, but Hideyoshi's kagune wings crystallized to the point where it could be used close up. It's tough enough to handle my tentacle kagune, the sheer protection they cover alone is impressive, but so is the maneuverability of the wings. It oddly makes for a respectable, and agile close quarters fighter. Plus, the flames do seem real, and the potential for burning a ghoul's kagune is there."
Arima nodded, understanding what Haise was saying. "So, his crystallized wings can be used as sort of, swords, essentially."
Haise nodded, "Flaming swords that can also shoot out crystallized shards, presumably at short range."
"Okay, what about his endurance?" Arima asked.
Haise looked at his book, "I would say typical for an ukaku, but once I noticed him collapse, I would honestly say it's worse than even them. It seems that he is an incredibly aggressive ukaku, with a mixed capabilities of both close quarters and long ranged combat. From what I could tell judging by the anatomy of his kagune, it seems the flames seem to deplete and burn even his rc cells, which eventually causes him to collapse."
Arima looked on, clearly intrigued, "That doesn't necessarily make sense to me. Why exactly would one's kagune outright burn their rc cells? That doesn't sound like a ideal kagune in general…"
Haise sighed, "I couldn't tell you for all I know. All I can tell you is that even I struggled to contain him, with the threat of his wings, and flames catching me on fire. It seems for now, his unusually low stamina is his only downside at the moment. Though it is noticeably contributed to his flaming wings burning his own rc cells."
"I see, well through rest Hide should be able to regenerate his rc cells." Arima replied, mending the worry Haise had for Hide, who was know resting.
"Oh, okay, I'm glad, I'll keep you updated on him." Haise responded.
Arima nodded, "Very well, is there anything else you need to ask me?"
Haise remained quiet, and in a smaller, sincere tone, asked a question that surprised Arima, "I feel like I know him."
Arima looked at Haise, "Who?"
"That boy, the orange-hair one, Hideyoshi Nagachika. His name sounds familiar, and it doesn't help that the voice is telling me he knows something about me."
That was bad, Arima thought. At least it wasn't causing Haise any sort of shock, but his mentality clearly remembers him.
Arima knew of the voice inside Haise, which would occasionally mock him, or tell him things he did not know about himself, specifically in the far past, which Haise has no memories of. If the voice was telling him about knowing Hide, then this was not supposed to happen.
Arima sighed, "It's probably your voice just taunting you as you had stated before. Though I would like to speak to Hideyoshi Nagachika, in terms of his training. I would like to understand how he learned how to activate his kagune almost immediately."
Haise nodded, "Understood, do you want me to bring him in now?"
Arima shook his head, "Whenever he is free to talk, I would not want to distract him from his job. The guy is hardworking once he gets his head to it."
"Understood, I'll call him in sometime today." Haise stated, before he left.
Arima sighed, watching the white-haired investigator leave. This was an issue, he had quickly thought, as the sooner Haise knew of Hide's past, the worse his plans would be.
He needed Haise to be trained to perfect what he had aimed for, alongside the Owl.
He did not need some random individual unintentionally interrupting his plans. As a result, he would have to talk to Hide, specifically to not mention anything they had done in the past, and to deny any form of previous interaction.
It wasn't the best idea, considering Hide was a member of the Quinx Squad now, and so could not get rid of him for that reason, he had earned it by fulfilling his part of the deal. Regardless, Arima knew he had to confront Hide about it.
Despite the energetic adult's way of going about things, he was serious when privacy and his friends came up. So much so, that he would understand what Arima would tell him.
After all, it was his best friend, so he did deserve to know what was going on.
With a sigh, Arima spoke in his intercom, "This is Kishou Arima, please send Hideyoshi Nagachika to my room. That is Hideyoshi Nagachika."
With a simple stare, Arima stared into the eyes of Hideyoshi Nagachika when he entered.
A.N / Another chapter done. Chapter eight will probably be a time skip, as there's nothing else I really wanted to do regarding the in between. Perhaps I'll do a brief scene with Hide freeing Amon and Takizawa and where he gets a mask from Uta's place, but we'll only see what happens as the story progresses. FYI, yes Hide will dress up as scarecrow, I think it fits him and being in the CCG will give him some privacy as the CCG won't know it's Hide and claim him to be a danger.
How do you like Hide's kagune? The idea of a phoenix with the scarecrow costume has always intrigued me, and the idea with the flames, occasionally turning to black, it does make for some unique attacks that Hide can use. He is meant to have a unique kagune obvious, with the close quarters combat and the flaming wings, plus with the idea of depleting his rc cells through burning, everything will be explained with time, just wait.
Also, I did delete like half the story at the moment, and this is because I am looking over the stories and summary, adding more detail to make, for example, Hide's kagune more interesting, and adding more depth to it. Thank you for understanding!