Akira reports for duty
Akira sent the prisoners on a hastily organized transport bus as dictated by protocol, then raced to Cochlea in her own car. Along the way, she stopped at a convenience store to grab diapers, baby food, some snacks for Yoriko, anything she thought would be needed for the next few days. She arrived just moments after the bus.
She was worried, for a brief moment, about getting into Cochlea without her ID on her. The security guard at the gate recognized her, though, and waved her car through with a smile. Holy crap, our security has some holes you could drive a tank through.
After getting Yoriko settled in a cell, personally threatening the guards if they did anything to her, and making sure she was good for least a week, Akira set out to lay some desperate last-minute plans of her own.
First, there was an idea she'd toyed with before the situation with Ichika, but now seemed urgent.
She wanted to size up the biggest confounding factor in her plans: The one-eyed-ghoul author Sen Takatsuki. She had no idea what the author was planning, but everything about her press conference, arrest, and book release was rehearsed. She could have run away, and instead she walked right into the welcoming arms of the CCG.
Ipso facto, she wanted to be in Cochlea.
Akira wanted to feel out what the one-eyed ghoul was up to before they reached the point of no return.
She took a deep breath and entered the interrogation room.
On the other side of the glass, calmly inspecting her nails, was the diminutive leader of Aogiri, and her mother's murderer.
Too bad there was no time to hash out old grudges.
"I'm told you wanted to speak to me, Investigator Mado. About your mother, I presume? She was tasty and I don't regret anything one bit." The ghoul sounded incredibly bored, as if she'd been repeating the same script all day. I wonder how many investigators have been through here already to try and rake her over the coals for some murder or other. At least I'll disappear in a sea of survivors who have a bone to pick with her. My presence here won't be remarkable.
"No, in fact."
That was enough of a surprise to the ghoul that she glanced up to look over Akira. "Really? Color me shocked."
"Eto Yoshimura, also known as Sen Takatsuki and the One-Eyed Owl. A natural one-eyed ghoul, the half-ghoul daughter of Anteiku's proprietor, the other Owl. Writer of densely plotted books. The mastermind behind the simultaneous battle at Aogiri's 11th ward headquarters and the Cochlea raid. You've backed Dr. Kano's experiments for years now. Cold, calculating, brilliant, unpredictable, and dangerous. And in our custody of your own free will."
The ghoul leaned back in her chair, a smug look on her face. "You seem to have done your homework about me. How flattering. If this isn't about your mommy, why exactly are you here, Investigator Mado?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." Akira narrowed her eyes. "I'm not the one being interrogated here. Why did you turn yourself over to us?"
Eto settled into her chair with a sly smirk. "Because I set things into motion a long time ago. My part is coming to an end. I'm tired. I don't care what happens to me anymore. I know I was only ever fit to be the villain. I think I was a good enough villain to be a great catalyst, though. Now let me sit back and watch the big show."
"Whatever game you're playing, it's not with pieces on a board. It's with people's lives."
The author shrugged. "So? What's your point?"
"I'll tell you my point." Akira took a deep breath. "You're a good writer. You have a keen eye for detail, and you're good at reading people. You understand what they're saying, and what they're not saying. They're the same qualities that made you a force to be reckoned with as the leader of Aogiri Tree. But you're broken. You're missing something—some basic human warmth. Maybe it's empathy, maybe it's hope, but there's a whole dimension of life that doesn't exist for you, and doesn't factor into your plans. It's in those blind spots that you'll be outclassed and whatever you're planning will fail."
Eto grinned and laughed. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong! I'm perfectly aware of my blind spots. That's why I'm abdicating my throne and leaving it to someone who doesn't have the same flaws as me. I was only ever keeping the chair warm, after all."
Again, Akira had the sense that Eto was showing her hand without showing her hand, and Akira just wasn't astute enough to understand. Unlike Eto, she wasn't prodigious at understanding what people weren't saying. "Cut the shit. There's a chance we're not on such different sides. What are you up to, really?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," the ghoul parroted back. Eto sat back and gave Akira a long, appraising look. "You're right. I see what you're saying, and what you're not saying. I must admit it's fascinating to come across lesser schemers stumbling around in my shadow. You intrigue me. I never would have expected you to deviate from your path…usually only my own characters surprise me like that. But it doesn't change anything. The show will go on."
It took effort, but Akira managed to keep her face impassive. She was losing patience, fast, and it was clear Eto was entertaining herself more than anything.
She stood to leave, but couldn't resist asking one last question about something that had bothered her for ages. "You never set off any RC scan gates. From preliminary tests, your RC cell count is plenty high, so don't lie and say it's because you're half-human."
"Oh really? How interesting."
"Kaneki never set them off. I assume that means Rize wouldn't have, either."
Now that name made Eto sit up and cock her head to the side. She gave a Cheshire cat grin, teeth gleaming in the low light. "Oh, Mado, you naughty girl! Now you have my attention. Maybe I did underestimate you. Hmm…I suppose I can throw you a bone. Us working women should support each other, shouldn't we?"
"If you say so. How much longer are you going to waste my time?"
"Only long enough to say this: were you aware that you could program the RC gates to ignore individuals?"
"Of course."
"Were you aware that you could program the RC gates to ignore entire families? And, my goodness, are they bad at cleaning out their legacy exemptions. Maybe after so many generations of the technology with those secret exemptions hidden in the code, they can't change it."
That sent Akira's thoughts swirling at top speed. I know from Yomo that Eto's father was affiliated with V, probably around the time the original technology was first being developed. And it seems Rize…whatever family she's from must fall under an exemption. It explains why Haise doesn't set off the gates, but his daughter does. Ichika gets her ghoul half from Touka, not Haise.
Haise and thus Rize were exempted, along with Eto and…any ghouls that might be coming from V or the Sunlit Garden? Is that what she's saying?
I almost don't like that answer…The Sunlit Garden or V…it's just not parsimonious. How are the two connected, then?
That was all she needed, and all she was likely to get. She tossed a careless "Thanks" over her shoulder as she stood up and quickly hurried on to her next meeting.
The ghoul shouted out with laughter in her voice, "Good luck!"
Touka was still AWOL, not that Akira exactly blamed her, but it added an extra layer of difficulty. Now she was even more blind about who would be where and how to keep everyone alive.
She knew that Haise would be stationed at Cochlea. Considering the fact that it seemed like Haise had regained some or all of his memories, almost definitely knew Touka was a ghoul, and had been shielding her from the CCG rather than turning her in, Akira strongly suspected that he would be acting not as an investigator but as a ghoul sympathizer.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that Touka would find her way to the prison as well. She would most likely be trying to infiltrate alongside Yomo, if she could. Though, if all had gone according to plan, Yomo had already snuck inside the walls of Cochlea at the last shift change and was hiding in a blind spot until the next shift change, right after the main forces had departed for Rushima. There was no way to get ahold of either of them.
It also didn't take a genius to figure out that at least one of them was sure to stop by and see a certain young ghoul who was scheduled for disposal soon.
She steeled herself against the knowledge that fellow CCG investigators would surely die as a result of not only the plans of others she wasn't stopping, but also the ones she was setting in motion.
People were always going to die in the coming days. If I have to weigh some guards at Cochlea against Yoriko and Ichika's lives…well, I suppose I have to side with the innocent.
She entered next interrogation room, finally face-to-face with Hinami Fueguchi.
The ghoul looked so sad, and so young. Akira hadn't expected her to look so young. Her stomach did a somersault.
The author had wasted more of her day than she wanted. There wasn't any time to have a long chat with the girl, to build a rapport and seek resolution for the way they'd both ended up as orphans. She had to do this fast, because the deadline to report for duty was looming over her.
"Listen carefully, Fueguchi. There was a mix-up. She's here."
The young ghoul stared at her, confused.
Akira sighed. "I know a lot more than I should, but you can trust me. Let's say…a little bird told me. And the bird's name was Hetare."
The sudden fear in her eyes was heart wrenching. "How do you know that name?"
The investigator just powered through. "I've been assured, repeatedly, that you're one of the good ones despite your affiliation with Aogiri Tree. I'm betting a lot on that."
She checked to see that Hinami was listening.
Akira spoke in a low, measured voice. "There was a mix-up. Her name is Ichika. She's here, along with the human who was babysitting her. I managed to get them both placed in the same holding cell, and the human should be taking good care of her. Your…older sister knows that she's here, but not which room. Your older brother might not even know she's here, so he'll need to be caught up. I don't know who you'll see first."
The young ghoul gaped at her, brow furrowed. "What? What are you…"
"Hey. I only have a couple of minutes. For now just remember my words. You can figure out what I mean later. Repeat after me: 1207."
"Is…that a time or a date?"
"Neither. Repeat it. 1207."
"1207."
"Good. Do not forget that number. Say it back again."
"1207?" The bewildered ghoul was doing her best to keep up.
"Keep repeating that. If we're lucky, I'll see you on the other side."
Akira opened her mouth to say something else, but there were so many emotions roiling in her stomach that the words wouldn't come. She didn't even know what she was trying to express, anyways.
She stood and rushed out of the room without even a goodbye.
As soon as she left the prison and its blanket of cell phone and radio signal jammers, she shot off a message to Nagachika about her hot tip on the RC scan gates. Him and Marude were in the best position to use that info. He'd have to do the work of verifying it, though, as she had other things on her plate.
After a rushed drive back to the main office, she got a response from Hide. That was a great tip, about the gate software. Brace yourself. I might have finally convinced Marude to do something crazy.
Before she left her car, Akira took a few deep breaths to focus.
Then she got out and joined all the other investigators who were arriving for the operation and streaming into the building. She headed to the locker rooms without speaking to anyone—not unusual for her at all—and suited up for combat.
Even after a few hours, the rumors about what had happened at the front doors were already swirling. Of course, the harmless infant had turned into a little gremlin who had stormed the gates on its own, out for blood. And then they all complain about having to document everything, claiming they can remember the truth just fine.
Akira was okay with that misinformation. The less accurate it was, the less dangerous it was.
After a long moment of deliberation, she gave her personal phone a factory reset, then ejected the SIM card and discreetly snapped it in half. Before she exited the building, she flushed the pieces down a toilet. There would be no use for it on the island, where there would be no reception, and it could only be used against her from here on out. They would find nothing but a blank phone in her locker, and a testament on file that read only, "I'm sorry."
The case full of RC suppressant syringes went in a zipped cargo pocket at her hip.
On the long bus ride to the launch point, she tried to center herself. It was easy to live in her head, planning out the future. All that was left now was letting everything unfold. That was the hard part.
There was a heavy silence in the air at the docks. They loaded up on their assigned boats for the amphibious assault, settling into the seating on the deck.
As her boat idled out of port, she watched the pier at the end of the shipyard. There was a small crowd gathered there. She spotted Director Washu with Marude standing off to his side, frowning deeply. The crass older investigator nodded once at her when he noticed her watching.
Haise's partner, Furata, walked up the pier to approach the Director and exchanged a few rushed words. Then the hotshot turned around, scanning the boats.
As her boat turned towards open water and kicked up the throttle, he caught Akira's eye. He smiled brightly and winked at her.
There. That was it.
So the canary trap finally sprang—not on Touka and Ichika, but on me.
I forgot—Itori didn't just get information on Touka that night, she also got plenty of information on me.
She'd still been trying to tell herself that she was just a bystander back then, not someone worth trading information over. Foolish of her, to believe her own wishful thinking.
Oh. Oh. This is what that ghoul with the tattoos was warning me about, why he didn't go to Touka or anyone else…and it went right over my head because I don't speak that language of subtleties. Fucking spy games.
She had quite a lot of practice at keeping her face calm, so he didn't get to see the reaction he may have wanted. Even so, her stomach sank. The roar of the boat cutting through the water became deafening.
It is Furuta. If he's with the Clowns, he must know all about me from Itori. Damn. He's probably hoping to rattle me enough that I get distracted and die on Rushima.
Then, with grudging respect, Damn. He picked a good time to reveal himself.
She pulled out her work phone, nearly started dialing, but stopped herself. She stared at it. It was technically CCG property. They could access the records without breaking a sweat. She'd never used it to contact any of the ghouls in any way. If she finally did so now, when Furuta clearly knew which phone to track, she could ruin everything.
Don't make rash, emotional decisions, she reminded herself.
She racked her brain for any other way to safely get word back to the mainland, back to Hide or Yomo or anyone, but there was none. There were only CCG radios and phones around. Everyone else should have left their personal cell phones back in their lockers, and she certainly didn't have hers. Even if someone still had their phone on them, they were nearly out on open water where there was no reception.
So, in agony, she stared at the screen as the reception bars disappeared one by one.
As she had been telling herself earlier, this was the part where she had to let go and hope that everyone else could take care of themselves. She'd have to trust them to roll with the punches.
What they'd set into motion could no longer be stopped.
She was on a path with one destination, now.
Rushima was waiting.
uh-oh
So, who had "Run it back from Haise's POV" on their bingo card?
Next week: Black Reaper