Touka thought that all the fear and rage she was feeling would burn her up. The two were fueling each other. That had been her default most of her life, when things got bad. But she knew she couldn't let either one take over. Too much depended on her, and she couldn't respond like a sacred child anymore.
She tapped one foot compulsively.
She looked around. She was in the treeline that kept Cochlea secluded from the city, studying the wall for the best place to get in. Plenty of supply buildings offered the chance to sneak close, but the wall around the facility itself was so exposed.
"Calm down, you idiot," she muttered to herself. "Figure it out. What would Akira do?"
Though, the subject of Akira set her teeth on edge. Ichika was in Cochlea, and it was Akira's fault. Had it all been an elaborate undercover operation? Could Akira have really spent all that time with them and still thought they were just bloodthirsty monsters in the end? Her past involvement with investigators said yes, but her treacherous hopeful heart said no.
Every instinct was screaming to charge in and kill everyone standing between her and Ichika, but she knew she had to be smarter than that. Because of Akira, she'd also seen how investigators worked up close—they were organized, they coordinated well with each other, and if she just stormed in on her own she'd be mowed down.
When she'd first gotten the phone call at the café, her first act was to go in the back and grab a healthy serving of human flank steak from the fridge. As she thought, she paced back and forth through the closed café while angrily eating it. No bright ideas popped into her head—she needed to see the problem in front of her to figure it out.
So to Cochlea she went.
Anyone else she could have reached out to was already engaged in their part of the plan at Rushima, except for Koma, who needed to stay with the getaway cars at their planned exit and Yomo, who would be attempting a hopefully invisible infiltration of Cochlea.
Except…he was already hiding in the blind spot on the roof that Akira had picked for him, waiting for the shift change so he could sneak in a service door. She wouldn't be able to get to him, tell him how everything had gone wrong in the last day.
The CCG jammed cell phone signals on the prison's grounds, and scrambled all radio channels except the ones they used. There would be no way to contact him.
She recalled Akira talking Yomo through the infiltration plan while she restocked the café a few days ago.
"I think you have a shot at avoiding detection up until the cell is opened, then it might be a mad dash out," their inside woman had said. "You'll have to get into the control room. There's a computer terminal there where you can search for what holding cell they've got Hinami in."
"I assume it's manned."
Akira nodded. "If you really, really have to, you can kill the warden. At my last promotion ceremony, he said I was only there because of nepotism and my pretty face. But…try to minimize violence."
Yomo nodded gravely.
Touka thought she should warn Akira not to joke about murder to ghouls—it was clear to her that the investigator wasn't serious about killing the warden, but Yomo wouldn't catch that.
Akira returned to the rough diagram of the building she'd made, lying on the table. "Anyways. This part is important. You have to wear a gas mask going in on account of the high-efficiency ventilation system circulating RC suppressant gas. The system has a weakness, though. It's a prime target for a chemical gas attack, so they built in an emergency air flush. The roof opens and the system is cleared out within thirty seconds, leaving only clean air. If you have to, you can swipe the card in the control room and hit the big red emergency button that says 'Maximum Ventilation'. Be prepared for sirens and attention, though. Activate it at the right time, and you could cause enough confusion and panic to escape. Too early, though, and the whole prison will be on alert for you."
It probably would have been smarter to think of that before she raced off for the prison. Back in the trees overlooking Cochlea, Touka whispered to herself, "Gas mask. Where do I get a gas mask?"
Then as if divine providence was shining on her for once, she heard distant talking. She looked around. Ran towards the sound. There—over on another outcropping in the trees—were the Gas Masks and Banjo? And—was that—Ayato?!
She couldn't believe her eyes for a second. Seizing the opportunity that had been offered to her, she raced behind the group. They were all so focused on Ayato, who was looking at a watch and discussing the time with Banjo—they seemed nearly finished with some predetermined countdown.
It was easy to pick out one who was hanging in the back and stalk up behind him.
When the group took off, following Ayato to…storm Cochlea? She grabbed the back of her target's shirt and threw him to the ground. The noise of his surprised grunt never made it the rest of the Gas Masks.
"Sorry, I just need your mask. You'll be safe to go in when the roof is opened."
"Uh, what? Who are you?"
"Don't worry. I'm with Ayato. Just forgot my mask." Yanking it off his head, she threw it on her own and tightened the straps. "Thanks."
He sat up, confused, and watched as his attacker disappeared after the rest of the ghouls, racing to catch up.
She followed the group to the nearest outbuilding's roof to catch the end of their final briefing, still staying in the back.
Ayato held up a key card—where the hell did he get that?—and explained their plan of attack.
While he was still talking, she discreetly rolled her shoulders and cracked her back, feeling every individual muscle contract and relax. Trying to feel strong and dangerous instead of terrified and enraged. Trying to feel her kagune, waiting under her skin, ready to wreak havoc.
It's going to be okay, Touka reassured herself. Stay calm. I'm getting in, I can get to Ayato's key card and get to Ichika, and Yomo's probably sneaking in now if he hasn't already.
She thought that Akira's careful, minimally invasive plan for Yomo was going to be shot to hell as soon as Ayato barged in with all these goons, but she'd figure that out when it became a problem.
They scaled the outer wall, crossed the compound, and made it to the roof of Cochlea. No guards were around to sound the alarm. Most of the CCG was headed to Rushima, after all. The prison was running a skeleton crew.
She was debating whether he'd cooperate if she interrupted him before they went in and just asked for the card—then again, it was hard to know where exactly she stood with Ayato—or if she'd have to catch him off-guard and snatch it when—
Alarms and flashing lights exploded all throughout the compound.
Everyone crouched, looking around frantically and trying to figure out what was happening.
Did that mean Yomo made it in? Or had they been spotted?
Ayato seized the moment and swiped his card through the exterior reader. "Let's go!"
He threw himself into the abyss and the Gas Masks followed.
Touka charged in with them.
She landed on one of the upper catwalks. The place was already exploding into chaos. As she dodged the attacks coming from all directions, she kept her place at the back of the Gas Mask group.
Where did Akira say the control rooms were? There should be a main one for the whole prison, and smaller ones on each floor. She looked around as she shoved a couple of guards over the railing to their deaths—no time now to be precious about killing. And, honestly, she wanted to extract a little revenge.
On the level below, she glimpsed a few of the guards trying to contain a group of prisoners that had escaped their cells, the skirmish spilling across a gangway and spreading.
Glancing around to keep track of the rest of the Gas Masks—safety in numbers—she watched her brother hop the railing and dive again through the central aperture of the building.
Movement in her periphery caught her eye—Arima, below them, pointing a weapon at him.
The thought occurred to her that she couldn't just let him die in front of her. He was her little brother—even in the times when she hated him, she still loved him. Besides, he still had the only key card whose location she knew. Where was Yomo?
Touka launched herself across the central atrium at Ayato, grabbing his collar and yanking him along through the air behind her, throwing them both out of the path of attack.
They somersaulted to the ground safely and sprang to their feet.
Ayato seemed confused about why whoever she'd stolen the mask from would help him.
She shook her head at him. They had bigger concerns.
Staring face-to-face with Arima was chilling. So recently, he'd smiled at her daughter. There was no trace of that man before her now.
Standing before her was the White Reaper.
This was the man who'd killed her mother. This was how her mother died.
The same thought probably went through her brother's head, the difference being Ayato didn't hesitate. He launched himself at Arima with all he had, a flurry of hits coming at top speed from all directions. Arima easily deflected every attack with one hand, and pressed forward. Pushed them back. Cornered them.
Touka was about to make the hard choice of running while Arima was distracted and trying to track down Yomo or somehow getting close enough to Ayato to grab the card and then leaving him behind—
It was then that Yomo finally blazed in from above and blocked a hit before it could cut down Ayato.
"Fall back," Yomo ordered them. The three of them leapt lower to regroup. Humans would be stuck taking the stairs.
"You can take off your masks already," huffed Ayato. "I know who you are."
Yomo and Touka looked at each other, then removed their masks.
"You weren't supposed to be here," Yomo said to her in a low voice.
Touka struggled to remain calm. "The plan changed. We need to—"
"Neither you should be here," Ayato cut in. "Get out, I can do this on my own."
"You think we don't want to help save Hinami?" She paused for a second, thought about how to explain to Yomo why she was here, but…if the White Reaper was on his way down the stairs…
Was there even time to go over everything?
The arrival of Squad Zero pouring down the stairs made her decision for her. The ghouls' bigger priority, by far, was launching an onslaught against the squad.
Touka did feel a little bad for maybe killing some investigators that Akira was close to. But not too bad.
She screamed as she fired, burning off all the rage boiling her blood and pouring it into her attack.
The trio retreated as they laid into their attackers with a blanket fire of RC crystals. Between the three of them, they caused enough rapid-fire carnage to take down the front line before they'd even crossed the floor.
The remaining stragglers fell back quickly…Touka wanted to be glad, but she knew they'd only retreat if reinforcements were on the way.
Ayato tried to swipe his card at the door leading into a restricted hallway, only for it to beep in rejection. "It's already been deactivated!"
Touka ran up. "Where did you get that?"
"That damn half-ass!"
"What?!" Before she could get any more details, Yomo yelled from behind them, "Move!"
They all jumped out of the way in time to avoid a scorching blast from Arima's quinque.
Yomo turned on Arima, tense, ready to attack…
They both sprang into action in the blink of an eye—Arima fired another blast, Yomo ran up the wall behind him and launched back towards Arima—Arima cut at him, sent him stumbling back.
Ayato was watching with laser focus, waiting for his opening to step in. Touka tried to grab her brother's attention. "Don't get yourself killed, Ayato! I need help, I'm not just here for Hinami—"
He glared at her and, the next time Arima swung on Yomo, he tried to jump in. He was easily tossed back with a couple of new slashes.
She growled, watching her reckless dumb little brother let his ego get in the way.
It was as if Arima had instantly sized up the boy as the lesser threat, brushed him aside for later, and refocused on Yomo with killing intent.
She felt impotent—hanging back because she knew she couldn't afford to get injured, but also cornered with nothing better to do than watch.
Touka's blood ran ice cold as she watched Yomo get slashed across the throat—the only thing that stopped it from being a mortal blow was his speed at dodging.
Just as it looked like Yomo was about to be stuck down, he arrived. Dropping from above into the path of the attack, he deflected the blows with his kagune.
It felt like the air temperature dropped twenty degrees. Arima froze in the closest to stunned silence he could probably feel. Just for a split second, though. Then he attacked.
Arima pressed forward with his quinque and Kaneki parried it. It almost looked like Arima was feeling him out, seeing how serious he was.
"Ayato," he called over his shoulder, without taking his attention off of the White Reaper. "The drainage port—get them out now."
A chill ran through Touka. She looked at her husband, who she knew cared for Arima, and Arima, who had appeared to care for Haise in some capacity…and she knew it wasn't going to end well.
He glanced back at her. Her heart sank. She'd seen that empty expression before. Like a dead man walking.
But—she also caught the slight glitter of a chain around his neck, catching the light. He was still wearing that ring she'd given him. She'd noticed that the night Ichika was born, too, and she'd known that whatever he said or did in that moment, the Kaneki she knew—that kind kid who was willing to put his life on the line for the people he loved even though he was scared to death—was still there.
"Kaneki—" She struggled for something to say. Something to make him hold on. Tell him that Ichika was here, that she wasn't safe? That they both needed him now more than ever?
No…if he'd decided to cover their retreat, that would just mess with his mind. It might make him angry, and scared, and sloppy, which would make him dead.
"Kaneki, we'll see you later."
She turned and ran after Ayato and Yomo as they sprinted down a hallway offshoot of the main atrium. She still needed to get a key card.
But they turned the corner of the hallway and there was Hinami, sitting on the ground.
The girl jumped up, looking nervous and hopeful. She exchanged an awkward greeting with Ayato, then turned to Touka.
The older ghoul couldn't help herself—she reached out and embraced her, squeezing as hard as she could. One down, one to go. Then she stepped back and looked at the girl who caused all this trouble.
Hinami teared up and smiled for a moment. "Sorry for all this, Touka." Then, with a look of horror on her face, she yelled, "Wait! 1207!"
Touka blinked. "What?"
"She said not to forget…1207! Kaneki ran off and told me to wait here before I could tell him!"
"Was…the person who told you this some blonde bitch?"
Hinami nodded. "She said Ichika is here, and to remember 1207?"
Yomo looked at Touka sharply. "How is Ichika here?"
"I'll explain later. That's gotta be the room number."
Ayato interjected, "Who is Ichika?"
Touka and Yomo turned and snapped, "Later!"
Hinami piped up. "She's someone else you're supposed to save?"
"Something like that," Touka muttered. "You guys can go. I have to find her, you don't."
"I'm not leaving you behind, idiot," grumbled Ayato.
She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Then let's get to 1207."
Hinami helped them backtrack through the cramped corridors to the hallway of prisoner cells. They raced through a hallway door that had been blown off its hinges.
"Kaneki did that," Hinami panted out. "I was brought up to talk to that blonde lady. They put me in a temporary holding cell after, and they were going to move me back to the SS cells tomorrow. That room number must be a temporary cell around here, too."
"Good job paying attention," Touka said, watching as the cell numbers ticked up from the 1190s to 1200.
Suddenly, something in the building vibrated. Moments later, a crash echoed through the halls. For a moment, their pace slowed down as they tried to figure out how close the noise was.
"Keep going. Not our problem," Yomo said.
They skidded to a halt in front of room 1207. Solid, blank steel door, no windows, keypad on the wall next to it. So unremarkable none of them would have looked twice at it. Hell, Kaneki and Hinami must have run right past it.
"The card that bastard gave me has already been burned," said Ayato. He dug another one out of his pocket and held it out. "But I have a second."
Yomo pulled out his own card and held it out as well.
Looking down at an identical pair of Akira's IDs being presented to her, Touka whispered to herself, "What the fuck?"
She grabbed the one closest to her. When the time came to swipe Akira's card for the first time…the red light on the keypad flashed.
"Shouldn't it turn green?" Touka swiped it a second time, then a third. She grabbed the second card. Another red light. "It isn't working!"
Yomo grabbed her wrist to stop her from swiping again. "So move on to the next option."
He didn't say what they were both thinking: That Akira may have really betrayed them.
She swallowed hard, nodded, and turned around to size up the hallway and figure out the next option.
Her kagune would be too lightweight to cause any serious damage to the solid steel door, at least not in the short time they had…same for Yomo and Ayato.
But…
"Hinami. Do you think you could give this door a few solid whacks?" She thought for a second. "No, not the door, the wall next to it. The door is solid quinque steel, but there's no way the whole building is."
The girl nodded resolutely. Everyone else stepped back as she manifested her kagune—she was so much stronger than when she'd left Touka, even after months in prison. She lashed at the wall, slowly denting the thin panel of quinque steel. Soon it was so deformed that it popped off to reveal layers of concrete and rebar.
Her next strike went through several inches of concrete.
Finally, after a few dozen powerful blows, Hinami was so out of breath she had to stop. Touka put a hand on her shoulder and guided her out of the way.
"Let's find out if the blonde bitch betrayed us or not." Touka gave a solid kick to the wreckage of the wall panel.
It slowly tipped into the cell with a crash.
There, in the small cell, was Yoriko hiding behind the bed and peeking over the frame. She sprang up, revealing that she had a sobbing Ichika bundled up in her arms.
"Touka?"
The ghoul's shoulders dropped in relief. She rushed forward and threw her arms around her best friend and daughter.
"Ah!" said Ichika. Now that her mother had appeared, her crying calmed down.
Yoriko stepped back. "You're here! But—What is going on?!"
Touka quickly wiped the tears off the baby's face, but didn't try to take her from Yoriko.
Ayato's panicked voice called from behind. "Is that a baby and a human?!"
"Later!" The ghoul grabbed the human's free hand and dragged her out of the room. "Prison break. I'll explain when we're out. Can you keep carrying Ichika?"
"Sure, but don't you—"
"I might need my hands free to fight," Touka said darkly.
Like rats abandoning a sinking ship, the growing crowd of loose prisoners wanted to get out the same way they got in—up. That was a mistake. Touka could almost feel the doves regrouping on the levels above them, pushing back to keep the ghouls contained.
Touka and Yomo led the way, since they were on the same page about their escape plans. Hinami and Ayato kept to the rear, leaving Yoriko and Ichika safely in the middle.
But as they went, they did attract notice—they were going against the current, and traveling with a human. A few smarter prisoners must have realized that retracing their steps through the topside entrance spelled doom and cautiously joined them in heading down.
One escapee shoved his way past their party at a sprint and skidded to a halt ahead of them. Turning around, he looked over all their faces. Took a hesitant step towards them. "I'm starving for a real meal…"
Touka's left eye twitched. She'd been fighting back the fire of her fury for hours and hours, knowing that she couldn't afford to lose control. Here, though, she could indulge herself just a bit.
He tried to bargain. "Hey, if we share the human, we've all got a better chance of getting out of here alive. Maybe save the baby as a snack for the road?"
She felt Yomo moving at her side to block the ghoul's path to Yoriko and Ichika. Touka held out her arm to hold him back, and stared down their opponent. He was wiry and pallid, with the look of a desperate animal in his eyes.
"No. Move along."
"Just gimme a bite and I'll go," he growled as he unfurled his kagune.
Like a bullet from a gun, she darted at him. He attempted to bludgeon her with his kagune—slower than Nishiki's on his worst day. She jumped over it and in the same motion, flared out her own kagune to launch a few well-aimed projectiles at him.
Her opposition was rusty from so long imprisoned, or perhaps he was never much of a threat in combat, but the RC crystals slammed into him. His kagune attack proved useless in that moment—it was still overextended, trying to attack a distant enemy that was already nearly on top of him.
Touka hit the ground and took two more strides at full speed, then jumped again. With a quick twist in the air she landed, feet balanced on his shoulders and hands grasping his jaw. Digging her nails in, with a scream and a great heave, she pulled hard and twisted until she felt the meaty crack of his spinal cord separating from his skull.
It was over before the thug understood what was happening.
His body jerked and then went slack under her and his kagune writhed in death tremors. Touka landed easily on her feet next to him. For good measure, she grabbed one of her own crystals still lodged in his shoulder and jammed it under his chin with enough force that the pointed tip emerged from the top of his skull.
She straightened up, panting, and wiped her bloody hands on her pants, looking back at their little group.
Ayato sent her a begrudging nod of approval.
Looking over at Yoriko, she breathed a sigh of relief. The human was turned against the wall behind Yomo and Hinami, curled around Ichika and trying to make the both of them seem as small as possible. At least she hadn't seen that display.
"Feel better," Yomo said.
"A bit," she answered.
Across the room, she caught sight of a couple more escapees who'd been keeping an eye on the action. She raised her chin in defiance, daring them to try her.
They looked away and continued racing downwards.
Touka looked back at her own small group. "Keep moving," she said.
They quickly made it to the disposal press leading into the drainage port. The few that had made it down there, including Banjo and a large number of Gas Masks, were standing around at a loss as to how they would get through the massive industrial machinery.
But here, Ayato seemed to know exactly where to find the emergency shutdown in the nearby control room, and how to operate it. Touka felt a moment of pride, watching him calmly handle the situation without any hesitation. He'd grown up some, too.
The disposal press shuddered to a halt, and down they went.
Touka went first, leading Yoriko and Ichika. Yomo helped the human maneuver down through the drainage port as needed. Everyone else quickly followed them down.
When Yomo helped Yoriko descend a level with Touka there to catch her and keep her balanced, she could feel how violently her best friend was shaking. But, to her credit, she didn't freeze up and she didn't drop Ichika.
There was a moment of abject terror part of the way down when the hydraulics started to buzz and shudder as the press rebooted. The bit of machinery they stood on jolted, making everyone crouch down to maintain their balance. Touka gasped but managed to grab the back of Yoriko's shirt before she could slip to the side.
"I've got you," she gritted out. Yoriko just whimpered in response.
A couple of the top presses started pistoning, and they lost a couple of stragglers, then the next level down.
Shit shit shit. Touka glanced down at the drop. Far enough to hurt a ghoul, definitely fatal for anything less tough, but if it was the only chance they had…
But then a deafening roar and a crash completely derailed her thoughts. For an instant, she thought the noise and destruction heralded all of their deaths, but when she wrestled the mindless fear back under control she saw…they were all alive. She was straddling one of the pistons, still clutching at Yoriko with an iron grip, and Yoriko was still curled around Ichika.
Ayato, Hinami, Banjo and Yomo were still standing around them, too.
Looking around, they saw that what looked like massive, detached tendrils of a kagune had ripped the machinery to shreds, constricting and crushing the presses. Banjo and Ayato exchanged quick words about what Eto had just done, but there was no time to waste.
So Touka pushed past the pounding heartbeat in her ears, past the burning muscles that were beginning to scream out for a rest, and yelled, "Go!"
They all quickly returned to climbing down.
By the time they made it to the drainage tunnels, a spark of hope ignited—they might have made it out.
It was immediately extinguished when they entered the main tunnel to spot the team of CCG agents blocking their way.
They were led by a pair of investigators—older than the overeager cannon fodder they'd been tearing through, but just as confident. That was the first sign they were in trouble. Field investigators didn't get to that age by being incompetent.
Ayato and Hinami managed to hold off the first round of attacks, but were quickly too incapacitated to continue fighting. And yet the hits kept coming. The investigators were keeping them on the defensive, not letting up for a second.
Touka jumped in and released her kagune, hoping she was strong enough to hold off the next attack. She wasn't holding anything back, now.
It bought enough time for Banjo to run up and try to help Ayato.
She struggled to her feet and glanced up at Yoriko. Her friend's face was pale, eyes wide in fear. At her or the situation, it was impossible to tell. It didn't matter as long as she was still carrying Ichika.
Touka motioned for her to get farther back, out of the line of fire. "If it gets bad, run, and if it gets really bad, surrender. Understand?"
Yoriko was frozen.
Louder, she yelled, "Understand?"
The poor human snapped out of it and gave a jerky nod. She clutched Ichika tighter and backed away from the action.
Meanwhile, Yomo was launching a counterattack to buy her time but took a heavy hit to the gut.
Touka moved to the front of their column, exhausted but ready to fight again even though any chance of escape was dwindling fast. If she was going to die, she'd die fighting.
She was so tired, but she couldn't give up, not yet, not with everyone depending on her.
For an instant, when those Squad Zero uniforms started pouring out of the tunnels, crisp and white and ready to fight, she almost screamed—the frustration of a lifetime of losing boiling to the surface.
Except…that customer of hers, Akira's friend Hirako, noticed her and nodded a greeting as he walked past her. He pulled a letter of resignation out of his jacket as he moved.
She couldn't make sense of what was happening anymore, and for the first time that day, she was truly paralyzed with no idea of what to do.
Squad Zero was defending them. Squad Zero was clashing with the other investigators blocking their exit.
And bringing up the rear…was Kaneki.
He'd clearly had a rough go of it in their short time apart, but he was alive.
He scanned their group, eyes catching on Ichika in Yoriko's arms, darting to Touka…
That was when her knees finally gave out. Sinking to the ground, she said, "I told you we'd see you later."
"Yeah. You did, didn't you."
I think action is not my forte, and yet everything that happens in this chapter is one big melee! Honestly, I find it difficult to go too off-book when I really like everything about what goes down at Cochlea. Like…don't get your hopes up, I'm not even going to touch that fight between Kaneki and Arima because I think it's pretty much perfect, no notes.
Next week: Akira thinks she might be in hell