Akira gathers 'round the campfire with some old friends

The night was full dark by the time their end was in sight. They finally turned a corner to see, between the rows of office buildings, a couple of fires lit on a hillside park. Hinami confirmed their destination.

That final uphill climb was grueling, but the distant sound of low voices drove them onward.

As they crested the hill, Akira called out, "Is this amateur hour? Why don't you have any lookouts posted?"

Any conversation died out and dozens of heads turned their way.

Touka spotted Hinami first. With a gasp, she ran up to embrace the girl, rocking her side-to-side.

"You're alive!" Then she looked over Hinami's shoulder and spotted Akira. "Holy shit, what happened to you?"

Looking down at her wounded arm, the exhaustion and weakness Akira had been steadfastly ignoring began to creep up on her. "Did Banjo make it out with you guys?"

The man in question stepped forward. "Here, let me see."

For someone who looked like a graceless meathead, he was surprisingly gentle as he unwrapped her arm and inspected the damage.

"You know the drill," he said. His hand gripped the knife's handle. "Ready?"

The blonde exhaled and tried to relax. "I can't afford to be down an arm. Just get it over with."

To distract herself, she looked around to try and find Amon. He was quick to spot on the other side of the crowd, being a head taller than everyone else. As if he felt her eyes on her, he spun around to lock eyes with her. She could see the way relief washed over his face.

And then Banjo yanked the blade out. She hissed at the lightning bolt of pain that went through her, and the ooze of fresh, warm blood that started pouring out of the wound. Even worse on the way out. He pressed on the injury as he released his kagune and wrapped it around her forearm. "I think you're my best patient," he joked.

The sensation was similar to the feeling of a phlebotomist digging around in her arm with a needle, in search of a vein. Bearable, but deeply unpleasant. "How many more injuries until I get a special prize?"

"Two," he said confidently, then frowned. "This looks like it's healing, but it seems slower than it should be."

She thought. "It could be because I predosed the RC suppressants."

Banjo cracked his neck and redoubled his efforts. After a few moments, he backed away, frustrated. "That might be as good as it gets."

She inspected his work. Her fingers could move freely, even if the motion hurt her forearm. There was still a deep puncture wound, but it wasn't bleeding freely anymore and it could easily be bandaged up until it healed. The slashes from being clawed at appeared more shallow but still there.

Just in case, she grabbed one last needle and gave herself a small injection of RC suppressant in the muscle of her bad arm. She didn't even want to wait for any reaction to start.

Standing and turning around, she saw Amon patiently waiting for her to finish her triage.

Looking as rigid and formal as he ever did, he looked down at her. "I spent most of the day worried you were dead."

Holding her wounded arm, she nodded. "I know. I was worried about you, too."

"That being said, I hope you'll excuse what I'm about to do, knowing your opinions on public displays of affection under normal circumstances—"

"Don't worry, it's not normal circumstances—"

And before she could continue, he grabbed her by the waist, plucked her off her feet as if she weighed nothing, and kissed her. His lips on hers knocked every thought out of her brain except how nice it was to finally feel safe after the hours of terror and exhaustion. And that maybe he wasn't so obnoxiously tall.

They might be attracting a bit of an audience, but Akira pushed that thought out of her mind. She gave herself a pass on the embarrassing behavior considering how fatigued and borderline delirious she was.

"Wait," she said, pushing herself back. "Did you grab my cat?"

"Of course." Without setting her down, he nodded to the left where Maris Stella was drowsing on a rock at the outskirts of their gathering, tail flicking around lazily.

"Oh. Good." She wrapped her one working arm around his neck and kissed him again.

As he walked by, Takizawa muttered, "Gross. That's an HR disaster."

Amon finally set her down. Akira awkwardly got her feet back under her. "Now wait just a minute!"

Her former classmate kept walking, looking like he was going to continue until he hit the horizon.

He only stopped when Amon's voice rang out. "Seido."

Takizawa paused and begrudgingly turned back around.

"Thank you for helping to get Akira and Hinami back to us. You came through when we needed you, again." He spoke in a serious voice, trying to convey the intensity of his gratitude.

Takizawa was clearly not comfortable with that gratitude, looking anywhere except at Amon. "Whatever."

"He's right," Akira added. "I don't think we could have gotten back here safely without you. Thanks."

He kicked at the ground with his sandal, then mumbled something and slunk off.

Some in the group found nooks and crannies to curl up in, but most of the refugees were too wired to sleep.

Including Akira. She was bone tired, but her eyes wouldn't close. Instead she sat on the rock next to her cat, stroking Maris Stella's soft fur. Whatever they did next, she'd probably have to leave the cat behind here, but at least she wasn't trapped in the caves underground. Besides, Akira reminded herself, she's caught more than a few mice and birds. She can take care of herself for a little while.

She intended to come back to this area as soon as possible, but there was the fear in the back of her mind that she'd never have the chance.

Looking around at their temporary encampment she sighed. The fires gave away their location but they were necessary to keep the chill of the night back, especially for the very young and the wounded.

And besides, the night was so incredibly dark. The veil between civilization and the wilderness was so much more disturbingly fragile than it seemed a day ago. At least having the light of a fire lent some sense of control over the situation.

One of the newly-posted lookouts whistled. "More people approaching, but they don't look hostile."

Everyone bristled, waiting to see who was headed this way.

"Wild day, am I right ladies?" Struggling the last few steps up the hill—mostly due to the very tight mermaid cut dress she was wearing—was Itori, out of breath and clutching a huge bottle of wine in one hand. There were a couple of Clowns trailing behind her, but she was clearly running the show.

"Itori," Touka growled. "What are you doing here?"

The interloper paused to look down at her high heels with an annoyed expression. They kept sinking into the ground with each step.

"I'm trying to find a good spot to watch the action! A crying shame about Kaneki. Such a nice boy, I always liked him." She swept her arm over the city. "But come on! The party's started, the buffet's open! Don't you want to go have some fun for once?"

The bartender's empty cheerfulness was even more grating than it had been the last time they'd crossed paths.

A murmur went through the crowd, though, as her words washed over the ghouls.

Her stomach dropped. Would this just be a repeat, an unruly mob giving into fear and division?

And then a bizarre miracle happened.

"Non! He just wanted us to be happy. All of us. Human, ghoul, everyone…and instead of trying to save him you're going to desecrate everything he fought for?!" Tsukiyama's voice rang out, cutting through the hubbub.

For a second afterwards, silence reigned.

Then, softer susurrations began to rise in the crowd.

Akira strained her ears to try and figure out which way the crowd was turning but everyone's voice was too hushed. Then one of the ghouls near her—a nondescript middle-of-the-pack woman that Akira didn't even know by name, barely recognized by face, looked at the former investigator as if for reassurance.

In an unsure voice, the stranger asked, "We should do what we can now for the city, for the humans, right? So they'll put up with us when we need it?"

It took Akira a moment to process the words. Frantically, she nodded. "Yeah. I think we all need each other more than we realize. None of us will make it, in the end, if we don't figure out how to pull together."

Maybe it was the hurricane of emotions and pain she'd been through in the past day, the past year even, but she sniffled and quickly wiped away the tears gathering in her eyes before anyone saw. In times such as these, when the polite veneer of civilization was stripped away, people revealed who they truly were.

Anyone, ghoul or human, could turn out to be nobler or more despicable than ever imagined. And she was quite surprised. A ghoul she didn't even know had asked permission to care about humans. And the damned Gourmet even rose to the occasion.

Itori's expressions slipped—Akira caught a flash of disdain ripple across the ghoul's face. In the flickering light of the fires, the redhead looked diabolical for a moment there.

She shrugged and gave up on her crowd work.

"What about you, Renji?" The redhead yanked the cork out of her bottle and took a healthy drink. "What can I do to tempt you into painting the town red with us, like old times!" She held out the bottle as enticement. "Come on. We'll pregame on the way to meet up with Uta. It'll be a blast."

His eyes darted towards Touka and Ichika for a split second. "No," he ground out with finality.

"You changed, man. You're no fun anymore." She shrugged and spun around to leave, but Akira and Amon caught her eye.

"Not bad! I thought you'd be the type that goes for a little guy you can boss around. But, uh…" Her red lips quirked into a wry smile as she looked Amon up and down. "Very nice. Not bad at all."

From the corner of her eye, Akira saw Amon tense in discomfort.

"I think you should go," she said.

Itori rolled her eyes at Akira as she turned around to leave. "Lighten up! Learn to take a joke!"

Akira remained impassive. She only had one usable arm, but she still glanced around for some sort of weapon.

Yomo, sensing her intentions, put a hand on her shoulder. "No."

She growled, "You know she's going to screw us over at the next opportunity. And she's full of valuable information. We shouldn't let her just walk away."

"We've all got to live with each other after this is over. That means not stabbing each other in the back."

"And the fact that they're friends from another life doesn't hurt, right?"

He shot her a disapproving look. "I've run into friends of yours from a past life and let them live."

"This will put us all in danger."

Yomo watched his friend from a past life leave. "We've always been in danger. Hurting them won't change anything that much."

She chewed on his words. Curled her lip in dismay. "I'll give you one thing, Yomo—you've got some hidden depths."

For a couple of hours, she managed to curl up near one of the fires, lean on Amon, and catch some fitful sleep. Her feet hurt, her arm hurt, her whole body hurt and all she wanted was to melt into a useless puddle for a little while.

When their fire started dying down, she grew more restless and eventually gave up. She could only toss and turn on the hard ground for so long. Sitting up, Akira spotted Touka sitting in front of another fire, staring into the flames.

Akira quietly got up without disturbing Amon and crossed over to the ghoul. As she sat down, she asked half-jokingly, "What'd I miss while I was gone?"

That was how she learned the basics of how Hinami got separated from the rest of them, how they used Shinohara as a decoy to get out, how they got out just in time and spent the day slowly regrouping.

"I think you did well. It was a difficult situation, and you made good, fast decisions."

The ghoul just kept staring into the fire.

Finally, Touka asked, "Will you tell me what happened?"

"If you want."

Usually, Akira had no problem with debriefs. She could separate out her emotions and give a concise debrief. She could parse out the important facts and events that her team needed to be aware of. This time, though, she found herself speaking haltingly, avoiding looking at Touka…it was difficult. But she couldn't sleep, and neither could Touka, so a debrief it was.

Touka kept Ichika in her arms. The girl was wrapped up in a discarded jacket. At some point the ghouls must have looted supplies from a convenience store, but they still didn't have any good place for a baby to sleep.

"I knew it must have been hard, but I didn't really understand—what it was like after my mom died, when dad came home and he still had to take care of me and Ayato…why that broke him."

"Yeah," Akira agreed quietly. "My dad too." The words were out of her mouth before she could consider the touchiness of that statement.

Touka sucked in a breath, but otherwise didn't react. "I wish…" But she didn't finish the thought.

"You're not alone, though," Akira offered.

They just listened to the crackling of the fire and the rustling of the nighttime breeze for a while.

The sentry's whistle sounded yet again. The sound of it made Akira close her eyes and cringe—it became more piercing the more tired she was.

"Hey, ladies! Wild day, right?"

Touka and Akira's heads swiveled around to see a red light swinging back and forth as its carrier clambered over to them. And the carrier looked like—Hide?

Several nearby ghouls were stirring at their second intruder of the night. Akira motioned for them to stand down.

"You're…talking?" Touka blinked at him.

He waved as he turned off his headlamp and strolled towards them. "I got a bit of an upgrade from some of the tech guys at the main office. I guessed the time was right to get Marude back to the CCG. He should be settling in right now."

Akira fought through the fog of her own fatigue and confusion. "How the hell did you find us?"

He shrugged and held up a small pair of binoculars in one hand and a radio in the other. "Much as I want to look like a mysterious genius, all I did was join in with a group on recon and kept an eye out. I probably walked across half the city today before I spotted your campfires…Also, I gave Touka a radio beacon ages ago, told her to activate it if the shit ever hit the fan."

Touka pulled out a small, blocky electronic device that was held together with duct tape. "I'm impressed it worked."

There was a smile in Hide's eyes—he was far too pleased with himself. "It doesn't do much except tell me if I'm getting hotter or colder when I listen to the right channel, but it got the job done. Oh, that reminds me."

He pushed the talk button on the radio. "Hey Abara, it's Nagachika. I was right, I know these people. I'm going to stick with them and help them evacuate, okay?"

A voice crackled through on the other end. "Copy that. Stay in touch. We'll continue our mission."

As Touka spoke, she looked down at Ichika, who was beginning to stir. "You have good timing. We need to discuss what to do next."

He nodded, glancing over the gathering of mostly asleep ghouls, appearing to take stock of what he had to work with. His eyes skittered back to Touka with sudden realization. "Wait, is that who I think it is?!"

Touka ignored him and instead helped Ichika untangle herself from the jacket she was swaddled in.

Hide held his arms out. "Come on, lemme see."

Touka stared at him with suspicion for a long moment. "Do you even know how to hold a baby?"

He didn't answer until he had Ichika in his arms. "Psh, no, but how hard could it be?"

"Freaking idiot," Touka muttered, obviously lacking the patience for any levity.

The baby stared at him, enraptured by his brightly-colored hair and strange mask. "She's so perfect!" He poked at her chubby little cheeks, resulting in her squeaky laugh. "But I've met your parents and you don't stand a chance, kiddo. I guess I'll have to stick around to make sure you have one normal person in your life."

Touka huffed at him. "You're not as funny as you think you are."

Ichika clumsily slapped her hand against his cheek. "See? She likes me!"

"Her brain is still developing. Give it time." But this time she said it with a bit of a smile.

A smile that faded as she turned to look over Akira…For a moment the two looked at each other. Touka swallowed hard and fear flashed in her eyes. The ghoul was also barely keeping it together.

She turned around to look again at the shadow of the destroyed city. This is a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, an apocalypse…and it's not over. We don't get to stop and pick up the pieces yet. There's still so much work to be done.

"No, I think I'm definitely her favorite." Hide gave her a little toss in the air, causing another riot of giggles.

"She likes everyone," Touka sighed. "Didn't get it from me."

Hide tilted his head to the side, a smile in his eyes. "'Course not. Kaneki was like that when we were kids. He was a total bookworm, but he was so friendly to anyone who took the time to talk to him."

"Yeah, that sounds right." Touka squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, swallowed hard, and then reopened them with a steely expression. She glanced between Hide and Akira. "Alright. What's our next move?"

"I—" Akira hesitated, but everyone looked at her. "I keep thinking about how it happened. I was right in the middle of the Oggai but I didn't get a scratch on me. It makes me hope…" She got too choked up to continue.

Hide filled in. "Hope Kaneki's not entirely gone?"

"Yes," Akira said in a clipped voice.

Touka stared hard at him, then Akira, weighing how much hope to pin on their assessments. She didn't let go of any of the tension in her shoulders, but she gave them one decisive nod.

"Okay," Nagachika summed up. "We've got a city to save, a humongous monster to defeat, a crazy ex-CCG chairman to locate, and our collective favorite disaster person to try and rescue. And I'll bet those all turn out to be the same thing."

They discussed and floated ideas but in the end there was only one option that made sense.

Hide thought hard. "I was watching that…insane…press conference." If his voice was still working organically, Akira suspected it would have cracked there. Instead, the tinny speaker just relayed his speech in fits and starts. "I think between that and the Dragon, Furuta really has the energy of a kid that would rather destroy his toys than let anyone else enjoy them. No one trusts the CCG, everyone lives in fear of ghouls, everyone hates everyone else around them."

Akira crossed her arms, winced at her injury, and stared down at the ground as she thought out loud. "You're correct. It's a lot easier to tear something down than it is to build something up. His goal was to splinter us all apart and, naturally, that leaves him and his ilk on top. But we've been very hard at work building something up."

She glanced over at Takeomi, sleeping sitting up. Him, Shinohara, Ito, even Amon…Unlike me and Hirako, they've all still got some cachet at the CCG and I think they'll all shake out to be with us instead of against us. Even Juzo looked like he was on the fence…She snapped her head over to look at the crowd of ghouls, most asleep and a few milling around, waiting for a course of action. Even a flash of Takizawa's white face in the farthest reaches of the campfire light filled her with cautious optimism. "So…if we want to stop playing his game by his rules…then…"

Touka filled in, "Then we go all in on something he thought he made impossible…"

"Mmhmm. Crawling back leaves a bad taste in my mouth," Akira admitted. "Though…I do like the idea of marching in with an army of ghouls. That might wipe the smirk off that asshole Ui's face."

They rested up for an hour or two longer. At last, Akira crashed hard and felt like death warmed over when Amon shook her awake. He'd let her sleep as long as he could. They left their encampment while it was still dark and quiet, closing in on the main office just as dawn was breaking.

Hide stared at Akira and Amon, eyes narrowed in thought. "You two should go first. I think the shock of seeing Amon back from the dead will buy us enough time to overwhelm their forces. Peacefully, of course."

"You're very good at this," Akira observed. "If we have a future at all, you've got a real future in this sort of thing."

He waved away her compliment. "Nah, I'm a golden retriever in a land of wolves. I fell ass-backwards into whatever this is and I was in way over my head before I realized what was happening. If I'm any good, it's because I've gotten plenty of practice white-knuckling my way through crazy situations."

He winked at her and strode off to do final check-ins with a couple of other people.

Leaving Akira at the tip of the spear with Amon.

"Okay," she whispered. "Crap, are we really doing this?"

His eyebrows shot up as he looked down at her. "Don't lose your nerve now."

"I'm sorry." Akira turned her head to look at Amon. "It looks like I invited you to a very spectacular trainwreck."

He didn't even look back at her, just kept his eyes on their target. "And I accepted, didn't I?"

A beat of silence as they contemplated what they were about to do.

Then—

Amon said quietly, "You don't have worry about me so much. I'm a big boy."

She burst out laughing. It took a moment to collect herself. "That might be the first joke I've ever heard from you. Still. This was never really your fight."

"It was never really your fight, either, but you took it up. It became your fight, so it's mine now too. And…" He stopped to look around at the ghouls, comforting each other, checking each other over for injuries, preparing to go together into the unknown. "Maybe it's a worthwhile cause after all."

So they stood, shoulder-to-shoulder, and marched at the head of the column towards the CCG main office.

They didn't have any watch to speak of outside the building. No organization yet. A sure sign they're afraid, and they have no idea what is going on or what to do.

There was, though, a group talking at the far end of the lobby. Most of them looked up, frozen in shock, when Amon nearly kicked the locked main doors off their hinges.

They unfroze into panicked shouting when the RC scan gates began blaring as Akira and Amon strode through, followed shortly by dozens of ghouls.

Showtime.

Apocalyptic stories are very morbidly fascinating to me…I was having a chat about EMPs and solar flares recently. It's scary to think about how dependent we are on technology that we take for granted and how much of our modern lives could be gone in an instant :(

Next week: Akira sits with the weirdos at lunch