Akira raises a toast

The mood was less openly optimistic the next morning. Heavy, low clouds had everyone scrambling for any raincoats they could get their hands on.

The cafeteria was less busy, as well. Teams were being sent out on a more first-come-first-served basis, as people woke up and filtered down for coffee and food.

Akira had scrounged up a new set of clean clothes—all thanks to some brilliant souls who'd cleaned out a couple of abandoned stores nearby. But…the easy resources were disappearing fast. They needed to make something happen before the end of the day, or they'd have to give up and get out.

She was just sitting down with her coffee when she noticed Touka entering the room.

Soon, the barista sat across from her with her own cup. They drank in silence for a couple of minutes before Touka wrinkled her nose. "I miss my café…our stuff was so much better."

"I would love one of your cortados right about now. I keep drinking coffee, thinking that this cup is the one that will finally fix my life."

"It never is..." Touka gave a ghost of a smile, then grew serious. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Yeah?"

"If something happens…before this is all over, if something happens to me…would you be able to take care of Ichika?"

Akira felt an electric unease run through her. "What makes you so sure I'll survive if you don't," she half-joked.

The ghoul laughed. "Just playing the odds."

"Why not switch places with Ayato? I don't think anyone would be mad about you staying back when you have a child to look out for."

"I know he can take care of himself, but he's still my little brother," Touka said with a fragile smile. "He'd kill me if he heard, but him and Ichika are at the top of my list. I want them to have the best chance. If I can keep them both safe here, I'm gonna do it."

"Touka, do you really want to have this conversation now?" Akira was trying to deflect, in part, out of selfishness. She just didn't have much in her for another one of those talks, the kind where she had to struggle to find the right words, the kind that made her feel like her heart had been smashed to pieces afterwards.

"I won't leave it until it's too late." The ghoul's eyebrows pressed together in frustration. "I'm not asking you to adopt her or anything. If it came down to it, I think she'd end up with Yomo or Ayato, maybe even Hinami. Just, if you can, be in her life. Help keep her safe if anyone comes after her, tell her stories about her father, stuff like that."

"Oh, you don't want me spending too much time around her. I'd contaminate her. Soon she'd be scowling all the time."

"Of course I want you around her. You can braid her hair and teach her how to throw a punch."

Before Akira could answer, Nishiki came by and looked at Touka. "You're sure you want to go today?"

"Yes, four-eyes, just tell me where," she snapped back.

He made a face at her and consulted his clipboard. "Okay, we're sending the stronger ghouls and investigators way out in teams of two to cover more ground. Miza's out front waiting for someone who can keep up with her, but I could get you two paired up if you want."

Touka looked at Akira, questioning.

Akira hesitated but quickly found the nerve to speak. "We shouldn't be on the same team…if I take you up on what we were talking about."

Touka nodded with a serious look on her face. She understood the gravity of what Akira meant. Turning to Nishiki, she said, "I'm ready to go. Where's Miza?"

After a couple more minutes, Nishiki finally circled back around, pointed at Akira, and waved her down the hall to the makeshift armory. "You might as well get ready and wait outside when you're done with your drink."

Chigyo was running the room. He was helping to hand out the weapons that had been left there overnight, and trying to pep up everyone passing through while he was at it. "We have a day left before we have to give up and run for our lives, so let's make it count!"

She just held her hand out, waiting for him to fetch her small pile of weapons.

He gathered up her quinque and rifle in his arms, but paused before he handed them off "Hey, you, uh…aren't feeling…bitey, are you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "No more than usual, why?"

"Nothing, just a couple of incidents overnight with some of the people who were exposed to that toxin…" He checked over his shoulder that he wouldn't be overheard and said, "A few people who had minimal exposure and mild symptoms came back down to normal levels on their own. Maybe if you just stop…messing around with your RC levels, it'll fix itself."

Akira reached out and grabbed her weapons from him. "Got it. I'm fine for now." Then, with a sinking feeling, she softened her voice. "But keep me updated on that situation."

She continued outside—again avoiding the scan gates—and took a moment to look over the activity in the front plaza. It looked less like they were under siege and more like they were fighting back. They were organized, different bases of operation and overflow medic centers were taking shape in hastily erected tents, and people were jogging industriously to and fro.

Adjusting her weapons, she headed over to where the assignments were being handed out and found a bench.

When Urie slogged outside with coffee still in one hand, Akira steeled herself for the possibility that she might end up spending an entire awkward day with him.

She exhaled and loitered over in his direction.

"Urie."

"Mado," he replied in a monotone voice without looking at her.

"Do you know your assignment today yet?"

His voice crackled with sleep. "Yeah. We're going to be floating backup. Seems like a waste, having us play bodyguard for a bunch of ghouls."

What she wanted to do was vault over the bench, slam him into the nearest wall, slap him around, and scream at him to get his act together. Instead, she took a deep breath and reminded herself that he'd just woken up, and that it had been a difficult few days for everyone. Maybe she shouldn't take what he'd said so personally.

So instead she took a calming breath and said, "Hey. Do your job. You look out for each other out there. We can't count on anything else right now."

He blinked at her few times and gulped down some more coffee. "You're right. We're on the same team right now. We'll look out for them."

She was about to turn and go when he added, "Mado. You kept a lot of stuff from us for a long time, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I'll tell you all about it some time."

It wasn't long before the rest of the Quinx squad made it outside and headed out.

That meant, of course, that Akira had to wait around for a while longer to get partnered up with a ghoul. Akira was judged proficient enough not to require a large group, and it had been decided that they needed at least one ghoul per team, to get to more inaccessible terrain. Personnel was their most precious resource at the moment, after all. It had to be spent wisely.

Other groups of lower-ranking investigators passed through, but they were quickly deployed for checking nearby areas that had only been haphazardly searched the day before.

Within twenty minutes, she finally got paired up with Irimi.

The duo picked up the area they were supposed to scout. It was Fura handing out paper maps for them to carry into the field.

"You two all set?"

Akira nodded. "Of course. We have the power of friendship, and a gun." She thought for a moment. "Really, the gun's going to do most of the work here."

There was nothing left to do but begin walking their route, followed by sending Irimi up to the more inaccessible areas of the monster with the metal detector while Akira patrolled around.

They kicked rubble out of the way, looking around constantly. The gloomy weather did not inspire cheerful moods, and a light drizzle was beginning to fall here and there. As they walked, the two of them discussed a concert they realized they'd both attended a couple of years ago.

"I can't believe you were at that Hiromi show too."

"I normally wouldn't take a risk like that, but life is for the living. I was up in the mezzanine."

"Ah. I splurged on a seat up front. It was a great show."

Irimi effortlessly hopped over an abandoned car. "Oh, close to the stage. How was that?"

Akira walked around the obstacle, using the end of her quinque as a walking stick. "I was feeling pretty bleak back then, but I smiled every time I remembered it for weeks after. Just to see someone that talented perform with so much joy, it was infectious." She looked aside at the ghoul. "I'm envious, though, of artists who can improvise so flawlessly and make music out of chaos like that."

"I think a good fight is similar, sometimes. You need to be ready to improvise and react, constantly change tempo, but you have to do it perfectly or it's all over."

"You're right…" Akira mused. "Then maybe I'm not completely untalented."

"Still, I would have loved to learn an instrument. Did you ever study any music?"

Akira grimaced. "The bare minimum required in school. I used to think I hated music, but it turns out I just hate playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

After they'd covered maybe half of their assigned territory, Irimi jumped back down in front of Akira.

"Hey, can you come up here? I think I spotted something weird. I want a second set of eyes."

Akira leaned her quinque against a nearby wall and said "Sure."

One undignified trip where she was little better than cargo later, Akira joined Irimi on a fleshy outcropping. It was mostly level, so Akira had no trouble lying flat on her stomach, unfolding the bipod legs, and steadying the scope of her rifle in front of her.

She said, "Where am I looking?"

"At about 2 o'clock, slightly below our level. They're by that blacked-out digital billboard. It's a bit beyond my range for hearing, but I think I see some weird movement."

It took Akira a few moments to properly focus and find what Irimi was talking about, but she was right. It certainly was something troubling.

On top of what appeared to be a primary stalk of the monster stood a person, slowly pacing around atop it. "I think it's Furuta. No, he just turned towards me, it definitely is him."

"I thought so," said Irimi.

Akira thought. "I don't want to lose him in my sights. Can you grab the radio from my belt, and tell them we've got a visual?"

Irimi did as she was told, and they were quickly patched through to Marude.

His voice crackled through the speaker. "Do you think you can hit him, Mado?"

She exhaled slowly, trying to hold on to her calm. "I'm not a crack shot. It won't be the farthest shot I've ever taken, but it's close…"

There was a long silence from Marude. "We've got to risk it. I don't know if there'll be another opportunity like this."

"We've got to risk it? It's not your life you're putting on the line, old man." Akira started dialing in her scope to compensate for the bullet falling. He'll let us die if it means saving more lives later. Maybe that makes him a shitty person, but it's why he's a good commander.

He replied in a heavy, serious voice. "I know, Mado. Believe me, I know."

To Irimi, still standing at her side, she said, "Get ready to run. I'll be able to get off one shot, maybe two, but it'll be loud. We'll be broadcasting our location to half the city."

Then, Akira focused. She slowed her breathing as much as she could, tried to feel her heartbeat, kept a steady aim on Furuta's center of mass, and waited for what little wind there was to die down.

Fire between heartbeats, she reminded herself. Even that slight movement will throw off the aim at this distance.

Squeezing the trigger, the gun exploded. Trying to remain steady, Akira kept careful watch in the scope. The bullet would reach him before the sound of the gunshot, she had to see—there. A second after firing, she saw the impact behind him and slightly to his left.

Quickly adjusting her aim by a hair, she got off a second shot while Furuta was still looking around for whatever just whizzed by him.

She saw him startle when the boom of her first shot reached him a split second later, the second bullet still in the air on a direct trajectory to his heart.

With a feeling of impending doom she couldn't explain, his head turned and he seemed to stare directly at her through her scope.

He can't possibly see me at this distance, can he?

Still watching through the scope, she caught the moment the second bullet hit him. It was clean in the center of his chest, blood blooming outward on his white shirt. He looked down with an exasperated expression.

Turning back to stare at her, he reached into his pocket with a frown and pulled out his own walkie-talkie. As he plucked at his ruined clothes, he spoke into it.

He isn't going down. That's a direct hit to the heart. And—the bloodstain hasn't grown any larger.

Irimi spoke up. "Akira? What's going on?"

Akira jumped up, not even bothering to grab the gun. It wouldn't be worth the time it took to fold up the legs and throw the strap over her shoulder, not anymore. "Go, now."

They more or less slid down the body of the dragon—Irimi helping keep Akira from peeling off and tumbling down—to get back to ground level.

"Do you still have the radio," asked Akira once they reached the ground. Grabbing her quinque from where the left it, "We need to get Marude back on and let him know that Furuta ate that bullet. That rat bastard. We were right. I've only ever seen one person take a shot like that and shrug it off."

"Who?"

"Kaneki."

Irimi grimaced, starting to put together where Akira's thoughts were. She reached for the radio that had been hastily clipped to her pocket, and lifted it to speak.

In a flash, though, it was gone. Along with her arm.

Both women blinked and turned towards the source of the blow. It was several of those black-clad foot soldiers of V, now wielding kagune. There was no time to pick that fun surprise apart.

Irimi quickly released her kagune and fired a burst of suppressing fire that made their attackers back up, but didn't do much else.

"Shit," said Akira. She spun her polearm, trying to judge whether it would give her a better reach than their kagune—this was going to be ugly.

"Akira," said Irimi in a low voice. "You've got to get the word back about him. I can hold them off for a little while."

The strategist in her understood the calculus at work. She saw Irimi's ability to put up a decent fight, and the ghoul's wounded arm that would quickly sap her strength. She saw the insufficient weapon in her own hands, and knew the only thing she'd be good for was running.

The friend in her, though, wanted to recoil at the thought.

"Go," urged Irimi as she fired off more shards, and jumped to dodge an attack.

"Goodbye," whispered Akira. There was really nothing else to say, now, was there?

She turned around and sprinted in the direction of the main office, blinking a few tears out of her eyes.

The sounds of fierce fighting faded out behind her.

She could only keep that speed up a few minutes before she had to slow to a jog. It was some of the most nerve-wracking moments of her life—exhausted, underarmed, alone, wandering a ruined city and trying to evade an enemy that might appear out of nowhere.

The whole city smells like blood.

But Irimi's sacrifice did not appear to be in vain. The attack from behind never occurred.

She stumbled back to the headquarters. Once she was in sight of the plaza, the fear began loosening its grip on her. Making a beeline to the tents out front that had been set up to house forward operating bases, she waved one arm to flag down the guards on patrol. One of the guys ran up and put her arm over his shoulder, hurrying her back to safety.

It took a moment to catch her breath enough to speak. "Does anyone…have…a radio? I need…to tell…Marude…"

Someone passed her a walkie-talkie. In short order, she got patched through to Marude. It was with a touch of bitterness that she informed him of the critical news. "I'm confirming that Furuta does have regenerative abilities comparable to an artificial ghoul. Comparable to Kaneki. And he has command of the Washu family's special forces. And they all have kagunes."

There was a bit of static, and a heavy sigh on the other end. "Good work, Mado. And your partner?"

"What do you think?"

"I'm sorry to hear—"

Akira tossed the radio back to the guards and limped away.

She didn't go inside. A moment alone was in order. Instead, she wandered behind some of the tents. There was a row of planters on the sidewalk that normally held decorative shrubs. They'd been destroyed at some point in the past few days.

Maybe they'll grow back if the roots are still okay, she thought absently as she sat on a concrete bollard.

The sound of rustling tent fabric disturbed her. She lifted her head to see Hirako, working his way towards her down the alley behind the tent.

He set a bottle of water on planter's ledge next to her. Cracking open his own bottle, he sat on the bollard at her side. "I've heard there was bad news."

She recounted the events, and Irimi's last stand that had allowed her to live.

"Sometimes there's no outsmarting your enemies, just facing them with courage." He looked over at her. "This was a loss."

"It was," she agreed. She knew that her life would be on the line from the day she enrolled in the academy, and so did Take. They'd signed up for it. There was still something that pricked at her when a ghoul—who'd ended up fighting for her life as an accident of birth more than anything—bought Akira's life.

She turned to better look at him. In profile, as he leaned his elbows on his knees, he almost looked the same as he always did. "How do you do it, Take? I'm just…tired. So tired. I don't remember why we're even here half the time these days, I'm sick of the fighting and the loss and yet both are happening more than ever…"

He glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes. "You're burnt out and I'm not?" He straightened up. "It's not over yet, but when it is…everything will be different. Whatever else happens, you have to know that things will never go back to the way they were."

"You're so damn unflappable. Though I appreciate your restrained optimism." Then she buried her face in her hands and groaned out, "But Irimi, oh…"

That brought a long silence from Hirako.

In that silence, she thought she could hear the names of everyone else she'd lost along the way…My mother, father, Arima, Shirazu…

"She had some sins in her past. You knew about the Black Dobers, what they got up to in their heyday?"

"I've heard a story or two."

"As an adversary or an ally, Irimi was formidable," Take said in a heavy voice.

"We'll have to go out for drinks in her honor once this is over."

Take nodded. He raised his water bottle. "To Irimi."

She tapped her own water against his and took a sip. "To Irimi."

They could only hide away for a few minutes before a huge commotion rose up.

Wordlessly, the bereft pair stood and half-sprinted back out into the open.

There in the plaza, the crowd was parting to allow a returning group through. It took a bit to jockeying to see what exactly was happening, but when she fought her way to the front…

Touka was covered in grime and blood, but walking with determination. At her side, Urie was carrying—Kaneki. Wrapped up in someone's raincoat and thoroughly unconscious, but there was no mistaking him. The rest of the Quinx squad trailed behind them.

Akira's heart skipped a beat, before she jumped into action. Pointing at the nearest investigator she ordered, "You, get Kimi! Tell her she needs to get down here immediately."

"And rally the defenses," Urie growled out. He threw a disdainful glance at Touka, but quickly softened. "She—We caused a big disturbance."

"A bunch of those monsters hatched out of nowhere and attacked us, and we had to fight our way back here," Yonebayashi added breathlessly.

Hsiao nodded. "The Dragon is becoming active again. We need to be ready."

Most of the crowd sprang into action, commanders organizing their troops and calling for any backup that was available. Anyone still outside the wire was quickly called back in.

As the main forces braced for another wave of attacks, their rescue was hustled inside.

After the preliminary examinations and biopsies, they were cleared to visit.

The door was already cracked, so Akira knocked quietly for the sake of politeness as she stepped in.

Touka had beaten her there. She'd cleaned up a little but was still covered in scrapes, her hair damp from the light rain.

And…the source of all that trouble was on the examination table in the center of the room. The way Touka brushed the hair out of his face and adjusted the hospital gown around his damaged neck seemed so private, Akira averted her eyes towards the window until Touka finished her ministrations.

"Just leave the door open for now," Touka murmured.

"He's alive, in a manner of speaking, according to Kimi." Akira approached the table and pointed to the empty chair nearby. "Sit down already. You've fought hard for this."

"When you get down to it, the people we care about are pretty much the only thing worth fighting tooth and nail for, right? Everything else is replaceable enough." She sat down and hung her head. "This was supposed to fix everything, though."

"Yeah. That means this is far from over."

Within twenty minutes, a steady stream of visitors was beginning to pass through the doors to see Kaneki, and breathe a sigh of relief.

Akira found it difficult to look at him. It wasn't just the alien scarring from his time within the Dragon. Kimi had assured everyone that he seemed alive, but until he woke up, he wasn't back.

Instead she stayed by the window, watching the battle taking shape outside. It was becoming an out-and-out siege. There were currently as many monsters milling around the streets as when the Dragon first emerged, the main difference being that they were all concentrated on the Main Office.

This time, though, they'd managed to bring together the coordination of the CCG with the raw power of ghouls. There was a good hard perimeter a block out, with abandoned vehicles and other debris providing cover and barricades. It looked like they were using their ukaku forces efficiently to keep most of the monsters from getting too close, and she was pleased to spot a few sharpshooters doing work even further out. Troops on the point of their defenses had been equipped with gas masks to protect against the odd poison-releasing beast that broke through.

Akira wasn't worried yet about that situation spinning out of control. Before too long, the monsters would thin out again.

Even with the fighting happening several floors below, the room was quiet as people chatted and caught each other up.

So everyone's head snapped up when, out of nowhere, Yonebayashi said, "Someone's headed this way."

"Yeah. Running fast," Hinami said.

Did something happen? Do they need us to go join in the fighting? Then with more foreboding, Could Furuta's new forces be attacking?

It wasn't long before even she could hear footsteps racing down the hall.

Ayato skidded past the door and backtracked into the room. His eyes darted around on high alert. "What is it? What's going on?" He seemed ready to attack.

Akira's intuition prickled. Something was off. "What do you mean?"

He looked at Touka. "You sent for me. As fast as possible."

"But…I didn't." She slowly stood up.

Akira looked between Touka and Ayato. "Who's watching the baby?"

Ayato stared at her. "She's napping upstairs in your office. Hinami was on her way to take over, wasn't she?"

The girl in question spoke up from the back of the room. "What are you talking about?"

The hair on the back of Akira's neck stood up.

He floundered for a moment. "But…you were on the way to watch Ichika, and Touka needed me, I thought it was urgent…"

"Who told you that, Ayato?" Akira cut in.

"He was a ghoul. One of the older orphans," he growled, but there was an edge of terror under his words. "Said Hinami sent him ahead to watch for a couple of minutes until she could get there, and that you guys needed me here…that it was urgent…"

"But I didn't," Hinami said.

Well, fuck.

Sorry to the Ayato fans out there, but someone had to drop the ball…

So it turns out I wasn't just super exhausted when I declared I might need a short break at the last update, I was coming down with covid! It kicked my ass! How fun! Though, honestly, it's a funny full-circle moment…The reason I finally gave Tokyo Ghoul a chance is that I was stuck in quarantine the first time I had covid three years ago, which was also over the holidays, and I was just as bored and absolutely zooted on cough syrup then too lmao

Next week: Akira sees a ghost