Akira causes two murders and stops one

The third floor hall was lined with offices and meeting rooms. Most of them had windows looking down into the atrium. Some were cracked or had never been installed. From the smell of mildew and mice, the place had been empty for a long time.

Because there was no electricity, Akira walked slowly in the dark and kept an ear out. She picked out Marude's voice coming from a room at the end of the hall, but no response.

She rounded the doorway cautiously, ready to jump back and run if needed.

There, in a conference room with half the windows busted out, sat Marude like it was a normal meeting. The room was barely lit by a skylight that let in a hint of moonlight. Across from him, spinning around in a cheap office chair, was a figure in black.

"Hello," she ventured.

The figure in the chair halted his spin and looked at her.

And it was Nagachika. Her heart leapt with a joy she rarely felt. The kid was alive.

He was wearing all black, a beanie covering his hair and a dark gaiter over his face, but the smile in his eyes was unmistakable. He held up a hand to wave casually at her.

Then that joy dimmed considerably when he grabbed a pocket-sized notepad and marker in front of him to dash out something, then held it up for her to read. She had to strain her eyes in the low light.

Hey, Mado! You found me!

She tried to rein in the unease rising within her and put a smile on her face. "Yeah. I just had to follow the renegade throwing grenades at Aogiri Tree. Easy." Can he not speak anymore? What happened to him?

Hide had a look of concentration on his face before he realized what she must be referring to—and the fact that Amon must be the one telling her about that incident. He mimed zipping up his lips and pointed to Marude.

The investigator crossed his arms with a scowl. "He doesn't tell me half of what he gets up to. I guess you won't either."

Hide held up another hastily scribbled retort to his former (current?) superior. You know why, Marude.

He gestured for Akira to sit in an empty chair at the table. She crossed the room and was considering the damp seating pad—maybe it would be preferable to remain standing—when the night started to fall apart.

Suddenly, hushed footsteps echoed up from the atrium through one of the broken windows. Everyone froze.

Hide held a finger up to his mask, indicating silence.

In unison, Akira and Hide's cell phones vibrated with an alert. They glanced at each other, then checked their respective phones.

Hide grabbed his notepad and scribbled, They followed us—we gotta go NOW. He held his phone up to the paper so the screen would illuminate what he wrote.

For good measure, he flipped his phone around so Akira could see the screen itself. It was displaying live footage from a monochrome night vision camera: a pair of black figures walking slowly through what looked like the front lobby of the building and looking upwards at where the trio was hiding, with "Motion Detected" plastered across the bottom of the screen for good measure.

Akira stared hard at the boy. She whispered, "Are they dangerous?"

He nodded emphatically.

"Are you absolutely sure they're after you?"

Another nod.

"Will they try to kill us?"

A third nod, followed by frantic gesturing to follow him.

She quickly typed on her own phone.

Hide shoved his paper and phone into a pocket, and grabbed Akira and Marude's wrists to try and drag them off.

Suddenly, there was the sound of glass shattering as a man's scream echoed through the atrium. Then another.

Almost as quickly as they started, one cut off suddenly. The other turned into pitiful groaning.

"Sounds like they're not after us anymore," Akira said. She was still clutching her phone, waiting for the text that would tell her for sure. And as soon as she started worrying that something had gone wrong, her phone vibrated.

She looked down at the conversation with Touka.

Touka: Two guys just followed you into the building. I don't think they're friends. What should I do?

Akira: Kill them

Touka: Got them, but they made a lot of noise.

Akira held back a smile. Good girl. Her lack of hesitation when it came to killing turned out to be a blessing for once.

Marude was staring at her. "Mado, did you do that? Did you bring one of the Quinx?"

Hide was also looking at her thoughtfully, then down again at his phone. He hit a few commands.

She could hear through the screen that he was watching the replay of their ambush from his hidden camera.

Oh, please tell me she stayed out of frame.

The boy held the phone up in her face again, one eyebrow raised, and there on the screen were the two mystery assassins suddenly being struck down with several powerful blows from behind, screaming out in anguish.

The first one's neck was nearly obliterated by a blow and his head flopped over backwards as his body crumpled. Dead almost instantly.

The other tried to dive aside and took a hit to the shoulder as well as several to the midsection. He was the one whose moaning was still echoing through the building. He writhed on the ground, trying to hold his guts in with his one good arm.

Good, she fired from a distance. It might as well have been anyone with a long-range weapon.

The boy hit a command on screen and switched to a live view.

She spoke too soon. There was Touka, kagune looking more anemic than past reports might indicate but unmistakable nonetheless, and so bright it was nearly blinding in night vision. She sauntered up to the assassins and fired RC crystals at both from a closer distance until there was no question whether they were dead or not.

She never faced the camera, at least.

Akira groaned internally. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

"That's not a Quinx," Marude exclaimed. He'd walked up behind her and was watching over her shoulder.

She rushed to say, "Let's just leave. It was a lucky break they got attacked by some random—"

Before she finished, Marude pulled what looked like a detonator switch out of his pocket and hit it.

On Hide's phone screen, white smoke suddenly obscured the action.

"Dammit." Akira spun around and ran back towards the stairs as fast as she could. I knew this would all fall apart. I could feel it in the air.

Marude shouted after her and took off hot on her heels.

Hide was left holding the phone up to empty air, blinking.

Akira made it to the ground floor in record time, only to see that Hide had just abseiled out of the room's busted window and beaten her down.

She noted that he was already wearing a harness over his pants, ready to clip in at a second's notice. He certainly came prepared for a quick exit.

He was standing in front of a dark figure that was nearly bent in half.

Touka was leaning over, hands on her knees and coughing to clear out her lungs. She looked up at the boy standing in front of her.

Touka and Hide stared at each other for a very long moment. The boy suddenly jumped in the air, pumping his fist, in what almost seemed like a victory dance.

He grabbed his notepad out of his pocket and scribbled away. I knew it! I knew you were a ghoul! He was practically hopping on his tiptoes in delight.

She stared at him, a bit horrified. "Are you insane or something?"

Noticing Akira behind him, the ghoul made an unimpressed face and waited to take Akira's lead on what to do next.

Hide looked over his shoulder, too, and glanced between Akira and Touka with narrowed eyes.

Before the boy could write anything else, Marude skidded to a halt behind her, the slowpoke. "What are you waiting for, Mado?! Didn't you bring any weapons—wait a minute, you're that fat waitress!"

"Say the word and I'll kill him too," growled Touka.

"Not yet. You've got a little while until the RC suppressants wear off."

The ghoul had another coughing fit. "I'll choke him with my bare hands. I swear I will if that smoke bomb is toxic or anything."

"Why would you even come in? You hit them both from the street." I'll slap her if this was just showboating.

"I had to finish off the second one because he was reaching for a phone. Once he was on the ground, I couldn't get a clear shot from outside."

Indeed, one of the assassins had a phone dangling from his limp fingers, skewered to his hand with an already-dissolving RC crystal. Akira mentally forgave Touka for ruining everything. The girl had good situational awareness and she was proactive in combat. In another life, Touka could have been the kind of investigator that Akira would've loved to mentor.

"Did you ever see that doctor," asked Akira, already knowing the answer.

"Well, I guess I have to now!"

"What in the hell is going on!" Marude's shout echoed through the whole building.

Akira turned to face him. "Sir, I can—actually, no. There's no explanation that won't sound terrible."

The older investigator was still floundering at the sudden turn the evening had taken. "What—But—You brought a ghoul!"

"I just saved your life," the ghoul in question shot back angrily. "You're welcome."

Akira eyed Nagachika, who was kitted out in head-to-toe top-of-the-line black CCG gear, the latest gadgets and tools clipped to his belt. So that's where all of Chigyo's nixed projects are going. "I have a hunch that we're all playing fast and loose with company policy right now, so let's just say that she's with me and leave it at that."

Hide glanced between the two women, deep in thought. He held up a notepad. I want Touka on my team. She's cool. Saved my life once before. He stared down Marude.

Akira shot a questioning glance at the ghoul. Touka whispered, "Long story."

"You know her too?!" Marude exhaled sharply in anger. He grumbled, "How many secrets have you been keeping from me, kid?"

On the next page, Hide scrawled, Until you believe me about the Washus, I'm gonna keep plenty of secrets.

Akira jumped in. "What do you mean, about the Washus?"

"He's been trying to convince me that there's something off about them. That they're only serving their own interests." Marude frowned. "It sounds like something I want to believe—a reason why no matter what we do, the status quo remains. But…to accuse some of my oldest friends of treachery?"

"People can always surprise you. No matter how well you think you know them. I gave a ghoul a ride here tonight."

He stopped and really looked at her. "Yeah, you are on a mission to get your father spinning in his grave."

Akira glared at him. "That's a low blow, sir."

He shrugged with a smirk on his face. It was a low blow, but an accurate one.

While she and Marude were talking, Hide had walked up to the bodies of the assassins and kicked at them. The one who'd died clean wasn't too hard to look at, but the other one…

Ugh, intestines. Akira was completely unbothered by blood and gore of all kinds…except intestines. The very sight always made her dry heave. She took a moment to fight back the urge to vomit. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Hide paused for a moment, deep in thought, then unzipped one of his cargo pockets and removed a pair of small black discs. Within a couple of moments, he had trackers hidden on both the bodies.

Akira noticed that while he was happy to see Touka, he wasn't turning his back on her. Certainly not in front of her gruesome handiwork.

She turned away from Marude to address Nagachika. "Should we get out of here?"

Hide nodded and flashed her the "victory" hand sign, grabbed his discreet wireless camera from where he'd stuck its magnetic base to a door frame, and motioned for the group to follow him out the back.

As they walked in silence, it hit Akira. With her own hand, she held up two fingers and stared. Victory, peace, two…

They made it down the block and to the roof of a nearby office building, via a fire exit that had been conveniently left propped open, alarm apparently disabled. Then came yet more stairs. At last, they made it to one of those rooftop gardens, with plenty of raised beds.

Hide looked down at the alley and the street intersecting beneath them and held up another note. I want to watch for a while, see if any more come or if I can sneak to a different neighborhood without them tailing me. He pointed to a military-style duffel bag that was stashed next to the roof access door. I only agreed to this because I suspected they'd found my old hideout. I was already going to be exposed while I was cleared out, might as well catch up while I'm out and about.

They all held their breath when a nondescript town car pulled up a few minutes later. In a flurry of activity, a trio of men in black jumped out and entered the abandoned office, carting out the corpses a few minutes later. They did a cursory walk around the area, but otherwise cleaned up and got out in short order.

"I'll buy that someone wants you dead. Looks like they missed their appointed check-in," whispered Marude.

Hide wrote back, Agreed. Let's hold tight here for a while longer to be safe.

Holding her hand up, Akira showed him the same signal. "What did you mean by this? V, right?"

With wide eyes and raised eyebrows, he pointed at Akira as if to say, You know V?

"I at least know enough about them to believe that you need to stay low if they're after you. Not much more."

He passed her another written note. I'm not sure yet how, but they're connected to the Washu family.

"Yeah, go back and explain that to me, too. What makes you say that?" She paused for a moment. "Actually, start with how you came back from the dead just to be Marude's gofer again."

Hide rolled his eyes and pointed to Marude, a silent order for the older investigator to tell the story.

"He knew my weekend joyriding route, flagged me down out on the highway one Sunday. I thought I was seeing a ghost. At first, he just traded small tips for money and tech on the condition I stay silent about him, but the more I give him the more he delivers." Marude shook his head. "He'd probably have my job already if not for how long he was MIA after the battle of the 20th ward."

"What happened," asked Touka quietly. "Why'd you disappear back then?"

Hide's shoulders slumped. He looked at her for a long moment before he wrote his response. I was sneaking around underground during the festivities, and I got a little too close to a kakuja.

"What kind of idiot…" she shook her head. "Nevermind. How do you even survive something like that?"

Adrenaline and shock go a looong way.

Hide wrote on his pad of paper for a long time, then held it up for both women to read.

Akira had to lean in to read his cramped writing in the low light. Ignoring the rushed spelling mistakes, it read: I woke up a while after I was attacked, tried to get out of the sewers and get to a doctor, but I walked under where Director Washu was talking to someone about me—he mentioned that V wanted me dead because they'd clocked me poking around in the records and printing a bunch of suspicious stuff under my login credentials. Stupid of me. He was hoping I'd died in the action like they planned, otherwise I could be a problem…Then Marude walked up and they changed the subject. That's how I knew he wasn't in on it.

He flipped the page and scribbled away again. So I got to Kimi. Almost gave her a heart attack. I had to explain, write out, who I was and how I knew about her and Nishio. She's the one that took care of me. She stole a bunch of antibiotics and stuff from the lab she was interning in. Too bad she wasn't studying plastic surgery!

He flipped it back around and wrote furiously again. This time he held it out towards Touka. After seeing everything with the 20th on the news, she decided to get involved. She wanted to learn about ghoul physiology, so I helped her track down Dr. Kano after I recovered enough.

"All this time, we thought she was taken by him for some reason…Don't tell Nishiki, he might kill you."

Hide shrugged and scribbled away again. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. I'm not scared of him.

Touka frowned. "You were awake that day, huh."

He nodded. Kimi has a plan, kind of. We need some way to get ahold of Kano's knowledge. She's on our side. She's just waiting for the right moment. He thought for a moment. She could do so much better than that bastard, but I guess that the heart has its reasons and all that.

"And the Washus?" Akira was afraid to hear the answer but deep inside she knew she couldn't ignore his accusations.

I heard them talk about reporting to V, but I have no proof. There's a ton of circumstantial evidence that the Washu family intentionally messes up certain investigations. They make bad calls during operations that get a ton of people killed, they put civilian lives in unnecessary danger, they waste tons of money and resources hunting down harmless ghouls and ignore tips on some really obvious bad ones. All I need to take them down is to catch them red-handed. And maybe why they do it, too.

Akira's ever-growing list of cold cases that could be solved if she was just given proper time and support came to mind.

He looked at the two of them, at Marude, then peeked down at the street again. Deciding the coast was clear, he pulled on a chain around his neck to fish a USB drive out from under his collar.

Hide continued to write feverishly. I have the records. This flash drive, and another file in cloud storage. It's set to upload to a public page and send out to various news sites if I don't delay it every week.

"You just need a smoking gun," Akira muttered. That's where the canary trap is stalled out, too, she thought.

He nodded emphatically.

"You could be waiting for a long time. What if the perfect proof never falls in your lap?"

There may never be the perfect proof. I won't wait forever. Hide looked at Marude. The CCG is circling around Aogiri. I've been feeding them information through Marude to help move things along on my schedule instead of theirs. When that final operation kicks off, it's going to be a mess. I'll upload everything then, while they're distracted. Until then, I'll watch for a better opportunity.

Akira looked hard at him, heart breaking a little. "Nagachika…I'm so glad you're alive, but you've been working on this project…living on the run for years now…why? Why are you doing this to yourself?"

He fiddled with his neck gaiter. For a moment, Akira thought she saw a hint of scar on one cheek before it was covered up again.

I already have too much skin in the game. I can't give up now. I promised myself a long time ago that I'd see this through. Kaneki needs help, and I'm going to help him.

He casually punched Touka on the shoulder. She leaned away and glared at him. "Excuse you."

Besides, ghouls live like this just fine. It's just how things are when the CCG is after you. If Touka can handle it so can I.

He peered down at the street again. Checked his phone. Showed the screen to Marude.

Akira glanced over at it. The little dots on the map, presumably the trackers on the bodies of their would-be assassins, were heading towards the back of a small building near the CCG's main office…where they all knew the loading dock to the morgue was.

"I get it," muttered Marude. "The CCG is compromised. But it makes no sense."

Hide looked over at Akira. I think the coast is clear here. I'll walk you back to your car. Besides, I might need my bodyguard again. He threw an arm over Touka's shoulder.

The belligerent ghoul ducked out from under his arm. "Are you trying to get eaten tonight? I'll do it. I'm starving."

"Watch out, Nagachika. She's eating for two," muttered Marude.

Akira scolded him. "Where did you learn to be so rude?"

"What? You said she was pregnant, not fat, right? I just can't win with you."

Touka whipped her head around, eyes burning red. "Call me fat again, old man, and I'll show you how I gained so much weight."

The older man in question took a couple of steps back with a grimace on his face. "Mado, call off your pet!"

"You could just try a sincere apology."

They were all distracted by Hide, making noise for the first time that night. It was a bit garbled, but discernible enough. "Whah?" His eyebrows pressed together, and he looked Touka over with a laser-like focus.

The dark color leeched from Touka's eyes. She blushed and looked away, suddenly transforming from ghoul on the verge of committing her third murder of the night to a shy young woman who didn't like being stared at so intensely. "Uh, yeah. It's true."

Hide gestured wildly to her belly with both hands.

Touka looked unimpressed at his antics. "What?"

Hide quickly scrawled a single word: HOW

"Kaneki." Touka smiled nervously. "He walked into my coffee shop wearing these really cute pinstripe slacks, and the next thing I knew I was pregnant."

Hide stared at her in shock for an endless moment, before he finally shook his head, sighed, and scribbled another note. Never thought you of all people would be a teen mom.

Touka gasped. "You son of a bitch! I am not a teenager! I run my own business!"

He doubled over laughing and gave her a thumbs up.

Back on the street level, Marude split off from their group to go find his motorcycle. He gave Akira and the ghoul a stern glare before he walked off. "Keep her in line. Don't make me regret bringing you in to this. I'm only letting this go as a favor to Nagachika more than anything, but that only goes so far."

Akira nodded. "Of course, sir," she said in placation.

Touka flipped him off as soon as he turned his back.

He can be a bit…rough around the edges, but I'll take what I can get with the assets I'm developing, wrote Hide.

"I got the impression that he thinks you're the asset," quipped Akira.

Hide winked at her. That's what he believes for now, but I'm trying to play the long game.

As they walked back to the car—taking a much longer route to avoid passing by the scene of that evening's double homicide—Akira asked Hide what he was informed on.

"The misconduct surrounding the Yasuhisa family?"

He nodded.

"The Sphinx corporation, too, then?"

He nodded.

"The Sunlit Garden?"

He shook his head no.

"Anything weird about RC scan gates?"

Another head shake.

"Okay, I can give you some of that info. How should I contact you?"

They reached the car and Hide held out a note to both women.

Show me your phones.

He nodded at Touka's, but looked sternly at Akira's. That's a personal phone, right? You don't ever use it for CCG business?

"Of course not. I even turned off location services for tonight. I'm not that dumb."

Hide grabbed both of their phones and tapped away. Within three minutes, they each had a new app—some third-party affair of dubious quality.

Talk through that, the user interface sucks but it's encrypted and secure. I already added myself as a contact. The boy hoisted his bag on his shoulder.

He wrote one last note. It's too dangerous for me to be out in the open like this very often. I'll message you if I need to, and you can contact me if you really have to but keep it to a minimum. I'm compromised, but I don't think anyone suspects you or Marude of being involved. Whatever you do, keep it that way.

He thought for a moment, looked at Touka, then wrote a final message to her.

She read it, nodded, and then impulsively wrapped her arms around him in a long hug. She stepped back and said, "He doesn't make it easy, but I'm trying my best."

With that, he tossed his notepad to the concrete. Pulling a book of matches from his pocket, he struck one and dropped it onto the paper. In short order, the small fire had destroyed any evidence of their conversation that evening and left only ashes.

Nagachika waved goodbye at the two of them, saluted Akira with a smile in his eyes, and waltzed off into the night.

The car ride back was quiet. Both women were exhausted.

Akira spoke in a soft voice so as not to disturb the mood. "What was that last thing Nagachika said to you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"That he's glad me and Kaneki found each other again. He asked me to take good care of his best friend while he couldn't."

"Ah," said Akira. "He's right, that you're young. I think a lot of people your age would be a little more anxious at the thought of a child."

"I don't feel young," scoffed Touka. "In the human world, you have this illusion of safety and time. It's easy to get hung up on your plans for the future or how you think your life should look. I learned a long time ago that the world doesn't give a shit about those things, and it can all get destroyed in the blink of an eye no matter what you do. Now I'm happy with just surviving this long. Anything else I get to have beyond that is…actually kind of amazing."

That answer was surprisingly level-headed to Akira, and surprisingly sad. Maybe she wasn't too young to be a mother, but she was very young to be that world-weary. "That's a harsh lesson to learn."

She let the car cabin lapse back into silence.

Akira's own life was steadily looking less and less like she'd once envisioned. The future where she was a world-class investigator who proudly carried on her parents' work was drifting farther away by the moment. One of these days, she'd have to let it go altogether and embrace the surprising, difficult, fascinating turn her life had taken. Maybe I'm learning that lesson right now.

"Hey Akira," said Touka after a few minutes.

"Yes?"

Touka spoke, barely above a whisper. "Hide said he got too close to a kakuja during the battle of the 20th ward, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did. Maybe telling Haise that Nagachika survived isn't the best course of action for the moment."

There was a heavy silence.

"I was afraid of that," grumbled Touka.

"For now, we keep everything we learned tonight between us. Let Nagachika be the one to tell his story when it's safe for him to come forward. Until then, he's a ghost."

Now, I have good news and bad news: I'm going on vacation for the next couple of weeks, and my access to wifi/free time to upload chapters is going to be questionable at best. Since this is a good non-cliffhanger stopping point, I'm going to pause the main story for a couple of weeks…but I put together a little intermission chapter that I'll post in a couple of days before I get on the plane.

Next Time: Amon has to buy a spark plug.