Time passed and it was time to attack the two hideouts Akuma had told them about.

Currently, Ryusei was in his field outfit, the Amazon Driver at his waist. He was standing next to Juuzo in the control room with the group of soldiers they were going to lead into the warehouse. Arima, Kotaro and Akira stood in front of them, explaining where to go.

"The warehouse will be teeming with ghouls as it serves as a training ground for new recruits. Your orders are to kill or capture any ghouls you find as you search the premises for valuable information." Says Akira.

"To give a few examples, this will include maps, documents, newspapers, anything the ghouls are hiding. Make sure you search high and low. They're tricky creatures and we have no doubt they may have something planned for you." Kotaro added.

"Remember, we don't expect many of you to survive the assault, but your efforts won't be forgotten. You can leave whenever you're ready." Arima concluded.

Juuzo and Ryusei bowed to the trio and turned to face the soldiers.

"You heard them, let's go." Ryusei laughed as he fully attached the Amazon Drive, letting out the eerie sound that served as a holding sound.

The soldiers all nodded and left the control room. Juuzo walked beside Ryusei.

"How do you feel about leading this attack? As far as I know. You've done nothing of the sort." he asked.

"You're right. I never have. But it's not exactly pleasant for me to be in charge. Everyone's life rests on my shoulders. If even one man dies. I'll be the most affected." Ryusei replied.

"Well, we all signed up for this kind of work. We all knew what we were getting into. It's not a shock if you die on a mission or not." Juuzo said, trying to put his friend into perspective.

"Yeah, I know, but it doesn't make it any easier." Ryusei sighed, to which Juuzo patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, though. I'll do what I can to try and protect the soldiers."

Ryusei nodded slightly and they all climbed into the CCG trucks. Once inside, they set off. The truck he and Juuzo were in had at least 20-30 soldiers. They weren't real investigators, since they only had rifles instead of quinques. Ryusei heard his phone ring and picked it up to see that it was Akira calling. He answered and put the phone to his ear.

"Akira?"

"Yes. I just wanted to let you know that my team has left and is heading for the 19th arrondissement." Akira explained.

"Okay. My team and I are on our way to the 22nd district. It's still a ways off, but we'll get there eventually."

"Got it. And remember to be careful. It won't just be recruits, there's bound to be stronger ghouls."

"Understood. Be careful on your end too, okay?" Amazon asked.

"Don't worry about me. I'll see you when it's all over."

Then she hung up. Ryusei put his phone in his pocket and continued to wait.

Finally, they arrived just as the truck came to a halt. And Ryusei looked at the soldiers.

"All right, everyone. This is it. We don't know if the ghouls know we're coming, so keep your finger on the trigger while we're inside. Orders are to capture/kill any ghouls we find. I'd prefer to capture them, but only do it if they're weak or surrender. Does everyone understand?"

"Chief, yes chief!" the soldiers shouted.

Ryusei nodded.

"Good. Let's move..."

They left the truck and saw other squads of soldiers. Each composed of around 20-30 soldiers. Ryusei estimated that around 80-90 soldiers had joined this assault.

"Okay people, keep your finger on the trigger and make sure your weapons are full. Once we go in, there's no turning back. Everybody ready?"

Each soldier nodded. Ryusei turned to face the warehouse. It didn't look like anything special, but that was the problem. You could never tell where the ghouls were hiding. Most of the time (or rather, all the time), they hid in plain sight.

He fully strapped on the Amazon Driver while Juuzo pulled out his knives.

"Juuzo, take some soldiers with you and explore the area. See if you can get a visual." he ordered.

He nodded and pointed to a few soldiers.

"All of you! Come with me."

They nodded and left with Juuzo. While they did this, the rest of the team waited. Ryusei looked at the soldiers.

"Does anyone here have smoke grenades?"

A few raised their hands. He approached one of them and held out his hand.

"Give me two. I'll go in alone and keep them away from the entrance. As soon as you hear gunfire, rush inside and start shooting."

The soldier nodded and handed him two smoke grenades. The soldiers all made sure their weapons were ready to fire.

He turned towards the entrance and entered the warehouse. The door was unlocked, which was strange, but he paid it no further attention. As he entered, he thought he heard people talking. Slowly, he made his way inside, keeping his head down. The entrance was a narrow corridor, perfect for laying a trap. He walked silently down the corridor and the voices became louder. When he reached the end, he saw that the next room was giant, with tall shelves stacked with boxes. The voices seemed to be coming from the other side.

He hid behind one of the shelves and peered in. Indeed, I saw people dressed in robes. They had their hoods up, but he could see the faint outline of a mask one of them was wearing. The masks and capes were identical to those worn by the ghouls in Akuma's tower.

He turned to hide before any of them saw him as he felt his phone vibrate. He picked it up and answered.

"We have eyes on ghouls in a large room. They're carrying boxes and one seems to be eating." Juuzo said.

Ryusei glanced again and saw that in the background there was a ghoul eating meat.

"Yeah, I see them. Where are you?" Ryusei whispered.

"Look up."

He looked up at the ceiling and realized there was a skylight. There he saw Juuzo watching him. He greeted him with a wave of his hand. His friend laughed softly and nodded.

"Okay, on my signal, get your men ready to shoot." he whispered before hanging up.

He took out the two smoke grenades. He pulled the pins and rolled them towards the ghouls. Seconds later, they both exploded, obscuring the area.

"Huh?!"

"What's that?!"

"Amazon..."

Omega! Evolu-E-Evolution!

Amazon Omega entered the smoke, going to one of the ghouls and stabbing him in the back with one of his hands and I covered his mouth, making sure he couldn't scream, nobody having heard the transformation jingle. He then rushed towards the one at the back who was eating. He had a gun in his hand and noticed it a second too late as I cut off his head.

"What's going on?! Sound the alarm!"

A ghoul reined him in from behind. Suppose a third ghoul saw him and realized it was an ambush. Amazon Omega slammed his head against the ghoul's face, causing it to lose its hold on him. He then pivoted and thrust one of his arms into its belly and tore it apart violently, causing its entrails to burst and fall to the ground. He then stabbed her in the throat, killing her.

An alarm then went off.

"Fuck it." Amazon Omega growled.

The smoke cleared and he looked out the back door to see a whole group of ghouls. All had their kagunes out.

"You've got nowhere to go, you...! What the hell are you?" asked one of the ghouls, trying to sound threatening before realizing they didn't know who the intruder was.

"I'm a lot of things. But you can call me Amazon Omega. Or..." Amazon Omega replied, raising a hand. "...Investigator."

Then he clenched his fist, signalling to Juuzo and the other soldiers that it was their turn to play.

They immediately opened fire through the glass while Juuzo jumped up and stabbed one ghoul in the throat and threw another knife into another ghoul's eye. The ghouls were taken by surprise and saw their attention drawn to the skylights.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" shouted one of the ghouls.

Amazon Omega rushed at the ghouls. One of them pulled out a Rinkaku kagune and tried to hit him with its tentacles. He jumped to the side then rushed at the ghoul, pulling the right handle of the Amazon Driver, tearing it off as a sword blade sprang up. He used it to pierce the ghoul's chest, coughing up blood and screaming in pain. Amazon Omega pushed him off my blade, dropping him to the ground.

Juuzo leapt over Amazon Omega's head to attack a Bikaku Ghoul who tried to catch him with his kagune. He plunged his two knives into the ghoul's neck and slit its throat, spurting blood everywhere. Juuzo just laughed as the blood painted his face and clothes.

"I'd better not piss him off... it's worrying the level of psychopathy at that age." Amazon Omega thought.

The rest of the soldiers began to shoot and kill the remaining ghouls. All but a few of the remaining ghouls were slaughtered. They raised their hands in surrender and dropped to their knees.

"P-please... Don't kill us..." begged one ghoul.

"Juuzo, ask the soldiers to handcuff them and take them outside." Amazon Omega ordered.

He nodded and looked at some of the soldiers.

"You heard him." Juuzo said.

Two soldiers nodded and approached the surrendering Ghouls. They handcuffed them and kept their guns pointed at them at all times while they were escorted.

"That was easier than I expected." Said Juuzo with his usual insouciance.

"No... Something's wrong here. A hiding place would have been better prepared than this. I'll go for a walk, you stay here with the rest of the soldiers." Said Amazon Omega.

"Are you sure you're going alone?" Juuzo asked.

"Yeah."

He went through the back door where the other ghouls had come from, finding a corridor there that went off to the right. There was another door at the end. He stepped forward and opened it. As soon as he did, he encountered another corridor, this time to the left. It seemed a little larger than the previous corridor. He walked smoothly down the corridor, opened the door at the end and found himself in a large, simple-looking room.

He entered and saw that there were a few mannequins that appeared to have been used for training. Some of Ukaku's feathers were still visible in the dummies. He walked over to one of the many mannequins and looked at the feathers inside. They looked dark purple with red. He took out a feather and looked at it more closely. The one it came out of was stronger than the typical ghoul wearing Ukaku.

"Damn doves..." Said a young boy's voice followed.

He turned his head and saw a child of about 12 with blue eyes and messy blue hair. He wore a hooded, long-sleeved black leather jacket and black pants, as well as knee-high black boots.

"A child? Here?" Amazon Omega thought to himself.

He gritted his teeth in anger.

"I may still be a kid, but I can still kick your ass!" He shouted before unleashing his Ukaku kagune.

The color of his kagune matched that of the feather Amazon Omega was holding. He dropped the feather and faced the kid.

"I don't want to fight a kid."

"Shut up and die dove!" shouted the child, before rushing at his enemy, trying to dropkick him.

Amazon Omega sheathed his blade and passed underneath. He then tried to land an overhead kick, but Amazon Omega used his arms to block it.

He pushed him back and landed on his two feet.

" You bastard!"

"Fuck... Since when are kids rude?" Said Amazon Omega just having fun pissing off the kid.

The boy leaned over and threw a barrage of feathers at me. Amazon Omega simply crossed his arms to protect himself from the shots.

He turned his head to see what his opponent was planning to do. The child let out an angry cry and charged at him. He was about to hit him, but Amazon Omega simply stepped aside. He tried to follow up with a kick to the stomach, but stepped back. Once again, he tried to follow and this time thrust his fist towards his belly. He took another step to the side and held out his arm. He let it rush headlong towards his arm, causing it to collide and fall.

"Swinging wildly won't do you any good kid." Ryusei smiled.

"Stop calling me that, you bastard!"

He jumped to his feet and was about to kick him. And he dodged again, but this time Amazon Omega kicked him in the stomach. He may have been tough, but he still didn't know how to deal with pain, despite his superhuman nature. He let out a grunt of pain. Amazon Omega then threw him a right hook, causing him to stumble. He let him recover as he shook his head.

But there was another reason for this... even though with time and training he could keep his instincts under control, all the blood spilt during the attack had started to make him hungry. And he had to restrain himself so as not to devour even a tiny morsel of the child.

"I hate you so much!

"Is that how you feel, you and the other children of your race?" Amazon Omega asked.

The child clenched his fists and tried to hit him again. This time, Amazon Omega blocked his blow with a punch of its own. When their points collided, the child stepped back holding his hand and screaming in pain, several of his fingers broken on impact. He fell to his knees and clenched his fist. Amazon Omega crouched down beside the boy.

The child tried to back away, but he wouldn't let him. Instead, he gently grabbed his hand.

"I don't kill ghouls who can be redeemed, especially children. You have nothing to fear." He said calmly.

"I'm not afraid of you! I'm going to kill you! You and all the other doves out there!" shouted the child.

"As it is, best case scenario, you'll have so much projectile up your ass, you'll be able to serve as an ammunition cupboard." Amazon Omega joked, causing the child to laugh bitterly. "What's your name?"

"What's it to you?!" the child asked.

"Because you're the youngest ghoul I've ever had to face. I want to know more about how you got into this mess." Said Amazon Omega, still calm despite the boy's aggression.

"Why should I tell you?! You're probably going to kill me anyway!"

Amazon Omega shook his head.

"Believe it or not, but I'm not that kind of detective. It's not your fault you feed on humans. I just want ghouls and humans to live together in peace. But with ghouls killing for pleasure, or feeding on more than they need, that's not going to happen. If you want to change things, you have to deal with problems step by step, and greedy ghouls and racist inspectors are the ones my position allows me to deal with best." he explained.

"Tch, and why should I believe you?" Asked the child.

"I don't know, maybe because I didn't kill you and gave the order to capture those who surrendered or were too weak."

The boy looked down, while Amazon Omega held his hand and checked his fist. It was slightly bruised but was already healing, slowly.

As for the boy, he realized something: the smell of this investigator was rather strange, neither that of a human, nor that of a ghoul, it was something else.

"Ayato."

The detective looked up into his face.

"Hmm?"

"My name. It's Ayato Kirishima."

Amazon Omega nodded.

"Nice to meet you Ayato. I'm Ryusei Fujita." He introduced himself, unbuckling his belt slightly, deactivating his transformation.

"Why do you care about ghouls and then kill them?" Ayato asked.

"I told you. I don't kill ghouls that can be redeemed. I understand that killing and eating humans is part of your nature. In the same way that we humans kill and eat animals. I don't blame you, I can't blame you if you don't have a choice. But as I said earlier, there are also ghouls who kill more than they need to. They're the ones I kill."

"So... You spare some Ghouls and kill others? How do you know which is which?"

"The way they act. The way they talk. There are a lot of factors I'm not going to detail." Ryusei replied, rising to his feet. "I'm going to let you off with a little warning. Get out of here and stay away from the Aogiri tree. Those ghouls are nothing but trouble."

"They're everything I've ever known. I've got no choice. I can't turn my back on them."

His answer made Ryusei sigh.

"There's always a choice, you just have to have the courage to make the right one. Goodbye Ayato. If we meet again, I hope it will be under better circumstances."

He left the young ghoul in the training room and set off. He rejoined Juuzo and told him there was nothing else. All the ghouls were taken care of. As it was mission accomplished, they were allowed to leave. No one wanted to stay here, so they left immediately.

On the way back, Ryusei thought about the boy he'd fought. He knew that the Aogiri Tree had committed horrible deeds, but was it simply for the good of their own race, or did they have another objective in mind?

The next morning, Ryusei had just woken up. He rubbed his eyes and saw his phone light up. He picked it up carelessly, due to fatigue, and looked at the notification. It was a message from Kishou Arima.

"Come to the control room, now. We've got something for you."

He sighed and put his phone to one side. He threw back the blanket and got out of bed. He dressed in his normal black T-shirt, torn black jeans and black boots. As soon as he'd changed, he left his room and headed down the corridor. He rubbed his eyes, making sure to keep them open. Before entering the control room.

He opened the door and saw that everyone was busy as usual. Akira, Kotaro and Kishou were standing in the middle of the room, talking to each other.

He went towards them and they noticed him as I walked towards them.

"You wanted to see me, Arima?"

"Yes, I did. Akira, would you like to do the honors?" Arima replied.

She nodded, but I frowned when I heard "honors". What did he mean by that?

"Ryusei, you've risen through the ranks at an incredibly remarkable rate. You've done more in such a short time than most investigators do in their entire careers, and we all think you deserve a title to reward it. It is therefore with the greatest pleasure that I promote you from rank 1 Investigator to Special Class Assistant Investigator. Congratulations."

Ryusey's eyes widened at this. He had completely skipped the rank of first-class investigator?! Not only that, but he was a top investigator at 19?! Everyone looked away from their computers and applauded. A few cheers escaped their mouths as they applauded.

Kotaro shook his hand.

"Congratulations Ryusei.

"Congratulations." Akira added.

Kishou smiled and shook my hand.

"Congratulations Ryusei. I'm proud of you." he said.

Ryusei felt his eyes fill with tears and he couldn't help but hug the three of them. Kishou was the most surprised, but he hugged him back. We stayed like that for a few seconds before parting. Ryusei wiped my eyes.

"T-Thank you, guys. This means a lot to me."

"Oh, we know. That's why..." Akira said before nodding to Kotaro.

The latter went to a desk and picked up a large box. He brought it to us and opened it, revealing a cake. It was a chocolate cake with a sentence written in chocolate syrup. It read "Congratulations on your promotion!"

This didn't fail to make Amazon laugh.

"You didn't have to."

"Nonsense! Ryusei, we've seen you grow from a scared introverted boy to a handsome young man. You mean a lot to us." Akira smiled.

"Not only that, but you've been a great friend to all of us." Kotaro added.

"Am I late?!"

Ryusei turned and saw Juuzo running into the room. He threw his arms around him and hugged him.

"Congratulations Ryusei!"

"Hehe! Thanks Juuzo!"

Akira and Kotaro smiled at the interaction. Kishou handed Ryusei a knife.

"Go ahead. It's your cake." he said.

He nodded and took the knife. He cut the cake and obtained the first slice. Akira brought out plates and spoons and they spent the rest of the day celebrating. Ryusei thought it was nice to have fun and not worry about the next affair.