I shoved my book back into my bag and started walking home, leaving through the front gate and popping my bluetooth earbuds in. Music blared through my ears as I headed away from the school, idle thoughts swirling through my head. There weren’t many people around, but anyone that was there seemed to be rushing to get somewhere. I frowned and took an earbud out, looking around. 

There was nothing out of the ordinary other than the lack of people, so I shrugged and popped my earbud back in before continuing along. A moment later a man with black and red eyes ran around the corner, a kagune spiralled around his arm.

 I barely had time to stumble a step back before he slammed me against the wall, positioning his kagune in front of my chest. “I’ll kill him! I swear I’ll kill him! Leave me alone!”

I struggled in his grip,earbuds and glasses falling to the ground as he slammed me against the concrete again. He pressed the tip of his kagune to my chest and squeezed my neck. “Stop squirming you little brat!”

Three boys came around the corner wearing masks over their eyes and dressed in black, led by a Ghoul Investigator in a white coat. She wore a black eye patch over one eye and held a pair of daggers, and she narrowed her eyes at the ghoul who had me by the throat. “Why should we care? Take him out if you want. Less ghouls for us to deal with anyway.”

The grip vanished and I fell to the ground, coughing as he jerked back from me with eyes wide. “You’re a gh-!?”

One of the daggers appeared in his eye, and before he could move an inch the Investigator was on him. Even without my glasses, I could make out the carnage unfolding as the blades ripped in and out of his flesh. The gurgling stopped but the squelching of bloody flesh did not, watching in horror as the investigator tore off the ghoul’s head with a smile. “Take this back to Furuta. He’ll want it for his little show.”

One of the boys took the head from her, and I slowly reached for my things. She turned as my hands closed around my glasses and I jerked back into the wall, pressing myself against it. She watched me for a while, then smiled. “It’s alright, you’re safe now. I just had to get him away from you, you were never in any danger.”

My breaths came quicker, and she glanced down at my red stained clothes. “Oh! Sorry, I got a little carried away. Please, take this to buy a new uniform.” She held out a bundle of notes, and after a few moments I took it with shaking hands. Her smile remained as she stood, extending a hand to help me up. “Don’t worry, in a few hours this entire ward will be safe. We’ll exterminate all the ghouls, and Tokyo will be the first place in the world to have eradicated their scourge.”

I said nothing, still terrified by the woman smiling in front of me. One of the boys cleared his throat. “Furuta wants us to clear this section in ten minutes. The cleanup crews can take care of this guy.”

The woman nodded. “Alright, just wait here for a bit. Bye then!” 

I nodded numbly, and they walked down the street as if nothing had happened. 

For a minute or so I didn't move, keeping absolutely still as if they would come for me next for breathing wrong. After the second minute I fumbled for my earbuds, staggering to my feet and stumbling towards the nearest building with the wooman’s psychotic smile burned into my mind.

)o( 

“MROW!”

My eyes flew open to find two blue ones an inche from my face, a paw resting on my nose. Sumi meowed again, and I took a deep breath as lifted a hand to pet her. “I’m fine. Sorry. Bad dream.” 

She settled down and curled up next to me again, and I closed my eyes. The Investigator with the eyepatch. I took another deep breath, then got up and took a cold shower. After that wonderful experience back then the CCG medics arrived and told me my larynx was bruised. It wasn’t too serious, but talking wasn’t fun.

I took a shower and pulled on a set of clean clothes before pulling the curtains back to look outside. A little past midday. Might as well make use of the daylight. I stood up and stretched my arms above my head, yawning and rolling my joints. I feel stiff. Sumi yawned as well, revealing rows of long sharp teeth as she stretched twice. While she groomed I packed everything away and wiped down whatever I’d touched, which wasn’t much. We finished at around the same time, and I pulled out Sumi’s collar. “Come on, let’s get going.”

I checked out of the motel and headed out onto the bustling streets, dropping the carrier by a trash bin as Sumi settled down on top of my sling bag. I tied her leash to my wrist just to be safe, then continued along the border towards the 19th. With so many people out and about, I could pass unnoticed as just another face in the crowd. I took advantage of the situation to buy a new phone, one of the older models that were on sale at a nearby tech store. Still, the crowd wouldn’t stop the Doves walking around the area.

Every hour or so a patrol passed by, and every time they did my hand rested on Sumi. They’ve really ramped up security despite their manpower issues. Fortunately for me, there were plenty of distractions for the CCG to be looking at. Every few streets there were people arguing about ghoul rights, groups with hate signs and others with the Great Wheel Act’s flag all getting into shouting matches that drew eyes.

It took a considerable amount of effort not to start throwing hands when some of the more vocal anti-ghoul protesters began making very Nazi-esque speeches, but as much as I wanted to start listing flaws in their argument and their personal hygiene I couldn’t afford the attention. Just keep walking; you’re not here to play hero. I distracted myself by focusing on my surroundings, checking reflective surfaces and making sure nobody was tailing me.

Sumi helped to take attention away from my face as well; anyone who stopped to look in my direction focused on the cute kitty rather than the guy holding her. Sometimes she would jump down to walk as I kept moving, hopping back onto the bag when she got tired. Every now and then a kid and their parents would come up asking to pet her, but after she started growling the first time I decided to go with the topical medication excuse and keep walking.

I kept moving until the sun went down, asking around for local recommendations before checking into another motel for a marginally lower price than the last one. While Sumi played with a bouncy ball I put my spare SIM card in my new phone, but it hadn’t even been two minutes after I’d activated the number when my phone started ringing. There are a few people who have this number, but only one bold enough to call me so soon after seeing the news yesterday. “Hello?”

“Tojikou! Where have you been?!”

I cringed. “Kurona! I told you not to use that name.”

“Well, I’m not calling you something as ridiculous as ‘Iitsu Kamo’.”

I sighed. “Well, you don’t have to; That identity’s been burned, now I’m Teru Kouto.”

She went silent for a few moments at that. “Kaneki’s a bit sore that I still haven’t joined Goat yet, I didn’t know he was planning to make a move on you. I’d heard about preparations to move on a target in the 6th but I had no idea-”

“It’s fine, no point worrying about it now.” Her character is hard to pin down, but I don’t think she would have ratted me out.

“I’ve been trying this number since last night. Where are you?”

…better safe than sorry. “I hopped a few Wards over. With Eyepatch hunting me I need a new alias and a place to lie low until this blows over.”

She was silent for a few moments before responding. “I’m not so sure it will. Ever since the Dragon incident two years ago Kaneki has kept off the field, and his friends at Goat have strongly opposed him going back into combat. He’s indulged their requests and concerns for a long time, but now he’s changed his mind because of you. I don’t know if he’s angry that you’re disturbing his so-called ‘peace’ or if he just feels the need to be useful, but he’s motivated. All routes out of the country have been put on maximum security, I was worried you’d try to get overseas.”

I sighed. “They really did crack down on the borders huh? I thought I was being a bit paranoid, but I guess not. What’s their sweep plan?”

“They’ve drawn up a two-ward perimeter and are working from the outside in. Good thing you’re a lot faster than they think, or you’d be caught right in the middle of it.”

Before I could respond Sumi meowed at me, scratching at her collar. I leaned down and undid the clip, and as she shook her coat out there was a sigh on the other end of the phone. “You still have the cat?”

“Her name is Sumi, and yes. She’s good company, and a boy with a cat is the last thing a Dove would suspect. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“Just one. They didn’t announce this, but the Quinx squad will be accompanying Kaneki as he searches for you." 

I didn’t move. ….Quinx? “When you say ‘Quinx’-”

“I mean the Doves with kagune implanted in them. You’ll want to write this down.”

I pulled my notebook from my bag, starting on a new page as she spoke. “First of all, Urie Kuki. His eyes look kind of triangular and he has two moles under his left eye. He’s a First Class Investigator with an SS Quinque, Ginkui. It’s a black katana that can manifest tentacles with mouths at the ends, and it can be remotely activated. In addition to this he has at least two koukaku, one under each shoulder. They can both manifest as blades, but he’s also managed to create a shield before. His speed is somewhat lacking, but his physical strength is more than enough to overwhelm you.”

I scowled. “Power type huh? Open spaces will be a problem. Next?”

“Yonebashi Saiko, Rank 2 Investigator. She’s short with blue-grey hair, hard to miss. She has a quinque but never really uses it, so you don’t need to worry about that. Her kagune is the real problem; she’s a rinkaku with unparalleled kagune-manipulation abilities. She can make fifty normal sized hands or two gigantic ones, and either way she packs a mean swing. Her physical strength is pitiful, but her kagune makes her a wild card at any range.”

“Mm. So you’re saying I need to keep the battle at very long range or extremely close range?”

“Easier said than done, but yeah. The last one is Tooru Mutsuki, a bikaku user. She has light green hair and usually wears an eyepatch, and she looks fairly thin. Her physical strength is sorta in between, and she’s kind of like an all-rounder in terms of Quinque and Kagune. She has too many small knives to count and two close combat daggers. In terms of knife usage she’s been trained by Suzuya, so be very careful. Her kagune is also pretty hard to deal with, since she can manipulate its shape almost as well as Yonebashi can. There have also been reports of her copying the kagune of others.”

Oh, her; the one I just had a nightmare about. Wonderful. I finished off my notes and skimmed over what I’d written. “So, just to recap, I have the One Eyed King, a brute strength Special Class, a Quinx who has 100% control over her kagune and - to top it all off - a Quinx who has knives, Special-Class training and 75% control over her kagune. All with the sole purpose of killing me.”

She went silent for a few moments. Then she sighed. “No. That’s not all. I know that you already plan to do this, but be very careful to avoid combat with more than one or two of them. The other members of the squad are relatively weak, but when they work together they’re a force to be reckoned with. There are almost a dozen members in total, so even if you manage to pick off one or two it won’t matter in the grand scheme of things.”

I sighed. “Great.”

We were both silent for a while after that, and I took a breath. “Thank you, Kuro. I know how risky it is for you to do this.”

There was a small laugh on the other end. “That’s what friends are for. Call me when you have your roots down somewhere.”

“Sure. Bye.”

 “Bye.”