The next morning my head hurt. A lot. I groaned as I sat up, grinding the heel of my palm into my head. Motherfucker- “Luro?”

There was no response. I looked next to me and found him leaning against the couch, drooling into the cushions next to me. “LURO!”

 I slapped him and he jolted awake, falling over. “Hey!”

I narrowed my eyes. “What am I doing here?”

“Don’t you remember? You drank a beer and got wasted, so I had you crash with me rather than go home drunk.”

I scowled. “This is your fault!”

He smiled that goofy, stupid smile of his. “Don’t worry, I messaged your mother and sister while you were asleep. It was so adorable how you didn’t want me to lea-”

“Okay I get it!” I sighed and leaned back, flopping onto the couch. “I remember most of what happened. Including the part about the brat.”

He sighed and put his chin on the armrest. “Aaaand now I get to talk about it with sober Loren. You know he’s practically harmless, said so yourself, so what’s the deal?”

I sighed and pushed my hair out of my face. “He’s hiding something and it’s driving me crazy. I get that he doesn’t trust me as far as he can throw me, but things aren’t adding up. He’s too cautious, too perceptive, too quiet.”

Luro sighed. “Listen, after what happened to your dad I know you’re a bit protective about your family. But this? This is different. That kid is just a kid from a broken home who’s trying to make a place for himself. If he’s really dangerous he would be smart enough to know not to live where two Investigators work, and that’s just the start. You need to let it go, Loren; sooner rather than later. Now get up, you’re helping me make breakfast.”

Without waiting for my reply he stood and opened the fridge, and after a moment I sighed and got to my feet. He chucked a packet of chinese sausages at me as I entered the kitchen. “Drop those on the counter, I’ll cook them after I get the noodles started. We’re doing Somen, you can make the dipping sauce.”

After a few minutes there was a quiet creak of floorboards, and I looked up from the mixing bowl to see Luro’s younger sister standing in the doorway to her room. I waved hello at her, but she turned to look at her brother instead. “Why do you only bring the drunk man over when he’s drunk?”

Luro laughed. “Kiki, manners.”

“Fine. Good morning drunk man.”

I scowled. “You know my name is Loren.”

“And you know alcohol is bad for you.”

Luro snorted, stifling his laughter as I shot him a withering look. “You can blame your brother; he’s the one who ordered me the beer in the first place.”

“Nii-chan says that he only does it if you get grumpy and want to do something stupid.”

I scowled. “Well maybe your brother should stop telling a ten year old about my problems.”

“He doesn’t talk about your problems, but to me, you are the problem.”

Luro shook with muffled laughter as my eye twitched, and I swallowed the colourful language I had prepared. “Shouldn’t you be in school by now?”

Luro smiled. “School’s out for a few days, a sinkhole collapsed under part of the foundations so they’re suspending classes for a bit. Kiki’s teachers tell me that she’s like this whenever someone annoys her. I know I shouldn't encourage it, but sometimes I like to let her at it so I can steal some of her lines.”

I finished mixing the sauce and put it on the table. “You’ll regret it when she hits puberty and starts using these lines on you.”

Kiki set the table, and I poured sauce into each of the cups as Luro brought the sausages and the noodles. “Alright, let’s eat.”

We sat in silence for a while, dipping the cold noodles in sauce before eating them. Kiki munched on her sausage as she told Luro about the upcoming parent-teacher conferences, and after we were done I helped to do the dishes. Luro changed into his uniform, and I sighed. “I’ll head back home now. See you at the office.”

“See you. Tell them I said ‘hi’, and ‘you're welcome’.”

I rolled my eyes. “Funny.”

The walk back to the house was slower than I would have liked, but when I arrived I still had half an hour before my shift started. I walked inside to find Liana already dressed and Mom preparing to interview a new employee, both stopping to look at me as I entered. “Luro says ‘hi’ and ‘you’re welcome’. I already ate at his place.”

Liana put her hands on her hips. “That’s your hangover face. Did you seriously get drunk on a work night?”

I scowled. “He ordered the beer.”

“You know he only does that if he thinks you’re about to do something stupid. And he’s usually right.”

I brushed past her. “Whatever! I’m going to get changed.”

I shut the door to my room behind me and changed into my uniform, not bothering to iron my white coat before putting it on and grabbing my Quinque. My headache subsided somewhat, and I chugged half a bottle of water before I stepped out of my room. Liana was waiting by the front door on her phone. “We’re taking the car today since you came back so late.”

“Fine. I’ll drive.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Whatever!”

When we arrived at the office Luro and Kaji were already there, and Luro tossed me a paper bag. “You didn’t eat any sausages. If I leave them at home with her unsupervised, Kiki will overdo it on salt. You two can share them on your rounds.”

Liana smiled. “Thanks. And for dealing with my brother too.”

I brushed past and shoved the bag at her, heading for the desk to check in. “Hurry up, we’re gonna be late.”

She rolled her eyes and checked in next to me, but before we could walk away her friend looked up. “Oh, before you go; the chief wants to speak to you two again."

Liana’s head snapped around immediately and I scowled. “Don’t look at me, I didn’t do anything this time!”

She narrowed her eyes. “You better hope so, cause this isn’t exactly a good look for us if you’re wrong.”

The door was open when we arrived, and he waved us in. “Close the door behind you and take a seat. There’s something I want to discuss with you two.” We did as he said, and he sat at his desk. “As you may have heard, Ninetail slipped the perimeter set up around his hideout. For the past few weeks the One-Eyed King and the Quinx have been searching for leads, but they haven’t found anything substantial. As it stands, that gun from the hijacking case is the closest we have to a lead.”

I managed not to say I-told-you-so, reaching for my phone. “I got an interview from the kid who had the gun, his story wasn’t much good from what I could tell but if you think it might help-”

The chief shook his head. “Analysts didn’t manage to pull anything useful from the gun, and none of the ghouls are willing to talk; by now any trail it linked to would be cold. It’s more the timing and area ; an Investigator was killed in a nearby ward around the time Ninetail went on the run, and since it’s all we have to go on all of the surrounding wards are to be on high alert. I’ll be making an announcement to the rest of the staff later today, but I want you two to focus on this case.”

I exchanged a glance with Liana. “What case?”

Chief Kang steepled his fingers. “That’s what I want you to figure out. Make sure no troublemakers have slipped in; you two grew up, you know the 19th Ward better than anyone and you’ve got connections. If something seems off, take a small squad and investigate. The odds that the killing and Ninetail are linked is low, but it’s not zero. If he’s here, we need to know. You’ll have conference room 5 reserved for you at all times, and tell the analysts your requests take priority. Keep watch over this ward, and make sure the citizens are safe.”

So those rumours meant something after all. Liana and I saluted the chief. “Yes sir. If he’s here, we’ll find him.”

He nodded, then sighed. “There is one…wrinkle. They sent a Goat member to assist, a rather infamous one too. Naki of the White Suites will be working with you as the Goat representative.”

For a few moments I was stunned into silence. No fucking way. There is no FUCKING WAY I am working with a CRIMINAL! “You can’t be serious! Naki?! He’s a psychopath, and a murderer d a criminal!”

Liana shook her head. “I….I have to agree with my brother this time Chief Kang. Naki is an S rate, he’s killed dozens of Investigators, and he’s not exactly an intellectual.”

“ ‘Course I’m not entelectual! Do I look like a guy who studies bugs to you!?”

I spun around, hand on my Quinque’s trigger. A ghoul with blonde hair and a white suit was standing in the doorway, scowling at us. I didn't turn my back to the criminal, gritting my teeth. “Chief, please tell me we have a backup.”

“Sorry boy, but this part is non-negotiable. The instructions from Chairman Marude were very clear: it’s a joint op, he expects full cooperation. What Naki lacks in intelligence he makes up for in combat, so you two will be in charge of the operation. Technically he isn’t your subordinate, but try to think of him as one to make things easier.”

I scowled. “Great. Any other handicaps you want to spring on us or is that it?”

“That’s all. Dismissed. And….good luck.”

Liana sighed. “We’re gonna need it.”

Naki sneered. “Don’t sound so cocky brats! Learn to respect your seniors!”

Liana and I walked past him. “Speak for yourself,-”

“-I mean, walking in here without greeting the Chief?”

“That’s just rude.”

Kang chuckled. “Now now you two, play nice.”

We rolled our eyes in unison. “Fine.”

“This way.”

We headed down the hall and I flashed Liana a look, holding up three fingers. She nodded, and I split off to enter a lift. Naki frowned. “Where are you going?”

I glanced at my watch disinterestedly. “Just follow my sister.”

The doors closed before he could respond, and I scowled. They saddled us with a fucking murderer. And not a very bright one either; I’m not sure if that’s better or worse. I stormed out of the lift on the third floor straight to the records section, rapping my knuckles on Kaji’s desk. “Every incident from the past week and everything we have on Ninetail, top priority.”

He looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Top priority? I’m still filing reports about the trainjacking-”

“And Chief Kang wants me and my sister to babysit Naki while trying to figure out if Ninetail has snuck into the ward. Get me the damn files.”

He whistled and cleared his throat. “Well, good luck with that.”

Drawers rolled open and shut as he walked around the room, pulling sheets of paper from boxes. After a few minutes he handed over a few folders labelled with the corresponding dates, and a thin manila envelope. When he didn’t go get more I raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Where’s the rest!”

He crossed his arms. “That’s all there is. You can count the number of people who have survived an encounter with him on two hands, and the number of people who have actually gotten a good look at him on one. The 6^th might have something else on him, but that’s all I’ve got. I’ll have Luro call the office there to check, but don’t get your hopes up.”

I scowled. “This is bullshit.”

He shrugged. “It is what it is.”

When I reached conference room 5 I could hear Naki shouting, and my scowl deepened. Great. I opened the door to find Liana standing with her arms crossed and Naki leaning over the table. “I don’t know what sort of ‘tactics’ you think you know, but we can’t just go stalking people at night. Besides, this is Ninetail we’re talking about! He’s not fool enough to overlook two people carrying large cases and a fucking ghoul tailing him!”

“They’re called tic-tacs! Stop talking about candy! All you need to do is identify him and I’ll take care of the rest while you two cower in the corner!”

I slammed the files on the table, sending Naki a sharp look.  “Shut the fuck up and listen Ghoul, cause I’m only going to say this once. Ninetail could skin you alive while fighting both of us at the same time and still be bored enough to play sudoku on his phone. He’s about three times as dangerous as you are, so stop being an idiot and sit the fuck down.”

The ghoul’s eyes turned black. “You calling me WEAK!? Let’s go a few rounds then! I’ll show you how I earned my place in the 13th Ward as Jason’s number two!”

I barked out a laugh. “You really want to go?"

Liana smiled icily. “Actually, I think it’s a good idea. We’ll get a good idea of just how useful you might be, as long as you’re smart enough to remember that we’re not aiming to actually injure each other.”

“Whatever! Don’t go crying to your boss when I beat you two at once!”

I’m gonna enjoy this. I left the files on the conference room table and we headed to the sparring area, Liana and I standing on one side of the field. Naki was standing on the other, smiling and cracking his knuckles. “It’ll be nice to use my kagune again. Don’t worry, I won’t injure you permanently!”

Liana and I deployed our Quinques at the same time. “I hope your regeneration is good-

“-’cause we can’t say the same!”

A large, dark-green koukaku sprouted from his right shoulder and he leapt forward. “Worry about yourself!”

I ducked beneath his first swing and spun the trident in a circle, slicing through his gut as Liana dropped low and severed his calf muscles. His kagune arced back with surprising speed and I barely blocked it in time, skidding back a few steps before Liana lunged forward with an uppercut. The ghoul jumped back and stumbled, blood staining the white suit. “Ouch! Two against one isn’t fair!”

I barked out a laugh. “You should have thought of that before you challenged us!”

I adjusted my grip and hurled my trident at him as Liana dashed forward, the ghoul struggling to keep up as we struck one after the other. He’s slow but powerful. We might be able to handle one or two direct hits, but our physical strength is nothing to him. I nodded at my sister and we split off, forking to a pincer as his eyes widened. Good thing we have technique.

With a thrust and Liana's thorn gimmick the ghoul stumbled back out of the ring, my sister raising her blade. “And that’s out. You lose.”