Chapter 25: clearing skies and last rights

In the first ward, a funeral was being held for one Kureo Mado. A number of high profile CCG members were in attendance including the reaper himself, Kishou Arima. The ceremonies eventually ended and those in attendance began to disperse. Immediately afterwards, many of them went back to work tracking down the ghouls that plague the city Tokyo and Japan at large. Amon, though, simply sat down outside the entrance to the hall. He idly watched as many of the CCG finest headed out on missions. It appeared there would be no rest for the just. Listening in on them, made him remember his first meeting with Mado and their first investigation as a team. It had been that mission that had taught him to be suspicious of everything and trust your gut for ghouls were crafty beasts that would use any opportunity you give them to finish you off. It was also when he gained the utmost respect for his partner and learned that this man was way more capable then many of his coworkers gave him credit for.

"Oi, crybaby Amon!" He was knocked out of his thoughts by the voice of Shinohara. "About to burst into tears again?" he teasingly asked. "Shinohara-san." The special class investigator sat down across from his depressed kohai. "It's unfortunate what happened to Mado. Losing a partner must be hard on you." He lowered his head with a melancholic expression. "I lost an old friend as well. So I can understand what you must be feeling."

"Shinohara," Amon said to get his attention. "Why?" he simply asked. "Why what?" "Why am I still alive?" he finally asked. He looked into the surprised eyes of the other investigator and continued. "Eyepatch, Yin, and Rabbit. All three of them had chances to. And yet not one of them took it. Hell Eyepatch actively seemed to be avoiding finishing me off during my fight with him. What reason was I spared but Mado was…Mado was…Mado was…" However the one who answered him was not Shinohara.

"Perhaps he just let you live out of some perverted form of amusement. Or maybe he feels that you'd be of use somehow in the future," a female voice entered the conversation. Amon and Shinohara turned to see the owner of the new voice leaning on the wall a bit aways. She was an older woman probably in her later years but still appeared to be fit. Though she still looked her age, she was not unattractive with more of a milf look to her. She also radiated an aura of strength that one should expect from a seasoned investigator. But her most striking feature was actually her arm or lack of one. Instead her left arm a little below the shoulder blade had been replaced with a prosthetic that Amon could also see some quinque material in it. Perhaps she had equipped a quinque blade to it in case of emergencies.

The woman came over to the table and shook hands with Amon. "Associate Special Class Setsuko Takahashi," She introduced herself. "Rank one, Amon Koutarou," Amon reciprocated. She sat down as well and the discussion continued. "It's a real damn shame what happened to Kureo," Setsuko said. "To be honest, I kinda feel like it's my fault. If I hadn't failed that mission all those years ago, then Eyepatch and the sisters would have been eliminated right then and there before they could become such a blight on Tokyo." Shinohara laughed and replied, "Don't be too hard on yourself sets-chan. Your plan wasn't bad. And it did eventually get Orochi in the end didn't it? You should stop berating yourself over that already." Peeved by the nickname the woman ignored her friend and instead continued to talk to Amon. "Anyways as for why they let you live, most likely because he had no reason to kill you. Eyepatch, like his father, is a smart one and seems avoid pointless fighting. He only moves when he has a purpose. Or at least from what I've studied about him. You shouldn't really think too hard about it really. You'll just run yourself ragged trying to understand these how these fiends actually think. Just use this second chance to track down and slay the beast."

Amon nodded at what the other said but he couldn't stop thinking about it. It didn't answer why Rabbit let him live. And what about what Eyepatch or Yin had said. Somehow, this encounter had shaken his convictions but he wouldn't tell anyone that. At least for now.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a man ran to the table to inform Shinohara about someone named Juuzo. The special class investigator sighed before getting up. "You have a case to return to as well?" Mado asked only for Shinohara to shake his head. "No. I recently got a new partner and well, he's a handful. So I better get going. See you later you two."

Now left with Setsuko, Amon decided that now would be a good time to return it. He placed a quinque case on the table. "Here I'm returning Kusanagi to you. Forgive me for giving it back to you in failure." But the older woman simply shook her head and pushed it back to him. "Why don't you keep it for now? I have a feeling that it could still be of use in taking down Eyepatch when the time comes. Besides," she gave a disarming smile. "I don't really like rinkaku quinques so it's not like it would really do anything with me other than collect dust." Amon thanked her and put the case back next to his chair; though unsure about what he'd do with it. After a bit of small talk, Setsuko got up and left. Leaving Amon once again alone with his thoughts.

Ken really didn't like being stared at. Even if it was only from a couple young ghoul children, looking at him like he was some kind of superhero. Thankfully the mother ghoul soon arrived and after apologizing, pulled the two children back into the café proper; letting Ken finish making the two cups of coffee he was working on. Once finished, he carried the both of them to a table near the tv set up for the guests; passing Hide at the counter. It was currently set on the news. In particular, the news was currently going over the latest issues of ghouls.

"… Therefore the CCG believes the worsening situations in both the eleventh and thirteenth wards may be linked. Some observers have begun to believe that a single ghoul organization, of a size never before seen, is taking charge of the local ghoul populations of these two wards. Currently the CCG warns the locals to continue being careful and not venture alone at night. However the request by the CCG to enforce a mandatory curfew on these two wards was rejected by parliament earlier today," the news caster finished her last report before moving to the next one which grabbed the interest of all in Anteiku. "In other news, a senior investigator of the CCG was recently killed by a notorious pack of ghouls within the twentieth ward. This is the first death of an investigator from the CCG headquarters in this ward in over ten years. The pack of ghouls included a relatively unknown ghoul now identified by the CCG as rabbit, and the extremely dangerous S class Ying-Yang sisters and SS class Eyepatch. The CCG is worried about this recent unwarranted and threatening aggression from Eyepatch and believes that it could be a precedent for increased activity of this particular ghoul." Pictures and/or sketches of them all were shown at this point along with some information.

"A high level meeting among the top officials at the CCG has decided that, by a narrow vote, to increase the rankings of all the ghouls involved. Rabbit will now be labeled S class. The Ying-Yang sisters will both now be labeled SS and the infamous Eyepatch will now be recognized as a SSS ghoul; the highest ranking a ghoul can have and before now, only belong to the one eyed Owl. Due to this threat the CCG in the twentieth ward is attempting to reorganize its forces in preparation against any movement from Eyepatch and his pack. What this new threat means for the twentieth ward remains unknown but officials urge caution and for any citizens who encounters this ghoul to immediately flee; regardless of the situation."

Soon the newscaster went to other news but Ken was no longer listening. They had been repeating this story all over the news since their last fight. He didn't know what it would mean for him that he had now broken the SS class glass ceiling but he didn't expect it to really be all that good.

So far he had only had to deal with even more admirers and notoriety now. Where before he was just another strong member of Anteiku. Now he was the SSS class ghoul Eyepatch that had driven away the doves from the ward; even if they would eventually return. Now whenever he met other ghouls around the ward in or the shop, he was met with a new kind of respect or in some cases fear. Some ghouls had even tried to get into his good graces or push him to try and hurt the CCG more. And of course, his popularity among the female ghoul population had increased as well; forcing him to deal with flirting aspiring young mates almost daily now. Thankfully he had been able to push most of the attention away by explaining that he didn't want to start anything and right now only wanted to be able to live in peace with his sisters.

"How dreadful. To think such a monster is in our ward," Ken heard one of the woman at the table he was serving say. "The work of a demon. That's what this is," the older one added; both obviously frightened. The younger one turned to Ken and told him, "You best be careful too Ken. You should talk to the manager about not keeping you here after it gets dark." Ken did his best innocent act as he replied while scratching his chin, "You're overreacting miss. There's no way some little old nobody like me will ever garner the attention of the great Eyepatch, but I appreciate the concern."

Ken now headed back to attend the counter where Hide now sat. Once again his friend seemed to have ghouls on the mind. "What do you think about all of this Ken? About what they said about Eyepatch?" Ken took a minute to formulate his answer. "It's frightening right? That such a dangerous ghoul would just go berserk like that. Not to mention in our ward."

Ken couldn't really place the look that his friend gave him. Like he was stupid or something. "I don't think that's really it. I think that all of this was vengeance motivated." Impressed, Ken continued to listen to his friend explain his theory. "I took a theorized about the criminal in my own way. First off, there was another ghoul investigator killed a few days earlier correct? Would a ghoul, especially one as passive as Eyepatch normally is, face so much danger and specifically go after investigators? Eating him didn't seem to be the objective so the meaning had to be for revenge or something similar. The key here is the senior investigator. Mado, I think."

"Hmmm," Ken egged him on. Hide pulled out a poster and placed it in front of Ken. "It's a wanted poster from the CCG information board. Look." Ken noticed that it was the posted for Hinami. "So you think that Rabbit is the daughter ghoul who killed the investigator in revenge for her mother's death?" he asked but Hide just smiled at him and shook his head. "No. I think that they are two different ghouls. Granted the CCG seems to be pursuing the idea they are the same. But if they aren't then what is their relationship and how are Eyepatch and his sisters connected to them as well. Information is scattered in bits and pieces. They don't even have a portrait of the daughter; just a vague description. I bet she was able to immediately get away from the scene. Like if the mother sacrificed herself to save her child. But if the daughter ghoul really is Rabbit, then why didn't she fight to save her mother. Even if her mother didn't fight she should still have been able to fend them off for both of them to escape. Perhaps Rabbit is acting as an agent of vengeance for the daughter ghoul. As for why Eyepatch also got involved. Perhaps for revenge as well or maybe more likely to protect the daughter and Rabbit. At least from what I read about him and his past."

Ken was actually quite amazed at how much his friend had inferred correctly. It honestly frightened him. Hide grinned at him again. "I'm thinking of investigating the daughter myself. Hell, I could probably get a reward." On the inside Ken freaked about what his friend just said but on the outside he gave him an semi-serious smile and flicked his forehead. "Don't even think about it. This isn't some game or a mystery novel. One wrong step and you could end up dead and most likely as someone's dinner. And I can't always watch out for you." "Who said I need you to watch over me," Hide shot back; sticking out his tongue.

Of course Hide didn't know that Ken really was watching over him. Being a SSS class now gave him the power and authority in the ghoul world to blacklist some humans from the menu such as Hide and Yoriko. But still this only went as far as protecting them from being hunted. If they were to discover a ghoul or stumble upon a kill, then they would suffer the same fate as any old human. Ken started to make more coffee as he continued to push Hide to stop thinking about these things.

As Ken and Hide were at Anteiku, Touka was with Shiro, Kuro, and Yoriko in the middle of class. As should be expected of a high school classroom, many were not paying attention to the teacher. In particular, a large portion of these students were discussing the death of Mado and the ghouls responsible.

"I can't believe that this is happening here,"

"My parents are seriously talking about moving away now. All because some damn ghouls."

"I wish the CCG would hurry up and exterminate them. They should hurry up and do their job."

"Monsters."

Touka only half heard these, as she was still preoccupied with what the dove had said before he died. Much like Amon, this battle had shaken the core convictions of the young she-ghoul and once again faced her with the disgusting truth that there was more to humans then just meat and hatred. She was only knocked out of her thoughts by Yoriko getting her attention. Apparently she had not noticed the teacher calling her. She ignored it when everyone laughed at her. Except Kuro. She was going to make certain to get payback on the black haired twin by the end of the week.

Soon the lunch bell sounded and she and Yoriko sat together. Touka saw Ken's sisters leave the room. Apparently over the last couple of days they had been using this time as a chance to catch some sleep on the roof of the school. None of them were getting much sleep lately but the twins in particular had been tiring themselves out as they trained and trained. Neither of them was happy with how they had performed in the fight; feeling like both of them had ended up more as burdens than anything else to the others. So they exercised and spared with each other and Ken and Touka and finally with Yomo who didn't pull his punches when he taught. Touka silently wished them luck in their endeavor as she pulled out a jam sandwich. "Touka-chan, you're having a jam sandwich again?" Touka sighed. "Its fine isn't. I like it and it's easy to eat," she said as she bit into the slime filled piece of soggy cardboard. However Yoriko was not having this. "You're a growing girl Touka. You need to eat notorious things as well. Here." She held out a piece karage that would have been delectable to anyone else in the room but Touka. But to her this was as if being asked to eat cyanide. Still, with a bit of hesitation, she jumped up and ate it. As she choked it down, Yoriko added, "I tried changing the seasoning a little what do you think?" She watched Touka finish. Touka gave forlorn smile before flicking Yoriko on the forehead; just like Ken did with Hide. "It's delicious," Touka told her. Later Touka hid in the bathroom. The karage was not sitting well for obvious reasons. Touka suffered as she tried to hold it down. But she succeed. Complementing the chef.

Later that evening, she arrived home. However she was not alone as both Kuro and Shiro had come with her and Ken met them all at the front door. The Kaneki family had agreed to come over today to help put the finishing touches on Hinami's room. "Hinami, I'm home," she called as she opened the door. "Welcome back, big sister," Hinami called back. However, she ran excitedly to the door when she saw the others. "Hey Hinami," Ken said while he rubbed her head fondly. Smirking, Touka decided to play a trick on the boy. "He was waiting in front of the house for over half an hour. Isn't that creepy?" Hinami happily agreed while Ken defended himself with, "Well what was I supposed to do. You never gave me a key." Kuro then asked, "Did you get a haircut Hinami?" Excitedly the young girl showed it off. "Yeah, big sis Touka cut it for me." "It's really good. Like you had it done in a salon," Shiro chimed in. But Ken critiqued, "I could have done better."

After a swift kick to the male half ghouls head, they all set about fixing the room up. Moving furniture and discussing possible paint colors. But soon after the doorbell rang. Touka ran to the front door to see who it was only to discover Yoriko. "Yoriko?!" she exclaimed. She turned to tell the others to hide only to find out that they had already done so; alerted by her surprised exclamation from earlier. After hiding the extra shoes, Touka let her best friend in.

"Yoriko, why are you here? Is something wrong?" she hurriedly asked. Flustered a bit, Yoriko answered with, "Sorry. I know it's a bit sudden but you were acting strange at school so I was worried." Touka gave her a calming smile and replied, "What are you talking about? I wasn't any different today. You're just overreacting." But Yoriko would have none of it. "You're wrong. You were acting really lonely. You had the same face that you had when your dad transferred overseas." She continued but Touka barely heard her as the mentioning of her father brought back many memories. Some good. Some bad.

Her attention was brought back when the young girl brought out a pot of freshly made nikujaga. "So to cheer you up, I made this. Let's eat it together. Touka tried her best to sound enthusiastic as she led the other girl into the house. When they passed the coat closet though, a sound of something falling was heard. Touka, before she realized it, had yanked the door open to where Ken had hid. When he saw the other two looking at him he joked, "Hey it was either here or in your underwear drawer." Once again Touka struck Ken today; only holding back to keep up appearances for Yoriko. The human girl of course freaked out, thinking that she had interrupted some heated elopement between the two but thankfully the twins came out and laid the misunderstanding to rest. But unfortunately, they were all treated to a hearty meal of hardened chalk, bug wings, pencil leads, and dirty water. Needless to say, all four of them called in sick the next day after poor Hinami did her best tending to them over that horrible night.

While the Anteiku pack was being treated to Yoriko's cooking, things were a foot in the thirteenth ward. From an out of the way alley way a scream shot into the air before its owner was quickly dealt with. The victim was a local and known playboy. Above him stood the murderer. Four blood red rinkaku at the ready behind them. A single red and black eye peered down from their face at the man. The rest of their face was covered with an eyepatch mask. Its only difference from Ken's being that the eyepatch part had a golden cross on it and it was unmistakably made for a female face.

"O Holy hosts above, I call upon thee as a servant of Jesus Christ, to sanctify our actions this day in preparation for the fulfillment of the will of God," she started. "I call upon the great Archangel Raphael, master of air, to open the way for this to be done. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit now descend that this being might be awakened to the world beyond and the life of earth, and infused with the power of the Holy Spirit." She pulled back in her kagune.

"O Lord Jesus Christ, most merciful, Lord of Earth we ask that you receive this child into your arms, that he might pass in safety from this crisis. As thou hast told us with infinite compassion, Let not your heart be troubled: Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions: If it were not so, I would have told you. I go prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: That where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." She leaned down towards the body.

"So let it be done. By this sign thou art anointed with the grace of the atonement of Jesus Christ and thou art absolved of all past error and freed to take your place in the world he has prepared for us." She made a cross on the man's head with his own blood as she continued the prayer. "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, mercy shall be built up forever: Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant. They seed will I establish forever, and build up they throne to all generations. Selah. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, o Lord: Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." She unzipped the mask.

"And thus do I commend thee into the arms of our Lord of earth, our lord Jesus Christ,Preserver of all mercy and reality, and the father creator. We give him glory as we give you into his arms in everlasting peace, to be prepared to return into the denser reality of God the father, Creator of all. AMEN, AMEN, AMEN." And now she began to feed.

Omake:

Takeshi sighed tiredly as he continued on his way home. His son following close behind. Both of them were carrying nondescript bags of fresh meat, courtesy of Rize. The older male had long ago given up on forcing the impish female ghoul to stop hunting in his territory. Not desiring a fight he had instead persuaded her to at least inform him of when she had fed and where. He would then clean up after her; feeling that having a missing person case was preferable to a body being discovered for the CCG to trace and investigate. Since there was no reason to waste perfectly good food, Takeshi would first collect anything usable from the corpse to provide for his family first before discretely disposing of what was left.

Usually he went about this by himself but Rize had apparently gotten lucky and bagged two instead of one this time. Deciding he could use the help and his son the experience, Takeshi had brought little Ken along with him on this excursion. It was pretty routine in the end. Though he was grateful that Rize had already disappeared before they got there. He didn't feel that Rize would be the best influence on his kids so he tried to keep them both apart to the best of his abilities.

They passed some movie theatre when he noticed that Ken had stopped following him. Turning back he saw that the boy was looking at some poster on the wall with a contemplative look. Curious, Takeshi came over to look too. It was poster advertisement for the new ghoul horror movie. These things were made almost yearly now with many receiving funding from the CCG. The cliché plot mixed horror and mystery as the humans in the film were chased and killed one by one by, at least to Takeshi, the most over the top and ridiculous stereotype of a ghoul till the human hero saved the day, killed the monster, and bedded the heroine. He had in fact seen this movie due to badgering by his human acquaintances last week. He had to hold back his laughter at the stupid thing as everyone else screamed and cheered on the main character who Takeshi only thought looked pretty tasty.

But the true message of the movie was not lost on him either. Once again, society was hammering in the idea that being a ghoul in itself was a sin and that there was no such thing as a good ghoul; only man eating beasts. There were already video games, toys, and specials around in many of the major stores and businesses as people celebrated their vilification and children played ghoul instead of tag.

He looked back at Ken, realizing what his son was thinking. Was he truly a monster? Did he really deserve to live or, like the crowds would say, he should die for being even half a monster. Smiling sadly, Takeshi placed a hand on Ken's head. Breaking his attention from the poster. "Come on Ken. Why don't I buy you a nice cup of coffee," he offered. Ken graciously accepted and forgot about that poster for now.