#maaaaaaan i was only 2 levels under too

[birb--birb]

Me: "I havent played veilguard in a bit, let's go faff around Treviso and do some early game quests"

Also me: *proceeds to get my cheeks clapped by the Qamak Master for an hour straight*

[notitlesapply]

So I was without internet for the weekend and, prior to the start of the weekend, saved and re-read APoF. It was glorious and I want to/plan on going back and giving each chapter at least a small review later. But for now, I want to let you know to take all the time you need on the next chapter. The longer it takes, the more excited I get because I know you must have shenanigans planned.

Aww shucks thanks! /blushes

I hope my shenanigans will satisfy. It’s a bit long, but I’ll put a sample of the chapter below this cut and you can tell me if I succeeded…

…Or I can put the whole flipping chapter down here. I’ll post this on AO3 this weekend (hopefully).

A Pound of Flesh (Chapter 17 - Class)

Theday of the meeting came sooner than anyone really liked. As they haddiscussed earlier, Anteiku split their group into two parts: a smallgroup that would meet with Aogiri’s leaders, and a security grouplead by Banjou. Some small part of Hide’s mind was laughinghelplessly about how ridiculous they all looked. A group of maskedindividuals milling around an abandoned schoolyard—it was a scenestraight out of a badly written movie.

EvenHide was wearing a mask. Kaneki had to (reluctantly) admit it washard to tell that Hide wasn’t a ghoul. The blond was dressed in adark hooded jacket to cover his hair, heavy motorcycle gloves, and apair of charcoal jeans. A heavy gas mask etched with the number “33”completed the outfit. The whole ensemble was borrowed to hide hishuman scent, and when he stood together with Banjou and the rest ofthe Gas Masks, the human completely blended in.

TheAnteiku group arrived at the appointed location, and were immediatelywelcomed by Nico. Nico, dressed in a silk shirt, glitzy gold jewelry,and a grinning Clown mask, was accompanied by another Clown: asmirking young woman in a Clown half-mask. The woman blew kisses atKaneki, which the half-ghoul ignored. Touka muttered somethinginaudible under her breath when she saw the woman; the female Clownwas someone she recognized. Hide made a mental note to ask her aboutit later.

“Nico,”Kaneki nodded to the event organizer in greeting, “Are we late?”

“Earlyactually,” Nico corrected, as he cast a critical eye over thegroup. “Aogiri isn’t here yet. And you brought more people than Iexpected.”

“TheGas Masks were willing to play security for us,” Kaneki replied,exchanging small nods of acknowledgment with Banjou, “since Aogiriwill no doubt bring the White Suits.”

“Howlovely,” Nico murmured, “Bothersome though. We won’t be able tofit everyone in the meeting room. Pick a core group of five to comein. The rest will have to wander the corridors.” The unspoken “andstay out of trouble” hung heavy in the air, rotting like a lie.

Kanekibit his lip, the action hidden by his mask. They had expected to beable to take six people into the meeting. Before he could decide whowould stay out with Banjou, Hide clapped his shoulder, startling himout of his thoughts.

“TakeTouka, Yomo, Nishio, and rich boy with you,” Hide murmured quietlyin Kaneki’s ear, “I’ll be good out here with Banjou.”

Kanekifrowned, but didn’t bother with even a token form of protest. It wasa reasonable solution. And Hide was already dressed as a member ofthe Gas Masks. Kaneki nodded in agreement.

“Guesswe just have to wait for Aogiri,” Touka muttered, crossing her armsas if irritated. Only the slight clench of her fingers over the beigeof her coat betrayed her unease.

“Wecan get you set up in the meantime,” Nico shrugged before gesturingto the other Clown, “Roma will help you get situated. Keep yourguard dogs outside.”

Kanekipatted Banjou once on the shoulder, before the core Anteiku groupsplit off, and followed Roma past a doorway.

Themeeting was to take place in a small classroom. Most of the old deskswere shoved to the sides of the room in haphazard heaps, the woodrotten and the metal bent. Nico was able to scrounge up a small tableto sit in the middle of the room for the meeting. It was too small toseat everyone; only five chairs were pulled around it. Two seats forAnteiku, two for Aogiri, and one for Nico, the moderator. After aquickly murmured conversation, Touka, and Kaneki took the seats,while Yomo, Tsukiyama, and Nishiki took spots standing behind them.

Timeto wait.

Andwait.

…Andwait. Touka was furious. Shehad long abandoned her chair, stomping around the room infrustration. Low hisses and half-formed curses followed her wake.Fucking Aogiri. Who do they think they were, making them wait?Assholes. Did they know how much money :re was loosing by beingclosed for the day?!

Theothers ignored her growling. Both Tsukiyama and Yomo had brought outtheir phones to start typing out drafts to their blogs; Yomo’s draftwas noticeably shorter than Tsukiyama’s, the silver-haired ghoultaking more time to hunt down the proper keys on his device.Meanwhile, Kaneki was rereading Dear Kafka,and Nishiki had a notebook in hand, the pages filled with equationsand messy notations written in both his and Kimi’s handwriting.

“Whatthe fuck is taking them solong?!” Touka shouted, the voice changer in her mask cracklingslightly.

Roma’shands came up in a mock placating gesture, “Maa maa, Rabbit-chan.I’m sure—”

“I’msure that they’re fucking dicks!” Touka exploded, ignoring theClown’s smirking grin as she slammed her hands against the table,“We’ve been waiting for over three hours! They’re the ones that setthe time! They should be able to keep to the shitty schedule!”

Kanekisighed, “Rabbit…”

Justthen, the door swung open. The Aogiri delegation had arrived.

–

Aogiriand Anteiku were not the only ones invested in the outcome of theirpeace treaty. The Clowns were quite interestedin what was going on, though each had different views on the event.One in particular, had less than healthy interest in the events goingon in the abandoned school house.

Soutagiggled playfully to himself as he sat on the rooftop of a nearbybuilding. From this distance away, the figures below were small, buthe saw enough to recognize the ghouls entering the building now.

Aogiri.

“Huh,looks like something interesting is going on,” Souta hummed as hewatched the ghouls mill around down below, “Onee-chan wasn’tkidding when he said that there was a special occasion! Maaaaaaan, Ihope everything goes smoothly for them. It would be a shame ifsomeone crashed their party.”

Soutasnickered to himself as he pulled out his cellphone and flipped itover in his hands. He tipped his mask away and pushed back his hair,instantly sliding into another skin. It was as easy as putting on anew shirt. He quickly punched in a number, and brought the device tohis ear.

“Rank1 Furuta!” the voice on theother side of the phone scolded when it picked up, “You’relate! Where are you?”

Furuta Nimura, Rank 1 ghoulinvestigator of the CCG, quickly adapted a fearful face, fake sobbinginto the phone, “Kijima-san, thank goodness! You need to send help!You won’t believe what I just heard…”

–

Theadvantage of being stationed outside of the meeting room meant thatHide got a good look at the Aogiri delegation before Hide and Toukadid. As they had predicted, the White Suits made up the bulk of thegroup, though there were far less of them than expected. There were afew others, namely Aogiri executives and even some random low levelmembers, such as Torso. Nico met with the group, and as he had withAnteiku, only allowed five people in.

Hidesilently assessed each member of Aogiri’s main delegation, careful toplay the part of a faceless grunt. As expected, both Ayato and Mizawere part of the lineup. Noro trailed in their wake, a dark silentshadow. Eto skipped next to him. Hide would have felt gleefully proudof guessing correctly at Eto’s presence, but…

Hide thought that Naki would takethe fifth spot. He was wrong. Eto’s bandaged fingers beckoned over adark clad figure. Hide almost choked when he saw the pale face underthe dark hood. The blond had to bite his tongue before a name daredslip past his lips.

Takizawa Seidou.

His hair was stark white andovergrown—unkempt. He looked sick, his skin sagging and cracked,and his lips were blackened. There were dark circles around hisbloodshot eyes, and he blinked once to briefly reveal a singlestartling kakugan. But despite all the physical changes, it wasobviously Rank 2 Takizawa Seidou, one of the many investigators tohave fallen during the Anteiku Raid.

Apparently,the rumors of Kanou’s continued experiments were true.

BesideHide, Banjou also stiffened at the sight of Takizawa, though Hidesuspected it was because Banjou was surprised to see a half-ghoulwith Aogiri. But for Hide…he had known Takizawa. They had sharedmeals together. And, besides that Hide knew how much Akira hadmourned Takizawa’s death. Everyone knew.

Howwould Akira react if she saw Takizawa now?

“Let’s get started,” Nicoannounced, as he led the group inside the meeting room, leavingBanjou, Hide, and the Gas Masks alone with Naki and the rest ofAogiri’s forces.

–

Backin Ward 1, the Anti-Anteiku strike force were gathered for theirweekly meeting. However, the room was strangely sparse for the daywith only Special Class Marude and part of the Mado squad inattendance.

“Whereis everyone?” Mutsuki asked, looking around the conference roomcuriously.

“Papais with Mama and Maman today,” Saiko offered, not even looking upfrom her handheld as she replied.

“Nagachikais working out a deal with his landlord,” Akira elaborated, “Suzuyasquad and Hirako squad are on assignment.”

“They’reassigned to Anteiku, same as us,” Urie murmured, his eyes narrowingsuspiciously, “What (special) assignment are they on? (It’sprobably more interesting than this shit.)”

“WashuuMatsuri needed extra bodies for his raid,” Marude grumbled, clearlyirritated, “Little brat. I was lucky to be left with anyone, so youguys better work extra hard today!”

Mutsukiand Akira straightened, taking Marude’s words seriously, though Saikoand Shirazu  both slumped in their chairs, uneasy. Urie merely turnedhis head, muttering to himself again.

Workextra hard? With what? They had no leads. Today was going to bepointless—time would be wasted running in circles instead of doingsomething meaningful like working towards an important promotion.Going on a raid sounded much more productive.

“Mado,”Marude said, turning towards the squad leader, “Give me the rundown on what we have with Anteiku.”

“There’snot much, I’m afraid,” Akira sighed, the corners of her eyestightening with frustration, “We’re not even sure what is theirterritory. While they’ve traditionally been active in the 20thWard, Shirazu and Urie encountered them outside of there.”

“Theonly lead we have on them is the research that Kamii University groupwas working on,” Urie grumbled, “It’s been (useless) frustratingso far.”

“Speakingof that research, Dr. Chigyou is very interested in it,” Marudesaid, “Any luck on getting your hands on it?”

Akirabarely held in her huff of frustration, “The only known hard copyof the notes were stolen from Nishino Kimi’s apartment. We assumethat Anteiku has them.

“Ofthe research group, only three survived Aogiri’s attack,” Akiracontinued, rattling off furtherinfo, “Nishino Kimi and Kita Heiji, graduate students attached tothe project, were injured. The professor leading the research,Terada-sensei, was captured by Aogiri. However,I believe he has already been killed.”

Marudelooked up sharply at her assessment, “Explain.”

“Becauseaccording to our resources, it was Nishino, not Terada, who was thebrain behind the RC-cell research,” Akira replied, “Terada isuseless to Aogiri.”

“Nishinois the real prize,” Marude summarized, nodding thoughtfully, “Shesurvived the attack. Why don’t we have her under CCG protection?”

“Shehas a (pain in the ass) benefactor,” Urie answered, the corners ofhis lips tight, “(He’s a suspicious bastard.)”

“TsukiyamaShuu,” Akira sighed, tapping her notes against the table. “Hislawyers are working quite hard to keep Nishino’s research underwraps. They claim they’re protecting patents. I think his companywants to trademark Nishino’s work. And ever since she left thehospital, Tsukiyama’s people have been quite zealous in keeping usaway from Nishino.”

“Heh,”Marude snorted, “Dr. Chigyou has made it no secret that he wants tostudy Kamii University’s RC-cell research. He is—”

Suddenly the door burst open witha loud bang. Everyone’s heads turned towards the noise, their eyeslanding on a pale junior investigator panting against the doorjamb.

“What’s the meaning of this?!”Marude roared, furious with the interruption, “ This is a—”

“I’m sorry, sir, but this isimportant!” the newcomer gasped out as he held out a slip of paperin a shaking hand, “We just got a report in. Anteiku and Aogiri—weknow where they are!”

–

“You’relate,” Touka sneered as the Aogiri delegation settled in. She tookher seat next to Kaneki, pointedly not looking at Ayato as herbrother walked in. Beneath the table, Kaneki cracked the joints ofhis fingers, his kakugan unconsciously flaring to life. Touka satstraight and proud, like a regal statue. No weakness. They couldn’tafford to show weakness here.

“So sorry,” Eto laughed, notsounding sorry at all as she and Miza took the chairs across fromAnteiku. Noro, Ayato, and an unfamiliar white-haired ghoul tookstanding positions behind them.

Nico clapped his hands together,his Clown mask looking far to cheery for the tension clogging theroom.

“How about some introductions,yes?” the Clown suggested in a bright tone, “On Anteiku’s side,we have our dear Eyepatch, Rabbit-chan, Serpent, Raven-kun, anddarling Gourmet. From Aogiri, sweet Eto-chan, Three Blades, Noro-san,Rabbit-chan—oh my. That’s going to be confusing.”

“Deal with it,” the Kirishimasiblings snorted in stereo. Ayato startled badly, his head whippingaround to glare at his sister; she ignored him, but the faint soundof her molars grinding together belied her frustration.

Nico cleared his throat awkwardlybefore moving on to point at the stranger with Aogiri, “And last,we have—oh dear, I haven’t gotten your name.”

The strange white-haired ghoulflashed a grimacing smile, the skin of his darkened lips crackingslightly.

“Owl,” he rasped out.

Kaneki’s eyes darted to Owl insurprise. Owl? As in One-Eyed Owl? He had given the name in the wronglanguage, but…

“Liar,” came a soft murmurfrom Yomo.

“No. Just not what you expect,”Eto countered, smiling up at Yomo’s masked face, “Isn’t that right,Yomo Renji?”

Touka hissed softly under herbreath. The tension in the room seemed to increase three-fold, sothick it was like breathing in smog.

“You’re breaking protocol,Aogiri. Aliases only.” Kaneki growled, trying to mask how on edgeeveryone on Anteiku’s side of the table was. They had guessed awhileago that Aogiri knew all of their names, but to hear it come fromEto’s mouth so casually…

Aogiri was trying to throw themoff. Kaneki grit his teeth together. He refused to allow them thatpower. He locked eyes with Eto firmly, a silent battle of wills. Hewasn’t that scared little human that Aogiri had tossed oh socarelessly to Jason. He wasn’t.

They stared at each other for afew moments longer, before Eto dipped her head to him with a widesmile. It didn’t quite feel like a victory. More like watching anamused parent applauding a child’s small achievement.

“My apologies,” Eto offered,putting in a touch of effort to sound sincere. Kaneki accepted it,and attempted to relax his shoulders. He may or may not have failed.

“Are we to assume that Naki andthe White Suits are waiting outside the door?” Kaneki drawled,tapping his fingers against the table. Eto chuckled in response.

“Oh yes, just as you haveplaced the Gas Masks out there as well,” the bandaged Aogiri membercountered, “I’ll admit, I’m surprised. I didn’t know they wereallied with you.”

“They were hired,” Kanekilied, “I’m not stupid. You have advantages in number.”

Eto smiled again, “Such littletrust in us. We followed the rules for how many men we were allowedto bring.”

“Not that Aogiri had muchchoice,” Nico chimed in, surprising everyone else, “Your peoplewere contracted to provide security for Big Madam’s Auction. Most ofyour forces must be there.”

Kaneki stared at the Clown insurprise. It was rare to receive information for free, and judging bythe pinched look on Miza’s face, Nico’s words were accurate. Kanekididn’t know why Aogiri was willing to split their forces to thisdegree, but it was to Anteiku’s advantage. Anteiku didn’t have toworry about Aogiri calling in reinforcements any time soon.

After a moment of awkwardsilence, Nico cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention.

“Let’s get down to business,shall we?”

–

Meanwhile, right outside of themeeting room, the introductions between the White Suits and the GasMasks were going far more smoothly. It was pretty easy to identifypeople, when half of the crowd was wearing masks that were plasteredwith the number they went by.

For the most part, everyoneoutside of the meeting was rather…bored. There wasn’t a fight to behad, so Naki and his White Suits were restless. But it was obviousthey weren’t going to start anything unless something happened.Banjou was a cautious sort, and wasn’t prone to making trouble.

Really the only thing interestingthat had happened was when Hide’s phone went off during theintroductions, but luckily, no one had complained. Even so, Hideturned a bright red under his mask when the Backstreet Boys startedcrooning through his phone’s speakers. The jaunty tune was hardly anappropriate soundtrack to a meeting filled with ghouls.

“Sorry,” Hide mumbled, actingout the part of the apologetic underling. He was supposed to gounnoticed, damn it.

Speaking of unnoticedunderlings…Aogiri had brought other grunts than just the WhiteSuits. There were a few unremarkable fellows in the standard Aogiricloak and mask, but there was also a reedy individual that was alltoo familiar to Hide.

Torso.

Hide glanced over at Torsosubtly. The gangling ghoul was quiet, unobtrusive—just anotherAogiri grunt. Part of Hide was glad that Nishiki was inside themeeting room, and thus wasn’t around when Aogiri came in. If Nishikiknew that Torso was here, things wouldn’t be so quiet. Idly, Hidebegan planning on how to keep Nishiki away from Torso—not becausehe liked the Aogiri bastard, but rather because Hide wanted thisceasefire to work. Nishiki caving in Torso’s face would hardly keepthe peace, even if it would make everyone feel better.

Hide tried not to think of Kimi,currently wheelchair-bound, or of the bruises that had gracedMutsuki’s face. Revenge would be satisfying, but useless. Or so hekept telling himself.

Suddenly, Hide’s phone went offagain, cheery English lyrics filling the hallway. It instantlysnapped him out of his morose thoughts.

“Ah sorry, sorry,” Hideyelped, swiping his phone off again. There were a few snickers, butotherwise, he was ignored.

–

Akira growled as her phone callwith her vice captain went to voicemail. Again.

“Hide’s still not picking up?”Shirazu asked needlessly.

Akira huffed in annoyance, “Hepromised to answer my calls.”

She looked up at her squad.Shirazu was helping Saiko adjust the straps on her CCG standardarmor. Everyone else was already dressed in raid gear, quinquesnearby and ready. This was going to be their first raid. For a secondthere was pressure in Akira’s chest. It was pride and fear, all mixedtogether into a poisonous cocktail.

Her squad mates (her children)were growing up.

“Transport is ready,” Mutsukiannounced meekly. Akira tipped her head in acknowledgment.

“Understood,” Akira sighed,“Mutsuki, make sure we bring Nagachika’s gear. With luck he canstill meet us there.”

–

The meeting between Aogiri andAnteiku was going…fine, Kaneki supposed. After the less than warmintroductions, Nico had swiftly taken over. The Clown was going overthe laundry list of demands from each side. Aogiri wanted the rest ofthe research on RC-cells that Anteiku had taken from Kimi’sapartment. Anteiku wanted Aogiri to back off from their territory.When Nico said it, it sounded so simple.

“Where’s the research?” Mizaasked bluntly as soon as Nico finished listing off both sides’ terms.Kaneki gestured silently to Nishiki, who withdrew a battered folderfrom within his coat. Nishiki tossed the thing onto the table with ahint of disgust. A few of the papers, bloodstained and grimy, slidout and scattered across the surface.

Unperturbed, Eto gathered thepapers and started flipping through them. After a few minutes, shetapped the papers against the table, passed them to Miza, and lookedup at the Anteiku delegation. Despite the bandages covering her face,her frown was clearly visible.

“Where is the rest of it?”she demanded.

“That is all the notes werecovered from Nishino’s apartment,” Kaneki grunted back. It wasn’ta lie. Every scrap of paper Anteiku recovered from Kimi’s place wasthere. It wasn’t their fault if the pages were smudged and dirty fromthe fight that had taken place.

(It was their fault if the paperswere further wrecked after, but Aogiri didn’t need to knowthat.)

To be fair, there was a good dealof information there—Anteiku couldn’t afford to make it completelyuseless, or else Aogiri would never agree to the ceasefire. But itwould take Aogiri and Kanou time to decipher it all.

“I’m not an expert, but itlooks like there’s something in here that the doctor coulduse,” Miza rationalized as she too peered through the documents, “Ican make out a few formulas…”

Eto hummed, tapping her fingersagainst her chin, “True. The good doctor is a genius after all.But…this isn’t all the research you have, Anteiku.”

Touka snarled, her hands curlingup into tight fists, “Do you think we’re lying? What do wehave to gain—”

Eto laughed sharply, cuttingTouka off, “Oh no, no, White Rabbit. I believe that these areall the notes from Nishino’s apartment. I don’t believethis is all the RC-cell research you have.”

Smirking, her gaze slid upwardsto lock into Nishiki, a silent challenge in her eyes.

Eto’s voice was like poisonedhoney as she continued, “Nishino would have shared some of herthoughts and ideas with her fiance, who was known to be a giftedpharma—”

“Shut the fuck up!”Nishiki snarled, his temper snapping. Tsukiyama, ever the calm one,grabbed Nishiki’s wrist, and quickly whispered placating words intoNishiki’s ear. Nishiki hissed like the serpent he was named for, furyradiating from him, but he took a step back and shut up. Eto smiled,and ignored his rage as if it didn’t exist. Instead, she turned allof her attention to Kaneki.

“We have a counter proposal,”Eto began smoothly, holding a hand up. Wordlessly, Noro reached intohis coat and placed a thick folder into Eto’s waiting hand.

“You give us the rest of theKamii University research and we’ll give you this,” Eto offered,her wicked smile still visible behind the bandages, “And before youask—it’s Kanou’s research on ghoulification. Don’t you wantit…Ka-ne-ki~?”

The reaction was instantaneous.

Kaneki was out of his chair, hisone visible eye wide, his whole body taut like a thread about tosnap. Once upon a time, Kaneki had hunted Kanou down for answers onlyto receive nothing. Perhaps having access to Kanou’s notes would giveKaneki something that he lacked for years:

Some closure.

“How do we know it’s not fake?”Touka cut in, her voice laced with skepticism. Some of the tensionleft Kaneki’s shoulders as her words grounded him. He nodded to her.Ever practical Touka coming to the rescue.

Eto’s smile shifted, turning botha little softer and a little more smug, “We could ask you the samething, Anteiku. But that’s how these ceasefires work—trust.”

–

Naki was bored. So far,his orders had been to wait. Most of the White Suits were busy at theAuction, further irritating Naki. He didn’t like breaking up hisgang, especially since he was assigned a few tagalongs, like Torso.Too bad Torso was a quiet guy, not interesting at all.

“Uuuuggh…”Naki groaned, as he slumpedagainst the wall, “This is lame! Where’s the fight?”

All around him, his White Suitsgrumbled in agreement. The gas mask bastards that Anteiku broughtshuffled nervously. Naki gave a quick glance to the Gas Masks’leader—some tall beefy fucker that looked like a good fight. Notthat Naki was allowed. Naki sighed and thumped his head into the wallin frustration. When he had heard that Aogiri was going to face offagainst Anteiku he thought there was going to be more action. Insteadthey were just…talking.

The only interesting thing thathappened so far was how often what’s-his-face(Thirty-one…Thirty-two…No, Thirty-three, that was it) hadhis phone go off in his pocket. The song it played was weird, thewords complete gibberish to Naki.

Speaking of weird music, as if oncue—

“I want it that way~!”

“Ohdamn it!” Thirty-three cursed. He reached into his pocket tofish the device out, intending to turn it off.

“Just answer it,” Naki barkedat the Gas Mask.

“Ah, ex-excuse me?”Thirty-three squeaked, clearly surprised by Naki addressing him.

“Look, someone wants to talk toyou really badly,” Naki grumbled, “If they’re a friend, youshouldn’t ignore it.”

Thirty-three hesitated as hisphone continued to ring in his hand. He gave the screen a quickglance, clearly torn.

“If you go to the next hallover, none of us will be able to hear you,” the Gas Mask’s beefyfucker of a leader offered, “Provided of course, no one hasHinami’s sensing talents…”

Naki snorted, “None of my guyswill eavesdrop on your convolation. That’s not cool.”

Thirty-three tilted his head incuriosity, “You mean, ‘conversation’?”

As soon as the words left hismouth, he slapped a hand over his gas mask, clearly embarrassed. Nakismirked. Yeah, he’d be embarrassed too if he didn’t know what aconvolation was.

“Just get outta here,” Nakisnickered. Thirty-three gave a quick bow, and quickly scuttled out.

Naki shook his head as he glancedover at the Gas Mask’s leader, “Man, beefy fucker, you got yourselfsome weird ones.”

The other ghoul laughed, a hintof nervousness in his voice, “You have no idea.”

–

Akira was honestly surprised whenafter the tenth failed time she tried to reach him, Hide called herback.

“Nagachika Hideyoshi!” Akirasnapped as soon as the line connected, “You are in so muchtrouble!”

“Look, I’m sorry,”Hide mumbled into his phone, obviously trying to keep his voice low,“The, um, landlord—we’re in really intense negotiations rightnow. Can this be short?”

If it had been any other time,Akira would have felt a touch of sympathy for her vice captain.Today, however, Akira didn’t have time to deal with his problems.

“Don’t you dare skip out onme,” Akira’s voice hissed into the receiver furiously, “Yourlease agreement is not nearly as important as this.”

There was a brief pause beforeHide sighed in resignation, “Okay, what’s going on?”

“We’ve called in effectiveimmediately,” Akira explained quickly, stress coloring her voice,“If you had picked up your phone earlier when I first called, youwould have been able to meet us at headquarters, but I guess you’regoing to have to meet us at the raid site.”

“Wait, what? What raid?”Hide yelped, his voice a few octaves higher than usual.

“Pay attention, Nagachika!”Akira barked, needing her vice-captain to focus, “We received a tipa few hours ago—it’s an opportunity we can’t afford to miss. Fivesquads have already been dispatched.”

“An…an opportunity?”Hide croaked out, though there was a note in his voice that suggestedhe already knew what Akira was going to say.

Akira confirmed his thoughts,“Top members of both Anteiku and Aogiri are meeting right now.  ETAfor the first assault group is under 10 minutes. Wave two will followabout 15 minutes after. I’ll send you the coordinates. Now get yourass down here!”

“Wha…Wait,Akira!” Hide squeaked, clearlyoverwhelmed.

Akira didn’t have time for this,“I’ll text you the address. We have your gear. Just get down here, that’s an order!”

Akira frowned angrily as she hungup her phone. Currently, she was in a CCG van getting transported tothe raid site with the rest of her squad, minus Hide. Her youngersubordinates all looked at her worriedly.

“Soooo, Hide’s not coming?”Shirazu checked.

“He is,” Akira corrected,even as she continued to frown, “But, if he’s working out a leaseagreement with his landlord at his apartment complex…”

“He’s nowhere near where we’regoing,” Mutsuki finished, his eyes wide with understanding, “Hewon’t be able to make it in time.”

“He might be there for the mopup,” Akira theorized, “But not for the real fight.”

“(More credit for the rest ofus),” Urie muttered quietly.

“Eh, maybe Hide will still makeit,” Shirazu said hopefully, “If he breaks a few traffic laws,he’ll make it in plenty of time.”

Saiko shuddered, clearly nervousas she wrapped her arms around herself, “But…it’s okay if he’slate, right? Maybe it’s for the best that Papa can’t make it. He’swith Mama and Maman. He’s safer with them.”

“(You’re just upset that he’snot here to coddle you),” Urie snorted under his breath.

Saiko didn’t appear to have heardhim, but nevertheless, she curled up tighter.

–

Hide hung up his phone. Heflicked on his voice changer. He took a deep breath.

“Shit,” he cursed.

–

Inside the meeting room, Anteikuwas whispering among themselves, a quiet, but passionate, debateraging between them.

“We should say no,” Nishikigrowled, clearly displeased with Aogiri’s demands, “We just wantthe ceasefire. No need to grab extra bullshit.”

“We should say yes,”Tsukiyama countered, “Kanou’s research—”

“I don’t fucking care!”Nishiki hissed, “It’s not worth it!”

“I agree,” Yomo murmured,nodding in Nishiki’s direction, “We would gain little. Keep theoriginal deal.”

“They want Kimi’s research badenough that they’re willing to share Kanou’s,” Touka reasoned,“That means something. As long as we have something theywant, they’ll keep bothering us. They’re more likely to lose interestif we’re not interesting!”

“What do you think,Kaneki-kun?” Tsukiyama asked curiously, “This offer affects youmore than any of us.”

Quickly, Kaneki glanced over tothe Aogiri delegation. They were silent, making no indication thatthey were listening into Anteiku’s debate, but there was somethingfamiliar with how Miza’s head was tilted, just slightly. Itreminded him of how Hinami looked when she listened to quietconversations a block away.

Kaneki hummed thoughtfully, andlooked back at his friends, “I think—”

Suddenly, the door slammed openwith a sharp bang. Kaneki looked up, a brief flash ofirritation sparking to life, then quickly fading when he saw Hidepanting at the door. The others, both Aogiri and Anteiku, turnedtheir heads to the disguised human, curiosity buzzing around theroom.

“What’s wrong?” Touka asked,her tone both sharp and worried.

There was no way to beat aroundthe bush. Despite the distortion from his voice changer, Hide’s voicewas grim as he relayed the bad news.

“The CCG found us. We’ve gotless than 10 minutes before the first wave.”

Shocked chatter instantly brokeout. Almost everyone had jumped out of seats and were prowling aboutthe room. Only Eto remained seated, her hands steepled in front ofher, deep in thought.

“How did they—”

“What are we going to do?”

“Fuck! Fucking Doves!”

“We’ve got about 10 minutes!”Hide yelled, trying to make himself heard over the din, “If we gonow, we can leave before the CCG arrives!”

“Do we even know how many ofthem are coming here?” Miza asked.

Kaneki shook his head, “Itdoesn’t matter. We shouldn’t risk it when we have the chance toescape without any causalities.”

“You want to run from theDoves, Eyepatch?” Ayato mocked, “How cowardly.”

“Don’t be stupid!” Toukasnapped, “In case you didn’t notice, there’s a limited number ofus, and an unknown number of them.”

Ayato snarled, enraged, “Wedon’t run—”

“Enough,” Eto ordered, calmdespite the shouting. Then she turned her bandaged face towardsAnteiku, tilting her head thoughtfully.

“It is odd, is it not?” Etomurmured, tapping her fingers against her lips, “How did the Dovesknow where to find us? It is quite convenient for them to be able tofight us while we are few in number and in cramped quarters. Did youtell them our location, Anteiku?”

“What?” Kaneki croaked,surprised. Such an accusation was—

“That’s moronic as shit!”Touka shouted, her temper flaring, “Why would we talk to the CCG?That puts us in danger too!”

“Does it?” Eto countered, hervoice that sweet poisoned honey again, “You’ve been observed beingrather friendly with some Doves, White Rabbit.”

Touka stiffened, and tried not toglance over at Ayato. During her last fight with her brother, she haddefended Akira. Touka hissed, frustrated that she couldn’t come upwith a good counter argument. Touka knew it looked suspicious. Hideglanced at her worriedly, his mind whirling.

Finally, his eyes landed onTakizawa and an idea formed.

“What about you, Aogiri?”Hide accused, jabbing a finger at Takizawa, “You’ve got a formerDove in your ranks. A dead one.”

Takizawa blinked owlishly at Hidebefore slowly, a mad grin formed on his lips.

“How’d you know that, huh~?”Takizawa purred, a dangerous lilt to his voice.

In a flash, Takizawa hopped overthe table, grabbed the front of Hide’s jacket, and pulled the blondclose. Takizawa grinned, the skin of his darkened lips cracking, ashis free hand skimming the edges of Hide’s disguise.

“You seem to know a lot~”Takizawa singsonged, his fingers drumming against the “33” onHide’s gas mask, “I wonder…who are you under alllll this~?”

‘Shit,’Hide’s panicked mind shrieked internally, as he tried not to squirm,'I messed up.’

“Let go of him!” Toukashouted, her fists clenching.

“Make me!” Takizawa laughed,hefting Hide up. Touka snarled, her whole frame tense like a wound upspring. Hide turned fearful eyes towards her. Things were quicklyspiraling out of control, and the whole situation was like a powderkeg waiting for a spark.

“Touka…Touka don’t!” Hidehissed, trying to calm her down. He shouldn’t have bothered. Thematch was already lit.

SHHHLK!Whump!

“AAAAAAaahhhHHhh…hahahaaa!”Takizawa screeched before the sound trailed off into derangedlaughter. He stepped back, holding the bloody stump of his arm. Hidestumbled back, shocked at his sudden freedom. Takizawa’s bloodyamputated arm lay right in front of the blond’s feet. Before Hide wasable to process anything, the human was quickly shoved back behindKaneki. The half-ghoul’s kagune were out and smeared with blood.

Hide wanted to curse. He had beenso focused on Touka’s reaction, he failed to pay attention to Kaneki.The half-ghoul crouched low, his body twisting into predatoryvengeful movement. His kagune were already whipping around foranother attack.

It was like an explosion—violentand chaotic.

(Boom.)

–

Outside of the school house, thefirst of the CCG’s vans were skidding into the courtyard in thefront. CCG agents, dressed in dark raid gear, hopped out of the vansbrandishing quinques, determination written all over their features.In one van, Marude Itsuki had set up a makeshift headquarters, andwas already rapidly calling out orders.

“Atou, I want you and yoursquad on point,” Marude barked into his microphone, “Kijima, yoursquad is supporting Atou. Ooshiba, Mado, I want your squads to circlearound the back. All other personnel, on standby.”

“Yes, sir!” came the promptreplies over the com system.

Marude frowned as he did somequick calculations. He knew this whole mission was a risk. He hadscrapped together five squads—an impressive feat, considering howmany CCG agents were busy with Washuu Matsuri’s scheduled raid. Butnormal missions against Aogiri usually called for at least two timesthe amount of investigators he had on hand. On one hand, the numberof investigators was disheartening. On the other…the initialreports had stated that both Aogiri and Anteiku were gathered in muchsmaller number than usual.

Leaders from two ghoul groups inone spot with only a smattering of security? The CCG had the chanceto slice the head off the dragon. They couldn’t let this opportunityto pass by unanswered.

The two point squads made shortwork in breaching the building doors, and started to make their wayinside.

Battle start.

And then, without warning, thesharp crash of breaking glass echoed above the investigators’heads.

Ghouls tumbled out of a brokenwindow from a higher floor. Snarling, Marude toggled on his mic.

“Ineed people out in the courtyard ASAP!”

–

Naki saw Thirty-three rushupstairs into the main meeting room. It didn’t take long for theyelling to start. Naki felt a smile tug at the corners of his lips.Finally, some action!

Just as he was about to ready hismen, the Gas Mask’s leader grabbed his elbow in a gentle grip thatwas totally at odds with his giant frame.

“Please,” the beefy fuckerbegged, “We don’t have to fight.”

Naki sighed. Really, he was justabout to—

Crash!The sound of glass shatteringechoed from the floor above, right where the meeting between Aogiriand Anteiku was taking place. Naki looked up, when—

Boom!Across the hall the doors werekicked open, revealing a knot of humans wielding quinques.

“Doves!”the cry went out.

Naki’s face broke out into avicious grin. Looks like things wouldn’t be so boring now. He shareda glance the the Gas Masks, a quick bolt of understanding flashingbetween them. Dove’s first.

“Get 'em!” Naki roared,pointing at the humans.

–

It happened so fast. There wasnothing and then—

Chaos.

Hide could barely understand whatwas happening. One moment he was struggling in Takizawa’s grip, thenext he was being pushed away as blood arched through the air.

Kaneki and Takizawa weregrappling with each other, kagune flashing. The former Dove’s armreattached itself with nearly impossible speed. Takizawa’s maddenedgiggles just barely drowned out Kaneki’s snarls. Takizawa’s mouthopened, almost impossibly wide, before clamping down hard on Kaneki’sleft shoulder.

“AAAAAaaaaaaahhhh!” Kanekishouted as flesh tore away from his body. His hand automaticallyreached over to clutch the wound, even as skin and sinew startedknitting itself together.

For a second, Takizawa just stoodthere, chewing, before a blissful smile stretched over his face.

“Tasttttty,” hemoaned, his tongue lolling out to swipe at the remaining blood aroundhis lips, “Fuck, you’re the best jam jam jam~!”

Kaneki launched himself back atTakizawa, elbowing the other half-ghoul in the face to stun him.Takizawa’s nose crunched under Kaneki’s assault, smearingblood all across the former Dove’s pale face. Kaneki felt a smallflash of satisfaction as Takizawa’s head reeled back. It was a shortlived victory. Takizawa renewed his attack with vigor, his eyescrazed with hunger and violence.

“Touka, Touka—you need to geteveryone to retreat!” Kaneki shouted as he ducked a wild swing fromTakizawa.

“Ahhh—hahahaha!” the formerDove laughed and screamed, his body arching. Across the room, Etosmiled as she murmured quietly to herself. The combatants didn’tnotice.

Takizawa’s kagune flared upbehind him, jagged ukaku spikes thrumming in a familiar way.  Kanekirecognized it immediately—Takizawa was going to fill the room withprojectiles. In such a small space, the attack would hit everybody.

Quick as a viper, Kaneki rushedat Takizawa, and bodily threw both of them out the window. The noiseof shattering glass was almost downed out by Takizawa’s cackledlaughs as both half-ghouls fell two stories to the ground.

“Kaneki!” Touka and Hidecried out together.

“Oh this looks interesting,”Eto muttered to herself, even as she tilted her head towards theremaining Anteiku members, “What will you do?”

“Get him out of here,” Yomomurmured, glancing at Touka and jerking his chin in Hide’s direction,“We’ll cover you.”

Touka nodded curtly, grabbing theback of Hide’s jacket and dashing out of the room with the human intow. It was easy enough—Anteiku had chosen to sit on the side ofthe table closest to the door. Touka ran swiftly, despite draggingHide along. Hide’s yelp of protest was promptly ignored.

Rather predictably, Ayato wasalready rising to chase after his sister. Nishiki acted first. With avicious swipe of his kagune, the bikaku user sent Ayato crashing intothe far wall.

“What’s the matter, bunny boy?”Nishiki taunted as Ayato shook off the hit, “Leaving so soon?”

“Fucking snake,” Ayato spatbefore launching himself at Nishiki. The two exchanged a flurry ofblows, attacking each other mercilessly.

Tsukiyama glanced over at Yomo,and then at Eto, Miza, and Noro.

“Two versus three?” Tsukiyamasighed dramatically as he formed his kagune over his arm with anelaborate bow, “How unfortunate. We do not have enough dancepartners to go around.”

Eto giggled, obviously amused byTsukiyama’s dramatics, before nodding at Noro, “Go play with thenice gentlemen, Noro. Miza, assist Naki with the incoming Dovesoutside.”

Eto turned away, clearlydismissing Anteiku. Miza whipped out her famed three blades to carvean exit into the far wall, and both she and Eto were prepared toleave unhindered. Yomo snarled under his breath and launched himselfat Eto, determined to stop her retreat.

Without missing a beat, Noropractically materialized between Yomo and Eto, batting thesilver-haired ghoul away with his kagune. Yomo crashed against thefar wall, but quickly leaped to his feet. His ukaku crackled to life,flaring out behind him in uneven patterns.

“It seems that we will have togo through Monsieur Noro before going after the mesdemoiselles,”Tsukiyama commented as he settled into a ready stance next to Yomo,“You and me versus him…nostalgic, no? It is almost a repeat oflast time. A pity Monsieur Uta is not here with us.”

Yomo grunted in response, butdidn’t answer further. His mind was already analyzing their chances.Last time, they weren’t able to defeat Noro, even with Uta’s help. Infact, every blow, no matter how serious, had been quickly healed upby the monster before them. Noro would not be an easy fight. Butbeyond that, Yomo’s eyes were quickly darting about the room,searching.

Where had the Clowns gone?

Notes:

*Strolls in months latejust like Aogiri.*'Sup. Have an extra long chapter for taking so long.

I have been waiting since foreverto have a good opportunity for someone to call Ayato “bunny boy.”I’ve had that line written down for ages. Thank you, Nishiki.Also I got to get in some defenestration. Good times.

Yes, the other CCG raid alludedto during this chapter is the infamous Auction raid from canon.Obviously, quite a few things are going to be different over there,though some events will remain the same. Also, yes, Hide is wearingTouka’s mask from the Cochlea raid in canon. Ikinda wanted him to wear the Scarecrow mask, but Ishida-sensei isbeing coy on how canon that is.

Huh, I wonder if playingBackstreet Boys while reading this chapter makes it any different.Probably turns it goofy, haha. No, I didn’t listen to “I Want ItThat Way” while writing this. Honest.