hide, why would you do that to me?
The air was heavy, thick with grief. How many losses had there been already? Hide pressed his lips together, eyes narrowed. A cold feeling of unsettlement began to grow in the shelves of his mind. Something wasn't right. Well, of course something wasn't right. There's always something that isn't right when you're in the midst of a battlefield.
"Nagachika. Your duty is to eliminate the rogue Eyepatch. Do not forget your duty." Hide nodded stiffly, cocking his head at Akira and pressing his lips in a thin, dry smile. She was going to be taking on the ghoul named Floppy. He wondered if she knew that it was actually Amon that she will be fighting, but oh well. It doesn't matter when you're killing a ghoul, whether you have connections to them or not. It's their duty as investigators to eradicate ghouls, not have connections with them.
Hide laughed bitterly at his thoughts, thinking about way back then, when he had a so called friend named Kaneki. His best friend. He was more than anything Hide would ever ask for. He was everything. But then...
Hide had heard from some of the CCG investigators that there was someone named Sasaki, whom is learning to surpass CCG's Reaper. They say that while he acts like a morally good person, on the inside, he's just like Arima Kishou. Which must be very terrifying, as Arima is quite the sadist. Hide wondered if he would ever meet him and what he was like. They told him that he was someone who went into a coma after a serious accident in combat, but woke up after a few years. Poor guy. But even Hide knew that was a lie. The CCG always fed him lies, about Kaneki, about Sasaki, about everything.
He wondered if Sasaki was better or worse than Kaneki. Whatever it may be, it didn't matter anymore. Because Sasaki didn't exist. Not anymore, by the very least. Kaneki was back. And it was Hide's duty to eliminate the notorious Centipede ghoul, gone savage after resurfacing in Sasaki's body.
Hide's mouth curled into a snarl, passing by a van full of investigators who were checking up on the other dispatched doves. The Bluetooth in his ear notified him that the Eyepatch was lingering near the entrance of the coffee shop :Re. Which was perfectly fine. At least he knew where it was-after all, being away in America for three years wasn't necessarily an aid to his memory of Tokyo. But he knew exactly where it was, as it was in one of the wards he passed by a lot. Besides, didn't it take Anteiku's place? Or was that his imagination?
"Rabbit has been eliminated." The Bluetooth spoke, and almost as if timed perfectly, Hide met the investigator who spoke, arriving on the scene. The investigator huddled over a dead ghoul, one with cobalt hair. The ghoul had a rabbit mask on. Her body was split apart, her intestines splayed out on the ground. Blood gushed out of her wounds, and while it may have seemed traumatic, Hide's seen worse. The girl had her fingers twitching, groping around, as if she was searching for someone.
"Ayato... I have to get... Kaneki? Nishiki? Hinami?" The girl garbled, and Hide glared. Who was she, and how did she know Kaneki? He approached the investigator cautiously, putting his hands up in a surrendering sort of way. She scrutinized him for a moment. Then, the investigator nodded at him, recognizing his features. She allowed him to see the ghoul.
Oh.
Touka's smooth features were congealed with blood, and her lips were coated with crimson. Her eyes were like a human's, but they were glazed over. She was ready to die. She sputtered out more words (I'm sorry, father, Ayato. Come back, Kaneki. I love you Hinami) and thick blood, before the life was sucked out of her. Her body fell limp, all the burning rage and life that he used to see in her gone.
Hide stared at her corpse once more, before moving on, gesturing behind him to signal where the other investigators were. After all, the would probably want to harvest her Kagune, seeing as she was quite the strong ghoul. Hide remembered their first encounter, and while she was a ghoul, he was glad that she helped Kaneki during his first stages of being a ghoul. But he began to wonder. Obviously she and Nishiki worked at :Re, but earlier he had seen some other ghouls that were definitely not affiliated with :Re at all. But he had his theories.
