The Resurrected Criminal

Chapter 3

"Hi,nice to meet ya.I'm Juuzou Suzuya,Associate Special Class Investigator. You must be the half-ghoul,Ayane Kirishima right?"

   "Yes I suppose,"

  Juuzou eyed her from top to bottom while crossing his arms. She felt as though a little child was looking at her. His eyes were so cute and round. He was probably older than her though. "You know,for a leader of terrorist cannibals you have quite the fashion sense."

  "Oh I try,"

  He brought his face closer to hers. "It feels strange to see you in person though, I've always wondered what you looked like under that mask." He gave a loud sigh and said a little too cheerfully  with a smile on his face, "I wanted to be the one to kill you though,"

  She shrugged and gave a playful smile. "Well,maybe next time then,if you can resist my charms after laying eyes on me,"

   Arima was watching the interaction with amusement the while time. This mischievous humor was something new to him. She was lively,no doubt,but she always chose her words carefully around him,he thought.

  "Suzuya,allow her to be your companion throughout the day so she can get a glimpse of how everything works." He then turned towards Ayane and said,"Behave,I do not want to hear any complaints that you hindered someone's work.In the meantime,I have urgent matters to attend to."

  "Wait,you're leaving?" She asked with a hint of nervousness. Everybody probably disliked her in the building,she thought,not sure if Juuzou was included.

   "I have to,I'm the busiest man in the CCG,"

   "I would love to show you around,just don't wander off by yourself and you'll be safe from the big,bad investigators" Juuzou said,clapping his hands together with the biggest grin on his face. Ayane followed after him,looking unusually timid.

  Arima knew Juuzou understood why he asked him to guide her instead of the usual way with the other Third Class Investigators. The Council's strict orders that she will be under surveillance of First Class and above Investigators at all times. And besides,he thought their personalities would match together.

.  .  .

  "And this is what a training room looks like,there are so many others in the building. It's where I practice throwing my knives."

  He decided to perform a show of his skills by juggling a dozen of them in the air and then hitting  bull's eye for each knive. She muttered a 'woah' as he went to retrieve the knives from the targets at superhuman speed and watched as he placed them all in a straight line inside his coat. There must be more than a dozen knives in there,she thought. If she only counts one side that is.

  He then turned his attention to her." That was impressive," she said. He looked at her and wondered if she could use a weapon or was her kagune all she really good at. He was about to ask when something else about her caught his attention.

  "Wait,did your hair just change colour?"

  Ayane glanced down at the ends of her hair,the only bleached part remaining whereas the rest of it had turned back to its natural orangish red hue.

  Ayane was pretty shocked. She had thought indulging in evil crimes must have turned her hair white or something, like the witches in fairytales. She tried to not think about it or come up with a better explanation every time she looked in the mirror and wondered who the person standing in front of her was. She didn't want to know.

  "It is because of the Marie Antoinette Syndrome," said a female voice from behind them. They looked around to see a young blonde woman standing at the door. She walks towards them and extends her hand. "Akira Mado,I've heard a lot about you,Ayane  Kirishima,so I thought I'd pay a visit,"

  "I thought everyone knew me as Rize here,"

  "The Council has informed the First Class Investigators and above only that the ghoul called Dancer is dead now and so is Rize. Ayane Kirishima is someone else entirely."

  "So,what is this Marie Antoinette Syndrome you mentioned?" Asked Juuzou.

  "It is what they call when a person's hair loses their pigment due to extreme pain or torture. The doctors say it happened to the French queen Marie Antoinete during the French Revolution," Akira explained.

  Even mine didn't change colour after what Mama did to me,Juuzou thought. He then remembered she was responsible for the deaths of many investigators,and his sympathy lessened a tiny bit.

  Still,he had a job to do. "Arima has assigned me as her tour guide. So excuse me,we have to get going now."

  Akira nodded." We're going to be seeing each other pretty often it seems then,Kirishima,"

  With that,Ayane looped her arm around Juuzou's and they took off. He looked at her once,caught off guard by the sudden skin contact, but did not say anything. Akira noticed the exchange and her mouth quirked upward. Such inappropriate display between two people who barely met,it amused her,despite her anxiety about a half-ghoul roaming the CCG building.