by Shin Towada
“He just got here today, Morimine …”
“A promise is a promise! See, it was worth it coming down here every day. Hey, new guy, can I count on your cooperation?”
“Cooperation?” Amon could not understand what he meant, so he turned to Yanagi in search of an explanation. Yanagi furrowed his brow and scratched his head.
“Well, Amon … this is Lieutenant Kyohei Morimine of the 8th Ward Police Station, Criminal Division. He’s a very talented detective, however you slice it.”
“Nice to meet you,” Morimine said, changing his attitude completely. He snapped to attention and gave a salute. Sure does seem like a cop.
“Morimine, this is Kotaro Amon, who has come from the 20th Ward as an urgent reinforcement. He’s young, but he’s a first class investigator.”
“Oh? He couldn’t be younger than Tojo here, could he? And he’s a first class investigator?”
“Cut it out!” Tojo said. “That’s a delicate subject and you know it.”
“Tojo, what’s your rank again? Rank 2, was it?”
“Man, I told you, cut it out!”
“But he’s younger than Tojo here, right? And isn’t first class higher than rank 2?”
“Of course it is, you bastard! Agh!” Yanagi silenced Tojo’s yelling with another thump.
Amon, still puzzled, finished the formalities. “That’s right, I’m Kotaro Amon,” he said.
“But … what is a detective doing here?”
I’m still not sure I believe he’s a cop, but we can’t get started if we don’t listen to him.
“I’m here about the missing schoolgirl case from three months ago,” Morimine said.
“A missing schoolgirl? You don’t think it’s got something to do with Ghouls, do you?” Amon asked Yanagi, who was standing beside him, but Morimine answered instead.
“Hell no!” he scoffed. “Definitely the work of a human. But the higher-ups made a big fuss at the first sign of Ghoul involvement, and they gave all authority to the CCG. And then if there’s a danger of Ghoul involvement you have to follow all these tedious regulations, so I can’t even investigate freely!” Morimine started rattling through his list of complaints.
“Calm down a little, Morimine,” Yanagi warned and began to carefully explain. “Three months ago a schoolgirl went missing and the police started investigating, but last month a barrette belonging to Mai Hirano, the girl who had gone missing, was found. And where the barrette was found there was also some bodily fluid thought to be from a Ghoul. So we received a request for cooperation from the police …”
“’But all the chief investigators are in the hospital, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to resume the investigation!’”
Now Amon understood at last that due to the personnel shortage after the Aogiri incident, they hadn’t been able to assist with the case’s investigation.
“I know you guys are out there putting your lives on the line for us, but we’re doing the same thing! And we cannot afford to neglect this forever!” Morimine crossed his arms and stared at the three of them. “Yanagi, did you get a match on that bodily fluid?”
“Unfortunately this was the first time the CCG has ‘met’ this particular Ghoul.”
If the Ghoul had attacked people before, and if the victims’ remains were passed on to the CCG for investigation, then the details regarding the fluids left on the corpse—as well as the Kagune marks, if any—would be recorded and registered under a unique Ghoul ID number. If information was immediately collected when a new incident was uncovered, it greatly aided investigations, but in this particular case it seemed like the culprit had been a new Ghoul. That meant the investigation had to start from the very beginning.
“So what’s the possibility that this Ghoul suspect was actually involved in the case?”
The CCG knew of some Ghouls who always marked their territory. If we can find out which one of them was involved in this, it might eventually lead to the extermination of Ghouls.
“Just when they were in the middle of figuring out the answer to that question, the investigators were injured and had to be hospitalized.”
“I see … so nothing’s been done. Or to put it in other words—we are not currently disclosing information relating to this case.”
Both the police and the CCG were sworn to protect the peace, but their approaches differed significantly.
Particularly, when dealing with the special field of Ghouls, the CCG imposed confidentiality regarding the specifics and limited the information provided to outside agencies. They could not simply pass on information about a Ghoul suspect and let the police investigate. Which had led to Morimine’s frustration.
“Since the possibility emerged that the culprit might be a Ghoul, we’ve moved carefully,” said Morimine. “But you guys haven’t touched the case. The missing girl might still be somewhere waiting for someone to save her! If you’re not going to do anything then give the case back to us!”
“Morimine, we’re doing all we can, but until we determine there’s no chance a Ghoul was involved we can’t release the case,” Yanagi said.
“Oh, I’ve heard that one before! Don’t even bother. You said it, Yanagi—you said that as soon as you got another Ghoul investigator on board you’d be able to start on the case. Didn’t you?” Morimine got in Yanagi’s face as he carried out his interrogation. Yanagi looked like he was at his wit’s end. He pushed Morimine away from him with both hands.
“I have a wife and kids too, Morimine. What happened to this girl is breaking my heart, even if there’s no connection to Ghouls. Of course I want to investigate. But Amon here just got to this branch today. I want a little more time to get the 8th Ward under control first,” said Yanagi.
“I’ve waited long enough already! I want you to get started right away. And I’m not leaving until you do!” Morimine’s eyes cut straight through Yanagi, then Amon.
“Understood.”
Now Amon looked at Yanagi and Morimine.
“‘Understood?’ Amon?”
“Chief Yanagi, I’m going to investigate this case.”
The pounding in my chest stopped for a moment, until he started yelling again.
“All right! Don’t go back on your word!”
“H-hang on a minute, now, Amon …”
“No, no, no, no, no, Amon! Amon!”
Morimine was exultant, but Yanagi and Tojo’s expressions had changed. They grabbed Amon by the arms and pulled him away from the lieutenant.
“I think it would be better for us to handle such sober and … unglamorous work. Agh!” Yanagi hit Tojo again, but he seemed to be in agreement with Tojo.
“Amon, you’d be the right man for any job. And once we’ve finished briefing you on the 8th Ward, we’ll start working on the case. But your job, for now, is being vigilant as regards the 23rd Ward and maintaining the security of the 8th …”
But Amon said, “No. I still don’t know that much about the 8th. And since the threat from the 23rd requires serious attention, I think you and Tojo are much better suited to that, given your ability to see the 8th Ward from a much broader perspective.”
“Amon …”
“The search for this Ghoul suspect will take me all over the ward, so I’ll be able to get the lay of the land while I’m doing it. And if there’s any chance a Ghoul was even slightly connected to this case, we can’t just put it on the back burner.”
Amon’s sense of pride would not allow the CCG to be condemned unfairly by the police due to circumstances beyond the control of investigators like himself, who were fighting every day to serve people and protect the peace.
A dark look passed over Yanagi’s face, but he nodded in agreement with Amon.
“So, Morimine, are you gonna give him the information and time he needs to take over the case?” asked Yanagi.
&n
bsp; Morimine put his thumb and index fingers together, giving him the OK sign.
III
After a quick information handover was completed, Amon left Yanagi and Tojo, who seemed somewhat worried, and headed toward the train station. One of the Ghoul suspects on their list lived in an apartment near the station.
Lieutenant Morimine walked alongside him.
“Should I send my report on the investigation to the police station when I’m done?”
“You really are new to this ward, aren’t you? You gotta get a map or something. By the way, that’s the way to the train station.”
Morimine pointed at a narrow side street between two buildings. How did he know I was heading to the train station? Amon realized Morimine had been peeking at the document he was holding and felt his mood take a turn for the worse.
And Morimine felt the change. “I wasn’t looking at that,” he said. “I figured you were going somewhere you knew, because you came out of the CCG building and went right off without stopping, and since you don’t know the area you had to be going to the station. You took the train to get here, right?”
He was right. Amon had been worried about getting caught in traffic, so he’d taken the train instead. This guy looks rough but he notices more than I thought he would.
“What made you want to be a detective?”
I don’t really trust him much, but he must have a motivation to do this kind of work. Amon expected a positive answer, but instead, Morimine said, “It just happened.”
“It just happened?”
“Yeah. I didn’t really have any other options.”
“But you must take some kind of pride in your work?”
“Pride?” Morimine scoffed, as if this were somehow contemp-tuous. “I don’t have to take pride. Anyway, we’re going to the station, yeah? I’ll lead and you can catch up on your reading there. If there’s something you don’t get, just ask.”
This guy goes storming into the CCG’s offices, guns blazing, to get an investigation restarted and he has no pride in his work? Doesn’t say much for his profession. Amon dropped the subject but continued thinking over his suspicions as he watched Morimine walk on ahead of him. His eyes fell to the notes Yanagi had given him. Three months ago, Mai Hirano was on her way home from an after-school club meeting when she disappeared. She was not involved in illicit activities, and she was on good terms with all her friends.
There wasn’t much in the way of witness statements. People who had seen high school–age girls that looked like her hadn’t reported anything suspicious.
Searches turned up little in the way of concrete evidence, but eventually Mai’s barrette was found.
However, the place where her barrette was found was … “Near the 8th Ward police station?”
“That’s right. It was left in a prominent place just across from the station.”
Then there was the deposit of bodily fluid from a Ghoul.
“Did someone find the barrette and bring it to that location?”
“If they did find it, why not just hand it in? Although maybe under the circumstances they couldn’t.”
“Under the circumstances …”
“Perhaps they were involved in the case.”
Morimine turned to look at Amon.
“Look, Amon. Like I told you, I’m pretty sure this was the work of a human.”
True, that’s what he claimed when he was talking to Yanagi.
“What about this Ghoul fluid then?”
You know, the entire reason the CCG has to deal with this.
“Yeah … but the barrette was placed near the police station, right? Whoever put it there was counting on the police to find it, so whoever they wanted us to catch is probably human, in that case.”
“Isn’t that a bit too simplistic? The public has a friendlier relationship with the police than with the CCG. So there’s nothing special about someone taking it directly to the police.”
“You’re way off, man.” Morimine’s tone had an implication to it. He turned his eyes away. “This story goes a lot deeper than that.”
What does he mean by that?
“We’re almost at the station,” Morimine said, then clamped his mouth shut.
They spent that day walking around the area without making any real breakthroughs. When Amon said that he was going to leave it for the day and head back to the CCG, Morimine gave him a salute and said, “Thanks for your hard work,” then walked off. He stopped and turned back to add, “See you tomorrow.”
When he got back to the 8th Ward office, Yanagi and Tojo were waiting for him, their faces betraying their worry.
“You look beat, Amon. How’d it go?”
“Did things go all right with Morimine?”
“I’ve got absolutely no results to show for today.”
“Well, results don’t come that easily. The most important thing right now is for you to get acquainted with the area. Wanna come for a drink with us, Amon?” Yanagi mimicked waving a bottle. This, of course, also had implications of welcoming Amon to the ward and giving him information. In the old days, when he was full of passion for investigating Ghouls, he would not have looked favorably upon such an invitation, but now Amon replied, “Of course.” This was how much of an influence Nakajima—the clerk investigator from the 20th Ward who followed Amon devotedly—and Shinohara had had on him, not just as an investigator but as a man.
The place Yanagi took him to was a little restaurant with a relaxed atmosphere.
“Why do you come to cheapo places like this when your wife’s a great cook, Yanagi?”
“Tojo, shut it.” Yanagi gave a little shove to Tojo, who grinned, as they headed into the dining room.
“You’ve got children, don’t you, Yanagi?” Amon asked.
“I have a son. He’s in elementary school. All of a sudden he says he wants to be a chef, because he wants everyone to be able to eat good food. Just like my wife,” said Yanagi.
“A chef? It’s great that he’s got his sights set on something,” Amon said in admiration as he sat down at the table. Unlike Morimine, who just wound up in his job.
“Well, he’s still little so who knows … I mean, who knows if I’ll still be alive when he’s grown,” Yanagi said nonchalantly. As investigators, we come face to face with death. You never knew when it might be your turn. Investigators with families must spend a lot of time thinking about it.
For a moment, the air was charged. Tojo noticed and responded sensitively.
“Yanagi, it’s a little early to take the conversation somewhere that dark! You’re gonna be fine, and you’ll get to pig out on your grown son’s cooking!”
But Yanagi reacted badly instead. “You’re too damn positive, you know. You finally get this long-range ukaku Quinque that you’ve wanted for so long, and now you can’t hit a target to save your life. You need to practice! Practice!”
“I am practicing! Am I not supposed to listen to what Noyama said?” Tojo embraced the attaché case next to him. So, his Quinque is named Noyama, Amon thought.
“You’re really never gonna get promoted if you act like that,” Yanagi said, his face showing his astonishment.
“You have an ukaku Quinque, Tojo?” Amon asked.
“That’s right. Yanagi uses a bikaku on the front lines, so as backup …”
“Yeah, and because of you, I’ve almost been killed. If I don’t live to see my son as a grown man, it’ll be your fault, not a Ghoul’s.”
Ignoring Yanagi’s grumbling, Tojo looked down at Amon’s attaché case. “You use a kokaku, right Amon?”
“Yeah, it’s called Kura.”
“Kura?” Yanagi whispered, looking serious. “That was Mado’s …” Indeed, Amon had inherited this Quinque from Mado, who was now deceased. And thanks to it, he had been able to defeat the bikaku of the Bi
n Brothers, two of the Ghouls who had executed the Aogiri attack.
“Did you know Mado, Yanagi?”
“Not well, but I’ve heard a lot about his Quinque. There are a lot of guys who talk about Mado, and I’m so bad at handling a Quinque that I’ll be damned if I talk about anyone else, but I always envied Mado for his skill and knowledge when it came to handling one.”
A memory of Mado clutching his precious attaché case arose in Amon’s mind. Seeing the look on Amon’s face, Yanagi cut in as if he’d suddenly remembered something.
“Speaking of Mado, how is his daught—?”
Before he could finish his thought, the waitress appeared with their food. “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Well, let’s leave the talk about the old days there, shall we? Eat up, Amon. The food’s really good here.”
Amon would have liked to talk more about Mado, but he nodded and started eating.
“The thing is, though, if the culprit really is a Ghoul, then where did this Ghoul take that schoolgirl? I know they found her barrette with Ghoul fluids on it, but her body was never found. So I wonder if, instead, she actually ran away from home or something …”
“Tojo, if Morimine heard you say that he’d flip out.”
“But then that means she might still be alive. Amon, what do you think?”
Amon set his chopsticks down.
“I have to be honest and say that at the present stage, I can’t rule anything out. But …”
“But?”
Amon sat up stiffly. “If a Ghoul was involved we will find and destroy it. Absolutely.”
“O-of course,” Tojo nodded, taken aback by Amon’s enthusiasm.
“For now, Amon, just keep your focus on the case.”
“Yes sir.”
They stayed out drinking for three hours. Tojo started joking about moving on to somewhere else, but Yanagi cut him off.
Amon wanted to get a feel for the streets at night, so he said goodbye and walked alone through the 8th Ward.
