Chapter 13: This is But the Opening Salvo...
Xavier Rall
Merely an aspiring writer.
- Location
- Dunellen, NJ
A/N: Procrastination. That is all that needs to be said to explain why I haven't updated ANYTHING. That and college.
"Speech"
Thought
Telepathy
<Phone>
Chapter 13: This Is But the Opening Salvo… Kakuja Crisis Arc Part 4
*BZZZZ*
Come on, he thought. School had been unceremoniously canceled early after the corpse of Chiasa Hara had been found in the lady's room. While he had been glad to be able to leave school early (despite the grotesque reason for doing so) it wasn't long after he'd arrived home before a CCG-mandated emergency evacuation order was issued for his ward, because of the sudden uprising of kakuja ghouls who had come out of nowhere.
*BZZZZ*
He and his family had been given no time to pack as they jammed themselves into the family car and rushed to escape the CCG perimeter as soon as possible. Traffic thankfully was not as bad as it could have been; it was still a pain to endure. After leaving the perimeter, they were escorted to a nearby stadium, where police and CCG men were stationed to protect them. Once arriving, they found an empty patch in the field and settled down.
*BZZZZ*
With an opportunity to finally calm down and rationally organize the thoughts that had been stewing in his head since the body's discovery that morning, Hisao found that he was not going to be making headway on his suspicions about the entire situation without help. So he called the one possibly available person he had on speed dial who was smart enough to help him out.
*BZZ-* <Hello?>
"Hi, Senpai. It's me, Hisao," he said nervously.
<Hisao! Hey! It's been awhile!>
"Yeah, sorry I haven't talked to you since I moved."
<Ah, don't worry about it. I've been doing alright, especially since I got into University. But that's not why you're calling, I take it.>
*Sigh* "No. I'm sure you've heard about the Kakujas who are swarming all over the place, right?"
<Even my best friend's heard about it, that and this Ripper Ghoul or No-Life Queen or whatever the CCG have decided to call her that seems to be behind it. You're calling because you want to compare notes, right?>
"Yeah," Hisao replied, feeling a little relieved that he wasn't the only one keeping his ear to the ground regarding her.
<So, whatcha got?>
"Here's what I know. The No-Life Queen first appeared about two months ago, killing an unknown ghoul that had attacked Michi Matsuzaka, daughter of a CCG Investigator, on her way home from school, killing her two accompanying friends Asuna and Reiko. After that, the CCG had her under surveillance and protection for two weeks, to see if the ghoul came back for her. For two months since her debut, the No-Life Queen has been publically acknowledged as behind the deaths of over 60 ghouls in the 10th Ward, as well as the breakout and slaughter at the ghoul prison, Cochlea."
<That's what everyone knows. What do you have?>
"I believe that Michi Matsuzaka and the No-Life Queen are connected."
<How do you know?>
"Before her attack, Michi came and left school accompanied by one of her parents or two or three of her friends. When the CCG protection and surveillance was lifted, she always arrived at and left from school by herself. Also, when I went to library in that time, I began noticing her more often. I haven't associated much with her before all this, but I know that her tastes in reading revolved around police procedurals, legal drama, and computer technologies. Nowadays, I found that most of her nonfictional checkouts revolved around Japanese history, ghoul biology and psychology, and the occult, while she also at the same time checked out horror light novels and manga. And finally, the CCG officially declared Michi missing this morning, mere hours before our current crisis."
<Not ironclad, but it does sound pretty convincing.>
"And that's not all," Hisao continued. "After her attack, she saw a dip in her popularity, but it returned when the No-Life Queen rose to notoriety in the public eye. She began going out of her way to use that popularity to associate herself with some of the really big names in my school. Katsuo Ishikawa, whose family owns a hospital. He and his family are widely rumored to be yakuza. He ran away from home less than two weeks ago. Masahiko Himura, the school's star athlete in track and archery. He's made such a name for himself in the school's sports programs that most of us have forgotten he's also the firstborn son of the CEO of a steel company. He disappeared mere hours before the Cochlea Incident and hasn't been seen since. And Chiasa Hara, the daughter of a Diet member. A lot of guys are constantly vying to be her boyfriend because of her connections and supermodel physique; although there were a few rumors, her family was arranging something between her and Masahiko. She was found dead this morning at my school, which is right near the epicenter of the kakuja ambush."
<Bravo, Hisao. That's some nice detective work. Got anything else?>
"Sorry, I'm afraid I don't. What about you?"
<To put it simply, what you've got merely scratches the surface of what's probably going on. I noticed that something was off from the start when the No-Life Queen was first rising to prominence. People first got their information regarding her from data leaked from inside the CCG to the media. The CCG is notoriously tight-lipped and have a lengthy history of hiding information from the public until when they decide to release it, and people who leak information get severely reprimanded, if not fired or even jailed. And yet, the people were informed about her activities from a CCG source multiple times over the course of two months. A source that no one can track down.>
Hisao remembered that. "You're right. There were a lot of people who also wondered that as well."
<Also, until the Cochlea incident, she wasn't even that significant when you get right down to it. There is the Gourmet, the Binge Eater and the One-Eyed Owl, individual ghouls who have been around for a long time and are notorious for especially or uniquely heinous crimes committed against humans. They also don't make inter-ghoul violence into much of a spectacle outside of the occasional gang war. And if a ghoul was cannibalizing others at an increasing rate, it would be interpreted by the CCG as a cause for alarm, and that alarm would be relayed to the public.>
"Because ghouls cannibalize each other either because they're desperate or because they want to become stronger. Some ghouls do it and even succeed in becoming kakujas. Desperate and/or stronger ghouls mean more dangerous ghouls."
<Exactly. So that then begs the question: Why was there even a debate on Ripper in the first place? Inn trying to find this out, I discovered something very interesting: A lot of this debate was on social media, forum sites, and even radio stations.>
"So?" Hisao asked. What makes that so special?
<They're all places where one can participate in conversations while remaining anonymous. Or, to be more direct, places where one can FAKE conversations entirely.>
Hisao's eyes widened in shock. "You mean the whole thing with Ripper being a controversy was manufactured?!"
<Bingo. I talked with a few people online to take a look at how the Ripper debate progressed. A lot of the conversation in its later stages is organic and has distinct sides, but when you look at the first 48 hours of dialogue, it started off incredibly one-sided, as most debates revolving around the appearance of new ghouls often do. Then, suddenly, there was a literal flurry of posts that made a lot of different arguments that stood in favor of the Ripper. Right around the same time, social media was bombarded across the board with similar arguments, and callers phoned in to radio and talk shows to show their support. All of these came from untraceable accounts, anonymous contributors, and public outlets and numbers. This continued for the next few days, until the dialogue had evolved to the point that a healthy debate was actually going on among real people.>
"Wow," Hisao marveled. "How come the CCG didn't notice anything like this?"
<The CCG doesn't investigate the Internet for ghouls all that often as most ghouls are either illiterate, unable to either access the Internet or utilize electronics, or are too cautious to risk being tracked online, thus resulting in very, very few ghouls who use the internet for very much, let alone for associating with other ghouls.>
"Guess no one really expected the No-Life Queen to have a crack media team at her command."
<Indeed. This revelation has led me to believe a while ago that either the No-Life Queen has a larger organization under her command, or she has a bigger hunting ground than just the 10th Ward. So I started looking at reports from all of the Wards, and I've found that, since the Ripper's arrival, the number of ghoul-related deaths actually fell a little bit and the number of ghouls dead from other ghouls saw a slight incline.>
"That's not entirely convincing, and you know it," Hisao noted.
<I know. Which is why I haven't really said anything to the CCG. My job may sometimes take me through their doors, but I'm not very close to anyone there. Sure they've let look at one or two charts or maps they might have had lying around, but I definitely wasn't going to be swaying very many opinions, and the current environment isn't really going to allow me to make much of any headway in helping the CCG.>
"Why is that, Hide?"
<Probably because that by tomorrow, anything we've discussed just now will either be a given or a moot point.>
The two stood apart, stances ready, and eyes locked on one another. Uta's kakugan on Masahiko's vampiric slits.
Masahiko released the arrow.
Uta instantly dodged right.
The arrow sliced open his bicep as it shot by.
Uta was shocked. No matter how strong the archer or his bow, or how aerodynamic the arrow, there was no way possible for an arrow to move that fast. This slipped through Uta's mind in an instant, and immediately charged at Masahiko, unleashing his kagune at the same time to attack him and protect himself from the next arrow.
Masahiko instantly noticed how Uta didn't dodge until the moment he had let go of the arrow, and was now taking advantage of the gap between shots to launch his own attack. Pushing on his feet, he thrust himself backwards and out of range of Uta's kagune, whipping out another arrow formed from the metal of Seiichi's making and the souls of his consumed victims.
Uta saw Masahiko string another arrow as he back-stepped away. Once he saw it release, he twisted his body as he charged forward. The arrow impacted his kagune, causing his body to spin. Uta allowed the momentum to carrying his extending and thrashing kagune into the wall and floor, cracking both and flinging debris in Masahiko's direction.
Masahiko dodged to the side to avoid the debris, only to be blindsided by one of Uta's tentacles, smashing him into the opposite wall. For a moment, Uta had him pinned against it. Then Uta was surprised again when the second arrow that had been shot at him, the one now lodged in the tentacle that trapped Masahiko, had suddenly sprouted mouths and began chewing apart, and up, the tentacle.
Uta quickly tried to throw off the parasite, but to no avail, and allowed his kagune to dissolve, leaving it with nothing to eat. The thing then, to his morbid fascination, then launched itself back to Masahiko, who allowed it to crawl back up his sleeve and disappear. It was then Uta noticed that the hole he'd put through Masahiko's torso was closing up.
And Masahiko had dropped his bow.
Seeing an opening, Uta plunged forward, not bothering to unleash his kagune to give him more speed.
His healing rendering him unable to dodge this attack in time, Masahiko dropped a longer arrow into his hand.
As Uta closed the gap, he thrust out both hands to rip directly into Masahiko's body. At the same time, Masahiko lunged with his arrow like a rapier, spearing Uta's left forearm straight through to his right elbow. Uta, unfazed by the pain, responded by kicking into the very center of where Masahiko was healing up. Masahiko grit his teeth, refusing to let out a scream.
Using the arrow for leverage, Masahiko threw Uta aside for several meters, sending him skidding away. Masahiko spotted his bow and dove for it. Uta regained his balance, noticed where Masahiko was headed, and broke the arrow over his knee-
KA-BOOM!
Having retrieved his bow, Masahiko turned to Uta and strung another arrow to bring to bear. He was grateful to have flung Uta as far as he had, otherwise he too would have been caught in the blast of his explosive arrow. Both of his arms and legs had been blown off, and the rest was unrecognizable-burnt meat. Unwilling to take chances, he fired the arrow into the body's head, allowing it to shapeshift and begin eating the corpse.
Masahiko stood there as he watched his latest adversary be consumed, a small feeling of triumph welling up inside him. But it passed quickly, when he finished reviewing the battle in his head.
"Shit. Still not good enough. Just you wait you bitch. One day, I'll own your life."
"HeeeeeeelllllllllllOOOOOOOooooooooooo," went the siren call that echoed through the building. "I know you're still heeeeeeeerrrrrrrrreeeeeee. Come out, come out, wherever you aaaaaaarrrrrrreeeeeee."
When will that damn wench shut up? Kureo thought angrily, but refusing to make a noise and give away his position. Turning to Amon, he saw his partner sweating profusely, but also holding himself back to keep quiet. Down the hall, he saw Shinohara and Juuzou in a similar state of quiet.
"Come ooooonnnnnnn! I know we don't have all that much time left before I have to go away, but couldn't you all at least spend it with little old me?"
Everything right now was the fault of that damn demon. He could almost feel the unnaturalness of that ridiculous sword she carried, and the speed and skill she wielded it with was equally inhuman. She had sliced up both his and Shinohara's squads in literally seconds, deliberately leaving the four of them unscathed so that they could run away and she could take her time chasing and killing them.
"I don't know about you guys, but this has to be the best day of my LIFE! It's funny, don't you think? Me, once an ordinary schoolgirl, but now with the power of my love, I AM INVINCIBLE!!"
In the brief time they had to set a trap (which felt an awful lot like running and hiding for some reason), Shinohara had explained to them that Chiasa Hara, the girl they were currently being chased by, had come to the CCG's attention because she had been the murder victim of a suspected ghoul attack that had happened that morning. How she was now alive, well, and slaughtering ghoul investigators by the dozen was beyond him, especially considering that Chiasa had been a verified human for the entire course of her life.
"You know, the thought just occurred to me: you guys want to know how I got to be this way, huh? Well, I'm under direct orders not to spoil anything yet, but I can tell a vague story. Me and two of my friends were introduced to the No-Life Queen not very long ago. Well, more like stumbled across her having dinner."
As they listened to her voice getting closer, Kureo felt a slight satisfaction that she was coming the way they had hoped. When they were initially getting into position, they figured that she would try to outwit them by racing for the ground floor first and clear the building one floor at a time by going up. Her voice emanating from below them had confirmed this suspicion.
"Not gonna lie- the moment we met we thought we were dead. But she is a really sweet gal once you get to know her. Really sad too. Her favorite food used to be English meat pies, because they reminded her of her father, because they were his favorite food, too! But now, she can't anymore. How sad is that!"
Just keep blathering, Kureo thought. As interesting as her talk may or may not be, Kureo knew that ghouls who talked like that were not always on guard. He and the other three were positioned along the hallway that passed the stairwell that she was now walking up. They were just far enough away that she wouldn't be able to immediately reach one pair or the other with her sword should she come out swinging, but just close enough that the four of them would be able to immediately close distance and get her without giving her time to properly react.
"But do you know why we joined her? Because she showed us something. She showed us the truth. The truth about not just her, but about our entire world. Something so huge it still boggles my mind. But she can't tell anyone yet. Everything needs to be juuuu-"
She walks through the door they were waiting at, and the four of them spring to attack. Mado with one of his rinkaku quinques and Juuzou with his knives for range, Amon with his massive koukaku bludgeon and Shinohara with his Arata and a massive cleaver for melee.
She disappears, and their attacks hit air.
After a moment Mado sees her reappear behind Juuzou. Before a warning can be given, Juuzou spins around to attack with his borrowed quinque. Chiasa stops it with her bare hand, and smacks him on the head with the pommel of her sword, knocking him out.
Shinohara turns, and Amon takes a stand next to him. Chiasa marches forward, her impossibly long sword lashing out at both of them. The two are forced back as they are continually forced to parry her swipes and lunges, as she doesn't give either of them any room to get past her blade.
Kureo decides to imitate Chiasa, and uses his quinque to tear open the floor, and he jumps down to the next floor below. With some quick thinking, he pinpoints where Chiasa is above him, he rushes forward and strikes out with his quinque. His action breaks open the ceiling, and he is rewarded with the sight of Chiasa stumbling back in surprise and Amon and Shinohara pressing the advantage.
Chiasa responds by using her sword to breach the barrier between floors again and jumps to the lower floor. Mado predicted this, and attacks just as she starts to fall. She brings up her sword to block, but the weight behind Mado's blow while she isn't entirely on her feet throws her back. Closing the distance, Mado attacks again, using the length of her blade against her and forcing her to block.
Mado continued to press on her, a glee welling up inside him as watched her face start to show a little panic. His confidence also began to rise when he saw Shinohara and Amon break through to their level behind Chiasa, boxing her in between them again. The sound they made caused her to look behind.
"Playtime's over!" Mado shouted, as he swung his weapon for a finishing blow, Amon and Shinohara following up.
Chiasa smiled.
SHING!
All three men were still for a brief moment, as half of each of their quinques fell to the floor, a clean slice evident in each of them, as well as a large crack right along the front of Shinohara's Arata.
And her blade was mere inches away from Mado's sweat-soaked face. DAMN IT, YOU RAT! Mado screamed in his head.
"You guys did pretty good," Chiasa said smugly. "If I hadn't decided to start taking you seriously right there at the end, you might have actually killed me. And for good this time."
She pulled her blade back. "Unfortunately for me, I was ordered specifically to stay away from the regular CCG, and focus solely on the black coats. She's probably gonna yell at me for killing some of you guys, and time is running out, so I guess I'll be going. See ya."
There is a sudden explosion of mist, and Mado stumbles back in surprise. When it clears, Chiasa is gone without a trace.
"This is bad," Shinohara muses, as he looks at his two broken quinques.
"At least we learned something from this encounter," Mado mused.
"What do you mean?" Amon said, the inquisitiveness in his voice expecting something not immediately obvious.
"You heard what that girl was saying, right?" Mado asked. Shinohara and Amon confirmed it. "Three things stood out to me. The first was that the girl was implying that her current condition was actually a recent occurrence. The second was that there are others like her. The third was that the No-Life Queen's favorite food was an English meat pie."
"But ghouls can't eat human food," Amon declared, his eyes widening as he too began to realize the implications.
"Which means that this No-Life Queen, this self-named Seras Victoria, was human at some point as well, and whatever happened to Chiasa to turn her into the monster she has become, the same thing happened to Seras as well."
Akumo rushed out from his place in line, sliced off the leg he aimed at, and dashed to the other side of the impromptu line, narrowly dodging a fatal swipe by a massive arm as more screams emanated from the monstrous kakuja.
"Don't lose focus!" he heard Kuroiwa shout. "We've almost got him down!"
The insectoid kakuja that Kuroiwa's squad had been fighting for the last who-knows-how-long was now visibly unstable, as it was no longer growing new limbs, and its legs were too few to keep it suitably upright. The arms it was still swinging around were still dangerous, but they had been reduced from their initial four to two.
But while Akumo did his part in fighting the ghoul, the concerns that had been burdening him since yesterday were at the forefront of his mind. Worry over the Ripper threatening his family, sorrow over what it had done to his daughter, hatred for what it said to him and was doing to his city, and fear that he would be powerless to stop it.
"Matsuzaka!" Kuroiwa yelled.
He snapped out of his reverie, and looked to his immediate superior. At first, Marude and Yoshitoki had been tempted to keep Akumo from participating in the kakuja suppression efforts due to emotional instability, but Kuroiwa had learned about it at the last second and decided to take responsibility for him.
"DAMN YOU DOVES!" the monster shouted. "YOU DON'T KNOW THE FORCES YOU'RE DEALING WITH! SHE HAS AN ARMY! AN ARMY!!! AND IT WI-"
Matsuzaka and Kuroiwa struck as one, gutting open its front, and cutting off its head, as well as its speech. The body staggered, collapsed, writhed, and stilled.
Akumo looked to Kuroiwa, a distant look in his eyes that his superior noticed.
Kuroiwa simply sighed. "Good work, Akumo. But remember, you're not the only one with a personal stake in this war. Don't let that get in the way of your duty."
Akumo had nothing to say in response.
Just before Arima could make his next move against his opponent, mentally dubbed 'The Little Princess,' he heard five explosions of glass come from the CCG 10th Ward offices, followed by five crashes into the asphalt of five, gigantic kakuja ghouls that now further scattered Arima's squad and formed an improvised arena around him and the Little Princess.
"Don't hurt Arima's friends, my friends," the girl ordered, confirming Arima's observation. "Obaa-chan wants him alive when she plays with him for reals, and they are his best friends. He can't play as good as he can without his best friends! No one can!"
She turned back to Arima. "Ready?" she asked.
"Yes," he responded. Then he attacked.
While the Little Princess had been distracted with her 'friends,' he had switched IXA to offense, and sent a pillar shooting up right under her feet.
The girl was surprised, but through superhuman speed and strength was able to pull herself away from the brunt of the attack at the last second. It still clipped her and sent her spinning. It struck at her again, but she regained her balance and sped along the ring towards him, her axe at the ready.
Arima moved opposite her and fired at her with Narukami, forcing her to bob and weave between the shots. Then, while she continued to dodge his fire, he stopped and attacked again with IXA.
The pillar shot up at exactly the spot where she stood. But she moved forward just a little, allowing it to shoot up behind her, and then she leaped a bit, planted her feet on the briefly exposed tip of IXA, and pushed herself off, launching herself directly at Arima.
Briefly surprised at the move, Arima let go of IXA, and dodged to the side to avoid her massive battleaxe. He wanted to get a strike in on her, but her unexpected trajectory didn't give him the opening to do so. Her strike missed, but it cracked open the street where they were fighting and sent debris flying at Arima, forcing him to back up again.
Sensing her advantage, the Little Princess attacked, swinging her axe at him to cleave him in half. Arima noted that she may have forgotten that her "Obaa-chan" wanted him alive for her own purposes, while at the same time ducking, side-stepping, and backing up from the girl's lethal axe.
Soon, he noticed a pattern to her strikes, and allowed her to continue attacking like that. Then, once he had the opening he waited for, as small as it was, he whipped out Narukami in its ranged mode and fired a blast at the Princess.
Seeing the attack, she leaped high into the air, allowing the blast to dissipate below her and surprising Arima with the height of her jump. As she came down, she brought her axe into a two-handed grip above her head. As she closed in on Arima's head, she swung her axe.
She missed him, and destroyed the street again.
Arima's Narukami bisected her from her shoulder to the opposite hip.
Glancing at the surrounding kakujas, Arima saw that they didn't make a move. Walking to IXA, he picked the weapon up and turned back to the Little Princess.
He gasped at what he saw.
He watched in horror as the lower half of the divided girl melted into blood, comingled with the blood and guts that had gushed from her body, and flowed on its own to the upper half. The Little Princess's body began stirring, as it reconstituted itself from the top down, and not just the body, but also the dress she wore, and even the shoes.
Once finished, she stood up again, picked up her axe, and turned back to Arima with a smile on her face, looking for all the world like an innocent little girl playing dress-up.
"That was a lot of fun, Arima-san!" she said cheerfully.
Arima's face betrayed no emotion as he got into another ready stance, but after witnessing the level of this girl's regenerative power, he was beginning to doubt the prospects of his victory.
She readied her axe and prepared to charge. "Let's play some more!"
She pushed forward-
Arima noticed a red light zig-zag through the sky and plummet directly on top of the Little Princess, kicking up a cloud of dust in its impact.
Once it cleared, it revealed a buxom young woman dressed in a wine-red dress and a long, black trench coat. It was the exact person that he suspected had intervened. "Seras Victoria, I presume?" he asked politely.
"Indeed," she replied in an ethereal voice with equal courtesy. She glanced at the kakujas surrounding them. "Disperse to the underground. Then return." The five huge creatures scattered, leaving her and her small charge surrounded by Arima and his squad. But if the Little Princess was anything to go by, the No-Life Queen was far stronger, and could very well kill him outside of optimal conditions. So he continued the standoff, as did his subordinates.
"Awwwww," the girl beneath Seras moaned. "But it's not sunset yet. Five more minutes?"
"Nope," Seras said, as she bent down and picked up the girl in the crook of her arm, while she still kept a hand on her axe.
"Your follower there tells me that you wish to fight me at some point," Arima asked. "Is she correct?"
"Yes, but now is not a good time. My forces have all completed their given missions for today, so we are withdrawing now to regroup."
Arima couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he had a feeling that the No-Life Queen was being far more intentionally dramatic than she actually is. "Are you willing to tell me what those missions were?"
"Hmmmmm. In general, there were three secondary objectives. Weaken or destroy the rival ghoul organizations, compromise and weaken the CCG, and force out and slaughter V."
Arima was genuinely shocked. The only ones who knew of V's existence were its membership and the select few who managed to escape it. But one part of her statement intrigued him.
"You said those were your secondary objectives. What was your primary objective?"
Seras smiled. "To attract the real enemy."
"The real enemy?" Arima inquired. "What kind of enemy would bring you to launch a swarm of kakuja ghouls in the limits of Tokyo for the sake of merely attracting him?"
"If you don't know now, you will know soon enough."
Then she leaped up and into the 10th Ward office building, disappearing from sight.
And then, for the first time since the kakuja crisis began, Arima allowed himself to relax.
Matsuri Washuu, a CCG Investigator on loan to Germany from Japan, was relaxing to hot cup of coffee when a text came to his phone. Opening it, he read the message:
<Banzai.>
His heart froze in his chest. He remembered very well the day when V had discerned that he deserved to learn about V's deepest and darkest secret. A monster of such awesome power as to annihilate armies and cities on its own, and of such terrifying nature as to turn the world on its head should its existence ever be discovered.
While his credentials as an Investigator had justified his transfer to Europe, the real reasons for his presence was to maintain secret ties that the Washuu family held as well as to be within reach of reactivating V's trump card should the need ever be dire enough.
It seems that the No-Life Queen is enough of a threat to warrant his deployment, Matsuri deduced.
Deciding to waste no more time in spite of his personal fears, he went to his computer, and immediately went about the business of purchasing a plane ticket to Budapest.
"Speech"
Thought
Telepathy
<Phone>
Chapter 13: This Is But the Opening Salvo… Kakuja Crisis Arc Part 4
*BZZZZ*
Come on, he thought. School had been unceremoniously canceled early after the corpse of Chiasa Hara had been found in the lady's room. While he had been glad to be able to leave school early (despite the grotesque reason for doing so) it wasn't long after he'd arrived home before a CCG-mandated emergency evacuation order was issued for his ward, because of the sudden uprising of kakuja ghouls who had come out of nowhere.
*BZZZZ*
He and his family had been given no time to pack as they jammed themselves into the family car and rushed to escape the CCG perimeter as soon as possible. Traffic thankfully was not as bad as it could have been; it was still a pain to endure. After leaving the perimeter, they were escorted to a nearby stadium, where police and CCG men were stationed to protect them. Once arriving, they found an empty patch in the field and settled down.
*BZZZZ*
With an opportunity to finally calm down and rationally organize the thoughts that had been stewing in his head since the body's discovery that morning, Hisao found that he was not going to be making headway on his suspicions about the entire situation without help. So he called the one possibly available person he had on speed dial who was smart enough to help him out.
*BZZ-* <Hello?>
"Hi, Senpai. It's me, Hisao," he said nervously.
<Hisao! Hey! It's been awhile!>
"Yeah, sorry I haven't talked to you since I moved."
<Ah, don't worry about it. I've been doing alright, especially since I got into University. But that's not why you're calling, I take it.>
*Sigh* "No. I'm sure you've heard about the Kakujas who are swarming all over the place, right?"
<Even my best friend's heard about it, that and this Ripper Ghoul or No-Life Queen or whatever the CCG have decided to call her that seems to be behind it. You're calling because you want to compare notes, right?>
"Yeah," Hisao replied, feeling a little relieved that he wasn't the only one keeping his ear to the ground regarding her.
<So, whatcha got?>
"Here's what I know. The No-Life Queen first appeared about two months ago, killing an unknown ghoul that had attacked Michi Matsuzaka, daughter of a CCG Investigator, on her way home from school, killing her two accompanying friends Asuna and Reiko. After that, the CCG had her under surveillance and protection for two weeks, to see if the ghoul came back for her. For two months since her debut, the No-Life Queen has been publically acknowledged as behind the deaths of over 60 ghouls in the 10th Ward, as well as the breakout and slaughter at the ghoul prison, Cochlea."
<That's what everyone knows. What do you have?>
"I believe that Michi Matsuzaka and the No-Life Queen are connected."
<How do you know?>
"Before her attack, Michi came and left school accompanied by one of her parents or two or three of her friends. When the CCG protection and surveillance was lifted, she always arrived at and left from school by herself. Also, when I went to library in that time, I began noticing her more often. I haven't associated much with her before all this, but I know that her tastes in reading revolved around police procedurals, legal drama, and computer technologies. Nowadays, I found that most of her nonfictional checkouts revolved around Japanese history, ghoul biology and psychology, and the occult, while she also at the same time checked out horror light novels and manga. And finally, the CCG officially declared Michi missing this morning, mere hours before our current crisis."
<Not ironclad, but it does sound pretty convincing.>
"And that's not all," Hisao continued. "After her attack, she saw a dip in her popularity, but it returned when the No-Life Queen rose to notoriety in the public eye. She began going out of her way to use that popularity to associate herself with some of the really big names in my school. Katsuo Ishikawa, whose family owns a hospital. He and his family are widely rumored to be yakuza. He ran away from home less than two weeks ago. Masahiko Himura, the school's star athlete in track and archery. He's made such a name for himself in the school's sports programs that most of us have forgotten he's also the firstborn son of the CEO of a steel company. He disappeared mere hours before the Cochlea Incident and hasn't been seen since. And Chiasa Hara, the daughter of a Diet member. A lot of guys are constantly vying to be her boyfriend because of her connections and supermodel physique; although there were a few rumors, her family was arranging something between her and Masahiko. She was found dead this morning at my school, which is right near the epicenter of the kakuja ambush."
<Bravo, Hisao. That's some nice detective work. Got anything else?>
"Sorry, I'm afraid I don't. What about you?"
<To put it simply, what you've got merely scratches the surface of what's probably going on. I noticed that something was off from the start when the No-Life Queen was first rising to prominence. People first got their information regarding her from data leaked from inside the CCG to the media. The CCG is notoriously tight-lipped and have a lengthy history of hiding information from the public until when they decide to release it, and people who leak information get severely reprimanded, if not fired or even jailed. And yet, the people were informed about her activities from a CCG source multiple times over the course of two months. A source that no one can track down.>
Hisao remembered that. "You're right. There were a lot of people who also wondered that as well."
<Also, until the Cochlea incident, she wasn't even that significant when you get right down to it. There is the Gourmet, the Binge Eater and the One-Eyed Owl, individual ghouls who have been around for a long time and are notorious for especially or uniquely heinous crimes committed against humans. They also don't make inter-ghoul violence into much of a spectacle outside of the occasional gang war. And if a ghoul was cannibalizing others at an increasing rate, it would be interpreted by the CCG as a cause for alarm, and that alarm would be relayed to the public.>
"Because ghouls cannibalize each other either because they're desperate or because they want to become stronger. Some ghouls do it and even succeed in becoming kakujas. Desperate and/or stronger ghouls mean more dangerous ghouls."
<Exactly. So that then begs the question: Why was there even a debate on Ripper in the first place? Inn trying to find this out, I discovered something very interesting: A lot of this debate was on social media, forum sites, and even radio stations.>
"So?" Hisao asked. What makes that so special?
<They're all places where one can participate in conversations while remaining anonymous. Or, to be more direct, places where one can FAKE conversations entirely.>
Hisao's eyes widened in shock. "You mean the whole thing with Ripper being a controversy was manufactured?!"
<Bingo. I talked with a few people online to take a look at how the Ripper debate progressed. A lot of the conversation in its later stages is organic and has distinct sides, but when you look at the first 48 hours of dialogue, it started off incredibly one-sided, as most debates revolving around the appearance of new ghouls often do. Then, suddenly, there was a literal flurry of posts that made a lot of different arguments that stood in favor of the Ripper. Right around the same time, social media was bombarded across the board with similar arguments, and callers phoned in to radio and talk shows to show their support. All of these came from untraceable accounts, anonymous contributors, and public outlets and numbers. This continued for the next few days, until the dialogue had evolved to the point that a healthy debate was actually going on among real people.>
"Wow," Hisao marveled. "How come the CCG didn't notice anything like this?"
<The CCG doesn't investigate the Internet for ghouls all that often as most ghouls are either illiterate, unable to either access the Internet or utilize electronics, or are too cautious to risk being tracked online, thus resulting in very, very few ghouls who use the internet for very much, let alone for associating with other ghouls.>
"Guess no one really expected the No-Life Queen to have a crack media team at her command."
<Indeed. This revelation has led me to believe a while ago that either the No-Life Queen has a larger organization under her command, or she has a bigger hunting ground than just the 10th Ward. So I started looking at reports from all of the Wards, and I've found that, since the Ripper's arrival, the number of ghoul-related deaths actually fell a little bit and the number of ghouls dead from other ghouls saw a slight incline.>
"That's not entirely convincing, and you know it," Hisao noted.
<I know. Which is why I haven't really said anything to the CCG. My job may sometimes take me through their doors, but I'm not very close to anyone there. Sure they've let look at one or two charts or maps they might have had lying around, but I definitely wasn't going to be swaying very many opinions, and the current environment isn't really going to allow me to make much of any headway in helping the CCG.>
"Why is that, Hide?"
<Probably because that by tomorrow, anything we've discussed just now will either be a given or a moot point.>
The two stood apart, stances ready, and eyes locked on one another. Uta's kakugan on Masahiko's vampiric slits.
Masahiko released the arrow.
Uta instantly dodged right.
The arrow sliced open his bicep as it shot by.
Uta was shocked. No matter how strong the archer or his bow, or how aerodynamic the arrow, there was no way possible for an arrow to move that fast. This slipped through Uta's mind in an instant, and immediately charged at Masahiko, unleashing his kagune at the same time to attack him and protect himself from the next arrow.
Masahiko instantly noticed how Uta didn't dodge until the moment he had let go of the arrow, and was now taking advantage of the gap between shots to launch his own attack. Pushing on his feet, he thrust himself backwards and out of range of Uta's kagune, whipping out another arrow formed from the metal of Seiichi's making and the souls of his consumed victims.
Uta saw Masahiko string another arrow as he back-stepped away. Once he saw it release, he twisted his body as he charged forward. The arrow impacted his kagune, causing his body to spin. Uta allowed the momentum to carrying his extending and thrashing kagune into the wall and floor, cracking both and flinging debris in Masahiko's direction.
Masahiko dodged to the side to avoid the debris, only to be blindsided by one of Uta's tentacles, smashing him into the opposite wall. For a moment, Uta had him pinned against it. Then Uta was surprised again when the second arrow that had been shot at him, the one now lodged in the tentacle that trapped Masahiko, had suddenly sprouted mouths and began chewing apart, and up, the tentacle.
Uta quickly tried to throw off the parasite, but to no avail, and allowed his kagune to dissolve, leaving it with nothing to eat. The thing then, to his morbid fascination, then launched itself back to Masahiko, who allowed it to crawl back up his sleeve and disappear. It was then Uta noticed that the hole he'd put through Masahiko's torso was closing up.
And Masahiko had dropped his bow.
Seeing an opening, Uta plunged forward, not bothering to unleash his kagune to give him more speed.
His healing rendering him unable to dodge this attack in time, Masahiko dropped a longer arrow into his hand.
As Uta closed the gap, he thrust out both hands to rip directly into Masahiko's body. At the same time, Masahiko lunged with his arrow like a rapier, spearing Uta's left forearm straight through to his right elbow. Uta, unfazed by the pain, responded by kicking into the very center of where Masahiko was healing up. Masahiko grit his teeth, refusing to let out a scream.
Using the arrow for leverage, Masahiko threw Uta aside for several meters, sending him skidding away. Masahiko spotted his bow and dove for it. Uta regained his balance, noticed where Masahiko was headed, and broke the arrow over his knee-
KA-BOOM!
Having retrieved his bow, Masahiko turned to Uta and strung another arrow to bring to bear. He was grateful to have flung Uta as far as he had, otherwise he too would have been caught in the blast of his explosive arrow. Both of his arms and legs had been blown off, and the rest was unrecognizable-burnt meat. Unwilling to take chances, he fired the arrow into the body's head, allowing it to shapeshift and begin eating the corpse.
Masahiko stood there as he watched his latest adversary be consumed, a small feeling of triumph welling up inside him. But it passed quickly, when he finished reviewing the battle in his head.
"Shit. Still not good enough. Just you wait you bitch. One day, I'll own your life."
"HeeeeeeelllllllllllOOOOOOOooooooooooo," went the siren call that echoed through the building. "I know you're still heeeeeeeerrrrrrrrreeeeeee. Come out, come out, wherever you aaaaaaarrrrrrreeeeeee."
When will that damn wench shut up? Kureo thought angrily, but refusing to make a noise and give away his position. Turning to Amon, he saw his partner sweating profusely, but also holding himself back to keep quiet. Down the hall, he saw Shinohara and Juuzou in a similar state of quiet.
"Come ooooonnnnnnn! I know we don't have all that much time left before I have to go away, but couldn't you all at least spend it with little old me?"
Everything right now was the fault of that damn demon. He could almost feel the unnaturalness of that ridiculous sword she carried, and the speed and skill she wielded it with was equally inhuman. She had sliced up both his and Shinohara's squads in literally seconds, deliberately leaving the four of them unscathed so that they could run away and she could take her time chasing and killing them.
"I don't know about you guys, but this has to be the best day of my LIFE! It's funny, don't you think? Me, once an ordinary schoolgirl, but now with the power of my love, I AM INVINCIBLE!!"
In the brief time they had to set a trap (which felt an awful lot like running and hiding for some reason), Shinohara had explained to them that Chiasa Hara, the girl they were currently being chased by, had come to the CCG's attention because she had been the murder victim of a suspected ghoul attack that had happened that morning. How she was now alive, well, and slaughtering ghoul investigators by the dozen was beyond him, especially considering that Chiasa had been a verified human for the entire course of her life.
"You know, the thought just occurred to me: you guys want to know how I got to be this way, huh? Well, I'm under direct orders not to spoil anything yet, but I can tell a vague story. Me and two of my friends were introduced to the No-Life Queen not very long ago. Well, more like stumbled across her having dinner."
As they listened to her voice getting closer, Kureo felt a slight satisfaction that she was coming the way they had hoped. When they were initially getting into position, they figured that she would try to outwit them by racing for the ground floor first and clear the building one floor at a time by going up. Her voice emanating from below them had confirmed this suspicion.
"Not gonna lie- the moment we met we thought we were dead. But she is a really sweet gal once you get to know her. Really sad too. Her favorite food used to be English meat pies, because they reminded her of her father, because they were his favorite food, too! But now, she can't anymore. How sad is that!"
Just keep blathering, Kureo thought. As interesting as her talk may or may not be, Kureo knew that ghouls who talked like that were not always on guard. He and the other three were positioned along the hallway that passed the stairwell that she was now walking up. They were just far enough away that she wouldn't be able to immediately reach one pair or the other with her sword should she come out swinging, but just close enough that the four of them would be able to immediately close distance and get her without giving her time to properly react.
"But do you know why we joined her? Because she showed us something. She showed us the truth. The truth about not just her, but about our entire world. Something so huge it still boggles my mind. But she can't tell anyone yet. Everything needs to be juuuu-"
She walks through the door they were waiting at, and the four of them spring to attack. Mado with one of his rinkaku quinques and Juuzou with his knives for range, Amon with his massive koukaku bludgeon and Shinohara with his Arata and a massive cleaver for melee.
She disappears, and their attacks hit air.
After a moment Mado sees her reappear behind Juuzou. Before a warning can be given, Juuzou spins around to attack with his borrowed quinque. Chiasa stops it with her bare hand, and smacks him on the head with the pommel of her sword, knocking him out.
Shinohara turns, and Amon takes a stand next to him. Chiasa marches forward, her impossibly long sword lashing out at both of them. The two are forced back as they are continually forced to parry her swipes and lunges, as she doesn't give either of them any room to get past her blade.
Kureo decides to imitate Chiasa, and uses his quinque to tear open the floor, and he jumps down to the next floor below. With some quick thinking, he pinpoints where Chiasa is above him, he rushes forward and strikes out with his quinque. His action breaks open the ceiling, and he is rewarded with the sight of Chiasa stumbling back in surprise and Amon and Shinohara pressing the advantage.
Chiasa responds by using her sword to breach the barrier between floors again and jumps to the lower floor. Mado predicted this, and attacks just as she starts to fall. She brings up her sword to block, but the weight behind Mado's blow while she isn't entirely on her feet throws her back. Closing the distance, Mado attacks again, using the length of her blade against her and forcing her to block.
Mado continued to press on her, a glee welling up inside him as watched her face start to show a little panic. His confidence also began to rise when he saw Shinohara and Amon break through to their level behind Chiasa, boxing her in between them again. The sound they made caused her to look behind.
"Playtime's over!" Mado shouted, as he swung his weapon for a finishing blow, Amon and Shinohara following up.
Chiasa smiled.
SHING!
All three men were still for a brief moment, as half of each of their quinques fell to the floor, a clean slice evident in each of them, as well as a large crack right along the front of Shinohara's Arata.
And her blade was mere inches away from Mado's sweat-soaked face. DAMN IT, YOU RAT! Mado screamed in his head.
"You guys did pretty good," Chiasa said smugly. "If I hadn't decided to start taking you seriously right there at the end, you might have actually killed me. And for good this time."
She pulled her blade back. "Unfortunately for me, I was ordered specifically to stay away from the regular CCG, and focus solely on the black coats. She's probably gonna yell at me for killing some of you guys, and time is running out, so I guess I'll be going. See ya."
There is a sudden explosion of mist, and Mado stumbles back in surprise. When it clears, Chiasa is gone without a trace.
"This is bad," Shinohara muses, as he looks at his two broken quinques.
"At least we learned something from this encounter," Mado mused.
"What do you mean?" Amon said, the inquisitiveness in his voice expecting something not immediately obvious.
"You heard what that girl was saying, right?" Mado asked. Shinohara and Amon confirmed it. "Three things stood out to me. The first was that the girl was implying that her current condition was actually a recent occurrence. The second was that there are others like her. The third was that the No-Life Queen's favorite food was an English meat pie."
"But ghouls can't eat human food," Amon declared, his eyes widening as he too began to realize the implications.
"Which means that this No-Life Queen, this self-named Seras Victoria, was human at some point as well, and whatever happened to Chiasa to turn her into the monster she has become, the same thing happened to Seras as well."
Akumo rushed out from his place in line, sliced off the leg he aimed at, and dashed to the other side of the impromptu line, narrowly dodging a fatal swipe by a massive arm as more screams emanated from the monstrous kakuja.
"Don't lose focus!" he heard Kuroiwa shout. "We've almost got him down!"
The insectoid kakuja that Kuroiwa's squad had been fighting for the last who-knows-how-long was now visibly unstable, as it was no longer growing new limbs, and its legs were too few to keep it suitably upright. The arms it was still swinging around were still dangerous, but they had been reduced from their initial four to two.
But while Akumo did his part in fighting the ghoul, the concerns that had been burdening him since yesterday were at the forefront of his mind. Worry over the Ripper threatening his family, sorrow over what it had done to his daughter, hatred for what it said to him and was doing to his city, and fear that he would be powerless to stop it.
"Matsuzaka!" Kuroiwa yelled.
He snapped out of his reverie, and looked to his immediate superior. At first, Marude and Yoshitoki had been tempted to keep Akumo from participating in the kakuja suppression efforts due to emotional instability, but Kuroiwa had learned about it at the last second and decided to take responsibility for him.
"DAMN YOU DOVES!" the monster shouted. "YOU DON'T KNOW THE FORCES YOU'RE DEALING WITH! SHE HAS AN ARMY! AN ARMY!!! AND IT WI-"
Matsuzaka and Kuroiwa struck as one, gutting open its front, and cutting off its head, as well as its speech. The body staggered, collapsed, writhed, and stilled.
Akumo looked to Kuroiwa, a distant look in his eyes that his superior noticed.
Kuroiwa simply sighed. "Good work, Akumo. But remember, you're not the only one with a personal stake in this war. Don't let that get in the way of your duty."
Akumo had nothing to say in response.
Just before Arima could make his next move against his opponent, mentally dubbed 'The Little Princess,' he heard five explosions of glass come from the CCG 10th Ward offices, followed by five crashes into the asphalt of five, gigantic kakuja ghouls that now further scattered Arima's squad and formed an improvised arena around him and the Little Princess.
"Don't hurt Arima's friends, my friends," the girl ordered, confirming Arima's observation. "Obaa-chan wants him alive when she plays with him for reals, and they are his best friends. He can't play as good as he can without his best friends! No one can!"
She turned back to Arima. "Ready?" she asked.
"Yes," he responded. Then he attacked.
While the Little Princess had been distracted with her 'friends,' he had switched IXA to offense, and sent a pillar shooting up right under her feet.
The girl was surprised, but through superhuman speed and strength was able to pull herself away from the brunt of the attack at the last second. It still clipped her and sent her spinning. It struck at her again, but she regained her balance and sped along the ring towards him, her axe at the ready.
Arima moved opposite her and fired at her with Narukami, forcing her to bob and weave between the shots. Then, while she continued to dodge his fire, he stopped and attacked again with IXA.
The pillar shot up at exactly the spot where she stood. But she moved forward just a little, allowing it to shoot up behind her, and then she leaped a bit, planted her feet on the briefly exposed tip of IXA, and pushed herself off, launching herself directly at Arima.
Briefly surprised at the move, Arima let go of IXA, and dodged to the side to avoid her massive battleaxe. He wanted to get a strike in on her, but her unexpected trajectory didn't give him the opening to do so. Her strike missed, but it cracked open the street where they were fighting and sent debris flying at Arima, forcing him to back up again.
Sensing her advantage, the Little Princess attacked, swinging her axe at him to cleave him in half. Arima noted that she may have forgotten that her "Obaa-chan" wanted him alive for her own purposes, while at the same time ducking, side-stepping, and backing up from the girl's lethal axe.
Soon, he noticed a pattern to her strikes, and allowed her to continue attacking like that. Then, once he had the opening he waited for, as small as it was, he whipped out Narukami in its ranged mode and fired a blast at the Princess.
Seeing the attack, she leaped high into the air, allowing the blast to dissipate below her and surprising Arima with the height of her jump. As she came down, she brought her axe into a two-handed grip above her head. As she closed in on Arima's head, she swung her axe.
She missed him, and destroyed the street again.
Arima's Narukami bisected her from her shoulder to the opposite hip.
Glancing at the surrounding kakujas, Arima saw that they didn't make a move. Walking to IXA, he picked the weapon up and turned back to the Little Princess.
He gasped at what he saw.
He watched in horror as the lower half of the divided girl melted into blood, comingled with the blood and guts that had gushed from her body, and flowed on its own to the upper half. The Little Princess's body began stirring, as it reconstituted itself from the top down, and not just the body, but also the dress she wore, and even the shoes.
Once finished, she stood up again, picked up her axe, and turned back to Arima with a smile on her face, looking for all the world like an innocent little girl playing dress-up.
"That was a lot of fun, Arima-san!" she said cheerfully.
Arima's face betrayed no emotion as he got into another ready stance, but after witnessing the level of this girl's regenerative power, he was beginning to doubt the prospects of his victory.
She readied her axe and prepared to charge. "Let's play some more!"
She pushed forward-
Arima noticed a red light zig-zag through the sky and plummet directly on top of the Little Princess, kicking up a cloud of dust in its impact.
Once it cleared, it revealed a buxom young woman dressed in a wine-red dress and a long, black trench coat. It was the exact person that he suspected had intervened. "Seras Victoria, I presume?" he asked politely.
"Indeed," she replied in an ethereal voice with equal courtesy. She glanced at the kakujas surrounding them. "Disperse to the underground. Then return." The five huge creatures scattered, leaving her and her small charge surrounded by Arima and his squad. But if the Little Princess was anything to go by, the No-Life Queen was far stronger, and could very well kill him outside of optimal conditions. So he continued the standoff, as did his subordinates.
"Awwwww," the girl beneath Seras moaned. "But it's not sunset yet. Five more minutes?"
"Nope," Seras said, as she bent down and picked up the girl in the crook of her arm, while she still kept a hand on her axe.
"Your follower there tells me that you wish to fight me at some point," Arima asked. "Is she correct?"
"Yes, but now is not a good time. My forces have all completed their given missions for today, so we are withdrawing now to regroup."
Arima couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he had a feeling that the No-Life Queen was being far more intentionally dramatic than she actually is. "Are you willing to tell me what those missions were?"
"Hmmmmm. In general, there were three secondary objectives. Weaken or destroy the rival ghoul organizations, compromise and weaken the CCG, and force out and slaughter V."
Arima was genuinely shocked. The only ones who knew of V's existence were its membership and the select few who managed to escape it. But one part of her statement intrigued him.
"You said those were your secondary objectives. What was your primary objective?"
Seras smiled. "To attract the real enemy."
"The real enemy?" Arima inquired. "What kind of enemy would bring you to launch a swarm of kakuja ghouls in the limits of Tokyo for the sake of merely attracting him?"
"If you don't know now, you will know soon enough."
Then she leaped up and into the 10th Ward office building, disappearing from sight.
And then, for the first time since the kakuja crisis began, Arima allowed himself to relax.
Matsuri Washuu, a CCG Investigator on loan to Germany from Japan, was relaxing to hot cup of coffee when a text came to his phone. Opening it, he read the message:
<Banzai.>
His heart froze in his chest. He remembered very well the day when V had discerned that he deserved to learn about V's deepest and darkest secret. A monster of such awesome power as to annihilate armies and cities on its own, and of such terrifying nature as to turn the world on its head should its existence ever be discovered.
While his credentials as an Investigator had justified his transfer to Europe, the real reasons for his presence was to maintain secret ties that the Washuu family held as well as to be within reach of reactivating V's trump card should the need ever be dire enough.
It seems that the No-Life Queen is enough of a threat to warrant his deployment, Matsuri deduced.
Deciding to waste no more time in spite of his personal fears, he went to his computer, and immediately went about the business of purchasing a plane ticket to Budapest.
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