LACUNA- A TOKYO GHOUL FANFIC

~Saturday 9th September~

Hanbee's knuckles were white with effort, his long digits tugged harshly on the zipper to his suitcase. His leather boots had left imprints on the luggage with all the pressure he was applying to close the bag. "Hanbee are you ready yet?" he hears Nakari shout from down the hallway. Hambee's pained groan sufficed as a response and the older male went to assist. With help from nakari's thick arse, Hanbee had managed to shut his final bag. "God you're useless Hanbee, Bring your stuff downstairs. We're going to be late at this rate-" "Says the guy who insisted on kissing each and every one of the walls goodbye," Mikage retorted from the other room. "Mikage I will beat your arse as soon as we arrive at the new boss' apartment," nakari spat towards the purple haired man. "Wait, it's an apartment? Are we sharing rooms?" Hanbee questioned not being the biggest fan of cramped spaces. "From what I heard the place is quite big and we all have our own rooms and there's two bathrooms which is very rare when it comes to Japanese style apartments." "This guy must be minted- I guess he is a Special class investigator," the three nodded in unison before a loud screech rang out through the house walls. "Mizurou?" guessed Nakari "Mizurou-" Mikage nodded slowly "Mizurou," Hanbee grumbled. The group didn't even want to think of the devastation the youngest had probably caused so they went back to packing up their things. 

The stench in the car was 30% Nakari's shitty cologne (which he refused to accept smelled like public toilet in a bottle) and 70% toothpaste. "Why do I have to sit in the back with the windows open? It's cold and I'm lonely," "I don't even want to talk to you right know Mizurou- Why did you even think that would be a good idea?" Mikage growled and stared down at his now white toe caps. "I thought it would make the cups sparkly like how it works on teeth," The brunette sounded like he had just watched his puppy get run over. "Toothpaste is ONLY for teeth! Not cups, shoes, walls, floors.." Nakari angrily scolded the youngest. "You better not pull a stunt like this at the new leader's home. I'm not getting fired due to your lack of braincells" Mikage huffed as he caught sight of the toothpaste clad boy in the backseat.

"Are we nearly there yet?" Nakari gripped the steering wheel tighter each time someone asked that, "FOR THE LAST TIME WE ARE NOT-" "You have reached your destination!" His phone interjected. "OKAY WE ARE HERE NOW SHUT THE F-" "WOAHHHHH" the awe of the group cut him off. The apartment complex was definitely something to behold. The buildings were tall and oddly shaped. Surplus amounts of ivy climbed up the sides and the main building squatted amongst the pretty pink blossom trees. The area was cut off from any noisy highways and was tranquil enough to accommodate fuzzy ducks that bobbed around in a small pond. The pathways were paved neatly with bright yellow bricks and weaved between luscious flower plants. "This beats your shitty grass garden any day," Mizurou accidentally said too loud "It's like you want your bones broken- AND IT'S CRESS YOU TWAT" The angry blonde parked with his teeth clench to suppress his desire to choke Mizurou with his own toothpaste shod boot. The excited group exited the car and piled their belongings high to avoid having to come back to the car.

After a short trek up the stairs the investigators had located apartment 13 and were met by a familiar white haired male. "Special class investigator Arima sir- It's an honour to meet you!" The squad struggled but nonetheless managed a small bow. "No need for formalities it's nice to meet you all. The Suzuya Squad will be incredibly strong I can already feel it." The group felt blessed just being in this God's presence to say the least. "What are you doing here anyway?" Mizurou questioned and was more than thankful that the white reaper hadn't questioned his appearance. "Just bringing Juuzou dinner like usual and I bought a few extra portions for you guys." "So not only are you skilled you're so thoughtful sir-" Hanbee mumbled as Arima wedged a key in the door and pushed it open. "Go set your belongings in your rooms while I put out the food," The group nodded their thanks. Arima gestured for Nakari and Hanbee to go one direction while the other two were went another.

They met back in the kitchen and were greeted with the sweet aroma of fried food. "Dig in while I go give this to Juuzou," Arima left with a small bowl of noodles and a cracker. "I assumed he wasn't here- Do you reckon he knows we're here?" Hanbee asked, the others shrugged and Nakari replied with "Perhaps he overslept? or he mixed up the days?" The investigators continued eating all Arima had brought them and cleaned up immediately after. The white reaper returned holding the bowl with it's contents half eaten. "Did he not care for the ramen sir?" "No no he loves Soma's cooking he just doesn't eat much food is all," the group nodded in understanding. "Is he sick? Or will we meet him today?" Mikage asked the white haired male. "You see Suzuya wasn't that fond of the idea of a new squad so you'll have to give him time I'm afraid- Which reminds me..." Arima began rummaging through his bag. "Wait a minute- He doesn't want us here? Then why was he on the register to apply for?" Nakari's expression creased in confusion. "Don't take it personally, I'm sure you will all do great things together. The chairman was the one who decided a new squad is what Suzuya needs right now," Arima revealed a crumpled up paper back notebook from his satchel. "I'm so confused-" Mizurou murmured as he locked eyes with the small book. " You'll come to understand eventually, I won't get too much into it but Suzuya's last partner and carer Shinohara is currently in a coma. He was more of a parent than anything so it's hit him quite drastically and he doesn't know how to deal with it. Although some of his friends have been looking after him, we haven't seen any progress so he was assigned a squad to distract him and possibly fill the void that Shinohara left in him."

The investigators sat in a solemn silence at the information they had just been exposed to and each one of them fiddled with their clammy hands at an attempt to conceal the awkward energy among them. "Suzuya is to put it short a bit of a hand-full but once you get to know him it is less noticeable. Shinohara made this guide incase he ever had to be looked after by someone else. It's mandatory that you take the necessary precautions within this book, I have faith in you all. Takizawa should be over tomorrow to check in but I must go,"

The investigators had no chance to ask anything else of the white reaper as he rapidly packed up his things and vacated the premises. To say the group were disappointed was an understatement, they should have been more cautious it was a bit too good to be true to be partnered with an investigator as high a rank as Juuzou Suzuya and not have issues. "We've been given a rotten deal hmm?" Mikage spoke for all of them to which they all responded with a nod and sigh. "Look at the bright side though- we're in amazing accommodation, we're being paid more and anything we need gets charged straight to the CCG." Hanbee attempted to lighten the mood. "Should we read this together then?" He asked them. "You can Hanbee, I'm gunna go unpack, go to bed early and try make sense of all of this" Nakari got up from the table and vanished down the hall. "I think I'll have to steal Nakari's idea- reading that thing is a waste of time I can tolerate a grumpy investigator just fine on my own." Mikage staggered towards his own room. "Please Mizurou-" Hanbee looked towards the youngest, desperation evident in his eyes. "Sorry Abara but I bought a new game and I wanna try it out before we go back to work maybe some other time?" The Brunette waved at the older and ran after Mikage, leaving Hanbee alone at the kitchen table.