KITSUNE

➖ Replay: Relative

SILENCE WAS THE SOUND INTO WHICH KISHOU ARIMA ARRIVED. The apartment was empty of any other presence. The sound of cars passing by in the street was barely audible through the thick windows. He stood in darkness for a moment as he set his suitcase aside and took off his coat. He could see light where the hallway led – it was the light of the streetlights that managed to escape through the curtains.

Neatly, he placed his fine shoes on the mat by the closet and put on his slippers. He walked forward – not bothering to open the lights to see better. As a Ghoul Investigator who when through excessive training, he learned to fight blindly and understand his surroundings in the darkness. He knew the surroundings of his apartment very well and he was certain he did not make himself a noodle soup before he left the apartment quite early in the morning.

"People are always ruining things for you."

That voice did not catch him off guard – somewhat he was not surprised her presence was within his apartment. On the white leather couch, a woman lay with legs crossed at the ankles. She wore boots with small thick heels and a bit of dirt underneath – rude. A black bodysuit was wrapped around her body, exposing every curve of her hourglass figure.

"Salinger." She lowered the book she was holding just enough to expose her piercing blue eyes, smudged by black makeup. "Catcher in the Rye. Read it?" She closed the book with a sharp sound.

Kishou Arima remained quiet – he was unimpressed by her presence. He could note by the look in her eyes that she was not all too happy with the outcome of the operations that took place concurrently – for her team. Kishou could say he was pleased with his side of the outcome.

There was a small sigh as Kishou failed to answer her question. "It's not a bad read." She raised onto her feet. "Two for you. Zero for me. You had your hands full tonight." She commented as she placed the book back onto the bookshelf from which she took it.

By hands full she meant protecting the Quinque steel transport and showing up to the mopping-up operation at the Auction. Aogiri had both operations planned – more specifically Aya and Eto had them planned, and both failed. For one, they were certain it would fail and the other was just a distraction to keep certain Ghoul Investigators out of the Auction. Despite the failure being somewhat planned, Aya still hoped for a better outcome.

"You don't sound pleased." Kishou commented as he took his seat at the table.

"Things would have been a lot different if I was part of the operations."

"You are well aware why you are not actively participating." He reminded her. "Thank you for the meal." He bowed gently before he took the chopsticks and spun the noodles in their soup.

In silence, Aya observed him enjoy every bite of the meal she prepared for him. He slurped with content. After an entire day of planning and fighting, he was glad Aya made a meal for him. In the last two years, the two became closer. Aya would spend some of her free time in his company, not just to discuss certain plans, but to converse about the little aimless things. Kishou appreciated her presence – even though sometimes he had a little fear she would be caught coming and going from his apartment. However, Aya was careful – she was sneaky like a fox.

In the corner of his eye, he could see her standing by the bookshelf still. The only movement she made was to toss the long white braid over her shoulder and cross her arms as she leaned against the wall. He didn't have to look at her to know her very observant eyes were piercing through his mind as if she was attempting to peel every layer of his skin until she came to his thoughts.

"Say what you need to say." Kishou spoke – giving her permission to speak even though he knew he didn't have to give her such permission.

"You gave Haise Sasaki ownership rights over Hinami Fueguchi." She said. "Aren't you afraid he'll remember?" She wondered.