Tokyo Ghoul: Regina

growth.

Arita

"Goodmorning, everyone." Hide says to all of us as we're having coffee. "Usui, how are you now, you had that night terror?" He asked her as me and Jirou stared at each other intensely.
"Oh, much better, thank you!" She thanked him. "Amano taught me to meditate when I get those and they help, so I did that too."
"It's something that kept me sane after my quinx surgery." He smirked. "Plus, kept me sane from my mom shoving herself down my throat."
"It was quite loud last night though, was there a storm, I heard this creaking noise." Naito turns to me, grinning, making me spit my coffee out.
"Oh yeah, it was kind of loud." Jirou chipped in, dumbfounded by her.

"WHAT THE HELL, KAITO?!" Usui shakes me back and forth in the bathroom in the TSC building, shouting in my face. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU AND JIROU WERE DATING!"
"Keep your voice down! You can't let Amano, Toyama and Naito know, we aren't really allowed to be dating." I shushed her. "What you saw last night was just a night terror, okay?"
"Okay, besides, we're going to be late for a meeting." She pointed at her watch.
"Oh, let's go!"

From that day, me and Jirou always found a way onto each other, we had word queues for us to go and do it, we found our way to each other, behind everyone's backs, well, behind everyone else's backs, Usui and Reina know. But, it's been a stress reliever for me, we have a big project upcoming, we're currently looking on taking down another higher up, however, we decided to give up on Erik Kioshi, as we're saving that for the next time, we're focused on her. Koemi Ima.
"She's the worst, she almost cut me to pieces." Amano says to us as we're sitting down for lunch at our home. "She's a very snarky girl, how is she eighteen?"
"First time we've encountered her she just turned fifteen, she's a kid." Reina says to us.
"I'll still rock the bitch to hell." Naito clenched her fist. "I'll never forget what she did ."
"Let's tone it down a bit, Naito." Amano lowers her fist.
"She was an orphan whose parents were ghouls, investigators killed them when she was basically a baby and she lived on the streets until Kinuko and Yutaka picked her up, and she was the second higher up." Satoru told us as he sips his coffee.
"How old?" Amano asked.
"Oh gosh, I don't know, probably eight, you see, I was twelve when I joined, half of these people are times older than me, they preyed on kids like me and her, but I was the one that usually fell victim to most of them, the only people close to my age were Erik, Kira, and Kin."
"I see." I said.
"Guys, I feel like I should that this though." Reina stands up. "When me, Amano, Haruki and Toyama were fighting Kin and Koemi, I heard Yutaka mention something. He called me Queen Washuu."
"What the hell does that even mean?" Naito asks, looking dumb.
"It means they view me as the head of family now." She tells us. "This gives me hope, this could lead to us finally taking down Kinuko, once and for all."
"Well let's jump at it, Queen." Haruki says, smirking. I don't feel happy about this entire thing though. Why is everyone so happy?

"It's about time you actually learned a combat move, and finally nailed it." Naito tells me as I pick her up from the floor during a sparring match.
"My mind is much more clear now." I replied, as I picked my sweatshirt up and put it on.
"Arita, you're actually kick ass when you're not a bitch," she said. "It shouldn't have taken me all this time to realize that."
"Well, I wouldn't say I'm the best person."
"Oh shut up, you were the reason the squad didn't fall apart." She wrapped her arm around me. "Plus, you didn't make Jirou lose his shit when we were in Oslo."
"Yeah, I was told that by Satoru." I said.
"I know you two are together." She whispered in my ear, which made me jump. "Oh calm down, I don't care, I'm happy for you, just don't fuck so loud that the entire house wakes up." She tells me.
"Oh, sorry, it's just, I haven't felt this happy in a while." I smiled. "I feel like things are getting better, we're finally closing in on Oslo, and I don't have to worry about my life anymore, I'm complete." She pulls me into her, and hugs me, I forgot how strong she was, but it was probably one of the best hugs I've ever had.
"Oh, Kaito, you're the glue of this team." She tells me. "I think ever since you became a ghoul, I grew to understand you more. I like you."
"You two are finally talking and working together?" Amano comes down the stairs, getting ready for his workout.
"Yeah, we're friends now." Naito says, smiling.
"That's pretty scary." He replied, looking kind of weirded out.
"Oh come on! We're adults now we can be friends." She got out and started to pretend fight him. "Fight me, Amano!"
"Actually, I was coming to get Arita, Sensei wanted to talk to you." He grabbed Naito'a wrist and put her in a lock over her head.
"Oh, I'll head up there now." I said to him as I got up and went upstairs.
"I got you now, Amano!" I heard Naito say as they continued fighting.

"How are you holding onto your kagune?" Reina asked me as she sat in her office chair, resting her head on her fist.
"A little better, few months ago was the first time I ever activated it." I answered her, touching my hand. "I never wanted to activate it, didn't need to."
"Fair enough." She says, smiling. "I'm proud of you, Kaito."
"Huh, what for?" I asked her, surprised.
"Your abilities have grown tremendously, you're a stellar peace keeper and you've helped the squad out from when I was in the coma."  She told me.
"I kind of had to step up, it was really only three of us for those few years."
"Yeah, it must've been a lot for you, kid." She says.
"Sensei, have you been feeling well?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I feel better than I did many years ago." She smiled. "Don't worry about me, worry about the work we have to do."
"I thought that you were getting healthier." I blurted out. "I know your health is really bad, I'm not stupid."
"Arita." She rests her head in her hands. "I think you forget that I was originally half human, my life was always going to be nothing short but health issues and my body aging quickly, hell I still have moments where I lose nerves in my legs still, but I am way better than I am before the coma."
"Did Hide, Haruki, and Marude know about this? Why didn't you tell us?" I asked her, standing up, infuriated.
"I didn't want any of you to worry about me, you guys have your own struggles and worries, only Usui knew of some of the health issues, she's been aiding me with new medication that the medical department has been making." She lifted her head up, looking at me standing.
"You're not going to die before we fight Kinuko, right?"
"I am most certainly not, Kaito." She also got up. "That is idiotic of you to think that." As she went towards me, her leg gave out, grabbing a shelf and that collapsing and almost crushing her, to where I catch her and push the tiny shelf away. "Damnit!" She shouted as some books fall to the floor, the room becoming a bit cluttered. "This shit happens once in a while, especially after the previous mission, I need to get stronger."
"Sensei, I think we should get some rest, now, I don't think you've slept in a few days." I pulled her up, putting her arm over my shoulder. I opened the door and took her to her bedroom, and plopped her onto her bed. She was a mess.

"What happened?" Usui comes running into the bedroom. "I heard a fall."
"I'm fine, Usui, calm down." Reina got up a bit on the bed.
"You collapsed again, didn't you, I don't know why your health is better and then worse." Usui says to her as she went into her drawer and pulled up a bag. "Here, take this." She hands a bottle to her.
"I told you that medication doesn't work on me, damn it!" She swats away the bottle. "Just leave me alone, okay?" She asked us, lying back down on her bed.
"Yes, sensei." Usui lowers her head and leaves the room, to which I follow her.
"Usui." I said to her. "I'm sorry she talked to you like that, that isn't like her."
"I'm fine, Arita, I understand her frustration." She turns around. "I'm still trying to perfect the formula, however with the discovery of that flesh, it's taking forever to examine it." She explains to me. "It kept her healthy when she was unconscious for those many years, but her health has steadily declined."
"So, what do we do?"
"At this point, I'm not really sure." She replied. "I got to get back to work now." She turned around and went downstairs. Damn you, Reina, why the hell do you have to be so hard on us again? And Usui, why the hell do you put yourself through so much work for the short end of the stick?