Stitched Together

:Re Chapter 3: According to Who's Plan

It's been about a week since our initial meeting with the Qs.  Right now Haise and Juuzou are in talking with the director.  I'm not a squad leader so I had to wait outside.  The 1st ward office is almost too grand.  It's so big and everything seems to be like it should.  It must get boring here.  I can't imagine working in a place without the odd antics of the 13th ward.  As individuals we really are just a bunch of misfits, but together were a finely tuned fighting machine.  Juuzou and I put countless hours of group training in back when we first started this group.  He's getting a bit lazy these days, but I don't doubt him for a second.  As far as I've seen, he's one of the greatest fighters in the CCG. I cross my arms and lean on a wall.  We don't really have as much time to go relax or take a day off like we used to.  Back when we were rank 3s we could run off all we wanted.  We did have Shinohara to cover for us then.  Now here we are, running a whole ward.  We're not kids anymore, and it's sad to think about really.  We both have our own subordinates, even our own assignments sometimes.  Mizurou is wonderful, but it always seems like something's missing when Juuzou's not around.  Ugh, I'm just being over attached and pathetic.  We each have our own lives, we don't have to be right next to each other all the time. It's just that so much has changed.  He's not as carefree and chaotic.  I'm not as smug and ruthless.  That might be a good thing I guess, but I feel like I've gone soft over the years.  We both have sort of.  When exactly did I go from coy, merciless ghoul, to lovesick fool? Things aren't like they used to be, and they won't ever be that way again.  For someone who hated having a consistent environment, I've always disliked change.  I enjoyed being a clown back then, I won't lie, and the whole transition to ghoul investigator trainee was so hard on me.  That could just be because I was a ghoul pretending to be an investigator though.  I'm not even pretending anymore.  I am a ghoul, and I am an investigator.  Somehow I've got all the wonderful things now; a great job, a great squad, Juuzou.  I feel like I don't deserve it all.  If history repeats itself, then it'll all change again soon.  It can't be that much longer before I lose it all. 

"Whatchya thinkin about?" A familiar voice giggles.  I blink for a moment before looking down at him.  "Geez you must've been entirely zoned out," Juuzou grins and nods down the hall for me to follow. 

"J-Juuzou, hey, sorry.  Just worried about the investigation," I lie, but can tell he immediately knows.  That's the problem with being around someone this long, they always know when you're lying.  He opens his mouth to say something, but is cut off be someone calling his name.

"Juuzou!" Haise catches up to us. "Hey, thanks for earlier," he smiles and ruffles the back of his hair.

"No biggie, there's a person I've been wanting to meet for a long time," Juuzou replies with a thin smile.  What exactly did they talk about in there? They were planning further movement in the operation, but what plan did they come up with?

"Oh, please take care of Mutsuki," Haise bows and states.  Juuzou bows to him as well before we part ways.  I look down at him with a questioning look.

"Haise's dropping Mutsuki off back at the office soon so I can train with him a bit since he's a knife user too," he says casually. 

"Oh, that's awfully kind of you to mentor him.  Don't scare the poor kid though, he seems fragile," I sigh with a small smile. "So, what was the plan for-" I start but he cuts me off.

"Let's get back quick and make sure everyone's ready to fight. We don't want em getting lazy," he giggles and skips ahead a bit. I narrow my eyes and put a hand on my hip. That seemed pretty avoidant to me, something's up. I follow him out while he hums. "Hey so I kinda broke Nakarai's chair the other day and sorta blamed it on Hanbee. It was funny how mad Nakarai got," he changes the subject completely and laughs. He's definitely avoiding talking about the plan.