The Closed Ward | Tokyo Ghoul

Chapter One | Anthem of the Lonely

"...there's been no word regarding the disappearance of Ikehara Kaori, a former reporter for the local paper, who hasn't been seen in a week. Friends and family are desperate for news but the authorities haven't been very forthcoming with information. Some suspect the involvement of ghouls..."

Rui mutes the TV, frowning. The old man seated adjacent to her seems annoyed as she sets the remote down on the desk beside her; apparently he'd been pretty enthralled by the contents of the news. She doesn't care. For a week now, she's seen Kaori's face plastered everywhere, from the online blogs she frequents to the six-o'clock news, even her own paper. There was a special mention of Kaori on the front page yesterday, a highlight of her career and a hopeful wish that she be returned home to her family soon.

Rui's hand slides into the pocket of her hoodie, wrapping tight around her phone. Guilt presses hard against her lungs, and every breath she takes jabs at her chest like a blunted knife. She should have said something, anything... she just didn't think it was worthwhile. This was Kaori they were talking about. Invincible Kaori who tackled a man twice her width to get his interview for a case she had cooking. Kaori, the woman who once punched the the chief inspector of the police for implying she was out of her depth for tagging along on an arrest.

In hindsight, Rui thinks, abashed, maybe I should've realized she's exactly stupid enough to try to pull this kinda stunt...

"Kitamura-san?"

Tugged from her thoughts, Rui glances upwards, her grip on her phone only growing fiercer. A man is standing over her, concern etched into the deep lines of his aging face. She thinks he probably called her name more than once, and she feels her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment. That's been happening a lot lately, her zoning out inexplicably. She feigns a smile and rises to greet the inspector, who shakes her hand with a tired smile of his own.

"I'm Inspector Aoyama," the man informs her as he leads her away from the lobby area of the police station, deeper into the rows of desks that are occupied by a number of bustling men and women, some sporting suits like Aoyama, others decked out in the traditional uniform of the police. "Your call to the station a few days ago... You seemed troubled, Kitamura-san. What's bothering you that you couldn't say over the phone?"

He sinks into the rickety chair of his own desk once she's settled into the seat across from him, and Rui is surprised to find him so gentlemanly. She's had a few run-ins with inspectors and the police in general before, and usually they brushed her off without much care. Then again, she'd always been with Kaori when that happened, so maybe the reaction was more expected than she initially thought.

"I, uh..."

She fidgets. She always fidgets. It's annoying, like so many of her friends, family, and colleagues have pointed out. She wrings out her hands in her lap even though they're already rubbed a blistering red. It takes effort, but she manages to unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth.

"It's about... about Ikehara Kaori."

Inspector Aoyama raises a grizzled gray brow, interested but far from excited. She can imagine he's had about enough of this case, especially since Kaori isn't exactly loved by the eighteenth ward's police force.

"I'm... or I was her trainee, at the paper" - Rui nervously produces her recently-issued ID from beneath her shirt and holds it up for Aoyama to read - "and, uh... she was always going on about a case she wanted to crack, a story she wanted to follow... We kinda all got used to it pretty quickly. Um, except Harada-san. He's our boss. He didn't really like Ikehara-san's... enthusiasm, because it got her into trouble all the time... Oh, and me, after I started working with her."