The Reaper and the Angel of death (arima kishou fanfic)

IV - Investigator

~Major timeskip~ (now Arima is 15 and Sakurako is 14, basically in between last chapter and now they became really good friends that's all) 

Arima's pov 

"Arima, by special order of Chairman Washuu, you are now a Rank 3 ghoul investigator. From tomorrow onwards, you will work under First Class Investigator Marude.

As for you, Yamaguchi, you will be enroled in the CCG investigators academy. You will join the students who have been there for a year. After you graduate, you too will become a Rank 3 ghoul investigator. The CCG academy year starts tomorrow, 1st February and ends on 30 November," Sakurako and I were told by an investigator visiting the Sunlit Garden. 

Sakurako's pov

When I reported to the academy, I started to lose hope.. Everyone in the academy class of 60 over people looked like they were around 20. Even the youngest had to be at least 18. How was I, who had just turned 14, going to survive? And everyone had already been there for a year. Great. Just great. 

Arima's pov 

The next day, Marude told me we would be working on a case of deaths in a Catholic orphanage. Ghoul involvement had been confirmed, but there was little information about the whole thing. 

"We've reached a dead end here. It's impossible for us to interview anyone at the orphanage without drawing suspicion" said Marude, "The easiest and simplest way to gather information would be to send you to the orphanage as a spy. I doubt you can do anything else helpful, anyway."

I was too shocked to protest.

That afternoon, I followed Marude to the orphanage. It was an old, small building in the outskirts of the 9th ward.

"I found this boy on the streets. He says his parents died in a car accident. Do you have space at your orphanage for him?" Marude said to the old priest who introduced himself as Donald Porpora. 

"Yes, yes, of course. Please give me a moment," the priest said, walking back into the orphanage. 

"Marude-san! That old man is a ghoul!" I hissed, once the priest was out of sight.

"Nonsense. How would you know?" Marude questioned.

"I read through all the ghoul files this morning. Seven years ago, a bunch of C-rate ghouls escaped from Cochlea. Most of them were killed, but some weren't. The CCG didn't really care since low rate ghouls are hardly a concern. According to the files, two of the escaped ghouls survived. One of them was a man from Russia, 170cm tall. This guy is the right height and speaks with a slight Russian accent," I replied.

"Like I said, rubbish. How can you tell how tall this old man is? And since when did he have a Russian accent? Are you sure you even remember what was in the files? You're just making things up. Besides, it's too early to conclude anything. There are many people in this orphanage. For all you know, the ghoul might be one of the children," Marude dismissed my explanation.

Just then, the old priest came back out of the orphanage. Marude looked relieved.

"Thank you so much," he said, pushing me towards the orphanage.

I walked through the silent corridors behind the old priest. I was fuming. Why did Marude not believe me? I was positive this guy was a ghoul. It was almost too obvious. There were stitch marks in the back of his shirt, near the shoulder area. No one sews up a shirt unless it gets torn. And what else a kagune emerging would tear a shirt in such a strange place? 

As the days wore on, my suspicions were confirmed. Two children had already "found foster parents" - eaten, definitely - and left the orphanage. One early morning, around 4am, I had seen the priest bring a child out of the dormitory. Later, it was announced that that child had been adopted. Too many people were getting killed by the ghoul, but there was nothing I could do. I had no way to contact the CCG and Marude was only going to come and see me after another week. I suppose I could risk killing Porpora in his sleep. He's probably planning to get rid of me soon, anyway. I think he knows I suspect he's a ghoul. Finally, I decided to take the chance. The priest had just told everyone that some people were planning to adopt one of the children. I need to stop him before another murder happens. 

But what I didn't expect was to be called to the orphanage office after dinner. The priest smiled at me creepily, circling me and muttering to himself. All of a sudden, his eyes turned red and his kagune swung at me. 

I dodged it, narrowly avoiding a fatal stab through the neck.

"So you knew, didn't you, Arima-kun? How did you find out I was a ghoul?" Porpora asked.

I stayed silent and took out the quinque dagger I had stolen from Marude.

"You know, normal weapons won't work against ghouls, right?" the priest cackled evilly.

I didn't see the point in telling him that it was a quinque and spoiling the excellent surprise, so I just threw it as hard as I could at him.

"Hahahaha, you don't believe me? Silly child. Well, look-" Porpora began to say, not even bothering to block my knife.

The look of pure shock on his face when the knife buried itself in his arm was priceless. Taking advantage of the pause, I opened the door and ran as fast as I could. I heard footsteps coming in my direction. Then, Marude appeared from around the corner with a squad of investigators, and not a moment too soon. An irate Porpora had just caught up with me. Marude tossed me a quinque and all of us charged at Porpora. After a short fight, Porpora was defeated and taken to Cochlea. 

"So you decided to believe what I said about the old priest," I said coolly to Marude as we made our way back to the CCG. 

"Yes. We conducted some investigations and found out what you said was true. That man is the ghoul known as the Priest," Marude replied stiffly, "By the way, do you know what happened to my silver-handled quinque dagger? I seem to have misplaced it. Did you by any chance notice it somewhere?" 

"No, I don't think I've seen it anywhere, Marude-san," I suppressed a grin. I most certainly did not steal it.