Trade Mistakes

Chapter 3

Owl gnawed on his fingers, hunger making his gut clench uncomfortably. He'd been promised food if he came along quietly so where was it? He didn't even know how long it had been but it had surely been longer than a few hours. He wanted food. He needed it. Eating his fingers wasn't filling him up and it was just making him desire a proper meal more. He wanted flesh now.

Unsurprisingly, trying to break the glass separating his cell from the room where Investigators could interrogate him safely – as if he actually knew something – didn't work. The seconds passed painfully slow – one, two, three, four – and turned into agonising minutes that became an hour and then another hour and why wasn't anyone coming to feed him?

He was starving.





"It's been two weeks since we started talking about this." Houji reminded them. "The decision is obvious."
"It's obvious that we need to put him out of his misery." Hachikawa said. "We can't reverse what Aogiri's done – you heard what Amon said. Just hearing about it is enough to give a weaker person nightmares."
"We're not killing him." Akira replied.
"Why the hell not?" Ui asked. "We're acting like he's the same person he was before Aogiri their hands on him. He's murdered already and attempted to do so since we got hold of him. Who's to say he won't try – and likely succeed – again? The CCG doesn't hire murderers."
"I guess that means I shouldn't be here, doesn't it?" Juuzou replied. "You're forgetting that I've murdered more people than I can remember. What makes Takizawa so different? Is it because he's a Ghoul now?"
"You were a child." Kuroiwa responded. "Takizawa's an adult."
"Who was tortured extensively for unknown reasons." Kishou said. "There's no reason we can't at least try to rehabilitate him."
Marude shook his head. "He'll try to eat whoever we saddle him with."
"He had every opportunity to eat me." Houji replied. "Shockingly enough, I'm still here. I'm more than willing to –"
"You're too emotionally invested." Ui interrupted. "It's clouding your judgement. Whatever happened to maintaining that professional distance?
"Speaking of humans as food, has Takizawa been fed yet?" Houji asked, disregarding Ui's question entirely.
Yoshitoki swallowed. "Houji, you know we can't feed Ghouls before they've been in CCG custody for at least a month."
"That's not going to help us rehabilitate him." Amon said, finally speaking up. "If anything, it'll make him more likely to try and eat the next person he sees. The last time Aogiri fed him someone he ate was months ago."
"It doesn't matter." Marude replied. "He'll just have to wait."
"If I can go in there and get him to agree not to eat anybody without permission, will you agree that rehabilitation is possible?" Houji asked.
"That's a stupid idea." Kijima said. "He'll agree because it's you."
"He won't." Amon shook his head. "... Seidou somewhat blames Houji for what's happened to him. It's nowhere near as much as he blames Tatara but..."
"Why would he blame Houji?" Ui questioned. "That just sounds ridiculous."
"He was using one of Houji's quinques." Amon answered. "That was more than enough for Tatara to want to kill him. Hence, he partially blames Houji for his current state. He's not going to agree to not kill someone for food just because Houji asked nicely."
"If he's crazy enough to blame Houji then he's too crazy to be rehabilitated." Hachikawa argued.
"... It's probably not helping that he screamed for Houji in the first few months." Amon said hesitantly.

Houji's stomach dropped.

"I didn't want to say anything because –" Amon started.
"You don't need to protect my feelings or whatever it is." He interrupted. "I'm perfectly capable of dealing with such things."

He could feel Kishou and Take both eyeing him sceptically even if their faces didn't show it. They were right, of course. In his current mental state, there was no way he was going to deal with this – in a healthy manner, anyway.

"All of this just means that he won't agree to anything simply because it's me." He continued.
"We can try." Kishou said. "If we succeed, having another Ghoul could prove to be quite useful."
"Fine but if he eats any humans it's on your head, Houji." Yoshitoki sighed.
"Understood." He replied.

He was just glad that a decision had been made and that it meant the meeting was over. He could feel a headache coming on which meant he needed a drink. Yoshitoki dismissed everyone after a minute and he made the decision to try and retreat quickly.

Unfortunately, Kishou was quicker.

"Damn." He muttered.
"It was brave of you to attempt escape but you should have learnt by now that I am impossible to escape." Kishou said solemnly.
"So dramatic." Take remarked, starting to drag them both away. "Are you sure about this, Kousuke? Takizawa did not seem... well."
"Of course." He nodded. "What could possibly go wrong?"
"In any case, when was the last time you ate?" Kishou asked. "You're looking a bit ill."
"I..." He began then frowned. "Uh, no clue."
The reaper swatted him over the head. "Fuck, it's like taking care of a toddler. An overgrown, heavily alcoholic toddler."
"I drink to forget but I always remember." He said. "Speaking of which, I'm feeling wit-"
"It can wait." Take cut him off. "You gotta stop drinking if you're going to watch an insane Ghoul."
"He's not that bad." He frowned.
Kishou raised an eyebrow. "Sasaki's not that insane and he hears voices."
"You're biased because he's basically your son." He replied.
"You're biased because you're emotionally invested." Take pointed out.
"You're biased because you totally have a thing for Kishou." He countered, clutching at straws.
"Says you." The stoic man responded.
"Ladies, who doesn't have a thing for me?" Kishou asked.
"Akira, Juuzou, Sasaki, Yoshitoki who's all starry eyed over Marude, Marude –" Houji began listing.
"I didn't want a list, Kousuke." Kishou cut him off.
"And I didn't want to learn that the small innocent child that was Takizawa is now something else entirely but I did. We don't always get what we want, Kishou." He deadpanned.

Amon joined them, frowning. "Houji, Seidou's twenty something. He's not a child."

A glance told him Akira and Juuzou were right beside him.

"He's twenty-three now, soon to be twenty-four." Houji informed him. "And I know he's not a child. It's just that he used to look like a cinnamon roll."
Amon's frowned deepened. "What does that even mean?"
"It means Takizawa used to look like an innocent, precious human to be protected at all costs." Akira explained. "God Amon, get with the times."
Amon sighed. "I should've just stayed in that cell."





It was cold. Cold, cold, cold, cold. It did nothing to dull the all-encompassing hunger that had him feeling like his body was trying to eat itself, the little of it that remained. Owl didn't doubt that it was. All the starvation at the hands of Aogiri either brought on by round the clock torture or withheld food had just led to his body eating away at him from the inside out until there was nothing left but skin and bone and his organs that were slowly being eaten away at too.

Not being fed didn't even keep it off for long. He needed to eat and eat and eat until he couldn't anymore and it felt like he was going to burst. It was how he'd managed to devour both his parents so thoughtlessly and quickly. He'd been so hungry and while now was nothing compared to back then it was coming close. When had he last eaten? Had his parents been his last meal?

Owl retched, nothing coming up despite his stomach churning violently. He needed to stop thinking about his parents. It wasn't something he needed to think about because it was said and done and oh how delicious they'd tasted. All he could remember was tearing into soft flesh and snapping delicate bones; the taste of his favourite foods when he'd been human, when he'd been weak, pathetic Takizawa; and then the horrified realisation of who he'd just consumed so ravenously as Eto – who knew exactly how and where to poke at someone and it was so delightful – laughed and laughed.

His ears twitched and he looked to the door. He could hear someone – smell them too. Houji. He tilted his head. The man was here again which meant it'd been a few more days in this tiny little cell or so he thought. He wasn't sure how much time passed in between Houji's strange visits where Takizawa's former superior would linger around outside his cell like he wanted to come in and speak to him except he never did and eventually left.

Owl knew that Amon – stupid, annoying Amon – thought that he blamed Houji for his current state. It was just so obvious. Amon wore his heart on his sleeve like a complete idiot who didn't realise what a foolish decision that was. He didn't blame Houji in the slightest. Not anymore, at least. It had been months since he'd thought that. Owl couldn't do it – not when Houji had been the only one to really understand Takizawa and what little of him lingered couldn't let it go.

Houji was someone to protect now, he knew. If he could prevent Tatara from killing him, that would only make any revenge he took out on the Chinese Ghoul all the better. If he could kill Tatara with Houji still alive and right there, it would be the best revenge he could ever get because Tatara lived and breathed for his eventual revenge on Houji – Owl didn't think he'd manage it either way, not if Houji had the right quinque – and destroying it for him would be so, so sweet.

The door to the interrogation room opened and his gaze snapped over in time to see Houji walk in.

"Takizawa." The Investigator greeted, taking a seat.

Owl inclined his head, knowing he had to respond somehow. Let him think that he was still speaking to Takizawa. Amon who'd heard every scream and probably heard Eto's whispered words didn't even seem to realise that Seidou Takizawa was dead and had died long ago in that cell which Owl had swapped for another one – one that was admittedly a bit comfier but a cell nonetheless.

Houji's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, something he never would have caught before. He began gnawing on his fingers, trying to distract himself from the hunger.

"Or perhaps Takizawa is the incorrect word to call you?" Houji said questioningly.
"How do you figure?" He asked.
"You don't respond to it how you used to." A shrug of the shoulders. "Although, that may just be because nobody's called you Takizawa in over a year and Amon only calls you Seidou."
He bristled. "That idiot only calls me that because he thinks it'll get me to listen to him."
"Shall I call you Owl then?" Houji asked.

He eyed him warily. Did he say yes and risk Houji leaving him in this cell to starve? He knew that Houji was probably advocating for his release because he believed he could be helped. His former superior was naïve like that sometimes.

He nodded slowly. "Owl is good."
"Good to know." Houji said. "Now, if you were to be released, you wouldn't go about eating people, would you?"

Ah, so that was the game. The higher ups thought he'd eat the first person he saw and just keep going like some rabid Ghoul. Granted, he was one but he could play.

"Are Ghouls an exception to that?" Owl asked.
"Considering you already have a kakuja? Yes." Houji confirmed.

Damn Amon. He probably told them everything he knew.

"Then no, I wouldn't go around eating people left and right." He said. "Why do you ask?"
"Because your answer is the deciding factor on whether or not the CCG will accept you back into our ranks." Houji replied casually.

So Amon had imparted his belief that he blamed Houji at least in part. It explained why Houji was the one here to present this proposition. They thought he wouldn't agree just because it was Houji.

Idiots.

"So, when do I get out?" He asked. "This cell is awfully dull."