"Well, this is unexpected. I never thought you'd return injured."
The chairman's office sat on the top floor of the CCG headquarters.
In a room so vast it felt bleak, a single office table stood isolated in the center.
An elderly man with long white hair and a thick beard sat there, his voice echoing through the space.
His gaze was fixed on a boy who had not yet reached adulthood. One of the boy's arms was wrapped in thick bandages, secured firmly by a strap slung around his neck.
"I received the report that the 24th Ward was breached and that a portion of the Kagune wall was damaged. Even so, I didn't think there would be an opponent strong enough to leave you in such a state, Arima Kishou."
"..."
Arima stood in silence, listening intently to the old man.
Their interaction was strictly that of a superior and a subordinate; nothing more was visible in their demeanor.
This remained true even though Arima shared the blood of the man before him.
The CCG chairman, Washuu Tsuneyoshi, continued.
"...Who did this to you?"
"I cannot identify them."
"You cannot identify them?"
"While the Ghoul swarm was pressing in, something hiding among them struck me once and vanished. I was unable to pursue due to the sheer number of Ghouls, but the individual was concealed from head to toe."
As he spoke, Arima clenched the hand hidden beneath the bandages.
It seemed that even he was not entirely comfortable delivering a false report to the chairman.
Meanwhile, the chairman tapped his temple with a finger, lost in thought.
"Nagariza... No, there is no way that monster, which vanished nearly a century ago, is still alive."
Whatever he was recalling, the chairman muttered in a voice tinged with a hint of fear. Then, his gaze returned to Arima.
"I suppose I must view this as a result of your own inexperience."
"My apologies."
Arima lowered his head, accepting the rebuke without protest.
The chairman sank back into his chair and let out a deep sigh.
"Kuzen never showed up in the end, and we lost En and Kuroinu as well... Was Kaiko's judgment in recommending you mistaken?"
"..."
"For the time being, carry out the duties of a second-class investigator and reflect on your failures. You may leave."
As if no further words were necessary, the chairman curtly dismissed him.
Arima nodded and turned toward the door, but just as he was about to exit, he stopped.
For Arima, who normally obeyed every order without a word, this was a rare hesitation.
Piqued by curiosity, the chairman asked, "Do you have something else to say?"
"...I have one personal question."
"Speak."
"Am I still a failure that should never have existed?"
It was a phrase Arima had heard once before.
Words spoken to him not as a chairman, but as a father.
Arima turned his head slightly to look at the chairman.
He met a gaze that was deep, cold, and sunken with age.
"Do you truly need me to say it?"
"...My apologies."
That single line was answer enough.
Arima bowed his head, opened the door, and vanished from the office.
Silence reclaimed the darkened room.
The chairman sank deeper into his chair. Then, he muttered to the children who were not there—including Arima.
"...You should never have existed."
He covered his face with a wrinkled, gaunt hand.
Like a man slipping into dementia, he repeated the same words.
"Should never have... existed..."
There was no one left in the room to understand the meaning behind that sorrowfully trembling voice.
***
A day at the CCG was always hectic.
This remained true even after a large-scale extermination operation had concluded.
There was a mountain of work: identifying the Ghouls killed or captured, notifying the families of the victims, coordinating transfers to Cochlea, conducting anatomical research on Ghoul bodies, manufacturing Quinque, disposing of the remains, and monitoring the movements of Ghoul factions based on the results of the purge.
Investigators who had been on the front lines returned to work after a three-day break.
When Hitokawa returned to the office today, he was greeted by a staggering wall of paperwork.
Looking at Hoshino's exhausted, pale face as she worked, he found himself thinking that it might actually be preferable to be seriously injured and hospitalized.
As if that weren't enough, another headache was waiting for him.
"You want us to take that guy on our team? Are you serious?"
Hitokawa protested to his superior with a look of pure disbelief.
The "that guy" he was pointing to was Arima. With one arm supported by bandages, the boy sat a short distance away, staring blankly into space.
His superior scratched his thinning hair and replied apologetically, "It's only temporary."
"Temporary or not! Do you have any idea how much the other units suffered because of his solo antics during the operation? And then he just strolls back in with a broken arm and calmly says, 'Reporting my return'!"
"The rumors have spread, and no other team is willing to take him. But your team has worked with him before, hasn't it?"
"Our team doesn't want him either! Go look somewhere else!"
"I'm telling you, everyone else said no! But the higher-ups are pressuring me, so I can't just kick him out. I'm the one suffering here!"
"What is it about this kid that they're so desperate to keep him close? Is he the chairman's secret love child or something!?"
After a prolonged argument, Hitokawa's team ended up accepting Arima.
Though he had been promised a generous year-end bonus, the irritation didn't fade easily.
Hitokawa strode up to Arima and spoke bluntly.
"We don't need introductions, right?"
Arima looked up at Hitokawa and nodded immediately. He seemed to have realized which team had been assigned to him.
"Yes."
"Then follow me."
Hitokawa led the way, and Arima followed silently.
As they walked toward their desks, Hitokawa briefly outlined the upcoming schedule.
"For now, there won't be any Ghoul searches or extermination missions. We're in the cleanup phase. While Hoshino and I handle the paperwork, just sit at a desk. You don't need to do a thing."
"Understood."
Arima agreed without a hint of opinion.
That dry response made Hitokawa frown; he truly couldn't figure this kid out.
When they reached their area, they found Hoshino grinning foolishly from behind a tower of documents.
Hitokawa tapped her on the head with a bundle of papers.
"Stop slacking. If we don't finish this, none of us are going home."
"Ah, Hitokawa! Look at this. Eto sent a photo. Isn't it cute?"
Hoshino handed over her phone.
Hitokawa checked the screen, and Arima, standing behind him, stole a glance as well.
The photo showed Eto and Koma at a beach.
Koma, wearing a straw hat and sunglasses, was lounging in a chair sipping a refreshing fruit juice, while Eto, dressed in a sundress, had snapped a selfie of the two of them.
Hitokawa let out a small chuckle.
"Look at them enjoying themselves. I was the one who suggested they take a trip, but I'm actually a little jealous."
According to a message from a few days ago, the two had traveled to the coast.
Since Eto was a half-Ghoul, she couldn't be taken to the shelters during the operation, so Hitokawa had suggested this alternative.
He recalled seeing a Ghoul during the purge who had a similar vibe to Koma, but it must have been a coincidence. The real Koma was currently enjoying the seaside scenery in total leisure.
"..."
Arima, peering at the photo, had a different thought.
*Clever.*
He had been the one trading blows with Koma and Eto in the underground passage, so he wasn't fooled.
Eto was a Ghoul, so her wounds healed instantly, but Koma was human.
If he were seen with lingering injuries, Hitokawa—his friend who had also been in that passage—would have noticed immediately.
By wearing a straw hat and sunglasses to hide the wounds on his head and sitting in a way that concealed his injuries, Koma was making a concerted effort to look like he had been on vacation the whole time.
It was a perfect cover to avoid interrogation.
"Oh? Arima? What are you doing here?"
Hoshino noticed Arima and spoke up.
Hitokawa handed the phone back and replied, "We're looking after him for a while. You, go sit in that chair."
"Yes."
Once Arima was seated, Hitokawa returned to his own desk.
He sighed deeply at the mountain of documents before picking one up and beginning the long, tedious battle of bureaucracy.
Hoshino, wanting a distraction from the monotony, struck up a conversation with Arima.
"I heard you were back, but you're pretty badly hurt. Who did this to you?"
Her eyes were fixed on his bandaged arm.
Arima answered calmly.
"A simple enemy. However..."
As he narrowed his eyes, the scene from that day flashed across his mind.
The eyes of a man who had stared him down with unwavering resolve. And the wings of a girl spread wide as if to shield him.
The two had overlapped, blocking Arima's path as if they were a single, indivisible entity.
"...They were truly strong."
Arima had encountered a form of strength he had never seen before, and he had been unable to break it.
If he fought them again, could he win?
Surprisingly, he lacked the confidence to say yes.
Regardless of his own power, he felt himself shrink in their presence.
In this state of psychological disadvantage, the result would likely be the same no matter how many times they clashed.
"Hah. I'm glad someone finally gave that reckless brat a proper lesson."
Hitokawa remarked with a tone of smug satisfaction as he worked through his papers.
Hoshino shot him a sharp glare.
"Hitokawa! Is that really something you say to an injured person's face?"
"If he doesn't want to hear it, he should've behaved. He got lucky this time, but that kind of erratic behavior puts the entire squad at risk. No one is going to trust their back to someone who can't even reflect on his own mistakes."
"..."
Arima listened in silence.
Hitokawa flipped a page and continued.
"I don't care what you were thinking or how confident you are in your skills. Even if you thought everyone else was just a hindrance. But if you had taken me with you, I wouldn't have let your arm end up like that."
Hitokawa's gaze flickered toward Arima's broken arm before moving away.
"That's what comrades are for. No one survives this world alone just because they're talented. Even the strongest people need someone to cover them."
"..."
*Is this what it means to be a friend?*
Hitokawa was sounding remarkably like Koma.
After a long silence, Arima stood up and approached Hoshino.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"What? Your arm is hurt, just stay seated."
"I can use my other arm."
"Oh, are you left-handed?"
"I am ambidextrous."
"Th-that's actually impressive."
Hoshino looked toward Hitokawa, silently asking for his opinion.
Hitokawa, who was pouring a coffee to sustain himself through the workload, nodded as if to say *do whatever you want*.
Hoshino picked up a few documents and handed them to Arima.
"Then could you organize the quantities listed here? There are a lot of calculations, so it might take a while."
"That is fine."
Arima took the papers, returned to his seat, and picked up a pen.
Watching him dive into the paperwork, Hoshino smiled softly.
"Doesn't he seem a bit different? When we first met, he was so hard to approach."
"Do you really think people change that easily?"
Hitokawa replied, returning with his coffee.
"The way I see it, he was just a fool who didn't know how to talk to himself, and now he's clumsily trying to express himself to others. I don't know what kind of enemy he met in that tunnel to cause this, but still."
He shrugged and started to head back to his seat when Arima's voice rang out.
"I've finished."
"...What?"
The two of them stared blankly at Arima, who was calmly holding out the completed documents.
It had been barely two or three minutes since they gave him the work. He was already done.
"No way! That should have taken at least an hour!"
"You brat, don't tell me you just skimmed through it and called it finished!?"
Hitokawa and Hoshino snatched the papers and scanned them frantically.
They looked at each other, their expressions frozen in utter disbelief.
"It's all perfectly organized."
"There isn't a single mistake."
Their gazes shifted back to Arima, silently demanding to know how he had done it.
Arima blinked slowly.
"I just did it, and this was the result."
""...""
In the ensuing silence, both of them realized one thing.
They had hit the jackpot.
Suddenly, both of them slammed their hands onto Arima's shoulders.
"Welcome to the team!"
"Let's have a celebration party right now!"
"???"
Arima could only tilt his head in confusion, unable to comprehend why they were welcoming him with such sudden, excessive enthusiasm.
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