Did someone say WASHUU ANGST?! 😀
Their latest mission is Firefly. A ghoul rated A+, with a habit of preying on Johns in Tokyo’s Red Light district. Not the sort of mission for any teenagers, except those in Zero Squad.
Shio aims his quinque at the young ghoul who for some reason reminds him of Li-Ming.
She gasps and fires off sparks from her rinkaku, the sparks that earned her her nickname. Shio ducks, and Rikai cries out.
Yusa leaps forward and knocks off her mask.
The ghoul sprawls before Shio.
“Now, Shio!” demands Hirako.
But he is frozen. Beneath that black hair and those devastated eyes, he sees her.
Hsaio Li-Ming.
His friend, the full ghoul who kissed his forehead and assured him he was loved. The one who bribed a guard to sneak in children’s stories so she could read to him.
The one who cried every time Tsuneyoshi visited her and tried to mask her bruised lips with a smile.
The one who, when Furuta slapped her and demanded to know why she stayed, said she couldn’t leave her friends, as she smiled at Shio.
Shio’s hand shakes. Rikai inhales behind him, and Yusa pales upon recognizing her.
“You know her?” demands Hirako Take striding up to his frozen kids.
She’s not more than twenty, and very pretty. Hirako has met many ghouls like her, ghouls who use their innocent looks to destroy.
He ought to force his squad into the killing, to teach them. But, today, perhaps, he’ll extend mercy to them. He’ll kill her himself.
“Don’t!” screams Shio suddenly. He launches himself in front of her, and Rikai joins him. Yusa wavers but a moment before standing with his friends.
“Who is she?” Hirako asks.
“Our family,” cries Rikai.
Hirako lowers his quinque. “She’s a ghoul.”
“Well, she is! She is! Call Arima.” Shio’s face is soaked with tears. “He can tell you.”
Li-Ming looks stunned. They’ve broken decades of silence just now. She ought to – to kill herself to preserve the Washuus –
In front of her friends? She hesitates.
The handsome investigator aims his quinque at her. “You – will you wait here until Arima Kishou comes?”
She nods, wordless.
They used to play a game in the garden.
What’s the one thing you want in life? It can be anything.
Shio wanted toys, Yusa wanted approval, and Rikai wanted to feel like she mattered.
Li-Ming smiled and said she wanted to live.
…
and when Arima arrived, that is how Hirako Take discovered the Garden.