Yoshitoki and Marude walk in on Ui giving hairu flowers 🌺 🌹

“I feel like a failure as a Washuu,” Yoshitoki admits to Marude in a rare moment of stress. “And a father.”

Marude regards his friend soberly. “I see. Let’s take a walk.”

The two men leave Yoshitoki’s office and round the corner to see a truly mammoth – owl kakuja sized – bouquet of flowers.

“What the hell?” Marude grumbles.

Yoshitoki laughs. The person uses the flowers as a shield and shuffles over to First Class Ihei’s desk.

“Ui, are you serious?” Marude asks.

Ui’s face peaks out from behind the flowers. “How did you know it was me?”

“Son, even I can see your feelings,” Yoshitoki tells him.

Ui pales.

“What’s all this?” Hairu skips into the room. “Oh!” Her eyes glow.

They’re all pink to match her hair. “Ui, I love them!” She races over to him and tackles him in a hug. “Let me take pictures for Arima! Isn’t my boyfriend so nice?”

Now Ui’s face reddens.

“Very nice,” Yoshitoki tells her. He winks at Ui, who is now squirming. This was supposed to be private, dammit.

“Ooh, smell the roses, Ui.” Hairu holds out one and winces as she pricks her finger.

“Bad rose!” Ui gasps.

“Let’s go.” Marude guides a grinning Yoshitoki out, unsure why the sight makes him so happy. For some reason, he seems to have a soft spot for the Garden children.

“Finally.” Hairu breathes at the two men leave. She plants her lips right on Ui’s.

I don’t know why but I like to think that when Suzuya’s prostetic leg is at repair he enjoys Piggy back rides.

Omg yas.

“Help me,” Suzuya Juuzou whimpers.

Marude Itsuki scowls, but Washuu Yoshitoki softens. The boy lost his leg and mentor, after all. “Can we do something for you, Suzuya?”

“This wheelchair makes sees the screen very difficult,” Suzuya says. It’s true, though he couldn’t care less about presentations, and these investigators surely know that.

“Well, let’s see.” Yoshitoki waves Tanakamaru Mougan over. “You’re tall and strong. Lift Suzuya on your shoulders so he can see.”

Mougan chokes. “Uh – okay.”

Yoshitoki winks at Suzuya’s thrilled expression.

Maybe not all adults are bad. Suzuya smirks at Marude as Mougan hoists him onto his back.

“This is fun.”

“I’m glad,” Mougan says. Shinohara liked this kid, so now he and Kuriowa feel obligated to show him some compassion, some guidance.

“What is going on here?” Aura Kiyoko strides up, eyebrows raised. A blonde kid about Suzuya’s age trails behind her.

“I’m paying attention,” Suzuya tells her.

The blonde’s eyes widen. This is Suzuya Juuzou, the one who fought the One-Eyed Owl and lost his leg.

They call him weird, but Keijin Nakarai finds him intriguing.

When the presentation is done, Nakarai offers Suzuya another piggyback ride. “If you’ll let me ask you questions.”

“Of course!” Suzuya giggles and holds out his hands.

Character they’re most like-

Perrrrfect.

I’ve sorted the characters according to their introductory affiliation.

Anteiku/Re Affiliates

Kaneki Ken – Quasimodo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Nagachika Hideyoshi – Charlotte, The Princess and the Frog

Yoshimura Kuzen – Mufasa, The Lion King

Kamishiro Rize – Megara, Hercules

Kirishima Touka – Nala, The Lion King

Koma Enji – Pumba, The Lion King

Irimi Kaya – Timon, The Lion King

Yomo Renji – Phil, Hercules

Kosaka Yoriko – Princess Anna of Arendelle, Frozen

Hinami Feuguchi – Princess Snow White, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Nishiki Nishio – Mushu, Mulan

Nishino Kimi – Jane Porter, Tarzan

Tsukiyama Family

Tsukiyama Shuu – Lumeiere, Beauty and the Beast

Karren von Rosewald – Mulan, Mulan

Matsumae – Mrs. Potts, Beauty and the Beast

Mirumo – Fa Zhou, Mulan

Chie Hori – Merida, Brave

Clowns

Uta – Hades, Hercules

Itori – Merryweather, Sleeping Beauty

Hoito Roma – Stepmother Tremaine, Cinderella

Nimura Furuta – Prince Hans, Frozen

Rio/Shikorae – Thomas, Pocahontas

Nico – Iago, Aladdin

Donato Porpora – Frollo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Aogiri Tree

Kirishima Ayato – also Merida, Brave

Yamori – Shan Yu, Mulan

Tatara – Jafar, Aladdin

Yoshimura Eto – Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty

Noro – Floatsom or Jetsom, The Little Mermaid

CCG

Amon Koutarou – Captain Phoebus, The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Takizawa Seidou – Prince Naveen, The Princess and the Frog

Mado Akira – Esmeralda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Houji Kousuke- General Li, Mulan

Mado Kureo – Professor Porter, Tarzan

Marude Itsuki – Zazu, The Lion King

Washuu Yoshitoki – King Stefan, Sleeping Beauty

Washuu Matsuri – Prince Phillip, Sleeping Beauty

Washuu Tsuneyoshi – The Horned King, The Black Cauldron

Kuriowa Takeomi – Kristoff, Frozen

Kuriowa Iwao – King Hubert, Sleeping Beauty

Aura Kiyoko – Queen Eleanor, Brave

Tanakamaru Mougan – Chien Po, Mulan

Shinohara Yukinori – Maximus, Tangled

Hajime Hazuki – Grumpy, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Arima Squad

Ihei Hairu – Rapunzel, Tangled

Arima Kishou – Kida, Atlantis

Ui Koori – John Smith, Pocahontas

Take Hirako – Flora, Sleeping Beauty

Ihei Shio – Bambi, Bambi

Arima Yusa – Pascal, Tangled

Souza Rikai – Kahn, Mulan

Yasuhisa Kurona – Tiana, The Princess and the Frog

Suzuya Squad

Suzuya Juuzou – Rapunzel, Tangled

Keijin Nakarai – Flynn Rider, Tangled

Hanbee Abara – also Thomas, Pocahontas

Miyuki Mikage – Milo, Atlantis

Mizurou Tamaki – Nakoma, Pocahontas

Quinx Squad

Yonebayashi Saiko – Ariel, The Little Mermaid

Shirazu Ginshi – Sebastian, The Little Mermaid

Urie Kuki – Hercules, Hercules

Mutsuki Tooru – Elsa, Frozen

Hsaio Ching-Li – Pocahontas, Pocahontas

Aura Shinsanpei – Scar, The Lion King

Higemaru Touma – Flounder, The Little Mermaid

Koori and Hairu celebrate Halloween?

“Koori!” Hairu hurries into CCG decked out in a shimmering blue ballgown. Fairy wings flutter behind her, and a tiara crowns her hair.

She’s so beautiful it hurts.

“You!” Hairu gapes at him. Ui has dressed like Prince Charming, complete with a tiara that matches hers. “How did you know?”

“I made Saiko tell me your plans for Halloween. I wanted to match.” His face is as pink as her hair.

“I didn’t think you’d like dressing like a prince.” Hairu nods slyly. “It suits you.”

“I hope,” Ui says nervously. He feels silly, but Hairu is happy and that’s what he cares about.

“Let’s get into position!”

Saiko, dressed as a witch, strides past. Police Officer Urie, Samurai Shirazu, and Cat Mutsuki follow her. “Better watch out, Inspector Bowl Cut, or I’ll hex your girlfriend.”

“Get in position!” Hairu calls.

Even Matsuri Washuu is ready – though scowling in his stormtrooper outfit, because unbeknownst to him, Yoshitoki had already planned Darth Vader.

Arima peers out of his office.

“Did you do it, Hirako?” Hell’s Angel Marude grins.

“Oh, we did,” Hairu assures him, as Shiba Hirako shoves Arima out.

Yes, his Squad managed to convince him to dress like a Roman god, complete with a toga and olive branches in his hair.

“I can’t believe you got me to agree to this,” Arima mumbles.

“You’re brilliant,” Ui whispers to Hairu. She pecks him on the cheek.

“They’re coming!” Hairu whistles, and everyone ducks back into their respective offices.

“Trick or treat!” Shio pounds at their door.

Ui opens to see Ghost Yusa, Vampire Rikai, and Zombie Shio. “Well, well, well, you’re not ghouls, so I suppose we can let you pass.”

“But just to ensure you don’t get hungry.” Hairu dumps candy into their bags.

When the kids move next door, Ui grabs Hairu and kisses her. He feels stupid, but he has to say it. “You’re my fairy princess.”

Could you do a scenario where Yoshitoki finds out Arima was the king all along and had betrayed them?

I love Yoshitoki! Thank you for the ask!

Arima walks into his office, exhausted even though he just awoke.

The Rushima Landing operation will be soon. Eto plans to escape soon. And, if everything goes correctly, Kaneki Ken will kill him.

He’s sorry for what he’s done to Kaneki. He hopes he will forgive him, someday.

And then something hurtles towards his face, and he barely dodges it.

“You bastard!” Yoshitoki can’t help but feel pleased that his visibly aging brother is weakening. He slams the door shut and takes a step closer. “Is it – is it true?”

Yoshitoki’s eyes are wide and desperate. Arima doesn’t know how he knows, but he does,

“Why do you ask what you already know?” He delivers his sternest glare. If Yoshitoki interferes with his plans, he will have to kill his brother. And Yoshitoki knows he can.

But, truthfully, he doesn’t want to. He wishes he could like his brother.

His brother is what he might have been if not for Eto. Kind and gentle, forced into a role that he took up in his eagerness to please their unappeasable father.

“What are you planning?” Yoshitoki doubles over. “You’re the king. Arima – Kishou – don’t you care about us? About Father? About Matsuri?”

“Matsuri’s better off without his role. You and I both know it.” Arima is still pissed they made his nephew marry Iyo. Neither kid deserves or needs the other.

“I have to stop you.” Yoshitoki scowls. “I don’t want to.”

“Do you?”

Yoshitoki steps closer. “You stood next to me, all those years, lying to Father. You stood as our beacon of hope, and you let us lie for you.”

“Yes.” Arima looks at the floor. “Do you want me to apologize? I can’t give it to you.”

“I want – my family. That included you, or so I thought.” Yoshitoki shakes his head, and Arima sees what Eto might have seen in him long ago.

He sees what could have been, if not for their father.

He should give up on his brother. But he persists. “I know you think you’re doing right. But do you think Matsuri is happy? Your boy likes men, Yoshitoki, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Eto had once slapped him for not encouraging Yoshitoki to help the bookish Matsuri.

Well, I’m doing it now.

“H – he can’t,” pleads Yoshitoki. Father won’t allow it.

“You helped implement this. So did I. At least I will take it out.” Arima steps closer. “And you can help. If you go to Rushima now, if you let my plan fulfill itself, you can help make the world better for your son. I know you love him.”

Like he loves Kaneki.

Yoshitoki hesitates. Arima could kill him otherwise. But, maybe, all his years of good parenting weren’t enough. Maybe Matsuri and all the Washuus are caged.

He’s always known. And done nothing.

He meets Arima’s eyes, tears in his own. The two men exchange a nod, and Yoshitoki whispers, “Brother.”

Then he leaves for Rushima.

Arieto. Just… Arieto.

You’ve brought this upon yourself.

“If we’re only talking exterminations, we’ve got good results.” Tsuneyoshi Washuu glowers at the two men before him. “But we failed to capture the crucial owl.”

Arima stands beside his half-brother, before their father, silent and diligent as always.

It’s Yoshitoki, the kind one who once protested why his brother was kept in a garden and not in their house with him, the one Arima can’t trust now, who speaks. “We are deeply sorry, sir.”

The owl’s laughing eyes stare up at Arima. He has her pressed into his bed not even a week ago. Morning light filters around them. She’s free and dangerous and unique, and kissing him with a ferocity unmatched in even her fighting – which he also knows is pretty damn ferocious.

Tsuneyoshi’s expression remains stern. His displeasure oozes from him. “We must defeat Aogiri’s One-Eyed Owl – no, the One-Eyed King -”

Arima feels completely alone.

“King and Owl, we are,” she once sang into his ear, and he pushed her away, and she pouted and told him this was why he’d never been with anyone.

She’d caught him in a particularly low point, and then she realized his insecurities.

“Aw, I’m sorry. I can show you,” she suggested, and he felt more frightened than he’d ever been, but he found himself nodding.

Yoshitoki was supposed to breed. Arima was a failure and good for death. But Eto taught him that lovemaking could be just that – love – and that ideals meant more than familial duty.

“Whether or not it’s worth it will depend on your actions. Kishou, you have ownership rights.” Tsuneyoshi nods.

Arima always feels a little sad when Tsuneyoshi calls him Kishou. It’s a familiarity that feels like disrespect, because Tsuneyoshi doesn’t know him and never will.

Eto knows a thing or two about parental conflict. Not that she’s dealt with hers well, to Arima’s mind, but at least she sympathizes.

Arima bows to his father. Ownership rights were Eto’s idea. She already calls Kaneki their child, and she has the perfect new name for him – Haise Sasaki.

It’s the name she told him she would have picked for a kid if they lived in a world where they could marry and live happily ever after, like “a fucking fairy tale.”

She’s profane and childlike, and he loves her. They’re the One-Eyed King and the One-Eyed Owl, and like Eto reminds him, “Put together we’re a full set of eyes.”