It had been five months since the raid at the ghoul coffee shop.

The casualties were tremendous, and many from the CCG were questioning if the operation was more trouble than it was worth.

Overall, the operation would have been considered a failure; however, despite not being able to exterminate the owl, they were able to take one ghoul alive;

the Eyepatch.

Akira's eyes narrowed at the name. The project they were implementing was outrageous and extremely controversial. If word were to get out about it, who knows how the public would react.

For a ghoul to become a ghoul investigator? Ridiculous and insulting.

It had been on everyone's minds. Although she knew better than to question his motives, she couldn't help it.

What was Arima thinking?

She showed her identification through the front window for a man in a heavily armored security vest. His gaze went back and forth between her and her picture before a loud buzz rang and a large, metal door opened for her to enter. She stood at the door as the lights slowly flickered on one by one to illuminate the corridor.

Cochlea.

She went past the rows of similar metallic doors, her heels eerily clanking on the tile of the all-too-quiet prison. She entered an elevator at the end of the hall and held her identification card to a scanner beside the door. The doors slid open and she proceeded to go to the third floor.

As the elevator slowly made its way down, she opened the file that she had been holding in her hands.

Her fingers grazed over the dark print on the cover.

Operation Sasaki Haise.

She flipped the page and glazed over the information.

"Kaneki Ken, huh?"

Her fingers gripped the folder tightly as she read down the page.

Involved in the death of First-Class Ghoul Investigator Kureo Mado.

Her vision flashed to images of her father and what his final moments must have been like. She thought of his achievements and she thought of...

Amon.

She quickly closed the folder in her hands as the elevator doors opened, revealing another long, quiet corridor. She walked forward until she met with a door only labeled with a red 14 on it. She inserted a card into a slot on the handle and waited for the light to turn green before she knocked twice and entered the room.

The first people she saw were the three nurses bowing to her as she entered, clipboards in their hands. She nodded to them, then looked around the room. To put it simply, it was a cell. The room was barren, with concrete walls and floors. Only a stray light bulb hanging from the ceiling from a wire offered any light if she didn't include the lights coming from the machines giving off a bluish glow. There was a hospital bed at the far end of the room with him lying in it, bandages wrapped tightly around his eyes, lips slightly parted, and his chest rising and falling steadily.

"What's the report?" She asked, her gaze never leaving him.

"His brain and skull are healing quickly, but his eyes are taking longer than we previously thought. He should be able to see in about a month."

She continued to study him, the only sound in the room coming from the heart monitor. She noticed his left wrist was handcuffed to the bar on the side of the bed and had to resist to urge to chuckle.

As if that would stop a monster.

"Has he woken up at all?"

"Only once, earlier this month. He was understandably confused, but also oddly cooperative."

Akira's eyes widened in surprise to hear this, but then she remembered Arima's words;

"Apparently his brain is having trouble repairing the parts that function for his memory. I recommend we use this to the CCG's advantage."

Akira stared at him in disbelief. "Arima, are you suggesting we use him as weapon himself against the ghouls instead of as a quinque?"

Arima stared right back at her, his eyes cold and unwavering. "I'm suggesting we make him a member of the CCG.

I'm suggesting we treat him as a human."

Akira shook her head at the memory. There was no way this could work. There was no way a ghoul could cooperate to this extent.

Especially not this ghoul. Especially not the ghoul who had-

She shook her head to disrupt the thought. She had to keep emotions checked, but she couldn't help rushing out the door, almost slamming it on the way out, and leaving the building as fast as she could.

It has been seven months since the raid at the ghoul coffee shop.

Akria walked out of Arima's office, her head throbbing with the information she had just been given.

An entire squad of ghouls, led by a ghoul? He's finally lost it.

The rumor has been going around the CCG, but now it has been confirmed. They want to pull out qualified individuals from the academy and follow Aogiri's example.

Man-made ghouls.

The idea itself was blasphemous, but nothing was worse than the plan to put Eyepatch in charge of the spawns.

Not Eyepatch. Sasaki Haise.

Ever since the half-ghoul started waking up regularly, everyone was made to call him by this name. They had moved him to a real hospital, and decided he was cooperative enough to have the handcuffs removed.

His eyes were fully healed, but every time she had gone to see him, she would think otherwise. His eyes were completely blank as he would stare at her, and she had to constantly remind herself that he wasn't blind and that he could actually see the way her eyes twitched in silent fury every time he moved, and he could see the way her fist would clench up when he opened his mouth to speak.

She couldn't help but be angry at everything he did and every word he spoke. But there was one thing that made her absolutely furious.

"Ms. Mado, is there something wrong?" He gently folded the corner down of the book he was reading and placed it on the bedside table, giving his full attention to her, waiting for her to speak.

She was able to put a rigid smile on her face as she glared at him. "Just another hard day."

What made her so furious, was that she couldn't see him as a monster.

It has been eleven months since the raid at the ghoul coffee shop.

Akira flipped through the files on her desk, her mind elsewhere. Sasaki had been doing extremely well in his investigations with Arima's squad, until today. She had heard that he involuntarily let his kagune run wild, and forced Arima to abandon the mission to take care of the matter. Not only that, but he had destroyed his reputation at the CCG and left many wondering why they were keeping him alive.

Sometimes, she wondered that herself, but Arima was adamant.

Operation Sasaki Haise had turned out tougher than they all had planned. He was nothing but a ticking time bomb. Without the RC suppressants, he would surely have no qualms about taking down as many investigators as he could, which, knowing how powerful he really was, Akira knew was a lot. Arima was the only thing keeping him in check.

Akira hadn't seen Sasaki since he was released from the hospital, and she had to admit that had been no coincidence on her part.

She continued looking through her files as she heard a knock on her office door, and she sternly told them to come in.

Her eyes widened as Sasaki walked in, and she felt herself tense up as he bowed and apologized for interrupting her duties. She gave him her usual rigid smile and asked him to sit down at the chair across from her.

They both remained awkwardly quiet, her looking at him while he looked down at his hands on his lap. She noticed the roots of his hair had grown out to tinge his white hair with black, but decided not to comment on it. She would rather not communicate with him at all.

"Is this about today, Sasaki?" Her eyes bore into his eyelids where he refused to look at her, funneling as much rage as she could in that glare, almost hoping he could sense her hatred resonating out of her.

Just disappear already.

Her surprise overtook her anger as his eyes met hers, where she noticed that they were glossy and full of tears.

Full of emotion.

A side she had never seen.

"Akira, I'm so sorry, I didn't know who else to go to. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-" his words cut off as he buried his face in his hands.

"Sasaki-" Akira started in, but was interrupted by a pitiful sob from the boy.

"I messed everything up, and now no one will ever like me." She watched as he sunk low in his chair, his sobs slowing down. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"I'm sorry, this is really inappropriate. I shouldn't have come-" "Haise," Akira cut him short. "Haise, it's-" she took a deep breath, "It's going to be alright."

He stared into her eyes for what felt like a very long time before giving her a soft smile and wiping away a few remaining tears, and standing up.

"You're right, Ms. Mado. I apologize for bothering you." Before she could say anything, he had left, leaving her stunned and staring at the chair he was once sitting at.

She stayed that way for what felt like hours, until a small smile crept up on her face. She let out a small chuckle that turned into a laugh.

Did you see it as well, Amon?

It has been three years since the raid at the ghoul coffee shop.

"Akira is my mom. And Arima is my dad. Or something like that."

"Haise, how is the operation going?" Akira browsed through the files of his mission, before looking up at him when he failed to give a response.

"Uh, well, you know the kids, they like to do their own thing," Sasaki braced himself to be chastised, but was surprised when Akira laughed out loud.

She smiled at him; a full, real smile, that he couldn't help but smile back at.

She watched him closely as he laughed and continued to tell her about all of the kids and their trouble making. She saw so much emotion, it was almost...

Human.

"We treat him as a human."

She smiled and nodded as Haise continued his happy ramblings.

He is already human.