Do You :REmember?

Chapter 1: To Hell Once Again

"Should we open the file?"

"It could be a trap."

"We have to! It's for Sassan! There may be important information inside!"

"Rank One Sasaki Haise is dispensable. We should not risk the whole CCG just for him."

Murmurs and arguments immediately tore through the air until a fist was slammed onto the table. Utter silence filled the hall, everyone glancing at a certain white-haired investigator. "Just open the file," he ordered. Everyone could feel the waves of stress permeating throughout the hall as the technical personnel did what they did best and projected the contents on the wide screen. It was a live broadcast.

The screen fuzzled for a while before clearing out.

"They connected! They connected!" a small figure who wore a hoodie and was bandaged shouted with joy. From her voice one could tell she was female. She hopped backwards and ran towards a white haired man with a red mask further back in the dark room, allowing the broadcasting camera to have a wider view angle.

The camera focused and beside the two figures was an unmistakable body, his neck, wrists and legs chained to a metal table. His originally white and black hair was matted together with dried up maroon blood and his clothes were torn in countless areas.

"Sassan!" "Sasaki-san!" "Maman!" "... Sasaki Haise."

There were many shouts of shock, horror and other reactions but one could obviously hear the worry in the voices of the Quinx Squad members. Akira was clenching her teeth and Arima had his fist tightened into a ball under the table.

"Those are unrecognisably two of the higher ups of Aogiri Tree..." Marude muttered.

The bandaged female tilted her head to the side and cheered, "Since we have an audience now, we can start, can't we? The least we can do for Kaneki Ken here is to show his CCG comrades a big show, can't we?" She then turned to the side and gestured for someone to come closer.

This ghoul had a plain mask adorning his face, but with a very creepy wide grin printed on it. He rolled a tray of medical tools towards the trio. The girl took a syringe and walked towards the camera slightly.

"Did Kaneki Ken ever tell you? Jason had tortured him before - but he was such a coward to forget his past life, don't you think? We miss the Kaneki we had back then, so we're going to do him a favour and make him remember!" The members of the CCG who had heard about Jason shuddered.

Sasaki had gone through that kind of life before? Who knew ghouls did not only kill humans? Some felt a twinge of mercy for the young investigator.

"Ka~ne~ki! Do you remember what Jason did? Do you?" the hooded figure crowed. Meanwhile, the ghoul who was previously from the Chinese ghoul organisation, Chi She Lian, grabbed a bunch of Sasaki's hair and yanked backwards. Hard. A choked cry came from the half-ghoul.

"...N-no," the half-ghoul could barely form a reply with his head jerked behind.

The hooded figure grinned behind the bandages. "Since we don't have access to RC Suppressant Gas or Quinque syringes, we are going to use the authentic method! Do you know the only place a normal syringe can hurt a ghoul?" Sasaki shook his head slightly, already trembling at all the possibilities running through his head. Her kakugan showed, the red of the irises evident through the holes of the bandages where the eyes were. She pulled down the skin below the eye. "Here."

The sickening sound of squishing, pouring blood could be heard, accompanied by a heart-wrenching scream.

Someone ran out of the room, possibly from the nausea.

"Find the origins of the signal!" Yoshitoki Washuu ordered while the video continued its broadcast.

"The signal is from an unknown source! We can't pinpoint its location!" a technician shouted.

Eto... Tatara... Noro... these were the three names he had recognised upon being chained on the metal table.

"Ne~ Jason did this, didn't he?" Eto smirked. Haise fearfully glanced sideways as much as he could with Tatara pulling on his head. Eto was holding a plier. A switch flicked on in his mind.

"N-no... No... Not again," Haise choked. His left eye could only see red from the blood gushing out. The pain. He had experienced it once before. He did not want to go through it again.

A bucket. A bloody bucket. Inside? He could see fingers, toes, and blood. And they were his. They were all his. And his fingers and toes were plucked over and over, to fill up a bucket. It hurt so much but they just kept growing back. His skin was pink from being newly formed, and his ankles and wrist were sure to leave scars from the struggling.

Eto hummed, "Hmm? You remember? That makes it all the more better!"

Haise screamed. He could feel the wet dripping blood streaming from his right index finger. His RC cells were rushing to heal the wound but before anything could be regenerated, another finger was gone.

And another finger.

And another finger.

And another finger.

His hand felt so... empty.

He could feel his mind going insane. Even his other self was screaming.

R-RiZE-saN... nO-nNnNOOoOO... tHe PaiN iS Too mUCh... yAmOorI... hELl... sOMeOne KiLL mE... M-Mo-ThEr mOtHEr I aM A MonSTeR...

Haise's Kagune was itching to unleash but the RC suppressants were taking effect. His blood was BURNING. His hand was BURNING. His eye was BURNING. Everything was BURNING.

Just like Anteiku...

Anteiku? What was that?

Another scream erupted from his already sore throat.

His head felt empty, his blood already drained. The fingers on his left hand started disappearing one by one. He vaguely heard an overly cheerful voice saying, "No wonder Jason liked to torture Kaneki so much! Look at his regenerative powers! Ahahah!"

"O-one t-thousand... Nine hu-hundred a-and n-ninety si-x..."

"Clean up the blood."

"Yes sir."

The door closed.

"Kaneki... Don't worry. We will surely find a way to save you."

His blood squished as it was being mopped up. The originally clear water in the bucket was dyed a dark red. He could not formulate a reply but smiled nonetheless. Someone would save him. He just had to tolerate this. He would not die yet. He counted. And counted. And counted to keep his sanity. If he could still count, he was still sane, wasn't he?

His toes were next.

"Nine hun-ndred an-d e-eigh-ty s-six..."

He was missing five digits on his right foot already.

"N-n-nine h-hund-dred a-an-d s-se-ven-nty n-nine..."

"He's noisy," Tatara stated.

Eto tilted her head again. "Hmm... True! Let's take out his vocal chords! It would be so much quieter!" With one grab, her hand latched onto Haise's throat. And -

Rip.

He wanted to scream.

But no sound came out. There was only the gurgling of blood in his throat. And he could feel everything. He hated his regenerative speed so so much! The wounds on his right hand had closed up and were regenerating slowly. To any ghoul, this would have been amazing, a feat impossible after having battled a half-owl.

But it certainly was not. Not when you are being tortured. Over and over.

Over and over.

He screamed and screamed in his head, over and over, until nothing registered anymore.

"... We will find a way to save you... Just wait for us..."