Recusance: related to 'recusancy'

Recusancy: the act or state of being a 'recusant'

Recusant: one who refuses to accept or obey established authority; a person who refuses to submit to an or to comply with a regulation

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul.

Warnings: AU; The 20th doesn't like outsiders; The 20th is a mystery; Possible OOCness from AU; Outsider POV; random plotbunny

UnBeta'd

To outsiders, the 20th Ward was a peculiar place.

It was unnervingly peaceful. Unlike the other Wards whose news stations were always featuring the latest ghoul attacks, the Nerima (1) Ward had no such thing covered in their broadcasts. The most violence they ever featured were car accidents or the rare petty robbery or accidental house fire.

Sometimes, the CCG would announce that a certain ghoul may be headed in whatever direction, but it was never to the 20th. If they ever did, the ghoul in question either disappeared and rapidly reappeared elsewhere or parts of their corpse would be found dismantled and gnawed away to the bone on the outskirts of the peaceful Ward.

They didn't seem to like outsiders from other Wards too much, either.

Kamii University and Seinan Gakuin University were two of the most prestigious Universities in Tokyo, and both were in the 20th Ward. Unfortunately, Kamii U only accepted students who were residents of the 20th Ward or those with stellar recommendations from a variety of its denizens in order to be considered – even then, they would have to undergo an unfairly rigorous entrance exam.

Seinan Gakuin U, however, was just as exclusive. Unlike Kamii University, Seinan Gakuin University accepted outsiders, but only those from the richest and most prestigious of families. There was the occasional scholarship student of course, but even they were mostly from the 20th Ward.

With the 20th's peaceful reputation of somehow being immune to ghoul attacks, coupled with the top two Universities being so restrictive in their student acceptances, a few families moved into the Ward in hopes of giving their children a better future, only to be met with wary distrust.

No one was really sure what happened to those families. Rumors said that they were quartered off away from the rest of the populous to prevent them from leaking the 20th's secrets to outsiders. Some said that they had their memories wiped as an initiation rite. Others said that they were sacrificed to the ghouls of the Ward to keep them pacified.

Of course, with such outrageous rumors, the amount of families willing to move dwindled dramatically, and despite having a CCG Branch Office located in the 20th, investigations were halted by the very public they were supposed to serve and protect.

It was strange.

At first, it seemed that the denizens of the 20th Ward were just xenophobic against their neighbors. However, once the CCG Branch Office was introduced to the public of the 20th, protests ran rampant. People claimed that there was no need for them to be there, and any attempts that were seen as interrogative were met with uncooperative masses.

Because of such strong reactions, the Investigators promptly scanned the people in question to see if they were ghouls in disguise. Strangely enough, their RC Readers read human levels and the Investigators were promptly yelled at for their "lack of decency."

Needless to say, the Commission of Counter Ghoul had a strained relationship with the residents of the 20th Ward, and the Branch Office in that Ward was little more than a storage unit.

So when Nagachika Hideyoshi's job application for a part-time position landed on Division II Chief Marude's desk, eyebrows were raised and by the end of the hour, everyone in the CCG Headquarters knew that there was an applicant from the infamous 20.

(1) Nerima Ward = 20th Ward