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“Hideyoshi,” a soft touch on his shoulder stirred him from his sleep. “They called.”
Hide coughed, his throat dry. He was still out of it but forced himself up.
“Fuck... Okay, give me ten minutes.”
“Five,” Arima said quietly and stood up. He was already dressed and holding his jacket.
Hide nodded, too tired to argue. He didn’t brush his teeth or his hair. He pulled on yesterday’s clothes while trying to suppress a yawn.
The sun wasn’t up, not even rising. When they stepped out of their apartment, a black car was waiting for them in the darkness. Hide climbed in and allowed his temple to press against the cold window.
“Wake me up before we arrive,” he muttered, closing his eyes. Arima sat down next to him, setting his metal briefcases next to his feet.
“It’d be better if you stayed awake.”
Hide grunted and shifted to ease the bad angle of his neck, but it didn’t help at all. Arima glanced at him, but didn’t bother doing more. He gave the driver a nod, and the car accelerated, heading to the warehouse with the half-eaten body.
It was going to rain soon. Hide could smell it in the air. Along with the smell of rain, the weak breeze brought an enticing scent.
“Corpses.” Hide rubbed his nose and winced at the deep growl of his stomach.
“Multiple?” Arima asked, and Hide nodded. “They’ve only found one so far. Can you estimate how many?”
“Too many,” Hide answered grimly. “They’re in various states of decay. Don’t you find it weird that they only found one and called you?”
Arima looked thoughtful for a moment and then turned back to Hide.
“That is not for us to concern ourselves with. You will lead the way until we find them. It’s safe to assume the ghouls will be nearby. Once we find them, I want you back by my side.”
Hide felt hesitant but confirmed the instructions and began heading for the warehouse.
“Special Class Arima, did you bring your dog along again?”
Hide’s eyes narrowed, but he fixed his expression before turning around.
“Good morning, First Class Shimoguchi,” he said with the friendliest smile he could muster, but his greeting was outright ignored. Shimoguchi had his gaze fixed on Arima, waiting for his answer.
“I’m sorry, First Class Shimoguchi, I do not own a dog.”
“You know what I mean,” Shimoguchi spared a look filled with contempt towards Hide.
Somehow, without even changing his expression, Arima’s eyes became colder.
“If you are referring to my partner, yes, I did bring him along, as you can see for yourself. However he is not a dog. Hideyoshi will be leading us to the rest of the bodies, and therefore, I suggest you inform your men of our intention to move in.”
“Bodies? Wasn’t there-. No, never mind. I will tell my men, but you would better keep him on a tight, tight leash. I heard of what happened last time, and no matter how important this experiment is to the CCG, I will not hesitate to put down a rampaging ghoul.” Shimoguchi’s sneer made him look even more like a fish, and Hide was tempted to make him into sushi. Arima seemed to have sensed his thoughts, because the warning glance sent toward him was almost immediate. Once First Class Shimoguchi was out of hearing range, Arima put a hand on Hide’s forearm.
“You will cooperate. Even if his words are spiteful, that warning rings true. Last time will have to stay the last, or else there will not be a next time. I hope you understand, Hideyoshi.”
Hide wanted to argue against him, tell him how he was put in a tight spot and once cornered, recognising between an enemy and ally became harder, but sighed in defeat.
“Yes, Arima-san.”
“Now go. Before the real dogs’ barking scares the prey away.”
Hide grinned and entered the warehouse reeking of death. It was child’s play to figure out the corpses would be underground, in what seemed to be a recently unsealed basement. The dust had lifted, with people going through for a while now, leaving a dustless trail in the labyrinth of corridors as a way to find the little mouse hole.
Bodies were piled in a corner, tens of them. Some of the investigators turned up their noses at the sight. Hide, on the other hand, looked at them, pining for a small taste, but followed Arima’s instructions and returned to his side.
“Are we going to wait here for the ghouls?” he asked, trying not to think of the delicious meal four metres to the right. Arima glanced at the Shimoguchi squad and shook his head.
“No,” he answered. “First Class Shimoguchi, we will head out for the ghouls on our own. You stay in wait here in case some of them come back here. Make sure none of them escape.”
Shimoguchi seemed unhappy with his fate as a guard dog, but accepted anyway. Arima left the room, looking around them.
“Where are they?”
Hide took in a deep breath.
“There are more that way.” He pointed to the right. “But I have a feeling left is a dead end. It doesn’t echo the same.”
“Then we start with the left.”
The gravel crunched below their feet as they headed for their first kill. Hide took off his jacket, readying himself to launch his kagune any second. But when they arrived, Arima was faster, yet again, and left Hide staring at his back as he sliced three ghouls with one single swing. Even if they hadn’t had the opportunity to attack, he could tell they were very weak.
“Arima-san, don’t you think this place smells rotten?”
Arima sent him a look.
“I mean, metaphorically speaking. They sent the Grim Reaper to this kind of pigpen.”
“If you want to find out, you need to keep on going. Answers always lie at the end, don’t they?”
Hide huffed, still not over the vague discomfort he felt. Either the CCG hadn’t warned them about something lying in wait or they had sent their greatest investigator to clean up trash.
They stayed silent as they walked, following Hide’s nose wherever it took them in the quagmire of underground hallways. The steady thump of their footsteps, the forever continuing darkness and gentle sway whenever he took a step were getting Hide closer and closer to closing his eyes and he simply couldn’t have that.
“Arima-san, sing me a song.”
“I do not sing,” Arima immediately shot down his request.
“Everyone sings. That’s what people do.”
“I don’t remember any lyrics to a song.”
Hide sighed.
“You've got to remember some song. You have to sing in school, so maybe you remember something from back then? Or something you heard in the radio.”
Arima tried to think back to his school years but nothing came to mind. He couldn’t even recall one popular song, even if CCG’s break rooms sometimes had the radio on.
“No? Really?”
He thought back to his childhood. Maybe there was a song that he had heard when he was younger that had stuck in his mind. Hesitantly, he opened his mouth:
“When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom: “Let it be.’”
“Beatles? Really?”
“I can stop if you want.” He would’ve been more than happy to. Hide shook his head and stepped a little closer, almost touching.
“No, I just never thought that would be what you’d remember,” he said, smiling softly. “Please continue.”
Arima stayed quiet for a few second, wondering if it really was worth it to continue. Hide’s patient gaze however would not allow him to stop quite yet.
“And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom: ‘Let it be.’”
He sounded more like he was citing a poem, than singing, but Hide didn’t complain. The lyrics of the song echoed softly in the empty hall. Hide’s head nodded along with the silent tune.
The hallway ended, leaving them with a wall ahead of them. Hide looked down and saw a manhole. The sewers.
Arima stopped his so-called singing, relieved. He had forgotten the rest of the lyrics and knew Hide would comment on it.
“I don’t feel good about this,” Hide confessed, but moved the lid either way. The bottom wasn’t far away, and they climbed the ladder down in just a few seconds. It wasn’t a big tunnel, so it was bound to lead to the bigger ones at some point.
Hide began heading towards the familiar smell of a ghoul. It kept getting stronger and stronger, until he realised, they were heading towards not just a dozen ghouls. No, judging by the smell, there had to be a hundred or more. How they had all fit there without leaving much of a trace was a wonder.
“Arima-san,” he called out. His pace was getting slower as he began to have doubts of going in there just by the two of them, even if he was with the CCG’s Grim Reaper. “Arima-san, maybe we should get the backup after all.”
“Hideyoshi.” Arima stopped. “That might not be an option.”
Black and red eyes were gleaming in the darkness, and first ones had already slipped out their kagunes. They had to be the reason Arima had been called. The CCG didn’t know if ghouls with a status were in there, but they still had to be taken care of. Maybe they should’ve taken their guard dogs with them.
Hide swallowed, letting out a dry laugh.
“The raid. They escaped the raid to the sewers. How many do you think are kakujas? They couldn’t have survived with just that amount of food for this long.”
Arima opened his briefcases, Ixa in one hand, Narukami in the other.
“How about we find out?” He had an uncharacteristically soft smile on his face, and Hide feels his heart skip a beat. Maybe there was a light for him in the darkness of the sewers.
He rolled his shoulders and felt the spikes slip through the old holes. There was nothing he loved more than dancing the dance of death with Arima.