Honour

III : Adopted

The doorknob shook, announcing you that your time alone was over. Good thing, it was getting sort of weird, alone in a plain interrogation room like this. You were starting to think that you'd have to sleep here tonight.

The person that walked through wasn't Hanbee, like you expected. Instead, it was someone much smaller, and much more friendly-looking (although Hanbee was friendly enough with you, he just didn't look the part). The male with gradient hair gave you a warm smile before sitting in front of you and placing a folder in the middle of the table.

"Hello (Y/N)-- I can call you (Y/N)?" You nodded at his words, allowing him to continue. His voice sounded like one you'd hear from a mother, to be honest. It sort of reminded you of your own... "My name's Haise Sasaki. I'm an investigator, but I'm sure you already figured that out. Anyways, I'm here because I heard about your situation. You have my sincerest apologies."

"Thank you." You politely nodded, unfazed on the outside. To be honest, all these 'I'm sorry's and 'my condolences's were starting to annoy you. "What can you do for me, mister Sasaki?"

"Please, call me Haise. And I'm here to offer you a place to stay. In exchange, you would need to sign up in a project the CCG has been planning for a while." He then opened the file and pushed it towards you. "It's called the QS project. It consists of five humans, preferably teenagers such as yourself, who would have ghoul kakuhous implanted into them. Don't worry, the procedure is safe and it won't convert you into a ghoul."

You took hold of the folder and scanned through it as Haise kept explaining.

"After the surgery, the five quinxes would become CCG investigators. The main goal of the project is to bring one up that could surpass our best investigator yet, Kishou Arima."

"So you guys are basically going to fight fire with fire?" You asked, reading through the kagune options and side effects.

Haise chuckled. "Essentially, yes, I suppose that's what we're aiming for. You don't need to say yes, no one's pressuring you. If you don't feel confortable, we'll find another outcome for you, (Y/N)."

"If I agree?" You asked, looking back up to the nice pudding head in front of you.

"You'll live in the same house as the four other quinxes, in this city. You'll be going to school, of course, but fitness class is going to be mandatory. You'll be considered a CCG investigator as well, despite being a student. All costs regarding medical aspects, nutrition, education and lodging will be covered, of course. You'll still be payed as an investigator, too."

You nodded, pondering over the whole thing. What other choice did you have? Your parents are dead, the only people you know live overseas and you've just been offered a job, free food and free education? Fuck yeah, you'd take it.

"Well, Haise, I guess I'm in." You answered. "I'll sign the paperwork and whatever else you need. I look forward with working with you-- I assume you're going to be our supervisor, considering you're the one who approached me?"

"That would be correct." The male beamed, stretching out his hand to shake yours. "Welcome to the Quinx squad, (Y/N). I'm glad to have you on the team."

"And I'm glad to be a part of it." You politely answered, returning his smile. The two of you smiled at each other like that, unsure when to stop, until Haise snapped out of it and shook his head.

"Right, the paperwork!" He exclaimed, bouncing up and wiping off invisible dust on his trousers. "You'll have a few surveys to fill out as well, just to see how compatible you are with certain types of kagune. Are you still sure?"

"I've got nothing to lose." You answered, leaning on the table and watching him clumsily pick up his stuff. You must have been the first one to say yes, considering how happy he looked at the moment.

He sped to the door, catching a sheet of paper that flew out of his file mid-air before turning towards you. "I'll be right back!" He assured. You simply smiled at the adorable man, waving him goodbye as he walked out. Haise struggled to mimic your movement. He quickly gave up and settled with a small nod before kicking the door shut on his way out.

"I'm still surprised by your results!" The gradient haired man exclaimed as he accompanied you to your hospital room, where you were going to be prepped for the surgery. "We weren't expecting anyone to match up with a kakuja! But hey, we'll be rinkaku buddies." He teased.

"Ah, you're a quinx as well?" You asked, your interest perking up.

Haise's smile faltered a bit. "Not exactly." He lowered his voice. "I'm a synthetic half-ghoul, but the CCG took me in after that doctor did that to me. I guess they didn't kill me since I used to be human or something."

The fear you felt when he mentioned his origins went down after he explained his situation and you couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor man. Sure, you were going to transition from human to quinx, but at least you had given your consent. From what Haise was saying, someone ripped away his humanity. Must've hurt...

The male noticed your concerned look and lightly laughed. He placed his hand on his chin as he spoke. "Don't worry, I don't remember anything from before, so it doesn't hurt too much."

"Still, someone must be a real dickhead to walk around stealing people's humanity like that. I hope the guy that did this to you died from something horrible." You bitterly muttered.

"It's fine, I assure you." He said in a nonchalant tone.

You simply hummed and looked around, still a bit mad. What is it with people and wanting to steal what was most precious to others? Humanity, life, love... This world isn't right.

As you glared at a wall, your eyes came in contact with another pair, down a hallway.

You gave the guy a brief once-over before deeming him as odd. Not because of his physical appearance or anything, even if the two moles under his eyes seemed quite bizarre (and you weren't even going to mention that the boy had purple hair, which looked completely natural on him). It was just because even if you didn't know him at all, the teen gave you the coldest glare you had ever received.

What had you ever done to him? Nothing.

Shooting him back a quick glare, you soon lost sight of him and continued on with Haise, who was lively chatting away about how nice the house you were going to live in is.