I smiled, leaning back in my chair and tugging at my tie. With my eyes closed and a chuckle escaping me, I placed my legs cross onto Akira's desk. She was... less than pleased, but said nothing. I opened one eye, tilting my head.

"What? Not a single 'good job'? How about 'Cardin, you did amazing'" I said, leaning in. "'We've been trying to get that guy for ages', how about that!"

"Beginner's luck." She said distastefully, angrily typing on her keyboard.

"Ha!" I laughed.

"That, and I hear Juuzou did the actual apprehension of Fox. You just held off the female ghoul." She said, glaring at me.

"I-I mean, that's-"

"Don't toot your own horn, okay? It wasn't special."

"Is that a euphemism?" I asked, causing her to sigh.

"Listen, Cardin. This isn't a game. People die doing this, and quite commonly. Guys with your attitude always get killed first. I... I don't need more people dying."Sh e said painfully, glancing away. I realized I hit a nerve and sighed, leaning forward and placing my hands on my knees.

"Sorry."

"Its fine. You didn't mean anything by it." She said, typing onto her keyboard. "You did well, okay? I'm still impressed with how you found out his hiding spot so quickly."

"I know a few sources." I said, awkwardly breaking eye contact.

"Well, you should share them with the CCG. We need guys like that, people on the inside. Anyways, we brought him to the ghoul prison and starved him a bit, and he revealing the locations of a few meth labs. From the little inside sources that we have, it does seem like the Black Dragon took an instant hit."

"That's good." I said awkwardly. I didn't know much about the Ghoul world. To be honest, before I started working here I didn't know the Ghoul's had a world. We were taught that they were the shadows moving in the night, the monsters under our beds. That they would hunt down the evil little boys and girls and eat them raw, painting the moon with their blood. Imagine my surprise when I found out that one of my... classmates was a ghoul. It wasn't something I could easily wrap my head around, half ghoul or not. And the fact that he had a human girl? It was enough to cause a headache.

"Yeah, but they have a backup. Besides all the massive intake they get from their little black market scheme, they also have a sponsor."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you've probably heard about it by now. A certain MM, a restaurant deep within the 7th ward that is filled with selective eaters like The Gourmet. The Black Dragon tends to produce one-eyed ghouls, which seem to be a delicacy among those of MM."

"I can see why they'd support it."

"The Gourmet is... a unique character to say the least. He's the leader of the establishment, and tends to leave the 7th ward quite commonly. I'd like for you to research into him and possibly eliminate him if possible."

"Cut the head off the snake?" I asked.

"No, not exactly." She explained. "Taking the leader or government away may cause a nation to collapse, but MM is more just a nexus of gourmets. Tsukiyama runs this place, but I'm sure people could take his place."

"Then what's the point in targeting him?"

"He's the one that's currently funding BD, Black Dragon. Cut him off and they're is a chance, however small, that the funds are at least cut."

"So we're not doing an execution, just a regular old attack."

"Against a really strong ghoul, yes." She said with a sigh. "Honestly, the risks probably outweigh the rewards, but that's what the higher ups are requesting."

"Well that sucks." I said, my shoulders dropping.

"I suppose. On the bright side, you do get a few days off to relax and destress before the big mission." She said, half trying to make me feel better.

"That's..." I mumbled, cupping my chin.

"I know, it's not the best. Good news its another full squad mission, so you'll have Arima with you, and he's never lost. They call him the 'death god' for a reason."

"Really?"

"So goes the rumor."

"Well that certainly helps." I said, sighing. "But I'd still like another way to destress."

"What are you thinking?"

"Just that a coffee for two sounds great, and not the breaker room's coffee." I said, causing her to fall back into her chair and grab the bridge of her nose.

"No."

"Oh, c'mon." I teased, tilting my head and brushing back my brown hair.

"No."

"Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" I asked, putting my hands together. She shot a glare at me, rolling her eyes away.

"We will go as coworkers and coworkers only."

"You're no fun."

"I'm 21, and how old are you?"

"Err..." I said, looking away and scratching at my face. "20 in a few months."

"So 19."

"I mean-"

"We go as coworkers, take it or leave it." She said, typing into her computer before adding "And you're paying."

I sighed. "Fine, when does your shift end?"

"I had the 4 AM to 2 PM block."

"Wow, that's pretty hardcore. I mean, I am too. Do you have to wake up at 3 to get here on time, too?"

"Yes, but I still think those who have the overnight shift are more 'hardcore'" She said, standing and packing her items into her briefcase. "I don't think Arima ever gets any sleep."

"I hope you were joking about the whole 'Death God' thing. What kind of nickname is that, in our business field.? 'Jack the ripper' is a nickname. 'Shredder' is a nickname. Hell, even just 'Jason' is a pretty cool nickname. One of the ghouls I saw had 'Cheshire' as an alias, and that's a nickname. 'Death God' isn't."

"If it makes you feel better if japane-"

"I don't care about what story gave him that, its a bad nickname." I said, causing her to roll her eyes and grab her briefcase.

"You're an asshole, you know that, right? No girl is going to date you with that attitude."

"Coffee shop?"

"I'm not dating you, it's a coffee break." She said, turning away angrily and walking out of the cubicle.

"Hey, hey, hey! Its Akira-" Juuzou cheered, Akira storming past him.

"Out of my way." She puffed.

Oh, I pissed her off so much. I thought with a smile, jogging up to her in pursuit.

"Akira, wait up!" I said with a laugh, causing her to shoot me a glare.

"If you're going to be like this, forget the coffee. We're going to a bar. I can't handle your immaturity without something in my system."

"Uhhh..." I said, scratching at the back of my head. "Not 21, remember?"

"Where do you think we are, America? We're in Vale, the legal age is 18."

"Isn't it a little early to drink anyways?" I asked, scooting past Arima as he gave me an odd (almost sympathetic) glance.

"No." She said, turning and storming to the elevator. I tried to catch up to her as she pressed the elevator button, but Shinohara bumped into me, knocking me into the wall of the next cubicle.

"Oh, sorry Cardin! Didn't see you there." He said, offering me a hand. I grumbled, grabbing it and allowing him to hoist me up, squeezing past him.

"What? No thank you?" He said with a laugh, my gaze turned to the closing elevator doors.

"W-Wait!" I said, running over. Akira gave me a slight smirk, crossing her arms as the doors closed in front of me. I let out a sad chuckle, hitting the door with my fist.

"Damn her."

...

Luckily, she had calmed down by the time the elevator came back up. I took it down and went past the RC cell censor, where she was waiting patiently on one of the couches.

"Took you long enough. I told you I don't like wasting time." She said, crossing her arms and thrusting her face away from me.

"And whose fault was that, again? Do remind me, I have bad memory." I said, giving a wink.

"Let's just go. You've managed to double my daily stupidity quota." She said, rising and walking ahead. "Let's talk about something that actually matters on the way, okay?"

"Uh, sure. Like what? MM?"

"No, I don't think that will be needed. How much knowledge do you have about ghoul biology?" She asked, turning her head slightly.

"Next to nothing."

"Well, as it stands we are to believe that there is no line between ghoul and human. A human can become a ghoul and a ghoul can become a human. The factor that determines this is RC cell count."

"Okay..."

"Current biological historians know that Ghouls have existed ever since the time of the Samurai, so its not like they are anything new. Our current guess is that there was a cult long long ago that was cannibalistic. Most humans have like 200 RC cells. So when they ate and ate and ate more humans, they eventually became the world's first ghouls." she explained. "But from my experience, you know about half ghouls, don't you?"

"W-Why would you say that?"

"The fox you fought was a one eye, and currently we believe that those are half ghouls. Another thing is that we have RC cell repressors. They shut down the RC cell's brain, so to speak, causing it to quit working. This usually is used in combat to turn off a Ghoul's kagune, but then you have a different type being developed. One that could bring a ghoul down into a level where they may be considered human again." She explained.

"What's this all add up to?" I asked, confused on what the point was. She sighed, straightening her suit and pulling at her collar.

"I want you to sign up for a program. I can't explain what it is now, but a fair amount of the employees are signing up. Weiss, Neptune, Shinohara, and I are all entered. Its... an experimental program, so there will be... certain risks. You wouldn't have to make a decision for the next month, so for now focus on your MM mission. We can discuss what occurs afterwards. You are a newbie, so its unfair just to ask such a thing from you."

"Okay, I guess." I said, shrugging. "With the amount this job pays me, it would take a lot for me to say no."

"Anyways, I'll get you the paperwork later. " She said, walking into the bar and sitting down. She glanced up as the bartender slowly walked over, his hand wrapped around a towel as he cleaned out the inside of a glass. He gave a modest smile, his purple eyes meeting ours.

"Hello, are you two together?"

"No, why would you think that?" Akira said annoyed.

"I meant bill-wise."

"My answer isn't changing." She said, crossing her arms. "Actually, it is. He's paying for it."

He sighed, setting down the glass and glancing at me.

"Well, I will be your bartender today. My name is Ren." He said. Akira took the liberty of not only ordering for herself using my money, but a drink for me. Ren walked off and crafted our drinks, Akira letting out a small giggle as she downed the glass.

"Another!" She exclaimed, slamming down the glass.

"Are you really sure that's a good-"

"Hey, I'm 'yar superior! I know what's best!" She said, taking the next glass from Ren. Her words were already slurring

"So you both are uniformed," Ren assessed. "I assume you are coworkers. Where do you two work?"

"CCG." I said, taking a small sip from the glass and making an 'uck' sound. He stiffened slightly, but nodded. "Its been a weird week for me, y'know?" I said, glancing at the two.

"Eh? What are 'ya runnin' on about?"

"Ah... nothing." I said, taking a sip and thinking about Jaune.

"I have another request." He said, walking down the street as he let me to Fox. "There's a... certain ghoul that I'd like you to find. CCG's database may have something on it."

"Like hell if I can do that." I mumbled, fumbling the glass of liquid in my hand.

"Excuse me?" Ren asked, tilting his head.

"Oh, its nothing. This is a nice place." I said, glancing around.

"Your face is nice!" Akira shouted, as if attempting to insult me. After realizing how the insult fell on its face, she sat back down and took another drink. I chuckled, patting he on the back and glancing at Ren.

"So, Ren, how long have you run this place?" I asked, glancing around.

"A few years. My girlfriend and I started it up. She's in the back, probably." He said, shrugging. "What about you? How long you two been in the CCG?"

"A long time..." Akira said, growing solemn.

"Just a week or two." I said, raising my brow at her.

"Ah, so you're new." He said with a nod. "How are you liking it?"

"Its... certainly different than what I was expecting." I said, straightening my tie and letting out a sigh.

"Which is...?"

"'Dunno. Just sort of heroically slaying demons or something. Never really thought about it." I said, leaning back in my bar stool. He nodded, picking up another glass and grabbing a towel, rubbing the inside of it clean.

"So its not the glory job everyone paints it to be?"

"No, I don't think so." I said, frowning at Akira's sad demeanour.

"Definitely not." She mumbled, messing at something in her in, I noticed the small necklace, a stainless steel cross. The cross dangled from the chain that stipped from her palm, Akira sighing and placing it back in her pocket.

"So..." He said, realizing the mood "any good sides to it?"

"The pay is awesome." I said with a smile. "The pretty coworkers help."

Akira gave a grunt, elbowing me in my side. I winced, chuckling as I grabbed the wound.

"Uh..." I mumbled, glancing at him. "So... do you like... know things? All the bartenders in the movies know everything."

"I mean..." He said, shifting. "Yeah, I know a lot. What do you need to know?"

"It would be in the ghoul area."

"I... might be able to help." He said, stiffening. I felt the atmosphere shift as Akira eyeballed me silently, my hand cupping my chin in thought.

"I'm sort of looking for someone, and I was wondering if you could help me find them." I said, glancing around. Akira held up three fingers and raised a brow. Undoubtedly she was making an 'M', questioning if I meant MM. Shaking my head, I turned my gaze back to the bartender.

"A little while back there were a strain of murders done by a single vigilante. Media covered it as the Pedal Case." I explained. "They covered all the victims, thinking they were human. Turns out it was just the opposite. Nearly all of the cases were ghouls."

"A ghoul serial killer?" He asked, leaning in.

"Yeah." I said, leaning in. "I looked into her file a bit. All serial killers have a stamp, something they used to mark their victims. The only thing they have currently is that all the ghoul's kagune organ was torn out." I said. He raised an eyebrow.

"That's..."

"Not very specific? Yeah." I said, scratching at my chin. "We have no reason to believe it's one person. What's more, I went to the mortician in the CCG. Asked to look at the bodies. He was reluctant, but let me." I explained. Ren crossed his arms, unsure of where I was going. "I measured the wounds. Only half of them actually had bite marks, and the ones that did? The teeth didn't match. Its another person. I've identified at least 3."

"Woah." Akira and Ren said in unison, glancing at each other momentarily.

"In the CCG, the Pedal cases is sort of a cold case. Its a ghoul killing ghouls, great for us. The only reason we're looking into it is that the killer may turn into a kakuja if we're not careful. Though I met a guy, and he's interested. So... I need to find a person. Not to arrest them. In fact, just the opposite. They will be my partner, or at least my info broker."

"Who is it?" He asked.

"The guy? Uh... he's..." I said, scratching at my cheek. "A friend. Someone relatively trustworthy."

"Why is he taking interest in this case?" Ren asked, fear and curiosity mixing in his tone.

"Its for a dumb reason, really."

"Shoot."

"Well..." I chuckled. "The murderer is the Rose. He sort of had a thing for her. I'm looking for a Ruby Rose." I said. All chatter in the bar died in that moment, as the waiters stiffened and looked at each other. Ren swallowed harshly, placing down the glass and setting his hands on the table. The silence hung heavy on the thick air as he pulled at his collar, standing tall.

"You called?" A voice said from behind. I turned around to see a waitress set down her place, brushing aside her black hair as red highlights glowed in the dim light. Her silver eyes gleamed as she gave a smile, tilting her head.

"I'm Ruby Rose."