For Shinji-kun as part of the hidekaneadmirerexchange on tumblr. Hope you have a happy Valentine’s Day!

Title: Through New Eyes
Rating: G
Pairing: None
Wordcount: 2331
Warnings/Kinks: none
Summary: “Yeah, sorry,” the blond man said, scratching his cheek bashfully. “You just remind me of a friend I used to have.”

Read it on AO3

Haise wasn’t entirely sure what drew him back to :Re more often than any of the other coffee shops he visited, but as time progressed and cases moved across his desk, he found himself coming back more and more frequently.

It wasn’t the coffee; their coffee was excellent but he’d tasted other brews just as good at other cafes. It wasn’t the books either, since he usually brought material of his own to read. Maybe, Haise reflected as he looked back down at the his case notes, it was the ambiance.

But no, Haise had been to almost every cafe in the area and the serene atmosphere combined with the musty scent of books was hardly unique.

Frowning at the conundrum, Haise took another sip of his coffee and glanced up to survey the goings on of the cafe. The afternoon crowd was slowly trickling out back to their office jobs and the staff were taking advantage of the lull to clean and relax.

The white haired man behind the counter polished cups and set them away on the racks behind him, taking the time to adjust each one so that the handles all pointed in the same direction. One of the newer waitresses was busing the tables, carrying stacks of saucers and cups to the back for washing.

His eye caught on the waitress who had served him the first time he’d stopped by. She seemed to be a pillar of the establishment; Haise had seen her working every time he came in and she acted comfortable with all the other employees.

And some of the customers.

Currently she was talking to a man about Haise’s age with dyed blond hair in the back corner of the cafe, her back stiff and shoulders tense. The man gestured for her to sit down but she shook her head and stepped back, waving a hand behind her to indicate the restaurant at large. He nodded and smiled up at her, handing her a folded slip of paper before turning back to his drink.

Discussion apparently over, the waitress left the table to attend to the business of the cafe. Haise sighed and tidied up his notes. It was hardly his place to judge the personal relationships of the waitstaff and their customers, but something about the interaction bothered him on an instinctual level and he couldn’t let it slide.

After all, cafes were a known gathering point for ghouls.

Organizing his work and slipping it back into the small case he carried, Haise stood up and made his way over to the back table and sat down in the empty seat across from the man.

“Hello, I noticed you come here a lot,” Haise said, white lie slipping out in a bid to get the man’s attention. He felt fairly sure he was right though; the man’s rapport with the waitress had to have come from somewhere and given the transaction and the way she’d treated him indicated it was a familiar scene. “I’m working on a case in the area and I was wondering if you had some time to talk to me about anything you might have noticed.”

Nothing.

Haise used the opportunity to take a better look at the man he was talking to. He didn’t appear anything like the rest of the clientele, not dressed in a light blue jacket with a red and white baseball cap. If he hadn’t been stashed in the back corner he would have stood out like a sore thumb.

It didn’t help that he was staring at Haise as though he’d just seen a ghost either.

“Sir?” Haise ventured. “Are you alright.”

Haise’s voice seemed to jolt the man out of whatever stupor he was in, causing him to jolt forward and relax his face into a friendly smile.

“Yeah, sorry,” he said, scratching his cheek bashfully. “You just remind me of a friend I used to have.”

“Oh,” Haise said, unsure how to respond. Used to have.

“Don’t worry about it,” the man waved it off, ignoring Haise’s hesitation. “I’m Nagachika Hideyoshi, but please call me Hide.”

“Pleased to meet you, Hide,” Haise replied, relieved that the moment had passed and he was back on familiar ground. “Do you live around here?”

“Not really,” Hide replied, “I live in the 20th ward. It’s a bit of a trip over, I know, but I have friends down here, so I try to come down and see them whenever I can.”

“The 20th ward,” Haise repeated, the words feeling odd in his mouth. “I haven’t had the chance to go over there before, but I’ve heard it’s pleasant.”

“Yeah,” Hide agreed with a small smile. “They’ve got some really good universities too. I’m going to Kamii when I have time between jobs.”

The university name itched at the back of his mind, but Haise pushed it down to focus on whether or not Hide would be able to help him with his current investigation. “Does your work put you in contact with any foreign visitors?”

“Not really,” Hide replied, seeming confused by the question. “I see more exchange students at Kamii than I do working. Why?”

So he saw foreign students on a regular basis. Haise debated thanking him for his time and leaving, but some instinct told him that if he pushed he might be able to find out more.

“There have been an increasing number of cases where ghouls have been targeting foreigners who aren’t familiar with the city,” Haise said, giving a quick summary of the case he was working on. “We think it’s a group effort rather than a few individuals working alone.”

“A group of ghouls interested in foreigners?” Hide repeated back at him, frowning and leaning forward to rest his chin on his hand. “I haven’t seen anything like that, but there have been some rumors going around. I heard one of the exchange students talking about a meeting being set up at a park in the 13th ward, and she hasn’t been in class since. No one else went so there’s nothing substantial, but I wouldn’t be surprised if ghouls were advertising support groups as bait.”

“Have you heard of any other meetings?” Haise asked, intrigued by Hide’s idea. If ghouls were advertising on college campuses, it wouldn’t be too difficult to track them down.

Hide shook his head. “Nah, as far as I can tell it’s been word of mouth only. And I don’t have a personal connection, so I’ve tried not to get involved.”

“You’ve gotten involved before?” Haise asked, picking up on something in Hide’s words.

A pained expression flashed across Hide’s face, and he turned his gaze down to the table. “I used to work part time for the CCG. I left after I wasn’t able to help my friend,” Hide chewed on his lip or a moment before looking up and catching Haise’s eyes. “I might be able to help you though. Maybe work as an informant?”

The offer left Haise feeling off balance as he tried to come up with a response. “I need to report all my sources in my reports, but if you’re okay with that we could work something out.”

He expected Hide to agree; if he’d worked with the CCG before he had to know how things were done. He certainly didn’t anticipate the way Hide cringed at the idea. “I’d rather not then,” he said, shaking his head. “Too many bad memories.”

The honesty in Hide’s statement made Haise want to try again. “I could probably keep you as an anonymous source,” he offered, mind scrambling to work out how he could explain it to Akira without raising any eyebrows. “It would help if you’re concerned about someone seeing your name and trying to pull you back in.”

Haise knew he’d hit the mark on the head when he saw the spark of interest rekindle in Hide’s eyes.

“Anonymous?” Hide repeated. “Yeah, I could do anonymous.”

“Great,” Haise said, an unexpected feeling of relief washing over him at the knowledge that he’d be staying in contact with Hide. “Could I set up a time to check in with you?”

“I’m usually over here on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons,” Hide shrugged. “If you’ve got stuff going on then, maybe sometime on the weekend?”

“Thursdays are good,” Haise replied, checking his watch. “I do have to go today, but I’ll see you next week?”

“Yeah,” Hide said, a blindingly bright smile crossing his face as he spoke. “I’ll see you next week, Sasaki.”

Haise nodded and stood up, heading out the door and back to work. It didn’t occur to him until he was halfway through a meeting with Akira that he’d never given Hide his name.

*   *   *

A few weeks later Haise found himself sitting with a cup of coffee and waiting for Hide in the back corner of :Re, musing over the chain of events that had unfolded since their first meeting.

Despite a slightly rocky start, Haise had come to trust Hide and his information. He’d never fully pinned down how Hide had gotten his name, but he’d decided to take it as a demonstration of his fact finding abilities and he hadn’t been disappointed. Although Hide was remarkably close mouthed about exactly how he got his intel, his suggestions had proven to be worth their weight in gold.

Following Hide’s approach of tracking exchange students and student support groups, the CCG had managed to locate the base of operations for no fewer than three groups of ghouls who had been targeting them. From what the captured members had said, they worked for an underground auction that had risen up to fill the void left behind by the one the CCG had wiped out, and a lot of the clientele were interested in sampling the more exotic offerings of a city the size of Tokyo.

Haise shook his head in disgust, wondering what sort of mentality it took to be able to do that to another person.

“Hey,” Hide said as he sat down, pulling Haise out of his thoughts. “Did you manage to get anything on the Australian exchange program?”

“We notified them of the current dangers, and they’ve alerted their students,” Haise said with a nod. “But the people in charge said they hadn’t been approached by anyone, so we think we might have gotten most of the group.”

Hide hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe,” he agreed. “They also might just be waiting for an easier target to present itself.”

“They always do,” Haise said, taking a sip of his coffee.

“They do,” Hide agreed, crossing his arms over the table and leaning forward on them. “I haven’t been able to find out anything about the Madam yet,” he said apologetically. “Everyone who knows her whereabouts has gone to ground, and all my contacts want her head just about as badly as you.”

“Would you tell me if they found her first?” Haise asked, trying to phrase the question neutrally. He had his suspicions that most of Hide’s information came from ghouls, but he always did his best not to ask so that he could maintain plausible deniability. Haise had never been opposed to letting people live their lives so long as they did so without causing undo harm, but he was well aware that his worldview was significantly skewed from that of a good CCG officer.

He just needed to be sure Hide understood that too.

“Of course,” Hide replied with an easy smile. “You’d probably get the news through official channels first, but you’d be the first person I’d tell.”

Haise found himself relaxing in the face of Hide’s sincerity. “Thank you. It means a lot that you’d do that for me.”

Hide let out a light laugh. “I’d do a lot more than that, believe me.”

And the thing was, Haise did.

He wasn’t sure why, but his instincts told him that Hide was someone he could trust, and they hadn’t led him astray so far.

“I believe you,” Haise said, hoping he didn’t sound quite as confused as he felt.

He must have, because Hide’s smile turned a little sad when he looked up. “Yeah, well. If I don’t have anything for you this week, do you want to use me as a sounding board for anything?”

“I’ve been having some trouble with my subordinates, if you want to hear about that,” Haise said tentatively. He hadn’t brought up the quinxes before – and he definitely didn’t plan on explaining anything about them in detail – but Hide might have some insights on how to deal with their interpersonal issues.

“Office life,” Hide’s voice cracked slightly as he said it. “I’d love to.”

Haise started talking about the tension that was rising between Urie and Shirazu, explaining how they always seemed to be at cross purposes over Saiko and how Mutsuki always seemed to get caught in the middle of their bickering. Hide laughed and pointed out some coincidences that were just a little too convenient to be completely accidental while offering insights into the petty grievances that sprung up in junior officers.

Before he knew it, their time was up and Haise had to go back to the office. Thanking Hide for coming out Haise arranged to meet again, promising to talk to Urie and Shirazu about their rivalry before next week.

On the way back to headquarters, Haise couldn’t help but think about how grateful he was that the CCG had been willing to give him a second chance. If they hadn’t taken him in, he’d never have gotten to meet the people he worked with now. Akira and Arima and the quinxes and Hide. Haise knew that everything he had was hanging by a thread over the chasm of his memories, but he also knew how lucky he was to have it in the first place.

It would lose him everything he had now, so Haise prayed he never remembered.