[h2]A street in the 8th district[/h2]

The entire street was locked up in a bad traffic jam. During the last hour, rank 1 investigator Morizumi had managed to travel the entire length of [i]one[/i] city block. The woman sighed in frustration, looking into the rearview mirror to see if there was a way back by now, but the line of cars reached as far as she could see. After brushing a strand of hair out of her face, she picked up an open dossier from the passenger seat. It was one out of three, and she had almost skimmed the entirety of it now. Covering a yawn with her free hand, she stared at drawings and blurred pictures, names and a galore of useless details. 
The file was a collection of known data about notable ghouls in the 8th district, whereas the other two were an essay about this wards Doves and a geographic file about significant locations. She hated any sort of work-related occupation outside of her official shifts, and technically seen the ride from the 9th to the 8th district happened during her free time, but there was virtually nothing else to do while she was stuck here. The investigator opened the first button of her dress shirt and leaned back taking in the details of a ghoul named 'Harlequin'.


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[u]Five hours earlier.[/u]
It was a total joke. A facade, so shallow that it brought a sour taste to her mouth. The entire parting ceremony her ward had organized was so obviously fake that it made her angry. People shook her hand like she was a close friend, bowing before her as if she was a respectable character here, but nothing of that was even remotely accurate. Morizumi didn't show that she was aware of the gossip behind her back, but on the inside, she despised her promotion and the entire fuss about it. All she wanted was to [i]earn[/i] the title of a rank 1 investigator, and now they gave it to her as a parting gift. It felt wrong, it wasn't what she wanted and it wasn't what the 9th ward investigators felt when they gratulated her either. "Take this and fuck off." would have been a more honest farewell, and probably even one she could respect more than...this. She had cleared out her desk in the branch office, all of her belongings were already in the car, but the young woman still didn't leave the compound. The local data administrator turned pale when she showed up in his doorframe to ask for the dossiers about district 8. He offered the expression of a man facing something unpleasent he had already considered a matter of the past. On the inside, she felt insulted, had she never brought any kind of trouble upon this man. She took the folders out of his hands and left, plain and simple.
On her way out she came across Nakamura, chief of the 9th ward. 

"[i]You still here, Morizumi? Don't have the heart to leave us, do you.[/i]" His joking tone displeased Shina, but she played along. There was no need to pick a fight with him now. 

"[i][color=8888BB]It's just too homey here. 'decided I need a souvenir to take with me.[/color][/i]" she replied, waving the three files in his general direction.

"[i]Take care out there, Morizumi. It's a rough neighbourhood. They have the ghouls under control for the most part, but the troublemakers over there are no joke.[/i]" For the fraction of a second, Shina felt a sting somewhere inside. Out of all the things people said to her, this was likely the most genuine advice she had gotten. The moment passed and disappeared. Turned into the opposite emotion, moments later.
"[i]Good luck hunting that Clown.[/i]"

He was a liar too, Shina knew. The whole story about the Clown moving to the 8th district was nothing more than a ruse, and she knew it. They were looking for a way to get rid of her and thought she wouldn't notice, but she did. It was ironic, really. All she ever tried to achieve was being underestimated by the ghouls she needed to kill, and now she had been [i]too[/i] successful at it, even fooling her superiors. It should have felt good, but it didn't. It felt like getting betrayed.  "[color=8888BB]I'll get her.[/color]", she lied back. She had played them too, the same way they had played her. Her transfer over to the 8th was nothing more than a ticket away from the ridicule. It was her way out, and she had taken the chance. It also meant an end to the fruitless hunt after the girl that took her eye, though with the month-long absence of any solid lead, the whole deal felt like a defeat anyway. "Misery" didn't mirror the friendly expression of her former superior, nor the wave. She just turned around and left, to never look at the 9th district HQ again.

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Morizumis train of thought about the two odd ghouls named Baseball and Pitcher was interrupted by a commotion originating from somewhere further down the road. She had not noticed the crowd of people forming just barely in sight, but when they started screaming and running down the street, it caught her attention. 
Immediately she was fully attentive to the scenery unfolding not far from her car, but from her current position it was hard to tell what exactly was going on. The involvement of ghouls was likely, but she assumed to find maybe a rowdy B-class ghoul having a public picnick or something. High-profile monsters usually didn't draw that much attention, so her elaborate guess went towards 'idiot ghoul didn't catch the witnesses fast enough'. She dropped the dossier back onto the passenger seat, reached for the suitcase standing at the leg room and got out on the street. Not casually, but not with a huge amount of haste either. Being the only person in sight who walked [i]towards[/i] the source of panic instead of running away. While Morizumi was without a partner, there were civilians in potential danger, so she was duty-bound to interfer with whatever was going on ahead. She was unaware of the challenge Knight had issued to the 8th's investigators. "[i][color=8888BB]Rank 1 Shina Morizumi... Misery reporting for duty.[/color][/i] she said to herself, her voice overpowered by the panicking screams of frightened passengers.