...well, shit, Seto really
was the Lead Investigator here. And he'd not figured that out until now? What, had he zoned out the day that was announced? Or maybe he just hadn't ever been put under the man's command, but it was nonetheless an untenable lapse of knowledge. He would not be one of the stupid people of the world, damn it.
That said, and as expected, Tanaka came with bad news, namely that Ward 11 was being evacuated wholesale. "A little harder", indeed, but at the end of the day, all it meant was more food for Ketsu. He did so detest pretending to consume and digest normal food... though he'd long since learned to surpress his vomit reaction until an appropriate time, occasionally he just had to suck up the impure nutrient substance and take the hit to his health for a little while.
But not today. Today, he surmised as the one-eyed investigator continued to speak, would be a good day to feast. Shame about the ghouls banding together in 20th Ward, where he had no particular influence, but a random binge eater, who nobody would notice had been a little bit drained of blood? It was practically an invitation! So long as he could figure out how to get at the body whilst his partner was distracted. Wait too long, and the blood began to coagulate. That was the woooorst; it meant he had to take bites of his meal, and that was DNA evidence waiting to happen.
And of course, his partner was none other than Seto Tanaka himself. Of the others in the room, Unbalanced Sora remained with Kobayashi McDaggerthrow - as usual - whilst Remi the Airhead was assigned to Katsura Scissorgay. No offense was meant to any of them with those internal nicknames, but it was the easiest way to remember roughly who they were in his mind, given that none especially stood out otherwise, and he generally avoided becoming too close with any of the other investigators for obvious reasons. Seto was the exception, rather than the rule, given their mildly-shared past, and even that was tenuous.
Still, it sounded like Ketsu would definitely be the lucky one who got to take out this particular ghoul. And if he succeeded here, showed Tanaka exactly how skilled he really was, perhaps he'd be seeing his way up to an early promotion to Rank 1 Investigator. And only a few weeks into his tenure, too, oh how
impressive his fellows would says... and what better justification to gain ever more privacy in his working hours, perhaps, than by increasing his rank? T'was the idea all along, to be sure.
'No questions from me, sir,' Ketsu obliged, a bland smile crossing his face. 'I expect the details of our special trip will be relayed to me en route, if they aren't directly related to finding that ghoul - and might I say, I'm honoured to be taken under your wing this time around? I shan't let you down!' And just to complete the image, a quick salute, because why not? After all, he
was feeling enthusiastic about this next mission.