The boy was of average height, maybe slightly shorter. Nothing really stood out; black hair cut short in a common hairstyle among teens, a few acne scars, dark brown eyes. The first operative frowned and adjusted her binoculars. “Are you sure this is the guy we’re looking for? The description could fit two of the other boys.”

The man bobbed his head to the side. “True, but the other two arrived in school uniforms; I doubt our guy would risk going to school.”

“He could have stolen a set from their lost and found, or bought it online.”

“Possible, but unlikely. I say we try following him first.”

All the boys lined up while the teacher addressed the group, and after bowing to their instructor they headed for the door. The agents got a better look at the target when he stepped onto the sidewalk: a grey jacket and navy trousers, with a small sling bag over his shoulder and grey running shoes. The way he walked and carried himself was perfectly ordinary, no haughty stride or meek hunch. Entirely unassuming; the perfect disguise for someone who didn’t want to be noticed.

The agents followed a dozen or so meters behind, watching as the boy walked into a department store and came back out munching on a sandwich. The woman pursed her lips, watching for any sign of disgust or discomfort and finding nothing. “Eating on the move wouldn’t normally be noticed, I doubt any ghoul would do it. Maybe if he lives in the area, but the chances of that are low.”

The man made a noncommittal grunt of acknowledgement. “He’s headed towards a shopping mall now. If he’s a ghoul he might try to throw up in the bathroom before he starts to digest it, I’ll follow him.”

The woman glanced at her partner. “And if he turns out to be a ghoul after all?”

He looked around at the surrounding civilians. “We’ll have to wait until he’s in a more secluded area. At the very least, we should be able to figure out where he lives.”

As predicted, the boy went into the shopping mall and headed for a bathroom with the agent following a few seconds behind. The sound of someone throwing up was unmistakable, but when the boy emerged from the cubicle he looked perfectly fine. Another man stumbled out of a cubicle next door, pale with bloodshot eyes. The boy ignored the drunkard and washed his hands, flicking a glance up at the agent with almost-black irises.

For a moment the man froze, alarm bells ringing despite the seemingly neutral look in the boy’s eyes. Still, the boy’s gaze didn’t linger for long; the agent blinked, and his target was already out the door. It took a moment for the man to collect himself, heading out after a minute or so as not to attract attention. It gave the target a substantial head start, but the man had a feeling it would be wise to follow protocol this time.

When he finally caught up with his partner he leaned down, whispering in her ear. “I heard someone throw up, but there was a drunkard in the next cubicle who looked like he had just hurled his dinner. Odds are fifty-fifty; might be our guy, might not.”

The sun was setting and many shops were closing down, people trickling out of buildings. Slowly but surely the empty streets became crowded and full, a swarm of people that impeded the progress of the two agents while the boy seemed to slip through the crowd like a wraith.

 The woman tched as they began to fall behind, shoving a man out of her way. “How is he moving so fast in this crowd? You can barely take two steps without bumping into someone, but he’s barely brushed another person’s shoulders!”

 They started shoving harder, receiving dirty looks and scowls but still not moving fast enough to match the boy’s speed. The man grit his teeth. “At this rate we’re going to lose him. If it’s really him we might not get another chance, we need to confirm his identity now.”

Eyes pooled with black and irises bled red as he pulled off his sunglasses, shouting over the crowd as he pulled out a badge. “You! The boy with the sling bag in the grey jacket! Stop right there, this is a Goat investigation!”

The crowd parted with gasps as they saw the ghoul, but the boy kept walking as if he hadn’t heard. With a snap and a hiss blue feathers extended from his shoulders, the ghoul leapt up to run along the walls. At the sharp increase of screams and gasps the boy glanced back, and his eyes widened at the ghoul closing in from above.

Surprise blossomed over his features, and for a moment the boy froze. Then he broke through the crowd and onto the street, cars swerving and horns blaring as he sprinted for a nearby alleyway. The agents gave chase, narrowly avoiding the traffic, but at the mouth of the alleyway both skidded to a halt.

The woman frowned. “It’s a dead end. We would have seen him double back, where did he-?”

There was a quiet swish from above, and the ghoul shoved his partner out of the way just before a length of steel shot through the space her head was a moment before. With a flick of his kagune the feather-like spikes screamed upwards, shredding the stairs boy had been standing on a moment before as the gymnastics student fled to higher ground. The man sprung upwards off the walls as his partner called for reinforcements, reaching the roof with his badge in hand. “Freeze, you’re under-!”

The rest of his sentence stuck in his throat beneath the short blade in his trachea. Almost-black eyes narrowed, the knife pushing further in to sever the spine as the boy’s head tilted to the side. “‘Arrest’?”