Dedication:

To A Butterfly'sTrueColours. I'm so proud of you for reaching such a big mile stone in your life, hopefully the next stage won't be too daunting a task. Keep pushing, shoving, and fighting this unfair world to reach your dreams~.

Even though Kaneki lived in the largest city in Japan, it could still get rather lonely. Sure he had his friend Hide, a living spark of fun and adventure, but he wasn't always around. On rainy days like this, when he was holed up in an old used book store, he often wished he had a bit of Hide's charisma and spontaneity. With the latest Takatsuki Sen book three weeks away from release, all of his university homework finished, and his apartment mostly cleaned, he'd liked to hang out with someone. Preferably a cute girl, but a guy wouldn't be the end of the world either. Kaneki took out his phone and checked the messages, tapping away at his screen to get through them. All of them were from Hide, mostly complaints about his homework and the cram studying he was doing. The last message, posted an hour before, was a picture of Hide balancing a book on his head. Nothing else had come through, so either Hide cracked his phone screen, or he was finally getting serious about his work.

The young man sighed and pocketed the phone, before getting up from the hard fold up chair with a few books in hand. They were thriller mysteries imported from America, none from his favorite authors, but they would keep him busy this Golden Week. Kaneki made his way to the counter and set the books down. A slim blonde plucked them up and ran them under the scanner. "Did you find everything okay?"

Kaneki flushed a dark red and nodded. He had a hard time talking to girls, even ones like Amaya, who he saw and was forced to interact with often. The high school girl never seemed to mind though, she just giggled as she put his books in a plastic bag, and told him about a sale coming up soon. In the middle of her spiel the door of the ship opened, the bell giving a cheery ring.

Amaya handed Kaneki his bag as she greeted the new customer. "Good afternoon."

The new customer shakily nodded as she went up to the counter. She was small, perhaps only ten years old at the most. Her small hands tugged at the sleeves of her pink raincoat, and water dropped from her hair. "Have you seen my Momma?" Her voice was low and hoarse, as if she rarely used it, or had just been screaming moments before.

Amaya's face crumbled from a smile to one of concern. "Do you have a picture of her." The girl shook her head, a choked sob escaping her lips. Amaya leaned over the counter eyebrows furrowed. "Could you describe her then?"

"S-she's tall, and has pretty brown hair and," A hiccup escaped her, before she shook her head. "I can't find her! I'm scared, I've never been to this ward before." Her voice quieted back down. "I'm scared."

Kaneki looked between the two for a few moments. He knew Amaya worked from noon until closing. A quick glance at his phone told Kaneki that she had four more hours to work before she could go home. If she ran off now she could get fired, which would mean Kaneki wouldn't see her again. Plus, upon glancing at the crying child, it seemed like the little girl was nearly hysterical.

The boy clutched his books under his arm before kneeling down in front of the girl. She gasped, but didn't move as Kaneki gave her a large smile. "I'll help you find your mom, would you like that?" The girl rubbed at her eyes as she nodded. "Alright then, let's go."

It was still raining when the duo made it outside. Kaneki popped his black umbrella open, and held it between the two of them. The whole while the girl was quiet. She hadn't given her name or made any other move to interact with him. The two of them began walking down the sidewalk in no particular direction, his books occasionally bumping into the girl's side. "So, do you remember the last place you saw your Mom?"

The girl shook her head, but didn't look up at him still. "I-I don't remember. Mamma told me to stand still, but then it began to rain," Her voice cracked. "and now I'm lost."

"What were you doing before you got separated?"

"..."

"Miss?"

"Getting dinner?" She sounded sure of her answer, but the tone still sounded shaky, as if she thought she shouldn't have said anything in the first place.

Kaneki gave a small smile. "Yeah, it's almost that time of day, isn't it? Usually I eat with my friend Hide, but since he's busy doing his homework, I guess I've lost track of my meals." The girl looked up, her eyes wide and nose twitching. He wondered if she had to sneeze, but decided against asking her about it, girls seemed picky about those types of things. After a few moments her expression returned to that crestfallen expression.

The two of them walked in silence again. The only sounds being the usual hustle and bustle of the 13th Ward. Kaneki figured it would probably be best to walk around the area and bump into the girl's no doubt panicking mother. Without a picture, and a very generic description, he doubted asking anyone would be helpful. When the two passed by a flower cart, Kaneki noticed the girl smile slightly. It didn't reach her eyes, but it was an improvement from the tear stricken look she was sporting before."Do you like flowers?"

The girl flinched at his question and looked up at him. "Y-yeah."

"My mom used to make paper flowers. She would open books about real flowers, and then fold them up to look almost exactly like the real thing." A small smile graced his lips. "Sometimes I would pretend they were real and put them in a vase, that only ruined them though. Mother would get so upset and scold me over it and the mess they left."

"Where's your Mom? Is she lost too?"

Kaneki's smile faltered. "No, she died."

Hinami's eyes widened before she looked down again, her voice lowering. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. My mother worked very hard to support both us and my aunt, she was just too tired." He swallowed. "But I guess it was inevitable." Kaneki paused when he heard the light pitter patter of rain stop. "Huh, that didn't last long. Is something wrong?"

The girl had stopped a few steps behind him, her nose twitching and eyes wide. "I smell Mamma?"

Kaneki didn't get a chance to say anything as the girl ran ahead of him, shrilly yelling g for her mother again. Kaneki shook his head and followed, muttering apologies as he bumped along through the throng of people. He abruptly stopped when he caught a glimpse of the girl, she was almost unnoticeable encircled in the arms of a woman with thin features and pale brown hair. The girl was talking loudly, but he could just barely make out the words over the hub bub of the people around them. His phone was in one hand and he had dropped his umbrella somewhere in his haste to get there, his finger just over the dial button. That girl was a ghoul and yet...She looked so human, and acted like one too. He watched the mother wipe the tears away from the girl's eyes and kiss her forehead. A mixture of envy and something else surged through him as he watched the simple gesture.

Taking a deep breath he turned around and tapped at his phone and erased the number he had pressed in, and went to the message screen. "I wonder if Hide's done with his homework?"