Do not own Tokyo Ghoul! But the way both the anime and manga ended has me in tears, so I thought I'd drown my sorrows in fanfiction!
What was he supposed to be?
Was he a monster? Was he not like everyone else?
His mind was full of questions, full of the words that the people around him repeated over and over again.
He wasn't normal. He was different. He was "special."
He spent his days curled up in the corner of a dark room, his long, disheveled hair covering his face, with silver chains jangling from the cuffs around his wrists and ankles.
He always lived in the darkness. He belonged in the darkness. His world consisted of pain, darkness, blood, and the sinister, sadistic grin of the man who came in every day to run tests and "observe" him.
He was going to spend eternity in that cold, dark room.
At least, that's what he always thought, until a gentle, soothing voice shattered the dark cage trapping him, bringing him a new kind of hope that he had never experienced.
"Hello, there."
A faint light blinded his dull eyes, and he had to narrow them before lifting his head to find a beautiful girl with long lavender hair. Adorning her face was the kindest, brightest smile he had ever seen.
"Would you like to escape from here?"
And with that, his chains were broken, and he was freed.
(Six Years later)
A boy of average height stood in front of a quaint little cafe on the streets of Tokyo. The boy had dark hair and a white eyepatch that concealed his left eye. He wore a blue jacket and long dark pants. Well-aware of the attention that his eyepatch drew towards him, the boy pulled the hood of his jacket over his face bashfully. In one hand he held a suitcase, and in the other was a paper with directions.
"This is the place, I think." Kaneki Ken looked up at the cafe's sign with the words "Anteiku" on it.
"So this is where I'll be living?" Kaneki stared at the sign for a moment before taking a deep breath and entering the building.
The bell rang as he swung open the door. The cafe wasn't anything special, but there were plenty of customers, which made Kaneki uneasy, being the shy, introverted bookworm he was. He could immediately tell that many of the cafe's customers where ghouls, but there were humans as well. The mixed scent of ghouls and humans along with coffee was strange, but not unpleasant.
"It's just like nee-san described it." Kaneki stared in awe, amazed that such a peaceful place where both humans and ghouls sat in the same room existed.
A young waitress, probably about Kaneki's age, with short purple hair and long bangs swept over the right side of her face approached him.
"Table for one?" The girl spoke quietly. Kaneki assumed she was the antisocial type, like him.
"U-Um-" Kaneki stammered. He had very little experience speaking to girls, besides his sister. Plus, the waitress standing before him was quite beautiful. Gender aside, he never interacted much with anyone. The thumping of his heart pounded in his ears just from the girl being a little too close to him.
"If I remember correctly, nee-san told me that everyone working here is a ghoul...so this girl is a ghoul, too?"
"N-No, I'm, uh.."
The girl waited for Kaneki to respond.
"Um, I'm looking for someone named Yoshimura-san..."
The girl's one visible eye widened, then narrowed in suspicion. "What do you need to talk to Manager for?"
"Eek, this girl is scary." Kaneki gulped. He felt himself shrink under the girl's menacing glare. "U-um..."
"Are you Kaneki-kun?"
Kaneki turned rapidly to the person who had called out his name, startled. Standing behind the bar cleaning a glass cup with a white cloth was an old man with a gentle, yet wise, face.
"Um, hai."
"I see." The man set the cup down. "I am Yoshimura. Rize told me you were coming."
"Rize-san?!" The waitress seemed to recognize the name. "What connection does this guy have with her?"
"Apparently, he's her little brother, Touka-chan."
"Little brother?!" The waitress, Touka, exclaimed.
"I-I'm Kaneki Ken." Kaneki awkwardly bowed and introduced himself meekly.
"He's going to be staying here for a while." Yoshimura informed Touka.
"Hah? Why?"
"It seems that Rize has some business to attend to, so she'll be gone for a while."
"Then why can't he take care of himself?" Touka scoffed, glaring at Kaneki.
Kaneki frowned. "Because if someone doesn't watch over me, I'll..."
"There are certain reasons." Kaneki was thankful that Yoshimura seemed so understanding.
"I wonder how much nee-san has told him about me."
"And this is Kirishima Touka. She also works here, as you can see." Yoshimura introduced the waitress. She continued to glare at Kaneki, and he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to befriend her easily. "If you need anything, ask her, though we also have more employees that you'll meet later. For now, why don't you show Kaneki-kun to the empty room upstairs, Touka-chan?"
Touka simply grunted, clearly not wanting to, but headed for the stairs in the back. It took a few seconds for Kaneki to realize that she wanted him to follow. He scrambled to follow her, thinking that it would be hard for him to grow close to the intimidating waitress.
He heaved his suitcase up the stairs with ease, following Touka up to one of the doors in a long hallway on the second floor.
"Here." Touka gestured to a door.
"Th-thanks..." Kaneki mumbled.
Touka simply grunted again and left.
"She really does scare me..." Kaneki let out a long sigh before entering the room. He set his things down and plopped down onto the black leather couch in front of the window.
"The manager seems nice, but..." He leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling with his one visible eye. He then closed it, only to find the face of his precious elder sister imprinted in his mind.
"I want to go home and be with nee-san."
Unfortunately, he had no idea where she was.
He woken up a few days ago in the small apartment that he shared with his sister only to find that she was gone. Rize often left him for a while, doing who knows what, so he was used to her frequent absences, but this time she a note saying would be gone for a while and that he should live at Anteiku for the time being, without even telling him anything.
Despite her note, he had searched for her. He visited all her favorite places: the bookstore, the park, the darkest alleys that were best for feeding on humans. But she was nowhere to be found.
So here he was, at the ghoul cafe, Anteiku, despite his strong desire to see his beloved sister.
"Now that I think about it, I have to work here, don't I?" Rize had mentioned in her note that he would have to start working as a waiter in order to pay for his stay. The thought of serving people mortified him, but it was the least he could do since Yoshimura was letting him stay at the cafe. Still, it was difficult to imagine himself serving actual people with an actual smile without tripping or running away in fear.
He opened a pouch in his backpack and produced a seemingly ordinary bottle of pills, dismissing his fears. He produced a few onto his palm and swallowed them whole with ease, as if he was used to taking the pills constantly
"I haven't eaten in a while..." Kaneki noted as he swallowed the pills. "I'll have to ask the manager for some food soon."
Kaneki grimaced as he felt a familiar, unsettling hunger flicker within his stomach. The memory of juicy flesh tingling his taste buds made his mouth water. Kaneki squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, as if attempting to shake away the hunger, but the pills would only do so much.
But, alas, he was a ghoul. And as a ghoul, he had no choice to survive on human meat. He would never forget the satisfying taste of meat as long as he lived with such a body. It was something in his life that he could never change.
For now, though, he decided to relax. He opened his suitcase, packed with stacks of books and a few clothes. He took out one of his favorites, The Black Goat's Egg, and began to read. He had already read the book multiple times, but a work of Takatsuki Sen was something that he could never read too many times.
The story revolved around a son and his mother, a serial killer called the Black Goat. It was one of Kaneki's favorite Takatsuki Sen books, and he practically knew every single word of the book by heart.
He had Rize to thank for his massive love of books, of course.
(Flashback)
Young Kaneki had been staring at a tall bookshelf filled from top to bottom that took up a great part of the small apartment that he had started living in with Rize.
"Hm? Do you like books, Ken-chan?" A seventeen year old Rize noticed the young boy's interest in her collection.
"Books?" Kaneki blinked, then pointed at the shelf. "Is that what these are?"
"Yup!" Rize nodded and knelt down besides the boy. She picked a book out of the shelf and held it up in front of her for Kaneki to see. "There are many different kinds! Some are full of information, some have pretty pictures, and some have really interesting stories!"
"Stories?"
"Mmhmm! Fantasy, non-fiction, romance, tragedy, all kinds!" Rize bubbled. Kaneki could tell then that his sister was an avid reader by the way her eyes shimmered behind her glasses. "Why don't you try reading one?"
"Um..." Kaneki's face fell, and he looked at the floor beneath his feet. "I can't read..."
"That's fine!" Rize placed a hand on Kaneki's head and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Nee-san will teach you! It'll be fun!"
"Really?!" Kaneki beamed.
"Yup!"
"You're the best, nee-san! You teach me so many fun things!"
Kaneki felt something warm in his chest as the girl laughed. He smiled along with her.
Rize had spent hours each day helping Kaneki learn how to read and write. He had been a fast learner, and soon he was zooming through all the books that filled his sister's home. He remembered his first visit to the bookstore, and how happy he'd been at the thousands of books all around him.
The old memory made him smile, but it also made him miss his sister even more.
He shook his head and quickly immersed himself in his book in an attempt to ignore the sad pang in his chest, almost forgetting about his missing sister as he lost himself in Takatsuki Sen's words.
Before he knew it, it was evening. He was about to start another chapter in his book when the door opened.
"Oi." Touka entered the room.
"K-Kirishima-san?" Kaneki almost dropped his book in surprise.
"Manager says that you should come with me to buy some things." Touka informed him.
"O-okay."
Touka left before he could say anything else. Kaneki let out a long sigh and put his book down. He eyed the cover of the book for a moment, nostalgically remembering the time when Rize had first introduced him to Takatsuki Sen, and how his adoration for the author blossomed and grew since then.
He would have to live at the cafe for now, he concluded in his mind, but he swore that he would definitely reunite with his sister.
She was his savior, after all.