Author's Notes: Oh hello there. I don't know if anyone made this fic yet, but it's worth a try. Sorry if it's bad, c: I'm not that great, but let's hope it doesn't turn out like poop. One-shot~
"Oh God, can you shut up for once?!" twenty-two year old Hideyoshi snapped, his fingers soothing a growing migraine by his temple. He cursed loudly when the volume of the conversation increased.
A wrinkly, ashen gray lady screeched at him, telling the man to keep quiet. Hide apologized quietly, glaring down at his papers behind his stacks of books. The blond tapped the tip of his pencil against the paper, attempting to find some valuable data from his brain to put onto this darn piece of paper.
He was just getting into his assignments when a boisterous guffaw erupted from a few tables beside him. Damn, I just had a fucking thing going on—! Blond hair ruffled as Hide roughly shook his head, only wincing when the migraine pulsed. He was too tired, too tired to deal with college essays and a specific someone's arrogance. The laughing never stopped, and the praises kept coming.
"Damn it! I will shove this pencil up your ass!" he exploded, feeling the headache throb in liveliness from his sudden outburst. The librarian gave him a silencing glare as her wrinkly, pickled hands continued with stapling papers together. After holding her stare for a good awkward minute, the craggy woman turned away, shaking her head in disappointment.
Unfortunately, this someone didn't seem to notice as he laughed and proudly announced about his victory. "And that's when I won first place in nationals in Brazil," he said, holding up a polished golden trophy the size of a human shin that a ghoul had ripped from the whole body. "Look at it! Isn't it sparkly and shiny?" His voice was as loud as an eighteen wheeler cruising down the street, honking loudly.
How come that old hag wasn't scolding him?! Ugh, old ladies have a thing for playboys.
As if the loud teen was on television, a wide audience gasped in amazement, echoing throughout the room as sparkles gleamed in their eyes; they kept their orbs trained on the golden trophy before them.
"W-was it hard, Yoshikawa-sama?" a girl asked him as if he was an adored celebrity.
Yoshikawa scoffed, waving it off. "It was easy! Super easy, in fact," he scoffed, flipping a lock of hair away from his forehead. "Everyone across the world was too weak for me. With one swing of my lucky bat, they could have died." He cackled, almost falling off the library table when he leaned back, but because he had so many admirers supporting him, they lifted him back up.
"Oh my, you're so strong!" another girl awed, staring at the idol.
"Why, thank you, dear," he said, bringing her face close by holding her chin with his thumb.
Hideyoshi rolled his eyes, leaning his cheek against his balled-up fist. It was their lunch hour, and as usual, Yoshikawa was being fanned by his peers, praised and fed as if he was a prince bathing in glory. On the other hand, Hideyoshi was alone, stuck with his stupid assignment for his stupid college course. He would usually have Kaneki beside him, ignoring him or helping him, but now, he was just a loner. He has always been going solo ever since his best friend disappeared a few weeks ago.
He groaned. If it was a normal day at Kamii University, then Kaneki would be sitting in front of him, a hamburger packed as his lunch every single day, with a book in his hand or his voice explaining something. If nothing had changed, Hideyoshi would tease him about how picky he is, saying that he couldn't 'man up' if he didn't eat vegetables. If he had never left, then Kaneki would claim that he did, in fact, eat his veggies. If life hadn't taken him away, Kaneki would still be here and Hide wouldn't be alone.
:..:..:
Now white-haired and more mature, Kaneki hopped from one light post to another, the moonlight being the only source of illumination he could use. The full moon shone down brightly, casting long shadows behind towering buildings of Tokyo. With his mask covering his right eye, he stopped on a tall, cinder block wall and looked up at the sky with his left eye, sighing in boredom. Suddenly missing the past spent with his friend, Kaneki couldn't help but remember one thing…
"Hey, Kaneki, if you were a ghoul, would you eat Yoshikawa from Class 2?" Those were Hideyoshi's words back when they were kids, nine to be precise. The two were gazing up at the stars in a playground, seeing the glittering sky bathed in the galaxy colors: black, purple, blue, pink, and—seldom—green.
Sitting atop of a dome in the middle of the playground, Kaneki sputtered, "W-what? O-of course not!" He nearly fell out of his place and onto the (surprisingly) sharp woodchips below from shock. "I'll never become a ghoul, Hide! Besides, I can't m-murder anyone." Kaneki heaved in a breath, stammering, "Q-q-quit laughing at me like that!" Innocent black-haired Kaneki embarrassedly swatted at his friend's shoulder, but because he was weaker than the blond, he nearly threw himself tumbling into the chips. Kaneki bit his lips pathetically when Hide stifled his laughs.
"I'm joking, man!" A chuckle. "But seriously, he's a pain in the butt!" Hide complained, his grin beaming as bright as the sun. Slowly, his joyful expression twisted into a solemn one. "If you turn into a ghoul, murder him for me!" He roughly shook the fragile shoulders of Kaneki as his "scary" guttural voice hissed through the darkness.
"W-why? What makes him so bad?" Kaneki replied shakily because of the bobbing of his head and the nervousness filling him. Why would Hide ask him in the first place? Kaneki would never turn into a ghoul. Not in his life. No, no, no. Ghouls were creatures that killed and caused despair; Kaneki would never dream of being a murderer like them.
"Just do it. For me."
"Hide…," Kaneki whispered like the faint breeze, his voice falling into emptiness. He shook his head, feeling his ivory hair poke at his forehead. He shook his head gently, telling him to forget his past and move on with his life, but he just couldn't let go of the moments spent with his best friend. Hideyoshi was like his brother who kept him company ever since his father left and mother died. Hideyoshi was always there, comforting and playing with him, always making him smile.
Now that Kaneki is a ghoul, those memories would be out of reach, never to be touched again. Hide would never want a cowardly monster such as himself as an acquaintance. Kaneki would be shooed away like a hungry mutt, sniffing for meat in a butcher's place. Unwanted. A foul fiend. A nuisance. A ghoul.
He should just move on.
He should just accept himself as an unmerciful creature.
He should just live his life full of murder, remorse, and hatred.
He should forget him and breathe the satisfaction of the guilt no longer upon his shoulders.
He should let go, and be free.
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He shouldn't. He can't. And he won't.
Balling up his hands with white knuckles, Kaneki drew conclusions and decided that he will do Hideyoshi one thing to show him that he still thinks about him. To show him that he's still here, caring about him. He jumped away, determination simmering in his blood.
:..:..:
Great, where is the fucktard? Hide cursed in his mind, eyes glaring down the hallway for the droopy-eyed, thin-browed face of Yoshikawa. As expected, the girls joined him, scouring the halls for the one and only Yoshikawa, the great and mighty and retarded and arrogant and shouldn't-be-alive teenager of all time.
Hideyoshi's lips twitched into a crooked and confused pout when the corner where Yoshikawa usually stood remained empty; typically, there'd be a swarm of annoying girls giggling and flirting with him as he told wild stories of how he fought a grand creature or tell sob stories about bunnies and birds.
Hide paused in the middle of the hallways, laughing girls and solemn men pushing past him, continuing on with their conversation as if Hide hadn't been standing there, slowing down the traffic.
"Mou, he's not here today," a blonde complained as she strutted by.
A girl sighed beside him, disappointment obvious in her face. "I wanted to give him my bento…"
"You made food for him?! That's what I did!"
"Well, it's my family's famous dish, so Yoshikawa would never say no to me."
"Hey! Don't address him so formally you—"
As the two female teenagers continued with their chatting someplace else, most likely their first class, Hideyoshi grinned as he shook his head merrily, beaming as he trotted down the hallway while spreading rainbows in the corridor to his upperclassmen and lowerclassmen; they only gave him twisted expressions. He twirled away out of sight, moving like a graceful swan.
:..:..:
In his fourth class before his lunch hour, the teacher of their English class stared down at the students, eyes skimming the room for Yoshikawa.
"Is Yoshikawa Kyosuke here?"
Hideyoshi literally saw the aura of the room dim; the cheery atmosphere surrounding the girls turned to gloomy shadows while the faces of his fans drooped. The sparkles and sakura petals that usually hung around the women withered to the ground at the sound of Kyosuke's surname.
"No, he's not here," Hide responded for him, his voice dripping with joy. The girls swiftly turned to him, their eyes no longer star-filled or glossy but sharp and red; he flinched, thinking, Eyes of a demon… He could hear their chants of cursing magic being muttered under their breaths as a dark purple fire loomed behind them, hands outstretched towards Hideyoshi. He shook the terrifying image out of his head.
"Well then," the teacher said, coughing, "let us start our class. Yuichi, please turn to page 64 and start reading in English…"
"Hai," said student replied, obediently turning to the page and speaking clear English.
:..:..:
Hideyoshi landed on his couch with a relieved sigh, swinging his college books onto the coffee table beside him. The textbooks and the papers made a heavy thud, vibrations causing the materials on the table to rattle. The college student shifted to a more comfortable position, onto his side so that he faced the television, and lazily reached for the remote.
The blond felt the need to just relax for his whole day; after all, it's a Thursday…and, well, crap… He should be studying and not relaxing, because that's what teachers exist for: to ruin one's youth with loads of shit called essays. Relaxing is detention in teacher language.
He dropped the remote, groaning, then taking the nearest object—a wrench, he didn't know how it got there—and poking around until he could guide the remote back to him. He grinned with triumph and victory, his thumb pressing down on the power button. Immediately, the pixels within the television flickered on, the color and light adjusting from being shut down for who-knows-how-long. (Hideyoshi never had time to entertain himself by watching T.V. due to his heavy assignments.) The news channel started blabbering on about some ghouls attacking citizens.
"This morning at around two, a ghoul—"
"Same old, same old~" he chanted, about to press a button to change the channel.
"Eyepatch was seen—"
Pause.
"…Huh?" Hide voluntarily stopped his thumb from proceeding onto the button.
"—Yoshikawa Kyosuke, a college student at Kamii University, was found dead—"
"What," he said flatly.
"We have gathered witnesses that have seen Eyepatch gruesomely tear apart—"
As the news reporter went on about the tragedy that was supposed to evoke grief and sadness, Hideyoshi couldn't stop a wide smile from spreading across his face. His eyes sparkled with delight, an uncontainable happiness overflowing within him.
"Kaneki!" was all he said, but with the slightest hint of upsetting longing, he added shakily and airily, "You're back."
:..:..:
I know, crappy ending. I'm aware of that, but thanks for the warning anywhoozles. Huh, I always seem to complain about my ending expertise. Waow, I suck.
Please flame me with your undying hate and decapitate me with your magical tentacles that sprout from the small of your back. Ah ha, ha ha, I'm just kidding…hopefully you won't do that x3
Buh-buh-bai c: