Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul.

Mirror

By TCNL

Chapter 1: A Boy by the Swing

Flip.

I kept reading the book I had while sitting under my favorite tree in the neighborhood park. It was one of those days where I had nothing to do and my parents were busy. They were always busy with work. They only had time for me during weekends. I started to notice this pattern ever since I learned how a calendar works.

My mind started to wander off. I began recalling the things that happened to me so far.

They said I was two when I started to read the newspaper. The same year, I started messing around dad's computer. I learned to do all sorts of stuff with the computer and started to play some games with it. Mom and Dad said they were proud of me. I was happy.

I turned three and there was a small celebration. My grandparents gave me a karaoke as tall as me. I hated dresses but they made me wear that ugly pink and black dress that day too. I decided not to complain anymore, especially that the house was lively with all the guests Mom and Dad invited. On that day too, I had my first clear memory of raindrops hitting my skin. It felt calming. I was happy.

Mom and Dad sometimes fight, though I don't know why. It came to the point that Dad was strangling Mom. I hit Dad in the arm, crying and begging him to stop hurting Mom. He looked at me and thankfully, he let go of Mom. Since that happened, sometimes before I sleep, I will randomly remember that bad memory.

I didn't have any friends. My parents rarely let me out of the house. But today is one of the days that they went away and my grandma is busy cooking lunch. I went outside to get some fresh air without my grandma knowing. It was the only way I could explore outside. A little late, I found a nearby park and saw this huge beautiful tree.

Flip.

I looked down at the page I was at and started reading about volcanoes. I heard the creak of the swing near the slide. Looking to my left, I saw a boy. He had black hair and gray-ish eyes. He looked so sad. But why? He suddenly turned his head and found him looking at me too.

Uh…

Awkwardly, I turned my gaze back into my book. I think I saw him look away quickly too. That was embarrassing. I read through the pages furiously, not getting much from it at all, still flustered about what just happened. I want to hide but I don't want to leave this spot, I thought to myself. I settled down a few moments later and kept reading my book.

Suddenly, there was a noisy chorus of laughter around the entrance of the park. I looked up and saw that it was a couple of kids. They didn't look nice at all. I saw them laugh again before turning their attention to the boy on the swing. The most brutish-looking boy walked up to the boy on the swing and started teasing him. The boy on the swing didn't react and just looked at the ground. Why is he just letting them do that? It's not right. I didn't notice another kid sneak-up behind him and pushed him off the swing. The other kids started to laugh at him.

The boy was now on his knees, trying his best not to cry. I closed my book and gripped it while thinking of how to make the other kids back off.

"Heh, why don't you talk Ken-chan? Is there something wrong with you?" The 'leader' asked the boy. I need to stop them. He did not do anything wrong. He looked so sad before. They should stop. "Not going to answer me, huh?" The leader had a mean look on his face and kicked the boy on his side. I heard him gasp in pain. The leader was going to kick him again and I moved before I knew what I was doing.

THWACK.

"O-ow!" The leader cried while clutching his face. The other kids stared at me.

Oh no, oh no, oh no. Now they're going to hurt me. I tried to push back my fear and glared as best as I could. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked, my voice rising at the end. "Leave him alone!" I shouted as bravely as I can. Argh, what am I doing? "Oh yeah? You're too small to talk like that–", the leader started and my vision swam in red. I cut him off as I gave another high-five to his face with my book.

"ENOUGH! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I glared at them again. The other kids with him made some sounds and the leader looked at me and they all left running. Serves them right. My legs felt like jelly and fell to the ground on my butt. Breathing a sigh of relief, I clutched my book to my chest and looked at the boy beside me.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He got this weird look on his face before answering.

"Y-yeah, I am. T-thanks," he said. But the scrapes on his knees said otherwise.

I set my book down, grabbed my handkerchief from my pocket, and wiped the dirt from his wounds. He had this weird look on his face again – his cheeks were red, as if he was sick. "T-thanks. Um, who are you? I mean, um, I've never seen you before." He tilted his head a little to the side as he asked. I blinked. Oh.

"I'm sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Michiyo. You can call me Mi-chan if you wanna," I said and I continued dusting off his knees. "What's your name?" I asked. "Oh, um, my name is Ken," he answered. Oh yeah. That huge kid called him 'Ken-chan'. Probably a way of mocking him. I finished cleaning his knees and I unfolded my handkerchief, using the clean side to wrap around the bigger wound on his right knee. I saw him about to protest but I will not have any of it. Why am I kind to him? I barely know him.

"It's alright Ken-kun. You can have it."

"But, it's yours!" Hm, very well then.

"Then you can return it the next time we meet," I chuckled at the look on his face. "It's fine, I have lots of those. My mom always gives me one," I said. "O-okay," he reluctantly agreed, muttering a protest under his breath. We sat in a comfortable silence for a little while, then I saw him point to the book at my side. "What's that?" he asked.

"A small ensee… ency… an encyclo…pedia, Dad said there are other bigger ones," I squirmed as I struggled to completely pronounce the word. "No fairy-tale?" He asked. "Nope, this has lots of different stuff in it," I said. He must be used to reading those kid-fairy tales that parents read to their children. "Really?" He asked and his face brightened. "Yeah", I replied and we read through some stuff together. He was really interested on the part with the solar system.

"Hey Mi-chan, isn't that Kami-sama is the maker of the world? How did he do it?"

"I… don't know. Well, we should find out!" I cheered. "There are lots of stories about that," I said as I stood up and brushed off myself. Good thing I remembered that Grandma will be done cooking soon. "I'm sorry Ken-kun. I have to go. My grandma will be done cooking soon and she doesn't really know I'm here, haha…" I trailed off while scratching the back of my head sheepishly.

"When we see each other again, let's talk 'bout those stories!" Ken-kun said with a small smile. I couldn't help but smile back at him. The way he smiled reminded me of someone.

"Sure," I said and held out my hand to help him stand up. He took it and we walked together to the entrance of the park. "Errm, see you then," I said and started walking before the situation got awkward again like before. But then I noticed that he was… following me? He must have noticed my expression when because he said, "My house is this way too." I muttered an 'oh' and fell in step with him.

We talked a few more times about random stuff until we stopped by a nice cozy-looking house.

"Wow. Your house is really near mine", I said.

"R-really?"

"Yeah, mine's just there," I pointed at my house, which is only a few steps away from where we were. "We could hang-out sometime," I said, already imagining how much fun we will have. Whoa, slow down Mi-chan. But well, he's my first friend. Of course I'd be excited. I turned to go on back to my house. Before I could go on, I felt something warm around my wrist. I looked up to see Ken-kun who seemed about to say something.

"I-it was nice to meet you, Mi-chan. And thanks," he mumbled. I smiled.

"It was nice to meet you too Ken-kun. Later~" I waved my hand and went home almost skipping my way back. I have a new friend. My first and only friend.

I was happy.

My bedroom ceiling blurred into my sight as I woke up.

"How weird," I said to myself. It was so random to dream about that day. Not to mention I got scolded so much when I got back home then. Groaning, I got off my bed and went over to the mirror. I haven't changed much since then. My hair went all the way down to my hips and still has its unusual snow-white color. I got teased a lot because of my hair. My classmates usually call me 'little obaa-chan' or something that involves my hair or height. My childish face isn't helping my case at all.

My wine-colored eyes stared back at me. Tch. What are you looking at? It's just amusing how unnatural I look. I'm perfectly normal though. Right. Ignoring that thought, I went downstairs and took a shower. I jogged up back upstairs and changed into some casual clothes which consisted of a shirt, a hoodie, and dark jeans. I went downstairs again and found breakfast already at the table. Mom was putting away the kitchenware she used to prepare breakfast.

"Oh good, you're here. I thought I still have to drag you out of bed," she said, the corner of her lips tilting upward. "It's a miracle you're up. Excited for the first day of school huh? It seems just yesterday that my baby girl is just starting to attend middle school and now she's a first year in college." She sighed and I was just there staring dumbly at her.

"I dunno Mom. I guess I'm actually looking forward to school. Choosing a field of study gave me a stronger sense of direction in life, yeah," I shrugged and sat down. I waited for her to finish what she was doing before starting on the food.

"Itadakimasu," I said and started to eat. Mom and I chatted a little, but my mind flew off again. Oh yeah. I'm going to see the guys again. And we're all going to the same university too. Things are just awesome. Even though Ken-kun moved to a new house after his dad died, we managed to stay friends. Then he made another friend and introduced him to me. I call him Hide-chan to his face just to annoy him. I'm such a good friend.

I looked at the time and almost spit out my food. My mom laughed at me. "Hn," I pouted and she just laughed harder. I quickly finished my food and grabbed my bag. "You got everything you need?" Mom asked. I nodded and ran to the door to wear my shoes.

"I'm going," I called out to her.

"Come back safely," she called back. I need to get to Kamii University as soon as possible.

After all, my two best friends and a whole new world awaits.

To be continued…

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