I

Thanks, Uta

"Thanks, Uta. I really appreciate what you've done over the years for me, but isn't this a bit too much?" Korua asked as she saw the mask Uta made her.

As she was going to put it on her face to see if it suited her, the door opened, leading to the sound of bells. Like a second nature, she slid across the tile floor, soundlessly, and hid, not wanting to be seen or known. She'd done this every time a customer came, ghoul or not, for the past two years, so Korua easily swept under the radar as the two people came in.a One was a girl, purple haired. Korua was easily taller than her, though they seemed to be the same age. Korua had seen her several times, so Korua suspected Purple-Hair was a ghoul. However, this time she brought someone new. A scrawny, black-haired boy, who seemed a little bit taller than her. She could just tell he reeked of inexperience and innocence. Korua immediately hated him. She also hated Purple-Hair, but it took a few visits and observing; she never told anyone. Especially Uta.

"Hey, Uta," Purple-Hair said. "I got someone who needs a mask and you're obviously the right man for it,"

Korua chuckled softly at that, clutching the mask Uta just gave her, feeling especially close to it even though she's never worn it in a fight yet. Korua trusted Uta like she would of a big brother, and she felt that way since the moment they met, two years ago on a dark, winter night.

The street lamp gave the graffitied alley a dark, ominous feel, but that feeling was familiar to Korua. She was wrapped in a wool sweater she took from a person she killed a couple days back. There were some blood stains, but it looked well enough to be part of the wool sweater design. Looking at the piece of paper one of her few friends, she checked it once more to see if it was the right address.

"HySy… ArtMask Studio…?," Korua looked at the sign next to a door on the side of a vandalized brick wall, sporting a motorcycle, realizing that was the entrance to HySy.

"Hey, is anyone here? I was wondering if this was HySy ArtMask Studio?" She said to the store, ready to sprint out the door if things went wrong.

A single man came out, obviously tired, but also curious. His eyes portrayed a ghoul's but didn't seem to act like a regular ghoul eye would. "Uhh yeah this is HySy if you can read, then you should tell from the sign outside,"

"Well, I was coming if I could ask for any help…" Korua didn't know what to say. She never thought she would actually make it this far. Scratching her head, Korua said. "I'm looking for some shelter. I don't have anywhere to go, and I come from the 24th Ward," the man (probably in his early twenties, maybe late teens) caught on and brought her in, hastily, but quietly. He also brought her a chair to sit on, while he sat on one of the mask podiums.

"So, you're a ghoul too? But you're from the 24th Ward? Heard there was a lot of cannibalization going on there," he said.

"Well you heard right… " Korua replied, not mentioning that she has been eating other ghouls for quite some time. She took off her glasses and wiped the smudge from them.

"So you're on the run? Well that would be reasonable for someone your age and from the 24th Ward… " he was practically talking to himself by now.

"Yeah, I guess so… But moving on, my friends said the store manager, and I'm guessing you, was nice enough and that I might have a chance to actually, oh I don't know… live."

"I guess I could help you, but… you'd need to help with some stuff in the back and some other things, just like a payment," he ended with a hesitant sigh.

"I'll do it," Korua leapt from her seat.

"The name's Uta," he said.

"Korua."

Korua, blinked, shaking her mind away from that flashback of her arrival at HySys. Not a moment passed Uta and the other two were still talking.

"Uhh… Yeah, I'm a one eyed-ghoul. Uhhhh… No, I wasn't born like that," A sheepish voice said. Korua snapped. She was filled with adrenaline in a matter of moments. What did that dude just say? A one-eyed ghoul? Like me? Who cares if he wasn't born like that?! She crawled to the entrance to the back of the store, and quietly collected herself while still listening. Korua walked out of the entrance, pretending to not notice the two teens.

"Uhhh, why do you need to know-," the scrawny boy abruptly stopped as he saw Korua come out.

"Hey, Uta, who's the new guy?" She asked, pointing to the boy sitting in a chair, letting Uta sketch him and make his mask.

"Oh. Just a new customer. Touka brought him in. He's new around here, so she just came to make sure he didn't get caught by the Doves on his way from the 20th Ward," he said in a casual, mellow way.

Korua didn't realize that the Doves were in that Ward, but obviously, the wimp was nervous. Purple-Hair just seemed impatient.

"Come on, let's get on with it. We don't have forever," Purple-Ha-, Touka, said.

"Hey, Korua can you get me another pencil? This one broke," Uta asked, still in that casual, mellow way.

"Sure, I'll be right back," Korua quickly went to find another pencil, wondering at the same time where the heck that scrawny wimp came from. Korua came back with a pencil, nice and sharp, but looked at the boy from time to time. Touka (Purple-Hair) kept eyeing her in a funny way, so at a period of time, Korua stuck her tongue out and pulled her eyelids down.

"I'm done for today, so you can make your way back home. Also! Take Korua with you, for a temporary visit, I want her to visit the 20th Ward, have some fun. All she does is stay cooped up in here doing work or studying by herself. It really is depressing to watch," Uta expressed.

Coming from the guy who supposedly tattooed his eyes into a permanent kakugan and looks like an emo icon. Korua thought, clearly pissed.

"Alright, let's go, the Sun's going down, and I don't want to be caught by Doves," Touka also clearly annoyed.

Korua quickly grabbed her black hoodie, tied it around her waist, smoothed her gray shirt, slipped on her combat boots over her black leggings, readjusted her messy ponytail with a bobby pin and trudged out silently next to the two teens, regretting it more and more with each step she took.

The black haired boy, stopped for a moment, and turned to her saying. "By the way, my name's Kaneki,"

Korua had to force herself to smile.

~End of Chapter One~