Kaneki Ken was my friend. We were never as close as he and Hide, as they had a long history and I was just a new foreign student from Germany. Hide and Kaneki helped me out and offered me friendship.

But I didn't come to Japan just to study, I came because I was called in by the CCG. When Kaneki was hospitalized, I knew it wasn't just some insane chick that went a little knife-happy. I knew Kaneki had been attacked by a ghoul and he was one of very few lucky ones to have survived an assault.

I knew this because I recognized that kind of violence. I knew because I had once been cornered by a ghoul and almost killed. But I survived because of the CCG agent that rescued me. Once I recovered and was out of the hospital, I enrolled in the Academy and eventually became the investigator I am today. Well, it has only been a few years since I graduated.

I still didn't consider myself fluent in Japanese even though I'd been living here for almost a year. Kaneki had been helping me read and write almost every weekend that neither of us had to work. Sometimes I would stop by Anteiku around the time his shifts would end when he wasn't closing and he would tutor me while we both drank our own coffees.

"Hey, Kaneki-san?" I said during one of these sessions. I'm sure my accent was very noticeable. He hummed in question, taking a sip of coffee and looking away from the news channel on TV, back at me. We had both paused to listen to it talk about a new finding about ghouls in the 20th district.

"What's your opinion on ghouls?" I asked, honestly curious. Kaneki knew that I worked for the CCG and I had told him a little about the experience I had that led me to them, but he always seemed indifferent whenever the topic of ghouls arose.

Kaneki looked down at the table, seeming uncomfortable. "I guess…I'd feel sorry for them. They can only eat humans, right? They can't eat regular food? So it's probably kinda scary that in order to survive, they risk being killed by investigators and stuff…Why do you ask, Karo-san?"

I twirled a piece of my brown hair and frowned. Why did I ask? I was there when Rabbit attacked and killed one of my co-workers. I didn't know him well, but he had been friendly to me. He had invited me out to dinner with him, his partner, and the famous Koutarou Amon that night when he heard I was still having difficulties settling in. They all decided to walk me home, but we hadn't gotten very far before we were attacked. Koutarou and I had both forgone our quinques that night.

Luckily, Koutarou's partner, Kureo Mado showed up in time to save the rest of us. But ever since that night, when Mado talked about Rabbit getting revenge for the child-ghoul, my resolve that ghouls were all monsters had faltered. Mado had killed a mother ghoul and was /excited/ to kill the daughter? That just didn't make sense to me.

I took a sip of my mocha and looked at Kaneki. I considered him to be my closest friend, seeing as I spent more time with him, than anyone else. I could talk to him about almost anything.

I inhaled deeply and finally replied, "One of my coworkers was attacked and killed by a ghoul called "Rabbit." I was there during the attack, but I didn't have a weapon to defend myself or the others with me, but one of my superiors came by and rescued us." I paused and started to play with my fingers. I was nervous telling the story. I felt like someone would overhear us. "My coworker…he wasn't an investigator. He never did any harm to ghouls—his job was just paperwork. But even so, he was murdered…" I sighed, trying to organize my thoughts. "But my superior talked to—or taunted, rather—Rabbit and one of the things he mentioned was a mother and daughter ghoul. He talked about Rabbit being there to avenge the death of the mother and being a friend of the daughter." I must have looked upset at this point, because Kaneki placed his hand over mine. "He talked about being excited to have them both in his qunique collection." I shook my head. "But why would he take pleasure in splitting apart families?! He always talks about how ghouls are heartless demons, but what the hell does that make him?"

I paused to get better control over my breathing. Kaneki was kind enough to wait for me to finish talking. I really appreciated him for that. "My parents were both killed by ghouls, so I can see why he would hate them, but that doesn't justify him killing a child, right? Even if it were a ghoul, it's still a child." I looked to Kaneki for his input and squeezed his hand a bit. He was smiling sadly at me.

"I think," he began, "that you have a good head on your shoulders, Karo-san. I think you're right. I don't think all ghouls are bad. I think that humans and ghouls don't really understand each other as well as we could."

I smiled at him, relieved to get my frustration off my chest and ecstatic to know I wasn't alone in my thoughts. "Can I hug you?" I asked. When he sputtered to come up with a "Yes," I practically jumped out of my chair and gave him the biggest bear-hug I could muster.

"Thank you so much for listening to me, Kaneki-san," I told him as I let him go.

He smiled back at me—genuinely this time. "You're welcome, Karo-san. You know, since I call you by your first name, you can call me Ken…"

I beamed at him. "Thank you so much, Ken-san."

It was later that day that I realized I might have developed a crush on Kaneki Ken.

When Kaneki Ken went missing, I tried to pretend it didn't devastate me. When I went to check on the café he worked at, it was recovering from a break in. Kirishima Touka, one of his coworkers, seemed angry at me for coming by, but I wasn't sure why. Maybe she blamed me for his disappearance, somehow?

Months passed and I had to focus on work more and more. Mado Kureo was dead, so Amon Koutarou was partner-less for some time. Since I had never been assigned a partner, since the office believed I was still too young, I was often grouped as a sort of third-wheel to other partner groups as needed, Mado and Amon included. They put me with him and once Mado Akira showed up, those two became my default partnership. Before, I was most often grouped with Suzuya Juuzou and Shinohara Yukinori.

At first, I was annoyed at Juuzou. He was clearly younger than me, with less experience, and still had his own partner. But later, I realized that he was in a completely different league than me and I understood why he was a special case.

I reigned in my jealousy and set it aside as I befriended Juuzou. He was such a nutcase, but there were times in which he could be so sweet or wise. He was the first to notice my change in demeanor—at least the first to point it out to me—after Ken's disappearance.

"Karo-chan," he called to me after lunch. Shinohara wasn't with him. I waited for him to catch up to me. "You've been making sad faces lately. Did your boyfriend or girlfriend break up with you? I can hurt them back for you."

I smiled a little at him. "No, Juuzou-san. I don't even have a boyfriend or girlfriend to break up with, but thank you for the offer. I really do appreciate it."

"If nobody broke up with you, then what happened?" he asked, seeming to be genuinely curious.

I sighed and averted my eyes from his for a second. "To be honest, I don't really know what happened. That's kind of the problem." Juuzou looked at me in confusion, so I clarified. "One of my close friends is missing and no one knows where he is. I'm afraid something bad happened to him."

I could tell Juuzou was thinking as he asked, "What's his name?"

"Ken—Kaneki Ken," I answered. I always get the order of names confused.

Juuzou raised an eyebrow at my falter. "Well, if I ever meet Kaneki-san, I'll be sure to beat him up for making you worry. And then I'll bring him to you."

I smiled genuinely at him and asked if I could give him a hug. "Thank you, Juuzou-san. Don't ever change too much."