Akeno ran to class faster than she ever had before with the thought of her impending expulsion from Kamii University on her mind. Yes, she was usually late to class, but it was a lot harder than people thought getting from one side of campus to the other in about five minutes. 'Screw being a medical student. No amount of money is worth this!' She thought to herself. Akeno flipped her cell phone out of her pocket ready to text her only saving-grace, her best friend of seven years, and tell her she was almost to the classroom door, but she'd already received a text from the latter.
From: Nori
Where are you?! The Dean told you three days ago that you can't be late anymore and Professor Dickhead is about to call and report you! HURRY UP!
Akeno slammed the phone shut just as she arrived at her destination. She wasted no time in flinging the door to the classroom open just in time to witness her professor grabbing his old, obviously-in-need-of-replacement, standard class phone to contact the Dean's office.
"I'm here!" Akeno shouted. Everyone in the class stared at her, including her professor. She shifted uncomfortably this way and that as she felt the weight of everyone's eyes boring into her at all angles. The aging professor set down his telephone and sighed, rubbing his temples with two old, withering fingers.
"And would you like to explain your upteenth tardy in my class, Miss. Bando?" Akeno twiddled her thumbs for a moment, her head lowering as if on instinct and she cleared her throat.
"W-Well, I was leaving my last class a-and I-I guess I didn't walk fast e-enough… But there was a huge crowd and I was on the other side of campus!" She raised her voice out of sheer nervousness due to the predicament she was now finding herself in.
"I thought you were told you could have no more absences or tardies in here Bando."
"I-I was, but I… I really can't help i-it, professor." The professor sighed and shook his head before pointing to Akeno's seat in the back of the room.
"I'm giving you till next Monday to figure it out Bando. After that you get no free passes, I'll report you to the Dean with no hesitation." Akeno nodded and bowed before taking her seat. She kept her head down as she felt eyes lingering on her yet as she passed rows of students. Then there were whispers and then a giggle or two and Akeno fought the urge to run out of class and quit all together.
"Aki, what the hell?" She heard her best friend whisper beside her. "This is like the eleventh time or something. They're seriously gonna kick you out!" Akeno set her bag down on the ground and tried to ignore the chiding of her friend. "Akeno, pay attention to me."
"What?" She snapped a bit fiercer than intended. "I told you, I can't get here on time all the way from the other side of the freaking school! They won't change my schedule around either!" Akeno leaned back in her seat and sighed. Today wasn't the day she wanted to hear this; actually there was never a day she wanted to hear this and it seemed she was beginning to hear it more and more.
"Honestly I think most of your teachers think you're some wild partier. I heard Mrs. Fugaku talking about it the other day to the Calculus teacher down the way." Nori's words only made Akeno's sighs deeper and her stress more pressing.
"I don't even party…" Akeno whispered more to herself than anyone else.
"Maybe that's what you need is a good party. You're always so stressed over school and-"
"Miss. Amagi, is there a problem?" Nori shook her head and leaned back in her chair. "Please don't distract Miss. Bando. She already misses enough class without you around." Akeno sunk even further in her chair if it was possible when more giggles were heard throughout the class. Nori and Akeno didn't speak for the rest of the class after that, at least not to each other. It was an advanced anatomy class not only studying the human body, but the anatomy of ghouls as well. Akeno had always taken an interest in the latter species, but saying things like that aloud led others to believe you were either a sympathizer with the ghouls or just plain crazy. "Now, Bando, prove to me you're not a waste in this class and give me some basics on ghouls. You're always good at this kind of stuff. How long can a ghoul survive off of one dead human corpse?"
"Around one or two months depending on the ghoul, sir." Akeno's reply was flawless and it made her straighten up in her seat just a bit.
"And when ghouls have no regard for this dietary system and eat copious, unnecessary amounts of human flesh, this is called?"
"Binge-eating."
"Ghouls are also known for…?" Akeno tapped her chin with her finger for a moment.
"Cannibalism?" Her answer came out as a question but the professor smiled and nodded.
"Correct. Wonderful knowing that you retain what you do learn in here." Akeno laughed a bit. It was sort of a miracle she remembered anything in any of her classes. She was loaded down with academics and on top of it all, she didn't have a good memory in the first place. Homework was always a struggle being that she only remembered it a day or two before it was professor looked at the clock and sighed before taking off the spectacles that sat on the bridge of his nose and sitting down at his desk. "Class is dismissed early today," Before he could finish everyone began packing their things and grabbing their bags. "Everyone be careful, the streets aren't as safe anymore as they used to be." Nori let out a huff as she slung her bag on her back.
"Wanna grab some lunch?" She offered her friend. Akeno grunted and shook her head.
"Can't. I have work today in about an hour." Nori made a face and Akeno raised an eyebrow.
"God, you always have something to do. We never get to hang out anymore." She pouted. Akeno gave her a half-hearted smile and shrugged.
"Come by tomorrow night, I'll make sure we can get some girl time in, okay?" And with that Nori's smile grew as wide as the width of her face and she nodded.
"Sounds great! I'll see you tomorrow then." Which would also mean that Akeno would be calling-in sick the next day and her boss was going to be less than pleased being that this was her fourth sick day in the past two months. Akeno was the last student left in the class and as she made her way to the front of the room she was stopped by the older man sitting at his desk.
"Bando!" He called before she left the room. Akeno turned on her heel to face her instructor.
"Yes sir?" There was a tone of disappointment already in her voice as she expected to get yelled at once more for coming to class late.
"What're you doing here?" Her confusion was evident by the way her eyebrows knitted together as she cocked her head to the side and looked at her teacher.
"I'm sorry, sir, I don't really understand…" The professor sighed for the millionth time before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Why aren't you in a ghoul studies class or something like that?" Akeno shook her head quickly back and forth.
"Why do you ask that?" She disregarded his question for her own.
"Your fascination for them is obvious and you're a brilliant student. Sure, some others in this class may think you're lagging, but I know you. You don't belong in here. You should be in a history class or a biology course to study ghouls, yet here you are making the best years of your life about learning to serve humans medically." There was a certain spark in her teacher's eye that scared her.
"Sir, what you're suggesting sounds like some sort of CCG course. I'm not interested in hunting ghouls or hurting them or anything of that sort-"
"I'm not suggesting you hurt them. All I'm going to say is that I think doctors in the human medical field aren't in short supply. Doctors elsewhere are." Akeno was completely taken aback by the man's words. Here was her instructor- her human instructor- suggesting she conspire with ghouls. Suggesting she throw her approaching degree away to help a species that would devour her. "It's just some food for thought. Don't do what you think everyone else would approve of, do what you know is going to make you happy." Akeno nodded slowly, her hand slightly shaking as she waved to her professor.
"I-I should be g-going now. I-I'll see you tomorrow, professor." Her voice seemed small and it was all due to the thought of working alongside ghouls. Just the thought of it nearly paralyzed Akeno. It was even more unsettling to think that the thought of working alongside something not human could have a person shaking with fear. Akeno left her classroom and rushed into the hallway only wanting to find her way out of the building. She pushed the double doors open and stormed out of the building.
"Yes! He said all of that!" Akeno whispered fiercely.
"There's no way… he could totally get fired for that. Maybe. That's like waving a flag around saying 'Hey, I love the ghouls and you should too, let's help them out.' That's crazy!" Nori slammed her hands on the table making others in the vicinity look over at them.
"Nori, shh! This is a bookstore, be quiet or you'll draw attention to us." Nori nodded, but her expression was serious.
"Are you going to report him for suspicious activity or something?" And this was going to be the part Nori didn't like. Akeno rubbed the back of her neck and sucked in air through her teeth.
"Well…"
"Oh no. Akeno Bando, please tell me you're not actually considering what he said." Nori's face dropped when Akeno didn't reply immediately with a 'No!' "Oh my God! You are!"
"Not the part about helping them, but the part about taking classes centering around them. He was right, I am interested in-" Akeno looked around and lowered her voice even more. "Ghouls, but I have no classes dealing with their kind."
"Yeah, because normal people don't take classes like those. Only people who plan on being CCG agents take classes like those. You're gonna be in a bunch of classes with tryhard, soon-to-be CCG agents who're gonna look at you like their next jail-time meal when you say you're just in there for fun!" Nori made a good point. Being in a class surrounded by people who were going to be hunting ghouls for a job wasn't exactly the brightest idea being that Akeno only wanted to take the classes under the guise of being informed about ghouls. If that was so she'd be taking a general safety course on ghouls. But no, she wanted in the in-depth, nitty gritty stuff. She wanted the statistics and the regeneration process, the kagune and the kakugan. She wanted to know all about it.
"I don't know, Nori. I don't want to get a degree in something I'm going to have no interest in."
"Well, if you take a whole bunch of classes on ghouls, you might as well change your major to something more ghoulish." Nori scoffed and Akeno knew it was a joke, but it was a good idea. Nori's jaw dropped when Akeno's face lit up. "I was kidding! Don't do that! You're parents are going to fucking kill you, Akeno." Akeno nodded and bit her lip.
"You're right."
"What if they cut off your tuition money? Then what're you gonna do?" Akeno sighed and played with a pencil lying in front of her.
"Work two jobs." Nori facepalmed and shook her head.
"This is crazy Akeno. I don't know what's gotten into you. Actually, yes I do, it's that crazy ass professor." Akeno's shoulders dropped as she thought about what she was doing. She was possibly endangering her future. Sitting across from her friend it was an honestly crazy thought; Nori had always been popular with her long, blonde hair and wide blue eyes. Her wild streak had arrived during the summer of 9th grade and never left, yet her grades remained incredible. She was in almost every club imaginable and she never gave her parents a real reason to be disappointed in her. Akeno was a bit dysfunctional in social situations which led her to be less than well-known in high school. Her name only got around because she was friends with Nori, she was only ever invited to things when Nori would be accompanying her simply because everyone knew Nori wouldn't go anywhere without Akeno. Akeno's hair was sometimes wild and untamed and her green eyes were filled with a constant need to know. Nori was going to go far in life no matter what she decided to do, but Akeno's options seemed limited and she wasn't helping herself in the least with her newfound decision.
"I… I need to talk to mom and dad. I'll do it after work. Maybe they'll be free for dinner." It wasn't often Akeno seen her parents and even when she was home, her parents usually weren't. That was how it had always been since the time she was little. She took care of her younger brother most of the time while her parents went off on business trips and vacations and sometimes the memories of being alone for so much of her childhood made Akeno bitter, but it steeled her for the reality of the world. People didn't stick around for very long and in her experience, if they did there was an ulterior motive as to why.
"How angry do you think they're going to be?" She didn't feel like thinking about that. She didn't want to make herself sick with the possibilities of what was to come.
"I'm not sure." Akeno replied plainly. "It's not like they've ever really agreed with anything I've wanted to do with my life." 'Well, look at the decisions you make.' She thought to herself. Akeno patted down her ruffled up light brown hair and sighed.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. You've always been a weirdo, kid." Nori smiled at the small laugh she managed to get out of Akeno. "Hey, at least you'll always have the memory of the hottest jock in our high school trying to hook up with you." The brunette felt her cheeks flush and she slammed her hands on the table, leaning over it to shush her friend.
"Hey! We agreed we'd never talk about that!" Someone behind the girl shushed her loudly and Nori laughed.
"We're in a bookstore, remember?" She chided snidely. Akeno groaned and landed back in her seat with a huff and a smile forming on her face. "I see that smile, Akeno. You can't hide it from me." Nori's fingers snuck across the table to attack Akeno's collarbone and the latter laughed uncontrollably, this time ignoring the angry shushes coming from across the room.
"N-Nori! S-Stop it!" Her friend quit reluctantly and Akeno's laughter slowly faded away and the two drifted into a comfortable silence.
"Don't stress about it, Bando. I'm sure you'll get this all figured it, you always do. If you wanna be a weirdo who worships ghouls, go ahead." Akeno slapped Nori's hand and the latter giggled. "Just kidding, just kidding. I know you don't worship them per se, maybe just sexually fantasize-" Akeno gasped and slapped Nori's hand even harder before the blonde laughed and ended her vulgar comment. "Seriously though, what is it about them that fascinates you so much? That's always stumped me… unless you've had some crazy childhood ghoul experience that I don't know about?" Akeno shook her head and smiled.
"No, of course not. I was nowhere near any of the Wards where ghouls commonly dwelled. Maybe that's where part of my fascination comes from. They're so common, here in Tokyo especially, but I've never seen one in my life, at least that I know of. I've never heard of any serious attacks where I was from or had any real exposure to that side of the world. I think the fact that I was sheltered from all of that only managed to put an unhealthy interest in me when it came to ghouls." It made sense, the need to know about the unknown. College was the perfect opportunity to learn all she could about ghouls before she went out into the real world. The problem was figuring out what she was going to do with her profound knowledge of ghouls if she didn't plan on working for the CCG.
"I think you'd better get back to work. I see your boss looking over here and boy is he scary." Nori's words snapped Akeno out of her thoughts and the latter nodded. She stood quickly and grabbed a book that was lying in the center of the table and held it open and showed a page to Nori asif describing the book to her.
"I can't wait till I can quit this job." Akeno said with a smile. Nori laughed and pointed to a line in the book, going along with the little game her friend was playing.
"You might get fired before you can throw the towel in yourself." Akeno's eye twitched and she laughed.
"It's not like I'm not getting paid minimum wage." Nori turned her head and sighed.
"The coast is clear my friend." Akeno returned the sigh, shut the book in her hand and straightened up. "Ooo!" Akeno looked in the direction Nori was pointing and raised an eyebrow. "Who's that cutie?" The boy was average height with black hair and a yellow coat on. Nothing really stood out about him but the eyepatch he was wearing covering his left eye. "Not gonna lie, that eyepatch looks edgy and I love it! Help me out here." Before Akeno could object to whatever plan Nori had come up with, the latter was out of her seat and rushing over the black-haired boy. Nori approached him shamelessly and Akeno rushed to catch up with her.
"...new around here, but I've been told I'm the best with customers. My dear friend here doesn't know much about being social, so I'll ask the question: Is there anything I can help you find?" Akeno's jaw dropped to the floor. She felt the blood rushing to her cheeks for her friend- her stupid, way too social, overly flirtatious friend.
"A-A-A-Ah… Hello! Akeno B-Bando, i-is there anything I-I could help you with?" Akeno's voice was strained and much too loud and filled with nervousness and she cursed herself for it. 'Can't you just be normal for once?' She could feel her inner self weeping from embarrassment. The boy wasn't hard on the eyes and he seemed nice enough. Much too nice for Nori's vulgar gestures of pushing her chest out and bending over the boy's shoulder to 'help him find a good read.'
"Um, I-I'm not really looking for anything… Well, yes I am actually. Would you happen to have any new books in by Takatsuki Sen?" Akeno's eyes lit up.
"You like her work?" The boy nodded and Akeno smiled before motioning for him and her new colleague to follow in suit. "I haven't heard of her coming out with anything new per se, but she has some pretty good reads you might not have read yet." When the trio arrived at the author's section of books, the boy's whole face lit up with joy.
"Ah, wow! This is great. Thanks, Akeno, was it?" The girl smiled and nodded before bowing.
"No problem, er…?"
"Kaneki. Kaneki Ken." He smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his neck before giving his own small bow. Akeno heard Nori huff at her side and laughed a bit.
"Well, Kaneki, if you have anything else you need help with just come find me." He nodded and Akeno took her leave.
"Or me!" Nori shouted. There was another angry shush and Kaneki laughed a bit uncomfortably. Akeno shrugged in apology and shook her head hoping to relieve Kaneki of the awkward tension now surrounding him. Once out of his view Akeno punched her friend in the arm.
"You idiot!" She whispered. Nori laughed and shrugged.
"Oh come on, what was the harm in it? You stole him away from me anyways, you nerd." Akeno smiled to herself and giggled.
"Shut up, I didn't steal him. I just kind of… laid on the charm all the boys can't resist." Nori rolled her eyes and laughed while Akeno stuck out her tongue.
"Whatever dork. I'm gonna get outta here before your boss kills me and you. Text me after you talk to your parents and tell me how it goes." Akeno nods and waves as her friend begins making her way towards the exit.
"Sure thing, I'll see you later." There was a ring as a bell jangled about as Nori made her way out of the bookstore.