"We have much to discuss. Regarding the both of you." The old staff member said. Ragna could feel that something was wrong with the man. Even if it was slight, the old man opened his left eye slightly to show the same eye ghouls had.
"Y-You're a ghoul?" Kaneki asked him. Yoshimura, if Ragna remembered correctly, had closed his eyes and showed a small smile.
"You are rather an interesting human. But, as surprising is it might be, you are also a ghoul." Kaneki's eyes widened as she heard the news.
"N-No you're wrong! I don't eat humans! I-I'm not a ghoul!" Kaneki didn't want to believe him. The more she thought about it, the more denial she kept bringing back up.
"Hm, I know it is hard to accept this but, you are one. Here, try eating this." Yoshimura had given Kaneki a sandwich for her to eat. She didn't have dinner last night, so of course she was starving.
'Is this because I bit that woman last night? Did I-'
*Blargh*
Having tried to eat the sandwich, her taste buds easily told her that it was disgusting. Whatever what kind of sandwich it was, it was truly disgusting. Ragna covered his mouth with his hand to try not to puke as well.
"What kind of fucking sandwich did you give her old man!?" Ragna didn't really trust the guy at first, but now he truly didn't trust him.
"Was it poison! Tell me!" Ragna grabbed Yoshimura's collar, trying to get the answer as to what he had fed her.
"Calm down young man, it was simply a regular sandwich. Here, try one yourself." Pulling another sandwich with a wrapper out of his pocket, Yoshimura gave him the exact same sandwich that he had gave to Kaneki.
Ragna couldn't exactly trust it, but if what this man was saying was true, then something must be seriously wrong with Kaneki. Taking the sandwich, Ragna took a bite of it.
"*Bite* Huh? This is just a regular sandwich." Ragna was surprised that he didn't hurl it up just like Kaneki.
"Ghouls cannot eat regular food. If they eat them, they would have an unsatisfying taste in their mouth. This is why ghouls eat human flesh without it, they will-" Yoshimura was cut off as he was trying to explain the situation to Ragna by Kaneki.
"I'M NOT A GHOUL! I'M HUMAN!" Kaneki screamed. Ragna could see the tears coming off of Kaneki's face. He could only look at her sadly. Accepting something new that became a part of you is something that even he could understand.
"Young lady, I know this is hard for you, but you must accept this. However, you are different than most ghouls." Ragna couldn't tell what the man was thinking. He was just way too mysterious for him to try to comprehend.
"H-How different can a person who just feeds on others, be different than other ghouls?" Kaneki's tear stained face looked at Yoshimura with puffy red eyes. As rude as she had put it, Yoshimura only smiled at her.
"You are only half-ghoul. You are part ghoul and still remain human." Kaneki's eyes widened.
"I will meet the both of you down stairs. Take the time that the both of you need yourselves. But the both of you should hurry, the shop is about to open, and I wouldn't want to wait until it closes again. Yoshimura left the room to give them some time to themselves.
'What a weird guy. I just hope he doesn't become one of those weird people who'll just stalk us.' Ragna thought to himself, But as he was about to give Kaneki some alone time, his red jacket was tugged backwards.
" …...can you stay here for a bit?" Kaneki's bangs covered her eyes, but Ragna could easily tell that she was still saddened.
"Sure I guess." Ragna said nervously. Ragna sat on the chair next to the bed. Several minutes passed as neither of them said anything.
'Shit, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to make her feel better when she's like this? I'm bad at these things. Hm, maybe…..'
" ….What am I supposed to do? I've been alone for most of my life. My parents are dead and people look at me in a bad way. It's like I was already a monster to them even when I was fully human. My best friend will be afraid of me, and I won't be able to handle it. I was human yesterday right? I don't want to be a monster. I'll just be adding more fear into people. Maybe I should just-" Kaneki was about to finish her sentence, until she felt a chop on her head.
"*Thunk* Ow, why did you-"
"Don't ever say that again. Look, I know it's hard to accept this, but that's the only thing you can do right now, is to accept who you are. You are a human, and you sure as hell aren't a monster. You haven't even done anything yet. Whether if it's your friend that hates you, or the world that hates you, you can still change. If there are people that are afraid of ghouls, then show them that not all ghouls are bad." Ragna brought up his soft side. Even if he isn't used to helping people with their problems, he could still use a thing or two that he learned from Jubei's lectures.
"Accept myself huh?" Kaneki asked herself, feeling a nostalgic feeling from this. It was like a cliche saying from a story she had read before. One, that the protagonist felt that the world hated him for who he was. But he wasn't a bad person, he sacrificed many things to try to make the world a better place. But people didn't care, they only cared for the crimes he committed, and used that against him.
'Thank you . This is the second time you've saved my life.' Kaneki thought to herself, as she brought up a smile.
"Thank you ." Kanekis' bangs moved from her face, as Ragna was able to see the smile that she had made. Ragna felt that his job was done, as she watched her get up from the bed and left the room with a smile.
'Even if you're not here with me, you're words are still able help others. Right master?' Ragna decided to leave the room himself.
"I see that you're feeling better young lady. Did something come up?" Yoshimura asked Kaneki, as he sees her smiling.
"No, but I just learned that I just need a little more acceptance in my life." Kaneki said, still smiling. The old staff member simply smiled at her, as she was accepting it. But as seconds flew by, Ragna came downstairs and sees that the entire staff was gathered.
"Did I miss something?" Ragna asked them.
"No you haven't. In fact, we just started. Now we must discuss what has happened to Kaneki." Yoshimura said, getting ready for the discussion. As for Ragna, he knew this was going to take some time.
And time did pass. Ragna was able to learn many things as what was going on. The woman he fought earlier, was named Rize. She was on a killing spree and had been killing many innocent people for some time. But as for Kaneki, she had a scent to her that attracted her to go after Kaneki. But as for turning into a ghoul, they couldn't figure out what happened. It could've been from when she bit Rize, but could that entirely be true?
The entire members of the shop were ghouls. But different than most ghouls, they chose to help other ghouls in need of assistance. Ragna only smiled, as he had a feeling that most ghouls were bad. People only heard about the bad things of ghouls, and used that to simply despise them.
*Growl*
Everyone in the shop had heard the growl. Knowing where it came from, they had turned to the person who had made the noise, Kaneki. She blushed in embarrassment as she was hungry.
'Oh no, it's like my stomach is trying to eat itself. But I can't eat regular food anymore, then that means-' Kaneki's thought was interrupted, as a voice had gotten her attention.
"You're hungry aren't you, Kaneki?" Yoshimura asked. Kaneki simply nodded her head as her head became red.
"Young man, can you bring out your finger?" He asked Ragna, as he had something in his mind that was bothering him a bit. Ragna found it strange at first, but decided to trust him.
"Alright." Ragna brought out his left index finger, as he didn't know what was going to happen to him.
"Excuse me for this." Yoshimura said, as he brought out a knife. Before Ragna could say anything, he felt a small cut on his finger.
"What the hell was that for?" Ragna asked him, as he held his bloodied finger.
"Young man, look at everyone around you." Yoshimura said to himself. Ragna did as he was told, but what he had seen, was something he didn't expect. The entire members were drooling a bit because of his blood.
"S-So the rumors were true." Touka said, trying to restrain herself. Just the scent of his blood, would make any ghoul go crazy. But luckily, they were able to control themselves. But as for a new half-ghoul, it wasn't easy.
"Th-That smell, it's so good. No, what am I doing?" Kaneki was trying her hardest to stop herself from losing control. Ragnas' blood, along with his blood, was attracting her to him.
"What rumor are they talking about?" Ragna asked Yoshimura, as he wasn't affecting by him.
"There is a rumor that someone that's not a human, has the best scent out of every human on earth. I was able to smell your scent from miles away." Yoshimura said, as he rubbed the bottom of his chin.
"Now if you please, give Kaneki some of your blood. I want to see how different you are than most humans." Yoshimura said.
"N-No! I don't want to take anyone's blood or flesh! Especially not !" As much as Kaneki wanted to deny the smell of him, she couldn't contain herself any longer.
"Kaneki, just take my blood, if what they say is true, then-" Without hesitation, Kaneki brought his finger into her mouth as she started to suck the blood off his finger.
'What is this feeling? Why does his finger taste so good?' As Kaneki continued to suck Ragna's finger, Ragna himself, couldn't contain his blush.
'Wh-What the hell? Hurry up Kaneki, you're making this as much embarrassing as it could be.' Ragna thought to himself.
After a few seconds, Kaneki finally let go of his finger. But when she had let go, she felt weird. 'What's going on? I haven't even ate anything, and I'm already full. But there's something else. I'm not hungry for his flesh, there's something else I want from him!' Her body was shaking slightly from the excitement from his blood.
"More….I want more!" Kaneki yelled, trying to grab Ragna. But she was easily stopped, as his hand covered her face.
"Alright calm down. I can't have you trying to eat me. You didn't want to become a monster did you?" Hearing his words, Kaneki remembered their conversation from earlier, and stopped herself.
"Y-You're right. I'm sorry." Kaneki bowed to him, feeling that it was her fault that she had lost control. Ragna simply waved it off.
"Here Kaneki, this should satisfy your hunger for now." Yoshimura said, as he brought out a brown box.
"I'm not hungry anymore." Kaneki said. This only put shock to the members. While the members spoke quietly to themselves, Yoshimura was thinking over the event that had just happened.
"Hm, young man, you are truly something special. Ghouls must eat flesh in order to satisfy themselves. This is something we haven't ever seen before." He said, looking at Ragna.
"Look here Kaneki." Yoshimura grabbed a mirror and presented it, in front of her. One of her eyes was like a ghoul's eye. But Kaneki didn't react as the members expected her to. She only looked at the mirror and smiled.
"I might not like what's happening to me, but I know that there's one thing I can say for sure." Kaneki averted her attention from the mirror, and looked at Ragna.
"I'm me." She said, as her smiled widened. Ragna only showed her a small smile as he was happy that she learned from his masters' words. Ragna knew that he had to leave. He had gotten as much information that he could get. If he didn't leave, then this place would be a target because of his scent.
"Well I'm off now." Ragna said as he walked towards the door. Noticing this, Kaneki quickly rushed to him, and grabbed his jacket.
"Where are you going?" She asked him, showing her sadness in her eyes.
"I'm leaving. If I stay in this area, then you all would be a target. I'm not going to risk that." Ragna responded, not looking back her.
"N-No! You can't leave!" She yelled, not wanting him to leave.
"And why shouldn't I? What gives you the right to tell me what to do?" Ragna finally turned around, and glared at her. The side that he always used to protect himself, was being shown. This side of him was what made people be scared of him. But to keep others away from him so they didn't have to be hurt, he would have to use it. Kaneki didn't realize what she had said at first, as her face became redder.
"I-It's because you could chased by the ghouls! Y-Yeah, and you might not be able to handle them on your own." She said quickly. Ever since they met, he hadn't showed this side of him.
'Why show this side of himself now? Is it because he's lonely? I don't want him to be sad. After everything he has done for me, I have to make sure that…...
"I'm not afraid of a bunch of ghouls. I can take care of myself you know." Ragna turned back around and was about to open the door.
"She's right you know. The rumor about you could easily spread to other wards. If others believe this, they would come after you. There are powerful ghouls out there that would do anything for power. It's wise if you stayed here. I have something that will cover your scent, if you choose to be here." Yoshimura said as he tries to convince Ragna to stay.
"And what if they would come here. What would you do then?" Ragna said as he faced the manager of the cafe.
"We will simply protect you. We might not know about you, or know your past, but here, we simply help others in need. Whether it's ghouls or humans." Hearing his words, Ragna could only think of Jubei. This old man was almost sounding like him a bit. After being rescued from Jubei, he started to remember all of the lectures he had to listen to. Instead of most lectures about developing fighting styles, it was more about protecting others. But after what happened at the church, he chose to ignore them and focused on getting revenge.
Ragna looked back to Kaneki, as her eyes were full of sadness. It reminded him of Saya. She was really stubborn, and wanted to always stay by his side. Even when he met her again at the Gate, he could still see the sadness in her eyes, as she never wanted him to leave her again. 'Saya, what are you doing now?'
"Alright, I'll stay." Kaneki was happy once again. She was happy that he was able to stay. So she didn't have to worry about his health.
"I-I'm only doing this so you don't have to worry about me so much. So don't get ahead of yourself, you got that?" Ragna said, as he walked passed her, and sat on a chair. Ragna ignored the expression her face as he could tell that she was happy.
While Kaneki talked to the other members, Ragna found himself staring at her for some time. She was smiling while talking to the other members. He smiled at her smile. 'No matter what, to make sure that you live your life to the fullest, I swear I'll…..
'I'll protect you, Kaneki.'
'That I have to be there for you, Ragna.'
