Hooguro's phone buzzed in his pocket, jolting him from the dream like state he had been in. The ghoul brushed his blond hair out of his eyes and gave his surroundings a long look. Most of the ground was still blanketed in snow, and the January air was chilly.
The park was a peaceful sanctuary for the ghoul. The cherry blossoms were gray skeletons against the gray sky, and the snow that covered the winding stone path and simple pagoda shimmered. There were no people outside; the cold air had driven everyone inside.
Hooguro stuck out his tongue a little as he pulled out his phone. He lazily read the characters on the screen; it was a message from Tsukiyama:
Monsieur Hooguro,
The dress for the apartment complex is 83401 Hajimari street in the second ward. Be there by 11:30 pm. Soyez là à temps!
Hooguro sneered upon reading the message. "So formal," he muttered. He checked the time; it was 11:02. He had plenty of time; he was already in the right ward. The blond ghoul yawned and checked the date, and at that, his heart rate quickened.
The date was January twenty-third, and Naki's birthday was in five days. And he still had no idea what to get for him. A pit formed in his stomach as he thought of the year before, when he had teamed up with Shousei to carve a wooden statue of Big Bro Yamori. However, Hooguro had discovered that the art gods had not blessed him nor Shousei with talent, and the Yamori sculpture had been virtually unrecognizable. Hooguro frowned as his face burned with shame at memory of Naki's words: "What's that ugly thing?"
Sure, Naki had been happy and joyful once Hooguro and Shousei had explained the gift, but the original reaction had stung. This year, Hooguro was sure that he had to get his superior something he would love. But what? He let out a groan and forced himself off the stone bench and to his feet.
Hooguro adjusted his white blazer and zebra patterned scarf and strolled out of the snowy park towards the street a half mile away. By the time he reached the busy boulevard, the ghoul's teeth were chattering. As beautiful as it was, the snow was a four letter word to the former Aogiri member. He hailed a taxi, and he scrambled in the yellow cab as quickly as he could.
Hooguro slammed the door and blew into his hands, desperately trying to warm himself. The driver was an elderly man with bags under his eyes, and he carried the heavy scent of tobacco on him.
"Where to?" he asked in a raspy voice.
"83401 Hajimari street," Hooguro said, checking his phone and sticking out his tongue.
The driver sighed and began to plug the address into the navigation system that was hooked up to the cab. Just as the blond ghoul began to relax and slump into the worn seat of the car, something crossed his mind.
If Tsukiyama and just sent that message to everyone, he must've sent it to Naki… Who couldn't read.
"Fuck," Hooguro muttered, hurrying to text Shousei to alert him of the problem.
"You alright back there?" the driver asked, looking in the review mirror and raising a bushy eyebrow. "Why you sticking your tongue out?"
Embarrassed to have realized his tongue had slipped out, Hooguro quickly apologized. "Bad habit of mine."
"Odd."
Hooguro quickly sent off a text to Shosei reading:
Rich French Dude sent off text Naki's prob confused can you pick him up?
Shousei responded quickly that he would take care of it, and Hooguro put away his phone to gaze outside for the rest of the ride. He knew he would lie to his comrades about it, but deep down, Hooguro was nervous about this whole 'Black Goat' Organization. What would living with these ghouls and humans even be like?
Although he was uneasy about who his neighbors were going to be, Hooguro couldn't deny he was happy to have a good living space.
All my life I've struggled with money, he thought. Then he smirked to himself. Those last two words were unnecessary.
Hooguro though briefly about his family, or lack thereof. His father had walked out before Hooguro could even remember him, leaving his mother, who was working at a restaurant at minimum raise, to raise him and his younger sister. Hooguro frowned as a sad feeling crept over him.
His Mother had been a kind woman with tired brown eyes and long, soft black hair. He could remember her getting home late at night and collapsing on the sofa, not bothering to change out of her work clothes. His sister, who had been named Kiyoko, was only a year younger than him. She had had wild raven hair and blood red eyes, and was a free spirit in any way one could imagine.
However, both Hooguro's mother and sister had been tracked down and killed by the CCG. Tears began to burn in the young man's eyes as he thought of it, so he pushed it away.
"This the place?" the driver asked, pulling to a stop in front of an apartment complex.
"Yeah," Hooguro said, paying the man.
He stepped out of the cab and hurried inside. The room he entered was like a lobby of sorts, with a reception center, couches and chairs, and a few tables. Ghouls and humans had made themselves comfortable on the furniture.
Hooguro automatically liked the atmosphere; it had a bit of a homey vibe to it, with calming colors and a simple arrangement. He spotted Naki and Shousei lounging on a red couch, and he walked over to greet them.
"What took so long?" Shousei asked.
Hooguro frowned and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Traffic. And I'm one minute early."
Naki let out a huff and impatiently tapped his foot against the hardwood floors. "When's eyepatch shit face gonna be here?"
"Don't speak in that manor about Monsieur Kaneki," snapped Tsukiyama, who stood close to the couch where the suits were lounging.
"I don't care," Kaneki said, entering the room as if on cue. "What matters is that I'm here now. And we can get down to business; assigning rooms."
"You mean we don't get to pick?" whined the black haired human from squad 0.
The raven haired former investigator was silenced by a glare from Take Hirako.
"How have the rooms been assigned?" Take asked.
"Alphabetical order," Kaneki announced confidently.
A groan came up from the crowd, but they soon fell quiet as Kaneki continued speaking. Hooguro tried to figure out who he was going to be with, but the names of his comrades escaped him.
"So," Kaneki continued. "You don't have to stay here, but these living quarters are yours. Now if you would all follow me."
The white haired half ghoul walked through the door and the humans and ghouls shuffled after him, breaking off into groups and talking in hushed tones. Hooguro walked quietly next to Shousei and Naki, trying not to pay attention to Naki's childish whining.
"There are eight rooms on each floor, and there are three floors," the leader of the group said as they stopped at the first apartment room door. "I believe the third floor is going to be mostly empty for now, but we may have a few other ghouls joining us soon."
"At least he didn't say humans," Hooguro muttered to Shousei, glancing over his shoulder to make sure none of the squad 0 members were in earshot.
"This is Akira's room," Kaneki said, pointing to the first door on the left. "And across from him is Ayato."
Akira gave Kaneki a polite nod and then entered her new living quarters, quietly shutting the door behind herself. Ayato gave the group a sarcastic look and strode into his room, shutting the door behind him with a loud bang.
"Arrogant to the last," Touka murmured.
"Next on left is Hinami, and across from her is Hooguro."
Hinami beamed at the half ghoul before walking happily into her room, hazel brown hair and her simple white dress flowing gracefully. Hooguro's heart sank. So far his neighbors included a shitty human, Ayato, who had no love for Hooguro, and some flower child ghoul he didn't even know. Everyone who had been assigned a room had left the group, and Hooguro considered doing the same, but he thought it might be a good idea to know where his friends were in the building, so he followed along with the bunch.
"The next door on the left," Kaneki said, stepping further down the hall. "Is my room. If you need something, come to me. Across from me is Kurona."
The female half ghoul smiled a bit, and then entered her room.
"Course the half breeds are next to each other," Naki muttered to Hooguro, who hummed in agreement.
The group moved to the last set of rooms on this level.
"Next left is Michino, and on the other side Miza."
"By Grandma Miza," the White Suits murmured as she strode into her room, her glare keeping them quiet for the most part.
The former squad 0 member, Michino, the one with the curly hair, disappeared into their room and shut the door quietly. Kaneki and the remaining goat members reached the a wooden staircase at the end of the hall, and they ascended the stairs to the second level of the apartment complex.
"Left is Mumei, right is Naki," Kaneki said upon reaching the first pair of doors of the second floor.
Mumei, another light haired human, hurried into their room.
"This is mine?" Naki said, looking at the room Kaneki had gestured too.
"Yeah," the half ghoul said. "This is yours."
Hooguro felt his heart sink in his chest. Shousei and Naki, who he consiwwwdered to be his best friends, weren't on the same level as him. Hooguro had hoped that his and Naki's names would be close enough so that they would be on the same floor, so that they could hang out and spend time together. Even though the other Aogiri executives had hated it, Hooguro had never really minded Naki's crying.
Naki slowly entered his room, and with a quick look at his slim subordinate, shut the door behind him. Hooguro sighed and continued to move down the hall with the group.
"Left is Nishiki, right is Renji."
Before going in his room, Nishiki muttered a couple words about how it wasn't fair that he was near the whimsy crybaby, and Hooguro used every once of self control he had not to smack the glasses off that shit head's stupid face. Renji Yomo entered his room and shut the door behind him without a word or expression.
"Left is Shousei, right is Shuu."
"Mon Dieu!" Tsukiyama exclaimed as he entered his room. "The colors I can paint it! C'est parfait!"
Hooguro gave his bulkier friend an apologetic look as Shousei trudged into his room, giving the door that separated him from Tsukiyama an uneasy gaze. With that, Shousei disappeared just as Naki had, leaving Hooguro feeling even more lonely.
The two remaining squad 0 investigators got the last two rooms, and Touka, much to her dislike, was placed by herself up on the third floor. However, Kaneki promised that she would not be alone for long, and that they would have more members joining.
Hooguro trudged down the flight of stairs to his room and opened the door. It was barren for the most part, the only furniture being a twin sized mattress and bed frame in the right hand corner of the room. There was a closet on the left side with sliding doors, and there was a single, dirty window in the center of the wall across from where he stood in the doorway. There was a single power outlet beside the bed frame, and a fan with lights on it hung from the ceiling. The walls were covered in peeling off white paint and covered in a layer of filth.
Hooguro sighed. He would have to go back to the hotel he had been staying in and gather his few belongings. The room was dusty and covered in cobwebs; in desperate need of a cleaning. He would need sheets and maybe a desk of sorts, and definitely curtains to cover up the window.
The slim ghoul closed the door almost all the way and sat down on the mattress, scowling down at his feet. He sat like that for a few minutes, wallowing in self pity. He didn't like Kaneki; he was a human lover. Bratty Ayato and stupid Grandma Miza were on his floor, along with two stupid humans and a female half breed. And to top it all off, Shousei and Naki were upstairs on the same floor. A growing worry gnawed at him: what if Shousei and Naki got really close and forgot all about him?
No, he told himself. That won't happen.
The young man was suddenly startled by a rapping on the door.
"C—come in," he stuttered.
The door slowly creaked open, and Hooguro was surprised to see Naki poke his head in.
"Hi," Hooguro's former superior said, smiling a little.
"Oh, hi," Hooguro said, shifting uncomfortably on his mattress.
"Are you sleeping here this night?" asked Naki.
Hooguro shook his head. "No. I'm probably going to spend one more night at the hotel so I can gather my stuff and all."
Naki nodded. "Me too. But my hotel. The one I'm staying at."
Hooguro forced a smile. "Yeah, I know."
"You want to fix rooms tomorrow?"
Hooguro cocked his head in confusion. "What?"
Naki waved his hands around, gesturing to the whole room. "Paint, clean, by shelves and stuff. Shopping."
The taller ghoul's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah sure! That sounds good. Does Shousei wanna come too?"
Naki shook his head. "Shousei is staying at hotel for few more days."
"Okay," Hooguro said, looking down and adjusting his scarf in order to hide his smile. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Meet my room in the morning?"
"Sounds good."
With that Naki beamed and left the room, leaving Hooguro smiling stupidly for reasons even the slim ghoul couldn't figure out himself.
