EDIT: 9/3/2015

Are ghouls the ones at fault?

Author's Corner!

Here's another chapter! Mami starts her vacation aka the first year which won't be as long, just the first month at the 20th ward then a summary of the first year. Enjoy ~

R&R Read On!

P.S because I forgot to mention in the prologue: Don't forget to check out the character page on my profile's last section! Explains a lot~

Legend: ' ' are thoughts, " " are characters speaking, *bold* are actions done by characters, italics represent past events, memories, texts/etc, and emphasis, and bold italics time skips.

WARNING: May contain OOC, foul language, various point-of-view, and possible lemons!

I : Her Vacation Starts

At an Apartment Complex in the 20th Ward

"Alright, miss. Sure 'ya don't need help carrying these boxes?"

"No, it's alright. I'll manage somehow," I assure the man. Just leave so I can use my quinque already! "If 'ya say so," he says, rolling up the window before driving off.

I look at the tons of boxes blankly. "How should I do this..." I mutter, thinking of how Asura was going to pick them up.

Asura is my quinque, a weapon made of a ghoul's kagune and used by humans. Asura is an SS rate Bikaku type quinque, and is the kagune of the ghoul who slaughtered my family. Now, I use his kagune to fight for me. Serves him right for killing off my remaining family members on my birthday. Bitch.

Suddenly, an idea popped up in my head.

'Perfect' I thought while activating Asura. Tail-like whips protruded from the back of my "belt" and latched onto various sides of the box pile. Yes! It works. "Let's go, Asura," I say while walking towards the stairs of the complex.

As I reach the top, I take out a piece of paper that had the apartment number on it. "Just two more doors," I mutter. Getting to the door, I fish for the apartment key in my pockets. "Where the fuck...ugh, you've gotta be kidding me."

As I was focused completely on getting the key, I failed to notice someone step out of his apartment. The sound of the door closing and locking made me jump a bit, losing Asura's grip on the boxes and causing them to fall to the floor. Thankfully, they didn't fall to the ground since we were on the second floor.

"Oh, sorry! Are you alright?" someone asks me. I turn to see a rather frail looking male, who seemed to be the same age as me. "Um, miss?"

"Oh- I'm sorry," I apologized, causing him to become flustered for who knows what reason.

"N-No! I should be the one apologizing. Would you like some help with those?" he asks me. Crap, that's right. I can't use my quinque with him around. "Uh, yes, please. If you don't mind."

"Ah, my name is Kaneki Ken. It's nice to meet you..." he trailed off while putting out a hand for me to shake.

Taking his hand, I introduce myself, "Mami. Shibuya Mami. It's nice to meet you, too, Ken-kun."

"K-Ken...-kun?"

"Oh, sorry. It's a habit I picked up in school. I'm not one for using someone's surname, is that all right with you? I'd understand if it wasn't-" "Ah, no. It's fine, Shibuya-san. I was just surprised," he tells me.

"Good. And Shibuya-san? No way are you calling me that. Forget it. Drop it. And leave it," I scold him. "A-Alright, Mami-chan." I simply smile at him. Calling me "Shibuya-san" is taboo.

At least...in the CCG, anyway.

The guys at Anteiku don't even call me that.

He helped me bring in a few boxes into the apartment before asking me, "So, you're moving in, Mami-chan?" "Ah, no. I'm on vacation from work," I tell him.

"Eh? You're working, Mami-chan? What about school? Actually, how old are you?" I glance at him over my shoulder as he places down two more boxes. "I'm seventeen. And I don't really need to go to college. I took advanced classes at the academy I went to, but my guardian said that college would only get in the way of work," I explain. "I see..." he trails off before walking outside to take in the two of the three boxes left. I shrug it off and take the last box.

After all the boxes were inside, I walk with Ken-kun outside. It was still pretty early in the day.

"Don't you need to unpack, Mami-chan?" he asks me. I giggle a bit, not noticing the slight pink that appeared on his face as he heard me laugh, and say, "I can always do that later. What about you?"

"Oh, I'm going to the bookstore before I head to school," he tells me. "Ah, the life of a college student. What course are you taking?"

"Literature," he answers.

"Oh, so you're into books?" I ask, now interested. "Ah, yes," he starts and shows me the book that, I now notice, he had in his hands the entire time. My eyes widen as I read the title.

"That's one of Takatsuki Sen's works!"

"You read his work, too, Mami-chan?" he asks me. I nod my head eagerly as we start talking about her books. Takatsuki Sen's works were really interesting. In fact, they reflected the life of a ghoul.

Or at least, I thought that's what it was.

Any normal human would think it was just dark and gory, but any other ghoul or person who knows about ghouls would think otherwise.

It was kind of weird to see someone like Ken-kun reading books like these. Then again, the nicest of guys always have a dark side in some way. It was like a given. After all, no one is perfect.

We kept walking, and talking, until we reached the bookstore. Still keeping up the conversation about books and a few other things, we walked into the store and checked out a few books. He even suggested that I read Sen-san's latest work, and that he would lend me his copy once he gets back to the complex. I took him up on that offer because I haven't been able to buy anything the past few months. Work had gotten slightly busier since the binge-eater and some other ghoul from 13 appeared.

After checking out, I offered to walk with him to his college, Kamii University.

We started talking about more...personal things.

Like family.

He told me about his mother, and I told him about my family.

"I'm...sorry, Mami-chan," he apologized. I smiled at him and laughed a bit, "Why are you apologizing? There's nothing for you to be sorry about." He smiles back at me. We walked in silence for a bit before he spoke up again, "So...you're with the CCG?"

...Crap, I slipped.

"A-Ah... that's- well- *sigh* Yes, I am," I stutter.

"So, you've been...killing ghouls?" he asks. I glance at him before looking to the sky as we walked, nodding in reply. "I've been...killing ever since I learned to hold a weapon properly. At first, I thought it was the right thing to do... But now, I'm not so sure."

"What do you mean-" "Kaneki!" someone yells from ahead of us. I look to the front to see a blonde, err- somewhat blonde, male calling out for Ken-kun as he runs up to us. "You're finally here! I thought you'd never come~" he says as he fake cries. "Sorry, Hide. Something came up."

"Something? Looks like someone to me," "Hide" says as he looks towards me, grinning. "What? You get a girlfriend, Kaneki?" he teases while elbowing his friend. I tilt my head a bit, as if I was confused at the current situation. "H-Hide! She's not my girlfriend!"

"Haha! I was just kidding, Kaneki~ Anyway, who is this lovely, young lady and what are you doing with Kaneki?" he asks me.

I give him a blank stare as I introduce myself, "Shibuya Mami. I moved into the same apartment complex as Ken-kun-" "Ken-kun~? First name basis already?!"

"Hide!"

I laughed at his antics, causing the two to look at me. "You have a really cute laugh, Mami-chan~" I stop and look at him, then at Ken-kun.

*bzzt*bzzt*

'My cell' I fish out my phone from my pocket and look at the text message that was sent.

To: Mami
Fr: Touka
Sub: Anteiku

Mami, I heard from the manager that you're coming to the ward today. Are you stopping by Anteiku?

Reply | Forward | Delete

I smile a bit and hit the "Reply" button.

To: Touka
Fr: Mami
Sub: Re:Anteiku

You heard right. I'm at a college not to far from there, I'll stop by after I say goodbye to my new friends.

Send | Delete

This message has been sent.

"Mami-chan?"

"Hm?" I hummed.

"Who was that?"

"A friend of mine. She works at a cafe not too far from here. I plan to stop by- actually, I might stay there for the day. You two should come by sometime. The coffee is really good," I tell them.

"Maybe next time-" "How 'bout tomorrow? Sound good?" Hide suggests. "Alright, see you!" I call out as I walk off, Hide dragging Ken-kun towards the college.

'Ah, I forgot to get his full name.'

At Anteiku

The bells attached to the door rang, meaning a customer has just walked into the cafe.

"Welcome," a blue-haired girl greeted. "Oh, Mami. It's just you."

I pout at her.

"That's not nice, Touka. I'm still a customer-" "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, the manager wants to talk to you inside," she tells me. I blink at her before nodding and walking through the backdoor. I wonder what he wants.

Walking down the hallway, I make it to the- ...the...actually, I have no idea what they call this room. Everyone just gathers here at some point.

"Yoshimura-san? You wanted to speak with me?" I ask as I walk into the room. "Ah, Mami-kun Come, sit," he says, gesturing for me to take the seat across from him. As I make my way to the couch, he says, "I heard you found an apartment."

"Yes, well, It's a friend's apartment. Everything's been paid for by my guardian, but he did say I'll need to pay for the bills the rest of my vacation," I tell him. "I see...if that's the case, how would you like to work part-time at Anteiku?" he offers. "R-Really? But, you know-" "That you're a human? That doesn't matter to us."

I contemplate on it for a bit. I do need the money...and I won't get any money from the CCG since I'm on vacation.

"Alright. I'll take you up on that offer, but I have a condition..."

And that was how I became a part-time waitress and full-time informant for Anteiku.

Though, I only work Tuesday-Friday as a waitress. And working as an informant was something he definitely did not expect. After all, I'd be going against everything I had lived for.

My condition was working four days a week as well as being a "ghoul-exclusive secret informant".

I'd be giving them information about the CCG's whereabouts and when to avoid them, as well as where they can find dead bodies to feed off of. That was one of the things I learned upon my last visit here. If I was going to be in their care, I may as well do something in return, right? Besides, now that I know all ghouls aren't as bad as they seem, there's got to be a real solution to fix the situation between humans and ghouls once and for all.

...Way to be optimistic, Mami.

The next day, as promised, I took Hide and Ken-kun to Anteiku. Yoshimura-san said he'd wait until I was fully settled into my apartment before letting me work. The two seemed to really like the little cafe and decided to come here every so often. With me. That's when I told them I'd be working part-time at Anteiku. When I told them that, Hide decide that they'd definitely come back often to see me. It was silly but kind of him. Ken-kun said he'd come back to visit or to just read a book and relax. It went like that for the next few days.

Those days became weeks.

Those weeks became months.

And those months became a whole year.

That's when I realized.

It had been a whole year since I've been away from the CCG. Away from the fighting. The blood. The killing. I even became a whole year older before I realized it!

But I was wrong.

I wasn't kept away from any of it. I realized that too late. Because one night, I got a call from the CCG.

The binge-eater was on the loose. Here.

In the 20th Ward.

Are you going to kill, too?

How was that? It must've been weird, I can just feel it. Anyway, hope you enjoy this and the rest of my fanfics~

R&R? Tell me what you think! Contribute your ideas! I'll take 'em all ~ Well?

Or are the humans to blame?

ffxshilayt aka Shila -