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There was a knock on the door.

"Hello? I know you're still in there." I recognised the voice of the blue-haired waitress. "Are you alright? You've been in there a few hours now."

I snapped out of shock when she mentioned I'd been in there for hours. That would most likely mean that the cafe would at least be closed by now, and the CCG would probably be looking for me. Wouldn't want a rogue ghoul running around.

"You're a ghoul, aren't you? That was a brave stunt you pulled." An older man said, further drawing my attention to the seemingly growing group by the door. He sounded warm and considerate. If another person said that, I would have snapped them in half. Metaphorically, of course.

"You're not going to hand me in to the CCG, are you?" I ask in reassurance, but also to get them on their toes. If my suspicions were correct and the staff are actually ghouls themselves, it means that they'd become nervous against the Investigators.

The old man chuckled at my question. "Why would I do that?" he asked, speaking as if he isn't worried about being killed by the CCG. "We here at Anteiku welcome ghouls."

That lightened my spirits up enough to get up and open the door, but still not enough to look anyone in the eyes. I could feel their eyes bearing down heavily on my sunken shoulders.

"You must be hungry." The older ghoul continued. "Seeing as your kakugan are active." I continued looking down, but noticed no one seemed to be staring at me anymore. No doubt the older man, who is most likely the manager, shooed them all away. "You don't have to hide. You can talk about it over coffee."

I nodded, finally gaining the nerve to look up. The fire of my eyes died down, much to my relief. The manager headed behind the counter while I sat on the other side, fiddling with my hands. "I don't know how this happened." I began, my attention staying firmly on my hands. "I swear I'm human. I have no idea how this happened."

The manager didn't look up from the pot he was preparing. Which was odd, as his eyes were firmly closed. "Interesting." He said to himself. "Well, you are definitely a ghoul, now at least. Tell me more about yourself."

"The CCG would be worrying about me. Trying to track me down." I said nonchalantly, picking up the now ready cup of coffee. When I earned troubled looks from the rest of the staff, I hurriedly decided to explain before a possibly brutal murder. "I was raised by the CCG. I have severe anaemia." The staff still looked at me worriedly. "I think I was born as a ghoul. That means the CCG killed my family. But why would they take me? I was raised as a human. How could I suddenly gain ghoul abilities?" I looked up from the coffee to the staff, who were nervously sharing knowing glances.

"Maybe it's because your doctor did something to you." The manager replied. "Do you remember anything that can cause it?"

I hit the side of my knee in realisation. "That motherfucker." I cursed, before covering my mouth. I glanced apologetically at the manager, but he didn't seem to notice. "I need injections daily. It was the goddamn blood."

"There you have it. Now I suggest you head back to the CCG. But before you do," The manager said, heading into a room behind the counter before emerging again, with something squishy wrapped neatly in brown paper. I could only guess what it was. "Take this. It will help the hunger, should it ever arise." The manager smiled warmly. "You can come back to retrieve more whenever you need."

I stood up and grabbed the package, which indented under my grip. "Thank you." I pursed my lips into an uncomfortable smile and bowed in thanks.

As I closed the door, I heard the blue-haired girl raise her voice. "Mr Yoshimura, are you sure we should help this girl?" As much as I should have felt offended, I couldn't help but ponder the manager's name. I finally learnt it.

I headed down the stairs of Anteiku into the cold night and headed back to the CCG. When I find that asshole of a doctor, he won't know what hit him.