Hello readers. We're on the second chapter. You wouldn't be here if you didn't like it. This chapter will cover how Kaneki is handling his new life as a ghoul. It doesn't go well. His mutant DNA is colliding with ghoul DNA so bad. How bad? Read to find out.
Ch. 2 – Turmoil
Kaneki woke up on a couch in an unfamiliar room. Groggy from what happened before, he slowly got up from the couch. At first, he was confused as to where he was.
"What happened? And why do I feel so hungry?"
Kaneki then remembers the events from yesterday.
"Oh right. I'm not a mutant anymore. I'm a ghoul now."
He then remembers how resisted devouring the flesh of humans. How he pushed himself to his limits, more mental than physical, to stop himself from acting like ghoul. He then remembers how Touka, the girl Hide harassed at Anteiku, was a ghoul herself and how she kicked his hard. All because he refused to eat human flesh, how he called her a monster by association, and that she possessed a certain anger towards mutants. All in all, Kaneki couldn't be what he used to be anymore. He couldn't eat regular food anymore.
"My life has now reached new levels of suck right now."
He then heard the door open to reveal Yoshimura. Kaneki half-remembers him as he saw the man in the coffee shop time to time, but he never learned who he was exactly.
"Ah. You're awake. Please join me downstairs."
Kaneki followed him downstairs to discover that he was In Anteiku, the coffee shop he regularly goes to. He then sees Yoshimura preparing coffee.
"Please have a seat, young man."
Kaneki took a seat at the coffee bar, and watched him prepare coffee with expert care. When Yoshimura was half-way done, Kaneki asked him a question.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"It's Anteiku's policy to help our fellow ghouls in their time of need."
Yoshimura was just about done with preparing the coffee with Touka sitting on a nearby table with a bored looking expression on her face.
"Well, even though it took a while, it's finally done. Please, have some."
Still feeling depressed, Kaneki looked at the coffee cup with hesitation.
"What's the matter? Not partial to coffee?"
"I actually love it. It's just…"
"Kaneki, right?"
"Yes sir."
"Look at the cup in front of you. Does it look strange?"
"No. It looks actually delicious."
"Then why don't you give it a try?"
Remembering all the times he attempted to eat the food he used to eat and failed, Kaneki summoned up what was left of his strength to drink the cup of coffee Yoshimura offered him, bracing himself for the possible soul-crushing disappointment he felt that was ahead of him. He took a sizable gulp. From that first sip, he proved himself wrong as he then drank more of the coffee he was given. When he finished, tears streamed down his face. These tears expressed not despair, but joy as he believed that there was no hope for him as a ghoul.
"It's…It's so delicious."
Kaneki wiped the tears from his face.
"It tastes so good. But everytime I try to eat food, it tastes horrible."
"It's hard to swallow, but it's true. Coffee is the only thing that humans, mutants, and ghouls enjoy equally. However, it's not enough to satisfy our hunger."
Yoshimura took out a brown bag out from his pocket and on the bar, near Kaneki. Touka was mildly surprised seeing this.
"What is that?"
"When you need more, don't hesitate to come back. There's more where that came from."
Kaneki took the brown envelope and exited Anteiku. Yoshimura then sets up shop of the day with Touka helping him.
"I don't get why you decided to help him."
"I understand your feelings toward mutants, Touka."
"That Xavier guy basically put a target on every ghoul's back when he shared his 'discovery.'"
"But consider this: do you remember the news story concerning an emergency organ transplant a few days ago?"
Touka took a moment to think.
"Maybe."
"A bunch of steel girders fell at a construction site near Kami university, and two students were caught underneath them. The doctor in this situation took the organs of the deceased girl and transferred them to the young man who was hanging on to life by a thread."
"Oh yeah. I remember that. Who was the girl?"
"Rize Kamishiro."
"Wait, he was the guy?"
"Yes. He had ghoul organs transplanted into him. The genetic code within those organs have overwritten his mutant DNA. What's worse…"
"Yoshimura?"
"I had someone to look into the hospital to find out what they did with Rize's body."
"And?"
"It's missing. Some have even said that they saw her leaving the hospital alive."
"No way…"
"I fear Kaneki's life is changing. In more ways than anyone could imagine. I feel that I must do what I can to navigate what he will be going through."
xxxxxx
Kaneki made it back to his apartment safely. He changed from the clothes he wore before into his pajamas. He tried to sleep, but the growls of his stomach got in the way of that. He attempted to get his mind off the hunger, but one word repeated in his mind.
"FLESH!"
He tried so hard to get the word flesh out of his mind so hard, but the hunger was too overwhelming for him. It was then that a hallucination of Rize appeared before him, speaking to him.
"Why are you freaking out about becoming like me? I don't think it really matters. So what if you're not a mutant anymore? What's so great about them anyways? They taste so bad, it's disgusting. Like you used to be. All that matters is that you're still you. So, make the most of being a ghoul."
The hallucination embraced Kaneki, which made him freak out even further.
"What's stopping you? There's a lot of human flesh out there just ripe for the picking. You'll find just how wonderful it tastes once it gets in your mouth. It'll put any-"
Rize was soon stabbed in the head by metal claws, but not Kaneki's. Rize would soon disappear, only to be met by a mutant. One of the most famous of the X-men. He looked at Kaneki with a disappointing look.
"You're really gonna let that bitch torment you?"
Although he was two inches shorter than him, Kaneki was nevertheless awestruck that he was hallucinating the Wolverine, standing in front of him.
"You're in pain. I can see that. But this is what you are now. You can hate it all you like…"
Wolverine looks at the brown envelope that Yoshimura gave him, as did Kaneki.
"But you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. That's what I did."
Wolverine then faced Kaneki.
"And some of those things haunted me. And I had to live it. Now, so do you."
Kaneki slowly walked towards the brown envelope. He holds it with his own hands, internally debating whether or not to eat human flesh. If he were still mutant, then it would be considered a hate crime for a mutant to engage in cannibalism. On the other hand, now he was a ghoul, his moral compass had shifted to a new direction. Before he would open the envelope, his cell phone rang. He ultimately decided to throw away the envelope and not eat what was inside it, knowing the consequences it would bring.
xxxxxx
Kaneki went back to college after three days absence. He was brought back by both his need to get his mind off his personal existential crisis with his art and Hide. Hide was first in his mind as he sent him a text offering his Asian history note to Kaneki. He smiled a little knowing Hide was not that good at note taking. As Kaneki headed towards his art studio, someone was running towards him at a fast rate. Kaneki could smell the person, and turns around find Hide performing an awkward run. This weirded him out.
"KANEKI! Where the hell you've been, jerk?!"
Hide briefly tackled Kaneki, which made him almost lose his balance.
"Seriously, man. Do you know how hard it's been for me? If you didn't come back, I would've been dead. The cause: LONLINESS!"
"I'm sorry, man. I'm…going through a lot of things right now."
"Hey, what's with the eyepatch? Is that a fashion trend or are you finally becoming a chunibyo?"
"Ha ha."
Said Kaneki in a sarcastic voice. Despite that remark, Kaneki valued Hide for being his only friend. While Hide talked about what went on in college since Kaneki was absent, Kaneki remembered when he was about 12 or 13 when he "first" met Hide. Hide claimed to have known Kaneki when they were kids. Due to his amnesia, he didn't know where he was born or who raised him. Hide however remembered going to elementary school with him. At first, Kaneki was annoyed with him, but Hide proved himself to be a good person. The kind any decent person would want to be friends with. As such, when the two reached their first year at high school, Kaneki showed Hide his metal claws. Needless to say, Hide was excited to see them, but respected Kaneki's wish to not to show them too much. How Hide acted around Kaneki would persist, even to this day. As Hide felt that Kaneki was not listening to him, he proceeded to shake him in order to get his attention.
"Hello! Earth to Kaneki! Are you even paying any attention to me, man?!"
"Sorry. You were saying something?"
Hide pouts as Kaneki was distracted for some reason.
"Anyways, you headed for your studio?"
"Yeah. Wanted to get back to doing what I love."
"Who would've thought that me showing you the works of Banksy back in high school would get you someplace?"
Hide had a smug look on his face to which Kaneki jokingly pushes him. The two laughed at how stupid they were acting.
"Well, before we do that, I gotta pick up some materials from Nishio. He's an upperclassman. A bit snarky, but cool all the same."
"Sure, okay."
"By the way, I don't wanna pry, but are you eating right?"
Kaneki stiffed when Hide asked him that question.
"You're just looking a bit pale. That's not a good sign."
"Right."
As Hide continued forward, Kaneki internally remarked on Hide's natural instincts.
"It's just as I thought. You can't get anything past Hide. It was only a matter of time before he could get an accurate read on me. He's got a hyper-sensitivity that makes it feel like he's knows what I'm gonna feel before I even feel it. But he pretends that everything's fine. For my sake."
As Kaneki followed Hide, one thought came to his mind that made his transition from mutant to ghoul really painful.
"What really hurts me right now is that if I fully become a ghoul, I have to stop having to be friends with him."
The two made to the campus building where Nishio works.
"Thanks for making this stop with me. I think you'll get along with him."
"Who? Nishio?"
"Yeah. Like I said, he can be snarky, but cool. Just give him a chance. Sure, he's got this dark and mysterious vibe, but I think that's part of his charm."
"If he's got your glowing recommendation, I just might."
As the two made it to the room where they were going to meet Nishio, Hide opened the door without knocking.
"What's up, Nishio…?!"
The two found Nishio in a compromising position with a girl on his chair. The girl shrieked and instantly ran. Kaneki looked at Hide with a deadpan look on his face.
"There. Now you know the value of knocking."
"You should try it sometime, Nagachika."
Hide was embarrassed by what he did.
"Sorry. I did it without thinking."
"That's kind of his thing."
"Ouch, man."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Nothing disrespects me more than someone pissing on my territory."
Kaneki instantly recognized both that voice and sentence. Kaneki instantly recognized Nishio as Nishiki and vice-versa.
"So, this is my friend, Kaneki. The one I told you from before."
Nishio got up from his chair and introduced himself to Kaneki.
"Nishiki Nishio. 2nd year pharmacy student."
He extended his hand to Kaneki.
"Nice to meet you, Kaneki."
"L-L-Likewise."
Kaneki felt a twinge of fear over the fact that this particular ghoul was friends with Hide as he shook hands with him. Nishio then went to the bookshelf to fetch something for Hide.
"You wanted last year's numbers, right?"
"Yeah, but I only needed the retail data."
"Wish I could remember where I put it. Wait…"
Nishiki snapped his fingers.
"I left it at home."
"For real, man?"
"I don't live that far. We could walk over there right now."
"To your place?"
"Is that a problem?"
Hide mulled it over for a while before giving his answer.
"Hey Kaneki. You can go on ahead. I'll catch up with you later."
Kaneki imagined Nishio using his ghoul abilities on Hide. The thought instantly made Kaneki fear for Hide's life.
"Uh…You don't if I tag along right?"
Nishio was surprised by this. As was Hide.
"Uh, dude?"
"Well, it's like you said. We haven't hung out much lately."
Nishio got up from his chair and grabbed his coat.
"Sure, that's fine."
His phone then rang before he could get to the door.
"Hang on. I gotta take this."
As Nishio answered his phone, Hide silently talked to Kaneki.
"What's your deal, man?"
"Nothing. I'm fine."
"You sure about that?"
Nishio then asked Hide,
"You see anything?"
Hide was confused by that question.
"It's my girlfriend."
Hide awkwardly responded with an apology.
"Sorry. If it's any consolation…"
Kaneki was in thought as to why ghouls are more prominent in his life now.
"It's beginning to feel like there are more ghouls around me than before. No…There were always ghouls around. And it's not just me. They're around Hide, as well as every other human or mutant. The only reason why I didn't see that is because I wasn't a part of their world before."
xxxxxx
As the trio walked through the city, Nishio stopped by a food stand that served taiyaki.
"You guys want some?"
Hide accepted the offer.
"Sure."
The owner of the taiyaki stand says to the two,
"You're in luck. I just made a fresh batch."
Kaneki looked with a surprised look on his face to see Nishio wanting to eat taiyaki. He bought three so he could give them to Hide and Kaneki.
"Here you go."
Attempting to cover his disgust, Kaneki reluctantly takes the taiyaki.
"I think I wanna puke."
While Hide ate his with no problem, Nishio asked Kaneki a question.
"So, you in any clubs, Kaneki?"
"My…my work keeps me busy."
"Really? What work?"
"He's an aspiring graffiti artist. The school gave him his own studio and everything."
"Seriously?"
"I…"
Kaneki stopped as soon as he saw Nishio taking a bite of his taiyaki without being revulsed by it.
"I was just as shocked as you are right now."
Kaneki snapped himself back to normal as to evade Hide's sharp senses.
"Besides, I don't do well in large groups."
"Sounds like you got the opposite problem as you buddy does."
Nishio took another bite.
"More than one bite?! What the f***?"
"Man, this is really good."
"Tell me about it. Nice and crispy. The way it should be."
Hide sees Kaneki not eating his taiyaki.
"What's up, man? Not gonna eat it?"
"Uh…maybe later."
As the trio walked "towards" Nishio's place, Kaneki put together as to how he could evade any suspicions that he could be a ghoul.
"It's crazy. He's got no problem blending in. Probably because he can play the college student so effortlessly. It's kind of impressive."
Kaneki sees Nishio turn around to suddenly kick Hide into an alleyway with a force of a speeding truck.
"HIDE!"
Kaneki looks at Nishio with a mix of shock and anger.
"He doesn't need to see or hear this. I mean, I thought I was the only ghoul on campus. But here you are. Smelling like a female ghoul."
Nishio grabbed Kaneki by the neck and slammed him against the steel gate. Kaneki struggled to escape from his grip, but Nishio was too strong.
"I know what you're doing. You're were gonna eat Nagachika, weren't you? Wouldn't blame you. There's nothing better than the feeling of power when some idiot trusts you with his life, only to see them in anguish when you shatter that trust completely. That's what you were doing with him, right Kaneki?!"
Although struggling to breathe, Kaneki managed to say a few words.
"No…Not like you…"
"Is that right?"
Nishio briefly let go of Kaneki only to pierce him through the chest.
"One of the things that pisses me off is those who don't even respect their elders. Look at you. You don't even have any…"
Nishiki stopped gloating when he saw Kaneki's wound undoing what he had done to him. After that Kaneki coughed up blood, then got up. Needless to say, this made Nishio angrier than before.
"Another thing that pisses me off is when disrespectful kids like you don't stay down…"
Nishio's eyes became black and red.
"WHEN THEY'RE TOLD TO!"
Nishio gave a series of punches to Kaneki to the point where he finally got him to stay down. Although it tired him a little, Nishio was satisfied.
"You took a little longer than I liked. Ugh, so queasy."
Nishio started to feel the piece of taiyaki he ate starting to enter his body.
"How do these humans eat this stuff? Maybe this is why mutant flesh is so gross to taste. Least that's what I heard. Either way, it's disgusting. It's like eating horse shit."
Nishio dug his hand into his throat to induce vomiting. He did so near Hide, who was still unconscious. Kaneki used whatever strength he had left to try to save Hide from Nishio. He heard him approaching from behind to save his friend.
"Sorry about that. Hope I didn't ruin your meal."
Nishio placed his foot on Hide's head.
"You two known each other for a long time. He calls you his best friend. So tell me, when were gonna take a bite out of him?"
Nishio then lightly stomped on Hide a couple of times.
"Don't you think you've waited long enough? What part. Do. You. Want. To. Eat. First?"
Nishio stomped Hide's head with every word in that question. Kaneki tried to say something, but was too weak to stand, let alone talk.
"What's that Kaneki? DID YOU WANT TO SAY SOMETHING?!"
Kaneki then ran to Nishio and attempted to attack him with his schoolbag. Nishio laughed at this, and gave Kaneki a swift and powerful kick.
"Attacking me with your bag? WHAT ARE YOU, AN OLD LADY?!"
Kaneki practically flew across the ground, exhausted by nit just by the force of Nishio's attacks, but also his low energy due to not eating anything. Nishio then kneeled close to Kaneki's level.
"Get a clue, Kaneki. Humans are not your friends. They're your prey. They're nothing more to us than what cows and pigs mean to them. So, do yourself a favor. Stop pretending to be his friend and just eat him already."
Kaneki felt something rising inside of him. It gave him the energy to speak, even when Nishio gave him a through beating that left him weaker than he was.
"He's honestly my friend. You're just too much of a conceited asshole to understand that."
Angered by that remark, Nishio lifted Kaneki by his hair.
"Don't think that being around Nagachika won't prove itself risky. Guy isn't that smart, but possessed some wicked instincts to make up for it. Not to mention this."
Nishio removed the eyepatch that covered his ghoul eye.
"You can't even control your eye."
He then threw him to the ground. Kaneki got up one more time to try to fight Nishio, but all he could do was give punches that did not even land on him.
"Seriously, is that all you got?"
Nishio then punched Kaneki some more.
"You think you can protect Nagachika like that?!"
He then threw Kaneki to a nearby wall.
"You honestly believe that he'll accept you as a ghoul?"
Hopelessness began to overcome Kaneki as he laid on the ground, almost passing out without giving Nishio much of a fight.
"I can't beat him. No matter how hard I try, I just…can't…"
In that moment, Kaneki felt himself diving into the recesses of his mind as everything started to go black.
xxxxxx
Kaneki found himself standing on top of water. Above him was a blue sky with clouds passing by. He looked around to see the Wolverine again. He wore his X-men uniform, which was a spandex suit that was mostly blue on the side and yellow in the middle while wearing a belt with a red buckle adorning a golden X.
"Stand up!"
Kaneki was confused as to what Wolverine was saying. He got closer to him and grabbed Kaneki by his shirt collar.
"Your best friend is in trouble, isn't he? Do something about it!"
"But…but…"
"BUT NOTHING!"
Wolverine threw Kaneki to the watery floor.
"You have something that can save him. Something that can hurt that pretentious dick who just kicked your ass, don't you?!"
"But I don't know how to use them!"
"Of course you do."
Wolverine touched the top of his head and that made Kaneki remember the night he was with Rize. After he roared, he charged at Rize faster than she could see. Then he used both of his metal claws to dig into her. Rize was in total agony when she felt his claws tear into her. Kaneki rapidly ripped her apart as viciously as he could. He saw that Rize was not used to be at the mercy of someone who was more powerful than her. Kaneki could see that both the pain and humiliation were too much for her. She attempted to escape but was too weak from Kaneki's attacks. She laid on the ground, defeated and near death. Kaneki roared but then interrupted by a small dart piercing his neck which caused him to fall over moments later. He then went back to the mindscape he was in with Wolverine. As soon as he realized how he managed to escape from Rize, he was filled with more questions.
"Wait, who knocked me out? Was it the people who made me a ghoul in the first place?"
"That doesn't matter. You gotta get angry in order to kill the ghoul who's gonna kill your friend."
"I can't. I'm too weak."
"Yeah, because you didn't eat what that old guy gave you."
"I DON'T WANNA EAT HUMAN FLESH!"
Wolverine grabbed Kaneki by his shirt collar again and punched him.
"YOU DON'T HAVE A CHOICE! It's like I said before. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive."
"But…Hide is my best friend…"
Then another memory appeared before the two of them in their middle school years. Kaneki was by himself reading a book while Hide found him doing so.
(play Missing you – Kingdom Hearts II)
"Hey."
Kaneki looked behind him to see Hide.
"Hide…"
"Why are always by yourself reading books at school?"
"Is that wrong?"
"Nah. You're fine. Actually, this is the second time I've seen you do that."
"Really?"
"That time, you were the new kid who came to Tokyo."
"I was?"
"Yeah. No one would approach you at first, but I did after seeing you at a place like this. I wanted to be your friend, you accepted, and you took me to your place. I met your mom at that time as well."
"My…mom…"
Tears streamed from Kaneki's face when he tried to remember his mother. Hide instantly regretted this.
"Whoa, sorry about that, man. Didn't know that was a sore subject."
"It's okay. Usually I could control it, but this time…"
"Look man, just forget it. The point is this. I want us to be friends again."
"We were friends last time?"
"Yeah. The best of them. Let me start. I'm Hideyoshi Nagachika. It's a mouthful, I know. So just call me Hide."
"Sure. I'm Ken Kaneki. At least, that's what I'm told."
(end music)
Seeing the memory play in front of him, Wolverine sensed that Kaneki was tormented by the idea that if he accepted being a ghoul, that would mean leaving Hide. The one person who actually cared for him. Wolverine sees this, sighed, let go of his shirt collar, and offered Kaneki an extreme solution.
"You hate being a ghoul that much?"
"Only because I don't want to treat Hide like prey. Or anyone else for that matter."
"Since you now remember what you did to that purple-haired bitch, then you should know this. Your claws were the only things that actually hurt her. Cut her. Penetrate her."
Kaneki could see what Wolverine was saying, but didn't believed he could pull it off due to his weakened state. Wolverine then placed his hand on Kaneki's shoulder. Kaneki looked at him back.
"Let me take over for you. I'll get it done. You can trust me."
Kaneki was initially nervous by the proposal, but knew that as he was, he could not do anything.
"Fine. Take over when I can't cut it. Help me save him. As well as… anyone else I can save."
Wolverine extended his hand forward.
"Deal."
Kaneki shook Wolverine's hand, and as soon as an agreement between the two was made, everything then turned to white.
xxxxxx
Nishio summoned his kagune. It was a slender blue and green tentacle with a sharp end. He played with it a little before setting up for the kill. Before he could do that, he heard a loud, animalistic roar from behind him. He saw Kaneki standing up with rage in his eyes. This shocked and annoyed him as he believed that he beat up Kaneki to the point of defeat.
"Don't you ever stay down, you little wimp?!"
"Not when it comes to assholes who treats my friends like dirt!"
Kaneki breathed heavily as he was still weak from hunger. Nishio commented on this.
"You can't do anything to me. Look at you! You can barely stand up!"
"I know. I'm so damn hungry, but I don't want to eat what you eat. So, I'm…"
Kaneki extended his metal claws from his knuckles. Nishio sees the claws with total disbelief and confusion.
"He's a mutant? How did I miss that?"
"GONNA GET RID OF THE PROBLEM!"
Kaneki aimed the claws at his own body and tears through the skin of his gut and chest until his own organs were exposed to the world. Then he did something unthinkable. Something that would make lesser people puke at the sight of it. Kaneki was ripping out his own organs with his own two hands. Nishio looked at him with utter astonishment that he was essentially committing suicide. He knew that even though ghouls had some invulnerability, they were not invincible. Even ghouls would die if their own organs were being violently being ripped out of their own bodies. Kaneki eventually stopped as the act caused him to die. Nishio then calmed down.
"Damn. Never thought I'd see a mutant so eager to die. Oh well."
He then turned his attention to Hide.
"Let's see what you taste like, Nagachika."
Then Nishio heard a young, gruff voice.
"Sorry, bub. Cafeteria is closed"
Nishio turned around to see Kaneki standing upright, his ghoul eye formed, and with an angry look on his face. He also saw the gaping hole he made on his body completely healed up.
"But how?! Is it your mutant ability?!"
Kaneki then sped forward. Nishio initially believed towards him, but Kaneki passed him by for his school bag. Nishio sees him rustling through until he found the taiyaki Kaneki "saved" for later. He ate it up like a wild animal, and let out a small burp when he was finished.
"It ain't gonna fill my stomach, but it'll be enough for a prick like you."
Nishio was angrier than before and readied his kagune.
"Say that word again. I dare you!"
Kaneki crossed his arms like an X, and extended his claws from his knuckles.
SNIKT!
"Prick."
Nishio lunged his kagune forward only for Kaneki to sidestep in the nick of time. Nishio was further annoyed by Kaneki and swiped his kagune like a madman trying to hit him. Kaneki was displaying skill and agility he never demonstrated before. This frustrated Nishio to the point of fury.
"DAMN IT! STAY STILL, FREAK!"
"Don't blame me if you suck at this."
Kaneki then ran towards Nishio and vice versa. Like with Touka, the two rushed pass each other. While Kaneki only had a cut on his cheek, Nishio felt deep cuts on his sides. Initially confused by the wound, he sees Kaneki's metal claws to find blood on them. He stiffened at the sight of his blood on a mutant's claws.
"You're really starting to piss me off!"
"And I should care why?"
Nishio extended his kagune to hit Kaneki but he moved his head slightly to dodge. Nishio retracted his kagune and sped towards to Kaneki, only to be dealt a punch to his face. This made Nishio fly back to a wall. The pain made his face cringe. He then saw Kaneki with a serious look on his face as he walked towards him. Nishio struggled to get up.
"Don't think you can beat me, freak!"
Kaneki continued towards Nishio.
"I'm gonna kill you, and then…I'M GONNA EAT YOUR BITCH-ASS FOOD!"
Kaneki now got mad, and charged towards Nishio. He went so fast that by the time Nishio realized it, one of Kaneki's claws already pierced him.
"He's my friend. You don't get to touch him."
Both the Irises of Kaneki's eyes faded from his eyes. His left eye turned completely white and his right turned completely black as his berserker rage kicked in. He roared a primal yell, then proceeded to shred Nishio with his claws. Like with Rize, his attacks were fast and vicious. With swift and wide strikes did Kaneki practically teared Nishio apart. Then he performed a double stabbing with his own arms. Nishio was severely weakened to the point where he seemed close to death.
"Damn you…freak…"
Nishio slumped to the ground. Kaneki then roared as loud as he could over his "victory." Then, he slowly walked towards Hide to try to help him. But the closer he got, the more his exhaustion seemed to kick in.
"Can't sleep…Need to…see…Hide's…"
Finally, exhaustion consumed him and he fell to the ground.
xxxxxx
Kaneki instantly woke up on a familiar couch. He looked around to see a familiar room.
"Am I back in Anteiku?"
He then sniffed something familiar.
"Food? Wait…"
Kaneki felt his face to see if he ate Hide after all, and felt something gooey on his left cheek. At first, he feared that it would be blood, only to find it was mayonnaise.
"Wait, is this…?"
He sniffed it and recognized what it was. What surprised him was that when he sniffed it, the mayonnaise on his face did not smell disgusting. Kaneki even licked it to confirm two things.
"It is mayonnaise. And I just licked it…without puking my guts off!"
The door suddenly opened to reveal Yoshimura.
"Well, this is familiar."
"How did I…?"
"Touka found you and brought you back here."
"Where's my friend?"
"Follow me."
Yoshimura led Kaneki to where Hide was resting. He was relieved to see him in one piece. His eyes watered at the sight of Hide sleeping like he usually would. Kaneki then looks at himself to see the shirt he wore bearing many bloodstains.
"What happened?"
"You don't recall?"
"It's all a blur. I definitely remember Nishio kicking Hide into that alleyway and me barely fighting him. After that, all I remember is feeling pain. And rage."
Yoshimura thought about the possibility of Kaneki being afflicted by something.
"Then I woke, and I smelled food nearby. Human food. I discovered mayonnaise on my face and I didn't vomit it out after tasting it."
"Kaneki, I haven't been candid with you at the beginning. I asked Touka to keep an eye on you for the day. She was there when you fought against Nishiki. She says the way you fought was that of a veteran fighter with years of experience under his belt."
Kaneki could not believe what Yoshimura was telling him.
"However, this is the most shocking thing. She saw you ripping your own innards out of your body."
Now he felt staggering bewilderment at that last sentence. It was only softened by the fact of his mutant ability to heal himself.
"Whenever I would get a cut, it would heal itself quickly."
"Your mutant abilities, I presume?"
"Yeah. How did I…?"
"After Touka just brought you and Hide inside, you suddenly awoke. Then you sniffed around the café before heading to our food storage. However, you didn't go for our food reserves. Rather, you went for the food we serve to the customers."
"I did?"
"You ate everything you could get your hands on. Including the condiments."
Kaneki felt a little embarrassed at that last part.
"After that, you just went to sleep."
Kaneki took the story Yoshimura told him as fact. Relieved that, for some reason, he wasn't a ghoul anymore, how Touka described the fight between him and Nishiki compelled him to make a certain choice.
"Thank you for everything, Yoshimura. If Hide doesn't know anything, then you have my word that I will tell no one about you or any of the ghouls you have working here. I won't even come here anymore as proof of that."
"Why?"
Kaneki was confused by that question.
"I don't understand."
"It's not that I don't appreciate you for making such a promise. Rather, I just want to know. Why are you making that promise?"
After a brief moment of silence and thought, Kaneki gave his answer.
"I…don't remember anything from before I was 11 years old. Everything is a…absolute blank. That's why I feel…empty. And whenever I tried to remember something, it leads back to a memory that…has rage at first, then the sight and smell of blood, and finally sadness. It's not even fully formed and already I want to put it behind me. That's the reason why I…"
Kaneki slowly extended his claws from his knuckles.
"Don't want to show these to anybody."
He retracted his claws.
"I could tell that even though you are ghouls, you don't want to be defined by your…biological need to eat human flesh. You want to be more. That's why you don't want me around."
"And what makes you say that?"
What Kaneki didn't tell Yoshimura was that the memory he talked about was about his mother. Bleeding on the floor, and a younger version of himself with bloodied bone claws.
"I'm an animal. Everything I do is to keep it in the dark. Keep it where it can't reach anyone. Where it can't hurt anyone. But because of what I went through, how will it be before it rises and I lose myself to it? With these claws, I can hurt anybody. I don't want to hurt anyone…"
Kaneki then started crying.
"But I don't want to be alone. It's because of that, I let myself become somebody's prey, somebody's project. I even put my only friend's life in danger. I'm better off away from people, but…"
Yoshimura walked towards the blinds in Hide's room and opened them.
"Kaneki, do you realize what it is you went through?"
He wasn't sure what Yoshimura meant.
"Mutation. You underwent a radical change that forced you to adapt to a new situation. Although it didn't last long, it gave you a new perspective."
"On what it means to be a ghoul?"
"Precisely. Kaneki, like you, some ghouls don't want to give in to their primal instincts. Some of us want to be part of the world we live in, but it's hostile to our kind. Our primal instincts are the only way we can survive in a world that desires our extinction. What I am trying to do here, in Anteiku, is learning about the world that both humans and mutants live in."
Yoshimura then gave Kaneki an offer.
"Join us, Kaneki. I want to help in regaining what you lost, what makes you feel like you're an animal, and maybe help you find a future for yourself, despite missing a past. In return, you can help gain a deeper understanding about mutants. Being a part of Anteiku can even help you gain a better understanding of us. How about it? I even start by teaching you how we make our coffee here."
Kaneki's mood lightened up a little as soon as Yoshimura offered to teach his coffee-making skills to him.
"Sounds good. I never made coffee before."
And here is where we end the chapter. I enjoyed writing this chapter as larger plot elements for the whole story were laid out in a fashion that I hope kept readers engaged while not feeling bored. If you like it, leave a review. Share with your friends. And stay tuned for the next chapter. Later!