Hi! It's Me!

Soooooo…here's chapter three. Kaneki will be getting his mask today! Exciting! I still need to decide what mask I should give him. I dunno, tell me what you think about that. I thought it over since the prologue and the original Kaneki mask was too scary and too unfitting for the new, shy and pushover Kaneki. Something cuter would be nice.

That's all I got, enjoy!

"A mask?" asked Kaneki. Yoshimura nodded, "Yes. I think it's about time you got one" he said.

"Touka!"

Touka turned around, a serving plate in her hand. "Yeah?" she asked. Yoshimura nudged Kaneki forward. "This boy here needs a mask, can you get him one?" he asked. Touka made a face that looked like contempt and scorn, "But it's my one day off!" she argued. She had-though she would never admit it-been looking forward to her break for a while now. Yoshimura looked apologetic, "I'm sorry Touka but Kaneki here really needs one" he said. Kaneki looked at Touka with those big, pleading eyes. "Please?" he asked, his tiny girlish voice finally making Touka cave in. She tried one more time, "Does he really need one?" Yoshimura eyed looked at her seriously, "Touka-chan, the 20th ward investigator's activity rate has shot up dramatically in the last few days. I want a mask ready and on hand immediately" he said. Touka looked surprised-the doves had never bothered them before, but nodded; "Alright, will do" she turned to Kaneki, and her expression dramatically changed. "Meet me at 2:30 before the train station. If you're late, there will be no guarantees you'll walk out alive" she said, brief but harshly. She looked really scary to the point where Kaneki could practically hear eerie ambient music playing. Kaneki almost fainted at the sight. "Y-Y-Yes ma'am" he said. He may be a kid, but he's a damn smart one. He wasn't going to show up late.

-Time skip: Next day-

"Touka-chan, that hurt" said Kaneki matter-of-factly. Touka huffed but didn't reply. They were in front of the train station, and Touka impatiently dragged Kaneki towards a side alley, taking a turn…well…lots of turns down one side street after another. Kaneki was amazed by Touka's confident navigation through the maze-like roads. Touka didn't seem to notice, walking until they saw a run-down place, with graffiti on the walls and cracked, boarded up windows. Touka rapped sharply on a metal door that looked like it could fall over on itself. Kaneki gulped.

"No one's answering" said Touka rhetorically as she pressed the handle downwards and let herself in, the door wasn't locked. Kaneki hurried after her. He stepped into what looked like an abandoned…masks…shop? It was hard to tell. There were mannequins everywhere with various masks and tools draped over them. On one was a half-finished mask that had a piece of measuring tape sticking to one side. The only light source seemed to be through the cracks of the boarded-up windows and a single shadeless lightbulb attatched to a flimsy wire. Kaneki looked skeptical. "Are we in the right place?" he asked. Touka shushed him, "Don't be rude" she said. Kaneki wanted to roll his eyes. He wasn't being rude, just curious.

"Uta-san! There's someone here!" shouted Touka. Kaneki waited for a response. He thought he could pick up some movement, but he wasn't sure. Walking over to a draped mannequin, he lifted up the tarp and…

"Boo" said Uta.

Kaneki gave a girly shriek before falling onto the floor. Touka was startled by the sudden noise, and swung into a defensive position, only to relax when she saw who it was. "Uta" she said laughing, "What are you doing?" Uta shrugged, "Thought I'd surprise you" he said. Kaneki made a face, that certainly surprised him alright.

"So, this is Uta" said Touka, hands out like a waitress presenting a fancy meal. Uta nodded, "That's me" he said casually. Touka continued, "He will be making your mask for you…erm…" Touka turned back to Uta and whispered, "Do you have any masks his size?" Uta thought for a moment, tilting his head slightly, "Not really. Never had a costumer like him " he said.

Touka nodded, "Then can you make one?" she asked. Uta almost smiled, "Yeah" he said. Uta turned to Kaneki, "So, what's your name?" he asked. "I-I'm Kaneki" he mumbled/stuttered. Uta nodded, "Mhm…well Kaneki, I'll see what I can do about your mask" He got up and started to sift through a drawer, pulling out measuring tapes, pens, pencils, and other unidentifiable things. "Y'know, you're pretty lucky to land in the 20th ward, things have been getting dicey elsewhere" said Uta casually, making idle conversation. Kaneki nodded, "I know" he said. He had been living in the 24th ward for so long that the 20th ward seemed like an oasis of calm. Uta got up, "Ah well, must be nice at Anteiku. Lots of sunshine, lots of socialization, lots of food"

Kaneki didn't tell him he didn't eat "food".

Uta pointed to a blank counter, "Sit there" he said, "I'll take your measurements" Kaneki waddled over, turning slightly red as he realized that he couldn't reach the countertop. Uta almost grinned. "Use you kagune" he said, "I won't judge" Kaneki-a bit embarrassedly-took out a kagune and propelled himself up. He sat there, waiting. Uta walked over, and without any warning whatsoever, started a barrage of random questions.

"Any allergies?"

"Erm…no"

"Rubber or metal?"

"They're fine"

"Do you want a full face?"

"Uhm…"

"Actually, since this is your first mask…maybe a half-face"

"Erm…"

"The eyepatch is cute; do you want it in your mask?"

Kaneki undid his eyepatch, "They're nothing special. I just wear it because my eye gets reddish whenever I get hungry" he said. "You can always eat y'know. Here, have an eyeball" he said, holding a plump eye out. Kaneki almost fainted. Uta glanced questioningly at Touka, who waved her hand dismissively. Long story, she seemed to say. Uta shrugged and popped the eye into his mouth. "How 'bout siblings. Any of those?" he asked. Kaneki was about to tell him about Rize, but something stopped him. He probably shouldn't be talking about Rize. Call it instinct.

"No" he said.

Uta shrugged. He didn't really care. Kaneki decided to change tact. "Do these questions have anything to do with my mask?" he asked. Uta nodded enigmatically, "Yeah. I feel motivated when I know my costumer better" he said.

There was a pause.

Then Uta asked, in a lower voice than before, "Tell me, what's your impression of Touka?" Kaneki didn't know how to answer that, he never thought about it before. "She's…really scary" he said slowly, putting together his thoughts as he spoke, "And gets angry easily, but she's very nice to Yoshimura". In fact, Kaneki had mixed feelings about Touka. He felt he would be safe with her, but would also suffer minor concussions as soon as she was done saving him. Uta shrugged, "To me, she's just a really hard worker" he said.

"For us to blend in with human society, we have to wear a mask that we never take off. The more involved we get, the more discrete we have to become. Touka knows all of that, and still decided to run a café. It's kind of impressive actually, when you think about it" Kaneki had to interrupt, "Why does she want to associate with humans anyways?" he asked. Uta shrugged, doodling on his sketchpad. "Not sure, but whenever I get a human costumer, I always feel a little…thrill"

Kaneki shuddered. He was having second thoughts about having Uta make a mask for him.

Time skip; 1 hour

Kaneki was walking with, or rather getting dragged along, with Touka. Touka was walking stiffly, as if spending even one day with Kaneki made her want to puke. She was in a bad mood. Kaneki kept his head down as he walked. He wasn't what one may call confident, but it was cute in a way. Besides, there was a hidden meaning behind the posture.

Kaneki was a crybaby, and wasn't good at hiding emotions. Rize had tried to teach Kaneki how to hide emotions and how to put on masks, but to no avail. Eventually, she gave up and told Kaneki to do whatever. Kaneki solved the problem in an uncharacteristic way for him, he just lowered his head. This simple tactic had worked remarkably well, and he was less-noticed ever since.

*Tokyo Ghoul!*

The night air was suddenly split by the sound of two bodies hitting a wall of an alleyway. Amon took out the pliers and held them out. "Can any of you tell me what this is?" he asked. The two ghouls, one with brown and the other with red hair, looked up. The braver (or dumber) of the pair retorted angrily, "How should I know?" Amon replied by letting his blood paint the walls behind him. The other ghoul saw what had happened and whimpered in fear. Amon turned to him, "How about you?" he asked. The ghoul rapidly shook his head, "I-I don't know!" he shouted. Mado stepped up, "You aren't lying, are you?" he asked in a soothing, low tone which was somehow scarier than if he had shouted. The ghoul shook his head, "I really don-" Mado wasted no time slashing at the offender's body. Blood painted the cement.

"Here, take this to Hinami" said Yoshumura. Kaneki nodded. Since he had arrived, he had been given various tasks to do. "Sure" he said before taking the plate and going to Hinami's room. Once he was upstairs, he went to open the door to Hinami's room. "Whoa!" Rize suddenly exclaimed as he cannoned into Kaneki. Kaneki screamed before pulling out a kagune and catching the cup of coffee. "Rize!" he complained, "What are you doing?" Rize smirked like she just cheated on a test and got away with it, "Hinami's eating, you sure you want to go in?" she asked. Kaneki gulped before getting up and sitting beside the door. "I-I-I'll wait" he said.

Then he waited.

Then, after a few minutes, he knocked again. "Hinami?" he asked. Hinami was reading now, with no trace of blood or anything else. "Come in" she said. Her voice was so feminine that it surprised him. "I, uh…brought you something" he said, opening the door and placing the cup of coffee by the table. He left as soon as the saucer touched the table. Rize stayed behind, studying Hinami. After a while, after Kaneki was gone, she asked, "Tell me, what do you think we are?" she asked. Hinami shrugged, "I don't know" she said, not meanly. "I don't want to upset you, but you smell like a ghoul but look like a human". Rize smiled, "I know, I'm both" she said, watching with satisfaction as Hinami's eyes widened, "You're a one-eye?" she asked. She had never seen one before. Rize chuckled softly, "Yep, I'm a one-eye" she said. Hinami eagerly beckoned her towards herself, "So tell me about it!" she said excitedly. Rize sat next to her, her feet not quite touching the floor, and started to tell her about how she could use all types of kagunes and how (squeamish) Kaneki never hurt anyone before and that the ghoul investigators generally leave him alone. Hinami eagerly listened to everything Rize said, the story becoming more exaggerated as Rize spoke. By the time Rize was done telling her the story, she had thought that Kaneki was a failed science experiment that escaped with the help of Rize and became the only known ghoul that had never eaten flesh and had never hurt a human, who was actually an secret CCG agent that revealed information to the rest of the ghouls in the 20th ward before anyone even knew about him. How the story got that exaggerated, he had no idea.

The scene was a cheerful one, with Rize happily telling Hinami completely bogus stories and Hinami listening eagerly as she absorved every single word. They looked so…normal, and happy.

It was touching really.

Hai! It's ME!

Boo! Happy Halloween! Here's a Tokyo Ghoul story for y'all to enjoy while I go and wallow in misery at the upcoming speech I have to give in front of a whole class! So much work for a little 10-year-old like moi!

That's all I got, Ciao!