DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo Ghoul Root A and Tokyo Ghoul:re and other products related to the TG Series are all owned by Sui Ishida, Shin Towada and Shueisha.

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Chapter 3: PTSD for Dummies! (Pt.2)

Kaneki was unsure about this whole situation.

When he had been asked to give the new guests, the teen had complied with few contrasting thoughts.

The girl, Hinami, matched well the 'brunette imouto' Juste had been ranting about but..

There was something sad in her eyes, something familiar to one like him. But what and why?

The young man paused just before knocking at the door, eyes widening as a small warning was given by the 'voice' in his head.

And like he had been warned about, he restrained himself from jumping in utter fear when he saw the youngest Fueguchi eating a plate filled with bloody parts.

Pale and a bit panicking, Kaneki gestured at his hands as the girl stared at the cup of coffee and the fresh towel he had taken with him, her Kakugan giving brief glances to his face for some reason.

Some Ghouls have a very impressive smell sense. Hinami has a very acute one.

S-She can smell that something is wrong with me?

It is more about the fact you smell like Rize. The pheromones that Ghoul's noses pick mostly are those coming from the Kakuhou.

And mine is from Rize..

His musing were perfectly sealed away from the outside as he slowly found an interesting individual in Hinami.

The girl, albeit lacking some basis of elementary grammar, was quick enough to sponge any new information he was happy to give her.

For some reason, that brief moment of tutoring felt fitting for their two realities.

The brunette patted the spot near her seat in the couch, gesturing him to get closer for the whole 'grammar lesson'.

Then the topics moved away from the teaching as the young man noticed 'why' Juste had argued for him to take his copy of Dropped Box.

"Is that Monochrome Rainbow?"

The younger Ghoul blinked in surprise at the question, her eyes glancing at the mentioned literary piece.

"It.. It is a gift from my dad." Her tone going for a more sad tone, quite weird after having heard her chatting so lively.

That's because her father is always busy with his full-time work as doctor.

That was truly.. sad. Kaneki couldn't bring himself to truly draw parallels regarding that, having never had to deal with a fatherly figure in his entire life.

It was then that his body started to move without his permission, a sign that he had been put once more in the backstage of this peculiar scene.

"Is that so?" I said with a restrained tone, feeling bad for having pushed Hinami onto that particular sore spot.

My eyes moved to see the small drawing the girl had been busy before Kaneki had engaged her in the prior discussion and I blinked. "That is truly a good drawing style."

"Uh?" She was obviously confused at this change of topic but she nodded nonetheless. "T-Thank you."

"Is that your father?" My finger hovered over the blue figure with a small smile.

She nodded and I grinned. "He seems quite happy. I bet he likes those drawings too."

Hinami smiled at the compliment. "H-He likes to place them in his office... h-he said something about having something from us.."

She barely noticed as my hand started to slowly pat her head. "That means he cares a lot about you and your mother." I continued with a small smile. "Then why being saddened and all?"

She blinked as she continued to stare at the drawing. "B-Because.. I would want.. to have a real family-Owie."

The girl massaged the part I had poked in her head as I sighed. "Hinami-chan, you silly girl. That wish is already there!"

"B-But he's-" "Do you think he is doing it out of pleasure, to be away from his daughter and wife?"

She blinked but shook her head.

"Then your family is real. It's just that.. the world is bad." I coughed in my hand. "Sure, bad situations happen left and right once in a while but you care for each other, thus you will always have a family."

A small whine died in my throat. "The opposite.. isn't that even much of a pleasant thing, you know? Having your mother and father together with you.. but he stops caring."

Everyone is somehow broken. You are.. just not in the way nor the same grade Kaneki-kun is.

"O-Onii-san?"

I blinked and let a nervous chuckle leave my mouth. "N-Nothing. Just.. thinking about something else.."

I let go and Kaneki was quick to resume with his awkward approaches.. not before a small exchange.

Juste?

There are things that are better left unsaid, Kenny.

Touka Kirishima was dealing with a big dilemma as she continued through her duties of taking the orders of the clients at Anteiku.

She had decided to see how the former human would have reacted to Hinami, possibly messed up with her and gave the Kirishima a good reason to beat the crap out of him.

Her wide-eyes peeked silently as the whole event that she had not expected unfolded.

The young man was a true enigma. At times he would be clumsy and quite annoying, in others he seemed to be capable of be an average rookie.

Something that was biting at her small ounces of sanity that were left in her brain.

Yoriko had prepared two more dishes than the usual single one and when Touka reached the closest restroom, tears were falling mercilessly as she released the content of her stomach on the toilette.

That had sucked big time and so her mood that day was stuck on a very proverbial truce.

Plus there was the whole confusing exchange of glances between the blond nuisance and Kaneki, something that reminded her of some understandment but about what she couldn't truly pinpoint.

Her worst fear could as well be true in that very case.

It was two hours after the curious scene she had witnessed that the manager decided to give her something to use against her 'kohai'.

After Rize had disappeared, the 20th Ward feeding ground she had once guarded were now free game for several minor groups.

A powerplay was unavoidable but the staff was more than eager to do some damage control about the whole situation.

The issue? Someone was starting to bark louder than usual and this time it was Touka and her 'sidekick' to deal with whoever was causing trouble.

"Touka-neesan!" A brunette impacted on her as she was already moving to find and capt-ehrm recover the young man. "Hinami-chan." She smiled as she loved the younger girl akin to a sister to her.

"Kaneki-niisan lent me this!" The blue-haired schoolgirl blinked at the title 'Dropped Box?' but was caught off-guard as Hinami giggled a little more louder. "It is from the same writer that did M-Mo-Monoch-Monochrome Rainbow!"

Touka felt proud that her surrogate sister had managed to learn such complicate word but she was also quite defeated by the notion of Kaneki being the only responsible for that.

"So, are you going to stay around or are you and your mom going out soon?"

Hinami hummed quietly. "Mom said that she wanted to buy some flowers... and maybe we could visit dad too."

So much cheerful.. the Kirishima felt at odds now when considering that she was considering to harm the 'surrogate big brother' to her surrogate little sister.

Bidding goodbye to the woman and her daughter, Touka returned to search for the elusive teen and catched in time a black blur moving inside manager's office.

Eyes checking left and right to see if someone was staring at her, the female Ghoul sighed in relief as she noticed that there were few clients (most of them already eating and drinking) and that the two Baristas were too busy chatting with some clients.

Her ear graced the wooden door as muffled words barely reached out. A failure, she thought, and had already moved out of the way as Kaneki finally opened the door, noticing her.

Her eyes glanced just in time to see a small envelope in Yoshimura's hands before truly focusing on the pressing issue.

"You are going to follow me around. The manager's orders."

Wide-eyed at the tone that left no space for protests, Kaneki nodded defeated as his 'senpai' started to led the way out of the coffee shop and towards the area that had been targetted the most.

Maybe Touka could be more lenient... maybe she will limit the punishment to any failure to just three punches than the early planned five. Yes, that seemed a fitting compromise.

AN

Fun Fact: Nishiki and I share the same birthday. We both were born in February the 4th!

Juste... ain't going to be a flawless character. His hardships are slowly going to put some plans in jeopardy, especially regarding Jason and Aogiri.