Hello guys, it's been s while, maybe a week or so? But here is a new chapter!
This chapter is a lot longer than the previous ones. Probably because I'm revealing more things here and more questions will arise. Gotta love the suspense! Also as I said once this
Thank you everyone! Readers, reviewers, favs, follows etc, you guys make me so happy. Now let's go on with the replies for the anonymous reviews!
Killerbull27: Thanks, well your patience has been rewarded! I hope it was worth it.
Guest: Thank you.
Guest: I think Ayato was adorable when he was a baby, he was so cute in the flash back chapter of TG. Though, their family is also broken in this AU, they still find happiness with each other. Haha thanks, I can tell you, this story will be a long ride. Hopefully not too complicated... But my mind is too unpredictable. It goes from one place to another and my drafts always tend to change at the end, which results until a few edits to the following drafts.
Thans again everyone, now let's continue with the next chapter.
Chapter 3: Hidden
The tea cup was slammed on the table.
Kaneki blinked, surprised as he looked at the cup and turned to see Ayato's glaring eyes on him. Without any word the younger male walked away, muttering some unintelligible words. The boy definitely didn't like him, why? He didn't know. Not that it would matter, as long as the kid wasn't troublesome, he would leave him alone. His eyes narrowed at the cup, he smelled the fragrance first. It didn't seem bad. After one sip, he decided that he had drunk worse.
"My apologies for Ayato-kun. It's his first day here and he isn't accustomed to the job yet."
Kaneki slowly looked to his side to see an old man standing next to him, a gentle smile present on his face, but the man could tell that behind that smile, something else was hidden. His instinct told him that the older ghoul was dangerous and that he had to be careful. "It's alright." Kaneki reassured him. "The coffee isn't bad by the way."
"I'm glad it's to your liking. I'm Yoshimura, the manager of this cafe and the organization that keeps on eye on the 20th ward." Yoshimura explained.
"Anteiku, right?"
Yoshimura nodded. "All employees are members of Anteiku. Some may need some supervision themselves, but they are capable enough to keep order. The feeding grounds are distributed between the weaker ghouls and those who have trouble hunting receive help from us. You're free to hunt, as long as you don't cause trouble for the others." Yoshimura explained. "Now, I'd like to go straight to the point... Kaneki-kun isn't it? Touka-chan told me about you."
Kaneki nodded as he kept listening to the man attentively.
"From what I understood, you're new here and probably, only staying in this ward temporarily?"
"Yes," The white-haired man replied. "I promise I won't cause any trouble. It would be troublesome if I were to attract doves."
The old ghoul nodded. "I also heard that you were looking for someone? May I know the reason?"
"Well, it's a bit personal, so I can't reveal much, only that there's something I have to know."
The elder ghoul eyed the young man carefully. "I see and that's why you're looking for the ghoul known as the corpse collector?"
"Yes, do you know anything?"
Yoshimura shook his head. "I have to disappoint you. The name corpse collector, is a name I hadn't heard for a long time ago and from what I know is that it was a peaceful ghoul, hardly attracting any attention from other ghouls during his stay."
"I see." Kaneki said as he stared pensively at his coffee cup. "Anyway, thank you for your information."
"You're welcome. Please enjoy your stay in the 20th ward." Yoshimura disappeared through the door that lead towards the upper part of Anteiku.
He went upstairs into a small room with a table, sofas and some shelves. Ayato was sitting there, sipping on a cup of coffee with a bored expression plastered on his face, he eyed his boss, confused when he saw Yoshimura's expression. "What's the matter old man?"
"Nothing. It's just, I think I should give you and your sister the rest of the day off. We're not busy and Toukacann probably needs to focus on her studies, you actually should do the same."
The boy stayed quiet, eyes still glued on the old man. "It's my first day, and you're letting me leave early already?" The teen sighed and got up. "Fine by me, getting surrounded by those shitty humans is getting on my nerves."
"Ayato-kun..."
"Yeah, yeah, I have to respect them." The boy answered.
"Go get your sister."
The dark-haired ghoul just shrugged his shoulders and left the room. Leaving the manager alone with his thoughts.
"What did you say?" Touka asked, confused as she and Yomo stored the new collected flesh in the storage room.
"The old man told me that we could go home for the rest of the day." Ayato mumbled.
"What did you do this time?" The boy's older sister narrowed her eyes.
"Nothing!" The boy barked. "He just told me to go home after I served that customer of you."
Her customer? The female ghoul decided to let it slide. "Fine, I need to finish some homework anyway." She turned to look at her brother again. "And you should try to do something for school too! You can't keep skipping classes!"
"And why not?" Ayato asked, irritation growing in his tone. "It's not like we need it anyway! Besides, socialising with stock is a pain in the ass!"
"At least try to blend in! Just sit there and shut up! Your classmates are probably too scared to approach you anyway!" The girl snorted.
"They should be." The boy showed a toothy grin, like a wolf that was planning to eat his prey.
The older sibling flicked her brother's forehead and walked out of the room. "Sorry for leaving you with the work Yomo-san." She said.
"It's fine..." The man answered, while he continued his work in silence.
Ayato scowled at his sister and followed her out of the storage room. Ready to go home.
The rain had finally subdued a bit and Kaneki was thankful for that. After he finished he paid and thanked Ayato, who apparently was already done with working, for the coffee. The boy only responded with a glare and followed his sister outside. The white-haired ghoul chuckled at the younger ghoul's behavior. He seemed quite attached to his sister, but showed it with a big mouth.
When he exited the cafe the man continued on his way, pondering about the information he had gotten. It wasn't what he had hoped, but at least better something than nothing. He still had the feeling as if something was bugging him at the back of his mind.
"Maybe... I should take a look around the place, since I'll be here for a while." He mumbled as he walked away towards the shopping district.
The place wasn't completely crowded, but it wasn't empty either. Kaneki scanned curiously through the crowd, observing and learning the behavior of the citizens of the 20th ward. Ghouls and humans alike were very lax. "No wonder it's left alone... With this many peaceful ghoul, the ghouls of the other wards will find this very boring." He muttered. "Also, there is Anteiku..."
The man looked up when he noticed a figure in the shadow and sighed. "About time..." He got up and disappeared into the alley. "Let me guess, you got lost?"
"No, something else came up. So I couldn't come sooner."
Kaneki stared at the figure sighed. "Alright, what do you have?"
"He's been quiet for years. The last incident revolving him is almost ten years ago. Maybe he went into hiding, there is a possibility he left this ward. I came across someone who knows more, but it'll take some time before I can get in touch with the guy, because
of the doves and he seems very reluctant himself to give away any information."
Kaneki stayed quiet for a while. "And what do you know about a ghoul named Yoshimura?"
"He's the ghoul that runs Anteiku. The organization of this ward, for some reason he disguised it as a regular cafe, but it's the best place to gather information or news about anything that happens here. He has been managing the 20th ward for more than 10 years. I don't know much about Yoshimura or the employees working there, but they're all strong and high ranked ghouls. So, it's better to not to mess with them. They have a lot of respect for their boss."
"Well, that confirms my suspicions." The man answered. "Thank you or your information."
"It's part of the deal, no need to thank me."
Kaneki nodded as he left the small alley. "If you could find more information about that organisation, it would be very helpful and also, try not to get caught." He warned.
Touka sighed in relief as she and Ayato finally arrived at their apartment. The siblings took off their jackets and collapsed on the couch.
"That the hell is with that old man?" Ayato grumbled. "Maybe his age finally caught up to him."
"Thanks to that old man, we are able to live undisturbed!" Touka reminded him.
The boy ignored his sister and turned on the TV. 'Another body of a CCG officer has been found in the 11th ward. People are getting worried that...'
Ayato quickly zapped to another channel.
'Try our new pocky with caramel flavour!'
He zapped again.
'And this concludes this match in a draw!'
And again.
'Buy one now and get the second one for free! Only for...'
And again.
'ONE OK ROCK will hold a concert in Tokyo, on the 15th of February! Buy your ticket now, before...'
And agai...
"Stick to one fucking channel!" Touka yelled angrily as she tried to focus on her homework.
The boy shot a glare to his sister, but did as she said. There was nothing to see anyway, so better to listen to some Japanese rock band.
After hours of cramping and trying to understand her homework, Touka decided that she had enough for today. She went towards the kitchen to make some coffee, only to find nothing. "Ayato, did you get more coffee yesterday, like I asked you?"
"You didn't ask me anything like that, stupid! Besides, I was out most of the time!"
Touka growled as she stared out of the window, looking dreadfully at the pouring rain. "Fuck!"
Knowing that her brother was in no mood to go out and mingle with humans for today, not even for the only thing they could drink, she grabbed a raincoat and put on her shoes again. "I'll be right back, don't even dare to try anything, you hear me?"
"Tche, as if I would want to do anything in this shitty weather." The boy answered and continued to watch television.
What Touka hated the most about winter season was the cold. Snow, rain and that annoying feeling of needles piercing your skin repeatedly whenever a gust of wind blew in your face. Which is why her mood worsened when she noticed that it began to pour even harder.
"It will definitely snow tomorrow..." The teen mumbled in disgust.
The girl opened her umbrella and quickly ran through the streets on her way to the store.
She sighed in relief when she finally entered the building and a wave of warmth hit her body. She closed her umbrella and took off her hood. She quickly rubbed her hands together and breathed on them repeatedly, hoping for them to warm up.
"Who would have thought that we'd meet again so soon?"
The blue-haired girl looked up to see the strange white-haired ghoul from before. "... Kaneki... Right?"
The man nodded.
"Are you also here for coffee?" The girl asked him suspiciously.
"I guess you can say that. Since I still haven't settled completely in this place, I'll just need a few things."
"It's not really hard to find, just around the corner of the first row." The girl sighed as the gestured the man to follow her in which he complied.
"Your brother doesn't seem to be very customer friendly."
Touka blinked. "Ayato?" God what did the brat do this time.
"He took my order at the cafe." Kaneki explained.
"... Ah, I had to take care of something first. That's why he took over." 'That stupid brat, if he scares away the customers we'll get scolded by the old man.'
"The dove, I assume."
Touka didn't answer, which Kaneki assumed then as a yes. "So, where you able to find that person you're looking for?" The female ghoul asked. Hoping to quickly change the subject as she reached down to get one packet of coffee, which she inspected carefully, only to place it back.
"Not really, the people I asked don't know much."
The 17-year old nodded, her suspiciousness on the guy only increased. "Is he a friend of yours?"
"... Not really..."
"Why are you looking for him?"
"You ask a lot of questions."
Touka bucked to inspect one more coffee package, before she stood up; holding five coffee packets, she gave two to Kaneki. "The ghouls of this ward are very fond of their peace. It would be troublesome if some new guy disturbs it. We have no interest in the battles that take place at the other wards between ghouls and humans." She answered flatly. "Anteiku strives for peace in the 20th ward so we do our best to keep it that way." Her tone was cold and her eyes were narrowing. "If anything suspicious occurs that may bring the doves attention to us, we get rid of it."
She turned around and walked towards the check point. "And one thing." Touka turned to face Kaneki again and pointed to the coffee he was holding. "That's the best brand you can get here. It's not the cheapest, but it doesn't give you the feeling as if you're tasting clumps of coffee powder or a cheap shit-flavoured coffee."
"Thanks for the advice."
She stayed silent and proceeded with pulling her hood on and opened her umbrella, until she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around, glaring at the olive-eyed man. "Could you please refrain from touching me?" The rain was really fouling her mood, but then again her personality was just as lacking as Ayato's when she wasn't pretending to be human.
Kaneki held his other hand in front of her. "I thought you would want to borrow these, since its cold outside and you were shivering when you entered."
Touka stared at the pair of gloves. Her eyes narrowed in distrust. "Why?"
"Lets just say its a thank you for helping me." He explained.
"It's just coffee, even a cat can do it."
"You showed me the way to the cafe."
"You got rid of the dove that was chasing me." Not that she needed the help, but at least it saved her from a scolding.
The man sighed. Women really were difficult to handle. "Then how about you'll borrow them now and repay me later?"
"What idiot would accept such a stupid offer? I'd be stupid to fall for that, for all I know you could trick me in any shady business!"
"I won't." He said as he grabbed her hand and gave her the gloves. "As repay how about you buy me coffee someday?"
That was the stupidest thing the girl had ever heard, but if he would shut up, then she'd do it. "Fine, as long as you shut up."
She put on the gloves, though they were big for her, it was better than nothing. Opened the umbrella and ran out of the grocery store.
"I'll see you then, Touka-chan!"
The girl cringed at the way he addressed her. "Stupid weirdo." She mumbled.
The door closed gentle the moment the white haired ghoul entered his apartment. It wasn't a very impressive apartment. Enough for one person, with a living room, bedroom, bathroom with toilet and a kitchen as it was designed for humans of course. The place was very neat and clean, Kaneki didn't have much anyway, except for quite some books that he liked to read in his free time. It helped him to keep him busy and prevented boredom.
The man wiped away the water from his forehead. He was completely soaked to the bone, not that he minded. He stored the coffee packages in the kitchen and headed to his room to change into some dry clothes.
He placed his shirt on the heating, for it to dry along with his pants and headed towards the bathroom. He stopped by in front of the midair o inspect himself. His torso was lean and ripped, his back showed one scar. His eyes darkened at the memory. Kaneki quickly looked away and headed into the shower.
"Anteiku..." He mumbled. "I'm sure the old man knows more than he lets on."
The water continued to wash over his body, while the man thought about the 20th ward and its unique rules. The organisation that decided to mingle with the humans and the members, all of them seem to have their own ideals and opinions. "I need to observe this place first and get a better idea of the ghouls of Anteiku and the organisation itself. Before I can continue..."
After a few more minutes the white-haired man finally turned off the shower and stepped out. He wrapped a towel around his middle after he dried his hair and returns to his room, where he pulled a shirt, a pair of boxers and some pants out of his closet and put them on, before collapsing on his bed.
"I get the feeling that this will take longer than I hoped."
He grabbed a book that was reading on his nightstand and continued to read where he had left last night. His preference or books were mostly classic literature and philosophy, to him those were the best way to leave you thinking about the meanings and symbolism.
'Rain, as common and natural as it is, when looking past the typical meaning, it has more functions than providing nature with nourishment.'
The white haired man glanced at the window an smirked at the irony. The rain was still tapping against the window, showering the 20th ward is a slight feeling of gloominess.
'As he continued on, he felt like his soul was slowly getting cleansed, all his fears, fury, sadness, worries, all was washed away by the rain and he felt like he was reborn as a new person. The pain and stinging felt like a ghost of the past, finally letting go of their hold on the man; he had finally found salvation.'
"Salvation... If such things really existed, then this world would be a lot more beautiful than it is now..." Kaneki mused.
The man continued reading, until his alarm went off. When he looked up, he noticed that the sky had cleared a bit and was now bathed in the thin glow of the moonlight. It took a while before Kaneki realized that he had lost track of time again. "I guess I should go out for now."
He stood up and left the room, grabbing his coat and shoes at the hall and leaving his cozy home, for the cold and dark night.
If there was one thing that Kaneki was able to enjoy, no matter what ward he was in, it was the view of Tokyo's nightlife. The whole city illuminated in all kinds of lights, while looking from above in the darkness. One of the few positive sides of being a ghoul. The man stayed quiet for minutes, not moving one muscle, while observing the behaviour and the movements of the citizens. The main streets, alleyway, parks, the plaza. Of course it was less crowded than daytime, since the majority would be sitting inside in front of the TV with their family, or finishing homework or working, but that was how he preferred it.
After a few minutes of gazing at the city, the man leaped from his position and jumped from one building to another. The scenery changed quickly, from the clear night sky to the various roofs, walls or windows of the buildings. The ghoul landed with a silent thud in an alleyway as he quietly continued his promenade, until he spotted a group of ghouls.
"The next time I see that fucking brat, I'm going to tear him into pieces!" One of the ghouls sneered. "Just because he had a reputation, he thinks he's a big shot!"
"He did have an advantaged over us." Another ghoul commented.
"On whose fucking side are you?!"
"I was just stating the facts. Besides, he has built quite a reputation with his sibling around here."
"Just because they're a bit famous doesn't give them the right to act all high and mighty!"
"You did try to hit on the older sibling."
The ghoul was met with a friend so from his companion. "If you talk back to me again, you'll lose more than just your teeth, got it?" He sneered.
The other ghoul whimpered, but nodded.
"Those fucking siblings have been troublesome even before they were taken by that zombie bastard!"
The group turned silent when they noticed the white-haired ghoul.
"What do you want? Are you spying on us?" The ghoul who appeared to be the leader sneered.
"Sorry, I was just passing by, is all." Kaneki explained.
The ghoul squinted his eyes. "Aren't you the suspicious new guy everyone keeps talking about.
The man scratched his chin awkwardly. "I guess I am."
The group leader walked up to the ghoul and inspected him thoroughly. "You smell weird" He commented; "and what's with the white hair? A fashion trend?"
"It's my natural hair colour."
The man grunted. "Well, since you're new here, let me make a few things clear, Anteiku divides the hunting grounds between the inhabitants, but the conflict between the ghouls is none of their business, so if I see you sneaking around my turf, you'll be dead meat, got it?"
Kaneki's expression stayed the same. "I'll be careful." He answered. "Now if like to ask you something. I've heard quite a lot about two ghouls? And since you mentioned something similar."
"You mean the Kirishima siblings." A short man pointed out. "They're mostly known for their temper so only a few people cross paths with them. The oldest of the two; Kirishima Touka is part of Anteiku for quite some time and very good at acting, if you've been there before you will have trouble believe that she scares the shit out of everyone. The youngest one; Kirishima Ayato joined recently. I think their caretaker is one of the members; Yomo Renji. He doesn't show himself often and his social skills are lower than that of those two combined, but he's very strong and rumour has it, that he was quite the horror in the past. They have calmed down a lot the past couple of months, but I think that Yoshimura is the reason behind it. I'm not sure about the complete story behind them, but they moved into this ward a few years ago, during the time that the 20th ward was getting more peaceful."
"More peaceful?"
"Things had been quite chaotic in the past here and around the surrounding wards, I know it's hard to believe. Since the majority of the ghouls in this ward, are so young, many of them have no knowledge of any of this."
"Ichiru, we should go and don't talk about private matters to any newbies." Another ghoul sneered.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Anyway... Eh.."
"It's Kaneki Ken." Kaneki added.
"A pleasure to meet you, Kaneki-san. Please, forget what I just said, it's something from the past, so it's meaningless." Ichiru said. "Enjoy your stay."
"Sure and thank you."
"ICHIRU!"
The ghoul yelled and quickly ran after his leader. "I'm sorry boss, I just thought that..."
The man punched his subordinate in his face and sent him flying again the wall. "Don't ever fucking do that again, you hear me?!"
"Yes."
"Also... Don't associate with that brat. He reeks too much of blood."
"Boss?"
"Just because the outside seems to be harmless doesn't mean the inside is the same. This applies especially with us ghouls. So stay away from him, unless you want to bring us all in trouble."
"Yes, boss."
"The past of the 20th ward, huh." Kaneki recited as he leaned on his window.
The man was back in his room, window completely open and stared at the sky. His walk had given him more than what he could imagine. But now his search had become broader also.
"So, the current peace happened because of a reason. Has it something to do with the corpse retriever? Or is there something else?"
The man turned around and stared at his bookshelf. Observing every little detail of each cover, hoping it would clear his mind.
"Those sibling's arrival at this ward seems suspicious, but you can't trust free information that quickly, besides none of them, seem to know any of it. It could be just pure coincidence."
Many thoughts and ideas went through his head, but he was sure of one thing. Yoshimura knew more than what he let know. "This is going to take longer than I thought."
At the apartment of the Kirishima siblings, the two were huddled up, on their couch, wrapped up blankets to shield them from the cold and both of them, holding a cup of coffee in their hands. It was one of the few moments where they weren't insulting each other. Their eyes were glued to the television, playing on their Wii U.
"Things seem to much easier in a game." Touka commented.
Ayato paused the screen and looked at his sister. "Hah?!"
"Life, surviving, everything. You make a mistake, or something goes wrong; you can reset it, as long as it has nothing to do with the plot. People won't judge you for who you are, because you help them."
"Well, it is a game. That's why it seems easier, they're meant to distract the player from real life and worries."
Touka laughed bitterly. "Yeah, you're right."
"Besides, as long as we have each other, we don't need anything else."
The female ghoul stared at her younger brother, who had his attention back on the game again. She let out a sigh of content, before joining her brother. 'As long as we're together, we will be fine.'
Chapter 3: Like life even stories have too many secrets, especially when it's starting to form. I had a different name for this chapter, but decided to change it, because it may give away a spoiler. So, even though the 20th ward is the most peaceful ward, it has quite a hidden past accompanied by secrets. Who are aware of them and who not, well that has been explained in this chapter already. In a way it's a huge discovery, but on the side note it brings a lot of new questions also! It may take a while until the majority are revealed, but that's where the theories, guessing and speculation comes in.
Thank you very much for reading. Please leave some feedback or your opinions. They're very welcome. Until next time.