Yo.

Don't get mad at me for adding Hide and that character. I just feel the need to do so.

IMPORTANT: I'd like you guys to tell me: Do you like this writing style or the writing style from chapter 1 better? Please reply in a review.

Thursday. Hello, new day. What will you bring to me today? Sadness? Despair? Longing? Happiness? I don't know- so I can only wait until something happens today. This is what went on in my mind everyday after I woke up. They say sane people are those who expect something different- I still expect something different, yet I long for the same. Am I sane?

Shower; clothes; eat; teeth; a bit of other stuff; leave- the daily, morning schedule. It hadn't been interfered with so far, good.

I was walking into the street, heading for Anteiku, when I noticed a difference. A very peculiar worker of Anteiku just standing there, watching me. Her hair covering her right eye; should she not have been a violent person in character, I'd have asked her out many a time ago.

"Ken. Why'd you help that shitty Nishiki?" Touka Kirishima straightforwardly and aggressively asked me. I understood right away: stalker. Or possibly just Hide... no wait, she'd kill him... don't tell me she killed him! Maybe Nishiki? Kimi?

"U-uh... w-what do you mean?" I was jittery. I knew full well Touka and Nishiki were practically the God and Satan, but that means I'm just an average human on judgement day. Either side I choose I get decimated.

"Earlier today that bastard asked to join Anteiku because a ghoul named Ken Kaneki had changed his mind about people. And obviously I couldn't kill him there because that girl... what the hell is with her anyways..." She wondered off, yet still managing to keep her glare on my right eye.

I backed up a bit on edge, yet still tried to keep myself coordinated (note, tried). "T-the Manager said if a ghoul is e-ever in need, we should, uh, help them... and Nishiki, is well, a jerk and all but, there was a human live that was in this so I-" She banged her arm on the wall and caught me from all sides, oh the horror. One arm on the left, one arm on the right, a devilish face in front of me- who wouldn't burst into tears or lose their mind when such an event unfolded? Probably everyone but me, but in any case, I once again tried to do keep cool and not lose myself.

"If you're always nice like that, it'll get you killed, Ken." Was all she said before returning to a calm, satisfied state of mind. "Now change into casual clothes like I am. We have something else to do."

"Something else? What would-"

"Shut the hell up and go get changed!" She yelled before I could even finish, so much get halfway through, my sentence.

So much for my normal schedule. Damn Touka... where's Hide when you need him to scare her off?

I had gotten changed into casual clothes and went outside to see Touka still waiting, slumped over on the wall like a homeless person might've.

"You know, you could have just come in, Touka-chan." I stated.

She didn't reply with words, but rather made a noise that would best be portrayed as a wolverine's anger. How unattractive and mean, Touka-chan.

"So... what are we doing today?" I asked her as we walked along. We weren't going to Anteiku, that's the most I could tell.

"Shopping." I swear that I grew a bit uncomfortable with that in mind. Shopping? A date? No... for Anteiku? A possibility. For someone else? Most likely. With someone else? Another possibility. Touka, why must you be vague?

"For what?" My mouth once again asked.

Touka looked over to me. Her eye looking into mine for a split second, probably to see if I was paying attention and not dozing off like usual. "We're supposed to shop with the Fueguchis." She then responded.

The Fuegushis... who? Oh wait, Ryouko and Hinami, if I'm not mistaken. "Ryouk- Ms. Fueguchi and Hinami-chan?" I corrected my impoliteness of saying her first name rather than her last with the "Ms".

"Hai."

Ah. I see. So my assumption there was indeed correct.

We reached the shopping center (or, the area of shopping, more accurately) to see both Hinami and her mother waiting patiently for us.

"Hello Hinami, Ms. Fueguchi!" I waved gleefully to them.

Hinami hid behind her mother almost immediately after my greeting, but that was okay. After learning of what happened to them I couldn't really expect too much. Damn it Touka, why'd I have to know about that story... about "Asaki" Fueguchi, and this "Jason" person?

"Hello Kaneki, Touka." The older woman replied to us. "Well, let's get going. I think we should have some coffee first, get us moving a bit faster, how does that sound to yoy two?" She then questioned the two of us.

Coffee? There's no problem with that. "Alright, let's go get some coffee, Hinami!" I ecstatically told said girl. She kept herself hidden behind her mother but peeked a bit of her head out to look at me. That's a good reaction I suppose.

After having some coffee (not at Anteiku), we went shopping for clothes and accessories and such things. Ryouko, Hinami and Touka would go and have fun changing dresses and having fun as I depressingly sat outside the store just waiting for them. There was no way I was going to watch them, wait for them inside or want to seem like a pervert. Not in that store... that woman's clothes store.

"Kaneki. Let's go shop for you now." Touka commanded we do. She had a nicer tone to me right now, and that was due to Hinami being there. We wanted to give her the happiest moments we could. Even so, the snake that was in her voice never left. It slithered onto my leg before threatening to bite, of which I humbly complied with its requests.

"Hmmm. So you're about my size so... how does this look?" Touka pulled out a shirt. It was kind of her to shop for me, with Ms. Fueguchi and Hinami of course, but comparing my size to hers as equals... that's a bit harsh, even if it is true.

"Ano... it looks fine, Touka." I lightly brushed off her question.

"You could at least be honest." She said. "Why do I have to put up with this damn idiot." I could hear her mumble under her breat. Ah, there's the real Touka-chan. The real wolf under sheep's clothing.

Ms. Fueguchi started to lightly laugh, however I knew not as to why, and Touka seemed to give her the same questioned look.

"My, my what a couple you two look like. A woman looking for clothes for her husband and the two then arguing... it brings back memories." The brown haired woman claimed.

I wasn't sure whether to be flustered or slightly distraught, as she put Touka and I in the relationship category but then thought about her dead husband Asaki. No, no! I hit myself. We can't be thinking about the bad things... none of that. Why am I always thinking of tragedies- the sad part of life... why not think about the good things all the time, EVERY time. Without the bad things. Without the despair and death.

"G-glad it provided comic relief, Ms. Fueguchi." I smiled to her. I tried to avoid the arguing couple part, but it didn't seem to matter if I did or didn't. Either way it was okay.

Touka on the other, devilish hand, seemed a bit "pissed off" as she'd day. I don't get why, it was just a little bit of humor. And maybe some of Ms. Fueguchi's reminiscing, but even then, no harm was done.

"Shitty Kaneki." Touka once again mumbled as she returned to her mindless activity of looking for "good clothes" for me. "Here, how's this?" She then asked me.

I looked at it. I then felt it. It was a black dress shirt with a very nice fabric. Very well made and was my size (although I assumed Touka put it up to herself to see if it'd fit her before asking if I liked it). "I like this one... should we change the guy's uniform at Anteiku to this?" I wondered aloud.

"You'd have to ask the Manager." Touka replied, probably knowing that I was talking out loud but even so responded, probably to tease me.

"No need to be so mean, rabbit." I retorted to her teasing. Haha, how do you like that!?

"Ka. Ne. Ki. What. Did. You. Just. Say?" She slowly said every word making sure the big idea got into my head. How unusually frightening from the normal threatening mood in her voice...

"Nothing..." I quietly whimpered, backing my offense down forming a very weak defense. Rabbits must really mean that much to here huh... or maybe I invaded her personal space a little bit and now she's angry. Or was that a secret? No that fits in with the invasion of privacy... what goes on in that head of yours, Touka Kirishima?

"Touka?"

"Kaneki?"

Two voices, not belonging to either Ms. Fueguchi or Hinami, said both of our names. I looked over, as did the girl next to me, to where the sound of our names came from.

"Hide?" I questioned.

"Yoriko?" Touka, at the same time, also questioned.

Shit.

"Kaneki? I thought you said you didn't have your eyes on this one!" Hide obnoxiously said, probably alerting the entire store of what he just said. Well, maybe that's over exaggerating, but it's close enough. He put his arm around me, hugged me closer to him and whispered into my ear. "So... how's it goin'?"

"W-well, Hide, we're not r-rea-"

"Don't hide it anymore Kaneki~." He pestered on. Hide was so persistent it hurt. It was always something I brought up, but that's because it was like a skill to him. He was like the protagonist to a cliché book: He'll never give up, he'll keep fighting, he won't die.

"I-I'm not hiding anything, Hide, I swear!" I kept on saying.

Meanwhile, I looked over to Touka and her friend. She looked to be having a bit of a time too. Yoriko seemed like the gender swapped version of Hide. It was interesting to say the least; how did Touka talk with "real" friends?

"Touka~" The other girl identified as Yoriko said. She just seemed to be looking at Touka as if she were an idol- no, A GOD! Her eyes gleamed and her stare was ever so dazzling as she looked at her friend. The smile of the happiest person on Earth just standing in front of us worshipping the devil.

Yoriko kind of reminded me of Hide. I can see why Touka was such good friends with her, even though I've never held a conversation with her. Nor have I ever seen her. I have denounced myself of not being able to prove any points.

The real question right now, at least for Touka and I, was why they were together. Hide and Yoriko were probably thinking the same thing.

Stepping back from us and towards each other, the two conversed in secret. What was it that they were talking about? I could only predict that Touka and I would find whatever it was they were talking about as surreptitious.

"Touka." Yoriko said.

"Kaneki." My friend said.

"I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" They said in unison, looking to their respective familiarity as if it'd been planned and practiced from the start- oh wait, this is Hide... maybe he did plan this...

"No, no Hide, we were just here shopping with Ms. Fueguchi and her daughter Hinami over he-" I looked over to where said people once were. Inspecting the entire scene I knew- she left because she wanted this misunderstanding to happen. Why Ms. Fueguchi, I TRUSTED YOU!

Hide, scrutinizing my word, just laughed. "There's no need to create fake people to get out of a situation your already in, Kaneki. We already know, and to tell the truth, we're on a date too."

. . .

Quite the awkward silence we have here. Oh wait, what did Hide say? Something about being on a date with Touka's friend. Oh. Yeah.

"WHAT?" Touka must have had her mind blow. "When did this start Yoriko?" She questioned.

"Aha... like, three days ago... when did you two start?" Yoriko questioned back.

"Like... um... NEVER." The purple/black haired girl replied.

"That's debatable. Kaneki seems pretty comfortable with you-"

"-and as do you with him." The two somehow finished each other's sentence. By god these two might just be the Obnoxious Jesus and Obnoxious Jesus's Wife (I forget her name; damn it Kaneki, and you call yourself a major in literature) because they seemed like the most compatible people in the world right now. If I were to argue with them it'd be double the failure.

"Yoriko... let's talk about this... I DON'T WANT TO DATE THIS IDIOT." Touka said proudly. It hurt me inside; you didn't have to be that harsh Touka chan, you could've just said 'never going to happen' instead of calling me an idiot.

"What are you, Touka, a tsundere?" The other girl retaliated. Ah, anime- tsun and dere. It seems to fit you well Touka

My co-worker would usually hit someone or curse them out if they insulted her or said something to her disliking, but she didn't seem to be able to muster enough courage to do that to her best friend. So even ghouls have feelings- even Touka has feelings...

The ghoul world. The human world. They're the same things, people just don't understand that.

"Anyways... Touka, I hate to leave it here but Hide and I have more things to do."

"We'll leave you two alone." Hide swiftly said as he and Yoriko went off to a karaoke place or a movie. They're both likely... wait, why am I thinking about this?

As they left I looked up. The clouds were there- when the hell did they get there? It started to rain. Lightly. It wasn't hard, but it was lightly.

"Touka, let's come back another day... we should go back for now." I said.

"Yeah..." She muttered.

I looked around for Ms. Fueguchi and Hinami but couldn't find either of the missing persons. Where could they have gone? Is it possible they left already to keep this misunderstanding from getting into an understanding? No, they weren't those kind of people were they? Surely this was just a little enjoyable game for Ms. Fueguchi, and she'd come out saying 'Oh there you are' or something... what the hell.

"Touka?" I asked the girl next to me. "Where are Ms. Fueguchi and Hinami?"

She worriedly looked around with me.

"Ms. Fueguchi! (Ryouko!) Hinami!" We called out. There was no answer- no trace of either of the two.

Unlike smart, logical people we looked around together instead of splitting up.

We ran in the rain, we ran in worry. We searched desperately for them, even as we got sick in this cold rain. We came to an ally where we heard voices. Voices... Hinami? No. Ms. Fueguchi's... yes, it was indeed a voice belonging to she!

As we turned that dreadful corner we saw both ghouls talking to another person- a man with white hair and the weirdest of looks on his face... Madou? No, this one seemed unstable, more unstable than the investigator.

"Hello there, Hi- na- mi. Ryouko." The man seemed to playfully say as he took long, slow steps towards them. Touka and I listened and peeked from behind a wall to see what was going on, watching as the man approached the girls.

"Yamori." The older of the women said. His name was Yamori, alright.

"I've brought your husband for this heartwarming reunion." The tall, brawn man said. As he said that, he threw something towards Ms. Fueguchi... a body. Wait... Yamori... husband, dead. Jason. This was Jason, the one who murdered Hinami's father; Ms. Fueguchi's husband.

Ms. Fueguchi started to cry. It was quiet, but it existed; that cry of hers resonating- vibrating, in my heart.

"Indeed he said we'd die together..." Ms. Fueguchi stated, paraphrasing what were apparently her husband's words. Her kagune burst from her back as she started her attack. "Hinami... run, go find Touka and Kaneki... I love you, my beautiful daughter." She said through the ocean that was erupting from her eyes.

Turning back to Jason, she unleashed her kagune's power against him. Surely any normal ghoul would be killed due to the sheer swiftness of her kagune, but Yamori dodged with ease.

"This got boring real fast, so I'm going to spice it up a bit, well, hopefully. While you sit there, would you mind counting back by seven from 1000 for me?" He asked before grabbing hold of Ms. Fueguchi's kagune and ripping it from her back. The pain... it was like I could feel it on me; the feeling of getting a limb torn off with brute force. It must have been extremely painful.

Hinami activated her kagune, a beautiful mix of her mother's and what I could only think was her father's. Out of fear and panic, she attacked Jason. He had not expected her to do so, but nonetheless avoided her attack. As he did so, Ms. Fueguchi flanked him and stabbed his leg with her kagune.

He seemed unmoved, unfazed, at the pain that seemed to be inflicted onto him.

"Man, that was good, but try finishing the job." Jason said stomping on Ms. Fueguchi's kagune, yet again inflicting pain to her.

I'm worthless. Even though friends of mine are dying right now, I don't have the courage to fight. I can't do shit. I'm just a weak-ass ghoul who can't eat a human, who can't fight, who just denounces himself a failure... damn it... why am I so weak? Why couldn't I be like Touka, who was about pounce on him? She swiftly brought out her kagune, which I had never seen before, and surprised him by knocking him back a few feet.

"Oh... another little girly... and she seems strong... I'll have fun ripping your limbs apart for sure." Jason said as he, without his kagune activated, somehow seemed to teleport with speed, grabbed Touka's head and threw it against the wall.

I heard her cry in pain. In angered me, and so I punched myself as hard as I could in the face. Be strong Kaneki! Be strong! Hide would do something like this for you right? THEN BE A MAN KANEKI!

I ran towards Yamori and tried punching him which was easily blocked with a counterpunch that sent me flying. I really am weak...

Jason laughed. What an insult. "Another weak one? This is too sad."

He picked Touka up again and slammed her on the ground. Misery. Melancholy. That's all I could feel for being a worthless person. It doesn't seem tangible for us to be able to beat him.

Ms. Fueguchi and Hinami attacked him without warning again, making him dodge their attacks. "Ken. Take Touka..." She paused momentarily to catch her breath. "And go somewhere safe..." She demanded I do.

"What about Hinami?" I asked her as I slowly got up in dismay. She was fighting him. She was punched as soon as I looked over to her. To do that to a child... what kind of a monster are you, Jason?

The brown haired woman on the ground only smiled, "She's made up her mind- she'd rather die with her family than live without them... I wish she hadn't said something like that, but I have to spoil her sometimes. Please. Go, take her. The rain should cover your scent up." She said.

Without hesitation, I picked up Touka and started to run to the street.

"Good luck, Ken." I heard Ms. Fueguchi say before being too far to hear her.

"No stop... we have to help them." Touka complained to me. I know we do. I know we should, but we can't. We're not strong enough for someone like him. A feeling of trepidation lingered over me, so the first priority was to get to safety. Our safety was more important than there's. I know it's selfish to say that, but what else can I do?! I was told to go to safety... and they wanted to stay and fight, rather than try and run. The truth is cold and selfless, it hurts more than it should.

I started to run home. There weren't many people around since it was raining hard, but those that we went passed looked shocked and in disbelief as they saw a young, bloodied man carrying a young, bloodied woman. It might give them the wrong idea, but there is no time to worry about something like that.

She cried; I cried.

I reached the house and opened the door, throwing my wet shoes off and taking off Touka's. I don't know if ghouls get sick or not but it didn't matter right now. I set Touka down but she clung onto me with her arms wrapped around my neck. I decided to hug her back and brought her closer to myself. And for a while, we just sat there in an embrace, bawling until our bodies could no more...