The following month passed by as normal as normal could be. Sojin's wounded arm slowly healed, yet the mental trauma from the previous events remained staunchly in his subconscious. He could no longer walk down the street without nervously scanning every person he walked past for any signs of ghoul tendencies. While he wasn't necessarily fearful of ghouls, due to his experience with Nishiki, he was well aware that they could devour humans just as easily as they could save them. Speaking of Nishiki, the medical student was constantly on the younger boy's mind. Since the rooftop fight, Sojin had waited for any sign of his friend-or Mado and Amon, for that matter. Now that a month had passed, the boy's hopes were slowly dropping as he fell into his regular routine. He could tell that Hide was doing his best not to bring up the topic of ghouls or Nishiki, lest Sojin get any ideas of pursuing his friend. Still, Hide had been quite kind to Sojin over the past month, perhaps overly so. The younger boy didn't want pity. If anything, he wanted to know what his relationship with his roommate was, an answer Hide seemed unwilling to give. Sojin couldn't blame his friend, as he could tell Hide's mind was focused on finding Kaneki's whereabouts. No sign of the half-ghoul could be found after Sojin's visit to the hospital a month ago and this absence obviously put Hide on edge.
"A recent drop in ghoul attacks has left the city in a pleasant state of peace," stated the newswoman's voice from the television. Sojin glanced over at Hide, sitting on the floor next to him, and saw his roommate's emotions drop. The boys had been watching the news daily for any signs of Kaneki, yet the only news was talk of declining attacks.
"Despite the decline, there has still been one attack last night. The assailant is still believed to be hiding in the area, so caution is advised," continued the newscaster as Hide got up and headed to the kitchen. Sojin got up to follow him, but the footage playing on the television suddenly caught his eye. The younger boy fumbled for the remote and quickly rewinded to the spot that had caught his attention-Hide giving him a confused look from the kitchen. Sojin squinted, trying to make out a blurry figure in the corner of the screen before his face lit up.
"Hide! Hide! It's Kaneki!" Sojin exclaimed, pointing to the screen excitedly. The older boy dropped the cup of water he was filling up into the sink and ran over, almost bowling Sojin over. He followed Sojin's finger to the figure on the screen, his eyes widening as he instantaneously recognized his friend.
"Why's he wearing an eyepatch? Is he injured?" Hide asked, mostly to himself. He snatched the remote out of Sojin's hand and rewinded, listening intently to the newscaster. Sojin glared at being shunted to the side, but understood the importance of the situation and refrained from commenting.
"Kingsway Circuit! That's so close to here and the attack only took place last night. She said the assailant is still hanging around right?" Hide exclaimed, dropping the remote on the couch. He snatched up his backpack and dashed out the door without a word. Sojin's eyes narrowed into a glare as he hurried after his roommate, a hint of jealousy finally setting in. When any mention of Kaneki arose, Hide completely forgot about Sojin. It had always been that way, but now that Hide occasionally hinted his affection towards Sojin, the younger boy thought it would change a bit. Letting out a sigh, he put the thought out of his head and ran out into the brisk air of the street. The orange-haired boy had already reached the street corner and Sojin rushed to not lose sight of him. After a few minutes of jogging, Hide came to a stop in front of a strip of dilapidated buildings, Sojin arriving a few seconds later.
"You could wait for me you know..." Sojin stated, a hint of aggravation behind his words. Hide ignored the comment, further annoying the younger boy, and set to breaking down the front door of the first building. Sojin glanced at the setting sun, then turned back to Hide, keeping his cool.
"I don't think this is a good idea, Hide. It's sunset and this is the perfect setting for a ghoul attack. There's a reason something happened here last night," Sojin stated, scanning the surroundings for anything suspicious. The area was devoid of life, most likely because people knew to avoid it from the news report from earlier.
"It's fine, Sojin. We need to find Kaneki no matter what!" his roommate exclaimed, entering the building. The younger boy grabbed Hide's arm and tried to keep him from going further.
"We're not going to find him if we're dead!" Sojin exclaimed, trying to pull him out of the building and back to the street. Hide wrenched his arm from the grip, causing Sojin to stumble backwards out of the building.
"If you're scared, go home! I'm going to find him," Hide stated fierily, reentering the building. Sojin gritted his teeth, his temper finally bubbling over as the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the buildings.
"Fine, Hide! Since I care about Kaneki, I'll keep looking too," Sojin retorted, crossing his arms and glaring daggers. Hide's face lit up as he turned around to face his roommate, surprised by the amicable response.
"But I'll go look alone. I wouldn't want to hinder your search for your precious Kaneki," he continued, turning and walking to the adjacent apartment as Hide's face dropped at his comment.
"Jerk..." Sojin whispered without looking back and just loud enough for Hide to hear. Before entering the building he had chosen, Sojin found a metal pole leaning against the stone wall in the front yard. He picked it up and slung it over his shoulder like a baseball bat, preparing himself for the worst. After cautiously squeezing in through a missing chunk in the front door, he was surprised to find that the interior of the building was partially illuminated. The overhead lights had all been turned on for what seemed like a long time, as most of them had either burned out or were now flickering at the end of their life.
Sojin already knew this was a terrible idea and his conscious told him to get out of the building as soon as possible. Unfortunately, his annoyance towards Hide spurred him on, not wanting to go back and continue to argue with his roommate. As he continued further into the building, he could feel his heartrate increase. Every creak of the wooden floor or shutter of the lights caused him to flinch in fear, and he had yet to even fully cover the first floor. As he entered the kitchen, he leaned against the crumbling countertop and grasped the metal pole tightly, shuddering.
"This is stupid!" Sojin exclaimed to himself, nodding as if to confirm it to himself. "I'm going back to Hide...a grudge isn't worth dying over. I shouldn't push my luck after I've made it this far."
The boy pushed himself off of the counter and noticed a back door with a small window covered by a shade, which led out of the kitchen to the backyard. Not wanting to go all the way back through the apartment to the front door, the back door seemed like the less dangerous choice. Still, Sojin could hardly trust this dark setting after everything he had been through. Cautiously, he lifted the shade to scan the backyard for anything suspicious. He squinted for a moment, unsure as to what he was exactly looking at. As his vision came into focus, his eyes widened as he found himself face to face with a pair of red and black eyes with a glowing grin beneath. Both Sojin and the ghoul stood unmoving for a moment with eyes locked, the boy paralyzed by fear and the ghoul seemingly enjoying it. A single breathe exited the boy's mouth before he let out a terrified scream and jumped back from the window, the ghoul's arm smashing through it and reaching for his throat a moment later.
Sojin fell to the ground, narrowly dodging the attack as the broken glass shards showered down upon him. Regretting his decision to search alone, he scooted backwards in a panic before pulling himself to his feet. Making a break for it, he dashed towards the front door as the ghoul easily smashed through the rotting wood of the back door. An orange tentacle shot forwards towards the fleeing boy, but he managed to strike it with the metal pole he had brought along, spurred on by adrenalin. The tentacle quickly wrapped around the pole, unfazed, and wrenched it from the boy's hand, pulling it back to its owner in the shadows. Just before Sojin reached the front door, the metal pole whizzed past his ear with such force that it splintered the wooden wall in front of him and stuck there. Sojin let out a scream of terror and bowled through the wooden front door, breaking it in two, and toppling face first onto the pavement outside. Holding his face in his hand, he managed to pick himself up and run to the building where Hide had been, the smiling ghoul walking after him nonchalantly.
"Hide!" Sojin screamed from the building's front door. As if by magic, his roommate appeared in the building's hallway with a look of terror on his face, dashing straight for him. Wordlessly, the older boy grabbed Sojin's arm and pulled him away from the building and to the street. Looking back over his shoulder, Sojin could see another ghoul emerge from Hide's building, joining the one that had been chasing him. He shuddered as he saw that the wide grin upon the first ghoul's face had yet to fade.
"What do we do?! We can't outrun them!" Sojin exclaimed, looking around for some way to escape. The ghouls seemed to be in no rush, slowly strolling towards them and shrinking the gap between the two parties. The ghoul that had followed Hide wore a strange mask with a zipper on the front across what looked like a huge mouth. One eye remained concealed, but the other shifted back and forth between Hide and Sojin.
"Get behind me. I should have listened to you...now you'll have to pay for my mistake. But I'll do my best to defend you!" Hide exclaimed, grabbing Sojin and pulling him behind his back. Sojin shook his head defiantly, aware that fighting them wouldn't be possible for two humans. Grabbing Hide's hand, he pulled the older boy behind him and made a break for the populated street nearby. Upon seeing this, the smiling ghoul began to move faster, quickly closing the gap and shooting a sword like tentacle towards the pair. Hide pushed Sojin out of the tentacle's path, his own arm getting gashed in the process. The older boy let out a squeak of pain before the tentacle swung back around and bashed him into the side of a nearby building. Sojin ran to where Hide lay, standing between him and the ghoul.
"Hide, are you okay?" Sojin asked, not breaking eye contact with the ghouls. The one-eyed ghoul suddenly froze as if he had been struck by a bullet, his gaze settling on the downed boy. Ignoring its partner, the smiling ghoul seemed to have had enough playing around as its tentacle inched towards the boys, the tip sharpening into a spear. Sojin grimaced as the limb shot forward, aiming for his heart, but refused to leave Hide. Sojin could anticipate the pain in his mind, yet his physical form felt no harm as the tentacle fell limply to the floor with a sickening, squelching sound. Sojin's wide-eyed gaze followed the tentacle to its owner to find that the smiling ghoul's appendage had been severed by its own ally.
"Take Hide and go!" came the voice of the one-eyed ghoul as it made eye contact with Sojin.
Squinting, the boy let out a gasp as he looked more closely at the one-eyed ghoul.
"K-Kaneki?" he asked under his breath. There was no time to figure it out now. He bent down and helped Hide to his feet, placing the older boy's arm around his shoulder and moving away from the ghouls as quickly as possible. Hide looked at him, concerned.
"Did you say Kaneki?" he asked, trying to look back at the ghouls. Sojin shook his head, not wanting to raise his roommate's hopes.
"I'm not sure...but I'm guessing we'll find out."
Ah, finally Kaneki! Heh, please review and critique! ^^
