So I somewhat goofed up in the last chapter, had to make some hasty changes because I realized that I made a really trivial error that ended up blowing up a bit of my plot. Hopefully I won't have to do that this chapter.
Getting Mika to my place took a bit of time. It didn't exactly help that she needed me to support her by the shoulder all the way back. But eventually, we managed it.
I'm not going to lie, this is pretty awkward for me. I mean, I've never actually had a girl stay over at my place before. Ever. So this is really weird for me. And awkward. Emphasis on the awkward part of this.
Mika looked around at the place that I call home. "Huh. I like this. It's nice and simple."
And it really was. I hadn't really bothered decorating the place. The furniture was neatly placed, with a large couch against the wall, with an eating table right next to it and a kitchen only a couple of meters away. I didn't actually cook, so the kitchen was somewhat pointless. It already had all the pots, pans and cutlery though, so I didn't do anything to it. No point messing around with it when cooking could become a possibility to me in the near future. There was a small television for when I wanted to check the news. My laptop sat on a small desk on the wall across from the couch.
Down the hall was all the other stuff in the house, including a bathroom and bedroom, as well as a closet for my clothes. So yeah, that's pretty much my condo in a nutshell. Oh, and there was my little lab. I managed to convert the last chamber that I had into a lab where I could do a bunch of my R&D for ghoul benefits.
Eventually, I got Mika to the couch where both of us just plopped down on it. We just sat there, regaining some energy before Mika spoke up again.
"You know, I thought you would be even more exhausted than me. Ukaku ghouls tire out pretty quickly after all."
I grimaced. "Let's just say Andy was very thorough in training my stamina."
Thorough was a light word to use though. Andy had me run about 10k every single day with my ukaku active in order to increase my stamina. And fifty pound weights. On each of my limbs. I didn't even know they made weights that small and heavy. I'm still amazed that I survived that. Granted, I did my own flying training afterwards with the weights after I learned that I could fly, but it wasn't as bad as when Andy made me do all that running.
"Speaking of training, how did you learn to fly? You never did tell the rest of us how you pulled it off. It looked even better than Sosei's flying." Mika asked.
Oh yeah, that. It's a tad bit embarrassing how I did it.
"Well, I may have looked up videos on how birds take flight and then tried mimicking the same actions with my kagune." I said.
Mika stared for a few seconds before she laughed almost uncontrollably.
"Oh come on, give me a break. How else was I supposed to learn?" I complained.
Mika managed to catch her breath and reply. "I mean, I guess that was your best way of learning. But it's so funny! I never thought you would do something so hilarious. So how were your first few flights?"
For a girl that's supposed to be exhausted from our earlier spar, she's way more active than I thought she would be. Oh well. Question first.
"I crashed into a brick wall a couple of times."
"How do you do that? You have to be pretty much dive bombing to crash when you're flying, don't you?"
"…"
"You were, weren't you?" Mika said, knowing the answer already.
I sighed. "I was trying to see if executing a dive attack was possible. It worked on Kaneki when I dive bombed him the night we got him to Anteiku."
"Well, I guess that worked out." Mika said. A few seconds later, she let out a huge yawn.
Well, time to sleep. Wait a second… crap.
"Hold on a moment. I only have one bed. Crap. This is a problem." I said.
What do I do? The couch isn't meant to be slept on, and I'm pretty sure everyone hates sleeping on the floor. Ugh. Why do I forget these things at points that I really need to remember them?
Mika's small laugh brought me out of my thoughts. "Just share it with me then."
…WHAT?
Apparently my face was bright red, because Mika continued. "Oh don't think of it like that. It's just a good way for the both of us to sleep comfortably. Your bed is pretty big, right?"
I nodded, still unable to speak. Queen-sized, so spacing won't be too bad I guess.
"Then that's plenty of room for us to sleep without you worrying about anything."
I mean, I guess there is.
Suffice to say, after a few more awkward moments where I finally helped Mika onto my bed and I got on the other side. A few moments later, both of us were out like lights.
The next morning I woke up, I made to get out of bed. Until I realized about ten seconds later that I was being restrained in the bed by a pair of arms around my waist.
Wait, there shouldn't be a pair of arms there… Oh wait, Mika. That's right, she's staying at my place for the night. And we shared my bed. Oh god that sounds so wrong. We were on opposite sides of the bed. And I guess somehow I got turned into Mika's personal teddy bear while the both of us were asleep.
I tried slowing easing myself out of Mika's hold on me, but that only caused her to hold on tighter to me. I think my face is turning more and more red by the second. And, OH GOD, is she wearing only her underwear?
Well this is a very embarrassing problem. I don't have a way to get out of the bed. So glad I don't have any roommates right now. I'd never hear the end of this. Goddammit Mika. Well, might as well try waking her up.
"Umm, Mika?"
"Zzz…"
Why does her sleeping sound so cute? But I digress. I really need to get back to doing the research that I need to do.
"Mika, could you let me go? I kind of need to get up and get some things done."
She didn't respond. I finally managed to squirm my way out of the hold she had on me. But geez, that was so embarrassing. I mean, she was in only her underwear. So scary. Which reminds me, breakfast.
I managed to find a partly opened package of meat in my fridge. I can probably share this with Mika when she wakes up. I doubt that a good night's rest is going to be enough for her to perk up. She probably needs some food as well. I mean, we did have a sparring session the night before.
I ate about half of the package, leaving the rest for Mika before I went to my lab to do some experimenting. There was something from the other day that had me thinking about potential ideas for the pills. Andy had sent me a box with what he said was an Rc suppressant, along with an explanation of what it did. I'm not sure how he got it. I thought only the CCG had Rc suppressants available for access. And apparently it was just for torture. I mean, I know what Rc suppressants do, so I'm not sure what Andy wants me to do with it. Unless…
Oh that bastard. I get it. He wants me to figure out how to synthesize it. I could probably do it with my analyzer, but finding a use for it is going to be a completely different story. Maybe I could do an experiment with it, make it useful somehow in my enzyme pill. Wait a second, could it be that simple?
I'll have to try it some other time though. There are other more important things for me to do. Like homework. Wait no, I finished that. But there's still other stuff.
A yawn from the door of the lab distracted me from what I was focusing on. I turned around to see Mika (thank god she has her clothes on) looking at me.
"Morning. Sleep well?" Mika asked.
"Just until I realized that you were using me like a large teddy bear." I said. Which was actually only about three seconds before I woke up, really.
Mika laughed. "I'm sorry, but you were so warm that I couldn't resist."
Crazy person. But I guess I'm crazy also. Why else would I be friends with someone who's also crazy?
"There's some meat on the counter for you." I said.
"Arigato."
A few minutes later, she came back after eating. "So what are you working on right now?"
I shrugged. "Mostly just trying to figure out how I'm going to distribute the pills once I can start producing them at a really fast rate. We can't just have tons of ghouls pouring into Anteiku for the pills. That would draw too much attention."
Mika nodded. "I don't think we want the CCG on our doorstep just because we figured out a way to let ghouls eat regular human food. Speaking of food, have you figured out anything about synthesized meat yet?"
I nodded. "I actually found an article just recently about some scientists who were able to synthesize beef by harvesting some muscle cells from a live cow. We might be able to reproduce that effect with human muscles."
Mika frowned. "I doubt it's as simple as that."
"Yeah, it's not. We'd have to nurture the cells for around eight weeks at least in order to produce something the size of a hamburger. And apparently it's really expensive as well." I said.
"So we have two problems for this. One is the amount of time that we have to take to actually grow the meat, and the other is the costs."
I nodded. "So in other words, if we wanted to do something like this, we'd have to collect a large of amount of human muscle cells."
"Wait a second. We?" Mika asked.
I looked at her. "What? I can't do something on this grand of a scale by myself. And I can't just ask humans for help, they'd be too suspicious."
"So you're asking someone like me to help you with this? Are you sure?" Mika asked.
"Why not? You're smart, you're in a biology department, and you're pretty much in on all this stuff as well as I am. I'm actually getting my research degree once I fly back to Massachusetts after this term is over. Once I get my degree, I'm coming back to the Tokyo and we'll be able to continue working on this. Am I sure? Absolutely." I said.
"Eh? You're getting your degree already? But you're the same age as the rest of us. How can you be getting your degree so quickly?" Mika asked.
"I don't like to brag about this that much, but I'm actually the top of my class at MIT. I just don't do the extracurricular activities that other people do." I said.
"So how many credits do you need until you graduate?" Mika asked.
"…"
"Sora?"
"I could have graduated last year if I wanted." I said.
Mika looked at me suspiciously. "How old were you when you started college?"
I'll admit, the look she was giving me made chills run down my spine. Best answer her question as quickly as possible. "…15."
"And you haven't graduated already because?"
"…I was finishing up all the credits required to get my research degree directly."
"Crazy research-driven nerd." Mika muttered.
"So all that stuff aside, you'll be working on this with me in the future, right?" I asked.
Mika flushed red before smacking the top of my head with her palm. "Of course I am! If you're asking me, then I'm not saying no."
A few seconds later, she gave me a peck on the cheek and walked out. "I'm going home. See you on Monday."
Did she just whack me and then kiss me?
I was too distracted with that for the rest of the day so I ended up just playing tetris while trying to wrap my head around what just happened.
Monday was quite the eventful day. I still haven't seen Nishiki in school since the incident with Kaneki, Hide and Touka. Where could he be? He's definitely not in the hospital. He's probably at wherever he stays, but as of right now, I have no idea where that is. Eh, I'll just find him later. I'm going to need him when the time comes.
Touka isn't at work today. I'm guessing that she's studying for that classical literature test that she has coming up in a few days. Ah the struggles of the young and average students. (Don't you dare mention that I'm young also. I know I am).
The Fueguchi family is still at Anteiku. I have to admit, it's nice seeing them around here. Ryouko is such a nice person. And Hinami is this bright and bubbly little child (gotta remember that she's old enough to be middle school) that can make almost anyone around her smile.
Apparently there have been dove sightings in the area. That could prove to be a problem for us, especially if they're hunting for someone in particular. I don't think they're hunting for me or Kaneki though. I covered up our tracks pretty well.
"Kaneki-kun, are you free tonight?"
"Um, yes. Do you need me to tidy up the shop or something?"
"I'd like you to go with my staff to get food supplies."
I watched as Kaneki's face turned from curious to downright terrified. I'm pretty sure I knew what Yoshimura had in mind, but Kaneki didn't. And while that made him terrified, I was very sorely tempted to laugh at him. Judging by the trembling mess right next to me, Mika was about to as well.
Our relationship really hasn't changed that much since that small kiss. Alright, fine, it's changed significantly since that kiss. I used to keep people at a distance regardless of how close they were as a friend. Ever since coming to Tokyo, Mika has been slowly cracking that shell. While it would suck from my regular standpoint, I was actually enjoying this change. The two of us aren't dating, but I'm pretty happy with how we've developed as friends.
"I-I'm not going to kill any—" Kaneki began.
"Ah, you're mistaken." Yoshimura said.
Mika couldn't hold it anymore. She excused herself to the break room so she could laugh away without anyone there to see it (except Hinami and Ryouko-san). I on the other hand just barely managed to keep it suppressed. Well, time to act like the half-ghoul senior that I am to him.
I put my hand on Kaneki's shoulder. "It's nothing that dramatic. I have a good idea of what you're going to be doing, and I can tell you right now that there is nothing to do with killing people."
Kaneki sighed in relief. "I guess I can do it then."
"Manager?" I asked.
"Yes Sora-kun?"
"Do you mind if I go with Kaneki? There's something that I want to collect for my research."
Yoshimura looked thoughtful for a second before he nodded. "Yes. That should be fine. I'll contact Yomo-kun and tell him to expect two people."
I nodded. "Thank you sir."
Kaneki looked nervous as we waited for Yomo.
"So what's Yomo like?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I've heard he doesn't like talking that much, so don't bother trying to strike a conversation with him. If he wants to talk, he'll talk."
"Oh."
A car came by a few moments later, with a man that I assumed was Yomo coming out.
"Are you Yomo-san?" I asked.
Yomo nodded. "Hurry up and get in."
During the car ride, Kaneki kept on trying to strike up a conversation (why didn't he listen). It became pretty awkward for him.
We finally reached our destination, a ledge, where I looked around, trying to figure out where we would be scavenging for food.
Kaneki ended up leaning on the railing trying to figure out what we were supposed to be doing when Yomo noticed where he was.
"Oi, that part's broken."
A bit late on the call, Yomo. A few milliseconds later, the railing collapsed, and Kaneki fell.
"Uwaah!"
I facepalmed. He'd be fine, but finding food was still going to be a problem.
Another scream pierced the silence. I think Kaneki found what we're looking for.
Yomo jumped down right after he heard the scream. I figured I should follow, so I jumped as well,
"Is this your first time seeing a dead body?" Yomo asked Kaneki, who currently had a look of absolute terror on his face.
Yomo continued. "There was another car parked up there, wasn't there? It probably belonged to this human. Many people die here of their own free will. The reason that humans don't know of this place, is because we dispose of everything."
It's kind of sad though. The very idea that humans would choose to end their own lives. I can understand how some of them feel hopeless. And while I would prefer to help them if I could, it would also make it harder for ghouls. We would be forced to hunt more, and that would bring us into more and more conflict. Between saving a few people and preventing a purge, preventing the purge took first priority. Maybe one day I can do both, but not anytime soon.
"So the people at Anteiku have chosen to eat people who commit suicide, huh? I guess there's no need to injure people then." Kaneki asked.
I shook my head. "Yes and no. Some ghouls choose to rely solely on eating suicide victims, while other ghouls like Touka and the others still kill and eat people."
Yomo nodded. "I only do this because Yoshimura asked me to. If I didn't, then I wouldn't bother coming here."
He tossed a bag over to us. "Put the things I hand you from his body in here."
Kaneki looked rather reluctant to do it, so I complied with Yomo's request. "Sure. But one quick thing Yomo. Do you mind if I take a small chunk of muscle for research purposes?"
Yomo simply nodded his head and we were off fitting the body into the bag.
A few minutes later we had finished up and were back in the car. As promised, Yomo handed me a chunk of muscle in a bag so I could take it home.
As Yomo was driving, he suddenly stopped the car and got out. From my back seat, I wasn't sure why. About a minute later, my questions were answered as I saw Ryouko Fueguchi get into the back row with me.
"Ah, Sora-kun, Kaneki-kun. This day feels different, huh? Since Kaneki-kun is always with Touka-chan and Sora-kun is always with Mika-chan."
Well, she's technically not wrong. Mika and I almost always work as a team, while Kaneki gets to be a… victim under Touka's tutelage, I guess. I mean, Touka's always yelling at Ken here for making small mistakes at work, which is funny because she doesn't yell at anyone else if they make those same mistakes.
"Touka's taking a break today. The two of them are standing in for her." Yomo said.
"Two of you standing in for one girl?" Ryouko asked.
Oh man. I had to defend myself. I couldn't go on letting her think that it took the two of us to fill in for the job of one girl. "I actually requested to come collect food with Yomo so I could get some samples for my research."
"Oh, that's great that you're still working on your research." Ryouko said.
I smiled. "My research isn't going to be done until the day that we can live in peace with the humans."
Kaneki turned to look at me, wonder on his face. "Peace? With humans?"
I nodded. "It's the only way we'll be able to live in this world without fear."
Ryouko smiled. "I hope that one day, I can see that peace too."
"I'll do my best."
We drove on for a few minutes longer before Yomo spoke up.
"What were you doing out alone like that Ryouko-san? You know it's dangerous."
Ryouko stayed silent for a moment. "You're angry, aren't you? That I went to my husband's grave?"
Yomo replied. "That's not the problem. The problem is you moving around alone. The reason the doves are here isn't because of Rize. They came here looking for you."
"I know. I heard from Yoshimura. The reason I went to my husband's grave was to bury his mask. It's no good if I rely on him forever."
The CCG is here because of Ryouko-san? Are they tracking down her deceased husband's remaining family? That's dedication. A really bad dedication, but that's still dedication. Have to respect them for that.
When I finally made it home that night with my sample of human muscle cells, I was not expecting anyone at my door.
"Mika? What are you doing here? And why are there suitcases in front of my door?"
Mika shifted somewhat nervously. "Well, I just finished the terms of leasing for my apartment, so I just moved out today. Originally, I was going to stay at Anteiku until I could find another apartment," her tone brightened up "but then I found a better idea."
I still didn't see what this had to do with her standing in front of my condo. "And this better idea is?"
"I'll be staying at your house from now on! We're officially roommates as of this day!"
…Wait what?
Man I need to work on being able to say no to her. The total amount of times I have said no to her is still zero.
I know, I know, it looks like I'm setting up Sora and Mika as a couple. And you would be right. I am. But it's not going to get to that point yet. I'm going to let it stew for another couple of chapters before I make it official.
So yeah, that happened. Also, the synthesized beef is actually a real thing, you can go look it up if you want to.
Until next chapter then,
XWX
