Do you :REmember?

Chapter 10: I Don't Want to Hurt Anyone

"What do you mean he's not eating?"

"It means exactly what it means, Special Class Investigator Arima," a nervously shaking staff said, hoping his head would not be rolling on the floor with the glare Arima was giving him.

"How long has this been going on for?" Arima asks, sighing. He had not visited Cochlea for what, two days? And this is what happens? Haise had taken a long time (by his standards) to fully heal his limbs and vocal chords even after forcefully feeding him human meat.

"... It has been like this since he woke up."

Arima mentally cursed. Right after he had escorted the ghoul Haise was about to eat during the raid to her interrogation by Nagachika Hideyoshi, Arima had to immediately report back to the CCG about Haise's awakening and condition. And he had been stuck doing the loads of paperwork for two days. Haise had caused so much trouble already.

He had remembered the first few months spent with a recovering Kaneki Ken. It was... mortifying for no better word to say. The first few weeks involved a lot of new clothes for the half-ghoul, broken walls and furniture, and a sudden shock at finding his stash of books finished in the week. It had gotten better though, but the ghoul never did like eating humans. He did not like Arima to watch him eat too.

He sighed and opened the door into Haise's room in Cochlea. "Haise? It's me, Arima Kishou." Haise was curled up into a bundle of blankets. The last time he had talked, or tried to talk with the ghoul, he had lashed out, thinking he would hurt him. He wondered about it now.

He walked closer and he could see Haise shivering a little under the blankets. So he's not asleep. "I'm not here to hurt you, Haise. I just want to make sure that you are alright."

He saw Haise shake his head through the blankets. "... D-don't come nearer. I don't w-want to h-hurt anyone..." It was hard to hear what he said as his vocal chords were still sore from being newly healed, but he managed. He could hear Haise crying and sniffling. It was so similar to the times Arima had to comfort the white-haired male from his nightmares.

Arima sighed once again. "You have to eat, Haise. If not you'll never recover. Here, eat." Arima placed a plate on the table beside Haise's bed. Suddenly he noticed saw a scarlet red stain on the sheets. Was this...blood…? He grabbed the blanket and flung it off Haise, who was curled up with his hands held out next to him on the bed. They were gloved in red. Was he hurt?

Haise trembled and immediately moved to hide his hands, but Arima swiftly grabbed him by the wrists and tugged his hands upwards so he could see them. His charge stared up at him with wide, guilty eyes. Both hands were covered in angry red patches and on his right hand, the fingers...some of them were just stumps. "... Haise...you've been eating yourself?" Arima asked incredulously.

Haise looked down, refusing to look Arima in the eye. He was hungry but he would never eat another human.

The room was quiet for a while before Arima sighed and called the medical personnel to bandage his hands and cuff them to the bed rails so that his hands could not reach his mouth.

The Cochlea staff were getting stress attacks from a very troubled Arima. Kaneki had not eaten any meat since they had last cuffed his hands to the bed railings after Arima had realised he had been cannibalising himself, he had heard. And that was why the awesome Nagachika Hideyoshi was called here to Cochlea once again! Well, he was there almost everyday anyway.

He sounded overly enthusiastic in his mind but whatever. He was a fidgeting mess in real life. How long has it been since he last saw his best friend? Would he be alright seeing him? Would he try to eat him? He only managed to sneak some peeks through the tinted glass to see a sleeping Kaneki lying on the bed. He had been too busy with questioning the ghouls and writing reports to actually go visit his friend.

He did not need to anyway. They had called him there. "Hideyoshi. Haise has not been eating his food. Do you know why?" Arima asked.

"Hahaha that's sooooo like him! He's thinks he's human so of course he doesn't want to eat another human. He knows he's a ghoul but he won't eat human because he is denying that he can only eat human," Hide replied quickly, wanting to barge into the room that very instant instead of hearing someone's ramble.

"Is that so? Was it the same when he was just turned into a half-ghoul?" Arima asked. Hide had noticed one very obvious thing about this man. He was super protective of Kaneki. Hide made a mental note that Arima would certainly be his rival in protecting his friend.

"About that... you'd have to ask Touka-chan. I trust you know who she is?" Arima nodded. "Yeah she knows more about Kaneki when he first turned into a half-ghoul. But I'll try talking to him first before I ask Touka-chan for help."

Hide straightened his coat after Arima's approval to go into the room. He opened the door and walked in, staying close to the door so that he would not alert a currently blind Kaneki.

"Uhm. Hey, Kaneki. Long time no see?"

There was silence and Hide was unsure if Kaneki was asleep or not.

"... H-hide? Hide is that you?" Kaneki stuttered, clearly thinking he was imagining things.

"Yep, it's me alright! Your awesome best friend!" Hide replied, taking a step closer to the bed.

The figure on the bed suddenly tensed and shouted, "NO! Don't come near me! I'm a monster! I'll hurt you! I'm a ghoul, Hide, so don't come nearer!"

Hide gave him a lopsided sad smile, though Kaneki probably could not see it. "Dude. Rabbits die when they're lonely! You haven't seen me for so long, and you tell me to leave? That's outrageous, man!"

"N-no! I-I didn't a-ask you to leave! I uh... uh"

Hide chuckled. "Hahah it's fine! Ever since I last saw you I got whipped over to the CCG in Germany! I BET YOU CAN'T BELIEVE THIS MAN! I'M EVEN HIGHER RANKED THAN YOU!"

Kaneki's fear seemed to diminish somewhat as curiosity got the better of him. His head tilted to the side in question. "I'M AN ASSOCIATE SPECIAL CLASS INVESTIGATOR!"

"... What," came the curt reply of the half-ghoul. "That cannot be possible."

"When your eyes get better, take a look at my badge, little Kaneki. I'VE BEATEN YOU! And guess what. Guess this, man. I can actually speak German! AND YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPEAK GERMAN MWAHAHAHAHA!"

Kaneki shook his head in defeat. This seemed so much like the times they sat at a random table, chatting freely with no fear in the world. But this time, it was different. "Hey, so since I apparently was - I mean, IS - your best friend, the CCG has put me in charge of you and all the other ghouls you've made friends with in the past. So obviously..." Hide stared at the lump of red raw meat on a metal tray placed on the table beside Kaneki. "About the food..."

Kaneki's face went pale as a sheet of paper immediately. "I'm not eating that." And he proceeded to hide himself in the many layers of blanket.

"Kaneki?" No response. "Please, you have to eat!" Again, there was no response. Hide sighed and gave up. His friend could be utterly stubborn sometimes.

"Touka-chan?" Hide peeked out from behind the door. Hide had realised one thing. Touka was as cranky as hell when she was being waken up, so Hide hoped that she was awake.

"Yeah?" came the reply. Hide mentally felt relieved as he opened the door further and walked in.

"Uh," Hide scratched his head, "You see, Kaneki doesn't want to eat."

Touka raised an eyebrow, thinking over each word. Then her face went livid. "You've got to be fucking kidding me! Oh my god! Does that mean he hasn't been eating? That stupid dumbass!"

Hide gave her a nervous laugh. "Uh... yeah. The CCG tried to fix it but it wasn't helping so I told them that I would ask you for help. Do you think you can make him eat?"

Touka sighed exasperatedly, stood up without a word and stormed out of the door. Hide followed behind quietly. The silence was shattered in one moment when Touka pushed past the CCG officers, namely the staff along with Arima and Akira, and slammed the door open.

Kaneki visibly flinched.

The following scene made everyone who was observing open their jaws so wide, they could have dislocated.

"KANEKI YOU STUPID DUMBASS!"

"W-What d-did I do?"

"YOU HAVEN'T EATEN A SINGLE SHIT AND WE WERE ALL WORRIED AND I DON'T WANT TO BABYSIT YOU AGAIN, YOU GOT ME?"

"... B-but Touka, they're human. I'm human too!"

"BASTARD! HUMANS ARE THE ONLY THINGS WE CAN EAT SO SUCK IT UP!"

Kaneki did not see what was coming his way. Pun intended. His mouth was agape to retort but something was shoved into his mouth. It was literally shoved down his throat and Kaneki gagged and choked for his life. With his hands cuffed and unable to help in any way, he ended up gulping the delicious meat down after almost dying from the loss of air.

"You better wake up, alright?" Touka yelled as she jumped on the bed and slapped him. Hard. "I don't care how insane you are, or if you're trying to relive your human self - I. DON'T. GIVE. A. DAMN."

Arima and Akira who were watching were going to jump in and restrain the female ghoul, but Hide stopped them, giving them an apologetic smile and pointing to Kaneki.

He was in pain. But he was smiling.