DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo Ghoul Root A and Tokyo Ghoul:re and other products related to the TG Series are all owned by Sui Ishida, Shin Towada and Shueisha.

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Chapter 10: Private Lesson

"I want to return to the flat without issue of any kind."

This is how I finished the short lecture before leaving the appartment for the small unexpected call from Kishou Arima.

Eto was eyeing me with a deadly glare as she tugged on the covers she had taken from my bed.

It was quite early in the morning and the girl was barely paying attention to my word, her mind possibly planning some revenge for the unholy hour she had been forced to wake up at.

Differently from her, Tatara sat calmly on the other end of the couch, fully awake and calm.

"I will make sure that Eto-san doesn't cause problems, Wade-sama."

I blinked, noting how the tall Ghoul seemed to be much more respectful and relaxed toward me.

Whatever had come out of his little thinking the day before, it seemed to have brought me some... real respect?

The green-haired girl turned her burning stare to the quiet white-haired man and huffed as it didn't seem to affect him.

Sighing at the moody Ghoul, I gave my goodbyes before leaving the house to reach the address the young Investigator had given to me few hours earlier.

The walk was short as the place was inside the 14th Ward and there wasn't much to think while pacing in the busy streets of Tokyo.

The complex of buildings he found himself entering was one occupied mostly by students that frequented the Kamii University in the 20th.

An interesting place for someone as interesting as the young man to live but maybe it was because he had actually had friends there beyond this being just a CCG cover.

I stared for few moments at the door with the small numbered tag upon it that was the one Arima had specified in their brief talk and I knocked at it softly thrice.

Muffled footsteps approached and the door opened to show a blank-looking Kishou Arima.

What truly made the situation funny was the botched attempt he had done while trying to fix his long hair as his bangs were uneven and messy.

"Senpai, thank you for coming as quickly as you could. Please enter."

Nodding at the curt but formal greeting, I stepped inside the small appartment and I followed the young man to the living room.

Walls painted in grey, the floor made by light-brown wooden planks, a simple table and a small couch.

That was what made up the room that was meant to be 'alive'.

I also glanced at the various books opened in the relatively small table.

"What's the problem?"

At my words Kishou paused, then he turned around and his face turned into a thin, confused scowl.

"It's Philosophy II, senpai. I find myself unable to understand part of the subject."

I frowned, remembering my years studying the complex yet mostly logical course and I nodded slowly.

"What.. exactly is eluding your understanding, Kishou?"

The investigator walked calmly to the table and picked one of the books, finding the particular sentence that had struck him confused.

I blinked, staring at the familiar latin words in reverie.

Homo Homini Lupus Est

Man is wolf to men.

"I just don't understand how Thomas Hobbes came up with this reasoning. Men are naturally evil? Is it a sickness of the mind?"

"No.. and no." My mouth finally replied, my eyes still staring at the words. "Men can and might be evil against others but it's not true evil."

"How so?"

It wasn't a simple tutoring now.

Arima wanted to understand Eto more as he couldn't relate well with her dream.

He wanted to know what was driving her to do so much, to spark the fuel being laid down by the war between Ghouls and CCG.

"When the world is made up of so many people, with so many ideas and minds, it's difficult to cooperate to find a full compromise. Thus the world lives in a state of permanent conflicts, active ones and passive ones. Some people can sacrifice their happiness, their dreams to make sure others can prosper but we are too much prone to sin as humans. We sinned, we sin and we will continue to do so."

"Then... does that mean that I accept her dream? That I sacrificed myself for make her dream happen?"

The young man paused, noticing my grim smile plastered on my face and frowned in confusion.

"You mistook Eto's idea as a dream, Kishou Arima. She isn't making this because it's her dream. Eto Yoshimura wasted the opportunity to dream so the world could be fixed. That's who is actually the lamb in this situation and you, kohai of mine, are just one of those who like the sound of her voice when she speak of this."

I would have expected the investigator to spring in action, furious or unwilling to accept this reality.

Yet, once more, Kishou Arima surprised me by keeping the silence going, his mind trying to stomach the words as they were presented.

"Why did I like it? Her voice.."

I smiled, this one a proud one. "Eto has something that you crave and desire but you cannot have until your strings are cut by someone. The capacity of doing something with determination and passion, without someone forcing you into doing it. You want freedom of being yourself and not the puppet the CCG demand you to be."

As my harsh words entered unannounced in his brain, his hands shoot to his temples and he gritted his teeth, his eyes trembling in pain.

Panic rose in my mind as I witnessed in shook what seemed to be some traumatic experience resurfacing.

Arima was in some excruciating pain and I decided to intervene.

His seizure continued as I pulled him close to me and held his head near my chest, just like I did with Eto when she had nightmares.

I know that if there was someone watching this scene they would already be shouting the 'Ah! Gayyyyyyyy!' meme but I was in shock myself and I had little preparation to deal with this kind os situations without knowing the causes.

Soon the young man stopped shaking and quiet sobbing was now perfectly hearable.

"W-Why?"

Why are you caged? Why have you been conceived to be used like a replaceable toy?

"Because there are some sick sh*tters in this world."

We stood like this for a while, Arima calmly recovering part of his composure before distancing himself from me.

"T-Thank you, senpai. I apologise if I got too emotional about this but-"

"Nonsense, Kishou-kun. You are just a young man with an insane weight hanging over your head. Just don't overwork yourself and I will help you out of this predicament of yours."

The prodigy blinked, surprised by this little thought of mine, and nodded.

"I will think about this, senpai. Thank you for helping me with the issue related to Philosophy."

I smiled warmly. "As I said, no issue at all."

The curious encounter ended up few minutes later as I was on my way back home and ready to rest for the whole day.

Or that was what I had planned for before opening the door to my flat.

I paused for a moment as I saw just Tatara in the living room. "I'm back."

The Ghoul nodded, his attention taken almost fully by the small tome in his hands.

At this point, I expected a green missile to crash into me, showing that someone had indeed missed me while away.

Surprisingly enough two minutes later and Eto had yet to show herself.

Unwilling to disturb the distracted chinese man, I paced softly to the girl's room and I found the door open.

"Curious..."

I am 100% honest when I say that it's been a while since I had entered Eto's room and I had expected a normal girlish/tomboysh style.

Once more I was shocked to see the floor of the room littered in crumpled pieces of paper and some posters hanging there cut down in small parts.

My eyes landed on the green-haired Ghoul staring away from the entrance and into the wall, lying on her back.

"Eto?"

Her body tensed and her head turned just enough for me to stare at one of her eyes.

"Y-Yes?"

Red and puffy, I knew she had cried.

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

She returned to stare at the wall, her posture still tense.

"N-Nothing. Everything is f-fine."

Crouching a little, I grabbed one of the papers and read it silently.

"Eto?"

This time she didn't turn around nor she did deign to answer.

"Are you having a writer block?"

The girl continued to not look my way but I knew I centred the issue that was tormenting the small teenage.

"Sweetie, it's fine. I too have writer blocks once in a while."

She finally turned around, giving me a clear sight of her self-disappointment gripping at her heart.

"I-I cannot find anything! I-I-It's been weeks since I was unable to do anything without having doubts about it.."

Slowly I reached for her and cupped her head with my hand.

"You, silly girl, why didn't you tell me? We could have come up with a solution together."

She averted her eyes. "I w-wanted to deal with it myself.. since it was my work."

The girl yelped as my hand pinched at her exposed cheek. "You are super silly! C'mon, go and get a shower and today we will just do stuff together. Like, I had this Monopoly game that I found few days ago and..."

But Eto wasn't listening anymore as she calmly looked at the human as he continued to list other table games.

For someone as her, Wade represented a blessing in mortal form that had given her a good life she had secretly craved since her childhood.

Maybe she was selfish or she was high by happiness, but she would have burned the world if it meant spending the rest of her life together with the eccentric but helpful, goofy but kind man that cared for her so much!

AN

DunDun!

Next Chapter: Eto finds inspiration and "Kishou-kun, who is that little girl?"!

Review Q&A

Mystic ToMatoo: Eto is going less outside and killing other Ghouls, thus she is a bit weaker than Canon at the moment. Also thank you!

Ezeakel: This story is meant to be more on the hurt/comfort side of TG and the fights will be left to others. Still there are some battles ready to happen in the future.