Once school is over for the day, Yoriko walked with Touka to Anteiku for her first day of work as part-time waitress. They went to the back to change into their work uniforms.
"How's it going in there?" Irimi asked, outside the door.
"What do you think?" Yoriko walked out.
Her waitress uniform is similar to Touka's, except her long sleeves aren't folded.
"You look exactly wonderful," Irimi smiled.
"Hey, not bad for your first time in that uniform," Koma added.
"Thank you," Yoriko is quite complimented, indeed. These two are ghouls, but they're nice.
"Are you ready to work here?" Touka puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, Touka, I'm ready," Yoriko nodded.
"Good to know."
Just then, a customer arrives, and it's revealed to be none other than Hide.
"Welcome to Anteiku!" Yoriko greeted him with a smile on her face. While this is happening, the others are in the counter to see how she will handle her first customer. "Please, come right in," she escorted him to a table.
"Thank you," Hide smiled as he took his seat.
"Now, may I take your order?" Yoriko pulls out a small notebook and pen to write down his order.
"One cappuccino, please," was his order.
"One cappuccino. Coming right up," she leaves the table to go to the counter to make some coffee, and Touka is going to teach her on how to do it. After waiting for a few minutes, she has his coffee ready. "Here you go, sir."
"Thank you for the order," Hide is happy to have his coffee. Then he asked her the obvious question. "You're Yoriko, aren't you? Kaneki told me about you."
"So you're Hide?"
"Yup, that's me. He told me you're a half-ghoul now, and that he's going teaching you how to fight. Isn't that right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Yoriko confirmed, while she touches her eyepatch. "He's going to teach me again tonight."
"I hope you can learn enough if you run into him again," Hide commented.
"You know that guy?" she knows who he is talking about.
"Yeah, he kills people. Like those two CCG officers
Meanwhile, Chigurh walks his way to Anteiku. It's about time for him to go there. Just as he walks to the stairs, he saw Hide leaving the cafe. Unlike the last time he saw him, the latter is not frightened to see him once again.
"If I were you, you'd better watch your back about this place," Hide grinned before leaving.
As usual, Chigurh has no emotion from that statement of his.
"Great job on your first customer, Kosaka," Irimi complimented on how Yoriko is handling things well.
"Thank you. I learned what to do from Touka telling me about how she does things here," Yoriko said with a smile.
"Quite a learning experience for you," Nishiki added.
Just then, the door opens for another customer.
"Welcome to Antei..." Yoriko greeted, only for her greeting to be cut off and her smile has turned into dread. It's because she recognized the customer entering the place.
It's him, no doubt.
Anton Chigurh...
The sociopath who shot her in the chest and left her dead on that fateful night.
Touka, Koma, and Nishiki are filled with surprise from seeing him, but Irimi isn't. After all, she already encountered this guy before.
"Welcome to Anteiku, Anton. Didn't expect you to find this place," she said with a neutral expression.
"Hello, Kaya. I didn't expect to find you here," Chigurh said with a neutral expression in return.
"If I'm not mistaken, he removed your mask the first time you two crossed paths, didn't he?" Koma whispered to Irimi.
"Yup, that's what happened," she whispered to him in return before turning to Chigurh about the ghoul speaking to her at the moment. "That reminds me. Anton, this is Enji Koma. One of my co-workers here."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Chigurh," Koma attempts to greet him, only for him to approach him with a glare. He could care less to know who that is, and that is enough to scare him. "Right... It's nice to meet you."
"What are you doing here?" Touka asked in a hostile tone towards him, especially when she knows that it's because of him that her best friend is now a half-ghoul.
"Just observing the place. It's my first time here," he responds with no emotion before noticing Yoriko. "Oh, you survived. It's nice to see you again, Yoriko," he attempts to approach her and she is afraid of what he is going to do to her.
"Get away from her, you bastard!" Touka yelled as she attempts to grab him, but Chigurh simply crushes her hand. What inhuman strength he has and he's not even a CCG officer.
"Touka!" Yoriko cried as he approached her.
"Touka, huh? Is that her name? Touka Kirishima? Looks like the rumors are true," Chigurh said nonchalantly. "You're wearing an eyepatch. Let's see what you have underneath there," he immediately removes her eyepatch with his right hand to see her right eye being ghoul-like. "You have a kakugan. Guess this means Dr. Kanou has found another human to convert."
"You know about that guy?" Yoriko asked.
"He was my mentor. Taught me everything," Chigurh responded. "About ghouls, for instance. And also about how humans can be converted into ghouls."
"Is that so?" Touka attempts to face him. "Did you know that it's because of you she's now a ghoul?!"
Upon seeing them looking at each other, he gets a hint of their connection.
"You two are best friends, huh? To tell you the truth, I don't care to know what connection you two have," he said bluntly. "The person who turned your friend her into a ghoul is Dr. Kanou, and you... you're the one who didn't save her because you're not there at the time. Therefore, blame yourself for what she has become, Touka."
Touka is quite furious that this guy has a comeback for everything, and he seems to be calm on it.
"Is there a proble...?" Roma enters the fray, and she is shocked to see Chigurh in the cafe. So shocked that she's about to drop the two dishes on the tray. Yoriko just couldn't believe how clumsy she is.
"Oh, it's you," Chigurh said bluntly.
"You know who that is, Roma?" Irimi asked her co-worker.
"What are you talking about? I don't know this guy!" Roma denied of knowing the guy.
"Well, it sounded like he knows you," Irimi said the obvious.
"Anyway, that's what fate is. Let me give you an example," Chigurh pulls out a coin from his coat pocket, and he flips it in the air before putting it down on the counter. "Call it."
"What?" Touka asked.
"You heard me. Call it."
Seeing this kind of scenario reminds Yoriko of that fateful night. She's quite afraid of what would happen to Touka if she lost the coin toss. Irimi gets the hint upon seeing that look on her face.
"Just say Heads or Tails. Simple as that. Yoriko should already know how this works," Chigurh said.
"Fine, I choose Tails," Touka responds calmly.
Lucky for her, the coin landed on Tails. Yoriko is relief that her friend is able to make the right choice in the coin toss.
"Good job," Chigurh congratulated before putting the coin in the tip jar nearby.
"What are you trying to prove here?" Yoriko confronted him.
"What am I trying to prove here, Yoriko? Fate, that's what," was his reply. "You win, you get to live. You lose, you get to die. It's simple as that."
"That's what it is to you?" Yoriko is baffled by what he just said, then she yelled in anger. "Look, Mr. Chigurh, you're in a cafe known as Anteiku, so either you order something or get out of here!"
"Yeah sure, you can take my order," Chigurh smiled as he leaves money by the counter to pay for his order. "I think I'll have the very last coffee to drink here," he drinks the whole cup of coffee before taking his leave.
"I have a feeling it won't be the last time we see of him," Nishiki commented on the whole encounter. Then he smiled at Yoriko. "Anyway, good job for standing up against him without trying to use your kagune."
Yoriko picks up her eyepatch and places it back to her right eye as she and the staff continued on with their business without any further complications.
Author's Note: What do you think? Yoriko working as a part-time waitress in Anteiku and meets Chigurh again ever since their fateful encounter. Here's some foreshadowing: Chigurh knows Roma. How come?