So yeah, the madness begins

Somehow I managed to make it home. As I got into the house, I heard talking.

"Wait, Kaneki, don't worry. He's here now. Yeah, it's alright now. Alright, see you later."

With that, Mika hung up her phone. As she hung up her phone, I plopped down onto the couch, exhausted from what happened earlier.

"What happened to you earlier? Kaneki called me earlier, said that you had gotten Nishiki away from some ghouls that were trying to eat him. Nishiki's alright, but what about you? Something's troubling you."

"…"

"Sora, I've never seen you make that face before. The closest face to that that I've ever seen you make was the one you made when you heard that Ryouko-san died. And it wasn't even remotely close. What happened?"

"…I snapped."

"You what? You lost your temper?"

I shook my head, starting to recall what happened. "I don't know… I just… something happened to me. It was like there was another side to me that woke up. I don't even know how. It just did. And I… I…"

Mika put her hand on my shoulder. "Sora, what happened?"

"…They're dead."

"Who?"

"The ghouls that hurt Nishiki. They're dead. I killed them."

I faintly remembered how it happened. After I intimidated them with my eye, my rinkaku kagune sprouted out of my back, making quick work of them while I stood there and grinned like a madman. That wasn't the worst part though.

"There's more to this, isn't there?" Mika asked, eyes filled with concern.

I nodded slowly. "I ate them. I consumed their kakuhou after I killed them. And you were right, you know. Cannibalism does make a ghoul stronger. But it comes at a terrible price."

"What price?"

"Your sanity."

"What happened to you to make you do that?"

"You mean why did I snap?"

Mika nodded.

"They were going to eat Nishiki."

Mika's eyes widened.

"It was madness Mika. It was like there was this other person inside of me that just broke loose and took over." My voice. "And it scares me, what he might do… what I might do."

Mika embraced me after a moment. "You'll be fine. You have us to help you out. I'll be here for you, no matter what. After all, that's what we do, don't we? Look after each other."

My body relaxed a few moments later under Mika's embrace. "Yeah… you're right." I said, with a small smile.

"C'mon, let's go to bed. You look exhausted."

"Wait a moment." I said. I pulled out a bag with three tongues in it. "Let me get these to the freezer."

"Tongues? When did you get these?" Mika asked.

"After I came back to my senses." I said.

"So let me get this straight. You go insane for the first time in your life, kill a couple of ghouls, and then cannibalize them. And somehow, you managed to keep yourself from eating their tongues and remembered to keep them for your research?"

"Pretty much."

"You still need the human tongues, right?"

"Yep. No rush though."

"You are easily the strangest boyfriend out there."

The next day when I woke up, Mika was reading something from right next to me. From the looks of it, I guess it was a letter. Not a good one though, as this one seemed to have Mika in a frown.

"What's that?" I asked.

Mika put away the letter before answering. "My parents just sent in a message. Apparently there's a situation going on back home in Osaka."

"Any idea what it is?"

Mika shook her head. "They weren't very specific about it. They do want me back in Osaka for a couple of days though, so I'll be leaving for a couple of days. I've already messaged the manager about leaving for a couple of days."

"I guess I can spend a couple of days without a lab partner."

"Actually, about that…" Mika began.

"What?"

"My parents want to meet you."

"Umm… why?"

"To quote their letter, 'to meet the guy that you're staying with.'"

"Well, I can't exactly ignore summons from my girlfriend's parents, can I?"

"Probably not."

"Welp," I said, getting out of bed, "Time to pack for my funeral."

"Wait, what?"

I turned to her. "You don't know about this? And I'm the recluse?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on. It's the meeting that all boyfriends fear. The meeting with the rest of the family."

"Are boyfriends really that scared of this?"

"Apparently, yes. Andy tells me about them all the time."

"Does he get around a lot?"

"Nah, he hears these stories from his friends."

"Oh, ok. But trust me on this, it won't be that bad. My family will love you!"

Yeah, I think I'm going to die.

"Alright! We're here!" Mika exclaimed.

We took the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka. It was quite the rush. It's one thing being on a plane and knowing that you're travelling hundreds of miles per hour, it's another thing actually seeing it happen right in front of you. Mika and I got a couple of people to take notes for us in our classes, so that was out of the way.

When we got out of the station, the first thing I noticed was that Mika didn't stop to look for a car. She just walked on through the city, eventually stopping in front of a house.

"Well, ready to meet my family?"

"I guess I am."

The only person I've met in Mika's family so far is her brother Seiichi. And that went alright for us, I guess. I mean, Seiichi was somewhat weird with the whole 'I approve' thing, but overall he's a decent guy. I don't know if I'll be able to say the same for the rest of Mika's family. Like I said, my funeral.

Mika knocked on the door. A few moments later, a woman opened the door, sporting the exact same blue highlight that Mika had on the front of her face. (What the heck… was it genetic?)

"Mika! You got our letter. Good, come in, come in. Oh, and you come in as well." She said, waving for me to come in.

I tentatively stepped into the house. So far, so good. At least I'm not dead. I noticed Mika's family talking to her. Which was a pretty small family, actually. It was composed only of her father, mother, and her brother. Which was actually a bit of a surprise. Usually, ghouls had lost a family member at some point or another in their lives. Seeing Mika with this many family members still was definitely a surprise for me.

Her family stopped talking with her the moment they saw me.

"Mika, would you like to introduce your friend?" A man that I assume was her father asked.

Mika nodded. "Otou-san, Okaa-san, this is Sora Chao. My boyfriend."

Her parents stared at me with a dumbfounded expression. Seiichi, on the other hand, seemed to have this smug look on his face that said "I knew it."

"Mika, are you playing a prank on us?" Her mother asked. "Every single boy that has asked you out has been rejected. Is this some elaborate ploy from you to mess around with us?"

You know what, I take back what I said about this being my funeral.

"No mom, I'm being completely serious. Sora is actually my boyfriend." Mika said.

Her parents continued to stare, so I spoke up. "You know, she's not joking."

That finally got them moving.

Mika's father extended his hand. "You have no idea how many times Mika has rejected a guy that's asked her out. I'm Kazuki Shiraishi. Pleasure to meet you. This is my wife, Hinata."

"She actually told me a bit about it. And technically, she asked me." I said, shaking his hand.

"Did she now? Was this before or after you started dating?" He asked.

I thought for a moment. "We started dating around four days ago, and she told me about all the guys she rejected in Tokyo the next day, so I would say after we started dating."

Seiichi interrupted our conversation. "Otou-san, I did tell you that Aneki was living at Sora's place, right?"

…I'm dead. I'm so dead. There's no way I'm getting out of this alive.

Kazuki looked at me in interest. "Oh yeah, that's right. How did that happen?"

I explained slowly, not sure what to expect. "Mika said her apartment lease expired, so she decided to stay at my place indefinitely. I live in a condo, so all I have to pay are the electricity and water bills."

"Well, it's nice to see that Mika found a place so soon. She's resourceful that way." He said.

"Wait a second, you're not going to murder me?" I asked.

He looked at me, somewhat confused. "No, why would I?"

Because I'm dating your daughter and literally the scariest thing a boyfriend can face is his girlfriend's father. And the very idea that some guy might possibly be defiling your pure and precious princess of a daughter is absolutely unthinkable. Hell, the punishment for even thinking about defiling your daughter is probably death through a very painful torture method of some kind. Maybe getting impaled by your kagune, if it's the same kind as Mika's. Those extending thorns have so much potential for damage.

I boiled all those thoughts down to a much simpler explanation. "I thought fathers were really protective of their daughters."

Mika's father looked at me for a few seconds before turning to Mika. "You know what, Mika? I think you found a keeper. Maybe all those rejections were actually for a good reason. This guy knows his boundaries."

You know what? I think I can worry about my funeral later. Maybe around fifty, sixty years later. Seventy if I'm lucky and I can somehow hit ninety years of age.

"So, Sora-kun, what do you right now?" Kazuki asked.

We were eating some meat at the table. Like most ghoul homes, they kitchen was mostly unused. That would probably change in the near future, once mass production was a reality for my pills.

"I'm a foreign exchange student at Kamii University. That's how I met your daughter." I said.

"Oh? A foreign exchange student?" He asked. "What school were you at before the foreign exchange program started?"

"MIT. I'm actually the top of my class." I said.

Normally, I hated bragging, as it usually brought unwanted attention to myself, but I wanted to get good points with Mika's parents. And talking about how good I was academically usually assured parents that their daughter would be in good hands. Emphasis on the word 'usually.' It doesn't always work.

Thankfully enough, it seemed to work well this time. "I see. So what are you majoring in?" Kazuki asked.

This is starting to feel more and more like an interrogation. "I'm majoring in biology with a minor in East Asian Languages. I'm also getting my research degree once I finish this term and go back to MIT."

"Already? But you're the same age as Mika, aren't you?" He asked.

"Otou-san, Sora actually started going to MIT when he was fifteen years old." Mika said.

Everyone at the table besides myself and Mika had their eyes wide open when they heard this.

"That's… really impressive. You really do focus on your academics." Mika's mother commented.

I shrugged. "Somewhat. I just find the material rather easy."

"So let me get this straight. Not only are you a one-eyed ghoul with a passion for research, you're also a top student with a supercomputer for a brain?" Seiichi asked.

Last time I checked, eyes didn't open up that wide.

"A one-eyed ghoul." Hinata said, with complete disbelief in her face.

"Seiichi, are you pulling a prank on us right now?" Kazuki asked, looking hard at his son.

I shook my head. "He's not joking. I'm actually a one-eyed ghoul." I said, showing them my kakugan.

The parents stared. "How? I could think of the theoretical situation where it would work, but how did this happen?"

I shrugged. "Lots of weird stuff happened."

"Including getting a kakuhou getting transplanted into you because the doctor couldn't tell the difference between a kakuhou and a kidney." Mika said.

"Say what? How did that happen?" Seiichi asked.

I sighed. "Long story short? I almost got killed by a ghoul, the ghoul died. I almost died. A doctor did an organ transplant and put some kakuhou from the dead ghoul into me. I lived."

"That is probably briefest version of an interesting story that I have ever heard." Kazuki said.

I nodded. "The long version takes a while."

"Still though, how did you get to adjusting so quickly? I can't imagine a former human like you wanted to start eating your own kind?" Seiichi asked.

"Well…"

"Does it have something to do with your mismatched eyes?" Kazuki asked.

"Say what?"

"Your right eye. It's not very noticeable, but the red in your pupil contains qualities more akin to a kakugan than a regular human eye."

"How do you—"

"I'm an optometrist. I've served enough humans and ghouls to know the difference in the pupil between a regular human eye and a kakugan."

"Red's not a common eye color among humans." I pointed out.

"Albinos have red eyes. They're rare but they actually exist. Your eye on the other hand has a deepness to it that is only found in the pupil of a kakugan. To everyone else, your eye looks regular because they don't know any different. I just happen to know because of all my years spent as an optometrist."

Wow. I didn't even know that. "Well, I guess my eye has something to do with it. Even before the organ transplant, I was already part ghoul. This eye is a result of that heritage."

"Half-ghoul?"

I shook my head. "1/16th."

"What?" Seiichi asked. "How's that possible?"

I shrugged. "One of my great-great-grandfathers was a ghoul. I think you can guess what happened from there."

Before they could continue asking questions, Mika interrupted them. "Otou-san, you said in your letter that there was a situation going on. What happened?"

You could literally feel the atmosphere drop when Mika asked that question.

"There's a new ghoul organization that's starting up here. They've been threatening ghouls to join them or die. I heard about it from one of my clients who managed to escape. Apparently they're called Aogiri."

"How big is this organization?" I asked.

"Right now they have around fifty people in their group. It's somewhat small, but the numbers could start increasing pretty quickly. They've been actively killing the CCG in this area, looking to, as they put it, 'liberate Osaka from the CCG' and establish ghoul supremacy in the region."

That is easily one of the dumbest reasons I have ever seen for a ghoul group being formed. If they eliminate the CCG presence in Osaka, they would invoke the wrath of the main CCG office. They would start a ghoul purge for their stupid goals.

"So what do you want me here for?" Mika asked.

"We're forming a group to force them to disband. I was hoping you could help us." He said.

Mika didn't even hesitate. "Otou-san, you don't even need to ask. I'll do it."

"I guess you could use my help as well, Kazuki-san." I said.

As much as I would have preferred a regular family visit (as regular as a ghoul family can be) over fighting a ghoul group, I'm not going to let Mika go into this alone. And besides, what the ghoul group is doing is the exact opposite of what I want. Anyone who goes around declaring war needs to be put down.

Kazuki looked relieved. "That's great. We'll need one more day for me to gather some more people and then we'll be ready to go confront them."

Welp, better get some more fighting practice in. I could really use it.

Mika and I were currently in her room, just sitting on a couch cuddled together. It was a pretty simple room. Desk, bed, and a couch. No decorations or anything fancy like that. Except for a framed letter of admission into Kamii University. I guess that was a crowning achievement.

"You're thinking about something." Mika said.

"I can't hide anything from you, can I?" I said with a small smile.

"Nope. Not a chance. Now spill." She said.

"Something is bothering me about Aogiri. Why would they cause chaos here?" I wondered.

"Probably to make a statement about ghoul dominance in Osaka." Mika said.

"It doesn't add up though." I said. "The CCG influence here isn't that great, is it?"

Mika nodded. "It's really weak compared to Tokyo. Ghoul attacks are also a lot less rampant here."

"Which means that it's probably on the same level of strength as the CCG headquarters in the United States, which is pretty weak." I said. "If a ghoul gang wanted to make a statement about ghoul dominance, they would have to pick a different place where the CCG presence is much stronger, like Tokyo. Destroying the CCG here wouldn't do as much to make a statement. Hell, it'd probably just end up with the ghoul group in question getting destroyed. Unless… it's a diversion."

"For a bigger plan?" Mika asked.

I nodded. "If they eliminate the CCG here, a response team will have to be sent from a stronger location to deal with the threat, probably Tokyo, seeing as they have tons of investigators to spare. They'll probably send a healthy amount of investigators to Osaka. If that's the case, it'll weaken the CCG's presence in Tokyo and make it easier for a group there to spread their influence."

"So what you're saying is…"

"Aogiri is quite possibly based in Tokyo. And it's mobilizing the ghouls here as bait so that they can strain the CCG's strength in Tokyo. It's only a possibility though. But if said possibility is true,"

"Then eliminating Aogiri here just became a much more important mission than we first thought." Mika finished.

"Pretty much."

We sat on the couch for a few more minutes before Mika decided to change the subject. "Meeting my family wasn't quite what you envisioned, was it?"

I shook my head. "I honestly thought they were going to do something like castrate me and hang me over a bridge until I died from hunger."

"That's… a rather gruesome outlook on things."

I readjusted my position to make it more comfortable for Mika before I continued. "Eh, when you get your organs ripped out by a ghoul, and then have them replaced by kakuhou, everything else seems sort of mellow in comparison."

"Try having an entire chunk of your side being ripped away by a quinque."

"Alright, besides that. I almost freaked out when I saw that wound."

"I'll admit, that was the first time I ever took an injury that big. I'll try to avoid that in the future."

"Speaking of the injury, how did it happen?" I asked.

"I took a hit for Hinami."

"Oh."

"Oh? That's all you can say? Your girlfriend almost dies and all you can say is 'oh'?"

"What was I supposed to say?"

"Something along the lines of how noble I was in taking that hit for Hinami."

"Hey, you said it yourself when you said I was a recluse. I barely know how to interact with people outside my family."

"Speaking of family, what's yours like? You never really talk about them."

I thought for a moment. "Well, my mom and dad are both huge fans of Kingdom Hearts. That's how I got my name. Mom's a scary person when she's mad, but she can be the sweetest person out there as well. She's also a bit of a computer expert. Dad is a bit sterner, but he's also really nice when it comes to meeting people. It's probably why he does so well as a real estate agent. By the way, my mom is where I get my ghoul gene from."

"How did your dad react when he found out?" Mika asked.

"Honestly? My dad was a bit freaked out. But he was really tolerant of the whole thing. Mom spent a good few months talking with him about how ghouls might not be as bad as society put them out to be before she revealed her ghoul heritage. He still freaked out when he met the rest of the family."

"Any siblings?" Mika asked.

"Nope. Closest thing I had were cousins on the ghoul side of my family. We keep in touch, even have family gatherings every once in a while. I'd make coffee for them because my mom wanted me to learn to make it for them."

"What are they like?" Mika asked.

I thought for a moment. "Andy's probably the closest out of all of my cousins. We actually used to play together as little kids, even develop our own secret code. Nowadays, he's actually a bit of an exercise nut. I was the complete opposite before the transplant."

"So he trained you?"

"Yep. It hurt. A lot."

"What about your other cousins?" Mika asked.

"Well, Richie is a music aficionado. He loves heavy metal in particular, but he also has this thing for classical. Who knew?" I said, in response to Mika's giggle.

"That has to be one of the funniest mixes in music taste."

"Agreed. My last cousin, Lily, is still a little child, only two years old. But she is literally the sweetest little girl out there. She still tries to tackle me with hugs every time she sees me."

"Aww, that's so cute. I really want to meet your family." Mika said.

I chuckled. "How about you get a plane ticket with me back to Massachusetts when I go back after this term?"

"You mean it?" She asked, her eyes suddenly bright.

"Absolutely." I loved seeing her eyes light up like that.

"You know, I can see why you two started dating." A voice said from Mika's door.

Both of us looked up to see Mika's mother, Hinata, smiling at us.

"Okaa-san, how long have you been there?" Mika asked.

"Hmm, about since Sora-kun started talking about his family. It was quite the conversation. But that aside, the two of you should get some sleep now."

"…Alright, kaa-san."

After she left, Mika and I continued talking. "Out of curiosity, who do you get your kagune from?"

"I get my kagune from okaa-san, while Seiichi gets it from otou-san."

"So pretty much a classic 'like parent like child' situation?"

"Yep."

"Did you grow up in Osaka?"

Mika nodded. "Otou-san is actually the leader of the ghouls in Osaka. He's kind of like Yoshimura in that he manages the area."

"So you never had a chance to go out and explore before you got into Kamii?"

"I had a bit of a chance to explore Osaka. I could probably give you a good layout of the entire city if I wanted."

"When we have more time, you're going to have to show me around."

"It's a deal. How about tomorrow?"

"Why tomorrow?"

"Well, otou-san is still gathering people to help, and he said it was going to take one more day, so we could spend that time exploring some parts of Osaka. How's that?"

I smiled. "Sounds like a date to me."

"Then it's settled. We'll be going on a date tomorrow." Mika said.

"So let's get this straight. We're going on a date tomorrow and the day after we'll be fighting some ghoul gang in order to keep chaos from running rampant through all of Japan?"

"Pretty much."

"And you say I'm the crazy person in the relationship."

"Clearly, you don't understand. Going on a date is an easy way to relieve stress. And if you're not as stressed, it's easier to get things done."

"I guess I can't argue with that."

We sat there for a few more moments before I felt a yawn building up. Eventually, I had to let it out, and Mika followed up with a yawn as well.

We didn't even bother with going to the bed to sleep. The couch was just too comfortable.

So yeah, shit's probably going to go down next chapter.

This is my first time trying to move the setting of the story to a different place. I have no idea how this is going to work out.

Also, fun way to incorporate Aogiri. After all, it's not like they were quiet until after the Gourmet Arc happened. I just felt that just having a completely separate story and then going back to main storyline was somewhat pointless.