This next chapter is going to be a lot more lighthearted than the last few chapters. Nothing too bad or anything like that. There will be one serious moment though. Will make attempts at humor, although I expect that to go poorly. We're gonna jump a few months here also. And I mean a ton of months when I say that, really.
The next few days were rather simple. With the exception of the test that came up in biology. Which was what Mika and I were talking about at the moment.
"How did you manage to get a perfect score on that exam when I spent more time studying than you?"
Mika was a little miffed at the moment. I mean, 95 out of 100 isn't that bad of a score on an exam like that. In fact, it's pretty good. So I'm not sure why she's so mad.
"If you followed the study schedule that I did, you'd probably get 100 on it also."
And really, my study schedule is actually well thought out. Part of the secret to success in college is making enough time to study. One of the best ways to do that is to actually study what you'll learn in class thirty minutes before class starts. That way, you have an idea of what's going on in class and you can ask questions about stuff you don't understand and follow the material better instead of just being confused. After class, spending thirty minutes to review your notes is also a good idea, as it helps you to retain the information when it's at its freshest. That way, you get about an hour of studying in for the class. Throughout the day, you'll want to spend one more hour of studying per class. By studying, I mean not distracted by anything else like social media or talking with people. (A/N: This is actually a legitimate strategy for studying. My mother got a 4.0 through using this method back when she was in college)
"You know that's a really unreasonable study schedule, right?" Mika asked.
"Hey, it works fine. And you actually have time after you finish studying to go do whatever you want, so it works out pretty well."
"What I usually want to do and what happens usually don't coincide." Mika commented dryly.
"Well, at the very least, we got the midterm finished." I said.
"Yeah. Well, we only have to wait about two more months before the term's done and then we're free to do whatever. Including joining you for your graduation ceremony where you get your research degree."
"That actually happens in June, but yeah. Basically we'll be getting a 3 month break. I can show you around Boston, MIT, all that fun stuff."
"Why do schools in America start and end at different times than they do here?"
"I dunno. It's kind of weird."
"Definitely."
Sometimes I feel like surprises are the best things in the world. Other times, they're the worst. When you think about it, it makes sense, given that the nature of surprises can be so varied. This time around, it was a pretty good surprise. Nothing really bad happened.
It all started when I checked my lab this morning. Mika had left a note saying that she would be at work early. The other thing that was strange was that she had taken not just one box, but three boxes of my enzyme pills with her. It confused me for a while.
I ended up just walking to work because I still needed to go there. At the very least, this was suspicious. Mika and I have practically the same work shift, with only one or two days that we go to work at different times. I knew from memory that today wasn't one of those days.
Today though… what day is today again? Something has to be going on today, I just don't know what.
As I walked into Anteiku, I kept on running through possibilities through my head. Today wasn't a holiday, I knew that for sure. And Mika's birthday definitely wasn't today. It was actually on Valentine's Day, which I thought was pretty neat. And last I checked, it was still January. In fact, it was still more than a month before Mika's birthday. After all, it's January 10th, which is still technically more than a month from her birthday. Come to think of it, there was something that was actually important about today. What was today again? Was it the day when Anteiku reopened or something? Or maybe it was—
"SURPRISE!" I was startled out of my thoughts by everyone at work, with a sigh hanging from the ceiling saying 'Happy Birthday Sora!' as well as a cake that looked like it was large enough for all of us.
Right. Today's my birthday. I completely forgot. Shame on me for forgetting.
"When did you guys plan this out? And how did you find out about when my birthday was?" I asked.
Mika looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I may have looked through the school records to find out when your birthday was about a few months back."
That's… actually the exact same thing I did to find out when Mika's birthday was. Wow. Talk about thinking alike.
"How exactly did you guys plan this out without me knowing about it?" I asked.
"Because we planned out literally everything today." Mika said with a grin on her face.
Oh. That explains why she left the condo early. And took all those enzyme pills. "Did you really need that many boxes of pills?"
"Well, I did want everyone to have some pills for the cake. And Yoshimura-san said that it would be a great idea, given everything that we've done to get to this point."
"Yeah but there's still more to be done!" I protested.
"Sora, it's only a couple hours at most that you'll be losing. It's not that bad." Mika said.
I sighed. "Yeah I guess. And it's going to take a long time before we can start distributing on a large scale."
"Oh stop being gloomy. It's your birthday for crying out loud! I even went out of my way to get a vanilla ice cream cake before I got here."
I will not lie, I am a sucker for vanilla ice cream. Especially in cake. I didn't even bother wondering how Mika knew that I liked vanilla in particular. "You know what, I think I can stop being productive for once."
"How is this not productive— you know what, nevermind that question. I know what you're going to say."
"Right, so are we going to eat the cake or not?" I asked.
We ate the cake, which was really good. Even compared to the ice cream cakes they made back in the States. The only downside to this little birthday surprise was that I had to do something just as good for Mika's birthday, or better. But honestly, it's not that much of a downside. It's really more of an obligation that I know I'm going to have to fulfill.
Speaking of which, I still don't know what I'm getting.
"Remind me, why are we shopping again?" I asked.
"Oh come on Sora. It's not just any average shopping place, it's Takashimaya Times Square!" Mika said.
Takashimaya Times Square: One of the biggest shopping centers in all of Tokyo. Currently, Mika and I were here with Nishiki and Kimi. It was my first time meeting Kimi. And to say the least, I was somewhat surprised to see that she was human. She seemed so… normal. Minus the fact that she knew Nishiki was a ghoul and all that stuff, but she seemed so normal otherwise.
"That still doesn't explain why we're here." I said.
Mika wrapped her arm around mine before we continued walking. "The formal is coming up, remember? And you don't have a suit, I don't have a dress, I think we need to do a bit of shopping."
Yet somehow I don't think that this qualifies as 'a bit of shopping.' On the upside though, I can get some necessary shopping done. Hopefully. Assuming Mika doesn't ask me to help her look at dresses. I really doubt she will though. Kimi could probably help her though, so I should be able to do whatever I need to. Although come to think of it, I could probably get a gift for Mika, seeing as the formal is on February 14th. Which is also Mika's birthday, as well as Valentine's Day. I think the biggest irony here is that her birthday is on the day meant to celebrate love and she's spent years rejecting guys before we started dating.
The whole formal thing was confusing to me. I've never actually gone to a formal, and according to Seiichi (I called him just to ask), Mika hasn't either. Yet for some reason, she was set on going to the formal.
After we found ourselves at one of the fancier stores that sold tuxes and dresses, Mika and Kimi went off to go find some dresses while Nishiki and I ended up looking at the tuxedos. They weren't that hard to find. After the two of us managed to find stuff to where, we finished our purchases. Thankfully enough, I wasn't growing anytime soon, so I could stick with this tuxedo for a while.
"I don't get it. How is it that you can buy the more expensive stuff?" Nishiki asked. There was this one suit that he had liked, but he simply didn't have the money for it.
I shrugged. "Let's just say when your family is very financially sound, you tend to be able to buy whatever you need."
"Haha. Very funny. So what are we going to do now?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I dunno. I was thinking of getting a birthday gift for Mika."
Nishiki nodded sagely. "Sounds like a plan. What did you have in mind?"
Honestly? I didn't actually have any idea what to get. Mika's favorite flowers were roses (the irony was not lost on me), but flowers die out. And they're usually only meant for asking people out on dates. Mika and I are already dating, so that idea is out of the question.
I was about to answer his question when something caught my attention in one of the stores nearby.
"Hey Nishiki, do me a favor."
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Distract Mika. I found the perfect gift."
"Eh, sure. I think I can manage for a few minutes."
"Perfect."
Later, after sufficient distraction, all of us had regrouped, with Mika and Kimi having no idea of what I had gone and bought. I'll admit, it was actually a rather dangerous choice of gift, seeing as the two of us haven't been dating for even a year. Still though, I think this is the gift to get.
About a week before the formal, Mika and I were once again in the lab, trying to figure out some stuff regarding synthesized meat and the like. Kaneki had stopped by to pick up some boxes of pills so he and his group could eat human food. Apparently, Kaneki had to restrain Tsukiyama from ordering everything on a menu when they were at this one restaurant. I had a small laugh over that.
The main thing in particular that we were trying to figure out was how to deal with the taste of the meat. Synthesizing a meat that is edible didn't take that long to figure out. The taste, on the other hand, was a completely different question. If I were to guess, the lack of taste probably comes from the fact that we're growing it on nutrients. It doesn't have the uniqueness to it that every single person has. After all, the flavors of people vary based on what they eat and the condition of their body, whether it be fat, skinny, well-muscled, that kind of stuff.
"Hey Sora, I think I found something. Come take a look at this article."
I complied. Not much else to do besides the research, after all. The article in question was a shocker though. Apparently, the hemoglobin found in sugar beets is actually really similar to hemoglobin found in human blood.
A quick explanation for those of you who don't know: Hemoglobin is the vital substance that carries blood to all tissues of the body, found in humans, animals, and plants. The purpose varies for each one, but the structure remains the same.
It also happens to be the thing that makes meat taste like meat. Which, in other words, meant that the synthesized meat project that Mika and I were working on didn't have to taste like rubber so long as we managed to mix the hemoglobin in with the meat once it was ready to package.
"You think we could use this for the synthesized meat?" Mika asked.
I thought about it for a moment. "We need to get a lot of the hemoglobin if we want to use it for the synthesized meat. But if we can grow it ourselves, we might be able to do something along that line."
"How about we get some hemoglobin from the sugar beets and then figure out the right amount for each piece of meat that we grow so that ghouls don't complain about the lack of flavor?"
"Mika, that idea is genius."
February 14th, the day of the formal. To be honest, I've been dreading this day. I don't dance in any way, shape or form. But thankfully enough, there was some simple reception where people could just hang out if they wanted to.
I put on my tuxedo, which was black with a blue vest and tie. The quality was nice, but I mainly bought it to complement Mika's dress.
Mika was wearing a black dress that slowly faded to blue as it went down, stopping at about the middle of the lower leg. I'll be honest, I felt my breath catch for a second when I saw her. Put simply, she was beautiful. I didn't really know any other way to put it.
Mika smiled at me. "Should we get going?"
I nodded, still in a bit of a dazzle. "Sure."
Before we got the facility where the formal was being held, I turned to my girlfriend. "Hey, can you close your eyes for a second?"
Mika promptly closed and opened her eyes in a second. "Done."
I sighed. And there's the classic Mika sass. "For a moment?"
Mika pouted. "Come on. You can't just ruin my fun like that."
Nevertheless, she obliged. In that moment that Mika closed her eyes, I pulled out the gift I had bought, a necklace, and clipped it around Mika's neck.
"Ok, you can open your eyes now." I said.
As Mika opened her eyes and looked at the necklace, she gasped. Given the necklace in question, it wasn't too surprising that she was shocked by the gift. The chain of the necklace was white gold, which is pretty expensive. But the most expensive part of the necklace was the pendant. And it was a one of a kind. Very expensive. But worth everything in the world if it made Mika smile.
I don't know how it was done, but someone managed to make this pendant against all odds. There was a tear-shaped diamond that hung off the chain. Inside the diamond (yes, inside it), was a tiny rosebud. I don't know how the guy did it, but he managed to somehow get a genuine rosebud inside the diamond, and seal it off, preserving it forever.
"Happy Birthday Mika." I said with a smile.
Mika was almost at a loss for words. Just almost. "How… When did you…"
"When we were at Takashimaya Times Square." I admitted. "I figured you would like the rose, so I—"
Mika shut me up with a huge kiss. For a moment, I couldn't even breathe properly.
After she released the kiss, she took a step back and coughed. "Umm, it's really beautiful, Sora. Thanks."
I was still in shock.
Mika noticed this and rolled her eyes. "The first kiss we ever had, you didn't even react half this bad. I almost die and you're completely out of sorts. This kiss happens and you're just standing there like a slack-jawed idiot. At least do something!"
That didn't really bring me out of my stupor. Although I guess she's right. This is the first time I've reacted like this. Although it's really more of a non-reaction than a reaction, I guess. To be fair, we've never actually had a kiss that intense before.
Mika sighed before wrapping her arm around mine. "Come on Sora. Let's get going."
At the very least, it got me moving. We may have done some things later after the formal, but I don't really want to go into any details. I'm sure you can all imagine where it went.
The formal itself was nice. We didn't really dance (I don't dance), but it was fun regardless. We couldn't really have the human food, seeing as I didn't want people looking at me funny when I popped a pill in my mouth.
About a month after the formal, the term at Kamii finished. Before Mika and I left for the States, we stopped by Anteiku to make sure everything was in order.
"Touka, there's a study guide for you on the table upstairs in the break room, make sure you use it. It took me the better part of an hour to compile."
"Kaya, Enji, there's a small booklet with instructions for every single flavor I have ever made. If someone orders a flavor of the month, make sure you use that book."
"Remember, we'll be gone for a couple of months, so you might need to hire a new worker or two. I left a large box of pills upstairs in case you guys ever need it, so don't go barging into my home to grab some pills. There should be enough to last you for at least three months, and I'll probably be back before then." I said.
"Sora, relax. It's not like it'll be the end of the world if we don't have access to your pills. We've survived for a while without them." Nishiki said with an exasperated look on his face.
"Hey, it never hurts to stay careful." I pointed out. "And I still need your help figuring out mass production. There's only so much I can make at any given moment."
"Point taken."
So glad airports don't have Rc scanners. That made getting on the plane so much easier. I had a small tense-up moment when Mika walked through the airport scanner, but nothing bad happened, so it was alright. I wasn't sure if I was going to have that problem as well, but I figured if Mika didn't trip up the airport scanner, that meant it wasn't an Rc scanner. Which meant that I would be safe as well.
When I ordered the plane tickets, I made sure that Mika's seat was right next to a window. Normally, I would take that seat when I was on a plane, but I wanted to give Mika a chance to see the world from the sky.
When we took off, Mika had a bit of a scare, as she didn't realize just how fast we would be going to take off. Once we were in the air though, Mika's face turned into amazement.
"Flying in a plane is so different from flying with you…" Mika said.
I smiled. "Well, it would be different. I mean, when you're flying with me you're just barely above all the hassle. Trying comparing that to being more than a mile above the ground."
"We're a mile above ground?!"
"Umm, yeah. Something like that. I don't remember exactly how high, but we're pretty high up in the air."
Mika looked down at the clouds beneath us. "So this is what clouds look like from above. It's almost like you could step on them."
"Just don't actually try stepping on them. You'd probably plummet to a very gruesome death." I joked.
"No I wouldn't." Mika said brightly.
"Huh?"
"Because you'd be there to catch me if I fell." Mika said.
"Oh, uhh..." Dammit. She got me. I can't even prove her wrong because she knows I would never do anything otherwise. Is this what they call 'wrapped around the finger'? Or is she just remembering the fact that I can fly?
Mika smirked. "Gotcha."
Ok, it's definitely the former, without a shred of doubt. "Yeah, you did." I yawned, feeling sleep climb into my thoughts. Normally, I'd be appalled at the idea of sleeping. But the entire trip from Tokyo all the way to Boston is going to take somewhere around 15+ hours, so sleep is a must.
Mika snuggled up to me. Well, as much snuggling up as is possible when you're on a plane. They're not exactly the most comfortable of places to sleep, regardless of what class you order your seats for. Not to mention the whole 'seat belts on when seated' regulation made things harder for us. I mean, I can understand why it's necessary, but I don't like it all the same. Especially because we'll be in these seats for a while. A very long while.
"We're gonna be jet lagged for a while, aren't we?" Mika asked with a sleepy yawn as we got to the pickup zone to wait for our ride.
I nodded before putting my hand over my mouth to suppress a yawn. "Yep. More than halfway across the world, we're definitely going to feel the jet lag for a while."
Mika nodded sleepily. "Great. Anything else?"
"Well, our ride is here." I said, seeing Andy's car.
I waved to Andy. As he pulled, he gave me a confused look.
"What?" I asked.
Andy blinked. "You didn't tell me that one of your friends was coming back with you."
Oh… "It might have slipped my mind." I admitted.
My workout-crazy cousin shook his head. "Stuff like this always slipped your mind."
He turned to Mika and extended his hand. Thankfully enough, his Japanese is pretty much fluent. Mika's English isn't that great yet. "Hi, I'm Andy. Anyway, what's your name and what relation do you have to my idiot of a cousin?"
"Hey!"
Mika blinked back sleep from her eyes before shaking his hand. "I'm Mika. And to answer your question, I'm your cousin's lab partner, as well as his girlfriend."
"…"
I looked at Andy, who seemed to have frozen in place. "Uhh, Andy?"
"…"
"Hello?"
"…"
"Earth to Andy, are you there?"
"…"
I think Mika might have very possibly broken Andy.
"GIRLFRIEND?!" Andy was downright incredulous.
While we did finally manage to get all the stuff in the car, Andy refused to believe what he just heard.
I sighed. "Yes, Andy, Mika is my girlfriend. We've been dating for a while now."
"Excuse me, dear cousin, while I proceed to call bullshit on that very statement. You rarely ever leave your lab, you're easily the most antisocial person in MIT, if not in all of the United States, and last I checked, you have NEVER pursued or been interested in a relationship." Andy listed off the points on his finger.
"Studying abroad does things to you. You should try it."
"Evidently, it did, seeing as it managed to change my antisocial cousin into a guy with GIRLFRIEND of all things. You're sure this isn't a very elaborate prank?"
"Andy, have I ever pulled a prank this elaborate on you?"
"Eight months ago. You set up my water bottles so that they would flash-freeze the moment I opened them."
"Oh yeah, I remember that! It wasn't that elaborate, was it?" I said, remembering Andy's face of utter shock when he opened up the water bottle. Priceless.
"You literally prepared the perfect temperature so that when I opened up the bottle, it would instantly freeze over. Not to mention the ones outside that conveniently started freezing the moment they entered my mouth. How did you pull that off with every single water bottle in the house?" He asked.
"Richie helped me. And the ones outside only froze because you had an ice cube in your mouth. They wouldn't have otherwise."
Andy shook his head. "Near-freezing water will crystallize when making contact with a cold source. How did I forget? But I digress. We need to address the main point here. You having a girlfriend."
"You know, I don't see why it's so hard to comprehend that your cousin has a girlfriend." Mika said from the back seat."
"Because it's Sora! He was literally the epitome of antisocial people."
"'Was' being the key word here. I fixed him up pretty good." Mika said.
"Yeah, but… but…" Andy relented. "I give up. My cousin has a girlfriend. I don't have anything else to say."
"See, it wasn't that hard to accept." Mika giggled.
"It's not that. It's just… I can't think of any good arguments that can explain why you introduced yourself as Sora's girlfriend. Aside from the obvious ones of course."
"You mean besides the fact that we're dating?"
"Yeah that."
"Well, did you know your cousin saved my life? Twice?"
"He did?" Andy looked at me curiously. "What happened?"
I grimaced as I forced myself away from a somewhat painful memory of Second taking over my body and going all sadistic.
Mika, sensing that I didn't want to talk about it, answered for me. "He fed me some of his own flesh so I could regenerate from some really bad wounds."
Andy almost started. "Wait, so you're a ghoul also?"
Mika nodded. "Yep. Rinkaku."
"Okay, so that makes a little bit more sense." Andy said. "How'd you meet Sora in the first place?"
"I worked at Anteiku. And let me tell you this, your cousin makes really good coffee."
"Oh yeah, I remember directing Sora to Anteiku. Speaking of which, did Riku help you get settled in?"
"…" Riku…
"What? Did something happen?" Andy asked.
I coughed. "Yeah, about that…"
One explanation late…
Andy sighed. "Somehow, I feel like I should have seen that coming. Riku was always a too fixated on revenge."
"Yeah he gave off that vibe when we ran into him during the CCG raid on Aogiri's base." Mika commented.
"We'll focus on that another time though. There are more important things coming up." Andy said.
"More important things?" I asked my cousin.
He explained. "Two things really, one with a higher priority than the other. The lower priority one is a ghoul gang that started ramping up in terms of activity. And you and I both know exactly how bad the CCG here is at keeping ghouls under control."
I nodded. "So basically we're going to take those guys out. What's the higher priority thing?"
Andy looked at me in utter shock. "Sora, do you remember what day today is?"
I checked Andy's phone. March 23rd. It wasn't even a second before my eyes popped out of their sockets (not literally, that would be weird).
"Andy, drive to Target. Now."
"On it."
"What? What's going on today?" Mika asked.
"Lily's birthday is today. I completely forgot until just now" I said, face grim.
"And that's important because…?"
"Mika, if you had a small, adorable cousin, you would understand exactly why it's important. They love playing. And it's important to make sure that they always have enough fun when playing. Besides, I promised to buy her a traditional Chinese yoyo once she turned three."
"Fair enough, I guess."
"Andy! What took you so long? We've been waiting for almost an hour and a half." I could hear Aunt Deb (short for Deborah in case you're wondering) scolding her older son.
So explaining some family stuff might be in order before I go on. You guys might remember that Andy lives with Aunt Deb and Uncle James, who, unsurprisingly enough, are his parents. Richie, one of my other cousins, is his brother. Lily is the child of my Uncle Robert and Aunt Jessica. And she's the youngest member of our huge, extended family. Uncle Robert died a few years back, but everyone in our family has pitched in to raise Lily, so she lived a relatively normal life. Well, as normal as a ghoul's life can be.
Andy, who had gone in before Mika and I did in order to buy me enough time to wrap Lily's gift with some hastily bought wrapping paper, was trying very hard right now to hide the fact that I was back until I finished wrapping present.
"Sorry mom. I had to get some things done before I got back." Andy said.
"And what exactly is worth making your dear little cousin wait another hour to celebrate her birthday?" She asked.
I managed to get through the door with the wrapped up present just as Aunt Deb asked that question. "Would picking up her favorite cousin from the airport count?" I asked.
"Sowa!" Lily jumped up and ran to give me a hug. She may not be able to pronounce my name still, but she is still the most adorable little thing out there. One does not simply compete with those puppy eyes that she has. I smiled and picked her up, giving her a huge hug while I was at it.
Aunt Deb, who had been somewhat shocked to see me, simply shook her head in amusement. "You know what, I think it was well worth the wait."
Mika peeked in from the front door. "Is it safe to come in now?"
Aunt Deb raised her eyebrow. "Sora, who is this?"
"Oh, right! Aunt Deb, Uncle James, Aunt Jessica, this is my girlfriend, Mika."
I just stood there waiting for the inevitable barrage of embarrassing questions that was bound to come my way any second.
"…"
Or stunned silence. That one isn't too surprising either.
"I'm sorry, Sora. I might have misheard you. You said 'friend', right? Not girlfriend or something like that?" Uncle James asked from where he was sitting right next to Aunt Jessica.
Andy sighed. "Dad, I asked Sora practically the same question when Mika first introduced herself to me. And no, it's not a joke. Sora actually has a girlfriend."
"Girlfriend. As in a girl that's a friend or a girl that Sora is dating? Because the former makes a lot more sense than the latter." Richie asked as he walked downstairs.
I sighed. "Girl that I'm dating. Is it really that hard to comprehend?"
Everyone present, with the exception of Lily, who had no concept of dating yet, answered with a "Yes."
Well, everyone present. My parents weren't here quite yet, so I'm not quite sure what they would say about this.
"See, I told you that Sora was going to get a girlfriend when he was in Japan." A voice said from the door.
…Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Well, in this case, she. Everyone turned to see Mom and Dad walking in, Mom having a triumphant smirk on her face that clearly said 'I called it.'
"And I thought you were kidding when you told us that Sora was probably going to get a girlfriend." Aunt Jessica commented.
"I think we've all learned a valuable lesson here, haven't we?"
"Agreed. Never bet against Yo." James said. "She's almost never wrong."
"So with that out of the way…" Aunt Deb said, turning back to me.
I gulped, knowing what was coming.
"When did you two start going out?"
"How did you first meet?"
"Who made the first move?"
"Why didn't you tell us about this before you got back?"
"Girlfwend?" Lily was confused.
I sighed. This was going to be a long conversation.
So after filling in the family on a lot of the details, after which everyone seemed to give Mika an approving look, we all got on to Lily's birthday party. She squealed in delight when I gave her the Chinese yoyo, which everyone appreciated, and didn't even bother with the rest of the presents. She just started playing with the yoyo, with Andy showing her how to keep it in the air.
I stayed with Andy during that time, asking him one question that I had been wanting the answer to for a while.
"How did you get your hands on the Rc suppressants?" I asked.
"Steady, Lily. Steady. You would not believe how lax the security is in the CCG safehouses."
"You know what, I think that answers the question. But why'd you send a box to me."
"I was hoping you could figure out how it specifically affects ghouls."
I laughed. "I actually found a different use for them after figuring out how to synthesize it."
Andy looked at me curiously. "What is it?"
"Enzyme pills. You can eat human food, digest it, and taste it the way humans taste it."
Andy's eyes widened. "And you didn't mention this earlier why?"
I rolled my eyes. "You basically had a system malfunction when you found out Mika and I were dating. I would've told you, but you kept insisting that Mika and I couldn't possibly be dating."
"Well dear cousin, allow me to be the first in our family to apologize for doubting that you have a girlfriend."
"Second. Your mom beat you to it." I said.
"Wow. Don't even have that going for me. Talk about harsh."
"Yeah, aside from that, you said there was this problem going on?" I asked.
Andy nodded. "A gang that's been running rampant. They've been feeding in plain sight, and the CCG here is downright incompetent when it comes to keeping these guys from running around. I've even seen an entire squad of the CCG get wiped out by them."
I sighed. "And in the interest of not letting Japan's CCG send stuff here, we're going to take out these guys, right?"
"Pretty much."
"And I thought I was done with ghoul gangs for a while." I muttered.
Mika decided to stay at our place in the guest room. Currently, we were in the living room. I was filling Mika in on all the details regarding what Andy was talking about earlier.
"So basically we're going to get tangled up with another ghoul gang with the interest of preserving the peace. Why does this sound familiar?" Mika said.
"Probably because we've had to do this before. But that aside, how do you like it here so far."
"Well, for one thing, it's really different from Japan." Mika said. "And I have almost no idea what people here are saying."
"Welcome to English, the language that makes no sense."
"Does it really make no sense?" Mika asked.
"Well, there are words that have the same spelling but different definitions and pronunciations, like content and content. Content is material that's being reviewed, while content means satisfied."
"And they have the exact same spelling?"
"Yep."
"English is a terrible language."
"Agreed. But other than that, there's tons of stuff that I can show you around here."
"Great! When can we look around?"
"Day after tomorrow." I said.
Mika was confused. "Why not tomorrow?"
"Because last time we went on a date the day after we arrived, you almost died and I went insane."
"Fair enough." Mika said before falling asleep on my chest.
Oh well, might as well sleep now.
"You cheated me." Second said the moment I appeared in our little dream world.
"Sorry?" I asked. I was a bit confused.
"You didn't even let me get some air last time you were in a dangerous situation." He said.
I sighed. "It's not like I want an alternate personality taking over when I don't expect it. Tell you what, I'll let you get some air tomorrow."
"I was just about to ask you about that. How did you— was I really about to ask how you knew what your alternate personality—"
"Wanted to talk about?" I finished.
"Yeah pretty much."
"Why do I even bother bringing you into my dream world if you're just going to do what I asked?"
"Because you know that I would never resort to you otherwise."
"This is their base of operations?" I asked, looking at the abandoned facility.
Andy nodded. "Yep, about eighty members in total. Although none of them are really that strong except the boss guy."
"So our biggest disadvantage is quantity. Sounds fun." Mika commented.
I put on my mask. "Well, let's get started."
I had the struggle of too much for one chapter, too little for two chapters. We'll be travelling a couple of months to June, when the next arc of Tokyo Ghoul happens.
To the reviewer Tripple777, go ahead and draw. Although there isn't too much information for you to work with, I guess. I'll leave it up to you.
Sue me, I'm lazy, I know.
So yeah, until next time.