Do You :REmember?
Chapter 21: Date
To say that it was an eventful day would be an understatement. And well, the day started off better than any other could.
Kaneki had finally gotten a day off. This time though, he took it gladly, after being peer pressured into it by Hide, who kept calling him a nerd and a bookworm (and even a masochist) because he 'liked' the work at CCG. He did not mind actually, but months and months of repeated paperwork and investigations had taken their toll on him. And he was NOT a masochist. And so, he decided to take a break.
There was one problem, however.
What was he going to do for the whole day?
Hide had gone off already, and so had many of the other squad members, with Nishiki of course taking the chance to go somewhere... private. He did NOT want to think about that incident ever again, and he knew Nishiki was not dumb enough to do it again without the door locked. Maybe he didn't dare to do it in the Chatwo either, since he never heard anything.
Okay, that sounded SO wrong. He was NOT a pervert either!
It was very early in the morning, the usual time for him to wake up, since his irritating body clock had so nicely woken him up even before the first rays of sunlight hit the earth. He guessed he might as well finish some work and swing by the CCG to submit them, since the deadlines were nearing and he was not a procrastinator unlike a certain blonde.
He reached the CCG at 7am sharp. He had some files to submit here and there, and the last stop was at Arima's office, at the top of the building. The elevator ride was long. The door opened soon after, however, and he walked out and just walked into Arima's office.
Two years of being his 'adopted' kid allowed for such rudeness, though of course, Kaneki being the kind guy he was, already memorised Arima's schedule and knew that he was in his office, bored as usual, or that's what he always said. He scolded his mind again for coming up with such a 'perverted' thought. HE WAS NOT A GODDAMN PERVERT!
Arima glanced up from the paper he was reading at the intrusion, eyebrows raised, the silent 'what are you doing here' echoing throughout the room. Kaneki scratched the back of his head and dumped the stack of papers on his desk.
"Arima-san, here's the review for every squad member that you requested!" Kaneki said, almost immediately turning and leaving due to the very awkward tension they still had between them.
Arima did not look at the papers but instead still had his eyebrows raised at Kaneki. "Don't you have the day off?"
Kaneki continued scratching his head. "Uhuhuh yeah, but I wanted to hand these in first since I have nothing to do."
"Why not go on a date, then?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Really, why not?"
Kaneki's jaw could have very well dislocated and flew out of the window for all he cared. He'd grow back anyway but that was besides the point. "WHY WOULD I?!"
"It quite obvious that you love her and she loves you back. You two have been sleeping in the same room for more than a month too."
"B- BUT IT'S SO RUSHED!"
Arima ignored Kaneki until the younger man sighed. Well, he... could... go... on a date. He had nothing to lose right? Other than his manhood if Touka were to punch him there... "Alright, fine, you want grandkids don't you? Any suggestions then?"
Arima adverted his eyes straight away. "Beats me. I'm not gay."
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"I still don't have a wife."
Kaneki's jaw dislocated once again. "Ugh!" he yelled frustratedly and stormed out of the office.
Kaneki was grumbling to himself when he bumped into Akira accidentally while on his way out of the CCG. "Haise, don't you have the day off? Still hard at work as usual?" Akira asked. Kaneki stopped and glanced up, not realising that he had bumped into her. "You better rest, you know, since there's going to be lots of raids coming up."
Kaneki chuckled, "Yeah I know, but Arima suggested that I bring Touka-chan out for a..."
"Date?"
Kaneki had an uneasy smile on his face, so Akira took that as an affirmative. "Y-yeah, so do you have any suggestions?"
Akira had her finger to her chin in deep thought. "Not really, since he almost ended up dead."
Useless! Kaneki mentally groaned.
"You could get drunk and confess?"
"GHOUL'S CAN'T GET DRUNK!" Kaneki yelled. He stormed off again.
He returned to the Chatwo but stayed in the living room since he did not want to wake Touka up. She could be feisty as a Touka could be... He even shuddered at the memory when he had woken her up only to be pinned onto the cupboard a moment later due to her kagune shards. Must have been a nightmare.
He called Hide.
"Yo Kaneki! Watcha doin? What I'm doing? I'm eating a hamburger! Too bad you can't eat any, right?" the blonde blasted from the other side with food in his mouth.
Kaneki's day just got even more downcast with the salt Hide had so gladly dumped on his wounded stomach. "Hi there, and I did not need to know that you're out eating hamburgers."
"Ahh~ The more you sigh the longer your face will be! Now who doesn't want to keep a chubby little Kaneki as our pet? And don't worry little hungry hamster! We'll try baking human meat one day so you may get to try human steak!"
Kaneki almost puked at the thought. "I ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH FROM TSUKIYAMA!"
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, continuing straight on before Hide could interrupt once again. "I was thinking of bringing Touka out for a date..."
"A WHAT?!"
"A date."
"Okay, continue my lovesick friend."
"I'm not lovesick!"
"I bet your little brother must be vying for attention."
"Hey!"
Hide laughed across the phone. "Alright, I get it, continue!"
"Uhm... Any suggestions?"
"If you're going on a bookshop date again, I think it's gonna end in a disaster! Pft hahaha imagining Kaneki so lovesick! Hahahah, this is hilarious! Okay, tell you what, why don't you give her a banana and see if she get's it? If it works, call me and I won't come home tonight!"
Kaneki promptly slammed the phone shut.
It was around noon that Kaneki finally picked up the courage to open the door to his room. Touka should be up by now. And indeed she was as he saw her coming out of the bathroom to greet Kaneki.
"Did you go to work again?" she asked, since she knew Kaneki had the day off and thus the whole squad decided to plan their own day too. Kaneki nodded. "Pftttttttt, I think I'd really believe Nagachika that you're a masochist for work after all!"
"NO I'M NOT!" Kaneki whined. It was now or never. "Okay, to prove it to you, let's go on a date!"
Touka's eyes flew wide open, mouth agape. "A d-date?"
"Yep. Unless of course, my Touka-chan is too embarrassed to go on a date with lil' me," Kaneki jabbed.
That promptly earned him a flattened nose and gave Touka time to change while Kaneki lied on the bed, hoping that his RC cells could heal the damage fast enough.
They were out of the door soon after, Kaneki still groaning from the pain. "So where to?" Touka asked.
"Uhhhhhhh, on a normal date, we'd go to a restaurant, but unless we want to go to a ghoul restaurant, we should decide on another place," Kaneki suggested, totally NOT wanting to become Tsukiyama's main course again.
Touka visibly blanched at the thought. "Yuk. Okay, so where?"
"Uhm, you decide?"
Touka shot him a glare and huffed.
Kaneki gave her an apologetic look. "Okay, how 'bout we stop by a bookstore first?" Kaneki asked. He knew Touka had developed a liking for books ever since he left, and he knew that since moving to the Chatwo, they haven't had much time to move their books in, so Kaneki had been craving to go to the store again to restock his book collection.
Touka's eyes lighted up at the thought and they left for the nearest bookstore.
For normal people, a trip to the bookstore would last at most an hour, but apparently Kaneki and Touka were in no ways 'normal people'. The moment they stepped into the bookstore, they went to find the books that they wanted, conversing all the while as to which book they liked, why they disliked another, recommendations for certain books...anything related to books.
They even talked about book paper, and that said a lot.
They spent a good four hours there in the bookstore, before happily and satisfiedly walking out. Kaneki was carrying the whole mound of paper, being the gentleman that he was.
"That was fun," Touka smiled, missing her books from :Re. "Where to next? The night's still young."
And Kaneki almost choked on air at her last statement. 'DOES SHE EVEN KNOW HOW SUGGESTIVE THAT WAS?!' Kaneki mentally screamed. AND HE WAS NOT A HORNY PERVERT! He shrugged, "How about the park? It's near here and my arms totally need a rest."
"Stop being a wuss."
But they did head there in the end.
"So... How's CCG life so far?" Kaneki started the conversation once they sat down on a wooden bench somewhere in the middle of the park.
Touka frowned, "It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but it's quite restrictive. I mean, some people treat us nicely and I do appreciate them for it, but I feel like we're just caged birds living in a room of snakes." Touka fidgeted while playing with her safety bracelet.
"Yeah, I know, but I think we'll get used to it. I hope they do, too, since I really believe that both humans and ghouls can work together. If there were more Hides, I'd have more headaches but I think the world would be a much more peaceful place." Touka nodded in agreement.
There was a small pause for a while before Kaneki continued, "You know, after today, we may not get to have that many moments together so I thought that we should enjoy our off day for once, and at least make it memorable. I've got a feeling that there's a lot of things coming our way and none of them will be pretty."
Touka looked at Kaneki, who was staring up at the skies, barely seeing any stars due to the light pollution in Tokyo. "Yeah... I'd miss times like this. Who knows when we'll be free together again." She looked up at the sky too, hoping to at least see a glimpse of a few stars, maybe even spot some constellations. "I feel like we're about to wage a war. Things are going to get so much worse from now."
Kaneki gave a small sound of agreement.
She smiled melancholy at him. "Just... stay safe, yeah? If not I'll beat you into a pulp the moment I set my eyes on you and then you can die!" she jabbed him in the ribs.
"Ow!" Kaneki exclaimed before Touka started a tickle battle between them. They were fortunate that no one was around to witness such an act.
At one point in time, Kaneki tumbled off the bench and his phone promptly rang when it dropped out of his pocket. It was a call. From Akira.
Kaneki fumbled with it for a few moments before answering the call.
Touka waited patiently, but slowly got more nervous the moment Kaneki's eyes went wide with fear. Something bad must have happened.
He hung up soon after and looked right at Touka, his face a total mask of seriousness.
"Urie's been captured."
A/N: [Kato] 戻ってきました！Aren't we awesome (please say yes)? Both me and Aelin just finished our exams two days ago and we wrote this chapter straight away! A bonus long chapter for you wonderful people because we feel happy and FREEDOM IS OURS until next year, that is . So enjoy~ (Still please say we're awesome 3)