Farther. Farther in the world than anyone had ever seen. Farther than the Moon; farther than the Sun- the beyond which lay in the vast expanse of nothingness.

Where is his soul in that intangible place? It's lost, searching for its home of someone that may or may not exist. The name of whom it belongs to has ceased to exist in physical apparition, but continues its legacy through the minds of others. It's not like much has changed. The doleful, inexplicable feeling of loneliness that remains in the people he left behind.

Ken Kaneki has been erased. Nothing but a memory; even the hospitals with his birth certifications and the such had been hacked and no longer contain any documentation of any sort of person being alive.

But the proof of existence is not what defines something as living, rather, that's only applicable in science. Those in the group that follow the Black Reaper, and those in Anteiku, don't believe in such logic. Impossibly confident that he was alive, their assurance in this is proverbial.

When there is a light to grasp for in the dark, the hand reaches for it, no matter how far away it is. No matter how far, how unrealistically far, that shimmering white is, someone will reach for it so that it pulls them from the shadowy darkness they find themselves ensnared in. But what is left when there is no light to reach for? What can be done when the hand itself no longer exists? What if the hand they reach with is not their own? Maybe they continue hoping forever and ever and ever and ever and ever without realizing that what they want is something they can never get, but even so the heart of a human, ghoul or homo sapiens, and will never be deterred by something as fruitless as "you cannot." Forever, even in that circumstance, isn't perceptible by human beings. What can stop the analogies they create using that word, though- nothing, that's what.

Just as it won't stop him. Although it might be forever -an eternity- that he has to wait, he'll never stop. That feeling of returning to someone he doesn't remember will never leave. There is no regret in his heart; to devote all of his life to someday meeting those people that gave him a longing.

Perhaps its all just a pipe dream, however. He knew that what he wanted could be a dream, or an illusion, or some sort of a psychological strategy his apparently enemy planted on him... whatever it was, Kaneki couldn't be certain, so all he could do was wait. And that's what he is doing: waiting.

Knock knock, the door says.

Creak, it then whimpers.

Clang, it finally whispers.

"Who is it?" The frail Touka asked as she was looking dejectedly through a window in the corner of a dark, small room.

In popped that eccentric boy that was always by Kaneki's side when he visited the café: Hideyoshi Nagachika.

Her head turned and stared into his eyes, "Hide?"

She had forgotten that Hide, a human, had known of her secret- of Anteiku's secret, the fact that they were all ghouls. Surprised, she entered a fetal position and placed her head in between her knees, trying to escape the gaze from Hide. Touka never got to know him, personally, but Hide was a sort of person that could tell exactly how one felt, and Kaneki had told her about this, so she knew what to expect.

"Hey... are you feeling alright?" He asked. Before she could responded, he continued with a joking remark, "Kaneki was never a guy to make a girl cry, much less talk to any."

Thinking about him normally was painful, but the way Hide talked about him wasn't sympathetic. The blond didn't try to say 'I'm sorry for your loss', nor did he attempt to reminisce about him. Rather, the human would try to make a person feel better, whether it included talking about a painful memory or event didn't matter, to him it was a challenge to bring someone above the water of despair and anguish... sort of. Hide cared about people, always did, it was a part of his personality, it made him who he is. That's what made him such an easy person to release emotions to; a personification of empathy, maybe.

He approached the frail looking girl and sat beside her. She could feel the warmth emanating off of him, the warmth of a friend. Despite the fact that she hardly knew this man, he still helped her like he would his best friend. It was such an inconceivable idea to her: helping someone you didn't know that well just because you were acquainted, just because you could. Within what other corners of the world did these people exist in?

Perhaps the question isn't where, but how? How is it that even in such a cruel and unaccepting world where people are prosecuted on their beliefs and what they're born as- how is it that such people are able to exist? What is their strength? What is their will? The world is dark, but still they hang onto that shining light, even in their final breaths, it's as though they are somehow saving the world. The world is dark and cruel, and yet it is also beautiful. Within this narrow cage of despair, the flowers still bloom as life goes on.

She realized this in her short conversation with him. They spoke about how each other's lives were, mostly. And when he was through, he exited her room with a smile. And when he looked back at her, she watched him back- with a smile.

It was as though she was given an absolution for her pitied behavior from the past. A loving child turned into a sort of punk by the deaths of her parents and disappearance of her brother, and then once again shown kindness by the very thing she once despised, and finally he was taken once again. The world was not against her, she was smart enough to understand something as simple as that, but it really did feel like it. When everything is taken just after getting what it is that you want, someone to love and talk with about every problem, it really does feel as if the Universe has declared a war.

Thinking about such things is useless, however. Throughout the night, Touka continued to think to herself. The Black Order, a newly formed group dedicated to finding its "master," the Black Reaper, had recently been established and was concocting plans to figure out his location. Its main leaders included ghouls who formerly were acquainted with that man, so it was needless to say the second objective of the group was to found a location that could become a safe haven for ghouls and humans alike. No, they weren't selfish... Banjou made sure of it.

Kaneki, at any time, would've denied Touka's request to let her join any dangerous group, but no one was there to stop her anymore. With Yoshimura gone, a chain had finally been broken, at the cost of happiness, however. The only way to regain this happiness, she thought to herself, was to fight for what she believed in, and while she didn't know exactly what it was she believed in, she would accomplish that goal... to see him again... the ones that haven't withered away...

Of course, the girl could always settle down and give her prayers to the Black Order, but she wasn't like that. Everyone knew Touka Kirishima was a hands-on tomgirl who's only feminine qualities were being a biological female...

The time of action was now, and the calling was ringing like a giant bell.

Fate can go fuck itself because the Rabbit is back.