So I'm currently up to my eyeballs with some projects and I'm afraid I don't really have a lot of time to write now. Which is ironic, considering that I've been feeling particularly inspired of late so I can't wait to see what form in which my creative juices take. (I'm actually hoping for a laser-shooting dragon that can breathe twin jets of fire and electricity but eh, that's just me.) XD Still, be it writing on the train or during break time, I'll do my best.

Thanks to my betas SirGregSloth and xxxDreamingflowerxxx. Without them, this chapter would really be horrendous. If I could, I would send you a whole truckload of (insert favourite food here). :D

And of course, to those people who supported this fic with favourites/follows or dropping a friendly and awesome review/PM. Because really, this whole series wouldn't exist without the awesome people in this fandom.

It's not well-known to many, but Touka likes to make lists.

To name a few, she has a shopping list, a to-do list, a bucket list and a 'Things that I would never ever do in my life' list.

The reason why she likes them is that the systematic approaches are simple and easy to understand. There are no confusing jumbles of sentences, neither are there overtly complicated phrases and double meanings, ambiguous words and convoluted expressions that serve to drag readers into a tangled briar of incomprehension (Hello Classical Literature).

So lists, manuals and step-by-step scripts are something which she is inherently grateful for. In a more than overly complicated world, being a ghoul itself is not only a fucking hard thing to do, she can't just survive in this world, she needs to thrive in it too. And she's doing fine, really, thanks for asking. Her rampaging days - while spectacularly bloody -makes her internally wince in embarrassment whenever someone makes a mention of it. Externally, however, it's a different matter entirely.

"Enji Koma, you fat monkey bastard! I said not to bring that incident up!"

"Calm down, Touka-chan!" The person in question ducks as a ceramic plate speeds towards his face and it's only his ghoul reflexes that save him just in time. The same can't be said for the plate itself, which shatters against the countertop. Yoshimura, alerted by the loud noises, steps out from the kitchen to give a disapproving glare to the hot tempered girl who promptly bows her head in apology.

Other than a few occasional mishaps here and there, she's perfectly contented with the life she has at Anteiku. In case it wasn't made clear, the introduction of Kaneki was not considered a minor disturbance in her life. It's a huge giant ball of irritation that eclipses her normal routine with an apologetic smile and kind eyes.

Still, she adapts and moves on; a small place in her heart grudgingly shifts to encompass him, bringing him into her social sphere. She now has to deal with a defenceless half-ghoul and impart her wisdom (pfff, yea right, cause you are literally overflowing with it, her inner voice comments) to him and it feels like she's teaching a baby how to walk. What a pain.

And then…

The demon appeared.

Beady eyes that hold swirling malice within them, clawed talons that wrapped around its perch so tightly she thinks she can almost hear it creak and it's glaring down at her like she's some dirt on the floor. It emits a fetid stench, probably because it spent so much time with decomposing corpses. Also, it has a colourful plumage that undoubtedly has poisonous secretions and one touch is enough for a grown man to convulse in death throes. To top off its menacing appearance, it has a sharp curved beak that glints like a razor blade under the Sun, speaking of untold number of times where it had ripped open flesh and devoured the glistening entrails of its prey.

The creature is looking right at her now and it cocks its head and says, "Tweet."

Now what does she do when confronted with her sworn enemy, her hated foe, her blood sworn nemesis?

Ranging from secretly plotting its demise and actively trying to kill it outright (although the latter was her preferred option, she remembers the look of joy on Hinami's face when she looks at that damn thing and Touka couldn't bear to take it away. That damn thing better be grateful that it has Hinami on its side), she tries her best to coexist with it. As much as she possibly can, but the limits do get blurred from time to time. Her tolerance level increases whenever she has a calming presence by her side (ie. Hinami) or whenever she has something to prove to someone ("Kaneki, I am not afraid of that stupid thing and wipe that smile off your face, you shithead.") On those days, she cannot-quite accept its presence.

But on others, it becomes a full-fledged war.

"Stupid bird, return to your cage right away, you fucking piece of flying shit!"

Vulgarities and excessive violence aside, ignoring six broken chairs, two tables cracked in half, a shattered mirror caused by a flying fist, three overturned vases that shattered on the floor and one irate girl, other than all these, yeah, things were just…fine.

Although Yoshimura was not amused and made her repair the broken furniture. The mirror couldn't be saved so she had to use her own money to pay for a new one.

Also, that incident only goes to show that Kaneki has zero-level of self-preservation with regards to Touka when he takes one look at the damaged room, notes Hetare perching smugly in its cage with the cage door hanging loose, and sees the wild look on Touka's face that he chuckles lightly. To make matters worse, Enji pops in to see what the ruckus was about, a full three second passed where he takes in the scene, and then he cracks up, head thrown back and body shaking with laughter.

What a bunch of assholes.

She made sure she got her revenge by replacing the special blood-sugar cubes with salt when they were making their own coffee. Ghouls can't taste salt exactly, but they can feel a stinging sensation on their tongue when they add a pinch of it. Now multiply it by five spoonfuls and you'll get an idea on why Enji literally spat out his coffee at his unfortunate co-worker who was on duty on that day and who happened to be at the wrong (right) place and wrong (right) time.

Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Yoshimura only needs to raise one unimpressed eyebrow on the coffee stains on the half-ghoul's uniform and gave Enji a considering stare before sending them away to get changed. She thought she could get away with it, but for that old guy, he could be surprisingly perceptive about things. She got punished with kitchen cleanup duty for weeks.

She blamed that demon, sure that it's grinning to itself in some dark corner of the room at her misfortune.

This is but just a few of the lively incidents that plagued Anteiku, fondly dubbed as 'Touka's flying frenzy' but never to her face.

To deal with the monster lurking at Anteiku, Touka mentally compiles a list (surprise surprise). It's actually a manual on how to survive when trapped with a terrible entity, forced to interact with its vile presence and on certain occasions, touch its disgusting outer covering. In short, it's a survival horror list. Occasionally, she even makes mental notes to herself.

This is how it goes:

The beast must be fed daily, hinting of its inherent gluttony and insatiable hunger when it is denied its usual diet of human flesh. It is a wild beast, hence it shall take some time before it adjusts to a new feeding regime, but whatever the case is, we must never let it taste mortal flesh.

Step 1: Determine the type of food that the beast eats.

She's not entirely sure. Worms? Fruits? Seeds? Birds are carnivorous, omnivorous or herbivorous and she really can't tell what the vermin is. It was her father, who deduced correctly what kind of food types that her childhood bird could eat, but her father isn't here and she has nothing to work with.

Step 2: Bring the food to it and approach -

Wait, wait, wait! What kind of food is it first? She has to decide. A quick check with Yoshimura, Yomo, Enji and Irimi merely tells her that they, too, have absolutely no idea. So she decides to consult Google instead and types in the distinguishing features of the beast. 'Sinister eyes,' 'murderous aura,' and 'damnable beast' gives her a variety of spiders, werewolves and tax collectors.

Clearly, this isn't helping.

God damnit, manual. Can't you give me anything else that's more useful other than instructions?

The spike of anger must have caused something in her head to rattle loose because a voice retorts back, Oh please! I'm just a subconscious manifestation of your determination to confront that bird. I'm literally just a voice in your head, meant to disguise your apparent phobia towards them. What do you expect me to do? Make an apple tap-dance? It sniffs, and fades away into peeved silence.

Touka finds that her inner voice sure can be a little snippy. Arrogant, too. Unnecessarily sarcastic and –

- Do you want my help or not? It snaps suddenly.

Of course! She retorts back, But if you're going to show so much attitude, I would rather figure this out on my own!

There, a taste of its (her?) own medicine.

Hmph. Fine…

Yep, she's keeping her mental state organized one sassy remark at a time. Anyway. She has to get back to her task at hand.

Whether it is a simple bit of dumb luck or someone in heaven decided to take pity on her, the doorbell rings and a familiar figure steps into Anteiku, an eye-patch over one of his eyes.

Both her inner voice and her have the exact thought: Ask him.

Apparently, as Kaneki explained patiently, the vermin in the cage eats seeds, as can be seen in the moderate beak size which is suitable to crack open tiny seeds to peck on them. So yeah, seeds.

Step 2: Bring the food to it and approach the cage slowly. Make no sudden moves and walk in small steps towards it.

As she progresses slowly and painfully towards the lair of the beast, one of her hands is clutching tightly to the bag of seeds. The fiend has caught sight of her approach and in a sudden snap, it unfurls its wings. They are brightly coloured (all the more to lure one into a trap with), and the quick motion causes Touka to jerk back, heart hammering in her chest. It pulls its wings closer to itself, seemingly pleased by her reaction. Irrationally, Touka gets the feeling that it doesn't really need to eat the seeds.

It feeds on fear instead. More specifically, her fear.

But she's not going to let it win. She inhales a deep breath, grips the bag tighter to her chest and strides forward to meet it headlong.

Step 3: When refilling the food container, it is best not to show any fear. Your mind should be a blank void, only concerned with your actions and not what lies in wait.

Grabbing a fistful of seed, she dumps it into the food container and steps back to watch it warily.

It hops down from the swing, bobs its head towards the food and pecks, once, twice. Her muscles are relaxing, seeing how normal it behaves, just like the pigeons and sparrows that fly around Japan. Nothing unusual about that. Just a normal annoyance. She's clinging to that illusion with a mix of desperation and hope. The alternative is to admit that she had willingly and foolishly let herself get this close to the demon under the guise of feeding it. It could just take a huge bite out of her head now.

The fiend, seemingly able to pick up on the thoughts of its enemies, straightens up to look at her dead in the eye.

Silence stretches on, her heart suddenly stuck in her throat. The beak opens wider and wider, to reveal a bottomless abyss. It shuffles around until it is directly in front of her, a sound issuing from within its yawning dark maw, "Squawk!"

Step 4: Run.

She bolts.

It has been ten days since I last visited the critter and within that time period, the cage stinks. The other workers have been diligent in feeding it but it was Hinami who mentioned that the cage needed to be cleaned. Since she trusted no one else to do a good job of it, the task naturally fell to me. This may well be my very last words.

Step 1: Contain the beast in a locked room with grilles on the windows and fans switched off. Someone should stay in the room to prevent its escape while another person would be the one doing the actual cleaning.

"Kaneki, are you free?" She gruffly asks.

"Uh," he looks at the mountain of dishes he has yet to wash and looks back at the stormy expression in her gaze, "Yes?"

She nods and gestures for him to follow her. Climbing up the staircase, Kaneki can't help but wonder what she needs him for. Is it to clean up a dead body? Or what if he is to be a murder accomplice judging from that grim look in her eyes?

Anticipation curls in his gut when they approach one of the guest rooms at the second level. Would this be the last time he is going to see the day? Then the door swings open to reveal Hetare in its cage, fluttering its feathers in welcome and chirping happily at their arrival. Touka gives a poisonous look to the vermin and he isn't sure he heard correctly, but his enhanced hearing picks up Touka, muttering under her breath, "…damn thing trying to intimidate us…feeds on fear…"

He has absolutely no idea what she's talking about and he's not about to guess.

Meanwhile, Touka switches off the fans and places a grille over the windows. Confused, he just watched her go about it.

When she's satisfied with her handiwork, she turns back towards him and warns, "Stay here and don't let that damn thing escape from the room. Not one single toilet break, until I get back." That said, she makes him unhook the cage.

"On a count of three, open the cage door and let it fly out. You're going to corner it in one part of the room using your body, wait, you're too short, that won't work -"

Kaneki inwardly winced at the jibe at his height.

"- Use your kagune but don't injure it. Just contain it at one side. I'll grab the cage and leave the room. After that, call back your kagune and just let it fly around or something in this room."

"Wouldn't it be afraid of our kagune?"

"Who cares? It's payback for all the time it sca – all the time it makes an annoying sound."

"You mean the chirping?"

"No," she snaps, "it squawked at me!"

"I'm sure it's probably just surprised or something."

"Whatever, just keep it here and stay in this room. Don't open the door. As for how we're going to contain it, I like to see you have any better ideas!"

"Um..actually…"

"Spit it out, Kaneki!"

"I could just hold it in my hands until you leave?"

Touka tries to hide the disgust (and fear) on her face, but she's not quite successful.

"Why would you even want to touch it? It's dirty."

"Birds are really clean creatures actually."

"Stinking bird lover…" she mutters.

He's not sure he heard right. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Nothing, you shithead. Now hurry up, the faster we can get this over with, the faster we can end this," she hisses.

With trepidation on Touka's face as she monitors his actions, Kaneki unlocks the cage door and gently cups his hands around Hetare who chirps softly in return. He brings it out and runs a finger over its head, and its coos in contentment.

"Would you like to touch it?" He holds it out towards her just as she (slowly) inches away from him.

"It's fine. I'm going to wash the cage now."

Before he can even blink, she had heft the cage on her shoulder and darted out of the room, the door closing behind her.

Looking at Hetare, who blinks back at him with bright eyes, Kaneki smiles. "Looks like it's just you and me, buddy."

His fingers uncurl and Hetare hops around its palm, before wrapping one of its clawed feet around his thumb.

"Chirp!" It goes, before taking flight and playfully circling around his head. Boy and bird laugh happily.

"Kaneki is a dirty traitor and should be shunned," she says to herself, hearing how much those two are enjoying each other's company. She idly muses that Kaneki does have a nice laugh, low and warm and sincere at its core. Wait, what? She scowls at herself. Stupid thoughts…

Step 2: Hose the cage down with warm water before proceeding with a cloth to clean every nook and cranny.

She places the cage on the toilet floor with a clang and goes to turn on the hose, spraying it with warm water. The stream of water hits the cage and splashes to the ground, before dripping down the grilles into the sewers. Moving nearer to it with a cloth in one hand, she approaches the dripping wet metal edifice.

One never knows what kind of weird things one can find in a hideaway of the nemesis. She's just about to turn off the hose when her fingers slip from the smooth texture of the hose, inadvertently causing a spray of water to hit her right in the face. Spluttering furiously, she wrestles with the hose before managing to stop the jet of water from knocking her head off her shoulders.

"Damn it!" She swears, her hair sticking to her skin, water dripping down her clothes.

Somehow, she gets the feeling that the world is pulling an elaborate prank on her. Or maybe, that demonic entity had laid a curse so that when she touched its hideout, only bad luck would follow her.

But that's ridiculous. She spits out some water in her mouth and sloshes over to grab the cloth which had fallen out of her grasp just now.

With stubbornness lined in the way she sets her teeth, she begins to scrub the cage with a mild form of detergent in the cloth. All the while, she's thinking of curses she can fling at it.

"… Hope a cat catches you…get barbequed in the oven…ghouls killing you…Hah! Roasted bird!..."

When she finished scrubbing down the filthy enclosure, scraped off all manner of droppings and other things she doesn't want to think about, the stench that surrounds it is now pleasant and fresh smelling.

Step 3: Before rehabilitating the beast, ensure that the cage is entirely dry by placing it under the sun.

While drying means less work for her, it also means that there is a higher chance for something bad to happen within those few hours that are necessary for it to dry out and it can escape and unleash its fury onto the world during that time period. So...

Touka sits outside the room door housing Kaneki and the fiend and leans her back against it. Her clothes have been changed and she's now dry, warm and a bit sleepy in the afternoon haze.

"Touka-chan?" Is that you?" Kaneki calls out when he hears a shuffling outside.

"Yeah. The cage is drying under the sun now." Her eyes slide shut, head thudding softly on the door.

"Do you know how long it'll take? Uh, I haven't finished washing the dishes yet and I think Yoshimura might get mad if I'm in here for too long. There really are a lot of dishes."

"You're not going anywhere and it's fine. We don't have many customers today anyway. Surprisingly, I know, but the shop will survive even without you."

"…You sure know how to make me feel better."

Ah, was she too harsh then? She considers the possibility for a moment before dismissing it.

"You're too sensitive," she retorts.

A muffled sigh, and then: "I really need to go to the washroom."

"No."

"Please?"

"I said no. Are you deaf, idiot?"

Another sigh, this time more resigned than the previous.

"No."

Hetare twitters in sympathy and perches on Kaneki's shoulder, bringing its feathered head under his chin. Kaneki smiles and strokes it lightly, "Yeah, I know."

"What was that?" Touka asks from the other side, confusion in her voice.

"Oh, nothing." With a few hops up to his head, the little bird begins to chirp a melody, much to the joy of Kaneki and to Touka's ever-increasing irritation.

"Tch, it's so noisy."

She can't stand this anymore. Her eyes open and she gets up and moves away, intending on being as far away from those two love birds as possible. She goes downstairs, looking for something to pass the time with.

Step 4: Once the cage has dried, the creature will enter its domain again to rule over its invisible minions.

After lugging the cage back up the stairs, Kaneki holds the bird in the palm of his hands as it presses its soft head against his cheek. It chirps at him from behind the bars when the cage doors are closed, Touka is watching the exchange with something akin to disgust.

"Hetare is really cute," Kaneki comments, smiling at the active bird which flits from perch to perch.

"Really cute," she says sarcastically, and takes down the grilles from the windows.

"Now get back to work," she snaps, when she turns around and finds him beaming like a moonstruck fool as the bird twitters happily.

Knowing that he shouldn't test her patience, he hastily beats a retreat to the kitchen – only to find a stack of clean plates drying on the rack. He cracks a smile.

"Thank you, Touka-chan."

A beat of silence and then: "Your washing skills are deplorable."

Whether the statement is true or not, it doesn't stop him from chuckling.

The creature requires to be moved from location to location at various times of the day. In the morning, near the window, in the afternoon, nearer to the cupboard, and at night, it's placed near the sofas with a blanket draped over it. With a copious amount of resentment, the task was assigned to me. I am duty-bound to do it given that it was a direct order from Yoshimura himself and I cannot disobey. As such, I need to get close to it for three times daily to shift its location, much to my everlasting chagrin. But I shall not fail, that much I am certain of. I shall survive.

Of course Yoshimura picked her out of all the others to do it. She practically lives here and so the full time occupant at Anteiku has no choice but to shift the cage stand from place to place. In the morning, she yawns and stumbles into the lair of the beast, feeling suddenly more awake from moments before when it looks at her with beady eyes and utters a low warning, "Tweet."

Her brain, while perking up at the danger in this room, begins to power down when it recognises what the threat was.

It's just a stupid bird, her inner voice complains before stomping away. And get some coffee before you wake me up for this sort of thing. It can't hurt you at all.

She knows that, really. It's just a small creature composed of feathers and organs and atoms and it would be so easy for her to kill it just like that. But it's looking at her again, small eyes seemed to grow darker and its feathers rustle threateningly. In a quick motion, its wings flare open and Touka reacts without thinking.

Her kagune snaps open in defence, hardening to form crystal shards aimed at the monster.

"Touka-chan, I don't think that is how you treat a bird." The mild voice of Yoshimura snaps her out of her panic as she forcibly retracts her kagune into her shoulders, black and red misting into the air.

"Sorry," she mutters abashedly, "I was taken by surprise."

"That's alright, just try not to break anything this time."

She's left staring at his back, cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

This time, she enters the room again without lifting her head, kneels on the floor and holds the stand at the base, walking over to the next location and placing it none too lightly on the ground again. There's a stir of feathers before the vicious thing settles down and fluffs up, looking like an oversized colourful ball.

"Chirp," it goes, and she leaves the room quickly. Probably the change in location daily is to let it perform ancient rites to summon evil spirits to do its bidding. Hah, she would like to see it try. She welcomes anything so long as it gives her a perfectly good reason to make it disappear completely without making Hinami sad in any way.

After a long revitalising drink of coffee, she frowns at herself.

Her brain is now working properly and all she can feel is mild embarrassment. What was she thinking? Evil spirits? Really? Another reason why her mind absolutely cannot be trusted in the morning before coffee hits her taste buds.

During her afternoon break, her muscles are sore and aching from a hard day's work at Anteiku and she still has a few more hours to go before her shift ends. It is with a bad mood that she goes up the stairs to change that vermin's location (again).

In retrospect, slamming the door open was not a good idea.

The door hit the wall with a bang, causing the vermin to screech in alarm, a jagged sound that sends her ghoul hearing ballistic with how high pitched it is. Feels like there's something cutting through her eardrums and ripping them into shreds. To make matters worse, the thing has begun to flap its wings and fly around the cage in anxious circles, hitting the sides painfully before resuming its demented screeching.

"Shut up, you stupid bird!" She shouts over the din, shakily making her way over to it. Just as she's about to rattle the cage to stop that horrible noise, it quietens down and perches on the swing. In the silence, she pushes the stand over to the designated place, all the while keeping an eye on it. It seemed to have calmed down and it's just perching there docilely. This, she can deal with.

She's not sure why, but the words slip out of her mouth, "Don't freak out on me next time."

Striding out of the room, she throws one last glance at it to see it looking back at her cooing softly.

It almost sounds…sad. Her heart twinges.

(It's not just rabbits, even birds can feel lonely.)

The next time she enters again, it's near eight at night. The sofa area is darker and cooler than the cupboards so it would provide a better resting place for it. It perks up the moment she steps into the room, eyes bright and making soft cooing noises and she moves it to the new premise with no fuss.

She places the blankets over it to block out the light so it can rest properly and she can hear the gentle fluttering of its wings as it settles down for the night.

Again, she blames it on how strange her mind had been acting recently when she says, "Goodnight, beastie."

A soft coo answers her.

In the matter of ensuring the maintenance of the creature's residence, it must be noted that the beast itself must also be washed. Thankfully, a small bath of a water level of a few centimetres of water would do. No contact is required with it. Although there remains a need to change the bath regularly since it has taken to moulting feathers in recent times. Probably to spite me; I'm sure of it.

Like a fat, bloated spider, it remains in the centre of the cage and unfurls its wings whenever she comes near. So she lurks in the doorway and listens in on the conversation.

"I don't think Hetare looks well."

"Don't worry, Hinami-chan. Birds moult occasionally – which means they pluck off their feathers – and when they do that, they don't feel well. But it's just for a short period of time and I'm sure Hetare will be fine." Kaneki then goes on to explain the uses of moulting and that's her cue to start tuning him out. She's not interested in the physiology of the creature. No, what she has to do now is to refill the water bath. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Just pour the water via a funnel, but it failed to mention that it was a very very short funnel. Which meant going near it. While it is in a bad mood. Aggressive too, judging from the way it's flinging itself at the cage doors, causing it to rock wildly from side to side.

"Onii-chan, it's going to hurt itself!" Hinami's voice is tinged with worry and concern about that beast and she can't help but feel a little annoyed. It's a demon, why can't everyone see that?

Kaneki makes a move towards it and makes a strange whistling noise between his teeth. It seems to calm it down somewhat (her inner voice is losing it: Kaneki the beast whisperer, can you believe it? And it collapses into a fit of giggles. Sometimes, she's not entirely sure she's fully sane. Her mind is weird.)

With a sad chirp, it presses its body against the bars of the cage. Like the sap he is, Kaneki lightly runs a finger down its body. Hinami (also, a traitor) skips over to touch it gently with a look of awe in her eyes.

"It's so soft," she breathes out.

"Chirp," goes the bird and rubs its head on Hinami's fingers.

Kaneki has the look in his eyes when he sees something especially touching and he likes it very much, all soft sincerity and sweetness in his gaze as he watches the girl and the bird bonding together. It's really a disgusting sight and Touka has to avoid her eyes, although her cheeks flush pink as she ducks her head, suddenly wanting to be out of this room, away from that gentle radiance on his face.

"Oh, onee-chan. Come say hi to Hetare!"

Damn. She casts her eye wildly around the room and finding no suitable excuse, drags herself reluctantly over to the trio.

Just as she's about to come close, that infernal vermin warbles a high note at her.

"What it's doing?" She frowns and slowly changes her position until Kaneki is shielding her from that thing.

"Oh, that's a welcome note. It's excited to see you." With that, he places two very warm hands on her arms and pushes her in front of it.

She tenses up.

The bird is now hopping excitedly like a demented spring and she takes a violent step back – into Kaneki. Her body slams into him and they go down in a tangle of limbs and she inwardly curses herself at how careless she had been. Groaning, both of them get up and dust themselves off.

Kaneki notices that Touka is surprisingly quiet, not calling down the fury of the high heavens down onto him after that fall.

Touka slowly turns towards him and it's only then can he see the murder in her eyes.

"KANEKI!"

Ah, guess he spoke too soon.

While onii-chan and onee-chan are off about having fun, although they sure are pretty noisy, Hinami will look after Hetare. She picks up funnel on the floor and places it on the table. No idea what it's supposed to be used for. Anyway, she notices that the bird bathwater is getting kinda murky and there are stray feathers inside. She thinks it will be a good idea to change the bathwater so that the pretty bird will feel much better and she can play with it together with her onee-chan and onii-chan! They will be so proud of her.

Easing the door open slightly so as to not spook Hetare, she sticks her hand in to take out the birdbath, making sure that the opening isn't so big for the little bird to escape.

Success! It's out!

With a little skip, she dashes off to refill the container, leaving Hetare alone in the room.

"Chirp." It tweets forlornly to itself, now that it's left alone, another feather drifting to the floor of the cage.

A short while later, the pattering of tiny feet running across wooden boards causes Hetare to straighten up and stare hopefully at the door. Little girl is back! With clean water, it seems.

It twitters in greeting and hops forward eagerly.

Hinami is just as eager to get back to the bird, walking quickly to it as the water in the container sloshes dangerously from side to side. Not a single drop spilled despite her hasty pace, and she's really happy about that feat.

"Here, birdie!"

She unlatches the cage door and places the crystalline water inside, much to the happiness of Hetare who coos in pleasure and splashes happily in its bird bath.

It's so cute! She grins at the bird which splashes some of the water at her in a bid to play around, much to her childish delight.

"Hetare, stop it," Hinami giggles.

This is the scene where Touka and Kaneki return to, a small girl and her bird, one laughing joyfully and the other singing a sweet melody, voices high and clear in the summer air.

Claws loosen in Touka's chest, her breaths coming a little easier. She is tempted to do something, but she's not sure what so she turns her head to the side and catches sight of Kaneki who has an idiotic doting expression on his face.

"Hmph," she says, but her lips curl up at the edges anyway.

The demon sings surprisingly well. Maybe it means to enchant us with its dark magic, but in any case, I shall keep watch on it along with my other comrades.

Her relationship with it isn't improving exactly, but neither is it festering into hatred. All things considered, she has more or less accepted its presence at Anteiku. Sure, it can get pretty annoying at times, chirping madly and flapping its wings for no good reason other than to intimidate her. As time pass, she supposes that the critter is absolutely harmless, no voodoo or black magic involved and its bright plumage adds a splash of colour to the room at Anteiku.

Even though she's more or less okay with it, that doesn't mean she would volunteer herself to be in the same room as that thing for a longer period of time than necessary. There should be no reason for this, but then again, Hinami's persuasion has never made much sense, which results in Touka still going along with her anyway.

"Hinami, why are we here again?" Touka asks exasperatedly.

"Well, I thought we should all have some fun with Hetare now that it has stopped m-m-moulting." She looks to Kaneki for confirmation of her pronunciation and when he gives her an encouraging nod, she presses on, "So onee-chan, onii-chan, Hetare and I will all be together!"

They're all in one of the guest rooms in which Hetare is housed at and Touka nervously glances at the grilles on the windows and the locked door. She has a sneaking suspicion what is going to happen next, but she's powerless to stop it. Not unless she reveals to them both that she absolutely detests birds.

"Uh Hinami, onee-chan is quite busy now, can I drop by later?" It's a last ditch attempt to get out of this metaphorical quicksand before it swallows her whole.

"Please? Just for a moment?" Hinami widens her eyes, the hope in them radiates through.

Damn, she hates it when Hinami does that, simply because she can feel her resistance crumbling away.

Touka gives a sigh and waves her hand in the air, "Okay."

With growing horror, she watches as Hinami brings her hands closer to Hetare, wrapping her little fingers delicately around its fragile body. It chirps and nestles contentedly in her palm. Kaneki walks over to stroke the feathers on the top of its head, and it shuts its eyes, burrowing closer to the warmth.

Okay, that's a really nice scene, but can she go now?

Suddenly, her palms become sweaty and her breathing has gone up a notch. Control yourself, it's just a stupid bird. Breathe, Touka!

She sucks in a deep breath.

"Touka onee-chan, here." Hinami walks over and shoves the chirping thing to her face. She has to clamp down on her knee jerk reaction to backpedal until she reaches the opposite end of the country.

"Uh, it's cute," she says, and makes no movement other than to stand rigidly, body locked tight in tension.

"Do you wanna touch it? It's so soft!" Hinami squeals and moves it closer to her face.

Touka has a brief recollection of Yoriko doing something similar, except instead of a bird, it was a large bento box of food that was waving around her face.

"Uh, no, it's really okay, Hinami." Her eyes land on Kaneki and she smiles grimly to herself.

Holding the arms of the young girl, Touka brings the bird over to the raven-haired male and declares, "Here, Kaneki, you hold it."

Seeing nothing wrong with the request, he shrugs, "Okay."

With deft fingers, he transfers Hetare over to himself such that he's cradling it in his hands. And then, whatever amount of respect Touka has for him promptly combusts when he makes an upward motion with his hands - bird included.

In an explosion of movement, the surprised bird takes to the air with a bemused squawk? and begins to swiftly soar around the room. The result is one amused Kaneki, a clapping Hinami and one entirely petrified Touka.

This is not a good day at all.

In fact, it's so far down in her list of 'Things that I would never ever do in my life' that it's actually below 'Jump off a flying plane without any parachute' and 'Tell Tsukiyama that he is a beautiful rose among thorns in French, accompanied by - what else? - a rose'. Hell no is she ever going to do any of those but it seems that life is playing a cruel joke on her by fulfilling one of her nightmares: Be in the same room as a flying bird.

Watching it soar gracefully through the air, the whisper of wind as it rustles through its colourful feathers, the sheer beauty and elegance of its flight is making her mad. And irritated. And so fucking pissed off over this smug piece of flying shit that is definitely taking too much joy in flying.

"Onee-chan!" Hinami's voice startles her and snaps the girl out of her thoughts.

"Huh?"

From the corner of her eyes, she sees a flash of red and she whips around to see – oh.

Her kagune.

Sharp and jagged and pulsing.

It's rapidly crystallising into a glassy material; the sheen of crimson now sharpening into bloody red slashes, the edges of her wings ragged and sharp.

She's just about to retract it back when a sharp cry causes her to look up.

Clawed talons are approaching her face and above that is Hetare with its beak wide opened screeching madly. An attack. It happens so fast she's not entirely sure of the exact details.

All she knows is that she sees the claws about to scratch her, freezes up, her brain screaming danger and her kagune lets loose a volley of shards in the air. Hinami shrieks, but it's a muffled shout: Kaneki has covered her with his body, shielding her from the ukaku ghoul's unintentional attack.

RC cells are lodged in the furniture, wood splintering in all directions and plaster coats the air where some of her more violent shards have embedded itself in the wall. The sofa seemed to be like a porcupine, multiple scarlet spikes stabbed through the upholstery. The ceiling took the worst of it, a constellation of vibrant red fragments quivering gently; such was the explosive power behind them. Meanwhile, the window cracked but it hasn't shattered yet, the metal grilles seemingly to have taken the brunt of the impact. It has twisted and warped out of shape, but it still clings tenaciously to the window frame.

As for the occupants of the room, they are shaken, but not fatally wounded. Kaneki has a few cuts on his back, which bleeds sluggishly, a couple of smaller shards embedded in them. His quick thinking paid off when Hinami emerges unscathed, unsteady on her feet but looking no worse for the wear. In the corner, seeds are scattered on the floor and the carpet is slowly soaking up a puddle of water. Hetare's cage is overturned and Hetare –

- isn't anywhere.

"Hetare?" Touka asks, feeling like a child all over again, confused and scared when she knows she has done something really wrong and doesn't know what to do in the aftermath. Her father would pat her head and tell her, "it's fine." But her dad isn't here and she's not feeling any better.

"Hetare?" she tries again, ignoring the waver in her voice. No answer.

There's something sour in her mouth and her heart is clenched tight in her chest, feeling like she's suffocating from the inside out.

"Hetare!" She shouts again, and there's a prickling in her eyes that wasn't there before.

Again, not one single chirp. Or a twitter. She wouldn't have minded a squawk, as ridiculous as it seemed.

She stands there, her voice having dried up entirely, numb to the core.

It was only scared and thought I was an enemy.

So what did I do?

I killed Hetare.

I killed it with my own kagune.

My own half-wing.

Her kagune melts into nothingness and Kaneki looks worriedly at the girl who has gone still and her eyes holding a terrible emptiness in them. He's about to put a comforting hand on her shoulder when Hinami suddenly pipes up, "Hetare!"

There's a scuffling sound, followed by some glass sliding around and Hinami emerges from a mound of sofa cushions which have tumbled onto the ground, holding something bright coloured in her hands.

The thing lifts up its head, blinking with its familiar black eyes.

It's looking directly at Touka now. It cocks its head to the side, and says, "Tweet."

She's staring back with wide eyes and she breathes out, "Hetare."

"Chirp!"

"Hetare?"

"Chirp!"

"You're…alive."

At the word 'alive', it lifts its head and tweets a short high note: joy.

With a flutter of wings, Hetare flies over to her and perches on her shoulder. Everyone all noted that she didn't even flinch at all, just stared wonderingly at that small bright figure. Hesitatingly, she lifts her hands, brings it nearer to it. Hetare hops closer to her finger and pushes its head underneath her finger. It has a smooth ticklish sensation, so gentle and delicate.

"It's soft," she says, surprised.

"Yeah. It's nice, isn't it?" Hinami shares a smile at Kaneki, who pats her on her head.

Touka looks back to both of them and then turns to look at the bird that doesn't shy away from her, who sometimes get lonely and can be a real pain at times, but it also chirps at her when she enters the room and sings the loveliest songs she has ever heard, and she doesn't fight the smile that steals her face.

"It's a beautiful bird."

All in all, the manual was pretty useful in the beginning. It helped to organize her thoughts and made things simple, lending some black humour where her hatred was about to overwhelm her. She didn't have to see beyond the clear instructions she was given; all she had to do was to keep her head down and obeyed.

But now, she knows that if all she did was just to blindly follow the instructions, it would mean that she would have never dreamt to look up and watch the sun, the brilliant radiance bursting into the sky in an explosion of bright colours.

It's a new day, a new promise, a new hope, but it will always simply be, just a little bird by the name of…

Hetare.

"Chirp!"

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