Hey guys! I 'may' not be uploading in a bit for 'reasons' but I hope you guys can bear with me. I decided that I would write a longer chapter since I 'might' not be uploading for a bit. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Meal
"I don't see him anywhere, maybe he's dead," an annoyed voice scattered through the emptiness of the 13th ward, "but then again, we would still be left with his body… Ugh! Can we please just forget about that half-freak and go already? We can just say to the superiors that the crows ate him or something."
"Yeah, you're right. Why are we bothering to search for that useless prick? It's better off without him anyway. We'll the others that we're leaving and that ghouls must have got hold of his body, there's no way he would've won against those two anyway. Haha."
The cold, heartless voices swept through the silent night like a sinister chill, only adding to the already cold atmosphere. The voices that were 'saving' humanity from the bloodthirsty ghouls were just bloodthirsty themselves, wrapped in their twisted thoughts of annihilation and bloodlust.
Blood = Ghoul.
Ghoul = trouble.
Trouble = bad.
Kaneki's thoughts worked like clockwork, analysing his situation.
Why did a Ghoul have to show up now of all times?
Kaneki didn't like the thought of it, but reality doesn't care what you think.
It doesn't care what you want or feel, it just keeps on toying with people's lives, unfairly.
For Kaneki now, reality seemed to have given him a rather… weird experience to say the least.
What the hell is a ghoul doing in their house!
He's definitely not a sibling or father 'cuz the rest of them are humans.
Maybe a friend?
UGGHHH! I don't want any more trouble!
He felt curious about the situation, but more than anything, troubled.
They didn't know what to think of each other. They just stared and stared and stared for what felt like eternity.
While Kaneki's face was completely emotionless, hiding his thoughts and feeling perfectly, the taller man seemed rather… confused.
Kaneki knew why the man was so troubled.
That bastard is probably thinking "Huh? A human? No! He smells off! I wonder why he smells so weird."
Well, the best choice as of now is to make him think that I'm human.
"It's nice to meet you Mr Toshio, my name is Kaneki." Kaneki's voice kept its emotionless tone and his face kept his expressionlessness as he added a bow at the end of his sentence.
"Hello there boy, what on Earth happened to you?" Toshio's reply carried an over exaggerated worry in its words.
"I was-"
"Oh my, you're right! How could I be so blind to this poor young man's injuries?! Right in you go Kakeni, I will show you the bathroom for a shower and bring you some fresh new clothes." The oblivious gran cut Kaneki off in her delayed reaction to the white-haired boy's condition.
Huh? What did she call me?
Kakeni… she said my name before just fine so why is she having trouble remembering it now?
"Don't be shy now dear, come on in you go!" The granny's voice was so shaky and weak but the spirit in it was one of the strongest he'd ever heard, and frankly he was jealous of it. His voice has no spirit in it whatsoever, just empty words.
Kaneki began to make his way into the house, smelling the freshness of a lavender air freshener.
Wow, it's as if they knew a guest was coming. Everything is so clean.
"Oh please Mrs Sozaka, allow me to show our guest. You're not fit to do so in your condition." Toshio said before gently resting his hand on the old woman's shoulders, while gesturing her to move from the entrance into the house.
Mrs Sozaka and Toshio both went the first room to the left of the hallway, a seemingly overprotective Toshio leading the gran.
Kaneki couldn't help but look at the ghoul helping the old human in suspicion.
I'll have to ask about this guy later…
Just as Kaneki started looking around, he heard someone smirk behind him and turned around to see wide grin on his rival's face. Between giggles, the smirking boy said "K-Kaken-ni…"
"Haha, very funny 'Ahokiri'." Kaneki remarked as he watched the two get in the house.
"You're gonna regret that cum-head." Akihiro replied with a menacing look.
"Oh yeah? How so?"
Cum-head… really?
Though I must admit, that's pretty funny.
"I gave you a little chance to apologize but it seems you weren't wise enough. Since I already know you mental strength isn't very strong, how about we test your physical strength?" Akihiro challenged the pale skinned boy in a mocking fashion.
"That language is very smart coming from an infant. But then again, it's very dumb considering the person you're talking to is someone who just won a fight against 3 thugs. So, how do you plan on testing my physical strength?" Kaneki accepted his challenge in his own mocking words.
"An arm wrestle." The boy's reply came simple, completely ignoring the insult he had just received.
"That's it? Talk about a let-down. And here I thought you were talking big, looks like I overestimated you… again." Kaneki put on fake sad expression to emphasize his disappointment.
"I thought I would go easy on you with a simple arm wrestle since you're all beaten up, but fine, how about we add a weight lifting match in there?"
Kaneki gave a small smile. "Now that's more like it!"
Although he knew he was going to win, the thought of spicing up things between Akihiro and him made him slightly exited, slightly.
Kaneki subconsciously began to remove his shoes and push them to the side of another welcome matt inside the house, this time it was only brown with white writing.
At least this one's normal.
"But first let's get you cleaned up!" Gazel caught the attention of both the boys as she also removed her shoes, turned to a nearly empty shoe rack that Kaneki was standing right next to, and placed them at the very top.
"O-oh…" Kaneki struggled to keep himself giving a small laugh of embarrassment as he got his shoes and did the same, putting them below Gazel's.
"See, this is what I mean when your mental strength level is drastically below the average human's." Akihiro sounded so proud to be able to roast Kaneki again.
The pale teen shot the proud boy a half-hearted, sarcastic thumbs up before turning to face Gazel.
"Umm, by the way Gazel, who is that man?" Kaneki asked bluntly with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"Oh, he's just recently started coming here as a caregiver. When Akihiro and I go to school, he comes here to take care of gran. But I overheard them saying that this weekend, he gonna sleep here for some reason. I don't know why he does that 'cuz I didn't ask. So that means he'll be sleeping here today since it's Friday, but it's not really a big deal because we have a spare bed anyway."
I see… he could still be dangerous though.
She looked happy and excited to have Kaneki in the house, missing the look on his face that was in deep thought. It frankly confused Kaneki why she was so happy but he quickly put the thought to the back of his head when she started talking. "I'll go tell Mr Toshio to go get you some of his clothes while I show to the bathroom!"
"That's okay Gazel," a voice coming closer and closer from the room the ghoul and the gran had entered caught their ears, "I'll show our guest to the bathroom. You can prepare dinner while Akihiro, you let Kaneki borrow some of your clothes. I think he'll fit in your size better than mine."
Wait, why does he want to show me to the bathroom?
What is he up to?
"Bu-"
"Alright." Akihiro cut Gazel off and walked to the end of the hallway to some stairs at the right, and began to climb the spiral staircase to his room.
"Alright..." Gazel dropped her head in defeat and dragged her feet straight ahead to a kitchen door.
Do they really have dinner this late? Well lucky me…
The man still couldn't pick up what was off about Kaneki's scent, but it didn't bother him because it made the boy smell absolutely delicious!
As Gazel turned around, the kitchen door half opened, she began to converse some sort of conversation with Kaneki.
But the man wasn't listening to it what so ever, he was too bust admiring the sweet, delicious scent the boy let off. Saliva trickled down his mouth as his lips formed an evil grin.
When this boy leaves this house, he is so mine! You came just in time, It's been a while since I ate and I was getting worried I wouldn't be about to find food.
Sadistic thoughts of tearing and ripping tender and juicy flesh raced through his mind before he noticed he was getting too excited and snapped out of them.
He straightened up and wiped the saliva trail off his chin just in time before Kaneki waved at Gazel before she entered the kitchen. When she left, he turned around and looked up to the man.
Phew, the ghoul thought, if I hadn't fixed myself there then it may have caused trouble.
"Alright this way." Toshio began to make his way towards the stairs across the hallway, While Kaneki silently followed.
All the walls in the house were white as snow, giving the illusion that it was cleaner than it actually was. Not that the house wasn't clean though. It didn't have much of an exciting element to it because of the simplicity and lack of decoration.
Kaneki didn't notice any of it though, in fact, he hadn't paid attention to any of his surroundings on the way to their destination. He was too busy giving the leading man scary emotionless faces of disgust and wariness.
He had seen the whole thing. Everything at the corner of his eye back there, he saw it; the saliva, the grin, the heavy breathing.
This guy thinks he's so slick and smooth does he?
How dumb can he get?
I saw everything.
Kaneki wasn't particularly happy with the memories of a certain purple-haired gourmet that came with the way this man was acting. It just made Kaneki hate him even more.
He probably wants me when I step outside this house.
Still, I should be careful of him even when I'm inside the house without making it look obvious.
The whole journey was silent, too silent.
Kaneki wanted to start a conversation with the man, out of interest.
"Thank you for showing me the way sir, I really appreciate it!" Kaneki almost made himself sound too thankful, but still made it sound perfectly innocent.
"Oh no problem! You're a very well-mannered boy, just like Mrs Sozaka said you were! It's rare to find a boy like you." The man replied in a normal way, like any normal person would.
"Haha, thanks."
"By the way, we have fried chicken and French fries for dinner. Any particular part of the chicken you would like?" The man turned his head and eyed Kaneki to see his reaction.
Kaneki prepared himself for this beforehand and was going to say he didn't want any. But seeing as things didn't go as he had expected and a ghoul showed up, he decided to switch things up a little.
"Sorry, I'm a vegetarian. Is it okay if I can just have the French fries?" Kaneki decided not to completely refuse the food, but to cut on the amount he would be forced to eat. Completely refusing the food would be too suspicious, especially for the ghoul who was confused about his scent, and he just couldn't risk getting discovered.
"Oh I see, sure no problem." He turned back around and seemed to be satisfied with Kaneki's answer.
"We're here." Toshio opened a door and the bathroom was revealed. It shone brightly because of how clean it was. "Your towel is here and so will your clothes when Akihiro brings them. There is shampoo, conditioner and body wash in soap dispensers on the walls near the bath tub. Enjoy your shower."
"Thank you!" When the man left, Kaneki closed and locked the door behind him, got undressed and turned on the hot water for a shower.
Kaneki stepped in the living room after around 5 minutes of exploring.
"Took you long enough cum-head." Kaneki looked at an empty living room except for the presence of one individual, Akihiro.
Cum-head… again?
"Do those clothes fit you fine?" The boy asked, relaxing on a couch.
Kaneki was given a white hoodie and grey jeans.
Are hoodies and jeans all they have?
"Yeah, they're fine. I guess the really suit me huh?" Kaneki said the last sentence to himself while staring at his new clothes.
The colour of the hoodie and the jeans matched perfectly with his hair and eyes. It's as if they were destined to be for him.
"Perfect, 'cuz I wouldn't want you making an excuse when you lose like 'oh, it's because my sleeves are too tight!' or something. Anyway, it's almost time for dinner. Let's hurry this up." Akihiro smiled then bounced off the couch and walked to a coffee table located near the middle of the room. "Oh by the way, I didn't have any spare pyjamas so your gonna have to sleep with those, sorry bro."
"Its fine, I guess you could say I'm used to it." The half-ghoul followed the oblivious boy who was unaware who he was truly going to arm wrestle. The infamous SS rated half-kakuja: Centipede. If you think about it, the humungous difference in strength between the ordinary boy and the half-ghoul was laughable.
That poor bot didn't stand a chance, not against a half-ghoul who single-handedly took down Aogiri's infamous Tatara and Noro. Even If it was just barely.
Two elbows were placed on the table, one elbow was expected to be knocked down and marked a looser.
"Are you ready to lose bakaneki?" Akihiro mocked.
"Not to a naïve little kid like you, no." Kaneki replied with menacing eyes that contributed to the tension.
The two elbows inched closer until their hands were able to grab hold of each other. Kaneki's freezing cold hand warming up in the boy's warmer one.
Right, how am I going to go about my way doing this?
Kaneki's brain quickly thought of how he should defeat the boy.
Well, the best option I have is to put enough strength in to reflect the normal strength of a human my age.
Deciding that was the only reasonable course of action, the teen tightened his grip, indicating that he was ready.
Akihiro begun the countdown. "Okay the match starts when I say go. 3, 2, 1…"
After not hearing a 'go' for 2 solid seconds, Kaneki looked up to ask the boy what was wrong. Just when he opened his mouth to ask, he heard "GO!"
The weaker boy put all his strength into his cheated start. He managed to push Kaneki's hand two thirds of the way down until Kaneki started to retaliate.
Though, the reason why Kaneki's hand got pushed back so far wasn't because of the delayed start he got, but because of his quick thinking.
When the other boy had started pushing Kaneki's cold hands, Kaneki's instinct told him to push back, but why would he do that when the boy had just given him a chance to look more human?
A normal human wouldn't immediately start retaliating, when only a single newton is pushed against their hand.
Adding a fake grunt, Kaneki successfully pushed Akihiro's hand down to the table, labelling him victorious.
"Aww man! I lost!" Akihiro sounded really disappointed, and slightly embarrassed after all those remarks he made about beating Kaneki.
"Of course you did, you should have known that from the start."
"Well considering the age difference, I think I've done a pretty good job almost winning at the start."
"That because you cheated idiot."
"Wha-! Of course not! When did I cheat? I counted down, said go, kept my elbow on the table, and started pushing your hand down only after saying go, how could I have possibly cheated?" Akihiro gave an over the top sarcastic reply, which only made Kaneki give a half-hearted stare then roll his eyes.
"Oh there you two are! Dinner's ready, come eat your food!" Gazel popped her head in and out of the room, notifying the boys.
"Well I guess we'll do our weight lifting contest some other time, so don't think you've won just 'cuz it's 1:0." Akihiro said before running ahead of Kaneki.
"Yeah…" Kaneki mumbled, unfocused in what the boy actually said because of certain words echoing in Kaneki's mind.
Dinner…
Food…
Eat…
…
…
…
Fuck…
Kaneki nose iched as he entered the dining room after Akihiro.
"Kaneki!" Gazel called out while waving then pointed to a seat next to her.
Kaneki gave a warm smile as he made his way to the stinking table of human food. He sat down before a huge plate of oily, fried potatoes. The stench made him so nauseous.
He also saw a cup of water, filled to the top. This gave Kaneki some relief, thankful it was water and not some sort of juice or soda.
He quickly scanned around him seeing the old granny carefully cutting her chicken breast and Akihiro munching on his food loudly.
No sign of Toshio…
"Where's Mr Toshio?" Kaneki curiously and suspiciously whispered to Gazel, who just put her cup of water down.
"Oh, he insisted that he would get some shut-eye without dinner." She continued eating chicken after she replied.
"Oh okay."
That fucking asshole, I force myself to eat this crap just to look human in front of him and he doesn't even show up?!
I swear, I wanna beat his ass more than anything right now, especially more than eating this junk…
Okay whatever, I better get this over and done with…
Not wanting to touch anything, Kaneki picked up his fork and stabbed the smallest french fry he could find.
He closed his eyes and shoved it to the back of his mouth, swallowing it instantly.
The muddy taste slowly started to occupy his mouth as Kaneki reached for his cup of water.
I've been through worse, come on this should be a piece of cake.
But still, it feels like I'm swallowing muddy worms from a swamp!
Ugh, the oil just makes it so much worse…
Not wanting to drag the torture any longer, he decided to fill his mouth with the muddy worms that found themselves on his plate.
Shove it down!
Shove it down!
Oh, please… just stop.
Kaneki didn't know who he was pleading to, he just didn't want the bad taste to fill his mouth, to fill his mind. The bad taste of not only the food, but the memories of pain, and disgust, sorrow. The bad taste of reality once again toying with his life for pleasure, for twisted pleasure.
Can't I just taste something better for once?
Just, once?
The mud, rocks and worms that filled him scratched and clawed at his stomach endlessly.
Just please keep it down for now, I'll get you something better, more delicious later I promise.
His dirt filled, now hungry stomach rejected his offering in screaming pain causing Kaneki to let out a little groan.
I know it's making you hungry for real food, just get through it okay?
It's as if Kaneki is the vessel where all the sadness, sorrow and despair is kept stored inside. A vessel without an exit but with an entrance.
…
That one too familiar female voice spoke out. "You've changed a long time ago, yet you still haven't gotten used to it. You're still in the middle Ken, chose one side, the right side, and cling to it for life, or let them both go and disappear into nothingness."
…
…
…
No.
…
I SAID NO!
I lost my friends once thanks to you, I'm not falling for that crap again!
…
You said to choose didn't you? Well I'm choosing both sides!
…
…
…
"Hah, who would've known a scrawny kid like you would choose the right answer?" As the sentence reached its echoing end, the female voice slowly quietened down, letting out a giggle before her disappearance.
Yeah, I didn't even know I had the strength to do so.
…
…
…
Kaneki opened his eyes, his vision as well as his hearing returning to him with the delivering sight and sound of reality.
He soon realised he had been closing his eyes the whole ordeal, enduring it all painfully at the back of his mind without letting any of it escape.
He endured it alone, like he always had. Taking the bullet without his friends even hearing the gunshot, without his friends even seeing the gun, without his friends even smelling the smoke.
After his blurry vision finally cleared, he saw the plates of the 4 people at the dinner table almost empty. One in particular completely empty.
He had devoured all his French fries without leaving a trace.
It felt like forever… but I did it, I did it!
Kaneki stared at his plate, ignoring the immensely growing pain in his stomach. He finally stood up, pushing his chair back in the process.
"Oh, you've finished! How was it? Good? Bad? C'mon tell me!" Gazel desperately asked Kaneki for his review on her cooking.
He turned around, now facing the completely oblivious girl who had just served him hell. "Thank you so much, it was amazing."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Sorry there was no dessert, we didn't really have much ingredients to make anything in the fridge."
"Oh, that's fine. You've already presented me with such an amazing meal, it would be way too greedy to eat another delicious plate of your food."
"Thanks, hehehe."
All Kaneki seemed to do to repay the girl's kindness was just lie.
Lies, lies, lies.
That's all he will ever do.
That's all he ever was.
"Excuse me, I need the toilet." Kaneki left the table before turning around to give Gazel a thumbs up.
"Oh by the way, your toothbrush is the white one still in its package on the shelf. It's pretty easy to find. Also, is it fine if you sleep on the couch? We don't really have any spare beds. You should find a pillow and a blanket on the couch 'cuz I'm almost done eating and ill prepare it for you." Gazel smiled at Kaneki through her sentence.
"Thanks." Kaneki returned the warm smile, his being colder.
Halfway through the staircase, Kaneki practically sprinted to restroom. He couldn't bare it any more, it was like he was being eaten inside out!
His vision was getting blurry and he was at his limit.
Why is it so fucking far away?!
Kaneki staggered to the door that felt like it was miles away, slamming it open.
Luckily for him, the toilet was relatively close to the entrance.
"BLUGRGGGHHH!"
The seemingly disgusting sound brought so much relief to him, it sparred him so much pain.
The shaking boy looked up from the toilet, staring at the wall for a couple seconds before flushing his vomit.
He stood up and walked over to the sink to rinse him mouth from the horrible, horrible taste.
He looked up to see a white toothbrush, still in its packaging, resting on top of a wooden shelf.
The groaning boy took it and ripped the plastic with his dark nails rather easily thanks to his superhuman strength.
Brushing his teeth not only cleaned them, it also helped remove the terrible odour of human food along with the last remnants of taste that swarmed his tongue.
Just as the half-ghoul finished spitting out the water that rinsed the toothpaste from his mouth, he felt a strange tickling sensation in his stomach.
You were full a minute ago, what are you complaining about?
Well, I guess you did get filled the wrong kind of food huh?
He hung the toothbrush on one of the empty toothbrush holders that were stuck on the tiled wall.
At the corner of his eye, he saw his old tattered clothes peacefully lying in the basket he was told to put them in when he got undressed for a shower.
Kaneki went through his torn cloths finding a wallet in his ripped left trouser pocket and a glasses box (with glasses he no longer needs) in the pocket of his dirty trench coat.
Though his later discovery astonished him completely. There, lying slightly exposed from his right trouser pocket, was a clean, polished, unscratched leather mask.
"W-what?! How did this get here?" Kaneki was totally and utterly confused how his trademark mask somehow appeared in his old trousers.
It wasn't here before I passed out!
This is all so weird…
Just like how I suddenly appeared in the 14th ward when I was in the 13th.
This doesn't add up, someone must have done this!
He noticed that a medical eyepatch also lay with the black mask.
Who could've… done this?
The boy sighed.
I'm too tired to deal with this now, I need some rest. He put on the medical eyepatch and exited the room.
The pale boy made his way back down the stairs while perfectly concealing the nostalgic item in his hoodie pocket, his wallet in his trousers. He left the glasses behind because his eyesight was fine now. He was walking ever so slowly because of the fatigue he got from eating so much human food.
Just as he entered the living room, he saw the couch with a pillow and blanket already prepared. He had already saw a key in its keyhole in the living room door before when he left with Akihiro to eat that terribly revolting food.
He closed the door and locked it, in case that unpredictable ghoul sleeping in the very same house as him tries anything, the sound of a forced entry would wake him.
He walked over and jumped in the makeshift bed. It felt like forever since he got a good, comfortable night's rest.
Not a minute passed and he already fell into a deep slumber.
The very slumber that marked his first night with the two.
Thanks for reading! Please leave a review to tell me what you like about the story and what I can improve on. I read each and every single review and it warms my heart that you guys are liking my work. I'm only 14 and you guys love my work so much! T.T