Chapter 11: New life III

Due to the sudden change in events, Hide decided to move from his apartment in the 14th ward and move to the 20th ward where he'll find himself with a half-ghoul as a roommate (not that he minded). Until Kaneki (otherwise known as Neki Mukade) earns enough money for him to rent an apartment on his own, his stuck with Hide. But, being the blockhead that he is, Kaneki wanted to take on another part-time job to 'hurry up and get the damn money'.

"You really stress yourself out Kaneki. You've got university and work at Anteiku and now you want to work at another restaurant? What was is name again?"

"'Rest our aunt'." Kaneki answered, reading one of his many books on the couch.

Hide snorted in a pathetic attempt to hide a laugh.

"Yeah… it's a stupid name that is literally pronounced 'restaurant' but is spelt 'rest our aunt'. Well, at least I can earn money faster to get my own apartment by working there. I'll apply for the job after college today." Kaneki didn't take his uncovered grey eye off his book while speaking to his friend that was scrolling down his endless list of songs on his phone. Only one eye stared at the contents of the book while the other slept under an eyepatch. It was still there in case his rowdy left eye turned, but it was also for a sentimental purpose and 'for comfort'.

Although it seemed like Kaneki hadn't thought his options at a new life through well, he had considered it harshly. A new life was something that had never ever crossed his mind since becoming the mess he is now. Having the chance at such a thing made Kaneki surprisingly nervous. Though he though his options were simple, he thought around every angle and pin pointed every pro and con before deciding on what to make out of his life.

"But I don't think working at a restaurant is best." Hide continued the conversation in an attempt to keep the two out of an awkward silence. He indirectly sent his worry message to his friend who now looked up from his book to see a stoic faced Hide.

Well that's rare, seeing his face all serious.

Kaneki found himself staring. He couldn't help it, his best human friend was so… mysterious. But how could he be so mysterious when his character is so simple? Maybe it's envy. Yeah… it probably is. Looking at himself, Kaneki mentally chuckled. How could I think someone like him is a mystery when he's so simple compared to me? I've had at least three different personalities and I still find it hard to read him, but Hide can read me no matter what. He can see through my eyes as if they were open doors. Yep, definitely envy.

Looking up, Hide found his best friend staring with a completely emotionless face. "… creepy."

"H-huh?" Kaneki broke from his stare in a daze, before quickly realising his… creepiness. "Sorry. I was lost in thought."

Hide only smiled. And Kaneki resisted the urge to stare again and wonder just what that smile meant.

…

Kaneki sighed.

"Fine. I won't work a second job."

Hide put his phone in his pocket and put the headphone around his neck on his head to listen to the music. "Good. Well, we better get going. It's almost time for college, so get ready Kaneki."

Kaneki folded the page on his book as he got up and stretched.

Kaneki wore a black sweater, dark grey fingerless gloves, grey slacks and a pair of black Hi-tops. The two went shopping a few days ago to get Kaneki some clothes, but he only picked the monotone clothes much to his best friend's distress.

"You're so boring and dull when it comes to clothes. Come on, take some inspiration from me!" Hide said after eying the half-ghoul on his phone for over a minute. "The only colours you wear are black, grey and white."

"They're the only colours that suit me Mr Sunshine." Hide almost swallowed his chewing gum at his new nick name. "Do you really think that your orangey yellowy happy sunshine appearance would work on someone like me?"

"Okay, okay I get it Mr Midnight." Hide waved his hand at the half-ghoul to emphasise his point. "But you could at least branch off into other colours like blue or red."

"Since when did you become a fashion expert?" Kaneki asked, adjusting his shoulder bag.

"Since the beginning of time my dear friend." Hide planted a hand on his friend's shoulder who chuckled at the sarcastic comment.

They continued to walk through the peaceful streets of the 20th ward, while Hide cracked a joke every here and then.

Nothing changed. Kaneki noted. It's still the 20th ward, it's still… home. I'm glad. Kaneki smiled as they reached all too familiar college the two friends went together years ago. Students buzzing around the campus, chatting with friends, having coffee on the benches. Kaneki smiled at the sight, enjoying the familiarity before a football came shooting his best friend's way. Not wanting his best friend to end up six feet under, Kaneki spin kicked the ball sending it shooting back to its owner, leaving a dumbfounded Hide staring at the receding form of the ball flying away.

"T-thanks." Hide said, still dumbfounded. What the fuck just happened?

"What an asshole…" Kaneki mumbled under his breath as he realised the owner of the ball started running to them.

"I'm so sorry!" A black haired, green eyed boy shouted as he ran to them with the ball under his arm. "I didn't mean to kick it so hard at you." The boy looked a year or two younger than them but he was fit with a healthy body. He held out a hand to which Kaneki didn't want to shake.

Hide decided to take the hand instead. "No harm done."

"Thanks, my name's Naoki Amano. Nice to meet you." The boy smiled brightly.

"It's nice to meet you too. I'm Hideyoshi Nagachika."

"I'm really sorry I almost hit you Hideyoshi-san." The boy apologised.

"No problem! Call me Hide." Hide smiled to try and shake off the guilt in the younger boy.

The boy turned his eyes to Kaneki who was staring at him with a poker face.

"This here is Neki Mukade." Hide noticed the two staring and decided to introduce his best friend.

"Nice to meet you Neki-san." The boy smiled nervously.

"Likewise." Kaneki replied simply, not bothering to put an ounce of emphasis in his voice.

A silence rang between the three of them as the boy grew redder from the awkward silence, and from the strange white haired upperclassman staring at him.

"W-well, I need to go. BYE!" The boy sped off, running away from the human and half-ghoul.

"What a weirdo." Kaneki commented almost to himself.

"Well… that was pretty awkward." Hide said as the two realised the campus was quieter. Much quieter.

Looking around, they noticed the stares everyone was giving Kaneki.

Shit, they're looking at me!

Did they realise who I am?!

Did I really make it that obvious?

SHI-

"Calm down Neki." Hide, who noticed his friend's anxiety, rested is hand on his best friend's shoulder. "It's just 'cuz of your stunt. And you probably stand out a lot."

Kaneki lifted his head and looked into the chocolate brown eyes. "Yeah… and my hair isn't really helping is it?"

Hide laughed. "Yep. I told you, you should've dyed it."

Kaneki shook his head. "No. My roots are just going to grow out white again. And if I keep on dying my hair then it's going to be crusty and ruined."

"Then how come you're roots grew black when you were in the CCG?" Hide made sure to whisper the last part.

"Because they kept on giving me suppressants. The doctor said something about it increasing my melanin production… or something like that. It's not like I was dying it or anything."

"So why don't you just wear a wig?"

…

"Oh… I didn't think about that." Kaneki scratched his head in embarrassment of not thinking of the simple solution.

"Well, it's too late now. Everyone's already seen you hair, and they're still staring."

Kaneki realised the attention everyone was still giving him. Tensing up, he silently wished for everyone to stop whispering about him… especially the girls.

"Did you see that?! He's so cool!"

"Wow… he's so good looking."

"Look at his hair, it looks so soft!"

"His eye is so dreamy~"

"I call dibs!"

Kaneki's eyebrow ticked when he heard those comments. His anxiety soon turned to annoyance. Ever since the Rize incident, he had no intension of getting a relationship with random girls, ESPECIALLY through some silly excuse of being 'good looking'. After all, that's the reason why he went out with Rize, her looks.

If he ever would get in a relationship, it would be with someone he trusts and has been together with for a good amount of time. Even though 'looks' is a big factor to getting in a relationship, Kaneki just doesn't buy it. It's understandable, considering that his life was quite literally turned upside down because of some stupid date with a 'good looking' girl.

"Looks like someone's popular with the ladies~" Hide teased, causing Kaneki to get slightly more annoyed.

They're so stupid and naïve. They trust anyone and everyone without even know who the hell they are. Bet they'll never guess that I'm actually a one-eyed centipede freak. Kaneki wished he could say that to his friend but decided against showing his anger. "I'm not interested. I don't even know who they are and I didn't come here for a stupid relationship."

Hide knew what he was talking about. Well of course he did, he's Hide.

Kaneki knew he made his reason clear, despite not mentioning it. At this point, Kaneki didn't care anymore. Hiding something from Hide is practically impossible so he's just come to accept it. Maybe that's why 'Hide' was in his name.

Hide decided to keep the mood up and continue teasing his friend as they walked in the building. "Aww come on. They're so cute, you've gotta be crazy to not scoop one up."

"'Scoop one up'? No thanks. You can do that if you want but I'll pass." Kaneki pulled out his timetable to see his first class of the day.

Hide sighed. "I've already tried. I think I need more practise though, even Touka-chan didn't accept me!"

"Wait you're still trying that with Touka?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Hide smirked.

"Give it up. Knowing her, she'd probably send you six feet under if you keep asking." Kaneki smiled. "Anyway, I'm going to my class."

"Not yet Mr Neki Mukade." Hide stopped Kaneki from walking off by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Why?"

"'Cuz you 'new' remember? Every new student has to be shown around. And all the freshmen were shown around yesterday when college started so you'll be shown around on your own since you started today." Hide explained, earning a pout from his white haired friend.

I forgot about that! I don't need to be shown around, what a drag.

"But I'm not a freshman. I joined as a junior on my fourth year." Kaneki replied, still pouting at the thought of wasting time being shown around when he already knows where everything is.

"Even if you did join as an 11th grader, you're still 'new' so you don't know where everything is, right?" Hide spoke sarcastically, making Kaneki annoyed.

"Fine, whatever." Kaneki moaned, exposing his annoyance.

"See ya!" Hide waved. "Oh, you're going the wrong way."

Kaneki glared at Hide, threatening him with the death in his eyes.

"I guess you really do need to be shown around huh?" Hide laughed, ignoring the dangerously narrowed eyes aiming to burn a hole in his head.

Kaneki didn't expect there to be other people waiting to be shown around. Other than himself, there were three boys and two girls. He also realised that they were all in the freshman year, which made it a bit awkward. But he didn't look bothered, even though he felt eyes on him. Instead of asking why they're staring (even though he already they were staring at his strange appearance), he decided to continue reading his book while holding canned coffee in his hand.

He took a sip of the black liquid and sighed. How many times has he read this book again? He'd lost count. Seriously, are there any good horror books out there? I need to check again, hopefully there'll be some decent ones for me to pass time.

"Sorry to you all waiting!" Kaneki looked up to find two girls smiling brightly. He noticed they were around his age and looked almost identical. Probably twins.

"I'm Emi Aki and this is my sister Eri." The two girls had blood red hair and beautiful brown eyes. Emi had long, lose hair while Eri had shorter hair in a tight ponytail. "We'll be showing you around Kamii so follow us please."

The group began to move around the building, the twins were showing the freshmen (and Kaneki) how the classes were identified, where the restrooms were, where the cafeteria was, where the gym was and other details. At one point, one of the freshman girls brought out a notepad and pen to take notes. However, Kaneki was just strolling along the back of the group, daydreaming.

The hallways were empty because students were in the middle of lectures, so it was relatively easy to get around and get outside. "And this is where the tennis courts are. Kamii has tennis tournaments every month along with other sporting games."

Kaneki yawned. He couldn't care less about a stupid tennis tourn-"And the reward for the winning team is a certain amount of money."

Kaneki stopped mid yawn. That peaked his interest. Money huh? Well that's something I need.

"Um excuse me?" Kaneki called out to the twins. They turned around and widened their eyes much to Kaneki's confusion.

Before Kaneki could ask anything, Eri spoke first. "You're Neki right?"

"Um, yeah…?" Did they not know I was here? Well that's surprising, I thought I stood out. More importantly, how does she know my 'name'?

"O-oh, just asking." She looked away from his one uncovered eye and gave a slight blush. "Sooo… umm what did you want to ask?"

"I wanted to ask how to join a tennis team." Kaneki never really enjoyed sports, so he never really knew or cared how to join a team on any sport.

Both their faces brightened up. "Well you can join Emi and I's tennis team! We'd be happy for you to join."

Ugh… I asked to join a tennis team not their tennis team. "Umm… I'll think about it. But where can I see all the tennis teams and their players?" Kaneki smiled, trying so act like how a normal person would in this situation.

"Oh, there's a display board in the gym that shows all the teams for each sport and the next tournament arrangements. It also tells to when and where to go if you want to sign up for a specific team, if they're not already full. Of course, they'll have to accept you for you to join, most of the time they'll test you in a game and evaluate your skills." Emi explained, looking almost proud of herself for knowing the information.

"Okay, thank you." Kaneki smiled at the girls to which they smiled back, except more… passionately.

"WHAT A NIGHTMARE!" Kaneki was so frustrated, he hadn't expected most of his classes to have the two flirting twins in them. "DO THEY NOT GET THE HINT?"

"Haha, chill out Neki. I know how you feel." Hide handed Kaneki a steaming cup of coffee, who rested on the couch in Hide's apartment.

"No you don't, you like picking up chicks." Kaneki replied, nodding in thanks to the warm coffee.

"And since when were you not picking up chicks? Hmm?" Hide raised an eyebrow and smiled pervertedly at his friend to which the latter grunted.

"Since learning from my mistakes." Kaneki deadpanned.

"Which is whe-"

"By the way, I need to know about my 'past'. I almost got caught when some the guys at my new tennis team asked more about me." Kaneki obviously changed the subject, and took a sip of his coffee.

"Yomo should have the papers." Hide responded, respecting his friends desire to discontinue the particularly sensitive subject.

Kaneki groaned. "Ugh, but I just came back from my shift at that damn coffee shop! My legs are dead from running away from those hungry bitches on the way here and I can't be asked to move right now, this couch is comfy."

"Last time I checked, that couch cost me less than a flip up phone." Hide chucked at his friends futile excuse.

"Please Hid-"

"Nope." Hide slouched on the couch next to his friend's dark nailed feet.

"And here I thought we were friends." Kaneki slowly got up from the couch, unable to suppress the groans that left his mouth.

"Tell ya what, I'll accompany you there." Hide spoke, causing his friend to stop dead in his tracks and stare at him over his shoulder.

"Alright fine… wait what the- What's the point? You might as well just go there yourself." Kaneki looked so annoyed, making the blond enjoy his friends suffering.

"Exactly, you might as well go there yourself since you already got up." Hide laughed, earning a 'fuck you Hide' from his half-ghoul friend as he slammed the front door loudly behind him.

Thanks for reading! Sorry if this ending seemed a bit abrupt, I tried to make it more… well… not abrupt. I also apologise for uploading on Monday and not on the weekends, I had a lot to do. Also, I had a request for Gazel to meet 'Eyepatch', so I'll try my best to make that happen, (hopefully soon).