IMPORTANT NOTICE: I've made a poll to decide whether Kaneki and Touka should fall in love. Please go over to my profile and vote, it's much appreciated. After about 2-3 weeks, I'll close the poll and base my story off of the results. ALSO, if most results come in as 'yes', then it would just be platonic.

Chapter 13: Tournament

The news surprisingly didn't surprise Touka or Yomo. They had known about the weird group's movements (especially Yomo) but didn't take any action. After all, if they interfered with something in another ward, trouble will come to the peaceful 20th ward.

The meeting went pretty smooth at least. Kaneki and Hide explained both their point of views in the encounter, and Touka ranted on how reckless Kaneki was.

"You could have easily revealed your identity Kaneki, do you know how much trouble that would bring not only to you, but :re and even the 20th ward as well?" Touka asked, her arms crossed.

"Noted." Kaneki replied simply, causing Touka to shake her head in disappointment.

"Ken, don't be so reckless. What would you have done if she found out who you were?" Yomo asked, face deadpanned as usual.

"That was kind of the idea." Kaneki also deadpanned, causing Yomo to raise an eyebrow, Touka to mouth 'what?' and Hide to sigh.

"I've already made the same mistake with Hide, I'm not going to make it again. Remember when you told me to learn from my mistakes Yomo?" Kaneki sighed. "Think about it. I saved her life about a year ago, don't you think it's just too cruel to just play 'Mr Mysterious' and keep her clawing at her head on who I am?" Kaneki stared at the floor expressionless, except his friends knew his mind was buzzing with all sorts of thoughts.

Kaneki looked up. "I've already saved her life twice now, and she's not had a normal childhood. You already know that she's seen that not all ghouls are the typical heartless predator. Someone who's seen all that in their childhood isn't someone to fall hook, line and sinker into the CCG's toxic manipulation."

…

"And if she snakes?" Touka asked, eyes narrowed.

"Then we'll cross that bridge when it comes, if it comes. Don't worry, It'll be at my own pace." Kaneki smiled. "Come on, I thought this meeting was going to form some sort of plan to get rid of those clowns, not some boring lecture. I have enough of those at uni."

"Same here." Hide sighed, much to everyone's surprise. "I say we hurry up and sniff them out."

"And how do you think we do that?" Touka asked.

"One of the freaks frequently comes to :re." Kaneki replied before Hide could open his mouth. "I'll confront him when he comes in the café in my shify." Touka's eyes grew wide while Yomo narrowed his slightly before he composed himself. Before anyone could ask why, Kaneki answered the unasked question. "The reason I want to deal with him is because they hurt someone I know, this is my deal." Kaneki got up and headed for the door. "Anyway, I've got a tournament to go to in around forty-five minutes. I need to go."

Yomo held his chin in thought while Touka stood up and stopped Kaneki.

"Can I join too?" Touka eagerly asked, a shine present in her eyes despite her slightly bored expression.

"U-uhh… sure? But they'll have to assess you in your skill level before you get in. Though I doubt that'll be a problem." Kaneki didn't expect her to be so eager, not that he had a problem with it. Now that he thought about it, it's probably better to have someone he knew in his team.

Touka smiled. "Thanks."

"They'll probably even let you in the tournament today if you show some nice skills."

"I was planning to." Touka held her smile, her excitement flowing through her.

"You probably should because this time the prize for winning the tournament is a week off to the beach. You like the beach don't y-"

"REALLY?!" Touka beamed. She always wanted to go to the beach, but never had the chance because of financial issues or because of her species.

Before Kaneki could reply, Hide butted in. "Sorry to interrupt your early celebration but we should go or we'll be late and they'll be no tournament."

"Huh? We?" Kaneki and Touka said in unison, both raising an eyebrow.

"I expected a warmer welcome into the group since we're teammates now after all now." Hide laughed at their shocked expressions as they walked out the room, leaving Yomo.

…

"They left me behind."

As they neared the tennis courts, they heard the chatter of different teams and the sound of tennis racks swiftly smacking tennis balls.

"Is this where the tournament is held?" Touka asked, looking around in at the rows of different tennis courts.

"Heya Neki-san!" A voice shouted at Kaneki, Touka and Hide, interrupting their conversation. "Why didn't you come for practise?"

"I texted you saying I didn't have time, Jun-kun. But anyway, can you squeeze Touka in the tournament before it starts? You said someone couldn't make it right?" Kaneki asked the leader of the tennis team, introducing his friend. Touka decided to smile to give a good image.

"U-uhh why all of a sudden? We barely have enough time to see if she's good enou-"

"She can win a 1v2 match, with her being against two people." Kaneki reassured the boy. She can even win against the whole team.

Jun raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He didn't seem convinced, neither did his teammates around him, so Kaneki decided to prove it to him.

"W-wow… you're right." Jun breathed, astounded how easily the blue haired girl won the tennis match… in five minutes. "… How long has she been playing tennis? Is she like a master in tennis or something?" Jun asked Kaneki who stood beside him, also observing the match but with a bored expression.

"Uhh… you could say that." Kaneki replied causing Hide, who was enjoying the show with a bag of popcorn, to give a small laugh.

Jun turned around to face Kaneki. "Honestly, you two are monsters."

… I guess she didn't hold back enough either. "So, I'm guessing you don't want 'monsters' to be in your team?"

"N-No! Don't get me wrong you joining is the best thing that happened to this tea-"

"S-so, am I allowed to join the tournament?" Jun turned around to see Touka putting a lock of hair behind her ears, a sweet smile plastered on her face.

Pretty… "YES!" Jun almost shouted before he could stop himself.

"Thank you, Jun-san." Touka giggled. "I'll go sign the board then." Touka began to leave with Kaneki and Hide trailing behind her, leaving everyone that observed the match in awe.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't need to flirt Touka, he was amazed by your performance anyway." Hide commented.

"Lol." Kaneki laughed along with Hide, causing Touka to sigh and begin writing her name on the 'Tennis competitors' board.

"I was just worried he wouldn't accept me. Anxiety, I guess." Touka replied, sitting on a nearby bench and spectating the practise games other teams are playing, followed by Kaneki and Hide.

"No, you were worried that you ultimately wouldn't be able to go to the beach." Kaneki corrected, earning a quick glare from Touka.

"How many teams are playing?" Touka asked, changing the subject.

"Six teams of seven. Each person from two opposing teams play against the other, the team with the most victories wins. The winners face the other winners until it's narrowed down to the last two teams." Kaneki replied.

"I expected more teams to play…" Touka though out loud.

"Not everyone would kill to go to the beach like you. There're more than one tournaments that reward other prizes so not all the teams are playing in this tournament. Our team just decided to choose this one." Kaneki reminded Touka.

"Was your team going to play with only going to play with six people if I didn't join?" Touka asked.

"Yeah, everyone decided that I would play twice, wise choice."

Touka chuckled at the comment. "So when does the tournament actually sta-"

"Neki-san! We should be going to the sports hall, the tournament is about to start. The rest of the team is already there." Jun jogged over to them, making them realise that the other players were also leaving to make their way to the sports hall too.

"Ok, let's go." Kaneki told his friends, who nodded and began to follow Jun to the sports hall.

Much to their surprise, a lot of spectators were gathered around the three tennis courts.

"Wow, there's a lot of people spectating." Touka commented, shifting uncomfortably with the attention the crowd's giving them. The team began to walk to the second court, where their enemies waited. After a quick discussion, Hide was chosen to play the fifth game, Kaneki playing the sixth game and Touka playing the seventh game.

The crowd was cheering, howling and whistling at the team with their friends, siblings or crush. Kaneki jotted down the scores for their game so far, one win, three losses. Man, those three on my team suck. If only I could play for them.

"Those guys are pretty tough." Jun commented as walked over to where his team spectated the game. "I almost lost there."

"Nice one Jun! You were pretty smooth with your movements." Hide cheered, earning a 'thanks' from Jun.

"Well, I should get ready." Hide said, grabbing his tennis racket and making his way to the court.

"Good luck Hide-san!" Jun began to cheer Hide on as the game started.

Hide had to agree with Jun when he said that they were tough. He was against someone that probably had twice as much muscle as him and was on his fifth year at Kamii.

It seemed like the game was going on forever, and Hide had to admit he was worried. If the game drew to a draw, he would not only hurt his pride, he would also make disappoint his friends. Hide mentally shook his head and made a swift strike at the ball.

I can't think about negativity, I need to think about positivity! … I need a plan to win this game, 'cuz by the way this is going, the game isn't going to end with a winner. My opponent is just using speed to try and shoot the ball fast enough to catch me off guard. Hide swatted the ball to the edge of the court, kissing his teeth when his opponent managed to reach the ball in time.

He clearly isn't smart because he just keeps on sending the ball straight to the middle of the pitch, not even bothering to try and trip me up by sending it to the side. Hide tried to send the ball to the side again, only to have his opponent hit the ball back again.

I need to somehow take advantage of this…

"One minute left!"

Crap… this isn't going anywhere. I need to make a gamble, I hope it pays off…

As the ball began coming towards him, Hide shot the ball to the left corner of his opponent's side and stepped back. He crouched down as he saw his opponent swinging his arm to hit the ball back.

Perfect.

Just like Hide predicted the ball came shooting towards the middle of the court, right where Hide was.

"EAT THIS!" Pushing off of his right leg, Hide mustered as much power as he can and jumped towards the ball, smacking it in mid-air and sending it rocketing back to his opponent's right.

Completely dumbfounded by Hide's sudden stunt, his opponent idiotically dove in the opposite direction, causing a few spectating people to giggle.

"Yes!" Hide, showered in sweat, smiled. Turning to walk over to his friends, he saw them all with wide smiles, especially Kaneki.

"Nice one Hide! You used your brain for something other than trying to find out people's secrets for a change!" Kaneki teased, earning a nudge to his shoulder.

"Yeah right, I'm smarter than you'll eve-"

Touka pushed Hideout of the way from an incoming tennis ball while Kaneki caught it in his right hand as it shot past where Hide was less than a second ago.

Looking up to where the ball came from, they found the figure of Kaneki's next opponent, huffing and puffing in anger from the recent defeat.

Kaneki got up, eyes narrowed and fists ready to punch. "Calm down Neki, he's just pissed." Hide said as Touka helped him up, her eyes too were dangerously narrowed.

"If that ball hit your head you could've been knocked out, or even worse, your skull could have been fractured!" Kaneki argued, throwing the ball back. The ball zoomed past its owner's cheek, literally an inch away from hitting his flabbergasted face.

Kaneki grabbed his tennis racket and stomped his way to the court, followed by the shocked eyes of people that saw his throw.

Wordlessly, Kaneki waited for his opponent to retrieve the ball and start the game.

As the first ten seconds of the game played out, Kaneki contemplated on how to play with his opponent. As the ball was sent towards him Kaneki shot the ball high into the air, making it land back on the court at the very edge. The ball was hit back to him after his opponent managed to save it from bouncing off the court.

This time Kaneki shot the ball up into the air and made sure to make the ball come down right up to the net.

Kaneki repeated the process, much to his opponent's annoyance.

"One minute left!"

Was I playing with him for that long? Kaneki decided to end the game abruptly, after hitting the ball hard and fast enough to make it hit the court right in front of his opponent and bounce off hitting him in the stomach.

Kaneki turned around and walked back to where he saw Hide and Touka sitting, ignoring the groans of pain and cheering from the crowd of spectators.

"You had fun didn't you Kaneki?" Touka laughed. She also enjoyed the 'punishment' Kaneki put his opponent through, sometimes assholes deserved a little teaching.

Hide sighed. "I knew you'd do something like that…"

"Sorry Hide, I couldn't stand not doing something for the second time you almost got hit by a ball." Kaneki smiled at his friend roll his eyes.

"Okay, it's my turn." Touka stood up and grabbed her tennis racket before excitedly jogging up to the court.

"What a cutie." Touka looked up to see her opponent who was giving her a perverted smile. "I won't go so hard on you, but you have to have to give me a kiss after this game m'kay?"

"Looks like we'd be watching another poor student get beat up." Hide commented to Kaneki, getting comfortable.

"Yep." Kaneki nodded, also getting comfortable.

Touka narrowed her eyes but widened them again once she saw her opponent blow kisses to her. "Hurry up and start the damn game." Touka growled between clenched teeth.

"Oooo feisty one. You want to get it over and done with so you could be with me don't you?" Touka's annoyance spiked to anger when he laughed and threw the ball into the air to hit it.

Touka smiled, happy that she could finally get a chance to make the fat pervert lose some weight.

Hide and Kaneki watched the show. Touka would hit the ball making it land all over the place, also making her opponent run all over the place. "I guess he needs the extra exercise." Kaneki commented, taking a sip from the canned coffee he got from a nearby vending machine.

"Sometimes I'm scared of what she could do you know." Hide replied before he stuffed his face with a chocolate bar he got from the vending machine.

Kaneki laughed at his friend's banter, just barely able to swallow the coffee before doing so. "And sometimes I wonder what makes you so funny." Kaneki admitted as he watched Touka deal the final strike to the ball, sending it harshly crashing into her opponent's chest.

…

"… Yeah, I can see what you were talking about Hide." This time it was Hide's turn to laugh at his friend as they were engulfed in the loud cheers from the crowd.

I wasn't really happy with this chapter even after I re-wrote it 2 times. But, I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Please review my work, it makes me happy :)