Fanfiction Dot Net is still acting like a rude dude with attitude for me, so even though I can see that I'm getting reviews and stuff, they're so delayed on whatever queue this hamster-wheel powered website runs on, that I can't actually see any reviews as of 8/31/2022 that are past chapter 14. I can read some of the reviews through my mail, but not all of them smh. Can't wait for this little hiccup to be over with. Kind of a short chapter, but there's mostly going to be slice of life chapters until the next arc that will be introducing the Brother of Steel/ Eren Yeager.
Anyways, here's the beginning of the transition from the last chapter, to three months into the future I'll try to answer what reviews I've gotten so far through my email notifications, which don't show the full length ones omg.
Okay, anyways, here we go. Please enjoy!
Three months had passed since the day Kaneki grew from being the shy and timid young man who's entire world resided within the confining walls of a shelter world, into the confident and capable leader of the wasteland's newest major faction: GOAT.
Life had changed drastically for Kaneki, who had found out that not only did he have an older brother, but had a younger brother as well: Yusa Arima. No longer did Kaneki feel lonely, quite the opposite in fact. With his best fiend Hideyoshi in charge of communicating and exchanging resources between Vault 079 and TSC, Kaneki was constantly checking his brand new Pipboy to receive updates from his 'second-in-command', about all the briefings and important information he needed to be made aware of.
Kaneki had gone from being a nobody to being one of the most recognizable people within Tokyo, and word of his growing power attracted the attention of both the citizens of Tokyo and wastelanders who were seeking a life of adventure and comfort underneath his banner. And with his growing power and notoriety, Kaneki couldn't help but make adjustments to himself— adjustments that he saw as for the better.
Having been gifted Haise's old black-trench coat from when he had been an associate special class peacekeeper, Kaneki often wore it and with it, he inherited his older brother's old alias as well, 'The Black Reaper'— a name that he often was referred to by from those who saw him as an intimidating threat. Oftentimes trying to dress like Haise in order to suit the respect that came with the outfit, Kaneki was often mistaken for Haise by those who had known him, back when he used to dye the whites of his hair black.
Kaneki had allowed for his hair to grow out in length and volume, and would only comb it to be orderly when he would attend meetings with TSC and the Tsukiyama Corporation: which he had developed a business relationship with within the first month of his reign as the 'One-Eyed King'— a name that he went by to those who weren't actually working for him, all which would simply refer to him as 'Boss'.
The once humble Clown gang territory above Vault 079 had been transformed over the course of three months into a heavily fortified fortress, and had become a central trading hub for those in the nearby areas and to those who were coming from and into Tokyo. Tales of his exploits as Tokyo's 'Dragon Slayer', went far, and often had him getting requests from settlers and far off cities to help defend them from the threats of the wasteland.
Within only three months, Kaneki had made the area between Saitama and Tokyo's outskirts safer than it had ever been since the dragon crisis brought the country to its knees. And even though Kaneki had wealth, respect, power, and the attention of women brought on by his seemingly enigmatic aura, he was still the same bookworm who enjoyed coffee and spending hours with his nose buried deep into the pages of a good book that often times was borrowed from Haise's personal collection.
And despite knowing his worth and place in the world, Kaneki still knew that he had much to learn about bettering his leadership abilities, as well as learning how to become a better warrior and person in general. When Kuzen Yoshimura was returned home to Anteiku, Kaneki had requested for the experienced ghoul to mentor him, to which the grateful elder man agreed without a moment of hesitation.
With his trustworthy and extremely capable best friend overseeing their faction, Kaneki had finally found the time to begin his first day of training at Anteiku. Upon opening the front door at the early hours of the morning, Kaneki was met with the staring eyes of Anteiku's residents and staff— all of them who hadn't seen him since the night he last visited the establishment, over three months ago.
However, even if they haven't physically seen Kaneki for quite some time, they fully knew who he was and what he was from secondhand tales told to them by their retired manager. Standing there with his newly purchased eye-glasses reflecting the light of the ceiling light off of their expensive lenses, Kaneki reached a red-gloved hand up to take off his eyewear before putting them back in their protective case that he carried with him in the inside pocket of his brother's black trench coat.
"Good morning everyone, I'm looking forward to my first day working alongside all of you," Kaneki greeted with a small smile spread across his lips, as his grey and red eyes scanned across the lobby area of the coffee shop to eye up everyone who was standing there gawking at him and his expensive clothes.
Crossing his white-sleeved arms over his black-vested chest, Enji smirked at Kaneki's new look and deeper way of speaking, and chuckled beneath his breath. "Well, well, well, if it's the legendary 'One-Eyed King', here to visit the common folk…! Dare I say, what an honor it is to see you, Your Majesty!" Enji said jokingly, as he did a silly formal bow like how one would do for a monarch.
Although Kaneki looked the part of a cold-hearted edgelord with all the black he had on, and especially the way his slightly-messy lockets of hair made him look gothic, he found what Enji had said to be hilarious. Smiling widely and narrowing his eyelids, Kaneki snickered and laughed as he began to pull his arms out of the sleeves of his black trench coat. "Pffttt…! That just made morning… Thank you for that; that was actually really funny," Kaneki said while laughing shamelessly, as he finished taking off his trench coat before tossing it over his shoulder to reveal to everyone the white-collared shirt and black-apron he had been wearing underneath it.
With Enji and Kaya being the only employees working the morning shift other than Touka, who had been hired as the full-time manager and new owner of Anteiku, Kaneki's morning consisted of getting familiar with the ins and outs of the coffee shop. Under Touka's instructions, Kaneki wasn't allowed in the kitchen on her first day— told him that she didn't want to risk him accidentally making a mess of things before he was properly trained by her on how to follow proper health codes and procedures.
And although Touka was more cooperative and patient with him, Kaneki could tell from the way that she didn't want to talk to him and how he would occasionally catch glimpses of her glaring at him with envy and resentment from a distance that she didn't like him. Although Kuzen had asked her to train him on the floor, Touka delegated almost the entirety of the first day of training to both Enji and Kaya.
When it came time for Anteiku to open its doors for the public, Touka was the one to unlock the front door. With the blinds down and with a lot on her mind, Touka had forgotten to look through the peephole as she opened the front door of the coffee shop to its first customer of the day. "Good morning! Come right on in, I'll show you to yourrrrrr…" Touka trailed off with her single-exposed eye widening with dread, after she finally looked up from the floor to be greeted by none other than Kaneki's older brother.
"And fine morning to you ma'am! Say, this is Anteiku, right? It's my little brother's first day, and I really wanted to stick around and make sure everything's kosher, you know?" Haise explained with a friendly look on his bright face, as he rubbed his mittens together before trying to keep his hands warm by breathing on them. "Sorry about that, it's a bit cold this morning and I've been out for uh… I don't know, about an hour?" Haise guesstimated, after taking out his phone to check the time that he didn't bother noting when he first arrived at the coffee shop.
Dumbfounded by the fact that Haise looked almost identical to Kaneki, save for his preference for white and his hair due was styled differently than his younger counterpart, Touka remained frozen to the spot as she stared at his goofy smile with a sudden thought entering her head— a thought that sent shivers down a her back. 'Oh fuck… There really are two of them! Ah shit, I thought one of those assholes was bad enough— wonder if he's anything like Kaneki.'
Finding it a bit strange that the manager of the coffee shop was blocking his entry into the warm interior of the establishment, Haise's smile grew uneasy as he continued to rub his cold mittens together for warmth. "So, uh… Is now a good time to come on in and sit down for a spell, or… Or are the hours on your Google wrong?" Haise asked, before suddenly furrowing his brows as he whipped his phone back out from his white trench coat. "You guys open at six, right…? Orrrr… Or was I thinking of that donut shop down the street…? Oh wait, is McDonald's I'm confusing this place with…? God, I gotta stop thinking about McDonald's in the morning…!"
'Holy shit, he's even more annoying than Kaneki! Why does he talk a shit load more than he does too?!' Touka screamed inside of her head, as she listened to Haise ramble on about his favorite items to get from the McDonald's breakfast menu.
Finally having enough with hearing Haise's opinion on how he thought the 'Chicken McGriddle' was a far superior choice than the more mainstream 'Sausage Egg McMuffin', Touka forced a smile across her lips as she stepped aside to create a entry way for the half-ghoul to use. "—FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE!!! Uh… I mean… F-For the love of God, please, won't you come inside so I can show you to your table?" Touka said politely, after having just accidentally screamed at Haise while he was in the midst of giving his hot take about how McDonald's actually had good coffee for what it was.
"Well don't mind if I do, ma'am~!" Haise said in a chipper voice, as he closed the door behind him to keep the nipping cold air out, as he followed behind Touka. Getting the booth furthest away from the lobby, right in the corner of the dining area that was right beside where the restrooms were, Haise took off his trench coat, mittens, and scarf, and set them on the empty spot next to him, before taking his seat on the maroon-colored booth seat.
"Want to know something sort of weird, ma'am?" Haise asked as he took the menu handed to him by the annoyed manager, who stood by his table side with a patient look on her face.
'No, not really,' Touka wanted to say to Haise, but due to him being a customer, one that she knew had good money, she put aside her grumpiness to humor him. "… Oh, sure. What's weird, sir?" Touka forced herself to ask him, while reaching into her black apron to retrieve her notepad and pencil.
Taking a gander at the antique-decor within the cozy coffee shop, Haise furrowed his brows and pursed his lips at what he was looking at before turning back to his side to smile politely at Touka once again. "I've known Mr. Yoshimura for about, I don't know… For about ten years, give or take, and I've spoken to him here and there while I was a peacekeeper, and well… For countless times, he's invited me to come check out this place, and well… I've always made excuses as to why I couldn't come— You know, things you do when you don't want to hurt someone's feelings, but you really can't bring yourself to accept their invite…"
'Oh my God, shut the hell up,' Touka wanted to curse at him, but stood there nodding her head as she pretended to care about what he was trying to tell her. "I see… Go on," Touka said warmly, although in reality she really didn't want Haise to continue talking her ear off while the rest of her employees were busy taking the orders of her other customers who they had already seated.
"Ah, there's not much else to say, ma'am. It's just that, well… I can't help but feel like I lost out on an opportunity that could have really benefited me back then, especially before I sort of learned what happiness was… But hey, I'm here now, and my little brother has quite the way to go here, doesn't he?" Haise mused proudly, as he looked past Touka's body to watch as Kaneki was talking to a table full of ghouls who had instantly recognized him. "This'll be good for him, I think… He'll learn, just give him some trust and time— he'll blow you all away, just you watch… Oh."
"Oh?" Touka repeated back with a perplexed look in her eye, before suddenly looking over her shoulder to see what had caught Haise's attention. Over where the group of four young ghouls had been seated, all of them had gotten up from their booth to pose with Kaneki in the middle of them as one of them reached their arm out to take a group selfie with him. Touka, who had never seen something like that happen before in Anteiku, was appalled to see what had become of her beloved dining area.
Watching alongside Touka as other customers who already had ordered got up to approach Kaneki to see if he'd pose with them for a picture, Haise looked up at the young seventeen year old girl and chuckled. "You look upset there… Surely him attracting some publicity to this place would do you all some good, wouldn't it?" Haise mused, while taking a shot in the dark as to guess why Touka was visibly bothered by what she was looking at.
Letting out a sigh, Touka narrowed her eyes at the back of Kaneki's head as he posed in the middle of two high-school aged girls who were pressing themselves against his body as they posed for a selfie. "I… I suppose you're right. Him being here will bring in more customers, now that they're gonna share those selfies online…" Touka muttered quietly, before whipping her head away from Tokyo's newest celebrity.
Snapping his fingers as an idea came to him, Haise smirked at Touka's frowning face. "Ah, I see what's going on… You don't want him here, do you?" Haise inquired, to which Touka grinned sarcastically at.
"… That's a rather bold thing to ask someone who you aren't friends with, isn't it?" Touka asked with an uneasy laugh, as she raised her notepad and opened it up to flip to a fresh page. "… So, are we going to play Nancy Drew here, or are you going to order something?" Touka asked sarcastically, as her patience was finally beginning to wear thin.
Taking the hint as to not push the ghoul further than he already had, Haise eased off the subject and continued to smile as he flipped the menu open to take a look at what options were available to him. "Decisions, decisions… Oh, what to pick, what to pick… Ah, I think I know what I'll order," Haise said with his finger raised up to announce his order, but was interrupted the moment the two high school girls who had taken a picture with Kaneki pushed past Touka to grab him by the hand.
"You're the 'One-Eyed King's' older brother?! Haise Sasaki?!" One of the high-school ghoul girls asked, as she bounced up and down as she and her friend moved in front of where Touka had been standing.
Smiling politely at the two younger girls, Haise nodded at the two younger girls before talking to them about their behavior. "Hey, I understand that you two kids are pretty excited to see my little brother out and about, I get— really, I do. He's pretty cool, isn't he?" Haise mused with a patient grin, and waited until the two high schoolers finished nodding excitedly at his question before moving on to what he wanted to talk to them about.
"Well that's all fine and dandy, but you two interrupted my conversation with this fine young lady over here, and bumped into her on top of that— and I just can't let that slide. No sire, bob," Haise said with a faltering smile, as he glared menacingly at the two ghouls who suddenly found themselves becoming frozen to the spot. "Now here's what's going to happen next: you two are going to apologize to my friend here, and then take your asses back to your seats… Do I make myself clear?"
It went without saying that the two girls completely understood what Haise was telling them, and immediately bowed down profusely to apologize to the manager of the establishment. And as she watched the two shaken high school girls return to their seats, Touka sighed before turning back around to glare down at Haise. "Alright, I'm done being nice to you… Who the hell do you think you are?"
"I'm just a humble detective, ma'am," Haise replied with a smug grin on his face, as he put his elbow down on the table to rest his chin down on his palm.
Crossing her arms over her medium-sized bust, Touka snared her teeth at Haise as her glare grew more intense. "You're pissing me off, asshole… I don't care who you are, no one patronizes me in front of my customers…" Touka said with bitterness in her voice, as Haise remained as cool as a cucumber as her eyes began to turn black and red. "Get the hell out of my coffee shop… Now."
Although Haise wasn't afraid of her, for he had no reason to be, he didn't want to make things worse for Kaneki. Remaining polite and courteous, Haise silently gathered his belongings from beside him before standing up out of the booth and beside Touka. "My apologies ma'am, didn't mean to ruffle your feathers there— couldn't help myself but to say something to them," Haise explained as he slid his arms into his white trench coat, before bucking the white belt around his abdomen. "Better I leave an impression on them than someone else who probably wouldn't be as nice as I was to them."
"Yeah, okay— whatever. Just go fuck off to McDonald's or something, alright? Go shove a Chicken McGriddle in your mouth, and down with their shitty coffee that you think highly of?" Touka said with the intention of being a bitch to Haise, who in turn actually appeared pleasantly surprised to hear her say those things to him.
"Oh wow, you actually were paying attention to me when I talked about that? Pffft…! Could have fooled me," Haise chuckled to Touka, as he reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet. "Shame I didn't get a chance to try some of that coffee of yours that my brother was talking about, but that's okay— maybe next time?" Haise asked with a charming smile replacing the smug one he had moments ago, as he pulled out a fat wad of yen before handing it over to the bewildered ghoul.
"W-Why…? W-Why are you trying to give me your money…? Is that supposed to be a backhanded gesture, or some shit…?" Touka asked under her breath, while not wanting to attract the attention as she stepped closer to Haise to block the view of the money from any wandering eyes of her customers.
"Not at all, I'm just wanting to pay for the quality service I've gotten— not many managers, let alone people, would have the guts to talk to me like that," Haise explained with a playful look on his face, as he subtly extended his hand out and watched as Touka begrudgingly took the money from him before quickly shoving it in her apron.
"Well, uh… I'm still mad at you, but uh… Y-You can come back later tonight after five if you want to… We usually close around six, so it should be less chaotic here," Touka whispered quietly to the cocky half-ghoul standing close to her, as her frown softened a bit. "Just don't threaten my customers again, okay…? It's bad for business…"
"Completely understandable— won't happen again, ma'am," Haise said with his usual charmingly playful demeanor, before sliding his wallet back into his pocket. "I actually couldn't stay as long as I was hoping to, so it all worked out. I've got to meet up with ol' friend of mine to see about settling a score…" Haise said ominously, as he closed his eyelids and kept them shut, as he thought about his meeting with Rize that they had set up in public that morning.
Although she didn't want to show it, Touka couldn't help but to find herself interested in what Haise meant, when he mentioned settling a score. "Sounds to me like you're looking for trouble, uh… It was Sasaki right? Haise Sasaki?" Touka asked with an uncertain tone in her voice, as she did her best to remember what the younger ghouls had called him when they practically shoved her out of the way to talk to him.
Impressed that she caught his name, Haise let out a quiet laugh as he nodded. "Yep, that's me. And uh, well… To be fair, I don't really go looking for trouble, but in this case the 'trouble' that went poking for me is something that I need to deal with personally. And by 'deal with', I mean 'bury them six feet in the ground'," Haise said with his smile suddenly disappearing, as he instantly became serious as he thought back to when Rize had told him who 'Souta' actually was.
Surprisingly finding herself amused by Haise, Touka grinned sarcastically at him as she chortled under her breath. "Seems I misjudged, Sasaki— when you walked into my coffee shop, I mistook you for some dumbass who ran his mouth too much… Didn't realize that you were the violent type."
"Oh no, you were completely to paint me as that: I take pride in being an idiot who talks too much— it's something that makes me special, ya know?" Haise shot back playfully, before shrugging as he addressed the other part of Touka's analysis on him. "As for being the violent type, well… I know violence isn't always the answer to my problems— but except yes— yes it is," Haise said sarcastically with a sly grin spreading across his lips.
'Unbelievable… This asshole pissed me off like two minutes ago, and now he's making me smile… What a cocky dick,' Touka thought to herself, while feeling more conflicted about herself than Haise, as she fruitlessly tried to keep a straight face. Biting down on her bottom lips as the corners of her lips betrayed her, Touka eventually gave in and let out an amused chuckle while raising a hand up to brush her fingers through her long indiago bangs.
"Ughhhh… A-Alright, screw it… Let me make you a cup of coffee to go before you head out, Sasaki— those little mittens of yours ain't doing you any favors outside," Touka teased playfully, as she pinched the poorly insulated fabric of Haise's crocheted red mittens, before pulling them off of his hands to shove them into her apron pocket. "At least then I can say that I earned the money you gave to me… Stay right here, I'll be right back."
Tucking his bare hands into the pockets of his trench coat, Haise watched intently as Touka swayed her hips for him, as she made her way to the kitchen to fetch him a styrofoam cup of her brewed coffee. 'Damn, she has a nice ass… Wait… Wait a minute… Did she just steal my fucking gloves?!' Haise suddenly thought to himself, as it finally registered in his horny-head that Touka walked off with his mittens, and never gave them back.
Short chapter over, and more will be explained as to what happened to Roma and Rize in the next chapter, along with Kaneki's current relationship with the Yasuhisa twins.
Like I said, I can only answer so much lol, while I'm writing this I got like five minutes at most lol.
So during the time skip, it'll be revealed that Roma had a huge positive impact on Haise's life, and rather than avoiding his past, he's trying to deal with it with positivity and honesty, rather than just lying and pretending that it didn't happen. So with that said, Haise and Rize are probably going to be smashing soon, because Roma's in prison lol. It's a nice prison, cozy and meant for white collared humans, but she's gotta serve at least four years— which is a slap on a wrist and only happened because Arima pushed for it rather than TSC sending her to Cochlea for twenty-five to life.
And yeah, Arima messed Haise up growing up, but I'm hoping to show it in a slice of life chapter that he's also avoided talking about it because he's ashamed for having to do it, and when Haise and him talk about it, Haise will forgive him and Arima will start to loosen up a bit himself after that. And btw, that connection you made with Roma being the clown that actually makes Haise happy is a great observation! Kudos!
Shame I can't read the rest of that review, because of FanFiction Dot Net's Dollar Tree server.
How many girls has Haise slept with? So far, we know Juuzou, Mutsuki, Rize, and Roma— probably Ruisawa, and a lot of female peacekeepers from TSC. So quite a bit, if I had to guess, and many more to come (cum).
I'm glad that people liked Haise x Roma. I tried making them have good chemistry lol, and have them bond over trauma and wanting more than what they were getting from their fake lives. Haise officially has a Clown girlfriend in his harem so far, Kaneki has incest-practicing twins for his so far.
Rize wouldn't mind sharing Haise, so long as she thinks that she's his main squeeze. With that said, I've already shown Rize's ugly side, now I gotta expand more on her character to show why Haise would be romantically interested in rekindling it with her after so many years. And thank you, I always try to expand on characters, especially those that are considered villains. And I think I should make a definitive list for Haise and Kaneki's harems, so again if you wanna suggest anything more or have a 'must see' request, let me know.
Anyways, that's all for now. Cya, and have a damn good day!