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Author note's will be at the bottom.
Sitting on a tall stool at the island counter she had recently constructed in the back of the kitchen, Touka sat across from where Haise sat. Baffled at what she had just witnessed, Touka furrowed her brow as she tried processing what she had just heard.
"Kaneki," Touka said with a skeptical tone in her voice, as she looked up from the barely-touched slab of raw human meat resting on Haise's plate to look him in the eyes, "Can you… Can you try taking another bite for me, please?"
Unsure as to why the woman sitting across from him was having a hard time believing in what he had just told her a few seconds ago, Haise decided to just play along to humor the manager. "Of course Touka, I can take another bite," he said with a friendly smile, before using the fork and knife he had been given to cut another piece of bloodied meat off of the deskined-bicep.
Watching intently, Touka made sure to take mental note of every facial movement Haise made as he casually chewed the small piece of meat in his mouth. There wasn't any excitement in his eyes, no sense of familiarity or anything as he stared down at the slab of meat that rested in a small pool of blood on his white plate.
To Haise, the meal that Touka prepared for him tasted no different than the black coffee he was served. 'The consistency is a bit chewy… I wonder if it's because it's raw?'
"Well?" Touka asked impatiently, as she anxiously awaited for what Haise had to say.
"... It's fine, I suppose, but… Perhaps I could try it cooked? The way Yomo's cooking it for the customers smells really good," Haise pointed out, before turning his head to stare off towards the other side of the kitchen.
What was supposed to be a quick little meal before heading out ended up being an experiment to see why Haise wasn't able to taste the food that he used to enjoy. While Yomo was fine with minding his own business so he could focus on preparing drinks and food for his famished customers, Mutsuki was more interested in what Haise was doing than what was going on in the kitchen.
Upon making eye contact with Haise after eavesdropping into his conversation with Touka, that's when Mutsuki decided to do something. "Ren," Mutsuki called out in a slightly nervous tone, as he looked away from where Haise was sitting to turn his attention to the ghoul standing in front of the stove.
"Yo?" Yomo replied back in a monotone voice, as he flipped over a patty of ground-meat that he had frying in a skillet.
"I think I heard Sensei saying that he was interested in eating something fully cooked," Mutsuki said, as he pointed over at the patty that Yomo was already cooking. "Something like that."
"Huh, no kidding? That guy used to have a preference for raw meat…" Yomo muttered nosaltically to himself, before letting out a quiet sigh. "... Go ahead and grab a new plate then; I'll let you give him this."
"Oh, are you sure? What do you want me to do with the plate he has right now?" Mutsuki asked curiously, as he looked over at the raw slab of meat on Haise's plate that he barely touched. "Did you want me to bring it over to you so you can have it?"
"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Yomo replied back with a small head shake, as he watched Mutsuki retrieving a white plate from the nearby antique cabinet from the corner of his eye. "Go ahead and just wrap it in some plastic wrap and put it in the locked fridge; I'm sure Touka or I will eat it later today."
"Yes sir, thank you!" Mutsuki said with a happy look on his face, before bringing the white plate over beside the skillet so Yomo could use his spatula to flip the patty onto the ceramic dish.
"... Let me know if that picky bastard likes it or not," Yomo grumbled quietly to Mutsuki, who in turn thought it to be endearing that the man seemed visibly anxious over whether or not Haise was going to enjoy his cooking or not.
"Of course sir!" Mutsuki said with a playful salute, before carrying over the freshly fried patty over to where her favorite person sat, who appeared to still be getting evaluated by the coffee shop's manager. "Ma'am, look what I got!"
Staring up from the plate of raw meat that she had been carefully inspecting, Touka looked up and smiled gratefully at her employee. "Ah, Mutuski! You're a perceptive person, aren't you!?" Touka mused with an impressed look on her face, as she watched Mutsuki lower the plate towards Haise.
"Here Sensei, this is for you!" Mutsuki chimed in with a wide smile across his face, as he felt his heart beating a bit faster upon seeing Haise smiling back at him.
"Oh, Mutsuki; I didn't think you were listening…!" Haise said in a pleasantly surprised tone of voice, before reaching up to grab a hold of the plate.
However, Mutsuki's facial expression quickly changed from friendly to flustered when he felt Haise's fingers and palm gently brushing against the top of his hands. It was accidental and even Mutsuki knew that Haise didn't even notice the small sign of what he considered to be affection, but that still didn't make it any less exciting for the quinex to experience.
"Y-You're, uh-um…! W-Welcome, Sensei!" Mutsuki blurted out a little more loudly than he had cared to, while feeling his cheeks burning up as he watched Haise nonchalantly place the plate in front of him. "I-I hope you enjoy the food, Sensei!"
"Thank you, Mutsuki! This smells and looks so… Familiar!" Haise said with an excited look in his eyes, as he took a long whiff of the grounded-meat patty that was still sizzling and steaming before his very eyes. "I'm… I'm actually pretty excited to dig into this!"
"... You used to never eat cooked meat," Touka muttered in an agitated tone, "... Hey, Mutsuki."
Having been distracted by watching Haise using his knife and fork to cut off a piece of human-patty, Mutsuki nearly jumped at the sound of his name being said in the menacing voice that Touka had used to call for him.
"Y-Yes...?!" Mutsuki squeaked out in a less-than-graceful high-pitched voice, as he quickly turned around to be greeted with his manager's scowling eyes and slightly gnarled lip. It soon dawned on Mutsuki that Touka had been watching the whole time, and probably wasn't very happy to see him fawning over her date.
"Here, take this please," Touka requested with seething anger as she raised up the plate of raw meat for her employee to take, while trying to keep her hot-headed attitude in check. "... Thank you for bringing Kaneki his plate. Go ahead and wrap that up; I'll have it for later."
"Ah… O-Of course, ma'am..." Mutsuki said with a submissive tone in his voice, as he took the plate from Touka that was practically shoved into his black apron. Looking down at the plate in his hands, Mutsuki frowned a bit from the tension in the air.
"... Thank you, Mutsuki; you're free to return to your duties," Touka said with a soft sigh, before closing her eyelids to distance herself from the situation. "... Sorry I snapped at you; I'm just a bit on edge about… You know?"
Looking from the plate of raw meat, Mutsuki met Touka's solemn gaze with an empathic stare. Knowing fully well what his manager was referring to, Mutsuki nodded softly.
"Ah… It's okay, ma'am; I understand," Mutsuki replied back forgivingly, before turning away from the manager to focus his attention on his favorite person. "Sensei?"
Having already been in the middle of slicing his knife into the meat patty, Haise had been so focused with his breakfast that he seemed startled by just hearing Mutsuki's extremely non-threatening voice calling out to him.
"Wha- OH!? Y-Yes, Mutsuki?!" Haise blurted out with widened eyes, as he scrambled with his eating utensils to properly set them down on a napkin before turning around on his stool to face his underling. "W-What can I do for you, haha…?!"
Finding the look of embarrassment on Haise's smiling face to be adorable, Mutsuki couldn't help but blush even harder than before. "I-I just wanted to say that I'm, uh…!? I-I'm glad you're back with us! I've missed a lot, and well…!? Ummm…?!"
Finding Mutsuki's shy behavior to be something not too out of the ordinary, Touka didn't find it too out of the ordinary either that her employee was struggling to use his words to communicate properly. All of that was 'normal Mutsuki behavior' to the ghoul.
What Touka did find to be alarming was Mutsuki's body language.
Mutsuki was blushing like a darkened-tomato, something that was very unlike the person Touka knew him to be. He was lowering his head and staring down at Haise without being able to look him directly in the eyes; something else that Touka didn't find too odd, except for the fact that she could see Mutsuki nervously grabbing at his own black apron like a school girl would do with her skirt.
And lastly, rather than frowning or appearing visibly uncomfortable, Touka couldn't ignore the fact that Mutsuki was smiling unlike anything close to how he's smiled since under her employment.
It was definitely suspicious for Touka, and set off a few red flags in her head. However, on top of everything that she already had on her plate, Touka decided that it wasn't a good time to worry about anything other than what she needed to talk to Haise about.
That's when an idea popped into Touka's head; an idea that she herself wasn't too crazy about, but knew it to be a good way to test Haise.
While Haise was fully distracted with Mutsuki's ramblings, Touka took in a deep breath before suddenly letting herself fall off from her stool.
Having been staring intently at Mutsuki and his body language, the moment Haise saw the other young man's single-exposed eye trailing away from him, Haise's subconscious went into overdrive.
The world seemed to slow down for Haise as he turned around while being able to hear his heartbeat in his eardrums. Reacting out of pure instinct, the young man felt his kagune activating itself before he could even begin to process what his body was doing.
Not even a quarter of a second had passed, and Haise had been able to precisely use his kagune in an agile enough manner to not harm Touka or anyone else around him as he gently pushed the manager back onto her stool from behind.
With Yomo not giving enough of a care to distract himself from his craftsmanship, Mutsuki was the only one in the kitchen who had fully seen the whole thing unfolding before his every eye.
"Oh wow…! Nice reaction time, Sensei! I was hoping that you'd still be as good as you were before the accident, but… I didn't think you'd be FASTER that before…! Good job stopping the manager from falling off her stool!" Mutsuki applauded with an impressed look in his eyes, meanwhile Haise stared at Touka for about three seconds before finally turning his attention to his underling with his left eye being black and red.
"... Oh yeah, huh? I guess I did catch her, didn't I?" Haise mused with a mildly surprised smile in face, before turning his head away from the stunned young man to stare intently on his four magenta-hued tendrils that were still pressed up against the flabbergasted manager's back.
"Thank you for saving me Kaneki, but... You don't have to have your kagune out anymore, ha ha…" Touka said uneasily with a nervous laugh, as she was beginning to think that Haise didn't activate his kagune or kakuhou on purpose. "You, uh… You alright there, Kaneki?"
"Y-Yes, but... Let me just, um… Hold on…!" Haise muttered in a slightly apologetic voice, as he concentrated on his kagune while visibly straining himself to pull his tendrils back.
Staring at him in disbelief, Touka could feel Haise's tendrils shifting in mechanical and jerky movements, as he struggled to grasp the basics of consciously controlling his kagune enough to pull away from her.
"D-Did you…?! Did you actually FORGET how to use your kagune?!" Touka asked loudly with a shocked look on her face, as she found it hard to believe that someone who was capable of concise-maneuvering at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye could also be simultaneously stupid enough to not know how to willingly control a part of their body.
"I… I might have?" Haise answered back with an unsure tone in his voice, as he struggled to do anything that was outside of moving all four of his tendrils ten-centimeters up and down in a robotic motion.
"Jesus Christ… It hasn't even been an hour since we've re-opened…!" Yomo muttered in a fed up tone, after finally being unable to actively ignore the shenanigans happening behind him in his workplace.
"S-Sensei! Try moving them like you would move your foot with your ankles; that method used to help me back when I first got my kagune...!" Mutsuki suggested with a worried expression on his face, as he moved away from behind Haise to avoid being accidentally whacked by his kagune.
"Like… This?" Haise asked methodically with a false sense of confidence, before instantly knocking the stool out from underneath Touka.
"-Shit...!" Touka muttered with a scared look in her eyes, as she once again fell backward without enough time to balance herself out.
Noticing this on his own accord and not out of instinctive-reaction like before, by the time Haise finally reacted and got his wits together to try and save Touka from hitting the floor, she had already landed on the floor and had gotten up.
However, due to his late reaction, by the time Haise's delayed-activated neurons had finally registered that he had wanted to move his tendrils forward to try and catch Touka, his body had finally responded a little too late.
Mutsuki watched in horror as Haise accidentally slammed Touka straight into the island counter that they had been sitting at; completely wrecking the latest kitchen remodel while shattering the plate holding the meat patty that Yomo had cooked.
Had Touka not been a ghoul, the debris made up of cracked marble and splintered wood would have probably cost her a trip to the hospital. Unfortunately however, while her body didn't sustain any damage, many other things of her's did.
Her two-hundred thousand Yen island counter was one, second was her pride,and third was her black apron straps, and last of all, her white undershirt had been ripped clean in half.
Rushing over to the humiliated, confused, and pissed off ghoul, Haise knelt down beside Touka with Mutsuki by his side; all the while Yomo had already turned the burners of his stove off so that he could tell his customers that :re was going to be closed again for a 'family emergency'.
Having lost his thought process and forgetting about trying to control his kagune, Haise hadn't even noticed that he had subconsciously made his kagune evaporate and disappear by the time he was helping Touka out of the pile of debris he had accidentally caused.
"I'm sorry Touka! That was a complete accident, I swear!" Haise said apologetically with a nervous look on his face, as he patted his hands on the ghoul's shoulders to brush away the splinters of wood off of her shoulders. "I'll replace your island counter, I promise…! I'll be serio-... Sasarious about getting you the money to buy an even better counter!"
While Haise was trying to do his best to reassure Touka to prevent her from having a tantrum, Mutsuki couldn't help but snicker loudly at the familiar pun. "That's a repeat offense, Sensei; I remembered when you first said that...!" Mutsuki mused under his breath while trying his hardest to not smile as he walked away to get a broom.
Feeling as though nothing was going right in her life, Touka suddenly pushed Haise's hands away from her shoulders before standing back up on her own. "Goddamnit, Kaneki…! You're such a clueless idiot, you know that?!" Touka spat out with a look of absolute rage on her face, as she bared her teeth at the speechless man, who stared at her with a bit of a dumb look on his face before finally finding the words he wanted to say.
"Erm… Touka, your bra's showing," Haise pointed out with a straight face, as he used his knee to push himself back up onto his feet. Without her apron straps and a majority of her shirt intact, Haise was able to get a frontrow view of the ghoul's breasts.
Touka's bra was made of black lace, and came equipped with cups that were more so built for women who were on the more petite spectrum. From what Haise could assume just by staring down at her pale cleavage, Touka wasn't one for going outside. Other than that, her breasts were average sized and perky enough to be considered attractive.
However, Haise wasn't staring at her cleavage to satisfy any sexual desire he had. No, what interested Haise was the small little black dot that was located on the top of her right breast. "... I didn't know you had a mole, Touk-."
"-D-DUMBASS!" Touka screamed with widened eyes and a reddened-face, before cocking her balled-up fist back to strike Haise straight in the center of his face. Feeling his cartilage break underneath her knuckles, Touka felt a small bit of blood gush from his nostrils as he was sent flying backwards.
Landing on the ground, Haise skidded across the tiled-floor like a hockey puck before crashing head first into an antique cabinet with glass-panels. Letting out a quiet groan of pain, Haise felt himself getting crushed underneath a pile of shattered ceramic plates and cups, along with the actual oak cabinet that weighed about one-hundred kilograms.
Rushing back in with Eto, Saiko, and Shirazu standing behind him, Yomo opened the door separating them from the kitchen nightmare and the safety of the main lobby, and stared with an irritated look in his grey eyes as he gazed at the mess that had been left in Haise and Touka's wake.
"Okay, so… I think it's pretty obvious that things aren't going to transition back to normal as smoothly as what we were hoping for," Yomo stated in a deepened voice, as he looked over to his niece who was covering her partially-exposed breasts with her arms.
"I already announced to everyone that :re was going to remain closed for the rest of the day," Yomo stated flatly, much to the already distressed manager's dismay. "This is going to hurt us at the end of the month, but that's just the way it's going to have to be."
"Goddamnit…! F-Fine, whatever! We have more important things to worry about anyways…" Touka muttered bitterly, before suddenly screaming out in a cry of frustration mixed in with sorrow. "I-I was hoping to have ONE good day with Kanek bef-fore-b-befor- FUCK!"
No longer able to control her emotions, Touka unleashed her single-wined kagune from her upper shoulder before taking out her anger on what was left of her destroyed kitchen renovation. Slashing wildly at the large chunks of marble and at whatever wooden foundation still remained, Touka howled loudly with anguished cries that were filled with vulgar words and incoherent-hysterical screams.
By the time that Touka had spent all of her energy on her mental breakdown, she was sitting on her knees and huddling into herself with her hands gripping tightly at her own strands of hair. Muttering and blabbering quietly to herself, Touka's lungs had been so expelled from air that she didn't even have the means to vocalize the thoughts she had running in and out of her head.
Sighing to himself, Yomo did what he had been doing since Touka began to have her panic attacks. Turning away from his niece to turn around to face the coffee shop's other employees, Yomo ushered them out of the kitchen while trusting Mutsuki to take care of Haise in his absence.
"... Alright, so here's the plan: Shirazu, I want you to go upstairs and get the meeting room setup for us; we'll be up there in about an hour; that should be enough time for Touka to calm down and for Mutsuki to clean Haise up... Think you can do that?" Yomo asked with a small smile on his face, to which Shirazu happily responded with a determined look in his eyes.
"You can count on me, Yomo!" Shirazu replied back with a serious look on his face.
"Good man," Yomo said in a mildly proud voice, before reaching his arm out to pat Shirazu on the shoulder. "Go ahead and fish out the folder we used last time, it should still be in the upstairs safe… Do you remember the code for the combination lock?"
"Of course, I have the memory of an elephant, haha..." Shirazu said playfully in an attempt to lighten the mood, before turning around to make his way over to the staircase just past the main lobby's counter.
"Saiko and Yoshimura, escort Touka up to her room and get cleaned up; we'll have our meeting at ten o'clock," Yomo relayed over to the two women before turning his attention back to the kitchen door. "Mutsuki and I are going to clean up and have a little chat with Haise before the meeting."
"Understood," Eto said in response to her orders, while Saiko merely nodded with a prideful look in her own blue eyes before speaking.
"Saiko won't let you down, Yomo!" Saiko shouted like a woman on a mission, before following behind Yomo with Eto behind her, as they made their way back into the kitchen.
Seeing Eto and Saiko approaching her from her peripheral vision, Touka's lips tightened and her eyelids became shut as the memory of two weeks ago began to occur in her head.
"No, no, no, no…! Please God, no…! I can't watch, I can't watch, I catch watch…!" Touka mouthed with a few quiet squeaks escaping her lips, as she knew the inevitable flashbacks of her PTSD were coming back to haunt her.
"Ayato..."
"THE CELLS IN LEVELS ZERO AND ONE HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED! ALL PERSONNEL TO COMBAT POSITIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" The voice of the Warden announced over Cochlea's public address systems.
On the other side of the glass separating Hinami from the designated visitor area was in her cell, the four dead-cell members who had been awaiting to betray CCG along with the ghoul herself could hear the sounds of boots sprinting on the catwalk metal floors just outside the door.
Wanting some privacy to before quickly going over their plan, Furuta remained in his comfortable office chair before swiveling his seat around multiple times until finally stopping himself so that he could face the black-hooded man who stood in the corner of the room beside his half-sister, who had dawned her red-armored bodysuit quinque.
"Urie, mind standing by the door? I'd hate for someone to barge in on us during our little pep-talk," Furuta requested in a carefree manner.
"Yes, Master," Urie replied back obediently before walking over to the reinforced q-plated door. Extracting his modified quinque's silver claws out of his finger tips, Urie pierced the door's plating to keep it from opening without his permission.
"Thank you Urie; you're the real MVP!" Furuta said with a smug smirk across his face, before swiveling back around to face Arima and Ihei. "Alrighty brother and sister, I say let's give everyone about a, hmmm~... Five minutes? I'd say a five minute head-start sounds fair, wouldn't you?"
"Fuhuhu~…! They're going to die anyways, why does it matter how much time we give them!?" Ihei asked with a bit of annoyance in her voice, as she glared through her eerie facial mask that had been constructed out of the remains of the Non-Killing Owl's kakuhou sacs.
Rather than the stone-faced expression that Kuzen's kakuja mask had plastered on it back when he was still alive, Ihei's modified mask had an eerie smile that rested below her mask's singular red glowing eye. It never ceased to catch Furuta off guard everytime Ihei wore it around him.
Ever since he had her along with Urie surgically made into artificial one-eyed ghouls, Ihei had always seemed more violent than before; and that was saying something if her alias even before her transformation was 'The Merciless Reaper'.
"Erm… W-Well my dear sister, the reason that we should give CCG some time to meddle around is so that they can engage the Aogiri Tree's rescue group outside, so that we operate behind the veil of chaos, so Arima can escort our VIP safely outside of Cochlea! Urie will handle killing the Aogiri Tree members who get in our way, as well as any investigators who try to interfere. You'll, of course, have plenty of time to gather some able-bodied ghouls to carry out the equipment we need, and I myself will eliminate the agents of V who are undercover here. Does that sound fine with you, little sister?"
"I see, I see… And what of you, Kishou~? Are you going to be able to carry out the mission, or should we just get rid of her and be done with it?" Ihei asked in a manic voice, before turning her head over her shoulder to stare at the terrified and confused ghoul who stood in the corner of her cell.
"I… I don't want any trouble…" Hinami said in a frightened and quiet voice, as she pressed her back against the wall furthest from the glass panel. "I don't understand what's going on… Why have you been waiting in this room for so long…?! Are you… Are you going to hurt me…?!"
Leaning against the panel with her mask pressed against it, Ihei glared at Hinami with a frightening look on her kakuja's mask before chuckling in a deep voice. "That depends; are you going to join us, or be my first kill of the night~?"
Wanting to have a little fun before the real mission began, Ihei made sure to use her newfound-immense strength to piercing through the reinforced tempered-glass panel with just her fingertips. Laughing in a low voice, Ihei purposefully took her time to shatter the glass into spiderweb cracks, as she stared at the horrified look of absolute terror on Hinami's face.
"I'm going to hurt you if you don't do what I say, you little ghoul… I have five minutes to rip and tear your little guts out, and force them down your eye sockets while I- Oh?! Look at that…!" Ihei mused loudly for the rest of her companions to hear, as she turned her head around while extracting her left hand from the glass to point over at the small puddle expanding below Hinami's trembling feet.
"Look! She pissed herself! Isn't that hilarious?!" Ihei screamed out hysterically within howls of demented laughter, while Furuta laughed uneasily.
"Heh, heh, y-yeah! That's kind of funny in a, you know, fucked up kind of way…!" Furuta mused with a nervous look in his eyes, while silently wishing that his sister wasn't in her kakuja form.
"Ihei," Arima stated flatly as he raised his hand up to signal for her to stop. "Leave Fueguchi alone; she's terrified," Arima stated in a calm demeanor.
Although she wasn't exactly happy about being told that she couldn't harass the ghoul like a child would do to a fish in a bowl, Ihei had too much respect for Arima to argue, so she merely bowed to him apologetically before replying with, "Apologies Kishou, my One-Eyed King… I shall constrain myself and save my violent urges for the enemy."
"That would be best, Ihei; thank you for apologizing," Arima said with a small smile, before walking over to gently pat Ihei's pink and white hair like he used to do with her when they were younger.
Happy to receive praise from her older brother, Ihei smiled fondly for Arima from behind her mask before standing back up straight. "So…" Ihei said in a much calmer voice than before, while turning her attention back over to Hinami. "Are you going to make this easy for us and yourself, or what?"
Too afraid to care that her legs and gown were wet with urine, Hinami took a few steps with her hands raised above her head to show submissiveness before opening her mouth to speak.
"Why…? Why do you want me to join your group? I'm not a very good fighter, and I'm… I'm really scared," Hinami stated with tears running down her cheeks, as she felt herself beginning to crack under the chaos surrounding her. "I just wanna go home…"
"Well, I don't know about you going home just yet." Furuta said as he spoke up before his sister could interject. "You see, we don't need you to fight for us, or do anything really. We just need you to come with us and be within an arm's range, so to speak, at all times. So yes, we plan on taking you alive and well."
Confused and somewhat relieved that they were telling her that they had no plans to kill her, Hinami took a moment to gather her wit before wiping her eyes and nose to once again speak.
"Why do you need me…? W-Where are you going to take me…?" Hinami asked as bravely as she could speak, to which earned her a smile from Furuta.
"There we are! Coming out of your shell like a good girl, aren't you?" Furuta applauded sarcastically with a wide humorous grin on his face. "Anyway, as far as why we need someone as weak and as helpless as you are… You're our insurance policy for when the 'One Eyed Bitch' and her entourage of fellow 'reject-Starbucks-employees' decide to test our metal…"
"... So long as we have you with us, they'd never try anything stupid on their end," Furuta said in a far more sinister sounding voice, as he stared with an expressionless look on his face over at Hinami. "You'll go where we tell you to go. If you refuse to cooperate with us willingly, I'll have you killed in the most pain-ridden method that I can conjure up in my head; and trust me, I am a VERY creative person."
Standing there with a conflicted look in her brown and bloodshot eyes, Hinami stared pleadingly at the room of cold-blooded killers for any signs of comfort or mercy. "I… I guess if I don't have a choice…"
"You do have a choice," Urie spoke up from across the room, as he stared through his black-visor at the surprised look on Hinami's face. "You can stay here, and I'll give you my word that we will leave you here to be at CCG's mercy, or you can come with us. You'll be taken care of, and will be protected at all times. Help us, and I can guarantee you a future with your loved ones."
Finding Urie to be the most reassuring and seemingly caring one out of the room, Hinami wanted to believe him, but still couldn't let go of the doubts in her head. "... How do I know you aren't lying?"
"You don't. My only assurance to you is this: I wish to create a world where ghouls are protected underneath mankind's watchful eye. Imagine a world where you can eat food that isn't made of human flesh; a world where you and your mother, Ryouko, could have been together with your father, Asaki, without anyone wanting to hurt you for who you are."
Shocked to hear the names of her parents being spoken by a man as threatening as the Black Reaper himself, Hinami found herself taking a step forward closer to the shattered-glass so she could speak directly to Urie, and him alone.
"This is such a wonderful and cozy little home, Urie…! How did you get your hands on something as luxurious as this?!" Hinami asked, as she wandered around the cabin-like estate that had once belonged to Shachi. "It smells like cherry blossoms here…! I love it!"
Keeping his helmet tucked underneath his arm, Urie smiled gently at the sense of amazement in the young ghoul's voice, as he stood by the front entrance of the mountain home to hold the door open for his masters.
"I acquired this house from an old-man who had a dying wish," Urie replied back with a calm voice, as he watched Arima, Furuta, and Ihei make their way inside the dimly-lit living room. "I hope that the journey up the mountain was adequate."
Feeling more like her polite self, Ihei let out a yawn and stretched as she turned around to address Urie with a sleepy smile. "Good morning to you Urie; I trust that your battle with the 'Orca' went swimmingly~." Ihei said with a playful tone in her gentle voice, while giving the young man a wink.
Any jokes and puns that he heard reminded Urie of how he had taken Haise for granted in the past, which wasn't always something that the Black Reaper was comfortable with remembering. Nonetheless, out of politeness and respect, Urie gave Ihei a forced throaty chuckle at Ihei's play-on-words.
"It went well, thank you," Urie replied back, before suddenly being patted on the back by Furuta.
"Nice work at putting down 'Mr. Miyagi'! Sucks that Rize wasn't here, but that's okay! It's hard to be upset when there's so much skiing and fishing opportunities to take advantage of over here!" Furuta said cheerfully, before stepping into the entryway.
"We still have Shachi's map that he left behind… If Rize isn't here, she might be at that island he had circled in red ink," Urie said reassuringly to Furuta, who seemed like he didn't not care all that much about what Urie found, as he plopped down on a papasan chair that Shachi had in the corner of his living room.
"You're talking about Rushima Island? That one place CCG hit two weeks ago, right?" Furuta asked in a good-mood, as he began to idly spin himself within the half-dome shaped chair in a circular motion. "That's where the Aogiri Tree headquarters used to be, I think? We should check that place out then; we might find some goodies that our 'boys and ghouls in black' could use~!"
"Affirmative; I'll be traveling there upon your command," Urie said with a servile attitude, while making sure to patiently wait for Arima to make his way over to the door.
Using his quinque 'IXA' as a walking cane, Arima slowly made his way into the humble abode with a tired look in his eyes. Circling his head around the interior to get a good look at where he would be spending his last days of partial 'retirement', he couldn't help but smile softly at the peaceful home that had been given to him by Urie's not-so-peaceful actions.
"This is quite a nice place, Urie… I take it that you did well to bury Shachi's body in a respectful manner?" Arima asked as he lowered his gaze down to meet Urie's diamond-shaped irises.
"Yes Master, I've buried the old man underneath the largest tree I could find in the back of the estate," Urie said reassuringly to the tired man, who gave him a nod of satisfaction.
"I see… Thank you Urie, I appreciate what you've done," Arima said with a smile, before making his way over to the living room. There, Ihei carefully helped her older brother down onto a seat cushion on the floor beside the low wooden kotatsu table that covered his legs underneath a heavy white-blanket.
"Thank you Ihei," Arima said in a grateful tone, before extending out his aching left arm to pat her on the head.
Wanting to make it easier for her older brother to show her affection, Ihei knelt down further to the carpeted living room floor with her shins resting on the ground, so that Arima didn't have to strain himself when he patted her head. "Thank you, Kishou~! You should rest down there for a bit… Would you like me to fetch you a drink? I'm certain that there's some coffee around this ghoul house…"
"It would be very kind of you if you could just get me some water, please," Arima requested politely, to which Ihei responded with an endearing smile on her face before heading off into the traditional-Japanese decorated kitchen down the hallway of the large abode.
With his half-sister busy fetching his half-brother a glass of refreshing water, Furuta smiled a solemn smile at Arima before sighing. "I'm going to go get the 'One Eyed King' and his spoiled little friendsfrom the car… I still think that's a stupid name, but whatevz'."
"It's his title passed down from me, Kichimura; try to treat my legacy with some level of respect when I'm gone…" Arima said in a bothered look in his eyes, to which his younger half-brother shrugged at.
"Legacy, smegma-sea… Sure thing, brother; I'll keep that in mind during the eulogy," Furuta shot back jokingly, before hopping off the papasan to begin sassily strutting out of the door and back in the cold while muttering under his breath, "... Damn it all, we should have stopped for coffee."
Closing the door behind Furuta so that the cold that the man was complaining about didn't enter the house, Urie made sure that the door handle was unlocked before making his way beside Arima to stand by his side.
"... Master, there's something I wanted to show you in private," Urie said with a bit of hesitation in his voice, as he wasn't sure how comfortable he was with seemingly conspiring behind Furuta's and Ihei's backs.
"... You should make it quick then, Ihei's probably heading back right now," Arima replied back in a low voice, as to not allow anyone else to hear him but Urie.
Nodding in silence, Urie reached into the small black pouch that he kept clipped to the belt outside of his quinque's waistline to pull out his smartphone. Navigating to his recent messages, Urie made sure that his phone was showing the latest two messages he had received from Saiko before kneeling down to hand his phone over to Arima.
Being less interested in the previous 'risky' pictures and text messages that had been exchanged between Urie and Saiko, Arima squinted his eyes and adjusted his reading glasses before scanning the screen of its latest content.
'Hey bby, look! Maman is okay...ish? He's kinda derpy now tbh (reminds me of cheems) but isn't that amazing that he's awake (woke af lmao)?! Maybe praying actually works idk lol. Anyways lmao, when can I see you again? *sigh* I miss you a lot,' Arima read to himself silently, before looking down below Saiko's rushed text message to see a picture of Haise holding up a bloodied-napkin up to his nose while looking back at the camera in a confused manner.
Keeping a poker face, Arima subtly gave Urie his phone back before whispering out in a hushed tone, "We'll discuss it more later," just as Ihei came walking from the hallway and back into the living room.
"Here you go Kishou~! Also, it's time to take your vitamins~!" Ihei said in a sing-song voice, before placing the glass of cold water down on the table in front of her older brother, so she could reach into her coat pocket to pull out a small orange pharmaceutical bottle. "Here big-brother, say 'Ahhh~'!"
"... Ah," Feeling like an old man who was being coaxed into taking medicine like a child, Arima let out a mildly annoyed sigh before opening his mouth so that Ihei could place the vitamin pills on his tongue. Reaching for his water before his eager little sister could grab it for him, Arima took a large gulp of water before swallowing the pills down his gullet.
"Good job Kishou~! Another flawless victory for the White Reaper~!" Ihei applauded in a rooting voice, while clapping proudly for her retired brother. "That's why you're my favorite big-brother~!"
Having heard all the commotion that was coming from the living room, Furuta opened the door and stepped inside before glaring sassily at his younger-sister. "I heard that," he said in an unamused tone, before keeping the door open for the 'One Eyed King' and his two best friends.
Coughing quietly into his shoulder to clear his throat, Furuta placed his hand up straight beside his lips before dramatically announcing to everyone, "Hear ye, hear ye! Make way for the One Eyed King and his two Dukes!" Furuta said in a playful tune, while Urie, Ihei, Arima, and even Hinami clapped for the young fifteen-year old to come inside; which didn't happen as they had anticipated.
While no one but him could see it, Furuta looked over his shoulder to see his young distant relative standing shyly on the porch with his two friends standing behind him with nervous looks on their faces.
"... It's alright Yusa, it's just Urie in there," Furuta said in a mildly annoyed voice that he tried his best to tone down.
"Thank you Kichimura… I apologize for being so shy, I… I'm just still scared of the Black Reaper," Yusa said in a quiet voice, with both Shio and Rikai nodding their heads in agreement with what the newly appointed One Eyed King had said.
While the news of his relative being afraid of Urie caused him to scoff quietly to himself, it didn't take long for Furuta to remember that the memory of the 'Cochlea's Third Raid' still weighed heavily on the minds of the three recently-separated investigators.
'I'd probably shit my pants too if I knew the same guy who killed hundreds of my comrades was waiting on the other side of the door,' Furuta thought amusingly to himself, before turning back inside to motion Urie to come forward. "Leave the helmet behind, Urie; they're probably not going to want to look at it right now…"
"... Very well (understandable)," Urie replied back in a respectful tone of voice, before standing up from Arima's side to make his way to the front door to finally meet the young teenage boy that his masters had spent the past two days looking for.
Expecting Yusa to resemble Arima or Furuta, Urie had already painted a mental image inside of his head even before having arrived at the doorstep; that's why when he saw the spitting image of Haise Sasaki standing at a mere meter-and-a-half in height, Urie couldn't help but to let out a shocked gasp.
Yusa had everything that Haise had: his facial shape, his fluffy hair, albeit it was black rather than black AND white, and the sense of wonderment that hid behind those naive eyes of his. Feeling his heart sinking into his chest, Urie wished that he still had his helmet on, so that he could avoid having the young boy stare into his eyes.
Asphyxiation seemed just around the corner for Urie, as he had been so caught off guard by Yusa's appearance, that he had actually forgotten to take a breath in.
Taking in a shallow breath, Urie gulped back the aching sadness that threatened to pierce through the emotional barrier he had built for himself before finally being able to slowly breathe out in a controlled exhalation of air. Composing himself, Urie took a slow knee down to the ground, as to not startle the visibly shaking teenager.
"Sas-... Master," Urie said as he addressed Yusa properly after having corrected himself, "My name is Kuki Urie… I have sworn to protect you, your friends, and your family with my life. All I ask in return is that you help me protect my loved ones, and that you strive to make Tokyo a better place for both ghouls and humanity… I am yours to command."
Caught off guard by how gentle and genuine Urie's words were when he wasn't wearing the helmet, Yusa had to blink to himself a few times to process what he had just heard. Making sure to consulate with his 'royal friends', Yusa exchanged a few surprised looks between Shio and Rikai.
"... B-Black Reaper," Yusa said in an uneasy tone of voice, as he turned his head back forward to look down at the man kneeling before him.
"Yes, my Master?" Urie asked in a servile attitude, as he slowly looked up with his diamond-shaped pupils to meet the young king's innocent gaze; the same gaze that Haise had given him on multiple accounts.
"Can… Can I call you 'Urie'? I don't want you to think that you're my slave…" Yusa said with a still somewhat uneasy look on his face, before finishing his request by adding, "You can call me by my first name if you'd like to; I'd prefer that over 'One Eyed King', especially if you're going to be my bodyguard…"
'He even sounds a little like Sasaki…' Urie mused to himself with the feeling of something getting caught in his throat threatening. Letting out a quiet sigh, Urie could feel himself tearing up before allowing himself to smile up at the person who he had just sworn his life to.
"As you wish… Yusa."
This chapter was more so half a Haise and Touka oriented chapter, and half a Urie and Arima chapter.
I figured that it would have been too convenient to have Haise awake just in time for the Cochlea Raid and Rushima Island Raid.
The next chapter will start with Touka's reaccount of what she saw during her time in the raid, and about the whole :re group's plans on to do before the next major battle between the weakened CCG and the Aogiri Tree's remnants.
Yusa is the One Eyed King because Arima wanted to have someone carry on his legacy, and with him believing that Haise wasn't going to wake up, Arima chose the next best thing.
Urie couldn't be the One Eyed King because he inspires fear, not hope.
To answer some questions or concerns written for Chapter Six's reviews…
Eto will eventually gain her memories back slowly but surely, but will probably be a changed person by then.
I love the idea of Eto going on a mini adventure to try and reclaim the money in her bank account, without having any knowledge of what bank she's with, or where her personal information is kept.
Haise can't taste coffee or raw meat, but has been shown to like the smell of cooked meat. Without spoiling it, the reason behind him unable to taste the foods he's had so far is because his biology changed after eating Eto's kakuja when his brain and body had been torn to shreds during the accident.
It'll be explained soon how Urie was able to become the Black Reaper and what sacrifices he had to make.
As far Mutsuki being bisexual, I think he only prefers men, hence why he once said "I hate women," like a true oppressed gamer.
Eventually I might make this story rated M and have sex scenes here and there.
Poor traumatized Touka; she didn't even get to re-enact chapter 125 with Haise.
I totally would love to write Eto being drunk btw. And yeah, smooching under the missletoe sounds adorable and a bit frisky.
Also there's going to be another reason why Eto feels like shit, it'll be explained in the next chapter during Touka's flashback of the Third Cochlea Raid.
Thank you very much for reading, and hope you have a good day!
