links with previous chapter

Mind keeps thinking Mutsuri instead of Mutsuki for the female gone berserk for her love of Haise/Kaneki

"What goes around comes around. We're back at square 1 for cosplay related attires except Juuzou's with the gods. Hide and Juuzou's birthdays cant be coming up already. We just jumped shift on how to go about things." thinks Ken chuckling in his head until he focused on Hide.

"Me and my big mouth." mumbles Ken frowning.

"You're not thinking of changing your mind are you?" wonders Hide.

"If this ends up a birthday thing, Juuzou deserves something too. You two have birthdays coming up, dont you? It feels like our shopping spree for me all over again." says Ken.

"Magicians are technically for birthdays so its a win-win. I'm pretty sure I remember Juuzou's size. But who best fits him? We should all be anti heroes so who is left from the manga world that fits Juuzou perfectly?" says Hide.

"That's more your jurisdiction." says Ken unamused.

After searching up the trio of contestants, Hide handed Ken the cell to search up Aru Akise.

"We'll search for an anti hero for Juuzou when you find the perfect picture." says Hide.

"If I can...' says Ken focusing on the home screen.

Ken clicked on pictures and swiped down in a rush until he spotted the trio next to the pictures of the heroes.

"You already chose the groom looking magician so the other 2 need to g-"

Ken wasnt fluent in the detective Conan or fruits basket mangas but 2 things bugged him. Why is there a mini Shinichi next to Shinichi? Was he a little brother or a kid version from the past? No...if the manga is still ongoing then the kid wouldn't be around...right? It's American name was called Detective Conan so did that mean he had a little brother named Conan? Would be freaky if Hide was caught up in detective work like this Shinichi Sherlock Holmes guy then they'd be separated longer than needed.

He shook his head and moved onto the next picture being a tall high schooler who was also blonde and brown eyed. This guy was 100% possibly the alternate universe Hide if there was a monstrous person he knew. He didnt wanna delve into that.

Kaito Kid was from the same universe as Shinichi and he was the only one left Hide saw himself as. Hide may as well be part Shinichi part Kaito Kid but that combo cosplay would look really strange on him. With this cosplay he practically had a tuxedo come wedding day. Grooms don't normally wear top hats though so a fancy looking thief that is loved despite his sneaky conniving ways pretty much spoke Hide around the CCG except he looked innocent to a tee around the damage control self centered ghoul killers. Ok, some weren't but drawing a big picture, after how his time as a white head went, waiting for the ones who actually have a heart to come to him was a once in a lifetime chance to chat heart to heart and they would hear none of it. Ignoring while staring might be the best way to put ghoul killers who do it for the thrill of it. If only he could get to know them without massacres and such. 1 and a million chances are draining to the mind.

Ken huffed and moved onto searching up Aru Akise for any full body images and only got head shots. He groaned in annoyance scrolling through the pages despite clicking full body after looking at the images that went with the name. Part of him was relieved there was something on their world. Yet it was forever faces instead of his whole body which made him paranoid.

"Anything jump out at you?" wonders Hide.

"I found their suspicious 'friend turned enemy' but no full body images that I can see." mutters Ken.

"Try gifs." says Hide confused.

He had been noticing gifs here and there alongside the pictures. Alright, gif section it was. That was something he thought would never be needed as an alternative. After scrolling like wild, he looked through the gifs again to be sure he didnt miss anything and came across Aru with a sword that he saved to photos immediately. He was about to hand Hide the cell so they could get to searching the cosplay shops, wherever they were, when he spotted a gif of Aru with Yukiteru and went wide eyed staring at the gif a few times. He shouldn't've brought up Aru and now his mind was burned. It was bound to stay put in his mind plaguing him with unsure thoughts of if this gif referred to hide and him or his Tsukiyama and him in human form. He shuddered disturbed picturing Tsukiyama in Aru's place and his human form in Yuki's. Yuki was definitely his human side now that he saw it for himself.

Ken clicked on the gif and awkwardly handed the cell over for Hide to see.

"Finally find something?" wonders Hide looking from the cell to Ken.

"Yes and then some." says Ken dropping the cell into Hide's hand, "Not a good idea to look into their world. They turned Aru's love for Yuki into my love for you. They dumped Aru's gay lust for Yuki onto me but you instead of Yuki if Aru was older, taller and had a taupe eye and ghoul eye. Or was it Tsukiyama's undying lust for me? Hide wouldnt upbruptly kiss me right? Aru would be ghoul me kissing Hide but thats to nerve wrecking. Hide wouldn't have Yuki's reaction compared to me if Hide lovingly kissed me. Yet GIF screams Tsukiyama with human-ghoul me more than me doing it to Hide. I'd be a bit shocked if Hide did it though. I'm soooo confused. I'd look for Yuki and Yuno to calm down but blood lust girlfriend wont help much. Hate to know what gifs appear if not for the screenshots." hesitantly talking to himself.

Hide raised an eyebrow in confusion until he looked at his cell to see a gif of Aru and Yukiteru(teen).

"Does it look like you are kissing yourself?" wonders Hide.

"Ewww no! That's disturbing!" says Ken.

"I'm kidding! Yuki's reaction fits you greatly yet Aru is your ghoul form." says Hide smirking.

"You're better off searching pics! I wasn't planning on burning my mind of scarring gifs like that." says Ken glaring at Hide.

"Sounds better than saying you're kissing your fake dad in a using way just to piss off your fake mom to override her rage meter." says Hide.

"Don't talk about the GIF that way. Me hooking up with other me would be freaky if we ever find him. We are the same person just different variations of the same being. Naaaah, we'd be better off siblings who treat each other like friends. How we-you and me see each other but switched. Back to Tsukiyama vision, if Aru was gay thats me to a tee given our relationship. If we were able to get that far. Its more murderous to the mind envisioning Tsukiyama forcing a kiss onto human me-humanish ghoul me. I'd be a bit shocked if you kissed me but I wouldn't have the 'I need to get outta his sight' mindset around you. GIF made me wish Tsukiyama wasn't the type to do that to me if he were able to in secret." says Ken.

"In other words he's a trashy version of Yandere Yuno." says Hide watching the GIF.

"I don't wanna get into Dere logics and where cycle 1 Tsukiyama would be placed." says Ken crossing his arms.

"Dropping the subject." says Hide.

"First cosplay shop we see, we will have to check out said cosplay attire before deciding on creating our own variant." says Ken.

"We would have to walk all over Tokyo then." says Hide.

"Grab the angel shirt so we can look like a pair if we choose to do so. That'll give you one extra to pay for alongside my choices." says Ken sighing.

Hide looked at the shirt reimagining how it fit on him then shrugged his shoulders and grabbed said shirt.

They headed toward the cash registers to pay for the shirts and left the store to look for the nearest cosplay store or somewhere tuxedos and dresses were easily located. Something akin to ACOS, Akihabara, Tokyo Japan would make cosplay dreams easier. Which location would be equivalent to ACOS in a anime Tokyo sense?

"Hold on, can we get a bite to eat first?" wonders Hide.

"Define we?" wonders Ken.

"You know what I mean." says Hide.

"I'm not pulling a buffet trope. It's the most common overused trope to fatten lovers. We can't ruin your shirts after buying them." says Ken.

"Won't they just ride up when I start wearing them?" wonders Hide.

"I'm not in the mood to hover the oven all afternoon nor feel stares while you eat your heart out." groans Ken.

"It's better to eat now then tear apart a perfectly good cosplay outfit." says Hide.

"Why is there such a thing as manga character anything here when ghouls could blend in easily making it seem like they love cosplay when they need to act the part?" grumbles Ken.

"Why did Yuki and Yuno allow such a thing to become reality for us?" wonders Hide.

Squeezing in a big meal wasnt gonna help them get their cosplay and head home before nightfall any quicker. Detouring for a meal it was then.

Ken's house...

dining room...

"Now we can properly chat quinx to human who is crazy enough to kill within seconds." says Yuno devilishly smiling.

"How else can you word such nonsense?" wonders Urie.

"Let me tell you the proper run down of cycle 1 Ken Kaneki." says Yuno.

"Extending it will still put you in the looney bin." says Urie.

Mutsuri didnt really know what to say about the way they worded their adopted ghoul son.

"At this very moment Yuki and Juuzou are going around headquarters repeating what came about cycle 1 Ken's life." says Yuno.

"They'll have noone on their side aside from Shinohara. Can't tell with Amon." says Urie glaring pissed off.

"You heard the short version. Here's the long version." says Yuno frowning unamused.

"How much more can there be?" wonders Mutsuri wearily.

"No one else talk. Got that?" wonders Yuno stabbing her kitchen knife into the table.

Urie rolled his eyes getting tired of all the rambling about their so called adopted son. Yuno was about to toss the knife at Urie but Mutsuri shielded him just in time.

"Stop being smug about it both of you." says Mutsuri annoyed.

"Kenny was like any average human kid growing up. Living in a single parent house while the mom went between jobs to send his aunt money and making sure there was enough to keep Kenny in school. Looking at them, you'd think Kenny had the ideal loving mother. That was hardly the truth. Though it was never seen, Yuki and I saw perfectly clear what a kind woman's rage ended up feeling like to the elementary kid. He was never caged up for horrible grades like I was. No, but it came pretty close watching her beat Ken when she couldn't handle helping her sister, handling odd jobs and taking care of Ken at times. I wouldn't know what grade he was in at the time so I'll say 4th grade at best. That was when his aunt; her sister let the boy stay with her. The boy thought he would see better days ahead but the moment she saw how well Ken was doing between homework and school verses how her child was, everything went dark again feeling constant beatings over how much smarter Ken was compared to the son that could care less about school and homework. It went on for years and the only happy times Ken had since his mother's passing was whatever he did with Hide growing up but even that felt like a dream come reality with how Hide acted around Ken. It looked unnatural yet felt like it was meant to be. Without the sun, the moon could not glow so they did everything together. If Ken was in a pinch, Hide would be there in seconds." says Yuno clenching her fists enough to cause her nails to indent into her palm.

Mutsuri could see how much Yuno was shaking in anger being reminded of her past. All she could do was frown and force Urie to wait for her tell the rest.

"I believe Hide was 11 and Ken was 10 during 4th grade. Can't prove what school year the boys were in nor their ages. Years later, after graduation at high school, Ken was relieved to do as he pleased and never have to bend to his aunt's cruel whims ever again. I can't tell you what day it was but it was some time after moving out of his aunt's place. Yuki and I felt bad that he only had 1 friend but Ken seemed just fine having Hide by his side. Some weeks-months? Some time later, our to adorable for adulting son that grew up on earth met a purple haired ghoulette named Rize and Hide made the foolish mistake of letting him hang out with the gorgeous ghoul. By this time Ken is 18 and Hide is 19 and are about to be adults in Japan to live their own lives staying best friends like intended. Hide kept quiet eager to hear how the date went the next day only to learn the black haired friend turned brother was hospitalized the next day I want to believe. Getting back to Kenny, Rize had attempted to eat him like any other ghoul would a human but something went amiss and the ghoulette died in Ken's place making it seem like Ken was safe from harms way." says Yuno taking hold of the knife again, pupils getting smaller the longer she sounded crazier by the sentence.

"Miss Yuno? We kinda got the picture-"

"SILENCE INTRUDERETTE!" yells Yuno angrily pressing the knife into the table to slide it back.

Mutsuri leaned back in her chair going back to being silent.

"Hospitals are meant to be safe havens for the ill or injured. That was not the case for poor self conscious Kenny. The doctors brought in a senile looking man who has always helped humans out who need surgeries. I don't know how true that is but you have to wonder about his past surgery sessions. Doctor Kanou didnt let the other doctors and nurses in on the secret and had Kenny fall asleep so he could do the surgery without worried whines from said patient. Within a few hours, Kanou was finished implanting Rize's organs into Kenny even though the doctors and nurses were starting to wonder if the new patient needed a surgery. Kanou lied stating something about Ken's eye and weakened body parts before shutting and locking the door to keep from intrusions. Kenny had no knowledge of the surgery and woke up to eat breakfast like usual yet the meals tasted peculiar compared to how food should taste to a human. It made no sense for food to taste like dirt-maybe mush? Pretty much dirt to a human being. That's what he was and always had been. When realization hit, it hit him like a ton of bricks seeing a ghoul eye in the mirror with no recollection of ever seeing himself as a half ghoul. He would stay in bed throughout the days leaving the nurses hurt by Ken's lack of eating and pity toward thinking the surgery would make things better even if it didnt seem like Kenny needed it. Kanou would never deceive the workers after all he's done for his patients. The day he saw his face with shaking eyes out of shock and horror, he also thought he saw Rize behind him which freaked him out even more." says Yuno.

Yuno focused her sights on the quinx duo to see if they would say anything and went back to talking about the cycle 1 path.

"When Ken was released, he had to act like his eye was still bothering him and was given a medical eyepatch to cover his ghoul eye. Ken was hesitant to go to the college he and Hide applied to yet went anyway to check on Hide only to be glomped by the eager sunflower haired boy. Hide didnt think he would ever see Ken again and now Hide couldn't let him out of his arms. It felt like every time it was the day after Hide didnt see Ken during elementary on. or was it days? Ken had to do whatever the aunt said so who's to say what was true those days. Instead of making sure he seemed human whether Hide was bound to find out or did immediately, Hide never clued him in. Kenny decided he was better off working at the coffee shop instead of hanging around humans feeling alienated. Hide was hardly at Antieku after college let out which Ken was fine with since he gained new friends who felt the same way he did through the staff. When Hide did come in, they chatted like everything was normal. Hide was happy to see Ken had a new family through the staff even if he felt left out a lot. Ken was finally happy despite the alteration to his daily life. Everyday he would happily greet customers and fill their orders or tend to the bar. Any signs of love between them were never shown yet still lingered without their knowing." says Yuno smiling shadow eyed.

Yuno showed one eye staring at the duo who sweat dropped unsure how she would react to them.

"Happy days are such fleeting memories of the days living at Anteiku like everything was back to normal-semi normal in Kenny's case. But all that vanished when he appeared in a caged room-this would be if Ken was in my place except instead of a parent screaming at a caged child for bad grades, it was a ghoul who loved the thrill of blood lust and torturing those he was given to the point of insanity?-Ken was still in his work attire staring at the ghoul known as Jason with petrified eyes." says Yuno repeatedly pressing the knife into the line-like hole to slide it back toward the edge making an indention, "Jason had him tied to a chair squirming while screaming for his life. For 10 straight days, Jason hacked off his limbs spouting on about a simple mathematics question that Ken couldn't register in his head fast enough to answer and had variations of centipedes crawl into his ears. What there was of the 13th ward ghouls that felt guilty died in front of Kenny while Jason enjoyed every single second of it. On the 10th day, a flip switched in Kenny's head. His appearance shifted from the adorable human adult to the white head you are scouring for. Have no idea how his clothes changed or why he gained nail polish but that's beside the point. After killing Jason and eating his flesh in the most cynical corrupt way, he escaped the 13th ward to hang around the most dangerous ghouls that formed a group for their own benefits whatever they were. At this point his mind was waning and ghoul instincts were all he knew and upon facing his new comrades, he told himself there was no place for him whether he went back to Anteiku or not. That Hide, his now only human friend, was better off without the freak of Japan beside him." says Yuno cryptically.

"Can we leave? You're creating a creepy atmosphere again." says Mutsuri.

"No." says Yuno frowning bitterly.

"Ok." squeaks Mutsuri latching onto Urie.

"Boy was Kenny wrong. The depression looming over Hide that you see if you looked closely, was Hide after Kenny disappeared without a trace. It's time to switch points of views my good half ghoul-like company." says Yuno.

Yuno snapped her neck to both sides growing grimmer by the second.

"I really wish we could leave." thinks Mutsuri.

"A year has come and gone since the disappearance. Unlike the semi mopey Hide you see roaming head quarters, Hide, by himself mind you, went to the lengths to see his best friend again by searching all over Tokyo. The first time Hide found Ken with white hair, he was taking on the CCG with ease yet this version of Ken was gloomy despite having to fight to keep alive another day. You wouldn't be able to tell with a mask on but eyes can show it too. It felt like a nightmare to both Hide and Kenny seeing the humans fear Kenny more than ignore his presence with the CCG constantly getting involved. Centipede was the creepier version of eyepatch and that was hell to watch despite secretly rooting for Kenny to fight until he got his happy ending. Hide went back to his daily life of going to his first job despite college? Have to question that. Like in this cycle, he was the paper boy, never once able to leave HQ to go ghoul hunting. They felt Hide wasn't ready enough. Hide had a secret he kept to himself and the ghoul hunting job made things a bit better. He was already searching up wanted posters with names the ghoul killers gave him, wherever he could've gone with the suspicious ghouls. If he was alone to fend himself off, it would've been a better option but not all ghouls are alike. Ken felt betrayed by humans leaving him to stay with ghouls he didnt know a thing about. Like Aru, he was neither hero nor villain. It all depended on how the humans reacted once he went on the hunt to kill or savagely injured the CCG with a broken mind. Yuki was really freaked out while I was in awe of how becoming the new Aru turned out to be." says Yuno.

"Aru?" wonder Urie and Mutsuri.

Yuno ignored the duo carrying on with cycle 1.

"I dont know when he snapped out of it but he felt he needed to get back in the fight against CCG and ended up holding Hide who had a heavily injured side despite being happy to see his long time friend again. Not many words could be exchanged because as soon as they started talking Hide fainted and was presumed dead while Ken carried him outside. Everything grew quiet by then with everyone, whoever was left, staring at the eye patched centipede falling to his knees crying to no end with the rain pouring down as if on que. Amon was the most confused out of everyone trying to get a bigger idea of Ken and Hide's relationship yet Ken kept rambling on ignoring everyone around him." says Yuno dropping the knife to the floor.

Ken and Touka...

It seemed as though every teacher in the school had their doors closed and locked, though it couldn't be proven unless they smelled humans or listened in. The quietness of the building made Ken feel more at ease than Touka. There wasnt much rooms they could stay in with Touka dragging him out to seek out teachers who didnt wanna be seen in their presence.

Touka scowled in annoyance while Ken tried to ease her mind.

"Getting you to relax is exhausting. This place was a bust so let's leave the teachers be and sniff out Hide to check on him. Where we will find white haired me and Hide is most likely a restaurant. We don't have to order but other me and Hide surely will. Other me awkwardly deciding but we know what's really going on with Hide." says Ken.

"Hide and you were practically lovers so its ok to feel a little jealous. But spying on him would be so much better." says Touka smirking.

"We cant eat though." says Ken.

"We dont have to order. Just watch what other you does with Hide." says Touka.

"Come on then." says Ken opening a window.

"You're not serious are you?" wonders Touka.

"We snuck in so we gotta act like we are sneaking out." says Ken.

Touka rolled her eyes amused then sighed following Ken out the window. Soon they took off in search of Hide and white haired Ken. Touka wasn't to thrilled to see how right Ken was but seeing how white haired version reacted to Hide's eating habits could prove to be entertaining enough.