I'm on a roll like I'm on Paw Patrol. I'm pumping these chapters out like no one's business. This story has been a blast to write so far, so I'm writing chapters fast because I've thought about doing this for a while.

Anyways, author's notes at the bottom, and thank you for reading! Please enjoy.


After having tried getting a hold of the investigators of Kafka Agency several times, Eto decided to give up trying to reach them for the evening, and decided to merely leave voicemails and a detailed text message for both Haise and Juuzou to read whenever they were available. Sighing to herself, Eto leaned her back up against the counter of the kitchen with a cup of warm decaffeinated coffee in her hands.

Taking a sip while trying to stay out of the way of who used to be her father's employees, Eto felt her eyes burn beneath her closed lids as she felt the steam of her hot beverage soothe her dried facial skin. Peeking one eye open upon hearing the familiar sounds of footsteps coming toward her direction, Eto was immediately met with a hot washcloth getting carefully pressed up against her grimy face.

Wiping away the dirt and whatever else was on the daughter of her missing boss' face, Touka made sure to be gentle as she carefully did her best to cleanse Eto's skin. "Any luck with those guys down at the main office, Ms. Yoshimura?" Touka asked with an exhausted tone that she tried to not have reflected on her overworked face.

Once Touka had pulled the washcloth away from her face, allowing her to speak without the risk of accidentally tasting it, Eto shook her head with a still hopeful expression in her emerald green eyes. "It went as well as you'd expect from TSC."

Scowling upon hearing the response she and everyone else at Anteiku had been expecting, Touka lowered her gaze down to the polished kitchen floor with her fist tightening around the cloth in her hand. "Bastards…! Knew we couldn't rely on them…"

"Trust me, Touka, I know, I know," Eto replied back with an empathetic voice, and let out a dry chuckle before pointing a finger at herself. "You know that I wouldn't have gone if I didn't already exhaust all of my options…" Eto mused in a cynical voice.

'Only you would be stubborn enough to try and find your father on your own, Yoshimura,' Touka thought to herself, as she still was trying to come to terms with the fact that the shorter woman before her had been awake for three days straight. "You're smiling though… So that must mean that there's a silver lining somewhere, right?" Touka asked with whatever bit of hope she could muster up, and felt her body tense up as she anxiously awaited for what Eto had to say to her.

"Quite the observational one, aren't you?" Eto replied back playfully, before taking a sip of coffee to soothe her dry throat; which earned her a good-natured chortle from the young ghoul.

"Smart ass…" Touka shot back, which of course made the half-ghoul snicker as her cheshire grin grew wider across her lips.

"Born and raised as one, Touka, and I'll always be one," Eto purred back with a smug look on her face, before letting out a few more chuckles in order to get them out of her delirious system. "But back to the matter on hand… Yes, I actually struck quite the bargain while waiting to be told 'we're sorry' by those pencil-pushing idiots," Eto said vaguely, and squinted deviously with delight at the sight of Touka appearing even more intrigued with what she had to say.

"Oh? And what's that supposed to mean, huh…?" Touka asked with a slightly cautious look in her blue eyes, as she wasn't sure whether or not she was going to like the answer she was about to get.

Feeling proud of herself, Eto revealed, "There was this private eye who took a seat beside me in the lobby… A real honest looking and overall good man," Eto explained, before pointing her finger down to her messy outfit. "One who was a real 'White Knight', who couldn't say no to a damsel in distress…"

"Pfft…! Sounds to me like the kind of man I need in my life," Touka mused half-jokingly with snort, as she crossed her arms over her breast with a intrigued smirk spreading across her soft lips. "So, I'm assuming that he took pity on your sorry ass?"

"Even better than that: he thought I was homeless, and gave me some money for food," Eto revealed with a sly look on her face, as she reached into her jean pockets to pull out a small wad of yen. "Bought myself a sandwich after he gave me his business card… Here, put the rest in the tip jar," Eto instructed proudly, as she handed the remainder of her donated yen to Touka, who grabbed it and stared at it in awe.

"'Tips'? I haven't seen those since all those ex-military guys left last year," Touka muttered to herself with a wowed expression that grew more intense with each bill she counted. "If there's one good thing that came from those Americans, it was their tipping culture… Shame it didn't catch on," Touka muttered with a bit of disappointment in her voice that came as quickly as it went as put the yen into her apron pocket to distribute it out later. "With all due respect Yoshimura, as good as it is to give the staff some extra spending money, I don't see how that helps us find your father…"

"Ah! Why Touka, that's merely because the well of fortune has yet to dry on our misfortunes," Eto replied back in a playfully-poetic voice, and couldn't help but laugh quietly to herself behind the ceramic brim of her coffee cup, after catching the glimpse of confusion that had washed over the new manager's face. "What I was trying to say was that there's more to what I've told you so far."

"Listen, you don't gotta try to play Shakespeare with me, Yoshimura; your ass knows that I never finished high school," Touka replied back sarcastically, as she rolled her eyes at how amused Eto was with her remark.

"Bitch, same," Eto jokingly replied back with a sassy voice that caused Touka to actually lose her shit, due to how unexpected the half-ghoul's response was. Catching the vibe of the young ghoul's infectious laughter, it wasn't long until Eto was forced to put her cup down on the counter she had been leaning on, so that she wouldn't spill it as she too joined in on the fun.


And while the two young women were sharing a laugh before finally getting down to Eto's plan that she had for the investigator who had promised to help her, the two fourteen year-old ghouls who were affiliated with Anteiku sat at their own booth that sat parallel from the one that Kaneki and Hide were occupying.

While their mothers were busy with their own jobs outside of the coffee shop, Ayato and Hinami were sipping on their own cups of iced coffee while they were preoccupied with their own paperwork. Unlike Hinami, who was struggling to understand the learning material within her literature textbook that she had opened in front of her, Ayato was sitting down with an ambitious look in his blue eyes, as she shifted through the various flyers he had collected that day. Flyers, that were all advertising the job openings that mercenary groups were offering for ghouls such as him.

Wanting to ask what his plan was without upsetting him, Hinami stared blankly down at the walls of text beneath her as she conjured up a way to speak what was on her mind to the boy sitting across from her. "Ayato… Did you get what Ms. Milkovich meant, when she asked us to explain the differences between 'tone' and 'setting'? I'm having trouble trying to understand what she meant by 'tone'," Hinami asked as innocently as she could.

"I'll give Ur Milkovich something to 'tone' about…" Ayato muttered out loud with devious smirk spreading across his lips, before suddenly going wide-eyed and nearly dropping the flyers in his hands as it finally registered to him what he had done. 'Aw shit, did I really just say that outloud?!' Ayato thought to himself, as he looked over to see the horrified expression on Hinami's adorable face. 'Yes… Yes, I definitely did say that outloud… Son of a bitch…'

"A-Ayato?! What's wrong with you?!" Hinami asked in a bewildered voice that was a little too loud for Ayato's comfort; especially when it earned their table the attention of the surrounding patrons who were wondering what had made the fourteen year old ghoul yell out loud to begin with.

Trying to save face in front of the ghoul patrons who knew who his older sister, uncle, and mother were, Ayato played his crude and intrusive comment off by letting out a forced chuckle. "Relax Hinami, I was just playing with you," Ayato said with a charming smile on his face, all while secretly thinking to himself, 'No I fucking wasn't. I want to get MILF alone and show her how a real man can treat her…!'

Disgusted, but not surprised by the troublesome teenager's behavior, Hinami grumbled, "Whatever, it wasn't funny, Ayato," beneath her breath, before deciding to move on with what was actually on her mind. "I'm going to guess that you didn't even do the homework yet…"

"Damn straight I didn't," Ayato replied back with a cocky grin on his face, as he laughed at the idea. "Why the hell would I give two shits about learning about how to analyze dickhead's writing, when I can get paid good money to kickass and go out on adventures?" Ayato asked rhetorically, while still somewhat curious as to why Hinami was bothering to try and educate herself with what he saw as a waste of her time.

"Because Ayato, going outside the wall is extremely dangerous, and you could really get hurt out there… Besides, some of us aren't cut out to be hired guns," Hinami replied back with a scolding look on her pouting face, which only intensified as Ayato snickered at her answer. "What are you laughing at? I'm serious! Look at Touka, she's doing just fine working here…"

"Don't make me laugh," Ayato said with a sudden change of emotion, as he suddenly grew to be less amused by Hinami's attempt of using his sister as a role model, and became annoyed at the young ghoul. "Just fine? Please. She can barely hold this shipwreck together… That old bastard made this place back when things were a hell-of-a-lot-less shit in the world, and even then he was struggling with keeping the lights on… Or so I've been told," Ayato pointed out, before silently gesturing with his hand to showcase just how outdated the furniture was within the coffee shop.

Becoming frustrated along with getting her feelings hurt, Hinami scowled at the ghoul who was showing blatant disrespect for the ones who helped her and her mother out when they needed it the most. "So what if this place doesn't exactly print money out? They're all making sacrifices and getting by for the sake of all of us. The least we could do to repay them is get ourselves an education and good paying jobs…"

"… And what the hell do you think I'm doing right now?" Ayato asked with an eyelid half-raised as he scoffed at Hinami's implication that what he was doing wasn't for the best.

Letting out a desperate and disgruntled gasp beneath her sigh, Hinami felt herself starting to get worked up as she shook her head at Ayato with disbelief. "Unbelievable…! Are you seriously telling me that you think signing up to be some wannabe soldier is what's best for all of us?! Why?! Why do that, when you could join, I don't know, the TSC?!" Hinami asked with a pleasing look in her brown-chocolate eyes, which did little to ease the look of anger that crossed Ayato's eyes the moment he mentioned them. "If you have to fulfill some sort of dream to live a life of excitement, then do it! But don't be an idiot and run with the hands of thugs…"

"FUCK the TSC, and FUCK YOU for sympathizing for the sonsofabitches who killed my dad!" Ayato shouted loud enough to make the surrounding customers uncomfortable, as he snarled at the shocked ghoul sitting across from him with fear in her eyes. "Those bastards used to be CCG… Don't forget that…" Ayato growled while trying to reel in his anger; his heart racing in his chest and his kakugans activated from the sheer thought of ever helping the same people who claimed to be ghoul friendly, now that their bloody history of hunting ghouls was supposedly over.

"I… I-I was trying to offer up a suggestion, Ayato; y-you don't have to be so mean to me," Hinami replied back in a trembling voice, as she fought the urge to shed tears after having been insulted and yelled at.

Realizing his mistake, Ayato was beginning to feel remorse for having lashed out as someone who was as soft as Hinami was, but before he could utter out an apology, he caught sight of his uncle glaring at him from the corner of the dining area; beckoning him with a disappointed look in his grey eyes for Ayato to come speak to him in private.

Blaming Hinami for the shit he was about to get from his family, any and all need to ask for forgiveness went out the window, and all Ayato could think to do was have the last laugh before getting his punishment. While slowly standing up from the booth, Ayato gave Hinami a condescending look before quietly whispering to her, "It doesn't matter how much you study, Hinami… Whatever cushy and peaceful job that you're wanting will always be filled by a human who is less qualified than you…You might as well put down the books and put an apron on, because this shitty little coffee shop is going to be the only place you'll ever end up…"

Being told with such a toxic voice how none of her ambition mattered and it would lead only to disappointment would have been something that Hinami could have brushed off, had it not been for the fact that she couldn't really argue with what Ayato had just said.

Holding back the tears until Ayato had disappeared around the corner of the hallway leading up to the stairwell, Hinami waited for a few more moments before quietly excusing herself as she walked past Kaya Irimi and Enji Koma; both were exchanging uncomfortable glances as they watched the heartbroken young girl sulk upstairs to where her apartment was.

Having been one of the many witnesses who had watched the entire thing go down between the two emotional young ghouls, Hide slowly turned his head over his shoulder from when he watched Hinami head upstairs until he was staring back at Kaneki with a wide-eyed expression. "Holy shit, dude… Did you just see that, Kaneki…?!"

"Lower your voice, Hide…" Kaneki whispered back in an annoyed tone, before face palming while pitching the bridge of his nose. "And yes Hide; we were literally sitting right next to them. Why would you even ask me such a ridiculous question?" Kaneki asked while shaking his head at Hide, who in turn rolled his eyes at his best friend.

"It's called a 'rhetorical question', genius; maybe you'll learn that once you get your goofy ahh back to Kami," Hide joked with an optimistic smirk on his face, which of course instantly made Kaneki scoff.

"You're still going on about that? As much as it pains me say it... You should really give it a break, Hide; there's no way I'm getting accepted back," Kaneki shot back with a scowl that softened into a look of melancholy as he nodded over to the now empty booth beside them. "Besides… As vulgar as the teenager was, he had a point."

Unable to help himself, Hide let out a snarky laugh as he amusingly pointed a thumb over to where Ayato had been sitting. "What, you're willing to take life advice from that edgy little shit, but you're too good to take direction from your ol' pal Hide?! Ya know, the guy who's never wrong about these kinds of things?!" Hide asked with a wide smirk on his face, to which prompted Kaneki to whip out his wallet before pulling out a wrapped condom.

"You're also the guy who gave me this the day that Rize agreed to go on a 'date' with me," Kaneki said spitefully with pent up resentment in his voice, as he slammed the condom down in front of his chuckling best friend. "I believe you said that I was going to need them; quite confidently, might I add. And look where that got me? So yes… You're not exactly on a streak here, Hide."

"Pfffttt….! H-Hey now! Don't blame me because you don't game, Kaneki," Hide snickered childishly, which of course made Kaneki crack a grin after it hit him just how ridiculous he looked trying to use an unwrapped condom as evidence. "Besides, no need to be all depresso-espresso on me, champ. Feast them eyes on that there sign over yonder, 'cowboy'," Hide said with a fake western accent, as he gestured over to the 'help wanted' sign that was hung on the window beside the front door.

"You're stupid, Hide, hehe…" Kaneki chuckled with a wide smile, as he read the sign before letting out a deep sigh. "I… I don't know if I'm cut out for this sort of thing though. Granted, I'm a fan of coffee as much as the next man, but-" Before Kaneki could finish his sentence, he was cut off by the sound of the kitchen door behind the coffee counter slamming open and shaking the wall, as a very pissed off ghoul came stomping out with murder in her eyes.

"-That little motherfucker…AYATO, I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR PUNK ASS!!!" Touka shouted angrily, while not the least bit concerned with the way she looked in front of all of her remaining customers. After having been told about the incident by Kaya, Touka wanted Ayato to pay for the way he made Hinami cry, and wasn't afraid to show it as she stomped her way through the dining area and toward the private hallway leading to the stairwell.

With Hide trying his best not to burst out laughing as he waited for Touka's thunderous footsteps to be far enough away for him to let it out safely, Kaneki felt uneasy and sank further into his booth's seat. "That's… That's what I was trying to say. I don't know how I feel about having her as my boss," Kaneki muttered anxiously, before slowly glancing around the room to see if there was anyone else who was made uncomfortable by the scene.

Surprisingly, people were smiling and enjoying themselves, none of them appeared phased by the heated argument between Ayato and Hinami, other than of course their initial reactions during the times the hot-headed boy would raise his voice. 'They all seem accustomed to this sort of environment… I don't think anyone batted an eye when that manager came stomping through the place like a bat out of hell,' Kaneki thought to himself with a sense of bewilderment that quickly gave way to acceptance. 'It's like they say, 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'…'

Having been caught up so much in his own thoughts, Kaneki nearly leapt out of his seat the moment he saw a robust waiter sporting a ginger-pompadour standing at the end of their booth. "Oh! My apologies friend, didn't mean to spook ya there," Enji said with a chuckle and a twinkle in his cartoon eyes, before smiling as a fond memory of his came to mind. "This reminds me of the good ol' days, back when I was the dreaded 'Devil Ape'…! Man, the gang and I used to scare the crap out of people; especially those pesky doves, back before they decided to pretend to be…"

"… Eh, that's neither or nor there, though," Enji said with a dismissive shrug, as he rifled his fingers through a stack of applications he had in his big monkey hands. "No need to get political, especially around these parts, kehe…! Now, the reason why I came waltzing over here was because I couldn't help but notice that you two fine gents were showing interest in our 'help wanted' sign."

Feeling extremely uncomfortable with the thought of having to say no to someone who was as non-threatening looking as Enji, Kaneki mustered up the courage to decline an application, but was beaten to the punch the moment he watched Hide grab an application from the waiter. "I'm doing courier work at the moment, but my man Kaneki here is looking for work," Hide explained briefly with a good natured smile on his face, and added, "He's coming in to move in with me, and well… Being a good soul doesn't exactly feed two mouths, if you get what I'm saying."

"Hide…!" Kaneki whispered out of outrage, but was politely signaled to calm down the moment Enji raised a hand up towards his direction.

"I completely understand; poverty is nothing to be ashamed of, young man," Enji said with an empathetic look on his saddened smile, as he showed pity on Kaneki, who was wearing an armband just like him. "Back when I was gang leader, before all those dragons were around, I was quite the wealthy man; had my paws hooked into Japan and China's underworld trade, you see," Enji reminisced, all while slyfully handing Kaneki a pen in a manner that wouldn't allow the bookworm to refuse it.

"Really?! And how much money are we talking about here?" Hide asked with what sounded to be genuine intrigument, as he gave an expectant sideways glance at Kaneki to fill out the forum while he was talking to the ghoul who appeared to be in his late thirties.

"Man, I'm talking about hundreds of millions of American dollars here; not too far from a billion! I owned, like, my own estate with fifteen mansions, all on the waterfront of Lake Yamanaka! I got to see Mt. Fuji up close every time I stepped foot outside!" Enji said with excitement in his voice, as he thought back to the mornings where he would wak his pet tiger along the shore of the lake he called home, as all his soldiers kept watch of his land.

"I had it good, man… But then, ya know, that was ten years ago. A lot has changed nowadays…" Enji said with a content look on his face as he shrugged off all of his losses. "Life has a funny way of taking you down a peg or two when you think you're the king of the jungle. But… It's not all that bad," Enji said optimistically with a chuckle, as he gestured at the dining area around him.

"I've got actual friends without ulterior motives, a roof over my head, and nobody goes hungry around here; not if the spirit of Anteiku has anything to say about it… U-Usually!" Enji stuttered out with an uneasy chuckle, as he remembered the condition Eto was in when she came back from her three day long excursion.

"… Plenty of benefits come with the job, like a free apartment, so… Yeah, come by tomorrow at ten in the morning, okay Kaneki? I'll let Touka and Ms. Yoshimura know that you're coming in the morning, and that they should be expecting ya," Enji said with a warm smile on his face, as he swiped the mostly completed application out underneath Kaneki's pen, before also taking the pen with him as he took their empty plates as well. "I've got a good feeling about you kid… I think you'll fit right in!"

And with that said, Kaneki was left speechless while Hide silently whispered a 'thank you' to the waiter who he had subtly called over while his best friend was distracted with looking over to where he had pointed to the 'help wanted' sign. Content with the outcome of his last minute scheme that was riding one nothing short of a wing and a prayer, Hide decided that it was the perfect time to make their exit before Kaneki could begin hounding him for answers.

"What… W-What just happened?" Kaneki asked with a shaky voice while he stared bewilderingly at Hide, who was in the midst of getting up from the booth to reach into his wallet.

"That my friend was an opportunity knocking on the door, and you answered it with a smile," Hide said smoothly, as he took out the appropriate amount of yen to front the bill, before stretching his arms above his head. "Welp…! It's about time we went back to your dorm to collect your crap before that eviction notice becomes the next thing that comes knocking on your door," Hide said with a teasing smile, to which earned him an amused expression from Kaneki.

"That was way too soon, Hide," Kaneki replied back with a scowl on his face, as he got up from his booth with the taste of what he could best describe as 'rice' in his mouth, from the artificial food he had been served. "Way, way too soon," Kaneki reiterated just to drive home the point to Hide that he wasn't ready to hear anymore jokes about needing to leave his temporary home.

The two of them were completely unaware of the fact that they were being followed the moment they took step out of the sanctity of Anteiku, as they made their way beneath the evening twilight sky back to Kami University's dorm rooms.


I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Now, for the reviews.

Thank you Volbia for letting me know that you've enjoyed this fanfic thus far, and I'm glad you got a kick out of the nuka-cola reference I did, by actually putting in the real thing in its place lol.

Furuta is still missing in action, he's just that no one knows if he's still alive or not. That's what Arima was tasked with investigating. And Elizabeth Maxwell won't be a huge part of the story, but she'll be an important factor to some backstory and when the Brotherhood of Steel show up, or at least the Tokyo Ghoul equivalent of them. They might go by 'United Front'; they're going to be primarily a ghoul group who were the ex-military personnel, back when the United States and all its allies were stationed in Tokyo, for reasons other than just claiming to want to stop the dragons from spreading.

It'll be revealed later what made Ihei special, since she's younger than both Haise and Juuzou. It won't be breeding though, merely because the project was scrapped, after Haise and mostly Juuzou were considered a failure, due to Juuzou being unable to bear children or impregnate women. Weird? Definitely, but then again who doesn't love a futa?

Kaneki has very little connection to Sunlit Gardens, just as a heads up. He wasn't actually a survivor from there or a test subject, but that'll be explained later. And to be fair, you do have a point: Touken is overdone, and it would be pretty interesting to have Touka end up wanting to be with Haise, considering that he's older than Kaneki and I can definitely see her seeing her father more so in him then Kaneki. Plus, it would be the same age gap between Kaneki and Hinami, four years.

Haise got laid, so Kaneki should definitely be next. Can't be Eto though, not yet anyways; she's too preoccupied with finding her dad to really care about relationships at the moment. Haise gets laid every night with Juuzou, so he's not exactly in any rush either.

And as far as Juuzou's genitals go, I'm pretty sure he just has a small dick instead of a clitoris. It just hangs there, I don't think it would be long enough for him to fuck himself (Not for a lack of trying, mind you).

The way I see it, Kaneki would help Hinami get better with boys in return, if we go down that route, and Touka's mom would mostly only be interested in sex from him, especially if he ends up moving in upstairs at Anteiku. Speaking of potential girlfriends or friends with benefits, here's what I got so far.

Kaneki: Touka's mom, Hinami, Kaya, Saiko, Eto (Later one when he either gets his white hair, or becomes the new 'Black Reaper/ Akaneki'). Uh… That's all I can think of for now, unless anyone else wants to throw in some suggestions (None of which have to be exclusively Tokyo Ghoul, all ideas are good ideas, so long as they fit the lore).

Haise (Not including Juuzou/Rei): Touka, Akira, Ruisawa, Ryouko, Mutsuki. Please feel free to suggest more here lol.

Keep in mind, the future women who will be put into lemons don't have to be exclusively Japanese. I added the other countries for a reason, in order to have a better pick of the liter, one might say.

And are futas gay? The world may never know.

Pulled a sneaky on ya. Eto's not homeless, she just looked homeless and was hungry when she met Haise. Oh, and she's still kind of broke, that was the only accurate thing that Haise got right about her. Speaking of Anteiku, Ayato is one-hundred percent into MILFs, considering that Touka is into older men, it makes sense that he would be into women older than himself.

Definitely gonna add a scene with Naruto and his MILF mom later down the road, but probably won't ship her with anyone other than her husband out of respect for the fandom lol. Or maybe I will? Hard to say.

Anyways, that about does it. Thank you, and have yourselves a damn good day!