==Twelve Years Later==
"Hey, Kaneki, could you take care of this customer while I take the order to Kaya?" The purple haired teenage girl, Touka Kirishima, asked the black haired boy as he set a used plate on the counter.
"Yeah, sure no problem." Kaneki said to her and walked to said customer.
It's been twelve years since he first entered Anteiku. Yoshimura took Kaneki under his wing and raised him into who he is today. He was taught how to function in human society and blend in among them. He even made a human friend, Hideyoshi Nagachika. Until five years ago, he also met up with his childhood friend, Eto, who continued to sneak out from the 24th Ward to meet with him. Then suddenly, she vanished five years ago, and Kaneki hasn't seen her since.
The one eyed ghoul also wore an eyepatch over his lone kakugan in public. Though, Kaneki was able to control his hunger and predatory instincts now, after years of practice and discipline training from Yomo, the manager felt it to be a necessary precaution.
Ken Kaneki went from an orphaned hybrid that scavenged on humans and ghouls alike, to a meek, nineteen year old bookworm with a passionate love for the works of Sen Takatsuki. She was his favorite author hands down.
Kaneki couldn't wait for his shift to end.
Today, said Sen Takatsuki was holding a book signing at the bookstore he always visited. He planned on going straight there after his shift. He asked Touka if she wanted to tag along, but the abrasive teenager promply declined, telling him that "horror stories weren't her thing".
xxx
Kaneki made his way to the customer, a woman in her late teens with long violet purple hair and reading glasses. She had her nose stuck in a book, one Kaneki recognized very well.
"Oh, is that "The Dropped Box" you're reading?" Kaneki asked the woman out of curiosity. It was one of Sen's earlier works.
The woman poked her head out from the book to look at the sudden voice and smirks to herself. "Why indeed it is. This is my favorite of her collection actually." She put her book down to face the boy fully. "You're a fan of Sen Takatsuki as well?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, I am. I've been a fan since her debut four years ago. Did you know that she's doing a book signing today at the bookstore to promote her new novel "The Black Goat's Egg?" Kaneki asked the girl as he slowly grew more excited at talking to someone about his beloved author.
His friend Hide was never a fan of Sen's works, so he rarely was able to express his love for his favorite writer.
"No, I did not know that. Seems I should check it out later." The girl chuckled at Kaneki's growing excitement. "I'm Rize, by the way. Rize Kamishiro." The purple haired girl introduced herself to Kaneki.
"I'm Ken Kaneki. Nice to meet you, Rize." Kaneki smiled at the girl, sheepishly scratching his cheek.
"Kaneki, stop flirting with the customer and take her damn order!" Touka shouted at the boy from across the cafe, causing him to flinch and cringe.
Rize giggled at the boy's discomfort. "I'll just have a cup of coffee." She said, finally giving her order.
Kaneki sighed and wrote down Rize's order and returned to the scowling Touka.
xxx
After his shift, Kaneki ran to his room upstairs of the coffee shop to undress out of his work clothes and into more casual clothes. The half ghoul seemed to have an affinity with the black shirt/khakhi pants combo that he adopted since his first meeting with his childhood friend.
"I'm heading out!" Kaneki called to his fellow collegues just as he exited Anteiku.
"What's got him in a hurry?" Enji asked as he, Kaya, and Touka watched the eye patched boy run out the shop.
"Turns out that author he loves so much is holding a signing in the bookstore near here." Touka said to the man behind the counter washing cups.
"So that's what's got him riled up all week. Explains why he's been unusally energetic." Enji laughed as they watched the boy run off around the corner through the window.
xxx
The line for Sen's book signing stretched all the way outside the store itself, much to Kaneki's dismay.
He clutched his favorite book of Sen Takatsuki, a copy of "Dear Kafka", against his chest as he anxiously waited in line. His copy was one of the orginal 50,000 that sold during Sen Takatsuki's debut. It was a considered to be a collector's item, being a first edition and all.
Luckily for Kaneki, the line moved fairly quickly and before he knew it, he was inside the store.
Sen Takatsuki rarely ever showed her face in public, preferring to remain in her own home while she worked on her stories. This was one of the rare occasions where she held a public apperence.
"Did you see what Sen looked like?" One of the members of the line that got their book signed asked their companion as they passed Kaneki.
"Yeah, she's totally cute. Who knew she'd look that hot?" The other laughed as left the bookstore.
Cute? Hot?
Now Kaneki was starting to get nervous about meeting his idol as thoughts began to plague his mind.
He doesn't look too funny with this eye patch does he?
Finally, finally, he is the next person in line.
There she was. Long messy green hair, sleepy expression, olive green eyes. Sen Takatsuki was short for a woman her age, twenty-one, and dressed in a long blue dress over a cream yellow turtleneck.
They were right, she was quite attractive.
Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the booth where Sen waited, looking a bit...bored.
Upon meeting each other's eyes, sudden flashes of recognition spark in Kaneki and the author.
It...it couldn't be...
'Eto?!' Kaneki mouthed at Sen in shock and disbelief, who looked just as starstruck to be reunited with her childhood friend.
"Sen" pressed her finger against her lip, telling Kaneki to not say anything about her identity. He nodded in understanding.
And so the two silently agreed to act like complete strangers, knowing that they were going to meet up after this signing was over.
"A first edition of my first book, huh? A pretty rare find. You must be quite the long time fan, Mr...?"
"Kaneki, Ken Kaneki." The boy answered nervously her as she signed the book. "I've been a fan since you started as a writer four years ago. "Dear Kafka" is hands down my favorite book." Kaneki gushed, though it felt weird, since it was his childhood friend that his was gushing over.
Eto shot Kaneki a sly smirk, breaking her sleepy expression for a split second, before returning to her original facade. "You flatter me, Mr. Kaneki. Knowing that I have such a devoted fan puts my mind at ease. If you like "Dear Kafka", then I'm sure you're going to enjoy this new book." She said as she signed Kaneki's book.
Then she leaned over to his ear in a blindingly fast motion. "Meet me at that coffee shop you work at. This shouldn't take too long to finish up. I look forward to catching up with you, Ken-Ken." The author whispered in his ear with a wink before returning to her usual position. The movement was so fast that the humans in line never saw her lean over to Kaneki or hear what she said to him.
Kaneki shot her a smile as Eto winked at him, gathering his now signed book and grabbing Sen' new book and buying it. Eto waved at Kaneki lazily as he left the store.
Wait...how did she know he worked at Anteiku?
xxx
The eye patched half ghoul returned to Anteiku and sighed. It was an eventful day, which was about to be even more eventful once Eto meets up with him later.
Meeting Rize
Meeting Sen Takatsuki.
Reuniting with Eto.
It felt like today was a catalyst for things to come. Of what, Kaneki could not put his finger on.
"How was your little book signing?" Touka's voice shook him out of this thoughts and he jerked his head towards the teen.
"Oh, it was pretty exciting. I bumped into my childhood friend over there and we agreed to hang out here." The black haired boy told her as he took a seat at one of the tables. "She's actually meeting me here shortly."
"She? Don't tell me you had enough nerve to befriend a girl in the past. I remember when you could barely say a word to me." Touka laughed while placing cups in the cupboard.
"I think you're remembering it wrong, Touka. I helped you and Ayato find this place after all those years ago. Besides, you shouldn't feel so surprised. You're my friend too after all." Kaneki laughed at Touka's jabbing.
Before the purple haired girl could retort, the bell at the door chimed as a woman in her early 20s with long unkempt green hair walked in. Upon seeing Kaneki, her eyes lit up and she ran to him in a tackling hug.
"Ken-Ken, it's been so long!" She was short for someone her age, almost child like in stature.
The woman practically leapt onto the eye patched half ghoul, causing him to fall out of his chair.
"Ow, hey Eto, long time no see." Kaneki huffed and pulled her off of him so he could get up.
Eto looked at Touka, who stared at the two in disbelief, a sly grin forming on her lips. "Oh, who's this, Ken-Ken? Your girlfriend?" She teased, causing the purple haired girl to scowl at them and turn away with a huff.
"As if! Who'd even date this sorry loser?" She dismissed with a snort.
The green haired author's grin grew wider as she licked Kaneki's ear playfully, causing him to squeak in embarassment. "I would~" She chimed in a sing-song voice as both of them look at the eccentric woman in disbelief.
"Kidding!" She laughed at the flustered two teens. "You should look at your faces. Anyways, shoo. I wanna talk to Ken-Ken alone." She made a brushing motion at Touka, who sighed and walked upstairs to the residential floor where she and Kaneki lived.
With her gone, Eto's right olive eye turned into a single kakugan and she reached over to gently stroke the eyepatch over Kaneki's kakugan. "Now, can you tell me why you're hiding your gift, my dear Kaneki?" She asked in a sickeningly sweet voice.