Hello everyone, this story is going to be my first attempt at making a sort of slice of life fanfiction. Usually I put in action, violence, and gore with lots of gloom and doom, but this time I'm going to try to keep the plot simple and fun; no death and all that, probably.
This is going to be an AU where there's no ghouls or CCG, will be a mix between Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul :re, and lastly I'll probably have Ken Kaneki and Haise Sasaki be two separate characters. This may or may not be a harem fiction in the future, and might have sex scenes in the future. Maybe, probably, I don't know.
I'll try to keep the pacing and storylines that are similar to the canon chronological events, but obviously due to there not being any heavy stuff in this, it won't be a perfect reflection of the canon Tokyo Ghoul.
With that being said, I hope you enjoy this fiction and this story also might become rated M later, so that'll be something to look out for later. It's really just up in the air, and this story's main purpose is to be light hearted and fun.
Anyways, please enjoy this first chapter.
Sitting down beside his best friend, Hideyoshi Nagachika, Ken Kaneki's fingers were comfortably wrapped around the white ceramic handle of his cup of freshly brewed coffee. Being careful as to not burn himself, the young seventeen year-old man gently blew a breath of air across the hot-steaming surface of his cappuccino; making sure to welcome in the comforting aroma of his hot beverage as he took a deep breath in through his nostrils.
Taking a sip from his titled cup, Kaneki and Hide both idly watched the broadcasted morning news with mild interest, just like everyone else in Anteiku who, like them, were enjoying their Saturday morning while gluing their eyes on the overhead flatscreen television. The morning news itself was mostly uneventful, and aside from the weather forecast warning everyone to stay hydrated as a heatwave was scheduled to arrive later on through the afternoon, Kaneki didn't exactly find anything else to be particularly interesting.
Unlike his bookworm best friend however, Hide found himself excited when the morning news anchor informed her viewers that there was going to be a carnival opening up later that very night. The news anchor spoke promisingly of there being a light parade that would rival anything ever shown at Disneyland, midway games and live entertainment all the way from Las Vegas. Needless to say, the footage of what was to come later that night playing alongside the charismatic words of the news anchor was all that it took to not only grab the attention of Hide, but practically everyone else as well.
Noticing that his best friend had whipped his cellphone out, it didn't take long for Kaneki to realize that everyone from the customers to the employees of the coffee shop had made it apparent that they were trying to secure themselves tickets to the hyped-up event. Pursing his lips after reconfirming his hypothesis by taking one glance over at the carnival's webpage on Hide's phone, Kaneki was beginning to toy with the idea of actually going, but that was before he saw the price tag that came with the price of admission.
Nearly spitting his coffee out, Kaneki recoiled into his seat and felt himself getting anxious as he watched Hide purchase a single ticket for himself. Looking back at Kaneki with a cat-like smile plastered on his excited face, Hide chuckled before asking, "I'm assuming you're not going to go, right? You're more into the idea of burying your nose between the pages of a book, more so than a funnel cake, huh?"
Grimacing a bit, Kaneki felt a single bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face as he let out an uncomfortable laugh. "Haha, I probably would be more open to the idea of going there, but erm… S-Since when did going to a carnival cost the same as a two-day admission to Disneyland?!" Kaneki asked with a look of disbelief in his eyes, as he still found himself trying to comprehend how and why the carnival's tickets were so expensive.
Hide shrugged and let out another chuckle before replying back in a cool-voice, "Hey man, stuff is just getting expensive nowadays; the economy ain't what it used to be! Or, uh, at least that's what all the politicians are saying nowadays, hehe…!" Hide said half-jokingly, before taking a moment to sip on his frappe. "Besides Kaneki, the reason why the tickets are probably so expensive is to cover the expenses of all the entertainers and artists who are going to be performing there. Think of it like this: you're getting a lot of bang for your buck here."
"That's the thing, Hide: I don't have a lot of 'bucks' to 'bang' to begin with," Kaneki admitted with a defeated look on his face.
Nodding his head at what he already knew, Hide became more serious yet still managed to keep light hearted about Kaneki's financial situation as he spoke to give him some advice. "At the risk of sounding kind of like a jerk, I think it would honestly help if you actually had a job rather than surviving off whatever money you have left over from the government."
Scoffing a bit more so at himself rather than Hide's two-cents, Kaneki nodded begrudgingly before burying his hands into his face. "I've been trying that for a while, Hide, but… I never make it past the interview process. I understand that I'm not the most charismatic guy out there, but…" Kaneki trailed off midway through making his excuse; the same excuse that Hide had heard countless times before.
Before Hide could interject with more advice to help Kaneki, he paused and watched from the corner of his eye as the wide hip of a young woman bumped against the side of their table; causing her to lose her footing and stumble as she lost her grip of the leather-back book she had been carrying. While Hide's first instinct was to get up to help the young woman pick up her book off the floor, the young man paused and sat down at the booth after he and Kaneki recognized who she was.
Knowing her only as the woman who Kaneki had a crush on, Hide subtly jabbed his fingers into his best friend's shoulder to motion for him to get up so he could help her. Silently praying that Kaneki would be let off easy, Hide remained seated and watched as the nervous bookworm stumbled out of his booth before clumsily reaching down to pick up the purple-haired woman's surprisingly heavy book.
Unable to recognize the initial look of panic in her purple eyes that Hide had been able to notice, by the time Kaneki rose up to his feet, he was met with a grateful and relieved look from the slender face of his crush, who he had started developing feelings from afar ever since he first attended the same university as her. "Umm…! H-Here," Kaneki stuttered out with his face immediately becoming flushed, as he extended his trembling hands out to present the leather book back to its owner.
Smiling back as politely as she could, the young woman made sure to avoid touching Kaneki's clammy hands as she took the book back from his sweaty grip. "Thank you very much… How clumsy of me to interrupt your morning cup of coffee," she said jokingly, while trying to make things less awkward than they already were between them. Before she could sidestep to make her way out of the coffee shop, the young woman stopped in tracks and decided to take a second glance at the nervous young man who had helped her. "… Wait, I know you," she said with a playful look of suspicion in her eyes, which caught Kaneki off guard to the point where he visibly jumped back.
"Y-You do…?" Kaneki asked meekly, as he felt his throat tightening and himself beginning to sweat a little more underneath his black straight-cut bangs.
Nodding her head confidently in a way that made Kaneki's racing heart nearly skip a beat, the young woman's luscious lips curled even further into a wider smile. "That's right! You're the guy who I see at the school library all the time!" She proclaimed with a bright look on her face; completely oblivious to how embarrassed Kaneki felt while Hide did his best to subdue the laugh he was trying to hold back.
"Haha, ah… Y-Yeah, that sounds like me alright," Kaneki replied back with a nervous chuckle of his own, while trying his best to not let the fact that she probably saw him as a nerd weigh him down too much. "I've seen you there quite a bit myself… Uh, n-not in a creepy way! Just, uh, umm…! It's just that you're very, uh… R-Recognizable," Kaneki finally concluded, after debatably avoiding making himself look more awkward than he already was.
"I'll take that as a compliment, haha!" The purple-haired woman shot back with a gentle and sweet look on her face, as she raised a hand up to hide her lips as she let out an amused laugh. After seeing Kaneki's body relax after having been tensed the moment he got out of his seat to help her, the young woman felt more comfortable around him as she informally bowed at the waist. "My name is Rize; Rize Kamishiro," Rize introduced herself to Kaneki, who in turn stood there like an idiot until Hide subtly kicked him from under the table.
Gritting his teeth and quickly turning his head over his shoulder to glare back at the smirking blonde man behind him, Kaneki composed himself before turning forward to return the bow back to Rize. "I'm… I'm Ken Kaneki, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Kamishiro," he replied, before raising back up with his back straight. Raising his hand up past his shoulder to point a thumb back at his best friend, Kaneki followed up his own introduction by telling Rize, "And that's my best friend, Hideyoshi Nagachika, but he usually just goes by 'Hide', for short."
"Yo," Hide greeted with a casual wave, as he remained nestled into the cushioned red-velvet seat of their booth.
Seeing how laid back and informal Hide was, Rize merely waved her hand back at the blond man before saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Hide; I think I've seen you quite a bit with Kaneki too, but never with him in the library."
"Pffft, I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those 'nerd prisons'," Hide quipped back with an amused look on his face; something that Rize herself wasn't exactly appreciative of to say the least.
Upset by Hide's joke, Kaneki turned around once more to stare daggers into his best friend's brown eyes. "Hide! That's rude!" Kaneki scolded in a patronizing tone; something that Hide shrugged with by nonchalantly waving his hand at the bookworm.
"What?! I'm just saying it how it is, is all," Hide said playfully to his own defense, raising his hands up to his shoulders in a way to convey surrender before switching the subject to avoid making himself look worse than he already did. "Besides, given between the choices of being surrounded by books or underneath the glow of thousands of multicolored-lights, I think the choice is obvious…"
Catching on to what he was referring to, Rize's frown disappeared from her attractive face, and instead an expression of excitement washed over her. "Oh?! Are you two going to the dragon-festival tonight too?!" Rize asked with a bright look in her purple eyes, to which made Kaneki frown uncomfortably at. "I've been looking forward to it for quite some time! You know, it would be pretty cool if we could go together, you know?"
"…'Dragon-festival', is that what it's called…?" Kaneki muttered more so to Hide than Rize, as he shot back a look of nervousness and embarrassment to the blond man. Reluctantly turning back around to try to conjure up a believable lie, so as to not expose himself as being too poor to go, Kaneki opened his mouth and held onto his chin, but was interrupted by Hide.
"-Nah, I wish I could go, but I got work tonight, so that's out of the cards for me," Hide said cooly with a half-hearted smirk on his face; shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly to convey a sense of indifference to the woman Kaneki had feelings for. "But my man Kaneki here already bought his ticket for tonight! Isn't that right, brother?" Hide asked with a subtle look of pride on his face, as to silently hint to Kaneki to follow along with the fib.
Surprised at how easily Hide was willing to part with a ticket to an event that he seemed more excited for than himself, Kaneki blinked a few times before giving Hide a look of subtle gratitude. "… Thank you," Kaneki mouthed quietly to his best friend, before turning back around to nod at Rize. "… I was wanting to go with Hide, but like he said, he has work tonight, so… If it's okay, would you still like to go with me? Even if it's just me who would be going…?" Kaneki asked with a shy tone in his voice, while Hide silently swore at him for looking like a wimp while he tried asking Rize out for a date.
Showing small signs of relief that it would just be her and Kaneki going, Rize nodded excitingly at the prospect of having a night out with the shy young man. "Pardon me for being forward, but I'm really looking forward to tonight!" Rize admitted with a bashful look of her own, before reaching into her small purse to retrieve her cellphone. Giving Hide an apologetic look as she and Kaneki quietly exchanged phone numbers, Rize frowned a bit before saying, "I'm sorry you can't go, Hide! It would have been nice to have you tag along…!"
Feeling proud of himself for helping Kaneki score a date with Rize, a woman who he himself figured would have turned down someone as shy and nervous as his best friend, Hide waved off her concern while flashing a cocky smile. "Ah, no worries! That's how it is sometimes, ya know?"
"Yes, of course; I completely get what you mean," Rize replied back with a polite tone, before quickly finishing up exchanging phone numbers with Kaneki by sending him a text-message. "… Alrighty, looks like we're all set! How about you and I grab some lunch before we go to the festival tonight? Might as well try to save some money by eating before we're at the mercy of their over-inflated vendor food, right?" Rize suggested with an inviting tone to her voice, which instantly enticed Kaneki to smile like a goofball.
"Ah…! S-Sounds like a plan, Kamishiro," Kaneki said with butterflies flying around inside his stomach, and stood standing as he watched Rize give him a wink as she finally made her way out of the coffee shop. When it was just him and Hide again, Kaneki took a few moments to reveal his victory before quickly spinning around with his jaw opened. "Oh my God…!Hide, a-are you actually going to give me your ticket?!"
"I'm sending it to your email as we speak," Hide replied back with a friendly grin on his face, as he finished screenshotting the QR code of the ticket before finally sending it to his best friend's school email. "… And done!" Hide chimed with an impressed look on his eyes, all while sliding his phone back into his pocket. "Gotta admit Kaneki, I didn't think you actually had it in you to score a date with a babe that hot…! God damn son, she was thick in all the right places…!~" Hide admitted with a playfully-perverse tone in his face, as he closed his eyes while thinking back to just how voluptuous Rize was in the white sun-dress she had on.
"H-Hide, behave yourself…! There's people listening…!" Kaneki scolded with a paranoid look in his eyes, and covered his face to avoid being gawked at as he took his seat across from Hide; despite it being obvious to Hide that no one had been paying attention to them.
"Ah, lighten up Kaneki, I was just joking around! Kinda…" Hide said reassuringly with a mischievous grin on his face, as he shook his head to get the mental image of Rize's body out of his mind. "But like I was saying, congratulations on not only getting a date at the carnival with Kamishiro, but a lunch date on top of that! That's twice the success rate than I thought possible for ya, my boy!"
"… Jeez, thanks," Kaneki muttered back with a sarcastic tone in his voice, before letting out an elongated sigh as he crossed his arms over the table. "… Thank you, Hide… I-I wasn't expecting any of this at all, so… T-Thank you," Kaneki repeated himself with a grateful look in his eyes, as he rested his head in his own crossed-arms.
"Don't even mention it man, we're like brothers; I wasn't going to let you screw that up," Hide said casually, as he tipped the butt-end of his cup up with its lip pressed against his parted lips in order to take another sip of his coffee. However, after waiting a few seconds for more of his frappe to travel into his gullet, it was then that Hide opened his eyes to find that his cup had gone empty. "But uh… If you wanted to pay me back for my chivalry, then you could go ask that emo-chick for another frappe," Hide said half-seriously, as he nodded his head over toward the indigo-haired waitress who was standing behind the coffee shop's bar-counter.
After taking a glance at the grumpy-looking waitress, Kaneki found himself getting cold feet the moment he turned his head away to avoid making eye-contact with her. "Ah… S-So she's working this morning," Kaneki muttered under his breath with a bit of dread in his voice, while Hide stared back at him with an inquisitive stare.
"What, got beef with her or something? Or do you find her attractive as well?" Hide asked somewhat jokingly, as he idly spun the empty cup in his hand.
Hesitantly nodding, Kaneki shrugged his shoulders before setting his elbows down to prop his chin within his palms. "I mean… Yes, she's pretty cute, but… Everytime I order something from her, she gets annoyed with me I think. She isn't exactly the, uh… Most pleasant to be around," Kaneki expressed, while Hide thought it over before slowly nodding.
"… Yeah, I mean, you can't really blame her, ya know?" Hide said with a cautious smile on his face, as he watched Kaneki's face drop into a confused expression.
"… What's that supposed to mean?" Kaneki asked with a slight glare in his eyes, to which made Hide nervously chuckle and raise his arms up to rest his hands behind his head of blond-spiky hair.
"Well, uh… No offense to you Kaneki, but everytime you order something, you have a tendency to ask the same questions over-and-over again, and like… I think it takes you about ten minutes to actually make up your mind before finally giving whoever is serving us your order," Hide critiqued, while trying his best to be honest with Kaneki without making him feel bad about himself.
"I-… I do?" Kaneki asked with a shocked look on his face, as if what he had just heard from Hide's mouth was nothing short of a revelation.
"I mean… Y-Yeah, you do that a lot, now that I think about it…" Hide said with an uncomfortable frown on his face, before quickly conjuring up a way for him to lift Kaneki's spirits up. "But hey, might as well break that little habit of yours before your lunch date today! Just go up there, smile, hand her my cup and ask for another frappe! Simple and clean, just like that," Hide said reassuringly with a hopeful glimmer in his eyes, wanting nothing more than for his best friend to work on himself and to succeed in his endeavors.
"… Think so?" Kaneki asked with hesitation in his voice, as he reluctantly stood up from his seat while extending his hand out to take the emptied cup from Hide.
"Yeah dude, you got this! You just scored a hot date with a girl that people could only dream to get with; this should be nothing less than a cake walk for you, 'Mr. Casanova'," Hide said with a cocky smirk on his face, but not before winking as he pointed finger-guns at Kaneki.
"… Yeah, I think you might be right," Kaneki said with a hopeful tone in his voice, and once again felt butterflies in his stomach. Giving a nod to Hide, Kaneki made his way bravely past the tables of indifferent coffee shop patrons; going against his own shyness as he excused himself with each time he scooted behind someone's chair.
Trying to imagine himself with the same vigor as an Old Western Cowboy, Kaneki approached the beautifully crafted bar-counter and set the empty ceramic cup down on its oak surface as if he were about to ask for an ice-cold beer instead of an iced gourmet coffee. Hearing the sound of Kaneki accidentally slamming down the cup a little harder than he had probably anticipated, the waitress arched a brow at him as she looked up while still cleaning the glass cup in her hand.
Staring at Kaneki for a few moments, the waitress let out a soft groan before setting the cleaned cup down on the stack of the other cups she had been wiping clean. "Oh… It's you," the waitress said with a somewhat annoyed tone as she anticipated what the young man was about to ask. "… I'm assuming you want a refill, or want to order something else?"
"The first thing, actually…S-Sort of," Kaneki said with as much confidence as he could muster up, doing his best to remain cool headed as the waitress continued to stare at him with slight disinterest in her blue eyes. "I'll have another caramel frappuccino, please."
"Huh… You actually knew what you wanted beforehand… That's a first for you," the waitress said with a slight bit of playful-sarcasm in her voice, as she reached down to retrieve an order pad from her uniform's black apron. "So, is this going to be for you Kaneki, or your friend?" The waitress asked as casually as she could, without making it seem weird that she remembered his name from all the times she took his order.
Realizing that he didn't actually ever try to learn her name, Kaneki's eyes quickly darted down to her chest to read the name on the waitress' name tag. "Uh… It'll be for my friend, Kirishima," Kaneki replied back with a goofy smile on his face, to which Touka found to be secretly endearing.
"… Alrighty Kaneki, I got your friend's order down; I'll bring it out to your table when it's ready," Touka said with a monotone voice, as she turned around to gather the ingredients she was going to need to make Hide another frappe.
"Thank you Kirishima… Sorry about being difficult in the past by the way; I was just informed a few minutes about me, uh… Not being the best customer to take an order from," Kaneki said apologetically with a smile still on his face, to which Touka couldn't help but to smile back as she scooped up a cup of ice to put into the blender before her.
"… Don't worry about it," Touka replied back with a quiet voice, and hovered her index finger above the blender's button and paused as she listened to Kaneki's footsteps as he turned around to begin making his way back over to his booth. "… Wait, Kaneki," Touka suddenly called out in a nervous tone of her own.
Hearing his name, Kaneki did as Touka asked of him and turned his head over his shoulder to give an inquisitive glance. "Yes?" He replied back with a calm voice, and felt his heart racing as he watched Touka's face becoming flushed with color as it looked to him as though she were trying to muster up her own courage.
Opening her mouth to speak, nothing at first came out of Touka's mouth except when she finally let out a defeated sigh. "… Nevermind," Touka said with a forced smile on her face, before begrudgingly looking away from Kaneki's confused gaze to press her finger down on the blender's button.
Blinking twice, Kaneki titled his head with a curious glimmer in his eyes as he momentarily tried to catch a glimpse of Touka's eyes, but was unable to due to her looking down and the way that her long side-swept bangs were draped down over her forehead. "… Okay," Kaneki said quietly, which he figured was drowned out by the loud blender as he once again made his way back to where Hide was; oblivious to the fact that Touka was audibly cursing at herself for once again not being able to allow herself to get closer to the young man who she had developed feelings for.
By the time she had finished blending the ice and ingredients in with one another, Touka could hear the gentle sound of familiar footsteps approaching her from behind the counter. Letting out a breath to recompose herself, Touka braced herself for the impending questions from her manager as she reached over to grab a clean cup.
Placing a hand on the young woman's shoulder, Eto Yoshimura did her best to show Touka that she was there to comfort her, and not to scold her for swearing out loud. "I couldn't help but to overhear some of the things you said, Ms. Kirishima… Did that boy over there give you trouble?" Eto asked with a concerned tone behind her soothing voice, as she felt Touka letting out another elongated sigh.
"… Not exactly; it's what he didn't do, I suppose," Touka muttered back with a frown on her face, due to her feeling vulnerable from just Eto's strong presence alone.
"Oh? And what didn't he do that's got you all riled up?" Eto asked with interest in her voice, as she kept her green eyes glued to Kaneki, as she watched him take his seat next to Hide. "I imagine it has something to do with that carnival going on tonight…"
"… It does," Touka replied back with a slight bit of grimace in her voice, as she did her best to try and not allow her own pent up emotions to get the best of her while she was still at work. "I… I was hoping that maybe he'd ask me to go, or maybe I could ask him, but… I saw him talking to that one purple-haired girl, and they looked like they… Like they were, umm…" Touka trailed off, unable to finish her sentence as disappointment began to overtake her, making it impossible for her to finish her sentence.
Not needing to hear the rest of what Touka couldn't say though, Eto completely understood what her employee was trying to get at. "I believe her name is Rize Kamishiro. The girl who's… Rather shapely for her age, correct?" Eto asked with a cautious tone in her voice, afraid of accidentally implying that Rize's body was something that Touka should be jealous of.
"… That's one way of putting it, yes," Touka spoke in a quiet voice, as she carefully poured the right amount of whip-cream on top of Hide's frappe before putting on the finishing touches with her can of cinnamon sugar. "… Oh well, it's nothing to get worked up over, I guess."
"… Ah, there's nothing wrong with having a crush," Eto replied back with a thoughtful look on her face, as she raised her hand from Touka's hand to begin rubbing her chin inquisitively. "Well, there'll always be plenty of fish in the sea… Hey, why don't you go with your family tonight? There's no reason why someone like you shouldn't be able to have fun at such a festive event!"
"Pfft! Yeah, that'd be nice, wouldn't it?" Touka chuckled out sarcastically as she shook her head at the idea. "Fat chance though… Mom won't be back until around midnight tonight, and dad's going to be too busy with house chores," Touka explained, before shrugging as she turned her head over her shoulder with the cup of frappe held tightly in her slender hands. "Besides, by the time I get off work and get my homework done, there won't be time for me to go…"
Nodding her head with her eyes rolled up, Eto tilted her head back-and-forth from shoulder-to-shoulder to convey a sense of an aggregated agreement. "True, true… Unless I were to tell you that I'm sending you home early with a full day's worth of pay, alongside some extra spending money so that you and Ayato can use tonight…~!" Eto said with an excited look in her green eyes.
Shocked to the point of almost dropping her freshly prepared beverage onto the wooden floorboards below, Touka let out a gasp and watched with bewilderment as Eto took her wallet out of her apron to pull out a fat wad of cash. "M-Ms. Yoshimura, AHH-?!" Touka stuttered out with widened eyes, before letting out a surprised yelp the moment she felt Eto slide the money down her apron pocket.
"Consider this a long-deserved gift from me to you, Ms. Kirishima; an employee and friend who's as amazing as you deserves a well deserved break," Eto said with a slightly smug smirk on her face, as she whipped out her cell phone before using her amazing dexterity to purchase two tickets for the Dragon Festival. "… And there, I'll message you the tickets, so show them to the carnival attendants on your phone."
"I… I don't know what to say," Touka said in a quiet voice, as she stood stiff as a board while she felt her cell phone buzz in her pocket.
"Most people in your situation would say 'thank you'," Eto quipped back with a playful look on her face, as she put her phone back into her apron before gently taking the cup from Touka's stiff hands.
"… A-Ah, yes…! Where are my manners…?!" Touka scolded herself with an embarrassed look on her face, before taking a step back to bow down at the waist. "Thank you very much for your generosity, Bos- I mean, Ms. Yoshimura! I'm very, very grateful…"
Balancing the cup in her hands, Eto returned the bow before saying, "I should be the one thanking you, Ms. Kirishima… My father's coffee shop wouldn't be the same without someone as hardworking and honest as you," Eto replied back with a genuine look of gratitude in her eyes that took Touka back the moment the younger woman gazed up while still bowing.
The young women continued to stare into one another's eyes, their gaze only broken the moment Touka stepped forward to wrap her arms around Eto's shoulders. "Eh?! C-Careful!" Eto yelped out with widened eyes, as she looked past Touka's shoulder to keep all eye contact on the cup in her hand that she had almost dropped.
After she had regained her balance, Eto was able to carefully set the cup down on the bar-counter in order to free her hands to return the hug. Patting Touka on the shoulder, Eto made sure that the young seventeen year-old girl had everything she needed before wishing her safe travels; watching proudly as Touka sprinted out of the front door with her apron pocket carefully kept closed, as she made her way to her parent's house.
Alrighty, that's the end of chapter one! The next chapter will either jump to Kaneki's date with Rize, or introduce Haise… Probably not the latter to be honest. Also, I'm considering writing Ichika as Kaneki's younger sister in this fanfiction, I'm not sure yet.
Anyways, thank you for reading this far, and I hope to post the next chapter soon!