Chapter 23

Untitled. Part 3

The next thing Kaneki knew was the package he threw away like shit was ripped open and empty in his hands. His fingers were stained with red liquid, enveloping them with the evidence that the boy had touched it. He didn't want to. If touching it was even more than enough to make him despise himself, then he got another thing coming when he could feel the after-taste on his tongue.

"I… What have I done…?" Kaneki stared horridly at his hands. His eyes widened in fear, afraid of what he had became. There was no point in deceiving himself at this point. He had done it. He ate that human flesh. He ate something he could never even think of possibly eating it.

Once again, he cried. He brought his palms up to cover his eyes. He cried for being so weak. He cried for giving in for temptation. He cried for becoming a ghoul. He cried for being so miserable.

He cried for being alive.

The next day finally came. Day two of being confiscated without nothing but a TV which he hadn't turned on yet.. His sleep was so-so. Even if he was dreaming, Kaneki couldn't remember any of it. The door was opened as if to wake him up. He didn't even bother to look at the person who came to see him. The sound of sharp shoe heels tapping was the sign that the nurse from before came again.

"Good morning, Kaneki-kun. How are you?" Shizuku asked casually.

"…Fine." He grudgingly answered.

"It seems like you've eaten your meal yesterday."

"…I couldn't help it."

"Of course you couldn't. Do you understand now what I meant by you turning a monster for real?"

"…Yes."

"It could have been worse. Kaneki-kun, look at me."

At her call, reluctantly, Kaneki shifted his body facing the nurse. His eyes were swollen. Shizuku then knew he had been crying all night.

"…I'll give you an example." Shizuku continued despite that, "If you are really hungry and you are alone with a human in the same room, like us now, you wouldn't be able to think straight. In your eyes, I wouldn't be a nurse. I'm your prey, and you would eat me like an animal. Even if it's your only best friend in the world. Then after everything that you had done, you would regret it forever."

Kaneki downcast his eyes. Yes. The nurse was right. Hunger for a ghoul was hellish. It would turn them blind from everything. It would cloud their mind with lust for juicy flesh. He felt it too. He felt himself turning into something that wasn't him. The poor boy didn't want to feel that ever again.

"That's why, for today's meal, eat it right away."

"…I understand."

"…Kaneki-kun." Shizuku sat on the plastic stool beside his bed. "Shiki-kun and Nami also didn't want to eat it. But they did it in the end because they also felt the same way as you."

"…"

"Yes. You three are all on the same boat. Hang on for another 3 days, then you guys will meet again."

"…I understand." He replied the same as before.

Suddenly, the door opened again. It was Kanou who came for the daily check up.

"Good morning." Kanou gave the usual greeting. And as usual too, the subject in the room didn't reply. "How was the meal?" He asked. Obviously he knew that question would agitate Kaneki. He understood that the boy hated what he had done.

"I have nothing to say."

"Oh come on, don't be like that. I want you to describe it to me as interesting as when you described the sandwich."

Kaneki really hated this man. He really wished Kanou would just disappear. Even though he was reluctant to admit it, he preferred the nurse's presence more rather than the aged man.

"…It was okay."

Kanou chuckled. He knew the kid didn't mean it. It was more delicious than what he admitted. But he didn't want to waste time on pestering him, so he proceeded to do his job.

"Do you feel nauseate since the past hours?"

"No."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes."

"Do you feel pain here?" The doctor pushed his fingers slightly on the liver area.

"No."

"Alright. Time for your injection. Shizuku."

Under the doctor's call, Shizuku silently approached the boy to inject the suppressor once again. Kaneki winched again, he really didn't like that pain. He had always been weak. Reading Takatsuki Sen's books, studying, and apologizing were his only forte.

"…Kanou… san."

"Doctor please." The proud doctor corrected. "What is it?"

Kaneki gulped down, swallowing down his doubts. "After this ends, do I have to fight?"

"Of course. That is the reason this experiment exists anyway."

"Who do I have to fight?"

"The ghouls in Tokyo."

"…I can't fight. I'm weak." Kaneki shamelessly admitted. "You've picked the wrong person to become your subject." He sharply added.

Kanou only chuckled again. He shook his head. So far, out of the three subjects in this basement, Kaneki was the most pessimistic one. The other two didn't or at least admitted they were weak. Especially Shiki, whom Kanou found to be the most ferocious one.

"We'll see. If you made it until the fifth day, then you're not weak." With that, both doctor and nurse walked out from the room.

-5 days later

"Kaneki-kun, wake up."

A voice he recognized all too well since he stayed inside this room from day one woke him up from his slumber. It was 7 in the morning, not the usual time for him to be awake. Kaneki fluttered his eyes open. The first thing he saw was his personal nurse smiling at him.

"Congratulation. You've made it."

"I still don't understand what you mean. This fifth day thing…"

"Doctor Kanou will explain. You must have been bored to dead here. Time to come out." The nurse beckoned with turning her back.

Kaneki descended from his bed. He saw a pair of sandals which he hadn't seen before. The nurse must have provided them for him. His body felt kind of sluggish, but sometimes he wandered around the room so his body wasn't so stiffed. He hadn't taken a bath for five days, and the only thing that kept his body clean was a wet towel he wetted himself in the small toilet.

The door was opened with a short hiss. Kaneki felt nervous. He really did. He didn't know what was beyond that door. He had only been inside of a white room, two times, and that almost made him insane. He was also worried about the other two kids with him. Shiki and Nami, would he meet them again later?

"Follow me, please."

Kaneki did as what she asked. Obediently he followed her lead. He was walking in a pretty vast corridor, where there were only doors with numbers on his left and right. He didn't know whether or not there were other people in there. But what he knew was he and both Shiki and Nami were the only subjects inside of this basement. If there were other subjects that had been kept inside here before them that could be possible.

"Are there other people inside those rooms?"

The nurse didn't answer.

Kaneki was sure she heard him nice and clear. They were the only ones in this corridor. It seemed like the nurse didn't want to answer him. So he decided to shut his mouth and study his surroundings.

They met another iron door at the end of the corridor. This time, it didn't need a card. The censor recognized a human presence and it opened with a hiss to let them through. In there, a vast room where there were lots of doctors and nurses were busy with whatever equipment in there. It was like a room where they work and meet to discuss. Also, there were also wide see-through glasses which shown that they were rooms that everyone could see the inside of it.

Kaneki was astonished. This illegal experiment where no one outside of this place know about, well, except his family and JB, was undergoing smoothly. A lot of people were here. These scientists were doing the illegal experiment, using him and the other two as subjects. The raven haired wondered, did they really do it for humanity's sake or for their own greed? How could the CCG possibly do it without consent from the public? Was it right for him to be there? Was it right for him to cooperate? Even if he wanted to retaliate, it'd be futile.

They didn't stop there. Shizuku was leading him into a room, more private one. Kaneki didn't feel comfortable at all. He felt all eyes were on him, like they were looking at him with doubt. The walk from his room seemed so far away in his head.

Kaneki could tell that Shizuku was bringing him into that room where everyone could see the inside. From outside, the boy saw two of his-not quite, but he wanted to call them friends, were inside of the room with some other people.

By the time that they both stood in front of the door, it opened automatically again. Kaneki walked inside and he finally got to meet Shiki and Nami wearing the same attire as his.

"Kaneki!" Nami shouted cheerfully.

"Nami… Shiki…" Kaneki muttered. He never thought he could possibly be happy there, but the situation showed the other way around. He wasn't alone anymore, and seeing their faces was something that he really appreciated and looking forward to.

"You're here." Shiki spoke. He seemed to be normal about it, but his eyes were glinting with gladness. "That means all of us somehow made it until today. Not like I know what the hell is that supposed to mean."

"You guys don't know too?" Kaneki asked.

"I've been asking Akane to tell me what is it about but she wouldn't tell me a thing!" Nami fumed childishly. She shot a nasty glare towards her personal red haired nurse, whom only grinned.

Kaneki gulped down. He was hesitating but, he needed to know. "Did you guys… also eat?"

Shiki threw his eyes away from the asking boy. He understood too well, and he didn't like it. "Of course we did. If we didn't we wouldn't be here."

"…I know. Still…"

"We didn't have any choice." Shiki sighed. "Where is Kanou, now? Kaneki's here already."

"Congratulations everyone!"

Speak of the devil. The expected man came inside as soon as the hiss sound was heard. His lab coat fluttered behind him as he made each of his step a long one. He seemed really delighted.

"Today you all will know what is this all about 5 days thing." He said straight to the point. "The reason why we haven't told you all about this is because we don't want you all to be nervous everyday, it'd affect the process."

"Lay it on us." Shiki demanded impatiently.

"I'll be blunt, then." Kanou's eyes stared sharply to each of the children's eyes. "After the surgery, there is a possibility which there might be a rejection from the host. Simply put, your body might not be able to accept the alien organ, and thus would follow into a complication."

"And this complication... is?" Kaneki asked hesitantly, afraid if what he thought was true.

"You all would turn into failed ghouls, without the ability to think and lost of humanity. It's almost the same as being dead. Even worse than real ghouls, right? Hahaha."

That immediately made the three children widened their eyes. They had been hidden from that fact for 5 days? What made it worse was the possibility of them to be dead inside that base. They were not safe.

"We… So we actually could've been dead!?" Kaneki asked in horror.

"Yes. And you've survived that. Well… the first phase that is."

"What do you mean now!?" Nami fumed.

"This can't be good." Shiki tutted.

Kanou continued. "36 days from now on, you all are still vulnerable with the complication. Once you've gone through that phase, it is safe to say that you've successfully made it." He paused. "Especially that your organ is The Binge Eater's, it'd more complicated but we've done our best."

Shiki who had been trying to stay calm with ragged breath going through his nostrils finally spat out. This mad doctor obviously playing around with their lives.

"FUCK YOU! If it actually takes us 41 days to be totally safe the surgery, then what is the point of these 5 days!? What was the point in isolating us!?"

Kanou only smirked. This had always been amusing for him. Past subjects always cursed at him, always asking the same questions, it was almost boring. He felt like he was trapped in a loop and the only way to get out is well, succeed at turning one of them to be the idealized one eyed ghoul.

"These past 5 days were the most vulnerable time for the complication. If the three of you didn't make it until today, then your cells are too weak. We're isolating you all so if you turned into failures, we would be able to control you." Kanou shrugged.

"…You would kill us." Kaneki deducted under his breath.

"Haha, no, we wouldn't." Kanou darkly chuckled. Kaneki didn't like that, he even hated that man's voice. "Well now, we've been going side track because of Shiki-kun." Kanou changed the subject. He didn't explain what he meant and that made the three children wondered why. "I will show you all your donor. The Binge Eater. Have you heard of that ghoul?"

"…No." The three of them replied in unison.

"I expected that. Follow me. Louis." He beckoned to the man who had been standing together with them in that room the whole time. He was a stranger for the children.

"Who is he?" Nami asked as she furrowed her pink eyebrows. "He's been here since I came in."

"Souichiro Louis. A first rank investigator. Half American. He's here as someone who would keep you children behaving accordingly. Don't mess with him." Kanou winked. "Let's go. I don't want to waste too much time here."

Once they walked out from that room, all judging eyes were set up on them again. They stared at them amusedly, thinking whether or not this time would they fail again? Would the children be the last of their 16 years of effort?

As the three walked behind Kanou's back with Souichiro Louis behind them, they could see that this basement was pretty well equipped and taken care of. It was clean, all white. It felt so eerie. The door that they headed next had a different security system than the others now. It needed Kanou's finger print and scanned it. Kaneki wondered what was different for the next area they were heading to. His question was answered with a long corridor which had 6 rooms see-through glass. There was no privacy in there and they were all empty. This place might have been bigger than what he expected.

"Just so you know, the glass is kagune-proof." Kanou suddenly informed. "These rooms will be your rooms from now on. Each room is also separated with glass. You kids can communicate with each other like that."

"What if I want to take a pee?" Nami asked nonchalantly and seemed to be her first world problem.

"You see that cubicle inside? That is where you excrete your urine and take a shower."

"What is 'excrete'?" The only girl asked again.

"U-um… It's the same like taking a pee, Nami." Kaneki answered on the doctor's stead. To be honest, he didn't expect the girl to not know.

"Wow! You're really smart, Kaneki-kun."

"Uh… Ahaha… Thanks."

The small talk ended in time when the four of them finally arrived at the end of the corridor. Before they went in, Kanou forewarned,

"It's kind of dark inside. Please don't be surprised too."

Kaneki didn't understand what the doctor meant. The only way to know was of course to get inside and see for himself.

Kanou picked out a red colored card from his lab coat. He swiped the card into the keycard lock, then the door opened with a hiss. The moment the door slid, Kaneki could feel a different aura coming from that dark room. The air also felt cold on his skin. He wasn't really sure, but somehow he could hear a voice, sounded like wailing.

"What's… in there…?" Shiki asked. He was curious, but he couldn't deny of being anxious.

"It's okay. Follow me." The Doctor beckoned as he walked inside.

When they were finally inside, Kaneki could tell that there was a glass that separated something between them. The three children stepped closer toward that glass, curious to know what's in there. Kaneki squinted his eyes to see clearly, and he could tell there was someone inside.

"Stay away from the glass." Before they could react to that warning, Kanou turned on the light switch that was built in beside the doorway.

"AAAAAAAHH!"

"!?"

Both Kaneki and Nami stumbled backward and they fell on their butt, completely flabbergasted by a sudden woman face with black sclera eyes and strays of long hair covering her face running to the glass and pushed her pale face onto the glass, then screamed like an animal. Shiki of course, was surprised too and stepped back quickly.

"MEAT! MEAAAT! I'M SO HUNGRY! PLEAAASE! MEAAAAAT! I HAVE TO EAT! DOCTOR! DOCTOR! IT HURTS! THIS HURTS! AAAAAAAHH!" The insane ghoul screamed hysterically. She was crying and banging on the glass.

"W-what is wrong with her!? Why is she like that!?" Nami asked as her eyes looked in horror. Was a ghoul supposed to be that scary? She had never seen one before this.

"Extreme starvation. We give her meat once a day daily, but that portion is not up to her standard. She's The Binge Eater after all." Kanou replied as he looked at the ghoul like an insect.

Kaneki slowly stood up after he stumbled down. He tilted his head. His eyes were staring at the screaming female ghoul, his black eyebrows furrowed in confusion, worried, and fear. She was scary, she was insane. Kaneki couldn't comprehend the words that the ghoul screamed to them. She also looked kind of young, almost the same as them She was banging on the glass, like desperately wanted to get out. And the boy could tell that if she were to get out now she would surely eat them.

"O-Our liver is actually from…?" Kaneki asked with trembling lips.

"Yes. We got her a year ago. Her age is close to yours. A year older even."

"Wait. I don't understand. How is that supposed to be possible? There's only one ghoul here but all of us have the same liver as hers?"

Kanou chuckled darkly. "The Binge Eater has an exceptional regeneration ability. Every liver we've taken from her would recover back only within 15 minutes." The old man grinned. "We could take 10 livers a day from her. This probably trigger her animalistic behavior right now."

"H-How could you!? Are you telling us that she had to get her liver harvested everyday since last year!? Isn't that too much!?" Nami yelled, obviously didn't agree with how this worked. "She's around our age too! Even though she's a ghoul but still—"

"She is our enemy." The docter cut her sentence with a menacing tone. That made the three children put their attention towards the doctor, seeing that the aged man himself was not as good as the outside. "This experiment is conducted to make you kill the likes of her. We have no time for compassion. Do you understand me, Nami?" He asked that one particular girl.

Nami trembled. Sometimes she forgot that she was actually abducted, forced to be a subject, and that man was the conductor behind this all. She forgot that Tokyo was not only filled with humans, but there was this creature behind her called as ghouls. And that female ghoul right now was wailing, desperately asking for meat.

"Why don't you just kill her?" Shiki bellowed. "Look, I don't think she's even actually alive in there."

"We will still have to use her if by any chance the three you fail." Kanou sighed. "If you three made it until the 36th day, then we will dispose her."

Silent took over them now. Kaneki who had been listening without joining the debate still kept his eyes onto the ghoul inside of that glass. She was scary, definitely not in her right mind. Her long mid-length violet hair was messy. Her face was pale and her sclera was all black. But he couldn't see any tears. Her eyes were dry like maybe she couldn't cry anymore.

"Well!" Kanou clapped his hands once to collect their attentions back to him. "Time to move to the next agenda. Let's get out of here. Binge Eater needs privacy, hahaha."

Deciding to just abide whatever the doctor said, Kaneki and the others followed the doctor again. With one last look at the starving ghoul, Kaneki turned his head away from it. The investigator stood behind him for being the last one in line. The light was turned off, and they were off to their next destination.

The place where they had to go made them had to enter one particular door in that corridor. It seemed like that was also one of the reasons why they changed their quarters there. That door doesn't have any lock too. When the door was opened, there were stairs that lead them to the next lower level of the basement.

"From now on, you three will have to go down here every day when we call you. This is where the experiment is truly conducted." Kanou briefly explained. The path down was bright. Neon lamps were planted on the sides to make it easier to step down. "This corridor and the place down there will be the only places for you to move freely. When we call, please don't make us wait more than 5 minutes."

"What if we do?" Shiki daringly asked as he scoffed. He was not the person that likes to be ordered around and stupidly, he wanted to be in charge of the situation.

"Well… We actually planted microchips inside of your back, during the surgery." Kanou shrugged.

"What!?"

"If you disobey my orders, then I will push this button on my hand," Kanou took out some kind of a switch from inside of his pocket. "…And electrocute you. Want to taste how it feels like?"

"Wh—AAARGH!" Before Shiki could react, he suddenly felt a sharp jolt from within of his body. He quickly collapsed on the floor but wasn't unconscious.

"SHIKI!" Both Kaneki and Nami shouted. They were freaked out. That electrocution made them afraid of everything right now. Kanou was the boss there. Him and the other people with lab coats out there.

"U-urgh…! Shit…!" Shiki's ragged breath was the sign that he was still conscious and feeling the pain. It wasn't easy to stand up right away. His nerves were still wrecked by the jolt.

"That is for teaching you a lesson to be polite and for saying the 'F' word towards me." Kanou nonchalantly smiled. "Louis, make him stand. Kaneki and Nami, follow me." Not wanting waste anymore time standing there, Kanou proceeded to the stairs.

Kaneki gulped. He was afraid of knowing what's down there. He didn't want to follow the doctor's orders at all, but knowing what he was capable of if he dared to disobey, Kaneki couldn't be brave enough. Shiki was still there trying to stand but the investigator forced him already by yanking his arm up.

"Let's go, Kaneki…" Nami spoke. She didn't want to walk alone and she knew better than to idle there watching Shiki.

"Y-yeah…"

With that, the two walked down the stairs ahead. They didn't know what was waiting for them there, but they couldn't even dare to hope that they were going to be okay.

A/n: How could writing be so difficult ;_; Even writing in my own language is hard too ;_;