We never get to have fun... Do we, Mr. Kaneki?...

His lower back was throbbing, it was an intense pounding that made it feel like his back was going to explode. He knew why, it was because of that Nishiki guy who threatened to kill Hide. Kaneki didn't know what had forced it out at the time, it just happened, the only reason he could think of for that was that he wanted to protect Hide, but it couldn't have been that... to be honest it seemed like some cliche' manga scene in which the hero gets some kind of power up...

Kaneki groaned as the throbbing intensified on to the center of his lower back, making it feel like an animal was to burst out of there. Dammit... Does it alway's hurt for ghuls this much? Kaneki, however was to tired to react physically, hell he could barely open a single eye, so he laid there, hoping the pain would pass... or he'd get used to it and become numb to it.

Kaneki opened his eye's expecting to see his guest- no his room, with the light just breaking through, he also was expecting(hoping) to be told that Hide was fine, and that he'd been sent home, and that he didn't know of Kaneki's new biology. He opened only his right eye, as the other was refusing to open because of a fear of being touched by the pillow that lifted his head. Before him he saw a figure turned away from him, a blanket over his still clothed body sand his dirty blond hair ruffled by the pillow(most likely from tossing and turning). Kaneki knew who it was, who else could it be?

Hide...

The name rang in the hybrids ears like a ringing you get from having to much silence or to much noise. A fear enveloped him, was Hide dead, dying, in a coma, or just sleeping? It may have been just a kick, but that kick made the dirty blond fly like a bullet. Kaneki's face betrayed his emotions, which were conflicted... Part of Kaneki was feeling relieved in seeing Hide before him, but another part feared the worst had happened. Did Hide die from his wounds, his loss of blood, or... Did Kaneki kill him?

A shattered memory surfaced inside Kaneki's head, replaying itself for him. He saw Nishiki's limp body hanging from the walkway above them, swaying slightly from the neck down. He remembered an unbearable hunger, one that momentarily robbed him of all reasoning. Sugar cubes forgotten... he turned to Hide. The memory of saliva sliding down his chin made him feel a similar sensation now, as if to tease him about his weakness. Kaneki wanted to stop there, but his mind made him remember...

He was about to sink his teeth into Hide, to tear him limb from limb in a bloody frenzy, to devour him and savor his taste, and he would've done so... had a certain waitress not interfered. That was were the memory stopped, filling Kaneki with relief, obviously he'd been stopped in his attempt to satiate his hunger with hid best friends unconscious form, but that still didn't answer his main concern at this point... What was Hide's condition?

A creak was heard and a yellow light crawled against the room's wall, illuminating the shelves, most of which housed antique cups, mostly for display, behind glass. Kaneki watched the light with the single eye open as it crept closer and closer towards him, sending a signal of paranoia into his brain, it was almost as if it was going to suddenly lurch after him, like a cobra ready to strike it's prey.

Kaneki remained quiet, as to not alert the intruder to his presence, he didn't have a reason to be scared, he knew(unless Anteiku was a secret criminal Ghoul organization) that he was in the presence of allies. Even if it wasn't someone he'd recognized it he knew where he was; he was in the coffee shop, the smell was proof enough of that. He figured his sudden sense of paranoia was nothing more than primal instinct and nothing else.

Kaneki let out a soft moan, embodying his sleepiness... and worry. "Hello?" He waited a moment, waiting for his greeting to be acknowledged... there was no answer, Instead he heard the light tapping of footsteps grow increasingly closer as the intruder(ally rather) came closer to him. Any normal person would have responded by now..., Kaneki thought, reawakening his paranoia. The footsteps gradually changed into the creaking of the mattress he had been lain on and the momentary craters caused by limbs crawling upon it. Kaneki began to sweat, expecting a swift bite to his neck at any moment, What was it Eto said, Half-ghouls taste good because they have the blood of humans?

Though, the bight never came... Instead what greeted him was the familiar feeling of soft comforting digits dancing through his black hair, sending shivers through his body and relaxing him completely(as much as he could be with his best friend lying before him, possibly dead). He felt the warmth of a body move closer to his ear and whisper, with a teasing tone, "Finally up, are we?"

The sound of Eto's voice was sweet music to his ears. It made him feel safe, indestructible, almost as if the world could no longer hurt him, but, he had different things to focus on right now. In a now deeper, more heavy voice he spoke, not even bothering to turn his head, "I-is Hide..." he struggled to find a word that would make the situation less grim, "OK?"

Eto smiled as she looked down at Kaneki, even after being insulted and told to die by this Hide fellow, he still cared about the guy. Yes, Eto had read the more recent messages that night when she took a peek a Kaneki's phone to investigate the vibration, and yes, her reason to get him to Kamii was to have them mend their little spat(Or Hide's little spat), but she never imagined it would happen like this... "Yes... He's fine," Eto smiled when she heard his sigh of relief, and felt him relax under her, "and you seem to be fine as well...", Eto rolled of the bed and onto her feet, landing lightly as she gripped the covers, giving them a slight tug.

"C'mon, it's time for a certain Ken Kaneki to get out of bed, you're just being lazy." She teased, happily, still keeping her voice low.

Kaneki shyly dug his head back into the pillow, a childish tactic to subconsciously shut out the world and retreat into a state of bliss. Kaneki had already been feeling bliss though, when Eto told him that Hide was fine, his heart soared and he felt invincible once more. Another tug of the covers pulled him back into reality, causing him grumble as he turned his head.

"You can sleep on the ride back, now get up, I've been here all night waiting for you to wake up, so don't make me wait any longer... or I'll carry you..." she threatened, hoping to worry that male ego. Though her words had been ignored past the part of 'all night', Eto has been here all night... waiting for me? Kaneki looked over his shoulder(a surprisingly hard thing to do in his prone state), and looked at her, a sort of... adoration... in his gray eye. He smiled at the thought, just by how kind it was. He never thought Eto to be mean, by any... well... means, but he thought she was a tad bit to playful(as much as he enjoyed it).

His adoration was interrupted, however, when she scooped him in her thin arms, like a newlywed husband would lift his wife. Legs hanging, arms wrapped around her neck and holding on, was his position. "I told you..." she teased him, grinning. Had he really spent that much time admiring her?... Or was she just impatient..?

Eto smiled as Kaneki began to thrash lightly in her arms, telling her it was now appropriate to put him down. Eto had no intention of doing do, however. The Author was a woman of her word, and she was going to embargoes him for being so lazy. She began walking out of the room, silently as not to disturb the blond who was still sleeping in the other bed, Kaneki in her arms, still lightly thrashing against her. He could do so all he wants but she was still going to carry him out.

Exiting the room, remaining silent still, Eto tiptoed out into an open hallway, where she found her father waiting on her, hands behind his back and back straight in a formal way, his face in a look of confusion, and slight comedic disappointment. Eto froze, she could remember when she was a child, she would always bring home something when she left to play... Never body parts but rather Animals, it was a primitive subconscious thing... Eto had always been fascinated by cats, dogs, and many other house hold pets. She wondered how an animal with such low intelligence could feel love like a human or a ghoul or... a half-ghoul...

Eto smiled sheepishly(something she also did when she was young) and looked up at her father with bright eye's, trying to ease his confusion, her father may have been strange enough to fall in love with a human, his only source of nutrients, but Eto was always a strange girl in his eye's.

The older ghoul let out a sigh, smiling though, and lowered his hand slightly. "Put him down Eto..." He said with a bit of parental exhaustion in his deep voice. Eto frowned slight, a small part of her didn't want to let Kaneki go, she didn't quite know why, which was weird because she was normally familiar with feeling she got... but this one was different, Whatever it was... she liked it.

Now sighing herself, she lowered Kaneki's feet to the ground, allowing him to stand, but he failed in doing so, forcing Eto to absent-mindedly catch him by his shirt collar and prevent him from crashing, still looking at her father. "Right, sorry..." She said, hiding the slight disappointment in her voice. Her father merely nodded, still smiling at her, not even looking at the boy who had straightened himself up, allowing Eto to let go of his shirt.

"Tell me, Eto, have you talked to him about false-eating?" Yoshimura asked, positioning his hand with the other at his lower back, pressing it against his vest.

Eto felt a cold sweat form on her forehead, and a sudden rush of embarrassment. Oh, damn! she inwardly scolded herself for forgetting one of the most crucial parts of life as a ghoul. Placing her right hand on the back of her green fluff of hair she gave yet another sheepish grin, "Ahhhh, we were getting around to it..." She said, her voice growing increasingly lower under her father's knowing gaze.

Moments of silence past, it was Yoshimura's way of telling Eto, that she'd been caught, caught neglecting her responsibility to help Kaneki learn how to survive in the world of ghouls. The silence was almost unbearable, as the length determined how long the lecture would be, had her father been in polite company. To be honest, though, this was far more effective than an actual, verbal, lecture, as it forced her to imagine what her father would be saying, making her realize herself, knew she'd done wrong. But regardless of how much it made her feel small, she was thankful, because without these little lectures, she'd probably still be that rebellious brat she used to be.

"Then I suggest you get back to that..." He said, with a happy sigh, moving his eye's to Kaneki, who was starring at the father-daughter interaction with curiosity. "Ken," he said gaining the half breed's attention, "I look for ward to working with you..." He smiled happily and walked past the two, continuing about his business.

Kaneki felt like he'd witnessed a historic moment, he had no idea why, but the way these two interacted was... interesting to watch, partly because during his time eith the lime haired girl he'd never seen her so submissive, to anyone, even if it was just slightly, like it was with the manager. Not Uta, not Hide(Though he wasn't particularly hard to feel comfortable around), and not the waitress, though it seemed said waitress looked up to Eto, in a sort of sister-like relationship.

He felt a tug on his writst and found himself being pulled by Eto, her impatient side showing once more. "C'mon Kaneki, let's go." she said, slightly amused with his little space out.

Eto noticed that the younger of the two had a tendency to space out at times, giving him an adorable toddler look, in fact sometimes she'd just let him do it, just to see that face, with his lips slightly parted and his eye's big, it warmed her with happiness, but at the same time made her sad. How could the world be so cruel to someone so innocent? The loss of his mother, his father, and nearly his best friend. It made her feel a strange need to protect him from the world, but he was nearly an adult, at the age of 18(Authors Note: In Japan the legal age of adult hood is 20 years), and he needed to be exposed to what the rest of his life would be... as a half-ghoul.

Kaneki let out a small squeal of surprise as Eto pulled him down the hallway, her un-submissive personality returning to full. He looked over to the right side of the hallway, into an open room, which housed a small girl, whom he recognized as the waitress. She had bandages wrapped around her neck and cheek, a bit of red bleeding through each of them. Kaneki had to wonder: Did he do that? If she noticed him, she didn't show it, as she was to preoccupied with a winged insect, that landed gently on the tip of her index finger.

Touka looked ahead to her open doorway, catching a glimpse of Eto and that new hu-Ghoul, she corrected herself, passing by quite quickly. The sight of the black haired boy brought back memory's of their fight. Touka traced her neck, in particular the area where he tore a small chunk of flesh out of it, filching at the sting of disapproval it gave her, causing her to hiss. She didn't blame him for the injuries though, it was her fault for being cocky... cocky like him. Still, she didn't expect him to be so strong, it was like fighting an angry wolf. If, of course, there was a wolf that could brake a ghouls skin..., she added, once again touching the bandaged wound, this time ignoring the pain.

Yoshimura knocked on the open door, alerting the purple haired waitress to his presence and breaking her out of her thoughts. He held a smile on his wrinkled face and a tan wrapped package of meat in the other. "How are your feeling, Touka?" He asked as he made his way to her, extending the package out for her to grab. She needed to eat a little bit more everyday now until she healed, the way Renji had described it, she was going to be like this for a little while.

Touka smiled politely as she grasped the food and set it on her lap. "Thank you..."

The waitress was in the process of unwrapping the nutrients, when she spoke up, interrupting her own meal. "Mr. Yoshimura..?" she asked, noticing he was staring off into space. She caught his attention, earning a look down from him and a deep 'hm?'.

"Are you certain about letting him work here?" she asked. This was one of the very few time's she'd questioned the managers judgement, but she couldn't see how the little nerd could be of use. He was clumsy, awkward, and unable to control himself, he could be the reason that they get found out one day...

"Well...", the elder began, taking in a deep breath, and distracting Touka from her berating thoughts of her new co-worker. "It is true that he could be a... liability, but I want him around for a reason entirely different than an extra staff member..." Touka noticed his eyes shift slightly, into a state of reflection. "I wan't him around for Eto's sake as well..." he continued, a smile forming on his lips.

"Eto's?" Touka asked, a bit confused, honestly Eto was the most well-off out of them all, Touka couldn't imagine her needing anything from some college boy like him.

"Yes..." He replied, turning back towards Touka, "You see... Eto may not notice this herself, but she's so lonely... and it hurts me to see her that way. The entire reason she began writing, i assume, was to escape her lonesomeness. I once asked her, about one of her books, which character was her favorite, and do you know what she said?" He asked leaning down a little closer.

Touka shook her head, somewhat enthralled in the story.

The manager smiled warmly, "She said, 'Well, I've grown attached to them all...'" He paused once more. "I believe that Kaneki is the key to helping her rid herself of her loneliness. Both of them are Half-Ghouls, and while they hold a place in both worlds, they are the only ones of their kind..."

Touka took a moment to process this, what the older man was saying. "So... you want them to get together..." she asked, kind of amused by him. He was after all the only father who wanted their daughter to get with someone.

"I suppose you could say that..."

Two men walked down the bustling street of Tokyo, one tall, with short black hair, his posture straight and his presence powerful, the most simple way to describe him was: handsome. To his left, and slightly ahead of him, was a man less pleasing on the eyes, but one far more experienced. Said man has a slight hunch in his back(though it could just be the way he expressed his current mood of elation), his hair was white and long, hanging down past his chin, one eye open wider that the other. The two were complete opposites, in fact the only similarity they had was that they both carried brief cases with them.

"The 20th ward,huh?" The older of the two verbally stated, his voice filled with nostalgic glee. "I haven't been here since the owl case 10 years ago... Did I ever tell you that Koutarou?" He asked the man, behind him, Koutarou.

Koutarou, with a stoic expression on his face, lazily shifted his dark piercing eyes over to the shorter man, his superior and replying. "No... I don't believe you have, Mr. Mado." He said, his voice betraying his apathetic face with interest. Truth be told Kureo Mado was not one to really talk about the past, no instead he always looked ahead, almost as if for something... someone, rather. Upon their first meeting, Koutarou thought the old man insane, and even that he would be better institutionalized, but as he worked with him further Koutarou realized something... His superiors odd tendency's were not one of a crazy old man, but rather out of experience, of what he'd seen and done.

"Hmmm..." Kureo replied, seemingly lost in the past.

Clearing his throat, Koutarou spoke once more. "We should find that mother and daughter quickly..."

Kureo smiled slyly at this, that is what he liked so much about his subordinate... his intent on killing every ghoul that came across his path, it didn't matter what they looked like or were. He knew the felling Kureo knew, that intense burning hatred that raged inside you, hoping to lash out angrily at the ghoul race. "We'll find them...", he reassured, "that's why we came here after all..."

One week after the event's with Nishiki...

Kaneki was trying his best to carefully brew the coffee in a way that could at least compare to the managers. He carefully poured water from a blue tinted pitcher above it into the grounds which rested in a plastic container that would filter the juices into the coffee pitcher below. Kaneki's hands were trembling the whole time, it wasn't so much a fear that he'd drop the pitcher as much as that he wouldn't get it just right.

Ever since he was a child he had been a perfectionist, making the highest grades he could, being the best child he could, to please his verbally(sometimes physically) abusive aunt, who felt jealous of her dead sisters child, whom she chose to adopt in sympathy. It was only too late that he realized that his act's of striving to become the best that he could was exactly what ended up provoking his aunts abuse. She couldn't handle that her sister child was smarter than her's.

And while Kaneki did resent her for that, he blamed himself just as much for what he endured. If he's just failed more often on purpose then maybe she'd have at least left him alone, right?

"Alright, you can stop brewing now." The old ghoul said happily, hands behind his back.

Kaneki licked his lips and sighed, carefully setting down the pitcher to the right of the filter. Now was the moment of truth, would his own coffee succeed or fail? There was only one way to find out. Kaneki grabbed the pitcher, now filled with a dark brown liquid which Kaneki had learned to cherish any moment he had it, and tilted it onto it's side, letting the dark fluid waterfall out of a small, triangular slit and rest itself into the cup. The half-ghoul pulled away just as it was about to reach the top and set the pitcher down quickly.

Now holding the cup to his lips, he hesitated, he didn't want to fail in his coffee making skills, after all, they would be important the rest of his life. In all honesty, before becoming a ghoul, Kaneki never really felt much for coffee, sure he enjoyed it, but until it became his only source of flavored drink he'd been an acquaintance to the beverage and nothing more. In fact even when he did come into the coffee shop he rarely ordered anything, he just enjoyed the quiet of it and the peace.

Kaneki swallowed slightly and parted his lips, allowing for a tiny crawl space for the brown liquid to enter. He tilted the cup further and felt the warm liquid crawl onto his tongue and slowly cover it, allowing him to give his verdict... It was... 'good', he decided, somewhat smiling. It was a far cry away from Yoshimura's but it was... acceptable...

Kaneki sighed ,setting the cup down, "It's OK but it doesn't compare to yours... or Eto's" he said feeling a little dejected, prompting a laugh from Yoshimura and the feeling of a firm hand on his shoulder.

"These things take time, Ken." he explained, gently. "In fact, when I was a child I made horrible coffee, even to humans, I could hardly stomach it... It was so bitter and it stung my mouth." he paused to look around him, "But now I own a successful coffee shop now... So i'm confident you'll improve..." He reassured, offering a friendly smile as he retracted his wrinkled hand. "Now, I believe Touka is in need of your assistance down stairs, why don't you go so what she needs?"

"Right..." Kaneki said as he began to walk to the 1st floor, where the customers would congregate. To be honest he preferred when he was with Enji, because he wasn't someone who would be as rude to him as Touka. Not to say Touka was rude all the time, but she had a very short fuse for incompetence, she could be friendly when she wanted to though, she didn't have to stop him from eating Hide after all, right?

"Oh and one more thing, Kaneki." Eto's father called out, as they younger half-ghoul was about to take his first step out the door.

"Hm?"

"If you see a man wearing a suit or a white coat come in here with either a brief or attach case, very calmly come tell me and I'll deal with them..."

The description sounded very familiar to Kaneki, in fact a few days earlier he remembered Eto talking to him about the same thing. "You mean Doves, right?" Kaneki inquired, wondering if there was a connection, which there obviously was, Kaneki just wanted to make sure.

"Oh, I see my daughter is going over the dangers of being a ghoul with you," he smiled, happy that Eto was teaching their new friend on how to live as a ghoul, "still report it to me, I've developed my own way of throwing them off my case..." The older ghoul turned and began admiring the shelf behind him, in particular the three cup set he had in the center shelf.

Touka stood in front of the blond boy, who's name she never cared to inquire, as he blabbed on to her about... something. She found him annoying, his voice, his upbeat attitude(to upbeat to be an actual person), and not to mention his unrelenting attempts to try an seduce her. Honestly she sometimes wished she hadn't saved him that day, but she couldn't just let him be killed, not when she could stop it from happening. It wasn't out of sympathy for him, nor that dunce Kaneki, but rather a feeling she got when she imagined herself doing something similar to Yoriko. That scared her, the thought of killing her only friend at school, she supposed that was the reason hwhy she'd decided to interfere, that and Eto would be pissed.

"...I was really surprised at that!"

Touka was shaken out of her own mind at the sound of the humans voice, causing her to widen her eyes and move her head back at the volume. Touka, slightly annoyed, gave a laugh through her small smile and tucked her hair behind her ear. Fucking shit that scared me, control your damn volume.

Touka looked to her left without pivoting her head and noticed a familiar figure walk down the stairs carefully, his hand on the railing for support just in case he fell. The moment his feet touched the floor Touka attempted to get his attention.

"Pssst!" she called, nearly across the room. She didn't know why, he was to far away for his ears to catch it, not even a ghoul had that good of hearing. However, he did, which surprised her for a sceond, but she decided it didn't rally matter.

Kaneki turned his head at the hiss like sound he heard, subconsciously curious as to who it's owner was. He saw Touka there motioning with her head for him to come over, reluctantly, he obeyed. Most of the time, whenever she called for him, it was to berate him or show him what he did wrong and then smack him in the back of his head lightly(but hard enough to sting).

Upon arrival Kaneki noticed a familiar bush of blond hair, Hide. Kaneki felt his face grow red in embarrassment as he realized that Hide had actually come to his work and seen him in his uniform. Hide, once, had told him, rather shamelessly, that if he dressed up like one of the waiters(or waitresses) he'd be fetish fuel for some people. Kaneki had hoped that Hide had forgotten that conversation...

"Hey, Kaneki!" Hide called, waving his arm side to side flamboyantly. "I can't believe a bookworm like you actually got a job!"

"Right..." Kaneki said, as he pulled up a notepad, relieved that Hide either didn't remember or chose not to bring up the conversation. "As long as you're here, why don't you order something?" He asked, kind of annoyed at Hide's sudden appearance, not that he didn't like his company, but his excessive talking was slowing down the speed at which they take orders.

"Oh... yeah, I'll have an ummmm.." he fumbled through the names of coffee he heard before, in his head, "a Cappuccino!" He said, proud of himself for naming one, rather than just saying 'coffee'. Hide then looked over to Touka, "And I want Ms. Touka to make it!"

Kaneki noticed Touka's subtle facial expression of annoyance and smirked to himself, it was a rare thing to see Touka doing something she didn't want to(normally she forced Kaneki to), but it was a customer's request, and while it could be considered sexual harassment, Touka did it simply because the manager would get onto her if she was rude to a customer.

Kaneki watched the raven haired girl walk into the back of the shop obviously quelling her rage, Touka didn't like doing work when there was someone else around to do it, and after all Kaneki had taken the order.

"Also, Kaneki, remind me to thank her..." Hide said, once she was out of sight, looking back at Kaneki.

Kaneki frowned and raised a single eyebrow. "Ahhh, for what?"

Hide frowned and looked at Kaneki, annoyance in his eyes. "What do you mean, 'for what'? Touka saved us from that car accident with Nishiki last week, idiot..."

"Car accident?" Kaneki asked. So that's the explanation they gave him...

"Yeah, don't you remember? Nishiki was so badly hurt that he's been hospitalized..." Hide said, looking out the window of the shop, a certain knowing look in his eyes. A look that made Kaneki feel uncomfortable.

Then, after what seemed a short while, Touka reappeared with a steaming Cappuccino, ready to be consumed.

"H-here you go..." Touka said, a little uneasy as she set the cup down carefully. Kaneki didn't know why, but Touka seemed to act shy in front of customers. Perhaps it was a physcological trick to get them coming back, or maybe she was shy, she just hated Kaneki that much.

"Ahhhh, thanks, Touka!" he said, picking up the cup and bringing it to his mouth.

Eto sat in the dark of her room at her house, in the front of her laptop. She had gotten a few chapters done on her new work, but she'd once again been faced with writers block, just like the day she'd met Kaneki, though, almost as if it were irony, Kaneki was the reason for her writers block. He could have died that day, she kept telling herself, the only reason he wasn't killed is because he caught Nishiki off guard... Dammit, I should've know that little shit-head would be going to Kamii... Though, strangely, she didn't blame Nishiki(she used to be just like him), she didn't blame anyone, anyone but herself.

If I hadn't been so mesmerized by the thought of exploring a damn library, I could've prevented the whole situation. Eto rested a head of messy hair in her hands, letting it shadow her face and hide her apathetic expression. She hadn't slept the night she stayed at Anteiku, nor had she slept since that night, she couldn't, for some reason she felt an intense fear, like one she hadn't felt before, well... not since her father lost his arms, which was also her fault. But no, this feeling was almost new, she hadn't felt a fear like this when she faced doves, other ghouls, or when she got hurt.

The green haired woman let out a shaky breath and began speaking softly, "Dammit..." she whispered, growing angry with herself. She was mad for a multitude of reasons, she was currently having a case of writers block, shed been depriving herself of sleep, but most of all... it was the recurring realization that every horrible thing that had happened in her life, to herself or others she cared for, was her fault. And she deeply cared for Kaneki. In the short while she'd known him(1 and a half weeks) she'd forged an attachment with him, one she couldn't explain.

When they'd found him, Kaneki was drooling at the mouth with the most twisted expression on his face, it was 'one of pure hunger' as Touka described it. Throwing her head back up, hands covering her mouth, Eto sighed then shrugged. "Well, that's in the past now, what matters is that I don't let Kaneki get hurt again." she told herself, trying to move on once more... though she had a feeling tonight would herald more sleepless nights, but it was worth a shot, right?

It was late now at Anteiku, the customers had left, even Hide had gone home, now it was just the staff. Kaya Irimi, a woman who was silent most of the time, but kind: Enji Koma(or the Devil-Ape as he refered to himself), a rather talkative man with a weird hairstyle, the manager, Touka, and Kaneki. Touka and ther half-ghoul were busy cleaning tables off while the elder employee's were busy cleaning the counter area. It was times like these that Kaneki enjoyed working here the most, even if it had only been a few days. He enjoyed the calmness of the coffee shop at night the night sky contrasted by the coffee shops almost golden glow at night(thanks to the light reflecting off the hardwood floors, gave Kaneki an almost nostalgic feeling.

Then, distracting Kaneki from his admiration of the shop, a familiar ding echoed in the shop, followed by the sound of a door unlatching and the faint creak of it being pushed open. Kaneki looked up, to investigate the new visitors. He saw a woman, around 40 walking into the shop, a brown and tan dress adorning her, matching her hair, which was braided at the back and pulled over her shoulder, also adorned with hair pins. At her waist, hugging tightly was a girl around 13 or 14, a visible look of distress on her face.

"Oh, Ryouko!" Touka greeted happily.

"Hello, Touka..." Ryouko greeted happily, though there was a bit of emptiness in her voice, despite her smile. "Does the manager have the package?"

"Yeah, he's up stairs, go ahead." Touka said, throwing a thumb over her shoulder.

Ryouko nodded and thanked Touka, but not before a certain newcomer caught her eye.

"Oh, a new worker?" she asked, kindly.

Kaneki replied with a simple smile and wave accompanied by a "Hello..."

Ryoukou simply smiled and began walking up stairs, the girl with her, he noticed hid her face from the others and clung tightly to her mother.

Ok, Here it is chapter 5! Sorry if it felt like it took a while, it did for me... I don't know why but it feels like I've been working on this chapter for a few weeks now. Also! I updated the Cover. It's my own art, which I think describes the story of this Fanfic perfectly. I may make a better version of the cover though, as I drew it in 30 minutes. As Always Please Review!