TBO: And here's the concluding chapter! Thank you all so much reviewing. Enjoy!
"Eh?"
Touka cleared her throat twice, and stared back at her reflection in astonishment. "I'm…not sick." She murmured, touching her face. She was back to her normal creamy texture, no more blemishes, no more tomato noses...she was healthy again!
Smiling lazily to her own reflection, the teen girl opened up the faucet and pulled out her tooth brush. Now, it was time to start her normal routine. But, a quick thought crossed her mind and she couldn't help but wonder...
"What happened last night?" She asked no one in particular, tooth paste spittle running down the side of her chin. Groaning, she grabbed a cup and a towel. She would have to find that out a little later.
Touka sighed in relief, and walked out of the bathroom with her towel in hand. She closed the door softly behind her and hung the cloth around her neck, letting her hair dry on its own. She stopped at the couch of her living room and leaned on the top, so she could read the clock.
8:45
Touka straightened her back and strolled over to the open window. The cold breeze ran shivers down her spine and harshly pushed her blue bangs out of her face. Cursing her luck, Touka reached out for the handle, and closed the window with a bang. She pulled the curtains together and walked towards the closet beside the door.
She opened the sliding door softly, and with two fingers, she picked up her black small heeled shoes. Just like her regular morning routine. When she placed the pair of shoes at the door, she was disturbed and surprised to see that there was another pair of shoes beside the door already.
"These aren't mine, or Hinami's. Whose shoes are these?" She questioned, crouching down to inspect the sneakers. Black sneakers with gray soles. Touka pressed her hands against her knees and forced herself back up until she was standing again.
She pursed her lips, and removed the towel from her neck. "Just what the hell happened last night?" She asked aloud. It was frustrating how the fuzzes and blanks in her memories weren't really helping. She pressed the towel against her hair, and continued her way down to her room.
She had more important things to do like getting her butt to work.
It'a been so long since she's gone down to Anteiku.
Ah, I feel guilty...I can't believe I took so many days off. She mentally groaned, quickly drying her blue hair. She opened the door to her room, stepped into it, and inhaled the surprisingly pleasant scent in her room. It smells pretty good in here...did Hinami clean my room? She wondered, making her way to her wardrobe.
"She's such a good girl. Did she already leave without me?" Touka pulled open the drawers, smiled sweetly to herself, and pulled out her uniform. "I missed this." She murmured, closing the drawers and turning around. "Now where did I put those damn-WHOA!"
Touka shrieked as she almost tripped over her footing at the unexpected sight. A lean figure was bundled up in a spare of blankets on the floor and at the foot of her bed. Touka regained her posture and circled around the figure and draped her uniform over her arm.
She kicked it once with her toe, and it flinched a little. "What the hell...is this...?" She kicked it again, but a little harder this time, and the figure rewarded her with a sharp yelp. Touka crouched down and scrutinized her eyes.
"Wait, I recognize that high whiny voice..." She ripped the white blankets off the older boy and clenched her teeth in anger. "Kaneki, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!" She barked as the black haired boy slowly rose from the floor.
Kaneki rubbed his eyes with his hands, and smiled tiredly at the teen girl. "You look like you got better over the night. That's good Touka-Chan." He said kindheartedly, combing his fingers through his black unruly hair. Touka narrowed her eyes at him.
"Why were you sleeping in my room, you perv."
Kaneki yawned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I stayed the night so I could watch over you." He said briefly, standing up and stretching. Touka furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
Stayed over the night...And then her memories hit her like a ton of bricks. Shit, I was sick and he came last night. And I said a lot of weird stuff...how embarrassing...She pinched the bridge of her nose exasperatedly. Kaneki raised an eyebrow at her change in attitude, and began to fold the blankets that he had used.
"You really don't remember anything?"
Touka pursed her lips and turned away from him. "No." Kaneki smiled when he heard the unexpected nervous tone in her voice. He placed the folded blankets on her bed, and put his eye-patch back on.
"Really? You don't remember fainting on the floor? Or me carrying you to your room? Or me taking you temperature?"
"No, I don't."
"You don't remember using up all my sugar cubes and lying about not being hungry so I wouldn't have to see you eat?"
"...No."
Kaneki hummed, and took the towel from her shoulders. Touka immediately focused her attention on the floor as Kaneki proceeded in drying her blue locks. She closed her eyes, so she wouldn't get any water in her eyes. "So, you don't remember telling me "Don't go"?" He asked, innocently, pausing to look down at her expression.
...
...
...Slick bastard!
Touka pushed his hands away, and pulled not too softly on Kaneki's chubby cheeks. The poor boy closed his eyes tightly and whined in pain, and Touka only smirked, satisfied. "You talk too much." She said blatantly, letting his cheek go. Kaneki sighed and rubbed his blistered cheek. He opened his eyes and chuckled at Touka's face.
"Why is your face so red? Do you remember now, Touka-Chan?" He teased, amused at her expression. Touka puffed her cheeks and folded her arms across her chest.
"Of course I do! Stop teasing me or I'll hit you!"
"OK, OK, I'll stop. Your punches hurt a lot." Kaneki said sheepishly. Touka nodded in approval and then pointed at the door.
"Now, get out, Bakaneki. I have a work shift this morning."
"Yes, Touka-Sama, whatever you wish."
"JUST GET OUT!"
At Anteiku
Touka heaved a sigh, and wiped her hand across her forehead. Finally, she had finished restocking all the coffee beans. She walked back into the Cafe from the back door, and she smiled brightly at her Co Workers who were also cleaning up. Irimi was wiping down to tables with Hinami, and Nishiki was cleaning the windows with Koma. The Manager was observing as usual and brewing up coffee for all of them.
Touka began to arrange the cups beside the Yoshimura. The old man smiled at her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm guessing that the package helped." He said referring to the meat that he had given Kaneki the previous day. Touka nodded.
"I guess it's my fault that I was sick for a long time. I haven't been eating regularly, which alongside Yoriko's food, slows down how fast I heal. Sorry for the trouble." She apologized sheepishly. Yoshimura shook his head at her.
"There's no need to apologize. I'm just glad that you're OK. My judgement was right in sending that boy to you."
Touka turned pink, and she almost dropped the glass cups in her hands. "You told him to come?" She asked, baffled by the old man's actions. Yoshimura simply smiled and poured the hot coffee into the cups.
"I simply gave him the push that he needed."
"Yeah, we all did." Nishiki and Koma walked into the shop. The brown haired man cracked his knuckles and smirked wickedly. "Told him that if he chickened out, I'd pummel him." He said proudly. Everyone sweat dropped at this.
"I'm pretty sure that Yomo-San encouraged him the most, Nishiki-San." Hinami said, now beside Touka and leaning over the counter to smile at Touka. Touka brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and dried her hands.
"I wish time would go by faster." Touka whined, gracefully taking the cup of coffee that Yoshimura made for her. She sipped it and placed it onto the counter. Irimi pulled up a bar stool beside Hinami and leaned her chin against her hand.
"Doesn't Kaneki have an afternoon shift today?" She asked teasingly, looking at Hinami who was also giggling. Touka blushed and growled and glared at them, annoyed.
"You guys are such a set up!" She complained. They all laughed at her embarrassment. "Alright, is everyone ready?" She asked, fixing the collar of her uniform. They all nodded and stood behind the counter.
She walked over to the door, and opened it wide. She grabbed the wooden sign and flipped it over, smiling brilliantly.
"Anteiku is now open!"
Later that afternoon...
Hinami observed from the back as the shop began filling in with customers. She and her Nii-San were on break- well Kaneki was, she didn't exactly work like the others did. Kaneki pulled out a blandly colored book and placed it on the table in front of the brown haired girl.
She smiled brightly in excitement. "A new book?!" She gasped and held the book to her chest. "Thank you!" Kaneki smiled.
"It's "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. It's quite similar to Tatsuki-San's books." Kaneki sipped his coffee. "I think that you'll like it. But, it might be a little hard for you. The story is very interesting." He said jubilantly.
Hinami nodded enthusiastically.
Touka casually joined the two in an empty seat, and tapped Kaneki's shoulder. "Yo, your human is here. And he's trying to hit on the customers again." She stated, point her thumb at the orange haired boy whom was sitting over at a table full of girls.
"Hide?"
"And they're Ghouls. Might wanna get him away before he becomes dinner." Touka said with a shrug and stood up. Sighing tiredly Kaneki stood up and went to go talk to Hide. Touka smiled apologetically at the younger ghoul. "I'll quickly return him to you Hinami."
Hinami shook her head. "Keep him for as long as you like."
Touka rolled her eyes, and tugged at Hinami's cheeks. "You've been getting real cheeky." She said through gritted teeth. Touka released the poor girl's cheeks and walked over to where the two best friends were at.
Hinami smiled nostalgically and hugged her book to her chest.
"I hope that we can all stay together like this."
The next day Aogiri took him.
TBO: *Sheds a tear but wipes it away* THE END
TBO: But not really...the next chapter is just a chapter of what I was going to write for the previous chapter. It'll probably be up by this week.
TBO: Thanks for reading!