I was with Shinohara and Juuzou when they were called in to help defend the ghoul prison. I was supposed to have the day off, but I wanted to be there when Juuzou finally got his long-awaited new quinque. Fortunately, I had learned from the Rabbit incident to never leave my apartment without a quinque, so I was well-enough prepared.

I was somewhat worried when Juuzou left, because my instincts always told me that "strength in numbers" was true. Shinohara tried to reassure me with what I already knew: Juuzou was a force to be reckoned with in battle. But he was still my friend and I still wanted him to be safe.

So I shadowed Shinohara the entire time until he ran into a dark-haired ghoul with a black mask covering only the bottom half of his face. He seemed like he was wearing almost too-much clothing. But then again, I thought the entire CCG wearing suits to battle also seemed pretty ridiculous. I was glad I was wearing a comfy T-shirt and leggings. I did wish I had been wearing my ankle boots—I always felt more badass wearing them. And flower-y knock-off converse shoes weren't exactly intimidating. Nor did they give me much more traction than a pair of sandals. So on second thought, the ghoul was probably dressed more appropriately for a fight than any of us.

"Marek-san," Shinohara's voice boomed, catching my attention. My last name always sounded so strange pronounced with a Japanese accent. That was why I insisted on everyone calling me "Karo," because it was shorter than "Karoline," which was four syllables and didn't sound as strange to me as "Marek." But Shinohara insisted on always being formal, which I sort of understood, but I still wished he would just get over it and make it easier for both of us.

"You stay back," he commanded. "I'll handle this one."

I nodded, but still held my quinque at the ready, just in case. It was a bikaku-type in the shape of a spear. I'm not a bulky person, so a heavy quinque was out of the question, but I could handle a simple spear. I named it "Vorteil."

It was probably a good thing I did not enter the fight. The ghoul had been an ukaku type and I would have been at a disadvantage.

I watched the ghoul's movements during the fight. And I saw his face when Shinohara had activated his Arata. He recognized something about that quinque. He fought with some sort of resolve. Maybe he knew the ghoul it had originally belonged to…

He was taken down relatively quickly after the first several attacks. He became more rash with his kagune as he ran out of stamina. And then in one final counter-attack, he was down. I walked toward them, curious as to who the ghoul was and if he was still alive. Shinohara's Arata was still activated as I approached.

Shinohara suddenly ordered me to halt. The ghoul struggled to make it up to a sort of push-up position. He struggled for several seconds. Shinohara readied his quinque to strike him down permanently.

"Wait!" I pleaded desperately, on instinct. I surprised even myself with my outburst. Had what Ken said months ago really softened my resolve so much? I watched this ghoul on the ground attack my partner and superior and I was pleading the man not to kill him?

But I couldn't help it. When I looked at the ghoul closely, I could see that he was even younger than me. That he was in pain. And what I saw was so human.

And then he stood up. Terrified that I had made a huge mistake, I tried to get out of Shinohara's way and readied my weapon. But all the ghoul did was bring his fist up, as if to swing a punch, and practically fall back to his knees. But his fist landed lightly on Shinohara's Arata. He stayed like that for a few seconds before he found the strength to lift his head. Even Shinohara faltered when he looked into the ghoul's eyes. His kakugan were unactivated and his eyes were obviously sad and tired. I wanted to cry for him, but I knew I shouldn't and couldn't at the moment.

None of us moved for what felt like an hour but was probably no more than a few seconds. Then, the ghoul fell. No weapons were needed. I knelt down to check his pulse. He was still alive.

"Marek-san," Shinohara boomed. I could sense his disappointment without even looking at him. But I turned my head and met his eyes, which only confirmed my sense of dread as being reasonable. "Do not question my orders ever again." I looked away from him, averting my eyes instead to the youngest person in the room—the unconscious ghoul.

"Yes sir," I agreed. Indeed, I had no intention of crossing him again. I knew he was a good person, but he was serious when it came to ghouls. And I had seen the way he fights. I never wanted to be on the receiving end of his blade.

But at the same time, I knew he was wrong. I knew everyone was wrong. Ghouls weren't monsters. They were just like us. We take away their loved ones, so they take ours. I wondered if ghouls were more aware of that than humans.

The loud clanging of metal alerted us that something was coming. I quickly lifted my head to find the source of the noise, but I was too slow and was only aware of feeling the force of something hitting the ground very near me. Then I blacked out.

My head throbbed and I felt like I had just run a marathon when I was able to open my eyes again. I coughed a few times and that helped me get more air into my lungs. It took a little while for my eyes to focus. All while I was recovering my senses, my heart kept beating faster. I was hearing noises, but couldn't make out the causes.

What happened? Was Shinohara still alive? Where did Vorteil go? Did I still have all of my extremities? Was I in danger, still?

I blinked a few more times and my vision cleared. I looked up and at first, I didn't understand what I was seeing. A person with white hair? What were they doing and who were they?

Then I realized it was a ghoul. And when I took in their kagune, I was frightened. What the hell kind of ghoul has kagune that looked like centipedes growing from their backs? They were huge. And…he had six kagune sticking out of his back. I had never fought a ghoul with more than two. I had never encountered a ghoul with more than two kagune.

For the second time in my life, I was so terrified that I couldn't move. What happens when it notices me? Will it kill me before it eats me?

CRUNCH

My eyes were drawn to what I hadn't noticed before then. Something was underneath the ghoul—something it was eating. I must have made some sort of noise when I recognized the unconscious Shinohara because the ghoul turned around to look at me. It had a strange sort of mask that hooked like some sort of a beak and only covered one eye. The other eye didn't have a kakugan activated.

At the moment, I didn't care why it only had one kakugan, because it charged at me. I noticed that Vorteil was close and lunged for it, but didn't make it in time to avoid the ghoul. I was pinned down, the ghoul stared down at me and gave me a crazed, blood-stained smile. It gave me the chance to take in all of the ghoul's features.

I opened my mouth and at first, no sound came out. I was vaguely aware of the room starting to fill with gas.

I knew this ghoul. The hair and entire demeanor had changed, but I recognized his face and smell.

"Ken," I finally choked out. I could feel hot tears running down my cheeks. The ghoul froze in place and his smile dropped. It was when my breathing started to return to normal that I realized I had been hyperventilating.

"Ka…ro..san," the ghoul croaked hoarsely. I slowly reached up to touch the beak-mask. It was smoother than I thought it'd be. I let out a shaky breath and laughed nervously.

"This is not how I imagined being underneath you would be like…" It was probably the adrenaline that allowed that line to slip past my lips. Later, I would be mortified at what I had said, but at the moment, I didn't give a shit.

Ken stared at me, probably shocked by what I had said, and his mask started to crumble. I watched as tears filled his eyes and spilled onto his cheeks. When the mask began to disintegrate in my hand, I moved both to his cheeks to wipe away the tears.

His hand caught my wrists and I noticed that his nails were black, though they didn't shine from paint. The mask was still crumbling when there was a sudden gust of wind and Kaneki Ken was tossed across the room.

I looked up to see Koutarou Amon looking furious and Mado Akira leaning on the wall behind him, looking anxious. Koutarou ran to the other side of the room, totally focused on Ken. He was shouting something at him that I wasn't listening to. I watched Ken rise onto his hands and knees, head bowed. I knew he was still crying.

And then he was taken away again. At least this time, I knew I would see him again.