Ken cursed angrily as he jumped over yet another alley. 'I'm late. I'm late! Yomo is going to be so fucking angry,' he fretted. Ken was late to his afternoon shift at Anteiku and was rushing to get there before he was too late. He hoped it wouldn't be that big a deal. He didn't oversleep everyday after all.

The young boy had grown much over the few years since he'd come to the twenty fifth ward. While still a bit reserved he was much more confident than before. Partially due to just growing up in a place where he didn't have to hide his species and partially due to being in the throes of puberty. He had plenty of friends and close acquaintances now as well. Everyone from Anteiku, Hinami, his teacher Ryouko Fueguchi, Doctor Fueguchi, a few neighbors he'd gotten close with, Hide who was now training to be a ghoul handler in the ward, Juuzo, and Shinohara. Of course he had already made a few enemies as well. Especially in the last couple years.

Though he was usually a good natured kid and not confrontational normally, being a teenager still meant that his temper would flare occasionally. This emotional instability combined with having super strength, a taste for flesh, and a kagune had of course led to him being of some concern for the CCG ghoul handlers and ruffled more than a few feathers among human and ghouls who Ken had dealt with. Even his father had been forced to use corporal punishment a few times on him to get him calm down. Thankfully these outbursts were rare and usually came from others antagonizing the boy first. Though he was still being watched a little more carefully by the CCG until he calmed downed and matured a bit.

Finally, Ken reached the area of the ward where tourists were allowed. Ghouls were not allowed to jump over the roofs here so as not to spook the humans. So he jumped down and landed in one of the designated landing zones. He laughed a bit when he spooked one of the visitors during his landing. He nodded a greeting to her before rushing towards the coffee district.

When he reached the front of Anteiku however, he saw the last thing he wanted to see now. Two new additions to the ward were both sitting at one of the tables near the window. Each drinking a cup of black coffee. Ken sighed resigningly before opening the door. "Sorry I'm late. I lost track of time," he said while heading towards the back. "It's ok," he heard Irimi say. "Just hurry up and get changed. We're busy so we need all hands on deck." So Ken went into the changing room and put on his uniform before coming out and getting to work.

Probably knowing about his… issues with some of the customers, Yomo told him to take care of the customers on the other side of the café from them. For the next couple of hours Ken was hard at work taking care of the people eating in or taking their coffee to go. It actually became so crowded that he was forced to use his rinkaku as extra arms much to the enjoyment of the visitors. Yomo had made special carriers for the cups so that could fit on his kagune so that he could carry more out to the café in one go. To be honest, it made Ken feel a bit embarrassed and felt funny with the way it fit around the tips of his kagune but it made work easier and the customers seemed to like it.

Of course hearing giggling from across the store and someone calling him a pack mule did sour his mood a bit. The cup he was holding in his hands when he heard that insult shattering into little pieces. Eventually though things were calming down a bit. And one of the annoyances left. To where she went, he didn't care. But her being gone meant he could relax a bit. But his relief was short lived.

Ken had just picked up several dishes and was heading back to the kitchen sink; his kagune not out as the café traffic had thinned out some. But as he walked, someone put their foot out in front of him. Causing Ken to fall flat on his face on break several of the dishes he was carrying. While he did hear a few people gasp ask if he was ok, the loudest voice was a snarky one that teased him, "What's the matter, ya one eyed bastard? Tripping over nothing like a klutz." Ken growled in anger before jumping up to meet the one who had done this.

The younger boy was dressed in a rather punkish outfit that fit with the way he had stylized his hair. His face was displaying a large cocky grin while his body was postured in an aggressive way. "Ayato," Ken coldly shot back, "What the hell is your problem?" Ayato took another step, getting right into Ken's personal space, "Nothing," he snarked. Ken narrowed his eyes and gripped his fists. Making a few of the customers nervous. But any further arguing was stopped when the light on both of their collars turned yellow and small alarm began to beep.

Two more figures approached the two angry young men. These two were both older then both Ayato and Ken but still young. One was a platinum blonde woman while the other was a somewhat goofy looking young man. And both of them were wearing the uniform of the CCG academy that trained future ghoul investigators. The girl also held in her hand a small remote with her hand resting on a large button on it. And she made certain that both of them saw it. "Oi," she shouted to get their attention, "Break it up before someone gets hurt. Both of you should already know that fighting in the tourism sector is forbidden. If you keep it up, then I'll be forced to activate the suppressants in your collar and you can spend a week in the detention center."

Ken, still fuming, pointed at Ayato and complained, "But he started it." But this only got him a rather painful strike on the top of his head from Yomo; who had come up from behind him. "Don't talk back to the CCG," he told Kaneki. Ken looked away with a huff while Ayato smirked at this whole scene. That is until Yomo locked eyes with him and told him, "We'll talk about this tonight. Back home." Instantly his smile dropped. Yomo also ordered Ayato to clean up the broken tableware.

Ken took this chance to sneak away and slinked over to the counter where he took a seat. He looked up when someone placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of him. Irimi smiled at him. "Thanks," Ken told her before taking a nice long sip. Letting the warmth of the coffee seep into his very being. Irimi started on her next order while telling Ken, "Cheer up. I'm sure things will smooth out between you and the Kirishimas eventually."

But Ken just smirked sardonically at her. "Yeah fat chance that'll happen. I'd rather go play whack a mole with Arima then befriend those two jackasses." Irimi laughed at this remark before taking another finished product to the waiting customer. Ken took another sip of his coffee while he thought over the two ukaku siblings.

From what he heard they had been captured while on the run for a few years after their father had been killed by the CCG. Supposedly by the rather infamous investigator and ghoul hater, Mado. He knew that they had had a tough time before arriving in the ward. Even having to spend some time in the twenty third ward prison for ghouls for a few months. Also for some reason, Yomo had adopted the two of them rather than letting them live in the rooms for orphans in the residential sector.

But understanding how hard their life had been didn't make him any less upset at the two brats. Especially since he had tried to be nice to them at first, only for them to literally slap away his outstretched hand of friendship and just be all around irritating people. They had worn out all of Ken's pity for them long ago. Ken sighed as he sipped his coffee again. 'at least I can work some of this stress off later tonight,' Ken thought. Already looking forward to this evening's training.

X

Crack!

Ken relished the feel as he struck at the dummy again and again. He really needed to blow of some steam after all. So he kept striking at it again and again till the buzzer went off and he had to get out of the way of the next trainee. So he took a break and grabbed his bottle of chilled blood.

As he was drinking, someone approached him. "Something wrong Ken. You were beating that thing like it insulted your mother." Ken turned to reply to Nishiki while he cleaning off his sweat with his workout towel. "Nothing to major sempai," he replied, "Just Ayato was being an ass again earlier this morning. Probably still a bit miffed from that is all." Nishiki sighed at the mention of one of the Kirishima siblings. "That brat. He and his sister need to just calm down already and stop all this emo shit over their old man. I hear that they have become a real menace in the Ukaku dormitories; picking fights with almost daily there."

But further discussion was ceased when a powerful voice called, "Kaneki!" Both turned to see Matasaka Kamishiro, the head trainer here and a senior member of the council, standing mightily before them. The man looked over Ken with a thoughtful before stating, "Ken. Come spar with me. Seems like you have some energy to burn." Ken went wide eyed at this while Nishiki snickered at him. "Good luck," was all the older ghoul said before he turned to go off and do something else.

Ken sighed heavily before walking towards what he knew would be a painful experience. There was no way he, with only a few years of training and a not yet fully developed body would be able to defeat the master of this dojo. A master, who for some reason had singled out Kaneki for special training and instruction. Ken didn't know if this was his way of showing favoritism or he just really liked beating up the young half-ghoul under the guise of educating him. At least he did learn from each of these beatings.

"Ken! Ken! Up here! Ken!" Ken looked up to where the audience stands were filled with both ghouls and humans. And among them stood Suzuya leaning over the edge while waving excitedly at Ken. "Go get him!" the boy excitedly yelled. "Kick his ass!" Ken just laughed nervously at this while waving at his friend. He thought he saw Hide as well. Or at least someone who looked a lot like him with his nose in a textbook a few rows back.

Finally, he stepped into the ring where Kamishiro waited. He took his stance and got ready. The ref swung his hand down and shouted, "Begin!" and Ken surged forward at the man who didn't move as Ken approached.

X

"That looked painful," Hide observed. Both he and Suzuya had watched the match. All three minutes of it. Ken just groaned a reply; lying on a bench with his face covered by a cool towel. "I think you did pretty well," Juuzo chirped appreciatorily. "You just should have thoomed instead of going zupaan at that one point. Right?" Ken peaked out from under his towel with a confused look and simply said, "I have no idea what you just said." But this just caused Juuzo to giggle at him.

Ken sat up and turned to Hide instead. "So how is the studying going on?" What Ken was asking about was Hide's studies for the CCG academy program for ghoul handlers. These were CCG members who took care of the tamed ghouls and the twenty fifth ward. Hide had dreamed of being one ever since Ken had known him.

Hide grinned at him and pulled out his bag. "It's been going great," he said as he began to searched around in it. "Though I'm confused about a couple things on what I'm currently reading. Would you mind taking a look at it." He finally found the book he was looking for and began to pull it out. But as he was pulling it out, another smaller book fell out of his bag. A small manga.

"What's this?" Ken asked as he reached for it. Hide got flustered and tried to stop him but Ken was too fast. And immediately grinned as he read the title. "Unbearable Heat?" he asked Hide. Hide grabbed the book from his friend with a deep blush. "Look I didn't know it was that kind of book when I bought it," he defended. "Really?" Suzuya asked. "I mean it has a naked male and female ghoul embracing each other right on the cover. I would have thought that would have clued you off right there." This only caused Hide to go redder and Ken to now laugh at his friend's distress.

He yanked the book from Hide again and flipped through it while Juuzo held Hide back. It was pretty much how Ken expected it to be. A simple doujin that focused on the pop culture depiction that ghouls went through an animalistic heat of some sort. "I'll just assume that you bought this for… research on ghoul mating right?" Hide nodded vigorously in reply.

"Then you should know that it got a few things wrong then."

"Like what?" Suzuya asked now curious himself. Ken handed the book back and said, "Well for one, it's usually the girls who fight over mates during mating season. Not the guys." Both of the humans looked at him a bit shocked. "You're kidding?" Hide snapped. Ken simply stood up and headed towards the locker rooms. "Perhaps," he answered Hide. "Or maybe every spring, mom had to defend her claim on dad with a spray bottle filled with fruit juice and having great aim."

And with that he shut the door, changed back into casual clothes, and went back home.