Isa hadn't heard of Tatara for a couple of days. He didn't have a cell phone either, and it seemed he didn't even have a phone in his condo.

Maybe I should go to his house, she thought. Her mind drifted off to when she slept over at his house-when they were sleeping on the same bed. Isa face-palmed with both hands, feeling flustered at the memory. Why did that have to happen? She asked herself. But she knew she liked it no matter how many times she tried to deny it.

Maybe Ina wants to hang out today. Isa grabbed for her phone inside her purse. She dialed her friend's number.

Her cellphone rang with a cheerful ringtone. She hadn't heard it for a few weeks. She knew who it was; only one person was set with that ringtone. Ina was sitting with her back leaned on the wall on her bed. She hadn't opened the blinds for sunlight. Her hair was in a messy bun and she wore pajamas.

She reached out for her phone, staring at the caller name before answering.

"Isa?" She said.

"Hey, Ina. Wanna hang out today?" Her friend asked from the other end.

"Nah, not today. I have a headache. I think I'm starting to get a bad fever."

"Want me to make you something warm to eat? I'll be right there."

"No, it's okay. Thank you. I already ate some chicken noodle soup. I'm just going off to bed."

"Alright. Get better soon."

"Don't end the call," Ina blurted.

"Why? Is something the matter?"

"No, I just wanted to talk to you," Ina laughed.

"No. Get your sleep," Isa said in her demanding voice.

Ina could feel her friend smiling on the other end. "Yeah, mother? I haven't talked to you in a while."

"Yeah, and I wanted to meet up with you today but you're sick. What did you do?" Isa asked as if she did something terribly wrong.

"No idea. Maybe over working." Ina managed a smile, even though her friend wouldn't see it.

"Well...get your rest, okay? Or I'll come dashing into your house to take care of you."

"And then you'll start giving me another health lecture cuz you're nurse."

"Exactly."

Ina couldn't help to smile. She thought that Isa-no matter what she's been through, she was always so strong. It came to realization that even Isa lost both her parents long before from ghouls. From Ina's kind.

"Fine then, doctor," Ina said in a gentle tone. "I'll go rest."

"Let's catch up when you're better."

"Mhm." Ina ended the call. She stared at the screen before laying her phone at her side, staring at the ceiling of her dim room.

"You're all I have left."

After an agonizing day he could finally leave to go home-to rest. But before that he had to do something. He could no longer bear the guilt anymore. To spare the only human woman he loved, he knew it was the right thing to do.

It hurt him to think of it; what he would say and how she would react.

I wish that we never met.

He didn't know exactly where she lived. How could he have forgotten to ask such a little question. But it is a good thing, he told himself. If he didn't know, then he wouldn't have to do it. A pitiful excuse. He knew that he was more pathetic than he really was.

Tatara paid attention to all the details of the street, trying to get a grasp of memory where Eto had said Isa lived. He was in the right location, that he was sure.

It was more of a suburban area, with many neighbourhoods and many corner stores. Tatara felt more at unease by the minute, trying to find Isa's house. He thought that hopefully she would come back from work soon. He had to do it, he kept on telling himself.

He went from street to street, just to become more lost. He was about to give up for the day.

Her phone number.

He remembered that she have him her cell phone number and her phone number. He grabbed his phone from his side pocket, holding it tightly. It was a flip phone from long ago. His father had given it to him when he used to be leader of their group-the old group of friends and family before Aogiri. He had lost them all, but still had so much, yet so little.

He saved Isa's number on his phone. He pressed the dial button. A flurry of agitation spun in his chest as he was waiting for her to pick up the phone. He'd never knew in his whole life that this would ever even occur to someone like him.

He let out a curt laugh. Humans and ghouls. How could I have ever even think for a second that it would go out well?

"Hello?" A cautious voice answered the phone.

"Isa," Tatara said, trying to sound serious.

"Tatara?" Her voice sounded surprised with a mixture of gladness.

"I want to talk to you, if that's alright with your schedule."

"Oh, yes. I'm-"

Yelling came from behind. At first Tatara thought it was coming from the other end, but he realized it was coming from behind him.

"Help! Catch the boy!" A man yelled from far away. Tatara noticed a small boy running towards him with something in his hand. He looked terrified.

He must have stolen something.

Tatara looked unfazed at the child. When the boy was about to pass him, Tatara quickly grabbed his arm that held the item. He felt the adrenaline surge within the kid, his eyes wide in aggression and panic.

How to handle with kids? He wondered.

"Hey, kid. You know you're not supposed to steal."

All of a sudden, the boy swiftly grabbed something from his pocket. It gleamed in the light. In that split second, Tatara knew what was going to happen. And it did. He knew the blade wouldn't be able to pierce him, but he felt the sting of flesh tearing-it was a glass shard.

His grip was still tight on the boy. Tatara could smell the boy wasn't human. He looked at the boy-his eyes-

Kakugan.

Tatara instantly let go of the boy's arm, grabbing the area of his fresh wound, watching the boy run away. A ghoul?

He looked back at the man from afar-he probably didn't see his injury, since he'd just shook his head and walked back into the shop. Or what if he was a ghoul too? And why would the boy reveal himself as ghoul? Especially a child, Tatara wondered. He was in utter disbelief. His gaze shifted towards bloody trickling down his arm, dripping onto the ground. It was a long time since he'd seen his own blood. He was beginning to worry that he wasn't himself anymore-why was he so inalert?

"Hello? Hello?" A faint voice called, distracting him from any further thoughts. He looked down at this phone. He must have dropped it when he caught the kid. He bent down to pick it up, bringing it to his ear.

"My apologies, Isa. I-something happened."

"Where are you at the moment?" She asked. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm at…" Tatara looked up at the street name, then, told her.

"Really? I live right around the corner there-and I'm just a block away."

That was just great. Isa would be there any minute, and he wouldn't be able to regenerate that quickly, and if he did, there was still the nasty blood stain on his clothes. He had no plan B for this situation. He sighed in frustration. He felt a bit off for the past couple of days, ever since that ghoul incident with Isa. When she had asked him when they were sleeping about what happened to her. He couldn't reply.

"Tatara. Did you happen to know that I lived around here?" Isa asked.

"...Yes. Takatsuki told me."

"T-Really?" She started giggling.

Tatara was more concerned about what he was going to do with Isa when she came. Knowing her, she probably would mend the wound and become protective. Plus, he had just used his cell phone to contact her. He immediately snapped his phone in two and shoved it down his pocket, his anger soothing a bit.

Why did I have to come here today?

"Tatara!" Isa's voice came from behind.

He gave up on hiding it; he knew it was no longer the best time to do what he originally came for. Turning towards Isa, he said. "I've gotten injured…" The words that came out of his mouth was so awkward to him he could have cringed. He just wasn't used to showing his emotions at all.

Upon seeing his injury, Isa ran up to him, her content look changing into a concerned one. She inspected his arm. "What happened?" She demanded to know, her eyes darted from one side of Tatara to another. "Never mind that, it needs to be treated quickly before it's infected. My house is just down that street," she said quickly while she motioned ahead. Her eyes fell upon Tatara's, a strange mix of confusion and concern in them.

Without saying anything, she lead on, Tatara right behind her.

Her house was the perfect size for at least three or four people. It was vintage-styled. The floors were polished and made of smooth wood. Isa lead the way into her neat and tidy living room with a light matcha coloured curtain, a set of couches and chairs and cushions. It appeared that every room had its own theme of colours.

"Sit here," Isa told him. "I'll be back." She left.

Tatara took a seat on a chair. His eyes fixated on the interior decoration of the room. It made him feel relaxed, perhaps it was the colour. His feet rubbed against the soft rug made of intertwining fuzzy material, also a light tinted green.

Isa appeared into the room carrying a large box of first aid. She sat in front of Tatara-on the floor-impatiently flipping the box open and grabbing the correct materials. Without saying anything, she grabbed his wrists to stretch his arm until it was straightened. Her grip was tight on him, and she stayed silent as if she was angry. Her face was stern, focusing at the wound. Tatara was expecting her to say something at least, but she didn't even bother looking up at him.

First, she started by examining the wound closely, as if she was looking for something that would have been stuck in his skin. When she found nothing, she leaned back, taking in a small breath. Her hands grabbed for the bag of cotton balls without looking at where it was. She soaked it with water and then started working her way down his arm, cleaning the blood.

Isa suppressed a sigh and leaned back, looking at Tatara. "How did this happen?" She asked, grabbing the bottle of antiseptic.

"There was this kid that was stealing something from one of the shops. While I was talking to you I heard someone yelling at me to catch the boy, so I did," Tatara looked away from Isa's gaze. He mumbled, "if I had been more alert I would have evaded…"

"What?" Isa asked.

"It's nothing," he replied tonelessly.

Isa appeared to be in deep thought. She soaked a medical sponge with the antiseptic and lay the bottle back in the kit. "This will sting a bit." She gripped Tatara's tricep, leaning in. She gently skimmed on the wound, causing Tatara to flinch as the alcohol felt like it sizzled his flesh.

Tatara let an exhale. It truly was a while since I've been injured…

Isa snapped her gaze back at Tatara all of a sudden, her eyes showing some kind of expectation. "A boy, you said?" She asked, her voice hinting anticipation.

"Yes," he replied, looking at her straight in the eye.

"And he stole something from a store."

"Yes."

"What was he stealing, do you know? Was the boy about this tall?" Isa demonstrated the height using her hand, placing it about four feet and a half from the floor.

Tatara thought for a moment before answering. "Yeah, about that tall. He also had brown hair. And I think he was stealing some kind of bottle of something-it smelled like medicine," Tatara instantly wished he didn't say the last part. He had forgotten that humans didn't have as strong sense of smell as ghouls. He hoped Isa wouldn't catch what he'd said.

Isa narrowed her eyes in deep thought-it was clear that she wasn't thinking about what Tatara said though, but something else, something that made her expression turn into a sorrowful one.

"I know that boy," she said softly. "His life is just filled with negativity and sorrow. I don't know that much, but he's going through a lot of tough times with family and such. I told him I would buy something he needed if he just waited. But I guess…"

Does she know he's a ghoul? Tatara wondered.

"Please forgive the boy. He's not bad. He's actually a good kid...I know that he injured you, and the injury could have been far worse, but-"

"It's fine," Tatara said, cutting her off.

"Really?"

He nodded.

Isa smiled, going back to treating his wound. Tatara stared at her, his mind thinking about the kid. He wanted to tell her he was a ghoul, wanted to see her reaction, but hesitation won, sealing his mouth shut. He felt at unease-he could just say it, let it out, but he couldn't. Just exactly why was he hesitating? What was his fear? He just didn't know.

"All done," Isa announced, clipping the bandage with a clip.

"Thank you."

"Mhm."

Their eyes met with each other. Isa's mouth curved into a warm smile. She reached her hand out on top of Tatara's head. "Your hair became longer," she said, brushing through his hair.

"I'll have to get it cut soon," he said, grabbing hold of her hand.

"No, I like it this way," she insisted. "Don't cut it, not yet," she smiled. He sighed playfully.

"Fine."

Isa's face lit up as if a kid had something exciting to share. "Are you hungry?" She asked, anticipation in her face.

One of the last things Tatara wanted to do was to eat human food. "I'm not very hungry at the moment."

"Hmm, I see," Isa replied, cocking her head.

Tatara looked at her, wondering what she was thinking. Did he seem suspicious? Or did it just hurt her feelings? All he really wanted to do was to go home. His main and only objective of coming to see her was to break their ties, so that he and she would no longer have to suffer. But it just went all downhill, and it was all his fault-his fault for letting himself get injured.

"Some tea, perhaps?" Tatara suggested when Isa kept on staring at him with hopeful eyes.

"How 'bout some matcha tea?"

He nodded.

Isa lead Tatara to the kitchen, allowing him to sit where ever he pleased on one of the many counter chairs. Isa started to boil the water, opening covers to get the tea. Tatara's eyes drifted around the kitchen in awe. The theme for this room was floral and marbley. Every inch of the house was neat and tidy, fancy as well. It looked like a whole entire family lived in it, but he knew that Isa lived alone, that she had no parents-no family.

"Your house...is awfully big," Tatara said as a joke.

Isa laughed. "I love to decorate things, especially furniture and house stuff. It just makes things a lot more lively," she said, taking a good look at the room, smiling with pride.

Once the water was finished boiling, Isa took the teapot and poured tea into cups, serving herself and Tatara. She came and sat in front of him on the counter, handing a cup to him.

Tatara ended up staying a lot later than he planned to. They talked about many things, bonding closer together. He enjoyed it nonetheless, but at the same time he felt like he was just lingering. A feeling of numbness came over his senses. A pang of sadness and heaviness weighed his chest. But he just brushed it away. He no longer wanted to care, just wanted to erase everything. He was a ghoul, after all. And he had his own business to take care of as the leader of Aogiri.

But why is it me? He kept on asking himself.

He entered into his apartment and lay on his bed, a hand over his eyes. A headache emerged from the pit of his brain, the pain spreading to his temples. His whole entire day was stressful. Stress from the meeting, stress from the thought of letting his guard down for the slightest moment and getting injured, stress from all of the things he did that would have made him seem suspicious to Isa. But he knew it wouldn't matter anymore-because it was all over. Everything would slowly go back to normal…

"I wish I never met you.