author's note;
09/28/14 — Third chapter! I'm trying to move this along at an acceptable pace... though now I've begun to wonder whether I'm being too slow. Thoughts on this?

That night, she catches a rebroadcast of today's (yesterday's) news.

On the evening of the 3rd, the reporter says, a couple was caught in an accident when several metal beams fell from atop a nearby construction site. The young woman was confirmed dead upon arrival to the hospital, while the young man passed away hours later. The authorities will continue to look into the circumstances surrounding this event.

By the time they get to the next segment, she's already turned off the TV and headed straight to bed.

( continue )

When Kamishiro Rize stops coming to Anteiku and subsequently disappears from the 20th Ward, there's a collective sigh of relief all around.

When Kaneki Ken reappears after a week long absence, looking no less healthy and acting no less annoying, Touka briefly considers spitting on his order while nobody is looking.

"Hey, Kirishima-san!" his friend calls out to her, waving his arm at her as she approaches their table with two lattes in hand. "Did you know this hopeless guy forgot to do our assigned reading for Asian History because—"

"—Hide!" Crush Boy interrupts, staring at his companion with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. She does not have to hear the end of that sentence. Not really.

"Anyway," his friend continues, not in the least deterred by that outburst. "He spent a week cooped up in his place, reading the whole book. It was only one chapter! Can you believe this guy?"

"Haa... Is that right?" she asks, her voice saccharine sweet. "He should focus more on his studies, shouldn't he?"

Her words leave a foul taste in her mouth, but they seem to do the trick as she sets their orders down on the table. A moment later, Crush Boy begins to nurse the drink between his hands.

"Yeah, I know. That's just what I was telling him," his friend responds, gesticulating wildly. "Kaneki, my man, you're not going to get anywhere if you don't hit the books—like me!"

"H— Hide," crush boy says, lowering the cup and furrowing his brows. "No matter how you look at it, that's a lie."

"Oho! But it's what I thought about saying."

"That... doesn't really change a thing."

By the time she begins to tune them out in order to attend her other tables, the conversation has disintegrated into a childish and repetitive does too and does not argument.

When she swings by again, Crush Boy looks just as consternated as she left him—though now his friend seems to be more preoccupied with getting up from his chair while wiggling his eyebrows. She thinks she hears him whisper, all too conspicuously: "It'll be a test of courage!"

Mentally, she gives herself a pat in the back for being able to keep a smile on her face.

"See ya, Kirishima-san!" he says as he passes her by on his way towards the exit. "Kaneki here will be picking up the check."

She pretends not to see the rapid winking he does on his way out. Instead, she focuses on the remaining half of the atrocious duo.

"I'll just..." she begins, staring at his trembling hands and hearing every single breath he forces in and out through his nostrils. "I'll bring you the check, if that'll be all."

And she expects it to be. She hopes it will be. Keeping up this charade seriously tires her out.

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It's not.

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(Not by a long shot.)

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"W-Wait—um... Kirishima-san."

She stops after taking only two steps away from his table, and tilts her head slightly in order to look at him. "Yes...?"

"Are you... I mean... Do you..." he starts, vacillating between tones and crawling through each syllable with painful hesitance. She wishes, almost desperately, that he would get to the point so she could say no. Then, after a moment of awkward silence, he brings a hand up to his chin and gives her a small and shaky chuckle. "Actually... that won't be all. Could I have a cappuccino to go, please?"

She finds herself hesitating this time.

"Oh. Of course."

He really does piss her off.

And even with Rize gone, she still left quite a mess for them to clean up. How very like her.