Hey, yo! What's up, guys? It's been a long time since you've seen anything from my ass, huh?

Well, I have to apologize for that. I'm not even going to front, I totally dropped the ball. I put a lot on myself for the two-year anniversary of this story and I kinda burned myself out, that burnout turned into laziness and now we're here, three weeks past the normal deadline with only a third of what I promised done (I managed to gather enough energy to rewrite the third and fourth chapters).

Also, happy, two-year anniversary guys!

-Mandatory Disclaimer-

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Bullshit.

-Chapter 17: Odd Number Pair

Yang didn't know what she expected to find when she walked back to Kaneki's room; however, she should have expected what she found, given the two people that had been left alone to watch it.

In retrospect, leaving Blake and Weiss together definitely wasn't the best idea she'd ever come up with, especially since their entire job was taking care of a friend who just experienced two mental breakdowns in less than an hour. Unfortunately, she hadn't really had much choice in the matter.

Ruby was still only fifteen years old, after all. She needed her sleep, and it was getting late. Besides, Yang didn't want her seeing too much of Kaneki acting like how he was.

Despite her being the older sister, Yang didn't want to coddle her team leader; but there were, of course, places where she had to draw the line. A close friend having a mental and emotional breakdown was one of those things Ruby definitely didn't need to see.

However, that didn't lessen the tension between her remaining teammates.

It was clear from the moment Yang saw the two standing across from each other, saying nothing, that nothing between them had improved. The tension that was hanging in the air highlighted that fact very clearly.

For every second she spent standing in that awkward tension, Yang felt more and more compelled to reach out and help the two solve whatever issues still existed between them, but she had to stop herself before she could.

"So, how is he?" Unfortunately, despite her wishes, Yang knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to spark a confrontation between the two, especially with everything that had been happening to Kaneki. "Is he doing okay, or is he still…y'know? Freaking out?"

As it turned out, speaking up really did do wonders for the two standing in front of her. At the very least, it got both of them to look up from the floor.

The two of them blinked at her, like a pair of owls looking at something they didn't quite understand, and then turned to face one another. They stayed like that for a good while, before Weiss shrugged her shoulders and cocked her head over in Yang's general direction–a clear sign of who the heiress wanted to do the talking in this situation.

Actually, considering all that happened tonight, having Blake do all the talking was probably the appropriate decision.

"He's—" Before Blake could even start, Kaneki's door suddenly opened.

Knowing that there was only one person could open the door, the three immediately turned to face where the sound came from.

Again, Yang didn't know what she expected to see when she turned towards the door, but again, she felt like she should've expected what she did she.

He was a complete and utter mess, Ken Kaneki was. He was standing in his room's doorway, leaning his body onto the frame in such a way that made it clear that he was doing so to keep up. His hair was all messy, and there wasn't an inch of his clothes that didn't have a wrinkle; and if that wasn't enough of a sign that he's been having a bad night, he looked like he just sprinted through all of a marathon set in the deserts of Vacuo, what with the amount of sweat pouring down him.

All of that, combined with the fact he was hiding his face behind his bangs, made Yang worry about her teammate immensely.

Not, of course, that she wasn't already worried.

It was hard not to be after seeing how he broke down like he did. The way Kaneki had been acting earlier scared the ever-loving bejeebus out of Yang. She never thought him to be a cold, emotionless person like Weiss, but she personally believed him to be someone who liked to hide how he felt–it was an aspect of his personality that she picked up on when they first met. However, at no point during their friendship did she expect all those hidden feelings to come out like…well, like that. A trickle, a little bit at a time–that was what she expected. Not all at once.

So, as Yang watched the teetering teen and wondered about what he was going to say to them, she couldn't help but worry.

Would he open up about what he was going on about? Did she even want to know in the first—?

"The three of you can go back to your room now." The words that came out of Kaneki's mouth surprised Yang, but she knew that knowing him, they shouldn't have. "Sorry about keeping you all up so late with all the fuss I've made. It won't happen again, I swear." There was a strange reluctance to his words, that made him sound like a little kid who was being forced to apologize by a parent.

Yang opened her mouth to ask why he sounded so reluctant, but before she could, she was beat to the punch.

"What exactly are you apologizing for?" Blake asked, her amber eyes narrowed in what Yang assumed was a mix of confusion and irritation. "Didn't we just talk about this with you? You're our friend. None of us mind having to lose sleep to make sure you're alright."

For whatever reason (sarcasm), Yang expected Kaneki to be surprised by the revelation, but no signs (well, no obvious ones), appeared on his face.

Actually, he didn't react to it at all. He just kept standing there for several long moments, before finally taking a deep drag of air in through his nostrils and then letting it out.

"Yeah, I get that much." Kaneki still didn't look up. "I just don't feel like it's something any of you should be doing for me to begin with."

His words pricked at Yang irritatingly. "Then what exactly do you expect all us to do when you start acting like that?" Her words came out much more aggressive than she had originally intended. "Go back to our room and act like our friend isn't having a mental breakdown?"

"No." Kaneki shook his head slowly. "That wasn't what I was trying to say." Doing so just as slowly, the half ghoul raised his head to face them, revealing to the three what he was trying to hide behind his hair. "I really do appreciate the fact you four would go through the trouble, but it's just not something you should be doing in the first place."

The smile that suddenly appeared on Kaneki's lips greatly clashed with the dull, empty look he had in his eyes. "I'm almost twenty years old." He let out a chuckle that had zero energy backing it whatsoever. "I should be long past acting like that, don't you think?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the air, and Yang immediately found herself at a loss for words. Not because it was such an utterly baffling thing that she didn't know what to say back; but because she knew that everything she wanted to say wouldn't help. So she stayed quiet—no matter how unfair his words were, not just to them, but himself too.

Yeah, the ever emotionless Ken Kaneki finally cracked under the pressure and finally showed them all emotion. Yeah, big freaking whoop–all that it proved was something that should be the case with any normal human being. The guy had a limit as to the amount of punishment he could take emotionally. Who didn't?

Now, just because he was almost at the point he could no longer be considered a teen, that limit suddenly meant nothing? Ha, what a load of crap.

If it weren't for the fact that the ghoul just came off a mental breakdown not too long ago, Yang would be laying into his self-belittling ass. Hard.

Instead, Yang decided that she would still lay into him, but in a much more accommodating way (which meant she was going to say what she wanted, but with her inside voice).

"That's a load of—!" The blonde began her tirade, but was cut off before she could truly begin.

"So, that's why I wanted to ask all of you to help me with growing up."

Yang, Weiss, and Blake all stared at him in shock.

"Wait…what?"

"So…how did things go last night?" The question left Ruby's mouth tentatively as her eyes traveled from roommate to roommate, all of which looked more bedraggled as the last. She couldn't help but wonder about how long each of them stayed up in support of their teammate after Yang had told her to go to bed–something that she resented immensely. "What happened with Kaneki? Is he going to be alright or…?"

"He's going to be fine." The one to respond to the question was, unsurprisingly, Yang, who did so with an optimism that confused Ruby. It was like her older sister meant for the emotion to be there, but lacked the energy to fully deliver on it, thus giving her answer a sort of empty quality to it.

Given the circumstances, it wouldn't have surprised Ruby at all to find out that the lack of emotion behind her words was because of a lack of sleep, but she'd known her sister to speak like that for other reasons Usually, it was to be sarcastic after being forced to do something she really didn't want to do, so she couldn't say that she definitely got what being implied.

"The four of us talked and we managed to—" The sleep deprived blonde let out a loud and drawn out yawn, reaching up to cover her mouth, before then letting her posture turn from fully straight to slouching so low that it looked like she was trying to touch her toes. "Ugh…y'know what? Blake, you explain what happened with Kaneki. I'm way too tired to deal with this right now."

"Hey, what makes you think I'm in any better shape than you are?" Blake grumbled as she rubbed at the bags that, at some point, formed underneath her eyes. "Last time I checked, we were all awake the same amount of time."

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who decided to go and lock lips with the guy." Yang's retort was master class as scratched at her side, all while dragging herself and her feet over to her bed. Throwing herself onto it, she buried her head into one of her pillows and added in a voice muffled by fabric, "As far as I'm concerned, all things related to Ken Kaneki now automatically fall underneath your jurisdiction." She raised a hand up towards the ceiling and extended a thumb. "Go get 'em, tiger!"

Yang let her arm fall back to the mattress with an unceremonious thud, and Ruby knew that there'd be no way Blake would be able to argue against the her sister's declaration. This, obviously, didn't sit well with her dark-haired teammate, but again, she really wasn't going to be able to do anything about it.

"Pft!" The sound of a certain heiress being barely able to hold back a snort of laughter caused an awkward smile to crack Ruby's lips and one of the ears on top of Blake's to twitch a little, probably out of irritation.

Blake couldn't help but be a little irritated by the responsibility that was suddenly forced onto her shoulders by Yang, who was in the enviable position of being in a state of complete unconsciousness. Dammit, she wanted to be asleep too.

"So, that's basically all that happened after you left." Blake let out a relieved sigh when she finally finished giving her team leader the explanation she had been tasked with giving. In all honesty, it didn't take that long to fully explain everything, as Ruby remained silent throughout the entirety of it, but she was so tired that it felt longer than it actually was. "Any questions?"

Ruby blinked owlishly in response to the question, a second passing before her brows suddenly furrowed and her lips formed a contemplative frown. "No, I'm good," she answered, though her expression and tone of voice did little to convince Blake that it was genuine.

"Are you sure? You don't look like it." Blake's reply came out a lot blunter than she wanted, but she figured that Ruby would understand if she was offended by it. The Faunus hadn't gotten a single second of sleep since yesterday morning and she knew that her team leader was aware of the fact.

"Yeah," Ruby said, chuckling awkwardly. Scratching at the back of her head, she sheepishly added, "I'm just having a little trouble processing it all." There was a pause in which she took a glance down at her feet, before looking back up and continuing to speak. "So…Kaneki wants help 'growing up'?"

"Apparently," Blake replied with a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping. "Don't ask me about what exactly he means by that, though."

The request Kaneki asked of them was a frustrating thing for Blake to have to think about. To her, it represented yet another shift in the narrative-another plot twist, so to speak. One that wasn't needed–or appreciated–at all by her in the slightest.

Not to imply that she wasn't happy that Kaneki was attempting to open up to them more. She was ecstatic, actually. She liked him. She liked him a lot. So to see him strip himself of whatever mental block that was stopping him from doing so made a familiar warmth in her chest appear and her jaw drop a little, but that chest-locked heat was quickly snuffed out and the moment she put any thought into the matter.

Kaneki, for all the things he was, was an extremely stubborn person. So, to see him so suddenly change his mind on something wasn't just strange to her, it was entirely out of character. Something had happened to him between the moment she left him in his room to recuperate, and when he emerged from said room, that much was clear to her. She just didn't know what.

Upon realizing that, Blake, of course, asked what had caused the sudden change of heart. Surprisingly, he answered her question without any protest or dramatics–he just simply answered the question, which, she had to admit, was quite refreshing given the climate of their previous conversations.

Apparently, Haise had contacted him in his mind while he was unconscious and told him, rather aggressively, to 'grow up'.

Initially, that worried her, as she didn't know if the specter in his brain was manipulating him into doing his bidding so that he could take over at some later point; but after hearing the lengths Haise would go through to get his point across, her concern died down a bit. Still, she couldn't help but feel a small bit wary about his request after that.

"Well, I guess the only thing we can do now is help him as much as we can," Ruby stated, her voice resigned, before letting out a light sigh.

The frown on Blake's face deepened. Admitting that was the very last thing she wanted to do, but unfortunately, that was the only thing she could do as of the moment.

"Alright, you can head to bed," Ruby stated as she planted one of her hands on her hips and the other balled into a fist in the center of her chest, an almost cringe-worthy amount of energy in her voice. "I'll hold down the fort until you guys have slept enough!"

Nodding, Blake didn't hesitate in expending what was left of her remaining energy to dash over to her bed and slip under her blanket in one single, smooth motion.

Now, with her entire body covered by her covers and supported by her firm mattress, she closed her eyes and felt herself succumb to the throes of sleep very quickly. Near instantly actually.

The sound of faint knocking on wood ripped Blake from the throes of sleep, which was something that she, being part cat, didn't appreciate at all. It was one of the biggest downsides of having superior senses to a human, she found.

Sleep, especially for a part-cat Faunus like herself, was light most of the time and could be easily interrupted by the errant bump in the night. Fortunately, she could fall back asleep pretty easily, which made up for it to some extent, but she'd much rather just be able to sleep normally.

Grumbling to herself and turning onto her side, Blake tried her best to fall back asleep, but she was stopped from doing so when she heard the sound of a door opening.

Hm? Now intrigued by whatever it was that made that sound, she forced open her eyes and found herself wrapped in complete darkness. Blinking at the lack of anything around her, she wondered why her night vision hadn't activated yet, but then quickly realized why the reason why. Oh. Right. I forgot.

Reaching out into the darkness in front of her, Blake balled her hands into fists the moment she felt the smooth fabric wrapped around her touch her palms, and jerked it downward, releasing her head from the warm, stuffy interior of her blanket cocoon.

Cool air pouring into her lungs, she immediately found herself flinching at the sudden shift in brightness that the outside world presented. As it turned out, going from pitch black darkness to any form of lighting wasn't a good idea. She blamed her mistake on her sleep-deprivation.

"Oh, it's you! W-what's up?" The sound of Ruby trying too hard to be casual caught the Blake's attention. She could immediately tell by her team leader's tone of voice that the person at their front door wasn't Kaneki or anybody from team JNPR–as she had long since graduated from being uncomfortable around any of them.

"Oh, nothing really." The voice that answered was one that Blake was familiar with, though not overly so. In total, she'd probably only ever heard it twice. The voice belonged to one of the transfers–Emerald Sustrai, if she remembered correctly. "I was just in the neighborhood and thought that it would probably be a good idea to introduce you all to Emma."

"'Emma'?" Ruby voiced the question that popped into Blake's own head when that name was mentioned.

"Yeah, Emma." There was a momentary pause between words punctuated by the sound of shuffling feet, which Blake assumed was because Emerald was retrieving this 'Emma'. "We had to leave her behind in Mistral for a couple days because of some personal issues, but we were finally able to get her here. She's the fourth member of our team."

Now immensely curious as to who the transfer student was talking about, Blake rolled onto her side and angled herself so that her head was right next to the edge of the bed. Peeking up over it, she found herself staring at her team leader's back and the fronts of two people, which were both obscured by the prior.

From what she could see, the one on Ruby's left was Emerald–Blake could tell by the skin tone and hair–which, of course meant that the person to the right, who looked a head shorter, had to be Emma.

Blake, from her current position with her head discreetly poking up off the side of her bed, couldn't see a lot of what the newly arrived transfer looked like due to the inadvertent interference of Ruby's back, but she could see that the girl had long black hair-hair that was tied up into twin-tails on the side of her head-and clothes of same color.

"Oh, um, h-hi!" Ruby greeted in her usual awkward way. "It's nice to get to meet you. I'd introduce you to the rest of my team and all, but…" She took a glance back over her shoulder, "…right now is kind of a bad time."

"Ah, you guys have a rough night?" Emerald asked. Ruby gave a quick nod of her head. "Well, I wouldn't want to be a bother, or anything. We'll make sure to come back at a better time. Wouldn't want everyone thinking that she just popped up from out of nowhere. "

"Y-yeah!" Her team leader jumped to agree with the temporary transfer. "A better time. Definitely! See you then!"

With that, the meeting between the three girls ended as fast as it began. The two visitors said their goodbyes (well, Emerald did–Emma didn't say anything at all) and Ruby closed the door as they parted ways, leaving the eavesdropping Faunus with a single question: Who is this Emma person?

Blake watched the match going on before her with more interest than the rest, partially because of the fact that all four members of team CRDL were a part of it (and truth be told,she would greatly enjoy seeing the racist pricks get their asses handed to them), and largely because Kaneki was their opponent–all by himself, might she add–and she knew that he'd give her exactly what she wanted. Her boyf—teammate carried a disdain for team CRDL that rivaled even her own because of the way they'd treat Velvet. He was much more subtle about it than she was, but she didn't fail to miss all the glares he'd send their way when he thought no one was looking.

Cardin tries to swing his mace down onto Kaneki. The latter steps to the side and turns to avoid getting hit. Dodges effortlessly. He grabs his opponent's mace by the handle. Pulls towards body. Shifts body with pull–is now facing opposite direction, towards crowd. Back of arm wrapped around neck. Kicks leg out from underneath opponent. Body now in air. Kaneki slams palm into stomach. Is no longer in air. All happens fast. Very.

"Oh, that one's gotta hurt," Jaune who was sitting with his team in the row in front of her, commented. Blake could tell by the way he spoke that he was enjoying the show. To be honest, she couldn't begrudge him for it. She was enjoying it too.

Russell attempts to get the jump on Kaneki as he finishes earlier attack. Doesn't work. Target is already aware of his presence. Pushes shoulder into stomach as his daggers are raised in the air. Attacker is flipped over defender's shoulders onto an already supine Cardin. Lands with a thud. Back of head happens to hit head of dropped mace on way down. Metallic clang rips through air.

"Hm, I wasn't aware that Kaneki could fight on such a level," Phyrra voiced her own thoughts on the match as she cupped her fingers around her chin. "He's barely even breaking a sweat."

"Well, yeah, of course you weren't aware of that," Yang, who was watching the match with much less interest than Blake, said offhandedly. If the Faunus had to guess a reason, it was probably because she already knew he was going to win in the end. "This is the first time you guys have seen him fight."

Now, Sky attempts to ambush Kaneki. Runs at the half ghoul from his back. Hefts axe over left shoulder and tries to bring it down onto his opponent's own. Opponent donkey kicks bottom half of handle before it reaches. Handle goes into gut of Sky and its wielder doubles over from pain immediately. Kaneki turns on his heel to face his would-be attacker. He wraps arms around mid-section back-first. Lifts opponent up, does so in a way that causes enemy to flip mid-lift. Sky's legs are now sitting on Kaneki's shoulders. Latter turns toward pile of bodies, shifts his body backwards before bouncing back in the opposite direction. Slams Sky's back into teammates. All Aura levels lower to near nothing instantly. Only about a sliver left for all three.

"Oh, oh, oh! He just did a gut-wrench power bomb in the middle of an actual fight! That's so awesome!" Nora gushed. Blake didn't understand what she was trying to reference with that name, though. "I gotta try that when it's my turn to spar!"

Ren glanced at the practically bouncing girl sitting next to her and shook his head. "I'm not sure that's the best of ideas," he stated in usual flat way. "I mean, not everyone is as disorganized as team CRDL is."

"It'd still be fun to try though~!"

Upon finishing third member of CRDL, the last remaining, Dove, throws sword at the side of Kaneki's head. He reacts to it right as it almost hits his throat. Leans back and lets it fly right under his chin. Reaches hand up, catches it by the blade. Smoothly flips it in hand and slams pommel into the stomach of Sky like a makeshift hammer. Does so with enough force that it is felt to the very bottom of the pile. Rest of aura is gone. All three are eliminated, leaving a defenseless Dove remaining. Last of team CRDL realizes position. Gives up immediately. Almost everyone laughs. Goodwitch doesn't. Reminds Dove of team's self-imposed rule of not being able to yield. Kaneki doesn't hesitate.

Kaneki runs up to Dove in a near instant. Continues using caught sword as weapon. Uses its pommel to cause the last remaining member of team CRDL to double over. Left knee meets with forehead as Dove does so. Aura bar dissipates immediately. Kaneki wins.

The entire room around Blake erupted into applause in response to seeing the final member of team CRDL go down. It was something she had expected given all that was working against him in the fight–the word 'working' being in large quotes as she said that.

To explain away his week-long absence from class after what happened at the docks, Ozpin had originally thought to tell everyone that Kaneki was in the infirmary due to some rather severe injuries that he had received during said incident. The explanation was vague, as it was intended to be.

Under the guise of maintaining Kaneki's privacy, the headmaster didn't divulge the nature of his injury, but implied that it was of a serious enough nature to warrant the recovery timeline of 'indefinite'. So, to her teammates, it must've seemed that he wasn't going to be seen in class, much less fighting, for a good while.

Instead, Kaneki came back and inserted himself into a four-on-one match in a little over a week's time. Blake was sure that there were some among her classmates that were impressed by that feat alone, but he absolutely crushed said four in less than a minute's time, so that probably finished off the rest, if there were any.

"And that's the match," Ms. Goodwitch, who had been standing off to the side observing the match the entire time, announced as she walked into the center of the circular ring. "I must say, Mr. Kaneki, you did well despite only having just come back from injury today. Fight like that, and when the time comes, qualifying for the tournament should be no problem."

"Ah, thank you," Kaneki replied in his usual sheepish manner, bowing his head slightly in appreciation.

Up in the stands, Blake couldn't help but find the entire exchange slightly amusing. The teacher knew about what actually happened with Kaneki, so she was lying through her teeth as she said all that. That being said, she didn't know if that meant their teacher's praise was genuine or not.

Ms. Goodwitch didn't miss a beat after receiving her thanks. Looking down at the scroll in her hand, she turned to the rest of the class and continued speaking. "Alright, I know that we're running low on time, but we should be able to fit in just one more match." She looked over the class sitting in the stands. Suddenly, her gaze eyes stopped right on Blake. "Ms. Belladonna, I see that you're actually paying attention today." The Faunus in question blinked at the sudden call out, straightening her back unconsciously. "Would you like to be the next to fight? I've noticed that you've become much more… Docile, as of late."

Blake's eyes immediately shot open in response to the jab, and she turned her head to face a direction anywhere other at her instructor. She just couldn't help the embarrassment. Insults were nothing new to her, due to her life as a Faunus and former White Fang member, but that only extended to insults that she felt had no real merit–the kind that a typical, schoolyard bully, like Cardin, would ever utter with any amount of conviction. Ones that had an actual basis behind them, and weren't just said because of flat out hate, always tended to hit a lot closer to home for her.

Blake glanced at Kaneki, who was standing next to Ms. Goodwitch, decked out in a new version of his old combat uniform. To her irritation, he looked like he might have agreed. Note to self, she thought, do something to emasculate Kaneki next time we're alone. He's getting too cocky.

Feeling the weight of all the eyes being focused into her, Blake opened her mouth to give an answer, but any form of answer was killed in her throat when the sound of someone knocking on wood cut her off.

Turning her attention to the source, Blake realized that she was looking at a face that was familiar, and yet also greatly unfamiliar to her.

"Ah, you're Emma Blackery, aren't you?" Ms. Goodwitch asked. "The student from Haven who just arrived in Vale on Saturday?" The girl in question, who was now standing, nodded her head, her black pigtails bouncing with her head movements. "Ah, alright then." Ms. Goodwitch glanced down at her scroll, before returning it back to the freshly arrived transfer. "Who would you like to be your opponent?"

There was no hesitation in the girl's response. Literally none. There was about a second between when their instructor had asked the question and the response given.

Again opting to use her actions to talk for her, Emma pointed at who she wanted to fight and Blake found herself immediately disagreeing with the choice.

She was pointing right at Kaneki.

Ken Kaneki.

That was the name that Haise went by nowadays. Neo didn't like it. Not at all. It was different from what she was used to. A lot of things about him were different from what she was used to—not just his name. Everything, from his personality to his physical appearance, was different now. Actually, if the image of his face hadn't already been burned into the depths of her mind, she would've thought him to be an entirely different person.

"Ah, my apologies, but Mr. Kaneki has already participated in a match, so—" Ms. Goodwitch began, but she was cut off by the person standing next to her.

"—No, no." The imposter cut his teacher off before she could finish, doing so with a sharp crack of his index finger. "It's fine."

It was clear to her now. The person standing in front of her, down in the center of the ring next to the Beacon combat instructor–Goodwitch–wasn't the same person as Haise Sasaki. Not by a long shot.

"It's not like my last match was much of a challenge anyway." Yep, definitely not the same person. The Haise she knew would never so blatantly talk shit about another person, at least, never so openly. "So…" One of his hands–the one covered up in bandages–resting right on the center of his stomach, as he shot her a contradicting look. His lips formed a friendly smile, but his eyes were shooting a glare at her. "…I'd be more than happy to be your sparring partner."

Neo, not wanting to be rude, smiled back at the person she inadvertently created and nodded her head.

In the end, it was all her fault.

Her actions had directly caused the creation of Ken Kaneki. If she hadn't done what she had, the man standing before her wouldn't be doing so as an enemy that needed to be coerced into doing anything. He'd be at her side as an ally. Just like how it always should be.

Maybe this is what he felt like everyday, Neo thought as she made her way down to the arena, a pair of dull grey eyes glaring at her the entire way down. To reach out towards someone who loathed you entirely… She could feel it–the pure animosity he was showing her. There was no chance that her current facade was actually fooling him. He's already seen it way too many times for that to happen. Thankfully, it wasn't meant to fool him, at least not entirely. I must say that it doesn't feel good at all.

What she was doing… It was a crapshoot, a complete and utter leap of faith on her part. One that solely relied on the person standing before her with a sword, sitting newly-produced in his hand.

Neo knew that this current iteration of Haise, Kaneki, absolutely hated her, despised her, loathed her more than anything, but despite that, she was sure that there was a part of him that still cared about her, and she was going to reach deep into his chest and rip that part out of him, back to the surface…

Whether he liked it or not.

-Chapter End-

Well, the chapter's done. Neo is here and she's after Kaneki's rear. Nothing is going to end queer. Um…

Bye.