Author's notes:

Why is it that when the story is in my head, it's shorter? I write it out, and it's really longer than I expected. :O I actually rewrote this one because the first version was too long and uninteresting (like it wasn't uninteresting to begin with lol).

I guess it's really like that lol. I hope the past three chapters weren't as boring as I thought it would be XD Please enjoy and leave a review! :)

Why didn't he tell me?

Touka was certain about one thing: and that is she was sure the she'll never meet Ken again. The younger Ken, though. Unfortunately, she's wrong.

Well, it's obviously better than meeting the original, she thought.

She promised Hide that she would drop by their foster care centre, and when she did, she never expected to meet Sasaki's son. And why was his kid there in the first place (it was a foster care centre after all).

"Papa drops me here if I have no school," he explained to her.

Upon arriving at the centre, she was met with intrigued gazes. Almost all people in the building looked at her—paired with whispering; a few of those were audible. She had no idea she was that popular in the city. She even heard Hide say something about "having a fan club about her" or something along those line but she just shrugged at the idea.

Hide led her to a room to where she enjoyed the time with some ghoul orphans, like playing with them or teaching them stuff. Hide had left her with the children, saying that he was needed at some activity in the centre. And then she saw him. Sasaki's child.

For some reason, she is at the garden behind the centre, wandering with the kid. It seems that Ken is fond of her, and invited her to the garden.

"Don't you have any company at home?" she asks the child, looking at him run around the garden.

"No," he replies, stopping. "Mama is gone, and Papa is always at work so he doesn't have much time for me. But I like being here."

The thought of him being alone saddens Touka. To the best of her knowledge, she was told that Sasaki—his past self, to be specific—was orphaned at a young age. And that he lived alone, and Hide was his only true companion, and that's what led to his innocence and his… unfortunate fate. And that's what brought her to know him.

To which she somehow wishes that hadn't happened.

"Don't you have any relatives or something?" Touka asks, but immediately cups her mouth with her hand. She knows the answer and yet she still asked.

Ken proceeded to pick some flowers. "I don't know. Maybe I'll ask papa."

Oh, so he hasn't told him yet, she thinks.

"Do you work here, Touka-onee chan?" he asks.

"Oh, I don't. Do you know someone called Hideyoshi here?"

"Mmm hmm. Hide-onii chan works here."

"He's my friend, and he asked me to come here. To visit the orphans."

"Oh."

Touka watches him pick flowers, and she sits down on the grassy ground, hugging her knees. She observes how lively and happy the kid is. It makes her smile.

"Ken," she calls him.

He looks up. "What is it, Touka-onee chan?"

"Don't you feel alone?"

"Alone? What does it mean?" the boy tilts his head, wondering.

"Well…" Touka looks up. "It's when you are left on your own. For example, if you're in a room and there's no person but you. Being alone means that when you are on your own, you get a sad feeling, and sometimes you want to be with other people, especially your loved ones."

Ken averts his gaze. "Hmm… maybe, Touka-onee chan."

"So, do you?"

"I think so, but most of the time, Papa is with me so I don't feel like that. But when I think about Mama, I think I feel what you just said."

"Well, I hope you won't feel alone too much."

"Mmmm… what about you, Touka-onee chan?" he looks at her again. "Do you feel alone sometimes?"

His question struck her heart. She hadn't thought about it for a long time. Well… do I? she thinks.

All the time.

Of course, she couldn't say that to a child. He would wonder why. Possibly get worried. Though she thinks she doesn't want to admit it out loud.

"Yes, sometimes," she replies. "But I have friends or acquiantances, so I don't really feel alone that much. To be honest, being alone sometimes feel okay."

Ken scrunches his eyebrows. "Ehhhh… how is that?"

She giggles. "It's a little hard to explain, you know. Maybe when you get older, you'll understand."

"Why is that?"

She smiles at him. "Grown-ups are complicated."

"Oh, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Hide runs towards Touka and Ken. He stops and breathes.

"Hide-onii chan!" Ken throws himself to him, making Hide step back a little, but he catches him and laughs. Some of the flowers he had picked fall down on the floor.

"Oh, you were in the garden?" Hide asks the boy.

The boy nods. "Touka-onee chan was with me!"

Hide glances at her for a moment, and looks back at him. He ruffles his hair. "Are you sure you haven't bothered her?"

"Nope!"

He chuckles. "Okay. And you got some nice flowers there, huh? Maybe you can give them to your father?"

"Oh, I will, Hide-onii chan!"

He pats his head. "Okay. Someone's calling you in the play room so you should go there."

The boy nods, and sprints towards the corridor until he was out of sight. Hide remains looking at him, and Touka approaches him and clears her throat.

Hide knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Hide-san, why didn't you tell me that you know his son personally?" she asks him.

Hide smiles nervously, and scratches his cheek. "Well, I thought you'll guess that I already know him since I told you that I'm keeping contact with Kaneki."

Touka sighs deeply. Well, why haven't I thought of that?

"If you're wondering why he's here, Kaneki almost always drops him here with Ken doesn't have any classes. He picks him up here, too."

"W-What?" and all of a sudden she gets nervous. She steps a back a little, and that gives Hide a silent message that she's startled.

"Uhm, only sometimes though!" Hide says. "And when he does, he notifies us. Always. And he didn't, today."

She breathes a sigh of relief. Touka looks away, hiding her distressed expression. She thought about wanting to see him, but now, it feels like she doesn't want to. Hide notices her uneasiness.

"Why are you being nervous, Touka-chan?' he asks her mischievously.

"Huh? I'm not nervous!" she denies, but it's clear in her face that she is.

Hide crosses his arms and narrows his eyes at her, playfully. Touka leans backward a little, avoiding his gaze.

"W-What?" she asks him.

"Aha! Touka-chan is nervous about seeing Kaneki, I see!" he says, landing his fist on his palm.

She sweats nervously, and tries to convince him. "What? I am n-not! Why would I be nervous?"

Hide laughs. He throws his arm around Touka's shoulders which makes her jump. "Aw, you really like Kaneki, don't you? Man, I'm so jealous!"

"What are you saying, Hide-san?! I don't!"

He pinches Touka's cheek. "I wish you get nervous when I'm here too!" he laughs more loudly, and she pushes him away.

She rubs her pinched cheek. "Huh? Why would you want that?"

"Well, it's because I like you, Touka-chan!" he beams.

She smiles. "You're really good at joking, aren't you, Hide-san?" she says. "Anyway, I need to leave now. I have to do something. Thanks for the inviting me here."

"Oh, sure, Touka-chan," Hide says, calming down. "Thanks for the time."

"Well, I don't really have something to do tomorrow, so maybe I can drop by again here?" Touka asks. "I got to admit, it's really fun being with the kids."

Hide's heart jumps in delight. "Oh, great! I was gonna ask if you could come again tomorrow. The others are planning a little teaching session with the kids tomorrow and maybe you could help. Well, you teach, after all."

"That's going to be a bit different. Teenagers are very different from toddlers. But it's still teaching, so I guess I'm going."

"Great, so, see you tomorrow, then?"

Touka nods. "Yeah, see you."

The next day was exhausting but fun. Touka had fun meeting Hide's co-workers and teaching the children. She wasn't expecting it to be easy, and it seems like it wasn't the case. She has good impressions of the workers on the centre. All of them were normal, and she was glad she didn't feel left out during the activity. The kids were lively, with most of them running around and jumping. She wondered how the children remained healthy.

When the activity has calmed down a little, Touka nudges Hide.

"I was wondering…" her voice falters. She feels a little uneasy asking him.

"What is it?" he looks at her.

"Well, I just noticed that the kids are so lively and active. Uhm… and I mean, more lively and active than I was when I was that young. I was thinking that how are they able to remain… like that."

Hide stares at her, waiting for her to continue.

"Uhm… I was just wondering how they remain healthy. They need to… eat, right?"

Hide smiles, and places his hand gently on her shoulder. "There's no need to be uncomfortable, Touka-chan."

And there it is. For some reason, Hide's touch has been calming her down. She opens her palms and places her fingertips on top of each other.

"I know that there's a special project the government is running. Humans can sign an agreement that, if ever something happens to them, for example, get sick or something; they can donate their bodies as food for us, right?"

"Yes, that's right. We get the orphan's food rations from them, and they sort the food first. So they can give the healthy ones to the kids."

"As I expect," Touka says. "I was just wondering how… how do you feed them? Don't they uncomfortable? The kids, I mean."

"Oh, they don't," he assures her. "Well, during the first years of the establishment, it was a little hard, but they soon got used to it. The new orphans as well."

One of the workers claps their hands, getting everyone's attention.

"Okay, everyone. It's already time. You can pass your activity sheets to us now."

All of the children stand up. They hand their sheets to the workers, making the room a little messy. Hide taps Touka's shoulder.

"I'll be in that part of the room to collect the children's works. You can give your collected sheets to the worker nearest you, Touka-chan."

"Okay," she says, and Hide leaves. She starts collecting the works too, and she sees that Ken participated as well, and he chose to approach her among the workers.

"Touka-onee chan, I had fun with the activity!" he beams at her.

She accepts the paper from him. "Did you learn a lot?"

Ken nods. "Mama also teaches me at home when she was still there. And you really look like her, so I really feel like she's come back!"

Her heart tightens. He's still young, and he hasn't realized that his mother was already gone—permanently. She forces a smile at him.

"You really like her, don't you?" she smiles at him, ruffling his hair.

"Mm hmm! Touka-onee chan, you're like my mama now."

She just laughs, ignoring the pain in her chest.

Why does it hurt, I wonder?

"That's okay for now, Ken," she says. "The others are waiting, so you can go now."

He hugs her before leaving, and lively hops away. Touka feels something linger from his hug, and she doesn't know why.

Most of the children are finished, and one of the workers leads them out of the room. A few of the children are still left, including Ken, who was talking with the other workers.

"Kirishima-san, are you finished?" one of the workers approach her.

"Oh, yes I am. Here are some of the children's works," she hands the sheets to the workers when a familiar voice echoed inside the room.

"Hello?"

She continued arranging the papers and handing them to worker. Immediately, her heart almost stopped beating.

Hide's voice echoed in the room. "Oh? You're here, Kaneki!"

Touka froze.