Author's Note: Alright, as promised, here is the new chapter! I was supposed to finish this a few hours ago but then I talked to a fellow reader to see if - should happen (I left it blank for spoilers of this chapter), and when we agreed that it would be interesting, I noticed I had to make this chapter a bit different to what I had intended. Anyways, shoutout to Mystic ToMatooo for supporting me and enjoy the chapter!
"Where do you think you're going, Ayato-sama?" Yoko said innocently as she grabbed Ayato's arm.
"Where do you think?!" he responded before running in the direction Lith had taken her friend. What was he doing? Why did it always end up this way? Why does everything always go wrong?
"Lith!" yelled Ayato desperately as he began to catch up to her. She can't really run as fast if she's carrying someone (but she's still fast).
"What."
"Why did you slap me?"
"I-I just overreacted." she said, pushing back tears. What did Ayato do to make her so upset?
"Why?" asked Ayato worriedly. They both stopped walking.
"Nothing. It was just very sudden." said Lith. There was a soft breeze during their silence. They stood there for a few minutes as Lith examined Karissa's injuries as she placed her on the ground. Without a second thought, Lith used her rinkaku kagune and sliced a piece off. She flinched slightly but stuffed it into Karissa's mouth.
"Wh-why did you do that?" asked Ayato, disgusted by the idea of eating her kagune.
"Like you should be talking, Mr.I-Ate-My-Sister alive!" growled Lith in annoyance.
"Point taken…" mumbled Ayato. He shifted in place awkwardly as he saw Karissa swallow the kagune. Her previously slow regeneration quickened and she began to wake up.
"Lith?"
"Karissa!" cried Lith as she wrapped her arms around her friend. "I'm so glad you're alright!" Karissa looked at her questioningly before noticing Ayato peering over Lith's shoulder.
"You know what, I'm fine. I'll just head over to my house…" said Karissa quickly as she stood up and left.
"Wait!" said Lith as she began to pat her pockets. She finally found her keys and handed them to Karissa. "Stay at my house tonight. I'm not sure how Yoka is going to react to tonight." explained Lith, confirming her nervousness.
"Thanks!" chirped Karissa as she grabbed the keys and ran towards Lith's house. Lith sighed as she turned and saw Ayato.
"What? Do I really look that bad?" joked Ayato.
"Stop acting, idiot. I know you like Yoka." she said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I just don't think it's a good idea. Have you seen how she treated her own cousin?!" Wait. She was talking to the guy who would eat his own sister. She felt like an idiot.
"I don't like her. I hate her!" said Ayato sincerely. "The one I really like is-"
"You know what? I can't listen to you anymore." Lith said loudly. She turned around and began to run in the opposite direction. Ayato tried to catch up to her, but she began to speed up. They ran through the busy streets of Tokyo, ignoring the strange looks they were getting. They were running so fast in fact, that most people only saw a blur followed by a strong breeze.
Lith tried to loose him by passing through a large park filled with trees, but it didn't work. She was starting to get tired so when she slowed down a bit, he almost caught up. Ayato tried to grab her by the back of her shoulder when he felt a drop land on his face. He slowed to a stop. Was she crying? What had he done to her?
Lith could feel the tears streaming down her face. Why was she acting like this? It's not like there was anything wrong. But subconsciously she knew she had developed an unwanted crush on Ayato. The person you could pretty much say she hated the most. Except Yoka had the honour of being first place.
She was so upset that she didn't even bother to hide when she heard a ghoul approach her.
"Lith?"
Lith looked up in surprise. Was that… "Touka?" asked Lith. Touka's eyes glimmered at the sight of the young ghoul. She seemed more mature than when they had last met. Touka looked at her friend carefully and saw her puffy, pink eyes. Maybe not as mature as she thought.
"What's wrong?" asked Touka, wondering how she could comfort her friend. Lith stood up and rubbed her glassy eyes. What was she going to tell her? Maybe a word of assurance?
"I-I'm fine!" she squeaked. She didn't want to tell Touka about her brother and how he was behaving. She nervously rubbed the back of her neck and looked over Touka's shoulder only to see Ayato approaching. Hopefully Touka hadn't noticed his presence. "I'm surviving, I have a job and an apartment and life's good!"
"That's great to hear! Just so you know, I opened my own coffee shop, in case you ever need to find us. It's called Re:." Suddenly Touka raised her head, as though she was trying to look for something or someone. Had she noticed Ayato's presence?
"Sugoi! But, what happened to Anteiku? You probably won't be able to get it back, right?" Lith said quickly. She looked back to see Ayato stop a few meters away from them. Lith glared at him as if to dare him to come any closer. Touka looked at Lith sadly before replying.
"You know what, I should probably go now…"
"Alright! I need to go do something too so…goodbye?" said Lith, waving as Touka walked away. Luckily she didn't turn and see Ayato. Close call!
"What do you want?" yelled Lith quickly when Ayato grabbed her hand. What was he doing? Why was he acting like this?
"I love you!" blurted Ayato before turning his head to hide his embarrassment. To Lith, this was the final straw. She couldn't take it anymore.
"You're pathetic! Do you really think that I would just forgive you that easily?" she screeched in disgust. Ayato felt his heart break into a million pieces. Did she just reject him? Call him pathetic? Was he really worthless? Just like everyone told him?
"Aw, a lovers quirl!" squealed Yoka as she skipped towards them. "Too bad it's all for nothing." She did a dramatic frown before putting her arm around Ayato's neck and pulling him closer to her.
"You know brat, the moment you rejected him was when he became mine."
"You should know not to intervene in my own personal problems. Especially when it pisses me off." hissed Lith.
"I'm sooooo scared!" giggled Yoka mockingly. As if that lump of meat would dare do anything to a prominent Aogiri member.
Lith felt as though this had gone long enough. She wasn't the type to attack anyone, but she was just overwhelmed with emotion. Lith's bikaku pierced Yoka's stomach, causing her the cough up blood. "Not so harmless now, huh?" whispered Lith into Yoka's ear before retreating her kagune and letting Yoka drop to the ground.
"A GHOUL!" screamed someone. Lith turned in the direction of the scream, wide-eyed. Did they manage to see her face? Lith took out her mask from her hoodie's pocket and covered her face with it. Moments later, ghoul investigators appeared. They had a surprised look on their face when they saw blood splattered everywhere, an injured person (they hadn't realized it was a ghoul) and two people standing in the middle of it.
The investigators reacted quickly and used their quinques. Lith heard Ayato snicker. Did he really think this was funny? "Look, it wasn't my fault!" said Lith, trying to defend herself.
"Ghouls really are a bunch of trash, thinking they can just attack the innocent civilians of this city!" exclaimed one of the investigators as he ran towards Lith, his bikaku formed quince attempting to slash through her thick skin. She easily dodged it, jumping from one wall to another.
"Not all ghouls are. And she wasn't innocent either. The world is better without her."
"The world is better without you!" he yelled angrily as she dodged again. This wasn't leading him anywhere. "Just wait until the special investigators we called for backup arrive!"
"Sugar bunnies! Are you serious?!" said Lith in surprise. She paused for a moment, long enough for the investigator to have a clear shot of her. He lunged the quinque at her, thinking that he had won. Lith grabbed it in mid-air and crushed it with her hand, all while keeping a cheerful smile on her face.
"Let's get out of here!" yelled Ayato through his mask as he threw the investigator across the street.
"Since when do I take orders from you?" argued Lith as she appeared in front of him and crushed his wrist in annoyance.
"It's not safe here."
"Like I give a damn!"
"You don't understand! They're super powerful!"
"Even better." Lith said bitterly. Suddenly a quinque pierced through her abdomen and Ayato's lung. Lith knew that it would heal quickly, but she could tell that it took a toll on Ayato. He fell limply to the ground, bleeding profusely. She coughed up some blood before turning to see who had done it.
A white haired man stood before her, looking at her coldly. "Ne, hadn't we met a while ago?" Lith said, trying to remember when. Wasn't it when she saved Ayato from the doves? Those seemed like such nostalgic times to her.
"We have." said the white haired man.
"What's your name?" asked Lith curiously was she backed away a little.
"I'm Special Investigator Arima. How about you?" Arima asked as his quinque slightly pierced her arm. She was faster than he thought. Lith jumped up, trying to get a moment to respond without being attacked.
"Now, why would I tell you?" she said, grinning. Her mask may have covered her face, but the tone in her voice was evident. It was clear that she was confident in her strength.
They kept conversing through their fight, even ignoring the fact that people had begun to gather. Even though it was the middle of the night, their fight was attracting plenty of attention. The street lights illuminated their attacks and people took out their phones to record the whole thing. Arima preferred to fight her in an abandoned area, away from civilians that might get hurt. Unfortunately, the ghoul didn't seem like giving up, let alone switching locations.
"You know, many ghouls are misunderstood!"
"How?"
"We're just like humans, only we eat different things!"
"You eat the innocent."
"Just like you eat innocent chickens for lunch and cows for supper."
"They aren't intelligent beings like us."
"But they feel pain! They're alive!"
"And so are humans, but you still eat us."
"We don't have a choice! Anything else we eat can potentially kill us. Do you know what that's like!?"
Arima stopped responding. Was he thinking about what she just said? Or was he trying to land a clear shot on her? Lith didn't have much time to ponder on that because her left leg was sliced off. She was going to land on the ground when she stumbled. Why now?
"It seems as though I have underestimated you." said Lith, trying to distract him while she regenerated her leg. She was starting to get hungry and the audience they were getting was starting to look delicious.
"I also underestimated you." replied Arima as he pointed his quinque towards Lith's head. Lith closed her eyes, waiting for the moment when she would be free from this nightmare driven world. When she heard gasps yet no pain, she opened her eyes. Someone fell in front of her, blood dripping onto her and a quinque still piercing her hero's torso. Lith looked up and saw Ayato.
"NO!" screamed Lith in grief as she acknowledged what was happening. The person she hated/loved, rejected and hurt had just saved her life. And for what? She really didn't want to fight Arima seriously, but she felt as though she just couldn't handle anything anymore. If she was going to fix things, she needed to do them herself.
"You're going to regret that." mumbled Lith vexed, as she stood up and her kakuja formed around her, giving her a larger appearance. People began to scream and run away from the scene, but Arima stayed put. So she was an owl?
She began to shoot little pieces of her kagune at Arima while trying to pierce him with her rinkaku. He kept avoiding her attacks but didn't have enough time to recover and try to hit her. He decided to use this time to examine her abilities and strategies.
"God dammit! Stop moving! You brought this on yourself!" yelled Lith in frustration. Lith felt blinded, as if she had no control of her emotions and actions. At least until blood began to drip. Arima stumbled back and covered his left ribs.
"Crap! I'm so sorry!" yelled Lith as she snapped out of her trance-like state and retracted her kakuja and kagune. She ran towards the injured investigator who seemed to be bleeding uncontrollably. "Uh, um what can I do? What do I do?" she repeated as she paced back and forth in front of the injured investigator. The crowd had begun to get closer to them, trying to see what had happened.
"Kill me." said Arima.
Lith stopped walking. "What?"
"Just kill me. I'm going to die anyways. Put me out of my 'misery'." he said darkly.
"You wish! I value life, unlike some people." she replied angrily. People began to panic at the sight of the angry ghoul, thinking she was going to hurt the investigator.
"Someone call the police!"
"The ghoul attacked someone!"
"Call the ambulance!"
"Get the paramedics!"
"Contact the CCG emergency line!"
In the midst of the confusion, nobody noticed the ghoul that had begun to approach the bleeding investigator. Ayato had regenerated when he suddenly felt like he was starving. He tried to fight it, but it was no use. He pounced on the investigator when he was kicked mid-air and slammed against a wall. "Ayato?" whispered Lith quietly as she saw him. Was he drooling?
A furious uncontrollable ghoul ran towards the investigator, trying to eat him. Lith grabbed the ghoul's neck and lifted him. It didn't seem like he could control his hunger. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Lith's bikaku formed and she ripped off a piece. For the second time that night. She stuffed it into Ayato's drooling mouth and dropped him. Lith heard sirens in the distance and an idea popped into her head.
"Ne, hold on tight." said Lith out of the blue. She lifted the half conscious investigator and ran towards the nearest hospital. She found herself in the middle of a road full of traffic. "Of all days…" She noticed that the investigator probably wouldn't last any longer, so she took a risk and began to jump from one car roof to the next. It seemed to be the fastest way to travel right now.
She arrived at the hospital about a minute later and burst through the emergency entrance. "I need a doctor!" yelled Lith.
"Don't worry, we'll be with you in a bit." said a lady at the counter, not even bothering to look up.
"I need him now! This guy is bleeding to death! He just got stabbed!" Lith yelled. The lady looked stunned the moment she noticed that Lith had a person in her arms.
"Right! Come this way." said the lady immediately and led Lith to a stretcher. Lith placed the unconscious man and watched as nurses and doctors alike quickly appeared and took him to an operation room. Lith slipped away, hoping Arima would be alright. Once she was outside she slipped off her mask and sighed in relief.
Lith had changed her bloody clothing and was waiting in a waiting room, awaiting news about Arima's operation. Was he going to be alright? He was only human…even if he didn't seem like it. And even if he tried to kill her. Wait. What happened to Yoka? Oops…
"Was that you?"
"What?" Lith turned around and saw Ayato wipe his mouth. She immediately understood what he meant.
"Well, what do you think?" she said bluntly before walking away and asking (again) one of the nurses if Arima was alright. Nobody knew that she was the one who brought him in. She claimed to be a family member so she wouldn't draw suspicion to herself.
"How is he?" she asked nervously.
"His condition is stabilizing. He should be out in a few weeks though." the nurse responded before returning to the room where Arima was being treated. Lith decided it was time to leave and check up on Karissa when she accidentally bumped into Ayato who had been right behind her.
"Watch where you're going, idiot." mumbled Lith sleepily before leaving the hospital. She really needed to head home. Staying up for over 24 hours was not good for her health. Or mental state. Especially when she had fought during the night AND literally fed two ghouls (using her own kagune).
"Hey, wait! Are you just going to shut me out of your life?" Ayato said loudly as he follow Lith.
"Since when were you even in my life?" responded Lith rather coldly. This seemed to work as he didn't utter a word until they arrived at her apartment. She knocked on the door, hoping that Karissa was awake and could open the door when Ayato suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around.
Lith was about to shriek when Ayato suddenly kissed her. Her eyes immediately widened in surprise before slowly closing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he gently placed his hands on her waist. She leaned against the door but seconds later it opened. Lith fell and Ayato landed on top of her.
"Holy shit!" screamed Karissa in surprise as she noticed what she had just interrupted. Lith's first reaction was to slap Ayato in the face before pushing him off. She stood up as if nothing had happened until Karissa began to talk.
"What was that? It looked quite steamy…" she teased, watching Lith and Ayato turn tomato red.
"I agree on that." said a flustered Ayato.
"Shut up, pervert!" screamed Lith before pushing him out the apartment and slamming the door in his face.
Karissa flinched at the sound before turning to face Lith. "That was a little harsh, wouldn't you say?"
"Not one bit." responded Lith before storming to her room and locking herself in.
Author's Note: AAAAAAAAH! THEY FINALLY KISSED! I mentioned before that I don't consider myself to be the romantic type, so this ending was actually kinda hard to write. I realized that after dragging it on for 17 chapters, it was time for me to write SOMETHING lovey-dovey XD. I actually really enjoyed writing the part where Lith totally freaks out about what had just happened and kicks Ayato out of her apartment. I find that kind of hilarious. Anyways, don't mind my cruel self. I don't have anything against it but it's just so awkward for me to write this. I needed to add a little 'humour' in there. Hopefully it was alright. Don't forget to review, follow for updates and possibly even favourite if you enjoyed it. Thanks!