The Quinx of Change
Summary: In the aftermath of the Torso investigation, while the rest of the Quinx Squad focuses on the nutcracker case, Hide finds himself searching for the remnants of Anteiku, wanting to talk, not just to Nishio, but to the others, wanting to tell them, that his best friend is alright. Though, associating himself with the CCG may complicate matters...
CCG Headquarters
Ever since the incident regarding the ghoul Serpent, whom only Hide truly knows the identity of, quite a bit has changed regarding the Quinx Squad.
For one, Haise demoted Urie as squad leader, replacing him with Shirazu. Hide cheered for his fellow comrade, but also aware of the hatred Urie was showing. In truth, ever since the mental breakdown, he had done his best to iterate to Arima that he had done nothing wrong.
He had merely stated that he was fighting a ghoul when he suddenly went, "insane."
Though Arima was skeptical, witnesses who were also there described the story similar to Hide's, so Arima let him off with no warning, considering Hide had done nothing to trigger Haise's mental breakdown.
As for anything new regarding the CCG, Hide knew that the Quinx Squad was assigned a new mission after failing to capture Torso.
The new ghoul, named nutcracker, apparently liked to crush males' testicles.
"Ouch. I don't think I can handle this mission..." Hide mumbled after hearing it, with Shirazu laughing in the background.
"I would agree, but then again, we are investigators, and so we must commit to our missions." Shirazu replied after his laughing bout.
Hide sighed. In actuality he wasn't scared about this mission, at least the contents of it. If finding a ghoul who decapitated their victims in such a brutal way was bad, this was no different.
But what made Hide scared was the possibility that Kaneki would lose his mind again. He was scared and confused as to why he was acting the way he was. Perhaps it was something to do with him being a ghoul? Probably not, as Amber would have notified him.
Then, there was the second ghoul in question, the one who caused Kaneki's breakdown. The S-rated ghoul known as Serpent, or to Hide, as Nishio Nishiki. The guy he had befriended during Kami University.
Truth be told, he kind of expected the guy to be a ghoul alongside Kaneki, which especially became apparent when he got the same job as his best friend. It seemed like a coincidence that Hide took skepticism to.
Regardless, Hide was aware of confronting the guy, as he knew he had previously tried to eat him, and while he could defend himself better, curtesy of their brief fight before Kaneki told him to back down, he knew the association to the CCG would complicate matters.
Even if he knew he would be fine with meeting him, how would Hide find him? The coffee shop they worked at was burned down by the CCG, and he hadn't seen any of the others ever since. Not even Touka.
Hide sighed, this was going to be quite the mystery for him, trying to find the previous contacts Kaneki once had, he needed clues. The only clue he could decipher was that Nishio was called the Serpent, and as a result, could maybe track him down by the sights of the ghoul?
Maybe if he cooperated? The chances were slim considering his role in the Quinx Squad, and the CCG.
"Do I have to do this, I seriously feel uncomfortable..." Hide mumbled, which only made Haise look at him seriously.
"Of course, we do, unless you have an exemption notice from Arima, then you have to." Haise stated, and Hide sighed.
As he merely watched as the Mutsuki, Shirazu and Haise commented on the nutcracker case, as well as other unrelated things, Hide merely looked on, noticing the darkening sky.
"So Suzuya is leading this operation?" Shirazu asked, and Haise nodded.
Hide looked on, knowing very well who Suzuya was. A young boy, who was great at killing, knife throwing and anything dangerous. He had the personality of an insane person, but Hide didn't mind. He himself was a bit crazy at those times, and couldn't fault Suzuya for the same actions.
"His knives are top-notch; you should learn from him Mutsuki." Shirazu commented, and Hide looked at Mutsuki who seemed to be taking the advice seriously.
Again, for Hide considering Shirazu was now the squad leader, he did need to be more open about faults and how to improve. Considering Mutsuki was badly injured in the previous investigation, they both wanted him to be stronger.
Hide then went off in his mind, somewhat surprised when the sound of Amber began playing in his mind.
"Ooh, I smell coffee and ghouls, what a duo Hide-kun!" Hide recoiled slightly at the sound of Amber unexpectedly infiltrating his mind, with her voice echoing throughout his head yet again.
Hide mentally groaned. This always happened whenever he was near ghouls, and whether by instinct or wants, Amber would always want Hide to "unleash his own ghoul side," on them. While for Amber it was because she apparently ate ghouls, for Hide it was a defense mechanism, that aided him whenever it came to ghouls attempting to ambush him.
"Coffee and ghouls?" Hide asked himself internally, taking in what Amber had said.
He did not want to get the Quinx Squad alerted, as usually whenever this was the case, it was usually whenever they were in a mission. Hide knew this better than the previous time with Torso and Serpent.
Eventually, he noticed them stopping at a sign, and Hide's mind was blowing from the sound of Amber begging him.
"There's so many ghouls nearby, so much flesh, Hide-kun can you smell it?!" He could have sworn that every minute that passes made Hide lose his mind further, and he had to mentally tell Amber to shut her mouth, as he was not activating his kagune any time soon.
"Aww, but there's so many."
"No wonder you ended up being caught..." Hide mumbled as he looked at the three attempting to properly pronounce the name on the sign.
:re
Eventually, after managing to get Amber begging out of his mind, he walked in just behind the three, only for his mouth to drop as far as he could make it to be.
"There's someone here, but he's ignoring us. It's like turning away first-time customers." Hide heard Shirazu openly state, but what had Hide gasping was the women who appeared afterwards, and her voice.
"I told you to greet the customers when they come in, how many times-" The sound of what appeared to be a waitress stated, before she unexpectedly stopped talking.
While the others may have been confused, Hide knew very well what was happening. The waitress of this coffee shop was none other than Touka, who was probably shocked after seeing Kaneki for the first time, even if it isn't his regular self.
Then Touka noticed Hide within the group, and her eyes narrowed slightly, which Hide could tell, as he gulped, knowing he had to give an understanding once they had the time.
He could have sworn he saw Touka getting teary, however, which made Hide a bit sorrowful as well.
Once the four had sat down, getting their coffee, Hide could see Haise tearing up after tasting the coffee, before looking up towards Touka.
Hide wasn't an idiot, and he could see the clear infatuation between the two. Even if Haise did not know who Touka was, his feelings as Kaneki for her were still there. In a way, it made Hide somewhat hopeful that beyond all of it, Kaneki was still there.
As they continued to drink the coffee, the two others: Mutski and Shirazu noticing the unusual silence from both Hide and Haise, began to speak up.
"Is there something wrong, Hideyoshi? Haise?" Shirazu asked, and Hide's eyes widened.
"Oh, no I'm fine, just a bit dizzy from drinking this coffee too fast, it's very hot fresh, but it's very good!" Hide replied, and the two nodded, while Haise looked at Touka, who herself seemed a bit sorrowful and sad.
Hide sighed, glad that he at least found someone else from Kaneki's past that they could cooperate with behind the scenes.
Perhaps his look for Nishiki wasn't in vain after all.
While in his thoughts, he was unaware of the conversation the others were having, mainly because he had his own agenda in regards to what he was to do. While he did reply with a nod to confirm his involvement with them, he mostly thought to himself. But after quite some time passing, he eventually realized how late it was, something made more evident when he and the others were brought back to reality.
"Oh shoot!" Shirazu exclaimed. "Don't we have to meet Suzuya early tomorrow?"
Haise then snapped back to reality, "Yeah, around eight in the morning, so we should leave for seven thirty."
Mutski then nodded, "So we should head back now?"
They all nodded, but before anyone could pay Hide decided to stand up. "You guys go on ahead, I'll pay up."
Mutski merely looked at him in shock, "Are you sure? We can all sub in."
Hide shook his head, "It is fine, you three go on ahead, I'll catch up with you back in a bit." He replied, giving them his signature smile.
The three looked on, before leaving.
Hide made sure the three were truly leaving, and not going to stay back or anything, before he turned back, and took the money out and gave it to Touka, who did not look anything close to happy.
Hide sighed, knowing from the beginning that this was something they had to do. He knew of the complications he would have regarding his CCG uniform.
Once he was sure the others were gone, he sat back down with a sigh, patiently waiting for Touka to talk to him.
"Are you waiting for something?" The person at the bar area was asking, and Hide nodded.
"Waiting for Touka, we have a lot of catching up to do." He merely said, ignoring the alarmed look the person was giving him.
"Why and how do you know Touka?" He merely asked, and Hide sighed.
"Because I know she was a close associate of Kaneki Ken." The two names were enough to get the person who lose the narrowed eyes, in exchange for a more sorrowful look. It seemed that the mention of Kaneki was enough to diffuse the tension between the two of them.
"You know him?" He asked afterwards, his skepticism changed to curiosity.
"Ever since middle school, up until now, he's my best friend, has he ever talked about his human friend called Hideyoshi Nagachika ." Hide replied, and the person whistled.
Before he could continue, Hide looked up to see the agitated look of Touka.
Hide sighed, beginning to speak, "I know your angry with me, and are very skeptical of me at the moment, and you have a right to. However, I just came here to say that I will come back tomorrow evening, when I do not have anything to worry about regarding investigating. I want you to trust me."
Touka sneered, "Then ask me one question. Why are you with the doves? And why should I trust you?"
Hide nodded in understanding, "Like I said, my history with the CCG is a bit of a rollercoaster ride, and it requires a lot of time, but know that it has nothing with the fact that I hate ghouls. As for why you should trust me. Well, I don't have a reason."
Touka then laughed sarcastically, "Well then there you go. I knew from Nishiki that you were a part of that Quinx Squad."
Hide smiled slightly at that, "Thank you, can you ask him to come here tomorrow at eight in the evening please?"
Touka could not believe what she was hearing. Here was a person who was working for the CCG, and knew she was a ghoul and everything!
"Listen, I know you have very little reason to trust me, but I'm doing this for the good of Kaneki and the rest of whom he used to be with, so if you want him back, please understand. I didn't spend a year in Cochlea for this." Hide finished, and began to leave, rushing out to meet up with the others who were probably almost home by now.
At the coffee shop, Touka was in shock. "Spend a year in Cochlea, what?"
The bartender, Yomo, simply shrugged, "It's not that farfetched to believe actually."
Touka turned to Yomo in surprise, "And how do you know that?"
Yomo sighed, "Calm down, listen. During the Owl Suppression Operation, there was an arrest made by the CCG against their very own investigator, after he had done an act deemed traitorous by the doves. It is recorded that the person spent up to a year in Cochlea before being set free from Cochlea free of charge."
Touka looked on in surprise somewhat getting the message, "What? And why was a dove arrested like a ghoul?"
Yomo merely stared at Touka, "For defending a ghoul against the CCG reaper."
Touka's eyes widened not believing the story nor the people involved, "But Kaneki-"
"Yes, Hide was the one who was arrested, for pushing the CCG reaper away from Kaneki." Yomo finished.
The news of that story broke Touka's temporary hatred of Hide away, instead somewhat feeling bad for the guy. "So you mean to tell me, that you think Hide spent all that time in Cochlea?"
Yomo sighed, "Again, we have to ask him ourselves for when he arrives tomorrow, as for Kaneki, it seems that despite their lack of interaction, he is really close to him, or at least the person in Kaneki's body."
Touka sighed, "I didn't think Kaneki would be amnesiac. I wasn't told until Nishiki told me the guy had a breakdown when he called him Kaneki."
Yomo nodded, looking at Touka with a serious expression, "Too much information can sometimes come to a shock to others, and that is probably what happened to Kaneki."
Touka then looked down in shame, "I see, do you think Kaneki will ever get his memories back?"
"I hope so, but I cannot guarantee it will be soon. We can only wait at the moment, and it seems that Hideyoshi is waiting as well."
Touka did not know what to say, because she was in shock, "Do you think we should trust Hide?"
Yomo again looked a bit unsure, "I don't know, but considering he's the closest we have right now when it comes to access of Kaneki, we should be friendly. His position in the CCG is rather interesting if he was arrested and spent time in Cochlea, which we will need to ask him about. As for Hide, we merely have to wait and see."
Touka slightly cursed herself, hoping that Hide wouldn't rat them out. He hoped that his big mouth wouldn't be the cause of their downfall.
On the other side, Hide was mixed with relief and fear. One the one hand, he was glad to have found some previous contacts of Kaneki. He had found Touka, and with that, he had indirectly also found Nishiki. His worries for that had gone away as the Quinx Squad had naturally lead him to them, and while they pretended not to know each other when they were around, they had gotten a brief interaction before promising another more precise one with an explanation.
After all, two years had gone by, and they were probably wondering what happened to everyone else, and were probably as clueless as he was. No matter, hopefully if everything goes well tomorrow everything would go alright.
Regardless, he knew a lot of emotions as questions were going to pop up, and Hide had to remain calm, because talking to ghouls while a cannibalistic in your mind bugging you wasn't going to be easy.
In truth, when Hide made it to the Chateau, he immediately went to his room, not into eating or talking to the others, when he had to prepare for something bigger.
The same went on during work. Investigations into the nutcracker case, as Hide merely listened on, only taking note of some small noteworthy information, such as the fact she was deemed an A-rated ghoul, and that she was a bikaku. Hide merely shrugged, if he could handle the S-rated Serpent, then he should be fine against her.
The only funny moment in the day was when Shirazu was late, with Saiko on top of him, riding him as he ran towards the CCG headquarters. Seeing their faces of worry was pretty hilarious and made up for Saiko's absence, and the entrance of Suzuya, but otherwise Hide did not take part in the meeting, as he focused on more pressing issues.
Whilst the others went out after, Hide mentioned that he had to go somewhere later, and thus would not remain the full length. Of course this causes some heads to raise, but he merely stated he was meeting up with someone whom he hadn't seen in a while. Of course, considering they were technically finished for the day, Haise allowed him to go, but told him to remain vigilant. Hide nodded, kind of a bit unexpected of Haise's careful statement, which reminded him of Kaneki.
Hide then went off, to the café they went to previous, :re. "What an interesting name." Hide commented. He was in particular, glad that Amber had remained quiet throughout the whole day today. It seemed that everything she wanted to get out was finished during his previous resting phase. As for now, his mind was surprisingly sharp.
He walked in, immediately noticing three figures standing, as if they were waiting for him. Hide sighed, recognizing the two as Touka and Nishiki, and the third as the other from yesterday.
"So you did show up." Touka started, her tone full of skepticism.
Hide nodded, taking in her stance. It seemed skeptical, but not full of accusation. Nishiki was similar, watching like a tiger, ready to pounce if things went wrong.
"Yeah, it's times like these that remind me of times before everything." Hide merely replied, watching the confused looks from Touka and Nishiki.
The latter Hide turned to, "you know, Kami and everything? How's your girlfriend?"
Nishiki scowled, "and why does that concern you? Didn't you say, you have some explaining to do?"
"Yeah, you go missing for a while and return wearing a dove outfit, what's going on?" Touka asked.
Hide sighed, taking a breathe. "Like I said before, a lot of explanation is to go out, you know with Kaneki and Anteiku and the ghouls there."
Immediately Hide noticed the three ghouls in the room tense and Hide raised his hand up, "Yeah I knew, but I can also smell the ghoul off of you as well."
Nishiki then brought up from his experience, "Oh yeah, the dude has a kagune now, he's apparently apart of this Quinx Squad. You burnt me, and man did it hurt. What the hell is your kagune?"
Touka then looked at Hide in surprise, "Wait you have a kagune now?"
Hide nodded, "like I said, a lot is in store for my explanation, but I guess I should start from the beginning, you know when Kaneki was turned into a ghoul?"
The three in the room nodded waiting for Hide's story.
Taking a deep breathe, Hide started, "So Kaneki's date with Rize, also known as the Binge Eater, and the whole steel beam incident? The emergency organ transplant? Yeah the CCG had a report and interest in that, as both Kaneki and the doctor went missing."
"It wasn't until I found an arrest warrant for the doctor did I realize what I had gotten myself into. Dr. Kanou was the one who performed the transplant, but instead of a kidney, it was a kakuhou, Rize's. He was apparently making ghouls from humans, with Kaneki being his first victim."
It was then did Nishiki commented, "So that's why the kid has Rize's kagune…"
Hide then chuckled, "which brings me to the incident with you! When Kaneki beat you up?"
Nishiki noticeably flinched, and Hide merely laughed.
"Yeah I knew you tried to eat me, and you're a dick for that! But anyways, when Kaneki went missing, I joined the CCG to keep a track on him, because I knew that Kaneki was likely a ghoul. It made sense. If you want to find a ghoul, you look at the CCG documents they have."
Touka then muttered, "it does make sense, but how can we still trust you? You work with the doves and know we are ghouls, how do you even know that?"
"Because when I saw Kaneki with you all, you clearly had a connection to him. When I was told Anteiku was at the centre of a CCG operation, and with the knowledge I had, everything made sense."
Hide looked to the whole café he was in, sitting down. "You guys were there for him when he turned into a ghoul, because you were all ghouls, your policy was to help your kind, right?" He asked noting the surprised looks Touka was giving him. "You helped him adapt, fight and thrive. Something I couldn't do. I could only watch as he got along with you all."
Nishiki then scoffed, "that could be the case in school or something, he may just be like that around you."
Hide shook his head. "No you don't know. I've know Kaneki since middle school. I know what he's gone through and the person he is. He never had any long term friends, he was a bookworm, always sticking in his room reading books, he couldn't even kill a fly. To see him get along well with someone never mind a group of people, so as what supposed to be coworkers, it's worth noticing for me. To see him happy with a sort of family, it didn't matter if you all were ghouls, you were there for Kaneki when I couldn't. That's why I trust you, because you took care of Kaneki, and if I did cause something to happen to you, I wouldn't forgive myself, knowing I'd hurt Kaneki in the process."
Hide lowered his face down, trying his hardest to not shed a tear, unaware of the somewhat somber looks he was given to Touka and Nishiki.
"I guess it makes sense, why and with him now being in the same group as you."
"He doesn't remember me." Hide replied, not aware of the somber looks he was being given, "he's doesn't even know I'm right there, he doesn't even recognize my voice or my full name. I can't give him any hints else he breaks down, and I'm prohibited from doing so."
That caught the attention of the guy in the back. "Why are you prohibited?" Yomo asked.
Hide sighed, "During the Owl Suppression Operation, I encountered Kaneki, badly injured. I wasn't doing too well myself, but we talked before I warned him about the CCG reaper ahead."
The mention of the CCG reaper was enough to make the three ghouls in the café shiver in fear. Kishou Arima was a person you did not mess with.
"I told him to bite me, to eat me, so that he could regain his strength to fight. In truth, I was expecting us both to die that night. I though Kaneki would've eaten me, and he would've been slain in the hands of the reaper. It was either we both died or came out alive that night. Not one or the other."
Hide sighed, remembering how hard that night was. The sense of hopelessness and feeling that they wouldn't get out of it in one price. He was unaware of the looks, the increasingly saddening stares he was given.
"But somehow, I was awake. My left arm was completely gone, but I was somehow awake, and I saw the reaper tower over Kaneki, ready to finish him. I couldn't. If I was going to survive, then so was Kaneki, so I did the unbelievable."
Hide gulped, taking another deep breathe, but in the end, he didn't have to say it.
"You defended him? You pushed the reaper away?" Yomo stated and Hide's eyes widened.
Yomo then smiled, "so the investigator they arrested and sent to Cochlea for a year, was you?"
Hide nodded, the noticeable gasp from Touka. To think they would think to put their fellow investigator with the ghouls, showed how disrespectful they were.
"A year? That explains why we hadn't heard from you." Nishiki commented.
Hide shook his head, "not necessarily. The first two months came with an experimental surgery to regrow my lost arm. The judgement was that I was a prisoner and thus it was fine to experiment on. Thankfully, it worked with mostly no complications, and I spent my time in physiotherapy, all while in Cochlea. I spent more like nine months down there."
Again they merely remained quiet at all the information they were given. It was almost unbelievable to think that someone in front of them went through Cochlea, ghoul or not.
"So how did you get out?" Nishiki asked clearly interested with the information he was given.
"I made a deal with the reaper." Hide started, looking at the faces in the room. "The deal was actually very generous. I simply had to join the Quinx Squad and participate in their missions."
It was then did Nishiki understood, "So that's why you have a kagune now, I thought you were captured by Aogiri."
"Yeah, I have a kagune now." Hide confirmed.
"A strong one it seems, even though you are new. Just like Kaneki, managing to catch me off guard." Nishiki mumbled, clearly not liking the feeling of being burned.
"What exactly does it look like?" Touka asked confused.
"The best I can describe are like phoenix wings that can occasionally shoot fire." Nishiki explained.
Touka, for her part looked confused in disbelief. "What the hell? I mean, that's not that out of the blue. I mean Yomo is capable of using electrical attacks, so it might not be that far fetched to believe."
"Are you alright?" Hide asked Nishiki.
"Huh? Yeah I'm fine, I regenerated, but damn, never knew what it felt like to be burning until you showed up with that. Remind me never to underestimate you again." Nishiki mumbled, clearly trying to forget the painful memory.
Touka then processed, "So you too are an ukaku…"
"Yes, why?" Hide asked.
Touka shook her head, "Oh nothing exactly, I'm just curious, as the two individuals I know that are capable of elemental attacks are both ukakus. It makes me wonder if only they are capable of such feats."
"I highly doubt that, it depends more on the rc cell type and the person's body." Hide explained, knowing from his training in the CCG, that it didn't really matter the type. The kagune itself could be completely different, even if two people were the same.
This did bring up some confusion for Hide himself, as he did question, if the kagune he was given, was indeed by a once stray ghoul. Considering the voice in his head being a replica of a supposedly once alive ghoul that was taken down by the CCG, then perhaps it really did depend on others. Of course, genetics, familial, and environmental factors probably play a role. Hinami was an example, of how she inherited both of her parents' kagune's to an extent. Regardless, Hide knew that it truly was unpredictable to find the exact type of kagune an individual would have.
Hide's eyes then lit up, "oh yeah did I tell you? I snuck into a Aogiri base to see what they were doing."
Nishiki and Touka stared at Hide like he was crazy, "What? Why? What was the purpose?!" Touka exclaimed.
Hide sighed, "To gather more information. I saw Kaneki fighting with Aogiri members so I was looking for evidence of his presence. I found so many corpses that didn't even look like them. I remember choking a ghoul dead before tossing him with the rest of the dead…" Hide said that last part with a saddened look. Touka and Nishiki looking on in pity.
"Was that your first kill?" Touka asked.
Hide nodded, "It was, I did find someone and freed him, but he just disappeared afterwards. But yeah that's my story. Why I'm a Quinx, why I'm working for the Doves, and everything."
Silence took over the café, as Hide let all the information settle in. To put that much information on them was a lot, but Hide knew it was a necessary step.
So with a sigh, Hide got up, "I'd like to spar Nishiki sometime, as a sort of revenge for trying to eat me." He replied with a smile, before becoming more serious.
"But yeah, when and if Kaneki's memories come back, at least I can take comfort in the fact that I'm right next to him, actually able to fight alongside him, and not being weak to watch."
With that much being said, Hide began to leave :re before being stopped by Touka.
"Wait!" Hide turned around.
"Yes?" He asked.
She then sighed, "If you could come back periodically and tell me how Kaneki's doing I'd appreciate it. It's relieving knowing someone has easy contact to him."
Hide smiled, "I will, you all are as important to him as I am."
Taking a breathe, Hide then left, the cool air of the night sky taking hold of him as he jogged home. After all of that release and stress, he was finally able to blow it all away, instead filled with a sort of lightness. Of course this was far from done, his would continue until he had Kaneki back, and the simple idea they wanted.
In a sort of way, both of their lives were a tragedy, but they were going to make the best of it.
Once he reached back to the Chateau, he seemed to have interrupted a relatively serious conversation, with Haise with the others except for Urie.
"Um, I apologize I didn't know something serious was going on." Hide mentioned, only for Haise to smile.
"It's no problem Hideyoshi, we were talking about this nutcracker case, and we decided a way to infiltrate what appears to be an auction event." Haise stated.
Hide merely shrugged. In truth he didn't care too much as he had his own missions, that he would do in his spare time, of course he would participate and let them do the digging in, but he wasn't going to do so in that sense.
Plus, he was tired and wanted to sleep, the voice of Amber quietly coming back to talk to Hide again.
"So what is going on then?" Hide asked.
"We're going to become women." Haise stated, which only made Hide raise his eyebrow in shock and horror.
"Huh?!" His reaction was probably the funniest of the bunch, close with Saiko's "say what."
"You heard me, unless if you do not feel uncomfortable, it's either that or get your nuts crushed." Haise taunted, which made Hide even more uncomfortable.
"Oh god, why does a ghoul even do that?!" Hide asked no one in particular, ignoring the laughter the others were giving him as he cringed, both at the sight of the genitalia being crushed and him turning into a girl. Somethings he did not want to imagine at the moment.
"Alright I heard enough of this, I'm heading upstairs, I feel a bit dizzy." Hide stated after, which was not a complete lie. His head was hurting, as Amber was getting a bit fussy, and thus he needed to talk to her again when he slept.
He went up, unaware of the concerned looks he was given. He didn't really know what else to do regarding everything. For all he knew, he was just obeying what his best friend wanted. Did he really want to do this? No, it was just so that he could eventually see his best friend again.
He was doing all of this in the event that his best friend did regain his memories, and was able to remember Hide.
Unfortunately for now, it remained uncertain how long Hide would have to wait. Would he be stuck to this job for the rest of his life? He knew he was pretty much on a contract with Arima, until his life ended. Considering his hybrid status, Hide knew that it would be around, at most 10 years. Of course, anything could happen, and so Hide knew he had to wait.
Still, it made him question everything. Was he able to wait this long? What if, when Arima dies, they just return him back to Cochlea? Then Kaneki, might regain his memories, only to discover that his best friend is detained for defending him? There was no doubt in Hide's mind that it would ruin Kaneki.
The individual was still a emotional, quiet boy, and the overall events that would transpired would hurt him. For now, all Hide could do, was hope that Kaneki regained his memories soon.
A.N / Lol exactly 5k not including the an, almost perfect as all things should. I don't know exactly where this story will go, just with the added fact of the intro with Hide being a Quinx. I do actually have plans for him regarding his kagune and Amber, so we'll see that develop. I already have a good sight at what the next chapter will look like. This goes up to :re chapter 12, for those who wants a timeline or rough estimate.
Flaming Pellets.
Fiery Drift.