Kuri was standing down the tunnel just a few yards from them. Tears still rained down her cheeks and her face was twisted in despair.
"Kill me," she repeated on a sob.
"No." Kaneki shook his head and took a step toward her, but she backed away from him, putting up her hand as if she wanted to hold him off. Kaneki stopped and gulped some deep breaths, trying to get himself under control. "Come back to Anteiku with me. We'll figure out how this happened. It'll be okay, Kuri, I promise. All that matters is that you're alive."
Kuri had started shaking her head as I'd begun talking. "I'm not really alive, and I can't go back there."
"Of course you're alive. You're walking and talking."
"I'm not me anymore. I did die, and part of me—the best part of me—is still dead, just like it is for the rest of them." She gestured back at the cave-in.
"You're not like they are," Kaneki said firmly.
"I'm more like them than I am like you." Her gaze shifted from Kaneki to Hide, who was standing quietly beside me. "You wouldn't believe the awful things that go through my mind. I could kill him without a second thought. I would have already if his blood wasn't tainted."
"Maybe it wasn't just that, Kuri. Maybe you didn't kill him because you really didn't want to," I said.
Her eyes found his again. "No. I wanted to kill him. I still do."
"The rest of them killed Chou and Bato," Hide said. "And that was my fault."
"Hide, now's not the time—" Kaneki started, but Hide cut him off.
"No, you need to hear this, man. Those things grabbed Chou and Bato because they were hanging around your apartment, and that's my fault because I brought them there." Hide gave Kaneki an apologetic look. "Sorry, man." Then his expression hardened and he said, "You should kill her. You should kill them all. As long as they're alive people will be in danger."
"He's right," Kuri said.
"And how will killing you and the rest of them solve this? Won't more of you happen?" Kaneki made his mind up and closed the space between Kuri and him. She looked like she wanted to take off, but his words stopped her. "How did this happen? What made you like this?"
Her face contorted with anguish. "I don't know how. I only know who."
"Then who did this?"
Kuri opened her mouth to answer him and then, with a movement so fast her body blurred, she was suddenly cowering against the side of the tunnel.
"He's coming!"
"What? Who?" Kaneki crouched beside her.
"Get out of here! Fast. There's probably still time for you to get away." Then Kuri reached out and took his hand in hers. Her flesh was cold, but her grip was strong. "He's been looking for you, Ken! He may go after you anyway, but it'll be harder for him to do if you get back to Anteiku."
"Who are you talking about, Kuri?"
"Kano. The one who made you like this. The one who made ALL of us."
The name blasted through Kaneki and even as he shook his head in denial he felt the truth of it deep within him. "Kano did this to you, to all of us?"
"Yes. Now get out of here, Ken!"
Kaneki could feel her terror and he knew she was right. If they didn't leave, Hide would die. "I'm not giving up on you, Kuri. You still have wings. It's a kagune now, but your the ONLY one who has one. So stay strong. I'll come back for you, and somehow we'll figure this out—we'll make this okay. I promise." Then Kaneki hugged her hard, and after only a little hesitation, she hugged him back.
"Let's go, Hide." Kaneki grabbed Hide so he could guide him quickly down the darkness of the tunnel. As they ran down the tunnel Kaneki heard Kuri's whispered "Please don't forget me . . ." follow them.
Hide and Kaneki ran. The surge of adrenaline didn't last long, and by the time they came to the metal ladder that led up to the grate in the basement, Kaneki wanted to collapse and sleep for days. Hide was all for rushing up the ladder and into the basement, but Kaneki made him wait. Breathing heavily, he leaned against the side of the tunne. Hide fished his cell phone out of his pants pocket, along with Investigator Amon's card. Kaneki blanched when he saw it, and ripped the phone away with a snarl.
"Kaneki they aren't ghouls like you. They're mindless. They can't be allowed to—"
"No! Not Kuri!"
"Cmon man. You didn't see—"
Before Hide could blink, Kaneki's kagune had destroyed the phone.
"No." Kaneki panted. "No! This is so fucked up!"
Hide grabbed his friend and pointed upward.
They had entered a large room. Kano stood at the top of a scaffold, and, in a large machine, hung Rize.
Kaneki couldn't help himself, he walked up to her.
Rize smiled wickedly and put her forehead to his. "My progeny…" She whispered.
"You will remember nothing!" The words echoed through Kaneki's agony-filled mind, and then there was only darkness.