Hide pulled his phone out from a shelf under the counter, tapping the screen as it buzzed in his hand. A line of emoji's greeted him.

He sighed deeply.

Since finding his phone, Juuzou had taken to texting him single emoji's, each in a different text. It was like since discovering them, he was using every single one his phone offered.

Half of them appeared as blank question marks, because Nagachika never saw a reason to upgrade his phone.

Hide couldn't say he did either. His phone buzzed with another blank question mark.

"Phone under the counter," Touka called, giving him a severe look, in the middle of pulling a chair off a table.

"Yeah, yeah," Hide muttered. He sent back a quick thumbs-up, then put his phone on silent, sliding it back under the counter.

"Turn the TV on and finish your half. The earlier we open, the earlier we can get out of here," she said, wiping another, already spotless table with a cloth.

Hide obliged, pulling a small remote out from the shelf and raising it to click the small, square TV up on the wall above him on.

Some customers wanted the background noise and some didn't, mostly the high school and college students who came to study.

He moved around the counter and was pulling down a chair as the early morning news crackled to life above him.

"—it is believed to be the work of the ghoul known as The Gourmet—"

Hide froze, turning to watch the broadcast.

"—the victim was found wandering the streets in a daze, with severe injuries to her eyes—"

"Tsk."

His attention was drawn to Touka. She looked deeply irritated, but not at all surprised, which meant that it was what she'd expected, but was hoping not to hear.

"So annoying. Turn it off. I don't need to tell you about The Gourmet, do I?" Touka asked.

Hide did, then leaned lazily on the counter. "No, you don't."

Touka shot him a look, but turned swiftly to turn the sign outside from closed to open. "I get our policy, but I wish the manager would do something about that—" she'd started talking as she came back inside, but stopped as the bell above the door chimed behind her.

"Unpleasant as always Miss Kirishima," Tsukiyama said, walking around her as she stood unmoving. "It's been a while."

Hide straightened.

"What d'ya want?" Touka asked flatly.

"So charming, that bite of yours," Tsukiyama drawled, unaffected as he turned his gaze on Hide. "Distinctive yellow hair... It's you, isn't it? The tough guy who took down a dove?"

He was too close. Hide knew he could smell Rize.

"Why're your hands clenched?" Tsukiyama asked kindly, smiling as he leaned both arms on the counter across from him. "I bet Touka has told you all manner of unsavory things about me, hasn't she?"

Hide looked down and uncurled his traitorous fingers. He grabbed a clean mug and started polishing it with a rag to have something to do with his hands. "Yeah, she has," he answered neutrally.

Touka still didn't move.

Tsukiyama closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

Hide didn't react.

"I wonder what kinds of tall tales she's filled your head with," he wondered, slowly opening his eyes to peer at Hide. "Care to let me in on some of them? Maybe I can clear up some misconceptions."

Hide looked at Touka and she shook her head.

She wanted him to stay silent.

Hide looked back at his cup, and thought that he was doomed. Not answering would attract his interest just as much as answering would.

Tsukiyama was the kind of guy to kidnap someone for looking at him the wrong way, in a way that made him interested, even if they never said a word to him.

It was what happened to the woman on the news.

"We're working and you're a freak disturbin' us," Touka spoke. "Just get the hell out of here already!"

But Tsukiyama didn't budge.

Hide looked at him and said, "You're the Gourmet. You were on the news earlier. You left that woman alive after pulling out her eyes—"

"So I should've killed her?" Tsukiyama asked, but didn't sound bothered either way. "Ravaged her corpse until there was no meat left on her bones? Would that be more aligned with the morals of this place?"

It made Hide pause, briefly, that he didn't even try to deny it. Didn't try to trick him or spin his own story about what happened. He just admitted to it.

"Well?" Tsukiyama asked, eyes half-lidded. "What would be the more humane way to have dealt with her?"

"Not kill her at all," Hide said dryly, but didn't believe his own words. The truth was that there was no good answer. One way or another, ghouls had to eat human meat. What was humane about any of that?

Tsukiyama sunk lower on the counter and smiled a little, and it felt like he could tell he'd lied.

"'skiyama!" Touka snapped, her eyes black and red.

"I'm going, I'm going," Tsukiyama said, peeling himself off the counter, leisurely, like he didn't feel threatened at all. "I'll see you around, newbie."

As soon as he was gone, Touka stalked around the counter and grabbed his arm.

"What was that?" she demanded to know, her eyes fading. "Why entertain him?"

Hide, unfortunately, couldn't keep cleaning the mug with her hand keeping him still, and his traitorous fingers curled against the porcelain, his nails leaving marks.

"Because he wasn't going to leave," Hide answered, some of the truth, smiling. "And I really don't think the old man would be happy with us if the cafe got trashed. That would attract way more attention than me answering a few questions."

Touka had no response, so she released him.

Hide had his headphones in, listening to a pop song at random as he climbed the steps to his apartment, when he heard a crash behind him through the song.

It was lightly raining.

Nagachika sat at the top of the stairs, watching him.

Hide paused, turning to look at the older-looking guy who'd fallen on the sidewalk, his hood up, a folder full of papers scattered on the ground around him as he hastily scrambled to pick them up.

Hide glanced around, but there was no one.

He could've ignored him, could've turned away and whistled as he continued walking, but he didn't.

He pulled out his headphones as he went back down, and it was only as he was reaching for a page that he saw that it was blank. That they were all blank.

His hand froze.

"Hello again, newbie."

Tsukiyama was staring at him as he turned his head. Hide tripped and fell back as he pulled down his hood, pushing himself away from him.

"I apologize," Tsukiyama began, standing and finger-combing through his hair. Water ate away at the papers, but he didn't care. "I didn't intend to scare you, but I wanted to talk to you without the interference of Miss Kirishima. Was I correct in thinking that if you saw me coming, you'd do all you could to avoid me?"

Hide never thought he would, but he suddenly appreciated Yomo for putting a hand through his chest. He was shocked, but not as much as that.

Never as much as that. It made him confident that his eye hadn't changed.

Hide slowly picked himself up, wet and wary. "Did you follow me home?"

"Yes," Tsukiyama said without shame, holding out a hand to catch the rain.

It was the end of July and he was alone with Tsukiyama.

"What do you want with me?" Hide asked, genuinely confused.

"I'd like to be your friend."

"Ha," Hide said instinctively.

"No, really, I'm serious," Tsukiyama said. He strolled around him to the staircase and sat on the bottom step. "I want your friendship."

And Hide figured out his angle. He didn't move, but was suddenly aware that he had two choices in front of him.

He could blow off Tsukiyama and be kidnapped violently, probably nabbed in the middle of the street with a bag over his head like in the movies. Or he could go along with this and go willingly.

Both ended with him in that arena.

"Why me?"

"Because you're not like Miss Kirishima, Miss Irimi, Mister Koma, or the owner. You see, I'm curious, why are you working at that cafe?"

Hide shoved his hands in his pockets. "It's the safest place to be."

"Wrong answer," Tsukiyama said in delight. "You don't share their grand cause of keeping the peace. But it's nice to reap the benefits, no?"

Maybe he should've lied.

"We're alone now, so you can answer honestly," he continued, leaning back. "What should I have done with that woman?"

Hide frowned, his hair dripping down his nose. But he didn't want to move closer. "I don't know."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire."

Hide looked away, letting out a breath. "You should've killed her quickly," he said. "She didn't need to be alive for you to do what you did. That was just for your own entertainment."

The rain started to come down heavier, but he still didn't move.

"Fascinating. You're fascinating. You've had to have spent all your life blending in with these humans for me not to have heard of you, and yet I bet you're thinking that I wasted her."

He was.

"And I still don't know your name."

"Hide," he said, still looking away. He didn't miss that Tsukiyama had ignored the part about it being for his entertainment, but let it go.

"Won't you be friends with me, Hide?"

He didn't immediately answer. What choice did he have, really?

He couldn't have stopped Tsukiyama from smelling him in any way that wouldn't have made him curious about why.

And now Tsukiyama knew his scent was weird, so he was interested.

"And what do I get out of our friendship?" Hide asked.

"Sanctuary," Tsukiyama answered, standing to lean on the rail. "There will come a day when your inability to fit in will be intolerable, and you'll find yourself alone. Call me, and I'll provide you with a more fitting home."

Liar.

"You'll do this out of the goodness of your heart, hm?"

"No," Tsukiyama admitted consideringly. "If the story about you defeating a dove all on your lonesome is true, then you can do better than me. Our friendship would benefit me more than you in the long run. So, can we?"

Hide looked at him. Tsukiyama had his chin on his palm, completely carefree. "Yeah, sure, we can be friends."

Tsukiyama smiled, pushing himself off the rail to move closer. Once he was in front of Hide, he pulled out his phone. "What's your number?"

He recited it without hesitation, watching with dread as Tsukiyama typed it in.

"Great! I'm sure we'll both find benefits in each other's company," Tsukiyama said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. He pulled his hood up and waved as he started walking away. "See you."

"Look down!" Nagachika yelled down at him above the rain, his hands cupped around his mouth.

Hide did, and felt cold. The rainwater next to him was a murky red. He lifted his hand to his face, and a deep cut on his thumb bled sluggishly down his hand.

When had Tsukiyama done it?

Hide looked down the street, but he was long gone.

Swallowing hard, Hide took the steps two at a time up to the third floor. As soon as he was safely (or felt safe) in his apartment, he slid down against the door.

He didn't know how long he stayed there before his phone buzzed.

He swiped Juuzou's regular spam away and saw two messages. One from Tsukiyama saying it was him, and the other from Nishiki, with only the word 'more'.

Hide slid down more until he was completely on the floor.

"You need more?" Old man Yoshimura asked with a frown, standing across from him in the living room.

Hide plopped down on a couch, holding the back of his neck. "Ah, yeah. I thought I had it under control, but it's still pretty bad."

The old man's eyebrows rose, and for the first time Hide could see his eyes as he was stared at.

Of course he'd be stared at. The old man had given him his monthly package two days ago.

"I didn't mean to, but I ate it all," Hide lied sheepishly, looking down. "I just... I'm afraid of losing it and hurting people. I'd rather be safe than sorry."

That seemed to soften the old man.

The package was actually sitting unopened in his freezer, and would stay there until he could get over his laziness and make it look like the stage of cooking before putting it in a pan or oven.

And not like a cinderblock of human meat.

This was the longest he'd lasted on only blood dosed coffee and the sugar cubes of meat that Touka ate. He felt half-starving, but his stomach wasn't clenching in hunger or anything, so it was probably in his head.

He realized the old man had moved while he'd been thinking, and stood behind him, looking out the window with his hands behind his back.

"It'll take some time to prepare," the old man said mildly. "A week, a week and a half. You'll take the next few graveyard shifts with Irimi. If you find anything, the time will be shorter."

Hide leaned an arm on the back of the couch. "Thanks, Mr. Yoshimura," he said, standing. He was almost out of the room when the old man spoke again.

"There will be no more extras for this month. It's getting more and more difficult," he said cryptically, still looking out of the window.

Between the increase in investigators and Tsukiyama, that didn't surprise him at all.

Hide could almost see a ticking clock above his head. He left quickly.

As Irimi turned off the engine, Hide flipped up his hood and got out of the car, looking over the rail at the bottom.

He couldn't see if anyone was down there with all the branches and greenery in the way. He sometimes could, if the terrain had tossed them far enough.

"You know what to do, right?" Irimi asked, wearing her dog mask and a black cloak.

"Yeah."

She'd told him in the car that if they were caught, for him to run, while she made sure this was attributed to the Black Dog, with no possible connection to the cafe.

She grabbed the guardrail and hopped over.

"You know, Yomo uses a fake license plate, but he doesn't take the real one off, and I don't think Enji even does that," Hide mentioned.

She stopped, her hair swaying in the breeze. Their car had no license plate. "Koma is too complacent for his own good, and fake ones can still be traced, it just takes finding the seller," she said. "I won't take even that risk."

"No, I mean, it feels riskier," he tried to explain. "Aren't people more likely to call the police if they don't see one?"

"That's why I take as many backroads as I can," she said, and then fell forward into a freefall down the mountain side.

Hide hopped over the rail himself.

He'd worked with Irimi a few times before, but unlike Touka, who yelled at him, or Enji, who scapegoated him, she was a hands-off manager.

As long as he didn't mess up, he was left to his own devices. It felt like an actual job when he was paired with her.

Hide was slower, choosing to climb and slide down the mountain, but he was getting faster. He hoped off at the last few feet and landed solidly next to Irimi.

"Nothing?" he asked.

It was nice of her to wait for him. She could've climbed back up and left him still going down. Yomo would've, and had.

"Not nothing," she said. "Bend down and tell me what you see."

Hide glanced questioningly at her, but listened, crouching down to inspect the ground. He still didn't see anything. "Uhh—"

"Ah," she said, poking the back of his head with two fingers. "I keep forgetting you have a bad nose. Keep looking. You'll see it."

Hide searched, but it was dark, and the moonlight didn't help all that much. He put a hand down to lean forward and stopped.

His palm was wet and, as he lifted it, sticky. He brought it up to his nose and sniffed.

Blood.

He felt for it, and there was more, all over the ground. Someone had died here.

"Using your hands?" she asked, amused.

"I still figured it out," he said, wiping his hands as best he could on the dirt wall as he stood. "So, where'd the body go?"

Irimi grabbed her chin, propping her elbow up with her other arm. "What about the ghoul at your university? Could he have done this?"

"Nishiki?" he asked in surprise. "Nah."

"Then where does he get his food?"

Hide shrugged. "He goes to the 14th ward on weekends."

"On second thought, it probably wasn't a ghoul," she said. "Look."

He followed her finger, but—

Irimi put a hand on his back, gently pushing him forward, and he saw what looked like a body, further down in a crevice.

She held onto his hoodie as he leaned to see it better, pulling him back, and then she picked up a large rock with one hand and tossed it.

As soon as the rock thumped down, a net jerked up, made of quinque steel, the 'body' flying up with it. It was a dummy made of straw and padding, but painted over to vaguely resemble a human.

"They took the body, and replaced it with this," she said, turning away. "We'll need to find a new spot."

Hide didn't miss the red stains on the bottom of the net. "How do ghouls fall for it?" he asked, hooking a thumb at it.

"How did you?" she asked back wryly.

"I barely count. I'm a baby ghoul," he protested.

She looked at the trap. "There's meat inside that thing. It stinks. Other ghouls used to poach the bodies here, but they stopped coming since we officially claimed this area. But lately, with how things are, it seems like they've been driven back here."

Hide moved closer to the wall of dirt, but made no move to climb it. It was much, much harder going up than coming down. "Can't be everyone's territory. So, whose is it, really?"

"If you want to be technical, Yomo," she answered. "Do you need me to carry you back up?" she asked, teasing.

Hide wanted to say yes, but her tone made him suck it up and start climbing.

It took him fifteen long minutes to reach the top, and he immediately flopped over the backseat as soon as he opened the door.

"It's good for your endurance," she said, watching him pant, an attempt at encouraging.

Hide was sweating so much he considered throwing away his hoodie, and had before.

Once they were moving and he caught his breath, Hide sat up and leaned on the passenger seat. "Hey, Irimi?"

"I thought you fell asleep again."

Hide ignored this. "What were you and Enji like? You know, before the old—ah, Mr. Yoshimura."

Her hands tightened around the steering wheel. "Violent. Murderous. Out of control. Any negative adjective you can think of applied to me back then. Why?"

"Enji likes to lecture me about it. He says I remind him of how he was," Hide told her, flopping back down and resting his hands behind his head. "He told me that if I wanted power, I might wake up one day and realize I had nothing left to give for it."

"That's his point of view."

"You disagree?" he asked in surprise.

"Seeking power isn't a bad thing. What's bad is doing it alone and disregarding others. Or believing that only you can bear a burden. If you don't rely on others as much as they rely on you—that's how you end up losing everything," she answered. "I'm speaking from experience. The Black Dobers fell apart because no one trusted me by the end. I used to move them like chess pieces, but they aren't pieces in a game. They're people."

Hide closed his eyes. "What makes you think I'm going to lead anything? I'm not interested."

"It doesn't just apply to that, and I think you know it."

Hide didn't respond and pretended to be asleep.

A/N: I made a discord server for all of my works, come join! /dYy2zpRwd3