Chapter 2:
Authors Note: Just a fan of Tokyo Ghoul borrowing the characters to write this fanfic. Thank you to all those who read the story and to those who reviewed in the last chapter. I appreciated hearing your feedback. Also, I just want to say sorry in advance for any mistakes in regards to the timeline (I may end up altering the ages of the characters when certain events occur in my fic without realizing it).
As always, thank you for reading the fanfic and I hope you enjoy! :)
xxxxx
It's a sunny day in April, Touka is mere months away from turning 17, and she is just starting her second year in high school when he first steps into Anteiku. He doesn't stand out too much with his baby face and book but she's wary all the same – he's a newcomer and even worse, he's a human.
She may not completely hate humans but she does hate the fact that she has to keep her guard up while around them.
She surreptitiously surveys the other customers in the cafe – they're all ghouls and she's sure that if this boy knew that he'd stepped into the lion's den by coming into the shop then he'd turn tail and run immediately.
While many ghouls would see this as an act of cowardice, she's pretty sure that humans would describe it as having common sense. It's a rare person who is brave enough to willingly walk to their imminent death.
She watches as he trips on his way to a table and sighs. Not only is he a human, he appears to be a very clumsy one. She plasters a smile on her face before nodding at Irimi-san to indicate she'd take his order.
She examines him a bit more while approaching his table.
He appears to be the ideal meal for any ghoul - he's not terribly skinny and doesn't have too much fat on him. He also appears to be around her age so there's no need to worry about disgusting old man meat (which, while tolerable, has the common consensus of having a really horrible texture to ghouls). She can't complain though, she needs to eat the meat to survive after all.
No, she won't actually actively hunt him but that doesn't mean that she will show him any sympathy either.
Humans, she decides, have it lucky in that they have such a variety of foods to choose from. She therefore finds it very vexing hearing many of them complain about it. Touka speculates that if they were to suddenly find themselves as a ghoul they wouldn't be able to cope at all.
Sometimes she looks at the food that humans eat and imagines what it tastes like.
Does the whipping cream she puts in hot chocolate taste light and fluffy or would it not have any taste at all? She's heard that it's the former option but she still wants to have the power to judge that for herself.
She finally reaches the table and elects to delay her train of thoughts for another time.
"Welcome to Anteiku! What can I get for you today?" she asks politely with a notepad in hand.
He looks up from his book with a sheepish grin and orders one of the sandwiches on display and a mocha latte.
She's glad that he orders a drink she's familiar with making instead of one of the mixed juices. She still needs a bit more practice before she's able to make that type of drink taste good.
Her prior attempt at making a mixed fruit blend had Yoriko coughing non-stop for a very long time.
"Touka-chan, I'm sorry I wasn't able to finish the drink. I'm sure next time it'll be perfect, you just need to add more sugar." Yoriko had explained afterwards with her normal bright smile.
Still, Touka shudders to think what her next attempt will bring. Right now she's firm in her decision to stick to solely making coffee. At least that way she can try it herself before serving it to others.
She makes her lattes as she always does - with her signature rabbit drawing. She doesn't care if people think it's out of character for her. She's never been one to follow the grind. Besides, it calms her down.
She hands him his order and receives a compliment on her drawing in return. She nods and gives him a smile but inwardly feels like gritting her teeth. He annoys her with his innocence - she wishes she could be as carefree as he is.
Maybe it's just because she's in a bad mood on that day because while she's glad for the business he provides Anteiku, she still wishes that this will be his only visit to the shop. She would be grateful to have a bit of peace in her life without having to put on a facade all the time.
xxxxx
Reports of murders happening in the area have begun to surface and Touka finds that there's too much attention being placed on the 20th ward.
The cause of the entire ruckus is a ghoul by the name of Kamishiro Rize. She's one of the more recent ghouls frequenting the quiet 20th ward but has succeeded in creating the most amount of chaos in the limited amount of time that she's been there. The alias given to her by the CCG is Binge Eater which doesn't match her appearance at all. If only they knew the truth - that the ghoul has the appearance of a highly attractive female. Touka supposes that's why she's been able to easily prey on so many humans. She hates to admit it but even she had been fooled by Rize in the beginning as well.
When Rize had first walked into Anteiku she had the air of being someone docile, refined and quiet. There hadn't been too many customers at the time but there was still a noticeable reduction of noise in the tiny shop as everyone had stared at the beautiful newcomer. The chatter had continued soon after but there were many interested looks shot at the purple haired woman for the duration of her stay at the cafe that day. Touka had never been good at things like attraction or blatant admiration and so she's not sure that she would have been able to handle all the attention in that same situation.
It doesn't take long for her perception of Rize to change.
It's only a couple of weeks down the line that Touka finds out the full truth about her personality from Yoshimura-san and promptly makes the decision to confront her.
Normally she wouldn't go out of her way to explain the rules of the ward herself (usually many of their regular ghoul customers will take it upon themselves to educate the newcomers) but she worries that the sheer number of recent murders will attract the doves. She's sure that it is best that she does it as soon as possible - she feels that it will only be a small matter of time before they might find out about Anteiku and she can't have that happen.
Touka finally has the chance as she's heading to the cafe for her shift a couple of days later. She has a whole speech in her head about the do's and do not's of the ward and begins to lay it out in a hurry.
It does not go the way she expects it to.
The encounter ends with a hysterically laughing Rize and an annoyed Touka. The promise that she will "try" to tone down her number of kills rings false to the ukaku ghoul and if there is one thing she hates, it's when people lie to her.
Her foul mood is still in effect when she walks into Anteiku and it takes a talk with Yomo-san to help cool her head.
"Let it go Touka," he says to her during their sparring session that day, "hatred is not the solution. Leave it to us adults if it gets out of hand."
She scoffs at being treated like a kid but knows that they have more experience than her. She has faith that they'll be able to stop Rize if it comes down to it. By the end of the night she's agreed to try to look away from Rize's activities and to not interfere with her.
She's not sure if it was the right choice for her to make.
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The human book lover (it's what she's begun calling him in her mind – she doesn't care to know his actual name and she's sure that she's never going to need to know it anyways) starts coming in more frequently as the months progress. At first she thinks it's because of the coffee but soon retracts that thought. It's obvious, from the smitten glances he throws Rize when he thinks no one is looking, that he harbors a crush.
If she were to be honest then she would have to say that it's embarrassing to watch sometimes. In the past couple of weeks Touka has seen him spill his coffee, choke on his coffee and turn completely red in the face courtesy of a smile from Rize.
So far she's lived her life without developing romantic feelings for anyone and, after seeing how it can turn a rational person into a sappy idiot, she's glad that she hasn't.
xxxxx
She's just turned 17 and he's brought a friend along with him this time. Just by looking at them she can tell that they have such different personalities that, for a moment, she wonders why they're friends. That thought is fleeting as she realizes that the same could be said about her friendship with Yoriko.
Just as she had analyzed them, she can feel their eyes on her as she helps the other people in the cafe and she has to make sure not to tense up.
They call her over not long after.
She approaches their table and is taken aback by the abrupt inquisition about her relationship status before she can even ask for their order. It always surprises her that there are people who can be so straightforward with their intentions. She surmises that humans can be scary in more ways than one. She hurries on off as soon as they actually do order something but not before she can hear the book lover berate his friend about his actions.
"Hide- you'll get us kicked out! What am I going to do if that happens? This is the only place that I can see h-."
He stops talking abruptly and all it takes is one glance at the customer gliding through the door to understand why.
She doesn't hear much of the rest of their conversation but she can guess the topic by his red cheeks and the uncontrollable laughing from the male dubbed as Hide.
She opts to ignore them as she tends to cleaning a spill.
She doesn't care to meddle and she certainly won't be playing matchmaker for them.
It's not too long afterwards that Hide leaves. He's annoyingly exuberant as he waves goodbye with a promise to return again.
Her shift ends early and, before she leaves, she happens to catch Rize and the book lover chatting at a table. He has such a happy smile on his face that she feels a bit of pity for him. She's positive that the feelings will only be one-sided on his part. It's obvious, to her at least, that he's Rize's next prey.
Touka's hunch grows stronger the next day when she passes by them on her way home from school with Yoriko. The smug grin and knowing wink shot in her direction by her fellow ghoul pretty much confirms it. She pauses for a minute before continuing to walk.
He has no clue what's coming but she recalls the promise she made to Yomo-san about not getting involved and it's really none of her business anyway.
xxxxx
Business has been slowing at Anteiku and Touka's stress levels are rising just thinking about her classes in school.
It may be late at night but the need to clear her mind is greater.
In instances like these she finds it's nice to embark on a mini stroll.
She doesn't get very far before she's harassed by a drunk man who doesn't seem to take no for an answer. It makes her glad that she's a ghoul and therefore able to take care of herself and not some poor defenseless human girl. She imagines Yoriko in her place and finds herself flaring up angrily.
He's being overwhelmingly pushy and she finds she doesn't have a large amount of patience left in her. She doesn't have any plans to kill him though - all she wants to do is get away. It's only when he addresses the hooded newcomer by referring to them as a monster that she's finally had enough. Those words rub her the wrong way and she subsequently kills him - it's a drastic move but she justifies it as removing a piece of trash from the world.
It's a quick and (relatively) clean kill but she's still morose about having to do it. She doesn't need to eat any meat at the moment but decides to take the arm in case she needs it on another occasion. If not, then she can always hand it over to the manager - there are plenty of ghouls out there who would appreciate not having to hunt for the meat. She's so absorbed in her thoughts that for a minute she forgets about the other figure present at the scene.
It's only when she hears an audible gulp that she looks up.
"What? Do you want this?" she asks, proffering the arm.
She receives no reply.
"Well? Hurry up, do you want this or not?" she says brusquely. All she wants to do now is leave. "I don't have all night you know."
Touka tries to peer under their hood. She's sure that she's never seen this ghoul before.
The figure shrinks back at her sudden movement.
"Are you okay?" she continues in the same tone, " You're not going to eat?"
Still no response.
She remains puzzled at the odd behavior until a ray of moonlight highlights the face under the hood.
The first thing she takes note of is the single glowing red eye accompanied by a grey one.
The next thing she notices is that it's the same face as the book lover that frequents the cafe.
Wait… what?! I could have sworn that I saw him walking with Rize not too long ago. I was so sure that he was her target.
It takes her a minute to reorganize her rampant thoughts into words that can be voiced aloud.
"How are you still alive?" she inquires, "Why weren't you eaten?"
She's still staring confusedly at him trying to figure out how he could possibly be standing there in front of her when he suddenly takes off screaming.
She heads home unsettled and a little pissed off. What was originally supposed to be a calming walk turns into the exact opposite.
xxxxx
She sees him again not long after.
He drops by Anteiku after the shop closes. This time he carries himself differently and appears more resigned. He begs for her help and even though she still feels pissed off at him for his actions at their last meeting, she can't help but feel the slightest twinge of compassion for him.
She's still contemplating what to do when she freezes at what he says next.
"Ever since I've had this body everything has been terrible."
He's an idiot, she thinks as any empathy she may have had for him disappears abruptly.
She wonders if he even realizes how hurtful he's being at the moment. There is no way that she's going to help him if he has an attitude like that. Why should she anyways? She's had enough time to think on it and has come to the conclusion that he was a former human. Even if he's a ghoul now, to her, he's still not one of them.
While Touka had understood that they were different before, she had not taken the time to think about what it actually meant until this moment. The sudden realization upsets her and she can't help but erupt in a flurry of pained words.
"No, I won't help you. Are you kidding me?!" she screams out angrily, "I bet you've never had to live in fear of the CCG or other ghouls gone insane."
He doesn't say a word choosing instead to sit there. His lack of response enrages her even more and she advances on him.
"If you think everything has been terrible for you then what about me, huh? For me, it's been terrible since I was born."
She gives him a glare intending to leave him there when a sudden cough breaks the heavy atmosphere. She whirls around to see the manager.
"That's enough for now Touka-chan", he says with his normal calm tone.
She watches as the manager helps the idiot boy with disbelieving eyes unable to understand his decision. She presumes that he's looking at the boy as if he's a ghoul and not as a previous human (something that she's having a hard time doing after he inadvertently called their ways of living terrible). He confirms her presumption and then proceeds to remind her of the cafes policy to help their fellow ghouls which leaves her feeling properly chastised.
They lead him down to the refrigerator where he proceeds to receive human meat with a nervous expression. She's sure that he's going to have trouble eating it but at least he'll have it with him just in case.
She scrutinizes him as he walks away.
He's lucky that the manager is very kind.
After he's gone she broaches the subject with the manager.
She's slightly surprised by what she hears although it helps her piece together the final parts of the puzzle. That night when she had seen the two together, Rize had tried to eat him but instead had gotten crushed by beams and had her organs transplanted into the boy. That explains why she hasn't seen Rize recently. It also explains the predicament the boy now finds himself in.
Yoshimura-san also elaborates on the fact that this former human is a victim in his own rights and she lets up a little bit. She knows all too well what it's like to be a victim and have your life shaken up in an instant. Before heading home that night she makes a promise to the manager that she'll keep an eye out for him for a little while.
She still has her reservations but she'll try to put them aside. If that book lover thinks that she'll take it easy on him though, then he's got another thing coming.