Half and Half

Chapter 11

Yoriko enters the 24th Ward alongside Touka and Kaneki. It's her first time there, and she is amazed by the size of it. While walking their way to a familiar training area, a conversation occurs.

"You encountered this guy?" Touka started.

"Yeah, in the back of the motel. He killed two CCG officers that were accompanying Hide before threatening him. I was able to rescue him," Kaneki said.

"I see... Speaking of Hide, did you reveal to him your...?" Touka is suspicious if the secret is revealed to his friend.

"Yeah..." was his reply.

"How could you slip up like that?!" Touka yelled.

"He found out on his own," Kaneki added calmly. "He found out ever since that fight with Nishiki. Also, he hasn't told anyone about it."

"Really?" Touka calmed down when she got the story.

"Yes, really. Please don't carry out your threat to kill him if I slip up," Kaneki said with a wince.

"Since he found out all on his own and has kept this secret for a long time, I wasn't thinking on it," Touka assured him.

"This Hide person, he's what he is to you like I am to Touka, right?" Yoriko attempts to join in their conversation.

"Yeah..." Kaneki replied, having remembered of how he told this to Touka in an attempt to stop her from killing Nishiki's girlfriend, Kimi in order to keep her true nature a secret.

"Good to know that I'm lucky to be someone like that," Yoriko smiled at her best friend, who blushed at that very idea.

They eventually reached the training area. Kaneki hands Yoriko a package which she slowly opens to reveal human meat.

"I guess I have to eat this, right?" she asked.

"Hunger is probably the reason your eye has activated. Your kakugan, or ghoul eye, activates whenever a ghoul is hungry or activates it's kagune. You can also activate it whenever you please," he replies.

"Right... I think I get it now," she nodded as she took a look at the slab of meat. In fact, she has mixed feelings on what she is going to do with it. "Well, I guess it's time to eat this, then although it won't be an enjoyable experience for me."

"Kaneki, let's not look," Touka says, grabbing his hand before slowly pulling him away.

As they stand a few meters away, Yoriko starts chomping down the meat while making a faint sound of sobbing. All she knows is that her days of eating regular food are now over, and it's all thanks to her encounter with a certain psychopath.

"I wish I could have stopped it," Kaneki said with guilt on his face which is loud enough for Touka to hear.

"Don't take this burden all by yourself, Kaneki. Rely on your friends," she said before adding up this detail with guilt as well. "This is my fault as well. I wasn't there when that maniac shot her and left her for dead."

"Either way, she's going to find out you're a ghoul and accept you despite your nature."

"Right..."

"I'm... done," Yoriko says, sniffling.

"Right, take off your eyepatch," Kaneki instructed.

She nods and does what he said. Upon removing her eyepatch, her right eye is back to its normal color.

"My eye is back to normal, right?" Yoriko asked.

"Yeah..." was his reply.

Hearing this, she quickly took out a compact powder from her pocket to see her own reflection. It is as exactly as he said when she saw her right eye is back to being normal, and she is relief to see this.