My King

Chapter 6

"You work here too, Y/N?" Kaneki asked.

"What is he doing here?" I asked Yoshimura.

"Touka brought him here after an incident with a school friend and someone on his campus," Yoshimura said.

"Incident?" I asked. "What happened, Kaneki?"

"I um, Hide and I were helping an upper classman Nishiki get some supplies. He wanted to eat Hide."

"He's a ghoul?" I asked.

Kaneki nodded his head, "Yeah. And um, there's something I want to tell you."

I looked at him intently, "Go on."

"Please don't tell Hide," Kaneki said. "I don't want to lose him or you. You two are the only friends I've ever had and I fear that I will lose you guys."

"Just spit it out, Kaneki," I said. I knew he was being sincere, but there were times where he just needed to say what was on his mind without diving too deep into stuff.

"I-I think it's better that I show you," he said and took off his eyepatch. He revealed his ghoulish eye that was underneath it. 

"Y-You're one of them?" I tried to act surprised.

"Yeah," he said and put his eyepatch back over his eye. "I-I'm trying to learn how to deal with my outbursts. Don't worry, Y/N. I won't eat you."

"That's what they all say," I said and walked out of the room.

"Y/N!" Kaneki called after me.

I didn't want to hear it. I wanted to tell him now, but something was telling me to wait yet again. Wait until the right moment. I walked down the hall and into a different room. I closed it behind me and sat down on one of the chairs. 

"What's wrong? You want to tell him, don't you?"

"Shut up," I gritted through my teeth.

"But you're afraid he will reject you because you never told him when your accident happened. But worst of all, you're too afraid you will spill everything to him and you'll let your secret slip."

"I said shut up!" I yelled.

"Y/N, are you ok?" Kaneki asked, knocking on the door.

"Go away," I mumbled to myself.

"If you're not ok, Y/N, I want you to know I'm here to listen. Same with Hide. We're both here to help you."

"Thanks, Kaneki," I said.

"Alright. I'll see you downstairs then," he said and I listened to his footsteps get softer as he walked downstairs.

"You're too afraid to tell him the truth of not only who you are, but what you're feeling towards him."

I sighed, "I guess you're right. I don't want to tell him anything in fear everything will slip out. That's why I pushed him away in that moment."

I walked out of the room and headed downstairs to get through my shift today. It was a bit harder since Kaneki was there and needed some help with getting used to a few things. Fortunately, Yoshimura was mostly beside him in case he messed up. I was still taking orders and bussing tables. That was my role since Touka wasn't here at the moment. My shift was over and so was Kaneki's. I guess I couldn't avoid him forever. We walked in silence for a bit before I was about to say something, but he said something before I could.

"Y/N, do you not want to be friends anymore?" Kaneki asked.

"What makes you think I don't want to be your friend anymore?" I asked.

"You just seemed a bit harsher today than normal."

I sighed, "I was going to say something about that. I'm sorry. I was a bit harsh today, but I am just a bit stressed with school work, Anteiku, taking care of a whole house by myself and learning how to pay bills. Not to mention I can't really afford to buy food with how much I make at Anteiku. All of that money I make is to go towards the bills of the house. I'm sorry, Kaneki. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"All is forgiven, Y/N. I just thought you were trying to let me down easy or something."

"Kaneki, we've been friends since high school."

"Yeah," I said.

"If I didn't want to be friends with you, I would have left already, but I honestly can't leave you two. You made me feel like I have a place in this large world. You two brought me in with open arms when no one else would. I thank you for that and I can't simply just not be friends with you. It would break my heart if I weren't you and Hide's friend."

Kaneki had a small smile on his face, "It's relieving to hear that."

"Don't ever think about that again, Kaneki. Don't even let it cross your mind, you hear?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Y/N."

I sighed and reached up and bonked him on the head a couple of times.

"Silly, Kaneki," I said.

"Hey, hey, those actually hurt," he chuckled. 

"Good. Maybe it can knock some sense into you."

We both laughed until Kaneki walked me home. I said goodbye to him and headed inside. I walked towards my room and turned on the news to hear that the CCG would be heading into the 20th ward in search of two S rated ghouls: Rize and Jason. I sat down at my desk and watched the news report cover the story. Two Doves were going to be entering the area. Senior investigator Kureo Mado and his assistant Koutarou Amon. 

"Doves," I sneered, remembering my parents.

They were Doves and they killed ghouls. They weren't nearly as high ranked as Mado was, but they were up there. They were partners while they worked at the CCG. I guess maybe the reason they left was not only did they fear their own lives, but I guess they didn't want to harm me since harboring a ghoul goes against the code. And in the end, either they were going to have to kill me or the CCG would find out and kill me, my parents, or both. 

"They can get the hell out of this ward if they know what's good for them," I said and turned off the news.