My King

Chapter 15

I was making my way towards Anteiku, but when I arrived, the entire building was swallowed in bright red, yellow, and orange flames.

"No! No!"

I looked around, trying to see if there was anyone who made it out. Touka was running right at me as she looked upon the fiery Anteiku.

"No," she said.

"Where's Kaneki?" I asked.

"I thought he was with you."

I turned and saw him far ahead the street from us. He was carrying something in his arms, but it was covered with a tarp.

"There he is," I said and we ran after him.

We lost him when he took the corner and we were unable to see where he had gone to. We headed down an alley and into another street to see him walking down it. We were about to run after him, but Yomo stepped in front of us.

"I can't allow you to do that," Yomo said.

"Yomo, why?!"

"I promised your father to watch after you. I was given my orders tonight to protect you and Hinami. So I will do just that."

I was about to run towards Kaneki, but Touka grabbed my hand. I took another look and saw there were CCG members all over the place. They weren't shooting at him though. Why was that? The covering that he was carrying slipped off due to the cold gust of wind that came in. I looked at who he was holding to see it was Hide. I fell onto the ground, watching as Kaneki carried Hide.

"Hide," I whimpered.

After that night, that was the last I had seen of Kaneki.

Two years had passed ever since the attack in the 20th ward. Anteiku was burnt to the ground and Yoshimura was dead. Kaneki's whereabouts were unknown to us and we had to start anew again. I still couldn't get over the fact that Hide was dead and Kaneki disappeared. Instead of going back to Aogiri, I decided to help Touka and Yomo make another coffee shop. It was pretty small, but it offered us another safe space. However, a few of our ghoul friends went off on their own after Anteiku was burnt to the ground, which was fine and all, but I missed seeing everyone. Especially Kaneki.

"You miss him, don't you?" Touka asked.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"You're just staring at the dishes and not cleaning them," Touka chuckled. 

I sighed and turned on the water, "It's been a rough day."

"Look I know you miss him. I miss him too," Touka said. "Were you able to tell him?"

"No."

"That's good," she smiled slightly. "At least you didn't tell each other your feelings and then have him disappear on you for two years."

"Thanks, Touka," I said and washed the dishes.

"I'm just saying."

"Yeah I guess it was better that I didn't tell him, but I wanted to in that moment so badly."

"Yeah I understand how you feel with that," she said.

I finished washing the dishes and we just sat at one of the tables since business was slow as usual.

"Got any plans tonight?" I asked as I grabbed one of the books from the shelf.

It was one of the books Kaneki really liked. Actually, it was the one I had bought him. It wasn't his copy, but it was the book I had bought him when he was in the hospital after his accident. I opened it up and thumbed through the pages, seeing the kanji letters fly by.

"Y/N, are you even listening to me?" Touka asked.

"Sorry, what?" I asked and looked up at her.

She looked at the book I was holding, "Did you consciously grab that?"

"No," I said and set the book down.

"Anyway, I said I wasn't doing anything. Want to hang out tonight maybe watch a movie or something?" she asked.

"Sure. I've got nothing to do since I left Aogiri. Hey, how is Hinami doing in that?"

"She's doing alright I guess. Ayato still isn't really talking to me."

"Oh," I said.

"And there is really no one there for me to talk to," Touka said. "So Hinami is on her own. She's grown up ever since you two left for Aogiri. She's matured quite a lot in such a short amount of time. I guess that's what you need to do when you lose both of your parents."

"Yeah," I said.

"Have you heard anything about them? Your parents? You told me the night of the attack that you had seen them and helped them escape to the 13th ward."

I nodded my head, "Yeah I did help them, but I haven't seen them since then."

"You know your brother came in here one day with someone."

He did? When I saw him that night two years ago he was about two or three.

"Who did he come with?"

"A woman I didn't recognize."

"That was probably my mother," I said.

"Is his name Kage?"

"Yeah."

"He said he was looking for you. He was hoping to see you again."

"I can't bring myself to see them."

"Even though they've done some messed up stuff in your life, you're eventually going to have to forgive them for it."

"I don't think I can."

"You say that now, but you eventually will. If you don't for your parent's sake, do it for your brother. You want to establish a relationship with him, don't you?"

I remembered the day where I had first met Kage. He had such a wonderful smile on his face and his eyes were so curious. 

"I don't know."

"Well whatever you decide, you know I'll be here for you."

"Yeah. Thanks, Touka."

The door opened up and the bell chimed, letting us know it was time to get off our asses and to get to work. We stood up and I placed the book back on the shelf. Touka walked behind the counter and started to get a few cups out.

"Hi and welcome," I stopped short of my words after I saw who walked in. It was the CCG's quinx squad. But it wasn't the fact that they were here to get a cup of coffee. It was the fact that he was back. After all this time, after he had claimed to be missing, he was back. He was right here, standing in front of me. I was about to say something, but one of his members said something to him.

"Why are we in here?" a young man with black hair asked.

"This aroma smells so familiar," he said.

"Teach, are we really going to get coffee in here?" someone with greenish hair asked.

"Mr. Sas, what are we doing in here?" a kid with orangish hair asked.

"Isn't if obvious? To get some coffee," he smiled.

"Kaneki," I mumbled to myself.

But he wasn't the Kaneki I knew. He wasn't the Kaneki I fell in love with.