A/N: this was requested by @foulbordel (nice username LMAO)! We got a lil angst for Nimura because apparently y'all love to make him sad as FUCK so here we are!
The amount of RESEARCH I had to do bro, fuckin insane I don't remember a thing.
Now please be careful as this chapter contains SPOILERS concerning FURUTA AND HIDE! But I mean Tokyo Ghoul was finished like a year ago we should all have the time to finish reading it
Last note: it's an Arima!reader because wowowo thats NEW and also idk it fit with the theme
Reading the news, Furuta leaned back in satisfaction. A steel beam accident harming two people in the 20th ward. The papers confirmed what authorities had told the public; so far, they didn't see any tampering at the site. Nimura did what he had to do, and it payed off. There was one less obstacle separating him from his goal. Soon, he would reap the benefits of his sacrifices. And Rize would understand; of course she would, she would understand it all once she sees the big picture. No hard feelings. Well, maybe a bit.
"I can't stay here all my life," you admitted, staring up at the clear, blue sky. "I want to be free, and travel, and learn about the things I like to do. I don't wanna go to the CCG like the others."
Rize listened in silence, for her case was different from theirs. Nimura, on his side of things, felt a bit guilty. It was as if it were his fault that you were stuck here, even though he knew it wasn't. The silence stretched on, as if the entire conversation rested on your shoulders. Such a thing was rare, considering how much space your two friends' personalities usually took.
"Kishou says his eye isn't working right." You blurted. Maybe today, they were there to listen to you. "He said he doesn't know if it will happen to me, too, but I don't want it to happen! I... I want to get out before it does."
"So you should!" Your ravenette friend exclaimed. A newly-found energy took control of him. If he wanted anything, it was for you to be free of this place. And happy. And with him. "I'll help you if you want! I'll help you get free and then you can do whatever you want with your life!" The idea sounded amazing; it was fool-proof, no?
"Yeah!" Rize cheered. "We'll help you get out! But you need to send us post-cards, okay? And one day, when we're all grown and out of here, you have to promise to see us again."
Against all odds, you hesitated. Shyly, you turned your gaze down to your hands and started fidgeting. "...but my brother's gonna be stuck here." You muttered. After the Washuus got rid of your mother, Kishou was all you had that resembled full-blooded family.
Nimura's heart pinched at the thought. In some way, you were right. Arima seemed to actually care for you. To some extent. Most people here weren't exactly... emotionally alright, but the two of you seemed close. And what about him? What about Furuta? He'd miss you when you'd be gone. He'd miss you a lot! There'd be a gaping hole in your trio. But then again, he would rather miss you than see you being sad.
"You'll get to see him again one day!" Nimura assured. That was mostly a lie, but you were still naive enough to believe it. Nimura would have said anything to make you happy.
You looked at your friends with a slight twinkle of hope in your eyes, feeling your chest fill up with adoration. Oh, how you loved them. "Really? You'd do that for me?"
That was the worse decision Furuta had ever made. From that night on, he had lost you from his sight for good. And with you, you dragged Rize. The disappearances had set the Garden on high alert and there had never been any hope for the poor ghoul to follow your footsteps.
He had always held a grudge against Rize for having the audacity to follow you. If anything, he should have been the one to escape! To live life with you, and make memories together. He was the one who loved you, so why the hell did Rize go?
Ah, he shouldn't dwell on the past too much. After all, he did carry out a partial revenge against her. She was crushed beyond recognition now, somewhere in a hospital under Kanou's watch. Her life would be a living hell, and she'd be out of his hair. He had a few things to do now in order to drag you out of the shadows.
From now on, it would be nothing but fun and games.
"The CCG's getting shady," a fellow ghoul warned you. You laid back on the couch and flashed him a slightly confused and disbelieving glance.
"Sources?" You demanded. You were not about to step into a messy situation like that only to realize it was some kind of plot. Your brother was still looking for you after all.
"Scarecrow." At the mention of the name, you bolted up.
"Is he still here?! When did he communicate this with you?" You hurried towards the ghoul as if you were going to do harm, but you would never. This Scarecrow was simply the most reliable source you had, and from what you could see and smell, he wasn't even a ghoul.
"That's... haha, that's funny..." Your subordinate scratched his cheek, looking to the side as if he were shy. "He said he'd wait for your reaction before leaving. Would you like to see him?"
"Yes. Absolutely. Bring him in and tell anyone else that I'm not available until he leaves."
A few moments later, said informant walked in. You smiled and settled back down. "And so you heard the CCG was in big shit, huh, Nagachika?" The boy nodded but didn't dare take off his mask, even if he was aware that you knew his true identity. "Well then, please elaborate."
"Arima's dead."
Your heart stopped. It was as if Hide had slapped your smile off your face. For a second, the words didn't even seem like Japanese to you. They were just... sounds that came out of Hide's voice box. Then, when they settled, you took a deep, shaky breath and contained your grief for later, when you'd be alone. Kishou was going to die soon anyways. You were surprised that he had made it this far. Soon, it would be your turn too. "I see. Please, continue."
"Sasaki... is Kaneki again. The entire organization was disoriented, and there's this guy who took over and he does not look good. He told people that he was "the new Arima", and went on about how he was the only one left that could fill that spot. He's got some ties to the Clowns, so it's not going to be pretty. And he's after Kaneki. The trouble that's boiling seems big. Like, big enough to wreck havoc in an entire city, maybe even the country."
"...that does seem scary." You agreed, wracking your mind and revising what Scarecrow had said. Something about 'the new Arima' didn't settle right with you. No one at the CCG was horrible enough to disrespect Kishou like that. There was a slight doubt in your mind that those words were aimed at you. That they were aimed to coax you out of the shadows you had set your life in. In fact, everything that lead up to this moment seemed to plead to you. The death of your brother, the implication of the man in which a part of Rize lived on, a certain 'New Arima'... someone was calling out for you, and you had a feeling that you knew who it was.
"(Y/N), with all due respect... I really think we should act. I have a super bad feeling about this, you know. I heard rumours that Furuta —he calls himself Washuu Kichimura now— is actually raising an army of some kind."
You sighed. Of course this was all Nimura's doing. The poor, poor boy seemed to never have been able to handle his fate well enough. A sense of guilt festered up within you once more at the thought. If only you could have dragged him out along with you and Rize, perhaps this wouldn't even be happening.
You passed a hand in your now white hair (you didn't exactly miss the original hue. This one gave you a wise appearance). "Yes, Hide. We'll pass to action. I'll go warn the others. I'm putting an end to this. Right now. Nimura's gone far enough as it is, and I'm afraid I'm the last one who can knock some sense into him."
"Gotcha, Arima!"
Why was it that the day you decide to step out of the shadows, there's a siege going on?
Trying to blend within the mix of ghouls and humans all around, getting inside the CCG building was an extreme challenge. However, against all odds, you managed. Your appearance struck some celebrating investigators as a ghost sighting. In fact, the resemblance you held with your brother was uncanny. As soon as you stepped foot inside, no one had the guts to ask you why you were here. With your head held up high, you inquired the whereabouts of Furuta. An investigator stuttered the answer and you were on your way.
Nimura looked at the investigators who had officially put all of their trust into him. This seemed to be almost too easy. Even Kaneki, Eto and Arima hadn't been able to stop his scheme. This was a sure win.
"Sir!" An out of breath investigator almost crashed into the room. "Sir! Arima is here!" Furuta's heart dropped into his heels. For a second, he was unable to hide the state of shock on his face when he was announced that a dead man was walking. Oh god, Arima was going to beat him into a pulp. Nimura had jinxed himself; things weren't that easy. How fun!
He didn't even have the time to tell the investigator to kick out the intruder. A tall, white haired person with the same solemn traits as his half-brother walked in, spotting him immediately and engaging in stern eye contact. The differences between you and Arima were subtle, but enough for Furuta to tell the difference.
You had grown into a beautiful individual. And he, too, from the way you perceived it. It was such a shame that his personality had gone to waste like that though.
"So this is the new Arima I have heard so much about." You stated. "I'm quite disappointed." Oh, so you knew. But how much did you know? Could you out him? Out his schemes? Out the fact that he and the entire Washuu clan were ghouls? Would you even do it?
Matsuri, who was somewhere close, wheezed as if his lung had just collapsed on itself. By stepping out of the shadows, you had threatened yourself as much as you had threatened the Washuus and Nimura himself.
"Oh, I'm so rude!" You exclaimed, clapping your hands together. "I'm Arima (Y/N), some of you might have known my brother, Kishou?"
Furuta had to say something; he had to do something to de-escalate the situation. He had to keep an eye on you without seeming too suspicious and he had to keep you away from the Washuus now. God, what were you even thinking? Nimura knew he was the one who forced you out of hiding, but what the hell was your plan? He couldn't even see it. Were you a decoy? Did you have a scheme of your own? Were you with the Clowns (had Uta betrayed him again)? Were you with Goat? The CCG? Had Suzuya or Ui gotten in contact with you? Were you acting completely on your own? The wave of paranoia that went through his head made it hard for him to think.
"It's funny, you do look like Arima a lot." An investigator pointed out. You politely thanked them and before anyone else could say anything, Furuta spoke up.
"(Y/N)! What a pleasant surprise! I haven't seen you in forever!" And with that, he abandoned the celebration. The Clown Siege was already far behind him. He had a bigger goal to tend to now, even though your arrival was a bit unexpected.
"Nimura," you greeted, to which he slightly cringed. As the man approached you, he placed a hand on your lower back as if to guide you out of the room.
"Ooh, I see no one told you." He hissed. "I go by Washuu Kichimura now. Kichi is just fine for you though." After winking, he tried to escort you out. The only problem being, you didn't budge until you decided that you wanted to move.
"Nimura," you repeated in that same, polite tone. You weren't going to fall for his silly little 'it's my party and I'll cry if I want to' antics. After you made your point, you followed him out. He didn't even disband the meeting he supposedly had.
Against all odds, it appeared that the main office had rooms. Decent, hotel-like rooms, in which Nimura brought you. Once behind closed doors, his façade seemed to slip off for a fraction of a moment. The man in front of you turned into the little boy you used to know and he tackled you in a hug, which didn't last very long before he took control of his emotions and cleared his throat. The reminder that he wasn't your Nimura anymore was refreshing and allowed you to speak your thoughts out loud without being afraid of hurting his feelings. He was an adult now, he should be able to have an adult conversation.
"I have no interest in your little alternate personalities." You warned. "I want to know what the fuck came over you, Nimura. The hell is all this?" You angrily waved your hand around the room, although the real problem was outside.
"I know you're upset over Kish-"
"Kishou was supposed to die young, I'm not upset. What I am upset about is you, Nimura! Do you think this is all a game? Do you think that because we die prematurely we get to do whatever we want? Leave behind a screwed up world that others will struggle to fix? Just what the hell is your endgame? What, so you kill Rize-"
"Rize isn't really de-"
"Let me finish! You will speak when I am finished!" You boomed. Although Nimura hadn't seen you in years, he knew that you used to be calm and collected. For a moment, he and Rize were sure that you were actually afraid of conflict, for you would never tell them when you were upset. So to have you yell at him, after you were apart for so many years, was a bit scary, yeah. Did you not care anymore?
"The fact that Rize isn't even dead is terrible. She should be! She's probably in agony right now! And you included an innocent human in your mess, you got investigators killed, you got my brother killed, the human's fucked in the head now, the entire CCG is turning on itself, ghouls are going crazy and you're proud of yourself for that? What the hell happened to my Nimura? What happened when Rize and I left?"
"What happened was that you left me alone!" Furuta answered. His breathing had already gotten a bit staggered. "I was stuck there, like a trapped animal, and I had no one anymore! At night, all I could think of was the fact that Rize was the one to be free and not me! Why couldn't it have been me?"
"We wanted you to come along, Nimura." You assured. "But they were already on our asses when we made it through, and if we would have gone back in they would've caught us all. Rize said..."
"I know what Rize said!" He interrupted you. His voice was filled with a hurt you didn't know was possible to interpret through speech. "I was there, (Y/N)! I know what she said. She said that it was better if the two of you were free rather than all three of us trapped. Do you know how much that hurts? To know that your friends would leave you behind?"
"But you said you'd help me. You were the one who proposed it." You didn't know why you were even arguing with him. The poor thing was right, you had ditched him, and you always regretted it.
"To get you out! I never agreed to letting Rize out too!" He countered. "She didn't have the right to run away with you, because I'm the one who loves you, not her! I should have gone with you, and we could have lived happily, and none of this would have had to happen!"
In all honesty, your childhood friend's confession didn't exactly shock you, nor did it disgust you. It was just... it was a fact. Even though you hadn't seen him in a decade, you just felt alright with that. He loves you. And, well, you might love him too. It was an odd thing, but Nimura held a special place in your heart, even if he had turned into... some kind of monster.
Before you could reply, he cut you off by dashing towards the door. "Don't. I'm not interested in finding out I've been putting so much effort into this and you don't feel the same." Once he reached the door, he gave you a semi-hateful glance. "I'm not feeling alright. We'll talk later, when I'm in my right mind."
"...okay." You squeaked, flinching when he slammed the door behind him. It was fruitless to run after him and try to convince him that you did return his feelings. That would simply seem like an unauthentic, desperate attempt to spare his feelings. Instead, you sat on your new bed and shed a few tears of frustration. You hoped that maybe your words sparked a flame of doubt within his schemes. And if not, at least Hide had your back.
Nimura was sick of tossing and turning in his own bed. Why was he even sleeping? He had things to fix. Like, for one, your relationship and trust. After cooling down, the man did admit that you had a few points. He couldn't invalidate them, because you were in a similar situation and you seemed to be just fine. Maybe Furuta was just a dreadfully immature man. Maybe you could help him with that.
Despite the time being around the earliest hours of morning, he decided that he should ask for your opinion on his decision. Out the Washuu clan and fix the mess he had made in the CCG. Maybe the two of you could even disband it and create something new or better. After that, the two of you could live on together and catch up on the lost years that were now behind you.
Upon arrival, Nimura dismissed the guard standing at your door. Yes, he had assigned Ui to guard your room. Furuta wasn't going to let anyone -be it a Washuu or another- touch a single hair on your head. "Go to bed, Ui. I got this." With a dismissive wave of his hand, the investigator hesitated. Furuta gave him a questioning look and his subordinate struggled to find the right words to express himself.
"This is Arima's sibling..." He started, obviously a bit suspicious. Why would Nimura even show up to your door in the ungodly hours of the early morning? All the answers in Koori's head weren't so pure. "I'm not going to let you in if you're thinking of something shady-"
"For goodness sake, I'm not!" Furuta exclaimed. "You're doing a very good job, but now I am telling you to step aside and get some rest. All I'm doing is talking over some things with them." Still as hesitant, Ui left his post with a guilty look on his face. Nimura ignored it and walked into your room.
"(Y/N)." He called out, wanting to wake you up without frightening you. In the far corner, he could spot you soundly sleeping in your bed. As he neared you, he opened his mouth to call out a bit louder before a familiar, slightly metallic scent filled his nose.
Furuta lunged forwards to flick on the light over your bed and let out a broken scream of anguish when he noticed the huge puddle of blood you were sleeping in. Shakily, he peeled the covers off your body and analyzed the wound. "(Y/N)!" He called out, as if it could make a difference. "(Y/N), my sweet- no, oh, no, please, don't do this to me. Not now, please!" He pleaded. To whom? He wasn't sure of. Perhaps it was to you, who had so cruelly decided to leave on the worst day possible. Or was it to the gods or beings who had ripped you away from him? From such a lovely future?
Upon further inspection of your body (through tear-filled eyes), Furuta learned that you were in no way at fault and nor were the gods. This was all cleverly orchestrated by the Washuus, but he didn't have time to be mad yet. All his energy went to you, and he soon hollered for a doctor, or for someone to get one. The first person who stumbled into the room was Ui, who was too suspicious of Nimura's antics to actually leave his deceased superior's sibling all alone.
Furuta turned to the man, frenzied eyes gazing at him like a saviour. "Get us a doctor, please! Quickly!" He ordered. "They're leaving me! They shouldn't be, they already did that once, they can't do that again!" As Ui frantically searched for a phone and backup, Furuta remained by your side, clutching your bloody and limp hand.
In an almost childish tone, he muttered to himself. "I don't wanna lose you again, (Y/N)." He didn't have the right mind to check for your vitals, but even if he did, he didn't want to jeopardize his hope. You couldn't leave him. You were strong and stubborn; surely you'd say a big fuck you to the Washuus and wake up tomorrow with your wounds already healed and a big, smug smile on your face.
When Ui announced that the paramedics were on their way, Furuta barely heard him. He was on the verge of a total mental breakdown. He couldn't lose you again.
Standing on the cable car, Furuta stared down on the world that was now his. He wrapped his arms around himself and watched it all go by, knowing that soon, things would change.
You wouldn't have approved of his choice, that much he knew. But he couldn't just stand there and do nothing while you died at the hands of your own paternal family. This was all for you; the world he was changing was purely in memory of you. And, when it would be his time to go, he would gladly do so in hopes that on the other side, you would hit him on the back of the head and scold him for doing something so heartless. Then, after, the two of you could carry on and catch up. You could help him become a better version of himself, just like he imagined, before you were so rudely taken away from him. This time, he wouldn't lose you.