Description
During the walk back to Anteiku, you and Kaneki talked about anything just to get to know each other better, and since Uta said he would probably make a mask similar to his you asked to see it. It was a cool mask and it fit him perfectly. It definitely made him look kind of creepy but cool at the same time. You then wanted your mask to be done as soon as possible.
Realizing that you were still in the clothes from yesterday, you asked Kaneki if he would come with you to stop by at your place so you could take a quick shower and change into clean clothes. Of course he agreed and you both started walking to your place.
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Arriving at your apartment, once you took one step inside, you instantly sensed something wasn’t right. Kaneki must have too because he moved in front of you and carefully looked around for something- no someone. You looked down the hallway and seen a tall figure walk out of your bedroom. Finding the light switch and flipping it on, the figure standing in the hallway could be seen clearly and it was a man wearing a dark blue suit, red button-up dress shirt, and a black tie. He had violet hair neatly styled and violet eyes. Your question on who was he was instantly answered after you turned on the light by Kaneki.
“Tsukiyama-san.”
The said man didn’t notice him at first because he was looking at you, but then he looked at him once he heard his name being called. “Oh? Kaneki-kun is that you? Long time no see.” He practically skipped over to Kaneki across the room. He had an accent different from everyone else you have met before.
The black haired boy wasn’t fazed; like he was used to this behavior by him. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh I was just in the area walking around and I caught a smell of an old friend of mine, and it brought me here.” You became tense and he continued. “You see, I haven’t heard or seen him around in a few weeks, so when I caught his sent I was just dying to see him again.”
The way he said the word ‘dying’ and made a very dramatic gesture kind of creeped you out. The man named Tsukiyama then turned his head to look at you.
“But, it seems he’s not here,” He started to slowly walk over to you and stopped right in front of you and bent down to your level. “And this young lady smells a lot like him.” He gently held your chin between his thumb and index finger. “Also, she kind of smells something similar to you in a way. Something… Delicious.” The air in the room changed and his expression switched to something dark and eerie.
You audibly gulped and back away from him. Kaneki moved in front of you standing between you and Tsukiyama, and just like that the violet haired man blinked and returned to normal. “You should leave. You no longer need to be here.” Kaneki told him.
Tsukiyama straightened up and sighed, “Alright.” He started to walk towards the door and before he could take a step outside he turned around and looked at Kaneki, “I’ll see you again sometime Ka-ne-ki.” Then he looked at you and smiled like nothing happened. He finally turned to leave and closed the door.
Kaneki turned around to face you. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine thanks, I’ll go get a shower now. You can sit anywhere. I promise I won’t be long.” You went into your room and grabbed clean clothes and walked in the bathroom. After closing the door and taking off your dirty clothes from last night you looked in the mirror at your reflection. Your face still had deep and dark scars, maybe they will never heal like the doctor said they should. You sighed and turned on the hot water and stepped in the shower.
A few minutes passed and you were rinsing your hair of the shampoo. Then you felt cold all the sudden even with the hot water running down your body. You turned your head and Ayumu was standing behind you with his arms wrapped around your waist. You gasped and covered your mouth so you wouldn’t scream.
“(f/n)-chan, I want you to stay away from Tsukiyama.” He said with a serious tone and moved closer to you. You could feel his cool breath on your ear. “He’s dangerous. He’s the reason why I was killed. He left me for dead. The doves caught me and there were too many for me to fight on my own.” He moved his head so it was laying on your shoulder. “Promise me you will stay away from him.” You nodded fast and he chuckled. “Good girl.”
While Kaneki was waiting for you in your living room, he looked around and was looking at pictures you had sitting on tables and on the walls. He saw a few pictures of you when you were younger with your parents. Some with he was assuming were your friends, and there was one where you were with a boy. He must have been holding the camera and held it to face the both of you with one hand and the other held you closer to him. You looked really happy in that picture, and soon Kaneki found himself smiling.
The door to the bathroom opened, and Kaneki jumped and turned around to see you in new clothes and were drying your hair more with a towel. Once your hair was dry enough, you brushed it. When you were finished you walked out and noticed it was starting to get dark out. “Is Itori’s bar open right now?” You asked him breaking the silence.
“Yeah it probably is. Shall we get going?”
“Mm.” You agreed and left your apartment, and followed Kaneki.
The more you walked along the sidewalk the less populated the streets became. This must have been another area that wasn’t so busy at night.
Stopping at a building, Kaneki opened a door and held it for you to walk in. Walking past, you thanked him and walked in and waited for him to step inside and lead the way again. “Hey Itori-san.”
A woman with bright orange hair was standing behind the bar, pouring a drink in a wine glass for a man with white hair. She looked up when she heard her name and smiled brightly. “Kaneki-kun! So good to see you. Oh? And you brought a friend! Come sit.” She told you both.
You sat down next to Kaneki who sat next to the man with white hair. He greeted him. “Hi Yomo-san.”
The man named Yomo looked towards Kaneki and greeted him too. Then Kaneki introduced you to him and told you that he stops by and helps out at Anteiku sometimes.
“Soooo, is there anything you need? Want anything to drink?” Itori asked the both of you, but you declined, same with him.
“Actually, we wanted to ask you something.” Kaneki spoke. Itori tilted her head to the side in confusion.
You finally spoke. “Do you know of a ghoul named Ayumu Yamauchi?”
She looked up and tapped her chin in thought. “Hmm Ayumu… Ah! I do. I see him around sometimes in town. He even stopped by this bar a couple of times. He’s quite good looking too. I usually see him walking alone, but he occasionally hangs around the gourmet ghoul Tsukiyama. Oh and I saw him around Rize at times.”
You then told her a brief summary of your story about how you now have Ayumu’s organs in your body and you were a half-human and half-ghoul like Kaneki.
“So no wonder you smelled like him.” She smiled like she guessed it already.
You decided to ask more questions. “Do you know if he was close to anyone? Is he very well known in this area?” She did mention Tsukiyama, but after Ayumu told you to stay away from him made it sound like they weren’t very good friends like Tsukiyama said they were.
“I’m not really sure of his and the gourmet’s relationship, but he seemed to talk about Rize a lot and hung around her more often. And to answer your next question, he was pretty well known pretty much everywhere. I heard he would pick fights with anyone who challegend him.”
You looked at Kaneki from the corner of your eye for a second after she said Ayumu and Rize were close. “Hmm.” You hummed in thought. “Any reason why he would pick fights?”
“I think he just did it for fun.” Itori shrugged. “I don’t really know any more about him since he was practically independent and kept to himself a lot.”
You sighed. “Have you heard anything about him recently?” Ayumu seemed to cause a lot of trouble with a lot of people, so you hope you didn’t have to deal with anything that could get you in a terrible situation.
“I have. A group of ghouls are looking for him including Jason.”
Yomo grunted in surprise and his eyes widened. All eyes were on him now. “(f/n), I don’t think it’s safe for you to be by yourself right now. You should ask Yoshimura if it will be okay for you to stay with them for a while until we know for sure those ghouls and Jason won’t be looking for you. I highly doubt they will stop, but just to be safe. Jason is very dangerous and you should not come in contact with him unless you are very skilled with your kagune.”
“My... what?” You blinked out of confusion. You never heard of a kagune. Ghouls had them? What do they do?
Yomo looked at you like he couldn’t believe what you just said.
“I… I just became a ghoul yesterday, and no one told me about a… kagune.” You looked away from him out of embarrassment.
Yomo pinched the bridge of his nose out of annoyance and got up from his chair. “Then you definitely need to start training.” Then he took hold of your upper arm and dragged you out of the bar. Stumbling behind him, you looked back a Kaneki with wide eyes who was following and nervously laughing.
Itori smiled and waved, “Have fun! Come back again sometime!”
You groaned. This was too much to take in all at once.