"Oh this is Kaneki, the good friend I mentioned before," Hide said cheerfully.
Kaneki wished that Hide hadn't pointed him out at all. He wished he could disappear out of the room.
Nishio rose from his seat and approached Kaneki.
"I see," Nishio said before circling Kaneki. "I am Nishio Nishiki, a second year in the School of Pharmacy.
He leaned his face closer to Kaneki's ear before saying, "Nice to meet you Kaneki."
There was a menacing tinge to his voice that only Kaneki would be able to perceive like echolocation. His warm breath hit Kanki's neck causing him to break out in a cold sweat.
Kaneki had not expected this outcome at all.
He broke away and made his way to the shelf in the corner of the room.
"You wanted last year's material, right?," Nishio asked.
"Yeah, I need to see the retail data," Hide answered, digging into his backpack like a starved person scrounging for some hidden food.
"Man, where'd it go?," Nishio muttered, still looking for the lost papers. Nishio dropped back into the office chair as if the very little effort of searching for the papers had exhausted him. "Yeah, I think it's at home," Nishio said.
"Are you for real?," Hide replied.
"Nagachika, why don't you come with me to grab it?"
"What, to your house?"
"Hai"
Hide crossed his arms. "Yeah, I guess," he said. He turned to Kaneki. "Sorry Kaneki, but you'll have to go home without me since I'll be with Nishio-san."
But Kaneki was overwhelmed by fear. He feared what would happen to Hide if he were to go with Nishio alone. He could end up like the poor old man, Kazuo.
"Um, can I come with you guys as well?," Kaneki blurted out, barely aware of the fact that he didn't even want to be in the same room as Nishio, much less breathe the same air.
Hide said, "What's up with you all of a sudden?"
"Sure, why not?," Nishio answered. "It's not like I plan on letting you guys in anyway."
"Oh, that's fine then."
There was a ring and Nishio pulled out his phone out of his pocket. "Let me just deal with this before we go," Nishio told them. He pressed the answer button. "So what's your deal today? It's nothing…"
He turned to Hide. "Nagachika, how much did you see earlier today?"
Kaneki frowned with disappointment.
Why do I keep running into ghouls wherever I go?, Kanki wondered.
"Oh, er, just her shoulders," Hide answered.
"Just her shoulders, he says."
"They were very pretty."
Iya, it's not that. They were always there to begin with, Kaneki thought, his gaze moving to the coffee supplies on the window sill. I'm the one who wound up in this mess.
It wasn't a very busy day for people, it seemed to Kaneki as they walked to Nishio's house.
Today not many people were out. On a busy day Kaneki would see what seemed like half of Japan bustling around the streets under the bright neon lights generated from the billboards all around above them.
Suddenly, Nishio came to a stop in front of a shop that had pictures of pies posted up on the glass window next to the entrance.
"Want one?," Nishio asked.
"How nice of you," Hide replied, walking into the store.
But Kaneki was frozen with his mouth agape until Nishio finally handed him a pie.
The smell of it immediately made Kaneki feel nauseous and he grimaced, fighting the urge to vomit.
Hide was handed one as well and he thanked NIshio. However, Kaeki still stood there with the wrapped "treat" in his hand.
"Kaneki, are you in any clubs?," Nishio asked.
"No," Kaneki replied. "I'm not too good around large groups of people like that."
Nishio leaned against the wall staring at his pie. Would he eat it?
"The exact opposite of Nagachika, huh?," he said. He began to unwrap it and Kaneki stood there wondering how a ghoul could possibly eat real food like Nishio was about to do.
Kaneki's eyes widened as he watched as Nishio took a semi-large bite of his blackberry pie, chewed and… swallowed.
"This is really good," Nishio stated.
Kaneki was bamboozled. Nishio was a ghoul, was he not? Then how was he not repulsed by human food? Was it that Kaneki was being lied to and that it was only his body making human food have a bad texture and taste horrible?
"Nice and crispy, too," Hide added. He turned to Kaneki and noticed that he hadn't taken a single bite out of his pie. He hadn't even unwrapped it. "Kaneki, aren't you going to eat?"
"I'll save it for later," Kaneki told him as he opened his bag and placed the pie inside.
They continued on with their journey.
Nishio blends in perfectly with human society, carrying out his part as a normal college student, Kaneki realized. That's pretty impressive. I think it's safe to say that nobody suspects him of being a ghoul.
Suddenly, Nishio stopped and slowly turned his head with a smile on his lips.
Kaneki's heart skipped a beat as the thought of if Nishio could somehow read his mind prickled his mind. Was telepathy one of the abilities of a ghoul?
Nishio's leg lifted up out of the ground and Hide all of a sudden disappeared. One second there… the other second; gone.
There was a boom as Hide slammed into something on the other side of the overpass.
The shock overwhelmed Kaneki.
Nishio turned to Kaneki doing his trademark move with a sly smirk, pushing his glasses up his nose and said, "It'd be pretty messy if anyone were to see this."
"Hide!," Kaneki called.
Nishio walked up next to him.
"What are the chances of having a fellow ghoul on campus? You sure do reek. You smell just like a female ghoul."
Kaneki was so shocked at what had happened to Hide that he had no time to react before Nishio grabbed him by his throat and slammed him forcefully, enough to create a large dent in the steel wall next to the entrance of the overpass.
The pressure crushed Kaneki's windpipe, cutting off his air. His feet dangled helplessly.
He tried to pry Nishio's hand away with no effect.
"You were going to have Nagachika for dinner, weren't you," Nishio accused. "There's nothing quite like the look of pure anguish across their face as you betray the genuine trust they placed in you, right Kaneki?"
Nishio's eyes were wide open and his voice matched his sadistic behavior.
"I'm not like you…" Kaneki croaked.
Nishio's eyes narrowed with what could have been anger. "Is that so…?"
Nishio dropped his hand and relief began to fill Kaneki.
But quicker than it had dropped, before Kaneki even had a chance to suck in a single breath, Nishio's hand plunged into Kaneki's abdomen.
Into.
As in straight through the skin and organs.
Kaneki's eyes widened in horror before just about a gallon of blood shot out of his mouth as he suffered from momentary haematemesis.
"Bratty kids who talk back to their superiors happen to be a pet peeve of mine," Nishio said. He removed his hand, causing another burst of agony inside of Kaneki's body.
"Actually, did you know… you have an awfully squishy body? It's just like tofu."
Kaneki lay limp on the ground, unmoving.
"Man, this is gross. Seriously, how do humans tolerate that crap?"
He stood over Hide after walking over to him. "I might as well be eating trash."
He looked up to the roof of the overpass and reached his middle and ring fingers down his throat.
Kaneki's eyes remained shut as he regained consciousness, hardly aware of the retching noises echoing off the walls of the overpass, followed by a burst of coughing and the regurgitated blackberry pie that covered Hide's unconscious body.
Nishio wiped his mouth. "My bad, Kaneki," he said. "I made a mess all over your mouth-watering meal. Showing a lack of disrespect, he slammed a dark boot down on Hide's face. "You've known this guy for a long time, right? You guys are best buds, right? When were you planning on eating him?"
He lifted his foot and stomped it down twice more. "Humor me, Kaneki," Nishio demanded. "Which part were you going to dine on first?"
He stomped again and again. And again. The heel of Nishio's shoe broke open the skin of Hide's cheek at last and blood ran freely.
Kaneki swayed dizzily, leaning up against the steel wall he had been slammed into for support.
"Hide… isn't something to eat. Your foot… remove it."
"What foot?," Nishio mocked, raising a hand to his ear.
He worked Hide's face like a pedal.
Kaneki's will hardened as he gathered his energy and ran toward Nishio, his bag his makeshift weapon.
"Seriously? What's that bag gonna do for you, Yojo? Bop me over the head?"
Nishio effortlessly swung his leg around and planted the roundhouse kick directly into Kaneki's chest. Kaneki went flying to the other side of the overpass as if he were a light-weight object.
Kaneki skidded across the ground until eventually coming to a stop in a pool of his own blood and a cloud of dust.
He coughed blood painfully.
"You just don't get it, do you? Humans are nothing but livestock, the same as cows and pigs, no? Do you enjoy befriending these bags of meat before you do them in?"
He gripped Kaneki's head, lifting it off the ground.
"I won't kill them…," Kaneki said shakily.
"I see. Then again, I think Nagachika is a pretty risky choice. The guy is not a baka. Even someone like you should realize his smarts are a threat to your secret intentions.
Kaneki grit his teeth and groaned with pain.
"And this…"
Nishio flicked the string of Kaneki's eyepatch off of his ear and watched it fall to the ground.
"You can't even control your own eyes. He drop-kicked Kaneki into a pillar nearby, leaving a blood splatter on the cement surface.
"Come on, get up. Or should I kill Nagachika first?"
Kaneki was so weak he had decided to give up. He had no strength left in his body anymore and he felt the desire of his brain to shut down.
The name Nagachika brought Kaneki to his feet.
He stumbled toward Nishio, throwing a punch. He missed by very far as Nishio side-stepped.
"Woah! What's this now?"
Kaneki threw another punch. Missed
"Here, try to dodge this!," Nishio shouted maniacally. Kaneki went cutting through the air once again with Nishio's well placed kick.
This time, Kaneki hit the roof and landed painfully on his chest.
"All right, I guess the fun's over," Nishio said and walked toward Hide. "My kagune would have made short work of him too."
There's no way… I can win, Kaneki decided. Blood trickled out of his mouth.
"Hide…," Kaneki whimpered.
"Oh great! You're up! Now that's more like it!"
There was a noise that was some kind of cross between a hissing and a crunching.
A translucent blue tail-like object snaked around Nishio's leg. Purple veins were visible inside of it. It came to a split forked end.
"Better get a move on now, or I'll crush his skull," Nishio urged. He had an evil smirk on his face.
Suddenly, the smirk dropped like he remembered an indecent memory.
He looked down at Hide's hand that clutched his pants leg.
Even now you're trying to save me, Kaneki thought sadly.
"See ya Nagachika," Nishio said, raising his foot.
No…
NO!
He couldn't fail Hide and let him die. Hide had been Kaneki's only friend. He had been there when nobody else was. He was there when…
Kaneki was sitting on a grassy hill with an open book. He watched the sunset, feeling the emotion he felt most commonly: loneliness.
"Oi."
Kaneki jumped, startled by the voice from behind him.
"You're the one who's always alone with a book at school, right?"
He turned around to see a boy his age with bright clothing and matching hair that was quite short but still messy.
The beautiful exiting sun casted a warm orange-yellow glow on the boy making him look like a guardian angel.
"I-is that a bad thing?," Kaneki asked the boy.
"That's not what I meant," the boy replied, dropping down on the grass beside him.
"I don't have any friends since I just moved here." He leaned in closer. "Wanna be friends?"
Kaneki was startled. He never had a real friend before. Kaneki smiled. "Sure. I don't mind."
"All-right! I'm Nagachika Hideyoshi! You can call me Hide. Hajimemashite!"
He held out a hand for a shake.
"Hai. Kimi mo, Hide!," Kaneki said, joyful that he had finally met someone who wanted to be his friend. He took his hand and shook it.
Even back then, Kaneki thought. Hide reached out to me when no one in class would.
He pushed himself up with weak, bruised, trembling arms.
The blue thing that was attached to Nishio caressed Hide lightly several times before becoming stiffening into something that resembled a blade. It was deadly, that was for sure…
I don't want Hide…
Kaneki replayed all the time Kaneki and Hide spent together. He was like family. Kaneki could not live without him.
His heart ached painfully.
To die!
Black rippled over Kaneki's sclera.
Pain racked Kaneki's spine as red tentacles that he had seen on Rize erupted from his back, twirling and waving like tails that belonged to an excited dog.
"That's something I won't allow," Kaneki growled.
One of the kagune expanded in length and shot toward Nishio.
Nishio flipped out of the way, grinning. He was obviously having a good time.
Midair, Nishio's kagune darted through the air at Kaneki, but Kaneki managed to deflect it off of his own and grabbed onto it as it retracted.
"Damn you!," Nishio screamed hatefully and spun in a circle, trying to knock Kaneki off.
Desperate to survive and rescue Hide, Kaneki went in for attack but was not expecting the blood that rained down on top of his head, soaking his hair.
He stood under Nishio's body that was jerking wildly from Kaneki's kagune that was plunging into his body repeatedly.
He heard Nishio's screams of pain. And although he did want to somewhat kill Nishio, he did not have entire control over his kagune.
"STOP THAT YOU BASTARD!," Nishio shrieked.
He was going to kill Hide.
That was the thing that made Kaneki lose his mind entirely to his anger that turned his vision red.
Blood splattered everywhere as Nishio continued to scream, at this point midair, getting impaled without letup.
Kaneki's kagune swung Nishio into the wall of the overpass where he remained, his neck broken when it got caught inside the bars of the window.
Exposed muscle peeked hideously out of his face.
"That was... RIze's… Damn it all to hell…"
Nishio's body finally went limp.
Hide.
Suddenly Kaneki was glad he had saved him. He looked like pure gold in Kaneki's eyes.
Mmmm… he sure does look oishii.
Kaneki was a bit afraid. He didn't want to eat Hide. These thoughts… they weren't his own. No, he didn't want to eat him.
But he had to.
Such a beautiful smell!
No, it wasn't Kaneki's thoughts at all, it was Rize's. Kaneki felt like he was in control, but he did not know entirely...
He was in control and he knew what he wanted to do deep down.
Eat.
Take a good look at him… Isn't he scrumptious?
Wait… no… stop it! Hide isn't food!
Oh but he wasn't sure at all!
Take a closer look… see? You know he's food.
Oh yes… he understood…
He broke into a ghoulish grin. "He really does look appetizing," he said under his breath.
NO! HE HAD TO STOP!
He begged his hunger to leave him alone. But he wasn't in control. His hunger let him think he was in control but in reality… he was a slave to it.
Come on Kaneki… get a grip! You know you want it so bad that you can't stand it, right?!
He screamed from within to no avail.
There's no need to hold back. You're not doing anything wrong!
He was losing his grip on his reality. On who he really was.
He stumbled into a parked white van and slammed his head on the door. But the voice continued on telling him to just surrender to his desires.
Hide's not going to stay asleep forever. He's all yours, Kaneki.
All of him?
All…
He laughed like a maniac, already tasting Hide's flesh. He could feel the texture.
That's right… It's my special treat!
He dragged his body toward Hide.
I… I have to eat him…
Kaneki could no longer scream. He was like a TV that had been muted. His hunger had won out and had silenced him for good.
He dropped to his knees in front of Hide.
"Hide is my…"
His mind within let out one last burst telling him that Hide was his friend.
That's right! He's my friend, so I just have to eat him!
He opened his jaws to feed but was interrupted by someone's voice.
"Guess you didn't hold out long, huh half-breed?"
Kaneki growled at Touka. This was his meal.
"Your head's completely given way to your stomach, right?"
"Out of the way…" Kaneki growled back.
"Not even your friend's life has value to you anymore. Wanna know something? Gobble this guy right up and you'll regret it later, while drowning in a sea of blood and entrails. Such is a ghoul's hunger, and our destiny."
Who did she think she was? Since when was she so poetic?
"You really are a hassle to deal with," Touka said as Kaneki's kagune made an appearance once again.
"I'll play nice with you just this one time," Touka told Kaneki, her eyes now red as well. "... So make sure you go down nice and easy…"
The last thing Kaneki remembered seeing was Touka's kagune beginning to form.