blood for love - hq x tokyo ghoul

Chapter 6: The Black King

Once the game had finished, Nekoma had won and all of the boys were sweating bullets. "Hey, isn't your bus supposed to be here by now?" Fukunaga asked, looking outside to see the parking lot empty.

"We're staying in an inn tonight." Coach Ukai explained, "We knew the game would last a while, and well, we don't wanna get home at 4am."

"Do you know any places where we could have dinner?" Takeda-Sensei asked the two Nekoma Coaches as the Crows were packing up their things.

"What about that place you guys work at?" Yaku pointed to where Kenma and Kuroo were sitting, "You guys work at a cafe right?"

"Yeah," Hinata nodded, "We could just go there. Kuroo and I have a shift anyway."

"You work there two, Hinata?" Tanaka asked.

Hinata nodded again, "Yep! Kageyama and I both work there."

"I don't have a shift," Kuroo looked at Hinata confused.

Kageyama looked up from his bag, "You had Nishiki cover for you last week, remember?"

Kuroo nodded and grabbed his stuff, "Well, we should be heading out then."

Kuroo, Kenma, Hinata, and Kageyama, along with the Karasuno volleyball team all then left the gym and walked the small distance from the school to Anteiku.

---

"Hello, and welcome to Anteiku. Can I take your order?" Kuroo asked with a dramatic flair as he pulled out his notepad to take the team's orders. The boys all laughed as they looked through the menu, most of them ordering different types of sandwiches and soups.

Hinata was the one to make the sandwiches and took them out on his tray. Once the plates were all on the table he held his tray in front of his chest, "Suga. Your dad wants to talk with you when you get a moment."

Daichi whipped his head to look at his boyfriend, "Your dad?"

"My adoptive dad," Sugawara sighed, "He runs this place. Tell him I'll be up there in a few."

---

"Thanks for everything, you guys!" Daichi said as the boys were preparing to leave the cafe. Sugawara walked out from the back room, seemingly more tense than normal, "Hey, everything okay?"

"Fine, it's just always stressful when I see him." Sugawara whispered to Daichi as they left the cafe. The team were all curious to ask about the mysterious man, though everyone could tell that Sugawara was not in the mood.

Daichi pulled out his phone to check the inn's address one more time before walking, turning west and heading towards where they would be staying. Sugawara wrapped his arms around one of Daichi's arms, if any ghouls were out on the streets, they might recognize him. Sugawara looked everywhere, the streets, windows of shops, even rooftops.

Standing on one of the rooftops, almost hidden due to the darkness of night, was Kageyama. Wearing his black, feather-covered mask, and black hoodie, he gave Sugawara a small nod. In that nod were the words "don't worry, I'll protect them."

---

As they walked down a nearly deserted back road, the Inn was almost in sight. The team was stopped by two people, wearing nothing but black. Sugawara's nose was filled with the overwhelming stench of ghouls, he looked up to the roof, where Kageyama was waiting to see what the two other ghouls would do.

"Well, it seems like you guys are new around here..." one of the ghouls said, looking up at them. He looked to the other ghoul, who smiled menacingly.

"This is our city." The second ghoul said, before his kakugans activated and a ukaku formed behind their back.

Though, before the two ghouls could get close to them, Kageyama jumped down from the rooftop, landing on one knee. His koukaku formed around his right arm. The team all backed away, trying to escape. Kageyama made his voice deeper than usual, "You two must be new here. This is my territory. Screw off!"

The two ghouls laughed, "Come on kid. Lighten up, we just want a sna- ugh."

Kageyama stabbed one of them clean through the chest, while staring at the second one behind his mask, "I said. Screw. Off."

That made the second ghoul run for the hills. Kageyama kicked the other ghouls body into the alleyway to his right as he retracted his kagune. "Sorry 'bout that. Ghouls around here are really stupid."

"I- uh." Daichi opened and closed his mouth multiple times.

"Where are you all heading?" Kageyama asked, dusting off his hands. The team looked frightened, "I'm not going to kill you. I'll escort you in case more ghouls are out hunting tonight."

Asahi pointed to the inn just a little ways down the road.

The group started to walk down to the inn, Kageyama in front. Nishinoya moved closer to the front, "Why did you help us?"

Kageyama shrugged, "Not all ghouls are evil monsters. Some of us actually like humans."

"Really?" Nishinoya responded.

Kageyama nodded, "There are different factions all around the city. Some are more extreme than others, the one that I come from is peaceful, we only go after people who choose to die. We never kill ourselves."

"So... you go after suicides?" The rest of the team were now interested in what Kageyama had to say.

"Yep." Kageyama stopped, they were twenty feet from the Inn, "If people see me they'll immediately assume that I'm a ghoul. This is as far as I can take you."

"Thank you." Sugawara said, "What's your name?"

"I don't give out my name. Who knows if the CCG will hear. People call me the Black King." Kageyama nodded before jumping onto the rooftop and away from their sights.