Glow | Tokyo Ghoul

# 0 0 7 ⦋ Lingering ⦌

— rewrite 2018

word count — 1594

♪

If we were behind closed doors, it would've been dangerous.

   Suspicions of her being a Ghoul clouded my mind, but I didn't want to believe it.

   Is this how Kaneki was lured in by that Ghoul, Rize? She must've seduced him into her trap...

   If Mirélle was a Ghoul, and if we had been in a closed area, would she have eaten me?

   I couldn't believe my suspicions. Usually, my intuition was right and at that moment, nothing felt off; it felt more...warm. She couldn't have been a Ghoul: if she were, then everyone else at that table could've been one, too. 

   But, who's to say that Ghouls and humans couldn't mingle? If Kaneki were still around, I would still be his friend, and he's a Ghoul...or half a Ghoul, or something.

   Was Mirélle doing that to size me up, or was it the simple intention of flirting with me?

   I looked at my hand again, imagining my fingers on skewers.

   Do Ghouls grill up their humans sometimes, the way we do to animal meat when we go on barbecue trips?

    "Nagachika's probably day-dreaming about the date," I heard Norio mumble to Jin. "Jeez...ridiculous!"

    "Oh God," Maki moaned, while Jin halfheartedly chuckled. "Let it go already."

   Norio continued to whine as Jin tried to talk some sense into him, but my attention was pulled towards Sumie, who strutted her way back from the bathroom. Mirélle wasn't with her.

   If she were a Ghoul, who knew about it? Did Sumie know?

    "Miri says sorry," she puffed as she sat down.

    "Where's she?"

   Her hands and shoulders went up. "She's...embarrassed."

   That wasn't what I was expecting. "What do you mean? Embarrassed by what?"

   After all, I could most definitely be wrong. She could most definitely not be a Ghoul.

    "Look," Sumie continued, sighing. "If there's something you need to understand about her, it's this: Mirélle's a very...physical being. She likes to touch and hug and kiss, and sometimes hit and push, but it's how she expresses herself."

   For some reason, I was blushing.

    "It's sometimes hard for her to stop, or to find a boundary, and that's why a lot of people misread her intentions..."

    "Explains Fujisaki," Maki muttered with a short snicker. "Maybe she was so touchy with him that he thought she was into him."

    "Yeah," Sumie agreed. "She'd push him or, in the middle of laughing, she'd hit him, and he'd think—"

    "All right," Norio growled. "Is it time to roast me already? As if earlier wasn't enough? Fucking hell..."

    "You get the point," Sumie nodded at me.

    "So," I sighed. "What you're saying is, she wasn't flirting with me just now?"

   Jin replied briskly, almost urgently. Was everyone watching us?! "No, no, she surely was, but—"