Guardian of Memories

Chapter 11

I stood in the kitchen, making coffee while looking up at Kaneki every now and then. He just kept staring down at the package that Yoshimura gave him. He's been staring at it for a good hour now. I just watched tv the whole time, but I eventually got bored, and now I'm making coffee for two. Come to think of it, I don't think he knows that coffee actually tastes good...

"Kaneki, I can hear your stomach growling from all the way over here." He didn't react, but I know that he heard me because he jumped slightly at my voice. I just sighed and watched as he struggled with himself. All I could hear was 'meat.. meat.. meat..' over and over in my head as he began reaching for it.

Just when I think that he'll finally give in, he throws the package against the wall and goes on another rampage. "Really Kaneki!? You're being ridiculous!" I yell. He then runs past me, pushing me out of the way and into the side of the counter. He started rummaging through and throwing everything in his mouth before gagging, unable to hold it down.

"God, you're such an asshole," I growl, throwing a can of coffee grinds at him. He finally snapped out of it enough to stare at me; probably because I'd never acted out against him before. "Would you calm down for once! Just.. try that."

He immediately brought the can to his lips and sampled the grinds. He looked very confused, like he didn't expect it to be any better than anything else he had tried. I grabbed the two cups of brewed coffee that I had made and told him to follow me.

I set them down on the table and sat on the floor. Kaneki took a seat beside me and grabbed the cup, looking down at it hesitantly. "Go on. It's not like I'm going to poison you," I smiled, my anger from earlier disappearing.

He took a sip from it and his face began lighting up. "Delicious! I can drink it! I can drink it!" I laughed at him and got up.

"That's the Ken I know," I said softly, walking to the kitchen to grab some coffee beans. I walked back in as Kaneki looked to me with excited curiosity. "It doesn't really matter what form the coffee is in. I'm not really sure why, but it seems to be the only thing we can actually share with humans."

I held my hand out and showed him the beans. He grabbed one and put it in his mouth, crunching down on it. "Well, I can eat it, but it's better brewed."

I laughed and sat down beside him. "Yeah, it's always better that way, but all of their forms taste the same to us as they do to them. That's what I find interesting."

He nodded in agreement and looked over at one of his shopping bags. I watched him intently as he grabbed a piece of bread and sprinkled some instant coffee onto it. "Have you ever done this? Did it work?"

I shook my head and continued to watch him. "I can't say that I have, but I guess you could be on to something. I doubt it will work like you want it to though," I laughed as he tasted it. He instantly gagged and spit it out.

"Well it's not like coffee is some secret magic seasoning, but this is a huge discovery!" he said, wiping his mouth and smiling with confidence.

I just smiled and got up to turn the tv off. "Well, I'm glad your back to being happy."

He looked down, feeling guilty. "Look, I'm sorry for how I acted. It just drives me crazy, you know?"

"It's because you're hungry, Ken. Hunger for us is like dwelling in the deepest parts of hell. You'll go insane if you keep this up." I looked at him in the eyes as he stood up. He looked down at me and smiled weakly. "You may think it's fine to suffer alone, but I want to help you. You know that I can. And if you starve yourself even more, you could hurt a lot of people."

"I'm not going to eat a person," he said with determination. I just sighed and looked away.

"Whatever," I said, picking up the package he had thrown and putting it in the freezer. "You'll have to sooner or later. And with Anteiku, the meat you eat comes from humans who ended their lives on their own terms."