Tokyo~Shitsuji

/Kapitel Drei/

Kaneki decided to open his eye after he heard the scary guy close the door and leave.

He looked around the room at the 'antique'-ish feeling of the atmosphere.

"There is no lighting, it is all coming in from the window. Did I go back in time? Or is this just how England is?" Kaneki thought.

"'Oh, that was fast,' says Keats. 'You are really cute!' says Emily," Kaneki turned to look at who was speaking. It was a silver-haired male with green eyes and snakes slithering all over him.

Kaneki was startled and tried backing away from him but that didn't work too well. Instead he just hit his head on the backboard of the bed.

"'Be careful,' says Keats. 'I think he is scared of us,' says Webster. 'I'm a little hurt,' says Emily."

"So he uses the snakes to talk? Or the snakes use him to speak? I'm so confused...." Kaneki thought while rubbing the back of his head.

"'He has an eye patch like Smile,' says Keats. 'You're really slow aren't you?' says Wordsworth. 'I think it makes him even more adorable,' says Emily. 'You think anything is adorable,' says Oscar."

"This is really ominous....." Kaneki thought.

The door opened and a dark-haired red-eyed male in a butler's uniform stood there. He seemed about the same height as Tsukiyama, if not taller.

"Oh? So you are awake. Then follow me," the guy turned around and walked out, leaving Kaneki to stumble off the bed and try to walk after him.

"I still can't walk all that well...either that, or he is just walking at a super-human speed."

The butler stopped abruptly and opened the door coaxing Kaneki to walk in.

The room had a lot of bookshelves and a desk in the middle with a kid sitting behind it. He had an eye patch too and looked younger.

"This must be the 'Young Master'. He really is 'young' isn't he?"

The two stared each other down for a few seconds and the young male spoke, "So you are the intruder?"

"How should I respond? Should I try speaking English? That is going to be a little choppy....I guess I could give it a try..."

"My name is Ken Kaneki," Kaneki bowed. "I am sorry for trespassing on your lands. It was completely accidental. A friend of mine just left me here after I asked him for help to get out of a bad situation."

"Oh, that went better than I thought it would...thank you books!"

The young boy sighed, "Where are you from? You clearly aren't English..."

Kaneki brought his hand up to his chin, "I can't exactly say I'm from the future...because that isn't necessarily true...I can't say where I'm from because it wouldn't make any sense....but if I take too much time it will be obvious that I am lying. Should I go with amnesia?"

"I can't quite explain how I got here but I am very far from home. I'm not even sure I know where 'home' is or how to get back there," Kaneki bowed again with his apology. "Well that wasn't a complete lie anyway...."

"What should we do with him?" the boy asked his butler.

"I'm not entirely sure about him but I don't think he has anywhere else to go. Perhaps we could hire him as one of the servants here. That would at least give him a place to stay," The butler replied.

"They seem to be talking in French....I don't think I'll tell them that I understand that too...I guess that is one good thing about knowing Tsukiyama," Kaneki thought.

"Well, Ken Kaneki. I've made my decision, you will be a servant at my manor until I decide what to do with you. Sebastian will show you around and tell you how you can help out."

Sebastian escorted Kaneki out of the room and down to where the other servants were.

"Mr. Kaneki, this is Mey-Rin, Finny, Bardroy, and Snake," Sebastian spoke while gesturing to the others. "Mey-Rin, Finny Bardroy, and Snake, this is Mr. Ken Kaneki. He will be staying with us as a temporary servant for a while until we can figure out how to get him back home.

"Oh? I'm glad we have another helping hand around here!" Bardroy said.

"You're the one that causes most of the damage though Bard..." Finny whispered to Mey-Rin, who then giggled.

"'I'm glad the cute boy is staying,' says Emily'" Snake chimed in.

"Ho. Ho. Ho," said an old man in the corner sipping tea.

"That is Mr. Tanaka," Sebastian said while handing Kaneki some gloves.

"I suppose I should wear them...I didn't notice how bad my hands looked."

"My name is Ken Kaneki. I hope we work well together," Kaneki bowed.

...

Sebastian had left to go give the Young Master his dinner. While the other servants were in the kitchen eating and talking. Kaneki, who still managed to have his ghoul body, wasn't eating anything.

"Mr. Ken? Don't you want to eat anything?" Mey-Rin asked.

"It feels so weird being called 'Ken' but I guess I'll have to get used to it. The atmosphere reminds me of Anteiku somehow...so nostalgic."

"No thanks. I'm not that hungry," Kaneki politely refused.

"Oh come on! Don't be bashful!" Bardroy slapped Kaneki's back making him stumble forward a bit.

"Well, I would like some coffee...."

"The Young Master is more of a tea person, yes he is. You won't find any coffee here," Mey-Rin shook her head.

"If you want coffee, there is a little shop in town that just opened up. Most people here are tea drinkers so it's the only one, I can take you there tomorrow if you'd like," Finny said.

"Thank you. I would like that..." Kaneki smiled.

"That's great! See you tomorrow then! Soon we are all probably going to retire for the night. Don't worry about doing any work today! We'll take care of it for you! Since its your first day after all," Finny said.

"Goodnight everyone. Thank you very much," Kaneki bowed and went to his temporary room leaving the others. There wasn't very much in there but it was nice all the same.

"Being stuck here isn't so bad. But what am I going to do about my 'eating' problems?" Kaneki sighed as he pushed his 'hunger' to the back of his mind. "I wonder if there are any other ghouls in this place..."