Faking It [Tokyo Ghoul: Hide Nagachika x Reader]

Chapter 6: Hide

I don't really know why I kept coming back to the hospital. To find Kaneki, yes, but I was starting to lose hope on that front.
But I wanted to meet that girl again too. I can't really figure out why, though. She'd barely said ten words to me. She clearly didn't like me as a person, and she may have been avoiding me. So why her, I'm not sure. And why I kept coming back...I don't know that either. I hadn't talked with her enough to tell if I liked her, as a friend or as something more.
I had just resolved myself to forget about her when I caught a glimpse of her walking hurriedly.
Where is she going with such purpose?
On a whim, I decided to follow her, all the way to the end of the hospital. On the way there, doctors and surgeons had been rushing from one room to another, but in this unfamiliar place, nobody came, not even other patients.
Which made me wonder what the girl was doing and how she knew about it.
I watched as she put her hand on the door for a moment before opening the door and going in.
I hesitated a second before hurrying and catching the door before it clicked shut. I slipped inside and let the door close behind me. Then I turned.
To see the girl standing over Kaneki, who was asleep in a bed, with a knife.
Shouting, I lunged forward and pinned her against the wall, forcing the knife out of her hands. I kept one arm against her throat and held the knife in one hand. "What are you trying to do to my friend?!"
She gasped, maybe in pain, but also because I was probably cutting off some of her air supply. Feeling a bit shaken, I tried to compose myself. I took away some of the pressure but kept her pinned. "What were you doing?" I asked again, this time adding a smile.
She was silent.
I reapplied some pressure on her throat. "What was that?"
She tried swallowing and coughed instead. Her fingers clawed at my arm, but I ignored them, only slightly removing pressure. "I was just making sure..."
"Making sure what?"
"I needed to know if he was a ghoul."
Despite the situation, I laughed. "I've been best friends with Kaneki for years. Trust me, he's not a ghoul."
Her eyes were sad. "That's not Kaneki anymore."
"What do you mean he's not Kaneki?" I struggled to keep up my smiling facade. "I know everything about him, even down to the exact shade of his eyes. That is Kaneki Ken. I would swear my life on it."
"I didn't think you intended to die young."
"What do you mean?" I asked, smiling, but it was a vicious expression. I was done with all of these stupid riddles and half-truths. This girl had just tried to kill my best friend!
"His name might be the same, but his soul is different," she said, looking to Kaneki before looking down. After a moment, she pushed off the wall against my arm, and I stepped back, letting her go against my better instincts. "You have the knife. If you don't believe me, check." She hesitated a moment before looking away from me. "I'm sorry." With that vague apology, she walked out of the room.
I didn't know what she'd been apologizing for. That she'd tried to kill Kaneki? But she didn't look super remorseful about that. So why the apology? Why did it sound like she was apologizing specifically to me and not the boy she'd tried to kill?
You have the knife.
It was still in my hands.
If you don't believe me, check.
A clip from a recent news channel came into my head.
Simple kitchen knives will shatter against a ghoul's skin.
I looked down at the knife, then over at Kaneki. Then back at the knife.
I took one step towards him but planted my foot.
After a long moment, I pocketed the knife and left, never even thinking to wonder how she'd known he'd be there.