Guns, Bullets & Bones [Tokyo Ghoul]

Ch. 11 ~ History & Blackout

    Rio wasn't working today, and Dylan knew it, but it didn't stop him from coming down to the Cat's Cradle to sample his favourite sweet treats again. However, Ayako was working, and had been sat in front of him during her break for around ten minutes, while he stabbed at a waffle, coated in sugar and drizzled with a heavenly pink sauce.

     "So, what gossip can I dish out for you?" Ayako grinned and gave an eyebrow wiggle, leaning forward on her elbows on the table, while Dylan snorted around his fork. He thought mockingly for a moment, wondering what dirt Ayako might have on the other bouncy waitresses, when something of genuine interest sparked in his mind.

      "So, what's the story behind Tsukiyama and Rio? What's their deal? They act like an old married couple... That is, if ghouls can get old, or have any interest in marriage..." Dylan mumbled, shovelling another forkful of waffle into his mouth.

     "Those two... Their relationship is odd," Ayako mused, leaning herself back and draping an arm over the back of her seat, and staring off into the distance, seemingly thinking over it herself, as if she wanted to know the answer just as much as he did, but the knowing look in her eyes told Dylan that Ayako had all the answers he wanted. It was just whether she would give them to him, or not.

      "You don't say..." He muttered, hoping to prompt her on, thought she didn't look like she needed rushing, as she unhooked her arm from the chair and crossed it with the other one over her chest.

      "I was around here with Rio before Tsukiyama turned up, and I suppose I witnessed the whole thing, not that an over lot went on," She mused, pursing her lips.

     "Well what did go on?" Dylan chomped through another bite of waffle in frustration.

     "Well, I don't know what lead to Tsukiyama and Rio to come into contact with each other, but soon, he was on the scene with her. I thought their relationship was a little odd, but I eventually worked it out with a few things Rio had said. They were friends with benefits, though things weren't that easy. No, that would've been too simple," Ayako mused, absentmindedly nibbling at a hangnail on her thumb.

      "Seriously?" Dylan almost inhaled his fork with how hard he gasped, and began to choke on the waffle crumbs in his throat, quickly snatching at his glass of banana milkshake, throwing the straw onto the table and taking great gulps of it while Ayako chuckled.

     "Indeed. It get's better, though," She said with a sneaky wink, and Dylan slowly stopped choking, and set his now half-empty glass back on the table, putting the straw back in with an embarrassed hue of pink tinting his cheeks. "Against her own warnings, Rio fell in love with him,"

     "Seriously?" Dylan snorted. It sounded ridiculous. "If she loves him, why does she act like that with him?"

     "She fell in love with him once, but after he rejected her in a rather grand fashion, she quickly fell out of love," Ayako gave a half shrug, "The story doesn't quite end there. In a rather cliché turn of events, Tsukiyama realized his love for her, but alas, he was too late,"

      Dylan let his mind absorb the history of Rio and Tsukiyama, as Ayako gave a drawn-out sigh and dramatically raised a hand to her head, as if she would faint. It sounded like a tragic romcom gone wrong. It sounded even stranger when contemplating their nature as ghouls. He didn't even like to consider whether ghouls could love or not.

     "Any more gossip you need?" Ayako leaned forward again, eager to dish out more dirt. Dylan didn't really want to ask anything else, but there was just one more question gnawing at his mind that he couldn't help but let out.

    "I... Rio didn't seem to think you're a proper ghoul... What does she mean by that, I don't understand?" Dylan asked, barely able to lift his eyes off the last chunk of waffle, feeling guilty for asking such a personal question, and even guiltier for actually expecting her to answer. He quickly skewered the last of his waffle and swallowed it down.

       "Ah... Perhaps now isn't the best time to talk about that, I guess you have a lot to think over already," He looked up and Ayako was smiling, her chocolate eyes shining. She didn't seem the least bit upset, much to Dylan's relief, and he smiled back weakly.

    "Yeah, I guess I do..." He nodded. "But if you don't wanna talk about it... That's fine, I won't press anymore," He said quickly, trying his best not to pry into her privacy.

     "It's fine, you asked, and I'll answer. Just not right now," She smiled and tilted her head slightly, dark brown locks falling to the side and catching the few rays of sun which shone through the frosted glass, making it look like swirling dark chocolate.

      Dylan's phone buzzed on the table-top and he jumped.

    "Thank you, uh, sorry," He said quickly, snatching his phone from the table and checking the message. "Ah, my friend is asking me to swing by a shop and pick up a magazine for him for tomorrow... If I'm going to get to the shop in time, I need to go now,  I'm sorry!" Dylan rushed out, quickly stuffing his phone into his pocket and standing from the table, swinging his bag up over his shoulder. He felt a little bad, but there was no point in staying with Ayako today, if she had nothing more of use to tell him, and he had something to be doing anyway.

     "Ah, it's no problem, I'll see you tomorrow!" She called over the clanking of the plates and glasses she collected, as Dylan pushed his way out of the double doors, made his way down the stairs and towards the brook, to cut through to the shop. He probably could've gotten it somewhere else, but he wanted to pick up a magazine of his own, and the only place he could find it was the newsagents just across from the school.

     However, Dylan wasn't to know he wouldn't get that far.

     Walking through the brook, as he was beginning to get used to, Dylan's hands were stuffed in his pockets, though he was still on alert, as the Brook was not a safe place, even for the most experience wanderers. So, when he heard slow, deliberate footsteps follow on behind him as he passed a particularly dark shadow, he realized someone must have been waiting there.

     A low, resounding chuckle began to echo through the brook, bouncing off the red and grey brick walls, and Dylan found his feet rooted to the floor in fear. He went rigid all over, and hoped that he looked as if he was ready to pounce on any potential attacker, as Rio always seemed. He hoped he seemed intimidating and tough, someone not to be messed with, and that whoever it was would think twice and slink back into the shadows, but the chuckles rose into laughter.

     Dylan's gut dropped when the edges of a faint French accent hung on the laughter.

      Before he could run, an incredible force smacked down on his head from above, and fresh pain blossomed across his head, shooting from his temple for an instant, and the smell of blood invaded his nose for an instant, before the world was enveloped in shadows.

~