Guns, Bullets & Bones [Tokyo Ghoul]

Ch. 14 ~ Anteiku

     Once more, Dylan found himself sat at the small, creamy glossed table just inside the double doors of the Cat's Cradle sweets parlour, next to the frosted glass, another deliciously fat-inducing treat sat on a little white china plate, with the pastel pink and lilac roses with grass-green stems, twining around the edges.

      Today was a toffee and custard slice.

      His eyes wandered the length of the place restlessly, searching for the shock of pastel blue hair, but he didn't see it once. He was almost sure Rio should've been at work today, he checked and double checked the days she had worked, and he was certain this time last week she was working. It wasn't one week on, one week off, was it? If it was, Dylan would feel rather stupid, not that anyone else aside from him would know that he had only come to meet her after work, as usual.

      The small bell above the door chimed as someone else pushed in, and Dylan's eyes flitted over, hoping to see Rio. However, warm chocolate eyes peered back at him, as their owner entered. Ayako smiled. She waved to another waitress before sitting down opposite him.

    "I thought Rio worked today," Dylan asked with his head cocked to the side. he glanced down at the toffee and custard slice, feeling bad that the first words out of his mouth were about her, when he had Ayako right in front of him.

       "So did I..." Ayako hummed, resting her head in her hand watching with a small smile as Dylan gobbled at his desert. "But I guess she's not here today,"

      "Ah..." Dylan swallowed down his mouthful and the lump on his throat, feeling utterly stupid. He mentally berated himself, and was suddenly put off his sweet food.

     "But that's a good thing, there was somewhere I wanted to take you, I think you'll like it," Ayako grinned and Dylan glanced up through his floppy hair with wide, innocent looking eyes. He set his fork down on the side of the plate, half of the toffee and custard slice still intact, aside from the swirls drawn on the top, where Dylan had been messing with it again.

     "Really?" He asked, straightening in his seat a little, watching Ayako wiggle in her own, grin spreading wider.

    "Yeah, I bet you'll love it! But finish your desert first," She insisted, and Dylan pulled a face, looking down at the sticky mess on his plate.

     "Actually, I've had all I want. I think I found the first thing from here I don't like..." Dylan muttered, and Ayako laughed. "Just have me back before dark,"

     Ayako gave an enthusiastic nod and heaved him out of his chair, and he threw his bag onto his back as she pulled him out the doors. She lead him down various streets he hadn't seen before, and he seriously hoped she was going to be walking him back home, as he had absolutely no idea where he was going.

    He was a little concerned when he came across a green-backed sign, with 'now leaving the 15th ward' printed in blocky white letters, though he trusted Ayako knew where she was going.

     "It's this neat little ghoul café, though they get human customers sometimes, too. Actually, they've just had someone new join. I heard he's a one eyed ghoul, but I haven't seen him myself, and you can never trust the gossip these days," Ayako gave a half shrug and continued to ramble as she pulled Dylan down the street. It had been mostly empty and the walk was relaxing, however the dark cloud above decided now was a good time to cry, and a downpour of rains started as abruptly as turning on a faucet.

     She stopped abruptly outside of a small coffee shop that Dylan had barley even noticed was there, and she quickly ducked under the veranda and pushed through the door, and they both shook off their soaked hair.

     "Welcome to Anteiku," Ayako grinned, and for the first time, Dylan sucked in a coffee-scented breath of air and admired the cosy décor of the room, and the smiling baristas. Or, mostly smiling, one girl seemed to be scowling and a boy looked rather sheepish next to her. "Hi, Touka. I'm guessing this is the Kaneki I've heard so much about?"

     "Hey. Yeah, this is the squirt," The girl, Touka, rolled her eyes and jolted a thumb towards the sheepish boy, and he gave a weak smile and small wave. The girl flipped open a note-pad and held a pen poised. "What can I get you two?"

      "Two coffees," Ayako responded quickly and lead Dylan over to a small round table, against the wall, where it felt much warmer than next to the steamy window, where the rain was dripping down the outside of the pane.  Dylan didn't like coffee, but Ayako seemed so pleased with this place, he didn't have the heart to tell her so.

    "It's, uh, nice," Dylan smiled. It didn't seem any different to any other coffee shop. And he wasn't overly struck on coffee shops. Maybe it was just the coffee...

     "This place is a lot more than what meets the eye," Ayako smiled mysteriously, and Dylan quirked up an eyebrow. "This place feeds the ghouls who can't hunt for themselves,"

     Dylan paled. Was that why they had human customers? There was no way Ayako had just lead him here to be slaughtered, right...?

       "Don't look like that, we're not going to butcher you. You see, I know you don't like how ghouls feed on humans, so you'll like this hopefully a little more than you would normal feeding methods. You see, the ghouls here don't eat live humans. There's a bridge not far from here, and it's a notorious suicide hotspot, so, as bad as it may sound, they take the bodies from there..." Ayako gave a shy, half shrug, and Dylan pulled a face. If human flesh sounded disgusting as a meal, dead corpses sounded ten times worse.

     "So no one dies... I guess that's better," Dylan contemplated, rubbing over his chin as Touka brought over two steaming mugs of coffee.

      Dylan tentatively took a sip, after blowing on the steaming liquid in an attempt to cool it down. It wasn't that bad...

     "Right," Ayako agreed with a smile, taking a large gulp of her drink and sighing happily. "It's how I survive too,"

    "Right," Dylan replied distractedly. His mind hadn't been able to focus well, even in school during the day. Memories kept replaying of what had happened with Tsukiyama and his gut clenched and nearly made him throw up whenever he thought of how close to death he had come. If it weren't for Rio...

     "Are you alright? You seem distracted...?" Ayako tilted her head and her hair swayed with the movement, her delicate eyebrows furrowed with her frown. "What's wrong?"

      "Tsukiyama tried to eat me..." He whispered before he could stop himself. He wanted to tell someone. He needed to tell someone, before it drove him mad and turned his brain into mush. Who better than Ayako? Her eyes became distant for a moment.

     "He's a disgusting weirdo... But he's just like Rio..." She muttered, and now Dylan allowed his brows to furrow.

    "What?"

    "Never mind," Ayako smiled, tucking some hair behind her ear. "You wanted to know what Rio meant, right? When she said I wasn't a proper ghoul, yes?"

     "I mean, if you don't mind telling me, that is," Dylan almost choked on his own excitement. Finally, he was getting more answers.

     "Right... Let me think back..."

~