Tokyo Ghoul time loops

Chapter 1

(Chapter 178)

1.1

Kaneki was running. Kaneki was running as fast as he fucking could. Every muscle in his body felt like it was eating himself, all his thoughts shocked to silence at Rize's twisted, malformed corpse. The tunnel of RC cells was collapsing around him and the air was thicker than blood.

His vision was suddenly drenched in pitch, and Kaneki cried out silently. What he didn't expect was a hand worriedly ruffling his hair.

Golden brown eyes filled his vision and he resisted the urge to jump back. Hide, it was just Hide.

Hide?

"Hey dude, you ok?"

His face was full, round again. He wore a worried smile that was illuminated by the noon sun. To the right of him was Yoshimura, holding a wet cloth and so alive.

"I--" He stopped himself. His voice was definitely a few notes higher than it should be. "I'm... what?"

That was probably the wrong thing to say, as Hide's brows furrowed before he turned to Yoshimura and smoothed it over with a charming grin. "I think I'll be taking him home, sorry for the worry!" The manager nodded and turned back to the staff, who had also stopped working in curiosity.

When they got back to Kaneki's flat, his mind was whirling and it took an astounding amount of effort to keep him from spilling his breakfast and lunch over his tidy floors.

"...eki? Kaneki?" Hide's voice brought him back to reality. "Yo Kaneki, you don't look so good-- ah!"

Hide found himself trapped in a very tight hug from his best friend, sobbing softly.

"Yeah, I'm good man. I'm really good."

1.2

It had taken a few 'loops' to get used to the fact that he was, once again, alone. But this time, he was alone in a way that could not be fixed by people that he had yet to meet. When he Woke at Anteiku for what, the sixth time? He had just stormed out without a word. What was the point, if that was just going to happen again?

The first time, he was overjoyed. He had spent years with Hide, blissfully unaware of the ghoul world.

Then it reset, and Kaneki was back at Anteiku.

And again.

And again.

And again.

He was plagued by the memories of the torture that never happened, and the deaths of the friends he never had.

The last loop, he had gone on a date with Rize.

The last loop, he got a kakuhou, and it was almost nolgastic as a single blood-red tendril curled around his wrist.

This warped sense of familiarity was the only thing he had left.

He had went on a spree, fulfilling his kagune's previous title of 'binge eater'.

How dare these people live only one life? How dare they know which side they belong on? How dare they live a normal life?

How could his only ever be a tragedy?

1.3

Someone had come, a british boy in glasses. From what Kaneki had managed to pick out from his spew of words, there were others. Other loopers, other people. And, a pocket. More specifically, a subspace pocket. Apparently, one could fold space with magic, of all things, and it would allow them to transport items from one loop to another. He had explained that with experience, one could store more items. He made reference to one particular looper that had an entire library within their pocket.