守りたい // hidekane

02

Weeks have passed since Kaneki woke up in the hospital. Two weeks and three days to be exact, but hey, who's counting?

It's also been two weeks since his last proper meal. He stares at the tray of food the kind nurse has prepared for him. It was the same thing all over again, she was going talk him into eating, pushing the topic about how important it is if he wants to heal quickly. Then Kaneki, either feeling sorry for the nurse or just wanting this to be over with, would force himself to scarf down his food. It would always end in the same way, out his mouth and down the trash bin.

He can't help it, the food tasted gross and I mean gross. The sandwiches tasted like sandpaper and dirt mixed with sewer water. The soup reeked of tar and had a texture similar to vomit. Chicken tasted like raw reptile meat. And the rice felt like it was chewed up by an old man and thrown out. All in all, the food tasted like shit. Kaneki was convinced that they just didn't have a great chef (Of course he wouldn't say it aloud). Seriously, the chef is the complete equivalent of Hide's attempt in cooking kimchi.

Speaking of Hide...Kaneki missed him an awful lot. He hasn't been answering Hide's calls and he was often told by the nurse that Hide had visited but was dismissed by the staff. Today, Hide had left him a fruit basket, sent in by the nurse. Such a shame he couldn't even eat the fruit. They tasted rotten.

"What's up with disgusting food lately?" Kaneki thought to himself. Yeah, everything he ate made him want to vomit. Maybe it was just some side-effects of his surgery. His stomach is hurting so much to the point that he might even be digesting himself. It hurt like a bitch. He couldn't even believe that he lasted two weeks like this.

A few more days passed and he was finally given permit to go home, as he has already regained the color of his face and can now function like a normal human being. Kaneki eagerly sits by the reception, waiting for his papers to be filled.

Oh boy, Kaneki was beyond excited to head back. Maybe he can stop by for his favorite meal from Big Girl. Whatever, he was just glad to finally eat good food. Not the trash ones this hospital offered him.

The receptionist, a petite girl with her hair tied up into a low ponytail and a smile plastered on her small, framed face, approaches him slowly, her heels making a clicking sound on the tiled floors.

"Mr. Ken, here are your papers. All you have to do is sign here and here. Then you're off. Are you in need of any assistance in leaving the premises?" Her voice was soft and she spoke in a formal matter, that alone was enough to say that she's someone who takes their work seriously. Kaneki shakes his head at her question and wearily takes the clipboard from her arms, signing using a pen she gave him. After returning both the clipboard and ballpen, and a few reminders about his medication and whatnot, Kaneki makes his way out of the hospital.

He had a small debate with himself wether or not he should call Hide and tell him he's been dismissed but he was pretty anxious due to the fact that he had been ignoring his friend's messages, he sure as hell ain't going to start replying to them now, out of the blue. So he slips his phone back into his pocket and carries on his way to the bus stop.

If it weren't for the sudden fatigue, he would've succumbed into his desire to eat at Big Girl, but he doesn't have his wallet with him, in courtesy of Hide who took his things from the hospital and brought them back to Kaneki's place. It wasn't until he reached his humble abode did Kaneki feel his stomach twisting knots, as opposed to not eating for almost three weeks. It was extremely unhealthy but at least he stayed hydrated throughout. Of course not with water though, since it tasted like used cooking oil, but because the only thing that didn't taste like garbage in the hospital was the coffee they served. In fact it was the only thing he wouldn't throw up if he drank it. It tasted like perfectly normal coffee to him, and he was getting really hungry so he decided to live through caffeine in the hospital, having asked to give him coffee instead of water when he was done eating and throwing up.