Abomination(Tokyo Ghoul)

Chapter 12 part 2

Chapter 12 part 2

By the time I reached the coffee shop, the sun had already begun to rise. Some stores were starting to open and get ready. I knocked on the door and twisted the door knob. Usually some nights, I'd come here and just talk to Touka and tell her what's on my mind and then she'd tell me what's on her's.

Touka was sitting by the windows, although they weren't open rays of light were seeping through the gaps. She already had a cup of coffee ready for me.

I reached over to the window and pulled on the blinds. Touka flinched when the light hit her eyes.

"Shit, I'm still half awake here." she groaned. "So what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

"I went to see Itori with Kaneki yesterday and I found some wonderful news."

"What did she say?" Touka seemed to be a bit more awake.

"Noboru, he's alive." I laughed out tears. "Touka, he's alive! After all this time, I've been walking around and sulking about his demise but now....He's alive!"

"That's fantastic, Gumi. What are you going to do?"

"I'm not sure yet. Tsukiyama told me to wait for a plan to come but what if he can't wait for help to come."

"Well, where is he?"

"With the Aogiri Tree. I believe that he was captured that night and he couldn't escape."

Touka's face suddenly grew grim and serious. She held onto my hand tightly and looked directly into my eyes.

"Gumi, I am so happy for you, but just hear me out for a second. Don't get upset about what I'm about to say..."

"Wait a minute, what are you-"

"I want you to take this possibility under consideration..."

"Um...Touka, what's this about....?"

"How do you know that he was captured to fight with them or if he's been taken as a prisoner? Maybe he had something else in mind or he has some kind of plan with them."

"What do you mean?"

"Gumi," she sighed. "How are you sure that this is his decision?"

"Listen to yourself! You think that he'd do that on purpose?!"

"I don't know but it's just a precaution to think about. I don't want to see you have your heart broken if he doesn't want to be rescued. Just think long and hard about this."

"How can you say such hurtful things?! I thought you were my friend!" I rose from my chair and had an urge to leave but I wasn't through with her.

"I am your friend! And I'm saying these hurtful things because I am your friend!" She slammed her hands on the table.

"Look," she sat back in her chair and let out a long sigh. "When Kaneki left Anteiku, it took me a while to realize what he was doing. There were many times I contemplated on whether or not to leave and go find him. But then I noticed that he made me stay because he was trying to protect me."

"No, that's not right. Noboru, he would've wanted to stay with me." I backed away from the table slowly.

"Gumi, think about it carefully." she said as she got up from her seat and tried to coax me to sit back down. "From what you told me, Noboru has always done what he can to keep you safe. Maybe this is his true intentions."

"Stop saying that. He's probably being forced to work for them, I know it!" I kept trying to keep her away from me.

"You still don't understand. Kaneki left us for a reason, Noboru could be doing the same thing." she said more gently. "Just please be careful."

"That may be the issue for you, Touka, but it may not be the same for me. I have a strong feeling about this! I'm positive that everything will be alright again once we see each other. Don't worry so much about me, my plan is solid."

"Yeah, I sure hope that it is." she huffed. "Um...so how's Kaneki?"

"He's fine...If you want, I could probably lead you to-"

"No." she quickly answered. "There's no need for that, but thank you for your offer."

I sat back in my chair and changed our topic to something more entertaining such as movies and the new magazine issues coming out.

When it was time for the shop to actually open, I picked up my coat and headed out the door. I briskly walked the streets, not really paying attention to where I was even going. But then I felt someone step on my heel. My foot came out of my shoe and I stumbled like an idiot.

Right when I was about to bitch at the culprit, I restrained myself when I looked at his face.

"Juuzou?"

He picked up my shoe and began to observe it. After realizing there was absolutely nothing special about it he handed it back to me.

"Hello Gumi, it's been a while since I've seen you. Did you-"

"Juuzou! What are you doing!?" A big man called him.

"Shinohara!" Juuzou waved to him to come over.

"I'm sorry miss, did he-"

"No, it's completely fine. It's a pleasure to see you again, Juuzou." Juuzou and I stared at each other for a long time.

I could feel my rage boiling up inside of me. But then when I recalled that Noboru was alive and the Aogiri Tree took him, I let the whole incident slide.

"Anyway," I cleared my throat and brightened up my mood. "Juuzou, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend here?"

"Huh? Oh, this is Shinohara. I'm his underling at work." he smiled. "Shinohara, this is Gumi, she helped me find the police station when I got lost here."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Gumi. Thank you for helping him." he gently shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you too! I feel like I should be thanking him for saving me from getting eaten by a gang of ghouls."

"Is that so?" He proudly looked over to Juuzou, who was still wearing his wide grin.

These two have to be part of the CCG. Maybe I could get some information out of them.

"Shinohara? Juuzou?" Someone called.

How many more doves are coming here?!

When the boy ran over, a flash of nostalgia hit me.

"Hide?!" I gasped.

"Gumi?!" He suddenly recognized me.

"Guys know each other?"

"Yeah, we ran into each other several times." he turned over to Shinohara and then to me. "It's been such a long time since the last time I saw you. How have you been?"

"Pretty good actually. How about you? Any luck at your school or job?"

"Actually now that you brought that up, I'm now working for the CCG headquarters."

I could feel my eye twitch with seething anger. How could this have happened?! This kid has been working to get into the CCG and I had multiple chances to kill him. However, I restrained myself from doing so because I always felt that Hide was a good kid.

But does he know about his friend, Kaneki being a ghoul? If so, would he really hunt him down and kill him?

"Wow, that's great!" I put on a friendly facade. "Listen, I have to go but how about we have lunch sometime. What do you say?"

"Sounds good to me." Hide smiled.

I then turned over to Shinohara and Juuzou.

"It was nice to see both of you today. I hope you all will be safe at work." I carefully looked at each man standing in front of me. "I'm so grateful that there are good hearted people, putting their lives down to keep others safe. I really look up to you fellas."

After that speech, I waved goodbye and ran off into the crowd of the people.

If I keep in contact with Hide, maybe I can get some information out of him. I could probably trick him into telling me bits of their plans or any whereabouts of Kanou.