Tokyo Ghoul: A White Crow's Secrets

The Wonders of Thoughts

Kaneki had met Touka, who was with Hinami. She had run away after her mother got killed by some doves. They were going back to Anteiku. No one said anything, but Kaneki was really urged to ask about Kenji Taeki, the White Crow, so he did.
"Who? What's with the XSSS-rated stuff, I don't even know what that's supposed to mean." Touka didn't seem to know either. Hinami was silent as expected.

It was almost midnight when they arrived back at Anteiku. Hinami was sent upstairs to rest and Touka walked with her. The manager was the only person at the shop at the time.
"Ask the manager if he knows anything about this White Crow guy." suggested Touka and disappeared behind the wooden door, that lead upstairs. Kaneki looked over to the manager, who had heard what Touka said, but it didn't show on his face, that he knew about The White Crow.
The manager gave his usual soft smile.
"Kaneki. This White Crow Touka spoke of, the other day when Tsukiyama came to the shop, he mentioned it in an argument with Nishiki. You should ask him." The manager polished a cup and sat it on the shelf. Kaneki wasn't that fond of finding out, that Tsukiyama knew of this person. He fiddled with his fingers while looking around.
"I'll go ask Nishiki instead tomorrow." Kaneki stated, while the manager was cleaning up. If he had to choose who to ask, Nishiki seemed to be the better choice.
Kaneki said goodbye to the manager after checking up with Touka and Hinami. She had fallen asleep.

Kaneki returned home and took off his jacket and shoes. He threw out the gum, that had become tasteless, into the empty trash can. "Maybe I should've asked him what XSSS means, before he left." Kaneki laid down on his bed, cuddling up in the fluffy blanket. He fell asleep after his eyelids closed of the sight of a harmless house centipede in the one upper corner of the room.

"Kaneki! Don't dose off in class, you'll get caught one of these days!" Hide puffed to Kaneki beside him. He shook his head to wake up. He looked down the the notebooks and the red pencil he was holding.
On a blank page of the notebook, was a doodle of a crow. Hide looked at it suspiciously. He tapped on it.
"What is this supposed to mean?"
He looked at Kaneki with curious eyes. Kaneki looked back and put his left hand up to his chin as a habit, feeling uncomfortable.
"I just wondered how a crow would look like if it was white, haha." Kaneki tried to sound normal, but the fake laugh at the end gave it away.
"Something's on your mind, right?"
Kaneki looked away, giving the silent treatment, saying that it's something that better left untouched. Hide got the message. He sat properly on his seat.
"Wanna go get some food at the cafeteria? The lesson's done soon." Hide changed the subject, to avoid the awkward silence. Kaneki felt relieved and gathered his notebooks as the bell rang.
"Sure, But I have to talk to Nishiki before the break ends."
"Nishiki? He'd be the last person you'd talk to, I thought. What is it you have to talk to him about?" Hide seemed intrigued, and he thought through a lot of options. Kaneki stared at him, while trying to make up something, but nothing clever came to his mind.
"It's just something quick I have to ask about." He took his bag and swung it over his head, to end the conversation. They both walked out of the room, down the stairs and outside. The sky was clouded and the sun's beams were shining through the gray clouds. A slightly chilly wind was going around campus. It had rained, so the scent of petrichor was lingering in the air. It reminded Kaneki of the setting of a short novel he read some time ago. A girl who lost her feeble sister on a day like this. The day after her sister's death, she visited her, only to be assaulted by a monster, that killed her. He wondered if the writer had thought about continuing it, but it did focus more on the girl's feelings and her relationship with her sister. Then it hit him. He stopped where he stood.
"If I remember correctly..." he mumbled, and Hide noticed it. Kaneki opened his bag hanging on his side. He took out a small chubby book with the title "Tragedy's Daughter".
Kaneki was surprised. The writer's name's Kenji Taeki.
"How can a ghoul be a writer?" He thought, while Hide looked at the book. "That's really a depressing title. Are they really that interesting, the books you read?" Hide looked at Kaneki's face.
"Uh, well yeah." He simply replied, placing the book in his bag.
"We better hurry now, Kaneki." Hide placed his hand on Kaneki's shoulder to pull him towards the cafeteria. On their way, Kaneki thoughts were running around, trying to wrap around this discovery. He seemed to close off his surroundings to think about the possibilities. Hide was beside Kaneki, looking out of the corner of his eyes to see if he could find some kind of clue on his face, but it was just a stare staring nowhere. He knew that there was something bugging him. Something he knew already.
"He's changing a bit..." Hide thought when they entered the cafeteria. Kaneki decided to lay his thoughts to the side, while joining Hide for lunch.
"What do you want, Hide? I'll pay."
"Woah. How rare of you to say something like that... Then I can't miss this opportunity, I'll have a chicken burger with salad. Thanks Kaneki!" Hide clapped him on the back several times, that surprised him so he almost fell forward.
"Well, I'll find a table."
Hide walked away, humming. Kaneki looked at Hide's back, with a sad thought passing through his mind, that scared him.
"What would I do if I lose Hide? I'll be alone..."
Kaneki looked around in the cafeteria. It was panes of glasswalls. The counter was plain white, with shelves displaying the food, in the middle of the giant glass cube.
Kaneki stood in line, behind the next costumer. He didn't even look at him, but to the side, seeing Hide at a three-seated round metal table. Hide saw him and smiled. Then he saw something and pointed besides Kaneki.
"I'll have some regular coffee, please." said the customer in front of Kaneki. He looked at the tall figure and saw some familiar orange hair. The clothes was also very familiar, though a unknown hoodie covered the upper part. The tips of his glasses were visible.
The costumer's coffee was delivered and he turned to the side, noticing a familiar face.
"Oh, Kaneki."
"Hello Nishiki." With just a plain reply, Nishiki began to walk away.
"Ah, Nishiki, I have to ask you something." Kaneki hurriedly said quite loud, attracting some eyes for a few seconds. Nishiki didn't turn around to face Kaneki, but slightly turned his head.
"Didn't expect this. What is it?"
"Um, do you know about The White Crow?"
Nishiki was shocked, but quickly became heated, thinking about The White Crow. He tightened his grip around the thick paper cup, but stopped just before the coffee would overflow. He looked at Kaneki infuriated. Kaneki felt a bit dismayed, and considered if he shouldn't have asked.
"How do you know about that shitty son of a bitch? I'll kill that asshole!" Nishiki had control over his angered voice, that it was almost a whisper. He placed his free hand on Kaneki's stiff shoulder and lowered his head down to Kaneki's ear.
"Do you know what he is?"
"Uh... a ghoul?"
"Ha, what kind of ghoul can fucking deform his whole body and has a goddamn centipede in his head?"
"Uhh, I heard from the CCG, that he's a new unknown ghoul... Wait, a centipede?"
"The incident with Hinami? Did you meet him?"
"He helped me dealing with some doves."
Nishiki moved his eyes to look at Kaneki. He stared for a while, and then he straightened his back.
"Get your coffee and finish up with Hide, then we'll talk." He walked away, leaving Kaneki no choice. He slammed the main glass door shut, startling Kaneki with the loud sound.
"Did I do something wrong?" Kaneki mumbled, turning to the counter, seeing a surprised cashier. It felt awkward ordering the food and coffee.

Kaneki approached the table where Hide was sitting. He placed the chicken burger in front of him and sat down with his coffee.
"Nishiki sure didn't seem in a good mood. What did you tell him?"
"Uh, he... Ah, his girlfriend is sick, so he's just worried, heh."
"Is that so... Ah, you're just going to have coffee again? Are you eating enough?"
"I'm not that hungry and I have some leftovers from yesterday at home." Kaneki didn't feel comfortable and felt sad every time he had to lie to Hide.
Hide took a bite of the burger while looking at Kaneki drinking his coffee. He could feel that it needed to be discussed, but not yet. Hide kept his eyes on Kaneki, trying to analyze his face. With every bite he took of the burger, the more aware Kaneki got of his stare. Kaneki gulped down the coffee, breaking off Hide's stare. Hide pushed the plate to the side and laid down on the table, with his arms crossed. He closed his eyes for a moment, seeing flashes of moments he had with Kaneki. While dwelling on the memories, Kaneki gave a paitent look.
"Hide is unusually quiet... It's not like him at all." Kaneki thought, trying to see, if he perhaps didn't get enough sleep. Hide did have some dark circles under his closed eyes.
"Didn't you sleep well?" Kaneki tilted his head as Hide opened his eyes.
"Well, yeah, I wanted to finish the report due to tomorrow, so I didn't have to worry about it today." Hide rubbed his eyes and stretched his body.
"Oh, I see... Don't do that too often, okay?"
"What, you worried? Heh, of course I won't, sleeping is awesome!"
Hide stood up from the steel chair. With a smile on his face and usual behavior, he gave a silly smile to Kaneki.
"Well, thanks for the meal, Kaneki!"
"Oh, You're welcome."
Hide walked out of the building and Kaneki cleaned up the table.

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Woohoo, I don't know if I do a good job at building up to future events @~@ Next chapter will be a bit gory and weird, just warning ya >3> Being drunk when you're already weird, makes it even more weird... if you walk around with a centipede, that is.
Tell me what you think, if you feel inclined to do so ^^
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