Winter's Embrace

A messy haired boy, still yet to lose his youthful appearance, jumped out from behind Kaneki, grabbing his shoulders, knocking him to the ground in the process. Collecting himself off the hard linoleum kitchen floor, Kaneki pointedly glared at the attacker. Despite the hostility being directed towards him, the boy only smiled wider. Sighing, Kaneki stood up, and fixing a stern look, he firmly stated, "Hide, can't you see I'm working? What if I was carrying coffee cups? And they broke?"

Hide only proceeded to cross his arms behind his head and roll his eyes instead. "Well, you weren't holding anything. Plus, even if you did drop anything, the angry purple haired girl isn't here to yell at you."

"You mean Touka?" Kaneki clarified.

Hide shrugged, instead offering out his hand for Kaneki to take hold of. Taking Hide's hand and pulling himself, Kaneki dusted the dust off of his uniform. Turning to face Hide, Kaneki sighed, before asking, "Why are you here?"