Hide:

"Uhh," Hide mumbled, hoping he'd just misheard. "What do you mean by 'training', exactly?"

On the other side of the bar, Yoshimura smiled.

"I'd have thought it was obvious, Mr Nagachika," he murmured, carefully wiping the cloth over the already pristine surface of the counter. "You're a human being, taking on a job for powerful ghouls. We're going to need to at least teach you some basic self defense.

"Self defense?" Hide asked, an eyebrow raising. "From ghoul attacks? Uh... no offence, sir. I want this job... but that sounds kind of impossible. Humans aren't built to fight ghouls... It's like trying to defend yourself against a truck."

"Nonsense," the old manager chuckled. "I happen to know that those fine young people of the CCG do it almost every day."

"Well, yeah," Hide admitted, rolling his eyes. "But they have weapons! Like, real, powerful anti-ghoul weaponry!"

"And you have a knife," chimed in Kaya, a youngish looking woman who had introduced herself to him as the senior waitress, as she carried an armful of china cups towards the sink. "You can beat a ghoul with a knife. Trust me."

Before Hide had a chance to object to that, a third voice joined the argument against him.

"Besides," Koma smiled, taking the cups from his fellow worker and dunking them in the water. "You're off to a good start. You've got some of the strongest Ghouls in Tokyo for teachers. We shouldn't have a problem."

Hide opened his mouth to object, but saw that the other two were already nodding along in agreement. He didn't like the sound of this. Not one bit.

"We'll take it in turns, I think," Yoshimura murmured. "You can start the day with Koma to work on your physical fitness-" behind him, the man at the sink gave him a thumbs up, that smile of his growing a touch wider. "Then, you'll have afternoons with myself and Yomo, to work on your combat forms. And in the evenings, we'll hand you off to Touka and Kaya."

"... And what are they teaching me?" Hide asked, shooting a worried glance behind himself at the dark haired woman as she once more gathered china from the tables.

There was the briefest moment of hesitation, before the old man murmured:

"Reaction times."

"And Pain tolerance." Kaya chuckled, shooting Hide a look that made his skin crawl.

For a single moment, Yoshimura lost that calm smile of his.

"Now, Irimi," he sighed. "Let's not be frightening the boy any more than we have reason to."

"... Do I have a choice in this?" Hide asked. "To, you know... Maybe not be horribly tortured?"

Yoshimura gave him a sad smile, and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, young Mr. Nagachika, but no, you don't." He sighed. "All jokes aside. You put yourself in incredible danger by helping Touka like you did. There is now at least one very powerful ghoul out there with an extremely good reason to want you dead." For a moment, Yoshimura's age seemed to catch up with him, the warmth seeping out of his features. Behind him, Koma too had stopped smiling. The old man leaned forwards on the counter, resting on his elbows. "We're grateful to you for what you did for her, Hideyoshi. And as thanks for it, we'll be doing everything we can to keep you alive. Unfortunately," he sighed. "That also means beating the weakness out of you as quickly an efficiently as possible. It won't be pleasant. It won't be fun; but it will increase your odds of survival a hundredfold."

Hide didn't have an answer to that. It was a lot to take in. He dropped his gaze to his hands, clenched together on the counter-top.

"Hey," he felt a hand grasp him by the shoulder, and glanced around. It was Kaya. "Buck up, kiddo. We'll try and take it easy on you." She winked, and gave his cheek a gentle slap. "Maybe if you do good enough, we'll pretend to forget all those times you hit on Touka."

Hide felt his eyes widen a fraction at that. Behind him, Yoshimura and Koma chuckled.

"...You guys know about that?" He asked. His voice quiet.

"Know about it?" Kaya grinned. "Buddy. We were this close to adding you to the emergency food list. Now come on. It's training time."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

----------------------------------------

Kaneki:

... Well, this was awkward. Kaneki took a breath, and reached for his coffee can, trying to ignore the proximity of the inspectors to either side as he shifted on the couch. Why did it have to be a Disney movie?

After their... Meeting at the hospital, Amon and his partner had escorted Kaneki back to Amon's apartment, where he would apparently be staying until lodgings could be found for him that didn't have ghoul shaped holes in the walls and blood all over the floors. Once there, he and his newfound protective detail had sat and... waited. In total silence. For three hours.

It was only when the younger of the two investigators had grown hungry that Kotarou had spoken.

"... Wanna call some takeout and watch a movie?"

... Ken had preferred the silence. The silence wasn't awkward. The silence hadn't necessitated them all crush up together on Amon's minuscule excuse for a couch.

Kaneki took a gulp of his coffee, before lowering the can to his lap, and returning his gaze to the movie.

"Do you really enjoy that?" asked Mado, turning in his seat to glance at him. "The coffee, I mean."

"Yeah," Kaneki murmured. "Better than I did before, to be honest. Why?"

"It fascinates me," came the reply. "The way you must perceive the world. I was simply asking because I've never met something that could compare how ghoul senses work to those of a human."

Kaneki pondered that for a moment, then shrugged.

"Well, I mean, if you want a comparison, it kinda tastes like really strong espresso, with these weird hints of cinnamon and this... Almost honeycomb thing?"

"Huh," Mado grunted, leaning in to examine the can. "This is just ordinary coffee, though," he plucked the can from Kaneki's lap, and took a small swig. "... Nope. Certainly no honey and cinnamon. Interesting." He passed the can back to the boy.

From Kaneki's other side, Amon was watching, his box of delivery noodles held, half eaten above his chest. He looked... Almost worried.

For a minute or so, no one spoke, eyes returning as one to the movie, before Kaneki voiced the question that had sat in his mind since his first meeting with Mado.

"What did you mean before?" he asked. "When you said I was the remains of Ken Kaneki?" He forced his voice to remain cordial as he spoke, unsure of the emotion trying to break through to his words.

"Kureo," Amon spoke, his voice stern. "Don't. The kid doesn't need your judgement right no-"

"He asked, Kotarou." Mado cut his partner off with a scowl. "Besides, I'd have thought the answer was simple." He turned his gaze to Kaneki. "Ken Kaneki died three days ago." His voice was flat. There was no judgement to it; no kindness, either. Just honesty. "He was attacked by a violent cannibal, and his kidneys were crushed by over twenty tonnes of industrial grade steel." Mado sighed. "His death is a tragedy. By all accounts, he was an affable, kindhearted and studious young man. The only bright side to that tragedy is that his death also ended the life of a violent criminal and likely saved the lives of over a dozen like him."

"Mado," Amon growled. "That's not fair. The kid's right next to you."

"And this is something he deserves to know." Kureo replied, his tone flat, before returning his gaze to Kaneki. "You are not Ken Kaneki. You're the remains of the thing that tried to eat him, that were placed in his corpse to finish the job. If there is any shred of justice to this world, kid, it's that whatever kindness and humanity was possessed by the boy in whose body you now sit, it seems to have passed on to you." He chuckled. "Be grateful for that. If his mind had died along with him, I would have no qualms over putting you in the ground." Again, Amon opened his mouth to object, but Mado ignored him. "As it stands, however. You are to be afforded the same respect as I would give to any gravestone. Because just like a gravestone, a good person died to make you."

In the silence that followed that proclamation, Kaneki thought. He wasn't angry. It was odd. He'd have thought such a statement would make him furious. But it didn't. He was calm. The investigators were watching him now, Amon concerned, Mado intent.

"... Honestly, you're not wrong." He murmured eventually, his voice quiet.

"What?" Amon objected. "But he-"

Kaneki raised a hand.

"Sir? I'm sorry, but I don't think you get it. I've been like this for days. You think I haven't thought all of those things before myself? I'm a literature and philosophy student. I've studied this sort of idea before. Fuck, I've been reading Kafka for class for a month already. Excuse me for being okay with the guy who finally seems to get that I might not be fully human anymore."

To Kaneki's side, Mado was nodding, whatever unfortunate approximation of a smile his face was capable of flickering across it. Amon, on the other hand, was not.

"Yeah," The older man sighed. "Sure. You're not human. I think that one's pretty obvious at this point." He gestured to the mangled hand by the boy' side, the slowly regenerating stumps of his fingers clearly on display. "But that doesn't mean you're not still Ken Kaneki, does it?"

Mado chuckled at that.

"Really, Kotarou?" he asked. "Come on. I trained you better than that. Ghouls aren't people, Amon. You know that. You need decency to be a person."

For his part, Kaneki shrugged.

"Well, I think he has a point," he murmured, turning his gaze to Mado. "So, I tell you what. If this transformation thing continues, and whatever human part of my brain it is that makes me want to be a person just dissolves, then sure, put me in the ground. I'd honestly kind of prefer that." Mado raised an eyebrow at that. Ken chuckled grimly. "I guess you could call it the last request of Ken Kaneki's dying brain. To make sure he doesn't go crazy and start killing people if this transformation goes too far." Kureo hesitated for a moment at that, then nodded.

"... But," Kaneki continued. "If it turns out that I can handle it, and whatever's going on in my body doesn't take away who I am, then you accept that maybe, just maybe, Ken Kaneki might still be alive in here."

The long silence that followed that statement was cut short when Mado snickered.

"Well, you sure as hell had that speech planned out. Where'd that come from?"

"Meh," Ken shrugged. "I told you. I've been thinking this stuff over for a few days already. I just gave you the same answer I gave myself."

The inspector grunted at that, and the three of them once more returned their eyes to the movie.