#tokyo ghoul cafe

[amazeingartist]

Basically Ghoul!Soap

also a bit of scrapped intro to soap for the comic (came off a bit strong for want I wanna go for—and yes I used the tiktok audio/dialogue but the concept is still the same)

[delirious-donna]

Uta problably likes Shibari, teasing and trying on different toys. Maybe he goes to a sex shop with you and buys all the weirder toys that you're not even sure what they're meant to do... but you'll find out soon enough 😂

Uta - Shibari

I won’t lie, Uta low-key scares me and he definitely is into the more extreme elements of sex and some darker kinks. I’ll focus on Shibari for this example.

He is very turned on by the elegance and skill it takes for Shibari to be performed correctly. Uta is good with his hands, he is a craftsmen after all, and he puts that to good use as he ties the various knots against your limbs. It’s a beautiful art form, one he loves to put into practice.

The red rope reminds him of blood, and I wouldn’t put it past him to bite your tender neck whilst you are vulnerable on the bed. He favours traditional poses and sometimes it’s a more sensual act than anything truly sexual. However, more often than not he will position you to take him easily, calves bound to your thighs and arms secured behind your back with ropes across your chest and around your wrists.

“My pretty prey… all trussed up and ready for me. Don’t be scared, I’ll be gentle,” he says with a smirk, and you know full well that he might not keep that promise.

[darius-1]

[holyhounddog]

Angry

[musings-ofthe-unamused]

To Crave and To Yearn (Tokyo Debunkers)

Pairing: Haku x Reader

Word Count: 1.8k

Warnings: Some suggestive & sexual content

A/N: Happy birthday Haku!! I think you're very giggles and kicks feet

Ever since your mission with Hotarubi, you've been hanging around there more often. It was a breath of fresh air to have ghouls that actually valued who you were and your safety. Not to mention, their dorms were calming to be in. A true joy. You sat in the tea room, sipping on some blend that Subaru had made.

"How have you been?" Haku asked, sitting across from you. His gaze was focused on papers in front of him.

You hummed and set your teacup down. "Honestly, I want to get off campus. I feel like I'm being suffocated."

"Really?" He shuffled through the papers and picked one out. "But the campus is huge. It's odd for you to feel that way."

"I guess I want to be in the real world for a bit."

Sure, you went out to the real world during missions. But it wasn't the same. You wanted to walk around the city, go to cafes, go shopping. Like a normal person. Being surrounded by supernatural dangers constantly was taking its toll. Not to mention, you felt somewhat jealous whenever you saw Shu and Leo just leaving campus whenever they wanted and having fun. You wanted to have fun too.

"You know, a new cat cafe opened up in Tokyo. We can go visit."

You sighed and shook your head, leaning back. "It's fine. It's too much of a hassle to get a permit."

Haku frowned. "Let me handle it. I'll get the permit, take you out, and we can have fun. No missions, no ghouls."

You gave him a playful smile. "You're a ghoul, Haku."

He let out a chuckle. Despite your initial complaining, you didn't seem too closed off to the idea. It would be fun, afterall. Haku’s eyes traveled over your form. God, he wanted to be your boyfriend. He wanted to hold your hand, to walk with you to classes. He wanted to take you on dates, to see you blush. He wanted to see those pretty lips of yours to call his name, to moan, to whimper. To wrap around- 

Too far. He shook his head and gave you a lazy smile. “So it’s a date?”

"Sure, why not?" You said, chugging the rest of your tea. You stood up. "Speaking of dates, I have a study date with Kaito."

"Sure." His eyes darkened for just a moment. "I'll text you."

You were grateful for Haku. He had always been there for you since the beginning. Even when you wanted to run away, he was there by your side. You didn't even realize how much you relied on him. On his calm demeanor and his wise words. Without Haku, you probably would have gone insane long ago.

You found yourself looking forward to this outing. It would take at least a week to get the permit. That whole week, you were jumpy and excited. Everyone had started to take notice. For some reason, you kept it secret. You knew that someone would want to tag along. It wasn't as if you didn't want that… no, it was. You didn't want anyone to tag along. You wanted it to be just you and Haku. No one else. 

When the day finally came, you went to the station a bit early to meet with Haku. And to your surprise, he was already there. It was odd to see him in his casual clothes. A neatly ironed white button down, stylish forest green pants, his hair nicely styled. He looked good. You walked up to him with a smile. He turned to you, blinking. His eyes lit up as he studied you. A blush spread across your cheeks and you turned away. You sheepishly stepped closer to him.

"Hi."

"Hi." He replied, smiling down at you. "You look… cute."

You didn't know how to react and just muttered out a thanks. Haku led you onto the train and towards the bench. When you sat down, he sat close to you. His shoulder was touching yours. Okay, this vibe was definitely more than friendly. When he said it was a date, you thought it was just a joking comment. But now you were positive that this was, in fact, a date. 

Nerves washed over you. How were you supposed to act now? Your eyes traveled over to him. He was staring at you. Shit. He was staring at you. Your hands started to sweat. This was fine. Just act like you normally do. Haku wouldn't judge you. He totally wouldn't act like you're some weirdo and lose any positive feelings for you.

"Ah!" He took out his phone and opened it. After tapping the screen several times, he tilted it towards you. "This is what they sell at the cat cafe. Basically you play with the cats first then we can eat and stuff."

You leaned closer to him. The sweet and fresh scent of his cologne hit his nose. "Oh, the food looks good! Does anything catch your eye?"

"You."

"Huh?" You turned your head to look at him. His face was close to yours.

"I said that the parfaits look good."

He leaned back, putting his phone in his pocket. He turned back to the front and crossed his arms. Haku was definitely playing with you. Your face flushed red and you turned your attention back as well. Haku made small conversation on the way to the cafe. Just simple stuff. Classes, new friends, what ghouls are causing you trouble. It was like he didn't notice how nervous and flustered you were. Or maybe he did and he just didn't want to embarrass you any further.

Haku said your name loudly, causing you to blink. "The kitty wants attention."

You looked down at the kitten that was meowing in your lap, trying to crawl up your shirt. "Oh. Sorry, little kitten."

You reached down and started to pet it. You gazed over at Haku. He had a cat in his lap, purring as it nuzzled against its palm. A flash of jealousy passed through you. It wouldn't be so bad to be that cat. You looked down at the kitten and lifted it, bringing it close to your face. It licked your nose, making you scrunch it up.

"Aww, you're such a cute kitty!" You giggled.

"I think you'd make a cute kitty."

Your head whipped over to him. "What did you say?"

Haku grinned at you. "I said that cute kitty would make a good pet."

He was most definitely fucking with you. You frowned and turned away from him. "Stop teasing me."

He scooted closer to you. "Why? It's fun?"

You let out a squeal. After protectively holding the kitten against your chest, you shot him a glare. He grinned. He was most definitely enjoying this. That feeling rose up again. The feeling of wanting to tease you over and over. Until you were a begging mess, staring up at him with those big cute eyes of yours. God, he wanted you so badly.

"Shall we eat?"

You huffed but nodded. You set the kitten down and took Haku's hand. He led you over to the cafe area. Now that it was practically confirmed this was a date, you had calmed down. Only a little. There was something about Haku's teasing that had made your nerves alleviate. Besides, you trusted him. Even if this day turned out bad, you knew you two would be friends still. He wasn't the type of person to just ghost you. Well, he was a ghoul. So he would ghoul you. Yeah.

After you two ate, you spent time exploring the city. Partway through, Haku had wrapped his hand around yours. He said it was so you wouldn't get lost in the crowd, but you knew better. Your fingers were intertwined tightly with his. By the time the two of you got back on your train, you had a smile on your face that just wouldn't go away.

Haku's arm was wrapped around your shoulder as you leaned against him. You were tired but happy. It really was a much needed day out. He let out a pleased hum and pulled you closer. This was nice. This was exactly what you needed. Haku. You needed Haku.

"Thank you for doing this." You mumbled.

He sighed softly and nodded. "Of course. Anytime."

"This… This was a date. Right?'

"If you wanted it to be."

"Haku!" You scoffed and sat up. "Be serious."

He didn't like that you scooted away from him. HIs arm brought you down to him once again. "Yes. It was a date."

"Okay."

"That's all you have to say? Okay?" He snorted. 

"Yeah. It was… okay. Nothing special."

Haku rolled his eyes. "Are you teasing me?"

"Maybe."

"We can't have that."

He grabbed your chin lightly and coaxed your gaze to his. Your breath caught in your throat as he leaned in and brushed his lips against yours. It was at this moment you were glad no one else was on the train. You leaned in and pressed your lips against his. The kiss was soft, the lingering taste of sweets on his lips from the cafe food. A shiver ran down your spine as he tried to pull you impossibly closer.

This was heaven. His lip brushed against your bottom lip, asking for access. You parted your lips and tilted your head, deepening the kiss. Haku groaned and pushed you backwards until you were laying on the seats. His body adjusted so he was hovering over you, his knee pressing into you. Your mind was starting to melt. You wanted more. You craved more. Your hands traveled down to his chest.

"You have now arrived at Darkwick Academy."

The doors dinged and slid open. You could hear a hiss of disgust. "Seriously? In public?"

Your face turned a dark red as you shoved Haku off you and to the ground. Ren was standing there, his lip curled in disdain. You quickly stood up and brushed yourself off, mumbling an apology. Haku's face was dusted a light pink as he tried to hold back his laughter. After he stood, he grabbed your hand and led you off the train.

"That was so embarrassing!" You groaned, squeezing your eyes shut.

Haku chuckled. "Your expression was priceless!"

"It was your fault for getting so handsy!"

"Yeah? So you don't want to kiss me again?"

"I never said that!"

"Good." 

Haku pulled you in for yet another kiss. His hands gripped your hips as he tugged you close once again. Oh god. You were going to get addicted if he kept doing this. And for some reason, you knew that's what he wanted. Your hands gripped his shirt tightly, wrinkling the fabric. It took everything in your power to push him away.

"Wanna come over?" You mumbled, looking away. "I have tea."

"Don't mind if I do."

His arm wrapped around your waist as the two of you walked off towards your dorm. Your heart was pounding in your chest and your hands were shaking, but you couldn't be happier. Meanwhile, Ren stared out the train window as it slowly pulled out of the station. He was absolutely repulsed. Witnessing an intense makeout session was not on his list for the day.

[specialagentlokitty]

Uta x reader - a bit oblivious

i saw that ur requests were open… could i please request a tokyo ghoul uta x reader in which uta is hardcore pining for the reader who is totally oblivious?? like we all know uta’s emotionally constipated so just IMAGINE him tryna rizz reader up only for them to not even notice ty!! have a wonderful rest of ur day!! Hope that make sense x - Anon💜

Sitting in the cafe, you happily sipped at your drink as you scrolled through your laptop, looking through what you had been working on.

The chair in front of you moved, and you smiled a little bit.

“Hey Uta.”

“Hello.”

He sat down, setting a cup in front of you and a plate with a sandwich on.

“Oh, thanks. What time is it?”

He didn’t reply, instead he leant his back against the wall, and you set your laptop aside so you could eat your food.

“I want to make you a mask.”

“I don’t need one.”

“Perhaps not, but I still want to make you one.”

You smiled at him.

“Still don’t need one Uta.”

He turned to you, resting his chin on his hand, eyes just peering at you under his sunglasses.

“You also don’t like it here.”

“I go out sometimes, when there is something interesting nearby.”

“Oh is it the one eyed boy? I’m doing a story on him, they’re calling him eyepatch.”

Uta lowered his glasses a little at you, staring for a few seconds before he pushed them back up, going back to resting his chin on his hand.

“Intriguing, but not nearly enough. Though he is fun to mess with, very easily scared. Do you get scared easy (Y/N)?”

“I wouldn’t be sat in here if I did.”

He leant forward a little, leaning over the table.

“Do I scare you…?” He whispered.

You glanced around before turning back to him.

“You’re not scary at all.”

He huffed a little, dropping back into his chair.

“Not even a little?” He hummed.

“Nope.”

He watched you in silence for a few minutes.

You went back in your laptop, saving the work you had done before closing it, putting it back into your bag before turning back to him.

“Let’s go.”

He picked up your bag and you laughed a little, getting up so you could follow him.

You made sure to say goodbye to everybody before leaving the cafe, and Uta began to lead the way back to his studio.

“Oh! Oh! Can we go to the shopping centre?!”

Uta furrowed his brows at you as he stopped walking.

“There’s this sweater I really want, and it’s for a limited time only. Please Uta?!”

He gestured for you to carry on walking and you grinned at him as you did.

Uta didn’t speak much while you were out, he just followed along behind you, letting you drag him to where you wanted to go before you finally made it to his shop.

He set your bag by his workstation, and he jumped on it, leaning back on his hands as you watched you inspect the masks.

You picked one up, placing it over your face and turned to look at him.

“That isn’t your style.”

“But it’s cute.”

He laid down, reaching over his head he picked one up and held it out to you.

Padding over you picked it up and looked at the carefully placed detail before looking down at him.

“This suits you, it has softer features. It matches your face and personality better.”

“You think?”

He sat up, face inches from yours.

“I know.”

You grinned, sitting next to him as you held it in your hands, still carefully looking at the mask he had given you.

Uta watched you, slight admiration in his eyes.

He had been pining over you for months, and yet everything he did seemed to go right over your head and he didn’t know how else to get your attention.

You were just oblivious to his attempts.

In a way he found it amusing, it was almost like a game to him at this point.

He was in no hurry to let you find out, he was going to let the game carry on because it was fun.

He snapped back into reality when he felt you take his arm, and you began to colour his tattoos in with some markers.

“You need more colour.”

“There’s no fun in that.”

You shrugged, grinning at him.

He said nothing and allowed you to carry on while he simply just sprawled across your lap, his red eyes just watching you.

It wasn’t unusual behaviour by far for him, so you didn’t think twice about it.

And he just liked being near you, this way he knew you weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and he could just watch

[yuri-is-online]

Tokyo Debunker fic ideas (that I cannot get to until I clean my ask box)

MC's curse gets lifted, and the sages ring is removed, allowing the school to wipe her memories and send her back to her normal life. The ghouls aren't allowed to interact with her, but she still runs into the same guy constantly while she's out living her life, and she knows in her bones she knows him. She trusts him with her entire body and soul and she keeps being drawn to him even if he seems like he wants to avoid her- (Sho swears this will be the last time they hook up, that he's really just saying good bye and that she deserves better than some guy who can't be with her in the morning but he kisses her and forgets all his protests)

Same idea but with Kaito and instead if smut they just sit and talk at various cafes about things because MC keeps finding him where he's hiding and is overly determined to cheer him up. Still angsty and for some reason it seems sadder to me for some reason

Love triangle with MC, Haku, and Taiga where MC and Haku are sort of a thing and Taiga's pissed off because Haku is the traitor? And he knows Haku is just going to hurt MC but then he's not much better and he knows that but still. He wants to eat his own heart and have her in his arms, he'd do anything... (kind of like the idea of a time loop where Taiga and MC were together in the first loop but Haku swooped in before Taiga could get over himself this time and put the moves on MC... meanwhile MC likes the way Haku treats her and believes he's not so bad but is still a little in love with Taiga...)

Haru gets very drunk and talks about how much he loves everyone in his dorm and MC while Ren and MC try to get him home to Jabberwock.

I'm so tired /ᐠ - ˕ -マ

[preyandhunter]

Welcome to Hopper Cafe!

(click for nice quality)

Some speculative* designs and notes for a rather important location in Hermitopia.

Hopper Nook, a cafe and bar by day, serving an assortment of high-quality coffee and tea** blends, desserts, and some good old fashioned booze; the cafe runs a much bloodier enterprise by night!

This corner cafe is considered neutral ground between ghoul's, it's staff are well respected for their work helping the city's general ghoul population, and their supplier, the butcher Beef, is not a man to be trifled with.

The cafe was originally dreamed up and founded by Impulse, a human, and Skizz, a ghoul, just about a decade and a half ago, and despite the old, fancy look, the place was bought pretty cheap and in awful condition.

It's been a labor of tlc, one fixer-upper after another, but with the acquisition of Tango and Zed, and plenty of well-off patrons that have put in the funding to keep it running high-quality and strong, the work's been well worth it.

They've been slowly buying out more of the building too, and as of now all four of them, with the more recent addition of Grian and Mumbo (who doesn't actually work here) live in the apartments above the cafe.

Please feel free to ask for more details, Vale! <3

-Mod Zay

---

*It's probably important for me to note that mod box has slightly different inclinations on the location design, so expect something very different soon! We'll make a decision at some point but we're just having fun for now! Now on to the fun stuff!

**We actually decided to make some changes to the og Tokyo Ghoul lore. Ghouls can consume black coffee, plain teas, and strong booze without it upsetting them, so the cafe makes sure to serve anything a ghoul could want!

[ratiocowmilk]

I've been thinking of a Tokyo Ghoul AU. I know, kinda basic, but hear me out.

Just to preface: If you haven't seen/read Tokyo Ghoul before the basic setting is that people live alongside ghouls in fear. Ghouls are essentially super-human beings that feed on human flesh to survive. They can not eat regular people food no matter how hard they try. The good thing is that there are ghoul-friendly places that offer ethically sourced human meat. Other than that, the only way you would know if you're in the vicinity of one is if they reveal themselves, either by accident or on purpose. The weapons of the ghouls are called kagune.

More information and character stuff below!

There is a faction called Comission of Counter Ghoul (or CCG for short) that was created to solve Ghoul related crimes. And to detain them. The operatives are nicknamed Doves by the ghouls. Their weapons of choice are quinque, which are derived from the kagune. Most of this information is from season 1, so I'm aware that some things have changed, but this is the setting my AU is based on so I don't care.

Now that that's out of the way, I've been thinking of Ratio, Sparkle, and Ruan Mei as ghouls, while Aventurine, Topaz, and Robin work for and have family ties to the CCG respectively. Ratio and Ruan Mei are the careful types, while Sparkle is a little more wild with it. She will go out hunting for her own food, and if it's a bust, then she crashes at Ratio's place to lay low. Ratio, on the other hand, relies on the safer resources and will rarely go out to hunt. He will only do it if he's running low and is really desperate. Ruan Mei is similar, but she'd rather hire someone to do the dirty work.

Aventurine would be the type to use a defensive but brutal qinque, and at first, he doesn't see the ghouls as something worth mourning for. Whether it's a quick or painful death doesn't matter to him. The only missions he won't take are those involving kids. Topaz would opt for something quick, as she finds it a bit distasteful to make her opponents suffer more than they need to. If she kills a ghoul that was well loved by friends and family, then she'll buy a single flower to bring home to respect the dead. Her coworkers (cough Aventurine cough) think she's weird for applying humanity to them, but she's just doing what she believes in. Robin, on the other hand, simply has ties with the CCG. She finds it distasteful that the CCG treats the ghouls as weapons to be harvested. She can't voice her discontent, however, or she'll be punished by the Family.

On to the actual relationships:

Aventurine and Ratio first meet at a cafe. Real meet-cute vibes. Aventurine falls in love almost immediately. Ratio, however, is wary because Aventurine is a well-known Dove. And while he is flattered, he would rather not risk the chance of betrayal down the line. So, while they exchange numbers, Ratio himself rarely starts a conversation. It isn't until Sparkle steals his phone and texts Aventurine a time and place that things start rolling. They go on a few dates and have a fun time, but when the topic of Aventurine's work comes up, Ratio's words become slightly stilted. Aventurine, at first, thinks he's simply scared of ghouls. So he decides to bend a few rules here and there to show off his qinque! Unlucky for him, it makes it worse because Ratio recognizes whose kagune it came from. Aventurine is unaware of this, so he keeps trying to show off how he works in eliminating ghouls. It isn't until Aventurine walks in on Ratio having a snack while on patrol that he gets it. And for the first time in his life, he doesn't know if he'll be able to kill him. His hands start shaking, there's recognition in Ratio's eyes, and he doesn't know what to do. Ratio gets away in time just as back-up come crawling in. Topaz gets one good look at him and says, "You finally get it now, huh?" And walks away. As soon as he gets home, he's spam calling Ratio to get some answers, but he always gets sent straight to voicemail.

Robin and Sparkle first met while Robin was sneaking out of the house. Sparkle at the time was looking for a good hunt but decided to spare Robin for another day. They have a fun night on the town before Sparkle, the gentle soul she definitely is, escorts her back home. Honestly, who would she be if she let some nefarious ghoul take her away? They dont know who each other are, just that they had fun. So they keep meeting up, and sometimes Sparkle will just break in unannounced and scare poor Robin. Eventually, Sparkle slips up and accidentally reveals her status as a ghoul to Robin, but instead of scorn, she's met with compassion. She doesn't understand it, but she's learned not to take things for granted, so she moves on. They fall in love gradually, but they are both aware that things could end at any moment, so they decide not to make things official yet. Unfortunately, the Family takes notice, and they call the CCG on Sparkle. As she runs through the streets for her life, she runs into Aventurine. He recognizes her almost immediately and offers her safety in exchange for leading him to Ratio. She has no time to think things over, so she agrees. When they reach Ratio's residence, he has one second of looking betrayed before Aventurine starts spilling his guts. Sparkle walks away because if she stays long enough to see them reconcile, then she'll feel extra bitter. It's not fair that they get their happy ending while she gets to rot. (She'll be unaware that in the midst of the chaos, Robin ran too.)

[xdarkestdesirex]

Calamity - Hide x f.Reader

Volume One

Calamity (n.) a great misfortune or disaster

You think you're just like every other 18-year-old girl: just starting college, living alone, and working at a cute cafe, except you aren't because you're a ghoul. Trying your best to blend into a world that isn't your own, and then you meet him. Hide. He's unlike anyone you've ever met, and you slowly fall for him. But will it ever work between the two of you? He's human, and you're not.

This is a Hide x female reader, and this fanfiction story will be based STRICTLY on the mangas, including the novels.

The plot of Tokyo Ghoul and the characters are not mine. They all belong to Sui Ishida.

I don't allow anyone to copy my story, publish it on other platforms, or alter it as your own.

This writing contains highly sensitive topics like violence, gore, mental illness, talk of suicide, death, smut, and other mature themes. Reader discretion is advised.

word count 10877

“Humans are thought to be at the top of the food chain… But some beings hunt them as food. These monsters feed on the dead flesh of humans. They are called…

Ghouls.” 

-Tokyo Ghoul Volume 1 #001 Tragedy by Sui Ishida

——————————

The sound of the TV lofted through the brightly lit cafe. A news channel was showing an interview with a man named Hisashi Ogura, a ghoul researcher, explaining what ghouls are and how they act. I stood behind the coffee bar, dressed in my work uniform, which consisted of a cream blouse with a gray vest layered on top and a brown tie wrapped neatly under the collar and tucked below the vest. A brown skirt with two pleats in the front that hit my mid-thighs, shear tights covered my legs, and a pair of platform leather loafers adorned my feet. I blocked out the sound of the male voice coming from the screen on the wall and stared at two customers sitting at a table across from me. I noticed the one with dark black hair from his frequent visits to the cafe, but the friend across from him was someone I barely saw. He had short, dirty blonde hair with dark roots and gleamed as a smile crossed his face. The other boy’s cheeks turned dark pink, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the blonde was teasing his friend about when suddenly, the vibrant boy shot out of his seat and yelled out to Touka. 

“Hey! Can you take our order?!” His giant smile grew, and he looked down at his friend and gave him a little shove. 

“Sorry, (Y/n), can you take this?” The plum-haired girl turned towards me and walked away from the beaming boy. I sweat-dropped at the explicit rejection of my co-worker to deal with these boys and then made eye contact with the blonde. He sent me a small smile and a faint blush crept up on my cheeks. From the few other times he made a brief appearance in the cafe, I couldn’t help but be drawn to his bubbly, adorable appearance. I walked out from behind the counter, gripping my notepad, and sent them the best customer service smile I could muster. 

“I apologize for my co-worker,” I bowed, “What can I get for you?” 

“I’ll have a cappuccino!” The bright boy turned to his friend, “What about you?” 

“Oh, uh, I’m okay, thank you.” The dark-haired boy shyly spoke. He was always the quiet type when he came in. 

“One cappuccino coming up!” I said, turning around to walk away, but someone grabbed my hand and stopped me. I looked to see who caught me, and it was the boy I admired from the coffee bar. 

“Can I ask a question?” He looked up at me with beautiful olive eyes and a silly smirk.

“Of course,” I replied. My heart was beating quickly in my chest.

“What is that girl’s name?” He pointed over towards Touka. My face dropped, and I felt a strange knot in my throat. I don’t know this guy, but it’s still a hit to your ego when someone you’ve been silently crushing on asks about another girl. “I think she might be the girl my friend has a crush on.” He gestured to the boy next to him. Oh, that makes sense. I guess I worried for nothing. 

“Her name is Touka.” I directed the answer to the dark-haired boy, “She’s lovely once you get to know her!” Touka would kill me if she heard me talking about her to a boy. 

“O-oh, no, s-sorry!” The poor boy looked like he would burst from embarrassment, “My friend is mistaken! She’s not the girl I have a crush on! Though she is cute.” He trailed off and said the last part quietly, but I could still pick it up. Heh, he thinks she’s cute. I’m so going to tease her about this. 

“WHAT?” The blonde looked taken aback, “I swear I was spot on with my guess.” He turned back to you, “Sorry about that!” 

“It’s okay,” I said, chuckling. Finally, I broke free from the boys and returned behind the bar. 

I grabbed a bag of espresso roast coffee beans and poured a small amount into our espresso grinder. It sputtered to life and poured the coffee grounds into the portafilter. Once it was filled, I pressed the coffee grounds down, compacting them into the portafilter, making sure not to pact them down too much. I placed the portafilter onto the espresso machine, put one of our mugs below it, and started it up. Slowly, the deep brown drops of coffee began to fill the cup, and the smell of brewing beans wafted through my nose. I inhaled the bitter scent and felt my body relax instantly. Coffee is the only thing I can relate to with humans, and the smell of it has always calmed my nerves. While the espresso was pouring into the mug, I grabbed a jug of whole milk from the fridge, poured it into a cup, and then placed it under the steam wand. Once I steamed the milk, I poured it over the espresso, topped it with foam, and drizzled a heart on top with caramel. 

I brought the cup over to the blonde boy and sat the cup in front of him. Once he looked down at the mug, his hands shot up to his face, and he cooed, “Awww, you put a heart on it!” Instantly, my face turned a bright red, and I cursed myself for putting a heart. I was too proud of my coffee art to think about the embarrassment I would feel after bringing it over to him. He turned towards me, “What’s your name!” 

“Oh, uh, I-I’m (L/n) (Y/n),” I bowed, “Nice to meet you.” I mentally facepalmed myself at being so proper. 

“I’m Hideyoshi Nagachika, but you can call me Hide!” He reached out and grabbed my hands. “Do you have a boyfriend?!” WHAT? Did he just ask me that? I think I’m going to faint.

“N-n-n-no,” I stuttered out. I could feel the palms of my hands getting sweaty, and I only hoped he wouldn’t feel it, either. My whole body was on fire, and I could feel the eyes of other customers looking at us. Did he have to be so loud while being this direct? 

“Could I possibly-” 

“(Y/n)!” Touka called me, interrupting the blonde boy, “What are you doing?”

“A-ah! I have to get back to work!” I pulled my hands away from the blonde, ran over to Touka, and lowered my head in shame for getting distracted while working. Touka may be younger than me, but she can be scary. As I got back to work, I could hear the dark-haired male scold his friend for being obnoxious, and the words that fell out of the vibrant boy’s lips shocked me, “She’s cute.” 

Touka stared at me angrily when the door opened, looking like she was also about to scold me. I took this moment to greet the customer and saw Rize walking through the doors. It made me uneasy whenever she came in, but I knew I could do nothing about it. She was a binge eater, and just thinking about the things she does to people makes me sick. But I still greeted her the way I do with every customer. 

A few minutes passed, and I was back to standing behind the counter, cleaning up things lying around. I decided it wouldn’t be wise to go back to staring at the dirty blonde boy after our encounter, and I did my best to distract myself. The sound of a chair squeaking made my eyes snap, and I saw the bubbly boy leave his chair. “Good luck, dreamer boy!” He waved to his friend, sporting a bright smile, then turned slightly to look at me and yelled, “See you later, (Y/n)!” And then he walked out the door.

I patted my hot cheeks, trying to calm them down, and Touka stared at me for a second before rolling her eyes. “Seriously?” She leaned closer and whispered, “He’s a human.” Then, she walked away from me. Yes, he’s a human, and I’m a ghoul. There’s no way we could ever be together, but a crush has never hurt anyone. 

——————————

These past few days, I couldn’t help but worry about Hide’s dark-haired friend, whose name I found out is Kaneki. Once the blonde boy left the cafe, I saw Kaneki interact with Rize and overheard their plan to go out on a date. It was coming up tomorrow, and I struggled to find a way to warn the poor boy. Just from looking at him, I could tell he was pretty weak, and he wouldn’t stand a chance against Rize. If he were at least a bit strong, maybe he would have the opportunity to defend himself, but even then, he probably would still fail. She’s a strong ghoul, and nothing gets in her way of feeding. There wasn’t anything I could do about it either unless I wanted to expose myself or Anteiku, and I would never do that. 

My best course of action would be to follow them. I knew where they were meeting and what time, so I could just lurk in the shadows and ensure Rize didn’t do anything to Kaneki. It was settled then. Tomorrow, I will watch them. 

*

Morning came, and I got ready for my day of spying. I wore a pair of black jeans and a band T-shirt with a pair of black Converse. I threw my (h/c) hair into a bun and tossed a black zip-up hoodie and a pair of sunglasses into my bag. Was I being too obvious? Most likely, but oh well. I didn’t want to stand out; I could blend into the darkness if they hung out at night. Before leaving my room, I grabbed the book on my coffee table and shoved it into my bag. I needed something to hide behind, just in case. 

I arrived at the restaurant they were meeting at a bit after the time they stated to make sure I wouldn’t be seen by the two. When I entered, I got the waiter to seat me in a corner behind Rize’s back so she couldn’t see me. As I watched them talk, they seemed to be having a good time, and I could see the faint dusting of blush on the boy’s cheeks occasionally. Rize was a master disguiser when it came to being a ghoul; she knew how to blend in with humans, and it surprised me that she didn’t touch the food on her plate once. I’ve seen her pretend to eat before, so was she avoiding it right now because she didn’t want to spoil her appetite for later? I still wasn’t sure what I would do if she attacked him. I’m too weak to fight against a ghoul of her strength, and I couldn’t risk him knowing about me either. Maybe I could run into them? Tell her we had an important topic to discuss with her right away. 

After following them around for the day, everything seemed okay. Maybe she wouldn’t hurt him today, and I can warn Mr. Yoshimura about her plans. It was nighttime, and the only things lighting the streets were a few lamp posts. I threw my hoodie on not too long ago and slowly watched them as they came to a stop. It was time to part ways, but Rize made up some excuse of being scared to get Kaneki to walk her home. Shit. She’s going to kill him. I was about to dart out of my hiding spot when I saw a group of girls walking in my direction. I noticed one of them as Touka and panicked, so I threw myself back into the hiding spot and watched as they slowly walked by. At this point, the couple I was stalking, for lack of better words, had disappeared. Once the high school girls were out of sight, I ran towards the alley I saw Rize and Kaneki walk down. Before I could even enter it, a loud bang rang through the area as steel beams came crashing to the ground. I fell backward and covered my face as the debris flung towards me.

This isn’t good. I quickly picked myself off the ground and ran towards the beams to see if the poor dark-haired boy was trapped in the destruction. It didn’t take long to see him poking out from under a beam, crushing him into the ground, and a puddle of blood surrounding him. Fear coursed through my veins, and I could feel the change in my demeanor. My eyes flashed red, and I suddenly felt a pang of hunger. I clutched my stomach and shook my head. Fuck. I did go past my feeding time with how busy I’ve been lately. I can’t let myself lose control now. Not after how hard I’ve worked towards controlling myself. Once I pulled myself together, I grabbed my phone and dialed the police. I couldn’t just leave him here to die.

——————————

After the incident with Kaneki and Rize, I stayed by to ensure the black-haired boy was still alive. I didn’t move him from his spot, scared that if I did, it would be the difference between him dying or not. When the police and ambulance arrived, I gave them my statement and asked to remain anonymous. I know doing that was risky, and I could’ve exposed myself by staying there. Thankfully, they didn’t prod me too much with questions but told me what hospital Kaneki was being transported to, which brought me to where I am now—standing in front of that hospital and questioning why I was even here. I wanted to check in on the poor boy and ensure he was doing okay, but I didn’t want to see him directly. 

I took a deep breath and walked through the hospital doors to the front desk. A lady sat behind the counter and looked up at me impatiently, “How can I help you?” Her voice was monotonous. You would think they’d hire bubbly people to work the front desk at a hospital. This place is already depressing, and people like this lady don’t help the atmosphere. 

“I just wanted to check the condition of one of the patients here,” I said.

“What’s their name?” Her hands were ready to type once I spoke.

“Ken Kaneki.” Her fingers started working her magic, but another voice spoke behind me before she could say anything.

“(Y/n)?” It sounded slightly familiar, but not enough for me to know who it was immediately. I turned around to see the bright, blonde-haired boy.

“H-Hide!” I should’ve expected him to come and check in on his friend.

“You’re here to check on Kaneki as well?” Looking at me puzzled, he scratched his head, “I didn’t know you guys were close.” 

“Are you also a friend of the boy?” The lady behind the counter interrupted our conversation. 

“Yes, I am.” The blonde boy's face settled into a straight line, a more serious look, away from the bright smile he usually wore when I saw him at the cafe.

“Then I’ll tell the both of you so I don’t have to repeat myself. Kaneki is in stable condition and doing well, but he’s asked for no visitors.” 

I glanced over at Hide, and his eyebrows scrunched down. He looked disappointed and sad. I’m sure he wanted to see with his own eyes that his friend was okay. 

“Thank you, ma’am,” I turned to face the boy beside me, “Can we talk?” He nodded his head.

He followed me out of the hospital, and we walked side by side in silence. I wasn’t sure where to start. I knew I couldn’t tell him that I stalked them cause I knew Rize was a ghoul, but I could at least explain that I just happened to be passing by when the steel beams fell. I’m sure he’s suspicious of me, and I wanted to clear my name. 

“I know of a cafe we can go to if you’d like. I’ll pay.” I spoke. 

“Is it Anteiku?” He lightly joked.

A small chuckle fell from my lips, and I shook my head, “No, there’s one right down the road that’s pretty good.”

“Alright, let’s go.” 

The blonde boy seemed deep in thought as we headed towards the cafe, and I couldn’t help but feel guilty for his somber appearance. If I had stopped their date beforehand or pulled Rize away from Kaneki, then Hide’s friend wouldn’t be in the position he’s in, or if I had been strong enough to fight her. I gripped my fist tightly and cursed myself for being weak. Yes, I called the police, but I could’ve prevented him from ever getting hurt. 

We made it to the cafe and were seated at a small table facing the window. I ordered an iced americano (something I could drink) and some avocado toast. I couldn’t eat the toast, but I’m good at pretending to enjoy food. I watch many videos on YouTube of people going out to eat, and I like to stay on top of food trends for people my age. Hide ordered a cappuccino and a piece of cake. Once our food and drinks arrived, I picked up the toast with my hands, bit right into it, swallowed it whole, and pretended to chew. Then, I sipped my coffee to wash away any foul-tasting food I ingested. 

“So, why were you at the hospital to see Kaneki?” Hide questioned.

I sat down my food and dabbed my face with a napkin before responding, “I was there at the incident.” I decided to get straight into it.

“Wait, what?!” I guess what I said was the last thing he expected, given how his mouth hung open in shock.

“I don’t live too far from the area where it happened,” Which is the truth since I live at Anteiku and it wasn’t very far from the incident, “I was out for a late night walk cause I was feeling a bit stressed when suddenly these steel beams came crashing to the ground. I wasn’t close enough to be caught up under them, but the whole thing scared me. Then I remembered seeing two people walk towards where they had fallen, and I needed to make sure they were okay. So I started looking around. It wasn’t long before,” I paused for a second to take a deep breath. It wasn’t like I wasn’t used to seeing people in the state Kaneki was in when I found him. I've seen worse, but the negative thoughts from earlier came crashing back. A pair of solid hands lightly gripped mine, and I looked up to see the vibrant boy looking at me worriedly. 

“It’s okay (Y/n), you don’t-” 

“No, I have to tell you,” I cut the boy off and squeezed his hand in mine, “I saw Kaneki lying there. I recognized him from Anteiku and h-he- there was a lot of blood. I was sure he was dead, but when I checked for a pulse, I felt something faint.  So I called the police immediately but didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t see the other person he was with, so I just sat there and stayed with him till help arrived.” 

Hide rubbed his hands over his face, “I-I’m so sorry you had to witness what you did,” He looked up at me with tears threatening to spill from his eyes, “But I’m so thankful you were there to be with him and call for help.” His voice broke, “My best friend could be dead right now if it weren’t for you, so thank you.” 

Having Hide thank me made all my emotions surface, and tears started rolling down my cheeks. I dropped my head into my hands to cover myself from the gaze of onlookers. Then I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and pull me into a hug. I nuzzled my face into the bright jacket of the dirty blonde boy, and he nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck. We both sat there crying while embracing each other. It felt good to have him be grateful to me, but I still felt guilty and don’t think that’ll ever go away. Hide offered to walk me home when we left the cafe, and I accepted it. We didn’t talk much during the walk, but the silence was comfortable. It was nice to have the company, at least. He tried to crack a few jokes to lighten the mood, and he succeeded with it. I couldn’t help but giggle whenever he said something funny. 

Once we arrived at Anteiku, Hide cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy. “I thought I was taking you home.”

“This is home,” I smiled at the boy, “I live in an apartment above the cafe. That’s how I started working here!” 

“Oh wow! I didn’t realize people lived up there.”

“There are a few of us who live up there. Thankfully, there are only a few apartments, so I have fewer neighbors.” The blonde boy chuckled at my statement, “I guess this is where we part ways.” I whispered.

“I guess so,” Hide smiled slightly.

“Thank you for walking me back,” I said, walking up the steps to the door.

‘Wait!’ he yelled out. I stopped to face him once again. He rushed up the steps and got close to me. A fit of heat crept up my face from the sudden closeness. “Could I get your number?” 

“U-um, sure.” If my face hadn’t been red, it would be red now. I reached into my back pocket, pulled out my phone, and handed it to him. He gave me his, and we swapped numbers. 

“Thank you again, (Y/n), for looking after Kaneki.” He said one last time before leaving. I pressed my back against the wall and slid down once he was out of sight. I can’t believe that just happened. 

——————————

It had been another steady day at the cafe, and I didn’t have any classes today, so I worked an entire shift from opening till 4 pm. Like always, I stood at the counter, waiting for Touka to return from school so she could swap me out. These past few days have been emotional and tiring, not to mention how I had to come clean and tell Mr. Yoshimura everything that happened with Kaneki and Rize. We spent the past few days reviewing the event in detail and ensuring nothing leads back to Anteiku. I felt terrible for putting our group in danger by exposing myself as a witness to the police and other ghouls by being there when Rize got killed. We had concluded that what happened most likely wasn’t an accident since so many people were after her. Meaning we must be extra careful and lay low for a while. 

There have also been rumors floating around that the doctor who performed surgery on Kaneki used Rize’s organs as a transplant to save him. Mr. Yoshimura seemed concerned about this and asked us to watch for him. He feels like it could affect him in a way that we wouldn’t be able to comprehend. So I’ve been lost in thought over everything that’s happened, and my guilt has only grown. Mr. Yoshimura was kind and told me he was proud of me for saving the boy, and even though what I did was a considerable risk, I made the right choice. Even Yomo brought me coffee and an extra meal to spoil and make me feel better.

A small smile spreads on my face after I think of how Yomo cares for me. We’re not family by blood, but he took me under his wing when I was little. I was around 7, and he was only 23. Why did he look after me like I was his own at such a young age? I couldn’t understand, but he’s been like a father to me all these years. Being here at Anteiku has been a blessing; the people here are all my family. Without everyone’s help, there’s no way I would survive in this world. Many ghouls would struggle without the kindness of Anteiku and Mr. Yoshimura. 

  Suddenly, the door was thrown open, and an angry, disheveled Touka came storming through. Many customers glanced at her; some knew why she looked the way she did, while others looked at her with judging eyes. 

“Hey, Koma, can you watch the counter while I check in on Touka?” I asked the male on shift.

“Of course, (Y/n)!” He smiled at me.

I quickly wandered back and headed up the stairs to Touka’s room. Knowing she would tell me to go away, I didn’t even bother knocking, so I just barged straight into her room. She whipped around quickly, looking at me with her signature annoyed look.

“Ugh, how often do I tell you to knock.” She said.

“What happened?” I asked as I sat down in her chair by the desk in her room.

“Why do you think something happened?” She huffed back.

“Because I’ve known you for a while, Touka, and you don’t try to hide it when something pisses you off.”

“Fine, an asshole was trying to push himself onto me on my way here from school, and then another asshole showed up. He was a ghoul as well, so I killed the old fuck trying to grope me, and I offered some of him to the other guy cause he seemed hungry. Then I noticed only one of his eyes was red, and he looked a lot like the guy Rize took on a date. I tried to get him to eat, and he refused. He looked at me with disgust before running away.” 

I just sat there in shock over the fact that she told me all that so easily; I didn’t have to pry it out of her, and holy fuck… Kaneki is a ghoul now?!

“Touka, I’m so sorry some slimy bastard was pushing himself on you. I disagree with killing people, but he had it coming.” I paused momentarily, “As for the boy who looked like Rize’s date, you need to tell Mr. Yoshimura about him.”

“Why?” The plum-haired girl became defensive.

“He might need help.”

“He’ll be fine. If I had to figure out my way in this shitty world alone, he can too.” The young girl crossed her arms and glared at me.

“Touka, please just go talk to Mr. Yoshimura,” I begged the girl.

“I make no promises,” she said, walking towards her door and gesturing, “Now please leave so I can get dressed.”

I sighed and left the room, knowing there wasn’t much I could do. I’ll tell Mr. Yoshimura myself if Touka doesn’t talk to him by the night’s end. I returned to the cafe and let Koma know she was okay. Only a few minutes had passed before she made her way behind the counter, and I was finally free to go to my room. Walking down the hallway, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed a number I had yet to message. The phone rang a few times before a deep voice answered on the other end.

“Hey (Y/n)! This is a surprise.” His voice came through the speaker and whispered into my ear. Even talking on the phone made my cheeks heat up slightly.

“Hide, is this a bad time?” Before I asked the real question, I wanted to ensure he wasn’t busy.

“Nope! I just left class and am heading to a meeting for this school festival. We can talk while I walk!” 

“I just wanted to check in and see how Kaneki was doing. Have you seen him lately?” I’m unsure if Hide knows he’s out of the hospital yet, so I have to see what he knows about Kaneki. 

“Oh, yeah, he got discharged from the hospital a few days ago, and I took him out to eat as a celebration.” His voice didn’t sound as enthusiastic as before.

“That’s good. I’m glad to hear Kaneki is doing okay. How’s he doing… mentally?” I hesitated to say that last word. Dealing with trauma can be rough, but if he’s turned into a ghoul, then he must be going through something even worse.

“He did seem kind of out of it the whole time we were out, and he looked pretty pale. He couldn’t keep down any of the food he ate. I was worried about him, but he said he’s still healing.” So he couldn’t eat the food at the restaurant. I’ll have to tell Mr. Yoshimura this information and what Touka saw. 

“It might take a while for him to feel normal again,” if he can even feel like that after what happened to him. “Thank you for updating me, Hide. I appreciate it.”

Once Hide and I got off the phone, I wandered down the hall to Mr. Yoshimura’s office and knocked on the door. I waited for his okay before I entered and sat in front of his large oak desk. 

“What can I do for you (Y/n)?” He propped his hands on the desk and gave me his undivided attention.

“It’s about Kaneki. I told Touka to talk to you, but I don’t think it can wait.” He looked at me with deep, squinted eyes. “She saw him not too long ago and noticed one of his eyes was red. He looked hungry but refused the meat that Touka tried to give him.”

“So he’s part ghoul and refusing to eat.” The old man paused before continuing, “We need to contact him before the hunger consumes him.” 

I agreed with Mr. Yoshimura, and we sat together and discussed ways to approach the dark-haired boy without scaring him off. We wanted to help him with this new way of life and teach him what it means to be a ghoul—if he’d let us, and maybe he could help us understand humans better. I begrudgingly told him about my encounter with Hide at the hospital and how we swapped numbers. I hoped to keep this secret, fearing Mr. Yoshimura would forbid me from talking to the vibrant boy. He didn’t fully agree with me talking to the human, but he didn’t say I wasn’t allowed to. Which I was silently thankful for. 

We devised a plan for me to ask Hide for Kaneki’s number so I could personally check in with the shy boy. I would then message Kaneki, telling him I was the person who called the police during his incident and that I would like to meet up with him. From there, I would ask him to meet me at Anteiku and invite him upstairs, where I would lead him to Mr. Yoshimura’s office. We would then explain that we understand his situation and would like to offer him help. I wasn’t sure if this would work, but trying didn’t hurt. At least we would know that we reached out and tried even if he refused us. 

Together, Mr. Yoshimura and I made our way down to the cafe. We wanted to gather everyone and meet about our possible new friend. Since it was the end of the day, the cafe should be locked up, and all the customers are gone. The only people left should be the other workers like Touka and Koma, and soon, Yomo would be returning from his patrol of the area. When we reached the cafe, the only person we could see was Koma mopping the floors. He told us Touka was outside taking out the trash. As we got close to the door, we could hear Touka’s loud and clear voice. She was yelling at someone, and she sounded agitated. The last thing I heard before Mr. Yoshimura opened the door was Touka saying, “You can die for all I care.”

Once the door was flung open, I saw the dark-haired boy kneeling on the ground. He had a green hoodie on with the hood pulled over his head. Tears were streaming down his face, and his left eye was red. He looked terrified, and my heart clenched as I stared at the poor boy. I couldn’t even imagine what he was going through. His world has turned upside down, and I could have prevented it. 

“Touka,” Mr. Yoshimura’s voice cut through the tension. Kaneki looked up at the older man, and his eyes fell on me in the background. Without realizing it, I shrunk behind Mr. Yoshimura, trying to hide from the boy’s gaze. “It must have been rough,” The old man shifted his body and opened the door wider to invite Kaneki inside. As he walked past me, I kept my gaze on the floor. I didn’t realize how shameful I would feel for him to find out I was a ghoul. If he knew about my involvement when the beams fell on him from Hide, then I wouldn’t be surprised if he blamed me for what happened to him as well. 

Touka argued with Mr. Yoshimura about letting the poor boy into Anteiku, but the older man shut her up by saying ghouls help each other. The plum-haired girl and I followed quietly behind the two men as Mr. Yoshimura led us to the secret refrigerator where we kept human meat for ghouls who couldn’t hunt independently. The grey-haired man grabbed a wrapped pack of fresh meat and handed it to the troubled boy. Kaneki hesitantly grabbed the package and stared at the raw human meat in his hands. His dilemma of what he would do with it was evident in his eyes, and I could relate to his feelings. There was a point in my life where I refused to kill another human so that I could survive. It drove me insane to the point where the hunger devoured me. I no longer knew who I was, and my sense of humanity disappeared. 

I went on a binging spree, and the amount of blood I spilled that day was enough to last a lifetime. Yomo found me in hysterics and had to knock me out so I could calm down. When I awoke, I was in Mr. Yoshimura’s office, and he offered to help me. He told me that I would never have to worry about hurting another person. I was initially hesitant when they started to give me my meals, and it took a lot for me to finally give in and eat again. Ever since that moment, I haven’t killed another human. 

“Please come back when you need more,” Mr. Yoshimura smiled at the boy. Kaneki thanked us for helping him and left quickly. 

“I-I’m going to head to my room,” I said farewell, leaving Touka to glare at the older gentleman in the hallway. She was pissed, I could tell, but I wasn’t in the headspace to stay and explain what happened along with Mr. Yoshimura. He didn’t need me to help anyway. That old man always knew the right things to say. 

*

The sun had finally set for the night, and I was starting to feel agitated in my room. Since Kaneki came by the cafe, I’ve been throwing a pity party for myself, and I needed to stop. I decided some fresh air would do me good and headed out of the cafe for a walk. I was dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie, with the hood pulled over my head and a pair of headphones shoved into my ears. Loud music blasted into my eardrums, and the cool night air nipped at my nose. My feet took me down the alleyway near Anteiku, where ghouls usually hunted at night, but I stayed clear of the feeding corners. 

Being a ghoul, you knew whose turf was whose, and if you got caught wandering around an area you weren’t allowed in, a fight would break out. I’ve been in this area long enough to know which alleyways I could walk down peacefully and which I should avoid. The area my feet decided to take me was Rize’s old hunting grounds. With her being gone, I knew this area should be desolate. No ghoul lurking in the shadows scared that Rize might rip their heads off for being in her area, and no humans due to the high number of ghoul killings in this section. But my peace was interrupted the further I walked into the maze-like alley. 

I stumbled across a ghoul named Nishiki Nishio holding someone against the wall while he ranted about having his territory disturbed. Gah. This prick. I’ve never liked him since we briefly met a few years ago, and if I ran into him, I would do my best to ignore him. I felt terrible for the hopeless ghoul he was threatening, and then I realized the ghoul he was threatening was none other than Kaneki. I stood there frozen, unsure of what to do, like the date situation all over again. But I’d be damned if I just stood around this time and didn’t interfere, so without thinking, I stepped forward.

“This isn’t your turf, Nishiki. It belongs to Rize.” I used the excuse of this area being Rize’s turf in hopes it would scare him, but when he cocked his head to look at me, all he did was laugh.

“Don’t be so silly, (Y/n). Everyone knows Rize is dead.” His manic eyes stared into mine.

“It doesn’t matter if she’s dead. Anteiku oversees the 20th ward, and if you want a hunting ground, you have to go over it with Mr. Yohsimura.” My voice was stern as I glared daggers back at Nishiki. He let go of Kaneki’s neck, causing the boy to fall to the ground and gasp for air. The tall brunette slowly walked my way, eyes glaring red and hands clenched into fists.

“I can’t stand you guys over at Anteiku. That old shithead pisses me off with his human-loving hippie shit.” He stops a few inches from my face, “This used to be my turf before that binge-eating bitch came into town, and now that she’s dead, it BELONGS TO ME.” He spat. I didn’t want him to see that I was affected by anything he was doing, so I tried to summon my inner Touka and held the meanest RBF possible. 

“And I can’t stand pricks like you,” Maybe I summoned her too well because the next thing I knew, the tall brunette was lunging at me. I quickly dodged Nishiki’s attack and unleashed my kagune. My kagune was a koukaku type, otherwise known as the sword kagune, and it was released right below my right shoulder blade and warped into a sword-like figure around my arm. It almost looked like the kind of sword you would see in a fantasy video game, and not to fluff my ego, but my kagune is really pretty. 

I stared down the angry male and prepared myself for another attack. He might be more robust than me, but I could severely injure him if I time my move right. As he dashed at me, I used my sword to slash a gaping wound from his right cheek down to his right hip. He yelled in pain and collapsed to the ground. Nishiki quickly pulled his body off the ground, cursing under his breath, and sent one last glare before sprinting in the opposite direction.

I let out a deep, shaky breath and fell to my knees. That was scarier than I thought it would be. I’m not the type of ghoul to get into fights or provoke others. Usually, I stick to myself and avoid others at all costs, and if I find myself in a sticky situation, then I’m getting my ass beat. 

“W-what even are ghouls?!” Kanekis voice broke through the silence, “You guys kill humans and your own!” 

  “Kaneki-” 

“YOU’RE SICK!” His yell pierced deep within me, and all the shame I felt my whole life was brought to the surface. He’s right; we’re sick creatures. Tears threatened to spill down my face, but I held them back.

“I-I’m so sorry,” Was all I could choke out. I stayed there on the ground and watched the dark-haired boy scream out in agony. His left eye was beating red, and his veins started protruding through his skin. He was suffering. Not just from the agony of being turned into a ghoul but from the ever-consuming hunger eating away at him. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?” 

His head whipped to look straight at me, and his face contorted into disgust, “I could never eat human flesh!” 

“Kaneki, I understand what you’re going through, but if you don’t eat-”

“I’ll never allow myself to become a monster like you! I’m a human being!” Tears flooded down his face, and his hands gripped at his hair, “A-and you, (Y/n), better stay away from Hide. I won’t let you ruin his life like Rize did mine!” 

Hide? Did he tell Kaneki about me? Of course, he did. They’re best friends. But Kaneki is right; a monster like me should avoid Hide and all humans. Our worlds don’t mix. I pushed myself off the ground and ran away from the dark-haired boy before he could see the waterfall of tears cascading down my face.

——————————

A loud alarm jolted me from slumber. I rubbed my swollen eyes from a long night of tears, and a deep sigh escaped my lips. I wish I didn’t have to go to school today. The most sleep I got, in total, was around 3 hours. The thoughts swarming my head wouldn’t shut up, and at some point in the night, I let out an anguishing scream. This wasn’t a rare occurrence; unfortunately, I’ve had night terrors most of my life and would wake up screaming. Yomo came rushing in to see the stains of salty tears streaking my cheeks, and he quickly wrapped me in his arms and petted my hair. He whispered that everything was okay and that it was all a bad dream, but this time, everything that had happened was real. The long, white-haired male was able to calm me down and lull me to sleep. Now I’m awake again. If I let every night like this keep me from going to school, I would miss most of my classes, so I dragged my body out of bed. 

I quickly washed my face, brushed my teeth, and beat some concealer into my skin to hide my lack of sleep. I decided to wear a cropped, long-sleeve top with thick stripes going across and torn fringes dangling from the bottom, along with oversized mom jeans and a pair of Doc Martins. My school bag was just a plain black crossbody tote, and I slung it over my shoulder, giving myself a once-over in the mirror before leaving my room. As I made my way to the cafe, I quickly stopped by the fridge and grabbed a few bottles of our nitro coffee. I will need all the energy I can get for a full day of classes. 

I’m studying art at Kamii University, which thankfully means I only have classes for three days a week, and I get to bend my creative mind—sometimes. It was hard for me to focus on anything the teachers talked about or showed us, and I put little work into the lessons during class. By the end of the day, I slowly walked through the campus, made my way to one of the courtyards, and sat on a bench tucked under a tree. I leaned back, letting my eyes flutter close, and listened to all the noises around me. The chatter of people walking by, the chirp of birds in the trees, and cars off in the distance. Every sound flows together, creating a peaceful cadence. For a moment, the muscles in my body relaxed. I could curl up on the bench and take a much-needed nap. 

“(Y/n)?” A deep voice calls out to me. Why, cruel world, must you rip me out of this peaceful moment? I open my eyes to see Hide and Kaneki standing before me. The blonde-haired boy flashed me his signature smile, and the dark-haired boy glared at me from behind his friend. “I didn’t know you went to school here!” His cheerful voice rang through my ears. 

“Oh, uh, yeah,” I shifted my gaze to the ground and did my best not to seem interested in the conversation. After what Kaneki said last night, it felt wrong to interact with Hide.

“Kaneki, this is (Y/n), the girl who saved your life!” Hide’s statement made both Kaneki and me flinch.

“Hide, we should probably get going,” Kaneki tried to pull the vibrant boy away.

“Huh?” Hide’s olive eyes stared at his friend briefly and then drifted toward me. “(Y/n) would you like to join us?” He gazed softly at me, causing my heart to race. I’ve never had someone look at me with such gentleness like the way he’s doing right now. My heart fluttered and hurt at the same time. I wanted to accept his offer but had to turn him down. At least we haven’t grown too close to where doing this would be more painful. 

“Sorry, Hide, but I should head home,” The sadness was evident in my voice. I stood from the bench and re-slung my bag over my shoulder.

“Did something else happen between you that I don’t know about?” The blonde gestured between Kaneki and me. 

“What?” I nervously laughed. “I just have a lot of homework.” He looked at me with a questioning gaze, and I could tell he was developing theories.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hide flashed me a somber smile, “Hopefully, I’ll see you later.” The blonde boy started walking away, but Kaneki, still facing me, looked like he was internally fighting himself. 

I approached the black-haired boy and whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll stay away from him.” 

“(Y/n),” Kaneki’s deep silver eyes trapped me in his presence. They danced across my face, taking in every inch. I felt exposed like he saw all the terrible things I’ve ever done, and I was just waiting for him to spit another crude comment, but people keep surprising me lately.

“She’s coming with us!” Kaneki called out to Hide. 

“Hu-What?” My mouth was gaping open and closing like a fish out of water. 

Hide turned around to look at me, “Are you sure? You don’t have to join us if you’re busy.”  

“No, it’s okay,” I shot Kaneki a thankful glance, “I would love to go with you.” 

Hide and I walked alongside one another, and Kaneki trailed slightly behind us. I knew he’d stay back to watch me, so I made sure to be mindful of my actions. I wanted to show Kaneki I wasn’t a nasty ghoul like the few he’d encountered. He doesn’t ever have to worry about me hurting his dear friend.

We walked through the campus, and I must admit this is the first time I’ve been to the dorms. They were just as pretty as the main building, and I fantasized about what it would be like to live in the dorms: making friends, having a roommate, going to parties, and getting to be an ordinary college girl. That would be nice. On our way into one of the dormitories, Hide explained that we were going to an upperclassmen’s room to pick up a DVD from last year’s festival. The blonde boy then told Kaneki and me what setting up for the festival was like. It seemed like a lot of work, but how Hide lit up and talked excitedly made me want to join the committee. Maybe I should look into it anyway? Socializing would do me good, and I would spend more time with Hide.   

We made our way in front of a door, and the vibrant boy exclaimed that we had finally arrived and flung the door open, revealing a girl straddling some guy’s lap. Her shirt was unbuttoned, exposing her breasts, and the boy’s lips trailed along her neck. But within the split second of Hide barging in, the poor girl screamed and jumped away from the guy she was sitting on. Quickly, she fixed her shirt and then ran out of the door. I instinctively slapped my hands to cover my eyes from the inappropriate scene in front of me. This is why we knock kids.

“Nagachika,” the two boys blocked my view of the guy in the room, so I couldn’t see who it was, but that voice sounded familiar, making my hair stand on end. “I really don’t like my territory being violated.” 

“Nishiki?!” His name came out of my mouth before I could stop it. Great, why him?

“Oh? (Y/n).” He looked at me with his snake-like eyes. 

“You guys know each other?” Hide asked.

“Unfortunately,” I glared at the brunette boy. He sat unfazed in his desk chair with a bandaid plastered to his cheek. I couldn’t help but smirk, knowing my attack was deep enough and still healing. 

“Oh, well,” the blonde awkwardly scratched his head. “I guess I don’t have to introduce you two.” Hide then pointed towards the black-haired boy, “Kaneki, this is Nishio, Nishio, Kaneki.” 

The tall brunette gets up from his chair and fixes his shirt. He takes a few long strides to Kaneki and stops in front of his face, giving Kaneki a chilling smile. “Nice to meet you, Kaneki,” Nishiki’s voice was dark, and I couldn’t help but tremble along with Kaneki. The poor boy looked like he was going to faint. He already didn’t like me because I was a ghoul and didn’t initially like the idea of me around Hide, so he must be freaking out now that another ghoul is in the equation. Especially a violent one like Nishiki. 

Hide drew Nishiki’s attention by asking for the DVD for last year’s festival. The brunette started delegating areas for all of us to look at, and I felt like I’d gotten whiplash from the sudden threatening aura he gave to this now-normal college student he’s showing. It was weird to be in a room with Nishiki and not be arguing or having to defend myself. We spent about ten minutes looking for this green case that held the special CD that Hide needed.

“Oh, you know what? I took that disk home,” Nishiki said. Like hell, he took it home. He’s up to something, and I don’t like it. “It’s not too far, so we could head over there and grab it.”

“Hide, do you need it right now? Nishiki can always bring it to you tomorrow.” I looked at the blonde boy with pleading eyes, hoping he would understand what I was trying to say. Don’t go with him. It’s a trap. 

“Don’t worry, guys,” Hide flashed us a bright smile, “You don’t have to come along.” 

“I-I’m coming along!” Kaneki quickly responded.

“Yeah, I’m not leaving you alone with Nishiki,” I said bluntly. He already knows how I feel about him, so there’s no point in hiding it. 

“What’s gotten into you guys?” Hide questions.

“I’ve been cooped up at home, so going out somewhere would be nice.” Kaneki’s reply seems legit since he has been home the past few days since he got out of the hospital, but it’s clear that he doesn’t want his friend to be alone with Nishiki. 

“I don’t trust Nishiki,” I flatly said. Maybe Hide will change his mind about going if I’m honest about how terrible Nishiki is, or I could make him believe I’m uncomfortable and would like us all to go somewhere else, which isn’t entirely wrong. I got lucky last night with the hit I landed on him, and I doubt the universe would allow me to be this lucky twice in a row. 

“Aww, (Y/n), after all these years, you still don’t trust me,” Nishiki says. He walks towards me and tries to wrap his arm around my shoulder, but I step to the side, brushing him off. That annoyed him, and he glared at me through his hooded eyes. His face will get stuck in a permanent glare if he does it one more time. 

Hide slides between the brunette and me, an uncomfortable chuckle escaping his lips, “Well, let’s head out then.” 

*

Nishiki and Hide chatted as we walked along the sidewalk while Kaneki and I sulked in the back. Well, Kaneki was the one sulking as I burned daggers into Nishiki’s back. We encountered a Taiyaki stand on our way, and Nishiki insisted we get some. Hide seemed happy to snack on something, and I begrudgingly accepted the treat. I had drunk all my coffee earlier, so I could not wash the vile taste down after eating the Taiyaki. Kaneki watched Nishiki and me with amazement at how we stomached the food. He must learn to eat and look like he’s enjoying it if he still wants to blend in with his friend. 

“Nishio, how much further?” Hide asks the brunette.

“It’s just around the corner here.” The tall male walks up behind the blonde boy. Before I could react, Nishiki slammed his foot into Hide’s back, sending him flying into the wall ahead of us. 

“Hide!” Kaneki and I screamed. 

Without thinking, I released my kagune, and I rushed towards Nishki. He quickly dodged my attack and then slammed his foot on me. The sheer pressure of him stomping me into the ground broke the concrete beneath me. I could feel the snapping of my ribs, and I groaned in pain as I tried to wriggle my way out. He had me pinned.

“I won’t be going easy on you today (Y/n). We’re not by your precious Anteiku, so I don’t have to worry about those shitheads showing up to help you.” I should’ve known I won yesterday because he didn’t want to deal with Mr. Yoshimura or Yomo. “My strength can match Touka’s or even Yomos if I wanted it to, and right now, I’m just using 80%.” He pushes his foot even further into my body. Then he kicks my side, sending me tumbling across the floor. I really shouldn’t have turned down all those sparing sessions from Yomo. They could have come in handy right now. Even with the blinding pain shooting through my abdomen, I pull myself off the ground and take a fighting stance. I won’t give up until I can’t move anymore.

This time, I wait for Nishiki to come towards me, and when he gets close enough to try and kick me again, I swing my sword down at him and slash his leg. “You bitch!” He yells at me, stumbling backward. Oh good, I landed a blow. It wasn’t the leg his kagune wraps around, but it’ll kill his speed with how much he relies on his legs. It won’t give me an advantage, but It might help me. I could see the blood boiling inside him, and I prepared myself for his next move, knowing Nishiki would be full of anger.  But nothing could’ve prepared me for the way he slammed his head against mine, causing the room to spin and taking advantage of my momentary dizziness to kick his kagune straight through my stomach. Blood trickled up my throat, and I choked on the thick fluid, spitting some up onto the brunette boy’s face. 

“You’re so fucking weak.” Nishiki slowly retracted his kagune from my body. With a loud thud, my body collapsed to the ground. My vision was fading in and out, and a loud buzzing rang throughout my ears. I tried to pull myself together but couldn’t determine which way was up or down. The pain was so unreal my body almost went numb, but I could feel the warm liquid coat my skin. I could practically make out two blurry figures fighting against one another and hear a faint scream somewhere in the distance. My sense of self was slowly starting to come back. I lifted my head to see Nishiki hovering over Hide. Nishiki’s foot was lifted over the blonde boy’s head, and he slammed it against his face. I still couldn’t distinguish his exact words, but I knew he was taunting Kaneki. He slammed his foot down again.

“N-No,” I tried to croak out, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was more blood. I couldn’t let him hurt Hide. He could kill him without even meaning to. With the bit of strength left in my body, I hurried to fling myself over the vibrant boy, and once my body was over his, a heavy foot collided with my skull. Then everything turned black.

——————————

When I woke back up, I was lying in my bed at Anteiku, and the pain I felt in my abdomen was nearly gone. I dragged my sore body out of bed and hobbled into the hallway. A slight cramp sprang through my stomach, letting me know I hadn’t completely healed yet. My feet dragged against the floor, and I stopped before Mr. Yoshimura’s office. I tapped my knuckles against the wooden door and waited for the older man’s voice to float through, letting me know I could enter. He seemed surprised to see me out of bed and standing before him. 

“(Y/n), what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting.” Mr. Yoshimura’s voice was strict but caring. 

“H-Hide, what happened to him?” My throat still felt raw, and the words tumbling out didn’t sound quite right.

“Here, I’ll show you.” Mr. Yoshimura held his arm out to me, and I gratefully accepted. He helped me walk down the hall to one of the empty rooms and slid the door open. On the bed lay a boy sleeping, his head wrapped up and tufts of dirty blonde hair sticking out the top. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes, and my lips trembled.

“W-what happened?” I choked out.

“Touka was passing by and was able to stop the fight. She immediately called Yomo to explain the situation, and we quickly rushed to help. Then we brought everyone back to Anteiku.” 

“So Touka saved us. I guess I’ll have to thank her later,” I paused and stared at the serene boy lying on the bed, “Is it okay if I stay in here?” Mr. Yoshimura nodded and then turned around to leave me alone with Hide. I hobbled closer to the bed and kneeled on the floor beside him. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered to the boy, “I’m so, so, s-sorry.” My body began to convulse as the tears came flooding out. I draped my body over the side of the bed and stayed lying there until I cried myself back to sleep.

I was woken back up by the sound of the door sliding back open. I whipped my head off the bed to see Kaneki standing in the doorway, tears also staining his eyes. A look of relief washed over him as he stared down at his friend, who was still alive. 

“Kaneki,” My voice was soft, “I’m so glad you’re okay.” I flashed a small smile at him.

“(Y/n), I-I,” the black-haired male gripped his stomach and then glanced back at Mr. Yoshimura standing behind him. “I don’t feel hungry anymore…” Kanekis’s voice trailed off. “What did you do to me?” He asked the older man.

“There is only one way to eliminate a ghoul’s hunger, and I think you know what that is.” Mr. Yoshimura said matter-of-factly, “If you kept going down the road you were on, you would have killed your friend.” The old man’s usually closed eyes opened widely, and he looked Kaneki straight on, “Accept what you are.” 

The poor boy hung his head, and the tears slipped past his eyes and fell to the floor, “I-I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“You don’t have to,” I finally spoke, “Here at Anteiku, we get our food without hurting humans.”

“I-I, I just feel like I don’t belong anywhere,” Kaneki cried out, “I’m not a human anymore, but I’m also not a ghoul.” 

“You’re wrong, young man,” Mr. Yoshimura said, resting a hand on Kaneki’s shoulder. “You’re both. You’re the only person who can exist in both worlds. So let us help you. We can teach you about ghouls, and you can teach us about humans.” 

——————————

Hide’s POV

I woke up with an intense pounding in my head, and my body was sore. The last thing I remember was walking with Nishiki, Kaneki, and (Y/n), and then something crashed into me, knocking me out cold. There was a split moment where I remember fading back into consciousness, and something, no, someone, was covering my body. It was (Y/n), but it feels like a fever dream. I’m not sure if that was even real. I took in the room around me, and it didn’t seem like a hospital. Where was I? This is just a regular bedroom, but who brought me here? What even happened? I slowly sat up in the bed, my body aching in protest, but stopped mid-movement when I noticed a (h/c) haired girl slumped over the bed I was lying on.  

Her cheek rested on her arms, and her back rose with a deep breath. Salty trails stained her face, and my chest tightened at the thought that she lay here crying till she most likely passed out. Gently, I reached out to her soft face and rubbed away the marks her tears left. She leaned into my touch, so I left my hand there, cupping her cheek. (Y/n), I can’t help but feel like you saved me today but hurt yourself in the process of doing it. My finger lightly rubbed against her skin, and I leaned down carefully, kissing her forehead. She’s been through a lot these past few days and deserves rest. Maybe I should get up and lay her in the bed?

Before I could do anything, my ears perked up at the sound of footsteps in the hallway and a set of male voices. One sounded more mature, and the other was a soft voice I knew by heart. Kaneki. He seemed worried, but the other male reassured him. The steps approached my room, and my gut told me I shouldn’t be awake yet. So I quickly laid back down and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. The door slid open, and a choked sob left the timid boy’s throat. Oh, Kaneki, he’s never been one to deal with hardships well. I could feel (Y/n)’s body jolt off the bed, and her sweet voice broke through the air. She greeted Kaneki and expressed how thankful she was that he was okay. It seems that whatever happened, we were all hurt badly. 

The next few moments were challenging to stay still for, but they confirmed many things I already suspected. Kaneki is half-ghoul now, and in fact, everyone in this room is a ghoul except me. Honestly, it didn’t scare me; I was just relieved to know why my friend was acting differently now, and it killed me to hear him sound so broken. So lonely. He would be dumb if he thought I would stop being his friend because he’s different now. It also makes sense why (Y/n) acted weirdly with me. She’s scared to get close to a human, but I’ll slowly show her it’s okay. 

The older gentleman had left the room to give Kaneki some space after their emotional conversation, and (Y/n) was about to go when Kaneki called out to her. “Wait, (Y/n),” my friend spoke softly. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry for all the harsh things I said to you last night.” 

Harsh things he said? Did he say something rude to her? Was that why she didn’t want to join us when I first asked?

“It’s okay; it wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before,” Her voice made me want to jump out of bed and pull her into my arms.

“It’s not okay, and I’m realizing that now. You sacrificed yourself to keep Hide safe when I could barely fight or keep myself together. You threw your body over him to protect him from Nishio.” 

What?! So, I wasn’t hallucinating. She was covering me to keep me safe.

“Thank you for keeping my best friend safe,” Kaneki cried. This brought me back to the cafe where the (h/c) haired girl told me how she saved Kaneki. She truly is something else, isn’t she?

——————————

next

AN:

Hey everyone I’m just testing out this story here on tumblr! I’ve also uploaded it on Quotev! Let me know what you think!

I do plan on posting this story on Quotev first before anything else, so look for it there!

[delirious-donna]

Shuu Tsukiyama probably has a sniffing kink (idk of thats the correct word) but he just sniffs you all the time, your dirty panties, your sheets, that man is shameless!

Shuu Tsukiyama - Smell/Scent

Well, of course, he is the Gourmet after all. Smell is second only to taste and he certainly knows your unique scent intimately. Shameless is definitely the correct way to describe him and he’ll only look at you with a withering smile as you catch him sniffing your panties from the hamper.

It’s nothing new, Shuu made it clear from the beginning that he wanted to bathe in your fragrance and whilst it had sounded romantic at the time, the reality was a little more depraved but you only enjoyed that side of him all the more. His nose is powerful, able to locate you with it alone and he loves nothing more than running his face over your bare skin and describing the notes he detects.

Shuu prefers you to use unscented soaps but he never complains about the dab of your favourite perfume that you press to your pulse and wrists. “Were you aroused earlier, little one? You should have sought me out, you know I’d never deny you a thing…”

[heartnosekid]

my personal favorite stimboards masterlist!

so, as it turns out... i've made a lot of stimboards since 2021 when i made my first favorite stimboards stimboard. i wanted to make another stimboard of the boards, but i quickly found out i had way too many favorites to fit in a stimboard that my computer or phone could handle lol.

so, instead of the stimboard, here is a bunch of links to my favorite stimboards with some descriptors. as far as name stimboards go, i love them all too much so i couldn't decide on a concise list of favorites lol enjoy! comment your favorites if you want to!

concept / music based:

clowncore with bright primary colors | butterflies, spiders, & moths in purple & blue | nature, flowers, & bugs in pink & yellow | aroace sunset flag with nature | lunar rainbow | pansexual with nature | black & neon glowcore | hot pink color board

demeter & young persephone | black arches moth | carnivalcore, kidcore, & kitties | smile - the beach boys album art | pink, elegant, & floral | death's head hawkmoth | virginian tiger moth

night skies, the moon, biblically accurate angels, books, & moths | yule pagan holiday board | rain by sleep token | "i know love is real because i exist and i am full of it" | sidewalk chalk kitty

character / franchise based:

marie (splatoon) based on only her hair colors | dark magic hat creampuff cookie (cookie run: ovenbreak) | seer (apex legends) | floral sacrifice soul weaver (identity v) | super pusheenicorn (pusheen) | haku (spirited away) | skitty (pokemon) | wish bear & love-a-lot bear (care bears) | baby hugs & tugs (care bears)

custom camper (animal crossing: pocket camp) | banette (pokemon) | royal livery bloodhound (apex legends) | caregiver zacharie & small batter (off game) | a gaze eternal revenant (apex legends) | raiden (metal gear rising: revengeance) | fleur fairies (jellycat)

bog witch ad (goatlings) | wicked harvest bloodhound (apex legends) | neon skeleton squishmallows | mirage (apex legends) | k_k (deltarune) | renji & uta with cafe elements & greyscale (tokyo ghoul) | ione (animal crossing) | zucker (animal crossing) | oyster cookie (cookie run: kingdom)

lime cookie (cookie run: ovenbreak) | blue eyes white dragon (yu-gi-oh) | alice in wonderland 1951 film | lobo (puss in boots: the last wish) | miffy kidcore positivity (miffy & friends) | trans calico critters (sylvanian families) | king rauru (the legend of zelda: tears of the kingdom) | catalyst (apex legends)

g1 pony bride (my little pony) | white pearl cookie (cookie run: kingdom) | soft pastel blue dratini (pokemon) | dusk from the hex girls (scooby doo) | frilled jellyfish cookie (cookie run: kingdom) | uboa (yume nikki) | sayaka miki (puella magi madoka magica) | fog canyon (hollow knight)

[hanafubukki]

Otome games what your recommendation for beginner to try out game?

Hello Ladyxtiger 🌺💙💚

This is a bit hard to answer because it depends on what you mean by otome. Do you mean the traditional otome games or romance games in general.

Traditional otome games are dating visual novel games aimed at girls. While romance visual novels in general can be aimed at anyone.

So I’ll add a mix of them.

(Also a warning, you should check for triggers because some of these deal with religion, mature themes, blood, etc.)

For mobile:

Ikémen Sengoku

Ikémen Prince

Ikémen Villain

Mystic Messenger

Court of Darkness

Obey Me (I prefer the original one but you can technically play the second one without playing the first I believe)

These are romance visual novels on mobile so I have to warn you they are gacha based, especially obey me.

Obey me, I always warn more because it’s heavy gacha and events and seems endless, and with the recent rumors of quality lowering…well, I’ll leave that up to you.

In general, mobile games are more of a “daily” ticket gameplay. You can read a chapter a day for free unless you want to pay. If you’re patient, I would say go for these options.

If you’re not patient, I would recommend console/pc visual novels:

Our life series (an absolute fave, very comfort esque.)

Touchstarved (only demo is out but! Very good premise and potential)

Code realize (steam punk and cute! Has many sequels and route, very traditional otome game friendly. This one was my first otome game and has a special place in my heart)

Collar x malice (my favorite, I wasn’t the same after this otome. Everything about it just hits)

Bustfellow (perfect mix of mystery, murder, and romance)

JACKJEANNE (writer of Tokyo ghoul made this and they announced a sequel. Worth every penny. Not only romance esque but so many other wonderful characters and platonic relationships)

Cafe enchante (😌🫶, Lilia’s Va is a side character. I am down on my knees begging for a sequel and for him to get a route!! His aesthetics fits everything I love 😭😭)

And that’s all I have off the top of my head, if I remember more, I’ll add onto this ☺️🌺

[sechsviciado]

when doves cry

reaperken/touka ; written circa nov/dec 2022

no warnings or ratings really?

-

so after my slight reaperken/touka rambling yesterday i figured that i really have nothing to lose from posting this small snippet of a fic (oneshot??) thats been sitting in my google drafts for nearly the past two years; if this is crappy i can always just delete it but ive wanted to contribute a bit more to keep tokyo ghoul tumblr alive so i figure why not?

i felt so smart when i came up with the title since ken was a dove during that entire reaper arc until the events of cochlea. i didnt really pay attention to prince's lyrics in the song but looking back at it now i guess some apply? not really any inspiration was gained from it though, i just grew up with music from the 60s-90s so the title kind of came to my mind and it happened to be a prince reference. not really any ratings or warnings yet?? its nowhere near finished and im not sure if ill even finish it because i feel my writing heavily lacks.

anyway, without further ado

how many months had it been?

it had been months — years — since he recalled feeling this exact way. of course, haise had felt this way too, but it would never compare to the feelings he had for her before that brief period of time where he had lost recognition of everything and everyone who once meant something to him. ironically, it's when he felt most at peace with the butterflies in his stomach, beating against his rib cage and the cage surrounding the longing which could never be released. he’s regained his memories now, but he knew something was different within him even when he laid his glassy eyes on her again on that first visit to :re as sasaki haise. why did he feel so entrapped and yet so wrongly distant even when he had no recollection of her prior on that first visit to the cafe?

it would never be the same.

it would never compare to the feeling of falling in love with her and the realization that came with it. the realization that left him in a state of both a mix of surprise and agitation for days and with a feeling that could only be described as his heart skipping a beat and yet crumbling at the same time. it would never happen, would it? he had chosen to face that reality when he was still his old self, naive and too ashamed of his actions to actually face her after all the pain he caused her as a result of the pain which engulfed his entire life, too. too ashamed to accept his new reality, hiding behind his eyepatch — too ashamed to admit he had fallen in love so easily. he wasn't any different now.

haise may have fallen in love with her through the lens of a reborn figure with a fresh start and no boundaries to stand behind (apart from his obvious shyness and the weird sense of familiarity), but it just occurred by fate. the same fate that had snatched him from her years prior had found a way to bring him back into her arms and make him belong to her once again. he can't help but believe that maybe there was some future destined between them; the embittered part of his heart and soul makes him realize even that destiny would probably be cursed or filled with further strife.

though he supposed that didn't matter now.

not when he was even more distant from her than when he was an amnesiac with no recollection of her apart from the same old feeling of confusing comfort and longing. it's humorous and yet painful to think about how low he'd fallen in this aspect, not even being able to face her once again. despite his older age, he was still just a boy when it came to this same ancient rush, wasn't he? it doesn't matter. she surely didn't want anything to do with him anyways, especially not after everything that he's done. he's betrayed her and everyone who was once a part of him once again, and he’s chosen to accept that painful reality ever since he vowed to stop dreaming and flung tsukiyama off that building. facades all break down eventually.

though he supposed that didn't matter now, either.

he’d be disposed of soon enough before any of this could matter at all — before hinami was to be the one to disappear from the purgatory that was life as a ghoul. there was no heaven and there was no hell; there was no afterlife. heaven was bliss and safety on earth while hell was anguish and pain.

it was selfish of him to hope touka would feel any sort of pain after all of the grief and rage he's put her through time and time again, but he hoped he'd at least be remembered by the person he felt he loved most in this lifetime — the one who hadn't thrown him aside but who had instead built a nest for him as if though her life depended on it. he can't help but wonder… he’s had everyone he's ever known and cared for snatched from his hands by the same twisted fate that led him to await his upcoming death, he doesn't know if the puddle of both coldness and warmth in his stomach is either fear or love.

he'd truly cherish any memory he had of her before he’d be killed.

he vaguely remembers telling her, years ago, that he'd be sad if she died; he just hopes she would be saddened at his death, too.

[imagineanime2022]

Tokyo Ghoul - Meeting Someone Like Tanjiro

Ken Kaneki X Reader, Nishiki Nishio X Reader, Haise Sasaki X Reader, Koutarou Amon X Reader, Juuzou Suzuya X Reader, Ayato Kirishima X Reader, Uta X Reader

Requested: Anon

Request: Hello!!! Can I request how would the Tokyo ghoul characters would react to a so/ tanjiro like his backstory and his skill all that.

I'm quite curious what would there be reaction for all the shit she when throu and still act sane (cuz let's be honest all of them needs therapy) and her being a pure soul♥️ and just the biggest sunshine ball of hope that can kill your ass

And you can add anything else to the plot just a so/ that is like tanjiro(I love him🤭♥️👹)

General

Your siblings name - (Y/S/N)

You openly explained the reason that you were there, you told him about you going on a trip, you came back to find your family had been killed by a ghoul and your sister barely alive, you took her to the hospital and they used the ‘only’ matching organs they had.

You wanted to protect your sibling so you trained everyday and even stole a weapon, the CCG, the Quinque resembled a katana and had an affinity for water.

No one knew who you or your sister were only that you aligned with no one at the time that your code names were assigned.

You were named Dragonfly and your sibling named Scorpion.

You became known for your fierce protectiveness of each other and the mercy you showed even the fiercest of enemies.

You learned that your sisters Kagune resembled a scorpion and when he blood touched any enemies it tended to burn them.

You yourself have always had a good nose, you always seemed to be able to tell what people were and how they felt just from their scent alone.

Ken Kaneki

☕ Pre-trauma Kaneki was surprised to find that there were any humans in Anteiku, however finding your sibling attached to your leg he could tell immediately that they were a ghoul and that must have been the reason that you were there. ☕ You had ended up wandering into the Anteiku cafe one day and the boss figured out what had happened to you sibling and offered you both a place to stay. ☕ Kaneki felt that you were the closest that he would get to anyone understanding him and you were understanding as well as quick to explain everything and help him understand. ☕ You were nicer than most and your sibling was a breath of fresh air in the world that he seemed to have been thrust into.

You were the first one to get to Kaneki when he stumbled into The Serpent’s hunting ground, your weapon was drawn in seconds as you took the front line “keep him safe (Y/S/N)!” You ordered as you watched The Serpent circle you, you never let him get behind you as you turned to be facing him. “What does this gain you?” “Just a little fun.” He smirked as he dove forward, you knocked him away with the blunt side of your sword. “Fight me!” “I have no reason to fight you.” You declared as you knocked him away again, it was surprising that you had the strength to fight a Ghoul that had been feeding constantly with no help, Kaneki watched in awe as you kept him at bay while not landing a single damaging blow.

It was later that evening when you were sitting with (Y/S/N) they had just fallen asleep and you seemed to be reading something. “Can I ask you something?” Kaneki asked as he stood in front of you. “Course, take a seat.” You prompted as you gestured to the sofa opposite you. “Earlier with Nishiki, you didn’t hurt him, wouldn’t it have been easier if you had fought him properly?” Kaneki asked. “Probably.” You nodded. “Then why didn’t you?” He asked. “He’s hurting too.” You explained. “What?” He asked. “Every person has something in their life worth living for, it’s why they are still breathing, why they keep going, it could be a person, an idea, a dream, a place, it doesn’t matter what it is to them it’s worth fighting for, should I kill someone for doing the same as me?” You asked. “Well I guess not but wouldn’t they just do the same?” Kaneki asked. “To justify by saying they would do the same, is cowardly and selfish, if you don’t believe that it is the right option don’t do it.” You shrugged “look for a different option, it will present itself.” “And when deadly force is the only option?” Kaneki asked. “There will always be times where it’s deserved but even when death is the kindest option it doesn’t have to be painful.” You explained and you looked at him and smiled. “You will be forced to fight but you will learn with experience. And if you even need help I’ll be here to lead you back.”

Nishiki Nishio

🐍 Nishiki is probably one of the most untrusting Ghouls that you will ever meet, through no fault of his own. 🐍 You were the one that Nishiki didn’t trust, your sibling was the ghoul and honestly given the fact that they were relatively new to the whole thing at the time that you met him he was willing to take them under his wing but he wanted nothing to do with you. 🐍 Obviously they weren’t going to leave you so the offer was never taken but he did tell you about the coffee trick to help you sibling through the day. 🐍 As you started making more of a name for yourselves, he silently rooted for you both, hoping that you would succeed in a place that he had only seen failure.

Nishiki had assumed that you and (Y/S/N) had left the area, he hadn’t seen you in a long time and reports on you had dwindled, he continued as he normally would, it wasn’t like you being there was anything that he worried about, these were his hunting grounds anyway. That is until he stumbles on Kaneki feeding in his ground and attempts to attack and kill him, ultimately leading to a fight that he didn’t know that he couldn’t win. It seemed however that there was someone on his side, that someone was you. Your control with the Qinque had improved since he last saw you, using the water that you manipulated to push away the attacker rather than the blade itself. “Leave Rabbit.” You ordered. “I don’t want to hurt you but your next actions will decide mine.” “He started this fight.” The ghoul known as Rabbit answered. “Maybe but now you're going to walk away.” You ordered as you lifted your katana into a defensive stance, however the Rabbit seemed ready for a fight, she dove forward prompting you to do the same, your Quinque clashed with her Kagune however she was the one who came off injured with the water around you Quinque sharpening to cut into her wings, you saw the flash to your right just before your sibling Kagune clashed with the one that struck at your side, their blood landing on and burning the ghoul causing the Rabbit to fall back to his side. “I’ll give you one last chance to leave.” “Let’s go.” She ordered.

“Why did you help me?” Nishiki asked as you looped his arm over your shoulder and helped him stand. “Why wouldn’t I help you, (Y/S/N) appreciated your help.” You answered as you positioned himself better. “Where do you want me to take you?” “Home is fine.” He answered and you nodded as you started on your way, as he told you which direction to go, by the time that you got there, your sibling was standing at the door with a covered tupperware in their hand. “What is that?” “They’ve brought you a little snack.” You said as he opened the door to the apartment, you helped him in before your sibling placed the tupperware in front of him. “Thank you.” He said softly. “You seem like the kind of person who doesn’t say that very often.” You teased and he rolled his eyes. “How’d you get this?” He asked. “We break into places where there are donor bodies, we take the things that others won’t need.” You explained “I keep some of the small stuff for them to snack on but they’ll have one huge feed every couple of months.” “That works?” He asked. “With the help of the coffee, yeah.” You nodded and looked at your sibling who was standing quietly behind you. “They’re okay?” He asked. “Mmm.” You hummed. “You seem to be doing well.” He finally said. “Yeah, we’re doing well.” You confirmed “just maybe keep yourself out of trouble yeah?” “Yeah, yeah.” He muttered and you smiled before heading out of the door, he didn’t know why you were so nice or even if you were going to extend the kindness again but for now he could be thankful that you extended the help.

Haise Sasaki

💼 Haise was probably the one that was closest to your through process on the other side of the field, most ghouls held some kind of contempt for humans so you guys would often be on the same page. 💼 You were very rarely called in for missions with him, given your position however you did always come by to see him and make sure that he and the rest of his team were okay. 💼 Haise always worried that his team would upset you in some way but you always made sure that they were okay and protected them all. 💼 Even if Haise did think a lot like you, there were some things that he didn’t understand, he knew of your past and he often wondered how that had led the person that you were.

The CCG found you and your sibling about a week after everything happened. They were surprised that you were even still alive, and that they hadn’t killed you yet. They wanted your skills but at first they had no use for your sibling, you refused to work for them unless they came with you and while you didn’t like it, you agreed for them to have some of their blood to test.

You both became the poster children for the CCG’s new Quinx programme, it took a little while for them to find others that were suitable for the same programme but as more half ghouls were added, you were phased out, you and (Y/S/N) only going on mission where you were needed, you two were the best at your job, you got thing done quickly and quietly in most cases.

Haise and his squad had been called to take out a small group of Ghouls that had been hunting and killing in the city, they had managed to track down and kill most of the group however the very last and most powerful ghoul seemed to be posing a problem after taking out half the squad only Haise and Urie remained in fighting condition and that was when you were called in, you appearance was quiet almost unnoticed until you cut the achilles tendons of the ghoul forcing him to a kneeling position “Why would you kill all of those people, they did not deserve any of the pain that you brought on them.” You glared at the ghoul kneeling in front of you. “They were weak, they should have killed us before we killed them.” He sneered. “They couldn’t have, even if they wanted to.” You said through gritted teeth as you crouched in front of him. “You should suffer for what you did to them.” “And you are going to make m-?” He never finished the question, your Quinque severing his head from his shoulders. “There would be no point in that.” You muttered, flicking his blood off of your Quinque. “Are you sure he deserved such a merciful end?” Urie asked as you looked at him. “No one is given a choice in the way that they are born and I don’t know what led him here but I doubt it was good based on the scent of his emotion, the least I can do is give him a peaceful end.” You answered. “His scent?” Haise asked. “Mmm.” You hummed as you looked at the dead ghoul. “He smelled like fear. I doubt that they were doing it for themselves, it seems like they were giving most of what they got to someone else.” “They still killed people.” Urie argued. “So have we.” You answered as you crouched next to the ghoul “find your family and rest easy. Come on, it's time to get out of here, the rest of your team needs medical attention or at the very least something to eat.”

Koutarou Amon

🔍 He could not deny that there had been less investigator deaths when they convinced you to join. 🔍 Amon was confused as to why they ever bothered to keep your sibling around, he could not deny that you were a skilled investigator but he saw no use for keeping a pet ghoul. 🔍 That changed after he was spared by Kaneki though, in fact you were the person that he came to after it had happened. 🔍 You were the only person that he felt comfortable asking, hoping that you weren’t going to judge him for his sudden interest and possible change of heart.

You had been given your own office as to keep you sibling away from all the other investigators, most for their safety, you had full confidence in your sibling but most the time they took an attack from the other investigators with no fight back at all, you demanded a place that was safe for them if you were to continue to work with the CCG.

Amon took a deep breath before knocking on the door “Come in Amon!” You called, when he walked in he saw that you were sitting on a sofa in the office, your sibling laying across the rest with their head resting on your lap. “How can I help you?” “I wanted to ask you something.” He said. “Mm.” You hummed, gesturing to one of the other seats in the room. “How did you know that (Y/S/N) could be saved?” He asked. “On the night that I found them, they were hungry, they did jump on me, but they were crying, they recognised me and they didn’t want to hurt me, that was when the CCG found us, it took a lot to get away from the the first time but it’s never happened again.” You explained “there was a place that helped us to figure out some things that could help with hunger and their better now.” “Better?” He asked. “Well they’ve never hurt anyone here have they?” You asked. “I don't think they’ll ever be the same as before but we can get to a better time where we can live together. Why do you ask?” “I had an encounter with a ghoul on my most recent mission.” He started. “Are you okay?” You asked. “I’m fine, actually he didn’t hurt me, my Quinque was broken but he spared me, he could have killed me but he spared me.” He explained. “And you want to know why?” You asked, he was silent and you looked at him and smiled softly. “I don’t know why he did it but I can only assume like you he was fighting to protect someone else, some of them are just trying to live and the moment that we knock down their doors, living turns to surviving. The next time that you see him you’ll have to ask him.” “Ask him?” He asked. “Can we even talk to them?” “Have you tried?” You asked. “I guess not.” He mumbled. “Not all of them will answer but the ones worth saving, protecting they will.” You said softly running your fingers through your siblings' hair with a small smile on your face.

Juuzou Suzuya

🪡 Juuzou is probably the human that you would have the worst time with considering his view on ghouls and their existence. 🪡 He is very much hit now and asks questions later so you’d find it hard to protect your sibling if you weren’t fighting to kill him. 🪡 He is unlikely to understand anything of the values that you live by and wouldn’t take a second to think about them either, might even mistake you for a ghoul as well. 🪡 You’ve never been one to give in easily and the fact that you kept getting back up was bothering Juuzou to no end.

“(Y/S/N) run!” You yelled, they turned for the exit of alley and you dove into Juuzou’s path to stop him from getting to them, knocking his scythe away and allowing the knife he had thrown to hit your shoulder instead of continuing the path to your siblings head. “Why would you do that?” Juuzou whined “it’s a ghoul, it’ll only end up killing you.” “That’s not true.” You mumbled as you pushed him away, his back hitting the wall as you created some distance, lifting your Quinque, he frowned. “Where did you get that?” He asked. “Stole it, I would do anything to protect them.” You answered as he dove forward swinging the scythe with practised precision, you dodged not once using your Quinque for anything other that blocking a hit you were fast enough to dodge. “I have to get back to them.” You stood steading yourself when you realised that they were not going to be able to convince him that you weren’t here to hurt anyone. You swung your Quinque the water that wrapped around the blade branching out in an attack, Juuzou dodge most of the attacks but a few landed, you lifted the Quinque ready for the finishing blow “I understand that you were only doing your job but would you let me go if I turned away from you now?” “Never.” Juuzou sneered. “As I thought.” You sighed, you pulled back the blade taking in a deep breath. “Stop!” You turned to another CCG officer who was holding your sibling as they kicked and tried to get away, you took the dagger from your shoulder and threw it at the officer. In that second Juuzou kicked your feet out from underneath you using another dagger to stab straight through your hands. The scorpion tail that you had come to know very well made itself known at that moment, easily separating (Y/S/N) from the officer holding her. “Shinohara!” Juuzou yelled as (Y/S/N) took the place in front of you standing with their arm out Kagune at the ready to protect you. You pushed yourself up from your position on the floor, hands still pinned together with the dagger. “Just leave us alone… Please.” You pleaded. “Juuzou it’s time to leave.” The man, Shinohara said. “But-” “Now Juuzou let’s go.” He ordered.

Juuzou met you again later when the CCG took you both in as the first of the Quinx programme “your still alive?” He asked. “No thanks to you.” You said holding your hands to show the scars from your previous encounter. “I’m impressed your pet hasn’t bitten you yet.” He smirked and you glared at me. “They aren’t a pet, they’re my family.” You corrected him. “I don’t understand you.” He murmured as he looked at your sibling who’s Kagune lashed protectively. “I’m more than willing to help you understand if you give us a chance.” You explained. “Well you're here anyway.” He mumbled with a shrug and even if it wasn't an open answer you were looking for it was better than nothing.

Ayato Kirishima

🐇 Ayato understood the need to protect your sibling, he had done a lot to keep his sister safe after all. 🐇 You both did it in different ways but you both wanted the same result, you however seemed to disregard your own health quite a lot if it meant that your sibling was going to be okay. 🐇 Aogiri Tree wanted your sibling but they didn’t want you, they had been trying to split you both up since learning of their existence. 🐇 When all of the other failed they sent Ayato however he didn’t succeed on the first attempt either.

“Who are you?” You asked. “Me? None of your business, no one needs to get hurt if you just give them over.” Ayato jutted his head in the direction of your sibling. “Would you give over your brother or sister if they asked?” You asked. “What does that matter?” He asked. “You wouldn’t would you?” You shook your head “I can tell.” “What the hell are you talking about?” He asked, you saw his centre of mass shift he was getting ready to attack. “You have a sibling don’t you? You’ve kept them away.” You said and he moved forward you blocked his kick with the flat of your arm, slipping back only slightly as you looked at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt them, I just thought that we could be friends, you know, since we share an interest.” You explained. “Friends? You want to be friends with someone who was sent to kill you?” He asked. “You don’t want to kill me though, do you?” You asked. “How can you be so sure of that?” He asked. “I’ve seen your work, I’d be dead by now if you wanted me dead.” You explained as you pushed him away from you. “I’m not letting you get away from me.” Ayato informed you and you looked at him and nodded. “We know.” You said at the same time that your siblings leg came into contact with the side of his face, knocking him out. You sighed as you crouched in front of him lifting him onto the sofa in the abandoned building, you wrote a quick note before grabbing some of you clothes and leaving with your sibling.

Ayato groaned as he woke up rubbing at his temple, his eyes landing on the note on the table:

I really hope we can be friends, come find me if you change your mind.

He had no idea why you thought that you, a human, thought that you could be friends with him, a ghoul but he wouldn’t be entertaining you… Or so he thought.

Hideyoshi Nagachika

🚲 Hide loved you both, he saw you as hope for the future that he wanted, for him and Kaneki, you were how he proved to Kaneki that it could work. 🚲 He found out about you when he was working for the CCG but the challenge was finding you, you were very good at hiding yourself and your sibling when the time called for it. 🚲 When he finally found you he pleaded his case with you and you were fast friends especially after he and your sibling became friends. 🚲 You kept a close eye on him where you could and you were there when he needed someone to help him.

You would have been able to smell the blood even if you didn’t have an exceptional sense of smell, you walked into the old sewer system and found Hide and the boy you assumed was Kaneki, you ignored the Ghoul you could tell that he was already healing, your crouching in front of Hide “you're too kind for this world.” You said softly as you lifted him from the floor. “Kaneki…” He said, you looked back at the Ghoul. “He’s not ready to come back yet.” You said “he’ll come home, I know he will but we have to focus on making sure that you are there when he does.” “He’s okay?” Kaneki asked. “He’s healing, he will be fine, what you have done for him will bring him back I promise.” You said as you turned away from the Ghoul to get Hide to someone that you knew could help him.

You waited for him to wake up, he took a while to come around given the injuries no one was surprised “you're still here?” Hide asked. “I remember you saying we were friends, you make sure that your friends are okay, I can leave if you want me to.” You said. “No, that's not what I meant.” He said “it’s just I don’t expect that I look pretty.” “I thought you were cute before and you still are, but past that it doesn’t matter what your body is, it matters what your soul is.” You explained. “I don’t know what to do next.” He admitted. “Well, we’ll be here until you know and I’ll help you wherever I can.” You promised. “You… You will?” He asked. “You believe in me and (Y/S/N), we believe in you and Kaneki and we’re all going to make a world that we can live in together.” You promised, putting your pinky finger out. “Good plan?” “Yeah.” He said, choking out a laugh and you nodded “good then get some rest, you have healing to do so we can get to work changing the world.”

Uta

🎭 You were the one that found Uta, you needed masks for you and your sibling, with the code names that you were given you knew it was only a matter of time before the CCG came looking for you. 🎭 You entered the shop and asked him about the masks while your sibling looked around the room, you were sure that he knew they were a Ghoul and you weren't. He was watching you carefully. 🎭 He had heard about you by now, so he knew about your family and your unique abilities. 🎭 He was convinced that you gained something from keeping your ghoul sibling around, he wasn’t sure what but couldn’t simply believe that you were together for familial love.

“What do you earn from this?” Uta asked as he looked at you. “Um, the CCG doesn’t see my face.” You answered frowning at the question. “Not the mask, keeping your sibling around.” He jutted his head to your sibling who was looking at one of the masks on the shelf. “Gain?” You asked “nothing, they're my family so I’ll protect them with everything that I have.” “Even though they aren’t human anymore and they could kill because they had a bad day?” He asked. “Anyone could kill me for a bad day, we’ve been living like this for months.” You shrugged “I trust them and they trust me.” “Trust them?” He asked with a smirk as he stepped forward his tall stature crowding you, it only took a second for your siblings Kagune to wrap around your shoulder poised to stab him should he move in a way that concerned them. “They protect you the same way that you protect them?” He asked as he turned his attention to your sibling. “You know all it takes is one wrong move and suddenly you won’t have a sister, you’ll be all on your own with no one.” Uta said and you narrowed your eyes, hand falling the Quinque on your hip and he smirked. “You are interesting. You’ll be the talk of the town soon.” “Are you going to make the masks or not?” You asked, “Of course, come back next week the same day, they’ll be ready.” He promised, you stepped away from him. “Come on.” You put your hand out to your younger sibling and as he watched you.

“You came back…” He smiled as he turned his chair so that he was looking at you. “How much do I owe you?” You asked. “On the house.” He waved you off. “Change of heart?” You asked. “Investment in entertainment.” He answered as he handed you the two masks that he had made. “Entertainment?” You asked. “I don’t believe that what you are trying to do will work.” He answered honestly. “The world is too far gone for that but I want to see you try.” “You want to see me fail.” You grumbled. “How about I give you a job here?” He suggested. “Why would you do that?” You asked. “What other job is going to allow you to bring your ghoul to work?” He asked, you both looked over at your sibling and he waved. “I’m sure I can teach her some things about surviving too, make it easier for both of you.” He suggested. “Fine.” You answered “thank you.” “Why are you thanking me? It’s not like it did this out of the goodness of my heart.” He reminded you. “Well you didn’t have to do it at all, so a thank you is due.” You answered “when do I start?” “How about right now?” He asked.

Request Here!!

[hatshepsuthypatia]

Ichihime Fic Prompt

Someone who has a brain and writing skills, and spare time on their hands. Here is a prompt for writing a canon-divergent drama-filled IH fic that I do not have the energy to write.

Just like the canon Ise Family Curse, where men of the family die after getting married to women of the Ise Family, there is another family in Soul Society that has been cursed with a similar fate - Kurosaki Family. Women who marry into the Kurosaki family (Masaki, Kaien's wife) die brutal deaths once marrying Kurosaki men. This of course led to Kurosaki Men swearing off marriage for good, which caused a worry among elders that the lineage would finish. An elder Kurosaki ancestor decides that it would be best not to disclose this information to Kurosaki men yet be passed to women of the household. So Kukkaku knows, but Kaien, Isshin didn't, and hence unknowingly married and later wives died brutally.

Ichigo and Orihime fall in love in the aftermath of the war. Ichigo thinks of asking her out when the dust settles but overhears Kukkaku conversation about this curse with Yoruichi. He also overhears his father ferociously arguing with the Sqaud 0 priest against Ichigo's eventual substitution as Soul King. Ichigo understands the weight of his powers and his limitations to lead a normal people life, and decides to romantically distance himself from Orihime, and live a detached human life until he inevitably becomes a corpse-like Soul King. He also decides never to marry.

Once they go back to school Orihime feels the distance and misunderstands it, so she tries to unsuccessfully close it. She also suffers from PTSD from War and ongoing anxiety due to this drama and her college finances, which eventually makes her spiral into anxiety attacks in school. Ichigo saves her from harming herself and they kiss, establishing a romantic connection. What happens next is a constant push and pull between them wanting and needing each other yet knowing the limitations of their love. Ichigo can't love her and she doesn't know that he loves her. Finally, Orihime finds out about the curse and Soul King's burden and tells him she doesn't care she would rather have a brief yet happy life. They spend some happy months together before Orihime is brutally attacked by CFYOW side story villains (the side story where go to West Japan to save his sisters) and Ichigo realizes he needs to break it off with her otherwise his presence might end up killing her.

He eventually distances himself. Orihime thinks they are done for good, and tries to move on with new people and her bakery job. Ichigo on other hand decides to find a way to break curse for once and for all. He also visits Squad 0 and Shunsui, explains that no matter what he will be an ally to Soul Society in exchange for never needing to become Soul King, saying he has become selfish over the years as he wants some things for his own now.

He eventually breaks the curse (some creative plot on this too) with the help of the gang sans Orihime. Once he breaks the curse, he decides to propose to Orihime (at Rukia's wedding) but she is already moving abroad to join a culinary school. He says he will wait for her just the way she waited for him. She replies she doesn't know when she will come back.

Fast forward after they both become working adults and she comes back to Karakura to open her bakery. Encounters Ichigo who with his work team had decided to visit a new hip cafe in town not knowing it was Orihime's. (~ Cue the Tokyo Ghoul Kaneki and Touma meeting between them). They finally meet and both confess their feelings. Side stories can be Renji-Rukia courtship to baby story with both acting like cheerleaders to main couple. Ishida's reconciling with father story and the crack romance between him and Riruka (cmon both of them are Tsundere fashion girlies who went from morally grey to morally right, they will be great together!). Tatsuki getting over her angsty gay crush on Orihime to date Chizuru. Chad's boxing career story and Chad briefly dating Andou Daniel who inspires him to take up boxing as a career (look up WKDALY)