A Tragic Life Comes To An End
The day was coming to an end. As the last customer left Antieku, the cafe became even quieter than usual. The manager was making preparations for the new flesh shipments while Nishiki had gone home early. At the moment it was just Kaneki and Touka in the cafe cleaning and finishing up the store.
Kaneki was smiling as usual, walking around and collecting cups that he would wash later. His eyes were still cold though, the torture of Jason still fresh in his mind and the horrors he still relived every night. He tried to hide it while he was a waiter, entertaining all of them and even having a conversation with some. However, the torture left its scars on him. His once black hair was bleached white, rapidly aged from the stress and hell he went through. Before he could continue reminiscing he continued to work and finishing placing the cups away.
Touka was busy cleaning all the tables. Her hand moved swiftly, cleaning all the tables quickly. She would stay focused but would glance every now and then at Kaneki. She noticed every detail of him, how he walked, his breathing techniques and how he his white hair would move. She had a bittersweet feeling, Kaneki being strong enough to finish off all the violent ghouls and was still able to be a kind and caring person. She caught herself smiling and realized what was to come. Her head hung and she felt a surge of overwhelming emotions coming over her. She breathed in deeply and continued onwards.
"Touka-chan, I’m all done over here. Is there anything left for me to finish?" Touka shuddered when she heard that. "Don’t scare me like that. Sheesh at least knock or something. Just go sit over there and wait." Kaneki chuckled and scratched his head a little. "Oh, alright then. Sorry about that Touka-chan." He walked, his footsteps still echoing and the chair could be heard being pulled out. Touka then went into the kitchen and started preparing some coffee.
Kaneki sat quietly, waiting for whatever Touka was doing. He perked up though at the smell of Touka’s special coffee. He heard some fumbling and at long last Touka came, coffee in hand and several small napkins in the other. The footsteps stopped as the sound of being being drunk sounded instead accompanied with the sound of a chair moving. “Touka-chan, this is really good. And the artwork…was that supposed to be me?” “Yeah why? You didn’t like it?” “No I did like it. It’s amazing what you can do. I’m glad I did what I did. I protected everybody I loved and cared for. Including you.” He stopped talking and smiled while facing, immediately stopping her heart because she recognized that smile. It was the one he showed her before he left Antieku to fight the ghouls. That smile of deep sorrow and longing for someone to save him. The smile of parting. She smiled back too, but her eyes were filled with sadness. She began to reminisce of their time together, how she watched him slowly become stronger as the weeks went by. She was so happy for him that words could not express it.
Kaneki had finished half of his coffee when his eyepatch began to turn red. He removed it to see that his eye had become just like that of a ghouls. However, it was bleeding as the RC cells began to create more veins across his face and worked down to his body. “Aww. I didn’t even get to finish enjoying your coffee Touka-chan.” His other eye welled up and a single line of tears began to stream down from it. “Thank you Touka-chan. For putting up with me even though I left you alone. Thank you for training me to become someone strong enough to protect others. Thank you for being there for me.” Touka bit her lip to stop her from crying, knowing that his life would come to an end. “Don’t you regret shortening your life just for this power that you can’t control?” Kaneki looked her dead in the eye. “Not one bit if it meant protecting you and everyone.” He stood up as the veins popped up in his hands and were starting to stretch to his other eye. “Thank you Touka.” He bowed down in thankfulness, eyes closed and heart free. Touka activated her ghoul and hardened it to crystalite form. As she bid him farewell, Kaneki yelled as his kagune ripped out of him as the power of cannibalized ghouls consumed him. He charged Touka dead on as she ran towards him, a single tear falling onto the floor.
END
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