Out of all the places Kaneki expected to end up in when his chocolate-haired companion dragged him out of the cafeteria, he definitely didn't expect to find himself standing in a what was presumably a laundry room, but that was probably due to the fact he had an overactive imagination that was constantly on the lookout for any sort of threat, even in what were the most mundane of situations.
"So, what exactly are we doing here again?"
the snowy-haired half ghoul asked while he subconsciously began scanning the room around him, looking for anything that might indicate a trap. He found none, but that didn't make put his guard down, not wanting to be caught by surprise if his paranoia proved to be warranted.
"I-I guess I probably should've told you that before dragging you here, huh?"
the rabbit-eared faunus asked him sheepishly, but he found that the way she said it, made it seem like she was talking more to herself than to him.
"I wanted to wash your shirt for you since it's technically my fault it's dirty in the first place."
The snowy-haired half ghoul blinked at the statement, smiled gratefully and replied with.
"You really didn't have to go through the trouble."
"Yeah, I know, but it's more about the principle to me than anything else really"
she told him bluntly, an embarrassed smile finding its way onto her features.
"I don't know too many people who would've reacted half as nicely as you did"
she continued in a tone that only further emphasized her embarrassment.
"so you could say that this is a repayment for, you know... uh, not cussing me out."
The half ghoul just stared at the girl for a moment, subconsciously thinking, Is that really the only reason she dragged me here?
Doing so for what felt like the millionth time in their conversation, Kaneki blinked owlishly at the faunus and then felt an amused smile crawl its way onto his lips at the absurdity of it all.
"Alright then"
he began, shrugging as he reached for the hem of his shirt
"if that's what you want."
As a test, he then pulled his shirt over his head. All the while, the artificially-made half ghoul fully expected the girl to try and attack him while he was blinded, but was pleasantly surprised to find that she hadn't even moved a muscle when he finally managed to get the shirt off.
Holding said shirt out to her, he waited for her to take it from him and she promptly did so.
Still nothing? the snowy-haired half ghoul wondered as he watched her walk over to one of the few washing machines that weren't currently in use.
"So… are you a new student or something?"
the rabbit-eared faunus began as she placed the shirt inside of said washing machine, clearly just trying to find something to talk about so they wouldn't succumb to more awkward silence.
"I don't think I've seen you around campus before, not even at the beginning of the year introduction for all the new first-years."
The half ghoul didn't answer that question immediately like he had been doing for the entirety of their conversation up until that point. No, instead, he took a moment to think about his next words over carefully. Knowing that he couldn't afford to give away too much information about himself before he met with Ozpin again to confirm his backstory.
"That's probably because I just got accepted into Beacon last night"
he told her when he finally found an answer that he was comfortable with giving, every fiber of his being silently hoping that the chocolate-haired faunus wouldn't notice that short moment of hesitation in his voice.
Thankfully, she seemed way too engrossed in her current task to notice.
"Last night?"
she repeated almost incredulously, the amount of curiosity in her voice reaching such high levels that he swore he could actually feel it in the air around him.
"You got accepted into Beacon last night?"
"Um… yeah, why do you ask?"
he asked since he truthfully didn't know what exactly that statement entailed.
"I've been going to this school for two years now and this first time I've ever heard of anyone, and I mean anyone, getting accepted into Beacon once first-year initiations were over"
the girl explained to him, the awkwardness that once plagued her tone almost completely gone.
"You must have done something really special to convince Ozpin otherwise."
At the very least, I got her talking to me normally now, Kaneki thought to himself, inwardly making note of said change in demeanor before cracking the middle joint of his middle finger.
"I really wouldn't call what I did special "
he replied as he normally would, but this time, however, he actually meant it. Truthfully, he didn't see how killing those four beowolves could be considered special at all, especially when they were as predictable as toddlers during their fight, but then again, maybe he was just so used to fighting enemies so much stronger than himself that the beowolves just seemed easier by comparison.
"I really just did what I felt was necessary "
the snowy-haired half ghoul added, doing so with a finality that should've made it clear he didn't want to talk about the subject anymore, all the while hoping that he had taken just enough off of it to not come across as rude.
"What was necessary, huh? the chocolate-haired faunus parroted his words, not even bothering to use a tone that made it seem like she wasn't trying to figure out exactly what he meant by it.
"So, what about you?"
he asked her, hoping that he would be able to shift the focus on the conversation onto something other than himself.
"How long have you been going to Beacon?"
"Oh, um… I've been going to Beacon for a couple of years now"
she answered, clearly taken off-guard by the suddenness of his question.
"This is actually the beginning of my second year here actually."
So, if this is her second year here, and since a majority of the first years seem to be of seventeen years of age, that would probably make her around the ages of eighteen and twenty, Kaneki mused to himself mentally. That is, of course, if she isn't a special case like Ruby and got accepted into Beacon early, but then again, how skilled would she have to be to gain that kind of privilege?
He never actually got the opportunity to see Ruby fight, so he didn't actually know how skilled of a fighter she was, but he assumed that she had to be pretty good to warrant such a jump of education. It was a lot like how children with advanced intellectual abilities moved up to higher forms of education, but replace math with the killing of soulless creatures bent on the destruction of the human race.
So, could the chocolate-haired faunus before him be facing similar circumstances? Kaneki highly doubted it.
Not because she didn't look the part, because god knows Ruby didn't look like a Grimm killing machine herself, but because the probability of their being two child prodigies being found in such succession was highly unlikely at best. Especially if they were solely referring to one's combat ability alone which was something that had to be taught, unlike something like intellectual ability that could just be plain genetic.
Then again, she could've just as easily gotten here on her intellectual ability alone, or even a combination of the two, but in short of flat out asking someone how and when the rabbit-eared faunus got into Beacon, he would probably never know. She was right in front of him though, so he could easily ask the source herself if he so wanted, but he ultimately decided against it as he knew that would come across as rude and intrusive. There was always the option of trying to have her answer it on her own through some careful wording on his part. An option he deemed to be unreasonable as she seemed like the kind of person who didn't give out personal information so freely.
That left him with approximately zero ways to further the current topic of conversation. Well, at least to the point where he could gain the information he was looking for.
Maybe I could- the half ghoul began before he was cut off by the very faunus he was busy thinking about.
"Um, are you alright?"
she asked him, her voice harboring a tone that sounded both confused and worried to him.
The snowy-haired half ghoul in question could only blink owlishly in response, which was mainly because a good portion of his mind was still reeling from being so suddenly pried away from his thoughts.
"Hey, are you alright?"
she asked him again, raising her voice to a slightly higher decibel than it was before, which really only made her voice a little bit louder than how most people would normally whisper. Nonetheless, it managed to get his attention.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine,"
he replied reassuringly, stuttering a little as he spoke because of the few remaining cobwebs in his head.
"Really now?"
she asked, her tone simply dripping with an understandable skepticism.
Kaneki gave her a nod, scratching the back of his head as he explained what he meant in a bit more detail
"I have a tendency to space out when I think about things too hard."
He wasn't lying. It was something that increasingly worried the other members of his group after he escaped from the grips of Aogiri Tree. There were times where he would spend hours on end simply staring at a blank wall, simply thinking and sometimes, it would take someone literally shaking him out of his thoughts to get him to stop.
It worried him, but like many times before that worry wasn't meant for himself, he was more worried about what that meant to the welfare of his friends than his own.
Truth be told, he actually gave them that very same response every time he would emerge from said stupors. It never really seemed to assure them of his wellness, but that was probably because they knew him well enough to know that he would never give them the real answer. The last thing they needed was to waste their time worrying about him. They had their own lives to worry about, after all.
"So, how long was I out?"
he asked the chocolate-haired faunus before him curiously, hoping that it would put their conversation back on track, whatever track that was.
"I don't really know, I wasn't really keeping track of the time..."
she trailed off awkwardly.
"I'm almost finished cleaning your shirt though," she added
"it just needs to finish drying."
"Oh, was I really out of it for that long?"
he asked her, pretty much wearing the guilt he felt on his sleeve at that point. "Sorry about that…"
he trailed off trying to find the right words to convey guilt he felt
"... I know that standing here, watching me stare into empty space while you do my laundry probably wasn't how you expected, or wanted to spend your lunch break."
"You don't need to apologize"
she told him in such a reassuring tone that it immediately soothed any guilt he was harboring.
"Truth be told, as of recently, this has been one of the nicer lunch breaks I've had."
This time it was his turn to be skeptical, asking
"Really, how?"
The rabbit-eared faunus bit on her lower lip, which instantaneously told him that she wasn't sure if saying what was on her mind was a good idea.
So, as to ease her worries, he promptly told her
"You don't have to say it if you're not comfortable with telling me."
He flashed her a smile that was one part amused and one part sheepish, adding
"I mean, I don't even know what your name is yet."
"N-no, it's alright"
she replied, the surprise in her voice making it clear that she hadn't expected him to say that.
"You were probably going to find out about it one way or another, so I might as well get it over with now."
"What do you mean?"
Kaneki asked, even though he was pretty sure he already knew what she was going to tell him.
"Well, how do I put this?"
she began, her voice sounding as flustered and unsure as ever.
"As you can see, I'm not exactly... human"
she continued awkwardly, probably making reference to the rabbit ears sitting on top of her head, which twitched slightly as she spoke
"and that often leads some of the other students to… tease me for it… a lot."
"Let me guess, they don't want to get caught so the only time they actually do so is when class isn't in session, which would most likely be during passing periods or when you break for lunch"
the artificial ghoul surmised, which garnered a nod of affirmation from said faunus in response.
"Have you told anyone about it yet, like one of your teachers?"
"Of course I have, but they can't really do anything about it since discrimination between humans and the faunus has always been a problem"
the rabbit-eared faunus explained before letting out a tired sigh.
"The only real thing the teachers can do is openly discourage it during classes."
"How about your friends?"
He pressed on, hoping to find that someone that would've helped her against such blatant discrimination.
"Have they done something about it?"
"No, but they certainly do want to"
she replied with a bit of pride in her voice.
"Then why haven't they done something, what's stopping them?"
"It's because I told them not to "
the chocolate-haired faunus began before explaining what she meant. "Having someone stand up for me would make me look weak... and that would just make them think that they can get away with pushing me around whenever I don't have one of my friends with me."
"But you also can't stand up for yourself because that would just confirm the violent stereotypes people have given the faunus over the years, and give them a somewhat valid reason to hate the faunus"
the snowy-haired half ghoul finished for her, having already seen the cycle play out before with the ghouls from his world.
"So, I take it, instead of fighting it"
he continued, still drawing from past experiences
"you're just going to take the blows and hope it eventually stops?"
"Y-yeah"
she began with a stutter, clearly surprised by the accuracy of statement.
"How'd you know?"
"You could say I've seen it happen before"
he answered, knowing full well that the answer was extremely vague, but he wasn't going to give away such personal information to a complete stranger.
"So, what do you think I should do?"
she asked him curiously.
"Since you can't force them to change their minds about the faunus, you prove them wrong"
Kaneki stated as he thought back to his first confrontation with that dove named Amon.
"Make them see that you're different from what they think the faunus are. The change most likely won't happen overnight, but I'm sure it'll happen given enough time."
The rabbit-eared faunus opened her mouth to respond, but she was promptly cut off by a sudden beeping noise coming from his left.
"Ah, that must mean that your shirt's finished drying"
she stated before letting out an awkward chuckle at the machine's sudden intrusion on their conversation.
"You can go back to the cafeteria, I can get my shirt out of the dryer on my own"
the snowy-haired half ghoul told her when he noticed that she was already walking towards it.
"I'm sure you're still pretty hungry since more of your food ended up in my shirt than in your stomach."
Not a second later, the chocolate-eyed faunus's stomach let out a loud grumble that was almost comically loud, causing aforementioned faunus to let out another flustered chuckle.
"I guess you're right"
she stated, tone just as embarrassed as her prior chuckle
"and it's Velvet."
"Hm?"
"Earlier you said you didn't know my name, so that's it,"
the chocolate-haired faunus explained, right before sticking out her hand to him, which he took as a sign that she wanted to shake hands with him, despite the fact that said hand was shaking slightly as she did so.
"My name is Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina."
"Kaneki, Ken Kaneki"
the artificially made half ghoul replied, a thin smile forming on his lips at the faunus's attempt to be assertive as he took her hand in his, idly noting how soft it was before shaking it.
"It was a pleasure meeting you Velvet, so see you around?"
"D-definitely,"
was the reply she gave him before walking past him and out the door leading into the laundry room, moving so fast that Kaneki almost missed the faint amount of red that formed on her cheeks as she left.
What a strange girl, the half ghoul thought as he watched her leave. Now, I really hope this wasn't a trap... He cracked his finger and continued on in a much darker tone as he walked over to the dryer that she had looked at earlier, It really would be a shame if she turned out to be nothing more than a rotten bean...
To make a long story short, Kaneki had never been more relieved to see a simple piece of black fabric in his life.