I'd lost track of how many times I'd checked my phone. The screen showed 6:47 AM, and his last message—Kaneki's alive. In hospital. I'm coming back now.—had been over an hour ago.
"Maybe he got lost," Koma suggested weakly. "It's been a long night."
"He knows where we are." I paced behind the counter, nervous energy making stillness impossible. "What if something happened? What if—"
The bell chimed.
Sota stood in the doorway, and my heart stopped. He looked destroyed—clothes soaked through despite the rain having stopped hours ago, hair plastered to his head, exhaustion carved into every line of his face. But alive. Whole. Here.
"Sota!" I moved without thinking, hands reaching for him. "You're freezing. You're—are you hurt? Did she—"
"I'm fine." But he swayed slightly, and I caught his arm.
"You're not fine. You're hypothermic. Koma, get towels. Irimi, start fresh coffee. Manager—"
"Touka." Sota's voice was quiet but firm. "Stop."
I froze, suddenly remembering. Remembering what he was. What I was. What we'd discovered about each other.
"Right." I let go, stepping back. "Of course."
"No, I didn't mean—" He ran a hand through his wet hair, frustrated. "Can we just—"
"Talk?" I supplied, acid creeping into my tone. "Sure. Let's talk about our lies and your secret job and—"
"Not now." He looked around at the others, all frozen in various helpful positions. "Could you all... I need to speak with Touka alone."
"Absolutely not," Irimi said immediately. "We're not leaving her alone with—"
"It's fine." I cut her off. "He's not going to hurt me."
"Touka-chan," Yoshimura said carefully.
"He came back," I said simply. "He could have brought an army. He didn't. So please. Let us talk."
They exchanged glances, despite their earlier assurances, uncertainty was written on all their faces.
"Thank you," Sota said quietly. "For waiting and not running. For trusting me enough to still be here."
"... We're right upstairs if you need us," Koma told me pointedly. "Right upstairs."
One by one, they filed out through the back, leaving us alone in the pre-dawn quiet of Anteiku.
"... Sigh. You look like a corpse," I said finally.
"Feel like it too." He moved to his usual table—our table—and collapsed into the chair. "Searched every restaurant in Ward 13. Every single one. But she didn't take him somewhere fancy. She took him somewhere hidden."
"And the steel beams?"
"Random accident. Divine intervention. I don't know." His hands clenched. "I failed him, Touka. I knew what she was, where they could be going, and I couldn't save him."
The pain in his voice cut through my anger. "But he's alive."
"Barely. In surgery when I left. They don't know if—" He stopped. "I sat there all night, waiting. Thinking about how I should have done more. Acted faster. Been better."
"You tried," I said softly. "That matters."
"Does it?" He looked up at me then, eyes red-rimmed with exhaustion. "I also spent all night thinking about you. About us. About what the hell we do now."
And just like that, the tenderness shattered.
"Now you want to talk about us?" I laughed, harsh and bitter. "After lying to me for weeks?"
"I never lied—"
"Statistics job? Government research?" I slammed my hand on the table. "You're CCG! You hunt people like me!"
"And you're a ghoul!" He shot back, standing. "You didn't think that was worth mentioning?"
"That's different!"
"How? How is it different?" He stepped closer. "We both hid what we were. We both had reasons."
"Your reason was what? Investigating us? Waiting for proof before you called in your murder squad?"
"My reason was you!" The words exploded out of him. "I didn't tell you because I wanted something normal with you! Something that wasn't about killing or death or—"
"Normal?" I laughed again, uglier this time. "Did you think I was normal? Your cute coffee shop girlfriend who'd never complicate your life!?"
"No! I thought you were—" He stopped, struggling. "I thought you were like me. Carrying something heavy. Running from something dark."
"I wasn't running. This is my life. My family."
"Family." His voice went quiet. "Is that what you call it? This neutral ground where killers get coffee between murders?"
The words hit like a physical blow. "How dare you—!!!"
"Rize comes here! She sat in this shop, picked her victim, and everyone just watched because of some stupid rules!!! Because of some neutrality you have!"
"You don't understand—"
"Then explain it!" He gripped the table edge, knuckles white. "Explain how you can serve coffee to someone you know is a monster. Explain how that's okay."
"We're all monsters to you, aren't we?" My voice cracked. "That's what the CCG teaches. No different from animals."
"That's not—"
"Isn't it? White coats and quinques and so much righteousness—"
"I spent all night failing to save someone!" His voice broke. "All night knowing what Rize was and being useless to stop it! So don't lecture me about righteousness when you all knew too and did nothing!"
"And what would you have us do? Break our neutrality? Give the CCG an excuse to know about us and slaughter us all?" I was shaking now. "You have no idea what it has costed us to survive!"
"You could have warned him at least! Could have—"
"Could have what? Revealed ourselves? Given you proof of what we are?" I laughed bitterly. "You can barely look at me now, knowing the truth."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?"
He moved around the table, and I backed away. "You want to know what's killing me? Not that you're a ghoul. That you didn't trust me enough to tell me."
"Trust?" My voice went high. "How could I trust you with that? Hey, boyfriend, by the way, I'm the thing that eats your kind. Want to grab dinner? Oh wait, I can't eat your food because—"
"Stop." He caught my hands. "Just stop."
"Why? This is what we are, Sota! This is the truth you wanted!"
"You're right." His grip tightened. "This is what we are. But you know what? I don't care."
"You don't—what?"
"I spent all night looking for Kaneki. All night failing. And the entire time, all I could think was at least it wasn't you." His voice broke. "I've known you were a ghoul for less than twelve hours, and I already know I can't do my job if it means hunting you."
"Sota—"
"So yeah, I'm CCG. Yeah, you're a ghoul. Yeah, this is impossible and insane and probably going to get us both killed." He pulled me closer. "But I'm standing here anyway. Because the alternative is walking away from you, and I can't do that."
"You stupid, reckless—" Fear made my voice sharp. "Do you know what you're saying? What you're doing?"
"Do you?" He countered. "You could have run tonight. Could have disappeared when you knew I'd figured it out. But you stayed. You waited. Why?"
"Because I—" The words stuck. "Because you went after Rize alone like an idiot! You could have died! She's killed dozens of people, and you just ran off without backup or a plan or—"
"But I'm here," he said softly. "Aren't I?"
Before I could respond, he kissed me. Not gentle like at the museum or desperate like on the hillside. This was something else—a claiming, a choice, a line in the sand that we were both crossing.
When we broke apart, I was shaking.
"This doesn't fix anything," I whispered... still trembling.
"I know." He pulled me closer, and suddenly his legs gave out. "Sorry, I—"
"Sota!" I caught him as he sank to the floor, back against the table leg. "When's the last time you ate? Or slept?"
"Yesterday? Maybe?" He tugged me down with him. "Doesn't matter. We're not done talking."
I settled beside him on the floor, our shoulders touching. "You need rest."
"I need you to understand." He took my hand, lacing our fingers. "I can't lose you. Not to this. Not to what we are."
"Even knowing I'm a ghoul?"
"Even then." He turned to look at me, exhaustion making him raw. "Tell me why. Help me understand. Why does being a ghoul mean being enemies?"
The fight drained out of me. "My parents are dead."
"Touka..."
"Both of them. Killed by investigators. White coats and quinques and so much blood." My voice stayed steady, but tears slipped down my cheeks. "I was young. Ayato—my brother—was younger. We watched them die protecting us."
His hand tightened on mine. "I'm sorry."
"Are you? Or is that just what you say when another ghoul family gets destroyed doing your job?"
"My parents are dead too," he said quietly. "Killed by a ghoul when I was seven."
I turned to stare at him. "What?"
"The ghoul broke into my house. Hungry, desperate, I don't know. I just remember the screaming. The blood splattered in my face. Moving faster than I normally did, I grabbed his kagune when he dropped its guard." His voice went distant. "I killed it. Seven years old and covered in gore, surrounded by my parents remains..."
"Sota..."
"Marude found me the next day there. Saw what I'd done. What I could do. And I've been CCG ever since." He laughed, hollow. "Two orphans who grew up to be exactly what the other fears most."
We sat in silence, absorbing the weight of shared loss.
"I don't kill humans," I said finally. "Neither does anyone at Anteiku. We survive other ways."
"But Rize—"
"Rize is exactly what she seems. A glutton. A killer. Everything you're trained to stop." I leaned my head against his shoulder. "And I wanted to warn Kaneki. Wanted to save him. But our rules—"
"Protect you," he finished, sighing. "I get it now. Break neutrality and the CCG will investigate."
"Will slaughter," I corrected. "They don't investigate ghouls, Sota. They exterminate us."
"I wouldn't—"
"You wouldn't. But what about your other co-workers? What about those who see us as nothing but monsters?"
He was quiet for a long moment. "Move in with me."
"What?"
"You heard me." Despite his exhaustion, his voice was certain. "My apartment's big enough. You'd be safer—from the CCG, from other investigators who might not be as understanding."
"Understanding? You call this understanding?"
"I call this trying." He shifted to face me better. "I can't promise it'll be easy. Can't promise I'll handle everything perfectly. But I can promise to try. To choose you. Every day, no matter how complicated it gets."
"And when the CCG figures out what you're doing? When they realize you're harboring a ghoul?"
"Then we deal with it. Together."
"You really are insane." But I was crying again, fear and hope and love all tangled together. "This is going to end badly."
"Maybe." He reached up to wipe my tears, movements sluggish with exhaustion. "But maybe it won't. Maybe we find a way. Maybe we change things."
"Two orphans against the world?"
"Two orphans who chose each other," he corrected. "That has to count for something."
I studied his face—the dark circles, the stubble, the absolute certainty in his eyes despite everything.
"If we do this," I said slowly, "We can't have more lies. No more secrets. You know what I am, I know what you are. Complete truth always."
"Complete truth," he agreed. "Starting now."
"Then know this—if you ever hunt my family, if you ever raise a weapon against Anteiku—"
"I won't." His eyes were already closing. "I've made my choice. You. Us. Whatever that means..."
"Sota?"
But he was already asleep, head dropping onto my shoulder. The exhaustion and cold and emotional upheaval had finally caught up.
I sat there on the floor of Anteiku, a ghoul cradling a CCG investigator, and wondered what the hell we were doing. This was insane. Dangerous. Probably doomed.
But he'd chosen me. Knowing what I was, he'd chosen me.
And I'd chosen him too.
Koma's POV
"They've been quiet for like ten minutes," I whispered, pressed against the top of the stairs with Irimi.
"Maybe they killed each other," she suggested.
"Don't joke about that." But I was worried too. The fighting had stopped abruptly after that emotional crescendo.
"Should we check?" Irimi asked.
"Manager said to give them privacy."
"Manager's not the one pressed against a stairwell like a teenager." She shifted. "Five more minutes, then I'm going down."
But five minutes turned to ten, then fifteen, with no sound from below.
"Okay, that's it." Irimi started down the stairs with me close behind.
We peered around the corner into the main shop and both stopped dead.
Sota and Touka were on the floor, leaning against a table leg. He was dead asleep on her shoulder, and she'd dozed off with her head on top of his. Their hands were linked, fingers intertwined even in sleep.
"Well," Irimi said quietly. "That's not what I expected."
"Should we wake them?"
"Are you insane? Look at them." She pulled out her phone. "I'm getting a picture. Nishiki owes me money."
"You're terrible."
"I'm opportunistic." She snapped the photo. "Besides, when else are we going to see Touka looking that peaceful?"
She had a point. Even asleep, exhausted from the emotional battle, they both looked... settled. Like they'd found something worth the fight.
"Come on," Irimi said. "Let's get some blankets. They'll be sore enough from sleeping on the floor without adding cold to it."
We retrieved blankets from upstairs, draping them carefully over the sleeping couple. Neither stirred.
"Think they'll make it?" I asked as we headed back upstairs. "A ghoul and an investigator?"
"Honestly? No." Irimi glanced back. "But looking at them... maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe trying is enough."
"That's unexpectedly romantic of you."
"Shut up. And you tell anyone I said that, I'll deny it."
I grinned. "Your secret's safe with me."
We left them there, two orphans who'd found each other against all odds, sleeping peacefully in the dawn light of Anteiku. Tomorrow would bring new challenges to the couple.
But for now, they had this. And maybe that was enough.
_____________________________________________
A/N: Yes, yes. I know. it was a bit sudden everything and all. I... honestly don't know how to write it better, also wanted the excuse for them living together and took it... yeah.
As for the gambles, the bet Nishiki had he'd already won it before, the new one was about if they'd stay together despite knowing she was a ghoul, dunno how to put it there without ruining the atmosphere so I'm leaving it here. CIAO!
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Yes. I'm kind, I added this chapter to avoid leaving ya'll on a cliffhanger, I do have more chapters saved up actually as I've been pretty bored in my flights (been traveling), but I need another reason to dump them! also gonna be out of the country soon again so I'll probably upload them like in 2 or 3 weeks? probably by then I'll dump the entire story btw. (it will be around 40 to 50 chapters in total tbh)
Any suggestions for reasons to drop them? Or any good meme?