I didn't have many problems with the director. At first she asked why I was late, but after I said I was talking with a friend, she seemed… emotional, too emotional, to be honest.
"Sigh..."
While taking a shower, I wonder if I'm being too antisocial. The people I talk to the most are the caretakers and the director… I mean, it's not like I can talk to the kids if they're going to be scared of my eyes…
Remembering my eyes, I take a look at myself in the bathroom mirror. They're still black like always, but I don't see the red tendrils inside and around them, and they aren't glowing much either.
Well, it seems drinking another person's blood solves part of the problem. The eyes are still kind of scary, but it should be enough to hold a conversation.
Now that I think about it, I don't remember Toga looking scared of me. Maybe she ignored it, I'll ask her tomorrow.
Finishing my shower, I return to my cramped room, lift the mattress, and count the money I've saved by doing chores for the caretakers.
'Hmm… not bad. If I keep this up, I'll be able to buy a thing or two.'
─── ◆ ───
The next day, I'm already sitting in my seat, my head resting on the desk, waiting for the teacher to arrive and start the class.
Then I feel a poke in my ribs. I lift my head and see Toga waving at me from the seat beside mine.
"Good morning, Kaneki-kun." Her smile looked shy, but genuine, despite the "mask" she wore at school.
"Good morning, Toga-chan." I tried to smile back. I don't know if I succeeded… but the quick sparkle in her eyes suggested that I did.
The school day passes quickly. As we leave school, I see Toga waiting for me, and I walk alongside her.
"Toga, do my eyes scare you?"
"Hm? No, they don't scare me. Actually, yesterday I felt a kind of strange sensation when looking at them, but it wasn't fear," she answers softly.
"I see. Toga, can we meet tomorrow? Since it's Saturday."
"Sure, where?"
"I'll be at XXX Park at 2:00 PM with the children from the orphanage. They want to play there, and the caretakers will be busy with cleaning, so they put me in charge of watching them."
Thinking about it, the director and the caretakers must trust me a lot to give me that responsibility, even though the orphanage isn't that far from the park.
"I can do it. It's really close to my house, so we'll meet there," she says, smiling normally this time.
After saying goodbye to Toga beside her house, I start walking back to the orphanage.
I have a few things I want to ask Toga about that personality counseling clinic. It seems really wrong in several ways.
I also want to ask her about how her parents treat her, based on her words, it doesn't seem good at all…
─── ◆ ───
The next day, I'm sitting on a park bench watching the children play when I see a familiar figure waving in the distance.
"Hello, Kaneki-kun!" Toga waves her arm above her head excitedly.
"Hi, Toga-chan. How are you?" She sits down beside me on the bench, nodding in agreement.
"I wanted to ask a bit about the situations you've been going through. Is that okay?" She nods, even though she looks a little anxious about talking about it.
"Do you remember the name of the clinic your parents put you in?"
"Uh-huh. It's Aya Kurokawa. I think that's also the psychologist's name."
'I don't remember finding any licensed place with that name in the city, nor a psychologist with that name on the internet…'
"Toga… did your parents say how they found that clinic?"
"I heard them talking. My dad said a coworker recommended it. Why?" Her innocence makes my chest tighten.
"Toga, maybe that place— " I'm interrupted by a commotion at the playground. I see some older boys intimidating the orphanage kids.
My eyebrows twitch slightly. Red tendrils appear in my eyes as I speak to Toga while standing up.
"Stay here. I'll be right back."
─── ◆ ───
POV – Willow – An orphanage child
"And what are you gonna do? Call your parents? Oh right, you don't have any! Hahaha." I feel my body tremble with anger as I hear the bully talking to me and the other orphanage kids.
"Hahaha." The other two boys join in laughing. My eyes start to water, and I can see the others in the same situation.
"Leave them alone." After hearing the familiar voice, I feel a gentle touch on my shoulder, pushing me slightly aside.
"Eh?… W-we're not afraid of you." The bully's bravado crumbles when he sees Kaneki's eyes, glowing with a rage I've never seen him show.
I see the bully's hand, trembling, start forming a ball of water.
Before I can warn him, Kaneki activates his own Quirk. Four red, scaly tentacles rise up, almost twice his size.
Even in daylight, he looked like a nightmare monster. And yet, I felt safe beside him.
The sight of the threatening Quirk makes the bullies run away. When we can barely see them in the distance, Kaneki sighs and looks at us.
His eyes no longer seem threatening, and his tentacles dissolve into beautiful red fragments.
"Are you all okay?… Uh?" Before he can finish the sentence, I hug him tightly.
"Thank you, big brother." I feel him freeze for a few seconds, then he gently pats my hair.
"You're welcome, Willow. You can go back to playing… just don't burn anything, okay, young lady?" I stick my tongue out at him as I turn back to the other kids, all of us smiling now.
─── ◆ ───
POV – Kaneki
'Big brother, huh…' Scratching my head, I turn back to the bench, only to see Toga with a smile stretching from ear to ear.
"You're really good with them," she says, looking at me as I sit beside her.
"I try, but most of them are afraid of me."
"Anyway, Toga, back to the topic. I don't think that clinic is legalized. I didn't find a clinic with that name on the internet. In fact, I didn't find anything saying that this kind of clinic is legal."
"What does that mean?" Toga tilts her head, a bit confused.
"It means what they're doing to you is wrong, Toga. They shouldn't try to 'fix' you or turn you into someone else." I emphasize the word fix.
She looks a bit depressed and thoughtful. Even if children here are smarter, this kind of independent thinking is still complicated.
"How did your parents treat you after you started feeling a desire for blood?"
"They… they started ignoring me, sometimes looking at me strangely. They… sniff" Tears begin to stream down her face.
I move closer and gently pat her head, which seems to help a bit, and she continues.
"It started when I brought a dead little bird to show them. I wanted them to see the pretty red of its blood. Sniff They accused me of killing the bird, even when I said it wasn't me… sniff they didn't believe me…"
So that's why she cried when I believed what she said the other day at the park…
"After that, they put me in the clinic… and at kindergarten my friends said my smile was scary… sniff" The tears keep flowing as I hug her.
"My parents said I was problematic and that there was malice in me. One day I heard them talking… my mom said that… sniff she regretted having me… sniff" She continues, her face buried in my chest.
Damn… it's worse than I thought. Much worse…
"I'll help you, Toga. I'll be by your side, no matter what happens." She lifts her head, her eyes still full of tears.
"Thank you… thank you, Kaneki-kun."
─── ◆ ───
[A/N]:
Willow was inspired by Willow herself from Don't Starve... Without the completely white eyes, I think.