3 Chapter 3: A gate, a cafe, and Auntie Rize

For the hundredth time today Kaneki asked himself what was with humans and celebrating with food. It was all their fault that now, instead of finishing preparations to leave, he and twins were now suffering the effects of the poison humans call food. The first assault was from his work companions. After telling them his plans to leave, they decided to take him out for farewell drinks. Thankfully, he was just under the legal age so he avoided having the urine scented beer. But he still had to suffer through the motor oil they called soda while forcing down greasy gyoza and grassy edamame. Next the twins were pushed into going to some arcade pizza place by their friends while Kaneki, luckily, had to skip out as he was busy with the moving preparations. Though the twins got their revenge when one of them "accidently" threw up all over his favorite pillow before she could get to the toilet. The greatest crucible however was due to their neighbors. Rather than doing something nice like bowling or some friendly card games, the Kanekis' neighbors instead decided to throw a potluck dinner. It took everything he had to swallow it all down. He even was forced to eat some of the twins' food as they were still suffering from the aftereffects of the pizza. He was still sick, almost a full day later. They all finally felt well enough to head out late that afternoon. Most of their belongings had already been sent ahead to the new apartment he'd rented leaving them each with only one bag each, a nondescript looking package holding a couple weeks supply of food, and couple of books to read in case of a delay in route. After one final check to make certain they had not left anything behind, Kaneki locked up and handed the key to the land lord.

It did not take them long to reach the train station. Ken was feeling extremely nervous now. They were so close but that just made him feel even more threatened that they would be discovered. Maybe someone would notice that he, Kuro, and Shiro were still not feeling well and figure out the true cause instead of just assuming allergies or a small cold. Then he noticed them. There were several doves all around. The site of their silver briefcases bringing a chill to his bones. He tightened his grip on the bag that held their reserve meat and locked eyes with Kuro and Shiro who both got the message. 'Don't anything stupid that would bring attention to us'. They bought their tickets and were heading for the right track when a hand landed on Shiro's shoulder.

Shiro jumped a bit and Kuro turned to yell at whoever it was till she went pale. Kaneki felt ever muscle in his body tighten as he faced the hand's owner. The suitcase immediately identified the man as a dove. Though rather than a clean cut stoic looking officer, the man looked more like someone from an asylum with his slightly hunched back, creepy eyes and long white-gray hair. Somehow this made him look even scarier to the trio of half ghouls. "Excuse me miss, I'm inspector Mado of the CCG. As you may know, we are currently cleansing this ward so I hope it would not be too much trouble for you to answer a few questions for me." Something screamed in the back of Ken's mind to just freak out and run now. Like a half forgotten memory that warned him that this particular dove was truly bad news. Instead, Kaneki spoke up rubbing his chin, "Sorry, inspector, while I wish we could be of some help but were late as is. So we need to catch the next train. It'll be here in a couple minutes actually." The man grinned in response; making his face look more deranged. "I see. That's too bad. But perhaps, you could do one other thing for me though,"

The inspector started leading Shiro to some weird metal detector looking thing, "Could you just walk through this gate please?" Shiro looked to her older brother, who remained calm on the outside. But on the inside, Kaneki was freaking out. He didn't know exactly what that thing was, but if it belonged to the investigators then it couldn't be good. Heartbeats increased as the young girl was lead closer and closer to the gate. As she reached it, Kaneki and Kuro both subtly got ready if they had to fight or run. Shiro walked through the gate and nothing happened. The deflating response of the investigator wasn't missed by Kaneki. The train arrived then and the three Kaneki siblings quickly got on. The investigator continued to watch them leave with a puzzled expression. Another investigator approached him from behind. "Is something wrong Mado?" "No, Amon-kun. Nothing at all. Just seems that I was mistaken. Oh well, back to work then." "Yes sir," Amon acknowledged. Mado's thoughts remained on those three siblings. Something about them did not sit right with him. Perhaps he'd meet them again.

Ken sighed as he walked with his head down. The twins followed close behind. It had been a couple weeks since they had settled here and unfortunately he had failed once again to find a job. He figured they had the funds to last for at least another month. The apartment being the major drain on their finances. It was a nice one, quite larger and now the twins were able to have their own bedroom rather than share one with their brother. It even came with nice furniture including plenty of book cases for their collection of books. Unfortunately, this translated into the place being over double the cost of their old one. Still that was not the biggest worry Ken had. No the biggest one was food. They had eaten through almost all they had brought with them. And being busy unpacking and looking for a job, none of them had had any time to scope out any good places to scavenge or even hunt. There was also the issue that if he did resort to hunting he might end up stepping in the territory claimed by some local bigshot. He didn't think it would be that much of a threat. But it would probably be a bad idea to get on the bad side of the local ghouls. That reminded him of another thing he'd been putting off. Not only had he not mingled with the locals he also still had not introduced himself and the girls to boss of the ward. 'What if they don't accept them? Could they be chased out of the ward?' Ken was knocked out of his depressing thoughts by Kuro slapping on the back. "Cheer up bro. I'm sure you'll get the next one. But for now how about some coffee?" Kaneki smiled back and ruffled her hair. "Yeah you're right. Let's take a break."

They found a nice looking coffee shop about a block down the road; Anteiku. Ken felt that he had heard that name somewhere before. Deciding it was not that important, Ken opened the door and let his sisters in. Inside, he detected the obvious sent of ghouls; a lot of them. Due to the deluded nature of their blood, the siblings' senses did not quite reach the level of a full-fledged ghoul but they were still quite powerful. While they couldn't tell exactly who was and who was not a ghoul here, the strength of the scent told them that this was a major hub for those not human.

They sat at a table near the window. Kuro and Shiro took to watching the crowds walking by as Ken once again pulled up the local wanted ads on his phone. The waitress came by and Kaneki looked up from his phone and ordered three black coffees. Ken thought she looked pretty good though a bit young. Her looks gave her both a cute and tomboyish style to her. "Ah, what's this? You're looking a little flushed there big bro. Are you perhaps a bit smitten with our waitress?" Kuro asked. Her face twisted into a mischievous smirk. "Haah!? As if. It's just polite to look her in the eyes when making an order. It's not like I thought she was cute," the male ghoul shot back. This caused the two younger siblings to giggle as they started mockingly sing, "Big bro has a crush" over and over despite ken trying to stop them. So caught up in their little game were they that they did not notice the new entrant to the café till they heard a familiar voice. "Kaneki-kun? And the twins too. Ma, what a pleasant surprise." Kaneki groaned while the twins both jumped up and call out, "Auntie Rize!" Suddenly Ken felt at least half of the eyes in the shop lock onto their table. Many of those stares were obviously not friendly. Groaning again, he laid his head on the table. 'What kinda trouble have been causing here for us to get that kind of attention from just being close to you, you glutton' Ken wondered. Rize came over and sat next to Ken. "Oh, Come on now, is that any way to act meeting me for the first time in over a month. You almost make a girl feel unwanted." Before he could answer her, the waitress came with their coffee. Ken noticed the light scowl she had as she saw the new person at the table. She quickly placed their drinks on the table and turned to leave. "Touka-chan, would be so kind as to bring me a cup too?" Rize asked. Touka just gave an accenting grunt and walked back to the kitchen. "Now," Rize turned to Ken and asked, "why is my lovely little family so far from home hmm?" Ken took a minute to word it to not tip off any of the nearby humans before answering, "Well we moved. After all that happened, the old place was no longer safe. I think you know who is to blame for that though. Good news is we have a place to stay. Bad news though, I can't seem to find any work and our funds and such are starting to run dry." "Hahaha, sorry about that things just got out of hand that time. So to make it up to you how I about I introduce you to a nice place. I promise you they can help you with all your troubles," replied Rize. "Oh and just where is this amazing job of yours?" he asked. Rize simply grinned. Touka returned again. This time she slammed the cup down as hard as possibly without spilling the contents and immediately turned to leave only for Rize to call to her once again. "Oh Touka-chan. One more thing. We need the manager. Is he in?" Touka turned around. "Hah!? Do you not realize how much of a pain you've been for everyone here? And now you even want to bother Yoshimura. Why would you need him anyway?" "Now, now Touka. You should watch that temper of yours. One of these days it'll get you in a lot of trouble. As for why I need to speak with him well," Rize wrapped her arm around Ken's neck and pulled forward to bring the young waitress's attention to the only male at the table. "I need to ask him about a job for my cute little nephew."

Ken, "Eh?!"

Touka, "Eh?!"

Kuro, "Yay! Big bro finally a job!"

Shiro, "Now we won't have to worry about sleeping on the streets."

Ken wasn't sure how things had ended up this way. He'd only stopped for coffee. So why was he now in front of the café's manager? Things started to get out of control when Rize decided to help solve the Kaneki family's current predicament. First Touka got agitated. He was actually impressed by the fury this teenage girl could bring to bear. Thankfully, before it got to the point of the physical blows, the other workers intervened and ushered them into the back. The scents here revealed to him that a good many, if not all of the workers here were ghouls. "Ah, so you noticed?" Rize stated. "Welcome to Anteiku, the people in charge of the entire ward. Quite the interesting setup they have here huh?" Ken could only nod back at her. The twins started to look around excitedly like this was some sort of grand adventure.

They were ushered into a meeting room of sorts where they were seated across from a rather stoic man. In the end, Ken was pushed into telling him about basically everything. He did make certain not to give any information on where they lived or their true nature though. The next person to enter was introduced as the manager. Ken could tell this man was not to be trifled with. Despite his jovial disposition, he carried himself with an air of strength. His age alone, was an indicator of his abilities. Even Rize seemed a little more reserved in his presence. The man walked over to the window. Staring out it for a minute, before he began, "So if I'm to understand everything, Kaneki-san, you and your sisters are related to Rize and while you were able to move here successfully, finding a job has been a much harder then you expected right?" Ken acknowledged the man's words. "Hmmm well," he continued, "I suppose we could use a few new staff members. But, in return, I do have one request." Kaneki furrowed his. "And that would be?" he asked. Calmly he answered, "Nothing too difficult I hope. I just wanted you to tell me a little about your parents, is all. It's not often that one runs to half ghouls. I am curious as to how your parents came to be together." The Kanekis were shocked. He knew their secret. But how? Ken turned to Rize. Holding her hands up defensively, Rize shot out, "Hey. I didn't say anything about it. So don't look at me." The man started laughing lightly. Ken turned back to him. The man assured them, "Now, now Kaneki. No need to worry. I assure you I mean you no harm. Though I can understand your concern about your secret coming out. Not everyone would be as understanding as we are. But, you can trust us, all of us, here at Anteiku. I promise you, we will keep your secret safe. Now do we have a deal?" Ken began to think things over. 'It's true that this is a good deal. Probably better than anything else I could get. But still, is the manager really trustworthy? I mean how did he figure out that we're half ghouls? If this turns out bad, it could put the girls in danger. And it'd be all my fault again.' Ken then felt someone punch his arm hard. He looked up and saw Rize roll her eyes at him. 'Well, apparently Rize thinks its ok. She hasn't betrayed us before; intentionally." Ken took a deep breath and shook the manager's hand. "Fine you've got yourself a deal."

Omake:

"Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" Such was the latest Kaneki sibling fight. The others in the room all trying their best to ignore it but most were now losing what little patience they had had for petulant tantrums.

Touka slammed her hands down. "Enough of this! I can't believe that you guys were able to just shout yes and no back and forth for a full half hour! Look, Ken I get why you want to say no but just let them do it! Please so we can just get this over with!" "But…" Touka let out a feral growl; quickly shutting up the young man before he could finish. "Fuck it! How about you just flip a coin or use rock paper scissors to figure this out so we can finally end this!"

So the first and possibly last Kaneki-Anteiku Rock Paper Scissors cup commenced.

Winners – Shrio and Kuro

The Prize – the right to work with their brother at Anteiku.