Chapter 41: revenge

There is no such thing as a happy ending for a ghoul. Just a sequence of tragic events and loss.

Sigmund Freud – On ghouls and the out of control ID.

Ken was going to kill Hide for this. He didn't know how the human had gotten this together. Or how he did it without Ken even noticing a thing. But now here he was, in the center of the Kamii campus, surrounded a crowd of spectators as one of three judges for a cooking contest. 'Damn it Hide! What did I do to deserve this public execution?' Ken anguished. He looked into the crowd to see said boy grinning at him like some victorious Bond villain. Next to him was Kimi and Nishiki. The human of the couple looked worried for him; warming his heart. Apparently she realized how torturous this would be for a ghoul. But her ghoul boyfriend just smirked and mockingly waved at him. He flipped Nishiki off but this seemed to only make the ghoul's smirk widen.

Ken looked at the other two judges. He didn't know much about them. Just some school playboy and a culinary teacher from the university. Apparently they had been chosen based on popularity with the female contestants after he had so graciously "volunteered" by way of Hide. For today though, He found himself envious of these humans. For them, this was an event to enjoy. They got to eat delicious food from several lovely ladies. But for Ken, it was his own personal hell. He not only found himself in an embarrassing situation, surrounded by humans watching and observing him, but was also forced to poison himself and pray to god that he didn't get discovered when he barfed everything back up. Plus, he had to give comments on it and rate it. How was he supposed to tell them that their hard cooked food tasted like maggot infested roadkill? His only saving grace was that he was the last of the three judges so he could just make up his answer based on what they said.

Some peppy girl come up onto the stage. Ken knew her from other competitions and even the last school festival they had had. She was apparently the official mc for school events and such. He had to admit, she was good at her job. Getting the crowd to cheer and introducing the contestants. Even he felt a bit giddy from all this excitement. Eventually she stared to introduce the judges. First was the playboy with his overly stylized hair, trendy clothes, and a cologne that even from this far made Ken feel like gagging. He was pretty sure that half the reason humans started wearing this stuff and perfumes was to drive off ghouls with how half of them, at least to him, smelled atrocious. Then came the teacher next but nothing about him really stood out to Ken. He seemed normal but in a really pleasant way. He actually gave off the feeling of a stay at home dad. Lastly it came to Ken. He laughed at his introduction and the cheers he got. "Thank you for letting me take part in this. Unfortunately I've been away from campus a bit lately due to being a bit sick recently but I will still do my best as a judge and I assure you will be fair and balanced."

The announcer girl went over a few more things and even did a fancy unveiling of the competition's mystery ingredient That Ken ignored in an effort to not think about what he would soon have to face. The announcer screamed go and the crowd cheered as the girls rushed to the portable kitchens that had been set up for the event and started cooking. Soon the first meal was up. It looked some sort of traditional fish dish for the most part with some side dishes of sushi and rice. The first two judges tasted it and of course gave glowing reviews over the dish. Ken had to fight not to recoil from just the smell. It was like he had put his nose up to a chemical fire. But things only got worse when he looked back into the crowd again. He saw among the crowd members of the CCG appreciation club.

He had made it a point to avoid being even in the same room as them when possible and was pretty certain that they would be able to spot if he only pretended to chew. This meant he'd have to truly eat the offending meal in front of him. So, with a deep breath, he bit into the fish. It tasted like he expected; amazingly bad. Like eating week old garbage. And having to chew it was even worse. The taste rolled around his tongue with each chew. Finally he was able to swallow it down and did his best to smile before giving a review based on what the other two had said. The cheering from the crowd told him that he had succeeded to some extent.

And so on it went. He was forced to try one horrible creation after another while pretending to enjoy it. Of course the crowd loved the show and cheered on their favorite contestants. Ken also had to rate the meals so he just made up a number that sounded reasonable. Thankfully the end was in sight. He just had three more dishes left.

He got through the first two, but people were noticing that he didn't seem well. He kept up his story about having been sick and not completely over it. Thanking people for their concern but wishing to carry on and eat such wonderful dishes. The sudden cheers, largely female, informed him that they had bought his excuse. The last dish was soon placed in front of him.

It looked like some sort of pasta or ravioli. Ken didn't really know the difference between the two. He looked it over while ignoring the noxious smell that attack his nose and making up more positive commentary. He could feel his stomach growling angrily at him in protest of this treatment. He finally took a bite, and his stomach revolted. He was able hold it though he started to cough into his napkin.

He finally stopped coughing but before he could move the napkin away from his mouth, he tasted blood. Looking down at his napkin discreetly, Ken could see blood all over the inside of it. This was really bad. If he let them see this, then he'd be rushed to the medical offices and they'd easily find out what he was with all those tests they do. Before he could play it off, the mc came over to him to ask if he was alright; putting him in center stage. He smiled the best he could while trying to figure out where to stash the napkin. But before he could answer her, his stomach started to riot again. He knew he wouldn't be able to cover it up if he started vomiting up blood. But the only thing he could do in his panicked state was noticed that Hide had disappeared from the crowd. 'What a funny thing to notice,' he thought; trying to run from reality.

Just before the woman was about to ask someone to take Ken to the infirmary, an explosion occurred in one of the portable kitchens. The fire started to spread and everyone one now fled in terror while the fire department was called. Ken used this to discreetly flee and find a nice toilet to throw up in.

Ken now sat with Hide at a table on a terrace outside the science building. Ken was still trying to deal with what was left of all that human food. Even if it wasn't as poisonous to him as it was to full ghouls, it still made him feel awful. He took another swig of the coffee he had gotten from the vending machine next to the building. Weirdly enough, drinking it helped take some of the edge off of his nausea. He heard Hide lightly laughing and intrigued asked, "And what's so funny?" Hide just smirked at him and answered, "Everything. I mean did you see how out of control that fire was. Half the quad was caught in it. That'll be a story to tell the kid's in the future." Ken took another sip before joking, "You mean about how uncle Hide almost got us killed in cooking contest?" Hide posed in mock hurt. "And how is it my fault?" Ken smirked at him. "Hey it was your event. You're at fault for what happens. Though I did notice that you disappeared near the end of it. You didn't have anything to do with the fire for reals did you?" Hide glanced around before leaning over and whispering to Ken, "I see I was discovered. I was putting the finishing touches on my secret entry that was going to blow away the competition but tripped and the oil spilled everywhere. So I was forced to book it after it caught fire. But you better not tell anyone. Not if you don't want anything to happen to your precious coffee." Ken gasped and cradled his can of coffee to his chest. "You wouldn't dare." Hide laughed manically and reached for the can before a young woman came behind him and slapped him in the back of the head with her notebook.

Hide rubbed the back of his head and looked at the new arrival with hurt in his eyes. "Oh, Maria! Why doth thou wound me so?" he asked. She just looked at him and smiled before saying, "For being such an idiot." She sat down at the table as well. Ken looked her over. She was quite beautiful and about their age. Ken could tell that she had to be at least above average intelligence from the couple of high level books in her bag. They covered pharmaceutical science, chemistry, and biology. He also noticed the plushies on her bag. 'Probably a ghoul enthusiast friend of Hide' Ken thought. Still there was something dangerous about her that Ken couldn't quite place. Something that made him feel on edge. Though she did look slightly familiar.

The girl turned to Ken and said, "I hope you don't mind me joining you. I wanted to discuss something with Hide. Ken just answered, "Its fine. But I don't think we have been properly introduced. My name is Ken Kaneki." The girl just giggled at him. "I know. You're a quite the topic in the locker rooms. Plus Hide here has talked my ear off about you since we've been hanging out for the last couple weeks or so. My name is Maria. Maria Takahashi."

Ken suddenly froze up and dropped his coffee at hearing her name. "Is something wrong Ken?!" Hide asked; with a face of honest worry. Ken just laughed him off while trying to still appear fine. "It's nothing," Ken assured him. "Just a little dizzy spell is all. You did rush me into being a judge while still recovering from a cold." But both humans at the table didn't look like they completely bought it. "So what about you Maria?" Ken asked to get attention off of himself and confirm what he thought. "What do you do? How about your family?"

The girl blushed embarrassed. "Not much to say really. I'm a clinical pharmacist major with a minors in biology and physiology. My dream is to change the world with my research for the better. As for my family I have an older brother who always has to be a big a jerk to me or try to act like a second father. A stay at home dad. And my mom. Well… she's usually busy." Ken swallowed, before asking, "With what?"

Maria seemed a bit unhappy with what she was about to say but still answered, "With fighting ghouls. My mom's a ghoul investigator. Setsuko Takahashi."

Ken was now certain who this was. Someone who he had first learned about almost a decade ago. The daughter of the woman who had killed his father and led the raid that destroyed his life. And someone he had once planned to murder when he was a part of Night Raid.

In another part of the twentieth ward, was a large skyscraper with an observation floor about halfway up it with a built in food court. Many people came here to enjoy as a family or on a romantic date. Though some came for other purposes. Among the people now here was one green haired girl with glasses and a rather frumpy look to her. She happily skipped around and hummed loudly without a care to the people around her while she bobbed her head to the beat of her song.

Suddenly she stopped and jumped right up to the window before pretending to look through her hands like a telescope. A few people looked at her like she was an idiot or crazy. Some others just laughed at her or tried to tell if she was worth hitting on. What these others didn't notice was what she was exactly what she was looking at. Far past the sight of normal humans was the figure of a dirty looking young woman slipping through the back allies of the twentieth ward; out of sight of the people walking around in the main streets. But the green haired girl spotted her as she slipped into another alley out of blocked from view from the observation deck. "Found you."