A Ghouls Cry | Kaneki Ken

|Chapter 31|

Sasaki unwillingly nodded. There was no use of trying to deny it. He already - sort of - confessed his feelings to the blue eyed girl, so what would it hurt to let her know he would jump in front of a speeding train or a bullet for her.

Rima didn't look to pleased with his answer, but covered up her feelings again with another smile. She pulled Sasaki farther into her new room, acting like she never heard his declaration.

"Here, help me decide where I should put what~!"

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At Akira's Apartment....

"Did we really buy her this many clothes?..."Akira sweatdropped as she continued to take the clothes out of Rima's dresser drawers and fold them, putting them neatly into a box that would be sent over to Sasaki's in a few days. Akira was starting to doubt her memory. She couldn't remember ever buying Rima all these clothes when they went shopping.

Finishing with the second drawer, Akira moved to the last one - the top drawer - glad to be done with the clothes. Just as Akira started pulling socks and undergarments from the drawer, the sound of paper crunching got her attention. Looking closely back into the drawer, Akira spotted a folded up piece of paper.

"What is this? A receipt maybe?..."

But Akira wondered why Rima would keep a receipt in her drawer.

At the QS Apartment...

"Haise-kun~ I'm tired..."Rima mumbled as she flopped face first onto her new bed, tired from moving around stuff in her room. Sasaki smiled as he sat against the bed on the floor. He was tired to, but he decided to keep quiet about that. He wouldn't want Rima to think of him as a weak man.

"I'll leave if you want so you can rest."Sasaki suggested.

It had been a couple of days since Rima had moved into the QS, and since then Sasaki had bought a few things for Rima's room - despite her protests - and they had spent all day trying to put a desk and bookshelf together. That was already hard enough since nobody in the apartment really knew how to put something together - that was found out when the whole bookshelf fell apart on top of Shirazu, giving him a nice bump on his head - so they didn't expect the bookshelf to weight almost 200 lbs. It seemed Sasaki had bought a nice, thick oak wood bookshelf on accident while he was watching Rima look at a picture of a small white kitten.

Needless to say, Urie was the one who was now going to buy any new furniture, not Sasaki.

Rima turned over on her side to face Sasaki,"No. I'm not sleepy tired, just 'don't want to move anymore' tired..."Rima corrected, causing a small chuckle to escape Sasaki's lips.

"Ah, I didn't know there was a difference..."

"Of course there is! On one side, you're so tired that you just want to sleep for days, while on the other side, you just don't feel like moving for days. There's a big difference!"

Sasaki smiled at Rima small rant, and just nodded his head to show her he agreed with her explanation. After that it was quiet for a few minutes, the two of them enjoying the feeling of just being in each other's company. It was so quiet that Sasaki almost dozed off. Almost being the key-word, seeing as he jerked awake at the sound of Rima's low voice.

"Haise-kun... What would you do if I just suddenly... disappeared?..."Rima asked as she played with a loose thread on her blanket.

Sasaki's heart skipped a beat at hearing the words 'Rima' and 'disappear' in the same sentence, and he quickly turned to look at Rima his eyes wide.

"Why!?"Sasaki exclaimed. He wondered what suddenly brought this up? Did she remember the conversation about Aogiri Tree wanting her back, and she's scared!? Sasaki watched as Rima sat up, hugging her legs lightly, not looking him in the eyes as she played lightly with her intertwined fingers.

Rima hesitated slightly,"I was just wondering how my friends from before felt when I disappeared. I consider you a close friend, someone I care about a lot. So I wanted to know how you would feel if I suddenly went away, so I could at least know what I put them through..."Rima explained quietly.

"Rima..."Sasaki's mumbled sadly. He couldn't take it anymore, seeing Rima upset and sad about something she couldn't have prevented, made him sad also. Unconsciously, Sasaki moved to sit beside Rima, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders,"... You didn't put them through anything. What happened wasn't your fault. Don't be sad anymore, I-I heard its not good for your health!"Sasaki tried to lightened the mood with a small joke - which wasn't really a joke, but it made Rima smile.

"Ok."She nodded, but looked at Sasaki seriously,"... But just please tell me though. How would you feel if I just suddenly left?"

Sasaki was glad that the only reason Rima was sad was because she felt bad for making her friends sad. Friends that she couldn't even remember. He guessed it showed how much of a kind person Rima was. Memories or not.

"Do you really want to know?"Rima nodded. Sasaki looked to his hand that had unknowingly grabbed Rima's,"... Well if you were to suddenly disappear, I think I would freak out at first, worried that something bad was happening to you. Then I would start blaming myself... thinking that if I had just been a little more careful then maybe you wouldn't-"

Sasaki's eyes widened as a small hand came to rest over his mouth. Looking down, Sasaki spotted Rima looking at him sternly.

"Don't ever blame yourself for something that happened to me. Just like you just said, what happened to me isn't my fault or yours, it's theirs. Don't ever blame yourself, okay?"Rima lectured, and something in her tone made Sasaki nod. It was almost like Rima wasn't speaking to him, like she was speaking to someone else.

Rima sighed, before removing her hand from Sasaki's mouth,"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me..."Rima apologised, running a hand through her hair.

Sasaki immediately shook his head,"No. You don't have to apologise. You're under a lot of stress right now. With just being discharged from the hospital and moving from Akira's place to here, starting the academy soon... you're just under to much right now."Sasaki explained, rubbing Rima's upper arm gently,"You just need to rest."

Rima nodded slowly,"Yeah I guess your right. I really must be 'sleepy tired'."

Sasaki smiled before standing up, helping Rima under the covers,"Sleep. I'll come wake you up when everyone gets back...."Sasaki whispered tucking Rima in, giving her a small kiss on the top of her head.

Rima felt the full force of her stress as soon as her head hit the pillow,"Thank you, Haise-kun...."Rima mumbled tiredly.

Sasaki walked over to her door, turning.off the bedroom light,"Your welcome, Rima..."He whispered back to an already asleep Rima before walking out of her room, shutting the door quietly.

With Akira...

"I don't know who could have wrote it. It could have been Rima for all we know. That's why I don't want to make such a big deal out of it right now."Akira said as she eyed the note on the kitchen table.

"But why would Rima write a note to herself to remember why she 'ran away from them in the first place'?"Arima questioned."We don't even know who them is anyway..."

Akira sighed, rubbing her temples,"She wrote down all them memories in that notebook of hers. Maybe she also wrote the note down to remember something else..."Akira suggested.

"Then if she wrote it down to remember something... we need to find out who she ran away from before she ends up running away from the wrong people..."Arima said.