Black Water | Tokyo Ghoul

Chapter 9: Lies for A Price

It's been just a week after Rin had met with the hound investigator. Until now, he still didn't have the bowl. Some people would be slightly troubled with the thought of an angry person waiting for payment, but Rin was actually enjoying all this time making Amon wait.

He chuckled to himself, thinking about Amon at night, simply staring at his phone and waiting for his call about a bowl.

From beside him, Touka suddenly appeared, a circular tray propped under her arm as she knit her brows at the boy, looking in confusion. At the moment, he was simply making coffee.

There wasn't really anything funny about spilling the hot water on his own shirt.

"What are you laughing about?" she asked, placing the tray on the counter next to him and swiping her fringe away from her visible eye.

He didn't even feel her presence at first and hearing her voice, Rin flinched slightly as his eyes whipped up to her expectant face. Touka knit her brows at him again, waiting.

Trying to clear his face of the grin, Rin shook his head and continued focusing on his coffee making.

"Nothing." he said, then took the finished coffee from the table top and pulled it up to Touka's face, watching the dark liquid swirl in the white cup. "How's this?"

Gingerly taking the cup from his hands, Touka sniffed at the smoke coiling out from the deep brown liquid first then sipped. After a while of silent thinking and staring at the boy's expectant face, she shrugged. "Not bad."

Rin nodded, satisfied with himself.

"Now tell me why you're laughing."

Rin knit his brows at this now, pulled his head up to the girl and cocked his head back, the expression on his face saying something like: "seriously?"

"I just gave you a sip of great coffee and now you're demanding something of me?" Rin asked, "People usually get a reward for doing something great, not a nosy question."

Touka raised a nonchalant brow at him and flatly said, "The coffee wasn't that great."

Rin rolled his eyes, groaning and simply turning away from the girl. "It's none of you business." He said, already grabbing the glass coffee jug and trying to stride through the narrow hallway.

"Yes it is." Touka quickly replied, easily catching up to the long legged boy with a hand out and ready to grab his arm. Right when her finger was just an inch away from the cloth of his dress shirt, Rin whirled. A deadly half-lidded glare on his face instantly stopped Touka in her tracks and almost made her stumble back.

"Watch it." Rin hissed, "I'm not someone who's always in a good mood."

"And I'm not someone who really cares." Touka shot back, glaring harder than she had the first time they met.

Rin stared at her with a half lidded stare, easily losing the sudden explosion of annoyance just a second ago. Now, all he could do was growl at her like an angry dog before turning a corner, rushing into the room where they kept the coffee beans.

"Go away." he said while thinking, 'Glaring doesn't work anymore, huh?'

"Not until you tell me."

Rin heavily sighed, trying not to let the familiar bubbling under his skin get hotter. "Seriously, what is your problem?" he asked, reaching for the can of ground Arabica coffee and letting the rough smell of the beans run up his nostrils.

"Is your paranoia a family trait or something? Not something you can get rid of so easily?"

He wasn't usually so talkative. Usually people scurried away with his simple glare and the words 'Go away' hissing out of his mouth. Touka was obviously an exception. Ever since the day he started working in the café, she seemed to be much more comfortable around Rin. Likewise, Rin seemed more comfortable with the company too.