Black Water | Tokyo Ghoul

Chapter 13: Acceptance

A.N. New Character up above! 

Three days had passed since Rin last talked to Amon and so far, nothing bad has happened.

Well...nothing very bad, that is.

With his mind wandering all over Amon's offer and the fact that the higher ups in CCG asked for him themselves, Rin had been battling possible happy endings against potential death sentences if he ever did accept the job. Though the boy prided himself on his sharpness of mind, his body did occasionally refuse to follow his brain. Because of all his muddled thoughts on the CCG, Amon, his brother and his secret life, more accidents started to happen around him.

Two days ago, he had messed up horribly during a gig-missing a beat and stumbling over his drumsticks.

Humiliated, the boy refused to leave the dressing room until every single person who watched the live and witnessed his clumsiness dispersed. Of course his band mates thought it was hilarious and slightly cute but Rin despised the mere fact that he forgot a beat much less dropped his drumsticks and made their vocalist's voice jump a note higher than the usual. Unlike Rin, Luka wasn't really bothered by the sudden squeakiness of his own voice.

"Erin was the one who-"

Kuruta elbowed the young vocalist, gaining a loud whine from the boy which the leader easily countered with an annoyed glare. After a long while of knocking on the door, the rest of the band made for the wise choice and simply left Rin to sulk in the dressing room.

At first, Rin thought that that could've been the worst event. He was wrong.

The next day, he almost got hit by a truck that had lost its breaks before he stumbled over his feet while going down Anteiku's stairs and spilled (very expensive) ground coffee all over the polished wood floors.

Rin wanted to ask someone about his problem so he could be momentarily relived of the stress piling up on him. He wanted to ask what he should do, but of course, there was no one to ask. If he asked the old man, he'd definitely be greeted with an easy 'no, your safety will be compromised'.

Itori definitely would say yes and give him some words but Rin never trusted her in the first place.

For all he cares, she could be humming sweet words that would actually bring him marching straight to his death like a stupid toy robot. For a moment, he wished Rize was still sitting next to him, the familiar, playful smirk on her face as she relished the confusion Rin was going through.

Rin deeply sighed as he pressed his palms against the kitchen countertop, annoyed with himself when he recalled all the events for the past few days.

"Rin."

The boy turned and was instantly greeted by the warm huff of coffee and Kaneki Ken's small but weirdly confident smile. Not understanding what Kaneki was doing, Rin only watched as Kaneki pushed the cup of coffee towards Rin.

"I noticed you've been looking really tired lately." Kaneki said with the usual, quiet voice.

Rin felt his eyes soften with annoyance at the recollection of his days. 'No kidding.'

Unaware of Rin's thoughts, Kaneki continued, "So I thought this could cheer you up."

Rin stared down at the dark drink, watching the clear warmth curling from the liquid. After stealing a minute glance at Kaneki, Rin gingerly took the cup, flinching a bit when his skin brushed up against Kaneki's colder thumb.

"Thanks." Rin quietly said. At the corner of his eye, he saw Touka pause to watch the two of them, an indecipherable look in her one visible eye. Rin wanted to raise a brow of challenge to her but before he could, the girl turned her head then simply walked away.