Rules of Engagement: BOOK 2 [Tokyo Ghoul: Female!Kaneki x Tsukiyama]

Chapter 18

Hide leaned forward as his phone buzzed. He tilted his screen and clicked on the notification to view the message.

KenHideGetAGirlfriend:
Hey Shuu.
I think I'm done.
With you
With all of this
I was stupid
And foolish
And I hurt you
And I'm sorry
But I hurt me too
So don't feel the need to hurt me back
Because I've fought myself enough for the both of us.
I wonder what would have happened
If we'd met before our lives went to shit
When I had a living mom
And you had a healthy mom.
I wonder if we would have been friends. But here's the thing.
I don't think so.
If we weren't so broken, I don't think we would have been looking for someone to put us back together, to fix us, to complete us.
If I had been happy and you had been happy, then we wouldn't have needed each other. We wouldn't have even noticed each other.
You would've walked right past me
And I you
And we would have carried on,
Happily, ignorantly.
It's like I told you, Shuu.
When someone leaves you, someone else will step in to fill the hole.
But when someone comes into your life, someone else has to get out to make room.
When I came into your life, maybe the fit wasn't right, because I ended up getting squeezed right back out.
And I know, it was my fault.
But maybe I was just the wrong piece for your puzzle.
I really want to argue against that
But what choice do I have?
I'm only going to hurt both of us if I get closer
So I think I'll just cut
My losses and leave.
Have a nice life Shuu
My part in it is over.

***

Hide stared at his phone. "Ken texted me by mistake?" he asked aloud, but there was no answer. Ken had left his house the morning after she'd slept over and had only been back one or two nights, probably because of her awful aunt, but Hide hadn't asked about it.
He'd seen her crying once, and he'd figured it was because of Shuu, but he hadn't asked about that either. But who else could it have been?
But Hide refocused his thoughts to the text. It scared him. Ken wasn't one for elaborate, poetic texts. She just wasn't.
And the line breaks...they emphasized certain words that made Hide especially nervous.
And the beginning and the end...
Hide came to a question and one firm conclusion.
Should he forward the text to Shuu since it was meant for him anyway?
And the conclusion: he needed to find Ken, no matter what.