Black Water | Tokyo Ghoul

Chapter 17: Flying Blind

For a second, the walls seemed to be sliding closer to Rin, boxing him in a steel cage and silently shutting him out of his comfort zone.

It was unexpected for someone like him to hear the words "I won't leave you hanging."

Amon basically just told Rin that he won't leave him alone. That he trusted Rin even when he barely knew anything about him. At first, his speechlessness and shortness of breath was just a momentary lapse of shock at the kind words from an enemy, but he quickly realized that Amon was a man true to his word.

As much as he hated to admit it, Amon Koutarou was, sometimes, a painfully and annoyingly kind person.

He wouldn't harm Erin Murakami. Instead, he might even become his friend. He believed that Erin was good.

Rin almost laughed at Amon's foolishness and naivety but he simply found himself staring at Amon's wide back, remembering that it almost felt like Rin was curled up in the warmth of his bed when Amon carried Rin's drunk ass to the safety of his own apartment.

The boy tried not to let his condescending mind take over and just barely shoved away the image of Amon without a doubt falling victim to one of many lying con artists. Rin hadn't said much about Erin Murakami's backstory.

The only thing Amon might've known about Rin's alias was that he was a drummer for a local rock band, someone with mild anger issues, and a proclivity for annoying anyone he could.

Rin silently scoffed at himself but didn't bother to hide the taunting lopsided grin on his face.

'He trusts Erin Murakami.'

That was it. It was all Rin needed to get his legs working again. With a short huff, he straightened himself, eyes hard and cold as he followed the Dove.

Amon had already put slight distance between the two of them, glancing at Rin now and again but the boy let himself stay away for a while, not wanting to get close to the Dove for now since he was feeling an old but very familiar churning in his chest. He's felt it before only once in his young life but it was more than enough to make him slowly hate the only person he trusted.

Thinking hard, the boy was instantly taunted by the image of Jin in the middle of that old, quiet street, empty and inhabited by old couples and anti-social singles. His hood pulled over his head and a gentle smile curling the corner of his lips, Rin remembered Jin turning away and leaving Rin for the 20th ward.

"You can handle yourself." Jin had said that day. He said it with his usual bright smile, but Rin couldn't help but whip his head away, hating that smile.

Rin felt the slight grimace on his face, the way his brows subtly knit together over his dark eyes.

Turns out he wasn't the only cruel one.

Rin walked far from Amon for a while, staring at his back and studying him, trying to organize his thoughts. Realizing that the hallway had ended and that they were in another room without any quinque in sight, the boy knit his brows together.

"Are you sure this is where we're gonna get the thing?" Rin asked, looking around for anyone who looks like they could possibly hand Rin his new quinque.

So far, the two have been walking in comfortable silence without anyone else interfering. Though he thought the silence was comfortable, it was slightly unnerving to the boy and he couldn't stop himself from running a nervous hand through his mess of black hair now and again. They did practically open up to one another with Amon saying something so embarrassing at the end, but still.

Rin couldn't help but feel the uneasiness practically stamped into his genetic code and curling inside him like wood shavings. He could feel that Amon was looking down at him with a bored and slightly condescending look in his eyes, looking as if he was about to say something, but before Rin could snap at him,