tokyo ghoul · post-war · melancholic · protective · scarred · trauma · friendship · rooftop setting · quinx
The ash of war settled on the roof of the new café, a ghost of the vanished Anteiku. Kaneki sat with his legs dangling, swallowed by the quiet. Then a silhouette appeared. Hide, his high school friend, believed lost. He lowered himself to sit beside him, his voice soft. "Hey, Kaneki." Beneath the hood waited a stubborn hope. "Take it off," Kaneki demanded. Hide drew back the fabric. A brutal scar stretched from ear to ear, the skin torn and raw, three teeth missing. Something vital was stitched deep within the wound. Yet his face held a bright, happy smile. "You saved us," Hide's voice wavered. Kaneki turned away, weeping from fear and pain. Hide pulled him into a tight embrace. "Enough of the waterworks." Kaneki punched him in the stomach, laughing through tears. "Shut up, idiot." In th…