Touka opened her eyes slowly. The dim light that was coming from her plain lamp was blinding her and she shut her eyes again. She could feel the sheets under her sore body, more harsh than she remembered them. She could sense the bed being smaller but the same time painfully familiar. She could feel her eyes watering when she heard a heavy door open and close almost without making a sound. She was too scared to look but she couldn't deny that... That familiar fragrance was the reason that a single, hot tear was now travelling across her cheek creating a water path. She felt a long, gloved finger wiping it away and a whimper escaped from her lips.

«Touka...» Kaneki's soft voice was calling her to open her eyes and embrace him. Embrace the good times. Those that loneliness wasn't hiding in every corner and her home was his arms. Those warm, strong arms that she thought could protect her from any harm. Except Kaneki himself.

Touka opened her eyes in one quick motion.

«Geez... You should stop doing that! It creeps me out». Kazuki complained. Touka sat on her soft bed, clenching her fists onto the cotton sheets and took a deep breath. Her heartbeat was erratic, she could swear that her heart will jump out of her chest any minute now. She had more than a year since the last time she dreamed of Kaneki. His soft eyes, his kind but broken smile, his gently touch. She forced herself to stop dreaming of the moments they shared. But now he was alive and things will never be the same...

«Why am I in my house? Where is Yoru?» Her mind was working fast and she tried to get up but Kazuki held her still.

«He is still at kindergarten. But it's for the best to pick him up as soon as possible». Kazuki looked worried and that was an emotion that Touka never saw reflecting on his face before.

«I wasn't dreaming, wasn't I?» She rub her eyes and looked at him straight in his eyes. Kazuki nod negatively.

«No. The King is alive my Queen». Touka grinded her teeth.

«I am not your Queen, Kazuki». She got up and went to her window. She stared at the park across her apartment. The trees that were swaying from the strong wing and the heavy rain that was piercing their leaves and their trunks. She took a deep breath.

«Touka? Now that Kaneki is alive... will you...?» He never finished his sentence. His words faded from his mouth and Touka could sense his agony while he was expecting an answer from her.

«It's too dangerous for Yoru to return to Tokyo. But I can't keep Ken away from his son...» She touched her shoulder and caress her bite mark with her fingertips. She hasn't felt it aching in years but now it was like her skin was burning. She was trying to ignore it but since the moment she saw him in this screen, she wanted to tear her shoulder skin apart. Kazuki approach her and put his palm to her other shoulder.

«Touka...» The girl turned to face him. He was avoiding her eyes and he had his head to his hands. Touka noticed the white envelope he was holding for her. She took it from his hand, without him resisting, and she immediately recognized the Tsukiyama blazon to the broken seal. She opened the envelope to see the familiar handwriting.

"Dear Mr. Goto ,

I, Tsukiyama Shuu, One eyed King's commander, must inform you that your presence is required back to Tokyo to join our forces.

We have access to all the ghouls database thanks to CCG files and my personal research and you, my dear Kazuki, as an SS rated ghoul you will be a great addition to our noble goal to achieve the peace between the species and eliminate our enemies.

Inside the envelope you will find a plane ticket with open date for you to arrive back home. Our Great Meeting will be held in my estate, at December 3th.

I am looking forward to see you,

The Black Goat's Egg Commander

Tsukiyama Shuu"

Touka clenched her fists. He didnt mention anywhere what will happen if he refused to go but she was sure what would happen. He would be hunted down and killed. She looked at him. «I must go».

«I know» His eyes were full of sadness and fear. Touka knew that feeling more than ever. But how Tsukiyama could have those kind of papers in his hands? Was there a snitch in CCG or did Kaneki kill all their members? Why use that kind of information now and in that way? Could her absence enraged him that much? No, that was a silly thought. Yes he loved her but that was a long time ago. He just went berserk because life was again too harsh with him and took away his chance for a family. Actually, Touka did it. She took away his family. But she didn't know. She couldn't know that he was alive after that attack.

And there were some other issues as well. As, if CCG knew about the ghouls that have left the country, why did they not hunt them down? Why there was no CCG in the rest of the world? Maybe the population of ghouls wasn't as high as in Tokyo or... Maybe there was another reason... «We need to go and take Yoru». Touka rushed to her door, grabbed her coat and umbrella and turned to face Kazuki. He was standing still in her bedroom watching outside the window.

«You will come to Tokyo won't you Touka?»

«Yes» Kazuki turned to face her with a sad smile on his lips. He grabbed his coat and they both exited the house. They entered Kazuki's car and headed to the kindergarten.

«What are you going to say to Yoru? He knows that his dad is dead...» Kazuki broke the silence of the ride after a while. Touka jumped in her seat. She was too absorbed to the fact that Kaneki was alive that she hadn't the time to think about that. How would Yoru react when she would tell him that his father was alive? He would blame her for taking him away from him? And how would Kaneki will react to the fact that his wife and kid was still alive? Kazuki stopped short.

«What the hell Kaz...»

Her eyes focused straight to the kindergarten building that was burning in flames now.

She got out of the car and ran to the entrance. Two cops stopped her from entering the school.

«I am sorry miss but you can't enter» one of the cops told her in a formal way.

«My son is in there!» she yelled the moment a firefighter was escorting two classes out of the building. Touka recognized the teachers that were teaching at the ground floor. She grabbed one of them and looked at her deeply in her eyes. «What happened?»

«A new teacher was showing an experiment in second floor and it went wrong. Touka I am sorry...»

She looked up to the classrooms on the second floor. Black smoke was coming from one of them that she knew it wasn't her son's. She could smell the burning flesh and she realized that the classroom that she was searching was the one next to it with no one screaming from the windows like the others.

The next thing she knew was her eyes turning, she was screaming her son's name and she was flying up in the building in supernatural speed. Her Kagune, now free after three long years, was glowing more than fire itself. She landed on the roof and she made her way down to the burning classrooms through a roof window. The smoke didn't bother her neither the flames that were licking her body. She teared her son's classroom door open to find the teacher with the kids unconscious to the floor. Memories of the night she let the kids die instead of her were filling her brain now and in front of her eyes she had now the dead bodies of those kids. She felt an arm grabbing her shoulder from behind and bringing her to reality.

«We need to take all of them out...» Kazuki was looking at her with the same bloodshot eyes as hers and his kagune exposed. He was a bikaku type and two long, black scorpion tails were now framed to his sides. The venom was shining at its edges and the red vains were vibrating under his hard skin. «And then disappear».

Touka nod and took her unconscious son in her arms along with three more kids. She flew through the window and into the London's air and let them on the ground. She could hear the screams of terror around her but she didn't care. She flew again the moment Kazuki was putting four more kids on the ground. Touka could smell the danger. She grabbed the teacher and made a final jump. The glasses from the second explosion pierced her back but she managed to land on her feet and she put the woman down. She gave Kazuki a nod and she took Yoru in her arms. He grabbed her with one of his tails and gave her the boost to jump toward the nearest roof. He then used both of his kagune to boost himself. They saw from above the TV networks arriving to the kindergarten.

«That was close» Kazuki put a hand on his messy hair «They would recognize our faces. If they talk, we can't make them believe something else. They know we are ghouls. Now what?» Touka remained still and watched the black smoke travelling across the sky the same time as the firefighters were carrying the last class safe outside.

«Now, Kazuki... We must go to Tokyo.»