Third person POV

Yuki arrived at the 20th ward building with a heavy heart and a heavy body. She passed by familiar and unfamiliar faces and made it to her work station with quiet steps.

*Creak* 

"Hm? Good morning Yuki-" Amon looked up from his desk. His voice halted and his eyes widened in surprise at Yuki's dreadful appearance.

"Oh? Hey Koutarou. Of course, you would be here early haha." Yuki scratched the back of her head and walked around the tables towards her seat. 

"You look like you didn't get sleep." Amon lowered his voice, not wanting to be too loud to disturb her condition. "Did something happen?" He raised a brow and frowned in concern. 

"Ah..." Yuki looked down at her lap, her pursed lips quivering. Tears prickled at the corners of her puffy eyes and slowly dripped down her face.

"U-uh!" Amon flinched in shock and paled. He stammered and jaggedly stood up. He hurriedly took out his handkerchief and graciously handed it to her to use. "S-sorry... I must have brought up something bad." 

"N-no... I'm just... Sigh..." Yuki took the handkerchief and tightly held it in her hand. She dabbed away at the tears and slowly lowered her head. "Sorry, I startled you, didn't I?" Yuki raised her head and laughed it off.

"Yeah..." Amon nodded his head and sighed. "You should take a nap."

"I-I can't!" Yuki shook her head. "I have work too, you know." Yuki sighed and picked up a pen. 

"I will take a share of your work. We're investigating the same cases now, so it should be fine. I'll fill you in on the details after you rest." 

"B-but..." Yuki winced and rubbed her head, the stress and tension pressing onto her skull. "I don't want to look like I'm slacking off..." She looked away, feeling guilty that she would get some rest while he would not. 

"Don't worry. Mado-san is at the lab working on his new quinque." Amon stated more firmly, his face not moving a single muscle. 

"Hah... Alright. But only one hour! Okay? Wake me up in one hour! Kick me off my chair if you need to wake me up!" Yuki's face flushed red, trying to haggle the time of her rest. 

"Alright. I understand. One hour." Amon nodded his head. 

Yuki sighed, defeated. She planted her arms onto her desk and laid her head onto her arms. She shut her eyes and covered her face from being seen.

"... Thank you..." Yuki mumbled.

Amon cracked into a smile. He simply stayed silent and took a stack off her desk. Hearing her soft breathing, he felt more reassured that she could use this short time to gather herself. 

'You were just smiling and making fun of me yesterday... What happened in such a short period?' Amon sighed and stood up. He walked around the table and took off his blazer. He carefully placed it around her shoulders, making sure to not disturb her as she had just fallen asleep.

-----

 Laying on the hospital bed, Kaneki's eyes shot open. Without being able to mutter words due to his parched throat, he just laid motionless on the hospital bed. 

His head, eyes, and body ached so terribly. He felt sore and his body felt heavy. Even his eyelids threatened to fall back down. 

'I... I'm alive?' Kaneki sighed into the oxygen mask, his breath fogging the mask. He aimlessly wandered his eyes around the room and blankly stared at the ceiling.

'It... It wasn't a nightmare...' Kaneki closed his eyes, his mind replaying the horrible and frightening scenes into his head.

"Urk...!" He winced at the memory of it. His breathing grew quicker and more ragged into the oxygen mask. 

'I-I...! Rize-san was a...' Kaneki groaned in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and slowly raised his hands towards his head.

"Ah!" The nurse opened the door, surprised to see Kaneki conscious. She hurriedly walked over to his bed and pressed a button above the bed's headboard. 

Kaneki slowly opened his right eye and looked up towards the nurse.

"Kaneki-san, are you alright? Where are you hurting?" The nurse asked, making a procedure check on the patient.

"M-my body is heavy... My head hurts..." Kaneki muttered clearly enough through the mask.

"I'll go get you some water and food. It should help clear your mind and give you some energy."

Even when she brought Kaneki some food, he had barely taken more than a bite. The food was just awful, and it wasn't because it's hospital food. It tasted rotten and indescribable even when it was freshly cooked.

"Is this all you're going to eat?" The nurse asked, but Kaneki did not respond. He was hiding under the sheets, feeling numb and empty. "Oh, right. Your sister and friend came by today."

"Ha..." Kaneki's eyes widened and trembled. His eyes began to water and he clutched onto the bed sheet even tighter. 

"Ah, Doctor Kanou..." The nurse picked up the tray of food. 

"How are you feeling Kaneki-Kun?" The doctor asked, but did not receive a response. "I need to check your condition. Is that alright?" Kaneki shifted in his sheets and slowly sat up straight. He nodded his head and unbuttoned his shirt. The doctor took off the stethoscope from around his neck and checked his heartbeat.

"I heard you haven't eaten anything." The doctor pulled away and placed the stethoscope down. "But there doesn't particularly seem to be anything wrong." 

"Um... My sense of taste... isn't right..." Kaneki's dull eyes came into light. 

"Sense of taste?" The doctor inquired. 

"It's like everything tastes icky..." Kaneki buttoned his shirt back on. 

"Hah..." The doctor folded his hands. "That could be psychological in nature. It was a pretty serious accident after all... There's no rush. Take all the time you need to heal." The doctor stood up from the stool and excused himself first.

-----

"What? He doesn't want any visitors?" Yuki frowned, disheartened, and hurt by the words she was being told. 

"Yes... I'm sorry. The patient requested the doctor to not allow anyone to see him for now."
 The lady at the front desk furrowed her brows, feeling sorry for Yuki.

"I see..." Yuki sighed and looked down at the bouquet of colorful carnations, peonies, and hydrangeas, which all mean well for the hope of recovery. "Could you please have someone deliver these to my brother then?" Yuki lifted the bouquet up.

"Yes. I will call a nurse to deliver this." The lady smiled.

"Thank you..." Yuki softly smiled back, leaving the bouquet with a small note on it to the lady. 

Yuki left the hospital with a long and heavy sigh. She dragged her hand down her face and tilted her head up towards the sky. 

"Hah..." She closed her eyes and brought her head down onto her palm.

'I feel like I could use a smoke...'

"... No! No smoking!" Yuki slapped her face and shook her head. "You stopped a long time ago! Bad, bad!" Yuki pushed herself to start walking. 

"I should just head back to work...!" Yuki nodded her head and raised both of her fists up to her chest in determination and a way to boost her morale. 

A/N

Y'all. I did Amon dirty TOT XD I should have requested to put Amon on the cover... Darn younger self *Sigh*... ARGHHH!!! Like. He is so 🥺😭 He deserves some love... XDXD

8/2/2020