Chapter Text
Summary: Things were getting out of hand in Tokyo, the doves somehow managed to nip the Aogiri Tree and Ghouls were being hunted left and right. No one was safe. She can’t remember how they managed to escape considering space travel was barely getting off the ground, but she, Hinami and surprisingly Hide found themselves in a similar looking Japan except there were no ghouls, no doves. Instead, the Vers Empire existed on a nearby planet and tensions between Martians and Terrans were high. While they adjusted to their new lives, they couldn’t help but hope that their other companions, Touka, Ayato, and Miko’s brother Kaneki survived as well and were looking for them. But just as they find each other, the princess of Vers is assassinated. War is upon them and now they must defend their new home. But will Terrans still spare them once their secret is out? And why does the Aldnoah Drive have a peculiar effect on them, especially half ghouls such as Miko and Kaneki?
Talking: “You don’t know anything about us!”
Thinking: Let justice be done, through the heaven fall….how disgustingly poetic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or Aldnoah Zero. I only own my character Miko.
“Hurry! Get into the shuttle!” Someone shouted to her right. Looking back and forth frantically, I could see the room flashing red and white brightly and voices behind the locked and blocked door only promised pain.
What’s 1000-
“No….Not again.” I gasped as I held in pain. “Not again….no one will go through that…”
“Oi! Hurry up! We can’t stall the shuttle any longer Miko!” The same voice earlier called out.
“Someone needs to manually open the door.” She called back, still shaking. “Go! Protect them!”
“What? No! We’re not going to leave you!” A new voice called out, sounding even more frantic than the one before.
“Go! They’ve already done their worst to me. I’ll……I’ll be fine.” I choked out, tears streaming down my face, blurring my vision as I turned to face the people calling out to me. “Go….live! Live on!” I shouted as I ran towards the control panels, my fingers dancing across the keyboard as I typed in an override. Just as I manually opened the escape door for the shuttle, the door to the room blasted open, several ghoul investigators running in just as the shuttle began accelerating.
“You’re too late.” I smiled sadly as my legs shook uncontrollably as I spotted several familiar faces, some bringing happy memories other…painful ones. “They’re going to survive. You won’t harm them anymore—”
“Hey? You ok?” Hide’s voice started the grey haired woman, nearly sending her toppling from her chair.
“Wah!!! Hide! You ass!” Miko cried, angrily glaring at her blonde friend as he laughed at her. “I swear, I’ll just lock you out the café and see how well you can get back in.”
“Hinami-chan would just let me you know that.” He smiled as he grabbed a nearby chair and took a seat as he gave her a serious look. “But in seriousness….are you ok? You kind of spaced out when you were going over the bills. Is it that bad?” Miko shook her head as she looked back at the desk where multiple papers scattered across her desk to the point she couldn’t even see the wood anymore.
“No. The bills are fine. No loans needed this time….I just…..I was just remembering some…things.”
“You mean during our escape from the CCG?” Hide asked with a sad smile. Miko nodded slowly.
“I only remember bits and pieces of it….I remember seeing Amon…..Arika….Seido….and others but….”
Despite them being my friends….why was I terrified of seeing them and why didn’t they charge after me the moment they saw me?
“Hey, don’t think too much of it alright.” Hide quickly rushed to the older woman and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Your memories will come back in time. Don’t rush them. It’s never good to rush into that sort of thing.”
“I suppose your right.” Miko sighed heavily as she stood up and stretched out her limbs before catching a glimpse of the time in her small office. “Already eleven? Has Yukio come yet to pick up Inaho?” She asked as she calmly walked out of her room towards a set of stairs. As she finally reached the end, she poked her head out, entering the Café underneath their small apartment building.
“Nope, and I don’t think Hinami-chan has gotten the concept of Trigonometry just yet.” Hide chuckled as he peeked after Miko, eyeing the two teenagers left in the café, the table they were occupying just as messy as Miko’s desk. One of them looked very focused on the material—so much so that it looked like smoke could be coming out of her ears—while the other looked like he was having no trouble at all with the subject they were talking about.
“Even I couldn’t get that shit.” Miko muttered before speaking louder. “Oi, Inaho. Since your sis isn’t here yet, you know what that means.”
“But we’re not done studying yet Onee-san!” The light brunette girl cried; her eyes wide in horror. “I need to pass tomorrow’s test or I might fail my midterm!”
“And if you oversleep, you’ll miss it completely Hinami-chan.” Miko sighed before yawning heavily. How long had it been since she had more than three hours to sleep?
“Don’t worry Hinami, I think you’ll be able to get a passing grade with all the studying we’ve manage to complete.” Another brunette—this time a boy—answered as he looked at several pieces of paper. “You just have to remember—”
“Oi! Remember rule number five! No complicated math is to be discussed in the presence of the Coffee Queen!” Miko cried as she clasped her hands over her ears, completely ignoring the deadpan stares from the teens and Hide’s laugh.
“Onee-san!”
“Kidding, kidding. But seriously pack it in. It’s time to go to bed. Inaho, you know where your spare room is.” Miko chuckled as she turned around and walked into the kitchen, muttering something about cleaning the oven.
“But Miko-san, I can walk—”
“Don’t even bother little dude, you know she won’t let you go and not to mention, I’m pretty sure your sister will feel better if you spend the night over here instead of walking by yourself to your apartment.” Hide laughed as he grabbed a spare cupcake from the display counter. “Not to mention, eating desserts in the morning gets a bit tiring.”
“You shouldn’t use Nao-kun’s cooking abilities to satisfy your food craving Hide-nii.” Hinami scolded the blonde before smirking. “Not to mention, Onee-san won’t like it if you keep stealing her baked goods.”
“What she won’t know won’t—GAH!” Hide cried in pain as a rolling pin hit him square in the head. “Miko-chan! How could you! I didn’t even do anything this time!”
“You insulted my ability to cook and then you’re stealing my food.” Miko called from the double doors as they swung slight from the force of the rolling pin. “Not to mention you’re Hide. That’s reason is enough.”
“No fair!” Hide cried crocodile tears, before turning the two teens as they finished cleaning their table. “Hinami-chan, Nao-chan, Miko-chan is bullying me!”
“Sometimes I wonder who the adult in your family is, Hinami.” Inaho replied, sending an imaginary arrow to Hide’s heart ‘killing’ him. “I can see why you’re so mature at school.”
“Well, we are a unique family, Nao-kun.” Hinami smiled. “And I won’t trade this for anything.”
“Considering you get coffee free every morning….I suppose that’s a plus.” The dark brunette muttered earning a deadpan stare from both Hinami and Hide. “If you want my sister’s coffee tomorrow morning, all you have to do is ask.” Hinami chuckled, leading the brunette up to their apartment. “Oh and about tomorrow’s test….” As their voices died Hide looked towards the Kitchen where he could see Miko standing just behind the door.
“They’re already upstairs you know that right?” Hide muttered as he stood up and stretched out before putting his chair back.
“I know….but Hinami’s hearing is getting better and better. She has a very advanced set of ears and nose….if we were back home….she could easily get a rank of A for those qualities….” Miko muttered, with a sad smile on her face before returning to the oven. She never really bothered with extreme cleaning before—her old house would have looked like a pig stock if Ken didn’t try to clean up—but after…..after they managed to escape…..she seemed almost obsessed with it. She couldn’t stand for a dirty house, anything dirty really. She would spend hours trying to get rid of a strain and if she couldn’t….something snapped in her and she would hear words echo in her head…
You’re disgusting. Worse than Dirt. Filthy. Why are you even trying to blend into society?
It would take Hide and Hinami hours to get her back to normal….and while they wouldn’t tell her what she would do during her….episodes….she could see evidence around the house and sadly on Hide as well. “I’m sure her parents would be glad at her transformation as both a ghoul and a teenager….” Miko smiled tightly as she tried to bring her thoughts away from the harmful memories.
“Yeah…..I think she really likes going to school…she never got to do that when she was younger huh.” Hide muttered, smiling softly as he walked towards the kitchen where Miko was busy scrubbing clean the oven.
“I think she feels closer to Touka and Ken by going to school you know…she finally gets to see how they experienced school….she even knows how to fool her classmates when she eats!” Miko smiled brightly before slumping. “I just wish….Ken…and you know….everyone one else could see the accomplishments she has made so far.”
“Hey….we’ll find them. We’ve saved up enough money so this summer we all can take time off to look for them properly.” Hide said as he grabbed Miko’s hand and forced her to look at him. “We’ll find them alright? Don’t worry.”
“I always worry, Baka.” Miko sighed as she leaned into Hide’s shoulder—when did he get taller than her—before hugging him tightly. “It’s my job to as the adult in this strange family.”
“Who would have thought that a human, a hybrid and a ghoul could live normally in a world where the biggest enemy is humans living in space.” Hide chuckled as Miko punched him lightly.
“Shut up….just let me stay like this for a little longer…” Miko sighed as Hide chuckled but complied nonetheless. They stayed like that for several minutes before they decided to call it a night—well more like Hide forced Miko to go to sleep because the oven was shiny enough already god damn it—and on the way to her room, Miko couldn’t help but peek into Hinami’s room and smile as she saw the content smile on the teenage ghoul.
To think it’s been four years since they arrived on the strange planet that was so similar yet so different to the world they grew up in. For starters, ghouls did not even exist in this planet which was a plus to the three of them while also posing a problem. For starters, there were no doves to hunt or kill them so they were relatively safe from death, but since there were no ghoul activity, if a large amount of people went missing in area where the human population was an already low count….well, it would spark an investigation and their secret could possibly leak out. Who knows how the human population would react, maybe the Martians and Terrans would actually team up for once to take them out?
Ha preposterous.
Then there was that one major difference between their world and this one and that was the Aldnoah Drive. From what Miko was able to gather, it was an ancient technology that once powered an ancient civilization on Mars—how people lived on a different plant millions of years ago still baffled the half ghoul—and with its discovery it brought forth a new empire on Mars otherwise known as the Vers Empire. Despite its youth, the Empire surpassed the civilization here on United Earth so much that they were able to create spaceships that could travel from in space with ease and luxury. And their battleships…..well rather Kataphrakt….were capable of much destruction. So much that they destroyed countries that could never hope to recover, America being a prime example. Miko was grateful that they didn’t arrive during the first war between Earth and Mars—she and Hide would have been shipped off for war that was for sure—but Miko couldn’t help but feel that the fragile peace the two plants had at the moment would not last much longer.
After all, at school, military drills were part of the curriculum and the United Earth Force was slowly making Kataphrakt of their own to battle the Martians. If that wasn’t a sign of preparation for war, then she didn’t know what was. It also didn’t help that the Martians strongest and most loyal soldiers—called the Orbital Knights—still orbited the earth, waiting for the perfect time to act.
If Miko was honest herself, she didn’t know if a ghoul could even take on Kataphrakt, since back on her plant, humans still hadn’t even come close in creating a machine that destructive.
But one of the plus sides of living in a nearly stress free plant was that they really didn’t have to hide their real identities. Hinami was free to go to school as long as she could fool her classmates when she ate lunch with them. She even made several friends over the years which brought great happiness to both Hide and Miko, fearing that she would only have them to talk to. She especially grew close to Inaho when she learned that he lived in their area….it probably also helped that he loved the coffee Miko made.
“Just another day here on United Earth….” Miko sighed to herself as she got into her bed setting her alarm for tomorrow. “Well….tomorrow will be anything but ordinary, after all it’s not every day a princess makes goodwill visit….I hope nothing goes wrong.” She whispered to herself as she turned off her lights, surrendering herself to the nightmares that always plague her mind.
“Good morning! May I interest you in the house special coffee along with your pumpkin spice cake?” Miko asked her first of customers that day—a group of men that she couldn’t quite place their ethnicity—as she wrote down their order.
“That’s a bit expensive for coffee.” One of the men muttered—he had short brown hair and narrow eyes—causing the others to agree. Miko sighed internally; sadly this was a common occurrence seeing that coffee, while still available, was slowly dwindling and it was rather expensive to buy even in bulk. So her prices on coffee were rather high to compensate the price she had to buy to buy the beans, which many people still thought was outrageous.
“Well, during the last Martian-Earth war, the Martians destroyed one of the leading coffee bean growing countries and since then, coffee has been considered a luxury.” Miko sighed before smiling brightly. “But I can guarantee you that this will be the best coffee you ever taste. I’ll even give it to you half off to try it! And if you don’t like it still, your meal will be free!” It seemed that the prospect of a free meal caught their attention and ordered the coffee.
“Thank you! I’ll have one of my assistants bring you your pumpkin spice cake while I prepare your coffee.” Miko smiled as she placed her notepad into her one of her many pockets in her apron and walked back to her coffee making station. “Hinami-chan, can you get those gentlemen their pumpkin spice cake before you leave?” Miko asked just as Hinami, along with Inaho, jogged down the stairs ready for school. At first Miko felt a bit guilty for letting them sleep, but when she caught Inaho’s annoyed glare, she was glad that she managed to get a reaction out of the stoic teenager. It also helped that Hide had to suffer a breakfast without Inaho’s cooking.
“Hai!” Hinami smiled as she placed her bag on the counter and quickly got out the cakes—freshly baked—and served it the gentlemen at the only occupied table. “Here you go, I hope the cakes are to your liking and I also hope that you enjoy Onee-san’s coffee.”
“Here, I made you some breakfast for the go.” Miko smiled as she handed the teens two small paper bags before handing them thermos which Inaho’s eyes slightly widen at. “And it’s on the house to make up for not waking you up earlier.”
“Thank you/Ah thank you Onee-san.” They answered; one more enthusiastically than the other before rushing out the café.
“Be careful out there and if you go to the parade, send me pictures!” Miko called out just as they left. “Kids.” She chuckled as she finished making the coffee.
“Here you go sirs! I hope it’s to your tastes.” Miko smiled as she handed the three of them their drinks and waited for their verdict. She smiled triumphantly as they gave each other a shocked looked. Oh she lived for these days when she proves to her customers that her coffee is totally worth the price she puts them at. If only she could take pictures and hang them in her café.
“Its….really good.” One of them muttered looking at Miko in shock. “How—” “You just have to know how to brew them correctly.” Miko smiled before a small smile replaced it.
“I’m actually not that great compared to my brother or his mentor….their coffee tasted much better than mine.”
“I wouldn’t mind trying theirs if yours is any indication—”
“My brother’s master died several years ago and I haven’t seen my brother since ….we were separated during Heaven’s Fall.” Miko answered quickly, “Sorry….”
“Oh….I’m sorry about that.” One of them answered before Miko waved them off.
“Don’t be. You weren’t the reason for the destruction of the moon. Not to mention, I’ve put enough money for TV ads that maybe my brother’s seen it and he’s on his way here.” Miko chuckled nervously before the chime of the door signaled that another customer entered her café. “Oh, excuse me I have other customers to attend to. If you need anything just give me a call.” Miko smiled before rushing to the other customers. However, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the group of men as they converse amongst themselves. The light music going on in the background and the loud college students that entered ruined her chances of even eavesdropping their conversation on the men before her.
Hinami wouldn’t have any trouble with this. Miko sighed to herself as she rang up the men before her. Wolf Areash….I’ll have Hide run a quick background check on him.
“Thank you for your patronage. Please don’t hesitate to come again.” She smiled brightly, barely notching the small twitch on the man’s face as he gave her a nod before leaving.
Yeah, I’ll definitely have Hide run a background check on him. Miko thought as she texted her blonde friend.
“Hey Miko-san, are you going to see the parade for Princess Asseylum today?” One of her frequent customers asked as she got a quick reply. OK! ;P Miko was glad that Hide usually never questioned her requests.
“You do realize I have a café to run right?” Miko muttered, giving the teens a deadpan stare as they laughed at her.
“Right, well you could close up early?”
“I could, but I could easily see it here on T.V.” Miko answered pointing to the T.V behind her. “Which I will turn on once it hits eleven.”
“And why not earlier?” Miko paused for a moment before muttering out,
“I like listening to music in the morning….”
“Yo, Inaho! Hinami-chan!” A boy with black hair and a wide smile, happily cried as he looked up from his gaming console as he saw his two friends board the bus. “Good Morning!”
“G-good Morning Okisuke-kun.” Hinami squeaked out, turning a bit red as she greeted her friend, while Inaho gave him a nod and took a seat next to a blonde haired boy.
“Oh isn’t Yuki with you?” A girl with black hair cut into a short haircut and amber eyes, asked as she made room for Hinami to sit with her and another blonde girl.
“She probably slept in today. I stayed the night over at Hinami’s to help her study. Her sister didn’t let me walk home when my sister failed to come and pick me up.” Inaho answered, earning deadpan stares from the rest of the teenagers from the group.
“When you say it so nonchalantly, it makes it sound like you’ve been childhood friends and that this is a normal occurrence.” A blonde boy muttered, giving the pair of said teenagers an exasperated sigh.
“I-it’s not like that Calm-kun! Nao-kun is just a good friend! That’s all!” Hinami answered, “Beside, Onee-san promised him coffee as well…”
“Dude, why don’t you ever get coffee for us as well!?” Calm cried, “It’s like the best coffee in the world and I never thought Inaho would even get addicted to something other than eggs!”
“I can ask Onee-san if she’s willing to give you guys free coffee next time…”
“I knew you were awesome Hinami-chan!” Calm smiled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, not noticing the small glare Okisuke sent to him.
“But then….who’s waking up Yuki? Isn’t she supposed to be in charge of drills today?” Inko asked as everyone looked at Inaho who was busy sipping his coffee.
“Miko-san probably sent Hide-san to wake up my sister. He wasn’t helping her his morning when we came down to the café.” He answered. “Besides, if she shows some spirit, she should make it today…..barely.”
“Such a shame that you shrink from your duties to escort our Goddess of Tuesdays.” Calm whined. “You’re not even sharing the coffee from the great Coffee Goddess made herself.”
“Hmmm…Penivia…” Inaho muttered, ignoring Calm completely, earning a giggle from Hinami.
“Penivia?”
“The Goddess of Laziness.” Hinami answered, barely glancing at the small tablet Inko was sharing with the Nina and her. “That’s a bit mean Nao-kun.”
“Actually, I’m down with that.” Okisuke spoke up, earning a blush from Hinami. “Folks who plan to go onto college don’t need to worry about drills….no I lost!”he cried as lost his live in the game he was playing.
“Didn’t you fail your midterms Okisuke?” Calm laughed as Okisuke blushed in embarrassment.
“Shut up! You got a C- on your maneuver test Calm!”
“I-I can help you study if you want.” Hinami offered, “Although I probably can’t help you with Trigonometry…”
“That would be awesome Hinami-chan!” Okisuke smiled, trying to ignore the cough behind him that sounded a lot like ‘kiss her already’.
“I’ve been taking notes on everything! Soon I’ll get back my position as top in the class.” Inko smiled as the conversation turned to grades. At the moment, the bus darkened a bit as they entered the tunnel but Hinami had no problem seeing everyone’s faces as many of them squinted to see each other.
“Ha as if you can even beat Inaho, not to mention Hinami is second after him and even she’s struggling with his help.” Calm laughed.
“Don’t listen to Calm, Inko.” Hinami chuckled nervously as her friend gave the blonde an angry glare. “I’m sure you’ll be able to pull it off.” Just as Inko opened her mouth to reply to the ghoul, the bus exited the tunnel and the teens could easily see the destruction that lay just outside their city. Hinami bit her lip as the other teens looked sadly at the nearly leveled and deserted area. While she was not a stranger to loss or suffering, she wasn’t here when Heaven’s Fall happened, nor did she have her home destroyed by the same species. She couldn’t completely understand her friends’ anger and sadness they felt towards the Martains. Hinami could only pretend too.
“Disaster Recovery….” Calm muttered aloud. “Even in Shingawara, once you leave the main city, you can see the real damage those Martians did…”
“Those Martian Bastards really went crazy with it huh.” Okisuke muttered, his eyes blazing in anger as he watched as the recovery area grow smaller and smaller.
“Still, Japan’s way better off than where Nina and I come from.” Calm sighed sadly as Hinami gave her blonde friend a small smile as Inko rubbed her head comfortingly.
“And you lost your parents to Heaven’s Fall didn’t you Hinami-chan?” Okisuke asked as Hinami nodded, already knowing the story her Onee-san had made up.
“Yeah….they worked overseas in California and….I’m glad that Onee-san found me when she did.” She smiled sadly, using the memory of her parent’s death to make it sound more convincing. “It’s hard to imagine what would have happened if Onee-san and Hide-nii didn’t find me….”
“Are you sure those two aren’t dating? They seem really close.” Calm mumbled, remembering the few times they had seen Hinami’s guardians. Hinami had to stifle a laugh while Inaho smirked slightly. They could already imagine the reactions of the two adults from the café.
“Hide-nii is Nii-san’s best friend so he knew Onee-san for a very long time.”
“Nii-san?” Nina asked. “I thought you didn’t have a brother.”
“He’s Onee-san’s little brother…”Hinami muttered sadly, already missing the black…well now white haired teen. He was so nice to her when they first met….it was still hard to believe that he and Onee-san suffered through so much….so much to make sure they could be happy… “From what Hide-nii tells me, he went missing during Heaven’s Fall and Onee-san’s still looking for him.”
“For fifteen years?!” Nina exclaimed. “Wow, she must have a lot of faith in her little brother for—”
“Nina!” Inko nearly shouted, “That sounds a bit—”
“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Hinami laughed lightly. “I know a lot of people would think it’s weird to hold onto hope for that long but Onee-san knows her brother is strong and I believe in Onee-san so I believe he’ll be back. She always talks about him so I feel like I already know him.”
I do actually…..and I really hope that he comes back to us….
“Only if we could have that same kind of hope with the Martians…” Calm sighed heavily. “I don’t think peace will last with those greedy bastards…”
“But don’t we have a cooperative policy with Mars now?” Inko asked, trying her best to sound positive. “And we have that good will ambassador visiting us!”
“Oh yeah the princess…” Okisuke muttered, “What was her name again?”
“Asey….Easy….”
“This is why you’re failing….”
“Shut up!” “Princess Asseylum…” Inaho muttered, being completely ignored by the verbal argument going on between the two other males in the bus.
“Of course you would know.” Hinami whispered to herself, smiling at the comforting scene around her. While she wished she could have met her friends under a different set of circumstances….she was still glad to be able to live a normal human life….as normal as a ghoul could have anyways.
I’m glad that I’ve have met some great friends…Mamma, Papa….I hope you can see them. And Nii-san….Touka-nee….I hope you’ll be able to see them as well one day. She thought to herself, smiling as she closed her eyes and continued to listen to the soothing voices of her friends, missing Inaho’s small smile as he looked towards her direction.
“Hello! Welcome to Anteiku café! Please take a seat and I’ll—oh Hide! Finally you’re here!” Miko cried as she noticed her blonde human friend sheepishly trying to hide his entrance. “Good. Put on the spare uniform and get table four’s orders.”
“But why?! I thought you gave me the day off!” Hide pouted but did as the grey haired woman told him to.
“Several of my workers decided to call out so I’m a bit short handed, just lend me a hand will you? At least until rush hour is over?” Miko pleaded over her shoulder just as she finished writing down a customer’s order.
“Fine….but I expect a kiss for my hard work!”
“Dream on Hide!” She laughed back, some of the customers giggling at the playful banter. As Miko reached the counter, Hide—all dressed in uniform—quickly and discreetly showed her his phone before he made his way towards table four with a large smile on his face. Within seconds, her phone buzzed and a quick look showed an email attachment from Hide labeled ‘Wolfman, Is He Real or Not?’ Trust Hide to get all the information she wanted in the span of time it would take to brew up several coffees. Sadly she would have to look at the information during her break or whenever the amount of customers died down. Whichever came first.
“And so, Princess Asseylum just arrived at the Japan’s space station and is on her way to the embassy to continue her goodwill trip.” The news reporter announce, gaining the attention of everyone in café as they turned to the T.V. Miko quickly turned up the volume of the television and stood at the counter as she watched the camera zoom in to a Vers spaceship. “Please stay tune as we film the journey of the princess live.”
“She looks pretty young.” Hide commented, gently placing the used dishes into the sink. “Around Hinami-chan’s age or older. And to think they’re letting her come basically by herself. I thought that an Orbital Knight would have at least accompanied her.”
“The princess must have forced them to stay considering how many people have a huge dislike for the war hungry knights.” Miko muttered, earning some nods or grunts of confirmation. “It wouldn’t make her goodwill trip any good if there was too much tension….but….it’s….strange…” Miko muttered as she returned to the coffee station just as the new batch of water finished boiling. “Letting her go with very little security….they either placed too much faith in us….or they want something bad to happen so they can have a reason to continue their war they started several years ago…”
“Always the pessimist, aren’t you?” Hide sighed, “But….you do have a point….it does sound fishy…”
“Hopefully, it’s just me being paranoid.” Miko muttered, “It probably has to do with the fact that Hinami has to help with crowd control near the school.”
“Oh right. School gets out early today so the students can see the parade…wait why is Hinami-chan helping? I told her to take videos for me!” Hide whined. “Hinami-chan, why did you betray me?!”
“Relax drama king.”Miko laughed passing the finished cups of coffee to some college students also watching the news. “Hinami texted me saying, she made Inaho-kun promise her to take videos for you since she couldn’t do it.”
“Bah! He’ll take boring ones!” Hide groaned, “He has it out for me, I know he does.”
“Of course he does.” Miko chuckled, “He and I are plotting your death as we speak. It’s quiet elaborate, first we’ll take away your headphones—”
“Stay away from the headphones you monster!” Hide hissed causing several of the customers to laugh. “I’ll destroy your coffee maker if you do!”
“And then you’ll have to grind the beans by hand until we get a new one.” Miko easily replied, smirking. “You can’t escape your fate Hide. Just give in.”
“Never!” Rolling her eyes, Miko made her way back to the counter and began preparing another set of coffee. Just then the door to the café rung and Miko sighed at the new customers. And another set of customers.
Really, I would have thought more people would have gone to the parade instead. While it’s good for us, we are terribly shorthanded today.
“Hide! Serve the new customers will you?” Miko called out as carefully poured the boiling water into the cups before getting out the cream to decorate the coffee. When she heard no answer, she sighed heavily as she took the finished cups and placed them on a large serving plate, “I swear Hide, if you’re flirting with one of the—” Miko could feel her throat tighten up as she saw Hide staring just as intently at the customers, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. For a while none of them could say a word as the new customer chuckled lightly before speaking up.
“It’s been a while hasn’t it? Hide….Miko-nee?” Miko dropped the tea set she was holding and immediately ran towards the five foot seven white haired teen crying. She would have said something to the blue haired teens behind him, but right now, she had eyes only for her brother.
“Ken! You’re home! You’re home!” She cried, holding onto the taller boy—no man….just like Hide, he grew to be taller than her—as tight as she could, afraid that he would just disappear. She only tightened her grip as she felt her brother wrap his arms around her as well. Soon another pair of arms joined hers and Miko chuckled as her brother nearly lost balanced as Hide tackled him from behind.
“Idiot….you took your sweet time getting here.”
“Sorry….we got lost.” Ken laughed nervously causing Miko to punch his shoulder playfully before she let go of her brother and looked at the teens who were awkwardly standing at the entrance. Without saying a word, Miko quickly enveloped the two of them in a hug smirking as the both tensed up, especially the boy. “Thank you….Touka-chan, Ayato-kun for bringing home Ken.”
“Tsk….that big baby wouldn’t stop talking about it.” Ayato growled out as he pushed out of Miko’s hug. “So you gonna give us some of your shit or what.”
“Ayato!” Touka growled out to her younger brother—now that Miko looked at the two, Touka had definitely grown more into a woman and her soft facial features would have made even the coldest Orbital Knights look twice.
She still has her signature hair though. Miko thought before her attention turned towards the younger ghoul sibling, shocked that he now stood taller than his sister despite being only fifteen or even sixteen. A lot taller than Hinami’s friends that’s for sure and even though his jacket covered his body, Miko was willing to bet her café that he had more muscles than most adults would.
“Yes, let’s catch up shall we?” Miko smiled before turning to her customers as they watched silently at the scene before them. “Sorry everybody, but I’m closing up early. You can take your drinks and snacks with you. Bring them back tomorrow if you can. It’s family time.” Miko shouted, quickly helping the customers out the café.
“But really…..Anteiku?” Ken chuckled as he watched his sister shoo out some college students that had their headphones on.
“Hey, it helped you find us.” Hide laughed, still hugging his best friend. “Don’t judge….eyepatch.”
“I know it’s not as good as Ken’s or even Touka’s, but I hope it’s still good enough.” Miko smiled as she served the two ghouls and half ghouls some coffee before placing some sugar cubes down. “They’re the special kind….”
“You learned how to make them?” Touka asked as they all took a cup and placed several “sugar’ cubes in their drinks—Ayato putting in more than Touka and Ken—before taking a sip.
“It was a lot of trial and error.” Miko chuckled sheepishly. “Hinami was the only one who remembered how they tasted so I had to rely on her to get them right.”
“Hinami—”
“She’s at school right now.” Miko smiled brightly at her brother who asked her about the youngest ghoul’s whereabouts, “She’s on the student council to help with the Princess Parade today. She should be coming home in a couple of hours though.”
“Tsk, what the hell is she trying to do, be more human-like? What a waste of time.” Ayato muttered, still sipping his coffee.
“At least she’s getting a proper education.” Hide commented, barely giving the younger ghoul a glance, “She’s like second in her class. And one of the best when it comes to Kataphrakt training. Only second to our dearest Inaho-kun.”
“Inaho-kun?” Ken asked giving his sister a pointed look as she chuckled nervously.
“One of Hinami’s friends. He lives about a ten minute walk from here. We let him stay over sometimes when his sister works overtime and she can’t pick him up.” Miko answered, sighing mentally at the outburst from Ayato and possibly Touka.
“Are you insane! Letting a human—”
“We very well knew the consequences of letting a human,” Miko spat, glaring angrily at the ill tempered ghoul, “live with us. We’re not dumb, but if we want to fit in and not bring any unwanted attention to us, we do have to have normal activities such as being good neighbors!”
“Not to mention, they’re really good at hiding their food.” Hide commented. “They have the normal stash and on days when we have humans over, they put them in a safe that I can’t even find.”
“I wasn’t asking your opinion you filthy human—”
“You want to finish that sentence, Ayato-kun?” Ken muttered, placing his cup down gently, but his narrowed silver eyes flashed dangerously at Ayato causing him to flinch and Touka to tense up. “Or do I need to remind you what happens when you insult Hide?”
“Fuck you.” Ayato growled out but reluctantly sat down, setting for a glare at the dyed blonde instead. Sighing at the close call, Touka resumed drinking her coffee while Hide chose to sling an arm over Ken’s shoulder.
“Aww, defending my honor? You are too cute, Kaneki.”
“Hide….” Ken muttered, looking away but Miko couldn’t help but chuckle as she spotted his small blush.
“Hide, please keep it PG. We do still have a kid with us.” Miko chuckled as Ayato growled at her instead. “So Touka, mind telling me what happened to you guys? I mean….we all did get in the same shuttle didn’t we?” Taking a long sip, Touka let out a sigh before speaking.
“It’s a bit blurry, but I remember on the way down to Earth, we crashed into something that caused a rip to appear on our shuttle which eventually caused it to split into two when we entered the atmosphere.”
“Oh I remember something like that.” Hide muttered, “I thought it was just a hallucination because well….I didn’t think boiling hot pieces of metal would be the best way to go…”
“I could easily see who the three of you would have survived then…” Miko muttered, “With your regenerating abilities, you could easily take the burning. It would hurt but you would have survived….Hinami and I must have shielded Hide and protected his scrawny ass when we crash landed….”
“Hey, I still had a broken arm! You did a horrible job for being a human mattress.” Hide huffed, smirking.
“Whatever.” Miko laughed before turning back to Touka. “Where did you guys end up then? We were lucky to have landed on one the deserted islands off the coast of Japan"
“We unfortunately landed near an American base just off the coast of what’s now….I believe Oklahoma?” Ken muttered, looking thoughtful. “We barely managed to escape but they already had our identities…it took a while to get under the radar and I had to teach these two English because they would stand out too much.”
“Tch, it was a bitch to learn that’s for sure.” Ayato grumbled before choking out as Touka elbowed him. “What the fuck sis?!”
“Stop being so rude already!” She hissed before Miko laughed.
“It’s fine really. It makes it more like a family reunion. But really, you three can speak English?” Miko asked, her eyes starry.
“Uh..”
“Heh, you don’t even know English? You’re pretty dumb for a Dove bitch.” Ayato smirked, speaking in English with a bit of an accent.
“That’s ex-Dove my Dear Ayato-kun.” Miko replied back, smiling as her English had no accent whatsoever, causing Touka to snicker and Ken to smile. “Besides, who do you think taught Ken English? Well conversational English?”
“Shut up…” Ayato grumbled, reverting back to Japanese causing Hide and Touka to burst out laughing.
“Oh man, that’s hilarious. But hey maybe you can teach Hinami-chan English!” Hide exclaimed. “She always wanted to learn, but my music doesn’t help much and Miko’s always busy with the café…you could help her and she could tutor you—”
“Stop with your match making plans Hide…” Miko chuckled causing a raised eyebrow from Ken, a glare from Touka and the small blush to form on the ghoul mentioned. “You already failed with Inaho. Besides, Hinami-chan likes someone else.”
“WHAT!?!?”
“That’s a story for another time.” Miko chuckled at the shocked faces at the small table, “But how did you get to Japan? Travel across seas is heavily monitored not to mention, expensive as hell. Who did you trick into getting tickets or how did you secretly board?” Miko asked, smiling as she leaned in closer to the three ghouls.
“Um…”
“We snuck aboard some military boats, hiding in those Kataphrakt shits and made a run for it when it docked in Japan. That was about a month ago.” Ayato answered. “We then started looking up your names in phone books.” Touka answered next,
“You can’t believe how many people have the last name Kaneki or Hideyoshi. And we didn’t know if Hinami still kept her last name.”
“Then how did you find out about us then? We haven’t put up any commercials on TV about our Café…well at least not…..no….” Miko gasped as the three of them smirked. “You did not see that commercial!” She could feel her face turning redder by the minute.
“Wait you mean our two A.M. commercial we did with Hinami and her friends?!” Hide exclaimed, also red as a tomato as he knew what commercial they had done with their small budget.
“We happened to come across it….” Touka laughed, “You didn’t look that bad half naked.”
“And you wore very colorful clothing.” Ayato snickered as the two café owners hid their faces.
“I was sleep deprived when I created that idea….”
“I was drunk….”
“And Hinami didn’t help at all when she brought her friends in on it….” Miko groaned as Ken chuckled.
“Shut up Ken otherwise I’ll tell Touka and Ayato about the time I forced you, Hide, and Trisha to help me with one of my high school theater projects.”
“Hey! Kaneki won’t be the only one humiliated by that!” Hide complained as Ken turned bright red—a strange sight on his now pale skin and white hair when it was such a common sight before—and wisely shut his mouth.
“Oh, this sounds like good blackmail.” Ayato laughed, “Care to tell us one day bitch?”
“Only when you stop cussing like a sailor I might consider it.” Miko replied earning a glare and another curse from him. “Well, now that we have learned how you survived these past four years….what are your thoughts on this new planet?” Miko asked, staring at the three of them intently.
“Why are you asking us this? It’s just the same shity world with humans. The only plus side is that there are no dove to hunt our asses. We’re free to hunt to our hearts contents—”
“Which we won’t.” Ken interrupted, glaring at the younger ghoul before turning back to his sister. “I’m assuming you’re asking us this because of the heavy tension between the Martain Empire and United Earth?”
“Yes.”
“It’s still hard to believe that humans can live somewhere else that’s not Earth.” Touka muttered, “I mean, our planet was barely getting off the ground with space travel. Hell, we were lucky that our damn space shuttle lasted for as long as it did.”
“That being said, we have no idea what the Vers Empire is capable of. Are they stronger than the Doves? Does their technology harm us? How will we fare in space if we must relocate? Will Martians taste the same as Terrans if we have to hunt them? There are too many variables concerning them. That being said, when war breaks out, which side will we side with and more importantly, how will we convince them that we do not mean harm to them?” Miko muttered sighing heavily.
“You said when. You don’t think the peace treaty between Mars and Earth will last then.” Miko’s brother muttered, narrowing his eyes a bit.
“Anyone who thinks so is kidding themselves.” Miko growled out, “It’s obvious from the Orbital Knights who still orbit around the earth haven’t lost their sight on our planet. They want our land, our resources, and I wouldn’t put it past them to string something up so they can justify their actions of taking Earth.”
“They wouldn’t try something when their fucking princess is here though.” Ayato spat out. “From what I gathered, they’re fucking loyal to the shity royal family and would do anything to please the princess.”
“Some probably hate the royal family.” Hide muttered, causing Ayato’s eyebrow to rise up. “I mean, several of them lost their families during Heaven’s Fall. Not to mention, the only reason they have power is because they have to prove their loyalty to the King otherwise they would be peasants. It’s a feudal system and I think we know enough history to know what happens when a King can’t properly provide for his subjects.”
“They rebel…” Ken muttered causing the entire group to stay silent for a while before Ayato spoke up.
“So what’s so bad about being on the winning side?” Ayato muttered, “It’s getting obvious that those stupid Martians have the upper hand on these stupid humans on earth.”
“Like I said before, we don’t know how we would fare in the new environment.” Miko mumbled. “And the Aldnoah Drive is something we have very little knowledge of. What if it’s something that can destroy Kagunes? What if it makes us go out of control? Without enough information, getting near the Aldnoah Drive or anything powered by the Aldnoah is a risky factor.”
“Seriously though, there hasn’t been any study done on that thing?” Touka asked, “It’s pretty powerful, so powerful that I’m sure they would like to know what else it’s capable of.”
“There was a person, I think Dr. Troyard, but no one has heard from him since he traveled to Vers for further study. Mostly likely the Martians has him hostage so he won’t reveal its secrets to Terrans or they killed him to make sure nothing left their planet.”
“Harsh.” Hide winced causing Miko to shrug.
“It’s what I would have done. After all, a dead man can’t tell any secrets.”
“It seems like you already made up your mind about which side you wish to side with if war does break out though, Miko-nee.” Ken muttered, his lips twitching into the slightest of smirks. “Hinami has her friends and so do I. I want to keep them safe and if I am the only one who can go against the Vers Empire….I will.” Miko said, fire burning behind her eyes as she thought of the few humans friends she made during her stay here.
Inaho’s Sister was a given. She came over to her café often enough for Miko to think of her as her the younger sister she never had—not that she would ever tell Ken—and always tried her best to make sure Yuki was never too stressed. Miko knew the stress of having to take care of a younger sibling without the aid of parents so whenever she could, she would force the older Kaizuka to take a break once in a while just like her friend—Trisha—did whenever she worked too hard during her days at the CCG.
Lt. Marito—one of Hinami’s teachers—was a retired solider and while some claim that he was lunatic who thought he fought during the first Earth-Mars war at Tanegashima, Miko knew better. His eyes were of those that were haunted, haunted by a choice he wished he didn’t have to make. A look she knew too well since it’s nearly all she saw on her brother before the Ghoul Extermination. She first met him during a parent conference—an incident involving Hinami’s lack of lunch—and since then, she’s invited the alcoholic to her café for drinks, listening to him as he talked to her about his childhood, youth and sometimes, his time during the war. She never judged him and only gave him advice for his teaching method since he thought drinking on the job was acceptable. There were times when she spoke to him about her brother, Hide, her best friends Trisha, Amon…but she would never go into full detail about them. He probably thought that they were dead—minus Hide since he always came around to bug the man—and didn’t want to bring up bad memories.
Dr. Yagarai….while she always felt uneasy around him whenever he wore his doctor coat, he was a pleasant and kind man. Miko still had a hard time believing that the man was best friends with Marito—considering his sass and sarcasm he oozed out—but she was glad that he had someone in his life to help him out. While they didn’t see each other often, Miko often found herself at ease whenever she spoke to the soft spoken doctor. Sometimes, Miko thought that Ken would have turned out almost like Dr. Yagarai had he not gone through the horrors Dr Kanou, Aogiri, and Jason put him through. But there was nothing they could do to change the past…they could only try to move forward.
These people….she would do everything in her power to protect them and even if they turned their back to her….she would still protect them.
“I see….” Ken smiled. “I was beginning to wonder if you would have anyone else to talk to besides Hide. He can be a handful at times.”
“Hey I object that!” Hide whined causing the entire table to erupt into laughter minus Ayato.
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about this for a while.” Touka smiled softly. “I’m sure it’ll be a while before war breaks out. We’ll have time to catch up….I’m really excited to see Hinami after all these years.”
“In a couple of hours we’ll be back to our happy strange family.” Miko smiled. “I’m glad…..we’ve had too many hardships already….it’ll be a nice change of pace to actually relax for once.”
BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!
The entire Café shook causing all occupants to stand up, tense as they looked out the window of the café noticing the smoke slowly making its way above the buildings. Quickly, Miko turned on the T.V. just as another explosion shook the café and instantly they saw the ruins of the armored trucks and motorcycles that were protecting the princess on the ground. The camera shook as it tried to focus on a lone white vehicle in the distance before it went up into smoke as another missile exploded on impact, killing everyone in that car. The five of them stayed silent as the sirens of ambulances and police officers echoed throughout the city.
“What did you say about having a break?” Ayato muttered, looking more annoyed than anything. “You fucking jinxed us bitch.”