Shouto opened the window to his bedroom and climbed through, (Y/n) slinking in closely behind. The teen with the two-colored hair let out a sigh as he pulled his mask off. (Y/n) shut the window behind him and pulled his mask to the top of his head, but not entirely off yet. He had an uneasy feeling, as if they had forgotten something important. He looked at Shouto's back, thinking he would find his answer there when it hit him. I'm wearing white, shit. And so is he...

"Shouto," (Y/n) called in a whisper, "we need to throw these clothes out and shower."

"What?" Shouto whispered back, not quite catching the words due to his cousin's hushed tone.

"We need to get rid of our clothes and shower," (Y/n) sniffed himself and grumbled under his breath, "we can't get the blood out, it dried. Also, we reek of human intestines and blood."

Shouto smelled his arm before sighing again, "Yeah. S' good thing I have a shower in my room. Using the one in the hallway at this hour would be a nightmare."

"I know," (Y/n) finally pulled his mask all the way off, "uncle Todoroki would totally catch us if we did that."

"Hmm," Shouto hummed, "that reminds me, did you lock the door to your bedroom before we left?"

"Uh... Yes..?" (Y/n) lied, worry filling his eyes like large, (e/c) bowls.

"You stupid airhead!" Shouto whisper-shouted, "what if we get caught because of that?!"

"I'm sorry! I was going to but *Yumi stopped and ended up talking to me for a few minutes while I was doing it," (Y/n) sighed, "I stopped so that I wouldn't look suspicious."

"Fine," Shouto mumbled, "but for heaven's sake, please be more careful about that..." 

"I will," (Y/n) promised, "but seriously, we need to wash up and get into bed."

┈

"Ah, fancy seeing you two here," a ghoul with no mask commented, looking at the pair in front of him, "I haven't seen you two all summer."

That wasn't exactly true. The former students of Kunugigoaka Junior High who happened to be in the lowest class had hung out plenty during the summer. Of course, the two 'SS Ranked' ghouls knew exactly what their former classmate and acquaintance was talking about. They had seen each other with the others— made eye contact while playing their roles— but they hadn't seen each other like this. It had been a while since they crossed paths as night-lurking ghouls who didn't know where they stood with each other.

It had been too long, and you needed to keep in touch in order to maintain relationships with others of your kind. It was important to know what they were up to. Had they eaten recently, have they become allies to other ghouls, were they planning to claim a new territory– abandon their own? Knowing these things was important because there was no official hierarchy for ghouls. Sure, the weak stayed clear of the strong, but there was no exclusive ghoul government. What there was, though, was food.

Who you ate, when you did it, where you did it— these things were especially important. Primarily if you were attempting to stay on the good side of a binge eater like the one in front of them. There was no telling what someone like him was capable of— predominantly him. He was the most unique ghoul they had heard of, and no one truly knew how strong he was. He had unique kagune, was a binge eater, he didn't kill, and he'd never truly gone against the CCG for real. All of these things made him dangerous.

"Yeah," the ghoul in the mostly black mask agreed, "not in person, at least."

"That's onesided and you know it, Crimson Raven," the maskless ghoul commented, "unlike you two, I'm doing a good job at staying off the television."

"Whatever, Kraken," the ghoul Crimson Raven, Karma Akabane replied.

The maskless ghoul, *Kraken, turned towards the smaller of the ghouls in front of him, "Anyway, why are you here? You know this is my territory, right?"

"Actually, no, we didn't," the smallest of them, Coluber Constrictor responded, "you didn't tell us."

"You didn't ask," the Kraken shot back, then paused, "changing the subject— why are you here? Even if you didn't know this was my territory, you guys aren't bingers and you ate the other night."

"We were looking for you," Coluber Constrictor, commonly known as Nagisa Shiota, stated.

"We know you frequent here, everyone does," Crimson Raven added, "that's why no one comes here. No one knows what you're capable of and no one's taking any chances since you're a special case."

"Everyone except those Kira Koneko dumbasses," Kraken, humanly called Itona Horibe corrected, "they have serious balls; they keep coming."

"They are pretty confident, they act like they can't get caught," Karma stated.

"The way they play with their food is beyond disturbing, but I guess that's where they get their name from," Nagisa complained.

"Speaking of them, they actually claimed another two victims tonight," Itona informed them. Nagisa and Karma gave him slightly surprised looks. Kira Koneko hadn't attacked in almost two months, "you must have already been out when it happened, because this was one of their less pretty meals."

"Define 'less pretty,'" Karma said cautiously, not exactly wishing to know deep down.

"Some guy and his wife were out on an expensive date and stopped in that dead-end alley you guys hunted in the other night," Itona sighed, getting the other's attention, "my guess is that they were waiting for the first people to walk out, and those two happened to be the unlucky pair."

"Is that it?" Karma questioned expectantly.

"They tore the guy up, looked like they tortured him, then when he died they just tossed him away. They didn't even eat him, just ripped into pieces for someone to find," Itona told them in a gossipy tone, "the woman though... they crushed her knee caps and tore out her throat out before basically devouring her."

"They didn't want her to scream, probably," Nagisa sighed, "anyway, enough about those idiots. We didn't seek you out to gossip like women in nail salons."

"I figured," Itona replied smartly, earning a glared from Karma.

"Most of the people from 3-E are going to continue going to Kunigigaoka. What about you?" Nagisa asked.

"I just barely passed Rakuyama's entrance exam, so I'm going there. You two are as well, right?" Itona wanted to clarify.

"Yes, of course," Karma answered for both of them.

┈

Yamaguchi Tadashi waltzed onto Rakuyama Academy campus grounds with his best friend at his side. He was smiling, excited for what was to come in the next three years. Hopefully, he and his best friend would stay just as close as they'd always been, and better yet, hopefully, said friend, Tsukishima Kei would remain oblivious to his true self. He'd never hurt anyone, but he knows how fearful people are when things just come flying at them, so he'd rather just keep to himself.

He could smell all the people around him, but what got him was unfamiliar scents of others like him. There were too many people crowded around and he couldn't pinpoint which scent was coming from where. There had been a few ghouls at his old junior high school, but at that age, parents tended to still hunt for their children, so there were problems. All he had to deal with then was an occasional knowing glance when he would show up to school smelling like who he had eaten the night before— which was unnoticed by humans.

"Tsukki, are you excited?" Yamaguchi smiled, it was bright and clear, there was no way his teeth had ever been bloodstained.

"I don't see anything to be excited about," Tsukishima responded blandly, "it's just school."

"You seemed to enjoy last year, though," Yamaguchi recalled aloud, "even if only for making fun of others."

"It's not my fault that it sucks for them that they suck," Tsukishima said smartly.

"Right," Yamaguchi gave a tiny chuckle.

"Ugh, shut up Yamaguchi," Tsukishima grumbled.

"Sorry, Tsukki!" Yamaguchi apologized, yet still continued talking, "I heard that this school has like, five different gyms."

"Obviously, this place is kind of a big deal, Yamaguchi," Tsukishima sighed, "it's second only to Shiratorizawa."

Yamaguchi continued smiling and talking, but there was so much he wished he could say out loud. There were so many things that his best friend thought that Yamaguchi feared would get Tsukishima Kei killed and/or eaten. Those people didn't suck. One of them let you bother him. He was a ghoul. I got hurt making sure he didn't eat you when we went our separate ways to head home. You should be more careful. I got lucky. I'm not a strong ghoul.

The two continued walking, eventually making it into the first year building. They wandered for a bit before actually trying to find their way to their homeroom class. They had gotten placed into the second highest class. The first one was almost impossible to place. Only those who got a one hundred to ninety-five percent landed in that class. Tsukishima was extremely smart and he only got a ninety-three on the exam; Yamaguchi got a ninety-two.

When they finally arrived at their homeroom, Yamaguchi walked in first. This greatly surprised Tsukishima, as Tadashi never really took the lead in anything. That said, Yamaguchi had his reasons. There were fewer people in here, so he could quickly pinpoint who all the ghouls in the class were, if there were any. He had been lucky to only have one other ghoul in his class last year, but he doubted he'd be that fortunate this time around. This was a larger class at a larger school with a much larger amount of people. The chances of him being the only ghoul, or one of the only ones was extremely low.

┈

Karma didn't live very close to Nagisa, so the two of them didn't travel to Rakuyama together. However, Karma 'Crimson Raven' Akabane did happen to bump into Itona Horibe outside the gates. The two immediately joined up, whether it be due to them knowing each other from school or knowing each other from the world after dark. He was in no way close to Itona, but the unfamiliar scents of unknown ghouls was nervewracking and having a possible ally with you helped. 

That said, Karma wasn't sure where he stood with Itona in that sense. If it came to siding with Karma over a stranger, Itona would easily side with him, but they had never officially put each other on the 'Off Limits List,' per se. 

Karma banished those thoughts as he parted from Itona. Karma had placed in the highest class, which was next to Itona and Nagisa's class. They would probably meet up later, or at least two of them would choose to. Once again, Itona 'Kraken' Horibe was unpredictable and there was no telling if he would strike out on his own or stick with the two people he already knew. Karma walked into his class and had to restrain himself from whipping his head towards the obvious scent. There was one other ghoul in his class, and she was looking right back at him.

┈

(Y/n) and Shouto stepped into their homeroom class side by side. They didn't make a big deal out of it, but they knew immediately who they would have to approach first. Whether they would end up being friends or something that is totally opposite of that was beyond them, but this was something important they needed to know. (Y/n) just grinned slightly as his and Shouto's eyes met with icy blue, almost greenish-brown, and amber irises. This was going to be an interesting year.

┈

(2098 Words)