A/n: I hope you like it!!!

...

I stopped walking as we approach the car that will lead me in Anteiku. I looked back at the old building where I stayed for months before winter came. I was only human in that house for a week until a ghoul attacked me. "Kousei? Is something wrong?" my father asked me as he kept on walking.

I smiled, "No. Nothing, father. I'm just reminiscing the days that I miss."

"Ayato approached you, didn't he?" he asked me. 

I stared back at him, "Yes."

"I apologize if he is rather rude on you. I won't allow him to act like that, again," he told me as we finally got in the black car. He opened the door of the car and lead me in. I was surprised to see Seto Hiroko inside.

"Why are you here?" I asked. 

"It's a secret," she said to me. 

My real father went at the driver's seat after he put on my trolley at the back of the car. 

"Let's go?" he asked us.

"Go. Your son needs protection," Seto Hiroko looked at me and held my hand. Her shaking hands made me nervous and confused. 

...

It began to snow as we arrive at Anteiku. The car stopped and Seto-san opened the door for me. We were welcomed by Manager Yoshimura while Yomo took my trolley at the back of the car. 

He smiled at us. "Welcome back, Arima Kishou."

They know each other?

 "Owl, I'm taking my son into your custody. Promise me that he will be safe," he said to him. His right hand went into my shoulder and that's when I felt that his hand is shaking that made me anxious. 

Why do I have to be here, anyway? Why can't I stay in my old apartment?

...

"His life is in danger. They already know that Kousei is the son of the One-Eyed King," my father told Manager Yoshimura.

"He will receive protection here. More than that, do they know your real identity?" he asked him. 

We were all inside my new room at Anteiku at that time. Seto Hiroko is also with me. I also noticed that a black piano is already placed in front of my king-sized bed. I touched the glass of the window. It's bullet proof and dark-tinted. 

"Father, what is actually happening?" I asked him. 

All three of them stared at me. 

"If news comes out about the truth about you, you will be in severe danger. We are trying to prevent that," Seto Hiroko told me. 

I sat on my bed and I just folded my legs after I took off my shoes. 

"They'll return me back in Cochlea, is that correct?" I asked them.

They all looked at me pitifully. "I can't let them do that to you," my father, Arima Kishou told me.

"I was living peacefully before when I thought I was a pure human. I didn't know that by knowing that I am a ghoul, my life will be complicated," I said as tears fall on my eyes. "Why is the life of a ghoul painful, father? Why can't they just let us live? Why can't they just arrest those who are abusing their power? Why? Why should my life be in danger just because I am your son?"

My father took me in his arms again as tears fall on me. "I would make a world where we could live peacefully. You and I, we'll change it. For now, you have to stay here," he told me. 

My tears just won't stop falling. I hate what I am experiencing right now. My life had been overturned so many times already. Will my life ever be peaceful?

"If you are arrested and subjected to torture, remember, the joined forces of Aogiri Tree and Anteiku will rescue you. You are my one-eyed prince and you are important to me," he promised me. I nodded and for the last time, he took me inside his arms. 

...

"Will you just coop yourself up and lie down your bed, Kousei? You must not worry. No one knows that Arima Kishou is the One-Eyed King," Seto-san told me. 

I locked my door and I just put the white blanket all over me. I don't want anyone to come near me. I also don't want to join the competition, anymore. If I am to be truly arrested just because of a silly reason, I might end up hating CCG already. I was happy when father told me that he would use me as his quinque but after so many days, it turns out that both sides wanted to use me as their weapons. 

"Ne, Seto-san... I'll just drop out in school and the competition," I said to her. 

"Kousei, don't say that! Kishou is currently fighting for you in CCG! He's still hiding his secret, anyway!" she told me. 

I took off the blanket for a while from my face and looked up. I stood up and opened the window. I looked at the stars and I remembered what Watari told me before. 

Stars bright more in the dark. 

"Watari...," I cried. "Kaori..."

My door opened after someone unlocked it from the outside. I dried my tears. I closed the window and looked who entered my room. 

"Kaneki-san...," I spoke up. 

"You're afraid, aren't you?" he asked me. 

I looked down. I am afraid. 

"No matter how many times I look at you, you do make me remember the old me," he told me. 

I just stared at him. I don't know what he means. He's just strange since he's almost the same age as me and is just a bit older than me but his hair is white. 

"I don't know what you mean, Kaneki-san," I replied back to him. 

"Fight your fears, Kousei. You must endure it. I hope you do become the ghoul that people would look up to. You are different from me. To me, my family are my friends. To you, you have a father to look up on. Be brave and be the prince the Aogiri aspire you to be. I promise to help you reach that goal," he told me which made me shocked. 

I froze on the spot and when he left, deep inside me, I felt like he punched me inside. I was awakened suddenly. 

Thank you, Kaneki-san. 

You do really act like an older brother to me. 

...

Two days before my competition, Seto-san woke me. "How long would you want to coop yourself up there? Clean yourself and you are to work!"

I opened my eyes and followed her. 

That day, I was allowed to work only for a few minutes. 

Whenever there were CCG officers who get in the shop, the members quickly hide me under the staff table. I also heard a male CCG officer that I don't recognize ask them, "Have you seen Arima Kousei? He's a ghoul. The warrant of arrest isn't issued yet and Special Class Investigator Arima Kishou is fighting for his custody. A lot of us were shocked by how he's acting this days around. Isn't he just his quinque?"

Mr. Koma grinned as he pour him a coffee. "He worked here but he hasn't been here for two days."

His companion, a female investigator added, "He disappeared at his school, too."

"He might be hiding," her companion told him. 

"I still can't take the reasoning of the people from the top. Why would they arrest a seemingly innocent ghoul that had become Kishou's quinque, anyway? He's also a CCG officer like us. The quinque is just inside him. Most of all, he is a victim of Kanou Akihiro," he replied to her. 

I hugged myself up under it and I silently wept. 

When they were already gone, I dried my tears and went back to work. 

When night came, Seto-san taught me how to play the piano until I felt sleepy. 

I do wish that my father would be able to convince CCG not to arrest me. 

I still want to stay in the middle for longer...

...

A/n: I hope you like it!