He wakes up in Anteiku

Kaneki's eyes slowly lifted open. It felt like he had been asleep for ages.

As he rubbed the crust from his eyes he remembered what had happened. He'd nearly gone crazy from hunger. He'd nearly killed another ghoul. Sure, the other ghoul had tried to kill him, but that didn't provide any comfort to Kaneki. He didn't want to kill anyone.

He was truly thankful to Touka. That she had been there to stop him. He lifted his head up and looked around. He was on the couch in the guest room of Anteiku, still in his work clothes from that day. He wasn't sure how long it'd been since then, but it was bright and sunny out now.

Kaneki suddenly noticed something else. That awful, gnawing hunger that had been a constant since he first became a ghoul was gone. He didn't want to think about why that might be.

As he stood up from the couch the door to the room opened and the Anteiku manager, Mr. Yoshimura, entered.

"Ah, you're awake." Yoshimura saw his confused glance and explained. "This is the second floor of Anteiku, we have several rooms up here we use only for ghouls."

With one of his questions answered, Kaneki started on the other. "How did I get here, Mr. Yoshimura."

"It was Touka who brought you here, after your scuffle with Nishio." He said. "You'll have to thank her later."

He definitely would, Kaneki thought. "One last thing, manager." Kaneki began. "Recently, my hunger has been dragging on for a long time. At times, I feel like I'll starve to ****. But now that's not the case. Answer me, while I was sleeping, what did I do?"

The manager stared at him firmly, as if trying to make Kaneki understand through will alone. "There's only one way to satisfy the hunger. You know that," he said. "Please, realize the type of person you've become."

Kaneki clenched his fists by his side as he spoke. "I don't want to kill humans. But I can't live with them anymore. I don't belong in the ghoul world or the human world anymore, because I'm neither of them." Kaneki clenched his teeth in an attempt to stop the tears that had sprung up in his eyes from rolling down his cheeks

"I'm all alone."

"Neither?" The manager thought aloud. "You're mistaken, Kaneki. You are the single person in the world with a place in both human and ghoul society. Join our shop, Anteiku, and we'll teach you how to live as a ghoul. I think that will help you stay in touch with your human side." The old man paused and moved to look out the window.

"And I hope that your human side comes to understand ghouls, and whether we or not we are hunger driven beasts." The managed turned back to Kaneki and perked up, dropping the heavy mood of his earlier statement.

"How about it? But first, I'll show you how to make a delicious cup of coffee."

Kaneki rubbed at the tears in his eyes. "I don't know, I've never had a job before. Do you . . . Do you think I'll be able to do it?"

The manager only smiled at him.