Over the next three days, Ken tried to occupy his mind with things other than his pressing problems.

Dealing with his dad, his sudden inability to eat food, and most importantly, his quirk.

Ken had walked around even more listless than before, but problems eventually caught up, which led him to his current situation.

Blegh

Ken stood hunched over near a tree, emptying his barley-filled stomach with only bile coming up, which ended up hurting his stomach even more.

The girl, Ken still never asked for a name, stood patting him on the back, not that it physically helped. But his mind was a little more relieved after it.

You’d think he’d have eaten raw meat, uncleaned food, or some sort of hazardous material to end up in this situation, but no.

A sandwich, turkey, cheese, and some tomatoes.

Cheap and readily available at loac stores, worth only a few days of scavenging for coins.

He decided to splurge on himself; food hasn’t been settling in with his stomach, but even the ‘luxurious’ meal fared the same.

The smell was akin to moldy cheese; the taste was like old carpet; but the appearance was fine. It looked normal, but his stomach and other senses said otherwise.

Once he finished, Ken wanted to drown out the disgusting taste still in his mouth, but after having his battle with juices and the only water fountain being back inside the school, he resolved himself to temporarily do nothing.

“You ok?”

He looked up, traces of spit still on his face, and looked at his helper.

Her golden eyes turned more vertical, resembling those of a cat, and her hair was tied up into buns, save for the two strips coming down on each side of her face.

She was dressed in a yellow jacket, a red scarf slightly covering her mouth as it was already mid-December.

Meanwhile, he himself was dressed in a short-sleeved plain white shirt now stained with dirt, black pants, and a black jacket, which he was luckily able to get from some kind person taking pity on him.

“I’m fine.”

Grabbing her extended hand, he was pulled up and dusted himself off.

A half-eaten sandwich that fell onto the dirt, slightly out of the way of his contents, he immediately spit out.

‘A pity.’

He turned to her, ready to continue the game they were playing before their snack break.

School ended hours ago, but he had nowhere better to be.

His father was more wary of him this past week than ever before; he still screamed, yelled, and threw objects at him, but without him even needing to move, they didn’t hit him.

‘He’s afraid.’

Ken laughed at his stupidity; those tentacles never appeared after that incident.

His quirk was registered as regeneration, with neither him nor his father saying anything else about it.

He couldn’t manifest the tentacles even when he put his mind to it. They disappeared as if it were an illusion.

Right now, he was like a sheep hiding in a wolf’s clothing.

‘Who knows what he’ll do when he learns that I can’t manifest them whenever I want? He’s a rather stupid man, quick to forget.’

As his father said sometime before, ‘Bully the weak, fear the strong.’ Ken had no doubt he would face even harsher treatment than before if that happened.

But when he got out of his thoughts, he found her huddled on the ground, mouth full of dirt-stained food.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

He roughly grabbed her shoulders, pulling her up, but not before she stuffed the last of it into her mouth and swollowed in one fluid motion.

Looking at her satisfied expression, Ken pinched the right and left sides of her cheeks before pulling on them and stretching her face.

Her mischievous expression quickly morphed into a wronged one.

“Sttaawwpp.”

“...Why”

Ken didn’t completely let go but loosened up his hold, letting her talk.

“Don’t…waste…food.”

With that, she pulled her arms up, releasing his grip enough so she could get away.

She jumped back and patterned her cheeks, still feeling pain, and if he had paid attention to her apprehension when looking at him, he'd have compared her to someone who had been sprayed with water.

Ken was confused.

Sure, that seems like a reasonable answer, but she didn’t seem like the type to say that.

“The food’s…dirty.”

He resigned to saying a simple sentence, not having a more proper way of communicating his thoughts.

----------------------------

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“Mama used to say a kiss makes people closer."

For a second, a delerious expression crossed her face as her skin turned red.

But as quickly as the wind blew, her shy expression morphed into a downcast one.

"…plus, it’s the first time in awhile I’ve had someone else's food.”

'Used to. That's right I don’t know much about her; maybe she has some family relationship problems.’

As he was thinking, he scrutinized her expression, trying to read more deeply into her.

‘Is that loneliness?’

They say birds of a feather flock together, and when Ken understood her expression, he connected the rest of his suspicions instantly.

‘Whenever we hang here, she always leaves first, saying that she would go home when she needed to, and when I did see her leaving after me, she walked, not having a limo or a car to pick her up, contradictory to her fancy clothes.’

The white-haired boy scrunched his eyebrows and thought, ‘I blew it off since I’ve seen kids shopping by themselves at her age, but…is that truly normal?’

Sigh

Patting her head, Ken said, “If you have any stomach problems, tell me, and I’ll get you some medicine.”

It was the best he could do for now; meddling in matters he didn’t know wasn’t wise, but he had things to do before daylight ended, meaning there was no time for a life story right now.

She pouted, though, and pushed his hand off her head.

“Why are you acting like an old man?!”

“..Old!”

That hit Ken in the heart. Sure,  he was more experienced with two sets of memories, but he wasn’t even 18 when he died!

“~but thanks.”

Ken perked up at that, his attuned ears catching her small voice.

“I have to go.”

As he expected, her expression, which had turned playful, once again dropped.

“But before I leave, since the game today ended early, let's call it a draw. As normal, each person asks one wish of the other.”

Her face quickly shifted to a giddy one, and to Ken, she was appearing bipolar, as a child often would.

“I wish to know your name."

Ken felt bad that someone he’s talked to the most in this life was practically an unknown stranger, with him only being able to describe her features.

“Hehe-what a stupid wish, but I’ll answer-”

Her expression was one saying ‘praise me’, like a princess would after committing a “selfless” sacrifice.

But Ken was neither a knight nor a loyal citizen, so his face was impassive, reading a ‘Go on, continue’ look.

“Himiko…Toga.” She muttered that last part.

‘Family problems, as I guessed.’

He nodded, them becoming acquaintances—dare he even say friends with this information?

Ken wasn’t a very popular person in his last life.

People hated his two-faced personality, which all info brokers must have, and his awkward, insociable attitude drove many away, causing him to be very socially inept.

“A-and what's yours?”

The gleam in her eyes would have made passersby with no context think she had found gold.

“Ken, Ken Kaneki.”

Seeing her satisfied, Ken thought this was over, but her next words deleted that thought.

“For my wish-”

‘How shameless; you just asked me a question.' But Ken couldn’t voice his complaints, so she continued anyway.

Not that he was going to; knowing her, she’d argue that since she didn’t even say the word wish, how could it count as her wish?

She’d further say that he answered her ‘Innocent Question’ of his own volition.

“-I want to add to my previous one. Now, along with you just playing with me, you’ll need to play with me as my friend.”

‘Eas-’

Maybe it was his relaxed expression that automatically showed up, but her face quickly shifted to an elightened one.

“NO! Rather, you need to be My BEST of Friends!”

She said that with such seriousness that Ken laughed out loud, her cuteness becoming hilarious to him.

While she pouted simultaneously, being impatient and awaiting his answer, she was also happy to see laughter in her gloomy companion Ken for the first time today.

People occasionally called him from the school next door, leading to her finding out his first name, but knowing his full name was what could solidify them as true friends.

She felt a little guilty that she didn’t tell him her full name, but she shook her head.

'No, thats not a name I want anymore.’

So she wasn’t lying.

Nodding to herself, she continued with her thoughts.

Ken was someone she valued dearly.

This was one of, if not the most exciting, parts of her day.

No bullying, no roughness, no yelling, no scolding, no hitting—only Ken, who, although often dragged around by her, didn’t seem annoyed by it.

She was often praised for her intelligence (Craftyness), she didn’t act "normal," but he still hung out with her.

Unlike what those liars said…

’Think about happy things.’

She mentally slapped her cheeks, getting rid of the bad thoughts.

Ken, who had calmed down though his lips were still raised, showing his dimples agreed.

“Sure.”

That was when Himiko knew he was going to be her best of friends.