Hide leaned back and crossed his arms as he studied Kamazaki, his expression once again pensive. He rummaged through his mind for any information he might've come across on the Phoenix Fashionette company. He wasn't an avid fashion article fan, but he'd had his due share of indulgence, after all, his fashion sense wasn't something he had been born with.
He then looked over at Kaneki and found him calm, seemingly contemplating the unexpected offer. If this were the previous timid Kaneki, he would've outright denied as he wasn't that photogenic, heck, he didn't even possess enough of a presence that might've attracted Kamazaki's lens.
But now, this Kaneki was of a different breed, he didn't flinch once when the camera had been pointed at him and flashed. And his posture, coupled with his stoic presence, was like a beacon to a photographer. This might just work! Problem is—
"Ah! Now I remember, the Phoenix studio, a two-year-old firm that had been the raze on its earlier days, not gonna lie, the photographers knew what they were doing, the setting and themes were just right. If I recall correctly, they were once in the top five! Now however..." Hide's eyes flashed with investigative enthusiasm when he caught the change in Kamazaki's body language.
"Erm, a lot of stuff happened you know? Change in market and uh, insufficient funds to—" the lady started, fidgeting about in search for an excuse. She had to admit, the vibrant guy surprisingly had the smarts, that caught her off guard. People of his caliber were supposed to be stupidly arrogant and spendthrifts, not disguised detectives and adept at society shenanigans.
Hide interrupted her speech midway and addressed his friend, "Kaneki, we have time to spare, no? Besides, Miss Kamazaki, you came just in time, we were discussing on part times that might interest us."
She stared at Hide, utterly dumbfounded, he just offered her a seat, figuratively, cutting off her chances of changing the subject. She expected to reign them in with the promise of money to model for her, young people should only be thinking of money, right? Not to try and dig up a fading firm's history that was riddled with the stain of an unjust society, right?!
Kamazaki subconsciously twirled the strap of her camera as she nodded and retrieved a seat beside the duo.
"Now then, I am Nagachika Hideyoshi, and he is Ken Kaneki, just call us Hide and Kaneki, and you, Mei," Hide adeptly covered the introductions.
Kamazaki nodded, again, she was stupefied at the blond's ability to just control the flow of the conversation, he immediately shaved off the thick ice of formality without making it overly awkward. However, she didn't know how much to indulge, Mei wished she had a drink, perhaps with the influence of alcohol, she might relay her story truthfully. Thankfully, her rescue arrived, just in time.
"There you are, Mei. Ugh, had us worried that you got into trouble with that lens of yours, who would've thought you snugged yourself a date! With two guys nonetheless," a boisterous voice garnered the trio's attention and Mei sighed in relief.
Kaneki and Hide glanced over at the new arrival. The owner of the voice was a surprisingly young lady, perhaps within the same age group as Mei, she was stylish, a factor that the duo subconsciously associated with anyone acquainted with Mei. Dressed in white pants of soft fabric and a cyan shirt that she had tucked into the pants coupled with brown boots, the blonde lady was undoubtedly a head turner.
She sashayed with towards their table with a mischievous smile plastered on her angelic face. In turn, she too gauged the duo beside Mei, and consequentially concluded that they indeed possessed a unique synergy, like the poles of a magnet, polar opposites but attracted each other. Naturally, they belonged together.
Mei rose to make the introductions.
"Sorry I left you guys hanging, something," she paused and glanced over at Hide and Kaneki, "Came up."
"These are, Nagachika and Ken— I mean, Hideyoshi and Kaneki," Mei bashfully corrected herself when she caught Hide smirking.
"Oh, first name basis already, huh? Well then, I'm Rin Karla. But you guys can just call me Karla," the new entry relayed vibrantly.
Hide nodded and Kaneki hummed in acknowledgement. Mei drastically summarized the events that led up to the current situation and Karla nodded curtly, her eyes became sharp as she addressed the two young men.
"I see, why don't you guys come to our booth up floor? It's got better privacy for such— discussions. And we have another person waiting on us up there, I just came to fetch Mei," Karla teasingly pinched her friend's cheek.
With an invitation, they wasted no time and headed to the elevator for the 4th floor.
To cut it short, compared to the lower floors, this, was less a dinning area and more of a VIP auction section. The 'booths' that Karla had mentioned were actually self sustained rooms, like the Karaoke ones but thrice as large. Confidentiality was truly guaranteed.
Karla led them to one of the booths and they got in. It was spacious and luxurious and sleek and extravagant, one of the walls was made up of glass, offering clear view to the bustling city below. There was already a person inside as earlier proclaimed.
She was seated beside the glass wall, overlooking the city below. Clad in a grey three-piece suit, the woman placed down the cup of coffee and unfurled her crossed legs. She didn't immediately look up when they arrived.
Kaneki's nose wiggled and he sniffed at the air. Something smelled delicious. His eyes zoomed to the cup set before her. It was coffee, yes, but its scent was different. There was more to it than just roasted coffee beans.
"Izuku~ we're back!" Mei announced, breaking the tranquil atmosphere.
To this, the woman turned, her lips slightly parted to reprimand her friend for just waltzing in and breaking her chain of thought. However, her complaint caught in her throat when she laid her eyes on the new entries.
Kaneki froze, and so did she.
Izuku felt her perception swirl and shun out every other person in the room apart from the tall, stoic, raven-haired man. She unwillingly held her breath as her heart began to pound out of rhythm. A spark began somewhere deep within her but she failed to notice it at the moment. Her eyes swallowed in the person before her, burning his image into her retina. Her nose twitched and Izuku caught herself etching his sent to memory.
On the other hand, Kaneki felt a throbbing against his skull, nothing painful mind you— to him that is. At first, he had thought his body was developing some ailment due to the human food he had consumed earlier. But that was highly unlikely since, unlike other ghouls, his body never exaggeratedly denied human food, instead, it compressed and stored it as toxin that he later excreted through sweat.
So, what was this?
His vision had suddenly focused on her, choosing to filter out everyone else within the room. His consciousness exerted themselves in search of a solution, he had never met an enemy that stirred his senses to such an extent. His ears quirked as he heard the thrum of her heartbeat, and oddly, he found the sound soothing.
Her hair was moss green, styled into a bun with two bangs left unchecked to cup her face, she wore no make up, just basic foundation. Her eyes were jungle green that caught the city lights making them gleam with fantasy flames. He found them beautiful, and Kaneki inwardly grumbled at such stray thoughts, but he couldn't help it.
As they drowned deeper into such a helpless yet soothing moment, the other occupants of the room were dumbfounded. Hide had tried calling out Kaneki's name but to no avail, he was suddenly deaf and remained unblinking, same case to Mei and Karla. Their friend had uncharacteristically frozen up and failed to snap out even after her name was called out.
Hide, recalling a method that was effective in tearing off hypnotized people from a hypnosis spell, spread his arms wide and without offering a heads up to Mei and Karla, swiftly brought his hands together in a loud resounding clap!
That seemingly did the job, as both Izuku and Kaneki tensed and instantly raised their guards up, slipping into defensive stances. Izuku had abruptly risen from her seat and had instinctively inched closer to the glass wall. Her breathing was erratic but she managed to reign herself in.
Kaneki had cold sweat spotting his brows but immediately smoothed himself into a more relaxed posture.
"Well, that was a pretty long staring contest," Karla remarked, glancing at Izuku, who had returned to normal as if nothing was amiss.
"Dude, never seen you look at someone for this long," Hide tapped his friend's shoulder with a knowing glint in his eye and a smirk that Kaneki found slightly irritating.
"Well then, with that settled, let's get introductions out of the way so we can start what we came here for," Mei offered an olive branch and everyone grasped for it.
As they sat down, Kaneki and Izuku found themselves subtly glancing at each other. It was a magnetic effect that neither could defy, and they knew this, and they dreaded this.
'Fuck, things just got way out of hand!' Even their thoughts had become aligned.