Somehow he had managed to get himself thrown into another world. He didn't want to believe that was the case, but clearly, it was.
How else could he explain the four wolf-like creatures that he had just killed?
How else could he explain the fact that none of the first six people he met after awakening had no clue what Tokyo was when it was the capital city of a world power?
How else could he explain the fact that a good portion of the moon was fucking destroyed?
Other than this being some sort of weird hallucination that made him feel physical, not mental, physical pain, he had no clue.
Despite that, being in a different world was really the last thing he was concerned about at the moment, he was truthfully more concerned for the fate of his friends.
Kaneki managed to save Irimi and Enji from death momentarily, but if they ran into Arima in the state they were in, and he knew they would considering V14 was the only way out of the 20th ward, they would have no chance of taking down the reaper of the CCG.
He didn't know what happened to the manager since he hadn't been able to reach him.
He could've been killed or he could've survived, either way Kaneki highly doubted that the man who had been able to boss around two SS-rated ghouls for years would go down without much of a fight
The snowy-haired half ghoul also couldn't be sure about what would happen to the group he was leaving behind after his reckless actions.
What would happen to Ichimi, Jiro, Sante, and Banjou?
They weren't very powerful on their own so what would happen to them after he was gone?
What would happen to Tsukiyama? He was strong, but the way the gourmet acted when he left to save the ghouls at Anteiku worried him.
And then there was Hinami. What would happen to the young ghoul that he considered a younger sister?
He didn't hold a single doubt that she would be able to take care of herself, but he had no idea how she would react to yet another person close to her disappearing without a trace.
The more Kaneki thought about it, the harder he clenched his fists. He needed to get back to his world, but how could he when he didn't even know how he got here in the first place?
Just like that, what he needed to do became crystal clear to him.
'He needed to get back. He needed to get back. He needed to get back. He needed to get back. He needed to get back.Heneededtogetba-'
"Hey Short-stuff, you okay?"
the sound of Yang's voice drew him out of his thoughts.
The snowy-haired ghoul took in a deep breath before turning towards the blonde-haired girl behind him, silently thanking her as he nodded in response to her question. His mind was going into dark places and bad things tended to happen when his mind went to dark places.
The nod didn't seem to convince her of his wellness, probably due to the fact the emotionless expression he was wearing wasn't very reassuring, but she didn't call him out on it.
In the end, he was someone they just met in the woods and she must've thought that it wouldn't be appropriate to ask something so personal so early.
After something like that, he expected them to look at him in a different light, but to his surprise there was very little change to their demeanors.
Ruby was still smiling at him sweetly, Weiss still had that impatient scowl on her face, and Blake was still reading that book of hers.
Ozpin and Goodwitch were still watching him curiously, but this time with slight smiles on their faces.
Even Yang, who noticed the changes in his demeanor earlier, still had that same confident smile spread across her features as he looked at him.
The smiles directed towards him proved infectious as a moment later, the emotionless facade he put up cracked and a thin smile spread across his face.
' How could they remain so positive after what I did to those beowolves? '
That question looped in his mind as he approached them, but a certain blur of red coming towards him at top speed made him stop.
"That. Was. So. Awesome!"
that blur of red exclaimed as she bounced up and down in front of him like a puppy who hadn't seen its master in awhile, you know if dogs started carrying around giant metal scythes.
"You were like one of those guys I've seen in kung-fu movies! You were all like! "
Kaneki couldn't stop himself from letting out a sheepish laugh at Ruby's words, flattered by the comparison. Having seen some of those movies she was talking about, he could thank Hide for that, and immediately knew that she couldn't be anymore wrong though he wasn't going to tell her that quite just yet .
So instead, he decided to give Ruby this response while scratching the back of his head.
"I'm not that good."
"Oh come on! You don't need to act all modest, you were freaking awesome against those beowolves!"
Ruby countered.
"I mean, you beat them all with nothing but your bare hands. Your bare hands! Do you know how many people who could've done that?"
"Exactly,"
the red-clad teenager replied with a proud nod,
"so take a little pride in how strong you are, will you?"
' Take a little pride in how strong you are'... Kaneki repeated as images of his fights with Shachi and Arima.
I guess I do forget how strong I am sometimes... Memories of what happened in V14 replayed themselves in his mind suddenly, but unfortunately not strong enough.
"Yeah, Ruby's right,"
Yang interjected whilst slapping him on the shoulder like she did earlier.
"After what you did, I'm sure you get a free pass on being humble just this once."
Not knowing how else to respond, the snowy-haired half ghoul simply nodded and flashed an appreciative smile at the girl's statement, though he doubted that he could ever be confident in his power ever since his fight with Shachi.
The beating he received that day was a reminder that even though he was considered a strong ghoul - the CCG didn't give out the SS-rating to ghouls for no reason after all - there was always the chance that his enemies might be just a bit stronger than him.
So, that's why he vowed to never get too overconfident in his abilities again, otherwise he might lose the drive to become stronger and in turn, get weaker than he was when he started out.
But then again, was power really something he wanted if the result was something like his kakuja?
He really didn't know the answer to that question anymore.
*********************
Away from the group of five teenagers, Ozpin and Goodwitch were conversing quietly about the events that just transpired in front of them.
"What do you think, Mr. Ozpin?"
the middle-aged, blonde huntress asked curiously.
"He's certainly strong, you'd have to be to punch clean through a beowolf, but…"
"You fear that he's too unstable to have around the other students,"
Ozpin finished for her.
"So you saw the bloodthirsty grin he had when he was fighting too?"
"It was rather hard to miss, but if he was a danger to us, he definitely would've tried something by now."
Ozpin countered, making reference to how friendly he was acting with the group of four teenage girls that he named team RWBY.
"At the very least we should give him the benefit of the doubt. If we can convince him to join us, I'm sure he'll be a great asset to have in the war against the creatures of Grimm."
"I guess you're right, but if something happens-"
Goodwitch began before Ozpin cut her off.
"If the time comes, I'll take full responsibility,"
the headmaster reassured his subordinate as he turned his attention back onto the group of teens currently conversing.
Four of which being students of his, and one he genuinely hoped would be one in the future.