Kaneki once read that if someone were to take in the same chemical constantly, over a long period of time, that they would eventually develop a sort of tolerance to aforementioned chemical. After first reading that, he wondered if the same thing could be applied to other things, but now, he knew that it was entirely possible.
From the moment he escaped Aogiri Tree's clutches, nightmares plagued his mind while he slept. He received them over and over, nonstop, for the past few months. At a point, he had gotten so many that he actually started to develop a sort of tolerance to them. Something that first became apparent to him after the first couple weeks, when he started waking up from said nightmares without immediately sitting up or hyperventilating right after waking.
He still did have reactions to them - it was hard not to - but they were now limited to waking up in a cold sweat and the occasional yelling out of someone's name. He, of course, didn't mind gaining a tolerance to them, but that didn't stop him from realizing how depressing the fact was. For a person to have so many nightmares, that they actually started to become jaded to them... That was the very definition of the word: depressing.
So, that's why he wasn't at all surprised to wake up and find himself covered with a thin layer of sweat.
Another fucking nightmare... Kaneki thought to himself bitterly as he sat up on his makeshift bed. The sheets that had spent the entirety of last night covering him, slipped off of him as he subconsciously cracked his index finger with his thumb. I wonder if I'll ever stop having them.
The nightmare he just had wasn't particularly frightening, nor was it very unique. It was pretty much the same old, same old: watching bad things happen to the people he cared about, while he had no absolutely no ability to change what was going on in front of him.
"Oh good,"
he heard a voice coming from his left say to him suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts,
"you're finally awake."
His instincts kicked into gear almost immediately. The snowy-haired half ghoul rolled out of his makeshift bed and onto his feet in one fluid motion, angling his body so that he would be facing the direction the voice had come from upon finishing the roll. Lifting his hands up to his head the moment he reached his feet, making it clear that he was ready to fight anyone or anything that thought it a good idea to attack him in his-
"There something wrong Kaneki?"
Blake asked him from her position on her bed, an open book lying on top her lap as she stared at him with a cat-like tilt of her head.
That's right, I spent the night in their room, Kaneki reminded himself, relaxing back into a much more neutral stance as he did so. Guess I really am in a different world now...
"No,"
he answered while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment,
"you just caught me off-guard, is all."
The bow-wearing teen blinked at him owlishly and asked,
"Huh, so you're basically saying that you get yourself ready to fight every time someone manages to surprise you?"
"Yeah, pretty much,"
he admitted after a few seconds of contemplation, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.
"Then remind me to never sneak up on you in the middle of the night,"
she replied, her dry tone making it hard for him to figure out the intention behind the statement. Was she joking, or was she completely serious? He just didn't know.
Okay… he thought as he let out an awkward chuckle, ...not the answer I was expecting.
"So what happened to the others?"
he asked upon taking notice of the severe lack of three certain people's presence.
"Class."
"Oh."
Kaneki gave a single nod of his head before asking,
"So how come you aren't in class then?"
"Professor Ozpin dropped by with your clothes, but before he left he asked that one of us stay behind and show you around the campus before your initiation,"
Blake explained to him dryly, as she picked her book back off of her lap so she could continue reading it.
"So I volunteered."
He raised a skeptical eyebrow at the explanation and asked,
"Couldn't Ozpin have just done this himself?"
"He said something about having something important to take care of before then,"
Blake replied with a shrug, not even bothering to look up from her book once again.
"Well, that doesn't sound suspicious at all,"
the snowy-haired half ghoul mumbled to himself sarcastically. Crossing his arms over his chest, he proceeded to ask,
"So, what do we do now?"
"Well, it's simple really. You're going to put on some clothes and I'm going to keep reading this book."
Put on some clothes? he repeated the sentence to himself mentally, but about three seconds later, he realized what she had meant by it. Oh yeah, I'm still wearing nothing but my underwear, aren't I?
As he thought this, Kaneki couldn't help but note how much his self-confidence has grown over the past few months.
Back before his ten days with Yamori, there was no doubt that standing half-naked in front of a girl he barely knew would've caused him to gain a blush that was so large, that he'd probably pass out from all the blood rushing to his head.
Now, there was enough confidence within him to do it without flustering at all. Leaps and bounds in progress.
Where exactly are my clothes anyway? Kaneki asked himself, scanning the room around him for his clothes, which he found sitting on the bookcase, neatly folded into a perfect square.
"Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
Blake asked him as he walked over to aforementioned bookcase, her amber eyes still not looking up from her book as she spoke.
"Um, sure,"
he began, glancing over at the bow-bearing bookworm from the corner of his eyes as he picked his clothes up from off the top of the bookcase,
"what do you want to know?"
"Do you happen to have a habit of counting in your sleep?"
she asked him with a hint of curiosity in her voice, which prompted his eyes to widen fractionally in response.
"No, not that I know of,"
Kaneki stated, subconsciously tapping his left index finger on the tip of his chin,
"but then again, how exactly would I know what I do in my sleep?"
"Fair enough,"
the bow-wearing teen replied with a contempt nod of her head.
"So as a heads up, you count down from a thousand by intervals of seven in your sleep."
"Noted,"
he stated while slipping on the skin-tight black suit that he wore under his clothes. The material it was made out of contouring to his body like it was a second pair of skin.
All conversation immediately died off after that single word slipped from his lips, but the silence that ensued felt strange to him.
The silence between them felt strangely mutual, comfortable even. It was almost like they made an unspoken agreement to cease all talking at that exact moment, without the actual agreement of course, because it was clear that they were both equally surprised at what was happening.
The fact that they were both naturally introverted people and were used to this kind of silence probably helped, because if they didn't, there was no doubt things between them would've gotten really awkward, really quickly.
Yet instead of acknowledging it or trying to spark up some sort of conversation, Kaneki simply continued to clothe himself and Blake continued reading through her book. Not a word being uttered between the two as the seconds ticked by. Not even when the snowy-haired half ghoul finished dressing himself and plopped himself down on the floor next to the bow-bearing bookworm's bed. They simply allowed themselves to sink further and further into it.
The mutual silence persisted on for a good while. The only sound that could be heard being the faint sound of them breathing in and out.
Unfortunately, they're reverie was shattered when the sound of the people filing into the dormitory reached the two teens' ears. The footsteps and chattering of said people, effectively destroying the serenity that permeated itself through the air around them, which prompted the two of them to let out quiet sighs of aggravation.
"That probably means that morning classes are over,"
Blake noted, closing the book she was reading as she moved to get off of her bed.
"We should probably start heading to the cafeteria, I promised the others to bring you there once you woke up."
"Wait, what would've happened if I hadn't woken up before then?"
Kaneki asked as he stood up from the ground, genuinely curious as to what she had planned if that happened.
"Then I would've woken you up,"
she told him as she flashed him a wry smile. The two conflicting signals making it hard for him to discern if she was joking or not.
"I'm not going to go hungry just because you were too lazy to get up."
Deciding that it was probably best for him to think of it as a joke, the snowy-haired half ghoul laughed sheepishly and replied,
"Good to know… So, we're going to the cafeteria, right?"
"Yeah, that's the plan,"
the bow-bearing bookworm stated as she stood up from her bed. The smile on her face growing a tad bit larger as she walked past him and towards the door leading out to the hallway, utter in the words.
"Follow me."
And so, he did.