“No, stop, Arima! Arima!” wails Shio.

“Shio, Shio, Shio!” Hirako shakes the child awake. “What happened?”

“Arima – was holding me down – and driving IXA through my eye.” Shio sobs.

“You’re okay. We’ve got you. And Arima loved you.” Yusa hugs his friend, and Rikai nods solemnly.

They drift back to sleep, but this time it’s Yusa sobbing awake. “Mom, stop – I won’t do it again, I promise!”

“Yusa?” Rikai tiptoes closer. “Yusa, you don’t know your mother.”

“Well, I did, and she was hitting me.” Yusa wipes his eyes. 

Shio slips under the covers with him. “Here, let’s snuggle. Rikai, join us.”

“I’m fine.” Rikai smiles uncertainly before falling asleep. 

“My TOES!” Rikai bolts upright with a shriek. “I was – in a chair – and Jason was chopping off my toes. They kept regrowing, and he kept cutting them off!”

Shio drags her into bed with he and Yusa. “I wonder why we’re all having nightmares.”

“Have you looked at our life?” Yusa asks. 

They’re awakened not twenty minutes later by a scream from the cell a few blocks down.

“CENTIPEDES IN MY EARS!”

Hirako, Yusa, Shio, and Rikai bolt for Hajime’s cell. The child is flailing about, frothing at the mouth. He lets out bloodcurdling scream after bloodcurdling scream.

“Hajime!” Shio launches himself into the cell before Hirako can stop him.

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

“Wake up!” Rikai spits into Hajime’s face. 

“Pah!” The brat awakens. Sweat beads adorn his forehead. “Huh?”

“Please tell me that’s not how you woke me up,” Yusa says. She smirks in response. 

“Did you have the dreams? The torture dreams?” Shio asks.

“I was Kaneki Ken, and Jason putting – centipedes in my ears.” Hajime shakes. He fucking hates bugs.

“I was Kaneki in my nightmare, too,” says Yusa. 

“Jason kept cutting off my toes,” says Rikai quietly. “Was the room in a mall, with a vaulted ceiling?”

Hajime nods.

“Did you smell flowers when you dreamt, Shio?” asks Yusa.

“Yeah.” Shio turns to Hirako. “What’s happening to us?”

“You’re having the Kaneki dream, monsieur!” Tsukiyama Shuu waltzes in before Hirako can answer. “We’ve all experienced it at one point or another.”

“Did those – did that really happen to him?” Shio touches his eye unconsciously. 

“Indeed,” Tsukiyama says grimly.

Shio begins to cry. “Why? Why would Arima do that?”

“Why would anyone put bugs in someone’s ears?” howls Hajime.

“Where is Kaneki?” Yusa demands.

The king peers around the corner, flanked by Touka and Ayato and – Mutsuki?

“Thought you were at CCG!” Hajime shrieks. 

“Thought you said you wouldn’t get caught,” Mutsuki cries back.

“Kingggggggggggg.” Shio flies into Kaneki’s arms, and Yusa and Rikai follow.

Kaneki gingerly pats their heads. 

“Don’t be embarrassed. It wasn’t your fault,” says Yusa.

Mutsuki notices Hajime watching them enviously. He inches into the cell and loosens the chains just enough to pull Hajime into the love circle.

Hirako frowns, but accepts the kid. 

“I’m sorry that happened. Why do you still like ghouls?” Hajime demands. 

Kaneki touches Hajime’s chin. “That’s a long story.”

“I’ve got no where else to be, considering my captain is apparently here now.”