Anime RP Tokyo Ghoul: Roles Reversed AU (With GoldenDoggo)

[Kastellanos]

The morning light filtered through the window in front of the counter, carrying with it the scent of roasted beans and the freshness of spring showers. Karei stood behind the counter of Anteiku, sleeves rolled neatly to her elbows, hands busy polishing the delicate lip of a porcelain cup. Her reflection wavered in the glass of the pastry case, an odd sight, always. Human. Plain. Still here.


They called her the jewel of the café. That was her father’s doing, not hers. Yoshimura had said it first as a joke, maybe, but the ghouls who frequented Anteiku had taken it to heart. A rare novelty was considered. A living, breathing human, working under the roof of a ghoul-run business. Not a pet. Not prey. Something else entirely. Some visited just to watch her, thinking that human's were nothing more than food, apparently seeing one as a servant or worker was a show of wealth.


Karei hated the name she was given. Not because it was cruel... No, it was kind in a way that made her stomach turn. Ghouls didn’t speak gently to humans. Not usually. But here, they offered her poems with their lattes, folded cranes out of napkins, asked her about her day like they meant it. As if she were glass. As if they wanted to own her.


And every week, without fail, someone offered to take her off her father’s hands. Offers of more humans to trade, status, money, anything they could think that he could possibly want for her, like she was nothing more than a piece of property.


“She’d make a beautiful centerpiece,” A ghoul woman had said once, smiling too widely over her cappuccino with beady eyes that never left Karei. “You could charge admission to just sit and look at her. I know I would!”


Yoshimura had smiled in return, gently, kindly, and told them no, like he always did. Karei had stood in the back room, pressing a trembling fist against her chest and waiting for the smile to drop from her father’s face when she couldn’t see it. It never did. She knew he wouldn't sell her or give her away, but the fear was always in the back of her mind...


Karei set the cup down now, polished to a shine, just as the bell above the door jingled. Karei straightened her apron, smoothed her hands over her skirt, and turned toward the entrance with practiced grace. A fake smile on her lips that was perfected to look real.


“Welcome to Anteiku,” Karei chimed, her voice sweet but steady, moving to stand in front of the counter, hands clasped together as she continued. “Please, have a seat anywhere you like.”

 

[GoldenDoggo]

Uta lingers at the doorway a moment longer than needed, eyes fixed on the human girl before him. The sun pushed a long shadow across the floor as rays of light danced across the tiles, but Uta remains motionless, eyes fixed on the girl before him. He wears a crafted expression -detached, disinterested yet calming. There was something about the way he watched Karei; it felt deliberate, like he was dragging out this quick moment of time into a century. This silence is broken by a quick and dismissive response of “my usual” as he strides to a nearby table, ignoring any attempt at an acknowledgment.

Uta had become a regular at Anteiku. He frequented the coffee shop almost every other day. He had become a phantom a ghost. He would appear and vanish from Anteiku like formless smoke, just long enough for coffee and a quick chat before slipping back into the streets. He slid into an open chair and slowly placed a hand on the table, black nails clicking against the wood in a slow rhythmic beat. He sat and watched, even with his calm expression anyone can tell his eyes are fixed onto the “Jewel of the Cafe” as Karei was often called. Uta isn’t one of the many ghouls who openly asked for Karei, like the others at the cafe, though his following gaze could tell his motive is no different.

Uta waited patiently for his order and for Karei. His eyes following her around the cafe, watching her prepare the coffee that he enjoys almost every day. As she hurried over, platter in hand with his drink he sits, waiting for her to come closer, waiting for her to come to him. Karei sets down the platter and gave him his coffee and a mumble of “your usual.” Uta looked up and breaks the quiet murmur of the Cafe with a question.

“Do you ever get tired of being locked in your display box, Karei?” His voice cut through the air precisely. “It must get dull, watching the world move while you stay perfectly still. But I suppose there aren’t many places for someone like you to go, are there?” The question lingered in the air as he stared into her eyes.

He leaned back in his seat, lifting his cup with one hand while the other tapped a slow, steady beat on the table. “I just can’t imagine,” he continued, tone slower. “Sure, you meet interesting people. You smile. You serve. But you’re still a spectacle in a cage. A jewel in a vault, a display piece.” He sipped his coffee, then let the cup rest. His eyes never left hers. “Tell me, Karei… do you ever wish for way out of your box” he asked-calm, composed and waited for her response.

 

[Kastellanos]

Karei stood still for a breath too long after placing the cup down, her fingers still lightly resting on the edge of the tray. Uta’s words echoed in her mind; there was no way she could answer truthfully, and it wasn't like the human wasn't used to lying at such questions. Her heart fluttered, but her expression remained serene, composed, the complete opposite of her wanting to answer with a heartfelt yes and running off to truly live her life how she wanted. A soft smile curved her lips, not the one she wore for customers, but the one she kept tucked behind her teeth when she knew the answer wouldn’t be what they wanted to hear.

“No,” Karei said, voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes, a soft umber, met his with startling clarity. She stood straight, lifting the tray once more, but not yet walking away. She could feel her father's eyes staring at her, almost like he was expecting her to perform for him. “I don’t wish to leave.”

“My father gave me this place. This space to breathe, to be… to survive. I’m not caged, Uta. I’m protected.” Her gaze shifted slightly, just enough to scan the windows, the blurred world outside then back to him. Eyes stared at her, but her facade never cracked, never hinted that she wished Uta could see through the well-performed lies.

“Out there,” Karei continued gently, there was no drama in her tone, no trembling dread. Just certainty. The kind that comes from having already seen too much. Karei wasn't shielded from the truth; she knew all too well what the world outside for humans was like. "It isn’t just freedom waiting. It’s death. Or something worse.”

“I’d rather be loved and safe in a box than free and forgotten in the dirt.” Her smile returned, delicate as ever, but with something deeper beneath it. A quiet sadness... Karei gave a polite nod, stepping back a pace.

“So no, I don’t dream of keys or escape. I dream of mornings like this, of coffee I get to make and enjoy, of sunlight on tiles, and hands that don’t let go too easily.” Then she turned, slowly walking back to the counter, her silhouette soft against the rays of golden light. Karei stood behind the counter like a good trainer, little servant, watching as her smiling father stepped forward.

"So elegantly spoken, Karei. Though I perhaps I do have to worry about letting you go one day. I can't keep you forever, as much as it pains me with the idea of leaving her all alone." Yoshimura sighed. When he looked away, only then did a crack appear, Karei's face falling as she hated that even worse than being disposed of. Her father's death would result in her downfall, and that was another fear Karei couldn't shake.