When Ruby and the others brought him back to Beacon Academy, Kaneki didn't expected to be immediately dragged up into the headmaster's office, by none other than the man himself.
So, that's how he found himself sitting in front of said man with a rather large metal desk between them as they made idle small talk. Nothing special too special happened between them, just a brief getting to know each other up until Ozpin asked,
"Where did you say you were from again?"
Kaneki anticipated that question being asked for a while now, but he still couldn't decide on how to answer. A part of him wanted to lie and make himself look less suspicious, probably say something along the lines of him not being able to remember his place of origin, but he had his doubts of his plan working.
The man just didn't seem like the type to miss much and Kaneki didn't know how he would respond if he decided to call him out on it, and given his lack of knowledge about wherever he currently was, trying to come up with another believable lie would be rather difficult.
He could try and avoid the question entirely, but there was always the chance that the conversation may lead back to the topic and if he kept sidestepping it for too long, he would eventually be called out on it. No doubt about that.
Then, there was the option of telling the man the truth and giving up the fact that he was from another world, which, of course, seemed like the option to avoid when it first crossed his mind. Now, that he had a chance to think about it, however, he realized that it would probably the be the more beneficial route for him to take.
If he was ever going to be able to get back to his friends and his own world, the artificial half ghoul knew that he was going to need someone else's help eventually. Truth be told, it'd probably be more beneficial to him to get someone in a influential position in society to back him than just pretending from this world. Someone like that could get him out of any sticky situations if it ever boiled down to it.
Flat out telling the man that he was from another world would also help him in the long run. Living in a society meant that one knew the basics of how it worked and he would definitely need time to learn those basics. A fact that might have led to some rather awkward conversations in the future, especially if one were to come up that was so well known that he couldn't just play off as simple ignorance. That would also, in turn, draw some attention his way and he'd rather not deal with anything like that so early in his time here.
So with a route set in his mind, Kaneki took in a deep breath and began to explain to the middle-aged man before him, where exactly he came from.
*****************************************
"So, what do you guys think's going to happen to Kaneki?"
Ruby asked the four other members of team RWBY as they got themselves ready for bed, all of them already in their pajamas.
"Given how crazy today has been, who knows?"
Yang gave an exaggerated shrug as she strode over to her bed, letting out a loud yawn as she asked,
"How about you, Blake? What do you think's going to happen to short-stuff?"
"Knowing Ozpin, I assume he was offered a chance to become a student here at Beacon,"
Blake replied as she turned a page in the book she was reading, not giving much of an answer after that.
"Well, I guess that makes sense considering what he did out there..."
Weiss interjected as she finished her usual pre-sleep routine, one that was probably more intricate and time consuming than some girls' morning routine,
"but for some reason, I doubt that he'd actually agree to come here."
"Huh, why do you say that?" Ruby asked her partner with more than just a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"Well, here at Beacon, the fact is that students usually have to join a team and he just seems like one of those 'lone-wolf' types, don't you think?"
Weiss explained, crossing her arms over her chest as she explained. "You know, one of those guys who does everything on their own because they think they're the only ones who can."
"Weiss and I rarely agree on things, but I have to agree with her here,"
Yang admitted with a small nod of her head.
"I've come across a couple of those types and the way he fights reminds me a lot like them in a way."
"Really?"
Ruby asked with a tilt of her head, but a sudden series of knocks on their dorm room door stopped any of them from giving an answer.
"I'll get it~!"
Yang sing-songed before rushing to answer the door like a child.
"Who is it?"
"It's Ozpin,"
answered a familiar voice came from the other side of the door in all its emotionless glory.
"I have something important to discuss with the four of you."
"Oh, then come on in,"
Yang replied before unlocking the door and opening it for their headmaster, only to met with a sight that gave all four girls a pleasant shock.
As they expected, headmaster Ozpin walked through the door with his signature cane in hand, but he wasn't what surprised them. No, what surprised them was the familiar snowy-haired young man following him, clad in, well… nothing but a pair of black boxers and a white towel that hung loosely off his bare, pale shoulders.
"Ah, I must apologize for Mr. Kaneki's state of undress,"
Ozpin said after noticing the rather surprised faces on two of the four teens before him. The only outliers being Yang, who was staring at the young man with a lecherous grin on her face, and Blake, who continued to read from the book in her hand, seemingly completely unconcerned by the situation that was unfolding in front of her.
"He requested a shower before he coming here and I had a maid go get his clothes washed without having any replacement clothing on hand."
"S-so why didn't you just wait for them to get finished being washed?!"
Weiss asked while averting her eyes from the undressed form of Kaneki, a slight blush appearing on her pale features as she did so.
"That's what I suggested initially, but he insisted that it was fine and that he would like to get this out of the way as soon as possible."
Their headmaster explained tiredly.
"So, naturally I obliged."
"So you just had him walk all the way here from the clock tower, dressed in nothing but his underwear?"
Weiss asked in a much steadier tone, but it was clear by how her pale blue eyes were averted off to the side that she was still actively trying not to look at Kaneki.
This gained a nod of affirmation from Ozpin, which prompted the heiress of the Schnee dust company to let out an exasperated sigh.
"Sorry, I guess I really didn't think this through, did I?"
Kaneki asked, his lips curling up into a sheepish smile as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Well, you're not going to hear me complaining,"
Yang stated while still staring directly at him, now nodding her head slowly as she continued to blatantly admire the young man's rather impressive physique.
"So, Professor Ozpin, what did you need to speak with us about?"
Ruby hurriedly asked, attempting to shift the conversation away from her snowy-haired friend's lack of clothing and his perfectly sculpted bo-
Woah! Where did that come from? she asked herself mentally before the sound of her headmaster's voice brought her back to reality.
"Oh yes, as of tomorrow, Mr. Kaneki here will be attending classes here at Beacon and like all students, he will need to have to go through initiation," Ozpin explained, "which means he's going to need somewhere to rest so he has enough energy to fight effectively tomorrow, but due to the rather short notice of his arrival, we don't have a place for him to stay the night and I'm sure you all can piece together the rest."
"So, you're basically saying that you're going to have him stay here with us since he doesn't know anyone else here at Beacon,"
Blake said dryly, still not looking up from her book as she spoke.
"Exactly,"
was Ozpin's response, his voice equally as dry.
"Excuse me sir, but did it ever cross your mind that having a half-naked young man sleep in the same room as four teenage girls, could be a tad bit uncomfortable for some of said teenage girls?"
Weiss asked Ozpin with a tone that was a mix of outrage and curiosity.
"Yes, but after my talk with Mr. Kaneki here, I thoroughly believe that he's not the type of person to try and do something to a sleeping girl during the middle of the night,"
Ozpin explained to the heiress.
"It's one of the reasons why I'm even letting him sleep in your room in the first place."
Surprisingly, that statement alone was enough for her to let out a sigh of contempt and say,
"Fine, he can stay here, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it."
"That's all I ask of you, Ms. Schnee."
"Truth be told, I'd be more worried about what might happen to him during the night, rather than what might happen to us,"
Blake commented dryly as she turned another page in the book she was reading, making clear reference to the grin Yang was flashing towards the white-haired young man, whose eyebrow was beginning to twitch uncomfortably under said gaze.
Headmaster Ozpin paid no attention to the fidgeting young man next to him and said,
"That is all, I hope you all have a good night."
The silver-haired man then turned his head torwards the snowy-haired young man. "Especially you, Mr. Kaneki,
" he stated, "you're going to need it for tomorrow afternoon."
With that, Ozpin turned on a heel and exited the dorm room, leaving the five teenagers completely to their own devices.
Kaneki scanned the dorm room around him and immediately took note of the strange bedding arrangements. Two beds were on the floor as they should be, but the two other beds were placed directly over the ones on the ground, forming a pair of makeshift bunk beds.
"Sorry again about this,"
Kaneki apologized to all of them once again, or more accurately one of them in particular.
"Like I said, I really didn't think this one through."
"Don't worry about it, we all had to stay in the ballroom our first day here at Beacon, boys and girls alike so it's nothing new to us,"
Ruby reassured him.
"Yang and I'll go get the spare blankets, I hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor."
"Or you could share a bed with one of us, my bed has plenty of room, you know~,"
Yang chimed in causing a slight blush to slowly crawl onto his face.
"N-no the floor is fine,"
Kaneki reassured her, nearly choking on his words as they came out, eliciting a giggle from both Ruby and Yang as they went to get his makeshift bed ready.
Both finding the sight of the young man who killed a group of four beowolves with his bare hands only hours ago, blushing a small amount of teasing completely and utterly absurd.
Knowing that it might take a while for his bed to be ready, the snowy-haired young man walked over to the second thing in the room that caught his attention during his initial scan of the room.
It was a long wooden bookcase that was about the height of one of the single beds next to it and was filled to the brim with books. Kneeling down so that he was exactly eye level with the top shelf of the bookcase, he began browsing through the titles, looking for anything that seemed interesting.
The black-haired girl who most of the books belonged to immediately took notice of this and asked him,
"Looking for a book to read?"
"Um yeah, any suggestions?"
he asked while still browsing the titles, immediately taking notice of the fact that he had seen some of the same titles on books from his world.
"It depends on what you like to read,"
was Blake's response to him.
"I tend to like books that are written in a more descriptive manner and are serious in nature,"
Kaneki recited in a tone that made it seem like saying it was second-nature to him, as he was saying this his gray eyes suddenly noticed a book that was different from the rest. The rest of the other books had brown, black, or blue covers. This book on the other hand had a cover that was colored a deep crimson.
Curious about what it contained, the snowy-haired teen pulled it out from the shelf and flipped to a random page.
"Then, I would suggest you read-"
the black-haired teen began, immediately ceasing all talking when she glanced down and saw him reading out of that book.
Oh crap, he found my copy of Ninjas of Love, Blake thought, screaming at herself mentally for not hiding it better. Calm down Blake, calm down, he can't possibly know that it's yours. You just have act normal… Act normal.
Kaneki's expression remained steely as he realized what type of book he was currently reading. His usually strong desire to read dying inside of him as he closed the book and placed it back in the bookcase without a word.
With his want to read completely shattered into a million pieces, he decided that it was best to just sit himself down on the floor and let his thoughts wander, so that's exactly what he did. As he sat there with his back to the bookshelf, he let his thoughts wander back to his conversation with Ozpin.
Act normally, huh? he repeated the sole instructions Ozpin had given him on the way to team RWBY's dorm room. What exactly defines being normal around here, I wonder?
"Hey Kaneki, you're bed's ready,"
Ruby told him while gesturing towards a pile of spare blankets and a single pillow that was positioned directly in front of Weiss's bed.
The snowy-haired half ghoul gave her and Yang an appreciative nod before standing up and walking over towards the makeshift bed.
"Remember, if you get too uncomfortable on the floor, my bed is always open,"
Yang told him in a low, seductive whisper as they passed each other, causing yet another blush to fight its way onto his cheeks, eliciting a giggle from said blonde bombshell.
Kaneki let out an awkward laugh as he hurried to his makeshift bed. It wasn't anything extravagant, but it wasn't like he expected it to be in the first place. He let out a relieved sigh when he slipped himself in between the two blankets and allowed his head fall onto his pillow.
After everything that happened to him in the past couple hours, sleep came easy to him and unfortunately so did the nightmares…