[ Thinking about it now, it really was surprising how much happier and confident he had become since before his ghoul transformation had occurred. He'd come such a long way since then, and while he still was prone to an occasional forced smile, the real ones seemed to outweigh them the longer he stayed here.

Only as Hide brought it up did Kaneki's eyes widen just a touch before softening and his smile returned from before. ]

It's a nice change from the old me you knew, don't you think?

[ If he could get past the whole initial half-ghoul thing then perhaps part of this had done him good in building his confidence. He could speak and act more boldly than he ever had before and it didn't bother him as he wasn't nearly as worried about hurting people's feelings like he might have before. ]

Sensei? [ A note of surprise lingered in his tone just then, along with the similar expression before he chuckled a bit to himself. ] I never thought i'd see the day when you called me that.

Though as for what to start with... perhaps some defensive moves and then we'll move on to offensive after. Sound good?