[fic] Beginnings And Ends; Our World And The Rest Of It (1/1)
TITLE: Beginnings And Ends; Our World And The Rest Of It
PAIRING: Pretty gen. Maybe some Sakumoto and Ohmiya if you're squinting, but Ohmiya could very well just be being Ohmiya, so...
LENGTH: Oneshot. 7916 words.
BANDS: Arashi and Johnny's Juniors... sorta...
GENRE: Crack, angst, action/adventure.... deathfic? :P
RATING: PG-13 for violence, and maybe some language.
NOTES: This is me, revealing myself~ :P written for the JE trick or treat anon meme. And THIS prompt. This was my first time writing anon for something or fulfilling a request! Yay! It was fun :D
**EDIT**
Oh! And I forgot when I reposted this that I'd also drawn a fanart to go with it.... so HERE YOU GO!
*****
+++
Ohno blinked blearily, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above him as he floated back into reality from a peaceful sleep…
Or maybe not so peaceful. He frowned. Last he remembered he’d been dozing off in the break room, and then there was some sort of commotion. People were screaming, and then somebody was dragging him out of the room amid panicked shouts about ‘the end of the world’… Ohno had been half-asleep, so he hadn’t paid the situation any mind. Now though, he was considering whether or not that had been a good idea.
“Where am I…?” He mumbled, attempting to sit up and bumping his head on some kind of shelving. “Ow…”
“Shh!” Someone hissed to his right, and Ohno squinted through the dust swirling in the dark space until he could make out the figure huddled in the corner. “…We might be heard.” Nino whispered, and Ohno noticed with concern that his voice was trembling. “We might be found.”
“Found?” Ohno asked. “By who?” He crawled closer when there was no response. “By what?”
“Oh-chan, please.” Nino snapped, squeezing his eyes shut and huddling further in on himself. “You really don’t know?... How could you have slept through all of that?!”
Ohno bit his lip. His eyes were adjusting to the dark and he could tell that they were in some sort of storage room. His brows furrowed as he realized Nino was hugging his DS, pack of cards, and what appeared to be the splintered neck of his acoustic guitar. “…The end of the world?” He breathed, remembering the cries he’d heard in his barely-awake state. Nino stared back at him silently with eyes that spoke of the horrors he must have seen. Ohno swallowed nervously. “…It’s really bad?”
Nino let out a shuddering breath and looked away. “There was no time to think. We grabbed what we could salvage and ran. I-“ He bit his lip. “I don’t know what happened to the others, Oh-chan. They were running towards the lobby, but I went back for you and-“
“It’s okay, we’ll find them. I’m sure they’re okay.”
“Oh-chan, we’re not okay.” Nino was deadly serious, and Ohno had never seen him so distraught or terrified. “We’re trapped. Whatever’s out there, it’s close. I could hear them earlier in the hallway, and we can’t get out! They’ll get us if we leave, but the door doesn’t lock from the inside and it’s only a matter of time before they find us in here!”
“Calm down, Kazu…” Ohno hushed him. The hair was standing on the back of his neck and he didn’t like the feeling. Nino had raised his voice in his moment of hysteria, and while their surroundings had been silent before, now the atmosphere was eerily so. Nino seemed to sense this a moment after he did, and they both listened intently for a sign of what was suddenly amiss.
Slowly, with a barely audible noise, the doorknob turned. There was a childish giggle from the other side. Nino tensed terribly and Ohno’s heart leapt into his throat.
“Oh god…” The gamer choked, eyes wide.
The door flung open with bang as it hit the wall, knocking several metal items off of a shelf with a clatter. Two forms bounded into the room like animals, springing with the use of their hands and feet, but they were clearly not animals. They were kids. Kids with glowing red eyes, inch long fangs, and hideously sparkly hand-me-down costumes.
“Th-they’re juniors!” Ohno exclaimed, clambering to his feet and pulling Nino up behind him as the two juniors approached, grinning and salivating. “What’s going on….?!”
“I don’t know!” Nino yelped, still hugging his favorite belongings to himself tightly and looking in horror over Ohno’s shoulder. “But they’re going to eat us! Do something!”
The kids laughed. “Sempai! Sempai!” They chanted sweetly, melodic voices not at all matching their appearances. “Let’s play!”
The two idols weren’t experts, but they knew enough about animals to know that the two creatures in front of them were about to pounce.
“Kazu…” Ohno breathed, eyes wide.
Nino clenched his teeth, shifting his belongings to the crook of one arm so he could grab a handful of Ohno’s ass. One last, goodbye grope.
Both were utterly prepared to meet their doom at the hands of their demonic kouhai, but the scene was interrupted by the loud screeching of interference being broadcast through the Jimusho’s public address system. The juniors fell to the ground in a pile of screeching and twitching limbs, hands over their ears, while Ohno and Nino made a run for it. The sound was cut off all too soon, they’d barely made it to the end of the hallway.
“Aiba-chan, I couldn’t hold them off! Get down!”
“That’s Sho!” Ohno exclaimed, recognizing the voice being played over the speakers. Without thinking, he slowed to better hear what was happening.
A loud crash, lots of unintelligible shouting, and then Aiba’s voice was audible. “Sho-chan! Your water bottle! Hurry!” Another shout and then some panicked screaming followed by a loud boom, some static, and then nothing else.
“I hope they’re okay…” Ohno mused aloud before a loud, angry roar from the storage room startled him.
Nino looked over his shoulder at the noise, still running, to see the two juniors leap out into the hallway, eyes blazing. What further concerned him was the fact that Ohno had stopped running for some reason, and was now halfway between Nino and the vicious children. “SATOSHI!” He yelled, voice going raw as he doubled-back and ran towards the other man. Ohno was running towards him now too, but the juniors were gaining ground fast and a moment later one of them had tackled the older idol to the ground.
Ohno rolled as he hit the floor. Groomed fingernails were clawing at his clothes and jagged teeth were snapping close to his ear as they scrabbled to pin him down. Ohno kicked out as hard as he could, catching one in the head and knocking it unconscious against the wall. He rolled again, getting to his feet and attempting to run but the other’s teeth clamped down hard on his sneaker and pulled. “Ah!” He stumbled, attempting to keep on his feet and escape while long fangs punctured through his tattered Nikes and broke skin.
In a flash Nino was at his side, swinging the neck of his guitar with an enraged cry. Three strikes got the creature to let Ohno go, but it howled in pain and anger and launched itself at Nino next, climbing up onto his shoulders as the gamer tried to run and pulling viciously on his dark hair. The guitar neck fell from Nino’s grasp as he tried to pull the junior off of him and not lose his balance, crying out when the demonic kid’s nails scraped painfully across his cheeks.
Ohno hurriedly picked the remains of the instrument up. When thwacking the junior on the head didn’t seem to work, he took one look at the splintered end of the weapon and promptly stabbed it deep into the nearest glowing red eye socket. There was a popping noise, sparks shot out and the junior leapt away, convulsing and pulling frantically in a failed attempt to dislodge the wood from its head. “Come on!” Ohno panted, grabbing a shaken Nino’s hand and running with him as fast as his injured foot would allow. “We need to find the others!”
Nino couldn’t stop checking over his shoulder as they ran, his heart was pounding loudly in his ears and he kept expecting to be jumped at from every doorway and around every corner. He was so caught up in his fear that he didn’t notice Ohno had stopped until he ran into him. “O-oh! Sorry…” He stuttered in a hushed tone. Ohno was panting and leaning against the wall, face set in a grimace. “Are you okay?”
Ohno started to nod and then shook his head. He lifted his foot gingerly, hissing when he tried to put weight on it. The white material of his sneaker was being soaked through with deep red. “I’m sorry, but I can’t-“
Nino glanced around warily and then pushed Ohno down gently until he was seated on the floor. “It’s okay, we’ll deal with it.” He muttered reassuringly, unlacing the shoe and pulling it off carefully. They both paled at the puncture wounds as they were unveiled, and Ohno let out a hushed curse. Nino glanced quickly over his shoulder again as he pulled off the long-sleeved button-up he was wearing over his t-shirt and ripped off one of the sleeves.
Ohno bit down hard on his lip, nails digging almost painfully into his own palms as Nino wrapped his foot tightly in the plaid patterned cloth. Nino’s short fingers worked speedily, and soon he was back into the shoe and laced in snugly.
“That’s the best I can do.”
“Thank you…” Ohno breathed, letting Nino help him to his feet and leaning against him as he tested his weight.
“Can you walk?” Nino asked nervously.
Ohno hesitated before taking a step forward and nodding. “Probably not very fast though…”
Movement was still movement, however, and Nino felt a little less like a sitting duck as long as they were making progress in some direction. Every so often they heard howls and crashes from other parts of the building, but they’d yet to actually run into anyone or anything.
“Wait…” Ohno murmured after a few more minutes of walking had passed. “I hear something… like lots of people…”
Nino listened carefully and he could hear it too, the low hum of many voices, the sound of a crowd. “A lot of people, or something else…?” He and Ohno exchanged a look and continued warily. The hallway opened up into an area of the second floor that overlooked the lobby below and the two of them inched up carefully on their hands and knees to look down past the railing. It was bad.
“They’re everywhere…” Ohno marveled. The lobby was filled with them, a shifting mass of sparkly-clothed and beast-like children. They prowled amongst each other, occasionally getting riled up enough to lunge at each other. A few seemed to have ripped each other apart in fits of unexplainable rage. “They’re like wild animals…”
‘Worse.” Nino shook his head, eyes wide. “I don’t know if they’re really even living…”
Ohno opened his mouth to respond, only to jump backwards in shock as a spurt of water shot right past his face. They both turned in alarm to see Aiba standing across the hall and holding a large gun. The standing man’s eyes went wide as he recognized them, and he rushed over.
“Ohno! Nino! Don’t go crawling around like that, I could have killed you!” He exclaimed in the loudest whisper he dared upon reaching them. Half of his shirt was torn off, some of it blood-stained and wrapped around his left knee while the rest hung off of him like a tattered sash. There were deep red slashes running down the length of his right arm, Nino couldn’t stop staring at them.
Ohno eyed the liquid sloshing around visibly inside of the weapon as Aiba began ushering them down another, narrower, hallway. “With a water gun?”
“They’re robots.” Aiba explained seriously, leading the way with his Super Soaker raised. “Water is the fastest and most efficient way to take them down.” He stopped to tap his fingernails in a strange pattern on the door to a bathroom and then held it open while glancing around warily to be sure they weren’t followed. “In here.”
Nino and Ohno obeyed. “R-robots? But, why?” Nino had to ask.
Sho was standing by the sink, filling balloons with water and adding them to a growing pile of duffle bags on the counter. He looked up and was clearly relieved to see who Aiba had returned with. “Oh good, you’re both safe…” He sighed and then shared a glance with Aiba who promptly nodded, set the water gun aside, and moved to trade places with the rapper.
“I’ll take over, Sho-chan.” Aiba announced, stretching out a red balloon and fitting it carefully underneath the faucet.
Sho rummaged around a bag in the corner and produced a first aid kit. “You’re injured, right? We have no gauze.” He apologized, limping across to them. “I’m sorry, but I can disinfect everything at least.”
“Stop apologizing Sho-chan.” Aiba scolded, glancing towards them as he tied the red water balloon off. “He got bit a few times while he was trying to keep them out of the secretary’s office so I could use the speaker system.” He sighed, as though he was weary of repeating the same assurances. “There wasn’t much gauze to begin with, Sho. And those bites were deep.”
“Still…” Sho frowned, sitting down on the floor in front of the two newcomers and opening the little white box. His left pant-leg was pushed up to reveal that from the knee down was wrapped tightly in white bandages and dotted with dark red patches. He tended carefully to the scrapes on Nino’s face as well as the deep cuts in Ohno’s foot. The antiseptic stung, but at least they knew it was killing any germs that the vicious juniors might have left behind.
“You said-“ Ohno began and then broke off with a muffled whimper as Sho swiped the red cotton swab over his wounds again. “-s-something about robots…?”
Sho glanced up at them and Aiba’s work slowed considerably at the question. The rapper pursed his lips for a second before speaking. “Something like that. ” A heavy sigh and he tossed the cotton aside, looking for a clean white one to use. “Johnny was trying to create the perfect idol, flawless. He was investing his money into artificial intelligence and biological mutations, but something obviously went wrong. His army of dancing and singing human-machine hybrids is out of control.”
“They’ve overrun the Jimusho, and plenty have escaped and started causing chaos all over the city.” Aiba added. “The military has the building locked down. They say anyone who tries to leave will be shot immediately, so we’re stuck in here. They’re leaving us to die at the hands of these things while they sort the situation out on the outside.” He sighed heavily, returning to filling balloons.
“They reproduce like crazy.” Sho continued. “That’s why it’s so serious. Kind of like starfish, if you lob the head off of one, it grows back and the head grows a body. We messed up at the beginning because we didn’t know, and I think other people outside did too. It doesn’t help that they attack each other. They’re constantly ripping off limbs. More are sprouting up all over the place, and nobody knows how to contain them.”
“Loud screeching noises seem to stun them, and water works to kill them. We figured that out through nothing but dumb luck.” Aiba put in. “But we can’t get any word to the outside. We saw some of the news earlier, they’re treating this like a large-scale national security issue. People are panicking. The government’s got the media to sugarcoat it all, but it seems like things are getting bad and out of hand.”
“…. The end of the world, or is that an exaggeration?” Ohno asked slowly. Nino was staring at the floor, fingering his pack of cards as though he’d been stunned by the information.
Sho considered this seriously, and even Aiba turned to look at the newscaster expectantly. “…I don’t know about the end of the world, but if not contained this could definitely threaten the future of Japan. And I guess if they spread to other countries…” He trailed off. Everybody understood the implications of what he was saying.
There was a long silence, filled with only the trickle of the running tap. Nino was the one who broke it as a new thought and concern occurred to him. “… Where’s MatsuJun?”
Silence.
Nino raised his head and Sakuraiba were looking at each other with unreadable expressions. “Where is he? He was with you, wasn’t he?” Nino pressed, panic starting to seep into his tone despite Ohno’s hand reaching out to rest on his knee. “Did he-?“
“He’s safe.” Aiba answered bluntly., keeping eye contact with Sho a moment longer before returning his attention to the faucet and filling the last of their balloons.
“But where is he?” Ohno pushed for information. Neither Sho nor Aiba would look at them. “Where is he?”
Aiba twisted the tap off slowly, cutting the flow of water. “He tried to leave the building.“
Ohno thought his blood must have turned to ice. The little color in Nino’s cheeks disappeared entirely. “Outside? But, the military-…”
Sho got up, grimacing with pain as he hobbled across the room to pull the door to one of the bathroom stalls open. Jun’s limp body spilled out onto the floor. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but he wouldn’t listen.” Sho said seriously. “This was the only way to stop him, and to stop him from drawing attention to us.”
To Ohmiya’s mutual relief, Jun’s chest was rising and falling gently. He was gagged and bound with his own purple scarf, however, and there was a strip of what appeared to be part of Aiba’s ruined shirt tied tightly around his head like a bandage. Ohno raised his eyebrows, eyeing the guilty-looking pair standing across the room.
“He was yelling and struggling.” Sho explained. “He was either going to get us all shot, or alert the juniors to where we were. We had to shut him up, and the scarf was conveniently available…”
“We didn’t mean to knock him out.” Aiba added, nodding towards the head injury. “But he was thrashing around while we tied him up, and he got a little too close to the wall…” He frowned. “He’s been out for a while now though, so hopefully he’ll wake up soon.”
“How long-“ Nino began to ask, but broke off abruptly when Sho’s eyes went wide and he pressed a finger to his lips for silence. Four pairs of eyes focused on the crack beneath the bathroom door. A shadow moved past slowly, followed by another.
There was something out there.
Absolute silence held for what felt like hours, but was probably only five minutes. Aiba was the one who broke it, and his hushed voice sounded as shaken as they all felt. “We can’t stay here. We’ve stayed too long, and we need to keep moving…”
Nobody wanted to admit that he was right, but they were just as afraid to stay put as they were to venture out. Shut up in the bathroom they were sitting targets, but going out would mean going into risky territory.
“At least out there, we have a better chance of defending ourselves and finding a solution. We have nothing but time in here, and that’s inevitably going to run out.”
“Let’s go then.” Sho said, reaching for a bag of water balloons.
“Wait,” Ohno stopped him. “You’re strong, Sho.” Sho looked surprised and a little pleased by the comment, though he frowned when Ohno continued. “And you’ve got terrible aim. Besides, you’re also injured.”
“What are you getting at, Ohno-kun…?” Sho almost pouted.
“You should carry MatsuJun. Just concentrate on keeping him safe.”
“Leader, you should stick with him too.” Nino put in. “Your foot’s bad, you might need someone to lean on if we’re walking fast.”
“Good idea.” Aiba nodded enthusiastically and picked up two of the duffle bags. He slung one over his own shoulders before handing the other to Ohno. “Leader, you’d still have a free hand that way so you could be in charge of protecting the three of you while Sho navigates. You’re the last line of defense.” He reached for the third and final bag of water balloons and tossed it gently to Nino. “Since Nino-chan and I are the only relatively uninjured ones we’ll be first and foremost in charge of protecting you guys. Okay?” He reached for his water gun, Nino nodded. “I’ll lead the way, and Nino can bring up the rear.”
“Okay…” Nino agreed, albeit nervously. His voice was a little strained.
Quickly they prepared themselves; tightening straps, double-knotting shoelaces, and hoisting Jun’s dead weight up onto Sho’s back. Jun had been unbound and the gag removed, so they used the scarf to tie him securely to the rapper in the hopes that it would help him avoid falling off. In a matter of minutes, they were moving out into the open and the unknown.
The hall seemed deserted. Their pace was slow and they stayed close together. Their eyes were constantly darting for a sign of something, and ears listening intently for the lightest of approaching footsteps. Aiba whispered quietly to keep them distracted enough that they wouldn't panic in the silence of the narrow corridor. He told Ohno and Nino about the lab they’d found in the basement and all the files there that had documented the experiments. It explained why Sho and Aiba (and also Jun), who had browsed through it all, knew so much.
“They tend to flock to the exits, we think. All the building's smaller exits have groups lurking around them, though most are congregated in the main lobby, as you already saw. Maybe it’s because they want to get out, or maybe they’re after the people who want to get out…”
“So, we’re definitely stuck. We have no chance at slipping out.”
“Well, yeah. I guess that’s why we’re barricaded in here. The government can’t let us out without letting those monsters out too.” Aiba sighed. “The only chance we stand is to make a stand.”
“How can we win though?” Ohno whispered. They’d reached the end of the hall and were peeking out into the open area that looked over the lobby. “They’d just multiply and continue to outnumber us-“
“Water. Water would work.”
“There might have been hundreds of them in the lobby alone, Aiba.” Nino countered, feeling frustrated and helpless. “A water gun and a few dozen water balloons isn’t going to accomplish anything.”
“Oh, I guess…”
“…We’ll think of something.” Sho spoke up, voice strained under the weight of Jun pushing down on his bad leg. “For now, we just need a safe place to rest.”
They all nodded their agreement, and Aiba glanced around once more for signs of danger before turning back to face the group. “I’ll go out first to make sure the coast is clear. Sho, Ohno, you two follow at my signal, and Nino hang behind a bit so you can watch their backs. Got it?”
The plan was set, and Aiba began his trek out into the open, gun raised and ready to shoot. He was halfway across the long stretch when he beckoned for Sho and Ohno to follow. Ohno squeezed Nino’s shoulder encouragingly before limping out with the newscaster. Nino stood in the shadows of the hall, heart pounding and muscles tense. His eyes flickered back and forth across the space and his fingers clenched dangerously tight around a jiggly blue balloon. When the crippled group reached the middle of the room he deemed it safe for him to venture out as well, and he did. But somehow being alone and out in the open, exposed, was so much worse than in the confined space of the hallway. He could feel his breathing speed up and catch in his throat. Aiba had reached the far side, and he was helping Sho and Ohno to hurry into the safety of another hall. Nino stepped a little faster, only to freeze at a sound. It was the soft, dull, clanging of metal, and it came from both behind him and to his right. Petrified, he turned his gaze to look and choked on a gasp.
There were at least six of them, swinging through the rafters and off of hanging light fixtures like bats or monkeys. He could barely run a step before they were landing around him, cutting of any direction he could have possibly escaped in. He chucked the water balloon in his hand, and it broke on the face of the nearest junior. The creature seemed to shrivel, shrieking and sending a shower of sparks spraying out of its mouth. The noise alerted Aiba and the others to his plight, but more were swinging towards them, and they were soon too occupied with defending themselves to get anywhere near defending the gamer.
They weren’t dumb. Nino had to conclude this. They saw what had happened to their comrade and they soon began dodging the water balloons as they were thrown. More and more broke and splattered clear liquid harmlessly across the floor, and he only managed to take one other creature out. His hands were shaking, messing up his aim, and he thought he was going to faint as he reached into the bag at his side to find it empty. He’d used up his only weapons, and the creatures clued into this not a moment later than he did.
One let out a pleased giggle, jerking its head for the others to follow as they ran at him, pouncing and clawing. Nino stumbled backwards, eyes wide and going wider when his back hit the railing. “N-no!” He gasped as they reached him, sharp nails bunching in his clothes and scraping his skin as they pinned him there and pushed him so far back against the rail that his upper body was almost horizontal over the large drop below. “Treat us, Sempai!” The one crawling up his chest taunted, running a tongue over its glossy lips and long white fangs. “Treat us!” Its small hands closed around his neck as it straddled his chest, and it squeezed with both its hands and its knees. Nino’s ribcage ached, and he could get barely a trickle of air into his heaving lungs. Around him, all the other juniors were laughing, and they began to shake him.
“Sempai, Sempai!” They called cutely. Nino watched in horror as his pack of cards slipped from his pocket. The lid of the box hadn’t been shut all the way and the cards spilled out. Spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds fluttered down onto the crowd below, alerting them all to his presence. The junior on his chest grinned widely, seeing this too and seeming to delight in the roar that went up through the crowd. “Treat us, Ninomiya-Sempai.” It said lowly, and Nino panicked, because it knew him. They knew who they were.
A duffle bag came flying into his vision, clipping him on the side of the head and knocking the junior back off of him in surprise. Aiba was there, swinging his own empty bag and kicking wildly. The juniors were knocked aside one by one and Nino helped to fend them off as his limbs were freed from their weight. His throat ached terribly, it was all he could do in inhale gulps of air without bursting into a pained coughing fit. There were spots dancing in his vision, disorienting him, and his back hurt terribly where he had been bent over with his spine digging into the metal railing.
Aiba kicked particularly hard, flinging one persistent junior back onto the floor and taking quick aim with his water gun. The creature rolled, clawing at its own neck as the water seeped into its joints, eliciting sparks, electric pops, and a plume of black smoke. “The face, neck, and hips are where you aim! That’s where the water gets into them!” Aiba yelled over the noise, struggling with another that had attempted to sneak up behind him.
Blearily, Nino’s gaze wavered to the side and his eyes widened in horror. “Aiba!” He gasped, voice raw.
“Shoot,” Aiba shook his gun with a frown. He had a junior pinned beneath his right foot. “I’m almost out of water…” He managed to get two more squirts out, one into the face of the squirming ‘boy’ beneath him and the second onto the open end of a severed arm that was attempting to crawl off and grow a torso. “How are you doing over there, Nino?” He called, glancing over his shoulder and swinging the empty water gun like a club.
Nino would have been awed by the skill that Aiba had apparently acquired in fighting off monstrous, inhuman, children, but he was too petrified to do much else but gasp Aiba’s name with more urgency and point. “Aiba, l-look!”
Aiba did, and his eyes went so wide that Nino half-worried they might fall out of his head. “Oh, s-shit!” He exclaimed, swinging the water gun so hard at the junior attempting to take a bite out of his shin that its head got stuck sideways. He reached almost blindly for Nino’s hand, eyes still caught on the sight of an unbelievable number of juniors pouring their way up the long staircase from the lobby below. “Run!” He yelped, pulling Nino along as they sped for the hall.
Sho saw them coming, and saw what was coming behind them immediately afterwards. His mouth fell open in shock and he reached out to fist a hand in Ohno’s shirt. Ohno turned pale, stumbling backwards and grabbing for Sho’s arm as they used each other as support to run with. Nino and Aiba caught up with them quickly and ushered them down the hall.
“Here! In here!” Aiba yelled as he ran ahead, pointing to the door to a stairwell.
“I can’t, Masaki! I can’t handle the stairs!” Sho called back, letting out a yelp and attempting to speed up as small fingers grazed the back of his leg. Nino stomped down on the creature’s arm, leaving it howling behind them. The juniors were literally right on their heels. They filled the hall behind them, practically floor to ceiling, almost crawling up the walls as they piled in over top of each other.
“Just get in!” Aiba cried hoarsely, flinging the door open and tugging the newscaster in. Nino and Ohno dove in behind him and Aiba slammed the door shut. He had to use all his weight to keep it closed as the fastest of the juniors began throwing themselves against the surface, and he choked on a terrified sob as he fumbled with the lock.
“It- it won’t hold forever.” Sho panted, stuck sprawled where he’d landed on the floor as Jun’s weight prevented him from getting up. Even with the door locked, the force of the juniors slamming repeatedly against it was making the door shake in the frame. “They’ll break it down and get in.”
Aiba swallowed, wiping his palms on his jeans and then fisting his hands tightly in the denim to try and keep them from shaking. “I know, b-but the hall was a dead end. At least here we have somewhere to go.”
“We need a plan.” Nino pointed out, unable to keep his eyes from straying to the door’s strained hinges. “We can’t run forever. We’re almost at the end of our energy.”
“We need more water.” Aiba said, looking down at his battered water gun. It would be a wonder if the thing still worked, considering the abuse it had been put through.
“We need a lot more water, if we want to finish them all.” Ohno said, leaning against Nino’s side so it was easier to keep his injured foot off the floor. Fresh blood was beginning to soak through the shoe again, leaving a wet red patch amidst the darker, dried stuff.
“But where are we going to get enough water to kill hundreds of those things?! Its hopeless!” Aiba dropped to his knees and crawled away from the door. Each bang against the door was making him flinch terribly. He stopped beside Sho and then froze in surprise. “Oh!” He exclaimed quietly, catching everybody’s attention.
“The pool, maybe.” Jun’s voice spoke slowly.
“MatsuJun, you’re awake!” Aiba exclaimed, obviously relieved. “I was really starting to worry!”
“He’s awake?” Nino asked at almost the same time as Sho, who was having difficulty turning his head far enough to see.
“He’s awake! He’s looking at me!”
“Really?” Ohno questioned, craning his neck.
“Yes, I’m awake Leader.” Jun sighed, attempting to move only to strain against the scarves. “Can somebody please explain why I am on top of and apparently tied to Sakurai-kun?”
“Do you remember the part about all the juniors suddenly getting really scary, and trying to kill us?” Ohno asked, wondering how much he’d need to be filled in on.
“Yes, and I was in and out of consciousness for quite a bit of flopping around like this while you all were running from them too. What I’m more concerned with, is why I’m still tied to him.”
“Oh, sorry.” Aiba quickly began tugging at the knots to free him. “… Do you really think the pool would work?”
“You need a lot of water to kill them?” Jun asked, rolling off of Sho the minute he could and holding his head with a grimace as he sat up. “Well, the pool has a lot of water.”
“Jun-kun… I can’t think how we could possibly trick them all into falling into the pool…” Nino said slowly, frowning both with deep thought and the effort to block out the insistent pounding on the door.
“We could always just stay in the pool ourselves. They couldn’t get us that way.”
“We can’t stay in a pool forever. We’d die if we tried, and if they found us then we’d die if we tried to leave too. It’s a bad idea, Captain.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
They all fell silent for a moment. Jun fingered the material of Aiba’s shirt tied round his head and then scrunched his face up. “What is this?”
“Your head was bleeding, we patched it up as well as we could.”
Jun sighed. “I’m guessing none of you brought hairspray with you. I probably look like hell.” He let his hands drop forlornly into his lap. “As soon as we sort this out, I’m finding a mirror, a brush, and some gel. Actually, a shower and some moisturizer would be nice. I think I’ve got scarf-burn…”
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m finding a hospital first.” Ohno put in, staring at the dark stains on his shoe. “I’d like to be able to dance again someday…” They all fell silent, and Nino reached over to hold his hand tightly.
“… Let’s start moving.” Sho was the one who spoke up, his eyes on the hinges. “They don’t seem to be tiring out, and I don’t think that door will hold up much longer. I don’t want to be here when they get through.”
The rest agreed and they began making their way slowly down the steps. Sho and Ohno’s injuries kept them from speeding up, but by the time they’d reached the first floor landing and Aiba was reaching for the door handle, Jun had had an idea.
“Wait.” Everybody turned to look at the youngest member, who was frowning deeply. “… In the basement.”
“What?”
“In the basement, if we trapped them all in the basement we could probably damage some pipes and flood the place, or set off the sprinklers…” He looked around at the wide-eyed men in front of him, they all seemed to be realizing the possibilities of the plan at once. “I think it could work.”
A floor above them, the rhythmic banging stopped with a crash, followed by the rumble of innumerable fast footsteps.
“Basement.” Aiba breathed. “Quickly.”
“No.” Jun stopped them, grabbing Nino by the sleeve and pulling the gamer towards the next flight of stairs. His eyes swept over Sho and Ohno, who had to lean against each other to stay standing. “They aren’t fast enough. You three go, and figure out what we need to do to actually kill them. Nino and I will deal with the trapping. Hurry!” He turned, tugging Nino hurriedly down the first few steps. “Come on.”
Aiba opened the door to the first floor and pushed Sho and Ohno out ahead of him. The door closed firmly behind them, and they began moving as fast as they could down the hallway now presented to them. They could only hope none of the juniors would be immune to Jun’s bait, and that both Jun and Nino would be able to get back safely.
The other three had been just fast enough. The juniors came pouring down the above landing only a split second after the door to the first floor was shut. Nino opened the door to the basement while Jun lingered on the steps, jumping up and down and waving his arms. “Hey! I’m sick of this! If you want us you’d better come get us, you brats!”
“Jun!” Nino hissed, wide-eyed as the juniors locked in on his voice and practically sprang down the remaining steps between them and Arashi’s youngest member. “Get down here!”
Jun vaulted himself down the last flight of stairs and stumbled through the doorway with Nino. Their feet pounded against the ground as they ran their hardest, attempting to put some distance between themselves and the juniors. Luckily, the basement door was narrow and the creatures were having trouble pushing themselves through all at once, which was slowing them down in their pursuit.
“Find somewhere we can hide.” Jun hissed through his teeth. Up ahead was a large set of thick metal doors equipped with many bolts and an electronic lock. It led to a big open place used for the storage of a lot of costumes and stage equipment along with other miscellaneous items. “In there, find somewhere close to the door.”
They ducked inside, almost tripping over themselves as Nino pulled Jun down with him behind several thick racks of long, sequined, coats in varying colors and degrees of sparkle.
The juniors poured in not a minute later. The lights in the big room were off, and the juniors began stopping suspiciously just inside the doorway. Luckily, the ones behind them pushed them further in, until the whole group had shoved inside. They began prowling further into the space, red eyes like a sea of penlights at a concert, swaying to and fro as they searched for their prey.
Jun’s long fingers closed around Nino’s wrist, squeezing twice before pulling gently. Nino followed him, carefully and silently getting to their feet and creeping towards the vacant doorway. But as they darted the few feet left to slip out, a loud thud rang out in the big space. Every eye in the vicinity snapped towards the source.
Nino’s DS lay on the concrete just inside the doorway. It had opened when it landed, the top screen brightly reflecting the light from the hall, and the touch pen had slipped out and clattered quietly to the ground beside the gaming system.
The gamer made to take a step towards it, eyes wide, but Jun tugged him back violently by the shirt collar so that he could put all his strength into closing the doors. Inside the room, several of the nearest juniors were bounding towards them, red eyes blazing.
The strength of Jun’s tug had sent him to the ground, and Nino scrambled to crawl on all fours towards the closing gap between the doors, arm outstretched. “NO!” He cried, voice going raw as Jun blocked his way. Just before the doors slammed ominously shut, Nino saw the closest junior step right on the DS. It snapped in half, and the screen cracked jaggedly down the middle. Nino let out a heart-wrenching wail while Jun slammed all the locks and bolts into place and the echoing thuds of bodies slamming forcefully into the metal doors echoed around them.
“Come on, lets get out of here.” Jun pulled him to his feet, and Nino couldn’t see anything through the shocked tears that had filled his vision. “We have to find the others, lets go.”
Ohno still had his cell phone so Jun was able to contact him. The other three had taken cover in a room above the basement storage area and were getting to work on an explosive device of some kind that they were planning to set off the sprinklers with. The rest of the building was more or less empty, though they imagined there would be stragglers to deal with later on. Jun, practically dragging Nino along with him, made it to the meeting place without any further incidents.
Nino crumpled almost as soon as they’d closed the door behind themselves.
“Whoa, what happened?!” Sho exclaimed worriedly, setting his crowbar aside and attempting to get to his feet.
“He’s fine.” Jun frowned, examining the section of floor that they’d torn apart to open up the vent beneath. Aiba and Ohno were working to lower something heavy down into the room below, where plenty of angry growls and child-like shouting could be heard. “Don’t bother getting up Sho-kun, he’s just being melodramatic.”
“Melodramatic?!” Nino exclaimed, voice hoarse. “Y-you have no idea what its like to go through all of this, think we’re actually going to get out okay, and then lose something that important to you!”
“What did he lose?” Ohno looked up.
“It was just your DS, Ninomiya. It’s not the end of the world.”
“Oh, wow.” Ohno’s eyebrows drew together in genuine sympathy, but he quickly had to focus on holding the ropes tightly on his own while Aiba ran to tie them to a nearby post.
Sho tossed him a little white box and Aiba began lighting several of the matchsticks inside, dropping them carefully down into the hole in the floor. Ohno peered down with him while Sho got up awkwardly and limped towards the door. “Guys, back off. It’s probably going to explode.”
“Oh, I think it’s catching!” Ohno observed, tugging Aiba’s sleeve to get him to follow Sho’s example.
“You don’t understand! You wouldn’t understand!” Nino insisted. “If you lost your most important possessions right now, you’d be just as upset as me, and you know it!”
“I doubt it. Possessions are just possessions, definitely not worth risking your life for.” Jun scoffed, turning his attention to the other occupants of the room. “What are you using?”
“Uh…” Sho started, looking strangely anxious. “We made a nest-type thing out of the floorboards, and we filled it with crumpled paper and… stuff…”
Jun frowned suspiciously at Sho’s hedgy answer. Out of the corner of his eye, Ohno was patting a disconsolate Nino’s hair while the gamer clung to his pant leg, and Aiba was watching the hole expectantly. It was to Aiba that he directed his next question. “Hey, what are you using that’s going to explode?” Certainly wood and paper was not going to explode on its own.
“Oh,” Aiba smiled, completely missing Sho’s obvious warning look. “We were looking for oil or something, but then Ohno-kun saw all your hair stuff and I figured that would work.”
Jun’s eyes bugged out of his head, and Nino couldn’t help but look smug. His “I told you so” was drowned out by the bang of several hairspray canisters going up in flames, followed by the clanging of the fire alarm, the sprits of the sprinklers coming on and, above everything else, the deafening and almost animalistic scream that erupted from Jun’s throat. Aiba had to physically tackle him to keep the youngest member from throwing himself through the flaming hole in the floor.
They agreed that, despite leaving the members’ ears ringing, the scream had probably been at a high enough frequency to stun all the juniors below and keep them from attempting to find cover from the water raining down on them.
The immediate threat was gone, but reality set in quickly.
Days passed before the military would let them come out, and then they were whisked away to containment facilities. The city was in an uproar, the whole country was in chaos. People were dying, crime was rampant, fear was everywhere. They hadn’t saved the world, but they’d taken a step forward, even if it was only into more uncertainty and danger. Movement was movement, and they could at least hope they were moving towards a future that was still worth hoping for.
“It’s okay.” Aiba said once, peeking down over the top of his bunk at the others. They’d been in the safety center for over a week, and while everybody was beginning to recover injury-wise, the captivity was starting to put them all on edge. “I think we’re gonna be okay.”
“You say that, but the situation outside hasn’t changed since we got in here.” Nino pointed out dryly.
“Yes it has.” Aiba said firmly.
“Well, yeah. It’s gotten worse.” Jun sighed, rolling over to face the wall.
“But it’s going to get better.” Aiba insisted, leaning further over the short metal rail to peek into Jun’s bunk below him. “Because we’re Arashi.”
“Are we?” Nino asked quietly, staring at the wall. JE had fallen apart with the rest of Japan. None of them had really brought it up out loud, but the question of whether they could still consider themselves a group and not simply a group of friends hung heavily in the air around them. The word ‘Arashi’ had been absent from most of their conversations thus far.
“Careful, don’t fall.” Sho muttered distractedly from his bed above Nino’s.
“Listen, I saw out a window today. There’s one on the top floor, by the bathrooms up there.”
“I didn’t think we were supposed to go up there…” Ohno yawned, dozing off in Nino’s lap rather than in his own lone bed in the center of the room.
“We’re not.” Sho frowned, setting down the newspaper he was reading. It was one from several weeks ago, and he’d read it countless times out of boredom since he’d managed to get a hold of it. New papers weren’t being printed. “Are you trying to get in trouble?”
“I got lost.” Aiba pouted. “The point is, I saw outside.”
Everybody was silent, afraid to ask what he’d seen. Afraid to hear what the outside world had become.
“…I saw the sky.”
“The sky?” Jun rolled back over, leaning over the edge of his mattress to look up at Aiba with feigned annoyance and genuine curiosity.
Aiba nodded. “And it looked like it was going to rain.” He couldn’t stop the smile that threatened to break his serious expression. “Like, there was a really big storm on the horizon.”
There was a long silence. Ohno’s eyes opened and Nino’s fingers began running absentmindedly through their leader’s hair.
“… Stupid.” Jun shot at the man above him and turned back to face the wall, though his words completely lacked venom and everybody could hear the goofy grin in his voice.
“A storm throughout the world…” Sho murmured, staring into space and letting hope back into his expression for the first time in several days. The dull, blank, walls of their cramped room suddenly seemed twice as bright and five times more colorful than they earlier had. “…A storm would be nice.” Sho said softly, and reached for his newspaper. They all silently agreed.
+++
Happy late halloween~ :D Though it's never too late for an arashi crack apocalypse, even if this did get a little bit serious...
PAIRING: Pretty gen. Maybe some Sakumoto and Ohmiya if you're squinting, but Ohmiya could very well just be being Ohmiya, so...
LENGTH: Oneshot. 7916 words.
BANDS: Arashi and Johnny's Juniors... sorta...
GENRE: Crack, angst, action/adventure.... deathfic? :P
RATING: PG-13 for violence, and maybe some language.
NOTES: This is me, revealing myself~ :P written for the JE trick or treat anon meme. And THIS prompt. This was my first time writing anon for something or fulfilling a request! Yay! It was fun :D
**EDIT**
Oh! And I forgot when I reposted this that I'd also drawn a fanart to go with it.... so HERE YOU GO!
*****
+++
Ohno blinked blearily, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above him as he floated back into reality from a peaceful sleep…
Or maybe not so peaceful. He frowned. Last he remembered he’d been dozing off in the break room, and then there was some sort of commotion. People were screaming, and then somebody was dragging him out of the room amid panicked shouts about ‘the end of the world’… Ohno had been half-asleep, so he hadn’t paid the situation any mind. Now though, he was considering whether or not that had been a good idea.
“Where am I…?” He mumbled, attempting to sit up and bumping his head on some kind of shelving. “Ow…”
“Shh!” Someone hissed to his right, and Ohno squinted through the dust swirling in the dark space until he could make out the figure huddled in the corner. “…We might be heard.” Nino whispered, and Ohno noticed with concern that his voice was trembling. “We might be found.”
“Found?” Ohno asked. “By who?” He crawled closer when there was no response. “By what?”
“Oh-chan, please.” Nino snapped, squeezing his eyes shut and huddling further in on himself. “You really don’t know?... How could you have slept through all of that?!”
Ohno bit his lip. His eyes were adjusting to the dark and he could tell that they were in some sort of storage room. His brows furrowed as he realized Nino was hugging his DS, pack of cards, and what appeared to be the splintered neck of his acoustic guitar. “…The end of the world?” He breathed, remembering the cries he’d heard in his barely-awake state. Nino stared back at him silently with eyes that spoke of the horrors he must have seen. Ohno swallowed nervously. “…It’s really bad?”
Nino let out a shuddering breath and looked away. “There was no time to think. We grabbed what we could salvage and ran. I-“ He bit his lip. “I don’t know what happened to the others, Oh-chan. They were running towards the lobby, but I went back for you and-“
“It’s okay, we’ll find them. I’m sure they’re okay.”
“Oh-chan, we’re not okay.” Nino was deadly serious, and Ohno had never seen him so distraught or terrified. “We’re trapped. Whatever’s out there, it’s close. I could hear them earlier in the hallway, and we can’t get out! They’ll get us if we leave, but the door doesn’t lock from the inside and it’s only a matter of time before they find us in here!”
“Calm down, Kazu…” Ohno hushed him. The hair was standing on the back of his neck and he didn’t like the feeling. Nino had raised his voice in his moment of hysteria, and while their surroundings had been silent before, now the atmosphere was eerily so. Nino seemed to sense this a moment after he did, and they both listened intently for a sign of what was suddenly amiss.
Slowly, with a barely audible noise, the doorknob turned. There was a childish giggle from the other side. Nino tensed terribly and Ohno’s heart leapt into his throat.
“Oh god…” The gamer choked, eyes wide.
The door flung open with bang as it hit the wall, knocking several metal items off of a shelf with a clatter. Two forms bounded into the room like animals, springing with the use of their hands and feet, but they were clearly not animals. They were kids. Kids with glowing red eyes, inch long fangs, and hideously sparkly hand-me-down costumes.
“Th-they’re juniors!” Ohno exclaimed, clambering to his feet and pulling Nino up behind him as the two juniors approached, grinning and salivating. “What’s going on….?!”
“I don’t know!” Nino yelped, still hugging his favorite belongings to himself tightly and looking in horror over Ohno’s shoulder. “But they’re going to eat us! Do something!”
The kids laughed. “Sempai! Sempai!” They chanted sweetly, melodic voices not at all matching their appearances. “Let’s play!”
The two idols weren’t experts, but they knew enough about animals to know that the two creatures in front of them were about to pounce.
“Kazu…” Ohno breathed, eyes wide.
Nino clenched his teeth, shifting his belongings to the crook of one arm so he could grab a handful of Ohno’s ass. One last, goodbye grope.
Both were utterly prepared to meet their doom at the hands of their demonic kouhai, but the scene was interrupted by the loud screeching of interference being broadcast through the Jimusho’s public address system. The juniors fell to the ground in a pile of screeching and twitching limbs, hands over their ears, while Ohno and Nino made a run for it. The sound was cut off all too soon, they’d barely made it to the end of the hallway.
“Aiba-chan, I couldn’t hold them off! Get down!”
“That’s Sho!” Ohno exclaimed, recognizing the voice being played over the speakers. Without thinking, he slowed to better hear what was happening.
A loud crash, lots of unintelligible shouting, and then Aiba’s voice was audible. “Sho-chan! Your water bottle! Hurry!” Another shout and then some panicked screaming followed by a loud boom, some static, and then nothing else.
“I hope they’re okay…” Ohno mused aloud before a loud, angry roar from the storage room startled him.
Nino looked over his shoulder at the noise, still running, to see the two juniors leap out into the hallway, eyes blazing. What further concerned him was the fact that Ohno had stopped running for some reason, and was now halfway between Nino and the vicious children. “SATOSHI!” He yelled, voice going raw as he doubled-back and ran towards the other man. Ohno was running towards him now too, but the juniors were gaining ground fast and a moment later one of them had tackled the older idol to the ground.
Ohno rolled as he hit the floor. Groomed fingernails were clawing at his clothes and jagged teeth were snapping close to his ear as they scrabbled to pin him down. Ohno kicked out as hard as he could, catching one in the head and knocking it unconscious against the wall. He rolled again, getting to his feet and attempting to run but the other’s teeth clamped down hard on his sneaker and pulled. “Ah!” He stumbled, attempting to keep on his feet and escape while long fangs punctured through his tattered Nikes and broke skin.
In a flash Nino was at his side, swinging the neck of his guitar with an enraged cry. Three strikes got the creature to let Ohno go, but it howled in pain and anger and launched itself at Nino next, climbing up onto his shoulders as the gamer tried to run and pulling viciously on his dark hair. The guitar neck fell from Nino’s grasp as he tried to pull the junior off of him and not lose his balance, crying out when the demonic kid’s nails scraped painfully across his cheeks.
Ohno hurriedly picked the remains of the instrument up. When thwacking the junior on the head didn’t seem to work, he took one look at the splintered end of the weapon and promptly stabbed it deep into the nearest glowing red eye socket. There was a popping noise, sparks shot out and the junior leapt away, convulsing and pulling frantically in a failed attempt to dislodge the wood from its head. “Come on!” Ohno panted, grabbing a shaken Nino’s hand and running with him as fast as his injured foot would allow. “We need to find the others!”
Nino couldn’t stop checking over his shoulder as they ran, his heart was pounding loudly in his ears and he kept expecting to be jumped at from every doorway and around every corner. He was so caught up in his fear that he didn’t notice Ohno had stopped until he ran into him. “O-oh! Sorry…” He stuttered in a hushed tone. Ohno was panting and leaning against the wall, face set in a grimace. “Are you okay?”
Ohno started to nod and then shook his head. He lifted his foot gingerly, hissing when he tried to put weight on it. The white material of his sneaker was being soaked through with deep red. “I’m sorry, but I can’t-“
Nino glanced around warily and then pushed Ohno down gently until he was seated on the floor. “It’s okay, we’ll deal with it.” He muttered reassuringly, unlacing the shoe and pulling it off carefully. They both paled at the puncture wounds as they were unveiled, and Ohno let out a hushed curse. Nino glanced quickly over his shoulder again as he pulled off the long-sleeved button-up he was wearing over his t-shirt and ripped off one of the sleeves.
Ohno bit down hard on his lip, nails digging almost painfully into his own palms as Nino wrapped his foot tightly in the plaid patterned cloth. Nino’s short fingers worked speedily, and soon he was back into the shoe and laced in snugly.
“That’s the best I can do.”
“Thank you…” Ohno breathed, letting Nino help him to his feet and leaning against him as he tested his weight.
“Can you walk?” Nino asked nervously.
Ohno hesitated before taking a step forward and nodding. “Probably not very fast though…”
Movement was still movement, however, and Nino felt a little less like a sitting duck as long as they were making progress in some direction. Every so often they heard howls and crashes from other parts of the building, but they’d yet to actually run into anyone or anything.
“Wait…” Ohno murmured after a few more minutes of walking had passed. “I hear something… like lots of people…”
Nino listened carefully and he could hear it too, the low hum of many voices, the sound of a crowd. “A lot of people, or something else…?” He and Ohno exchanged a look and continued warily. The hallway opened up into an area of the second floor that overlooked the lobby below and the two of them inched up carefully on their hands and knees to look down past the railing. It was bad.
“They’re everywhere…” Ohno marveled. The lobby was filled with them, a shifting mass of sparkly-clothed and beast-like children. They prowled amongst each other, occasionally getting riled up enough to lunge at each other. A few seemed to have ripped each other apart in fits of unexplainable rage. “They’re like wild animals…”
‘Worse.” Nino shook his head, eyes wide. “I don’t know if they’re really even living…”
Ohno opened his mouth to respond, only to jump backwards in shock as a spurt of water shot right past his face. They both turned in alarm to see Aiba standing across the hall and holding a large gun. The standing man’s eyes went wide as he recognized them, and he rushed over.
“Ohno! Nino! Don’t go crawling around like that, I could have killed you!” He exclaimed in the loudest whisper he dared upon reaching them. Half of his shirt was torn off, some of it blood-stained and wrapped around his left knee while the rest hung off of him like a tattered sash. There were deep red slashes running down the length of his right arm, Nino couldn’t stop staring at them.
Ohno eyed the liquid sloshing around visibly inside of the weapon as Aiba began ushering them down another, narrower, hallway. “With a water gun?”
“They’re robots.” Aiba explained seriously, leading the way with his Super Soaker raised. “Water is the fastest and most efficient way to take them down.” He stopped to tap his fingernails in a strange pattern on the door to a bathroom and then held it open while glancing around warily to be sure they weren’t followed. “In here.”
Nino and Ohno obeyed. “R-robots? But, why?” Nino had to ask.
Sho was standing by the sink, filling balloons with water and adding them to a growing pile of duffle bags on the counter. He looked up and was clearly relieved to see who Aiba had returned with. “Oh good, you’re both safe…” He sighed and then shared a glance with Aiba who promptly nodded, set the water gun aside, and moved to trade places with the rapper.
“I’ll take over, Sho-chan.” Aiba announced, stretching out a red balloon and fitting it carefully underneath the faucet.
Sho rummaged around a bag in the corner and produced a first aid kit. “You’re injured, right? We have no gauze.” He apologized, limping across to them. “I’m sorry, but I can disinfect everything at least.”
“Stop apologizing Sho-chan.” Aiba scolded, glancing towards them as he tied the red water balloon off. “He got bit a few times while he was trying to keep them out of the secretary’s office so I could use the speaker system.” He sighed, as though he was weary of repeating the same assurances. “There wasn’t much gauze to begin with, Sho. And those bites were deep.”
“Still…” Sho frowned, sitting down on the floor in front of the two newcomers and opening the little white box. His left pant-leg was pushed up to reveal that from the knee down was wrapped tightly in white bandages and dotted with dark red patches. He tended carefully to the scrapes on Nino’s face as well as the deep cuts in Ohno’s foot. The antiseptic stung, but at least they knew it was killing any germs that the vicious juniors might have left behind.
“You said-“ Ohno began and then broke off with a muffled whimper as Sho swiped the red cotton swab over his wounds again. “-s-something about robots…?”
Sho glanced up at them and Aiba’s work slowed considerably at the question. The rapper pursed his lips for a second before speaking. “Something like that. ” A heavy sigh and he tossed the cotton aside, looking for a clean white one to use. “Johnny was trying to create the perfect idol, flawless. He was investing his money into artificial intelligence and biological mutations, but something obviously went wrong. His army of dancing and singing human-machine hybrids is out of control.”
“They’ve overrun the Jimusho, and plenty have escaped and started causing chaos all over the city.” Aiba added. “The military has the building locked down. They say anyone who tries to leave will be shot immediately, so we’re stuck in here. They’re leaving us to die at the hands of these things while they sort the situation out on the outside.” He sighed heavily, returning to filling balloons.
“They reproduce like crazy.” Sho continued. “That’s why it’s so serious. Kind of like starfish, if you lob the head off of one, it grows back and the head grows a body. We messed up at the beginning because we didn’t know, and I think other people outside did too. It doesn’t help that they attack each other. They’re constantly ripping off limbs. More are sprouting up all over the place, and nobody knows how to contain them.”
“Loud screeching noises seem to stun them, and water works to kill them. We figured that out through nothing but dumb luck.” Aiba put in. “But we can’t get any word to the outside. We saw some of the news earlier, they’re treating this like a large-scale national security issue. People are panicking. The government’s got the media to sugarcoat it all, but it seems like things are getting bad and out of hand.”
“…. The end of the world, or is that an exaggeration?” Ohno asked slowly. Nino was staring at the floor, fingering his pack of cards as though he’d been stunned by the information.
Sho considered this seriously, and even Aiba turned to look at the newscaster expectantly. “…I don’t know about the end of the world, but if not contained this could definitely threaten the future of Japan. And I guess if they spread to other countries…” He trailed off. Everybody understood the implications of what he was saying.
There was a long silence, filled with only the trickle of the running tap. Nino was the one who broke it as a new thought and concern occurred to him. “… Where’s MatsuJun?”
Silence.
Nino raised his head and Sakuraiba were looking at each other with unreadable expressions. “Where is he? He was with you, wasn’t he?” Nino pressed, panic starting to seep into his tone despite Ohno’s hand reaching out to rest on his knee. “Did he-?“
“He’s safe.” Aiba answered bluntly., keeping eye contact with Sho a moment longer before returning his attention to the faucet and filling the last of their balloons.
“But where is he?” Ohno pushed for information. Neither Sho nor Aiba would look at them. “Where is he?”
Aiba twisted the tap off slowly, cutting the flow of water. “He tried to leave the building.“
Ohno thought his blood must have turned to ice. The little color in Nino’s cheeks disappeared entirely. “Outside? But, the military-…”
Sho got up, grimacing with pain as he hobbled across the room to pull the door to one of the bathroom stalls open. Jun’s limp body spilled out onto the floor. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but he wouldn’t listen.” Sho said seriously. “This was the only way to stop him, and to stop him from drawing attention to us.”
To Ohmiya’s mutual relief, Jun’s chest was rising and falling gently. He was gagged and bound with his own purple scarf, however, and there was a strip of what appeared to be part of Aiba’s ruined shirt tied tightly around his head like a bandage. Ohno raised his eyebrows, eyeing the guilty-looking pair standing across the room.
“He was yelling and struggling.” Sho explained. “He was either going to get us all shot, or alert the juniors to where we were. We had to shut him up, and the scarf was conveniently available…”
“We didn’t mean to knock him out.” Aiba added, nodding towards the head injury. “But he was thrashing around while we tied him up, and he got a little too close to the wall…” He frowned. “He’s been out for a while now though, so hopefully he’ll wake up soon.”
“How long-“ Nino began to ask, but broke off abruptly when Sho’s eyes went wide and he pressed a finger to his lips for silence. Four pairs of eyes focused on the crack beneath the bathroom door. A shadow moved past slowly, followed by another.
There was something out there.
Absolute silence held for what felt like hours, but was probably only five minutes. Aiba was the one who broke it, and his hushed voice sounded as shaken as they all felt. “We can’t stay here. We’ve stayed too long, and we need to keep moving…”
Nobody wanted to admit that he was right, but they were just as afraid to stay put as they were to venture out. Shut up in the bathroom they were sitting targets, but going out would mean going into risky territory.
“At least out there, we have a better chance of defending ourselves and finding a solution. We have nothing but time in here, and that’s inevitably going to run out.”
“Let’s go then.” Sho said, reaching for a bag of water balloons.
“Wait,” Ohno stopped him. “You’re strong, Sho.” Sho looked surprised and a little pleased by the comment, though he frowned when Ohno continued. “And you’ve got terrible aim. Besides, you’re also injured.”
“What are you getting at, Ohno-kun…?” Sho almost pouted.
“You should carry MatsuJun. Just concentrate on keeping him safe.”
“Leader, you should stick with him too.” Nino put in. “Your foot’s bad, you might need someone to lean on if we’re walking fast.”
“Good idea.” Aiba nodded enthusiastically and picked up two of the duffle bags. He slung one over his own shoulders before handing the other to Ohno. “Leader, you’d still have a free hand that way so you could be in charge of protecting the three of you while Sho navigates. You’re the last line of defense.” He reached for the third and final bag of water balloons and tossed it gently to Nino. “Since Nino-chan and I are the only relatively uninjured ones we’ll be first and foremost in charge of protecting you guys. Okay?” He reached for his water gun, Nino nodded. “I’ll lead the way, and Nino can bring up the rear.”
“Okay…” Nino agreed, albeit nervously. His voice was a little strained.
Quickly they prepared themselves; tightening straps, double-knotting shoelaces, and hoisting Jun’s dead weight up onto Sho’s back. Jun had been unbound and the gag removed, so they used the scarf to tie him securely to the rapper in the hopes that it would help him avoid falling off. In a matter of minutes, they were moving out into the open and the unknown.
The hall seemed deserted. Their pace was slow and they stayed close together. Their eyes were constantly darting for a sign of something, and ears listening intently for the lightest of approaching footsteps. Aiba whispered quietly to keep them distracted enough that they wouldn't panic in the silence of the narrow corridor. He told Ohno and Nino about the lab they’d found in the basement and all the files there that had documented the experiments. It explained why Sho and Aiba (and also Jun), who had browsed through it all, knew so much.
“They tend to flock to the exits, we think. All the building's smaller exits have groups lurking around them, though most are congregated in the main lobby, as you already saw. Maybe it’s because they want to get out, or maybe they’re after the people who want to get out…”
“So, we’re definitely stuck. We have no chance at slipping out.”
“Well, yeah. I guess that’s why we’re barricaded in here. The government can’t let us out without letting those monsters out too.” Aiba sighed. “The only chance we stand is to make a stand.”
“How can we win though?” Ohno whispered. They’d reached the end of the hall and were peeking out into the open area that looked over the lobby. “They’d just multiply and continue to outnumber us-“
“Water. Water would work.”
“There might have been hundreds of them in the lobby alone, Aiba.” Nino countered, feeling frustrated and helpless. “A water gun and a few dozen water balloons isn’t going to accomplish anything.”
“Oh, I guess…”
“…We’ll think of something.” Sho spoke up, voice strained under the weight of Jun pushing down on his bad leg. “For now, we just need a safe place to rest.”
They all nodded their agreement, and Aiba glanced around once more for signs of danger before turning back to face the group. “I’ll go out first to make sure the coast is clear. Sho, Ohno, you two follow at my signal, and Nino hang behind a bit so you can watch their backs. Got it?”
The plan was set, and Aiba began his trek out into the open, gun raised and ready to shoot. He was halfway across the long stretch when he beckoned for Sho and Ohno to follow. Ohno squeezed Nino’s shoulder encouragingly before limping out with the newscaster. Nino stood in the shadows of the hall, heart pounding and muscles tense. His eyes flickered back and forth across the space and his fingers clenched dangerously tight around a jiggly blue balloon. When the crippled group reached the middle of the room he deemed it safe for him to venture out as well, and he did. But somehow being alone and out in the open, exposed, was so much worse than in the confined space of the hallway. He could feel his breathing speed up and catch in his throat. Aiba had reached the far side, and he was helping Sho and Ohno to hurry into the safety of another hall. Nino stepped a little faster, only to freeze at a sound. It was the soft, dull, clanging of metal, and it came from both behind him and to his right. Petrified, he turned his gaze to look and choked on a gasp.
There were at least six of them, swinging through the rafters and off of hanging light fixtures like bats or monkeys. He could barely run a step before they were landing around him, cutting of any direction he could have possibly escaped in. He chucked the water balloon in his hand, and it broke on the face of the nearest junior. The creature seemed to shrivel, shrieking and sending a shower of sparks spraying out of its mouth. The noise alerted Aiba and the others to his plight, but more were swinging towards them, and they were soon too occupied with defending themselves to get anywhere near defending the gamer.
They weren’t dumb. Nino had to conclude this. They saw what had happened to their comrade and they soon began dodging the water balloons as they were thrown. More and more broke and splattered clear liquid harmlessly across the floor, and he only managed to take one other creature out. His hands were shaking, messing up his aim, and he thought he was going to faint as he reached into the bag at his side to find it empty. He’d used up his only weapons, and the creatures clued into this not a moment later than he did.
One let out a pleased giggle, jerking its head for the others to follow as they ran at him, pouncing and clawing. Nino stumbled backwards, eyes wide and going wider when his back hit the railing. “N-no!” He gasped as they reached him, sharp nails bunching in his clothes and scraping his skin as they pinned him there and pushed him so far back against the rail that his upper body was almost horizontal over the large drop below. “Treat us, Sempai!” The one crawling up his chest taunted, running a tongue over its glossy lips and long white fangs. “Treat us!” Its small hands closed around his neck as it straddled his chest, and it squeezed with both its hands and its knees. Nino’s ribcage ached, and he could get barely a trickle of air into his heaving lungs. Around him, all the other juniors were laughing, and they began to shake him.
“Sempai, Sempai!” They called cutely. Nino watched in horror as his pack of cards slipped from his pocket. The lid of the box hadn’t been shut all the way and the cards spilled out. Spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds fluttered down onto the crowd below, alerting them all to his presence. The junior on his chest grinned widely, seeing this too and seeming to delight in the roar that went up through the crowd. “Treat us, Ninomiya-Sempai.” It said lowly, and Nino panicked, because it knew him. They knew who they were.
A duffle bag came flying into his vision, clipping him on the side of the head and knocking the junior back off of him in surprise. Aiba was there, swinging his own empty bag and kicking wildly. The juniors were knocked aside one by one and Nino helped to fend them off as his limbs were freed from their weight. His throat ached terribly, it was all he could do in inhale gulps of air without bursting into a pained coughing fit. There were spots dancing in his vision, disorienting him, and his back hurt terribly where he had been bent over with his spine digging into the metal railing.
Aiba kicked particularly hard, flinging one persistent junior back onto the floor and taking quick aim with his water gun. The creature rolled, clawing at its own neck as the water seeped into its joints, eliciting sparks, electric pops, and a plume of black smoke. “The face, neck, and hips are where you aim! That’s where the water gets into them!” Aiba yelled over the noise, struggling with another that had attempted to sneak up behind him.
Blearily, Nino’s gaze wavered to the side and his eyes widened in horror. “Aiba!” He gasped, voice raw.
“Shoot,” Aiba shook his gun with a frown. He had a junior pinned beneath his right foot. “I’m almost out of water…” He managed to get two more squirts out, one into the face of the squirming ‘boy’ beneath him and the second onto the open end of a severed arm that was attempting to crawl off and grow a torso. “How are you doing over there, Nino?” He called, glancing over his shoulder and swinging the empty water gun like a club.
Nino would have been awed by the skill that Aiba had apparently acquired in fighting off monstrous, inhuman, children, but he was too petrified to do much else but gasp Aiba’s name with more urgency and point. “Aiba, l-look!”
Aiba did, and his eyes went so wide that Nino half-worried they might fall out of his head. “Oh, s-shit!” He exclaimed, swinging the water gun so hard at the junior attempting to take a bite out of his shin that its head got stuck sideways. He reached almost blindly for Nino’s hand, eyes still caught on the sight of an unbelievable number of juniors pouring their way up the long staircase from the lobby below. “Run!” He yelped, pulling Nino along as they sped for the hall.
Sho saw them coming, and saw what was coming behind them immediately afterwards. His mouth fell open in shock and he reached out to fist a hand in Ohno’s shirt. Ohno turned pale, stumbling backwards and grabbing for Sho’s arm as they used each other as support to run with. Nino and Aiba caught up with them quickly and ushered them down the hall.
“Here! In here!” Aiba yelled as he ran ahead, pointing to the door to a stairwell.
“I can’t, Masaki! I can’t handle the stairs!” Sho called back, letting out a yelp and attempting to speed up as small fingers grazed the back of his leg. Nino stomped down on the creature’s arm, leaving it howling behind them. The juniors were literally right on their heels. They filled the hall behind them, practically floor to ceiling, almost crawling up the walls as they piled in over top of each other.
“Just get in!” Aiba cried hoarsely, flinging the door open and tugging the newscaster in. Nino and Ohno dove in behind him and Aiba slammed the door shut. He had to use all his weight to keep it closed as the fastest of the juniors began throwing themselves against the surface, and he choked on a terrified sob as he fumbled with the lock.
“It- it won’t hold forever.” Sho panted, stuck sprawled where he’d landed on the floor as Jun’s weight prevented him from getting up. Even with the door locked, the force of the juniors slamming repeatedly against it was making the door shake in the frame. “They’ll break it down and get in.”
Aiba swallowed, wiping his palms on his jeans and then fisting his hands tightly in the denim to try and keep them from shaking. “I know, b-but the hall was a dead end. At least here we have somewhere to go.”
“We need a plan.” Nino pointed out, unable to keep his eyes from straying to the door’s strained hinges. “We can’t run forever. We’re almost at the end of our energy.”
“We need more water.” Aiba said, looking down at his battered water gun. It would be a wonder if the thing still worked, considering the abuse it had been put through.
“We need a lot more water, if we want to finish them all.” Ohno said, leaning against Nino’s side so it was easier to keep his injured foot off the floor. Fresh blood was beginning to soak through the shoe again, leaving a wet red patch amidst the darker, dried stuff.
“But where are we going to get enough water to kill hundreds of those things?! Its hopeless!” Aiba dropped to his knees and crawled away from the door. Each bang against the door was making him flinch terribly. He stopped beside Sho and then froze in surprise. “Oh!” He exclaimed quietly, catching everybody’s attention.
“The pool, maybe.” Jun’s voice spoke slowly.
“MatsuJun, you’re awake!” Aiba exclaimed, obviously relieved. “I was really starting to worry!”
“He’s awake?” Nino asked at almost the same time as Sho, who was having difficulty turning his head far enough to see.
“He’s awake! He’s looking at me!”
“Really?” Ohno questioned, craning his neck.
“Yes, I’m awake Leader.” Jun sighed, attempting to move only to strain against the scarves. “Can somebody please explain why I am on top of and apparently tied to Sakurai-kun?”
“Do you remember the part about all the juniors suddenly getting really scary, and trying to kill us?” Ohno asked, wondering how much he’d need to be filled in on.
“Yes, and I was in and out of consciousness for quite a bit of flopping around like this while you all were running from them too. What I’m more concerned with, is why I’m still tied to him.”
“Oh, sorry.” Aiba quickly began tugging at the knots to free him. “… Do you really think the pool would work?”
“You need a lot of water to kill them?” Jun asked, rolling off of Sho the minute he could and holding his head with a grimace as he sat up. “Well, the pool has a lot of water.”
“Jun-kun… I can’t think how we could possibly trick them all into falling into the pool…” Nino said slowly, frowning both with deep thought and the effort to block out the insistent pounding on the door.
“We could always just stay in the pool ourselves. They couldn’t get us that way.”
“We can’t stay in a pool forever. We’d die if we tried, and if they found us then we’d die if we tried to leave too. It’s a bad idea, Captain.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
They all fell silent for a moment. Jun fingered the material of Aiba’s shirt tied round his head and then scrunched his face up. “What is this?”
“Your head was bleeding, we patched it up as well as we could.”
Jun sighed. “I’m guessing none of you brought hairspray with you. I probably look like hell.” He let his hands drop forlornly into his lap. “As soon as we sort this out, I’m finding a mirror, a brush, and some gel. Actually, a shower and some moisturizer would be nice. I think I’ve got scarf-burn…”
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m finding a hospital first.” Ohno put in, staring at the dark stains on his shoe. “I’d like to be able to dance again someday…” They all fell silent, and Nino reached over to hold his hand tightly.
“… Let’s start moving.” Sho was the one who spoke up, his eyes on the hinges. “They don’t seem to be tiring out, and I don’t think that door will hold up much longer. I don’t want to be here when they get through.”
The rest agreed and they began making their way slowly down the steps. Sho and Ohno’s injuries kept them from speeding up, but by the time they’d reached the first floor landing and Aiba was reaching for the door handle, Jun had had an idea.
“Wait.” Everybody turned to look at the youngest member, who was frowning deeply. “… In the basement.”
“What?”
“In the basement, if we trapped them all in the basement we could probably damage some pipes and flood the place, or set off the sprinklers…” He looked around at the wide-eyed men in front of him, they all seemed to be realizing the possibilities of the plan at once. “I think it could work.”
A floor above them, the rhythmic banging stopped with a crash, followed by the rumble of innumerable fast footsteps.
“Basement.” Aiba breathed. “Quickly.”
“No.” Jun stopped them, grabbing Nino by the sleeve and pulling the gamer towards the next flight of stairs. His eyes swept over Sho and Ohno, who had to lean against each other to stay standing. “They aren’t fast enough. You three go, and figure out what we need to do to actually kill them. Nino and I will deal with the trapping. Hurry!” He turned, tugging Nino hurriedly down the first few steps. “Come on.”
Aiba opened the door to the first floor and pushed Sho and Ohno out ahead of him. The door closed firmly behind them, and they began moving as fast as they could down the hallway now presented to them. They could only hope none of the juniors would be immune to Jun’s bait, and that both Jun and Nino would be able to get back safely.
The other three had been just fast enough. The juniors came pouring down the above landing only a split second after the door to the first floor was shut. Nino opened the door to the basement while Jun lingered on the steps, jumping up and down and waving his arms. “Hey! I’m sick of this! If you want us you’d better come get us, you brats!”
“Jun!” Nino hissed, wide-eyed as the juniors locked in on his voice and practically sprang down the remaining steps between them and Arashi’s youngest member. “Get down here!”
Jun vaulted himself down the last flight of stairs and stumbled through the doorway with Nino. Their feet pounded against the ground as they ran their hardest, attempting to put some distance between themselves and the juniors. Luckily, the basement door was narrow and the creatures were having trouble pushing themselves through all at once, which was slowing them down in their pursuit.
“Find somewhere we can hide.” Jun hissed through his teeth. Up ahead was a large set of thick metal doors equipped with many bolts and an electronic lock. It led to a big open place used for the storage of a lot of costumes and stage equipment along with other miscellaneous items. “In there, find somewhere close to the door.”
They ducked inside, almost tripping over themselves as Nino pulled Jun down with him behind several thick racks of long, sequined, coats in varying colors and degrees of sparkle.
The juniors poured in not a minute later. The lights in the big room were off, and the juniors began stopping suspiciously just inside the doorway. Luckily, the ones behind them pushed them further in, until the whole group had shoved inside. They began prowling further into the space, red eyes like a sea of penlights at a concert, swaying to and fro as they searched for their prey.
Jun’s long fingers closed around Nino’s wrist, squeezing twice before pulling gently. Nino followed him, carefully and silently getting to their feet and creeping towards the vacant doorway. But as they darted the few feet left to slip out, a loud thud rang out in the big space. Every eye in the vicinity snapped towards the source.
Nino’s DS lay on the concrete just inside the doorway. It had opened when it landed, the top screen brightly reflecting the light from the hall, and the touch pen had slipped out and clattered quietly to the ground beside the gaming system.
The gamer made to take a step towards it, eyes wide, but Jun tugged him back violently by the shirt collar so that he could put all his strength into closing the doors. Inside the room, several of the nearest juniors were bounding towards them, red eyes blazing.
The strength of Jun’s tug had sent him to the ground, and Nino scrambled to crawl on all fours towards the closing gap between the doors, arm outstretched. “NO!” He cried, voice going raw as Jun blocked his way. Just before the doors slammed ominously shut, Nino saw the closest junior step right on the DS. It snapped in half, and the screen cracked jaggedly down the middle. Nino let out a heart-wrenching wail while Jun slammed all the locks and bolts into place and the echoing thuds of bodies slamming forcefully into the metal doors echoed around them.
“Come on, lets get out of here.” Jun pulled him to his feet, and Nino couldn’t see anything through the shocked tears that had filled his vision. “We have to find the others, lets go.”
Ohno still had his cell phone so Jun was able to contact him. The other three had taken cover in a room above the basement storage area and were getting to work on an explosive device of some kind that they were planning to set off the sprinklers with. The rest of the building was more or less empty, though they imagined there would be stragglers to deal with later on. Jun, practically dragging Nino along with him, made it to the meeting place without any further incidents.
Nino crumpled almost as soon as they’d closed the door behind themselves.
“Whoa, what happened?!” Sho exclaimed worriedly, setting his crowbar aside and attempting to get to his feet.
“He’s fine.” Jun frowned, examining the section of floor that they’d torn apart to open up the vent beneath. Aiba and Ohno were working to lower something heavy down into the room below, where plenty of angry growls and child-like shouting could be heard. “Don’t bother getting up Sho-kun, he’s just being melodramatic.”
“Melodramatic?!” Nino exclaimed, voice hoarse. “Y-you have no idea what its like to go through all of this, think we’re actually going to get out okay, and then lose something that important to you!”
“What did he lose?” Ohno looked up.
“It was just your DS, Ninomiya. It’s not the end of the world.”
“Oh, wow.” Ohno’s eyebrows drew together in genuine sympathy, but he quickly had to focus on holding the ropes tightly on his own while Aiba ran to tie them to a nearby post.
Sho tossed him a little white box and Aiba began lighting several of the matchsticks inside, dropping them carefully down into the hole in the floor. Ohno peered down with him while Sho got up awkwardly and limped towards the door. “Guys, back off. It’s probably going to explode.”
“Oh, I think it’s catching!” Ohno observed, tugging Aiba’s sleeve to get him to follow Sho’s example.
“You don’t understand! You wouldn’t understand!” Nino insisted. “If you lost your most important possessions right now, you’d be just as upset as me, and you know it!”
“I doubt it. Possessions are just possessions, definitely not worth risking your life for.” Jun scoffed, turning his attention to the other occupants of the room. “What are you using?”
“Uh…” Sho started, looking strangely anxious. “We made a nest-type thing out of the floorboards, and we filled it with crumpled paper and… stuff…”
Jun frowned suspiciously at Sho’s hedgy answer. Out of the corner of his eye, Ohno was patting a disconsolate Nino’s hair while the gamer clung to his pant leg, and Aiba was watching the hole expectantly. It was to Aiba that he directed his next question. “Hey, what are you using that’s going to explode?” Certainly wood and paper was not going to explode on its own.
“Oh,” Aiba smiled, completely missing Sho’s obvious warning look. “We were looking for oil or something, but then Ohno-kun saw all your hair stuff and I figured that would work.”
Jun’s eyes bugged out of his head, and Nino couldn’t help but look smug. His “I told you so” was drowned out by the bang of several hairspray canisters going up in flames, followed by the clanging of the fire alarm, the sprits of the sprinklers coming on and, above everything else, the deafening and almost animalistic scream that erupted from Jun’s throat. Aiba had to physically tackle him to keep the youngest member from throwing himself through the flaming hole in the floor.
They agreed that, despite leaving the members’ ears ringing, the scream had probably been at a high enough frequency to stun all the juniors below and keep them from attempting to find cover from the water raining down on them.
The immediate threat was gone, but reality set in quickly.
Days passed before the military would let them come out, and then they were whisked away to containment facilities. The city was in an uproar, the whole country was in chaos. People were dying, crime was rampant, fear was everywhere. They hadn’t saved the world, but they’d taken a step forward, even if it was only into more uncertainty and danger. Movement was movement, and they could at least hope they were moving towards a future that was still worth hoping for.
“It’s okay.” Aiba said once, peeking down over the top of his bunk at the others. They’d been in the safety center for over a week, and while everybody was beginning to recover injury-wise, the captivity was starting to put them all on edge. “I think we’re gonna be okay.”
“You say that, but the situation outside hasn’t changed since we got in here.” Nino pointed out dryly.
“Yes it has.” Aiba said firmly.
“Well, yeah. It’s gotten worse.” Jun sighed, rolling over to face the wall.
“But it’s going to get better.” Aiba insisted, leaning further over the short metal rail to peek into Jun’s bunk below him. “Because we’re Arashi.”
“Are we?” Nino asked quietly, staring at the wall. JE had fallen apart with the rest of Japan. None of them had really brought it up out loud, but the question of whether they could still consider themselves a group and not simply a group of friends hung heavily in the air around them. The word ‘Arashi’ had been absent from most of their conversations thus far.
“Careful, don’t fall.” Sho muttered distractedly from his bed above Nino’s.
“Listen, I saw out a window today. There’s one on the top floor, by the bathrooms up there.”
“I didn’t think we were supposed to go up there…” Ohno yawned, dozing off in Nino’s lap rather than in his own lone bed in the center of the room.
“We’re not.” Sho frowned, setting down the newspaper he was reading. It was one from several weeks ago, and he’d read it countless times out of boredom since he’d managed to get a hold of it. New papers weren’t being printed. “Are you trying to get in trouble?”
“I got lost.” Aiba pouted. “The point is, I saw outside.”
Everybody was silent, afraid to ask what he’d seen. Afraid to hear what the outside world had become.
“…I saw the sky.”
“The sky?” Jun rolled back over, leaning over the edge of his mattress to look up at Aiba with feigned annoyance and genuine curiosity.
Aiba nodded. “And it looked like it was going to rain.” He couldn’t stop the smile that threatened to break his serious expression. “Like, there was a really big storm on the horizon.”
There was a long silence. Ohno’s eyes opened and Nino’s fingers began running absentmindedly through their leader’s hair.
“… Stupid.” Jun shot at the man above him and turned back to face the wall, though his words completely lacked venom and everybody could hear the goofy grin in his voice.
“A storm throughout the world…” Sho murmured, staring into space and letting hope back into his expression for the first time in several days. The dull, blank, walls of their cramped room suddenly seemed twice as bright and five times more colorful than they earlier had. “…A storm would be nice.” Sho said softly, and reached for his newspaper. They all silently agreed.
+++
Happy late halloween~ :D Though it's never too late for an arashi crack apocalypse, even if this did get a little bit serious...