Magika - Chapter 21
A day before the school break starts, Nino had asked Kame to join them for dinner to ask him a few questions about Junno. Kame has known Junno for a while so perhaps he may know something about the unknown childhood friend of Junno. They could ask Junno directly but they don’t think Junno would answer them, or maybe he wouldn’t remember any more if Nakai had cast memory spell on him.
If there is anyone else other than his friends that Nino would trust, it would be Kame. He is not close with Kame but he had met him a few times before they started school, so he knows a little bit about Kame. Kame’s father and Nino’s father are co-workers so Kame used to come to his house for a few times. Even though there is a possibility that Nakai may have been pretend to be Kame, but he has conducted an experiment to verify that. As mentioned by Myrtle, he cannot see Nakai on the day Nino was attacked. They bring Kame to Myrtle’s bathroom with the excuse that someone wants to meet him. The ghost could see him and when Nino introduced Kame as Junno’s best friend, the ghost became so excited and asking Kame if Junno is okay. All of them think that Kame, Ueda and Nakamaru are not a suspect because the ghost of puniceus can see them when all of them gathered in Ohno’s room to listen to the conversation Nino had with Nakai in Myrtle’s bathroom. Furthermore, all three of them are with Sho and Aiba during the attack.
Sho had also argued that Junno’s childhood friend should be someone that doesn’t have any friend before the start of the school. This will make it easier for Nakai to pretend to be him because no one knows how he really is. But, Kame, Nakamaru and Ueda had been friends before the school starts as they come from the same neighbourhood. Then, Junno become their friends when his family moved next to Kame’s house. If Nakai pretends to be one of them, the other must have realized about this too, and not just Junno. All of these are told by Aiba and Sho who used to listen to Junno telling them about his friendship with the trio when Junno helped them with the experiments.
“What do all of you want to talk about?” asked Kame as he approached both Nino and Ohno who are taking their food. Nakamaru and Ueda are not with him and when Nino asked him about the other two, he said that both of them are with Junno. Somehow, Junno had been acted differently after he was released from the infirmary. He is very afraid to be alone and all three of them had to accompany him to go everywhere.
Aiba, who also happened to be Junno’s roommate, had also told them about Junno. He refused to let Aiba switched off the light at night, saying that maybe the wolf will attack him. He even asked Aiba to stay outside of the shower to ensure nothing will happen to him. Nino keeps on wondering how serious the attack seems to affect him that somehow had changed Junno from a cheerful person to a paranoid person. He even refused to speak to anyone else except Aiba and his trio friends.
“He is still in trauma?” asked Ohno concernedly. Kame just sighed and nodded his head. It’s obvious he is very worried about his friend.
“If I ever find out who do this to him, I’ll make sure he will pay for this,” said Kame. Nino then told him to sit with Aiba, Jun and Sho. They planned to tell Kame about the new lead that they’ve found after dinner in Ohno’s room so that no one will listen to their conversation.
After dinner, all of them went to Ohno’s room. Arriving in the room, Sho is the one who told Kame about the new lead, hoping maybe Kame would remember if Junno ever told him about his friend and thus be able to help them identify who Nakai is pretending to be now.
“Hmm, I remember Junno used to tell us about his friend back before he moved next to my house. But, I don’t remember his name. Maybe Ryu or Ryuhei. Hmm, Ren? I’m sorry. I’m not really sure about his name. It has been a long time. If you don’t mind, I could ask Ueda or Maru. They might remember,” asked Kame and all of them just sighed in disappointment. They were hoping that maybe Kame would be able to help them. Well, at least there is a similarity in the name that he gave. All of them start with R. So, at least there is something to start the investigation with. If they could find anyone whose name starts with R and couldn’t come to Nino’s birthday party, he could be a suspect. Right now the only person whose name starts with R that he could think of is his roommate, Nishikido Ryo and the eccentric guy named Maruyama Ryuhei. Even though Ryo chan is his roommate but he is not really close with him, considering that he always spend the time with Ohno. But, he never sees Ryo chan did anything suspicious but that didn’t mean he is not a suspect. As for Maruyama Ryuhei, he doesn’t really know anything about him. He used to hear rumors that Maruyama admires him from Aiba. According to Aiba, Maruyama thinks that he is very cool.
“It’s okay. It has been a while after all. But, if you or Ueda or Maru could remember the name, it would be better. Please be extra careful. Who knows if anyone of you will be the new target if the culprit knows that Junno used to tell you guys about his friend,” warned Sho. All of them left out the information about Nakai, thinking it may not be appropriate for Kame to know about him. The headmaster had told them to never let anyone else knows about the information.
“Hmm, if you’re free next Monday, would you like to come for my birthday party?” said Nino as he gave Kame his invitation card.
“Oh. I don’t think I have anything to do on Monday, so I might come. Thank you for the invitation,” said Kame. Nino also gave him another three cards to give to Junno, Ueda and Nakamaru. As it is already late, Nino, Aiba, Sho and Kame decided to get back to their room. They still have to finish packing their stuff to get back home tomorrow.
Ohno gasped looking at how big Nino’s house is. He knows that Nino comes from a rich family, considering that he is the descendant of the founder Ninomiya. But, he didn’t think that Ninomiya residence is a castle. It is five times bigger than his house. Wow, he wonders how about the rest of his friends. Are their house is also as big as Nino? And he kept on wondering if he really used to live in this house. This kind of lifestyle doesn’t really suit him.
“What are you staring at?” asked Nino when Ohno is looking at his house in awe. Both Nino and Ohno’s mother just laughed looking at his reaction. When Ohno is still refused to start walking to get inside the house, Nino just pulled him inside.
“Your house is really big!” said Ohno and Nino just laughed at him.
“It is our house. You’re going to stay in this house. I’m sorry, Ohchan, but you are stuck with me forever,” said Nino lovingly and Ohno immediately turned to look at his mom. He hasn’t told his mother about his relationship with Nino yet and he is afraid if his mother will not approve of the relationship if Ohno didn’t properly tell her.
“Ah, but J’s house is bigger than mine,” said Nino, changing the topic. Perhaps he sensed the uneasiness in Ohno. Both of them have decided to tell their parents together during the break.
“Ah, Kazunari, you are back, honey,” said a female voice from upstairs. It was Nino’s mother who immediately ran downstairs when she saw her son. When he arrived downstairs, he hugged Nino before hugging Ohno and then went to Ohno’s mom. She was apologizing to Ohno’s mother. Both of them keep on apologizing and Nino, perhaps bored to see the scene, immediately tells his mother he is going to his room and pulls Ohno with him.
“Satoshi’s room is next to you,” said Mrs. Ninomiya and Nino stopped immediately. Turning to his mother, he said in a very low voice that Ohno is going to sleep in his room. Couldn’t hear his voice, Mrs Ninomiya approached them.
“What do you say, honey?” asked Mrs. Ninomiya and Nino turned to Ohno to help him answer.
“Ah, I don’t think you should prepare a room for me. I’m fine to share the room with Nino,” said Ohno, answering on behalf of Nino. But, Mrs. Ninomiya just tells him that there are a lot of rooms in the house, so Ohno should have his own room. Right on the cue, Mr. Ninomiya appeared in the front door and greets them. Nino closed the distance between both of them and squeezes Ohno’s hand, sending signal that maybe this is the right time to tell their parents about their relationship.
“I like Ohchan,” said Nino after gathering the courage to be frank with his parents.
“I like Nino too,” said Ohno to his mother. Their parents however just looked at them in confusion, couldn’t understand what they were trying to say.
“We know you like each other,” said his father. However both of them just shook their head because they don’t understand what both Ohno and Nino trying to say.
“No, you don’t understand. It’s not like….,” Nino tried to keep talking but Mrs. Ninomiya stopped him.
“We know what you mean. You guys are together, right? Like lovers,” said Mrs. Ninomiya and both Ohno and Nino just stared at each other, wondering how their parents could take the news of them being together well.
“Kazu, maybe you don’t remember yet, but when you’re a kid, you told us that you will marry Satoshi when you’re older. We thought that you may not remember about the promise anymore, but when Erika told us that you’re really close with Satoshi in school, I think it won’t be long before you fall in love with him again,” said Mrs. Ninomiya. Ohno was surprised to hear that. He couldn’t believe that both of them have established a relationship long before this. And, speaking of Erika, she will come home a little bit late because she is going to hang out with her friends first.
After getting approval for their relationship from their parents, both of them go to Nino’s room. Even though they approve the relationship, all of them forbade them from doing anything further than kissing yet. After Nino puts his stuff in the room, he immediately pulled Ohno to lie on the bed with him.
“I can’t believe I have proposed you a long time ago,” said Nino and suddenly Ohno gets an idea to tease his boyfriend.
“You’re very manly when you’re a kid but right now you are the girl in our relationship. If I don’t confess, we will not be together,” instead of teasing him back, Nino just pulled Ohno’s nose before suddenly turned gloomy.
“Ohchan, I’m afraid,”
“Of what?”
“I’m afraid that I cannot protect you,”
“Nino, don’t worry about that. Everything will be okay. We will be able to defeat Nakai,” said Ohno, even though he himself is not sure about that. They do have lead in determining who Nakai actually is but he cannot help but feel worried. Who knows if Nakai purposely left those hints to fool them? Deep inside, he wished that at least they are not falling into Nakai’s trap.
A/N: Another pointless chapter because they don't really do anything in this chapter. But, they will discover Nakai's true identity soon (in a chapter or two after this). And yeah, finally have my graduation ceremony yesterday. Went to sleep right after the celebration because I'm so tired. I slept less than 6 hours for two days (not 6 hours each day, but a total of less than six hours for both days). I don't think I will be updating this or Cutie and the Beast before my baby Nino's birthday because I want to write an Ohmiya fic for baby Nino's birthday. Finally have an idea on what to write. Anyway, I hope this chapter is okay and comments are appreciated :)
If there is anyone else other than his friends that Nino would trust, it would be Kame. He is not close with Kame but he had met him a few times before they started school, so he knows a little bit about Kame. Kame’s father and Nino’s father are co-workers so Kame used to come to his house for a few times. Even though there is a possibility that Nakai may have been pretend to be Kame, but he has conducted an experiment to verify that. As mentioned by Myrtle, he cannot see Nakai on the day Nino was attacked. They bring Kame to Myrtle’s bathroom with the excuse that someone wants to meet him. The ghost could see him and when Nino introduced Kame as Junno’s best friend, the ghost became so excited and asking Kame if Junno is okay. All of them think that Kame, Ueda and Nakamaru are not a suspect because the ghost of puniceus can see them when all of them gathered in Ohno’s room to listen to the conversation Nino had with Nakai in Myrtle’s bathroom. Furthermore, all three of them are with Sho and Aiba during the attack.
Sho had also argued that Junno’s childhood friend should be someone that doesn’t have any friend before the start of the school. This will make it easier for Nakai to pretend to be him because no one knows how he really is. But, Kame, Nakamaru and Ueda had been friends before the school starts as they come from the same neighbourhood. Then, Junno become their friends when his family moved next to Kame’s house. If Nakai pretends to be one of them, the other must have realized about this too, and not just Junno. All of these are told by Aiba and Sho who used to listen to Junno telling them about his friendship with the trio when Junno helped them with the experiments.
“What do all of you want to talk about?” asked Kame as he approached both Nino and Ohno who are taking their food. Nakamaru and Ueda are not with him and when Nino asked him about the other two, he said that both of them are with Junno. Somehow, Junno had been acted differently after he was released from the infirmary. He is very afraid to be alone and all three of them had to accompany him to go everywhere.
Aiba, who also happened to be Junno’s roommate, had also told them about Junno. He refused to let Aiba switched off the light at night, saying that maybe the wolf will attack him. He even asked Aiba to stay outside of the shower to ensure nothing will happen to him. Nino keeps on wondering how serious the attack seems to affect him that somehow had changed Junno from a cheerful person to a paranoid person. He even refused to speak to anyone else except Aiba and his trio friends.
“He is still in trauma?” asked Ohno concernedly. Kame just sighed and nodded his head. It’s obvious he is very worried about his friend.
“If I ever find out who do this to him, I’ll make sure he will pay for this,” said Kame. Nino then told him to sit with Aiba, Jun and Sho. They planned to tell Kame about the new lead that they’ve found after dinner in Ohno’s room so that no one will listen to their conversation.
After dinner, all of them went to Ohno’s room. Arriving in the room, Sho is the one who told Kame about the new lead, hoping maybe Kame would remember if Junno ever told him about his friend and thus be able to help them identify who Nakai is pretending to be now.
“Hmm, I remember Junno used to tell us about his friend back before he moved next to my house. But, I don’t remember his name. Maybe Ryu or Ryuhei. Hmm, Ren? I’m sorry. I’m not really sure about his name. It has been a long time. If you don’t mind, I could ask Ueda or Maru. They might remember,” asked Kame and all of them just sighed in disappointment. They were hoping that maybe Kame would be able to help them. Well, at least there is a similarity in the name that he gave. All of them start with R. So, at least there is something to start the investigation with. If they could find anyone whose name starts with R and couldn’t come to Nino’s birthday party, he could be a suspect. Right now the only person whose name starts with R that he could think of is his roommate, Nishikido Ryo and the eccentric guy named Maruyama Ryuhei. Even though Ryo chan is his roommate but he is not really close with him, considering that he always spend the time with Ohno. But, he never sees Ryo chan did anything suspicious but that didn’t mean he is not a suspect. As for Maruyama Ryuhei, he doesn’t really know anything about him. He used to hear rumors that Maruyama admires him from Aiba. According to Aiba, Maruyama thinks that he is very cool.
“It’s okay. It has been a while after all. But, if you or Ueda or Maru could remember the name, it would be better. Please be extra careful. Who knows if anyone of you will be the new target if the culprit knows that Junno used to tell you guys about his friend,” warned Sho. All of them left out the information about Nakai, thinking it may not be appropriate for Kame to know about him. The headmaster had told them to never let anyone else knows about the information.
“Hmm, if you’re free next Monday, would you like to come for my birthday party?” said Nino as he gave Kame his invitation card.
“Oh. I don’t think I have anything to do on Monday, so I might come. Thank you for the invitation,” said Kame. Nino also gave him another three cards to give to Junno, Ueda and Nakamaru. As it is already late, Nino, Aiba, Sho and Kame decided to get back to their room. They still have to finish packing their stuff to get back home tomorrow.
Ohno gasped looking at how big Nino’s house is. He knows that Nino comes from a rich family, considering that he is the descendant of the founder Ninomiya. But, he didn’t think that Ninomiya residence is a castle. It is five times bigger than his house. Wow, he wonders how about the rest of his friends. Are their house is also as big as Nino? And he kept on wondering if he really used to live in this house. This kind of lifestyle doesn’t really suit him.
“What are you staring at?” asked Nino when Ohno is looking at his house in awe. Both Nino and Ohno’s mother just laughed looking at his reaction. When Ohno is still refused to start walking to get inside the house, Nino just pulled him inside.
“Your house is really big!” said Ohno and Nino just laughed at him.
“It is our house. You’re going to stay in this house. I’m sorry, Ohchan, but you are stuck with me forever,” said Nino lovingly and Ohno immediately turned to look at his mom. He hasn’t told his mother about his relationship with Nino yet and he is afraid if his mother will not approve of the relationship if Ohno didn’t properly tell her.
“Ah, but J’s house is bigger than mine,” said Nino, changing the topic. Perhaps he sensed the uneasiness in Ohno. Both of them have decided to tell their parents together during the break.
“Ah, Kazunari, you are back, honey,” said a female voice from upstairs. It was Nino’s mother who immediately ran downstairs when she saw her son. When he arrived downstairs, he hugged Nino before hugging Ohno and then went to Ohno’s mom. She was apologizing to Ohno’s mother. Both of them keep on apologizing and Nino, perhaps bored to see the scene, immediately tells his mother he is going to his room and pulls Ohno with him.
“Satoshi’s room is next to you,” said Mrs. Ninomiya and Nino stopped immediately. Turning to his mother, he said in a very low voice that Ohno is going to sleep in his room. Couldn’t hear his voice, Mrs Ninomiya approached them.
“What do you say, honey?” asked Mrs. Ninomiya and Nino turned to Ohno to help him answer.
“Ah, I don’t think you should prepare a room for me. I’m fine to share the room with Nino,” said Ohno, answering on behalf of Nino. But, Mrs. Ninomiya just tells him that there are a lot of rooms in the house, so Ohno should have his own room. Right on the cue, Mr. Ninomiya appeared in the front door and greets them. Nino closed the distance between both of them and squeezes Ohno’s hand, sending signal that maybe this is the right time to tell their parents about their relationship.
“I like Ohchan,” said Nino after gathering the courage to be frank with his parents.
“I like Nino too,” said Ohno to his mother. Their parents however just looked at them in confusion, couldn’t understand what they were trying to say.
“We know you like each other,” said his father. However both of them just shook their head because they don’t understand what both Ohno and Nino trying to say.
“No, you don’t understand. It’s not like….,” Nino tried to keep talking but Mrs. Ninomiya stopped him.
“We know what you mean. You guys are together, right? Like lovers,” said Mrs. Ninomiya and both Ohno and Nino just stared at each other, wondering how their parents could take the news of them being together well.
“Kazu, maybe you don’t remember yet, but when you’re a kid, you told us that you will marry Satoshi when you’re older. We thought that you may not remember about the promise anymore, but when Erika told us that you’re really close with Satoshi in school, I think it won’t be long before you fall in love with him again,” said Mrs. Ninomiya. Ohno was surprised to hear that. He couldn’t believe that both of them have established a relationship long before this. And, speaking of Erika, she will come home a little bit late because she is going to hang out with her friends first.
After getting approval for their relationship from their parents, both of them go to Nino’s room. Even though they approve the relationship, all of them forbade them from doing anything further than kissing yet. After Nino puts his stuff in the room, he immediately pulled Ohno to lie on the bed with him.
“I can’t believe I have proposed you a long time ago,” said Nino and suddenly Ohno gets an idea to tease his boyfriend.
“You’re very manly when you’re a kid but right now you are the girl in our relationship. If I don’t confess, we will not be together,” instead of teasing him back, Nino just pulled Ohno’s nose before suddenly turned gloomy.
“Ohchan, I’m afraid,”
“Of what?”
“I’m afraid that I cannot protect you,”
“Nino, don’t worry about that. Everything will be okay. We will be able to defeat Nakai,” said Ohno, even though he himself is not sure about that. They do have lead in determining who Nakai actually is but he cannot help but feel worried. Who knows if Nakai purposely left those hints to fool them? Deep inside, he wished that at least they are not falling into Nakai’s trap.
A/N: Another pointless chapter because they don't really do anything in this chapter. But, they will discover Nakai's true identity soon (in a chapter or two after this). And yeah, finally have my graduation ceremony yesterday. Went to sleep right after the celebration because I'm so tired. I slept less than 6 hours for two days (not 6 hours each day, but a total of less than six hours for both days). I don't think I will be updating this or Cutie and the Beast before my baby Nino's birthday because I want to write an Ohmiya fic for baby Nino's birthday. Finally have an idea on what to write. Anyway, I hope this chapter is okay and comments are appreciated :)