The Hell's Spot - Chapter 10
Title: The Hell's Spot (chapter 10)
Translated by: miriadel_87
Group: Arashi (mainly)
Pairing: Ohmiya, Matsumiya, Toma/OC, hinted Sakumoto
Other JE boys: Toma, Jin and Ryo
Type: multi-chapter
Genre: AU, noir, crime story, angst
Story rating: R
Disclaimers: don't own Arashi or other JE boys... sadly.
Summary: "The Hell's Spot is not a common nightclub, Nino".
Notes: I think this is one of my best works. Thanks to all my friend that supported me while I was writing and to all the Italian readers. Secial thanks to jinnypazza82 , vampiretta87 and, of course, miriadel_87 .
And also: I drew the inspiration for this ff from Murakami Haruki's book "Dance! Dance! Dance!".
Previous chapters: Prologue + Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Ch8 Ch9
Chapter 10.
He arrived at The Hell’s Spot early, as usual, and found Dark and Notte who were cleaning the counter and tidying up tables and chairs. Just like what he was expecting.
He stayed for a while, sitting at his usual place, then he stood up and, drawing Notte’s attention, he pointed at the counter.
-May I have a look?- he asked.
Ryo shrugged and smiled.
-Feel free to investigate- answered the bartender.
He turned around the counter and stooped while controlling the wash-basin and the shelves where the bottles were disposed. Behind his back there were glasses of various sizes, plates and other things, under the ice and the coffee’s machines.
He took a white cloth from the steel shelf and put it on his wrist, like he had watched Kage do several times when the bartender was washing in that position. Then he put his hands in the wash-basin, imagining there was water and something to rub.
Jun’s movements that he had seen him do so many times, he knew them by heart.
He decided to copy his favourite of all Kage’s positions: leaning with his elbows on the counter.
He stretched out, and when his elbows made contact with the surface, something made him close his eyes.
He felt like he was passing through a dark corridor and he lost his breath for some moments.
When he could breathe again, he was still in that position, in a room full of suffused lights, and he heard noises of some people walking and chatting, with a delicate music in the background.
He was at The Hell’s Spot.
But nothing was real.
Sounds came to him muffled and distant, and the same sight was opaque, out of focus.
-Joker?- asked Dark.
He turned around against his own will, like his body wasn’t his, and saw the bartender smile.
-He went home early, tonight...- he answered, with a voice that wasn’t his.
But he knew that voice.
It was Jun’s.
Dark went away with a tray of glasses for the tables and Notte came near.
He felt that he was smiling at him.
Once again he felt that sensation of vacuum, while he passed through that moment without light and breath.
-What’s up???- he heard someone scream.
Dark and Notte where gazing at him, scared.
-I...- he whispered, with his own voice.
He was back to the present. Back to the club, still empty and without music, a little before the opening time.
-You were screaming and weren’t breathing anymore, but you were motionless, with your eyes wide open...- explained Ryo, supporting him.
What was that? It was impossible that... no, he couldn’t believe it...
He had lived a moment of that night? Just touching what Jun had touched...
He smiled tiredly at the two bartenders to reassure them, then he asked Ryo a favour.
-Sure, anything...- murmured Notte.
-What did Jun do that night before he was killed?- he asked.
-What?-.
-Habitual gestures, steps...- he tried.
Notte thought about it, while Dark finished tidying up, not too far from them. Then Ryo took a bow of matches out of a drawer, and a pack of those long cigarettes that Kage usually smoked.
-He often struck one of these after the closing time...- said the bartender.
Nino took the pack in his hand immediately and fired a match.
As soon as the smoke filled his mouth, he had that vision again: the empty, dark club. Chairs and stools already put on the tables and the counter, only the light of some candles and a door opened at his back.
His back?
He’d never noticed there was something like that, behind the counter.
-Jun, you’d better go home- said Ryo, passing by.
The sight out of focus worsened with the darkness.
He smiled, sucking in another puff of smoke.
-You have to study... for the exam- said again Notte.
-Don’t worry, I’m perfectly in time- he heard himself answer, with that voice.
-Somebody left this here - said Dark from his right side, pointing at a full glass.
The content was colourless, it looked like simple water. But the glass didn’t look like the others they used at the club.
He felt himself taking it, studying it.
The he fell back to reality, sweating and lying down on the floor, with Jin’s arm under his head. -What the hell is going on???- asked the bartender, while Ryo was putting out in a ashtray the cigarette that had fell from his hand.
-I’m... reaching... the solution- he murmured, pulling himself to a sitting position.
He looked immediately at the wall and asked: -There is a door, there?-.
The two exchanged an astonished look.
-How do you know it?- asked Notte, helping him stand up.
-I didn’t know it...- he sighed.
They opened it and he entered a small room lightened by neon lights.
It was something like an utility room for the three bartenders: there were three lockers, a bench and a hat stand, with some shelves used as a cupboard.
-You want me to stay?- asked Ryo. He shook his head.
-Were you with Kage when he drank from that glass?- he asked.
He was by then certain of it. Jun had drunk from that glass. But he didn’t know anything else.
-No, I...- murmured Notte: -How do you know about that glass? What are you doing right now?- he exclaimed.
-I’m living it again, Ryo... I know it sounds insane, but I’m living it now, like I were him. Following his movements of that night...- he explained.
Notte lowered his gaze and left him alone in the room, half-closing the door.
He asked himself what Jun usually did in there.
He went near the locker with his name on it and touched it, but nothing happened. And, without the keys, he couldn’t open it. He ---
He sat in the corner near the lockers and took his head in his hands, bent on his legs.
And again, that brief sensation of dizziness.
He saw the same small room, with the same light, but his sight was even more opaque.
There wasn’t anyone and Kage’s locker was open.
He stood up and went near the locker’s door.
His heart skipped a beat when he saw the reflection of Jun’s face in the locker’s mirror. He was Kage, in that moment. He was what Jun could still remind Nino of himself, through himself. How he wanted to stretch out his hand towards that beautiful reflection and touch it one last time…
But Jun moved and looked at the bench: on the other extremity from which he had been sitting earlier there had been put the glass. He approached it and sat again, taking it in his hand.
Nino wanted to scream, to tell him not to do it, but he immediately felt an extraneous sensation hit him in his heart: fear... resignation? Jun drank.
And he came round, lying on the floor in the small room full of light.
Jun knew what would have happened after the drink.
And Nino himself, in that instant, in those emotions that weren’t his, but Kage’s... had saw it.
Slowly finding again the capacity of moving his own body, shaken by shivers and groans of pain, he stood up with effort, supporting himself by leaning on the wall.
He had to enter... but how? The Hell’s Spot was opening.
-And so... we have to enter?- repeated Sho, sitting at his chair.
Nino had been in the black-doored room since Arashi’s arriving and he had had the chance to look at its interior: it was like a very small flat. There was a desk with a armchair and two chairs in front of it, where Sho had had him sit. A bed against the wall on the right, two bookcases, a cupboard next to the door.
-How long do you stay in here?- Nino asked.
-Often entire days- Sho answered immediately: -It’s like a second apartment-.
He stood up while the journalist opened his personal computer on the desk. He reached the bed and lied on it, supine, gazing at the ceiling.
He didn’t have any vision, but imagined to. Jun.
How many times had he gazed at the ceiling of that room, like Nino was doing now? How many time did Kage feel confused, like Nino was in that moment?
-I couldn’t protect him... at least I want to avenge him- he said softly.
Sho nodded, his gaze fixed on the computer’s screen, the eyes illuminated by its light.
Who knows if Jun had loved Arashi as well...
Sho rang a bell and after a while Dark entered, with a bow.
-Can I help you?- asked the bartender.
-Is the green-doored room free?- asked Sho, voice toneless.
Nino waited for the answer, without breathing.
-Yes. It’s been two days since the owner last showed up at The Hell’s Spot- confirmed Dark calmly.
Nino sighed soundly, so much that Dark looked at him, surprised.
-Do you have the keys?- asked Arashi.
-No, I’m sorry- Jin murmured.
The bartender went away and the two left exchanged a quick glance.
-Will we succeed?- asked Nino, throwing himself again on the bed.
-I have an idea, but we’ll have to wait...- said Sho, returning to concentrate on his computer.
Nino closed his eyes.
He could wait as much as he wanted.
Sho woke him up, lightly shaking his shoulder, and made him stand up by offering him a cup of coffee.
-What time is it?- he asked, after swallowing the content of the cup.
-7 am. The club is closed, but those of the doors can get out, we have the keys. Come with me- the journalist explained.
They got out the black door and found themselves in the completely dark club. Sho found the lightswitch behind the counter, and for the first time Nino saw the entire hall perfectly illuminated. It was way spacious than what he had always thought. They approached the green door and Sho explained the plan to him:
-If touching things works for you, maybe with a little effort you’ll work out what happened just by putting your hand on the door- he said.
Nino thought about it, then nodded.
-I’ll try-.
He lifted his hand and, slowly, leaned it against the raw surface of the door.
He felt faint and fear caught him, one he had never felt. He panted and fell to the ground.
-KAZUNARI!- Sho screamed, supporting him.
Nino pulled himself together and let Sho help him stand up.
-I’ll have to try harder… I don’t know about the shit in here… but it looks like a bad place…- he joked, out of breath.
-Be careful- Sho said, still supporting him.
He leaned his hand on the door again, and this time he managed to brace himself for the shock. Once he found his breath again, he opened his blurry sight on a large, completely dark room. He was laying down a bed with cold sheets, panting from the effort of keeping his eyes open, and his force was at its minimum. He felt dazed, scared, completely defenceless.
There was someone else in that room, someone who was laughing.
-Are you scared?- asked that voice, distorted and horrible.
The man bent over him, revealing his face: he wore an evil smile.
He didn’t answer. He couldn’t move nor speak.
-Of course you are…- that man spoke again -Everybody is… you are the same, all of you… filthy and coward-.
He felt tears rolling down his cheeks and sobs meddling with his panting.
-Are you crying?- asked the man, feigning tenderness.
His sobs intensified.
-You won’t die now…- whispered that horrible person, caressing his lips with the tip of his fingers. He was still smiling.
The other hand - he still felt it in a painful and enraged memory - was slipping into his clothes, and underneath them.
He was about to faint, his mind clouded by the drugs.
-Before that, I want to have fun with you… you, her and the others-.
He came round, leaning against Sho’s chest, panting and crying.
-I saw… everything… I… felt everything…- he babbled, hiding his face in his hands.
Fear, rage, desperation and disgust were flowing in his veins.
-He killed them… Jun and Lilith- he murmured, before passing out again.
A long oblivion with no memories.
A/N: It's finally out!!! I know it's very late and I made you wait too long... we had problems with holiday programs/exams/school and I went to Poland those past 4 days. The next will be the last, then there is an epilogue and the extra chapter ^^
Translated by: miriadel_87
Group: Arashi (mainly)
Pairing: Ohmiya, Matsumiya, Toma/OC, hinted Sakumoto
Other JE boys: Toma, Jin and Ryo
Type: multi-chapter
Genre: AU, noir, crime story, angst
Story rating: R
Disclaimers: don't own Arashi or other JE boys... sadly.
Summary: "The Hell's Spot is not a common nightclub, Nino".
Notes: I think this is one of my best works. Thanks to all my friend that supported me while I was writing and to all the Italian readers. Secial thanks to jinnypazza82 , vampiretta87 and, of course, miriadel_87 .
And also: I drew the inspiration for this ff from Murakami Haruki's book "Dance! Dance! Dance!".
Previous chapters: Prologue + Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Ch8 Ch9
Chapter 10.
He arrived at The Hell’s Spot early, as usual, and found Dark and Notte who were cleaning the counter and tidying up tables and chairs. Just like what he was expecting.
He stayed for a while, sitting at his usual place, then he stood up and, drawing Notte’s attention, he pointed at the counter.
-May I have a look?- he asked.
Ryo shrugged and smiled.
-Feel free to investigate- answered the bartender.
He turned around the counter and stooped while controlling the wash-basin and the shelves where the bottles were disposed. Behind his back there were glasses of various sizes, plates and other things, under the ice and the coffee’s machines.
He took a white cloth from the steel shelf and put it on his wrist, like he had watched Kage do several times when the bartender was washing in that position. Then he put his hands in the wash-basin, imagining there was water and something to rub.
Jun’s movements that he had seen him do so many times, he knew them by heart.
He decided to copy his favourite of all Kage’s positions: leaning with his elbows on the counter.
He stretched out, and when his elbows made contact with the surface, something made him close his eyes.
He felt like he was passing through a dark corridor and he lost his breath for some moments.
When he could breathe again, he was still in that position, in a room full of suffused lights, and he heard noises of some people walking and chatting, with a delicate music in the background.
He was at The Hell’s Spot.
But nothing was real.
Sounds came to him muffled and distant, and the same sight was opaque, out of focus.
-Joker?- asked Dark.
He turned around against his own will, like his body wasn’t his, and saw the bartender smile.
-He went home early, tonight...- he answered, with a voice that wasn’t his.
But he knew that voice.
It was Jun’s.
Dark went away with a tray of glasses for the tables and Notte came near.
He felt that he was smiling at him.
Once again he felt that sensation of vacuum, while he passed through that moment without light and breath.
-What’s up???- he heard someone scream.
Dark and Notte where gazing at him, scared.
-I...- he whispered, with his own voice.
He was back to the present. Back to the club, still empty and without music, a little before the opening time.
-You were screaming and weren’t breathing anymore, but you were motionless, with your eyes wide open...- explained Ryo, supporting him.
What was that? It was impossible that... no, he couldn’t believe it...
He had lived a moment of that night? Just touching what Jun had touched...
He smiled tiredly at the two bartenders to reassure them, then he asked Ryo a favour.
-Sure, anything...- murmured Notte.
-What did Jun do that night before he was killed?- he asked.
-What?-.
-Habitual gestures, steps...- he tried.
Notte thought about it, while Dark finished tidying up, not too far from them. Then Ryo took a bow of matches out of a drawer, and a pack of those long cigarettes that Kage usually smoked.
-He often struck one of these after the closing time...- said the bartender.
Nino took the pack in his hand immediately and fired a match.
As soon as the smoke filled his mouth, he had that vision again: the empty, dark club. Chairs and stools already put on the tables and the counter, only the light of some candles and a door opened at his back.
His back?
He’d never noticed there was something like that, behind the counter.
-Jun, you’d better go home- said Ryo, passing by.
The sight out of focus worsened with the darkness.
He smiled, sucking in another puff of smoke.
-You have to study... for the exam- said again Notte.
-Don’t worry, I’m perfectly in time- he heard himself answer, with that voice.
-Somebody left this here - said Dark from his right side, pointing at a full glass.
The content was colourless, it looked like simple water. But the glass didn’t look like the others they used at the club.
He felt himself taking it, studying it.
The he fell back to reality, sweating and lying down on the floor, with Jin’s arm under his head. -What the hell is going on???- asked the bartender, while Ryo was putting out in a ashtray the cigarette that had fell from his hand.
-I’m... reaching... the solution- he murmured, pulling himself to a sitting position.
He looked immediately at the wall and asked: -There is a door, there?-.
The two exchanged an astonished look.
-How do you know it?- asked Notte, helping him stand up.
-I didn’t know it...- he sighed.
They opened it and he entered a small room lightened by neon lights.
It was something like an utility room for the three bartenders: there were three lockers, a bench and a hat stand, with some shelves used as a cupboard.
-You want me to stay?- asked Ryo. He shook his head.
-Were you with Kage when he drank from that glass?- he asked.
He was by then certain of it. Jun had drunk from that glass. But he didn’t know anything else.
-No, I...- murmured Notte: -How do you know about that glass? What are you doing right now?- he exclaimed.
-I’m living it again, Ryo... I know it sounds insane, but I’m living it now, like I were him. Following his movements of that night...- he explained.
Notte lowered his gaze and left him alone in the room, half-closing the door.
He asked himself what Jun usually did in there.
He went near the locker with his name on it and touched it, but nothing happened. And, without the keys, he couldn’t open it. He ---
He sat in the corner near the lockers and took his head in his hands, bent on his legs.
And again, that brief sensation of dizziness.
He saw the same small room, with the same light, but his sight was even more opaque.
There wasn’t anyone and Kage’s locker was open.
He stood up and went near the locker’s door.
His heart skipped a beat when he saw the reflection of Jun’s face in the locker’s mirror. He was Kage, in that moment. He was what Jun could still remind Nino of himself, through himself. How he wanted to stretch out his hand towards that beautiful reflection and touch it one last time…
But Jun moved and looked at the bench: on the other extremity from which he had been sitting earlier there had been put the glass. He approached it and sat again, taking it in his hand.
Nino wanted to scream, to tell him not to do it, but he immediately felt an extraneous sensation hit him in his heart: fear... resignation? Jun drank.
And he came round, lying on the floor in the small room full of light.
Jun knew what would have happened after the drink.
And Nino himself, in that instant, in those emotions that weren’t his, but Kage’s... had saw it.
Slowly finding again the capacity of moving his own body, shaken by shivers and groans of pain, he stood up with effort, supporting himself by leaning on the wall.
He had to enter... but how? The Hell’s Spot was opening.
-And so... we have to enter?- repeated Sho, sitting at his chair.
Nino had been in the black-doored room since Arashi’s arriving and he had had the chance to look at its interior: it was like a very small flat. There was a desk with a armchair and two chairs in front of it, where Sho had had him sit. A bed against the wall on the right, two bookcases, a cupboard next to the door.
-How long do you stay in here?- Nino asked.
-Often entire days- Sho answered immediately: -It’s like a second apartment-.
He stood up while the journalist opened his personal computer on the desk. He reached the bed and lied on it, supine, gazing at the ceiling.
He didn’t have any vision, but imagined to. Jun.
How many times had he gazed at the ceiling of that room, like Nino was doing now? How many time did Kage feel confused, like Nino was in that moment?
-I couldn’t protect him... at least I want to avenge him- he said softly.
Sho nodded, his gaze fixed on the computer’s screen, the eyes illuminated by its light.
Who knows if Jun had loved Arashi as well...
Sho rang a bell and after a while Dark entered, with a bow.
-Can I help you?- asked the bartender.
-Is the green-doored room free?- asked Sho, voice toneless.
Nino waited for the answer, without breathing.
-Yes. It’s been two days since the owner last showed up at The Hell’s Spot- confirmed Dark calmly.
Nino sighed soundly, so much that Dark looked at him, surprised.
-Do you have the keys?- asked Arashi.
-No, I’m sorry- Jin murmured.
The bartender went away and the two left exchanged a quick glance.
-Will we succeed?- asked Nino, throwing himself again on the bed.
-I have an idea, but we’ll have to wait...- said Sho, returning to concentrate on his computer.
Nino closed his eyes.
He could wait as much as he wanted.
Sho woke him up, lightly shaking his shoulder, and made him stand up by offering him a cup of coffee.
-What time is it?- he asked, after swallowing the content of the cup.
-7 am. The club is closed, but those of the doors can get out, we have the keys. Come with me- the journalist explained.
They got out the black door and found themselves in the completely dark club. Sho found the lightswitch behind the counter, and for the first time Nino saw the entire hall perfectly illuminated. It was way spacious than what he had always thought. They approached the green door and Sho explained the plan to him:
-If touching things works for you, maybe with a little effort you’ll work out what happened just by putting your hand on the door- he said.
Nino thought about it, then nodded.
-I’ll try-.
He lifted his hand and, slowly, leaned it against the raw surface of the door.
He felt faint and fear caught him, one he had never felt. He panted and fell to the ground.
-KAZUNARI!- Sho screamed, supporting him.
Nino pulled himself together and let Sho help him stand up.
-I’ll have to try harder… I don’t know about the shit in here… but it looks like a bad place…- he joked, out of breath.
-Be careful- Sho said, still supporting him.
He leaned his hand on the door again, and this time he managed to brace himself for the shock. Once he found his breath again, he opened his blurry sight on a large, completely dark room. He was laying down a bed with cold sheets, panting from the effort of keeping his eyes open, and his force was at its minimum. He felt dazed, scared, completely defenceless.
There was someone else in that room, someone who was laughing.
-Are you scared?- asked that voice, distorted and horrible.
The man bent over him, revealing his face: he wore an evil smile.
He didn’t answer. He couldn’t move nor speak.
-Of course you are…- that man spoke again -Everybody is… you are the same, all of you… filthy and coward-.
He felt tears rolling down his cheeks and sobs meddling with his panting.
-Are you crying?- asked the man, feigning tenderness.
His sobs intensified.
-You won’t die now…- whispered that horrible person, caressing his lips with the tip of his fingers. He was still smiling.
The other hand - he still felt it in a painful and enraged memory - was slipping into his clothes, and underneath them.
He was about to faint, his mind clouded by the drugs.
-Before that, I want to have fun with you… you, her and the others-.
He came round, leaning against Sho’s chest, panting and crying.
-I saw… everything… I… felt everything…- he babbled, hiding his face in his hands.
Fear, rage, desperation and disgust were flowing in his veins.
-He killed them… Jun and Lilith- he murmured, before passing out again.
A long oblivion with no memories.
A/N: It's finally out!!! I know it's very late and I made you wait too long... we had problems with holiday programs/exams/school and I went to Poland those past 4 days. The next will be the last, then there is an epilogue and the extra chapter ^^