A treat for rockthecliche (Part 3 of 3)
Back to Part 2
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While the meeting with Kamenashi left Massu in good spirits initially, he soon found his mood doing a nosedive. After talking with the actor, Massu was somewhat sure that the man couldn't be the thief. It just didn't feel like Kamenashi could be the one who was stealing things all over town. Which was both good and bad, as he had now gone all the way through his list and cleared everyone. His first thought was that he must have missed someone but, no, he had checked that list several times over. There weren't any other people left to suspect. Massu frowned. Had he been too hasty in his decisions, too eager to rule people out that he had overlooked something vital?
He thought about going back to Ohkura and asking for his help again. He had said the thief was someone Massu knew; maybe there was a way to get more information. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to get in contact with the yakuza boss and didn't think the thugs working under him would take too kindly to Massu showing up unannounced. Ryo probably wouldn't give him the number either. Too bad there weren't any listings for All-Knowing, All-Seeing Crime Bosses in the phone book.
Though to be honest, Massu was also more than vaguely creeped out by Ohkura. Even thinking of that sleepy, knowing smile made goosebumps rise up and down his arms. He'd have to do this without further aid from Ohkura, even if he definitely could've used another push in the right direction.
It didn't help that Ryo would stubbornly refuse to talk about it any time Massu brought it up. Massu didn't really want to go to Ryo, anyway. Every time he thought of asking Ryo for his opinion, his sense of pride would declare that he should be able to figure this out himself. After all, it was his name that needed clearing. He should take responsibility.
The longer Massu struggled with the answer, the more sleep he started to lose and the less cheerful he became. No wonder Ryo had been so cranky while he was investigating. Frustration and sleep deprivation did not lend themselves to sunny dispositions.
Five days after he had finished the preliminary run through of the suspects list, Massu was jogging around the neighborhood at a quarter before four a.m. He had tried sleeping only to wake up after three hours, and on that little sleep, the world was looking increasingly dismal. Every little thing was annoying him. How hot it was in his apartment, the way his futon felt, even the sound of Yasu's normally soothing love songs was getting on his nerves. Hoping he could burn off his bad mood with a little physical exertion, Massu threw on an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt and went for a jog. Wasn't like he was sleeping anyway.
When he trotted back home some thirty minutes later, tired but no longer feeling animosity toward the world as a whole, he expected to see the lights on in the back of the bakery. But the store was just as dark as he'd left it. Koyama must have been running late. Massu sighed. The dough had to be started soon if they wanted to get the pastries out before they opened at six, which meant Massu would probably have to go do it himself as soon as he got out of the shower. So much for a quick nap before his shift started.
As he approached his front door, he could see traces of light creeping out from under the wood and out into the hallway. Massu frowned. He was sure he had turned off the lights before he had left for his run. Opening his door, Massu couldn't help the startled yelp that leaped from his throat. There were only a few things he expected to see upon returning home, but a half-awake Kato Shigeaki sitting at his living room table was not one of them. "Shige!"
Shige looked up from the disposable cup of coffee he'd been nursing. "Hey, sorry for barging in but you weren't answering your phone. Koyama called and said he's out sick and wondered if you and I couldn't cover for him."
"That's fine. Did Yasu let you in?"
"Eh? No." Shige looked confused, though the emotion quickly gave way to something a bit more nervous. "Um, you, uh, left the door open."
Massu threw the younger man a leery stare. That just wasn't possible. Massu was always careful to lock his door any time he left the house. The only other people who had keys to his apartment were Ryo and Yasu, and Ryo he had left for a district meeting in Osaka yesterday and wasn't due back until late tomorrow. If Yasu hadn't let Shige in then there was no way the door would be open.
If finding Shige sitting in his apartment was fishy, the way the young man was handling the situation only made Massu more suspicious. He was fidgeting, looking suddenly very uncomfortable as he gave a halting lecture on the dangers of leaving things unlocked. There was a criminal on the loose, after all. Massu just nodded along, too confused to really argue the point. Instead he apologized and threw Shige the keys for the store, telling him that he'd be down to help after he had a shower and changed.
As Massu was washing his hair, a series of thoughts popped into the forefront of his mind, the proverbial cartoon lightbulb flicking on above his head.
Maybe he'd been wrong when he brushed Shige off? What if he really was the thief? There hadn't been any signs of a break-in when Massu arrived home, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had locked that door before he left this morning. Normal people didn't just jimmy locks open and then lie about it.
Massu could feel the excitement running under his skin like electricity, one errant thought giving way to another. What if Shige was like him? As much as meeting Ohkura had freaked Massu out, it had also given him hope that there were more abnormal people out in the world, maybe even some that had the same condition as Massu. What if Shige was one of those people?
Naturally, his first thought was to test Shige's escape skills. Massu decided to use the Nishikido Method: creeping up on Shige and 'accidentally' locking him in places around the store and see if and how fast he escaped from his confines. The first few times resulted in Shige doing little more than pound on the door, grumble, and call out for help sporadically. Hearing Shige's voice grow increasingly desperate always made Massu feel bad and thus he'd let Shige out after fifteen minutes, telling him to stop being so clumsy or watch where he was going. For his part, Shige didn't look like he was buying that.
The fourth time, though, Shige got out.
A couple days had passed since the testing had begun and already Shige was getting wary of standing close to Massu. For the fourth installment of the test, Massu had asked Jin to be the one to do the shoving. Akanishi seemed skeptical at first, but once Massu had offered to take all the Kamenashi deliveries for the rest of the year, Jin had gladly shoved Shige into the supply closet at the back of the kitchen and locked the door behind him.
Massu tried to keep a close eye on the door but with Shige was in the closet, there was one less person on the floor, so Massu had to constantly leave the kitchen to browse the sales floor. He hadn't planned for Aiba and Yamashita making an impromptu field trip across the street to the friendly neighborhood bakery, gaggle of four year olds trailing behind them. By the time they had left, trail of children chomping on sugar cookie animals between them, the store was a mess and Shige had been in the closet for close to thirty minutes. Massu did his best to tidy the worst of it before excusing himself and running back to the kitchen, feeling like the worst friend in the world.
That was when he found Shige standing outside of the closet, running his fingers along the door as if to clean it. When Massu asked Shige what he was doing, the other man looked strangely guilty, rubbing his hands on the thighs of his jeans nervously. Once Shige had left, Massu went to inspect the door. It was still in one piece, showed no signs of being forced open or otherwise tampered with. The only things out of place were the smudges of fine white dust along the areas where Shige had been wiping his fingers. Massu swiped at one of the smudges, rubbing the substance between his forefinger and thumb. Too fine to be flour, and sniffing it confirmed his suspicion that it wasn't powdered sugar either. Chalk? But what would chalk be doing on the door?
Too many questions and not enough answers. Massu knew he had to take a more active role in the next test. Looking over the schedule, he noticed that Shige was closing on Sunday along with Junno and Ryo. Nighttime was when they did milk and butter inventory, and Ryo would be busy doing accounting and end of the week managerial duties. All it took was some careful planning, a little switching of assignments in the daily duty log, and an unannounced visit and Massu managed to lock both himself and Shige in the walk-in fridge.
Shige had started yelling at him almost immediately, but his indignation was overwhelmed by the dsire to get out. Massu watched silently as Shige struggled against the door, throwing his weight against a lock that Massu knew from experience wouldn't give. Not once did he look to the latch near the bottom right of the door (a latch Massu knew should be glowing like a red hot piece of metal.) In fact, he seemed to be entirely lost as to how to get out, groaning about how hanging out with Massu had been nothing but bad luck for him lately.
Curious, Massu shut his eyes and forced himself to think of unpleasant things. Bugs. Dogs. The Akita that lived next door to his family home. He had been experimenting with inducing his powers without the need of an external stimulus. So far it seemed to work best when he brought his own anxiety level up, usually by focusing on the things that he was afraid of. He felt the shift happen and opened his eyes, looking around to see if there wasn't something that was keeping Shige from seeing the way out.
The latch wasn't red.
Shige was.
Massu felt his throat go dry. That couldn't be right, there should more colors. How could Shige be the only way to get out of the fridge?
He forced himself to calm down, taking deep breaths to fight against the pulse he could hear hammering in his ears. If he wasn't careful his body would go on auto-pilot and then... well, he had no idea what he'd do to Shige.
Shige turned and stared at where Massu was breathing heavily. "Massu? You okay? You're not claustrophobic, are you?"
Massu shook his head, closing his eyes as he willed the world start to shift back to normal. Shige knew how to get out. There was no way around it. His powers had never led him astray before. Massu swallowed hard and slumped down against one of the milk crates. There was really only one thing to do now; he'd have to ask Shige straight out for the truth. "You know how to get out of here, don't you?"
"E-eh?"
"You know how to get out," Massu repeated, opening his eyes. The inside of the fridge had regained its boring silver and teal color. He looked up at his co-worker and friend, noting the way he was standing. Stock still and wide-eyed. "I know you do."
He watched Shige's Adam's apple bob as the man gulped nervously. "What makes you say that?"
With a sigh, Massu did his best to explain his power and how it worked. Spilling his secret was just as hard the second time, if not worse this go. Even if Shige did have some sort of super power, he also seemed to be cut from the same skeptical fabric as Ryo. Massu didn't want to alienate one of the few people in this city that he considered his friend. Then again, if he found out that Shige really was the thief, there probably wasn't much they could do to salvage their friendship after that discovery.
Surprisingly, Shige only had one question for Massu, and it was not one Massu had expected. "Why are you telling me about this?"
"Because I know you can get out of places, too." Massu looked up into Shige's face, searching for any clue that he was on the right trail. There was something there in his expression, an emotion Massu couldn't quite identify. Maybe sadness, maybe defeat.
"Shige," Massu said softly, "you do have a secret, don't you?"
There was a pause where the two men just stared at each other in the dim light of the fridge, and then Shige sighed, shoulders slumping. "Yeah, but it's not what you think it is. Promise you won't laugh."
Shige waited until Massu nodded before reaching down the collar of his shirt and pulling out the leather cord that hung around his neck. Hanging from the end of the cord was what looked to be a long stick of white chalk, hanging like a pendant. He took the chalk and held it up before them. "When I use this I can make a door."
"A door?"
"Yeah. I just have to draw one on a surface and I can get out of anywhere," Shige said, face taking on a soft pink tint. He looked down to the chalk in his hand, rolling it between his fingers. "I'm the only one who can I use it and if I erase the drawing the door disappears. Those were the conditions I was told when I was given it."
Massu wasn't sure how to feel. Part of him was disappointed that Shige didn't have the same strange skill set Massu had honed over the past five years. At the same time, he was ecstatic to find someone with a secret as strange as his own and craved more information. In a sense, they really weren't all that different; both Massu and Shige's powers were good for running away. "Who gave it to you?"
The blush tinting Shige's cheeks deepened from soft pink to red, color reaching all the way to the tips of his ears. He muttered something under his breath that Massu couldn't quite hear.
"A what?"
"I said 'a cat.'"
Massu blinked. "... a cat?"
Massu was gifted with another sigh, Shige sinking down the wall to crouch on the floor, looking wholly embarrassed. "A few years ago I saved a cat from a drainage ditch during a storm. When I got it on back land, it said something about repaying the favor. Next thing I knew, it was handing over this thing and telling me how to use it." Shige brought his hands to his face and rubbed at his eyes as if the motion would lessen his embarrassment. "Ugh, I feel like an idiot just saying that out loud."
It was clear that Shige was flustered, and it had probably taken a lot of courage to admit that. Laughing at his friend wouldn't be a very nice thing to do. All the same, Massu couldn't keep the amused tone from his voice. Shige's story was like some strange fable out of a children's book. "A talking cat gave you a magical piece of chalk?"
Shige groaned. "Shut up, Massu."
"Did it give you gold slippers, too?"
"Oh, like the story you told me is any more normal, Rainbow Man!"
"Fine, fine," Massu laughed. "So, can I see you use it?"
Shige scratched his cheek. eyes moving nervously to the fridge door. "What if someone sees us get out?"
"Believe me, Nishikido has seen weirder," Massu said with a smile, hoping the gesture would help convince his friend. Shige still looked unsure but he got to his feet all the same and pressed the chalk to the door.
The chalk didn't seem very magical as Shige dragged it across the door. There was no sparkle of pixie dust and the lines didn't glow as they were formed. It just looked like regular chalk. Only when Shige had started to draw the third of the four sides did Massu notice that the lines had started to take on depth, shadows forming beneath the white. The door was starting to form.
Shige had paused to draw what looked like little hinges on one side ("I have to draw a complete door," he said distractedly, "otherwise the whole chunk will fall out.") when they heard muffled voices yelling outside of the fridge. Panic splashed across Shige's face and he swiped his hand across the chalk, blurring the lines he'd worked so diligently on drawing. The chalk door lost its depth, returning to little more than a drawing just as the original door to the fridge was wrenched open.
A man neither had seen before was standing in the doorway, leering at the two of them. He couldn't have been much older than Massu, his hair pulled back in a bandanna and decked out in the baggy clothes that were the uniform of the average street gang thug. "Found 'em!"
With a grin, the man reached in and grabbed Shige by the upper arm, yanking him forward. Behind the thug, Massu could see another, similarly dressed man shoving Junno roughly by the shoulders, his co-worker's hands behind his back as if bound. Massu felt his stomach drop to his knees. They were being robbed.
Immediately Massu's fighting insticts kicked in and he pulled Shige back into the fridge. He reached behind him for a carton of milk and swung it forward, the container bursting as soon as it connected with the thug's head and spray milk everywhere. The man howled as Massu's foot connected with his stomach, pushing him out of the way and toward the thug that had been shoving Junno. Massu spared a glance over his shoulder to where Shige was sprawled out over the milk crates, wide-eyed, and then hopped out of the fridge, slamming the door shut behind him. He felt bad but he knew that if Shige was around, it would just throw his powers out of whack. His friend was safer this way anyway.
Massu turned back around just to catch a fist to the cheek, a third man having sneaked up behind him. Massu countered with a fist of his own, punching one man just as another jumped on his back. He was shifting his center of gravity, ready to flip the man over his shoulder and to the ground when he heard Ryo's voice roar out from behind him, "Massu, stop!"
Massu spun on his heel only to find Ryo being held captive by another man, this one dressed in a cheap suit and with large aviator sunglasses on despite it being nighttime. The man was holding a switchblade up in to Ryo's throat, tip of the blade pressing into the skin just below Ryo's left jaw. "Listen to him or I put a hole in this guy's neck."
Massu looked to Ryo's face, saw the barely restrained terror in his eyes, and forced himself to still. It was like slamming down on the breaks of a speeding car; he could feel his body trying to move without him, muscles spasming, screaming to be allowed to move and fight and run. Massu shut his eyes tight and focused on the impossible task of calming himself. He had to be calm for everyone else. This was one situation where fighting would not help.
He let his shoulders go limp, bringing his hands up in front of him to signal his surrender. Still, he was surprised when one of the thugs--the one he'd hit with the milk carton--came up and punched him in the stomach. Massu crumpled to the ground, struggling to keep his powers at bay as he felt himself being rolled onto his front. His arms were pulled back roughly followed shortly by the sensation of his wrists being bound together. In the background, he heard the fridge door being pulled open again, followed by Shige's alarmed voice demanding to know what was going on.
Massu kept his eyes closed, trying to focus on his breathing. Calm. He had to be calm.
Hands were placed on his shoulders this time, pulling him up roughly to sit on the floor. He felt more than saw another body scoot close to him, and realized it was Junno's voice that whispered to him. "Hey, you okay?"
Massu grunted and cracked en eye open. His face and stomach felt sore, but no one was dead or seriously injured. That had to count for something.
Once all four employees were found, bound, and forced onto the floor, the man in the cheap suit approached them. "I'm a busy man with places to be, and I'm sure none of you want this to drag on much longer either, so I'll cut to the chase." He crouched down in front of them, waving his knife from one hostage to the next like a dousing rod. "Which one of you is Kaleidoscope?"
Massu felt all the color drain from his face. One look at his friends' faces revealed similar shades of shock and disbelief panting their features. Ryo furrowed his brow, gulped. "Kaleidoscope? That guy's a myth."
The man chuckled and shook his head. "No, he's very real. My little friend here can prove it."
He dug into his coat pocket and held up a square black device, a screen with what looked to be a GPS display shining back at them. "Technology is really amazing, isn't it? Stuff keeps getting more advanced and smaller and smaller. Like tracking devices. You know you can fit it on something as small as a thumbtack? All you have to do is put it on something like a sneaker or a coat jacket and then wait and follow the little blinking trail."
Massu had to fight back another wave of anxiety. There had been a tack on his sneakers the other day. He'd noticed it after he'd come back from a job and thrown the thing in the bakery's dumpster. He had led the crooks right to them.
Ryo scoffed. "So? That doesn't mean it's us. There are apartments above the store. It's probably one of the guys living up there."
Massu shot Ryo a frown. Nishikido had just dragged a perfectly innocent man into a whole heap of trouble. Secretly, Massu hoped Yasu was out for the night.
The man raised an eyebrow, knife waggling in front of Ryo suspiciously. "Or you could be trying to save your own skin." Still, the man looked over his shoulder at two of his men and sent them off with a curt nod. "Check it out." Turning back to Ryo, he leaned forward and poked the end of Ryo's nose with the tip of the blade. "You sure seem to have a lot to say on the subject."
"I don't like seeing my employees beaten on," Ryo swallowed, his eyes on the knife hovering dangerously close to his face. The bravado he had been showing earlier was starting to falter.
Shige looked from the man to Ryo and back again, his thought process all but playing out in his face. "Why do you want him, anyway?"
Finally the man removed the knife from Ryo's face, pulling it up and playing with the folding mechanism. "Why wouldn't I? The guy's one of the most elite couriers in Tokyo. You control the flow of information, you control the city." The man smirked then, extending the blade to its full potential and running the business end across his palm, letting it glint dangerously under the fluorescent lights. "So which one of you is it? We're going to find out one way or another, so why not save yourselves the trouble?"
The four bakery workers looked to each other, a mixture of expressions. Junno just seemed confused while Shige looked anxious and Ryo angry. When Massu looked to his cohort with pleading eyes, Nishikido shot him a warning glare, as if the tell him to keep his mouth shut or else. Sometimes Massu hated that Ryo had learned to read him so well.
They were saved any more silent arguments when one of the thugs returned to the kitchen, all but bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Boss, the guy's right; the second story is apartments. One was empty but there's a guy in the other one. He's wearing real bright clothing."
The man in the cheap suit pursed his lips, looking from his underling to the four captives, thinking. The knife found its way to Ryo's face once more, blade pressed to his cheek this time. "You better hope that you're telling the truth, 'cause if I have to come back down here, I am not going to be happy." He gave Ryo a slap to the cheek and stood, walking out of the kitchen and telling his underling to stay posted by the door.
Once they were alone, Ryo deflated, releasing a shaky sigh. "Great job leading them back here, Massu."
Massu ignored the dig, more worried about what the dangerous man was going to do to his neighbor.
"Why'd you blame Yasu?"
"I had to buy time, don't give me that bullshit."
"They're going to hurt him. You shouldn't have gotten him involved."
"They won't have time to hurt anyone if you stop bitching and get us the hell out of here."
Massu bit down on his lip. There was nothing he could do with Shige sitting right next to him. "I can't."
"What the hell do you mean you can't?"
"I just... can't."
"Masuda," Ryo said, voice between a warning and a plea.
"He can't because I'm here."
Massu turned to Shige, shaking his head. "Shige, don't."
"Well it's true, isn't it? I throw your power out of whack."
"Will someone clue me in on what the hell you two are talking about?" Ryo snarled.
Shige locked eyes with Massu, giving him a crooked smile before sighing. "I can create doors wherever I want to."
Ryo looked from Shige to Massu, clearly skeptical. When he saw Massu nod, however, his lips thinned out into a tight frown. "How long have you known about this?"
"I just told him tonight," Shige said, punctuating the sentence with another sigh.
Ryo was quiet for a long moment, eventually locking eyes with Massu again. There was something grave about his expression, suspicious. "You think it might be him?"
Massu blinked, mouth falling open. In the ensuing chaos, Massu had completely forgotten that reason that he was testing Shige in the first place. He was so happy to find someone with similar powers that he had let the possibility of Shige being the thief slip his mind. Massu licked his lips. "I--"
"Think what's me?" Shige groused.
"The thief we've been chasing," Ryo said, turning his attention back to Shige. There was no humor in his expression, only a cold, piercing stare. "The Shinbashi Shadow."
The atmosphere of the room turned tense, all eyes on Shige. Kato looked flabbergasted, mouth opening and closing silently.
Junno started laughing.
"You think Shige's the thief?"
Shige's cheeks turned a magnificent color of red. "Who's saying I couldn't be? I mean," he hedged, turning his eyes to Ryo and then Massu, "I'm not, but I probably could be one if I really wanted to."
"No you can't," Junno laughed, eyes crinkling up until they had almost disappeared beneath his bangs. "You can't be the thief 'cause I'm the Shadow of Shinbashi."
Silence. Junno had a habit of killing conversation with a single bizarre comment, but generally his claims were a little less outrageous than this one. Ryo couldn't help but sneer. "If you're the Shadow then how come this is the first we've heard of this?
Junno shrugged. "Well, you never asked before."
"What?" Shige and Ryo said in unison.
Massu nodded. "Ah, okay."
"What!"
"That is not an acceptable answer!" Ryo glared at Massu before turning to Junno. "Taguchi, this isn't the time for one of your stupid jokes."
Junno laughed. "But I'm not joking. Really. See?" He started to move then, shoulders rising and falling and tongue peeking out from between his lips. Five seconds later he had both hands free from their bindings, holding them up and wiggling his fingers dramatically. "Tadaa.
The silence this time was deafening.
"You've been able to get out this whole time and you didn't say anything?" Ryo hissed through gritted teeth.
"I didn't want to disturb your argument. It was getting pretty intense."
"Taguchi, reminds me to beat the fuck out of you after this is all over."
Shige shook his head, "Whatever, just help us get free before those guys come back!"
Junno nodded and set to work, untying Massu's hands since he was the closest to him. Massu was honestly too shell-shocked to really think straight at the moment. Junno was the thief? Funny, dorky, pun lord Junno? A master thief? It just didn't add up. Massu looked over his shoulder at the man in question. "Where'd you learn how to... you know. Be a thief."
Junno shrugged, smiling. "Three months is a really long time to be laid out on a hospital bed, especially when your friends give you crime novels and books on lock picking. The physical therapy distracted me for a while but I wanted a real challenge after that. There!" Junno hopped back, the twine that had been holding Massu's hands together hanging freely from his fingers. With one person free, Junno immediately went to work on Shige, leaving Massu to go free Ryo in return.
"So you became a crook out of boredom?" Shige asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Pretty much!"
Massu blinked, remembering a conversation from several weeks past. Ryo seemed to as well, if his pained groan was any indication. "Masuda, if you say I told you so I will punch you."
Massu smiled and silently continued working on freeing Ryo. He'd been punched enough today already.
Next to him, Junno had already freed Shige's hands. The youngest brought them up, rubbing his wrists, and groaned. "I can't believe we sat here and listened to you boast about yourself."
"Hey, if it's a crime to love yourself then I don't want to be right," Junno said with a smirk.
"But you're already a criminal!"
"Shige, shut up," Ryo hissed, miming Shige's action with his own wrists the minute Massu finished undoing the twine. "You're not helping my headache."
Sensing another argument ready to start, Massu quickly cut into the conversation. There wasn't time for bickering. "So how're we gonna get out of here?"
Thankfully, the question seemed to bring everyone back to their senses. Ryo rubbed his chin. "We don't know how many guys that asshole brought with him, but I wager they're all grouped around the back door, since that's how they came in."
"Makes sense," Shige said with a nod. "The stairway to the second floor is there and the it'd draw too much attention if they were parked out front."
"Right. So probably the best way out is through the dining area. We can split into two groups, see how many guys there are, and then come at them from both sides."
Junno drummed his fingers against his chin. "Pincer attack, eh? I'm game."
Ryo rolled his eyes before looking in Massu's direction. "Massu?"
Massu nodded, face grim. "Let's do it."
The four of them stood and quickly made their way to the swinging door between the kitchen and dining area. Massu was at the front of the line, followed by Shige, then Ryo, with Junno bringing up the rear. Massu peeked through the porthole in the door and stopped dead in his tracks, not sure how to comprehend what he saw on the other side. Confused, he straightened from his creeping position and walked out the door, ignoring the way Shige and Ryo were hissing at him to get down.
Ohkura was sitting at one of the tables in the dining area, munching on a cream puff. Murakami was sitting across from him, and between them was Yasuda, looking none the worse for wear. When he Massu emerge from the kitchen, he hopped up from his chair, rushing over to him. "Massu! Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Massu said, distracted. "What about you?"
Yasu grinned. "A little shaken up, but otherwise okay. Your friends helped me out." He pointed over his shoulder at the two still sitting at the table. Ohkura smiled and waved.
By this point, the other three had emerged from the kitchen, looking just as confused as Massu was. Ryo took one look at the two yakuza and yelled, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Making an entrance?" Ohkura shrugged.
Murakami grinned. "Saving your ass." He jerked his thumb over to the corner, and for the first time, Massu noticed the pile of people lying on the ground, unconscious. Through the tangle of limbs he realized it was the thugs from earlier. Their leader was lying on top of them, mouth open comically and one of the lenses on his sunglasses shattered.
Murakami picked up the cup seated in front of him and sipped his coffee. "You're welcome, by the way."
Massu rubbed his head, still not sure just what was going on here. He was used to strange things happening, but even he had to admit that this was a little much. "Why would you want to save us?"
"'Cause he owed me one," Junno smiled broadly and walked over to Ohkura, placing his hands on the man's shoulders. "Took you long enough."
Ohkura pushed out his bottom lip, looking vaguely annoyed. "I'm a very busy person, you know."
"You two know each other?" Massu asked.
Junno flashed them a winning smile. "Best friends since middle school. We were on the drum line in band together."
"Hold on a second." Ryo said, placing a hand to his temple and shutting his eyes. "So when you said you didn't get a good look at the guy..."
"I lied," Ohkura singsonged, shooting them a peace sign and wiggling his fingers.
Shige, who had up to the point been entirely confused on the situation, turned to his lanky co-worker. "Wait, Junno. Did you know we were going to get held up tonight?"
"What can I say?" Junno smiled and threw his arm around Ohkura's shoulder. "Some of my friends are very chatty while drunk."
Ryo groaned and leaned against the pastry case, both hands covering his eyes. "Oh god, I need a drink."
Junno laughed and let go of his yakuza friend, walking up to Massu and leaning on his shoulder. "So I guess I can't do much looting now that you guys know my secret, and I like you too much to have Ohkura kill you." Off to the side, Massu could hear Ohkura mumbling something about not being Junno's personal army. Junno didn't seem to pay it any mind. "So what do you say we combine forces, huh? That courier job of yours sounds pretty sweet and you've gotta admit, we'd make a beautiful team."
Massu blinked, not sure what to say. He looked around him, trying to take in everything around him. Six unconscious crooks. One master thief. Two yakuza, one who could see the future and the other super-powered. A boy who could create doors. His exhausted co-conspirator and his oddball neighbor who, under the circumstances seemed almost boringly normal. All of them added up created the perfect equation for the strangest night he had yet lived through. Something about the group assembled before him told him that it wouldn't be the last.
Maybe Ryo had the right idea about that drink.
---
Jin sat down behind the counter with a huff. "I want a super power."
The lunch rush had come and gone and now the men of the bakery found themselves with little to do but wait for the office workers and school children to start filtering in on their way home.
Ryo snorted around the food in his mouth, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the front of the shop. "You already have the power where everything you eat goes straight to your thighs. You want the keys to the city or something?"
"Midget."
"Lazy fatass."
"Keebler Elf."
"Guys, guys," Junno said, waving his hands and smiling benevolently, "there's no need to fight. Can't we just agree that I'm awesome and be happy with that?"
Ryo threw his half-eaten croissant at Junno's head while Jin raised his right leg and shoved Junno hard in the ass with his foot.
Akanishi frowned, leaning back on the milk crate he was using as a seat. "Shut up, I'm still mad at you. How come you never introduced me to your yakuza buddy?"
"You two don't exactly run in the same social circles," Junno replied, rubbing the spot where Jin had kicked him.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just not sure if you're really, well... gangster enough."
Jin blinked blankly at Junno and raised his foot again. From the doorway, Ryo groaned and turned to Massu with a pained expression. "Can't we just turn him into the cops already?"
Junno laughed, hopping out of the way of Jin's foot and over to Massu, throwing an arm around his shoulder. "Hey, I'm a reformed man. Right, Massu?"
Massu smiled and nodded. As part of their agreement, Junno and Massu had spent the last few evenings replacing all the stolen objects still in Junno's possession. He had whined a little at the loss of the vintage ColecoVision console but was otherwise eager to go along with the plan. Massu had to admit, it was kind of fun running with someone else instead of away from everyone.
Ryo had been against including Junno into their business on principle, still mad at him for all the trouble he'd put them both through, but two people meant twice the income. Ryo grumbled that it also meant twice the work for him, but he didn't seem too against it. Especially since they were in the process of talking Shige into joining in on their business venture. He was incredibly gifted when it came to planning, maybe even better than Ryo, and with his own secret to hide, he didn't seem likely to go off running his mouth about the men of Kaleidoscope. And they could take him into the field if they really needed to.
Jin huffed again. "I'm surrounded by lame asses who are all more powerful than I am. What kind of fucked up world is this?"
Massu smiled and laughed, the answer seemingly obvious.
"It's Tokyo."
---
Everyone has secrets in Tokyo.
Five years and a lot of craziness later, he still thought it was a silly phrase. People had secrets everywhere, regardless of location, age, appearance, or any other determining facts people liked to use to categorize others with. The residents of large cities had no more to hide than those who grew up in tiny little farming communities or anywhere else. Secrets were everywhere just because people were everywhere.
But Massu had to admit, the secrets in Tokyo were definitely more exciting.
---
While the meeting with Kamenashi left Massu in good spirits initially, he soon found his mood doing a nosedive. After talking with the actor, Massu was somewhat sure that the man couldn't be the thief. It just didn't feel like Kamenashi could be the one who was stealing things all over town. Which was both good and bad, as he had now gone all the way through his list and cleared everyone. His first thought was that he must have missed someone but, no, he had checked that list several times over. There weren't any other people left to suspect. Massu frowned. Had he been too hasty in his decisions, too eager to rule people out that he had overlooked something vital?
He thought about going back to Ohkura and asking for his help again. He had said the thief was someone Massu knew; maybe there was a way to get more information. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to get in contact with the yakuza boss and didn't think the thugs working under him would take too kindly to Massu showing up unannounced. Ryo probably wouldn't give him the number either. Too bad there weren't any listings for All-Knowing, All-Seeing Crime Bosses in the phone book.
Though to be honest, Massu was also more than vaguely creeped out by Ohkura. Even thinking of that sleepy, knowing smile made goosebumps rise up and down his arms. He'd have to do this without further aid from Ohkura, even if he definitely could've used another push in the right direction.
It didn't help that Ryo would stubbornly refuse to talk about it any time Massu brought it up. Massu didn't really want to go to Ryo, anyway. Every time he thought of asking Ryo for his opinion, his sense of pride would declare that he should be able to figure this out himself. After all, it was his name that needed clearing. He should take responsibility.
The longer Massu struggled with the answer, the more sleep he started to lose and the less cheerful he became. No wonder Ryo had been so cranky while he was investigating. Frustration and sleep deprivation did not lend themselves to sunny dispositions.
Five days after he had finished the preliminary run through of the suspects list, Massu was jogging around the neighborhood at a quarter before four a.m. He had tried sleeping only to wake up after three hours, and on that little sleep, the world was looking increasingly dismal. Every little thing was annoying him. How hot it was in his apartment, the way his futon felt, even the sound of Yasu's normally soothing love songs was getting on his nerves. Hoping he could burn off his bad mood with a little physical exertion, Massu threw on an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt and went for a jog. Wasn't like he was sleeping anyway.
When he trotted back home some thirty minutes later, tired but no longer feeling animosity toward the world as a whole, he expected to see the lights on in the back of the bakery. But the store was just as dark as he'd left it. Koyama must have been running late. Massu sighed. The dough had to be started soon if they wanted to get the pastries out before they opened at six, which meant Massu would probably have to go do it himself as soon as he got out of the shower. So much for a quick nap before his shift started.
As he approached his front door, he could see traces of light creeping out from under the wood and out into the hallway. Massu frowned. He was sure he had turned off the lights before he had left for his run. Opening his door, Massu couldn't help the startled yelp that leaped from his throat. There were only a few things he expected to see upon returning home, but a half-awake Kato Shigeaki sitting at his living room table was not one of them. "Shige!"
Shige looked up from the disposable cup of coffee he'd been nursing. "Hey, sorry for barging in but you weren't answering your phone. Koyama called and said he's out sick and wondered if you and I couldn't cover for him."
"That's fine. Did Yasu let you in?"
"Eh? No." Shige looked confused, though the emotion quickly gave way to something a bit more nervous. "Um, you, uh, left the door open."
Massu threw the younger man a leery stare. That just wasn't possible. Massu was always careful to lock his door any time he left the house. The only other people who had keys to his apartment were Ryo and Yasu, and Ryo he had left for a district meeting in Osaka yesterday and wasn't due back until late tomorrow. If Yasu hadn't let Shige in then there was no way the door would be open.
If finding Shige sitting in his apartment was fishy, the way the young man was handling the situation only made Massu more suspicious. He was fidgeting, looking suddenly very uncomfortable as he gave a halting lecture on the dangers of leaving things unlocked. There was a criminal on the loose, after all. Massu just nodded along, too confused to really argue the point. Instead he apologized and threw Shige the keys for the store, telling him that he'd be down to help after he had a shower and changed.
As Massu was washing his hair, a series of thoughts popped into the forefront of his mind, the proverbial cartoon lightbulb flicking on above his head.
Maybe he'd been wrong when he brushed Shige off? What if he really was the thief? There hadn't been any signs of a break-in when Massu arrived home, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had locked that door before he left this morning. Normal people didn't just jimmy locks open and then lie about it.
Massu could feel the excitement running under his skin like electricity, one errant thought giving way to another. What if Shige was like him? As much as meeting Ohkura had freaked Massu out, it had also given him hope that there were more abnormal people out in the world, maybe even some that had the same condition as Massu. What if Shige was one of those people?
Naturally, his first thought was to test Shige's escape skills. Massu decided to use the Nishikido Method: creeping up on Shige and 'accidentally' locking him in places around the store and see if and how fast he escaped from his confines. The first few times resulted in Shige doing little more than pound on the door, grumble, and call out for help sporadically. Hearing Shige's voice grow increasingly desperate always made Massu feel bad and thus he'd let Shige out after fifteen minutes, telling him to stop being so clumsy or watch where he was going. For his part, Shige didn't look like he was buying that.
The fourth time, though, Shige got out.
A couple days had passed since the testing had begun and already Shige was getting wary of standing close to Massu. For the fourth installment of the test, Massu had asked Jin to be the one to do the shoving. Akanishi seemed skeptical at first, but once Massu had offered to take all the Kamenashi deliveries for the rest of the year, Jin had gladly shoved Shige into the supply closet at the back of the kitchen and locked the door behind him.
Massu tried to keep a close eye on the door but with Shige was in the closet, there was one less person on the floor, so Massu had to constantly leave the kitchen to browse the sales floor. He hadn't planned for Aiba and Yamashita making an impromptu field trip across the street to the friendly neighborhood bakery, gaggle of four year olds trailing behind them. By the time they had left, trail of children chomping on sugar cookie animals between them, the store was a mess and Shige had been in the closet for close to thirty minutes. Massu did his best to tidy the worst of it before excusing himself and running back to the kitchen, feeling like the worst friend in the world.
That was when he found Shige standing outside of the closet, running his fingers along the door as if to clean it. When Massu asked Shige what he was doing, the other man looked strangely guilty, rubbing his hands on the thighs of his jeans nervously. Once Shige had left, Massu went to inspect the door. It was still in one piece, showed no signs of being forced open or otherwise tampered with. The only things out of place were the smudges of fine white dust along the areas where Shige had been wiping his fingers. Massu swiped at one of the smudges, rubbing the substance between his forefinger and thumb. Too fine to be flour, and sniffing it confirmed his suspicion that it wasn't powdered sugar either. Chalk? But what would chalk be doing on the door?
Too many questions and not enough answers. Massu knew he had to take a more active role in the next test. Looking over the schedule, he noticed that Shige was closing on Sunday along with Junno and Ryo. Nighttime was when they did milk and butter inventory, and Ryo would be busy doing accounting and end of the week managerial duties. All it took was some careful planning, a little switching of assignments in the daily duty log, and an unannounced visit and Massu managed to lock both himself and Shige in the walk-in fridge.
Shige had started yelling at him almost immediately, but his indignation was overwhelmed by the dsire to get out. Massu watched silently as Shige struggled against the door, throwing his weight against a lock that Massu knew from experience wouldn't give. Not once did he look to the latch near the bottom right of the door (a latch Massu knew should be glowing like a red hot piece of metal.) In fact, he seemed to be entirely lost as to how to get out, groaning about how hanging out with Massu had been nothing but bad luck for him lately.
Curious, Massu shut his eyes and forced himself to think of unpleasant things. Bugs. Dogs. The Akita that lived next door to his family home. He had been experimenting with inducing his powers without the need of an external stimulus. So far it seemed to work best when he brought his own anxiety level up, usually by focusing on the things that he was afraid of. He felt the shift happen and opened his eyes, looking around to see if there wasn't something that was keeping Shige from seeing the way out.
The latch wasn't red.
Shige was.
Massu felt his throat go dry. That couldn't be right, there should more colors. How could Shige be the only way to get out of the fridge?
He forced himself to calm down, taking deep breaths to fight against the pulse he could hear hammering in his ears. If he wasn't careful his body would go on auto-pilot and then... well, he had no idea what he'd do to Shige.
Shige turned and stared at where Massu was breathing heavily. "Massu? You okay? You're not claustrophobic, are you?"
Massu shook his head, closing his eyes as he willed the world start to shift back to normal. Shige knew how to get out. There was no way around it. His powers had never led him astray before. Massu swallowed hard and slumped down against one of the milk crates. There was really only one thing to do now; he'd have to ask Shige straight out for the truth. "You know how to get out of here, don't you?"
"E-eh?"
"You know how to get out," Massu repeated, opening his eyes. The inside of the fridge had regained its boring silver and teal color. He looked up at his co-worker and friend, noting the way he was standing. Stock still and wide-eyed. "I know you do."
He watched Shige's Adam's apple bob as the man gulped nervously. "What makes you say that?"
With a sigh, Massu did his best to explain his power and how it worked. Spilling his secret was just as hard the second time, if not worse this go. Even if Shige did have some sort of super power, he also seemed to be cut from the same skeptical fabric as Ryo. Massu didn't want to alienate one of the few people in this city that he considered his friend. Then again, if he found out that Shige really was the thief, there probably wasn't much they could do to salvage their friendship after that discovery.
Surprisingly, Shige only had one question for Massu, and it was not one Massu had expected. "Why are you telling me about this?"
"Because I know you can get out of places, too." Massu looked up into Shige's face, searching for any clue that he was on the right trail. There was something there in his expression, an emotion Massu couldn't quite identify. Maybe sadness, maybe defeat.
"Shige," Massu said softly, "you do have a secret, don't you?"
There was a pause where the two men just stared at each other in the dim light of the fridge, and then Shige sighed, shoulders slumping. "Yeah, but it's not what you think it is. Promise you won't laugh."
Shige waited until Massu nodded before reaching down the collar of his shirt and pulling out the leather cord that hung around his neck. Hanging from the end of the cord was what looked to be a long stick of white chalk, hanging like a pendant. He took the chalk and held it up before them. "When I use this I can make a door."
"A door?"
"Yeah. I just have to draw one on a surface and I can get out of anywhere," Shige said, face taking on a soft pink tint. He looked down to the chalk in his hand, rolling it between his fingers. "I'm the only one who can I use it and if I erase the drawing the door disappears. Those were the conditions I was told when I was given it."
Massu wasn't sure how to feel. Part of him was disappointed that Shige didn't have the same strange skill set Massu had honed over the past five years. At the same time, he was ecstatic to find someone with a secret as strange as his own and craved more information. In a sense, they really weren't all that different; both Massu and Shige's powers were good for running away. "Who gave it to you?"
The blush tinting Shige's cheeks deepened from soft pink to red, color reaching all the way to the tips of his ears. He muttered something under his breath that Massu couldn't quite hear.
"A what?"
"I said 'a cat.'"
Massu blinked. "... a cat?"
Massu was gifted with another sigh, Shige sinking down the wall to crouch on the floor, looking wholly embarrassed. "A few years ago I saved a cat from a drainage ditch during a storm. When I got it on back land, it said something about repaying the favor. Next thing I knew, it was handing over this thing and telling me how to use it." Shige brought his hands to his face and rubbed at his eyes as if the motion would lessen his embarrassment. "Ugh, I feel like an idiot just saying that out loud."
It was clear that Shige was flustered, and it had probably taken a lot of courage to admit that. Laughing at his friend wouldn't be a very nice thing to do. All the same, Massu couldn't keep the amused tone from his voice. Shige's story was like some strange fable out of a children's book. "A talking cat gave you a magical piece of chalk?"
Shige groaned. "Shut up, Massu."
"Did it give you gold slippers, too?"
"Oh, like the story you told me is any more normal, Rainbow Man!"
"Fine, fine," Massu laughed. "So, can I see you use it?"
Shige scratched his cheek. eyes moving nervously to the fridge door. "What if someone sees us get out?"
"Believe me, Nishikido has seen weirder," Massu said with a smile, hoping the gesture would help convince his friend. Shige still looked unsure but he got to his feet all the same and pressed the chalk to the door.
The chalk didn't seem very magical as Shige dragged it across the door. There was no sparkle of pixie dust and the lines didn't glow as they were formed. It just looked like regular chalk. Only when Shige had started to draw the third of the four sides did Massu notice that the lines had started to take on depth, shadows forming beneath the white. The door was starting to form.
Shige had paused to draw what looked like little hinges on one side ("I have to draw a complete door," he said distractedly, "otherwise the whole chunk will fall out.") when they heard muffled voices yelling outside of the fridge. Panic splashed across Shige's face and he swiped his hand across the chalk, blurring the lines he'd worked so diligently on drawing. The chalk door lost its depth, returning to little more than a drawing just as the original door to the fridge was wrenched open.
A man neither had seen before was standing in the doorway, leering at the two of them. He couldn't have been much older than Massu, his hair pulled back in a bandanna and decked out in the baggy clothes that were the uniform of the average street gang thug. "Found 'em!"
With a grin, the man reached in and grabbed Shige by the upper arm, yanking him forward. Behind the thug, Massu could see another, similarly dressed man shoving Junno roughly by the shoulders, his co-worker's hands behind his back as if bound. Massu felt his stomach drop to his knees. They were being robbed.
Immediately Massu's fighting insticts kicked in and he pulled Shige back into the fridge. He reached behind him for a carton of milk and swung it forward, the container bursting as soon as it connected with the thug's head and spray milk everywhere. The man howled as Massu's foot connected with his stomach, pushing him out of the way and toward the thug that had been shoving Junno. Massu spared a glance over his shoulder to where Shige was sprawled out over the milk crates, wide-eyed, and then hopped out of the fridge, slamming the door shut behind him. He felt bad but he knew that if Shige was around, it would just throw his powers out of whack. His friend was safer this way anyway.
Massu turned back around just to catch a fist to the cheek, a third man having sneaked up behind him. Massu countered with a fist of his own, punching one man just as another jumped on his back. He was shifting his center of gravity, ready to flip the man over his shoulder and to the ground when he heard Ryo's voice roar out from behind him, "Massu, stop!"
Massu spun on his heel only to find Ryo being held captive by another man, this one dressed in a cheap suit and with large aviator sunglasses on despite it being nighttime. The man was holding a switchblade up in to Ryo's throat, tip of the blade pressing into the skin just below Ryo's left jaw. "Listen to him or I put a hole in this guy's neck."
Massu looked to Ryo's face, saw the barely restrained terror in his eyes, and forced himself to still. It was like slamming down on the breaks of a speeding car; he could feel his body trying to move without him, muscles spasming, screaming to be allowed to move and fight and run. Massu shut his eyes tight and focused on the impossible task of calming himself. He had to be calm for everyone else. This was one situation where fighting would not help.
He let his shoulders go limp, bringing his hands up in front of him to signal his surrender. Still, he was surprised when one of the thugs--the one he'd hit with the milk carton--came up and punched him in the stomach. Massu crumpled to the ground, struggling to keep his powers at bay as he felt himself being rolled onto his front. His arms were pulled back roughly followed shortly by the sensation of his wrists being bound together. In the background, he heard the fridge door being pulled open again, followed by Shige's alarmed voice demanding to know what was going on.
Massu kept his eyes closed, trying to focus on his breathing. Calm. He had to be calm.
Hands were placed on his shoulders this time, pulling him up roughly to sit on the floor. He felt more than saw another body scoot close to him, and realized it was Junno's voice that whispered to him. "Hey, you okay?"
Massu grunted and cracked en eye open. His face and stomach felt sore, but no one was dead or seriously injured. That had to count for something.
Once all four employees were found, bound, and forced onto the floor, the man in the cheap suit approached them. "I'm a busy man with places to be, and I'm sure none of you want this to drag on much longer either, so I'll cut to the chase." He crouched down in front of them, waving his knife from one hostage to the next like a dousing rod. "Which one of you is Kaleidoscope?"
Massu felt all the color drain from his face. One look at his friends' faces revealed similar shades of shock and disbelief panting their features. Ryo furrowed his brow, gulped. "Kaleidoscope? That guy's a myth."
The man chuckled and shook his head. "No, he's very real. My little friend here can prove it."
He dug into his coat pocket and held up a square black device, a screen with what looked to be a GPS display shining back at them. "Technology is really amazing, isn't it? Stuff keeps getting more advanced and smaller and smaller. Like tracking devices. You know you can fit it on something as small as a thumbtack? All you have to do is put it on something like a sneaker or a coat jacket and then wait and follow the little blinking trail."
Massu had to fight back another wave of anxiety. There had been a tack on his sneakers the other day. He'd noticed it after he'd come back from a job and thrown the thing in the bakery's dumpster. He had led the crooks right to them.
Ryo scoffed. "So? That doesn't mean it's us. There are apartments above the store. It's probably one of the guys living up there."
Massu shot Ryo a frown. Nishikido had just dragged a perfectly innocent man into a whole heap of trouble. Secretly, Massu hoped Yasu was out for the night.
The man raised an eyebrow, knife waggling in front of Ryo suspiciously. "Or you could be trying to save your own skin." Still, the man looked over his shoulder at two of his men and sent them off with a curt nod. "Check it out." Turning back to Ryo, he leaned forward and poked the end of Ryo's nose with the tip of the blade. "You sure seem to have a lot to say on the subject."
"I don't like seeing my employees beaten on," Ryo swallowed, his eyes on the knife hovering dangerously close to his face. The bravado he had been showing earlier was starting to falter.
Shige looked from the man to Ryo and back again, his thought process all but playing out in his face. "Why do you want him, anyway?"
Finally the man removed the knife from Ryo's face, pulling it up and playing with the folding mechanism. "Why wouldn't I? The guy's one of the most elite couriers in Tokyo. You control the flow of information, you control the city." The man smirked then, extending the blade to its full potential and running the business end across his palm, letting it glint dangerously under the fluorescent lights. "So which one of you is it? We're going to find out one way or another, so why not save yourselves the trouble?"
The four bakery workers looked to each other, a mixture of expressions. Junno just seemed confused while Shige looked anxious and Ryo angry. When Massu looked to his cohort with pleading eyes, Nishikido shot him a warning glare, as if the tell him to keep his mouth shut or else. Sometimes Massu hated that Ryo had learned to read him so well.
They were saved any more silent arguments when one of the thugs returned to the kitchen, all but bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Boss, the guy's right; the second story is apartments. One was empty but there's a guy in the other one. He's wearing real bright clothing."
The man in the cheap suit pursed his lips, looking from his underling to the four captives, thinking. The knife found its way to Ryo's face once more, blade pressed to his cheek this time. "You better hope that you're telling the truth, 'cause if I have to come back down here, I am not going to be happy." He gave Ryo a slap to the cheek and stood, walking out of the kitchen and telling his underling to stay posted by the door.
Once they were alone, Ryo deflated, releasing a shaky sigh. "Great job leading them back here, Massu."
Massu ignored the dig, more worried about what the dangerous man was going to do to his neighbor.
"Why'd you blame Yasu?"
"I had to buy time, don't give me that bullshit."
"They're going to hurt him. You shouldn't have gotten him involved."
"They won't have time to hurt anyone if you stop bitching and get us the hell out of here."
Massu bit down on his lip. There was nothing he could do with Shige sitting right next to him. "I can't."
"What the hell do you mean you can't?"
"I just... can't."
"Masuda," Ryo said, voice between a warning and a plea.
"He can't because I'm here."
Massu turned to Shige, shaking his head. "Shige, don't."
"Well it's true, isn't it? I throw your power out of whack."
"Will someone clue me in on what the hell you two are talking about?" Ryo snarled.
Shige locked eyes with Massu, giving him a crooked smile before sighing. "I can create doors wherever I want to."
Ryo looked from Shige to Massu, clearly skeptical. When he saw Massu nod, however, his lips thinned out into a tight frown. "How long have you known about this?"
"I just told him tonight," Shige said, punctuating the sentence with another sigh.
Ryo was quiet for a long moment, eventually locking eyes with Massu again. There was something grave about his expression, suspicious. "You think it might be him?"
Massu blinked, mouth falling open. In the ensuing chaos, Massu had completely forgotten that reason that he was testing Shige in the first place. He was so happy to find someone with similar powers that he had let the possibility of Shige being the thief slip his mind. Massu licked his lips. "I--"
"Think what's me?" Shige groused.
"The thief we've been chasing," Ryo said, turning his attention back to Shige. There was no humor in his expression, only a cold, piercing stare. "The Shinbashi Shadow."
The atmosphere of the room turned tense, all eyes on Shige. Kato looked flabbergasted, mouth opening and closing silently.
Junno started laughing.
"You think Shige's the thief?"
Shige's cheeks turned a magnificent color of red. "Who's saying I couldn't be? I mean," he hedged, turning his eyes to Ryo and then Massu, "I'm not, but I probably could be one if I really wanted to."
"No you can't," Junno laughed, eyes crinkling up until they had almost disappeared beneath his bangs. "You can't be the thief 'cause I'm the Shadow of Shinbashi."
Silence. Junno had a habit of killing conversation with a single bizarre comment, but generally his claims were a little less outrageous than this one. Ryo couldn't help but sneer. "If you're the Shadow then how come this is the first we've heard of this?
Junno shrugged. "Well, you never asked before."
"What?" Shige and Ryo said in unison.
Massu nodded. "Ah, okay."
"What!"
"That is not an acceptable answer!" Ryo glared at Massu before turning to Junno. "Taguchi, this isn't the time for one of your stupid jokes."
Junno laughed. "But I'm not joking. Really. See?" He started to move then, shoulders rising and falling and tongue peeking out from between his lips. Five seconds later he had both hands free from their bindings, holding them up and wiggling his fingers dramatically. "Tadaa.
The silence this time was deafening.
"You've been able to get out this whole time and you didn't say anything?" Ryo hissed through gritted teeth.
"I didn't want to disturb your argument. It was getting pretty intense."
"Taguchi, reminds me to beat the fuck out of you after this is all over."
Shige shook his head, "Whatever, just help us get free before those guys come back!"
Junno nodded and set to work, untying Massu's hands since he was the closest to him. Massu was honestly too shell-shocked to really think straight at the moment. Junno was the thief? Funny, dorky, pun lord Junno? A master thief? It just didn't add up. Massu looked over his shoulder at the man in question. "Where'd you learn how to... you know. Be a thief."
Junno shrugged, smiling. "Three months is a really long time to be laid out on a hospital bed, especially when your friends give you crime novels and books on lock picking. The physical therapy distracted me for a while but I wanted a real challenge after that. There!" Junno hopped back, the twine that had been holding Massu's hands together hanging freely from his fingers. With one person free, Junno immediately went to work on Shige, leaving Massu to go free Ryo in return.
"So you became a crook out of boredom?" Shige asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Pretty much!"
Massu blinked, remembering a conversation from several weeks past. Ryo seemed to as well, if his pained groan was any indication. "Masuda, if you say I told you so I will punch you."
Massu smiled and silently continued working on freeing Ryo. He'd been punched enough today already.
Next to him, Junno had already freed Shige's hands. The youngest brought them up, rubbing his wrists, and groaned. "I can't believe we sat here and listened to you boast about yourself."
"Hey, if it's a crime to love yourself then I don't want to be right," Junno said with a smirk.
"But you're already a criminal!"
"Shige, shut up," Ryo hissed, miming Shige's action with his own wrists the minute Massu finished undoing the twine. "You're not helping my headache."
Sensing another argument ready to start, Massu quickly cut into the conversation. There wasn't time for bickering. "So how're we gonna get out of here?"
Thankfully, the question seemed to bring everyone back to their senses. Ryo rubbed his chin. "We don't know how many guys that asshole brought with him, but I wager they're all grouped around the back door, since that's how they came in."
"Makes sense," Shige said with a nod. "The stairway to the second floor is there and the it'd draw too much attention if they were parked out front."
"Right. So probably the best way out is through the dining area. We can split into two groups, see how many guys there are, and then come at them from both sides."
Junno drummed his fingers against his chin. "Pincer attack, eh? I'm game."
Ryo rolled his eyes before looking in Massu's direction. "Massu?"
Massu nodded, face grim. "Let's do it."
The four of them stood and quickly made their way to the swinging door between the kitchen and dining area. Massu was at the front of the line, followed by Shige, then Ryo, with Junno bringing up the rear. Massu peeked through the porthole in the door and stopped dead in his tracks, not sure how to comprehend what he saw on the other side. Confused, he straightened from his creeping position and walked out the door, ignoring the way Shige and Ryo were hissing at him to get down.
Ohkura was sitting at one of the tables in the dining area, munching on a cream puff. Murakami was sitting across from him, and between them was Yasuda, looking none the worse for wear. When he Massu emerge from the kitchen, he hopped up from his chair, rushing over to him. "Massu! Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Massu said, distracted. "What about you?"
Yasu grinned. "A little shaken up, but otherwise okay. Your friends helped me out." He pointed over his shoulder at the two still sitting at the table. Ohkura smiled and waved.
By this point, the other three had emerged from the kitchen, looking just as confused as Massu was. Ryo took one look at the two yakuza and yelled, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Making an entrance?" Ohkura shrugged.
Murakami grinned. "Saving your ass." He jerked his thumb over to the corner, and for the first time, Massu noticed the pile of people lying on the ground, unconscious. Through the tangle of limbs he realized it was the thugs from earlier. Their leader was lying on top of them, mouth open comically and one of the lenses on his sunglasses shattered.
Murakami picked up the cup seated in front of him and sipped his coffee. "You're welcome, by the way."
Massu rubbed his head, still not sure just what was going on here. He was used to strange things happening, but even he had to admit that this was a little much. "Why would you want to save us?"
"'Cause he owed me one," Junno smiled broadly and walked over to Ohkura, placing his hands on the man's shoulders. "Took you long enough."
Ohkura pushed out his bottom lip, looking vaguely annoyed. "I'm a very busy person, you know."
"You two know each other?" Massu asked.
Junno flashed them a winning smile. "Best friends since middle school. We were on the drum line in band together."
"Hold on a second." Ryo said, placing a hand to his temple and shutting his eyes. "So when you said you didn't get a good look at the guy..."
"I lied," Ohkura singsonged, shooting them a peace sign and wiggling his fingers.
Shige, who had up to the point been entirely confused on the situation, turned to his lanky co-worker. "Wait, Junno. Did you know we were going to get held up tonight?"
"What can I say?" Junno smiled and threw his arm around Ohkura's shoulder. "Some of my friends are very chatty while drunk."
Ryo groaned and leaned against the pastry case, both hands covering his eyes. "Oh god, I need a drink."
Junno laughed and let go of his yakuza friend, walking up to Massu and leaning on his shoulder. "So I guess I can't do much looting now that you guys know my secret, and I like you too much to have Ohkura kill you." Off to the side, Massu could hear Ohkura mumbling something about not being Junno's personal army. Junno didn't seem to pay it any mind. "So what do you say we combine forces, huh? That courier job of yours sounds pretty sweet and you've gotta admit, we'd make a beautiful team."
Massu blinked, not sure what to say. He looked around him, trying to take in everything around him. Six unconscious crooks. One master thief. Two yakuza, one who could see the future and the other super-powered. A boy who could create doors. His exhausted co-conspirator and his oddball neighbor who, under the circumstances seemed almost boringly normal. All of them added up created the perfect equation for the strangest night he had yet lived through. Something about the group assembled before him told him that it wouldn't be the last.
Maybe Ryo had the right idea about that drink.
---
Jin sat down behind the counter with a huff. "I want a super power."
The lunch rush had come and gone and now the men of the bakery found themselves with little to do but wait for the office workers and school children to start filtering in on their way home.
Ryo snorted around the food in his mouth, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the front of the shop. "You already have the power where everything you eat goes straight to your thighs. You want the keys to the city or something?"
"Midget."
"Lazy fatass."
"Keebler Elf."
"Guys, guys," Junno said, waving his hands and smiling benevolently, "there's no need to fight. Can't we just agree that I'm awesome and be happy with that?"
Ryo threw his half-eaten croissant at Junno's head while Jin raised his right leg and shoved Junno hard in the ass with his foot.
Akanishi frowned, leaning back on the milk crate he was using as a seat. "Shut up, I'm still mad at you. How come you never introduced me to your yakuza buddy?"
"You two don't exactly run in the same social circles," Junno replied, rubbing the spot where Jin had kicked him.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just not sure if you're really, well... gangster enough."
Jin blinked blankly at Junno and raised his foot again. From the doorway, Ryo groaned and turned to Massu with a pained expression. "Can't we just turn him into the cops already?"
Junno laughed, hopping out of the way of Jin's foot and over to Massu, throwing an arm around his shoulder. "Hey, I'm a reformed man. Right, Massu?"
Massu smiled and nodded. As part of their agreement, Junno and Massu had spent the last few evenings replacing all the stolen objects still in Junno's possession. He had whined a little at the loss of the vintage ColecoVision console but was otherwise eager to go along with the plan. Massu had to admit, it was kind of fun running with someone else instead of away from everyone.
Ryo had been against including Junno into their business on principle, still mad at him for all the trouble he'd put them both through, but two people meant twice the income. Ryo grumbled that it also meant twice the work for him, but he didn't seem too against it. Especially since they were in the process of talking Shige into joining in on their business venture. He was incredibly gifted when it came to planning, maybe even better than Ryo, and with his own secret to hide, he didn't seem likely to go off running his mouth about the men of Kaleidoscope. And they could take him into the field if they really needed to.
Jin huffed again. "I'm surrounded by lame asses who are all more powerful than I am. What kind of fucked up world is this?"
Massu smiled and laughed, the answer seemingly obvious.
"It's Tokyo."
---
Everyone has secrets in Tokyo.
Five years and a lot of craziness later, he still thought it was a silly phrase. People had secrets everywhere, regardless of location, age, appearance, or any other determining facts people liked to use to categorize others with. The residents of large cities had no more to hide than those who grew up in tiny little farming communities or anywhere else. Secrets were everywhere just because people were everywhere.
But Massu had to admit, the secrets in Tokyo were definitely more exciting.