A treat for bubbly (Part 1 of 3)
A tasty treat for: bubby
Cooked up by: A friendly chef
Title: The Ninomiya Files - Case XoX: The Rainbow Thief
Characters/Groups: Arashi, Nagase Tomoya, Ikuta Toma, Oguri Shun and some other very nice cameos
Genre: fantasy/slice-of-life and a bit of crime
Rating: G (for swearing and for a corpse being a corpse)
Warnings: attempted and possibly failed humor, ghosts
Summary: Nino is the only professional wizard for hire in Tokyo and someone needs him to solve a case.
Author's Notes: Arashi in The Dresden Files AU. I think it’s not necessary to know “The Dresden Files” to follow the fic, as I created the universe from scratch here. It may feel more interesting if you don’t know the original story at all, or so I hope!
I give my heartfelt thanks to my (sadly anonymous) beta, for her kindness, a lot of suggestions and angel’s patience with my grammar :) And special thanks to mods, who were very understanding, helpful and simply awesome!
And I need to thank the recipient of my story too - I watched this series and even read the book thanks to your prompt. I truly enjoyed imagining the story in Arashi version. In the end I tried playing with the theme a little bit. But once I started, it was hard to keep the story in borders, it constantly tried to grow into a multi-chapter! I still hope you will like it, even if just a little.
The life of one Ninomiya Kazunari, single, age 2X, consisted of: games, his main home activity meant for relaxation; his friend, Aiba; his work at Burger King; and this one funny thing people usually called, not without sarcasm, “magic”.
If it came down to it, Nino would have preferred to never admit his abilities, but the work at Burger King didn't bring him the best money and magic happened to be the only thing he had really learned throughout his life. That had left him with no choice. Even recycling his old games for money didn’t bring in as much profit as it should have. Not that being a magician was all that profitable either. He rarely had any jobs at all, but sometimes his luck had a better day and the extra money was impossible to resist.
Usually people related his other work with things like shamanism, magic tricks, divination or love potions. Not that he minded it, it wasn’t his place to judge. He took any job, as long as he got paid.
It was the strangest thing when over time he turned into a sort of special detective. It was the police who asked for his help first and soon they were the ones who sought his services the most often.
As he hadn’t listed his number in the phonebook, being too embarrassed to be that open about his job. He instead put some ads on the internet under the pseudonym of 2n and kept no office, living in small apartment he shared with his friend Aiba. The police usually would find him at work, in the person of a certain stiff police officer who apparently thought it funny to joke in what Nino assumed was supposed to be American style when placing his orders. And to think he graduated from Keio, Nino rolled his eyes, as the officer under discussion entered the shop.
"Yo, Burger Magician. Give me one extra big XXL hamburger today", the cop said with a somewhat idiotic yet charming smile.
"Yo, Sho-chan. I can pile three XXL burgers into one for you, as long as you pay extra too."
"Hey, shouldn’t your friend receive a better price?", Sho most definitely pouted.
"Yes, exactly. A better price means a higher price, welcome to capitalism! I have to earn a living for myself. Now excuse us, Sho-chan, but we're actually working and you're jamming the line and there’s a lady waiting after you." Nino said with a very business-like smile.
"There is no lady here..." Sho said as he checked behind him, a quizzical expression taking over his pout.
"No matter, there will be one in a minute, and it’s just Aiba and I working today, so don’t make us work harder than we already have to."
"Oh, you can sense someone coming?"
Nino rolled his eyes, "No, I'm just trying to make you go away."
"That's not nice of you. And I came all the way here, with a job for you." Sho complained, but did indeed move out of the way, in case someone came. He was a gentleman like that, Nino knew, even without the need to look him in the eyes.
And eyes, as mages know, are the mirror of the soul.
"It's probably another corpse, huh?”
"Well, aren't you a magician", Sho playfully smiled and Nino only responded with indifferent 'ha ha'.
“You only come to me with such things..."
"True. There’s this weird case going on and they want to bring the FBI in on us to take over. And I want to avoid that no matter what... I thought that with your abilities-"
"Be quiet, Aiba is here" Nino silenced him before he went into any details.
"Ah...", Sho tried his best to be sneaky as he glanced at Aiba. His target was, for now, happily serving other customers, so Sho switched to a whisper and crowded closer to Nino's side, or as close as he could considering there was a counter between them.
"It's okay, he doesn't seem to be able to hear us. And he's rather busy, while you have no customers at all.” Sho mused. “Are you perhaps suffering from, you know… an unpopular phase?" he leaned even more towards Nino, wearing a witty expression.
"Guess whose fault that is", Nino declared, taking a huge step away.
"Anyway, Nino, I need your help-"
“Sho-san, you’ll fall over the counter, and land right on your head, if you lean any further over.”
“It doesn’t matter, if this will make you serious and help me…”
"No."
"Why ‘no’??" Sho asked, a little bit too loud, catching Aiba's attention, but at least he had stopped hanging off the counter in that ridiculous way.
"Because I can’t really help with that kind of stuff? And they don't really find my help useful as well, right? Besides, I still haven’t received my pay for the last two cases I "helped" you with." Nino said, looking randomly at the fries. "I'm not a charity organization, mind you."
"But you know you will receive it" Sho exclaimed, obviously feeling the hurry (which he didn’t feel a minute ago when he teased him, so Nino could hardly believe it was a big thing). "This is important, Nino. I can't let too many people see this body."
"Then it’s for the better if I don't help this time. At least not until I receive my pay."
"But this body, it doesn't decompose."
Nino looked at him at last, which Sho took as a good sign and continued.
“It had probably been lying in the park for about a week before it was found. A park, of all places-” Sho’s mumbled while taking a pause for breath, how did he managed to do both at once, Nino had no idea. One was sure, the troubled cop didn’t waste any second. “The body’s temperature has only dropped minimally, and it remains perfectly preserved… What should I even write in the report? There has been no cause of death found. The body looks like the person died seconds ago no matter how many hours pass..."
"Isn't it because people eat too many preservatives nowadays?” Nino joked. “Their skin is probably already nearly plastic"
"I'm serious, Nino."
Nino sighed. "Fine. Fine, I’ll help. But wait ‘til my break"
Sho tried to protest, but Nino cut him off before he could say anything.
"This is a job that actually pays me regular money, I won't skip it, so don't even try." Nino then turned around and almost bumped into Aiba, who had finally come over to their side, unnoticed by the other two.
"I had to serve all your customers while you were chitchatting happily.” Aiba pointed out, not without a tiny but unserious grudge. “Hey, Sho-chan!"
"Hey, Aiba-chan" Sho smiled to him.
"So, if Sho-chan is here, does it mean that Nino’s going? You know, for an investigation?" Aiba wriggled his eyebrows like someone’s sharing a secret. He always got so enthusiastic over these things. "Is Nino needed to help identify a rare game or something? Because that's what he's a master at. Playing games, that is. That, and destroying electronic devices," Aiba giggled. "So what is it this time, a murder? Using a remote control? How is Nino actually helping you?"
"Well, that's... something I can't tell you." Sho said apologetically, because he actually liked Aiba and his enthusiasm.
"Why? Aren't we friends?"
"But that's my job..."
"Nino! Why are the police wanting you to help them??" When Aiba understood he won’t receive any information from Sho he turned to Nino.
"Let's just say I provide a different point-of-view."
"You always say that..."
"Anyway, Aiba, customers are waiting. Let's not get fired of our jobs, ok?", Nino added as he tried to push Aiba away. Aiba frowned at his obvious attempt.
"Fine, so will you take me with you?" He had finally asked The Question.
"Sorry, Aiba." It had always been coming to this point.
Aiba grew silent before returning to his own position and saying a very sad “bye” to Sho. The police officer watched him walk away, unlike Nino.
"You still haven't told him?" He asked quietly.
"No, and I don't think I will." Nino said and put all of his efforts into playing with the straws on the counter.
Sho looked at Nino this time and after some consideration, finally said. "I think it’s kind of unfair to keep him completely in the dark about it, regardless of your reasons..."
"I know." Nino sighed.
Sho smiled a little then and decided to give up on the issue, like always, and after mumbling something like “good” and “see you later” he was gone.
He was right though. And Nino knew that Aiba was jealous and feeling left out because Nino never told him anything about these other jobs and rarely ever let him tag along either.
"You're always talking when I'm not around or I'm busy. That's hardly fair" Aiba complained bitterly from his side of their counter, not bothering to spare Nino a look, but saying it loudly enough to make sure that his friend heard him. Which looked utterly weird, when a moment later he send a sunny smile to his oblivious customer, handing over her order with a cheerful “please come again”.
Nino sighed at his childish remarks. The issue would have to wait anyway since they were both at work. He could only hope that Aiba would forget it before they reached their break, but he knew that it was rather unlikely. Sure, Aiba tended to be forgetful and a big airhead most of the time, but not when he got persistent about something.
All he could do was to think of how to sneak out without Aiba noticing him. It was the safest method.
It was for his good, too. They just really needed this money.
...Provided the said money would even reach his hand before Christmas, that is. If he were lucky, then maybe he would receive it by the end of this year, and if he was less lucky then maybe for another Christmas. He really didn’t care about bureaucracy, but it liked getting in his way.
And then to make things worse, Sho had just sent him an email. While he wondered what it can be, Nino pulled out his phone to find a very short message:
"Bring me my extra large burger, ok <3 Will see you at Ueno Park"
...At the least, he could pay for his own food. There was no way Nino was going to bring him that for free. He didn't even bother replying. Not his burger, not his business. And on top of it all he had to actually walk by foot to this park...Wait, Nino realized, he couldn’t reach it from here by foot.
He looked once more at the message.
Ueno? Of all places, someone chose such a popular, big national spot?...No wonder Sho was sweating so much. This would surely become a big case.
***
The crime scene truly looked bizarre. As it was autumn, everything was covered in multi-colored leaves; mostly yellow and red, sometimes orange-ish, and they all covered the spot with the body as well.
The body looked peaceful, in spite of what it was wearing. Clothes of violet, green and blue combined with the leaves around, it made a rather colorful mess.
"He's really dead? " asked the person on Nino’s right, peeking at the photos in their hands, and Sho nodded. "He doesn't look that way at all..."
Nino had to admit his friend was right.
The dead man was lying covered in splash of colors, with a peaceful smile on his face. Nino had no idea why, but he found it to be so creepy. The body’s skin was a pretty color and… that was all he could say about it. Sho has said there was no smell, no Rigor Mortis. But Nino had to believe him on the word only, he couldn’t confirm that from just looking at photographs and then projecting the image in his mind on the now empty spot before his eyes.
"Are you sure it's not the work of some drugs? Or poison?" Nino asked, staring back at the photos.
"Autopsy didn't show anything yet" Sho said, handing over some of the photos to their companion too, which Nino noticed. “But based off of the on-scene examination it doesn’t look like it was. And if it is, it’s something we’ve never seen before.”
"Don't give them to him, he's not an investigator!"
"But since he's already here-" Sho said as if it was a very plausible explanation.
Nino shook his head, proving him that such reason wasn’t valid. “Explain something to me, Sho-san. Why can’t I see the body with my own eyes? Why all the rush earlier if all I can see now is the empty spot on the ground with only white stripes forming the shape of the body” Nino said, pointing to the ground covered in said stripes and leaves to emphasize his complain. “And why all you can show me are these photos? Do you think I can be a truly sufficient help when all I can do is to imagine the body’s state? I’m not a damn magician!”
“You’re not? And I thought that’s your job” Sho said, even having the nerve to sound innocent.
“Sure it is, but magic tricks won’t solve this for you. I actually need something to work with” Nino’s tone turned sarcastic. As if Sho didn’t know he needed to work with actual body to have any results. "You don't take your job too seriously recently, Sho-san!"
"I couldn’t help it, they hurried me to remove the body as fast as possible. You shouldn’t have waited till your break!” now Sho threw the accusation right back at him. “It’s already past noon, of course the body couldn’t lay here all this time. And now, when it’s at the station, they won’t let you in without a good reason. I doubt I can sneak you in again.”
“You still shouldn’t be giving Aiba the photos!” Nino didn’t give in.
“Then you shouldn't have brought him here." the police officer said, feeling slightly offended.
"Yeah, why did I ever let him talk me into taking him along?", Nino wondered not for the first time for the past hour, throwing a glance at the third person in their little, unofficial investigation unit.
"Because I asked you very, very kindly?" Aiba answered with a smile, but all his attention was on the photographs in his hands.
Sure, it was very kindly, Nino smirked as he remembered the way Aiba barricaded the way to the exit at Burger King just when the break started, so Nino couldn’t sneak out.
It wasn’t exactly the first time his friend attempted something like that, he kept doing many things like that, just for Nino to take him along. But this time instead of threatening Nino with changing locks (which never worked since Nino could open any lock without problems) or selling all his games ("...and any other thing I will find on my way", like Nino remembered his friend phrasing), Aiba simply said he will not pay the electricity bill this month. And he hit the bull’s-eye with that because Nino couldn't even pay his own half of the rent in the nearest time.
It wasn't actually the first time Aiba had come up with this plan but it unfortunately worked.
Especially because last time Aiba really had kept his word. Nino had thought his best friend wouldn’t last even two days. How wrong he had been. Aiba not only lasted those two days, but even two more. When it reached a week Nino gave up first. It probably wouldn't be a problem, if not for Aiba being around him most hours of the day. He could light up his room with magic if not for his constant presence, and he wouldn't have to shower in the company of candlelight or eat cold food. But he had promised himself to never use his magic in front of Aiba, so it wasn’t an option.
Not even the possibility of Aiba catching cold was enough to make him give up. No, he actually thought it could serve him good once in a while. It was actually when Aiba started to crawl inside his bed and cuddled to him that Nino finally broke. Not that he would admit out loud that it was the real reason why he forfeited.
"You threatened me, Aiba. That's not how you should ask for something." Nino clarified, displeased.
"Well, I possibly spend too much time with you. You do it all the time so it must have rubbed off on me." his friend replied cheekily.
"Remind me why are we friends?" Nino rolled his eyes for the third time this day.
"Because you think I'm a good influence on you" he heard a very confident answer.
"I think that reason is outdated already," Nino smirked.
"Any thoughts on this, Aiba-chan?" Suddenly Sho cut off their discussion, turning to his right to face Aiba, the smile he had a few moments earlier was gone. He was back into business mode.
"You know, Sho-san, you don't need to be so kind to Aiba," said Nino, though what he truly meant, was that he was thankful for that. Even if it was weird for a police officer to go on with involving a regular person, who had no connection to the case or anything, with the important stuff. But Sakurai Sho was sometimes sweet like that.
Nino took that time when his companions were preoccupied with each other, to look around the place of the supposed murder. He pictured the man's body from the photos in this particular spot outlined with white, imagining leaves on him. Nothing came to his mind so far.
"I... think I might have seen him somewhere before!" Aiba suddenly exclaimed.
"Really? That might be helpful."
"Who is he, Sho-san?"
"Murakami Shingo, age-", but he didn’t have the chance to finish.
"Yes! That's him! One of the K8 guys!"
Nino didn't know them. But at least Sho kept Aiba busy. He was starting to think he wouldn’t be able to do anything with Aiba watching for every little gesture Nino was going to make, but now it seemed he might be able to do a few things.
He took a long branch from the ground, wrote some spell on it with his forefinger and scanned the ground.
Still nothing.
No signs of "night" creatures. No signs of blood, magical potions, a spell's leftover energy hanging in the air. The place was as normal as it could only be in these circumstances.
He then drew with the same branch a circle around on the ground, to see if it will activate any kind of hidden protection or possibly a cut off part of space, making it a small alternative dimension. It was just a sudden thought that if nothing was visible, maybe some kind of barrier was created to hide or use the rest of death symptoms, and, maybe, other victims or things that were worth such big efforts.
But he couldn’t detect anything.
Nino sighed. He had run out of the ideas.
If any of those showed some leftovers of used magic, it would have to be a mage's doing. If the victim had the visible signs of being bitten by vampire or assaulted by werewolf, he would have know it right away, but there were no signs at all on the body. No bites, no scratches, no odd fur. It couldn’t be a skin walker either. The used bodies were never left in anything close to usable state.
He would have said it's a regular murder case, with actual very human perpetrator responsible if not for the very perplexing state of the body itself. It could be related but didn't have to. At first glance, it was for sure a death not caused by magical means. There were no magical circles, no possessions, no body marks, and again - no magic leftovers.
If someone tries to kill something (not to say, a human) with magic he can do so only using the dark kind of magic. And dark magic, as a negative power, leaves traces behind and usually requires special ceremonies. Dark magic needs a lot of energy, which is measured in quite imprecise amounts. The exchange can't be perfectly set; and sometimes dark magic could consume more energy than the spell alone required. If the caster did not prepare enough energy beforehand, the magic would draw off the caster himself, in almost all cases causing his death - exactly in 9999 for 10000 cases it would end with that result. How did Nino knew the exact numbers and why were they so strange? Well, his teacher told him in this exact manner. Though Nino didn’t believe him too blindly on that data.
So since his magic methods had failed, Nino decided to do it traditional way: to go around and investigate the place.
"Hey, don’t you think those leaves may be the murder weapon?", Aiba suddenly got an idea. "Like, maybe they're poisoned and somehow their closeness to the body slowed the death process?"
Oh, Aiba was playing a detective, Nino smiled as he did another walk around the place; at the same time wiping off the traces of the circle with his shoes.
"No, Aiba-chan, that is not likely. Because then we would have been exposed to that poison as well" Sho explained to Aiba, but observed Nino’s actions from the corner of his eye. He just hoped no one else will pay attention to that poorly hidden circle.
"Maybe you were exposed to that, but in smaller amount?" Aiba asked again.
"Maybe, but we're already investigating the leaves as well. So far, they're just your usual dried leaves."
Nino had to respect Sho's patience at this point, really.
"Hey, Sho-san, did you find any objects near the body?" he asked, even if just to rescue Sho from Aiba's enthusiasm. Though to tell the truth, he didn't have to rescue anyone. Sakurai often enjoyed it more than a rational person should.
"Other than leaves on the photos I showed you? None at all." he said, as he finally crouched beside Nino. "Searching through the leaves?" he asked to which he received Nino's nod. He started to help as well. And handed both Nino and Aiba sets of disposable gloves. They didn’t want to contaminate the scene in case they did find something new.
"Yay, we really are playing detectives! Did you take the sample of dirt as well?" Aiba shot his questions again at the same time he splashed his gloved hands right into the center of one of the leaf piles, obviously helping too, or possibly playing around. It was all the same in Aiba’s case.
"Uh, yeah..."
Nino snickered at both of them this time. At overcautious Sho, who in odd cases investigated everything he could put his eyes on, which proved he was sometimes far from being a model, rational officer. But he couldn’t blame him in this situation. He still wondered why Sho had been put in that drown-them-in-the-mud division of weird cases. He needed to get him drunk one day to confess... but then, this police officer had this habit to just fall asleep when drunk.
Besides, Nino shared his fate. He had to do exactly the same right now - check anything he can lay his eyes on, and even those things he can't lay his eyes on at all. Investigations were always partly blind games.
Then he saw it. Something white in the grass, buried deep under pile of leaves, abandoned. And that was when he had some leaves shoved under his shirt.
"AIBA!” Nino almost jumped from the sensation. "Are we in kindergarten really?"
"No, sadly!" said his friend and blew a leaf up in Sho's direction. It didn't even reach half the way, instead landing on Nino's shoe, as he was taking the dirty leaves off himself.
No, he stopped his struggle, this was more important.
He reached for the white thing that turned out to be a short piece of wax. It was part of a candle. Soon he found the other part of it.
"What is it? Something magical?" Aiba cheered from his side, when Nino handed the candle to Sho. They looked each other in the eyes.
It perhaps was related to some magic after all.
He had a lot of things to do, he thought as he got up and walked away, still trying to get the rest of the leaves out of his shirt, as Aiba followed.
"Wait, where are you going, Nino?"
"Home. Or something."
"Why? What's with investigation?"
"I can't do anything, don't you remember? That's all. So I'm going home"
"But...", Aiba stopped in mid-sentence, and pursed his lips together. "Is that candle important?" he asked instead. "Is it, you know, a magical item or something?"
"Who knows? I'm not an expert at candles." he said and shrugged.
Aiba was as puzzled as he could get, and not understanding much, finally shrugged too and waved to Sho as he walked away with Nino.
***
Despite of what he had told Aiba, Nino was actually investigating this further, starting from the next day. And Aiba was too busy that day to even notice.
Nino was somewhat knowledgeable about candles as well. Not an expert, or anything close to that, but he actually owned a lot of them and knew which of them could be used for which rituals.
Well, more or less. He still knew more than a random person.
The point was though, that it was just a single candle. It didn't even look used. It was white and made from bee wax, not the best choice for a black magic ritual. And to top it all, it was broken in half.
It really didn't tell him much.
He suspected it could be used for some ritual, but in that case there would be a need for at least as many of them as to form a circle. So, as soon as he could he emailed Sho to investigate the place of murder again - in search of more possible wax. Maybe that single candle got into a pile by pure coincidence. Maybe it got broken before the ritual and so, didn’t end up used.
But if someone had used candles, there might be still some traces of wax present there.
By the occasion, because sending two messages in one email was cheaper, he had declared he was going to investigate this one too - and that he wanted to be paid for his work by the hour, and asap. He didn't really need to tell it to Sho though. He knew it the moment Nino walked away from the spot in Ueno Park. They hadn’t know each other since yesterday.
There was a second possibility to explain the presence of the broken candle, but it was a bit of impossible, even to him. He decided to ask his teacher later. And so, he pushed that possibility out of his mind for a while. Now he was going by his instinct. Drugs, his guts were telling him. There must be some drugs involved. Possibly, those drugs that immortals liked playing with.
The first place he decided he had to visit was Oguri's bar. He needed to meet Nagase and that was the most neutral place both of them frequented.
He didn't even spare the name of the bar a single glance before going in. If it depended on Nino, he thought it a stupid enough name to avoid the place altogether, though he didn't mind it that much.
Originally, the name of the place had been "At Ogurin’s", but with time it became "I am I", thanks to some of the regular guests. Nino didn't know the exact story and he wasn't sure he wanted to.
Still, he liked the bar, as well as its airhead bartender and owner. Oguri might be a bit silly and easygoing, but that was exactly why his bar was nice. All by itself it wasn’t a significant place and was rather small, with some tables centered around the counter. It wasn’t the interior that was the special thing about this place, but the people who frequented it, because everyone gathering here was from Nino's “side of power”. For some reason other people didn’t visit this place at all. Maybe it was the fault of the name, actually.
"Hey." he said and went straight to the long counter, being the centre of the whole bar.
"Oh, hey, Nino. Long time no see. Did you come to eat again? Or to do some more card tricks you're famous for?"
"No, not really,." he said, looking around the place. Oh, there he was. Nagase was sitting in his usual corner along with his buddies. And actually someone else was there, unexpectedly. Nino could say that he got lucky, that someone made it possible by his own presence only for Nino to come over.
"Hey, Toma."
The said man glanced in his direction and smiled, surprised. And welcoming, which was the most important here.
"Nino! You came here today too? What a coincidence, let's sit together!"
"In your case it's not a coincidence, you're here every evening," came a bossy answer from his table companion, although Toma only grinned.
"Yeah, I'm keeping you company while you've been heartbroken every few days,"
"Being in love isn't all easy!" Nagase insisted and then finally looked at Nino. "You're Ninomiya, right?"
"Right. I want to ask you something,", said Nino, neither moved by his supposed fame, nor sitting down. Instead, he gathered his courage and shot the question.
"They found a dead body in the eastern side of Ueno Park. Do you by chance know something about it?"
"Ha?" Nagase turned all of his attention to Nino, measuring him with his eyes up and down. "Are you nuts?"
"The body looks unharmed, and it isn’t decomposing. Don't some of your drugs promise endless youth?"
"WHAT! You're suspecting me of something??" Nagase suddenly got up, almost causing the table to fall over and good thing Toma was in time to catch it before it mangled him to the wall. "I thought you were wiser Ninomiya!"
Yeah, Nino had to admit it, he had thought that as well. If he was wiser, he wouldn't even try to talk to the main drug dealer of the whole magical community.
"But there are constant rumors about you expanding your districts. The leads come all to you."
"Bullshit! If you have something against me, tell it straight!" Nagase stormed at Nino, catching his shirt with his fist and Nino would soon land on floor, wall, or even some worse place. Please let it not be the ceiling, was Nino’s last thought, but Toma rescued him, trying to get Nagase away from Nino, holding him from behind.
"Let go, the disrespectful brat needs a lesson how to speak to his senpai!"
"I need your help, Nagase-nii. Please!" Nino took his last resort and applied to begging, attempting a seiza pose right at his senpai’s feet.
"You think I will buy that now! NO WAY!" Nagase's anger was already flaring in big, hot flames. Nino could even see them from the corner of his eye and was amazed how it didn't hurt Toma, who was still trying to calm him down and definitely in the range of fire.
"Oh come on, Nagase, the alcohol is on me. Listen to him, he so rarely comes for any advice", said Oguri, who contrary to the rest of the bar visitors, didn't fret and stepped right in the middle of their conflict, fixed the table back to it’s place and only then put a bottle directly on the wooden surface.
Nagase still looked skeptical, even while eyeing the bottle.
"I have no reason to do it."
But at the same time he said it, the whole bar started clapping for Ogurin's big entrance in the middle of their ‘duel’. If anything, it only irritated Nagase further.
"What's with the clapping? Stop it, nothing is solved."
"Oh, come on, Tomoya. You're being childish", came a voice from the entrance this time, or rather from a person wearing black sunglasses and a long, black coat. "Didn't you actually complain the other day how no one ever calls you casually like that? Don't be a hypocrite."
Nagase still had the face of stone, but something bleached in his stare. He glared at his friend, who just arrived and then returned his attention to Ninomiya, who was still at his feet.
"What have you done to turn one of my buddies against me, you little rascal?" Nagase growled, crossed his hands together, and sat down like that. "Fine, but just one bottle won't buy me. The rest is on you, Ninomiya."
Nino suppressed his habit of calculating costs first and agreeing later, and instead settled on a loud “arigatou gozaimasu”, sitting finally down as well.
He owed all of this success to his friends. To Matsu-nii, who when passing them by ruffled Nino's hair. He would never help him too directly, but Nino knew he could depend on his senpai… let’s say, to some extent.
Oguri sent him a wink from the bar as well, but at that point Nino wasn't sure if it was for the expensive alcohol tab he just opened for him or not.
The talk took some time and alcohol, unfortunately for Nino and his wallet.
By the time he finally left Nagase-senpai was already drunk to happiness, all on Nino’s hard-earned money. The talk didn’t turn out to be very helpful either.
After some reconsideration, maybe he wasn't really that lucky.
***
When Nino returned home Aiba still wasn't there. Which was actually pretty handy.
He quickly opened the door and locked it behind him. He switched off all the lights - it wasn't necessary, but it was just in case Aiba came home in the time between; took the first thing he found and drew an arc for a door in the air. Some light snapped, a few weak sparks...
…and nothing happened.
Nino knitted his eyebrows and then looked at what he was holding... which happened to be pointless, as he couldn't see it in the dark. So he instead touched it and realized it was their remote control. Oh crap. He could only hope he hadn’t damaged it. Again.
Electrical devices and mages really don't go well together and he had destroyed a lot of remote controls, cellphones and sadly, game controllers. Electricity kind of picked on their waves or something, causing constant noisy interruptions. Aiba had always laughed at that, calling him The Electricity Terminator. “Why that?”, you wonder. Well, no one knows it, probably sounds logical only to Aiba.
Nino cursed his luck; why he had to grab this thing of all the other possible ones? Why not that icky spoon Aiba hadn’t cleaned for months which he knew was lying there just next to the remote, and which was at least absolutely electricity-free.
Just as he reached for another, safer thing to try the same spell, the doorbell rang.
Nino intended to ignore it at first, but then he thought it could be Aiba having forgotten or even lost his keys. Though if it had been him, he would be already crying out his story through the door, regardless of anything. But the problem was, you could never be sure once Aiba is involved.
Finally he settled on opening the door and regretted it right away.
"Hi, Ninomiya Kazunari" came the characteristic nasal, but still pretty voice, belonging to familiar face with just as distinctive and pretty facial features.
"Hi, MatsuJun," he replied nevertheless, hopefully sounding as indifferent as he tried to.
And then they stood like that for a few seconds too long. Nino tried a smile, while Jun's eyebrow raised up.
"You won't invite me in?"
"Well... you see... I'm kind of busy." Nino bowed his head a little with a way too wide smile on his face.
"Busy?" Jun looked inside the still pitch black room.
"And tired. So, maybe some other time? You should have warn- I mean, told me beforehand that you want to come to visit. You see, I'm a busy, poor man who works whole days for his everyday rice..." he continued his act.
"Yeah, and puts his nose into other people's business. I know you were questioning Nagase today, in an offending way too. I think I deserve at least to be invited inside if you can't keep away from my subordinates?" Jun’s voice wasn’t angry. Not yet.
"Uh... sure, come in," Nino gave in. If he had looked into Jun's eyes, he would have seen how cold they were, however, he didn't want to. He had once tried and he really hadn't liked what he saw.
When a mage looks someone in the eye, he can see things the other person is hiding: his true self, his fears and hopes. But looking isn't always fun. Jun was the ideal case of how wrong the experience can turn out. You wouldn't want to look into the eyes of an immortal creature with thousands of years of history hidden inside, right? Well, unless you like splatter movies, then maybe you would enjoy the view. Although Nino thought even splatter fans don't like to stand eye to eye with a predator. The television screen was safe.
"Thanks," said Jun as he took the step in, all elegant and perfect manners like always.
Nino sighed as his barrier allowed the intruder. Now he felt like a trapped mouse, in her own hole.
"Hey, can you take off the charm of my alarm system please? I kind of need it, against demons and the other unwelcomed guests..."
"...like me, huh?" Jun smiled, showing his perfect teeth and an amused, dark spark in his eye. Nino wanted to shudder.
Jun only snapped his fingers and the alarm was back in place. It was actually an old-fashioned summer wind chime, which Aiba once tried to make into a doorbell. Of course he failed, but they left it there and Nino put a spell on it. It only rang whenever there was an unknown magic user outside his door. And that translated usually to mortal danger.
"It's so dark; like you were already expecting me."
"Not really," Nino sighed again and moved to switch on some light when Jun's hand caught his own.
"No, it's nice like that. Some candles will do. I'm sure you have some," he said a few tones quieter. Nino nodded instead of coming up with some snarky response, he didn't like him so close. Jun smiled, letting his hand free but not before sliding his fingers gently and slowly all the way from his wrist to the end of his fingertips.
Nino suddenly felt cold.
He snapped his hand, making some of the strategically located candles around the flat light up; taking the nearest one to the table.
"Is that to your liking, MatsuJun-sama?"
"Kind of," Jun said, smile still present on his face, but instead of settling down at the table like Nino had subtly suggested, he went all the way inside and settled on one of the beds.
Nino didn't like the action, but he followed him with the candle close, and sat down as well.
"It's nice," Jun said, though Nino and Aiba’s flat wasn’t really anything special. It was small if anything and had only so much place to fit two beds and a kitchen, almost built into the room, with the counter sticking out above the tv. Jun probably didn’t mean that though, but the mood, and Nino had to admit the dimmed light really felt like Jun's thing; even if it was ridiculous to sit like that in modern world overflowing with electricity. Just within your hand reach, with a single click of switch. Like the one near the door.
At least the electric bill will be smaller, Nino joked to himself in his head. And nothing could snap while everything was switched off.
"So, didn't you come to make me listen to you reprimanding me?" Nino asked.
"Oh yes, for sure. Maybe I will even punish you." he said, looking Nino in the eye, though the owner of the flat still avoided the eye contact with all his might. But Jun still saw what he wanted. "But since it's so nice here, how about some wine?"
"Only if you have brought some with you. We don't have things like that. Too expensive."
"What a disgrace to your guest." Jun sound highly unsatisfied.
"I can find some tomato juice maybe..." Nino proposed, feeling slightly airy.
“Are you making fun of me?" Jun's voice grew rougher and his eyes even more penetrating, but his eyebrows still remained questioningly raised. So Nino wasn’t dead yet.
"No... I'm just really a poor party host, really", he excused himself to the kitchen.
Okay, so maybe he was making fun a little of Jun, but really, who could blame him? When you have a certain MatsuJun on your bed, talking about punishments, all you have left is your ability to joke. Humor helps a lot in pinch situations, isn't there some proverb like that?
Looking through his fridge proved only the existence of plain water, some beer... and something he barely recognized as a strawberry juice (only thanks to his good nose), probably produced by Aiba yesterday, since he had spent a lot of time in kitchen while Nino was playing the newest edition of Zelda. The beer would be the most logical choice, but the bright red color of strawberry liquid made him have some mischievous ideas.
He took the juice in the end. Poured them into round glasses and went back to the room.
"What is that?" Jun asked when he received his glass.
"A surprise" Nino said, actually saying mostly the truth. It was Aiba's work after all.
"Smells fruity..." Jun noted and shrugged, for the time being settling to only hold the glass. In elegant way, like Nino noted. He sat in that pose of one leg put on the other, hand nonchalantly resting on his knee, which simply never looked so pretty when Nino did it.
"So, if you're not going to drink, can we get this over quickly?" Nino proposed instead of waiting for his death sentence.
"Wait a minute. I don't like extra listeners. If they do have to be around, I prefer to see them in the open."
"Pardon?" Nino was caught by surprise.
"Let him out," his tone of voice saying that he wouldn’t accept any objections.
Uh.
Nino guessed he didn't have a choice.
"Ohno, can you come out?" he said to the air.
And then they waited. And waited. And no one appeared.
"Is he asleep perhaps?"
Then they noticed a small motion near the wall. Oh. He was already here.
"So you're Ohno?" asked Jun, apparently seeing him for the first time. "The strongest mage in our world, trapped like a bird in cage?"
"Currently Nino's teacher," Ohno smiled, indifferent to Jun and looked over at Nino, noticing that he seemed to be in trouble.
"Is it true his soul is trapped inside a skull? Where is it?", Jun asked Nino like Ohno wasn't there with them.
"Eh, wasn't it a chest? Ohno, were we wrong all this time?", Nino joked, at the same time trying not to give away too much.
"Enough of your jokes, Ninomiya." Jun seemed to lose his patience. "Now, tell me, what right did you have to even approach Nagase? And without seeking my permission? Are you trying to be my enemy, Nino?"
"No, Jun. But if I had asked you, would you have let me talk with him?", Nino asked in return, carefully.
"Of course not. I would have told you it's rubbish and do not waste our time," Jun said and laughed like it was obvious. And it was, Jun always reacted this way.
"See? That's why I had no choice-"
"You know, I think you suspect us." Nino’s explanations were cut short by Jun’s horribly serious accusation.
After those words were said, silence fell over them. Even Ohno was silent, although that was the usual case with him. He had even started to look bored. Lucky him, Nino thought.
"I think it does look this way indeed," Nino finally broke the silence.
"Only looks that way?" asked Jun, playing with his glass and observing how the red liquid took over the inner sides of the transparent glass, covering it almost up to the edge. A drop could have escaped and ended up on the floor at any second, before Jun slowly readjusted his fingers to keep it within glass, back on safe distance again. He repeated the move over and over again, circling the glass professionally in his long fingers, and Nino couldn't help but watch, though for some odd reason he hated the sight. Especially when Jun started to make his moves faster and faster.
"It does seem to look like your work, if I focus on the details. But I guess I just want to prove it's not related to you. I think someone might have used the drug you're selling."
"Hmmm..." Jun seemed to not pay any attention to what Nino was saying, and looked almost as bored as Ohno, but with a greater air of dignity to him.
"If you can help me, maybe we can trace back the culprit," Nino decided to continue anyway.
"You know, Nino," Jun started, as though he had heard enough of it already. He smiled in Nino's direction. "I don't really care about that case and the murderer."
Nino blinked.
"But... someone of our circle could have done it."
"If so, our cute little Council should take care of that, I have no interest in getting involved. Why do you even care about this? It's just some foolish human matters"
"You know, besides being a mage, I'm actually a human too," Nino clarified, even if just for the sake of that. He knew that these guys didn’t care at all about this things, even less when it's about human victims. They all just care about their own interests.
Actually, Nino was exactly the same way. He didn’t do the job because he felt like it, or had a strong sense of justice or something. He needed money. It's was as easy as that. Not that this type here could understand it.
Or so he thought.
"So you do it for the money?" his guest asked and Nino wondered if he had said it out loud before he realized he has been looking Jun directly in the eyes. Fuck>. Jun's kind could easily read thoughts when making eye contact as well. Or at the least, Jun could do it on him, they had enough connection to make it possible.
"Why do you bother with that? Just come to my place. I can take care of you forever," Jun said while still smiling, but eyeing Nino’s neck instead, which was now prettily exposed after Nino had turned his head away hastily.
"Or..." he said, while reaching for this beautiful sight before him, "I could make you live forever too,” Nino heard him saying, but more than that he felt a gentle finger sliding down his neck.
His mind gave him a high danger alert. He tried to fight it though.
"Don't you want it, Nino? To live forever, not be bothered by money?" Jun’s voice was coming closer and it soon changed into a whisper. "Free to do what you want?"
"Ah-", Nino let out a tiny, breathless sound, as Jun's lips brushed the skin on his neck and they seemed to not want to stop at just that. He could feel Jun's hand pushing him on the bed, while his lips were tormenting his skin with their whole surface.
He needed to stop him.
He put gently his unoccupied hand to Jun's neck and in his hair. The symbolical gesture seemed to have worked.
Jun looked up into his eyes, recognizing all sort of things there, but actually not of these kind he yearned to see. He averted his eyes and retreated to his previous sitting position. "Just kidding. I wouldn't want to see your face all eternity long anyway. Besides, it's a gift and I don't think you deserve it."
"Jun, you actually- did you come here to take that as my punishment?" Nino asked, trying not to sound tiny. He really hated the intimacy of making eye contact with Jun and all the aftereffects it had on him.
"Maybe. I still think I should take it from you. Some of your blood," he said, glaring at the red liquid that was still contained within the glass in his hands. "It's only fair, right? You took something from me, I need compensation".
Nino trembled a little. But the worst was that he was unable to think at the moment.
Damn their methods.
"I won't let you take his blood", Ohno suddenly said, looking at Jun straight-on. He returned the gaze, puzzled, as though he had forgotten that Ohno was still there, which could be exactly the case. Ohno really didn’t feel different from any other part of this room.
Jun smiled suddenly and asked "And what can you do?"
But Ohno, instead of answering, just kept staring at him, and soon, Jun's smile faded; he even returned to his glass.
"Your loss" his finger traced this time along the edge of the glass slowly, barely touching it. "A-ah, you could have so much more. So much", he traced the finger over the surface, "more,” and the next second his lips touched Nino's.
"Such a pity," he smiled and walked away, elegantly as ever, leaving only a glass on the table.
There was buzzing in Nino's head. No, actually, his head hurt. So much.
The words "so much more" were still hanging and sticking to his skin, but instead of hearing the "you could have," he definitely heard "we".
***
"Are you okay?", Ohno asked half an hour later. Nino swallowed hard and nodded, his teacher sending him a look of sympathy.
"So what is the case?", Ohno asked again, beginning to trace figures in the air, but instead of producing nothing, some visible shapes actually started to appear there.
"I-", Nino again swallowed. "I think I'm too tired now. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow, ok? Also, please don't draw in the air here. What if Aiba sees it?"
Ohno looked unhappy, but stopped in the end. He then gave him a small smile and disappeared.
Or rather took a step through a wall.
Well, Ohno is, kind of, a ghost. So it's normal in his case. Nino was used to it. Almost.
So okay, he was still working on it.
But right now it wasn't weird at all. Nothing was. He felt drained and awful.
Nino only had enough strength to fall on his bed, curl into a small ball and forget he was alive for a while. Everyone has bad days, right? Days in which vampires came to your house, stole you a kiss and played with you like they usually do with their preys, and for the goodbye they filled you with endless uncertainties, doubts and fears. Oh, his life was so damned. Nino wasn't drowning in self pity. He intended to wake up all fit tomorrow, which he could feel was going to turn out to be a very busy day.
But right now, he just felt a very big urge to cry.
Damn it. If someone was bothered by it, they could go to hell. He didn’t give a damn. Not today.
It was his and only his business what he was doing.
Besides, he wouldn’t admit tomorrow that he cried anyway.
***
That night Nino cried in his bed, into his pillow. Aiba returned late, very tired, and Nino was sure he would quickly fall asleep. But actually Aiba came and lay beside him when he realized what the little sounds coming from the bed next to his meant.
Nino didn't even mind his friend not using the shower this night. He hadn’t showered either. It usually wouldn't be mortifying, but Nino actually shared a flat with Aiba. The smell was sometimes hard to get rid of. But he couldn't care about those silly details right now.
His lovely friend, still so unaware of any reasons, along with why he needed to hide that one thing Aiba wanted to know the most. Why did all have to be so difficult?
When Aiba took his hand, and didn't ask anything, just hearing him breath so close and the warmth of his skin, he was able to get himself slightly back together.
They just laid like that for a long time, holding hands.
Shortly before they fell asleep, Aiba mumbled.
"Nino," he said so quietly, so uncharacteristically for himself. "The rainbow has vanished"
"There was a rainbow today?", Nino asked quietly, relieved enough his voice didn't sound like a crying girl. But thinking of Aiba's comment, Nino hadn’t even noticed that there was any rain.
"No, there wasn't... that's the point," Aiba whispered back. "I think someone stole the rainbow, Nino."
But Nino was too tired to deal with Aiba at that moment and finally gave up to sleep.
On to Part 2