"the magician" : part seven of ten
Title: The Magician
Fandom: Arashi
Rating: PG-13 for instances of strong language. And mean things going on.
Notes: this chapter is quite long, I hope that is alright. Things are getting more dangerous now!
part seven
TWENTY NINE
There's still enough people walking around outside that Ohno can trail Nino from a close distance and stay unnoticed. Ohno's plan is this: wherever Nino goes, Ohno will go too, just a few steps behind. That way, Nino doesn't have to worry about Ohno but should he ever need help, Ohno can pop out and provide it. Ohno imagines something extravagant, like that big fat Fuji-san sneaking up behind unsuspecting Nino, and Ohno will shout, "Nino! Watch out!" and tackle Fuji-san, and knock him out with one punch, and Nino will cheer, "Oh-chan! Oh-chan! You saved me!!"
Ohno snickers: Nino, giggling like a girl? Not likely.
They've reached Johnny's house now. Fortunately for them, Johnny's been busy dealing the mine collapsing: the usual collections are all delayed and he's in the middle of negotiations with the miners, so the house should be empty. Still, Nino is sloppier than he ought to be - he only glances back furtively a few times and he doesn't see Ohno at all. Granted, Ohno knows the grounds better than Nino does and has a lighter step, but he was still sort of expecting Nino to just stop and say "ah-ha! You've been following me!" and call him out.
It hits him then: for Nino to be this reckless means that he's one hundred percent determined to reach his goal, consequences be damned. All that matters to him is getting that photograph back, and everything else is a distant second. The tight feeling in his chest comes back, and Ohno closes his eyes against another wash of regret for ever losing that picture.
Nino's made his way to the back door and Ohno is thankful for the thick grass and the darkening skies to cover him; he darts behind a tree just as Nino looks back. Nino turns back to the door and jiggles the handle. Locked. Without missing a beat, he reaches into his coat pocket and brings out something small and glinting. Ohno squints: it's a shard of Aspar! He watches as Nino slides the thinner end of the rock in between the lock and the door frame, and presses it in.
The door snicks open. Nino darts in the house. Shit! Ohno sprints out from behind the tree, but he's too late, the door clicks shut. With Ohno still outside. Ohno twists the doorknob - it’s locked again! This is bad, now he's can't get in! Ohno hurries to the window and peers in: with the moonlight drifting in unobscured, he can make out a small, dark figure, rustling through the room inside. Nino's peering in Johnny's desk, in books, under paintings on the wall - under a particularly large one of the town's mountains (Ohno remembers, Taka-sensei did that one), Nino freezes.
Ohno watches with baited breath as Nino slowly lifts the painting off its hook. There's a safe. In the wall. Nino reaches for it, but just as he's about to touch it, the room is lit up in orange.
Ohno's heart stops in shock.
The mayor!
Johnny-san's there, holding up a lamp, looking right at Nino’s frozen back. As Nino very gradually lowers his arm, Johnny's face grows triumphant. Ohno panics. What should he do? Should he make some sort of noise as a distraction? But Nino can't get out, Johnny's standing in the only doorway, and the window wouldn't be fast enough and it’s already too late and - shit! SHIT! Nino!
"Turn around, Kazu-kun," Johnny says, in a low voice.
Nino does, and his expression is something terrible to see.
"Now now," Johnny smirks, "don't give me that face. You are the one intruding into my residence, after all."
"Give me back my photograph," Nino demands. "You had no right to take it! How did you find Ohno with it, anyway, have you been following me or something?"
Johnny huffs impatiently. "Of course I have. I had to make sure you didn't break our little deal, didn't I? It was usually one of the younger teenagers who would spy on you; they enjoyed the sense of empowerment. But I was never too far away. And good thing, too! If I hadn't been, who knows what damage you might have caused?"
"You mean this safe?" Nino points his thumb at the metal door in the wall. "Is this where you've been keeping all the money you've been earning from those stones?"
"You're a bright child, Kazunari-kun," Johnny says unkindly. "I know how much you loved your family. However, despite that, I still did not expect you to break your promise to me. After all, aren't there more important things..." Johnny reaches into his sleeve, "than a piece of paper?" and takes out Nino's photograph.
Nino lunges. "Give that back!"
"Ah ah!" Johnny puts the photo right above the flame of the lamp. Nino stops.
"Kazu-kun, our deal was simple, was it not?" Johnny says, feigning disappointment. "You were not allowed to harm my reputation, you were not allowed to hurt me in any way, and you were not allowed to leave the town. Easy instructions. How did you get confused?"
"I'm not hurting you or anything, you bastard!" Nino cries. "I just want my photograph that you stole from me!"
"You don't call breaking and entering a form of threat?"
"Fuck you, I haven’t laid a finger on you! Give me back my picture!"
"Don't push me, Kazu-kun," Johnny advises. "I hold the power in this town. If I say you are nothing here, then you are nothing. You can do nothing. Do you understand?"
Nino tilts his head back arrogantly. "Seems to me you might be a bit too egotistical there, mayor-san. You'd be surprised at how many people are not exactly your biggest fans, if you just dig a little deeper beneath the surface. It's funny, right? I dug a little deeper under your surface, and I revealed your true nature. You covered it up pretty quick by giving me a bad rep, but it was already too late to erase the things I said, and people started wondering, all the same. It's a shame we can't take back the past, isn't it?"
"Why you --" Johnny's face contorts in pure fury and without taking his eyes off Nino, he lowers the photograph into contact with the lamp flame. It lights up in fire.
"NO!" Nino yells in horror, diving for the picture. He slaps Johnny's hand away, and the picture flies up into the air, burning completely. It drifts back down into Nino's hands as scattered ash. Nino drops to his knees, staring at the pieces of black residue in his palms. Behind him, Johnny laughs cruelly.
"Yes, too bad, Ninomiya," Johnny mocks. "Might I give you some words of advice? Don't ever presume you can best me, because I will always win. I suggest you grow up and let go of your pitiful past." He bends down and claps Nino hard on the back. "My boy, there are people out there, living their lives happily, right, unsuspecting and ignorant about any misfortune that might befall them." He seems to place extra emphasis on his last few words.
Nino stiffens, whips around to look at Johnny with widening eyes. "You didn't --"
"Oh, but I already have!" Johnny grins, showing off his perfect teeth. "The minute I knew you were in my house, I sent someone over. He should be finished by now."
Nino shoves away and runs out of the room with the devil at his heels. Back in the house, Johnny laughs and laughs. Ohno returns to the back door just as Nino slams it open, flying out. Ohno catches the expression on Nino's face: pure panic, like he was seeing the end of the world. Without a thought, Ohno chases after him, with Johnny's oily chuckles echoing in his mind.
THIRTY
Nino's running back home. Through the village, dodging past lingering people on the darkened streets, he hurls himself back into the apartment building, screaming Ohno's name.
"Ohno!!! Ohno!" he screams, jumping up the stairs three at a time. "OH-CHAN!"
Ohno reaches the bottom of the steps just as Nino makes it to the second floor. "Nino! Nino!"
"Oh-chan?" Nino whips his head around. "Where are you?" he opens the door to the apartment, looking inside.
"I'm here! Nino, I'm right here!" Ohno runs up the remaining stairs and skids to a stop just behind Nino, panting. Nino faces him, pale and sweating.
"Oh-chan, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" He grabs Ohno and starts patting him up and down. Ohno bats his arms away.
"What are you doing? Calm down, I --" then Ohno catches glimpse of his home.
It's trashed. Everything. It's like a tornado blew threw it - everything is broken, turned over, spilt... Ohno pushes Nino out of the way and walks in, stupefied. His home is ruined. What - what happened?
"Satoshi?" a small, weak voice comes from the kitchen.
For a second time that night, Ohno's heart stops. He rushes into the other room. On the floor, fallen and bruised:
"MOM!"
THIRTY ONE
"Oh-chan?" Aiba says gently. "Oh-chan?"
Ohno doesn't lift his head off the table.
"Satoshi-kun," Sho says. "She's going to be alright. You heard Yuuko-san. Are you going to doubt a doctor's words? She's going to be fine."
A warm hand presses on his shoulder: Jun. Jun pulls up a chair beside Ohno and lets Ohno rest his head in the nook of Jun's neck. Ohno sniffs.
"Hey," Jun says, wiping away Ohno's tears with his thumb. "You've got to be strong, okay? We'll be allowed to see her soon, and your mom isn't going to want to see you crying."
Ohno nods.
As soon as Nino had seen Ohno's mom on the ground, he'd run to the bathroom, coming back with clean towels. He told Ohno to press those against any wounds and make his mom as comfortable as he could. Then he disappeared. Ohno doesn't remember how much time passed, him on the kitchen floor cradling his mom, but then people came barging in and tried to pull his mom away from him. Ohno struggled, yelled. But more people held him back. He'd turned to see Sho and Jun and Sho was saying something but Ohno couldn't understand, didn’t heard anything beyond the blood pounding in his head, the screaming of his own voice - they'd put his mom on a stretcher and had taken her to the hospital and when they closed the door of the operating room in front of Ohno's face, he couldn't take it anymore. His knees wobbled and he felt lightheaded and he couldn't see past the tears and he felt strong arms helping him to stand and carrying him to a chair, but he didn't understand what was happening. What was happening?
And now they had news from the nurse that Ohno's mom was patched up and would be good as new in time and Ohno is just so, so thankful he can't even -
but she shouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place.
Ohno raises his face from Jun's neck and looks at Nino, sitting by himself in the corner, quietly shuffling a deck of cards.
"Nino," Ohno says. Nino turns to him; his eyes are red, but his face is dry.
"Tell me," Ohno says. Because he knows that Nino knows.
Nino looks around, aware that everyone's attention was on him now. He takes a deep breath.
"I talked to Johnny, the first day he came back. After our fight, after you guys left, I took a walk to clear my head, and I remembered that Ohno had pointed out Johnny's house to me before. I was really, really, pissed at that time, so I decided to confront him. I wanted to find out what happened to my family. And so I found him, and I demanded he tell me where my parents were. And he told me that once he didn’t need them anymore, he beat them up and then loaded them up on one of the export wagons. They were dropped halfway between this town and the next, and left there to die. And then he forbade me from leaving the town. He was afraid I'd tell other merchants and miners about your stones here. He said that if I attempted to do anything to harm him or what he was doing, then he would hurt the people I cared about in retribution. So - last night, when I went to his house and got caught... He sent over people to hurt Ohno and his mom. ...and that’s what happened."
Jun stands up, his chair legs scraping the floor with an echoing screech. "You knew that he would hurt Ohno-san and you still went out to his house last night? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Nino covers his face. "Shut up, shut up, I know. I was just - so angry, that that bastard had taken away my family again, I lost control of myself. I didn’t think he would do it. I didn’t think he’d do it, because I wasn't actually hurting him or anything, I just wanted my photograph back."
"And?" Sho asks. "The photo. Where is it now?"
Nino's face grows dark. "He burnt it. Right in front of me."
"Ohno-kun," nurse Kaiji-san calls. "You can come see your mother now."
THIRTY TWO
Everyone takes turns wishing Ohno's mom well and congratulating her for pulling through with her injuries. Ohno sits by her bedside, holding her hand the whole time. When it's Nino's turn, Nino straightens his spine and bows as low as he can.
"I'm sorry, Ohno-san," he says, voice quivering, "to have brought this upon you. I took advantage of your hospitality and this is how I repay you. I take full responsibility for this accident. If there's anything I can do for you, anything at all, I'll do it. Just ask, please."
But she doesn't. She smiles, and very slowly, reaches out to lay a hand on Nino's bowed head.
"You're a good boy, Nino-kun," she says. "And this wasn't your fault. But if you need to be forgiven, I will forgive you."
Nino looks up, startled. "But I - you're in the hospital! How can you just --" he chokes on his words. "And you didn't even know anything about the situation before, you just got thrown into it. How can you just accept everything, just like that?"
"Well, as you said," Mom says gently. "I have to accept everything because I got thrown into it. And I accept you because I know you're a good person. Moms can just tell."
Nino's lip trembles. He turns on his heel and leaves the room.
"Dear," Ohno's mom turns to him, "you'd better go after Nino-kun. That boy's life has lacked so much kindness he has no clue what to do when he's presented with it." And she looks so sad as she says this.
So after Ohno fluffs up his mom's pillow one more time and makes sure the glass of water on her bedside table is within reach, and makes her promise that she is alright, really, Satoshi, and watched her close her eyes to an exhausted sleep, they all tiptoe out of the room to find Nino.
It's not hard. He's in the corner of the waiting room again, rolling a coin around his knuckles. He looks up as they approach, and he face is grim and drained.
"I'm sorry I ran out like that," he says.
"It's okay," Ohno says, sitting down beside him. "Mom understands."
Nino thunks the back of his head against the wall. "Oh-chan," he whispers. "What am I going to do?"
"What are you talking about?"
Nino smiles tiredly. "Obviously I can't stay here any longer. I'm endangering everyone just by being here. If I slip up again - and even if I don't, Johnny's sure to make up some way to make it seem like I did - you can get hurt. Any of you," he says, looking at Jun and Aiba and Sho in turn, "could get hurt."
"Is this your way of telling us you care about us, Ninomiya?" Jun remarks, raising an eyebrow.
Nino scowls. "It's my way of telling you that you guys made a big mistake, becoming friends with me."
"Really?" Aiba asks, confused. "I don't see it like that at all. Why would you say that?"
"Excuse me," Kaiji-san, the nurse, steps in meekly. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Satoshi-san, we've come across a problem. As you know, your mother is allergic to our regular medication. We're running very low on the medicine your mother needs, and they must be imported from outside the village. But Johnny-san is the one who is in charge of paying the importers, and he says that due to the mine collapsing, there are no more funds to spend, and the hospital does not have enough money. I'm so sorry."
Oh.
"That," Nino says with conviction, "is why."
THIRTY THREE
"Do you guys see now?" Nino shouts, throwing his coin to the ground. "This guy will do anything to sabotage me! He's got plenty of money, this is all just a sick way of punishing me! It's not fair! He shouldn't be involving others in this!"
He sits down heavily in a chair and cradles his head in his hands. "What can I do? I can't stay in this town, but he won't let me go either. What the hell does he want from me? Does he want me to beg him for mercy or something? Fuck! Fuck!!"
"Shut up," Sho says tersely. "Stop complaining. We don't have the time for that. Assuming we can't get any help from Johnny-san, we either need to get some money, or get that medicine ourselves. Ohno-san has maximum two days on the remaining supplies the hospital has, so we have less than forty-eight hours to think of something."
Jun picks up Sho’s train of thought. "In that case we can't risk trying to get the medicine; the next town is just too far away. We can try to raise the money, ask other people. But we'll have to act fast, because we'll probably have to ask everyone in town. But the medicine is expensive; it's not going to be easy. Johnny must know that.”
“This is really bad, guys,” Aiba says. “Our mayor is evil! Someone who hurts Ohno-san must be evil!"
"It doesn’t matter what he is," Sho says. "We can't worry about why's right now. We have to think of a way to --"
"Stop it!" Nino cuts in. "Why are you guys skirting around the obvious solution? I have to find Johnny and negotiate with him. He's the one who takes care of the imports and exports, right? He's the problem! And he only wants me to suffer, so I have to --"
Jun strides up to Nino and smacks him hard on the head. "You stop it. Stop making this all about you, you selfish bastard! The second you made that idiotic deal with Johnny you involved all of us! So we're going to work as a team to solve it! Stop putting everything on your own shoulders! You said it yourself, right? That we're friends. Don't friends work together?"
Nino holds his head, shocked silent.
"Man Nino," Aiba teases, "you sure get knocked around a lot."
"Shut up," Nino says, but his voice is hushed, and when Jun turns back around, Ohno sees Nino mumble to himself, "Together."
THIRTY FOUR
They're in the middle of a serious discussion when an idea strikes through Ohno with all the shock of a lightning bolt.
"The safe," he says, glancing at Nino. "There was a safe in Johnny's house, I saw. You - you said it was full of money."
"No way," Nino slaps his palm down. "We're not touching it. I'm not going to put any more people in danger."
But the others are looking interested at Ohno's suggestion, and Nino sees this too. "I'm not kidding. This guy isn't just going to stop at Ohno's mom. Your families - Sho, your brother --"
"My brother," Sho says calmly, "idolizes Ninomiya-san and hates the mean old mayor for getting Ninomiya-san in trouble all the time. And my parents agree."
Nino considers Sho for a long moment. “How long as it been, since you figured it out? That Johnny was the one who trapped your brother inside the mine?”
Aiba gasps, “What?!”
Sho’s hands tighten into fists on his lap. “A while ago,” he whispers. “Shika said that that day, he’d seen Johnny-san on the street, and asked him if there were any lamps he could use freely, and Johnny-san suggested the mine. Shika knows he’s not allowed there alone, but of course he’d listen to the mayor. Moreover, who else would have access to the materials so easily? He must have wanted to frame you.” Sho leans forward, eyes intense. “Listen to me, Nino. Johnny-san is abusing his power. He needs to be stopped. And you - you can expose him. Don’t think it’s escaped the town’s notice: Johnny-san’s absence at the mine collapse. He had a duty to be there as mayor, and he wasn’t. People are starting to question his politics now.”
Nino shakes his head, frowning slightly. "It doesn't matter what a few townspeople think, as long as Johnny is mayor --"
"But that's just it, isn't it?" Jun realizes. "Since you came, Nino, this town has been changing. Of course you have no clue, but life is monotonous here, and your magic tricks reminded us that it doesn’t have to be. We followed Johnny-san because he had done so much for us, in the beginning. But even if he had good intentions at first, obviously he's not the same now. If we can get the money from Johnny-san, then we can show it to the other villagers, reveal him for the fraud he is. Kill two birds with one stone."
There's a pause while each person turns over the situation in their mind. Jun's right. They're backed up against a brick wall and this seems like the only meaningful choice to make.
Nino says quietly, "It won't be easy. He'll have put up precautions because he'll be expecting me back."
"But will he be expecting us, too?" Aiba grins.
THIRTY FIVE
They draw up a plan: Nino will head off to Johnny's house first, and the various people Johnny's paying to snitch on him will supposedly follow. The four of them will take those kids out of commission, and meet Nino at Johnny's house. Nino will create a diversion with his special gunpowder to draw Johnny out of the house. He'll rush in, lock out Johnny, and crack the safe (Nino assured them all that he'd take care of that, no problem; Aiba had asked how Nino learnt that skill; Jun snapped that they didn't have time for storytelling), grab the money, and pass it out a window to the others. Then they'd all run for it. If no one expects the four of them to be there, then no one should suspect anything when they leave.
"If there are people in your way, you can stop them with this," Nino says, taking out a few small white pellets from his pocket. "I threw these at that idiot teenager by the creek. The powder tastes awful and it burns your eyes. Here, take one, each of you." They do. Ohno picks up his pellet gingerly. Its skin is thin and taught and it feels extremely fragile. Fragile and volatile.
"If you press too hard, it'll explode," Nino warns.
He probably shouldn't have said that, now Aiba's going to --
"Augh!"
"Aiba!!"
"Sorry! Sorry! Wow, it really is bitter."
Nino laughs. "You guys. Can you really handle this?"
"We'll be fine," Sho reassures him, wiping Aiba's face with his sleeve. "Don't worry, Nino, we won't let you down.”
Though they must look idiotic, each of them with their faces streaked with white and trying not to gag with the taste, Nino smiles with something close to pride. "I know."
THIRTY SIX
Nino insists on going home to pick up his full costume, top hat and all. It's hard, stepping in the apartment, and seeing all the damage again. They cleaned up a bit in the kitchen and bedroom but the majority of the place is still in full wreckage. Nino squeezes Ohno's hand and quickly gathers his things: jacket, travelling bag, top hat. They leave without saying a word.
"You're all dressed up," Ohno notices, watching Nino button his cufflinks. Something strikes him as strange - he doesn’t understand why Nino would want all his things with him; it seems unnecessary for what they’re about to do.
"I'm going to face this guy head on, Oh-chan," Nino explains. "I'm going to show him the man that I've become. Oh, and look - it makes me an easier target." Nino jerks a thumb behind him, and Ohno glances back: someone darts behind a house - was that Akibara-kun?
"Oh-chan," Nino turns to him and takes both his hands. "It's time for you to go now, okay? Go to the others now."
Ohno pouts. "Can't I stay with you for a little while longer?"
Nino smiles regretfully. "We've got to follow the plan. Johnny can't see you coming." Ohno nods and begins to turn away, but Nino suddenly pulls him back.
"Wait, Oh-chan, I just wanted to thank you," Nino says in a rush. "For everything. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't met you, and I don't like to think about it."
"Then don't," Ohno whispers. He can't imagine a life without Nino in it, either.
"And I want you to know," Nino continues, "that whatever happens, you'll always be my best friend. And I would never do anything to hurt you."
"Whatever happens?" Ohno echoes, feeling something tighten uncomfortably in his gut.
"No worries," Nino says, eyes shining. "I've wandered all my life, looking for a family. Now that I have one, I'm not going to give it up so easily. It'll be okay. I promise. Trust me, alright? I just need you to trust me." Nino waits for Ohno's nod, and lifts up Ohno's hand to deposit a quick kiss on his knuckles, just as he had, the first day they met. And with that, Nino turns away and hurries off, cape billowing behind him.
Have one? Ohno thinks, confused.
"There he goes," Sho says, coming up behind Ohno. On his other side, Jun and Aiba grin at each other ruefully. The four of them stand together, patient, until they see the hulking shape of Akibara leave his hiding place and run after Nino.
"And here we go," Sho says, and they follow too.
part eight
Fandom: Arashi
Rating: PG-13 for instances of strong language. And mean things going on.
Notes: this chapter is quite long, I hope that is alright. Things are getting more dangerous now!
part seven
TWENTY NINE
There's still enough people walking around outside that Ohno can trail Nino from a close distance and stay unnoticed. Ohno's plan is this: wherever Nino goes, Ohno will go too, just a few steps behind. That way, Nino doesn't have to worry about Ohno but should he ever need help, Ohno can pop out and provide it. Ohno imagines something extravagant, like that big fat Fuji-san sneaking up behind unsuspecting Nino, and Ohno will shout, "Nino! Watch out!" and tackle Fuji-san, and knock him out with one punch, and Nino will cheer, "Oh-chan! Oh-chan! You saved me!!"
Ohno snickers: Nino, giggling like a girl? Not likely.
They've reached Johnny's house now. Fortunately for them, Johnny's been busy dealing the mine collapsing: the usual collections are all delayed and he's in the middle of negotiations with the miners, so the house should be empty. Still, Nino is sloppier than he ought to be - he only glances back furtively a few times and he doesn't see Ohno at all. Granted, Ohno knows the grounds better than Nino does and has a lighter step, but he was still sort of expecting Nino to just stop and say "ah-ha! You've been following me!" and call him out.
It hits him then: for Nino to be this reckless means that he's one hundred percent determined to reach his goal, consequences be damned. All that matters to him is getting that photograph back, and everything else is a distant second. The tight feeling in his chest comes back, and Ohno closes his eyes against another wash of regret for ever losing that picture.
Nino's made his way to the back door and Ohno is thankful for the thick grass and the darkening skies to cover him; he darts behind a tree just as Nino looks back. Nino turns back to the door and jiggles the handle. Locked. Without missing a beat, he reaches into his coat pocket and brings out something small and glinting. Ohno squints: it's a shard of Aspar! He watches as Nino slides the thinner end of the rock in between the lock and the door frame, and presses it in.
The door snicks open. Nino darts in the house. Shit! Ohno sprints out from behind the tree, but he's too late, the door clicks shut. With Ohno still outside. Ohno twists the doorknob - it’s locked again! This is bad, now he's can't get in! Ohno hurries to the window and peers in: with the moonlight drifting in unobscured, he can make out a small, dark figure, rustling through the room inside. Nino's peering in Johnny's desk, in books, under paintings on the wall - under a particularly large one of the town's mountains (Ohno remembers, Taka-sensei did that one), Nino freezes.
Ohno watches with baited breath as Nino slowly lifts the painting off its hook. There's a safe. In the wall. Nino reaches for it, but just as he's about to touch it, the room is lit up in orange.
Ohno's heart stops in shock.
The mayor!
Johnny-san's there, holding up a lamp, looking right at Nino’s frozen back. As Nino very gradually lowers his arm, Johnny's face grows triumphant. Ohno panics. What should he do? Should he make some sort of noise as a distraction? But Nino can't get out, Johnny's standing in the only doorway, and the window wouldn't be fast enough and it’s already too late and - shit! SHIT! Nino!
"Turn around, Kazu-kun," Johnny says, in a low voice.
Nino does, and his expression is something terrible to see.
"Now now," Johnny smirks, "don't give me that face. You are the one intruding into my residence, after all."
"Give me back my photograph," Nino demands. "You had no right to take it! How did you find Ohno with it, anyway, have you been following me or something?"
Johnny huffs impatiently. "Of course I have. I had to make sure you didn't break our little deal, didn't I? It was usually one of the younger teenagers who would spy on you; they enjoyed the sense of empowerment. But I was never too far away. And good thing, too! If I hadn't been, who knows what damage you might have caused?"
"You mean this safe?" Nino points his thumb at the metal door in the wall. "Is this where you've been keeping all the money you've been earning from those stones?"
"You're a bright child, Kazunari-kun," Johnny says unkindly. "I know how much you loved your family. However, despite that, I still did not expect you to break your promise to me. After all, aren't there more important things..." Johnny reaches into his sleeve, "than a piece of paper?" and takes out Nino's photograph.
Nino lunges. "Give that back!"
"Ah ah!" Johnny puts the photo right above the flame of the lamp. Nino stops.
"Kazu-kun, our deal was simple, was it not?" Johnny says, feigning disappointment. "You were not allowed to harm my reputation, you were not allowed to hurt me in any way, and you were not allowed to leave the town. Easy instructions. How did you get confused?"
"I'm not hurting you or anything, you bastard!" Nino cries. "I just want my photograph that you stole from me!"
"You don't call breaking and entering a form of threat?"
"Fuck you, I haven’t laid a finger on you! Give me back my picture!"
"Don't push me, Kazu-kun," Johnny advises. "I hold the power in this town. If I say you are nothing here, then you are nothing. You can do nothing. Do you understand?"
Nino tilts his head back arrogantly. "Seems to me you might be a bit too egotistical there, mayor-san. You'd be surprised at how many people are not exactly your biggest fans, if you just dig a little deeper beneath the surface. It's funny, right? I dug a little deeper under your surface, and I revealed your true nature. You covered it up pretty quick by giving me a bad rep, but it was already too late to erase the things I said, and people started wondering, all the same. It's a shame we can't take back the past, isn't it?"
"Why you --" Johnny's face contorts in pure fury and without taking his eyes off Nino, he lowers the photograph into contact with the lamp flame. It lights up in fire.
"NO!" Nino yells in horror, diving for the picture. He slaps Johnny's hand away, and the picture flies up into the air, burning completely. It drifts back down into Nino's hands as scattered ash. Nino drops to his knees, staring at the pieces of black residue in his palms. Behind him, Johnny laughs cruelly.
"Yes, too bad, Ninomiya," Johnny mocks. "Might I give you some words of advice? Don't ever presume you can best me, because I will always win. I suggest you grow up and let go of your pitiful past." He bends down and claps Nino hard on the back. "My boy, there are people out there, living their lives happily, right, unsuspecting and ignorant about any misfortune that might befall them." He seems to place extra emphasis on his last few words.
Nino stiffens, whips around to look at Johnny with widening eyes. "You didn't --"
"Oh, but I already have!" Johnny grins, showing off his perfect teeth. "The minute I knew you were in my house, I sent someone over. He should be finished by now."
Nino shoves away and runs out of the room with the devil at his heels. Back in the house, Johnny laughs and laughs. Ohno returns to the back door just as Nino slams it open, flying out. Ohno catches the expression on Nino's face: pure panic, like he was seeing the end of the world. Without a thought, Ohno chases after him, with Johnny's oily chuckles echoing in his mind.
THIRTY
Nino's running back home. Through the village, dodging past lingering people on the darkened streets, he hurls himself back into the apartment building, screaming Ohno's name.
"Ohno!!! Ohno!" he screams, jumping up the stairs three at a time. "OH-CHAN!"
Ohno reaches the bottom of the steps just as Nino makes it to the second floor. "Nino! Nino!"
"Oh-chan?" Nino whips his head around. "Where are you?" he opens the door to the apartment, looking inside.
"I'm here! Nino, I'm right here!" Ohno runs up the remaining stairs and skids to a stop just behind Nino, panting. Nino faces him, pale and sweating.
"Oh-chan, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" He grabs Ohno and starts patting him up and down. Ohno bats his arms away.
"What are you doing? Calm down, I --" then Ohno catches glimpse of his home.
It's trashed. Everything. It's like a tornado blew threw it - everything is broken, turned over, spilt... Ohno pushes Nino out of the way and walks in, stupefied. His home is ruined. What - what happened?
"Satoshi?" a small, weak voice comes from the kitchen.
For a second time that night, Ohno's heart stops. He rushes into the other room. On the floor, fallen and bruised:
"MOM!"
THIRTY ONE
"Oh-chan?" Aiba says gently. "Oh-chan?"
Ohno doesn't lift his head off the table.
"Satoshi-kun," Sho says. "She's going to be alright. You heard Yuuko-san. Are you going to doubt a doctor's words? She's going to be fine."
A warm hand presses on his shoulder: Jun. Jun pulls up a chair beside Ohno and lets Ohno rest his head in the nook of Jun's neck. Ohno sniffs.
"Hey," Jun says, wiping away Ohno's tears with his thumb. "You've got to be strong, okay? We'll be allowed to see her soon, and your mom isn't going to want to see you crying."
Ohno nods.
As soon as Nino had seen Ohno's mom on the ground, he'd run to the bathroom, coming back with clean towels. He told Ohno to press those against any wounds and make his mom as comfortable as he could. Then he disappeared. Ohno doesn't remember how much time passed, him on the kitchen floor cradling his mom, but then people came barging in and tried to pull his mom away from him. Ohno struggled, yelled. But more people held him back. He'd turned to see Sho and Jun and Sho was saying something but Ohno couldn't understand, didn’t heard anything beyond the blood pounding in his head, the screaming of his own voice - they'd put his mom on a stretcher and had taken her to the hospital and when they closed the door of the operating room in front of Ohno's face, he couldn't take it anymore. His knees wobbled and he felt lightheaded and he couldn't see past the tears and he felt strong arms helping him to stand and carrying him to a chair, but he didn't understand what was happening. What was happening?
And now they had news from the nurse that Ohno's mom was patched up and would be good as new in time and Ohno is just so, so thankful he can't even -
but she shouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place.
Ohno raises his face from Jun's neck and looks at Nino, sitting by himself in the corner, quietly shuffling a deck of cards.
"Nino," Ohno says. Nino turns to him; his eyes are red, but his face is dry.
"Tell me," Ohno says. Because he knows that Nino knows.
Nino looks around, aware that everyone's attention was on him now. He takes a deep breath.
"I talked to Johnny, the first day he came back. After our fight, after you guys left, I took a walk to clear my head, and I remembered that Ohno had pointed out Johnny's house to me before. I was really, really, pissed at that time, so I decided to confront him. I wanted to find out what happened to my family. And so I found him, and I demanded he tell me where my parents were. And he told me that once he didn’t need them anymore, he beat them up and then loaded them up on one of the export wagons. They were dropped halfway between this town and the next, and left there to die. And then he forbade me from leaving the town. He was afraid I'd tell other merchants and miners about your stones here. He said that if I attempted to do anything to harm him or what he was doing, then he would hurt the people I cared about in retribution. So - last night, when I went to his house and got caught... He sent over people to hurt Ohno and his mom. ...and that’s what happened."
Jun stands up, his chair legs scraping the floor with an echoing screech. "You knew that he would hurt Ohno-san and you still went out to his house last night? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Nino covers his face. "Shut up, shut up, I know. I was just - so angry, that that bastard had taken away my family again, I lost control of myself. I didn’t think he would do it. I didn’t think he’d do it, because I wasn't actually hurting him or anything, I just wanted my photograph back."
"And?" Sho asks. "The photo. Where is it now?"
Nino's face grows dark. "He burnt it. Right in front of me."
"Ohno-kun," nurse Kaiji-san calls. "You can come see your mother now."
THIRTY TWO
Everyone takes turns wishing Ohno's mom well and congratulating her for pulling through with her injuries. Ohno sits by her bedside, holding her hand the whole time. When it's Nino's turn, Nino straightens his spine and bows as low as he can.
"I'm sorry, Ohno-san," he says, voice quivering, "to have brought this upon you. I took advantage of your hospitality and this is how I repay you. I take full responsibility for this accident. If there's anything I can do for you, anything at all, I'll do it. Just ask, please."
But she doesn't. She smiles, and very slowly, reaches out to lay a hand on Nino's bowed head.
"You're a good boy, Nino-kun," she says. "And this wasn't your fault. But if you need to be forgiven, I will forgive you."
Nino looks up, startled. "But I - you're in the hospital! How can you just --" he chokes on his words. "And you didn't even know anything about the situation before, you just got thrown into it. How can you just accept everything, just like that?"
"Well, as you said," Mom says gently. "I have to accept everything because I got thrown into it. And I accept you because I know you're a good person. Moms can just tell."
Nino's lip trembles. He turns on his heel and leaves the room.
"Dear," Ohno's mom turns to him, "you'd better go after Nino-kun. That boy's life has lacked so much kindness he has no clue what to do when he's presented with it." And she looks so sad as she says this.
So after Ohno fluffs up his mom's pillow one more time and makes sure the glass of water on her bedside table is within reach, and makes her promise that she is alright, really, Satoshi, and watched her close her eyes to an exhausted sleep, they all tiptoe out of the room to find Nino.
It's not hard. He's in the corner of the waiting room again, rolling a coin around his knuckles. He looks up as they approach, and he face is grim and drained.
"I'm sorry I ran out like that," he says.
"It's okay," Ohno says, sitting down beside him. "Mom understands."
Nino thunks the back of his head against the wall. "Oh-chan," he whispers. "What am I going to do?"
"What are you talking about?"
Nino smiles tiredly. "Obviously I can't stay here any longer. I'm endangering everyone just by being here. If I slip up again - and even if I don't, Johnny's sure to make up some way to make it seem like I did - you can get hurt. Any of you," he says, looking at Jun and Aiba and Sho in turn, "could get hurt."
"Is this your way of telling us you care about us, Ninomiya?" Jun remarks, raising an eyebrow.
Nino scowls. "It's my way of telling you that you guys made a big mistake, becoming friends with me."
"Really?" Aiba asks, confused. "I don't see it like that at all. Why would you say that?"
"Excuse me," Kaiji-san, the nurse, steps in meekly. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Satoshi-san, we've come across a problem. As you know, your mother is allergic to our regular medication. We're running very low on the medicine your mother needs, and they must be imported from outside the village. But Johnny-san is the one who is in charge of paying the importers, and he says that due to the mine collapsing, there are no more funds to spend, and the hospital does not have enough money. I'm so sorry."
Oh.
"That," Nino says with conviction, "is why."
THIRTY THREE
"Do you guys see now?" Nino shouts, throwing his coin to the ground. "This guy will do anything to sabotage me! He's got plenty of money, this is all just a sick way of punishing me! It's not fair! He shouldn't be involving others in this!"
He sits down heavily in a chair and cradles his head in his hands. "What can I do? I can't stay in this town, but he won't let me go either. What the hell does he want from me? Does he want me to beg him for mercy or something? Fuck! Fuck!!"
"Shut up," Sho says tersely. "Stop complaining. We don't have the time for that. Assuming we can't get any help from Johnny-san, we either need to get some money, or get that medicine ourselves. Ohno-san has maximum two days on the remaining supplies the hospital has, so we have less than forty-eight hours to think of something."
Jun picks up Sho’s train of thought. "In that case we can't risk trying to get the medicine; the next town is just too far away. We can try to raise the money, ask other people. But we'll have to act fast, because we'll probably have to ask everyone in town. But the medicine is expensive; it's not going to be easy. Johnny must know that.”
“This is really bad, guys,” Aiba says. “Our mayor is evil! Someone who hurts Ohno-san must be evil!"
"It doesn’t matter what he is," Sho says. "We can't worry about why's right now. We have to think of a way to --"
"Stop it!" Nino cuts in. "Why are you guys skirting around the obvious solution? I have to find Johnny and negotiate with him. He's the one who takes care of the imports and exports, right? He's the problem! And he only wants me to suffer, so I have to --"
Jun strides up to Nino and smacks him hard on the head. "You stop it. Stop making this all about you, you selfish bastard! The second you made that idiotic deal with Johnny you involved all of us! So we're going to work as a team to solve it! Stop putting everything on your own shoulders! You said it yourself, right? That we're friends. Don't friends work together?"
Nino holds his head, shocked silent.
"Man Nino," Aiba teases, "you sure get knocked around a lot."
"Shut up," Nino says, but his voice is hushed, and when Jun turns back around, Ohno sees Nino mumble to himself, "Together."
THIRTY FOUR
They're in the middle of a serious discussion when an idea strikes through Ohno with all the shock of a lightning bolt.
"The safe," he says, glancing at Nino. "There was a safe in Johnny's house, I saw. You - you said it was full of money."
"No way," Nino slaps his palm down. "We're not touching it. I'm not going to put any more people in danger."
But the others are looking interested at Ohno's suggestion, and Nino sees this too. "I'm not kidding. This guy isn't just going to stop at Ohno's mom. Your families - Sho, your brother --"
"My brother," Sho says calmly, "idolizes Ninomiya-san and hates the mean old mayor for getting Ninomiya-san in trouble all the time. And my parents agree."
Nino considers Sho for a long moment. “How long as it been, since you figured it out? That Johnny was the one who trapped your brother inside the mine?”
Aiba gasps, “What?!”
Sho’s hands tighten into fists on his lap. “A while ago,” he whispers. “Shika said that that day, he’d seen Johnny-san on the street, and asked him if there were any lamps he could use freely, and Johnny-san suggested the mine. Shika knows he’s not allowed there alone, but of course he’d listen to the mayor. Moreover, who else would have access to the materials so easily? He must have wanted to frame you.” Sho leans forward, eyes intense. “Listen to me, Nino. Johnny-san is abusing his power. He needs to be stopped. And you - you can expose him. Don’t think it’s escaped the town’s notice: Johnny-san’s absence at the mine collapse. He had a duty to be there as mayor, and he wasn’t. People are starting to question his politics now.”
Nino shakes his head, frowning slightly. "It doesn't matter what a few townspeople think, as long as Johnny is mayor --"
"But that's just it, isn't it?" Jun realizes. "Since you came, Nino, this town has been changing. Of course you have no clue, but life is monotonous here, and your magic tricks reminded us that it doesn’t have to be. We followed Johnny-san because he had done so much for us, in the beginning. But even if he had good intentions at first, obviously he's not the same now. If we can get the money from Johnny-san, then we can show it to the other villagers, reveal him for the fraud he is. Kill two birds with one stone."
There's a pause while each person turns over the situation in their mind. Jun's right. They're backed up against a brick wall and this seems like the only meaningful choice to make.
Nino says quietly, "It won't be easy. He'll have put up precautions because he'll be expecting me back."
"But will he be expecting us, too?" Aiba grins.
THIRTY FIVE
They draw up a plan: Nino will head off to Johnny's house first, and the various people Johnny's paying to snitch on him will supposedly follow. The four of them will take those kids out of commission, and meet Nino at Johnny's house. Nino will create a diversion with his special gunpowder to draw Johnny out of the house. He'll rush in, lock out Johnny, and crack the safe (Nino assured them all that he'd take care of that, no problem; Aiba had asked how Nino learnt that skill; Jun snapped that they didn't have time for storytelling), grab the money, and pass it out a window to the others. Then they'd all run for it. If no one expects the four of them to be there, then no one should suspect anything when they leave.
"If there are people in your way, you can stop them with this," Nino says, taking out a few small white pellets from his pocket. "I threw these at that idiot teenager by the creek. The powder tastes awful and it burns your eyes. Here, take one, each of you." They do. Ohno picks up his pellet gingerly. Its skin is thin and taught and it feels extremely fragile. Fragile and volatile.
"If you press too hard, it'll explode," Nino warns.
He probably shouldn't have said that, now Aiba's going to --
"Augh!"
"Aiba!!"
"Sorry! Sorry! Wow, it really is bitter."
Nino laughs. "You guys. Can you really handle this?"
"We'll be fine," Sho reassures him, wiping Aiba's face with his sleeve. "Don't worry, Nino, we won't let you down.”
Though they must look idiotic, each of them with their faces streaked with white and trying not to gag with the taste, Nino smiles with something close to pride. "I know."
THIRTY SIX
Nino insists on going home to pick up his full costume, top hat and all. It's hard, stepping in the apartment, and seeing all the damage again. They cleaned up a bit in the kitchen and bedroom but the majority of the place is still in full wreckage. Nino squeezes Ohno's hand and quickly gathers his things: jacket, travelling bag, top hat. They leave without saying a word.
"You're all dressed up," Ohno notices, watching Nino button his cufflinks. Something strikes him as strange - he doesn’t understand why Nino would want all his things with him; it seems unnecessary for what they’re about to do.
"I'm going to face this guy head on, Oh-chan," Nino explains. "I'm going to show him the man that I've become. Oh, and look - it makes me an easier target." Nino jerks a thumb behind him, and Ohno glances back: someone darts behind a house - was that Akibara-kun?
"Oh-chan," Nino turns to him and takes both his hands. "It's time for you to go now, okay? Go to the others now."
Ohno pouts. "Can't I stay with you for a little while longer?"
Nino smiles regretfully. "We've got to follow the plan. Johnny can't see you coming." Ohno nods and begins to turn away, but Nino suddenly pulls him back.
"Wait, Oh-chan, I just wanted to thank you," Nino says in a rush. "For everything. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't met you, and I don't like to think about it."
"Then don't," Ohno whispers. He can't imagine a life without Nino in it, either.
"And I want you to know," Nino continues, "that whatever happens, you'll always be my best friend. And I would never do anything to hurt you."
"Whatever happens?" Ohno echoes, feeling something tighten uncomfortably in his gut.
"No worries," Nino says, eyes shining. "I've wandered all my life, looking for a family. Now that I have one, I'm not going to give it up so easily. It'll be okay. I promise. Trust me, alright? I just need you to trust me." Nino waits for Ohno's nod, and lifts up Ohno's hand to deposit a quick kiss on his knuckles, just as he had, the first day they met. And with that, Nino turns away and hurries off, cape billowing behind him.
Have one? Ohno thinks, confused.
"There he goes," Sho says, coming up behind Ohno. On his other side, Jun and Aiba grin at each other ruefully. The four of them stand together, patient, until they see the hulking shape of Akibara leave his hiding place and run after Nino.
"And here we go," Sho says, and they follow too.
part eight