Red Threads
Title : Red Threads ~ Maboroshi verse part 2 of 3
Author :sakumo114
Beta reader : afrit_marid *thanks for everything*
Length : 2592 words
Genre : AU, Angst
Rating : PG-13
Pairing : Sakuraiba, broken-Yama Pair, and Matsumiya
Disclaimer : I own them in my dreamland
Summary : Even if our red threads have been severed, memories of you will never fade.
Warning : Aiba-centric. It’s the second installment of the Maboroshi-verse. The last one will be released on 25th January 2011.
Previous Link : Illusion (the 1st installment)
*-*-*-*-*
“Sho-chan…,” Aiba called his boyfriend who sat on the passenger seat of his car.
“Hmm?” Sho tilted his head and faced Aiba. “What’s wrong, Aiba-chan?”
“Hmm… I was just wondering… why did you confess to me? Suddenly you’re saying that you love me but you were the one who dumped me first…”
“I didn’t dump you; I just didn’t accept your confession that time…”
“Isn’t it the same, Mr. Genius?” Aiba annoyed with Sho’s words. Sho smiled amusedly and pinched Aiba’s left cheek.
“Haha… you look cuter when you’re pouting like that…,” Sho said. Aiba pushed the brake all of sudden.
“What’s wrong!?” Sho astonished because of what his boyfriend did.
“Look… I barely hit that man…,” Aiba pointed to a body that lay in front of them.
“Are you sure that it’s a man? Or maybe… is it a… ghost?” Sho said as he realized that they were in a dark road and nobody lived in this area.
“Mou… don’t scare me!” Aiba whined and looked at Sho with teary eyes. “I’m sure that he is a man and we must help him.”
Aiba walked out of the car, it made Sho follow him. Then, Aiba’s face looked paler. There’s no one lying in front of their car.
“See… you didn’t believe me right… that wasn’t a man, Aiba-chan…,” Sho shivered then he felt something on his back.
“Don’t you dare make a move…,” someone said behind Sho.
“Give me the key to your car or we will shoot you!” said the other one behind Aiba. The poor guy bit his bottom lip while handing the key.
The men entered Aiba’s car then left Aiba and Sho in a frozen state.
“What should we do now?” Aiba trembled. He didn’t expect something like this would happen to them.
“I don’t know… but all of our luggages are gone too…”
“I’m sorry….”
“It’s okay Aiba-chan, they had guns after all… What time is it, by the way?”
“Didn’t you have a watch, Sho-chan?”
“I didn’t wear it, I left it in my bag and my bag is in your car.”
“Eh? You didn’t bring your bag?”
“Obviously! I’m afraid that something bad would happen to you… so I followed you when you went out!”
“Then how about your wallet, is it in your bag too?”
“Unfortunately… yes!”
“Oh my God! Seriously! What should we do now!? Both of us don’t have any money!”
“Heh!? Your wallet?”
“I put it in the dashboard…”
“Oh shit…”
“How about your phone, Sho-chan? I put mine in the dashboard too.”
Sho snapped and pulled his phone from his jean’s pocket.
“At least… we still have my phone,” Sho said bitterly and pushed some buttons from his phone, “but… there’s no signal here.”
“Aww… you must be kidding…,” Aiba whined and scratched his head desperately.
“I think we should start walking, at least until we get some signal.”
It was Christmas Eve and it was totally cold outside. Aiba sneezes non-stop then Sho brought his scarf to Aiba’s neck.
“Is it better?” Sho asked while bringing Aiba’s right hand inside his jacket’s pocket.
“Yeah… it’s so warm,” Aiba said as he snuggled in Sho’s arm, seeking the warmth. Then the two of them kept walking along the road.
"Nee... Aiba-chan..."
"Hmmm?"
"Happy Birthday...," Sho gave him a small peck, "and Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas too, Sho-chan..." Aiba snuggled again in Sho's arm. Thank you for being by my side now.
*-*-*-*-*
“Piiip… piiip…,” Sho’s phone buzzed and they stopped.
“I think there’s some signal here,” Aiba said amusedly. Sho’s phone didn’t stop buzzing.
“Yeah…,” Sho pushed the buttons lazily.
“It seems there are many people who tried calling you…”
“It’s just Satoshi…”
“Oh… Ohno-san… maybe he’s worried because you weren’t there last night… he said he wanted to have dinner with you, right?”
“Yeah… but I have to go with you, dear… you’re more important than him…,” Sho smiled brightly and Aiba felt warm because of it.
“We need to call your aunt, by the way… we could ask her to pick us up,” Sho pushed the buttons again.
“Do you have her number?”
“Yup… she is Matsushima Nahomi, right?”
*-*-*-*-*
“You scared me Masaki!” Matsushima looked so upset. Aiba and Sho bowed deeply.
“I’m sorry if I made you worry…,” Aiba said.
“I thought your soul was haunting me,” Matsushima being random because of confusion.
“What!?” said Aiba and Sho, surprised.
“I thought you died on that accident, since your identities are on those corpses!”
“What do you mean? What accident?” Sho didn’t get what Matsushima meant.
“A car accident, there were two men inside the car. They died and were burnt. And I thought they were you,” Matsushima explained as a message came to Sho’s phone. Sho opened the mail and Aiba took a peek at Sho’s phone. It’s Ohno Satoshi.
“Sho-chan… where are you? I know you’re still alive. You’re not burnt inside Aiba-san’s car, right? Please tell me that you’re safe. Please reply to my mail and say that you’re still alive somewhere.”
Sho flipped his phone and put it in his pocket.
“Eh? You didn’t reply? He’s worried about you,” Aiba complained.
“There’s no need to tell him about my well being now,” Sho answered coldly.
“Why?”
“You said he’s too spoiled and you got annoyed because of that. If I answer him now, he will be looking for me and disturb our relationship.”
“I know I said that… but this is different Sho-chan! He thought you died but you didn’t!”
“Then? Okay, if you say so… I’ll reply and he will search for me, and you’ll get annoyed because he will always cling to me!”
“Sho-chan!”
“Uhug!” Matsushima coughed. “I’m not here to listen to you two quarrel.”
“I’m sorry…,” Sho and Aiba murmured and bowed in front of Matsushima.
“Get in the car now! We don’t have much time to waste here,” Matsushima said as she entered her car.
*-*-*-*-*
“I think you must change your identities now, since your real identities are dead and you don’t have any IDs’ with you,” Matsushima said while pouring coffee. “My friend could make fake IDs so you can get a job or something.”
“But…,” Sho started to complain but Aiba cut his words.
“We could change our family name, but we wouldn’t change our first name though. You’re still Sho and I’m still Masaki. Then we must have the same last name, so we can share it,” Aiba said excitedly. Sho sighed, he couldn’t win over his boyfriend.
“Then what name will we share?”
“How about combining your family name with mine? Like merging your first kanji and my last kanji?”
“Okay… okay… I get it… the combination of Sakurai and Aiba….,” Sho murmured.
“How about Sakuraba? It from the kanji “Sakura” of Sakurai and “Ba” of Aiba. It means “sakura’s leaf” or it can also mean “sakura’s petal”. What do you think?” Matsushima said.
“That sounds nice…,” Sho smiled and faced Aiba.
“Okay… so my name is Sakuraba Masaki and your name is Sakuraba Sho,” Aiba smiled widely.
*-*-*-*-*
Two years past and they ran their new lives happily. Both of them are working on a magazine named “Othello” for the past two years as a reporter and a cameraman.
“Masaki-chan?” someone called Aiba and made him turn around. It’s Nakajima Tomoko, the chief of Othello magazine, and also a best friend of Matsushima.
“Yes? How can I help you, ma’am?”
“I want you and Sho-san interview the owner of this café tomorrow. It’s a small yet cozy café on eastern Tokyo. It’s named 15th Moon and the owner’s name is Matsumoto Jun.”
“Argh!”
“What’s wrong, Masaki-chan?”
“Ah… it’s nothing… but he is Sho-chan’s friend… I mean that Matsumoto guy.”
“Really? That’s a coincidence. If you say so… you couldn’t reject this project, right?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Aiba smiled brightly. I bet Sho will be surprised, and that Matsumoto too.
*-*-*-*-*
“You said yes!?” Sho looked uneasy after hearing about their latest project.
“Yup! Are you surprised?” Aiba gave his boyfriend a sparkling grin.
“Yeah… but I’m sorry that we must reject it…”
“Eh? Why? Is it because of Ohno-san?”
“Masaki!”
“You don’t want to meet him. Am I right?”
Sho kept his mouth shut. He didn’t dare to look at Aiba. “I need go to the bathroom.”
Sho slammed the door and Aiba sighed.
“What’s wrong with him?” Aiba murmured. Suddenly there’s a buzzing sound on the table, it was Sho’s phone. He forgot to bring his phone.
Aiba took the phone. Satoshi’s calling? It’s Ohno-san… So Sho-chan still kept in contact with him. Aiba flipped the phone after thinking awhile.
“Hello?”
“Ah? Sho-chan? Sho-chan, is that you? Finally you answered my call…”
Aiba dazed with Ohno’s words. He sounds so desperate. Maybe he missed Sho-chan badly.
“Yeah… it’s me…,” Aiba’s said, pretending to be Sho. “What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t forget that tomorrow is my birthday, right? I was just wondering what cake I should buy… Shortcake, cheese cake, or fruit cake?” Aiba caught Ohno’s voice trembling a bit
“I think fruit cake’s fine…”
“Okay… I’ll buy it tomorrow… then… Sho-chan… would you like to come home tomorrow… it’s okay if you’re busy… but I wonder if you could go home and celebrate it with me…”
“I can’t promise you… but I’ll try to go home tomorrow…,” Aiba lied.
“I’m glad to hear that… because I’ll be alone if you won’t come… Jun-kun and Nino-chan are busy with their café… they said that tomorrow a magazine named Othello will be interviewing them… but when I said that I would help them, they told me to take a break tomorrow, because of my birthday… it sounds weird, right?” Ohno giggled, but Aiba could hear a sob at the same time.
“So you wouldn’t come to the café tomorrow?”
“Yeah… I won’t… maybe I’ll go to a cake shop… then I’ll go to a florist… then I’ll go to your grave… then I’ll go home… that’s all…,” Ohno giggled again. Wait? What did he say about my grave? Is he going nuts!?
“Masaki…,” Aiba heard Sho’s voice from the distance.
“Ah, hai!!! Eh… I have something to do now… bye…,” Aiba flipped the phone and put it on the table.
“I’m sorry… but I still can’t go there… and you were right… it’s because of Satoshi…”
“Don’t worry. He wouldn’t be at the café tomorrow,” Aiba said calmly and it made Sho confuse.
“How did you know?” Sho raised his voice as Aiba closed his own mouth with his hands. Sho looked at his phone that Aiba stared at, and then flipped it open. There was an incoming call from Ohno.
“Could you explain this Masaki?” Sho showed his phone to Aiba and the other just shook his head.
*-*-*-*-*
26th November, two years after the incident, and Sho and Aiba will be going back to Tokyo. Finally, Sho agreed to do the interview for Jun’s café.
“I wonder if Matsumoto-san forgot about us, since we have different haircuts from two years ago,” Aiba chirped in and Sho didn’t give any response to him.
Is he thinking about Ohno-san? Aiba thought as he felt his heart clench.
“What are you thinking about, Sho-chan?” Aiba asked, and once again Sho ignored him.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me… it’s fine!” Aiba whined as he drove his car
*-*-*-*-*
“You can do this alone, right?” Sho asked after Aiba parked his car in front of the café.
“What do you mean!?”
“I know you can do this interview by yourself,” Sho murmured and pulled his head down. Without saying a word, Aiba got out of the car and slammed the door. Okay! If that’s what you want! Aiba was upset because of Sho’s behavior today.
*-*-*-*-*
“Excuse me…,” Aiba said as he bowed to a figure in front of him. “I’m Sakuraba Masaki from Othello Magazine, nice to meet you.”
“I’m Ninomiya Kazunari, nice to meet you too.”
“Ehmm… if I may ask, where’s Matsumoto-san?”
“He burnt his hand this morning, so he’s in the clinic now. But you can ask me anything you want.”
“I’m sorry but I think I’ll wait for the owner.”
“I’m the owner too! Half of this café is mine.”
“Oh… I’m sorry I didn’t know about that.”
“It doesn’t matter. But you should know that I’m the owner too.”
Aiba giggled dryly.
“Good morning,” someone entered the café. It’s Ohno-san!
“Ah! Oh-chan! I thought I told you that you’ll rest today. You looked so tired this week,” Nino yelled at the figure who gave him a weak smile.
“I want to give this cake to Sho-chan,” Oh-chan smiled. “He said that he would like to have a fruit cake. So I bought it for him.”
“Oh… Okay… whatever… but why didn’t you put it on his grave!?”
“I think he will come to this café, but I didn’t expect that he will bring his friend here. Maybe I’ll borrow two of your plates.”
“Uh-huh… it sounded creepier when you said Sho-chan would bring his friend,” Nino became annoyed with what Ohno said.
“But…,” Ohno looked at Aiba and smiled. “I see his friend here.”
“Okay, Oh-chan! Please put the cake on the table and get some rest!”
Ohno smiled once again and prepared the cake. After Ohno finished serving the cake, he went back to his apartment.
“What’s with him? And what’s with the cake?” Aiba asked.
“Oh… he is my employee and that cake is for our beloved customer.”
“Beloved customer?”
“Yeah… but it’s been two years now… he died because of an accident.”
“Is he Sakurai Sho? I’ve heard the rumor about that a long time ago.”
“Yeah… he is Sakurai Sho. He died in an accident with his friend… if I didn’t get it wrong… his friend name was Aiba something…”
“Aiba something?”
“Yeah… I don’t know who the hell he was but he was the one who made our Oh-chan suffer.”
“What do you mean?”
“That Aiba guy killed Sho-chan. And because of that, our Oh-chan went into depression. If only that Aiba guy didn’t steal Sho-chan from our Oh-chan…”
“I know… it’s kind of a hard thing when we lose our beloved cousin…”
“Beloved cousin? What the hell are you talking about!? Sho-chan was our Oh-chan’s boyfriend! And that Aiba guy made Sho-chan leave our Oh-chan in sorrow!”
Wait!!! What did you say!? I stole Ohno-san’s boyfriend!? Sho-chan is Ohno-san’s boyfriend!? How can it be!!?!
“Good morning! I’m sorry I’m late!” Jun entered the café while panting.
“Oh dear! I’m glad you’re okay… we haven’t started the interview… let me introduce you… he is…,” Nino wrapped his arm into Jun’s and helped his boyfriend walk in.
“Aiba-san…,” Jun was shocked as Aiba looked pale while staring at the other. “Is it really you? Aiba Masaki-san?”
Aiba shook his head hard and Nino answered Jun’s question. “No… he is Sakuraba Masaki, the reporter of Othello magazine… and who the hell is Aiba Masaki?”
Before Jun could open his mouth, Aiba stormed out of the café.
“Great! He is Aiba after all…,” Jun murmured.
“Is he that Aiba guy who stole Sho-chan?” Nino asked confused. Jun just nodded to his boyfriend. “How could it be?”
*-*-*-*-*
Aiba panted as he slammed the car’s door as he entered it. He was panting hard.
“What’s wrong, Masaki?” Sho asked worriedly.
“May I ask you something, Sho-chan…?”
“S-sure…”
“Who is Ohno Satoshi?”
“What do you mean?"
“Just answer it!”
There was silence between them. Then Sho dared to open his mouth.
“He is… my relative…”
“Is he your cousin?”
“Sort of….”
So that is… Aiba felt his heart being cut by a hundred knives. He lied to me after all.
*-*-*-*-*
Author's Note : Happy Birthday Aiba-chan *throws a confetti* wish you all the best and i wish a good luck for "Bartender" :D
for afrit_marid and lovu_lovu_aiba happy aiba's day to you bb xD
i'm sorry that i'm hanging this part :3
Author :sakumo114
Beta reader : afrit_marid *thanks for everything*
Length : 2592 words
Genre : AU, Angst
Rating : PG-13
Pairing : Sakuraiba, broken-Yama Pair, and Matsumiya
Disclaimer : I own them in my dreamland
Summary : Even if our red threads have been severed, memories of you will never fade.
Warning : Aiba-centric. It’s the second installment of the Maboroshi-verse. The last one will be released on 25th January 2011.
Previous Link : Illusion (the 1st installment)
*-*-*-*-*
“Sho-chan…,” Aiba called his boyfriend who sat on the passenger seat of his car.
“Hmm?” Sho tilted his head and faced Aiba. “What’s wrong, Aiba-chan?”
“Hmm… I was just wondering… why did you confess to me? Suddenly you’re saying that you love me but you were the one who dumped me first…”
“I didn’t dump you; I just didn’t accept your confession that time…”
“Isn’t it the same, Mr. Genius?” Aiba annoyed with Sho’s words. Sho smiled amusedly and pinched Aiba’s left cheek.
“Haha… you look cuter when you’re pouting like that…,” Sho said. Aiba pushed the brake all of sudden.
“What’s wrong!?” Sho astonished because of what his boyfriend did.
“Look… I barely hit that man…,” Aiba pointed to a body that lay in front of them.
“Are you sure that it’s a man? Or maybe… is it a… ghost?” Sho said as he realized that they were in a dark road and nobody lived in this area.
“Mou… don’t scare me!” Aiba whined and looked at Sho with teary eyes. “I’m sure that he is a man and we must help him.”
Aiba walked out of the car, it made Sho follow him. Then, Aiba’s face looked paler. There’s no one lying in front of their car.
“See… you didn’t believe me right… that wasn’t a man, Aiba-chan…,” Sho shivered then he felt something on his back.
“Don’t you dare make a move…,” someone said behind Sho.
“Give me the key to your car or we will shoot you!” said the other one behind Aiba. The poor guy bit his bottom lip while handing the key.
The men entered Aiba’s car then left Aiba and Sho in a frozen state.
“What should we do now?” Aiba trembled. He didn’t expect something like this would happen to them.
“I don’t know… but all of our luggages are gone too…”
“I’m sorry….”
“It’s okay Aiba-chan, they had guns after all… What time is it, by the way?”
“Didn’t you have a watch, Sho-chan?”
“I didn’t wear it, I left it in my bag and my bag is in your car.”
“Eh? You didn’t bring your bag?”
“Obviously! I’m afraid that something bad would happen to you… so I followed you when you went out!”
“Then how about your wallet, is it in your bag too?”
“Unfortunately… yes!”
“Oh my God! Seriously! What should we do now!? Both of us don’t have any money!”
“Heh!? Your wallet?”
“I put it in the dashboard…”
“Oh shit…”
“How about your phone, Sho-chan? I put mine in the dashboard too.”
Sho snapped and pulled his phone from his jean’s pocket.
“At least… we still have my phone,” Sho said bitterly and pushed some buttons from his phone, “but… there’s no signal here.”
“Aww… you must be kidding…,” Aiba whined and scratched his head desperately.
“I think we should start walking, at least until we get some signal.”
It was Christmas Eve and it was totally cold outside. Aiba sneezes non-stop then Sho brought his scarf to Aiba’s neck.
“Is it better?” Sho asked while bringing Aiba’s right hand inside his jacket’s pocket.
“Yeah… it’s so warm,” Aiba said as he snuggled in Sho’s arm, seeking the warmth. Then the two of them kept walking along the road.
"Nee... Aiba-chan..."
"Hmmm?"
"Happy Birthday...," Sho gave him a small peck, "and Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas too, Sho-chan..." Aiba snuggled again in Sho's arm. Thank you for being by my side now.
*-*-*-*-*
“Piiip… piiip…,” Sho’s phone buzzed and they stopped.
“I think there’s some signal here,” Aiba said amusedly. Sho’s phone didn’t stop buzzing.
“Yeah…,” Sho pushed the buttons lazily.
“It seems there are many people who tried calling you…”
“It’s just Satoshi…”
“Oh… Ohno-san… maybe he’s worried because you weren’t there last night… he said he wanted to have dinner with you, right?”
“Yeah… but I have to go with you, dear… you’re more important than him…,” Sho smiled brightly and Aiba felt warm because of it.
“We need to call your aunt, by the way… we could ask her to pick us up,” Sho pushed the buttons again.
“Do you have her number?”
“Yup… she is Matsushima Nahomi, right?”
*-*-*-*-*
“You scared me Masaki!” Matsushima looked so upset. Aiba and Sho bowed deeply.
“I’m sorry if I made you worry…,” Aiba said.
“I thought your soul was haunting me,” Matsushima being random because of confusion.
“What!?” said Aiba and Sho, surprised.
“I thought you died on that accident, since your identities are on those corpses!”
“What do you mean? What accident?” Sho didn’t get what Matsushima meant.
“A car accident, there were two men inside the car. They died and were burnt. And I thought they were you,” Matsushima explained as a message came to Sho’s phone. Sho opened the mail and Aiba took a peek at Sho’s phone. It’s Ohno Satoshi.
“Sho-chan… where are you? I know you’re still alive. You’re not burnt inside Aiba-san’s car, right? Please tell me that you’re safe. Please reply to my mail and say that you’re still alive somewhere.”
Sho flipped his phone and put it in his pocket.
“Eh? You didn’t reply? He’s worried about you,” Aiba complained.
“There’s no need to tell him about my well being now,” Sho answered coldly.
“Why?”
“You said he’s too spoiled and you got annoyed because of that. If I answer him now, he will be looking for me and disturb our relationship.”
“I know I said that… but this is different Sho-chan! He thought you died but you didn’t!”
“Then? Okay, if you say so… I’ll reply and he will search for me, and you’ll get annoyed because he will always cling to me!”
“Sho-chan!”
“Uhug!” Matsushima coughed. “I’m not here to listen to you two quarrel.”
“I’m sorry…,” Sho and Aiba murmured and bowed in front of Matsushima.
“Get in the car now! We don’t have much time to waste here,” Matsushima said as she entered her car.
*-*-*-*-*
“I think you must change your identities now, since your real identities are dead and you don’t have any IDs’ with you,” Matsushima said while pouring coffee. “My friend could make fake IDs so you can get a job or something.”
“But…,” Sho started to complain but Aiba cut his words.
“We could change our family name, but we wouldn’t change our first name though. You’re still Sho and I’m still Masaki. Then we must have the same last name, so we can share it,” Aiba said excitedly. Sho sighed, he couldn’t win over his boyfriend.
“Then what name will we share?”
“How about combining your family name with mine? Like merging your first kanji and my last kanji?”
“Okay… okay… I get it… the combination of Sakurai and Aiba….,” Sho murmured.
“How about Sakuraba? It from the kanji “Sakura” of Sakurai and “Ba” of Aiba. It means “sakura’s leaf” or it can also mean “sakura’s petal”. What do you think?” Matsushima said.
“That sounds nice…,” Sho smiled and faced Aiba.
“Okay… so my name is Sakuraba Masaki and your name is Sakuraba Sho,” Aiba smiled widely.
*-*-*-*-*
Two years past and they ran their new lives happily. Both of them are working on a magazine named “Othello” for the past two years as a reporter and a cameraman.
“Masaki-chan?” someone called Aiba and made him turn around. It’s Nakajima Tomoko, the chief of Othello magazine, and also a best friend of Matsushima.
“Yes? How can I help you, ma’am?”
“I want you and Sho-san interview the owner of this café tomorrow. It’s a small yet cozy café on eastern Tokyo. It’s named 15th Moon and the owner’s name is Matsumoto Jun.”
“Argh!”
“What’s wrong, Masaki-chan?”
“Ah… it’s nothing… but he is Sho-chan’s friend… I mean that Matsumoto guy.”
“Really? That’s a coincidence. If you say so… you couldn’t reject this project, right?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Aiba smiled brightly. I bet Sho will be surprised, and that Matsumoto too.
*-*-*-*-*
“You said yes!?” Sho looked uneasy after hearing about their latest project.
“Yup! Are you surprised?” Aiba gave his boyfriend a sparkling grin.
“Yeah… but I’m sorry that we must reject it…”
“Eh? Why? Is it because of Ohno-san?”
“Masaki!”
“You don’t want to meet him. Am I right?”
Sho kept his mouth shut. He didn’t dare to look at Aiba. “I need go to the bathroom.”
Sho slammed the door and Aiba sighed.
“What’s wrong with him?” Aiba murmured. Suddenly there’s a buzzing sound on the table, it was Sho’s phone. He forgot to bring his phone.
Aiba took the phone. Satoshi’s calling? It’s Ohno-san… So Sho-chan still kept in contact with him. Aiba flipped the phone after thinking awhile.
“Hello?”
“Ah? Sho-chan? Sho-chan, is that you? Finally you answered my call…”
Aiba dazed with Ohno’s words. He sounds so desperate. Maybe he missed Sho-chan badly.
“Yeah… it’s me…,” Aiba’s said, pretending to be Sho. “What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t forget that tomorrow is my birthday, right? I was just wondering what cake I should buy… Shortcake, cheese cake, or fruit cake?” Aiba caught Ohno’s voice trembling a bit
“I think fruit cake’s fine…”
“Okay… I’ll buy it tomorrow… then… Sho-chan… would you like to come home tomorrow… it’s okay if you’re busy… but I wonder if you could go home and celebrate it with me…”
“I can’t promise you… but I’ll try to go home tomorrow…,” Aiba lied.
“I’m glad to hear that… because I’ll be alone if you won’t come… Jun-kun and Nino-chan are busy with their café… they said that tomorrow a magazine named Othello will be interviewing them… but when I said that I would help them, they told me to take a break tomorrow, because of my birthday… it sounds weird, right?” Ohno giggled, but Aiba could hear a sob at the same time.
“So you wouldn’t come to the café tomorrow?”
“Yeah… I won’t… maybe I’ll go to a cake shop… then I’ll go to a florist… then I’ll go to your grave… then I’ll go home… that’s all…,” Ohno giggled again. Wait? What did he say about my grave? Is he going nuts!?
“Masaki…,” Aiba heard Sho’s voice from the distance.
“Ah, hai!!! Eh… I have something to do now… bye…,” Aiba flipped the phone and put it on the table.
“I’m sorry… but I still can’t go there… and you were right… it’s because of Satoshi…”
“Don’t worry. He wouldn’t be at the café tomorrow,” Aiba said calmly and it made Sho confuse.
“How did you know?” Sho raised his voice as Aiba closed his own mouth with his hands. Sho looked at his phone that Aiba stared at, and then flipped it open. There was an incoming call from Ohno.
“Could you explain this Masaki?” Sho showed his phone to Aiba and the other just shook his head.
*-*-*-*-*
26th November, two years after the incident, and Sho and Aiba will be going back to Tokyo. Finally, Sho agreed to do the interview for Jun’s café.
“I wonder if Matsumoto-san forgot about us, since we have different haircuts from two years ago,” Aiba chirped in and Sho didn’t give any response to him.
Is he thinking about Ohno-san? Aiba thought as he felt his heart clench.
“What are you thinking about, Sho-chan?” Aiba asked, and once again Sho ignored him.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me… it’s fine!” Aiba whined as he drove his car
*-*-*-*-*
“You can do this alone, right?” Sho asked after Aiba parked his car in front of the café.
“What do you mean!?”
“I know you can do this interview by yourself,” Sho murmured and pulled his head down. Without saying a word, Aiba got out of the car and slammed the door. Okay! If that’s what you want! Aiba was upset because of Sho’s behavior today.
*-*-*-*-*
“Excuse me…,” Aiba said as he bowed to a figure in front of him. “I’m Sakuraba Masaki from Othello Magazine, nice to meet you.”
“I’m Ninomiya Kazunari, nice to meet you too.”
“Ehmm… if I may ask, where’s Matsumoto-san?”
“He burnt his hand this morning, so he’s in the clinic now. But you can ask me anything you want.”
“I’m sorry but I think I’ll wait for the owner.”
“I’m the owner too! Half of this café is mine.”
“Oh… I’m sorry I didn’t know about that.”
“It doesn’t matter. But you should know that I’m the owner too.”
Aiba giggled dryly.
“Good morning,” someone entered the café. It’s Ohno-san!
“Ah! Oh-chan! I thought I told you that you’ll rest today. You looked so tired this week,” Nino yelled at the figure who gave him a weak smile.
“I want to give this cake to Sho-chan,” Oh-chan smiled. “He said that he would like to have a fruit cake. So I bought it for him.”
“Oh… Okay… whatever… but why didn’t you put it on his grave!?”
“I think he will come to this café, but I didn’t expect that he will bring his friend here. Maybe I’ll borrow two of your plates.”
“Uh-huh… it sounded creepier when you said Sho-chan would bring his friend,” Nino became annoyed with what Ohno said.
“But…,” Ohno looked at Aiba and smiled. “I see his friend here.”
“Okay, Oh-chan! Please put the cake on the table and get some rest!”
Ohno smiled once again and prepared the cake. After Ohno finished serving the cake, he went back to his apartment.
“What’s with him? And what’s with the cake?” Aiba asked.
“Oh… he is my employee and that cake is for our beloved customer.”
“Beloved customer?”
“Yeah… but it’s been two years now… he died because of an accident.”
“Is he Sakurai Sho? I’ve heard the rumor about that a long time ago.”
“Yeah… he is Sakurai Sho. He died in an accident with his friend… if I didn’t get it wrong… his friend name was Aiba something…”
“Aiba something?”
“Yeah… I don’t know who the hell he was but he was the one who made our Oh-chan suffer.”
“What do you mean?”
“That Aiba guy killed Sho-chan. And because of that, our Oh-chan went into depression. If only that Aiba guy didn’t steal Sho-chan from our Oh-chan…”
“I know… it’s kind of a hard thing when we lose our beloved cousin…”
“Beloved cousin? What the hell are you talking about!? Sho-chan was our Oh-chan’s boyfriend! And that Aiba guy made Sho-chan leave our Oh-chan in sorrow!”
Wait!!! What did you say!? I stole Ohno-san’s boyfriend!? Sho-chan is Ohno-san’s boyfriend!? How can it be!!?!
“Good morning! I’m sorry I’m late!” Jun entered the café while panting.
“Oh dear! I’m glad you’re okay… we haven’t started the interview… let me introduce you… he is…,” Nino wrapped his arm into Jun’s and helped his boyfriend walk in.
“Aiba-san…,” Jun was shocked as Aiba looked pale while staring at the other. “Is it really you? Aiba Masaki-san?”
Aiba shook his head hard and Nino answered Jun’s question. “No… he is Sakuraba Masaki, the reporter of Othello magazine… and who the hell is Aiba Masaki?”
Before Jun could open his mouth, Aiba stormed out of the café.
“Great! He is Aiba after all…,” Jun murmured.
“Is he that Aiba guy who stole Sho-chan?” Nino asked confused. Jun just nodded to his boyfriend. “How could it be?”
*-*-*-*-*
Aiba panted as he slammed the car’s door as he entered it. He was panting hard.
“What’s wrong, Masaki?” Sho asked worriedly.
“May I ask you something, Sho-chan…?”
“S-sure…”
“Who is Ohno Satoshi?”
“What do you mean?"
“Just answer it!”
There was silence between them. Then Sho dared to open his mouth.
“He is… my relative…”
“Is he your cousin?”
“Sort of….”
So that is… Aiba felt his heart being cut by a hundred knives. He lied to me after all.
*-*-*-*-*
Author's Note : Happy Birthday Aiba-chan *throws a confetti* wish you all the best and i wish a good luck for "Bartender" :D
for afrit_marid and lovu_lovu_aiba happy aiba's day to you bb xD
i'm sorry that i'm hanging this part :3