The Day Nino Hated Magic
Title: The Day Nino Hated Magic
Author: stormytwilight
Pairing: Ohmiya
Rating: G
Word Count: 4,377
Summary: Nino used to love magic. He was obsessed with it, in fact, but one night changed it all.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don’t own Arashi. I just own the stupid magician.
Author’s Notes: It’s my first Ohmiya fic so have mercy. I got inspired while I watched their TIME concert and saw Ohmiya’s little scene after Hero. It's unbeta-ed so forgive the possible mistakes. Douzo!
It was a quiet Saturday night at Jun’s house. Everyone was there, using up the peaceful hours to have a little rest and relaxation after an exhausting and grueling week. They were all inside their own little world, not minding their surroundings due to their sudden deafness and ignorance at what they were not doing.
Sho and Aiba were engrossed in playing Monopoly in a corner, too engrossed, in fact, to the point that they weren’t making any noise at all. Instead, they were concentrating on building strategies to beat the other. Occasionally, they would glance at each other to throw an arrogant smirk that says: I’ll beat you up. And you promised, if I win, we would do things my way next time. Then they would raise their eyebrows suggestively and would go back to the game, seemingly eager to do so than before.
By the lone armchair near the window, Jun, with a pair of red eyeglasses on, had his nose buried in a thick novel. He reached for his mug of coffee and sipped a little, tearing his eyes away from the book to see what the others were doing. When he was perfectly sure that nobody was demolishing his beautiful apartment, he got back to what he was reading.
Next were Ohno and Nino, settled on each end of a long, black couch. Ohno, a lead pencil in hand and a blank sketch pad lying on his lap, was staring into nowhere, appearing to be searching for inspiration from random things at Jun’s living room. He patiently tapped the tip of his pencil against the empty surface of his sketch pad, humming quietly a melody that came to his mind.
But not everyone was engaged in a silent activity. Nino was looking distinctly restless and bored. His pack of cards that he brought everywhere with him was resting on a table, together with his handy DS Lite and book of magic tricks. These things didn’t interest him at the moment because he wasn’t in the mood to not be playful and to not make noise. For God’s sake, he wanted to shout out loud to bring some life into the dead room. But he didn’t dare try it. He still wanted to live and see the sunrise.
Nino then decided to get out of the house because the silence was driving him irrevocably insane. But where would he go? With a sigh and a feeling of defeat, since he can’t think of anything better to do than to sit in the midst of his still band mates, he snatched up his deck of cards and began shuffling them.
The sound of the plastic cards jumbling up together made Jun glance up. Nino was than given a deathly glare by him and Nino grimaced back uncaringly. Jun rolled his eyes and turned back to the book. Nino continued on rearranging the cards. He was already disturbing the others with the noise but they ignored Nino and Nino gladly ignored them back. He stared at the continuous shuffling of the deck in his hand. Visions of his tricks flitted past his mind, the way he would vanish the cards from the customers he did magic for and the way they would applaud in amazement at his talent. His shows were always a hit, too bad he doesn’t have enough time to spend for his magic. He frequently cancels his shows due to lack of time. In fact, he was supposed to have a show tonight…
“Oh!” Nino had jumped up from his seat suddenly that he looked like he was electrocuted, a huge grin growing on his face. “Oh! Oh!”
There was a place he could run to at this essential time of need. He could go to the comedy bar where he was supposed to perform at tonight. Finally, a haven appeared for him.
“What is wrong with you?” Jun said, donning a look on his face that’s halfway in surprise and in disgust.
“Ah, it’s nothing,” Nino said hastily, realizing that all four of them were staring at him and sinking back to the couch. He stared into space, thinking fast. His show would’ve started already but there were many other magicians lined up after him so he could still catch a few if he took the subway from here. It would take less than ten minutes to get there.
He looked around the room once more, wondering who he would take with him. Nino instantly thought of Ohno as he surveyed him, still not drawing anything on the paper. He had made up his mind.
“Riida.” Nino murmured, inching towards Ohno’s direction to sit next to him.
Ohno didn’t answer him. He was pondering hard on a subject for his sketch. But Nino’s next call abruptly distracted him, making his head snap up in the direction of the call.
“Satoshi.” His voice was lower than a cricket’s whisper.
“Nani?” Ohno asked, his tone equally low but inquiring.
Nino tugged on Ohno’s arm and pulled him closer so he could deliver a whisper into Ohno’s ear. “Let’s go out,” he said, gripping his arm tightly in ecstasy. “Let’s watch some magic. Right now. I know a place.”
“Now?” Ohno pulled back to crease his brow at Nino in confusion. “Why?”
“Just for fun. And I’m bored.” Nino insisted, leaning his head on Ohno’s shoulder and gazing up at him pleadingly. He added a pout to give an extra impact. “Come on. It’ll be fun!”
Ohno took a short glimpse at his bare sketch pad, looked down at the imploring Nino and smiled in agreement. “Okay. But just for a while, okay? I have a shoot tomorrow morning.”
“Yay!” In extreme joy, Nino jumped up again and pulled Ohno to his feet without further ado. “You’ll enjoy, I promise! Let’s go!”
“Where’re you guys going?” Sho suddenly asked in the middle of counting his thick wad of play money.
Nino looked back in high euphoria and replied, “To a bar. Sorry, you guys are not invited. Only Riida and I are going.”
“We weren’t asking you to invite us.”
“Yeah,” Aiba quipped. “Don’t let us disturb your date.”
Nino dragged Ohno to the door in blissful happiness. “Ja! See you all later!”
And he slammed the door close, linked his arm with Ohno’s and skipped towards the cold night air, a sense of anticipation rising within him. He felt like this night would turn out to be fun after all.
* * * * *
“Here we are.”
“A comedy bar?” Ohno said, a slightly incredulous expression on his face. “Why here?”
“There’s a magic show on,” explained Nino, marching past the entrance and into the raucous peals of laughter and thunderous show music that was the comedy bar, Ohno in tow.
The two slipped past the throngs of waiters in colorful attires and overjoyed customers, trying to spot a vacant chair in the jam-packed room. The place was unbelievably full but fortunately, there were two unoccupied seats right in front of the stage.
“Why are there too many people tonight?” Nino wondered, falling back into the chair and looking around. “I shouldn’t have cancelled my performance. I lost the exposure.”
Ohno frowned at him. “Then we wouldn’t be together right now.”
“You have a point.” He flashed a big grin at Ohno before raising his hand to order two bottles of beer from one of the passing gay waiters. Then Nino and Ohno both looked up expectantly at the stage just as the host of the show appeared.
“Next up, a magician famous for disappearing feats is about to perform a spectacular trick. Let’s give it up for the Vanisher the Great.”
Applause imbued the room as a short and stout man in his early thirties trotted to the stage, heaving with him a humungous carton that can easily fit a single person inside. He struggled to place the box on top of a sturdy-looking table standing on the stage and, after, flourished a wand from his sleeve. Then he gave a little bow that triggered another series of appreciative and drunken clapping.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the world!” Vanisher the Great spoke with a slurred and weird accent, flipping back the black cape he was wearing. “I am Vanisher the Great. Tonight, at this very exhilarating hour of darkness and late-night bar-hopping, I am about to present to you a trick that will knock your socks, and shoes, off your feet!”
He paused dramatically, waiting for another round of applause, which the crowd idiotically gave.
“This guy’s thick,” Nino muttered at Ohno beside him, grabbing their drinks that was just served to them. He took a tiny sip of his beer.
Ohno nodded in agreement.
“But before anything else, I would like to ask a volunteer from the audience to come up and do the trick with me.”
Instantaneously, several people’s hands shot up and others even began jumping up and down on their seats, shouting to be picked.
“Oh! Riida, why don’t you try?” Nino suggested playfully, nudging him at the ribs.
“Eh? No way!” Ohno made a face at the uncanny magician, who appeared to be enjoying the colossal amount of attention. “I’d rather turn Aiba-chan’s socks into a shake and drink it.”
“Come on. Try it, it might be cool,” Nino reasoned, shaking Ohno’s arm persistently.
“No, thank you.” Ohno gulped down some more beer.
“You know what?” Nino said nonchalantly, eyes straying around the bar’s interior and blasting his compelling powers at Ohno. “I brought a pair of Aiba-chan’s socks with me and surely there’s a blender at the bar.”
Ohno narrowed his eyes at Nino. “Seriously?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, okay!” Ohno heaved a massive sigh and finished up his whole bottle of beer. He then slammed the empty bottle on the table and, to Nino’s tremendous pleasure, stood up, raising an arm right in front of the magician’s face. “Excuse me, Vanisher the Great-san! I would like to try your magic trick!”
Vanisher the Great looked down at Ohno’s little request and instantly beamed like a man who just found a lucky quarter on the street. “And we have a volunteer! Come on up, young man!” the magician announced. The hopeful spectators booed in disappointment but nevertheless, settled down.
Before climbing up the stage, Ohno glanced back at the delighted Nino. “You owe me for making me do this.”
Nino nodded encouragingly, waving his hand. “Just go on and enjoy yourself! Ganbatte!”
As soon as Ohno stepped onto the stage, he sought Nino’s enthusiastic face, beginning to regret that he fell for Nino’s feeble but effective persuasive methods. But he was just too weak to resist him. Nino laughed at his lost expression and gave out a loud cheer.
“Go Riida!”
“Okay, what I’m going to do to my handsome assistant is make him enter this very big box.” Vanisher the Great patted the brown carton behind him. “This box, as you all can see, is closed at the bottom and the table is purely just a table. Why don’t you check, my assistant?”
Ohno gingerly touched the box and lifted it, verifying if there really is no trick on it and the table. He looked back at the audience and gave two reluctant thumbs-up.
“And I have my approval from my assistant! Now, after I let him in my box, I’ll count to ten and make him vanish like magic! Okay, now may I ask you, dear boy, to carefully go into the box. I’m sure you’ll fit, don’t worry.”
Ohno looked back one last time at Nino, turned to the box and sighed in a determined manner. Slowly and hesitantly, Ohno stepped onto a low platform in front of the table and ascended into the box. The stubby fingers of the magician gripped Ohno’s arm painfully as he helped him in a slightly brusque way.
Nino was watching intently as Ohno sat up inside the box, looking entirely out-of-place. He was giving a look that screamed, I shouldn’t be doing this stupid thing.
“May I ask you to please lie down?”
Ohno obliged and rested his back against the hard surface of the box, completely hiding him from Nino and everyone’s view.
“Okay, I shall now close the cover of the box,” the magician declared as he did so. He thumped the box slightly. “And, are you still there, assistant-san?”
There came a meager reply from Ohno. “Hai.”
Nino grinned, imagining him inside the box with a big pout on his terrified and regretful face.
Vanisher the Great clapped his hands jubilantly, addressing the audience. “Now, how about we all count to ten. Shall we?”
“One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten...”
The magician did some very silly hand movements over the box and, as Nino swigged some more beer into his mouth, he noticed the magician’s hand resting unusually on the table. His fingers were tapping the surface firmly, as if he was pressing something. Then, before Nino can give anymore thought to that action, the magician breathtakingly lifted the seemingly light box and threw it marvelously towards the audience.
The spectators gasped and Nino spluttered out some of his drink in shock as they watched the box fly out of the magician’s hand and land on the ground right in front of the stage and precisely in front of Nino with a soft smack.
“Now, can someone please check if my assistant is still there?” Vanisher the Great called out pompously, his hands lifted in the air.
“I’ll do it.”
Nino cautiously stood up, and why he was being cautious, he doesn’t know. Maybe he was afraid to see that Ohno was still inside and was now injured severely because of the stupid magician. With wavering hands, he reached out for the cover and raised it ever so slightly.
A booming round of applause deafened Nino as they all saw that the box was indeed empty and Ohno wasn’t bleeding ruthlessly in it. A wave of relief came over him and he let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Good. He’s safe,” Nino muttered to himself. “I shouldn’t be a magician if I panic over a trick like this.” He stood up and approached the magician, who was now swollen with pride. “Ano... Can you make him come back now?”
“Of course, my child,” Vanisher the Great ensured, reaching over for the empty carton. Nino handed it to him and waited as the magician set the box above the table again. “Okay, to make him reappear, I’d like everyone to count again. But this time, backwards.”
The audience keenly did what the magician asked.
“Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One...”
Nino surveyed the magician as he lightly tapped the box again and called out, “Assistant-san, you can now come out now.”
There was silence as no reply came from inside the box. And the abnormal silence unsettled Nino.
“Assistant-san? I said you can come out now. The trick is over.”
The bar was suddenly still like Jun’s apartment that night as everyone waited with bated breath for Ohno to come out. Nino suddenly tasted something horrific as the aftertaste of the beer became stale in his mouth.
“Why won’t he come out?” Nino asked, a sense that something dreadful is about to happen rising in the deep pit of his stomach. It was his instinct, screaming out to him.
He thought he saw the magician gulp as he continued on knocking on the carton. “I don’t know.” Tentatively, he touched the cover and inched it open, bit by bit.
The moment Nino saw the magician’s eyes widen in dread, he knew there was something definitely wrong. He wasn’t happy about it.
“Where’s Riida? What happened?” Nino demanded at the magician, an ugly mixture of infuriation and panic flaring up within him, an occasion that doesn’t come much often.
“Er...” Vanisher the Great forced a forced smile on his unnerved face and he gulped again, hurrying to extract a pink handkerchief from his pocket and wipe his shining forehead. He shut the box close again, his hand pressing on the surface like before. “Let’s try it again, shall we? Everyone now. Ten. Nine...”
The audience counted again, this time, slowly and uncertainly. And as they did so, the magician was fumbling recklessly with something invincible at the table’s surface. Finally, when they reached the number one, Vanisher the Great reached for the cover of the box and raised it up. The box was downright empty.
Vanisher the Great cleared his throat and let out a nervous laugh, his proud demeanor shrinking back under the fat of his skin. “There seems to have been some technical difficulties...”
“Technical difficulties my butt!” Nino stomped onto the stage, shooting glares at the frightened-looking magician. “Where is he?”
“I-I...” the magician mumbled pathetically, shaking his head as he groped around the interior of the empty carton where Ohno was supposed to be. “He should be under the stage but I can’t seem to open it.”
He fidgeted with his wand as Nino tossed the carton aside and searched for some lever or button on the table that would automatically reveal some kind of secret compartment that Ohno must’ve fallen in. Then he rounded on the magician, who was mumbling some nonsense to himself.
“I knew this would happen again. The latch broke like last time. I shouldn’t have taken the risk. Now, I’m ruined. Next time, I’ll try the cloth trick. Yes, that is much safer.”
“You mean this happened before?” Nino seethed, marching forward to grip the collar of the magician. On a normal day, Nino would’ve found it difficult to shake the fat guy senseless but since his antagonism was a fuel to his limited strength, he did it with utter ease. “Then why the hell did you try it again? You are the most stupid person I’ve met.”
“You-You should relax, sir,” Vanisher the Great stammered in terror. “Your friend is not lost. He’s just under the stage. It’s nothing serious, really.”
The magician’s statement ignited the fury he felt some more. “Relax? Nothing serious?” Nino repeated softly, his words dripping with malevolence. The image of Ohno in his mind, terrified under the stage, was angering him more. “Do you want to die and feel the heat of hell toast your skin to crisp? Or are you just going to stop justifying yourself wrongly and give Riida back to me?”
Vanisher the Great’s breath hitched up and he nodded obediently. “R-Right this way, sir.” He pointed to a latch, camouflaged expertly with a miniature board that’s the same color as the table, an inch where the box was supposed to be. Nino immediately lifted the latch and snarled when nothing happened.
“What is wrong with this thing?” Nino was constantly pulling on the tiny handle heatedly that it looked like he might break it. And eventually, it did. Nino held the broken latch in his hand then turned to glare at the magician for the nth time.
“I-I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience,” Vanisher the Great stammered, bowing his head at Nino. “I don’t know if there’s another way out of the hidden compartment under the stage.”
Nino suddenly fell on his knees and he pressed his ear to the stage’s floor. “Riida, can you hear me?” he called out, knocking on the wooden floorboards. “Are you there?”
No one was answering at all but Nino kept on pounding the floor and calling out Ohno’s name. Behind him, the magician was twitching nervously; completely aware of the jeers the audience was giving him.
“I-I’m sorry. I-I d-don’t know how-“
“You’re a fraud!”
“A fake!”
“Give us our money back!”
“Riida! Where are you? Answer me!”
The magician stood in the middle of the stage, trembling with fear. He looked like he couldn’t walk away from the audience, like his whole being was frozen, traumatized. Then suddenly, as Nino relentlessly pounded on the wooden stage, a gasp left Vanisher the Great. And everyone, including Nino, turned to look where he was pointing.
A cry of relief came from Nino and he bounded off the stage to meet Ohno by the entrance. “Riida! Riida, are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened to you?”
Ohno nodded, rubbing his soot-covered cheek as if it was itching. “I’m fine,” he said. “It took so long for Vanisher the Great-san to let me out so I thought that something went wrong. I found a tiny opening that went out to the streets but it wasn’t easy. Did you know that I was crawling in mud and-“
He was cut short by Nino’s sudden embrace on his beloved leader.
“Nino?” Ohno said, surprised at this act. He looked down at Nino’s face, etched with concern, assurance and bliss.
“Don’t ever make me worry like that ever again,” he whispered, crushing Ohno in his arms as tight as he can. “I thought I could die.”
“I don’t understand,” Ohno said, blinking his eyes innocently but nevertheless patting Nino’s back lightly.
Finally, Nino broke free, his anger in the magician flaring up again. He glared at the still unmoving magician, now more rigid at Nino’s blazing look of death at him. He grabbed Ohno’s hand and squeezed it in his own, making it seem like he wasn’t going to be separated from him anytime soon.
“You.” Nino advanced towards him, pulling a clueless-looking Ohno in his tracks. They came upon the stage, the whole audience watching their every move. “You.” Nino jabbed his finger painfully in the middle of the magician’s chest. “I could kill you. But since my hands are full right now, a punch would do.”
Nino lifted the hand he wasn’t using to hold Ohno’s and pulled it back, ready for a punch directly at the magician’s fat and ugly face. But then, Nino glared one final time at the horrified Vanisher the Great and his curled up fist came limply on his side.
“I want you to quit being a magician,” Nino said coldly and shortly. The he turned and stalked off towards the entrance, chin high and Ohno in his midst.
* * * * *
“Oh! You’re back,” Jun said, lifting his bespectacled eyes away from his book to welcome Ohno and Nino.
“Tadaima,” Nino grunted, obviously in a foul mood as he stomped towards the coffee table. He was glaring at his pack of playing cards and book of magic tricks, lying peacefully on the glass surface of the table.
“Okaeri,” the three who remained in the house muttered, confused at Nino’s terrible mood. They all looked back at Ohno, who was sitting on the couch, and he replied with a reluctant smile and shrug.
‘What happened to you?” Sho braved to ask.
“That damn magician pissed me off,” Nino replied angrily, snatching up his the cards and book off the table. “Do you guys have a lighter or a box of matches?”
“What for?” Aiba asked cautiously.
“Don’t tell us you’re going to burn those?” Sho said, the realization coming to him as he stared at Nino’s things for magic grasped tightly in his hands.
“Not in here!” Jun said quickly, sitting up in panic.
“Of course not,” Nino said scornfully. “I’m going to burn it outside. Now, do you guys have a lighter or a box of matches?”
“Nino,” Ohno spoke up softly. “It’s okay. You don’t have to burn those. Magic is one of your favorite hobbies. I’m okay, really.”
“But I’m not,” Nino said, walking off towards Jun’s kitchen to find a match.
“What’s up with him?” Jun asked, looking expectantly at Ohno.
‘Well, it’s a long story,” Ohno said, scratching his head. He was holding a blue handkerchief smudged with dirt and mud. It was Nino’s, the one he used to wipe Ohno’s face and hands after they got out of the comedy bar.
“Come on, Riida. Tell us,” Sho said. “The guy has gone crazy, trying to get rid of his precious magic things.”
Nino entered the living room haughtily, a box of matches in his fist. “Riida went and volunteered for an idiot magician. But he made Riida disappear for good and he got stuck in this secret compartment under the stage. That’s why I’m angry. The magician is stupid and an amateur jerk. He doesn’t know the first thing about doing magic.”
“And burning your things helps that how?” Jun said skeptically.
Nino glared at Jun and this triggered Jun to glare back. “Magic almost took Riida away from me!” he huffed.
“Nino…” Ohno said, standing up to come to Nino’s side. He gripped his hand soothingly, looking concerned. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to. I’m rebelling against magic,” Nino said firmly, flying open the front door and stalking out into the night.
The four stared silently at the open door where Nino fled to. The smell of smoke suddenly saturated the air and they looked at Ohno.
“He loves you that much, ne?” Aiba commented, placing his chin in his cupped hands.
Ohno nodded happily. “I guess he does.”
Jun snorted. “He’s so in love that he looks stupid,” he said, settling into a much comfortable position and turning his attention to his book.
Joyous laughter mixed in with the smell of burning in the air. “You’re just jealous, Matsujun,” Sho said, rolling his dice on the Monopoly board. A triumphant smile came upon his face and Aiba pouted, not liking where the direction of the game was going.
“Am not!” Jun said, rolling his eyes.
“Should we stop him?” Ohno asked thoughtfully, gazing at the gray smoke filling up the dark sky.
“We shouldn’t. Let Nino do crazy things when he wants to,” Sho said, a merry tone to his voice.
Ohno gazed at the smoke wistfully then his eyes lit up. He hurried to the couch, where his blank sketch pad was lying, got his pencil and sat down. Another smile graced his face as he drew the beginnings of a new and great masterpiece.
He found his inspiration in Nino.
Author: stormytwilight
Pairing: Ohmiya
Rating: G
Word Count: 4,377
Summary: Nino used to love magic. He was obsessed with it, in fact, but one night changed it all.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don’t own Arashi. I just own the stupid magician.
Author’s Notes: It’s my first Ohmiya fic so have mercy. I got inspired while I watched their TIME concert and saw Ohmiya’s little scene after Hero. It's unbeta-ed so forgive the possible mistakes. Douzo!
It was a quiet Saturday night at Jun’s house. Everyone was there, using up the peaceful hours to have a little rest and relaxation after an exhausting and grueling week. They were all inside their own little world, not minding their surroundings due to their sudden deafness and ignorance at what they were not doing.
Sho and Aiba were engrossed in playing Monopoly in a corner, too engrossed, in fact, to the point that they weren’t making any noise at all. Instead, they were concentrating on building strategies to beat the other. Occasionally, they would glance at each other to throw an arrogant smirk that says: I’ll beat you up. And you promised, if I win, we would do things my way next time. Then they would raise their eyebrows suggestively and would go back to the game, seemingly eager to do so than before.
By the lone armchair near the window, Jun, with a pair of red eyeglasses on, had his nose buried in a thick novel. He reached for his mug of coffee and sipped a little, tearing his eyes away from the book to see what the others were doing. When he was perfectly sure that nobody was demolishing his beautiful apartment, he got back to what he was reading.
Next were Ohno and Nino, settled on each end of a long, black couch. Ohno, a lead pencil in hand and a blank sketch pad lying on his lap, was staring into nowhere, appearing to be searching for inspiration from random things at Jun’s living room. He patiently tapped the tip of his pencil against the empty surface of his sketch pad, humming quietly a melody that came to his mind.
But not everyone was engaged in a silent activity. Nino was looking distinctly restless and bored. His pack of cards that he brought everywhere with him was resting on a table, together with his handy DS Lite and book of magic tricks. These things didn’t interest him at the moment because he wasn’t in the mood to not be playful and to not make noise. For God’s sake, he wanted to shout out loud to bring some life into the dead room. But he didn’t dare try it. He still wanted to live and see the sunrise.
Nino then decided to get out of the house because the silence was driving him irrevocably insane. But where would he go? With a sigh and a feeling of defeat, since he can’t think of anything better to do than to sit in the midst of his still band mates, he snatched up his deck of cards and began shuffling them.
The sound of the plastic cards jumbling up together made Jun glance up. Nino was than given a deathly glare by him and Nino grimaced back uncaringly. Jun rolled his eyes and turned back to the book. Nino continued on rearranging the cards. He was already disturbing the others with the noise but they ignored Nino and Nino gladly ignored them back. He stared at the continuous shuffling of the deck in his hand. Visions of his tricks flitted past his mind, the way he would vanish the cards from the customers he did magic for and the way they would applaud in amazement at his talent. His shows were always a hit, too bad he doesn’t have enough time to spend for his magic. He frequently cancels his shows due to lack of time. In fact, he was supposed to have a show tonight…
“Oh!” Nino had jumped up from his seat suddenly that he looked like he was electrocuted, a huge grin growing on his face. “Oh! Oh!”
There was a place he could run to at this essential time of need. He could go to the comedy bar where he was supposed to perform at tonight. Finally, a haven appeared for him.
“What is wrong with you?” Jun said, donning a look on his face that’s halfway in surprise and in disgust.
“Ah, it’s nothing,” Nino said hastily, realizing that all four of them were staring at him and sinking back to the couch. He stared into space, thinking fast. His show would’ve started already but there were many other magicians lined up after him so he could still catch a few if he took the subway from here. It would take less than ten minutes to get there.
He looked around the room once more, wondering who he would take with him. Nino instantly thought of Ohno as he surveyed him, still not drawing anything on the paper. He had made up his mind.
“Riida.” Nino murmured, inching towards Ohno’s direction to sit next to him.
Ohno didn’t answer him. He was pondering hard on a subject for his sketch. But Nino’s next call abruptly distracted him, making his head snap up in the direction of the call.
“Satoshi.” His voice was lower than a cricket’s whisper.
“Nani?” Ohno asked, his tone equally low but inquiring.
Nino tugged on Ohno’s arm and pulled him closer so he could deliver a whisper into Ohno’s ear. “Let’s go out,” he said, gripping his arm tightly in ecstasy. “Let’s watch some magic. Right now. I know a place.”
“Now?” Ohno pulled back to crease his brow at Nino in confusion. “Why?”
“Just for fun. And I’m bored.” Nino insisted, leaning his head on Ohno’s shoulder and gazing up at him pleadingly. He added a pout to give an extra impact. “Come on. It’ll be fun!”
Ohno took a short glimpse at his bare sketch pad, looked down at the imploring Nino and smiled in agreement. “Okay. But just for a while, okay? I have a shoot tomorrow morning.”
“Yay!” In extreme joy, Nino jumped up again and pulled Ohno to his feet without further ado. “You’ll enjoy, I promise! Let’s go!”
“Where’re you guys going?” Sho suddenly asked in the middle of counting his thick wad of play money.
Nino looked back in high euphoria and replied, “To a bar. Sorry, you guys are not invited. Only Riida and I are going.”
“We weren’t asking you to invite us.”
“Yeah,” Aiba quipped. “Don’t let us disturb your date.”
Nino dragged Ohno to the door in blissful happiness. “Ja! See you all later!”
And he slammed the door close, linked his arm with Ohno’s and skipped towards the cold night air, a sense of anticipation rising within him. He felt like this night would turn out to be fun after all.
* * * * *
“Here we are.”
“A comedy bar?” Ohno said, a slightly incredulous expression on his face. “Why here?”
“There’s a magic show on,” explained Nino, marching past the entrance and into the raucous peals of laughter and thunderous show music that was the comedy bar, Ohno in tow.
The two slipped past the throngs of waiters in colorful attires and overjoyed customers, trying to spot a vacant chair in the jam-packed room. The place was unbelievably full but fortunately, there were two unoccupied seats right in front of the stage.
“Why are there too many people tonight?” Nino wondered, falling back into the chair and looking around. “I shouldn’t have cancelled my performance. I lost the exposure.”
Ohno frowned at him. “Then we wouldn’t be together right now.”
“You have a point.” He flashed a big grin at Ohno before raising his hand to order two bottles of beer from one of the passing gay waiters. Then Nino and Ohno both looked up expectantly at the stage just as the host of the show appeared.
“Next up, a magician famous for disappearing feats is about to perform a spectacular trick. Let’s give it up for the Vanisher the Great.”
Applause imbued the room as a short and stout man in his early thirties trotted to the stage, heaving with him a humungous carton that can easily fit a single person inside. He struggled to place the box on top of a sturdy-looking table standing on the stage and, after, flourished a wand from his sleeve. Then he gave a little bow that triggered another series of appreciative and drunken clapping.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the world!” Vanisher the Great spoke with a slurred and weird accent, flipping back the black cape he was wearing. “I am Vanisher the Great. Tonight, at this very exhilarating hour of darkness and late-night bar-hopping, I am about to present to you a trick that will knock your socks, and shoes, off your feet!”
He paused dramatically, waiting for another round of applause, which the crowd idiotically gave.
“This guy’s thick,” Nino muttered at Ohno beside him, grabbing their drinks that was just served to them. He took a tiny sip of his beer.
Ohno nodded in agreement.
“But before anything else, I would like to ask a volunteer from the audience to come up and do the trick with me.”
Instantaneously, several people’s hands shot up and others even began jumping up and down on their seats, shouting to be picked.
“Oh! Riida, why don’t you try?” Nino suggested playfully, nudging him at the ribs.
“Eh? No way!” Ohno made a face at the uncanny magician, who appeared to be enjoying the colossal amount of attention. “I’d rather turn Aiba-chan’s socks into a shake and drink it.”
“Come on. Try it, it might be cool,” Nino reasoned, shaking Ohno’s arm persistently.
“No, thank you.” Ohno gulped down some more beer.
“You know what?” Nino said nonchalantly, eyes straying around the bar’s interior and blasting his compelling powers at Ohno. “I brought a pair of Aiba-chan’s socks with me and surely there’s a blender at the bar.”
Ohno narrowed his eyes at Nino. “Seriously?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, okay!” Ohno heaved a massive sigh and finished up his whole bottle of beer. He then slammed the empty bottle on the table and, to Nino’s tremendous pleasure, stood up, raising an arm right in front of the magician’s face. “Excuse me, Vanisher the Great-san! I would like to try your magic trick!”
Vanisher the Great looked down at Ohno’s little request and instantly beamed like a man who just found a lucky quarter on the street. “And we have a volunteer! Come on up, young man!” the magician announced. The hopeful spectators booed in disappointment but nevertheless, settled down.
Before climbing up the stage, Ohno glanced back at the delighted Nino. “You owe me for making me do this.”
Nino nodded encouragingly, waving his hand. “Just go on and enjoy yourself! Ganbatte!”
As soon as Ohno stepped onto the stage, he sought Nino’s enthusiastic face, beginning to regret that he fell for Nino’s feeble but effective persuasive methods. But he was just too weak to resist him. Nino laughed at his lost expression and gave out a loud cheer.
“Go Riida!”
“Okay, what I’m going to do to my handsome assistant is make him enter this very big box.” Vanisher the Great patted the brown carton behind him. “This box, as you all can see, is closed at the bottom and the table is purely just a table. Why don’t you check, my assistant?”
Ohno gingerly touched the box and lifted it, verifying if there really is no trick on it and the table. He looked back at the audience and gave two reluctant thumbs-up.
“And I have my approval from my assistant! Now, after I let him in my box, I’ll count to ten and make him vanish like magic! Okay, now may I ask you, dear boy, to carefully go into the box. I’m sure you’ll fit, don’t worry.”
Ohno looked back one last time at Nino, turned to the box and sighed in a determined manner. Slowly and hesitantly, Ohno stepped onto a low platform in front of the table and ascended into the box. The stubby fingers of the magician gripped Ohno’s arm painfully as he helped him in a slightly brusque way.
Nino was watching intently as Ohno sat up inside the box, looking entirely out-of-place. He was giving a look that screamed, I shouldn’t be doing this stupid thing.
“May I ask you to please lie down?”
Ohno obliged and rested his back against the hard surface of the box, completely hiding him from Nino and everyone’s view.
“Okay, I shall now close the cover of the box,” the magician declared as he did so. He thumped the box slightly. “And, are you still there, assistant-san?”
There came a meager reply from Ohno. “Hai.”
Nino grinned, imagining him inside the box with a big pout on his terrified and regretful face.
Vanisher the Great clapped his hands jubilantly, addressing the audience. “Now, how about we all count to ten. Shall we?”
“One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten...”
The magician did some very silly hand movements over the box and, as Nino swigged some more beer into his mouth, he noticed the magician’s hand resting unusually on the table. His fingers were tapping the surface firmly, as if he was pressing something. Then, before Nino can give anymore thought to that action, the magician breathtakingly lifted the seemingly light box and threw it marvelously towards the audience.
The spectators gasped and Nino spluttered out some of his drink in shock as they watched the box fly out of the magician’s hand and land on the ground right in front of the stage and precisely in front of Nino with a soft smack.
“Now, can someone please check if my assistant is still there?” Vanisher the Great called out pompously, his hands lifted in the air.
“I’ll do it.”
Nino cautiously stood up, and why he was being cautious, he doesn’t know. Maybe he was afraid to see that Ohno was still inside and was now injured severely because of the stupid magician. With wavering hands, he reached out for the cover and raised it ever so slightly.
A booming round of applause deafened Nino as they all saw that the box was indeed empty and Ohno wasn’t bleeding ruthlessly in it. A wave of relief came over him and he let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Good. He’s safe,” Nino muttered to himself. “I shouldn’t be a magician if I panic over a trick like this.” He stood up and approached the magician, who was now swollen with pride. “Ano... Can you make him come back now?”
“Of course, my child,” Vanisher the Great ensured, reaching over for the empty carton. Nino handed it to him and waited as the magician set the box above the table again. “Okay, to make him reappear, I’d like everyone to count again. But this time, backwards.”
The audience keenly did what the magician asked.
“Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One...”
Nino surveyed the magician as he lightly tapped the box again and called out, “Assistant-san, you can now come out now.”
There was silence as no reply came from inside the box. And the abnormal silence unsettled Nino.
“Assistant-san? I said you can come out now. The trick is over.”
The bar was suddenly still like Jun’s apartment that night as everyone waited with bated breath for Ohno to come out. Nino suddenly tasted something horrific as the aftertaste of the beer became stale in his mouth.
“Why won’t he come out?” Nino asked, a sense that something dreadful is about to happen rising in the deep pit of his stomach. It was his instinct, screaming out to him.
He thought he saw the magician gulp as he continued on knocking on the carton. “I don’t know.” Tentatively, he touched the cover and inched it open, bit by bit.
The moment Nino saw the magician’s eyes widen in dread, he knew there was something definitely wrong. He wasn’t happy about it.
“Where’s Riida? What happened?” Nino demanded at the magician, an ugly mixture of infuriation and panic flaring up within him, an occasion that doesn’t come much often.
“Er...” Vanisher the Great forced a forced smile on his unnerved face and he gulped again, hurrying to extract a pink handkerchief from his pocket and wipe his shining forehead. He shut the box close again, his hand pressing on the surface like before. “Let’s try it again, shall we? Everyone now. Ten. Nine...”
The audience counted again, this time, slowly and uncertainly. And as they did so, the magician was fumbling recklessly with something invincible at the table’s surface. Finally, when they reached the number one, Vanisher the Great reached for the cover of the box and raised it up. The box was downright empty.
Vanisher the Great cleared his throat and let out a nervous laugh, his proud demeanor shrinking back under the fat of his skin. “There seems to have been some technical difficulties...”
“Technical difficulties my butt!” Nino stomped onto the stage, shooting glares at the frightened-looking magician. “Where is he?”
“I-I...” the magician mumbled pathetically, shaking his head as he groped around the interior of the empty carton where Ohno was supposed to be. “He should be under the stage but I can’t seem to open it.”
He fidgeted with his wand as Nino tossed the carton aside and searched for some lever or button on the table that would automatically reveal some kind of secret compartment that Ohno must’ve fallen in. Then he rounded on the magician, who was mumbling some nonsense to himself.
“I knew this would happen again. The latch broke like last time. I shouldn’t have taken the risk. Now, I’m ruined. Next time, I’ll try the cloth trick. Yes, that is much safer.”
“You mean this happened before?” Nino seethed, marching forward to grip the collar of the magician. On a normal day, Nino would’ve found it difficult to shake the fat guy senseless but since his antagonism was a fuel to his limited strength, he did it with utter ease. “Then why the hell did you try it again? You are the most stupid person I’ve met.”
“You-You should relax, sir,” Vanisher the Great stammered in terror. “Your friend is not lost. He’s just under the stage. It’s nothing serious, really.”
The magician’s statement ignited the fury he felt some more. “Relax? Nothing serious?” Nino repeated softly, his words dripping with malevolence. The image of Ohno in his mind, terrified under the stage, was angering him more. “Do you want to die and feel the heat of hell toast your skin to crisp? Or are you just going to stop justifying yourself wrongly and give Riida back to me?”
Vanisher the Great’s breath hitched up and he nodded obediently. “R-Right this way, sir.” He pointed to a latch, camouflaged expertly with a miniature board that’s the same color as the table, an inch where the box was supposed to be. Nino immediately lifted the latch and snarled when nothing happened.
“What is wrong with this thing?” Nino was constantly pulling on the tiny handle heatedly that it looked like he might break it. And eventually, it did. Nino held the broken latch in his hand then turned to glare at the magician for the nth time.
“I-I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience,” Vanisher the Great stammered, bowing his head at Nino. “I don’t know if there’s another way out of the hidden compartment under the stage.”
Nino suddenly fell on his knees and he pressed his ear to the stage’s floor. “Riida, can you hear me?” he called out, knocking on the wooden floorboards. “Are you there?”
No one was answering at all but Nino kept on pounding the floor and calling out Ohno’s name. Behind him, the magician was twitching nervously; completely aware of the jeers the audience was giving him.
“I-I’m sorry. I-I d-don’t know how-“
“You’re a fraud!”
“A fake!”
“Give us our money back!”
“Riida! Where are you? Answer me!”
The magician stood in the middle of the stage, trembling with fear. He looked like he couldn’t walk away from the audience, like his whole being was frozen, traumatized. Then suddenly, as Nino relentlessly pounded on the wooden stage, a gasp left Vanisher the Great. And everyone, including Nino, turned to look where he was pointing.
A cry of relief came from Nino and he bounded off the stage to meet Ohno by the entrance. “Riida! Riida, are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened to you?”
Ohno nodded, rubbing his soot-covered cheek as if it was itching. “I’m fine,” he said. “It took so long for Vanisher the Great-san to let me out so I thought that something went wrong. I found a tiny opening that went out to the streets but it wasn’t easy. Did you know that I was crawling in mud and-“
He was cut short by Nino’s sudden embrace on his beloved leader.
“Nino?” Ohno said, surprised at this act. He looked down at Nino’s face, etched with concern, assurance and bliss.
“Don’t ever make me worry like that ever again,” he whispered, crushing Ohno in his arms as tight as he can. “I thought I could die.”
“I don’t understand,” Ohno said, blinking his eyes innocently but nevertheless patting Nino’s back lightly.
Finally, Nino broke free, his anger in the magician flaring up again. He glared at the still unmoving magician, now more rigid at Nino’s blazing look of death at him. He grabbed Ohno’s hand and squeezed it in his own, making it seem like he wasn’t going to be separated from him anytime soon.
“You.” Nino advanced towards him, pulling a clueless-looking Ohno in his tracks. They came upon the stage, the whole audience watching their every move. “You.” Nino jabbed his finger painfully in the middle of the magician’s chest. “I could kill you. But since my hands are full right now, a punch would do.”
Nino lifted the hand he wasn’t using to hold Ohno’s and pulled it back, ready for a punch directly at the magician’s fat and ugly face. But then, Nino glared one final time at the horrified Vanisher the Great and his curled up fist came limply on his side.
“I want you to quit being a magician,” Nino said coldly and shortly. The he turned and stalked off towards the entrance, chin high and Ohno in his midst.
* * * * *
“Oh! You’re back,” Jun said, lifting his bespectacled eyes away from his book to welcome Ohno and Nino.
“Tadaima,” Nino grunted, obviously in a foul mood as he stomped towards the coffee table. He was glaring at his pack of playing cards and book of magic tricks, lying peacefully on the glass surface of the table.
“Okaeri,” the three who remained in the house muttered, confused at Nino’s terrible mood. They all looked back at Ohno, who was sitting on the couch, and he replied with a reluctant smile and shrug.
‘What happened to you?” Sho braved to ask.
“That damn magician pissed me off,” Nino replied angrily, snatching up his the cards and book off the table. “Do you guys have a lighter or a box of matches?”
“What for?” Aiba asked cautiously.
“Don’t tell us you’re going to burn those?” Sho said, the realization coming to him as he stared at Nino’s things for magic grasped tightly in his hands.
“Not in here!” Jun said quickly, sitting up in panic.
“Of course not,” Nino said scornfully. “I’m going to burn it outside. Now, do you guys have a lighter or a box of matches?”
“Nino,” Ohno spoke up softly. “It’s okay. You don’t have to burn those. Magic is one of your favorite hobbies. I’m okay, really.”
“But I’m not,” Nino said, walking off towards Jun’s kitchen to find a match.
“What’s up with him?” Jun asked, looking expectantly at Ohno.
‘Well, it’s a long story,” Ohno said, scratching his head. He was holding a blue handkerchief smudged with dirt and mud. It was Nino’s, the one he used to wipe Ohno’s face and hands after they got out of the comedy bar.
“Come on, Riida. Tell us,” Sho said. “The guy has gone crazy, trying to get rid of his precious magic things.”
Nino entered the living room haughtily, a box of matches in his fist. “Riida went and volunteered for an idiot magician. But he made Riida disappear for good and he got stuck in this secret compartment under the stage. That’s why I’m angry. The magician is stupid and an amateur jerk. He doesn’t know the first thing about doing magic.”
“And burning your things helps that how?” Jun said skeptically.
Nino glared at Jun and this triggered Jun to glare back. “Magic almost took Riida away from me!” he huffed.
“Nino…” Ohno said, standing up to come to Nino’s side. He gripped his hand soothingly, looking concerned. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to. I’m rebelling against magic,” Nino said firmly, flying open the front door and stalking out into the night.
The four stared silently at the open door where Nino fled to. The smell of smoke suddenly saturated the air and they looked at Ohno.
“He loves you that much, ne?” Aiba commented, placing his chin in his cupped hands.
Ohno nodded happily. “I guess he does.”
Jun snorted. “He’s so in love that he looks stupid,” he said, settling into a much comfortable position and turning his attention to his book.
Joyous laughter mixed in with the smell of burning in the air. “You’re just jealous, Matsujun,” Sho said, rolling his dice on the Monopoly board. A triumphant smile came upon his face and Aiba pouted, not liking where the direction of the game was going.
“Am not!” Jun said, rolling his eyes.
“Should we stop him?” Ohno asked thoughtfully, gazing at the gray smoke filling up the dark sky.
“We shouldn’t. Let Nino do crazy things when he wants to,” Sho said, a merry tone to his voice.
Ohno gazed at the smoke wistfully then his eyes lit up. He hurried to the couch, where his blank sketch pad was lying, got his pencil and sat down. Another smile graced his face as he drew the beginnings of a new and great masterpiece.
He found his inspiration in Nino.