[Fic] PSC Series: The Haunted Celebrity | 1/XX
Title: PSC Series: The Haunted Celebrity
Chapter: 01
Author: アキ
Fandom: the GazettE, SCREW, Alice Nine, more to come
Disclaimer: I don't own the guys. Just the story.
Pairings: AoixRuki, ByouxRui, probably more to come
Genre: AU, horror, supernatural
Rating: PG, for now
Summary: "PSC, which stands for Paranormal Studies Center, is an institution whose main object is to investigate various paranormal and supernatural events. This is the Department of Investigation and Recovery, where all investigative tasks are being done. My name is Kai, and I am the head of this Department. Welcome. How may I help you?"
Chapter 1
It was Saturday, a couple of minutes to eleven p.m. The office was officially closed at seven, and it was nearly completely deserted now save for Kai and a couple of his staff. Kai had wanted to stay behind to sort out the files that had been piling up since the start of the week. It hadn’t been a particularly busy week, not at all, but for some reason the staff had been slacking off in cleaning up their desks after work. And then, all of a sudden, the office had become a total mess. No one could find anything since the files were mixed up with one another. Some were even mixed up with unnecessary documents like shopping lists and restaurant bills. The situation was so chaotic that Kai finally made a decision that he himself would clean up the desks-while secretly hoping that his staff would feel self conscious and offer their help. But either his strategy was poorly executed or his staff was made of truly heartless people, only two of them stayed behind to help him out.
The first was his assistant, Ruki. Kai knew he could always count on the boy. Young though he was, compared to the rest of the staff, he was probably the most diligent one. He was also suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder-or in Kai’s shorter, simpler term: ‘clean-freak’-so it was rather surprising he hadn’t already turned the office upside-down before Kai made his decision. And second, quite astonishingly, was Byou. Why astonishing? Because from all of his staff members, Byou was the least likely man to volunteer and help Kai clean out the place. One look at his desk and everybody could tell how lazy that guy was. But then his motivation became clear once Kai asked him. “I think my boyfriend is cheating on me,” he said quite openly. “I don’t have the mood to go home and see him. It’s best for me to stay here and help you out.”
Well, that’s Byou for you. His sexual orientation was no longer a secret among the staff-and everybody knew he had a boyfriend named Rui who was cute but overly bossy-but his frankness that was bordering on vulgar could be rather shocking sometimes.
Anyway, the clock was ticking, and here he was with his two staff members, four folders away from getting the office thoroughly cleaned up. As expected, it was actually on Byou’s desk that they spent most of their time. Byou looked nowhere near guilty even with Ruki glaring nonstop at him and making various snide comments about how unorganized his desk was. Byou even agreed when Ruki said he should just incinerate everything on his desk to make cleaning it much faster. But eventually they got through that obstacle and, finally, reached the last desk in the room, which was Kai’s own and, thankfully, it wasn’t as messy as the rest.
But just when Kai was about to tell Byou to grab a damp cloth to wipe his desk’s surface, a knock on the door made them all jump on their feet.
“Who the hell-”
“Probably Manabu-”
“Did he leave something behind?”
“Well, he’s forgetful, alright…”
“Let me get the door,” Kai said in the end, leaving his staff members guessing who it could be. He walked toward the door, half-suspecting that he would see Manabu-came to get something he had left behind, just like Byou and Ruki said-behind it.
When Kai got the door open, he soon realized that it wasn’t Manabu. Instead, the late night guest was a stranger, a man dressed in black coat and a black fedora hat that hid most of his face. In the dim light, it was impossible to recognize who it was, even if Kai had known him.
Kai stepped back carefully, as inconspicuously as he could manage without seeming rude. In his eight years experience of working in this field, he had learned that it was much better to be too careful than to regret the outcome later. He could save himself from various dangers just by taking extra precautions, and tonight, that extra precaution was done by making a little space between himself and this stranger who had just knocked on his door. If he turned out to be a crook aiming to hurt him, then Kai would have a decent space to prepare a counter attack.
Kai’s suspicion was soon shoved aside the moment the stranger opened his hat and revealed his face. He was no stranger at all, apparently. Well, if you were living in Shibuya, you would definitely recognize him. After all, this man’s portrait was enlarged to the size of a ten storied building and was hung in the middle of the most crowded street in town. The very recent news said that he had been crowned as Japan’s sexiest man, based on a survey done by a local magazine.
Tall and slender, broad shoulders, prominent facial features, and sharp, black eyes that had mesmerized thousand of girls, Kai couldn’t have mistaken him for anyone else. But why would someone like Shiroyama Yuu-or more widely known as Aoi-pay their office a visit at this hour?
“Hi-I mean, good evening,” said the famous actor. “I’m sorry for the untimely visit. But I couldn’t find the time to visit during the day.”
Kai couldn’t help but notice the anxiety in Aoi’s posture and also in his voice. He nodded politely and greeted his guest.
“Don’t mind it, please,” he said, smiling. “But to tell the truth, you’re lucky that we’re on overtime.”
He stepped aside to let his guest enter the office. It didn’t escape his view, how stiff Aoi’s back were, and how the man kept glancing behind his back as if he was afraid a bunch of paparazzi was following him, ready with cameras in their hands to capture the most suspicious moments. Kai could only hope that it was just Aoi’s paranoia, that no paparazzi were actually following him. It would be a horrifying mess if their office-and Kai’s face, God forbid!-showed up on the newspaper first thing in the morning.
In one side of the room were a set of sofas and a table, and Kai led his guest there. He didn’t have a particular rule about where he or his staff should meet their clients, but he would usually choose the sofa. He really liked those sofas; in fact, he was the one who picked them up from the furniture store. It was almost like love at first sight. From the color of the cushions’ fabric (dark blue with silver stripes) to the elegant armrest design, he loved every single aspect about these sofas. He could have brought them home to his own apartment, but considering that he spent almost seventy percent of his daily life in the office, he decided to arrange a small multipurpose space in the office and placed the sofa set there. It soon became the staff’s favorite spot, and Kai was just as happy-as long as nobody was smoking while sitting on these lovely sofas, risking the ashes, or worse, the still burning butts of their cigarettes falling onto the cushions.
Aoi sat down on one of the sofas, looking more agitated than ever before. Kai could almost hear the sound of his mind ticking like a time bomb.
“Would you like something to drink?” Kai offered, smiling. “I think we still have some chamomile tea. It’s really good to calm the nerves.”
“Yes, I would like that, thank you.” Aoi nodded.
Kai turned around and found both his staff members standing behind him looking stunned. Byou was still somewhat cool, but Ruki seemed to be completely awestruck. Those eyes were wide, and with his jaws hanging low, Ruki was staring at the guest as if he had walked in with three heads above his shoulder instead of one.
“Ruki,” Kai waved in front of Ruki’s face. His assistant spluttered; and somehow Kai knew that if the lighting had been a little bit brighter, he would have been able to see how red Ruki’s face was. “Ruki, if you don’t mind, please make the gentleman a cup of tea.”
“O-oh, yes, of course, a cup of tea. Just a minute,” he strutted off quickly, vanishing to the next room which happened to be the small cafeteria.
Kai spent another second wondering what was going on with his assistant, and then proceeded to meet his guest. He sat on the sofa opposite of Aoi. The man before him seemed too nervous he actually forgot to take off his coat. Kai wasn’t really surprised; this wasn’t the first and definitely would not be the last time he saw someone entering his office looking daunted. If he had been a potential client visiting this office for the very first time, he would have been nervous as well-or at the very least, clueless. It’s quite normal for people to be uneasy when being face to face with anything… abnormal.
“So,” Kai began, trying to sound as friendly as possible, “If I may ask, what has brought you here?”
“I’m having a bit of-oh, excuse me, I haven’t introduced myself,” said the guest. “My name is Shiroyama Yuu.”
“There’s really no need to introduce yourself, Shiroyama-san, or do you prefer to be called Aoi?”
The dark haired actor shook his head. “No, please, keep that name for when I’m out there, in front of the cameras,” he said. “Being called Aoi so often makes me forget that I’m still Shiroyama Yuu…”
“Ah, I understand,” Kai smiled reassuringly. “Very well, then Shiroyama-san it is…”
“Yuu is fine.”
“Yuu-san, alright,” Kai grinned. “Then you can call me Kai, that’s how my staff members call me. I’m the head of this office. This is Byou,” he nodded to his left, where Byou was sitting behind his desk in silence. “He is one of my staff-or, I should say, investigators. And the other one who you’ve just seen was Ruki. He’s my assistant.”
Right after Kai introduced Ruki, the person himself emerged from behind the door carrying a tray with a couple of cups on top of it. A soothing, chamomile-scented vapor wafted from the cups, filling the air around them. However, Ruki looked far from soothed. Kai felt like he needed to pray so that Ruki wouldn’t drop the whole tray on his way over to the table.
But thank goodness, the cups and Ruki made their way safely to the table. Kai told him to sit down, and Ruki did what he was told without saying a word. As he watched his assistant taking a seat on the sofa next to him, he made a mental note to himself to ask what on earth had taken over his usually calm and composed assistant once he was finished his business with his guest.
After letting Yuu take a sip from his cup and seeing that he was somewhat comfortable, Kai cleared his throat and spoke up. There was some sort of an unwritten rule here to make a short introduction of the institution before they got down to business-the purpose, probably, was to let the guests know what they were going to face. At the moment, Kai only hoped he wouldn’t be scaring Aoi-or Yuu away.
“Well, Yuu-san,” Kai said, “first of all, it is my obligation to welcome you to PSC. PSC, which stands for Paranormal Studies Center, is an institution whose main object is to investigate various paranormal and supernatural events. This is the Department of Investigation and Recovery, where all investigative tasks are being done. Currently there are sixteen investigators working in this department, including me; each of us specializes in different matters. Like Ruki here, he specializes in Curses, Jinxes, and how to clean them up. And then Byou, he’s pretty good in Astral Aura Detection. There are various other specializations, but there’s no need for us to get to too many details for now.
“You see, these are not our real names. It might sound rude but it is written in our standard operational procedure that we are not allowed to reveal our true identities, even in front of our clients, except under emergency situations. But you will know more about that once we hand you the contract.
“But I am not pressing you to sign a contract with us. In the end, it is completely up to you.” Kai clasped his hands, finishing his brief introduction. “However, I must insist that everything that we discuss here stays here. You can’t mention our names, not even our aliases, to anyone else.”
“No problem,” Yuu replied. “I completely understand what it’s like to want to be anonymous.”
- TO BE CONTINUED -
A/N: Well, here I am. Finally back from the dead, and yes, with a new fanfic. AU this time. Like most of my multi-chapters, I can't tell just yet how long this will be. I've written a horror theme before but never managed to finish it. Let's just say I'd like to take another shot at it. And, oh yes, of course I need to warn you that my updates will take some time. But please pray that I won't lose interest in this story, because I'm actually hopeful about this.
I hope you enjoy it, and comments make me happy ;)
Previous chapters: -
Fanfic list here.
Chapter: 01
Author: アキ
Fandom: the GazettE, SCREW, Alice Nine, more to come
Disclaimer: I don't own the guys. Just the story.
Pairings: AoixRuki, ByouxRui, probably more to come
Genre: AU, horror, supernatural
Rating: PG, for now
Summary: "PSC, which stands for Paranormal Studies Center, is an institution whose main object is to investigate various paranormal and supernatural events. This is the Department of Investigation and Recovery, where all investigative tasks are being done. My name is Kai, and I am the head of this Department. Welcome. How may I help you?"
Chapter 1
It was Saturday, a couple of minutes to eleven p.m. The office was officially closed at seven, and it was nearly completely deserted now save for Kai and a couple of his staff. Kai had wanted to stay behind to sort out the files that had been piling up since the start of the week. It hadn’t been a particularly busy week, not at all, but for some reason the staff had been slacking off in cleaning up their desks after work. And then, all of a sudden, the office had become a total mess. No one could find anything since the files were mixed up with one another. Some were even mixed up with unnecessary documents like shopping lists and restaurant bills. The situation was so chaotic that Kai finally made a decision that he himself would clean up the desks-while secretly hoping that his staff would feel self conscious and offer their help. But either his strategy was poorly executed or his staff was made of truly heartless people, only two of them stayed behind to help him out.
The first was his assistant, Ruki. Kai knew he could always count on the boy. Young though he was, compared to the rest of the staff, he was probably the most diligent one. He was also suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder-or in Kai’s shorter, simpler term: ‘clean-freak’-so it was rather surprising he hadn’t already turned the office upside-down before Kai made his decision. And second, quite astonishingly, was Byou. Why astonishing? Because from all of his staff members, Byou was the least likely man to volunteer and help Kai clean out the place. One look at his desk and everybody could tell how lazy that guy was. But then his motivation became clear once Kai asked him. “I think my boyfriend is cheating on me,” he said quite openly. “I don’t have the mood to go home and see him. It’s best for me to stay here and help you out.”
Well, that’s Byou for you. His sexual orientation was no longer a secret among the staff-and everybody knew he had a boyfriend named Rui who was cute but overly bossy-but his frankness that was bordering on vulgar could be rather shocking sometimes.
Anyway, the clock was ticking, and here he was with his two staff members, four folders away from getting the office thoroughly cleaned up. As expected, it was actually on Byou’s desk that they spent most of their time. Byou looked nowhere near guilty even with Ruki glaring nonstop at him and making various snide comments about how unorganized his desk was. Byou even agreed when Ruki said he should just incinerate everything on his desk to make cleaning it much faster. But eventually they got through that obstacle and, finally, reached the last desk in the room, which was Kai’s own and, thankfully, it wasn’t as messy as the rest.
But just when Kai was about to tell Byou to grab a damp cloth to wipe his desk’s surface, a knock on the door made them all jump on their feet.
“Who the hell-”
“Probably Manabu-”
“Did he leave something behind?”
“Well, he’s forgetful, alright…”
“Let me get the door,” Kai said in the end, leaving his staff members guessing who it could be. He walked toward the door, half-suspecting that he would see Manabu-came to get something he had left behind, just like Byou and Ruki said-behind it.
When Kai got the door open, he soon realized that it wasn’t Manabu. Instead, the late night guest was a stranger, a man dressed in black coat and a black fedora hat that hid most of his face. In the dim light, it was impossible to recognize who it was, even if Kai had known him.
Kai stepped back carefully, as inconspicuously as he could manage without seeming rude. In his eight years experience of working in this field, he had learned that it was much better to be too careful than to regret the outcome later. He could save himself from various dangers just by taking extra precautions, and tonight, that extra precaution was done by making a little space between himself and this stranger who had just knocked on his door. If he turned out to be a crook aiming to hurt him, then Kai would have a decent space to prepare a counter attack.
Kai’s suspicion was soon shoved aside the moment the stranger opened his hat and revealed his face. He was no stranger at all, apparently. Well, if you were living in Shibuya, you would definitely recognize him. After all, this man’s portrait was enlarged to the size of a ten storied building and was hung in the middle of the most crowded street in town. The very recent news said that he had been crowned as Japan’s sexiest man, based on a survey done by a local magazine.
Tall and slender, broad shoulders, prominent facial features, and sharp, black eyes that had mesmerized thousand of girls, Kai couldn’t have mistaken him for anyone else. But why would someone like Shiroyama Yuu-or more widely known as Aoi-pay their office a visit at this hour?
“Hi-I mean, good evening,” said the famous actor. “I’m sorry for the untimely visit. But I couldn’t find the time to visit during the day.”
Kai couldn’t help but notice the anxiety in Aoi’s posture and also in his voice. He nodded politely and greeted his guest.
“Don’t mind it, please,” he said, smiling. “But to tell the truth, you’re lucky that we’re on overtime.”
He stepped aside to let his guest enter the office. It didn’t escape his view, how stiff Aoi’s back were, and how the man kept glancing behind his back as if he was afraid a bunch of paparazzi was following him, ready with cameras in their hands to capture the most suspicious moments. Kai could only hope that it was just Aoi’s paranoia, that no paparazzi were actually following him. It would be a horrifying mess if their office-and Kai’s face, God forbid!-showed up on the newspaper first thing in the morning.
In one side of the room were a set of sofas and a table, and Kai led his guest there. He didn’t have a particular rule about where he or his staff should meet their clients, but he would usually choose the sofa. He really liked those sofas; in fact, he was the one who picked them up from the furniture store. It was almost like love at first sight. From the color of the cushions’ fabric (dark blue with silver stripes) to the elegant armrest design, he loved every single aspect about these sofas. He could have brought them home to his own apartment, but considering that he spent almost seventy percent of his daily life in the office, he decided to arrange a small multipurpose space in the office and placed the sofa set there. It soon became the staff’s favorite spot, and Kai was just as happy-as long as nobody was smoking while sitting on these lovely sofas, risking the ashes, or worse, the still burning butts of their cigarettes falling onto the cushions.
Aoi sat down on one of the sofas, looking more agitated than ever before. Kai could almost hear the sound of his mind ticking like a time bomb.
“Would you like something to drink?” Kai offered, smiling. “I think we still have some chamomile tea. It’s really good to calm the nerves.”
“Yes, I would like that, thank you.” Aoi nodded.
Kai turned around and found both his staff members standing behind him looking stunned. Byou was still somewhat cool, but Ruki seemed to be completely awestruck. Those eyes were wide, and with his jaws hanging low, Ruki was staring at the guest as if he had walked in with three heads above his shoulder instead of one.
“Ruki,” Kai waved in front of Ruki’s face. His assistant spluttered; and somehow Kai knew that if the lighting had been a little bit brighter, he would have been able to see how red Ruki’s face was. “Ruki, if you don’t mind, please make the gentleman a cup of tea.”
“O-oh, yes, of course, a cup of tea. Just a minute,” he strutted off quickly, vanishing to the next room which happened to be the small cafeteria.
Kai spent another second wondering what was going on with his assistant, and then proceeded to meet his guest. He sat on the sofa opposite of Aoi. The man before him seemed too nervous he actually forgot to take off his coat. Kai wasn’t really surprised; this wasn’t the first and definitely would not be the last time he saw someone entering his office looking daunted. If he had been a potential client visiting this office for the very first time, he would have been nervous as well-or at the very least, clueless. It’s quite normal for people to be uneasy when being face to face with anything… abnormal.
“So,” Kai began, trying to sound as friendly as possible, “If I may ask, what has brought you here?”
“I’m having a bit of-oh, excuse me, I haven’t introduced myself,” said the guest. “My name is Shiroyama Yuu.”
“There’s really no need to introduce yourself, Shiroyama-san, or do you prefer to be called Aoi?”
The dark haired actor shook his head. “No, please, keep that name for when I’m out there, in front of the cameras,” he said. “Being called Aoi so often makes me forget that I’m still Shiroyama Yuu…”
“Ah, I understand,” Kai smiled reassuringly. “Very well, then Shiroyama-san it is…”
“Yuu is fine.”
“Yuu-san, alright,” Kai grinned. “Then you can call me Kai, that’s how my staff members call me. I’m the head of this office. This is Byou,” he nodded to his left, where Byou was sitting behind his desk in silence. “He is one of my staff-or, I should say, investigators. And the other one who you’ve just seen was Ruki. He’s my assistant.”
Right after Kai introduced Ruki, the person himself emerged from behind the door carrying a tray with a couple of cups on top of it. A soothing, chamomile-scented vapor wafted from the cups, filling the air around them. However, Ruki looked far from soothed. Kai felt like he needed to pray so that Ruki wouldn’t drop the whole tray on his way over to the table.
But thank goodness, the cups and Ruki made their way safely to the table. Kai told him to sit down, and Ruki did what he was told without saying a word. As he watched his assistant taking a seat on the sofa next to him, he made a mental note to himself to ask what on earth had taken over his usually calm and composed assistant once he was finished his business with his guest.
After letting Yuu take a sip from his cup and seeing that he was somewhat comfortable, Kai cleared his throat and spoke up. There was some sort of an unwritten rule here to make a short introduction of the institution before they got down to business-the purpose, probably, was to let the guests know what they were going to face. At the moment, Kai only hoped he wouldn’t be scaring Aoi-or Yuu away.
“Well, Yuu-san,” Kai said, “first of all, it is my obligation to welcome you to PSC. PSC, which stands for Paranormal Studies Center, is an institution whose main object is to investigate various paranormal and supernatural events. This is the Department of Investigation and Recovery, where all investigative tasks are being done. Currently there are sixteen investigators working in this department, including me; each of us specializes in different matters. Like Ruki here, he specializes in Curses, Jinxes, and how to clean them up. And then Byou, he’s pretty good in Astral Aura Detection. There are various other specializations, but there’s no need for us to get to too many details for now.
“You see, these are not our real names. It might sound rude but it is written in our standard operational procedure that we are not allowed to reveal our true identities, even in front of our clients, except under emergency situations. But you will know more about that once we hand you the contract.
“But I am not pressing you to sign a contract with us. In the end, it is completely up to you.” Kai clasped his hands, finishing his brief introduction. “However, I must insist that everything that we discuss here stays here. You can’t mention our names, not even our aliases, to anyone else.”
“No problem,” Yuu replied. “I completely understand what it’s like to want to be anonymous.”
- TO BE CONTINUED -
A/N: Well, here I am. Finally back from the dead, and yes, with a new fanfic. AU this time. Like most of my multi-chapters, I can't tell just yet how long this will be. I've written a horror theme before but never managed to finish it. Let's just say I'd like to take another shot at it. And, oh yes, of course I need to warn you that my updates will take some time. But please pray that I won't lose interest in this story, because I'm actually hopeful about this.
I hope you enjoy it, and comments make me happy ;)
Previous chapters: -
Fanfic list here.