Runaway Train, Lock 6
Series Title: Runaway Train
Rating: Back to Pg-13 for this chapter, sorry
Pairs: Ohmiya, Sakuraiba
Genre: Action, Romance, and 1920’s Historical AU
Summary: Jun, Aiba and Sho risk their lives attempting to wire for the police while Ohno and Nino make a little headway on their journey to the Safe car.
DC: Not real, not mine. In this story, the train is located in a fictional country though there are toss backs to the US’s roaring twenties. Furthermore, the organization of the different cars on this train are not realistic or even reasonably so. As such, this fic is about as far from historically accurate as Nino is from looking old, so please do not read if you’re anal for history.
Note: For
ariange . Beware of suckage, boring action and confusion. I could make excuses regarding the wait for this chapter, or I could just post. On the plus side, only one chapter left. Previous chapters can be found on my lj, at the Runaway Train Station. .
“Are you bastards trying to steal MY train?” Shouted Jun, letting off a few rounds above the heads of the train robbers who came spilling out of the cabin next door.
“So what if we are?” One replied coldly, taking aim right over Jun’s heart.
“We were here first!” Aiba physically tackled the masked man targeting Jun, knocking the gun out of the startled robber’s hands.
“Go.” Jun hissed at Sho, who had frozen right after stepping out of the private cabin he and Aiba had been passionately sharing only a few moments before. Alarmed, he moved towards Aiba who was still wrestling in the hall with the robber.
“But Masaki-”
“Go do what you need to do. Aiba will be fine!”
“Go Sho!” It was Aiba, trying to shout while putting his wrestling partner into a half nelson.
One of the remaining three robbers took a potshot at Sho, but the bullet only grazed his shoulder before embedding in the wall behind them. Gasping at the pain, Sho clutched his bleeding arm in horror. With one last worried look to Aiba, Sho bolted out of the exit onto the balcony, still holding his arm.
“Aiba, enough!” Barked Jun, spraying the air above them with bullets, dodging a few rounds a third masked robber sent his way.
Kneeing his wrestling partner hard in the groin, Aiba leapt up, seized the knocked away weapon, and ran out the door, followed quickly by Jun.
The next car passed in a motion blur, Jun and Aiba sent a rain of bullets over their shoulders in-between dodging counter fire.
“It’s right up ahead!” Sho shouted, to which Aiba and Jun nodded, taking up defensive positions inside cabins on opposite ends of the center aisle, their guns trained on the door.
“Be fast, I don’t know how long we can hold them back before they realize we’re not aiming for killing shots.” Responded Jun, reloading his Tommy as Sho continued to run down the car.
“Be fastbefastbefast. ShitshitshitshitshitSHIT.” Cried Sho, as he exploded into the small communications booth located in the cabin next to the entrance of the car. Sho was not at all comforted to find the Communication’s Officer asleep on his desk. “WHY THE HELL HAVEN’T YOU WIRED FOR THE POLICE YOKO?“
Tiredly, Yoko yawned without opening his eyes. “This again? Last time I was given a fine for disturbing emergency personnel. Whatever Aiba’s broken this time, just tell him to deal with it when we get back to the station…..”
“Worthless piece of….” Sho swore, shoving Yoko aside to access the telegraph to send out the S.O.S.
Rubbing his head where it collided with the wall, Yoko blinked, startled awake as he heard the famous series of distress beeps echo in his head piece. “Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi. Don’t joke with that kind of message. We could get fired for a false alarm like that!”
“False alarm?! There are four masked and armed hijackers about to burst into this car. Are you deaf to gunfire?!” Cried Sho, frustrated as he struggled to remember his Morse code lessons.
“W-what? You can‘t be serious”
“I have bullet wounds, a lover who might die trying to protect me while I wire the police, AND YOU THINK I’M JOKING?!”
Noticing Sho’s bloody hands and ripped shirt with a slick red stain at long last, Yoko paled, and shoved Sho’s hand off the telegraph, holding his head piece closer to his ear. “I’m faster, what message do you need me to wire?”
From inside two different vacant cabins, Aiba and Jun kept their sights trained on the rear exit door, waiting for the ‘other robbers’ to burst in any second. The second elongated into a minute, then several minutes.
“Something wrong.” Aiba loudly whispered over the sound of his heart beating in his ears.
“I don’t understand. Why haven’t they-” A bullet whizzed right past Jun’s ear, searing off the ends of a small lock of loose hair before embedding itself in the wall of the cabin.
Their heads snapped around to the unwatched front end of the car. Somehow two of the hijackers had gone above and over the train car, entering though the door at the other end.
“Weren’t there four? Where are the other two?!” With a curse at the villains for damaging his once perfect hair, Jun whipped his Tommy around, firing back in less then a second. The two masked men retreated back onto the outside balcony, continuing to fire over their shoulders.
“Maybe they went ahead to the coal car to capture the Engineer!” Shouted Aiba, over the gunfire. Highly concerned, he snaked out of his cabin, running diagonally across the aisle to the next compartment. “Cover me, I’ve got to get Sho out of the Communications Cabin.”
“Hurry, we’re sitting targets!”
Zigzagging up the hall, Aiba made it though the crossfire to the Communications Cabin, just as Sho’s loud shriek reverberated though the car.
Instantly, Aiba ripped open the door, his eyes widening as he saw where the other two ‘missing’ robbers had gone. Outside of the compartment’s window on the other side of the glass, a masked man was dangling from the roof, upside down, his gun still in his hand. The fourth burglar must have been holding his feet.
Yoko was still in the middle of transmitting his telegram, but froze when he saw the hijacker take aim in his peripheral vision. “Fuc-”
As if in slow motion, Aiba grabbed both Sho and Yoko. In the split second after Aiba forced them all on the ground, the robber’s shot shattered the window. The bullet found it’s mark on the telegraph where Yoko‘s hand had been a moments before, destroying the device instantly. As glass continued to fall from the broken panes, Aiba fled the Communications Cabin with the two in hand. The hall turned out to be just as dangerous, since Jun was continuing to exchange fire with the two robbers stationed outside of the front end of the car.
“They’re on the roof Jun!” Aiba shouted, shoving Sho and Yoko into one cabin before diving across the hall to avoid the next round. “The other two are on the roof!”
As if to prove Aiba’s statement, a rain of bullets suddenly came in a straight line though the roof extending in a diagonal from the Communications Cabin, but the shots were blind, the trail stopping short of their hiding places.
“Damn it! We can’t stay here, we’ll get surrounded!” Wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead, Jun kicked the wall, frustrated. “We have no choice, we have to retreat back down the train. Hopefully we’ll be able to make a good stand at the Safe car.”
“Roger that.” With a nod at Jun, Aiba addressed the two employees across the aisle hurriedly. “Yoko and Sho, stay in that cabin and surrender if the bad guys come after you.”
“I’m going with you. If you die while I‘m sitting here like a coward…I….I…” Sho’s voice choked up and Aiba wanted nothing more in that instant then to run over and embrace his love.
“Well I’m staying here.” Yoko folded his arms, the decision final. “Good luck and all that. I‘ll send flowers to your funerals.”
“Alright then, Aiba front, Sho middle, I’ll take rear cover. Be ready for enemy fire from above when we cross the threshold in case they decide to follow our retreat.” Jun hollered, motioning the two to move out, back down the train.
~~~~~
As much as I would have liked to sit there and not know why we were kissing but doing it anyway, the train was still under siege.
I rose to my feet which at last felt sturdy enough to walk on, and stepped over the gap to the next car down. After standing on top of a moving train car, the gap didn’t even make me blink. Ohno joined me instantly, and we entered the battle worn car.
The female passengers were sobbing softly in their cabins. I noticed right away that the jewelry and furs I targeted earlier were missing, most likely claimed by the other robbers. Blossoms of blood stained the shirts of two train employees who had been on duty in the car. The wounds were nasty but not fatal as far as I could tell, and no one aside from the employees seemed injured. Thank god I shed my uniform earlier, just in case there were robbers ahead, or the ones behind managed to catch up. Even without the uniform I was surprised that no one called out to us or asked for assistance. Solemnly, we continued down to the next car.
It was the storage car we had found Ohno in. Though it probably happened less then an hour ago, it felt like a whole different lifetime. It’s incredible how one hour can put a person though so much.
The robbers had been though here too however, some of the boxes were knocked over and their contents had spilt onto the floor, including the trunk Ohno had been sleeping in earlier.
My eyes fixed on that trunk as we hurried though the car, and despite everything, images of the man sleeping so soundly in the trunk permeated my thoughts. I remembered how well our hands seemed to fit together when I held his while he slept, in an attempt to creep Jun out. His features had been muted in the dim light, so that I couldn‘t properly see his face even when I had leaned in close.
But now I know the dangers of getting close to that face when it’s awake.
Not that it’s of any great significance considering the condition, the situation, the people involved, and so on.
Still, he did it.
He kissed me.
Not that it really matters anyway.
“Ah, I forgot!” Out of nowhere Ohno exclaimed, the storage car must have jogged his memory like it did mine. “I need to give Maa-chan his keys back!”
Maa-chan? Maa-chan? He’s thinking of some random guy after all we’ve been though in the past several minutes? Maybe he kisses Maa-chan without knowing why too.
Not that I care.
“Let’s just hope this ‘Maa-chan’ of yours isn’t dead yet…” My voice trailed off when I remembered something too.
That burglar who burst into the cabin, I thought I heard him shout something like ‘Where the hell did they take Ohno?!’
“H-how many companions of yours are on this train again?” I asked, recalling the four masked men I saw as we ran earlier.
“Four. Maa-chan, Yaracchi, Yone and Akki.”
“Four?”
“Four.”
Now that would be one hell of a coincidence. But if his four companions were the criminals, surely Ohno would have been in on the heist too. I glanced at Ohno’s face in the semi-darkness of the car, trying to discern if he was leading me on or not. No, I decided quickly, remembering how frightened he had been earlier, he was either innocent or one hell of an actor. Besides just because I saw four robbers doesn’t mean that there are only four, there could be more somewhere…
It’s probably just a coincidence. No use jumping to conclusions at this point.
“Hey, can I see the keys? The ones you’re holding onto for your friend?” I asked, once we were though the dark storage car and on the balcony again.
“Sure, just be careful with them ok?” After a moment of digging though his pants, he pulled out a silver ring, on which a dozen keys dangled freely.
The keys were large and heavy, and wouldn’t be used for a house or a luggage trunk. The brand etched into the handle of the keys was familiar, though I couldn’t remember from where.
Then it hit me. Slowly I turned around and faced the lock I picked not so long ago, on the storage car’s door. With a reluctant swallow, I selected a key from the ring, and slid it into the lock, wishing for resistance. But the key slid in like a knife though butter, and with a soft click, I relocked the door just as easily.
Now I have conclusive evidence to jump to conclusions. Great.
“Wait.” Pushing my hand away gently, Ohno pulled the key from the relocked lock, confused. “Why did this key lock that door?“
“Those keys your ‘Maa-chan’ is having you hold onto…I think they unlock all the doors on this train.”
“These are the keys to the train? I thought they went to his house!” He paused, and looked at me, his eyebrows knitted in ultimate confusion. “Why would he have them? Why do I have them?”
“Listen, Oh-chan, I think your companions are probably-”
There was a strange sound from the other side of the storage car’s door that made me pause. There were thunderous footsteps, and the low echo of human voices. My hand flew to the holster hanging from my waist. Did the robbers catch up?
“Shit, the door’s locked! Someone locked the door from the outside!” Suddenly someone banged on the door in desperation. “Wait, I have my keys somewhere!”
“Ninomiya might have re-locked it after passing though.” I recognized that curt voice. It was the Boss man.
But he’s supposed to be running the other way. Something must have gone wrong. Quickly I snatched the keys from Ohno again and unlocked the door. Jun, Aiba and the legitimate train employee Sho tumbled onto the balcony.
The ledge was crowded enough with two people. With five, I feared the welding would fail. Somehow I managed to squeeze out of the mob, and cross to the other ledge, Jun then had enough room to follow me.
Jun hardly stood still for a moment, opening the next car door and leading the way back down the train, leaving the rest of us to follow as he filled me in. “We made it to the Communications Cabin, but we were about to get surrounded so we fled. They’re continuing to chase us but I‘m not sure why. I mean, if their goal is the Safe car or the Engine, why didn’t they just head straight there rather then chase Aiba and I down?”
“They’re looking for Ohno. They probably thought you knew where he was.” I supplied, and at Jun’s curious look I shared my theory on the real identity of the other robbers as we fled through three more cars.
“Wait. What?” Ohno slowed to a stop, but Sho was wise enough to grab his arm and keep him moving. “Maachin…and the guys aren’t criminals. You have it wrong Nino.”
“How do I have it wrong? Maa-chan and your buddies are behind this. Or can you explain those keys in your hands that obviously belong to this train?” I sighed glancing over my shoulder to look at him. That was a big mistake, his sorrowful brown eyes made my throat dry, among other things that I just couldn’t afford to be distracted by. “N-not to mention we’ve been through almost the entire train and you haven’t seen them yet, have you?”
“Maybe that one key was just a fluke.” Ohno offered, stubbornly. “And maybe I just got on the wrong train, or they forgot to get on the train or…”
“Hand the key ring to Sho then, he has a matching set I bet.” I opened the rear door to the next car down. There was a pause as Sho and Ohno produced their key rings, and it was obvious even at first glance that they were clones of the same set.
“I don’t believe it…” Awed Sho, and cried Ohno.
Dejected Ohno took his set of keys back and shoved them into his pocket. I felt bad for the guy. It can’t be easy to know that four of your friends have been lying to you, and are in fact crazy train robbers.
Especially since that Maachin is a dick.
I looked around our group, three of us were out to do the same thing. Well almost the same, minus the bloodshed and the crazy.
Besides, unlike Maachin, I for one, am not a dick.
“That was smart of them.” Jun sighed quietly so that only I could hear, leading on to the next car. “If I had just had someone steal the keys first, then I wouldn’t have had to deal with rounding up a lockpicker.”
“And my life wouldn’t be at risk because of you.” Not bothering to lower my voice in hopes it would annoy Jun, I rolled my eyes, checking over my shoulder, not for Ohno but to see if the other robbers were catching up yet. They weren’t to be seen, strangely enough. “But obviously their plans weren’t any better then yours considering how we’ve captured the keys they need to break into the cars they can’t lockpick for them selves.”
“Now now boys, don’t fight.” Interrupted the raspy voiced one, Aiba. “We’re all in this together now, so let’s fight and win it together too.”
“It’s five to four.” Sho added, obviously only catching part of the conversation. “We outnumber them at least.”
“There’s a difference though.” Jun sighed raising his voice and dropping all pretense, as we jogged down the hall. “They aren’t bound to a bet where causalities are penalized. Those four robbers technically count as passengers. If I kill even one of them, I loose. Since they aren’t playing by the same rules, they can kill any one of us at any time. I don’t know how we can neutralize them without killing them in this situation.”
“What bet?” Sho asked tersely, though I could tell by now he was suspecting Jun and Aiba’s true nature. “I knew this smelt fishy from the start, with those guns in the Sleep car and Masaki getting so ex-a-ahem…a-at any rate, it‘s high time you stop pulling the wool over my eyes before someone gets killed.”
“No one’s going to die so don’t worry about it Sho.” Aiba offered, apologetically, stroking the other man’s arm fondly. “I’ll explain later, I promise.”
“Yeah, let’s all try to stay healthy.” Suggested Ohno, randomly. I couldn’t tell if he was actually listening to the conversation or was only talking because something possessed him to.
Perhaps the betrayal of his friends sent him over whatever edge his mind seemed to be perpetually perched on. Or maybe he’s just strange like that. He realized I was staring at him, and met my gaze, his brown eyes shinning, tired and slightly lonely.
“But I still don’t know what to do…” Jun’s frustrated voice carried off in the background.
“I do. I know.” I said with a start, almost surprised with myself. “What to do, that is.”
“What?”
“If they are who I think they are….” I began, forming the scheme in my mind as I looked away from Ohno. It could work. It has to work. If it didn’t, we’d loose it all, our chance at reclaiming the car, the treasures in the Safe car, and possibly our lives. It was like Jun taunting me with the coin purse so long ago; a gamble unwanted, but a gamble that only left a person with one real choice. “If they are who I think they are….. we can use Ohno against them.”
Rating: Back to Pg-13 for this chapter, sorry
Pairs: Ohmiya, Sakuraiba
Genre: Action, Romance, and 1920’s Historical AU
Summary: Jun, Aiba and Sho risk their lives attempting to wire for the police while Ohno and Nino make a little headway on their journey to the Safe car.
DC: Not real, not mine. In this story, the train is located in a fictional country though there are toss backs to the US’s roaring twenties. Furthermore, the organization of the different cars on this train are not realistic or even reasonably so. As such, this fic is about as far from historically accurate as Nino is from looking old, so please do not read if you’re anal for history.
Note: For
ariange . Beware of suckage, boring action and confusion. I could make excuses regarding the wait for this chapter, or I could just post. On the plus side, only one chapter left. Previous chapters can be found on my lj, at the Runaway Train Station. .
“Are you bastards trying to steal MY train?” Shouted Jun, letting off a few rounds above the heads of the train robbers who came spilling out of the cabin next door.
“So what if we are?” One replied coldly, taking aim right over Jun’s heart.
“We were here first!” Aiba physically tackled the masked man targeting Jun, knocking the gun out of the startled robber’s hands.
“Go.” Jun hissed at Sho, who had frozen right after stepping out of the private cabin he and Aiba had been passionately sharing only a few moments before. Alarmed, he moved towards Aiba who was still wrestling in the hall with the robber.
“But Masaki-”
“Go do what you need to do. Aiba will be fine!”
“Go Sho!” It was Aiba, trying to shout while putting his wrestling partner into a half nelson.
One of the remaining three robbers took a potshot at Sho, but the bullet only grazed his shoulder before embedding in the wall behind them. Gasping at the pain, Sho clutched his bleeding arm in horror. With one last worried look to Aiba, Sho bolted out of the exit onto the balcony, still holding his arm.
“Aiba, enough!” Barked Jun, spraying the air above them with bullets, dodging a few rounds a third masked robber sent his way.
Kneeing his wrestling partner hard in the groin, Aiba leapt up, seized the knocked away weapon, and ran out the door, followed quickly by Jun.
The next car passed in a motion blur, Jun and Aiba sent a rain of bullets over their shoulders in-between dodging counter fire.
“It’s right up ahead!” Sho shouted, to which Aiba and Jun nodded, taking up defensive positions inside cabins on opposite ends of the center aisle, their guns trained on the door.
“Be fast, I don’t know how long we can hold them back before they realize we’re not aiming for killing shots.” Responded Jun, reloading his Tommy as Sho continued to run down the car.
“Be fastbefastbefast. ShitshitshitshitshitSHIT.” Cried Sho, as he exploded into the small communications booth located in the cabin next to the entrance of the car. Sho was not at all comforted to find the Communication’s Officer asleep on his desk. “WHY THE HELL HAVEN’T YOU WIRED FOR THE POLICE YOKO?“
Tiredly, Yoko yawned without opening his eyes. “This again? Last time I was given a fine for disturbing emergency personnel. Whatever Aiba’s broken this time, just tell him to deal with it when we get back to the station…..”
“Worthless piece of….” Sho swore, shoving Yoko aside to access the telegraph to send out the S.O.S.
Rubbing his head where it collided with the wall, Yoko blinked, startled awake as he heard the famous series of distress beeps echo in his head piece. “Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi. Don’t joke with that kind of message. We could get fired for a false alarm like that!”
“False alarm?! There are four masked and armed hijackers about to burst into this car. Are you deaf to gunfire?!” Cried Sho, frustrated as he struggled to remember his Morse code lessons.
“W-what? You can‘t be serious”
“I have bullet wounds, a lover who might die trying to protect me while I wire the police, AND YOU THINK I’M JOKING?!”
Noticing Sho’s bloody hands and ripped shirt with a slick red stain at long last, Yoko paled, and shoved Sho’s hand off the telegraph, holding his head piece closer to his ear. “I’m faster, what message do you need me to wire?”
From inside two different vacant cabins, Aiba and Jun kept their sights trained on the rear exit door, waiting for the ‘other robbers’ to burst in any second. The second elongated into a minute, then several minutes.
“Something wrong.” Aiba loudly whispered over the sound of his heart beating in his ears.
“I don’t understand. Why haven’t they-” A bullet whizzed right past Jun’s ear, searing off the ends of a small lock of loose hair before embedding itself in the wall of the cabin.
Their heads snapped around to the unwatched front end of the car. Somehow two of the hijackers had gone above and over the train car, entering though the door at the other end.
“Weren’t there four? Where are the other two?!” With a curse at the villains for damaging his once perfect hair, Jun whipped his Tommy around, firing back in less then a second. The two masked men retreated back onto the outside balcony, continuing to fire over their shoulders.
“Maybe they went ahead to the coal car to capture the Engineer!” Shouted Aiba, over the gunfire. Highly concerned, he snaked out of his cabin, running diagonally across the aisle to the next compartment. “Cover me, I’ve got to get Sho out of the Communications Cabin.”
“Hurry, we’re sitting targets!”
Zigzagging up the hall, Aiba made it though the crossfire to the Communications Cabin, just as Sho’s loud shriek reverberated though the car.
Instantly, Aiba ripped open the door, his eyes widening as he saw where the other two ‘missing’ robbers had gone. Outside of the compartment’s window on the other side of the glass, a masked man was dangling from the roof, upside down, his gun still in his hand. The fourth burglar must have been holding his feet.
Yoko was still in the middle of transmitting his telegram, but froze when he saw the hijacker take aim in his peripheral vision. “Fuc-”
As if in slow motion, Aiba grabbed both Sho and Yoko. In the split second after Aiba forced them all on the ground, the robber’s shot shattered the window. The bullet found it’s mark on the telegraph where Yoko‘s hand had been a moments before, destroying the device instantly. As glass continued to fall from the broken panes, Aiba fled the Communications Cabin with the two in hand. The hall turned out to be just as dangerous, since Jun was continuing to exchange fire with the two robbers stationed outside of the front end of the car.
“They’re on the roof Jun!” Aiba shouted, shoving Sho and Yoko into one cabin before diving across the hall to avoid the next round. “The other two are on the roof!”
As if to prove Aiba’s statement, a rain of bullets suddenly came in a straight line though the roof extending in a diagonal from the Communications Cabin, but the shots were blind, the trail stopping short of their hiding places.
“Damn it! We can’t stay here, we’ll get surrounded!” Wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead, Jun kicked the wall, frustrated. “We have no choice, we have to retreat back down the train. Hopefully we’ll be able to make a good stand at the Safe car.”
“Roger that.” With a nod at Jun, Aiba addressed the two employees across the aisle hurriedly. “Yoko and Sho, stay in that cabin and surrender if the bad guys come after you.”
“I’m going with you. If you die while I‘m sitting here like a coward…I….I…” Sho’s voice choked up and Aiba wanted nothing more in that instant then to run over and embrace his love.
“Well I’m staying here.” Yoko folded his arms, the decision final. “Good luck and all that. I‘ll send flowers to your funerals.”
“Alright then, Aiba front, Sho middle, I’ll take rear cover. Be ready for enemy fire from above when we cross the threshold in case they decide to follow our retreat.” Jun hollered, motioning the two to move out, back down the train.
~~~~~
As much as I would have liked to sit there and not know why we were kissing but doing it anyway, the train was still under siege.
I rose to my feet which at last felt sturdy enough to walk on, and stepped over the gap to the next car down. After standing on top of a moving train car, the gap didn’t even make me blink. Ohno joined me instantly, and we entered the battle worn car.
The female passengers were sobbing softly in their cabins. I noticed right away that the jewelry and furs I targeted earlier were missing, most likely claimed by the other robbers. Blossoms of blood stained the shirts of two train employees who had been on duty in the car. The wounds were nasty but not fatal as far as I could tell, and no one aside from the employees seemed injured. Thank god I shed my uniform earlier, just in case there were robbers ahead, or the ones behind managed to catch up. Even without the uniform I was surprised that no one called out to us or asked for assistance. Solemnly, we continued down to the next car.
It was the storage car we had found Ohno in. Though it probably happened less then an hour ago, it felt like a whole different lifetime. It’s incredible how one hour can put a person though so much.
The robbers had been though here too however, some of the boxes were knocked over and their contents had spilt onto the floor, including the trunk Ohno had been sleeping in earlier.
My eyes fixed on that trunk as we hurried though the car, and despite everything, images of the man sleeping so soundly in the trunk permeated my thoughts. I remembered how well our hands seemed to fit together when I held his while he slept, in an attempt to creep Jun out. His features had been muted in the dim light, so that I couldn‘t properly see his face even when I had leaned in close.
But now I know the dangers of getting close to that face when it’s awake.
Not that it’s of any great significance considering the condition, the situation, the people involved, and so on.
Still, he did it.
He kissed me.
Not that it really matters anyway.
“Ah, I forgot!” Out of nowhere Ohno exclaimed, the storage car must have jogged his memory like it did mine. “I need to give Maa-chan his keys back!”
Maa-chan? Maa-chan? He’s thinking of some random guy after all we’ve been though in the past several minutes? Maybe he kisses Maa-chan without knowing why too.
Not that I care.
“Let’s just hope this ‘Maa-chan’ of yours isn’t dead yet…” My voice trailed off when I remembered something too.
That burglar who burst into the cabin, I thought I heard him shout something like ‘Where the hell did they take Ohno?!’
“H-how many companions of yours are on this train again?” I asked, recalling the four masked men I saw as we ran earlier.
“Four. Maa-chan, Yaracchi, Yone and Akki.”
“Four?”
“Four.”
Now that would be one hell of a coincidence. But if his four companions were the criminals, surely Ohno would have been in on the heist too. I glanced at Ohno’s face in the semi-darkness of the car, trying to discern if he was leading me on or not. No, I decided quickly, remembering how frightened he had been earlier, he was either innocent or one hell of an actor. Besides just because I saw four robbers doesn’t mean that there are only four, there could be more somewhere…
It’s probably just a coincidence. No use jumping to conclusions at this point.
“Hey, can I see the keys? The ones you’re holding onto for your friend?” I asked, once we were though the dark storage car and on the balcony again.
“Sure, just be careful with them ok?” After a moment of digging though his pants, he pulled out a silver ring, on which a dozen keys dangled freely.
The keys were large and heavy, and wouldn’t be used for a house or a luggage trunk. The brand etched into the handle of the keys was familiar, though I couldn’t remember from where.
Then it hit me. Slowly I turned around and faced the lock I picked not so long ago, on the storage car’s door. With a reluctant swallow, I selected a key from the ring, and slid it into the lock, wishing for resistance. But the key slid in like a knife though butter, and with a soft click, I relocked the door just as easily.
Now I have conclusive evidence to jump to conclusions. Great.
“Wait.” Pushing my hand away gently, Ohno pulled the key from the relocked lock, confused. “Why did this key lock that door?“
“Those keys your ‘Maa-chan’ is having you hold onto…I think they unlock all the doors on this train.”
“These are the keys to the train? I thought they went to his house!” He paused, and looked at me, his eyebrows knitted in ultimate confusion. “Why would he have them? Why do I have them?”
“Listen, Oh-chan, I think your companions are probably-”
There was a strange sound from the other side of the storage car’s door that made me pause. There were thunderous footsteps, and the low echo of human voices. My hand flew to the holster hanging from my waist. Did the robbers catch up?
“Shit, the door’s locked! Someone locked the door from the outside!” Suddenly someone banged on the door in desperation. “Wait, I have my keys somewhere!”
“Ninomiya might have re-locked it after passing though.” I recognized that curt voice. It was the Boss man.
But he’s supposed to be running the other way. Something must have gone wrong. Quickly I snatched the keys from Ohno again and unlocked the door. Jun, Aiba and the legitimate train employee Sho tumbled onto the balcony.
The ledge was crowded enough with two people. With five, I feared the welding would fail. Somehow I managed to squeeze out of the mob, and cross to the other ledge, Jun then had enough room to follow me.
Jun hardly stood still for a moment, opening the next car door and leading the way back down the train, leaving the rest of us to follow as he filled me in. “We made it to the Communications Cabin, but we were about to get surrounded so we fled. They’re continuing to chase us but I‘m not sure why. I mean, if their goal is the Safe car or the Engine, why didn’t they just head straight there rather then chase Aiba and I down?”
“They’re looking for Ohno. They probably thought you knew where he was.” I supplied, and at Jun’s curious look I shared my theory on the real identity of the other robbers as we fled through three more cars.
“Wait. What?” Ohno slowed to a stop, but Sho was wise enough to grab his arm and keep him moving. “Maachin…and the guys aren’t criminals. You have it wrong Nino.”
“How do I have it wrong? Maa-chan and your buddies are behind this. Or can you explain those keys in your hands that obviously belong to this train?” I sighed glancing over my shoulder to look at him. That was a big mistake, his sorrowful brown eyes made my throat dry, among other things that I just couldn’t afford to be distracted by. “N-not to mention we’ve been through almost the entire train and you haven’t seen them yet, have you?”
“Maybe that one key was just a fluke.” Ohno offered, stubbornly. “And maybe I just got on the wrong train, or they forgot to get on the train or…”
“Hand the key ring to Sho then, he has a matching set I bet.” I opened the rear door to the next car down. There was a pause as Sho and Ohno produced their key rings, and it was obvious even at first glance that they were clones of the same set.
“I don’t believe it…” Awed Sho, and cried Ohno.
Dejected Ohno took his set of keys back and shoved them into his pocket. I felt bad for the guy. It can’t be easy to know that four of your friends have been lying to you, and are in fact crazy train robbers.
Especially since that Maachin is a dick.
I looked around our group, three of us were out to do the same thing. Well almost the same, minus the bloodshed and the crazy.
Besides, unlike Maachin, I for one, am not a dick.
“That was smart of them.” Jun sighed quietly so that only I could hear, leading on to the next car. “If I had just had someone steal the keys first, then I wouldn’t have had to deal with rounding up a lockpicker.”
“And my life wouldn’t be at risk because of you.” Not bothering to lower my voice in hopes it would annoy Jun, I rolled my eyes, checking over my shoulder, not for Ohno but to see if the other robbers were catching up yet. They weren’t to be seen, strangely enough. “But obviously their plans weren’t any better then yours considering how we’ve captured the keys they need to break into the cars they can’t lockpick for them selves.”
“Now now boys, don’t fight.” Interrupted the raspy voiced one, Aiba. “We’re all in this together now, so let’s fight and win it together too.”
“It’s five to four.” Sho added, obviously only catching part of the conversation. “We outnumber them at least.”
“There’s a difference though.” Jun sighed raising his voice and dropping all pretense, as we jogged down the hall. “They aren’t bound to a bet where causalities are penalized. Those four robbers technically count as passengers. If I kill even one of them, I loose. Since they aren’t playing by the same rules, they can kill any one of us at any time. I don’t know how we can neutralize them without killing them in this situation.”
“What bet?” Sho asked tersely, though I could tell by now he was suspecting Jun and Aiba’s true nature. “I knew this smelt fishy from the start, with those guns in the Sleep car and Masaki getting so ex-a-ahem…a-at any rate, it‘s high time you stop pulling the wool over my eyes before someone gets killed.”
“No one’s going to die so don’t worry about it Sho.” Aiba offered, apologetically, stroking the other man’s arm fondly. “I’ll explain later, I promise.”
“Yeah, let’s all try to stay healthy.” Suggested Ohno, randomly. I couldn’t tell if he was actually listening to the conversation or was only talking because something possessed him to.
Perhaps the betrayal of his friends sent him over whatever edge his mind seemed to be perpetually perched on. Or maybe he’s just strange like that. He realized I was staring at him, and met my gaze, his brown eyes shinning, tired and slightly lonely.
“But I still don’t know what to do…” Jun’s frustrated voice carried off in the background.
“I do. I know.” I said with a start, almost surprised with myself. “What to do, that is.”
“What?”
“If they are who I think they are….” I began, forming the scheme in my mind as I looked away from Ohno. It could work. It has to work. If it didn’t, we’d loose it all, our chance at reclaiming the car, the treasures in the Safe car, and possibly our lives. It was like Jun taunting me with the coin purse so long ago; a gamble unwanted, but a gamble that only left a person with one real choice. “If they are who I think they are….. we can use Ohno against them.”