Cutie & the Beast - Part 3
"Why did you lie to me?" Nino asked. His voice went an octave higher, finding it was difficult to contain his anger once he realized what was going on. His friends had lied to him all these times. They weren't what he thought them to be. Were they even his friends? If they were, they would not betray him!
Nino didn't want to accuse his friends. But, after seeing how Jun had transformed from a werewolf earlier, it proved that he, as well as Aiba, was from the monster realm. If that was true, why did the two of them keep trying to prove the place didn't exist? Why were they so keen to make him think that his adventure was just an imagination?
Nino looked at Jun with a hope that his friend would have a legit explanation for what happened. To deny what he thought of them. To prove that their friendship was genuine.
However, he was disappointed by the lack of reaction from Jun.
"I have nothing to explain," Jun said coolly, not sounding guilty at all. "We have to go now. This place is not safe for you,"
"As if I will let you go," Yuri said before she started attacking them. Anticipating the attack, Jun quickly dodged her while trying to protect Nino at the same time. Despite being in his human form, Jun was a skilful fighter.
However, a problem aroused when Kaibutsu Kun appeared from the dungeon. Jun was outnumbered and there was no way he could fight the two of them together. Besides, he was also exhausted, which Nino deduced, might be due to his lack of stamina. It seemed like it had been a while since he fought. Kaibutsu Kun, on the other hand, was a better fighter than Jun despite his sleepy look. His movement was swift and sharp making it impossible for Jun to land a blow on his body.
"AH!"
Nino yelped when Yuri grabbed him from behind. Too engrossed in the fight between Jun and Kaibutsu Kun, he didn't realize Yuri had sneaked in behind him. His scream had caused Jun to look away from Kaibutsu Kun for a moment, allowing the monster to strike him on his chest. As a result, Jun ended up lying unconscious on the floor.
Nino pushed Yuri away and quickly went to check on Jun. The betrayal was not his concern right now. Jun's life is more important than that.
"I know I can count on you, beloved," Yuri said, standing next to Kaibutsu Kun. She smirked at Nino before leaning in to kiss the monster. There was something weird in the way she looked at Nino before the kiss. It's almost as if she expected a reaction from Nino. But, Nino was too worried about Jun so he didn't care what those two wanted to do. They can kiss all they want.
"Beloved…" He heard Yuri say, addressing Kaibutsu Kun. "Bring the werewolf back to the prison. I want to be alone with Little Kazunari,"
The monster bowed slightly at Yuri before he walked towards Nino and Jun. Nino didn't budge, knowing it's futile to go against these two. Besides, he also wanted to have a word with Yuri.
However, as Kaibutsu Kun came closer to lift Jun from the ground, the monster was caught by surprise when Jun suddenly stood up and attacked his chest. This time, it was Kaibutsu Kun's turn to lie unconscious on the floor.
"You bastard!" Bellowed Yuri when she saw what happened.
Jun gave her a smirk in return. He held both Nino's and Kaibutsu Kun's hands before muttering incomprehensible words and threw a ball towards Yuri. What happened after that was hazy for Nino. He remembered they were surrounded by smoke. But, when the smoke dissolved, he was no longer in the dungeon. Instead, he ended up in his own room.
“Oh, it actually works!”
Jun’s voice broke him out of his trance, realizing that he wasn’t alone. Other than Jun, a stranger was lying unconscious on the floor. The person must be Kaibutsu Kun in his human form, Nino deduced. However, upon closer inspection of the guy, his eyes widened as he recognized the face. Remember the handsome man with a sleepy smile that he saw in his dream? Well… guess what… Kaibutsu Kun bore an uncanny resemblance to the guy.
A knock on the door surprised him. Nino was thankful for the distraction. He signalled for Jun to stay quiet as he went to open the door. It was his mother.
“Mama,” Nino smiled, hoping he sounded normal. Too many things were in his mind right now.
“I don’t know you are home,” His mother sounded surprised. “I knocked on your door but there was no answer. Then, I heard a noise from your room so…”
“I was sleeping,” Nino cut her off. “If you don’t mind, I have to do my assignment,”
Nino wanted to close the door as quickly as he could. However, he was stopped by his mother, telling him news that he didn’t expect to hear.
“You have guests,” His mother said. She pointed at someone behind her, making Nino realize they weren’t alone. He should probably send the guest away. This was not the time to entertain unannounced guests. However, when he gazed behind his mother, he was greeted by familiar faces.
Great, Nino thought to himself. He should already expect this would happen. Well, let’s hope this would be the last surprise for today, Nino mused as he glared at both Aiba and the vampire that had once haunted his dream.
“Why are you here?” Nino asked, letting Aiba and the vampire enter the room. His mother already went downstairs, allowing them to have a moment for privacy.
However, instead of answering, Aiba embraced him tightly. “I miss you so much, Nino chan!”
Nino didn’t return the hug. For him, Aiba was being a hypocrite. If he missed Nino, why did he leave Nino alone without any explanations?
“Are you angry?” Aiba asked, still holding him in his embrace. “I didn’t mean to…”
His friend trailed off, finally realizing there was someone else in the room.
“Matsujun!” Aiba shouted excitedly, letting Nino go and then ran towards Jun. “How did you escape? Did you use…”
Aiba tried to hug the other guy but Jun shoved him aside, giving Aiba a deadly glare. His action seemed to make Aiba confused. Seeing that, Nino felt there was something weird going on between the two of them. Indeed, Aiba often made Jun angry back then. But, Jun never acted like this.
“What’s wrong with you?” The vampire asked with a soft and understanding voice, addressing Jun. Unlike Jun and Kaibutsu Kun, there was only a slight difference between the human and the monster form of the vampire. In his human form, the vampire didn’t have fangs and thus, it made him look less scary. Hmm… how about Aiba then? Was there any difference between his human and monster form?
“You two put his life in danger!” Jun answered, pointing at Nino. “If you didn’t run from prison, the princess will not come to this world to find them. If the princess kills Little Kazunari, I will never forgive the two of you!”
“The princess was after Nino?” Aiba and the vampire asked in unison.
Was Yuri the princess the three of them were talking about? It had to be her. She’s the only one who had tried to harm Nino. And now, he felt stupid not to think of his friends when Yuri told him about the escaped prisoners. That would explain why she was interested to know if he had ever seen them again.
“Urgh!”
A groaning sound alerting them to another presence in the room. All four of them shifted their attention to Kaibutsu Kun who opened his eyes and then pushed himself to sit on the floor. He looked around, confusion was evident in his gaze. However, when he noticed Nino, the confused look was replaced with rage.
The monster stood up and dashed towards Nino. Even though he should have anticipated the attack, Nino was too stunned to move. So, he closed his eyes, ready to accept the strike from Kaibutsu Kun. He could hear a thud but he was still standing, not affected by the blow. Feeling curious, he opened his eyes and saw the monster was once again lying unconscious. Jun stood in front of him with a scowl on his face.
“Are you stupid?” His friend yelled. “You know he’s going to attack you… why don’t you run? You cannot expect me to protect you all the time!”
Something was different about Jun, Nino noticed. He seemed upset and was blaming Nino for it. But, why would he feel that way for Nino? If anything, Nino should be the one who was upset with him for lying.
However, before Nino could voice out his concern, a knock was heard from outside followed by his mother’s voice.
“Kazu, is everything okay? I heard a loud noise from your room,”
“Yes,” Nino answered without opening the door. “A book fell down. Don’t worry,”
“Okay,” His mother sounded doubtful. “It’s late already. You should probably get to sleep. If you need extra futon, let me know,”
“Yes, Mama. Good night,”
Not long after that, he could hear his mother’s footsteps as she walked away. Once the footsteps could no longer be heard, he focused once again on the situation at hand.
“Okay, first thing first…” Nino began, looking at the people in his room. His gaze lingered longer on Jun. Something was unsettling about Jun and it grew each time he looked at his friend. “... We should… I don’t know… Tie him or something so that he couldn’t hurt us if he wakes up again,”
Nino pointed at Kaibutsu Kun who was lying on the floor. Everyone else hummed in agreement. Nino didn't have a rope or something that could be used to tie the monster. Fortunately, Aiba had a solution.
"Don't worry," Aiba assured them, gesturing towards the vampire to hand him the bag he was holding. "Sho chan, give me your bag. I put my magic rope in it,"
Oh… so the vampire's name was Sho. Hmm… It was a distant memory but Nino remembered hearing Kaibutsu Kun call the vampire with that name. He quickly shook his head. This was not the time to dwell on the past.
“Will that work?” Nino was sceptical when he saw Aiba take a rope out of Sho’s bag. The rope was too thin. No doubt it would be easier for someone with Kaibutsu Kun’s strength to escape from it.
“Of course,” Aiba sounded sure, focusing on tying the rope around Kaibutsu Kun’s hands and feet. As he did that, Sho muttered a few incomprehensible words, which were quite similar to what Jun muttered when they tried to escape from Yuri.
“But it’s very thin. He can easily break free,”
“Silly Nino,” Aiba said. “This is a magic rope. I made it with Ohchan’s help. He helped to put magic in it…” Aiba suddenly looked solemn before he continued. “I can’t believe that I have to use it on him now. But, don’t worry. Ohchan cannot break free from the rope no matter how strong he is. The rope will only untangle if we let him,”
"You made the rope?" Nino's jaw dropped to hear that. The information did nothing to ease his worry.
"Yes!" Aiba confirmed, completely unaware of the look that Nino was giving him. "I miss doing experiments in our science class so after I went back to Kaibutsu Land, I started doing experiments to invent magical stuff. This rope is one of them,”
“His invention actually works, you know,” Jun chimed in. “The ball that I used in the dungeon just now was one of his creations,”
Nino's eyes were wide opened, surprised by the discovery. No wonder the chant that Sho and Jun used were quite similar. They were made in the same manner.
"What did you say when you used the stuff?" Nino asked curiously. "Some kind of spells?"
"Not really," Sho answered. Both he and Aiba had finished tying up Kaibutsu Kun and now they sat on the floor with Nino and Jun. "We just talk gibberish,"
"Why?"
"To make others think we're doing a spell," Sho explained. "Not everyone can do magic. None of us can do it. Only…” Sho trailed off, looking at Kaibutsu Kun who was lying near him. Sadness could be seen in his eyes. But, he shook his head and then looked straight at Jun. "How did you escape from the dungeon?"
"Oh…" Jun glanced at Nino before he answered. Nino noticed that his friend seemed to be nervous. "The ball that you gave me… I threw it at her… smoke appeared. When she was distracted by the smoke, we took the chance to run, carrying him with us…" Jun pointed at Kaibutsu Kun. "... and went to the abandoned factory. We find the door to get to Lil… hmm… this room,"
Eh? Nino was surprised by what Jun had described. That was not how they escaped from the dungeon. Yes, there was smoke. But, he never ran from the dungeon. And he certainly didn’t go to a factory. Instead, he was transported to his own room.
However, Nino didn't say anything about it. Jun was giving him a look to keep what truly happened a secret. Fine, he would stay silent for now. But, once he had the chance to be alone with Jun, he would ask for an explanation.
"So, all of you are from the monster realm, right?" Nino asked even though he already knew the answer. Both Aiba and Sho nodded their heads while Jun seemed to be more interested in a drawing on the wall. It was the portrait of Nino that was drawn by Kaibutsu Kun.
"The drawing was really drawn by my Kaibutsu Kun, right?" Nino asked. "Did you ask my mother to lie about the drawing to make me believe that the monster realm does not exist?"
Jun tilted his head, looking confused. He opened his mouth to answer but Aiba beat him to it.
"I thought you tore the drawing," Aiba said. He stood up and examined the drawing. "Ah, so you restore the drawing. I'm sorry, Nino. I don't mean to lie to you. But, it's the only way to make you believe that Kaibutsu Kun is not real. If not, we will have to kill you,"
"Kill me?"
"Un," Aiba nodded. He left the drawing and came sitting down next to Sho. "You're not supposed to know about Kaibutsu Land. Our king sent us to your world to make you forget. You're right. Ohno Satoshi is your Kaibutsu Kun. I call him Ohchan. He wanted to come here but he was imprisoned by the king. That's why he didn't fulfil the promise he made with you. But, believe me. It's the thing that he wanted to do the most. He missed you so much, Nino chan,"
Yeah, right. Nino looked at Aiba with doubt. Kaibutsu Kun missed him? If that was true, why did the monster try to harm him?
Jun tapped his shoulder so Nino turned to look at him. His friend looked at him with guilt. "He didn't want to hurt you. He was under the control of the princess,"
“And you’re the only one who can free him from the spell,” Aiba interjected, earning a deadly glare from Jun.
“Help him? How? By giving him a true love kiss?” Nino asked sarcastically. He then laughed, thinking it’s impossible for what he said to be true. There’s no such thing as a true love kiss. He expected the rest would laugh with him too. However, the only response he received from all of them was a look filled with hope as if what he said just now wasn’t a joke for them.
“You’ve got to be kidding,”
A/N: Have u guys watched the PV for In the Summer? It is perfect, ne? Arashi is so awesome. I love the song. And the performance for In the Summer was magnificent. I love the dance.
Anyway, I apologized for taking my time in updating this story. I hope this is okay. Nino seemed to be suspecting that something was wrong with Jun. Any thoughts on that? I truly appreciate it if you will let me know what you think about this story in the comment :)