Nino Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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ninoexchange2017-06-27 11:08 pm
nino_mod) wrote in ninoexchange2017-06-27 11:08 pm
Entry tags:
fic for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clipsie
For: clipsie
From: :3.
Title: Double Edged
Pairing/Focus: Nino & Aiba, Nino & Miyake Ken, Nino & Okada Junichi, and more~
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Summary: Knives go missing from several museums in the Tokyo area. The thieves are still at large and the police don’t have any solid leads. But Nino and Aiba see much more than they’re supposed to.
Notes: For clipsie <3 I really hope you’ll like this! You’d said that you preferred not to have pairings this time around so everything listed is gen friendships and maybe some other nonsense. Your request said you liked mystery so I ended up taking that and going with it~ I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you’ll have fun reading it as well! Thank you to B and thank you to the mod for always making sure we have a healthy dose of Nino every June!
It isn’t something Nino intends to see. But he does see it.
He’s walking home from work and normally he’d take a taxi. Except today he went with Aiba for drinks after work only a few blocks from his apartment. There’s a museum on the way home that Nino has only ever barely looked at. Aiba has said more than a few times that they should go there together and Nino looks over at it vaguely imagining Aiba dragging him by his sleeve up to the entrance and up to the ticket counter where Nino will inevitably make Aiba pay for him. He won’t mind.
But as he’s looking he sees something that he’s definitely probably not supposed to see. At first it looks like a cat darting across the lawn outside. A quick and agile black cat moving around the side of the building like a shadow. Nino stops in his tracks just watching, a little stunned by what he’s seeing. Then he can make out the shape of a man. Tall and thin wearing black from head to toe. The man disappears behind the building and then Nino can’t see him anymore.
Part of him wonders if he should call the police. Another part of him thinks maybe this isn’t any of his business. He doesn’t know who this guy is or what he’s doing and Nino is fairly sure he’s been seen as suspicious more than a few times. Just then the alarms start to go off though and Nino’s eyes snap into focus just in time to see the man in black running out from the same place Nino had seen him disappear. He starts to take out his phone, debating whether he should call the police or he should just call Aiba.
Then two arms come from behind him, one holds him at the waist and the other presses a towel over his face. There is a strange smell of chemicals and then Nino’s vision goes dark.
---
Nino wakes up to the glaring white lights of a hospital room. Everything smells medical and he hurts from head to toe. When he stretches his arms out he notices some bruises on his wrists. His head is pounding.
He groans out loud, but a soft voice comes from off to his side where he hasn’t turned his head yet for fear it might hurt too much.
“Take it easy,” says a gentle voice. Then a man comes around to the foot of the bed. He’s wearing scrubs and thick glasses.
“You’re a doctor?” Nino asks.
“Nurse,” he says. “And don’t worry you’re going to be fine.”
“What happened?” Nino asks, rubbing his eyes and blinking. Maybe if he blinks enough the room will feel like it’s real.
“I guess that’s a question you’ll have to ask them, the nurse says, nodding out past the door of the hospital room. Two police officers in full uniform are standing just outside talking to each other. One of them looks into the room and almost meets eyes with Nino and he immediately pretends to be much more groggy than he is.
“You’re in luck being transferred to this hospital,” the nurse says. “The food here is incredible. Not even just for a hospital. Better than a lot of restaurants around here too.”
Nino squints as the nurse approaches the bed and reads “Nagano” on his nametag, then files that name away in his mind.
---
The news calls it a crime wave although Nino isn’t sure he would exactly call it that. Three museums have been broken into in the last week. All with top security supposedly impossible to break through. The police suspect a group, maybe some kind of organized gang. They don’t say the word mafia in the news report but Nino wonders for a moment. Then he goes back to playing a game on his phone.
“In each case,” the newscaster goes on in the background, “an artifact was stolen. From each museum knives from different historical eras have gone missing from their cases with everything else untouched. Tokyo Metropolitan Police have asked that the public refrain from panicking, but since the items stolen could potentially be used as weapons they are asking for everyone’s cooperation. If you know anything about the missing knives or have seen any suspicious behavior, please contact the number on your screen immediately.”
“Knives...” Nino whispers to himself.
“Pretty scary right?” someone says. Nino pauses his game and looks up over his phone. A guy who can’t be much older than himself is standing there wearing a suit and looking entirely out of place.
“Who are you?” Nino asks.
The guy just beams at him then strides over to the bed and hands him a card.
“Miyake Ken,” Nino reads out loud. “Bodyguard.”
“That’s me,” Miyake beams even harder.
Nino looks at him skeptically. He’s pretty small and doesn’t look like what Nino imagines a typical bodyguard to look like. And what is he doing here anyway?
“Do you remember anything about last night?” Miyake asks.
Nino looks up at the ceiling. He still has a slight headache probably from whatever chemicals he breathed in. “Shouldn’t I be talking to the police?” Nino asks.
“Yeah they’re waiting for you too,” Miyake says. “But I’m here to take care of you.”
“You’re going to take care of me?” Nino grins. Somehow he kind of likes the idea even if Miyake doesn’t look like a typical bodyguard. He even has bangs that fall down in front of his eyes when he angles his head the right way and he’s clearly wearing shoes that are way too fashionable for fighting anyone off.
“Yeah,” Miyake says, returning the grin in kind.
“Ken-chan? You in here?” another voice slips in from outside the door. Another guy, who looks much more like what a bodyguard would typically look like comes in. He’s wearing a darker suit and has short hair and muscles that are barely contained by his blazer.
“It’s Miyake when we’re at work,” Miyake says through gritted teeth. He tries to whisper, but Nino hears it all and starts giggling to himself.
“I’m Okada,” the other guy says. “We’re going to take care of you.”
Nino puts his arms behind his head. “That’s more like it,” he says, grinning widely.
Miyake gives him a pfft but then the police come in and the room feels entirely too full for Nino.
“We’ll take over for now,” the taller of the two officers says. Miyake and Okada step outside again and the two officers pull up chairs next to Nino’s bed and he’s asked to tell them everything.
The museum, the dim street lights, the tall man with a slim build moving across the museum lawn with some kind of practiced grace. The arms that grabbed him from behind, the towel with some kind of chemical smell pressed against his nose and mouth and then the hospital. That’s everything.
“Everything?” the officer asks.
“How did I get here?” Nino asks.
They found him there on the sidewalk outside of the museum lying unconscious. Someone had called an ambulance anonymously but they left the scene before the ambulance arrived.
“You were alone before that?” the officer asks.
Nino nods. Aiba would have been with him had it been just a little earlier, but he wasn’t.
He’s told he’s not going to be able to go home. That they’re worried because Nino was a witness to the crime that he might be in danger. He’s going to have to stay with the bodyguards until they’re sure he’s safe.
“So I’m going to have to stay with those guys?” Nino says, unable to stop himself from smiling.
“For a time,” the officer says.
---
Life is a little repetitive at the department store. Nino comes in the morning and clocks in. Then he passes by Aiba, pretending not to see him and it’s always funny when Aiba believes him. He’ll turn around and say sorry unapologetically but he knows Aiba doesn’t really mind. He works in electronics and Aiba works in gardening. Their paths don’t really cross for most of the day but they often have lunch together in the sushi restaurant down the block. Sometimes Aiba has dirt stuck to his face and sometimes Nino tells him about it. It’s fine. It’s a job and he has a friend there. But it is a little repetitive day in and day out.
After work he plays games at home. He does the same on his days off, but sometimes Aiba comes over and plays with him or quietly reads while Nino holds his controller blending into the couch. Aiba calls for takeout and sometimes cooks. Sometimes Aiba has girlfriends and comes over less but then sometimes he doesn’t and comes over more.
It’s a quiet life and Nino isn’t necessarily seeking adventure. But something about this new situation he’s found himself in has a certain kind of appeal. For one, he doesn’t have to go to work while he’s under protection. Also, he doesn’t really have to do anything at all except for stay safe and out of the way while the police try to catch whoever has been breaking into the museums. His only job in the world right now is to do nothing in an apartment that the police have provided for him.
“What are you playing?” Miyake asks.
The difference between Miyake and Aiba is that when Nino pretends to ignore Aiba he eventually has to relent. Miyake isn’t Aiba, Nino discovers quickly. He’s persistent.
“What are you playing huh?” Miyake asks again when Nino doesn’t answer the first time.
“You don’t have to answer him if you don’t want to,” Okada says.
Nino buries himself behind a pillow. Then the pillow is quickly taken away from him and replaced by Miyake’s entire self. “Ah!” he says, looking at the screen of Nino’s 3DS. “I know that game. I saw a commercial for it I think. Can I try?”
Nino shrugs and hands the 3DS over to Miyake. He’s not that good at the game and Nino laughs while he watches him. He glances over at Okada who is stoically looking out the window. He’s done that for most of the morning, before that walking the perimeter of the apartment complex while Miyake stayed with him in the room. When he came back he stayed there at the window and Miyake told him he could pull up a chair but Okada said it was fine. He’d stand.
“He’s like a real bodyguard,” Nino says. “Unlike you, Ken-chan.”
“Hey!” Ken complains and Nino catches Okada with his shoulders slightly moving like he’s laughing behind that stoic facade.
He calls Aiba in the evening, but Okada and Miyake tell him he can’t invite him over even though Aiba asks to come over and see his new place. It’s not really his new place but it doesn’t stop Aiba from wanting to come and eventually Miyake calls the officers working with them to ask if it’s okay and they make the exception.
“Let’s have something to eat then!” Miyake says. Nino’s not all that interested in food but Okada seems to agree so he goes out to get some meat for them to grill while Miyake stays back with Nino. He doesn’t expect anything to happen other than Okada coming back with some bags full of food and Aiba with some kind of housewarming present.
Nino is right about the present. Aiba shows up with a house plant but instead of coming to the door cheerfully and asking for a tour of the tiny apartment before making himself easily at home he’s in a panic, knocking at the door fitfully and shouting “Hey hey let me in!”
Something changes in Miyake. “It’s Aiba,” Nino tells him quietly, but his expression has gone serious, back straight, stretching his arms behind his back like he’s ready for anything that comes at him. He has a communication device that he always keeps clipped to his belt and he places one hand on it, then he eyes the door before speaking through it.
“Who is it?” he says. He still has that funny high-pitched voice Nino has increasingly gotten used to, but there is a deeper timbre to it as he calls through the door.
“It’s Masaki! Me! It’s Aiba!” he says, desperately. “Let me in!”
Miyake opens the door and guides Aiba inside before going out to investigate the hallway. He comes back inside, seeming satisfied that there isn’t any immediate danger, but he still looks concerned.
“I saw something,” Aiba says, hands shaking and Nino takes the house plant from him, setting it down on the table.
“What did you see?” Miyake asks.
“Two guys,” he says. “One of them was tall and thin like they said on the news.”
“Sit down,” Miyake says, gently and Aiba does so sitting at the kitchen table. Miyake brings him a glass of water then he calmly calls the police.
---
Aiba saw more of the man than Nino did. When the police come, it’s the same two who Nino had spoken to at the hospital. The taller one sits down and takes Aiba’s statement but the one who is a little closer to Nino’s height leans against the wall a little apart from them. He has a serious expression on his face and looks like the type that would never crack. But when Miyake comes close the officer starts laughing and quickly covers his face.
“I’m at work!” Miyake says, gritting his teeth again and looking as if he really believes deep down inside that he’s tough.
“If you say so,” the officer says, shoulders shaking as he laughs.
Nino finds himself drifting over to where Aiba is giving his account of what happened. He can describe the man’s face so well that the police want to bring a sketch artist. They also decide that Aiba should stay under protection for now.
“You don’t have to go to work,” Nino says.
Unlike Nino’s reaction to this news, Aiba frowns. “Who’s going to take care of the trees?” he asks.
“I think they’ll be okay without you,” Nino says.
“I suppose...” Aiba says as if he’s uncertain the trees will grow at all without him there to guide them. Nino has always found this cute about him even if he’d never say it out loud.
“We can set you up in another apartment,” the taller officer - Sakamoto, as he heard the other officer call him - says, but Aiba cuts him off.
“Can I stay here?” he asks.
Officer Sakamoto looks around. “I know what you’re thinking it’s too small right? It’s fine I stay with Nino all the time! His apartment is way smaller than this.”
“I guess that would be okay...” Officer Sakamoto says, clipping a pen to his front pocket. “I’ll call in to the station. Is it okay with you two?”
“Fine with me,” Miyake says and Okada nods in kind.
“We’ll do everything we can to get this under control,” Officer Sakamoto says, bowing to both of them. “Thank you for your patience.”
“We’ll take it from here,” Okada says.
It’s funny how when the officers leave the room Miyake breathes out a long sigh and doesn’t stand with his back so straight. Okada, on the other hand, doesn’t change his posture even slightly.
“I’ll make the rounds,” Okada says heading for the entrance where he slips on his shoes.
“I’ll make dinner!” Aiba says, and Miyake’s expression brightens at this.
---
Aiba didn’t only get a good look at one of them. He got a good look at two. The taller one, the one Nino is sure he saw too, but also a shorter one who looks much older. Aiba describes both of them to the sketch artist who comes over to the apartment and he seems fairly satisfied with the results. Nino can’t corroborate since he didn’t get a good look but they can probably trust Aiba, he thinks.
Nothing happens for a few days.
Nino doesn’t mind staying indoors but Aiba gets restless so Okada brings a mat so he can teach him some floor exercises. Nino stays curled up on the sofa with his video game, occasionally bothered by Miyake.
“Whatcha playing?” Miyake says, sometimes before Nino even hears him slinking up next to him.
“Something I’d probably beat you at,” Nino says.
He doesn’t look but he can feel Miyake frowning.
Okada and Aiba make so much noise it sounds like they’ve actually gotten into a fight. He even looks over his 3DS for a moment and Okada is teaching Aiba some martial arts.
“Well that’s probably not a good idea...” Nino says. Then he hears the character in his game dying and looks over to see Miyake with his finger on one of the buttons.
“Oops?” he says.
Nino sighs, mostly for show, then he looks up again and Aiba is demonstrating a golf swing for Okada with a golf club made of air.
“You gotta let him outside,” Nino says. “Take him for a walk.”
“It’s safer in here...” Miyake says.
“Do you even think those guys are dangerous?” Nino asks. “The one Aiba described sounded like he was about 70 years old...”
Miyake sighs.
“You want to go outside too don’t you,” Nino says.
Miyake nods.
“Hey Jun-chan,” Miyake calls.
Nino giggles a little. He always gets so mad when Okada calls him “Ken-chan” at work, but it’s even funnier the way Okada just lets him get away with it. He almost seems like he’s about to say something, then just swallows as if he’s letting it go.
“I think it might be good for us to get some fresh air don’t you?” he says.
“We’re on orders to stay in...” Okada says.
Miyake shrugs. “Sakamoto won’t get mad at me!” he says. “And if Officer Morita complains just leave him to me.”
“Can we?” Aiba beams brightly.
“Okay,” Okada says. “If we all stick together and you stay close to us and let us handle it if anything happens.”
“Got it!” Aiba says.
Even Nino is a little relieved. He can stay on his own for days, maybe even weeks on end. He’s even caused himself bodily injury from staying in the same position for too long and he hardly noticed it then. But somehow Aiba going stir crazy puts him a little on edge and the relief that comes over his expression makes Nino feel a little relieved too.
“I’ll get his leash,” Nino says.
“Shut up,” Aiba laughs.
He rolls up the mat that he and Okada were exercising on then all of them slip into their shoes and step outside for the first time in days.
They aren’t in a part of town near where Nino or Aiba live so there is a lack of the familiar. The department store they go to is similar to the one they work at though and Nino can’t help but go through the electronics department just to see what they have going on there. Miyake stays close with Aiba and Okada doesn’t leave Nino’s side.
“Anything I can help you with?” Nino says jokingly. Although he probably could help Okada with anything he needs here. He can recite information about just about anything in this shop even if he’s a week out of practice.
“I was thinking about getting a new camera,” Okada says, much to Nino’s surprise.
He grins and says, “Then I’ve got just the camera for you.”
It turns out Okada is somewhat of a photography buff. He has a couple of cameras at home and is looking for a new zoom lens. There isn’t anything at this shop that Nino is unfamiliar with and even when an employee passes by he doesn’t bother to interrupt Nino since he clearly knows his stuff.
“But,” Nino says after he’s finished his sales pitch, “don’t buy it here. Or I won’t get the commission.”
Okada laughs and Nino is pleased when he agrees. Aiba and Miyake round the corner, Miyake holding a bundle of flowers and Aiba a small house plant.
“You have a date tonight or something?” Nino asks, nodding at the armful of flowers.
“They’d look nice in the apartment wouldn’t they?” Aiba says. Then Miyake sneezes several times and Aiba rummages through his bag until he finds an extra mask.
“We’ll need to get something for dinner...” Okada says.
It’s almost as if the four of them are friends just going out to get preparations for a meal. Even before being plucked out of his ordinary life Nino didn’t have much experience with that kind of thing, but he’d assumed people did things like that. Going out to the supermarket and getting meats for barbecue. Aiba has invited him to do that before although he usually turned it down and they’d opt instead for the two of them grilling meat on a hot plate in Nino’s apartment. Nino’s in no position to say no now but even if he was would he really want to? He kind of likes these two. And he really likes Aiba. Though he’d probably never say any of this out loud.
“Let’s make fried chicken!” Aiba says.
They arrive at a supermarket that is also unfamiliar territory though it resembles the one in Nino’s neighborhood with the aisles mostly in the same place. He takes a couple of wrong turns and discovers there is an attached cafe beyond the registers.
They fill up the cart with chicken and vegetables and Aiba throws in enough beer for all of them even after Okada repeatedly says he doesn’t drink at work and Miyake says he doesn’t drink at all. “More for us then huh?” Aiba says to Nino with a grin that makes him look like he’s already had a drink or two.
When they check out at the register, Nino finds himself looking out to the cafe. It’s trendy, he supposes based on the kinds of things he’s seen on TV. It seems to have a plant theme. The entire cafe looks lush and green and vines grow up the sides of the walls as if they’re in an enclosed garden.
“Want to stop there for a drink?” Aiba asks Nino.
“It’s probably better if we head back,” Okada says.
Then Nino sees it. Sitting at the cafe is a man with a familiar face. It’s Officer Sakamoto, the one who came with the sketch artist. Then the man seated with him turns around to call the waitress and that’s a familiar face too. Nurse Nagano from the hospital.
“Huh,” Nino says out loud. Then waves Aiba off when he asks what it is.
Something feels funny about it, although he supposes maybe it doesn’t need to be seen as anything strange. After all the first time he met Officer Sakamoto was in the hospital. Maybe he and Nagano are friends. They look like they’re around the same age. They could have even been classmates. They’re talking and laughing casually. It’s the first time he’s seen Sakamoto out of his police uniform and he looks much more friendly and less stoic when he’s in a loose T-shirt like the one he’s wearing now.
They leave the supermarket quickly and no one else seems to notice. But Nino files it in the back of his mind. Something of interest just tucked away.
---
Okada doesn’t drink at work and Miyake doesn’t drink at all but Nino and Aiba drink enough for all of them.
Even without drinking, though, Miyake gets chatty the more the alcohol circulates around the room. He likes to get in everyone’s space, that much has been clear since he met the guy, but when Aiba’s had a few drinks he can get overly friendly too. He and Miyake end up embracing on the couch telling old stories and it comes out that Officer Morita is Miyake’s childhood friend but he’s really shy so Miyake is setting him and Aiba up on a golf date since they both like to play. He calls up Morita who doesn’t answer. Then calls again and Morita does answer, say hello, then hangs up on him.
Aiba giggles. “It does sound like fun though,” he says. He’s been practicing his golf swing in the apartment with Okada when they have training sessions and it’s clear to anyone within miles that he’s dying to get out to the golf course.
“As soon as this is all figured out,” Miyake says. “I’ll tell him he has to solve this case quick so you can play.”
“If he’ll talk to you,” Nino grins. Miyake reaches for him and Nino half expects to get shoved but instead he just ends up tangled with the two of them so they’re a tangle of three. Okada comes back inside from making the rounds around the apartment. He looks at the empty cans of beer a little longingly.
“You can have one,” Miyake whispers. “I won’t tell.”
Then there is a loud sound outside and Miyake moves seamlessly into bodyguard mode, sliding out from between Nino and Aiba on the sofa and standing at attention near the window.
“I don’t think it’s anything but we better have a look,” Miyake says.
“I’ll go,” Okada says. “It might be dangerous.”
“Hey!” Miyake says. “I can handle danger. It’s my job too you know. Stay here with them.”
Okada looks a little worried but nods and agrees and Miyake slips on his shoes at the door and disappears.
By the time Miyake comes back to tell them he hasn’t seen anything, the family-like atmosphere has passed.
---
Another knife goes missing. This time it’s from a museum that isn’t far from the apartment where they’re staying.
“Do you think it’s closer for a reason?” Aiba whispers the words that Nino wasn’t about to say out loud.
“I guess we won’t know until the police find something,” Okada says.
The knife that’s gone missing is the largest since this started and now the fifth knife to go missing. The time between when the knives have gone missing has decreased too. This time it’s only a week between the one the night Aiba was witness and now. Things are escalating, is what the police speculate on TV, but nothing has happened besides the knives going missing. They haven’t turned up anywhere, there hasn’t been any sort of attack. Just five missing knives, all varying degrees of ancient, and all considered treasures.
“It’s better if we don’t go out too much,” Okada says, breaking the bad news to Aiba who is already getting cabin fever again.
Officers Sakamoto and Morita come to check in and see how things are going. Nino thinks to bring up seeing him at the cafe with Nagano, but he doesn’t. Miyake keeps his promise to Aiba to set him and Morita up on a golf date. Morita brightens at this and says he’s planning to go play golf next week when he has a day off. Aiba paws at Miyake like a puppy. Begs like one too. Security might not be too difficult to manage at a place like a golf course so Miyake talks it over with Okada and they decide that they’ll make preparations.
“Maybe this whole thing will even be resolved by next week anyway,” Okada says, but Sakamoto doesn’t seem convinced. The officers leave the apartment and Nino takes out a deck of cards that Miyake had brought for him from home.
“Do the one where you rip the card up but then you have it in your pocket!” Aiba says.
Nino laughs. He’ll need more than one deck for that. But he does a couple of the tricks he can do with one and Aiba seems satisfied with those.
Officer Morita sends Miyake a text message telling him to turn on the TV. There is a breaking report with some eyewitness accounts about the last robbery. Along with a grainy security camera picture of two men leaving in a car.
The picture is difficult to make out but one of the men is in sunglasses so it’s hard to see his face, but the other is a sun-kissed tan, wearing a tank top with his large biceps exposed.
“Could you take him?” Aiba asks.
“Yes,” Okada says, without hesitation.
“Absolutely,” Miyake says at the same time.
“We’ll keep you safe,” Okada says.
The sketches based on the new eyewitness report appear on the screen. One is described as the thin and tall man, the one Nino and Aiba have both seen, and his face in the drawing looks similar to what Aiba described. He’s the one who seems to be doing the work of getting the knives out of the museums. And he must be skilled at breaking in and also have a reason for needing all of these knives. Even so, he has a kind face. He looks like someone gentle, someone that Nino might trust if he wasn’t always at least a little bit skeptical of everyone he meets. But this man would skew towards the trustworthy end of the scale if Nino were to meet him.
Aiba says the same when Nino mentions it during the broadcast. “He looked like a nice guy,” Aiba says. “But holding a big knife...”
“What about that guy?” Miyake asks.
The other sketch is the same old man that Aiba had seen.
Then a third sketch is displayed on the screen. Someone who looks similar to a man who Nino wouldn’t have even thought twice about if he hadn’t just see him the other day.
“Nurse Nagano?” Nino says out loud at the screen.
“Eh?” Miyake says. “You know his name??” He’s already pulling out his phone, no doubt to call the police. Nino doesn’t want to hurl accusations at the nurse who took care of him and Officer Sakamoto’s friend, but no matter how he looks at the drawing it looks exactly like him...
“He just...”
“Ah!” Miyake says. “From when you were at the hospital!”
Nino nods slowly and they both look at the screen. There is a hotline to call and the newscaster is saying to call the number if you have any information, but Ken just takes out his phone and calls his contact on the police force directly.
Nino feels a little unsteady. But since Miyake remembers him too it can’t just be his eyes playing tricks on him.
“Do you recognize any of the others?” Miyake asks, holding his phone off to the side as the person on the other end waits for his reply.
Nino shakes his head.
“No,” Miyake says into the phone. “He only remembers the third drawing and he says his name is Nagano. I’ll forward you the hospital information.”
When he gets off of the phone he sits down with Nino and Aiba. Everyone in the apartment is a little shaken up and Okada has gone outside to make rounds again.
“They have a lot of information and eyewitnesses now,” Miyake says. “They’re going to close in and catch them soon and you can go back to your lives okay?”
“The plants are growing without you don’t worry,” Nino says to Aiba.
“And you’ve got me to protect you in the meantime,” Miyake says, puffing out his chest a little.
“And we’ve got him to protect all of us,” Nino says, pointing at Okada who has just come back in the door.
Miyake deflates a little, but Aiba leans into him. “I trust you,” he says, so quietly he probably doesn’t intend for Nino to hear. But he does and just smiles to himself.
“It’s quiet out there,” Okada says. “Why don’t you two get some rest.”
They lay out the futons and Okada and Miyake sleep in shifts like they usually do. This time Okada takes the early shift and Miyake stays up. Aiba is already snoring, but Nino picks up his game, muting the sound and holding the blanket over him so the light doesn’t bother anyone.
“You don’t have to act like you’re okay with everything,” Miyake says in a whisper.
Nino shrugs. “Hey I have my games and a place to play them,” he says. “That’s all I need.”
“Nah,” Miyake says. “I don’t really believe that. But it’s okay I won’t tell anyone.”
Nino turns off his game and tucks it under the blanket. “He’s stuck here because of me,” he says.
Miyake shakes his head. “He’s stuck here because there are bad guys out there doing bad things,” Miyake says.
“If I hadn’t seen anything he wouldn’t be here,” Nino says.
“Maybe you seeing something means the police will catch the bad guys and neither of you have to worry about being safe,” Miyake says.
Nino remembers that night when he first saw the man that Aiba tells him had a kind face. Someone had grabbed him and put some kind of strange smelling chemical to cover his nose and it had choked his breath before he lost consciousness. These guys are dangerous, kind faces or no, and they have a collection of knives now to go with whatever chemicals they’ve gotten their hands on.
Maybe Nino is a little scared. He doesn’t say the words, but Miyake puts his arms around him quietly.
“Is this part of your training or something?” Nino says, pretending to struggle but not trying very hard.
“Just shut up and go to sleep,” Miyake says and doesn’t let go.
---
When no incidents happen for a few days, Aiba gets a little stir crazy again. But instead of telling Miyake and Okada about it he whispers to Nino when the two of them are alone.
“Let’s go out,” he says. “Just us.”
Nino met Aiba when they started working at the department store a few years ago. They applied around the same time and went through the same orientation sessions together. Nino hadn’t gone out of his way to talk to anyone but Aiba had somehow attached himself to Nino, saying that the two of them should be friends. Nino had informed Aiba that he had no way of knowing if he was a serial killer or not or even if he’d just lift Aiba’s wallet while he wasn’t looking but Aiba had just shaken his head and said no, I know you.
Nino hadn’t known how to feel about that. But somehow it was because of that that Nino came to trust Aiba right away. He felt immediately that someone like Aiba would give all of his trust to someone he knew he could give it to. It was Nino’s responsibility not to mishandle it. Even so, Aiba liked to get into trouble. If they had been friends as kids, Nino thinks they would have been scolded together by the teacher for sneaking into places they weren’t allowed to be or pulling pranks in the classroom. They would have been punished with extra homework or getting the worst cleaning job after school. Instead they met when they were adults so the little trouble they got into was things like arranging the flowers to spell out a message that made Aiba laugh or Nino taking embarrassing pictures of Aiba and leaving them as the display pictures in the cameras in his department. Their coworkers came to know the two of them as a team and Nino supposes they are a team even now here in this apartment. It’s the two of them and the bodyguard team, although he figures Miyake would jump at the chance of joining their team if they let him, or even if they didn’t.
“Let’s just go out me and you,” Aiba says. “Just for ice cream or something, they won’t even notice. We’ll bring ice cream back for them too and they’ll love it.”
“They’ll probably get mad,” Nino says.
“Who can be mad when they’ve just gotten ice cream!” Aiba says. “Let’s go when Okada-kun is doing the rounds and Miyake-kun is taking a bath.”
“Alright,” Nino says. He’s never really opposed to a little trouble, but he is still worried about how safe it is to go out on their own. Aiba pulls out his phone and shows Nino that there is an ice cream shop just two blocks from where the apartment is. It’ll just take ten minutes to get there and back, which is about how long they’ll be left alone.
Just as they do most days, Miyake takes a bath while Okada does the rounds. Nino does something that occurs to him at the last moment. Before they sneak out of the apartment, he takes Miyake’s phone out of his pocket and puts it in his own. That way if he has to call Okada he’ll pick up the phone right away. The numbers for Officer Sakamoto and Officer Morita are in his phone too. If they need anyone they’ll be able to call them quickly. It’s just ten minutes, but Nino reasons a lot can happen in ten minutes. He quickly slips the phone in the pocket of his jeans then he and Aiba slip out the door.
The ice cream shop isn’t far, but the two of them walk briskly the two blocks. It’s a chain shop so there are lots of brightly colored advertisements outside. There aren’t many people in the shop which means they won’t have to wait long. Maybe they’ll be back before Miyake gets out of the bath.
Neither of them know what kind of ice cream Miyake or Okada would like but Aiba just orders whatever looks appealing. Nino leaves everything to him, waiting by the door a little nervously. Then he sees him.
He’s only seen a drawing of him. Aiba was the one who clearly saw his face. But it’s the kind-faced man, the tall and thin one and he’s getting out of a car like the one they saw on the news a few nights before. Nino wants to call out to Aiba. Or maybe he just wants to run, he’s not sure what he wants to do. But somehow the man doesn’t look scary or threatening. He looks like he’s just here for ice cream.
“Hey Taichi-kun!” he calls out to the car. “What do you want?”
“I’ll leave it to you,” the guy in the car says, with a little salute. There are three other men in the back seat. One is the older one. Nino can’t see the others.
Aiba gets out of line and Nino pulls him close to the corner of the restaurant so the kind-faced man won’t be able to see him.
“It’s them,” he whispers. “What do we do?”
Aiba’s eyes widen and he looks around helplessly.
“I took Miyake’s phone,” Nino says.
“You what?” Aiba says, panicked.
“Before we left,” Nino says. “I took it so we could call someone just in case...”
“Call Okada-kun,” Aiba says.
“Maybe we should just call the police,” Nino says.
“Okay yeah...” Aiba says. Miyake’s probably not going to be happy about Nino stealing his phone, but he’s probably going to be glad if nothing bad happens to them. He scrolls down to Officer Sakamoto’s name and dials.
“Hello?” Sakamoto picks up after just one ring.
“It’s Ninomiya,” Nino says, quickly. “Um... I think we found the guys. We see them all they’re right here.”
“Slow down,” Sakamoto says. “Who did you see?”
“The guys who have been stealing the knives,” Nino says. “From the museums.”
The window of the car slowly rolls down. And there he is. Officer Sakamoto mouthing the words that Nino hears in the phone receiver.
“Where did you see them?” he asks, looking around. Nino hangs up and grabs Aiba’s arm and pulls him out the back exit where they run and run.
---
Miyake and Okada are already outside when they get back. Nino can tell by the expression on Miyake’s face that he noticed the missing cell phone and he’s not so amused, but his expression changes to concern when he sees how fast the two of them are running. Aiba points wildly in the direction of the ice cream shop but he’s talking so fast his words are all tangled together. Okada places a hand on his shoulder and tells him to breathe, relax and tell him what happened slowly.
“Officer Sakamoto,” Nino says, quietly. “He was with them.”
Miyake’s eyes widen and he takes the phone that Nino hands back to him. He looks at it and Nino sees that there are two missed calls from the Officer himself.
“Let’s get inside,” Okada says.
“We brought ice cream?” Aiba says, sheepishly.
---
“We could call Officer Morita,” Okada says.
“What if that’s too dangerous too?” Miyake says. “You guys are sure you saw him?”
“Sure,” Nino says.
“Positive,” Aiba says. “It was him and the old guy and that tall nice-looking guy. Maybe he’s not that nice...”
“He wasn’t arresting them or anything?” Miyake says.
“No,” Nino says. “Just in the backseat of the car. Ah!”
“What is it?” Okada asks, looking up from a notepad where he’s been writing everything down.
“He called the driver Taichi-kun,” Nino says.
“Okay,” Miyake says. “I’ll have to talk to Morita to get access to the police database. We’re not technically police so...”
“But you said that might be dangerous,” Aiba says.
“Eh...” Miyake says. “I’ve known him since we were kids. If he’s lying to me I think I’ll be able to tell. He might cover for his partner but it might not stop him from helping us...”
He calls Officer Morita “Go-kun” on the phone and it’s clear from the way he speaks that at least from Miyake’s end he feels like he can trust him. Nino looks around the room and thinks he trusts everyone in here, maybe Aiba most of all, but he trusts the other two to keep them safe.
Then there is a knock on the door. Sharp and commanding and Miyake points to the door where Okada gets up and looks through the peep hole.
He motions for the others to get in the back and Nino feels Aiba’s hand holding him tightly.
“Look,” he hears Officer Sakamoto’s voice booming from the other room. “I... I can explain.”
---
Two years ago, Nagano Hiroshi had a plan.
There are hundreds of restaurants in Tokyo. Many of them are very good. Nagano keeps a collection of the cards of every restaurant he goes to. His friends mainly think he’s just a collector, but it’s more than that. The perfect cut of meat grilled to perfection. It seems like such a simple thing but it’s something he hasn’t been able to find not in all of his years of searching.
The plan comes about accidentally. They’ve all been drinking and Nagano finds himself lost in grilling the meat. It almost just slips out unconsciously, his idea of the perfect cut. He has a collection of knives at home but it doesn’t seem like any of them will do.
“I have some cooking knives too,” Sakamoto says. “You’re welcome to give any of them a try.”
And he does. But none of them are quite what he’s looking for. Inohara gets an idea about age old quality and on a whim he goes into a museum on the way home from work. He calls Nagano and jokingly tells him he’s found the perfect knife and the next time the six of them are drinking together it turns into something more. Inohara is fast and nimble. He can slip in and take the knife. Taichi is good at planning and he can drive the getaway car. Yamaguchi is the muscle. Sakamoto the inside man.
“Joshima-san...” Taichi laughs. “Our fearless mascot?” Joshima is decked out in leopard print head to toe he looks himself over and agrees. They toast and it’s decided.
The plan is to take the knife, prepare a meal, then put it back. It might cause a commotion but Sakamoto can provide cover in the meantime.
But the first knife doesn’t do the trick. Nor the four after it. By that time two guys are in witness protection and Sakamoto wonders how long he can keep them from asking too many questions. Now, though, they’re in too deep. Maybe the sixth knife is the charm. They pile up in Taichi’s car to discuss their next move over ice cream. Then everything falls apart.
---
Okada doesn’t have the ability to arrest anyone, technically not being police. But since he works in conjunction with the police department he’s been given handcuffs so that he can restrain a suspect if needed until the police can come and assess the situation. Sakamoto willingly lets Okada cuff him and he sits on the sofa with his hands behind his back while Miyake calls for Officer Morita to come over. Don’t tell anyone what’s going on just yet, Nino hears Miyake say into the phone and he assumes Morita agrees because he quickly ends the phone call.
“Everyone is downstairs,” Sakamoto says calmly. “The knives are in the car too.”
Okada looks at Miyake, neither of them sure what to do. They wait for Officer Morita to arrive and when he gets there he looks a little shaken.
“What’s going on here?” he says.
---
The first time it was Nagano Hiroshi who had the plan. This time it’s Aiba Masaki.
The others come up to the apartment on agreement that if any of them make a run for it Sakamoto is going to be the one who takes the blame on his own. They all agree, but they all look solemn and defeated and somehow Nino doesn’t feel victorious or even satisfied with the way this ends.
“Where were you going to get the sixth knife?” Aiba asks, cutting through the heavy silence after the six of them have told their story.
“We can’t just tell you that,” Taichi laughs. “Look we’ll take our punishment. It’s been a good run right guys?”
Miyake looks from Aiba to Okada. Then to Morita, who is the one in the room with the most authority now by default.
“What are you going to do with us?” Joshima says. He’s even cheerful in the way he’s resigned and Nino can’t quite believe it.
“Wait,” Nino says. “You held something up to my nose and made me pass out. You left me there on the street...” He’s not really angry about it, but it’s hard to resolve that they’re a bunch of harmless guys when he thinks about that.
“Ahh that...” Inohara says.
Nagano looks down, laughs a little to himself. “I’m sorry,” he says.
“That was... an accident,” Inohara says.
They’d just eaten before coming to the museum, deciding soon after that the meal was particularly unsatisfying. The meat wasn’t the only problem but the sauce was too spicy. It was enough to make Sakamoto’s eyes water when they ate and they’d ended up pouring out the rest. They’d all, save Taichi, had a lot to drink that night so they convinced him to take them on another knife run, feeling confident that it was only the sauce that was the problem but the meat was getting closer. They’d panicked when they saw Nino and tried to distract him but he’d already gotten a good look and Nagano thought to chase him off with some of the napkins with the bad-smelling sauce.
“It was even worse than we thought,” Nagano says, a guilty look in his eye. “I put the napkin up to you and you started to get watery-eyed. Sakamoto-kun took you right to the hospital. We didn’t leave you there, although that’s what he told you...”
“He passed out too,” Yamaguchi says, pointing to Joshima. “In the back of the car.”
“That was some really bad sauce!” Joshima laughs. “But I think we have it now don’t we?”
“I think so,” Nagano says. “In my bag.” He points to a backpack that Okada made him leave at the door. “Front pocket.”
Okada reaches inside and there is a bottle of dark sauce. He unscrews the bottle and smells then his shoulders roll back and he takes a deep breath. “It smells delicious,” he says.
Inohara beams. “I made that one,” he says.
“What if we... help you,” Aiba says.
Everyone in the room looks at him at once.
“If we get the sixth knife,” he says. “That one is the charm right?”
Morita shrugs and Miyake shoots him a look.
“You’re being way too casual about this,” Miyake says.
Morita sighs. “Sakamoto-kun,” he says.
Sakamoto looks up at attention.
“Are you going to give the knives back?” he asks.
“Of course,” Sakamoto says. “That was the plan all along.”
“Then...” Morita says. “Take Aiba and Okada with you and get the sixth one.”
Miyake looks at him in disbelief. “You knew about this!”
“What?” Sakamoto says. “He didn’t! He didn’t have any idea.”
Then Morita grins a toothy grin and Nino notices the atmosphere in the room change in an instant.
“You can take us all down to the station later,” Taichi says, warmly.
Miyake crosses his arms in front of him. “I’m going with you,” he says stubbornly.
---
They take three cars. Morita and Sakamoto come in their police car with the others split into two. Aiba and Nino ride in the backseat with Yamaguchi and Taichi in the front. The museum has better security than the others but Inohara has practiced so many times. Officers Morita and Sakamoto distract the guards at the front while Miyake and Inohara slip inside. Nino and Aiba wait in the car that still faintly smells like that awful sauce.
“Exciting right?” Aiba says, grinning wildly. Nino leans against him in the backseat, watching Inohara and Miyake run across the lawn to the back. A few moments later the alarm goes off and the two come running. Miyake dives into the backseat of the car with Nino and Aiba and they peel out with Miyake tangled between them, laughing and catching his breath. Taichi drives with the windows rolled down and they put on some music that Yamaguchi tells them is a demo Joshima made. “He plays a mean guitar,” Taichi says. Then Yamaguchi whispers to the backseat, pointing at Taichi, “That’s him on piano.” Nino grins.
Miyake catches his breath and hooks his arms around both of them. “Ahh!” he says. “I could do that again.”
“This is the last time isn’t it?” Aiba reminds him with a nudge.
Miyake nudges him back. “Let’s have a good time then,” he says, with a grin.
---
They all hold their breath while Nagano slices the meat. A silence in the room with nothing but the sound of the grill. Nagano moves his hand steadily and he has a slight sigh of relief that makes everyone in the room breathe. He looks at Sakamoto and nods.
The food and drinks flow all night and Nino nibbles at a little and has to admit it’s some of the best meat he’s ever tasted. Aiba has so much to drink his cheeks are tinged a bright pink and he helps himself to as much as he wants. They all eat until they’re full and drink until they can’t anymore. Miyake complains at Morita for most of the night. “You knew about this!” he accuses. Morita just shrugs. “Got us something good to eat didn’t it?” he says.
The neighbors must be ready to call the police and complain about the noise, Nino thinks. Joshima plays guitar and Inohara sings a song he’s clearly making up on the spot. Taichi and Morita get into some kind of fight but it ends with both of them laughing. Aiba and Nino both end up lying back on the couch.
“How was it?” Aiba asks. Nino didn’t eat much but Aiba knows he doesn’t usually.
“Good,” Nino says.
“You just like being with me,” Aiba says, cozying up to Nino, who smiles and shoves him.
“And me!” Miyake says and Nino shoves him too.
They fall asleep and in the morning no one is arrested and taken down to the station. But Sakamoto and Morita return the knives to the museums saying they were found abandoned in a nearby park but they haven’t caught the thieves yet. They’re still looking and they’ll let them know when anything is found. It’s a quiet secret between all of them but Nino doesn’t mind.
When Aiba returns back to work his flowers have been growing without him. Nino works the electronics section without missing a beat. The days seem somehow dull though. Back to the usual.
It’s a week later that he sees a familiar face in the camera section.
“You said to buy it here,” Okada says, pointing out the lens that Nino had shown him at the other department store.
“You’re damn right I did,” Nino smiles.
“Don’t rip him off now,” Miyake says, then Nino sees him there behind Okada with his arms crossed in front of him.
It’s then that it occurs to Nino that Okada and Miyake aren’t in their typical suits. Okada’s wearing a light sweater and slacks and Miyake has on jeans with a T-shirt in baby pink. They just look like two guys. It makes Nino feel warm inside.
“Hey!” Nino hears Aiba’s voice from off to the side. He comes running and gives flowers to both of them as if he wanted to give them something and picked up the first thing he could find. The ones he gives Miyake say “Happy Father’s Day” and Okada’s say “Get Well Soon”.
“I texted him,” Miyake says with a smile.
“Hey guys,” Aiba says, hugging both of them. Okada laughs and it feels funny like they should all be going home together. Like this is just an outing and they’ll all have dinner together in the evening then Okada will make the rounds while Nino curls up with a game and Miyake’s chin planted firmly on his shoulder.
“Guess what,” Miyake says.
“You heard about my golf date with Morita-kun?” Aiba says proudly. “I mean I didn’t win but…”
Miyake laughs. He looks equally proud to be able to break news that no one knows yet. “Nagano says we can all come to dinner at his place tomorrow. You up for it?”
“Of course!” Aiba says. “Let’s go! You’ll go right?” He says to Nino.
“Yeah,” Nino says and he can see Aiba rocking on his heels in excitement.
They leave and it’s back to work but on the TV display wall a news report comes up. The knives have been returned but the criminals are still at large. If you have any information, call the number at the bottom of the screen. Nino smiles to himself. A secret tucked away inside of him.
clipsieFrom: :3.
Title: Double Edged
Pairing/Focus: Nino & Aiba, Nino & Miyake Ken, Nino & Okada Junichi, and more~
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Summary: Knives go missing from several museums in the Tokyo area. The thieves are still at large and the police don’t have any solid leads. But Nino and Aiba see much more than they’re supposed to.
Notes: For clipsie <3 I really hope you’ll like this! You’d said that you preferred not to have pairings this time around so everything listed is gen friendships and maybe some other nonsense. Your request said you liked mystery so I ended up taking that and going with it~ I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you’ll have fun reading it as well! Thank you to B and thank you to the mod for always making sure we have a healthy dose of Nino every June!
It isn’t something Nino intends to see. But he does see it.
He’s walking home from work and normally he’d take a taxi. Except today he went with Aiba for drinks after work only a few blocks from his apartment. There’s a museum on the way home that Nino has only ever barely looked at. Aiba has said more than a few times that they should go there together and Nino looks over at it vaguely imagining Aiba dragging him by his sleeve up to the entrance and up to the ticket counter where Nino will inevitably make Aiba pay for him. He won’t mind.
But as he’s looking he sees something that he’s definitely probably not supposed to see. At first it looks like a cat darting across the lawn outside. A quick and agile black cat moving around the side of the building like a shadow. Nino stops in his tracks just watching, a little stunned by what he’s seeing. Then he can make out the shape of a man. Tall and thin wearing black from head to toe. The man disappears behind the building and then Nino can’t see him anymore.
Part of him wonders if he should call the police. Another part of him thinks maybe this isn’t any of his business. He doesn’t know who this guy is or what he’s doing and Nino is fairly sure he’s been seen as suspicious more than a few times. Just then the alarms start to go off though and Nino’s eyes snap into focus just in time to see the man in black running out from the same place Nino had seen him disappear. He starts to take out his phone, debating whether he should call the police or he should just call Aiba.
Then two arms come from behind him, one holds him at the waist and the other presses a towel over his face. There is a strange smell of chemicals and then Nino’s vision goes dark.
---
Nino wakes up to the glaring white lights of a hospital room. Everything smells medical and he hurts from head to toe. When he stretches his arms out he notices some bruises on his wrists. His head is pounding.
He groans out loud, but a soft voice comes from off to his side where he hasn’t turned his head yet for fear it might hurt too much.
“Take it easy,” says a gentle voice. Then a man comes around to the foot of the bed. He’s wearing scrubs and thick glasses.
“You’re a doctor?” Nino asks.
“Nurse,” he says. “And don’t worry you’re going to be fine.”
“What happened?” Nino asks, rubbing his eyes and blinking. Maybe if he blinks enough the room will feel like it’s real.
“I guess that’s a question you’ll have to ask them, the nurse says, nodding out past the door of the hospital room. Two police officers in full uniform are standing just outside talking to each other. One of them looks into the room and almost meets eyes with Nino and he immediately pretends to be much more groggy than he is.
“You’re in luck being transferred to this hospital,” the nurse says. “The food here is incredible. Not even just for a hospital. Better than a lot of restaurants around here too.”
Nino squints as the nurse approaches the bed and reads “Nagano” on his nametag, then files that name away in his mind.
---
The news calls it a crime wave although Nino isn’t sure he would exactly call it that. Three museums have been broken into in the last week. All with top security supposedly impossible to break through. The police suspect a group, maybe some kind of organized gang. They don’t say the word mafia in the news report but Nino wonders for a moment. Then he goes back to playing a game on his phone.
“In each case,” the newscaster goes on in the background, “an artifact was stolen. From each museum knives from different historical eras have gone missing from their cases with everything else untouched. Tokyo Metropolitan Police have asked that the public refrain from panicking, but since the items stolen could potentially be used as weapons they are asking for everyone’s cooperation. If you know anything about the missing knives or have seen any suspicious behavior, please contact the number on your screen immediately.”
“Knives...” Nino whispers to himself.
“Pretty scary right?” someone says. Nino pauses his game and looks up over his phone. A guy who can’t be much older than himself is standing there wearing a suit and looking entirely out of place.
“Who are you?” Nino asks.
The guy just beams at him then strides over to the bed and hands him a card.
“Miyake Ken,” Nino reads out loud. “Bodyguard.”
“That’s me,” Miyake beams even harder.
Nino looks at him skeptically. He’s pretty small and doesn’t look like what Nino imagines a typical bodyguard to look like. And what is he doing here anyway?
“Do you remember anything about last night?” Miyake asks.
Nino looks up at the ceiling. He still has a slight headache probably from whatever chemicals he breathed in. “Shouldn’t I be talking to the police?” Nino asks.
“Yeah they’re waiting for you too,” Miyake says. “But I’m here to take care of you.”
“You’re going to take care of me?” Nino grins. Somehow he kind of likes the idea even if Miyake doesn’t look like a typical bodyguard. He even has bangs that fall down in front of his eyes when he angles his head the right way and he’s clearly wearing shoes that are way too fashionable for fighting anyone off.
“Yeah,” Miyake says, returning the grin in kind.
“Ken-chan? You in here?” another voice slips in from outside the door. Another guy, who looks much more like what a bodyguard would typically look like comes in. He’s wearing a darker suit and has short hair and muscles that are barely contained by his blazer.
“It’s Miyake when we’re at work,” Miyake says through gritted teeth. He tries to whisper, but Nino hears it all and starts giggling to himself.
“I’m Okada,” the other guy says. “We’re going to take care of you.”
Nino puts his arms behind his head. “That’s more like it,” he says, grinning widely.
Miyake gives him a pfft but then the police come in and the room feels entirely too full for Nino.
“We’ll take over for now,” the taller of the two officers says. Miyake and Okada step outside again and the two officers pull up chairs next to Nino’s bed and he’s asked to tell them everything.
The museum, the dim street lights, the tall man with a slim build moving across the museum lawn with some kind of practiced grace. The arms that grabbed him from behind, the towel with some kind of chemical smell pressed against his nose and mouth and then the hospital. That’s everything.
“Everything?” the officer asks.
“How did I get here?” Nino asks.
They found him there on the sidewalk outside of the museum lying unconscious. Someone had called an ambulance anonymously but they left the scene before the ambulance arrived.
“You were alone before that?” the officer asks.
Nino nods. Aiba would have been with him had it been just a little earlier, but he wasn’t.
He’s told he’s not going to be able to go home. That they’re worried because Nino was a witness to the crime that he might be in danger. He’s going to have to stay with the bodyguards until they’re sure he’s safe.
“So I’m going to have to stay with those guys?” Nino says, unable to stop himself from smiling.
“For a time,” the officer says.
---
Life is a little repetitive at the department store. Nino comes in the morning and clocks in. Then he passes by Aiba, pretending not to see him and it’s always funny when Aiba believes him. He’ll turn around and say sorry unapologetically but he knows Aiba doesn’t really mind. He works in electronics and Aiba works in gardening. Their paths don’t really cross for most of the day but they often have lunch together in the sushi restaurant down the block. Sometimes Aiba has dirt stuck to his face and sometimes Nino tells him about it. It’s fine. It’s a job and he has a friend there. But it is a little repetitive day in and day out.
After work he plays games at home. He does the same on his days off, but sometimes Aiba comes over and plays with him or quietly reads while Nino holds his controller blending into the couch. Aiba calls for takeout and sometimes cooks. Sometimes Aiba has girlfriends and comes over less but then sometimes he doesn’t and comes over more.
It’s a quiet life and Nino isn’t necessarily seeking adventure. But something about this new situation he’s found himself in has a certain kind of appeal. For one, he doesn’t have to go to work while he’s under protection. Also, he doesn’t really have to do anything at all except for stay safe and out of the way while the police try to catch whoever has been breaking into the museums. His only job in the world right now is to do nothing in an apartment that the police have provided for him.
“What are you playing?” Miyake asks.
The difference between Miyake and Aiba is that when Nino pretends to ignore Aiba he eventually has to relent. Miyake isn’t Aiba, Nino discovers quickly. He’s persistent.
“What are you playing huh?” Miyake asks again when Nino doesn’t answer the first time.
“You don’t have to answer him if you don’t want to,” Okada says.
Nino buries himself behind a pillow. Then the pillow is quickly taken away from him and replaced by Miyake’s entire self. “Ah!” he says, looking at the screen of Nino’s 3DS. “I know that game. I saw a commercial for it I think. Can I try?”
Nino shrugs and hands the 3DS over to Miyake. He’s not that good at the game and Nino laughs while he watches him. He glances over at Okada who is stoically looking out the window. He’s done that for most of the morning, before that walking the perimeter of the apartment complex while Miyake stayed with him in the room. When he came back he stayed there at the window and Miyake told him he could pull up a chair but Okada said it was fine. He’d stand.
“He’s like a real bodyguard,” Nino says. “Unlike you, Ken-chan.”
“Hey!” Ken complains and Nino catches Okada with his shoulders slightly moving like he’s laughing behind that stoic facade.
He calls Aiba in the evening, but Okada and Miyake tell him he can’t invite him over even though Aiba asks to come over and see his new place. It’s not really his new place but it doesn’t stop Aiba from wanting to come and eventually Miyake calls the officers working with them to ask if it’s okay and they make the exception.
“Let’s have something to eat then!” Miyake says. Nino’s not all that interested in food but Okada seems to agree so he goes out to get some meat for them to grill while Miyake stays back with Nino. He doesn’t expect anything to happen other than Okada coming back with some bags full of food and Aiba with some kind of housewarming present.
Nino is right about the present. Aiba shows up with a house plant but instead of coming to the door cheerfully and asking for a tour of the tiny apartment before making himself easily at home he’s in a panic, knocking at the door fitfully and shouting “Hey hey let me in!”
Something changes in Miyake. “It’s Aiba,” Nino tells him quietly, but his expression has gone serious, back straight, stretching his arms behind his back like he’s ready for anything that comes at him. He has a communication device that he always keeps clipped to his belt and he places one hand on it, then he eyes the door before speaking through it.
“Who is it?” he says. He still has that funny high-pitched voice Nino has increasingly gotten used to, but there is a deeper timbre to it as he calls through the door.
“It’s Masaki! Me! It’s Aiba!” he says, desperately. “Let me in!”
Miyake opens the door and guides Aiba inside before going out to investigate the hallway. He comes back inside, seeming satisfied that there isn’t any immediate danger, but he still looks concerned.
“I saw something,” Aiba says, hands shaking and Nino takes the house plant from him, setting it down on the table.
“What did you see?” Miyake asks.
“Two guys,” he says. “One of them was tall and thin like they said on the news.”
“Sit down,” Miyake says, gently and Aiba does so sitting at the kitchen table. Miyake brings him a glass of water then he calmly calls the police.
---
Aiba saw more of the man than Nino did. When the police come, it’s the same two who Nino had spoken to at the hospital. The taller one sits down and takes Aiba’s statement but the one who is a little closer to Nino’s height leans against the wall a little apart from them. He has a serious expression on his face and looks like the type that would never crack. But when Miyake comes close the officer starts laughing and quickly covers his face.
“I’m at work!” Miyake says, gritting his teeth again and looking as if he really believes deep down inside that he’s tough.
“If you say so,” the officer says, shoulders shaking as he laughs.
Nino finds himself drifting over to where Aiba is giving his account of what happened. He can describe the man’s face so well that the police want to bring a sketch artist. They also decide that Aiba should stay under protection for now.
“You don’t have to go to work,” Nino says.
Unlike Nino’s reaction to this news, Aiba frowns. “Who’s going to take care of the trees?” he asks.
“I think they’ll be okay without you,” Nino says.
“I suppose...” Aiba says as if he’s uncertain the trees will grow at all without him there to guide them. Nino has always found this cute about him even if he’d never say it out loud.
“We can set you up in another apartment,” the taller officer - Sakamoto, as he heard the other officer call him - says, but Aiba cuts him off.
“Can I stay here?” he asks.
Officer Sakamoto looks around. “I know what you’re thinking it’s too small right? It’s fine I stay with Nino all the time! His apartment is way smaller than this.”
“I guess that would be okay...” Officer Sakamoto says, clipping a pen to his front pocket. “I’ll call in to the station. Is it okay with you two?”
“Fine with me,” Miyake says and Okada nods in kind.
“We’ll do everything we can to get this under control,” Officer Sakamoto says, bowing to both of them. “Thank you for your patience.”
“We’ll take it from here,” Okada says.
It’s funny how when the officers leave the room Miyake breathes out a long sigh and doesn’t stand with his back so straight. Okada, on the other hand, doesn’t change his posture even slightly.
“I’ll make the rounds,” Okada says heading for the entrance where he slips on his shoes.
“I’ll make dinner!” Aiba says, and Miyake’s expression brightens at this.
---
Aiba didn’t only get a good look at one of them. He got a good look at two. The taller one, the one Nino is sure he saw too, but also a shorter one who looks much older. Aiba describes both of them to the sketch artist who comes over to the apartment and he seems fairly satisfied with the results. Nino can’t corroborate since he didn’t get a good look but they can probably trust Aiba, he thinks.
Nothing happens for a few days.
Nino doesn’t mind staying indoors but Aiba gets restless so Okada brings a mat so he can teach him some floor exercises. Nino stays curled up on the sofa with his video game, occasionally bothered by Miyake.
“Whatcha playing?” Miyake says, sometimes before Nino even hears him slinking up next to him.
“Something I’d probably beat you at,” Nino says.
He doesn’t look but he can feel Miyake frowning.
Okada and Aiba make so much noise it sounds like they’ve actually gotten into a fight. He even looks over his 3DS for a moment and Okada is teaching Aiba some martial arts.
“Well that’s probably not a good idea...” Nino says. Then he hears the character in his game dying and looks over to see Miyake with his finger on one of the buttons.
“Oops?” he says.
Nino sighs, mostly for show, then he looks up again and Aiba is demonstrating a golf swing for Okada with a golf club made of air.
“You gotta let him outside,” Nino says. “Take him for a walk.”
“It’s safer in here...” Miyake says.
“Do you even think those guys are dangerous?” Nino asks. “The one Aiba described sounded like he was about 70 years old...”
Miyake sighs.
“You want to go outside too don’t you,” Nino says.
Miyake nods.
“Hey Jun-chan,” Miyake calls.
Nino giggles a little. He always gets so mad when Okada calls him “Ken-chan” at work, but it’s even funnier the way Okada just lets him get away with it. He almost seems like he’s about to say something, then just swallows as if he’s letting it go.
“I think it might be good for us to get some fresh air don’t you?” he says.
“We’re on orders to stay in...” Okada says.
Miyake shrugs. “Sakamoto won’t get mad at me!” he says. “And if Officer Morita complains just leave him to me.”
“Can we?” Aiba beams brightly.
“Okay,” Okada says. “If we all stick together and you stay close to us and let us handle it if anything happens.”
“Got it!” Aiba says.
Even Nino is a little relieved. He can stay on his own for days, maybe even weeks on end. He’s even caused himself bodily injury from staying in the same position for too long and he hardly noticed it then. But somehow Aiba going stir crazy puts him a little on edge and the relief that comes over his expression makes Nino feel a little relieved too.
“I’ll get his leash,” Nino says.
“Shut up,” Aiba laughs.
He rolls up the mat that he and Okada were exercising on then all of them slip into their shoes and step outside for the first time in days.
They aren’t in a part of town near where Nino or Aiba live so there is a lack of the familiar. The department store they go to is similar to the one they work at though and Nino can’t help but go through the electronics department just to see what they have going on there. Miyake stays close with Aiba and Okada doesn’t leave Nino’s side.
“Anything I can help you with?” Nino says jokingly. Although he probably could help Okada with anything he needs here. He can recite information about just about anything in this shop even if he’s a week out of practice.
“I was thinking about getting a new camera,” Okada says, much to Nino’s surprise.
He grins and says, “Then I’ve got just the camera for you.”
It turns out Okada is somewhat of a photography buff. He has a couple of cameras at home and is looking for a new zoom lens. There isn’t anything at this shop that Nino is unfamiliar with and even when an employee passes by he doesn’t bother to interrupt Nino since he clearly knows his stuff.
“But,” Nino says after he’s finished his sales pitch, “don’t buy it here. Or I won’t get the commission.”
Okada laughs and Nino is pleased when he agrees. Aiba and Miyake round the corner, Miyake holding a bundle of flowers and Aiba a small house plant.
“You have a date tonight or something?” Nino asks, nodding at the armful of flowers.
“They’d look nice in the apartment wouldn’t they?” Aiba says. Then Miyake sneezes several times and Aiba rummages through his bag until he finds an extra mask.
“We’ll need to get something for dinner...” Okada says.
It’s almost as if the four of them are friends just going out to get preparations for a meal. Even before being plucked out of his ordinary life Nino didn’t have much experience with that kind of thing, but he’d assumed people did things like that. Going out to the supermarket and getting meats for barbecue. Aiba has invited him to do that before although he usually turned it down and they’d opt instead for the two of them grilling meat on a hot plate in Nino’s apartment. Nino’s in no position to say no now but even if he was would he really want to? He kind of likes these two. And he really likes Aiba. Though he’d probably never say any of this out loud.
“Let’s make fried chicken!” Aiba says.
They arrive at a supermarket that is also unfamiliar territory though it resembles the one in Nino’s neighborhood with the aisles mostly in the same place. He takes a couple of wrong turns and discovers there is an attached cafe beyond the registers.
They fill up the cart with chicken and vegetables and Aiba throws in enough beer for all of them even after Okada repeatedly says he doesn’t drink at work and Miyake says he doesn’t drink at all. “More for us then huh?” Aiba says to Nino with a grin that makes him look like he’s already had a drink or two.
When they check out at the register, Nino finds himself looking out to the cafe. It’s trendy, he supposes based on the kinds of things he’s seen on TV. It seems to have a plant theme. The entire cafe looks lush and green and vines grow up the sides of the walls as if they’re in an enclosed garden.
“Want to stop there for a drink?” Aiba asks Nino.
“It’s probably better if we head back,” Okada says.
Then Nino sees it. Sitting at the cafe is a man with a familiar face. It’s Officer Sakamoto, the one who came with the sketch artist. Then the man seated with him turns around to call the waitress and that’s a familiar face too. Nurse Nagano from the hospital.
“Huh,” Nino says out loud. Then waves Aiba off when he asks what it is.
Something feels funny about it, although he supposes maybe it doesn’t need to be seen as anything strange. After all the first time he met Officer Sakamoto was in the hospital. Maybe he and Nagano are friends. They look like they’re around the same age. They could have even been classmates. They’re talking and laughing casually. It’s the first time he’s seen Sakamoto out of his police uniform and he looks much more friendly and less stoic when he’s in a loose T-shirt like the one he’s wearing now.
They leave the supermarket quickly and no one else seems to notice. But Nino files it in the back of his mind. Something of interest just tucked away.
---
Okada doesn’t drink at work and Miyake doesn’t drink at all but Nino and Aiba drink enough for all of them.
Even without drinking, though, Miyake gets chatty the more the alcohol circulates around the room. He likes to get in everyone’s space, that much has been clear since he met the guy, but when Aiba’s had a few drinks he can get overly friendly too. He and Miyake end up embracing on the couch telling old stories and it comes out that Officer Morita is Miyake’s childhood friend but he’s really shy so Miyake is setting him and Aiba up on a golf date since they both like to play. He calls up Morita who doesn’t answer. Then calls again and Morita does answer, say hello, then hangs up on him.
Aiba giggles. “It does sound like fun though,” he says. He’s been practicing his golf swing in the apartment with Okada when they have training sessions and it’s clear to anyone within miles that he’s dying to get out to the golf course.
“As soon as this is all figured out,” Miyake says. “I’ll tell him he has to solve this case quick so you can play.”
“If he’ll talk to you,” Nino grins. Miyake reaches for him and Nino half expects to get shoved but instead he just ends up tangled with the two of them so they’re a tangle of three. Okada comes back inside from making the rounds around the apartment. He looks at the empty cans of beer a little longingly.
“You can have one,” Miyake whispers. “I won’t tell.”
Then there is a loud sound outside and Miyake moves seamlessly into bodyguard mode, sliding out from between Nino and Aiba on the sofa and standing at attention near the window.
“I don’t think it’s anything but we better have a look,” Miyake says.
“I’ll go,” Okada says. “It might be dangerous.”
“Hey!” Miyake says. “I can handle danger. It’s my job too you know. Stay here with them.”
Okada looks a little worried but nods and agrees and Miyake slips on his shoes at the door and disappears.
By the time Miyake comes back to tell them he hasn’t seen anything, the family-like atmosphere has passed.
---
Another knife goes missing. This time it’s from a museum that isn’t far from the apartment where they’re staying.
“Do you think it’s closer for a reason?” Aiba whispers the words that Nino wasn’t about to say out loud.
“I guess we won’t know until the police find something,” Okada says.
The knife that’s gone missing is the largest since this started and now the fifth knife to go missing. The time between when the knives have gone missing has decreased too. This time it’s only a week between the one the night Aiba was witness and now. Things are escalating, is what the police speculate on TV, but nothing has happened besides the knives going missing. They haven’t turned up anywhere, there hasn’t been any sort of attack. Just five missing knives, all varying degrees of ancient, and all considered treasures.
“It’s better if we don’t go out too much,” Okada says, breaking the bad news to Aiba who is already getting cabin fever again.
Officers Sakamoto and Morita come to check in and see how things are going. Nino thinks to bring up seeing him at the cafe with Nagano, but he doesn’t. Miyake keeps his promise to Aiba to set him and Morita up on a golf date. Morita brightens at this and says he’s planning to go play golf next week when he has a day off. Aiba paws at Miyake like a puppy. Begs like one too. Security might not be too difficult to manage at a place like a golf course so Miyake talks it over with Okada and they decide that they’ll make preparations.
“Maybe this whole thing will even be resolved by next week anyway,” Okada says, but Sakamoto doesn’t seem convinced. The officers leave the apartment and Nino takes out a deck of cards that Miyake had brought for him from home.
“Do the one where you rip the card up but then you have it in your pocket!” Aiba says.
Nino laughs. He’ll need more than one deck for that. But he does a couple of the tricks he can do with one and Aiba seems satisfied with those.
Officer Morita sends Miyake a text message telling him to turn on the TV. There is a breaking report with some eyewitness accounts about the last robbery. Along with a grainy security camera picture of two men leaving in a car.
The picture is difficult to make out but one of the men is in sunglasses so it’s hard to see his face, but the other is a sun-kissed tan, wearing a tank top with his large biceps exposed.
“Could you take him?” Aiba asks.
“Yes,” Okada says, without hesitation.
“Absolutely,” Miyake says at the same time.
“We’ll keep you safe,” Okada says.
The sketches based on the new eyewitness report appear on the screen. One is described as the thin and tall man, the one Nino and Aiba have both seen, and his face in the drawing looks similar to what Aiba described. He’s the one who seems to be doing the work of getting the knives out of the museums. And he must be skilled at breaking in and also have a reason for needing all of these knives. Even so, he has a kind face. He looks like someone gentle, someone that Nino might trust if he wasn’t always at least a little bit skeptical of everyone he meets. But this man would skew towards the trustworthy end of the scale if Nino were to meet him.
Aiba says the same when Nino mentions it during the broadcast. “He looked like a nice guy,” Aiba says. “But holding a big knife...”
“What about that guy?” Miyake asks.
The other sketch is the same old man that Aiba had seen.
Then a third sketch is displayed on the screen. Someone who looks similar to a man who Nino wouldn’t have even thought twice about if he hadn’t just see him the other day.
“Nurse Nagano?” Nino says out loud at the screen.
“Eh?” Miyake says. “You know his name??” He’s already pulling out his phone, no doubt to call the police. Nino doesn’t want to hurl accusations at the nurse who took care of him and Officer Sakamoto’s friend, but no matter how he looks at the drawing it looks exactly like him...
“He just...”
“Ah!” Miyake says. “From when you were at the hospital!”
Nino nods slowly and they both look at the screen. There is a hotline to call and the newscaster is saying to call the number if you have any information, but Ken just takes out his phone and calls his contact on the police force directly.
Nino feels a little unsteady. But since Miyake remembers him too it can’t just be his eyes playing tricks on him.
“Do you recognize any of the others?” Miyake asks, holding his phone off to the side as the person on the other end waits for his reply.
Nino shakes his head.
“No,” Miyake says into the phone. “He only remembers the third drawing and he says his name is Nagano. I’ll forward you the hospital information.”
When he gets off of the phone he sits down with Nino and Aiba. Everyone in the apartment is a little shaken up and Okada has gone outside to make rounds again.
“They have a lot of information and eyewitnesses now,” Miyake says. “They’re going to close in and catch them soon and you can go back to your lives okay?”
“The plants are growing without you don’t worry,” Nino says to Aiba.
“And you’ve got me to protect you in the meantime,” Miyake says, puffing out his chest a little.
“And we’ve got him to protect all of us,” Nino says, pointing at Okada who has just come back in the door.
Miyake deflates a little, but Aiba leans into him. “I trust you,” he says, so quietly he probably doesn’t intend for Nino to hear. But he does and just smiles to himself.
“It’s quiet out there,” Okada says. “Why don’t you two get some rest.”
They lay out the futons and Okada and Miyake sleep in shifts like they usually do. This time Okada takes the early shift and Miyake stays up. Aiba is already snoring, but Nino picks up his game, muting the sound and holding the blanket over him so the light doesn’t bother anyone.
“You don’t have to act like you’re okay with everything,” Miyake says in a whisper.
Nino shrugs. “Hey I have my games and a place to play them,” he says. “That’s all I need.”
“Nah,” Miyake says. “I don’t really believe that. But it’s okay I won’t tell anyone.”
Nino turns off his game and tucks it under the blanket. “He’s stuck here because of me,” he says.
Miyake shakes his head. “He’s stuck here because there are bad guys out there doing bad things,” Miyake says.
“If I hadn’t seen anything he wouldn’t be here,” Nino says.
“Maybe you seeing something means the police will catch the bad guys and neither of you have to worry about being safe,” Miyake says.
Nino remembers that night when he first saw the man that Aiba tells him had a kind face. Someone had grabbed him and put some kind of strange smelling chemical to cover his nose and it had choked his breath before he lost consciousness. These guys are dangerous, kind faces or no, and they have a collection of knives now to go with whatever chemicals they’ve gotten their hands on.
Maybe Nino is a little scared. He doesn’t say the words, but Miyake puts his arms around him quietly.
“Is this part of your training or something?” Nino says, pretending to struggle but not trying very hard.
“Just shut up and go to sleep,” Miyake says and doesn’t let go.
---
When no incidents happen for a few days, Aiba gets a little stir crazy again. But instead of telling Miyake and Okada about it he whispers to Nino when the two of them are alone.
“Let’s go out,” he says. “Just us.”
Nino met Aiba when they started working at the department store a few years ago. They applied around the same time and went through the same orientation sessions together. Nino hadn’t gone out of his way to talk to anyone but Aiba had somehow attached himself to Nino, saying that the two of them should be friends. Nino had informed Aiba that he had no way of knowing if he was a serial killer or not or even if he’d just lift Aiba’s wallet while he wasn’t looking but Aiba had just shaken his head and said no, I know you.
Nino hadn’t known how to feel about that. But somehow it was because of that that Nino came to trust Aiba right away. He felt immediately that someone like Aiba would give all of his trust to someone he knew he could give it to. It was Nino’s responsibility not to mishandle it. Even so, Aiba liked to get into trouble. If they had been friends as kids, Nino thinks they would have been scolded together by the teacher for sneaking into places they weren’t allowed to be or pulling pranks in the classroom. They would have been punished with extra homework or getting the worst cleaning job after school. Instead they met when they were adults so the little trouble they got into was things like arranging the flowers to spell out a message that made Aiba laugh or Nino taking embarrassing pictures of Aiba and leaving them as the display pictures in the cameras in his department. Their coworkers came to know the two of them as a team and Nino supposes they are a team even now here in this apartment. It’s the two of them and the bodyguard team, although he figures Miyake would jump at the chance of joining their team if they let him, or even if they didn’t.
“Let’s just go out me and you,” Aiba says. “Just for ice cream or something, they won’t even notice. We’ll bring ice cream back for them too and they’ll love it.”
“They’ll probably get mad,” Nino says.
“Who can be mad when they’ve just gotten ice cream!” Aiba says. “Let’s go when Okada-kun is doing the rounds and Miyake-kun is taking a bath.”
“Alright,” Nino says. He’s never really opposed to a little trouble, but he is still worried about how safe it is to go out on their own. Aiba pulls out his phone and shows Nino that there is an ice cream shop just two blocks from where the apartment is. It’ll just take ten minutes to get there and back, which is about how long they’ll be left alone.
Just as they do most days, Miyake takes a bath while Okada does the rounds. Nino does something that occurs to him at the last moment. Before they sneak out of the apartment, he takes Miyake’s phone out of his pocket and puts it in his own. That way if he has to call Okada he’ll pick up the phone right away. The numbers for Officer Sakamoto and Officer Morita are in his phone too. If they need anyone they’ll be able to call them quickly. It’s just ten minutes, but Nino reasons a lot can happen in ten minutes. He quickly slips the phone in the pocket of his jeans then he and Aiba slip out the door.
The ice cream shop isn’t far, but the two of them walk briskly the two blocks. It’s a chain shop so there are lots of brightly colored advertisements outside. There aren’t many people in the shop which means they won’t have to wait long. Maybe they’ll be back before Miyake gets out of the bath.
Neither of them know what kind of ice cream Miyake or Okada would like but Aiba just orders whatever looks appealing. Nino leaves everything to him, waiting by the door a little nervously. Then he sees him.
He’s only seen a drawing of him. Aiba was the one who clearly saw his face. But it’s the kind-faced man, the tall and thin one and he’s getting out of a car like the one they saw on the news a few nights before. Nino wants to call out to Aiba. Or maybe he just wants to run, he’s not sure what he wants to do. But somehow the man doesn’t look scary or threatening. He looks like he’s just here for ice cream.
“Hey Taichi-kun!” he calls out to the car. “What do you want?”
“I’ll leave it to you,” the guy in the car says, with a little salute. There are three other men in the back seat. One is the older one. Nino can’t see the others.
Aiba gets out of line and Nino pulls him close to the corner of the restaurant so the kind-faced man won’t be able to see him.
“It’s them,” he whispers. “What do we do?”
Aiba’s eyes widen and he looks around helplessly.
“I took Miyake’s phone,” Nino says.
“You what?” Aiba says, panicked.
“Before we left,” Nino says. “I took it so we could call someone just in case...”
“Call Okada-kun,” Aiba says.
“Maybe we should just call the police,” Nino says.
“Okay yeah...” Aiba says. Miyake’s probably not going to be happy about Nino stealing his phone, but he’s probably going to be glad if nothing bad happens to them. He scrolls down to Officer Sakamoto’s name and dials.
“Hello?” Sakamoto picks up after just one ring.
“It’s Ninomiya,” Nino says, quickly. “Um... I think we found the guys. We see them all they’re right here.”
“Slow down,” Sakamoto says. “Who did you see?”
“The guys who have been stealing the knives,” Nino says. “From the museums.”
The window of the car slowly rolls down. And there he is. Officer Sakamoto mouthing the words that Nino hears in the phone receiver.
“Where did you see them?” he asks, looking around. Nino hangs up and grabs Aiba’s arm and pulls him out the back exit where they run and run.
---
Miyake and Okada are already outside when they get back. Nino can tell by the expression on Miyake’s face that he noticed the missing cell phone and he’s not so amused, but his expression changes to concern when he sees how fast the two of them are running. Aiba points wildly in the direction of the ice cream shop but he’s talking so fast his words are all tangled together. Okada places a hand on his shoulder and tells him to breathe, relax and tell him what happened slowly.
“Officer Sakamoto,” Nino says, quietly. “He was with them.”
Miyake’s eyes widen and he takes the phone that Nino hands back to him. He looks at it and Nino sees that there are two missed calls from the Officer himself.
“Let’s get inside,” Okada says.
“We brought ice cream?” Aiba says, sheepishly.
---
“We could call Officer Morita,” Okada says.
“What if that’s too dangerous too?” Miyake says. “You guys are sure you saw him?”
“Sure,” Nino says.
“Positive,” Aiba says. “It was him and the old guy and that tall nice-looking guy. Maybe he’s not that nice...”
“He wasn’t arresting them or anything?” Miyake says.
“No,” Nino says. “Just in the backseat of the car. Ah!”
“What is it?” Okada asks, looking up from a notepad where he’s been writing everything down.
“He called the driver Taichi-kun,” Nino says.
“Okay,” Miyake says. “I’ll have to talk to Morita to get access to the police database. We’re not technically police so...”
“But you said that might be dangerous,” Aiba says.
“Eh...” Miyake says. “I’ve known him since we were kids. If he’s lying to me I think I’ll be able to tell. He might cover for his partner but it might not stop him from helping us...”
He calls Officer Morita “Go-kun” on the phone and it’s clear from the way he speaks that at least from Miyake’s end he feels like he can trust him. Nino looks around the room and thinks he trusts everyone in here, maybe Aiba most of all, but he trusts the other two to keep them safe.
Then there is a knock on the door. Sharp and commanding and Miyake points to the door where Okada gets up and looks through the peep hole.
He motions for the others to get in the back and Nino feels Aiba’s hand holding him tightly.
“Look,” he hears Officer Sakamoto’s voice booming from the other room. “I... I can explain.”
---
Two years ago, Nagano Hiroshi had a plan.
There are hundreds of restaurants in Tokyo. Many of them are very good. Nagano keeps a collection of the cards of every restaurant he goes to. His friends mainly think he’s just a collector, but it’s more than that. The perfect cut of meat grilled to perfection. It seems like such a simple thing but it’s something he hasn’t been able to find not in all of his years of searching.
The plan comes about accidentally. They’ve all been drinking and Nagano finds himself lost in grilling the meat. It almost just slips out unconsciously, his idea of the perfect cut. He has a collection of knives at home but it doesn’t seem like any of them will do.
“I have some cooking knives too,” Sakamoto says. “You’re welcome to give any of them a try.”
And he does. But none of them are quite what he’s looking for. Inohara gets an idea about age old quality and on a whim he goes into a museum on the way home from work. He calls Nagano and jokingly tells him he’s found the perfect knife and the next time the six of them are drinking together it turns into something more. Inohara is fast and nimble. He can slip in and take the knife. Taichi is good at planning and he can drive the getaway car. Yamaguchi is the muscle. Sakamoto the inside man.
“Joshima-san...” Taichi laughs. “Our fearless mascot?” Joshima is decked out in leopard print head to toe he looks himself over and agrees. They toast and it’s decided.
The plan is to take the knife, prepare a meal, then put it back. It might cause a commotion but Sakamoto can provide cover in the meantime.
But the first knife doesn’t do the trick. Nor the four after it. By that time two guys are in witness protection and Sakamoto wonders how long he can keep them from asking too many questions. Now, though, they’re in too deep. Maybe the sixth knife is the charm. They pile up in Taichi’s car to discuss their next move over ice cream. Then everything falls apart.
---
Okada doesn’t have the ability to arrest anyone, technically not being police. But since he works in conjunction with the police department he’s been given handcuffs so that he can restrain a suspect if needed until the police can come and assess the situation. Sakamoto willingly lets Okada cuff him and he sits on the sofa with his hands behind his back while Miyake calls for Officer Morita to come over. Don’t tell anyone what’s going on just yet, Nino hears Miyake say into the phone and he assumes Morita agrees because he quickly ends the phone call.
“Everyone is downstairs,” Sakamoto says calmly. “The knives are in the car too.”
Okada looks at Miyake, neither of them sure what to do. They wait for Officer Morita to arrive and when he gets there he looks a little shaken.
“What’s going on here?” he says.
---
The first time it was Nagano Hiroshi who had the plan. This time it’s Aiba Masaki.
The others come up to the apartment on agreement that if any of them make a run for it Sakamoto is going to be the one who takes the blame on his own. They all agree, but they all look solemn and defeated and somehow Nino doesn’t feel victorious or even satisfied with the way this ends.
“Where were you going to get the sixth knife?” Aiba asks, cutting through the heavy silence after the six of them have told their story.
“We can’t just tell you that,” Taichi laughs. “Look we’ll take our punishment. It’s been a good run right guys?”
Miyake looks from Aiba to Okada. Then to Morita, who is the one in the room with the most authority now by default.
“What are you going to do with us?” Joshima says. He’s even cheerful in the way he’s resigned and Nino can’t quite believe it.
“Wait,” Nino says. “You held something up to my nose and made me pass out. You left me there on the street...” He’s not really angry about it, but it’s hard to resolve that they’re a bunch of harmless guys when he thinks about that.
“Ahh that...” Inohara says.
Nagano looks down, laughs a little to himself. “I’m sorry,” he says.
“That was... an accident,” Inohara says.
They’d just eaten before coming to the museum, deciding soon after that the meal was particularly unsatisfying. The meat wasn’t the only problem but the sauce was too spicy. It was enough to make Sakamoto’s eyes water when they ate and they’d ended up pouring out the rest. They’d all, save Taichi, had a lot to drink that night so they convinced him to take them on another knife run, feeling confident that it was only the sauce that was the problem but the meat was getting closer. They’d panicked when they saw Nino and tried to distract him but he’d already gotten a good look and Nagano thought to chase him off with some of the napkins with the bad-smelling sauce.
“It was even worse than we thought,” Nagano says, a guilty look in his eye. “I put the napkin up to you and you started to get watery-eyed. Sakamoto-kun took you right to the hospital. We didn’t leave you there, although that’s what he told you...”
“He passed out too,” Yamaguchi says, pointing to Joshima. “In the back of the car.”
“That was some really bad sauce!” Joshima laughs. “But I think we have it now don’t we?”
“I think so,” Nagano says. “In my bag.” He points to a backpack that Okada made him leave at the door. “Front pocket.”
Okada reaches inside and there is a bottle of dark sauce. He unscrews the bottle and smells then his shoulders roll back and he takes a deep breath. “It smells delicious,” he says.
Inohara beams. “I made that one,” he says.
“What if we... help you,” Aiba says.
Everyone in the room looks at him at once.
“If we get the sixth knife,” he says. “That one is the charm right?”
Morita shrugs and Miyake shoots him a look.
“You’re being way too casual about this,” Miyake says.
Morita sighs. “Sakamoto-kun,” he says.
Sakamoto looks up at attention.
“Are you going to give the knives back?” he asks.
“Of course,” Sakamoto says. “That was the plan all along.”
“Then...” Morita says. “Take Aiba and Okada with you and get the sixth one.”
Miyake looks at him in disbelief. “You knew about this!”
“What?” Sakamoto says. “He didn’t! He didn’t have any idea.”
Then Morita grins a toothy grin and Nino notices the atmosphere in the room change in an instant.
“You can take us all down to the station later,” Taichi says, warmly.
Miyake crosses his arms in front of him. “I’m going with you,” he says stubbornly.
---
They take three cars. Morita and Sakamoto come in their police car with the others split into two. Aiba and Nino ride in the backseat with Yamaguchi and Taichi in the front. The museum has better security than the others but Inohara has practiced so many times. Officers Morita and Sakamoto distract the guards at the front while Miyake and Inohara slip inside. Nino and Aiba wait in the car that still faintly smells like that awful sauce.
“Exciting right?” Aiba says, grinning wildly. Nino leans against him in the backseat, watching Inohara and Miyake run across the lawn to the back. A few moments later the alarm goes off and the two come running. Miyake dives into the backseat of the car with Nino and Aiba and they peel out with Miyake tangled between them, laughing and catching his breath. Taichi drives with the windows rolled down and they put on some music that Yamaguchi tells them is a demo Joshima made. “He plays a mean guitar,” Taichi says. Then Yamaguchi whispers to the backseat, pointing at Taichi, “That’s him on piano.” Nino grins.
Miyake catches his breath and hooks his arms around both of them. “Ahh!” he says. “I could do that again.”
“This is the last time isn’t it?” Aiba reminds him with a nudge.
Miyake nudges him back. “Let’s have a good time then,” he says, with a grin.
---
They all hold their breath while Nagano slices the meat. A silence in the room with nothing but the sound of the grill. Nagano moves his hand steadily and he has a slight sigh of relief that makes everyone in the room breathe. He looks at Sakamoto and nods.
The food and drinks flow all night and Nino nibbles at a little and has to admit it’s some of the best meat he’s ever tasted. Aiba has so much to drink his cheeks are tinged a bright pink and he helps himself to as much as he wants. They all eat until they’re full and drink until they can’t anymore. Miyake complains at Morita for most of the night. “You knew about this!” he accuses. Morita just shrugs. “Got us something good to eat didn’t it?” he says.
The neighbors must be ready to call the police and complain about the noise, Nino thinks. Joshima plays guitar and Inohara sings a song he’s clearly making up on the spot. Taichi and Morita get into some kind of fight but it ends with both of them laughing. Aiba and Nino both end up lying back on the couch.
“How was it?” Aiba asks. Nino didn’t eat much but Aiba knows he doesn’t usually.
“Good,” Nino says.
“You just like being with me,” Aiba says, cozying up to Nino, who smiles and shoves him.
“And me!” Miyake says and Nino shoves him too.
They fall asleep and in the morning no one is arrested and taken down to the station. But Sakamoto and Morita return the knives to the museums saying they were found abandoned in a nearby park but they haven’t caught the thieves yet. They’re still looking and they’ll let them know when anything is found. It’s a quiet secret between all of them but Nino doesn’t mind.
When Aiba returns back to work his flowers have been growing without him. Nino works the electronics section without missing a beat. The days seem somehow dull though. Back to the usual.
It’s a week later that he sees a familiar face in the camera section.
“You said to buy it here,” Okada says, pointing out the lens that Nino had shown him at the other department store.
“You’re damn right I did,” Nino smiles.
“Don’t rip him off now,” Miyake says, then Nino sees him there behind Okada with his arms crossed in front of him.
It’s then that it occurs to Nino that Okada and Miyake aren’t in their typical suits. Okada’s wearing a light sweater and slacks and Miyake has on jeans with a T-shirt in baby pink. They just look like two guys. It makes Nino feel warm inside.
“Hey!” Nino hears Aiba’s voice from off to the side. He comes running and gives flowers to both of them as if he wanted to give them something and picked up the first thing he could find. The ones he gives Miyake say “Happy Father’s Day” and Okada’s say “Get Well Soon”.
“I texted him,” Miyake says with a smile.
“Hey guys,” Aiba says, hugging both of them. Okada laughs and it feels funny like they should all be going home together. Like this is just an outing and they’ll all have dinner together in the evening then Okada will make the rounds while Nino curls up with a game and Miyake’s chin planted firmly on his shoulder.
“Guess what,” Miyake says.
“You heard about my golf date with Morita-kun?” Aiba says proudly. “I mean I didn’t win but…”
Miyake laughs. He looks equally proud to be able to break news that no one knows yet. “Nagano says we can all come to dinner at his place tomorrow. You up for it?”
“Of course!” Aiba says. “Let’s go! You’ll go right?” He says to Nino.
“Yeah,” Nino says and he can see Aiba rocking on his heels in excitement.
They leave and it’s back to work but on the TV display wall a news report comes up. The knives have been returned but the criminals are still at large. If you have any information, call the number at the bottom of the screen. Nino smiles to himself. A secret tucked away inside of him.