fic for semikusa! (2/2)

[nino_mod]

For: semikusa
From: :3.

Part 1


vault 63
makuharihongo secure savings, level 13
20:44 asst (ashikaga system standard time)

Nino sighed, moving to bend down and pick up the pink sandal from the floor. He slipped it back onto Ohno’s foot before yanking the cloth gag out of his mouth, sending a nasty blob of drool down Ohno’s chin.

“Long time no see, my friend,” Nino said, patting the other thief on the shoulder.

“Sho-kun’s kind of smart, isn’t he?” Ohno admitted. “He talks a lot though. And that fake overconfident smile pisses me off.”

“You know, it doesn’t take much effort to say ‘thank you,’” Nino complained, lifting the gag again and planning to put it back where he found it.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Ohno pleaded, struggling against the ropes Sakurai had used to tie him up. “Wait, I can help you guys.”

Jun was by the door, feeling along the edges with his fingertips for a way to force it open. “We don’t need your help. Not after the stunt you pulled.”

Ohno sounded apologetic. Probably because the three of them were trapped inside a bank vault with what was likely a limited amount of oxygen. Sakurai Sho might have sent the real Makuharihongo human employee on a vacation, but he’d pretty much left them to die in here. Not cool.

“Look, I can override the door controls from inside here. I’m actually quite good when it comes to locked rooms.” He gestured with his head at the wall beside Jun. There wasn’t a console there, but presumably there was wiring underneath to tap into. “I doubt you know how to do it.”

Nino scowled. “And what makes you so sure of that?”

“The TOMA security software runs on a platform that’s similar to the device on my ship. Remember? The one I used to take over yours without much effort at all,” Ohno explained, a wicked twinkle in his eye.

This wasn’t a smart-ass competition, but guys like Sakurai and Ohno sure seemed to think so.

“Come on,” Ohno pleaded with him. “We have to hurry so we can catch up with Sho-kun, get the platina back. This whole room was full of it, bricks of it. Solid platina. It took him hours to get it all out of here, and the weight of it was what broke the elevator. Man, he wouldn’t stop complaining about it until you got here…”

Nino walked away, heading to the corner of the almost empty vault. “We’re not going after Sakurai. Not yet anyway.”

Jun looked over, confused. “We’re not?”

Two new ugly paintings were waiting to greet Nino, two new ugly paintings of Aiba Masaki that Sakurai Sho had been stupid enough to leave behind. After all the effort of breaking into the bank, taking control, and stealing all that platina, he’d been so repulsed by the portraits that he’d left them behind.

And at first glance, Nino admitted, they were definitely the sort of pictures you’d want to leave behind. Maybe set on fire before you did so.

But maybe the Makuharihongo vault had been a smokescreen all along. Maybe this was just one more piece in Aiba Masaki’s needlessly complex puzzle. And Nino, despite his irritation at being jerked back and forth across the galaxy on a dead man’s whims, had no choice but to believe that these pictures would tell him something he wanted to hear after all his horrible setbacks.

They were similar in size and framing to the portraits from the holiday villa on Akashi. Gods, that seemed like ancient history by now. Painting number one depicted Aiba Masaki with a pair of kitten ears on top of his head. He was seated at a poker table with a grin on his face as he prepared to go into battle against a bunch of dogs. Actual dogs. Dogs sitting in chairs with playing cards in their paws. It was mind boggling.

And then of course there was painting number two, which depicted Aiba Masaki under the sea with a golden trident in his hands and a neon green mermaid tail instead of legs.

“Who the fuck was painting these for him?” Nino wondered aloud, looking back and forth from the kitty ears to the mermaid tail.

“They’re really good, aren’t they?” Ohno added needlessly.

Nino lifted Aiba the Merman and flung it as far as he could. It smashed against the floor, sending up a cloud of plaster dust that had Jun sneezing in seconds.

“Hey!” Ohno complained. “We could have sold that once we got out of here!”

Nino grunted, hoisting the dog poker and throwing it against the wall. The gold-painted frame shattered just like all the others had, and Nino cracked his neck and his knuckles before sitting on the floor, digging through the dust piles for answers.

“Jun-kun, untie him.”

“No way,” Jun protested. “We can figure this out ourselves, right? Maybe there’s an air vent we can use to get out of here.”

“I don’t know this place like I knew Tokai. Too risky,” Nino said, digging through the remnants of the frames, trying not to breathe in the dust. “Unfortunately we’re going to have to rely on Ohno-san.”

“Ohno-san who already betrayed us before?” Jun pointed out.

“Hey,” Ohno pleaded, “that’s…that’s all in the past now, right? We share a common enemy, don’t we? I swear, I’ll be on my best behavior. Untie me, I’ll get us out of here. All of us. I promise.”

Nino rolled his eyes. “Cut the bullshit, Ohno-san, how much do you want?”

He looked up, saw Ohno shaking his head.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, eye twitching the slightest bit.

Nino retrieved a vidchip from the dust pile, shoving it in his pocket. One portrait down, one to go. “Give me a number.”

“Fine. Fifty.”

Nino laughed.

“Fifty what?” Jun asked. “Wait…fifty percent? You expect him to give you fifty percent of Aiba’s fortune?”

“Five,” Nino replied, digging through the other clumps of plaster dust.

“That’s insulting, man,” Ohno complained. “Forty.”

“Just for breaking us out of a bank vault? Really?” Nino asked.

Ohno wriggled in the chair, clearly uncomfortable. Nino wondered if Sakurai had at least untied him so he could pee since he’d captured him. “Thirty-five percent, and I’ll make you a mask, whatever you need for a future job. I’m good at creating fakes too, but considering how you treated those portraits of Aiba-chan, I’m guessing you’re not big on art.”

“I’m retired, not interested,” Nino said. “Ten percent.”

“Well, since I can’t collect anything until we find Sho-kun, then I’m coming with you on your ship,” Ohno said. “Thirty.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jun interrupted, letting out another cute sneeze as he walked to stand between the tied-up Ohno and the treasure-hunting Nino. “Wait, I’m not letting him on my ship. He already broke it once!”

“I wouldn’t do anything like that if we’re traveling together,” Ohno replied. “I can be a good houseguest.”

“The fuck is this…” Nino mumbled, tugging a platina key out of the dust pile. He brushed it off, holding it up in the harsh vault light. A key made out of platina wasn’t cheap, but it certainly meant nothing compared to the bricks of platina that Sakurai had already hauled out of the vault. There was a yellow gem embedded within the key, but otherwise it had no other identifying markings.

He pocketed it anyway, getting to his feet and brushing off his pants.

“Fifteen,” he said. “Fifteen and you pay for any fuel we need until we find Sakurai.”

“Twenty and fuel,” Ohno bargained.

Nino stared at him, knowing he didn’t have any other choice. All of this, everything from the start, had been one big game. The holiday villa and the portraits, Ohno being directed to find them in the middle of the Ashikaga system, Sakurai Sho being told outright to infiltrate Makuharihongo. Each of them - Ninomiya, Ohno, and Sakurai - had been given their own role to play in this story.

Nino didn’t know why, not yet, but he had two new clues that might point them to the next part of the game. Was this even about money, about the inheritance? Every time the platina had been dangled in front of him, Nino had risked everything to pursue it. Just as Aiba Masaki had assumed he would. He didn’t know Ohno or Sakurai well enough to guess at their own personal motives, didn’t know enough about their histories with Aiba. But somehow, they were all connected now.

“Twenty and fuel. Jun-kun, untie him.”

Jun looked at him with disappointment in his eyes. “I don’t trust him on my ship.” He turned to stare down at Ohno. “The Paradox is mine, and one of us will be watching you at all times. At. all. times.”

“Even when I’m pooping?” Ohno inquired, looking a bit ill.

Jun leaned forward until they were almost nose to nose. “If you want the twenty percent Kazu just promised you, then you’d better get used to an audience.”

Nino sighed. “Enough already. We’ve got what we need, now let’s get out of here.”

Reluctantly, Jun untied Ohno, giving him a thorough patdown, even as Ohno protested that Sakurai Sho had already done that before. Finally free, Ohno stretched, groaning in relief.

“Now open the door,” Nino ordered, the both of them standing to either side of him. “No tricks, no funny business.”

“I’m starving,” Ohno told them. “Sho-kun gave me some cookies a few hours ago, but it sure wasn’t enough. I’m more than motivated to get out of here, okay?”

They stood by, keeping a close watch as Ohno tugged a metal panel from the wall beside the door, revealing a maze of interconnected colored wires.

“So if you screw this up,” Jun grumbled, “is that TOMA system going to retaliate? Suck all the oxygen out of here? Shut the lights off? Blow us all out an airlock?”

Ohno sneered at him. “I know what I’m doing. And as I just said, I’m hungry. We’re getting out.”

It took him about ten minutes, slowly examining each wire. Nino couldn’t help but shut his eyes, bracing for the worst as Ohno finally yanked on the four wires he’d chosen. But instead of them all dying, the vault door opened.

“Thank you for visiting,” said the computerized voice of TOMA. “We are happy to be your choice for financial security.”

“Fuck off, TOMA,” Jun snapped, grabbing Ohno by the back of his shirt and tugging him into the corridor.

“Hey man, no need to be so aggressive,” Ohno whined.

Nino kept his hands in his pockets, fingers tight around the vidchip and platina key respectively as they made their way back to the escalators, slowly ascending back to the docking bay level.

Although he was an asshole and a thief, Sakurai hadn’t looted Ohno’s blue ship or the Paradox. Nino allowed their new guest to take what he needed from his own ship, mostly clothes and snacks. Once Ohno had his twenty percent, he could find his way back here and reclaim his ship. Ohno also handed over a pair of plasma guns. Jun didn’t like resorting to violence, but it was better that they had the guns and Ohno didn’t.

They boarded the Paradox, and Nino sat with Ohno in the passenger cabin patiently while Jun stashed the plasma guns and went over every inch of his ship looking for Sakurai tricks or booby traps.

“You said you were hungry. Want a hamburger?” Nino offered. “Ever have the ones from Fuel-n-Go?”

Ohno smiled. “They’re my favorite.”

Perhaps in a different life, he and Ohno could have ended up friends.

Jun returned a while later, climbing up from the storage bay and looking annoyed to see them eating together.

“Glad you’re settling in so nicely, Ohno-san,” Jun retorted.

Ohno smiled. “Nino here can heat up a good hamburger.”

Jun rolled his eyes, sighing. “Anyhow, what did you get from the picture frames? Please say something useful.”

Nino set the vidchip and the platina key with the yellow gemstone down on the dining table. “Key look familiar to you, Ohno?”

Ohno picked it up, looking it over seriously. “Nope. Never seen it.”

“Aiba-san ever mention a key like it?” Jun asked.

Ohno shook his head, setting the key down. “No. Never.”

Nino got up, moving to the passenger cabin’s vidscreen and inserting the vidchip in the open slot. He tapped a few times, accessing Aiba’s message.

He was in the tuxedo and lo-grav ball cap again. Nino assumed he’d recorded this on the same day he’d recorded the other message about the mask and the contact lenses. Aiba waved merrily at the camera.

“Hello! Nino-chan!”

Despite his irritation, Nino couldn’t help but wave back. Ohno did the same. Jun did not.

“Ah, well. I’m guessing you’re pretty angry with me right about now. About the vault. I wonder who’s with you after finding this video? My money’s on Oh-chan. Hey Oh-chan!”

Ohno looked surprised, turning to meet Nino’s equally astonished face.

“I think he just insulted your intelligence, Ohno-san,” Jun remarked, chuckling.

“What do you mean?” Ohno complained.

“It means he knew Sakurai-san was going to be the one to win. He knew Sakurai would take the platina and run the whole time,” Nino said, gripping the platina key so hard it was going to leave an indent in his palm.

Aiba was still talking, and he held up a WorkTab, the screen pointed at the camera so they could see it. “If you don’t mind, I need you to do something for me.”

“Like you’ve given us any other choice, you idiot,” Nino muttered.

The screen was zoomed out, showing a map of the neighboring Toyotomi system. Aiba moved his finger to the screen, zooming in to a planet towards the edge of it. It was a small planet with pink and purple rings labeled as Chiba Prime.

“I’m going to need you to go here and pick something up from my old room at the palace here in the capital, Takarazuka City.” Aiba looked a bit sheepish. “You see, I was kind of, um…banned from Chiba Prime. So if you could just pick up the item from my room there, it will give you everything you and Oh-chan will need to get the real fortune. I swear.”

“The real fortune?” Ohno mumbled, eyes lighting up at what his potential twenty percent cut of that might be.

“Nino, all you have to do is tell her that you’re my heir and you’ve come to collect my things. I know she wouldn’t have thrown it out, she was always all bark and no bite. She went to no small expense having all of those portraits of me commissioned by the royal artist. So she’ll still have this one since it’s the only one I wasn’t able to take with me when I left.”

Aiba set the WorkTab aside, leaning in and pressing his hands together as though in prayer.

“Nino-chan, Oh-chan. Please just do this one last thing.”

His smile was hopeful.

“Please go talk to my wife.”

—

fuel-n-go station toyotomi d12
6 hours from chiba prime
20:46 tsst (toyotomi system standard time)

Nino and Ohno stood with the clerk in front of the convenience store’s back wall. Otherwise known as the “Apparel” section. Nino cringed at the available items on display. All of which were hideous t-shirts with logos, slogans, and designs either offensive or tacky. Or both.

A samurai using a katana to slice into a Fuel-N-Go hamburger steak

A long-sleeved one featuring the famous animated character and hero Kimura Takuya, Fierce Fighting Cosmic Explorer (likely the impetus behind Jun and many other impressionable youngsters signing their lives away to JXF)

Chiba Prime Is For Lovers

Wanna Fill My Tank, Big Boy?

“Is this really all you have?” Nino asked, wrinkling his nose.

“This isn’t a department store, you know. We’re a fueling station,” the clerk replied.

“I don’t need your sass right now.” Nino leaned forward, glancing at the guy’s nametag. “Inoo-san.”

“I could check in the back?”

Ohno shook his head. “Forget it, it’s fine.”

They walked away, and the clerk trailed them back to the counter where Jun was impatiently waiting for Ohno to pay for their fuel costs.

“Any luck?” Jun asked.

“We’ll stick with what we’ve already got,” Nino said.

Jun sighed, and they completed their transaction, heading back to the Paradox.

Even at the Paradox’s top burn, they’d been flying for over a week to get here. They’d had all this time to prepare. But now they were almost to Chiba Prime and Takarazuka City, and they still didn’t have anything for Ohno to wear.

Aiba hadn’t been lying on his video when he’d mentioned his room at the palace. Takarazuka City did in fact have a palace. A palace home to the Queen who ruled the entire planet, Kitagawa Keiko.

Aiba’s wife.

Well, likely his ex-wife if he’d done something horrible enough to get himself banned from her planet before he’d died.

Nino had stolen from a few aristocrats in his time, but he’d never formally met with one before. Based on Aiba’s advice in his video, Nino had found it best to be (mostly) open and honest with the Queen of Chiba Prime. With Ohno’s technical help to boost the signal and send a message way ahead, they’d sent a message directly to Queen Keiko informing her that he was Ninomiya Kazunari, that he was Aiba Masaki’s heir, and that he’d like to have an audience with her at her earliest convenience.

The message they’d received in return, sent back using the exact encryption protocols Nino had requested, was quite positive.

Ninomiya Kazunari and guests were invited to meet with Queen Keiko on a specified day and a specified time to discuss Fourteenth Husband Aiba Masaki. The message had been sent from a man who identified himself as First Husband Daigo.

“Fourteen husbands!” Ohno had remarked when the message arrived. “She must be a sex addict.”

“Or she’s just a collector,” Nino had said, knowing people like Kitagawa Keiko as well as he knew himself. Some people collected platina, always needing more. And some collected men with the same amount of fervor.

Queen Keiko had clearly cared enough about the Aiba Masaki piece of her collection to have commissioned and paid for so many strange portraits of him. If Nino was going to show up to her palace and ask for the one left behind in Aiba’s room, then Nino was going to have to offer her something decent in exchange. He doubted that being Aiba’s heir was going to be enough to get a freebie from her.

“You’re not volunteering to be Fifteenth Husband, are you?” Jun had asked him as the three of them had sat around discussing their strategy after First Husband Daigo’s message had arrived.

“If anyone should be Fifteenth Husband it should be Matsumoto-san,” Ohno had teased. “You’re the best looking anyway.”

“Not a chance.”

In the end, they had decided to trust in Aiba and trust that the key with the yellow gemstone would make sense once they’d cracked open the next portrait. They’d decided to sacrifice a known reward for the potential fortune Aiba had promised in his video.

They were going to give Kitagawa Keiko everything Sakurai Sho had taken from Aiba’s vault at Makuharihongo. All that platina could pay for a lot of commissioned portraits. Or it could go a long way to supporting the extravagant lifestyle of a woman with more than a dozen husbands.

All they had to do was catch him and steal it all back.

Once they were settled back on the ship, they made the jump to faster-than-light speed, racing toward Chiba Prime. It was late by Toyotomi time but morning in Chiba time when Jun requested and was granted permission to dock the Paradox at the Zuka East Spaceyard.

Takarazuka was a beautiful capital of sparkling glass skyscrapers and verdant green parkland. A royal transport picked them up, flying the three of them through the city. The four royal guardians who escorted them to Queen Keiko’s palace, all women in gleaming spotless armor, seemed to be struggling to hold in laughter as they zoomed across the capital.

And no wonder, Nino thought as he and Jun sat on either side of Ohno inside the small ship. They were on their way to meet a Queen and Nino was wearing the funeral suit and black tie he’d worn that night they’d escaped Tokai Station, having done his best to get the grime from the air vents off of the material. Jun was in his thermal flight suit. And Ohno, having few options at the Fuel-n-Go, had fallen back on his plain black tee, a borrowed pair of Jun’s slacks, and grav-boots.

“You’re not meeting a Queen in pink sandals,” Nino had ordered, and Ohno had reluctantly agreed.

It was First Husband Daigo who greeted them at the entrance to the palace, an elegant marble structure with platina accents. A far cry from Aiba Masaki’s slapdash beachfront architecture. But the elegance stopped right there as Daigo-san, dressed in a rather formal white suit and wearing fingerless black leather gloves, escorted them into the palace’s great hall.

Nino struggled to walk, confronted on all sides by one hideous painting after another. Aiba wasn’t the only one Queen Keiko had had painted of her many paramours. There were portraits of men Nino had never seen before, but they were in the same ridiculous style as all the others he’d seen.

One of Queen Keiko’s husbands on horseback in a full suit of armor with a lance under his arm. Another husband sprawled on a couch as a hand attached to an unseen figure fed him peeled grapes. Another husband…

Nino suddenly collided with Jun’s back, as he’d come to a complete stop halfway through the hall.

Daigo-san turned, looking at them with gentle curiosity. “Is there a piece in Her Majesty’s collection you’d like to know more about? The ones I’m in are just down this way. I am the First Husband after all…”

Nino followed Jun’s eyes, and he could hear Ohno’s astonished laughter just behind him.

“Daigo-san,” Nino said, barely able to get his words out. “I would really, really love it if you could tell me about this one.”

He pointed up to the portrait hanging on the wall, this one enclosed in an authentic, dark cherry wood frame. There was a woman in a crown seated at a luxurious dining table. She was in a bold pink dress, her long brown hair curled and brushing against her pale, exposed shoulder. Undoubtedly the beautiful Queen of Chiba Prime herself.

But there was a man standing just beside her, dressed in a neat tuxedo and wearing a rather familiar pair of glasses as he poured wine for her.

There was no mistaking it.

It was Sakurai Sho.

—

palace of her majesty, queen keiko
chiba prime, takarazuka city
10:13 rct (royal chiba time)

Sakurai Sho, better known in Takarazuka City as Seventh Husband Sakurai Sho, had vanished mysteriously six years earlier. Queen Keiko had been rather fond of him, devastated by his betrayal, but unwilling (or unable) to take the portrait of him out of the great hall and banish him from her memory forever.

“Sho was the one who helped him, I know it was him!” shrieked Queen Keiko, sitting at the opposite end of a long dining table from the three of them. It was probably the same table from the picture.

First Husband Daigo, standing by his wife’s side with an apologetic smile, waved for one of the attendants to bring more food around. Despite her temper, the Queen had welcomed Nino, Jun, and Ohno for a late breakfast. Nino was trying not to choke on the overly sugary concoctions that seemed to constitute breakfast in the royal palace. After so many weeks of emergency rations and formerly frozen hamburgers, eating real food was going to do a number on his stomach.

Ohno, however, was barely paying attention as plate after plate of cake was placed before him by the generous attendants.

“Helped him to do what, Your Majesty?” Jun asked, still poking at the puffy pancakes he’d been served.

“Sho-san had been one of the most reliable ones, you know,” Queen Keiko said, wearing an elaborate red gown and delicate tiara. “He summarized the news for me from all across the system, saved me a great deal of time. He always worked so hard to find good restaurants when we traveled off-planet…”

Daigo-san looked a bit uncomfortable. “That’s all well and good, but he couldn’t compose music…”

Queen Keiko waved her hand dismissively. “Now is not the time, sweetheart.” She looked down the table at them. “This one was the first and yet he can be so competitive. Honestly.”

“Your Majesty,” Nino prodded gently. “Who did Sho-san help?”

“Masaki, of course!” Queen Keiko whined. “I thought fourteen could be my lucky number, and he had such a friendly attitude. Everyone told me not to do it, to harbor a man with a bounty on his head like his, but he was like a jolly ray of sunshine and…”

“But he never wrote you love ballads like I do,” Daigo-san said.

“That is enough out of you!” Queen Keiko snapped. She was getting overheated from her emotions, pulling out a red fan with the royal seal of her kingdom and unfolding it. She waved it quickly to try and calm herself.

Daigo bowed his head, moving to sit in a chair by her side. He didn’t bother to take his leather gloves off as he started munching on macarons.

“As I was saying,” Queen Keiko continued, fanning herself briskly, “my fourteenth husband was one of my biggest mistakes. I should have known he was only after my fortune, but he bought gifts for my cat and everything, how was I to know he wasn’t a reformed man? Well. Anyhow, that jerk managed to get into my vault. You needed to have my signet ring to get inside, and Sho-san snuck it to him somehow and Masaki had a copy made of it.”

Ohno dropped his cake fork against the plate, mumbling his apologies. Ah, Nino thought, the person who’d made the copy was sitting at the table. He hoped Ohno would keep that detail to himself.

“No, no, I’m done with thieves!” Queen Keiko declared. “I have a brand new vault now and nothing as silly as a ring to open it. So don’t get any big ideas, Ninomiya-san, Ohno-san. I know you’re just as bad as Masaki. I have my best guards watching your every move while you’re here.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it, Your Majesty,” Nino said. “We’re here for exactly the reasons we claimed. Aiba-san named me as the sole beneficiary of his will, said that I’m able to inherit every piece of property that belonged to him. But…”

Jun had to look away in embarrassment, eating his pancakes as Nino did his best to let the tears fill his eyes.

“But…everything’s been stolen away from me. And it’s not about the money, not at all,” Nino blubbered, teardrops falling into his cake. He summoned his most Kazama Shunsuke-esque emotions. “It’s that…it’s that I have nothing left of him, nothing at all. He was my best friend, you see, and it’s just like you’ve said, Your Majesty. Aiba Masaki was a jolly ray of sunshine!”

Nino kicked Ohno’s leg under the table, and he finally remembered to start crying too.

“He was!” Ohno cried. “Oh, he was a thief and all that…but gods, what a nice guy!”

Nino got out of his seat, the female guards watching with a keen eye as he approached and got on his hands and knees in front of Queen Keiko, lowering his head to her.

“Your Majesty, as soon as I heard that Aiba-san had lived here, I thought…here…here is where I must come. There has to be something left of him here!”

The fact that he wasn’t being hauled off to the palace dungeons meant that his outrageous, over-the-top act was working so far.

Nino sniffled. “Couldn’t you find it in your heart, Your Majesty? To give me whatever is left of him here in this palace? We…the three of us, Ohno-san, Matsumoto-san, and me…we can repay your generosity. We absolutely can!”

The Queen’s chair scraped against the floor, and she got to her feet. Nino stayed where he was until he felt something poke against the underside of his chin. The Queen had placed her folded up fan there, urging him to lift his head and look her in the eye.

“And how would you repay my generosity?” the Queen asked, looking down at him with a wicked sparkle in her eyes that made Nino wonder if she was really done with thieves after all. Not that he was in the mood to become her Fifteenth Husband…or whatever husband she was on now.

In the initial plan, he was just going to tell her about the platina. That they knew where they could get a lot of it, and that they’d give it all to her. But Nino had an even better idea now that he’d seen that silly portrait in the hall.

“We have a mutual acquaintance, Your Majesty. A man who has recently come into a great deal of platina. Ohno-san, Matsumoto-san, and I will catch him for you, bring him and his platina here for you in exchange for whatever items of Aiba-san’s you have in your possession.”

“I do have quite a weakness for platina,” Queen Keiko remarked, “but despite all logic, I have an even greater weakness for men. Who is this mutual acquaintance?”

Nino wiped the tears from his eyes, pulling himself up from the floor so he could look her right in the face.

“The man who betrayed you and betrayed us as well.” He put his hand over his heart. “Sakurai Sho.”

—

private ship, registry number 1992*4##111 AKA the paradox
chiba prime, takarazuka city, zuka east spaceyard
22:39 rct (royal chiba time)

Kitagawa Keiko, Queen of Chiba Prime, might have had an overwhelming weakness for men, but that didn’t make her a fool. Whatever was in Aiba Masaki’s room at the palace would be staying in Aiba Masaki’s room at the palace until both the platina and Sho were delivered to her.

Knowing that Nino, as heir to Aiba’s riches, was still a moving target, she’d ordered her security team to destroy any evidence that the Paradox and the three of them had ever set foot on her planet. She needed them alive to hunt down Sho and the platina. She couldn’t afford to let her royal guardians join the search and help them, however.

“My husbands would get so jealous if they saw me put so much effort into finding an ex,” she’d explained quietly, inclining her head in Daigo-san’s direction. “Surely you understand a woman’s troubles, Ninomiya-san?”

So the three of them would go it alone. They didn’t know what Sho’s ship looked like or where it might have gone, but they were allowed to remain docked at Zuka East until they had something to go on. Safety and security for the time being. That didn’t mean Jun was willing to give Ohno-san a pass. Although Ohno had been rather loyal so far and was clearly still holding out for his twenty percent, Jun insisted they continue to keep a close eye on him even within the confines of Takarazuka City where Queen Keiko’s guards were already watching.

It had put quite the dampener on their personal life the last week, having Ohno around slurping noodles and munching hamburger steaks when Nino was in the mood to pounce on Jun, release some of the pent-up energy that came from spending days and days flying through the endless expanse of space inside a small ship. Nino, sentimental fool that he was, missed Jun’s closeness, the feel of his fingertips along his skin, the sweetness of his kisses.

Instead he had to listen to Ohno whistle while he took a shit with the washroom door wide open, reassuring them that he was not up to any nefarious deeds. Jun really hadn’t been joking about that bit.

Ohno and Jun were poring over star charts on the big vidscreen in the passenger cabin when Nino came back from a shower, running a comb through his hair. Sakurai could have gone anywhere from Makuharihongo. Absolutely anywhere in the last week or so.

“He didn’t say anything to you while you were tied up?” Jun was asking while Nino stood behind him, rubbing his shoulders simply to have contact with him. “Didn’t say where he was going? Didn’t say what he was going to buy with the platina? Nothing?”

Ohno sighed, shutting his eyes and rubbing his temples, trying to think.

“He mostly talked about banking,” Ohno admitted. “Like, he’d been hanging around Makuharihongo for weeks, presumably waiting for us. I mean, Aiba-chan had sent him that message before he died, telling him to go there. So I guess Sho-kun had time to kill and he learned how to run a bank.”

“Is that it?” Nino asked.

“Didn’t you say he broke the elevator trying to carry all the platina out?” Jun wondered.

Ohno nodded. “Yeah…yeah, it was really heavy.”

Jun straightened up, Nino’s hands almost slipping off his shoulders. “How heavy? How many bricks of platina were there?” Jun grabbed hold of his hand, turning back to look up at him. “Kazu, how much does one weigh?”

“We’re talking processed bricks?” Nino asked.

Ohno nodded. “Yeah. They looked pretty standard to me.”

“Unprocessed platina, that is, platina straight from the source, is usually chipped out of a mine in uneven sheets. Those get melted down into bricks, which people can then use for anything they want. Plat-coins, construction materials, jewelry, you name it,” Nino said, thinking out loud. “I think five kilos per brick is the standard. I mean, they do smaller ones, I’ve seen them, but what do you think, Ohno-san? Would you say five per?”

Ohno nodded. “Sho-kun didn’t look particularly weak but he didn’t look particularly strong either. I mean, he was wearing a fancy suit so he might not have been trying that hard. But he was loading them on a cart maybe 3 or 4 bricks at a time?”

“How many fit on the cart?” Jun asked. “How many trips did he make to his ship?”

Ohno shook his head, grumbling. “What is this, math class?”

“No, no, just think about it,” Jun said. “He cleared out the whole damn vault, right? He put it all onto his ship? That’s a lot of added weight, you know. Space station like Makuharihongo, that’s not going anywhere. That’s a fixed object, built to last. Aiba’s vault was just one of dozens. But a standard ship like mine, like yours…they’re built to fly.”

Nino nodded. “Exactly. You add 50 bricks of platina to a cargo hold, that’s 250 kilos of extra weight. You add 500 bricks, that’s an extra 2,500 kilos.”

“It was more than 500 bricks, I guarantee it,” Ohno added with a nod. “He was going back and forth for hours. I should know, I had to listen to him whining.”

“There’s no way he could get the faster-than-light drive to work properly with all that added weight. Absolutely impossible,” Jun said.

“We don’t know how big his ship was,” Ohno said. “He could have been using a cargo freighter.”

“But that’s just it,” Jun continued, his voice getting more excited as they went on. Nino was glad to see him enthusiastic about something after so many weeks of putting up with his shit. “That’s just it! Cargo freighters don’t fly as fast. And if he’s in a transport ship like mine, then the added weight slows him down too. We’ve both been gone from Makuharihongo for a week and a bit more, but we’ve been able to travel much farther than Sakurai could. Without faster-than-light travel…”

“Then he’s only been able to cover a fraction of the distance unless he sold off or deposited the platina so he could speed up,” Nino said.

“Exactly,” Jun said, giddily rearranging the star charts on the screen again so the old one was showing, this time going right back to Makuharihongo. “He could have gone in any direction, but all we have to do is estimate the added weight to his ship and figure out how much that would have affected his speed. Then we can find out the maximum distance he could have traveled in this amount of time. What stations or planets or colonies were in that window, anywhere he could have stopped to offload some of the platina and keep going. It’s not gonna be exact science here, but it’s a start. It’s something to work with.”

Nino couldn’t help wrapping his arms around Jun from behind, giving him a squeeze. “You’re such a nerd.”

They gathered around the vidscreen, leaning on math and physics, but mostly hoping for an Aiba Masaki-style miracle. Fortunately Makuharihongo had been fairly isolated, and with Sakurai traveling so slow, they made their best guesses based on the star charts.

It took them the better part of the following day, but they narrowed it down to five options, asking for one more meeting with the person who knew Sakurai Sho best. At least among present company.

They presented their findings to Queen Keiko, watching her go through the list of destinations in her throne room as her tough guardians eyed them suspiciously.

“Do you recognize any of these locations, Your Majesty?” Jun asked.

“Ah!” she exclaimed.

“Ah?” Jun asked.

“Ahhhh!” she cried, jumping up and down excitedly. She reached out her hands, letting the paper flutter to the floor as she took Ohno’s hand in her left and Nino’s in her right. “Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

“Ahhhhhhh!” he and Ohno joined her as they danced together in a celebratory circle. Jun grumbled to himself as he bent down to pick the paper back up.

Finally the celebration ended when one of the guardians reminded the Queen that she had another appointment in a few minutes. Queen Keiko let them go, clearing her throat and doing her best to look like a very serene monarch again.

“Ahem. The fourth item on your list. He always wished to go there.”

Jun read through it. “Keimeikan colony?”

She nodded. “Sho-san always liked to travel, but they have a resort there that’s incredibly exclusive. I couldn’t go there with him, the other husbands would get jealous of me spending such a lavish sum on him. But I do suppose now he might have enough to get in, if he stole as much platina from you as you’ve claimed.”

Nino elbowed Ohno in the side, encouraging him to bow low to her along with him. “You’ve honored us with your help, Your Majesty.”

“I do hope I’m not giving you bad advice,” the Queen admitted. “It sounds like he’s changed quite a lot since he was here.”

Yeah, Nino almost told her. He left the three of us to suffocate in a bank vault. But that wouldn’t quite match the current atmosphere, so all they did was offer thanks and let the guardians escort them back to Zuka East.

They searched the computer banks for Keimeikan colony, a four day trip for the Paradox at top burn. If they were wrong, then they risked losing Sakurai for good. But what they found seemed rather promising.

Jun entered the coordinates, telling him and Ohno to go strap in. They headed to the passenger cabin, buckling in and looking at each other.

“One step closer to that twenty percent, Ohno-san.”

Ohno looked back at him. “You know, when I was making that mask for Aiba-chan, he couldn’t stop talking about you. He always said you were really nice to him. But if that was really the case, I wonder why he’d put you through all this.”

Nino thought back to that night at the bar, the sad look in Aiba’s eyes. “I miss you, Nino-chan. Working with you. It gets a little lonely out there sometimes.”

In the last few weeks, Nino had been anything but lonely. He’d been hunted, hacked, locked in a vault, seen more of the galaxy during this adventure than he had in years. His relationship with Jun was still strong, perhaps even stronger despite everything Nino had put him through. His initial dislike for Ohno-san had quickly worn down, and the guy had been downright helpful.

When this mess was over, would he go back to the old lifestyle? Absolutely not. There was no way he could live like this permanently, surviving on Fuel-n-Go hamburgers and wearing either a funeral suit or his boyfriend’s clothes. But he had to admit that some parts of this had been sort of…fun. Perhaps Aiba had wanted Nino to remember how fun their lifestyle could be.

Or Aiba Masaki had just been a sadist. That was also a possibility, he thought with a wry smile.

“I wish I could ask him why, Ohno-san,” he mused mournfully. “But I guess I’ll never know.”

—

private ship, registry number 1992*4##111 AKA the paradox
keimeikan colony, 8 km from troublemaker resort and spa
8:45 asst (ashikaga system standard time)

The Troublemaker Resort and Spa was like so many places Nino had stolen from in the past. Geared exclusively to the uber-wealthy and with very, very good security. At least in the places where all the guests spent their time.

But places like the Troublemaker Resort and Spa weren’t as careful when it came to the people who worked for them. Sure, they did background checks and all that good stuff, but beyond ensuring that their employees had ID badges, that they clocked in and clocked out as they were told, and that they didn’t sell out the guests’ misbehavior to the media, other things could fall by the wayside.

Case in point, the security of the trash tunnel. Troublemaker referred to the facility eight kilometers from the main resort hotel as its “Waste Management Solutions Center,” but it was a dirty, grimy place that incinerated the absurd amount of food waste and come-filled condoms that Troublemaker’s guests produced every day.

Jun had landed the Paradox a few hundred meters away from the Waste Management Solutions Center, and a series of wind turbines stood tall over the trash incinerators, providing power to the resort as well as pushing the smoky trash stink in the direction of the Employee Village rather than to the resort itself. Let the dishwashers, housekeepers, pool boys, and bellhops deal with the smell, not the people who coughed up their hard-earned (or not so hard-earned) platina to vacation here.

Nino presumed that Troublemaker offered a lot of the same “uber-luxury” experiences that other resorts dotting the galaxy did.

Plat-dips, where most of your body was dipped into a tub full of liquid platina. It wasn’t that it was good for your pores or anything. It didn’t slow the aging process. It was just something you couldn’t do in too many other places, so why not pay for the privilege of sitting in a tub of gunk.

Virtual reality immersion, where you were hooked up to a machine and you could murder and maim all the virtual people you wanted while a nurse came in periodically to check your vitals and clear away your bedpan while you committed atrocities from the comfort of your breezy hotel suite.

Endangered species safaris, where you and your rich asshole friends hopped in an off-road vehicle together to prowl around inside the confines of an electrified fence, observing various rare creatures that been pulled together from planets far and wide. Observing them in what was certainly not their original habitat, or if you and your buddies paid enough, hunting them.

There were other tamer activities like snorkeling and hiking alongside lo-grav dance clubs and high-stakes casinos. Where were they going to find Sakurai Sho? Nino just hoped they weren’t going to have to sneak into a steamy bathhouse or “massage parlor” to find him.

Much as Jun didn’t want to, they armed themselves with the two plasma guns, allowing Ohno control of a stunner pistol. Surely he wouldn’t jeopardize his twenty percent cut this late in the game, but if Sakurai really was here and his ship was full of platina, it would not be easy for Ohno to turn down a more immediate score.

The Waste Management place was connected to the resort via an underground tunnel. It was probably a terrible job, all of the stinky trash being shuttled from the resort by employees so it could be incinerated. While the facility had security cameras and the resort was probably crawling with them, the tunnel was a few kilometers long. Access points were interspersed at a few intervals on the surface just over the tunnel, little booths that housed a staircase down to the tunnel itself.

Since Nino doubted there were all that many “trash emergencies” that would necessitate the use of the access points, he figured they’d be unguarded and lacking in cameras, just like they were at most other resorts he’d been to. Garbage was just something that was made to disappear. Out of sight, out of mind.

The resort itself stretched along the seashore, the tunnel path veering up and into the grassy hills beyond. It was a bit of a hike, and they had to move slowly through the tall grass, but the only confrontation they faced was with the flies who seemed to know just what was being shuttled underground, though they couldn’t quite reach it.

Jun was walking in front, Ohno behind him with Nino bringing up the rear. As annoyed as Jun had been when Nino had told them how they would be gaining access to the resort, he seemed to be enjoying the chance to play soldier again. He’d spent the majority of his time in space, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t trained for ground ops.

Nino held in a smile as Jun crouched down, holding up his fist to silently tell them to stop, to wait until he gave the signal for all clear. Nino swatted a fly away, trying not to bake in the heat of the twin suns that shone down on Keimeikan colony with brutal intensity. He was far more accustomed to being somewhere with enviro-controls.

Finally they got moving again, moving to the small unguarded hut. The door was locked from the inside, but that was no trouble for Ohno, who’d brought along a lockpicking kit when he’d initially left his ship behind at Makuharihongo. They opened the door, hearing no alarm or noise of any kind, hurrying inside and shutting it behind them.

Gnats swarmed around dim orange interior lights, offering them a view of the concrete stairs that would lead them down into the tunnel. It was much cooler inside, and Nino appreciated it, although there were plenty of flies in here too, buzzing around in confusion as they waited for the employees in the garbage shuttle to come by. A resort as massive as Troublemaker would have shuttles running every hour, carrying away the waste and dirty secrets as though they’d never been there in the first place.

They huddled in the stairwell for at least twenty minutes before they heard the rumble of an engine. Slowly and steadily, the resort’s garbage shuttle was making its way back from a drop off. It would be a stinky ride, but at least the trash had already been dropped off.

There were four men on the crew in total, a driver and companion in the front seat and two others that stood on the shuttle’s rear bumper, holding onto handles extending from the back of the vehicle. Jun served as the distraction, jumping out from the stairwell to startle them. Nino heard the screech of tires, which was Ohno’s cue to jump out with the stunner pistol. He got the driver and passenger with two quick shots before racing to the back and taking out a third worker.

Nino aimed carefully with the plasma gun, keeping it on the lowest possible setting as he shot the CommTek out of the fourth man’s hand before he could call for help. Ohno followed up with another quick shot, knocking the fourth guy out. Nino holstered the weapon, coming back around the truck to already find Jun tugging the driver out.

They made quick work of it, stripping the uniforms off of the three men that were the closest in size to them. They all wore tan jumpsuits with thick rubber boots along with face masks for the stink and towels around their heads to deal with the heat. Nino grumbled lightly as he tugged the towel off of his counterpart’s head, wringing out the sweat from it.

“When’s the last time you washed this?” he asked the poor unconscious employee, settling it on his own head before reaching for the mask.

The high-intensity stunner shot would keep them out for at least half an hour, and the walk in either direction would take them almost an hour on top of that. Not a lot of time, but they’d have to make do.

Nino tugged the rope out of the bag Jun had brought with, distributing as needed. They settled the men as gently as they could, leaning them all back against the cool tunnel wall. Jun left an apology bag of plat-coins in front of each tied-up man, the concession that Nino had allowed them to make.

“Come on, let’s get moving,” Ohno said, hopping into the shuttle’s cab and obediently waiting for Jun to drive. Since one of them had to keep an eye on Ohno at all times (at. all. times, in Jun’s words), Nino got stuck climbing onto the back of the shuttle, and even the mask could barely contain the stink emanating from the closed garbage compartment. He gave one last tug to the waistband tie of the jumpsuit since the guy it belonged to had been a little larger.

Nino held on tight to the handle and rapped on the side of the shuttle three times as Jun had instructed. It would have been easier to simply say “go ahead,” but Jun was the mission leader, and Nino didn’t want to disappoint him.

The shuttle got moving, and Nino kept his head turned aside to avoid the full force of the trash smell. At least the tunnel breeze felt good. It only took a few minutes before they were pulling back in to an underground series of streets near one of the resort hotels. Traffic was more intense here as varying employees were driving shuttles of all sorts to and from the different hotels. Some shuttles were loaded up with employees coming from the Employee Village while others were leaving after a shift change. Some were carrying food and other supplies. Nino tried not to freak out as Jun pulled them into a lane next to a shuttle with a cage on the back that was holding a prowling tiger. He didn’t want to know where the tiger was headed.

Nino trusted that Jun would be able to figure out the signage, the arrows on the underground pillars and walls. He held on, glad for the towel and mask because nobody in the other shuttles looked at them as they made their way around the massive underground facilities.

They turned a corner, heading back uphill and presumably away from the shore. Nino was able to glimpse a sign just after the turn that was labeled “Short-Term/Long-Term Hangar Access.” The only question was this - was Sakurai Sho stupid enough to have docked his ship here under his own name?

They’d debated the question on the journey here from Chiba Prime, but Nino had argued that yes, Sakurai Sho was that stupid.

“I mean, the guy posed as a bank employee under his real name, so why would he behave any differently at a crazy sex and mayhem resort?”

Well, now was the time to find out. Going all the way in aboard a garbage shuttle was suspicious, so Jun pulled off the access road and into a small lot marked for “Tennis Facilities Vehicles Only.” They weren’t planning to escape in the garbage shuttle, so abandoning it here wasn’t going to do much more than confuse the security team.

They each had ID badges for the poor guys back in the tunnel, and the blessed invisibility of the long-ignored grunt worker. They passed other men in similar jumpsuits as they walked to the hangar bay where wealthy resort guests left their fancy ships. It was a cacophony of activity inside, jumpsuited mechanics moving around with fuel hoses while others gently brought luggage and souvenirs on and off of various ships in the massive hangar.

Nino and Ohno moved to one of the control consoles, Jun standing in front of it to monitor the traffic, keep an eye out to see if anyone found them suspicious. Nino used the employee badge to access the console. The screen beeped, informing him that Kato Shigeaki did not have proper clearance to view ship registries.

“Well let’s make sure Kato-san has all the access he needs, shall we?” Nino said.

Jun made sure he was blocking them thoroughly while Nino and Ohno got to work hacking into the terminal. If they really wanted, they could have made Kato Shigeaki and the three men on his garbage crew into stockholders in the Troublemaker Resort and Spa, but they only meddled as much as they needed to, granting all four of them high-level security clearances.

“Someone at another console is watching, we should move,” Jun said, nearly shouting to be heard over the hangar bay noise.

“We’re already into the system. You should turn around and pretend to give us orders so we look like we’re doing something normal,” Nino said, using Kato’s new level of access to provide them with a list of ships in the Short-Term and Long-Term bays and their owners.

Jun did so, gesturing with his hands with a bit more enthusiasm than required. After all, he’d never done anything like this before, and it was clearly fucking with his moral compass. “This is me giving you orders, here I am ordering you around. This is me telling you what to do. I am your boss and you should be listening to what I say.”

“You’re really bad at that,” Ohno pointed out with a low chuckle, keeping an eye on the screen to ensure they weren’t being tracked or on the verge of being locked out while Nino quickly scanned through the list.

Jun leaned forward, banging his fist on the top of the console. “Well joke’s on you, Ohno-san, because the woman who was looking this way stopped watching. This is me continuing to give you orders. This is me being really good at this even though we’re committing criminal acts and I am full of anxiety because of it. This is me being calm and collected under pressure.”

“Shut up, I can’t read with you jabbering like that,” Nino complained. “And she probably walked away because you were flapping your hands around like a bird, and she was hoping you wouldn’t harass her next. Take it down a notch, Criminal Mastermind.”

Ohno put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t mean to alarm you, Nino, but someone is running a trace on Kato-san’s access card. You’ve got 90 seconds, two minutes tops before they lock him out.”

“No cause for alarm because I am done with the Long-Term bays and moving on to the Short-Term.” Nino leaned forward, squinting at the long list of ships parked here, there, and everywhere in the huge, noisy facility. “Come on, come on, come on.”

“Now there are two people watching, and that could be because we smell like garbage. I am your boss, and you are my employees, and I do not need a criminal record after fifteen years of service to the JXF,” Jun blathered on, flapping his arms even more.

“Jun-kun, I am going to gag you with that face mask, and I don’t mean that in any sort of sexy interpretation,” Nino snapped at him.

“They’re moving quick,” Ohno said. “You’ve got just under a minute.”

“Got him, got him, got him. Oh you’re so stupid, I love it I love it I love it!”

“Where?” Ohno asked. “Where is he?”

Nino pointed to the screen. “Level B2, Berth 29. B2-29. B2-29!”

Ohno yanked Kato’s ID out of the slot, tossed the lanyard back to him and Nino hung it back around his neck. “Let’s go, let’s go now. We can learn more once we get out of here.”

Jun led the way. “Back the way we came, I saw an elevator when we came into the bay. We’re on B1 right now, B2 is the bay above this one.”

Nino could barely contain his excitement, heart pounding from the moment he’d stepped off the garbage truck and increasing more and more as they’d hacked the terminal. And this hadn’t even been part of Aiba’s stupid game, but damn, he thought. This was like the thrill of the old days.

They took the elevator up to the B2 level, walking with purpose until they managed to find berth B2-29. As expected of a career criminal, Sakurai’s ship didn’t have any JXF or other official markings on it. It was slightly bigger than the Paradox, but an older model transport. That in itself would have slowed Sakurai down, and certainly the platina had kept him from making it very far.

But for all the luck they’d had so far, they ran out when they made it to the entry hatch. The plan had been to break into Sakurai’s ship, lie in wait for him to return and then pounce on him. Anyone with that much platina just sitting in their cargo bay would have to periodically check in on it, just to ensure it was still there. And if Sakurai was more trusting than he seemed, then they would have rested comfortably aboard his ship, helping themselves to his food while they waited.

But they should have expected that there would be complications. Those complications came in the form of an iris scanner attached to the hatch itself, a small panel that kept the whole ship on lockdown. There was no way that any of them was going to be able to crack it. After all, for reasons Nino simply could not fathom, Sakurai had ditched one of his normal human eyes for a fake one and surely the scanner here was attuned to that one, if only because it was unique and likely impossible to replicate.

“We can’t really wait him out here in the hangar bay,” Jun pointed out. “Not for too long without arousing suspicion.”

“Then we don’t wait,” Nino said, reaching for the ID badge and lanyard around Jun’s neck, taking it off. “We’ll get him to come running, I guarantee it.”

“How?” Jun asked, following Nino to the shared console between Sakurai’s spot in the hangar and his neighbor’s. “He could be anywhere, he could be in the middle of virtually suffocating even more people in bank vaults.”

“Sho-kun did give me cookies,” Ohno reminded them. “He’s not 100 percent evil.”

“Oh wow, cookies,” Jun snitted. “That drops him to maybe 99.9 percent evil in my book.”

“What percentage am I?” Ohno asked, looking at Jun with a sly smile.

“You broke my baby,” Jun replied, likely more fond of his precious Paradox than he’d ever be about another non-Nino human. “So probably a million percent evil.”

Ohno laughed. “Well you made me shit with the door open, so you’re, like, a billion percent evil, Matsumoto-san.”

“Guys, focus,” Nino interrupted, inserting the other ID badge into the slot. “You can calculate everyone’s evil percentages quite comprehensively on the flight back to Chiba Prime. But as for now, Sakurai-san should be here very soon.”

“How do you know that?” Jun asked.

Nino found the overall resort reservation for Sakurai Sho that was tied to his spot here in the hangar. It linked to the Taboo Hotel on the beachfront, and Nino used the boosted security clearance to send a message to the hotel’s front desk, highest priority.

“Because Sakurai Sho is about to get a message from a ghost.”

—

short-term hangar b2-29
keimeikan colony, troublemaker resort and spa
10:22 asst (ashikaga system standard time)

Despite the size of the resort, it only took Sakurai Sho seventeen minutes to arrive after Nino had sent off the message, yanking the employee ID badge out of the console just before someone started to trace him.

They’d sacrificed the final ID badge to the next console over to adjust the angles on the security cameras in Hangar B2-29 so nobody saw what was about to happen next. The three of them were feeling a bit cramped, hiding as they were under a metal grate on the floor. They now smelled like a combination of trash and fuel, as they had hidden themselves underneath Sakurai’s ship along the hangar’s fuel line. They’d also ensured that no one was scheduled to come by, tug the nozzle out and hook it up to the tank just above them.

It wasn’t the best vantage point, but Ohno was poised with his finger on the trigger of the stunner pistol while Nino and Jun hunched down on either side of him.

You cleaned out my vault at Makuharihongo, but you didn’t find the real score yet, Sho-chan. Want to know more? I’ll meet you by your ship.

Nino had only signed the message with an “A,” but it had sent Sakurai racing over here, though when he peered around the corner, his own plasma gun out defensively in front of him, he slowed down and approached cautiously. Nino had to stifle a laugh at the sight of him, looking quite different from the man at the bank (or the man in the portrait from Queen Keiko’s palace).

Sakurai Sho had come running straight from a salon or spa room, wearing only a pair of flip flops and a red polka dot bathrobe. The message had apparently registered as so genuine and shocking that Sakurai hadn’t bothered to have anyone remove the curlers from his hair or the acupuncture needles from his face before hurrying off.

Well, Nino thought, at least he hadn’t been in the middle of having sex with anyone. Unless he had some strange needle kinks Nino didn’t care to know about.

Sakurai whispered loudly, just to be heard over the other noise in the hangar beyond.

“Aiba-chan? Aiba-chan, are you here?”

He held the robe a bit tighter around him.

“I got your message,” he said, approaching the ship, thankfully looking everywhere but at the floor beneath him. “You’re going to have to explain how you survived an ion storm.”

“Now,” Nino said, and Ohno fired the stunner pistol, hitting Sakurai in the chest.

He went down in an instant, collapsing in a heap. At least for Sakurai’s sake, he didn’t fall flat on his face. After all, Nino had promised to bring him back to Queen Keiko alive and presumably without a bunch of needles jammed permanently into his skin.

Jun pushed the grate up and out of the way as the three of them scrambled to get out before anyone noticed and came over. Nino grabbed the plasma gun Sakurai had dropped and replaced the grate while Ohno and Jun hauled Sakurai’s dead weight from the floor.

“Okay, hurry,” Nino said, directing them over to the iris scanner on the side of the ship.

“He smells amazing,” Ohno commented, grimacing as he and Jun struggled to position him in place.

Nino leaned over, getting a good whiff of him. Hmm, not bad. Sakurai smelled like a rose garden. He’d certainly been getting his money’s worth at the spa here. But that time was over now.

While Ohno and Jun held him up, putting his face close to the scanner, Nino gingerly brought his fingers to Sakurai’s face, avoiding the needles to move his eyelids so the scanner could read the fancy fake eye.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Nino said impatiently, hearing Sakurai let out a soft moan of complaint. They hadn’t given him as big a stunner hit as the garbage crew.

Luckily there was no TOMA system making them wait 10 seconds. It registered Sakurai as the ship’s owner in only a few seconds, the hatch sliding open and allowing them to board. Though the ship wasn’t too different in layout from the Paradox, they nearly stumbled over platina bricks in the entryway. Damn, there really had been a lot of it.

Ohno and Jun dragged Sakurai’s stunned body into the passenger cabin, strapping him down into a seat and making sure there were no surprises in his bathrobe pockets while Nino closed the hatch, locking all of them inside. Now anyone passing by in the hangar would be none the wiser about what was happening aboard. He hoped.

Almost every possible space in the passenger cabin and the corridor beyond was full of platina bricks. He poked his head down into the cargo bay, finding stacks and stacks of bricks there, too. Ohno had been right - it would have taken Sakurai hours to carry all of it out of the vault. Nino pressed a hand to his heart, exhaling in disappointment since all of this would soon be in the vault of Kitagawa Keiko, Queen of Chiba Prime.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. “Needle Face is going to be groggy for a little while,” Jun said gently. “If you need to go be alone with the platina, I won’t judge you.”

Nino laughed. “You’ll absolutely judge me.”

Jun ruffled his hair. “Go on, have your fun.”

Nino climbed the ladder down. He’d seen more platina than this before, just in terms of scores, but this was still enough to bring a tear to his eye. So much platina, so much beautiful platina. Unlike Sakurai, it didn’t smell like a rose garden, but it had that almost bitter metallic smell that Nino had loved ever since he was a kid. When an uncle of his had taught him that a real plat-coin would have a certain taste and a fake would not.

Uncle Katsumi, a petty crook, had been a rough outsider his mother always tried to disinvite from family events, but Nino had adored him, wanted to be like him. But on a much grander scale. Plat-coins weren’t enough - he needed as much of the real thing as he could get. More and more of it. What would he do with it? Spend it? Save it? Did he ever think of much beyond the sheer, primal want of the damn stuff?

He took in the platina smell, closing his eyes and brushing his fingertips along one stack of bricks and then another and another. “That key,” Nino reminded himself aloud, talking himself out of settling for this. “That key is going to bring me even more when I figure out where it goes.”

When he’d spent enough time getting a hard-on over the chunks of metal that made the galaxy go around, he left it behind. Climbed the ladder, shut the hatch to the cargo bay. This was Queen Keiko’s money now.

Ohno was using his CommTek to take photos beside the woozy Sakurai, smiling and giving the camera a thumbs up. Jun even joined in for one picture when Ohno begged him to, standing to Sakurai’s other side and pointing derisively at the curlers in his hair.

“Nino, group shot!” Ohno called.

He grinned, coming close and sitting right down in Sakurai’s lap, posing as though he was blowing the camera a kiss. Ohno snapped the picture, and Nino felt Sakurai’s legs start to jostle him around a bit. He was slowly coming back to himself, and Nino got up. Whatever happened, they did have quite the good blackmail photo of Sakurai now.

“Knew…knew you guys would…would get out…” Sakurai mumbled, an unattractive bit of drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

“So that’s how you justified leaving us there?” Jun asked, roughly yanking a curler out of Sakurai’s hair and making him groan in irritation. “Because to me, it seemed like you were totally fine with leaving us in there to choke.”

Sakurai was now able to crack one eyelid open, the one in front of his real eye. “If you’re going to kill me and steal the platina back, I obviously can’t stop you.”

“We’re not in the business of killing,” Nino explained, crossing his arms. “Though I can’t say I’m not tempted to yank one of those needles out of your face and stab you in the dick with it after the shit you pulled at Makuharihongo.”

Sakurai chuckled, both of his eyes now opening, blinking slowly. He was strapped in pretty tight, wasn’t going anywhere. “Then I appreciate the mercy shown me by my captors.”

“Guess that depends on how you define mercy, Sakurai-san,” Jun said, tugging another curler from Sakurai’s head. “Since we’re bringing you back to your wife. She gets to decide what happens to you.”

Sakurai’s grogginess abated rather quickly after that. He looked at them, at all three of them, shaking his head. “You leave her alone.”

“She’s still pretty pissed off at you,” Ohno explained. “She said you helped Aiba-chan to steal from her.”

“What a rotten husband,” Jun added.

Sakurai shook his head vehemently. “I…I didn’t realize at the time…”

Nino raised an eyebrow. “You said before that Aiba ruined your life. Is this what you meant?”

Sakurai looked down, knees shaking. “I was happy there. I was useful, in a way none of those other blockhead husbands ever could be. They were all for decoration, but me…I was what she needed. Not another boytoy, not another plaything to spoil or parade around. We could have done a lot of good together. For the planet, I mean. But then one day Aiba-chan showed up, and you know how he was…I mean, let’s not mince words here, he was popular with the ladies.”

Nino snorted, thinking about the grieving, competing women at the Official Authorized Aiba Masaki Life Celebration and Tribute.

Sakurai’s voice was for once more sad than arrogant, and Nino might have almost felt bad for the guy if he wasn’t sitting there in a polka-dot bathrobe with needles sticking out of his face.

“He kept saying he was reformed, that he wanted the best for Chiba Prime, just like I did. Keiko believed him, and after a while, so did I. Then one day, he came to me, buttered me up with everything I wanted to hear. That I was the only other husband worth a damn in the palace. That he knew he could trust me, that I was the only one he could rely on. Long story short, he told me he didn’t know her ring size and he wanted to surprise her with a new one…could I maybe get the signet ring? ‘I’ll bring it right back,’ he even said. I was stupid and of course I did what he asked, and then he cleaned her vault out, leaving that green ‘A’ on the wall just to brag about it.”

“So you ran away?” Ohno asked.

“I betrayed my Queen,” Sakurai said bitterly. “I betrayed my wife. I didn’t deserve to be there. So yeah. I ran away. I had nothing, no real purpose. All my life I wanted to see the galaxy, so I guess Aiba-chan helped push me in that direction.”

“Easier ways to do that than becoming a thief, you know,” Jun said. “Could have stayed on the right side of the law.”

“I could have,” Sakurai admitted, bowing his head. “I could have made a lot of other choices. I’m sorry. About Makuharihongo. Well, I can’t say I felt too bad about the stealing part, but I am sorry about locking you in there.”

“Well Sho-san, I hope you’ve seen enough of this particular part of the galaxy,” Nino said decisively, “because we’re leaving.”

“Anything I need to know about your ship?” Jun asked. “Because if you’ve got anything rigged to cause mayhem, then it’s going to be just as much of a problem for you as it will be for us.”

Sakurai shook his head. “Can’t fly too fast on account of the added weight. So just don’t push her that hard.”

Jun nodded, heading off for the cockpit. They’d fly away from the resort back to the Paradox. Jun would move off to his own ship. Nino would stay with Ohno aboard Sho’s ship. They’d fly together back to Chiba Prime. They’d give Queen Keiko the platina and they’d give her Sho. And in exchange, they’d get what Aiba had asked for - the clues to the larger treasure that still awaited them.

Nino moved to the window of Sho’s passenger cabin as Jun flew them out of the hangar. He bit his lip, laughing to himself as he saw a swarm of what seemed like security vehicles parked around both the ship hangar facility and a group of tennis courts nearby. Troublemaker Resort security would be scratching their heads over this one for a while.

They didn’t fly far, Jun clearing the resort and heading off toward the horizon on the expected flight path only to veer sharply and push them back in the opposite direction so he could land Sho’s ship beside the Paradox.

Nino stayed with Sho while Jun went to get the Paradox ready to fly and Ohno grabbed them a change of clothes and some Fuel-n-Go hamburgers for the long flight back to Chiba Prime. Sho, still strapped in to the seat, looked at him with a glum expression.

“Let me guess,” Nino asked. “You’d like some help with those needles.”

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Sho mumbled.

He washed his hands, if only because he still stunk of trash, and spent the next few minutes gently pulling the acupuncture needles out of Sho’s face, resting them on the sweaty towel he’d taken off of his head.

“Once we get back up there,” Nino said, resisting the urge to yank harder than necessary, “you can deal with your own hair. I’m not a beautician.”

“Do you think Aiba-chan did all of this for a reason?”

He nodded, but decided not to mention the key with the yellow gem and what Nino hoped was their final destination after Chiba Prime. “Seems like it. Before this mess, I was living happily in retirement. You?”

“I was thinking about quitting,” Sho admitted. “I was never a very profitable thief. I guess…I guess this thing with Makuharihongo motivated me again after so many disappointing scores.”

“He was a real pain, wasn’t he? Aiba-chan?”

He pulled the final needle from Sho’s chin, depositing it on the towel and giving him a pat on the cheek.

Sho sighed. “But no matter what he did…”

“You couldn’t hate him,” they said in unison before meeting eyes, laughing.

He heard the hatch open, turning around to see Ohno and Jun come back aboard.

Nino set the towel of needles aside, moving over to him while Ohno carried the extra food to Sho’s kitchen area.

Jun looked down at him fondly, though Nino could tell he was nervous. He’d be flying back in the Paradox alone while Nino and Ohno would keep watch over Sho and the platina here on the other ship. They would fly side-by-side most of the way, Jun deliberately flying slow to match the pace of their heavier ship.

“You smell really bad.”

Nino smiled. “So do you.”

Jun lowered his voice. “I don’t like this. They could plot something together while you’re asleep.”

“I don’t think they will,” Nino said, looking back to see that Ohno had all but forgiven Sho by now, asking him where he kept the cookies. “It’s going to be okay. This is almost over.”

“We’ve thought that several times already,” Jun reminded him. “If anything happens…anything, just…Kazu, I can’t lose you…”

He leaned up, taking Jun’s face between his hands and kissing him, not really giving a shit if the others saw.

“I’ll see you again when we get there,” he promised, stroking Jun’s cheek with his thumb. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Jun said, exhaling and backing away. “You really fucking smell bad.”

“Oi!” he protested, kicking at Jun’s leg with the garbage crew boot he still had on. “You smell even worse!”

He closed the hatch after Jun, moving to the cockpit and finding Ohno getting Sho’s ship ready for departure.

“Find the cookies you like?” Nino asked.

Ohno nodded, confirming the coordinates to Chiba Prime on the navigation computer. “Oh yeah. This is gonna be a good trip.”

Nino rolled his eyes, laughing.

They soon rose back into the air, following right on the Paradox’s tail, up through the clouds and into the neverending black.

—

palace of her majesty, queen keiko
chiba prime, takarazuka city
16:28 rct (royal chiba time)

With all the added weight from the platina, it had taken them nine long, boring days to get to Chiba Prime. And in that time, despite his best efforts, Nino had grown awfully fond of Ohno Satoshi and Sakurai Sho. Sure, there was always going to be that “you broke my boyfriend’s ship and stole my keycard” or “you left me to die in a bank vault” nastiness in the back of his mind, but Nino himself was no saint. Even if he wouldn’t forget, he’d found it in his heart to forgive.

Surely the galaxy had its share of people that would always remember how Ninomiya Kazunari or one of the aliases he’d used had betrayed them, stolen from them. Just because Nino had paid off the bounty on his own head and retired didn’t really erase the shit he’d done. Ohno, Sakurai, Ninomiya…and Aiba, they were all united in that way. The moral bankruptcy of the thieving world.

After nine days of card games, cookies and hamburger steak, and countless episodes of Kimura Takuya, Fierce Fighting Cosmic Explorer, Sho’s hair was finally settling down. Ohno was finally going to have to put real shoes on again to enter the palace. And Nino was finally going to see Jun again.

They’d talked over comms every day, but there was no comparison to having Jun with him in person, at his side. Putting up with the nonsense of this over-long platina quest because he loved Nino that damn much.

They were directed to land at Zuka East, and despite their original animosity towards him, Ohno and Nino waved goodbye as Sakurai Sho was picked up by Queen Keiko’s guardians and taken away on a separate ship while representatives from her treasury came for the platina that was promised.

Queen Keiko was in fine spirits when Jun, Ohno, and Nino were once again brought to her throne room. They’d bowed to her, raising their heads when the chamber door opened and First Husband Daigo came in with three long metallic tubes in his arms.

“To thank you for your service to Chiba Prime,” Queen Keiko announced, “I had some portraits commissioned while you were gone. I think the likenesses are quite close, even if all my artist had to go on were images of you from my security cameras.”

“Your Majesty, you really shouldn’t have,” Jun said with a weak smile, accepting one of the metal tubes from First Husband Daigo.

Queen Keiko waved her hand. “Nonsense! Those are copies, but I intend to hang the originals in one of my private galleries so I can always remember what you three did for me. That was quite a lot of platina for thieves to give up, all for the love of your friend.”

“Speaking of that friend?” Nino asked, hoping he didn’t sound too anxious.

“There wasn’t much that Masaki left behind,” Queen Keiko replied. “I would have liked to have kept the portrait, but we had an agreement. It’s already being delivered to Matsumoto-san’s ship.”

“What about Sho-kun? What’s going to happen to him?” Ohno asked.

First Husband Daigo looked irritated, having moved to stand behind his wife, but the Queen seemed rather pleased. “I was thinking about that portrait from the great hall,” the Queen said, “it was most inspirational. If Sho-san wants to earn his place here again, I thought perhaps he could serve as my personal butler. The palace always has something that needs cleaning or fixing.”

“There’s a leaky faucet in my third bathroom,” First Husband Daigo said. “Could he fix that?”

The Queen whirled on him, smacking him with her red fan. “He’s going to be my butler! Remind me why I even let you have three bathrooms?!”

Nino supposed this was a better outcome for Sho than being imprisoned.

“I do hope you’ll come visit again someday,” she said to them, batting her eyes in a way that may have implied an interest in acquiring husbands fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. “Where are you off to next?”

Nino’s mouth went dry. “Next?”

“Yes. I do have to admit that you’ve gotten me a bit excited about treasure after everything you went through to bring Sho-san back,” Queen Keiko replied. “Are you off on a new hunt?”

The last thing Nino intended to do was tell the Queen of Chiba Prime that the painting they’d just gotten from her held secrets that might lead to something even better than the platina from Makuharihongo. They didn’t need any of her other husbands or worse, her fierce female warriors hunting them down.

“The Wagaya E!” Jun blurted out, and Nino was shocked to see how red he was, to see the tears in his eyes. “Your Majesty, we thought it was best to honor Aiba-san’s memory. We’re leaving for the Wagaya E’s last known coordinates. To pray and offer our respects.”

Nino was shocked. All these weeks around thieves had turned his well-behaved boyfriend into a somewhat passable liar.

“Yes,” he chimed in, not missing a beat. “Where the Wagaya E was lost. To say our goodbyes.”

“Well that’s…that’s very respectable. I wish I could join you. Well, we won’t keep you here with such a long journey ahead. But I’m having a feast prepared for you,” Queen Keiko continued. “Please do me the honor of staying for that before you leave.”

Ohno was overjoyed, clutching the metal tube in his arms. “Will there be more cake?”

Queen Keiko winked. “But of course!”

They were escorted to a private dining room, the three of them allowed to eat their fill. Nino’s teeth hurt just from watching Ohno devote most of the meal time to plates of cake and bowls of ice cream. They stayed as long as they could so as not to insult the Queen before getting up and asking one of the guardians to give their thanks and asking another to escort them back to Zuka East.

As promised, a massive portrait of Aiba Masaki was leaning against the Paradox’s hatch when they arrived, encased not in a cheap plaster frame painted gold, but the same cherry wood as the others in Queen Keiko’s great hall. It put the other portraits to shame, Nino thought, nearly dying in laughter at the sight of a silver-winged angelic Aiba Masaki dressed in a shimmering white gown as he sat on a cloud above the Queen’s palace. Floating all around him in the air were a gaggle of winged cherubs with chubby bodies, each of them also painted with Aiba’s face for some reason.

“I’m going to have nightmares,” Jun murmured.

“I think it’s good,” Ohno the art forger declared.

It took all three of them to get the massive thing inside. Once they had the hatch closed, they muttered apologies to Queen Keiko before breaking the wooden frame and sending splinters all over the passenger cabin as they desperately sought out the final pieces to Aiba Masaki’s puzzle. Parts of the frame had been hollowed out, eventually revealing another vidchip and three platina keys.

Nino brought the one with the yellow gem over, comparing it to the new assortment. The three new keys were exactly the same, except that the gems in them were blue, red, and purple respectively.

“What do you think it means?” Ohno asked, holding the key with the blue gem up to the light, trying to see if there was anything enclosed inside.

“Let’s have Aiba-san explain it, shall we?” Nino said, moving to the vidscreen and plugging in the chip.

But this time there was no Aiba in a tuxedo and cap. There was no Aiba at all. He apparently had not been the one to record this. It seemed like an extract from a documentary, and it started abruptly. The footage was blurry, faded. Probably a recording of a recording of a recording. A scholarly-looking woman was being interviewed, though Nino had only seen people dressed that way in history books.

This was some old stuff.

“…no one has ever located all of the keys to open the legendary Cache of Pikanchi here on this isolated satellite of the planet Fordreeme. They were rumored to be destroyed centuries ago while some archaeologists argue that the keys are still out there, scattered in the private collections of the galaxy’s wealthiest citizens who likely have no idea what they really are. All of the keys have to be together, archaeologists and experts say. All of them would have to be together, would have to be turned together. No one has ever been able to break in, and so the mystery remains: just what is inside the Cache of Pikanchi?”

And just like that, the recording ended.

“Ohno-san,” Nino said, turning around. “Have you ever heard of a Cache of Pikanchi?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“Jun-kun?”

“Do I look like someone who knows about legendary treasures?” Jun grumbled.

Nino had never heard of it either. There’d never been whispers in thieving circles about it. Perhaps over time, it had been forgotten. But Aiba Masaki had found out about it somehow, the recording and the keys were proof that he’d devoted himself to it for years. And this was what he’d left for Nino. This was the real inheritance.

He moved over to the table, lined up the platina keys side by side. Yellow. Red. Blue. Purple.

“All of the keys would have to be turned together,” Nino mumbled. “That’s what the video says.”

“There’s only three of us,” Jun pointed out. “Even if we find where this cache is, we don’t have enough people.”

Nino shut his eyes, shaking his head, thinking. “No. That’s not true.”

Aiba Masaki had set this whole convoluted thing in motion on purpose. Involving Nino. Involving Ohno. And involving Sakurai Sho. But that was still only three people, and Aiba had never met Jun before. It was unlikely that Jun had been the intended user of one of the four keys. Perhaps it was meant for Kazama Shunsuke, who’d also received a strange message from Aiba right before his death.

But Kazama had never been a thief. Not like Sho and Ohno and Nino. So what had they missed? Aiba had methodically led them from point to point, leaving the trail to follow. An answer started poking at him, prodding at his brain and at his gut, an answer that he wasn’t quite ready to take seriously.

He ignored it for now, turning to look at Jun and Ohno. They had the keys, they had the destination.

“We have to get Sho back. Aiba meant one of those keys for him.”

Jun shook his head. “But we literally just handed him over. And besides, after the stunt he pulled, he doesn’t deserve any legendary treasure. If I had a say in the matter, he’d be scrubbing palace toilets with his bare hands for the rest of his life.”

Nino sighed. “And who else are we gonna recruit to open the cache with us at such short notice?”

“Maybe it was Aiba’s way of apologizing to Sho-kun after making him betray the Queen,” Ohno added. “Making sure that he’d get some of the treasure when he died.”

“Well, it seems I’m on the losing side here,” Jun complained. “How do you propose we get him out of butler duty? We told Queen Keiko we’re going back to where the Wagaya E exploded.”

In the end, they decided to poke at First Husband Daigo’s jealousy, sending him a message and asking him to join them in the spaceyard.

“Gentlemen,” he said when he arrived. “Is there anything else you require from Chiba Prime before you depart?”

“We’ve been giving it some thought and we decided to ask if you could join us,” Nino said. “On the Queen’s behalf. She did say that she wished she could come with us, but we know she can’t be away from Chiba Prime that long. I know Her Majesty and Aiba-san parted on bad terms, but we thought maybe you could come along to the Tojo Belt, could pray with us for Aiba’s soul. Give your wife the closure and comfort she needs.”

“Of course, even at top speed it will take us a few weeks to get there and then another few weeks to bring you back here,” Jun added. “So we’d understand your hesitation about joining us.”

“If it’s for my wife’s happiness, why would I hesitate?” Daigo asked, crossing his arms.

Ohno, Nino, and Jun exchanged a look. “Well,” Nino said. “There’s the matter of the new butler. If you weren’t here for several weeks, you might return and find that he’s…taken your spot.”

“My spot…”

“We like you, Daigo-san,” Nino continued. “But if there’s anything we’ve learned, it’s that Sho-kun is a sneaky fellow. We wouldn’t want to upset the balance at court. It’s become quite obvious to us that you’re the most useful husband around here. With you out of the picture, he’d take advantage of your absence, try to put you out of favor.”

“If anyone deserves three bathrooms,” Ohno said, “it’s you. Not him. He can’t even compose music.”

Daigo absorbed their praise before leaning in closer, a rather wicked look in his eyes. “I know this sounds crazy, but what if I convinced her to send Sho-san with you instead? She’d still get that closure you’re talking about, knowing someone was praying on her behalf. So she’d be way less grouchy. But like, at the same time, it gets Sho-san out of here.”

“Wow,” Ohno said. “You’re a smart guy. Good thinking!”

Daigo beamed. “I mean, it’s just an idea. In the end, it’s all about Keiko’s happiness, right?”

“Exactly,” Jun agreed, patting him on the shoulder.

It only took an hour before Sakurai Sho was brought to them in a Chiba Prime Is For Lovers t-shirt and gray sweatpants, holding a travel case and looking utterly bewildered.

As soon as the Queen’s guardians left and the Paradox’s hatch was closed after them, he stared them down. “Keiko had me dusting her perfume bottles one minute and then telling me I’m supposed to go pray with you the next?”

Nino held out one of the platina keys, the one with the red gemstone.

“We’ve had our disagreements, Sho-san, but we think Aiba meant for you to have this.”

Sho took the key, confusion in his eyes. “What does this open?”

Ohno wrapped an arm around Sho, smiling. At least someone was happy to have him back. Jun just rolled his eyes, heading for the cockpit.

“We’re on our way to find out,” Nino said. “Or would you rather go back to the perfume?”

Sho grinned at the mysterious key, looking grateful. “Nope.”

They left Chiba Prime behind after Jun had locked in the coordinates for the distant Jomon system, home to the planet Fordreeme and its four moons. One of them was home to the Cache of Pikanchi. According to Jun’s estimates, even at top speed with stops only for fuel, it would take them sixteen days. But that gave them sixteen days to do a little research. To find where the cache was.

And to finally come to the end of Aiba Masaki’s game.

Nino sat at the table in the Paradox’s passenger cabin, holding the key with the yellow gemstone. Four keys. Three thieves and four keys.

He shook his head, trying to ignore the tears forming in his eyes.

Three thieves and four keys.

—

yamakaze hills
third moon of fordreeme
4:09 jsst (jomon system standard time)

Nino had had plenty of time to do some reading on the long ride. The planet Fordreeme had been a stronghold of the Oda Force, an interplanetary alliance that pre-dated the JXF by centuries. Climate change and rising seas had forced the people of Fordreeme to abandon their planet and the four moons that revolved around it generations earlier.

Of the four moons, only one had an atmosphere that humans could survive in without special equipment or space suits. The atmospheric changes that had troubled Fordreeme had had an impact on its third moon too, and a surface once dotted with mining companies was now a desolate, empty place. An occasional hideout for criminals on the run, but the lack of water and resources would send anyone off again fairly quickly.

They hadn’t needed a map, because as soon as the Paradox came into orbit around the moon, the keys started to glow. Well, the gemstones in them did. The faint yellow, purple, red, and blue light became stronger and stronger as they descended toward the surface. This helped guide Jun where they had to go, heading in the direction that made the keys glow brighter and brighter.

They finally landed beside an old mine shaft, the four of them emerging from the Paradox with relief after such a lengthy journey. The keys had not only kept glowing, but they’d started to warm up a little in their pockets. The moon was cold, and winds nearly whipped them off their feet until they descended into the mine.

Sho had volunteered to lead the way. They didn’t need any lighting, merely following Sho as he held the red key over his head, illuminating the mine shaft. Their footsteps echoed as they made their way forward, Jun and Nino with plasma guns and Ohno with the stunner pistol in case Sho got any funny ideas. Nino doubted Sho was anything but committed to the treasure at this point, and even Jun had mostly come around on the guy during the two weeks trapped in each other’s company aboard the Paradox.

After maybe an hour of walking, they eventually came to a wide open space, deep down underground. The path didn’t continue onward, the way entirely blocked by a door made of solid platina that was four or five meters high and twice as wide. Interspersed along the platina door were a handful of colored notches.

Red. Yellow. Blue. Purple.

And Green.

“What the hell?” Jun cried out. “Five keys?! We came all this way and it needed five all along?”

Sho crumpled to his knees, setting the glowing red gemstone key on the rocky floor. “This doesn’t make any sense. Didn’t he tell you in that video that getting the portrait from Keiko would give you everything you needed?”

Ohno moved up to the door, trying to fit the blue gemstone key into the green notch. He turned around, shaking his head. “It’s not going to work. What are we going to do now?”

Nino was apparently the only one who thought to turn around, bursting into laughter.

Jun called out to him. “What’s so funny?”

“Put the keys away,” Nino said. “All of you.”

“But then we’ll be stuck here in the dark,” Sho pointed out.

“Just face the same way I’m facing and put them away.”

The four keys were returned to pockets, muting their glow and slightly returning the mine shaft to darkness.

Except for the green glow in the distance that Nino could see slowly heading their way.

“Who is that?” Jun asked, and Nino could hear him charging up the plasma gun defensively.

“You fucking asshole,” Nino muttered before he started to run.

“Wait! Nino!” Ohno called, but Nino wasn’t going to wait. He wasn’t going to stop.

Conflicting feelings crashed and mingled and exploded in his brain. Anger. Disbelief. Unbridled rage. And of course, happiness.

He tugged the yellow gemstone key from his pocket, holding it over his head as he ran, shoes kicking up long-abandoned rocks.

You fucking asshole, he thought, tears flowing freely as he heard the others come running after him. You fucking asshole you fucking asshole you fucking asshole.

The green light grew larger and larger, came closer and closer, matching his pace.

He didn’t stop running until they collided, the yellow light and the green light, and Nino heard the sudden “oof!” as they both toppled to the floor of the mine shaft.

Nino was on top of him now, yellow key clutched in one hand and his other hand a fist, ready to break a nose with it. But instead, he looked down. Even though he was clearly winded and a bit shocked from being knocked to the ground, there was no mistaking that smile.

“Nino-chan,” Aiba Masaki said, wheezing but laughing just the same, “what took you so long?”

Soon the red, purple, and blue lights joined them, lighting up the entire mine shaft around them as Nino gave in, unable to speak and collapsing in exhaustion as Aiba wrapped his arms around his back, rubbing gently.

“You look pretty solid for a ghost,” Sho said, voice shaky.

Ohno crouched down, poking Aiba’s face with his finger. “Huh. Well I didn’t see that coming.”

“Oi, can you get off me?” Aiba teased, hugging him. “It’s okay, Nino, it’s really me.”

Jun and Sho held out their hands, pulling Nino and Aiba to their feet respectively. Nino still couldn’t say anything, and Jun wrapped an arm around him, comforting him with a few gentle rubs of his hand against his shoulder.

The five of them walked back together.

“You’d better start at the beginning,” Sho said.

“Well,” Aiba said, “I was born on Kanto IV…”

“Not that far back!” Ohno complained, chuckling.

“Oh. Right. Okay. So that vidchip, the one with the professor lady talking about this place…I found that when I was twenty, stole it from a museum vault. It was tucked away at the bottom of a katana scabbard. I’ve been trying to find the keys to the cache ever since.”

“All five of them, huh?” Sho teased.

Aiba looked embarrassed. “It took me almost fifteen years to get four out of five. I had to leave Chiba Prime in a hurry, so I stashed the three I’d already found there. And then a few years ago I found the fourth at an auction. I bought it for 200 plat-coins. They had no idea what it was! The fifth one was the tricky one.”

“Tricky how?” Jun asked.

“The Order of the Last Hope, that cult, I’d been tracking one of their members for at least a year because I saw a picture of him on the Tojo News Network giving a speech.” Aiba held up the green gemstone key. “He had this around his neck. Within the cult, they said that it meant he could unlock the door to meeting the gods, but I think he probably just saw a fancy key in a museum or a collector’s shop or a trash bin and just took it because it looked cool.”

“And he was on the Wagaya E?” Nino asked him.

Aiba nodded. “Yeah, Bando-san was going to lead the big resettlement on Furano. I never quite understood the whole ’suffering on purpose’ idea, but if I was gonna get that key, I had to get onto the Wagaya E and snag it from him before the whole cult froze to death on an ice moon and the last key got lost forever. After all that, I managed to get it within the first ten hours, once he fell asleep. Cults don’t usually care about your past life when you join them, so the security wasn’t very tight. Then I hopped in an escape pod and left so I could stash the key.”

“But what about the ion storm? Everybody died,” Sho said.

Aiba nodded, looking sad. “I feel horrible about that. I got what I needed, I left…but then not even two days later they were gone. All those people…I mean, I got the impression that most of them didn’t plan to last long once they got to Furano, but they didn’t deserve to die like that. And I had nothing to do with it, I swear.”

“They said on the news that they didn’t find any escape pods,” Nino remembered. “And you were already long gone. So why pretend to be dead?”

Aiba looked embarrassed. “I was already planning to fake my death after I got the last key. That’s why I sent those messages to you, Oh-chan. And you, Sho-chan. I had to get that plan in motion so you could all meet up and bring me the other keys here. I thought I would have had a week or two to plan it all out, faking my death I mean. Nobody was going to get hurt. I was going to crash my ship somewhere, make it look like somebody tried to collect the bounty on my head, I don’t know, I don’t know…”

“But then the Wagaya E was lost, and they declared you dead anyhow,” Ohno said.

“Exactly,” Aiba replied. “I felt horrible. Like I jinxed all those poor people or something.”

By that point they’d arrived back in front of the giant platina door, the five of them standing together.

“But why would you even need to fake your death in the first place?” Nino asked, poking Aiba angrily. “You could have just kept all the keys to yourself. Nobody but you knew about this place. Or if you wanted to open it, you could have just called us all up and said ‘hey, come to the Jomon system, I found something cool.’ You could have done what you always did, get us here, get us to open the door with you, and then stab us in the back. You could have knocked us all out and run off with the treasure. But no. No, instead you had to die and disrupt all our lives.”

“‘You could have done what you always did,’” Aiba repeated, looking at Nino sadly. “I did this because that’s what you think of me. That’s what you know about the person I turned into. That Aiba Masaki the thief would turn on you no matter what. You, Oh-chan, I took advantage of your time and your art and I never paid you. Sho-chan, you were happy on Chiba Prime, and because I wanted to win so badly, I used you and our friendship to steal what I wanted. And Nino, even after all the scores I probably took away from you back then, you still welcomed me to your bar. You were so nice to me when I was never nice to you.”

Aiba shook his head, clearly upset with himself.

“I didn’t want to be that jerk any more. The person with no real friends besides the weird guy who looked after his beach house.”

Poor Kazama-kun, Nino thought.

“I wanted a fresh start. I couldn’t be Aiba Masaki the celebrity, Aiba Masaki with the big green ‘A,’ not anymore. I still don’t know if I’ll stop going on adventures, and I don’t know if I have it in me to retire for good like you did, Nino. But I wanted the chance to be better. To share the treasure I’ve been hunting for so long with the people I care most about.”

Aiba looked at Jun, gesturing in apology.

“The key you have, Matsumoto-san, I was going to give it to my mom since I’ve caused her a lot of problems all these years. She’s the only one who knows I’m not dead. I took the risk and sent her a message after the Wagaya E, asking her to come,” he explained. “When she got done yelling at me, she said to give it to someone else. You’ve been helping Nino all this time, so thank you. Please keep it.”

“Twenty percent for everyone, huh?” Ohno asked.

“That is if there’s anything inside,” Sho pointed out, gesturing to the notches along the wall.

“We gave everything in Makuharihongo to your wife, you know,” Nino told Aiba. “So if this place is empty, I hope you have a back-up plan.”

Aiba shut his eyes laughing. “I don’t…I…I actually don’t have one. There’s platina, I’ve got a few more accounts. There’s the house on Akashi, I’ve got a few other places scattered around that are more safe houses than actual places to comfortably live. But besides, any of those assets are yours now, Nino. Remember?”

“But you’re not dead,” Nino said. “Just walk into Satonaka Murase and tell them to reverse it. The will, I mean.”

“No,” Aiba said. “No, I’m starting over. I mean it. That version of me is dead and not coming back.”

“But they’ll never stop,” Jun interrupted. “The people chasing after us. You made it all Kazu’s problem, Aiba-san. As long as people think you’re dead and that he’s the person who knows where all your riches are, then he’s in danger. If you’re really trying to make amends, then you need to make this right.”

Aiba fidgeted with the green gemstone key.

“You’re right,” he mumbled. “You’re absolutely right.”

“Come on,” Nino said, squeezing Aiba’s shoulder. “Are we gonna open this cache or not?”

Aiba nodded. “Let’s do it.”

The five of them moved to the notch on the wall that matched the colored gem in the platina key they held. Sho, then Nino, then Ohno in the middle, then Jun, with Aiba all the way to the right. Since he was in the center, it made the most sense for Ohno to call out commands.

Nino faced the notch, hearing Ohno call out for them to slide the keys into them. They all did so simultaneously, each notch starting to glow right along with the keys inside them.

“On my signal,” Ohno shouted, “we turn to the right. Three…two…one. Turn!”

Five keys clicked in five locks, and the ground beneath their feet started to shake. The notches with the keys inside sealed themselves up, preventing them from grabbing them back and soon the dark platina door was awash in rainbow color. They all backed away as the platina door made a loud creaking noise and started to open, sliding down from the ceiling toward the ground.

“Of course it would open this way,” Nino complained, watching it slowly come down, leaving the cache’s contents covered up until it was almost all the way down.

Aiba, the tallest of the five of them, started to jump first, giggling as he tried to peek over the top of the door. Jun joined him, unable to keep from laughing himself. Eventually all five of them were jumping, trying to compete for who could see the treasure that awaited them first.

“Ah!” Aiba cried.

“Ahhhhh!” Jun shouted soon after.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” Sho exclaimed.

And then it was Nino’s turn, his face breaking into a wide smile as the door finished sliding down into the ground beneath them. “AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

They looked at each other, shaking, laughing. From Sho to Nino, from Nino to Ohno, from Ohno to Jun, from Jun to Aiba.

“Well, come on!” Ohno shouted, and the five of them started to run.

—

one year later

—

aiba masaki memorial station
in orbit above the third moon of fordreeme
17:09 jsst (jomon system standard time)

The shuttle landed a few minutes behind schedule, but Nino supposed that it was only because the station was so busy. He unbuckled himself from the seat, straightening his tie as he exited the executive cabin.

The crew saluted him as he walked by, apologizing for the delay. “That’s alright,” he said, waving them off. “Don’t worry about it. Thanks for your hard work today.”

The autonomous shuttle ride from the docking ring to the main station structure in the center took twice as long as the one from Tokai had, but that was only because once it was fully finished, Aiba Masaki Memorial Station would be more than double its size.

They’d made no mention of gemstone keys, no mention of the strange quest that brought them all together. They’d simply walked in to the JXF Discoveries and Declarations Office to register their intentions to open a new business on the long-abandoned third moon of Fordreeme. As nobody had laid claim to the territory in centuries (on account of it being utterly inhospitable to settlement), the JXF had granted their request without giving it much thought.

And from there the four primary shareholders—Matsumoto Jun, Ninomiya Kazunari, Ohno Satoshi, and Sakurai Sho (on behalf of Her Majesty, Kitagawa Keiko, Queen of Chiba Prime)—had opened the Green A Mine. They hired security, ferried in enough water and food to feed the workers while the station was being constructed in orbit and the facilities were constructed on the Yamakaze Plains on the moon’s surface.

Because the five keys Aiba Masaki had found didn’t so much lead to platina as most of them had ever seen it—in pretty pre-formed five kilo bricks. Instead, the five keys had unlocked the Jomon System’s and quite possibly the galaxy’s purest vein of untapped platina. They’d be chipping it off the walls and sending it out to be processed for at least a century.

And now everyone wanted to pay them for access.

Their origins didn’t matter, especially the criminal histories of three out of four founding members. Like anywhere else in the galaxy, platina mattered. Platina ruled. And it would be a very long time before they bled the place dry. It wasn’t easy to set up shop on an abandoned moon, so they paid their employees ten times what anyone else in the galaxy might, whether they worked on the surface or in orbit. The added pay helped since everything they’d need to survive out here would have to be imported at considerable cost.

Ohno ran things on the surface. He’d overseen construction of extraction equipment and employee living quarters, ensured that operations were smooth and safe. And then Nino ran things on the station, deciding which banks and processing companies could operate there, organizing most of the financial side of the business.

Sho was a very wealthy fellow now, but he still liked to travel. He handled the outreach portion of their business, spending part of his time at Green A, part of his time on the road in search of new clients, and the remainder of his time back home on Chiba Prime. Her Majesty’s vaults were overflowing, and her citizens had a foothold in the galaxy’s most booming new business. Sho’s loyalty had won over his temperamental Queen once more, who had finally promoted him in recent weeks from Head Butler to his old post of Seventh Husband.

Nino arrived at the main station, riding up to the Executive Penthouse at the top. He pulled his CommTek from his pocket as he took his shoes off in the entryway. There were two portraits on the wall, gifts courtesy of Chiba’s queen and her imaginative court artist. To the left was Matsumoto Jun, painted to resemble Kimura Takuya, Fierce Fighting Cosmic Explorer, his muscles and thighs hugged perfectly in tight fabric as he pointed a plasma gun at some unknown enemy. To the right was Ninomiya Kazunari lying completely naked in a field of flowers, arms behind his head and his essential pieces covered with a strategically painted mound of pink and red petals.

Nino still hadn’t decided which portrait he loved more. But he supposed the infamous portrait of Ohno Satoshi riding a giant lizard into battle against an army of robots might be even better. Only Sho had managed to see it so far, and his review had been just one word: Unbelievable.

The CommTek screen showed him messages and greetings from both Wakana and Yamada, who had arrived earlier that day to join Takeuchi-kun, who’d already been here for a month or so getting the station’s premier drinking establishment ready for opening day. Nino had given them all a solid chunk of stock in the company, and none of his former bar employees really ever had to work again, but like Nino, they liked to keep busy even in retirement.

He sent his own greetings in return before setting his CommTek in the charger and heading for the bedroom. Unlike their cabin back on Tokai, they had a better view now of the surface of the moon below and the possibilities that stretched on all across its surface.

Jun was in bed with a book, taking off his glasses and setting them down on the nightstand when he arrived.

“How long do I have you for this time?” Nino asked, loosening his tie.

Jun cocked his head, grinning. “Do we have to talk about that right now?”

He never really needed to work again either, but Jun had always been such a good boy. Although he had a twenty percent stake in the Green A Mine, he gave nearly ninety percent of his earnings away. He was in charge of the company’s charitable endeavors, bringing plat-coin gifts to needy colonies and settlements from Jomon to Tojo.

Jun had just gotten back that morning from a charity trip. The Paradox had undergone a bit of a revamp, paid for by Nino. The new faster-than-light drive got Jun to and from his engagements in almost half the time now. Nino noticed a few new rings dotting the dresser beside him, although none were meant for toes. Even though Jun gave almost everything away, he still had a weakness here and there for jewelry.

He crooked his finger, grinning as Jun obediently got to his feet and came hurrying across the room. Soon he was close, their bodies in perfect alignment. He looked up, let himself get lost for a little while in the deep brown depths of Jun’s eyes. Nino was grateful, always grateful.

“I missed this face,” Jun said, stroking his fingers along Nino’s jawline.

“Missed yours too,” Nino answered. “You’re still sure I can’t let Oh-chan make me a mask of it to keep me from getting lonely when you’re gone?”

He gasped when Jun yanked on his tie, tugging it off him. Gods, it was so easy to get a rise out of him, even now.

“Careful, it’s a new suit,” he complained as Jun roughly stripped the rest of his clothes from him, slowly backing him toward the bathroom and the sonic-shower compartment.

“Like you don’t have the platina to buy a new suit every millisecond,” Jun shot back before pressing some irritatingly hot kisses from Nino’s jaw and up to his ear, which made his earlobes turn red every time no matter how long they’d been together.

“Sssh,” Nino protested, slipping his hand between them, trying to slip Jun’s briefs off of him. “It’s embarrassing to talk about my incredible wealth when I forgot to get you a welcome back present.”

“Get your ass in the shower and come back quick,” Jun said, giving him a little push. “Then you can give me the present I really want.”

He did as Jun asked, letting the shower zap him clean. He emerged, finding Jun naked and waiting near the window glass, looking down at the moon below. He stroked his fingers across Jun’s strong shoulders, teased his way down his back, comforted by the feeling of him so close again after days apart.

But before he could get too sentimental…

“Do you want to look at all our money while we fuck?” Nino asked coarsely, earning a groaned chuckle from Jun.

“This is one of those times where I’m judging you, just so you know,” Jun replied.

Nino leaned forward, pressing a kiss to Jun’s shoulder blade. “I know.”

Soon Nino was loudly voicing his pleasure, his fingers streaking along the glass as Jun took him roughly from behind. It was a little challenging to keep his eyes open, to not shut them tight and give in fully to the intense feeling of Jun inside him so hard and fast and unrelenting. But he managed as best he could, staring down at the glow of the moon, the decades of untapped platina waiting within, and the promise of all the riches he’d been dreaming about since he was small.

“Don’t go,” he muttered when Jun came, when he tried to pull away. “Stay close to me. Stay right where you are.”

Jun obliged him, as Jun always obliged him. Nino felt Jun’s arm come forward, his fingers twining with his against the glass. Nino leaned forward himself, capturing the sight of the moon below one more time and then closing his eyes, pressing his forehead against their joined hands.

He took his cock in his other hand, stroking himself, feeling full - of Jun in a literal sense, of Jun in a metaphorical sense, letting his mouth fall open, letting his love and happiness come babbling out of him as he jerked off, feeling Jun’s lips reassert their devotion to him. Against his shoulder, against the back of his neck, raising goosebumps.

“I love you,” he said, so close to euphoria.

“Are you talking to me?” Jun whispered in his ear, teeth grazing the lobe. “Or the platina?”

“I guess…” he muttered, panting heavily. “I guess you’ll never know.”

He came as soon as Jun playfully bit his shoulder in retaliation.

—

Hungry, Nino thought as he woke in the comforting circle of Jun’s arms. He slipped out of their bed, grabbing one of Jun’s obnoxious silky robes from a nearby chair and wrapping it around him.

He headed for the kitchen, hoping for a midnight snack but instead finding a blinking message on his CommTek, still plugged in where he’d left it. The timing could not have been better, and he grinned in the dark at the message on the screen. It had only been sent a few minutes earlier.

This station was his, all of it was his, so he didn’t give a single solitary fuck about being seen wandering the half-completed decks in a purple silk robe and sneakers, his hair mussed from a combination of sleep and great sex.

Nino had decided to let the younger ones name the bar on their own since it was going to be their responsibility moving forward. Set to open next week, it seemed as though Wakana’s suggestion of Kono Michi Wo had won out. Nobody was nearby when he tugged the door open. There was still a lot of painting to be finished, booths still needed to be installed. The liquor would be arriving in a few days, so they’d seen no reason to lock up yet.

Nino made his way over to the windows, standing beside the visitor the station was named after.

“No disguise this time?”

“It’s late, I figured I’d be okay.”

“How’s Akashi?”

“Very nice this time of year. You should come.”

Nino decided it was best to say nothing rather than tell Aiba what he really thought of the hideous vacation villa, which presumably had all new furniture now.

He had the life he wanted now, the anonymity and freedom that came with death. On paper, Aiba’s twenty percent share of the business was officially held by his mother back on Kanto IV. Unofficially, Aiba was spending a good deal of it leaving generous gifts for the family members and friends of the people lost on the Wagaya E. Those families spoke reverently of their guardian angel, although they had no idea who it might be.

There were whispers in criminal circles, of course, whispers that perhaps Aiba Masaki was not as dead as everyone thought. The occasional green “A” that showed up on walls across varying systems was usually attributed to copycats these days, but still, there were people who’d claimed to see him. There were robberies that seemed to match his style, even if there was no “A” left behind to confirm it.

It had been months since anyone had bothered trying to come after Nino for Aiba’s inheritance. The security he hired was too good, and Nino had a fortune of his own now. The hunt for Aiba Masaki’s riches had been little more than a passing fad. Perhaps in time it would take on legendary status. Perhaps in a few centuries a thief might learn of Aiba Masaki the way Aiba Masaki learned about the Cache of Pikanchi.

Nino linked his arm through Aiba’s, taking comfort in the warmth of him, leaning his head against his shoulder. They’d been friends for years and years, even if Nino had never realized it, never admitted it.

“You’re a real pain in my ass, you know,” Nino mumbled, looking down at the moon below, at the wealth Aiba had shared with him.

“Still?” Aiba asked, chuckling softly.

Nino clung to him tightly, nodding.

“Always.”

Comments

[semikusa]

Okay since I finally have the time to comment properly and because you deserve it, here I am! I love the premise already, because I love space fiction, and jam-packed with action and adventure takes the cake. I love the many references here, they’re quirky and fun!

The plot is great, I can sense the peril and all the confused mess Nino had fallen into, all because of the cunning Aiba. The exploration of many relationships: from Nino and Jun’s unbreakable bond, Nino and Aiba’s deep-rooted friendships, and how Aiba is able to bring the whole gang together, being the center of the web. I love the action scenes, they were definitely exciting. Though, I equally love the succinct humor!

I love Nino’s characterization here: from the ambition of being rich, because honestly who wouldn’t, that out of all ways to aim that goal he chooses thievery, quite an ignoble job, yet underneath the underhanded and sly tricks he has, he’s still human and still has a heart. His obsession over platina was obviously one of the most quirky and fun qualities of him, and it’s hilarious that Jun continues to poke fun at him for it. He decides to profit off Aiba’s death too, and I think that’s hilarious.

I also love the dynamic between the two, almost coming from different sides of the spectrum yet they’ve come together and created an unshakeable bond. I love that Jun is such a good, good guy, yet he’s here falling for Nino. He still is able to exert influence over Nino, making him think about his actions more and not allowing him to always be so cunning, and I think that’s one of the most endearing things in their relationship, a good and healthy one! I’m glad to know that there are things (people) that Nino loves more than platina. But what really struck out to me is the very reason that Jun stays for Nino, despite the cautionary tale and every possible terrible consequence out there, because it’s not he and him, but them. The very fact that Jun has the choice to leave Nino behind, decides to face his problems along with him, even if he was in no way responsible. The sex scenes were hot as well, especially the one where Nino watches the platina from above, it’s a win-win.

Jun held up his hand. “Stop moping down here, it doesn’t suit you. Where’s the selfish asshole I’m in love with, huh?”
“I’m not thinking with my dick,” Jun retorted, taking Nino’s hand and holding it against his chest, his heart. “I’m thinking with this.”
Such great lines, even I’m swooning, lol.

The fic also reminds me that Aiba, despite common fic cliché of him being the airheaded idiot, that he could be the smartest among them! I love that he managed to create an intertwining of complete strangers lives, all to create a new bond in the end, and even give everyone a good end! I love his trademark A, all his wild adventures and his long-running friendship (and a long list of enemies), everything about him is just so convoluted yet he’s such an enjoyable character. I especially love how Nino realizes that his true friend had always been there, he just needed to accept that he was. I also love how Ohno and Sho are equally conniving, all double-crossing each other; a wonderful interplay of thieves!

Smaller details I also enjoyed! Kazama, poor guy who only loves his friend wholeheartedly. Queen Keiko and her long line of husbands, and First Husband as Daigo! How much Jun loves Paradox! The peculiar paintings of Aiba! Aiba not weirdly having a mask of Nino’s face!


Overall, it was such a fun ride and a great read, anon! I enjoyed it from beginning to end, and I’m so happy you tackled some of the prompts and details I like. I’m so grateful to have received such a wonderful fic. Thank you so, so much.

[astrangestorm]

I'm so glad you liked this, I was really excited for the challenge of writing an established relationship. I'm always writing get together stories, so this was so much fun and such a different dynamic to take on. Plus I never write enough Matsumiya :)

I knew I wanted to write a space AU, so I was going through Star Trek plots, seeing what I could maybe adapt. And as soon as I found the episode I did, I had no choice because that episode had the funeral scene with the one character profiting off the other's death - how could that not be transformed into a Nino situation, I figured! And then seeing how that contrasts with who Jun is here and getting their relationship to still work in spite of that...ah, so fun!

I really love a Smart Aiba Masaki in fanfic because he actually is really smart??? He has airheaded moments but that doesn't in any way diminish his actual intelligence/cleverness! So being able to bring that to the story was fun too. I had such a hard time tagging this because Aiba """dies""" so early but he does, of course, come back. I tried to include him as much as I could throughout the story so that his triumphant return was good in the end :)

Thank you for such fun prompts, I had a blast!