nilielh | Fast Forward. Rewind

Title : Fast Forward. Rewind (Part 4)
Pairing : Ohno/Nino
Rating : PG
Summary : He’d been trying to uncover the truth about the events prior to their departure from Yamato for years, but all he could dig out from it was the same thing that had been reported repeatedly on national television, regarding the congregation’s involvement in the attack in Tokyo, and nothing more.
Warning : mentions of mass murder, religious cults
Note : crossposted in AO3

Miyama Kitchen, Asakusa
Asakusa Tokyo, Present Day

“Have you decided?” Jun inquired softly. He’d long migrated next to Nino, their respective dinner still sitting half-eaten in front of them. Instead, Nino had been paying the beers Bando-san had wordlessly piled up on the counter earlier the attention they (don’t really) deserved, and feeling kind of mortified for ignoring Jun’s seriously mouth-watering hamburger steak in favor of drinking to distract himself from his thoughts.

The unexpected question confused him as much as it prompted him to put the can down to frown at Jun.

“To visit your father,” Jun acquiesce; “Nino, the execution is scheduled in a month. I think we can both agree that anytime before that date is good enough time to go talk to him.”

Nino shrugged. To be fair, it wasn’t like he wasn’t thinking about it because he was; well, how could he not? His father’s been in prison for over twenty years, after all – he’d been apprehended weeks after they instigated the attack in Tokyo – but despite the need to see his face and question him about so many things, he decided that his sister, himself, and his friends’ safety was more important than his need for answers. But then again, it had been decades since; most of the cult members’ children who have managed to make it out of Yamato safely, like him, were able to beat the odds and have become what society often referred to as successful individuals, so he guessed it wouldn’t hurt to try and seek the answers he’d searched for so long knowing that he could, now. He was no longer the same terrified boy who’d been separated from his parents, from his sister, from one of his closest friends, to keep him safe.

“I’m planning on it,” he replied after a long stretch of silence, as he stared thoughtfully at the moisture gathering around his discarded can of beer. “You think…you think he would want to talk to me?”

Jun gave him a look, and the sight of it sent a pang of uncertainty right through him. There was no guarantee he’d get the answers he needed, but he had to try, at the very least.

“That remains to be seen,” Jun said, and Nino knew he was trying to sound reassuring, but it’s difficult when they were both aware of the possibility that Nino’s father might otherwise decline his son’s request to meet. He had every reason to; after all, it couldn’t have been a secret that his own children hated him for what he had done, not only to those innocent people he and his fellow cult members have killed, but most especially for keeping his own children, his wife, in Yamato and almost getting them killed too if it wasn’t for his wife’s decision to call someone for help.

“But as it is, you won’t know if you wouldn’t try, don’t you think?” Jun finishes with a smile.

Nino would appreciate the sentiment if he wasn’t already dealing with so many other things. His longtime fear resurfacing topping it all off. Somehow, knowing how close he was from the truth, from finding out whether Ohno was one of the unfortunate ones who didn’t escape Yamato was killing him enough as it was. Then, there was the matter of finding out his mother’s whereabouts, too.

He would have to talk to his sister one of these days, that was for sure.

“I’ll let you know once I decide to go,” he murmured, in agreement.

“And I promise I’ll take care of the necessary request documents for you.” Jun said.

“Thanks, Sensei.”

Jun shook his head and reached over to punch him lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t thank me yet, Sensei. I haven’t done anything yet to warrant it. Now quit looking so pathetic and tell me if you want that food reheated or not,”

Nino gave the hamburger steak another forlorn look and made a face, as he turned to Jun.

“Can I take it home instead?”

Jun shoved him, not-so-lightly this time around. “God, you’re the worst. Fine, fine, give it here.”

“Ah, now you’ve earned my thanks. Thank you, Miyama-sensei!”

“Nino, just shut up.”

+

Yamato, Summer 1994

Two days later, Kazunari found himself at the building’s rooftop again, but this time, it was just him and Ohno. Apparently, Aiba-kun had errands to run for his father so he couldn’t join them, but he promised he would try to sneak out once he could.

Ohno had apparently told him he didn’t have to if doing so would get him in trouble.

“But knowing Ma-kun, he would still do it even if it meant he’d be punished later,” Ohno chuckled as they peeked down the building’s front through the railing, and Kazunari helplessly giggled too. It wasn’t like it was a conscious gesture; he realized it was just too easy for him to laugh whenever Ohno would say what was on his mind, mostly stuff that rather confused Kazunari more than they enlightened him.

It didn’t stop him from feeling inexplicably tickled, however.

“He’s kind of an idiot, huh?” he said, frowning when he spotted the familiar-looking van parked at the front of the building’s entrance once again. “Hey, Oh-chan, isn’t that the same van –“ he said, or at least started to, but then Ohno’s hand gripping his elbow and pulling him backwards, away from the railing stopped him talking.

“What –“

“Shhh!” Ohno shushed him, and Kazunari closed his mouth shut. He would be offended at the gesture if not for the fact that Ohno looked somewhat – terrified? Kazunari frowned, held his hand out and absently settling it against Ohno’s forearm.

Ohno shook his head and kept a steady hold around Kazunari’s wrist, before he was very carefully leaning forward, just the slightest bit, to peek down. He was also breathing hard, like he was afraid someone would catch him looking. The sight of him made the hair at the back of Kazunari’s neck stand on end.

“We have to be careful,” Ohno whispered, his voice shaking. He turned to Kazunari, his hand moving from Kazunari’s wrist to his shoulder. Kazunari shivered at the touch, the warmth from it was gone. Ohno’s palm was cold. “No one can know, you hear me?”

“About what?” Kazunari whispered back; he couldn’t help it, seeing Ohno like this terrified him too. “Oh-chan, what is it?”

Kazunari heard the sound of the van as it drove away, but it didn’t matter anymore. Ohno was tugging him in roughly and speaking into his neck, garbled, almost unrecognizable words that froze Nino when he realized what he was being told.

“They’re…children… they are killing them. They’re killing the children, Kazu,”

+

Izumi-no-mori, Yamato
Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, Present day

“Sho-san is going to kill me,” Jun grunted next to him as Nino pulled over next to Sada-sensei’s car. Nino chuckled and killed the engine, turned to stare pointedly at Jun. “No, seriously, Sho-san is going to –“

“I heard you the first time, Matsumoto,” he mused, took the key out of the ignition. “Are you going out there with me or not? I thought you have a job to do?”

Jun narrowed his eyes at him in answer, but it did little to deter him from doing something extremely stupid and equally dangerous. Still, he had the whole damn night to decide on this, and anyway, they’re already here so whatever complaints Jun had about his presence, he could just suck it up. Nino wasn’t going anywhere.

“Would it be too much to ask you to just stay in the car and wait for me? Or better yet, why don’t you go somewhere else to hang out in? A café or a bar –“

“A bar?” he asked, cutting Jun off. “At this hour? It’s just a quarter after eight in the morning, Jun –“

“A restaurant, then? Or a hotel, I really don’t care at this point. Just, not here?”

Nino pursed his lips. “You did agree to take me with, Matsumoto. Now deal with it,”

Jun clicked his tongue and stopped Nino with a hand on his arm before he could even open his side of the door to let himself out. “This is me dealing with it, Nino. I mean, come on, just leave this stuff to us. I’ll call you as soon as the turnover is done, how’s that sound?”

“No,”

“Seriously, Nino, I’m not sure this is safe. Taking you here is a bad idea,”

Nino shrugged. “Technically, I was the one who took you here. Now, do I have to kick you out of the car or what? I can do it, if you want me to, I swear.”

“Nino, you’re not listening to me –“

“I am, but you need to know that you can’t force me to just sit still. I am here because I want to be here. And besides, you agreed. Let’s stop this nonsense argument, please. Your boss is already there and he looks pretty mad, too. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble because of me, Sensei.”

Jun shook his head, then turned to catch his superior gesturing at his watch outside. Jun made such goofy face that had Nino snorting in answer. Unbuckling his belt, Nino heard Jun heaved a sigh.

“Sho-san is going to roast my ass for this, I can feel it,” he murmured. “Shit.”

Nino pretended to gag as he pushed his side of the door open, opting not to answer as he pocketed his keys.

----

Thankfully, the local government of Izumi-no-mori was well prepared regarding the scheduled turn-over of the skeletal remains. The entire area had been secured; the whole perimeter was littered with uniformed security personnel, staffs from the municipal and local government, the local police force and a handful of media representatives. And as expected, the medical staffs from Tokyo Medical University were present too.

Nino tried to keep his distance from Jun, mostly so Jun’s boss would stop giving him the nasty looks. Obviously, the older lawyer didn’t like the idea that his subordinate had went ahead and brought someone with without informing him, but Nino could be wrong too, of course. After all, it could be that that was the older lawyer’s default face and Nino just had no clue.

He tried to ignore them in favor of letting his eyes wander around the area, scanning the crowd working on the graves half-hoping he would recognize someone. It was a tough call, but a part of him wanted it just the same. Seeing someone he recognized here meant he was at the right place.

“Yes, this is Tachibana,” the lady lawyer’s voice broke through Nino’s thoughts, and he refocused his gaze on her and the way she was gesturing for Jun to come closer. Instinctively, Nino did, too. “Yes, Akashi-san, what is it? Yes, we’re still here. Sada-sensei? Yes, he’s here. No, why didn’t you call him instead? Fine, what is it?”

Jun ignored her, but she stopped him by hooking her hand around his elbow. “What?” Jun frowned at her.

She mouthed, “Akashi-san said someone’s there asking for you. He said he needs to talk you,” and handed her phone over. Jun took it.

“Yes, it’s Miyama,” Jun answered, frowning. “A lawyer? Naruse who?”