Velvet Rose (Matsumiya)

[lilly0]

Title: Velvet Rose
Pairing/Group: Matsumiya, casual and not serious Nino/Kiko, mysterious Juntoshi, other characters: Sho, Aiba, Ohno, Nagase, Kiko, Mao, Shun, Toma
Rating: R-NC-17
Genre:  AU, romance, suspense
Summary: Nino finds himself being sucked into his new case of four mysterious murders. It leads him to investigate the red-light district and a wealthy underground host club. Suddenly he finds himself surrounded by the seemingly glamorous world of hosts and clubs, a quirky drag-queen, a beautiful host with sad eyes, said-host’s dangerous procurer, seductive games and threats. Everything seems to be connected to intrigues from the past. Soon it gets more and more difficult for Nino to separate his work from his feelings, and find the truth.
Notes: Written for shardaunei for ninoexchange . I'm superlate with posting this to my journal, I know :-) 




It’s the fourth murder within a month. This time it’s a young man, with blonde hair and soft features. He has a tattoo on his upper arm, rose-shaped. Last time it was a woman, similar age, same tattoo.

“Yakuza?” Sho, his co-worker, chief, and ex-lover or rather previous occasional affair, kneels down next to him, pulling the guy’s sleeve up a bit and looks at his tattoo.

Nino frowns, curling his nose while thinking deeply. “I don’t think so,” he admits. “Most of them were around the same age, young, none of them looks strong. Could you imagine them being in a fist fight? And what kind of weird yakuza group would have a rose as their symbol?”

To be honest, when Sho kneels in front of him like that and shows off his well-shaped butt Nino does feel sad that he can’t just grope him anymore. Sho was always great for some relief of tension, a good friend on top of that, loyal and didn’t expect anything. But he is married now, and deeply in love, and Nino respects that. He likes Sho. He would never do something to destroy his relationship.

He likes things loose and relaxed, but he is not a home-wrecker.

“The first guy looked stronger though,” Sho argues. “This man here and the two women look very weak. Killed by a bullet again like the women?” Sho asks.

“No, there is no bullet hole.” Nino sighs in frustration. “There are no signs of violence in general,” he continues, gets up and stretches his limbs.

“Let’s get him to forensics. And don’t forget to get your suit out of the laundry. If you ditch the next party with our sponsors again, I’ll be mad.”

Nino grimaces. “You know I hate social gatherings where I have to smile and be all happy. I feel like a circus monkey then. Totally for nothing.”

“For money,” Sho says dryly. “Having our best detectives like you present will be to our advantage. If you don’t come, I’ll cut your salary!”

“You won’t!” Nino huffs, suddenly relieved that he is not sleeping with Sakurai fucking Sho anymore.

“Yes, I will.”

Nino grumbles, shooting Sho a glare which the latter ignores with a chuckle. “Fine, I’ll come, but this game is not over yet!”


~~~


Forensics are located in the basement of their headquarters that leads directly to a part of the local hospital.

“Guys,” Nagase, the head of the department, complains. “I was just about to have my lunch! Why are you always coming when I’m hungry?”

“Why are you always eating?” Nino retorts lazily.

Nagase grunts as an answer but hands Nino his sandwich to look at the corpse. Nino sniffs at it, it’s peanut butter with salad. “Mind if take a bite?” he asks.

Sho grimaces. “He has probably touched a dead body before!”

“So did I,” Nino grins.

Nagase shrugs. “Help yourself. I’ve plenty of that stuff.”

“Your hot girlfriend still providing you with food?” Nino asks while digging into the sandwich. Better than expected. “You and Sho-kun are so happy to have tied the knot!”

Nagase looks up from his work in horror. “Tied the knot!? I’m not married! I want to keep my freedom.”

“Marrying doesn’t mean giving up your freedom,” Sho points out.

“Well, if I had a hot restaurant chef with a great figure and even greater boobs at my side I wouldn’t hesitate to tie the knot either,” Nagase grins. “Keiko is one hot woman, you lucky bastard.”

The expression on Sho’s face is something between highly pleased about the praising of his wife and annoyed that someone doesn’t talk respectfully of her. Unfortunately, Sho is bad with retorts, so Nino jumps in for him. “She isn’t just boobs, Tomoya-kun. Don’t live your fetish all the time.”

“Poison,” Nagase answers, making Nino blink and Sho glare.

“She isn’t poison!” Sho huffs.

“No, I don’t mean Keiko-san but this unfortunate dude here,” Nagase makes clear and points at the corpse they brought along.

Nino stuffs the rest of the sandwich into his mouth before stepping closer. “He was poisoned?”

“It’s hardly detectable through outer signs, but there is a rash on his skin, and his stomach says it all,” Nagase explains, carefully sewing up the corpse again.

Sho sighs. “This killing spree is worrying, Kazu,” he mumbles. “The last victims were all young people. They had their life before them.”

Sho’s way of voicing it makes Nino feel sad too, although he normally tries to blend these feelings out. But Sho is right, these victims were young. “Anything else you can tell us?” Nino wants to know.

“Not right now. Wait for the report from the laboratory.”


~~~


Nino would have one million and ten better things to do than being at this party. When he sees Sho, putting his arm around Keiko’s waist and kissing her neck while talking to some higher-ups, he finds it cute and all, but at the same time he could throw up. Fine, he has never loved someone, so he can’t really tell, but this romantic behaviour is so annoying. What’s truly sickening though is this party where everyone from the murder squad has to show up, dressed neatly, acting charmingly and kissing their sponsors’, politician’s and other boring but important yet only-interested-in-their-reputation-people's butts.

Which is why Nino has silently retreated after he was sure that Sho is occupied. His threat about cutting his salary unfortunately sounded way too real. He is not going far though, just to the balcony to have some alone time.

Almost alone, because his personal assistant, with what are possibly the world's longest legs and a pair of sharp and mischievous eyes, approaches him. Kiko has been working with him since almost two years now, and she has learned a lot. She is rather a strategist than someone for the crime scene, but they need that too.

Kiko smacks his butt after she walked to him, making Nino chuckle. “What’s your problem, bitch?” he teases.

“You are slacking off, and I’m doing your work, bitch,” she retorts and points towards the gathering inside the building.

Nino grins and offers her a cigarette which she takes with a graceful nod before leaning against the balustrade of the balcony. She looks hot in her buggy black trousers and simple tight white silk shirt. Hot enough for Nino to have dirty thoughts. If he looks close enough, he can see her bra. “Like what you see?” she smirks. “Who is the bitch now?”

Nino grins. Kiko is hardly ever politically correct, makes inappropriate sex jokes most of the time, eats like a construction worker, and gives off a certain Marie-Antoinette ‘jeez, why don’t they eat cake if they don’t have bread’ vibe sometimes, which is why Nino obviously has to adore her. Her humour has always settled well with him. “11pm, my place?” Nino offers because that’s the earliest they can get away from this place.

“No, your place has cockroaches,” she grins. “And I would only prefer one cock today,” she jokes lamely, making Nino roll his eyes. So lame but also kind of cute in a weird twisted way.

“So, your place then,” Nino agrees.

It’s five hours later when they are indeed at Kiko’s place which she got sponsored thanks to an affair she has with a rich, and pretty old politician. They both take a swift shower, and while still in there, Kiko goes down on her knees, sucking his cock to full hardness, before they take their business to bed.

The good thing about Kiko is that she is uncomplicated and just goes for what she wants, which is the same as what Nino wants. Sometimes he wishes he would love her, but unfortunately it’s not always that simple. Kiko has her old creepy politician, and Sho his hot, smart wife.

For now though Nino pushes these gloomy thoughts aside. He isn’t even jealous of these two, as he isn’t love with them, but sometimes he just feels pouty and like he wants to be a bit selfish. When Kiko straddles his hips though and rides him, he forgets all about that, grabbing her hips to push into her from below.

They manage to go for three rounds in general, then Nino has no stamina left and Kiko looks pretty spent too. Nino kisses her forehead softly. They don’t kiss much, as it feels too intimate to do that, but he wants to show her a little portrayal of affection. He does cherish her after all. Kiko chuckles and kisses him back, patting his head, before she stretches slightly. “Drink!” she demands.

Nino laughs. “Like it’s my apartment,” he complains, but gets up to fetch them some whisky nevertheless. Sometimes he has to be a gentleman.

They both settle down in Kiko’s bed with a few drinks and sandwiches Nino found in her fridge.

“What do you think about the victims?” Kiko asks while she lies on her back and pulls at her cigarette.

Nino turns over, reaching for the glass with whisky, his arm brushing over her breasts, making her giggle. “You mean why they are being killed?”

“More like who they are?”

“Sho-kun considered they might have yakuza background.” Nino explains, taking a sip from the whisky.

“And you don’t think that?”

Nino shrugs. “Just a feeling,” he points out, pulling her into his arms and taking her cigarette to take a breath from it too. “But come on, a rose as a symbol?”

“Maybe it’s illegal immigrants who work at a sex bar?” Kiko points out.

Nino tilts his head. A good thought, he has considered that too. “I’ve looked into several bars, but none of them has a rose as a symbol.”

“And if it’s an underground club or bar?”

“You mean an underground club of a mafia red-light organisation?” Nino tries to summarize.

“Some of them have clubs and secret bars for their most popular and richest customers,” Kiko rambles and empties the glass with whisky in one go. Nino stares at her in sincere shock for a while. “What?” she pouts. “Never saw me drinking?”

“That’s not it. You need to have more sex! Activates your brain cells!” he calls out, jumping out of the bed and hurrying to his bag to grab his phone. Kiko props herself up on an elbow, watching him in interest.

“Calling one of your shady friends?”

Nino snorts. “This coming from the person who fucks an old politician!”

“But he isn’t shady,” Kiko grins. “Your friends are. So, who are you calling?”

Nino ignores her question, knowing how she will react if he told her the name. She catches on immediately, squealing. “Not that perv from forensics!”

“Nagase-kun isn’t a perv,” Nino states, though he isn’t too sure about that himself. “He just has a healthy interest in both genders.”

Kiko giggles. “Fine, so he is a perv who is for equal opportunities. But what does he know?”

“He has a few friends,” Nino explains, robbing to the side a bit to give Kiko room to peek over his shoulder. She wraps her arms around his neck, looking at his phone and following his fingers. “I don’t know why he knows them and how they met and how he can justify knowing them and jeez, they are just weird most of the time, but they know stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” Kiko asks, more earnest now.

“Stuff.” Nino looks at her insistently, wishing she wouldn’t ask too much now. She seems to get the clue though.

“Emergencies call for drastic decisions,” she states. “I won’t tell anyone you are asking some probably not so clean guys for help. And I won’t ask what you’ll give them in return.”

“Why not?” Nino asks, checking her carefully. He does trust her, but he needs to make sure.

“I want these murders to stop.” She stretches a bit, biting into his neck before dropping on her back. “I just want it to stop. I’m tired of it and annoyed, I hate how I feel helpless and like a failure for not looking behind the pattern of it.”

Nino nods. It’s the reason why he works so well with Kiko, better than with Sho. As close partners they got into fights regularly, but now that Sho has a chief position and is not so much on the field anymore, it’s a lot easier between them. Sho lets him do, without asking many questions, but Nino knows he would disapprove. Kiko however shares exactly his sentiments.

Nino is simply pissed. It’s not only about these people dying, because up to now he doesn’t even know if they are innocent. They have to be part of the same organisation, but still…they look innocent. But what he hates the most is that someone plays cat and mouse with them so easily. And they are the fucking mouse! They are not supposed to be the creepy ugly mouse. They are supposed to be the dangerous cat with sharp claws.

That’s why he has to call Nagase and his friends. Because damn, he hates being the mouse.


~~~

Nino wonders if he should cringe now or feel amazed. He has met Nagase for a beer in Nagase’s newest favourite bar. Some weird it-place that’s grungy and cool, but weird enough for the hipster kids to stay outside. It’s a backdoor bar, you need a special password to enter.

The place is bigger than Nino expected, but to his relief not fancy. More casual elegant if anything. On stage there are three drag queens singing an Adele song. All of them wear a huge wig, eyelashes that Nino can see from the seat furthest away and crazy make-up. It’s weirdly fascinating. The one in the middle is the tallest, has a pretty small frame and the longest eyelashes and finger-nails. Also, her dress is the tightest.

“Like what you see?” Nagase asks with a grin and takes a sip from his vodka.

Nino blinks. “I’m not even sure what I’m seeing. I don’t mean to be offensive, but… the song, the performance, it’s somehow weird.”

“Good weird or bad weird?”

“Might lean to the first,” Nino finally admits. The song on the stage changes and the three drag queens leave the stage, a group of girls in huge dresses and even huger wigs takes their place now. They start a strip show. “This however might rather lean towards the bad weird,” he says.

Nagase laughs. “Good, now let me introduce you to one of my friends.”

“Oh, finally.” Nino turns around when Nagase waves towards a person approaching them. To his utmost surprise it’s one of the drag queens, the one in the middle with the long blond wig and the blue eyelashes, and the pink glitter. She is obviously an audience favourite.

“Tomoya-kun,” a surprisingly manly voice comes out of the drag queen’s mouth. “You brought a guest?”

“Yes, that’s the guy I told you about,” Nagase explains before nodding towards the drag queen. “Stage name is Daphne. She is one of the D3 group. Daphne – Driselda - Didi.”

“Ah,” Nino answers because he has no idea what else to say. Congratulation for having the best stage name out of these three? “Nice to meet you, Daphne-san. I’m Ninomiya.”

Daphne grins. “Take your drinks and follow me backstage. We can talk without someone listening to us there.”


~~~


The moment Daphne closes the door behind them, she gets rid of her wig, and throws it to the side. Beneath it there is short brown hair. “Wait a moment, just getting rid of my make-up!”

Nino watches in weird fascination as Daphne undoes her make-up and gets rid of her stage-personality like this. What appears beneath everything is a pretty handsome and sweet looking guy with soft features and a light tan. “You are still wearing your blue eyelashes, Daphne-san,” Nino points out.

“Need them for later.” A grin spreads over the guy’s face. “They are such a hassle to put on, I rather keep them for now. Besides… don’t call me Daphne.” The guy sits down now.

“And what should I call you then?”

“Daphne is my stage name. Call me by my real one. Masaki.” The young man smiles. “Aiba Masaki.”

He looks grotesque with his sparkling blue eyelashes still on and his feather boa, but other than that he looks pretty normal. And cute. Nino wonders what an innocent looking guy like him can actually know about these awful murders. His gaze shifts to a few books in a corner. “Chemistry?” he asks in disbelief.

Aiba shrugs. “We all have our true passion.”

“And your job out there?” Nino asks curiously.

Aiba grins. “Pays well. And guys and girls like me.” He pauses. “I’m a student. Need the money.”

“Masaki-kun is so popular. They say he can get anyone he likes,” Nagase points out with a grin.

Aiba giggles.

Again Nino is stunned. What the hell is he actually doing here? “Nagase-kun…”

“Ah, right” Nagase nods earnestly, bending forward a bit and putting a few photographs on the table. He pushes them towards Aiba. “Have you seen these people before?”

Aiba squeals in shock. “You are showing me photos of corpses!?” He shivers in disgust. “Thank you…”

“Just take a look at them please,” Nagase pushes. “We need any clue you can give us.” He turns towards Nino. “Masaki-kun might not look like it, but he knows a lot of people and has lots of connections.”

“I have no idea about these people, though the blonde guy looks familiar, but the tattoo…” Aiba starts.

Nino is on alert immediately. “You know the tattoo?”

“Yes, it looks a bit like the logo from an underground club,” Aiba muses, titling his head while he stares at the photos.

Nino feels how his heart hammers against his chest like mad. Finally a clue? “What kind of club?” he asks. “Where is it?”

“Velvet rose,” Aiba points out, making Nino grunt at the cliché name. “It’s a… how should I put it…”

“Host club?” Nagase helps.

“That too,” Aiba says. “If I remember correctly the host club is named Tiger Lilly, but they have an extra underground club, for their regular customers and the really rich and important ones.”

Just like Kiko said. She has some good instincts.

“And what are they doing there?” Nino asks curiously. “Drugs, sex, dance?”

“All of it basically,” Aiba muses. “They unofficially sell a designer drug secretly there. You can meet their special hosts down there, the particularly pretty ones. There are strip and dance shows. And, well,” he smiles a crooked smile. “It’s also a fetish club.”

Nino’s eyes widen. “What?”

“Yeah, sometimes they have public whippings for the fun of it. Or some of their hosts wear collars. There are special areas where you can have more kinky fun with them. It’s pretty shady to be honest. The club looks expensive and all, but if you dive deeper into the structure behind it…it’s…”

Nino nods. He understands. Red-light mafia. So, the mafia is behind the killings? Four people connected to a secret underground fetish club got killed. The reason could be anything. Drugs, jealousy, debts. The list is probably endless. He needs to investigate. “Do their hosts or customers wear these tattoos?”

“I don’t know,” Aiba admits. “I’ve been there a few times because it’s one of the underground clubs, but I have never gotten close to anyone.”

“Can you get me and my co-worker in?” Nino finally dares to ask.

“No, I can’t.” Before Nino can voice his disappointment, a smug grin spreads on Aiba’s face. “But Daphne-san can.”


~~~

Takenaga Michiru, 34 years old, female. Lived alone, only living family member is an uncle, he lives in Kobe. Studied economics, worked as an office lady.

Nakato ‘John’ Seichiro, 40 years old, male, security man. Was married, divorced now. His ex-wife lives in Hong Kong.

Senri Riri, 35, female, no parents, but an older brother, who lived together with her. Worked as a part-time model and part-time waitress.

Kubazuto Keito, 29, male. Family? No information. But worked as a freelance blogger.


“They have nothing in common,” Sho states while they roam through Kubazuto Keito’s apartment. “Nothing, except for that tattoo.” He looks through Kubazuto’s bedroom. “Any similarities to the others’ places?”

Nino nods. “Yeah, it’s the same here like it was with the other three… no signs about anything. Whoever it was who killed him wiped away all traces. Again.”

“Are there signs of someone breaking in?” Sho wants to know.

“No.” Nino frowns. “But you know, Sho-kun, just like with the other two… everything was particularly cleaned up. It has to be the work of an absolute professional. No personal things left, nothing.”

Sho sighs. “There is not much in his personal documents either. No hint about what they have in common. Besides their tattoo…”

“About that…” Nino starts carefully.

Sho looks up. “You found a trace?”

“Well, I’ve looked into this tattoo. Kiko-san actually had the idea that it could be a private club for an underground place.” Nino explains, leaving out Daphne or rather Aiba, and Nagase’s involvement. Sho doesn’t need to know everything.

“And is there one?” Sho asks.

“Yes, but I need to look into it further.”

Sho frowns, checking Nino from head to toe. “Be careful,” he finally says. “I know you have weird friends, and I don’t approve of your methods, but as long as you are staying safe, I won’t intervene. However I won’t always be able to get you out of your shit.”

Nino nods half-heartedly, getting up to stretch his limbs. His stupid back, whenever he kneels for too long it aches. When he steps to the side, something beneath his feet squeaks. “Did you hear that?” he asks carefully, for a moment believing it were his rusty bones.

Sho nods, his eye glinting slightly. “A lose floorboard,” he says, tugging at it on the floor. Nino is down on his knees again, helping him. “A little hiding spot a kid would have…”

They both look into the little black hole on the ground and Sho carefully stretches his hand into it. What he reveals is a small black book. “A notebook,” Nino mumbles.

Sho takes a deep breath. “I trust you, Kazunari.”

Nino looks at him earnestly. It’s rare for Sho to use his first name during work. “I know.”

“You are my oldest friend, I know you since college. I know you won’t betray me, but I am serious… and I’m not stupid. An underground club means drugs, sex and mafia.” Nino looks at him in surprise, he has forgotten how sharp Sho’s mind actually is and how easily he can connect loose threads. “Be careful. I won’t be able to save your ass if you get too deeply involved.” He sighs. “I trust you,” he repeats before handing Nino the notebook. “Yours and Kiko-san’s case now. Watch out for her.”

Nino takes the notebook, his heart jumping nervously. Sho has never talked to him so openly and voiced his concerns so clearly. He knows Sho can’t approve of his methods, but at the same time he secretly supports him because they are old friends and he knows Nino just wants to help. But Nino can’t take advantage of their friendship and of Sho’s position. He is on his own in this case now, Sho handed him the responsibility for it. He can’t disappoint him.

When Nino opens the notebook most of the sites have been ripped out. Seems like this guy himself was careful too not to leave any traces. But there is one site that has something written on it. An address.

~~~

Kiko obviously has the time of her life when she accompanies Nino to Aiba’s place. “I can’t believe you know a drag queen,” she breaths out. “So cool.”

Nino would have preferred to go on his own, but he has learned one thing over the past years, namely that field missions alone are a very stupid idea. And he doesn’t mind Kiko’s company much. Still the best choice for his work-partner.

“Come in,” Aiba says when he opens the door for them.

Kiko looks disappointed. “You look so normal,” she states bluntly.

Aiba grins. “Give me an hour, darling, and I’ll be a better woman than you’ll ever be!”

Nino rolls his eyes when he sees the sudden interest in Kiko’s eyes. Deep inside her there is probably a drag queen resting too. Aiba was not kidding though when he said an hour. Much to Nino’s horror these two take even longer than that. Once they are finished, Aiba is in costume, looking flashy, but not as flashy as on stage, and Kiko looks equally sparkly. They both turn to look at him. “You are not thinking about wearing this suit, are you?” Aiba, or rather Daphne, asks with a frown.

Nino blinks. “Why not?”

“This is an underground, top-notch it-club,” Aiba breaths out, before opening some drawers of his cupboard and looking through his clothes. Nino is not surprised to see quite some items in there, it seems like Aiba has a thing for fashion.

He throws a pair of black ripped jeans towards Nino, a tight silver tank-top and a glittery pink jacket. “No,” Nino states.

Aiba frowns. “What do you mean "no"?”

“I’m not walking around like a gigolo,” Nino answers.

Kiko throws him a pitiful glance. “If black ripped trousers and some glitter make you feel like a gigolo…”

Nino blushes. He would never admit being embarrassed by her teasing though, but still… is he really that much of an old man? “I’m okay with the pants and the top, but I hate pink!” he lies.

Aiba dives into his wardrobe again before proudly showing him the same jacket, just in grey. “Are you okay with this one?”

No, Nino thinks. Glitter, grey, ugly. “Yeah, okay.” There is no way he will let these two believe that he is some sort of pathetic old bore.

Aiba nods contently before throwing an additional wristband with Swarovski crystals, a black belt and a choker towards him. Nino ignores the choker and grabs the rest to switch into it. If he believed that was it, he was wrong though because the moment he steps out of the bathroom, Kiko starts covering his hair with styling spray and Aiba colours strands of it in dark blue.

Nino swears to himself he is going alone the next time!


~~~

They are driving to the club with a taxi. It’s surprisingly not in Shibuya, not in Roppongi, and not in any other of the very popular parts of Tokyo. Instead they drive to a more business-like area.

Located on the top of a hill and looking over huge parts of Tokyo, and in between a few business buildings there is a huge building, glass windows, mirrored, a security man at the door, an extra parking service and everything you would normally expect from an expensive hotel, not from a club.

Nino swallows. Aiba was right, he would have never been able to enter this without him. Against his normally so snarky and confident attitude he feels weirdly nervous when he follows Aiba through the entrance and down some stairs. Upstairs there is a bar with quite some fancy looking women and men talking and drinking. The audience is mixed: women, men, young, old. All of them however seem to be on the wealthy side. Downstairs there is the host club. Nino immediately realizes because of the well-dressed young women and men, chatting and smiling. They are dazzling.

To his surprise Aiba leads them through the whole club and to the other side. “A storage room?” Nino asks in surprise.

Aiba chuckles, knocking at the door. A man with broad shoulders and serious look opens it, looking at them before nodding towards Aiba. “Daphne-san, you brought guests?”

“Yes,” Aiba chuckles and clings to Nino’s and Kiko’s arms. “They belong to me. Aren’t they cute?”

The man looks at them, before nodding. “They may enter.”

Nino’s heart beats fast while he follows Aiba through an only dimly lit staircase further down, until they step through a red curtain and into a huge area. The first thing Nino spots is the logo of the red rose painted on the walls. He swallows, it’s exactly the same as on the victims’ bodies.

The area itself is divided into a huge room and a few smaller ones. There are some separated by doors and curtains, and Nino assumes those are the ones with the kinky stuff going on. The hosts down here are more flashy, more conspicuous, prettier. And just as Aiba said, some of them are wearing collars, some of them cat-ears. There is even a flogging cross somewhere in the room, which makes Nino feel weirdly uncomfortable.

“Come, let’s go to a free space and order drinks,” Aiba says, and both Nino and Kiko nod.

Nino is glad that he is with someone who knows his way. Aiba leads them to a corner, waving to some people he apparently knows and joking with them, before pulling them to a corner with a sofa made of red velvet, and a glass table with little polished glass pearls shining through. They order daiquiri, because apparently something like beer is forbidden here. Only fancy drinks.

“I feel out of place,” Kiko whispers towards Nino.

“You feel out of place?” Nino answers lowly. “What should I say then?”

This is like a different world. And he doesn’t belong here. He belongs to the bar right around the corner to his apartment with the bulky tables and the wooden stools, with beer. He might even belong to the elegant but casual wine bar down the street of their office. And to the ramen store right next to his apartment. Maybe even to the edgy music club. But definitely not here.

He tries to remain calm and soothe his nerves. Kiko seems to relax soon, and even starts roaming around, leaving him and Aiba alone.

Nino let’s his gaze wander around, still feeling overwhelmed and not expecting much. That’s when he sees him. He will remember this moment forever. The first time they met.

~~~

Nino’s eyes are glued to the tall young man with chestnut brown hair, worn in a stylish cut that lets his hair fall over his ears. Parts of his hair are braided, with little pearls woven into, glittering whenever light hits his hair. He is dressed in tight black trousers with a blue silk shirt that is halfway unbuttoned, and a sparkling belt wrapped around the trousers and his shirt, accentuating his small waist.

Beautiful. He is so beautiful. Almost exotic.

Nino frowns when a man shoves himself between him and the dazzling creature and blocks his view. “Daphne-san and friends!”

“Ah,” Aiba smiles brightly. “It’s nice to see you here, Oguri-san. You look great.”

Oguri chuckles. “Same back to you.” His gaze shifts to Nino, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. Nino looks at him in surprise. Yes, Aiba was right, he looks good, but nothing compared to the beautiful guy in front of him. “Saw something interesting?” Oguri asks knowingly.

Nino blinks in surprise, shocked that Oguri is so sharp in his intuition but then it’s probably his job to understand what the customers here want. Aiba’s head perks up. “Really? You saw something interesting?” He smiles brightly. “Oguri is one of the managers here. Why don’t you tell him who you like?”

“Like is too much to say,” Nino says, not ready to give up his guard so soon.

Oguri snorts. “This is a host club, we want you to like what you see. Daphne-san has helped us out a lot before when we needed performers. If you tell me who caught your eyes, I’ll introduce you.”

Nino swallows, his eyes gliding through the room again. The young man is leaning against the bar now, talking to a smaller man in a suit. “He kind of caught my eye.” He says reluctantly, because curiosity just won over him.

Oguri looks into the direction he points at, raising his eyebrows. “Matsumoto,” he states. “Of course. He is one of our hosts.”

Duh. Nino has to hold back not to roll his eyes or to bite out a snarky comment. What else it this flashy guy supposed to be if not a host!?

“I saw him before too,” Aiba says dreamingly. “But he is hard to talk to.”

“Well, he is one of our top five.” Oguri lets out a deep sigh. “That’s the problem. Our top five hosts are not easy to get. They have their own managers and schedules.”

“The man there… in the suit…” Nino looks at the two men again. The man in the suit is pretty small, not particularly beautiful, but with a pair of strong eyes.

“Ohno-san, Matsumoto’s manager.”

“Are you seriously calling these men ‘manager’?” Nino wants to know, wincing slightly when Aiba kicks him under the table. He forces a smile to his lips. “They…eh… could be hosts themselves.”

Oguri relaxes again at his statement, and nods, laughing.

Manager, Nino thinks, they call them managers, but in the end they are just procurers, taking advantage of young guys and women and their financial situation and selling them to strangers. They are just procurers.

“Can you introduce us?” Aiba asks.

“I’ll try,” Oguri says. “But Ohno-san is very strict and doesn’t like it when his host visits random guests.”

Nino watches how Oguri approaches this Ohno-guy and talks to him. Ohno frowns while they talk, every sign of his body language fending Oguri off, as it seems. Matsumoto however turns around for a moment, looks at him and Nino can’t help but to smile warmly. Matsumoto seems to be surprised. To say the truth Nino has no idea why he was immediately so obsessed with Matsumoto. It's just… something in his eyes touched him from the first moment on.

Apparently Oguri wasn’t successful with asking Ohno for his okay to let Matsumoto come and talk to them. It’s a pity but Nino has to focus and think of his work. For now however all he can do is roam a bit around and watch, and listen. People are not talking about a killed regular customer though, which is very suspicious. He is sure that these people are connected to this club, not only because of the tattoo, but Nino’s intuition just rings. He knows it.

He sighs slightly when he goes to the bathroom for a few minutes, his head hurting because of all the impressions and the many questions flying around in his head. Just who the hell are these four people who died?

“Hello.”

Nino blinks when he hears a voice behind him, turning around and almost stumbling backwards when he looks into a pair of dark, intense eyes. It’s... “You are Matsumoto-san, am I right?”

The latter nods and bows. “Please call me Jun.”

“Jun-san…” Nino mumbles, checking the man in front of him. He is even more dazzling close to him, and the look in his eyes makes the blood in Nino’s eyes boil in a way he hasn’t felt for a while now. “I’m Ninomiya. Call me Nino if you like.”

“Oguri-san told me you and your company would like to meet me. I’m sorry I couldn’t follow you request.” He smiles a crooked smile.

“Thank you for telling me in person,” Nino stutters, something about Jun’s presence making him feel nervous. Jun smiles slightly. He has this perfect smile that Nino immediately knows can only be fake. Like he tries to look warm and happy, and actually just wants to run. “I hope I didn’t give you any troubles?”

Jun shakes his head. “No,” he says, and probably lies. He smiles once more, about to turn around.

“You are leaving already?” Nino asks, feeling disappointed.

“Satoshi-san forbid me to speak with you,” Jun explains. Satoshi? Probably this Ohno-guy. Nino frowns. He already feels deeply suspicious of that person. “That’s why I need to hurry back.”

“Is he treating you well?” Nino asks. A stupid question. A procurer never treats his prostitutes well.

Jun looks at him for a while. “He is tensed,” he says, without answering Nino’s question directly. “Since a host went missing last week he is even stricter than usual.” He bows. “Please excuse me.”

Nino stares at him when he leaves the restroom, his eyes looking at the place Jun was standing even minutes after he left. A host went missing? A host? Not a customer, but someone who worked here!? Which is why… none of the guests is nervous. They don’t even know.

Nino’s fingertips are slightly tickling. He knows he shouldn’t, he knows it’s bad, he knows Sho would slaughter him if he knew, he knows not even Kiko would approve, he knows he shouldn’t do it because it might just lead to someone revealing his past, and up to now only Sho knows, and his chief. But still…

He hates that he is stuck in this case, seriously does, and something in his guts tells him he shouldn’t let Jun get away too easily. When Nino walks back to his table, he chooses the path that leads him to walk past Jun. It’s so easy and simple, he has done that a thousand times as a teen, and no one notices.

He lets Jun’s wallet slip into his pocket, carefully taking his ID card out later on before slipping the wallet back when he is fetching himself and Kiko a drink.


~~~


“He lives in Yokohama,” Nino muses. “Outside of Tokyo.”

“Do we have the exact address?” Kiko wants to know.

“Yes, it’s in the notebook Sho-san and I found.”

They proceed in silence, both of them following their own trails of thoughts. Nino’s fingers are itching, he wants to do something but doesn’t know what. At least he has a hint now about where to go, as he and Sho found this notebook the culprit probably didn’t find. Just, what will they find and who? And will it even help?

Then he has the ID from this Jun. He checked him, but there is nothing really suspicious about him. He can’t say that for Ohno too, as he hasn’t found any traces of him. But those procurers are pretty smart in making their traces disappear.

He lets out a sigh.

“What’s going on?” Kiko wants to know.

“Too much stuff,” Nino admits.

“Are you thinking about the pretty host?” she inquires further.

Shit. How does she know? Her intuition is really better than he gives her credit for.

“Don’t worry,” she continues. “He is really pretty. It’s normal to think of someone you find pretty.”

“That’s not the only thing,” Nino admits. “It’s more like… there was something about him. Something dark and alluring, and tough. But also vulnerable. Haven’t seen something like that in a person for a long time.”

Kiko grins. “How do you even know? Did you talk to him?” Her eyes widen all of a sudden. “Oh my god, you did! When how why?”

“When I went to the toilet. Met him there.” Nino frowns. “But his watchdog wouldn’t let him alone for too long.”

“You mean this Ohno-san?” Kiko wants to know.

Nino nods. “Apparently there have been hosts disappearing.”

“Wait a moment,” she blinks. “Does that mean that the victims might have been hosts?”

“Or people working for the club,” Nino frowns. “They might want to cover it up in order not to unsettle their customers, which is why no one knows.”

“And you think there is something fishy about this Ohno-san?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

Nino pulls the car over, driving over an uneven path, right towards a little cottage. He squeezes his eyes before he breaths in sharply. “Watch out,” he yells, pressing the accelerator and racing towards the house. Smoke. There is smoke coming out from under the door.

He is out of his car immediately, Kiko following him swiftly while grabbing the fire extinguisher from the back of the car. Nino kicks the door open, coughing when a cloud of smokes engulfs him. “Fuck,” he curses. He wraps his sweater over his mouth and proceeds into the house. The origin of the smoke is the oven of the kitchen. He switches it off immediately, opening it’s door and ripping all the windows open. His eyes wander over the ground, widening when he sees the figure of a person lying on the floor. He grabs the man’s leg and pulls him outside. Once his lungs get filled with fresh air again, he coughs violently.

Kiko smacks his back, supporting him by making him sit down and propping the guy on his back.

“Call an ambulance!”

“Already did that,” Kiko says in horror. “The moment you got inside. Reinforcement should come too.”


~~~

“Are you freaking nuts!?” Sho yells.

Nino sighs. “I told you, nothing happened. The check-up proved that I don’t have a fume poisoning.”

“You were just fucking lucky!” Sho scolds, his eyes sparkling in anger.

“If I hadn’t gone inside, our man would be dead now,” Nino points out. “We need him. He is our only clue. Sho-kun, we have nothing else but his address in this notebook!”

Sho groans in obvious anger and annoyance. “You are always so reckless, Nino-kun, always. One day you might not be so lucky! Try to understand that there are people seriously worrying about you and your wellbeing!”

Nino doesn’t tell him that for him there hasn’t been much worth living for except maybe his job. Sho at least has Keiko, and probably kids in the future. Kiko has her rich politician who at one point will marry her. All of them have family. He has no one.


Maybe that’s the reason why he chose to do what he did next: Namely search the beautiful host with the dark sad eyes with the name Jun, whose contacts he just happened to have stolen.

Maybe it’s the emptiness inside him that makes him go and look for him.


~~~

The address he was able to read from the cards in Jun’s wallet leads him to a hipster area in Shibuya. It’s more the backyard of the really glamorous front side of Shibuya, aside from the blinking ads, the annoying jukebox songs, the masses of people and the overloaded shops, away from the overstimulation. There are several apartment complexes, not the highest standard but not cheap either.

Nino doesn’t have a hard time to find the apartment complex Jun is supposed to live in. It’s one of the smaller buildings, but the apartments seem to have a balcony too. Nino settles in a small café on the other side of the street so that he can keep watching the complex, not sure what he actually wants to do now.

He has grabbed a newspaper so that people won’t get suspicious and ordered a can with coffee so that he can sit here long enough. Much to his surprise though, and very unexpectedly, his strategy gets rewarded, because not even 45 minutes into his little spying session, the door of the apartment complex gets opened and out comes Jun, followed by Ohno, which annoys Nino instantly. Can’t he leave his host alone, even for an hour or what?

Nino puts on his fake glasses with an attached binocular to it so that he can watch the scene properly. Jun looks exasperated, and Ohno too. Jun wears glasses, cute, he is dressed in simple jeans and a white shirt, looking good. Nino smiles. His smile falters though when Ohno frowns, his expression angry now. He seems to yell something (jeez, he should have visited that lip-reading seminar!), Jun looks mad too, and yells something back. To Nino’s shock Ohno suddenly raises his hand, obviously ready to slap Jun, making the latter flinch at the gesture.

Nino’s butt is already half lifted from the seat, ready to jump up and save this guy when Ohno lets his hand drop again and shakes his head. He leaves, and Jun suddenly looks sad.

Wow, this is better than the evening dorama program! He is sure Kiko would have liked it. Nino puts his glasses down again, wondering what to do when to his surprise Jun suddenly approaches… his… freaking… café.

Nino hurries to pretend to be super casual and relaxed when the door opens and Jun steps inside. Jun looks around until he apparently sees him, eyes wide in surprise.

“Ninomiya-san?”

Nino looks up, pretending to be surprised too. He knits his eyebrows in mock-pondering, before he nods. “Jun-san, wasn’t it?”

Jun smiles and nods. He is beautiful like that, when he seems to be all casual. “It’s a coincidence to meet you here.”

“Yes, indeed!” Nino chuckles. “I was in the area for work.”

“Really?” Jun asks in interest. “What are you working exactly?”

Shit. What is he working? Taxes – too boring. Teacher – no. Real estate – too rich. “I’m working for a publishing company,” he says.

“Ah.” Jun nods, gladly satisfied with the answer.

“Do you want to join me for my coffee and snack?” Nino asks with what he hopes is a warm and inviting smile.

Jun shifts around nervously, letting his eyes glide to the glass window. Is he looking for Ohno? Would Ohno mind? Would Jun get punished if Ohno saw them together?

“We could also go to another place?” Nino offers casually. “I need something proper to eat anyway.”

Jun looks at him for a while, before he nods with a smile. “Okay,” he says.

Nino’s stupid heart jumps in happy surprise.


~~~

Nino doesn’t know much about food, but Sho is his – probably only – friend. And jeez, he is gluttonous. He eats all the time. Everything. Not even a two days old sandwich is safe from Sho. He is a walking restaurant guide on top of that because he has eaten at every single place in Tokyo. Nino never thought it would come in beneficial for him to have half-heartedly listened to Sho’s endless food rants about why this or that place was better than the other, and why their wine was the best, and how awesome they are for baking their own bread.

Now it appears to be more than beneficial. Who would have thought that Sho’s never ending hole in his stomach would help him one day?

“This tastes wonderful,” Jun squeals. His usually so stoic face is suddenly wearing an almost silly expression while he is digging into his pasta. Normally, Nino hates watching other people eat, it’s a pet peeve, nothing else, but he doesn’t mind watching Jun. Boy, he has beautiful plump lips. Can’t he suck his dick instead of these noodles here?

Jun looks at him with a smirk, and a teasing spark in his eyes. “Like what you see?”

Nino feels like he has only two options now that Jun discovered him staring: die on the spot out of embarrassment or just be his usual self. He goes for the latter, obviously. “Yes.”

Jun blinks in surprise, a slight blush spreading over his cheeks.

“And you?” Nino asks, going for a laidback tone.

Jun stares at him in bewilderment before he regathers his composure. “You aren’t bad either,” he states casually.

Hm, interesting slip, Nino thinks. Like a prickly cactus with a fluffy marshmallow inside. He wonders if he can poke Jun a bit more. To his surprise though it’s not him who needs to poke Jun but Jun pokes him. Namely when they are in the elevator back down from the restaurant.

“You find me hot because I’m a host,” Jun states with a flat voice and a matter-of-fact tone.

Nino laughs. Because it’s ridiculous, really. He has never had a thing for the flashy nightlife. “No.” Nino rolls his eyes. “Doesn’t work on me at all.”

“What do you like then?” Jun asks curiously.

Nino looks at him, takes in his expression before looking into his eyes. They’re beautiful, and deep and pull him in. The reason they pull him in and don’t let Nino go anymore is… “You look so sad.”

Nino is confused, for a second, but then he gets swept along with Jun suddenly surging forward and smashing their lips together. He doesn’t understand where this is coming from, but he doesn’t mind. Jun’s lips are sinful, and this little mole beneath them was all over Nino’s mind for the last week. Now he can finally kiss it.

He sucks at Jun’s lips like it’s actually a competition. Well… maybe it is because Jun is kissing him just as eagerly as he does. When they draw apart both of them are panting. “We should take this somewhere else,” Jun says.

“My place is too far away. Yours?”

Jun shakes his head. “No, not possible.”

Of course not, this Ohno guy is still around. “There is a love hotel around the corner,” Nino offers, though that’s not his thing actually.

Jun seems to like the idea though. He chooses the oriental prince and princess room for them. Nino would have cringed at it if the other choices weren’t the zoo-room, the dinosaur room, the Hello Kitty or sparkly unicorn one, and the Star Wars special rooms. In comparison to them the oriental one doesn’t sound too bad.

Once inside Jun bursts into giggles though because of the many scarfs hanging around, all as colourful as possible and a bed shaped in the form of a huge circle with what felt like one million lavender-coloured pillows on it.

“I bet they have quite some massage oils too,” Nino points out. He winks towards Jun.

“What?” Jun catches on. “Does my prince~ want me to give him a massage? He has to be tired after battle!”

“Oh, the battle is still in front of me,” Nino decides to go for the lame joke with a grin. It works because Jun bursts into laughter.

Nino smiles. What instantly drew him to Jun was the vulnerability in his eyes, but he is truly stunning when he is laughing openly. Reaching out his hands he grabs Jun’s face, looking at him intensely before kissing him again.

When he carefully leads Jun towards the bed a shocking thought strikes him. So shocking that he needs a moment to grasp it, and it doesn’t help to feel Jun’s lips sucking his neck, and probably leaving a prominent hickey there, when he tries to wrap his mind around what he actually wants. He is not that much of a control freak like Sho, but yes, he likes to have control over his life, especially his private life. Hence he is probably the most surprised when he strips of his shirt, and lies down on the bed, on his back, and reaches out his arms.

He wants to give up control. This thought should probably scare him to hell, but it doesn’t. Especially not when Jun looks at him with huge eyes. “Is it really okay like that?” Jun whispers.

Nino smiles. “We can always do it the other way. Because no matter what and how, I really want you.”

Jun’s lips tug, but as so often it isn’t clear if he is smiling or not. “Are you happy, Jun-san?” Nino asks softly when Jun straddles his hips and bends down to him.

Jun doesn’t answer, just kisses him.

Nino had more than enough sex partners in his life. He had his first time when he was thirteen, and experimenting with his buddy Yamapi back then. He doesn’t expect everyone to be as prudent as he is, but he is surprised that Jun seems to be almost a bit unsure in what he does. If Nino weren't so experienced, he wouldn’t realize, because Jun covers his insecurities well. His lips are warm against Nino’s body, his tongue licking at sensitive parts, sucking at his nipples, fingers touching his sides. The touch is soft, almost ticklish, but at the same time Jun contrasts his light touches by rubbing with his thumbs over Nino’s stomach.

Nino closes his eyes, enjoying Jun’s touches more than he probably should. He can’t remember the last time he felt like this when someone kissed and touched him, and he doesn’t understand why he feels that way. He doesn’t even know Jun, he doesn’t understand why he feel so drawn to him. Nino opens his eyes again, looking directly into Jun’s. They are darker now, lust clouding the sad expression, but it’s still there. “Are you happy, Jun-san?” Nino whispers.

Jun buries his head in Nino’s neck, before slipping downwards. When Jun takes his cock in his mouth and starts sucking him off, Nino sees stars behind his closed eyelids. “Jun.” He grabs a bunch of Jun’s hair, whatever he can reach while he bucks his lips. He can feel Jun’s lips forming a smirk, and slick fingers are suddenly probing his entrance.

“Don’t take too long,” Nino demands, wondering why the hell he wants this so bad now. He has had plenty of sex recently.

He wraps his arms around Jun’s neck when he moves up again, kneeling between Nino’s legs while he pushes inside him. Nino chuckles, wrapping his legs around Jun’s waist, and pushing back against him to have him inside him in one go.

“Fuck,” Jun curses. “You are too tight.”

“I don’t think so,” Nino chuckles. “You are just not used to fucking someone.”

“Yeah,” Jun snorts and bite into Nino’s shoulder teasingly.

It’s supposed to be a joke, but there is a hint of truth in Jun’s eyes, and while Nino adapts to the intrusion he wonders if it is actually true. Then however he has no time and not the concentration anymore to wonder about anything as Jun’s hips snap forward with more strength now, and Nino finds himself being rocked against the bed. He grabs the bedrest behind him to save his head from getting hurt in the progress while he pushes his hips against Jun’s forcefully to produce even more friction.

“You feel so good,” Jun whispers while he brushes his lips over Nino’s neck. “So good.”

Nino’s own mind goes dizzy, he feels how he is slowly being pushed over the edge. It could be longer and more careful, and not that messy, but he doesn’t care, because it feels good. “Are you happy Jun?” he mumbles in a weird daze, later on not even sure if he really asked it again.

Jun comes moaning his name while he continues pumping Nino’s cock until Nino comes with a shudder. And he is sure he called out Jun’s name.

~~~


Nino is more than a little surprised to wake up to the scent of pancakes. Does the love hotel room have a kitchen? He hits the bathroom first to clean himself up, and then when he follows the scent he realizes there isn’t a kitchen, but apparently Jun went shopping. “There is a café around the corner,” he explains.

Nino smiles. “Nice,” he states.

He sits down on the sofa chair, next to Jun, and it feels weirdly relaxing to do it. He is surprised how normal it feels to sit there and talk to him, pretending to be in his apartment and not in a shady love hotel. It’s like a bubble, a perfect bubble in which he isn’t a detective with a shady past, who gets closer to a host because he thinks he knows more than he pretends to, who didn’t go to bed with said person because feelings of attraction led him on and made him mix feelings and work. It’s a bubble in which Jun isn’t a host, with a dangerous procurer behind him, who obviously is caught up in something that’s probably more than dangerous, and who is involved in a series of murders. Nino knows he is, his intuition tells him, but at the same time he doesn’t care. He knows he should, but he doesn’t.

“Are you happy, Jun-san?” he repeats his question from last night.

Nino can almost see the bubble burst.

Jun looks away. “Here is your coffee,” he says and hands it to Nino.

Again, no answer. Nino wishes he could remain in this bubble for longer but he knows he can’t. It cracks with every minute that passes.

Jun looks at the clock, a look of worry on his face. “I need to go,” he says nervously.

“Because Ohno-san will be mad?” Nino asks.

“He is just worried,” Jun states with a bland voice.

“Worried?” Nino asks with a frown.

“He is very tensed at the moment,” Jun mumbles. “A lot of things are happening.”

“Things?” Nino wants to know.

“I need to go” Jun states, standing up.

Nino watches him gathering his stuff and putting his jacket on again. Before he leaves, he turns around though. “How did you find me?”

Nino blinks. “What?”

“Nothing,” Jun says quietly. “Bye.”

Nino’s throat feels dry all of a sudden. Did Jun know? That he was looking for him or rather spying on him? Did he-

He is up on his feet immediately, chasing after Jun. He reaches him when he is about to leave the building. “Jun-san!”

Jun turns around with a surprised expression.

Nino hands him a paper with his phone number. “If you need something or if something happens, please, call me.”

“Nino-san…”

“Please, just take it. In case,” Nino says insistently. “Please.”

Jun takes the paper, twisting it between his fingers before putting it into his wallet. He nods, turning to leave. Before he does so, Nino holds him back once more. “When are you working in the club?”

Jun shakes his head. “You shouldn’t get involved too much,” he says.

Nino nods, he figured as much. It’s just… he doesn’t care. “When are your working-days?”

“It might be dangerous for you,” Jun warns him, eyes wide now. “If you are smart, Nino-kun, you are going to stay away from me.”

“What if I’m not smart?” Nino says bluntly. “What if I decide not to be smart?”

Jun licks his lips. “I’m always in the club except for Mondays and Thursdays. But don’t tell me I didn’t warn you!”

Nino nods.

Jun seems like he wants to say more, but he doesn’t. He just leaves.

Nino says goodbye to his bubble, wondering what he is supposed to do now.


~~~


Nino is on his way home when his phone rings. “Kiko-chan?”

“He is awake!” She says breathlessly.

Nino doesn’t even need to ask who. He just hangs up, and runs to the next taxi, asking the driver to take him to the hospital. When he arrives Kiko is already waiting for him. “Did he just wake up?”

“Yes,” Kiko nods. “And the doctors gave the okay for us to interrogate him.”

Nino nods, following her to the room. The name of said man is Ikuta Toma. He is a young man at the age of 29. Nino has no idea what he has to do with the whole killing spree. He has no tattoo and he is working as a teacher. Everyone they asked seemed to appreciate him. Unlike the others he has a caring family who stands behind him. He has a fiancé. On the first glance there is nothing wrong with him.

“Ikuta-san,” Nino bows when he enters the room.

Toma looks up, immediately shaking his head. “Please don’t bow, Ninomiya-san,” he says, his voice still hoarse. “I know I’m only here thanks to you.”

Nino pulls a chair to his bed to sit down next to him. “If this is too draining for you, please tell me, and we can postpone the interrogation.”

“No.” Toma shakes his head. “I want to have this settled as fast as possible. I’ll help however I can.”

Nino nods. “There is police in front of your door and down in front of your window day and night. We have a special unit only looking out for you.”

Toma looks at him nervously. “Am I so important?”

“You are our only connection to a recent case,” Nino says earnestly. “A lot of people have already died. So, yes, you are important.” He pauses. “Do you remember anything from the day the incident happened?”

Toma smiles helplessly. “I don’t know what went wrong. I came home, and did everything like usual. I wanted to eat something, but decided to cook something later. I wanted to rest before, so I lay down on the sofa. I woke up to a loud noise in the kitchen. When I went there to look what’s going on, someone hit me on my head.”

Nino nods. It’s pretty close to what the crime scene unit told him. A hit on the man’s head, a broken plate in the kitchen – probably the noise Toma heard. He was hit from behind. He sighs slightly, pulling out a few photos. It’s the previous victims. “Do you recognize any of these people?”

Toma lets his eyes glide over the photos.

“Please look closely,” Nino asks. “Even if you just know someone from the supermarket it would already help us.”

Toma nods, checking each and every photo closely. He frowns when he sees the photo of the silver-haired man – probably the host Jun said disappeared – who was killed last. “He kind of reminds me of someone,” he mumbles.

Nino’s eyes widen. “Of who?”

“I’m not sure,” Toma licks his lips nervously. “You know, when I was a kid I lived in a town close to Beppu. A very small town. We were only a few kids back then. I and my best friend went to school to the neighbouring town with some other kids. He looks like one of the kids.”

“Do you remember the name?”

Toma nods. “Kubazuto Keito.”

Nino’s heart beats faster. Same name. Same name. It has to be the same person. “Do you know what he did later on?”

“I’m not sure,” Toma admits. “Like most of the other kids I moved away to go to university. But he had very rich parents. Jun’s father used to work for him. Jun was the best friend I mentioned before.”

Nino’s heart stops beating for a second, his lips feel dry. Jun’s father… Jun… “What’s Jun’s full name?”

“Matsumoto,” Toma answers. “Matsumoto Jun.”

“And do you know what he is doing now?”

Toma shakes his head sadly. “Ever since the accident with his parents happened I haven’t seen him. We were about to go to college. He was a really nice and happy guy. But after it happened, he suddenly disappeared, and I never saw him again. I hope he is alright.”



~~~

Nino’s hands are shaking when he leaves the room. He can’t believe the amount of information he just got from Toma. What he doesn’t know though is what Toma has to do with the previous victims. Maybe nothing. He has never been to the host club either, and Nino believes him. Maybe the problem isn’t his connection to any of the victims, but because he knows too much about the past.

He said that he is Jun’s best friend. Would Jun really do something against his former best friend? And why now? Why not previously? Or maybe it wasn’t Jun, but Ohno? What did Jun say… Ohno is tensed, Ohno is worried, Ohno is tensed… tensed… why? Maybe not because of the killings but because of someone maybe knowing too much.

Jun doesn’t look like someone who would kill his former best friend or try to kill him. But Nino isn’t sure if Jun wouldn’t be able to kill someone he wanted to take revenge on.

He halts in his movement. Revenge… What did Toma say? Something about Jun’s parents involved in an accident.

“Kiko!” he calls out. “I’m driving to Beppu tomorrow.”

Kiko nods. “Should I accompany you?”

“No, this time it’s better if I go alone,” he says. “It might attract too much attention otherwise.”

She nods. “I’ll have my phone on in case you need something.”

“Good. When I come back I might check on the host club once more. I’ll go with Aiba-san, please ask him to accompany me.”

“Okay, boss,” she agrees.



~~~


The weather is getting more and more humid. In the south it’s always a few degrees warmer on top of that, which doesn’t help much. Nino steps out of his car, drying the sweat on his forehead. Toma has given him the address of his old home, of Jun’s and even of Kubazuto Keito’s former place.

He goes to Jun’s place first, because his feeling tells him he might be the most successful there. The sun is basically burning down on him, and he wishes it would be winter again. Summer in Japan sucks.

He isn’t even close to Jun’s former house when he already hears loud voices and screams. Nino frowns, tightening his grip around his gun, and running towards the loud voices. What he sees lets the blood freeze in his veins. It’s a young black-haired woman, being surrounded by a bunch of masked guys.

“Get away from her!” Nino yells, grabbing his gun and pointing at them.

The guys look up, and Nino’s steps closer. One of the guys wears a tank top, his upper arms are naked. Nino frowns while his eyes glide over them. A tattoo. With a rose.

Before Nino can give further orders one of the guys grabs something in his pocket and drops it to the ground. Nino jumps forward to grab the woman and pulls her away. Smoke fills the surroundings. “What’s this?” she coughs.

“Smoke bomb,” he explains fighting against the urge to throw up. He covers his mouth with his shirt. When he glances back the guys are gone. Great. Nino grabs the woman’s arm and pulls her further away from the acid smoky gas.

“Thank you,” she mumbles. She glances at the gun in his hand, obviously unsure how to react.

Nino immediately shows her his ID.

“A detective?” she asks, eyes widening. “Thank god.”

“What is your name?” Nino wants to know.

“Inoue Mao,” she explains.

Nino shifts his eyes to where they are at the moment. Right in front of the address he was going to. “Do you live here?”

Mao shrugs. “No. But someone I care for did once. I come here once a week to see if he maybe came back.”

Nino’s eyes go wide. She knows Jun? Another person that is connected to him… and to the red-rose-tattoo gang. “Mao-san,” Nino takes a deep breath. “The person you are waiting for… is his name Jun?”

Her eyes widen. “Yes! Matsumoto Jun!”

Just like he thought. “Let’s go somewhere else,” Nino demands.

“There is a small restaurant down there,” Mao explains. “Normally there aren’t many people.”


They have barely managed to order something when Mao is already fixing her eyes on him. “Is Jun-kun alright? Is he in trouble? He is still alive, is he?”

“To answer your questions: I think so, I don’t know, yes.” Nino tilts his head, watching her expression.

She lets out a shaky sigh. “He is still alive,” she whispers. “I’m so relieved.”

“What is your connection to him?” Nino wants to know.

“We were neighbours as kids. And distant relatives. He was always so sweet, and such a good friend. One day he just disappeared, and Toma-kun and I didn’t know where he went to. It was right after the accident…”

It’s basically the same Toma told him.

“Are you looking for him?” she asks now.

“No.” Nino shakes his head. “But I stumble over his name all the time.”

“You know where he is!?” Mao exclaims.

“Yes, I met him coincidentally a while ago, while I investigated some murders.” He decides to be as upfront as possible. He might get more information if he is. “The guys that attacked you seem to be connected to these murders. Everyone killed had the same tattoo.”

“And Jun is one of them?” Mao stutters.

“No,” Nino shakes his head. He knows that much already. Jun doesn’t have a tattoo. If he is involved, Nino assumes his reasons are more personal. And he doubts Jun would hurt his previous friends. “Mao-san,” Nino says earnestly. “Maybe you could tell me more about the last victims?” He takes the photos he showed Toma out of his pocket and puts them on the table. Then he shows her Toma’s photo. “He is the only one we managed to save.”

“TOMA!” she exclaims. “Oh my god, is he alright!? He is not…”

“No, he isn’t dead. He also helped us a lot already.” Nino frowns. “Do you believe Jun-san could do something against him?”

“No!” she says fiercely. “Jun would never hurt his friends or family! He loved his life here, and his parents, and all of us. He was always sweet and caring, and wanted to protect everyone. He wouldn’t hurt us.”

“Even if I tell you that he is working at a shady place, and involved in shady things?” Nino wants to know.

“Yes, I’m still standing by my word,” Mao states.

“Do you know any of the other men from the photos?”

Mao lets her eyes glide over the pictures, her eyes widening when she sees Kubazuto Keito’s. Just like Toma she obviously remembers him. “Is he dead?” she asks.

Nino nods.

“Good riddance,” she huffs much to Nino’s surprise.

“What do you mean?” Nino asks in surprise. “Ikuta-san didn’t react that fiercely when hearing his name.”

“Toma-kun doesn’t know half of the things I know,” she explains calmly. “He moved away before everything went down. He doesn’t know, and I didn’t tell him the truth.”

“Why not?”

“Why hurt him and make him feel upset by telling him what really happened?” she says bluntly.

“Will you tell me what you know?”

Mao leans back. “You will take me to him,” she demands. “To Jun. I need to see if he is alright! Then I’m going to tell you all I know!”


~~~


“Isn’t this a huge risk,” Kiko whispers.

“It is,” Nino agrees. “It’s also our only option though. I told her that Jun works in a host club, though I’m not even sure what exactly he does. I promised her I would arrange a meeting.”

“Don't you believe she'll try to find the host club?” Kiko frowns.

“Yes.” Nino rubs over his forehead. “I told her that going there might put Jun in danger. And I think she is smart enough to know that going to the place would mess everything up. She also knows I still need her.”

“Yeah,” Kiko muses. “You can’t just trick her, because we need the information. Where is she now?”

“At the hospital with Ikuta-san.” Nino lets out a tired sigh. “Please stay with them while I visit the club with Aiba-kun.”

Kiko nods. “Is it safe for you?”

“I have no idea,” Nino answers honestly, still remembering Jun’s warning. “But I have to go there.”

This time it’s a lot easier to get into the club, they have already seen him once after all together with Aiba, or rather Daphne. “You know,” Aiba winks. “I know why you are here.”

“Why?” Nino asks while they order drinks.

“You laid your eyes on the pretty host Jun-san.”

Nino sighs. He is tired of lying, so he just nods. “Maybe.”

Aiba’s eyes widen. He is wearing pink eyeshadow and pink lashes this time, and went for a wavy brown long-haired wig. “So you are here because of him! I knew it~ He is hot.”

“Yes, he is,” Nino admits quietly. “But he also looks so sad all the time.”

“What?” Aiba blinks.

“Nothing.” It doesn’t make sense anyway. The others don’t seem to see it, but to him Jun looks sad most of the time. It’s not the expression of a happy person. Nino has been in a lot of bad places emotionally to know that. It’s this vulnerable look in Jun’s eyes that draws him to him. “I’m worried.”

“For this Jun-host?”

Nino shrugs.

Aiba lets out a hysterical squeal that sends a shiver of horror through Nino’s body. “You met him,” he states bluntly. “You and the pretty host might be a thing.”

“SHH,” Nino makes, frowning in annoyance. “Someone might hear you.”

“I can’t believe you are his boyfriend,” Aiba grins.

“We are not a thing,” Nino insists. “It just so happens that I met him coincidentally once and well… we talked…” No need for details.

“You like him,” Aiba teases.

“Oh shut up.”

Aiba nudges him with his elbow, and points at the direction of the bar. Nino looks up, eyes widening when he sees Jun. He is really here, and he looks stunning. Jun has styled his hair again, this time wearing glitter in it, and tight black trousers, with a glittery silver top. Nino swallows, Ohno isn’t around, so this is his chance.

He gets up, pretending he wants to order something. While he waits at the bar, he tries not to look at Jun or say something, but he knows Jun is listening. “Someone wants to meet you,” he mumbles in a low voice. “I’m waiting for you tomorrow at 10am in front of the restaurant we had lunch at. Believe me,” he adds. “You don’t want this person to come to this place.”

He eyes Jun out of the corner of his eyes, and Jun gives him a slight nod before grabbing three glasses of champagne and approaching one of the tables further away.

Nino waits for his own drinks to arrive, and carries them back to his and Aiba’s place. Aiba is suddenly looking worried. “Something is wrong, isn’t it? You didn’t even dare to talk to him directly. What is wrong?”

“I don’t know yet,” Nino answers. “But until I know we need to be careful.”

To keep up the farce they stay for a bit longer. Before they leave Nino excuses himself and goes to the toilet. He lets out a deep sigh when he washes his hands. He isn’t so sure why he came here. Yes, because of Jun. The feeling of him being alone here all evening is truly unsettling for Nino. Besides there are still so many questions.

He bends forward, splashing water into his face. When he looks up again, the blood in his veins freezes, literally. He looks directly into a pair of brown, dark eyes. A seemingly casual face that looks almost dangerous now. Ohno-san.

“May I help you?” Nino asks, pretending not to have any idea who this man is.

“Yes,” Ohno says, his voice calm but tensed, and it sends a shiver down Nino’s spine. Who the hell is this man? “Leave Jun alone.”

“Jun?” Nino blinks, deciding to play dumb. “Should I know a certain Jun?” He turns around to look at Ohno fully. The look in Ohno’s eyes makes the blood in his veins freeze, again. Even more than the first time. It’s like he is suddenly at the fucking Antarctic, his blood feels like the Arctic Ocean itself. Jeez.

“I’m just saying,” Ohno says in a low voice. “You will regret it if you won’t leave him alone. Stay away from him!”

Ohno doesn’t say more, but Nino has been doing his job and has also been in the shadier gang-world long enough to know when someone is threatening him. Wow, good job Ohno-san.

When he comes back to Aiba, Ohno is standing at the bar, and Nino is sure he is going to listen to what he says. Aiba eyes him in worry. “What took you so long?”

“I had an encounter with the ice ocean,” Nino says casually.

Aiba blinks. “What?” When Nino just shrugs, he grumbles. “Can we go now?” He wants to know.

“Yes, or I might catch a cold.”


~~~


While Nino waits with Mao at the place he scheduled to meet Jun, he isn’t sure if Jun really manages to come. He has told Mao that she should by no means tell Jun that he is with the police, and gladly she agreed. Seeing Jun is more important to her, it seems. But after the strange encounter with the Ice Queen yesterday, Nino wonders if Ohno won’t find a way to keep Jun away. Or maybe he doesn’t know?

Nino sighs inwardly, remembering the night he shared with Jun. Isn’t it weird? A top host working in a place like the Velvet Rose, but still he didn’t sleep with him like a professional. Nino has had sex with prostitutes before, nothing he is proud of, but it happened. Still, Jun was rather… like any other guy he could have met and brought to bed.

Why… why does a host who is not a professional prostitute work in a club like the Velvet Rose? Isn’t there something fishy about it?

“What if he won’t be coming?” Mao mumbles.

Nino sighs. “It can happen to be honest. I told you his situation is not that simple. If he doesn’t come, please promise me you won’t make any rash decisions, and instead be patient.”

“I don’t have any other options anyway,” she grumbles. “Don’t want to bring his life in danger. And-“ Before she can continue a slender figure approaches them, with black hair and dressed in a green wind-jacket. “Jun…”

Jun halts in obvious shock once he sees them, staring at Nino first and then at Mao. “Mao-chan,” he mumbles.

Nino thinks his eyes might plop out when Mao steps forward and slaps Jun so hard that he winces and turns his head to his side, his hand clasping his left cheek. Then however Mao suddenly clings to him. “I missed you so much! Why did you never message me or call? You idiot.”

“Mao-chan,” Jun mumbles, hugging her. It’s weirdly touching Nino to see the scene. “I missed you so much.”

“Why did you never call?” Mao asks with a shaky voice.

“I couldn’t,” Jun admits. “I couldn’t. Please believe me.”

Nino’s throat feels dry all of a sudden. Jun sounds so genuinely sad, and the way he clings to Mao is like he found something precious he once lost. Nino swallows heavily. Maybe Jun didn’t have a choice back then but to leave everything behind. Maybe he just wanted the people he loved safe.

He pats Jun’s shoulder. “Leaving you two alone,” he says.


~~~


Nino eats a cup with spicy instant noodles and half a tub of vanilla ice cream. He really should consider his diet though, he is not getting fat or anything, but jeez his stomach is like a little balloon. Even gluttonous Sho looks fitter.

He roams YouTube for a while until he finds a fitting workout video and is about to start it when there is a knock against his door. He opens it, more than confused to see Jun out there. “Jun-san?” he asks in disbelief. “How did you find my apartment?”

“Does it matter?” Jun mumbles, wrapping his arms around Nino’s body and surging forward to kiss him.

It does, but it doesn’t at the same time because Jun is all over him and Nino’s basic instincts win over his rational mind. He kicks the door shut before dragging Jun to the next best table, which happens to be the kitchen table, not minding to go all the way to the bedroom or the sofa. On his way he loses his shirt before pushing Jun up to make him sit on the table. He has barely managed to tug Jun’s and his own trousers down when Jun already wraps his legs around his hips, pulling him closer. “I haven’t… prepared…” Nino manages to rasp out breathlessly.

Jun pulls a bottle with lube and some condoms out of the pocket of his jacket. He came prepared. Obviously. Seems like his talk with Mao went well.

Nino doesn’t take too much time preparing Jun, and Jun doesn’t let him anyway. Nino has only two fingers inside him, when Jun already wraps his arms around his neck and forces him to act. Jun’s lips feel hot against his neck, and Nino gives in to his demands. Fuck, he is only human.

Soon he buries his dick in Jun’s heat, not waiting for Jun to adjust himself to the intrusion and instead snapping his hips forward. Jun doesn’t seem to mind the rough pace though, he drops his head back, moaning, eyes dark with lust.

Nino grabs Jun’s head with one hand, forcing him to move forward to kiss him. He bites down on Jun’s lip teasingly when he moves his free hand between their bodies and strokes Jun’s dick. A shiver goes through Jun’s body when he does so, his head dropping down against Nino’s shoulder. Nino pumps his dick with fast movements, similar to the pace his hips snap forward.

It only takes a few snaps of his hips and some additional strokes to Jun’s dick for Jun to come with a deep shudder. He moans out Nino’s name, going limp in his arms. Nino follows shortly afterwards.

Fifteen minutes. Wow, a real quickie. He feels like in High School again.

“Are you happy, Jun?” he whispers against Jun’s neck.

Jun rolls his eyes, and doesn’t answer. As always. “I need to go,” he stutters instead.

Nino nods half-heartedly, he knew that much already. It’s only when Jun left his apartment that he remembers his first initial thought again: How the hell was Jun able to find him?


~~~


“You look awful,” Sho comments dryly when Nino comes to the hospital the next day. “Didn’t have enough sleep?”

Nino snorts. “Yeah,” he says, wiggling with his eyebrows. “And exactly because of the reasons you are imagining now.”

“I don’t want to know,” Sho whines.

Nino grins. It’s easy to shut Sho up, he won’t ask bothersome questions for now. “How is Ikuta-san doing?” Nino asks casually.

“He is recovering well. Today the girl you saved was here to visit him. Seems like it made him happy to see her. She is still here it seems. It’s better for her to stay anyways, we can keep an eye on her like that. Seems like someone is after them.”

Nino nods. “I’ll go and talk to them now.”

He is about to turn towards Toma’s room when he hears screams and yells. His heart almost stops. He and Sho exchange a glance before grabbing their guns and rushing towards the room Toma is staying at. One of the officers there is unconscious while the other enabled the alarm. “Ikuta!?” Sho yells.

“Safe!” the guy answers. “But someone was in the building and went to his room!”

“Shit,” Nino curses.

Sho frowns. “You’ll go left, I’ll go right,” he commands.

Nino nods, rushing into said direction and down the stairs. His heart is beating faster. Damn it, how could someone come into the hospital, how did someone find Toma!? They have been so careful. How could the information leak? Only the police knows, and Toma himself, and Mao…

Mao. Nino halts. Could it be?

He opens the door that leads him to the backyard alley and sees a figure running through the darkness. The person starts climbing over the fence. It would be easy to catch up to him now. All of a sudden Nino’s throat is dry. He turns around, closing the door behind him again. He is about to go back upstairs when he sees Sho running towards him.

“The right side is safe,” Sho pants.

Nino nods, his palms feeling sweaty. “Left side too,” he lies.

“Damn it, so he left the building already,” Sho curses.

“Let’s go and check if he left something behind,” Nino offers.

Sho nods, and they start roaming the hospital for traces. But there is nothing missing, no documents, none of the nurses got hurt, Ikuta didn’t even see the intruder, nothing. It’s when they come back to the hospital room that Nino’s eyes fall upon a bouquet. He knows the shop that sells these flowers, it’s close to the Host Club.

Again, he decides not to tell Sho anything, pretending like the flowers were already there. Mao eyes him out of the corner of her eyes, and Nino nods reassuringly. She smiles in relief.


~~~


Nino offers to stay with Mao and Toma in the hospital, and Sho nods thankfully towards him. He is obviously glad to go back home to his hot Keiko-chan. Nino sighs slightly. Although he recently doesn’t have much to sigh about regarding his sexlife, all the other aspects in his life are a mess.

He offered to stay with these two because he is doing his own research now, and something tells him he shouldn’t spread the word about Jun and the issues in Jun’s and Toma’s hometown too much.

Toma is eating his dinner and Nino brings coffee for himself and Mao. She looks at him with worried eyes. “Jun is alright?”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

“Jun?” Toma blinks in surprise. “So it was him who brought the flowers?”

“It seems so,” Nino answers.

“Why didn’t he say anything?” Toma asks in surprise. “I would be so happy to see him.”

Nino and Mao exchange a glance. “I think it’s difficult for him,” Mao finally answers, sounding sad. “To me it seems like someone wants to lure him out of his hideout by attacking us.”

“What happened back then?” Nino finally dares to ask. “What happened between you and Jun and those people attacking you?”

Mao looks at Toma, then she looks at the floor. “Back then Kubazuto Keito’s family ruled the town,” she explains. “Jun’s parents worked for them, they were both lawyers. It seems like the Kubazuto family was involved in some shady business though…”

“Red-light mafia?” Nino takes a guess.

Toma nods. “At least that’s what everyone said.” He pauses. “When we were 17, right before Jun and I were about to go to college, his parents died. They were involved in an accident at the Kubazuto villa. Jun was crushed, and I tried to be there for him. But one day, months after the accident, he suddenly disappeared. Today is the first day I saw him again… if you can call it like that.”

Nino tilts his head, looking at Mao. “You know more, don’t you? You promised me to tell me everything when I proved to you that Jun is alright.”

Mao swallows. “You are right,” she says quietly. “I promised.”

“You will keep your promise?”

“Yes.” She takes a deep breath, looking at Toma nervously, like she doesn’t want to involve him too.

“He deserves to know the truth,” Nino points out calmly, and she nods.

“Everything Toma-kun said is common knowledge in town, but you know… my grandmother told me more.”

“And what?” Toma asks in surprise.

“Seems like the old Kubazuto had a liking in Jun’s mother. My grandmother was actually watching out for Jun’s mother because she knew the Kubazuto-family was up to no good. You know… prostitution, involvements with the red-light mafia and alike. But apparently one night the old creep was able to lay his hands on Jun’s mother. It seems like Jun’s father intervened and tried to save her. And then…” she pauses, her face pale.

Nino stares at her in horror. Revenge. It’s revenge. “Kubazuto and his men killed them? And young Kubazuto Keito, the bully, was involved in the killing too?”

Mao nods.

Toma looks at her in sincere shock. “Oh my god,” he mumbles, letting his fork drop onto his plate. “Oh my god.”

He doesn’t say more, but Nino understands his sentiment. Up to now he believed in an accident, just to realize that there were much more horrible things behind it.

Revenge. Jun wants to get revenge.


~~~

Nino has no idea what he wants to do now. He knows what he is supposed to do, but that’s not an option for now. He can’t send his men to Jun and get him imprisoned. When he recalls Jun’s sad, dark eyes, he knows he can’t. But he needs to do something.

“Nino-san,” Aiba mumbles nervously when they approach the club. “Something is off today.”

“How do you know?” Nino blinks.

“A feeling. And Shun wrote me earlier that day – you know, he isn’t a bad guy. He said that the hosts are nervous, and their managers too. Seems like one of the managers died a few weeks ago.”

Nino nods. Of course. When he met Jun for the first time, he said a host disappeared. It was a lie. Not a host disappeared but Kubazuto Keito, who was probably the manager or owner of the whole establishment. Jun, just what did you get yourself into?

“Do you think they’ll close the club for tonight?” Nino wants to know.

“No,” Aiba frowns. He is clad in a lavender coloured dress and make-up and doesn’t even look awful in it. Not even his purple fake lashes could do any harm to his dazzling appearance. “But I think they will make a huge fuss and throw a crazy event tonight, so that the guests and the rich regular customers won’t get suspicious.”

Nino shrugs and nods. He doesn’t mind much to be honest, all he wants is to see Jun and talk to him. So what? They can throw a huge party down there.

Five hours later he will have learned never to doubt Daphne's words ever again.


~~~

The music in the club is loud, thumping, and the guests are jumping and dancing like in a disco. Nino and Aiba get drinks right at the beginning for free. It seems to be some sweet red cocktail, which Nino normally doesn’t drink. But it’s free, so why not give it a shot? He empties it in one go.

His gaze shifts through the club, the loud music making his head hurt, and the masses of people dancing making it hard to move. “What the hell is going on?” he mumbles towards Aiba.

Aiba just shakes his head. “Let’s go,” he whispers.

“You can go,” Nino tells him. “But I have to do something here.”

His head feels heavy and hurts, the lights of the huge main room shimmering in rainbow colours all of a sudden. He grabs one of the chairs not to stumble. The people around him scream and laugh. Some even make out. There are some hosts dressed as cats and other animals, and to Nino’s horror it seems like in some rooms there are gangbang parties going on.

He sees a bunch of business guys and a few hosts making out, kissing, and licking each other. One of the hosts is already riding one of the men. Shit, what’s going on?

Nino turns around to look for Aiba, but the latter is further behind, not able to push through the masses of people, a look of horror on his face. He waves at Nino and shouts something, but Nino can’t hear anything. He squeezes his eyes, trying to concentrate, but his sight gets more blurred every second. It’s like the room is rainbow-coloured all of a sudden, like everything is emitting light. He can’t do anything else but wave and move together with the crowd.

Then he sees Jun all of a sudden. He is being chained to the huge flogging cross at one end of the huge room. And there is Ohno. He starts whipping Jun. Jun throws his head back, parting his lips, and it’s so wrong, but he is so hot. The crowd screams, cheering Ohno on. Or Jun. Or both.

The room feels so hot all of a sudden, and Nino can feel how his whole body feels wet from sweat, his clothes soaked. He yells and cries out for Jun, but no one seems to hear him. Every time Ohno’s whip cuts the air and hit’s Jun’s back, something in Nino’s head hammers. He needs to save Jun, he thinks, but he feels too sick to do so. Where the hell is the toilet? He needs water. He is so thirsty.

Nino clings to one of the men in front of him just to not drop to the ground and be stomped over. God, he feels like he is in a different word. The sight in front of his eyes goes from blue to yellow to green to pink to lilac to red to all colours.

He coughs, the sight in front of him suddenly turning black. Shit, now he can’t even see properly anymore.

He doesn’t even realize how someone grabs his arm and drags him away from the crowd. Everything around him goes black all of a sudden.


~~~


Nino’s head hurts like it has never hurt before when he opens his eyes. It’s like he had twenty shots of tequila or more or worse.

“Awake?”

Nino blinks, trying to sit up just to look at Sho’s face in surprise. “What…” he mumbles. “What happened? Where am I?”

“You are in mine and Keiko’s apartment. Gladly she is visiting her mother this weekend. As for your other question: How about you tell me?”

“I have no idea what happened,” Nino mumbles. “I was in the club to investigate, and suddenly I lost consciousness. I don’t even know how I came to your apartment.”

Sho sighs and points at the other side of the room. Nino turns his head, to his surprise facing Aiba. He is not in his drag queen outfit anymore, instead he is just… Aiba. A worried expression on his face. “Nino-kun,” he mumbles. “I’m so glad I was able to reach you in there.”

“You saved me?”

“Yeah, I was just barely able to reach you and drag you outside. Sakurai-san’s phone number was in your notebook, and I know he is one of the heads of the police. That’s why I called him….”

Nino frowns. “I still don’t understand.”

“I think it was the drink they served for free,” Aiba points out. “I didn’t drink it, you did.”

Nino stares at his friend in surprise. Drugs. The shitty sweet drink was fucking drugged and he fell for it and drank it? Now it’s clear why he saw everything in weird colours and also why he felt sick and thirsty, and couldn’t hear anything. “Did I imagine everything?” he asks. “The gangbang parties? The crazy crowd?” He pauses and swallows when he thinks of Jun. “The public whipping?”

“No, everything happened.”

“Fuck,” Nino mumbles. “You were right, Aiba-kun, you were right. They apparently wanted to compensate the rumours with a crazy party.”

He blinks when Sho suddenly coughs next to him and puts a cup of bitter smelling tea in front of him. “Kazu,” he says earnestly. “Are you losing control in this case?” He looks at Nino insistently. “Are you losing control?”

Nino drops back on his back. Is he? It could be possible that he is losing control. Jun, hopefully you are alright.


~~~

Nino has sworn to Sho not to do anything reckless. When Nino told him he was just going to visit Toma, Sho seemed to be relaxed.

“You look bad,” Mao analyses with a frown. “Jun looked bad too today.”

“You met him?” Nino asks, head snapping up. So he made it out of the crazy night at least somewhat alright.

“Yes, but he looked tired and drained,” Mao analyses. “I just… am really worried, you know?”

“Yes, me too,” Nino mumbles. “We need to find out what’s going on. I’m worried I can’t protect him much longer.” He pauses. “I kind of hope you have more information.”

“But I told you everything I know,” Mao mumbles sadly. “I wished I knew more.”

“Maybe we can go through the names again?” Toma offers.

Nino nods. “We have Kubazuto Keito. We already know him well enough from your past. Then we have Takenaga Michiru, she was 34 years old.”

“Never heard about her,” Mao muses. “But Takenaga is not that much of a special name...”

“Then we have Nakato ‘John’ Seichiro, he was 40. John’s his nickname. And Senri Riri, 35.”

Toma frowns. “Wait a moment, hearing the names now… it rings a bell. Kubazuto Junior-Takenaga-Nakato-Senri… and there was a fifth person too. They were always together. Kind of like a gang, just more serious. They were always around Kubazuto Senior.”

“Oh, you mean the circle?” Mao asks in surprise. “I didn’t know these were their names!”

“Circle?” Nino asks in surprise.

“Kubazuto’s closest friends,” Mao explains. “He had quite some men and women around him. Some were his bodyguards, some his contacts, and some he did business with. The closest of them were called his inner circle. It’s rumoured they were all involved in the so-called accident of Jun’s parents.”

“Five,” Nino mumbles breathlessly. “Who was the fifth? You said they were five…”

Finally a real clue!

“The fifth?” Toma frowns, thinking for a few minutes. Nino gives him time to think though he feels freaking impatient. His calm approach gets rewarded though as Toma’s eyes light up. “I remember,” he calls out proudly.

“What’s the fifth person’s name?” Nino asks, grabbing his pen.

“Sakurai,” Toma says. “Sakurai Sho.”


~~~


To be honest Nino wishes he would be drugged again. Everything is better than having to deal with the information Toma gave him. Sakurai Sho. Of course there are other people with this name, but the timing, the place – didn’t Sho once tell him he used to live around Beppu? – and… it is just too much of a coincidence.

If he were honest, Nino would admit that he is close to crying. Sho is his best friend. And for a long while he was his only friend. Way before Kiko appeared and Nagase, there was Sho. Sho who saved his life when Nino was just a thief and gang-member, and any other police officer would have shot him. Sho who gave him the chance to do something with his life. Sho who believed in him and up to now always supported him.

He is meeting him for lunch now, watching how he happily eats his soba, and chats about what he is going to buy for Keiko as an anniversary present.

Nino can only smile and nod, while his mind is going crazy. Sho looks so silly and happy – can he really be the same person who was involved in a raping and murder incident? His best friend Sho, and now he has to wonder if it’s all just a lie. Can he trust Sho?


~~~

Nino takes the afternoon off, he needs a break to get his head free. He thinks of all the things that happened the last weeks. He thinks about his meeting with Aiba that started everything, he thinks about Kiko who he spent time with because he felt lonely. Then there is Jun, who he fell so deeply for. By now he can admit it, he simply fell in love with Jun, though he knew he was dangerous and he knew he was involved in something bad. He thinks about what Mao told him. Then about Jun being whipped by Ohno, a man who Nino still doesn’t understand. About how Ohno threatened him, Ohno, who seems to be willing to do anything. Maybe it’s not Jun, maybe it’s Ohno? He thinks about Toma and how he spilled Sho’s name. And the circle, and how they are all dead. And…

Nino pauses. No, they aren’t all dead. Sho is still alive! His heart suddenly starts racing. How could he forget the fact that this seems to be about revenge!? Sho is still alive, and someone wants him! He is alone in his apartment, the perfect moment to…

Nino spins around, starting to run. He takes the first taxi he can find, praying he won’t be too late. Believe in Sho or not, it doesn’t matter, he just knows he can’t let him die. Even if Sho was involved in something horrible in his past, it doesn’t take away the fact how much he helped Nino, saved him, protected him – recently again when he was drugged. And if Sho is really involved in something, Nino wants to be the one to reach him first and listen to what he has to say.

It takes him twenty minute to arrive at the apartment complex Sho lives in. Twenty minutes is not long for Tokyo but freaking long when you know there is a killer around and going for the very same person.

Nino is not surprised to see the door to the complex broken open. He manages to send a message to Kiko to tell her to send reinforcement before he rushes into the house. Sho’s apartment is at the top, it’s a luxurious one. He truly deserves it though, as he worked so hard.

Nino runs up the stairs, the elevator is too slow. The door to Sho’s apartment is open. Nino grabs his gun, and pushes the door fully open, he jumps into the first room. No one around. The second room. No one. Living room-

“Drop the gun!” Nino yells. His heart misses a beat when he looks at the person who holds a gun at Sho. It’s not Jun. It’s not Ohno. It’s a tall, muscular man with black short hair. What is going on?

Sho is sitting on the ground, he has obviously fought with the man before, his face smeared with blood. He pants heavily.

The guy doesn’t move an inch, his gun still pointed at Sho. “I’ll kill you both,” he hisses. “The order was just to take Sakurai along, but I don’t mind killing you on the way.”

The order?

“What do you want from Sho-san?” Nino hisses.

“Nothing. We don’t want him,” the guy smirks. On his upper arm there is the tattoo of a red rose. A gang member it seems. “We want the crazy kid. And the crazy kid wants Sakurai.”

Nino licks over his lips, trying to keep his senses together. The crazy kid… Jun? So, it’s a trap? “You don’t want to kill Sho?” he asks.

The guy laughs. “We need him so that the crazy kid comes out of his hideout. We tried it with his childhood friends, but each time you fucking idiots intervened. He has killed four of our men. Sakurai is the last one on his list! I will-“

Sho looks up all of a sudden. “Jun-san,” he mumbles, eyes pinned to the door. “Matsumoto Jun-san.”

Nino blinks and carefully turns his head. The stupid rose-tattoo-guy seems to be surprised too. Nino’s eyes meet Jun’s. He is holding a gun, pointing it at Sho. He doesn’t seem to care that the tattoo-guy is pointing his gun at Jun himself now. He doesn’t seem to mind that he might just die himself. His eyes are empty, his expression blank.

“I knew you were coming for me, Jun-san” Sho says quietly. “It took me a while to get the names together and realize and remember who they are.”

It took Sho a while … Nino’s heart makes a careful jump. Does that mean Sho was never directly involved?

“I also know you won’t believe me that I have nothing to do with any of the things that happened,” Sho says quietly. “It wasn’t me, it was my father.”

“All of their sons were involved too,” Jun says with a hoarse voice, his eyes not empty anymore, instead dark with hatred.

“I wasn’t,” Sho mumbles, sounding tired. “Never.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Jun-san, I never ran from you, did I? I was always here,” Sho points out.

Nino believes Sho instantly, relieved to know that it wasn’t Sho but his father who was involved. At the same time he realizes it’s not the time to be relieved yet, not when Sho’s life is in danger, and not when Jun’s life is in danger.

Nino takes a step towards Jun.

“Don’t!” Jun huffs, tears in his eyes. “You are just one of them.”

“Yes and no,” Nino says calmly, knowing that every wrong word might tick Jun off. “I let you run when you were at the hospital. Do you think I would have done that if I weren’t on your side too?”

Jun swallows, his hands tremble.

“I got drugged during this creepy event at your club just because I wanted to know you safe.”

“This is all really cute and all,” the tattoo guy suddenly huffs. “But I’ve had enough.” He flexes his finger, about to press the trigger, but before he can do anything, there is a swishing sound, like a ball is passing Nino’s ear, and the guy suddenly drops to the ground.

“What…” Nino asks in surprise, exchanging a look of disbelief with Sho too. Jun’s eyes are wide in surprise too.

Who the hell shot that guy now? Someone who is able to use and own a gun with a silencer…

Nino eyes the doorframe, blinking in both horror and disbelief when he sees a well-known frame of a rather small built man, with a sleepy face but intense eyes. “Ohno-san…”

Ohno ignores all of them completely. He just walks to Jun and puts his hand on Jun’s arm. “Don’t,” he says surprisingly softly. “Don’t Jun. You don’t want to become that person, believe me. Sakurai Sho Senior is in the hospital. He is going to die anyways. His son has nothing to do with what happened to your parents. He is innocent. Don’t go further into the darkness, Jun.”

“I haven’t talked to my father since the incident,” Sho tells Jun. He gets up on his knees, bowing in front of Jun. “But on behalf of my family I want to apologize for the horrible things they did to your mother and to your family. I’ve worked years to gather enough evidence to be able to bring the rest of the remaining gang members to trial. I will not rest until each and everyone of them is locked away, I promise.”

Sho looks up at Jun, and to Nino’s relief Jun drops his arm. He cries, and Nino’s heart clenches. Ohno wraps his arms around Jun, patting his head. “It’s okay, Jun, it’s over now. Now you need to learn to let it go.” Jun clenches his fingers around Ohno’s shirt. “Let it go.”


~~~


Nino eyes the questioning room with worry. Jun is inside, and Ohno too, with Sho and one of their head chiefs. He wonders what they are going to do with Jun now. Kiko pats his back sympathetically.

When the door opens Nino is surprised to see Ohno coming out with a relaxed face, Jun right behind him. The chief of the Tokyo division shakes Ohno’s hand. Sho reaches out his own towards Jun, who seems to waver first but then takes it and shakes it reluctantly.

Kiko and Nino exchange a look of confusion. They don’t need to wonder for too long though because Sho waves at them. “These are the ones who were responsible for the case being solved so fast,” he says with a proud smile. “Ninomiya and Mizuhara.”

The chief nods contently. “Good to know that we have good men around us.” He bows shortly towards Ohno. “If you excuse me Ohno-san. I hope we’ll work together in the future, next time maybe with each other.”

Ohno nods with a smile. When the chief is away, he turns towards Nino. “Ninomiya-san,” he says. “Let me explain myself.”

Nino nods. “I can’t wait,” he says dryly, making Sho blush slightly at his upfront answer and Kiko grin. Jun, who has been looking at the floor tiredly, looks up at him too now.

“I’m from the Secret Service,” Ohno explains. “We were looking into the red-light mafia as a lot of their abused women and men went missing. Matsumoto-san is working for me. We went undercover together.”

Judging by the look in Jun’s eyes there is a lot more to this but Nino decides to ask him privately when the time is right. “And the killed people?”

“My doing,” Ohno admits. “Normally I wouldn’t have acted so dramatically, but I needed to make it as sensational as possible for the heads of the organisation to come out.”

Nino sighs. The Secret Service apparently has a lot more freedom to do what they want, it seems. Though he assumes Ohno was one of the higher ones there, and probably leading a special division himself. Weird though how the killed people are coincidentally exactly the ones belonging to the so-called circle.

“Well then,” Ohno smiles. “Please excuse my rough behaviour towards you, Ninomiya-san. I needed to act a role.”

A role. Nino assumes that during the last months reality and roles got a lot mixed up for all of them. He nods though and smiles. “I understand perfectly, Ohno-san.”

Ohno smiles before turning to Jun. “I see you in the headquarters next week.” He pats Jun’s shoulder affectionately. “Take a few days off and relax, okay? These were a few difficult weeks.”

Jun nods. He throws them a short-pointed look, before turning around and leaving. Ohno sighs slightly, surprising Nino again. “I apologize for him. He isn’t a bad person, I would lay my hand into the fire for him, he is just very detached and closed sometimes.”

“No surprise,” Sho mumbles, probably Ohno’s relationship to Jun reminds him of his own to Nino, though Nino begs to differ: He is not as difficult to handle as Jun! Though probably as reckless…

Nino listens to their talk for a few minutes before he decides to give a shit on what they might think of his behaviour, and hurries after Jun. “Jun!” he calls out before Jun can walk around the corner.

Jun turns around, apparently surprised. “Nino-kun?”

Nino swallows, not sure what to say. “Are you happy?” he finally asks with a hoarse voice.

Jun looks at him, blinking before he lowers his head and shakes it.

Nino takes a few steps closer until he is right in front of Jun before he hugs him softly. “I know,” he mumbles.

“How?” Jun asks with a shaky voice. “How do you know?”

“Because I’m not happy either.”


~~~


Nino calls Sho and takes the next days off too, then he goes with Jun to his apartment. There is nothing to hide anymore.

“Ohno-kun saved me years ago,” Jun explains. “When I found out what happened with my parents, you know, the truth, I was ready to do anything. I did some bad things, but he intervened and stopped me and took me with him. I found out he was looking into the case of my parents. He taught me a lot, gave me a chance to work with the Secret Service, and also told me to wait patiently for the right time to come.”

“A bit like Sho did with me,” Nino smiles. “I was just a lousy little thief working for the drug mafia. He saved my life and taught me to do something better with it.” He looks at Jun. “You were Ohno-san’s protégé and contact, right?”

“Yes.” Jun nods. “But he also really watched out for me and made me a proper subordinate in his division. I’m really working for them, and getting payed.”

“Is it really a coincidence that the men and women who died were the ones directly involved with your parents?” Nino wants to know.

Jun shakes his head. “It was part of the deal. I promised Ohno-kun to do everything I could and to stay patient and not act restless, and then we would bring them down directly.”

It doesn’t answer though if it was truly Ohno who killed them or Jun himself, but Nino figures it’s not really that important for him to know. He doesn’t care much if Jun killed one of them or not. He himself has killed before too. Who is he to judge? “Knowing them dead doesn’t make it better for you, does it?”

Jun nods sadly. “I thought once they were all gone, I would feel better.” He points at his chest, looking broken all of a sudden. Probably he has already been broken for years. Nino knows how it feels when you realize seeing the bad ones die won’t help you recover. “But it still feels empty.”

The doorbell rings.

“That’s our pizza,” Jun mumbles.

“I get it. Just prepare us something to drink,” Nino offers.

When he comes back to Jun’s living room, Jun has prepared two cans of beer for them. Nino puts the pizza on the sofa table and sits down next to Jun. He takes a sip from his beer. “You knew I was a police officer?”

“Yes,” Jun admits. “I spied on Daphne-san. And knew she was friends with this guy from the forensics. Then you appeared.” He pauses.

“I didn’t come to the club to investigate you,” Nino points out.

“I know.” Jun smiles weakly. “And I know you protected me a lot throughout the weeks.”

“Just couldn’t let go of you.” Nino says, surprised how cool he actually just sounded. Wow, that’s a once in a lifetime, really. It seems to work on Jun too because he blushes a bit.

Nino wraps his arm around Jun’s shoulder and pulls him closer. “You and Ohno-san went really deep into your roles.”

“It was scary to go so deep into the scene,” Jun admits quietly. “And then you appeared and we started something. And Mao and Toma appeared. And Ohno-kun realized something was off. He got nervous too, and was scared something would happen to me.”

Nino nods. Jun’s relationship to Ohno and Ohno’s tension make a lot more sense now. “He is a bit like a parent to you,” he muses.

Jun nods but chuckles slightly. “He was pretty pissed though. I think a tiny part of him was almost happy for this whipping scene the managers of the club made us go through, and the chance to punish me for getting involved with a police officer and putting our investigation in danger.”

Nino blinks. “So the whole whipping scene was real?”

Jun chuckles, pushing his shirt over his shoulders and revealing some marks the whip left there. They are fading. “It had to be real. They would have noticed if it wasn’t. But Ohno-kun held back a lot.”

“Poor Jun,” Nino says softly, letting his fingers wander over the fading marks, Jun’s shoulder and then brushes through his hair.

Jun smiles. “You could say the same about Ohno-kun. He had the whole responsibility and I was basically doing my own thing with you, and meeting Mao-chan, and going to the hospital.”

Nino chuckles. Seems like how he would have done it himself. “Can we continue meeting? Now that we gladly don’t need to go to that shitty host club anymore.”

“Well, you know where I live now,” Jun points out with a smirk.

Nino grins. “And you little sneaky guy know where I live too. How did you find out?”

“I borrowed Ohno-kun’s mobile and went through the folders of currently active detectives in Tokyo. There are only three Ninomiyas.”

Nino blinks. “Wow, now I can see why your Ohno was stressing out so much.” He smiles. “Our food is getting cold.”

“Hm,” Jun agrees, but doesn’t move an inch away from Nino’s arms, his own hand resting on Nino’s leg. “We can eat it tomorrow too.”

Nino kisses Jun’s temples. “One day, Jun,” he smiles nervously. “I want to ask you: Are you happy, and then I hope you will answer: Yes.”

Jun stays quiet for a while before he nods. “I hope your wish comes true one day.”


~~~

Five years later:

“Congratulations to the daddy!” Kiko squeals and clinks her glass with Sho, who became father of twins just two weeks ago.

Keiko laughs. “Just, please don’t make him drink so much so that Mommy needs to carry Daddy home.”

“No worries, Keiko-chan,” Aiba says with a grin. “I’ll soon have my performance. He will sober up then. Daphne is wearing latex today!”

“No,” Sho whines.

“My girls and I are thinking about looking for an agent to give us a debut with a CD-release and all,” Aiba continues. “What do you think about DDD as a group name? Bra-size connection intended.”

“Jeez,” Ohno says in horror. He and Sho worked together for a few times during the last years, and slowly became friends. “Please don’t.”

Aiba giggles.

Nino and Jun sit on the double chair, not really participating in their talk. Nino grabs Jun’s hand under the table, stroking it lightly. Jun is still pretty closed sometimes, but he has stayed in contact with Mao and Toma, which seems to have helped him emotionally.

Nino himself is a lot more ambitious now. He is probably going to be head of his own division soon. Jun still works for Ohno, he feels the safest with him, and Nino assumes he doesn’t want to lose another family member, although he isn’t really blood-related to Ohno. At the same time Ohno keeps him safe and away from too much trouble, which is good. However recently Jun seems to get more into working with the crime scene unit and for the research department, and Nino and Ohno both assume he will soon move forward in his career too.

When Aiba leaves to switch into his costume and reappears as Daphne on stage, they all applaud and shout his name. Ohno even smiles fondly at him.

Nino squeezes Jun’s hand and looks at him. “Are you happy, Jun?” he whispers.

Jun’s lips tug. “Close enough.”

Nino smiles. Not there yet. But almost.