Work Text:
Horadori Chikara was as furious as he was dumbfounded. His body shook with rage as he looked up at the ceiling, balling his hands into fists and stomping his fists in a purposeless tantrum. Somehow, when he wasn't looking, somebody had pinned all of the furniture in his office upside down to the ceiling. It threatened to fall right on his head at any moment but, barring that, he couldn't work under these conditions! Gritting his teeth, he decided that he would have to find someone to fix this immediately. Anybody would do. He didn't care if it was the person who was responsible for this or not. As far as he was concerned, everyone was guilty for letting this happen.
“You! Grab a ladder and fix my office or you're fired! Hurry it up!”
“R-right on, boss!”
That was taken care of, then. He would check in, let's say, in half an hour, to check how things were going. Until then, he would budy himself with something else. That is to say, pacing around the building aimlessly and trying to narrow down a possible list of suspects – the same thing he had been trying to do for the past week or so, with pitifully little progress. The escalation from this morning seemed more promising – nailing furniture to the ceiling certainly seemed like a task that would take some time, and was hard to do discreetly. The culprit must have left some kind of trace, and whatever it was, he would find it, and oh, he would have his revenge.
It started small. Hiding his spare shoes inside his desk, swapping sugar and salt so that he would get a nasty surprise once he tasted his morning coffee, turning his coat inside out... Petty little pranks that nonetheless managed to raise his blood pressure to a dangerous degree. Every morning, without fail, there was something wrong. After the third time in a row, it had become an undeniable pattern. After the fifth time, he was on the verge of a paranoid breakdown. He considered sleeping in his office. He considered not sleeping at all. There was no good solution in sight. None of the cameras seemed to pick up anything suspicious, and he wasn't going to spend all night wandering around the Institute with a flashlight. He couldn't be in multiple places at once, and nobody could be trusted to keep watch in his stead.
At this point, the only thing he could do was fight back. A trap! A trap was what he needed! The only problem was, of course, coming up with a good enough idea, and implementing it. A stroke of genius. He could feel it coming, fuelled by his rising anger.
Tonight. Tonight he would act. Early enough to make it before the mysterious culprit. Oh, they'll be in for a surprise! They will think twice before trying to mess with him again!
Ah. There was something he had to do first, though. It had been a while since he checked on the dungeon. It was about time to feed the prisoner. Maybe seeing him would serve as inspiration. The freak had a way of making him think the most spiteful and repulsive of thoughts. Disgusting shell of a creature, and yet still so stubborn and resistant, as if he had any right to be. Yes, it was time to check on him and stock up the fridge. Not that he would shed any tears if he starved to death.
Horadori Chikara entered the secret passcode and unlocked the siarway. He proceeded to fall down said stairway, along with the crate of canned food, after he failed to notice a banana peel at his feet.
*
Somebody was unlocking the door. Jin turned towards it with all the curiosity he could muster. Did Uru come back to let him out, after all this time? Unlikely. But if he did Jin would have to refuse anyway. He had grown used to his new living conditions and, indeed, strangely fond of them. The suffocating emptiness and darkness of the dungeon was almost comforting. He was like a rat in a cage now, and he knew that he deserved to be. Wherever Uru was, he hoped that he was safe.
He would have been surprised to see Uru, but he was perhaps even more surprised to see Horadori. Right, of course he knew how to enter the dungeon. He was the one who showed Jin the ropes a long time ago. With a bit of amusement, Jin noted that Horadori was perhaps even more surprised to see him than he was. Standing in the doorway, he did a double take, took off his glasses, rubbed his coat on them, and put them back on. Finally he squinted suspiciously.
“What are you doing here? Where's the other one?”
Jin offered a shrug. He wasn't going to tell where Uru was, and not just because he didn't know. Hopefully, he was far, far away. “I live here,” he said, truthfully, at the time being.
“You do?” Horadori didn't seem to care enough to question him too much. There was something comforting about that. There was nothing Jin hated more than the thought of getting preferential treatment. He wanted desperately to make him care even less. “If you got locked up in here with him, just say that. Get out of here,” he said flatly, pointing his thumb back.
“Oh, no.” Jin shook his head. “I'm fine, really. I like it here. I don't want to go outside.”
Horadori grimaced, eyeing him suspiciously. Finally he shrugged. “Whatever. Suit yourself. I brought you food,” he added, kicking the damaged crate past the door. “Don't get any stupid ideas, like starving yourself,” he added, though his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. “Do you know anything about the... happenings around here lately?”
Jin sat cross-legged beside the crate. “I don't know anything. I've been here all week.”
“Hmm...” He really seemed quite distracted. Maybe that was for the better. Jin wasn't sure how much he could get away with if Horadori was less passive today. Happenings around here? Wonder if it had anything to do with Uru. Perhaps it was better not to give him that idea. “I'll check on you later. Don't get any stupid ideas, like starving yourself. You're still the living symbol,” Horadori barked unpleasantly, and sent Jin the most twisted grimace that was probably supposed to be a smile.
“Don't worry. I could never forget that.” Jin subconsciously touched his cheek. The one with the birthmark. His life would be infinitely easier if he could forget about it.
Horadori left, closing the door to freedom once again. Jin sighed, relieved, and started sorting through the canned food.
*
Ryuki heard a mixture of voices coming from inside Brahman, most of them familiar with the exception of the loudest one, but all of them fell silent the instant he entered through the door. Three pairs of eyes narrowed at him, the eyes of everyone inside except for Gen, good reliable Gen, who was, as always busy in the kitchen. Of the three people at the table, he knew two of them – Gen's best friend Amame, and of course, Mizuki Kuranushi, fellow Psyncer. The third person was an unknown young man with a tattoo on his chest and slicked back hair. He seemed to be the centre of attention.
It seems like we interrupted something, Tama remarked inside his head. Ryuki scoffed, internally, of course, and out loud, he said:
“Good afternoon, everyone.”
Mizuki grinned, beckoning to him. “Come, come, sit with us, Ryuki! You won't believe this.”
Ryuki shuddered. He wasn't suire if he liked the sound of that. “What happened?” he asked, taking the last remaining free seat at the table, beside Amame, at an angle from the mysterious man.
“Lien was just telling us about the crazy stuff that's been happening at work!” Lien, Lien... The name rang a bell. Ah, that's right. Mizuki's partner in crime. They never met in person before, but he'd certainly heard about him. So this was Lien... “It was just getting good.”
Lien scratched the back of his head. “I don't know if it's getting good or getting worse. Ryuki, right?” He nodded towards him with a mischievous smile. Well, he seemed friendly enough. “There's been a lot of weird stuff happening where I work lately. I don't know what's going on.”
“Ah, where do you work? If I may ask?”
“Horadori Institute of Genetics. I'm just a janitor there, though.” Another name that sounded vaguely familiar. He must have heard about it from somebody at some point, but he couldn't remember when. He definitely had passed by the building many times before, though. “There's been some spooky stuff going on, I tell you. Clothes and shoes and furniture moving from around, stuff getting lost and ending up where it shouldn't, chemicals getting mixed up...” He winced. “Yesterday morning, we found furniture nailed to the ceiling.”
“You what?” Ryuki's eyes widened in surprise. “Nailed to the ceiling?”
Somebody got so freaky in that room their world turned upside down! Tama's voice echoed in his head. Their interests must be even freakier than yours.
“Yeah, I don't know how that happened,” Lien admitted with a shrug. “But guess who had to be the one to take it all down! The boss grabbed me by the arm and told me to fix it or I'd get fired. Took me the entire damn day. Good thing I'm on night shift today, I didn't have to deal with whatever they found over there this morning!” he added playfully with a grin.
“Sounds like somebody's having fun messing with the boss” Mizuki remarked, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. “Wonder if they'll get caught.”
“I hope whoever is behind this doesn't get caught,” Gen said from the kitchen. It was the first thing he'd said since Ryuki got here. It was such an unexpected remark coming from him, everyone's heads turned towards him with surprise in their eyes.
Ryuki gulped. “What did you just say?”
“Genny, is there something you want to tell us?” Mizuki pursed her lips. “Are you behind this, or something? If you are, don't worry, I'll keep your secret! I think that place should burn.”
“Haha,” Ryuki let out a tense little chuckle, “somehow, that's something I expect to hear from you, but coming from Gen, it was a surprise.”
“Oh, don't- Don't mind me. Forget I said anything.” Gen seemed tense, too, but clearly tried to sound relaxed to cover up his blunder. “It'd be interesting to see what else they do, wouldn't it?”
“I dunno, man,” Lien groaned, leaning back in his seat. “I don't care if anybody wants to mess with the boss, but it's me that's got to clean it up after. And he yells at me and looks at me like he thinks it's me doing it.” He put his hands up defensively. “It's not me! I swear!”
“How long ago did it start?” Amame asked suddenly, looking directly at him. She'd been silent the entire time until then. Ryuki glanced at her curiously.
Lien folded his arms over his chest and scrunched up his face, deep in thought. “Let me think... more or less a week ago?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “The first thing I heard about was, like... the eleventh, I think? Maybe the tenth? Something like that.”
Amame nodded her head. “That's what I thought,” she whispered, looking down at her hands.
Ryuki.
Hm?
Can you ask Lien if the boss he's talking about is Horadori himself?
Why?
Just do it! Can't you trust me for once? After everything I've done for you?
Ryuki cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Lien. When you say 'boss,' who do you mean?”
Lien raised his eyebrow. “Why, the big man himself! Horadori, that is.”
Well, Tama?
It's just like I thought... you'll want to hear this.
What is it?
Horadori Chikara was found dead at the Horadori Institute this morning.
*
Uru paced around Furue Jin's bedroom, biting his lips until they bled, which was when he switched to biting his fingernails. When the phone in his pocket started ringing, he ripped it out of his pocket and threw it at the wall, covering his ears. He had been doing it every time. The phone still worked perfectly fine, for better or for worse, but it developed a number of small cracks on the screen. Whatever. Whatever. Stop making noise stop it stop it stop it! Uru gritted his teeth and sat curled up on the floor, wailing, until the phone stopped ringing.
They'd been calling him every day. Strange people he didn't know, numbers and names he didn't recognise. He wasn't checking the e-mail box, but he knew there were messages there too. Messages not for him, but technically, currently they were his responsibility. He was Furue Jin, for the time being. And being Furue Jin meant people wanting all kinds of business with him. He wished they would leave him alone. Couldn't he make his art in peace?
Horadori Chikara was dead. Uru was the first person to discover that, when he peered into the dark room, intending to entertain himself by replacing the carpet with a glue trap. He quickly realised that he wouldn't have to. Horadori was dead, dead in a way that left no doubt. His body seemed burnt, though there was no fire. When Uru saw it, something stirred deep in his stomach. His priority was, it had to be, getting the hell out of the building as soon as possible. He considered moving the body, disposing of it somehow, but he decided to leave it be. Nobody could connect him with this, anyway. He had nothing to do with this.
It was almost frustrating that it wasn't one of his tricks and traps that did it. Not all of them were dangerous, of course, but he was planning to escalate. And a part of him couldn't help but wonder if the banana peel would work a bit too well. That was a large flight of stairs.
Uru tugged on his hair anxiously. It was convenient that he knew his way around the Institute now. He could sneak in an out whenever he wanted. But he didn't think he would be coming anywhere near it anytime soon. The police knew about the death. They were all over the place. They would probably fall into the remaining traps. Good. They deserved that. But he had to be far away.
They couldn't lock him up again. They couldn't. He wouldn't let them.
Wonder if Jin was still down there. He should be. Uru didn't let him out, and Mom was too busy to even visit the Institute. But Horadori may have. Horadori was there. He may have gone down at any moment. Uru wouldn't know the answer unless he headed down there himself. And he wasn't going to. Not now. Not ever.
The phone rang again. Uru rolled around on the floor, screaming, his hands covering his ears.
*
“Genny, can I ask you something?”
“Of course, Amame. You can ask me anything.”
Amame glanced at Gen. Brahman was empty, save for the two of them. “About what you said earlier,” she said, leaning over the counter. She wished that she could see his expression – without the mask. “You really hope whoever did all of that doesn't get found out?”
Gen seemed to shrink, hunched over the counter. “I guess I have to be honest. Yes. I have my reasons to feel the way I do. Maybe someday I'll tell you.”
“But you're not involved in any way?” Amame asked emphatically.
“Of course not!” Gen straightened up. “I would have told you,” he added with a hint of humour. Subconsciously, Amame smiled back at him. It was hard to be suspicious of Gen. “Why do you ask? You seem really interested in what's been going on. Do you have any ideas?”
“Nothing solid,” Amame murmured, “but too many weird things are happening at once...” She tapped her fingertips on the counter, trying to make a decision. Ah, hell. Why not. She could trust Gen, and he wouldn't judge her. “Remember what I told you about Furue Jin's to-witter?”
Gen hesitated for a moment. “About the time he got hacked? Yes? Is that still going on?”
“Mhmm.” Amame nodded. “It's not as regular as it used to be, but his account is still posting those strange QR codes. I hear that nobody can reach him by phone, and he's such a recluse that nobody seems to know where he actually lives, but that account keeps posting.”
“That's strange. What does that have to do with the death at Horadori Institute.”
“I don't know. It may have nothing to do with it.” Amame knitted her eyebrows. “But the hacking and the weird things Lien talked about started happening around the same time.”
“It may just be a coincidence,” Gen suggested, cleaning a tall glass. “Don't you think?”
“It may be. I can't explain it but I get the feeling they're connected.” Amame sighed. “I don't know how. But I want to find out. Genny, can I count on you to help me?”
Gen fell silent for a moment. He continued to scrub the glass clean long after all the little specks of dirt were gone from the surface. Finally he set it down to dry. “You can always count on me. I hope you know this.” He sighed deeply. “But I'll only help you for your own sake.”
Amame put her hand on his shoulder. “Of course, Genny. Thank you.”
*
18/02
He's dead. He's dead!
Everybody who raises against me must fall.
He's gone. He's gone he's gone he's gone.
I didn't kill him. But he's dead. Just because I wanted him to!
He tried to beat me at my game. Old fool.
Serves him right.
I went to talk to Mom again, She asked if I did it.
I said no. No no no. I didn't touch him. I didn't do anything.
She looked at me and didn't say anything. Mom, don't you believe me?
The phone won't stop ringing.
Shut up shut up shut up!!!
SHUT UP!!!