Ch. 5
No one was expecting Fukuchi to show up the next day. And he didn't. It was almost as if all of their positive memories and interactions with him over the last months were all faked and then erased. Even Teruko couldn't care less about the fact that he was missing. Jouno and Tecchou had never shared their secret intel with the others.
That morning wasn't very spectacular, the four of them spent the noon shopping, simply passing time until Jouno and Tecchou had to leave for their rendezvous with the ada.
--------------------------------------
It was already 4 pm when the two invited hunting dogs appeared at the detective agency's grillparty. The party was held in an empty space underneath dry pine trees right next to the nearest bay. For the members of the agency, it wasn't a long way as they only had to walk three minutes from their hotel, but the hunting dogs had to drive quite a while to get there, resulting in them being fashionably late.
Some of the ada members were already in mid preparations, while others simply sat down on a picknick blanket, playing cards. Yosano spotted the newcomers, she grabbed the nearest bowl with olives and approached them right away.
"G'day guys! Nice to see you actually came after being 2 hours late. Have some olives, we'll start grilling in 2 to 3 hours so make yourself comfortable in the meantime."
Jouno was about to reach for the olives when his friend stumbled towards the card players, nudging him slightly.
"Hey! Watch where you're going stupid!"
Yosano giggled as she asked: "Now now, where's your little friend heading off so soon? He completely ignored my poor food."
"Yeah, my 'little friend' is probably hanging out with his new bestie again, tsk as if he doesn't already have the best company with me."
As it turned out Yosano and Jouno got along quite well, mostly because they shared a common interest in well... sadism. Time flew as everyone got accustomed to the strong smell of pine resin and the sound of collective laughter, and before anyone knew Kunikida and Fukuzawa announced the dinner.
Everyone enjoyed their food, some choosing a classic steak, like Tecchou, Kenji or Naomi. Others preferred the vegetarian variant of grilled potatoes and vegetables, those were Fukuzawa and surprisingly Yosano for example. Of course, there had to be some extra people, those chose fricking sausages. Guess what, Jouno and Ranpo made a secret competition out of who ate the most sausages.
After a long time fighting over food (normal day in bsd), the evening ambience finally kicked in and everyone moved from the chairs and tables to the blankets. There weren't many so everyone had to sit quite close to each other.
The plan was: playing a game called "weretiger" with some agency members and the two hunting dogs. The players were Atsushi, Ranpo, Kenji, a drunk Dazai, evenly drunk Yosano, Fukuzawa, Tanizaki and of course Jouno and Tecchou.
First a narrator had to be chosen, to which Fukuzawa volunteered. Then the role cards were handed out and the story began. Everybody closed their eyes as Fukuzawa started telling the tale.
"Once in a small town, long forgotten and covered by forest, a horrible tragedy took place. The weretiger infection spread and many of the citizen turned into blood-thirsty monsters at night, searching a new victim every time the sun set in that once so peaceful village. But that wasn't the only mysterious and magical thing there. It was a place where witches, seers and many other kinds of magical creatures settled down. While the romantic sunsets let the roofs shine golden, the first nightly visitor awakened. It was the master of love, cupid. He wandered around the houses, ready to give love to two sad souls. You may now awake if your role card shows cupid"
Dazai chuckled at that due to the alcohol and opened his eyes, scanning the crowd. His eyes fell upon Tecchou and Jouno, who were neatly sitting right next to each other. He grinned; his hand pointed to both of them. After he closed his eyes again, Fukuzawa tapped on Jouno's knee and Tecchou's shoulder. They "woke up" and looked at each other, Jouno let out a silent sight. They were now "in love", meaning that if one of them died the other would automatically die with him. They showed each other their cards, Jouno was the seer (the game cards have braille on them don't cancel me I HAVE to write this with this specific game.), he reached out to Tecchou's card. He was a weretiger. Enemy cards.
They closed their eyes again and the game continued. Next was the seer, so Jouno chose someone who's role he wanted to know and Fukuzawa showed him the card, he found out that Kenj was the witch. Then the bloody part started, the story continued.
"...At midnight the city's four weretigers met to choose their next meal, an innocent civilian of this oh so pretty town. They wake up, identify each other and storm into one of the houses to take out their victim."
Atsushi, Tecchou, Tanizaki and Yosano opened their eyes, they all knew who they had to kill first. The world best's detective Ranpo. They decided quickly, four fingers pointed at the sweet obsessed man.
"After they violently tore apart the outsides and insides of their victim, they lick their mouth, they sure did eat well. Although a destroyed rest is left on the floor in front of the house. A rest discovered by the witch, who just wanted to grab some ingredients for her potions. She gasps at the sight of the body; she knows she has three options. Either healing the poor soul, seeking revenge by poisoning someone else or just ignoring it, she has one healing potion and one poison. Please decide what you shall do."
Fukuzawa pointed at Ranpo, as Kenji opened his eyes. Of course, a warm soul like his would never let a fellow citizen die. He raised his thumb, signalling to heal the dead man. With that the first round, or rather first night was over.
"After a long and eventful night, the citizens of gloomwood gather at the main town square. They find out that no one has been found dead, but there surely are still some suspicions, right? They may now be spoken out loud before the process will begin. You can vote for one person that should be lynched."
Ranpo hand shot in the air as he yelled: "I accuse Atsushi of being a weretiger. No one call tell ne I'm wrong after all."
Obviously, no one questioned Ranpo, even if they would've accused someone else that would've made said person suspicious. In other words, everyone voted for Atsushi, he was out of the game and his role was made official. The fact that Atsushi was actually a weretiger made Ranpo the most trustable person of them all.
Still, that certainly wouldn't last long. The second night began. As a couple was already chosen and still alive, cupid wasn't allowed to make more people fall in love.
The seer found out Tanizaki's identity as weretiger and said weretigers gave killing Ranpo a second try, since the witch wouldn't be able to heal him this time. And they were right, even though Kenji almost started crying when he found out he couldn't heal his friend.
Before they knew the next night was over and Fukuzawa announced Ranpo's death. But to everyone's surprise Ranpo's role was the one of the hunter, meaning that the moment he died he was allowed to pull someone else with him.
He stole a quick glance at Jouno and then decided: "Yosano shall die with me."
She who was drunk and found everything unnecessarily funny just snorted loudly as she said: "Oh Ranpo, if you want, I can show you how dying really feels after I dissected you ten times or moooreeeee ahaha AHAHAH"
Tanizaki grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back down before she was able to do anything stupid.
"Woah, calm down Yosano after all you can find out every role now."
And he was lucky, she did calm down as she heard it and the role could continue.
"I accuse Tanizaki of being a weretiger, source? Trust me."
Jouno made the next move, receiving everyone's attention.
"Well, I accuse Jouno because lack of bitches", Tanizaki countered.
"Ohoho so you really want to play this game huh?"
Jouno won the voting with his manipulative and argumentative skills. In the end it was Tanizaki who got lynched.
Two more weretigers down, only one left. One against three citizens. Seems pretty obvious, right?
Well, a rule that wasn't mentioned before is the third possibility to win. Of course, the classic two were the most common ones, consisting of either the citizens or the weretigers winning. But there also exists the opportunity to win as a couple, for that only the two people who were love-bounded may to survive.
The third night started. Jouno checked the last card that he didn't know about: Dazai as cupid. Jouno's half angry frown surely was a sight for all of the "dead" people watching the game.
Tecchou might have been the only weretiger left, but he was still able to chose a victim. Without hesitating he chose Dazai to be the next dead one. Poor Kenji had the hardest time holding back his tears as he had to let Dazai die.
Fukuzawa announced the end of the night and its results.
"The sun rises and on the way to the city square the last few citizens find the body of one of them laying in a pool of blood, Dazai, also known as cupid, has passed away."
"Isn't that what he wanted though?
"You're so right Yosano, but worry not I had this whole game planned just like this heh."
"Shhhh dead people don't talk! Anyways, hereby I announce the last lynching discussion as open"
Once again, Jouno was the first to say something as he pointed towards where he thought Kenji was. "Kenji shall be accused for uh... you see he nearly cried the last nights anyways, he would only be suffering if he had to go through more pain."
With a heavy heart Tecchou voted for Kenji as well, leaving only him and Jouno alive.
"And with this my dear friends, the round is over. Saigiku Jouno and Suehiro Tecchou win as 'the couple'. Congratulations." Fukuzawa revealed the results and everyone started cheering.
In the heat of the moment Yosano yelled: "And now kiss!!!"
Waiting with an answer, Tecchou curiously glanced over to Jouno, who looked a little scared. Still Tecchou was surprised, it wasn't his usual reaction. It wasn't the disgusted look he always got in such situations. But as none of them said anything, Tecchou decided to take over this part before Jouno would do anything stupid. "I'm afraid that won't be possible", he said in the coldest tone.
The tension resolved quickly, everyone was too tired or drunk to keep teasing them, and so after a few more rounds of Uno, the two hunting dogs decided to go back to their hotel. All the way back Jouno seemed kind of angry or tensed up at something, but since that was nothing unusual for him, Tecchouu just ignored it.
--------------------------------------
After they informed Teruko and Tachihara of their safe return (you never know), they went into their dorm. They were both quiet while they got rid of shoes, bags etc. When they finished Jouno, who still had his back towards Tecchou said: "Hey... Tell me why did you refuse to kiss me?"
Tecchou turned his head abruptly, but his voice stayed calm.
"I thought you wouldn't be comfortable with that."
Jouno now faced Tecchou, coming closer to him while his head was still lowered, so that the other wasn't able to fully see his face.
"Seriously? After all that happened this week? You must be kidding me." His face was now exactly in front of Tecchous, only a few centimetres apart, he was still frowning but an unnoticeable blush spreaded over his ears.
"What do you mean?" Tecchou backed away a little, only for Jouno to catch up until Tecchou had no room behind him anymore and his back touched the wall.
"God, I really cannot do this anymore."
Jouno placed his hand on Tecchou's chest, pushing him even closer to the wall before he closed the gap between their lips. His original plan just to brush them softly, but he didn't do the calculations with Tecchou's straightforwardness. Said man gladly took the invitation after quickly realizing what was happening, intensifying their kiss.
Just a few seconds later, Jouno pulled apart again, catching for breath after the unexpected reaction. He leaned onto Tecchou's whole body, his other hand resting on his colleague's shoulder. For a moment he was totally overwhelmed by the whole situation, his face was turned toward the floor. Meanwhile Tecchou curiously leaned his head to the side, still being in the same position as before.
He was the first one to talk again:
"So are we going to stop he-"
"Oh, shut up", Jouno interrupted him, bringing his head back into its original position, locking their lips together one more time. Tecchou brought his own hand to his colleague's neck, while his other hand grabbed his wait, pulling him even closer.
After a bunch of sloppy kisses, Jouno broke the rhythm once again. He grinned sheepishly as he asked: "What happened to our sweet and innocent relationship?"
"You basically insulted me all the time"
"ahahaha, you're totally right with that"
"Although you really were kind of soft sometimes", he stopped and moved closer to his ear, whispering the rest of the sentence, "but I'm going to be honest with you, I enjoy both sides of you."
Jouno's jaw dropped for a second, on his life there have been very few moments where he was this surprised by someone's words. He quickly shook off that look, replacing it with a teasing grin, gripping both of Tecchou's wrists and pinning them above his with one hand, while holding his chin with the other.
"Is that so? Well, that's good to know. Didn't know such an honest hunting dog could be this kinky."
He parted Tecchou's lips with his free hand, continuing to kiss him. The fight over dominance was short, even though Tecchou would've easily won if he had been in the mood for it. They parted away shortly, for a quick breathing session, a small string of salvia still connecting their mouths. Just as they were about to go for it again, they heard a knocking on the door.
A muffled voice from outside said: "Guys, hurry and get dressed up again it's time to officially look for the 'missing hunting dog'. I know no one has the motivation to, but we have to find at least evidence that the port mafia was successful."
The two of them were startled, they had parted immediately when they heard the sound. The realization started to hit Jouno, he pressed his hand over his mouth as Tecchou answered for both of them, yelling: "Alright we'll be in the reception hall in 10 minutes."
A quick "Alright" signalled them that they were finally alone again.
"I can't believe it."
"What is so hard to believe Jouno?"
"EVERYTHING, GODDAMNIT!"
"Yeah, yeah, put on your shoes again now, we have somewhere to be."
Jouno grabbed his shoes dissatisfied as he mumbled: "Always in the wrong moment, just like a fucking fanfiction, I swear to god..."
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro