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miss28ff · 7 years ago

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SHRINE ch14

(AU) (MUSIC/ROMANCE/DRAMA) (Yatori) (Kazubisha) (Daifuku) (18+ due to language, mature subjects and a little smut)

Summary: With her earphones on and melodies filling her ears, the girl looked at the ceiling, thinking. She, Iki Hiyori, a regular schoolgirl, had jumped at the street to save the life of a promising rock star.

TRACK 14.

FAILURE - BREAKING BENJAMIN

Tenjin killed the deadly silence at Kofuku’s living room by slowly standing up while gathering up his belongings. Hiyori clenched her fists over her skirt’s hem, her heart beating like mad and biting her lower lip. What was going on? Where was Yato? This wasn’t normal, it couldn’t be possible that the person that really believed he was going to give the world Japan’s best band wasn’t there on time. Yato was the only one in possession of those recordings, the only one who had the original scores, and the only one who could deliver everything. To think someone with that much responsibility would fail them just like that…

Even without staring, she could perceive everyone’s mood. What hurt the most was the generalized feeling of disappointment. Hiyori wanted to believe, she wanted to make them see he only was facing a mishap, but the time and the answering machine of his cellphone made it look plain bad, even when she didn’t wanted to admit it.

“It’s a shame such talented people like you guys lose their time and their chances to a person like him.” Said Tenjin, with a tired tone, heading to the door. “I enjoyed very much working with you all, but just as I thought,” he stopped and looked at Hiyori with the corner of his eye, “this band ended the minute Viina chose to leave.”

Making a lot of noise, Yukine stood up and left, like a furious cat. Daikoku was staring out the window, and Kofuku smiled, pleasantly, holding Tenjin’s gaze. She got up as well, to guide him to the door. After a few steps, she muttered.

“We’re very sorry to made you lose your time, Tenjin-san.”

“I am sorry, Kofuku-san.”

Without exchanging more words, the man left the house and searched inside his pocket for his car keys. Hiyori heard the door opening and her body moved by itself. She had no idea what she was doing, but she put her shoes on quickly and sprinted towards the producer.

“Tenjin-san!” she called, and the gentleman stopped in the act to turn to look at her. She had red biting marks on her lips.

“Miss Iki, what can I do for you?”

“You have to give us another chance!”

“Hiyorin!” shouted Kofuku, surprised, from the door.

Actually she didn’t know what was making her talk, or why she was saying what she did. She felt her mind working out of control and needed to relieve the spinning sensation somehow. “I’m sure Yato just – something happened to him – He had, more than anyone, his hopes on this recording! I can assure you it exists! It’s really good! Better than the first one, even! Just let us find Yato and I assure you…!” she stopped for a second, what was she assuring? What can she promise to someone like Tenjin? “I can guarantee you we will give you the best band of all Japan! Just…!”

She could not continue anymore. A tight knot in her throat got stuck when she remembered Yato saying those very same words, days before, on the train’s platform. Without being able to control it, two big drops of water rolled down her cheeks. Frustration took control out of her, and made her see she was just making herself embarrassed in front of the band’s producer.

“Young lady.” Said Tenjin, with an unusually sweet voice. Hiyori lifted her face and saw a gracious smile. “It’s upsettingly sad to see you have let yourself be deceived by the words of that varmint.”

Hiyori took a step back.

“Varmint?”

“He’s nothing more than a felon, an opportunist coward person who runs away at the first chance he gets” the old man sentenced, horrorizing the girl. Was this the way he always looked at Yato? “I understand you and your friends wanted to do big things. I also understand Yato is a great composer and a talented guitarist.” He threw his suitcase to the passenger’s seat. “But he doesn’t have an ounce of guts. In this business, not having guts is a big mistake, it’s just a contradiction. No one who thinks straight would want under their company’s name a coward as big as him.”

“He’s…”

“It’s a shame, really,” interrupted Tenjin, “I hope you can find him so he can explain himself.” He got on his car, but didn’t closed the door, and instead, he addressed Kofuku. “We’re surely going to ask you to leave this house shortly. It will be good if you start preparing to move out.”

Kofuku didn’t said anything, but Hiyori raised a tremoring voice.

“So… that’s it?”

“That’s all, Miss Iki. Think about it this way, this is the best for you. You can go back to your studies as before, and you won’t risk yourself to be embarrassed by a clown like that Yato-guy.” He bowed his head. “Farewell.”

Once he said this, he closed the door and turned on the engine. The gravel cracked below the tires slow turning, leading the car to disappear on the long, tree-flanked entryway to the street. When he was out of sight, Hiyori’s legs stopped holding her and she fell on her knees on the parking lot ground. Kofuku ran to help her stand up.

“What are you doing, Hiyorin?”, she tried to laugh lightly, but ended up sounding utterly awkward. Hiyori felt Kofuku’s little hands putting her arm over her shoulders and picking her up, stepping to the inside of the house that, apparently, won’t be theirs anymore.

“I’m so sorry, Kofuku-san.”

“What are you talking about, Hiyorin?”

“I think... I ended up making things worse…” replied the schoolgirl, voice trembling. “Talking like that to Tenjin-san… I’m…”

Kofuku knelt down with her in front of the kotatsu. Hiyori suddenly felt imprisoned, with a surprising force, between the pink haired girl’s thin arms, and hugged her back clumsily.

“Don’t feel bad about it, dummy” sang Kofuku, “nothing you said worsened things for us, in our situation. In fact,” and Kofuku’s voice wavered, “I’m really moved by you showing so much faith in Yatty. I’m sure he would be at the verge of tears as well.”

“But…” She felt herself crying again, “you just lost the house and I’m…”

“Tch.” Spatted Daikoku. It was the first time he said something since Tenjin’s arrival. “This is the label’s house, Hiyori. We simply lost the contract. We don’t work for them anymore, and they won’t give us anymore benefits. The house is one of them.”

“That’s right, Hiyorin. This house was never ours to begin with.” Kofuku held her by the shoulders, making the girl look straight at her. “I’m very grateful to be your friend. And I’m doubly grateful for finding a singer that truly believes in this project.”

“It’s sad we didn’t found you before everything ended.” Said Daikoku. Kofuku glued her eyes to the floor. Hiyori stood up suddenly.

“What are you talking about, Daikoku-san?”

“This project is screwed, Hiyori”, he explained, tiredly. “There’s no one who wants to sign a contract to a project known for not delivering works on time.”

“But…!”

“Hiyorin,” started Kofuku. The change on her voice made the girl lose all will of arguing. “You haven’t known us long, so you really don’t know this is not that weird.”

“W-what?” she stuttered.

“Why do you think we’re so calm about this?” Daikoku tried to reason with her, “Do you think Yukine would stay without moving a finger knowing Yato has been lost for an hour?”

“This… has this happened before?”

Kofuku nodded once and smiled bitterly.

“It happens once or twice a year. I know Yatty since High School. He usually disappears one month or two. He comes back and completely isolates himself from everyone. He rarely speaks and doesn’t answer any questions about what happened, plus he comes back with traces of wounds.” Hiyori found disturbing the tone Kofuku was using, as if she was just talking about something as normal as going to the supermarket to buy fruit. “Daikoku and I have always think that, actually, Yatty has never…”

Kofuku interrupted herself, and stared at the floor again before looking at Hiyori in the eye. Within her, Hiyori thought she knew what her friend was implying, but she didn’t dare to put it in words.

“Do you understand, hun?” asked Kofuku, softly, “We all have problems here.”

“And some issues are bigger than others,” said Daikoku. “Yato’s one is yet big enough to make him lose himself for several days.”

“You should really begin to understand, at this point, that all of us have our own stories and our reasons to do things. That’s why we all had troubles of this sort, big or small,” Yato had said, that day she was introduced to Tenjin as the new singer. Everything was starting to make sense now. She was facing a group of people that had overcome an addiction. However, Yato…

Hiyori ran around the house, picking up her stuff. She then ran like a bullet through the main door, without answering Kofuku’s yelled question about where she was going. It was obvious.

The distressed wood of number 203’s door seemed to smile, mocking to her anguished and nervous face after knocking several times without result.

“Yato.” insisted Hiyori, ringing the doorbell in-between knocks.

Nobody answered.

White.

White in the floor, over the windows eaves. White of the blizzard that had just stopped falling. Hiyori wailed for the floor covered in snow. There were no footprints of anyone coming in or going out the alley. Sheltering in the small curve of the stairs, she took out her phone, trembling.

“This is Yato. I’m busy right now…” Hiyori let him continue, and spoke after the beep, rushed and choppy. She realized she had nothing planned to say.

“We were waiting for you, Yato. Whenever you hear this message, please call, is important.”

She hung up. Tried again. Six or seven rings.

“This is Yato. I’m busy right now…”

Hung up. Tried again, twice, with the same result.

Wherever he was, Yato had no intentions of answering his phone.

Tucking her hands between her arms and her body, Hiyori ran to the station, surrounded by another haze of wind.

“You look awful, Hiyori! Have you been sleeping well? We still have time before midterm tests, you know!” said Yama, noticing the big black circles under her friend’s eyes.

Hiyori simply let them jump to conclusions and let out a deep sigh.

“I think Yama-chan is right, Hiyori-chan. You should take a break.”

“If only I could…” she answered, with a sad smile.

They were walking to the school grounds to eat lunch in a bench during break. The students were everywhere, since today was particularly warm and sunny. Hiyori had to look out the window to fully realize that long cloudy week was finally clearing up. Even so, the sun tingling her skin softly was not enough to make her feel a little more cheerful.

Yato had been gone for a week.

Every once in a while, Hiyori checked on his phone line. She called often. Still no answer. Throughout all that time, she wondered if it was reasonable to just call the police and report a missing person, but Kofuku’s arguments made her drop that idea. If this was truly such a delicate subject, she didn’t want Yato to end up affected because of her dumb impulse of filing a report. Normal life seemed as veiled and distant as always. She couldn’t understand why people smiled, didn’t they realized that he was…?

“I think is about time for us to go hang out together again” suggested Yama, interrupting Hiyori’s train of thought. Ami agreed, and she had no other choice but to accept. Her friends were the only thing that kept her feet on the ground. Everything else seemed so far away, like within an extremely vivid dream.

“Let’s go to the theater!” Ami suggested, “They’re giving a movie I’ve been wanting to watch.”

“Gotcha’! Let’s go tomorrow then!”

Hiyori nodded faintly. She actually didn’t wanted to go out, but she couldn’t stay home forever. No Yato meant no practice. And it wasn’t as if they had a place to practice anyway.

The school bell shook her away from her introspection. That was happening a lot lately. Turning back to the classroom, she could hear Ami and Yama faintly chattering about movies while she went back to the same subject. Where could he be? What could he be doing? She wondered if he ever thought about her and dropped that idea instantly. He obviously not, else he would have called already. Unless he wasn’t carrying his phone with him… in which case…

“Iki-san! Can you hear me?”

Standing in front of her was one of her teachers, holding a good amount of papers in his hands and looking at her with a worried face.

“Y-yes, professor! I’m sorry!”

The small laughter around her rose while her teacher, frowning, delivered a thick pile of papers.

“I know you’re in the choir, could you please take those to Fujisaki-sensei?”

He was saying “please”, but it was an actual order. Hiyori nodded, firmly believing if she opened her mouth to answer she would nag about having to see precisely the professor she didn’t even wanted to come across.

“I’ll catch up with you in a bit, guys, I have to go search for the teacher…” she said, with an obvious lack of enthusiasm. Ami and Yama said they could go with her and the three walked to the music room.

They didn’t had to go all the way. In one of the main hallways, crowded with people, professor Fujisaki was talking with two students, with his back leaning on a window pane.

“Sensei”, called Hiyori. The reaction of the guy took her completely aback.

“A-ah! Iki-san! W-what can I do for you?” he was crushing a little box juice with one hand. When he saw her he had to do a juggle for not dropping it and a slight pink tinted his cheeks.

Who was this guy?

“Yes… Kimura-sensei asked me to give these to you”. She handed the papers without much protocol. Fujisaki received them quite humbly and skimmed over them. Uncomfortable, he looked at her, and then stared at the tips of his shoes.

“Thank you, Iki-san. There was no need for you to bring those immediately. You could have waited until today’s rehearsal.”

Somehow, his voice echoed through the whole hallway in one of those obnoxious moments the entire universe plots for everyone to be quiet at the same time. Hiyori’s mouth went ajar upon hearing it.

“We-well, Kimura-sensei didn’t told me that”, she said, hesitating.

“Thank you very much,” said Fujisaki, and sprinted down the hallway, covering his face, leaving behind two confused students who looked at Hiyori as if they had never looked at a girl before. Not only them, but she felt a lot of eyes fixed upon her.

What had been all that?

The girl turned around and came back for the same path she had arrived, noticing the questioning looks on Ami and Yama’s face.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know”, she answered, and kept walking. Her friends simply shrugged and went back to the classroom with her.

The GPS location Yukine sent to her didn’t made her any easier to get to Park Shakujii. In fact she found really weird for Yukine to invite her to a park like that. It took her 15 minutes to walk from the station to the park gate, walking along a big pond in which, judging by the furnishing, one could fish during the summer. Yukine was waiting for her with his smartphone on one hand, at the side of a big old map of the park.

“Yo’” greeted the boy, casually.

“I’m so glad to see you, Yukine-kun. I’m sorry for being this late”, Hiyori said.

“Don’t worry, Hiyori. I know trains are a pain in the ass”, he began walking. “Shall we?”

The girl followed him, without knowing if they would do one more stop, since he was actually stepping inside the park instead of down the street.

“It’s a real shame I have to do that much time to come to see you guys”, she sighed, “but I’ll definitely come visit as much as I can!”

Yukine limited himself to give her a bittersweet smile.

The road cut through the park, keeping the pond to the left, and the green parts on the right. Soon they reach a playground, and a little further away from the road a circular clear gave sight to a cute little store selling kid’s items. Toys, balls, baseball bats. A hallway ridden with vending machines curved inwards, leading to a restaurant selling udon, ramen, and other winter treats. Hiyori was tempted by the smell, and saw light a little beyond.

Yukine went down the hallway, to Hiyori’s confusion, while she eyed the souvenirs, candies and tobacco they sold as well.

“I’m home!” claimed the boy, climbing the wooden platform below a porch, from where the homely light was coming from. The shoji* were open.

“…I’m sorry for disturbing!” muttered Hiyori, entering the restaurant platform, through the hallways and finally finding one last shoji. The usual kotatsu was there. She didn’t had the time to look at the new room’s distribution when the bright pink hair girl threw herself to her arms.

“HIYORIIIIIIIN!”

“H-hi!” she still could not get used to Kofuku’s effusiveness. After they all sat around the kotatsu – funnily enough, the room was almost identical to the one they had at the big house, Daikoku poured tea and served some candy, as if nothing had ever changed. Seeing Hiyori looking around confused, Kofuku explained.

“This place belongs to Kokki’s family. When we left, the store kept running thanks to the employees. It has always been part of his history.” After a nostalgic smile, she looked at Daikoku, who was just returning from putting the kettle back on the kitchen, and touch his arm softly when he sat next to her. “Yatty and I would get into all sorts of problems during high school. Kokki saved us from several serious issues, and in fact he hated Yatty-chan hanging around here.”

“Well you can’t blame me!” Daikoku replied, “The guy was a leech!”

“Kokki can’t hide the fact he really cared about Yatty-chan”, Kofuku laughed, fueling the man’s anger, who took out a cigarette and lit it up immediately. “We all cared about each other back then… Bisha too…”

“’Bisha’?” asked Hiyori.

“You know Kofuku nicknames everyone” said Yukine, lifting his gaze up his cookie for the first time. “Viina came to be ‘Bisha’ and she did nothing to correct Kofuku.”

“We were basically sheltered here, and in this very spot”, added the girl, dramatically, “was where we came up with SHRINE. But none of that would happened without Kokki here.”

“You should’ve seen that, Hiyori. It was a complete mess” laughed Daikoku from behind his teeth. “Thanks to Yukine-kun we could settle things up enough.”

“Before that we would make Kokki’s life a hell.” By the face she did, Hiyori noticed Kofuku didn’t liked that subject very much. “I couldn’t be calm without being slightly drunk… and Yatty- “ she hesitated. She looked discreetly at Daikoku, who just stared back at her with a blank face, and spoke again. “You would have to wait for him to tell you that. But in short, Hiyorin, this was our batcave.”

Hiyori noticed the picture Kofuku was handing her over the kotatsu table, which originally was over a crate next to many others.

The black lackered frame displayed two teenagers sitting in that same engawa**, taken from behind them left. The first one showed strong and wide shoulders, much to anyone his age, and hair slightly shorter, but those eyes were unmistakable. He had a cigarette between his lips, and in front of him, on his arms, bulged out the figure of an acoustic guitar. With the same school uniform, next to him, leaning on one of the pillars, a several years younger Kofuku smiled to the camera.

Hiyori slide her fingers over the frame, looking the cold expression on Yato’s face.

Yukine had gone to his room after a while, claiming he had homework to do. Confused, Hiyori went after him after a while. His room was on the attic, the roof was very low and the only window on the place was big enough to get out through it without any issue. Hiyori poked her head out to the cold winter breeze, and discovered Yukine sitting on the rooftop, hugging his knees.

“I thought you had homework”, she said softly, trying to not startle the boy.

“Nah, I hate history. Plus I can’t concentrate enough, so I came out for a bit” answered the blond kid, without looking at her.

“You mind if I take a seat?” asked Hiyori, politely. Yukine shrugged, and she sat in silence at his side. “Why did you really called for?” she asked. It was obvious Yukine wanted to talk about something, judging by the way he had invited her over.

“S’pose I was actually testing you.” He said, looking at the distance. She laughed a bit.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“One can’t be too sure.”

After a brief silence, Hiyori couldn’t keep it in any longer.

“You’re way too quiet today, Yukine-kun. You sure you’re alright?”

The boy looked at her for the first time. He sighed when he saw the worried expression his friend had.

“I’m definitely not. But I don’t know what else to do.”

“Well”, she thought out loud, “definitely not this. For what I know, a lot of things could have happened to him, and not all of them are optimistic.”

“So what?” he lashed out, “You’re planning on looking for him in any garbage bin in town?”

“I would do it if I need to”, she answered dryly, “that’s better than sit around waiting for him to show up. Besides,” she continued, with a lower voice and staring at her shoes, “I realize I know very few things about him. I would need the help of someone who knows him better to know where to begin.”

Yukine searched for her eyes with his gaze, and looked at her formulating a question that even without words Hiyori understood. She felt resolved, unstoppable.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She said again, clearly.

Yukine smiled.

The story he told her afterwards would unsettle Hiyori’s heart for the rest of her life.

*Shoji is the name of the traditional Japanese sliding paper doors often depicted in traditional houses.

** Engawa is the name of the elevated deck-porch traditional Japanese houses also have, it usually leads to a garden.

#noragami #yato #yukine #hiyori #kofuku #daikoku #yatori #yatone #yatori fanfic #noragami fanfic #music au #rock band au

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