Kaoru ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn’t know how much further away Die’s house was. His instincts told him that Die was in mortal danger. The bottomless pit in his stomach seemed to send out rapid signals of fear. Kaoru whizzed past the bright stores and into the lonely streets. The overhead street lamps cast their light watching the man scurry to his destination. After many twists and turns, Kaoru finally reached Die’s front door. The house lights were on. He tried to look through the windows, but the shades obstructed his view. He rang the doorbell many times, but no one answered. After no reply, he pounded the door.
“Die! Answer me!” Kaoru shouted.
He heard a loud crash inside the house following by a screeching cat.
Inside the house, Die was choking from the suffocating grip. He could not see who it was, but that this person’s grip was exceedingly strong around his neck. In a flurry of motion, Die slammed his body against the mirror in the hall. The smashed mirror only revealed the figure to be clad in red. He could hear the person behind him growl and breathe intensely, still refusing to let go of Die. Die then rammed himself into a small table knocking over its glass contents. The person finally let go and Die laid sprawled on the glass shards. He turned to see that his assailant was not a person at all. The humanoid beast had red crackly sin like a lizard and bore slits for nostrils. Its glittering black eyes looked menacingly at Die. At this moment, it was ready to assault Die head on. Miki darted from behind the sofa in the living room and attacked the monster in the face. The monster grabbed her and threw her across the room. As she flew in the air, she gave out a large cry.
Miki hissed at the monster and scrambled beside Die. The red monster lunged forward to tear apart his target. Die grabbed the remote on the coffee table and threw it at its face. The black plastic proved to be mere child’s play as the beast easily brushed the obstacle away. Die was already at the far end of the living room, away from the beast, with a baseball bat in his hands. It was a long steel rod that a friend gifted him and he had abandoned it behind some drawers. Thank goodness it was out in the open, Die thought.
The red monster jumped over the sofa with ease ready to punch Die in the face. Die waved the bat wildly to maintain some distance. He furiously struggled to remember the kendo lessons he learned as a youth. Only bits and pieces seem to appear at this critical time. The monster made a grab for the bat only to have its arm struck by Die. It made a low growl and tried once more. Die swung the bat with such great force that it whacked the monster in its face, disabling it briefly.
The metal bat sunk into the cavity of the face cracking the cheekbones. Flecks of blood landed on Die’s cheek as the monster went tumbling to the ground. His own heavy breathing coupled with his wildly beating heart were the only sounds he could perceive until the pounding door broke his concentration. Kaoru’s voice was calling his name. Die turned briefly to the direction of the door. To his surprise, the red beast was up again and ready to pounce. Die swung the bat to defend himself only to have it caught by the gigantic hands. He defiantly pulled the bat, but the bat wouldn’t budge. The beast flung the bat along with Die across the room. He crashed into the glass cabinets and flopped to the ground with a loud thump.
Pain from the blow shot across his back and onto his arms. The metal bat cracked the TV screen and rolled away from Die. Die clutched onto his sides in agony. It appears that one of the items on his shelved had jutted into his waist during the hit. Some glass shards clung onto his palms. The monster walked to Die in hammering steps and dangled him by the neck. Die grappled the monstrous hand as he felt the precious oxygen escaping his lungs. His vision was blurring and breathing became exceedingly difficult. While he thrashed against the resistance, he couldn’t help, but think, Was this the end to Die, the guitarist of Dir en grey?
Kaoru heard multiple crashes and fiddled with the doorknob. He barraged himself against the door. The sturdy door didn’t yield to the assaults. If only I had a crowbar, he thought desperately. There was nothing around the house that was useful. Miki hissed and watched her owner being strangled. She heard the pounding door knowing that it was someone her owner trusted. She tried biting and scratching, but the monster only kicked her away like she was a rag doll. Miki glided across the living room to the hallway connecting to the front door.
Something glittering laid on the floor with Die’s scent on it. It was his keys that had fallen out of his hands when he was first choked in the hallway. Miki eyes the pounding door. She grasped the keys in her mouth and limped to the mail slot. It was too high for her to reach. She gave a loud yowl dropping the keys. Miki stretched her body as best as she could. Still it was far from reach. She kept meowing and pawing the door.
Kaoru could hear Die’s cat. Then he heard the sound of a metal flap moving. It was the mail slot on the door. It wasn’t like he could stick his hand through the slot and open the door. Yet the flap wouldn’t stop moving. He decided on a whim to push open the slot to see what was going on. He caught glimpses of Miki. She kept jumping with something in her mouth. It became clear when Kaoru heard the jingle. He thrust his hand through the slot. It stopped abruptly at his wrist. He could feel Miki brush her soft fur as she jumped. The cold metal dropped onto his palm. The keys were finally in his hands. There was little time for triumph as he heard the loud noises cease in the house. Fumbling with the keys, Kaoru stuck the keys in their respective places. The lock clicked open and Kaoru rushes in.
The hallway was littered with broken glass and mirror shards. The glass cracked under Kaoru’s boots as he burst into the living seeing a suffocating Die. His blood ran cold seeing the red beast. The muscular and scaly back exuded the aura of a killing machine. He frantically looked around for a weapon. The steel bat was beyond his reach and everything around him was broken to bits. He turned to look at the kitchen and spotted the kitchen knife that Die used to cut up the tofu lying on the cutting board. Without hesitation, Kaoru grabbed the knife and ran behind the monster. It didn’t seem to notice him one bit. With all his strength, Kaoru plunged the kitchen knife into the heart of the beast.
The red beast dropped the half conscious Die to the ground to which he hit with a thunk. It froze and clutched its chest. In a boisterous explosion of white smoke, the monster was reduced to a small newt with the knife plunged through its chest. Kaoru rushed over to Die on the floor and sat him up. Die coughed weakly. His head was spinning, but his vision was slowly regaining clarity. Kaoru’s echoing voice was becoming distinctly clear.
“Breathe Die. Just take it easy,” assuaged Kaoru.
“Kaoru .. how did you know to find me?” asked Die.
“Gee. I don’t even know how to explain the circumstances,” said Kaoru.
He started from the strange phone calls up to the encounter with the red monster.
“I even have the texts to prove it,” said Kaoru who was now pulling his phone out.
He swiped to show Die his messages, except they have all disappeared.
“That’s impossible. I could have sworn they were there before.”
Kaoru flipped to his call log. The unknown number had disappeared.
“What’s going on?” Kaoru thought aloud.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Die picking the glass out of his hands. “We saw something unbelievable, you and me. I don’t think calling the police will do any good. Great. I have so much shit to clean up.”
“First let’s get you patched up,” said Kaoru.
After removing the glass shards and disinfecting the stinging cuts, Kaoru wrapped Die’s palm tightly in gauze. He eyed the dead newt and the scarred furniture.
“How much for that TV of yours?” Kaoru asked.
“Not a lot. Got it at a bargain sale,” replied Die.
“I never knew you were that kind of guy going after sales,” chuckled Kaoru.
“You gotta go after the sales, Kaoru. How else can I afford Chrome Hearts? Gotta look my best for the fans.”
Both guitarists gave a loud hearty laugh. They got up from the floor and went to sweep up the debris. The living room and hallway was in the process of tidying up when Miki came hobbling from the hallway. Die picked up his pet and stroked her gently. Miki purred in her owner’s embrace.
“If it weren’t for your cat, I wouldn’t have been able to get in,” said Kaoru now swinging the keys in his hands.
“I’ll take her to the vet tomorrow. That thing hit her pretty hard when it attacked her. I just hope the vet doesn’t think I abused her,” said Die.
Kaoru picked up the knife and shook off the corpse. On the belly of the newt were some strange characters inscribed on it. Die looked at it with disgust.
“This looks like one of those creepy curses you see exorcism shows,” remarked Kaoru.
“Who the hell is into this kind of sick stuff and how does Kyo fit into all of this?” said Die.
“You heard Kyo too?” asked Kaoru.
“Yeah. It was weird, but somehow he appeared on the radio and warned me to leave,” said Die.
“The phone calls. The strange messages. You hearing him in the house. You don’t suppose he’s ...” said Kaoru.
“Dead?” finished Die.
*****
BGM: Decayed Crow by Dir en grey
Thank you for reading a violent chapter of two guitarists beating up a hellish creature. There are more violent events to come in the future. This is only the beginning. What do you suppose happened to Kyo? Where do you see the story heading to? Leave a comment below.
