Fallen on the streets were red and orange leaves. The blanket of colors had covered the city in a late autumn wonderland. Store fronts were loaded with specials for students leaving school to pick up. The housewives were on their daily mission for grocery shopping. Toshiya strolled to the office wearing round shades and a wide brimmed hat. His red flannel shirt peeked under the heavy coat and his dark pants were tucked into his lace up boots. The towering bassist earned some stares and glances as he maneuvered through the crowd of students.
When Toshiya reached the office, he saw that some fans were hiding in the corner of the building. They screamed his name and sprinted to the door. The blue uniformed security guard blocked off the entrance as Toshiya briskly evaded the fans. He gave a toothy grin and a wave before entering the building. Toshiya hiked up some stairs and cruised through the bare hallways.
Most of the rooms were deserted or locked. Toshiya dug through his coat pocket and produced a lone key. The office door opened with ease. It was a tad stifling and dusty. The small room had been abandoned for several months. He rummaged through the file cabinets and dumped some cardboard boxes on the available round table.
This room was normally used for the band meetings for minor discussions. If not it served as a spare storage room. To be honest, no one really liked this room since it always meant bringing up problems. Toshiya was looking for a particular book the designers had consulted for inspiration.
“Aha!” he exclaimed upon finding it.
The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of the Dark Arts. Bound in leather, the thick volume reeked of ghastly nightmares and frightening occurrences. Sandwiched between the pages were notes and print outs made by Kyo. He had an affinity for the occult material.
In the boxes, Toshiya found some books on esoteric Buddhism. He flipped through one of them. The pages were filled with colorful Buddhist cave paintings. Another was dedicated to Buddhist symbols and bonji, the Sanskrit script that Kyo had used multiple times in his performances.
Bagging the books, Toshiya locked the office and turned to leave only to have their manager, Inoue, waiting for him.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” said Inoue.
“I needed to grab a few items from storage,” Toshiya said quickly.
“I heard that some shit went down with Die and Shinya’s apartment. You guys alright?”
“Yeah. Yeah. We’re fine,” Toshiya lied through his teeth.
“What were you looking for?”
“Books. I need them for ideas.”
“Oh. Be careful. The tabloids are trying to catch wind of this.”
“Yeah. No more crazy shit.”
“You have a lot of fan mail downstairs. Be sure to clean it out.”
Sure enough, Toshiya’s locker for mail was stuffed with love letters and gifts to the point of exploding. Kaoru and Shinya’s looked fair normal. Kyo’s was also getting compact and gathering dust. Die’s was so jam packed with letters that it could rival Toshiya’s. Toshiya emptied the contents into his spare bag. The weight on his shoulders had increased tremendously. It made him wonder if is fans had left him a ton of lead as a gift.
*****
“Ok. Here’s what I got.”
The books were spread on the kotatsu.
“Why must we all meet at my apartment?” asked a miffed Kaoru.
“Because your apartment feels safer,” Die replied.
His eyes wandered to the statuette of Saint Mary in the cupboard and the rosary beads on one of the CD shelves. Shinya looked through his bag and passed out some omamori charms.
“They’re blessed. I got them at the shrine near my apartment,” said Shinya.
“I have these crystals,” said Die taking out several beaded bracelets. “I read that they can ward off negative energy.”
“Not you too,” sighted Kaoru. He slapped a palm on his forehead. “This isn’t some exchange party.”
“Kaoru. We’re all pretty freaked out,” said Toshiya. “Our obituaries would have been printed last week if we hadn’t destroyed the skeleton and hex bag.”
The unshakable feeling of fear was instilled in all of them.
“I’ll go make tea,” said Kaoru.
Toshiya took a senbei cracker from the snack plate and tore open the clear packaging. It crinkled loudly as he crumpled the package in his hand.
“I think we should look through these,” said Toshiya muffled with the cracker in his mouth. “Maybe they have stuff on protection so we can at least stop getting hurt all the time.”
“The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of the Dark Arts. Tell me why do we have such an evil book in our office?” said Die.
Hot barley tea was served in porcelain cups to all the members. They flipped through the books and made notes when necessary. Kaoru scribbled on a spare sheet of lined paper. Kyo, Die, and Shinya have already become victims of attack. Based on what happened so far, the sorcerer doesn’t attempt to attack the same person again despite failing each time, which leaves Toshiya and I left as the next possible targets. But as it occurred with Shinya, he is also attempting to get rid of all of us at once.
Kaoru rubbed the temples of his head. It was all too frustrating. It was impossible to predict the next attack. All they could do was wait helplessly. Kaoru stole a few looks at his band members. Die was already bored of reading. He was never the type to read in the first place. They were all musicians to begin with, not scholars. Maybe Toshiya was right after all. It was more sensible to protect themselves than to hunt down a killer.
“You know, maybe we’re all going in the wrong direction,” Toshiya began. “Instead of waiting for that guy to attack us, maybe we should do the attacking.”
“Did you forget that we have absolutely no idea who or where this guy is?” scoffed Die. “Or even why?”
“I’m not saying that we should be the ones looking for him. We should be the ones luring him to us,” said Toshiya.
“Do you want to go through THAT again!” Die said angrily.
“Staying cooped up doing research isn’t going to get rid of him! He’s plotting to kill us right now!” argued Toshiya. “He can locate us easily whenever he wants to. I didn’t expect you out of all people to cower away.”
Die shot him a glare.
“I like to see you try killing him. You’re not the one being choked to death or being controlled. What do you know about capturing him!”
“Just because I didn’t go through it doesn’t make me less of a victim!”
“Both of you shut up!” roared Kaoru.
The heated atmosphere didn’t dispel after Kaoru’s response. Die was the angry tiger protective of his own pride and Toshiya was the serpent shooting Die with venomous looks. Rarely did the both of them act impulsively on their emotions, but today was an exception. Two riled beasts were ready to tear at each other’s throats. It was only when Shinya calmly raised his hand.
“Let’s not start this. We’re all trying to help,” the drummer said calmly. “Police are working on their end and we are doing what we can on ours.”
“What CAN we do on our end?” hissed Die.
He slapped the heavy volume on the table.
“We can arm ourselves,” said Shinya. “Like Toshiya said, it’s time that we take the offensive stance. It’s a given that no one else is going to help us. We have to fend for ourselves. Look at what happened during our previous overseas tours. The venue wasn’t convenient. The equipment was faulty. We needed a translator. Things didn’t run smoothly during our performances. In the end, we all managed to complete the show because we had to do things ourselves. We’re Dir en grey, guys. We never let others do our job.”
They were all stunned by Shinya’s wise words. It was if they received a reminder of something long forgotten.
“Kaoru, shouldn’t you be the one saying it?” said Shinya. “You’re the level headed one.”
“You’re right on this one, I should be the one giving the speech. We are Dir en grey. There’s no one that can replace us. Not even some stupid sorcerer who thinks he can mess with us. I’m getting fucking pissed just thinking about him. What a coward for hiding in the shadows and preying on us,” commented Kaoru.
“And messing with our heads,” added Die. “Thinking he can pick us off one by one.”
“Ain’t gonna fucking happen. Nuh-uh,” said Toshiya. “We’re sticking together.”
Shinya silently nodded. The band was slowly regrouping.
“What we need now is a plan,” said Kaoru. “We need to trap the sorcerer first, before we can attack.”
“Do you think we can bait him?” asked Toshiya.
“Do you volunteer as bait?” joked Die.
“Before we trap him, we still gotta take a few precautions. I suggest a crash course in spiritual protection which is most likely somewhere located in these books,” said Kaoru as he pointed at the mess of books.
“I don’t think I can face these things anymore,” Die whined. “I’d rather face a row of vodka shots.”
“Yeah and the next thing you know, you’re walking into telephone poles,” Toshiya chided. “Speaking of which, I am leaving for a drink with my friends.”
“Don’t get poisoned,” chaffed Die.
*****
Five men sat in a secluded area blocked off by bead dividers. Two tubs of Heineken in ice was placed on the polished table. Loud club music blared in the background.
“So then after that, he came crashing down!”
A series of laughter erupted. Toshiya brought one of the green bottles to his lips.
“Hey Toshi, what’s with you tonight?”
“Huh? Nothing,” Toshiya replied.
“You usually laugh at this stuff. Has something happened recently?”
“I heard that some crazy stuff happened with the band you were in. You guys alright?”
“We’re fine, thanks. It’s just been a really tiring week. You know, with tabloids trying to get the wind of it,” Toshiya lied.
A waitress came bearing a tray of mixed drinks. She placed the drinks on the table and left promptly. The guys each grabbed their drink.
“Cheers!”
They hooted and clinked their glasses merrily. Toshiya gave a grin and swirled the drink in his glass before downing it. The night continued with more boasting and drinking.
Toshiya’s vision was getting hazy as he rose from his seat. His legs were wobbling like jelly on a plate. The laughing and the music in the background was ringing in his ear. His stomach lurched with an upsetting sickness. The restroom was just down the hallway, but the path appeared so long. Toshiya regretted drinking so much. This was more of Die’s line of work.
As he swayed in the hall, Toshiya bumped into a figure.
“Sorry,” he drawled.
“No need to be. The deed has been done,” said the man.
What strange words to impart upon a customer. Toshiya could make out the black clothes the man was dressed in. It was one of the bartenders. He smelled a bit of camphor as the man walked by along with some other curious smells. It made no matter to Toshiya as he felt ready to hurl on the floor if he couldn’t make it the restroom in time.
The door swung open and Toshiya burst into one of the stalls. The sickening contents were purged into the toilet bowl. Excessive drinking must never be done again. The consequences are too much. After a little while, the stomach settled down. Toshiya went to sink and sloshed his face with water. The familiar knotting in the stomach began again. Only this time, it felt excruciatingly nauseous as if something was crawling up his throat. Here we go again.
*****
Die fiddled with his phone. He regret his outburst with Toshiya.
“Hey man. Sorry about earlier,” he texted and plopped the phone down.
He went back to his room to retrieve his Macbook. Reluctantly, Die continued with his research while blasting Tool on his home stereo sound system. The short jingle played on the phone. Perhaps Toshiya had forgiven Die’s earlier lashing. To his horror, it left an unsettling text.
HELP
*****
BGM: The Deeper Vileness by Dir en grey
It was a difficult chapter to write as it was during one of my writer's block. I can't say I'm entirely pleased how it turned out with a sudden break in character for Die and Toshiya. I want to know what you guys think. Was it too out of place? Leave your comments below.
