[Fanfic] Crossroads

[mikunicchi]

Title: Crossroads
Pairing: Ohmiya
Rating/Warnings: PG 13
Summary: When Nino won a magic shop in chess, he honestly didn’t think that Ohno would come as a package with it.
Notes: Written for coolohoh  in Arashi Exchange 2018
Betaed by duckyshimetai Thank you for everything <3 
Also my dear Bunny who brainstormed with me in this fic. You know yourself, I love you ❤️



It was a bright sunny day when the bell of Nino's shop chimed gleefully. He looked up from his half-finished inventory list. The door opened slowly, revealing his one and only regular customer. Nino clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes as Ohno Satoshi who was carrying a box from the usual patisserie, walked towards him, fanning himself with his empty hand.

He grinned sheepishly when he saw Nino behind the old wooden counter, but this only made Nino somehow more irritated than before. "You again?" Nino said, simply for the sake of saying something and returned his attention to the load of papers in front of him.

"How are you today?" Ohno asked, without a care in the world.

"Annoyed," Nino answered, not looking up from the inventories.

"And why is that?" Ohno asked again and Nino sighed.

"Because I am stuck in this deserted shop, trying to make a list of inventories with my one and only customer who never buys anything but continues to come here every day," Nino said snarkily in one go. Ohno chuckled which had a somehow both good and bad effect on Nino.

"Seriously, you are the worst kind of customer," Nino grumbled.

"But I am your only customer, aren't I?" Ohno said as he placed the box he was carrying onto the papers which Nino was trying his best to organize.

"I have Aiba too," Nino mumbled.

"Aiba is your friend," Ohno reasoned. He drew out a stool and made himself comfortable.

"Why do you even come here everyday, anyway?" Nino asked his usual question while ignoring Ohno's remark. "And," he opened the box of cream puffs, "sweets again? Will you stop bringing things which apparently only you love?" He said as he pushed the box towards Ohno.

Ohno hummed as he took back the box and opened it completely. A smile spread over his face, lit up his eyes up with a certain happiness which Nino already got accustomed to. Those sweets had that kind of effect on his regular customer, and as much as Nino hated to admit it, he kind of liked that smile. Nino sighed heavily as Ohno started munching happily on one of the cream puffs. Then he went all the way to click his fingers, making a cup of hot tea appear in front of Ohno.

Ohno blinked at the sight of the tea which had a hot steam over it. “Can't I get something cold? Like maybe lemonade?”

Nino narrowed his eyes. “Be glad that I am willing to offer you a cup of tea even though you never buy anything.”

Ohno pouted. “But I will buy something… Eventually?”

“You’ve been saying that for three months already,” Nino grumbled.

“I am looking for something,” Ohno recited again.

Nino rolled his eyes. “You’ve been saying that for three months too.”

Ohno chuckled. “How is the inventory thing going?” he asked in order to change the subject.

Nino snorted. “Can't see the end of this. Tell me again, how did I end up in this freaking shop?”

“You beat the old owner in chess,” Ohno answered without missing a beat.

Nino groaned pitifully. “I hate this!”

Ohno laughed, not really saying anything for a while. He leaned closer to the wooden counter and continued eating his cream puffs as Nino continued recording the contents of the small mountain of books. The silence that settled over the shop was somehow soothing for both of them.

No day went by without Nino asking himself how things had turned out like this. It has been a little over three months since Nino took over the shop as well as apparently Ohno's custody? If that was the correct way to express it. Because it felt like he adopted Ohno together with the shop automatically.

Nino was actually a traveling merchant who traded in extremely rare magical goods. He was the best at his job, and it showed in the amount he earned. Honestly, it would be almost impossible to guess how much a lord was willing to pay for a rare grimoire, which he would never be able to read it. Some would even call it a scam, but for Nino, he was just charging the exact amount that he worked for. He was a simple dealer, buy it at the stated price or leave it. He wasn't open for any kinds of negotiations.

However, he was charging a very justifiable sum because he was the best of all. He was good at tracking rare things and really good at obtaining them. Make a request to Nino and he would never ever fail you.

A good tracker, a good buyer and a good seller as he is, it wasn't a surprise that Nino earned a lot. That's why it wasn’t like Nino needed to own a shop. So, how exactly had he ended up in that damned shop?

It was exactly six months ago when Lord Amakusa, the lord of Northern Highlands, hired him to retrieve a very -please mind the very - rare grimoire, offering him a lot of money. Lots of money , in cash, with gold coins, if he needed to be more specific. Of course, Nino agreed to that request almost immediately. He didn’t really give much thought about why or what for they requested those things. Mostly his customers would request him to find things that had once belonged to their ancestors. This time was not an exception too. When he asked Lord Amakusa why he wanted that grimoire, the Lord had answered with a tearful expression that it had once belonged to his great, great, great -well, Nino didn’t count how many ‘great’s he actually used- grandfather. Nino shrugged, thinking these lords surely do have a lot of time and money to search for some stupid grimoire. He was still glad though because otherwise, he would be out of a job.

With that Nino started to search for the grimoire named Gimmick. A pretty lame name for a grimoire, he thought at first but then again, who was he to judge? For three months he looked through every small piece of information he could find about the book’s whereabouts. He dug in the old records of Lord Amakusa’s family, relatives, and even friends and it took him three months to be able to track down that grimoire, which led him to that shop in the Capital.

Nino’s days in the Capital started like that. The Capital was a port city, where the summers were extremely hot and humid, while the winters were mostly wet with a weird and unpredictable temperature. The sea in those parts was nice and clean, but Nino hated the sea. Well, it wasn’t that weird for Nino to hate the sea. In his opinion, anyone who got seasick would hate the sea. But Nino was there for a job, and he was determined to finish that job as soon as possible.

When Nino arrived at The Mystery, the first thing that struck him about the shop was what a lame name it had. Honestly, Nino should have understood it long ago that this job would be a lot more troublesome than he had thought, right about when those lame names first started to come up. But instead, he shrugged and made his way into the shop, where an old but cheerful man welcomed him. The man looked pretty harmless, Nino thought at first but changed his mind almost immediately when he asked the old man about the grimoire.

“I have what you are looking for, young man,” the old man said in a leisurely manner. Nino, who was now sure that there was a ‘but’ after this, waited patiently. He wasn’t expecting to get it for free after all.

A few moments of silence passed. But the old man didn’t attempt to talk so, in the end, Nino cleared his throat. “How much?” He asked.

The old man clicked his tongue. He took his time to answer as he stuffed some tobacco into his pipe. “Not money,” he said after taking a slow breath from his pipe.

“So what do you want?”

The old man gestured towards a chess board which was sitting on the counter, its pieces neatly arranged. “You can have it only if you win against me,” the old man said simply.

Nino eyed the pieces made of glass cautiously. It didn’t look like a trap to him, and as always, Nino being Nino, he refused to back down from a game especially when he was challenged. “Too easy,” he said, unable to resist a small smirk.

“I have heard rumors about you, young traveler,” the old man said with a grin. “To make things a bit more interesting; if you win against me, you can have my shop,” he offered casually. “I have a lot of rare things that can attract your attention, lying around, abandoned to rot…” He said mysteriously.

Nino sighed. He could always sell it to someone else. At least, that was what he had thought when he sat down at the chessboard and ended up winning the game. He hadn’t even thought about going easy on the old man. And winning a game always felt amazing. Or it did , until he discovered that the whole damned shop was in utter chaos.

True to his word, the moment Nino won the game, that sly old man immediately left the shop way too cheerfully for Nino’s liking, before Nino could stop him or ask him where the hell that grimoire was.

Nino was left alone in The Mystery - how ironic, he sighed to himself - and he was busy cursing himself for being blinded by a stupid game when Ohno Satoshi casually walked in.

Their first meeting was pretty normal. Ohno introduced himself as a villager and a regular customer of that shop, and congratulated him for winning the game. He said that the old man had been challenging everyone who passed by. He must have been very eager to leave that shop, Ohno concluded.

It didn’t take long for Nino to realize what a bothersome place that shop was, and also what a bothersome customer Ohno was. He wanted to cry because he was left with a stupid shop, and a useless customer who never bought anything.

For three months, Ohno had said he was looking for something, while all he actually did was to sit there in front of Nino’s now considerably tidier counter with some sweets and really hot tea offered by Nino. Yes, it was his guilty pleasure to offer steamy, overly hot tea to Ohno since he never bought anything. Call it revenge, but Nino really didn’t care at that moment.

The steady ticking of the old clock was the only thing that interrupted the comfortable silence as Nino continued to write inventories while Ohno continued to wait for his tea to cool down. Both of them weren't aware of the time despite the presence of the clock. Nino tried his best not to groan with every weird book that came to his hand. He tossed yet another weird book about garden grass to the growing pile. Why the hell did this magic shop even contain so many books about such strange and unrelated things?! At least he got used to it after three months- or more likely he had to.

Just when Nino put aside the last book of the stack, Ohno yawned loudly. Nino sighed tiredly.

“Still have more to go?” Ohno asked lazily.

Nino rolled his eyes. “Have you ever seen the size of this damned place?” Ohno nodded calmly. “So yes, I have more to go.”

“Let's take a break,” Ohno answered, stretching his arms above him.

“Us? Excuse me, but as far as I see, you did nothing to deserve a break,” Nino said snarkily. Ohno shrugged, making Nino sigh again.

In the end, Nino had to agree to that break when his stomach protested loudly, making Ohno smile annoyingly. “Make yourself useful and go get something to eat,” Nino grumbled.

“But I am the customer,” Ohno daringly reminded Nino.

“Ah, excuse me,” Nino said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I must have forgotten about it since you haven't bought anything in the past three months.”

Ohno simply chuckled. “You're really cute when you get annoyed.”

Nino had a hard time suppressing the urge to throw one of the books at Ohno. But then Ohno stood up and made his way towards the door, still chuckling. Then he left the shop, without waiting for Nino to say what he wanted. Nino shrugged. He didn't have a specific preference after all. He liked everything as long as it's cheap. But when Ohno returned with two hamburgers, Nino accepted that he had to give him some credit.

Nino might have liked the cheap stuff, but he loved hamburger even if it wasn’t cheap. However in this case, he loved it more because it was both hamburger and free .

“How did you know?” Nino asked, bewildered.

Ohno smiled sheepishly. “Lucky guess?”

Nino chuckled and moved away everything on the counter. “Come on,” he said, inviting Ohno to eat as well. It's not like he hated the sleepy guy particularly. He simply hated him as a customer, that's all.

Ohno grinned and quickly placed the foods onto counter. “Can I at least get something to drink? Preferably cold?”

“Don't get full of yourself,” Nino said calmly, but still clicked his fingers for a glass of water full of ice.

Ohno drank the water gratefully and both of them started to eat silently. The first bite from the juicy meat caused both of them to let out a satisfied moan at the same time. “This is delicious!” Nino couldn’t help but say happily. Ohno hummed approvingly, not bothering himself to say anything particularly. The meal continued with the sounds of satisfaction without any specific talking.

Near the end of their shared lunch, The Mystery’s bell rang, alerting Nino to the presence of a new customer. Nino stood up immediately and moved behind his counter, forgetting that he wasn’t really blessed with customers.

Aiba Masaki entered the shop and greeted them cheerfully. “Howdy, Nino-chan! Ohno-san!” Nino wanted to roll his eyes but Aiba Masaki was one of the sweetest people he had ever met, so he decided to let it go. It wasn’t like he had other customers anyway.

“Aiba-san,” he replied, as Aiba took a stool to sit next to Ohno.

“I bought cream puffs,” said Ohno, seeming really awake for the first time in that day. Nino pouted while Aiba exclaimed happily and started to munch on the remaining cream puffs with Ohno. Sometimes, the two of them would sit close in front of Nino’s counter and talk about sweets rather enthusiastically, a topic that Nino honestly didn’t understand. Apparently, Ohno was more knowledgeable about sweets, so at some point, Aiba had even started to call the older one “manager”.

Nino sighed. “I’m going back to my work,” he said grumpily. “You two have fun.” Without waiting for an answer, he headed towards the back of the shop. He carefully made his way around the stacks of books in order not to knock them over.

He kneeled in front of one of those stacks, hoping to find the grimoire yet again. He was definitely going to sell this shop once he found it. In any case, he seriously doubted that anyone would want to buy that damn shop… “In the worst case, I’ll burn it down,” Nino grumbled. He reached out his hand to take a book which was slightly caught under another book. There was no way for him to know that this book was balancing the big stack next to him.

As soon as he pulled it out, the entire stack collapsed on top of Nino with a loud crash, completely burying him.

“God this is not funny!!” Nino groaned, his voice muffled under the books. To his marvelous luck, both Aiba and Ohno were still in the shop which meant that they just witnessed such an embarrassing moment of him. So it wasn’t long before he heard Aiba’s worried squeal accompanied by two pairs of hurried footsteps. Damn… This is both embarrassing and bothersome. This will definitely take a long time to clean , Nino thought tiredly.

He mentally prepared to wait for them to dig him out from the books because he was too fed up with everything to save himself with magic but suddenly, all of the books were lifted up at the same time, staying in the air for a moment before forming a very neat book tower, all of the spines aligned to face the same way.

“Nino! Are you okay?!” Aiba practically jumped on Nino, checking every part of his body worriedly. But Nino was looking at Ohno who was lazily checking the books which he had just arranged neatly.

“Wow, they have a book about how to raise a shark at home,” Ohno murmured.

Nino rolled his eyes. “So you’re also a wizard?” he asked.

“Hmm,” Ohno answered.

“Then why don’t you get your own preferably cold drink?”

Ohno chuckled. “I like your tea,” he answered.

“No, you’re just lazy,” Nino retorted.

Both of them looked at each other before bursting out laughing. Aiba was laughing with them too. For Nino, that day was fun, despite everything that had happened.

***

The next day started with the same routine. Nino opened the shop and started his inventories, and Ohno came a couple of hours later with sweets in his hand.

“Today’s mont blanc,” Ohno said without even bothering to greet Nino.

“You know I don't like that too, right?” he answered monotonously as he clicked his fingers, serving a steaming cup of tea to Ohno. Somehow this conversation had become a routine between them. Ohno chuckled when he saw the tea. “What's so funny?” Nino asked, trying to maintain his nonchalant attitude.

“I thought you wouldn't offer me tea again,” he answered sheepishly.

“What can I say? I'm a very nice person,” Nino started, his eyes still all over the papers. Ohno had just taken the cup and started to blow on it when Nino set his pen down and looked at him. “And in order to show your gratitude, today, you will be helping me,” Nino announced finally, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Ohno tilted his head, blinking a few times before asking, “Why?” with a very confused voice.

“Because this mess will get cleaned a lot faster with two people,” Nino reasoned.

“But I don’t want to,” Ohno pouted.

Nino rolled his eyes. “And why is that?”

“Reserving energy?” Ohno answered uncertainly.

“For what? Eating sweets?” Nino shot back. When Ohno had a bit of hard time answering, Nino circled around the counter and tugged on Ohno’s arm. “Come on, get your ass working!” Saying this, he dragged Ohno to back of the shop, which lay in complete disarray even after for three months of cleaning.

“This place is a mess,” Ohno mumbled when Nino made him sit in front of a pile of ancient maps which Ohno had no idea where they were showing. He wasn’t someone who liked maps and all, after all.

Meanwhile, Nino was standing over a heap of dusty potion books. “Feel my struggle for once in a while,” he said mercilessly from where he was.

“I’m actually a customer if you’ve noticed,” Ohno grumbled.

“Yes, yes,” Nino waved him off. “I get that. You’re a customer, and the worst kind of customer,” he reminded, glancing Ohno over his shoulder just to see that the sleepy-looking guy had already started looking at the maps. “Just look at the title and write them down on the paper I gave you. You can just put a mark beside it if you find the same map again,” Nino explained.

“I know what to do,” Ohno mumbled.

“Oh?” It was Nino’s time to be surprised. “You do?”

“I’ve been watching you. Kind of?” Ohno answered in a barely audible voice.

Nino cackled. “Good for you, should I hire you to work part-time?”

Ohno just hummed, letting Nino’s remark pass over him, and Nino decided to let it go. It wasn’t like he was watching Nino for some kind of weird reason. He was probably interested in the inventories, Nino reasoned. Yes, that must be the reason. Also hadn’t he said that he was looking for something? He was definitely looking at the inventories, Nino convinced himself.

They worked in a comfortable silence for a few hours until Ohno requested Nino’s help.

“Nino? Can you help me over here for a moment?” Nino looked up from his place and saw Ohno looking at a bunch of maps with a really confused look on his face. Before anything, Nino thought how cute actually Ohno looked for a moment. Wait, what? Nino scolded himself for his weird thoughts for a second, before standing up from his place to go to Ohno’s aid. God, this shop is really starting to mess with my mind, Nino thought helplessly.

Nino cleared his throat before speaking. “What is it?” he asked.

“These,” Ohno showed him a bunch of worn out maps. Nino estimated that they were at least 500 years old.

“Oh,” Nino said with a touch of surprise. “It’s the map of The Golden Oasis.”

“The Golden Oasis?” Ohno sounded more and more confused. “Never heard of it. And can you read that?”

Nino chuckled. “Well, it disappeared more than 400 years ago. And yes, of course, I can read it. This is just the ancient language.” Ohno stared blankly at Nino for an entire minute. “What?” Nino asked, confused by the thunderstruck look on Ohno’s face.

“ Just the ancient language? Do you know more?” Ohno asked curiously.

Nino blinked a few times. “Well, yes, a couple more.”

“Wow,” Ohno just said.

Nino let out a laugh. “How else could I possibly know what I am selling?”

“You have a point there,” Ohno managed to say with a bashful expression. “But does that really help? In this shop? You know nearly no one comes here.”

“You don’t have to say that out loud,” Nino pouted. “And I don’t plan to stay here forever. I’m actually a traveling merchant.”

“Traveling merchant?” Ohno asked, confused.

Nino took a deep breath, before starting to explain his job. “Basically, people who want certain things will leave a request for me. I work on those requests, find the things they want and sell those to them.”

“What kind of things?” Ohno probed further.

“Whatever they want,” Nino shrugged. “Even a really rare porcelain tea set or a book about how to raise sharks at home,” Nino joked, making Ohno laugh too. “And yeah, sometimes people request for really weird things,” Nino continued. “So in order to know what I’m selling or what kind of thing I’m going to deliver, I have to know a lot of languages. But if you ask me, it’s quite entertaining to know all of them,” Nino shrugged finally, before returning to the task in front of him. “This is actually very rare,” he continued, examining the old map. “These others are parts of the same map. It’s very detailed, probably created just before The Golden Oasis disappeared…” As Nino continued to talk, Ohno was already gone. He was just humming every now and then. “You’re not listening to me,” Nino accused and Ohno grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry,” Ohno said. “Let’s take a break,” he added stretching his muscles lazily.

Nino rolled his eyes but still agreed. “Okay,” he shrugged. Well, it won’t hurt to take a little break, he thought.

For an hour, they silently ate and drank some cold lemonade which had been generously offered by Nino, when Ohno decided to ask something that apparently had been bothering him for a while.

“Say, Nino…” He started and Nino looked at him curiously. “Why did you take this shop?”

“Aah…” Nino took a deep breath. “I was defrauded,” he answered with a pout. “I was actually just a customer. My latest client requested a grimoire from me. I tracked it and ended up here,” Nino shrugged. “That sly old man said he had the grimoire but refused to sell me unless I win the game. The rest is just as you know, here I am, trying to find that damn grimoire so that I can break free of this place.”

“Hmmmm…” Ohno hummed a bit longer than the previous time, appearing to show a bit more interest than before. “Is that so…” He said.

When Nino didn’t reply for a while, Ohno finally lost all of his interest and yawned. “What kind of grimoire you were looking for?”

“It’s called Gimmick,” Nino answered.

Ohno looked at him weirdly for a moment. “Ah… Is that so?” he said again, seemingly not really interested in it but Nino knew better and he could see how Ohno’s eyebrows turned into a slight frown.

“What?” He asked.

Ohno shrugged. “I just wondered… what will you do once you find the grimoire?”

But before Nino could answer, the bell chimed, announcing someone’s arrival. Both of them turn their head towards the small corner, assuming it must be Aiba since no one comes there beside him, Nino and Ohno. However, they heard a steady “Excuse me,” from a different voice which definitely didn’t belong to Aiba.

The sound made Ohno shoot up and mumble to Nino hastily, “If he asks about me, I am not here!” With that, Ohno rushed back to hide in the depths of the shop.

Nino’s face displayed a very confused expression as Ohno disappeared behind the mess. Before long, he heard another “Excuse me,” from the door, which snapped Nino out of his surprise and walk towards the door to welcome his new customer.

Nino tried his best not to arch an eyebrow at the person in front of him. This man was probably the most handsome that Nino had seen recently. “Welcome to The Mystery,” Nino said, trying not to roll his eyes as he thought, ugh, the name sounds so stupid. “How can I help you?” Nino continued, putting on a very respectful expression that he had rehearsed many times for his customers.

The customer smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I’m actually looking for someone,” he said.

Since Nino was somehow expecting that question, he deliberately blinked confusedly. “I’m sorry,” he said even though he actually had no idea why he was covering for Ohno. “I can assure you we contain many things but we don’t display humans,” he went on, trying not to laugh at his own words.

The handsome guy let out a very amused laugh. “I have heard the new owner of this place was quite entertaining but I wasn’t expecting this,” he continued with a light chuckle. “Oh, excuse me for my rudeness. My name is Matsumoto Jun,” he introduced himself. “I work in the same place as Ohno-san, who is your regular customer.” Nino arched an eyebrow as Matsumoto called out for Ohno. “Ohno-san! I know you’re here!” Nino wanted to say something but he restrained himself, and Ohno came out with a sulky pout on his face. Matsumoto smiled in a satisfied manner.

“What?” Ohno asked, almost grumpily, and Nino wanted to laugh at his behavior.

“How about coming to work once in a while?” Matsumoto said calmly.

Ohno’s pursed his lips together and his pout became somehow deeper as he refused to answer. Matsumoto rolled his eyes. “You know, we really can’t cover you if the k-” he couldn’t continue more because Ohno cut him off.

“Okay! Okay, I get it!!” He grumbled. “I will come, okay? Happy now?”

Matsumoto nodded, satisfied by his answer. “Then, I’ll be leaving you two alone now,” he said as he bowed towards Nino one last time before leaving the shop as gracefully as when he came.

Nino turned his face to Ohno, “What was that?”

“That… my colleague?”

Nino arched an eyebrow. “So you do have a job.”

Ohno nodded reluctantly.

Nino shrugged. “Too bad that I can’t hire you as a part-timer,” he joked lightly and walked past him. “But still this doesn’t mean I’ll let you sit, come on!” he dragged Ohno to the back of the shop again with a smile.

***

Over the next few days, Ohno didn’t come. Nino didn’t really want to think about the sudden disappearance of his regular customer. He was probably working -at last!- and now that he learned that Ohno actually had a job, it was just natural for him to not to be there, yet, Nino was weirdly feeling lonely.

Nino clicked his tongue. This place was unbearable when he was completely alone. Even though Ohno was mostly doing nothing but just sitting there, eating sweets and dozing off, Nino realized he had really gotten used to Ohno’s presence near him.

On the first day of Ohno’s disappearance, Aiba was really disappointed as well. “Eh?! But what about the sweets?” was what he asked, probably out of habit. The guy was a really nice person though, so Nino eventually ended up offering him a piece of chocolate.

“Why, that’s so kind of you, Nino-chan!” Aiba exclaimed happily and even offered some help with the shop, but Nino declined it. The back of the shop was probably the most dangerous place for Aiba. He could even imagine him going missing back there. However, he didn’t decline Aiba’s company and simply let him stay there because… well… yeah, he was lonely, even though he would hate if someone accused him of that.

Three weeks after Ohno’s disappearance and without any news, Aiba walked in with a black cat which had big green eyes in his arms. Nino narrowed his eyes. “What is this?” He asked cautiously.

Aiba placed the kitten onto the chair which Ohno used usually. The kitten seemed somehow restless in the shop but continued to behave. “This is Mochi, and well…” he scratched behind his head. Nino thought it was a weird name for a black cat who apparently looked like anything but a mochi. “I kind of have to go to Kings Cove Port for a job and I have no one to look after her…” Nino could see where this was going. “Please, Nino!!! I will do anything if you can just take care of her!!” Aiba clasped his hands and looked pleadingly to Nino. “Mochi hates Kings Cove Port, I can’t possibly take her there!” Ah, those damn puppy eyes! Nino cursed under his breath as he tried his best to avert his gaze.

“Leave him at your place then! You have Kazama to look after all those animals and creatures, don’t you?” Nino grumbled.

“Yes but Mochi is special and Kazapon would be busy with other animals too,” Aiba said. “Please, Nino!” he begged and Nino felt like a very cruel person for leaving a poor cat out.

Nino groaned loudly as he gave in. “Okay, but I will take her to Kazapon if she breaks anything!”

Aiba squealed and wrapped Nino into a bear hug. “Thank you Nino!!!” he exclaimed before he left the shop making Nino roll his eyes. One thing, he forgot to ask, dawned him on that moment. How long would Aiba be gone anyway? Nino looked at the cat, who was now watching him cautiously.

“You wouldn’t happen to know how long he’ll be gone for, would you?” Nino asked the cat, knowing that it was stupid to ask. The cat continued to look at him and Nino averted his gaze. “Don’t take it personally,” he started before turning his attention to papers in front of him. “I like dogs more than cats.”

Mochi stayed silent as she continued to observe Nino carefully. Feeling those eyes on his back was really uncomfortable for Nino, but then again, there was nothing much he could do, so he let Mochi watch him.

Around evening, Mochi seemed to trust Nino enough to move around as she jumped down from the chair, and started to sniff around. Nino followed her with the corner of his eye and when she attempted to walk towards the back of the shop, Nino quickly stopped her.

“You can’t go there!” Nino said sternly and Mochi meowed indignantly when Nino lifted her up to bring her back in front of the counter.

“Okay,” Nino started. “I don’t want you to go there because I don’t want you to mess up my hard work,” Nino tried to explain although he was suspicious at the beginning. But Mochi looked at him with narrowed eyes, if that was even possible. She sat down and Nino could feel that she didn’t like him but she was well aware that she was currently stuck with Nino.

“Yes, we don’t like each other but I assume we both like Aiba somehow,” Nino continued. Mochi perked up when she heard her owner’s name. “And you need to stay here without causing me any trouble, because I don’t want to have a fight with you and Aiba would hate if we fought,” Nino reasoned. Mochi seemed like she could follow the story as she meowed approvingly. Nino tried his best to not be impressed by the cat. “So, deal?” He asked.

Mochi seemed like she was considering Nino’s offer for a moment but then meowed her answer. Nino moved his head up and down. “Good. I’m glad we have a deal,” he said.

Then he suddenly heard a soft chuckle from the corner. Nino’s heart skipped a beat both from surprise and expectation as he turned his head towards the familiar voice which he was missing all this time - even though he hated to admit it.

“Oh,” Nino said as he looked at Ohno who was leaning against the wall, smiling. “We’re about to close,” he said, acting as normal as he could. It was a bit hard though, he hadn’t seen the man for three weeks already so he couldn’t help but notice the changes on the man. His skin was darker than the last time he last saw him, his hair was slightly longer too but other than those, he was the same Ohno.

“I know,” Ohno said. “You missed me that much? To the point of talking to a cat?”

“And you must also have missed me too much because you’re speaking an unusual lot today,” Nino shot back.

“I missed you,” Ohno admitted quickly.

“What?”

“What?” Ohno blinked with surprise. “I mean, I missed this place,” he added clumsily.

Nino smirked mischievously. “I’m sure that’s it,” he said, making Ohno blush slightly. Then he let out a laugh, trying to avoid the awkward atmosphere. “But I’m really going to close,” Nino said. “I have no plan to spend my evening here.”

Ohno hummed. “What do you do in the evenings?”

Nino eyed him suspiciously. “You’re unexpectedly speaking a lot today.”

“Is that so?” Ohno said as he moved past him and kneeled next to Mochi.

“Definitely,” Nino nodded. Then he watched Ohno petting Mochi’s head as Mochi purred happily. “It’s totally weird,” Nino added.

“Have you eaten?” Ohno asked as he didn’t move his gaze from Mochi.

“I was about to,” Nino rolled his eyes. “Until you came here to sabotage my closing time. Why do you come here everyday, anyway?” He asked his usual question.

Ohno chuckled. “I don’t have sweets today.”

“You do know that I don’t like sweets, don’t you?”

“Yes, you like hamburger.” Nino stayed silent as he looked at Ohno who was still busy with petting Mochi. “So?” Ohno asked suddenly.

“What?” Nino blinked with surprise.

Ohno lifted his head and looked into Nino’s eyes. “Eat with me?”

Nino gulped as he averted his gaze. He turned his back to Ohno and headed towards the counter, busying himself with the papers as he tried to understand what was going on. He could feel both Ohno’s and Mochi’s eyes on him. “Are you asking me out?” Nino blurted out suddenly.

This time, Ohno looked away. Nino wanted to blame the red lights of sunset for the slight blush on Ohno’s sunburned skin. Then Nino felt his face getting hot too. He took the documents on his desk which he had made inventories of that day, and turned his back to Ohno.

“If you’re the one who’s paying, then it’s okay,” he said and went back to place the old documents their new place while giving himself some time to calm down.

When he got back, Ohno was smiling him sheepishly and Nino couldn’t help but return that smile.

***

Ohno took Nino and Mochi into a tavern which looked really cheap. Nino didn’t care though, as long as it was delicious and he wasn’t the one who paid for it. They settled on a table, where Ohno was facing with Nino and if Nino had to describe the dinner with Ohno, it was mainly weird and a bit awkward. First of all, they barely spoke. They were both eating silently but Nino had to be blind to not notice how Ohno was stealing some secret glances at him.

“You’re staring,” Nino said as he continued to eat.

“Ah...” Ohno murmured. “Caught me.” Mochi perked up when he heard Ohno’s voice but returned to her food once she realized he wasn’t talking to her. Nino wanted to roll his eyes at Mochi.

“As I thought,” Nino rolled his eyes, leaving his fork and knife aside. “Speak,” he demanded.

Ohno averted his gaze before setting his spoon down. “How is the inventory thing going?” he asked finally.

Nino narrowed his eyes. “Seriously? You brought me here for asking me about my inventories?” Ohno was insisting not to look at Nino’s eyes so he was sure there was something else.

Ohno pouted. “Actually I just wanted to spend some time with you,” he said sulkily.

“You could have waited until tomorrow,” Nino said rationally.

Ohno seemed like he has troubles with speaking as he pursed his lips together. “But I will be going out of town tomorrow,” he murmured.

“To where?”

Ohno didn't answer.

“Well, whatever. So what is this? You wanted to catch up or something?”

“Kind of?”

Nino hummed. “Is that so...” he contained himself before they both fell silent again. Eventually, the meal ended like that, without unnecessary dialogue. Ohno was the one who paid (of course) for the meal.

It was still warm even though the sun was long gone when they went out of the tavern. Nino inhaled deeply, feeling the light salty sea breeze on his face. He wasn’t a sea person, another reason why he wanted to find that stupid grimoire and leave the capital.

“You don’t like the sea,” Ohno stated from next to him.

Nino grimaced. “I get seasick.”

Ohno looked at him with surprise. “That sounds terrible…”

“Yeah,” Nino scratched the back of his neck. They walked silently on the cobblestone for a while. Strangely, there wasn’t anyone near them. It was just them, and Mochi who had been walking next to Ohno for all this time. “How long will you be gone for this time?” Nino asked suddenly.

Ohno hummed. “I don’t know…” he murmured.

“Bring me something nice,” Nino said casually with a small smile.

Ohno beamed a smile. “I will!”

Nino chuckled and they continued to walk silently, but this time, Ohno’s shoulder was touching Nino’s, and Nino simply let him stay closer. Maybe they weren’t just a customer and a shop owner, but something more than that, Nino concluded.

***

Nino’s days were empty while both Ohno and Aiba were away. Only Mochi continued to accompany him in the shop with the inventories. He had no company so he devoted himself to his work, making quite a progress. Maybe even more than what he had achieved in the last four months.

That day too, Nino was working on inventories when the bell rang. Nino simply raised his head from the documents as he hadn’t been expecting anyone, when a man who had very striking sloppy shoulders walked in.

“Ah, excuse me! I was looking for aconite, can you help me?” The guy asked politely. Nino liked this kind of customer. They meant money for him.

“Of course, sir,” he said with a professional smile as he made his way to back where he placed the flowers used in Potion-making. It really didn’t take him a lot to find the aconite, and apparently, this also surprised his customer.

“Oh my,” he said with a surprised look on his face. “I was prepared to wait for a while,” he chuckled.

“Because of the old owner?” Nino guessed as he also chuckled a bit.

The guy let out a laugh. “Exactly, I’m surprised even though Ohno-san had informed me.”

“Ohno-san?” Nino blinked with surprise as he heard his regular customer’s name.

“Ah, I’m working with Ohno-san, my name is Sakurai Sho,” he bowed as he introduced himself.

“Oh, Ninomiya Kazunari, your shopkeeper,” he bowed too, so this guy was also a wizard? He was very tempted to ask about Ohno but should he really? He was constantly having customers who apparently knew Ohno meanwhile he had no idea about Ohno himself, he realized. He had no idea when this started to bother him, but currently, it was really bothering him. “Um… Please excuse my rudeness, but you work with Ohno-san?”

“Oh, we’re not actually working together, but we both are working in the Glass Palace,” Sakurai explained good-naturedly.

“Glass Palace?” Nino frowned. “He never told me.”

“Sounds like Ohno-san,” Sakurai chuckled. “He’s the Palace wizard.”

“And you?” Nino asked curiously.

“I’m just the court pharmacist,” Sakurai smiled. “We actually have this in palace garden but since it’s for my personal use, I can’t take from the garden.”

“Oh,” Nino contained himself.

“And Ohno-san said this place had almost everything,” Sakurai gestured to the aconite. “I guess he was right. How much do I owe you?” he asked, bringing out a pouch.

“One silver coin,” he said and Sakurai paid without any opposition, making Nino decide that he liked Sakurai already. Well, for one thing, he hated those kinds of customers who tried to get a discount every time. “Thank you very much,” he said with a respectful bow.

“Thank you very much, Ninomiya-kun,” Sakurai said finally before he left the shop.

***

To his delight, Aiba returned a week after Sakurai’s visit. He seemed very tired but also very accomplished. He told Nino stories about how Kings Cove Port was very cold, but the people there were very warm. They even gave Aiba some special whiskey, which Aiba brought back to share with Nino. Mochi was also delighted to have her owner back. She immediately jumped on Aiba, who praised her for being a good girl and not giving any trouble to Nino. She looked very proud of herself as she settled on Aiba’s lap and he stroked her black fur gently. Mochi purred contentedly.

It was really nice to have Aiba’s company in his shop until it was finally time for Nino to go back. This time, it was just Nino in the shop and Nino felt terribly lonely. Apparently, Mochi was a good companion even though she mostly ignored him.

Nino sighed. He was honestly tired of waiting for things to happen. For the first time, he felt like he understood why the previous owner was that eager to leave that place. The Mystery, true to its name was just a mystery because it felt like time had stopped in there. It was like that place just froze time for the owner, meanwhile, everyone come there and go.

Nino was there, never left, couldn’t leave.
Aiba was there, and left. Usually came to visit.
Mochi was there, and left. Sometimes came to visit.
Ohno was there, and left. But Nino wanted him to come back again.

That sudden realization made Nino frown. He wanted Ohno back. Apparently, he wanted Ohno to stay there with him.

***

However, it took Ohno more than two months to come back and Nino was feeling beyond lonely. He didn’t want to believe that Ohno had left forever, but he also didn’t want to get his hopes up for nothing. So he devoted himself to his inventories. The shop was nearly deserted and some random customers dropped by from time to time to buy things, but none of them stayed or came as regularly as Ohno used to.

Aiba of course, kept coming and bringing sweets with him. Apparently, Aiba taken the sweets mission on his own since Ohno was missing and no one knew where he was. Once, Nino even considered going to the Glass Palace and asking for him, but it felt so stupid that he just gave up. And at some point, Nino stopped waiting for him.

The summer was already gone and to Nino’s delight, it was neither too hot nor too cold. He could see the leaves of trees turning to yellow and falling silently from the windows of The Mystery.

He was also proud of himself. He managed to clean the shop, throw away unnecessary things and make an inventory of everything. Now there was only a little that remained for him to clean and write and then he would be free. But still, the grimoire was nowhere to be found. Nino grumbled while he was dealing with the last sack of weird books. He was praying that grimoire to be there as he recorded new books in his endless inventory.

One after another and in the end, the last book was the grimoire. Nino wanted to laugh and cry at the same time when he reached to the book which looked like a grimoire that one could find anywhere.

“Don’t touch that!”

Nino jumped when he heard the alarming voice which was horribly familiar. He whipped his head to see Ohno, whom he hadn’t seen for months. Ohno rushed towards him, before Nino could say anything and caught his arm, dragging him away from the grimoire which he was looking for all this time.

“Ohno-san? What? What are you doing?” Nino asked when Ohno pushed him out of the shop. Nino shivered with the cold wind which wasn’t there before. Ohno closed the door hurriedly, without making a statement. At that moment, Nino noticed the bandages covering Ohno’s arms. “What happened to you?” he asked worriedly. But before he could demand an answer, the ground started to shake angrily. It wasn’t an earthquake, Nino was sure of it. He immediately understood what was going on as Ohno started to mumble a spell. There was a furious red light coming out of the shop as the grimoire fought back to Ohno’s spell.

There was an expression full of concentration on Ohno’s face. It was new to Nino since he only knew his sleepy face, sheepish grin, beautiful laugh, how that slight blush looked on his chubby cheeks, and (of course) the happiness when he was eating sweets. By now, Nino already knew that Ohno was a splendid wizard - he was the Palace wizard so it was only natural that he was good, Nino thought sarcastically - but currently, Ohno seemed like he was having trouble with the grimoire as it pushed him back. The dark magic gushing out of the grimoire was making Nino shiver, but he stepped forward and stood next to Ohno, in order to support his spell.

“You owe me an explanation,” Nino said and he saw Ohno nod with the corner of his eye.

With Nino’s support, it seemed like they were able to suppress the grimoire. It was weird because it felt like they were reading each other’s mind when Nino took over the job of keeping the grimoire in its place as Ohno started to spell that would destroy it. Ohno mumbled some words, but Nino was too occupied with his current task to differentiate the spell.

Even though he had no idea about what Ohno was doing, he was apparently doing better because Nino felt the pressure coming from the grimoire weaken. He constricted the barrier, as Ohno continued. All of a sudden, he felt all the pressure disappear and Ohno grabbing his arm at the same time. Ohno made Nino lie on the floor, shielding him with his body as an energy explosion came almost at the same time.

It was all over now.

***

Nino plopped down tiredly. “What the hell was that?” he asked panting slightly.

Ohno was beside him immediately. “You okay? Haven’t touched it, right?”

Nino eyed him. “Fine. But I think I deserve an explanation now.”

Ohno averted his gaze and sighed. “Where do you live?” he asked.

“You want me to invite you to my room ?” Nino asked as he arched an eyebrow.

Ohno smiled sheepishly. “Too obvious?” Nino rolled his eyes and Ohno laughed out loud. “Then come to my place?”

Nino narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Are you even allowed to invite random people to the Palace?”

Ohno tilted his head confusedly. “I don’t live in the Palace.”

“Oh,” Nino blinked with confusion.

“And how do you know about the Palace?” Ohno added.

“The Pharmacist,” Nino explained with a shrug.

Ohno chuckled again. “Oh yes, Sho-kun… Well, sorry to disappoint you but I don’t live in Glass Palace.”

Nino chuckled. “It’s okay, I guess?”

Ohno beamed a smile to him, and Nino was sure that he was losing it.

***

Ohno’s house was pretty close to the sea and it finally made sense to Nino why he smelled like the sea all the time. It was pretty far from both The Mystery and Glass Palace but somehow it wasn’t that strange that Ohno was living there. Nino had no idea what he was expecting but then again he had seen a lot in this last year so it felt like nothing could surprise him at all. For now, he just wanted to know what the hell had been going on while he was searching for that stupid grimoire.

Ohno let him sit on his spacious and ridiculously soft sofa and even served him a nice warm tea. Not like the ones that Nino had been serving him but a proper tea, at the perfect temperature. Nino followed Ohno with his eyes, not even trying to hide that he was watching him. Somehow, he seemed very anxious and stiff. Was it because he was at Ohno’s house? Or was it because it was finally obvious that he could make his own tea? Nino wanted to laugh.

“So,” he started before sipping from his tea. “Oh, this is delicious. So you were capable of making your own tea after all,” Nino teased him a little so that Ohno could relax a bit.

“But I like yours,” Ohno mumbled.

Nino threw his head back and let out a laugh. Ohno looked kind of cute. “You have a weird taste.” Ohno smiled sheepishly. “But that won’t save you from that explanation,” Nino added, leaning back and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Ohno pouted. “Can’t we talk about something nice?”

“Like what?”

“Like you being in my house.”

Nino arched an eyebrow. “You pervert.” Ohno blushed at the sudden imply. “I’ll consider it if you tell me about everything now.”

Ohno perked up upon hearing that. “You’ll consider what?” he asked curiously.

Nino sipped his tea with an expressionless face. “I wonder what? Now, speak.”

A few minutes of silence fell. Ohno seemed like he was having a hard time from where to start. So Nino decided to help him a little when the silence started to wear him off. “Were you really a regular customer even before I came here?”

Ohno nodded. “I was looking for Gimmick too. The old owner promised to give it to me if I ever win against him in chess.”

“And you never did,” Nino chuckled. “Did you know about me?” Nino asked the question that has been bothering him.

Ohno nodded again. “Only your name.”

“Why were you looking for that grimoire?”

“Because it’s dangerous,” Ohno answered, then heaved a sigh. “It was King’s order. For a while Lord Amakusa who hired you was fishy. He was in dissidence with the King. It was nothing new, his family was always against this country but when he started to move, we had to do the same.” Ohno inhaled deeply as if he was tired from speaking.

“I’m amazed,” Nino said flabbergasted. “I didn’t know you could talk this much!”

Ohno looked surprised at Nino’s claim. “Um…”

Nino waved him off. “So this grimoire which tried to kill me just now really belonged that lord?”

Ohno nodded again. “His family possesses a great magic but they never use it wisely.”

Nino moved his head up and down approvingly. “I get that much from the grimoire.”

“And you’re careless too,” Ohno started to speak willingly, surprising Nino. “You had no idea what kind of thing you were looking for. You were only interested in finding it from the first day.”

Nino felt his face getting hot from embarrassment. “I’m sorry…” he mumbled almost inaudible. Then he blinked with sudden realization. “Wait… Did you know about me from the start?”

Ohno averted his gaze. “You’re a bit famous,” he mumbled.

“Oh,” Nino contained himself as he couldn’t help himself feel a bit deceived. “That’s why you were coming to the shop?” he asked, the thought itself was somehow heartbreaking.

“At first… yes,” Ohno accepted. “I didn’t know if you’re trustworthy and since the shop belonged to you now, I couldn’t possibly steal the grimoire,” he shrugged. “But you were charming enough,” Nino watched his cheeks turning into a nice shade of red. “I like seeing you everyday.”

“Is that so…” Nino mumbled as he buried his face into the cup.

“And you’re free now,” Ohno said after a few seconds of silence. “Lord Amakusa is taken down, Gimmick is destroyed, you finished your inventories,” he traced as his voice got smaller before disappearing. He sounded sad, if Nino wasn’t mishearing him.

Nino hummed. “I can continue my job,” he said as he placed the cup onto the small coffee table. “Being a traveling merchant is nice, you know. You see a lot of things and earn a lot of money. I earn more at one job than I did in these last six months.”

“You do, don’t you?” Ohno said as he shrunk into his place, getting smaller and smaller. Nino watched him for a while, letting his words hang in the air uncomfortably. Ohno shifted on his place, avoiding Nino’s eyes at all cost.

“So won’t you stop me?” Nino asked finally, leaning back again with a daring smirk on his face.

“What?” Ohno blinked a few times before registering what Nino had said. “You want me to stop you?”

“You can’t know until you try it,” Nino said calmly.

Ohno suddenly beamed a smile and jumped up shifting to sit next to Nino. He looked at his eyes, asking for permission. By now, Nino had discovered that Ohno communicated with his eyes more than words. Also, he listened more than he said, and Nino was sure that there was more to this story. But for now, he was fine with letting it go. He flashed a smile towards Ohno and he didn’t have to wait for long to have his lips sealed with Ohno’s soft ones.

In the end, Ohno bought nothing, but Nino decided that he could live with that.


The end.
Or not?
Probably not.