Disclaimer: I do not own "Kyo Kara Ore Wa!" or John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness." Both are property of their respective owners. No profit is being made from this story.
Author's Note: While I usually prefer to write in the anime continuity, in this case I am borrowing characters and elements from both the anime and manga.
To my knowledge the girl who befriends Nakano in the manga is never given a name in the series. I've taken the liberty of giving her one here.
"Ore-sama was framed!" Mitsuhashi howled as he was unceremoniously bundled into a cop car. It was so tempting to fight his way loose but he refrained. Even he had enough common sense to realise that beating up cops was not a good idea.
"Will you shut up Mitsuhashi?" Ito snapped as he too was shoved in.
It had started off simply enough. Some hoodlums from Akehisa High had been causing trouble and Mitsuhashi and Ito had gone to put them in their place. Imai and Nakano had even joined in. Unfortunately things had escalated until the police were called. The four of them had been unable to slip away in time and had been arrested along with the Akehisa punks.
"My life is over" Imai groaned miserably. "How can I face Ryoko-chan now that I am a felon? She won't even speak to me after this."
"Don't worry Imai" said Ito reassuringly. "She'll understand. She accepts you just as you are. Just like me and Kyoko-chan. She won't like this but I know she'll forgive me."
Imai looked a little better and smiled. The moment was broken by Nakano (who up to now had been silent) uttering a low chuckle. The other three turned to look at him, surprised by the show of humour from the usually quiet and morose individual.
"What's so funny?" Ito asked.
"I hadn't noticed before how your girlfriends' names rhyme" he replied. "Ryoko, Kyoko. It's funny."
They decided not to answer. While Nakano was now an ally and a sort-of friend, they still found him very odd.
Mitsuhashi of course couldn't resist an opportunity for some ribbing. "How about you Nakano? Aren't you worried how Hitomi-chan will react?"
"Hitomi and I are just friends" Nakano replied, his amused look disappearing.
Imai and Ito shared a knowing nod. They both knew better, no matter how much he protested.
Mitsuhashi grinned fiendishly. "Well in that case you'll have no problem if I ask her out…"
"Try it and I break your legs" Nakano said menacingly.
"As if you could" Mitsuhashi countered.
"Cut it out you punks" the officer driving the car snapped. "None of you will be going out anywhere for some time after what you pulled."
"Ha! It was all a misunderstanding. Ore-sama will be out in no time" Mitsuhashi boasted.
At the trial Ito, Imai and Nakano all pleaded guilty, knowing they were in enough trouble already. Mitsuhashi first claimed that he was an innocent bystander that had gotten dragged into the brawl. When it became obvious that no one was fooled he changed his story to Ito threatening him into it. It proved just as convincing as his first claim.
Throughout the proceedings Kyoko, Ryoko and Hitomi all sent supportive looks to their respective significant others. The guys all replied with small, thankful smiles, even Nakano. Riko tried to do the same to Mitsuhashi but he ignored her. She sighed sadly and the other girls gave her reassuring pats on the shoulder.
Before long the verdict was given. Unsurprisingly, the four were found guilty. Ito fully expected Mitsuhashi to make a scene and thus add to their sentence but fortunately he didn't. In fact he seemed too shocked to react.
"Ito Shinji, Mitsuhashi Takashi, Imai Katsutoshi, Nakano Makoto, you have been found guilty of the charges brought by this court and it is now my duty to pass sentence" the judge announced. "You are sentenced to one thousand, nine hundred and ninety three hours of community service."
The next day the four of them were on a minibus heading off to begin their community service. They soon arrived at a dilapidated church.
"What a dump" Mitsuhashi snorted as he studied the old building.
"Show some reverence Mitsuhashi" Ito chided. "This is a house of prayer."
"Not any more it isn't. It must have been closed down years ago."
"That's right" their supervisor said as he unlocked the door. "However something's going on here soon that'll require people to stay overnight. You boys are here to clear away some old junk, make some room and clean this place up a bit to make it more inhabitable."
"This is unbelievable" Mitsuhashi fumed. "Ore-sama being forced to perform manual labour. How can this be allowed?"
"What's wrong Mitsuhashi, scared of a little honest work?" Imai asked.
"I agree" said Nakano. "I think he doesn't want to be shown up when he can only move little pieces while us strong guys do the real lifting."
"What? Ore-sama is stronger than anyone! I'll move more than both of you put together!"
With that he marched into the church. He didn't notice the triumphant grins on the other two's faces.
This is going to be interesting Ito thought.
The four of them got to work. They moved broken pieces of furniture outside, cleaned the floors, dusted the corners and so on. Despite Mitsuhashi's complaining they made good progress.
"That was easy" Mitsuhashi boasted when they had finally finished.
"Not bad boys" said the supervisor as he checked their work over. "I'm sure the people coming here will appreciate it."
"What's going on here anyway?" Imai asked curiously.
"You can ask them yourselves. They'll be here soon and you'll be helping set up their equipment."
"What? We haven't finished our sentence yet?" Mitsuhashi exclaimed.
Ito sighed. "We were sentenced to one thousand, nine hundred and ninety three hours of community service. So far we've done three hours."
"Just one thousand, nine hundred and ninety hours left. The end's in sight" said Nakano dryly.
Mitsuhashi grumbled crossly.
Another minibus arrived soon afterwards. Aboard it was a small group of college students and numerous containers filled with equipment. With them was a short, older man who introduced himself as Professor Howard Birack.
"I know you boys aren't here by choice but I appreciate your help" he told them. "The work we're here for is extremely important."
"We're happy to help sir" said Imai. He was thrilled by the chance to ingratiate himself with the professor. Getting into his good books could help him with his dream of becoming an archaeologist.
"Boot-licker" Mitsuhashi scoffed.
Imai tensed but didn't reply, refusing to let himself be baited.
The four of them soon got to work carrying the containers into the church and helping to set up the equipment. It all looked very sophisticated and none of them had any idea what it could be for.
"So what's going on here anyway?" Imai asked one of the students, his curiosity having gotten the best of him.
"No idea" the student replied. "Birack says he'll tell us all in time, whatever that means. All I know is that this trip counts as a third of my grade."
Now Imai REALLY wanted to know what was going on…
Meanwhile Mitsuhashi was carrying another box up a staircase. As he got to the top he noticed Ito looking out of a window with a frown. Annoyed he put the box down and strode over to him.
"Ito! How dare you stand around doing nothing! Slacking off while Ore-sama does all the work!"
Ito was startled but regained his composure right away. "Mitsuhashi look at this." He pointed out of the window.
Standing in an alleyway was a crowd of scruffy, unkempt people dressed in tatty clothing. All of them stood perfectly still and stared at the church, their faces blank and expressionless. In front of the crowd was a tall pale man with long black hair. He wore a black wooly hat and a filthy brown coat.
"There's something strange about those guys" said Ito. "They've been there for over an hour now. They don't say or do anything, just stand there."
"Well if that scares you so much Ito then Ore-sama will get rid of them. You're lucky to have such a great leader" said Mitsuhashi.
He turned and marched back down the stairs.
This is so boring Nakano thought as he carried a length of computer cable over to a bank of machinery. When Imai had told him that whatever was happening here was important, he'd had hopes that maybe someone would show up and try to sabotage it or steal the equipment or something. Then he'd be able to fight. But so far nothing had happened and he was getting tired of waiting.
"AAAIIIIE!"
He spun around as a cry of terror split the air. Nakano dropped the cable and dashed over to where a young guy was screaming.
"What is it?"
The guy pointed at a window. Nakano looked and saw that there was a mass of writhing worms slithering across the glass. He snorted contemptuously and walked off.
What a wuss. Scared over a few little worms he thought. He considered teaching the guy a lesson for getting his hopes up but decided against it. Hitomi wouldn't like that. The thought that if she were there she'd admire his restraint brought a small smile to his face.
Mitsuhashi spent a full twenty minutes trying to get the crowd to leave but no matter how much he ranted, yelled or threatened them they didn't so much as blink. Finally he was forced to admit defeat and go back to work.
Finally, when everything had been set up and with the arrival of a Catholic priest, Birack finally told everyone why they were there. More specifically he said he would show them. He and the priest led the students down to a large chamber in the church's basement. In the middle of the chamber was a clear cylindrical container with a base and top made of corroded metal. It was filled with a swirling green liquid. Even Mitsuhashi was awed by the sight of it
"What is that thing?" he asked. He and the other three had been allowed to come down after Imai had pleaded with Birack.
"That's what we're here to find out" the professor replied.
Imai stared at the cylinder in amazement. This is it he thought. This is the kind of thing I've dreamt of. If I can prove myself useful here then I'll have taken a huge step towards becoming an archaeologist.
He turned to their supervisor. "Sir can we continue our community service here? Surely there's something we can do."
"Yes" Mitsuhashi agreed. "This could be a hugely important discovery. It's our duty to society to help in any way we can."
And maybe I can find a way to make some money off it he thought to himself.
"Fine with me if it's okay with you professor" said the supervisor.
"All right. Just be very careful and don't tell anyone about this" he replied.
"Yes sir!" both of them exclaimed.
"I have a VERY bad feeling about this" Ito muttered as he studied the green liquid. He had no idea how right he was.