Hi everyone. No i didn't die this chapter just took a long time because it was very hard to write. ANd finding the time and energy to do it was tough. I'm sorry if I lost any good readers. But it is done now. and I hope anyone enjoys it and I thank anyone and everyoen who's been reading it and hoping for this chapter to come.
That being said the last chapter gasps is already written. I think as soon as I get 10 reviews for this chapter I will update that one. THE PHANTOM is revealed in that one. and since this is the second last chapter I think I may feel like saying NO ONE has guess the correct phantom.
Chapter 14
With a whip of chilling, still air the three of them landed down below the stage. The dark corridor seemed isolate amongst the school's normally bright setting.
"Where are we?" Sakamoto asked.
"Below the stage, Dipshit." Toki said fumbling to find a flashlight in his pants.
Makoto didn't have time for them, the sound of the cell phone ring penetrated throughout the darkness and he needed to find her. "Ito?" He called out and just like the cell phone, his voice echoed but no one answered.
He cupped his hands over his mouth and his leg began to twitch nervously, he did not like this one bit.
"There we go." Makoto had to shield his eyes from Toki shining the light of his flashlight at him. "Makoto, are you alright?" He asked. He was crunched down, from the low ceiling and looked up at Makoto who looked scared.
"Yeah, I'm just scared for Ito, that's all." He said in his feminine voice.
Sakamoto heard him and patted his back, he was crunched over too and the gesture was hard for him to do, he ended up having to grasp Makoto's shoulders to stay up. "Sorry." He said shyly. "But, you know she'll be alright and nothing will happen to you, as long as I'm here."
"Ya, you did a great job protecting Ito, Makoto knows she's in good hands right now!" Sarcastically Toki commented as he shone the light deeper down the bottom of the stage.
Brrring, brring...
"Dammit! Toki can we just find that damn cell phone and get out of here!"
Toki nodded and they followed the sound of the cell phone. Dust and cobwebs wisped past their faces as they made their way closer to the sound of the ring. Makoto crouched down below a load bearing pole and heard a crunch.
"Hey, Toki, stop." He instructed as he bent down to pick up what he had stepped on. It was the cell phone, Makoto swiped his finger gently up and down a crack in the screen, and he studied it for two minutes before concluding that it was her cell phone.
"But where is she?" He asked, seeing that the phone was alone.
It took a few moments before anyone could answer, the realization that Ito could be in danger seemed to be sinking in on everyone's mind. Somebody deliberately separated her from her form of communication. Makoto pictured Ito fighting her way from the kidnappers, her strength incomparable to theirs. Just when she finally lays a hand on them they grab her wrist, her phone would go off and the shook and fear over her face is stock cold. That's when the kidnapper turns her around, picks the phone out of her pocket tosses it aside and...
"We should keep looking." Toki said, stopping Makoto from visualizing the nightmare playing across his mind.
"Yeah...yeah...good idea." He said, clasping the cell phone tightly. He would not think about it. He would not visualize it. The only thought that would perform in his mind is the thoughtful hope that she is alive. He kept moving with them, hoping that some clue would come up that would give him the faith he was quickly loosing.
"Ho ho ho. What do we have here?" Sakamoto happily announced a far way ahead of them.
"What is it?" Makoto's voice seemed on the edge, risking his identity but a part of him didn't even care about that.
There was a thud and more sounds heard from where Sakamoto's voice was. More movement could be heard as Toki and Makoto approached and they heard a few curses from Sakamoto's mouth.
"What did you find?" Toki asked, listening to the large materials Sakamoto seemed to be moving.
"A...grh...a...shit!" His breathing was rough and he stepped back to take a breath. "A door." He breathed.
Makoto and Toki looked at each other, shock written all over their faces. "But the only door to here is that way." Toki explained while indicating over his shoulder.
Sakamoto shook his head. "No, I saw it. There was a glint in the dark when you shined the flashlight over here. I checked it out and it was was a door handle."
At hearing this Toki lifted his flashlight up and Makoto's eyes opened with disbelief. There was something shining in the light. He walked over to it and slowly moved his hand over it. A door handle... Sakamoto was right. But where does it lead? He wondered.
He heard Toki scuff and give a few sarcastic compliments to Sakamoto but he didn't care. In a few seconds of feeling around the door he was able to tell that there was a wardrobe tilted on its side blocking it and a few other old props from past plays. Makoto was able to move the smaller props in a matter of seconds but the wardrobe was another issue. Toki came up behind him.
"It would take at least three guys to push that thing." He said. Makoto almost smirked inside but Toki continued. "Of course, you're a girl and Sakamoto couldn't even move the props that you had just moved, which means we can only depend on myself..."
Makoto pressed his back to the bottom of the wardrobe and used his shoulders to push it back. It had taken him a while but it did begin to shift slightly. Before long the wardrobe was out of the way and Toki was left to stare at him in disbelief.
"Good job, Makoto!" He applauded as Makoto caught his breath and smiled up at them. He wasn't in the mood to chat: they had to figure out where the newly found would lead them. The three of them gathered around the door and Makoto slowly turned the handle...
DUNDUNDUN hahahaha
Hi!!!! This is pumpkinjuice. I wanted to build suspense here by putting in someone else's point of view
but unfortunately I have only put it into Makoto's POV this entire time. SO it wouln't really fit in ya. Okay...how are we all enjoying the story? Tough crowd...tough crowd...oh i know! Find the 3!!! 8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888838888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
88888888888888888888 Wasn't that fun? I know I had fun. I'm sure you did too. Isn't this great comic relief? well best get back to the story (hope you're all itching to hear what happens).
The door slowly opened and all three boys were hit with several sporting equipment.
"Ouch!" Sakamoto cried as a bowling ball hit his foot. Makoto had gotten the worst of the soccer balls, badminton rackets and basketballs, being first in the group, but he had not made a sound. He had drawn out a map in his minds eyes and had concluded a while ago that they would possibly be in the gyms equipment room.
They all stepped into the small crowded room. Several hockey nets blocked their way. They inched around the pails of baseball bats and Sakamoto tripped over a few of the baseballs that Makoto and Toki had managed to walk over.
"Ever feel that not enough money is going to the arts?" Toki asked, as he compared the overcrowded storage room to the school's bare storage room which also served as their change room. Sakamoto argued and defended his running team but Makaoto didn't pay head to them. He glanced around the small space, remembering the day before: at practice.
Everyone had rushed over the school. Toki had checked the main exit, Makoto had stayed on stage, a few students had checked the hallways and others checked the outside grounds of the school. No one had checked a sports equipment room. The kidnapper could have easily gone down the trap door; Ito could have dropped her cell phone as they made their way over to the storage room. Everyone could have still been in the school as Ito was forced in here. However that did not seem plausible, Ito would have made noise and walls to this room were thin enough to echo to the hallways surrounding it where the students had been searching. Surely someone would have heard her.
So...did they just walk out in the hallway, plain as day? Or was there another...? Makoto glanced up to see an open air vent. Makoto looked around at everything around them. Anyone could easily step onto the hockey net and if there was another person helping, they could put someone through the vent by force.
He remembered the struggle he had felt the day before, it had not just been one person. There had to have been a couple of people working the little scheme. Makoto stepped up on the hockey net, which brought Sakamoto and Toki to halt. They both looked up and asked Makoto what he was doing.
Makoto's voice echoed down the air vent as his head was searching it. He rationalized that he could fit in it; it was large enough for a grown man to crawl through. He brought his arms up and hoisted himself in, taking a few steps forward to stick his upper body down to Toki and Sakamoto.
"Come on up." he instructed them, wanting to see if three grown people could fit in there. Toki pulled himself up easily however both Makoto and Toki had to help Sakamoto up and once he was up there; there was not much room to move.
"Dammit, this is going to be tough. Sakamoto, I swear if you fart or ram into my ass in any way." Toki warned.
"Don't worry!" Sakamoto assured him. "I'll just stay close to Makoto-san."
Makoto groaned, hoping Sakamoto didn't get to close to him as they began to crawl down the air vent. None of them knew where they were going. Toki was in front of them and Makoto was behind Sakamoto. They were silent as they concentrated on where they were going and how they were crawling. They passed a gated opening and Makoto notched something hanging from it. It was a scrap of dark material similar to Ito's dress in the scene they had practiced the day before. He ordered the two in front of him to stop and he examined it. Sure enough it was part of her dress. He put his weight on the gate and it opened with ease, as though it had been opened recently. Makoto crawled out and entered the dark hallway brushing off some dust mites as he stood. Sakamoto and Toki followed.
"Shit!" Toki said. "If I wanted to come up to the second floor of the school I would have used the damn stairs!"
Sakamoto agreed but Makoto was glad to see the trail of the kidnappers from the day before. He looked around the hallway and noticed the colourful sky outside. Dusk... he thought, realizing it was getting late. If he didn't find her in a few hours the Miura family would be at their dinner table, telling Goro of Ito's disappearance. Despite the lack of a relationship he had with Goro he did not want to cause him any sadness. Goro had already lost one woman dear to him he should not have to loose the other.
"Makoto." Toki's voice interrupted his thoughts. It was rough and grunt, Makoto glanced over to him and saw he was glaring right behind him. Makoto turned back to the direction he had faced moments before but instead of being transfixed with the window he noticed something on the ground. His eyes almost burst from his head as he ran over to the tethered dress on the ground.
He ran to it and held it closely against his body. The dress that the costume designers had worked so hard on for Ito to wear. The dress itself was not ruined but Ito herself was not in it.
Toki grumbled some curses under his breath and Sakamoto just stared at the dress pressed closely to Makoto.
"So...Does that mean that Ito's...naked?" Was the inappropriate question from Sakamoto.
Toki glared at him before he punched him in the back.
"Ya' IDIOT! Makoto's right there! Have some damn consideration!"
"But...are we looking for a clothed Ito or a naked one, because I've got to know!"
They continued to argue and Makoto ignored them. He held out the dress and inspected it. It was torn and ripped but it had always been that way: it had been meant to look rather dysfunctional. Indeed, he saw no other rips besides that the costume designers had inflicted upon the new dress. He thought back to the trouble she always had getting in and out of the dress. He had helped her unzip the backing several times (much to her protest) so the kidnappers had to be caring enough to help her out of the dress: not force her out.
Toki was behind him now. "What are you thinking about?" He asked as he looked at the dress Makoto still held.
"It's the same as it was when she left. I think it was deliberately put here: for us to find."
Toki carefully took the costume from Makoto and studied it himself as Makoto glanced down the adjacent hallway. There was only one problem to his theory, if they had planted evidence than they wanted them to find something. The question was what did they want them to find?
There was a scream behind them from Sakamoto; they both ran down the hallway they had just been standing in moments before. At the end of the hall they found Sakamoto hunched in a corner, flailing his arms wildly, his eyes shut tight and annoying sounds emanating from his clenched mouth.
They were shocked to see the fright in him and wondered what had brought it on. They asked if he had seen the phantom or if he hurt himself or if the phantom had hurt him. He did not say the problem, only making whimpering sounds. He finally pointed to his foot where Makoto and Toki saw a small spider. Makoto picked it up on his index finger, causing Sakamoto to cry out as though all misery had crashed down on him in one exact moment.
"Why did we bring you on a rescue mission?" Toki asked as he pulled Sakamoto off the floor. Makoto laughed slightly before dropping the spider back on the floor. That's when something caught his eye, a yellow envelope addressed to him and 'Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb'. He called out to Toki and Sakamoto who stepped over to him to see what he had.
Sakamoto gasped upon reading the envelope. "I am not Tweedle Dee!"
"Then you're Tweedle Dumb!" Toki muttered as he leaned over Makoto to read the note.
Tweedle Dee, and Tweedle Dumb,
This spectacle has astound you numb.
Makoto, Hide your face.
The world may never find you.
The day has always been a masquerade,
Turn around, there's another mask behind you
Phantom of the Theatre
"Is that a threat?" Sakamoto asked, finishing the letter after them.
Toki scratched his head, gently taking the note from Makoto. "It's a song from the original play, but he's switched the words around to make it seem more of a threat."
Makoto nodded, trying to stay with them. However the words on the paper caught his eyes, 'Makoto hide your face, and the world may never find you.'
Whoever this phantom was, he was getting to close for comfort for Makoto.
"Hmm...It makes no sense to me." Toki said, muttering that it may not be the same person as the previous notes.
"I don't know..." Sakamoto said, snatching the note back. Toki took a step towards him to grab the note back but Sakamoto stepped into the darkness and Toki just stopped to listen to him. "It could just—-Agh!"
Makoto looked around, expecting another spider but instead there was a large figure behind Sakamoto. Sakamoto slowly turned around to see whom he had backed into. His mouth hung open as he looked up to the figure, not making a sound, just looming over the young teenager.
Makoto stared at the figure, not knowing what to say. What could he say? Up until that moment he had always thought the phantom was just the first year's imagination and that everything going on would turn out to be a prank, even Ito's disappearance. However at that moment the figure responsible for all the mishaps stood in front of him, his face hidden by a mask and his shoulders draped in a long black cloak of velvet.
Toki seemed as bewildered as Makoto and Sakamoto was dumbfounded. Then just as quickly as it took for the shock to come over them, he turned on his heels and was gone. All three of them watched him run down the hallway for a few moments before their senses woke up. They glanced at each other, all rather embarrassed at what had happened before they ran off down the narrow hallway. They pushed their way between each other, being squished by the lockers on either side of them. Finally Sakamoto broke between them and ran off ahead to catch the phantom. Makoto ran beside Toki, they were running blind: there were no lights on, all class rooms were empty and they had no way of knowing where the phantom went for he was not in their sights.
They reached the end of the hall that was also the top of the stairs to go downstairs. Toki stopped and watched Sakamoto rush down the stairs.
"Wait, Sakamoto! He didn't go down there!" He shouted down as they watched Sakamoto leave them. Toki turned to Makoto, "We would have heard him go down the stairs, he was running too fast to stop and quietly ease down those things."
Makoto agreed they stepped back in the hallway which broke into two different ones. The one they had come down and the one adjacent to it.
"Could he have taken a turn and gone down there." Makoto pointed and Toki nodded, already running down the hallway. "Hey you!" Makoto looked up to see a cape trail down the corner of the hallway they had just rushed through. He was there.
Makoto was about to go after Toki when he heard something hiss, "Makoto"
He turned around to where the voice had come from but only saw the dark velvet cape as he had before. Suddenly it moved. Makoto looked back at where Toki had just headed off, wondering who he was chasing and if Sakamoto was still chasing a caped figure.
Suddenly, beneath the cape, there was a white gloved finger, beckoning him to follow him. Makoto questioned it but it was not until the figure was practically down the hallway that he, Sakamoto and Toki had just stormed through that Makoto finally followed.
It didn't take him long to loose the phantom. On the contrary, in a matter of seconds the phantom was gone, seemingly into the darkness where he belonged. However, he did not seem have gone far. Makoto stopped short halfway down the hall. He had stopped hearing the phantom's footsteps long ago.
He heard a door creek up ahead of him and slowly edged towards it.
The door marked 'upper stage' was slightly ajar. He had never been in the upper stage room, only Ito, Yoshiro, Miss. Ito and the tech crew had the authority. It wasn't really anything big, he knew. It was just a small landing above the stage where some of the technical equipment was usually stored. There was another one at the other end of the stage however the only way to get to that part was by walking across some old metal rafters, which was the only thing connecting each side, and no one ever did that.
Makoto walked onto the unusual roomy landing. Everything had been taken out for the show, however, the landing had accommodated some new merchandise, it seemed. There was a desk from a neighbouring classroom with some pens and papers (all with the pale yellow tinge the notes had been accustomed to) lying on top of it. His hand hovered over the tools as he turned to see the stolen bed sheets used for the first scene. He walked over to them and clutched them tightly, seeing the old holes mended and the blotchy stains washed out.
He was wrapped in curiosity as he wondered about the care the phantom had taken towards these old bed sheets that hearing the sound of someone moving shocked him: greatly. He spun around to see the phantom on the other end of the stage.
Impossible. Makoto thought. The rafters were dangerous for anyone but a person of the phantom's stature and height; it would be down right impossible.
"Amono, Makoto." His loud, direct voice announced. Makoto stood up, dropped the blanket and made eye contact with the Phantom. That was when the phantom spoke again, his eyes followed Makoto as he made his way to the edge of the rafters, and a sly smile curled under his mask. "Or, should I say Narita?" Makoto's eyes burst open and his eyebrows flung up. He had no means of control of his expression at that point. "Yes that's more honest isn't it? Narita, Makoto." The phantom mocked.
Makoto stared up at him, trying to pin point the voice. He had heard it somewhere, he was sure. He felt sure it was one of his father's men; however the voice was not one he could place.
"Stand up here, Narita-san. Its best you stand at proper height when you meet your maker." The gloved hand came out from under the black velvet again. Makoto stood, transfixed, it seemed by the white gloved hand. The phantom commented on how silly Makoto was being. "What, pray tell, makes you long for the glove on my hand so affectionately?"
"It's white." Makoto said at last. The phantom was about to mock him again when Makoto removed his gaze from the glove to glare into his eyes. "That' means Ito is safe, no blood is shown on your hands and in this area I see no other means of clothing for you."
The phantom leaned forward, his mouth slightly open and curling in an intrigued fashion. "Ah...I see we have a little bit of a...detective, shall we say? In our midst. Such a shame, you were such a good actor. After all, no one but me seemed to know your true identity."
"And who might you be?" Makoto risked as he took one step onto the platform.
The phantom barked and took a step back. His face was stretched in a huge smile, baring his teeth as he tentatively moved his finger back and forth, as though talking to a child who had just stolen from the cookie jar. He then added in a paternal voice, "No, no, no, no. That's not a question for you to hear the answer to."
Makoto glanced around him for a quick moment before he took a deep breath and stepped towards the Phantom. "Why?"
The Phantom cocked his head to the side as he said, "Because, that was something for you to find. Now you have not, you have failed Makoto."
Makoto looked into the dark eyes of the Phantom; still he could not place him. The words the phantom spoke had been meant to hurt him but Makoto did not fall for the bait laid so simply out for him. He repeated his question again. "Who are you?"
The phantom shook his head and kept Makoto's eye contact the entire time.
Makoto decided to try something new, hoping it would eventually yield to the answer he had been looking for. "Why do you do this?"
"For the theater." He said sternly.
Makoto gaffed. "How does it aid us if you take our main character away?"
"How does it aid her acting ability if you lie to her constantly every day?"
Makoto was again caught off guard but this time he did not stir his eyes away from the Phantom. The Phantom was not disturbed by this action; on the contrary, he seemed rather enamored by it.
"I do not lie to her." Makoto replied, although he realized that the Phantom could take many moments to prove that statement false.
The phantom stood where he was and shrugged as he pretended to retreat. "If that is your attitude towards her, fine. Go and lie. Stretch the truth. She won't have to hear it, either way she'll just ignore it. Making up excuses for you, as she normally does. You may not lie directly to her but you lie to her subtly, in a way that gives her the same emotions as any lie would."
Makoto thought as he watched the phantom turn back, to see his reaction. It could be seen that way. The way Makoto spoke of them being together, everything they would do, all their dreams, together: after graduation. Every day he'd mention it and something would come to pull them apart. Sometimes it was him; sometimes it was her, sometimes another force that neither had control over. Either way, it would feel that he had lied to her.
The masked phantom saw the emotions working over Makoto's face. The Phantom may have thought he won but Makoto knew he just had to hold his ground. He took a few more steps closer to the Phantom.
Once he stood a foot away the Phantom raised his hand to stop him. "How do you plan on hurting me?" He asked subtly.
Makoto, never removing his eyes from the Phantom's eyes, informed him. "I do not believe you to be a phantom. I do not believe you to be invincible. I believe you to be a human man. One who could be harmed greatly if he were to fall to the stage below."
The Phantom nodded, and expectantly took a step back, spread his arms out and nodded for Makoto to make the first hit. Makoto was shocked. The Phantom was allowing him to attack him, to defeat him and unmask him. Makoto lunged his fist at the phantom's open chest.
The phantom only smiled, not moving an inch.
"What did I tell you?" Makoto asked as he stared at the spot where he had hit the phantom, barely believing what had happened.
The Phantom tapped his finger against his chin, "Now, if I remember correctly, I believe that is now my turn, to return the blow."
Makoto felt the impact before he could prepare himself. He staggered for a few moments before bending down to grab hold of the rafter he stood on. In one swift move he kicked the feet below the cape and the Phantom lost his balance.
Unfortunately like Makoto he too gripped onto the rafter as he fell and was able to secure his safety. Once the Phantom was down, however, it gave Makoto a chance to glance behind him, to the other landing: Ito was nowhere in sight. He cursed under his breath as he stood and at the same time as the Phantom, both of them stared at each other with utmost distaste.
"You defend poorly but you fight with skill." The Phantom responded.
"You should learn to expect what is not expected." Makoto replied as he realized why the Phantom allowed him the first blow.
The Phantom straightened himself up as he tried to look down on Makoto, but it seemed hard for him now.
Makoto was not concerned with what the Phantom thought. He had just realized that Ito was not on the other side and therefore he knew nothing of her whereabouts.
"Where is she?" He questioned and the Phantom smiled wickedly.
"The main character?"
"Ito!"
The Phantom raised his head in awe. "I see you refer to her by her first name." He caressed the bottom of his face, his stern jaw line moved into the touch like a cat to the warmth of a human hand. "As though you were close."
His words hit a nerve with Makoto who did not show it. He just stared at the Phantom and stood his ground.
"How close are you two?" He asked and Makoto's jaw tightened.
He had never been able to answer Ito or his own sisters when they asked that question. It had always broken his heart when he could not look into Ito's eyes as the man he was and say he loved her. He had always assumed that in time he'd be able to do it however in light of recent events he hadn't opened up to her at all.
The phantom smiled slightly under his mask, reading Makoto like a book. "Well, well..." Makoto glared at him. "It seems you two were never close."
"Be quiet!" Makoto commanded. "And remove your mask!"
The phantom shook his head but Makato ordered him again.
This time the tall, cloaked, man replied, "Remove your mask!"
Makoto took a step back, confused. He did not understand what the phantom was referring to.
"You wear your mask everywhere." Stepping towards Makoto. "You wear it around your family, around your friends, even around the one you say you keep nothing from."
Makoto realized that the phantom was just trying to fool him, to bother him. He knew that the tactic he was using was to just try and bother him. The thing was he did not care that it was a trap; he wanted to set the Phantom straight right there.
Still keeping his eye contact he slowly moved his hand to his wig, carefully unclipping it to remove it from his head. With the back of his sleeve he expertly wiped off the slight blush and lipstick he wore. Once he felt it he was wearing his true face he looked up at the Phantom, showing him who he really was wasn't a challenge for Makoto.
"You asked me to remove my mask, and I assume this is not what you mean. It's true that I show myself to no one, for my father would take me home if I ever did. But who I look on the outside is not who I am. I am not just a desperate actor willing to go the unreasonable distance to achieve his dream. I am Narita Makoto, the man in love with Miura, Ito and the man who will stop at nothing to give her what she wants if it means I can be with her. She is the only person I have ever showed my true self to and I'd like to keep it that way. Its our little secret, and if I have to show you who I truly am to get her back than I guess I have to break that vow to myself. But here I am, Narita, Makoto, as you desired."
The Phantom smiled and pointed behind Makoto. The door to the upper stage opened and so did the door to the class room across the hall. Makoto could see the dark sky outside, illuminated by the bright white snow flakes falling to the ground. He rushed to the empty class room, not noticing the two figures that held the doors opened. He ran to the window and looked down, he saw below Ito, in her thick beige gown from the third scene of the play.
The phantom came up behind him, his hand rested nicely on his shoulder. "You've sacrificed enough to be with her." Makoto looked up into the dark brown eyes of the Phantom with a feeling of recognition. "Narita, your secret is safe with me. Now go."
Makoto nodded and with a nod of thank you he rushed out of the class room and through the school. His wish for seeing Ito was his only guide to direct him through the dark school.
THERE IT IS REVIEW PLEASE IF YOU DOn't MAKOTO AND ITO MAY FREEZE TO DEATH IN THE COLD