For this chapter, there's one difference between this and the AO3 version. The explicit version contains a dream Michiru has while trying to sleep.
Both sisters arose earlier than usual with sunlight hardly ascending from the horizon, having their breakfast. The two already dressed, Mika in her usual attire with her stockings currently off and Michiru dressed in the suit as well as her hair in a ponytail.
"Think you'll be able to come to the Monster Live Concert tonight?" Michiru asked her sibling after swallowing a mouthful of grilled fish. "Otsu-chan told me you can go to her concerts for free since you're a family member of someone working with her."
"I'll need to pick up a few groceries but I'm sure I'll make it. Not to mention it'll be my chance to properly listen to her songs. Seriously, I've tried listening to some of your CDs for a while but couldn't be bothered to finish them." Mika shifted her gaze sideways with a crooked smile.
"Well, if you still don't like them by then, I won't blame you," She jested, bringing her twin to stifle a giggle behind her teeth.
Finishing and thanking for the meal, Michiru stood, taking a step towards the kitchen when Mika called her name.
She turned to her. "Yeah?"
"Listen…" Setting her dish down along with the chopsticks, Mika held a fist in front of her mouth to let out an awkward cough. "…I dunno how else to bring this up, but I heard you while I was trying to sleep. I thought I imagined it at first, but then realized otherwise."
A flinch hit Michiru's spine the moment she registered, tightening her grip on the bowl to avoid accidentally dropping it.
"I don't care if you do it as that's not my business, but…" The short haired sister averted away as red painted her cheeks. "…you should lower your voice if possible. I don't need to hear you moaning."
Similar heat rammed in Michiru's face. One corner of her lips raised in a broken half-smile as she replied, "I'm sorry, Mika. I'll try to be quiet from now on." An equally forced laugh left her mouth as she went to the kitchen, inserting dishes into the sink.
A ding came from her cellphone.
Michiru pulled the phone from her coat pocket to flip it open, revealing there to be a text message.
"Otsu-chan," She uttered, wasting no time opening the text.
Titled, 'Michiru-chan!', the message itself read, 'We have to get to the public hall by eight! Make sure you're ready, because mom and I are just about to head on over to get you! Typo popcorn!'
Her eyes broadened at the suddenness. Michiru hurriedly typed back, a frown held upon her features, 'I know I was supposed to get up early, but don't you think you could've told me to prepare ahead of time before getting ready to pick me up? I'm also a little surprised you're texting me this instead of calling.'
'I got too excited for tonight's concert! I literally can't speak now, so mom's helping me text! Swallow bird seeds!'
She would've started questioning but rather replied to disregard her confusion, 'I'll be ready. See you then.'
'Can't wait to show you my Halloween kimono too!' Alongside a smile expression.
With the same speed did Michiru shut her cellphone to return it to its inhabited spot.
"Maybe I can see you by the time the concert begins, even if we don't get to talk." Michiru started towards the genkan in quick, tense skips and slipped her feet in the dress shoes.
Mika let out a soft scoff, half-joking, "If it isn't crowded by then."
After shooting her sister a smirk, Michiru left their household. As little time went by, the grin once on Mika's face dwindled to her lips thinning.
Contemplating back on Tsukuyo and Tae's scarce information of The Body Part Killer. Though supposedly better than having zilch knowledge on this man, in reality, discovering him being essentially an elder murderer wasn't going to help her figure his identity, his real name in particular.
Her mind made focus on Michiru in unison. Throughout last night, Mika went from one mental scenario related to how she'd be able to give out the revelation towards her to another.
No conclusion came besides an unpleasant one reiterating more times than she wanted.
Mika let out a dense sigh, wordlessly burying her face into her shaky palms.
Meanwhile…
Michiru cursed a mantra at herself all through the car ride until she, Tsu, and Ichi arrived at the public hall. She didn't put much effort to refrain from scrunching whilst turning bright red as the mother and daughter made discussion towards one another, not paying mind to the assistant. Though Michiru deciphered them mentioning the upcoming Halloween concert, her focus went significantly towards her personal issue.
Am I that unaware while I'm sleeping?
Upon entering the building, there turned out to be around a dozen other coworkers bringing large boxes and costumes through the auditorium.
Turning to the manager, Tsu asked with a grin, "Can I go try on my Halloween kimono now?"
"Not yet. You need to wait until two hours, if not longer, before the concert. We want to prevent any errors on it while we prepare setting everything else up," Ichi informed, starting straight ahead while having her arms crossed. "What you need to do now is drink plenty of water so you can properly warm up your vocals."
"Aww…" Her cheeks puffed in addition to knitted eyebrows. "Can't I at least take a peek at it?"
"No," The older woman pressed. In spite of the stricter tone lacing through her voice, Tsu remained unfazed.
"Fine…"
Michiru inquired as she entwined her fingers together in front, "What do we need to do first, Terakado-san?"
"Well, we need to meet up with Otsu's fanclub. The original group we were supposed to see got caught up in a traffic jam. Despite this being a little frustrating, I believe her club will be useful."
"I see. What are they going to help us with?"
"They'll set up the lighting suited for the theme. A few of them have experience with it."
Her usual stiff smile crept up her features, pondering whether the statement was true or the club members exaggerated it, if not going as far as lying on impulse. On top of it, right on the day of the concert, of all times.
In the midst of Ichi giving out instructions for a handful of the pop star's die-hard fans, Michiru caught sight of three other faces. Those being ones she hadn't encountered in a while.
"Yorozuya!" She called out, catching the trio's attention.
Kagura exclaimed while dashing towards the assistant, "Michi-chan!" The other two raised a tall and wide plywood next to the wall on stage. Said plywood had black and gray paintings resembling toothless vampires with dotted eyes flying over a castle.
Shinpachi—wearing his Otsu-chan Fanclub clothing—piped, "Kagura-chan, you're supposed to be helping!"
Unsurprisingly, the youngster ignored his demand, bringing him to shoot a hard glare at her back.
Tsu asked, eyebrows raised, "She calls you Michi-chan? That sounds cute!"
"Yes, I let her call me that," Michiru replied with a meek smile, pink tinting her cheeks.
Shinpachi and Gintoki both sighed before leaning the plywood on the wall…only for the bottom of it to gradually slide over the flooring until the backside slapped on the ground. Though both perceived the thud, they increased the pace in their steps, thereafter halting in front of the women.
Michiru inquired the trio, "Were you requested to be a part of this?"
"Not really requested," The bespectacled boy said. "It's more like my fanclub and I offered to help out as soon as we heard about the traffic jam."
Kagura admitted, "I only came because I didn't believe you actually took this job at first. I thought you became like Madao after you stopped being a waitress."
"M…Madao?" Repeating the name, Michiru blinked a handful of times as a drop of sweat trickled down her cheek.
"And Gin-chan didn't wanna stay home alone." Pointing a thumb at her boss, she added in a flat tone, "He believes ghosts will haunt him if he's all by himself, even when he's taking a sh—" Kagura got cut off from a short baton slamming into the back of her head, bringing her to involuntarily yell before biting her tongue.
"Ow!" She hissed, more at the sensation from the bite than the hit on her head.
"Don't start makin' up such crap! I'm not scared of some weird ghost!"
"But you're shaking and sweating," Shinpachi pointed out at Gintoki's trembling legs and beads of perspiration gushing over his face.
Gintoki made an instant claim, "The prescription for your eyes are failing you."
"This isn't about my eyesight! You're clearly in denial!"
"There's obviously no heater in this place! They need to set one up so I ain't freezin' my ass off!"
A vein popped in the boy's cheek. "Quit trying to dodge my statement!"
"All of you!" The volume in the manager's voice raised to where the sound ended up becoming a faint echo across the stage. It brought Shinpachi and Michiru to flinch; while Gintoki still had excessive sweating, it wasn't relevant. Kagura and Tsu, in contrast, turned to the much older adult with less of a reaction.
Ichi ordered, "We can't afford to waste time when tonight is the night of the concert! Yorozuya, you need to continue working with the plywood; it'll get in the way if you leave it on the floor like that!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Shinpachi piped, dashing back towards the board.
"Otsu-chan, Michiru-san, we need to meet up with the sound mixers somewhere backstage," Ichi added.
"Right." Michiru—and soon the idol as well—followed alongside her after bowing at the trio.
Throughout the rest of the morning and a majority of the afternoon, the three women seldom went apart from each other with the amount of tasks needing to be dealt with. Most of the tasks were related to the concert setup. Having few to no breaks in between, numbness gradually grew in their feet. While the feeling didn't bother Ichi or Michiru, Tsu whined about her feet hurting from standing literally all day. Even during lunch, despite getting the chance to eat, not once had they received the same opportunity to sit.
Outside the public hall stood Mika, eyes glued to the building while lights turned on. Large groups of people passed by, holding and swinging glow sticks in a variety of colors in addition to carrying 'We Love Otsu-chan!' signs.
She checked her cellphone, time barely less than an hour before the concert would start.
Holding her chin, Mika muttered, "I could try seeing Michiru now…" When observing the walking crowds once more, the corners of her lips twisted down as doubt grew the longer she considered it. Not helped upon having the killer's name in her head all day.
It didn't feel right to completely forget the murderer nor leave it roaming in her mind; a knot twisted in her gut when attempting to center her attention towards the concert. As frustrating as it got, Mika's mind blurred from frequently going back and forth.
Her teeth scraped against her lower lip as soon as Michiru returned to her thoughts.
Is it even okay for me to be here when this problem is relevant to us?
"Trick-or-treat!"
The sudden deep, rough voice entering her ears brought Mika to jump and scream for a split second. Darting up, she witnessed a muscular man with long blonde and facial hair, sunglasses, and wore a singlet.
Raising a hand, the man said in English, "Sorry, miss."
Taking a dense breath from the shock, she asked, "Do you happen to work here?"
"Cheer for Otsu-chan at Monster Live with the fanclub." Using the same hand to ball it, he declared, "Support is money!"
"Uh…" Mika stared at him, primarily for the fact that he continued speaking in a different language, one she had little understanding of. "Thank you for the note." She held a cracked smile while bowing, then rushed past him in dead silence. The atmosphere around her thickened when questioning whether he understood her either.
In the dressing room…
Three makeup artists surrounded Tsu sitting in one of the chairs, already in her short sleeveless black and orange kimono for this night. Heart eyed pumpkin prints near the bottom edge and the obi check patterned. Along with her attire were black fabric gloves, stockings of the same color, and a skull hair clip supporting her purple bangs.
One of the artists shut an eyeshadow palette; the color he gave her was black. Sparing an nth glance at her facial features, a smile spread across his own.
"You look perfect, Otsu-chan."
Tsu stood, cheering as she held her hands together, "I'm so glad to hear that!" After giving her legs and arms a stretch, the idol demanded, "When is it time for me to get on stage?"
Ichi checked her watch, but broadened her eyes at the time.
"Now. You're expected in ten minutes."
"Ah! Better hurry then! Juxtaposition room setting!" Tsu forbade another second to go by when starting towards the door.
"Otsu-chan, you need to wait for us!" Michiru called out as she and Ichi stepped out of the room.
The manager heaved a sigh while pinching the bridge of her nose.
A thought sparked in Michiru's head. "Terakado-san! Before I forget, do you have any earplugs I could use?"
"I do." Ichi dug a hand into her collar to pull out a pair of earplugs, handing them to her. "We need to get backstage as well."
Michiru gasped right as she pushed the plugs all the way in. "Oh, right!" Both of them weren't going as fast as Tsu by the time they started in the same direction but still hastened for their designated area.
Screams grew audible the closer they got, everyone within the audience cheering, "Otsu-chan~!"
Ichi and Michiru eventually halted besides numerous staff members. Most of the lights were off with the star standing at the edge of the stage, microphone set around her head.
"So you wrote the first song for this concert all by yourself?" One of the production runners asked.
"Yep!" Tsu chirped. "It was hard coming up with something related to Halloween but I believe it turned out good!" She raised a finger in front of her lips. "But since I want to start this off with a bang, I didn't tell anyone besides a recording engineer what I wrote the first song about; I practiced privately. Slow prostate cancer!"
"I…I see." Directing at the dark stage, he ordered, "Head over there. It's going to start in a moment or two."
"Of course!" With no hesitation, she skipped to the center.
Concurrently in the mass of fans, Mika glanced around yet had no luck in finding an available seat. The corners of her lips tugged down upon reaching a few rows behind the front.
"Am I gonna stand the whole time?" Her grumble came out subconsciously, nigh impossible to hear herself from earplugs stuffed in combined with boisterous shouts from many fans.
Mika suspired, back leaning against the wall and folding arms over her chest. Her position went ephemeral in the instance of perceiving Shinpachi having a hand raised as high as physically possible.
He stood beside his club a short distance from the side end, bringing her to head for him after an initial delay. Making her way through the row of standing jubilant people went relatively smooth despite a few comments of her blocking their view of the platform.
As soon as she went next to the teenage boy, Shinpachi inquired with bulged eyes and a broad smile, "I'm actually surprised you came. Have you been to Otsu-chan's concerts before?"
"This is my first," Mika corrected.
He balled a hand into a fist. "Even better! And it's a holiday themed one, which is something I've wanted to see her do for a while!" Stars flashed in his pupils as a fire aura flashed behind his figure. "I would've loved to see her do a Christmas one but they didn't want to settle on that until this concert would succeed. Even then, they wouldn't be able to do it in time for this year."
She blinked thrice. "Is that so?"
The announcer's voice blared through the speakers.
"Concertgoers, are you ready for a night of spooks?"
Fans throughout the auditorium roared in response to their question. The rising bellows went to the point of Mika being unable to speak with the boy, even perceiving her own words. Certainly brought her to frown, but overall wasn't surprised.
"Welcome to Halloween Monster Live," They added and within a short time, a purple light suddenly shone over the pop star.
Tsu stood in the center with her legs straightened and arm swifting across the air.
"Hi there, my loyal fans~!" She started, receiving a second wave of roars and claps. "I'm just as thrilled to be here as you all are!" Pointing a finger at the audience along with shooting them a grin, she added, "Halloween is the time of year to be purposefully scary and dress up! Excited for the first song for tonight?"
"YES, OTSU-CHAN~!"
Even with earplugs in, the back of Mika's cranium flinched at the volume, bringing a bead of sweat to trail down her cheek. Also not helped from the atmosphere growing humid.
Added lights—this time orange—switched on over the rest of the stage. Concertgoers wooed at the plywood's vampiric design and Halloween ornaments dangling on long strings connected to the ceiling. There, the first handful of pop beats played in the background. A cartoonish laugh emerged within the rhythm of said beats for a few seconds before the drop hit.
Rapidfire and raucous but simultaneously merry mixed with notes of a pipe organ.
Discerning the overall start, Michiru's head made small subconscious bobs.
"Surrounded by lame ghosts, they laugh at you as you crap yourself." Tsu took a few steps back, then used a hand to cup one of three fake spiders. "Poison spiders gnaw your back, but you don't react when dead."
Though these lyrics should've been the kind to expect, Michiru brought her fingers to her lips, stifling the chortle bubbling up her esophagus.
More peppy beats combined with another laugh played by a buildup starting from sounds akin to a rumble. While getting louder after each pass of a beat, Tsu skipped across the stage. Colors of the lights switched towards a darker hue in unison with her spinning a handful of times.
Another drop hit, abrupt and harsh strings lasting for a solid ten seconds. Soon afterwards, her focus returned to the crowd.
"Tagging along with ghosts is fun! They're dead but lively! They have fun juggling heads, tossing around hands, playing organs as jump ropes!"
Flashing in the farthest back of her consciousness was an image of her fathers' severed head beside a wall.
Michiru's bobbing came to a halt. Tearing out a gasp, her eyes broadened to the point of straining but not once making a blink.
"Wha…?"
"Body parts go tossin' around, old ghosts go cacklin' drunk…"
Deciphering lyrics gradually muffled inside her thought process, replaced by internal shots of her and Mika walking by the duo of mutilated corpses in pools of blood. Any sound connected to the song clashed with hollers and hoarse laughter.
The split second pictures perpetuated, tenseness increasing in Michiru's breaths. Tilting her head until blankly pointing her gaze at her feet. Sight blurring from water forming as well as her arms beginning to tremble.
One of the other production runners spotted Michiru's figure quivering. "Is something wrong?"
No answer, not even an acknowledgement on his question. Rather, the rigid shaking brought heat to boil throughout her veins the more lyrics that Tsu sang.
Ichi took two steps closer to her as a frown held upon her features. "Michiru-san, what is it?"
Again, she said nothing, fingers tugging into her sleeves.
Another shot barged in, one involving her mother's body facing down.
Michiru clenched her teeth, striving to push these unwanted vivid memories away but to no avail. They only came back with the same guffaws, worsening when reiterating his words towards the twins as children.
"G-Go away…" The assistant whimpered under her shallow breath as ringing filled her plugged ears. Cheeks burnt to where Michiru's skin perspired and nails digging and crawling up her own arms.
Ichi pressed on the same question, although confusion laced in her tone, "What's going on?"
The picture shifted to a dark silhouette of a man; unable to make out anything specific other than a toothy grin. In his hands were a head and leg, skin grayed and blood smeared on.
Her father's half-closed vacant eyes and convulsions in her mother's thigh came into view.
Any and all sense of reality left Michiru, giving her nil chance to properly articulate. Hands raking and subsequently gripping her hair, she released croaks resulting in broken words when trying to form some.
"Michir—"
"NO!" A shrill scream escaped, jerking Ichi away with eyes as wide as hers'. "I SAID GO AWAY!"
It took Ichi a few seconds to register before asking, "What're you talking about?! Why're you screaming all of a sudden?!"
Michiru continued with the grating shrieks. Nothing from either sight nor sound from her surroundings reached comprehension. Soon enough, the amount of emitting screams and quivers lead one hand to unintentionally claw over her ears, shifting the foamed plug until slipping out.
Darting her head to the side, Tsu witnessed the assistant tumbling towards the floor with Ichi kneeling down.
Sharply sucking in some air and coming to an abrupt halt in her chorus, she pushed her feet to the side without a second thought, crying, "Michiru-chan!"
Fans toned down their cheers, replaced by them inquiring in a similar tone to Ichi's, Shinpachi included, "Why is Otsu-chan leaving the stage? Were those screams?"
Mika could've sworn her heartbeat thumped in her eardrums the moment her sister's name left Tsu's mouth. "Oh no!" She sprinted out of the crowd, disregarding her own name being called out by the fanclub's leader.
Michiru's mind fuzzied from the amount of people talking at once along with the blaring music filling in. Her heaving progressively intensified, the last thing in her memory involving her body being lifted.
Time felt slow for Michiru in spite of actually going by for a couple of minutes. Not made any better when the noises she perceived the most were her wheezing and the concert itself.
"Please…leave me alone…" The whimper came out equally weak to where it didn't seem as though she formed words at all.
At some point, something soft pressed against her side. After a low grumble and slight shift, Michiru peeled her eyelids open, her viewpoint absorbed two individuals. As soon as her vision regained complete clarity, it turned out to be Mika and Tsu devoid of the headpiece with furrowing brows, all of them being inside the comparably quiet dressing room.
"Am I…?" Grunting, Michiru placed a few fingers on her throat while raising her upper body from the couch beneath.
"You ended up fainting," Her sister informed, setting a water bottle on a table. "Terakado-san was the one who carried you."
Turning to the idol, Michiru faltered at the sight of her glossed irises, "Otsu-chan, why're you here?"
Tsu gawked at her question. "This is what you're asking me after what happened back there? I was worried about you!"
Despite the same heat returning to her cheeks and averting her gaze, she said in a borderline rasp, "I get it, but you're in the middle of a performance."
Tsu's fingers dug into her palms, overall hands stiffening. "Did you think I'd go as far as to ignore you when you panicked? I've never even seen you like this."
Michiru raked through her long locks, paying no mind to the looseness in her ponytail. "You weren't supposed to see me this way."
"What do you mean? Why?"
She rubbed the back of her neck, having herself inching downwards. "I don't feel comfortable answering right now."
"Oh…" Trailing off, Tsu eased her muscles, fingers intertwining.
Mika suggested with the corner of her mouth up albeit feeble, "You should head back. It's not good for a star to leave the stage unplanned."
"Actually," Michiru started, "I'd like to be alone."
Taken aback, the tiny smile diminished. "Eh?"
"I'll get over it eventually. Besides, you came here to listen to Otsu-chan; I don't wanna be the reason for you missing out."
A brow creased. "I can watch it on TV."
"I'm sorry, but you're only going to be distracted by my state instead of the concert if you stay."
"But—"
"Please, Mika." Raising her already strained tone and the redness in Michiru's eyes halted her entirely. "I really don't want to argue with you."
Although parting her mouth, Mika's throat clogged when attempting to figure another response.
The door opened, revealing Ichi holding the handle. "Otsu, you need to head back real soon. The audience seems to be getting impatient."
Straightening her posture and taking a deep breath, Tsu responded, "I'll be right there." She went to Michiru holding what'd hardly be considered to be a smile. "You don't want them to know, right?"
Michiru nodded.
The singer pushed a broader beam to her features while holding a thumb up. "I'll tell them it was all an act by one of the backstage performers. Butter smear flooring!" She started towards the door with Mika giving her one more tentative glance before following out of the room.
Being alone at last, Michiru heaved a heavy sigh, spending a bit contemplating her reactions. Doing more so at how she recollected almost nothing during the moment of her fainting in front of other coworkers.
She went for her suit pocket, pulling out her phone and flipping it open to go towards the contacts section. Michiru brought the device next to her ear.
Three rings and the call picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Bansai…this wasn't what I planned but you're the only person I can really turn to." The emotion inflicted in her tone remained similar if not the same as when facing her sister and friend.
The man from the other end of the call asked, "Did you just go through something stressful?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, is there something I can do for you?"
Michiru paused. "P-Play the shamisen."
Sighing, Bansai said, "I've told you this before; it is vastly better to listen to one in person. I don't believe my phone would be able to pick up the music properly anyhow."
She tightened her grip on the phone in the midst of biting her lower lip. "I see your point. That was a dumb suggestion."
"Don't say that, Michiru. I can understand why you'd want to hear me play. However, this isn't a great time to do so. I'll tell you what, if you're available tomorrow night, we can meet up in the same boat."
Images of their last encounter in the boat and the dream from the night prior barged in her head, bringing a chill up her spine. Michiru shook it as her ribcage thudded.
"I can do it. You think you can bring sake then?" Immediately sucking some oxygen in, she hurriedly added, "Sorry, that wasn't appropriate! It slipped out all of a sudden! I—" Bringing knuckles to her chin, she shifted her gaze in different directions across the room.
"I think it's better if you ask me again after you've rested up. If you're still feeling this way tomorrow then I won't bring it."
Both corners of Michiru's lips curled upwards. "Fair enough."
"Good night and sleep well."
Mirroring his words more softly, she turned the call off. When shutting her phone did Michiru rub a hand over her face and groan.
She would've pondered on why she suggested Bansai to include alcohol for their imminent visit, but fatigueness washed over her.
Having a lot to grasp at once was already too much for Michiru to currently handle.
To be continued…