The slam of the door, above the basement, in the flower shop proper announced the arrival of another member of Wei�. Youji and Omi were already sprawled out on the sofa downstairs together, flipping mindlessly through the channels. Aya had gone off as Aya always did and no one thought anything of it. Likely it was Ken returning from his delivery than Aya returning. Youji glanced at his watch. Definitely not, Aya�d never come home on a Sunday night before eight.
"Oi! Minna wa doko?!" (Hey! Where is everyone?!) came Ken�s voice from upstairs, a faint wavier in his voice. Youji changed the channel.
"Down here Kenkun!" Omi happily called back, then nestled back into the sofa to watch Youji channel surf. Ken padded down the stairs rather quickly, and then flipped the lights on.
"Ken?! What the hell!?" Youji grumbled as the television screen faded several shades with the on rush of addition light. "Turn the lights off dammit."
Omi turned around, on his knees, peering over the back of the sofa at Ken who stood by the stairwell. Ken dropped his bag with a loud thud and Youji leaned forward, towards the television, trying to see the station he was on. "Ah, Kenkun, are you alright?" asked Omi.
At that Youji�s head perked up and he glanced over his shoulder at the other Wei� member. Ken�s teeth were chattering and his face was pale. He glanced around the room and then pulled his jacket around him tighter. "Look like y�ran into a ghost on the way home from that delivery, eh, Ken? Or mebbe jes� an ol�girlfriend, eeeh?" Youji teased. Ken threw him a violent glare. Omi looked at Youji with a moment of scorn, then hopped off the sofa and padded over to Ken, his socks all bunched around his ankles.
"What�s wrong?" Omi inquired, peering closely at Ken�s face. The older boy shrugged his shoulders and looked away.
"Iya, betsu ni." (No, it�s nothing.) Ken mused and sniffed a bit. Omi put his hands on his hips and cocked his head. He looked up as Youji appeared behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder, his other rested on his hip.
"Saaa, it was a girl then, wasn�t it?" Youji chuckled, and Ken turned and glared at him. Youji took a step back, surprised at Ken�s venom.
"It�s nothing; it�s just something I was scared of. That�s all." He retorted, blinked fiercely and looked away.
Youji rubbed his chin and moved to lean on the wall opposite the stairwell. "Eeeeh? Ken-the-Mighty is afraid of something?" he smirked his little evil smirk. "What?"
Omi looked closely at Ken. Ken eyed the two carefully and then glanced at the stairwell, as if checking to make sure Aya wasn�t coming. Sighing as if knowing there was no way to get out of this without telling these two, he took his rain-soaked cap off and ran his fingers through his chestnut coloured hair. "It�s stupid really." He eyed the two, Omi listening intently, Youji fishing through his pockets and producing a cigarette. He shook his head and continued: "When I was little, I had a nightmare," he glanced at Youji and met the older man�s green eyes. The smile he was rewarded was unsettling. Youji would tease him about this later, he knew. His clenched his fists and continued, "I dreamed my parents didn�t want me anymore because I cost them too much money, so . . . they put me in a large garbage bag and threw me away."
He took a pause to swallow and caught Omi�s horrified look and Youji�s bemused smile. He pressed on, "I was in the bag forever it seemed, clawing to get out and breathe . . . and all the while I could hear the whirring howl of the garbage men coming along the street, gathering the trash and dumping it into their trucks to crush into compost. I was so scared; my heart was pounding so loud all I could hear was it, and the growl of the approaching truck . . . and I remember finally ripping out of the bag as the garbage men threw me into the truck, and seeing the huge maw of the machine chewing through garbage towards me, crushing everything. Before it killed me I woke up, but . . ." he glanced at the stairwell leading to upstairs. "ever since then I�ve been afraid of garbage trucks."
Youji broke out with a peel of his velvety-deep laughter. Omi placed a comforting hand on Ken�s arm. Ken glared at the laughter then shook Omi�s hand off. He picked his bag up, threw it over his shoulder and stormed out of the room. "Asshole." He muttered.
Omi stared wide-eyed and concerned as Ken stormed out of the room, Youji�s laughter still filling the air. After Ken�s door slammed shut down the hall Omi turned and rounded on the older man. "Youjikun! You shouldn�t�ve been so mean to Kenkun!" he paused a moment, looking back in the direction Ken had runn off in. In amore quiet voice he added, "Everyone is afraid of something. To people who aren�t afraid of the same thing it might seem stupid, but . . . to that person, it really is scary."
Youji puffed at his finally lit cigarette, leaning back against the wall again, eyes looking down the hall Ken had vanished down. He pulled his cigarette from his mouth and looked at Omi as he exhaled, his smoke going the opposite direction than the seventeen-year-old. "So, what�s it you�re afraid of Omi? Mice?"
Omi frowned at Youji and plucked the cigarette from the older mans hands as he put it back to his lips. "Don�t smoke around the flowers Youjikun, it�s bad for them." He scolded and putt he cigarette out on a downstairs ash tray in front of the television. Youji put his hands behind his head and rolled his eyes.
"Flowers�re upstairs anyway, Omi. They aren�t gonna mind a little smoke. It�d do�em some good." He replied a bit muffed. Omi always had a way with him. The younger boys innocence and kindness always made him feel like his crude jokes and slang were inappropriate, which most times they were, but he didn�t want to be told that.
"Surely there is something you�re even afraid of." Omi commented, walking back to Youji from the sofa.
"Nope, not a thing." Youji stated, certain.
Upstairs a chime jangled, announcing someone else entering the flower shop proper � but this time through the main door. A customer?
Youji and Omi exchanged glances, Youji looking at his watch, Omi bounding up the stairs. Youji followed up shortly thereafter. It was already dark out and the shop was closed. Ken had turned the porch light and display lights on when he came in so he could see, and obviously been too scared to remember to turn them off when he came downstairs. In the darkness of the shop, the small form in the doorway was hard to make out, silhouetted as it was against the light and darkness.
Youji�s breath caught in his throat as Omi cautiously approached, moving towards the light switch. He began speaking in his most polite and sweet voice. "Ah! Good evening, welcome to the Koneko no Sumire Ii, I�m sorry we have mislead you but the shop isn�t open right now, but if you�d like to come back in the morning, I�d be happy to help you pick . . . out . . . some flowers . . ." Omi�s words died on his lips as he approached the person and realized it wasn�t a normal looking person. Behind him, he could hear Youji�s raspy breathing, as if the man had been running lapses.
The room was suddenly flooded with light as Ken arrived himself from the basement and switched on the manually lights from the other side of the room. Omi shied away, blinking at the flood of lights. Youji screamed from behind, sending shivers along Ken and Omi�s arms. Omi whirred around to see what Youji was screaming at, Ken too was running to Youji�s side, his arms out, ready to fight.
Youji stood stock still, his face pale white, his mouth open although his scream had stopped. His eyes were huge, the pupils small and scared, his hand pointed at the figure in the doorway, his fingers shaking. Slowly, Omi turned to look at whatever it was in the door, cautiously, afraid of what he�d see.
Whatever it was, it wasn�t human. It was small, like a child, but it was bald with huge beady black eyes like a fly and it had tight gray skin. The rest of its features were smoothed, it nose and mouth hardly visible at all. It�s arms were long and its fingers longer still, triple jointed and rubbery looking. The strangest thing of all though, was the peculiarly human red and green striped sweater it was wearing. Youji squeaked some, cowering in fear. The creature . . . the alien . . . stared at him with those huge glossy unblinking eyes.
Omi too seemed shocked and afraid, uncertain what it was standing in their doorway, but certainly wasn�t as fearful as Youji. He suddenly turned when he heard a loud thud behind him. Youji had gone to his knees, head bowed, whimpering for salvation. He was groveling to the alien, asking it not to take him, to spare him, that�d he�d been good and that he was too skinny to be of any good to biopsy, that his lungs were ruined from smoking, that he was sterile, that he was a thousand things. Omi was too stunned and confused to ask what was going on.
Ken stared ahead at the alien wide-eyed. He�d seen pictures of them in books and in movies before, but they never dressed in red and green sweaters and they were supposed to come in halos of light and with a big ship. He was still scared, rooted to the ground, but not groveling like Youji. The alien too, seemed bewildered and scared too, as if it had totally not expected this sort of reaction to it�s arrival.
The side door slammed shut and everyone but Youji turned to look at the arrival all expecting more aliens to tromp in, none expecting Aya to be standing there with his hands on his hips. He looked less than pleased, assessing the situation, from Youji whimpering on the ground, to pale-faced Ken and to Omi who understood the least but was still scared. "What�s going on?" he asked, his tone ripping through the room, making Youji sniff and glance from the alien to Aya.
"Th-th-the . . . a . . . a . . . aaahhh . . ." Youji muttered, his teeth chattering and then he bowed his head again as the alien turned to look at him.
Aya frowned and looked to the alien standing in the doorway, frowning. He looked to the other three scared Wei� members and with a growl started towards the unwelcomed visitor. He crossed his arms, violet eyes looking down into those big ebony ones. "What do you want?" he asked, his eyes narrowed, his tone angry. He could tell the alien was scared too. It was trembling despite it�s sweater. Meekly, it held its hands up, cupped, as if it expected something to be dropped into them. In a very human, very child-like voice, it meekly said through the mask: "Trick-or-treat?"
Ken promptly fell over.
Omi�s eyes brightened.
Youji processed to grovel, murmuring incoherence nonsense.
Aya "humphed" and turned away from the alien. Omi arrived and put a pretty flower in the kids hands and patted him on the head. "Hello there. What�s your name? What a neat costume you have. You gave poor Youjikun a fright. We don�t get trick-or-treat�ers here very often. Not too many people in Japan celebrate this holiday. Unfortunately, we don�t have any candy to give you, but I hope this flower will do." Omi smiled brightly at the masked boy.
The boys rubbery gloved hands came to his masked and pulled it off. He was a bright blue eyed blonde boy who looked like he was from America. His eyes were wide as he looked at Youji groveling still behind Omi. "I . . . I�m Rein. Wuh . . . will he be al . . . alright?" he questioned. Omi put a hand on his hips and looked at Youji with a smirk.
"I think so. You run along now and have fun." He remarked and the boy nodded and darted off. Aya turned the lights off again and locked the door. By now, Ken was on the floor rolling in a fit of laughter. Omi walked to where Youji was on the floor, holding his knees a rocking, staring ahead at nothing. "Ne, Youjikun, it was only a little boy in a costume. He�s gone now."
Youji looked up, at Omi, then to the door. He blinked and then touched his chest, making sure he was still alive, not abducted on an alien ship. He could hear Ken having a laughing fit, and even see the other Wei� member clutching his sides and laughing so hard tears fell from his eyes. "Youji!!" Ken laughed, trying to get control over himself. "Youji�s afraid of aliens!!" he burst and fell down laughing all over again. "Little boy�s dressed as aliens!!"
Youji�s face turned to a solemn look as Ken kept laughing and laughing. "You were afraid too." He snorted and Ken just kept laughing.
"The look on your face!!" Ken howled, kicking his heels. "I wish I had a camera!!!" he was crying again, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.
Youji got to his feet, brushing his pants off, his face red. "I hope you choke on your tongue." He hissed and stalked off. Ken�s laughs subsided a moment, and then he howled again in laughter when Youji�s bedroom door slammed shut.
"Stop laughing and clean up this mess." Came Aya�s commanding voice. Ken stopped kicking his feet, but still chuckled, looking up at Aya from where he lay on the floor. In his moment of shock and then laughter, Ken had kicked over a potted plant an spilt the soil all over the floor.
"Suh . . .sure Ayakun." He muttered, laughing still, between his words. "What . . . whatever you say, man. I�ll do it." He laughed again, as Aya turned his back on him and walked to the stairs. "Afraid of aliens!" he called and fell over laughing again. Omi shook his head, smiling and bent to help Ken clean his mess up. The night had turned out pretty good afterall. At least Ken was in good spirits again.
Downstairs though, in Youji�s room, he held a series of tapes over his personal trash can. With a clatter, the Serial Experiment Lain tapes hit the bottom of the can and Youji pushed the can under his desk again. He went and flopped on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "Damn anime shows."
