The Disappearance of Osomatsu-san

Chapter 38: Loneliness and Sweets

It all happened so fast. Jyushi could remember he was about to let a certain name roll of his tongue when suddenly, the lights went out. He shrieked in fear, but before he could grab anyone's hand, something was covering his mouth that caused him to feel dizzy, and he suddenly blacked out. Jyushi didn't really know what was going on or where he was, the last thing he heard was Todo screaming and Hatabou being enraged at something. But other than that, Jyushi didn't know what just happened. Heck, even his clothes felt different. They were much more loose now, as well as softer.

Jyushi groggily stirred awake, rubbing his eyes with the long sleeves of the loose pajama shirt he was wearing. It was kind of cute, Jyushi thought. It was just a simple white color with lime green buttons. He noticed there were blankets covering him, and when he pushed them off, he realized he was wearing blue shorts and white ankle socks. He shook his arms to let the sleeves fall for awhile and checked his hands. The ring wasn't present and nor were his mittens, exposing his hands and his fingernails painted with yellow nail polish. He wiggled his toes to see if he was paralyzed or anything, but since he was able to move his arms and toes, he was fine.

Oh wait. I can't move my legs. Oh well! I'm still fine, aren't I? Don't be too shaken up now!

Jyushi looked around the room, realizing he had slept on a worn-out sofa that was covered with more blankets and had a bunch of pillows to make it soft. The room was dark compared to his, which was as childish as it could get with toys and crayons scattered all over the place. This one had no windows, which was already a large difference from Jyushi's room, which was basically the highest floor of Flag Corporation's building that gave him the view of Akatsuka City in it's entirety. Though Jyushi noticed why there were no windows; they have been covered up by wooden boards to block out anything from the outside world, so Jyushi didn't know if it was day or night.

Though he felt as if he had a nice, long rest, so it was probably morning already. Who knew anyway? Where was he?

The room had papers and pens scattered all over the place, similar to Jyushi's ripped out papers from his sketchbooks and a bunch of colorful crayons and markers. But this one looked different. The papers on the floor resembled the files Hatabou and Ichi often let him read, but there were papers on the walls too. Newspapers, to be exact. Red markers were used to circle certain things in the newspaper that were deemed important, though in a disturbing manner, kitchen knives were stabbed against the paper. Another thing Jyushi noted was a map of Japan, with pins and post-it-notes on the bulletin board at the corner of the room.

The room was a mess, basically. But Jyushi didn't mind, in all honesty. His room was the same!

There was no clock in the room, or any sort of technology. Besides the air conditioner, that is. The wallpaper was peeling off in the areas newspapers weren't covering, and the carpet-covered floor were covered in liquids that were dark in color and reeked of something.. metallic? Iron? Jyushi didn't really know, and it was a bit unpleasant, so he covered his nose and mouth with the long sleeves of the shirt he was wearing to block out the smell.

But something about this room was so.. familiar. Jyushi didn't know what it was, but despite the fact that he just awoke in an odd-looking room with his previous clothes nowhere in sight, and a questionable liquid was spilled on the floor, Jyushi couldn't panic entirely. There was something in this room that didn't scare him, even with the knives pressed against the papers and probably piercing through the walls of the room.

Wait a minute.

He was kidnapped earlier, wasn't he? The lights went off all of a sudden at the restaurant, something caused him to knock out upon smelling it, and he was in an unknown place with equally questionable liquid spilled on the carpet floor. He had been kidnapped, and this was the location his kidnapper brought him into, so should he be terrified now? Should he start screaming? Because if so, Jyushi was sure he was the worst hostage in history.