Chapter Text
It wasn’t very common for a carnival to set itself up within such close range of the Igasaki household; and to do so when all five cousins were together to explore it, even more so. However, in these most fortuitous circumstances, the grandchildren, accompanied by Takaharu and Fuuka’s father Tsumuji, took the opportunity to, for the first time since they were all small children, attend it together.
Even from outside, the carnival was something to behold: the tips of tents were visible over of the thick white fence, like decorative pins on a board, with the big top visible further back, far larger than any of the sideshow tents; banners, balloons and the occasional stilt-walker would rise in and out of sight; and from the queue, waiting to get their tickets, the Igasakis could hear how deafening the show already was.
And when they finally got inside, it was even louder and busier than they’d expected. They’d all been to showgrounds, of course, but nothing so expansive and crowded as this. The lanes between the countless sideshows and food vendors were packed with people of all ages, interacting gleefully with the clowns and performers walking between them. The entire place was a madhouse, a localised world of excitement and sugar highs.
Upon entering, Takaharu immediately got distracted by a strong-man, and had raced off to try the strength contest the performer was advertising, his excited father in tow.
Fuuka and Kasumi, both deep lovers of all things cute, had set off for an advertised petting zoo.
And Nagi and Yakumo, stuck together by fate (and their uncle making them and the others promise “to stick together, if you can!”), had simply started wandering. Both had studies they wished to return to: for Nagi, another licence; and Yakumo, magic homework; but both were also happy for the time off.
Nagi was greatly enjoying the general atmosphere more than anything else (though the bag of cotton candy in one hand didn’t hurt matters). He was very much a people person, and seeing the crowd around him so excited, screaming and laughing in delight as around them clowns frolicking and performers danced through the air on impossibly tall stilts, filled him with a positive energy of which he had yet to find an equal.
He spun on the spot to grin at his cousin, who looked as bored and as out of place in his rich blue coat as was possible, and asked, “Enjoying yourself, Yakumo-kun?”
The response he received was an exasperated grimace. Nagi knew his cousin well – give him a good book, preferably something theatrical in English, and somewhere to sit, and Yakumo was as happy as a... well, a clown, one of which abruptly bounced between them to honk its nose enthusiastically. That certainly earned Yakumo’s ire: as it leapt away again, his older cousin’s eyes lingered after it.
“This isn’t what I’d normally consider a thrilling afternoon out,” Yakumo said simply. He looked away and Nagi followed his gaze, and the pair spotted a magician drawing a crowd as he pulled a length of knotted handkerchiefs out of his sleeve. Yakumo scoffed. “Is this really what they call magic here?”
Nagi grinned. “Is your magic better than that?” he asked loudly, the innocent curiosity in his voice carrying over the crowd, and earning a few glances, including from the magician himself.
“Of course.” Without prompting, Yakumo’s wand was in his hand. He brought it level with his face, and whipped it in a great showy motion. “Sevod etaerc!”
Fire burst from his wand with a crack, but it only flashed into existence for a few seconds before becoming a shining cloud that spewed pure-white doves, cooing and flapping madly as they trailed glittering smoke in their wakes. The crowd was silent for a split second, before exploding into cheers and applause. The magician looked upset at having his show stolen, but Yakumo was smug, as puffed up as his disappearing pigeons. Nagi just laughed. Yakumo’s ego was so easily played. He stuck his hands and his cotton candy in the pockets of his yellow jacket, still grinning as he heard Yakumo recite another spell for the crowd.
It was only because his cousin was distracting the crowd that it was parting around Nagi and crowding around Yakumo, and allowed Nagi to briefly see down the lane of tents to spot a huge wheeled cage being moved along by two men. It was easily taller than Nagi, and covered in a shroud, completely obscuring anything that might have been inside; but judging by the men coming to a stop and stretching in clear exhaustion, whatever it was must have been huge. He watched them walk out of sight, and, immediately overwhelmed by curiosity, jogged through the crowd towards the cage, leaving Yakumo to dazzle his crowd.
The cage had seemed unusual from afar, but up close it was certainly something else. The bars were thick and oddly shiny beneath the dark material covering it. He poked the material, feeling the grimy hessian beneath his fingers, and trailing down to tug at the rope - or attempt to. The plastic rope was almost as thick as his wrist, and had been wrapped around the cage in every direction so tightly that Nagi couldn’t get a single finger between it and the fabric. That didn’t stop him trying to wrap all four and a thumb beneath it to pull it away, but he stopped quickly when there was a noise from inside the cage: so faint he almost missed it, but after a few seconds it repeated - a faint shuffling noise, like an animal getting comfortable.
Nagi dropped onto his knees, tilting his head to try and look under the covering, but through the tiny gap between cloth and cage floor was sheer darkness. He frowned, watching, waiting for the gentle shuff to happen again - and he jumped as the darkness visibly shifted, depth suddenly visible in the shapes of the shadows. He moved closer, lifting a hand to push back the covering, to see what was inside…
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
The abrupt shout made Nagi jump so hard he went right back onto his feet, his hand whipping away from the cage and behind his back. “N-nothing!” he shouted back at the approaching figure.
The man was… large. Not fat, necessarily, but built on a scale slightly larger than a normal person. Nagi recognised the outfit he was wearing: an almost stereotypical ringmaster’s outfit, of a red suit jacket and black top hat. However, the frills and decorations (and indeed, all of the copious amounts of rings, necklaces, buttons and even a huge earring) were all shockingly silver, gleaming in the dreary autumn sunlight. His dark eyes glared foully at Nagi as the man bore down on him wielding, Nagi couldn’t help but notice, an extremely long, thick whip.
He stopped uncomfortably close to Nagi, making the young man back away, and looked down his nose. After a few seconds spent glaring, he nodded towards the cage. “You weren’t playing with that, were you?”
“No!” His voice cracked, and Nagi cleared his suddenly dry throat. “No, of course not.”
The ringmaster stared him down for another few seconds, before suddenly relaxing and smiling. “There’s a sign on it, y’know,” he said, his voice husky and amused. That was, somehow, more terrifying than the cold anger had been. “See?”
And he tapped the cloth with the base of the whip’s handle. Nagi looked again - he was sure that had been blank when he’d been staring at it a few seconds ago, but here and now there was kanji written on it, huge and red.
“WARNING - DANGEROUS”
Nagi frowned at the script. “What’s in there?”
The ringmaster winked and smiled again, and Nagi saw he even had a silver tooth. “If you’d like to find out, it’ll be the next performance in the big top.” He used the whip again to gesture behind him at the tent looming in the distant background: coming back from it were the two men Nagi saw initially pushing the cage. One of them glared at him, and Nagi jumped again when the ringmaster gave him a hearty pat on the back that made him stumble.
“Come enjoy the show, kid!”
And with those apparent parting words, he nodded at the two men, and the three of them moved away, the cage very slowly pushed along between them. Nagi stared after them, not noticing the crowd forming back around him as they left the area until Yakumo appeared next to him, his self-satisfied smirk fading at the sight of Nagi’s face. “Are you alright, Nagi?” Yakumo asked, drawing his attention.
Nagi nodded. “I’m fine, but…”
He moved closer, lifting a hand to push back the covering, to see inside the cage. The material was heavy against his fingers as he leaned in, trying to see through the gloom. There was fur, a lot of it, and, opening to look at him and burning bright in the gloom, one golden eye…
His frown only increased as he looked at Yakumo.
“I have a bad feeling.”
And Yakumo frowned in return. “What about?”
“I’m not sure.” He looked back down the lane, but the cage had already disappeared. “But I wanna find out. Come on,” he added as he tapped Yakumo’s shoulder and darted ahead.
“Wh-- hey!”