Thread by @Capta1nDaichi

Disappearances in Miyagi: @kurodai_week #kurodai #kurodaiweek2021

A thread:

The loss of control has always been Kuroo Tetsurou's biggest problem, as a cameraman. Through the lens of the device he wielded, a story could be told, be spread to numerous people around the world.

Watching his director be removed from that control is unsettling. Infuriating.

He wanted to speak up, to tell the board of directors that not everything was about the legacy to earn, earn, earn.

His small team had gotten awards due to artistic direction of a message. It was not a moneymaker.

But the awards spoke for themselves. Since they were owned--

--by a company, his hands were tied.

He watched as his director bow down his head in agreement to the unfair negotiation-- one that held their jobs on the line--and squeezed his eyes shut, forcing to calm down.

They were going to investigate the recent disappearances in Miyagi.

Miyagi was a provincial area, not quite bustling as Tokyo, and not quite as technologically-inclined.

It had its charm.

The flowers swayed in the wind, gently, in the fresh breeze brought by the mountains. The water flowed by in a constant murmur, accompanying the birdsong.

It was calming, beautiful. A perfect scenario, a camera's dream to capture.

Yet Kuroo never took a single one. Couldn't look at the quaint, retro buildings. Couldn't look at silent streets.

He couldn't.

Because Miyagi was so....

Empty.

Their team had to unload their things in the hotel, having arrived in the area at night. The receptionist had welcomed them pleasantly enough, but he urged them to come inside immediately, don't stay out for too long.

Kuroo had seen the fear in the man's eyes.

The way they--

--glanced outside, the streets disquietingly empty.

What the fuck?

Kuroo swallowed, eyes flickering to outside, to his team. His director-- Oikawa Tooru- was pretending to be fine, as were the others.

Kotaro Bokuto, the host, earnest as one could be, was glancing at him.

Nervous. Apprehensive.

Unsettled.

"Hey, man." Bokuto whispered, stepping near him when the others decided to come up their hotel room immediately. "Is... is everything alright?"

It wasn't a question of what he felt. It was a question to his intuition, because he's always--

been good with his instincts. Told him to stay clear of something, or continue. Bokuto was asking if Miyagi was fine.

It wasn't.

He watched a man come down the stairs, swallowing in fear as he looked at the entrance doors, and the receptionist bowing in what seems to be prayer.

"It's... not." Kuroo murmured, and felt Bokuto tense. "But we have to be ready for whatever this damned place throws us, Bokuto. We have our jobs in the line."

"We shouldn't put our safety on it too."

Did he think he didn't know that? That Oikawa knew that?

But they were merely employees, in an industry hungry for recognition and monetary gain.

A series of disappearances, unexplained-- that would rack in the producers, the moneymakers.

He shook his head, pulling Bokuto close. "Come on." He said lowly. "We need to rest."

DAY ONE was dedicated to finding information, and possible testimonials. The series of disappearances in Miyagi, despite being known, had been one of Japan's unsolved mysteries.

No other information filtered out of the area.

The phenomena goes like this: for a long time--

--especially in the last few months, people have disappeared.

Some were able to come home. Some were not.

Kuroo knew that there were several missing people, but that was what unsettled him as they drove around the area at first-- no missing flyers, no search patrols.

No one--

-spoke about it.

No one wanted to.

Tight-lipped, afraid. Kuroo had asked so many people's help yet was turned down, given an enraged or frightened gaze, and pushed away.

It made something burn in Kuroo's chest.

The fact that these people were just-- silent. Not talking. Why?

He had walked a decent while now, trying to take off the edge of rage that had built in him, in the fucking injustice of it all.

No info. No lead. No nothing.

They were afraid of something, and he didn't know why. Were they being held against their will?

"You look pissed."

The voice startled him out of his skin-- he had been in the presence of dead air so much that having someone talk to him made his lungs feel like it was squeezed out and slammed to the ground.

"Fuck! Jesus Christ!"

He whirled around, putting space between him and the person.

The man looked amused at him.

"Sorry." Kuroo coughed. His nerves had been shot to hell for the past few hours. Fucking embarrassing.

The man waves it off. "It's fine, just an observation." He looked at him curiously. "You don't look like you're from Miyagi. Are you lost?"

He shook his head, and told him that he's not, he's from Tokyo, and he's here because he was doing his job, et cetera, et cetera.

A few sentences in his explanation, he realized that he hadn't introduced himself. "Sorry. Kuroo Tetsurou."

The man smiles. "Call me Daichi."

So Daichi asked him what he was doing. What's his job.

Kuroo is unsure to tell him-- he didn't know Miyagi, after all. But he looked trustworthy enough, so Kuroo ranted to him what he was doing.

His job, his boss, the paycheck, Miyagi, and the fucking PEOPLE.

Daichi nodded.

"I understand, yeah. But there's more than what you might think is just them being scared," Daichi said, crossing his arms. His eyebrow lifted. "Well, if it's information you need, I know some. Would you like to know more about what I know?"

Kuroo straightened up in surprise.

"You sure?" He asked, elated that his excursion didn't end up futile. "We can censor your face if you--"

"It's fine." Daichi waved the offer immediately.

"That's great. Um, I'll inform my team, then you can come around tomorrow. Sounds great?"

Daichi nodded. "Sure."

He asked them where they stayed, and he rattled the hotel name, glad that Daichi recognized it. He walked Kuroo near to it, and Kuroo thanked him.

"Now, don't stay out so late, alright?"

Kuroo felt a shiver up his spine at the reminder, watching as Daichi left the vicinity.

DAY TWO:

Oikawa presented the facts that he gathered first, since his was more research-based. Bokuto had gotten a concerned party named Tsukishima Kei, a blond man with glasses.

Daichi had shown up a bit late, a feeble smile on his face in apology. Kuroo had to smile fondly.

"Apparently, the people here have a term for it, for those who disappeared, and those who were able to return." Oikawa relayed. "Rather, they don't 'just' return; people are 'found'."

Kuroo's eyes flickered to Daichi. "Found?"

Daichi nodded. "Whatever is taking these people--

they are released in random times. It's not a set thing. You've got to be there when you want to find the people, if you want for them to return."

"But--," Bokuto realized. "What if the people who search for them also disappear because they're searching for them?"

"They don't."

"It's why no one seems to want to talk about it," Oikawa revealed. "You know how people say, 'when you don't think about it or actively find it, you just suddenly find it after a few days when you least expect it?'"

"Oh, but that's such crap." Kuroo says, disgusted. But--

he understood why. He understood that this is why people won't talk about it-- if they had a loved one who was gone, and that was the condition that set it off, then who would want to talk?

But god. That's how you treat useless shit, like a remote. Or a notebook.

Not to people.

"It's not always in select places, the mountains or the rivers and whatnot." Daichi shrugged. "Sometimes it's here. In Miyagi."

"But most reports were here in Karasuno," Oikawa questioned.

Kuroo felt the urge to run away.

"H-Here?" Bokuto stuttered. "But why?"

"Karasuno has--

--the highest found rate." Tsukishima said in clarification.

"Are you serious?" Kuroo whispered. "Fuck. How about-- about the other districts?"

Daichi and Tsukishima stay silent.

"Who are the targets?" Bokuto pushed, probably wanting to leave the place. He couldn't blame him. Kuroo had been out of his depth from the moment they had gotten the job.

"They say those who just. Wander around?" Daichi said. "But I think that's just how you generally get lost."

"Yamaguchi, my friend," Tsukishima said, "--says he doesn't fully remember how he became 'lost'. One day he was walking home. The next day, he came out of the forest, tired, hungry, and lost for two months."

"Jesus Christ."

Kuroo swallowed, sweating. "How'd he come out?"

"Apparently, he was guided. But he couldn't remember." Tsukishima sighed. "I'd like to tell more, but that's what I only know. The other families that have lost people and were found had no pattern. It's random. Yamaguchi was found by a child no older than him, actually."

He's a cameraman. He should be thinking of what to film for these moments, but he just wanted to go home.

"Has there been any tourists that have been taken?"

"Not really," Daichi murmured, lost in thought.

Bokuto exhaled loudly. "Fuck. That's. That's a relief. Sorry."

Daichi gave him an amused smile, though he shook his head. "You shouldn't be complacent." He murmured, and Kuroo could hear the worry in his voice. "No one knows how whatever this, works."

After all of that, Oikawa pushed them to create a script. They had a job to do.

Everyone, in the following days, was tense. They're shooting places of Miyagi, the temples, the 'forest' where some of the Karasuno members were apparently 'found' and remember going through.

Oikawa was able to research about Sugawara Koushi and Asahi Azumane, two who were--

--found by their classmates, Nishinoya Yuu and Tanaka Ryuunosuke. Apparently, Suga and Asahi were lost together.

"We found them in the bookstore, you know?" Tanaka relayed in the safety of his room. "They were just reading things there. Gone for three months."

Kuroo didn't know any of this, but his fellow cameraman had taken the footage. Then she told them that Oikawa had theorized that they might be the first ones to be lost, and he had to confirm it in Miyagi PD.

The next day, everyone is tense, and Kuroo arrived from his expedition, getting several messages from the crew.

Bokuto appeared to be distraught, and told him that Oikawa hadn't been answering his phone.

Kuroo is. Shocked. Scared.

Bokuto doesn't know what the hell to do, because that's their director. Their friend.

Tsukishima learned about it and clammed up. Got angry and told them that if they wanted to find Oikawa, shut the hell up.

But who could do that?

Oikawa was gone.

They didn't know if they could just... not, search for Oikawa. They can't. But Kuroo kept pushing, and pushing; he's not going to actively try him.

He met up with Daichi, and told him the news. Daichi reminded him, once again, to be safe. But he worried.

"Do you need help?"

Kuroo stared at him in surprise, and gulping-- because this is the first guy who had noticed that he was having trouble coping that his team was in disarray.

"Yeah," he admitted. Bokuto wasn't being a huge help in finding solutions, but at least he was keeping the team together.

"...Can you?"

Daichi grinned, and reassured him with a pat to the shoulder, that of course, he'll help.

On the way to Miyagi PD, Daichi asked him if the team ever got those little protection trinkets that Miyagi made.

"No." Kuroo shook his head. "We didn't...think..."

"Ah," Daichi nodded. "They're not full-proof, but," he handed Kuroo one, a trinket in the form of a bracelet. "Here."

It was a little tight, but Kuroo felt himself smile in the few days that it had been constant worry. "Thank you."

When they reached Miyagi PD, Kuroo had to go--

--through paperwork. They can't retrieve the info immediately, and they had to wait a day, which didn't ease any of their worries. But at least it's fine. They'll be able to add more to the documentary.

Kuroo returned to working with Daichi, and interviewed him by recording.

He asked him what Daichi honestly thought of the situation in Miyagi, being a resident.

"I think... that whoever is doing this, just...doesn't want the forest being disrespected." Daichi murmured, softly. "The forest of Miyagi is a vast one. Surrounds the mountains--

--and they are believed to be sacred ground. I'm sure you've seen the shinto shrines."

"Once in a while, whenever I pass there," Daichi continued, "I put a small offering for the spirits. We don't understand what they fully want, but the don't want to be disturbed so rudely."

"But why would they just..." Bokuto furrowed his eyebrows. "Get residents?"

"I wonder myself, but... playfulness." Daichi shrugged. "Entertainment. You know how with us people. How we crave to be entertained. Whose to say that we're not merely entertainment for them?"

Kuroo stared at him. Angry. Confused. But god, he understood, once again, in a sick, twisted way why-- if this was true-- why the spirits were doing it. He's in the industry. He's here.

The executives wanted controversy. Here they were.

Shit, he thought. Mere playthings.

"The people who get found. Why them?" Kuroo asked, because maybe there's a lead.

"Probably because they had people who searched for them, offered in the shrine?" Daichi shrugged ruefully. "Who knows."

There's useful info. But again- they don't need to find Oikawa. They don't.

The next day, Bokuto and Kuroo went to Miyagi PD, receiving the go-signal for the papers. It's a long list, more than fifty overall, that Bokuto actually flinched.

It's there, when they were mounting the car back to the hotel when they get a call.

Oikawa was found.

They drive fast, relief flooding in their veins, wanting to see Oikawa after two weeks of not seeing him.

"Oikawa, oh my god!" Bokuto shouted when he sees the man, who looked wide-eyed and uncomprehending.

"You alright?" Kuroo asked, worried.

"Define okay," Oikawa whispered.

"I don't know what happened. I feel like I lost time, and nothing at all."

He relayed what he felt. What he remembered. Walking somewhere, then getting out randomly, found apparently by Daichi, of all people.

Kuroo noted that he should thank the guy. He's been a massive help.

Oikawa got his gear on-- he's always been a level-headed guy when it came to work-- and snatched the papers out of Kuroo's hold.

Kuroo huffed; he was still annoyed, but he missed him.

Bokuto offered to get them food when Oikawa's voice, shaky and fear-laden, breaks the silence.

"Kuroo," Oikawa called, shaking. "Kuroo. What's Daichi's last name?"

Kuroo spun around, pocketing his hands. "You know, never asked, actually." He laughed.

"Why?"

Oikawa laid down the papers on the table.

Sugawara Koushi.

Azumane Asahi.

And then--

Sawamura Daichi.

No.

Kuroo stared at the three papers, unblinking, and refusing to. "Oikawa... What... what am I staring at?"

Sawamura Daichi. Lost.

It can't be.

Bokuto shifted closer. "Only... only Suga and Azumane are labeled 'Found." His eyes are wide.

"But--"

Kuroo kept staring at the papers as Oikawa read it out. He called Suga and Asahi immediately, telling them to come, please, please pleasepleaseplease.

His voice shook in desperation, and Suga had to placate him as he said that they'll be coming as soon as possible.

Kuroo's hands were still shaking as Oikawa interrogated them. Asked them if they had a third person, that when they were lost-- did they have someone with them.

Suga looked at him straight in the eye-- Asahi's eyes watered in shock--and admits it.

Yes.

"Sawamura Daichi," he murmured, tearing up. "My best friend. He was--he was never found."

Never found.

Then who was--?

Kuroo's head shot up, blistering tears of horror blurring his sight. "That's fucking impossible! You're lying!"

Suga, shocked, got angry at him. Told him that he doesn't know anything about Miyagi, and whatever the fuck they've been doing around here, dallying around, thinking they understood.

"You guys just think that we're a cash grab," he seethed, and Asahi had to hold him back.

That wasn't it.

"Daichi, he's--he's been with us." Bokuto stammered. "Our witness. He was here."

"That's impossible." Asahi protested.

Kuroo remembered the bracelet, wrapped on his wrist.

"Here!" He pulled off his sleeve, showing his hands, horrified. "He gave me this!"

They both recognize it.

"How," Asahi trembled. "He made... he made that. How do you have-- how--?"

Kuroo didn't know.

"Suga. Asahi." Oikawa suddenly called, taking their attention. "Does everyone pass by the 'forest'? Didn't you guys.. weren't you guys found by a bookstore?"

"No forest at all," Suga shook his head. "It was just us, we were walking, and then I was suddenly holding a book. Asahi was sitting next to me, apparently."

"Daichi told us. About his theory." Bokuto remembered out loud. "His theory... his theory of why this is all happening."

Bokuto turned to look at him. "Kuroo. Kuroo, please--"

"I don't want to fucking talk, Bokuto." Kuroo hissed through his teeth, trying to control his tears at bay.

He's holding the bracelet.

He should've felt that something was wrong.

It was his thing. His--

He checked his camera, and sat in shock when he realized that from all the footage he took, Daichi didn't have a picture. That his interview was recorded because he always asked that his identity wasn't revealed.

"How," Kuroo's voice breaks in disbelief. "Not one fucking photo."

Then he remembered how he and Daichi met.

Daichi had asked him if he was lost. Guided him back to the hotel.

"I wandered," Kuroo's breath turned erratic. "I. He found. He found me. He--"

He stumbled as he opened the door, desperate to see the place where Daichi saw him.

The others ran after him, as he sprinted to where he remembered walking to, when he was mad, when he was bored, when he wasn't thinking of where he was going and got lost.

He stopped and looked up.

A bookstore.

Suga and Asahi knew it was the same bookstore they were found in.

"This doesn't make sense," Oikawa laughed in horror. "He was--he was the one who found me!"

Suga and Asahi were quiet, apparently realizing something. "Do you guys know when we were lost-- what age?" Suga asked.

Kuroo's eyes widened, recalling Tsukishima's words:
'Yamaguchi was found by a child no older than him, actually.'

Asahi swallowed. "We were young, when we got lost. Eleven years old, I believe."

Suga was crying. "Whatever Daichi did, he must be, he must be helping ever since--"

Before they were found in the bookstore, Daichi had done something, Kuroo realized.

That's why those after Suga and Asahi, the rates of 'Found' people went up.

They called Tsukishima to confirm, who pieced the whole story together.

"A trade," he murmured, amazed, and sad.

"He doesn't get to stay here, it seems. But he guides people to safety."

Kuroo held the bracelet in his hand, then stared at the bookstore.

Recalled Daichi's words, about the spirits.

"Who’s to say that we're not merely entertainment for them?"

Kuroo's hand shook, angrily, vehemently, furiously--

Because this guy fucking dedicated his WHOLE FUCKING LIFE to keep people safe and he can't.

He can't go home.

Loss of control, because Daichi had made the decision that his friends could go back, if he could just bring the others back, in exchange of his own freedom.

He whipped his head to the shinto area, and marched, because fuck them. Fuck those spirits and their selfish ways.

Bokuto ran after him. "Kuroo! Where are you going? What the hell are you doing?"

He remembered Daichi's words for sacrifice to the spirits-- food, and sake.

He ran to a store, and bought them, regardless of the price. He vaguely heard Oikawa yelling at him, but, who cared.

He arrived at the shinto areas, and Kuroo looked up, breathing heavily. He placed the sacrifices on the statues, and stared at them, and felt the mounting anger in him.

"Isn't it enough?" He yelled to no one. "You've had your fun! Let him go home! He deserves to go home!"

"Kuroo," Bokuto tried to pull him away, but Kuroo wrestles him off.

Remembers Daichi, who was giving them the information they needed.

"We'll tell them what you want!" He kept yelling. "He told us to share your needs, because guess what! He respects you enough!"

"You're angry that your forest is being disgraced?" Kuroo continued, and by then, Bokuto was staring at the forest as well, quietly. "This is our job. We make it known. He told us and we can help bring change."

He panted, suddenly feeling the anger exhaust him.

"Just please. Let him go. He's been with you for so long."

He waited for something to happen, but-- nothing.

Oikawa and Bokuto pulled him away. They don't need to anger whoever's been toying with the town.

Kuroo looked at the shinto once more, and choked his tears away.

The next day, it's quiet.

The crew is finalizing their shots, but Kuroo's not with them.

He's sitting in the shinto area, placing sake and food, a murmured prayer on his lips. Ignoring the pouring rain.

Oikawa and Bokuto stared at their friend, so defeated, yet determined.

"We'll... we'll get this publicized," Oikawa said resolutely.

Everyone-- everyone had liked Daichi. They still couldn't believe it.

"Whatever we can do, we'll do it." Oikawa promised. "We won't pretend that this isn't here. If it's respect and protection they need--

--we'll find a way to make it known."

Kuroo visited the shinto everyday. He was never religious, but.

Sometimes, Bokuto stood beside him, helping in the ritual. "We're going to stay." He murmured. "We're going to make sure that changes will be made."

He hugs Kuroo, who cries.

The documentary airs.

It raises discussions. Demands. If it was indeed linked to the disappearances-- or if it was just about preservation-- then the Japanese government had to do something.

The shinto and the statues gets repaired.

Disappearances have stopped for months.

Kuroo's walking around again, aimlessly.

The government had declared the area protected into law. Their documentary is famous, it gave their studio a name, everyone paid handsomely.

The team never left Miyagi.

He's sacrificed different things to the statues now.

Angrily gave the statue a copy of their documentary.

A newspaper, of their achievement.

Daichi's bracelet. Just to get him back.

The disappearances have stopped, but where was he?

"This is so fucking stupid," Kuroo seethes, kicking a rock away, "I hate you. I hate you."

"Whoa." Someone says, and Kuroo's eyes widen.

"You look pissed."

He whirls around, and comes face to face with a familiar bracelet--with a trinket- and then of course, the familiar sight of a smile.

"Pretty sure this is yours," Daichi grins, handing the bracelet.

Kuroo stops breathing in awe. In amazement. Surprise. Elation.

In happiness.

"Daichi." He whispers. "Are..."

Daichi raises his hands and smiles widely.

"Seems like you've found me, Kuroo."

//STORY END CONCLUSION

Daichi never explained the full reason of the disappearances, silent and strict about the spirits.

He didn't tell the team nor Kuroo how he was released. What he remembered and what he did not. What he missed. What he felt.

Sometimes it was unnerving--

seeing Daichi stare off to the mountains. As if he was still bound to the duty that was ingrained to him since childhood.

But that was alright, to Kuroo. He was here.

He was free.

"I'm okay," Daichi smiles at Kuroo as he accompanies the team to a project.

He's okay.

There was a different weight to the bracelet that Kuroo never felt, before he sacrificed it to get Daichi back.

But there was. Tied to his wrist. It felt like a contract for Daichi. As if his return was a grave exchange.

'You wish,' Kuroo thinks, but still, he understands it.

One doesn't just lose an agreement that easily.

'Daichi will always return to Miyagi," he thinks. "But he will never be bound by you again."

//STORY END (because it felt like I needed to close the story better ;P )

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