"Okaerinasai. Welcome to Hotel Yuurei. My name is Kiku Honda, the owner of this establishment. Hajimemashite. Your room number is 122 and here are your keys. The first floor is on the next floor, this is the ground level. If you have any questions or concerns, you can find me here in the lobby. Dinner is at 6 in the room to your left and breakfast is at 8am and lunch is at 1pm. I hope you enjoy your stay. Arigatougozaimasu."
Lukas stared at the shorter Japanese man in front of him. He was dressed in a fancy white outfit, though Lukas wasn't sure if it was some sort of traditional Japanese attire for hotels or just a general nice-looking outfit. The Japanese stared back with the same blank expression, however, unlike Lukas, he had a slight welcoming smile on his face. As if he was truly glad that Lukas was here.
"What does Yuurei mean?" Lukas asked finally after a few moments.
"Yuurei is the name of the hotel."
"Right..."
Lukas looked at the keys in his hand then at the bags next to his feet, then back up at the owner. However, the owner had disappeared and Lukas was left alone in the lobby.
He dragged the suitcase and bag onto the elevators and pressed the button for the first floor. Less than a minute later, he was out of the elevator and walking down a hall which was very nice with mirrors and fancy, padded armchairs of to the sides. He walked through the eerily silent corridor passing other quiet doors until he was standing in front of door 122. He unlocked it with one if the two keys he was given and pushed it open.
The room was very nice. A queen sized bed in the center with a nice big wardrobe and a T.V. on a dresser. A lot of the furniture were large and wooden with hand carved designs on them and they seemed a century or two old. Of course, Lukas knows next to nothing about furniture so he could be way off. After all, he's a journalist and he needs to find out the history of this hotel. So maybe starting with the furniture is his best bet, after the owner of course. Dinner might be the most opportune time to talk with him.
Lukas put his clothes away in the wardrobe and dresser and his personals in the bathroom. He still had two hours until dinner so he decided to explore the hotel abit and talk to (interview) some of the guests.
Grabbing his pen, notebook and recorder he locked the door before deciding that his best bet would be to return to the lobby.
The lobby was still empty when Lukas returned, even Kiku wasn't there. So, Lukas chose a random hallway and walked down it. He could hear the sound of a piano faintly coming from one of the rooms, so he decided to start with that one first. Inside was a large, sleek grand piano in the middle in front of large glass windows. On the outer edge of the room were padded couches and coffee tables. The piano was being played by a man who looked no older than Lukas but wore an older style of clothes. He had dark brown hair with one piece sticking up and a mole just to the bottom left of his mouth. He had his eyes closed as he was playing the sheets of music on the stand. However Lukas hadn't heard the song before and suddenly missed his violin. He actually regretted not bringing it for a moment until he realized he was here for his job, not to play.
So he approached the man cautiously, not wanting to bring the man out of his moment but yet still wanting to question him. He got close enough to where he could reach out and tap his shoulder if he wanted to and yet the man didn't even seem to notice his presence.
After a few moments, the man struck a bad chord and let out a groan. He spun around angrily to face Lukas, causing him to jump back a step.
"Gilbert! I told before to quit- you are not Gilbert? Who are you?" He demanded with a German accent. Lukas straightened himself and got his pen and recorder ready.
"No, I'm not. I'm Luka-"
"It doesn't matter to me who you are. Do you know what you have done!"
"What? No. Look I-"
"You ruined it! I finally had inspiration for my masterpiece that I've been working on forever and you barge in here without any thought to the consequences and completely disrupt me! Now I have to start all over!"
"I'm sorry? I didn't think-"
"That's just it, you weren't thinking-"
"Hey-"
"-and now I have to suffer for your mistakes!"
"Hahaha!" Interrupted a very loud, obnoxious laugh. An arm snaked around Lukas's shoulders and pulling him into to a larger man. Lukas tried to fight it after the initial shock wore off but the guy was much stronger. "Sorry about him Roderich, he's new!" Roderich huffed and turned back to the piano.
"Allow me to express my irritation at you two with this piece." He began playing a beautiful, fast paced piece, which Lukas recognized was in a minor scale. But before he could appreciate it any he was pulled out of the room and into the hall by the loud man.
Once the door was fully closed, Lukas rounded on the man.
"What do you think you were doing?"
"Excuse me?" The man was a good few inches taller than Lukas and Lukas was just above average, so it's not like he's short. Plus, the guy had muscle, and Lukas tried hard not to stare, but he was pretty sure he'd look really good without that shirt. He was wearing a red button-up tucked into some black slacks and had a black tie. He had wild golden, blonde that stuck up at an unnatural angle, but the most striking thing to Lukas was his wide, sky blue eyes. "Hey, I just saved you from of Roderich's famous rants, but if ya wanna be on the receiving end of it already then be my guest." He said as he made a sweeping motion to the door with his arms.
"Right, sorry."
"Nah it's cool. I'm Mathias Køhler by the way. Nice ta meetcha." He stuck out his hand and gave a charming, crooked smile which Lukas accepted after a moment's hesitation.
"Lukas Bondevik. Køhler? Is that Scandinavian?" Mathias grin widened.
"Yep! I'm Danish! Are you also?" Lukas shook his head.
"I'm from Norway."
"Ah! A brother! C'mere then!" Lukas found himself forcefully pulled into a bone-crushing hug. Mathias, who was laughing the entire time, finally released him after a few moments and gave him a few hard pats on the back. Lukas frowned and straightened his outfit.
"Idiot. Don't do that next time!" Lukas froze, thinking he had insulted one of the only people he's actually conversed with in this hotel, but instead Mathias just chuckled and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
"Yeahhh… sorry 'bout that. I got a bit carried away."
"Oh. Well, it's fine."
"Right…"
"So, Mr. Køhl-"
"Whoa! Call me Mathias!"
"Okej… Mathias… do you mind if I interview you for my article?" Mathias's eyes lit up.
"An article!? Really! Why? What for?"
"Yes, an article. I'm doing it for the magazine I work for and I'd like to interview you because you're a guest at this hotel… you are a guest right?"
"Yup!"
"Well, then, is that alright?"
"Totally! Dude, I'm going to be famous!" Lukas's lips twitched and he replied, "Well, it's not that popular."
"Still, man. My name will be out there. Next, I'll have talent scouts looking for me. Hell, you could be a talent scout in disguise."
"In your dreams."
"Then I never wanna wake up," he said with a wink causing Lukas to dumbly stop whatever he was doing to stare at the Dane. After a few moments of Mathias's cheeky grin and shook his head and got his recorder ready.
"Okej, I am going to record your answers. Please just answer what I ask as honestly as you can."
"Alright!" Lukas pressed the record button and nodded.
"I am with a guest today at Hotel Yuurei. Please state your name and other info for the record."
"Okej! I'm Mathias A. Køhler, and that's with an ø as in Øresund." Mathias grinned and Lukas shook his head. "I'm 24 years old with blue eyes, blonde hair, and a charming disposition!" Lukas face-plamed. "I was born in 1986 in Holsted, Denmark and my dad would take me to Legoland each year cuz it was only a half an hour away."
"Mathias!"
"Ok, ok, sorry."
"So, Mr. Køhler-"
"Mathias," he interrupted with wink and Lukas inwardly groaned. This was being recorded idiot!
"Mathias," he grounded out. "How long have you been a guest at Hotel Yuurei?"
"I dunno, few weeks? I'm thinking just over two…" Lukas resisted the urge to go over to the wall and hit his head against it. How does he not know how long he's stayed here?
"Okay… and how long do you plan on staying here?" Mathias smiled and shrugged. Lukas sighed and said, "Please say something for the record."
"I shrugged." Lukas briefly considered throwing the recorder at the Dane but since it was his only one he decided that it was probably best if he did not.
"So, you don't know?"
"Nope! I'll just stay here until I feel like leavin'! I'm here on vacation after all, so why should I leave any earlier? Besides, you'll find that most people are like that who stay here. Actually, aside from Kiku, Arthur's been here the longest. You should go and talk to him! I forget how many weeks he's been here."
"Okay, and what do you think of the place so far? The service, food, things like that."
"Hmmm… well the service is okej. I mean Kiku's great. He's really friendly and polite and shows up right when you need him. I mean once I needed a towel cuz I went swimming that day so I was out of towels. You knew they had a swimming pool here right? It's pretty cool. I'll take ya sometime."
"Mat-"
"Right, right. I know. Stay on track. So anyway, I went down to the lobby and as soon as the elevator opened Kiku was right there man, holding like three towels. So yeah, he's pretty cool. Aside from Kiku, I haven't seen anyone else, but there's more probably, I mean, who else makes all that food?"
"So you haven't seen anybody clean the rooms or take care of the gardens? Not even a lifeguard?"
"Nope."
"Alright."
"The food is amazin' though! I mean each day they will feature a certain country. So maybe they'll do Norway soon since you're here! Oh and it's high quality too!"
"Okay…. What else do you do here? Do you go out to the town or just stay inside all day?" Mathias gave a slight shrug.
"I just stay inside. Sometimes I'll swim because I love swimming or I will go outside to the gardens. I'll play chess with Ludwig though that guy is a beast at it. I don't think anybody's beaten him yet. Though I've heard Arthur and Gilbert have gotten close. Anyways, sometimes I'll go to the library and read some of the Danish books in there. The library is huge and you can probably find a book in every language there, probably even some extinct language. And then, later on in the evening, l might grab a drink or two with Gilbert and maybe Arthur at the bar. After this, I'm so giving you a tour."
"Right…" Lukas paused and looked down at his notebook where he kept a list of questions. "Last question, what do you know about this hotel? The history, interesting tidbits, things like that?"
Mathias was quiet for a moment, which seemed strange to Lukas even though he only met the guy an hour ago.
"Well… I don't know much about the hotel, I've never really thought about it I guess. I do know that parts of this hotel are older than others."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for instance, my room has Red Dead Redemption!"
"Um, what?"
"C'mon Lukas! It's like one of the most popular PS3 games right now! Speaking of which, I can't wait till COD: Black Ops comes out in November!"
"COD- what?"
"Call of Duty, c'mon, surely you've heard of that right?"
"Sure…"
"Ugh, that's it. You're so comin' over for a gaming night!"
"Focus Mathias."
"Fine."
"Okay, so your room has… video games... what does that have to do with the hotel's history?"
"Well, I think my room is probably the most advanced… I mean, if you go to other peoples' rooms, they don't have RDR."
"So your room has more video games…?"
"Well yeah, but that's not the point. The point is, you should see the T.V. in Gilbert's room. I don't even know if you could find those in an antique shop anymore."
"Right. Well, thank you for your time."
"No problem!" Lukas stopped the recording and made a few notes in his notebook before putting the things away. When he looked up, Mathias was still there smiling at him.
"What?"
"What are you gonna do now?"
Lukas stared at him for a moment before glancing down at his watch. "Well, it's not 6 yet so I don't know. I'll probably just go back to my room."
"Well, would you like that tour now? I'll be happy to show ya around!"
The Norwegian shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
"Awesome! Follow me! You've already seen the music room and lobby, so we'll start with the library first! I think you'll like it." He added with a wink.
The library was as impressive as Mathias was making it out to be if not more. It was huge and probably held just about every book imaginable but Lukas didn't have the time to look through the Norwegian section yet because Mathias insisted that they check out the other rooms before dinner.
Mathias pulled Lukas through multiple rooms, most of which Lukas weren't able to keep track of. What did catch Lukas's attention though was the fact that there wasn't a single soul in any of the rooms they saw. No guests, no staff, not even Kiku – only him and Mathias, much to Lukas's annoyance. Mathias assures him though that they're probably hanging out in their rooms until lunch.
When Mathias and Lukas finally made their way to the dining room, people were already grabbing their seats and food. Apparently, there are other guests in this hotel. Mathias dragged Lukas to sit next to him near the middle of the table. Lukas recognized Roderich sitting across the table next to pale silver-haired man who seemed to be talking his ear off. Mathias noticed Lukas watching Roderich and he leaned in and said, "The guy next to Roderich is Gilbert Beilschmidt. You remember me mentioning him ja?"
"Yeah, think so."
"He's a pretty cool dude. Doesn't understand some slang and stuff, but I think it's probably because he lived underneath some super strict roof. The guy sitting next to him is Ludwig – no last name, doesn't even remember anything but his first name." The man next to Gilbert was built like a tank. He seemed to have more muscle than Mathias and looked just as tall too. He had blonde hair slicked back and sticking blue eyes and his facial expression read "not takin' any of Gilbert's shit right now". Mathias continued on with what he was saying, "Gilbert's kind of 'taken him under his wing.' Of course, Ludwig doesn't really follow Gilbert per say. Ludwig's smarter than that, but hey, whatever."
"Alright…"
"Anyway, see the guy next to me?" Lukas leaned forward to look around Mathias and spotted another huge guy a few seats down. He had snowy white hair and wore a childish smile on his face. He wore a large, tan coat which wouldn't be quite so weird if he wasn't wearing a pale, purple scarf around his neck. Sure, it's summer and he's inside but it's not that cold in here!
"Yeah."
"That's Ivan Braginsky. Stay away from him." Lukas looked at Mathias in slight shock.
"Why's that?"
"He's crazy. I don't know, just stay away from him." Lukas thought he saw worry briefly flash across Mathias's face but he brushed it off.
"Okay, sure."
"And finally, look to your right." Lukas saw two men arguing with each other.
"The closest one is Arthur Kirkland." He was a shorter man with messy blonde hair and large eyebrows furrowed over bright green eyes. He was dressed in older clothes and was clearly English by his motions and the way he spoke. "The guy next to him is Francis Bonnefoy." He had long wavy hair and blue eyes with a bit of a stubble on his face. He was dressed in fancier clothes and spoke with a very French accent. "I don't know whether they're just fitting into the whole French-English hating each other stereotype thing or really just don't like each other, but this is completely normal for them. Hell, if a day goes by without an argument between them, then something's wrong."
Lukas nodded and continued to watch them bicker until he got bored.
"So, that's everyone!" Mathias said when Lukas turned back to his food. Lukas looked sharply at the Dane.
"What do you mean?"
Mathias seemed confused. "That's everyone…"
"What? These are all the guests in the entire hotel?" Lukas asked incredulously, gesturing towards the people at the table.
"Well, yeah… what did you expect?"
"Oh, I don't know, more people? There are eight people in this room, how can that be everyone? I seem to recall there being 10 floors in the elevator, or am I just making that up and everyone lives on the first floor- er, the floor above this one?" Mathias gave a small smile.
"No, there are really 10 other floors, nobody's living there right now but Roderich and Ludwig lives on the 9th."
"But I walked through my floor, there are tons of doors. Why not just put all the guests on the same floor?" Mathias just shrugged.
"Hey, how am I supposed to know? I just stay here, no questions asked." Lukas furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "C'mon let's eat, I bet you're starved." Mathias grabbed some food and dug in and Lukas decided to do the same after a moment's hesitation. Mathias struck up a conversation with Gilbert across the table. Lukas was only half paying attention though because, quite frankly, their conversation didn't interest him.
"Hello. Are you new?" Lukas looked around and found that the Brit – Arthur – was speaking to him.
"I'm sorry?"
"Did you just check in?"
"Yeah." Arthur fully turned to face him and struck out his hand.
"I'm Arthur Kirkland. It's a pleasure to meet you." Lukas accepted the handshake.
"Lukas Bondevik, likewise."
"Where are you from Lukas?"
"Trondheim, Norway."
"Ah, so you're from Norway? I love Norwegians~" The Frenchman next to Arthur spoke up while eyeing Lukas up and down causing him to inwardly grimace and feel awkward at the same time. "I'm Francis Bonnefoy," the Frenchman continued not noticing Lukas obvious discomfort (and ignoring Arthur's grumblings) and grabbed Lukas's hand and kissed it. Lukas yanked his hand back.
"Bugger off frog," Arthur growled. "Do you even know where Norway is?"
"Why rosbif, I'm not doing anything wrong," Francis said innocently and appeared to be slightly wounded. "And of course I know where it is… it's North." Arthur rolled his eyes. "Besides, I'm always willing to learn more from this cute petit norvégien." He said slyly.
"Hey back off, Francis," said Mathias in a warning voice than usual while wrapping an arm around Lukas's shoulders and pulling him in closer. "He's mine. I'm the one showin' him around." (Lukas will never admit it later, but he'd being lying if he wasn't the slightest bit turned on right now.)
Francis put his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright, alright. I was only joking anyway." Mathias narrowed his eyes at the Frenchman. After a few awkward moments of Mathias staring at Francis, Lukas elbowed the Dane in the stomach.
"Get off," he said slightly ticked. Mathias groaned and removed his arm in response.
"What was that for?"
"For being an idiot."
"I was not! I just don't trust Francis with new people!"
"I'm right here you know," Francis deadpanned and Arthur smugly grinned. Mathias ignored them.
"I don't need looking after," replied Lukas with a glare. Mathias pouted.
"So, Lukas," started Arthur. "What brings you here?"
"I'm doing a story on the hotel for the magazine I work for."
"Magazine? Really? Impressive."
Lukas just shrugged in response and added, "I would like to interview you if that'd be alright."
"Me? Certainly, it'd be a pleasure."
"What about moi?" Francis asked.
"Great," Lukas said ignoring the Frenchman. "Maybe, later today? Or tomorrow?"
"Sure, we can do it after dinner."
Lukas came down for breakfast at exactly 8am like he's done for the past three days. So far, he's discovered no history on the hotel. The library holds nothing, even though it seems to hold everything else. He even found an original 1842 Norwegian copy of Asbjørnsen and Moe's Norske Folkeeventyr, much to his delight. However, he did interview multiple guests in the hotel including Arthur, Ludwig, Gilbert (which was not helpful at all), and even Roderich. Lukas was still a bit wary of conducting one with Ivan and Francis but he will eventually. He just needs to get away from Mathias long enough to do one. Speaking of which, Mathias was as annoying as Lukas thought he would be the first time he met him. Mathias constantly insisted that Lukas joins him in everything he does – swimming, drinking, reading. It's starting to get on Lukas's nerves, and whether Mathias noticed and chose to ignore it or really was just oblivious, Lukas doesn't know. He does know that, he's taking a liking to hitting Mathias when he does something stupid, and, admittingly, this is the happiest he's been in a long time.
Sounds stupid, he knows. Nor does he have any freakin' clue why! Why does hitting the Dane upside the head, make him feel warm inside? Lukas shook his head. He doesn't have time for this anyway.
He entered the dining room only to be engulfed by a "Lukas!" and a large Danish body, causing him to stumble a bit. Four days of the same thing and you'd think he'd be more prepared.
"Idiot! Get off!" Lukas yelled elbowing Mathias in the stomach which caused the Dane to let go. Then Lukas turned around and hit him on the back of the head.
"Ow!" was the reply he got as he went to grab some coffee and waffles.
"Good morning Lukas," greeting Arthur with a tea cup in hand.
"Morning." Lukas and Arthur have been getting along lately due to their similar interests in magic, fairytales, and hitting stupid people. Arthur was probably Lukas's closest friend here aside from Mathias – maybe! That's all it is – a maybe.
Lukas looked around at the room and at the only guests in the hotel. Gilbert and Francis were talking about… something. And judging by the way they were laughing, Lukas didn't want to know. Ludwig and Ivan seemed to be making some awkward small talk near the table on the opposite side of the room. Mathias was still clutching his stomach while kneeling on the ground (much to Lukas's inward satisfaction). And, as usual, there's- wait…
"Hey, where's Roderich?" Lukas asked Arthur looking around the room for the missing person. "He never misses breakfast."
"No clue. Ask Gilbert, he may know." Lukas nodded and went over to Gilbert.
"Hey Gilbert, where's Roderich?" Gilbert looked around the room as did Francis.
"What? The priss isn't here? Hey Luddy!" Gilbert yelled across the room grabbing everyone else's attention. "Have you seen Roddy?"
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me 'Luddy' and no I have not." Ludwig calmly replied.
"He checked out." Attention was turned towards the door where Kiku was standing. "He checked out this morning."
"What! Why?" Gilbert asked.
"Because he finished his song."
"But he didn't even say goodbye," Gilbert looked a bit upset though he tried not to show it. Kiku didn't say anything but turned around and walked back out the door.
"Wait, Mr. Honda!" Lukas said running to catch up to him while pulling out his recorder at the same time. Kiku Honda is the only person he hasn't interviewed yet and who he wants to most of all. After all, who would know most about the history of the hotel besides the owner? But when he got outside the dining room, the lobby was empty and the Japanese man was nowhere in sight. Lukas reluctantly went back into the dining room to finish his coffee.
Gilbert was visibly upset by Roderich's exit and quickly went back to his room. Arthur turned to Lukas.
"Gilbert will get over it. He did when Elizaveta left."
"Elizaveta?"
Arthur nodded. "She was another guest at this hotel, arrived about the same time as Roderich. The three of them were best friends. Though she left not five weeks later, quite abruptly too – just like Roderich. Gilbert may have thought that Roderich would be staying a while too, since he's been here for about 5 months."
Lukas was silent for a few moments before asking, "Arthur… how long has Gilbert been here?"
"Just over two years."
That's one hell of a hotel bill.
Two days later, Lukas was going to the lounge to take the stairs up a floor to his room. He finally lost Mathias and was planning on hiding out in his room until dinner. He still has yet to find any information on the hotel in the library, but there's got to be an old photo album or some sort of guest records somewhere. He also hasn't talked to Kiku yet, in fact he hardly ever sees him. However, he did manage to finally interview Francis, though it proved to be less than helpful. The Frenchman kept making innuendos and was eyeing him up the entire time. Though, he did say that Arthur didn't really understand what World War 2 was. Francis thought that the Englishman is crazy, but Lukas thought that maybe another interview is in order, at least to find out if Francis was lying or if Arthur really was crazy, rendering his interview unusable.
As he neared the lobby he heard voices, one of which he didn't recognize. He looked into the lobby and found a teenag- no, two teenage boys standing there talking to Kiku with bags at their feet. They looked about 19 years old and had the exact same face, almost… Lukas figured they're probably twins. They both had blonde hair and glasses and were the same height. However the one on the left had blue eyes and seemed to not be able to hold still, while the one on the right had purple eyes, wavy hair, and seemed a bit shy.
Lukas was only able to make out part of their conversation. Apparently, they were given the same run down that Lukas was given when he first moved in. The blonde on the left, who acted just like Mathias, seemed excited by the hotel name and asked if what Japanese. Then he asked if they were in Japan, which Lukas just snorted at. How do they not know where they are?
Kiku told them that their rooms are 131 and 132. So, they are on Lukas's floor. Maybe he can catch them in the hall before dinner before anyone else could find them and "show them around" or whatever, just like Mathias did when he first arrived. Lukas felt something heavy tug on his heart as he thought of Mathias showing the boys around. Mathias showing the excited teen the game room and the swimming pool laughing as they discover interests they share, and leaving Lukas to research alone in the library without an annoying Dane interrupting him.
Lukas shook his head. Mathias can do whatever he wants and he can make friends with whomever he wants. Lukas isn't the only friend he's allowed to have. After all, eventually, one of them will check out of the hotel. Either Mathias when he gets bored or Lukas once he's finished with his story.
When Lukas looked back at the boys again, Kiku was gone and they were starting to head towards the elevators with their things. Lukas decided that he'll give them a bit to settle in first before he approaches them for a possible interview. Speaking of interviews, he really should talk to Arthur again…
"Hey! There ya are!" Lukas groaned. How'd the idiot find him so fast? Lukas turned to face Mathias who had a large grin on his face. "Hey, what were you doing?" he asked noticing Lukas's position behind the doorway. Lukas blushed slightly at being caught.
"N-nothing! What the hell do you want?"
If Mathias was suspicious of Lukas's stutter or blush, he didn't say anything. Instead he shrugged and said, "Was wonderin' if ya wanted to do somethin'. I was thinking maybe we could play some video games or go swimming or something."
"No thanks, I'll pass," Lukas replied distractedly as he looked to the lobby again.
"Please?" Lukas regretted turning back to face the Dane because he was faced with Mathias's stupid puppy face – teary-eyes, pouting lips – the works. And Lukas literally felt his will break in two.
"Ugh, fine," he said giving in. Mathias broke into a smile. "After dinner," he quickly added.
"Aw okej," Mathias said slightly disappointed. "What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going back up to my room," replied Lukas as he began to walk towards the stairway. Mathias followed.
"Why? Can I come with?"
"No, you cannot."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm going to work on my report."
"Seriously? Man, you're always working on that!"
"It's my job," Lukas deadpanned.
"So?"
"So, how else am I going to pay for this hotel?"
"I dunno."
"Speaking of which," Lukas stopped to face Mathias, who was staring at the flames in the fireplace, and Lukas eyed the Dane warily. "How are you going to pay the bill?" Mathias looked at the Norwegian with a sheepish smile and shrugged.
"I dunno, I don't even remember checking in. I think I may have been drunk at the time…" he added thoughtfully. Lukas rolled his eyes and passed by the fireplace continuing towards the stairs.
"Of course you were."
As Lukas had hoped, he caught the twins on their way to lunch. He learned that the loud, American one is Alfred F. Jones while the shy one (and also apparently Canadian, not American) is Matthew William Jones. They seemed more than willing to do the interview, especially Alfred. But Alfred seemed more distracted by the hotel and the new video games and "awesome tech" in his room right now, so Lukas told them that they will do it after dinner or the next morning. Which they happily accepted.
They ended up doing the interview the next morning.
However, it wasn't until a few days later when Lukas began to view the mysterious hotel in a new light.
Lukas was in the library studying, as usual. He actually sends most of his free time here trying to find something about this hotel. The most useful source of information he's found so far are the guests. Lukas had managed to conduct another interview with Arthur, only to find out that his sense of history was indeed messed up, but he seemed to believe everything he said. Lukas decided not to use his friend's interview after all though, just in case.
Mathias was still as annoying to Lukas as ever. When the twins were introduced to everyone, it actually wasn't Mathias to show them around. Instead, Matthew found himself being dragged around by Gilbert and Arthur took it upon himself to show Alfred around, though Lukas bet that he is regretting that now. Especially since the American never leaves him alone anymore.
"Hey Lukas!" Speak of the devil. "You're Norwegian right?" asked Alfred with Arthur and Matthew in tow, interrupting Lukas's research. Seriously, this was supposed to be a library, not a come-interrupt-Lukas-while-he's-reading time.
"Right…?" Lukas replied back not really paying attention.
"Well, I forgot to ask you this when I first met ya, but what's the fox say?" The sound of Matthew hitting his forehead with the palm of his head echoed off the walls, and Lukas briefly worried for his health.
"Er… what?"
"The fox, what's the fox say?" The American looked at Lukas as if he knew what in the hell he was talking about, but of course he didn't. "You know, the song made by Norwegians…?"
Lukas shook his head. "Never heard of it."
"What? Seriously? Must be a European thing," he muttered the last part to himself.
"Why?"
"Because Arthur's never heard of it either!"
"Of course I haven't," said Arthur annoyed. "If it hasn't made it to the pictures then of course I haven't seen it."
"Haha! Whatever you say Artie!" Alfred said not really listening.
"Arthur not 'Artie'!"
"Is that all?" Lukas asked, wanting to get back to his research.
"Yep!" Alfred asked and he was almost out the door with Arthur in tow when he turned around and said, "Y'know, with all that research you keep doing, I'm surprised you haven't looked on the internet yet… unless you already have?" Lukas froze.
"Inter-what now?" Arthur asked. Alfred laughed.
"Never mind Artie!" They left leaving Lukas alone in stunned silence. How had he never thought that before! Lukas wanted to bash his head into a wall. Of course the internet must have something about the hotel! He just hasn't seen a computer in the hotel yet, which must be why he's never thought of it before, but he has his laptop in his room.
Lukas quickly shut his books and put them away before hurriedly walking out the door.
When he got up to his room he took out his laptop, plugged it in, and started it up. Lukas also took his recorder and notebook out of his pocket and set them down on the desk. When his laptop finished its loading he started up the search engine (thank god there's wifi) and typed in "Hotel Yuurei" into the search bar. What came up was not what he expected, though he wasn't sure what he was expecting to begin with. He at least hoped to find the hotel's website or something though. Instead what he got was links to manga sites, Yuurei Apato Karinrin (whatever that was), trip advisor sites, something about a monster motel, some guy's facebook page, and youtube. Nothing about the hotel itself. Nothing that even suggested it existed!
Lukas groaned in frustration. That damned Kiku was hiding something and Lukas was determined to find out what it was! In fact, the only time he has seen the owner the entire time was when Lukas first moved in. That was also the day he conducted his first interview with Mathias he recalled fondly.
Feeling like he was at a dead end, Lukas took out his recorder and played Mathias's interview, after all, maybe he missed something.
Lukas listened to the tape without really listening, he was more enjoying the conversation and Mathias's odd ramblings.
"Right… Last question, what do you know about this hotel? The history, interesting tidbits, things like that?"
"Well… I don't know much about the hotel, I've never really thought about it I guess. I do know that parts of this hotel are older than others."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for instance, my room has Red Dead Redemption!"
"Um, what?"
"C'mon Lukas! It's like one of the most popular PS3 games right now! Speaking of which, I can't wait till COD: Black Ops comes out in November!"
Lukas flung open his eyes and scrambled for the recorder pressing the rewind button.
"-kas! It's like one of the most popular PS3 games right now! Speaking of which, I can't wait till COD: Black Ops comes out in November!"
Lukas stopped to recording for a moment, thinking. Then he pressed the fast forward button a bit and pressed play.
"-deo games... what does that have to do with the hotel's history?"
"Well, I think my room is probably the most advanced… I mean, if you go to other peoples' rooms, they don't have RDR."
"So your room has more video games…?"
"Well yeah, but that's not the point. The point is, you should see the T.V. in Gilbert's room. I don't even know if you could find those in an antique shop anymore."
Lukas stopped the recording and took out Alfred's, fast forwarding it to the middle.
"-oom! It has many cool games man!"
"You too? Mathias said something like COD Ops or something?"
"Oh yeah, COD: Black Ops, yeah that was pretty good, but I was talking about the new games in my room like BioShock Infinite and Grand Theft Auto V!"
Lukas stopped the recording.
Alfred said that he had played COD-whatever but Mathias said that it comes out in November. Mathias never even mentioned the games Alfred had and was excited about.
Lukas turned back to his computer and typed in "COD black ops" and clicked on the first link. The site was a bit confusing for him to navigate but he finally found the information page about the game. At the bottom of that page was "Release Date: November 9, 2010."
Well, Mathias was right about it coming out in November Lukas supposed, but how was he supposed to react? How did Mathias suddenly stop in time for a few years and then come back? Unless… it was this damned hotel…?
Lukas remembered Alfred mentioning that the hotel name was Japanese. So Lukas went to Google translate and typed in Yuurei from Japanese to English.
Ghost.
Yuurei means ghost.
So, Lukas has been staying in building named Ghost Hotel, well, according to Google translate.
Does that mean everyone here is some sort of vengeful spirit, hell-bent on causing mischief? Lukas shivered and carefully glanced around his room before going back to his laptop. Okay, forget the story, someone else can do it. There was no way in hell, or whatever, that Lukas was staying here with these mad spirits for any longer than he has to.
Lukas began to quickly pack his clothes and things into the suitcase. He went over to the desk to pick up his laptop when he noticed his recorder and remembered Mathias. Not only Mathias though, but also the other interviews he's done with the other guests. They've all been great people, especially Mathias. Lukas could never imagine any of them as vengeful ghosts, well, except maybe Ivan. He especially couldn't imagine happy-go-lucky Mathias so focused on revenge that he wouldn't have time for swimming, or beer, or chess with Ludwig, or even poking Lukas in the cheek while the Norwegian was reading.
He can't leave based on the fact that there might be ghosts in the hotel, especially with all the work he's done on his story. Maybe somebody will know something and, if not, he needs a drink anyway.
Lukas walked down to the lobby, head still spinning from his discoveries, and almost ran into Kiku.
"Kiku," Lukas started. "Oh, I'm sorr-"
"Lukas." The tone Kiku used was dark and low. Lukas closed his mouth. "What do you know?" The Japanese man demanded.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you know?" Kiku's normally blank eyes darkened as he scrutinized the Norwegian.
"Nothing!" he replied hoping Kiku wouldn't notice his nerves. Kiku stared at Lukas for a few moments.
"No," he started. "You do know something. You know the truth don't you?"
Lukas didn't say anything. Kiku sighed.
"Very well… come with me, Mr. Bondevik. Let's have a talk." Lukas, sensing no other way out, followed Kiku. He led them out to the gardens and they walked around for a bit before Kiku stopped at a small quiet pond near the center of the gardens. The only sound was trickling water before Kiku spoke to Lukas in a calm voice.
"Alright, please tell me what you have learned."
Lukas was silent for a moment while he was collecting his thoughts. "This… place… it's for ghosts right? That's what yuurei means – ghost. Why though? Why aren't there more people here? And… are you a ghost?" Kiku looked at the Norwegian and gave a small smile.
"Yes, yuurei means ghost and spirit, but this place is not necessarily for ghosts. This is reserved for special spirits who left the world of the living too early. These spirits have unfinished business, so they come here to fulfill these special wishes within the safety of these walls."
"So… who are you? Are you one of these 'special spirits'?"
"No, I am not." Kiku paused before continuing. "There is no 'proper' name for me. The closest example I can think of would be Charon."
"Who?"
"Charon, a god in Greek mythology. He is known for ferrying souls across the river Acheron to the underworld. Or maybe I am more like Hermes…?" he added as an afterthought. "I am also present in other religions or myths. I am like the Valkyries in Norse Mythology, taking the souls to Valhalla. Or maybe what some people call a grim reaper, though I don't take away the souls from the living. I just make sure all their needs are met and give them a friendly place to stay before they move on."
Okay… this was crazy. A god? Kiku? There's no way…
"Okay…" Lukas started still unconvinced. "So, let me get this straight, the people here are dead?" Kiku nodded. "So… Arthur…?"
"Died in 1923." Lukas furrowed his eyebrows.
"But that was, what, 80-some years ago?"
"Something like that."
"Then how come he hasn't moved on like you said he would?"
"Arthur's wish hasn't been fulfilled yet."
"What wish?"
Kiku shook his head. "I am sorry but I cannot tell you that."
"Fine. So then Alfred and Matthew…"
"Died on September 17, 2013."
Lukas stared at Kiku in shock.
2013…? Did he hear right? It's 2012…
Suddenly, a cold chill passed through him as he thought of something. How did he even get here anyway? He knew he had to make a story about the hotel and he remembered receiving the assignment from his boss, but he didn't remember the journey here? Did he blackout or something?
Why else would he be in a hotel for ghosts unless he was one himself…?
"Mr. Honda… am I dead?" Kiku didn't respond.
Back in his room, Lukas typed "Lukas Niels Bondevik" into the search bar on the browser on his laptop and pressed enter.
Man dies in fatal drunk car crash
26-year-old Lukas Niels Bondevik died Thursday evening when another car crashed into his own.
It was reported that the other car was driven by two males under the influence.
That was all Lukas was able to read before he closed his laptop.
Lukas died. He was dead. July 26th was the last day he remembered before he was here, in this messed up heaven thing. But if he was here then that means his brother, Emil, was still alive and by himself on Earth, er, the world of the living- whatever. Suddenly Lukas realized why Kiku tried to keep the secret of the hotel and its occupants quiet, otherwise there will be panic and somebody will try something stupid. Speaking of stupid…
Mathias.
Lukas reopened his laptop and typed Mathias A. Køhler into the search bar. Apparently, his friend died when his apartment caught fire on August 15, 2010. Lukas recalled how Mathias would look at the fireplace in the lobby sometimes. He always just wrote it off as Mathias being his distracted self with the flickering flames, but maybe there was something more to that. After all, it made sense. Anyway, it looked like the Dane died while trying to save some of the occupants in the building. Lukas felt the tugs at his heart as he read the article on Mathias's death.
The Norwegian turned off his laptop and leaned back in his chair closing his eyes. What does he do now? Telling the others was not an option. Plus, Kiku would probably cut him off before he could even get to anybody else, what with him being some sort of crazy-ass god and all. But Lukas can't forget this kind of information either.
Kiku said that for a spirit to move on their deepest wish must be met, but sometimes even he may not know what that wish is. It varies from person to person.
What was Lukas's wish? What does he want most in the world? Lukas couldn't concentrate like this, there were too many thoughts swimming around in his head right now. But perhaps, until he figures out what he should do next, maybe he'll help others with their wishes. After all, if others have been here for as long as Arthur has, then maybe they need a push in the right direction. Maybe Lukas can help Arthur achieve his desire and move on to something better, wherever that may be.
That's what he'll do... after dinner.
...and after he gets smashed, because he's still trying to get a handle on the whole "being dead" thing.
A/N
Heyyy guys...
So, yeah, a bit different from what I usually write... and turned out much longer than expected!
I might continue this because it's glaringly unfinished, but however, for now, it will be complete. Who knows right?
After all, I didn't put in the romance I was going to (sorry D:) because I love romance, nor did I put in Peter... or expand on how Gilbert died... or why Ludwig lost his memories... everyone's wishes and when they died...
So yeah, I have alot planned out for this story still... but my brain's like "nope! done!" and that's how I was feeling. xD
I love writing in Norway's point of view xD
Okei! Back to writing romance! ;P
Hoped you like it! Please tell me what you think! :)