Chapter 1: Weird visitors!
I open my eyes. Outside is still dark, so I look at my alarm clock. Ufffff, it is still 7.30 am and I had an awful night.
It seems that I have fall asleep again watching Saiyuki at the DVD player. My mate recorded it for me during last week and she gave it to me yesterday night after having dinner with me.
That's it. I live alone after about 20 years of living with my parents, I now live on an inherited flat, alone with a big plushie a friend gave me to accompany me, a big panther cub plushie about real size. We named him Takato because it's the name I would call my pet if I had one. I begin cooking my breakfast when I notice something, the DVD I was watching yesterday night, the Saiyuki episodes one is now appearing to be wrong. Or perhaps it's just the player is too old. As all the furniture there is inherited. I think I will buy my own one, perhaps one of these days.
Oh, sorry. I have still not introduced myself. My name is Isa and I live in Spain. I attend to the university in my hometown so I live about half an hour walking from my parent's home, on my dead grandma's house.
I work on the university so I don't earn much, but my parents pay for the flat things such as electricity and water, yet as the building is old, electricity sometimes don't work as is should.
I have no boyfriend either. I have had two, a Greek one who turned out to be engaged without knowing it (what a big liar he was), and a Spanish one who was such a prat that got fun by getting drunk and smoking joints. I managed to make him drop joints while he was with me, but when we split up, he went even worse. He tried to cheat her poor girlfriend with me.
So, I live on an old house, still study at university, work and earn little money, and have no luck on love matters.
And furthermore, I have just missed my bus. Luckily I usually try to arrive at least 10 minutes on advance, so if I catch the next one I'll reach my first morning lesson by the skin of my teeth.
I sit on the bus stop bench and begin having a look at my notebook. I have to study for three hours, then I have two hours of work, another two in lessons and I have one for having meal before the last hour of lessons. Then I'm free to go back home, cook dinner and begin studying. Luckily again, I have just ended my first exams and the following ones will be on four months.
(Seven hours later)
Damn, definitively today I'm on bad luck. I have had an awful day. Lessons were dull, I lost my notebook cause one of the elders took it from me and threw it into a big pool so now the notes are soaked and nearly ruined and my sandwich is now a bit… how to say it? Mutant. I forgot the bread was a bit dry and now it's hard as a rock.
So I'm sitting at a bench on the near park, trying to eat a pre-made salad I have managed to sneak from the bar I work at. I must say my mate, John, an exchange student, is nice. When I explained him the bread incident he put some salad and a little sandwich on a bowl, covered it and told me to take it with some care of not being seen.
Anyway, it was clear that I would not be able to have meal with no incidents.
Suddenly something fell over me when I was down to pick my sandwich from my bag so I ended at the ground, over my bag full of books and notebooks with what looked as two people over me.
Then I was released.
"Gojyo, I think we are about squeezing someone." A nice voice said.
"Then tell Sanzo and the monkey to step off from me!" a deeper voice said angry.
Sanzo? Gojyo? The monkey? What was going on here? Why did they call those names?
The people over me quickly stood up releasing me, and then I saw a hand in front of my face offering help.
"May I help you miss?" a red haired guy with a blue band over his forehead said smiling.
I stood up frowning in doubt.
"Excuse us, miss." A smiling guy in green jacket said politely. "We don't know how did we ended up over you. Did we hurt you?"
I shook my head. They looked just as the characters of the anime serial.
"Hey!" The littlest of all said looking at my rock-sandwich still wrapped on transparent plastic film that was now spilled at the ground as the rest of my books and all. "Food!"
"Give it back, you little monkey!" The one wearing Sanzo robes said hitting him on his head.
"Ah!" I said realising my things were spilled all over the bench nearby. "Damn… what an awful day!"
"Sorry miss." The one wearing green robes said helping me to pick up my things. "We didn't meant to fall over you… Here."
"By the way, were are we?" the red haired guy said handing me what he had helped to pick up. "This doesn't look as our land…"
"This is far from Togenkyo." I muttered putting my things back in the bag. "Did you came for a cosplay?" I said suddenly realising that perhaps they came for a cosplay a group of fans used to have some days a month.
"Cosplay?" they asked. "What's that? A youkai?"
"No, you are wearing as Saiyuki characters, so… I suppose you are going to a cosplay session, aren't you?" I asked.
"Er… we were fighting a youkai, and then we fell inside a well and over you." The guy on green told me.
"Drop it." The Sanzo one said serious. "Let's find a way we know. We can't have gone too far."
"Ok, Sanzo." The kid said.
"By the way, I'm Sha Gojyo." The red haired said.
"Nice to meet you guy playing Sha Gojyo." I said bowing my head slightly. "And also the nice Cho Hakkai and Son Goku. And you to, guy playing Genjo Sanzo." I added trying to sound polite.
Then they looked back at me.
"I'm afraid we don't have the pleasure." The Sanzo said.
"Sanzo… That's not a way of treating women!" Gojyo told him.
"Excuse us, miss." Hakkai said "Do we met?"
"I'm a Saiyuki fan." I said, and suddenly I realised which time it was. "Ah!" I shouted. "Is already that time?! Nice to have met you! I'll be late for my lessons again!"
"Hey!" Gojyo shouted at me as I began running towards the university. "You have not told us your name!"
"Isa!" I shouted running backwards to face them. "1st of that university!" I added pointing to my faculty.
The lessons on the afternoon were a bit funny. After having met those freaks of Saiyuki I was a bit happier when I remembered them. On one of the rests between lessons (7 minutes) I chatted with my friend. That way I knew that Saiyuki's episodes had been called off due to technical problems, basically the same happening on my DVD player, nothing seen but for a frozen image of a Japanese picture. No characters and no action. As if they had been erased from the screen.
Then I remembered the freaks I met before really were as clones of the screen characters but on humans.
What shocked me the most was that when I went out my lessons after the end of them, the freaks were at the front doors, laying against a wall with a casual way.
Some other university students were looking at them, laughing or astonished for seeing them wearing such weird outfits not matching at all with our European modes.
I looked at them and walked out of the university, it was just matter of five seconds that the youngest of them jumped to my back.
"Isa!" he said cheerful. "Hello!"
"Oh, hi cousin." I said trying to appear normality. "Oh, you and your friends have come to visit me! Nice to see you."
"What are you saying?" Sanzo said to being 'accidentally' stepped over by me. "Shall we go back home?"
"Oh, ok." Hakkai said smiling. "You are so nice, young lady… friend."
"Ok, shall we use the bus then?" I suggested pulling from them softly.
It was not difficult to take them to the bus stop, but then my friend came on his car.
"Hello, shall I take you anywhere?" he told me.
"Sorry, not today." I said smiling and putting my head through the car window. "We are…"
"Hello!" Goku said putting his head in too.
"Luis, my cousin Goku." I said softly. "Goku, my friend Luis."
"Goku?" Luis said smiling as he shacked hands with him. "Hey! Nice costume!"
"Yes, he and his friends have come from a cosplay." I said trying to sound true. "But they mistook the day… and the place."
"Hey, you must be really fans of Saiyuki!" Luis said after having a look at the rest. "The costumes are just great!!"
"And they are so… freaks that they want to be called the same name they are wearing like." I added softly.
I was lying and I couldn't say what was true and what not now.
"Ok, get on the car." Luis said. "I suppose your cousin could be a bit squeezed between them, but as you live not so far from here there would not be too bad if we are seen."
"I go in the front!" Goku said trying to get in through the window.
"Hey, you." I said holding him by the back of his robes. "Through the door, and you go on the back with your friends."
"C'mon, Goku, be polite." Hakkai said. "This is not your car."
"Allow the lady to go on the best position." Gojyo said.
Then they got in the car, packed on the back of the car while I sat on the front smiling.
My friend was chatting all the way to my home about how cool my new friends' costumes were. Till we were left home.
As I waved to him saying good by the guys stand sighing at the door.
"Hey, where are you taking us?" Sanzo said.
"My home perhaps?" I asked. "You can't go around here wearing like that. You call for attention."
"And you have men clothes." Hakkai asked with curiosity.
"Well… not exactly." I said as I opened the building door and opened the lift door to get in. "I suppose some of my clothes could be useful for you for a day or two."
"I'm not wearing a skirt!" the four of them said at once making me hold my laugh.
"Well, welcome to my little house." I said opening my flat door. "A kitchen, a livinroom, a bathroom, a toilet and three bedrooms. That one is mine and in case you wanna know it, it'll be closed while I'm not in or sleeping."
"Ok." Gojyo said.
"This looks… big." Hakkai said smiling. "By the way, thanks for putting us up." He added smiling and bowing.
"It'll be ok." I said. "But… I'd rather you helped a bit here if you are staying for long."
"We've got money." Sanzo said showing me a master card.
"Fine." I said.
"Is there a Buddhist temple around here?" Sanzo asked me a bit angry.
"No that I know." I said after thinking if for a second. "But… I suppose you could manage to find something on the net. Here."
I said opening my home computer and getting online in less than a second. I had managed to sneak a neighbourgh's wiffi system, so despite of that all, I could get online quickly and well. Despite the computer was not new… but it was good, and it was on all the week but for a day a week, two if I went with my family to the village.
I taught Sanzo how to use the net and then I went to my bedroom to try to find some clothes for them.