The first thing Io noticed, along with the rest of the Defense Club, upon walking inside the doors of Ibushi Arima's mansion was that it was huge. It was probably the biggest house that he had ever seen, let alone been invited into. It was worth wondering how someone wouldn't get lost in here, or what they would find if they did.
Floor-to-ceiling windows with lush aqua-blue drapes lined the foyer they were in, while two grand staircases snaked along the walls and met at a landing on the second floor. A crystal chandelier hung from the middle of the room, while multiple potted flowers were placed on pedestals around the hall. The room was perfectly symmetrical, and nothing looked out of place. Io liked the attention to detail.
"Welcome home, Arima-sama!" The voice belonged to a maid in what seemed like her twenties, dressed in full uniform and head bowed deep in respect. She bowed to both Kinshiro and Akoya before turning to the Defense Club, bowing even deeper. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Natsumi, don't hesitate to let me know if I can assist you with anything".
The five boys gave a slight "thank-you" bow before following Ibushi through a doorway under the landing. The doorway led to a large dining room, with the same aqua-blue curtains drawn in front of the windows. The table in the middle of the room was set for eight, with a wide variety of different foods set at the table. This feast was luxurious as they come; Ibushi had gone all-out to make it a success.
"And thus begins the tour!" Ibushi said, gesturing to the table with a grin. "This is the dining room, where we'll be eating later. Now follow me". He left as fast as he came in, Kinshiro and Akoya right behind, with the others trying to keep up while admiring the intricacy and grandeur of it all.
"Dude, I'm so glad we're all buddy-buddy with these guys now!" Ryuu was ecstatic as he looked around, wide-eyed. "Do you see this?"
"Yeah," Io replied, "This does look pretty cool". That was an understatement. This setup was one of the nicest things he'd ever seen.
"Come on, Yumoto, we'll be back here later!" En turned around to look at the first-year, who was still staring at all the food on the table.
"Okay, Yufuin-senpai!" Yumoto practically skipped out of the room and caught up with the rest of the Defense Club.
Ibushi turned around briefly to see that everyone wasn't far behind him before walking out of the dining room and up the stairs to the landing. He opened a large door onto a veranda looking out at what looked like a lake outside the mansion, surrounded by forest.
"Whoa!" Yumoto ran out and leaned over the edge of the balcony. "This is beautiful!"
"Yeah, it is," Atsushi said.
"Do you ever go swimming in the lake?" Ryuu asked.
"In the summer, once it's hot enough," Akoya said, "It's lovely".
"You don't exactly look like the type of people who would put a diving board out there," Atsushi said.
"That's actually a good idea!" Ibushi said, his eyes lighting up. "I'll ask someone about putting that in! Thanks!".
"No problem".
Ibushi walked back inside, with Kinshiro and Akoya following behind them. En and Atsushi had to almost forcefully peel Yumoto off the railing, while Io had to drag Ryuu inside.
This time, Ibushi led them down a long hallway off the staircase, lit by multiple chandeliers smaller than the one in the foyer, with a seemingly endless amount of doors on each side, some open and some closed. Io guessed that they were bedrooms, but he didn't know why anyone needed that many, especially considering that if he remembered correctly, Ibushi was an only child.
"If you need to use the bathroom, it's the third door on the right," Ibushi said, "It's the same with the hallway on the other side of the staircase". He pointed to an identical hallway across from them, which looked like it stretched on almost forever. "And that's basically all you need to know about the house". Ibushi shrugged, and started to lead the group back to the landing.
"This looks like one hell of a place to play hide-and-seek," En said quietly to the rest of the Defense Club. The five of them let out a little chuckle, before Yumoto's eyes went wide.
"We should do that!" Yumoto said.
"Do what?" Kinshiro turned around to face them.
"We were just saying how cool it would be to play a game of hide-and-seek in here," Atsushi said, "It's nothing".
"Can we?" Yumoto said, looking Ibushi right in the eyes with the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster.
Ibushi chuckled. "I think that could be arranged".
"You can't be serious." Akoya crossed his arms, glaring at Yumoto, who didn't seem to notice.
"It would be a nice way for us to get to know each other," Ibushi said, "Considering we're allies now and all".
Kinshiro stayed silent for a few seconds, before speaking up.
"I personally don't have a problem with it," he said, "Although..." He smirked. "Sardines has always been my cup of tea".
"I don't think I've ever heard of this 'Sardines'," Akoya said suspiciously.
"It's like reverse hide-and-seek," Atsushi said, "One person hides and everyone else tries to find them instead of the other way around".
"And when you find them," Ryuu said, "You have to hide in the same spot with them and try not to let everyone else find you".
"Fine." Akoya rolled his eyes. "Who's going to hide first?"
"I volunteer," Io said, raising his hand. He was actually going to volunteer so he could find a good hiding spot, then keep an eye on what was happening in the stock market until someone found him, but he didn't tell anyone else that.
"All right," Ibushi said," If you want to hide on this floor, you can go into any room that already has an open door, and you can't close it".
"How much time should we give him?" Yumoto asked.
"Thirty seconds?" En looked around. Everyone either nodded or didn't do anything. "Thirty seconds".
Everyone closed their eyes and began counting. Io thought for a good five seconds before rushing down one of the hallways on the second floor, the one Ibushi hadn't led them down on the tour.
He looked inside some of the rooms that had open doors, seeing that he was right and that most of them were bedrooms. However, there were also two bathrooms, three offices, and two media rooms, each with their own flat-screen TV.
When trying to find a hiding spot, it was easy to be too predictable in where he chose. So he decided to skip the rooms all together and try to find a good hiding place in the hall.
He found an empty wardrobe in the middle of the hall. Inside there would be perfect. It would be somewhere people wouldn't notice, and he could use his tablet in peace without worrying about anyone seeing the light of the screen. He climbed inside, closed the door, and sat against the back of the closet, turning his tablet on. He hadn't checked on how his investments were doing since before he had left with the others to come here anyway. Maybe something catastrophic had happened.
Or something catastrophically amazing.
"Okay, let's go!" Io heard Yumoto shout from the landing. The thirty seconds were up, and now the real game could begin. All Io had to do was be quiet, and this would work out nicely.
Inside the closet, it was so dark that he could only see the screen of his tablet, but he couldn't see any light coming out from underneath the door, so no one outside could see it. That was the part that mattered.
It was about three minutes that Io was alone inside the closet, but to him, it felt like an hour alone in the dark with only the stock market to keep him company. It was nice.
Until the doors of the closet were flung open with force, the light of the hallway practically blinding Io so he couldn't see who had found him first.
"A-ha! I knew I'd find you in here!" Ryuu's voice was unmistakable.
"Shut up!" Io hissed, "Other people are going to find us in here!"
"Everyone else is on the ground floor or in the other hallway," Ryuu said, "Now scootch".
Io moved back to his original spot at the back of the closet, with Ryuu climbing in behind him.
"Wow," Ryuu said, "This is actually pretty big. Nice choice of hiding spot!"
"Thanks," Io said, "Now leave me alone and be quiet, we don't want other people to find us".
"Fine." Ryuu pouted, scooting to the back of the next to the closet next to Io. "So what's up in the stock market? Is your money okay?" Io couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious.
"It's doing fine, thanks," Io said, not looking away from the tablet, "Can you shut up now?"
"Sure, whatever," Ryuu said, "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up if anyone finds us".
Io nodded. Not that Ryuu could see him in the dark, but whatever.
A few seconds later, he felt something on his shoulder. He jumped, surprised, before he realized it was Ryuu's head. Of all the places to lay your head down, Io thought, before he smiled and just let Ryuu sleep. He probably hadn't gotten much rest in the three days since that last battle, and he had taken as much damage as everyone else. Besides, Io had seen firsthand what happened when you tried to wake Ryuu up when he didn't want to be.
Despite the image Ryuu constantly tried to put out to the world, it wasn't pretty. At all.
Io decided to make nothing of it and looked back at his tablet. Things were going well. Not perfect, but well. He had made some money off an investment he put in last week. Not a lot, but certainly a good amount for the work and money he put into it.
Five minutes later, he still couldn't ignore Ryuu's head resting on his shoulder. In that time, he had also started to snore. Frankly, it was... cute. Even though he couldn't see anything in the dark, Ryuu was probably curled up into a ball next to him.
The last time the two were together in a small space like this was sometime a few weeks ago when they were transformed into the Battle Lovers, hiding from some sort of monster. That time, they were both on edge, stressed, and probably afraid, too. Not to mention they could see, which possibly made it worse.
This time around, things were practically the opposite. There wasn't nearly as much stress involved. After all, they weren't going to die this time. And clearly, they weren't afraid. Otherwise, Ryuu would have been at least a little hesitant to put his head on Io's shoulder.
This time was certainly a lot better.
Io heard someone pass by the closet without a second thought. From the speed of the footsteps, he guessed it was Yumoto.
Now, if only Ryuu would stop snoring. Yumoto wouldn't notice it, but people like En and Kinshiro definitely would.
As if reading Io's thoughts, the door flew open immediately afterward, revealing a very confused and scared, but also proud Akoya Gero.
"What the hell is this-?" Ryuu had woken up. Perfect. He rubbed his eyes and pushed himself off of Io's shoulder, before seeing Akoya. "Dammit".
"For goodness sake, you two!" Akoya rolled his eyes before climbing into the closet. "Get a room".
"Whatever," Ryuu said, scooting back next to Io, "Now shut up".
"I was going to do that," Akoya hissed. He took a seat against one of the other sides of the closet and crossed his arms.
Ryuu shrugged and went back to sleep.