Hihi all! I haven't been on for ages mainly due to this horrid writer's block and homework/exams that were piling up. Now, I have finally gained back some inspiration and have some time to spare (for now) so…I'm back!
Thus, here is the long awaited beginning for Hyotei and the house
Enjoy! ~
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Dear Hyotei tennis club regulars,
You have been invited to my newly built summer house to spend to winter vacation holidays, for the next two weeks. The only items you will need to bring along are yourselves.
From: Atobe Keigo
This was the message the tennis club members from Hyotei received a day before the winter holidays arrived. They were barely surprised at the fact that another summer house had been built; it was the one and only 'ore-sama', after all. There was a feeling of excited anticipation amongst them as the last of the school hours passed in a slow, antagonizing way.
"Schools out, schools out, schools out! No more freaking math to do anymore!" Mukahi Gakuto was jumping down the hallway as his tennis partner, Oshitari Yuushi walked calmly beside him.
"Anyway, Atobe has once again thrown us into yet another of his 'adventures'" Oshitari commented as they turned a corner and headed for the courts.
"Well, I don't really care, I just don't want to spend my days at home doing math!" Gakuto ranted on and Yuushi gave a small smirk. Typical Gakuto.
"Shishido-san, did you receive the letter from Atobe?" Ootori Choutarou approached his senior after class and enquired.
Shishido Ryou waved a lavishly decorated envelope in the air. "I think everyone else got it too" he replied, a dreaded feeling crossed his face. What weird tricks would Atobe pull out this time? Shishido thought as he made his way out of school with Ootori.
Jirou woke to find an envelope placed on his desk. He stared at it blankly for a second and then proceeded to open it slowly. He glanced over the Japanese handwriting and thought for a moment, then went back to sleep.
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A dominant volcano just west of Tokyo, standing at a length of 3,776 meters in height. Snow capped the rocky landscape, interlinked with cable-car lines. Mt. Fuji, Japan's highest mountain and one that is especially famous. Apart from the near to perfection scenery, one would be able to spot a quaint mansion just a little away on a rocky outcrop. Painted in white and grey to blend in with the surrounding, it belonged to the Atobe Corporation.
It was a long trip. Dressed in the winter coats their captain had provided, the Hyotei regulars trailed after Atobe.
It was earlier that afternoon that each member had been plucked out from their homes and transported to Mt Fuji, Atobe style-a helicopter. From there, it was a walk through some hidden passage to the cable-car station that would bring them to the summer house.
Now as the members sat looking out the glass windows of the cable-car, Atobe told the rest about his wonderful mansion.
"So you are saying that the roof of this house is a glass dome?" Shishido repeated, amused.
"Firstly, it's a mansion not a house, and the glass dome is fused with the roof. It's an observatory," 'ore-sama' declared.
There was a moment of silence-mainly because the members were trying to imagine what the mansion would look like. All of a sudden, Jirou sat up and shouted excitedly, "SUGEE! Where are Kabaji and Hiyoshi?"
Atobe sighed and replied, "Kabaji couldn't make it unfortunately, because he had some family matters to attend to."
"And Hiyoshi?" Oshitari asked.
"Oh, hmm, I guess I forgot about him" Atobe replied as if nothing was the matter.
Everyone's jaw dropped and silence filled the cabin once again. Jirou had gone to sleep and everyone else was just looking at Atobe in that 'how could you' kind of way.
"Lame" Shishido rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat.
"I guess it doesn't make a difference, as long as I don't have to do math!" Gakuto said chirpily and everyone relaxed. He turned to look out the window once again and saw them approaching the very mansion discussed only moments ago.
"We have arrived" Atobe announced as soon as the cable-car entered the station. The sliding doors opened and the members filed out. Then, the group made their way down a snowy path towards the house. Just a few meters away from the front doors, Gakuto started to dash towards it and soon after disappeared inside.
"There he goes again" Oshitari said in an exasperated voice and calmly made his way into the house to look for his tennis partner.
Soon, the rest arrived at the mansion. After they had taken off the snow flaked coats, Atobe addressed them. "Ore-sama will be at the magnificent glass house with Jirou, you can go reserve a room for yourself and explore the mansion. I highly recommend the onsen which is on the second floor, third door to the left."
With that, the captain left, with a butler carrying Jirou close behind.
"Well I guess we're the only ones left, Shishido-san. I hope the rest are alright," Ootori turned to his senior and said.
"They should be. Come on, let's go look around," he replied and the pair headed down the hallway towards whatever lay beyond.
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"Gakuto!" Oshitari called out for the fifth time as he made his way down the lavish hallway. No matter how nice it looked, the hallway just seemed slightly creepy. Oshitari approached a door that was along the corridor. It was made of simple oak with a shiny gold knob. A cleaner's closet, Gakuto can't possibly be in here, he thought but went ahead to open it anyway.
However, Oshitari thought wrong. Out stumbled Gakuto along with various cleaning equipment. Oshitari jumped back in surprise as Gakuto landed neatly in front of him.
"Did you see that?!" his partner asked excitedly.
"…it's just a closet?" Yuushi was clearly puzzled.
"No, no! I mean that thing which looked like a fairy!" Gakuto ranted on.
"A fairy…" Oshitari could only raise his eyebrows and wonder what in the world Gakuto had seen.
At another wing of the mansion, Ootori had discovered something else. "Shishido-san, I found the hot spring!" he called out. Ootori's head was stuck in a door with steam pouring out.
Shishido headed over and peeked into the room. It was large with walls made of fine wood giving way to a lush Japanese garden covered in snow. Behind the wooden panel entrance, there were three iwaburo, in increasing sizes. A takiyu flowed into the smallest pool which in turn led to the bigger ones. There was the usual washing area just slightly away from the main hot springs and custom sets of clothes were hung up for each of the members.
"Wow, this is the coolest onsen I've seen!" Ootori exclaimed.
"Hah, it's Atobe after all" Shishido shrugged and gestured for his junior to enter. Both of them mutually decided to have a soak and thus, they changed, washed and got into the springs.
"This is great" Shishido sighed, his eyes closed, feeling his aches from tennis training ease off.
"I agree!" a voice replied, but it wasn't his junior's.
Shishido opened his eyes and blinked. Sitting opposite him was a turtle like creature. What frightened him more was the fact he knew that it was a kappa.
Kappas were Japanese mythological creatures said to reside along the various water bodies in Japanese towns. Shishido's mother had always told the young Shishido that if he went too near the water, a kappa would get him. He didn't expect that they would appear in hot springs as well.
"Hello, I'm Ootori Choutarou. Are you here to enjoy Atobe's house as well?" Shishido heard his junior ask the kappa.
"That right, sorry if I frightened you. I hope I'm not disturbing anyone" the kappa replied sincerely.
"That's alright, I don't see many of your kind around" Ootori said.
"That's right, ever since people have made Mt Fuji into a tourist attraction, many of us left to look for better places to live. However, other places were equally unsuitable. Mankind has destroyed our natural habitat," the kappa explained.
Ootori looked towards his senior, who sat frozen in a sort of horror. "Shishido-san, are you alright?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm getting out of here" Shishido said in a hurry and before anyone (or any creature) could stop him, he dashed out.
"Shishido-san, at least put on your yukata!" Ootori called after him but he was already gone.
"I can't believe him" Ootori sighed and said to the kappa. It gave him a smile (if turtles can smile) and pulled out a small cloth bag. The kappa handed the bag to Ootori.
"I'm sorry I scared your friend, he looks very familiar though. I hope you will appreciate my gift as an apology," the kappa said.
"Ah, thank you," Ootori received the bag and looked at it curiously. On it was a label which said: special kappa hot springs medicine, use wisely. The label faintly reminded Ootori of someone from Seigaku, but it didn't really matter.
"Well, I should be going now, see you," the kappa gave a nod and disappeared among the bushes of the Japanese garden.
Ootori laid back against the stone that made up the hot spring, the cloth bag laid sat on one of the dry stones along the edge of the pool. Oh that right, Ootori thought after a moment, Shishido-san told me he lived near a river before.
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Shishido ran all the way to the glass dome. He burst through the door and Atobe turned to look at him.
"Shishido, why are you- oh forget it, what do you want?" Atobe was enjoying his earl grey when Shishido appeared wearing only a cloth around his waist and dripping wet.
"Did you know that there's a kappa in your hot spring?!" Shishido said and ran a hand through his hair.
"A kappa," Atobe echoed, sipping his tea.
"Yes, what else," Shishido replied exasperated.
"Oh those Japanese legends, you've probably been soaking too long. Just go get something to wear will you, be off now," Atobe sipped his tea again.
"But Choutarou was talking to it!" Shishido protested then sighed and headed off, knowing it was useless talking to 'ore-sama'.
"Everyone, we shall start off this winter vacation with eating specially prepared oden!" dinner had started and the members were gathered at the dining table.
"Yay oden!" Gakuto exclaimed and eagerly helped himself to the food which was served in elegant gold dishes. Everyone else followed suit.
"Shishido-san, why did you run out just now?" Ootori asked him quietly during the meal.
"A kappa was in the hot springs! Atobe says there's no such thing so why in the world were you talking to something that isn't supposed to be there?!" Shishido flared up.
Ootori was taken aback. "Ah, Shishido-san-" he was lost for words because clearly, his senior made sense-in a way.
Oshitari who had overheard the conversation spoke up. "Relax, Gakuto here has been ranting on about fairies and I have no clue what he is talking about."
Both Shishido and Ootori looked towards Gakuto, who was busily eating. Then, they looked at Oshitari again. There was a tense silence.
Dinner passed quickly, everyone absorbed in their own thoughts. It was getting late and so the members retreated to their rooms.
"So what is this fairy thing again?" Oshitari attempted to figure things out before he went to bed.
"Yeah, I saw one! And it was like really small and it was in a hurry because it was running away and I followed it and that's when I came out from that closet!" Gakuto rambled. Oshitari sighed; things were going to get complicated.
"Sorry about what happened just now Choutarou," Shishido apologized quickly to his junior.
Each had settled on their bed, in their shared room.
"It's alright Shishido-san, but look what I got from the kappa!" Ootori held out the small cloth bag.
"…lame" Shishido replied and hid under the thick covers, not wanting to think about anything kappa-related ever again.
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Ootori heard a muffled sneeze coming from under the covers in the bed beside him. He sleepily sat up and rubbed his eyes, glancing at the clock. It was 7 30, a rather early timing to be waking up at during a vacation.
Shishido felt a hand shake him awake; he groaned and turned over, pulling the covers over his head. He didn't feel so well that morning…if it was even the morning. A firm hand pulled the covers away.
"Shishido-san, you have a fever!" he heard the concerned voice of his junior and a hand on his forehead. Shishido blinked tiredly, he somehow thought Ootori was right.
"Must have been yesterday…" his voice was rough.
"Hold on, I'll go get Atobe!" Shishido heard the footsteps of his junior fade away as he fell back into a feverish sleep.
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That's all for now, hope you enjoyed it and feel free to comment and correct me. Thank you for reading and credit goes to:
Japanese dictionary:
Iwaburo: bath made out of rock formation, natural or constructed
Yukata: the light cotton robe in your inn's closet. The idea is to change into your yukata when you arrive at the inn and not change back into your clothes until you leave.
Onsen: Japanese hot spring
Takiyu: a stream of hot water falling down from a height
Oden: a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon radish, konnyaku, and processed fish cakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth.