Chapter 2: Villa
09:51 AM (Barcelona Time), Saturday July the 22nd…
"… Whoa~!"
"Cool!"
"Heh, heh, heh. Welcome to Sant Antoni Street!"
"I shall bring the luggage down, sir."
The twins quickly climbed down and looked above the wall in front of them to glance at the house: the wall itself was covered with vegetation thus hiding its composition and giving it a more "natural" feeling.
What was visible of the house was west side of second floor plus the west side of the first floor: the second floor was built as wooden triangle with two chimney exits built atop it plus a set of three windows placed near the south end of it.
The first floor wall had a window with apparently rotation-capable glass panels and it was colored white.
Attached to the south end of the house was a concrete platform with a large movable metal door allowing access from the street.
The entrance door was set slightly past the main body of the house and it consisted on one piece of blackish metal having a central body with spiral-shell-like branches emerging from it: given how it wasn't completely solid, there were holes which allowed one to look through it and into the perimeter garden: two cubical lights with metal frame and white glasses were set atop the main door.
"Wow. That door is the most unique door I've ever seen!" Netto whistled in surprise.
"No wonder! Things like this are hardly produced anymore nowadays: it's a relic of the 70s!" Mr. Denpa proudly announced.
"I can't wait to see more of it! I'm already boiling with excitement and won't be able to stay still for long." Saito admitted.
"Heh, heh, heh. Then let's get inside."
Mr. Denpa produced a set of keys and used one to unlock the door: the twins ran into the small platform atop a set of stairs and looked around in awe.
"Whoa~!"
The north end of the house was the main façade: two sets of balcony doors could be seen on the 2nd floor, a balcony with a door and a retractable shutter were built on both the 1st floor and the ground floor: the left side of the house had a set of colored glass pieces forming a column and allowing light inside of the house.
A small terrace was built right in front of the house: it had a round grayish plastic table and some white plastic chairs set around the area: two white metallic rails for a currently folded awning were built to extend from the leftmost side of the house until past some of the stairs steps.
The view at the left and behind was also broad: a swimming pool in the shape of a whale was built in a lower level of the garden some meters in front of the house: the area around the pool had brownish square tiles plus a small hut.
A small plaza was built directly in front and at a lower height of the main terrace: the west side of it had a large tree which climbed up and the branches of it extended as far as the top of the stairs where the group was currently standing at: the center of the plaza had a plastic hut colored brown, having a green roof and a red fake chimney.
"Wow… The garden is HUGE!" Netto exclaimed.
"Heh, heh, heh. This is just the beginning." Mr. Denpa teased.
"Sure." Saito grinned.
They descended the set of stairs and placed the suitcases to the left of the entrance door: they then walked across a small corridor parallel to the west side of the house to end into a small rectangular yard in front of a set of windows and a curtain made of plastic strings.
"Wow! This wall…" Saito gasped.
"I know."
"Cool!"
The wall opposite that of the house had a large yellow star with a "face" painted on the middle of it plus a drawing of a tree at its right: the SW corner had a chimney built into it and was directly underneath the platform at street level: an oval-shaped white plastic table was set there and another awning was folded above it: two lights with metallic structure and orange-like transparent glass were set above it, too.
The corridor continued into a space built underneath the platform which signaled the limit with the adjacent house: a plastic cupboard stood against the west-facing wall.
"Let's explore the garden first and then we'll go inside."
They stepped into this new area: a metallic stair allowed access to the platform while a set of stone steps descended into a lower yard having a metallic structure with thin strings crossing it from end to end: the opposite wall was covered by foliage as well: the east wall had a small room built into it having a large window a wooden door plus a window made of arranged bricks which looked into another room.
The west side was a delimiter wall made of several bricks which allowed sightings into the adjacent house's yard: the entrance to a room was built underneath the ground level platform and a small staircase running parallel to the west wall allowed exit from this area.
"This room down here is both a storeroom and where we take care of cleansing… The wet clothes are set on these strings to let the heat dry them… That brick window allows sighting into the water heater room adjacent to the main storage room… And that room under the ground level is the water control room… The valves and pipes controlling water flow are placed here plus some old deposits which used to hold water but are now outdated… The irrigation system control panel is built here, too, and the four lines which irrigate the garden spread out from here…"
"Cool! An automated irrigation system…" Saito looked awed.
"Heh, heh, heh. The mention of any complex machine makes Saito – niisan stare out in awe: he's a machine maniac!" Netto chuckled.
"So it'd seem." On Air muttered.
"Let's keep on."
They climbed down the stone steps into a corridor running adjacent to the east side of the house: the first thing to be seen was a set of tall black metallic fences surrounding an empty dog-house having some large blue plastic hoses stored inside of it: a natural wall marked the separation with another house built at a lower height than the garden and it ran all across the east side of the whole garden.
"A dog used to live here?" Netto asked.
"Yeah! Back when my father was young… But when my grandfathers moved back to Barcelona they brought the dog along. We've never had one, so we use it to store stuff. There was a door here, but it got rusted and we took it off since it didn't make any sense to keep it there by now…" Mr. Denpa replied.
"Dog – chan strikes from the center wing, Netto – kun."
"Yeah. I get the joke."
They walked some steps forward and then looked up and to the right to see the whole east side of the house: three sets of windows could be seen set at the ground floor level: two had retractable shutters set next to them while the first one counting from the left had two open shutters: the first floor had a large balcony with three balcony doors connecting different rooms: the second floor had two separate sets of retractable windows looking out above the perimeter wall and into the village.
"This part of the house can be clearly seen from the village's ground level, too! This house is set on a strategic position."
"Whoa. I can't wait to see how it looks from the inside: it's gotta be unique!" Netto exclaimed.
"Well… That'll depend on your perceptions… Let's check the main storage room and then we'll enter the house."
They climbed up a set of four steps and ended up on the space directly underneath the ground floor balcony: a wooden wall with a built-in-door was set in front of them: Mr. Denpa took out his set of keys and unlocked the door.
"Come in."
This underground room was a storeroom having a set of shelves set across the center of it, some desks set on the left side and stuff stored at random on the right side: the far wall had cupboards built into it plus a door at the leftmost side allowing access to the room with the water heater and another machine.
"That used to be a central heating system, but it stopped working ages ago… Let's go inside of the house and we'll leave the pool for the last thing to be visited."
"Hai~!"
They climbed up two sets of stairs to return to the ground level and they examined the main door: it was a piece made of wood with opaque glass panels set on it plus some iron bars spanning both vertically and horizontally across it: Mr. Denpa unlocked it.
"Wait a second: I gotta disable the alarm system!"
The twins looked on: the foyer's ground was polished parquetry while the only piece of furniture were a marble desk with a metallic structure to support it, a mirror with a metallic frame over it, and some small wooden shelves at the right side of it.
A set of greenish stone stairs with wooden and black metal handrails began at the left side: part of its wall had been replaced by wooden and had a door allowing access to a small room built underneath it where Mr. Denpa had stepped into.
"Done. Come in!"
The twins came in as Mr. Denpa came out and shut the door: two closed doors made of opaque glass panels and wooden frame were set on the leftmost side of the east wall while the other chunk of the wall had a built-in radiator: looking upwards one could see the twisting staircase connecting both floors of the house.
"This is the foyer! We're now going into the living room."
He opened one of the doors: the group stepped into a large living room having plenty of interesting furniture.
To begin with, two brown leather sofas were set forming the left and upper sides of a square with a small green armchair placed directly behind the door: a chimney with a fireplace was set between the sofa and the armchair.
"Wow. A real fireplace… Must be good in winter!" Netto exclaimed.
"Of course."
"There's a lot more to see!" Saito looked awed.
A set of three window panels were set behind the northern sofa to allow light in: the other two windows set on the east wall with a small separation within them and they provided the natural illumination and air for the room.
A bookcase with four cupboards doors and a radiator built inside of it stood behind the second sofa: a radio was placed on the biggest space while its speakers were set on the NW and NE spaces of the whole bookcase: two sets of shelves were set behind and between it plus above the radio: books, DVDs and videotapes occupied the shelves along with a few photographs.
"This bookcase looks practical: you could stuff both the radiator and the radio on it!" Netto brought up.
"True! Talk about space saving." Saito seemed to agree with it.
Mr. Denpa merely shrugged and seemed to like their comments: On Air stood silently closed by, too.
"Let's see…" They muttered.
A metallic set of five selves stood directly opposite the northern sofa: it had a large LCD TV set on the topmost shelf and other items scattered around the remaining four shelves.
An oak octagonal wooden table was placed behind this set of shelves: some foldable wooden chairs allowed seating around it: a curious lamp consisting of a black triangle with three small light bulbs set inside of a metallic circle and hanging from the ceiling hovered directly above the exact center of the table.
The east wall had a hand-made tapestry piece set on it: a closed door was placed at its right along with a radiator glued to the door's right: the southern wall had a three-piece canvas depicting a fisherman's village somewhere set on it, too.
"Wow. That canvas is very colorful and detailed!" Netto commented.
"There's still a lot more to see." Mr. Denpa warned.
He opened the door and they stepped into a kitchen room: the left and directly in front walls had a large marble shelf built into it: the left side had the iron stoves plus an integrated electrical oven beneath it: the extractor was set above them as well.
The opposite wall had the dishwasher and a microwave heater built into it plus some drawers and cupboard doors.
A metallic table with a glass surface occupied the center of the kitchen with some black plastic and metallic chairs being set around it: two windows were built atop the two sinks which were directly left of the dishwasher: these windows allowed one to see the yard built on the west side of the house: the exit door was placed towards the right of the microwave heater.
Starting at the right of the door and extending across the south-facing wall were some metallic shelves containing cups, vases, and other stuff.
"Wow! Two fridges…!" Saito exclaimed.
One of them, the taller, was set directly left of the entrance door while the second one, slightly shorter in height, stood to the right of the exit door: a small corridor originated past the second fridge.
This dead-end corridor had a large wooden piece of furniture with several drawers and cupboards doors occupying the southern wall: a large window was set atop it as well which looked out into the corridor crossing beneath the ground level platform.
The corridor's south-end wall and eastern wall had two rows of glass shelves holding several items, too.
An open wooden door set towards the right of the entrance allowed access into a parquet corridor: this corridor had a room on the left side of it and another at the end of it: the right wall was occupied by a full-body mirror.
"What are these rooms?" Netto asked.
"Check it out, gentlemen."
The twins stepped into the room which was a bathroom: the toilet was set on the center of it accompanied by two small opaque class and white metallic frame which overlooked the rearmost yard: the right side of the room had a sink plus a mirror and a small cupboard was set at the left of the toilet: a shower was built occupying the west-side wall, too: the whole room was painted white thus giving it a "bright" appearance.
"Nice colors…" Saito complimented.
"Last one makes ten flexions!" Netto challenged as he ran out.
"Oi! Not fair, Netto – kun!"
They ran into the room at the end of the corridor: it had a white fan on the center of the ceiling, two balcony doors overseeing the east side corridor, a large black wood shelf occupying the south-facing wall, a black wood drawer set on the opposite wall plus a small round table with a cloth set over it: two cupboards opened on the west-facing wall to the door's right.
"This room is used in multiple manners… You could use some of the toys to play or pick a book to read. Well. This ends the ground floor tour. Let's go tackle the 1st floor next." Mr. Denpa announced.
"O. K.!" Netto grinned.
"I'll pull your guilty ears if you try to play smart on me again, Netto – ku~n…" Saito teased with a grin.
"Oi, oi…"
"Please follow me."
The group undid the earlier path and entered the foyer again: the first flight of stairs had a small ledge adjacent to it and the north-facing wall was where that set of colored glass pieces was set at: the filtered light illuminated the staircase in a curious manner.
"Wow. So that's why you built that wall like that…" Netto realized.
"Interesting!" Saito grinned.
"Thanks for the compliments."
They climbed up three flights of stairs until they stopped in the 1st floor corridor: a small console was set there which had some photos placed atop it: the door leading to the north-facing balcony was placed there and a new corridor facing south spread open to the left of the stairs: its ground was made of parquet, too, and six doors were placed on it.
"Whoa. Plenty of rooms here…" Netto muttered.
"Enough to hide your Battle Chips boxes?" Saito joked.
"I catch the joke."
"Catch a catching catch."
"That sounds weird."
"Not really. It sounds redundant."
"Guess so…."
"Pick the first room you'd like to check out, gentlemen." Mr. Denpa invited them with a grin.
"I say 1st left!" Netto signaled it.
"Well then… Lead the way, otouto – chan." Saito challenged.
"Yeah, yeah… Ya win." Netto looked unimpressed.
The room turned out to be another bathroom with grayish tiles: the sink was placed facing north along with three mirrors which were the doors of three small cupboards: the toilet was placed directly in front of the door: a shower design similar to the one in the ground floor was set on the south-facing wall: the window with the rotation-capable panes was set above the toilet and allowed sights into the street.
"Not bad. But I bet the 1st right will be cooler." Netto grinned.
"Cooler than a cooling cool?"
"Not again… Stop bringing up Forte's crazy ideas."
"I'd rather say his original ideas."
"Whatever. Last one makes ten flexions."
"Not fair!"
They ran into the room directly in front of the bathroom: it was a bedroom having a king-sized bed facing the east wall, several cupboard doors occupying the south-facing wall and two balcony doors exiting into the east-facing section: there were three interconnected wooden-framed-windows connecting with the north-facing 1st floor balcony, too: a small sofa was set opposite the bed as well and a fan was built on the ceiling.
"Your bedroom isn't this one: it's the 2nd floor one. But allow me to introduce you to a little surprise." Mr. Denpa smiled.
He headed for the farthest cupboard door and opened it: he revealed a very small corridor with a door on the opposite side which he opened as well to step into the other room: the twins gasped and quickly followed him through it.
"Whoa. A secret corridor…!" Netto exclaimed.
"Almost like a movie!"
"Heh, heh, heh. This is a communication door in case you don't want to go through the corridor or the balcony." Mr. Denpa explained.
This new room had a metallic-structure table with a glass surface set on the center of it plus a set of metallic shelves containing many books: a metallic drawer set was placed to the secret door's right while another was set directly opposite this one: two cupboards doors were built on the west-facing wall next to the entrance door: two balcony doors were built on the east-facing wall to allow exit into the balcony overseeing the east-side corridor.
"This is a storage room but it used to be a workspace… Half of the 1st floor tour's over… Let's go for the second half via the Big Brother's corridor, shall we?"
"Big Brother's corridor?"
"Heh, heh, heh… Look at the far end of it and you'll realize the grace of it, gentlemen…"
They both ran out into the corridor and looked at the far end: a device which had a red LED on was placed above the farthest door and it seemed to be controlling the corridor's length: the LED switched off on its own after a few seconds.
"That's part of the alarm system… It's strategically placed to detect anyone stepping through here, thus it's like it was the Big Brother keeping an eye on us…" Mr. Denpa told them.
"It must look creepy at nighttime!" Netto guessed.
"Correct."
"Let's see who'll tackle it." Saito challenged.
"Heh, heh, heh. I say 2nd left!"
"Then lead the way, Mr. Smith."
"I dunno who you mean, but…" Netto muttered.
"Who knows?" Saito teased.
Netto opened the select room door's: it was largely unlit but some sunlit filtered through the closed window looking out into the ground level platform adjacent to the west and south ends of the house: the room had a set of shelves on the south wall with another in the west wall and left of the window: several suits stored inside of funds were set on perches across the west wall: the east-facing wall had two cupboard doors on it as well.
"Storage area for suits and other stuff… Used to be the workshop, but, as you saw, we moved it down to the basement for more conformity and easier use…" Mr. Denpa let out.
"It surely was a large labor." On Air suddenly commented.
"True! But was worth it. Go ahead full throttle, gentlemen."
"Yesss! Here I go~!" Netto looked fueled up.
"Calling on Turbo Man!" Saito giggled.
The 5th room was another bedroom: it had a fan on the ceiling, too, plus a king-sized bed and the usual cupboards together with the balcony door allowing exit into it.
"The final room!" Mr. Denpa announced.
Both ran in to find a bathroom with bluish tiles: it had a toilet with a small window over it looking out into the metallic stairs linking ground level with the street level platform: the sink was placed towards the left with the set of cupboards and the bathtub: a map of Ameroupe filled the east-facing wall.
"1st floor tour: over! Let's go to the 2nd floor." Mr. Denpa clapped.
"Nice house, really! All rooms hold a surprise." Netto complimented.
"I guess you're fond of surprises, Netto – kun. Mr. Surprise is orbiting around ya…" Saito giggled.
Netto rolled his eyes as they finished climbing up the stairs and stepped through a door into the main 2nd floor room.
"Huge~!" Both uttered.
The room's ground was made of parquet, too, and the ceiling was covered by wood: the triangle-shaped form could be noted here given how the eastern side of the room's ceiling was lower than in the middle.
Two balcony doors oversaw the whole north end of the house and a large wooden desk with plastic supports stood in front of them: two bulky PC screens plus an integrated PC were set atop it while two computer cases were set on the ground.
Another desk was set starting at the eastern edge of the computer-holding desk and it had several books and CDs piled on it.
Two beds had been placed facing opposite directions with a small brown sofa between both of them: two columns for ceiling support extended from the middle of the ceiling and ended on the center portion of the eastern wall: the two retractable windows were built atop the end of the columns.
Standing at the right of the entrance door was a set of wooden shelves containing several books, VHS and stuffed animals.
Two fans hung from the ceiling although one was missing its "arms" and the control device.
The south-facing end of the room had a drawer set plus a large wooden bar which acted as a perch to hang clothes from: a world map was placed on the wall as well: two doors opened at both sides of the wall with a third one placed towards the right of the entrance door.
"Wow. This attic room looks so big and bright…! It's different from the others rooms!" Netto gasped.
"Yeah… You feel like you've got plenty of space to use!" Saito added.
"This will be your bedroom, gentlemen. But let us wrap up our VIP tour of this floor, shall we?"
"Roger!"
The room annex to this one was a bedroom having a king-sized bed underneath the window, two support columns, an LCD TV mounted on a slightly mobile platform up in the left side of the wall, and a set of shelves expanding the whole of the west-facing wall: the leftmost corner had a door leading to the adjacent room also accessible from the main bedroom: a small gray sofa had been placed on the SE corner.
"I'll be sleeping here. And this adjacent room is the bathroom which we'll share." Mr. Denpa told them.
"Let's check it out, then." Netto suggested.
"Check it out!" Saito exclaimed in English.
"Who says that?"
"Said. Bright Man. Remember? He was one of the Navis gone berserk when the Zero Virus Incident." Saito reminded him.
"Ah. True, true… Anyway… Let's go, Mr. Perfect."
"No – one's perfect, Netto – chan." Saito teased.
"Grah! Quit that!" Netto growled.
"Hit a spot…" Saito trailed off.
"Man." Netto sighed.
"It seems like they desire to imitate a matter-antimatter behavior of cancelling each other, sir." On Air whispered to Mr. Denpa.
"You know… That's not a crazy way of explaining this. I used to be somewhat like this with my younger brother, but… I guess I shouldn't trail off… Point is: Agents Mori and Karasu sometimes act like that given Agent Karasu's idea of a message speaking about fedoras…"
"I knew about it, sir. It amused me, sir."
"Heh, heh, heh. Agent Karasu has a good instinct as to how to camouflage messages…" Mr. Denpa chuckled.
The twins had already stepped into the bathroom: its tiles were of a yellowish color and the west-facing wall had two large cupboards with a larger compartment to store clothes and a small one overhead to store shampoos, perfumes and other products.
Two sinks were built on the east-facing wall left of the room linking to the second bedroom along with a large mirror: two small white plastic cupboards were attached to the walls at both left and right of the door leading to the main bedroom.
There was a slightly higher section separated by one step which had the toilet and an enclosed shower: Mr. Denpa opened a door next to the shower to reveal a small room having a square stone water deposit plus the windows looking out into the street.
"Only one room left!" He teased.
"What nerves!" Both uttered.
They followed Mr. Denpa into the remaining room: he lifted his right hand and interacted with a light bulb to turn it on and reveal a small storeroom having several shelves and storing VHS, toys and board games.
"Whoa. All the rooms were surprising." Netto whistled in surprise.
"That's why Mr. Surprise orbits 'round ya…" Saito giggled.
"Follow me… We've got to check the pool out!"
"Yay! Swimming pool!" Both looked excited.
"Don't run down the stairs!" Mr. Denpa warned.
"Hai~!"
The group of four calmly walked down the sets of stairs and exited into the main terrace: they then headed downstairs into the garden and ended up in the corridor leading towards the pool: a green and yellow tiled fountain with a lion's head was set nearby and both checked it out of curiosity.
"Whoa. Looks scary…!" Netto gasped.
"Scary Man was here, then." Saito giggled.
"Behold!" Mr. Denpa signaled the right.
Both looked at the pool: the rim of it was made of white stone with embedded minerals while its walls and ground were a mosaic of little blue tiles: two steel stairs allowed easy entrance and exit.
A skimmer mouth was set on the north-facing edge along with its cover: the south-facing edge had a small white plastic slit as well complemented with a blue and white stripes trampoline.
The opposite end of the area had a set of metallic pipes and valves half-hidden by the grown foliage which climbed all the way to the street level along the concrete walls.
"Whoa! Look at that, Netto – kun!" Saito gasped.
"Cool!" Netto gasped.
"Heh, heh, heh. This pool's number one attraction: here you have it at your disposal, gentlemen!"
A pink slide was set on the west side of the pool, in a corner, and was set so that the users would end up over the deepest spot of the pool where the bottom suction white plastic cover was set at.
"A slide…! It's gotta be cool!" Netto exclaimed.
"Of course. So?" Mr. Denpa teased.
"I'm settled! I'll slide down it!"
"Oi! I'm gonna do that, too, and heading face-first, too!"
"It'd seem your strategy is success, sir." On Air whispered.
"Heh, heh, heh. Of course…" Mr. Denpa chuckled.
"O. K.! Say bye to sleeping! I won't stop now!"
"I won't, either!"
Mr. Denpa and On Air chuckled while the twins grinned…