Chapter 3: Meetings at the Tower
"Yuki,"
"Oh. Yuki." Yuki heard another whisper.
Yuki sat up on his bed, rubbing his eyes.
"Huh?" His eyes now opened. "Who's there?"
"It's me Momiji," a joyful voice answered.
"Momiji?" Yuki repeated. "Where are you?"
"Right here."
Yuki slanted his head to where the voice came from.
"Where?"
"Here."
"WHERE?"
"Here!"
Yuki was now standing, searching where Momiji's voice came from. He put his ear near the wall searching if there were other rooms surrounding his.
"BOO!" A face was suddenly engraved on the wall.
"Wha--" Yuki was trying to find words but they wouldn't come into his mind.
"Hi Yuki!" he smiled.
"What in the world?" Yuki finally said.
"Yuki," he sniffed, his face looking like he was about to cry. "Don't you recognize me anymore?"
"Momiji, it's not that. I meant how'd you get in there?" Yuki questioned.
Momiji's body was now visible.
"Well, I was kinda being snoopy and Akito caught me." He scratched his head, "Akito ordered one the elders to include me in this tower."
Tohru didn't say anything about that. But I can't blame her. She only heard the conversations, Yuki thought.
"Hmm. How long have you been in here?" Yuki continued with his questions.
"Well, 3 days, I think."
"How..how do you eat?"
"A maid named Arisa, I think, goes here and gives me food. She's kind of nice from time to time."
"But how do you get the food?"
"There's a mirror here somewhere that she uses to transport the food from your side to my side. It's like an alternate dimension."
"Oh."
After catching up with each other, Yuki stood up from where he sat and looked around the room. It was a bit plain compared to his quarters at the palace. It had one bed, with blue sheets, two pillows, and a white transparent cloak over the bed. The room had one window that had a screen over it—holes just big enough for birds to enter. The door was locked from outside. The room also had colorful walls, maybe from the color of the poisonous sweets. A little ironic, I might add, since the outside walls of the tower were uncolored.
Akito really intended for me to really stay here, he thought with a sigh.
Minutes later, the prince and Momiji heard something at the main door. Yuki went to the screened window while Momiji moved himself to the outside of the tower to see what caused that something.
"What is it?" Yuki asked.
"Uhm," Momiji muttered, squinting his brown eyes. "It's a girl."
"And who might she be?" Yuki asked again, with his right eyebrow raised. "What's she doing?"
"I know I've seen her before in the castle," he answered. "She's trying to get it."
"Why don't you move there?"
"Okay."
Momiji circled the tower until he got to the first floor.
"Woah. I got a little dizzy." He chuckled to himself.
"Well, excue me Ms?" Momiji asked politely, his face engraved to the door.
"Oh, Momiji! You surprised me." The girl replied, shocked that there was a little boy engraved on the door in front of her.
"Hey," Momiji argued. "How do you know my name and I don't know yours?"
"I work in the castle. I work as Prince Yuki's personal maid."
"Oh. That's nice." Momiji giggled. "What's your name, then?"
"Tohru Honda." She bowed, "I am very pleased to meet you."
"I'll tell Yuki you came by. Okay?"
"Wait, Momiji." Tohru said, "Can you open the door?"
"I can't, but the key to that door is somewhere in the walls."
"Walls?"
"Try pushing the 5th brick from the left side of this door."
One, two, three, four, five, Tohru counted. Tohru pushed the big blackish brick but it wouldn't budge. She tried it again and this time the brick moved. Sur enough, a key was there. The key was extremely different from ordinary keys. It looked like a screw. Tohru inserted the key into the keyhole and winded it. Winded it, winded it, and winded it. The door finally unlocked.
"Tohru!" Momiji shouted, "Don't go in. Akito placed obstacles here, remember?"
"Oh. Right. I'll just inform them."
"Inform who?"
"You'll find out soon," she said as she skipped away.
Author's notes: Sorry about the typos from the other chapters. More to come.
