Hello everyone!
Here's the next chapter! As always, remember to review! I will update as soon as I can, but constructive reviews are always welcome! :)
Enjoy! ^.^
After a couple of weeks she found out that the red headed lady from the office was right. It was as if Serena had been here all her life and she fell into the routine easily. She even picked up a few friends on the way. Besides her flatmate Mina, they met another student named Hino Rei and they became fast friends, even though she could be the negative of the two blondes. Rei was a typical Japanese student, with long black hair but had the most unusual eyes Serena or Mina had ever seen. Her eyes were violet. When the girls asked her about it she shrugged saying she was born like that.
"Hey guys, whats up?" Rei spoke english just as well as the two blondes she joined at lunch.
Mina was the first to answer. "Not too much, how were classes?"
She shrugged. "Actually I have some cool news. I have a friend of a friend who knows about this awesome party tonight outside Azabu-Juuban and he's willing to get us in for free! How rad is that?"
Rei was obviously excited even though her slang english words were about a decade outdated. Serena mentally noted she would have to bring that up to her one day, but for right now she was more concerned about going outside the school grounds. She couldn't help but remember what the lady at the office told her the first day she arrived. "But Rei-chan, we were told not to leave the grounds since we are foreigners."
Rei waved her hand at her. "That's what they tell all foreign students. They don't want you wondering the city, alone. But you won't be alone, you'll be with me and Yuichiro!" Yuichiro was a boy in their classes, and even though Rei adamantly denied any feelings towards him, the blondes were not convinced.
Serena and Mina exchanged glances at Rei's revelation. Over the past few weeks Serena and Mina were inseparable, and once Rei joined them it was like the three musketeers. Looking at Mina now, Serena could see the excitement building in her eyes at the prospect of leaving campus. Mina was always ready for adventure, and while she would never risk her life unnecessarily on her own, she was being presented with an opportunity for an escort who actually knew the area. Serena knew Mina's answer before she even said it.
"Absolutely! Oooh, we should totally ditch class to figure out what we are wearing tonight!" Mina was also taking classes in fashion. Rei was instantly on board.
Serena shook her head. "Nuh uh. I'm not missing class. You guys can go if you want and I'll cover for you saying you got sick or something." Serena was not one to skip classes. She claimed it was because she cared about her grades, but she really hated getting in trouble.
"Are you sure? It's only one class?" Rei tried to persuade her.
Serena smiled at her friend. "Yeah, totally ok. Go on and make sure she doesn't go overboard." Serena gestured to Mina who was already walking towards their flat.
They both shared a laugh and Rei left to catch up with Mina while Serena headed off to class.
Walking into their apartment after class, Serena could already smell the hair products and powder and cringed. She was never big into hair and makeup until she met Mina and she just knew she would try and make her the guinea pig again. Tiptoeing down the hall, Serena tried to get to her room without being detected, but seeing how she would have to pass the bathroom to get there, she figured her chances were slim. She was right. She didn't even make it into the hall.
"Serena? Is that you?" Mina called from the bathroom before peeking her head out.
"Hey Mina, starting your own beauty parlor here? You know outside enterprises are frowned upon here on campus." Serena tried to joke.
Mina wasn't taking the bait. She grabbed Serena and starting pushing her towards the bathroom. "Don't be a sook!" Serena stopped in her tracks and looked behind her waiting for an explanation for the term. Mina rolled her eyes "Complainer?" Serena nodded as Mina continued to shove her. "I have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in! We're bouncing out of here in less than three hours!"
Two and half hours later, Serena and Rei were sitting on the couch, completely done up in hair, makeup and outfits. Much to their surprise they weren't completely horrified by the results. Mina had put Rei in a zebra-striped strapless dress that hugged all the right curves and a short jean jacket to cover. She paired it with a pair of cherry red pumps and Rei was actually digging the outfit. Rei did however insist on doing her own hair and makeup and left it in her trademark style: down. Serena was less thrilled with her choice based on the fact that she never wore clothes like this. Mina picked out an off-white lacey babydoll dress with black stilettos. She had curled Serena's hair and piled it high on her head, leaving a few choice curls to dangle. Serena didn't mind the hair and makeup choices, but she was less than thrilled about a dress that showed more than it didn't.
When Mina went to get changed, Serena snuck to her room and donned a pair of black skin tight pants to go under the dress, which to Serena looked more like a shirt anyways. Coming back to the living room, she paused in the hall realizing she was caught. Mina was already in the living room, modeling her own outfit for Rei. Serena was sure Mina's outfit would have shocked her, but she was distracted by Mina's hair. Instead of the normal blonde hair to match her own, Mina was wearing a bright red wig. Unable to stop herself, Serena doubled over in laughter, causing Mina to whirl back around.
"What is so funny mate?" Mina asked until her eyes fell on Serena's pants. "And what did you do to my outfit?!" she exclaimed, more upset because Serena changed her outfit instead of the laughing at her hair choice. Serena was saved by the ring as Rei's phone alerted them that Yuichiro was outside. Still laughing, Serena grabbed her own jean jacket and before Mina could protest further, they were out the door.
"You know Serena, you are totally stifling my creativity." Mina whined at Serena as they entered the backseat of Yuichiro's car.
Serena snorted. "I'm sorry Mina but you can't even get in the car without flashing me your underoos, mate!"
Serena thought she heard Mina mumble "That's not even a real word" as she pulled her mini skirt down in defiance trying to get in the car. Rei joined Serena in laughing thankful she was going to slide easily in the front seat. Her skirt wasn't much better than Mina's. Serena shook her head as she got in the back seat. Mina liked her skirts way to short for her liking.
"So Yuichiro-san, where are we going?" Mina asked from the backseat.
"It's what American's would call a 'rave' or a 'raver'. I hear it's totally out of this world as you put it?" Yuichiro failed to capture American slang, much like Rei does. It was as if Japan was a decade behind the US.
Serena spoke up next. "I always heard 'raves' weren't that safe. Are you sure about this Rei-chan?"
"Absolutely! Don't be such a worry wart!" Rei exclaimed but Serena caught a hint of worry in her eyes before she turned back around. Serena looked out the front of the car. It seemed they were heading out of the Azabu-Juuban district.
Almost a half an hour later, they pulled up to an abandoned warehouse outside the city limits. The building was ancient, as if it had been abandoned for decades. Serena shivered at the sight of it, but decided to put her trust in her friends. Besides, what was the worst that could happen?
Yuichiro led with Rei by his side as Serena and Mina walked together, arm in arm. This was a new scene for both of them, and they really had no idea what to expect. Before they entered the building, Serena caught Yuichiro taking Rei's hand and nudged Mina to look. They both smiled.
Inside the warehouse they could hear the music, but the building was empty except for a lone guy standing inside the doors asking for names. Yuichiro spoke up for all of them. The Japanese man at the door looked at all of them, and Serena couldn't help but notice his eyes lingered on her longer than she would have liked, but as soon as she would have said something, his eyes moved on to Mina then back to his clipboard. He pointed to a door that must lead down to the basement where the rave was. Serena continued to have a bad feeling but didn't want to be the wet blanket.
Down in the cellar the music was so loud you couldn't hear the person talking next to you. There were different colored strobe lights flashing and a mob in the center of the room, a raised platform appeared to act as the dance floor. To the right was a small counter which acted as the bar. Yuichiro and Rei motioned that they were going to go dance leaving Serena and Mina by themselves. Not sure what to do Serena looked at Mina and motioned to the bar. Mina nodded.
At the bar there was a list of drinks that they could pick from. Mina ordered a 'sex on the beach' and Serena picked the same. While the bartender, if you could call him that, got their drinks, the girls looked around. Obviously conversation was out of the question, but that didn't stop the guy standing next to them. He tapped Mina on the shoulder. With their arms still linked, Mina's motion alerted Serena to the stranger by her side.
He was young like them, college age, with sandy blonde hair and bright green eyes. He smiled and waved to them. The girls smiled back, waving in unison. Then he tried to talk, or scream so they could hear him.
"My name is Andrew!"
Mina was the brave one and took the lead. "I'm Mina! This is Serena!"
He smiled recognizing her accent. "Australian? She nodded enthusiastically. "Very nice!"
The girls were offered their drinks and unlinked their arms to get money, but Andrew waved them off offering the bartender a large bill to cover both their drinks.
Mina smiled flirtatiously at him turned around to face Serena mouthing the word 'dibs' to her. Serena laughed at her friend but nodded in concession. She wasn't about to fight Mina for a guy in a club. Besides, blue eyes already haunted her thoughts. When Mina turned back to Andrew, he had their drinks in hand.
Mina leaned in close before taking her drink, "Thanks! You're a handsome bloke ya know that?!"
Andrew's smile was from ear to ear, obviously pleased by the adoration.
Serena tried to give her thanks, but realized he was preoccupied by Mina. She shrugged it off and tried her drink and was surprised how fruity it was. A few minutes later, Rei and Yuichiro re-joined them, sweaty from the dance floor. They ordered a couple of drinks as well and then dragged Serena to the dance floor with them, with Mina and Andrew joining them minutes later.
From the dance floor, Serena had a pretty good view of what was around the different sides of the basement. Even though they were in the shadows, Serena had great eyesight. Behind her was the stairwell they used to enter the rave. To her right was the bar and people sitting around talking. Turning to look straight ahead she saw people lining up at a table to trade money for tiny baggies full of white powder and pills. Dreading what she'd see, she turned to her left and saw multiple curtains where people would hand over money to slip behind one for a few minutes and then emerge. Serena could see some went willingly, some not so much. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on behind those curtains. Serena's bad feeling came back full force and she tugged on Rei's arm, alerting her to what she saw.
Rei immediately started yelling at Yuichiro for bringing them there. He tried to protest he had no idea, but knew they had to leave, now. They were in the middle of a very dangerous place full of drugs and sex and maybe worse. Serena got Mina's attention and motioned towards the door that they were leaving. Mina took a slip out of her purse and handed it to Andrew blowing him a kiss as Serena dragged her off the floor.
They pushed their way through the crowd, hand in hand and upon reaching the door, Yuichiro and Rei were let through to leave but Serena and Mina were denied the privilege. They were being blocked by a bouncer.
"Hey!" Rei cried out, signaling that Serena and Mina were with them. When the bouncer still refused to let them through, Rei grabbed Yuichiro who tried to reason with them, not understanding why they were being kept. When two men came up behind Serena and started pulling her away she began to scream and the time for reasoning was over. Yuichiro landed a solid punch on the bouncer and Mina and Rei ran for Serena.
Mina landed the first blow on the guy to Serena's left by a kick to the crotch while Rei used what looked like kung fu on the guy on her right. They both immediately dropped Serena, and the three instantly fled with Rei pulling Yuichiro off the bouncer and up the stairs.
Once upstairs they realized they had one more guy to deal with at the door. He immediately tried to stop them.
"I don't think so." Yuichiro stated coldly and threw a punch, sending the guy to the floor.
"Wow Yuichiro, I didn't know you had it in you!" Rei exclaims, obviously impressed by his actions. He returned her smile and as they linked hands to run, Serena cried out as a stab of pain shot through her ankle. She must have sprained it when the guys dropped her.
"Serena!" Mina cried out as she crumpled to the ground. "Rei-chan! Yuichiro-san! Serena's hurt!"
Turning around, Yuichiro and Rei saw Serena in the dirt and Mina trying to help her back up unsuccessfully. Yuichiro immediately tossed his keys to Rei and instructed, "Rei-chan, go get the car, quick!" Catching the keys mid-air, she kicked off her heels and ran off, disappearing through cars. Yuichiro scooped up Serena easily. "We have to run Mina-san."
Mina nodded as she grabbed the discarded pumps and took her own off, and took off after him and Serena. Then they heard the worst sound in the world at that moment. Footsteps running behind them. They are being chased.
"Oh my God Yuichiro-san, they are chasing us! We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die!" Mina was crying hysterically as they ran.
"Keep it together Mina-san! We have to get out of here! I won't let anything happen to you, I promise!" Yuichiro shouted as they continued to run, Serena still in his arms.
Mina and Yuichiro were halfway through the lot when Rei screeched to a halt right in front of them. Working quickly knowing the 'rave' guys are right behind them, Yuichiro climbed in the back with Serena as Mina scrambled to the front seat. Seconds before the guys reached their car, Rei took off, leaving a mist of gravel dust in her wake.
In the car, Mina was still crying uncontrollably as she ripped the red wig off her head. The time for appearances was past. They were just in some serious hot water and she was freaking out. "Why were they after us?! What the bloody hell, Rei-chan where did you guys bring us!?" Mina's hysterics completely took over.
"I don't know Mina, but you have to calm down. We are safe." Rei laid a comforting hand on Mina's as she sped back into town, the odometer already reaching past eighty. Redirecting her attention to the back seat she asked "Yuichiro-chan, how is Serena?"
Yuichiro turned to Serena, who appeared to be asleep. "Serena-san?"
No answer.
"Serena-san? Can you hear me?" Yuichiro checked for obvious signs of trauma but couldn't find any. "Rei-chan, kanojo wa ōtō shite inai yo! Ima byōin ni watashitachi o toru!" he responded in Japanese causing Rei to hit the gas harder.
Mina's hysterics bubbled to the surface again, threatening to spill over. She knew he would only speak in Japanese if they didn't want her to hear. She was taking language classes but wasn't quite fluent yet. Turning to Rei, obvious panic etched into her features, she asked "What is it!? What's wrong with Serena!"
Rei responded quietly, "She's not waking up. We have to take her to the hospital. Now."