Hey guys! I'm really sorry for the late update. I'm currently on a holiday and the excessive free time had poisoned my brain (Seriously, I have too much time that I don't know what I should use it for). And to add to the trouble, I'm also having a really bad case of author's block (if you know what I mean). Anyway, please enjoy the latest chapter of Hayate The Combat Butler, Remake!
Chapter 4: The mansion
Hinagiku looked around the room. It was a medium-sized western-style bedroom. Various paintings adorned the walls. Some of them were originals, but they were mostly reproductions of various famous and not-so-famous works, primarily from the European Renaissance and the Early Modern Age.
"Hey, wait a minute! Where am I? This isn't my room!" Hinagiku contemplated before she recalled yesterday's incident.
"Oh yeah…my house was... But where's my mother?" She felt a little worried, considering the fact that her mother was injured. But then she decided that her priority now is to find out where she is right now.
She then got up and went to the glass door at the corner of the room. When she opened the door, she found out that she was standing at a terrace facing a very fine-looking garden that had obviously been well taken care of. The garden had many types of flowering plants and the air was very fresh. She then went down by the staircase beside her and started looking around for anyone who might be able to tell her where she is. Suddenly, her eyes caught a glimpse of a man in an overall at a distant. The man was crouching down with a pot beside him. It seems like he was planting a tree.
"Umm…excuse me… Do you know where this place is?" The man stopped what he was doing, stood up and turned to her.
"Ah, Hinagiku-san, you're awake." Hayate said nonchalantly while dusting his hands.
"Hayate-kun! What are you doing here?" The girl asked in surprise.
He looked at her as if the question had the most obvious answer in the world and doesn't need to be answered.
"I was planting this tree before you came."
"Do you work here?"
"Yes."
"Where are we exactly?" Hinagiku asked but Hayate looked at his watch before he collected his tools.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Hinagiku-san. I would have to go now. I'll talk to you later…" He said and hurried off before Hinagiku could ask him anything else.
"Hey, wait a minute!" She called, but Hayate had already disappeared behind the tall shrubs. After looking for the boy for a while, she finally surrendered before heading back to the room she was in before. She then realised that the room was actually a part of a mansion. When she got into the room, she sat down on the bed, thinking of what should be done next. Suddenly, a knock could be heard coming from the door. Hinagiku opened the door and found a man, tall by any standard in black tailcoat standing in front of her. Even though he was smiling, Hinagiku could sense a sinister aura emanating out from him.
"Good morning, Katsura-san, would you like to have your breakfast in bed? Or would you prefer the dining room?" The man asked in a very formal tone.
"Err…who are you?"
"Please forgive my discourteousness. I am a butler serving under the master of this house. You can just call me butler." He introduced himself briefly.
"Do you know where my mother is?"
"Your mother is at the dining room. So then, shall I bring your meal here or do you want to go there?"
"I'd like to go there please."
"Alright then. Right this way, Katsura-san." The butler said with a bow.
The two of them went through several long, carpeted hallways decorated with various paintings and ornamental armours before they finally stopped before two huge doors. The butler opened the two doors in chorus and motioned for her to enter.
Hinagiku soon found out that this so called 'dining room' was actually a very large hall. Situated in the middle of the place was an extremely long table. It looked like it could easily seat a hundred people. The table was magnificently decorated by numerous candles, bunches of flowers and baskets full of fruits.
"Hina-chan! Over here!" Her mother called her. She was already at the table, waving at Hinagiku.
The butler pulled out a chair and motioned for Hinagiku to sit. After she had taken her seat, he poured some tea for Hinagiku and her mother, placed it in front of them and replaced the teapot on the trolley before serving them with two plates full of confections.
"I have prepared some Fortnum and Mason's Darjeeling second flush and some petit fours as snacks for the elevenses. Is that fine with you?" The two of them nodded before the butler excused himself.
"Amazing, isn't it? We lost our house yesterday but we got ourselves a mansion today." A soon as she finished saying that, she stood up and explored the hall. There were many vases and paintings that looked very much expensive in the hall. She couldn't help herself but to look at the items with great interest.
"Geez, you really should really act like someone who is sick, mother. After all, you were injured, didn't you?"
"Don't worry about it, Hina-chan. When I woke up today, my wounds have already been treated by someone. See?" Mokoto said, showing her bandaged arm before holding a large crystal vase from its stand.
"Mom! You shouldn't touch other people's properties! You might…" And just like in a very comical situation, the vase fell and broke into pieces. The two of them looked at each other in horror. To make matters worse, the butler entered before they could even clean the mess up. The two of them began to tremble.
"Is there any problem? I thought I heard a crashing sound just now." He asked before noticing the broken vase on the carpeted floor. He then smiled. "Oh, there's nothing to worry about that. I don't think that the master would even realise if it wasn't at its usual place. He had always detested the vase anyway." The butler said reassuringly.
Both of them bowed down apologetically and promised that it would never happen again. He accepted their apology. The two than continued their meal. The butler stood at their side, in case they might break…or…need him for anything.
"I almost forgot. The master had told me what happened to your house… very sad indeed. He wanted to offer you to stay here for the time being."
"Are you sure that's alright? We wouldn't want to trouble you and your master."
"Don't worry, Katsura-san. I'm sure that the master would be delighted to have guests. After all, we rarely have any."
"Oh, okay then. Thank you for your kindness. We really appreciate it." Mokoto thanked the butler.
"I've been wondering, who's the master of this house?" Hinagiku asked.
"Yeah, can we meet him? We wanted to thank him for his generosity." Mokoto asked next.
"I'm afraid that isn't possible. The master had just departed for Munich, Germany. He's having a conference there. He's supposed to be there for three days."
"Oh, I see…" Hinagiku sipped her tea.
"Would you like to take a tour around the mansion?" He offered.
"Sure. Why not." The three of them then got out of the hall and the butler began explaining to them about the mansion.
"This mansion is estimated to be approximately 500 square kilometres in floor area, excluding the forest surrounding this mansion." The butler started his lecture. "This mansion is divided into two main areas. The first one is the guest wing, which is where we are right now. It has 95 individual areas, each with three bedrooms in it. We also have a few Olympic-sized pools, tennis courts, a shooting range and, oh, a golf course that was completed its construction three weeks ago." The Katsuras' mouths were agape with amazement at the sheer grandeur of the mansion.
"The second area, which is the main mansion, is 7 times larger than the guest wing. That is where the master lives." The butler paused and brought them to a window. He then pointed to a castle, situated on top of a hill. The castle looked very much like the castles that Hinagiku imagined would be in fairy tales. The walls of the castle were shining brightly, shone by the morning sun.
"If the mansion is this huge, how am I going to go to school?" Hinagiku asked. "There's no way I could reach the front gate of the mansion by walking, let alone reaching the school."
"I was just coming to that." The butler then led them to the side of the mansion, where a large building stood.
When he opened the entrance of the building, it became clear to them that the building was actually a garage. Inside, rows and rows of cars appeared before them. The cars stored there ranged from the sporty Ferraris to the luxurious Rolls Royce limousines. They could even detect the faint new-car smell, indicating that the cars are brand new.
"The master ordered these cars a few weeks ago and we've just received the first shipment yesterday. We're expecting the rest them to arrive later today."
"(Sigh) Your master sure is loaded." Said Hinagiku. The butler let out a smile.
"You're welcomed to stay here as long as you want and use all of the amenities here at anytime." The butler said before he continued. We'll be going to the shopping mall…"
"Wait, why are we going to the mall?"
"The master told me that your entire house was burned down and none of your belonging could be saved, so the master asked me to bring you to the mall so that you could buy some clothes and your school books."
"But we don't have any money…" The thought that she had just become poor depresses her.
"Don't worry about that. The master had prepared some money in this. I hope it would be enough to cover your expenses." The butler said before handing over a wallet to Mokoto.
"We can't have that! We didn't do anything to earn it!"
"He knew that you would say that. He said that you could just consider this as a thank you gift for your help before. He didn't tell me what kind of help though…"
"Eh? But we've never met him before…" Hinagiku protested before she was cut short by her mother.
"Well, in that case, do tell him that we're really grateful for his generosity." The butler nodded.
"I'll be waiting for you at the entrance hall at 4 o'clock." He said before bowing down and left them.
As promised, they met the butler at the entrance hall before he escorted them to a limousine which had already waited for them. Mokoto was very excited, as she never had the experience of riding a car as luxurious as this.
"I'll be back in two hours. I hope that the money would cover your expenses. If not, you could ask for some more from me or use the credit card in there." The butler said before leaving them at the mall.
Once the butler left, they took a peek at the wallet and found out that there's at least one million yen in that purse. Hinagiku would have to do her best to stop her mother from spending all the money at a jewellery store. Her mother then picked a very cute dress for her which something she insisted that she would never wear. Two hours later, the two walked out of the mall with their hands full of shopping bags, and the wallet was much lighter than the time they first got it.
Later that night, while they were having their dinner (Fresh spinach salad with sauté chevre as appetiser, risotto with grouper and vegetables as the main course and some chocolate mousse with yogurt and sour cherry sauce as desserts), they were disturbed by the sound of a helicopter landing.
Hinagiku looked out of the window and saw a figure walking out of the helicopter. His coat fluttered behind, blown by the gale of winds produced by the helicopter. Since it was very dark, it was almost impossible to have a clear look at his face.
"Who's that?" Hinagiku asked the butler.
"That's the master."
"Eh? I thought that he's not supposed to be back now, right?" Mokoto asked in confusion and the butler let out a sigh.
"He wasn't… but I guess he got bored and decided to leave the meeting early." The butler said with a face-palmed gesture. "I would have to give him 'the talk' again…"
"That's a very troublesome master you have there." Mokoto said, chuckling.
"He is. Oh, could I ask you to meet him tomorrow? I'm sure he's very tired now."
"Sure."
"Please excuse me. I would have to attend the master now." The butler said with a bow before leaving them. After finishing their dinner, Hinagiku and her mother went to bed.
The next day, after changing into her school uniform, Hinagiku and her mother went down to the dining room for breakfast. They were quite surprised to see Hayate sitting at the table in his uniform, eating his steak. They also noticed that the chair that he was sitting on was comparatively different from the other chairs. It was a high backed chair that looked very much like a throne.
"Oh, hi Hinagiku-san, Mokoto-san!" The boy said cheerfully when he realised their presence.
"Eh! What are you doing here, Hayate-kun?" Hinagiku asked.
"Do you have a habit of asking obvious questions, Hinagiku-san? As you can see, I'm…"
"Here you go, master. I've made the dessert just as you have asked me to." The butler said when he entered via a smaller door beside the hall, probably for servants.
Both Hinagiku and her mother turned to Hayate in surprise.
"WHAT! YOU'RE THE MASTER OF THIS HOUSE!" Both of them cried in surprise.
"If being the owner of this house and the employer of the servants here is what you would define as the master of this house, then yes, I'm the master of this house."
"B-b-but you looked so poor the last time…"
"Ah, yes. Well, there's the saying 'everything is not what it seems', right? Or perhaps there's the 'don't judge the book by its cover'." The boy said before he took his spoon and tasted the dish served by the butler.
"I must say, this Punschkrapfen is the best Austrian delicacy you've ever made, butler."
"Thank you for the compliment, master."
"Well, we better go for school now, Hinagiku-san or we'll be late. My house is quite far from the academy you know." Hayate said to the still surprised Hinagiku.
Well, I hope that this story is up to your satisfaction, my dear readers. I know that this chapter kinda...sucks, so I'll make it up to all of you with chapter 5 which I'm going to publish soon (It's 60% complete).
And from the next chapter, I'll start adding new characters to this fanfic. So look forward to it and don't forget to review the story, I could really use feedback from you guys to make the story better, let it be grammar, tenses, or anything as the matter of fact. Ciaossu!