I hope I don't tire you with reading as much as I tired my characters with walking! But anyway, here it is!
summary: after an unexpected fight, Rinko takes Ai and Ueki to her 'house'. but where? And more importantly, what does she know about the strange happenings?
Chapter 3
The Jerrard Family Manor
After coming across a very strange encounter and narrowly escaping when the enemy was unconscious, the three of them went straight to a train station because Rinko invited them to her house, where she said she would explain everything.
Both Ueki and Ai seemed a little bit too shocked by the current events. Who would know that after a year of dormancy the contenders of the battle game could still use their powers? The previous god from Inumaru clearly stated in the rules of the Battle Game that after the tournament to find the next King of the Celestial World, their powers would disappear. But the way Rinko and Ueki used their powers once again was proof that he was wrong. But why was he wrong?
Ai and Ueki demanded that Rinko told them immediately while on train but she refused to talk because there were many unwanted ears.
They simply waited impatiently as the scenery flashed and changed before the windows of the high-speed transportation. Finally, after almost an hour, they arrived at small station, wherein they were the only ones to leave the train.
The station looked deserted, quite opposite from the one they just come from. The paving of the floors were clearly old that the tiles were broken and rough. The brick building had some of its parts collapsed and the walls were cracked and dirty. At the front of the building was the name of the station, carved in thick letters, but the part of the sign that contained the name was broken so that it only showed "Sha— Train Station."
"Uh…" Ueki began, "are you sure we're on the right place, Rinko? This kind of reminds of the ghost town in heaven, there's no one in here…"
"Yeah, this place gives me the creeps," said Ai, looking at the empty, arid fields outside of the station. It looked like a desert but grassland at the same time. There were tall, yellow grass plants that stretched at most parts of the empty field like hay that was planted to the ground. There were no animals at sight, not even cattle or horses. And also there didn't seem to be any houses within the reach of their eyes. The place looked like an untamed one and apart from the rails of the train they had just come from, it seemed uncivilized.
"Don't worry guys," comforted Rinko with an amused smile. "I know where we are. Our place is just somewhere around here. Come follow me."
They followed Rinko from the station to a small, rocky, winding path that led up a small hill that neither Ai nor Ueki noticed earlier. The hill looked as parched as the empty field except for a long, tall hedge that stood at the top of it.
Why would there be a hedge at a place like this? Ai wondered.
The shrubs that formed it were emerald green as though it had an ample supply of water. Ai also wondered why it was the only green plant out there.
It was a very hot weather and so by the time the three of them reached the tall hedge, which they finally noticed extended along the slope of the hill, they were bathing in their own sweat, all except for Rinko who seemed undisturbed by the concentrated heat. Neither Ai nor Ueki knew what was at the other side.
"Okay guys," said Rinko enthusiastically, "we're nearly there."
"I didn't know you had a house at the middle of nowhere!" said Ai, fanning her face with her hand. " I can't take much longer of this heat!"
"How is it that you seem fine with the weather?" asked Ueki, his green hair glistening at the rays of the sun.
"Oh, This is where I spent my summer, silly," replied Rinko. "Now if you would just follow me… We're nearly there."
They descended the hill following the path of the tall, evergreen bush as their guide. It was long and winding. But at least it somehow managed to give them some cool, fresh air. The journey down the hill was a lot easier than going up, but the hedge was planted at a row of different hills that it seemed that the first hill they climbed was only a façade. Naturally, they climbed and went down at least four consecutive hills until they finally reached a gap in the hedge, where towering, golden gates were placed instead. The gate had a wonderful design but with holes that they were able to see what was at the other side of the hedge all along.
Both Ueki and Ai were awe-struck as they saw the scene through the golden gates. "This—this is your summerhouse?" gaped Ai as he saw the Jerrard's family manor.
It was no ordinary rest house the way others are. No. The whole estate was an entire valley itself! It started with the tall, golden gates, through which the three of them were surveying the vast compound right now. Then a well-paved path led from them through an amazing garden-road to a castle-like mansion that stood at the middle of the valley. Castle-like, Ai thought, since it was the biggest house she had ever seen in her life, not to mention the most prestigious and enchanting one that she had ever laid her eyes on. It was a palace of different shades of pink and white with incredibly carved designs and a majestic glow originated from it.
The house's doors weren't made of wood but glass that made the whole dwelling even more dazzling. It had two high turrets at the leftmost and rightmost of it which, Ai presumed, were amazing places to see a breath-taking views. The walls seemed to be made of sparkly bricks and the roofs of glossy, overlapping tiles.
There must be thousands of rooms in there! Ai thought, hardly noticing that she was gaping, but noticing the huge size of it.
Ueki, on the other hand, noticed the equally amazing surroundings of Rinko's mansion. The well-paved path leading from the gates were nothing compared to the gardens that were located in front f the mansion. Even though it was summer, the gardens were over shining with hundreds and hundreds of rainbow flowers. The trees were great as well and they seemed to be giving the manor the breeze and shade it needed. There was also a small forest-like gathering of trees at the back of the house, and beyond that small forest was a glistening lake (or it could be an abnormally humongous swimming pool, Ueki cant tell), sparkling as the sun rays hit it.
Wow, Ueki thought. Everything's in here!
That was how Ai and Ueki found out what was behind the tall hedge that they were passed by. They didn't know a few seconds ago…it hit them unprepared.
Rinko, who seemed less keen about the place, had been pressing buttons at a small device attached to the beside-hedge while the other two were lost in the manor's beauty. Before long, she pressed a final button and went to face her still-gaping companions.
"Sorry for making you wait, guys," she said politely.
"I knew you came from a rich family but I didn't know you were this wealthy!" Ai exclaimed.
"Yeah," agreed Ueki. "I guess before we finish walking to your house, it'll be night already—look at how far we are from it!"
Rinko just smiled. "Who said anything about walking?" she said with a mysterious smirk and pushed another button on the device on the wall.
Neither Ai nor Ueki expected what happened next. They fell below the ground into an underground tunnel, right after Rinko pushed that last button and the ground beneath them opened suddenly. The tunnels were just wide enough to fit each of them—they were falling through different, individual ones.
Ai screamed all the way down; Ueki couldn't even utter a word because of shock; while Rinko just fell expressionlessly, amused with how astonished her friends were. Ueki felt that the tunnel where he was in curved outrageously into different patterns, and by the time he landed on a soft object, he was thoroughly dizzy. He opened his eyes, but he couldn't see anything. He heard someone fell beside him…then another.
And all of a sudden, a chandelier on the roof lighted the whole place. Ueki got up and saw Rinko and Ai sitting beside him. They had all fallen onto black, huge pillows that were gratefully soft.
Rinko got up and fixed the wrinkles on her closed, and then turned to the other two. "Sorry about that," she said. "I didn't warn you about the fall."
Ai got up, also fixing her clothes. "Don't worry about it." She said, taking a deep breath. "I'm just glad all of these is over!"
"Are you okay, Ueki?" asked Rinko.
Ueki was looking at the room they were in. "WOW!" he exclaimed, which made Ai and Rinko jump. "This place is beautiful!"
Ai looked around as well, and she had almost the same reaction as Ueki, only that she didn't speak. She found herself once again in a place that she had never seen before—she fell in love with room for it was absolutely splendid and the exquisite carved designs on the walls and the colorful curtains and the beautifully tiled floor and the marvelous chandelier and the extravagant furniture and the comfortable aura itself that the room gave off were very much inviting.
A man with a shaped goatee entered the room suddenly and ushered them out of the room at once. It seemed to Ueki that he was some kind of butler as he called Rinko "miss".
That's it for now. What ever are they gonna do?
Next: Sawing Class and what happened after That