Magnificent Four, Chapter 7 "Arrival"
As on the last chapter, the crew of Bad Luck band, including Mr. K, Sakano-san, Ayaka-chan, and the famous novelist Eiri Uesugi was on the plane bound to Australia. The fourth member and the older brother to Shuichi, Ichiro was the pilot of the flight. Most of the flight participants were still traumatized by the not-very-little accidents Ichiro had with Eiri's car and NG studio, however, for their relief, Mr. K has agreed to become the co-pilot for the flight.
According to Ichiro's flight plan, the plane will stop at few different airports, mainly for refuel. The Learjet they rented made stops at Manila airport (Philippines), then Changi Airport (Singapore), Ngurah Rai/ Bali Airport (Indonesia) then finally Perth, Australia. And now, the sleek business jet cruised southeast to the capital city of Western Australia, Perth.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently one hour from Perth international airport, Western Australia. We will begin our descent in few minutes. In the name of Qantas airline, I wish to say tha…. Whoops sorry, forgot..." Ichiro's voice bust out from the airplane cabin speaker.
"He really was an airline pilot, I guess" Hiro shrugged and began to fasten his safety belt. He peeked to the window and saw the brownish-yellowish land in front of the plane. "Funny… I thought it's supposed to be winter, where's the snow ?".
"There's no snow in Australia except for a mountain, Nakano-san. Besides, it's summer in Australia" Ayaka-chan replied with a chuckle.
"Eh ? Summer ?!.... Why do I even bother to pack a jacket ?!" Hiro scowled.
Shuichi seated next to Sakano now as Eiri has fell asleep and took the whole seats to lie down. "Erm… Sakano-san, have you been to Australia ?" Shuichi asked. He was all excited and clinging to the window tightly.
"Just once. Australia is a nice country, and cheap, compared to Japan" Sakano-san nodded and pulled Shuichi back to the seat. "Fasten your seat belt…".
The Learjet flew lower and slower as it approached the capital of Western Australia, Perth, for landing. There was a soft buzzing sound as the flaps were being lowered five degrees down. Ichiro guided the small jet to the landing approach and align it with the Instrument Landing System (ILS).
"Easy on the throttle, we're going in too fast" Said Mr. K.
"Don't worry… Flaps please" Ichiro replied and pulled the throttle back a bit. At the same time, he opened the spoiler (Air brake) to slow the plane down.
"Approach flaps aye" Mr. K replied and pulled the flaps toggle down a notch.
Ichiro made a radio call to the Perth airport tower and requested landing permission.
"Should I put the auto landing on ?" Mr. K asked. His hand was on the autopilot master control.
"No thanks. I prefer to land this thing manually" Ichiro replied and moved his hand toward the landing gear lever. "Landing flaps please".
"Landing flaps aye" Mr. K pulled the flaps control all the way down.
There was a rather loud noise as the landing gear was lowered and locked into position. Apparently, the noises were enough to send Sakano-san into his almost-tornado mode. Shuichi frowned at Sakano-san as the older man brace himself into crash position.
"S…Sakano-san ?" Shuichi blinked as he was speechless.
"Brace yourself. We're going down !!!" Sakano-san screamed.
"Hontoni ?" Shuichi frowned but started to copy Sakano's pose.
"HONTONI !!" Sakano-san clung tighter to his legs, forming a fetal position.
Apart from Eiri who was chuckling to himself, everyone assumed crash position.
The small Learjet glided into the runaway almost without any power. With its nose striking up, it was ready for the landing.
"Flaps down, undercarriage (Landing gear) down, auto-brake on, spoiler auto deploy on…. Ichiro, should we deploy the thrust reverse ?" Mr. K asked.
"I don't think so, the runaway is long enough…. Wait a second…." Ichiro noticed that the plane started to veers off course. "Bloody crosswind…" He muttered and presses the rudder pedal to compensate the crosswind effect.
"We ARE going down…" Shuichi whimpered.
"A really bad time for holiday" Fujisaki scrambled around in panic for the life vest located underneath his seat.
"Don't let me go…" Ayaka-chan whimpered and clung tightly to Hiro.
"I won't…." Hiro tried to calm Ayaka-chan down.
"Hiro, you watched Titanic way too much" Fujisaki shook his head.
The landing was rather bumpy because of the crosswind. Nonetheless, it was a safe landing. The Learjet taxied into the general aviation parking spot and shuts its engines down.
The process on the immigration was rather long, especially for Mr. K and his gun. On the other hand, Shuichi was having his own difficulties as people can't stop saying 'Bloody hell, that's one gorgeous sheila'.
After two hours, all of them walked out of the immigration and set their foot in Australia.
"Damn it's hot !" Shuichi started to fans himself with a piece of paper.
"VERY hot…." Hiro gasped for breath.
"Perfect spot for vacation…." Eiri growled sarcastically.
"Let's stop arguing and get a taxi, shall we ?" Ichiro sighed and went to the taxi stand.
Perth International airport was small and everything was within walking reach. As with the airport, Perth city itself was small. One can circled the city just on foot.
"G'day comrade !" The taxi driver greeted the group.
"G'day mate !. How's it goin ?" Said Ichiro with Australian accent.
"Pretty good, yourself ?"
"Can't complain. Listen, we need few taxis to get to the Sheraton hotel"
"Ah, no worries comrade, just hop into those empty taxis behind"
"By the way, are you Russian ?".
"Of course, I was born at Stalingrad !" The taxi driver exclaimed proudly. Australia is truly a multicultural country.
The trip to the hotel didn't take long, however one of the taxi drivers complained about Mr. K's gun.
"You should leave that at home, K-san…" Said Eiri.
"Never leave home without it" Mr. K exclaimed proudly and gave his gun a gentle pat as if it was a cute puppy.
"YUKI !! Look ,a kangaroo !!" Shuichi beamed and pointed at a group of kangaroos on a small park next to the road.
"Ah, you never have been to Australia eh mate ?" The taxi driver asked.
"No" Shuichi frowned.
"No wonder. Kangaroo are pests. They crossed the roads and WHAM ! cars hit them"
"….."
"That's why we have those bars in front of our car".
"Poor little kangaroo…"
"I would shoot them if they crashed into my car" Mr. K brandished his gun and sent the taxi driver panic.
After few minutes of trip, they finally arrived at the hotel. The group booked four rooms and immediately decided who sleep with whom.
"Okay, so Hiro and Ayaka-chan, Shuichi and Eiri, Sakano-san and K, Fujisaki, you're sleeping with me" Ichiro divided the room keys.
"Sounds good enough" Shuichi grabbed the key and dashed to his room.
"I hope you don't snore, Ichiro" Fujisaki chuckled.
"I don't, don't worry" Ichiro laughed and walked to his room with his luggage.
.
.
.
"King size bed… how convenient…." Eiri looked around the room.
"It's springy and comfy" Shuichi bounced around the bed.
"Shu-chan… it's going to be fun tonight…" Eiri smirked and pulled a pair of handcuffs from his pocket.
"….." Shuichi whimpered.
.
.
.
"King size bed…. A.. Are we going to sleep together ?" Fujisaki blinked.
"Eh ? Why not ?. You don't trash around in the sleep, don't you ?" Asked Ichiro.
"Not as far as I know"
"Now, Fujisaki, do you have a sample of Tohma's signature and his bank account number ?" Ichiro asked with a dark smile on his lips.
"Of course I have" Fujisaki smirked. The two works on their evil plan.
The End of Chapter 7.