AN: Ok, things are finally getting back in shape. Got a new car ( A very pretty 2004 Nissan Sentra 1.8s with 6 speakers! ) which is going to take awhile to get used to, but not too long considering I only drove the last car a total of 2 times. I apologize once again for the chapter being so late and also for it being so....boring. x.x; I tried really, but since it's still in the basic introduction stage of the story I can't make it entertaining, especially without the rest of the main characters. Don't worry though; Chapter 3 brings Kagome to meeting up with the others so the story will start moving nicer. I just hope this chapter isn't so bad that it makes you want to not read the next one.
Chocolate Wishes
Chapter 2 – Questions
What would you do when you won a contest? Scream? Tell everyone you know?
Well this didn't seem like the time to do any of those. Screaming would probably make your whole neighborhood think you're being murdered.
To tell Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi would ensure a swift death after all the pain of not being able to win they went through plus your 'You have a 1 in 3 billion chance of winning attitude you gave them the day before. Oh and don't forget your embarrassing display of having a wrapper that said to try again.
Now that I figured out that all I could do was sit on my bed and stare at the label in my hands while trying to think of what the catch to this contest could possibly be. Was there some type of unanswerable question that I had to answer? When they said expense free, did they really mean expense free? Would all the winners go on a trip together or would they all have separate trips?
What did I do to ease my mind of all the confusion? Simple, I turned on my computer and did some research on the internet.
Nothing, absolutely no flaws whatsoever. This whole trip was beginning to sound like a dream.
I thought for a few minutes before sneaking out of my house and finding the closest telephone booth. I didn't want the company to trace the phone line to my house if there really was something annoying about the trip.
I read the front of the label and dialed the number of the company. It rang about 10 times before a person picked up.
"Hello, this is the CC factory questions and comment line, how may I help you?"
"Can I speak to the manager of the Chrisp Chocolate bar contest?"
I heard a sigh, "Listen, no you can't pay us off and get a copy of the winning seal. It's against regulations plus what would happen if the real fourth winner appeared?"
"Uh, I wasn't going to ask that."
"Oh . . . Well then please tell me what you'd like to say. I'm very busy at the moment and I don't have much time."
"Ok I only have a few questions. First off if you find the seal, do you automatically win or is there some kind of test you have to do?"
"Automatic. The company figured that since there were only 4 winning labels that they might as well use the money invested in the contest to give prizes to the winners for once."
I suppressed a laugh at the 'for once' and continued to talk. "Alright. Second, do all the winners go on separate trips or do they all share one."
"It's a share. See, if we let someone go to China and another wanted to go two blocks away from there house, people would think that the company would be trying to rip of some of the winners. Also the winners are wanted to do a little bit of promotional advertising while on the trip. Only twice so it's not too bad."
"Is it really anywhere in the world?"
"Yup, the company decided that once they got all the winners, they would discuss to them that they all needed to share the trip and pick the ideas of what each person wanted and figure out a place that would have all the attributes of the chosen ideas. We have a lot of connections to resorts so it won't be too hard."
I was beginning to get pretty hyper. Only one last question left before I decided if I gave the label to Yuka, since it had been her free chocolate bar in the first place, or that I went on this trip spent money to my hearts desire. "Is it really expense free?"
"Well, not exactly."
I felt like a deflated balloon, "Oh."
"You see, the company only invested a million dollars into this contest so they split the money for each winner. Each person would have a quarter million dollars to spend subtract airfare to get to the resort and subtract the resort cost oh and also the cost of food, service, and transportation while on the trip so I'd say that each winner has only 2 hundred thousand dollars to spend with a restriction that they can't buy a house or car or their own condo at whatever place they're staying. We had to put a limit somewhere."
That took a minute to process before I let out a whoop and started to dance in the phone booth.
"Miss? Are you alright? Miss?"
I put the phone up to my ear but that didn't take the goofy grin I had on my face away. "Thanks for the information, remind me to buy you a souvenir 'cause I'm about to go on a quarter million dollar trip!"
I sat in the cafeteria waiting for Eri, Yuka and Ayumi to show up. I had pretty much scared away every else I had seen today because of the grin that I still had on my face since last night.
I was getting really impatient. I hadn't told them that I had won yet, actually the only people who did know were the company, my mother, brother, grandpa, and myself. Yes I knew that they were probably going to skin me alive when they heard the news but the trip was worth it.
"Hey, Kagome!"
"Yo! It's about time you 3 showed up, there's something I wanted to tell you."
"Sorry Kag," Ayumi said sheepishly, "we got distracted by the TV crew outside the front doors."
I blinked, "TV crew?"
Yuka nodded while rambling, "Yeah it's so cool! I heard they were here to find the last winner in the contest. They said that the person called in last night and lives in this prefecture."
"Oh . . . SHIT" I said before jumping out of my seat. I was going to be hounded by crazy reporters that probably wanted to ask weird questions like 'Did you wear lucky underwear when you read the label?'
"Kagome are you alright?"
I turned to Eri while forcing a smile, "Oh I'm alright. I was just thinking about how the reporters would know that the winner was in this school or even what the looked like."
"Hm good point"
I mentally smacked myself. Here I was waiting to tell them about me winning the contest and now I was practically trying to run away.
"Kagome Higurashi, please come to the front office, Kagome Higurashi."
Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi looked at me. "What did you do Kag?"
"Uhm . . . Listen guys," I said nervously while inching away, "Don't get mad but . . . I won-Oh I better hurry to the office! Don't want to make them wait!" With that I ran for my life down the hall as I could see their stunned faces in my mind. I winced also as it switched to angry faces when I heard them call my name rather loudly a minute later.
"Mrs. Wakuzara what did I get called down for?" I said while glancing out the office windows to see if Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka were there yet to glare at me.
"Ah yes, Miss Higurashi. Someone is here to see you. She's in the 2nd conference room because it seems like you two will be talking for awhile."
"Thanks"
I walked through the front office to the hallway where the school council conference rooms were, inwardly relieved that they were directly connected to the office so I didn't have to risk going down the normal hallways.
I pushed open the door to the 2nd room and poked my head in. Sitting in one of the chairs at the long table was a lady. Her hair was done up in a bun and she seemed to be falling asleep.
"Hello?"
She instantly sat straight up and turned towards me. "Miss Higurashi I presume?"
"Yes,"
"Hello," she said smiling slightly, "I'm Kagura Mitsusumi. I'm glad that you got here before the reporters outside found you. There seems to have been a leak at the factory so I was followed here by them this morning. Anyways, I'm here to answer any questions you have about the contest. In exchange, I'm going to be asking what you would like for this trip to be enjoyable and memorable."
"Oh," I replied blankly, "Wow that sounded really we rehearsed."
She laughed but held an air of seriousness around her. "Please sit down, this'll probably take awhile."
"First question 'cause I had all night yesterday to think of more questions to ask to the company," I said taking a seat across from her, "Who are the people I'm vacationing with?"
"That I can't say at the moment, though, on the first day of your trip you will meet them at a promotional event in Okinawa. That reminds me to give you the plane ticket to get there."
I took the ticket from her hand, "So from Okinawa are we going to take a plane to where ever we're going?"
"Yes, during the event we will announce the winners of the contest and then give you the tickets for a private jet which will take you to the closest airport to the resort you'll be staying at. You do have a driver's license correct?"
I nodded, "I only use it for ID though."
"That's alright, I'm just making sure because the airport is going to have a rental car for you, including the others, to drive."
"Are you saying we get our own cars?"
"No, you'll all be sharing one. I might as well tell you now that even though this is a free vacation, you do need to be with the other winners and please try to get along. You don't have to be with them every minute of the day but the company's idea was for random people from different areas to win and show that they can get along well."
"Don't worry, I'm going to need a few friends while I'm there anyways in case the friends I have now somehow find a way to reach me and try to kill me for winning," I smiled.
"Well then I'll just go over a few more things with you and you can ask any questions that come to mind as we go along. We're running out of time and I'm not sure how the media is doing outside. For all I know they could be crawling through the air vents listening to me as I speak now."
"No I think they're more likely to be staring through the window repeating 'draw the curtains, draw the curtains, draw the curtains'."
AN: R&R? Sure you can rest and relax but maybe you can read and review also, though, if you're reading this now you probably did read the chapter. Well, remember that I'm sorry that this chapter was boring! ( Seriously I beat myself up over this chapter being so dull that I even noticed my sad attempts at humor to keep myself typing. )
Chocolate Wishes
Chapter 2 – Questions
What would you do when you won a contest? Scream? Tell everyone you know?
Well this didn't seem like the time to do any of those. Screaming would probably make your whole neighborhood think you're being murdered.
To tell Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi would ensure a swift death after all the pain of not being able to win they went through plus your 'You have a 1 in 3 billion chance of winning attitude you gave them the day before. Oh and don't forget your embarrassing display of having a wrapper that said to try again.
Now that I figured out that all I could do was sit on my bed and stare at the label in my hands while trying to think of what the catch to this contest could possibly be. Was there some type of unanswerable question that I had to answer? When they said expense free, did they really mean expense free? Would all the winners go on a trip together or would they all have separate trips?
What did I do to ease my mind of all the confusion? Simple, I turned on my computer and did some research on the internet.
Nothing, absolutely no flaws whatsoever. This whole trip was beginning to sound like a dream.
I thought for a few minutes before sneaking out of my house and finding the closest telephone booth. I didn't want the company to trace the phone line to my house if there really was something annoying about the trip.
I read the front of the label and dialed the number of the company. It rang about 10 times before a person picked up.
"Hello, this is the CC factory questions and comment line, how may I help you?"
"Can I speak to the manager of the Chrisp Chocolate bar contest?"
I heard a sigh, "Listen, no you can't pay us off and get a copy of the winning seal. It's against regulations plus what would happen if the real fourth winner appeared?"
"Uh, I wasn't going to ask that."
"Oh . . . Well then please tell me what you'd like to say. I'm very busy at the moment and I don't have much time."
"Ok I only have a few questions. First off if you find the seal, do you automatically win or is there some kind of test you have to do?"
"Automatic. The company figured that since there were only 4 winning labels that they might as well use the money invested in the contest to give prizes to the winners for once."
I suppressed a laugh at the 'for once' and continued to talk. "Alright. Second, do all the winners go on separate trips or do they all share one."
"It's a share. See, if we let someone go to China and another wanted to go two blocks away from there house, people would think that the company would be trying to rip of some of the winners. Also the winners are wanted to do a little bit of promotional advertising while on the trip. Only twice so it's not too bad."
"Is it really anywhere in the world?"
"Yup, the company decided that once they got all the winners, they would discuss to them that they all needed to share the trip and pick the ideas of what each person wanted and figure out a place that would have all the attributes of the chosen ideas. We have a lot of connections to resorts so it won't be too hard."
I was beginning to get pretty hyper. Only one last question left before I decided if I gave the label to Yuka, since it had been her free chocolate bar in the first place, or that I went on this trip spent money to my hearts desire. "Is it really expense free?"
"Well, not exactly."
I felt like a deflated balloon, "Oh."
"You see, the company only invested a million dollars into this contest so they split the money for each winner. Each person would have a quarter million dollars to spend subtract airfare to get to the resort and subtract the resort cost oh and also the cost of food, service, and transportation while on the trip so I'd say that each winner has only 2 hundred thousand dollars to spend with a restriction that they can't buy a house or car or their own condo at whatever place they're staying. We had to put a limit somewhere."
That took a minute to process before I let out a whoop and started to dance in the phone booth.
"Miss? Are you alright? Miss?"
I put the phone up to my ear but that didn't take the goofy grin I had on my face away. "Thanks for the information, remind me to buy you a souvenir 'cause I'm about to go on a quarter million dollar trip!"
I sat in the cafeteria waiting for Eri, Yuka and Ayumi to show up. I had pretty much scared away every else I had seen today because of the grin that I still had on my face since last night.
I was getting really impatient. I hadn't told them that I had won yet, actually the only people who did know were the company, my mother, brother, grandpa, and myself. Yes I knew that they were probably going to skin me alive when they heard the news but the trip was worth it.
"Hey, Kagome!"
"Yo! It's about time you 3 showed up, there's something I wanted to tell you."
"Sorry Kag," Ayumi said sheepishly, "we got distracted by the TV crew outside the front doors."
I blinked, "TV crew?"
Yuka nodded while rambling, "Yeah it's so cool! I heard they were here to find the last winner in the contest. They said that the person called in last night and lives in this prefecture."
"Oh . . . SHIT" I said before jumping out of my seat. I was going to be hounded by crazy reporters that probably wanted to ask weird questions like 'Did you wear lucky underwear when you read the label?'
"Kagome are you alright?"
I turned to Eri while forcing a smile, "Oh I'm alright. I was just thinking about how the reporters would know that the winner was in this school or even what the looked like."
"Hm good point"
I mentally smacked myself. Here I was waiting to tell them about me winning the contest and now I was practically trying to run away.
"Kagome Higurashi, please come to the front office, Kagome Higurashi."
Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi looked at me. "What did you do Kag?"
"Uhm . . . Listen guys," I said nervously while inching away, "Don't get mad but . . . I won-Oh I better hurry to the office! Don't want to make them wait!" With that I ran for my life down the hall as I could see their stunned faces in my mind. I winced also as it switched to angry faces when I heard them call my name rather loudly a minute later.
"Mrs. Wakuzara what did I get called down for?" I said while glancing out the office windows to see if Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka were there yet to glare at me.
"Ah yes, Miss Higurashi. Someone is here to see you. She's in the 2nd conference room because it seems like you two will be talking for awhile."
"Thanks"
I walked through the front office to the hallway where the school council conference rooms were, inwardly relieved that they were directly connected to the office so I didn't have to risk going down the normal hallways.
I pushed open the door to the 2nd room and poked my head in. Sitting in one of the chairs at the long table was a lady. Her hair was done up in a bun and she seemed to be falling asleep.
"Hello?"
She instantly sat straight up and turned towards me. "Miss Higurashi I presume?"
"Yes,"
"Hello," she said smiling slightly, "I'm Kagura Mitsusumi. I'm glad that you got here before the reporters outside found you. There seems to have been a leak at the factory so I was followed here by them this morning. Anyways, I'm here to answer any questions you have about the contest. In exchange, I'm going to be asking what you would like for this trip to be enjoyable and memorable."
"Oh," I replied blankly, "Wow that sounded really we rehearsed."
She laughed but held an air of seriousness around her. "Please sit down, this'll probably take awhile."
"First question 'cause I had all night yesterday to think of more questions to ask to the company," I said taking a seat across from her, "Who are the people I'm vacationing with?"
"That I can't say at the moment, though, on the first day of your trip you will meet them at a promotional event in Okinawa. That reminds me to give you the plane ticket to get there."
I took the ticket from her hand, "So from Okinawa are we going to take a plane to where ever we're going?"
"Yes, during the event we will announce the winners of the contest and then give you the tickets for a private jet which will take you to the closest airport to the resort you'll be staying at. You do have a driver's license correct?"
I nodded, "I only use it for ID though."
"That's alright, I'm just making sure because the airport is going to have a rental car for you, including the others, to drive."
"Are you saying we get our own cars?"
"No, you'll all be sharing one. I might as well tell you now that even though this is a free vacation, you do need to be with the other winners and please try to get along. You don't have to be with them every minute of the day but the company's idea was for random people from different areas to win and show that they can get along well."
"Don't worry, I'm going to need a few friends while I'm there anyways in case the friends I have now somehow find a way to reach me and try to kill me for winning," I smiled.
"Well then I'll just go over a few more things with you and you can ask any questions that come to mind as we go along. We're running out of time and I'm not sure how the media is doing outside. For all I know they could be crawling through the air vents listening to me as I speak now."
"No I think they're more likely to be staring through the window repeating 'draw the curtains, draw the curtains, draw the curtains'."
AN: R&R? Sure you can rest and relax but maybe you can read and review also, though, if you're reading this now you probably did read the chapter. Well, remember that I'm sorry that this chapter was boring! ( Seriously I beat myself up over this chapter being so dull that I even noticed my sad attempts at humor to keep myself typing. )