The Miracle of a Courageous Light.
Welcome to the Manor.
That night, after the children had packed away their farewell gifts from there friends and cleaned up the rest of the house, the two younger Yagami's slept through till mid-morning.
The silence of the house was woken by the sharp sound of Hikari's cell phone.
"Hello?" Hikari answered, sleepily.
"Hika, it's Aiko. The Authorities will be over to pick you and Taichi up in half hour. Your journey to Europe begins today. Of course, you're going to be in care for the next two days." She said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible.
"Thanks Aiko. We'll see you then." Hikari hung up the phone and swung her legs out over the bed. She stood up stretching and went out of her room to wake her brother.
The two washed, dressed and then sat down to wait, luggage at hand.
A car arrived soon after and took them to a run down house near the Tokyo airport. It was going to be a long two days…
"Flight 371, Tokyo to Rome will be departing in one hour. Please make your way to departure lounge 'D'. Flight 371 to…"
"Well, that's our call Hika." The two siblings got up from their seats and made their way to their departure lounge.
"I'm scared Taichi. Is this…"
"The right thing to do?" Taichi finished "Yes, it's what mom and dad wanted and we're going to do everything we can to make them happy." Hikari smiled and they carried on walking.
The departure lounge seemed to be full of children and teenagers, some younger than Hikari.
'These must be students.' Taichi thought. There were hardly any parental figures around.
"All new students of Woodland Manor please report to the departure desk please." Came a booming voice throughout the lounge.
"I guess that's us Taichi." Hikari whispered. They walked over to a large desk in the corner of the room, following the other students.
"Good morning. My name is Mel Freeman. I'm one of the schools student advisors. I'm going to be taking you back to the manor." She said smiling. She was a petite, tanned woman who looked around her late twenties. She had cropped dark hair that cut just below her jaw. "Before we board, please remember that you are now Manor students and all actions from now on represent the school. All I'm asking is that you behave. Please hand over your passports." There was a quick rush of hands as the students all handed the passports forward and passed through the departure gate and made their way onto the plane.
Once everyone was in their seats the flight attendants began their safety speeches and they were off to Italy.
"Students, if I could just have your attention?" Mel was standing at the front of the plane. A countless amount of heads turned towards her voice and looked up. "The journey will take a while so I suggest you take the opportunity to rest a little in flight. Just so you know the Manor is settled in the country, just south of Rome. The weather gets particularly hot around this time of year so please make sure you are cautious. We wouldn't want you getting burned on your first day! Now, lessons begin in three days. I suggest you use this time to familiarise yourselves with students and the Manor itself." Mel went back to her seat and the talking level crept back up.
"I'm going to try and get some sleep, Hika. Wake me when we're nearly there." Taichi said as he closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the seat. Hikari smiled at her brother and turned to look out the window. Japan was moving further and further away, she smiled and closed her eyes.
"…dents, we are now approaching Rome International Airport. Please put your chairs back to the upright position. We will be landing shortly." Hikari shook her brother awake and made sure her seatbelt was firmly in place. She never really liked plane landings.
"Taichi, wake up!" She shook her brother again. His eyes flew open.
"Oh, Hika, are we here?"
"Yes, look!" She pointed out the window. There were little miniature cars and planes moving in and out of a large building. A large building that just so happened to be there next stop.
The plane landed with the usual thud-thud and getting out of the plane was done as smoothly as getting on. The students followed Mel around to the luggage department to collect their things.
Taichi and Hikari stood together waiting when a girl with long honey locks made her way over to them.
"Excuse me, but you wouldn't by any chance be Yagami Taichi, would you?" She asked timidly. She looked no more than fourteen and had long legs. She was dressed in a pink short and denim skinny fit jeans.
"Yeah…that would be me." Taichi replied slowly. "Who-wait, Mimi? Mimi Tachikawa?"
"Taichi!" Mimi cried wrapping her arms around the boy she hadn't seen in so long.
"If you're here does that mean…does that mean you'll be at the academy too?" She gasped.
"Yeah. Wait, you too?"
"My mother was suffering an abusive relationship, you know that I told you, but she…she did something bad. Now I have no one." Mimi said looking down at her feet.
"Oh Mimi, we're sorry. Our parents were in an accident." Hikari said. Thinking about it made her want to cry. She looked around, all the students here had lost there parents one way or another. They all seemed to have one thing in common though. They all had money.
Mimi pulled Hikari into a tight hug.
"It's okay Hika, I know what its like. Don't worry, we'll all look after each other." Mimi said, forcing a smile. "Oh, there's my bags." Mimi went off to get her luggage.
Once everyone had everything together Mel lead the students out to the coaches that would take them back to the Manor. The Manor was a forty minute drive from the airport.
"Well, we're here!" Mel exclaimed as the coach drove into eight foot high iron gates. The Manor was three stories high and had an authentic English look to it. It was beautiful. The students gasped at the sight.
In front of the Manor steps was a circular of grass surrounded by mini sprinkler fountains. The lawns were kept short and you cut smell the freshly cut grass.
"Welcome, students, to Woodland Manor School, Italy." Mel smiled as the coach pulled to a stop.