Hi, guys! I'm back! Sorry, I haven't uploaded for like a 3 weeks, for which I'm EXTREMELY sorry. Here is the chapter, I am updating tomorrow again 22.05.2018. and I'll be waiting for you here ^^ Please comment on how you think the story will keep going? What will happen next? And if you have any suggestions, please say them, because I've an idea of what I want to happen in the story, but I haven't decided yet about the details, so if you have any ideas, feel free to share them ^^ And guys, seriously, if there is at least one person, who enjoys this story, I want him to review, because I feel like no one really likes this story so far.
Luffy had already given the documents to his brother and was now in a taxi, which Ace had called for him. All of his brother's colleges had a shock, when they saw how wet, or more correctly, how soaked he was. There literally was a water dripping of his hoodie on the floor. Before that, the driver of the bus had wanted to put him down, only because he was wetting the seats and the floor. People were so mean these days.
Ace had told him to go home and change his clothes and that he would go to give the documents back to the principal after his shift was over. Luffy tried to say him that he wanted to do a research before that, but his talking had been stopped instantly.
Luffy puffed his lips and breathed out through his nose against the window of the car, steaming it. The boy looked at his creation. He casted a glance at the taxi driver, who wasn't paying him attention in the slightest, too busy to curse the other drivers, blocking the street traffic. Luffy looked back at the blurred glass and started drawing on it with his finger. He drew a straw-hat. And a skull with bones just like those on the pirate's flags. He liked it, though. The boy leaned back in his seat, listening to the swearing. He kept his eyes, glued on the road, watching cars and people.
The taxi pulled up at some traffic lights. The driver was impatiently drumming on the steering-wheel with his fingers. Luffy glanced at his hand. It was sweaty, leaving wet handprints on the wheel and the man's fingers looked more like grilled rissoles than fingers. The boy was able to see his face in the rear-view mirror. It was bloated with big and drooping cheeks, which were treating to capture the rest of his face and little eyes of a mouse, which right now were glaring daggers at the road. In the car was floating the heavy and suffocating smell of burgers and fries. Probably the taxi driver's usual lunch, if Luffy was right to judge by the man's enormous physique. The boy was a little bit afraid the safety belt would choke the man, but he was trying not to think so much about it.
Luffy turned his gaze back to the window, examining the pavement and the pedestrians. The people were walking hurriedly under the rain, most of them trying to protect themselves with their umbrellas, whilst there were a few like Luffy. Without jackets, without umbrellas and without hope of remaining dry. There really wasn't anything special in them. Just some strangers, some in elegant suits, others in casual clothes, walking around and passing each other.
But something caught Luffy's gaze. It was a girl with long blue hair, caught in a high ponytail. She was sitting on the stairs in front of one coffee-shop. Her shoulders were slumped forward and her head was resting between her hands. She was wearing blue, skinny jeans, black leather jacket and black high-heeled shoes. There was something in her.
The girl sensed his gaze and looked up at him. Their eyes met. She was a ghost.
The taxi set off, Luffy's gaze never leaving those icy-blue eyes. They were wide and staring intently and strenuously at his, but Luffy could see the pure surprise in them. Well, here they were becoming two. With the ceaselessly receding of the car, they were forced to break eye contact, and yet, even after the taxi had went by this street long time ago, Luffy could still feel the intensity of this gaze, of those intoxicating blue eyes. At least, one thing the boy was able to tell, was that she wasn't a demented ghost, which was something. Like, really something.
After half an hour, Luffy was drying his hair with a towel in his room. He had taken a fast shower to warm himself up, because when he had arrived at 'home', he was shivering and feeling like a drown puppy. The raven-haired boy wasn't completely sure, how does a drown a puppy feel, but he supposed it was something similar. Luffy was currently sitting on the ground in front of the glass wall.
Aside of the fact he had been scared to death by a crazy ghost last night at this same place, he really enjoyed the view here. Everything was so calming. Outside, the branches of the pines were rocking slightly and it had started raining again. What a surprise. The weather here was seriously abnormal. Right now, it was gloomy and dispiriting, when a few hours ago it had been sunny and the boy had been roasting outside.
If Luffy had to be honest, probably the grim and heavy atmosphere around here was the exact thing, soothing his nerves. Yeah, he was strange. But, hey, he could see ghosts. It wasn't his fault that he was strange in other aspects too.
Luffy finished drying his hair and threw the white towel on the ground, next to him. He wondered what to do. He needed to do a research about the town, but he didn't have a computer or a laptop. He had his phone, which he had so wisely charged, finally, but it was going to be too difficult to do it on it. The boy sighed. He didn't want to use his brother's without permission or to ask for permission in reality, so he didn't really have another option than to go to some library or something to use a computer. In the town, where he used to live, everyone paid on every hour they used the computer. He hoped that here would be something similar too.
Decision made. Luffy stood up and went to rummage in the drawers of one of the white bedside tables. He had a raincoat somewhere. The boy had an umbrella too, but it was a little bit broken and not-so-reliable.
''Found you!'' announced Luffy in triumph. He happily waved the folded raincoat in the air. The boy's face was broadened into a grin and dimples were showing on both of his cheeks. Luffy unfolded the thing. The raincoat was made of plastic. It was from those transparent, see-through raincoats, which were usually sold on stadiums and football matches. Lu had actually bought it on one. Three bucks, but probably the best spend ever. It had survived two years and a half and a looot of pouring rains. Luffy slipped it on and put the plastic hood over his head. Underneath, he was wearing another black hoodie, but with the caption 'Thousand Foot Krutch' on it in flames, and another pair of black jeans.
The boy grabbed his phone from the floor, next to the other bedside table, and went out of his room to the bathroom. The bathroom was pretty big and it had a room connected to it with a washing machine and a dry-house. This was probably some hint from Ace that he had to wash his own clothes. He entered the small room and went to take his cigarettes from the front pocket of his hoodie, which was in the laundry-basket. After he was done there, Luffy headed to the front door, meanwhile googling, where was the nearest public library.
At the time, he was out of the house, he had found one. It was 10-minutes away, which was nice, because outside it was raining cats and dogs.
And indeed, after 10 minutes, Luffy was in the library, trying not to completely soak the Persian carpet, covering the whole floor of the library. For a public library, this for sure was expensive. Luffy wondered how much the municipality grants it. Because aside of the Persian rugs, there too were marble columns, beginning from the carpeted floor and reaching the ceiling, along all the library. There were marble statues, here and there, the walls were painted in warm, dark red and a little bit further down the hall, where Luffy was standing now, started the enormous wooden sections, stuffed with books.
Luffy was struggling with his wet raincoat. There was a hall-stand next to him, on which the boy at first had intended to put the raincoat, but had realized the stupid thing was dripping too much water on the too expensive carpet.
"Need some help there?" And this was the second time this day, when Luffy had been asked this question. The boy looked up, only to see a beautiful, dark-haired woman, standing in front of him. He jumped up in surprise.
When did she even managed to get this close to me?
"U-u-um, the ra-a-aincoat…" stuttered out Luffy. The woman arched a perfectly defined, black eyebrow. "You can't hang it up?"
"U-u-um.."
"Here, let me help," said she kindly and took the raincoat out of Luffy's hands, before the boy could protest. She hung it up and turned back to face the nervous boy.
"I'm Nico Robin, the librarian. With what can I help you?"
Luffy cleared his throat and with a loud gulp, answered, "D-do you have a computer t-that I can use?"
"Yes, follow me."
The dark-haired woman started walking down the hall and between the innumerable light brown sections. Luffy was walking slightly behind her. Her hair was waist-long and wavy. She was tall. Like half a head or so taller than him. She was slim, but just like Nami, had enormous breasts.
Her eyes were an incredible shade of dark blue. But it wasn't the shade that was making them so alluring and mysterious. They were speaking secrets, letting a person know she knew more than she said. She was wearing a long, high-waist, dark blue skirt, which was just above her knees at the front and reaching the floor at the back, and a white, filmy shirt that was elegantly tucked in the skirt.
Luffy looked at her feet. Robin walked like a… gentlewoman. With light, but confident steps. And she had this slight, intelligent smile on her face. This was another thing that was adding a mysterious tinge to her appearance.
The Persian rugs were absorbing the majority of the sound their shoes were creating, diminishing it to a hollow rustling. Luffy didn't notice by where they were passing, being to busy to stare at Robin's feet, fascinated by her calm, but steady gait. The white, high-heeled shoes suddenly were not moving anymore and Luffy abruptly stopped, just an inch away from burring his nose in dark hair. Embarrassed, the boy stepped back just when Robin turned around to face him. There was a kind smile, slightly spreading her lips, her eyes watching him with sparks of amusement in them. Lu nervously shifted his gaze to the side.
"The computers are here, take your time. The library doesn't close till 11 o'clock. If you need something, you can some to me. Alright?" asked the woman. The raven-haired boy just nodded. Luffy looked at the few wooden tables with computers and chose one seat that looked as the most secluded one. It was at the second closest table, but the boy kind of liked the atmosphere around it. Luffy remembered that he didn't ask how to turn on the computers.
He turned around, opening his mouth to ask, but close it, when he was met with empty space. The boy looked around, but the dark-haired woman was nowhere to be found. Luffy shrugged, deciding he would try turning it on by himself. He turned around again and blinked. This exactly same computer was already working. Weird.
The boy shuddered, but nevertheless went to sit there. After he was comfortably seated in the black chair, Luffy started surfing the net. Apparently, there were three cemeteries only in radius of 2 km around their house and a hospital for mental diseases less than a kilometer away. Now this explained a lot.
REVIEW, HONS^^
