A/N: Response time!

Worstwitch1998, that's quite interesting! Now I'm tempted to try that delicacy myself.

Gs33022, possibilities are being considered! I know that this chapter, given its destination, may seem a little canon-repetitive, but this trip will get more original later on, I promise. In fact, it is going to lead to two major plot points, one of which probably will be much more obvious than the other when they turn up in future chapters. (And yes, the half-office was the inspiration for the upside-down hallway. Like everyone behind the making of the movie, I can't picture Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka having any normal spaces in his factory. I just can't.)

Mr. Wonka beckoned the two children inside. "Indeed, it is I. Welcome!"

Both Charlie and Violet followed his gesture and entered the main foyer. Charlie, for one, could not stop looking at Mr. Wonka and grinning from ear to ear.

As he glanced, Charlie found himself recalling an old memory. For some reason, perhaps the tiny but noticeable smile, Mr. Wonka was reminding Charlie subtly of his late father.

Charlie was scarcely five years old. He was sitting at the desk in his room, the door to it wide open to circulate what little heat there was around the shack. He was almost done coloring in a picture of chocolate-flavored toothpaste, when he heard the front door open and slam shut in the main area.

Charlie perked up. He filled in what little color was left quickly, snatched the paper, and rushed into the main room with it. "Daddy!"

Mr. Bucket had just finished hugging his wife upon arriving home from work. Hearing his son's sweet voice, he exchanged pleasantries with him as well.

"Say, what has my little ray of sunshine been up to after nursery?" Mr. Bucket asked cheerfully, pointing to Charlie's sheet of paper. The grandparents started looking at it, too.

Charlie held up the paper. True to expectations for his age, the drawing wasn't very high quality, but the rectangular shape with brown and white patterns still could be made out. "I've been drawing and coloring a tube of chocolate-flavored toothpaste!" He grinned, revealing that he was missing one of his bottom front primary teeth. "You'd love to make it at work, wouldn't you, Daddy?"

Mr. Bucket giggled nervously. "Oh, son, I don't make toothpaste; I just screw the caps onto tubes that have been filled. Still, I love it! Why don't you show your grandparents?"

Charlie turned towards the grandparents' bed, taking a few tiny steps so that he was closer to it. When they saw the drawing, they were impressed, too.

"Oh, my!" cheered Grandma Josephine. "It looks like a chocolate bar that's about fit to eat!" Of course, this compliment was an exaggeration with well meaning, such is common with an encouraging family, as an ordinary five-year-old was certainly no Rembrandt. Still, it was clever to her and to everybody else that Charlie had the inspiration to come up with such an idea.

"You still have the Wonka bar from last month fresh on your mind, eh, Charlie?" Grandpa Joe remarked. It had been a birthday present, of course, and Charlie was starting to long for the ability to consume the treat more often. To preserve his innocence, his parents hadn't yet broken that this poverty-stricken lifestyle wasn't normal for a family living in a developed country in the twentieth century, so Charlie had accepted the simple explanation that Wonka chocolate bars wouldn't be special anymore if they were everyday treats—he would have something to get him excited this way.

Charlie nodded emphatically. "I love Wonka bars, and toothpaste comes in different flavors, so putting a chocolate flavor in toothpaste would be great!"

Mr. Bucket smiled meekly in a way that was resembling how Mr. Wonka was smiling as the present-day Charlie was looking at him. "Well, son, there's nothing that I can do about that—as I've said, I don't actually make toothpaste—but maybe you could go into the engineering department of sorts and make that yourself when you grow up! I would be first in line to test!"

Grandpa George gave him a doubtful look that warned, Be realistic, John; it would take much more than we can afford for Charlie to get that position. He'll be lucky to get into university. Mr. Bucket just responded with a wink to this nonverbal talk.

"What's engineering?" Charlie asked.

Mrs. Bucket, who had just walked into the vicinity from rinsing their supper, overheard the entire conversation. "It means being creative enough to set your own ideas upon the world." Upon seeing the drawing for herself, she added, "Oh, that is such a nice picture! No wonder your father was thrilled!"

Charlie looked around at his parents and grandparents, all still smiling at him. He grinned further in sheer delight. "Well, I'm going to go put this with the rest!" he declared. He walked back into his room and placed the sheet of paper on top of a pile of other colored-in drawings.

Suddenly, the present-day Charlie felt an abrupt, hard tap on his left shoulder. "Hello? Hello? Earth to Charlie!" He could hear Violet's demanding voice beside him.

He snapped back to the present quickly. Thankfully, his mind hadn't been wandering for more than a minute. Mr. Wonka was still in greeting mode.

"Oh, uh…I'm sorry," he told Mr. Wonka awkwardly. "It's just that the smile you were giving me made me think of the one that my dad used to give my whole family when he came home from work. You have about the same hair color, too." Per formal greeting etiquette, Mr. Wonka had removed his top hat briefly, and Charlie could see the curls of Mr. Wonka's unruly hair. The style was far from matching, but the color was resemblant of Mr. Bucket's.

"Oh, not at all," Mr. Wonka assured. "This is a compliment to me."

The two had just briefly met, but Violet could notice that Mr. Wonka was showing Charlie much more of a genuine sincerity than to her. First impressions, maybe?

"Anyway," Mr. Wonka snapped his fingers, "we must press on! We have so much time and so little to do!" Immediately, he corrected himself in the same manner that Violet had seen earlier, "Wait a minute…strike that. Reverse it.", finger twiddles, and all. Okay, now she knew that he definitely did that on purpose that time, almost certainly as his shtick.

"Come along, please!" he continued jovially, leading the children to the hand-shaped coat hooks. "If you could just hang up your coats, hats, and the rest over here."

Charlie stared at them for a moment. Smiling, he remarked, "Boy, these sure are strange!"

Violet gave him a side glance. "You think? These freaky things are practically alive! They'll snatch your coat right out of your fingertips!"

Charlie gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

Violet groaned and rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll show you." She proceeded to take off her outer gear and place it on one of the thumbs. It closed instantly. Charlie flinched in surprise.

"See? I told you that they were freaky! Mr. Wonka has no sense of normal tastes at all!" Mr. Wonka himself was within earshot, but Violet paid that fact no heed.

Charlie smiled. "And that's not bad!"

Mr. Wonka perked up on hearing this, while the duo still had their backs turned. Could Charlie possibly be the nice, creative, humble kid he had been seeking? I know that it has been mere minutes so far, Mr. Wonka thought, but if this boy behaves just as well throughout today as he has been doing, then I just might have my answer. First impressions always count.

Violet was baffled by Charlie's blatant willingness to accept the quirky styles so far. Was he that much of a Wonka fanatic just to go with everything related to him?

Charlie followed Violet's lead and removed his coat, hat, and scarf. He braced himself for the clamp, being extra careful not to put his fingers in the way.

Once finished, the children turned towards Mr. Wonka expectantly. "What do we do now, Mr. Wonka?" Charlie asked politely, smiling.

Now that Mr. Wonka had a full, frontal view of both children without their coats on, he couldn't help but notice a stark contrast in their attire. Charlie's navy blue turtleneck sweater and grayish-brown trousers were sharply different than Violet's cobalt blue pantsuit and red belt. It was as if the children were accidentally showing their financial statuses. While today certainly wasn't planned in advance, it looked as if the middle-class Violet had dressed appropriately for a formal occasion, while the poor Charlie had gone with what simple but adequate clothing he had that was affordable.

"Ah, yes! Now that your outer vestments are in hand, we'll begin!" Mr. Wonka answered finally.

Violet turned to look back at the hooks. In hand? Yeah, that was an awful pun.

"This way, please!" Mr. Wonka led Charlie and Violet away from the foyer.

They came to a translucent door that had a dial lock on it. It reminded Violet of the lockers that she had used the last few years that she had attended school in Montana, only this lock had a disorderly jumble of letters, numbers, and English-language symbols on it.

"99…44…100 percent pure," Mr. Wonka recited out loud as he spun the combination. When he opened the door, a converging corridor with a pattern like zebra fur could be seen.

"Come on in!" he invited, stepping inside. "I have to let you know, though, that anything major that you are about to see today must be kept confidential. I already have omitted any and all production facilities from the list of allowed rooms so that their secrets can be kept safely with me, but I also want to avoid free advertising about the safe zones. I've sure you've heard about my espionage problem from years ago, so I find it better to be safe than sorry."

"I understand, Mr. Wonka!" Charlie grinned as he and Violet stepped inside the eccentric corridor. "My Grandpa Joe told me all about it. It sounded really saddening."

Mr. Wonka closed the door. Turning to Charlie, he said, "Violet told me that you don't exactly get to eat my creations despite wanting to do so. Is that correct?"

Charlie frowned. "Yes, unfortunately."

"Well, then, I have picked just the room to show you!" Mr. Wonka replied with glee, turning Charlie to face the door that they had just entered. "In there, you can gorge to your heart's content!"

Suddenly, they could hear a noisy PAT! PAT! PAT! PAT! sound coming from behind them. Mr. Wonka turned to look. Violet had reached the end of the tiny corridor and was standing in the converged space, slapping hard on the walls. "Hey, Mr. Wonka!" she called out angrily, "How the heck do you get through this thing? It's a dead end!"

Mr. Wonka staged a puzzled expression. "Dead end? Oh, I beg to differ! The door is right here. We can get out of here in a cinch." He gestured towards the door, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

Violet stepped out of the converged space and walked back to the middle of the room. She put her hands on her hips. "Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Wonka! That was the entrance! You'll just lead us into the foyer again!" Charlie turned his head to see her as she started to speak.

Without looking, Mr. Wonka pushed open the door. "Are you sure about that?" Instantly, Charlie and Violet could see that the door now led into a hallway with a lot of doors. Mr. Wonka looked at the new view. "It looks like the exit to me!"

Both children stood with their mouths wide open in surprise. Violet had the misfortune of having her gum balanced on her tongue when she saw the spectacle, so the sudden downward sloping of her tongue's surface made the wad tumble down quickly to her lips. She caught it just in time and pushed it back in before it fell out of her mouth altogether. Okay, as much as she was so done with Mr. Wonka's architectural schemes, she had to admit that that was pretty good.

"How did you DO that?!" Charlie asked, astonished.

Mr. Wonka smiled at him. "Magic!"

"Really?"

"No, but I might tell you someday!" He gave the boy's hair a friendly stroke.

Mr. Wonka led the children down the new corridor, towards the door at the very end. "Well, this room is just beyond that door over there!" he announced, pointing with his cane. As he approached the door, Charlie and Violet could see something else that was rather confusing. It appeared as if Mr. Wonka was getting bigger with each step!

"Oh, I've seen this trick in a photograph!" Violet informed Charlie. "The hallway decreases in size gradually enough to trick your brain into not noticing, and then the person on the shrunken end looks like a giant. Of course, now I know the door's size."

Mr. Wonka, now squatting down, beckoned them over. They walked down to him and also had to squat and lean forward. I surely am glad it's daytime!, Violet thought to herself.

"How can you possibly get through there, Mr. Wonka?" she asked rather rudely.

Mr. Wonka flipped down a tiny keyboard that had been embedded inside the door. "Simple. I unlock it with music!" With grace, he played a smooth, four-second excerpt of classical music.

"It's a sample of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro," he clarified.

"It's beautiful!" Charlie commented. "I love it!"

"If music be the food of love, play on." Mr. Wonka turned the doorknob as he said this, enabling the door to increase gradually in size until it was of normal proportions.

Finally, it got big enough for the trio to step through. They emerged onto a ground-level balcony, and what should they see beyond but an entire candy-made replica of a riverbank field. There were trees with large candies growing on them, mushrooms covered in frosting, gigantic lollipops growing out of the ground, and, most prominently, an entire chocolate river that crashed down a waterfall, flowed along the ground, and disappeared into a dark tunnel.

Charlie and Violet just stared in wonder. Charlie, who was standing right next to Mr. Wonka, turned to him and asked, "Wow, did you make this entire room yourself?"

Mr. Wonka smiled and used his cane to point directly at all of the scenery ahead.「はい。とてもきれいです、ね。」 he responded.

Charlie was confused. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wonka?"

Mr. Wonka put his cane down. "To answer your question, Charlie, yes, I did indeed create the entirety of this room. What do you think of it?"

"Oh, I think it's wonderful! So, you really can eat this stuff, like you said?"

Mr. Wonka nodded. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, try anything you'd like!"

At further gesturing, both Charlie and Violet headed off of the ground balcony and into the room proper. Charlie practically dashed towards a giant ball full of melted chocolate that was first in sight, while Violet headed over to a field of gigantic lollipops. She took out her gum and stuck it behind her right ear temporarily as she approached a lollipop and took a few quick licks. On Mr. Wonka's part, he walked down to the banks of the chocolate river to sit down and relax.

The children were having so much fun that they spent nearly an hour apart from each other, just exploring the room. Their only warnings were to leave whatever spaces they visited tidy and not to decimate any one area, both of which were followed without a problem. Charlie especially was having the time of his life. Outside of annual Wonka bars, these were his first candies ever, and they were every bit as delectable as he had imagined.

Eventually, he made his way over to Mr. Wonka, who was drinking out of a buttercup that he had walked over to pick from a bush at one point before heading back to the riverbank. Over here, the smell of melted chocolate was quite strong, and it didn't take Charlie a second to guess what the liquid in the river actually was. Violet, meanwhile, was busy with a tree of giant gummi bears far behind them.

Charlie kneeled down to Mr. Wonka. "Is this river really made of melted chocolate, Mr. Wonka? It smells like it. Anyway, it's lovely!"

Mr. Wonka smiled. "I was hoping you'd notice. The chocolate in that river is the real deal from all of my products that have chocolate in them. In fact, the waterfall is what churns it up. That's why no other brand tastes quite like mine. The pipes that you can see scattered about suck up the chocolate and carry it to different rooms for processing."

Charlie was now looking at the waterfall, absolutely mesmerized.

"But you are sworn to confidentiality on this," Mr. Wonka clarified. "You may tell your folks about this room, but not about the river."

"Oh, I understand!" said Charlie, nodding.

Mr. Wonka produced a mug from a waistcoat pocket and stood up. "Normally, I wouldn't let anyone touch the river because they might contaminate the chocolate that's headed for the shops, but I think I might let you have a quick sip. You'd like that, wouldn't you? You look like you've needed a bit of luck, and I know that you rarely get to have chocolate. Violet told me."

"Oh, yes, please!" Charlie answered enthusiastically.

Mr. Wonka knelt down, scooped up a little bit of the river into the mug, and handed it to Charlie. "I wash my kitchen utensils religiously. A fifth of a liter in an enclosed space that was never touched with the hands won't hurt."

Charlie drank the entire mug rapidly. The sample was gone in fifteen seconds. He wiped his lower lip and handed the empty mug back to Mr. Wonka. "That was delicious!"

"Thank you!" Mr. Wonka tucked the mug back behind his coat.

"You're welcome!"

Just then, a camouflaged door in the rock quarry behind the river began to open, and a few Oompa-Loompas came out with a wheelbarrow, an open tube, and a pitcher. Another emerged carrying a giant bag of sugar on his back.

"Hey, Mr. Wonka, who are they?" Charlie asked.

"Oompa-Loompas," Mr. Wonka answered. "They help me with the confectionary."

The Oompa-Loompa who was rolling the wheelbarrow looked up after settling it and noticed Charlie standing by Mr. Wonka. The little man shifted an eyebrow in puzzlement. He had heard about an adolescent girl moving into the factory for temporary accommodation (although he never actually had met her; most of them hadn't), but not about anybody else. What was going on?

"Hi, Denji!" Mr. Wonka called across the river. He used his hands to indicate Charlie. "This is Charlie. Violet brought him over just for today."

"What are you doing?" Charlie called over.

"It's time to put a little more cream and sugar into the river," Denji answered. "You'll get to watch the process start right now. We don't mind."

Violet, feeling about full, saw everyone else by the chocolate river and headed over to them, clutching a giant, orange gummi bear that was about half-eaten under one arm. Denji and a few of the other Oompa-Loompas took glances at her and then turned to Mr. Wonka as if questioning.

"Oh, and this is Violet," Mr. Wonka told them, placing his hands on her shoulders for identification. "She's the one whom some of the others told you was staying here for now."

Denji gave Mr. Wonka a thumbs up.

The Oompa-Loompas in charge of the sugaring tore open a corner of the bag of sugar and proceeded to pour it into the wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow was then tipped towards the river, letting the sugar flow gradually out of one corner. Charlie and Violet could see the sugar disperse into the river and dissolve. At the same time, the rest of the Oompa-Loompas poured some cream from the pitcher and down the slide until it emptied into the river, and the cream also dispersed and dissolved. The process was then done three more times before the Oompa-Loompas disappeared back into the rock quarry. Over the routine, Mr. Wonka explained the Oompa-Loompas' backstory to Charlie.

After they left, Charlie spotted the depth of the tunnel where the river vanished. "Where does that tunnel go, Mr. Wonka?" he asked, pointing to it.

"Oh, I've designated that as off-limits," Mr. Wonka answered. "It provides quick transportation by boat to a specific room of the factory, but that room, where everything that I sell is first created, is so critically important that Slugworth would resort to anything to get in there. I do, however, have another mode of transportation available ubiquitously to go elsewhere."

"May we use it?" asked Charlie. "I'd love to see more!"

"Certainly!" Mr. Wonka turned to Violet. "Are you ready to see something else?"

Violet nodded. "I'm full, though. May I take the gummi bear with me?" She held it out. Everything from the arms up was gone.

"No, you'll have to leave that here. I will be happy to take it for you."

Violet grumbled but handed it over, although it was more like she was shoving it to him, and then reached behind her ear to get her gum back into her mouth once both of her arms were free. Mr. Wonka set the gummi bear aside near a coconut cream mushroom and walked to the side of the river opposite the tunnel. The two children followed him.

He brushed aside a bit of dense, green foliage (glazed in sugar, appropriately) that had been hiding a translucent door, pressing a button next to it afterwards.

"You're going to be wild about this little contraption of mine!" Mr. Wonka said to Charlie. "You can go anywhere in the factory in it, anywhere at all!"

With a Ding! sound a moment later, the translucent door opened to reveal the Wonkavator. Mr. Wonka then opened the contraption's own door. Rungdin was not in the Wonkavator, as Mr. Wonka had informed him of the pending guest and said that he himself would monitor Charlie and Violet inside for the whole trip.

Mr. Wonka entered, beckoning the two inside. They followed, Charlie awestruck.

A/N: "If music be the food of love, play on." is a quote from William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Mr. Wonka's Japanese remark, converted to Latin letters, was "Hai. Totemo kirei desu, ne?" Actually translated, he said, "Yes. It's very beautiful, isn't it?" I'm not at all fluent in Japanese—I know only English and Spanish—but I can read some Japanese writing (specifically, the hiragana characters) phonetically, even if I have absolutely no clue what it's saying, and I do know a very, very small handful of beginning phrases. In this case, I had to enter the quote into Google Translate and hope that my result was accurate.