After a relatively short jet ride, Asuka, Lili and Sebastian had arrived at Dortmund Airport. As they stepped off, Asuka stretched her arms and legs wearily, while Lili tossed her hair, still fresh and vibrant.

"And now we just have to ride the limo the remaining 84 kilometres. With any luck it should take no more than an hour or so"

"Uh huh, and where exactly are you going to get this limo from?" Asuka asked sarcastically. "Your magic fairy god mother?"

Asuka heard a whirring sound behind her – inside the jet's exceptionally large storage area, alongside all the luggage, was a very long, white limousine.

"You brought the fucking limousine with you?!" Asuka cried.

"Well, of course. I don't know about you, Asuka Kazama, but I don't exactly feel like WALKING the rest of the way"

After the luggage had been loaded into the limousine, the three of them entered the vehicle, and were on their way to Attendorn.

"Chill out, Asuka Kazama, you're far too tense", Lili said. "This is supposed to be a relaxing holiday, after all"

As the limousine careened down the autobahn at 200 kilometres per hour, Asuka's fingers clinged tightly to the white leather seat she and Lili were sat on. Lili looked at her fingernails, which were drained of blood, and laughed lightly.

"You haven't been to Germany before, have you?"

"No" Asuka replied, breathing deeply. "As a matter of fact, I haven't"

"Don't worry. Everyone drives this fast on autobahns here. There's no speed limit, don't you know? It would be a lot more dangerous for us to be driving any slower"

One very tense hour later, they had arrived in Attendorn. By this point, Asuka's face was pale as moonlight; she had collapsed into exhaustion once they had turned off of the autobahn.

"Are you OK, Asuka Kazama?"

"Stop… calling me… that"

"Tell you what, let's leave the cave exploration until tomorrow", Lili said. "We'll stop off at a café – I could do with a mid-morning cup of tea, and possibly some cake"

Lili spoke into the intercom system. "Sebastian, park in this road – Kazama and I are going to stop at a local café. Meanwhile, you are to proceed to the villa and unpack our things. We will join you shortly thereafter"

Sebastian obediently parked the car, and Asuka and Lili got out. As Sebastian drove off, Asuka looked up at Lili.

"Villa? I thought we were staying in a hotel!"

"Oh heavens, no" Lili said dismissively. "My father has over a dozen summer houses all across Europe – and this'll be the first time I've made use of this one! Come on, let's go inside!"

The two of them entered the café. They sat down at a nearby table, and Lili looked at a menu to see what selection ofdrinks were available.

"Let's see... ooh, there offer some very lovely herbal teas here – I could really do with some chamomile right now. What about you, Asuka Kazama?"

Asuka sighed – she had realised that her attempts at getting Lili to not continuously refer to her by her full name were fruitless, but was no less annoyed by it despite that. "Just some milk coffee will be fine"

"Suit yourself. I shall be having some chamomile tea and a nice Bienenstich"

"Bienenwhat?"

"Bienenstich; that translates into 'bee sting cake'. It's a bit like mille-feuille"

Asuka's puzzled expression was all the response Lili needed.

"Never mind. I shall go and order our drinks – you stay here and make sure no one steals our table"

Lili rose and walked up to the counter to make their order. Asuka was beginning to regret taking up Lili's offer to go to Germany. 'Is a free trip really worth putting up with someone like her?' Asuka thought to herself.

Daydreaming from boredom, Asuka didn't notice that her left foot was sticking outwards. She was only awoken from her trance when she felt a hard thud against her ankle, and heard a harder thud shortly afterwards. She looked down, and realised that she had inadvertently tripped up a customer, alongside the papers that they had been carrying, which were strewn across the floor.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" Asuka bent down and helped the person up. She had short blonde hair and a svelte figure, and she was wearing a jacket and jeans.

"Oh, it's fine, honestly. Accidents happen" Asuka helped her pick up the papers and sort them back into a pile, which she handed back to her.

"Thanks. Say, I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you new to the area?"

"Actually, I'm a tourist"

"Ah, I see. So how are you enjoying the town so far?"

"Well, I've only just arrived, to be honest, so I'm not sure. Mostly I wanted to see the caves"

"If it's caves you want to know about, I'm your woman! I'm a speleologist by occupation. I can tell you anything about caves you could possibly want to know. Ha, listen to me talk – I haven't even told you my name yet! I'm Leo Kliesen" She extended her hand towards Asuka.

"Asuka Kazama" They shook hands. It was at this point that Lili returned with the tea, coffee and cake.

"I am back!" She set the tray down on the table. She looked over at Leo. "Who might you be?"

"This is Leo", Asuka explained. "She's a speleologist"

"Pardon?"

"I study caves", Leo said, smiling.

"Oh, wonderful! We actually came her to see the cav-"

"Yes, your friend already mentioned that"

Lili gave Asuka a side glance. "Well, the term 'friend' might be pushing it slightly"

"Do you mind if I sit with you two after I've ordered my coffee?"

"Not in the slightest", Lili said. "What luck for us to bump into someone who specialises in caves on our very first day in Germany!"

"JULIA CHANG!" A deafening bellow filled the café – the three of them looked around to see where it was coming from. Near the café's side wall was a sumo wrestler, who was kneeling in front of a woman in her early 20s, who had her face held in her hands out of sheer embarrassment. He pulled out a ring, and held it in his hands in front of her.

"JULIA CHANG, WILL YOU MARRY ME?!"

Everyone in the café was staring at them now. Julia removed her hands from her face, and looked at him, furious.

"NO, I WON'T FUCKING MARRY YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"But… my darling Julia-"

"I am NOT your darling! You pretended to be one of my colleagues in order to meet me to discuss important research data, not to make cheap public proposals so that you can guilt-trip me into marrying you!"

She punched him hard across the face. "Stop fucking harassing me and get out of my life!"

He ran off without another word.

Lili looked over at Asuka and Leo. "Urgh, honestly, men are just oversized little boys", Lili said. "I have no time for any of them. Well, except my father of course. And Sebastian. And the male servants…"

Leo smirked and looked over at Asuka.

"Does she ALWAYS go on like this?"

"Pretty much"

Lili glared in Leo's direction, but said nothing.

After they had finished their beverages, and Lili was finishing off her cake, she turned to Leo and said, "Do you fancy coming down to our villa for a while? There's more than enough room for you to stay the night"

Leo shrugged. "Sure, why not? It beats having to sleep in a cheap hotel – I swear that place has cockroaches!"

"Yeah, sure, it'll be a laugh", Asuka said. "It beats having to suffer this posh princess on my own"

The three of them left the café and headed towards the villa.