Hiro and his sister made their way through the crowded streets of the downtown. Sawawa had approached Hiro while he was working on his school assignments and asked if he could assist her in today's grocery shopping. Hiro agreed, since he thought it would be a nice, short break from paperwork and would help clear off his stressed mind. Her sister, though, went astray after a few minutes upon arrival, beginning to become awfully aware of cute little adornments and ornaments the various stores presented for sale. Hiro allowed his sister to marvel before them, figuring that she must get bored staying at the mansion every day, confined in the kitchen. He decided that he would take a look around the place as well, while his sister kept herself occupied.

He aimlessly wandered the streets, occasionally stopping by the news stand and skimming through intriguing articles. Once resuming his stroll past the stores, someone placed their hand atop his right shoulder and hastily whipped him around to face them. It was a frail, old woman who wore a purple cloak with a light, dangling silver chain as a necklace.

"Say, young lad," the woman began with a shrilling tone that would scare even the crows away, taking out a colorful cube, "might you be interested in puzzles?"

"I-I'm not very good at them," Hiro honestly replied, trying his best to keep his polite smile in place.

"Why, no need to be so modest," the woman said, shoving the cube into Hiro's empty hands. "Take this one and try to solve it."

"Ah, t-thank you very much, Miss," Hiro said, attempting to sound grateful as he bowed. "When would you like for me to return it?"

The woman laughed. "You won't get a chance to give it back"—the sentence aroused some Goosebumps in Hiro's skin—"Think of it as a present. Just enjoy yourself."

And with that, the woman disappeared in the passing crowds. Hiro stared at the cube for a moment, and soon identified it as the ever-popular Rubik's Cube. He then heard his sister half-bouncing, half-skipping down the streets, greeting him with an innumerable amount of shopping bags hanging from her clamped hands. Apparently, she had already done all the grocery shopping.

"Hiro, could you help me with these bags?"—she immediately noticed the small, 3-dimensional toy Hiro held in his hands—"Ara, what's that? Did you find something you liked and purchased it?"

"Something like that… But you can keep it." Hiro sent her a crooked smile. "So, um, you need help with those, right?"

"Oh, yes, let's trade," she suggested in high spirits. "I'll take the cube and you take all these bags!"

Sawawa didn't even wait for Hiro's response and snatched the cube, handing him all the bags subsequently. Sawawa placed the cube inside her apron pocket. They finally reached the hill's road, walking side by side toward Hime's mansion. Hiro took one clumsy step and tripped, causing him and the bags to tumble down to the starting point of the hill.

After a few minutes, Sawawa finally reached her younger brother. "Oh, goodness!"

Hiro grudgingly sat up and rubbed his pained head, laughing weakly. "Don't worry, Onee-sama, I'm fine."

Sawawa turned to him with a befuddled expression. "Oh, I know you're fine, Hiro, I was only referring to my groceries."

Onee-sama, just what exactly am I to you? Hiro thought, a waterfall of tears streaming down his face.

---

After picking up all the bags and arriving to the mansion, Sawawa quickly headed to the kitchen to brew Hime her belated afternoon tea while Riza helped Hiro with the bags and putting the groceries and other things in their corresponding locations. The maid entered Hime's room after knocking and gaining permission.

"Good afternoon, Ojou-sama, Flandre-chan," greeted Sawawa amiably, setting down her silver tray with the tea set.

"Good afternoon," said the Gothic princess, pushing aside some papers she had been previously reading.

"Fuga."

When Sawawa reached for the teapot, the lower part of her abdomen bumped into the table, causing an unfamiliar bulge to press her in that spot. That was when she remembered she had stuffed Hiro's cube in her apron pocket. She allowed a hand to enter her pocket and fumbled for the colorful toy. Once her hand grabbed a hold of it, she pulled it out and approached Flandre who was standing beside Hime, handing her the cube with a generous smile.

"Flandre-chan, you can have this," Sawawa said. "Hiro thinks he's too old for such things, but I'm sure you'll find it quite entertaining."

Flandre sought her master for approval. Hime turned a side-glance on her little maid gynoid, and then nodded. Flandre took it, eyeing the cube with curiosity.

"Sawawa, where's Hiro?" Hime asked.

"Hiro is with Riza-chan, unpacking the groceries," Sawawa informed, taking the tray from the table and walking to the door, slightly opening it. "He will start on his homework soon."

"Alright," said Hime. "You are excused."

Flandre unscrambled the cube as Sawawa performed a small curtsey before Hime and left.

Sawawa cheerfully made her way down the stairs, heading towards the kitchen. Once she arrived, she found the living room instead of the scullery.

Sawawa cocked her head in slight bewilderment. "Are, I was sure the kitchen was here a minute ago?" she said to herself, placing one finger atop her lower lip, the remaining hand still holding the tray. "I must have taken the wrong route, silly me. I'll just go back the way I came from." And she set off to the opposing direction, leaving the tray to rest at some corner of the hall so that her arm could take a break.

---

In the kitchen, Hiro and Riza had already organized each of the things that Sawawa had bought. Riza sat on one of the wooden stools drinking a bottle of water while Hiro headed for the fridge to find one for himself. After a few minutes of idling time away as they sat doing nothing, Riza finally rose from the chair and grabbed an orange. She told Hiro that she would head for her room to work out since nighttime had already fallen and she could not head out. Hiro nodded and told her that he would accompany her because he was going to his room, as well. They both agreed.

As soon as they stepped out of the kitchen, they found themselves a few feet away from Riza's room. The staircase that had previously been located there was nowhere to be found.

"… Was you room always this close, Riza-san?" Hiro asked, obviously knowing the answer.

"Don't crack lame jokes, Hiro," Riza said in a serious tone, not even turning to face him.

"I was just saying…" Hiro finished dejectedly.

"Let's go check it out," Riza suggested, dragging Hiro by the collar down the lengthy hallway that directly led to her room. They didn't bother to check the rooms adjacent to each other along the way.

When Riza swung the door open, a dark silhouette that resembled a disfigured smear lunged at Hiro and her, knocking them down. The orange rolled its way out of the room, slowly.

---

"Waa~" yawned Reiri as she rose from her cramped yet somewhat comfy coffin. She stretched for a small while before getting to her feet and closing the lid to her bed.

It had been a while since she had gone hunting for her meals, and she was growing tired of drinking tomato juice almost every day. It was time she got some real food.

I'll find myself a little cute, innocent virgin tonight, thought a content Reiri as she climbed the decrepit stairs and exited the room with grace. The moment she shut the door behind her, however, she found herself right across Hime's room.

Ara, was this here before? Reiri wondered in her mind.

She shrugged it off and accessed Hime's room with uncertainty to find her tranquilly sipping some tea in her usual spot. Reiri wondered how Hime kept herself in shape just sitting there all day. Maybe she was royally blessed with a perfect figure or something.

Damn rich bastards, Reiri thought, thinking back on how she had to go on countless diets to keep fit. Riza was just an exercising maniac so she didn't count.

"Reiri, you're awake," Hime greeted with a faint smile.

"Good evening, Hime-sama," Reiri replied pleasantly, performing a curtsy before her much like Sawawa's but surpassing her in elegancy.

"Do you need something?" Hime asked straightforwardly, placing her cup down.

"Why, Hime-sama, I just thought I'd pay you a little visit since it appears we're now roomies," responded the vampire surreptitiously, never flinching.

"Care to elaborate, Reiri?" continued Hime, Reiri's arcane sentence piquing her well-hidden curiosity.

"Well, I was just coming out to get a snack when I found your room to be right across mine, Hime-sama," explained Reiri.

"Interesting…" The blonde's ruby eyes found Flandre playing with the cube, twisting and turning it countless times. She stood and calmly made her way to the window, opening the curtains—she found a mural which contained various colors forming a nonsensical whirlpool, not the usual scenery. She arched an eyebrow with sudden interest and headed towards the stand where teacups and other garments were displayed. She reached in and pulled out four Walkie-talkies, throwing one of them in Reiri's direction, which she caught but at the last minute. The other she left by Flandre's side, telling her to be alert, at which Flandre responded to with a "Fuga."

"I'll look for Hiro," Hime told Reiri as she opened the door to the room, "you go find Riza, Reiri."

---

"Damn it, Hiro," cursed Riza as she kept her hands on the steel door, pushing her weight on it, "be useful for once and get something to hit them with!"

Zombies were at the other side of the door, the one that was previously in the room was knocked out by Riza and thrown out of the room with the rest of them, but it soon got back on its unsteady feet to join the rest of the crowd. Hiro fumbled for something to scare them away or use to fight them with. He turned to the corner of the room and found a dumbbell, part of the equipment Riza used to keep fit and strengthen herself. He grabbed it and headed in Riza's direction to hit the amounting zombies at the door, aggressively thrusting it forward in unison.

Hiro threw the dumbbell at them, but when he heard a "clunk," he hadn't hit the zombies, but Riza—which knocked her out on the spot.

"Ah!" Hiro yelled out in terror, cursing his bad aim under his breath as he ran over to Riza's side. "Riza-san!?"

That was when he remembered that the zombies were on the other side of the door; actually, by now, they might have already entered the room. He immediately positioned the door in his line of sight, but there was no one—empty. Hiro was utterly confused and bewildered. What had happened to all the living dead that were forcing their way in just a minute ago? He shook the question off his mind and tended to Riza, who was still out cold.

He gulped and decided he would check outside the room for zombies, but the first thing he saw once he stepped out was the basement, and the vampire's coffin. He blinked a couple of times, hoping that the scenery would change after closing his eyelids. Even so, it didn't. He warily pivoted and began to head back to Riza's room, but it had disappeared, and a wall had replaced it.

Before Hiro could even allow the strange occurrence to fully register in his mind, he heard an "Augh…" emanating from behind him. He started sweating and gulped, his knees beginning to shake.

Maybe now would be a good time to pray, Hiro thought as he prepared to turn around and face his doom. But then again, he was an immortal warrior; he couldn't die unless the royal blood ran out. Oh, great, I'll be killed a thousand times before I reach the ultimate one.

Before he could think of any more painful ways to die, the rapid slash of some thing flew right past him and slaughtered the zombies in a u-turn before passing by Hiro again and returning to its origin. The entire crowd of the undead all clattered to the floor and remained immobile. Hiro spun around once more to face the only force, or being, which was able to find more than a hundred ways to kill zombies with just a wooden, returning boomerang—Hime.

Hime… with that sort of strength, it makes me wonder who the dominant one in our relationship is, Hiro wondered, perplexed. W-wait, there's no relationship between us at all! I'm getting ahead of myself.

"Hiro, stop your dawdling," Hime ordered, lowering the boomerang and heading out the door. "These are demon zombies and will revive eventually, so we have to move on."

"A-ah, yes, Hime," Hiro obediently responded, stopping the twiddling of his fingers. Did I say any of that out loud…?

"Demons zombies are possessed corpses, they can only die if the spell that bounds them is broken or if exorcism is performed," explicated Hime, oblivious to what Hiro was going through just recently.

"Hime, the rooms have been changing locations," informed Hiro, walking down the corridor beside Hime. "What's going on?"

"It seems some sort of phenomena has surrounded this mansion," said Hime, pulling out her Walkie-talkie. "I've found a pattern in all this position-changing the rooms have begun to take."

"What is that?" Hiro asked.

"The Rubik's cube and its colors," revealed Hime as they came to a stop before Sawawa's room.

Hime pressed the one and only button on the Walkie-talkie and said, "Reiri, state your location."

There was a static-like sound that preceded the vampire's reply on the other side. "I'm currently in the bathroom, Hime-sama," she informed. Then added in a rush, "B-but I was only transported here; I was at the kitchen just recently!"

"Have you met with Riza yet?" Hime asked, entirely ignoring Reiri's reason for occupying the restroom.

"I'm afraid not, Hime-sama," she said.

Hime turned to Hiro, lowering her Walkie-talkie. "Hiro, where is Riza?"

"The last time I saw her, she was in her room…before I accidentally knocked her out with a dumbbell," Hiro finished sheepishly.

"A dumb—how did you—never mind that," Hime said, before returning to the Walkie-talkie. "Reiri, Riza is currently lying unconscious in her room. Your mission is to find her, wake her, hand her one of the Walkie-talkies and then head for the basement."

"Roger that, Hime-sama~" the vampire said before a click signaled her withdrawal.

"Hiro, you will head to the kitchen," Hime ordered. "I will go to my room."

Hiro never faltered or protested and obediently followed his mistress's command.

---

After Reiri stuffed the Walkie-talkie in her skirt pocket, she stood, turned around, and found herself to be right before Riza's room. The rooms had changed locations once again. On the bright side, now the restroom was closer to the dog and she wouldn't have to teach her how to go potty outside the mansion. She walked over to Riza's side and squatted, eyeing her ally's sleeping face. She lifted and held Riza's head with her left hand, and began to mercilessly slap her awake with the other hand.

"Ouch, crud—Reiri, what the hell do you think you're doing!?" Riza growled, snapping Reiri's hand away and tending to her stinging cheek.

"You didn't seem to mind it at all when Hime-sama did it that time we were trapped in Hiro's dream," Reiri retorted nonchalantly. "Anyhow"—she handed Riza her Walkie-talkie—"Hime says you should stay here, that she'll give us instructions on what to do next once we're in our respective rooms."

"W-wait, where are you going?" Riza asked.

"The basement," she replied, before winking and shutting Riza's door.

---

"Arara, I was so sure my room was here an hour ago…?" Sawawa half-wondered, half-said to herself in the lone corridors. "Hallucinations are the side-effects of too many parfaits, so it'll pass."

Sawawa retired and continued to wander the halls.

---

"Can everyone hear me?" Hime, now in her room, asked thought the Walkie-talkie.

"Loud and clear, Hime," responded Riza.

"Us, too," said Reiri and Hiro, joining the others.

"Fuga."

"Are you going to tell us why we're holding Walkie-talkies and in separate rooms?" Riza questioned, exasperated.

"P-please do it fast, because I got zombies waiting to eat me at the other side of the door," Hiro cried, in the kitchen.

"Yeah, me too, but I don't whine about it," Riza said, her back against her door to prevent the zombies from accessing her room.

"This afternoon, Sawawa gave Flandre a strange Rubik's cube," Hime explained composedly. "Apparently, it is cursed."

"Wow, tell me something I don't know," Riza said sarcastically.

"Oh, I've read about this in a book once," Reiri interjected. "Once the cube enters an enclosed space, be it a house, cabin, trailer, castle, school, or mansion, if it is unscrambled, the host building moves accordingly with the cube."

"Ah, so that's why the rooms have been switching around," Hiro said. "Flandre unscrambled the puzzle, so the mansion has become one, too."

"But what's up with the zombies?" Riza queried.

"Each block in the cube represents a zombie," Hime explained. "A cube has 27 blocks, so there are currently 27 demon zombies in this mansion."

"How are we going to destroy them, Hime-sama?" Reiri inquired.

"Think of the zombies and the puzzle as a set, if you destroy one you destroy the other," Hime said. "Since there is no possible way to destroy the zombies, we will resort to solving the Rubik's cube."

"And since the cube is now connected with the house, once we get it in order, the mansion will go back to normal, right?" Hiro said, everything finally coming together for me.

"Flandre," Hime called, trying to get through to her gynoid in the other room.

"Fuga," replied the small servant maid.

"You have the cube currently in your possession, it's your duty to solve it," Hime said in a tone filled with authority. "Do you understand?"

"Fuga," said Flandre, nodding even if no one could actually see her gesture.

"What are we doing in these rooms, then?" Riza asked.

"Every time Flandre rotates, twists, or moves the colors of the cube, we will be checking outside of our rooms to see if the house is in order," Hime explicated.

"Once that happens, are the zombies going to die?" Riza questioned once more.

"No," Hime said. "Once the cube is solved, I will head to where Flandre is located, take the cube, and destroy it."

Hiro gulped. "W-what happens if we don't?"

"The cube will unscramble itself and we'll be trapped in this mansion forever, along with the demon zombies," Hime simply said.

"Why don't we just destroy it now!?" Riza demanded.

"Because the mansion will remain disorderly and we won't be able to escape," she said casually. "Though the zombies will be gone."

"So, the destruction of the cube is the obliteration of the zombies while the puzzle is the arrangement of the mansion," Reiri said in comprehension.

"Ugh, they're almost in the room!" Hiro cried out through the communication device.

"Everyone, find a weapon to hold them off until Flandre figures out the solution," Hime ordered. "Report to me every time a change occurs in your vicinity."

---

Hiro fumbled for a knife in a nearby drawer, but all he found were butter knives. His eyes wandered around to come to a halt before the kitchen table—upon it lay a silver soup ladle. Not really what he had in mind, but beggars can't be choosers, so he grabbed it without further hesitation.

The wooden door was packed with about ten of them, squirming their way in, losing an arm or leg in the process, which simply creeped the meek mortal warrior out. He shut his eyes tightly before running towards them and whacking them with all his might. As expected, they were only out for a couple of minutes before rising from the dead.

Heh, I made a funny, Hiro thought, comforting himself.

A static-like sound emanated from his pocket. "Hiro, check outside your designated room."

Hiro did as told, pushing the zombies away forcefully. "Hime, my area is fixed!"

"Reiri, check your vicinity," Hime ordered.

Reiri, who by chance didn't have any zombies pestering her, followed Hime's request.

"I'm sorry to be the downer that delivers the bad news, Hime-sama, but my side isn't quite right," informed Reiri, awkwardly waving at Riza, whose room had now been transported near the basement.

---

"Ararara, I'm at Hime-sama's room now?" a hapless Sawawa said to no one in particular but herself, opening the door to Hime's room and finding Flandre twisting and turning the Rubik's cube. "You need help with that, Flandre-chan?"

"Fuga," said the gynoid as the naïve maid approached her.

---

"How about now?" Hime queried to anyone that could hear her at the other end of the line.

"Tough luck, my area's still messed up," Riza said, sounding a tad miffed.

"He, he," Hiro abashedly chuckled, waving at Riza at the other side of the building, past the stairs.

"W-well, we better hurry ourselves," Reiri cried. "The zombies are invading my room now!" You could hear Reiri's strained grunts and occasionally a "gross" as she kicked them away, followed by the static.

After changing to countless locations time and time again, the rooms finally stopped moving and interchanging.

---

The news traveled at a rapid speed and reached Hime, who swung the door to her room open and headed to the room she spent most of the time in, the one Flandre was currently occupying. She immediately spotted Sawawa holding the solved puzzle and ran over to her with her boomerang. Sawawa needn't to be told to let go of the cube and delicately let it rest on the long dining table. Hime lifted the boomerang and sharply smashed the cursed, three-dimensional toy to various colorful pieces.

At that exact moment, the zombies all turned to gray ash, which then unexplainably vanished. The rest of the gang joined the Gothic princess at her room, who had seemingly accidentally destroyed her dining table in the process of saving the mansion.

"Hmm, don't worry, Hime-sama," a sympathetic Sawawa said. "Hiro and I will definitely get your table fixed as soon as we can"—she turned to the tiny maid robot—"and Flandre-chan can help out, as well."

"Fuga."

"Sawawa, you solved the puzzle, correct?" Hime inquired, walking to her chair and sitting down.

"Why, yes," said the maid.

Wh-who'd have known, Hiro thought, amazed. My sister is a genius…

"Thank you," Hime said gratefully, closing her eyes. "You are dismissed."

Sawawa bowed and left the room with questions marks taking over her thoughts, for she had no idea why her mistress was thanking her. She didn't dwell on it for long, though, since she had to prepare dinner.

"Was it your brother again?" Riza inquired. "You know, 'mind games.'"

Hime allowed a faint smirk to form upon her lips. "You could say that."

"So, since the puzzle was unraveled, the mansion was put back in order, right, Hime?" Hiro asked, trying to clear things up.

"Yes, the spell has been broken," Hime confirmed, opening the curtain and lifting the window sill to show them they were free and sitting back atop the hill again—there was no mural.

"But how troublesome for Sawawa-san to bring that cube here," Reiri opinioned exhaustedly.

Hiro gulped in alarm. "A-actually, I was the one that sort of brought it here."

Hiro had gained his mistress's devoted attention. "Go on, Hiro," she said calmly, an eerie aura surrounding her.

"W-well, an old lady gave it to me at the downtown," Hiro explained. "A-and I couldn't say no because she pushed me so much and she was so frail, and weak, and pitiful—"

"Hiro, didn't they teach you in Kindergarten that you don't take stuff from creepy old ladies!?" Riza chided.

"I see," Reiri said, leaning on the wall. "So it was Hiro who brought home all this trouble."

"I-I-I"—he bowed deeply—"I'm sorry, everyone!"

"Sorry does not cover the damages inflicted tonight," Hime said coolly, which Hiro interpreted as reproachful.

"I-I'll be sure to fix them, Hime-sama!" Hiro announced in reassurance.

"Please do."

Reiri and Riza left for their respective rooms, though Reiri was a bit irked by this occurrence since she couldn't get a meal tonight, either. So she headed for the kitchen to drink another box of that dreadful tomato juice. Hiro stayed in Hime's room to pick up the remains of the cursed cube that once laid atop the dining table, which was partly smashed, as well.

"And, Hiro," Hime said, gazing out the window. "You are very reliable; just know it pleases me."

Hiro blushed faintly, gathering the last bits of the toy up in his hands. "I'm glad."

- - -

"Fuga."

"Ah, Francesca, is that the mail?" asked princess Sherwood, the youngest of the royal siblings, as she rose from a bed that was twice her size but "fit for a princess," as she once quoted.

The tall gynoid in maid clothing nodded and handed her mistress the papers, politely standing by her side until she was finished reading.

Sherwood skimmed and shuffled through each of them, since most were advertisements, until she came across one which piqued her interest. She arched an eyebrow. "My, my, I've got tell Onee-sama about this one."

XXX

Please excuse the delay, everyone, school has already begun for me. Reviews would make me really happy and give me the will to carry on :)